The promise and disappointment of second screen apps

Second screen apps are all the rage in Hollywood these days, but do they actually offer anything to the viewer? That’s the question TV and movie critic Noel Murray recently explored in a piece for Grantland. A second screen novice, Murray spent the month of February trying out various apps, including network-branded offerings like Showtime Sync and CBS Connect, as well as more socially-oriented services like GetGlue and IntoNow. After using them to accompany his both live and pre-recorded viewing, Murray found that the apps didn’t really enhance his viewing experience as promised, though he sees their potential.

“There are TV shows that would benefit from this kind of obsessive detail,” he writes. “When Lost was on the air, I used to listen to every podcast and watch every video-blog that the show’s producers released. If that had all been packaged into an app that I could’ve fiddled with while watching the show, I would’ve suffered through all the commercials to get it.”