Last month came the announcement that TBS and TNT head Steve Koonin would be taking over Time Warner's CourtTV — and pumping in much-needed cash for a slate of new original programming. While viewership was on the rise under chief Henry Schleiff (who stepped down in May when Liberty Media sold its stake in the network to TW), Koonin sees room for improvement. And how's he gonna do it? By catering to our already dwindling attention span with a new gimmick reminiscient of those 5-second advertisements.

Betting that shorter shows will keep viewers watching more, Court TV is developing a short-form programming block called Rapid Fire. The hour-long block, envisioned as four back-to-back 15-minute shows, is slated for late first quarter or early second quarter 2007. [...]

With short-form video sites like YouTube skyrocketing in popularity, Court is hoping the shorter shows will appeal to viewers’ evolving media-consumption habits.

But until they can knock it down to the 10-minute mark a la Judge Judy, they've lost our viewership.