Tom Green's House Tonight
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tom Green's House Tonight | |
|---|---|
| Format | Internet Talk show |
| Created by | Tom Green |
| Starring | Tom Green |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 176 as of January 8, 2008 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera setup |
| Running time | approx. 60 minutes to 90 minutes. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | tomgreen.com |
| Original run | June 15, 2006 – present |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Tom Green's House Tonight (formerly known as Tom Green Live) is an Internet-based talk show hosted by Tom Green. In addition to its primary broadcast on TomGreen.com, the show is syndicated on television stations throughout the world.
Beginning as a partnership between Green and ManiaTV! (who financed the majority of the show), the webcast is mostly spontaneous with a reliance on celebrity guests and viewer interaction via telephone calls, Skype calls and occasional instant messages via an Apple iMac G5. The show is set inside Tom's living room, where a fully functional studio has been constructed. Because of many technical issues with phones, computers, streaming and audio in the early shows, they took off a few days to repair the systems and came back on September 13, 2006. The episodes before September 13 are considered to be test shows, and the real episodes are considered to have started on September 13. Many viewers found Tom's reactions to the technical problems as entertaining as opposed to a hindrance to the show.
Contents |
[edit] Web-O-Vision
While it is not the first Internet show, Tom Green's House Tonight may be the first Internet call-in talk show, and Tom frequently cites this as an innovation. With no reliance on advertisement funding, his show is similar to public access television, and he often refers to it by a word he coined: Web-O-Vision. It has none of the typical content restrictions, such as a ban on swearing, nudity or drinking, although Tom often discourages talk about politics and sex and tries to refrain from swearing himself. The relaxed and unrestricted nature of the show, along with the fact they are in Tom's home, often leads to a very natural and open style of interview not found on other talk shows.
The show airs Monday to Friday for one hour, occasionally going over the hour. Most shows can also be viewed in the On Demand section of tomgreen.com. At any time Green can spontaneously go on the air by literally flipping a switch under his desk which turns on all of the lights and cameras, hits record and sends out the feed to tomgreen.com.
[edit] The Channel
He refers to his website as The Channel. The output of The Channel is not limited to Tom Green Live! Other shows on The Channel include Poolside Chats (talk show hosted by comedian Neil Hamburger) which is filmed at Tom's house, Leonard Mills Live (Tom in character playing guitar and singing, often about ridiculous subjects) and The Wally And Tom Show (Tom and his ventriloquist dummy). Past shows have included The Robert Kurtz Show (Robert Kurtz searching the internet for funny or shocking content with the help of viewers who call in and send links), Mysteries from Beyond the Other Dominion (an insight into bizarre stories and scientific discoveries hosted by Dr. Franklin Ruehl) and Girl Talk Live (women talking about various subjects). Freestyle Friday aired on Friday nights with live music, a large number of guests and a party atmosphere. More recently, an episode of Tom Green's House Tonight is aired on Friday instead.
Shows appearing on The Channel can vary significantly in length and can last for many hours. On occasions, Green has slept with a live camera on all night, which is also the practice of more than a few lifecasters. He sometimes takes a video camera with him when taking a break from The Channel and posts pre-recorded clips such as his visits to Costa Rica and New York. He once showed his surgery after a skateboarding accident.
Samsung was his first sponsor, advertising the new Samsung Upstage phone. A few weeks later, Bud Light commercials were shown before each show. Product placement was also used as bottles of Bud Light would be provided for Tom's guests during every show and bottles could be seen in Green's fridge.
[edit] Television syndication
In August 2007, Green announced he had split from ManiaTV, which necessitated upgrades to the equipment and technology used to produce and stream the show. Tom Green Live ended in the Summer of 2007 after a 186 episode run.
With the upgrades complete, Green launched the all-new TomGreen.com on September 27th, 2007 with the help of producer Victor Borachuk, and followed with a surprise live show the following night, before leaving for Canada to appear in the upcoming film Freezer Burn.
The new site showcased technology by far eclipsing what had been in place before, such as full 16:9 video, LIVE Flash video streaming, and audio/video/text communication with viewers without screening people ahead of time. The show went on to win the TV Guide award for “Best Web Talk Show”.
After several hints by Green that a new partnership would lead to Tom Green Live! being broadcast on television as well as the Internet, Broadcasting & Cable announced (October 2007) the show's January 2008 expansion to TV syndication in a deal with Debmar-Mercury. [1]
When the show relaunched on the website Tom Green - The Channel as Tom Green's House Tonight at the beginning of January 2008, it was renamed to coincide with the television debut. On January 7, 2008 it appeared in a pared-down version on conventional TV as Tom Green's House Tonight on The Comedy Network. On 6th May 2008 the show was announced as the winner of a Webby Award for best variety show in the Online Film and Video category.
[edit] References
- ^ Broadcasting & Cable, October 2007.
