As we reported back in August, ESPN has officially joined the scripted web television game. Well-known ESPN personality, and thirteen-year network veteran, Kenny Mayne (SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight, NFL Sunday Countdown) will star in Mayne Street which debuts on ESPN’s site tomorrow, a few weeks after its originally scheduled October launch.

Over the course of its fifteen episode run, the show will chronicle the semi-fictionalized life of Mayne – who more or less plays himself. Of the role, Mayne writes on his blog, “I felt guilty getting paid to do the work on the new show Mayne Street. Not guilty enough to give the money back. But guilty. They told me it was acting, but all I had to do was be me. I gained two pounds for this role. I’m hopeful the show has success but I’m also a bit worried that it might have too much success. If it has too much success they’ll move it to ABC, and replace me with someone who plays me better.”

In addition to the appearance of some big-name sports stars (Ray Allen of the Boston Celtics will be among them), Mayne is surrounded by a venerable cast of characters who have been in the comedy game for a long time. Jon Glaser (Baby Mama, Human Giant) plays Video Cowboy, Mayne’s camera guy, Alison Becker (Human Giant, Law and Order) plays Mayne’s producer, and Aubrey Plaza (30 Rock, Funny People) and Ben Schwartz (Robot Chicken) round out the cast playing off-the-wall ESPN execs.

The series is executive produced by Josh Shelov (writer of Hooligans) and Todd Pellegrino (veteran ESPN producer) through P3 Entertainment. The fifteen three- to five-minute episodes, shot largely in  Bristol, Conneticut, and New York City, reportedly cost somewhere in the high six-figures to produce. ESPN brass is rosy on the show’s future. Ron Wechsler, Vice President of Series Content and Development said “We can think of no better way to get into the scripted web serial space than with the unique and hilarious voice of Kenny Mayne.”

The show is scripted but leaves room for plenty of improvisation – which suits Mayne perfectly. He states that his goal for the show is, “to be ten percent as good as Larry David.” That’s a tall order – but we have a feeling he, if anyone, can pull it off. If you’re a fan of Mayne’s dry, quick wit, the show looks pretty darn funny. Now, if they can come up with a theme song half-as-catchy as the one they’ve got for SportsCenter, they’ll have a big hit.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, ESPN, Web Series by Lindsay Stidham
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Okay. CBS’ new web series is cute. There, I said it. I don’t hate it. It’s totally not my kind of show, but I could definitely see my mom liking it. In fact she’s emailed me twice about it. Here’s the set-up: four misfits ditch their all-women book club and make their own decidedly less stuffy foray into extreme book clubbing. Or as CBS likes to call it, Novel Adventures. The idea is relatively simple: read a book and then do an activity related to that book (I can’t wait for the Fight Club episode).

Lizzie Williams, played by the saccharine-cute Ashley Williams, narrates the first episode as her husband encourages her to go to a book club she recently joined in an effort to make friends in Los Angeles. She basically catalyzes a mutiny from the stodgy living room book club and with her new friends ends up reinterpreting Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea as Cute Boy Gives Wild Women Surf Lessons when the ladies realize fishing maybe isn’t their bag, but the surf rental on the beach might be a bit more their speed. Cute, right? Right. (And yeah, I said cute, so what?)

I have to digress a bit here and say that Lizzie’s husband works at a Saturn dealership and Lizzie packs her Hybrid Saturn with her fellow book clubbers and hauls them to all of their adventures in Eco-friendly style, and why? Because the show is sponsored by Saturn. Whoever the writers are have done a brilliant job of integrating Saturn into the show without me being totally aware that part of what I’m watching is an ad for the company. So bravo to both creators and Saturn for pulling that off and making a show that is nicely produced, well-written and directed.

The second episode gets them into a music studio with Sheila Weller’s Girls Like Us, a cultural history book about the women of rock ‘n’ roll in the ’70s. Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon are mentioned on the cover, but there were plenty more where they came from. Our women attempt to channel these ladies of rock in their own studio visit with real artist Keaton Simons with a catchy little tune called “Can You Hear Me.” Daphne Zuniga narrates as book clubber Laura French, and has the nice little turn of connecting with her sixteen year old son Miles at the end.

You can probably guess where this is going—each ep will switch narration and point of view to each of the fab four book clubbers. Those not mentioned yet are Jolie Jenkins as Amy Pierson, a “happily” married woman in her thirties in the midst of a mid-life crisis, and the smoking hot Paola Turbay as Joanna Ruiz, who is single, lives with her mother and is too choosey about boyfriends. They’re all kind of Sex and the City-lite, which works for the show.

