Tubefilter News

Take Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, mash it up with Kung Pao: Enter the Fist and what do you have? Johnny Raikou.

At first, the plot appears simple: a couple of wannabe vigilantes with outrageous haircuts and little skill hit the streets of Los Angeles to fight crime. Still, behind the tongue-in-cheek nature of the show is a story which aims to bring awareness to human trafficking. Beyond that, it is difficult to tell where the show will take its viewers since only three episodes have been released.

If you want visual comedy, this web series has plenty of it. From thought bubbles to slapstick combat, Johnny Raikou takes classic comedy staples like facial expressions and gestures and churns into an entertaining show. Thought-bubbles and comic-book swipes can seem gimmicky, but clever writing mixed with quizzical stares make them worth plenty of laughs. Also, Raikou makes good use of otherwise normal objects. From staple-guns to microwave-safes, standard tools and appliances become comical objects in this creative show. Though the series does have a couple of serious moments (Jaden Adventure (Hana Mae Lee), is dragged by her hair through a hallway kicking and screaming), it never quite takes itself seriously, and that’s a good thing.

Jonathan Hance (Johnny Raikou) and Portis Hershey (Friend), do an admirable job as quirky justice-seekers. In truth, I can’t imagine anyone else playing these roles. Hance (who also directed the show) does a remarkable job playing the part of a clumsy but quiet hero, often using his character’s silence to emphasize his bizarre nature. Hershey, the talkative one of this dynamic duo, plays off his partner’s silent nature with some well-timed lines and funny faces.

This is how Twilight should have ended (see above video first). But it didn’t, and we’re left with another chapter delaying the inevitable, leaving us scratching our heads at the thought of an actual long term romance between mortal Bella (Kristen Stewart) and vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson).

The team behind the widely popular How It Should Have Ended series have released their latest animated alternate ending today. Also today comes news that it has inked a long term license and production deal with Starz Digital Media.

HISHE dates back to early 2005, explains co-creator and producer Tina Alexander. “We were watching Flight of the Phoenix and a group of us were talking about the ridiculous ending about how it should have gone,” said Alexander. From there the group, which includes co-creators Daniel Baxter and Tommy Watson, whipped up a number of comedic alt endings to blockbusters like Superman, Lord of the Rings and Transformers.

Starz came calling in the form of Marc DeBevoise, SVP of Digital Media, Business Development & Strategy, in fall of 2008. It would be almost a year until a deal was completed. “We wanted to help them take it to the next level,” said David Katz Starz’ Executive Director of Digital Media. “What we’re tying to do is expand the distribution,” he added noting that HISTHE’s popular YouTube channel and newly revamped website will remain the primary hubs for the show.

Another companion web series coming out of a major TV network today as ABC launches its Grey’s Anatomy companion Seattle Grace: On Call. It premiered tonight 10:00 PM ET, immediately following the latest episode of Grey’s, which featured promo for the new sidekick.

It’s a faux documentary, set at Joe’s Emerald City Bar where seemingly all of the Seattle Grace surgeons frequent to booze it up and make bad decisions. A handful of the lesser known stars from the TV version will appear in the 4-minute episodes, like Joe the Bartender Steven W. Bailey and SG interns Brandon Scott and Gloria Garayua. Italian food brand Bertolli signed on as lead sponsor of the series.

“Our goal with the Web series is to expand the Grey’s universe by offering a unique perspective of the various happenings at Seattle Grace, while paralleling some of the same story lines seen on the show,” said Grey’s creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes to MediaPost.

Within seconds of beginning my search for where I could watch this six-part UK-based web thriller, it had been compared to not one (Saw) but two (Seven) American movies and not one (24) but two (Lost) American television series. At almost the same time, Girl Number 9 was letting me know it was made specifically for the internet, and unlike anything I had seen before.

Written by James Moran (Doctor Who, Torchwood,Severance) and starring Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood), Joe Absolom (Doc Martin, Personal Affairs), and Tracy-Ann Oberman (Doctor Who, Eastenders), the series has a lot of BBC talent to back it up—along with a huge advertising campaign. The Guardian in particular did a very interesting piece that was open-ended: it began its review at episode 1 and then added information as each subsequent episode was released. The author also encouraged its readers to join in the discussion in the comments section, and the dialogue that resulted was often heated but with several extremely valid points about the weaknesses and strengths of the series.

The format of the show itself is an almost unique approach, if not a bit on the transparent side: six episodes running at less than five minutes each were released over a span of six days beginning on October 30th. The show will be viewable for free for 30 days, at which point it will go offline and offer a DVD of the series, which promises to be jam-packed with special features including a behind-the-scenes documentary, commentaries, interviews, script, gallery, trailers and other special features. According to the show’s website, the DVD will also contain “a feature length version”. No word on if this means they originally shot the series as a feature film and then cut it down into a half-hour format, though this seems unlikely since all the press boasts that the show was specifically written with the web in mind.

Needless to say, I’m confused by the show’s seeming intense need to be exclusively for the internet yet making all it’s comparisons to traditional media. The show also does a half-hearted attempt at interactivity with a few in-your-face ARG elements. Within the first minute, the killer is giving you a web address and a number (incidentally, I watched the episodes at the web address he was giving…so I was a bit confused as to what I as a viewer was supposed to do with that information). They track locations using IP address, which is the very first thing any mildly tech-savvy puzzle-solver would instantly try. Basically, I wish that if they had gone for ARG elements, they really would have committed to them and offered the viewers a bit of a challenge.

