When you sit down and think about it, it seems clear that there should be more game show web series than there are at present. After all, many companies prefer nonfiction to scripted programming, and the opportunities for branding and product placement are baked right into the structure via prizes and giveaways. The only factor possibly getting in the way of the genre’s success is that it has never really had much of a young vibe, more of a “what you watch when visiting your Grandma.”

MySpace’s solution to overcoming that problem? College Humor’s Jake Hurwitz, the snarky, self-effacing 24-year-old host of BFF, a weekly series challenging self-declared best friends to prove just how friendly they are. The show’s BFFs are judged not by their history as friends, but their knowledge of trivia and how well they know each other — it’s not even an attempt to update The Newlywed Game. But the game changes when it’s between friends, not spouses, since, after all, friendship is a much different beast than a relationship.

While Married on Myspace definitely had elements of game-show-ery, BFF’s style is much less reality and much more straight-up “answer questions and win stuff.”

The production values are pretty solid, though the sound quality fluctuates dramatically from the studio set to the backstage scenes. And while Alex Trebek doesn’t have anything to worry about, Hurwitz is confident and engaging in his role as host, having fun with the contestants while slipping in the necessary plugs. (Approximately four to five prizes/sponsors get mentioned in every 5-minute episode, not to mention the integration of the Myspace BFF application.)

There’s something telling about the fact that the show’s target audience — as well as the bulk of its contestants — is made up of teens and early 20-somethings, because sure, I could have told you in high school or college who my best friend was in a heartbeat. But as I slowly but surely drift out of MTV’s target demographic and into VH1’s, the answer isn’t nearly so simple. That’s part of getting older — people move in and out of your life — however, a true friendship never dies. So perhaps I wouldn’t bet a free printer on whether or not my closest friends can name the newest Britney Spears album. But that doesn’t mean the concept of best-friends-forever isn’t a real one.

In 2008, we all got pretty excited about Blood Cell, an intriguing psychological thriller produced by 60 Frames, directed by indie film director Eduardo Rodriguez, and starring lonelygirl15 herself, Jessica Rose. And we weren’t the only ones, judging by the fact that the Blood Cell trailer has racked up nearly 7 million views since being uploaded in April 2008.

But then…nothing happened until March 2009, when TheWB.com acquired the series for future distribution; the deal wasn’t enough to save 60Frames, though, which shut down operations two months later. And that brings us to now, as TheWB has finally launched the entire series, making all 18 episodes available at once online.

Given the fact that the series was produced over a year ago, there’s a question of how it might fit in with current web trends, but the answer is “not that badly at all.” In fact, the only element that feels dated is the fact that Alex (Sara Sanderson) unironically wears an Ed Hardy T-shirt for the duration of the series.

That’s not to say the stock thriller storyline — a kidnapped girl reaches out to her best friend Julia (Rose) for help, who only has the cell phone messages sent by a deranged Bad Man as clues — is perfect. While the 3- to 5-minute episode structure keeps the pace moving forward, some sequences are far more light on plot than others; the entirety of episode 2, for example, can be boiled down to “Julia opens a box and finds some cell phone batteries inside it,” which is hardly the most edge-of-your-seat content.

But each episode does end with a deliberate, often shocking cliffhanger — even when you watch the whole series in one sitting, there’s no sense that you’re just consuming a feature film in 5-minute gulps; the structure is decidedly episodic.

And anyone who might have thought Rose’s ascent to stardom thanks to lonelygirl15 was just a lucky break should probably bite their tongue. Despite playing a fairly conventional and underdeveloped role as the girl-next-door who’s in over her head, Rose quickly shows her mettle as a confident lead who immediately enlists the audience’s sympathy.

Every episode being available at once means that if you’re the type of person to skip to the end of a mystery novel, you’re in luck. And there are some genuine chills in that final conclusion. The question is, is that conclusion worth the approximately 72-minute runtime, not to mention a year and a half delay? For me, the answer is probably not — the execution is great, but the final twist proves underwhelming. But that doesn’t change the fact that Blood Cell’s journey, off- and on-screen, is definitely an interesting one.

