The Tangled Web Team Reviews: Clued-Less

2.25 CLICKS 
(out of 5)

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When Stevie Hart (Renee Dorian), an 20-something with no direction, gets fired from her non-paid internship, dumped by her douche boyfriend, and evicted from her not-so glamorous apartment, there’s only one thing left to do: move back in with her parents and become a novice “Party Entertainer” with a murder mystery company.  Each webisode occurs at a different party, and follow the craziness that unfolds during this nightly, interactive game of ‘whodunit’ with people that don’t particularly care. Watch Clued-less…

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“Clued-Less: A series with promise that missed its mark.  ” Read Igor’s full review…

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“Dorian is more than clued-in when it comes to creating original web content…These actors can handle range, and their comedic timing is almost always on point.” Read Erin’s full review…

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“Everything, from the casting to the writing, to the soundtrack of Renee Dorian’s  Clued-less, feels forced, childish and completely missing the funny mark. The humor is stilted like a juvenile sitcom and filled with flimsy characters..”  Read Danielle’s full review…

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“Clued-less blends sharp one-liners, adept acting, and a quirky, fun arena.  It’s well-acted, with a tip of my hat to writer/creator/star Renee Dorian.” Read Lorelei’s full review…
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“I’m tempted to label this series racist, call it out for downplaying statutory rape and end my review there, but I believe the series creators are acting in good faith, and for that reason I’ll continue… ” Read Jacqui’s full review…

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Tangled Web Team Reviews: Versus Valerie

   2.25 CLICKS   
(out of 5)

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Versus Valerie follows Valerie Lapomme, YouTube’s Sexy Nerd Girl, as she navigates her chaotic life, sliding between reality and her video-game and genre-bending imagination. The show was funded by Canadian Independent Production Fund for WEB SERIES! Learn more about IPF here.  Watch Versus Valerie here… 

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“That this series trades in frequent sex dreams and love life hand-wringing while also smacking of a Nickelodeon sit-com suggests a confusion of purpose.” Read Samara’s full review…

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“The acting, production value, fantasy sequence integration, nerd-dom referential queues and storylines are all top notch. ” Read David’s full review…

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“Versus Valerie trips over its own special effects, self-indulgently preferring flash-in-the-pan brouhaha over the human experience. ” Read Jacqui’s full review…

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“Production values are high, but the show feels tonally inconsistent and forced. Whereas the vlog made me believe in Valerie as a real person, Versus Valerie made me question her authenticity.” Read Abdi’s full review…

The Tangled Web Team Reviews: TEACHERS!

4.0 CLICKS 
(out of 5)

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Teachers is an episodic comedy web series from The Onion and Chicago based improv and sketch group The Katydids. Each short episode follows the trials of a team of elementary school teachers facing overbearing parents, bratty children, and their own demons.  Watch Teachers…

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“What makes this series stand out is how much character it’s able to squeeze out from so little running time. Some of that comes from using a real school location with real elementary school-aged kids, but more so it is from the beautiful, realistic yet comedically-heightened acting from the six lead women. ” Read Igor’s full review…

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“There are four main components to a successful comedic web series:  brevity, timing, believably, and originality.  Teachers makes the grade in all categories.” Read Erin’s full review…

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” Each sketch is stand alone funny while also connecting with the other stories to create an appropriately hysterical character arc for each teacher; no easy feat for sketch.”  Read Danielle’s full review…

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“It’s no surprise that the Onion is the engine driving Teachers with such finesse. Like the dummy newspaper, Teachers has a clever way of tricking its audience into submitting to its point of view.” Read Lorelei’s full review…

The Tangled Web Team Reviews Margaret Cho’s Web Series: In Transition

3.5 CLICKS 
(out of 5)

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After being released from prison, Tawny Kim (Margaret Cho) heads to a halfway house for female ex-inmates transitioning into mainstream life. Once there, Tawny encounters her old cellies, Concha Valenzuela (Selene Luna) and Farhonda Jenkins (Yvette Saunders) and reveals her provocative intentions. Watch In Transition.

