As Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog taught us last week that if you make a quality project, people on the internet will flock to it. The next to try to harness the power of the intertubes is Rosario Dawson (He Got Game) and the Green Arrow from Smallville in Gemini Division a new online series for NBC.com. My sources describe it as, “Like Lonelygirl15, Gemini Division is a female first-person confessional — in this case, about biotech run wild. Dawson plays Anna Diaz, a New York City detective having a crazy fling with a guy who's tall, blond, and ripped… and a little bit ‘off’.”
A sci-fi version of Lonelygirl15. Um, yeah, alright. And if that description didn’t wet your palette, well, then take a look at the trailer:
Okay, a little more interesting than the description, but still looks to have a production value of a web only video. And sci-fi is all about its look. Should be interesting to she how the show is received (if at all) and Wired.com has a very extensive article on the show with behind the scenes info. Wondering around GeminiDivision.com I did notice the lack of an RSS feed. Hopefully this is because the show doesn’t debut until August 18th because a website without an RSS feed is pretty useless. If you want me to watch something at least let me know when a new episode is up.
NBC is really getting into the online content this summer, aside from Gemini Division, the Heroes Webisodes I highlighted earlier this week (see: Next Time Don't Mess with the Mailman), there is also The Office webisodes, the third of which debuted yesterday. Head over to NBC.com to see Kevin in Exposed Wires.
Its so important for the interactive TV genre that Gemini Division puts on a good showing. This is the kind of innovative product that exploits the interactivity of the internet and changes the lean back viewing experience of traditional TV into something far more engaging. Its success would bring much needed attention to the indie interactive web scene.
ReplyDeleteSigning Rosario Dawson is a great choice, a neo sci-fi plot is a great choice, the one gripe I have though is geo-blocking the show limiting it only to a US audience, I think its a cop out and a failure to fully embrace the internet. NBC, why get only half pregnant?! In mitigation, I suppose with a huge marketing budget, Gemini Division does not have to rely on viral distribution like indies do. And it probably has found revenues in international distribution.
$1.75M is HUGE for the web TV world but my hope is that a nice chunk of that is allocated to marketing (and you can count Rosario’s paycheck in that) to bring attention to the nascent interactive web series genre … indies like ours will gladly ride this coat tail.