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.