It looks like eight episodes are scheduled through December 7 with bonus footage and other features to keep you engaged. The formula is solid and could sustain for quite a while if they find a fanbase, which to me would be women from thirty to sixty or so who would certainly find the series a refreshing escape.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Featured, Reviews, Web Series by Jonathan Hludzinski
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Big Book of Lies makes me want to move to Buenos Aires. Evidently, it’s the new hip thing to do. (Hey, Che Guevara was from Argentina and he got his own t-shirt. He also got assassinated in Bolivia, but you can skip that part. Anyways…) This beautifully shot series captures the allure of this great city and invites your undivided attention.

If the presidential election didn’t go your way, maybe you’ve got options. It definitely seems to suit the characters that occupy this whimsical tale from History and the Universe.

Andrew (Andrew Leeds) just a bought burial plot for himself and his girlfriend, not so much that he’s overly pre-occupied with death, but more that he sees it as a good investment for the future. He takes delight in sharing this wisdom with the locals. While at the newsstand, he comes across a copy of Newsweek proclaiming that Noam Chomsky has been named the smartest man alive. Any well-read person would probably agree with this. Even his name is fascinating: not exactly Norm, not exactly Gnome.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joe Eddy
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I have to admit, when I watched the first episode of Amazing the Lion, the new original animated series on Independent Comedy Network, I just didn’t get it. The WTF factor was overwhelming. I thought it was being weird for the sake of being weird, as if creator Dan McNamara saw David Firth’s Salad Fingers and thought all it took to make a cult hit was just being odd and random. Nevertheless I decided to stick it out and watch the remaining episodes. And boy am I glad that I did. This show is friggin’ brilliant.

Amazing the Lion came to us through our tips line with the following description: “Amazing the Lion is an animated series about a stuffed lion who lives in the forest on the side of the long island expressway. Amazing the Lion goes on adventures with his forest friends, Possum and Barry the Panda, and learns valuable lessons about the world we live in.”

Hmm. A cartoon on ICN? Life lessons on the Long Island Expressway? Sounds like another kids-show parody. We just did a piece on Sesame Street as the only safe place for kids on the internet—this sounds like exactly what parents are trying to keep their youngsters away from: a kid-friendly looking site that ends up being Happy Tree Friends.

The series’ pilot, “Barry’s Birthday,” confirmed all my suspicions. The show has all the clichéd trappings of a kids-show parody: overly happy characters and campy music juxtaposed with a dystopic reality where, among other things, a depressed stuffed animal shoots himself in the head with a flaregun before hanging himself. Imagine Barney wandering into a slum. Not exactly Saturday morning stuff. And the show is just plain weird.

There is some great production value, however, and the attention to detail is apparent from the get go. But it all seems hesitant and held back in the pilot. It’s in episodes two and three where the true genius of the show is unleashed. In these episodes, creative fearlessness abounds, especially in the details—if you don’t pay attention, you’ll miss all the brilliant subtleties that separate Amazing the Lion from your run-of-the-mill cartoon on the internet. If you can keep up with the visual references in “Wishing Well,” in the World of Wishes you’ll find a spaceship with a tethered astronaut, a stack of pennies, world peace, and trees of plaid. The trio meet a sassy pink-crowned ferret named Fabulous who explains, “That’s right, everything has been wished by someone. I was wished by a flamboyant 15 year-old in Kansas who wanted to see his ferret ride a Segway, so here I am.”

Macnamara, who produces the series with Jeff Roos, was invited to develop the show for Channel 101: NY after being named a finalist in Comedy Central’s Test Pilots Competition with Redeeming Rainbow. After the pilot premiered, the duo pitched the show to ICN through the People’s Improv Theater and signed on for a 5 episode deal. “It was a great oppurtunity to work with friends that I respect in the NYC comedy scene,” Macnamara tells us. And although they are shopping Amazing the Lion out to network television, Macnamara promises “there will also be some fun extra games posted after all the episodes have premiered on ICN.”

Until then, we’re looking forward to the “millions more adventures to come.”

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Comedy, Reviews, Web Series by Drew Baldwin
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A few weeks ago we got you up to speed on The Dark Path Chronicles, the newest web series from FEARnet and Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures, who last collaborated on the 30 Days of Night series, Blood Trails and Dust to Dust.  The first two episodes premiered on FEARnet yesterday – why FEARnet waited until nearly a week after Halloween to release a horror series is beyond me.  The site also features a making-of video, a behind the characters featurette and writer/director Mary Lambert’s (Pet Semetary) blog.

The first episode (above) finds teenage Samantha (newcomer Amanda Bauer) reading about World War II, while waiting for her older sister Lisa (Urban Legends: Bloody Mary’s Lisa K. Lambert) to arrive from the train station.  Singing while she studies, Samantha’s voice inadvertently awakens former Nazi soldier-turned vampire Jurgen (Carson Aune).  We also catch glimpses of the beautiful Enid (played by Cloverfield’s Elena Caruso) and bald vampire Luke (frequent video game actor Joseph Gatt).  The Dark Path Chronicles has some cool looking vampires and very creepy imagery – I love the shot of Jurgen standing against a tree.

