Yep, you read that right. Bill Maher, the guy who called the Internet "CB radio" back in the late 90s has the first (that I know of) big-budget talk show on the 'net. He claims it's the first ever talk show on the web but he's wrong. The 5 Minute Show was on the 'net back in 2003 and I'm sure even that wasn't the first show to have guests on the web.
ANYway, the show is called Amazon Fishbowl and since it's hosted by Bill Maher, you know it's going to be a pretty decent show. I always like his comedy and this show is no exception to his track record. The only weird thing is him not being able to say "blow job" (and other "swear" words) because the Amazon audience is apparently G-rated. I'm used to his foul mouth on his HBO show. Ah well, at least it's Bill Maher and you don't even need cable to watch it!
Anyway, check it out at Amazon.Com/fishbowl and see what you think. There are some obvious product-placement type deals, but it's kind of cool since that's how TV got started, too. Sponsors wouldn't just have their products featured on the show, the show would have a product's brand name above the show title. Hence, Amazon Fishbowl. Another example of the overt sponsorship is the segment where an author of a book delivers it to a person who ordered it off of Amazon.com with the help of UPS.
So, we get a plug for Amazon.com, the author of the book and UPS, too. In fact in the first ep we get a plug for The Sopranos, as well, since the book was The Goomba Diet by some dude on that show. It was a bit surreal watching the UPS driver featured in the segment (a handsome looking black guy) admit that he now wanted to become a goomba himself.
Ahem.
ANYway, another (less) blatant plug for a product available on Amazon.com was when the Dixie Chicks were on playing a couple tracks off of their new CD.
They still make CDs?
ANYway, while there were obvious and in-your-face commercial aspects to the show, it still had Maher's wit to entertain me. So, I'm going to recommend it and probably watch it again. It runs like a YouTube movie--flash player and easy to just have up in the background.
The bad news for habitual collectors like me is that you can't download the episodes.
:(
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