Throw together the comedy skills of Tim Meadows and David Spade into just about anything and you are assured some irreverent hilarity. Teeming hoards of viewers, well, that’s a whole other problem. 60Frames Entertainment, the online entertainment studio headed by former UTA online media chief, Brent Weinstein, hasn’t yet nailed the publicity model for its current crop of shows. The studio, launched last summer, was incubated and financed by UTA and online ad agency SpotRunner.

Headlining the site’s summer lineup, Carpet Bros. follows the story of three brothers in the mid 1970’s who inherit a Rancho Cucamonga discount carpet store called Carpet Galaxy after the death of their father, Brock Raylon, the chain’s founder. Now the three of them – Skip Spence Raylon (Tim Meadows), Xavier Montrose Raylon (Marc Evan Jackson) and Paul Samwell-Smith Raylon (Bob Dassie) must rally to save the shop from a heap of debt that it’s in while fighting off the scheming Raymond Davies Allen (David Spade) and his attempts to take over the failing store.

The show, directed by Matt Piedmont (Emmy-award winning SNL writer), is sharply crafted and leaves Meadows and Spade plenty of space to play around with their characters. The 70’s aesthetic, complete with its tragically awesome outfits and hairdos, help create a world where absurdity can reign free. Comedy it seems is sometimes safer when taken out of the confines of present day tastes.

After launching a month ago, the show is now up to Episode 6, and seems to be finally building an audience. Just as The Guild found a loyal, if not obvious, fanbase amongst MMOG gamers, Carpet Bros. appears to have found a few fans in the world of carpeting. Well, it’s a start at least. With just 28,000 views for the pilot episode on YouTube, there’s some work to be done. No real marketing push was done for the show, and the only place you’ll find it featured is on the 60Frames site itself. The show is worth a look though, if even only to see Meadows and Spade back together again. Note to 60Frames, it may be time to take a page form Joss Whedon’s playbook, who spearheaded a killer marketing blitz leading up to the sitebuster Dr. Horrible launch last week.

Filed under: 60Frames, Comedy, News, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
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Industry sources tell us McG’s new web show Sorority Forever might be stalled. As a tent pole show on the yet to be released TheWB.com, Sorority Forever is a crucial component of the studios new interactive network. And what this means for the September 8th launch date remains to be seen.

Sorority Forever is a mystery-drama that peeks behind the walls of one of the most intriguing “secret societies” in the world: the sorority. McG is partnering with production team Big Fantastic (Prom Queen) to produce the project for Warner Bros. Television Group’s TheWB.com, a premium, ad-supported, video-on-demand, interactive and personalized network, currently in beta.

Filed under: Channels, Drama, News, Production Companies, TheWB.com, Warner Bros., Web Series by Drew Baldwin
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Hear that muffled blare in the background of this video?

It’s the sound of a feverishly litigious media culture led by the barons of senseless greed…and a justice-seeking home video maker.

The song barely audible in the background is Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.” Upon discovering the alleged copyright infringement, Universal, which owns the rights to the song, ordered YouTube to remove the video, The San Francisco Chronicle reports. It was one of a hundred DMCA takedown notices issued after Prince decided that he hates his fans.

But Universal had apparently pushed the buttons of the wrong camera-wielding mommy. Stephanie Lenz sued Universal, questioning whether “the owner of the rights to a creative work that’s being used without permission can order the Web host to remove it without first considering whether the infringement was actually a legal fair use – a small or innocuous replication that couldn’t affect the market for the original work.“

I’m not a lawyer, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest that this was, indeed, fair use.

My groundbreaking judgment notwithstanding, don’t these people have better things to do?

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Jamison Tilsner
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Over the weekend the final act of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog dropped on DrHorrible.com, completing the three part series.  It was available for free until 12:01 AM PST Monday, but now you can only get it on iTunes for a season pass of $3.99 (and later on DVD with “the finest and bravest extras in all the land).  How’s it selling?  Looks pretty good.  Acts I, II, and III are on the top of the charts for “Top TV Episodes.” 

Perhaps those crashes during the free release period were part of an ingenious marketing plan to get more fans to pay for the series.  Or maybe it’s not that hard to beat out Avatar: The Last Airbender for a top slot.  But it’s probably because creator Joss Whedon has a helluva lot of fans, created a ton of buzz before the release, and the short length musical superhero film that started as a Writers Strike side project is that good.

It’s been an interesting foray into independent publishing for Whedon, even if the free online viewing window was just to generate excitement for the iTunes and DVD releases.  It all makes for an interesting, if not ground breaking experiment in Internet television.

The production itself was quite unique and uniquely Whedon.  It does go to show what a creative talent can do when not restricted by the mainstream media formats (as well as having some cash — something around the “low six-figures”– to throw around).  It was a family affair, with brothers Jed and Zack involved in writing the script and music.

