For McAdams, “honesty” means exposing the most shallow, critical, and politically incorrect sentiments that people ninety-nine-times-out-of-a-hundred feel uncomfortable sharing. His accuracy is distressing. Case in point: I haven’t been to many funerals, but his dark portrayal of a basically anonymous co-worker is spot on from a cynics POV:
On Tuesdays, the staff at Tubefilter News picks three shows that we like, and want to share with you. All three of this week’s picks are active shows, so that means you can see when new episodes come out on the Tubefilter Web TV Schedule.
This week’s picks:
The Roadents
In each 1-2 minute episode of The Roadents, we follow guinea pigs Pee Pee and Buttercup in their 1983 Winnebago as they drive around America. On the way, they argue about everything from fish tacos to how to best deal with the police, but in the end, they’re just two guys (well, almost) having a great time on the open road.
We can try to explain what Abigail’s X-Rated Teen Diary is about, but you wouldn’t believe us. Abigail is a 13 year old girl with “Bloomberger’s Syndrome,” a disease that caused her to suddenly look like a hairy, 30-something year old man. Her friends and family don’t seem to mind, and she happily vlogs about the latest events in her life. Created by Hayden Black (Goodnight Burbank), this series is the perfect example of how strange the internet allows us to be.
The Legend of Neil
There’s no gentle way to say this, but The Legend of Neil is about a man who, while drunk and playing Zelda on the original Nintendo, has a freak asphyxiation accident and wakes up inside the game. Created by Sandeep Parikh (The Guild), the six-part series is still trying to build up some publicity, but the first two episodes are definitely worth watching.
With so many new episodes of shows coming out on the web every week, it gets hard to keep track. Keeping up with your favorite shows can be a burden – checking websites to see if a new episode is out yet, managing a clutter of email subscriptions and RSS feeds. So, to help make sense of the overwhelming world of web television, Tubefilter has launched the “Web TV Schedule,” a calendar of upcoming release dates for the best scripted episodic shows on the web. We have included those shows that have indicated a regular schedule for future episodes.
You can subscribe to the Schedule calendar by clicking on the Subscribe link at the top, where there is an .ICS link that can be added to any calendar software such as iCal or Google Calendar. We will update it with new shows and episodes as they are announced.
If you’d like to see a show added to the calendar, and know its schedule, please email us.
The number reminds us of the similarly hokey melody that made the series a relative hit even before the first episode aired. Both are cute, but both belie the true crazybananas nature of a show featuring parodied pop stars populating a world dictated by a whimsical lovechild beget by Ren & Stimpy and your local classic rock radio station.
Cruise the archives and see for yourself. Here’s one of my favorites, you know, for kids (not really for kids)!
Unfortunately, barring bonusepisodes, we won’t be seeing any more of Meth’s Minutes. Fortunately, there’s a spinoff series.
Forever chasing the newest trends in digital-celebrity, Sarah Austin of Pop17 heads to EconCeleb to talk entertainment with some of digital media’s most transformative figures.
Sarah’s distinguished experts reinforce what we’ve long suggested: the entertainment product itself is changing along with its delivery mechanism, and so too is celebrity. Digital media has enabled the emergence of the micro-celebrity, but it has also strengthened the brands of mega-celebrities, who often become our portals into online entertainment discovery (i.e. Clark and Michael, Dr. Horrible, Acting with James Franco, etc.).
Sarah ends the episode with the golden question: how do you expand your own visibility online? If only we all knew the answer.
Luckily, I’ll have the pleasure of exploring that very question with Sarah and other internet video producers on September 23 at Streaming Media West. Stay tuned…
Rosario Dawson will look to expand her already successful career to a new medium when her latest project, Gemini Division, opens exclusively online with its first episode, ‘Eyes Wide Open,’ on August 18th. Dawson, who made her acting debut in the 1995 film Kids and has since appeared in such hits as Men in Black II, Sin City, Clerks II, and Grindhouse: Death Proof, is no stranger to jumping across mediums; in 2006, she was involved in the creation of the successful comic book series “Occult Crimes Taskforce.”
Now she will test the waters of the digital realm, with the new 50-episode sci-fi mystery. The series, created by Electric Farm Entertainment (Afterworld) and executive produced by Stan Rogow (Lizzie McGuire), Brent Friedman (Star Trek: Enterprise), and Jeff Sagansky, tells the story of Detective Anna Diaz (Dawson) as she investigates the murder of her fiance (Justin Hartley), and discovers that he, and some of the people around her, may not be entirely human.
There’s a lot riding on the show already; the series reportedly has sponsors from companies ranging from Cisco and Microsoft to Acura and UPS. NBC will distribute the show, but the main source to watch the show is on its own site, GeminiDivision.com. To try and keep viewers involved, the site also features a message board, and should release their games section and merchandise store soon.
Josh and I apologize for our relative absence these past few weeks, but it’s not without good reason! Our shiny new Tilzy.TV is built on WordPress. Migrating content from our old site took far longer than we ever imagined, but we’re proud to unveil the new Tilzy.TV.
