Amazon.com officially launched its new weekly talk show—the “Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher”—online in May. The summer program features interviews with big names (like Stephen King, who was on the pilot episode) in film, music, literature and television.
Will it help lure the video-addicted into the world of books? Will the public buy into a program hosted by a company that’s selling the products being featured? Will the fact that says-what-he-thinks Bill Maher is involved legitimize the program? Will it begin to spawn a reality-show-like craze of retailers-turned-talk-show producers? Will Dennis Miller be hosting a fall show on Wal-Mart’s Web site? Will Catherine Zeta-Jones host a talk show aired on T-Mobile customers’ cellular phones? Or, will the “Fishbowl” just come and go without much of a fuss? Only time will tell.