Clark Duke and Michael Cera, of the sadly defunct Arrested Development, star in the CBS-sponsored comedy mini-series, Clark and Michael. The ten-episode series debuted in May 2007, in which the actors play themselves attempting to peddle their script in an unreceptive Hollywood.

In the style of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Clark and Michael follows a now-basic formula for the sophisticated adult sitcom—awkward showbiz hi-jinks mixed with unpredictable improvisation. Add to that a faux reality show premise in which a camera crew tracks our awkward, delusional duo and with three deceptively simple ingredients you’ve got a hilarious, hilarious show. The key is the performance of the lead actors—despite each looking about twelve years-old Duke and Cera play off one another perfectly, with shy, quick tempered Michael (in episode five he freaks out in a video rental store when he learns it doesn’t carry Touched By an Angel) complementing overconfident, blustering Clark.

Since the series often diverges from its original script-pitching premise, in which Clark and Michael are summarily rejected and/or screwed by the studio heads to whom they try to sell their script, the protagonists’ chemistry and absurd actions get the show through some fairly standard situations (friendship break-ups, driving school, meeting girls, etc.) For instance, in episode four, Michael’s girlfriend breaks up with him. Clark offers condolence by mocking the shape of her posterior: “You had to be sick of putting your —- in that leather vacuum, anyway. Like a hairy elevator.” Clark and Michael delivers this kind of raunchy, silly humor in spades. The website also contains a Clark and Michael blog, photo gallery, and photo diary to for fans craving some extras.

Episode three is my favorite. Its centerpiece is a meeting between Clark and Michael and their “superagent” Ramsay. When Michael guesses Ramsay loved their script the latter interjects, “I didn’t like it, and let me tell you why I didn’t like it. I didn’t read your script, my reader read your script, and didn’t like. It wasn’t that there wasn’t talent in the writing of it, because there wasn’t. It wasn’t that the characters weren’t there, and they weren’t. It was because it was offensive to the Chinese.”

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Michael Joshua Rowin
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Starring Charlie Baker, Cinema Psychic has been giving weekly updates on the latest movie releases since December 1, 2006. In these brief séances, Baker uses his uncanny psychic powers to preview movies before they appear on screens nationwide, using only his dry wit to either lead you towards two hours of entertainment or save two hours of your life. Cinema Psychic is part of Ovalworks Media, which also produces The Clipshow (which is edited, directed and written by Charlie and co-created by Jim Kirks and Charlie’s brother Chris), on which Baker showed off his telekinetic talents as the Cinema Psychic in this episode.

For those of us who are not tuned into the fine vibrations of Hollywood’s latest offerings, Baker’s gift for delving into the cosmic not-so-subtleties of the box office in three minutes or less is a nice sneak-peek. Anyone who identifies with his dry sensibility, know-it-all humor and noir-ish black and white set-up can probably take his recommendations to heart. Every Friday finds him channeling in front of a different cinema-themed, green-screened backdrop, giving us the inside scoop on which flicks to skip and which to bring the popcorn to, from Norbit and the Lives of Others to Meet the Robinsons and Blades of Glory. Baker was born with a gift, a gift that he must share, a gift of separating good films from bad and telling, in not too many words, why they are that way, even if that reason is that the studio execs were smoking turtle crap or Marky Mark should have stuck with rapping. His humor is sharp but his delivery not always, which only proves that he is, indeed, the real thing and not some charlatan imposter. No, he’s just a cinema fan like the rest of us, but with psychic powers that can see the future of film. Plus he provides links to the movies on IMDb so you can read more about the films he mentions to draw your own empirically-driven conclusions.

Charlie’s breakdown of the Oscars is a good one, although he does hype box office bomb The Number 23. Nobody’s perfect. 

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Nathan Bock
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First airing on July 19, 2006 and brought to you by Ovalworks Media and Flower Street Moving Pictures, The Clip Show was created by Host Jim Kirks and his co-writer/producer Chris Baker. The duo works together in Colorado Springs, Colorado and scripts the show each week. Sifting through the massive vlogosphere, they choose two shows to highlight, comment on, tease, and rate in each installment. The two are also the masterminds behind a growing network of Ovalworks Media sites, including the Hands on Food and Cinema Psychic.

