Web Video Round 3 (4?) – Bring on the Sci-Fi!

It all started with the rise of the UGC video and YouTube.  People went nuts.  Look at all the viewers!

After watching from the sidelines for a bit some big media companies decided they should be getting those viewers.  Following some deep study of internet content everyone decided that the thing that really worked online was comedy.

A flood of “pro” content hit the interwebs and suddenly everyone from Warner Brothers to Sony had their own dedicated comedy video website.

A year later and none of these sites or any of their shows have gained wide-spread acceptance or notice.  Most have completely failed by any reasonable assessment.

One could argue that most of these efforts failed because, a) they weren’t very good and b) they weren’t publicized.

Of course, if you are a big media company, it can’t be your fault. It must be the genre’s fault.  So, after a year of failing with comedy comes a big wave of Sci-Fi web shows:

“Not all of these will succeed, but science fiction already has a strong track record online. lonelygirl15 turned from a vlog into a thriller with tech overtones. Sanctuary was one of the early big-budget sci-fi series, it was even picked up to run on the Sci-Fi Network. And most recently, Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog darn near crashed the Internet.” (via)

Check out NTV’s whole post for a good look at what’s to come.  When these fail, due to being not good, I’m sure everyone will move onto proceedurals – it’s what saved the networks, at least for a while.

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Hipster Olympics Kids Should Have Quit While Ahead…

After getting some good press and decent view-counts for their first two web series, IFC might have met it’s first flop in the form of “Good Morning, Internet,” created by the people who brought you the very successful viral video “Hipster Olympics.’

ReelPop says:

“Though groan-inducingly funny-less during the first three minutes, Internet’s unceasing awkwardness  eventually evokes snickers through repetition of its visual puns. Sadly though, the subject matter here’s been mined previously by successful series like Goodnight, Burbank, which satrizes the format with a more deft and subtle hand. It’s early yet for Internet but if it’s to be successful, the show will have to do more than just be a Hipster Olympics for talk shows.”

Tilzy is slightly more optimistic:

“It’s all a bit too much. The morning talk show provides a cornucopia of material from which to parody and, in its premiere episode, Good Morning Internet has suffered from picking too much content ripe for comedy.

The anchors are entertaining, and the segments are watchable (the one on depression moreso than the makeover), but everything needs trimming.  The show should focus on those morning talk show fundamentals that Good Morning World employs so well.  It’s only the first episode, so the series certainly has time to improve.  I’m sure POYPACK and IFC will find some flow. ”

As for me, I am tired of parody on the internet.  What can be funny  for a skit is almost never funny for a series, and by limiting yourself to parody there is no reason to commit to any of the characters or to care what happens on an episode-to-episode basis.

Check it out for yourself here.

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