Nosh On That: Notional To Fill Oprah's Big, Expensive Shoes?

by BILLY GRAY · November 23, 2009

[Photo by Jimi Celeste for PMc]. Last week, Oprah Winfrey announced her imminent retirement from national television. A few hours later, Notional, a new production company from the folks behind College Humor, threw a launch party. Coincidence or bold announcement of future TV hegemony? You decide.

Go HERE for more photos by KEITH LEW, HERE for more photos by Kelly Samardak, and tag yourself and your friends!

Notional CEO-to-be Ricky Van Veen has plenty of experience generating buzz, as demonstrated by the dozens of videos that went viral through CollegeHumor.com, the site he co-founded. The baby-faced internet mogul (is there any other kind?) now faces the challenge of translating his niche expertise to a much wider audience on TV, a far broader and more competitive marketplace. Luckily (or terrifyingly), he'll report directly to IAC chairman Barry Diller, a man who might trail Oprah in net worth (a paltry $1 billion to Winfrey's $2.7 billion) and godly benevolence (no car giveaways here), but still boasts a substantial media empire. There's also the matter of Van Veen's new assistant Bee Schaffer, daughter of Anna Wintour, another NYC mogul with a Midas touch.

Could flip cup videos unseat Oprah's Book Club in influence? Stranger things have happened in the new media universe.