The script that Kirks reads each Tuesday from behind his news desk has a nice blend of witty and casual language, especially for those familiar with the world of internet video – like referring to a “post-Congdon Rocketboom world.” Except for unsolved mysteries and other special installments, each episode shows clips from two video blogs – from TIki Bar TV to Galacticast – intercut with Kirks’ commentary. His reviews also tend to take on the style of the show under critique, as evidenced exquisitely in Episode 13, in which Kirks parodies the popular Goodnight Burbank by co-hosting and fighting with himself. At the end of each review, Kirks rates the site using The Clip Show’s own rating scale – The COGDN (Cooperative Online Guide to Determining Non-awards). Ranging from a one to 13 – rating of eight signifies “a podcast for the masses,” and a nine means the site is like “warm cookies from grandma” – any relation to Amanda Congdon is surely unintentional. There is also a Vox blog, on which Kirks and crew narrate their filming progress.

A personal favorite is the episode covering Geek Entertainment TV and Freshtopia, where Kirks interacts with a poor man’s R2.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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Chic TV brands itself as a “lifestyle video magazine” for the above average income bracket centered primarily around the New York metropolitan area. Rami Rinot, the former chief operating officer of the software company GigaSpaces Technologies, is Chic TV’s CEO, publisher and editor. He also has experience in the restaurant guide industry, co-authoring “The Spirits of Cocktail,” and “The Spirits of New York.” The site was launched in the fall of 2006.

Chic.tv channels focus primarily on the essential issues of wealthy urban lifestyle: dining, drinking and fashion. The majority of the one to five-minute videos look like advertisements for various high-class restaurants and clubs in New York City, but Chic.tv proudly claims they have “no sponsored features,” meaning you can count on them as an impartial arbiter of taste and lifestyle trends. Each issue the sites covers, whether it be accessories, wine, travel or dessert recipes, is presented by a lifestyle editor experienced in that particular field. For instance, Chic.tv’s culinary editor Marlie Hall, former host of the Food Network’s “Recipe For Success“, as well as an on-air reporter for WCBS-TV in New York City, hosts the recipes and dining channels. The site also offers a weekly review show hosted by Grace Sampson that is vaguely formatted like a news vlog and recaps what’s chic this week. The site also offers an extensive NYC restaurant and bar guide, an email newsletter, and a discussion forum.

Chic.tv is geared toward the young, attractive and wealthy of NYC. The site’s coverage of the Trump Vodka inauguration party fits its marketing identity perfectly. Check out affluent urbanites in designer clothes shake it to some pretty raunchy hip hop, and a hilarious interview with Trump with a very bored-looking Melania in the background.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Kate Dundon
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Geek Entertainment TV comes to the web from San Francisco-based Irina Slutsky, former writer for the internet magazine Red Herring, and producer, blogger, and media activist Eddie Codel.

Along with Jennifer Myronuk, Sarah Pullman, and Violet Blue, the pair focuses on its primary interests, which Slutsky and Codel say include web 2.0, Ajax, social software, and venture capital. Since the site’s launch in November 2005, its goal is to keep tabs on the creators of the next big internet thing in three pieces posted each week.

A short piece on the question of whether Silicon Valley and web 2.0 enterprises are taking over Hollywood succinctly captures the spirit behind Geek Entertainment TV. The episodes consist a collection of clips of mostly on-location interviews conducted by Slutsky with names behind various Web 2.0 enterprises, including Meebo, Podshow, and Technorati.

Slutsky is the on-camera personality for almost every webisode and, when not covering conferences like Vloggercon, GETV indulges in another hobby – robots, be they making chocolates in a candy factory, or fighting each other in the ring. The pieces have a comedic air to them, as interviewees’ responses are sometimes accented by subtitles or images introduced by the Geek crewmembers to show their pleasure or displeasure with the subject. Interviews take place at stores, convention floors, rooftops, where Slutsky provides the show’s vibe that’s half-excited and half-laidback, but always with a sense of humor. 

