Webisode Clack – GhostFacers and The Vault

We’re in preview mode this week, looking at two shows that are just about to launch. And they are two shows coming from two very different places. Fans of the best show on television will already be familiar with GhostFacers, from the CW. That’s a built in audience that should mean good things for the show. On the other side of the coin, we have The Vault. There’s no built in audience for the post-apocalyptic reality show, but they have a concept that could do well on the internet.

After appearances in season one’s “Hell House,” and season three’s “GhostFacers,” the boys are finally getting their own show. Granted, it’s not a big fancy network spin-off (although, I’d wager this would do better than Melrose Place too), but we’ll take what we can get. A.J. Buckley and Travis Wester return as Ed and Harry. The two are also credited as writers on the new show. Brittany Ishibashi and Austin Basis also return, filling out the GhostFacers 2.0 team.

The webseries will follow the familiar pattern, with the team recounting their adventures in the documentary style. Episode one follows their investigation at a local theatre where an actress (Kelly Carlson) was murdered in front of her dressing room mirror. Each episode will be three or four minutes and the first two will go live at cwtv.com on April 15th as part of the celebration for Supernatural‘s 100th episode. Two more episodes will appear on each of the next four Thursdays, bringing the grand total to ten. There is also a companion website that will be worth bookmarking.

The Vault gets its start in all of the predictions that the world is coming to an end. But it doesn’t set out to answer that question. Instead, it moves right past it to, “What if you survived?” Doomsday enthusiast Russ McCullough got the ball rolling and the end result is a reality series that plans to put 12 survivors in an underground bunker and watch what happens.

Twelve people, forty feet underground, with twelve cameras and the basic supplies they need to survive. And we’ll be able to watch it all unfold on the web. How much of it we’ll be able to see is part of the plan. There will be a freely available show, but subscribers will get more access, and more coverage. That’s the interesting bit to me.

Certainly, there is every chance that this thing could be a huge trainwreck. A one year commitment right out of the gate is pretty crazy, and it could end up that nobody is watching. On the other hand, if there is a hook that catches viewers, this is the kind of thing that a niche audience can obsess over to an amazing extent. If you’re at all familiar with the people that subscribe to the Big Brother feeds, you’ll know what I mean. That part does remain to be seen, but I’m curious enough that I’ll be checking it out when the show premieres sometime in April. Check out the official Vault 12 site for more info. Here’s the teaser.

Clacked by Brett Love
on Mar 31, 2010 @ 09:00 EST5EDT