Taking a Test On Alternative TV

Every time you change your TV channel, you’re bombarded with some one’s idea of how a collage should be presented to a group of consumers. Every time you change the channel, you’re bombarded with your own collage of an unreality you’d most like to see.

For years, video artists have been controlling collages in forms of sensory overload that can be entertaining, if not amusing, with the help of appropriated imagery. Unfortunately, they have limited audience confined to screenings in museums, art galleries, universities, night clubs or the 1 a. m slot on your local PBS station.

Some cities with a developed cable-access station have cultivated audiences and producers to achieve a greater reach for all types of alternative video. Seattle, New York, San Francisco and Austin are some of the more prominent cities where access flourishes.

Now that Philly has finally been linked up to a substantial network of cable systems, we too have access to Access, and This Is Only a Test is our first look at a fairly comprehensive grass-roots mini-series.

This Is Only a Test is being broadcast Monday nights at 8:30 (with a second slot opening up on Fridays at 5) on Drexel U.’s cable Channel 54. This offspring of Mike Kuetemeyer, Meryl Perlson and Jim Ospenson has begun a ten-week, ten-episode run that got off to a solid start with "Rizzo’s Brain," a first installment that pokes fun at Philly institutions frank Rizzo and Mummers.

It’s a well-done piece of work. Does it have artistic or production values worthy of some special consideration? What I saw was a program with production standards on par with New York or San Francisco Access.

Does it make some sort of statement? A statement that might be considered offensive? It makes a statement. It might be offensive. In the age of puritanism, jaywalking is heinous crime against the sate, but if you’ve got anything above a sixth-grade education, you can handle the show. There were no shots of pit bull fights or exclusives in shooting galleries-just artists expressing themselves. Then again, may be it is offensive. This is a sensitive city.

You may have somewhat of a "This is a grad school project" reaction to some of the production values. That’s OK, because it is a grad school project. And the post-production smoke and mirrors don’t detract from the show as a whole.

All three members of the Termite TV collective are graduate students at Temple, but the way in which they’re attaining a run-and-gun education in all facets of production borders on American ingenuity.

Most film school students learn theory and then spend two years perfecting a two-minute scene shot in 16mm. But the Termite TV Collective is pursuing that nastiest of all academic pursuits-practical experience.

Meryl Perlson: "The experience of doing this and getting in there every week and shooting it and getting a half-hour of air time is invaluable."

Mike Kuetemeyer: "I’m more used to structured environment where if a segment is three minutes it’s three minutes and stays that way every time. Here I can do whatever I want."

Jim Ospenson: "We can’t really go back. If we have to fix something, we let it slide to the next week and fix it from there. This is a big departure from what we’re used to."

For an audience, This Is Only a Test is also a big departure from what we’re used to. It’s on Access of no history that has been greatly neglected in Philadelphia because of foot dragging by the cable companies.

Sure, you’re going to get your Chef Tell, Chuck Barris and Oprah clones on Access, but this is what Access is for-local programming. Why laugh at some asshole out in Burbank when you can take your shots at the guy down the street?

This Is Only a Test is good for Philadelphia. It opens some doors to a visual arcade that can be considered exclusive. It gives us a form of programming which is a staple of the arts communities in other large cities like Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. It might be the stepping-stone for other artists to become involved in neglected Philly medium.

The show is temporary-like all good shows should be-and it’s very close. Or, as Jim Ospenson describes it: "in terms of proximity, it’s accessible to anybody who has cable and remote control."

Give them a chance. Maybe you’ll get some ideas of your own.