Thousands of cable television viewers in the Chicago area are experiencing Technical Difficulties on a regular basis–and loving it.
Technical Difficulties Television (TDTV), a monthly half-hour cable show produced in Downers Grove, doesn’t look like your typical public-access show. It’s not two boring middle-aged guys sitting around in a bare studio discussing civic duty, local government or gardening tips. It doesn’t have that amateurish feel about it. Instead, it’s a zippy, fast-paced, well-crafted entertainment show covering pop culture, local sports and the arts.
TDTV looks like a scaled-down, localized “Entertainment Tonight” in content while possessing an MTV style and attention span. There are odd angles, quick zooms and pans, and split-second editing, all accompanied by relentless music, providing a crazy collage of images. A shot from one angle in color gives way to another shot from a different angle in black and white.
Filmed entirely on location, TDTV has covered events such as a Star Trek convention, the Chicago Auto Show, Pro Beach volleyball, an international floor hockey tournament, and Planet Hollywood’s grand opening in Chicago. The show has also featured interviews with actor Adam West, the original Batman; “X-Files” actor Dean Haglund; and actress Ann Cusak of “A League of Their Own,” as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of her most recent movie, “Peoria Babylon.”
“A lot of access television doesn’t stick to any particular formula,” said Julie Soto, one of TDTV’s hosts. “It’s a free-for-all. It’s kind of an idea and a camera. I wouldn’t bash them on their creativity,” she said, but they usually don’t have any formal, technical training. “We knew what television should be like, and because we didn’t have the big bucks and the equipment to start something on our own, we thought access would be the most affordable avenue.”
“People always tell us that we don’t look like a cable program; they say we don’t look as though we belong on cable access,” said Jeremy Hawkins of Lisle, another of the show’s hosts. “They say we have network quality programming.”
TDTV is somewhat of a Cinderella story. It’s the brainchild of 26-year-old director/producer Kevin Otterness of Westmont, a production assistant for Downers Grove Television, the village’s cable station. The half-hour show is produced entirely on his own time, with funds coming out of his pocket and those of his six hosts. The group uses the village’s camera and editing bays, with the blessing of Otterness’ boss. The show is essentially a labor of love; no one gets paid for what they do. And at 27 years of age, Soto and Hawkins are the oldest members of the team. (The youngest is 18.)
In its three years of existence, the program has expanded its viewing audience. In fact, before it had been broadcasting for a year, other towns agreed to pick up the show. So TDTV can be seen not only in Downers Grove but also throughout Chicago and in towns such as Elmhurst, Naperville, Joliet and Romeoville.
In 1994, TDTV won the Naperville-based NCTV Cammy Award for Best Entertainment Program. This year, TDTV won the Hometown Video Award, beating 1,786 other entries from the United States and Canada. And now MTV has been talking with them about the possibility of picking up the show for their second network, M2. So Cinderella has met the prince; whether he’ll marry her remains to be seen.
“We sent a press kit with sample videos,” Otterness said. “They said they were really impressed with the whole thing, that it didn’t look like a public-access show. Now we just have to be patient.”
What would Otterness do if MTV said yes to TDTV and wanted him to go to California to do the show? “I’d be packing my bags tomorrow,” he said.
Otterness did a Wayne’s World-type show on public access called “Off the Wall” for three years. “But we wanted to do something a lot more entertainment oriented, not just the inside jokes that Kevin was doing with `Off the Wall,’ ” said Soto, who lives in Bolingbrook and works for Downers Grove Television part time. “We wanted something along the lines of MTV, a little bit flashier, which would pique the interest of a wider audience.”
“I said to myself, I want to do a show that’s going to take all these other shows on public access and just blow them away,” Otterness explained. “And to have people say, `This doesn’t look like a public-access show.’ “
They’ve succeeded. For the most part, the show looks professional. Occasionally the creators’ inexperience shows through. Sometimes the hosts make statements that sound like questions. (“We’re here at the Chicago Auto Show? We’re going to look at some cars?”) And although a segment on a Grand Prix bike race in Downers Grove featured some fancy computer-enhanced shots of racers zipping by, there wasn’t any footage of what happened at the finish line. But the lack of slickness is appealing, and the crew isn’t afraid to show out-takes of their mistakes and flubs at the end of each show as the credits roll.
In addition to Soto and Hawkins, the four other hosts are Megan Coughlin of Westmont, Lindsay Millsap of Naperville and Brad Bartley and Kristin Kodjer of Downers Grove. (Otterness hosted some of the earlier shows but prefers being behind the camera.)
Otterness became hooked on the film industry when he was 7 and his father took him to see “Star Wars.” The same summer, his aunt Linda Fisher, a Downers Grove elementary school teacher, helped him make a movie with an 8-mm camera. The three-minute film took them four hours to make.
“I was a very big `Star Wars’ freak at the time,” Otterness said. “That was my inspiration to do films. I collected all the `Star Wars’ stuff, and we did this little animation film using little `Star Wars’ action figures.”
“We made up our own little sequence of action,” Fisher recalled. “We didn’t know how to keep the figures from falling down, so we put clay on their feet, and it just looked ridiculous.” She laughed, remembering. “You look at it now, it’s such a stitch. But it was our first attempt, and it was a lot of fun working together. (Kevin) really took off with it.”
“The action figures had big clumps of red clay attached to their feet; it looked like all of them were bleeding from their shoes,” recalled Hawkins, who has known Otterness for about 20 years. “I was involved in the second film. Kevin brought 50 pounds of sand into his room because we didn’t want to go outside. We turned on the fan, because we wanted the sand to kick up a little, for realistic sets. We were vacuuming the walls and ceilings forever, because it was just covered with sand grit.”
Another time, the two inadvertently coated Otterness’ room with flour. They wanted to use it as a special effect for snow.
The two eventually became involved in live action film. The first, “Starblazer,” was 15 minutes long. “We did some really weird things,” Hawkins said. “I was supposed to be an alien from outer space. We took a nail and scratched it on the film, because I was like an energy beast (and we wanted energy rays emanating from me). So frame by frame, we were scratching.”
“He included his little sister in the movie too,” Fisher said. “It was cute. But she was so dressed up, you couldn’t tell who it was. It was a walking costume.”
From the first home movie he made, Otterness knew he wanted to go into film. In addition to shooting movies on his own, he shot videos in high school at Downers Grove South. He attended the College of DuPage and plans to finish his degree in film production at Columbia College in Chicago.
Although he had high hopes for TDTV, he never expected it to take off like it has. He shakes his head in wonder, recalling how he and the other hosts are recognized on the street. Fans write letters, leave messages on the show’s viewer voice mail, and call up TDTV’s Web site (http://www.tdtv.com). And the crew has just filmed a trailer promoting the show. They hope to have it playing in local movie theaters around Christmas.
Otterness is full of praise for his crew. “I direct the show, and I came up with the concept, but my crew makes it happen,” he said. “They’re very committed to the show. I think we’ve caught the audience’s attention. It’s just a matter of keeping the show going, getting the quality higher and higher each time.
“If I can entertain someone or show them a good piece and they like it, whether it’s a half-hour, an hour, or five minutes long, as long as they enjoyed it, that’s what’s important to me.”
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Each month TDTV produces a new show, which is broadcast on Downers Grove Ch. 21 at 7 p.m. Monday and 9 p.m. on Wednesday each week.
