Television critic Andrew Wallenstein reviews Al Gore's new television network, Current. The goal is to attract younger audiences, and to accept material from outside sources, with little pomp or formality.
MADELEINE BRAND, host: This is DAY TO DAY from NPR News.  I'm Madeleine Brand.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: Former Vice President Al Gore is back, but not in politics.  He's      chairman of a new cable channel called Current, which launches tonight in      selected markets.  Here's DAY TO DAY TV critic Andrew Wallenstein with a      review.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: ANDREW WALLENSTEIN reporting:</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: So Al Gore's got himself a cable channel.  Now you might be thinking,      `Finally, FOX News Channel is getting a liberal counterpoint.'  Well,      it's not what the new channel Current is.  For starters, there are no 30-     or 60-minute programs.  Instead, there's a lineup of mini-shows called      `pods' that each last a few minutes long.  Try thinking of it as early      MTV when they just played videos, only without music in the videos.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: But Current gets even stranger.  A lot of these pods are produced not by      the network, but the viewers.  You yourself can just go to Current's Web      site, upload a video you've taken with your own camera, and if the      network likes it they'll put it on the air.  Consider it a video blog.      Here's an interesting example where a young filmmaker traveled to Iran to      shed light on what youth culture is like over there.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: Unidentified Woman #1:  Premarital sex and abortion in Iran are illegal,      and dating is not even allowed.  But young people are finding ways to      express themselves sexually without anybody else finding out.  So I      traveled to a couple of universities in Iran and found some students that      were willing to speak out about sexuality, something that they would      rarely do publicly.</s>WALLENSTEIN: This clip is like a lot on Current:  newsy little riffs on      just about any subject under the moon that might appeal to young adults.      There's refreshingly little of the pomp and formality you get on network      news.  And yet, Current has a pretentiousness all its own.  The channel      is clearly very taken with itself for breaking the medium's traditional      rules--maybe a little too taken with itself.</s>WALLENSTEIN: Unidentified Woman #2:  I want to help create television that I want to      watch from my point of view and in my voice.  Change is here.  I can      create my own music.  I can create my own clothes, car, film,      advertising, community and, finally, my own TV network.  It's not a large      corporation; it's you with your little camera telling your story, and I      think that's amazing.</s>WALLENSTEIN: Now that's a pretty heady promo--or should I say      propaganda? You see, I'm not quite sure your average teen will buy      Current's countercultural posturing.  Is this channel really about power      to the people? Or is it just a start-up business keeping its costs down      with cheap programming?</s>WALLENSTEIN: The fact that Current is trying to engage young audiences in serious      subjects like politics and war is admirable.  It's also just not going to      work.  That's because it won't do what MTV does:  avoid real issues and      pander to the lowest common denominator.  Gore's new channel is      wonderfully high-minded, but inevitably low-rated.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: Andrew Wallenstein is an editor at the Hollywood Reporter.