i-Caught by Donna Svennevik/ABC
Back in 1990 when video cameras hit critical mass among consumers, ABC launched America's Funniest Home Videos, making every embarrassing moment that occurred in front of a camcorder fodder for entertainment. It's still on the air. Now ABC News is exploiting the newest generation of video technology with a limited summer series called i-Caught, which premieres Tuesday, Aug. 7, at 10 pm. Each week, host Bill Weir will be getting the story behind the most talked-about user-generated clips on the Internet that go into heavy rotation on cable news after they've sufficiently distracted the nation's labor force. ABC has even set up a YouTube-esque site at http://ugv.abcnews.go.com where you can sample some clips and even upload your own. The Biz got Weir to log off long enough to talk about his new show.
TVGuide.com: So has the ABC News legal department cleared the use of i-Caught with Apple?
Bill Weir: I raised that exact point. But no. Everything is cool. I guess they can't trademark a lowercase "I."
TVGuide.com: So this program shows how we've come full circle. We have all this technology that's allowed us to share video on the Web. Now the stuff is ending up on regular TV. And you're giving the story behind the clips.
Weir: Exactly. You noodle around on YouTube and come across some amazing 30-second clip. Our job is to mine deeper. Find out who shot it. Why they shot it. What happened after they posted it? The fallout. There are all so many different layers. Not just with what the video entails. The fights over the rights. We want the fascinating stories that go beyond distracting you from your work for 30 seconds.
TVGuide.com: You're not limiting yourself to the stuff produced by geeks in their bedrooms.
Weir: The one thing I have no interest in doing is a clip show. We don't want this to be America's Funniest Home Web Videos. User-generated will drive a lot of it. But sometimes it's a surveillance camera. Sometimes it's law enforcement. Sometimes it's a soldier in Afghanistan shooting what he's seeing every day. It's really trying to wrap our arms around the idea that everybody has a camera now and you're photographed every 30 seconds in a major city. What that means is something you say or do in a public sphere that would be a blip five years ago now lives forever in this eternal universe. It's trying to put context into it — whether we’re better off or worse off in this scrutiny.
TVGuide.com: How can surveillance tapes make good TV?
Weir: Bank robbery surveillance tapes are a constant source of entertainment. We're working the guy from the FBI who gives all these guys their nicknames and is taking us through the anatomy of a bank robbery and how he trains tellers. It mushrooms out from the Barbie Bandits [a duo of female bandits who disguised themselves with oversized sunglasses] to something much deeper.
TVGuide.com: Who came up with this show?
Weir: David Sloan, the executive producer of 20/20. It came out of a 20/20 story that I did on "viral videos" and what makes them viral. What breaks through the fray and makes them a phenomenon. It did really well, and David said, "What if this was a show?" The West Coast loved the idea, so here we are.
TVGuide.com: It's the old premise that every picture tells a story.
Weir: Right. Ultimately, that's what it comes down to. It's just different packaging. It's the same as sitting around a campfire or in a cave 5,000 years ago. Now it's watching a grainy clip on your computer that somebody generated on his or her webcam.
|