In another characteristically self-referential piece, Slutsky and company interviewed various net personalities at Vloggercon to find out which other vloggers they find attractive. Galacticast’s Casey McKinnon and CommandN’s Amber Macarthur are among those that participated in the segment. For those of you that follow the exploits of your favorite web celebrities closely, this is a great way to feel like you’re in the know.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Nicholas Mosquera
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Several bloggers were tapped from their own blogs in March 2006 to unite and form Microsoft’s On10. These bloggers include Adam Kinney, Duncan, Erik Porter, Jeff Sandquist, Jesse D. Lewin, Larry Larsen, Laura Foy, Mike Sampson, and Tina Wood. Becoming anchormen with a penchant for gadgets and new discoveries in the tech world, their atypical style of tech news uses less jargon and more enthusiasm in their episodic topics. While it’s never said openly (except by fans on the boards who are thankful for the site’s specific subject matter), On10 covers only Microsoft and PC-oriented tech products.

Episodes run up to 10 minutes and are updated almost daily. The videos are well produced, minimally edited, unscripted, and filmed in one continuous shot either on location or in a tech-savvy, brightly lit studio. While there are no banner ads or opening video ads, each episode focuses on one program or gadget new to the market and proclaims it to be worth buying.

It isn’t part of their “10 Manifesto” mission statement and isn’t communicated with “maximum strength and clarity,” but nonetheless every installment promotes some new Microsoft technology without criticism or scrutiny. That’s a stark contrast from other techno-news vlogs, where you hear “That sucks,” as often as you hear “This is the coolest thing ever.” If you sift through the all the promotional videos for long enough, you might be able to find something that isn’t directly related to a specific company, like the episode where Tina and Laura go on a tour of Seattle’s famously independent radio station KEXP or the Consumer Electronics Show special where the daring duo sings karaoke with the new Lead Singer product. The only episodes about Apple include “Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s ‘I-Pod’” (note the inexplicable misspelling of iPod) and “Macintosh at Microsoft,” which discusses how Microsoft has a division devoted to finally bridging Apple and Microsoft (note how there is no article talking about Apple’s 2006 system launch that made it possible to use Mac and PC platforms on the same computer). You might as well just go here and look under “Latest Releases”. But to be fair, the jovial hosts are knowledgeable about the products they advertise and each video’s accompanying well-written description is chock full of hyperlinks to the products, companies, events, and designers – anything that is remotely relevant to the news item.

Anchor Laura Foy’s trade show visit to the International Robotics table leads to an explanation of some amazing products. IRI creates company-specific robotics to “assist industry leaders in more effectively capturing the attention and respect of today’s more complex business, consumer and media audiences,” which they certainly do with this surprisingly interactive robot (who is also an actor, appearing in everything from “Punk’d” to Rocky IV) and with their spinning, futuristic Coca Cola advertisement. Laura also talks with CEO Robert Doornick about his unique research company’s techniques, which are rooted in psychology and behavioral study.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Zach Jones
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Founded by tech-industry start-up specialist David Sifry, Technorati catalogues millions of blogs for quick and easy searches of the blogosphere. Naturally the site would have their own vlog about blogs. Originally known as the Technorati Daily Vlog and shot in the office kitchen, Buzz TV began in October 2006 as a rundown of some of the web’s top chatter. Initially hosted by several Technorati staff, including Aaron Krane and Liz Dunn, major host duties were handed to Aaron early on and the show has benefited from continually improved style and format.

Coming to you every weekday from his desk, Aaron Krane’s three-minute updates are pretty straightforward – lookin’ for some good webgossip—Come on down! Aaron takes a short break from his day of surfin’ to bring you the hottest tidbits from Technorati’s ‘Live Web conversation’, that is, the top searches of the day. Want to know about Paris or Antonella but don’t want to do the dirty work of finding it yourself? Aaron’s up on it. But this site is not only for the tabloid set. Aaron was recently reporting backstage from the Spirit Awards in LA and got some questions in with movie types regarding the influence of web-culture on Hollywood. BuzzTV also updates on major news stories and politics, giving you Aaron’s opinion as well as cross-referencing several other blogger sites or media outlets, with links in his ‘cited’ column for in-depth perusal at your leisure. To go along with the goings on of our famous and fabulous, BuzzTV also drops the occasional viral video gem sifted from the vast sands of the net. From congressional pages to presidential races, iPhone to Joost, scandal to, well, scandal, BuzzTV has seen it, read it, and wants to tell you about it. All in all, a pretty good distillation of what’s makin’ waves on the web.

