Scott Beale
Rocketboom producer Andrew Baron ripped into the new ABCNews.com show by Amanda Congdon yesterday, calling it "a carbon copy of what I hired her to do for Rocketboom." He says about his former host (pictured here with him in happier times):
The Amanda Across America, ABC News and HBO projects are all Rocketboom projects that were usurped out of Rocketboom by Amanda when she quit.
Since Andrew (who now shoots Rocketboom with a new host) often speaks about New Media in a "death to TV" sense, it's possible that the TV deals (Amanda is also developing a comedy for HBO) looked sweeter to the networks without him attached. Indeed, his public feud with Amanda showed that they weren't the best business partners. If the networks had to choose one, they knew to go with the one with the name recognition (but the pretty face didn't hurt).
That all assumes that Andrew hasn't blown his involvement out of proportion. His criticisms of Amanda's new show don't help his credibility. Andrew says, "Seeing her take a 'turn to camera 2', just as we do in today's episode of Rocketboom is just embarrassing."
Earth to Andrew: You didn't invent Camera 2.
-- Nick Douglas
Earlier: Amanda Congdon on ABC: Rocketboom Gone Corporate [ETP]
