"Homicide: Life on the Street" will feature some visitors from the Web Friday night at 10 p.m. No, it's not the Victoria's Secret models; it's the night-owl detectives from the Web serial "Homicide: Second Shift," who have been solving cases online for two years. On Friday's episode, two of the Web cast -- which includes Tony Grifasi ("One Fine Day") and Allison Janney ("Primary Colors") -- pop up to help Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and Sheppard (Michael Michele) solve a ritual murder that has been videotaped and posted on the Web.
And in a crossover stunt that puts the "multi" in multimedia, an intro to the story has already been posted on the "Shift" website, and more of the grisly tale will continue online for two weeks after the hour-long show airs. But don't panic, all you modem-phobic tube fans: You won't be left hanging. "The episode on Friday is self-contained and makes sense by itself," says Thomas Hjelm, executive producer of the Web series. "But if you go online for the (continuing) 'Second Shift' chapters, it just makes more sense."
It's no surprise that this TV/online collaboration is happening on NBC, which has proven itself eager to embrace the Web. (After all, the Peacock teamed with Microsoft to create the ambitious cable/net tag-teamer MSNBC.) It's an especially wise move given that TV is losing viewers to the Internet, according to Jupiter Communications, a new-media consultant group. By linking websites to couch potatoes' favorite shows, NBC is more likely to nab those media hounds when they turn off their tubes. "When people do make the move (online)," says Marc Johnson, a senior analyst at Jupiter, "it will help drive them to NBC's site rather than Yahoo's or ABC's." But when all the viewers evacuate TV, will the "Second Shift" cast let the unemployed TV stars make a cameo?
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