Here’s the blunt truth of it: Even a major prude could probably derive enjoyment from Blue Movies, a well-produced little comedy series about the behind-the-scenes world of pornography, and as I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m no puritan.

Blue Movies, which is well-produced, tightly written, and occasionally (though not always) hilarious, depicts the world of Pornamount Pictures, a studio that specializes in adult adaptations of films like Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption and The Dark Knight (the porn version of that film being titled The Dark Night Full of Smokin’ Hot Orgies — “Let’s make Christopher Nolan proud!” shouts the director). The show, told from the point of view of new intern Tom (Beck Bennett), who bumbled onto the set believing that he was actually starting an internship at Paramount, is seemingly focused around these XXX-rated satires of Oscar winners (trailers for which are available separately), but is at its best during the behind-the-scenes sequences, which are just like any Hollywood satire, except with more naked people.

However, while dealing with mature subject matter, Blue Movies is surprisingly clean, and the more explicit material tends to be of a verbal, not visual, nature. And while the female characters could all too easily have fallen into awful stereotypes, they’re actually not that bad. One of them even keeps her clothes on! (That’d be Sascha Alexander as the tough and funny Anna, who plays an important role as mentor to Tom and assistant to Max.) The only weak link of the series is Jareb Dauplaise as Max, who’s a committed performer but simply isn’t that believable as a porn kingpin — mainly because he looks like he’s about 22 years old.

A personal disclaimer: I once spent a few hours on the set of an adult film shoot (which was a helluva education, let me tell you), and while I’m not going to demand any sort of accuracy from a comedy satire, it does seem important to me to point out that quite a bit of pornography isn’t shot in a studio, bur rather in so-called “porn houses,” which are either private residences or specially held properties owned by location companies and leased to productions. And the crew on a porn set covers a wide range of ages and experiences, many of whom, like bumbling intern Tom, aspire to work in mainstream entertainment and are using porn as a stepping stone to a legit career — a career arc that has precedent. Omitting that latter fact feels like a major oversight, though plays well with the series’ tongue-in-cheek celebration of pornography as an art form.

You could perhaps draw a parallel between Max’s efforts to elevate the medium to that of the web series world, struggling to be taken seriously on a creative level while also achieving financial success — except that Max has sex on his side. He has it much easier.

The YouTube-hosted Elevator, launched in May 2007, has survived a 2009 production company changeover (from HBOlab to Break) to produce over 200 episodes of short, wry comedy shot in a single location. And that longevity has paid off, thanks in part to a wide range of guest stars, including YouTube elite like Charles Trippy and Ryan Higa, Garfunkle and Oates‘ Kate Micucci, and Canadian sketch comedy team Loading Ready Run, who have helped the series achieve millions of views and nearly 80,000 YouTube subscribers. Via chat, we talked with series creator Woody Tondorf about Elevator’s origins, the difference between his past and present corporate masters, and if an end is in sight for the series. An edited transcript follows.

NewTeeVee: So, where did the initial inspiration for Elevator come from?

Tondorf: When we were at HBOlab, our boss said, “We need a series that we can mass produce for cheap. Make that happen.” I was really inspired by the old “Far Side” comic strip, where you only needed a single picture and a single line to tell the joke. So I threw that out there in our next meeting, and it stuck. Luckily, we had a dead end at the end of our hallway that was plain white. We put a camera up on a table and eureka!

NewTeeVee: So it’s not actually an elevator!

Tondorf: People are still shocked about this! Everything on the Internet is fake! It’s just three walls. They’re also the longest elevator rides ever. No one is in an elevator longer than 30 seconds.

NewTeeVee: At the beginning, how much of a narrative were you looking to construct?

Tondorf: None. I had always envisioned Elevator as more of a video comic strip, something you could stop by for one laugh and either move onto the next episode or go back to cats on Roombas. We had a core group of characters, but arcs and storylines were never really a goal.

It’s HARD in web series to count on people to watch the last episode or the next episode or know what you’re talking about, so I try to stay away from it on Elevator.

NewTeeVee: But at the same time, you’ve definitely developed a cast of characters over the years.

Tondorf: Yeah, the characters and actors got to create these organic arcs that I think has really helped the series grow.

