To promote their new series, “The River,” ABC launched “Exploretheriver.com,” an interactive experience when pointing-and-clicking on various objects revealed videos, photos, “scares” and tweets related to “The River.” It also connects with your Facebook, and will give you a mission to look for your friends around the boat, as well as pull in a few of your photos. 

While it looks really awesome, and includes lots of interesting videos, the only problem I have with it, is that the “Find your friends” element just seems really shoe-horned in there, and in finding out more about the show, the “FB Connect” element seemed unnecessary. But despite that, it does a great job at introducing sets from the series, as well as some of the bigger mysteries about “the source,” as well as being true to the show’s aesthetic.

(Source: exploretheriver.com)

While the first season of “The Killing” won the acclaim of audiences last season, by my count it seemed to have earned even more of it’s share of scorn for it’s first season finale. I haven’t seen the series, though it does look like a moody, mysterious procedural. 

One of the many web extensions that AMC has on their site for “The Killing” is the “Rosie Larson Case File,” which contains piles of evidence related to the case at the centre of the series. It’s a simple, yet straightforward interactive feature where you click, drag and “swipe” through documents, photos, maps and other pieces of evidence. It appears to be a good recap of the first season of the show, and will also be updated with even more evidence regarding the case in season 2. 

For a show like “The Killing,” it feels like a good natural “next step” after satisfying all the essential elements of a show’s site… if there’s a case involved and lots of pieces of information that viewers should be up on, then why not have a case file… especially if it’s a season-long case. I don’t know how this would reflect in a weekly procedural, where the case itself it opened and closed in 40 minutes, but it would be interesting to see an old case evidence locker where fans could go in and look back on old cases, and see evidence they or the detectives missed. For example, “CSI” could build in an old archive of all the weird pieces of evidence they came across, but at the same time, have a detailed open file like the “Rose Larson Case File” for a multi-season nemesis like the “Miniature Killer” arc.

(Source: amctv.com)

So as you may have gleaned from my previous post about “Awake,” the show’s main conceit can become complicated pretty quickly, and to casual or late-joining viewers, it may be hard to catch up.

To sort out the various timelines, and what has transpired in each, the show has rolled out a timeline, which identifies what has happened in the “Green” or “Red” timelines… (and spoiler alert, they didn’t identify where the “conspiracy discussion” happens… hmmm). 

Like the “Patient Files,” this timeline is a simple and straightforward feature, but one that I think is necessary to support this show in order to make it more accessible to viewers. If the show lasts beyond one season, I can see this timeline as being a really useful tool as the show’s mythology deepens… and likely becomes much, much more complicated.

Is this transmedia? Not necessarily, but it’s a decent web extra for the show. There’s not necessarily a narrative component, and it’s not something that would reach new viewers, but for someone at the web page looking for info, they’ll appreciate it.

(Source: nbc.com)

While the “Homeland” polygraph interactive feature was “in site,” this “Homeland” game pushes players in YouTube for a choose-your-own-adventure style game which uses YouTube annotations as a game mechanism to enable new chapters.

In the “Homeland Interactive Surveillance” game, you are in the shoes of a CIA agent, charged with taking on a variety of surveillance duties in order to play an important part in thwarting a terrorist plot. Each chapter you’re given a specific duty, and once you “spot” what you’re supposed to be looking for, a right answer will propel you to a new level.

The concept works really nicely with one of the show’s early storylines, where Carrie sets up an illegal home surveillance on a back-from-Iraq POW in his family’s home. She’s obsessed with watching all the cameras, looking for a clue to confirm her suspicions. I also like the conceit that you’re plausibly taking part in the game in a way that a real-life CIA agent may be taking part — scouring a bank of monitors for a clue that may slip by in a second. 

While the animations are really slick, there’s no original footage included in the game from the principal actors, which really could have pushed this interactive special to the next level. It is fun how they use clips from the show in response to how you fare in the game, but it would have been nice to see one of the characters involved. And because it takes place in the world of “Homeland,” including one of its villains, it’s a fair “transmedia” extension, where audiences can influence a narrative and outcome, even if it’s not the primary narrative of the series.

(Source: youtube.com)

I’ve just caught up and finished the first season of “Homeland,” and it was incredible. Probably one of the better shows on “Showtime,” maybe even the best as “Dexter” continues to wane. I may disagree with the decision about what happened to “the terrorist,” which to me makes a way less compelling season two, but the first season works as a nice standalone story on its own anyways. Claire Danes is truly amazing in the lead role as CIA agent Carrie, and goes into really challenging territory exploring Carrie’s mental illness.

So let’s talk about web extensions! The first I want to look at with “Homeland” is their “polygraph” test, which is really well done. It has Facebook integration, and makes use of your web cam/microphone as well.

“Lie Detectors” seem like a bit of cliche when it comes to the “intelligence” genre, but what I like here is that this experience fits in with one of the earlier storylines from “Homeland,” which suggests that the web producers must have been working closely with the producers of the series to get a jump on content like this, especially considering the complexity of the “game.” 

It may not necessarily have much “narrative” to the experience and sits more in the “bonus/extra” territory, but its still fun and unique.

(Source: sho.com)

So while we have a “smaller” online extra with Unforgettable’s “spot the difference” game, the show really shines with a much more intensive interactive feature called “Memory Master.” Each week there’s a new rollout to the game, which is tied to episodic content from the rookie series. In each rollout, there’s a few different elements — all of which relies on audiences to know the world of the show, and requires that they’ve seen the latest episode in order to succeed.

The first element is a series of photos that flash by (of scenes from an episode) and you have to arrange those photos in their correct order. The next step is a video trivia game, which requires watching a scene from the show, then answering questions about it. The third is a “who said it” game, where quotes are provided from that episode, and players guess who said it.

For this feature, I like how it’s so tied to the show’s episodes, so for fans they get to re-live it again within the game, and for more casual viewers it can remind them of what they love about the show, and may turn them into the super fans.

To improve it, I’d like to see the different rollouts of the game tied more clearly tied to the episodes themselves, versus differentiating them by “weeks.” I’d also like to see some Facebook integration in order to develop a leader board, especially because you could build on the engagement from week to week as different levels to complete in order to rank higher in the competition. By giving players a chance to “show off” their scores, it could invite very casual viewers into the game who may want to play just to best their friends.

(Source: cbs.com)