I am a tv fan, some say fanatic, but I’m not always an early adopter when it comes to new technology. It turns out yet again I am dragged into the new by the established and I am now watching a couple of web series. I’m not talking about the funny little videos that folks send around via YouTube or Funny or Die, or watching network tv that’s posted online, I’m talking about an actual television show that’s shot and designed for web distribution.
The television man that I would follow anywhere, Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse) developed a web series during the writer’s strike last year. Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog didn’t disappoint. And then this year when I heard another tv fave Josh Schwartz (The O.C, Gossip Girl, Chuck) came out with Rockville CA I took a look. While Dr Horrible is more of a standalone multi chapter full story, Rockville is brief snippets telling shorter moments and sharing a band (it’s set in a music venue) while building characters and story from one ep to the next.
And to close out my experience with web series, or to kick it off, I took a little tour of the winners of this year’s Streamy Awards. I couldn’t watch the dramatic award winner Battlestar Gallactica: The Face of the Enemy since I have only caught season one of the tv series and I have no idea how this relates and what this covers. I did catch up on some of The Guild which was cute. After more sampling so far overall the the format is shorter and since I’m playing catch up I can sort of power through, but I realized that just because I could didn’t mean I wanted to. As with all tv it’s often a matter of preference, so for now I’ll tune back into Rockville and hope they change that Van de Kamps commercial.
