Friday, July 06, 2007

charlierose.com [BETA]


I was pretty happy when Charlie Rose episodes were released on Google Video awhile back. The first problem was that the shows were not free, but that changed soon enough. The second problem--and by far more annoying--was Google's website itself. It was woefully undercooked. And well, Google has done next to nothing to update it, so it remains frustratingly difficult to use. There isn't even a basic catalogue and it's hard to even find a complete listing of episodes. In this case, less is less.

But in late April, charlierose.com received a substantial facelift:

The efforts that have gone into this unprecedented venture are truly remarkable. For over a year dozens of individuals have worked in partnership with Google to archive over 4,000 hours of Charlie Rose programming. They've broken shows into individual segments, created pictures and collected biographies for guests. Charlierose.com was created by Code and Theory, a design and software development company, in close collaboration with the Charlie Rose team. What we now bring you is a collection of 8,000 segments, over 6,000 guests and 3,600 program hours that currently date back to the 1994-1995 season of the show. This is the single largest enterprise of its kind currently available.

The online library of programming is staggering. The site is quick and loads up without any major hiccups.

However, like any beta site, there are a few kinks to work out. The most annoying problem is that the Search features force you to scroll through a cramped section at the top left of the webpage (see below). There's no way to expand the listings so that you can actually see what you're looking at. It's the equivalent of using an iPod interface on your home computer, which means I am looking myopically at a handful of listings at a time without much context (or ease).


Nevertheless, this is clearly a quality website that is generally very well thought out. And what's even better is that the content is high-quality and free.

4 comments:

Chris said...

i don't often watch charlie rose. i remember the milton freidman interview that you linked to a few months back, but i'm wondering if you couldn't highlight a few other top-notch segments.

cool.

A.H. Rajani said...

Of course, my main interest is technology, so I find many of his silicon valley guests to be the most interesting.

In particular, Gordon Moore from Intel had an amazing interview, giving a perspective as someone who is now older and becoming more of a historian in the industry. See: http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2005/11/14/1/an-hour-with-intel-co-founder-gordon-moore

Bill Gates did a great interview on the campus of Stanford. Like him or hate him, his commentary is telling: http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/01/30/1/a-rebroadcast-of-a-conversation-with-bill-gates

I was also amazed by an interview by a world famous conductor Zubin Mehta. What I liked most about this interview is that I didn't know much about orchestras and symphonies, but after 20 minutes I got a profound insight into the art form itself: http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/01/05/2/a-conversation-with-conductor-zubin-mehta

A.H. Rajani said...

also great are:

Peter O'Toole, older and giving candid commentary on the state of theatre today: http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/01/17/1/a-conversation-with-actor-peter-otoole

Clint Eastwood. There are two good interviews with him, each showing an American master at the top of his game. Apart from Stanley Kubrick, he's the "Kurasowa" of the US.

one after Million Dollar Baby: http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2005/01/14/1/an-hour-with-filmmaker-with-clint-eastwood-about-million-dollar-baby

The other Eastwood interview is after Flags/Letters: http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2006/12/19/1/an-hour-with-academy-award-winning-filmmaker-clint-eastwood

Anonymous said...

highly recommend a joint interview with daniel barenboim and edward said. great chemistry.

http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2001/03/09/1/a-discussion-with-edward-said-and-daniel-barenboim