A Webisodic Future

For the past few years, television networks have been trying harder and harder to push the limits of the internet medium. ABC even won an Emmy for their innovative online video player. With full-episode streaming now a standard for every network, and the popularity of tie-in 'webisodes', it seems like it's time for phase two.


Webisodes
Popular shows like Heroes, The Office, and Lost have had great success with webisodes. For those of you who don't know, a webisode is a short (usually not more than five minutes) tie-in to a show, often giving the spotlight to supporting characters, introducing new characters, or in rare cases utilizing the main cast.

In the summer of 2006, The Office filmed a series of ten webisodes, called The Accountants. The five-minute episodes were not only just as funny as the show itself, but they gave the supporting cast a chance to take center stage- a chance that paid off so well it carried with it the potential for a broadcast spinoff. In the daytime Emmys the following year, The Accountants won in the "Outstanding Broadband Program" category.

Obviously impressed by this, Lost launched production on Missing Pieces, a series of webisodes starring the main cast members and telling nifty side stories from various points in the show's in-universe chronology. Missing Pieces turned out to be a satisfying, often engaging series that left the audience wanting more. Also notable was how the producers used the web series as a way to herald the return of actor Harold Perrineau to the main cast.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalt!!!

Recently, in addition to its hugely successful online comic series, Heroes has gone the way of webisodes. Between these and its (somewhat lame) "create your character" contest, it's clear that Heroes is catering to the world of the wide web. But are tie-ins really the end game for online series?


Web Series
The next level is that of series which are conceived and produced for the web. With the possibilities streaming and downloadable media represent for advertising dollars, it's a wonder why this phenomenon isn't growing at a faster rate. The web-only series Clark & Michael, for instance, was offered as downloadable content on the XBox Live Marketplace. It became a popular download, helped by the rising fame of actor Michael Cera.

Last season, the series Sanctuary was produced for the SciFi Channel's website as exclusive streaming content. The episodes were no more than eleven minutes each, and starred Stargate Atlantis actress Amanda Tapping as a woman in the employ of an organization set on capturing monsters and helping them reform. The premiere episodes were packed with Atlantis cast members David Hewlett, Christopher Heyerdahl, Chuck Campbell and Kavan Smith, an ensemble that helped the producers market the series to Atlantis' loyal cult fanbase. Despite the production values being high for the medium, they were still low for a series. The green-screen feel was almost artistically surreal, but overall it was a difficult series to take seriously. Then, in an incredibly applaudable move, the SciFi Channel ordered a second season of the show- in a prime time television slot.

Why aren't more networks experimenting with this? And if they decide to, how big of a risk would it be to make 42-minute episodes?


Points That Lead up to My Next Topic, Which was Teased at in the Preceding Sentence
In 2006, ABC's Lost needed to make up for a second season that dipped both in ratings and critical response. Taking hint from 24, ABC produced the third season in two arcs: one that aired repeat-free in the first few months of fall, and one that aired repeat-free in the spring. Instead of repeats in the winter months, they ordered a mid-season replacement.

Mid-season replacements are really great for those eager scribes who sold their brilliant pilot scripts to networks without contractual obligations for filming. This is the moment when some intern walks into the studio's basement, fumbles for the light string, and searches for unfilmed pilots whilst checking over his shoulder for hideous monsters.

Where the unfilmed pilots go

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a mid-season replacement that lasted for six seasons after its freshman run; conversely, there are dozens of series in each network's fall lineup that don't make it past two episodes. It's difficult to predict, as the greatest show ever made might air on one network at the same time a bloated giant like American Idol airs on FOX. In fact, Lost's unquestionably greatest episode ever was a two-parter that overlapped its first hour with American Idol's second. Lost's ratings for the first hour were great, but the leap in numbers for the second were unprecedented. Millons of people from all across America loved Lost enough to catch however much they could, but because of a mental disease loved American Idol better. We're not just talking about a few households here, we're talking almost three million people. The amount of the jump alone is better than some shows will ever see in their total figures.


Day Break
As you can see, ABC was not screwing around in the 2006-2007 season. They canceled one of the greatest shows ever to air on television, which you might remember as Invasion. Why? It couldn't play with the big dogs, I guess. Who the hell knows? One thing was for certain: ABC hated repeats.

So along came Day Break, Lost's mid-season replacement. The show's plot was very much like the Bill Murray/Harold Ramis contemporary classic Groundhog Day, except with a bit more 24 and a whole lot more Taye Diggs. The show trudged along for six episodes, until ABC executives, in a pumped-up fit of intensity and impatience, crushed Red Bull cans against their sweat-beaded foreheads and loudly exclaimed, "You think this is FX? We're A-B-Goddamn-C! Leave, and don't ever come back!" The executives were found the next day, slighty subdued after trying to snort pixie sticks off the asses of cheap prostitutes.

Kind of like this, but slightly different

The next day, over a round of beers, the weary executives apologized to Day Break's producers and offered them a sweet deal to air the six remaining episodes online. As they got drunker and drunker, the producers sweetened the pot and convinced ABC to help them make a series finale. This is all important stuff, so I hope you're paying attention.

See, proportional to the medium, Day Break's numbers on the web blew its broadcast figures out of the water. It became the first full-length web-only series to be produced by a major network, and it was a huge success. Of course, all but half an episode were made with prime-time broadcasting in mind, but that was precisely what caused it to inadvertently raise the bar for online series. Also, the last seven episodes were much better than the first six. It was really just a coincidence, though.

The term "huge success" is relative, though. Even as soon as two years later, a project with Day Break's budget should expect viewership that could almost rival broadcast media. As of right now, ABC's award-winning online media center is only airing shows that are part of its regular broadcast lineup. The possibilities Day Break set in motion seem to be going nowhere.


Archiving
Since the launch of Hulu, a free streaming media site, frustrations over YouTube lawsuits have died down greatly. Hulu not only streams select episodes of currently running programs from various networks, but entire seasons of completed series from every decade. Web syndication has finally found its footing, and the idea has started to spread.

NBC is now streaming past favorites like Buck Rogers and the original Battlestar Galactica for free on their website. Both shows were featured in their entirety on Hulu before NBC hitched a ride on this wagon. What's the benefit? TV on DVD is the reason DVDs are still being made, because without the sales revenue generated from that powerhouse, the entire business would be virtually unprofitable. NBC is owned by Universal, so they have to sit down together and figure out how to make their yard sale the most successful it can be. If Universal tells NBC that sales on the Buck Rogers DVDs are too low, NBC might suggest taking in ad revenue by webcasting the series in syndication. I wasn't in the room with them when this was decided, but I imagine this was more or less how it went down.

Why anyone wouldn't buy this DVD, I'll never know

This could be good news, because depending on the success of network-streamed web syndication, a lot of your favorite old junk could be brought up from the basement, and as you patriotically punch in your vote this November, you can emulate the nasal sighs of douchebaggery so closesly associated with the fine few who have done their part to end digital media piracy.

It's worth noting that other online mediums, such as the XBox Live Marketplace and Netflix, have a giant empty hole where original content should be. XBLMP dabbles from time to time, but we're far away from a full lineup. It's time to kick this into gear, because if the SciFi channel can continue making movies about giant crocodiles, surely Netflix can produce and stream a movie about something that won't rot your brain.

I mean no disrespect to the Crocodile franchise, which I deeply respect and admire.