Bookmark Vlog Blog
Nov
13
Just as the online series Quarterlife (see previous post) finally debuted, there have been scores of rumors that it will run away from its online home to NBC and regular TV.
The online series about 20-somethings and their 20-something angst has been of interest for a few different reasons. One of the biggest is the Hollywood names behind it: Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Relativity).
Quarterlife is said to be the most expensive online series produced to date. Its main character, Dylan, is a vlogger that vlogs about her friends. She tells too much, however, and as expected, it creates problems.
From the very beginning, there has always been a strange feel to the comments from the show’s producers. At first they were saying that most online series were, basically, crap. They, as the pros they are, would make something better.
OK. There is probably little to argue about there.
They also always never failed to mention that the deal they made with MySpaceTV was a necessary evil. There was the very distinct impression that because MySpace had the viewers and they had none, they were essentially forced into making nice, but really, well, really, it was kind of disgusting.
As the show debuted recently, however, it became clear that while the quality may be better than other online series’, Quarterlife is little more than a TV show on the web. … Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as they say.
And so putting it all together, you have to wonder why Quarterlife wants to be on the web to begin with.
The most likely answer to that question is: They don’t want to be on the web to begin with. They want to be on TV. And that’s why it’s being reported that they are in talks with NBC.
As reported by the LA Times, the producers recently screened some of the first episodes at the University of Southern California film school.
In response to a question about the series looking like little more than TV on the web, Herskovitz answered, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
And then there was this interesting section in the Times article that nicely encaptulates the old dogs in a new doggie park:
Whether Herskovitz “gets it” about the Internet is hard to say. I asked him what freedoms and limitations he’d noticed working as a filmmaker in this new medium. “It’s not clear to me that it’s a new medium,” he said. “The Internet is a delivery system — it can have anything on it.”
But, but, being “a delivery system that can have anything on it” is precisely what makes the Internet a new medium.
As mentioned in a previous post, the same producers had a very short-lived TV show called 1/4life. That show was cancelled. With no where to turn, it looks like they turned to the web. Reluctantly.
Perhaps NBC is where this show belongs after all.
LINKS:
MySpaceTV with Quarterlife Series (episodes appear a day before the series on the Quarterlife site)
The LA Times article about the show