So judgy. Geez.
So judgy. Geez.
  • So judgy. Geez.

I have spent the past four days watching a variety of web series for this post and oh boy…the majority of them are really, really bad. As someone with friends in the web series community, I have a vested interest in this genre. And even though feelings might get hurt, I am still writing this negative nancy post because I fucking care. I care that web series (serii?) are taken seriously – that just because the internet is a democracy and any kid with a hand held can throw something up on Youtube, make a Tumblr*, and call it a web series doesn’t necessarily make it worthy of that name. Or your time. And yes, I know there is terrible tv and good tv, too, but people get paid in the television industry and in order for the web seriiii genre to become a profitable thing it needs to be better. Different, yes, but better. Still, I have an idea of the limitations and realities of what it takes to make these things. Putting together a professional project with the expectation of it being as good or better than a television show but with a budget of like, five dollars, is near impossible – I totally get that. But my god, there is still so much bad out there. Just like… so much.

In terms of web content, a few things are totally forgivable like bad lighting, bad camera work, and clumsy set design/your mom’s kitchen. I wanted to include bad sound on the “forgivable” list but honestly, if I can’t hear what the actors are saying even at full volume but when the music comes on I’m all “SHIT I’M DEAF” then I will stop watching. Good sound quality is non negotiable. So spend your five dollars on a boom mic, web series people. And Pro Tools. Pro Tools is five dollars right? Ugh. Might I suggest Kickstarter or IndieGoGo or even a garage sale?

As far as unforgivable web series elements go, bad acting, slow and/or sloppy editing, TOO LONG DIDN’T WATCH, and the aforementioned sound issues are just not acceptable. No one wants to see that shit except your mom. It is her kitchen after all.

There seem to be three categories of web series: High Profile (Dr. Horrible, The Guild, Funny or Die, Riese the Series etc) Lower Profile but high quality ( Solo the Series, Gold The Series) and Probably Should Not Have Wasted Money On A Website Please Next Time Just Post It On Facebook For Your Friends (WILL NOT NAME FOR FEAR OF BEING OSTRACIZED**).

Listen, I know I might catch some heat for such a negative post about something people work really hard on but again I am just saying these things because I want web seriesesesseiii (seriously, this word is problematic) to succeed. I want sponsors for everyone and health insurance and maybe even a union or something. I don’t know! A kitten in every basket! A cake in every urinal! Some pot in every pot!

Anyway, here is a list of web series I would recommend watching because they are doing it right:

The Guild (Duh)
Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (Double Duh)
The Legend Of Neil (NERDS)
The Jeff Lewis 5 Minute Comedy Hour (Vork from The Guild goes a bit blue)
Always Open With David Koechner (From Jason Bateman’s new Production Company “DumbDumb”. Seriously funny business time. At a Denny’s.)
The Last Stand (From Portland! With Zombies! Great Production Quality/Acting is hit or miss but again, ZOMBIES!)
Awkward Embraces (Not perfect but I actually watched the whole series and felt invested in the characters. Plus, the sound was REALLY GOOD and everyone had pretty hair.)
Scotty Got An Office Job Episode 2 “Cake” (I really liked the song about cake or well, any songs about cake.)
Self Centered (British Sci Fi!)

And finally, a few years back Dan Harmon (Community) put together a tutorial on how to make online video for Acceptable tv. It is free on Amazon and Jack Black plays a wizard. It’s very helpful.

Tubefilter and Gigaom (formerly New Teevee) are excellent resources for online video content, FYI.

I know I missed a ton of good stuff so please link to your favorite series in the comments.

* I just found out Tumblrtv™ is a thing! So that happened.
**Okay fine. Wage Slaves and The Free Box made me want to die.

20 replies on “In Which I Discuss The Topic of Web Series With My Head On My Desk”

  2. Always Open With David Koechner is excellent, even though it’s affiliated with Denny’s. Seriously, when was the last time you’ve been to a Denny’s that looks that nice? Or even been to a Denny’s at all??

    The latest episode is especially great. You know, the one with Sarah Silverman talking about her anal warts and junk.

    Also, check out my new web series also sponsored by Denny’s. It’s called: Fight Club Sandwich http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer…

    MOONS OVER MY HAMMY!

  5. I can’t necessarily call this shameless self promotion because I’m not in a whole lot of this thing, but I’m in it, so take that as you will… anyway Portland based Action/Adventure Theatre seemed to have ok success with their webseries side project fothing (http://vimeo.com/7832753) which I believe Allison Hallett called “best ongoing bid for relevance” in 2009. http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/so… The series had some merit, but as you noted in this piece, with lack of funds, there wasn’t anything but the pilot season…

  6. You know that terrible, awful, squirmy feeling you get from watching something like The Office? That cringe-y, awkward sensation of ickiness? That feeling where you intake a breath and then sort of swallow it? Between Two Ferns kind of exemplifies it.

