As concerned students, watching an "in-depth" expos? about the Git's involvement in the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur can be frightening, eerie and even uncanny. But Matt Lawrence's investigation of this, shown on the College's "Instant Entertainment," is too busy being hilarious and sarcastic to worry anyone.
Before being told about "Instant Entertainment," I personally tended to think Destinos was the only thing shown on the College's television channel (23).
Despite being on the same channel, these two shows are very different from one another.
Here's a little background. While Destinos is a Spanish soap opera aimed to teach students Spanish language massively exaggerated drama in every Spanish-speaking country known to mankind, "Instant Entertainment" is produced by and stars students of the College and aimed at making you, the viewer, laugh through their usage of randomness, skits and odd news factoids.
Due to a lack of publicity and advertising, many students have never seen nor heard of "Instant Entertainment." It is tentatively shown every day at 6:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on channel 23. It is tentative only because occasionally it is shown 10-15 minutes late (so if you are watching and it's not on right away, have a little patience).
"Instant Entertainment" is taped and produced every Tuesday night in Kendall Hall's TV Production Room. The students involved, most but not all communications majors, arrive prepared to produce, tape or be taped.
"It's really just a fun thing to work on with cool people in a laid back atmosphere," Lisa Mate, sophomore communications major and member of the show, said.
While there is definite structure and work ethic shown by all involved, the actual taping process with the group is calm and unconstrained.
According to one of the show's producers, Jessi Shaheeni, senior television and radio communications major, the producers basically just let the tape roll. Afterwards, it's eventually cut and edited. But during the filming, the producers don't interrupt. This approach is what leads to a lot of the show's hilarious and randomly improvised moments.
So now that you know not only that "Instant Entertainment" exists, but also the how and when of it is produced it comes down to one question - What exactly is "Instant Entertainment?"
Answered simply, it's a little bit of everything. There are commentary segments, news stories, occasional movie and music reviews, a little bit of gossip, some skits and anything else that gets thrown in. Last week, there was a nice mix of Superbowl commentary, exploding whale news and oddly placed anecdotes.
"We try to keep the campus updated with music, movies, news and gossip," Shaheeni said, in an attempt to sum up the show modestly.
"Instant Entertainment" maintains being funny and rather ludicrous at times while also providing the students involved with a chance to learn the basics of taping, producing and being on air.
Shaheeni said that any and all students are welcome to get involved whether they want to learn how to tape, be a part of production or even be on-screen. Students are welcome to come and learn whatever they're interested in. That's the underlying point of having the show, after all.
For more information or if you'd like to get involved, e-mail instant@tcnj.edu or visit their website instant
entertainment.online.com.
There's a decent chance you'll find it more humorous than Raquel and the rest of Destinos.
