Hulu to launch first original scripted show

Hulu will broadcast its first original scripted series next month, a political comedy that will debut during the real-life Republican presidential primary.

[via AP]

Tom Hanks to announce Web Series project at CES

Tom Hanks will launch a futuristic animated series for the Web called Electric City on Yahoo later this spring. It will be announced at CES on Tuesday.

Hanks' production company Playtone will produce, along with Reliance Entertainment, the 90-minute series, set to be broadcast online in 20 segments. It will be the first original scripted program for Yahoo.

[via USA Today]

Warner Bros puts your face in Facebook Web series

Reuters reports that Warner Bros. is lauching a social series on the Web starting October 11 called Aim High that seeks to create a new genre by taking pictures, music and information from a viewer's Facebook page and putting it in the video.

"Aim High," which will play at www.facebook.com/aimhighseries uses computer programs to access a user's profile from which to draw material.

Read more.

Fanhattan Launches iPad App to Aggregate Movies, TV Shows From Netflix, Hulu Plus, iTunes

Fanhattan from Fanhattan on Vimeo.

Entertainment discovery service Fanhattan wants to help consumers find which film and TV content is available, where and in what form - from rental to purchase and subscription, for download, in streaming form, in theatres or on DVD.

To that end, Fanhattan, on Wednesday launched a free iPad app that brings together movie and TV show content from top digital media services, namely Netflix, Hulu Plus and Apple's iTunes, as well as the ABC Player.

Read full review in The Hollywood Reporter.

Richard Hammond launches internet-only TV series

Richard Hammond, the Top Gear presenter, is making his online debut with a new internet-only series which will take an irreverent look at technology.

Richard Hammond's Tech Head will air every Monday on a dedicated YouTube channel, beginning today with a look at a bewilderingly sophisticated coffee maker.

[via The Telegraph]

Science's soap opera seen in 'The Lab'

An interactive online movie, The Lab: Avoiding Research Misconduct, has just been released by the federal Office of Research Integrity, the science misconduct investigating arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.USA Today reports.

The ORI produced the film to help the nation's science and medical researchers avoid the kind of bad decisions that lead to misconduct allegations.

In the online movie, you become these characters and others, and face some tough choices along the way.

Make the wrong choices and your lab is disbanded, your university tarnished and your dream destroyed. Just like in a real-life lab.

... The two-year effort was filmed at night in labs at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and the actors carefully studied the real dress (no white lab coats) and lives of real researchers to make their dilemmas real.

Read more.

Kiefer Sutherland to star in Web series 'The Confession'

According to The Washington Post, Kiefer Sutherland, star of Fox's long-running drama "24," will be starring in and executive-produce a 10-part, scripted, online-only series.

"The Confession," a drama about a hit man spilling his secrets to a priest, will also star John Hurt. Premiering sometime in March, it will be available on Hulu.com, Digital Broadcasting Group's online platforms and on gaming systems.

[Read full article in The Washington Post]

Hulu Seeks Actors for Its Own Online Show

Hulu is looking to make its foray into creating its own TV show.

The Hulu original program will recap the entertainment scene for the day in five minutes. The show will air Monday through Friday. Hulu is looking for two hosts with one of them being a "very good looking female" in the late 20's to 30 range.

Foursquare teams with Endemol to develop TV series

This news was all over the web this week. Location-based mobile social network Foursquare will partner with international television production and distribution company Endemol to develop a TV series based on the foursquare smartphone application, which enables users check in at local venues on their device, earning points and virtual laurels for visiting establishments on a regular basis.

Details on the series are scarce, but Endemol--best known for reality programming franchises like Big Brother, Deal or No Deal and Fear Factor--promises an "original format" incorporating the foursquare check-in model.

[via FierceMobile Content]

A Parallel Universe to TV and Movies

Web series are cheaper and quicker than television and film. A new column in The Arts & Leisure section of the NY Times will periodically round up some current and recent examples.

