TVSquad

The team at TV Squad scours all the corners of the net looking for interesting junk, so you don't have to. And that's how I found my way to The Christian Science Monitor. Not one of my usual haunts, but they have a really good article on Jamie and Adam from Mythbusters. I'm a fan of the show, but I never really knew much more about the two of them than what they have revealed on the show.

While not an in depth bio, we do learn some more details about the backgrounds of the pair. A couple highlights - Jamie ran away from home for six months when he was 14, making it halfway across the country. Previous to the M5 effects shop he also owned a pet store and a boat charter business in the Caribbean. And somewhere along the line he got a degree in Russian literature. Adam has worked as an animator, graphic designer, set designer, and actor. His father did animation for Sesame Street.

The article also gets into just how different the two are. So much so that Jamie comments "I wouldn't spend five minutes with Adam outside of work if I didn't have to." But it's clear that the two are enjoying what they are doing and respect each other for their unique talents. Worth a click if you are a Mythbusters fan. The new season of the show will begin airing in January.

[ via digg ]

The journey to get a television show from concept to eventual broadcast is a harrowing one. You have an idea, you prepare a spec summary for the network; they review the proposal and ask for a script. You (with help from others, most likely) prepare a script to send back to the network; they review the script and ask for a filmed pilot. You blow a big was of cash to create that pilot. Through a miracle of God the show gets picked up by the network.

At this point you're probably thinking Emmy and a juicy syndication package. Everything is going your way. Well, actually, no. You see, there's one more stop on the road to getting your show onto the big picture box. One stop that producers dread, but need to make in order to ensure some sort of chance to have their show stay on the air longer than two weeks. It's the small theater with people off of the street; pencils in their hands, a survey sheet nearby. I am talking about the neighborhood market research panel.

In this case, ASI Entertainment, Hollywood's oldest and most frequently-used audience testing location. Established back in 1966, ASI gages the reaction of regular folks for any number of television pilots that make it to the precipice of network pickup. From those reactions producers of those pilots make determinations on whether or not anything should be changed or if it is good to go for broadcast.