Neil Patrick Harris, who Whedon brought in after learning about his musical theater chops, is fantastic as Dr. Horrible, and his recent career resurgence, including the self-mocking appearance in the Harold and Kumar movies, undoubtedly helped with the Dr. Horrible buzz.  His character is a conflicted one, as an evil villain and the bearer of a puerile crush on Penny (Felicia Day), a plight I’m sure many guys can identify with.
Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Owen Roberts
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I’ve always said girls are funny. Not everyone may agree with me, but I’m a true believer in the argument that ladies are often the best comedians because they add something unsuspected to the equation (by which I mean, of course, “a vagina”).

So, naturally, I’ve been a fan of Variety Shac for years. Although they don’t often perform on stage together (it’s a one-at-a-time deal), these New York-based performers – comprised of musician Shonali Bhowmik and comedians Heather Lawless, Chelsea Peretti (who has a laundry list of funny, failed relationships ) and Andrea Rosen – produce stellar variety shows at alternative venues, where they often feature guests beloved by the comedy crowd, including Bonnie McFarlane, David Cross, and Mike Birbiglia. Nevertheless, my favorite part of the show has always been the annual debut of a new short, all of which are predictably low-budget and earnestly seem to follow little to no narrative at all, much in the tradition of Stella.

Shonali, Heather, Andrea, and Chelsea (get it? “SHAC”?) play over-exaggerated, mildly retarded versions of themselves, which has clearly boded well for other online sketch video icons Zach Galifanakis, The Lonely Island, Maria Bamford and the aforementioned Stella.

With plots based around concepts as one-note as road trips, bake sales, and a dance party, one might expect mild results, but the SHAC girls hit it out of the park every time. Furthermore, they’re all attractive ladies who do what any self-respecting good-looking comedienne does: they make themselves look as idiotic as possible. Luckily for us, it works like a charm.

For example, what could be sexier than a woman who adopts “baby voice” to piss off her friends, as Andrea and Chelsea do in Road Trip (notice Heather’s hilariously lowered head from the back seat, where she appears like an impatient, uninterested babysitter)?

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Eliot Glazer
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The second installment of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog debuted yesterday and it seems that finally something has gone right this time for the release. Make no mistake–both of the acts themselves so far have been excellent. Nathan Fillion has played the part of the phony-hero Captain Hammer to perfection, Felicia Day is in top form as the heroine Penny, and Neil Patrick Harris has been hilarious as usual as the poor Dr. Horrible, who can’t seem to impress the Evil League of Evil, nor get Penny to notice him as more than a laundry buddy. We also find out a few humorous facts, such as what the consequences are of broadcasting your secret evil plans on your blog, and what part of the good Captain’s body the name “Hammer” refers to (hint: it’s not his arms).

The Dr. Horrible website has had less luck so far, first being released in a broken form when the trailer leaked a day early, and then crashing when the first act came out on July 15th. This time around, the episode has been released seamlessly, and it looks like Dr. Horrible will end up being one of this summer’s web “sitebusters.”

Look for Episode III tomorrow!

Filed under: Comedy, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, News by Arjun Sharma
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Rewind of the week on Tubefilter – top stories in case you missed them. Lots of love for Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris and the gang following the launch of “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” on Tuesday. (Episode 2 is now up on DrHorrible.com.) Also popular was the FEARnet launch of its new series “30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust” and Illeana Douglas’ upcoming new show “Easy to Assemble.”

• Interview with Joss Whedon, creator of “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog“
• Q&A: Neil Patrick Harris on “Dr. Horrible’s” Stunning Web Debut
• Q&A: Ben Ketai, Director of FEARnet’s “30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust”
• lleana Douglas and Her Gang of ‘Stars’ Are Back with IKEA’s ‘Easy to Assemble’

Filed under: Channels, Comedy, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Drama, Horror, Interviews, News, Production Companies, Thriller, Web Series by Tubefilter News
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Aside from the conspicuous absence of Lindsey Campbell (you’d think Playboy would like a girl in handcuffs), the list is comprised of usual suspects: Briggite Dale (who’s currently leading with 27% of the vote), Amanda Congdon, Sarah Lacy, Natali Del Conte, Xeni Jardin, Violet Blue, Veronica Belmont, Julie Alexandria, and Sarah Austin.

TecchCrunch reports that Playboy got permission from the candidates beforehand, but is doubtful that they’ll be any nude pictorials after a winner is announced (unless it’s Violet – you gotta think the owner/operator of a website with a “You must be 18 or older to enter” warning would be more than willing).

But I, and I’m sure most everyone, could care less who wins. What’s interesting is that the “Hottest Female Blogger” competition is a misnomer.  All but two of the nominated – Xeni and Violet –  have attained significant notoriety from web video, not blogging.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Thanks to self-publishing and the democratization of media we learn something new about celebrities every day. Cases in point I’ve recently discovered:

1) Jeff Bridges is probably cooler than The Dude. He’s definitely more bizarre. Spend five minutes on his website and you’ll agree. Aside from his >Widelux photography, you’ll find a sprawling, artful navigation system that looks half Hirschfeld and half Neckface.

