October 5, 2002

8:22 PM

"We all do it...We watch our favorite shows and speculate and discuss with our friends... Now, Slack Street presents BuffyRadio, a new concept in talk radio commentary..." Kinda like voiceover commentary in DVDs, but featuring the voices of fans. It's still pretty rough. "Phone lines are open! Oh crap! We don't have any phones!" They're working on ways of getting input from listeners as they record their broadcasts. Great start though. I'd like to see/hear similar program formats dissecting CSI and other stuff.
posted by ZachsMind (4 comments total)

And to think I logged on after I just finished watching "I Only Have Eyes For You" on DVD.

Oh, and don't miss this:

Want to be part of our conversation? Add BuffyRadio to your AIM Buddy List and drop us a note while we record our show: 9pm - 10pm PST every Tuesday night.

I'm there...
posted by Cyrano at 11:03 PM on October 5, 2002

Buffy is one of the best candidates for dissection and guesswork, considering that Joss The Creator foreshadows everything from a week ahead to 5 years ahead. I used to think that obsession and constant speculation over a tv show was horribly lame, silly and just painfully stupid, but the intricacies of Buffy have made me a believer. Even though I only started watching the show after the summer after the sixth season. Here's my comment to the question posed on the front page of buffyradio.com:

From: sle
To: [e-mail]
Subject: Pete and Pete!

ok, I guess I like Dawn for reasons outside the Buffy writer's control.
She was Nona on Pete and Pete's adventures. And it just doesn't get much
cooler than appearing on pete and pete. Iggy Pop, Stipe, Arty - the
strongest man in the world, et all. I simply cannot hate anything
Michelle Trachtenberg does. The buffy writers haven't done such a
good job with her so far, but I trust in them. They've done alot for
me so far.

posted by stavrogin at 1:32 AM on October 6, 2002

This has been discussed before, for movies, but episodic TV is a natural, savvy expansion of the idea. I'm not a Buffy nut, so I won't be partaking of Slack Street's efforts, but I'm a big supporter of the alterna-mp3 commentary (a friend and I recorded one available here), and I hope that this becomes an underground hit with fans of the show.

Also, Salon recently reported on DIY commentaries.
posted by blueshammer at 6:47 AM on October 6, 2002

For the sake of completeness for those who like researching past similar discussions, Buffy's also been mentioned twice before back in September, but I did searches and never found previous references in MeFi for SlackStreet or BuffyRadio.

What Slackstreet is doing is not technically groundbreaking, but they are on the cutting edge. To the best of my knowledge, they're one of the first to attempt using mp3 files as saved "talk radio" programming, and allowing anyone who downloads them to do pretty much what they want, within reason. I believe, on their about page they do ask that colleges and corporations contact them directly if there's an interest in their shows being used for any kind of broadcast, but other than that they encourage people to save them and pass them around in order to spread the world.

I do agree with Roger Ebert that the idea of fans making the equivalent of DVD commentary is a definite feasibility. I'd like to find yet more who have done this, preferably regarding material I personally enjoy. I would try your mp3 commentary, BluesHammer, but I've never seen Mulholland Drive. If you do one about Memento in the future though, I'm so there.

As for Dawn, I have publically admitted that she's fast becoming my favorite Scoobie, but that's partly cuz I like rooting for the underdog, and so many people diss her when she's really one of the most believably played roles in the show. This is ironic since technically the character's not even real. Her origin is one of the most creative ideas I've seen anywhere on television. I think this season's going to prove to be her season, not cuz she's gonna be the next Slayer. She's not. It's because the last few episodes from this season and the last indicate that the writers have finally found her voice properly and they're utilizing her as more than just the weekly victim.
posted by ZachsMind at 2:52 PM on October 6, 2002