“8 wasn’t enough!” So are the words of perky Mary McQueegle, fresh off the Infomercial circuit, as she conducts a series of probing exit interviews with the one and only George W. Bush.
“Dubuya?!? We hardly know ya!” But this excellent parody brought to us by Atom gives us a revealing last look at the soon-to-be ex-President. Audiences should savor the opportunity as presidential satire will (hopefully) be hard to come by in the next four years.
The premise of duder, as the name might suggest, is very simple. The show is about a bunch of dudes who just, you know, duder around a bit. The series tackles mundane life in joyously funny and easily consumable short snippets, which make me laugh every time.
For such a simple premise, the show’s creator, Matt Kirsch, is a sophisticated man. Kirsch is a playwright and a producer for The Onion. He also stars in the show as recently out of the closet “Glen.” Kirsch says the show was born of his play writing background. “I started writing random scenes that seemed a bit too inconsequential to become a play. We decided to put duderon the web because this was cheapest way to get it out there to the largest audience. It started as a longer form show but has since evolved into shorter, more web-friendly snippets released much more frequently. The actual word “duder” was introduced to me by this guy I knew in college from Texas who really liked burgers.”
As one might guess from the floating turd in the latest episode, not much is off limits for the duders. “What’s fun about writing characters that are so comfortable with one another is that they’re able to say some pretty honest, sometimes extremely off-color things within the confines of their conversations that they’d probably be embarrassed about if someone else found out.” The show seems to have a particular obsession with Larry David-type details, such as the things that can drive one crazy about a relationship.
The guys definitely embrace the world of internet where anything can go, including the most ludicrous of politically incorrect thoughts. “Since we all have “dark” non-P.C. thoughts sometimes that often completely disregard reality, chances are they’ll all show up in a duder episode eventually. We try not to make fun of lesbians though, as a rule.”
duders is witty, intelligent, funny, and time-conscious. Sometimes, it’s even mysterious. Kirsch offered a teaser before he left us. “Keep an eye out for that crazy-weird blue ball that made an appearance in last week’s episode,” he says. “Rest assured, it will be making another cameo soon.”
You can catch new episodes of duder every Monday and Thursday.
Duder (Tilzy.TV Page) is not for everybody. For those who find hilarity in those extended moments of awkward indifference — that lagging silence separating the banal — this is some of the smartest humor on the web.
It’s the story of Glen and Ricky, two youngish duders grappling with the stresses of a post-collegiate life in Brooklyn…work, relationships, random run-ins. Oh, and Glen came out of the closet in season one. And he got glasses in season two.
I blame Alan Moore for everything. He wrote the graphic novel Watchmenandbasically took the archetypal superhero mythos and blew it to smithereens (into debris, not the band).
Save your Frank Miller discussions for another day fan-boys. Zeitgeist-y stuff aside, the onslaught of comic book themed or inspired material can be directly attributed to Moore’s vision of super-beings with ACTUAL (not teen-angsty ones) human flaws. He made them accessible. He made them feel real.
This de-construction led to a sea-change in the way these stories were told. There is a reason most super-hero films don’t strictly adhere to the favorite story-lines of your childhood: the popular masses can’t digest it. For better or for worse, what we get now are the bastard sons of a thousand Watchmen. I don’t have my flow chart handy, but Reservationis one of those children.
G14 Productions’Reservation is DIY Heroes. Heroes is way down the flow chart, but it’s there next to Powersand the X-Files (Man, now I might actually have to make this flow chart).
I say all of this with love, for I would like to think of creators Matthew Balthrop and David C. White as one of my own. I love this kind of material and the subject matter is obviously handled with love and reverence, but, guys, this has to be better. Don’t make me say it: with great power comes great responsibility. Now, I have to go wash my mouth out with Lava.
Note: There are no episodes of Jenn2.0 yet, this is a behind the scenes vlog from the real life Jennifer Van Grove.
Social media consultant and all around savvy-web gal Jennifer Van Grove is already well known in the San Diego blogosphere, and now a fictionalized version of her fast-paced life on the bleeding edge of all things tech is coming your way: Jenn2.0 is currently in production. For those who vlog, blog, tumble, and tweet, Jenn2.0 is the show for you. For those who don’t, this web series might help you get a clue. Tubefilter caught up with Jennifer Van Grove, the show’s inspiration, and Rob Lewis, the show’s creator, about the blurring lines between privacy and branding, social networking, and ‘info-tainment.’
