Lena Dunham knows it’s tough to be young and creative and struggling to find a purpose in life, and she’s not alone. Not by a long shot. Aaron Eisenberg, Alex Forstenhausler, and Austin Breslow, creators of Your Dad’s Friends, have come along with another shrewd look at a talented generation making a career out of being unemployed. (As I write this article, two of my jobless 24-year-old friends are firing off emails into the Craigslist tv/film/video/radio abyss and discussing their favorite bits of The Sopranos first season — all of which they watched today.)
We city-dwelling creatives, children of parents who were too tolerant, products of colleges that were [...]
A sketch about beer goggles? Not the most original joke. “Oh,” I thought “it’s probably some ironic play on the old trope about being too drunk to see people’s true qualities. Something not at all about inebriation. Something awesome.”
And I was wrong. It wasn’t ironic. Nope. It was pretty much just a straight-up take on the alcohol-induced phenomenon we all know and dread. Still, I found myself…laughing.
The short, written by Lauren Cook and Anna Breslaw, directed by Oren Brimer (The Daily Show), and starring veteran funnyman Kurt Braunohler alongside Scott Eckert, Anna Breslaw, and Lauren Cook, demonstrates that good acting and writing matters a hell of a lot [...]
I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again. Sometimes, in web series, simple is better. UCBComedy's “How to Make a Situation About You” confirms that hilarity can come out of smart, small ideas. The key to making short pieces successful? Clarity of message.
It’s easier to write a five-minute-per-episode, arc-heavy web opus than it is a sub two-minute idea good enough to have staying power. To be quick and memorable and quality demands a hyper focus on the single salient element of a funny idea, the nugget that cuts through all the fluff to the core of the most illustrative beats. Few attempt simple because it’s risky. It forces [...]
There are very few songs that could open the LA Shorts Film Festivaland be worth listening to for their non-comedic artistic merit. The Lonely Island's infectious contributions could easily clear the first hurdle, but could anyone ever digest Jizz In My Pants or I’m On A Boat as anything more than a joke song? Even without the cartoonish visuals, probably not. Paul Solomon: Chronicles of Love is unique because it’s visually comedic (hence the LA Shorts Fest props) and auditorily kind of legitimately good.
Samberg and Co.’s brand of parody is great because it’s really accessible and in your face. Broadly familiar genre melodies immediately betray tone [...]
This Week’s Web Series You Need To Watch has explored tremendous variations in quality web video, from low budget viral hits (Tiny Apartment), to glossy, pitch-conscious sizzles (Starf*ckers ), to independent pursuits of proven TV masters (Explosion Bus), all the while attempting to forecast the ways TV might change to accommodate a movement toward Internet-only content. In AMC's The Trivial Pursuits of Arthur Banks, we have our first clear answer. And it’s pretty exciting.
Arthur Banks is the inaugural product of AMC's new Digital Studio, created to “extend [the AMC] brand to the web, and to nurture great young writers and directors in a unique way,” [...]
Ever wonder what’s the best parody video on the Internet? Well wonder no more. Unless you disagree with me and don’t think this is the best one out there. Then, I guess you can continue to wonder. Either way, do yourself a favor and watch PoolJumpers.
Parody videos are the holy grail of web sketch, because, if done right, their zeitgeisty relatability helps them spread fast and hard. Since it’s 2010 premiere, The Birthday Boys’ classic PoolJumpers is the benchmark for what works…really…really well. We know it’s a little old, but the fact that it hasn’t been profiled in this column pains us and, let’s get real, funny [...]
We all love stuff that’s cool and weird and offbeat, don’t we? I’ll answer for you here — yes. Of course we do. Like any aficionados, we enjoy that which is cutting edge, beyond the norm, even alienating to those not “in-the-know”. We used to feel this way about deadpan mockumentaries and snickered at those in our midst who asked “is this for real?” Ha! We were so much smarter and cooler than them. But no longer. Now, everyone gets “awkward.” To be made uncomfortable is to be made to laugh. From web to screen, the pieces that seem to garner the most attention seem to be the ones [...]
