I may sound like a broken record and I'm not claiming that my friends down in Stamford never make mistakes (believe me, the fans let them know on a regular basis when "mistakes have been made), but I have told WWE in the past that they have created the first continuous ARG in many ways. Their Web site is a logical extension of the show in a way that few sites can achieve because the designation between the narrative world and the "real" world is harder to break. Stories take place on their site that forward fictional plots forward, alongside pieces about real injuries or back stories of the competitors. WWE, of course, can afford to do this, because pro wrestling blends fact with fiction, anyway.

When I met with Brian Kalinowski, the former COO of Lycos, shortly after he took the job as general manager of digital media for WWE, we talked about his visions for the site as an extension of the WWE narrative between television episodes and as the pivotal point in a transmedia empire. He was new to the job, and the WWE spent the summer reeling from the Chris Benoit tragedy and its aftermath, but his vision reflects what I have done extensive research on with WWE: that they are a case study in how to run a transmedia empire, even if the rules they play by and the fictional world they create is quite different from traditional television fare.

See my post, for instance, about the handling of Mr. McMahon's death. While I question some of the creative behind the decision, its implementation between the site and the television show were fascinating, before the Benoit tragedy caused the storyline to be abandoned. For more on WWE's transmedia storytelling, look here.

For all its lack of savviness, there were things I enjoyed about Luke Snyder's blog from ATWT as well, since his keeping a blog was referenced on the show but never heavily focused on, save his dad finding it (and revealing how little the character of Holden understood about blogs in the first place). It was set up on a Blogger site and kept very low-tech, with no references back to the show, to the point that some people seemed to not know it was a character blogging about being "in the closet" until some ATWT fans came on pretending to be characters formerly on the show and started responding to Luke. Those comments probably should have been moderated, since they destroyed some of the realism, but better the fans destroy realism through their creativity than the project be doomed from the outset with a corporate logo or two.

For another bad example, see Ivan Askwith's post about Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and DeFaker here. Also look here and here. Despite many of the creative aspects of its launch, the Daily Planet site for the DC Comics series 52 does not purport to be part of the narrative world in the way it could have.

Oh, and by the way, Jon, I don't know if any of the current presidential candidates will have the guts to make it over to the WWE, as you muse. They invited the candidates to come on their show back in 2000 and then ripped on both of them when they didn't. In fact, they got so mad at Joe Lieberman's dismissal of them through his alliance with the Parents Television Council, legend still has it that prominent members of the Lieberman camp believe that it was a tirade by WWE commentators on RAW the night before the election that might have swung enough undecided voters against Gore/Lieberman. I'd give anything to see Ron Paul whoop up on Bill Richardson on ECW on Sci Fi tonight. I'd be better than all the Boogeyman/Big Daddy V matches you could shake a stick at.