Cr6 (lost early internet show; 1997)

CR6 was the first ever show produced for the internet, made in 1996 by A.I. developer Chris McKinstry. By all accounts, production was a disaster, with Chris losing over $1 million, causing him to flee to Chile.

The show received moderate media coverage, even making it on CNN, with most news sources emphasizing the uniqueness of a show on the internet. Little is known about the plot, other than the fact that there were six characters, with one being an alcoholic former model named Anna Frobisher.

The show wasn't in full motion video, but rather a series of photographs (presumably with audio overdubs) and interactive objects that the viewer could click on to learn more about it. Chris McKinstry apparently sold the rights to the show back to the cast for one dollar after the .com website for CR6 failed to generate a profit.

Background

Chris McKinstry was a problematic, but by all accounts genius early internet software developer and engineer. Today, he is scarcely remembered by only those who were there during his height in infamy, where Chris would often react explosively to those who criticized him.

Chris McKinstry sometime during the 1990's

Finding records of his existence is difficult, but for an internet user during the 1990's, his online footprint is surprisingly traceable. He has his own Wikipedia page, but almost everything about him that survives today come in the form of archived Google Group conversations ranging from the years of 1999 until 2006.

At the age of 17, he claims that he became a millionaire by inventing an anti-copy protection code that he apparently licensed out for use to multiple high profile companies, although these claims are disputed, if not entirely falsified.

Throughout the 90's, he developed very influential A.I. technology, and those who remember him now are mostly programmers who recall how important his work was. This is an indisputable fact: his work in artificial intelligence is supposedly incredible, at least according to those who understand what they're talking about. He was the head developer of Mindpixel, which to quote from Wikipedia "was a web-based collaborative artificial intelligence project which aimed to create a knowledgebase of millions of human validated true/false statements, or probabilistic propositions. It ran from 2000 to 2005." According to programmers in the field, this itself was a huge undertaking, and they credit Chris for being the pioneer for this kind of A.I. research.

CR6

In 1996, he created and produced the internet soap opera CR6, a venture which supposedly lost over $1 million and caused him to burn almost every bridge he had left in Canada and America. From all accounts, production was a disaster, with almost every single person who worked on the project alleging that they were never paid for their work. He eventually fled to Chile which was where he would inevitably live most of his remaining days.

Details are scarce on CR6 and are nearly impossible to come by online. It's unclear who was in the cast, the amount of episodes, how far it got into production, or even the plot. All that is known was that it happened, it cost $1 million, and caused the creator, Chris McKinstry, to live life in self exile in Chile. A lot of the information we do have on the show actually comes from McKinstry himself, who would reveal details only to debunk what he saw as slanders to his name. McKinstry claims that he was the only one who lost money and when production was over, and the website was a complete bust, he sold the rights to distribution and ownership of the show to the cast for one dollar.

The show eventually slipped into complete obscurity, which no one referencing it online except for the cast and crew involved, most of them being anonymous.

Rediscovery

In August, 2021, Reddit user u/incorporatedprojects created a Reddit post on r/lostmedia detailing his rediscovery of the lost show and compiling all of the information known about it.

In the post, he claimed that he was watching an episode of Better Call Saul and going to the Wikipedia for season 3, episode 1: "Mabel." In it, an Air Force captain berates Jimmy McGill (Saul Goodman's real name) because he was tricked when Jimmy convinced him to film a commercial in front of a WWII era plane.

This air force captain was played by T.V. actor Brendan Fehr, and through clicking around on Wikipedia, incorporatedprojects ended up on his page. He then noticed his page had this "weirdly worded" intro sentence: "His next film is the survival / adventure drama, Brotherhood (2019 film)." He thought that Brendan, or his manager, probably added that sentence just to bring awareness to his upcoming film. It was probably added to the page around three years ago and no one thought to take it out yet. So, he went through the page's edit history, trying to find when it was added in and by whom.

Eventually, incorporatedprojects got distracted and decided to go back to the page's first edit incarnation, which dated to September 17, 2006. There, right there, was the line He was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba where in 1996 he was cast in an early internet soap opera, CR6."

This is what caused incorporatedprojects to find out about CR6 and Chris McKinstry, which compelled him to make the Reddit post in order to kickstart search efforts.

To quote the original post, "I think I've made quite a discovery because, if it's true that Brendan Fehr was in the show, then that means he probably still has a file containing, if not the whole show, at least some media associated with it (pictures, plot outlines, scripts, etc.)."

Evidence and Leads

Other than Chris' own word of mouth, there is at least one other reputable source for CR6's existence.

Anita Dittnar

In 2013, actress Anita Dittnar [sic] posted to her Wordpress Blog her recollection of being on CR6. She revealed that she was a lead on the show, that there were six main characters, and that she played an alcoholic former model named Anna Frobisher. She reminisced on Chris McKinstry, describing him as " a guy who you kind of had to meet to truly believe."

I was totally type-cast as an alcoholic former-model and it didn’t last very long, but it was a cool way to spend a couple of months.  It all happened before I had internet access or even an email address, so I really wish that I had archived some of the pictures!  I DO have some VHS tapes from the media kit that shows a clip of us on CNN and footage of me coming out of a limo and signing autographs.  See?  I’m kind of a big deal.

According to her account, she wasn't able to archive the show do to her not having internet access in 1996, but she also reveals that it received moderate media coverage, even making a nationwide appearance on CNN.

Local Toronto newspaper article by Peter Sherman

Also shared on Anita's blog was a newspaper clipping about the show that she kept over the years.

Newspaper article about CR6, also the only known photo from the show.

The article, apparently from a Toronto paper, was written by Peter Sherman. Not only does it give the most detailed account on the show yet, but it also depicts the only known on-set photograph from CR6.

It's revealed here that CR6 premiered on February 14th, 1997.

The article explains that the show was a series of photographs where audience interest would dictate which characters the show would focus on. The article quotes Chris:

We can get instant feedback on what people want by monitoring the number of clicks a character is getting... We can bring up characters people are more interested in... If you miss the first few episodes, you can click back to the beginning, or if there is a murder weapon you can click on it to get more information.

This reveals that the show was going to have some level of interactivity, something that was only possible through the new internet medium.

Chris also revealed plans for the show to eventually incorporate full motion video, but considering the other accounts that the show failed disastrously, then it's safe to say that those plans did not go into fruition.

The article also reveals the names of three new people who worked on the show: Photographers Ian McCausland, actor Giuseppe De Natace, and Creative Director Brendon Sawatzky.

The Lost CNN Tape

According to her Wordpress Blog, Anita Dittnar claims that she still possessing (as of 2013) a VHS tape of CR6 being covered on CNN. Whether or not it would ever resurface is dependent on whether Anita would be willing to release it, as her account is the only evidence online that CNN ever covered the show.