Archive for June, 2008:

'Getting Away with Murder' Stands Out on IFC.com's Summer Lineup

The Independent Film Channel (IFC) is best known as the cable broadcaster of uncensored and uninterrupted independent films. Along with their main competitor, the Sundance Channel, they have sought to bring the latest indie productions, as well their own original content, into the mainstream.

As far as web content goes, IFC.com has kept the same approach. The selection of IFC’s online video, a fair amount of which is dedicated to original web series, is as eclectic as the movies on IFC–from the Australian comedy Wilfred featuring a man in a dog costume, to the darker, dramatic Four Eyed Monsters about the rocky relationship between two young filmmakers.

For the most part, you’ll find a fair representation of genres in the web series world. There’s Lunchbox, your standard video blog highlighting the latest in pop culture trends; R. Kelly’s hip-hopera project Trapped in the Closet, last year’s ridiculously epic 22-part drama about gangsters, midgets, old people, and the hilarity that ensues when their lives are thrown together; and Good Morning, Internet! which is as dull as Trapped in the Closet is absurd. It mocks morning news shows such as The Today Show, and although it gets a few laughs, after a couple of episodes it begins to feel more like a drawn out MadTV sketch rather than a full-blown series.

However the two most intriguing shows on IFC are Getting Away with Murder and Young American Bodies, although for very different reasons.

Getting Away with Murder, from creative team Test Pattern (Hot Hot Los Angeles, Party Animals), tells the story of a hit man living at home with his over-bearing mother and struggling to have a love life. It’s an original idea, and while it’s not the funniest show on IFC, it stands out for its production value. When watching it, you can’t help but admire how professional it looks. If one of these shows had to be broadcast on network television, I think the public would be most likely to tune in to this show.

Young American Bodies is an edgy new series (via Nerve.com) that tells the story of six twenty-somethings and their love lives. The concept itself is overdone, but its edginess comes from its raw portrayal of sexuality; YAB shows the most nudity of any web show I’ve seen, and even though I greatly respect their attempt to push the boundaries of web content, at times it comes across as forced.

Screencasting is Internet Video's New Bicycle

In 2004, Microsoft Evangelist Jon Udell became enamored with “making movies of software.” As a high-powered denizen in computer town, Udell spent countless hours describing how new applications and programs work. Being able to convey that expertise through live experiences rather than text-based accounts was a powerful development that could easily and accurately disseminate information.

He thought the medium needed a name, so – in a pristine example of crowdsourcing – he asked his readers for help. The perfect answer would describe, “a progressively-downloadable video, which shows interaction with software, as is narrated by a presenter, or as emerges in a conversation.”

Screecasting was born. But in the four years since it’s official reception, what was originally a genre relegated to tech-centric how-tos, has undergone an artsy rebirth, and comedians and auteurs adopted the aesthetic.

These newfangled screencasts, devoid of traditional tutorial, essentially fall into two categories: “Comedy” and “Cool.”

I’m sure there were previous pretenders, but the clear King of Screencast Comedy is You Suck at Photoshop. The series parodies the genre perfectly, shot in real-time and starring the monitor of an emotional Photoshop tutorialist who can’t separate image altering from his personal life.

The Website is Down (embedded above) takes YSAP a step further, totally eliminating any how-to elements and shifting the focus to how a “web guy” interacts with his machine. What’s appealing here is the intrinsic insidery. A deep understanding and intimate familiarity with computer software programs and culture isn’t necessary for enjoyment, but it certainly adds to one’s appreciation.

The “Cool” category is essentially eye candy. This ranges from videos incidental to the creator’s actual end-product – like Chad Pughs time-lapsed illustration for Vimeo – to contrived videos that use screencasting in innovative, expressive ways – like the music video for The Bird and the Bee‘s “Again and Again” by Dennis Liu (below).

And this is just the beginning. Screencasting is a nascent genre that’s easy to use but difficult to master. I’m looking forward to more talented individuals giving the medium a shot. Personally, I’d like to see a comedy series about watching an online comedy series with real-life digital interruptions – e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, IM, Skype, etc. – playing bit roles.  If done well, that show could be internet gold.

