Last night, for the first time, we discovered "Crank Yankers" on Comedy Central. I had seen a few minutes here and there, but read something about the show on the Internet and decided to record an episode. I have to say, the last time I laughed so hard was when we saw Bill Cosby in concert and he did a routine based on his father telling him to pull his finger. Both times, I laughed until I cried.

In the Yankers we taped, there was a segment in which Wanda Sykes (who also is in "Curb Your Enthusiasm"—"Larry," she said, "You have to know when the play the (race) card.") calls a mechanic and informs him that the shop left a turd in the backseat of her car. I kid you not. Remember that the stars of Yankers are puppets and the dialog and staging is brilliant. Catch it for yourself. We have our DVR set to record all of them. BTW, this is low-brow, hilarious bathroom humor.

Which leads me to wondering why anyone believes Howard Stern will be successful on satellite radio; actually, I wonder why anyone would think satellite radio (another controlled content distribution environment)  would be successful. Podcasting is taking over the world. I am serious. Podcasts today range from below the home-brewed category, to some people who have talent and serious mixing skills. Podcasts allow users to download spoken word, music, talk shows or whatever to their music players (not just iPods) and listen to them at their leisure in any situation including the car. In the future, Podcasts will take over "radio" as we know it except for live sporting events and breaking news. KOMO Radio in Seattle does Podcasts, and soon, I sense others will join them.

Which leads me to Howard Stern. You want to hear people cursing and begin rude on the air? You need not wait til Stern joins XM or whatever network he’s on, because in the world of Podcasts, everyone is a shock jock, and honestly, a few are funnier than Stern.

Those in entertainment power underestimate the sheer desire of individuals to break through a politically controlled distribution system and deliver content to the masses. Everyone asks how you can make money at this. Well, that’s part of what Mike McGuire and I get paid for, and shortly, as part of our research, we will suggest some scenarios.

Stay tuned.

I have been scanning all of the news coming out of CES, and am pleased that the focus of the announcements centers on the research Mike McGuire and I wrote last year around a concept we call "Digital Media Titans." Nearly every product release and vision statement from Yahoo!, Microsoft and HP aligns with our thoughts that suggest a new construct for the media industry.

Our big question for 2005 is how do we top our work from last year? Believe me, we are up to the challenge!

I saw an article in the Arizona Republic (which I read only in locations I cannot access my PC) that previewed TV’s second-half programs. They uniformly look DREADFUL. For decades, TV programming has been built on the theory of planned obsolescence. Theatrical films are a close second in this category, but what other industry has such a low success rate? Even when you lower the threshold of "success," network (and now cable) programming is just plain awful.

This is why network television will die. It will die quickly and with a loud thud that will be heard across the fruited plain. Could I, using my PC and simple capture and editing tools, create a 30-minute TV show that would be more compelling than the swill the nets will offer up over the next several months? Maybe not, but lots of others sure can. Check out some of the better videoblogs and you’ll see what sort of "stuff" is being built in the bushes. Does a program need to be created in Hi Def with surround sound to be of interest to the masses? No. I’ll bet someone will create a web-based "American Idol" knockoff that will be far better than the original (which sure ain’t difficult),

2004 was the year of the blog? 2005 is the year that network TV begins to slip into a coma. Traditional radio as well.

Check out this cool news-vidblog.