Zen question: If a blogger mentions another blog, does anybody read it? Check out Aaron’s own ripples on the pond by seeing what other bloggers are saying about him when you click ‘View Blog Reactions’.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Nathan Bock
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Inspired by his love of cooking, gardening, and general do-it-yourselfness, Eric Rochow created Gardenfork (garden + fork = gardenfork) after many failed attempts to pitch his own cooking/gardening cable television show. He runs his own multimedia company, Choplogic, as well as a blog about general media news. Gardenfork was launched in June of 2006.

Eric explores a refreshingly interesting variety of topics in his particular field, including how to transplant plants, what to do with garlic scapes(and what they are), and how to change your disc breaks. He also films experts like Patricia Hulse from the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, who showed Eric how to build cold frames (miniature greenhouses). The videos can be a bit lengthy, sometimes over 10 minutes long, and often feature Eric chewing food into his microphone or messing around with his Labrador Henry (the dog’s super cute), but the lessons are thorough, shot surprisingly well for just a guy with a camera, and teach all you need to know about the task at hand. 

What separates Gardenfork from other cooking/gardening sites is how close the viewer is to Eric. For instance, he takes us into the home of his friends at Thanksgiving to give us lessons on how to carve a turkey and make gravy. Never mind that he has had four glasses of wine and that the kitchen is a little dark and the camera a little shaky. We get to watch a turkey being carved and gravy being made right before our eyes by real people in a real kitchen (and a real turkey-shaped soup tureen!), not in a sterile studio on the Food Network.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Kate Dundon
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Launched on Halloween 2005, Burntwire brought together local filmmakers, artists, musicians, poets, and citizen journalists based in California. Members like Jose Hernandez, Colin Murray, George Brendon Fox VI, Tim Butler, and Aoka upload videos from the collective’s base camp in San Francisco’s Mission District, showcasing a variety of collaborations and independent projects ranging in subject matter from state politics to indie music to flat-out rants.

Burntwire features the group’s personal projects, contest entries, and anything else that has a video component to it, each one, varying in length and quality, provides related links and filmmaker information. There are also a few series and multi-episode features, though there aren’t many that have gotten past the second episode. The bulk of the site involves in-depth reporting on local issues, but there are also oddities like a 20-second poem and recontextualized renditions of Beethoven’s Fifth, the collective even manages to poke fun at its self-important journalistic videos with occasional mockumentary political satires, like this video discussing horsemeat.

Check out the citizen journalism videos. If you want a felicitous look at the ridiculousness of West Coast politics, watch the man-on-the-street interview with Mimi Miyagi, former adult actress turned candidate for Nevada governor (viewers are treated not only to the ultra-conservative ridiculousness that comes out of her mouth, but a surprise nip slip as well).

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Rebecca Halpin
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Los Angeles-based Game Trailers was created in 2002 by the company’s current vice president, John Slusser, for gamers who were sick of waiting for slow uploads of game trailers and gameplay footage that wasn’t all that great to begin with. (Slusser also co-founded Hornet, Inc., a successful design and production company, and taught digital art classes at Cal State Fullerton.) In November of 2005, Game Trailers was bought by MTV Networks, and is now considered to be a leader in broadband videogames content, with about 3 million visitors and 8 million downloads every month. In February of 2007, Game Trailers acquired exclusive rights to Screw Attack programming, further expanding Game Trailer’s video lineup by incorporating ScrewAttack’s original and entertaining game-centric shows, and a month later inked a partnership deal with France’s gaming television channel Game One to deliver content via cable and satellite to over 6.5 million French households. 

Gametrailers is a gamer’s mecca. The site’s content is vast and it’s video programs are awesome. A number of different shows are featured, including Game One and GT Weekly, both hosted by Amanda Makay, and cover new developments in the gaming world. Bonus Round features interviews with the industry’s top experts like David Jaffe, who developed Calling All Cars and God of War; Game Head, another interview show with a more casual, low-budget feel also interviews gaming experts on more generalized topics.. VS, a unique show that pits two rival games, characters, or companies against each other using actual gameplay to display the qualities of each, allows viewers to vote for their favorite (I recommend the first episode, which reviews Playstation 3’s Resistance: Fall of Man against Xbox 360’s Gears of War). Also see Screwattack, which offers three shows: Angry Video Game Nerd, a foul-mouthed game nerd that disses old video games; Top 10s, which reviews the ten best games in a category like “boobies” or “coolest characters”; and Video Game Vault, which reviews old video games like Inspector Gadget. All of these shows are incredibly engaging and definitely fulfill the creators’ intent to provide gamers an in-depth analysis and coverage of the gaming world.

