With the first season of local youth-programmer Uthtvs’ flagship shows, "Elements" and "Speak on It" ending a couple of weeks ago (with reruns starting on UPN starting in October, or you can stream all the episodes online), the minds at Uthtv are coming up with new content to fill the airwaves over the coming months. Which means: Free for all pilot season.
No matter how good "Elements" and "Speak on It" were, we felt that they were novelty shows. Novelty shows pandering to a youth audience. Granted, these shows are “made by youth for youth” sidestepping the whole problem of having nameless corporations market to teens – we need less corporation outsourcing all of their market research at the Vans Warped Tour -- but with how much technology has caught up with media making, we can’t help but wonder, shouldn’t we (media savvy teens) be trying something new? No matter how good a youth themed, youth made show is, in our head we'll always classify it as “that youth show” – the youth moniker subverting the awesomeness of a show with a glass ceiling of sorts. It can be a great show, just not a really great show, because it is made by youth.
SFist Paolo, contributing