ON Networks' 'City by City' Jets Off to Asia for Season 2

ON Networks has launched a second season of it’s travel web series City by City. Each five minute episode focuses on the highlights of a particular global city. Unlike the first season of the show which focused on Europe, this season will feature 12 episodes on Asian cities. So far, Japan and Seoul have been featured.

With City by City, Austin, Texas-based ON Networks has added another strong show to their growing list of original online series. The network features shows in a variety of different genres including sports, video games, most notably last fall’s Amy Poehler-created kids talk show Smart Girls at the Party and even an upcoming series on consciousness and creativity with surrealistic artist and filmmaker David Lynch. City by City is similar to ON Networks Beautiful Places in HD, except it doesn’t focus on natural beauty.

The show mainly focuses on the cultural (and expensive) hotspots of each city. Historical landmarks are not the focus of the show, rather high end restaurants, trendy shops, and, popular bars. The Tokyo episode features a visit to a chic hotel, a design boutique, a trendy bar, and surprisingly a fish market. While these locations are interesting, by focusing on such high society locations, the show could be alienating some lower tax bracket viewers. However chances are if you have the money to be traveling to Tokyo, you probably will be spending some cash when you’re there.

This idea of web content for the higher society is also reinforced by the Carl F. Bucherer sponsorship of each episode. Each segment opens and ends with an ad for the Patravi TravelTec watch. Ad’s that run at the bottom of the viewing window offer the chance to enter a contest to win the watch. Considering the watch has a US value of over $10,900, the ad is not that bothersome.

Regardless of the locations, the show itself looks great. ON Networks have produced a web series in HD that looks great on any format. I watched the series both on a small screen and blown up full screen on my laptop, and both looked excellent. The production values are high, each episode has gentle voice narrating the locations, and the smooth electronic music, and expert camera work and editing make this series feel like it’s national geographic, not web content.