The 10th episode of the
Ricky Gervais Show is in my iPod, downloaded, played, and saved (oh, yes) for future
re-listening. Since Mr. Gervais repeatedly has announced that there
will be only 12 episodes this season, it's really time you caught up
with the show if you haven't already. But of course you have...
Anyway, besides praising and plugging an amazingly popular series of
original, genius, nonsense comedy, I want to point to a feature other
podcasters should pick up, namely
chapters. It's a feature that comes with
enhanced podcast,
and just like chapters in a book, they make it easy to navigate
between, ummm ... chapters. It's not really that important with the
Ricky Gervais Show, because it's funny all the way through, but it also
makes it possible to add different visuals to the podcast.
It also works well if you, like
E-Media Tidbits editor
Steve Outing noted the other day, listen on your computer. See how it looks
here. Chapters are really what I miss when I listen to one-hour-long current-affairs programs from the
NRK. It would make it so much easier.
But I would guess that the broadcasters that deal with podcasting on
the side (NRK, BBC, and others) will be slow to pick it up, since it
adds a bit of hassle to the automated service. But original podcasters
will be similarly fast.
The Ricky Gervais Show also is interesting for the reason that it did
not originate from a broadcaster such as the BBC. It was launched by
Guardian Unlimited,
a fact that probably will go unnoticed by most fans. But I find it
interesting to note, because Ricky Gervais' television comedy shows,
The Office (the original, not the
American version) and
Extras,
are both from the BBC. So let's wait until the second series of the
podcast and see if maybe they're back at the Beeb. Not that it matters,
though. For all I know, listeners will think it's released and hosted
by iTunes.
