by Marc Hustvedt on January 26th, 2010
Warner Brothers is teaming up with an old friend again—single-word director McG. Having last collaborated on the 2008 online drama Sorority Forever, today came word that Ghostfacers, a new 10-episode sci-fi comedy web series from McG’s Wonderland Sound and Vision production company and Warner’s Studio 2.0 is currently in production in Los Angeles. The series appears to be a spin-off of Warner Bros. Television’s Supernatural series which airs on The CW. They are calling this a “shortform brand extension” of the TV series, which means this is really a companion web series, instead of a purely original project.
Ghostfacers will follow a “a team of fearless and sometimes comical “professional” ghost hunters who investigate the paranormal and record their own adventures in documentary-style episodes.” That same team actually made its debut on Supernatural’s first season during the “Hell House” episode, and later resurfaced on season three. The series is planned for release online later this year—no specific dates set yet—on TheWB.com and CWTV.com.
AJ Buckley stars as the scrappy ghost hunting team’s leader with Travis Wester, Brittany Ishibashi and Austin Basis rounding things out. Guest stars will appear throughout and so far just Kelly Carlson, who is playing the ghost of a young starlet, has been announced. Trey Callaway is credited as creator of the characters of Ghostfacers, though Supernatural creator/EP Ben Edlund also had a hand.
This is the latest web series to debut on TheWB.com, which has been fairly dormant in terms of new web originals. The latest was the lightly marketed thriller Blood Cell back in October starring Jessica Rose that was licensed from the now-defunct 60Frames.
by Ned Hepburn on December 10th, 2009
[Ed: This marks the debut of our new weekly web series reviews column Pass The Mustard. No sugar coating, no doublespeak, no hand holding. Just brutally honest reactions from one guy: Ned Hepburn. We'll throw a handful of web series at him each week. Agree, disagree, love him, hate him, but please don't punch him. Got something clever to say in retort? Leave a comment below. He'll probably read it and embarrass you later.]
Hey good lookin’. Thanks for showing up. I’m glad someone answered the craigslist ad. Do you want a glass of water? No? Ok, a little about myself. My name’s Ned. I write here and there and there. And you, quiet guy? Nothing? Alright, then let’s begin.
The Lake
Oh, boy. Maybe I just don’t like teen dramas. Maybe I just don’t like the WB. Maybe this whole thing feels like a WB teen drama that I can’t turn off. Man, when is there going to be a decent drama on the internet? This was a one way ticket to Yawnsville despite the actors best efforts. Ever run into an ex girlfriend at a coffee shop? That’s how they talk in this thing. There’s this one girl that talks only in mumbles. All these corporate web shows seem to think you can get by looking hyper glossy without any plot. It’s a shame, because the actors seem to be acting their actory hearts out yet I’m not invested in any of the characters. Not to get all “One Time I Read Robert Evans’ Biography” on you, but one time I read Robert Evans’ biography and he says “if its not on the page it’s not on the screen”. And this is just another prime example of that.
Sex Ed
I like it! This wants to be a hybrid between The O.C. and Porky’s 1,2, and 3. This sort of thing would tooootally fly on FOX or Showtime, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but yet there’s something so ridiculously “Los Angeles” about it that I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s cheesy as all hell, but at least it seems to know that. Much more than I can say for the vast majority of web shows that seem to think they’re doing some Michael Mann ‘visual jazz’ kind of thing. These guys at least know their demographic. If they relied a little less on the cheese and a little more of the snark I could actually see this being pretty mainstream successful…
by Marc Hustvedt on October 29th, 2009
Somehow without much fanfare, all 18 episodes of Jessica Rose-starring Blood Cell snuck out this week on TheWB.com. What was once one of most anticipated (if YouTube trailer views mean anything) series cooked up at the now-defunct 60Frames, is now tucked away on TheWB.
Right off the bat, this on is, well, gripping. A girl has been kidnapped and her friends Julia (Rose) Alex (Sara Sanderson) are lopped into the hunt when a late night call from their kidnapped friend Susan jolts Julia. Being a web series, the media-rich phone shows a video friend Susan—crying and scared. The kidnapper is a disturbingly grotesque thing (think Saw’s tricycle riding clown and you wouldn’t be far off), but there’s a catch: Julia can’t turn off her phone – if she does, her friend dies. A text message hits the phone moments later: “Dead Cell = Dead Friend.”
Over a year ago we looked into what happened to Blood Cell, which seemed to have squandered its healthy web buzz. The trailer, which featured a sultry close-up pan shot of Rose, racked up almost 7 million views since its release in April, 2008. Now the thriller web series, created by genre director Eduardo Rodriguez and produced by Jeremy Bell, is finally online—though unfortunately the roll out made no use of the show’s popular YouTube channel.
by Tubefilter News on October 23rd, 2009
What a week! Monday kicked off another installment of Web Television Week out here in Los Angeles, a full week of web television and digital entertainment related events like the IAWTV Prospective Member Meeting, Digital Hollywood Fall, and of course, Going LIVE! presented by the Hollywood Web Television Meetup. We made a little announcement as well about our friends over at Tilzy.tv.
