Coming soon to a TV near you

You can't escape the Internet anymore just by switching off your computer. As well as a new generation of wired objects around the house (see article on the online fridge) ideas that first took off on the web are being made into TV and radio shows.

Such as

Well, one of the surprise success stories of the Internet has been the cult site hotornot.com - where people voluntarily post their own pictures to have their appearance rated by the rest of cyberspace. You need to be brave, foolhardy or extremely good-looking to do that.

Now digital channel E4 has unveiled a new panel show, Your Face Or Mine , which starts in August. It's based on the website but at least online no-one can see your reaction to being told you're an old boot. Contestants will be told to their face just how attractive that face is... Brave, foolhardy or desperate to be on television.

Any more

Well E4 have something of a monopoly at the moment, because that's also the home of a forthcoming series based on a great site called Tv Go Home.

(The show's name is Tv Go Home, proof that originality is truly dead in the world of broadcasting).

Charlie Brooker's website satirises the anodyne and soul-less world of today's TV, so what better than to turn it into... more TV Fans hoping the humour of the site will transfer into a good laugh on television will need to wait until December to find out.

I can hardly wait
For the really impatient among you, here's one that's already being made. BBC Radio FiveLive had a corner of their website dedicated to transfer speculation and gossip. Now The Rumour Mill has earned itself a half-hour slot on the radio once a week.

There's more traffic the other way
Absolutely - sites about TV shows are everywhere, whether they are put up by fans (a great Stingray site) or the programme makers themselves (like the good folks who brought us Pop Idols).

A new trend sees sites with the rights to put classic TV on the Internet where you can see it on demand, rather than at the whim of the schedulers. Michael Bentine's son was told his father's work would never be seen again. He proved them wrong, and has put Monty Python and Benny Hill clips online too at classiccomedy.net

And the future
TV and Internet will blend in to one. The resulting media monster will gobble up real life and we'll all end up as characters in an online soap opera. Or something.