Have you watched Current lately?
Cory Bergman January 11th, 2007
So I was scrolling through my program guide (nothing on DVR or VOD or iPod) and I punched up Current. You know, the Al Gore cable channel that launched with much hype and has sort of slipped into obscurity. It was in the 8 p.m. (PST) hour, when Current was airing its VC2 (viewer contributed content) block, and I couldn’t turn it off. Perhaps it’s because I’m sick of all the crap that’s surfacing on YouTube lately, but the viewer-submitted “pods” were extremely well done and very entertaining. Anyway, Current has received a fair amount of criticism for missing the user-created video wave on the web (yes, their website needs to be video-forward instead of TV-forward), but the VC2 segments I saw were a welcome relief from the video clutter on the web.
During each pod (which last 2-6 minutes or so), a little bar appears in the bottom left, just like a video player on the web, which illustrates how much time is left. Cool.
3 Comments Add your own
1. Ryan Price | January 11th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
LOVE Current (on TV, I have never used their site except to embed a few videos on my blog by local VC2 Producers).
Actually, we tape one of the 4-hour blocks to the DVR during the day when nothing else is running. That way if we are bored and the current Pod is a rerun we can watch one from the earlier block.
If you watch it more than about 4 hours a week you tend to get a lot of repeats, but you also start to notice that many of the VC2 producers are creating Series-based programming, with the same characters, story arcs (within one pod) and gimmicks just like reality TV or the kind of “streetwalking” spots you see on late-night talkshows. The big difference here is the near complete lack of censorship or editing. I have seen a man get tortured, heard a kid talk about being beaten bloody and seen a dozen bleak situations in Africa that Main Stream Media wouldn’t touch.
Why? Because they’re putting the decision power in the hands of the viewers.
2. LLR | January 12th, 2007 at 10:15 am
I love Current. When I was in NYC in September I just wanted to stay in the hotel room and watch it all day…so many awesome stories.
When I got home, I tried to load-up a few of my favorite “pods” to show folks, but most of them were broadcast only - which I found kinda odd.
Anyway, my favorite was about two young American guys who got great footage of all these shady middle eastern flea markets that were selling AK-47’s and RPGs. It ended with them having to make a hasty departure to avoid get beaten by the angry mob.
Love that Current.
3. Daniel Farquhar | January 13th, 2007 at 12:11 am
Does current have show ads? What do they show when they don’t show Viewer Created Content. Sorry I’m Australian and can’t watch it here.
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