Ambiguous movie endings resolved. Some jokesters have put together imagined endings to some ambiguous film (and TV) endings. Much funnier and better executed than I expected.
posted by meadowlark lime on Nov 12, 2009 - 51 comments

"Long thought to be lost or destroyed, this complete recording of one of the few hour long interviews of Alfred Hitchcock has been found." [more inside]
posted by dhammond on Oct 12, 2009 - 17 comments

Michael Sandel's "Justice" has long been one of the most popular courses at Harvard. Now for the first time the class is being broadcast online. The site for "Justice." [more inside]
posted by grobstein on Sep 27, 2009 - 25 comments

"What if America wasn't America?" That was the question posed by a series of ads broadcast in the wake of the September 11th attacks, ads which depicted a dystopian America bereft of liberty: Library - Diner - Church. Together with more positive ads like Remember Freedom and I Am an American, they encouraged frightened viewers to cherish their freedoms and defend against division and prejudice in the face of terrorism (seven years previously). The campaign was the work of the Ad Council, a non-profit agency that employs the creative muscle of volunteer advertisers to raise awareness for social issues of national importance. Founded during WWII as the War Advertising Council, the organization has been behind some of the most memorable public service campaigns in American history, including Rosie the Riveter, Smokey the Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog, and the Crash Test Dummies. And the Council is still at it today, producing striking, funny, and above all effective PSAs on everything from student invention to global warming to arts education to community service.

Additional resources: A-to-Z index of Ad Council campaigns - Campaigns organized by category - Award-winning campaigns - PSA Central: A free download directory of TV, radio, and print PSAs (registration req'd) - An exhaustive history of the Ad Council [46-page PDF] - YouTube channel - Vimeo channel - Twitter feed
posted by Rhaomi on Sep 11, 2009 - 69 comments

Kuchh Kook Hota Hai is an all singing, dancing (and possibly epileptic fit inducing) Indian cookery show (without much cooking), featuring two sassy assistants 'salt' and 'pepper'. To whet your appetite – Mutton Burger and Carrot Roll.
posted by tellurian on Sep 1, 2009 - 25 comments

60s Pop Friday! Ladies and Gentlemen, from Queens, NY, it's the Shangri-Las! Mostly known for their grandly melodramatic songs about teen love gone awry, they aren't all downers. They've been covered by bands from France to Japan.
posted by The Whelk on Jun 5, 2009 - 12 comments

Been overjoyed with hulu and other online internet television sources? You need to know about Miro, the video podcast tracker and media display program for everyone. [more inside]
posted by hippybear on Apr 27, 2009 - 19 comments

Soul! New York City PBS affiliate WNET have digitized 9 episodes of Soul!, a early 1970's live music program, providing a groovy video interface with chapters to break down each hour long episode. [more inside]
posted by myopicman on Apr 23, 2009 - 20 comments

Read all about it! Discover all the news! Read all about it! Track down all the clues!
With interesting people there's a mystery to be solved! An adventure is unfolding, so why not get involved? Come on and READ ALL ABOUT IT.
Young Chris is left an old coach house by his missing uncle. As he and his two friends fuddle with the lock, a strange figure watches. The kids do not yet know the building is the entrance to a mystery that spans time and space! Aided by Otto the IBM Selectric robot typewriter and Theta the spooky as hell talking viewscreen, they will find that the concerns of an alien tyrant reach into the government of their own town. (24 of 40 15-minute episodes, including the entire first season, of this early-80s TV Ontario-produced "educational" show are on YouTube.) [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Apr 5, 2009 - 20 comments

In 1981, ABC aired a program in daytime that, while pre-dating the After School Special format, was a moralist tale aimed at children. "The Wave" was based on the classroom experiments of Ron Jones, which at the time went largely undocumented and were primarily anecdotal. The Third Wave as he called it, fooled the children of his class into creating a fascististic movement within the school complete with symbolism and salutes. [more inside]
posted by mediocre on Dec 28, 2008 - 46 comments