You’re probably not reading or hearing about them anywhere but online but Web series get made by the hundreds, titles numbering thousands of short episodes: dramas, comedies, Webisodes accompanying television series, cartoons, talk shows, reality shows, newsmagazines, documentaries — a cheaper and quicker parallel universe to television and film.

Read full article. Watch Web Therapy with Lisa Kudrow and Meryl Streep.

A global news revolution through clever - and often hilarious - computer-animated re-enactments of real news events

An Asian media tycoon is spearheading a global news revolution through clever - and often hilarious - computer-animated re-enactments of real news events. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Billionaire media mogul Jimmy Lai, credited with bringing tabloid journalism to Hong Kong and Taiwan, in a year has built his Next Media Animation into a budding digital empire.

Two months after launching the company late last year, NMA became a worldwide hit after its re-enactment of the altercation between Tiger Woods and his wife, Elin Nordegren, became a viral sensation.

Now with several hundred staff, NMA churns out dozens of clips a day ranging from serious crime stories to celebrity gossip.

Read full article.

YouTube Dedicates Homepage To Homelessness On Sunday

Activist and frequent HuffPost blogger Mark Horvath will be taking over YouTube's homepage "with videos that smash stereotypes about America's most forgotten citizens."

Videos from Horvath's blog and YouTube channel, InvisiblePeople.tv, will be featured on the front page for 24 hours to expose the humanity of the tens of thousands many Americans ignore every day.

[via The Huffington Post]

Previously: - The Homeless in America on Invisible.tv

Related:

-- Pathways to Housing Installation. A traveling installation in New York City reminds passerby about the challenges facing the city's homeless population and empowers viewers to take action.

On Web Video, Captions Are Coming Slowly

Closed-captioning is mandatory on television, but not for TV programs on the Internet. And that has turned Web sites like ABC.com into battlegrounds for advocates like Ms. Matlin, who have spoken up on the lack of captions on sites like CNN.com and services like Netflix.

[via The New York Times]

Sony Web TVs Let Buyers Create Their Own Channels

Over the next few months, Sony Corp. and its competitors will introduce a new generation of Web- connected televisions -- and services that will stream movies, TV shows, and music over the Internet and onto those sets. Bloomberg reports.

The idea is to make it easier for consumers to bypass cable and effectively create their own personal TV channels. That may sound a lot like what many people already are doing by tapping into YouTube, Hulu, and other entertainment websites.

What’s different is that Sony and the other manufacturers are hoping to go after advertising dollars as well as subscription revenue and pay-per-view fees, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its June 21 issue.

Read full article.

Web Series Tap Prime Time

Original Web series are finding a niche at night, reports the WSJ.

In a change from traditional online-video watching, which was built during daytime, providers of free original Web content and others that rerun TV programs are reporting strong viewership gains during evening hours.

... The shift is likely to create new opportunities for Internet video providers, including access to new distribution platforms and premium advertisers. It also signals that Internet video providers could eventually lure people away from traditional television, analysts say—something the emerging industry has failed to do to date.

Read full article.

Reuters Insider: YouTube for Traders

Thomson Reuters is trying to change television writes The New York Times with Reuters Insider, a Web-based video service that captures myriad streams of information produced by the company’s reporters and 150 partners.

The service, which will begin Tuesday, is something like a You Tube for the financially interested, albeit one that is available only to Reuters subscribers, who pay as much as $2,000 a month.

Using the main window of the service, called Channel One, subscribers can navigate by sector, date, markets or region, or apply filters to create their own personalized channels.

Read full article.

Marlee Matlin launches 'My Deaf Family' on YouTube

Marlee Matlin, the hearing-impaired actress who won an Academy Award as lead actress for her role in "Children of a Lesser God," has produced a short reality film called My Deaf Family viewable on YouTube.

Its meant to bring some insight into the pride and struggles of deaf people and how they cope. [The LA Times via EW]

Deaf and hard of hearing people make up one of the largest minority groups," she said in an interview through her interpreter, Jack Jason, "and yet there has never been a show, a reality documentary series that features what life is like for them."