We’re always happy to hear your comments, suggestions and feedback. What have we done well? What have we done poorly? What should we do more often?
When we started Tilzy.TV about a year and a half ago, it was intended primarily as an information system for internet-TV; we envisioned it as similar to IMDB or an electronic program guide – a kind of “more info” button for online shows – but we quickly learned that editorial media for new media worked hand-in-hand.
We will continue to track the best serial programming in our GUIDE, and we’re excited to delve even deeper into reviewing shows and tracking developments in the exploding space.
This is just our first step in reinventing our interface. We have a few exciting developments forthcoming and a lot of ideas on the way.
We’re devoted to quality editorial and thoughtful, human-guided discovery of serial video content created for the web.
Thanks for reading and be sure to get in touch with us to tell us what you think jamison AT tilzy DOT tv or josh AT tilzy DOT tv We love feedback!
But being tapped for a major motion picture hasn’t made Kent and Doug forget the medium that got them noticed. So, for their upcoming movie, they’re offering “a walk-on role in a ‘death by killer tomato’ scene” to whomever uploads the best vid featuring a…“killer tomoato.”
Watch the worst online video contest video ever for the full details.
Brad O’Farrell was on YouTube’s community council, was a former YouTube guest editor, and is actively involved in YouTube’s content creation community. He’s also the Syndication Manager for My Damn Channel, and helped popularize web shows such as You Suck At Photoshop, Wainy Days, and Horrible People.
Lonelygirl15 officially ended on Friday, though you could argue the series ended over a year ago when the titular character was killed off by a man in a renaissance faire cloak, or maybe a year and a half ago when it introduced it’s own Poochie characters, Gemma and Jonas.
When Lonelygirl15 first debuted as a 16 year-old girl named Bree in the summer of ’06, a lot of chumps – myself included – thought she was a real deal video blogger. The earlier videos told the story of a teenage girl with teenage problems and her platonic male best friend making cutesie videos about scientifictheories. After a few months of an engaging will-they-won’t-they story told solely from the perspective of her bedroom webcam (and the occasional handicamed hiking trip), savvy viewers started to suspect she was fake.
It was soon revealed that the whole set up was just a precursor to the “real” show, which was a sub-CW-quality web series with a bevy of poorly written teenagers running from a hokey cult. But there was a lot of clever build up to the cult story line (for example, there was an Aleister Crowley shrine visible in the background of lonelygirl15‘s bedroom the whole time, that eventually gets an “accidental” closeup) and a lot of the scientific and philosophical theories that Bree discussed were relevant to the ideas of alternate realities and the existence of an illuminati.
The fan reaction ranged from alienated to confused, but most viewers were willing to see where the ceators would take the show now that it stopped being fake, and started being fictional.
Six episodes are just enough to get you thirsty. Thankfully there’s another round coming in September from FYI and the team behind Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist. The show has been picking up steam since we last wrote about it, making it as a Top 20 podcast on Apple’s iTunes. We caught up with the show’s star (and co-writer), Eric Zuckerman, to see how his growing web fame has been treating him.
Tubefilter News: First off, congrats on the first six episodes, they were hilarious. We have to know – what’s the plan for the next slate of episodes? Can we expect more soon?
Eric Zuckerman: We are doing our best to get new episodes up as soon as possible. Response has been even better than expected and we are thrilled to have fans who are anxious to see more of Kyle and Doucheus. There are various scheduling issues we are contending with, but it is our hope to have a new batch of episodes up in September. And if that’s too long for you to be without Kyle, keep an eye out in August for some teaser content until we can get back to full episodes.
TF: How did you get involved in the project? Were you cast as Kyle Piccolo through traditional channels, or did you have a history with show creators Alec Pollak and Neil Turitz?
Zuckerman: Neil, Alec, and I all went to college together at Columbia. Alec actually produced the first play I ever did, a production of “Free to Be… You and Me” in college. And Neil gave me my first paid acting job on the film “Knots,” which he co-wrote and produced. So it’s just a natural progression that they would be giving me my first starring role. When Neil and Alec came up with the idea for the show, they brought in me and John Cassaday to round out the creative team and asked me play Kyle. The four of us write and produce all the episodes together, and that has been a thoroughly enjoyable collaboration.
TF: The first six episodes were sponsored by Warner Bros. to promote The Dark Knight. Did the sponsorship affect the show creatively? Do you see this as a sustainable model for the series?
Zuckerman: Warner Bros. was great and they gave us minimal creative input. They saw the pilot we shot and loved it. They wanted us to keep doing what we were doing. This model of sponsorship certainly worked and there was, obviously, a great fit between us and “The Dark Knight.” But going forward, we are open to any and all types of sponsorship, whether they have roots in the comic book world or not.
TF: Let’s stay on the topic of money for a second. Are you and the cast making a healthy living off of the show at this point?
Zuckerman: None of us are making a living off the show at this point. There is some money coming in, yes, but most of it is going towards producing the show with production values we can be proud of.
TF: You’ve been working in the business both as an actor and in casting for a while now, has the success of the show opened any new doors for you? Do people recognize you now as Kyle?