Tubefilter: How did the show Jenn2.0 come to be?
Jennifer Van Grove: The idea for the show definitely wasn’t my own. Rob called me in the middle of a work day and said that he wanted to create a reality-based web series focused on me and my lifestyle. At first I was pretty skeptical and speechless, but as the conversation continued I thought it could be a really fun project to pursue. Of course in the months that followed the show changed from a reality show to a totally fictional show based on my real life, but it’s definitely been a fun and interesting process.
Tubefilter: What was your inspiration to approach Jennifer Van Grove about Jenn2.0?
Rob Lewis: I was in the research and development process for an online video site when a partner backed out. I decided to continue to immerse myself in San Diego’s local tech community and see who the players were. This led to a new Twitter account and a whole new social network with Jenn in the center. As a writer I enjoy the discovery of unique people and situations, and thinking about how I might tell their story. So, Jenn immediately hit my radar. She is the founder of the SDTweetUp, a social meet-up for Twitter users, and maintains a tireless online presence—building her network and her brand. Jenn represents a new demographic of young, tech savvy professionals living on the edge of the new social media trend and experiencing its every heartbeat. She has a colorful circle of real world friends and after stumbling into her world I was compelled to tell her story.
Tubefilter: What’s it like working on a project that is (loosely) based on you? How much control do you have about what goes in and what stays private?
JVG: It is incredibly strange at times, but a huge adrenaline rush at other times. The character of Jenn is definitely me. She lives a very mobile lifestyle, puts herself out there in new ways, and struggles to find a balance between her real life and online persona. During the pilot creation process, I sat down with Darren Elwood (the writer) and Rob and shared a lot of personal things about my life, including my love life (which seems a little odd in retrospect). We’ve talked about the challenges I face on a daily basis, the types of people who I spend time with online and off, and the personal goals I have. I do have some control over what makes it to the script. Really I’ve been focusing on how to keep the show true to the character’s life. I’d really be disappointed if the finally product wasn’t a very real representation of a real person, and I think the producers feel the same way I do. The guys are pretty flexible and if I feel uncomfortable about including something they’re always willing to listen.
Tubefilter: Tell us a little about what the process was like going from an idea for a reality show to a scripted show.
RL: The reality show logistics were just never right. Jenn is a young professional struggling to build a career and is always eager to work on video. But, her interactions with her social network and her business contacts are critical to her career. So, when we started to discuss ways in which we might integrate a camera crew into the events of her daily life, three things became clear. First, we would not be getting real, unencumbered emotional exchanges, second, the spontaneous nature of many events meant that scheduling a camera presence would be extremely difficult, and third, sometimes our lives are just boring. We considered injecting actors and our own fictional events into Jenn’s real life in order to keep the feel of a reality show. But the negative impact on Jenn’s career of any potential misunderstandings, and the unnatural presence of a camera crew at important events still just didn’t make sense. So we went completely fictional. The character ‘Jenn’ is a lot like Jenn, but now we have the freedom to take her life in different directions and see what happens. We can also alter her actions and her interests in order to maintain a broader appeal.
Tubefilter: You are a ‘social media consultant.’ What does that entail? How did you get into that field?
JVG: Essentially, I help businesses with their online community building strategies and techniques. I work with my clients to help them use social media for the purpose of connecting with their customer community online. My professional background is in online community management, so it felt like a natural progression for me to transition into an independent consulting gig. I’m an analytical person by nature, so I really wanted to find a way to connect my community building skills with my creative and strategic abilities.
Tubefilter: What kind of story lines can we expect in Jenn2.0?
JVG: Jenn is a really positive and optimistic gal, but that sometimes leaves her vulnerable to people who want to use her social connectedness for their own benefit. Jenn also has a lot of responsibilities, and she’s always going to find herself in a time crunch—whether it be choosing her professional obligations over her boyfriend or friends and family, or pushing herself beyond her limits. It’s safe to say that she’s going to struggle with time, her online identity (how much to share and how much to keep private), the pursuit of love and the online repercussions of dating someone in the same sphere, and an arch nemesis that has less than friendly motives.
Tubefilter: What are your plans for the show?
