Dorm Life is the little web series that could, beating out other competitors with far bigger budgets, and far more famous comic talents. For those who don't know, the show takes the mockumentary model made famous by Christopher Guest and "The Office," and transposes it to a college setting. The creators of the show have shown remarkable savvy-- how many college students will sit down and make an insightful and appropriate comedy centered on their actual surroundings, rather than choosing an obscure intellectual topic they just learned about in class?
It comes as no surprise that Dorm Life is Hulu's most-watched web show.
After 20,000 audience votes, the audience favorite was also "Dorm Life," with an emphatic 44% of the vote.
The other nominees were "The All For Nots," "Carpet Brothers," "The Writer's Room," and "That Guy."
There were literally thousands of comedic clips on Hulu to choose from, and the list of ten finalists was long, distinguished, and hilarious.
But only one clip made the final cut, and it's fitting that it comes from an independent cult classic such as "Office Space." Even more fittingly, fans of director/writer Mike Judge can look forward to this year's "Extract," where Judge works with Ben Affleck, Mila Kunis, and Jason Bateman to bring us all some thoughtful comedy.
After 20,000 audience votes, the Audience Favorite was "Dick In A Box," the much ballyhooed Timberlake/Samberg digital short, which aired on Saturday Night Live.
The other nominees were
Arrested Development: "Making Fun of Michael" Animal House: "Toga Guitar Smash" The Office: "Goodbye, Toby" Robin Hood: Men In Tights: "Men In Tights" Shaun of the Dead: "Throwing Records" The Big Lebowski: "Don't Fuck With Jesus"30 Rock: "Jenna on Hardball"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: "Spin Class"
You can see all of the nominated clips in their entirety HERE
Many thanks to Morgan Spurlock, friend of the Hulu Review, for sending us this picture. It truly captures the pride and surprise with which he received his award.
Similarly, 30 Days has captured the hearts and minds of our voting panel. Many intellectuals turn their back on the landscape of reality television, dismissing the genre as beyond redemption. But Spurlock has taken the more admirable approach-- he has harnessed the love that the mouth-breathing public feels for reality television, and turned it into an effective means of education on a wide range of issues.
Over the course of its three season run, the program touched on every controversial topic imaginable. Immigration, religious intolerance, abortion, animal rights, gun rights, and more all got the full treatment. In this case, for those who don't know, the full treatment usually involves immersing a person from one way of life in the community of their ideological opposite. So, the homophobe lives among homosexuals for the titular 30 days, and thereby learns a little something about the other side of the fence. Not all of the shows revolved around opposites. For example, Morgan Spurlock himself spent a sweaty month working in a coal mine, alongside hard laborers for whom he already had a large amount of respect.
Spurlock fans can look forward to his next film project, an adaptation of the hit (and thought-provoking) book, "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Looks at the Hidden Side of Everything." It should come out sometime this year.
Now, with the show gone from the airwaves, it lives on in digital format at Hulu.com. One nice thing about the 30 Days presence on Hulu is that the roster is complete-- no teasing here. Watch all 18 episodes at your leisure, here.
After 20,000 audience votes, the audience favorite was "Pressure Cook," with 31% of the vote.
The other nominees were "Destination Truth," "Queer Eye," "Ghost Hunters," and "America's Most Wanted."
When you're searching for the worst reality show on Hulu, there's no shortage of candidates. How does one show sink far enough below the bar to beat out the most damnable shows in tv history? Answer: Be ruined fame whore Dina Lohan, from whose womb the endlessly vacant Lindsay Lohan sprang.
In a sense, the show serves as an apology and a raison d 'etre for Lindsay Lohan's apparent lack of humanity. Who among us could be raised by such a woman and emerge with an ounce of moral fiber?
The show has taken two detestable and fame-hungry people (Dina and Lindsay sibling Ali-- we'll exclude the pubescent Cody for the time being), and created heaps of horrifically artificial conflict and drama in an effort to wring out a palatable storyline.
With literally nothing going for it, it's a miracle that the show was ever greenlighted by the good folks at E! television. Good job E! You're number one at sucking!
After 20,000 votes, the audience pick is also "Living Lohan," with a 29% share.
Other nominees were "Denise Richards: It's Complicated," "Temptation Island," "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," and "Hey Paula."
