It drives me nuts...
Even though I know it shouldn't...
I mean, really now, who cares about one little podcasting
network anyway? In the grand scheme of
things such concerns are less than trivial if not inconsequential. If a beloved icon of tech journalism like Leo
Laporte chooses to delude himself while his Rome is burning what business is it
of ours if he chooses to believe otherwise?
If TWIT vanished from the landscape of
Internet content the number of people who actually cared would be lower than
the percentage of LGBT's in the Tea Party.
...and the king of Tech punditry would do just fine thank
you...
Still...
Over the past few months I've continued to witness a sea
change at TWIT with the most obvious symptom an exodus of popular hosts and
programming. In their place bizarre
additions like Marketing Mavericks, a
show based on sucking up to the kind of people who dreamed up click-through ads and stadiums named after cell-phone companies.
And then there's the ads! Oh those god awful ads! Where do they find these products??
Of course, not everybody agrees with me...
"I'm good enough,
I'm smart enough, and doggone it people like me!" Stuart Smiley
If you can sift through the barrage of delusional
self-affirmation and staunch denial of anything contrarian that pervades today's
TWIT, there are still gems to be found on the network.
Shows like This Week in Law, This week in Enterprise Tech, Windows
Weekly and the grand old man of the group This Week In Tech still
shine. Unfortunately, to find them
you'll have to ignore the cognitive dissonance that promotes Tech
News Today (TNT) as still being relevant or Floss Weekly and Ham
Nation as being interesting. Incidentally,
after almost 6 months, TNT still consistently ranks far behind
Tom Merritt's Daily Tech News show and
has yet to break into the top 10 on most ranking authorities.
Father Robert Ballecer, the affable and upbeat "digital Jesuit"
who is increasingly ever present and likely heir to TWIT if not for his "other"
job.
Chad Johnson, OMGCHAD
and newest Laporte protege' who is often called upon to beta test new
programming like the short-lived This Week in YouTube and RedditUP (currently
in beta.)
Sara Lane, a stalwart
TWIT personality and second only to Laporte in the sheer volume of shows she
hosts. As one of the few remaining
alumni from Laporte's TechTV days, Lane appears loyal to Laporte but one has to
wonder if those convictions have been tested since the surprise departure of so
many TWIT colleagues from the network.
And of course, Laporte himself who recently took back
hosting duties of TWIT's tech review show Before You Buy after former host and
producer Shannon Morse left TWIT's full time employ.
Shannon Morse, the contractor, now only appears once a week on TWIT
as co-host of Coding 101 with Fr. Robert Ballecer.
Morse, known most prominently from Darren Kitchen's Hak 5 was
a recent addition to the network in the past year. Her decision to trade a full time gig
at TWIT to be a contract host for one show (while doing at least 2 others for
Revision 3) can only be viewed as a foot out the door.
The only time a full time employee converts to a contractor
these days is when somebody is on their way out and Laporte taking back hosting
duties of Before You Buy underscores just how "out" Morse
really is.
But let's be fair here.
While TWIT's apparent missteps are beginning to border on habitual, it's
not entirely their fault. Take a look at
those same podcast rankings that are so damning to TNT and you'll find a
saturated landscape. Everybody and their
brother seems to have a tech podcast.
Couple that with the fact that the novelty has worn off. There's very little new information out there
and "revolutionary" is just a marketing buzzword. Technology isn't "magical" anymore
and even your grandmother can use an IPad.
Not very exciting...
Short term gain
leading to long term consequences.
That TWIT advertising has increasingly strayed from a tech focus to products like razors, jewelry and snacks may be an indication that tech just isn't that sexy anymore. Unfortunately, it also frequently results in content straying from technology to heated debates over single versus multi-blade razors.
Viewer's of TWIT could likely care less about razors,
underwear and harvest rice sticks when they're watching Security Now or
Windows Weekly. At times even the hosts seem annoyed as they
hawk often ridiculous and contextually irrelevant wares. With an average of 2 to 4 live ad reads per
TWIT show, anything that strays from the content runs the risk of losing an
easily fickle audience.
Where TWIT may once have been a destination rivaling its
progenitor, TechTV, in the past year
it's become more akin to G4. In case you don't get the analogy, G4 began as a cable channel focused on
video games and gaming culture and ended with a schedule largely consisting of Cops reruns and infomercials.
TWIT's bizarre programming changes, a trend of topically irrelevant
advertising and exodus of talent paint a dark picture of the network's
future.
It's high time ego and hubris take a back seat.
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