Red Green Show Thrives Thanks To The Internet And A Whole Lot Of Duct Tape
from the quando-omni-flunkus-moritati dept
This one is a tad old, but it is certainly worth sharing. A while back, Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) sent in this great interview with Steve Smith, the creative mind and star of the Red Green Show. This show, for those who are not familiar with it, is the amalgamation of comedy, handyman, and personal counseling all wrapped up in duct tape and presented by the backwoods host Red Green. Just to give you a taste of what this show has to offer, here is one of my favorite skits from the show.In this interview, Steve describes a few interesting things about what has happened to the show in the five years since it was taken off the air.
Q: It’s been more than five years since the show signed off, so how is the fan base growing?What I find interesting here is that Steve has embraced the full potential of YouTube. Not only does he upload videos, he actually allows and encourages the uploading of clips by users. This line of thought is something that is completely absent from many others in the television and movie industries. They would rather control what is shared and what people are allowed to watch. Unfortunately for them, that attitude only results in a stale online presence. The ability for new fans to find your show and share it is key to surviving in this internet age.
A: Two things: No. 1 YouTube. I mean fans are putting clips up there, and we are getting response, and we are getting new viewers that have never seen the show, only the clips on YouTube. And then we started putting them up ourselves. We are putting all the episodes up. We have about 120 episodes on YouTube now. Soon we will have all 300 up.
The second one is Facebook. We are almost at 500,000 followers on Facebook, so we have this line of communication. So between those two, I’d say brand awareness is more than ever."
Next we have Steve contemplating the future of the show.
Q: Will you ever bring the character back to television?Many skeptics of online business models would probably laugh at Steve over these responses. Those skeptics claim that the only way to succeed is to go through old and dying channels of television and theaters. Sadly, these same skeptics also would gloss over the fact that the Red Green Show has had more success in the five years it has been off the air than the entire time it was on air.
A: I really doubt it. For one thing, I’m really preferring the Internet to television these days. I like having direct contact with the fans rather than having to go through some middle man or interpreter. If I was to do anything, I would probably do it on the Internet rather than on TV.
Q: Have you considered a YouTube series or something similar?
A: Yeah. We’ve got some people that we’re talking to now that might want to do something like that, and that would interest me as opposed to the whole mess of a television series where you have to worry about the network folks. We don’t necessarily have overlapping agendas, and the older I get the harder it gets."
Another key point to take from this interview is the importance of connecting with fans. Much like many artists before him, Steve has recognized that and has placed the value of that connection far higher than any deal that a gatekeeper would offer. Why would Steve abandon what he has accomplished in the last five years to go back to being relegated to 10:30 pm Friday night on public television? Wouldn't you rather give your fans 24 hour access to your content and in turn have 24 hour access to your fans?
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Filed Under: connect with fans, duct tape, red green show, steve smith, television
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Great quote.
The old media conglomerates would rather villanize their customers than win them over. That explains why people are not watching as much TV as they used to. Heck, there's hardly anything worth watching these days.
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It's impossible to imagine tv today without Seinfeld. The best example is Always Sunny In Philadelphia, which is in many ways Seinfeld 2.0 for a less responsible, more nihilistic generation. In the 90s, Kramer and George were the epitomes of adults who don't have their life together — by today's standards they seem downright responsible, and we need Charlie Kelly to laugh at.
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The "it used to be better before" is a tired meme. It constantly comes up whenever you talk about music. 'Today's music sucks and that's why the recording industry is in trouble' is a common statement. Popular music - and popular TV - have been around forever. That will never change.
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My God, you found something? What the hell is it ?!
Seriously, it's all over for "Broadcast" TV, where the fix (for too many commercials and zero content) from the "Broadcast" TV Braintrust is: more commercials and less content.
And they pay these people, right?
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Person of Interest. It's definitely worth checking out.
(Note: this is not intended as an endorsement of anything else on TV, which is mostly crap these days.)
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I'd say that attitude meshes pretty well with his views on the internet.
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Who says that old farts don't get it?
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I'd say that attitude meshes pretty well with his views on the internet.
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I'm a believer
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Not "the" God , but a god. (groundhog day
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"if the women don't find ya handsome, they should at least find ya handy"
"handymans secret weapon, Duct tape"
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And
Hockey Sticks
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Ripping off Tim and Al from "Home Improvement".
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But..
That's all the copyright supporters have to ask. They'll argue he is making nothing or not as much as before, therefore he is worse off.
And whenever Lowery shows up as an AC he'll champion that message.
The thing is, how will Steve make money in the future with YouTube besides advertising? I am sure it will take multiple methods and revenue streams, but it will be possible. There's more than just tShirts and YouTube advertising dollars.
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Which is potentially true so long as the only value you place on a show is money, and you assume that whatever he was making on a network was sustainable in the long term. Both of these are assumptions with a lot of problems, and there are huge number of non-monetary ways in which a show can be valued (which, paradoxically, can indirectly lead to making more money).
"There's more than just tShirts and YouTube advertising dollars."
Indeed there is. Smart producers (like the ones highlighted in similar articles here) find ways to make money. Bad ones sit around and whine about the one revenue stream they depended on no longer being viable, and get the lawyers in to try and turn back time.
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Steve Smith has a very popular and very profitable traveling stand up act. That is where he makes the real money. He also makes money from the books he has written.
He has recognized that the show is not a scarcity and his live performance is. So he gives away the show to help sell his performance.
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Yup - just like Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Mr. Bean, Monty Pythons's Flying circus - these shows never made any money in their home countries, because they were shown on PBS in America.
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Smith was part of a singing duo with his with, called "Smith and Smith" (I know, trite, but hey). He's been around at it a very long time (he is turning 66 this year). Their experiences are mostly is working with the smaller audiences of Canadian local TV and such.
His internet audience of 50,000 followers is likely bigger than the general viewership of much of the work he has done in his life. It shows where it's a godsend for what is effectively a marginal player, someone who's work, while good, isn't popular enough to merit a continued long run on TV. It should be noted that one of the reasons The Red Green show ran as long as it did is Canadian Content regulations. It pulled enough of an audience to hold it's spot over even less interesting locally produced fair.
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More innovative than you know!
He turned the broadcaster into a dumb pipe, got himself an audience and went from there.
http://ambidx.netne.net/rgfaq/rg1.html
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All rise for the man payer =)
This was my absolutely most favorite show on PBS when it aired here in the States. I always enjoyed Handyman Corner and Possum Lodge Word Game
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Youtube gets better and better
I watched that show every single night in college.
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red green show
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RedGreen Fan
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I saw the show a bit abd thought the is mire underneath to the humor. I dont think people aporeciated that
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