Startup, the podcast that documented the beginnings of podcast production house Gimlet Media, has reached a new level of notoriety. TV show Alex, Inc. will air this fall on the ABC network. The TV show gets its namesake from main character Alex Schulman, who is based on Startup host and Gimlet Media cofounder Alex Blumberg.
Alex will be portrayed by Zach Braff (Scrubs, Garden State). The show’s cast also includes Tiya Sircar (Star Wars: Rebels), Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Elisha Henig, Audyssie James, and more.
Braff will also have a hand in the writing and production of Alex, Inc. The show’s first trailer definitely makes Alex, Inc. look more like a sitcom than a documentary series. Anyone familiar with Startup will recognize certain elements that have carried over to the TV show from the podcast. And of course, there are plenty of things in the trailer that have been embellished for the sake of comedic TV.
Major television networks (including ABC) are in the midst of their advertising upfronts for the Fall 2017 broadcast season. No word yet on how much interest has been generated by Alex, Inc. Regardless of the show’s potential success, it’s still a banner moment for podcasting to have a primetime TV show based on a podcast. Time will tell if Alex, Inc. sets off a trend or goes down as a novel idea.
In this episode, Shawn and Jen talk about a Korean podcasting platform that is more popular in Korea than iTunes is. We debate the value of transcription of podcast episodes, and ponder if Shortcut (and services like it) can really make audio more sharable.