I do agree that it’s strange that there isn’t more serial drama – daily or weekly – already. Although it is only recently that key enablers, H.264, two-pass VBR Flash conversion and P2P delivery options have been widely available.

Having made my first experiments in this arena in 1999-2000 I’m thinking very seriously about the way ahead and, like others, often getting it wrong! But threads like this at NewTeeVee are a big help.

I guess it’s beating a dead horse, I know. I just can’t believe there aren’t more DAILY series like this – especially sexier series (I’ll check out “Young American Bodies” too) with content aimed at adults. Surely there are advertisers who want to reach a slightly older audience that would pay for such a thing?

Over a Soap?

Soooooooooo serious.

Come on now Boys, there have been a number of series establishing this format over the last few years. Some good, some not so good. For a 10-minute per episode show, alamoheights sa was pretty good, strangely, the Spanish version was better (they shot both English and Spanish versions with same cast). I’ll bet PromQueen would be far sexier if done in Spanish!

For the best show running now (and a show that really delivers character and emotion) I’d have to say YOUNG AMERICAN BODIES is far more “filmic” (since that seems to be the newly introduced prerequisite) and WAY sexier, with great characters. But the episodes show up at random times and would NEVER be allowed in the overly prudish MYSPACE.

Jeez-Louise, it’s only a Soap. It’s not some earth shattering, wonderous event. It’s just a Soap about boring rich kids with pink telephones.

And I defy you to show me a DAILY internet series with 10-minute episodes you would sit through. Come to think of it, I defy you to show me another DAILY internet series like this at all, at any length. Whether or not you like “Prom Queen” (and sure, there’s plenty not to like), it is revolutionizing the format. Change is a good thing!

The fact that in a more recent post the analysis of the statistics shows that a few single episodes attracted the largest traffic is, I think, significant. Yes, ‘come hither’ episode tagging will invite snacking. But surely it means that the snack-samplers are those who then decide that they will not take the trouble to (systematically) catch up on the series to date. So probably the count of those who have become loyal fans of the series an on-going narrative is even lower than the 30 to 40K suggested.

But what of it?

It’s an experiment, even if a more expensive one than most ‘do-it-yourself low-budget fiction’. It pre-supposes a use-of-media pattern which is alien both for fans of established television soap opera and for YouTube addicts. And it lacks the ‘mystery’ which was instrumental in grabbing the audience for LG15.

Frankly I think this form of production will thrive when it is less main-stream in genre. PQ is not that much of an advance on BH9210 as far as the concept is concerned.

And the big breakthrough will come not from Eisner-financed disciples of Aaron Spelling but from MasterCard-financed kids who have learned from Godard, Rohmer and the like.

There are also hints that the supposition that ADD pre-supposes ultra-short content segments is not entirely true. At one of the MipTV conference sessions there was agreement among some very authoritative panelists that better compression codecs and even wider broadband deployment is favouring 5 to 10 minute clips even today.

I like 10 minutes. Back when I was producing conventional soap opera 10 minutes was ‘Act 1′ of our half-hour show!

Next year? Look for a PQ with no MouseHouse influence, with 10 minute episodes and creative talent from, maybe, Croatia, Holland, France, South Korea…

So it’s legitimacy. And as more rich, wealthy execs head towards this field, so does money, attention, respect, and the eventual implosion of a gargantuan television infrastructure.

So cheers to webisodes!

Enjoyable comments.

Let’s face it kiddos, it’s really about “Eisner” bringing legitimacy over to this format that has everyone chatting.

The show itself really can’t be considered a “hit,” by even podcast standards. It’s doing OK, but, that’s about it (iTUNES is still a larger aggregator of episodic content).. I haven’t read one decent review of the show. Anyone?

There are dozens of series that can be found in MYSPACE or linked off of MYSPACE accounts, that’s the whole point of there being zero-dollar access cost to distribution — that’s the game changer — not the cost of production, though that matters too.

The only really unique variable here is having an old-media figurehead like Eisner in the mix.

The numbers and buzz around LonelyGirl was far more interesting.

And, yes, there were shows being released in 2001 that started this entire business (some received over 1 million downloads, even way back then), very soapy format and short form.

Now, of course, when Eisner shows up as a Chaperone during the Prom episodes, that will be newsworthy too, right? Front page story, no doubt.