The Homeless in America on Invisible.tv

A collection of YouTube-length video profiles of homeless people met across the country, has become a surprise hit in social media circles. wbur.org npr reports.

Most people have never walked down the street and looked for homeless people before — most look the other way. But not Mark Horvath.

A former Hollywood insider, Horvath has been a drug addict, con artist and, for a brief period, homeless. He says he's left that life behind, and these days, he's drawing on his dark past to inspire his Web site — Invisiblepeople.tv.

According to this video, the average age of a homeless person living in the US is 9 years old. 3.5 milllion people. Thats 1.35 million children.

Internet TV service SeeSaw launches beta trial

SeeSaw, a new online TV service offering both catch-up and archive programmes, is launching a trial in the UK. The BBC reports.

SeeSaw has signed a content deal with BBC Worldwide and is in negotiation with Channel 4 and Five and American broadcasters for other shows.

Ultimately the site will run offer both free and pay-per-view services.

Read full article.

Ashton Kutcher's Beautiful Life lives again on YouTube

Fortune Brainstorm Tech reports that Ashton Kutcher's TV series on CW with Misha Barton, and Elle MacPherson, The Beautiful Life , which was canceled after only two episodes, will come back to life on the Web at youtube.com/user/TBL and good news - the videos are not geographically blocked, at least not the first two episodes-, they are viewable by international users (thank you AK for that!).

I really enjoyed the first two episodes and was shocked and disappointed that it was canceled. It's a good thing this was Ashton Kutcher's project because he knows a thing or two about producing on the Internet.

A show on the life of models in Manhattan has such an appeal and the acting was great. It made no sense that it was canceled in the first place.

According to Fortune Brainstorm Tech, "the Web venture will be funded by Hewlett-Packard and get distribution help from YouTube. Kutcher’s Katalyst Media plans to post a total of five episodes online and keep them there for six months. Two episodes are up already, three coming next week.

If the show draws enough engaged viewers, it could live on – either as an online-only show or back on TV." That would be such a great victory for Kutcher and his cast. Take that CW!

BBC children's drama to be released online

A new British teen thriller will make its debut next month online instead of on television, as its producers follow their young audience who are switching off the set and focusing their attentions on the internet. The Guardian reports.

The Po5t series throws together a group of teenagers when their lives are put in peril.

The first of six planned eight minute episodes of Po5t will appear next month and the producers are hoping to work with its teen audience to "tweak" future episodes before they come out so they can take in viewers' suggestions of how the suspense plot should evolve. Audience participation is expected to play an even greater role in the second series.

Tiki Bar TV Tests The Pay-To-Watch Webisode Model

Four-year-old online video show Tiki Bar TV just rolled out a $49 annual “membership” option that lets viewers download higher-quality episodes of the show (in HD and Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound). Paidcontent.org reports.

This comes less than a week after Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced that it would start charging viewers for access to vintage Martha Stewart show clips; like MSLO, Tiki Bar is hoping to find the ideal combination of ad-supported and subscription-based content, since non-paying users will still be able to view all five seasons of the show (complete with banner ads) on the site.

Marvel Moves Beyond Motion Comics With More Web Video

Look out, true believers, Marvel Entertainment is making a big push into the world of online video with more original programming, licensed content and even some gems from the wayback machine. With more than 5,000 characters, including established brands like Spider-Man, Iron Man and the Hulk, the push into web video is helping position it for life beyond comic books. The New York Times reports.

In addition to in-house productions, Marvel is also hosting full-length episodes of some of its cartoons like X-Men: Evolution, and even bringing back some classic gems. Last week it started running subtitled versions of Japanese Spider-Man, a decades-old show from Japan that features a very different wall crawler than the one Americans are used to. The company will also be going further back in time to show episodes of the classic 1967 Spider-Man cartoon (the one with the “does whatever a spider can” theme song).

