I know shows created for the web isn't exactly a new thing. There have been several good web shows such as Star Trek: Phase 2, Starship Exeter, Doctor Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, The Guild and lots more. This year however, feels like web shows have finally started becoming professional. By professional, I mean that I am seeing shows that are not done in an amateurish fashion but could actually have been put on television. My number one favorite web-show right now is TableTop. It is hosted by none other than Wil Wheaton. Each week, Wil invites a couple of semi-famous people onto the show and they play a board game together. Season 2 just started this week, and here's the latest episode. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSYEoP0j63c[/yt] My next favorite is All Star Celebrity Bowling. This isn't a show with a regular schedule. I guess it only gets made when they manage to kidnap some celebrities. Still, its fun watching the cast from Doctor Who, Breaking Bad or Conan O'Brien try to bowl. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQfvLpfXe2U[/yt] Finally, I just found a show called Strip Search. Its a reality show by the folks behind Penny Arcade where they find the next great web comic strip artist. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoZdolO_Ew4[/yt]
I love Brent Spiner's Fresh Hell. It's a perfect mix of absurd and poignant. Basically, an "incident" (which is never spelled out) has ruined his career and his life. The show is about Spiner trying to claw his way back. http://www.freshhellseries.com/home/category/video/episodes/ The episode where he works a child's birthday party as Spock is just the height of too muchery.
I like a fair amount of the content being produced on Geek and Sundry (http://www.youtube.com/user/geekandsundry), including The Flog and Written By a Kid. I stumbled across a series on YouTube called Squaresville which is pretty decent (http://www.youtube.com/user/squaresvilleseries) I like John and Hank Green and I regularly watch their videos on vlogbrothers (http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers), though it's not a series per se. I also found The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, which Hank Green produced, to be kinda fun. I recently helped a friend do some pre-production and script work on a pilot for a web series that she wants to make. She's filmed the pilot and is doing the post-production work on it now. I don't entirely agree with her creative direction but it's her project, not mine, so we'll see how it turns out. I'm also getting ready to help another friend produce a pilot for a non-fiction web series.
I believe it started as a web series but has been picked up and shown in half hour episodes but Booth at the End is very interesting.
I watched the first few episodes. It's interesting, for sure, but I find it difficult to maintain. After a few episodes I was growing frustrated with the format.
Epic Rap Battles of History: [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3w2MTXBebg[/yt] [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX_1B0w7Hzc[/yt] [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njos57IJf-0[/yt]
Marble Hornets [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn59FJ4HrmU[/yt] It's horror, I recommend watching at night in the dark. The creators are apparently getting a movie deal because of this series.
I just saw all 15 episodes of Brent Spinder's Fresh Hell and I absoluteley loved it. It was laugh out loud hilarious and it had heart. It was one of the best projects I've seen in a while. I also like the song they close each episode with. I'd like to say that it would make a great show because the concept is so good and it's well put together, but it's probably too much of a niche thing. I guess it's fine right where it is with 10-minute segments.
I still go back to Afterworld. If you can get past its animation style, the story is one of the best I've ever followed. The creator, Brent Friedman, explained it to me as "Star Trek" across a post-apocalyptic America. It's utterly compelling ... and deeply moving. If you can get past the animation style.
A few years back I watched a show called Cherub: The Vampire With Bunny Slippers. It ran for two seasons and was a fairly decent parody of Angel, but never great.
We spent some time talking to him at the San Francisco convention, and I told him how much I loved Fresh Hell. He told us a little bit about making it, which sounded a lot like a bunch of friends with a video camera (very shoestring budget). He also told us he had been nominated for some kind of web-based award for Best Actor in a web series (or something like that). He was genuinely appreciative and said that he fully intends to make more. He was talking about a Kickstarter campaign, but seemed very reluctant to go that route. It sounded like he was thinking more of a YouTube channel. Anyway, "Patrick Stewart has the stinkiest nuts in Hollywood!"
I wish I could have told him how great the series is. I was also wondering who paid for it. The sets are elaborate and the effects are pretty good (I'm especially thinking of the subway station). I wouldn't want to see it get too big. A lot of projects that go that route tend to lose what made them good. A missed Riker opportunity there.