You’ve heard it before, and you will definitely hear it again: we are currently in the Golden Age of TV. From adaptations of bestselling adaptations to historical dramas on everything from nuclear disasters to drug kingpins, there is no shortage of entertainment for people to consume. Even DC Comics, struggling on the silver screen, completely dominate the TV market from the Arrowverse to their new streaming service. A-list actors can now be seen strutting their stuff on a weekly basis rather than once every couple of. years. But this isn’t the only kind of content on TV. There has been a huge reimagining of what a comedy series look like. And it seems that one of the pioneers for this return to glory for the laugh track started elsewhere, outside of big studios and production companies. I’m talking about web series.
Now, the term “web series” is a little vague because the word “TV” has changed so much. How many of us actually consume our content on an actual television screen? You know, like one that requires a TV licence – is that even still a thing (remember the TV licence ads or am I just old)? Most people watch TV either on their laptops or phones and streaming services are on the web. But 10, no even 5 years ago, a web series was an independent (and usually low budget) series uploaded to sites like Vimeo and YouTube. They had a looser feel to them, simultaneously exposing the amateur creators behind them but eschewing the limitations that were evidently killing comedy on TV. Although still enjoying huge amounts of success, shows set in the corporate world or bars about office workers or weren’t all that appealing anymore.
Web series catered to audiences that weren’t middle-class, white or straight. People instantly fell in love with them and big studios were forced to take notice. Issa Rae’s Awkward Black Girl, one of a few web series she released to YouTube was partly adapted by HBO into Insecure and explored the 20s from the perspective of two black women – something that had never really been done before. The show has since had three seasons and is likely to return for a fourth. More comedy shows have followed in that vein: Fatima Asghar and Sam Bailey’s Brown Girls, which was originally uploaded to Vimeo has been greenlit by HBO, Desiree Akhavan’s The Bisexual, while not originally a web series is off-beat and oddly surreal in its mundaness, and Vincent Martell has a gem in Damaged Goods. Even Donald Glover pushed the limits of what comedy could be with Atlanta, which had since made superstars out of its protagonists. His previous film work was in his music videos. The future of comedy is bright, diverse, and most importantly, full of laughs.