Vampire Mob S01E04 “Through the Tunnel” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Vampire Hitman Comedy Web Series

3 Swirlies

“We’re gonna need a much bigger donation.”

This is the broadest episode of the series, featuring a very funny blood salesman that our vampire hero goes to in order to make sure his wife has enough blood to drink.

This series is very well regarded, and they’re in production on their second season. The star, John Colella, is really strong in it (deliverig dialogue with those teeth isn’t as easy as you might think.) But it’s just not for me. It just doesn’t make me laugh. It makes me lightly snort from time to time, but it is just not my sensibility. Other people can’t get enough of it. That’s just the way of the world.

From YouTube Description:

Available with closed-captioning for the hearing impaired.

Episode Four - “Through the tunnel” Starring: John Colella and Chris Mulkey. More about Vampire Mob at http://www.VampireMob.com

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Tights and Fights: Ashes – April 2nd to May 6th – Super Hero Comedy Web Series

A Watch List Original Web Series

Tights and Fights: Ashes is a comedy web series and transmedia story about super heroes, told over YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. You can jump to the Tights and Fights website, or you just keep watching from here.

Two weeks worth of Tights and Fights hilarity!Fantabulous Gal starts up a new super hero team, with an old name. They say buy an existing business, right? Even the Plumber gets involved! Meanwhile, Leopard Woman’s worries about Ronin Force’s less than stellar new hires gets interrupted by an urgent phone call… from the underground kingdom of the cats!

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Happy Tree Friends Ka-Pow! Ep.1 “Ka-Pow! Alpha”| A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Cartoon Comedy Web Series

3 Swirlies

Interesting.

It looks like the animation studio that does Happy Tree Friends is trying to branch out into something new. This 10 minute video features three shorter videos; “Weaponized Animal Regiment”, “Buddhist Monkey” and “Mole in the City.” They are all very different, but still have that blood and guts and violence Happy Tree Friends style of comedy. It feels more like a programming block than a series.

I wonder if they felt they were running out of ideas for Happy Tree Friends, and they wanted to move on to other concepts? This one’s called “Alpha” and the next one is called “Beta” which makes me wonder if these are only test episodes to see how the internet audience would react. Maybe the three different series will change based on feedback, or maybe “Beta” will feature different characters. We’ll have to watch the next one to find out.

I kinda feel the same way about these cartoons as I do about Happy Tree Friends, they’re really well done and super polished but the gags are all just blood and violence. I have nothing against blood and violence, but for me the jokes feel repetitive.

The first one, Weaponized Animal Regiment, reminded me most of Happy Tree Friends. I feel like they were trying to give it a formula, with Flippy ruining the mission and getting everyone killed and then his split personality taking over and giving everyone around him a beat down. I didn’t really understand Buddhist Monkey, and I’m not sure I was supposed to. It is essentially a parody of martial arts films. There’s a shadowy bad guy, and an assassin sent to kill Buddhist Monkey and they fight. All that I get. But then the Pig Assassin’s wicker bowl/hat turns into a crab monster? I’m confused. And finally, Mole in the City made me think of spy vs. spy, maybe just because the bad guy’s a rat. I felt like it was the least like Happy Tree Friends, in that there was less violence and more caper type fun.

All in all, I guess my sense of humour just isn’t the same as the guys behind Happy Tree Friends. I’m more of a Moolt guy, I suppose. But I am interested in this experiment in new shows, so we’ll check into Ka-Pow Beta when we get a chance here on The Watch List.

From YouTube Description:

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Microwave Porn Ep.10 “Grandma” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Comedy Web Series

4 Swirlies

“Young people need plowing.”

Episode 10 of Microwave Porn has a whole bunch of funny lines, but it is a bit of a one note joke, without a lot of the nuances of most of their other episodes. Although seeing the microwave move around a lot is fun.

There’s only one more and we’re caught up on all the currently released episodes. I do know that the Cancel Proof guys are shooting more, but I’m not entirely sure when they’ll be up. But when they are, we’ll have ‘em for ya!

From YouTube Description:

Dave’s date brings her senile grandmother along for a quiet evening with Dave and Allen.

MUSIC

Microwave Porn Opening Theme Written and Performed by J. Gordon Ross and Ryan Keller

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Space Hospital S02E03 “Nebulous!” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Comedy Web Series

4 Swirlies

“Turning dead patients into new patients could be a big boost in profits to Space Hospital if we could just figure out who to bill.”

There’s a whole heck of a lot going on in this episode - Space Hospital always could pack in the story - but man is it funny!

It feels like their pieces missing, a couple of times the plot jumps around and I’m not sure what the character’s are talking about, exactly. I’m also not 100% sure who the zombie guy at the end is supposed to be. Am I supposed to recognize him? Is it supposed to be a mystery? I’m really not sure.

