Yale Kids, Web Sitcom: If We Don’t Hate It, It’s Gotta Be Good
A team of Brooklyn-based Yalies and other miscellaneous Ivy-types have started what may well be the world’s first online sitcom: Duder. Although the terrible name is probably setting off alarm bells of lameness for some of you, judge not too quickly! The three episodes posted so far are actually pretty hilarious. Plots: sturdy. Production values: impressive. Comic timing: competent to inspired. We’ve come to appreciate the show’s Seinfeld 2.0 themes and delightful awkwardness — the show’s take on interracial dating in episode one, shown below, is guaranteed to have you squirming.
So here’s to you, Duder. You’re proof that we don’t all have to become stunningly mediocre tools after we graduate.
More solid clips after the jump.
“Coming Out”:
“Episode Two”:
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October 24th, 2006 at 8:08 pm
not the first online sitcom by far. in fact, it’s pretty derivative of http://theburg.tv
October 25th, 2006 at 8:22 am
hi. i direct Duder. We never claimed to be the first web sitcom by a long shot, but I would like to point out that we’ve been putting episodes online for at least half a year before The Burg. So while I’m fairly sure neither we nor they spend a lot of time on each other’s material, they get to be derivative of us, rather than us of them.
October 25th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Saw Duder yesterday (all three episodes). Pretty hilarious show. I especially enjoyed episode 3.
October 26th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Hm. At least a year and a half before The Burg? Really? I’ve watched both shows. Duder had only one episode out for like 4 months. And according to Youtube, it’s been out for 1 month longer than The Burg. So one month is now… half a year. Lucky we switched to that two-month year, I was getting tired of the traditional calendar.
October 26th, 2006 at 11:14 am
simon,
well shoot, you’re right. I went back and looked at when we posted our first video, and it was more like May, rather than the January/February that I thought of it as. The ealier months were actually when we were shooting. Yes, we take a long time to get our eps up … We’re a little understaffed. Anyways, I was quick on the draw to defend. I guess i just didn’t like being called derivative. The ‘Burgers are working hard and putting out good product. I just didn’t want to be accused of biting it.
October 26th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
For the record, neither of these shows seem particularly derivative of the other.
November 3rd, 2006 at 6:47 pm
I’m on The Burg. While we were in the process of shooting our first couple episodes, we saw your casting notices…So I don’t think you’ve been around for a half a year longer.
November 16th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Not to put too fine a point on it – but who cares who was first? The novelty of independently producing an online sitcom is wearing off rather quickly.
Now it’s all about who’s the funniest, and who can parley that humor into a large audience.
Roger Thornesby III
Publicist for GREENE’S online sitcom / http://www.greenes.tv
(It’s CHEERS set in a medical marijuana dispensary in LA)
November 19th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Not to jump too much into the fray, but I’m an actor on the web comic series “Something To Be Desired” (http://www.stbd.tv), and we’ve been around for 3 1/2 years. It seems like the web is finally catching up. Depending on your definition of sitcom (and since this is a new medium, why parse terms and compare to the outdated?), shows like Tiki Bar TV, It’s Jerry Time, and others have been around for quite a while. If you’re interested, there’s a site called Network2 (http://www.network2.tv) that’s compiling all of the shows and creating an online TV Guide.
Incidentally, I enjoy both Duder and The Burg. We need more of this kind of quality work done on the internet to legitimize the medium. Let’s not squabble amongst ourselves.
December 19th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
Well, http://www.hugeinasia.com started about a week ago, so it’s probably the first. That would be one month before the Burg and 12 months before Duder. Glad that’s settled.