But anything’s possible.  When the computer screen is the canvas, there aren’t really any limitations.

Can Odd Ingredients Stump the Chef?

Ever think you would want to eat yak?  Or have wasabi ice cream?  Matt Weaver, a chef from Austin, Texas, could probably convince you to eat anything on his On Networks show, Stump the Chef.

In each seven-minute installment, three odd ingredients are chosen – like Liver, Olives and French Fries or Beets, Oysters and Canned Peaches – and Weaver has to concoct a new dish.  I’m no gastronome and Escoffier certainly isn’t a recognized name in my household, but it’s still easy to tell that Weaver has skills.  He makes the unlikely food combinations look easily edible.



Three judges – different in each episode, ranging from finger food fans to bona fide food critics – decide whether Weaver has been “stumped” or passes the challenge.  Given the chef’s genuine enthusiasm in the kitchen and his endearing demeanor, you’re always hoping for the best.


Two commentators, including co-creator Cliff Wildman, follow Weaver’s progress and go out of their way to work in punny humor.  ###They’ve got the commentator voice down pact and their play-by-play is as corny as you’d expect, but they also sprinkle in some Alton Brown style foodie info for the epicurious.  Each episode also serves up more education in “Matt’s Tangent,” a segment where Weaver explains the culinary origins of one ingredient he’s cooking up.

Stump the Chef has classic game show graphics, which adds to the kitsch appeal.  It’s like Iron Chef meets Bob Barker except the commentators are comedians and the ingredients are way cooler.  It’s entertaining, too.  After a full serving of episodes it’s still fun to watch Weaver take a few weird things, turn them into a dish, and then see what the judges have to say.

Check out all the episodes of On Networks’ Stump the Chef here

It's Bo, Yo. And Bo Knows Funny.

Bo Burnham screams potential. Figuratively, of course, since the man-child ne’er screams in his videos, but rather tentatively raps and sings with the vocal stylings of a kid explaining a homework problem in calculus class after listening to way too much.  



It wouldn’t be at all surprising if Bo Burnham actually took some form of advanced mathematics since the self-taught musician and 17-year-old YouTube star from Massachusetts seems really smart, or at least geeky (he openly admits to liking Rubik’s Cube, if that tells you anything). And though I’ve avoided precocious teenagers for most of my adult life, even I can admit that there’s something special about NSFW Bo.



Robert “Bo” Burnham started posting videos on YouTube as a way of sharing them with his brother, a student at Cornell University. Bo, a recent high school grad from an all-boys Catholic school, whet his performing appetite a couple of years ago, partly in the school’s theater group and partly after rehearsals, tinkering with the school piano. He started writing songs to amuse his friends and after only a couple of months, one of his videos was featured on Break.com.


Indeed, it was a big break for the young thesbian, whose sexually-charged, irreverent wankster rhymes about Helen Keller and the Ku Klux Klan have earned him millions of eyeballs.

Read On…

'Dr. Horrible' To Premiere July 15, Then Vanish

A recent post on Whedonesque.com outlines the release of the highly anticipated Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a new web-exclusive show starring Neil Patrick Harris created by Buffy director Joss Whedon during the writer’s strike (the trailer was leaked last Thursday). The show, labeled as “an internet miniseries event,” will attempt to create appointment viewing on the web through scheduled airdates starting July 15, where fans can watch the show’s installments every other day for free until midnight Sunday July 20th, when “they will vanish into the night.”

The plan is to create a highly publicized launch to promote pay downloads and DVD sales of the show: “We intend to make it available for download soon after it’s published. This would be for a nominal fee, which we’re hoping people will embrace instead of getting all piratey. We have big dreams, people, and one of them is paying our crew. And somewhat later, we will put the complete short epic out on DVD –with the finest and bravest extras in all the land.” Whedon told TV Guide that the DVD extras will include a musical commentary that will be another completely original musical of all commentary songs, which are currently being written.

Will this monetization strategy work? “Whether this has any impact on the Internet is unclear to me,” says Whedon. “It will be something that hasn’t been done. And although some people came up with a plan on how to monetize this right away, our first priority was to put this out. We do it for the fans, we do it as an advertisement for itself and for just this culture, this idea of people who are doing something smaller scale but hopefully in such a way they can reach a lot of people. And maybe then it can make us an eleven-ty kadillion dollars. Or maybe it won’t.”

