A quick review/summary of the IAWTV Awards

A lot of things can be said about the inaugural International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) Awards, but a bad production is not one of them. Outside of one troubling skit involving a house robbery that came off slightly racist due to a black man breaking the home of a white couple and attacking the white man, and an overly long skit with Kevin Pollak and Shira Lazar that severely dragged, the show looked and sounded great. There were a couple tech issues with videos, but they didn't stop the show and the presenters just laughed them off and kept things running smoothly.

What the show did lack was diversity. Not in terms of race, though it was rather heavily Caucasian, but in terms of the awards. I'm not saying the winners were of inferior quality to their competition, because it was a varied selection of nominees, but the fact that The Guild and its brethren Dragon Age Redemption and The Jeff Lewis 5 Minute Comedy Hour won all of their nominations reflects more on the voting body than it does the show.

Many excellent shows seem to have lost out because the awards seemed to go more by name recognition than actual quality. If it were a case of the cast and crew of these shows winning a handful of awards, or even a majority, it could be ignored, but that they won every single one of them cannot. This was a chance to showcase just how diverse and wonderful the web space is, and instead it became all about how big a name somebody has.

Nonetheless, some shining examples did show in that RCVR, which had a broad platform in Machinima's Youtube channel, won a handful of the Drama Awards, and indie darling Anyone But Me won best Writing in a Drama and Best Female Performance in a Drama. SyFy exclusive The Mercury Men nabbed a few as well.

The show is still undergoing some growing pains, as is the electorate process, and I'm happy to call the overall show a success, but hopefully next year the electorate will look for more than name recognition when voting.

In full disclosure, I am a voting member of the IAWTV, though I did not attend the ceremony itself but instead watched the Youtube livestream

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl

It's been awhile since I've updated, which is why I included that disclaimer in the first blog post.

Today's show is commonly referred to as Awkward Black Girl, or ABG, and is about a woman named J who happens to be, well, black and awkward.

ABG thrives on a lack of political correctness, but at the same time is anything but stereotypical as everyone involved has at least two dimensions, and the more central a character is the more layers they're given. J, for example, writes violent rap lyrics whenever she is frustrated romantically or professionally.

At the heart is a rivalry with an evil and jealous co-worker, a budding friendship with an equally awkward co-worker, and a love triangle between J, a black man named Fred, and a white guy called White Jay.

Often diving headlong into audacity for comedy, the show looks like it would have a niche appeal but is surprisingly accessible. The characters are all engaging and the acting solid.

Awkward Black Girl can be found at http://awkwardblackgirl.com/ as well as Youtube.

Geek Girl Con

It's been awhile, but I'm sharing the Women in Webseries panel from Geek Girl Con with everyone that reads this blog because it was a very interesting discussion. Hope you enjoy it!

Steamboat

There's something to be said for being able to make fun of yourself. If you're really good at it, you're just funny.

Steamboat is a comedy about the behind the scenes shenanigans of the cast and crew of a soap opera on the verge of cancellation. Written and produced by former soap stars, Steamboat is a hilarious romp through egos and crazy.

The production quality is top notch, with nary an out of focus camera or audio glitch to be seen. The show is shot in a mockumentary directing style, which many web series are. What the premise lacks in originality it makes up for in in-jokes and meta storytelling

 Performances from named actors and unknown alike are strong and deliciously hammy. Dialogue is fast and witty and samples juvenile jokes for shockingly high brow humour.

Life From the Inside

Disclaimer: I have received promotional material such as DVDs from the creator of this series.

Agoraphobia. You'd think a series set around a character who can't leave his home would be a drama about someone suffering from a debilitating disease, but for Mason, lead character of the long running web series Life From the Inside, it's the least of his many hilarious problems.

Episodes are typically in the window of half and hour, broken up into 3 or 4 parts. The editing is serviceable, with no noticeable issues. The sound is clear and never tinny.

The early episodes are not shot in HD, but they are all well shot and the scenes have clever background music. The 80s-inspired episode even has music that could be taken from that decades radio.

Characters are well defined, and the acting is top notch. The dialogue is also witty and rarely goes for the easy joke, instead preferring to remain intelligent.

Devanity

Sex. Drugs. Lies. No, this isn't a GOP convention, it's the everyday lives of the twisted Devanity family. There's the rapist, the druggie, the controlling asshole, and the party girl fighting over the inherited empire as they sleep with each other's spouses and sometimes each other.

The show goes for a glamorous look and knocks it out of the park. Production values are high, the locations are expansive, and it's highly reminiscent of a 1980s primetime soap opera without network censors. The main weak spot is the occasionally spotty sound, most of which is in the first episode.

The acting is usually strong, though sometimes the performances aren't over the top enough to match the writing and setting. Katie Caprio in particular is a treasure as the drugged up Bianca.

As for the writing itself, it's so mired in trash that Maury Povich would pass on it and Jerry Springer would have to make it a pay-per-view special. It is what Days of our Lives, Passions, and other campy daytime and primetime soap operas wish they could be. There is no taboo too strong for the Devanity clan. However, the shock value is never a detriment to the overall plot.

There is a chance that Devanity may cross the line for some viewers, but whichever side of the line you end up on it's a fun ride.

Girl Parts

Being honest, there is such a deluge of "actors making it in LA/New York" web series that I'm about to institute a moratorium on watching them. It's not that they're all terrible, just that there isn't much different between the shows than the casts.

Today's show, Girl Parts, doesn't do anything terribly new in the subgenre, but it's still a solid and genuinely funny show. Main character Ash and her boss are the breakout characters. They play off each other well, and have great chemistry as the actors clearly try to one up each other.

While the actresses all give great performances, there really isn't a whole lot differences in Ash's roommates. This could be because the season is only five episodes in and they're just supporting characters, but it's hard to tell who is who at times.

The show looks good, and has some interesting camera angles like a shot from within the fridge in the pilot. The sound is also excellent, as is the 60s British Rock-inspired theme song. Overall, the production is good and I can't find any flaws that interrupt the viewing process.

Episodic is the name of the game. There isn't much of a continuing story, but there is a strong sense of continuity between the episodes, such as a running gag about Bill Murray.

If you can get past the original setup, Girl Parts is an enjoyable little show, albeit a little on the bubblegum side. I'd definitely recommend giving it a chance.