MySpace Moves into TV Territory With `Roommates’
By TENLEY WOODMAN
MySpace is now in the television biz.
The social networking site last week debuted its first original scripted series, “Roommates,” a program following seven former college roommates during their first year in the real world.
The series most closely resembles MTV’s faux drama “The Hills.” New episodes, about five minutes each, are posted weekdays at 4 p.m. and each character has a MySpace profile.
It is not clear from the main site or the profiles, however, that the show is fiction.
“A lot of people certainly think that it isn’t (scripted). That’s the idea. It’s supposed to be as true to a reality show as possible,” said Natick native Andy Ostroff, who plays Justin on the series.
“We are creating the situations completely. We are not claiming we are not. `The Hills,’ they are asking their actors to make up lines,” said show creator, writer and director Scott Zakarin.
Zakarin is a veteran of quasi-reality webisodes. His previous work, viewable at zabberbox.com, includes similar 20-something programs “NoHo Girls” and “Soup of the Day.”
Early viewer reaction has been raunchy and negative. One poster called “Roommates”"basically porn with a horrible plot.”
“I think of all of them (the comments) as being positive. What it means for me is that somebody is watching,” said Tarah DeSpain, 27, who plays Peyton, one of the principle characters.
The cast members, predominately young, attractive women, have attracted some overzealous fans.
“There is nasty stuff that men have put up there. You can check any other webisode and there are haters and pervs on there as well. They (producers) delete some of the comments for us. Our guys on MySpace are really good at protecting us,” DeSpain said.
Eric Gordon, a professor of visual and media arts at Emerson, believes webisodes are the future of visual entertainment.
“You already have network shows using social network groups,” Gordon said.
“I hope people are interested in exploring this type of media with us. Obviously this is where television is going,” DeSpain said.
– twoodman@bostonherald.com
Originally published by By TENLEY WOODMAN.
(c) 2007 Boston Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.