HLN to Try to be the Internet on TV

Albie Hecht

One thing is clear if you're looking for news, HLN will soon no longer be a choice. 

It used to be called Headline News, then it was changed HLN and now it's about to become..... immmmm.....YouTube maybe?

The NY Daily News says that HLN is looking to become the TV network for people who watch the Internet.

Born years ago as Headline News, the short-form sister of CNN, HLN is rebranding itself to target younger audiences whose primary dialogue is social media.

Accordingly, the network Wednesday announced six new shows inspired by popular Internet search pastimes.

“Our goal,” says HLN executive vice president Albie Hecht, “is to debunk the myth the world of social media is only about videos of cats riding skateboards.”

Several of the shows, for which there are no premiere dates yet, will aggregate material that even the most devoted Net addicts might not discover on their own.

Working titles include:

— “Keywords”: A game show where contestants get five keyword clues and must guess a search term.

— “I Can HazNews Toons”: Fred Siebert from “Adventure Time” finds “the best satire cartoons,” from e-cards to doodles, on social media. Also showcases cartoonists from the paleolithic world of, yes, print.

— “One.Click.Away”: Backstories to those “unused wedding dress” ads or the weird roommate world.

— “Vacation Hunters”: Two travel teams compete to put together the best actual vacation that one chosen viewer has fantasized about in a tweet.

— “Videocracy”: Countdown of the most popular entertainment stories on social media.

— “#What’sYourFomo”: An app designed to cure “fear of missing out” by rounding up everything from “J-law gifs” to “lamping.” (Hint: Until the show starts, you can Google it.)