"Reality show" on the Internet.
http://www.thespot.com/whatis.htm
WHAT IS THE SPOT?
By Carrie Seaver
The Spot is real.
In 1953, Bobby Dooley, Jr. built the Santa Monica beach house that would become known as "the spot" for major Hollywood stars and eccentric personalities to party, mingle and hang out.
After Bobby's death at the hands of a crazed clown in 1960s, the house was passed on to the Benton family.
In 1995, Jeff Benton opened up the house to youngsters in search of a great deal and a wild time. Enter Tara Hartwick. She got six incredible people to open up their lives to the internet.
Tara Hartwick was the 23-year-old graduate film student who idolized Martin Scorsese, loved "Raging Bull" and wanted to make a difference in the world. She did - she turned her love of the internet into public consumption by getting everyone in the beach house to post online journals about their lives, loves, fears, secrets, emotional dysfunctions and, well, sexual escapades!! (Lon the hunky Latino actor was a major contributor!!) The Spot became a provocative and exciting destination for hundreds of thousands of people who came to read the daily goings-on of a bunch of sick and twisted Santa Monica schemers and dreamers. Living in the house was the previously mentioned Lon, Tomeiko (Ms. Independent Policewoman), Michelle (she of the hot bod and huge attitude), Spotlord Jeff Benton (the mysterious and moody owner of the Spothouse), eM, girl reporter, and so many others - oh, and Spotnik, the "Cyberian" Husky, official mascot of The Spot! Tara's project eventually closed down because of lack of funding due to the big internet bust in the late 90s.
2004
Seven years later, here we are again. Now the torch has been passed to me to keep the Spot spirit alive and usher in a new "cast" of insane people who will bring life back to the Spothouse. In this age of reality TV, it shouldn't be too difficult to find just the right mix of people. So as Spotmates would say, "SPOT ON!"
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,4913,00.html
Fans Mourn Death of The Spot Janelle Brown
03:07 PM Jul. 02, 1997 PT
"It's like a friend who has cancer - it may be three months, it may be a year, and you expect it, but when it comes, it's still a surprise," says Maria Gigliotti, also known as the SpotFan "Ri." The long and drawn-out death of The Spot, which was officially shut down Tuesday, was anticipated by everyone who'd been following the American Cybercast saga. But while few of the fans have regrets about the end of the company and its shenanigans, the community that developed around the fluffy tales of beach bimbos is now mourning the loss of its longtime home.
Comments Jeff Gouda, a former Spot staffer: "You can be cynical about the people, but a lot of great friends were made, and that was more remarkable then the concept of making a soap opera on the Internet."
As the clock ticked Tuesday, the core community of 100 to 200 regular SpotFans and the several hundred occasional bulletin-board participants posted their goodbyes. Many said The Spot had changed their life - Ri, for example, learned HTML and ended up with a job as a Web developer after getting involved with The Spot's interactive features. Others thanked the writers, condemned AMCY, and wrote long odes to the friendships they had made.
"I have made more friends via The Spot than via ANY other social medium," writes fan Harry Zink. "It is precisely this community-building factor that is the very strength of this kind of entertainment."
The Spot was lauded in 1995 as the first truly successful entertainment site on the Web, drawing millions to the soap opera revolving around a group of beautiful people in a beach house in Southern California. Through intense interactivity - bulletin boards and correspondence with the writers, including audience ideas in the story line and even inviting the readers to be "guest" writers - the site created an intensely avid fan base.
Things began to decline last fall, as the launch of the American Cybercast network, writer layoffs, and story-line changes alienated fans, and the rapid bankruptcy of AMCY in January quickly polished off the rest. Although a new parent company called Cyber Oasys was formed to keep The Spot going, by the end, the skeletal staff was working from home for free. Just five months after paying US$114,000 for the assets of The Spot, the owners abruptly pulled the plug.
In order to maintain the community, Zink, who created the SpotFans bulletin boards where fans have congregated to protest in the past, has signed up more than 100 people to a mailing list and is encouraging his site as a new community home. Other fans are moving en masse to other soaps, like The Tide and the Speakeasy bulletin boards from LightSpeed Media (the former creators of The Spot). And, of course, at least four more of the group's regular get-togethers are planned around the world in upcoming months.
"We're more than friends; we're like family," emails Linda Benson, aka "Angel." "We've gotten to know each other so close that those ties will never be broken, even when the site goes down."
