Photoshop TV Reviewed: Good But Not Great

The mix of two parts goofy humor to one part Photoshop bothered me a bit

I just got through watching the first two episodes of NAPP’s Photoshop TV (click here for the main Web site or click here to subscribe via iTunes). The comments on the Photoshop TV Web site are all exceedingly positive, but I have to say that I was underwhelmed. Each episode is 30 minutes long and in that time you’d think they would have at least five or six good tutorials and a chunk of news, but there’s usually only three tips and some news (not necessarily in-depth) and the rest of the time is spent joshing around, telling goofy jokes, forgetting lines or spying on the slightly annoyed NAPP staff with Dave Cross’ Dave Cam. Now I know that goofy humor is part of what makes Scott Kelby, his books and NAPP popular, but there can be such a thing as too much.

I have to give credit where it’s due though: Photoshop TV is big now and it will only get bigger, as iPods continue to saturate the market and users use them more and more for recorded shows like these as well as than music. The show is good now, so any Photoshop user who’s even remotely interested should subscribe and check it out. And Scott And Friends made some improvements in the second episode, getting rid of their original decor (the first episode looked like it was shot in Scott’s living room; the second, in NAPP’s studios) and tweaking some other things for the better.

But I think a lot more could be done:

Use two hosts (or even one) instead of three. Too often Matt and Dave are just standing around while Scott is talking, and don’t have much to do except smile and laugh at the jokes. It can be painful to watch. Or if cutting someone out isn’t an option, at least don’t keep everyone in frame all the time: bring Matt or Dave in to share their tips, but leave Scott as the grand impresario!

Remember the info. There were a few times in each episode when Scott, Dave or Matt simply forgot an important date or tidbit of information, such as the date for Bert Monroy and Ben Willmore’s next events. Use some cue cards or something to get that information down pat.

More tips! Thirty minutes is a lot of time to kill for a podcast, and for me two, three or even four tips is not enough. Let’s see some more! I am a fan of Scott’s Down & Dirty Tricks books mostly because every page has several great tips and tutorials. Compared to those, Photoshop TV has a lot of fluff. I think Photoshop TV can be humorous and fun and still have six or seven excellent tips!

I’m going to be holding onto my subscription to Photoshop TV for a long time. I feel it’s good but not great at this point, but NAPP is working hard on it so I’m excited to see how future episode evolve!