Just when you thought the ‘08 election couldn’t get any weirder, today Barely Political has its biggest guest spot yet. Check out our new fall sitcom that dares to imagine what would happen if two real political mavericks — the girl who loves Obama, and the guy who hates lemons — had to share an office?
I think we’ve got to order a full 22 episodes of this one.
Current TV put together a really fantastic profile on the origin and growth of Barely Political, embedded below. I have to especially thank the producers for putting up footage of me when Ben talks about the “depth of talent” available at Next New Networks (although he really meant people like Rusty, Tom, Justin, Alan, Lee, Ben, Liam, Diane, Andres, and many more who have played a role). But seriously, it’s a great piece and one of the first Obama Girl stories I’ve seen that shows the Ben and Amber and Leah we’ve gotten to know and love the past year.
We already love Jay Leno for appearing for a week on Fast Lane Daily, and NBC for featuring Obama Girl (aka Amber Lee Ettinger) on Saturday Night Live, so it’s only natural that Amber showed up again as “the one person whose endorsement really matters” in Mo Rocca’s report from the DNC on Tuesday’s Tonight Show. The full clip’s embedded below.
Thanks again, Jay and NBC!
We usually don’t blog our press much here, but everyone at Next New Networks has been working incredibly hard all summer, and two articles posted on NewTeeVee point out a few of the things people here have been putting a lot of time into trying to make happen. So it’s as good a time as any to congratulate our great team and let them know that others are starting to notice.
In Daisy Whitney’s latest column, “When Web Video Beats Old Media at its Own Game,” she points out a longtime obstacle in making VOD work, the lack of dynamic ad insertion capabilities, and highlights the recent things we’ve been doing to enable dynamic sponsor and ad insertion into our catalog of videos, and the campaign we just wrapped up across many of our networks for Universal’s Death Race.
If you tuned into a recent episode of Indy Mogul last week you’d probably have seen host Erik Beck mention the show’s sponsor, Universal Studios’ Death Race. And if you tuned into a 2007 episode of Indy Mogul last week you’d also have seen Beck tout Death Race there too.
That’s because Next New Networks, which produces and distributes the do-it-yourself visual effects show, has implemented technology from both Freewheel and Castfire that lets the web studio insert fresh ads, bumpers and host shout-outs for current ad campaigns into both current and older episodes in the Next New Networks catalog, imitating a longstanding practice in the traditional TV business.
And on Friday, in NewTeeVee Station (their guide to shows worth watching on the web), Jill Weinberger turned in her latest review, “Barely Political: Not Just Obama Girl Anymore.” Jill points out what we’ve been saying all along — that the videos that our brilliant team, including Rusty Ward, Tom Small, Mark Douglas and Mike Stevens, are doing have added a new dimension with “drier, more sophisticated humor — more Daily Show than JibJab.”
From two white guys rapping about buying a battleship just to go fishing in Stimulus Package, to Leah Kauffman’s pleading with Ann Coulter to perfect her, to Hillary angling for Obama’s VP slot with a well-timed Tom and Jerry reference, there’s a little something for everyone. It’s not all jabs at Repubs and Obama-stroking, either; with a tip to McCain’s balls and even some sympathetic Ron Paul coverage, there’s plenty of love to go around.
The review also recognized other great shows like Nite Fite and Zaproot, and spoke of Next New Networks as a “source of original content to be reckoned with.” That’s a great accolade that’s much appreciated — and with the slate of new networks and shows we’ve got on the way this fall and winter, I hope we’ll do even more to live up to it.
Today marked the first year of Obama Girl’s term of office as reigning queen of political comedy on the web, since “I’ve Got a Crush… on Obama” first showed up on YouTube June 13, 2007. 100 Videos later, after over 50 million views and countless press stories, Barely Political has the #1 Most Viewed Video on YouTube again today, with a new rival for Obama Girl: the Incredible McCain Girl.
I think it’s some of the best work the Barely Political team has done — which has now grown to include the great preditor Tom Small, the hilarious writer and performer Rusty Ward, the still-rocking core team of Ben Relles, Leah Kaufman, and Amber Lee Ettinger, and new guys Mark Douglas and David Feingold. But they haven’t just been churning out Obama Girl videos and creating an increasingly weird and hilarious mythology for the characters, including OG’s alter-ego, Super Obama Girl — they’re also developing a truly unique brand of political satire with a YouTube aesthetic, with videos like Hillary Wasn’t Lying About Bosnia (by NNN’s Justin Johnson), Political Sex Scandals (a great Douglas / Kaufman collab) and a NNN staff favorite, Stimulus Package, where a couple of ’90’s rap rejects (played brilliantly by Ward and Douglas) fantasize about what mack daddies they’ll be with their $600 (embedded below, after the jump). Congrats to Ben, Amber, and Leah on a killer year, and thanks to everyone who’s helped expose the world to Barely Political, video after video, especially the Next New Networks team, YouTube, MSNBC, CNN and FOX News.
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