Quarterlife

I'm curious to know if you guys have all seen "Quarterlife" yet. It's the new show from the guys who created "My So Called Life"except there's a catch - the show doesn't air - rather it streams on Myspace and on Quarterlife's own website. Obviously I don't need to explain why I think this is interesting. This is the first network quality series that has no major television network backing it. The goal is to be viewed on the web. That's it.

Narratively, the show follows a quirky female lead who is constantly leaning how hard it is to be twenty-something in Los Angeles, and in her spare time she keeps a video blog or vlog on the show's version of quarterlife.com. The show is about public and private lives and the ways in which the internet complicates human relationships (EVERYONE on the show is in love with EVERYONE else).

But what is really interesting is that the show was recently purchased by GE and will air on NBC starting next Tuesday night. The online installments are new twice a week at 12 minutes a piece - the NBC version will be 1 hour long. This raises certain issues in entertainment that I think we could apply to news media as well.

Essentially, is our society so doomed that the material we produce as counter-culture will inevitably become pop culture? Or is this a pioneering example the decline in what we consider mainstream media as one of the most notorious companies in media is turning to vlog inspired webisodes to repair its shattered relationship with its public?

--Evan

Watch the pilot: