Amy Poehler got into the web series game back in November 2008 by way of the now defunct Austin-based new media studio On Networks and her online origina show Smart Girls at the Party.

The mission of Poehler’s program was to “help young girls find confidence in their own aspirations and talents.” Poehler executed that mission by interviewing smart, young girls with unique talents, community interests, and/or particularly engaging points of view. In the creator and host’s own words, the series is a kind of “funny, Charlie Rose style talk show for girls.”

Smart Girls at the Party will soon have a second life on YouTube. The program is one of the video sharing site’s selected channels that will receive a check for some fraction of $100 million in exchange for quality programming. But this isn’t the only web show Poehler’s successfully pitched to a large distribution network.

Nellie Andreeva at Deadline broke the news Poehler has teamed with FX to bring the New York City-based, female created and female starring web series Broad City to a television screen near you.

Upright Citizen Brigaders Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer are those female stars and creators of this buddy comedy with a distinctly offbeat, young Brooklyn aesthetic and featuring a kind of technoligically advanced codependent relationship that relies heavily on video chat. Jacobsen and Glazer are slated to keep their starring and writing roles as they fulfill a script commitment from FX and embark on the first steps of their journey in bringing their web series to TV.

If you haven’t seen Broad City, you should. Give it a watch here.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Featured, FX, Industry, News, Web Series by Joshua Cohen
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Lisa Kudrow’s LStudio-funded and Intelligent Life-produced original web series, Web Therapy has not only attracted the powers that be at Showtime, but also a bevy of big names in Hollywood.

Meryl Streep, Courtney Cox, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Molly Shannon, Dan Bucatinsky, Jane Lynch, Alan Cumming and a laundry list of other famous actors have all channeled characters with various kinds and degrees of neuroses who have looked into their computer screens and engaged with Kudrow’s highly insecure Fiona Wallace in a sort of short-form psychological treatment for the internet age.

You can now add Conan O’Brien to the list.

Alex Ben Block at The Hollywood Reporter broke the news the host of TBS’ late night talk show and leader of Team Coco will appear in a three-episode arc of the online original as himself dealing with issues of anger management. The first of the O’Brien installments is set to debut on December 14.

O’Brien is one of many celebrities to appear in Web Therapy’s just launched fourth online season, but the only one that will play himself. Rosie O’Donnell makes an appearance as Wallace’s editor for the therapist’s new memoir, Minnie Driver plays a former child star who wants to play Wallace in the move adaptation of her book, and Natasha Bedingfield act as a “British palace worker” in need of some help.

You can catch the first episodes of Season Four of Web Therapy over at LStudio.com. As for its premium cable television service counterpart, Showtime is still considering whether or not to pick up Web Therapy for a second TV season.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Production Companies, Showtime, Studios, Web Series by Joshua Cohen
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Joe Penna, one of the most creative forces on YouTube, is launching a new orignal series on the MysteryGuitarMan channel featuring Mark Gantt, Taryn O’Neill, and Princesstard from Shaytards.

WATCH IT NOW

The new series, Once Upon, features Penna as “MysteryGuitOldMan,” a character introduced earlier this month, who tells the story of the origins of his little brother, “Teeny Joe,” who was featured in a June 2010 MGM video. The series is full of all the creative effects we’ve come to expect from MGM, including an infant that sprouts from a plant bulb delivered by an exotic bird.

“YouTube is all about trying new things and constantly re-inventing yourself,” Penna told Tubefilter. “Plus, it’s a great way to get immediate, honest feedback on your work. So, I’m excited to be trying out this 5-episode miniseries on my channel.”

Once Upon is MysteryGuitarMan‘s first web series—though Penna humbly noted, “Can it be called a “web series” if it doesn’t have Felicia Day in it?” LOL.

On his second channel jp, Penna teased out news of the series last week with behind the scenes videos featuring Princesstards and getting into his old man makeup.

Penna was featured on Tubefilter’s Secrets of YouTube Superstars panel at CES 2011, and The Digitour: Debriefed at the Tubefilter Hollywood Meetup.

The first episode of Once Upon drops today, with new eps coming out every Tuesday until December 20th.

RELATED VIDEO

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Drama, Featured, Hosted, MysteryGuitarMan, News, Web Series, YouTube by Drew Baldwin
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Bob Anderson of the Raptor Resource Project in Decora, Iowa has been treating online video watchers and orniphiles to a live stream and unadulterated look into the domestic lives of a family of bald eagles since he set up a series of cameras 85 feet up in the air back in March.

