laid off

Weighing In On Rev3 Changes

Big news today in the world of New Media. Revision3 decided today to cut back some of it’s shows as well as a few of it’s employees to persevere through this economic downturn. While I’m saddened that such talented people are out of work, I’m not too terribly disappointed that some of these shows are no longer a part of the Rev3 lineup. Of course, I’m referring to Internet Superstar, Pixel Perfect, and Pop Siren.

Internet Superstar. A lot of problems exist with this show, in my opinion, and they all seem to stem from Martin Sargeant’s very first show with Rev3, Infected. I gave that show a chance when it first aired, and just didn’t get it. I understood what was supposed to be funny about it, but I lost interest about ten minutes into the first episode. I also couldn’t get through episode two, or episode three, and stopped completely ten seconds into the fourth episode. It was the kind of humor that I don’t subscribe to, and the lack of focus for the show only served to piss me off.

When Web Drifter came into the fray, things changed for me. The show had Martin Sargeant in his element: out and about with all the “weird” internet people he could find. It was a promising concept, and as the series progressed, it started to take a form that I really enjoyed.

And then it was dropped for Internet Superstar (or Infected 2.0: Where’s Joey?). Despite being more focused in scope than infected, it just couldn’t make up it’s mind about where it wanted to go. This was quite evident when the full length version of the show got cut down to just it’s daily “bytes” only. Really, how much longer could this show have gone on anyway? Personally, I think cutting this show down was a wise choice, and should have happened even before this economy crunch occurred.

Pixel Perfect. I really liked this show, but as it continued, I noticed that it just didn’t really fit into the Rev3 lineup. Maybe I’m the only one who thinks that, but there was a definite vibe that this show was kind of outside the core content that Rev3 was producing.

Pop Siren. Now here’s a show with promise and a lack of vision at the same time. I remember watching it a few times between the older (longer) version and the updated version. It lost a lot in the translation, and it only showed me that like Internet Superstar, it just wasn’t finding it’s place in the core lineup. A shame, because I was definitely into it for awhile there.

All in all, it’s a shame to see these shows go. Wine Library TV and EPIC FU will of course find their footing again, considering they were established before Rev3. I can only hope that the talented people from these dropped shows will find their next big thing and give it their all. Best of luck to everyone!