Zach Braff is on fire. His back and right arm are engulfed in flaming goo, and he's writhing around a make-believe bar for a scene for his sitcom Scrubs.
Yes, it's real fire. And yes, it's really Braff. But unless you downloaded Braff's 22-minute podcast about the episode, which aired last Tuesday, you might not know it.
"That's called a team player," Braff joked on the podcast as he watched himself burn.
Braff's commentary was NBC's foray into an emerging trend in interactive TV viewership: the online commentary track.
Designed for hardcore fans, commentary podcasts have sprung up online for TV shows like Lost, Family Guy and Battlestar Galactica. Download one to your iPod, synch it to start with the show, and hit play. The result is like the behind-the-scenes director's commentaries on most DVDs.
"It's just people talking about working on the show, basically," co-host Kevin Biggins said on a recent Family Guy podcast. "We enjoy it and hope people that enjoy it get something out of it. If not, that's fine too."
NBC says more than 1,300 people listened to Braff's commentary March 7, and about 40,000 people visited the Scrubs Web site to check it out. Co-stars Sarah Chalke and John C. McGinley provide their own commentary podcasts for episodes airing tonight and next Tuesday.
A handful of shows post "official" commentary tracks online. Sci-Fi's Battlestar Galactica was one of the first; executive producer Ronald Moore offers a downloadable commentary track each Friday while the show is on the air. The writers of Lost tried a play-by-play commentary for an episode last fall.
Family Guy's podcasts started out like most "Foxcast" downloads, which are made up of short recaps and audio clips from shows like The Simpsons and 24. But complaints posted on iTunes prompted the Family Guy staff to try something new.
When the new format debuted, the podcast user ratings shot up. On the most recent podcast, they even discuss turning the commentary into a video podcast.
Fans, too, record their own alternative commentaries for shows or movies they love, hate or find howlingly (i.e., unintentionally) funny.
"Most commentary tracks are totally f------ boring," reads a mission statement on tubesocket.tv , which offers alternative commentaries for episodes of Growing Pains and My Name Is Earl. "Who wants to listen to some self-absorbed star or coked-out producer ramble on about what the catering was like on the set of a show from 20 years ago when you can enjoy a group of snarky a--holes making fun of an actor's hairstyle?"
renegadecommentaries.co.uk has podcasts for films ranging from American Pie to RoboCop to Ghostbusters 2. trackzero.net focuses on films that don't come with a commentary, like Red Dawn and Teen Wolf.
bigdamncommentaries.com is a clearinghouse of podcasts for fans of the cult hit Firefly and its movie spinoff, Serenity.
Rick Yaeger and Bill Douthett have recorded five film commentaries for spoilerspodcast.com. Their Serenity podcast was downloaded 2,000 times; their Sin City track garnered Net-wide notice.
"We're both huge movie fans," said Douthett, who lives in Fort Lauderdale. "What we were going for was the experience you have if you're sitting in a room with a bunch of friends, watching a DVD."
