TBS has launched a new broadband channel called Super Deluxe, which aims to be the largest website of its kind and will surely provide our ongoing Battle of the Cheap-Ass Web Shows with some stiff competition.
"Cheap-ass" couldn't apply enough here, as nearly every webisode we took time to watch couldn't possibly have cost more than a good toothbrush. But TBS may have finally found the secret to web-TV success. They've taken all the money they could have spent on expensive sets, costumes, special effects, or even writers, and they've just called up a fucking laundry list of alternative and underground comedians and let them do whatever they want.
The lineup already features Dave Foley, Eugene Mirman, Maria Bamford, and dozens of rising performers and sketch troupes. The comics seem to be able to upload whatever they want, however often they want, and they've already fallen into semi-regular programming such as Foley's Can't Sleep, a show he seems to literally film in his bedroom after his wife falls asleep. Meanwhile, Mirman hosts a talk show from the moon in Space Talk from the Planet Eugene. Clicking around the many, many offerings, we couldn't exactly find anything hilarious yet, although Bamford's one-woman camera-mugging "my mother freaks me out" routine is far better than it sounds on paper.
But this is just the beginning, and TBS has high hopes for the future, continuing to add even bigger (funnier?) celebrities to their roster, including David Cross and Bob Odenkirk (separately, not reunited), Horatio Sanz, Dave Attell, Jay Johnston, and even Wayne Brady. We'll safely bet that the recent rumor about UCB's Matt Besser working on a TBS project had something to do with this too.
It's cheap, it's messy, and it's not even on real TV, but let that all sink in for a minute. Key members of Mr. Show, Kids in the Hall, and Upright Citizens Brigade have brand new recurring shows for you. There's bound to be something funny in there somewhere, right?
The so-called professional clips will mix in with viewer-submitted content, all of which is subject to the same user rating system, putting everyone on an equal playing field, which is actually kind of cool. Expect CBS' Innervision, Comedy Central's Motherload, and all the other billions of online stations popping up all over the place, to attempt to match TBS' gusto.
