A note from the Producer.

Making 45701? It was fun.  And a surprising number of people in Athens recognized it as fun.

It certainly started innocently enough: just a couple of friends discovering the free video equipment at Access TV and realizing, "Hey, we could make a soap opera!"

So we did. And with lots of work, it grew into 15 segments of a continuing series climaxing with a two-hour, feature-length, made-for-tv "movie." Later the Ohio Arts Council graciously funded the 52-minute stand-alone episode which now lives on this website.

Even with a twisted plot, stunt-flying, car chases through downtown Athens, rooftop pursuits, underwater dream sequences, kidnappings, secret passages, execution scenes, semi-automatic weapons, and a climactic rescue in secret catacombs deep below the city's surface, some would say the series was, more than occasionally, boring. But then, 45701   was only, as he once claimed, a documentary of Alan Starr's life.

Yet for some of us, working each week on a documentary about Alan and Connee and other fictional characters was somewhat less boring than real life. This was all back in 1984 when life, in general, was boring.

When we went on the air, we discovered that not everyone had a sense of humor (though most did). Some felt the series and its concept "got out of hand."

Its notoriety, of course, came from turning the characters loose on an unsuspecting community while importing local celebrities into the series to play themselves.

But our relentless efforts to twist local headlines into fiction and interject local reality with fantasy didn't set well with some -- even if it is done each evening on the network "news."

More than anything, 45701 was a community project.  Hundreds of people helped make it. We promoted positive local trends: recycling; Neighborhood Watch; adult fitness.  And no one who asked to be in the series was refused.  Perhaps the storyline meandered a bit to accommodate spontaneous requests while we were shooting "on-location," but stretching an episode to incorporate those kids with their rabbits at the fair meant they could be "stars" the following week at school. And that was more important.

Looking back, one might ask: Was the series creative? Was it funny? Was it tedious? Was it a waste of time? Perhaps. A little. Sometimes. Maybe.

For many of us, the fun was in making the series, not in watching it. But we were also hard at work; on mission, with a message to deliver:

Fifteen years ago, the theme of 45701 was "Question the media; always ask yourself how much of what you are watching is fabricated."

But if we were making the series today, its message would be "Turn OFF the media; stop living your life vicariously."

So while you're watching "Episode 214" in "Real Video," and your time on the planet quietly evaporates, be thankful that, as a public service, we didn't digitize all 15 episodes (and that we were smart enough never to have made the other 199 episodes at all).

But also, as you watch, keep in mind that just like the characters in 45701, you, too, can step out into the real world. And the most interesting thing is that you can get to it from your browser:
     Top left corner.
     "File" menu.
     "Exit."

Remember, you're only a mouse-click away from living your own life.

Why not go there now? And live out your dreams.

     Thanks for not watching.

     Scott Gordon,
     Producer

ENTER HERE

The 45701 Webpage is produced by the
Ohio University Telecommunications Center

© Copyright 1999 Brickroad Productions