Buried deep in the New York Times business section today, a report about a most curious Sony Pictures Television project: minisodes, or episodes of classic TV shows, cut down to five minutes or less to run on the Web. All the entertainment of your favorite camp classics, freed from the burden of narrative!
As Steve Mosko, the president of Sony Television, described it, “So in ‘Charlie Angels,’ they have a meeting, Charlie’s on the intercom telling them what the assignment is, there’s a couple of fights, and then a chase, and they catch the bad guy. Then they’re back home wrapping it up.â€
The story cites Seven-Minute Sopranos as an influence, or at least a clue they were on to something, but maybe the more timely sign is Tivo, which in my household has reduced certain shows to cut-down versions of fast-forward efficiency. These days I can get through a 24 in ten, fifteen minutes. An American Idol results show? That’s, like five minutes of solid entertainment, and only if I watch the Ford commercial.
Right now the project’s focused on oldies like Charlie’s Angels and T.J. Hooker, but I’m sure you can think of other shows you’d like to see minisoded. Who’s going to give me a Nathan-Fillion-only minisoded version of Drive?