Sat Jul 14 00:16:14 2001 GMT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Broadcasting pioneer HBO will try to do for the
Internet what it did for cable television two decades ago when it debuts its
first online-based series Monday 16th July.

The new show, "Deadwood," is an interactive whodunit series aimed at
children ages 10-14 -- some of the Internet's most enthusiastic and
adventuresome users -- said Lynne Eyberg, producer for HBO Family, which
designed the program.

When it debuts at 10 a.m. EDT on the Monday, the show will challenge viewers to
solve the mystery behind the disappearance of teenager Jessica Fisher from
the town of Deadwood, Ore.

Over the course of its 16-week run, viewers will also learn that Jessica's
is just the latest in a string of disappearances of teens from the town
dating back to the 1800s.

"'Deadwood' is our first Web series of this kind," Eyberg said. "This is a
hybrid of online programming and on-air promotion. We're using the (cable)
channel to drive traffic to the Web site."

Eyberg said that each week, HBO Family will promote the show over its cable
television network with a new trailer, containing highlights from recent
story lines and showcasing upcoming developments.

The Web site will be updated weekly, allowing participants to search for
audio and video clues and interact with each other and story characters
through various chatrooms and message boards.

"We wanted to create a Web show that not only had a very strong and
compelling storyline, but one that empowers the audience to become part of
the experience," Eyberg said. "We created the new content with the purpose
of letting kids be in control of how the story unravels and how they
participate in it."

Eyberg declined to discuss the show's budget, but said about 75 people have
worked on it in the year it has been in development.

While the format is new for HBO, a number of other broadcast and cable
networks have experimented with original Internet programming, mostly with
limited success.

CBS has used the medium to promote talk between fans of its hit "Survivor"
franchise. It is also using the Internet to give fans of its current "Big
Brother 2" program around-the-clock access to a group sealed off in a house
as they vie for a $500,000 prize.

ABC has also used the Internet as a cornerstone of its Enhanced TV
initiative that, for example, lets viewers participate at home in its
popular game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and in its "Monday Night
Football" franchise.

But a crop of Internet-only programmers have fared less well and been forced
to close, leading many analysts to say that the most successful purveyors of
Web-based content will be those that combine their programs with on-air
promotion.

HBO Family is a unit of HBO, which is a part of media giant AOL Time Warner
Inc..