Sunday 28 February 2010

Favourite Posts - IN THE MOTHERHOOD - Online Comedy web series, and transfer to TV

Started StoryGas just over a year ago, and now going through the blog archive to pick out notable shows and favourite posts.

I'll try to update some of the entries along the way too, and don't forget you can CLICK HERE to get these posts sent direct by email.


From January 2009...

This is IN THE MOTHERHOOD - Original Post here.





From InTheMotherhood YouTube channel:-
Building on its huge success, In The Motherhood, the first-ever online series for, by and about moms, is back for a second season! With a star-studded cast, newcomer Jenny McCarthy joins Leah Remini and Chelsea Handler as they portray the ever-hectic, yet always humorous adventures of Motherhood as told by real moms.

At www.inthemotherhood.com moms can submit their stories, vote for their favorites and watch as the winning submissions are turned into new episodes starring Jenny McCarthy, Leah Remini and Chelsea Handler!
MORE HERE:-
http://www.youtube.com/user/inthemotherhood

Online comedy In The Motherhood webisodes

"IN THE MOTHERHOOD" SHOW HOME SITE HERE:-
http://www.inthemotherhood.com/

In The Motherhood Web comedy show

Why is "In The Motherhood" special?

The rallying of the community around the show to feed content back into the show.
From bittersweet.com:
Each episode is being based on a theme and readers are invited to write in their stories on subjects like Bribing Your Child, or Explaining the Birds and the Bees, and entries are posted on the web.

If you don’t want to write about your kid using your lipstick on the cat’s rectum (photo above) or toddler taking a poop in a hardware store display toilet, you can still participate by reading and voting on the submissions.
"IN THE MOTHERHOOD" YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE:-
http://www.youtube.com/user/inthemotherhood


"Mother Dearest"
Jenny McCarthy and Chelsea Handler discover that sometimes Mother knows best.


"Grocery Disaster"
Jenny McCarthy and Chelsea Handler confront their worst grocery shopping nightmares with the preacher, panties and policeman.


"IN THE MOTHERHOOD" PRODUCTION COMPANY HOME SITE:
Research determined that moms were hungry for direct contact with other moms and wanted to have real conversations about real topics that affect their daily lives.

We discovered that many marketers were talking at moms and telling them how to be the perfect mother, but none of them were talking with them.

What real moms wanted was to engage in a dialogue and they were willing to do so via an unique consumer generated comedic online series created by moms, for moms, and about moms, brought to them by Sprint Nextel and Unilever's Suave.
MORE HERE:-
http://www.mindshareworld.com/what-we-do/case-studies/@unilever-in-the-motherhood


MSN ADVERTISING case study document here
When marketers can transcend the transactional and enter into authentic
conversation, moms respond... Whenarketers develop innovative solutions that cater to moms’ online behavior – as they make connections, find information, get things done, or seek entertainment – and then present those solutions in a way that honors the experience of motherhood, moms respond.



In The Motherhood Episode 1




In The Motherhood Episode 2




via (the excellent) NEW TEE VEE STATION
Starring 30-something Playmate/sitcom star Jenny McCarthy, King of Queens‘ Leah Remini, and E!’s Chelsea Handler, the series’ 7-minute(ish) vids recreate toddler-centric vignettes from stories submitted by real-world moms.

Each episode is basically a concentrated shot of jokes you’d hear from sitcom mothers, those overworked and frustrated (yet still affably sardonic!) foils to their husbands’ childish excesses — but without the contrived plots, laugh tracks and boring supporting characters.

Instead, each show features three, real-life, self-contained stories (toddler craps in show floor toilet, grandma fake-bakes unsuspecting 3-year-old, etc.), with the moms’ yuk-it-up banter segueing between segments. Some of the vignettes even go beyond antiseptic family sitcom fare, e.g., the first episode, when McCarthy’s kid uses lip balm on the family cat’s behind.



Chelsea Handler Interview (In The Motherhood)




IN THE MOTHERHOOD web series transfer to TV.

SEPTEMBER 2008 - From Variety.com:-
ABC has given a 13-episode order to “In the Motherhood,” a half-hour laffer based on the online series about the perils of parenting.
Alphabet net announced at its May upfront presentation that “Motherhood” was being fast-tracked for development. The online series was conceived by brand entertainment firm Mindshare, which remains involved with the TV sitcom version
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117991763.html

New (ABC) series IN THE MOTHERHOOD YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/motherhoodvideos


Share Your Adventures - In The Motherhood




What happened next:
MARCH 2009 -- via @mrjonmacqueen

in the motherhood web series online comedy show
It's an illustration of the strength of online shows to create content from and amongst the communities around them... and the inability of broadcast TV to do the same.

The skew of the article seems to be that it is difficult to achieve legally.

My sense is that it's difficult to achieve editorially.

The depth of an online community IS the show - rather than something a TV series would graft to itself.

Here's a thought: Was Television seen as a "way to develop shows" for radio... back in 1950?
So are we right to apply that logic to online shows today?


From The New York Times:-
This tale of three moms, which has its debut on ABC on Thursday, was created by a marketing company as a Web video series. After drawing millions of views online in the past two years, it was transformed into a traditional network sitcom, making it the first Web show to be remade for network television. But what made the Web series unique — an interactive style of storytelling — was quashed by the legal engine of Hollywood.

On the MSN.com edition of “Motherhood” (since discontinued), short segments about funny, frazzled mothers were inspired by the real-life stories that viewers submitted via an Internet forum. ABC, similarly, asked for story submissions on its Web site (itm.abc.go.com) and said that they “might just become inspiration for a story by the writers.”

But ABC’s call for ideas from moms drew the attention of the Writers Guild of America, which said this type of request for submissions was “not permissible” under its contract with the network. This week ABC abruptly removed the language about “inspiration” from its Web site, effectively saying that the writers may not be listening to viewers’ ideas, after all.
MORE HERE:-
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/arts/television/25moth.html


In The Motherhood abc

What do you think?
Sum it up in 3 words, or scores out of 10...
See COMMENTS below


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