Tubefilter News

Atom.com is extending its reach within the broader network of properties owned by its big media parent Viacom, with news today that The Atom Show, a new 15-minute “best of Atom.com” series that will air on cable network MTV2 on Friday nights at 11:15 PM. Also announced was that Comedy Central has picked up a third season of the similar format half-hour Atom TV, which airs at 2:30 AM on Mondays.

“We are thrilled to return to COMEDY CENTRAL and to start spending our Friday nights with MTV2,” said Scott Roesch, Atom’s general manager. “Playing on both networks is going to give us access to an even bigger audience seeking original comedy on every platform.”

It’s part of the more fluid model of talent development that we’re seeing out of Viacom, one that uses Atom as an incubator for budding comedians and their web originals to see what piques an interest from fans and TV development execs. Atom’s animated news comedy 5-On was one such success story for creator Devin Clark who had the series picked up as a half-hour show on Comedy Central under the new name Ugly Americans—which debuts March 17.

Several comedians in Atom’s stable with web series have appeared on the Atom TV include Andy Dick, A.D. Miles, Nick Thune, Dan Levy, Bryan Tucker, Waverly Films, Team Tiger Awesome, Dutch West, Jason Nash, and The Landline. Clearly the added exposure of Atom’s series will help lure and retain up and coming comedy talent that might otherwise be drawn elsewhere. Funny or Die’s new HBO series Funny or Die Presents offers a similar appeal for series creators.

There are not a lot of TV shows about well meaning people who do well intentioned things. I guess the theory is no one would watch them. Even Father Dowling Mysteries needed the mystery angle each week. This idea holds especially true in reality television. For instance, VH1 seems based solely on the theory that people only enjoy watching terrible people who are motivated out of terrible concerns- like a love of money (or Ray-J).

That brings us to The Buried Life, a 2006 documentary series originally on the web that got rebooted and made its network debut on MTV on Monday, January 18 at 10PM ET. The Buried Life challenges completely the nihilism promoted in VH1 styled reality. The concept is one part bucket list and the other My Name Is Earl. Four young men travel the country in a bus with a list of “100 things to do before they die.” For every item that gets accomplished they must also help a perfect stranger accomplish a goal of their own. As the press release asks, “what do YOU want to do before you die?”

That’s one hell of an existential posing, particularly in light of recent tragic events. “Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself,” wrote Jean-Paul Sartre in his book Existentialism and Human Emotions. In MTV lingo, that meant “pimp your soul.”

So how do Duncan Penn, Ben Nemtin, Jonnie Penn and Dave Lingwood, the cast of Buried Life, pimp out theirs? What do they make of themselves in this cross-country adventure? Well, lets look back at their YouTube journals from the Aughts to find out. They…uhh…open a lemonade stand. What else? One of them gets his wisdom teeth pulled for charity. Oh, and they go to the Playboy mansion. Maybe.

Landline TV honed in on unexplicably popular MTV reality TV series Jersey Shore for its latest spoof, opting for a cast of little kids to take on the roles of Pauly D, The Situation, JWOWW and the gang in Little Jersey Shore. They weren’t the only ones, as celeb Michael Cera had a little Jersey Shore makeover of his own. [Comedy.com]

The Guild comic, written by the show’s creator-star Felicia Day and illustrated by artist Jim Rugg, has had its first few images (right) leaked out on the internet today, thanks to Comic Book Resources. Issue #1 The Guild comic from Dark Horse Comics hits stores on March 24, 2010. [Comic Book Resources]

Former Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich is going to have his own late night web series. Blago’s The Late Net Show will run about 40 minutes “We’re in talks with Donald Trump, Alec Baldwin and Floyd Mayweather to be guests on the show,” according to Charlie Oliver, founder of artoftalk.tv, where the show will live. [Chicago Sun Times]

David Faustino pulled out a shotgun in an attempt (video below) to woo fans to submit his comedy series Star-ving for a Streamy Award before the deadline. Faustino’s pal and Star-ving co-star Corin Nemec has also tapped his fan army for the Awards bid. [YouTube]

At 23, Jake Hurwitz is already a web comedy veteran. As one half of College Humor’s long running Jake and Amir series, Hurwitz has found himself at the center of a New York comedy powerhouse and starring himself in a slew of CH originals including Hardly Working and its TV adaptation—MTV’s The CollegeHumor Show.

This summer, he was even tapped to host the second season of MySpace’s game show BFF, which despite some questionable view counts, managed to work out to a pretty nice deal for Hurwitz in his first series outside the vaunted walls of College Humor.