And speaking of going live, Sandeep Parikh’s comedy The Legend of Neil followed up its Season 2 finale with a live chat on UStream with the cast.
The big news of the week was the breaking story of Rob Corddry’s Streamys-nominated comedy web series Childrens’ Hospital heading to able network Adult Swim after negotiations broke down between Warner Brothers and Comedy Central.
And Roku might be pulling off a sneak-around with its next rollout bringing on a whole new crop of streaming original web content.
by Marc Hustvedt on October 21st, 2009
Rob Corddry’s popular comedy web series Childrens’ Hospital looks to be heading to cable network Adult Swim next year, according to remarks made by Warner Bros.’ CEO Barry Meyer today at Broadcasting & Cable/Multichannel News OnScreen Media Summit in New York.
The series was nominated for a multiple Streamy Awards back in March, including Best Comedy Web Series, Best Female Actor in a web series for Megan Mullally and Corddry for Best Male Actor.
After talks reportedly broke down between Warner Brothers and Comedy Central, Adult Swim, which shares channel space with Cartoon Network, made an offer to pick up the absurd comedy for the spring season.
Rob Corddry produced the series along with friends David Wain (star and creator of Wainy Days) and Jonathan Stern (producer of Horrible People, and Wainy Days).
by Jenni Powell on September 9th, 2009
This is the second part of our interview with Streamy-winning creator-director Blake Calhoun (Pink, 88 Hits, Exposed). Be sure to read Part 1 of the interview first, it’s that good.
Tubefilter: What can you tell us about your next web series project, Exposed? What has it been like working with McG?
Calhoun: Pink really opened a lot of doors for Mike and I. We sold the show to Generate and subsequently got to produce 25 more episodes (Seasons 2 and 3) and right now we’re in talks to do a new Season 4. We’ll hopefully have news about this soon. We also got to go around town and pitch several other ideas and sold one to Warner Bros. and TheWB.com. We’ve had the great opportunity to work with the studio along with McG’s company Wonderland Sound and Vision on this new project (McG is the Exec Producer). We’re currently finishing it up right now and will be able to speak more about it in the near future. But I think fans of Pink and our “dark-thriller” brand will enjoy the show.
Tubefilter: Anything else coming up for you?
Calhoun: I just wrapped (in June) directing my fourth feature film called Spilt Milk. It’s a wry comedy about a disgruntled grocery store manager whose life gets forever changed one fateful evening when his store gets robbed. It stars Jake Johnson from the Drunk History YouTube videos and this summer’s indie hit Paper Heart (with Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera) and also Chase Jeffery who is the lead in Exposed. The film already has distribution and will be released sometime in 2010.
by Lindsay Stidham on August 10th, 2009
It’s no coincidence that TheWB.com’s new web series is helmed by former teen heart throb Jason Priestley, this time in the director’s chair. The show is chock full of juicy rich kid/poor kid drama reminiscent of a certain Beverly Hills show, but this time it all goes down by a lake (one excellent excuse to shoot attractive people constantly dressed in bathing suits).
While The Lake is undoubtedly a sudsy Summer soap, it is unapologetic about what it’s all about, making it all the more enjoyable to escape into just like a vacation on a lake. With the first four episodes up today, each handily setting up dating and relationship drama for the next, it’s hard to click away despite the interruption of J&J’s Clean and Clear ads right in the middle (the show’s nicely captured sponsor for a show aiming to capture an O.C. and Gossip Girl type audience).
The show also seems a nice get for writer-creators Meredith Lavender and Marcie Ulin who both served as writers on the short-lived series Eight Days a Week. These gals really know how to tease and pay off juicy teen drama and gossip ala dealing with divorced parents, teen pregnancy, and summer jobs all while looking good in a bathing suit. Heather Ann Davis stars as Olivia, a newcomer to the lake scene which is complete with beach-body teens including queen bee Alexis (Samantha Cope).
by Lindsay Stidham on June 8th, 2009
Pretty people and big name producers continue to dominate programming over at TheWB.com. Pushed is no exception. Created by the producers of Law and Order Morgan Gendel and Jeremy Littman, Pushed has definitely brought the art of suspense with a big whiff of soap opera to this newest WB addition. The show is another one to add to the guilty please list if you like a godo tale of who’s your enemy, who’s your friend, who’s your lover, who’s your murderer. Pushed is really almost like a better version of The Bold and the Beautiful in bite sized, easily consumable amounts.
It’s classic soapy setup – London Willows, a stunning young model (Veronica Taylor) not knowing who to trust as her husband Kurt (Mark Matkevich) plays mind games trying to get her to believe she’s responsible for a bloody family accident. Catherine Hicks star as Dr. Rosen and William R. Moses, Holland Roden and Scott Seymour rounding things out.
