One of the best Christmas Specials I came across recently was by the webseries “i can’t even.” If you recall, they were part of my webseries review fest last year. Their Christmas Special is titled The Doctor’s New Companion, and it is awesome. I had to pause the episode because I was laughing so hard I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
Saw this on Facebook and thought it was full of massive skill, both in the artistic quality and the ability to add reasonable outfits to a female character in a drawing rather than no-reason-for-the-lack-of-clothing that often happens in such drawings.
Also found on Facebook was this great video about giving compliments that do not have to do with a person’s appearance. I especially try to do this with my nieces. Little girls get told all the time how pretty they are, which is fine, but I think complimenting growing children on their accomplishments and who they are as people is extremely important as well. This is a good list to start with!
In a LARP, or live action-roleplaying game, players assume the identity of their chosen character and physically perform their actions (as opposed to simply describing them). LARPs: The Series follows a group of friends and their journey through both their imaginary and real lives.
One of the reasons I picked this series to review is because I love the thought of LARPing. How much fun! Also, as it is hosted on Geek & Sundry I figured it had to be produced fairly well, and it definitely is. Good sets, good lighting, good sound production, excellent writing, and really great acting. The music added rather than took away from each episode. I also enjoyed the bit of explanation/trivia provided at the beginning of each epsiode so that you do not need to have a great understanding of LARPing to enjoy the series.
What I really dug was that the series is about the humans behind the LARPing. While the LARP characters may be a tad overboard and poorly acted, the humans behind the LARPing were not. They were played with subtly and humor and realism. Behind every fun geeky thing, the aspect that usually pulls me in the most is the human element, the humor, the relatability of the characters. If you like comedy, relatability, and geekisms in your webseries, definitely check this one out.
The first episode is below.
Honorable Mentions:
“Night Time with Harvey O’King” by Matt Wisniewski. This was not my cup o’ tea as I am not into weird horror puppetry, but someone out there might be. Have at it!
“Bun In The Oven” by Chris Weir about a boy who meets a girl who can’t find adoptive parents for her baby so the boy tries to sell the baby. There was some good humor bits, but not enough substance behind the characters to keep my interest. However, some of you may like the humor bits and they are not long episodes.
“The Jolly Rogers Case Files” by Melissa Malone. If you enjoyed the Peter Pan webseries earlier this week, check out their other webseries that “follows Jane Hook & her team in misadventures in ghost hunting.”
“Power Couple” by Andy Kushnir. The writer of Through the Door has another series about a “couple that runs a charity for the blind but terrorizes their employees.”
I found this gem while searching for more webseries to enjoy. I watched the first season which is a series of couples breaking up, unscripted. It is a riot. [via Raindance]
“Delivering bad news is hard to do… especially when you don’t know what it is”
A completely unscripted new comedy show that puts two people in the ultimate uncomfortable situation without any idea where it’s going to go next.
In each episode a couple sits down and one of them reads a piece of paper with the reason for the break-up and the scene begins. It is comedy improv at its best. The improv actors know their craft and they know how to play off of each other. Each of the episodes had me laughing, but I guess my favorite was the third couple. You can watch it below. I just wish that at least one of the couples had been LGBT, like the Chicago series I reviewed yesterday.
Since each scene is in a public place, all they needed was access to a couple of cafes and pubs. Each setting is a little different, but familiar, in the way that cafes and pubs usually have familiar settings. The lighting is good and the sound production is as well. I liked the music intro into and exiting the scene helped segue the comedy.
With each episode only about four or five minutes and only five episodes in the first season you can breeze through it quickly with a lot of laughs.
In August I was contacted by Andy Kushnir writer for the webseries “Through the Door.” Andy is located in Chicago and all the actors are from the local comedy/improv schools. How could I not be interested in a series that stars people from Second City. I still remember with great fondness my own time spent there.
“Through the Door” is a series about “those foot-in-mouth moments that take place in every relationship. Each episode highlights a different couple who get into an argument resulting in one of them locking themselves in the bathroom. The meat of the episode takes place as the two work through their problem, Through the Door.”
I thought this was a clever concept. Each scene takes place in an apartment building and all they really needed for the sets were a bathroom and a hallway. Can I just take a minute here to say how much I really really miss Chicago apartments. They are full of crannies, weird entry ways, real wood floors, and steam heaters. I miss my Chicago apartment on a daily basis. It had FRENCH DOORS! Texas is full of high ceilings, laminate floors, and carpet. So much carpet. Besides the nostalgia, I thought the apartment sets were a great idea, it meant having only six homes to film in. The shots taken in the bathrooms were cleverly done and interesting, I was afraid a shot of a person in a bathroom would get old, but it did not. The light and sound production was very good, to the extent I didn’t really notice it except to note I should make a point of saying so in my review.
