25 Jan 2010, Posted by Susana Baker in Articles,General, 1 Comments

Has the Internet Paved the Road to Success?

Sam and Justin Halpern of @shitmydadsays

After coming across an article about  “mommyblogger” Heather Armstrong creating content for HGTV and recalling the recent deal CBS made with popular twitter account @shitmydadsays for a new sitcom, it would seem that the internet has become the newest place for networks to seek content.

Blogs, twitter, facebook, and the like present a wealth of internet personalities. Shitmydadsays creator Justin Halpern is a 28 year old who lives at home with his dad, and well, writes down shit that his dad says. Originally, he was approached for a feature film but decided a television sitcom was the best place to tell their story.

Heather Armstrong is a mom who started blogging about parenting on dooce.com and has a huge online following. HGTV approached her to start creating online and on-air programming for the channel.

What does this mean for the internet? Will social networking sites become a breeding ground for people who want to get famous? Arguably, these sites and the internet in general are already filled with self-promoters. If this trend of picking up new content from the web continues, will their numbers grow exponentially?

On the flipside, what does this mean for television? Why, with such a proliferation of talented writers who can’t cut a break are new shows coming from random people on the internet? Have the established television writers run out of ideas?  Will the continued tie between internet and television encourage further mergers like the one between Comcast and NBC which is bad news for media consumers everywhere?