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Apple’s Worst Idea Ever?

By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Down Arrow Button Icon
March 25, 2016, 9:02 AM ET

The New York Times, New York Post, and Hollywood Reporter played it straight, letting Apple executive Eddy Cue describe, without comment, what Apple is billing as its first original TV content: An unscripted show about the app economy.

“We’ve seen some really, truly inspiring and incredible stories from our developers in what they’ve done, where they come from, how they started and the problems they’ve solved,” Apple’s top content dealmaker told the Reporter.

“We thought it was perfectly tailored for Apple,” Cue told the Times.

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The wags on Twitter, however, didn’t hold back.

  • Charlie Warzel (@cwarzel) congrats to apple on what sounds from its description like the literal worst television show
  • Mike Rundle (@flyosity) “I set the price at $4.99 and made a total of $349 after spending 5 months building it.” Roll credits.
  • Kevin Nguyen (@knguyen) no tech company has failed disastrously at original content yet. time for Apple to step up!

.

Me, I’m trying to suspend my disbelief. After all, the show wasn’t Cue’s idea. The project was brought to Apple (AAPL) by producer Ben Silverman (“Jane the Virgin“) and Will.i.am, frontman for The Black Eyed Peas (“I Gotta Feeling“) and music producer with a magic touch (seven Grammys, eight American Music Awards, a Billboard Music Award, a Teen Choice Award, two MTV Video Music Awards, and three World Music Awards).

Making a must-see TV show out of unscripted interviews with app developers, however, will be a challenge, even for these guys.

What if they turned the geeks into Muppets? That might work! Cue my favorite Will.i.am video:

About the Author
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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