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Article: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Webseries Review

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:53:05 -0400

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the long-awaited webseries creation from Buffy the Vampire Slayer mastermind Joss Whedon, siblings Jed and Zack, and Jed’s fiancé Maurissa Tancharoen, finally hit the Internet last week in a limited release. The initial Act I, first available on Tuesday, July 15th, quickly crashed after 200,000 eager viewers-per-hour flooded the website’s servers. Simultaneously released on iTunes, Dr. Horrible likewise became the top TV download in a relatively short time, and media outlets from USA Today to Variety dubbed the three-part web "mini-series" a monumental event in the short history of Internet video. While the show is no longer available online--with the exception of iTunes--a DVD release is promised, and Whedon has hinted at the possibility of midnight screenings in theaters, similar to how the musical episode of Buffy recently stormed across the nation before legal considerations shut it down.

The webseries--which Whedon describes as "the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to"--stars Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion (who worked with Whedon on Firefly as well as its big-screen adaptation, Serenity) as Captain Hammer and Felicia Day (potential slayer Vi in Buffy) as Penny. While a musical in style--and both entertaining and comic in nature--Dr. Horrible is actually more detailed and depth-oriented than one might expect; each of the characters evoke a naïve innocence, while the narrative itself explores what happens when that innocence both fades and eventually shatters.

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Article: Television Writers Take Their Talents to the World Wide Web

Sun, 6 Jul 2008 17:45:19 -0400

When the strike by the Writers Guild of America began last November, many observers wondered if the slew of unemployed scribes would lead to an onslaught of original web content. Compensation for online product was one of the major issues the strike centered around after all, and the idea of writers embarking onto Internet terrain was not out of the question; the Divided Hollywood blog even reported on December 17th that the WGA was considering launching StrikeTV the following month, a website featuring new, original web video created by the union's members. While at least two workshops were held for interested writers in the Los Angeles area--as well as various blurbs appearing on entertainment websites like TV Squad announcing the project--nothing ever materialized. When the strike ended, it was assumed the plans had died with it. As it turns out, such assumptions were premature: StrikeTV officially launched on July 4th with a "coming soon" video clip spotlighting the over forty webseries exclusively produced by Los Angeles-area union members.

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Blog Entry: 60Frames forms a novel partnership

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 07:14:06 -0400

When 60Frames Entertainment first announced its entry into the Internet video medium, it was met with a fair share of skepticism. "The problem is monetizing it," Mark Litvack, an intellectual-property attorney who has worked with various media conglomerates, told CNET in January. "(That's the) difficulty with any project such as this." Part of the criticism had to do with the fact that, despite $3.5 million in start-up capital from United Talent Agency and Spot Runner, the little information released about the company's business model was limited to contracting with independent producers and making the finished products available on the likes of YouTube and Bebo, with revenue then generated from advertising sales. The concept was hardly original, and has likewise been proven unsuccessful. Still, initial 60Frames content included a new webseries from the producers of Prom Queen and another from Brent Forrester, a consulting producer on NBC's The Office. Although the company might end up failing financially, it did have the potential to offer some solid entertainment options in the meantime.

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Article: Burn Notice Season One Review

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:20:59 -0400

Regardless of whether watched on a computer monitor, iPod, mobile phone or flat-screen TV, television has risen above the stigma of its early years to become the premier storytelling medium of the Twenty-First Century. From comedy to drama, mystery to fantasy, sci-fi to spy thriller, the former "vast wasteland" now offers something for everybody on a level equal or superior to film and literature. Looking for sci-fi? Try Battlestar Galactica. Medical dramas? There's Grey's Anatomy. Epic mysteries? Lost. In the mood for comedy? How about The Office and 30 Rock. All of the above not only entertain, but invoke storytelling techniques filled with philosophical discourses and social critiques that compliment the narrative. Then there's Burn Notice on USA Network. This light-hearted affair may not raise your IQ level but it is the small-screen answer to 1980s "buddy movies" and firmly establishes television as an equal to film in that genre as well.

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Blog Entry: Dr. Horrible trailer available online

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:30:39 -0400

Although there is still isn't an official "release date" for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the three episode webseries that Joss Whedon co-wrote with his brothers, a trailer for the project is now available on various Internet sites, including fansite doctorhorrible.net. The one minute, three second teaser begins with an eerie-sounding narration by Whedon--For every day, there is a night. For every world, there is an underworld. And for every hero, there's... this guy--before launching into a sequence of clips featuring Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible), Nathan Fillion (Captain Hammer) and Felicia Day (Penny). Word on when the approximately 30-minute musical about "a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to" will be online should be coming shortly, as the actors and writers are already scheduled to appear at this year's San Diego Comic-Con on July 25th.
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Blog Entry: FX minisodes and a TNT microseries

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:16:50 -0400

FX's Rescue Me was a major casualty in the recent strike by the Writer Guild of America: a summer regular for four years now, the work-stoppage prevented the series from filming this year and pushed season five into Spring 2009. To hold fans over until then, producers Denis Leary and Peter Tolan have created a series of ten minisodes, five minutes each and airing Tuesdays at 10 pm on FX beginning June 24th. While having no connection to next year's episodes, the minisodes are more comedic in tone in order to appease fans who were unhappy with a sub-par season four. "One involves a flashback that explains something that goes all the way back to the beginning of the series, and another is a dream sequence tied into Tommy's psyche," Leary told USA Today. "It starts out as a really sexy dream and ends up as a nightmare." For viewers unwilling to tune in to FX simply to watch five minutes worth of footage, the minisodes will also be made available on YouTube, Hulu and Crackle.