RL: We are taking our time and producing a very high quality pilot episode. Our director, Cody Long, is shooting in HD format and working hard to maintain a cinematic element that I feel is often lost on quick-turn webisodes. We are stopping short of committing to an entire season until we can prove that we have an intriguing story that will retain viewers and perform well as a vehicle for networks and brand sponsorship. Until then we’re not pitching anyone. We’re targeting a weekly format, released on a schedule in order to allow us to write in rapidly occurring trends.
Tubefilter: Where can we watch the show?
RL: Our pilot will be available in December on the major UGC distribution networks such as You Tube, Veoh, MetaCafe and in HD where possible on sites such as Vimeo. If the series is picked up by a network, they’ll of course decide distribution. If we obtain direct sponsorship, we expect to work with content distribution services like TubeMogul to continue to make the show widely available. Jenn2.0 is a drama with elements of comedy that happen around the characters. But most importantly it’s, as our writer Darren Elwood refers to it, “info-tainment.” We are going after the latest trends in online technology, specifically social media, and exploring what happens when you integrate them into your life. Live, learn, and laugh. It’s a good model.
The show, produced by Josh Allard, is currently in production and you can watch every step of the process at: www.makingjenn20.com
Can online video stars make a living JUST off of YouTube? Yes. What kind of viewership do you need in order to do it? I’m not exactly sure, but if you have at least 286,000 channel subscribers and average somewhere around 300,000 views on the two or three videos you upload a week, you’ll definitely be able to quit your day job.
In one of the most enlightening conversations that took place at the NewTeeVee Live Conference, Michael Buckley revealed that he “can make a living easily and well off of YouTube.”
The star and creator of the wildly popular, hyper-caffeinated, you go girl!, pop culture rundown What the Buck is “making good money – very good money” from the internet’s largest video-sharing site, where he’s currently amongst its top 10 most popular members.
Lexus’ L Studio unveiled a new web series this month and once again they’ve scored with a tasteful, funny, and well-produced gem. Starlee and Arthur Review brings us straight into the lighthearted banter of humorists Starlee Kine and Arthur Jones as they review, well, life. The pair explores everything from disaster movies to the internet. With simple but often hilarious illustrations underscoring Kine and Jone’s light, insightful banter, the show has a delightful highbrow tone, as you might expect from people who have the uber-cool job title of “humorists.”
In the pair’s review of Lost, Arthur extrapolates the plot by recalling Gilligan’s Island, since he confesses he has never seen the show. He says of the smoke monster “Spoiler alert! There’s a fog machine on the island. Someone needs to unplug it.” Some episodes are more successful at being funny than others—it appears the show works best when the humor is more precise. Talking about the concept of fun, Jones and Kine are less dead-on than in their pop culture critiques.
It appears the show developed from Kine and Jone’s Post It Note Reading Series, in which writers shared stories while Jones’ sharpie-on-post-it illustrations were projected behind them. Astute and amusing observations are made even more giggle-provoking when paired with Jones’ lo-fi illustrations. In “Last Words,” they muse about Winston Churchill’s last words. After uttering “I’m bored with it all,” Churchill went on to live nine more days in silence. Jones’ illustrations of a bored Churchill on his deathbed refusing to speak so he didn’t waste his legendary parting words are priceless.
Although L Studio, with its extremely complicated and slow loading interface, may not know how to pick their web designers, they clearly know how to pick their web series creators. If Kines’ voice sounds familiar, it’s because she is responsible for one of the most memorable This American Life segments in the past few years, ‘Break Up Song.’ For those intelligentsia who geek out for Found Magazine and public radio, this is your show. Starlee and Arthur Review is smart web TV for grown up folk.
Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls At The Party, created with ON Networks, premiered today. The show is sponsored– maybe ironically, maybe not– by Mattel’s Barbie. The creators had sought a sponsor aligned with their vision.
Poehler created the series with friend Meredith Walker, former senior producer for Nickelodeon’s Nick News, and former head of talent for Saturday Night Live. Amy Miles, recording artist and performer and host of PBS children’s show LOMAX: Hound of Music, stars as the series’ regular musical act.
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Say what you will about old Saturday Night Live, but you can’t deny that in recent years the house that Lorene Michaels built has introduced the American public to some of the best comedians we’ve seen in decades. And they all just happen to be ladies.