There’s a lot of great bits. The gun having a communicator function. Nurse Radknee’s reaction to Draco’s transformation. Sneed trying to interrupt the zombie from snitching on him. All hilarious.

From YouTube Description:

Re: Intergalactic Battle Fatigue, Effects of…

Re: Unauthorized Early Retirement of Nurses, Policy Regarding…

Youtube Summary: Futuristic Jekyll and Hyde Lizard Monster seduces Hot Nurse.

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The Variants Ep.4 “Passholes” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Comedy Web Series

2 Swirlies

“Pass?”

While there’s still a few good one liners and some other stuff to like about this episode (Like the Captain Power ship! Cool!) it’s too wonky to really get into.

One of the biggest problems of any low budget production is extras. Sure, you can ask all your friends, but bet on only half (at most) showing up and don’t expect them not to smirk through the whole thing. And that’s what happens here.

This zombie apocalypse parody episode largely falls apart for two reasons, one - the smirking zombie extras, and two - the forced concept that these are not-zombie customers that totally act like zombies. And I generally like this show. Just not this episode. It also seems the least polished of the ones I’ve seen, as if the production was more rushed (not unusual when dealing with a bunch of extras).

And plus, this episode lacked the nice character touches that other episodes had. Hopefully the next one will get back into the Joe/Keli will they or won’t they plot.

For some good news, I just noticed that Variants season two just started! We have 6 episodes to go in season one, so we won’t be posting season two as it is released, but some day we’ll catch up!

From YouTube Description:

The Variants Web Series Episode 4 “Passholes” A movie pass giveaway forces the employees in the store overnight. Can they keep back the hordes and survive until dawn?

Watch more of this web series comedy about life at a comic book shop at our site http://www.thevariants.com
and twitter @variants

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Microwave Porn Ep.9 “Pornography Anonymous” | A Web Series Review on the Watch List

A Comedy Web Series

5 Swirlies

“Of course I’m alive. I’m the main character. The fucking show is named after me.”

In the continuation of episode 8, Dave takes Allen to a clinic to cure Allen’s addiction. And hilarity ensues.

This episode is like the earlier two parter (episodes 5 and 6) where Dave took Allen to a cottage in to cure Allen’s addiction. It takes us outside the “home base” set and outside of the standard set up for the series. But like the previous two parter, these feels both fresh and perfectly part of the show.

I could go on about how funny this episode is - cause it is pretty effin’ funny - but instead I wanted to talk a bit about all the subtle things that the Cancel Proof guys behind this show do to make it sing. Some we notice and some we don’t. It’s easy to say to yourself, “Oh this is a silly show that makes juvenile references to porn,” (which is true) and dismiss it even as you watch as a cheap, guilty pleasure. But here’s some of the things that say to me that there’s a lot of thought and talent that goes into making Microwave Porn.

First all, I’m always amazed by the amount of emotion that they manage to give Allen, using mostly his animated eyes. (The voice work is great, too.) Just making those things move and blink probably takes a fair bit of work, and they don’t just drop in a loop and move on, in a hurry to get the thing done, each shift of the gaze and each blink is designed to match the microwave’s thoughts and feelings in that moment. And more than just a range of emotions (he’s angry so he looks like this, he’s surprised so he looks like this) subtle movement of the eyes serve to underscore the jokes and gags - all those subtle mannerisms that separate a good comedian from a great comedian. In a microwave with cartoon eyes.

And like any show, it starts with the writing. In the scene during the drug trial, the microwave and the other two participants watch an instructional film. The film is pretty funny on its own, and in lesser hands this scene might have played out with the spotlight on the film - especially with an inanimate object watching it. But the creators skillfully gave Allen little bits of dialogue - sharp, specific - that keep the focus of the scene on the microwave even as they allow the film room to be funny.

Ash Catherwood, who plays Dave, gives just as strong and nuanced a performance. His small bit of business while seated behind the nurse’s desk is just pure play - and perfect for the character at that moment. Maybe he improvised it, maybe they scripted it, but they didn’t leave it in just because it was fun and funny, it spoke to the character’s pleasure after flirting with the nurse.

Still with me? I hope this stuff isn’t too dry. One more, I promise.

What really got me, and made me want to talk about this stuff, was their nice use of sound to create a sense of geography and connection at an important moment. They go to great lengths to use the porn music of the film to identify the drug trial room to the audience. I mean, it is a funny gag, having the music. But they make sure to keep the music playing after we no longer see the film. Why? So that, for that very last gag, as the doctors carry the other drug tester out of the room, we hear the music and we instantly get what room they’re coming out of and why. Sure, if they didn’t have the music, most people probably wouldn’t be lost. But using the music creates an auditory call back to the previous scene, underscoring the joke - as silly as it is. Plus-ing it.

