On Wednesday of this week, we launched a new web show called “5 Things”. I would like to think that everyone all over the world has now seen Episode 1 of the show multiple times and that there is a daytime Emmy in here somewhere. I’ll even settle for a nighttime Emmy.
If you haven’t seen the show (how is that possible?), the basic premise is that we sit down each week with one person from the tech community to bring you five things about one particular topic in the world of JavaScript/web/Node.
Why Another Developer Show
First off, I would argue that there are not enough developer shows out there yet. There are plenty of podcasts, but I don’t think we’ve sufficiently saturated the video content market yet. Well, I mean we have if you are talking about tutorials, but not in terms of human interest. And believe it or not, developers do have human interest.
We also wanted the show to be different. Standing behind a desk talking about technology is not bad, it’s just been done, and we wanted to do something a little unexpected.
Attention spans are short so we knew that the show not only needed to be as short as possible, but it also needed to move quickly. We wanted a high production value on these shows as well — quick cuts between scenes, multiple camera angles, high quality audio and on-location shoots.
We also had some great inspiration.
“Between Two Ferns” Meets Tech
5 Things takes it’s inspiration from a lot of different places, but for me it is somewhat inspired by the show, “Between Two Ferns”. If you’ve never watched that show, go and do that right now. You’re welcome.
While I can’t be as irreverent (or as funny) as Zack Galifinakas, I loved how different the format of that show is. He has high profile guests, but there is nothing fancy about the show. It kind of breaks down the wall between the person that you imagine in your head, and who people really are. Or at least who they are pretending to be on the show.
We also have different hosts. Each host brings something a little different so the format can vary from quite ridiculous to very informative. It just depends on who the guest is and who the host is that week. There is something for everyone!
But WHY
The core reason for why we made the show is to help raise developer awareness about Microsoft’s love for JavaScript developers. As a JavaScript Developer who works at Microsoft, it makes me sad when I hear “Azure is for .NET Developers”. That’s totally true, but it’s also an amazing place for JavaScript developers. And Microsoft giving us the time and money to go out and make a show like this is proof that Microsoft is a developer company; a JavaScript developer company.
The Future Of Five Things
Easy — It’s a bit too early to be asking about the future. This is episode 1 after all. However I can promise you some great guests whose names rhyme with “Sean Clarkin”, “Jessie Brazzle”, and “Ben Mesh” — among others whose names I don’t feel comfortable turning into a bad rhyming joke.
We’ve also got different hosts, so you may see myself, John Papa, Simona Cotin or someone else as the host in future episodes.
You can catch the show on YouTube, as well as by following the Channel 9 account on Twitter. You can also follow me, but SURELY you already do that.
And now that I’m an official “YouTuber”, I believe I am compelled to scream…
LIKE, COMMENT, SUBSCRIBE! SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON! SMAAASSSHHH IT!
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