The celebrity in question is bad boy chef Gordon Ramsay, a man whose constant stream of furious expletives has turned him into the unlikely face of British fine cuisine. American viewers may not be aware that Ramsay's hit "Kitchen Nightmares" is a British export that has been given a slight makeover for US viewers.
The formula is as predictable as a sunset, yet compelling in its details. A local restaurant is on the brink of financial ruin. Desperate to keep the doors open, they ask Ramsay for help. He comes in, tastes the food, and pronounces it inedible. He spends the next couple of days exposing any dirt he can, with the focus on filthy kitchens and unhelpful personalities. Typically, he identifies a scapegoat, whether that's the owner or a manager. He berates the owner on everything he can until the owner breaks and agrees that major changes are needed. Then Ramsay retools the menu, gussies up the dining room, and hosts an event that fills the restaurant to the brim with paying customers. Afterward, Ramsay pronounces the restaurant cured of its ills, and rides off into the sunset.
The success of the show is based on Ramsay's proven entertainment factor, as well as the innate interest we have in seeing behind the scenes of the local restaurants that serve us our food.
Fans will be excited to hear that Fox has announced a third season for this fall.
There's also a lot of buzz on the web regarding the actual fortunes of the restaurants featured on the program. How many failing restaurants are actually given a new lease on life by Ramsay's one-week visit? According to Wikipedia, 10 of the 21 featured restaurants have been closed down, with two others changing ownership since they were made over by Ramsay.
By one measure, this is a pretty dismal score. About half of the restaurants are gone, despite Ramsay's much-ballyhooed best effort. On the other hand, half of the businesses have actually been saved by a simple makeover. It's a glass half empty/glass half full kind of thing. I think the show would be better served by being a little more honest about the rickety ground that some restaurants have been left on at the end of the week.
Still, there's another measure of success for the show. In a Hulu-landscape chock-full of crappy reality shows fueld by crappy reality stars, one man stands head and shoulders above the rest. Congratulations to Gordon Ramsay and the other minds behind Kitchen Nightmares!
After 20,000 votes, the Audience Favorite is "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List," which scored a convincing 31% of the audience vote.
When you consider the thousands upon thousands of clips populating Hulu, it seems fitting that an iconic classic is what cuts through all the background noise to grip us. Here it is in all its black and white glory:
It's rare that a horror film asks us to dwell for so long on the aftermath of a murder. Usually, when we see a victim who has been mortally stabbed, it's because that victim is about to do something amazingly heroic. Here, Janet Leigh simply dies. We're invited to think about the way that the heart stops beating, the eyes glaze over, and whatever makes up one's life essence dissipates into the great beyond. Janet Leigh was the main character in the film; now she's gone.
Before you take a gander at the same scene in the 1998 Psycho remake, here are a few interesting tidbits about the original 1960 shower scene: 1. Even though the scene reeks of blood, gore, and violence, there are actually only three brief frames showing any type of penetration, and these show only minor cuts to Janet's stomach. 2. The blood is chocolate syrup, while the sound of the knife was created by stabbing a melon 3. Depending on which reference you believe, there are 50 cuts, and 71 or 78 angles in the three minute scene. This creates a very modern-feeling MTV effect.
After 20,000 audience votes, the Audience Favorite was
Obama's Inauguration
Obama's level of success in office will certainly determine whether this is a seminal moment in world history, or just another entry in the long list of presidential disappointments, but for now, at least, Hulu viewers have faith.
The other nominees were
My Cousin Vinny: "Expert Witness" NBC News Time Capsule: "Martin Luther King Speech" Scarface: "Say Hello to My Little Friend" Field of Dreams: "Ray and His Dad Play Catch" The Usual Suspects: "Interrogation"
You can see all of the nominated clips in their entirety HERE
(Please welcome guest presenter Tamara Brooks, a regular contributor to the excellent site Zap2It)
And the Hulie goes to....
24!
Jack Bauer has had a few bad days. Seven to be exact and our panelists have loved every one of them. "24" combines intense action, espionage, drama, innovative real-time storytelling and a great cast lead by Kiefer Sutherland. Bombings? Check. Bio-weapons? Yup. Moles, sleeper agents, and betrayals? Yes, yes and yes. Assasination plots? Those too. Thanks to this category, Jack's also bested an undercover agent ("Burn Notice"), an involuntary time-traveler ("Journeyman"), a pair of jail-jumping brothers ("Prison Break"), and a Nerd Herder ("Chuck").