The Bald Eagle Cam was the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam of 2011 and is now the self-proclaimed “#1 Most Viewed Live Video of All Time,” with a view count on Ustream of over 211 million(!!!) and counting. But a new contendor in the category of animal-oriented live streams may pose a challenge to the Bald Eagle Cam’s viewership title.

The Polar Bear Cam (which is officially dubbed The Tundra Buggy Cam because, as the name would suggest, the cameras are attached to a vehicle that can handle the polar bears’ natural terrain) is a live, daylight-hours feed that captures migrating polar bears on film as they travel through the small Canadian town of Churchill, Manitoba. Hundreds of bears follow the trail every year on their way to the Hudson Bay, where they gather and “wait for the ice to form so they can return to their seal-hunting grounds.”

The feed comes courtesy of a $50,000 grant and Explore.org, a website which showcases “philanthropic based media to champion the selfless acts of others, create a portal into the soul of humanity and inspire lifelong learning.”

Check it out. You won’t see baby bear cubs exploring the snow, but you will get an incredible look at one of the most endangered polar bear populations in the world (which is increasingly threatened by rising global temperatures) go about what scientists call a “walking hibernation.” If you feel so moved, you can even take some action.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Documentary, Featured, Live Streaming, News by Joshua Cohen
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ComScore rated top 5 video network Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) was one of the nearly 100 Original YouTube Channels announced in the first slate of YouTube’s $100 million premium content initiative.

Bradley Werner, VP of Production & Series Development at DBG, describes the new channel, Spaces, as “a younger, metropolitan-but-street-smart Home & Design channel that’s more than just reveals and advice for people who want to flip turn-of-the-century Colonial-style homes—we want to bring a new personality to this type of content that is both fun and sophisticated.”

Spaces is scheduled to go live in April 2012, and will feature the inspiration of top designers, celebs, and professionals. The series will provide for a hands-off audience hands-on advice about how make welcome aesthetic changes to the places they live.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, How-To, Industry, News, Web Series, YouTube by Drew Baldwin
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The cancellation of the 2011-2012 season of National Basketball Association seems imminent. Negotiations broke down earlier this month between the NBA Players Union and NBA owners despite the fact there will be billions of dollars of losses in potential salaries and revenue (and because of the fact no one involved in the deliberations apparently is, or was a fan of Major League Baseball).

This all means Kobe Bryant’s already lost seven-figures’ worth of wages, NBA TV is filling its programming slate with old sports flicks and classic games, and the players all have a lot of free time on their hands.

And if the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike taught us anything, it’s that members of a union with a lot of free time on their hands who are unable to work their regular jobs because of some sort of involuntary work stoppage love to create videos for the internet.

To be clear, NBA lockout videos are nothing new. Seth Meyers was conceiving of remedial tasks for out of work NBA stars to perform since his hosting gig at the ESPYs in July and Funny or Die has been shooting installments of its Lockout League – the conversation Funny or Die’s know-nothing NBA correspondent has with the Houston Rockets’ Kyle Lowry about the privatization of the space program is genius – periodically for the past few months. But those were conceived to make light of the league’s situation and were produced by third party comedic entities. The Nick and JaVale Show is different.

The slice of life video blog features charmingly cocksure Washington Wizard teammates Nick Young and JaVale McGee doing whatever it is they do. Sometimes that’s basketball. Other times its Benihana or community service. And at least once its eating a spoonful of cinnamon.

A company called Ford Production Films takes care of the series’ shooting and editing responsibilities, crafting compelling three-minute-or-less episodes showcasing great soundtracks and what it’s like to be a professional athlete and millionaire in your mid-20s with the very real prospect of losing your day job.

If anything good comes from the NBA lockout, it’ll be more of Nick and Javale’s videos. Check ‘em out. And if the season does get cancelled, expect to see a lot more familiar faces from professional basketball make cameo appearances and starring roles in online video entertainment.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Sports, Web Series by Joshua Cohen
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The other piece of entertainment news to break this weekend for fans of cult-classic comedies was something everyone’s favorite Whedonite told Matt McDaniel in an interview with Yahoo! Movies. At the tail end of a conversation that centered around Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, and Joss Whedon’s highly anticipated, upcoming May 2012 release of The Avengers, the film’s director told McDaniel where he’s at with another highly anticipated production featuring what will hopefully be one helluva ensemble cast.

