Former Bulls*%t w/ Penn & Teller Show-Runner and Creator of Playboy's The Truth About Sex Makes 6-Hour TV Series In His Garage
Very quickly... TV shows are made and funded by huge multi-national media conglomerates that have huge infrastructures of personnel and departments that do advertising, marketing, affiliate relations, program development, and one particularly heinous department whose job is to watch TV shows before they are broadcast and take out all the stuff anyone will really like. Most TV is chocolate ice-cream. However, your favorite show didn't start out that way. It started off as Rocky Road when it was dreamed up, birthed or written. Except before you get to watch it, people at the TV network go through and very carefully and deliberately pick out all the chocolate chunks, and the marshmallows and the nuts because they don't want to offend, upset, or alienate anyone. Or have anyone break a tooth. Or get diabetes. Or go into anaphylactic shock from a peanut allergy. Which makes what I did all the more crazy. After making, running, working on and creating shows for Discovery, Science Channel, TLC, NBC, Showtime, Playboy TV, GSN, and Comedy Central I decided I wanted to make a TV series for me. A series that wasn't homogenized by a TV network and that wasn't watered down to accommodate for the timid tastes of advertisers trying to sell soap. And thus, my 6-hour TV series was born. This vs That.
I created it. I paid for it. I produced it. I directed it. And I wrote it. Not my myself. With the generous help of many talented friends and colleagues -- not the least of which are the show's terrifically funny -- and might I say handsome hosts -- Mark DeCarlo, Chris Tallman and Brad Sherwood. Without going into more detail, I love working with two of them. Anywho -- If there has been one guiding force in much of my TV work, it would have to be my zeal and passion for the art of needlepoint. Well, that and the search for honest answers, truth and facts. This vs That is series that uses science to investigate questions everyone has, but can't seem to answer. Questions like: What's the fastest way to navigate through traffic, weave in and out of cars, stay in your lane or take surface streets? Which flotation device is more likely to save your life if you survive a plane crash in water, the life vest or the seat cushion? Which is smarter, dogs or cats? Which vehicle really gets better gas mileage, a hybrid or a car with a combustion engine? Best of all, the show is unique. It's got the chocolate chunks, the marshmallows and the nuts, too. Plus, no commercials. We're not advertising anything. Our Motto? No bias. No bullshit. Just science, fact and funny. These were all questions I had...and I just figured that other people had the same questions, too. So, I decided to do something about it. Which was make a TV show and provide some answers. 
This vs That is going to premiere on March 1st @ thisvsthatshow.com. All six episodes will be posted on day one. No waiting around a week -- like you do with regular TV -- to see more of what you like. And the shows will be available 24/7 for every device you own: your laptop, desktop, phone, TV, tablet and we're working on beaming the show right into your head. But, that technology won't be available for at least 3 or 4 days. I hope that you'll support this adventure. The way we consume TV has changed. But, you know that. And now, it's time to change who gets to create, own and even distribute TV. Because TV can and will be better. It will be bolder. It will come from creative people with singular visions. In fact, it's actually happening. Right now. This vs That was written in my garage, produced and edited there, too. And best of all, it's going to be distributed from there, as well. It's not a camel -- a horse made my committee, it wasn't homogenized. It wasn't watered down to satisfy advertisers. Toyota will not be pleased when we reveal the results of our Hybrid vs Combustion engine challenge, for example. It used to be you needed a big building and the backing of a media conglomerate to make, own and distribute a TV show. Those days are over. Please like us on Facebook. Seriously. That's what we need right now. We need you to like us on Facebook. Why? So you'll be first to know the details of our coming premiere... and we can share the success of this adventure together. Jon Hotchkiss is the executive producer and creator of the new series, This vs That. He invites you to like This vs That on facebook. For a third time. Which is a little much.