So yeah, at the end of the day it is a silly little show about a talking microwave. But it is the execution of it that sets it apart from many other shows, whether web or otherwise. I think I have talked about its release schedule before, which runs counter to accepted wisdom about releasing web series, but works. If you wanna make yourself a web series, you can learn an awful lot from these guys.

From YouTube Description:

Allen tries an experimental drug to cure his pornography addiction.

Microwave Porn Opening Theme Written and Performed by J. Gordon Ross and Ryan Keller

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Space Hospital S02E02.5 “Curse of the Draco” [Part 2] | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Sci-Fi Comedy Web Series

5 Swirlies

“Dr. Drake is the new chief of staff… and the father of my baby.”

I didn’t realize the last episode was a two parter.

This season seems much more focused on the long arc than the individual episodes, but at the same time the episodes are still strong each on their own.

Part two of Curse of the Draco has a lot of nice gags and a really amazing space battle scene, with some of the best visual effects that this series has done. Very impressive.

It ends on a darker note - but still funny. I’m eager to see where they’re going with this. I also like how they are continuing to build on the mythology of the first season.

From YouTube Description:

Re: Intergalactic Battle Fatigue, Effects of…

Newly appointed Dr. Drake must navigate the murky recesses of Dr. Goode’s mind just as Space Hospital attempts to navigate the murky outskirts of the dark nebula while bombarded by the relentless Dracos. Now reunited with her half-robot offspring, Nurse Ratknee reveals a further truth with frighteningly technological implications for a troubled and confused Yeoman Lindsay Long.

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Naomi The Show Ep.4 | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Comedy Web Series

3 Swirlies

“Don’t make eye contact.”

Naomi the Show follows a predictable formula, but it is always guaranteed to have a laugh at the end.

This one featuring a gross homeless guy feels, surprisingly, more cartoony than the episode featuring the giant raccoon trying to cop a feel. I did like the shout out to working Vancouver actors, “I did a spot on Stargate Atlantis.” I wonder if that’s true?

What really makes these episode work, all of them, is that Naomi is just too polite to get up and walk away. It works in a short format, where the comedic weight is on the zany characters and Naomi’s reactions to them. I’m not so sure this same character would work in a longer format. Which is actually a compliment; the show’s creators, Naomi Dayneswood and Jennica Harper, did a nice job picking a set up for their show that works for the medium.

I do feel that the only really funny bit is at the end, with the reveal of how the guy “knows” her, and the last coda line. But that’s still pretty funny - and you couldn’t show that on TV!

One of my favourite parts of the show is the music; simple but effective, it conjures just the right mood for the series. Many series, even some well done series, put on a high energy rock track that they like for their credits, not really setting up exactly the same mood as their show itself does.

I do think this is a well done show, and I think it is paying off for the creators. Their show is playing at the Sharpcuts Festival, in Guelph, in three separate web series blocks. Good luck, Naomi!

From YouTube Description:

In Episode 4, Naomi meets her biggest fan.

Find out more about Naomi: The Show at http://www.naomitheshow.com

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Vampire Zombie Werewolf Ep.7 “The Great Vampsby” | A Web Series Review on The Watch List

A Comedy Horror Web Series

3 Swirlies

“Just because some asshole bit me, I gotta like blood?”

This show is picking up nicely.

The main body of the episode had a nice pacing, with the Vampire/Zombie/Werewolf darting in and out of the scene and the producer having a chat with an old buddy. And then the ending had the turn that I was waiting for, that should really push the story through the rest of the series.

I haven’t had a chance to watch this series in a while, and what struck me was how well lit it is. It has always been a well produced series; the opening and closing titles are nicely done. My favourite character so far was the vampire hating vampire that the producer meets. He comes across as earthy, but he’s still talking about vampire myths - debunking them with total disdain.

Oh, I’m starting to think they had me fooled - the character Balthazane the vampire has his own blog reviewing vampire web series. I thought he was a real reviewer who focused on vampire shows, and they hired him to be in their show. Now I’m starting to think that he was a character and they made his blog up as a promotional platform for the show. If that’s true, it is kinda brilliant. Not only to help increase the show’s discoverability, but as a marketing gimmick. I’ve written about it twice now. It’s Lonely Girl 15 all over again!

From YouTube Description:

Watch ALL of our Episodes HERE: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E259CBF1BECE072A

With the vampire-impressing party in full swing, Tad and Bunny learn that people can change when you least expect them to.

Watch Vampire Zombie Werewolf at http://www.vampirezombiewerewolf.com/

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