I have a hunch that this press release heralds nothing, but woe unto viewers if it does.

It's not because I don't think Will Wright, creator of The Sims and SimCity, is creative. I think it'd be tough to argue that he's not. But what in his oeuvre suggests that he's versatile? Maybe there's a vault buried deep within Maxis. Maybe it's just bursting with sculpture, beautiful etudes, grand and artful manuscripts, precise sonnets, and insightful histories. Maybe Fox found the vault, opened the vault, stood in awe of the trove, and offered Will a development deal.

Or, maybe Will's talent ranges from macro-simulation to micro-simulation. To paraphrase Noah Baumbach, maybe Wright's genius spans "...from here to the dance floor."

Because expansive genius and remarkable talent is what it requires to develop television shows. I know, because I watch Fox.

I used to work at a company in LA. We were an interactive television company in name, though we mostly goofed around and waited for the VC to run out. I was Creative Director, which means I surfed the web and argued with the Executive Producer most of the day. About what? Stuff like The Weakest Link online, of course. You don't reach that pinnacle of entertainment awesomeness and win a coveted Bandie without busting some head bones in the process.

So while we were not quite paying the bills with play-along gameshows, we also did some consulting on and pitching of Interactive Television Programming. Then we branched out into Regular Television Programming. By the time the company went kerplunk we had produced No Television Programming.

Though nothing came of anything during that time, I did get to have countless wonderful meetings and lunches with all kinds of swells. Some of them were impressive, sharp, and creative. Most of them were dull-witted, easily-distracted, and well-dressed. I know I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said about TV executives before. And I'm only saying it partially out of spite over TV riches I richly deserved but was denied.

In 30 seconds anyone you meet on the street could come up with five ideas better than most of what's on today. It's not about genius. The genius is convincing these TV people that you know something they don't. Will did it by selling millions of games, and probably none of those to the TV people.

It's clear, though, that, no matter who's name is on it, something bad happens between the press release and the product.

Analogcabin @ 8:11 AM
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