A page of drawings directed towards montages of lifelike sculptures, women in film, and fecal lemons look like the back of some high schooler’s spiral notebook after a semester of boredom. Dancing lines and crude scratchings pieced together to form surprisingly legible script and flowing, coarse cartoons linking to little bits of ephemera that delighted the actor.

It’s an interesting window inside the mind of Bridges, and it doesn’t look like you’d expect.

2) Garey Busey is insane. Those crazed cameos on Entourage? He’s not acting. Okay, we all already knew that. But here’s some more evidence.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Marketers pine for great viral videos, of course, but no matter how much sweat and HTML is spilled over the subject, there will never be a surefire formula for smash hit, mega-famo success. And if it happens, such success will rarely be on the marketer’s desired terms.

Fortunately, this is the low-cost, easy-distribution, ADD internet we’re talking about, where you can throw as much unique, half-cooked content against the wall as possible to see what sticks. You may find a hit, but if not you’ve still produced niche, residual-friendly stuff that can selectively benefit your brand for some time.

(ASIDE: there’s plenty of debating to be done about the definition of viral video, but for me it’s a pretty simple test – is this a video that I want to send to my friends? It doesn’t really matter why I’m sending it, who made it, the video’s original purpose, or whether my Mom will end up sending it to her friends (localized or specialized virus, doctor?). Seems to me that such things belong to the internet now (the term and the videos themselves), and we can all do with them as we will.)

Enter Converse and its new collection of microsites. Clearly the work of some quirky creatives and a gifted GoDaddy user, the campaign provides several classic additions to the robust single serving site meme. It also features various destinations that offer an interesting new take on the nature of viral video.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Colin McDonald
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Vampire movie fans will be happy to hear that 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust debuted on FEARnet today, marking the third part of the 30 Days of Night series. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, the first part of the series, produced by FEARnet and Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Productions, is 30 Days of Night: Blood Trails, a 7-part miniseries that serves as a prequel and publicity project for the feature movie, 30 Days of Night.

Dust to Dust picks up after Blood Trails. Set in New Orleans, we follow detective Nick Maguire as he searches for his sister, who has been kidnapped by former junkie George, the protagonist of Blood Trails who was framed for murders committed by a group of vampires. The series, directed by Ben Ketai, who also wrote Blood Trails and Devil’s Trade, features Christopher Stapleton, Shawnee Smith, Andrew Laurich, and Mimi Michaels. According to a FEARnet press release, the series will also have cameos from horror movie faves Ted Raimi (Sam’s brother) and Ken Foree.

Tubefilter got a chance to ask writer/director Ben Ketai (Ghost House) a few questions about the series, and he even gave us a few details of what to expect in the upcoming episodes.

Tubefilter: What is it about the online realm that made you decide to release Blood Trails and Dust to Dust online, as opposed to any other medium?
Ben Ketai: We looked at both series as a great opportunity to take a well-established and extremely rich property such as 30 Days of Night and explore the medium of webisodes. We wanted to take advantage of the fact that the episodes could only be five minutes long and attempt to create something with a serious action/horror pulse. Something that’s non-stop, beginning to end. The web-series is a fast growing medium and I think people are about to be very surprised in the next few years by how ubiquitous they become. I personally feel very lucky to be able to be play in this space so early on.

TF: Was it hard to work on a storyline that had a prequel already written, i.e. were there any issues of having to make the story consistent?
Ketai: The first series, Blood Trails, was designed to lead right into the feature film. But it also left open George’s storyline in a great way that was totally separate from and did not rely on the feature at all. The challenging part was figuring out how to broaden George’s world and bring in new characters upon which he could bestow his wisdom. I really dig the sort of Sarah Connor transformation that George goes through from one series to the next.

TF: What is one of your favorite moments in the series that we can look forward to?
Ketai: I don’t want to give anything away but let’s just say there comes a time in every young vampire’s life when they have to learn how to feed. And in this series we have the unique pleasure of getting to watch our heroin make this discovery in a pretty gruesome way.

Filed under: Channels, Horror, Interviews, Production Companies, Thriller, Web Series by Arjun Sharma
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ULoveNY is a new site aimed at being the web’s video guide to New York City. It boasts of “thousands and thousands of video reviews” on its sharp homepage, a claim I don’t doubt given its extensive archives for everything from theater and museums to transportation and street vendors.

The site is the work of NYC-based Videople, a company focused on building online communities around engaging, exclusive video content (also check out their college review site CollegeClickTV). All of their videos are professionally produced but are focused on personal reviews, so the sites serve essentially as a channel for the views and opinions that Videople crews capture on the street. There is some editing and curating going on, of course, as well as commenting and brief text reviews, but the raw commentary definitely takes center stage.

It’s a straightforward, intriguing concept, and in the local reviews field there don’t seem to be many sites executing well on the idea, let alone making it their central feature. It’s different for paid video ads from sites like CityCapture and Citysearch, which began rolling out last year (see ad guidelines) and Yelp is adding sometime soon. Here’s a video I happened across on Citysearch’s Shampoo page – we’ll give Citysearch credit for producing slick stuff for its customers and even providing embed codes, unlike ULoveNY.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Colin McDonald
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