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

ACT ONE (Wheee!) will go up Tuesday July 15th.

ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th.

ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th

'Weeds' Star Moves to Web

Celebs and TV stars jumping from the small screen to the even smaller one is nothing new. These days, you can view every major TV show on the internet (well, almost every major TV show), and big-name artists from Coolio to Damon Wayans to Will Ferrell have all nestled into their own comfy corners on the web. Daisy Whitney says it’s for the freedom, and it is, but I sense the strengthening scent of big opportunity.

With a looming actor’s strike, those with the power to draw an audience on any medium might just try to re-assert their power and “make sand castles at a new sandbox…

Then again, sometimes actors are written off a series, and what better way to get a new role than to make one up?

Read On…

Tiki Bar TV's Recipe for Cash On the Rocks

Here’s a recipe for you:

2 parts goofy plot line
1 part mixology how-to
A dash of pretty dancing girl

Combine together in a “swank pad” and download.

What you get is a delicious mostly-monthly treat called Tiki Bar TV, one of the web’s most well-known video podcasts.

The Tiki crew has been amassing viewers since the show’s 2005 premiere.  But as we’ve discussed before, viewers don’t necessarily equal dollars.  This was the case for Tiki Bar until recently when they inked their first ad deal.  The deal, however, is not with a liquor advertiser – the seemingly most appropriate fit.

“Liquor was always discussed as being the perfect match,” said Jeff McPerson (aka Dr. Tiki, the lab coat-sporting libation physician). “Liquor advertisers are pretty particular and don’t like their products associated with actual drinking.”

Jeff is referring to the Code of Responsible Practices for Beverage Alcohol Advertising and Marketing, a verbose set of commandments put fourth by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (or DISCUS).

While advertising within content that depicts drinking is not explicitly prohibited by the code (although depicting Santa Claus in a booze ad is), Tiki Bar‘s content may be pushing the limits of “responsible consumption”, which is enough to keep Mr. Walker and Mr. Cuervo away.

Read On…

HBO Teams Up With Funny or Die

HBO

HBO acquired a small equity stake in Will Ferrell’s 2-year old web video venture and commissioned 10 half-hours of programming, likely teaming on various future projects such as a Funny or Die-branded programming block on and HBO channel, similar to what Comedy Central is doing with newly launched Viacom co-venture Atom.com. Whether the segments will be stand alone projects or more series based installments remains to be worked out, although Ferrell told Daily Variety that they are considering a “more-traditional-type sitcom” among other ideas.

HBO’s interest in a web brand is another great step towards breaking the wall between web and traditional TV content. According to Dick Glover, CEO of FunnyOrDie.com, the collaboration will bring together the web portal’s “brand and voice, and access to a lot of new and unusual talent in comedy” with HBO’s “premium TV channel and brand, great distribution and production resources.”

Justine Bateman's New Sweet Tooth

Justine Bateman, Jeff Garlin, Judd Nelson, and Steve Pink are jumping into the web series arena this year with a new show, Candy Inc., released by FM78.tv, an internet content production company run by Bateman, Jill Kushner, Peter Murrieta, and Alan Sereboff.

According to Bateman, the show “takes place in a candy factory and it’s about this woman named CJ, played by me. Her family has this candy company, but she’s never wanted to have anything to do with it. She’s reckless the way a 4-year-old is, not really meaning any harm, and a continuous series of mishaps and misunderstandings have given her a little bit of a police record.” Buck Henry, Wallace Langham, and Suzy Nakamura will also be involved with the project.

FM78.tv’s forward-thinking approach to internet content is a surprise coming from such well established members in the mainstream media. According to the website, “The consolidation of the media companies (studios and networks) have changed the landscape of TV and Film production. Less content is being created for fewer outlets. We are one of the groups that are committed to changing the landscape once again…The Internet will soon be the ONLY point of distribution for TV and Film. We will provide professional, creative content for the occasion.”

No word at this time as to when the show will be released, or how exactly it will be distributed. Hopefully more details will be released soon, because from the amount of star power this series packs, we have high hopes.