After 20,000 votes, the Audience Favorite is Chuck (39%)!
While the panelists favored a more hard-edged show, the voting public have given the nod to the adventures of accidental spy Chuck Bartowski, CIA handler/love interest Sarah Walker, and NSA handler/newly minted Colonel John Casey. "Chuck" combines action, intrigue, and suspense with comedy, pop culture shout-outs, and a cast of diverse (and odd) characters. It's like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup of TV.
(Please welcome guest presenter Tamara Brooks, a regular contributor to the excellent site Zap2It)
And the Hulie goes to....
Jackass 2.0!
In 2000, MTV debuted a series in which the stars performed occasionally funny, often dangerous, and almost always painful stunts from tasering to skateboard shenanigans to mangling body parts. Of course, do to its questionable nature, it became an instant hit. Johnny Knoxville and company eventually made the leap to the big screen not once but twice and it's that second offense that's landed them on the list.
The movie, which is just a collection of shorts, starts with the whole cast in a "Running of the Bulls" scenario and ends with a big musical number with the guys singing and dancing amidst bruising and potentially lethal stunts. Now, certain things are universally funny in spite of our better judgment, like people tripping and/or falling, but I've never been able to understand the appeal of watching a grown man staple his privates or getting battered by a bull. I'm totally not their demo.
When the voting period was taking place, "Jackass 2.0" was available for viewing. As of now the movie has been removed from the queue, to the relief of many I'm sure. But the Jackass crew's exploits can still be seen thanks to full episodes and clips from the whole series as well as the dangerous-in-a-slightly-different-way spin-off "Wildboyz".
This is a time when both the panel and the audience agrees as, after 20,000 votes, they also picked "Jackass 2.0".
The other less than stellar nominees in this category were "National Lampoon's Spring Break", "Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps", "Planet of the Apes" (the remake), "Starship Troopers", and "Xanadu". Though I have to disagree with that last one - "Xanadu" is so bad it's fantastic. I'm not ashamed to admit I own the soundtrack.
This win actually deserves to have an asterisk or two next to it. We've created a separate category for "Major Networks," because Fox and NBC are so clearly ahead of their smaller rivals in terms of high-profile content on Hulu. But taking out "Fox" left "20th Century Fox Television" still in the running, and that "non major network" took our panel's breath away with such shows as "Angel," Buffy," and "Arrested Development."
So, I'll primarily take this as a lesson on category-structuring for next year. But let's not completely ignore the achievement, which spotlights some of our panelist's favorite content on the web, bar none.
After 20,000 votes, the audience favorite is "USA" which eked out the win with 26% of the vote.
The other nominees were "Comedy Central," "Sci Fi," and "FX".
(Please welcome guest presenter Tamara Brooks, a regular contributor to the excellent site Zap2It)
And the Hulie "winner" is....
Knight Rider!
Oh...shed a single tear for this reboot attempt. NBC tried to give "Knight Rider" a second life but ended up dooming it to an ignoble death according to our panel.
The cheese-tastic original 80's series starred David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight. The new version starred Justin Bruening as Mike Traceur, Knight's estranged son. Bruening, a former soap actor, was charismatic enough and which is important since...well, let's be honest, they aren't replicating Shakespeare. Despite having a simple blueprint to start from, I knew there might be some bumpy roads ahead based on the fact they killed off Mike's mom for no real reason in the movie pilot. But the real problems arose from the overly elaborate updates.
Instead of Knight Industries, Mike's adventures were handed out by the government; Bonnie's job as tech guru/mechanic was distributed to a large team of scientists including Mike's old flame and her genius father; and K.I.T.T., well, he was appropriately crazy advanced even if his morphing abilities were a glorified Ford commercial. They tried to right the ship by removing the government element and returning to the "infiltrate X to save Y from Z" format of the original, but it was too little to late. Did they start out taking themselves too seriously? Was it a mistake to try to legitmize pure buttered popcorn TV entertainment? Yes and yes. At least the Turbo Boost looked sweet.
Somehow "Knight Rider" beat out "The Munsters Today", "One Tree Hill", "Heroes", "Team Knight Rider", and "Testees". Clearly some of our panel members a) don't really remember "The Munsters Today" or "Team Knight Rider" or b) don't hate "One Tree Hill" on general principle like I do.
