• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, September 28, 2007

CBS today unveiled its latest strategy to draw Internet users. The network is launching the digital production studio EyeLab to create short clips culled from TV programs.

CBS Interactive president Quincy Smith told The Wall Street Journal that fewer than one in three of CBS's Web viewers want to watch entire programs online. CBS has reportedly hired six staffers for the initiative.

The Journal reported that CBS came up with the idea based on the popularity of the user-created seven-minute YouTube clip "Endless Caruso One Liners" -- featuring a collection of footage showing "CSI: Miami'"s David Caruso at crime scenes.

That clip was put together by 27-year-old stewmurray47, who described it as offering "loads of the corny one-liners used by David Caruso just before the Who song starts on 'CSI Miami.'"

Query, however, whether the "Endless Caruso" clip would have been as popular if created by people on the CBS payroll. For that matter, it's uncertain that CBS would ever have approved a clip that mocked its own show -- even in a small way, via the word "corny."

While we'll have to wait and see the results of EyeLab, the effort likely won't result in viral hits like "Endless Caruso" unless CBS is willing to give staffers the creative freedom to mock and parody its shows, even as they promote them.