The first episode of HitRecord on TV, an unusual new variety show from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, was released online today and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.
HitRecord on TV will premiere on Saturday, Jan. 18 on the Pivot network, but fans of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his collaborative production company HitRecord can get an early look at the unique variety-style show today. The first episode of HitRecord on TV was released online today, giving viewers a taste of what they can expect from Gordon-Levitt’s newest entertainment venture.
All of the material in HitRecord on TV is sourced from Gordon-Levitt’s production company, HitRecord. Accordingly, Gordon-Levitt – who serves as the show’s MC in various recorded capacities – opens the episode by explaining how HitRecord functions as a collaborative production company.
Rapidly cut and edited to be almost bouncy, the opening monologue establishes that each episode of HitRecord on TV will center on a particular theme. For episode number one, the unifying idea is, appropriately, the number one.
Among the anecdotes selected from HitRecord to expand on this theme is a true story called “The Stars Were Stolen,” about the first time a young women saw the stars. The story is filmed with Elle Fanning and James Patrick Stewart, but the voiceover, screenplay, animation, and music are all produced by members of the website. The resulting short film, a delicate, bittersweet piece, is titled “First Stars I See Tonight,” and airs first in the lineup.
After a collaborative rap interlude, the show returns with a meditative piece called “One Living Organism.” In a strolling monologue, Gordon-Levitt introduces the idea of the Pando Forest, a mass of genetically identical trees living in harmony.
But, the digital discussion then changes when another HitRecorder provides a different take on the concept of a gigantic, singular organism – the parasitic honey-mushroom, which destroys everything in its ravenous path. Gordon-Levitt directs the discussion to a musing meditation on humanity; as a genetically similar mass-organism, which sort are we?
After a psychedelic animated cartoon titled “One Song,” in which disparate musical philosophies must work together to defeat Silence, HitRecord on TV crescendoes with a performance of another song produced collaboratively on HitRecord. Gordon-Levitt performs the first verse of “You’re Not the Only One” solo, but is then joined in by clips of HitRecorders from around the world to provide a beautifully diverse chorus.
Gordon-Levitt concludes the episode with a brief monologue about beginning the creative process. The beginning is the hardest part, he says, “Running your finger over that round, red record button, until just the right moment when you hit it.”
Though barely half an hour long, HitRecord on TV provides an incredibly diverse and thought-provoking viewing experience. Fans of Joseph Gordon-Levitt (and let’s face it, who isn’t a fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt?) will not be disappointed – “RegularJOE” is frequent presence in front of the camera – but they will also find a moving and unusual display of art to enjoy. Those who come from HitRecord itself will be pleased to find the visual language of the website incorporated into HitRecord on TV, and the meticulous crediting that celebrates both the individual artists and the collective in which they participate.
HitRecord on TV airs on Saturdays at 10:00 p.m. on Pivot.