If you still haven’t found what you’re looking for, you can explore the text based news section, view video previews and trailers, peruse the site through different platforms such as Playstation 2, Xbox, Nintendo Wii, etc., or join the large community on Game Trailers by becoming a member and upload you own game related videos to the user movies section, write reviews, or participate in the forum.

With all the sophisticated gameplay experiences and stunning special effects that platforms today allow, sometimes it’s nice and relaxing to kick it old school. I never knew there was a Rocky and Bullwinkle video game but there is, and it was made in 1983. Check out this expert review of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends by user gimmieGDT. The only thing more excruciating than the game is gimmieGDT’s play-by-play commentary. Maybe old school gaming isn’t that great. Well, I guess there are some exceptions.   

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Kate Dundon
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Show business takes a look in the mirror with Break a Leg, an independent web sitcom created by San Francisco-based brothers Yuri and Vlad Baranovsky. The former The series follows David Penn, a hapless television writer played by Yuri, as he tries to launch his own sitcom, Groommates (about three ex-grooms living with their two ex-wives).

Since the show premiered in December 2006, Break a Leg has unsurprisingly been compared to Arrested Development and The Office and developed a strong fanbase.  It follows the same formula of “awkward showbiz hi-jinks mixed with unpredictable improvisation,” except with a more zany and foreboding premise.

Writer David Penn just scored his own sitcom deal for Groommates. He works primarily with two men – a questionably competent producer named Sebastian and a spacey director named Jennifer (yes, Jennifer; “It’s Scandinavian”). Trouble is, getting a show off the ground isn’t easy, and it gets even more complicated when we find out in the very beginning that David might or might not be killed off himself.

Though the sitcom is shot and set in San Francisco, it centers its storyline on Hollywood and all the moral and ethical pitfalls of show business (among other themes like success, love, and death). Some of the best lines of the series capture tinsel town’s sink-or-swim attitude perfectly: “Moral fiber, self-esteem, self-respect – none of these things really stand a chance when there’s a possibility of getting your face on TV,” (pilot, act II); “No money means no show,” (pilot, act III); and my personal favorite, “If you want to make it in L.A., you’re gonna have to drop your pants and kill some people,” (episode 2, act I).

The script takes pains to deliver moments of dry wit, but it would be even funnier and more engaging if the creators tweaked the pacing of the show a bit (each episode currently runs more than 30 minutes in total).  Still, with sophisticated camera work, Break a Leg has the air of a high-quality, broadcast-television-show, and the potential to further validate the status of internet sitcoms.

To avoid confusion and get the most out of Break a Leg, it’s essential to start from the beginning. Watch the pilot, which will introduce you to the cast of quirky characters and their back stories. The rest of the show will make a lot more sense.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Pearl Chen
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As its introductory page will tell you, it’s hard to pinpoint who or what the Bottom Union is about. Let’s just call it video art made for the sake of making video art. Erik Nelson, who helps curate and contributes to the Public Access Network, directs most of Bottom Unions videos. Half-comedy, half-art, the site’s satire and moments of hilarious cultural criticism have been in the works since December 2004. Besides the excellent content, the site’s major claim to fame is the incredibly successful Carp Caviar Promo Month, where vloggers and others inclined to make video art create fake advertisements for Carp Caviar (which usually have nothing to do with carp or caviar) and get posted on the Bottom Union vlog.

Videos typically last one to three minutes. The content often takes a satirical but critically nonspecific look at our culture, ranging from videos of union members and singer/songwriters to men pissing off cliffs and people traveling through Philadelphia. It’s random, but the quality is consistently good. New videos are uploaded frequently but somewhat irregularly, though the site gets updated almost every day during Carp Caviar Promo Month. If you squint, you can see the rise of vlogs and the increasing use of video production and editing software in the increasing number submissions for Carp Caviar commercials (2004’s had a handful of submissions, 2005 got over 50, and 2006 received over 130).

Check out Carp Caviar. All the big creative vloggers come out to play that month (that month being November). Everyone from Michael Verdi to Valdezatron has submitted videos for this noncompetitive art project.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Jessica Brink
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