'Sorority Forever' Off to a Promising, Brief Start

I’m a big fan of the teen drama.  Friends have speculated that it’s because I haven’t matured emotionally past the 11th grade.  Whatevs.  So watching the pilot of Sorority Forever, a show set in college, was a graduated step up in my scripted entertainment habits.   

Also, I am entirely creeped out by Greek life. Rushing. Pledging. Bidding. Paddles. The whole thing always seemed kinda drowned in Kool-Aid.

But despite my prejudices, I was really excited by the trailer.

Sex! Drama! Mystery! Pretty girls! Paddles! (Pretty girls with paddles?!)  This is going to be really good.

The series debuted yesterday on MySpaceTV and TheWB.com.  It’s produced by Big Fantastic (Prom Queen, Sam Has 7 Friends, Cockpit) in association with Warner Brothers’ Studio 2.0, and teen genre vet McG (The OC, Chuck, Celebutantes) at the helm.  

It features some of the small small screen’s bigger names including Taryn Southern (the Clinton fan in the bi-curious Hott 4 Hillvideo), as well as Lonelygirl herself, Jessica Lee Rose, who is no stranger to either sororities or scary stuff.  Big Fansatic also brought back Mikaela Hoover and David Loren, from Sam has 7 Friends and Prom Queen, respectively.

The first episode, “Sisterhood,” went up yesterday and it was, well, short. 2 minutes, 27 seconds, to be exact. I’m guessing that the words “millennials” and “attention span” were used in that decision. I understand where they’re coming from, but haven’t we reached a point in online video where if the action is good enough, the viewers will stick around regardless of length?

Suffice it to say, not a whole lot happens in this episode: Julie (Jessica Rose), under pressure from her family, joins Phi Chi Kappa, the most exclusive sorority on campus, where there is something scary in the basement.

I’m being a little facetious.  The episode achieves what it set out to accomplish perfectly well and with TV-caliber production value.  Sure, some of the acting and line delivery is a little over-the-top, but that’s to be expected when you turn on a show about a sorority with a “terrifying secret.”  It’s a prologue to set the stage for characteristic bad things and intrigue to come.  

I’m looking forward to following Sorority Forever.  The cultish vibe of campus Greek organizations is the perfect environment in which to set a creepy thriller.  The short episodes do bug me a bit, and I may end up watching in weekly 10-minute chunks, instead of snacking daily. (In which case I’ll have to be careful not to look at any of the characters’ MySpace or Twitter pages before I’m caught up on the action.)

Sorority Forever runs for 8 weeks, with a new episode released every weekday.  In spite of what I previously wrote about TheWB.com when it was still in beta, things are looking much better now and here’s to hoping they keep it up.