STV premieres fall shows with red carpet

The Emmy Awards have come and gone this year, but for UNC Student TV, the biggest television event is happening this Saturday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. At the Red Carpet Fall Premiere. STV will debut its new season of shows, which members have been working on throughout the semester. 

“Honestly, it’s to see what we’ve been working on so hard the entire semester,” said Hollie Rutledge, the station manager of STV. “It’s to showcase the talent, and the hard days that you went and shot, and the weekly writers’ meetings, and you get to see it all put together.” 

Founded in 1983, STV is a student-run organization that produces new material online and on its own cable network. 

“It’s basically television produced and made by students,” said Justin O’Brien, the assistant station manager and communications director. “We have about ten shows that we do with STV, and basically we just have producers who go out, and they assemble their crews and their casts, and they just film television content.” 

While most of this season’s shows have comedic elements, the genres span from news coverage to drama. 

“I’m a part of two different shows,” said Dom Antonietti, an STV writer and one of the Fall Premiere emcees. “'Late Night STV' is more like a late-night television show — Kimmel mixed with Eric Andre if you’ve ever seen that — really weird. And then 'Club Central' has some sports programming, and that’s a lot of the club sports, which don’t necessarily get covered by the bigger network.” 

The organization is also bringing back "General College" this year, one of its oldest shows that began about 30 years ago. 

“Essentially, it’s a soap opera,” O’Brien said. “It’s mostly this dramatic tale about students on campus. That got revived this year, which is really exciting. There are some great people that are working on that.” 

The producers of the shows have the liberty to decide what each episode will discuss.

“You have complete creative freedom,” Rutledge said. “So, we give you a budget to do really whatever you want with it. We review the episodes, but we really try not to limit you, because we want you to have that vision and be able to put that vision onto a screen.” 

The Red Carpet Fall Premiere will show clips from each of the STV shows and the Gore Galore video contest, a Halloween-themed movie competition from earlier this year. 

“There will be a professional photographer and a whole red carpet,” O’Brien said. “There will be a backdrop, so you can take pictures with everybody. There will be tons of food available for everybody, and then if you’re over 21, you can order drinks from the bar. Then, around 7:30, our emcee is going to start introducing shows.” 

The members of STV look forward to the Fall Premiere and this season’s shows for a variety of reasons. 

“I know that for 'Club Central,' it’s a good time to watch two people who have no idea what’s going on in a sport try to commentate it,” Antonietti said. “You can see that in the first rugby game, in which me and my co-host for Saturday, Will Lowder, both try to explain what’s going on when we don’t know what’s going on.” 

The event is open to STV members, as well as those outside the organization. 

“I think this year, we’re really trying to open up to the general public,” Rutledge said. “We’ve been around for so long, we have alumni that are famous, and we just want to bring people together — not only for film majors.” 

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