WebSeries-related stories
Posted Nov 8th 2009 10:30AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Reality-Free, British TV
Think of the most popular American daytime soap. Then, multiply that by a factor of 10. That's the ongoing craze known as the BBC's immortal
EastEnders. Premiering in 1985, the working-class melodrama remains one of the U.K.'s highest-rated series.
Now,
EastEnders is set to kick off its own web spinoff series next year. According to a Beeb press release, the online BBC Vision Multiplatform commissioned
EastEnders: E20 to go live in January, 2010.
In addition to taking advantage of TV's online evolution, the web series will help to celebrated the
EastEnders 25th anniversary.
Now, the question is if anyone in Hollywood can catch on to moves like these and adapt more successful U.S. shows into big name web series. Shows like
24 tried brief web dalliances, but nothing this ambitious has yet to take flight from American networks.
Continue reading BBC's legendary EastEnders soap goes online
Posted Oct 1st 2009 10:00AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Web, Reality-Free
Television has been trying to cram
3D technology into our eye sockets ever since it realized that offering some kind of gimmick with their product could distract some audiences from the fact that it sucks. 3D TV will only impress three groups of people: children, heavy LSD users who are out of LSD, and the people who helped bring it to a Best Buy near you.
HBO, however, has done something much more interesting and creative with interactive entertainment by applying the 3D concept, not to just the screen, but the story and characters. I hope you've got lots of newspaper down, because your mind is about to blow.
Continue reading HBO's multicamera Imagine engine will blow your mind out of its skull
Posted Aug 13th 2009 5:03PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Reality-Free
With USA Network's
Monk entering its final season, this is as good a time as any to explore how its title character developed his obsessions and ticks.
According to a network press release, USA Network and Sleep Inn Hotels (No, I don't get the connection, either...) teamed up to launch USA's first live-action original web series on usanetwork.com,
Little Monk.
The web series seeks to explore the origins of the anal-retentive and obsessive Monk's chronic conditions.
Continue reading Little Monk web series to explore big Monk's problems
Posted Jun 18th 2009 11:02AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Reality-Free
The painful writers strike of several months ago could prove a boon to the development of a new web TV channel packed with original content.
The months long Writers Guild of America strike that began November 1 of 2007 touched off a storm from which Hollywood still hasn't recovered. It slowed not only the production of new TV shows but the purchase and development of fresh material. The jury is still out on whether the settlement agreement that ended it all accomplish much for writers -- or merely set-up another strike in 2011.
Reports say, during the work stoppage, a group of top-shelf TV creators decided to step out of the traditional production model and
develop material just for the web.
Continue reading WGA strike gives rise to new web series
Posted May 4th 2009 3:00PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Web, Celebrities, Heroes, Reality-Free
Here's a question for the ages: Who would win in a real fight: Peter or Nathan Petrelli? Could the power-nabbing Peter kick Nathan's high-flying ass in a no-holds-barred brawl? Or would the older, slimier Nathan have the advantage?
It's a tough call. I'd have to vote for WHO THE FRAK CARES?!
But Peter Petrelli himself, Milo Ventimiglia, hopes that people care about such hypothetical battles. In his latest attempt to corner the geek market, the
Heroes star is co-producing
Ultradome, a web series "where passionate fanboys settle hypothetical disputes in a special effects showdown."
Expect to see such fanboys, including Ventimiglia, duke it out on the web series in scripted – yep, scripted – fights to settle stuff like: Which franchise is cooler,
Star Wars or
The Lord of the Rings, or is Han Solo tougher than Indiana Jones?
Continue reading WIll you watch Peter Petrelli's geek battle show?
Posted Apr 21st 2009 11:34AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Video, Heroes, Reality-Free, Webisodes
And yes, you'll be laughing at it, not with it. Mostly because it's
awfully unoriginal, unfunny, and it revolves around two of the most useless characters in the
Heroes universe -- Eric Doyle (aka "The Puppetmaster"), and that d-bag who used to be HRG's boss at Copy Kingdom (who reminds you that he used to be the boss at Copy Kingdom two seconds after he shows up).
OK, maybe someone could make a good web series about The Puppetmaster (David H. Lawrence XVII is a good actor), but this ain't it.
The five-and-a half minute opener, which premiered Monday, is mostly laughably bad, forgettable and uninspired.
Nowhere Man, that's what they call it, chronicles Doyle's attempt to go straight and work an office job. Copy Kingdom guy is his sleazy jerk boss who just happens to be dating the object of his affection.
Continue reading Need a laugh? Watch the new Heroes web series
Posted Nov 17th 2008 3:04PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Saturday Night Live, Video, Web, Talk Show, Webisodes
Amy Poehler is really taking this
mommy thing seriously. The
Saturday Night Live vet just launched a new web series, and I'm happy to report that it's probably not what you'd expect.
Smart Girls at the Party is aimed at young girls and their parents, not Poehler's usual audience of late night TV watchers or cult comedy fans. Every five-to-ten minute episode will feature Poehler interviewing a talented and creative young girl.
"The show aims to help girls find confidence in their own aspirations and talents," says On Networks, the series' online distributor.
It's kind of like a blend of
Reading Rainbow, Larry King Live and
Gilmore Girls. Actually, I could see Rory and Lorelai Gilmore digging on Poehler's mock-serious interviewing style, the sunny power-pop theme music, and the show's "smart girls rule" attitude.
Continue reading Amy Poehler's new web series aims to inspire young girls - VIDEO
Posted Nov 19th 2007 10:21AM by Liz Finn-Arnold
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Web, Pickups and Renewals
It's being called a
"revoluntionary step" in television entertainment.
Quarterlife, created by
thirtysomething's Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, has the honor of becoming the first webseries to be acquired for broadcast television. The hour-long drama will begin airing on NBC sometime in February.
Herskovitz and Zwick reportedly
launched the series (about a twentysomething video blogger and her friends) directly on the web in order to maintain complete creative control. However,
after viewing the series online , I began to suspect that
quarterlife simply wasn't good enough for primetime. In fact, I doubted it would ever gain a strong fanbase or end up on network television.
Shows how much I know.
Continue reading NBC picks up webseries 'quarterlife'
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