Current TV, doomed to be known as Al Gore’s network no matter how many other people are involved, already has fixed the most-complained-about online feature. Would-be viewers can now look up Current’s status in their area without giving up their first-born; requesting Current on the cable lineup still takes some details including birthdate. The network and a revamped site showing content in sync with the broadcast launched Monday; the participatory backend—called Current Studio—is still to come. CNET News.com reported that the site suffered traffic-related performance problems on opening day. Some react so far:

--John Little: Started out blogging that he’d “seen worse.” By the end of the day added, “I can offer a more enthusiastic endorsement of the network after catching a few more hours this evening. I really like the “pod” format. Not because I’m a brainless soundbite oriented twit, or at least that’s what I like to think, but because I just don’t have the time to watch much TV.”
-- TVgasm:  “a noble but intensely bland attempt to wrangle in America’s digital generation with an assault of “pods” and wooden hosts. The entire look and feel of the network, at least in this early conception, reeks of corporate Groupthink mixed with naive amateurism. ... On the plus side, the pod format is innovative, and the integration of the network with its homepage is impressive (the website provides live-updating info on when the next several pods will air)” (via Current.)

-- Chip Crews, WP: “It’s unfair to draw conclusions based on a single day’s offerings, but yesterday Current TV played a little like “Today” or “Good Morning America” on a slow news day. ... So okay—this was just the first day. And Current TV, like the morning news shows, is probably best sampled, not swallowed whole. It appears that the channel’s success really will rest largely on the quality and number of contributions it draws from viewers. ... in a cable universe that’s made room for oceans of empty mediocrity, this island just might have a future.”

-- BCBeat: B&C intern Rob Biederman live blogged the first day. He hated a feature on a sneaker collector—“there’s a fine line between ‘off-the-beaten-path’ and ‘bores you to tears’”—dissed the Google Current updates and praised a feature on a cliff jumper.

-- MediaWeek: “A cursory stroll through the Current Web site reveals that, at least in the early going, the net may be trying too hard to be all things for all people.”