Last week, I published a brief history of new media that concluded with some ruminations on “deep dives,” which are media products that emphasize immersion, exploration, and engagement. I argued that terms like binge watch, thinkpiece, or longform have recently emerged to characterize these new media experiences, and one could probably find hundreds of contemporary examples that conform to the basic thesis.
Although it’s presented as a historical review, the inspiration for that piece actually derived from thinking about a few recent media products, none of which made the final draft. So here they are, my favorite recent media inventions that encourage deep exploration:
1) POLITICS: With All Due Respect (Bloomberg)
The pitch for this new show must have been spectacular. I imagine something like this:
Two seasoned political insiders discuss the inner machinations of political strategy with other seasoned political insiders. The hosts express no overt political bias, but they passionately — very passionately — adore the gamesmanship of politics. The viewership will be small but extremely engaged. And there will be a countdown clock to remind the hosts that they have been wonking on an arcane topic too long.
If that sounds like a slight, let me clarify: With All Due Respect, hosted by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, is my favorite television show right now. It is the most weirdly insidery thing ever put on cable.
2) SCIENCE: How We Got to Now (PBS)
Neil Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death was hugely popular when I was in college, which annoyed the living fuck out of me. The polemic argued that television was dumb, which, in the era of The A-Team and Alf, was about as provocative as saying “Brezhnev likes vodka.”
But Postman doubled-down on his point, arguing that television was inherently dumb — that television could never be an efficient medium for drama, journalism, or learning. Postman bastardized the ideas of Marshall McLuhan to contend that the form of television was corrupt. This really irked me, mostly because it was difficult disprove in 1995. (Sure, My So-Called Life was good, but, well, you know.)
Now it’s so easy to prove him wrong! Postman’s argument looks comical now that Breaking Bad and Mad Men have become the novels of our time, and FOX’s reboot of Cosmos is worthy of a semester’s credit in AP physics.
Anyway! That random rant has a point:
Steven Berlin Johnson is the author of nine great books, but I think he shines brightest in a new medium — television. His new show, How We Got Now, aggregates little pieces from all his books into a thoughtful series, each episode is like a little essay, but emphasizing good storytelling. Let’s call them “historical thinkpieces” — a genre Postman could never have imagined on television.
3) COMEDY: Last Week Tonight (HBO)
You already know how ridiculously good John Oliver’s HBO show is, and you’ve likely seen the staggering numbers that segments on civil forfeiture (3.9M), net neutrality (7.1M), beauty pageants (6.7M), and prison (4.2M) have raked in online.
But another set of numbers is even more startling: 16:30; 13:17, 15:24, and 17:42. Those are the respective lengths of each clip.
We are constantly told we live in an age of short attention spans, but then then 7 million people watch a 15-minute video about net neutrality.
“Investigative comedy” is what one commentator called Oliver’s show, which gets my vote for media invention of the year.
4) PODCASTING: Startup
The chatter around podcasting’s resurgence began a couple weeks ago with NY Mag’s query “What’s Behind the Great Podcast Renaissance?” The pile-one commentary since then has included Marco Arment, Chris Dixon, and Peter Kafka.
Serial, which might be the quintessential deep dive, is getting all the attention, including rabid subreddits and Vox explainers. But Alex Blumberg’s meta-podcast about making a launching a podcasting startup has been excellent. It looks like his company’s first show will be called ReplyAll.
5) INTERNET: Wikipedia Talk Pages
Seriously, I get deeply lost in these things every night. Haven’t you always wanted to get into an argument with your encyclopedia?
Rex Sorgatz churns out old new media @fimoculous.
