ShareThisCable network Current TV, created in 2005 as a youth-skewing channel that welcomes viewer contributions, has evolved. Back when it launched, the network's schedule was divvied up into short programming "pods," some running less than a minute; none more than 15 minutes. Much of the network's programming was submitted by its viewers.
These days, even as the Internet has made short-form programming wildly popular, Current is beginning to look more like a normal TV network. David Neuman, Current's president of programming, acknowledged that while some elements of the network's strategy have changed, others remain resolute.
"When we began Current, we began it in short form because that's the way our audience likes to consume so much of its media on their TVs, laptops, iPods and mobile phones," Neuman said last month at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. "But from the beginning, we always hoped that just like 'The Simpsons' was once an interstitial on 'Tracy Ullman,' some of our short-form franchises would grow into long-form series, and that's exactly what's happening."
Next month, Current expands "SuperNews" (10 p.m. EST March 20), an animated sketch series that plays off current events, to a half-hour. Current will also premiere "The Rotten Tomatoes Show" (10:30 p.m. March 5), a movie-review series based on the popular Web site.
Even with some changes, Current remains committed to creating media for and with a young-adult audience.
"Current is all about empowering those young adults to help us reinvent news and information for a new generation of media consumers," Neuman said. "Because we are so close to that audience and they effectively co-program our network with us, we know their interests range widely from serious journalistic stories to animation, from entertainment news to smart comedy. The common theme here is that we're always focused on connecting with young adults and giving a voice to a new generation, a generation that's as likely to create media as to consume it."
Or mock it, as in the case of Current's "infoMania," a consistently funny half-hour series that recaps the week's news, pop culture and Internet culture. Or to put it a grosser way, "Our job is to chew up the week's media so we can regurgitate it, half-digested, into your mouth," said Brett Erlich, an "infoMania" co-host and writer.
On a recent episode, host Conor Knighton mocked TV news coverage of winter weather under the heading "No-Duh News."
"Yes, the news is blowing the lid off the story that it still gets cold in the winter," Knighton said, before showing multiple clips of TV news reporters standing out in the cold.
"infoMania" episodes premiere at 10 p.m. Thursday but are rebroadcast multiple times throughout the week and also stream at Current.com.
(E-mail Rob Owen at rowen(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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