Quarterlife Crosses Over From Web to TV

In the same way radio and newspapers struggled with the rise of television 60 years ago, TV hasn't always known how to handle the Internet. With barriers to entry online practically nil, many have predicted that networks and studios would take a natural interest in short films on the Web, and snap up their more talented creators (we saw something like this happen when the first generation of music video directors crossed over to mainstream Hollywood). So far, however, the Web/TV alliance has mostly amounted to cobbling together clip shows around viral videos.

But things may be changing now that it's been proven that Web audiences will follow a series with at least a vague narrative attached, such as Lonelygirl15, in the same way a series on television 1.0 has its rabid fans. But history will show that the first Web series to be picked up by a broadcast network was not the product of a radical underground sensibility, but was instead the work of two tube stalwarts who had gone to the Web specifically to escape network television.

Quarterlife, which began running on MySpace on November 11, was acquired last week by NBC and will begin running in February, both on the tube and on NBC.com. The series is the work of Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, who succeeded with Thirtysomething 20 years ago (really, it's been that long!) and more recently with Once and Again, and had a noble failure with My So-Called Life. On the Web, the series is scheduled to run in 36 eight-minute bits, which will likely translate to six hour-long episodes on television. While it's reasonable to surmise that the writers' strike had something to do with NBC's eagerness to acquire the show so quickly (some of Zwick's and Herskovitz's WGA colleagues raised eyebrows upon finding out that two of their most high-profile members provided a network with fresh material in the midst of the strike), the deal is likely to become a model for future network acquisitions, even if Quarterlife turns out to be an also-ran in the ratings.

It's been a long and winding road to full life for Quarterlife, which started out as a Zwick/Herskovitz pilot in 2005 with an entirely different cast. The duo's long relationship with ABC did not pay off as the network failed to pick up the pilot. Herskovitz reconfigured the story slightly, keeping the general idea of mid-20s men and women with an artistic bent, but now centering things around a magazine flunky and video blogger played by Bitsie Tulloch, a veteran of Lonelygirl15. He and Zwick have said they regarded the subject matter as a better fit for the Web than for the current state of prime time television, and keeping it on the Web meant retaining full ownership and creative control. Herskovitz and Zwick will retain ownership and control with the series on NBC (although some language cuts will need to be made to put Quarterlife in prime time); and for the network's part, its licensing fee for the series is very low.

How is Quarterlife as entertainment? The best thing you can say about it is that it looks like a television show. This is a major step up from the guy in his bedroom ranting on YouTube. But while there are great video blogs out there, whether it's possible to make good fictional entertainment about a video blogger is an open question not answered by this series.

Bloggers are often derided as self-absorbed anyway, and Zwick/Herskovitz wrote the book on televised navel gazing with Thirtysomething, so the combination of both elements promised an abundance of snark potential. When blogger Dylan says "We blog to exist" or begins a sentence with "A sad truth about my generation..." all one's worst fears about this project come bubbling to the surface. Still, Zwick and Herskovitz are proven masters of characterization, so perhaps Dylan and her friends will cease to irritate as the rest of the episodes unspool in the coming weeks.

Zwick and Herskovitz were in the right place at the right time: ready to debut Quarterlife at a time when Web entertainment as an alternative to and possible long-term replacement for what we've known as television was a subject of intense interest thanks to the strike. "TV legends find new home on Web" is a pretty irresistible angle for trend spotting journalists. While the pair has never had a ratings hit to match their critical and societal buzz, they're enough of a known quantity that their deal will not in itself open the door for Web-based talent, anymore than Will Ferrell's new sideline as viral video star will turn your basic YouTube yakker into a mainstream actor.

But filmmaking equipment gets cheaper and cheaper; Web outlets to display one's work are growing rapidly; and audiences are becoming more accustomed to going online to seek out the sort of narrative entertainment that was once the province of film and television. Meanwhile, there are still just the Big Five networks. It stands to reason that there are more talented filmmakers, writers, and producers out there than there are time slots in the prime time schedule to employ them. If the Web is not yet a true farm system for television talent (Zwick and Herskovitz were by no means minor leaguers), it will be before too many more pilot seasons have passed.

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