TV Journal for 2/16 - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a show that was made by Josh Whedon (who you might know as the creator of shows like Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer).  It was released as a web series in three 15min acts and was available for free.  It isn't available from their website anymore since they released it on DVD but you can find it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/KarikiNeroli#p/u/5/apEZpYnN_1g.  You can also find it on Netflix for those that subscribe.

The reason Josh Whedon created this was mostly because of the writers strike that was a few years ago.  During the writers strike no new shows were happening on tv so apparently Whedon got bored and got a bunch of his friends together and made this show.  The idea was that he was trying to make something inexpensive but professional looking that would circumvent the issues that were being protested during the strike.  Most of the actors are recognizable from other shows (like Neil Patrick Harris).

The basic plot of the show is about a wanna-be evil villain named Dr. Horrible (with a PhD in Horribleness), the girl that he loves, and his arch rival Mr. Hammer.  It starts with Dr. Horrible making a video blog post about his mission to get into the secret society of the evil league of evil.  It's also a musical :)

I'm not entirely sure what the intended audience is, it definitely has some language in it that would probably make it PG-13 but of course anyone can watch it since it was on the internet, which I think was partially the point that the creator wanted to make.

One of the interesting things from an educational perspective of this show is that all throughout the show you really sympathize with the villain and not the hero.  The hero is such an egotistical jerk that you're really rooting for the villain to win because in the end he really just wants to be good at what he does.  The other educational aspect I think comes more from the situation surrounding the show than the actual show.  It was created in response to an event that was happening across the United States and it was made with that event specifically in mind.  One of the issues that the strike was dealing with is that union rights and contracts for writers had not been updated for the 20th century with new issues like DVD and internet media rights.  So I think this show is educational in the sense that Whedon was showing the world his take on the strike.  None of the cast or crew of the show got paid until after it started making money from dvd and merchandise sales.  Of course I don't think he was saying this is the solution to the strike, but it really shows what people can do when they set their mind to it.  After all, this show was not filmed with a very big budget and all the song recording was done in Josh Whedon's home.

And just as a teaser because I think everyone should watch this show...