It's a Game! It's a TV Show!

by Terry Borst

Let's go back in time...

Imagine for a moment watching The Tonight Show back when Johnny Carson was doing his schtick as Karnak the Magnificent. Ed McMahon cuts to a commercial, but not before mentioning that Johnny will be back with Gina Lollobrigida. You push a button on the remote control, and instantly call up a list of Gina's movies, along with some studio publicity shots of the Italian actress.

Imagine you're watching Columbo. It's suddenly very important to the story that you see the piece of evidence Lt. Columbo found 10 minutes in the show, only you missed that scene because Aunt Edna called. No problem: select the onscreen menu and retrieve a close-up of the charred gas can -- along with a map of where Columbo found it, and its proximity to the crime.

Of course, these little Back to the Future moments couldn't have happened. But that was then, this is now.

You probably already know that viewer interactivity is being added to television sports broadcasts and home shopping channels. However, in the past few months, the two most durable networks in radio and television history -- CBS and NBC -- have begun enhancing their most prestigious prime-time entertainment programming with a variety of interactive features.

CBS -- interactive drama

Possibly the most exciting example of this trend is CBS's Emmy-nominated crime drama C.S.I. Subscribers to Microsoft TV services such as MSN-TV (formerly WebTV) and UltimateTV can enjoy an entirely new and engrossing dimension to this show, thanks to the interactivity built into every episode.

In fact, C.S.I. is being ballyhooed as network television's first interactive drama. Small wonder: the show offers a unique approach to 1-screen interactivity (where the show and the interactive elements share space on the same TV screen).

The onscreen interactive prompt (usually an "i" in a corner of the screen) becomes selectable whenever a C.S.I. episode begins. A horizontal menu bar appears at the top of the screen, and a secondary "sidebar" appears at the left side of the screen, framing the main program window.

The menu bar offers four menus: Crime Lab, Vegas, Personnel and Case Files. Choose the Crime Lab, and the sidebar will fill with icons you can navigate between to find out more about the equipment, techniques and jargon used by main characters Catherine Willows and Gil Grissom in the show. This is pretty handy in case you don't know your MagnaBrush from your Red Creeper, or if you missed the episode where the characters talked endlessly about a "PCR."

When watching a show, have you ever wondered how far the bad guys' hideout was from the good guys' HQ? In C.S.I., you no longer have to guess. The menu choice Vegas provides a virtual map of the show's home city, and pinpoints story locations vital to the episode (the crime scene, the morgue, a key evidence find, and so on).

"This is my favorite feature," says Microsoft TV's Todd Krieger. "I get physically disoriented when I'm in Las Vegas. But this makes all the locations easy to follow, and you become more grounded in the program."

Occasional viewers will particularly enjoy using the Personnel menu. This feature yields brief "files" on all of the story's central characters, filling you in on everything from their height and weight to what degrees they hold and what their marital status is.

The Case Files menu provides brief summaries of other episodes that have aired. Hmm ... looking into our crystal ball, we can guess how useful this will be in a few years (when video-on-demand becomes a reality). Wanna check out the kidnapping episode? Cli-ick! Cue it up for tomorrow night's viewing!

Some of the best uses of the sidebar occur during key moments of the story. When a Vegas location becomes important, the sidebar will pop up a graphic and some text describing the place (a museum, a casino, a park, etc.). When investigators uncover a clue, the sidebar often provides a close-up of the piece of evidence -- even a 360-degree view. If, for example, characters discuss a victim's bite marks and their perpetrator, the sidebar might display a side-by-side comparison of human teeth and canine teeth.

Many of these evidence close-ups and location graphics are accessible to the viewer later in the story.

The show involves you interactively in yet another way -- by asking you to solve the case along with the main characters, through a series of A-or-B multiple choice questions. If you decide to participate, you begin as a cadet investigator, and as you answer more questions correctly, you rise through the ranks to become a "Level 3" investigator, like the show's main characters.

