Glee and Fringe are jumping into the future (sort of) with “tweet-peats” this week, Fox’s cute idea to broadcast reruns with real-time commentary from the producers and stars, provided via everyone’s favorite social media blogging platform. Fringe‘s Josh Jackson and John Noble will be tweeting up a storm on Thursday @FringeOnFox), discussing last season’s penultimate episode, and on Friday, Glee‘s Kevin McHale and Lea Michele will be tweeting a director’s cut of the show’s pilot (@GleeOnFox).
Fox will be running a scroll of the commentary, too, so it’s not exactly a brand-new blend of TV and technology — it’s more like Pop-Up Video meets any cable news show that broadcasts viewer mail. You don’t have to have a Twitter account to read the respective feeds, plus the tweets themselves are going to be right there on yer teevee screen, no computer or phone necessary. For a high-tech gimmick, most viewers won’t be using any tech at all.
Twitter-reliant or not, I still think this is solid-as-a-rock idea. I’m fanatical about listening to DVD commentary tracks; I read — and write — live-blogs; I often watch shows “with” my friends just by IMming about it the whole time, not by actually being together. So bring on the behind-the-scenes info and the answers to fan questions, Fox! Your plan to get me excited about the new fall season is tooootally working.
PHOTO CREDIT: Craig Blankenhorn/Fox
This is hardly a new idea. Lost did the exact same thing last year with some of their re-run and recap episodes.
This is a really good marketing idea – good on Fox! Why not capitalize on the most popular social network right now in a way that best utilizes the format? I’ve already seen both of these episodes, but as a fellow commentary junkie, you can bet I’ll be watching them again.
Awful! Terribly distracting to have the tweets up on the screen when I’m trying to watch the performances of the actors! This should be an option that you can disable easily — my husband and I spent the first 10 minutes trying to turn off the tweets, before we turned off the show. I love Fringe, but I can’t watch it with the tweets.
Annoying!!! Inane and boring comments. stop this madness!!