Cold weather has finally set in here in Los Angeles (kind of), but Tubefilter HQ isn’t slowing down one bit. Our on-set visit to Josh Schwartz’ Rockville, CA gave you a great insider look at what promises to be the most ambitious rock-themed web series to date—Marc and Brady even lent a hand as extras in a crowd scene, head bobbing to Phantom Planet’s sultry tunes. Drew interviewed Roman Coppola about his new series, Fist of Oblivion, and we investigated MySpace’s snazzy new Primetime App. Our ‘social’ meetup on Thursday night was a blowout success — a veritable who’s who of the web television industry was in attendance. Plenty of business cards got passed around, introductions were made, and drinks were drunk. Don’t worry, we got it all on camera. If you missed this month’s meetup, look out for our next meetup on December 3rd – with special guests Felicia Day of The Guild, and Christian Cussen, VP of Original Content at MySpaceTV.
And now, without further ado, we bring you Tubefilter’s top stories of the week:
Global Warming sounds great on paper; a web comedy show with the likes of SNL’s Kristen Wiig, The Daily Show’s Assif Mandvi, not to mention writers from the Daily Show and Penn & Teller: Bullshit (Rob Kutner and Sheryl Zohn).
And bu-ya! It is. Good, well-written, subtle comedy reign supreme here on this Strike TV web series. Kristine, a romantically hopeful office worker (Wiig), starts a budding Instant Message romance with a swooning tech support guy based in India (Mandvi) who goes by the name “Ace.”
Hulu CEO Jason Kilar gave one of the best presentations at NewTeeVee‘s fantastic NewTeeVee Live Conference in San Francisco yesterday. It might’ve actually been more product demo than industry perspective and analysis, but that’s okay. Enough people are interested with Hulu’s technology, strategy, and content that a 45-minute rundown of its approach to the business was well worth the watch.
Kilar equates the way Hulu allows easy access to premium content with how Starbucks allows easy access to premium coffee. He also constantly obsesses over every pixel on the screen, trying to keep his site as clean as Diseneyland’s main street.
But the most interesting part of Kilar’s talk was when he showcased some of Hulu’s subtle features that contribute to the site’s “brain-spray of awesome.”
Amy Poehler’s new web series Smart Girls At The Party launched today from ON Networks with Mattel’s Barbie attached as lead sponsor. The series, announced earlier this fall, had been looking for the right sponsor, one that aligned with its parents and kid-focused audience. While the official launch of the series isn’t until Monday, ON has gone ahead with a soft launch today.
Poehler stars as host along with longtime friend Meredith Walker, a former senior producer for Nickelodeon’s Nick News, and musical lead Amy Miles, recording artist and host of PBS children’s show LOMAX: Hound of Music. The 8-episode series was created for young girls and their parents and “aims to help young girls find confidence in their own aspirations and talents.” In each episode, Poehler interviews a smart young girl with a unique talent, community interest or point of view.
The first episode, “The Writer – Cameron” (above) debuted today, featuring Poehler interviewing 10 year-old Cameron King who has taken to writing paranormal and mystery stories. Questions range from “When did you first find our you love writing?” and “How do you beat writer’s block?” showing the remarkably mature and intelligent young writer knows what she’s doing.
Balancing serious moments with Poehler’s style of intelligent humor, the show breezes through the 5-10 minute episodes in a light-hearted fashion. Upcoming episodes will feature a variety of young go-getters including a young yogini named Anna chatting about the benefits of yoga, a young urban gardener tending her crops in a New York City community garden and even an all-young-girl band named “Care Bears on Fire.”
While the first season is slated for just 8 episodes, all future seasons will have 12 episodes each, according to the producers. Showing their passion for the project, ON Networks and Amy Poehler have committed to a staggering four additional seasons. Austin-based ON Networks is one of the largest independent distributors of original, episodic HD programming. Smart Girls will be distributed through the show’s main site, www.smartgirlsattheparty.tv, iTunes, Adobe Media Player and several mobile partners, including AT&T who is also an investor in ON. New episodes will be released every Monday for the next eight weeks.
Social media consultant and all around savvy-web gal 
Amy Poehler’s new web series 
While the first season is slated for just 8 episodes, all future seasons will have 12 episodes each, according to the producers. Showing their passion for the project, ON Networks and Amy Poehler have committed to a staggering four additional seasons. Austin-based ON Networks is one of the largest independent distributors of original, episodic HD programming. Smart Girls will be distributed through the show’s main site, 
