Hold the (virtual) front page! I've seen the future of situation comedy, and it works. Where are the Joneses? is the world's first webcom - well, the first one anyone's heard of, anyway. What's a webcom? It's a sitcom broadcast on the internet, which viewers can shape themselves - by pitching plotlines or new characters, or even appearing in the show. It's the brainchild of Baby Cow, Steve Coogan and Henry Normal's production company, and after watching a dozen bite-sized episodes I'm already hooked.
I haven't tried to join in yet. Actually, I don't think I really want to. But I'm sure I want to carry on watching - and the fact that I'm keen to watch without joining in is what makes me think this format is going to be a massive hit. If the only people watching were the people taking part, webcoms would be just a hi-tech form of am dram - fascinating for the participants but torture for everybody else. Instead, by using the net to marry professional expertise with amateur enthusiasm, Baby Cow has reinvented the genre.
In case you haven't seen it yet, Where are the Joneses? is about a woman called Dawn (played by Emma Fryer) who discovers her real dad was a sperm donor, and sets off to find her 26 test tube siblings, accompanied by her new brother Ian (Neil Edmond). Fryer and Edmond are both proper actors, and their odd couple relationship - he's a neurotic introvert, she's a neurotic extrovert - is already developing into a classic double act.
If this new genre takes off - as I think it will - I reckon it may prompt some tricky questions. At what stage, if any, will participating viewers tire of contributing for nothing? When they land a starring role? When a spin-off TV series (or DVD) becomes a huge commercial hit?
And what if someone sues? There's an indemnity on the website - fairly standard for anyone who's used to dealing with publishers or broadcasters, but uncharted waters, I'd imagine, for anybody else. "Where you are in breach of any of these Terms you agree to fully indemnify Us..." it reads, "...against all costs and damage flowing from that breach or any breach of third party rights or any claim that your User Contribution caused damage including but not limited to legal costs." Gosh. And it's not just contributors who may want to pause for thought. I'm merely speculating of course (this is unmapped territory for all of us) but I suspect it may prove slightly harder to recoup damages from someone firing off emails into cyberspace.
But if you only want to watch it, Where are the Joneses? is nothing but good news. There are no ad breaks, you can tune in whenever you want, and you don't need a TV licence. Ford is sponsoring this show. I bet it gets its money's worth. I look forward to a flood of imitators. Come to think of it, why don't we try something similar with the England football team?
