Okay, so I finally got around to checking out Nobody’s Watching, the failed WB faux-reality-TV sitcom pilot turned internet sensation from Bill Lawrence.

The high-concept sitcom follows a pair of TV enthusiasts who are recruited to help The WB develop the next great sitcom. Their efforts will be filmed and the duo is assigned to work on a sound stage with standard sitcom sets and a studio audience. It’s a truly surreal reality TV parody in a brilliant and hilarious way. The characters react to the studio audience’s reactions — sometimes they’ll say things just to manipulate them into cheering or apologize for a harsh zinger — as well as the cameras following them. At the same time, the show’s network executives allow themselves to be taped when they manipulate the story (intent on making their transparent manipulation an “edgy” gimmick of the show).

It’s interesting on how this show manages to feel so much like a mundane, multi-camera sitcom while also feeling like some new beast at the same time. Nobody’s Watching managed to be a traditional TV sitcom that felt like something more than a traditional sitcom (something recently attempted by How I Met Your Mother which, despite its complicated process, feels very ordinary).

According to the rumor mill, NBC might be giving this series a second look-over due to the attention its gotten from the buzz generated by YouTube. It certainly would sit well alongside The Office and Scrubs and help restore the peacock’s reputation of quality.

Check it out.

Supplemental tags: Nobody’s Watching, Bill Lawrence

• The geeks of San Francisco were queuing up for Superman Returns on Wednesday.

• The WB will sign off its last day with an homage to the network’s history, airing the pilots for Felicity, Buffy, Angel and Dawson’s Creek along with “classic” network promos from the network’s 11-year run.

• Here’s a slightly different take on the eating contest. The goal is still to eat the most, but you’re allowed to bring as big a team as you like. Since the food in question is a “Habanero Burger” the challenge seems to be less about gluttonous endurance than being able to find enough hot pepper daredevils. It almost makes me want to trek out to San Mateo.

• In a nutshell, this would be why superhero fandom is seen as overwhelmingly sexist.

• I guess it says something about how jaded I am that I dislike all but a couple of the crossover spinoff series Brian Cronin liked.

Supplemental tags: Superman Returns

I wanted to take a moment to wish happy blogiversaries to Ian Brill and Mark Fossen, two comic bloggers who’ve I’ve enjoyed following in the past year.

Priceline has uploaded their latest ad to YouTube calling it a “preview”.

Adfreak ponders if this indicates that Priceline might be reconsidering the value of William Shatner as their spokesperson.

This cannot stand. A company questioning the increasing appeal of The Shat? For shame, Priceline.

Supplemental tags: Priceline.com, William Shatner

I’m having one of those days (or a couple of those days), but here’s a little reason to feel better:

An odd thing seems to have happened to mighty right-wing talking head media juggernaut. They are still talking, but fewer people seem to be listening — at least on the Internet.

Alexa.com which is owned and operated by Amazon.com, tracks online usage for all Web sites, large and small. At Alexa.com, you can check a site’s activity up to the minute, or follow its trail back for many years.

At U.S. Politics Today, we thought it might be interesting to see how the right-wing media machine was doing. Not well, it turns out.

During the past three months, for instance, traffic ranking has declined 18 percent. He still huffs and puffs away daily on radio, but advertisers might want to double check the size of his audience. If the bottom has dropped out on him online, it likely has had a similar trend line with his radio show.

Even Fox News, that gold standard of right-wing media, is down 13 percent. Here are the numbers:

Ann Coulter is coining money by attacking widows and orphans — a new game for her since she’s run out of Democrats, living and dead, to defame and verbally pillage. You would think with all of the attention the promotion of her new book has given her would raise visitor numbers at her Web site, http://anncoulter.com. Nope. Traffic there is down 10 percent.

