'Fall of Kaden' Fills Sunday Night Drama Fix

Sunday night for me always means a chunk of time blocked out for HBO. It’s one of the few networks worth shelling out a couple extra bucks a month. It pretty much built its brand on groundbreaking drama—The Wire, The Sopranos, Sex and the City. And for what it’s worth, there is no HBO of web series. No one network of premium content that owns drama.

The creators of The Fall of Kaden, which premiered online this week, have said they are trying to break that mold. Matt Doubler and Adam Leiphart have a thing for drama and noticed the void of web series drama sites. Through their Tape 6 production company, Doubler and Leiphart said they are looking to stand out as a go-to shop for premium drama.

The first episode is mostly setup and lets us meet protagonist Kaden (Leiphart), who is in the midst of a Leaving Las Vegas-style downward spiral. Of course he doesn’t exactly have that far to fall since he’s a low-level loan shark dishing out cash to deadbeat gamblers. He’s also faced with the moral struggle of helping out his worthless brother (Joe Andalaro) who is along for the ride.

For now, Tape 6 is just getting started and Kaden is their first foray into climbing what has been a steep uphill slope for online dramas. It won’t be easy and the creators admit they will need to step up production levels in order to compete with traditional TV expectations. That said, it’s a formidable first start and their year-long production and post-prod schedule has so far been worth the wait.

There are also some mixed opinions on which player makes the show look better. Occasionally we’ll run an embedded version of a web series and later get an email asking us to use another player. What do you think? Which player looks best for this series—Blip (above), KoldCast (below) or YouTube (below)?