Online Nation Deleted From CW Lineup

Chances are you didn’t watch Online Nation, the CW’s attempt at turning user generated clips into a weekly prime time TV series. Practically no one watched it. But if you were among the 200,000-250,000 people who did tune it, say goodbye. CW execs deleted the series after just four weeks, TV Week reported. No surprise here. Why would anyone interested in user generated clips watch when they can get this stuff on You Tube when it’s really hot? It didn’t work on MTV, so what made the CW think they could do it any better?

Network execs attempting to highjack the freshness, edge and humor of the Internet need to understand that what works online doesn’t necessarily translate on television. The kid making Facebook satires in his bedroom isn’t the next genius. What does work, and what will work, is understanding that the online world represents a new sensibility in entertainment, and that has to be adapted to television, not copied. HBO pulled it off years ago. NBC delivered it back in the ’80s when Brandon Tartikoff ordered up Hill Street Blues. MTV changed television with The Osbournes. Fox added something new with American Idol. There are numerous cable networks serving up high quality entertainment by letting talented writers express themselves outside the constraints of the traditional TV formulas.

If the CW had asked the obvious questions — why do millions of people go to You Tube — they would’ve found the hit they desired. Instead they asked themselves the question most network execs ask — can we copy what seems to be working over there? No, you can’t copy it. Online Nation’s cancellation is proof. People go to You Tube because they want something different. So give them something different. Right?

All you network execs, listen up. Next time you’re looking for a hit show, remember what your second grade teacher taught you — no copying, no looking at your neighbor’s paper. Be original. Think out of the norm. Surprise, shock, push the boundaries, entertain. It might work. Here’s a question. What are the 10 shows that have most changed TV? Hmmm. More on that later.

(Right now we’re watching The Colbert Report.)