Interesting article in the Chron's Wired Campus today: TextMeTV, where some students sit on a couch and read text messages being sent in live from viewers, and posted on a box in the corner of the screen. Texters are encouraged to debate topics of the day, other times they offer free iPods or other prizes for answering trivia.

One blogger recently called the show “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” noting there seems to be a lack of substance. Ahem.

But one of its producers argues that it represents a revolutionary new format. “I think some people are just afraid of it — that this new concept is going to do something big, and they don’t want it to,” she says. “I say, Out with the old, in the with the new.”  Judge for yourself.  There is another, similar program called SubText featuring students from the University of Texas at Austin that focuses on dating.