Exciting things are happening on the DSLR market: both the new Nikon D90 and Canon 5D MII can shoot video and now the first real footage is becoming available on the web: Chase Jarvis showcased the D90 a bit back and now Vincent Laforet demonstrates what the 5D MII is capable of (more on his blog, including behind-the-scenes footage) Laforet predicts these cameras will change the landscape rather rapidly: You can use your prime and zoom lenses (...) with it - and shoot wide open… so you can shoot films with fisheye lenses, 50mm 1.2 as well as the 200mm f2 or 400mm 2.8 that you may already own… [more inside]
posted by krautland on Sep 23, 2008 - 108 comments

The Early Television Foundation and Museum Website covers the nascent days of the nation's pastime, with interesting items like mechanical TVs and programming schedules from 1939.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim on Sep 9, 2008 - 11 comments

Tuesday night [his] gradfather died. He invented rewinding.
posted by GuyZero on Aug 14, 2008 - 58 comments

The Black and White Minstrel Show was a (very cheesy) British variety series that ran Saturday nights on the BBC for twenty years. Hard to believe that it was still on the air as late as 1978. A live show, "Memories of the Minstrels ," toured the UK to packed houses in 2004 and 2005. The show was performed white-faced and featured the stars, medley's and costumes from the original TV series. Previously. [more inside]
posted by miss lynnster on Jun 4, 2008 - 43 comments

So, um, Pitchfork.tv launches today. [more inside]
posted by brevator on Apr 7, 2008 - 80 comments

"My name is Mike Wallace. The cigarette is Philip Morris." Before there was 60 Minutes, there was The Mike Wallace Interview. Thirty minutes with Steve Allen, Frank Lloyd Wright, Kirk Douglas, Pearl Buck, and Salvador Dali, to name just a few.
posted by steef on Apr 4, 2008 - 16 comments

2007 has come to a close and so we now conclude our broadcast day. [more inside]
posted by dhammond on Dec 31, 2007 - 31 comments

Open Culture's "10 Signs of Intelligent Life at YouTube" features "intellectually redeemable" channels from UC Berkeley, @GoogleTalks, TheNobelPrize, TED Talks, FORA.tv, the European Graduate School, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, BBC Worldwide, National Geographic, PBS, UChannel, MIT, Vanderbilt, and USC.
posted by Soup on Dec 27, 2007 - 21 comments

Wayne White's paintings [more inside]
posted by 1f2frfbf on Dec 20, 2007 - 19 comments

Bill Clinton on Charlie Rose - on display: Thoughtful Visionary as well as Political Animal; cf. Howard Dean and Jimmy Carter.
posted by kliuless on Dec 16, 2007 - 55 comments

Playboy. Cowboy. Mandom. The late Charles Bronson and his perfect chest, in one of his finest early pre-Death-Wish roles. And look out for Percy Helton. Here's a shorter version with more horse. Via here. [more inside]
posted by brownpau on Sep 20, 2007 - 63 comments

Streaming NFL Games [more inside]
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 on Sep 8, 2007 - 25 comments

Bill O'Reilly alerts the nation to the roving lesbian gang menace.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 on Jul 9, 2007 - 100 comments

Mike Rowe worked as a late-night QVC presenter in the early nineties. Yes, the Mike Rowe of various Discovery shows, including Dirty Jobs. He ad-libs poetically about the crap for sale, bursting into song, and placating crazed callers.
posted by blasdelf on Jul 3, 2007 - 34 comments

MITV: A how to for internet video production, from the friendly people at the Participatory Culture Foundation (makers of the Democracy Player).
posted by signal on Apr 16, 2007 - 6 comments

TV in Japan. A hyper representation of what airs, or has aired on Japanese TV. Ranging from action packed to truly awesome (and from monkeys to ninjas), set your eyes to "dazzled" and brain to "frazzled".
posted by myopicman on Apr 13, 2007 - 7 comments