NewTeeVee: You’ve had some pretty great guest stars come in from the YouTube world — how have those appearances come about?

Tondorf: Part of them have come from personal relationships and others came from reaching out to managers and seeing if they want to come play. No one’s turned us down yet, which is really cool. I wouldn’t want folks on Elevator unless I thought their work was great.

NewTeeVee: So are/were these appearances done gratis?

Tondorf: A lot are. But we pay our cast.

NewTeeVee: Your regular cast, you mean.

Tondorf: Yeah. Anyone who’s doing several episodes for the day gets paid. We have been able to pay since the beginning. Being under HBO’s wing at the time certainly helped.

NewTeeVee: Speaking of HBO — when Runaway Box was acquired by Break, how big a factor was Elevator’s success in that deal?

Tondorf: I think it certainly helped. The lab had a proven history of original programming that I think Break found attractive. We were all part of the deal.

NewTeeVee: What’s been the difference between HBO and Break?

Tondorf: We do a lot more branded entertainment now. Series and shorts for SoCo, KFC, Stride, Levi’s, the works. It’s a good opportunity to take our skills from the lab and apply them to making a client happy and keep the lights on. I’m still waiting for the paperwork to go through on Nerf War 2, though.

NewTeeVee: So the emphasis at Break is on the branded stuff?

Tondorf: It’s constantly changing. Right now we’re cranking out new RFPs [Requests For Proposals] every day and getting new show concepts ready for prospective sponsors, but I’m also pitching two new one-offs to film this week and we just finished a blitz of original Halloween programming.

Right now we’re doing a lot of branded content, but we’re always on standby to shift to something new. It’s exciting, in an air traffic control sort of way.

NewTeeVee: Is there stuff you’ve been able to do at Break that you don’t think you could have done while under HBO’s wing?

Tondorf: I think the tone of Elevator has changed, for one. At HBO I had to push back a lot with content that was maybe a little blue, but Break has been better about it. I think I have a little more edge in the writing now. We also try not to swear, but that’s a terms of service thing more than anything else.

NewTeeVee: So is there any scripted web series out there which beats you in terms of length of time online and number of episodes?

Tondorf: I think LonelyGirl might, but does that count? It’s kind of like NCIS or CSI. There’s about five different incarnations of it, and I can’t be sure. But yeah, I’ll say we’re tops in terms of longevity and number of uploaded original episodes. I defy others to beat us. Now where’s my damn Streamy?

NewTeeVee: When you do end the series, do you know what direction it’ll take? Are you like J.K. Rowling, have you written the last episode ever and locked it in a safe?

Tondorf: I actually have written the last episode, and it’s a big disappointment. But this series has become my new media calling card. It will be sad when it ends, but honestly I’m not ready to let go of it yet.

NewTeeVee: When you do end it — any hints as to what might happen?

Tondorf: Ummmm…let’s just say we’re gonna need a bigger boat.

NewTeeVee: A bigger elevator, you mean?

Tondorf: Your words, not mine.

In the echo chamber that is pop culture, many sci-fi and fantasy genres feel overplayed, but unless you’re a Boing Boing addict, steampunk is not one of them. So the series Riese, launching today on YouTube and Koldcast, definitely has an opportunity to define the quirky combination of fictional technology and a Victorian-era aesthetic for the web video medium.

And it does so with style. Shot with a cinematic eye that demands watching in full-screen, Riese starts out deliberately and intriguingly in medias res. The first episode is almost entirely dialogue-free, introducing wounded Riese (Christine Chatelaine) and her pet wolf being hunted by unknown assailants, whose escape is only a brief interlude of peace.

It’s light on plot but a stylish introduction to the world of Eleysia, a crumbling kingdom described in great detail on the series’ web site, which also offers insight into why, exactly, Riese is being pursued. But for those who prefer to wait for answers, the next four episodes of the story’s first “chapter” will be released on a biweekly basis, running through the beginning of January 2010; a second chapter will begin shooting at the end of this month.

Series star Chatelaine (Sanctuary), is not the most natural martial artist I’ve ever seen, but the fight scenes are so tightly edited and scored that the combined effect is on par with anything you’d see on prime-time. And she’s otherwise a compelling heroine able to balance both strength and vulnerability; she’s also wearing an awesome leather outfit that is just one of the big hints of the time and money that’s been invested in the series.

