Over the years, Channel 101 has grown into an elaborate community of talented people who work together on pilots, developing fruitful and interesting collaborations. To contrast, Mike McCafferty has thrown all notions of camaraderie and teamwork out the window for the one-man-band production, Quest. On the surface, the show is a journey for raisins, but at it's core it is an experiment in form: demonstrating that you don't need an ensemble of actors and elaborate locations to tell a good story. You don't even need a crew. You just need a McCafferty and a Camcorder.
If you have a picture of an unmasked warrior, you can control them, so George Warrior sets out to find the man who has a picture of him and regain control of his own actions.
"Intriguing, engaging, mystifying," those are words that describe Stripey. "Hilarious," that's another one. In an era of action-packed pilots and dynamic at-home effects, only Falconer & Tam could make a show about a bunch of guys sitting on a couch so entertaining. But with its second episode, Stripey walked out of all of our lives forever.
Morgan Locke and Rod Hassler team up with Channel 101 badass Derek Mears to create a slick, intense, action-packed show about a man looking for vengeance.
I don't have any time right now to write a long goodbye for Lunatic. I feel bad about that fact because it was a very good show. The performances were stellar and the writing was fresh and funny. It got cancelled on its second episode. Why? How can we ever be sure. Let's all have a moment of inner torture for Lunatic. There, I kind of pulled off a long goodbye anyway.
The show follows Michael as he surprises people at their homes, finds out what they have in their fridge, and then cooks a delicious meal. The secret ingredient is homicide.
Dave Hartman's second Prime Time show's unspoken premise was simple: Vote for me, and every month, I will bust my ass on mind-blowing visuals, channeling the resultant sleep-deprived schizophrenic breakdown into the story and characters. The result was a truly magickal blend of refined technical expertise and stream of conscious mythology. As with all of Hartman's stuff, Magick Haus was a particular favorite among internet viewers, but the live audience foreclosed on the property in February of 2005, perhaps feeling free to do so because of their knowledge that the creatively addicted Dave Hartman will always be back for more abuse.
Before anyone can forget their names, Yonda and Sloan of Wisconsin jump back into prime time with Fun Rangers. It isn't as high concept as "McCourt's" or "Chad Vader," but it's a testament to their ability to create great characters that carry a show to success.
In Raptor, Tony Janning, Rich Kuras, and Sandeep Parikh remind us of something we may have forgotten: Dinosaurs are scary. Dead scary. They also teach us something new about their abilities as storytellers, creating an exciting show about cut-throat inter-office politics.
Ryan Nagata, while overcome with separation anxiety for the elegant magician Shuzuki Thornburg (Your Magic Touched Me), wowed August 2006 audiences with an energetic and crisp spin-off focusing on Sex Crime Investigation. Gaining momentum in 2007, the spin-off eclipsed the original and began to reinvent itself with every episode. From the Japanese Mafia, to ghosts, to clones, to outer space, Your Magic Touched Me: Nights kept the energy fresh and exciting enough to last nine months of competitive screenings.
Hollywood Stuntman Derek Lightning was in search of the perfect Hollywood stunt when he lost his memory. Tracked by investigative reporter Tab Wilson and wanted for a series of crimes that he didn't commit, he now searches the greater Los Angeles area for his own identity.