NBC's "The Office" to offer off-season web only episodes.

[Alex]

I wouldn't disagree with that, but in this case I do agree with him. The hope for money in very-small-screen-format (VSSF) distribution is already having an effect for the worse in my opinion.

A similar thing has happened with the expected future of widescreen television as the standard and current shows therefore requiring letterboxing but that doesn't bother me so much (but only because I'm used to watching 99% of my movies that way).

It is funny, though, that as televisions have increasingly grown in size to create a more cinematic experience the chic model has reduced the viewing area so small in iPods and PSP handhelds. A friend raved about watching some tv show on his video iPod and I tried it but it sucked. It is fine for 2 minute long viral videos but not for even 30 minutes of TV (let alone movies).

Of course, that announcement has no details so it may not even be the case that the videos will be available in a format suitable for portable players but instead use streaming RealAudio or some such crap.