Bloggers turned coanchors Xeni Jardin and Mark Frauenfelder debuted their online show, Boing Boing tv, Tuesday night. Episode 1 alternates two hosted segments with two video shorts, three minutes in all. Is it any good?

For a vlog, yes. A 1960s-vintage clip about a future e-shopping and e-mail system is surprisingly prescient. Xeni's segment on online lists (and in typical Boing Boing aesthetic, a book for making lists offline), is easy to follow thanks to her NPR-seasoned voice. It won't teach Facebookers anything new, though. I suspect she's aiming to draw newcomers rather than pander to the Metafilter insider crowd. But the theremin-playing robot? That's what Boing Boing does best. I had only one question for both hosts:

boutin: WTF with all the hair gel?
xeni: when we are floating around on our spaceship
xeni: IT STILL LOOKS EXCELELNT
xeni: IN ZERO G

A promised commercial from IBM (which bought a three-month sponsorship) didn't materialize in time for the launch. They slid in a 1950s plug for Kroger's eggs. Aspiring edgy ad buyers better get in line now, because BBtv's next two episodes will cover two place-to-be topics: vaginas and lobotomies.

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