Showtime has been having fun with these companion web series this year, like Dexter’s animated origin story Early Cuts and Weeds’ stoner run University of Andy. While Weeds takes a long holiday snoozer until early 2010, Andy Botwin (Justin Kirk) is back with a fresh crop of new classes this week, after its own hiatus since premiering this summer.

The new courses are just in time for the holidays—The Perfect Thanksgiving (above), How to Break Up with Someone, Surviving the Apocalypse, How to Deal with Bullies and How to Tell if You’re Dating a Crazy (below). They still stay simple, with no signs of the rest of the Botwin clan dropping in. We thought at least Doug (Kevin Nealon) would come in for a guest lecture on couch surfing.

New episodes of Andy will be out every two weeks. Now, if only Californication would commission Hank Moody’s musings on how to be TV’s biggest tail chaser.

A web series spoofing a comic based on a web series… that has to be a first. A Comicbook Orange, the popular series for all things comics, released its latest episode today reviewing the new Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog comic form Dark Horse which hit stores today. Host Casey McKinnon crafted a special musical number (why not) to kick off the episode before giving a mixed “3 orange” review of the Dr. H origin story.

The full color 40-page comic, written by Joss Whedon’s brother Zack, is what comic junkies call a one-shot (in japan it’s yomikiri 読み切り), not too unlike the live action series itself which has been teasing fans with talk of a sequel for over a year.

In this One-Shot Wonder, Zack Whedon and artist Joelle Jones (Token) establish how a young, impressionable, but brilliant Dr. Horrible was drawn into a world of crime. Readers are reacquainted with the charming, brawny, crime-fighting superhero extraordinaire Captain Hammer when Dr. Horrible crosses paths with his greatest enemy in an all-out showdown of immeasurable proportions. Special guest appearances include Dr. Horrible’s love interest, Penny; his sidekick, Moist; and a meter man.

Have you ever seen the first season of Seinfeld, or even The Simpsons for that matter? They are both kind of terrible. But when you watch them you do see glimpses of what they eventually became. I’m not about to put Agents of Cracked on cracked.com in the esteemed category of those shows, but it’s possible there is something here worth looking at. Maybe.The show, created by Abe Epperson, Daniel O’Brien and Michael Swaim, is relatively terrible for the first six episodes with tiny bits of funny, or at least funny ideas tossed in there. However, I look at episode 7, ‘The Curse of the Idol’ and things seem to be beginning to coalesce. Somewhat.

Michael Swaim, former host of CrackedTV, playing Michael Swaim, is a raw, exciting talent throughout the series. The character Swaim is a hapless idiot-savant, a kind of Hunter S. Thompson as played by Bill Murray in Where the Buffalo Roam, only dumber. Way dumber. At the moment, Swaim-the-actor’s energy and delivery make me want so badly to guffaw at his antics, yet most of the time I find myself left with my mouth open and nothing coming out. Like an aborted sneeze, let’s say. Though I’m absolutely sure, over time, as he fills the shoes of Swaim-the-idiot, he will have me rolling on the floor.

Dan O’Brien, Assistant Editor of Cracked, playing Dan O’Brien in the show isn’t quite as exciting…at first. At times it felt like he was channeling Woody Allen and failing miserably. O’Brien, playing the ‘good cop’ to Swaim’s ‘bad cop’ is a geeky, buttoned up babysitter for Swaim. He plays the straight man a little too straight to the point of dullness all the way until the seventh episode, and then…the seventh episode happens. But we’ll get into that later.

What I want to discuss with you right now is why I have not mentioned what the show is about. The reason? I’m not totally sure what the show is about. I know it takes place in the cracked offices. I know that these guys create content for cracked.com. And I know that they are given tasks like ‘brand development’ from their mysterious boss, The Chief. But the jobs and stories feel so random and the fact that they are described in the cracked.com’s ‘About’ section as being ‘trained to handle anything the world of internet comedy throws at them’ makes me totally confused sometimes as to what the hell I’m watching.

Babelgum has picked up exclusive first run distribution rights on Scott Adams’ Dilbert animated cartoon series as well as the New Yorker’s and a handful of others—Bloom County, Michael Fry and T Lewis’ Over the Hedge, Paul Gilligan’s Pooch Café and Richard Thompson’s Cul de Sac. The deal is with RingTales, an online distributor of animated cartoons, and adds to Babelgum’s previous library of non-exclusive cartoon clips from the company.

Popular cubicle dweller Dilbert had previously been a major hit on iTunes, where it claimed the #1 podcast spot earlier this summer with over 2 million downloads for the month of July. The new Babelgum deal means it will have first run on new episodes, before its other partners like iTunes, MSN and even Dilbert.com.

The short, under 30-second clips will live on Babelgum Comedy’s Animation sub-channel. Given their bite size lengths and name recognition it’s likely these series will do well on Babelgum’s not too shabby mobile app which makes for fast access to their growing library. Back in July, the site announced it locked exclusive mobile distribution rights on content from celeb-backed comedy hub Funny or Die.