We caught up with the Connecticut native-turned-Brooklyn-local Hurwitz for a little tell all into just what it means to be a successful young comedy writer coming of age on the internet. That, and what to make if this BFF series.

Tubefilter: How do you describe BFF if you’re trying to tell a friend of yours that’s never seen it?

Jake Hurwitz: I guess I’d describe it as it’s kinda just a game show where you test how well you know your best friend by answering questions about each other. It’s not like the dating game but I think I would just I would say it’s the dating game for friends.

In it’s continued support of Electric Farm’s mysterious university romp Valemont, MTV will be airing an hour long “Extended Edition” of the ½ hour special they featured on the network several weeks ago this Saturday night as part of their Thanksgiving marathon programming. The new cut will catch viewers up to around episode 20 in the storyline and is designed to expose the show to a wider audience in a push to convince viewers to watch the final 15 episodes (plus two alternative endings), which are only available online.

We didn’t intend for it to work out this way, but this week was all about the ladies in web TV. Or maybe its just CBS that has a thing for them. Either way, this week saw news that Shira Lazar had signed on with CBSNews.com to be a regular correspondent on Mo Rocca’s Tomorrow Show along with her own video rich blog on site. Then came the release of two new CBS Interactive web series, TV in a Flash with former Wallstrip host Julie Alexandria and Sports in a Flash with Lauren Shahedi, The two series will live on CBS-owned sites TV.com and CBSSports.com. And rounding out the ladies theme, with Breast Cancer Awareness month upon us, web star Taryn Southern rallied some celeb friends together to make a series of click-worthy Save a Tit videos which debuted this week.

Our own Adam Wright wrapped up his coverage of NYTVF earlier this week with some reflections on the very real intersection of independent television and web TV. As panelist and Easy to Assemble creator Illeana Douglas put it, “A year ago people came to me and were like ‘what are you doing’ … we’re at the tipping point where people are saying ‘Now, I get it.’”

And in case you weren’t glued to the commercial break after The City on MTV, the network bowed its Valemont web series from the creators of Gemini Division and Afterworld. The first two episodes are now online:

This is what awaits you if you visit the companion website for the upcoming MTV Networks’ web series, Valemont, which will premieres tomorrow for a 12-episode run on MTV before heading to an online-only release of the remaining 23 episodes. I had a chance to speak with co-creator Brent Friedman of Electric Farm about this unique transmedia experience that blends product placement, ARG elements, and web content into an exciting murder mystery plotline that may or may not have a supernatural twist.

The multiplatform series stars a number of notable young actors like Nikki Blonsky, Kristen Hager, Georgina Reilly and Six Feet Under’s Eric Balfour. For the specifics of how this project came together, we asked Friedman to fill us in.

“Valemont originated about a year ago when Electric Farm Entertainment began discussions with MTV about producing a branded entertainment series,” said Friedman. “I created the show with Christian Taylor, an award-winning TV writer/producer with credits like Lost and Six Feet Under, Working with a former EFE employee, Andrew Black, Christian and I broke out the whole season, including a plan for the interactive layers. Then Christian wrote all 35 episodes and oversaw production on the series in Toronto this summer. Meanwhile, Nina Bargiel designed the ARG and wrote the bonus content for the show. All of which has allowed me to sit back and oversee the big picture, making sure that the series and the online site are in sync and fulfilling the vision we all had from the beginning of delivering a true transmedia experience.”

Tubefilter research analyst Adam Wright is in New York this week reporting on both Advertising Week and the New York Television Festival (NYTVF). For live updates follow @tubefilter on Twitter. This is his recap of yesterdays’ Industry Day at NYTVF.

Industry Day is a NATPE (National Association of Television Programming Executives) sponsored NYTVF event that features executives in television discussing the current state of the industry. As a running theme for this festival, in general when people from traditional media discussed anything about new media and web television it was with one part caution and two parts dismissal.

Panel Recap: “A Level Headed Look at the Future of Television”
The first panel was by far the dreariest, “A level headed look at the future of television.” It included Bonnie Hammer, the accomplished President of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, and Rick Rosen, Head of Television, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

The panel started off with a surprising question from Rick Feldman, NATPE President & CEO as moderator, “Are we still in the TV Business?” This is somewhat surprising considering he made the prediction on Beet.tv this summer that “Hulu will fail in 2 or 3 years.” This question was responded to with two non-answers I’ll paraphrase: ‘Yes we are or else I’m out of a job … but more appropriately we’re in the content business.’ After continued discussion, they both did concede they had an idea of how the next generation view media. ‘Kids growing up right now have no clue what’s on cable, or what’s on broadcast,” said Rosen. “There is no difference but a plug and a revenue stream.”