… goes to (drum roll please): The CW!

Nevermind the mild guesswork involved in simply finding the site (cwtv.com if you’re curious) or the various shades of green liberally spread about … the heart of any network site has got to be the viewing experience.

So it comes down to several factors. How easy is it to get to the episodes? One link, possibly two at the most. Even though the button is that horrible green again, it gets you there easy enough. Select full episodes, find the show you want to watch, and click. So far so good.

Your episode starts up with no hassle … that’s the second requirement met. No video or streaming hassles please. So far so good.

The episode opens with your usual commercial intro, this one something fairly amusing from Trident. There’s a good bit of video before the next break comes, but come it does. A minute of commercial here and there … no problem really, we’ve learned to live with those. But don’t push it. The CW not only pushes it, they ram it down your throat.

We also expect to get the same commercial over and over again. But we’re usually talking about maybe 5 minutes of commercial for nearly 45 minutes of a show. That’s a nice trade-off.

Unless you’re the CW. Now, I didn’t actually time anything, but I did tally the number of commercials during one CW show … 34 commercials. That compares favorably (or unfavorably depending on your take) with watching the show on the television. Those 34 commercials included many, many repeats and at least one example of “commercial volume boosting” … the seriously annoying habit some commercials have of significantly increasing said commercial’s volume. You know who you are … Applebees.

The CW is also one of a handful of network sites that won’t let Hulu host their programming. I’m assuming it’s because Hulu’s advertising policy doesn’t include up to seven different freaking commercials during one break.

I know that the CW (and all the nets) would probably prefer that I watch their shows when their actually broadcast. But guess I what? I don’t. I don’t watch anything according to any network schedule. For the most part, the CW is the last on my list for DVR. Now they’re at the bottom for online viewing as well.

There is only so much time in a person’s day.  Worse, there is only so much room on the hard drive of my TiVo*.   Like anyone else, I’ve been known to record stuff and never get around to watching it.  And some things never get recorded at all because they conflict with other required viewing.

Thus the link to Hulu.com.  It’s sort of a “one stop shop” for online content.  If it comes from Fox or NBC Universal, it’s available direct from Hulu.  Other content is linked, such as CBS.  Basically, Hulu makes it relatively easy to locate virtually any online video you could want, including full episodes of many primetime series.

And the online “experience” keeps improving.  While it is not my preferred way to watch TV, internet viewing is a perfectly reasonable alternative.  The commercials are shorter, though somewhat repetitive.  Sometimes there aren’t any commercials at all.  A good broadband connection and an adequate monitor are all you need.

Hulu lets you tune in with your basic Flash player.  Other network sites may require their own specific plug-in.  Most of the time, those work well enough.  If not, come back later as these things get updated and reconfigured frequently.

While my online viewing is fairly limited, I use the ‘net as a resource to catch up with some of the stuff I miss and for the occasional marathon viewing session where I can let a video play while doing other things that need doing.  I watched the pilot episode of The Philanthropist after I completely spaced it off.  Just recently, I finished out Prison Break with a multi-episode session … much less painful.

Online Primetime is not for everyone, but it works for some.  In the future, I hope to include occasional reports on various online viewing opportunities.  Until then …

It’s difficult to fathom why any of the major networks (or the various cable/minor nets) would give us anything less than the best website experience possible.  Sure, some people are going to watch certain shows whether there is a good support website or not.  But it has to be competitive enough out there in network land that every single possible advantage counts for something.

So what are the ingredients for a great website?  At the top of my list is a painless method for viewing online episodes, even if only one or two are made available.  As important as that may be to me, it is at least as important that the website has an interesting and attractive initial impact on the visiting public.  Both of these aspects are essential; the first is for us hardcore TV junkies who are going to drill down through a website no matter how confusing or convoluted the experience.  The second is for the multitude of casual visitors who may want nothing more than easy access to a character profile for someone on a favorite show.

The last thing on my list (which is much longer than you probably want to know) is advertising.  Internet ads are a necessary evil, but the less intrusive, the better.  Failing that, creativity and style count a great deal.  The static in-your-face single picture ad is completely unacceptable, particularly if that is the first thing you see when you visit a website.

Here’s an example.  I’m not at all happy with StiFfy (aka SyFy), so it seriously torques me off when I go to the site and the first thing I see, besides that horrible excuse for a network name/logo, is a full screen ad for some damn automobile.  I think it was a mini-van … or a cross-over.  Maybe it was a state-of-the-art hybrid.  I have no idea what make or model; all I remember is being annoyed by its existence.  I shouldn’t have to force my way past the advertising to access content.  That’s just not bringing me back to StiFfy any time soon.

But when it comes to poor design and lackluster execution, the What the Hell Award for Worthless Websites must go to ABC.  Their show list is clunky, the site itself is an eyesore which suffers from an astonishing waste of valuable screen space.  And their so-called “community” pages are a joke.  Upgrades have been promised (along with a plea for us to come back soon), but there is virtually no way to personalize your profile.  There are maybe half a dozen sad avatars to choose from along with a couple of empty red ‘x’ boxes.  Currently they have a ‘beta’ site running and I cannot even access a profile, much less update it or customize anything.  The message board system is a complete joke, lacking in just about every possible way imaginable.  The is the network of Lost, people!  You have just got to do better than this!