According to series co-creator Ryan Copple, the costs of producing Riese (which was produced in Vancouver, B.C.) were “as much as was spent on [web series touchstone] Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.” This, according to a recent Forbes profile, would mean that the budget was approximately $200,000, part of which came from private investors and part of which was supplied by Copple himself.

That number seems high for a series lacking major stars (though cast members Sharon Taylor, Ben Cotton, and Patrick Gilmore are established actors within the Vancouver TV scene — which means that they’ve all had major roles in various Stargate permutations). But the money is clearly seen on the screen via the use of the RED One camera, lush costumes and locations, and overall solid production values. Copple and his fellow producers are looking for a distributor for the series, but at this point, Riese is a gamble, albeit one that has serious potential to pay out big, depending on the show’s ability to build an audience. Will an ARG component and a forthcoming iPhone app be enough to make that happen? It’s a question I find almost as intriguing as the mystery of Riese herself.

It’s the last day of Embedda-Scare-A-Thon! Happy Halloween, y’all!

If you’re a fan of British television, you’re likely familiar with the theory that every actor working in Britain today has either been in an episode of Doctor Who or Eastenders. Such a theory definitely applies to the cast of the web thriller Girl Number 9, which launches today not just in the UK, but worldwide: Joe Absolom played Matthew in 157 episodes of Eastenders, Gareth David-Lloyd starred in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood and appeared in two episodes of its parent series, and Tracy-Ann Oberman is a two-fer with both Eastenders and Doctor Who credits under her belt.

Of course, Girl Number 9 doesn’t have much to do with time travel or East London; instead, creators James Moran (whose Doctor Who writing credits probably had something to do with casting) and Dan Turner have taken on the thriller genre. The set-up is simple: Two detectives are interrogating a psycho accused of murdering seven little girls, hoping to get a confession out of him. Instead, what they discover is that an eighth girl’s fate is not only on the line, but online via webcam.

It’s a plot twist that’s more than a little familiar — the serial killer’s last victim remains out there, and the detectives can see her via the Internet — but that appears to be the first twist, not the final one, of this series. And the entire series takes place in real time, adding an extra element of tension to the show’s 30-minute countdown, à la 24 — and also making the title’s meaning that much more intriguing, given how little time is left for us to learn about the last remaining girl.

Production values are pro, with appropriately moody and dramatic cinematography, and the dialogue is quick and witty — though punctuated almost excessively by profanity, as if the writer is glorying in the freedom allowed by self-distribution.

The series has also incorporated Twitter into its storytelling, with the lead-up to the show’s premiere occupied by back-and-forth conversations between its main characters. It’s not a groundbreaking use of microblogging at this point, and those tweeting could be interacting a little more with their followers. But notably, the conversations go back weeks, setting up an elaborate backstory for the characters before the series launch.

I’ll be honest and say that if this series had originated in Los Angeles or New York, with a cast and crew gathered from the American equivalents of those series, I would find it equally as intriguing, but otherwise not terribly exciting. However, its British origins mean that it might be the nation’s first high-caliber independent web drama — perhaps not a UK Dr. Horrible, but definitely a step forward for original web content. And for fans of British television denied iPlayer access, it’s definitely a win.

Scare-o-meter: 3 — Creepy in spurts, but no more creepy than your average episode of CSI.

Embedda-Scare-A-Thon getting too intense for you? Don’t worry, today’s installment doesn’t aim to terrify.

Parodying Ghost Hunters and other paranormal series isn’t very fresh — Bumps in the Night has been doing it since last February on Strike TV, and more recently Blair Witch Project co-creator Ed Sanchez released his own spin on the idea.

But that didn’t stop web series pioneer Hayden Black (Goodnight Burbank, Abigail’s Teen Diary) from putting together The Occulterers, a limited-run Babelgum series about a bumbling team of paranormal investigators exploring a castle haunted by Count Vampire (Camden Toy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The concept of a vampire who haunts things might seem a little ridiculous. But it’s not the worst thing about this series.

