'Quarterlife' gets online resurrection

13-09-2007

by Charlie Taylor

A TV series which was cancelled by ABC after it failed to impress the broadcaster's head honchos is about to get a new lease of life online at MySpace.com.

'Quarterlife', a new show about a group of twentysomethings coming of age in the digital generation, is to be broadcast on the popular social networking website in November.

The show, the brainchild of two of the US's leading TV producers, was originally set for a run on television network ABC but was ditched after the pilot was screened in 2005.

However, Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, who between them were responsible for hit TV shows such as 'Thirtysomething' and 'My So-Called Life' and successful movies such as 'Legends of the Fall' and 'Blood Diamond', have resurrected and reworked the series for broadcast on MySpace.

While 'Quarterlife' isn't the first show to be regularly broadcast online, it is considered to be the first series to forego a low-budget aesthetic in favour of what MySpace calls "network quality" production values.

A total of 36 episodes are expected to be shown on MySpace, with each episode lasting approximately eight minutes. The show, which will air twice a week and be freely accessible on the site, will also be available to view 24 hours after initial broadcast on the dedicated 'Quarterlife' website, www.quarterlife.com.

The producers are covering the costs for the show but will share revenue with MySpace from product placements in the show and from ads that will run at the start of each episode.

Nearly one in four online Americans used MySpace during July 2007, according to recent figures from ComScore MediaMetrix. In addition, the site, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, broke the 10 million active user barrier in the UK recently, meaning that approximately one in six UK internet users use the site.

A trailer for 'Quarterlife' is already up on MySpace and can be viewed here.