Sample questions include "Handwriting experts divide handwriting into how many zones?" and "Do you think John is telling the truth?"

You may think all of these features would make following the show's story difficult. But after a little practice, you'll find yourself more involved in the unfolding narrative, and paying even closer attention to every little moment. In a sense, you get the best elements of both a game and a TV show: hands-on participation combined with the emotional and cerebral elements of storytelling.

If you've already registered with MSN-TV or DirecTV, and if you play through the questions, you'll even be competing for prizes against fellow C.S.I. sleuths -- an even greater motivation to "take notes" while watching the show.

Mind you, this isn't Criminology 101. You choose how many or how few of these features to use. And that's the beauty of interactive TV -- it really allows you to make the entertainment more your own.

If you're just looking for fun, C.S.I. will even throw in the occasional instant poll related to the show or the storyline -- and it will offer a real-time bar chart as the votes come in from viewers.

If you're out to dinner, or watching a college basketball game or NBC sitcom during C.S.I.'s time slot, fear not. The server keeps available all of the interactive elements for hours afterwards. Set your PVR (personal video recorder) to time-shift to a later hour, and you can still enjoy a fully interactive experience.

And don't be surprised if -- during the season -- new interactive features emerge that are even more tightly integrated with the storytelling.

As David Katz of CBS points out, "For the first time, viewers are able to access interactive content for a popular dramatic series in a manner that truly enriches their viewing experience. And I can't think of a more appropriate series to start with than C.S.I. -- its compelling and complex crime stories are tailor-made for turning the viewer into a novice forensic investigator."

NBC - interactive comedy

A few years ago, NBC pioneered the use of 2-screen interactivity (the simultaneous use of a computer and TV) with the shows Profiler and The Pretender. Now, NBC's late-night prime-time perennials -- The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live -- are showcase examples of enhanced TV (a term often used interchangeably with interactive TV). Viewers with set-top boxes provided by Adelphia, AT&T Broadband, Charter, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV are likely to have this interactivity already in place.

Once you've selected the interactivity option, the two comedy/variety shows offer discreet menu-driven interactive elements that include: guest lists and guest bios, musical guest and performance information, CD offers for musical guests, information about upcoming guests, and ticket information. In addition, you can purchase show-related merchandise with a few point-and-clicks.

The Tonight Show adds host Jay Leno's bio and future appearances, while SNL adds regular cast bios. Best of all, SNL includes a trivia game which gives viewers the ability to test their knowledge about the show's extensive comedic history. Who were the original cast members? Which celebrity has hosted the show the most? You'll find out by playing...

NBC Vice President of Business Development Carla Sinatra says "The Tonight Show and SNL are naturals for this kind of enhanced interactivity ... and we're excited about the opportunity to offer deeper content to our audience."

Ken Campbell of Wink Communications (the software enabler for NBC's interactive programs) adds that the CD-purchasing feature is particularly popular. "Viewers of [the two shows] purchased 70% more CDs in the second quarter of 2001 as compared to the first quarter."

How do you get any of this?

Unfortunately, viewers who can enjoy the interactivity of C.S.I. may not be able to enjoy the enhanced TV features of The Tonight Show and SNL -- and vice-versa.

Although the interactivity of C.S.I. can work on any ATVEF-enabled set-top box (ATVEF is a nearly universal protocol that helps set-top boxes and delivery systems talk to each other), at press time it was only available to MSN-TV and UltimateTV subscribers. This, however, could change at any time.

In the case of the NBC late-night programming, some -- but not all -- carriers have implemented these features and technologies.

However, 2002 promises to be a ground-breaking year in the expansion and full deployment of interactive television that goes beyond sports stats and home shopping.

In the months ahead, PBS and HBO are just two of the networks looking to greatly increase the interactive features of their regular prime-time entertainment programming. ABC tried out 1-screen interactivity during the most recent Academy Awards program, and we can expect to see new developments from Fox, WB, UPN and numerous cable networks as the new year unfolds. "Stay tuned!" never held greater meaning.