‘Valley of the Boom’ follows internet’s earlier days

By Luaine Lee / Tribune News Service

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Unfazed by the blue screen of death, they were dogged innovators who foresaw the possibilities of the internet way before anyone else. The story of the colorful entrepreneurs and their crusades with the new technology is the subject of the National Geographic Channel’s series “Valley of the Boom.”

The docudrama explores the naissance of Silicon Valley, social media, wireless streaming and the information avalanche that was to bury us all.

When it began it was filled with optimism, says Arianna Huffington, one of the show’s executive producers and an early proponent of the internet.

“The mood you’re going to see here (on the show) is a mood of idealism, triumphalism,” she says. “It was expected to basically change the world. And that’s why you had the first expression of real FOMO, you know, fear of missing out. Everybody wanted to be on the internet train even if they had no clue where that train was going.”

Actor Bradley Whitford (“The West Wing”) plays James Barksdale, CEO of Netscape, the web browser that wrestled with Microsoft for world dominance.

“The internet — for our particular world — certainly I can tell you it is a golden age for research as an actor because you can pull out your phone and see how somebody talked and walked through the entire span of their careers,” he says.

“I think this is the most spectacular time in storytelling with all the streaming services that the internet has provided and transformed Hollywood. What’s striking to me — going along with what Arianna said — is there is this idealism here in this naiveté about the possibilities of this, very much like the birth of television, which was going to bring opera and art to the masses. Well, guess what? Communities of nursing mothers and Nazis. It’s a weird mix.

“And I feel like the internet’s been great for show business and we are just realizing the unintended consequences and how information — we live in the information age. It would be better for my kids if we lived in the wisdom age.”

Matthew Carnahan, who created the series, says it’s difficult to comprehend the internet’s influence. “It’s affected the way we assimilate information massively — information, entertainment, images — everything has become accelerated,” he says.

“There’s no such thing as ‘avant-garde’ or ‘underground’ anymore because it’s instantly digestible … I have a very particular bent, a very particular slant on it. But I would be interested to hear what Steph Paternot (has to say.)”

Stephan Paternot was one of the founders of TheGlobe.com, an early social networking service conjured nine years before Facebook. And while he acknowledges the internet has produced some insidious mutants, he thinks the pendulum is swinging back. “There was purity when we started the internet 25-plus years ago,” he says.

“And, first of all, I’m very humbled to have had the Globe story included in this series. There’s a lot of other pioneers out there. Maybe ours was iconic only because we had the rise and we had the fall … When we started it, there was a purity to it to create this global village where everybody would be connected, a sort of utopia. And of course, to execute these dreams requires massive amounts of capital,” he says.

“And this show really shows you the need for capital to marry the creativity so that things can be invented. But then it also shows the double-edged sword of the capital corrupting the original vision. And we’re finding ourselves right now in this unique situation where a lot of the good of the internet we’ve all experienced, but now we’re starting to see the bad, the echo chambers, the power assimilation by a handful of companies, net neutrality being pushed aside — so those big companies are getting even richer,” he says.

But Paternot thinks things are changing. “There’s a counter-option now, that’s beginning right now in our time, which is the beginning of Web 3.0 — decentralization, blockchain, crypto — all of these new things as a means to pull back and get rid of the fake news and take power away from all of these major companies,” he says. “And, so, I think this show, from my perspective, has become highly relevant at this exact moment in time.”

Huffington says the development of the internet also reduced what she calls “power structures.” “Because the browser gave everybody access to information, and information is power,” she says.

“And now what’s happening is that actually, it’s more powerful to have curated information. Having access to all the information in the world, having everything coming at you is no longer a source of power. It’s a source of distraction. And that’s why many people are drowning in data and starved for wisdom. So, for me, that’s what makes this moment for the ‘Valley of the Boom’ so compelling, because you can look directly at the contrast between these two eras.”

DOCUMENTARY RUNS A ‘FEVER’

You can really catch a fever on Saturday when Reelz presents “Saturday Night Fever – The Ultimate Disco Movie,” a two-hour documentary on the now-classic hit, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The filmmakers took a chance on 23-year-old John Travolta when they were casting the movie, and the documentary will include interviews with director John Badham, dance instructor Deney Terrio, costars and even the costume designer. But when Travolta pranced down the street in that ice cream suit could anyone be cooler? He says no. “I’m probably sort of a goofy guy,” he says. “There are moments when I feel cool. But let me tell you about my feeling cool: It doesn’t last. I have such instant karma on being cool. I can count maybe five or 10 times in my life when I believed I was cool, and every one turned to instant karma slapping me in the face.”

SERIES TRACES KILLERS’ SIGNATURES

Oxygen Media continues its hunt for murderers with its new series, “Mark of a Killer,” premiering Sunday. Many serial killers like to steal mementos from the crime scene or leave a unique sign that indicates they’ve been there. Each one-hour episode will shadow an investigation signposted by the killer’s postmortem signature. The show will feature firsthand accounts from the cops who worked the cases, interviews with psychologists and as well as accounts from friends and the victims’ families.

NETFLIX ADAPTS GRAPHIC NOVEL

What happens when a paid assassin retires? That’s the question posed by the new Netflix noirish film, “Polar,” starring Mads Mikkelsen as the furloughed killer. Adapted from the graphic novel “Polar: Came from the Cold,” the film premieres Jan. 25.

“Polar” also stars Katheryn Winnick, who has forsaken her horsehair corset and shield from her role on “Vikings” for a sexy two-piece outfit and cascading electric-blonde hair. Winnick owned her own martial arts studio at 16 and by the time she was 21, she had three. But growing up in the martial arts world had its disadvantages when it came to acting, she says.

“I grew up in a male field where I wasn’t allowed to show emotions if I got hurt or punched in the face. And you kind of have to just suck it up and do it. So I started teaching martial arts on movie sets before I was an actress. And I started acting classes to discover really who I am and kind of open up and figure out what makes me tick. Because of my martial arts history and my experience, I had a hard time connecting or opening up, so for me it was a personal challenge to take acting classes.”