Saturday Night Live has an official wiki? February 25, 2008
I was excited to see Tina Fey host Saturday Night Live over the weekend since the episode basically marked the return of new scripted TV after the writers’ strike ended (further, it is helping me stave off the cravings for new 30 Rock). After laughing during most of the skits, I visited the SNL site on nbc.com to watch the “I drink your milkshake” skit again, and that’s when I noticed the official SNL wiki.
Of course, there are already other SNL wikis — like the one on Wikia — but I was a little surprised to see one on NBC’s site. Don’t get me wrong, I see the value of such a feature for a popular TV show website, but it seems to me that SNL doesn’t attract a crowd that is inclined to use wikis like the audience of a science fiction show like Star Trek. Granted, a wiki doesn’t need too many people to thrive, but why does NBC think that SNL needs a wiki before another show like ER or one of the Law & Order series?
Either way, TV show wikis are great places for fans to discuss shows, and the networks that air them should show some interest in harnessing this community activity instead of allowing it to happen elsewhere on the Internet. For instance, fans can explain the significance of time sensitive SNL skits on episode pages. Will most of us remember in 20 years that the writers were referencing the Academy Award nominated film There Will Be Blood by having a guy running around with a long straw telling people that he’ll drink their milkshake? Likely not. How about chronicling all the twist and turns of soap operas?
My wiki surprise didn’t end there. I visited cbs.com later to watch a vintage Star Trek episode, which were posted on the site last week along with other classic CBS shows, when I noticed on the network’s homepage: “Featured Wiki: The Amazing Race.” Apparently, NBC isn’t the only network testing wikis as a community feature for its shows.
It appears that several other CBS shows have wikis. While I didn’t check every NBC show, I only saw a wiki for SNL on its site. Further, I didn’t check every ABC and Fox show, but I didn’t find wikis on either’s site. Am I missing any?
Do you think that these wikis will mainstream contributing to them? I personally don’t think so… Anecdotally speaking, while many people visit Wikipedia, how many actually contribute to articles? A very small percentage.
