TVSquad

I don't know, nor do I care, if the internet will ever surpass television as an entertainment medium. I leave that kind of speculation to those who actually understand the technology involved. Me, I'm just a guy who likes to be entertained. I'm also a guy who wonders if I'll still be entertained by online video content when I'm much older.

Readers should feel free to point out any errors in this assumption, but I think that video content on the Web is largely a young person's game. Most of what you'll find on sites like YouTube and iFilm were not made with older folks in mind. Television, by comparison, isn't much better: within the major networks, one would be hard pressed to find a single show an older person would enjoy. Yes, once in awhile series such as Matlock or Touched By an Angel come along, but for the most part, the entertainment industry cares not for the elderly.

Now that Comedy Central has pulled all its Daily Show and Colbert Report clips from YouTube, they've been quietly popping up over at iFilm. For some reason, there has been no publicity on the part of the network or the website. iFilm is owned by Viacom, which also owns Comedy Central. So, you see how that works.

The clips that are appearing on iFilm are primarily from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. They're uploaded in about three-minute segments, but there are numerous segments so practically the entire show is on iFilm. And the good news is that they appear the morning after a new episode of either show airs. Other Viacom clips include sketches from Chappelle's Show, Reno 911!, The Real World, and Wonder Showzen. There are also clips from The State, as well as other MTV and LOGO programming.

Remember all those stories over the past year about television shows becoming available over the internet? Well, VH1 is taking the opposite approach. The cable music channel is launching a weekly show that counts down the top videos on the web. VH1 is paired up with IFILM to show folks the Top 20 weirdest web videos of the week. The idea is to show celebrity bloopers, or cops shooting themselves in the foot, or cats swinging on fans... you get the idea. And, you'll actually get to see it on a television screen instead of in a little window on your computer that keeps buffering. I wonder if they'll show the Colin Farrell sex tape that just hit the internet this week?

The countdown, called Web Junk 20, premieres tonight at 11:30 pm EST on VH1.

Following its recent purchase of iFilm, MTV Networks will launch a new countdown show on VH1 in the coming year. Web Junk 20 will be hosted by comedian Patrice O'Neal (you may remember him from his frequent appearances on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn) and it will countdown the top-20 web video clips of the week. The show is set to premiere on January 13th, but you'll also be able to watch it on-demand through VH1's broadband network VSpot. Now this sounds like a great idea - a showcase of all the raunchy, funny, lewd, obnoxious videos you find all over the Internet and it's new every week. How many times have your friends told about some video on the 'net that you absolutely have to see and you can never find it? Well if it's as good as they say it is, then it'll make this show and you won't have to worry about sifting through the millions of Google results looking for it.