• by Lydia Loizides , Op-Ed Contributor, June 11, 2007

So, Yahoo has just partnered with "Access Hollywood" to create a new celebrity news destination at omg.yahoo.com. Driven by the U.S. consumer's insatiable appetite for celebrity and entertainment news, this is the vertical du jour for original online programming. Think about it -- there's the TMZ.com acquisition, the about-to-be-launched Fancast.com, the popularity of Perezhilton.com. Then go back in history and look at the first online pioneers -- Gawker.com, industry-specific defamer.com, and others who were feeding the need-to-know-now fan.

This type of online programming ties into television behaviors that have made magazine shows like "Access Hollywood" and "Entertainment Tonight" successful for generations of television viewers -- and is also providing fodder for the next generation of television programming. These kinds of shows enable the Everyman to gain access into the closed worlds of privilege and celebrity. Remember "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous"? I rest my case.

And speaking of access into foreign worlds, one of the few new shows that I am truly excited about is "Gossip Girl," about rich teenagers in New York City. The integration and extension opportunities for that fan base are something to get very excited about. The question is, will the network squander the fan base or not? A simple blog search returns over 20,000 entries about the show, while a Web search returns over 153,000. So, if you had a magic wand and could program around this property for the next generation of television viewers -- what would you do? The standard wallpaper, emails, blog entries, and the like? Or would you partner with a mobile carrier and create personas or buddies that would represent a character or a place? Would you create a Second Life island where you could have fans hang out and interact with the characters in the hot spots of New York?

The opportunity for next-generation television programming lies not just in the technology that can be used to create a more complex and compelling relationship between the program and fans. It also includes how well the content is molded and leveraged to tap into the technology behaviors of the show's target audience. This is where true success will lie going forward -- success meaning, of course, establishing a direct line into the mind of the program's television audience through technology. Just keep asking yourself: What would Spock do?