According to Rubenstein, starting April 1, Marvel.com will have a new piece of content every day of the week, and down the road there may be enough programming to have something akin to a Marvel IPTV type channel.

Read full article.

South Koreans want their sub-TV

In South Korea, subway riders are becoming addicted to free TV on their cellphones. But declining ad revenue and mounting debt may force cellular operators to pull the plug. The LA Times reports.

Reeling from declining ad revenue and mounting debt from providing the expensive service at no additional cost to subscribers, South Korean cellular operators may soon cancel subway TV coverage that has yet to turn a profit.

Losing underground TV reception may not seem like much to consumers in the U.S., where many are still struggling with cellular dead zones and where a switch to full above-ground digital TV service may leave millions staring at useless analog sets.

But for many South Koreans, subway TV has become a familiar part of their daily routines. Phone companies in this digitally crazed nation in 2005 were the first to launch mobile TV that could be tuned in on phones just about anywhere -- even in the subway tunnels deep beneath Seoul and other cities.

Today, nearly 10 million cellular users are watching soap operas, sports and sitcoms on a special frequency dedicated to portable viewing -- enjoying it all on larger digital-quality screens and high-tech handsets to improve reception.

In Seoul, for example, companies offer eight video and 10 audio channels on new cellphones. There's also a subscription-based satellite service, but few consumers have shelled out for it.

But the proposed changes by cellphone service providers would leave users with only static in the subway, and no TV signal until they hit street level again.

The District Reality TV on Newsweek: Obama's first 100 day

The District is MTV's reality show about Obama’s first 100 days and it plays on Newsweek.

Watch above first episode and tune in again every Monday. I'll remind you.

Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst to Create Facebook Series

The Ashton Kutcher-led production firm Katalyst Media has entered into a groundbreaking partnership with leading social networking apps developer Slide Inc. to launch an original Web series on Facebook. Media Week reports.

The new short form video series KatalystHQ has been conceived as a mock reality series that will provide viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the goings-on at the Katalyst offices in Los Angeles. The first episode, Method Acting, features Kutcher taking preparations for an upcoming movie role a bit too seriously.

Episodes of the show, which debuted on Feb. 4, are being distributed via Slide’s ubiquitous FunSpace app which officials claim reaches 150 million users on Facebook.

Make:Television

Make: debuting this weekend is the DIY series for a new generation. It celebrates Makers – the inventors, artists, geeks and just plain everyday folks who mix new and old technology to create new-fangled marvels.

The series encourages everyone to invent, revent, recycle, upcycle, and act up. Based on the popular Make: magazine, each half-hour episode inspires millions to think, create, and, well, make.

[via Gizmodo]

AOL to Launch 'Morning Rush' Video Clip Series

AOL has launched Morning Rush, a daily five-minute video compilation of the best of morning TV. MediaWeek reports.

A compilation of highlight clips culled together from that morning’s from Good Morning America, Today, The Early Show, Live With Regis & Kelly, CNN’s American Morning and Fox News’ Mike & Juliette and other morning staples.

Above image and related article from AdWeek.

The Weekly Webisode Watch

Spotted on Online Video Watch, TheWebisodes.com, your guide to finding the best web shows on the internet.

"A new portal for webisodic content. Consider them the new TV Guide of web programming. Not just a guide, The Webisodes has its own show, The Weekly Webisode Watch, that features co-founders Gil and Oran Margulis chatting about their favorite shows. "

'Vogue' Branding Itself on Internet TV

Vogue recently launched an online video site called Vogue.TV catering to the stylish set, with the highlight being Model.Live, a 12-episode reality series that follows three waifs hoping to make it as models in the industry.

[via Switched]

MTV and HP collaborate on digital art reality show

Beginning on Monday, MTV's mtvU channel, which is aimed at college and university students, will join forces with Hewlett-Packard to present "Engine Rooman original series that will follow the 16 contestants, divided into four teams, as they produce digital art using — of course — PCs, work stations, monitors and other products sold by HP. The The New York Times reports.

