With the influx of reality shows on TV and the prevalence of voyaristic websites, you knew it only had to be a matter of time before there was a show themed on therapy. Not truly a reality show, CouchConfessions.com uses professional actors to entirely improvise scenes. Viewers can log in for 3-5 mintues every day to get updates on up to 27 differnet story lines of dysfunctional people in their therapy session.
Frankly, there are enough wackos just walking around the streets of New York that I don't need to login and watch sickos online, but apparently plenty of people do. They may also be logging in to see renowned, honored and professional working actress Tovah Feldshuh facilitate the other actors in the exploratory improve therapy session. Couchconfessions.com was the brain child of Lewis Silverman, a seasoned news professional producer, reporter, editor and writer. He came up with the character sketches and psyches and Michael Drucker and Madeleine Solano produce the 3-5 minute daily segments each week.
Not into other people's problems, this show is just one of 25 series that iNEXTV.com has produced since 1999. Owned by Ampex Corporation, iNEXTV utilizes a custom player window streaming and advertising video interface for its encoding, hosting and straming. Before each show a five-second ad pops up. Afterwards, a thirty-second ad provides opportunities for more clickthrus and branding. INEXTV's distribution strategy includes syndication on many major portals like Yahoo!, Qwest and Juno. Their strategy then goes from the portals to the verticals and puts them in partnerships with specialty sites like ClassicCars.com, TravelNow.com and On the Road with Chef Ashbell.
My interview with iNEXTV.com's programming VP Marc Chalom, Tovah Feldshuh, Michael Drucker, Lewis Silverman and the rest of the CouchConfessions.com team conveyed a group of seasoned professionals ("over 100 years of combined experience" touted Marc). They also were a group that seem to have fun and share much comraderie as they all work together to bring a bunch of taboo nutjobs to life on the mini-screen! Even if therapy isn't your bag, iNEXTV is one site with probably the most original online TV content around. The staff of about 70 (including freelancers) seem committed (no pun intended) to continue producing many more shows and adding specialties. So who cares if you can't get "One Life To Live" while you're at work. It doesn't matter if you still can't program your VCR - just logon to iNEXTV.com and get your daily dose of drama, advice and entertainment!
A chronicle of the people and events in technology, internet and media since 1997, mixed in with snapshots of musings and observations.
