Looking Back: "Tonight Live" SL TV Show Ends

 

It was 11 years ago tomorrow that a weekly televised talk show in Second Life came to an end. Paisley Bebee, the host of "Tonight Live" announced on her blog on July 2, 2011 that the show would not be continuing. 

"Tonight Live" was a weekly talk show that aired every Sunday (aside season breaks) in which Paisley would interview a few people, often one a musician who would play for the audience. Two notable shows were with members of Team Emerald during the Emeraldgate scandal (which was the only time the interviewees weren't in front of the audience), and the show concerning the Redzone controversy in early 2011. 

Paisley was known as Leone Smith in real life, and was already known as a radio personality and Jazz singer in Australia. She listed wanting to spend more time with her family in real life, and devoting more time to her current project at the time, Digital Breezes, as her reasons for not continuing the talk show. As of the writing of this article, it is unknown what she is doing currently.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Philip Rosedale To Appear on Lab Gab Friday

Probably the most recognized of all former Lindens is Philip Rosedale, the former Philip Linden and the founder of Linden Lab and Second Life. With his trademark appearance, a combination of a "Rocky Horror" shirt and one-of-a-kind prim hairstyle, even people whom signed on long after he stepped down as a Linden recognize him.

For those of you interested in what he has to say (which would probably be most reading this), Strawberry Linden will be interviewing Rosedale on the "Lab Gab" show this Friday.

Join our host, Strawberry Linden, as she speaks with the founder of Second Life and co-Founder of High Fidelity, Philip Rosedale! Strawberry will be asking Philip questions about the origins of Second Life, what he’s up to now, and what he sees in the future for virtual worlds.



The show will be streamed on Youtube at 10:30 AM, Friday August 7.

Source: Linden Blog

Bixyl Shuftan

Second Life Featured on Dr. Phil

Second Life isn't featured in mainstream media as much as it used to be. So when it is, it's news. And when The virtual world was going to be mentioned on the "Dr. Phil" talk show, Linden Lab mentioned in on their blog.

Mark your calendars and set your DVRs: an upcoming episode of the popular daytime talk show, Dr. Phil will feature Second Life and some comments from Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg (Ebbe Linden in SL). The episode is slated to air on Tuesday, July 14, and you can find your local listings through the Dr. Phil website. Be sure to catch the very beginning of the show - you won’t want to miss Dr. Phil controlling his avatar live on what’s very likely the largest monitor Second Life has ever run on (40 feet wide!).

And in the first few minutes of the show, Dr. Phil used "the very popular Second Life" as an example of how far computer entertainment has gone from the early days of Pong and Pac Man, "I can literally create an entire world for myself and meet other people, or at least their avatars." The audience chuckled as they saw his avatar somersault in the air and fly, "Let me see you do *that*!" He showed clips of his avatar flying around, with and without a plane, riding a "Tron" lightcycle, walking the streets of 1920s Berlin, and shop in a virtual store.

But the show wasn't mainly about Second Life, but rather, the story about one 23 year old young man whom had a severe gaming addiction.

The episode is focused on helping a young man who is sadly struggling with a number of problems, including an addiction to playing an online game. He’s not a Second Life user, nor is Second Life presented on the show as a negative experience. Instead, it’s shown as an example of how far digital experiences have come from the days of Pac-Man and Pong, and Ebbe briefly speaks with Dr. Phil about some of the incredibly positive ways Second Life is being used by people around the world - from education to entrepreneurship, creative self-expression, and more.

In addition to a number of Lindens who helped make it possible for Second Life to be included in the program, we’d like to give special thanks to Naughty Mole, Abnor Mole, Ancient Mole, Bat Mole, and Draxtor Despres for their help in creating Dr. Phil’s avatar and filming some inworld footage showing his explorations of Second Life.

Dr. Phil emphasized early on he wasn't slamming computer gaming in general, "I think they can be very good." But that it was the abuse of them that he was concerned about. Later in the show, he invited Ebbe Altberg (known inworld as Ebbe Linden), Linden Lab's CEO, whom was in the TV audience, a few moments to explain.

In her blog, Jo Yardley mentioned she had met the Dr. Phil avatar, concluding it was either him or someone from his TV show team. With the show not yet having been played, she had mixed feelings about Second Life being mentioned on his show, "I soon learned that Ebbe Altberg (AKA Ebbe Linden, CEO of Linden Lab) was also interviewed by Dr. Phil and Ebbe knows how to handle himself when talking to the media. ... And with its several million users, it could be a nice bit of PR for SL.The first videos the Dr. Phil show has put online so far seem to share with the world that not all games are bad and Second Life seems to get some positive attention, being described as the good side of gaming. Still, I can’t help but be a little worried about how our virtual world is going to be portrayed to the media, will we be part of the problem, or part of the solution?"