Join Hitler and his pirate robots on a hacky journey of learning. Eight video tutorials on how to create a great video pilot (starring Jack Black, with a cameo by Andy Dick as a police car). Just be aware... true success in the entertainment business entails a lot more than just decent cinematography.
Courtesy Acceptable.tv and Channel101.com (of Yacht Rock fame.)
posted by miss lynnster on Mar 31, 2007 - 14 comments

Bud BlueBlew It With a typically punny Hollywood Reporter headline, the news is out that Anheuser-Busch's new video site with Original Content (launched during the Super Bowl, naturally) is not nearly as popular as expected. The promoters blame the registration/age-verification requirement for discouraging users (noted here earlier today), but 21 State Attorneys General say it's not discouraging enough. But is the content any good? Here are a couple reviews.
No, I didn't link or even mention the site's obvious address. I don't want anybody to think I actually encourage stuff like this ;)
posted by wendell on Mar 18, 2007 - 23 comments

The Chasers reveal the irrelevant of many surveillance cameras and the ignorance of many Americans by declaring War on Everything.
posted by augustweed on Jan 19, 2007 - 33 comments

Got some free time over the New Year's long weekend? Well, here's every episode (or damn near it) of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Boondocks, Clone High, Metalocalypse, Moral Orel, Robot Chicken, South Park (alt), Venture Brothers, Futurama. Or over here, there's all those and more. But wait my friends, there's more, yes, even more: for the same low price, I'll include the Ultimate Motherlode of Music Video (11,500 of them, or your money back!), alphabetized for your viewing pleasure. Just free up some bandwidth, and step inside ...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Dec 29, 2006 - 156 comments

Let's Paint and Exercise TV! Four videos of a public access TV show where a guy paints pictures of a fat naked dude and runs on a treadmill at the same time. Features four letter words and a fat naked guy, so may not be work - or mind - safe. Presented by artist John Kilduff and featuring musician Frozen Plastic and model Michael Q Schmidt, star of 'Huge Naked Guy'.
posted by tapeguy on Aug 1, 2006 - 9 comments

Real-life recreation of The Simpsons opening. (YouTube link)
posted by Robot Johnny on Mar 4, 2006 - 80 comments

The Songy Challenge (.mov link) "This is that one show called The Songy Challenge...Maybe you don't know as much about lizards as I do, but that lizard's curiosity was PEAKED!" From Iowa City Public Access TV.
posted by scottreynen on Feb 9, 2006 - 11 comments

A Yule Log for your iPod. If you don't live in the New York area, and you have one of those fancy video iPods, you can now download some holiday cheer from Channel 11. (Their Yule Log phenomenon was previously discussed here.) For more information about Yule Log traditions, wikipedia features in depth articles on both the traditional and the modern. [Inspired by logging out of gmail.]
posted by jann on Dec 23, 2005 - 11 comments

Animated video broadcast on Iran's IRIB state television, apparently aimed at children, seemingly promotes the virtues of becoming a suicide bomber. Coralized wmv link, transcript.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Nov 6, 2005 - 57 comments

The first episode of NerdTV is out but the site is so inundated with users that the official torrent is the only way to get a copy at the moment. It's an online-only series featuring hour long episodes filled with interviews done by Robert Cringely.
posted by mathowie on Sep 7, 2005 - 15 comments

Gel.TV A bunch of crazy japanese guys keep howling and screaming and throwing jelly around and then there are sneakers and then... I really have no idea what this is all about, but it's really funny. Warning: This site seems to load pretty slow sometimes. And: Try the knobs of the tv-set and these little Icons below. *Really* weird.
posted by heimkonsole on Jun 22, 2005 - 23 comments

Ultra scary puppets sing hymns of love Via Boing Boing, the scariest tv show that I have ever seen in my life. The poor puppetry, the references to God, the organ sound it all comes together to burn into your brain. Children subjected to this will remember it forever. I think I may even have cold sweats about it in the night. Its long but worth it. (Quicktime movie)
posted by ClanvidHorse on May 30, 2005 - 56 comments

