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NBC is desperate for new content : Quarterlife

By fred | November 19, 2007

NBC just made a new deal to air in 2008 the new series from Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, Quarterlife. You’d think that’s a great news at first, given how those names can have you remember of series like the great My So-Called Life, but you’d be wrong. Oh so wrong.

The show is already available for free quarterlife.com, at least the first episodes, and I watched them. I did, and I understand why ABC rejected the project when it was first presented to them three years ago.

Quarterlife is about a group of pretentious twenty-something people taking themselves very seriously, and despite their young age they’re all having life crisis as they’re trying to figure out who they are or want to be. But the worst part is, well, the writing. It’s bad. (Thought the acting isn’t really that good either…)

And I might be wrong but I’m willing to bet the whole video blog aspect of it was either added when it went for online distribution, or it grew when the move occurred. For some reason when it’s intended for the Internet it has to talk about the Internet. And as soon as it starts and Dylan starts to say her name a few times, it seems that this was somehow made especially for the Internet audience, because Internet audience are not used to watch real series like Lost, House, The Office or 30 Rock online so they really like completely hollow scenes with a blank page for all writing, right?

All characters are winning, stereotypical or clichés, they’re annoying and the situations they put themselves in are nothing new. I can’t believe this was created by the people behind My So-Called Life !

And NBC just got a deal to air that next year. And the only reason for this is the writers’ strike. They are desperate for new content, they want to be able to put new content on the air, they suspect that stupid reality TV and boring games might not do it, and they’re willing to sign for anything at this point.

So when they learned that it was “strike-proof”, they signed without thinking any further, or caring about quality (not that they usually do). Quarterlife is indeed “strike-proof” because it is owned and made by an an independent production company, which is not an AMPTP member and so exempt from the writers walkout.

Herskovitz and Zwick said they were going to work with the WGA to work out a deal that would compensate writers (and actors) whenever the series would air on TV or be available online, exactly what writers are striking for.

But in the end, this is not a series worth to air on TV and would never have made it if it wasn’t for the strike.

Posted in Drama, News
Shows: Quarterlife