Web Series and Genre

The big popular web series tend to be comedies.  Don't get me wrong, their a lot of dramas out there on the internet.  However, I think the ones that people outside the industry have heard of tend to be comedies, such as, The Guild, Legend of Neil, Cntrl, and Husbands, are all comedies.  And unless they are directly related to an already existing story (Star Trek: Phase 2 and Nightwing: Escalation), they rarely tend to be dramas AND bring in the same heavy hitting view numbers. 

My first thought was that it had to do with production value.  But, a lot of  these comedies actually have some pretty strong production value.  I mean,Legends of Atollhas some awesome looking castle sets.  CASTLES!!! 

But really, what I think it is, is that for some bizarre reason, the internet is becoming a place of cute and funny, and mostly, sarcastic and full of commentary.  We seem to have a lot of opinions about the things that we do for fun, what we read, write, etc...   We're almost obsessed w/ our hobbies.

I think this is the legacy of the Hipster Generation.  And I don't think this is a bad thing, I really don't.  I just hope we don't get so locked into writing web series about the video games we play or adapting the books we read (or didn't read) in high school (The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, very well done!), that we completely lose the concept that there are other stories.  (And I'm the last to talk on this point.)  But honestly,  I really don't think I need to worry.  We're already seeing things like Husbands, by Jane Espenson, which is simply about a gay couple.  

What's also seeming to influence web content, is of course, getting things to go viral.  It's the internet version of a blockbuster, except the currency is views.  And it appears to me that there really is no one path to get these coveted views.  There are tricks like make your video on something that is trending or be Felicia Day.  But, what I find so much is how often the internet responds to  Quality.  Make it good. If it's good, it takes just a little bit of marketing for it to get the views.

And of course, Make Em' Laugh.  (sing it....you know you want to! And if you don't get the reference:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW02c5UNGl0.  Man, I love the internet)

And it turns out what makes people laugh is pretty mundane.  And mostly cats.

Which brings me to Little Cat  Version of Me. Which has got to be, like, the essence of video on the internet.  Little Cat Version of Me is a web series about two actors trying to make their own web series, so a camera crew is hired to film a documentary of them trying to accomplish exactly that.  And what is there web series about?  The cat copying what it's owner does, a little cat version, as it were.  

This web series has great improvisation between the actors is great.  And if the actors Aren't improvising, major kudos to the writers.  And, while I think that the characters are a tad bit standard,  I find myself not really caring.

And of course, this web series is meta.  Which means that the Web Series has officially just been around long enough  to comment on itself.  Or we're just coming into an era where meta commentary is the first place our brains go to after something's been around for any longer than 2 years.  Or the internet has sped up the process of how long it takes for something to be established.

Whatever it is, The cat.  It is awesome.  

I think what I'm trying to say, is that all web media will eventually be dominated by cats, regardless of genre.