As the Sopranos ended I still had a few favorite TV shows I love to watch. The Wire, The Office, Boston Legal, The Shield, and since I spent several years as a Firefighter myself the show Rescue Me on FX is probably my favorite.
Rescue Me is a ground breaker like the Sopranos for writing, style and acting. I love the way the different stories are woven and the development of the actors. The unexpected feeling that a floor may fall out from under you happens on the fireground and in and around the firehouse. Sometimes it seems if the characters only safe place is in the firehouse. I do like that the show started with basically all unknown actors except Leary. You cant go wrong adding Tatum ONeal either.
I just finished watching the season premire and as the credits rolled I saw that they get the New Media angle also and the marketing that is so important these days: the Web.
Rescue Me has a different actor answering fans questions online each week. They also have a feature where you can record your thoughts in a podcast. These online comments have an rss feed attached so you can subscribe to fan comments and they are building a community around the show.
The site has many other things even a portion from one of their sponsers Match.com.
It reminds me of my pitch last year to Bill Marhers show to have him do a podcast. They laughed at the time but I bet now they see how to give your show/companies community more content that they want. Give it up.
But FX is getting it. More people spend time on the internet now then ever before and it is just growing. New media is changing the landscape. Keep that in mind when working on your marketing plans people!