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Seattlest loves it when huge local retailers start getting into what those in the content business call "the content business." You may remember reading our post about Starbucks and Hollywood recently. To paraphase ourselves we weren't very excited about it. Kind of ambivalent and not really expecting much from it. Amazon.com and Starbucks are two different creatures, though, and when we heard yesterday that Amazon would be launching a show of its own we were a bit less skeptical. Amazon sells media, at least, and not something that you drink.
Amazon's going to launch "Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher" in June and it seems like it'll be an interview thing where Maher has authors on and asks them a bunch of fluff questions about whatever they're currently hawking on Amazon.
Internet commerce companies are looking for new ways to attract customers, and the talk show is the latest by Amazon as it adds entertainment content to its shopping site, aiming to increase its audience and sales.Books and CDs of show guests will be readily available on Amazon and "closely integrated with the show experience," said Amazon spokeswoman Jani Strand.
From our imagination (sorry, no link):
Frey: and that's when I realized that I had a problem with Lying and decided my parents needed to buy me some more help. And then Oprah stepped forward and I stepped forward and she reached for me and we hugged and she said "If you ever do this to me again I'll bury you."Maher: And the book?
Frey: I started writing A Billion Littler Pieces In Rehab.
Maher: If you're listening to this show A Billion Littler Pieces will be added to your next order through Amazon's new No-Click ordering program. Oprah Book Club members will be sent a half dozen copies.
After further review we seem to equally skeptical about this venture and Starbucks in L.A.. If you needed any more evidence that Sundance has less and less to do with actual independant film you should know that Maher and Amazon will be previewing the show there. The first episode won't hit the internet until June 1st, though.
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As an aside, the "fishbowl" concept comes from a longstanding practice at Amazon when artists (typically authors or musicians) would come in and give a reading/perform a set for a small group of Amazon editors and collected folks. I saw quite a few great bands that way, with only about 20 other people in attendance. Crashing the Phantom Planet fishbowl to get Jason Schwarzman's autograph was a high point. It sounds like they are essentially just going to be broad(pod?)casting those publicly now...I'm actually a bit suprised they hadn't tried to do so sooner.