Whedon explained how a sequel for his 2008 online original Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is still in the works, he just needs a few more hours in the day to actually get started on production. Here’s Whedon’s exact response to McDaneil’s question about where he’s at with the project:

We have been working on that for a while. It’s been hard, because we all have jobs, and some of them are extremely taxing. But we have had a vision of the thing for a while, we have been working on it, we have a bunch of songs and a few scenes. We need a little free time and right now that’s plenty hard to come by.

If you’re a fan who can’t wait to see the “homines non boni seriose” who round out the Evil League of Evil, this is kinda promising news, right? A “bunch of songs and a few scenes” is a good start! But, if you’re fan who can’t wait to see the “homines non boni seriose” who round out the Evil League of Evil this is kinda disappointing news, too.

Whedon and company have been teasing a Dr. Horrible sequel since way back in July 2008 (which, at one point, it was rumored was going to be the first and premiere productions from a Whedon owned and operated new media studio). It’s nice to know Dr. Horrible is still on his mind, but it’s taking way longer to come to fruition than any Neil Patrick Harris fan or member of Whedonesque would like.

So, what’s your over/under on when we can expect to watch a Dr. Horrible season two? Mine is Q3 2013, but regardless of the date, I have a pretty good guess of where the show might end up.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Featured, News by Joshua Cohen
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The biggest news in entertainment over the weekend (aside from Taylor Swift taking home the Artist of the Year Award at the American Music Awards and not thanking Kanye West in her acceptance speech) was that an online video platform known for streaming high quality entertainment properties enticed a few household Hollywood names by way of big checks to produce original programming exclusive to said online video platform. And no, I’m not talking about YouTube. That was so last month.

Andrew Wallenstein at Variety broke the news Netflix struck a deal with 20th Century Fox Television and Imagine Television to launch brand new episodes of Arrested Development by early 2013, a full seven years after the Emmy Award-winning program ended its original broadcast television run.

The show’s creator, Mitch Hurwitz, has been teasing fans for the past several months with word of a 10-episode mini season of Arrested Development that will precede a major motion picture based on the Bluths. That major motion picture and the number of episodes that will run on Netflix hasn’t been confirmed, but Hurwitz does promise he’ll be able to wrangle the original cast for all the installments of the series in the foreseeable future.

The news of Netflix launching new eps of Arrested Development follows the announcement earlier this year of the company’s distribution deal for the upcoming David Fincher-produced and Kevin Spacey-starring original series House of Cards. Netflix reportedly ponied up somewhere in the ballpark of $100 million for 26 episodes, the first of which is set to debut in late 2012. The streaming video service is also said to be in talks with the producers of Reno 911! to bring back new episodes of the series Comedy Central cancelled over two years ago.

Netflix’s influx of capital into new and original programming by may be new information to the passive entertainment enthusiast, but it’s something the industry analysts have expected for some time. In fact, Netflix was expected to invest a total of around $1 billion in original programming in 2011 alone.

So, the big question is, what show’s next? (And, I know what you’re thinking, but Cartoon Network already picked up the Annoying Orange.)

Filed under: Arrested Development, Articles, Featured, Industry, Netflix, News by Joshua Cohen
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Rain, even in Los Angeles, can’t stop a party like this one. There is something about top musicians in the world descending on one spot—and then performing—that make this special. Nothing against the actors, writers and directors of the world, but they aren’t exactly performing at most award shows. At the AMA’s tonight, it’s the best in the music game, and we get to see them work.

Sure, ABC has the main show (starting at 5pm PT tonight), but on this site we’re locked in on the internet broadcast. Because, in the future of television, it’s as Wayne Gretzky would say, where the puck is going to be. YouTube is broadcasting American Music Awards Red Carpet Pre-show live starting at 2pm PT (watch now below). The 3-hour show, complete with live performances and exclusive interviews with AMAs performers is underwritten by lead sponsor Coca-Cola.

What The Buck’s Michael Buckley is one of the official pre-show hosts, and there’s fashion coverage from YouTube’s Elle and Blair Fowler, live performances by DeStorm, Christina Grimmie and more. Basically, there’s reason to tune in even if Justin Bieber wasn’t enough of a hook. Also performing in the AMAs this year—Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Mary J Blige and many others. (Full list here)

Social video site Chill has set up an official AMA’s lounge where you can cut through the chat room crowds and have some real conversations with other viewers.