Strawberry Singh described in her own blog about how she, Draxtor Despress, and Marianne McCann helped out Dr, Phil in his flying. She would later watch the episode in question, an update her entry

I watched the show and live plurked it all at this link. Dr. Phil didn’t say anything negative about gaming, virtual worlds or Second Life. He just said that it’s the ‘abuse’ not the ‘use’ of gaming that is dangerous. He also had some other gamers on, after Ebbe, that talked about how they have full, successful real lives but still balance a healthy gaming lifestyle along with their real lives.

So it appears Second Life's portrayal was short but positive. Hopefully there will be more and longer exposures in the larger media soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

An Interview with Hatton Hunghi (Hatton Humphrey), Talk Show/Podcast Host

With the US Presidential season in the news, some are turning to talk shows as a source of information, or a soapbox to speak their minds for a few minutes. While on the radio, they can be found in Second Life. One such show is East Coast Conservative, co-hosted by Hatton Humphrey, known on the Grid by his avatar Hatton Hunghi. Recently, he and I sat down for an interview, in which he talked about his show, and its current new location.

Read more in People.

The SL8B Weekend

At the SL8B (Second Life Eighth Birthday) with a few friends. Marx Dudek (the "unique bunny") was DJing at the Bay City exhibit on Saturday June 25th. What made the event even better was some old friends I haven't seen much lately, and a couple I hadn't seen "in avatar" in a while, also dropped by. This included one soldier back from Afghanistan, and a lady hosting a monthly group in Second Life for those in chronic pain.

More on the SL8B Weekend in Events.

Sunday Cartoon: Paisley Bebee

So long Paisley Beebe, after nearly 4 years of "Tonight Live"

Bixyl Shuftan

Paisley Beebe Ends "Tonight Live"

After about four years of running her "Tonight Live" show on Second Life, Paisley Bebee announced today the show will not be continuing.

"I’m really looking forward to a new venture in real life, and exited about taking a new direction," Paisley wrote on the Tonight Live website, "but sad also that I’m not going to be spending as much time on the grid and working with the best bunch of TV people ever! I would like to publicly thank all the people who have been involved in the show over the years, and there are quite a few of you to mention, including every single guest and musician and the wonderful audience who are always such a large part of the show."

Paisley Bebee, known as Leone Smith in real life, was already known as a radio personality and Jazz singer in Australia. In Second Life, she started her "Tonight Live" show under treet.tv, calling herself the first talk show hostess on the Grid, and remaining among the most popular. Every Sunday (except during season breaks), she would interview various musicians, builders, sim owners, and other notables of Second Life. With few exceptions, notably her interview with represenatives of Team Emerald during the Emeraldgate debacle, the show was done in front of a live audience.

The final episode was recorded on May 15th. She listed wanting to spend more time with her family in real life, and devoting more time to her current project, Digital Breezes, as her reasons for not continuing the talk show.

"I wish all the other show producers for all the TV shows on Second Life all the best, keep the light burning and best of everything! Best wishes to you all and I’ll see you on the grid!"

Bixyl Shuftan

Jessica Lyon Discusses Phoenix at Ambrosia Live

Jessica Lyon made a recent appearance at the Ambrosia Live talk show in Second Life. There, she talked some about the Phoenix Viewer and the team behind it, plus some opinions about why Linden Labs continues to push Viewer 2. She also took questions from the audience.

Read the article in People.

Apperance at Cypress Rosewood's “When Worlds Collide”

On Monday evening at 7 PM SL time, I made an appearance on the “When Worlds Collide” talk show, hosted by Cypress Rosewood. Cypress is a musician in Second Life, playing his unique style in a tall elven avatar, but he also does this talk show once a week. His normal routine, first he plays another musician’s music or have the musician play it himself. Then he reads an article about Second Life or the Internet in general. And finally, interviewing his guests.

Cypress does his show on a set in front of an audience in the Native Lands sim. It’s also broadcasted on Radio Free Nashville 107.1 WRFN-LP (http://www.radiofreenashville.org/). It’s a “100-watt station” covering the Nashville Tennessee suburb of Pasquo. The show runs from 9 to 10 PM local time.

I can’t remember whose music was playing, but the article was from the “Guardian” about how computers and the Internet may be rewiring people’s brains. Then it was my turn. Cypress was polite and friendly as an interviewer, the questions ranging from how I got here, to how I got to be an online journalist, to some of what I’ve covered. All in all, I would say things went well despite my having “a voice for newspapers,” and I got to mention a few certain people and places (notably the reporters here).

Cypress has had some hard luck in recent months. First a robber broke into his home, stealing thousands of dollars worth of goods. Then came the Nashville floods, which hit both his home and business. Despite these blows, Cypress has come back and continues to perform in these two different roles in the media.

The “When Worlds Collide” set is at Native Lands (232, 140, 29). The show runs Mondays on 7 PM SL time.

Bixyl Shuftan

Paisley Bebbe’s “Tonight Live” holds Third Anniversary Show

This Sunday the 27th of June, Paisley Bebbe held the Third anniversary of her popular weekly talk show in Second Life “Tonight Live.” Paisley interviewed some notable guests from her first episodes, as well as Treet.tv’s CEO. But once the cameras went off, things got a little interesting.

Read the story in People.