This week we’re looking for the surreal laughs as we tackle We Are With The Band. The show was created and produced by Heleya de Barros and Vivian Kerr, with Vivian writing the script. It follows their characters, Elle (Heleya) and Marci (Vivian), as they stumble their way through the Silver Lake scene.
Or, as they put it on their Kickstarter page when they were raising money for the show, “We Are With the Band = Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion + It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia ÷ Hipsters.” I’ll have to take them at their word on the division. I like bizarre math as much as anyone, but I am about as far removed from the hipster set as one can get. But then, that fact might be one of the secrets to the show. Because even though it takes place in a world I know very little about, the relationship and the situations still feel very familiar.
Elle and Marci are in that weird part of their lives where they are still kind of wandering and trying to find themselves. As you might expect, given the earlier equation, the paths they are wandering lead them to some disastrous ends. At times it feels like we’re just a few seconds from watching a train wreck. You know what they’re going to do before they do it, and you know it’s a bad idea, but you still really want to see it happen.
But that’s not all there is to Elle and Marci’s big adventure. They are few and far between, but there are the occasional hints that they are figuring things out. The solution is coming through the most bizarre of trial-and-error practices, but it’s coming. It’s a clever bit of writing that pushes the show over the top. The slapstick stuff is really funny, and de Barros and Kerr both play it very well, but those hints of more are what complete the picture. That, and the fact that they are both so charming, makes you want to root for them, despite all of their obvious faults. And perhaps more importantly, it’s what makes me want to stick around and see how it all finishes up.
Three of the eight episodes are available right now over at the show’s KoldCast page, with new episodes being released every Friday. Heleya and Vivian are also in talks to shoot a second season. You can keep up with the show, and hopefully learn about that second season, at the official site, and on twitter and facebook. I would also recommend the interview they did last week with Indie Intertube for a lot of laughs, and an interesting behind the scenes look at what it takes to produce a web series. Here’s the trailer for the show.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Apr 28, 2010 @ 14:30 EST5EDT
