More than ever, viewers look to the web for new T.V. shows

These days it is hard to find something good on T.V. Long-form shows tend to get canceled in their first season because of poor ratings and network meddling (like the genius shows Firefly and Traveler), while the ones that are lucky to last long are nearly done, such as Lost.

Because of the recession, it has been harder for studios to finance sitcoms and hour-long dramas, leading to late-night talk shows creeping into prime time and a flood of D-list celebrity reality shows — as if we needed any more of those. No, seriously, we don’t need any more of those.

Because of the lack of quality programming on our once-trusty television sets, people — and especially students — are turning to the Internet more for their serial entertainment.

Television and the Internet have been in the process of crossing over for the last few years. Apple’s product, Apple TV, has let owners watch iTunes-purchased T.V. show episodes since its debut in 2007, and websites like Hulu allow users to watch their favorite shows online.

But while Apple TV and Hulu are popular for bringing televised content to the web, they aren’t able to match the creative talent that comes from exclusive web series.

Recently, there’s been an explosion of high quality shows on the web, and these days, some of the most innovative and entertaining shows are coming out via the Internet and not mainstream television networks.

This explosion is not just with talk show podcasts like Diggnation or The Totally Rad Show, but is increasingly scripted dramas and comedies. The long running podcast Tiki Bar TV continues to be the funniest thing online with quirky characters, odd situations and cocktail recipes that manage to solve every problem they face, while The Guild takes a whimsical and offbeat look at online role playing and the personal lives of the players.

Meanwhile a lot of studio-backed shows like Angel of Death and the upcoming The Bannen Way are showing that gritty action-noir or complex, Guy Ritchie-esque crime stories are not exclusive to television.

And studios are catching on. The newfound faith the big shots have in web television is showing, with sleeker production values and well-known actors.

Web shows are in many ways an indie filmmaker’s dream. Instead of needing millions of dollars, A-list celebrities and focus groups to make a movie, you just need a camera, a cast and Internet access, and suddenly you have an audience in the millions. People used to struggle forever to pitch a show or a film to studios, and now they don’t have to. The Internet lets someone reach out to the niche they are filming for, and thanks to social networking, videos easily snowball into massive Internet successes.

But these new web series are not limited to just cult audiences and have even been validated by the T.V. Academy. While network television came to a screeching halt during the 2008 writers’ strike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer-creator Joss Whedon wrote and filmed Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, which went on to win an Emmy.

Big time shows like Heroes and Fringe have struggled with budget concerns (with Fringe recently relocating production from New York City to Vancouver to save money), while web shows thrive on de facto low budgets.

Instead of relying on expensive sets and fancy technology, they utilize camera tricks with guerilla filming, turning something shot in a studio apartment into something that looks as good as, if not better than, something out of 24 or CSI.

A recent six-minute Johnnie Walker commercial made for the web is a good example. Beyond the fact that it starred Robert Carlyle — an award-winning actor who appeared in Trainspotting and as Bond villain in The World is Not Enough — the commercial was an incredibly stripped down production, consisting of one camera, a long track of Scottish countryside, a handful of props and little else. The fact that it was an advertisement geared toward web show watchers is only a mild irony to the fact that it was filmed in the same style.

Web television is also unique enough that many actors and creators are turning to the medium in order to try something new. I was at a recent panel on web television hosted by the  website Tubefilter News, where the creators of The Bannen Way showed off some very cool clips of their show, including ones with well-known actors Michael Ironside and Robert Forster. According to the creators, studios are starting to see the appeal of web series, and so are actors, in some cases agreeing to take lower paychecks to participate in a burgeoning medium.

Television shows will probably always reign supreme in popularity, with big name stars and greater production tools. Web television, however, is an underground movement full of new ideas and alternative stories compared to what you find on T.V. and is home to quirky creators who would never get a chance to see their shows come to life on a network.

So if you’re looking for something entertaining and different from cookie-cutter television, check out what’s online.

Besides, we’re college students, aren’t we already on the Internet a lot already? Why not watch some T.V. while we’re at it?

Nicholas Slayton is a freshman majoring in print journalism. His column, “A Series of Tubes,“ runs Thursdays.