Drama series ‘quarterlife’ deserves half a chance on the Web
Canceled NBC show fails on the small screen due to uninteresting story lines, but lives on through new Internet episodes
Posted on March 13, 2008
“Quarterlife” deserves half a chance on the Web.
The primetime series chronicling the life of a 20-something video blogger, debuted on NBC on Feb. 26. Opening to dismal ratings, the show was promptly withdrawn from the NBC lineup after only one episode.
“Quarterlife” actually began as a Web series in November with episodes roughly 10 minutes long. To date, the show has posted 35 of those episodes online. When the show was formatted for NBC, several episodes were edited together to make one-hour episodes. The remainder of these episodes will be broadcast on the Bravo network, but the show can also be seen in its original format the website quarterlife.com.
Even though the series suffered a silent network death, the show continues to put out new episodes on the Internet and is worth a look.
Dylan, (played by Bitsie Tulloch), is a young woman who shares an apartment with her friends and who has recently began posting video blogs about her life, her work and her friends. She exists in a state of perpetual, but vague, frustration, and a lesser actor would have rendered the character unsympathetic or annoying. However, Tulloch imbues Dylan with just the amount of aimlessness, naiveté and thoughtfulness to make her an interesting protagonist.
While the pilot focused very much on Dylan’s video blogging, the show slowly moves away from that format and we see her laptop less and less. Over the course of the show, “quarterlife” becomes less gimmick-driven and more of a traditional show.
In later episodes, Dylan’s blogs are used as voice-overs. While standard fare in one-hour dramas, these voice-overs are a refreshing twist on the generic, touchy-feely monologues recited by Meredith Grey from “Grey’s Anatomy” or Mary Alice from “Desperate Housewives.”
Obviously geared toward a younger and more technology-saturated demographic, “quarterlife” is interesting because it shows what life after college could be like. The lack of purpose felt by some of the characters is intriguing and their lives resemble college life, only sans classes.
For the most part, the show provides a series of rolling subplots rather than a main story arc, some of which fade away without consequence. While some could say this shows a lack of focus in writing, the fluid nature of the show mirrors life more accurately than well-defined story arcs could. Even two of the initial characters disappear after several episodes.
After watching “quarterlife,” it’s easy to see why the show failed in primetime TV. It takes an investment by the viewer to get to know the cast of characters, and the wandering nature of the pilot probably turned some viewers off. But the show works better on the Internet anyway.
Some of the storylines aren’t interesting and seem extraneous, but there are so many other things to follow that you can simply skip over them. The series does border on sanguine at times, especially in its depiction of Dylan’s budding relationship with Eric (played by Mike Faiola), a political activist who injects some passion into what was previously a drab setting.
But while the show might seem too precious at times, it does provide some light-hearted entertainment. Overall, “Quarterlife” is a well-crafted portrayal of existential angst in the vein of “My So-Called Life.” It’s not necessarily addictive, but the viewing flexibility that the Internet episodes offer could leave you watching half a dozen episodes at a time.
So despite cancellation, “Quarterlife” lives on and is worth a look – after all, every bite-sized episode is only a click away. New episodes come out on Thursdays and Sundays at midnight on quarterlife.com.