Of Atom's Shows, 'Stickman Exodus' Sticks Out

Comedy Central launched its latest foray into the online world yesterday with Atom.com, a site featuring original web series, short films, and an extensive social network of users and amateur producers. Atom (formerly AtomFilms.com) was bought by Viacom in 2006 as part of the $200 million deal that included Shockwave and AddictingGames.com. Previously a distributor for independent short films, Atom has been trying to branch out into other types of digital content over the past few years.

Accompanying the launch of the new site is the debut of three original web series- Stickman Exodus, Benny, Escaped Convict, and Border Patrol.

Stickman Exodus, by far the most original of the three pilots, features a group of animated stick figures trying to escape a high school student’s notebook and encountering all the objects we used to doodle in high school along the way (think “Hangman” and “Tic-Tac-Toe”). The first episode, in which the townspeople try to rescue a victim of a game of “hangman,” is brilliantly funny. A product of Waverly Films, who have done music videos (Death Cab for Cutie, Darude) and commercials (MTV, VH1, Heinz, Sony), this series has a lot of promise.

Benny, Escaped Convict, an animated show created by Nye Warburton (Monster House) and Ryan Levin (Scrubs), follows a stoat (a short tailed weasel), as he runs from the police. In the first episode, he hides in a suburban book club, where he offends the uptight locals with his foul language and sexual references. This show is definitely the weakest of the bunch–its attempt at edgyness and dark humor ends up dull and uninspired.

Border Patrol, the only live action show of the three, is the middle child. It’s a documentary series featuring three mismatched guys who guard the border from illegal Mexicans with vigilante justice. Although the trio’s dynamic has been done before (one of the friends is extremely timid, another is aggressive, and the third plays mediator), the show has a few great moments. At the climax of the pilot episode, the timid friend shares nachos and beer with an illegal (the first they have encountered in their 47 weeks on the job), while the other two are away. Although the pilot episode could have been stronger, Border Patrol still has the potential to be a hit.

We’re still wating to see how Comedy Central plans to integrate Atom. Right now Comedy Central has a slot at 2 a.m. on Monday nights to air Atom’s newest original series, and feature top user content. Whether this will be expanded or not will most likely depend on the kind of traffic that Atom gets over the next few months.

'Weeds' Star Malco To Debut New Web Show?

Actor Romany Malco, who Showtime recently announced will not be returning as Nancy Botwin’s beloved pot-dealing partner Conrad on Weeds, is launching a new web show based around a character named Tijuana Jackson (T.J.), an ex-con under house arrest who must support the three ex-prostitutes living with him. “I’m going to be releasing one episode a week on YouTube to test out the response,” said Malco in a recent New York Magazine interview. The shows launch date is still unknown, but sooner may be better than later as we expect an influx of celebrity shows on the web in anticipation of the potential SAG strike.

Donnie's Back for More 'You Suck at Photoshop'

“Strap on your Stupid! Donnie’s Back.”

Two months ago, Donnie Hoyle called it quits. The chronic depressive behind MyDamnChannel’s You Suck at Photoshop curled up into a ball of sad, shuffled off his online coil, and disappeared from his virtual friends. His buddy, Sn4tchbuckl3r went looking for him.

So disturbed by his friend’s disappearance, Sn4tchbuckl3r entered the MMO-world of Peopleburg – a 12-step program for recovering online gamers…that’s also an online game.

In a five-part “seasonette,” we see him looking for answers and progress with little payoff, until, in a self-aggrandizing, altruistic, and existential twist, we find that Donnie’s been behind the whole thing.

He created Peopleburg as a safe-haven – free from scrutiny and insecurity – and to show off his Photoshop skills. But now the code’s been hacked. Some Agent-like entity is out to disseminate spooning across the internet, Donnie’s gotta jet, and Sn4tchbuckl3r is the World Wide Web’s only hope.

All this somehow means that Donnie’s back in his basement, and we have another 10-episode season of You Suck at Photoshop:

This wasn’t supposed to happen, but after the series abruptly ended last season and fans cried murder, the creators – Troy Hitch and Matt Bledsoe of Big Fat Institute – had no choice but to resuscitate the show.

Read On…