TVSquad

TiVo has started sending out new system software to Series3 users who signed up for priority updates. The general TiVo using population should get the TiVo 9.4 software soon. And thet means support for:

• YouTube video playback
• The ability to play or delete an entire folder (in other words, you can watch programs in order without hitting a button on your remote)
• Jump forward by 24 hours in the program guide
• Pull up the program guide from any screen, whether you're watching live, recorded, or downloaded video
• Easier toggling of closed captioning
• Review your thumbs up and down ratings

Blogger Dave Zatz (who recorded the video you see above), has confirmed that the TiVo content uses the H.264 codec. That means there's pretty much no chance that TiVo Series2 users will ever see support for TiVo, since older TiVo models can only support MPEG-2 video.

The makers of MXC are not happy with the "creative" minds behind ABC's summer hit Wipeout. Spike initially called out the Wipeout folks in a press release announcing the MXC marathon, "MXC, The Original, Not The Ripoff, Weekend." Now Larry Strawther, MXC's executive producer, is upset with ABC and YouTube for removing a video that Strawther released in order to establish Wipeout's ripoff status.

The video in question is after the jump. Strawther has also accused YouTube of "[altering] the search results algorithm to benefit ABC and punish MXC." He's right; a search using the terms "MXC" and "Wipeout" leads you to videos showing motocross wipeouts. Strange.

I've noticed that one of the more overused phrases on reality shows is "I'm not here to make friends." It's that moment in the competition where some controversy/confrontation comes up and the player that everyone seems to dislike the most explains to them that they're "there to win the game" and "not here to make friends." Of course, the fact that many of these people probably can't make friends even in real life probably doesn't even cross their minds.

Now someone has taken a bunch of those "I'm not here to make friends" moments and created a YouTube montage. You'll see contestants from shows like Survivor, The Apprentice, The Amazing Race, America's Next Top Model, The White Rapper Show (whatever that is), Project Runway, Forever Eden, Hell's Kitchen, and other shows. One player even says "I ain't here to make no friends," which is at least a twist on the phrase.

It has gotten to the point where they really have to outlaw this phrase from all reality shows, though I think the phrase would make for an awesome t-shirt.

As we are in the midst of a long July 4th weekend, I thought it would be a good time to talk about a cartoon that combined an animated singing group with a bit of American history. I speak about The U.S. of Archie. Premiering during the 1974-75 season, this Saturday morning cartoon not only continued the long-running Archie franchise on television, but it also grabbed onto the coattails of the upcoming American Bicentennial.

U.S. of Archie featured Archie Andrews, Reggie, Jughead, Betty Veronica, and the rest of the kids from Riverdale High as they re-enacted many famous events from American history. Some of the topics covered during the series were the Underground Railroad, the Gold Rush, the writing of the Star-Spangled Banner, and the invention of the telephone, Plenty of historical figures were featured, including Benjamin Franklin, George Washington Carver, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Teddy Roosevelt.

Former Weeds co-star Romany Malco is developing his own series and testing it out on YouTube viewers. Malco decided to create his own character after his Weeds role was written out of the show. He's leaving Conrad Shepard behind and moving on to the role of Tijuana "T.J." Jackson.

Malco described Tijuana Jackson as an ex-convict living under house arrest. Under a strange, "only on TV" legal arrangement, T.J. stays out of jail by supporting the three women that live with him. The women also happen to be prostitutes and T.J.'s employees.

Lately, the only Katie Couric most people have been seeing is the one that's depicted in the picture to the right: serious, sober, possessing whatever gravitas she can muster in her role as anchor of the CBS Evening News. But where can you see the goofy Katie, the one that people came to know -- and some got sick of -- for fifteen years on the Today show?

Why, on YouTube, of course! In fact, Katie has her very own page on the leading video sharing site, where she posts extended Evening News interviews and behind-the-scene footage. The behind-the-scenes stuff is where you see Katie at her most impish, doing things like snapping Larry King's suspenders as he leads her to the set of his show, singing with Bette Midler, and meeting with mommy bloggers in her office (check out the huge Warhol-esque portrait of herself she has hanging near her desk!).

We've all seen the thousands of comedy videos that people upload to YouTube. Some of them are good, most of them are awful, and there are very few that you would describe as "brilliant." This guy is the latter.

They're from 17 year-old Bo Burnham, a Massachusetts teen who started uploading wacky songs a while back and became a viral video sensation. How much of a sensation? Hollywood agent Douglas Edley (who also reps Dave Chappelle and Drew Carey) saw the videos and called up Burnham. He's now his agent, and Burnham was signed to Comedy Central. He recently recorded an album for them and has filmed some comedy segments for the channel.

After the jump are a couple of samples of Burnham's work (check out more at the link above, especially "Cookout"). Warning: these are NSFW, or school, church, or ice cream social for that matter. But they are undeniably funny and very clever, and Burnham has the musical chops to back up the words.

That was one of the many insights that NBC head Jeff Zucker had on Charlie Rose last night.

