Boss Season 2: Starz Unleashes New Interactive Video Experience

Starz is really pumping up the promotion for its returning series Boss. It's well-deserved publicity, of course -- the show is one of the best on television but is unfortunately not receiving the viewership it deserves (only half a million viewers tuned into the show's first season finale). Starz is really hoping to expand that audience with its new, vigorous marketing approach. A striking poster for the second season features the cast (save Kelsey Grammer) suspended on meat hooks in a slaughterhouse, with the tagline "Power consumes everyone." Now they want you to feel what it's like to be consumed by power.

Thanks to the marvelous power of Facebook connect, Starz wants to put you in the shoes of the cast of Boss. It's an experience called "Price for Power," and it's pretty darn eerie.

Once you allow the site to access your Facebook details, it weaves you into the narrative of Boss, superimposing your name into political signs, showing your photo as part of a folder Tom Kane flips through, and depicts your family posting on your Facebook with messages of disappointment and anger as you succumb to the corruption of politics. Ultimately, this leads to your death, a scene composited from clips of a murder that took place in season 1 (don't worry, your death isn't explicitly shown).

"Price for Power" will probably make you feel a little bit of empathy for Tom Kane and the rest of the politicians depicted in Boss. “The allure and corruptibility of political power was the perfect backdrop to 'Price For Power' and a virtual experience like no other,” shared Starz digital marketing senior VP Kelly Bumann with The Hollywood Reporter. “The Facebook Connect technology platform provides a seamless vehicle for you to see what life could be like if you were the one in control and the ramifications that could ripple through your social network as a result. . . Boss is much less a show about politics and much more about the incredible allure of power and the methods those with it will sometimes use to preserve it. "Price For Power" gives you a taste of this virtual social media reality.”

It's a creepy and fun experience that will hopefully give Boss the publicity and viewership it needs to have a successful season season. If you're looking to catch up before the second season starts (and you really should), you can head over to Amazon and order the DVD, which hits shelves Tuesday, July 24.

Boss will return for its second season August 17 on Starz.