Web Series THE OUTS Wraps It's First And Final Season

My favorite web series, Adam Goldman's (pictured center) THE OUTS wrapped up its first and unfortunately final season this week with a Chanukah special, which debuted on Easter Sunday. This super-sized seventh episode of the series is a lovely finishing touch to the show about two ex-boyfriends and their contentious relationship. It doesn't exactly tie things up but proves a very satisfying finale to this show which has more in common with well-made cable shows like GIRLS than the lower-rent feel of most web series.

Also, more than other Internet-based shows, THE OUTS has truly utilized the flexibility of this new format by using a wide-range of running times, from 7 minutes all the way up to the massive final one, clocking in at over 40 minutes.  It also employed some well placed time jumps and jumpbacks which made the story more interesting if it had been told straight through as most shows are.  

The final episode is linked below but if you haven't seen the rest, it might be a bit confusing  To catch up, you can watch all of THE OUTS on their website.

HALF-SHARE Show Debuts For Free On The Web Tonight

A couple years ago, I co-produced a pilot for a half-hour comedy called HALF-SHARE, about life in a group house on Fire Island. While the trailer's been online for a while, many people have asked me where they can see the entire show. Well, now I have an answer. Tonight, the show will be "airing" as a free streaming program on the HALF-SHARE website at 10pm EST.  If you miss that, you can also purchase it on Amazon.com at 3 different levels; $1.99 to rent, $4.99 to buy as a digital download, and $14.99 to owne a copy of the DVD.  As an extra incentive to buy, 50% of all net profits from the sales of HALF-SHARE are going to the Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBT youth, which was devastated by flooding during Superstorm Sandy.

The show has actually been available at Amazon for the last few weeks and has received an amazing 5-star review on the site with one word used in most of the reviews--"hilarious".  I may be biased but I would have to agree. This show has an incredibly funny cast, including Alec Mapa, Jack Plotnick and Sam Pancake as well as indie film star Jesse Archer (who also co-wrote and co-directed the show with Sean Hanley, who previously wrote for THE NANNY). So please check it out and support your local indie film/TV friends. I guarantee that, if you do, you will be thankful for the extra laughs this week of Thanksgiving! :)

HUNTING SEASON Is A Sexy New Web Series

Last night, I went to the premiere of a new web series that my friend Jon Marcus has produced/directed called HUNTING SEASON. Written by another filmmaker I know Adam Baran, it's based on the sexy blog from a few years ago "The Great Cock Hunt", which was a no-holds barred look at the life of a gay man in his 30s in NYC.  

I saw the first three episodes of HUNTING SEASON at a special screening at Bartini in midtown and it was so much fun!  It is also incredibly hot with a lot of full-on action that keeps things very interesting. But what is most interesting is that, afterwards, everyone was talking about the fact that this is unique in that it's essentially a TV show in which gay men have sex--a lot of it.  And that's pretty reflective of life for this certain set of gay guys living in New York City. Usually, when gays appear on network TV or even cable, they are rarely seen actually having sex (with the exception maybe of QUEER AS FOLK). As much as pop culture has changed in its depiction of The Gays, this seems to be the final frontier in some ways...and HUNTING SEASON is aiming to break that one wide open.

If you'd like to check it out, you can see the first three episodes as paid downloads on the show's website.  There is also an option to watch a censored version on Logo's website.  Though that could be a bit like watching SEX AND THE CITY in syndication. ;)  In fact, the show has one main SEX IN THE CITY parallel in that the lead character (the adorable Ben Baur, above) is a writer with a Carrie-esque voiceover.  But even the ladies on that risque show never got this down and dirty!  

SATURDAY SPECIAL: Foodies Eat Up New York

Two very funny friends of mine, Randy Eisenberg and Sid Karger, have a new webseries which is worth checking out.  It's called FOODIES and makes sport of the way a certain subset of gay urban male in New York City makes food eating a sport.  The first episode follows them as they nosh their way through an hors d'oeuvre plate expending as much energy properly pronouncing the exotic places where their snacks came from as they do actually eating them. (Yes, I've been to THAT cocktail party!) In episode two, they do a hilarious riff on New Yorkers' obsession with of-the-moment restaurants.

There are four episodes in total so check them all out on YouTube....and hopefully there will be more comedy treats to come.