    Wage Slaves gave me that feeling. Except unintentionally. And without any funny. And I felt embarrassed and bad and ashamed and weird on behalf of the cast and crew.

    The Legend of Neil, though, is pretty damn neato-spiffy.

  7. Local web series in particular is mostly a gaping suck. Lots of “let’s put on a show” mentality, which is fine if you’re only showing it to family or drunk friends like your old Super-8 home movies. But not so much if you’re putting it out there for all to see.

    Outside of Portland, my new favorite, which just wrapped its 13-episode run, is OH, INVERTED WORLD, which everyone should go watch right now. http://ohinvertedseries.com/

  9. I also would like to note that “high profile” doesn’t necessarily mean “high quality”. The first iteration of Riese, for example, was mostly a bore (although a good-looking bore) that I laid into pretty hard elsewhere. Its resurrected-by-Syfy version I only watched part of, because it mostly just did things like “let’s have Amanda Tapping narrate it to get the Stargate fans to watch”. Its creator was part of the only web series panel at last year’s Comic-Con (other than The Guild and Legend of Neil), and the panel wasn’t about web series, per se, but merely, and cynically, about *using web series to get Hollywood money to notice you*.

    Oh, hi raw nerve. I get cranky about this topic.

  11. Your job is watching sometimes-crappy internet videos and you’re complaining. Want to guess what I do for a living? It’s worse than that. And I complain less.

  14. I’m a web series producer and my Team and I are currently raising money for a series called ‘Planning to Fail (Spectacularly)’ it revolves around an independent and ambitious gaming store that’s drowning in debt and inadvertently gets bought up by a corporate gaming conglomerate! I think the show has ALOT of quality from acting, cinematography, sound, and color. I think the show is something Portland can be proud of and I challenge Kiala Kazebee and all of you to watch it and disagree. We’ve created a concept of the first episode and plan on shooting five more episodes this year, the link to video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDyPmibvpUc

  15. Ah…what a can of worms you have so deliciously delved into!

    Firstly I agree with b!X about high profile not equaling high quality.

    After that the problem you immediately hit is – what is quality? One of my favourite indie productions, ‘Action Traction’ (http://www.youtube.com/user/DirectorHector1) has very few views but is fantastic and, I would say, high quality.

    I made my first webseries 2.5 years ago, and while it is rather amateur-looking in many ways, it does exactly what I wanted it to do – told the story of the Evil League of Evil Application Processing Office as Dr Horrible’s application was churned through Bad Horse’s corporate machine (http://higletfilms.com/comedy/evil-league-of-evil-applications-processing-office/).

    The drama we released last year, ‘Goodnight Princess’ is about love, loss and silly voices. It has people in tears even now – and in a good way (http://higletfilms.com/drama/goodnight-princess/).

    As you said, using less-then-stellar equipment doesn’t make a bad webseries, but I would like to put forward the idea that bad writing or an uncertain plot/theme/raison d’être does make a bad webseries. So when I say our current production, ‘Mind My Brains, Darling!’ is a Rom-Zom-Britcom set in England in 1979, five years after the zombie apocalypse, you might think I was taking the mickey. Judge for yourself (http://mindmybrains.com/)

    It’s okay to say you don’t like some webseries. In fact, I think it’s a great thing. If people don’t like what I do then it sometimes sucks to hear that, but if they can tell me why then at least I can decide whether I agree with them or not. And make changes if they are necessary.

    I don’t think amateur equals bad and I think everyone who wants to make a webseries, should. Some will be terrible and most will never be viewed by anyone outside their family. But the lessons they learn and the joy of creating will probably be enough. And the next one they make will be better.

    If anyone thinks making a webseries – even a crappy, local webseries – is easy, then I suggest they try it. You don’t need to have made one to know what you like/don’t like, but it will give a different perspective on why people bother at all.

  16. I’m a web series producer and my Team and I are currently raising money for a series called ‘Planning to Fail (Spectacularly)’ it revolves around an independent and ambitious gaming store that’s drowning in debt and inadvertently gets bought up by a corporate gaming conglomerate! I think the show has ALOT of quality from acting, cinematography, sound, and color. I think the show is something Portland can be proud of and I challenge Kiala Kazebee and all of you to watch it and disagree. We’ve created a concept of the first episode and plan on shooting five more episodes this year, the link to video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDyPmibvpUc

  19. @JStreckert – glad to hear it! It was sort of a sad day when the producers told us that there wouldn’t be a second season and that they were moving to New York…

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