11 Best New TV Shows of 2011-12 - 11 Points Countdown
written by Sam Greenspan

Last week I rolled out the first pilot episode we filmed for the new 11 Points web video series, 11 Points Countdown. Today I'm rolling out the second pilot. We actually did film a third pilot but that one is going to remain in the vault forever.

I really appreciate all the feedback on the first episode (some of which I'll address in the 11 points below the video) and, of course, will appreciate the feedback on this one as well.

Please enjoy this pilot episode where we discuss the results of a poll on the 11 best new TV shows of the 2011-12 season.

And now, 11 scattered thoughts on this...

1. If you watched last week's, yes, clearly this is a different host. The plan is to have a different co-host each week (although some people will become recurring hosts). And this week's host ISN'T my girlfriend.
   
   
2. Also, if you're very astute, you'll notice a few of my points resemble things I wrote in my list of 11-word summaries of fall TV shows. That was because my initial plan for the series was to tailor it more directly to content from the website. But as the episodes played out, I realized that wasn't really going to work the way I wanted -- I was forcing too much -- so I dropped it quickly.
   
   
3. I'm going to try to slow the pace down but, unfortunately, cramming 11 talking points into a video that's a proper web length may take some serious fast talkin' from time to time.
   
   
4. We shot the pilots with only two cameras (and we couldn't light the bar like a studio), which is why we only use a two-shot at the beginning of the episodes. I'm working with the team to figure out how we can incorporate more shots of the co-host and me together going forward. Since the show is totally unscripted, we can't really do multiple takes after we move the camera and lights. So we're working on it.
   
   
5. To answer a question posed last episode, I actually made sure neither the co-host or I knew the results of the survey before we filmed. I wanted everything to be completely spontaneous. So I had one of the producers tabulate the results and write them on the cards for me.
   
   
6. I still haven't watched Homeland. I'd buy the season on iTunes, but the pay cable channels don't even let you do that.
   
   
7. Also, the actress who plays the daughter on Suburgatory IS, in fact, over 18. So that moment of creepiness can be shelved.
   
   
8. This was actually the first of the pilot episodes we filmed, which is why I'm reasonably un-red-in-the-face. In future shoots I'm going to stay cooler and do much less drinking. (The bar was giving them to us for free. I'm not made of stone.)
   
   
9. Good news: We've got our first shoot scheduled so the "real" episodes will begin in a few weeks.
   
   
10. New polls will be up soon for the next run of episodes.
    
    
11. And finally, a very personal thank you. I have a lot of history in web video and the comments on videos from YouTube users-at-large generally range from useless to racist. But the responses I got were smart, informed, constructive and just generally valuable to the process. In the last episode, I opened by saying that 11 Points readers are more intelligent than the average people on the Internet -- and I feel like the discourse on the episode proved that to be true. (Of course, this one could very well be met with a bunch of "youre nose is big" and "y r u friends with black guy" and I'll get all pissed off. But I doubt that.)
    
    

This list was originally published on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 11:00:00 AM under the category Countdown.
It currently has View Comments.

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