Webisode Clack – Some David Faustino, some Whoopi, and a bit more of Strike.tv

More than ever, new Internet-only shows are popping up online and in podcasts while existing shows are expanding their worlds in the same way. This time around we’ll take a look at webisodes from the former Bud Bundy, the current Whoopi Goldberg, and something else from the extensive Strike.tv library.

Star-ving -Ever wonder what happened to David Faustino, the former Bud Bundy of Married, With Children? Well, he’s broke, suicidal, owns a small porn shop with his friend Corin Nemec (Parker Lewis Can’t Lose), and he wears tightie-whities. So, you know, about what you expected from him.

All right, most of that is exaggerated for fun in his new web comedy Star-ving, which is appearing weekly at Crackle (which is backed by Sony Entertainment). Now, if you thought that Married, With Children was raunchy, get ready to be totally shocked by this series, which features the misadventures of Faustino as he tries to get his money and his dignity back.

Created by Faustino and Nemec, Star-ving is pretty funny if you can get past all of the swearing — there are probably more f-bombs in a seven-minute episode than there are in a 30 minute episode of Entourage. Some reviewers have called it a bastardized version of Entourage, but I think it’s probably more like HBO’s other comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm. The first three episodes of the series have included a number of guest stars including Faustino’s former TV dad Ed O’Neil, comedian Gilbert Gottfried, and rapper Coolio. I say give it a try if your passing by on the web.

Stream – When you think of Whoopi Goldberg, the term “Horror Queen” doesn’t come to mind. Unless you’re thinking about her short relationship with Ted Danson. Yet, here she is on Fearnet.com doing her horror thang in the series Stream.

Goldberg plays Jodi Quinn, a fifty-something woman who has hallucinations. Though they may not be hallucinations, they may actually be glimpses into the future from her past self. Got it? Yeah, I wasn’t too sure about it all myself. Especially since the first episode of the series didn’t really tell us much. Having said that, the concept of Stream looks interesting. They’ll keep my interest as long as they give us some more meat in the episodes.

This week’s Strike.tv installment is:

Global Warming – You would think that a web series starring Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wiig and The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi would be a raunchy, silly laugh riot. You would be wrong, of course, but you could still think that. Don’t get offended now because Global Warming, which stars Wiig and Mandvi, is funny, but in a romantic comedy type of way.

Warming is basically the story about Internet relationships and the pluses and pitfalls that can take place when they meet face-to-face. I’ll admit it: it’s cute. In addition, I definitely could see this turning into a full-fledged, 30 minute comedy if there was any space left on the television schedule.

Finally, the last two episodes of the newest Heroes webisode “The Recruit” have been released. When we last left Private Mills she was denying her powers of teleportation to Angela Petrelli. The last two episodes fill in some of the Private’s history as well as show what happens to her when Ms. Petrelli lets her go.

Honestly, this series wasn’t worth the bandwidth that it took up. There was very little substance to the character of Private Mills so we couldn’t really connect with her. In addition, the only thing the fifth episode was good for was promoting one of Nissan’s new automobile models. One hopes the return of Bryan Fuller to Heroes will help punch up some of these future webisodes.

Clacked by Richard Keller
on Jan 22, 2009 @ 11:00 EST5EDT