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“The series is shot professionally and beautifully, in well-decorated sets, but none of that matters when the characters don’t act like human beings.” Read Igor’s full review…

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“While there are some legitimately incredibly funny beats, the series – for the most part – fails to ground its absurdity.” Read David’s full review…

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“Cho’s hair and make up alone, let’s not forget the delightfully crooked teeth she rocks proudly, are enough to bust a gut over. ”  Read Danielle’s full review…

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“The production design and cinematography are right on pointe and support the already raucous, funny world the cast creates. ” Read Lorelei’s full review…

Felicia Day Gives Sound Advice to Web Series Creators in The Guild, The Official Companion Guide the Thumbs Up

I’m a gung-ho kind of gal, so I tend to answer calls to arms, and this time around, priority is given to people wearing elf ears. In the glossy coffee table book The Guild, The Official Companion Guide, Felicia Day tells the story of how her genre-creating web series came into being, and she does so by merging the fantasy world of online gaming and creative ideas into the concrete world of web series content creation.  She also shares how six seasons of the show and its huge following propelled the once infant genre of web series into a revolutionary entertainment platform.

Hard core fans will eat up the play-by- play of character break-downs, costuming, and actor interviews, but Day reiterates again and again that the 150 million viewers, Microsoft endorsement, companion comic books, name guest stars, music videos, and convention circuits came about through the passion of telling a story that hadn’t yet been told. In 2005, Day was an actress who didn’t feel women like her were accurately represented in the entertainment industry. Day took an addiction to the online role-playing game, World of Warcraft and the virtual community she found there and funneled it into the real world with grit and love. Note to all web series creators: read this book.

The thing is the world has changed since The Guild season one first graced computer screens.  Since 2005, web series are now represented by SAG-AFTRA and their creation is common enough that the majority seem uninspired.  For these, their goal is not to tell a novel story, but vanity projects only looking to nab corporate backing.  The online world is a slicker place than it once was, but there has to be more to it than business machinations.

Now running the online web channel “Geek and Sundry”, Day has a multimedia empire and has arrived there on her own terms. She reminds us, “We all have to tell our stories…because that’s your legacy, to show the world your uniqueness…and unless you’re expressing that, you’re doing the world a disservice, because no one else can do what you do. If you have the determination and the bravery to create something…it’s worth doing.” Thank you Felicia and the world of The Guild, challenge accepted. – Jacqui Rêgo

Jacqui Rêgo is an actor/writer in NYC by way of Miami, L.A., Toronto, Montreal, and Rio de Janeiro. Que beleza! Jacqui is Brazilian in a way that leaves her paler then Giselle Bündchen but with genetics only half as German. Clearly a lover of duality, she has two passports and has studied at NYU Tisch School of the Art’s BFA program, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and Augosto Boal’s Pablo Picasso UNESCO Award winning vector of social change, also known as the Theater of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro! You may have seen Jacqui preforming in the documentary based on Melvin Van Peeble’s theatrical production of Sweet Sweetback’s Badass Song in Paris’s Sons d’hiver festival and she continues her effervescent rabble-rousing writing personal essays and plays like, “Baby Hubris”. Jacqui has a passion for juicing green things and lives in Brooklyn with her boyfriend and their 22-year old Persian cat. Her life thesis is: we are all Lena Dunham on the inside. Follow her on twitter @JacquiRego.  Check out more web series reviews by Jacqui HERE.

The Tangled Web Team Reviews: Bloomers

   1.75 CLICKS   
(out of 5)

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A diverse group of friends find new ways to love, work, and laugh in Downtown Los Angeles. When this city sucks, they always have each other. Watch Stop the Bloomers… 

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“Funny bits and sweet, genuine shared moments between the two leads, are interspersed with out-of-the-blue plot turns & actors playing at stereotypes.” Read Samara’s full review…

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“Shallow, sexist, and boring….it’s actually the unoriginality that’s most offensive. This been-there-done-that-sex-joke series is littered with vapid characters, immature plot lines, and actors that can’t quite fill the stale dialogue. ” Read Erin’s full review…

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“The dialog is knuckle-dragging and the exposition (which takes up the majority of season one) is beaten into the series with a barbed-wire club.” Read Jacqui’s full review…

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“Credit the creators for tackling serious issues like unwanted pregnancy and infertility, and credit members of the cast for handling the shifts in tone with grace.  But ultimately, this hodgepodge of sitcom and soap opera doesn’t provide us with anything we haven’t seen on television before.” Read Abdi’s full review…