While it may seem odd to air what basically amounts to a series of webisodes on an actual television, FX is not alone in the experiment. TNT has contracted Dean Devlin, the man behind Independence Day and the Godzilla remake, to produce what they are referring to as a "microseries" about an FBI project to solve murders by implanting the memories of victims into the living. "What we're doing is drastically segmenting a TV movie so that instead of a three-act structure, we've created a 20-act structure," Devlin told Variety about the plans to edit the eighty-minute Blank Slate, as the series is called, into twenty four-minutes mini(micro)sodes. TNT will air episodes of the "microseries" on two consecutive Tuesdays and Wednesdays beginning September 8th during blocks of five back-to-back episodes of Law & Order. (Just like the Rescue Me minisodes, Blank Slate will also be available online at TNT.tv.) Devlin plans on recouping any losses for the project by editing the 20 minis back together into a Made-for-TV movie to sell overseas, echoing Sony's recently announced Web-to-DVD business model.

Webseries and microseries, webisodes and minisodes, Made-for-TV and Web-to-DVD movies: all this experimentation with new forms of media is starting to become complicated. Hopefully it leads to something entertaining as well.

Article: Firefly/Serenity Fans Raise Money for Charity

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:12:00 -0400

Joss Whedon fans have a reputation for being ardent followers of the renowned television producer--from building thriving online communities around his shows to passionately voicing their support--while likewise demonstrating a flair for "giving back." In 1998, for instance, fans from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Bronze Posting Board organized a get-together that turned into an annual event throughout the show’s seven-year run. Dubbed the PBP (Posting Board Party), the weekend extravaganza featured hundreds of Buffy aficionados mingling with the cast and crew of the series while also raising money for the Los Angeles Chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In 2004, blood drives were organized as part of a campaign to save spin-off Angel from cancellation, and last year pizzas were delivered to the picket lines of striking members of the Writers Guild of America courtesy of the weblog whedonesque

Arguably the most impressive example of this ongoing sense of "community, support and service," however, centers around Whedon's third television outing, the short-lived Firefly; for three straight years now fans from around the world have organized a series of Can't Stop the Serenity (CSTS) fundraisers benefiting women's rights advocacy organization Equality Now and featuring viewings of Serenity, the big-screen adaptation that Whedon wrote and directed in 2005.
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Blog Entry: Emmy Nomination 'Dream Ballots'

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 06:52:33 -0400

Emmy nominations are scheduled to be announced on Thursday, July 17th, and various television critics throughout the country have already posted their picks for an "Emmy Dream Ballot." Michael Ausiello got his choices in before leaving TV Guide for Entertainment Weekly last month, for example, and is picking 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Pushing Daisies and Ugly Betty as best in comedy with Big Love, Friday Night Lights, Lost, Mad Men and The Wire the best in drama. His actors/actresses list are heavily-weighted for most of those shows as well, with Big Love receiving four "nominations," while Friday Night Lights, Pushing Daisies and Ugly Betty get three each.

Robert Bianco of USA Today, meanwhile, pretty much echoes Ausiello's choices for Best Comedy, with the exception of replacing How I Met You Mother with The Big Bang Theory. In terms of Best Drama, there is a definite disagreement--Bianco goes along with Lost, Mad Men and The Wire, but his two remaining picks are Grey's Anatomy and Rescue Me. Big Love is a total shut-out for Bianco, while Pushing Daisies leads among actors/actresses with five "nominees," followed by Grey's Anatomy with four and Lost with three. The Hollywood Reporter recently pooled a number of other critics, with Lost and Mad Men getting the most mentions (30 Rock and The Office also received their fair share of comedic attention).

The agreement and disagreement between two of the biggest television journalists in the country (Ausiello consulted another big-name--TV Guide reviewer Matt Roush--for his list) reflects the general thoughts on television choices these day; basically, that quality comedies are rarer than dramas, and with no Sopranos-like front-runner, the race is pretty much wide-open in the drama category. And as The Hollywood Report also points out, "the WGA strike sidelined many series and gave some lesser-watched programming a wider audience," all which means July 17th could make for some unexpected announcements. Can't wait.

Blog Entry: Can't Stop the Serenity charity weekend

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:46:31 -0400

Firefly, the Joss Whedon-created FOX television show cancelled in 2002 after only eleven episodes, is a bit of an anomaly. Part sci-fi, part-western, the series followed a rag-tag group of "space-scavengers" trying to eek out an existence on the far reaches of the galaxy. With low-ratings, a Friday night death-slot and trigger-happy FOX as its network, it had little hope of surviving. But this was Whedon, the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who has one of the strongest fan presences on the Internet. While the ensuing "Save Firefly" campaign failed, that online community was ignited nonetheless, eventually paving the way for a big-screen adaptation in 2005, Serenity. While not the box-office blockbuster many hoped, Browncoats--as Firefly/Serenity fans are know--remain just as strong and passionate as they were in 2002, and will gather in over 40 cities worldwide this weekend for the annual Can't Stop the Serenity charity event.

"Late in 2005, a group of Browncoats were leaving one of the last big screen showings of Serenity," Anna Snyder recently told the Portland Mercury of how the fundraiser began. "And (Portland Browncoat and blogger) the One True b!X was thinking, 'Hey, maybe there's a way we could get the movie on the big screen again, just for fun.' And that morphed into, 'Well, if we could do it to raise some money, that would be great.' Which then became, 'Hey, let's organize a charity screening and let's see if we can get other cities involved.'"

Can't Stop the Serenity raised $65,000 for Equality Now--an international woman’s right organization that Whedon is a strong supporter of--in 2006 and an additional $106,000 in 2007. The Pennsylvania Browncoats have been a part of the effort from the very beginning, and this year's outing--which features a screening of Serenity--takes place on Saturday, June 21st, at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall (doors open at 7pm). alterna-tv.com is proud to be among the sponsors.