Bob Dylan, he's a-changin' with the times. At least, when it comes to authorizing a video for one of his all-time classics, "Like a Rolling Stone," he is. And what a video, which comes packed with celebrities and TV stars lip synching his tune, and an interactive component that lets viewers change the channel.
The video, created by digital agency Interlude and posted on Dylan's official site, has quickly gone viral with its 16 "channels" of content featuring stars from "The Price is Right," "Pawn Stars" and elsewhere singing the tune. But not everyone who got asked to participate wanted to be involved.
On Wednesday, Tamron Hall revealed that the TODAY show team had been offered a chance to appear as a "channel" in the video, but they were voted down by staffer Ryan Osborn, who Tamron then pulled into the Orange Room to justify himself.
Osborn wasn't backing down, though he admitted to admiring the finished product. "The song is sacred," he said. (Rolling Stone named the song, originally released in 1965, as "The Greatest Song of All Time" in 2011.)
"I give them a lot of credit for pulling it off; when I first heard the idea, I have to say ... I was skeptical," he added. "But they really did pull it off."
"That was a great last decision, Ryan," joked Al Roker.
Even without TODAY in it, the video is definitely worth a look. Viewers can not only change the channel, but adjust the volume, HD quality and pause or stop the images using the interactive element.
"I'm using the medium of television to look back right at us," video director Vania Heymann told Mashable. "You're flipping yourself to death with switching channels (in real life)."