Very few web parodies inspire actual TV shows. In fact, I can’t think of one that has. Until now. Yes, that’s right. The Real Housewives of South Boston is so freaking good that reality TV factory TLC is reportedly in pre-production for a South Boston based addition to their suite of ratings-busting real-life programming. Okay, to be honest, I don’t know if the choice was a direct result of this web series but, after watching, I can’t imagine how it wouldn’t be.
Real Housewives’ general premise isn’t all that new — mockumentary, reality spoof, people acting outrageous, yada yada. The Internet is littered with similar iterations of tired premises [...]
SNL and UCB are two of the most powerful 3-letter acronyms in the New York City comedy scene (behind CFF, “cool funny frogs,” the all-amphibian sketch group I’m trying to get off the ground). Whether you’re an up and comer doing bringer shows or an industry fixture with an IMDB longer than your arm, these two institutions are arguably the most reliable (if not totally foolproof) factories of funny. Dubious? Check out This Week’s Web Series You Need To Watch: I Wanna Have Your Baby.
Written, created by, and starring SNL writer Christine Nangle alongside a host of other SNL/UCB talent including Vanessa Bayer, Gavin Spieller, Will Hines, and [...]
Making something scripted seem like it’s actually happening sounds easy until a camera’s switched on. Once tape’s rolling, too many actors’ bathroom mirror rehearsals become overdone regurgitations, unresponsive to others’ performances. When dramatic performers fall short, it’s painfully apparent and we label them “hacks.” Less believable comedic actors, on the other hand, sometimes get a pass because their punchlines distract audiences from a lack of training. Viewers are too busy laughing to realize that what’s going on is phoned in.
A talent who blends the visceral realism of drama with the snappiness of comedy is unusual. For such a talent, successes may come in the form of projects with [...]
When I received an email plugging a web series about a guy interviewing for jobs in corporate America, I felt a pang of disappointment. Someone had “stolen” my idea. I clicked the link hoping it wouldn’t be funny and I’d be vindicated as a comic genius, still able produce my own Webby-winning take. Unfortunately for my ego, Howard Gets an Interview is more than enough to fill the situational interview web series space. And I mean that in the best possible way.
Written by Jonathan F. Cohen and starring Timothy Hornor as Howard, the “series” is, at this point, one episode long and, thus, more of a sketch. Still, [...]
Historically speaking, I’m not a fan of web videos centering around celebrity impersonations because they’re often short on content. Especially if the impression is really strong. Performers figure they can skate by on the old “hey, that really does sound just like…” recognition and, in almost every case, they can’t. The shtick gets old. So viewers are left with a mediocre piece that has a kick-ass first quarter and then sorta…falls off. Not the case with Mike O’Gorman’s “Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice Post Show Recap” and I’m glad he’s proved me wrong.
O’Gorman (actor, writer, and co-creator of “Tiny Apartment,” the very first web series we reviewed in [...]
Morgan Evans says of his new web series: “It is weird, it is sad, it is funny and it was expensive.” I can’t speak to the budget (though I’m assuming it cost at least the entire $10,133 raised on Kickstarter), but it’s certainly weird, sad, and funny. That’s why it’s this week’s selection.
As you may have guessed, I spend a fair amount of time trolling for and watching Internet videos. I take it seriously and believe web series are a big part of entertainment’s future. But lately I’ve been worried. I’ve found myself languishing in my exploration. Though I’m sure there’s still lots of quality product out there [...]
We’ve all seen and been through a lot this past year. Some good. Some bad. Thankfully, we’ve had web video to get us through the rough patches and on to happier times. 2012 will likely bring more trials, joys, and, Adam Frucci willing, more of the This Week’s Web Series You Need To Watch column. For now, let’s take a look at the best parts of the shows we checked out in 2011 and celebrate the things that made them great.
Ladies and gentleman, I give you the This Week’s Web Series You NeedTo Watch wrap up, This Year’s Web Series You Watched