Episodes of "Engine Room" run from five to seven minutes each, and the series is scheduled to last seven weeks.

At the end, one team will win prizes that include $400,000 in cash and a chance to program the giant MTV screen in Times Square for a night."

Watch the trailer.

Project: Report - YouTube's First Journalism Contest

Today, in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, YouTube presents Project Report, a journalism contest for non-professional, aspiring journalists to tell stories that might not otherwise be covered by traditional media.

In each of the three rounds of Project: Report, reporters will be given an assignment to complete. Each of these assignments gives you an opportunity to report on the important individuals, issues, and communities in your life that most people do not yet know about.

Entry and assignment details on YouTube Blog.

For Web TV, a Handful of Hits but No Formula for Success

Producing Web content may be easy but profiting from it is hard. While a small number of writers, producers and actors are making a living with webisodes, they are still a long way from establishing the form alongside television and feature films. The newfound industry lacks clear business models and standardized formats. And so far, it also lacks audiences.

[via The New York Times]

Stephen King's "N." An original video series

Beginning Monday, July 28, mobile phone users and web surfers can enjoy Stephen King's latest work in a groundbreaking series of 25 original video episodes.

Starting today, viewers can go to NisHere.com or Simonsays.com to see a preview of the episodes, which will also be unveiled at Comic-Con International in San Diego today at a panel event featuring the creators of this pioneering venture.

The series will also be available for purchase at major online digital content retailers.

[Press release via mocoNews.net]

Vogue Models a New Reality Series

Vogue magazine has teamed with the fashion and media divisions of IMG to produce an elaborate Web-based reality series about the fashion industry.
The Wall Street Journal reports.

"The show, called Model.Live, tracks three models as they navigate casting calls, catwalks and airports for fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris.

The first of 12 eight-minute episodes will ebut Aug. 19 on-demand on Vogue.tv, a site that runs advertiser-sponsored videos and allows consumers to buy the featured products.

The shows will also be syndicated on sites such as Veoh.com and Hulu.com. From Vogue.tv, viewers can connect to Bebo.com, a video-based social-networking hub, to watch updates and interact with the show's stars."

IKEA to Launch Web Series

SXM and IKEA will co-produce “Easy to Assemble,” a scripted Web series written and created by and starring Illeana Douglas.

One episode a week will be launched beginning in late September to coincide with Ikea’s fall marketing rollout.

[TV Week via NewTeeVee]

Amanda Congdon Returns to Web Video

Amanda Congdon, famous for hosting pioneering video show Rocketboom and then famous for making a big fuss about leaving Rocketboom, is coming back to online video on her own terms.

She’s posted a teaser for what looks to be a new ensemble comedy show called Sometimesdaily.

Sometimesdaily describes itself as “an off-beat, interactive variety show exploring life’s themes through the inquisitive eyes of Amanda Congdon.” I hope it's better than the teaser. But then again I've always been a (Rocketboom rival) mobuzz.tv fan.

[via NewTeeve]

New NBC show designed to highlight a sponsor's products

In the latest example of how commercialism continues to creep into art, NBC Universal has plans to create programming designed to highlight a sponsor's products, the company said Friday, reports News.com.

"One of the first shows to emerge form the partnership will be an Internet sci-fi show called Gemini Division, starring actress Rosario Dawson. The shows sponsors will be Acura TSX, Intel, Microsoft, and UPS.

Gemini Division and shows like it from NBC Universal will likely be offered by Hulu."

Related article from The E-Commerce Times last August related to fashion on TV. "... A revolution in shopping online is occuring that has ushered e-commerce into the realm of 3.0. Consumers can now pick and choose from almost anything they see in the entertainment world."

Fashion and music combine for Hilfiger's TommyTV

U.S. fashion company Tommy Hilfiger and music group Sony BMG teamed up on Wednesday to launch a fashion and music online TV website, a latest sign of ever closer union of the world's of style and song.

