by Joshua Cohen on November 17th, 2009
If the RIAA issued platinum certifications for web series, the offices of KnowYourMeme would be decked out with some serious bling. Originally conceived by Rocketboom producers way back in December 2007 as way to air daily episodes while the production team was on Winter vacay, the spinoff series has gained some serious traction as a resource and discussion board for online, cultural phenomena. Know Your Meme’s informative, sporadic installments document the discovery, dissemination, and decline of internet memes. To the uninitiated, that might sound like a small, nerdy niche, but then you hear the numbers and accolades: the website’s traffic chart looks like a hockey stick with well over half a million visitors a month (and growing) and TIME called it one of the top 50 best websites of 2009.
So, what’s next? What happens after you win at the internet? In the words of Texas rapper Chamillionaire, “It’s one thing to go platinum. Where do you from there? Then Weird Al calls.”
“We were contacted by Davis Cox from Apex Exposure, who was promoting Al’s new best-of album,” say Know Your Meme stars and producers Kenyatta “Yatta” Cheese and Jamie “Dubs” Wilkinson. “Davis was already aware of both the show and the community that our viewers had built around Know Your Meme and thought it’d be a perfect fit.”He was right.
by Joshua Cohen on November 11th, 2009
Originally conceived by Food Channel veteran Darin Bresnitz and produced by Finger on the Pulse, Dinner with the Band first premiered online way back in March 2007. The show became an instant favorite amongst tattooed gastronomes with an internet connection and an affinity for indie rock. In each episode, the edgy Sam Mason (who has made pastries at New York’s WD-50, now runs a restaurant called Tailor, and is edgy both in terms of his appearance and culinary style) invites a band to his kitchen/concert studio space to sing for their supper. That means Mason makes dishes like avocado margaritas or mackerel-grapefruit ceviche with acts like Ontario’s Tokyo Police Club and New York’s Holy Hail, then watches them rock out.
I would tell you to give it a look, but it appears that since the acquisition, ON Networks has removed all Dinner with the Band episodes from its website. To see the program, you’ll have to tune into the television premier at 11PM EST on November 24.
IFC is set to air a total of six 30-minute episodes as part of the network’s Automat programming block. The episode line-up includes appearances from Les Savy Fav, Kid Sister and Flosstradamus, MEN, Final Fantasy, YACHT, and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. I hope your palates and eardrums are appropriately whetted and/or satisfied.
by Joshua Cohen on November 6th, 2009
The almost winner of my Coolest Cross-Media Promotion of a Web Series award goes to Dr. Horrible, which just released some sneak peak shots to Splash Page of its upcoming, highly-anticipated, paper and ink comic book. Published by Dark Horse and written by Zack Whedon, the one-shot issue “establishes how a young, impressionable, but brilliant Dr. Horrible was drawn into a world of crime” and recounts the first encounter with his soon-to-be archnemesis, Captain Hammer.
Whedonesque readers know that this isn’t the first Dr. Horrible prequel, nor the first Dr. Horrible comic, nor the first Dr. Horrible comic written by Zack Whedon, nor the first Dr. Horrible comic and Dark Horse collaboration, it’s just the first one you’ll be able to physically hold in your hands. In the past 18 months, Zack Whedon wrote three digital comics for MySpace’s Dark Horse Presents, including Captain Hammer: Be Like Me!, Moist: Humidity Rising, and Penny: Keep Your Head Up (all of which are preludes to the events seen in the Sing-Along Blog).
The 24-page hard copy comic will set you back $3.50 (which is what comic books cost these days) and hits the shelves on November 18. Stop into your friendly neighborhood Dark Hourse retailer or pre-order yours here.
by Joshua Cohen on November 5th, 2009
Irreverent, sports-related comedy programs don’t exist, at least not on television. While series like Fox’s Best Damn Sports Show Period or ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption can definitely be comical, they make quips about and poke fun at the wide world of sports with a measured amount of deference. The shows operate under the assumption that the subject is significant, that sports – and the people that play, coach, and watch them – are important.
