Buzz EP 13 part 1.m4v

Buzz is an experimental, forgotten show directed by Jon Klein and Mark Pellington, and produced by MTV and Channel Four, in 1990. You could say it was ahead of its time, but there's never been anything like it since, so that doesn't really make sense. It was really quite unique - the one instance a channel took a chance on a show that was more video art collage than your typical "accessible" magazine show.

It's hard to say how much influence the show actually had. Each of these episodes was shown only once. But it seems like there was at least a minor following, so I'm posting these here. It certainly convinced me to become an editor, I can say that.

I apologize for the quality of the tape here. These are taken from an ancient VHS (which was recording off a sub-standard cable set up). I dubbed them to DVCAM about 10 years ago, and I finally got around to digitally capturing them now. The video is quite fuzzy, and I'm missing a few pieces. If I had known that I would have one of the only archives of this (outside of MTV), I would have taken better care of it.

The thirteenth and last episode of the series has no easily definable theme. It is quite possibly the most boldly, unapologetically abstract piece of television I've ever seen. I've never seen anything like it, especially on a major network. I really wish I hadn't cut off the very end of it - essentially, what happens there is: you see that woman's face in extreme slo-mo? It continued like that for about 40 seconds. Then the credits came on. No explanation, no reason. That was it. It was brilliant.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Buzz
• EP
• 13
• part
• 1