Ed Helms and Rob Corddry in New Line Cinema's Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay

Gizmodo posted an interesting interview with Rob Corddry, one of the stars from Hot Tub Time Machine. I’m surprised at how much of a technophile this guy is. I’m even more surprised at his somewhat shared thoughts on internet TV.

Gizmodo: Do all web shows secretly aspire to be real TV shows? Or is there a place for internet content that’s happy to be internet content.

Rob Corddry: I really don’t know. I definitely think it pretty much remains a separate entity. What happens in the future, I think, depends largely on the technology. We haven’t really got it right yet. Apple TV is just a novelty—I have it, I never use it. Boxee I really don’t get, it’s kinda hard to hook my computer and everything up to my television, and even then, I’m not sure that’s the most efficient way to watch my media. The only thing I can think of, gadget wise, that I really enjoy and use is Netflix streaming, whether it be on my Roku or my PS3. That’s the best I’ve seen. But there’s been no real marriage of television and the internet, truly.

There you have it.. Rob thinks Apple TV is dumb, Boxee is confusing and Netflix + Roku or PS3 is his best friend. Well, not really but you get the point: We’re not there yet.

And what will this real marriage of television and internet look like? I’m not 100% certain but here is a wishlist of things I hope the pioneers think of:

  • We don’t need channels. We are users and no longer a “viewing audience.” We browse the internet and likewise want to browse our shows. We don’t need information sequentially pushed to us.
  • That being said, we definitely don’t need to be charged per channel. We care about shows not channels or networks.
  • We don’t need to be charged per episode (hint: Apple, Amazon, etc).
  • We don’t want to wait days for new episodes like we do for Hulu or even hours like we do on network sites.
  • We need more openness (not what we see now with Hulu blocking different “platforms”).
  • We need more Clicker and less Hulu. We need more aggregators and less streamers.

We’re getting there. Clicker as a website is doing interesting things. From a software standpoint Boxee isn’t quite there yet mostly due to the (understandable) current lack of openness of content providers. They’re more on the right track than any other media center. Hopefully more media centers take note.

Devices, software and content providers altogether have a bit of distance to travel. Internet TV is coming slowly but surely. It’s going to continue to be interesting observing this journey.

What are your thoughts on internet TV?

Source: Gizmodo