After UPN put DILBERT on an indefinite hiatus which starts March 14, the
producers of the cartoon series announced it would broadcast an episode of
the show along with rare outtakes on the Net. The 22-minute previously
aired episode entitled "The Merger" will air commercial-free on the Web
from February 17 - 29, 2000. Columbia/TriStar, who produces the show, will
become only the second major studio to enter into the Netcasting arena. In
November of 1999, Warner Bros. simulcast parts of an episode of "The Drew
Carey Show" on television and the Internet, one of the first such moves by
a top primetime show. The DILBERT event marks the first time that a
primetime network show has been legally streamed in its entirety on the
Web. Never-been-aired "Dilbert" outtakes and footage selected by series
creator Scott Adams will also be played, with community discussion groups
and interactive offerings built around the broadcast. The show will be
streamed exclusively using the Windows Media player; encoding will be
provided by Sonic Foundry and Level 3. The broadcast is marketed around the
February 22, 2000 airing of a new DILBERT episode, "The Return," on UPN,
featuring guest voice Jerry Seinfeld. Upon the success of early on-line
broadcasts, Columbia TriStar currently has plans in the works to air TV
pilots that never made it to the small screen and other content from its
Sony parent library.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
