Fall Guide to Good TV: The Guild

WatchTheGuild.com

If fans of The Guild’s creator and star Felicia Day can be considered a cult following, that cult is quickly growing into a full-on religion. Her web series has been streamed more than 25 million times, and she’s already eclipsed the million-followers mark on Twitter. Not bad for a show about a group of online gamers that was considered too niche when the Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress originally pitched it to the networks.

“I wrote it as a half-hour pilot because that’s the format I know,” says Day, a real-life gamer. “And I showed it to producers and network people I know. They were like, ‘Oh yeah, there’s some really great stuff in there, there’s some really great characters, but I don’t know what the hell is going on.’”

So she headed online, where the show found a devoted underground audience. About six months into the project, her former Buffy boss Joss Whedon cast her as the female lead in another web sensation, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog. Meanwhile, her shoestring production got a boost from Microsoft, who added it to their Xbox Live offerings. This September, Day launched The Guild’s third season with the unlikely comrades facing a new off-line enemy as it waits in line outside a GameStop.
   
“The thing about web video is that we’re not rolling around in money like most TV and film,” Day says, “and by necessity we have to wear a lot of hats. So not only do I write all the episodes, but I star in them. And I co-produce them. And I manage the web and fan correspondence. And I go to conventions and meet our fans. ... But it’s a completely new genre that’s being invented, which is really exciting.”

Watch an episode from Season Three of The Guild:



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