There’s a certain irony to This American Life transmogrifying into a TV show, all the more fun for being left unstated. It’s still produced by Ira Glass, who it turns out looks like the son of Jarvis Cocker and Elvis Costello. It’s shorter than the radio show, by far — only about half an hour. The format suits the visual approach, though.

Really, I think it’s a swell adaptation. As great as the radio show is, I’m maybe more intrigued by this version. In place of the intimacy there’s a certain objective distance that puts a neat spin on the stories. The surreal narrative framework and editing adds to the effect, almost coming out the other side and making the stories more intimate.

He was on Fresh Air today, talking about his approach to adapting the show and the changes he had to make; I’d forgotten it was happening, and it sent me running to Demonoid. Two episodes so far; it seems to air on Saturdays, on Showtime.

It’s curious that this was produced for a pay channel rather than PBS. That certainly should explain how expensive and tight it looks. It also ties into some observations a while ago that what HBO and Showtime have been doing with original programming — The Sopranos, that cowboy thing — is pretty similar to what the BBC has been up to. Similar style; similar kind of expressive freedom.

Free of the limitations of commercial sponsorship and ratings — since the channel is paid for directly, in one way or another — the producers are allowed freedom to make whatever they want, so long as it’s a good product in the end. A nice perk and reason for people to subscribe, and something that maybe the channel can turn into a retail product down the road, as DVD sets. Thus there’s a certain maturity, a security to the approach. They can assume a certain level of understanding and interest without necessarily catering.

So, I mean. I was thinking about that already, making those parallels, and thinking how interesting it would be if PBS were to get the same kind of funding. Then a few days ago HBO annoucned it was cooperating with the BBC (oh?) to produce a show about Einstein’s formulation of the theory of relativity (oho!), starring Andy Serkis (huh) and David Tennant (huh!). And… what the hell, I thought, is HBO turning into the new WGBH?

And now there’s this, an NPR staple turned into a quirky Showtime experiment. So it seems there’s… at least something to this analogy. I wonder.