personal

ABC News is currently shooting a behind-the-scenes documentary series with the working title of NASCAR in Primetime. The run of four to six episodes may air this summer and fall, though nothing is certain just yet.

Despite whether you're a NASCAR fan or someone who doesn't quite understand the allure of watching advertisements going in circles for hours, NASCAR is huge right now. I've never been a sports fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a younger brother who used to race a stock car, and both he and my father are NASCAR fans. The attraction, I believe, is having a favorite driver (or drivers) and watching to see how they perform in the race. That makes it much more interesting than just passively watching men you don't know drive really fast. Also, I've been to stock car races, and trust me, it's much more exciting when you're seeing it firsthand.

ABC News hopes to close the gap between NASCAR fans and those who couldn't care less by focusing not only on the racing aspects, but also on drivers whose personal stories stretch beyond the sport itself.

I don't have much interest in game shows, but I do try to catch Jeopardy! every day. First of all, it's a somewhat more intellectually stimulating than Wheel of Fortune, and it allows me to sit alone in my apartment and yell things out like, "What is 'Paul's letter to the Corinthians!'" and then sit back with an expression of smug self-satisfaction. Of course, that's usually after listening to twenty other answers whose questions I didn't know.

Most of all, however, I tune in for Alex Trebek and those always awkward exchanges between himself and the guests when he tries to learn a little more about them. Trebek has a tendency to say exactly the wrong thing, or to say things that don't quite make sense.  Yesterday during the Tournament of Champions, he had this exchange with a contestant, Mike, after Mike told him about a shower curtain he and his wife received which had a map of the world on it:

Alex: Do [you and your wife] shower together?

Mike [Smiling nervously]: I'm not gonna answer that.

Alex: You're husband and wife, it's okay.

Mike [Still smiling nervously]: I'm still not gonna answer that.

Ah, it's gems like that which keep me tuned in to this show every day.

Larry Page of Google will be speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, and while no one knows what he's going to say exactly, Robert X. Cringely likes to think that maybe Google is looking to create an approach to television advertising that's similar to the company's approach to Web ads. In other words, certain ads shown during a particular program would be tailored to your individual taste. This seems a little too "Big Brother" to me, but Cringely makes a valid point when he says that the majority of television advertising is a waste because most people watching have no real interest in the product. By creating a method of pinpointing viewers who are actually interested, it makes the ads more lucrative and less intrusive. In theory, at least, this seems like a good idea. Chris has more info on this over at Ad Jab.

 [via Slashdot]