Blog From The Bench

On May 14th, ABC Family will launch it's own "facebook" style social site to promote its new series Greek. (College. What a rush.) While many networks are "rush"ing to put together companion websites for their shows, this one is interesting in that it's a potential community and not just a game you play online.

And speaking of game, in June, Court TV will be running a project called the "8 Day Mystery Challenge". This combined, TV, web and mobile event surrounds the disappearance of a woman's husband. Viewers will be given clues to help find the man with the winner getting a $25,000 reward.

The clues will actually be hidden IN the plots of Court TV shows, or offered up in a box on the TV screen during programs and even commercials and all of this information will be gathered at a central game website.

While I applaud the inventive use of the combined technologies, I have a bit of a problem with the fact that it's Court TV running the game. I know that the network has expanded to include more than just court trials, but isn't it slightly gruesome to run a kidnapped husband game while some real woman is crying on the stand during a murder trial? It's kind of like running a "Save Yourself from the Storm" game during Katrina coverage, isn't it?

Or am I the only person who thinks this is weird?