Three months ago, ”As Goes Janesville” premiered as part of PBS’s Independent Lens series. The film explores the struggle of Janesville, Wisconsin since the economy began its nosedive in 2008. The producers of the film, 371 Productions will launch on February 4th (in conjunction with the documentary’s rebroadcast) BizVizz “a transmedia component of the As Goes Janesville project.”  Read more

Earlier this fall, we wrote about a huge problem facing the industry that social TV is bringing to light. In “Have you already watched Downton Abby Season three?“, we discussed how delaying launches of seasons is too hard on fans who can too easily see spoilers on every major social platform (Downton season three already aired in the U.K. but won’t premiere in the U.S. until next month). In November, The Sun revealed that First Lady Michelle Obama asked ITV for the new season and got it. Even Stephen Colbert poked fun at this the other week when the cast was in town promoting the show. Why isn’t the TV industry upset at the First Lady’s impatience? Why is she allowed to watch but not the rest of country? Here’s why the First Lady did the wrong thing by requesting the third season early. Read more

One of the most popular dramas on TV right now is Downton Abbey, the British show that has reinvigorated the possibilities of a period piece. We’ve covered the success this show has had both in the U.S. airing on PBS and across 100 countries where the show has been purchased to air. The third season of the show, taking place post World War I in the roaring 20s, just aired its sixth episode in the UK this Sunday. How can viewers in the U.S. and outside of the UK expect to wait to watch the new season? For over a decade TV fans around the world have been accessing their favorite TV content as they choose. Now, with a global social web it’s no longer acceptable to let the current business models destroy TV for fans. Here are the problems facing the global TV market. Read more

If you haven't watched Downton Abbey yet, go to Netflix to catch up on season one followed by PBS.com to catch season two. The season finale will air this Sunday. The award-winning British drama created by Julian Fellowes begins the morning the world found out the Titanic sank and centers on the Crawley family and their servants and workers that make up the Downton Abbey estate. The ensemble cast is superb -- each actor is so uniquely different and complex that you can't help love everything about the show...

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On Sunday night at 8pm Eastern on PBS, a four-part documentary series on TV will premier. America in Primetime will take a deep look at the different characters on television today through the lens of different shows throughout television history. Check out NPR's outstanding review and the series' official website.

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In a modern twist to a TV pledge drive, PBS ran a Facebook "Like Drive" last week that rewarded fans for helping promote some of PBS' most beloved people and shows. Every day, PBS promised to unlock exclusive video clips on Facebook if fans "liked" the PBS page and shared statements of support on their own walls. For example, you could click Mister Rogers to post the statement, "I support PBS because I believe in a neighborhood where every child belongs." Those statements helped drive awareness for the PBS page, driving new fans -- more than 18,000 in all for the week, stopping just short of 950,000 total likes for the page. When PBS hit the daily "like" goal of one thousand on all seven days, fans were rewarded with a new video. For example, on the last day of the drive, fans were rewarded with an exclusive video of Mister Rogers from the PBS archives:

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In a modern twist to a TV pledge drive, PBS ran a Facebook "Like Drive" last week that rewarded fans for helping promote some of PBS' most beloved people and shows. Every day, PBS promised to unlock exclusive video clips on Facebook if fans "liked" the PBS page and shared statements of support on their own walls. For example, you could click Mister Rogers to post the statement, "I support PBS because I believe in a neighborhood where every child belongs." Those statements helped drive awareness for the PBS page, driving new fans -- more than 18,000 in all for the week, stopping just short of 950,000 total likes for the page. When PBS hit the daily "like" goal of one thousand on all seven days, fans were rewarded with a new video. For example, on the last day of the drive, fans were rewarded with an exclusive video of Mister Rogers from the PBS archives:

Read more