TommyTV, will show live performance by established and new artists sponsored by designer Tommy Hilfiger alongside exclusive interviews and backstage footage.

"I literally became a fashion designer because of music," Hilfiger told Reuters at the launch. "Music was my first love, in the 60s - I wanted to dress like Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page."

[via Reuters]

LonelyGirl Gets Another Job

Two years after she became YouTube's most famous celebrity, 'LonelyGirl15' Jessica Rose has another gig. She's starring in a new Web thriller produced by 60Frames called Blood Cell."

Production on the 18-webisode series has wrapped and a trailer is available here and on YouTube.

[via Silicon Alley Insider]

Veteran TV Writers Create a Web Series...About TV Writers

Stun Creative, a marketing and production company in Los Angeles, is teaming up with a troupe of veteran comedy writers to create a new Web series, The Writers Room.

The series takes place in the writers, room of a fictional late night talk show, featuring the banter and neurosis that come from the overworked writing staff.

According to Stun Creative co-president Mark Feldman, The Writers Room never presents the actual 'show' to our audience. We chose instead to focus on the writers' room, since some of the funniest stuff never leaves the room. Not to mention the fact that we simply didn't have enough budget to build an actual talk show set."

[via Broadcasting & Cable]

The GigaOM Show

The GigaOm show is back online, hosted by Joyce Kim, who's filling in for Om Mallik who is recovering from a heart attack. He sends a good will message and let's us know he should be back in a month or so. It's nice to see him looking so well - he's lost 50 pounds. Well done!

On the show CEO Jeremy Allaire talks about Brightcove’s traffic spikes from TMZ, politics, and National Geographic and more ... and for those of us who have not yet met her, NewTeeVee's Editor Liz Gannes is on the couch co-hosting the show with Joyce.

It's nice to put a face on whom I believe is the most impressive writer/blogger online today.

TV show searches for disabled model

The BBC is to launch what it claims is the UK's first TV competition for disabled models with a BBC3 series that aims to find a fresh mainstream fashion face. The Guardian reports [via TVtattle]

"The series aims to "challenge artificial boundaries" in the fashion business and "empower" women.

"Our intention is to empower both the women featured in the project and thousands of others, who shouldn't be invisible to the fashion industry just because they are disabled people," the Love creative director, Richard McKerrow, said. "We're also looking to challenge preconceived notions of beauty."

The five-part series, due to air in the summer, will follow the chosen women as they move into a London apartment together and are trained in every aspect of modelling from posing for photoshoots to location work and catwalks.

The series will be supported by Ouch!, the BBC's disability website, which will provide a forum for debate about the issues raised by the show, as well as offering video clips and blogs.

New online drama for Bebo

One of the most popular internet TV programs is KateModern on Bebo, and now the social networking site has announced that it is to launch another online series - Sofia's Diary.

"Starting on 14 March, Sofia's Diary follows 17-year-old, erm, Sofia as she adjusts to a new life living with her dad, step mum and baby step-brother. She was sent to London by her mum after accidentally blowing up the school chemistry lab. Apart from the 2-3 minute instalments, there will be video updates from all of Sophia's friends."

[via TV Scoop]

Video's New Friends

Social-networking sites are taking the plunge into original Web video series to lure ads and compete with YouTube. The Wall Street Journal reports.

"Bebo with "KateModern and other social-networking sites like MySpace with Special Delivery" and "Roommates" are taking the plunge into original Web series at a time when the popularity of online video is surging.

To promote "KateModern", whose first season drew an average of 1.5 million video views per week, Bebo relies on the interaction among the Web site's users. It sends alerts to members to tell them when new episodes are posted. And it allows members to send messages to characters.

The social sites hope to use the shows to attract advertising revenue. More importantly, they are banking on the original content to keep users from fleeing to popular Web sites such as Google Inc.'s YouTube that focus almost exclusively on video."