On Demand Weekly

On Demand Weekly recently attended the 3^rd Annual New TeeVee Live conference in San Francisco. Here’s our take on what occurred.

3 topics that may affect ON Demand TV

1. Why besides Comcast, no other MVPDs [Time Warner, Cox, Verizon, DirecTV, Dish] had a presence @ NTVL?

ODW: Missed opportunity to speak to Silicon Valley?

2. Brian Fuhrer, SVP, Nielsen sees new digital video efforts (ie TV Everywhere) as "The Extended Screen."

ODW: How will they incorporate new technology into their ratings system?

3. Amy Banse, President of Comcast Interactive Media advocates for Nielsen to include On Demand & Time Shifting Views into their overall ratings?

ODW: Will they?

5 most interesting speakers at New TeeVee Live

Media savant T Tara Turk goes deep inside cable TV to reveal Video On Demand's Hidden Gems so even the busiest of our readers can get the most out of On Demand TV. Tell Tara what VOD shows you think deserves her attention.

LUTHER

By T. Tara Turk

Now that PBS’s hit "Downton Abbey" has shut down the big house for the season and we’re suffering from Edwardian England post serial withdrawal, it’s time to gather some dangerous warped perspective on Brit drama and catch up on last season’s "Luther" on BBC On Demand.

I don’t care if you have to take the cable USB cord and plug into your vein, you have to catch up on where we left off with Luther, distraught with his wife Zoe’s murder, and nearly on the verge of suicide. I have to say that I’m slightly glad to be rid of Luther’s wife because, out of all of Luther’s relationships, this one proved to be the least believable. Most of that is because you never really quite understood what purpose Zoe served aside from gnawing at her fingers and leading Luther and her boyfriend, Mark, on whirlwind of confusion. In death, Zoe serves a much better purpose for Mark and Luther that you’ll have to find out.

Thank the Queen of England for Alice, easily one of the most complex and interesting female characters on television. The relationship between Alice is Luther is one most writers dream of creating because there are no boundaries - only a match of the minds that reads of the Nielsen ratings (no Oprah ratings begging necessary here).

Season 2 is a total of 4 episodes as opposed to the 6 so there’s no reason to delay on catching up. New characters haunt Luther in new ways to explore his own vulnerability. There’s Jenny whom he’s trying to protect. There’s Baba who gives Godmother from Cocaine Cowboys II a run for her money due to her creepy collection of her “family” criminals. There’s Martin Schenk, head of Luther’s new unit who is determined to clean the force of crooked cops and will stop almost at nothing to do it.