Charlie wanted to know what the top five shows in the ratings were, and while Zucker mentioned shows like Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and House, he also included Heroes in that bunch. He named Heroes and four other shows and said "those are the top five." Now, I love Heroes as much as the next person, but I don't really remember it being in the top five that much (if at all). Top ten or twenty? Sometimes I guess, but not top five.

What's happening on other blogs via the interweb.

• President Bush is going to appear on Deal Or No Deal.
• Roger Ebert undergoes more surgery.
• The Hollywood sign is in danger.
• Yes, Brian Dunkleman does think it was a bad idea to leave American Idol.
• Mind of Mencia and Reno 911 launch new seasons on Comedy Central in May.
• Hulu vs. YouTube.
• SNL's Jack Handey has a new book out.
• Too Much Free Time is writing Hell's Kitchen/Top Chef haikus this season.

Almost a year ago, Flash developer Paul Yanez put together a web-based application that looks and feels like Joost, but displays online video from other sites like YouTube, Veo, and MySpace. But if you want to actually watch Joost content, you still need to download and install a standalone application to access Joost's peer to peer network. There's no web player... yet. But Joost CEO Mike Volpi tells Portfolio Magazine that a web based player is in the works.

It's not entirely clear at the moment how the player will work, or how Joost hopes to set itself apart from other services like YouTube or Hulu. The former has the lion's share of the online video market, while the latter has a much wider selection of popular full length TV episodes and movies than Joost. But considering the fact that only 6 million people have downloaded and installed the Joost client, while more than 10 million people watch YouTube videos every single day, it's clear that Joost had to do something.

What do you think, is Joost grasping at straws here? Or does the company's recent test of live streaming video and its plan to launch a browser-based player make sense as a competitive business strategy?

[via Silicon Alley Insider]

TiVo plans to let users find and watch YouTube videos on their television sets later this year. The service will be available for customers with broadband-connected Series3 and TiVo HD boxes. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the lack of Series2 support means two things:

1. TiVo isn't really focusing on Series2 development much anymore
2. TiVo may be waiting for YouTube to officially roll out higher resolution videos before launching the service.

Anyone who's ever hooked up a computer to a TV set and tried to watch YouTube videos can tell you that they tend to look pretty crappy. While low resolution video might be good enough for a small window in your web browser, when you blow that same video up on a 27 inch or larger screen, it just looks like bunch of pixels. If TiVo plans to roll out YouTube video support on its HD-capable boxes, I can't imagine they'll want to do so before YouTube upgrades its video player.

Reality rules at ABC -- or so it seems. Today the network announced that five "alternative" (their word, not mine) shows have been picked up for next season: Dancing with the Stars (no surprise), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (still no surprise), Supernanny (understandable), Wife Swap (not too unexpected) and America's Funniest Home Videos (are you kidding me???).

Yes, yes, it's true. Even in this era of YouTube, there's an audience out there that still enjoys America's Funniest Home Videos. ABC has booked it for an 18th season, making it the longest-running primetime show in the network's history. Host Tom Bergeron will be back -- natch -- and more money will be awarded to the funniest videos, which are now DVDs.

In recent weeks, TV Squad has reported that HBO has made episodes of their new drama series In Treatment available for free viewing online. Now, HBO has taken another step in expanding its brand and making some of their top shows available on the web. The cable channel has just inked a deal with YouTube to create an HBO channel online. The HBO/YouTube site is up and running -- you can click over there today and start catching up on HBO series.

The initial line up is impressive, starting with the Gabriel Byrne drama In Treatment. You can also catch up with Entourage episodes, which are always fun. There are more laughs with Flight of the Conchords, Extras, Stand Up Comedy, Def Comedy Jam, and Real Time With Bill Maher. On the dramatic front, there's The Wire. In addition, you can watch episodes of the award-winning magazine show Real Sports, as well as the Latino documentary series Habla y Habla.

Uh-o, somebody just blew the whistle. You know how you were spending your lunch hour (or however many minutes you can get away with while eating your tuna fish sandwich) in your office cubicle catching up on that episode of Ugly Betty or Grey's Anatomy you missed? Well, you're not alone. Nielsen Online has measured Internet traffic and just released data that indicates that peak viewing time is weekdays between noon and 2:00 p.m. Moreover, the number of people watching TV episodes online during these lunchtime hours is 50% higher than the average of all other times.

This video has been floating around the blogosphere for a few days -- thanks to Deadspin, who always seems to be able to dig up fun clips like this -- but I wanted to put it up here, for those who missed it (or those who find it so funny that they want to see it over and over again):

The clip is an outtake of Chris Berman doing a Monday Night Football halftime show in 2000 (when MNF was on ABC and was still semi-relevant). Apparently, people were moving within Berman's line of sight while he was doing said halftime show, and he didn't like it. Nope, he didn't like it one bit. He hated it so much, that went on an obscenity-laden tirade, only to pause to take a dainty sip of what looks like a Diet Coke.