Reading about the new CNN Situation Room and the other interactive efforts underway, I had the strangest feeling we'd stood and talked like this before. (Apologies to Rogers & Hart.) We had -- the CNN show was called TalkBack Live and it broke the ground the others stand on today. And yet it's as if the show never happened. I've posted the full article I wrote about TBL seven years ago in extended comments; here are some excerpts.
On any given day, participants can join a live audience, enter an on-line chat room, send e-mail, phone in or fax in. By late August, "TalkBack Live's" newest access point -- video conferencing -- should be out of testing and ready to go. And computer users with a fairly fast connection, a decent video card and the right software don't have to turn on a TV to watch the show via Webcast. ...
When "TalkBack Live" debuted on Aug. 22, 1994, the reviews were not all kind. Some were downright dismissive of the techno-gimmickry and the addition of yet another talk show. One reviewer described it as CNN's "'Larry King Live' crossed with 'Donahue' with just a hint of talk radio." ...
It may be hard to imagine, but the show began before the Web was a household word. Back then CNN's major on-line presence was through CompuServe, where "TalkBack Live" hosted a forum. E-mail, faxes and phone calls were all part of the mix. The show even tried video conferencing, but the technology was too slow to be of real use. ...
I'm not suggesting the Sit Room is a TBL remake or that it isn't worth attention in its own right. But it didn't spring from Zeus fully formed, either, and a lot of what's being tried now isn't new.
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