Twitter is crossing mediums to develop a TV show, according to a Variety report. Joining forces with LA-based production companies Reveille Productions and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Twitter plans to launch an unscripted show that will put “ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format.”
Variety says the show’s concept was the brainchild of novelist Amy Ephron. Founded by NBC Entertainment exec Ben Silverman, Reveille Productions is known for producing TV hits like ABC’s Ugly Betty and NBC’s The Office. The company was apparently bought by Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine Productions in February 2008 for $125 million.
Update: Tell us what you’d rather see Twitter work on before a TV show.
(Photo credit: Flickr/Vlastula)
I’m just brimming with excitement over this one. Not.
Whatever Borat, this will rule.
Finally a show for people with the attention span of a goldfish.
“Hey look a castle! Hey look a castle! Hey look a castle!”
Was this revenue model we had all been waiting on?
lol seriously what would the storyline be?
shark-jumping moment, defined
Well, this seems like a terrible idea. However judging from what’s on TV these days, terrible ideas seem to be what people like to watch…
April Fools?
I think twitter should start off small scale with a network like Current.TV If they start at the top like that, their dreams will be crushed by bloated execs who think they know more than twitter and end up killing it before it gets started.
I completely agree. Current already has some kind of twitter celebrity news and its pretty fun to watch them, but I don’t know if it would work if twitter was 100% of the episodes… Some YouTube testing of the audience might give them feedback and audience numbers to draw conclusions upon.
Uhh this doesn’t make any sense at all.
this makes alot of sense. a disconbobulated website combined with disconbobulated celeb chasers sound like a match made in heaven.
EntertainmentLocator.com – produce yourself
woooooooooowwwww.. what a spectacular newssssssss….. whoaaaa.. i am excited….
Naaatt.. TwitterCrunch fail…
Ok read the Variety article. There are next to no details. I get the impression this isn’t a Twitter show, but more like Amazing Race with Twitter as a communication medium
what do they have to lose? a disconbobulated website combined with disconbobulated celeb chasers sounds like a match made in heaven.
EntertainmentLocator.com – produce yourself
Wow, no real revenue yet but they are going for a TV show. Bubble2.0? Yes.
Its hard to make out, what is this all about …
THIS POST IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY TWITTER
Actually, TechCrunch and Twitter merged months ago and just lost the press release.
Yes
Fancy and I’m located 300 kilometers from Perth in Western Australia (The Bush) and I’d like to submit a link to Hollywood’s Gossip column if it helps you get where you want to go. All the best with your show. http://hollywoodgrind.com
Thank You for your brilliant platform.
“Hollywood” has had very little success with integrating their brand of entertainment with tech. Attempts since the early 80’s with Atari, the 90’s with ITV, then Ebay and Yahoo, the list goes on. I wouldn’t hold my breath.
When you need to seek out traffic and plug-ins I have made a Private Label Product free to everyone. http://bit.ly/yrJaf
Looks like someone had to fill their quota of posts for the week and is running short on ideas. What a well written and informative article. I’m totally serious!
the 9 replies to speaks to how high the ratings will be
great non-story, might as well have just twittered this – so little content written what’s the point?
This just in: someone at Twitter sneezed! Full report on TechCrunch coming soon!
The concept mentioned seems dumb and boring. I’d like to see some kind of interview/discussion/opinion polling, kind of like what Digg is starting to do but on TV in real time.
It occured to me that the guest could ask the audience questions and get answers in real as part of the discussion format. I don’t think Digg can do that yet.
Wow a world of text that should cut down on the bandwidth the TV needs
How about they focus on making twitter (and now twitter search) work?
O wait, wouldn’t it be cool if twitter went down on live television!
*high fives*
I talked to Ben Siverman @NBC and they are planning to cast 140 characters for the show.
