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Hi this is Rachel (and this is Kendra) and you're watching This Week in TV. Today, we
have a few scheduling notes, though it's a pretty quiet week and then we'll talk about
something new: web series! First, Kendra, what's on?
K: Well Rachel, on Monday, Degrassi has its season premiere on Teen Nick at 9/8c. Also,
Harry Potter fans, don't miss the new Lifetime original movie, "Magic Beyond Words: The J.K.
Rowling Story" at 8pm. On Tuesday, new game show "It's Worth What?" premieres on NBC at
8/7c and Web Therapy has its season premiere on Showtime at 11pm. On Sunday the 24th, CBS
premieres "Same Name" at 9/8c, a new reality series in which regular people with celebrity
names switch places with those celebrities. Also, the next exciting HBO premiere of the
summer is here with Entourage's 8th and final season premiere at 10:30pm.
R: So in honor of the TV premiere of Web Therapy, Kendra and I thought we'd talk a little bit
more about web series today. If you didn't know, Web Therapy started off as a web series
starring Lisa Kudrow as Fiona Wallice, a therapist who has conceived of a new form of therapy
- I bet you can guess what that is. Wallace thinks the traditional in person therapy sessions
are too long - which is why she has replaced them with short, online webcam sessions. It's
a dark comedy. Web Therapy is not the first web series that
has made the transition to TV. By the way - Showtime is airing the original episodes,
but now with additional scenes. So, Kendra, what's another series that people may be surprised
to learn had its origins in web tv.
K: Childrens Hospital started as a web series on TheWB.com in 2008, then moved to TV airing
episodes on Adult Swim starting in 2010. The series mocks all those seriously dramatic
medical series like Grey's Anatomy and ER plus features some familiar faces including
Megan Mullally and Henry Winkler.
R: In addition to web series jumping from the web over to TV, series also may travel
in the reverse direction...from TV to the web. It's very popular now for TV series to
make companion web episodes, often called minisodes, generally as either additional
content for the biggest fans to sink their teeth into while the show is airing, or as
content to keep viewers engaged when the series is on hiatus. A good example of this are the
Breaking Bad minisodes which were released between the first 2 seasons or the Rescue
Me minisodes between seasons 4 and 5. Kendra, what were some other popular minisodes?
K: True Blood has found various ways to make waiting suck a little less between seasons,
so in 2010, to lead up to the Season 3 premiere, they came out with "A Drop of True Blood,"
which had six minisodes featuring our favorite True Blood characters. Each webisode was a
tidbit of extra insight into certain characters and situations on the show. And, speaking
of True Blood related webseries, don't forget to Track and watch SideReel's original True
Blood spoof webseries, Fang In There Bro on its SideReel page for bi-weekly episodes all
throughout this new True Blood season. You can find all the web series we've talked about
today and plenty more on our Web TV page!
K: That's it for this week, come fan us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to keep
up with all the TV news and buzz.
R: See you next week!