The show will star Rosario Dawson as "a street wise and tough-as-nails New York cop forced to live dual lives." When her boyfriend is killed, she vows to avenge his death by hunting down his murderers, who happen to be involved in some sort of international conspiracy. The series will also feature computer generated/rotoscoped backgrounds for some reason, that reason probably being because they look cool.
Of course, this isn't the first time a network has tried something like this. CBS created Wallstrip and ABC produced Squeegees, but have you heard of either of them? Neither had we, which is indicative of the success these things have had before. NBC's effort has a fairly high-profile star, advertising already lined up, and, despite the potential cheesiness of its plot, at least the possibility of something good coming out.
Or it could fail again. According to a press release on the show, NBC is hoping to show its support by "letting the viewers dictate the show's social-media strategy," which shows an unfortunate focus on marketing rather than the quality of the actual show itself. Past Internet successes, from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog to the website Funny or Die, have won out due to their quality, not their marketing. Only time will tell whether this show will flop like its predecessors or be the first successful web show of its kind.
Related links:
Review: Grindhouse
Advertising Age: Can this Sci-fi series boldly go where no other has gone?
GeminiDivision.com
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Its so important for the interactive TV genre that Gemini Division puts on a good showing. This is the kind of innovative product that exploits the interactivity of the internet and changes the lean back viewing experience of traditional TV into something far more engaging. Its success would bring much needed attention to the indie interactive web scene.
Signing Rosario Dawson is a great choice, a neo sci-fi plot is a great choice, the one gripe I have though is geo-blocking the show limiting it only to a US audience, I think its a cop out and a failure to fully embrace the internet. NBC, why get only half pregnant?! In mitigation, I suppose with a huge marketing budget, Gemini Division does not have to rely on viral distribution like indies do. And it probably has found revenues in international distribution.
The $1.75M budget is HUGE for the web TV world but my hope is that a nice chunk of that is allocated to marketing (and you can count Rosario’s paycheck in that) to bring attention to the nascent interactive web series genre … indies like ours will gladly ride this coat tail.