Tubefilter News

Funny Or Die is launching new comedy series First Dates With Toby Harris starring Seth Morris and premiering on the recently revamped Yahoo! Screen in Spring 2012.

“The series will follow the first dates of a typical LA based single guy who has several first dates,” Dick Glover, CEO of Funny or Die, told Tubefilter. “Through these dates we will get a humorous look at various dating issues, and a different perspectives on life and situations and the funny ways the sexes interact in 2012.”

First Dates With Toby Harris promises to “take viewers on a journey of ill fated first dates with the lovable (sometimes deplorable) and always single Toby Harris. Set with Los Angeles as a back drop, each episode centers around a different woman and issue that will leave the audience bickering amongst themselves who was right and who was wrong, and how they would have handled it better! Love him or hate him, a date with Toby is a date you will always remember.”

First Dates With Toby Harris joins Funny Or Die’s expanding content slate popping up on multiple platforms beyond Funny Or Die itself.

“Funny or Die is a multi-platform, vertical integrated comedy studio so we are happy to partner with online portals, cable TV networks, broadcast networks and other distributors who are capable of bringing our work to the largest possible audiences.” Glover told Tubefilter. “Yahoo fits that bill to a “t” and is a fantastic partner for us on a project like this and, we are sure, many others in the weeks and months to come.”

Billy On The Street, starring comedian Billy Eichner, is the third of a series of shows distributed off-net, joining HBO series Funny Or Die Presents and Comedy Central’s Jon Benjamin Has a Van. Billy On The Street premieres on Fuse December 22.

The first installment of the animated web series based on YouTube star Lucas Cruikshank’s high-pitched, hyperactive, and lovelorn Fred Figglehorn went live on the internet today. It’s Fred’s premiere episode – ‘Fred Gets Adopted’ – features our protagonists’s familiar face in cartooned form scheming for the affection of his classmate Judy.

That premise is nothing new. Fred fans have seen it dozens of times before. Cartooned Fred breaking the fourth wall and talking directly into the camera at the viewers is nothing new either. That’s a staple of online video programming that’s been the basis of Cruickshank’s character since his first video. But what is different about the cartoon version of Fred is that those individuals that find the Chipmunk-frequency of the main character’s voice annoying, the Micro Machine Guy pace of his speech aggravating, and the show’s level of success uncanny may actually like this series.

As a cartoon, Fred works.

That may have something to do with the aniamted Fred’s pedigree.

It’s Fred was developed and written by Kate Boutilier and Eryk Casemiro. They were the showrunners on the classic cartoon programs The Rugrats and The Wild Thornberries and have a keen sense of how to tell stories with wacky human forms that embark on fanciful and realistic adventures in unrealistic and creative ways. Those who are turned off by how weird it may be for a live-action teenager to pretend to be a six-year-old will have trouble feeling weirded out by the animated iteration. In fact, as abnormal as the original Fred series may appear, It’s Fred isn’t even remotely weird by cartoon standards (Read: This isn’t Sponge Bob Squarepants or Powerpuff Girls).

Start spreading the news. YouTube isn’t the only company investing heavily in original programming. Another online destination with over 173 million unique monthly visitors in the US alone is building its own new studio in New York City to facilitate the creation of online originals.

Gerog Szalai at the Hollywood Reporter writes Yahoo! is in the midst of converting roughly 5,000 square feet of “gutted former conference room” space at the corner of 40th Street and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan into “two sets, seven edit rooms, a state-of-the-art control room and a green room.”

Once complete in mid-March, the studio will be Yahoo’s first filming facility on the East Coast. The multinational internet corporation already has studios in both Sunnyvale and Santa Monica, California, where it shoots some of its most popular internally-produced programming, like omg Now, Prime Time in No Time, and Odd News.

Yahoo will use the studio in NYC to shoot East Coast programs already in production (including Trending Now, Daily Ticker, and Breakout) and add to its already extensive slate of original web series. Michael Manas, Head of Production Supervision at Yahoo! Studios New York, told Szalai the new facility will be used by every Yahoo vertical. That includes finance, sports, entertainment, women, men, fashion, and more.

