TV Club capitalizes on new cable system

by Patrick Ripton '00

Undergraduates in the College living on campus are doing something they never thought possible: watching HBO from their dorm rooms. ResTV, an on-campus cable system, has reached campus and students are swarming home to catch their favorite movies, sporting events, and music videos. Run by the Office for Residential Life, ResTV offers the potential for entertainment and relaxation. To a group of students, though, leisure is not necessarily the passive, couch-potato brand.

The TV Club, started in the fall by students as a response to the emergence of ResTV, is doing something with this new tool. ResTV provides several channels for University use. These channels are available to professors and administration for informational programming in the same vein as UR Vision, a closed network of televisions around campus broadcasting information daily. One of the channels, channel 18, is reserved for student-produced broadcasts.

The TV Club was faced with the challenge of creating television broadcasts from the ground up, from initiating program concepts to finding equipment. The group, started by Take 5 scholar Jessica Shweky and sophomore Shawn Goldman, hosted several informational meetings, and continues to hold them every two weeks. "We've built a devoted group of at least 50 students," says station manager Dan Berkowitz. "They do everything from acting to writing to editing."

Drawing on years of dedicated television-watching experience, the group started by following some successful formulas. They planned four shows: a news show, along the lines of 20/20; a televised discussion group called The Campus View, which would handle current student issues in a debate format; a soap opera, set on campus and focusing on the difficulties of being a college student; and The Dating Game, based on Love Connection. In addition, the group plans on broadcasting University sporting events.

Each program has its own production team. The groups meet and work individually, and executive members gather weekly to discuss progress with the entire TV Club. Students have completed work on the plot and written scripts for the soap opera, which has already been cast. The show is taped all around campus, using locations like dorm rooms and academic buildings.

The Dating Game was recently taped in the Drama Center. The TV Club took applications for contestants and interviewed candidates. More than 50 students took part in the taping as audience members, potential dates, and contestants. "We want this all student-run," says Berkowitz.

The group has used facilities campuswide to put programming together. Academic Media and Events Support (AMES) has provided cameras. Taped footage is edited in the Multimedia Center in Rush Rhees Library.

"We plan on taking independently produced submissions from students and involving the student body everywhere we can," explains Berkowitz. He added that many of the group's members have had production experience in high school. "It helps a great deal when it comes to editing and taping when you have someone who has done this before," he says.

Berkowitz hopes the TV Club can become one more mode of student expression. The first episodes of the new series will be broadcast in the spring. Eventually, the members plan on providing 24 hours of entertainment and information.