6 Web Series You Haven't Seen Yet (Unless You Were at NYTVF)

The majority of NYTVF was dedicated to screenings including everything from in competition pilots, web series premieres, and even specialty screenings like Channel 101 NY. A good portion of the in competition pilots can be found on NYTVF’s MSN Video channel. They will host the pilots for the next few weeks, including the festival winners. To wrap up our coverage of NYTVF, we thought we would share six unreleased web series you may have missed that should be popping up online soon.

Johnny B. Homeless, the people’s choice winner at the festival, follows creator and star, Al Thompson, playing the titular Johnny B., “The world’s Greatest Couchsurfer.” In the pilot, Al’s friend and SNL star, Kenan Thompson, plays Johnny B.’s arch-rival. The show follows Johnny as he attempts to win back a coveted spot on his friend’s couch while being constantly sabotaged by Kenan’s character. This series hit home for me as while in NYC, I, of course, couch surfed my way through the city from friend to friend. Expect this series to do big things very soon, I’m told they are currently weighing a number of online distribution offers.

Titsburg, is the well received, hilarious sex comedy web series. I had a chance to meet and chat with the creators, Chioke Nassor and Tavon Bolourchi, and yes, they are as dirty, perverted, disgusting, and hilarious in person as in their web series, so much so, I wonder if Titsburg is actually a documentary. Lucky for them, they actually ended up having a double billing at the festival. The first three episodes were bundled as a pilot for the competition, and their latest episode screened and placed on Channel 101 NY this month.

Man Man is a collaboration between Escape Pod Films‘ Chris Prine and Tom Silvestro and Ed Mundy (who also animated the NYTVF animation winner, God & Co.) The show follows a not-so-superhero who was created when “[his] DNA was extracted and crossed with… [his] own DNA!” If you like this, check out Escape Pod Films’ other offerings such as Scissor Cop, Sandwich of Terror

, or the recently reviewed Octane of Pistols.

Lost Cities is a mock-travel show which takes its viewers on a ride through the exciting backdrop of Jersey City exploring the finer parts of a forgotten city. This includes things a normal person would obviously expect from Jersey’s second largest city: rampant fire, a factory that makes snow globes(coincidentally with a miniature factory inside), and Jersey’s favorite past-time Spaghetti and Laser-Tag. Dan McNamara, one of the creators of the show, explained “People were always amazed that I live in Jersey City, so I began to think, what do people really think Jersey City is like?” The show was recently covered on the Huffington Post. Dan told me, he’s in talks with a couple of companies who are interested in helping turn his 20 minute pilot into a web series. Currently, more of Dan McNamara’s work can be seen on the Onion News Network, where he works in the graphics department.

Blue Movies which will soon be available on Koldcast TV sort of reminded me of 30 Rock…if 30 Rock had 12 inch dildos, sexed up midgets, and arguments over the merits of Double Penetration. The show follows an unlikely intern trying to enter the business who ends up getting stuck working at a porn studio. Like James Gunn’s PG Porn, this show is all the filler and none of the thrill. The show has a fantastic cast with a really funny premise set to carry the series. Interesting to note, Blue Movies was shot in the heart of the San Fernando Valley also known as “Silicone Valley,” home of Vivid Entertainment and the porn capital of the world. One wonders how they might have financed this endeavor…

Idiots Dating is the Brainchild of Dan Gregor and Doug Mand and directed by Ben Weinstein (Wet Hot American Summer). Idiots Dating follows Dan and Doug as they both utterly fail at dating. Highlights include the impeccable directing of Ben Weinstein which elevated the already funny source material to absurdly comic levels very reminiscent of Ben’s beginnings with The State.

There were many other great web series screening I was able to catch at the festival including some already written about on Tubefilter: Odd Jobs, which took the coveted Fox/15 Gigs development prize, MERRIme.com, who’s creator and star, Kaily Smith, won for best acting at the NYTVF, which follows their recent deal with Turner’s TheFrisky.com and GOLD, The Series.

Check out the rest of the pilots that are up on the NYTVF MSN site. I was only one man and did not have time to cover every series at the festival. I know there were many shows that I missed out on. Watch them and share them and help support Independent and Web Television alike.

Top photo courtesy of NYTVF.