Valerie Kuklenski: A web of intrigue
After a couple of lackluster years, you gotta give NBC some points for choosing a few potential hits for the coming fall season, including Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," which walks the line between drama and dark comedy. At today's Upfront presentation for advertisers, the struggling broadcaster cut short the time given to dazzling the crowd with its series, instead playing up all the online content it will generate. Not all of that mini-programming will be worth the energy it takes to point and click, but the most watercooler-worthy of all its new webisodes...
...is likely to be "Pale Force," an animated series starring Conan O'Brien with cameos of several other notoriously pasty-faced celebs (or their voice impersonators). Hard to say how much of this new web fascination is just sound forward thinking and how much is Jeff Zucker saying, "Pay no attention to that man behind the Nielsen curtain." We'll hope the truly good stuff doesn't get lost in the shuffle amid time-wasters such as "Leave It to Beaver" reruns and outtakes from "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." It's like the difference between a small restaurant with a limited but delicious menu and an all-you-can-eat pigout of steamtable fare. Watch for the new material on www.nbc.com and rate it yourself.
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