The audience chart reversal seems to be common across the entire right-wing side of the Internet viewing board. Billoreilly.com has dropped 40 percent in the past three months. Townhall.com that once popular center for right-wing news and commentary, has fallen by 24 percent. The Washington Times Web site is down by 27 percent. And Matt Drudge, once the hottest right-wing name in Internet sites? Alexa.com says drudgereport.com is down 21 percent.

Could it be that Internet users are getting tired of political sites in general? Maybe so. But moveon.org is up 13 percent in the same period.

Found at Shakespeare’s Sister who does a little bit of extra sleuthing:

Focus on the Family down 18%. Free Republic down 19%. Hugh Hewitt down 21%. World Net Daily down 23%. Michelle Malkin down 30%. The Weekly Standard down 37%. Pajamas Media down 39%.

Raw Story up 6%. Center for American Progress up 12%. Crooks and Liars up 17%. Think Progress up 41%.

One quibble I’d have with Shakes, most of those websites are still rather new and could be considered as “mature” (in terms of customer awareness, meaning that there’s less hope that any lost audience will be replaced by people who newly discover these web sites) the conservative sites listed. If I had more time I’d do more research on my own, but in the meantime woo-hoo.

From this week’s Permanent Damage column:

Not to crap on Oni - I’m only picking them because they’ve got something of a hit on their hands at the moment, at least among the cognoscenti, so they make a good example - when was the last time you heard anyone mention an Oni book that wasn’t SCOTT PILGRIM? And when was the last time you heard someone mention Oni when they mentioned SCOTT PILGRIM?

Oh, for me that would be yesterday.

But that’s just me, I’m an Oni fanboy. I’ve yet to get to reading Scott Pilgrim.

So reading Playthings’ interview with Viz SVP Liza Coppola (found via MangaBlog) this part jumped at me:

Death Note is an ongoing manga series that has sold over ten million copies in Japan with each volume hitting Japans Top 10 best-selling list. It has been translated in 6 countries and the main characters from the manga even appear in a popular Japanese video game, called Jump All Stars.

Death Note characters appear in a video game? Wha-wha-wha-whaaaat? My interest is so piqued.

• Now, you too can own a Godless killing machine.

• Does Joss Whedon’s work also fall victim to Women in Refrigerators syndrome?

• Oh, I’ll confess to having bought Comico’s Oblivion comic. Having enjoyed Bill Willinghams’s elementals comic and the Pink Lady variety show, I figured it would combine my love of creative train wrecks with a franchise I enjoyed. It delivered.

• Kawaii! A three-year old boy requests a News Hour themed birthday party. (via)

• I wasn’t initially interested in a second season of My Life on the D-List but Kathy Griffin vesting American troops in Iraq sounds very interesting.

Supplemental tags: Kathy Griffin, elementals, Comico, The News Hour, Joss Whedon

Lea Hernandez is helping women create comics by offering a Grant to women who want to create webcomics:

In order to foster women publishing independently, with economy, and as owners of what they create, I will award FOUR grants annually, of a year’s free hosting at WebComicsNation.com, to women making a regularly-updating new or existing webcomic of any genre or style.
The recipients will have unlimited data storage and bandwidth, the ability to choose to support their work with ads, and a storefront for selling merchandise.

The name of the grant is “Nan”, after the “digital person” Nan 11 from Rumble Girls: Silky Warrior Tansie. In RG, Nan agitates, comments on, and works behind the scenes to help the heroine, Raven, come to the understanding that being her own girl is the key to her strength.

I believe the Web already has what women wanting to make comics need, and that it has and continues to transform American comics from a work-for-hire Boy’s Club to a stage for everyone to perform on and be seen. The Web is living up to its promise, and comics can, too.

Hernandez offers all the details at the link.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking I’ve got to get more used to reading webcomics. My mind is still stuck in the print media when it comes to comics, unfortunately. I’m sure I’m missing out on some great stuff.

Woot! The excellent Love Manga has returned with more of David Taylor’s great manga analysis. Welcome back David!