Slapped with a TV-14, The Dark Path Chronicles pushes the boundaries of its rating in the first episode with a gnarly vampire attack.  My problem with the series stems for its heavy reliance on horror themed rock music, an element that deters from the overall show. The music, performed in this episode by Boston-based rockers Junius, is way too distracting and, combined with the shaky camerawork and quick cutting, makes it seem more like a music video than a web show.

The second episode (below) delves more into the mythology of the series’ vampires, as Father Raymond, played by mixed martial artist William Laureano (I hope this casting indicates some sick fight scenes in upcoming episodes), explains the ways one can become a vampire.  Having emerged from his grave, Jurgen describes his transformation from Nazi to vampire, and calls for Samantha to join him.  As Samantha draws nearer to Jurgen, Enid sips from a jar of blood in her goth club like lair.  The same problem I had with the first episode is evident here, as the filmmakers concentrate mainly on the music from electronic/hard rock outfit Prophet 7:13, making the show too much like a music video.

Considering the talent behind it, I’m willing to give The Dark Path Chronicles a few more tries. Hopefully it will shift away from the heavy music video influence and focus more on the story.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Horror, Production Companies, Reviews, Thriller, Web Series by Andrew Schwarz
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Me-effin’-ow!!! This web show’s tagline already had me chuckling: King of Queens writer Giuseppe Graziano presents The Tender Morsels. A rock band for cats…..Finally!

Considering the internet’s obsession with felines, you’d think this Spinal Tap-y, cat-centric, Alice Cooper-y glam rock band would’ve debuted sooner. Created by Jeffrey Brown, (who double duties as the Tender Morsels’ drummer and whose credits include True Blood and Arrested Development) The Tender Morsels targets a totally untapped market of spinsters and straight dudes(?).

With songs like The Magic String (“I got the magic string!”), emphasized by the stage theatrics of lead singer Brad (Brendan Hunt) – he wraps string around his head to taunt his fans – Tender Morsel rehearsals sometimes come to a grounding halt when band members accidentally slip on cat vomit. But that comes with the territory.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Harmon Leon
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We attended the AFI Digifest yesterday, where HBOlab gave us a preview of their season finale cliffhanger of Hooking Up. I smell second season. A few hints: Meg (Jessica Rose) may be facing a big break-up, but she’s not going to end up lonely.

If you’ve been deeply following the show (i.e. you’re friends with Hooking Up on Facebook or better yet the show’s own social network: Baskbook) you know about the character of Dylan’s hidden plot line, or in TV-speak, the show’s b-story. Dylan met Meg at freshman orientation, they hooked up, and he’s been trying to get her attention every since. If there is a second season of Hooking Up it’s safe to say Dyan’s day is coming.

But perhaps the bigger question is, has Hooking Up been a successful experiment? It’s safe to say that so far HBOlab has ventured into the land of web television somewhat cautiously. Speaking at Digifest, HBOlab Director Danila Koverman says the name Runaway Box was created so that HBOlab could experiment, and “fly under the radar.” Hooking Up is the first show out of HBOlab show to get more heavily branded as HBO.

Additionally, to differentiate the show from other college themed web series, HBO brought together web celebs like Jessica Rose (lonelygirl15), KevJumba, Sxephil, DaveDays, Nalts and Michael Buckley, highly touting the millions of views they had garnered on the web in a trailer advertising the show.

It’s hard not to critically compare view numbers, when Hooking Up’s trailer so heavily played up its stars views. But for such a venerable who’s who line-up of clickable personalities, realistically, Hooking Up is not yet competing with its own stars when it comes to views. Granted, Hooking Up went live October 1st, and most of these personalities have had a presence online for a few years. Nonetheless, Kevjumba’s “The Next Big Music Artist” video which has been up for a month or so, has over a million views while Hooking Up‘s most recent episode (which heavily features Kevjumba) is nearing just 80,000 views. Subscriber numbers don’t yet stack up either. Kevjumba’s channel has over 335,000 YouTube subscribers while Hooking Up has around 47,000. Overall, the series is nearing the 2 Million views mark, which isn’t shabby for a little over a month.

Only time will tell if HBOlab can compete truly compete with the YouTube players they have recruited and touted. So far, given the drop-off in views from Episode 1 (750k) to Episode 2 (254k) and subesquent eps, it looks like the initial buzz might be wearing off.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Featured, HBO, News, Studios, Web Series, YouTube by Lindsay Stidham
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Now that we’ve all come down from our Halloween sugar highs, it’s time we get back to work. This week we launched Jonathan Hludzinkski’s multi–part review of Strike.TV’s initial lineup. Animators step it up as Warner Bros. releases a new Peanuts series on iTunes and Ashton Kutcher’s Blah Girls nab a distro deal with MySpaceTV. And Microsoft struts its new Silverlight stuff with a NYmag.com fashion show Where’s Rogan? We’re gearing up for next week’s Hollywood Web Television Meetup this coming Wednesday at Barney’s Beanery—looking forward to catching up you LA based folks there.

