Back in June we announced the relaunch of Atom.com, the Comedy Central-sponsored site for web content that includes a large (a bit too large, in fact) collection of original web series. The three shows that accompanied the launch were Stickman Exodus, Benny, Escaped Convict, and Border Patrol. Now, some 43,000 views later, Border Patrol is set to release its series finale tomorrow, and we thought we would take a look at how the shows have done in the past month, and show you the penultimate Border Patrol episode to get you caught up.
Views for the three shows followed our predictions – Stickman Exodus has led the way with over 107,000 views total for five episodes. The pilot was easily the strongest of the three, but the series has ended up not being as original as we had expected. That hasn’t stopped the Waverly Films show from being the strongest in terms of views, and we’ll admit the series has given us some pretty good laughs.
Benny, Escaped Convict performed poorly both in terms of content as well as viewership. With less than 25,000 views, the show’s three episodes were barely distinguishable – each episode followed the same pattern with Benny, our foul-mouthed protagonist, showing up at an event and shocking everyone with his prison stories and bad language. In the end, the show couldn’t shock enough people to build up a viewer base; however, we hope to see more from creators Ryan Levin and Nye Warburton.
Border Patrol, which we called “the middle child” of the three, ended up being the most entertaining show. The three friends, who have been guarding the US-Mexico border for over a year without seeing an illegal alien, have had some crazy adventures in their time as Minutemen. They’ve attempted to build a fence at the border, they’ve put together a crow’s next made out of a lawn chair and some balloons, and they’ve met their Mexican alter-egos, who are making sure no Americans illegally cross into Mexico. The show didn’t do as well as Stickman Exodus in terms of views, but it was an example of great web comedy, and we look forward to watching the series finale.