In addition to quality in-house productions, Yahoo is distributing a handful of quality online original series filmed outside the company’s studio spaces. Shows like Morgan Spurlock’s Failure Club recently debuted on Yahoo’s recently revamped hub for video – Yahoo! Screen – and Fishbowl Media Worldwide’s Ultimate Proposal is doing quite well, racking up millions of views.

This week DECA, the company behind Momversation and CoolMom, announced four new series as a part of its YouTube Original Channel KinCommunity.

Four series launched on KinCommunity Monday night:

KinEats featuring simple everyday recipes from a variety of sources including bloggers, influencers as well as real women from the KinCommunity
KinStyle featuring fashion bloggers and affordable clothing (each featured look will never cost more than $100) for every size and shape told via quirky sets and playful commentary
KinParents, a humorous take on parenthood
KinStory, a daily, docu-reality series
Deca is planning to crank out at least 13 episodes each week.

“We are thrilled to partner with YouTube to build a truly unique women’s brand. Our deep understanding of female audiences, track record of creating high-quality, social and interactive content and the success of our network of sites are a great foundation for launching KinCommunity,” said Michael Wayne, Co-Founder & CEO of DECA. “KinCommunity further advances DECA’s content mission to inform and entertain women everywhere.”

According to a new study by Nielsen released this month, “Women are the world’s most powerful single demographic. They control the majority of household spending decisions, their influence is growing, and they are increasingly exercising this new-found power in a variety of ways.” DECA has been a pioneer in the women’s digital media industry, and has been producing original content focused on women, like Momversation.

“As a mom, I visit many sites targeting women like me, but when I look at the actual programming, I often feel it speaks to women as moms first and women second,” said Beth Le Manach, Vice President, Programming for DECA. “With KinCommunity, we wanted to speak differently to the multi-dimensional aspects of today’s woman who is constantly balancing the tensions between caring for everyone else and caring for herself.”

Ludo Baby Bites for Bugaboo: Chef Ludo Lefebvre Trades His F Bombs for a Stroller and Baby Food Adventures

Bugaboo is the Rolls Royce of baby strollers. It’s billed as the one and only stroller you will need from birth through toddlerhood. The Bugaboo company is known for catering to parents who care about good looking things that last a long time and transport their precious cargo in style and/or live in Park Slope or Manhattan’s Upper East and West Sides.

Now, with the launch of their new rotating stroller snack tray, the Bugaboo company is also continuing their relationship with celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre and his wife Krissy. The company just launched the 12-part web series Ludo Baby Bites, where Ludo learns to make what little kids can eat.

Ludo and Krissy have twin seven-month-olds and are determined to serve their family a healthy meal that they can eat together each night. And you better believe if Ludo is going to make macaroni and cheese and chicken tenders they aren’t going to be anything like what you’d get from Gerber.

Tubefilter went down to Bugaboo headquarters in El Segundo for the launch party of Ludo Baby Bites. After a screening of the first episode and lunch from the LudoTruck, (It’s a tough job, we know) we sat down with the pop-up restaurant master, Ludo Lefebvre, and President of Bugaboo Americas, Kari Boiler, to find out how this pint-sized cooking collaboration came about.

Tubefilter: Ludo, how did you originally meet the Bugaboo people?

Despite getting three new YouTube Original Channels as part of YouTube’s $100 million premium content initiative launched in November, web video giant Maker Studios has launched another channel: mini-network Animonster featuring online stars Ray William Johnson, Timothy DeLaGhetto and Pee Dee Flo, and Totally Sketch and Steve Greene.

This weekend Maker launched a new animation vertical, with three new animated series featuring creators Ray William Johnson, the Guiness Book of World Records holder for “most-subscribed” on the YouTube platform (over 9 Million people across three channels as of December 2011), urban Asian online comedy sensation Timothy “DeLaGhetto,” Hispanic YouTube star Pee Dee Flo, popular Youtuber comic Steve Greene and prolific online comedy director Michael Gallagher (creator of Totally Sketch and one of YouTube’s Most Subscribed of All Time).

