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WebTV Watercooler

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I'm becoming one of those people who don't watch TV. I never used to like those people, so it's difficult to admit that to everyone. But it's true.

However, I do watch lots of shows on my computer and there are some exciting things happening online. We're seeing the growth of a truly independent television movement and here are a few shows that are currently on my radar.

The Burg is The Office set amongst hipsters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It's a great idea for a sitcom, that's very cleverly executed. While the show originally debuted with full length (20 minutes) episodes, they've moved into doing mostly shorter clips now. The website has the entire archive, which I wish they'd sell on DVD.

Break a Leg is Arrested Development set in the TV industry. It's wonderfully produced and they've just released a great third episode. I asked the creators, Vlad & Yuri Baranovsky, about the freedom they get by producing the show themselves. "Well, we definitely think the sheer craziness of the plot would be something a big studio would be wary of doing. We've really gotten a chance to create a whole world -- not just a show about characters doing crazy things, but an actual fleshed out, detailed Hollywood world that may exist in some other, much funnier dimension." It's totally funny.

Michael Buck thinks Hollywood is funny in our own dimension. His entertainment show What the Buck!? regularly receives over one hundred thousand views and some have even topped a million.

Some shows have a pretty specific target audience, like Dadlabs, which is for "fathers and the women who tolerate/love them." Or are quirky fun, like The Shirtless Apprentice, where a shirtless guy gives you tips on a variety of normal things.

SPF 7, a San Francisco based Comedy Group, has some of the best stuff on YouTube. Their Fathers Day sketch is sort of brilliant.

What is everyone else watching?

I asked the Baranovsky Brothers that same question:

"There's definitely a few people online that we watch regularly. Joey and David are a hilarious sketch-comedy duo and dotBoom is a funny and crass puppet show -- which we have yet to see done anywhere else online. There's two shows specifically in the sitcom format that we like, one called Life from the Inside and the other one is a local San Francisco show called Space-Wasters , which we both think is hilarious. Finally, we're huge, huge fans of kittens that are gently falling asleep. Because hey, they're cute, right? "

Yeah, kittens are adorable.