Elias Ellis lived in the future. At least from the perspective of the denizens of the KS Chronicles world. He might not have admitted it to Program J in any of its iterations, but while some things had changed a lot, many things hadn't since the time KS Chronicles was set in. Humans were humans, after all.
For one, while television had been replaced by simulations, there was still art and creativity there. Writers did create characters and worlds, either by designing characters who programmers implemented, or many became versed in the programming themselves. And the editors who turned the simulation into episodes, cutting together the material were sometimes still people...although machine intelligence cuts were popular on some shows.
And there were still talented creatives who hosted programs online where they reviewed episodes and shared opinions about programs. KS Chronicles had more than enough of them. They would rival what programs people did in their homes in the past, because with modern technology, you could animate a realistic avatar in a professional setting while in reality in your underwear in your residence. And, of course, your avatar could look completely different than you, to the point some people didn't even know who their favorites online actually were...or even if they were simulations themselves, owned by the studio that made the program...At least the studio had tried that..but those programs tended to figure out they were simulations and that could sometimes be...unfortunate for ratings.
The majority of the KS Chronicles audience watched the curated episodes of the show, which tended to center on Sarah and Karyn, mixed in with some subplots from the supporting cast. Those episodes were broadcast in classic 2D, or immersive Holoview, depending on the viewer's preference. The studio made some extra money through Omniviewer subscriptions. These were somewhat expensive, because of the resources they took to maintain. The subscribers would have the same view as the shows curators...following people around and rewinding the playback to see other events that wouldn't otherwise be visible, though the rewind was limited. Sometimes, interest in a particular scene was such it was released by the studio for on-demand playback.
Episode One of the season had been released earlier, and the editors had created a great narrative out of the morning of the first day of school. They'd made some other subtle changes to ensure things didn't happen the same way. Like reshuffling the class schedules to put different characters together, doing rewrites on some of the extras to put them in different places, deleting a few extras and adding new ones...
The episode started with Sarah waking up in her room, and then being picked up by Biff. They'd shown a split screen on the 2D version, showing how everything basically was the same between the pre and post-reboot, until they entered the school. Last season, Sarah had turned left at the end of the hall, this time she turned right.
Elias checked some of the comments. He had his feed updated to look for certain levels of discourse...and filter out noise.
GARRETT9378: I gotta say, I'm cautiously optimistic about this season. I think the creatives are trying to show us they are willing to shake things up.
NICEGUY: Am I the only one who liked Jon?
KARYN4EVA: At this point, you and like 10 other people. I mean, I thought it was a great twist giving her a male friend...but they didn't deliver on it. Jon just...never popped as a character.
SARAHFAN1: Last time, Sarah had homeroom with Melissa and that's where they started talking about the empty slots on the squad...She's making a beeline for Amber...but who is that with her? I've been watching this show since day one. I know everyone.
NICEGUY: Must be one of those new characters they promised to introduce.
KARYN4EVA: She's not impressed by Sarah.
SARAHFAN1: Don't worry, my girl will have a snappy comeback.
KARYN4EVA: Welcome to Lakeview is a snappy comeback? Come on...new girl has Sarah's number.
GARRETT9378: I'm just happy the new character isn't another cheerleader or goth. I mean..how many of those can there be?
NICEGUY: I saw an interview...they said they had some plans to address the cliquification. But if things always went as planned in the simulation, it'd be boring, right?
SARAHFAN1: Let's see if they can add a plot twist to make Karyn interesting again. I mean...maybe they should have cut her with the Gibsons and made it the Sarah show.
KARYN4EVA: Are you kidding? She's just in a slump, made some bad choices...
MARA35: I hope they didn't cut all the Gibsons, just Jon.
GARRETT9378: I didn't really care about any of them.
MARA35: I really hoped they'd do more with Zoe. I liked her style.
GARRETT9378: You mean like give her a real personality? I mean..she was kind of one-dimensional.
MARA35: She had some good lines here and there...missed opportunity...just saying. Look at Amber there...she got a lot more screen time, but she's boring as hell. New girl sees it.
Elias could spend all day on this...it was good to see people talking again. It looked like people were getting interested in Julia...but not as he'd expected. So far, she seemed to be shaking things up...not by being a breakout character...that remained to be seen, but by being the outsider who showed the existing characters in a different light.
