Xbox to start producing original shows, starting with documentary about Atari's legendary E.T. game
In a Netflix-spawned trend that's clearly spiraled out of control, the Xbox—a device that allows you to pretend to shoot at people, pretend to play football, pretend to be Batman, and pretend you didn't hear your mom calling you down to dinner—will begin producing original programming in 2014.
Further stretching the definition of "TV show," the game console already has several series in the works, all that will be broadcast solely through Xbox Live. First up is an as-yet-untitled documentary series from Simon Chinn (Searching For Sugar Man, Man On Wire) and cousin Jonathan Chinn (30 Days, American High), that will cover "events and colorful characters" of the digital age. The first episode covers Atari's legendary failure, E.T. The Video Game, and will investigate the longstanding rumors that millions of unsold copies of the game were dumped into a landfill. Future shows include Every Street United, a documentary series about street soccer players, and a series adaptation of Halo executive produced by Steven Spielberg.
Whether Xbox can compete with fellow content-providers-turned-producers Netflix and Amazon remains to be seen. But if this trend continues, expect to see slates of original programming within the next few years from Volkswagen, the George Foreman Grill, and the color green.