After 20,000 votes, the audience's least favorite is...Heroes!
Never have I seen a show so beloved fall so fast from grace. When "Heroes" first premiered, it was like you could hear everyone's minds get blown at the same time. After all that awesome, Season 2 didn't quite live up to most people's expectations. Where were the team-ups? Where were all the villains? Why was the pace so slow? Why is fill-in-the-blank acting like such a douche? And why is this Maya chick so freaking annoying? By the time the writers and producers had the opportunity to try and fix their admitted mistakes, the Writer's Strike cut any acts of penance short.
Then came Season 3. Oh Season 3. For me, while the pace was faster and they delivered some solid moments, there was still the little problem of the characters. Claire had become nearly intolerable, Peter was all over the place, Hiro was acting completely unlike himself, every moment that Speedster chick was on camera I actively wanted her to die, and Suresh...don't get me started on Suresh. But there's hope. Bryan "Pushing Daisies" Fuller has returned to the series and, like everyone else involved, is looking to tighten up the storytelling and deliver a season on par with the first. It's quite possible "Heroes" might become a favorite again.
PBS owes much of its sterling reputation to its most watched documentary, Nova. This is a show that has produced thirty five years of cutting edge science programming, all without resorting to condescension to the lowest common denominator. Their sterling brand name has attracted some terrific and well-known hosts, including David Attenborough, Oliver Platt, John Lithgow, and Stockard Channing.
Nova's presence on Hulu is solid, but it does have some huge gaps that leave us wanting more. Right now, 23 episodes are posted in their entirety, all of which have been produced in the last several years. Hopefully, they'll post some vintage episodes from the seventies one of these days.
After 20,000 audience votes, the audience favorite was "National Geographic Channel," with a dominating 59% of the vote.
The other nominees were "Wired Science," "Historic Campaign Ads," and "Scientific American Frontiers."
(Please welcome guest presenter Tamara Brooks, a regular contributor to the excellent site Zap2It)
And the Hulie goes to....
Jackass 2.0!
In 2000, MTV debuted a series in which the stars performed occasionally funny, often dangerous, and almost always painful stunts from tasering to skateboard shenanigans to mangling body parts. Of course, do to its questionable nature, it became an instant hit. Johnny Knoxville and company eventually made the leap to the big screen not once but twice and it's that second offense that's landed them on the list.
The movie, which is just a collection of shorts, starts with the whole cast in a "Running of the Bulls" scenario and ends with a big musical number with the guys singing and dancing amidst bruising and potentially lethal stunts. Now, certain things are universally funny in spite of our better judgment, like people tripping and/or falling, but I've never been able to understand the appeal of watching a grown man staple his privates or getting battered by a bull. I'm totally not their demo.
When the voting period was taking place, "Jackass 2.0" was available for viewing. As of now the movie has been removed from the queue, to the relief of many I'm sure. But the Jackass crew's exploits can still be seen thanks to full episodes and clips from the whole series as well as the dangerous-in-a-slightly-different-way spin-off "Wildboyz".
This is a time when both the panel and the audience agrees as, after 20,000 votes, they also picked "Jackass 2.0".
The other less than stellar nominees in this category were "National Lampoon's Spring Break", "Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps", "Planet of the Apes" (the remake), "Starship Troopers", and "Xanadu". Though I have to disagree with that last one - "Xanadu" is so bad it's fantastic. I'm not ashamed to admit I own the soundtrack.
(Please welcome guest presenter Tamara Brooks, a regular contributor to the excellent site Zap2It)
And the Hulie goes to....
Ace of Cakes!
Having very few clips and no episodes currently available on Hulu could not overcome the skill and charisma of Duff Goldman and the "Ace of Cakes" crew. Our panelists just couldn't resist those crazy-awesome confections and Duff's unmistakable laugh.
The first time I saw Duff was on "Food Network Challenge" where all the chefs had to prepare Extreme Cakes. He won and shortly therafter got his own show in 2006, making appearances on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and other talk shows. Duff's so cool he even has his own mini-mate action figure. http://secure1.missionmedia.net/charmcitycakes/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=15&CFID=2114760&CFTOKEN=cdb7011610dfd711-34365F22-9B70-D1F6-E482C18EF0AC81FD&jsessionid=f23086e9c16009598bd0d18a733141d85f43
The folks at Charm City Cakes beat out "30 Minute Meals", "Good Eats", "Hell's Kitchen", "Kitchen Nightmares", and "Top Chef".
