Genre Analysis: Cable Access

At certain times, I love watching cable access.  It's always so random, amateur, and esoteric.  I enjoy being confused and disoriented compared to regular TV shows, where you are spoon-fed the direction of the show.

The protocol for releasing a cable access show is quite easy.  All you have to so is attend a class or two and you have access to rentable camera equipment and the ability to air your show on TV.  Of course, one major downfall with cable access television is the limited financial capacity to hire professional actors, professional film crews, and major editing software critical for a professional-looking TV shows. 

Perhaps my favorite cable access show is "Viva and Jerry's Country Videos."  According to the Minneapolis Television Networks website, the show show can be seen at 4:00 AM, 4:30 AM, 9:00 AM, and 9:30 AM, on channel 17.  The show has been around for a number of years now (since 1989)  and I've seen quite a few episodes.  The premise is one of a traditional music television show but Viva and Jerry only show about two country music videos per half-hour episode and have a kind-of talk show for the rest of the episode.  This is an exceptional example of the cable access genre because Viva and Jerry have had much "success" with their show.  They've appeared on "The Daily Show" as well as many local news channels. 



Viva and Jerry always have a "theme" for each of their shows.  For instance, the most recent episode that I saw was Halloween themed.  They also do a yearly show at the State Fair.  There is a large green screen behind them that shows a large photo of something pertaining to that theme.  Viva and Jerry usually spend the rest of their episode showing trinkets, masks, greeting cards, and anything else that fits into their theme of the day.  When Viva gets done showing each of her items, she often rings a bell that sits to the right of her.  Jerry blows a bike horn after many items as well.  Jerry often times puts his thumb out and, in a circular motion, rotates his thumb around and says, "two bucks, two bucks."  I have no idea what this means, but he does it about twenty times a show.   

Viva does most of the talking but Jerry is an intriguing character too.  He has a character named "Cliff" that is, simply a face drawn on his thumb.  He often puts hats on Cliff and makes him talk.  Furthermore, I've seen Jerry do his own country songs on the show.  He is a talented singer/songwriter and often times hosts the annual Johnny Cash tribute show at the Cabooze.  

I think cable access is a great thing to teach kids.  Many public access shows broadcast community organization meetings and other important community events.  Because public access is so easy to access, kids could broadcast their own movies made in school and show them to the public.  I think this would be highly encouraging to young film enthusiasts.  In turn, their audience could expand from the classroom and You Tube, to general people in their community.  "Viva and Jerry" would be a great example of a successful cable access show for the kids. 

Perhaps a lesson plan idea would be to have students, in a multi-media course, to apply for access to the Minneapolis public access channels.  Perhaps they could get around taking the courses because of their classes in high school.  The students could create a video pertaining to a community event and broadcast it for the public.  The students could also just air their videos made for class, but I think public access is best utilized serving the community.  Just exposing them to public access and the opportunity it lends, is important.   I could teach about the importance of free speech and freedom of expression as well.

Here is VoiceThread presentation of "Viva and Jerry's County Videos" public access show.