Divine: The Series
Divine: The Series goes live tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. Pacific), and can be watched (free of charge) at either the website or the series' YouTube channel. The nice thing is that you can tune in any time and watch in chunks. I really hope it does well, though in some ways, it feels a bit like they're putting the cart before the horse.
The producers, all (or most) of whom are Supernatural alumni, have been working to build a fanbase before the series starts. This makes sense, because at the moment, it's a proof of concept that's been put together largely with volunteer labor and crowdsourced funds via a Kickstarter campaign.
Unfortunately, it feels a bit forced at times, even though the enthusiasm is genuine. I think it's because despite having worked on Supernatural for quite a while, Ivan Hayden, one of the creators and the main driving force (think Kripke), doesn't really understand fandom all that well. He's trying (and I imagine Misha is giving him pointers along the way), but he's still outside fannish culture despite trying like hell to fit in.
Case in point, he was surprised (and possibly a little hurt) last week to get a number of disgruntled e-mails claiming that Misha dropped Supernatural in favor of doing Divine. It's an idiotic accusation, but they were apparently blaming Ivan for Misha's decreased role on Supernatural -- like maybe Ivan seduced Misha? Who the hell knows. The point is, Ivan hasn't been around fandom long enough to get a sense of just how intense fans can get, yet he seems to believe it's possible to have a completely happy relationship with fans and that together, he and fandom will ride off into the sunset. Or something.
[shrug]
Oddities aside, the premise is interesting enough that I participated in the Kickstarter campaign, and I'm looking forward to the premiere and hoping like hell that there will be enough hits over the next few days to convince backers to support production of the remaining 16 episodes that have been planned.
The Cave by Mumford & Sons from Sigh No More (Rating: 5)
The producers, all (or most) of whom are Supernatural alumni, have been working to build a fanbase before the series starts. This makes sense, because at the moment, it's a proof of concept that's been put together largely with volunteer labor and crowdsourced funds via a Kickstarter campaign.
Unfortunately, it feels a bit forced at times, even though the enthusiasm is genuine. I think it's because despite having worked on Supernatural for quite a while, Ivan Hayden, one of the creators and the main driving force (think Kripke), doesn't really understand fandom all that well. He's trying (and I imagine Misha is giving him pointers along the way), but he's still outside fannish culture despite trying like hell to fit in.
Case in point, he was surprised (and possibly a little hurt) last week to get a number of disgruntled e-mails claiming that Misha dropped Supernatural in favor of doing Divine. It's an idiotic accusation, but they were apparently blaming Ivan for Misha's decreased role on Supernatural -- like maybe Ivan seduced Misha? Who the hell knows. The point is, Ivan hasn't been around fandom long enough to get a sense of just how intense fans can get, yet he seems to believe it's possible to have a completely happy relationship with fans and that together, he and fandom will ride off into the sunset. Or something.
[shrug]
Oddities aside, the premise is interesting enough that I participated in the Kickstarter campaign, and I'm looking forward to the premiere and hoping like hell that there will be enough hits over the next few days to convince backers to support production of the remaining 16 episodes that have been planned.
The Cave by Mumford & Sons from Sigh No More (Rating: 5)