All Hail the New Static: How Blippo+ Captures the Lost Magic of Cable TV
Cable TV is dying. I’m sure you’ve heard the news. In fact, people have been saying this for quite some time – articles from as early as 2012 have proclaimed the so-called “death” of the medium. But has cable really kicked the bucket? With hundreds of headlines shouting anything from “cable is a zombie waiting to be put out of its misery” to “cable TV will never die,” it is hard to get a nuanced view on the issue.
Yes, more and more people have been cutting the cord every year. It’s easy to see why: rising prices, fewer moments of downtime, and streaming services that let viewers watch what they want when they want to are constantly making cable less appealing. But we can’t call cable dead just yet. Boasting 66 million subscribers in the United States alone, pay television is still a booming business. Clearly, people still care about cable. And maybe, instead of fighting for its life in the age of modern media, cable can find creative ways to survive in this new television landscape.
This is exactly the case in Blippo+, the new multimedia project from the Los Angeles underground team YACHT (Young Americans Challenging High Technology). Released in the form of a video game on the indie console Playdate (and later ported to Nintendo Switch and PC), Blippo+ can be best described as an interactive art project.
In the game, players channel surf through a collection of strange TV shows from an alien world. There are nearly 500 minute-long episodes to watch, all equally silly: tune in to Snacks Come Alive! to learn how to cook black hole bumps, or turn the dial to Psychic Weather Report to hear if the suns (yes, there are multiple) will shine today. My personal favorite is Confetti Cowboys, a space-western with such a low budget where every episode is just two guys sitting in a cardboard spaceship.
These skits are sure to make you smile – and occasionally even laugh out loud – at just how absurd they are. But the real brilliance of Blippo+ is not its content. Rather, it is how the content is laid out that makes it such a unique experience.
Like real cable TV, Blippo+ runs its shows on a schedule. So, your favorite program might not necessarily be on when you want it to be; you might find yourself watching something you’ve never seen before while you wait; and, you may just find a new favorite in that process. Or maybe you won’t – maybe you’ll watch something that was a complete and utter waste of time. That’s the point.
It is easy to be enticed by the seemingly endless supply of content available on streaming services. But having more choices doesn’t always lead to a better viewing experience. I can’t count the number of times I’ve opened Netflix, scrolled through titles and trailers for a half hour or so, and then given up because there was “nothing to watch.” And when I am able to kick back and pick a program, I often find my mind wandering to all the other shows I’m missing out on. By not allowing its viewers unlimited options, Blippo+ encourages viewers to explore shows that they would never have otherwise.
Another plus to the cable TV schedule is that it lifts the burden of binge watching. When a new show is released, it can feel like a race to watch every episode as quickly as possible. I mean, if you don’t watch it all right now you won’t be able to talk about it with friends – and, God forbid, you might even get the ending spoiled! But (for me at least), spending eight hours burning through a whole season of television is not an enjoyable experience. Streaming services themselves have acknowledged this problem, with shows like Stranger Things and Invincible being released in batches over the span of a few months. Of course, this is probably a tactic done to boost engagement – but the added bonus of being able to breathe in between episodes is welcome.
Now, when it comes down to it, Blippo+ is most likely not the future of television. The game is a collection of silly skits, none of which are remotely profound or life-changing. But they’re a great way to unwind after a long day – and if you think about it, that isn’t much different from what all entertainment television is. As cable viewership dwindles, it becomes harder and harder to watch TV without committing to some five-season saga with an overarching plot and three different spinoffs. And as much as I love finding a new show to obsess over for a month or two, I do miss being able to tune in to a random episode of something I’ll likely never see again.
Maybe cable is dying. But I hope that, in its wake, we don’t forget how fun it can be to step out of our comfort zones and watch something new, no matter how random or stupid it may be. And I hope we can appreciate what we watch, no matter the context. Or, as they say on planet Blip, “I will pay attention when life puts on a show for me.”