Three new internet sensations have gotten the call! Today we got news that a popular website, a YouTube hit, and a humble web series are being developed into TV programming and even a feature film. This sure washes away the stink of the disastrous quarterlife, huh? That series, about brooding twentysomethings, was a modest hit on the the internet then completely tanked when NBC picked it up for national broadcast. Something was lost in the translation from the small, dog-and-pony world of the internet to the shiny public squares of television. And people said the internet was finished! The conversion would never work. Popular internet clips and videos and memes would languish in strange, unpaid obscurity forever. So this news must elate you, internet video makers! Though, um, actually don't get too excited. There's just one hitch.

All of the people working on these homegrown projects are already established celebrities. People like Will Ferrell and Seth Rogen.

  • Funny Or Die, the comedy (term used loosely) video hosting website created by Will Ferrell and his frequent collaborator Adam McKay, will be developing 10 half hour blocks of programming for HBO. The premium cable network also bought a small stake in the website, indicating that they have big hopes for the popular site.
  • Seth Rogen and his Undeclared costar Jay Baruchel made a funny (NSFW!) mock trailer for a fake movie called Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse that's now being turned into an actual movie. A minute and twenty five seconds of content becomes a full feature film! Brilliant!
  • And last and probably least, In the Motherhood, a mildly amusing web series "conceived by Suave and Sprint" and starring Leah Remini (crazy Scientologist!), Chelsea Handler (beloved advertiser!), and Jenny McCarthy (funny lady!), is being developed into a mid-season sitcom by ABC. The interesting thing about this one is that, so far, episodes have been based on real moms' stories that were sent in to the website and ABC is actually interested in (in some small capacity, probably) sticking with that format.


So what, if anything, do these three stories tell us? Essentially that the internet is rarely little more than a fun place to fuck around for cheap if you're a nobody, and a fun, easy place to hold a pitch meeting if you're a famous actor/comedian/Scientologist. I mean who wants to go into some executive's office? So keep plugging away, all you crazy anonymous YouTubers. You'll earn your internet-produced success soon enough. Right after you become a movie star.