Steven Levy and Mark Pesce on the future of television. Oh and Conan O'brien! :D [via]
posted by kliuless on May 23, 2005 - 6 comments

Watching tv on the internet With daily tv-video news.
posted by halo7879 on Feb 24, 2005 - 5 comments

Rather unusually, the Sci-Fi channel have made the entire first episode of their new Battlestar Galactica show available online, uncut and without commercials, for free (Real format, not bad video quality). While the series is still being aired in the US and Australia, the first episode has now been shown in all markets and the Sci-Fi channel may be trying to figure out if making the ep available online could improve ratings.

Their decision may have been aided by the fact that the show was aired in the UK two months before the US, resulting in an awful lot of US fans downloading the show; normally it's the other way around.
posted by adrianhon on Feb 24, 2005 - 43 comments

Conan follows John Stewart: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog conducts interviews in Spin Alley.
posted by Tlogmer on Oct 22, 2004 - 27 comments

Pancake Mountain presents Ian MacKaye performing "Vowel Movement" for the kiddies. As a friend said, this site has "pancakes and indie rock and bob mould as a corporate goon all in one package." [via sullivan]
posted by ifjuly on Apr 8, 2004 - 14 comments

Xtreme martial arts video gallery - a gallery of clips of traditional martial arts fighting styles and weapons, as well as some rather cool "in-the-body" animations. The site is a preview for a show on martial arts that will launch this week on the Discovery Channel. (via Buzz).
posted by madamjujujive on Nov 29, 2003 - 10 comments

Domo-kun! Domokun is "a small brown open-mouthed monster hatched from an egg who lives with a wise old rabbit underground." In Japan, he's the mascot of the NHK BS2 channel and is the star of a series of stop-motion shorts (100MB .mov), the fun and warmth of which aren't lost in translation. In the western world, Domokun is better known as the monster chasing that cute little kitty.
posted by adrianhon on Oct 11, 2003 - 13 comments

Skeletor and Gang: What is it about the combination of stop-motion animation, He-Man action figures, and sped-up heavy metal that makes me laugh until I hurt? "Skeletor, Mantenna and Grizzlor are having a party! Oh no! Moss-Man attacks! Defend us Squeeze!"
posted by emptybowl on Apr 5, 2002 - 7 comments

BBC 2 are axing their current channel idents One of the pleasures of this UKtv channel is seeing how they'll be banging, crashing or stretching that little number two. Is this a revolutionary development or just another example of meddling from a channel which is having trouble finding an identity within the UK's multi-channel future?
posted by feelinglistless on Nov 14, 2001 - 17 comments

White House instructs TV networks not to air bin Laden videos
posted by andrew cooke on Oct 11, 2001 - 50 comments

Interviews 50 ¢ is one of my all time favorite sites. Alex Chadwick sets up a card table and a handmade sign "Interviews 50 cents". People walk up and tell stories. If they are esspecially moving, he hands them 50 cents, otherwise they put 50 cents into the cigar box. (In Quicktime format and text)
posted by Zebulun on May 18, 2001 - 5 comments

ShadowTV is tomorrow's technology today -- its "TiVo on steroids," according to Joachim Kim, a creator of a new technology that enables users (which may at sometime include the public on a subscription model) to pull up video-quality or better streaming footage of any television show that aired or is currently airing, including (or not including) the commercials, all in a handy web application.

The limitations are endless.

Such a technology could prove deadly for the big TV networks (down the road sometime), although ShadowTV seems optimistic to work with content providers. [Thanks to Professor Michael Rosenblum at NYU for introducing our Televison and the Information Explosion class to tomorrow' technology.]

Now, let me begin planning that 7-season Star Trek: Voyager marathon...
posted by nyukid on Apr 20, 2001 - 45 comments