After 20,000 votes the Audience Favorite is "Good Eats!"
Alton Brown is a TV chef rarity - not only can you learn to cook from him, you can learn in general. Alton skillfully and playfully guides the viewer through the ingredients, steps and techniques of recipies while mixing in history, trivia and science. He also makes a heck of a host on "Iron Chef America". Though there's only a handful of clips currently available, when they show you how to make tasty bits like a variety of waffles and scallop scampi it's all good.
(Please welcome guest presenter Tamara Brooks, a regular contributor to the excellent site Zap2It)
And the Hulie goes to....
Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show!
This parody talk show bases all of its comedy around fictional Japanese host Kiko and her wonky attempts at interviewing confused guests while guiding them through odd activities. Purposely a little off-putting and full of weirdness, it just wasn't working for the majority of the voting panel.
GTCMS got its start as a viral video on YouTube in 2007 and quickly became a sensation. Two episodes were produced independently by creators Greg Benson and Kim Evey (who plays "Kiko") until Sony optioned the quirky creation to anchor the company's own YouTube channel and website Crackle. But not everyone is repulsed by the Chicken Machine - they've had guests including Wil Wheaton and Adam Arkin appear in the mostly improvised shorts.
After 20,000 votes, the audience's least favorite is..."Dating Brad Garret," with 59% of the vote.
Brad Garrett is one of those comedians that either you love or don't. Well, most of the audience falls on the less fuzzy end of that spectrum when it comes to these webisodes. Fairly fresh off a divorce, 6-foot-8 Garrett teamed with Sony's Crackle (dubious owner of both "winners" in this category) to go on a series of ten blind dates and boil them down to five-or-so minute adventures. His goal was to present a slice of real dating, what he calls the "Anti-Bachelor", free of the pretense of one glossy dude handing out roses to 35 hot women. I guess the audience prefers glossy un-reality.
The Tiny Chicken folks were less tolerable than "Barely Political", "Comedy Gumbo", and "Destination X".
NBC's coverage of Comic Con 2008, the legendary comic book convention-turned- pop culture hurricane, has pulled off an upset win over the more staid competition.
The credit for the win goes to two factors. First, you have the fanboy-fantasy nature of Comic Con itself. What if you and some other fans threw a party, and all of your favorite stars and artists were suddenly clamoring to come? Second, you have the way that Comic Con was presented on Hulu. Namely, an in-depth viewing experience that made all of the millions of at-home fans feel like they were actually mingling with comic writers, tv personalities, and Kitt, the car-star of Knight Rider. NBC's coverage was hosted by an affable "Comic Con virgin," whose presence allowed Hulu watchers to feel smug about knowing more than her.
The very first Comic Con took place in 1970, and drew 300 fans. By 2007, the number had grown to 125,000, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. 2008 was the first year that the event's tickets sold out before the convention began. Congratulations, Comic Con!
After 20,000 audience votes, the audience favorite was also "Comic Con 2008," with 34% of the vote.
The other nominees were NBC Meet the Press," "NBC Nightly News," "NBC Today Show," and "Access Hollywood."
When you're handing out awards during the end of an era, sometimes the result seems like a forgone conclusion. People forget that Conan O'Brien, who recently wrapped up a 16 year stint as host of NBC's Late Night, was anything but a foregone conclusion when he first came on the scene.
A complete unknown, O'Brien went from being a SNL comedy writer to becoming a pop culture icon. While other talk show hosts bend over backwards to prove how cool they are, Conan's coin has always been how cool he's not. A towering irish beanpole of blinding whiteness, Conan has left a legacy from which Jimmy Fallon is already struggling to escape.
Where do hardcore O'Brien fans go to meet and greet each other on the web? Horny Manatee, of course! This is the website that NBC launched after Conan ad-libbed a line involving the phrase "hornymanatee.com." NBC snapped up the site to make sure that no one else would use it to link objectionable content to their studio, and finally decided to put up some horny manatee-related content. The site has registered over 10 million hits, and you can check it out here.
After 20,000 audience votes, the audience favorite was "The Daily Show With John Stewart," with a decisive 47% of the vote.
The other nominees were "The Colbert Report," "Inside the Actor's Studio," and "Attack of the Show."
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