UPDATE: DeStorm and Christina Grimmie just received the first ever AMA’s New Media Honoree awards live on the red carpet, honoring their work as the next generation of “web content creators who leverage their musical talent to engage viewers and audiences worldwide.”

Filed under: Articles, DeStorm, Fashion, Hosted, Live Streaming, Music, News-Current Events, Production Companies, YouTube by Marc Hustvedt
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Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock‘s Failure Club launched today on the recently revamped Yahoo! Screen.

The show is a part of Yahoo!’s latest slate of original programming featuring Spurlock and other stars including Judy Greer, Cameron Mathison, and Niecy Nash.

Seven people will meet every week over a year to help each other achieve the things they’ve only dreamed of: the stay-at-home mom who wants to start her own business, the market researcher who wants to become a stand-up comic, the 55 year old mother of a teenage daughter, who literally wants to get back on the horse and become an Equestrian, and others.

“This show is my own Failure Club,” said Spurlock. “I tried to get this concept on network television for seven years, but they were all scared to death of a ‘year-long’ format. Yahoo! wants to try things traditional outlets shy away from.”

Each member of the Failure Club will try and some will fail, but the journey will change them forever. People all over the world will be able to follow these courageous people and their quest to achieve their dreams,” Spurlock added. “And, hopefully along the way, they’ll be inspired to chase some dreams of their own.”

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Hosted, News, Web Series by Drew Baldwin
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Andrew McMurry’s installment of his gamer-driven and After Effects-laden Real Life original web series that deals with fending off Minecraft zombies in the non-virtual world got me thinking about two things. First, what exactly is Minecraft? And second, what exactly is the deal with all these Minecraft videos?

Let’s tackle these in order. At it’s core, Minecraft is a video game that allows you to make anything you want to out of 8-bit blocks. In the two-and-a-half years since the game’s inception, players have taken that open premise to some very impressive (and obsessive) extremes, putting in literal days’ worth of game time into constructing renditions of familiar structures and fantasy landscapes.

(At least that’s how the game’s ‘Creative Mode’ works. There’s a ‘Survival Mode,’ too, where zombies come out at night to destroy your buildings, so you have to build shelters and blow the zombies up with dynamite to to protect your work.)

Those gamers that put so much time into crafting their retrographic architecture naturally want to show off all their hard work. Couple that tendency with the over 16 million current registered Minecrafters, and that explains where all the Minecraft videos come from. Alex Leavitt, of the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California, estimated back in November 2010 there were at least 400,000 Minecraft videos on YouTube alone. Since then, that number’s most likely increased by an order of magnitude or two.

So, for the most recent installment of our Tubefilter Weekly Video Blog (to which, you should most definitely subscribe), I highlighted a little bit of my favorite Minecraft video-related finds (as well as showcased some pictures of chefs and jocks). Check it out:

(Minecraft creepers on Abbey Road by 9Andrey.)

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Industry, News, Tubefilter, Tubefilter Video Blogs, YouTube by Joshua Cohen
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The news of a TV series based on one of YouTube’s most popular series, The Annoying Orange, has been out there for over a year. But today came word just where that show is going to live, as Cartoon Network picked up creator Dane Boedigheimer’s six-episode longer form animated version.

Management company and production house The Collective partnered with Boedigheimer to produce 15 half-hour episodes of The Annoying Orange animated TV comedy series. The episodes come complete with A-list cartoon talent, including Tom Sheppard (Pinky and the Brain) handling writing responsibilities, Conrad Vernon (co-director of Monsters and Aliens, Shrek 2) executive producing, and Malcom McDowell lending his voice to one of the characters.

“Basically the plan is to really take advantage of TV’s longer format and expand the AO world way beyond what it is on YouTube…really dive into the characters and their personalities,” Boedigheimer told us today. “Of course we would continue to do the YouTube show as well. I think there’s an advantage to being able to drive traffic to TV via the web and vice versa. The two will work together in tandem.”

Release date is not yet set, though sometime in the first half of next year is what we are hearing. The online version will continue on their YouTube channel, with its 2.2 million subscribers still a very fertile platform for the franchise.

Check out our recent sit down interview with Annoying Orange’s Boedigheimer and producer Bobby Jennings, who still have yet to score Nathan Fillion in an episode. But never say never.

Filed under: Articles, Cartoon Network, Comedy, Featured, News, The Collective Digital Studio, Web Series, YouTube by Marc Hustvedt
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