|
Australia - Fat Cow Motel on Austar |
|
 In 2003, Australian broadcaster ABC broadcast 'Fat Cow Motel' an interactive comedy, mystery series produced by Brisbane based 'Hoodlum Entertainment'.
Each episode of the 13-part drama ends with a cliffhanger mystery that the audience can solve for themselves by paying close attention during the programme or by looking for additional clues when interacting with the show online, via email, SMS, voicemail, or via interactive TV.
Click here to play
In fact, the more platforms the viewer uses to interact with the show, the more clues they receive.
For those fortunate enough to subscribe to Austar can benefit from a specially developed interactive TV application built in OpenTV which has been created to accompany the show with its own exclusive content.
By visiting the Fat Cow Motel website http://www.fatcowmotel.com.au , viewers could obtain additional clues by reading the local newspaper 'The Fat Cow Bugle' or by getting involved in the characters' lives and intercepting their email, voicemail and guest-book entries.
Viewers could also register to have SMS messages delivered to their mobile phone and receive messages that regular TV viewers don't see.
The storyline begins with iconic rock legend Rory Toogood, who was supposedly found dead in a hotel room bathtub in Mason City, Iowa, US, in January 1976. leaving behind legions of distraught fans. However to everyone's surprise he reappears, and dies again, in room 13 of the Fat Cow Motel, but not before making a farewell video for his fans.
Fans from around the globe descend on the town, and the Fat Cow Motel in particular, providing welcome revenue for its owner, But then suspicious journalist Jack Green starts to sniff around and the plot thickens.
There are 13 episodes of the series, but two versions of the 13th series finale were filmed and viewers were able to vote online and via SMS how they wanted the series to end.
ABC's Fat Cow Motel website has become the most visited television related-website in the seven-year history of ABC Online, receiving a record 1,182,570 page impressions in the second week the program went to air.
|
Enhanced TV 