Maker’s Head of Animation is none other than South Park veteran Glasgow Phillips, who developed Animonster‘s animation shows:

Your Favorite Martian (currently #1 animated channel and series on YouTube, averaging 9 million views per episode and 30 million monthly views)
Dino Yacht Club, Gallagher and Greene’s elite squad of British dinosaurs
Powerhouse, the urban-infected comedy from the real-life best pals DeLaGhetto & PeeDeeFlo

“This is just the beginning.” Phillips said. “We’re looking to premiere and program many more shows, created by and featuring many more of everyone’s favorite YouTube stars.” Tubefilter got word of a new kids’ animation hub Cartoonium! from beloved YouTube personalities ShayCarl and Nice Peter.

Animonster follows Maker’s Orignal YouTube Original Channels Maker Music Network, The Mom’s View and Tutele, the first global online bilingual/hispanic original series programming network.

What’s Trending wasn’t the first original web series based on the premise of “Let’s talk about whatever’s hot on the internet!” but it’s probably one of the best.

Conceived of and executive produced by Damon Berger and ubiquitous online video personality Shira Lazar and produced by their independent outfit Disrupt/Group, What’s Trending launched on May 17, 2011. It’s a daily news source and live, weekly, interactive program hosted by Lazar that discusses exactly what the title would suggest. What’s trending on the internet and in social media.

But where similar programs would comb Fark and Google Trends for talking points to recite in front of a camera, Lazar brings a background well versed in online news and online video that make the program not only great for news discussion, but newsworthy in and of itself.

And What’s Trending definitely has been newsworthy. Sometimes because of controversial interviews (like when Lupe Fiasco told Lazar “Obama is the biggest terrorist in America”) and sometimes because of preemptive announcements (like when the What’s Trending twitter account posted news of the death of Steve Jobs almost a month before the Apple CEO passed away).

That latter example of newsworthiness came with consequences. A day after the the tweet hit the web the program lost its distribution deal with CBS. But What’s Trending’s been able to forge on. The show sees over 84,000 weekly video views and has amassed over 30 million twitter impressions. A lot of that activity is based on the show’s high-quality production and Lazar’s ability to discuss interesting topics intelligently with a number of guests. A lot of it also has to do with the program’s ability to wrangle those guests. Adam Carolla, Brittany Snow, Cenk Uygur, Chris Hardwick, Drew Carey, Felicia Day, Kevin Smith, Lisa Kudrow, Mark Cuban, Morgan Spurlock, Rick Fox, Snoop Dogg, Terrell Owens, Will.I.Am and more have all appeared on the program.

As What’s Trending winds down for the end of 2011 (it’s last live show airs today), I caught up with Lazar to ask her a few questions about the ups and downs of the past year and what’s in store for 2012.

A new series from Streamy Award-Nominee Tina Cesa Ward (who, along with Susan Miller, brought you the hit independent drama web series Anyone But Me) explores the concept of commitment and marriage on the day New York passed the Equal Marriage Bill.

Good People in Love focuses on two couples, one heterosexual and one homosexual, to explore the challenges and fears of being in a committed relationship. Two characters, Sarah (Streamy Award Winner Rachael Hip-Flores) and Scott (Jesse Wakeman), use the two couples and the idiosyncrasies of their relationships to prove their different points of view during a small engagement party.

“I think with six very distinct characters that all have their own fears, ambitions and ideas about love and marriage the audience should find someone to connect with and recognize the situations these couples face on a personal level,” said Tina Cesa Ward over email.

To say the series is high on dramatic tension would be an understatement, as the characters fears and issues clash and the engagement party takes an ugly turn. Good People in Love goes for the jugular right off the bat, rarely showing any niceties. When discussing their different points of view to one another, Scott and Sarah at times talk directly to the audience. Breaking the fourth wall is a risky tactic and it will be up to each individual viewer to decide if it works, but Ward is trying to make a statement designed to engage the audience.

Good People in Love was a challenge for Ward, who decided to try a different kind of project after Anyone But Me. “There’s always a great debate in the web industry in regards to budget. I have colleagues that have been telling me you can make projects for practically nothing,” said Ward when discussing the challenges she faced during production. “I’ve never really believed them honestly, but I decided to put that idea to the test.”