[1582] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Only on the net...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (tal@Warren.MENTORG.COM)
Tue Nov 19 11:04:21 1991
To: com-priv@psi.com
Date: Tue, 19 Nov 91 11:03:23 EST
From: tal@Warren.MENTORG.COM
This doesn't belong here 100% but I'm posting it because I know
there are a lot of reporters that read this mailing list. Feel
free to contact me if you want more info on this.
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[This article is copyright 1991 Tom Limoncelli.]
We've talked before about off-the-wall uses of the net, right? Well
I got a great one.
There is a mailing list called "flamingo-digest" which is for
fans of the FOX-TV show "Parker Lewis Can't Lose". Well, one
day the maintainer of the mailing list wrote to the producer
of the show explaining that he maintains this electronic "fan-zine"
for PLCL and that there are over 150 dedicated fans that receive it.
A couple days later he got a call. "Mr. Arlington? Clyde Phillips
here, producer of PLCL. I got your letter..." ya-da ya-da, etc.
Eventually all the back issues of the digest were mailed to the
producer. In return, about 10 posters, scripts from shows
(including the first 6 scripts from the NEXT season!),
a tape of all the zany sound cues used on the show, promo material,
and all sorts of fun stuff (most of which was snail mailed to
various people on the list via a lottery, the rest digitized or
scanned, and now is available via FTP).
As it stands, about 4 members from the mailing list have visited
the set. Just about everyone from the actors/actresses down to
the staff said to them, "Oh! You're the people from Flamingo Digest!"
It turns out just about all them had read the back-issues that were
mailed to the producer.
Currently a person on the staff has an account on Portal and receives
the digests directly.
How has this effected the show?
(1) During the second season the only re-run of a first season
show "just happened" to be the mailing list's favorite episode.
(2) In one episode they were showing headlines from the newspaper.
You know, where the newspaper spins and when it stops you can read
the headline? Well, the name of the newspaper was, "Flamingo Digest."
(3) In the same episode there was a scene where the actors were in
a football huddle. The game-plan was being assigned, "Tamkin, run
long. Kuiper, run left.", etc. All the names called out were the
names of people from the mailing list.
(4) In a recent episode the three main actors were seen with three
unnamed females. When the credits rolled, it was revealed that the
characters that those actresses were playing were named after women
from the mailing list.
(5) People on the mailing list were complaining that the set used
for scenes at "The Atlas Diner". The lettering on the door wasn't
mirror-image as it should be. "The lettering on a door to a diner
is usually drawn for the reading pleasure of people *outside* the
building," the fans reasoned. Well, a couple episodes ago all
that lettering was gone. The following episode the lettering was
back, but drawn mirror-image like it should be.
Interactive television? Well, sort of.
Tom Limoncelli.
--
Tom Limoncelli -- tal@warren.mentorg.com (work) -- tal@plts.uucp (play)
My two predictions for 1992: Quayle will not be on Bush's ticket
and the nation's newspapers will have the gall to act surprised.
