Ohio State’s own brand of late-night television will premier on Buck-iTV with the first episode of “OSU Late Night with Tommy Smiley” on Oct. 15.
The show is written, directed and produced by OSU students. OSU did away with a film major over a decade ago, causing students interested in the field to develop personalized degree programs and means of gaining experience in the business.
“Basically, it started as just a group of people that got together that were interested in film and were like, ‘Where do we go from here?'” said Sara Jones, producer for both the Tommy Smiley show and the sitcom “Kollege.”
“It’s a way for students to gain experience,” she said.
Part of the interest in Buck-iTV stems from the amount of openness and variety possible within the station’s format.
“There’s never been a live broadcast show at OSU, except a news show,” said Nate Hahn, director of “OSU Late Night with Tommy Smiley.”
“We hope to go live starting winter quarter,” he said. “We are doing four episodes this quarter that will be taped before a live audience. There also has never been a late night show at OSU.”
“We don’t really have a strict format. We can do anything with the shows we want,” said Lee Keeler, a writer for both shows.
“We’ll have at least two sketches per episode, always one band,” Keeler said. “We’re going to try to do a variety of stuff from rock to hip-hop, but no new metal. We will not cater to new metal.”
Keeler is not looking for a serious late night format.
“I would rather have something that’s interesting and weird,” Keeler said. “Just because Columbus is small doesn’t mean we don’t have any culture. Columbus is culturally and geographically right between New York and Iowa. There is a lot of talent here, but no one is going to make the big money. We want to tap into local talent.”
The Tommy Smiley show has big plans for future episodes, with guests ranging from Damon Zex to Jim Tressel.
Keeler also has some interesting sketches planned, such as “Sock Puppet Opera,” which features sock puppets having sex.
The students get one credit toward graduation for their participation on the shows.
“A lot of the writers do other comedy stuff that they don’t get credit for,” Keeler said.
The show counts for one upper-level theater credit.
The group put out a prime-time-drama type show last year called “Kollege.” This year the format of “Kollege” will change to a sitcom.
New episodes of “Kollege” are not scheduled to be shown until the second week of winter quarter.
The first episodeof “Tommy Smiley”will be shown Oct. 15 at 11 p.m. on OSU UNITS Channel 19.
The first live taping of “Late Night with Tommy Smiley” will be Sunday at 8 p.m. in the Drake Union. Reservations to be part of the live studio audience can be made by contacting the show at [email protected]. Seating is limited.