Zuckerman: Things haven’t really changed, but it’s been less than two months since we launched, so it’s still early. I haven’t been recognized by any strangers, but I have been contacted by people I know who found the show without having any idea I was involved. So that’s great, that word is getting around.
TF: What’s your take on the emerging medium of episodic web television? Is there a future for it?
Zuckerman: One theory is that the future of episodic web television will be determined by the advancement of technology and the ability of large corporations to monetize that technology to the fullest. That is how new media usually thrive. But the beauty of the internet is that the giant media conglomerates do not control the means of distribution. Anyone can get a show out there. So I like to think that the future of episodic web television rests solely on the quality of the content. HBO changed the landscape of TV by producing shows that were better than most of what was on the networks. When that model proved to work, other cable channels got in on the game. That’s the model to follow. Produce great work and the audience will find you wherever you are.
TF: Does your mom watch the show?
Zuckerman: My mom and dad are both big fans of the show. Though I suppose one could make the argument that they are biased. Neil’s mom also watches and, in fact, is a little concerned that it might be turning her into a comic geek.
TF: Do you watch any other shows on the web? Which ones?
Zuckerman: I’ve always watched a lot of stuff on the web, but mostly stand alone videos. I am just now starting to see what’s out there in terms of series’. I think You Suck at Photoshop is one of the best shows out there in any medium. I also like The Guild and The Line, which incidentally shot at my neighborhood movie theater.
Editor’s Note: You can see more of Eric in Wes Craven’s 25/8, in theaters 2009.
Did everyone love MTV’s Daria as much as I did? She was my nerdy, bestecaled, monotoned, cynical, middle school cartoon crush, who I occassionaly still visit via MTV’s terrible streaming video player.
Anyways, Atom‘s online original series, Window Seat reminds me a lot of Daria‘s fictional show within a fictional show, Sick Sad World (the only video example I could find is in French, but I think you’ll get the idea). The animation in Window Seat is reminiscent of a Sick Sad World‘s think black lines and solid colors. So is the voice acting, from the protagonist’s deadpan to his assailants borderline psychosis. The weirdos that Window Seat lampoons aren’t quite as batshit crazy as the ones in Daria’s televison, but the basic premise of making fun of white trash, drunks, and psychos is the same.
We watch the protagonist, a normal flight passenger, squirm next to an assortment of freaks.
Editor’s note: We are thrilled to have another entry from Alec McNayr, of Space Shank Media, contributing as a guest author to Tubefilter News. Look for more from Alec on a semi-regular basis as he lends us his experienced eye for quality as we follow the episodic web television scene.
I’m not going to lie: I got a little freaked out watching a web series alone in my living room today.
In what seems to be an avalanche of motion comics debuting online these days, Stephen King’s new web series N. tops them all, and, to boot, it’s the creepiest online series I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a lot).
Each episode delivers a slow, yet deliberate look into what promises to be a multi-layered story: a woman reads the notes of a psychiatrist counseling a patient with insight into a dark, other-worldly secret. It alludes that the doctor himself will go mad with this information (which will climax into something scary about two weeks from now, I’m guessing!).
The real achievement of this series is the sweeping, tense music score, which brings terror to a new level. It’s the same haunting style you hear in major motion pictures. The marriage of music, sound effects, narration, and story-telling animation make for a great experience. The series, produced by Marvel Entertainment, is shot in the “pan and scan” format, complete with comic book-style graphics, making it feel a bit like a graphic novel. It’s drawn by award-winning comic-book artist Alex Maleev, who’s work you might have seen NBC’s Heroes.
When a big name like Stephen King steps into the online market, it makes news. But when his series is this good, it’s worth checking out. It’s already 5 episodes into its 25-day run (culminating on August 29 with the release of King’s new novel Just After Sunset), so what are you waiting for?
You can view N. at www.nishere.com, on YouTube, iTunes ($3.99 for a season pass), your Verizon mobile phone, or across the CBS online network (which distributes to AOL, MSN, etc.).
Alec McNayr is a writer-producer at Space Shank Media, and the co-creator of the online mockumentary Flipper Nation, an official honoree of the 2008 Webby Awards. He also writes a regular column on new media entertainment in Final Draft’s Script Magazine.
Britt McAdams writes Honesty – one of Atom.com‘s latest releases – and obviously posesses a cynical outlook that would make H.L. Mencken smile. 
Lonelygirl15 officially ended on Friday, though you could argue the series ended over a year ago when the titular character was 
Zuckerman: One theory is that the future of episodic web television will be determined by the advancement of technology and the ability of large corporations to monetize that technology to the fullest. That is how new media usually thrive. But the beauty of the internet is that the giant media conglomerates do not control the means of distribution. Anyone can get a show out there. So I like to think that the future of episodic web television rests solely on the quality of the content. HBO changed the landscape of TV by producing shows that were better than most of what was on the networks. When that model proved to work, other cable channels got in on the game. That’s the model to follow. Produce great work and the audience will find you wherever you are.
