TV enhanced: Get more out of your favorite TV shows

By Jessie Atkin

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Hulu and SideReel should sound pretty familiar at this point when it comes to discussing television online.  But these websites are designed for general television viewing.  But, everyone has their own favorite television show and often their favorite network.  With the convenience of the broader-audience sites the more specific and specialized show and network websites often get overlooked.

All major networks have their own websites, for the sake of length lets focus on two of them:  ABC and NBC.  Both site designs are very similar.  The home page offers the options of clicking on your desired show as well as providing a schedule for that night's primetime lineup.  It is also through the official network websites that you can access official show merchandise (through the "shop" section) as well as play games and view clips and notes on upcoming shows and television events.

Once you visit your favorite television show's home page, there are more options. Like Hulu show sties (like Lost and Heroes) the official network's post previously-aired episodes for viewing on their website.  But, unlike Hulu, they offer additional footage and commentary in addition to the episodes.  Heroes' offers commentary on many of its episodes and Lost offers special video clips as well as video podcasts.  Show sites offer episode photos, guides, discussion forums and more. 

The Heroes site has actually been honored in the past for its devotion to individual content and fan outreach.  The site offers a weekly comic book, webisodes, interactive stories, and a fan club.  Lost too has recently added a "Lost University" section to its site for hard-core fans of the show.  Both sites introduced tie-in sites for companies and some characters introduced on the shows.  With fan interaction becoming more important (and often profitable) it's only a matter of time before other shows follow suit.

While official sites continue to expand and increase fan outreach, fans themselves have been reaching out to each other for a long time, and are usually more successfully than official websites.  Games are great, and of course the main idea behind television is to have access to the episodes, but in other areas fans have been more successful.  When it comes to theorizing, fan-created forums often fair better than those on network sites.  9th Wonders is the most successful of the Heroes message boards and 4815162342 is one of the more active Lost forums.  Forums are not all about theories and spoilers, often times they also include news updates and links.

As fan outreach has become so successful, actors and show creators have gone out of their way to connect with fans.  Beyond official network sites actors and creators have generated some of their own sites as well.  Beyond Twitter updates Lost's creative team has The Fuselage forums in which fans not only hear from each other but from the men behind the television magic.  Adrian Pasdar, a recent cast member on Heroes, has his own YouTube page with behind the scenes videos of the cast for fans to peruse. 

The Internet has turned television into something far more interesting than just the "boob tube" as shows are interactive and far-reaching now.  Fans can access information, each other, and the professionals involved in the production of the shows.  Hulu may be the most convenient way to watch television on the Internet, but it's far from the only way.  And for real fans Hulu just is never going to be enough.