Today in Fast Company:

Al Jazeera isn’t just news. Their next project? An English-language childrens’ edutainment network on American TV by 2012.

‘Still Alive in Gaza’ is a documentary about the lives of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera’s banking that its newest project–an English-language children’s channel–will help it get on the air in the all-important North American and Asian markets. The new English-language Al Jazeera Children’s Channel is scheduled to launch by the end of 2012. Content will be a mix of syndicated shows from other sources and original programming, dubbed into English, from the already existing Arabic-language Al Jazeera Children’s Channel. Fast Company recently reported on Al Jazeera’s ongoing talks with Comcast and Time Warner.

So will the good left-leaning parents of Park Slope and Ann Arbor be able to offer their kids a cable channel of impeccable global newsie cred? According to an interview in Abu Dhabi’s The National newspaper with Al Jazeera Children’s general manager Mahmoud Bouneb, American airtime is in the cards:

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I have a confession to make. I hate politics. That’s why I write about it, because I enjoy making fun of it. And one of the reasons I write for Big Hollywood is I am sick of other people’s politics being jammed down my throat through alleged “entertainment.”

So for many years I found escape on TV in the Food Network, because aside from the fact I like food and cooking, I loved that it was a politics-free zone. There was no angry Bush bashing, no digs at Cheney and Rumsfeld. No moral equivalency. No screaming about the 2000 election. It was all about the joy of food and cooking and how it brings people together.

In a world so divided, it was a reminder that we can all get along if we can find some common ground.

I’m sure the chefs and personalities on the network have their political views. The fact that so many of them are based in New York would suggest most lean Democrat. But the beauty of that network is never, ever does anyone let on where their politics lie. We don’t need to know who they voted for because that has nothing to do with food. It’s not relevant. And that made it a refreshing place to be. (more…)

The way I see it television needs, among other things, the following:

1. Science Fiction/Thriller/Horror Channel

A short form/short film channel showcasing those genres. Independent producers, writers, creators could submit work to be aired. It wouldn’t have to be, nor should it be at the Sundance level of professionalism delivered on DigiBeta and starring Cameron Diaz doing a favor for the filmmaker because it’s her friend’s cousin, either.

We don’t want that. There’s plenty of that kind of venue and they turn down 99% of the stuff submitted anyway, mainly because it’s not the work of someone’s friend’s cousin. So forget that right away. It has to be underground, guerilla, shoestring and, most important, good. Very good. Damn good. But not expensive. How can you do that, you say? 

With writing.   (more…)