I enjoy working closely with @ev @jack @biz @twitter @aplusk @mrskutcher @jimmyfallon @TheEllenShow @Oprah @MarthaStweart @iamdiddy @THE_REAL_SHAQ @BarbaraJWalters @SherrieEShepherd @JoyVBehar @ehasselbeck @RainnWilson @CNNbrk @johncmayer @GuyKawasaki @SarahKSilverman @LauraJSilverman @JodyneL @JennyfromMTV and @aliwise
A TV show with a live stream of SMS messages/twitters from Oprah, Shaq, Britney, Martha, Kutcher… right on your TV!? Break out the popcorn!!!!
I thought “Pop up Videos” wasn’t on anymore…
Nice product placement and monetizing opportunity. Mind you, what the content and format will be is uber-unclear.
and how are they going to begin a show? @Xyz welcome to #TwitterHollywood…. oops we ran out of our 140 character limit :s
This has to be a rumor. Can they be this stupid? Firefly gets canceled but we get a show about Twitter?
If I’m reading the article right, Dumbest move EVER! I think it’s cool that someone reads a tweet from @The_Real_Shaq and finds him sitting in a diner — ok, no big deal… but If Twitter thinks that ‘regular’ people, reading tweets by celebs, and ‘finding’ them is worth killing the brand they have, more power to them. The truth is, those people are often called Paparazzi, and/or Stalkers — and that’s one of the great things about twitter – everyone has that ‘access’ to a celeb… no more need for tabloids and Paparazzi — wanna know what’s going on? follow them… but NOT in real life!! Ridiculous. If you know these people, fine – if you’re invited by tweet (like Shaq did, “anyone @ this diner?” – fine… but not this. Kooks will be showing up at Queen Rania’s events with a TV crew in tow… Stupid move.
Twitter is going to ruin their brand one way or another…
Next Up: Twitter Celebrity Sighting BusTours
Come enjoy a day of celebrity stalking and sightings as our network of Twitspotters and papparazi report on celebrity whereabouts via Twitter.
B. Willis Whole Foods Hollywood #celebsighting
Ashton just arrived at Spago!!!!!!! #celebsighting
Holy Crap!! This will be bigger than sport fishing!!
yeah, lol, that’s about what it sounds like it’ll be like… what a great way to treat the people who helped in some way, get you where you are, huh?
What was Twitter thinking? Killing their brand, that’s what. Stupid move.
I smell fail already
twit.tv might have something to say about this…
I’d like to see them generate enough material and content to sustain three seasons vs. what happened with Hyperion Bay [1] just over 10 years ago.
As a plus, this might mean more work for Carmen Electra.
[1] http://www.imdb...itle/tt0166044/
Umm. What’s a TV?
this is gonna be great.
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this is getting ridiculous,no?
I’m gonna swim against the stream here, but the idea has legs. We run a variety of TV shows that incorporate various mixtures of SMS, RSS and social media streams, incl Twitter. Topical conversation-based, live and pre-rec. We see more and more people choosing to communicate via their SocMed channels, and the datamine opps around these ‘directed’ conversations are of value too.
And come on, Twitter is already a victory for the simple & mundane, what better partnership than TV?
perhaps a picture says it best. http://ff.im/3fLD0
My nanny just showed me that we heard a rumor from our nieghbor David Geffen was goong to buy Twiiter and create Twitter TV. That was a tweet to @ev on April 5th. I forgot about that until just now
That’s good, keep going twitter. Good luck to you
Hosted by Ashton Kutcher and MC Hammer ha
I love the smell of EPIC FAIL in the morning. Seriously, this is the most crap idea I ever heard. Ugh, I need coffee…….
WEIRD……nothing better to do with their time and attention?
See Shark.
See Twitter.
See Twitter jump Shark.
techcrunch is pointless anmore all i read is twitter thi twitter that twitter sucks
I smell a big bubble…
Just think if Twitter did have its own TV Network?… my best picks for Twitter’s Top Ten TV Shows (Twitter All Day, All The Time) …. http://tinyurl.com/o6vpux