Black is considered a pioneer because he was one of the first in this space to prove it’s possible to produce sustainable and popular content that’s truly meant for the web, and we’re looking forward to his sci-fi comedy musical The Cabonauts. But The Occulterers was created, sold, cast, written, shot and edited in about three weeks, according to the site Podcasting News, and that short time frame sadly shows. Characters are underdeveloped; jokes are unpolished; episode pacing is flabby; and the production, flatly shot against a poorly integrated green screen, isn’t up to par with either Black’s previous work or current web standards.

In Occulterers, Black takes a supporting role as a Belgian psychic (who’s inexplicably wearing a kilt), and James C. Leary as Kevin is a compelling, if slightly dopey, male lead. Bimbo-ish Chelsea (Amy Kline) is alarmingly pointless, yet she’s also given much of the exposition, presumably because hearing it delivered by a ditz will make it funny.

In one of the show’s more meta moments, Kevin admits that Chelsea was brought onto add some sex appeal to The Occulterers after Jennica (Ellen Sandweiss from The Evil Dead), a female scientist over the age of 40, started experiencing hot flashes. (Any feminism points earned by including a female scientist over the age of 40 as a character were lost thanks to that joke.)

Each episode of Occulterers is accompanied by a mock “live feed” from the castle, which viewers are encouraged to watch so that they might discover — and Tweet about — spooky goings-on. The live feed seems a bit lame at conception, as you’re essentially being invited to watch an hour of a still background with only occasional interruptions, but as I write this I’m letting it play in the background, and while the sound effects are a bit derivative of those scary tapes you play at Halloween parties, they’re pretty effective (especially if you’ve recently seen Paranormal Activity).

Babelgum is throwing a lot of promotion behind the show, and providing shout-outs to Twitter responders in the actual episodes is pretty novel. Also, Los Angeles residents can participate in two separate flash mob events taking place this week, where participants who say their Twitter name to the camera will be in the next season of The Occulterers — which will run, one presumes, in the lead-up to next year’s Halloween. I’ll look forward to it. Because hopefully, with more time to develop and write this concept, there’ll be some real comedy involved.

Scare-o-meter: 2 — Technically, as a comedy Occulterers isn’t aiming for any scares. But points given for the creepy ambiance of the live feed segments.

It’s Day 3 of Embedda-Scare-A-Thon! Scared yet?

“Vampires plus online dating” is a heck of a pitch, especially these days, but Dead and Lonely doesn’t exactly conform to expectations. Writer and director Ti West (The House of the Devil) takes a moody, almost emo approach to the story of a young man, Jordan, and woman, Lee, who meet on the fictitious dating web site DateOrDie.net, possibly for very different reasons. The series plays like a broken-down short film, with episodes 1-3 essentially amounting to a long build-up to Lee and Jordan’s fateful date, but each episode does end with a strong, intriguing ending that takes baby steps forward. This is the third series I’ve seen this week that’s structuring its release schedule to lead up to Halloween, premiering on Monday and running daily episodes until Friday.

In an interesting twist, Dead and Lonely reminds me less of recent vampire shows and more of the groundbreaking mumblecore web series Young American Bodies, albeit with slightly less talking and a spookier score. And it’s not just because series star Justin Rice has worked with Bodies creator Joe Swanberg in the past. Handheld camerawork with a video finish captures a young couple struggling to find new love and deal with old relationships — the only twist being that the girl in question probably didn’t disclose having fangs on her dating profile.

Speaking of the online dating angle — IFC has created a dummy version of DateOrDie.net, which hosts additional video content in the form of testimonials about success with the dating site. Oddly, there isn’t a supernatural edge to these videos, which instead tell more traditional dating tales (though diversity points to IFC for including a transgendered male among those profiled). But that plays nicely with the series as a whole.

What works about the show, and gives it a spooky feeling despite being otherwise prosaic in its set-up, is the air of desperation surrounding these characters, a hope for finding “that someone” which speaks to a fear that exists year-round, not just around Halloween. For many people, after all, the most terrifying scenario you could ever concoct? Being alone.

Scare-o-meter: 5 — West does a great job of slowly but deliberately building tension over what, exactly, Jordan’s fate might be.