YouTube has kicked off an interesting week of comedy programming. The video mega-platform is placing big bets on a week of comedy programming that essentially takes over the spotlight and ads of its homepage and more. This is a massive attempt to program their chunk of the internet as if it were a linear TV schedule. If successful, it could prove to be a historic moment in web video. YouTube has also turned to GetGlue’s new ad platform to help spread the word to influencers.  Read more

For a journo who has found success with decidedly old-school methods, Ed Gordon has some advice for aspiring broadcasters: get on YouTube. “In today’s world… it’s about producing and owning your content,” he told Mediabistro in the latest installment of So What Do You Do?. Gordon also advises young people with dreams of being on the small screen to “learn where your craft is headed,” and talks about the importance of perseverance when it comes to career success:

There are a lot of people who’ve given up trying to get on commercial television and have gone to securing their own YouTube channels, and I think, at the end of the day, that’s going to be the future of broadcasting. People are just going to put stuff out there. They’re gonna have their own YouTube channels, and eventually you’ll be able to buy things from those channels. But I think one of the things that people have to understand is it takes perseverance.

Read the full interview in So What Do You Do, Ed Gordon, Host of Conversations with Ed Gordon?

– Mona Zhang

Shortly after a disintegrating NASCAR vehicle spewed debris into the crowd, a spectator uploaded a terrifying clip of the accident and the aftermath to YouTube. But the clip was suddenly removed with the message, “This video contains content from NASCAR, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.” Read more

Netflix’s “House of Cards” made TV history, simply by being referred to as a TV show. The Kevin Spacey political drama has catapulted binge-watching from a TV junkie’s obsession to a major form of normal TV consuming. Traditional TV critics were forced to cover this show differently. The Six Stages of “House of Cards” Grief replaced the weekly episodic review. After all the hoopla around the midnight, entire season launch, was House of Cards actually a success? Netflix says yes, but isn’t revealing the numbers. Social TV on the other hand paints a very clear picture. Read more

The late-night race to innovate is on. A couple of weeks ago we wrote about Conan O’Briens entirely crowsourced episode “Occupy Conan” set to air on Janaury 31^st. This past Thursday night, the rivalry between Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon was taken to the next level when Damon kidnapped Kimmel and hijacked his show. Fans of the show know that it has been a running joke for years that Kimmel bumps Damon at the end of episodes saying that they’re out of time. Here’s how Damon got revenge and how how social TV reacted. Read more

As the web evolves and matures we’ve begun to cover more shows that are not on traditional TV. For example, Battleground and The Yard are two must see shows from 2012, that aired exclusively on Hulu in the US, not a traditional TV network. In May YouTube pitched their brand new TV-like channels to advertisers during the traditional TV upfronts. Now Ashton Kutcher’s Thrash Lab YouTube Channel and Eric Finley are showing off what the future of comedy will look like with “Comment Counselor.” Read more

Karmaloop, the popular streetwear brand has been investing in online video since they launched Karmaloop TV back in 2008. Karmaloop was founded by entrepreneur Greg Selkoe who launched the company in 2000 almost failing several times before the brand took off and became a fashion staple. Selkoe and his company recently launched a brand new KarmaloopTV (KTV), which "chronicles and celebrates the progressive cut and paste youth movement known as 'Verge' culture (the multi-racial, global and tech savvy alpha-consumers made up from the first generation to grow up with the internet)." We spoke to Selkoe about opting out of a traditional cable network, his guest appearance on HBO's unfortunately short-lived How To Make It In America and his plans for the future.

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YouTube has just rolled out a major redesign that gives the site a social shot in the arm while shifting its focus from the willy-nilly world of outlandish videos to a more polished, TV-like presentation. On the home page, the site's rich media, double-punch advertising display will be the first thing you'll notice. The increasingly-familiar Google bar rests across the top, with my G+ notifications there, as well...

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The second Social TV Summit, organized by Andy Batkin, kicks off tomorrow (Wednesday) in NYC. Lost Remote (myself) will be there covering the event, and we will be streaming the live conference here on LostRemote.com like we did for the sold-out event this past summer in LA (this one's also sold out).

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The new Google TV software update -- a rather major overhaul -- is starting to roll out to Google TV-powered sets and devices this week. At the same time, YouTube announced it's rolling out new original content channels. It's a combined effort to restart the product, which was widely panned by consumers and blocked by many TV content providers' websites.

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