But the best part was each and every couple and their dilemma. The writing was excellent, the acting really great, and I laughed every single episode. Such mundane little moments that show how people use laughter in their relationships to get over those bumps in the road. My favorite episodes were four and six and not just because they were LGBTQ inclusive. Dance recitals are the worst, though admittedly not as bad as Sound of Music remakes. Snide comments at parties are hard to take back and can be demoralizing and don’t help with anti-social tendencies.
If you want a laugh, check out “Through the Door.” With each episode lasting only about five minutes it wont take you long to get through all six . You can watch the first episode below and all of them here.
In August I received an email from Wendy, publicist for the “i can’t even” webseries about “[o]ne apartment, two friends, and an exponential number of fandoms to argue about.”
Um, yes, please.
From the first this series made me laugh. Louise Cox and Tiana Hogben, who star in the series, have great comedic timing. Every singe episode had me chuckling to myself until their were tears in my eyes.
“I’ve seen you talking to your Benedict poster.”
Their friendship is awesome and that they can live together and still be geeky friends is such a great model. They help each other out, when they can get through the fog of obsession, and they share an interest in the geekdom while building each other up and supporting that interest.
The subject matter, background production, and sets ring true and add to every scene. I love the set up of all the different fandom posters and paraphernalia in the girl’s apartment. Even the girls’ wardrobe is geeky. The homages to all the different fandoms are inclusive and wonderful. The lighting and sound production are really good and I thought the sound effects added to the production value of the series.
With 6 episodes on YouTube at only about 5 minutes an episode you can watch the entire series and it will go by as quickly as reading your favorite book on a rainy Saturday afternoon and leave you wanting more. Like, I really really want the second series, now.
Honestly, they had me at the Australian accents. This series is just… I can’t even.
Ok. I had to do that. 😉
Geek lovers, dorks, and nerdy book worms, or people who love a good roommate comedy should check out this webseries! You can find out more about it by checking out their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts or read an article about the writer and co-writer Alyce Adams here. Watch the episode below, you wont be sorry.
**I thought I had scheduled this for yesterday, but I had put in the wrong date!**
Back in May I received an email from Melissa Malone asking me to review “Or So the Story Goes: Happy Thoughts”. Unfortunately, that is when my life started getting so super busy I couldn’t keep up with reviews on this site. Each year I get about 8 to 10 requests to review webseries, which I absolutely love to do. It’s definitely fun to get to preview series before they go onto the web, and I enjoy helping people out by sending my review out into the blogosphere. But, as this is a hobby of mine, I don’t often get to the reviewing processes right away.
Melissa’s email was intriguing. She wrote:
I’m the creator of Or So the Story Goes, a young adult webseries that puts a dark modern twist on classic children’s tales. This season we are bringing to the web a dark Peter Pan with Happy Thoughts. The total runtime, however is 70 minutes, giving us the opportunity to display Happy Thoughts as a feature film, as well. Our project began as an outreach program to teach the teens of our town, here the ins and outs of filmmaking and has blossomed into a project that uses the combined efforts of adults and teens alike to make it happen. Not only do we have many talented child & teen cast members, but also a 13 Year Old assistant director as well as three teen musicians included in our soundtrack.
How could I not be interested and hopeful that this was a webseries for which I could give a good review? What a wonderful project!
After a rocky year, the Darling family moves cross-country for a fresh start. Little do they know their new home is already occupied by the ghosts of a charming yet homicidal teenage boy named Peter and his previous victims. Peter’s quick obsession with the oldest daughter Wendy puts the family at grave risk. This brings a band of ghost hunters to the Darling’s door, lead by a vengeful leader sought on ridding the ghost that destroyed her life. Time is ticking and it’s anyone’s game.
This story is quite a unique perspective on the Peter Pan tale. It is very dark and might be a bit of a trigger for some people. It does not get graphic, but it is does have scenes where children get hurt. However, I thought going to the dark side of the Peter Pan story was completely brilliant. It better explains why Peter does what he does and how he finds the Lost Boys. It makes so much sense that I’m not sure why I never really connected the dots before.