• Strike.TV Reviews – Part 1: ‘Life in General’ and ‘Global Warming’
• ‘Peanuts’ Get Political as Charlie Brown, Linus Hit Web Series Circuit
• Ashton Kutcher’s ‘Blah Girls’ Ink Distribution Deal With MySpace
• ‘Where’s Rogan?’ Struts Silverlight Down Catwalk

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Friday Rewind, News, Production Companies, Strike.TV, Web Series by Tubefilter News
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In addition to McCain, the 2008 U.S. Presidential Race had a lot of losers. Once the polls closed Ron Paul was lonely, Ralph Nader became abrasive, and Mike Gravel probably sung an awesomely off pitch revolutionary tune.

But those are the big underdogs, the longshots you’ve heard of. What about the even lesser-known candidates covered by several thick veils of obscurity? What happened to them on election night? I’d say Charles Jay of the Boston Tea Party turned on an old Ali vs. Frazier classic and Socialist Brian Moore wondered what the hell went wrong.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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The smartly simple design of the Never Do This homepage may delude some viewers into thinking they’re in for a little in-depth analysis of a handful of urban legends (even despite the guy in the cowboy hat, hunched over, pre-flatulence alongside the site’s subhead, “Make the World A Safer Place”). Those viewers will be disappointed. This is no Adam and Jamie debunkathon, but more like episodes of Indy Mogul with just the effects and no DIY. 

Along with the two classics – Lighting Farts and Pop Rocks & Soda – there are the more generally nebulous experiments with Q-Tips, Smoking and Archery in the scrollable queue.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Michael Shaw
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If you needed one more thing to worry about, and to make double-sure you’re getting your money’s worth for that monthly Ambien prescription, you should check out Toxic – Garbage Island.

It’s a 12-part series that follows vbs.tv correspondent Thomas Morton and crew as they travel 2,463 miles from Long Beach, California to Hilo, Hawaii aboard the Oceanographic Research Vessel Alguita – piloted by California-based sea captain Charles Moore – to investigate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (Moore’s been studying the area since 2000, ever since he discovered the area by chance after competing in the Transpacific Yacht Race).

What you’ll discover is that Garbage Island is essentially an island of floating marine debris (mainly plastic), approximately twice the size of Texas (!!!) located in the central North Pacific Ocean.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Jake Weaver
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Getting a big break in the Hollywood is a dream come true for most aspiring young actors, directors and producers. Interns Anonymous profiles six such hopefuls in this cheerfully funky appropriation of the perennial coming-of-age story.

The pilot gets off on the right foot with a strong if somewhat goofy opening (in one scene an intern randomly has a cup of water thrown in her face by a passing motorist) – but it does little other than introduce the characters, and doesn’t hint at a larger story arc or plot line. The interns, Ronda, Mesha, Payton, Alex, Donnie, and Lee, appear one dimensional on screen – but the ensemble nature of the cast means that ultimately, this probably won’t matter. Played by a cadre of young talent led by Amy Lawhorn (Ronda), the multi-ethnic ensemble is obviously very green — but that doesn’t so much take away from the show as add to it’s charm.

The series is slated for 10 episodes in its first season, and is currently self-distributed on a variety of platforms including AOL Video, Funny of Die, Vimeo, and YouTube — although with luck, that won’t be the case for much longer. Sources close to the deal tell us that Creative Holiday Productions is in talks with ICN, and that release of further episodes will be delayed until a deal is finalized — most likely early in 2009.

Series creator and writer ShaRonda ‘Roni’ Brown shared with us the source of her inspiration: “It came from my many entertainment internships – I went through more than five! That, and listening to the stories of other Hollywood hopefuls around me.” Shot in August and September in and around Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, the pilot epispode could just as easily have been filmed in Sacramento — the team didn’t make good use of the the iconic tinseltown locations right here in their own back yard.

The show’s website isn’t anything to write home about, and it looks like the plan to promote the site as a social network for real Hollywood interns might be a bit of a long shot — but the core concept behind the series is appealing. The cast, although light on credits, is big on personality. Payton, played by San Diego import and USC student Courtney Best, is a charmingly ditzy Southern Belle, while authentic Southerner Jake Miller plays a Ryan Fillipe-esque womanizing playboy named Alex. Here’s to hoping that these interns make it big in Hollywood – and that they speed up the credit roll at the end of the show.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Comedy, Reviews, Web Series by Brady Brim-DeForest
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