ABOUT ALTERNA-TV.COM
alterna-tv.com
is an online journal that offers reviews, features, essays and opinions
on Television and New Media. Originally conceived by Pittsburgh writer
Anthony Letizia in 2007, alterna-tv.com has a vision of the television
future that goes beyond the traditional. It believes in quality programming
that challenges the intellect and resonates with the viewer. It does
not accept that ratings alone should factor into a show’s long
term prognosis, because in this day of the Internet and a fragmented
television market, a streamlined approach to marketing can result in
revenue generation different than the traditional “broad”
approach of the past.
It also believes that, in the same way the motion picture and music
industries have experienced grassroots-movements, television is positioned
to experience one of its own. The Internet offers anyone with a quality
idea to produce their own webseries, and recent independent television
festivals in New York and Los Angeles give industry “outsiders”
additional opportunities.
Specific areas that encompass the scope of alterna-tv.com include:
—Innovative television shows of an intelligent quality that help
“define our times” such as 24, The Big Bang
Theory, Dollhouse, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia,
Mad Men, Lost and The Office.
—Quality television shows that are no longer on the air but “officially”
continue in other formats, such as comic books and graphic novels (Angel,
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly).
—The online webseries and the New Media practitioners who create/produce
these innovative television-style shows, as well as the future of this
budding industry.
—Television essay anthology books and how they demonstrate that
quality shows do indeed challenge our perspectives and intellect, makes
us think and feel as well as entertain.
—Quality shows from the past and how they influenced and paved
the way for current incarnations (Moonlighting, Twin Peaks).
2010 is a building year for alterna-tv.com as it revs up content revolving
around the topics outlined above. In addition, alterna-tv.com will launch
its initial mini-sites and continue to provide fresh content for them
on a regular basis during the months ahead. The first subjects to be
highlighted include the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, the
short-lived FOX drama Dollhouse, the online webseries sensation
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and the ABC drama Lost.
As 2010 progresses, look for new mini-sites on The Office,
Mad Men, Dexter and It’s Always Sunny in
Philadelphia.
Although still relatively new, alterna-tv.com strives to become one
of the best online resources for information on Quality Television and
New Media and hopes that its readers will join in on the journey at
hand: a journey leading to a new and better television landscape in
the not-so-distant future.