I figured I’d share what I’ve been watching lately and discuss how new media actually fits in with bringing about some great TV shows.  In a time where broadcast networks are suffering, viewership is declining, and ad revenues are disappearing quickly, the major networks are scrambling to figure out what to do with themselves in primetime.  NBC has thrown in the towel on competing for ratings, and will instead be airing Jay Leno’s 5 night a week variety show.  They don’t expect to beat out other shows ratings, but they expect the tiny production budget compared to a drama will be a better way to go in the face of declining ad revenues.  I can’t say I blame them.

With all the problems major networks are facing at the moment, I wanted to highlight a few shows I watch that are actually thriving in part thanks to new media formats and the internet.  In the past, storylines had to be much more contained within a single episode, and the major part of a show that would carry over from week to week were the charachters.  This way, you could miss a show you watched one week and come back still feeling in the loop.  Now, new shows are able to create committed followers while weaving complex storylines over the course of episodes and seasons.

The major change that has allowed this on the part of networks is being able to view episodes online.  ABC was the first major network to jump into the online video player format, and now pretty much every network has their own episode player, is integrated with Hulu, or TV.com.

The other major change has come from viewers themselves.  Message boards, blogs, and fan websites allow for a much more in-depth experience and viewers can communicate between each other to fill in missing details and understand plot subtleties.

The final change is a much greater level of viral marketing online, as well as user experiences that can be taken outside of the show into alternative-reality type games.  I think the one person that has driven this idea for the entire industry is J.J. Abrams.  He’s the creator of the Cloverfield movie that came out last year with a huge online viral marketing push, the director of the new Star Trek movie coming up, and executive producer of two of my favorite TV shows, Lost and Fringe.  His briliance in both storytelling and innovative promotion is astounding.  Thank you, J.J. Abrams, for helping to redefine the future of media content while at the same time providing me with immense entertainment.  Let’s look at the shows.

Lost is without a doubt my favorite drama on TV of all time.  It’s now in its 5th season and is starting to come full circle, with the 6th season guarenteed to be the final season.  ABC and the producers made an agreement in season 3 that the show would run 6 seasons, regardless of how good or bad ratings were.  This agreement was groundbreaking, as beforehand there was no precedent for predefining an ending date for a show.  Instead, shows with good ratings got dragged out long past the point where the show itself was any good.  This is still largely the case, but at least now Lost exists as a new model for finding out while the going is good.

Lost is the type of show where you absolutely cannot miss an episode if you want to get the full experience.  The plot is basically one extremely long movie chopped into seasons of episodes.  The writers say they’ve had the entire storyline mapped out since early in the show’s run, and with many questions that the early seasons brought up now being answered, I tend to believe them.  Lost was one of the first shows available online the day after it aired on TV, which has made it much easier to keep up on.  However, I take it further and have a couple message boards and Lost blogs that I read after each episode to make sure I catch all the little details and hear what other’s theories are about the show.  The marketing surrounding Lost has continued to be compelling, as several viral campaigns promoting this season have given clues about the show’s mysteries to those willing to dig around online a bit.

It’s never to late to get started on Lost, and it’s a must-see in my book.  Just make sure you start at Season 1 Episode 1 and watch every episode.

Fringe is a new show this season (with J.J. Abrams’ mark on it, not surprisingly), and I think has immense potential.  It doesn’t fit in any one genre, as it’s part sci-fi show, part cop action comedy drama, and part mystery.  The show follows FBI agent Olivia Dunham who is recruited to a special division of the agency that is investigating a series of supernatural and bizarre events dubbed “the pattern.”  Other major characters include Walter, a warm, fuzzy personality who also happens to be a completely mad scientist, and his son Peter, the voice of reason with a shady background.  The characters all form a great balance, and the bizarre things that happen are all just realistic enough to be believeable.

Fringe accomplishes something really important that Lost does not.  It’s a hybrid show that strikes a balance between a traditional show and a show with a continuous plot like Lost.  Each episode of Fringe contains its own storyline from start to finish, but there’s also an over-arching plot that runs throughout the episodes.   This, combined with codes, patterns, and easter eggs hidden within each episode that are further developed online creates a compelling story that keeps you watching.  Each episode ususally starts out with something creepy happening that gets resolved within that episode, but the bigger plot running throughout the show has made for some great lead-out hooks at the end of episodes that tie in with the next episode.  Just like Lost, the show brings up tons of questions it hasn’t answered yet, but the fact that each episode is self-contained to some degree makes the not knowing bearable.  Hopefully the show has a long enough run to explain its mysteries.

Then there’s the Office, a delightful and often painfully funny comedy.  I’m sure you’ve heard of it.  The characters are great, the writing is good, and the show hasn’t gotten old yet.  That said, I wouldn’t miss it too badly if it disappeared.

I’ve watched the first few episodes of Better Off Ted and it’s got its moments, but so far I’m not quite sold.

Then there’s my two HBO shows, Flight of the Conchords, one of the wackiest and funniest musical comedy shows ever (but it appears to be done after two seasons), and Entourage, the show worth watching if for no other reason than Jeremy Piven as movie star agent Ari Gold.

Finally, no list of TV shows would be complete without a nod to Arrested Development.  I think I’d have to call it my favorite show ever.  Brilliant subtlely bent and twisted humor and one of the best casts ever.  It only gained a cult following and was cancelled after three seasons – way, way too early.  The good news, in 2010 we get a movie, complete with the entire cast.