The story line is brilliant, but they definitely could have used some more money for a better production value. The lighting is not always the best, especially inside. Some of the music fits like a glove and works with the scene and some of it not so much. I did enjoy that there were a lot of different rooms/venues used for the flashback scenes and the main story arc. I thought that was quite impressive and better than a lot of webseries do. The acting of the main actors was quite good, some of the minor characters came across as acting, but for a webseries with a lot of kids, it was better than I expected.
The series has more than a couple of one liners that made me smile or chuckle. My favorite line from one of the ghost hunters is: Paranormal is so in.
You are so right Percy, you are so right.
Fans of fairy tale retellings, ghost hunter stories, and the Supernatural fandom would enjoy this webseries. Check out the first episode below.
It’s that time again. The time I sit down and go through all my emails, view, review, and blog about webseries. I have a lot of fun doing this, I just wish I had been able to get to it sooner in the year! Links to this week’s reviews will be updated on this page as they post.
Earlier this week I reviewed a webseries about Poe writing The Raven called A Tell Tale Vlog and if you haven’t checked out either my review or the webseries you should do both. Right now.
Go. Do it.
The creators and producers of A Tell Tale Vlog have a few other webseries under their YouTube channel Shipwrecked Comedy, including two season of Kissing in the Rain. Each episode is about two minutes long. The first season is seven episodes long and the second season five.
Kissing in the Rain is the story of two actors who continuously end up starring opposite each other in different movies based on literary characters. Each movie has a scene where the actors find themselves kissing in the rain. But in spite of the onscreen chemistry the actors relationships with each other are awkward, tempestuous, and sometimes silent. Little bits of real life leak out after the director calls cut.
This series is absolutely adorbs. I mean ridiculously adorable. Sean Persaud plays romantic lead after romantic lead as a romantic lead. It’s a bit mind bendy, but in a fun way. Mary Kate Wiles plays opposite him and she has honed her craft as an actor, some of the best webseries acting I have seen. Plus, she’s so purty. Their little story has its own arc over the seven episodes, which I absolutely devoured, and their chemistry as they play actors playing parts is equally as strong as the chemistry between their characters.
It was with some trepidation that I began the second season, which stars Sinead Persaud and Sairus Graham, because I didn’t think there could be as cute of a couple as Sean and Mary Kate. However, while not quite hitting the adorbs spectrum in the same manner as the first season, Sinead and Sairus have their own chemistry as they play period scenes with each other. I like how in the second season the producers started saying which characters the actors were playing, because, while I got a few from the first season, I’m sure I missed some of the comedy from not knowing exactly who they were supposed to be.
Another interesting concept that the creators of Kissing in the Rain added to their webseries were the first seasons episodes Companion Canon Drabble written by Yulin Kuang and the Follow the Kissing in the Rain Fan Canon Experiment via tumblr. Basically:
Anything reblogged to the main Shipwrecked Comedy tumblr following the release of Episode 1 will become canonical. That means fanfiction, fanmixes, one-line headcanon, fanart of imagined scenes, and anything else our Shipsters can think of.
The goal of this experiment was to involve the audience by using Tumblr to “create a curated, community-written canonical companion work” to the first season of Kissing in the Rain. I have not delved into the Tumblr experiment, but I did reach each Companion Canon Drabble by Yuliln Kuang. While each episodes stands on its own and each season has its own tale, the writings of Yuliln do add to the experience and I recommend taking the time to read them.
Kissing in the Rain plays out literary characters literally kissing in the rain, tells its own tale of two awkward actors, and made me laugh more than once and squeal a time or two as well. If you like period pieces, awkwardly romantic moments, or watching people make out, check out the webseries Kissing in the Rain.
Stand Up Girls was created by Amy K. Green & Blair Skinner. Stand Up Girls is a “scripted series about stand up female comedians and their horribly, misguided views on life.” Jenna Brister (Harper), Stephanie Kornick (Ursula), and Hollie Lee (Dolores) are all real life stand up comedians, bringing a unique perspective to this webseries.
I watched all eight episodes of the first season which is available on line. Production is decent, though attempts to create a bunch of different apartments was maybe a bit ambitious, and I suspect a bookcase was used in two different sets. Each episode is about five minutes long and full of awkward, agonizingly so, hilariously so, moments. My favorite line was: “But then I thawed out and became a woman again.”Some of the stand up was not my favorite, some of it made me guffaw. I liked the interweaving of stand up to real life, because that is where the good stand ups get their material, and it seemed more realistic and made it all a bit funnier.
Reminiscent of Awkward Embraces, Stand Up Girls will add a few chuckles to your day and make you glad your problems don’t include homeless squatters, a magician as an employer, or a mic in front of you every night.
Absurdly Nerdly 