Yes, you could try point to something like the Sklar Brothers’ defunct Cheap Seats as an exception, but nothing shows professional athletics less respect than the Onion Sports Network. It’s just the kind of program that television could use to bring some balance to the medium’s for-the-love-of-the-game love fest. That’s why I’m all jazz hands over the recent announcement from Comedy Central. The cable network has ordered a pilot from popular satirical newspaper The Onion for a 30-minute, scripted comedy series based on its sports section.
The press release promises the series, “will take on the whole universe of modern sports – teams, players, leagues, sycophantic fans, ridiculous products and over-hyped sports coverage – with an eye towards appealing to sports fanatics and more casual fans, as well as long-time followers of The Onion and The Onion News Network.” And Onion Sports Network director Will Graham warns you to, “Get ready for the most intense sports coverage humanity has yet witnessed.” I’d like to say the show’s going to be awesome, but Casey Stengel once told me “never make predictions, especially about the future,” and Chris reminds me about the profoundly not good The Onion movie.
by Joshua Cohen on November 4th, 2009
Alternate Universe seems like a not-so-subtle attempt for Bourdain to reaffirm his crazy, hip, bad-ass image while pushing it to new limits. The marketing materials and the trailer bill the show as an invitation inside Tony’s head to see “his twisted imagination, mocking himself and others along the way,” the animation style screams Adult Swim, and the “I’m a rebel because I call out other chefs on their $@#%” motif runs rampant (at least in the preview). Mix all that together and the series is just a newfangled attempt for Bourdain to get in with the in-crowd. To me, it smells too contrived.
On the other hand, the fact that Bourdain has played host to two popular shows on cable television (A Cook’s Tour by Food Network and the aforementioned No Reservations on the Travel Channel) says that my tastes are in the minority. Come 2010, there will plenty of people who are going to eat this series up.
by Joshua Cohen on October 31st, 2009
With a budget bumping $240 million and technology that’s over 10 years in the making, James Cameron’s Avatar is primed to push Hollywood into a new dimension. The 3D tour de force is the first film of it’s kind, comprised of roughly 60% computer-generated elements and 40% live-action, all seamlessly melded together into a brilliant depth of field when seen through the lenses of polarized, stereoscopic, librarian-looking glasses. Entertainment pundits expect the movie to be the biggest blockbuster since, well, Cameron’s last biggest blockbuster (which happened to be the biggest blockbuster of all-time). Some say it may even save movie theaters from the internet. Avatar could herald the arrival of a revolutionized 3D film industry that studio execs have tried to make stick since the 50s.
Unless, of course, the internet also gets three dimensional.
While early tests on YouTube have been both interesting and headache-inducing, a new web series from Hank’s Beak Productions and starmaker, Svengali, and Hollywood hustler Ray Manzella hopes to make 3D on the internet entertaining. And lucrative.
13 Minutes to Midnight bills itself as throwback to the camp found in classic television horror titles like Vampira and Tales from the Crypt. I’d say the self-aware silliness and homegrown aesthetic makes it more of a low-budget, macabre-themed Mister Rogers and/or Clue that could, at any moment, break out into the kind of softcore you see on Skinemax. B-movie scream queen and co-writer Erika Smith stars as the host of a Halloween party that attracts the likes of Nightmara (Heather McDonald), Paranora (Elizabeth Killmond), Vampira (a tranny version of the original), an unfortunate whodunit incident, a Perez Hilton cameo, and lots of product placement.
by Joshua Cohen on July 22nd, 2009
I’m all jazz hands about tonight’s New York Web TV Meetup with Rocketboom’s purveyors of internet cool, Know Your Meme’s Kenyatta Cheese, Ellie Roundtree, and Jamie Wilkinson, along with Urlesque’s super savvy Kelly Reeves.
Discover how and why the trio have been able to create a popular spin-off web series that (in many ways) is more [...]
by Joshua Cohen on July 21st, 2009
When I’m trying to find something to do on summer nights aside from being alone and reading My So-Called Life fanfiction completely bored by going out with my extensive, awesome, and numerous social circles, I often take a respite from the known, real world and venture into one that’s more digital, anonymous and classified. Craigslist, [...]
