INNOBLOG

If you blinked, you missed NBC Universals hotly hyped new show "Quarterlife. After airing a single episode on NBC, the media titan decided to move the program to its Bravo cable network. NBCand the creators of "Quarterlifefell into a classic trap of trying to "cram disruption into an existing model.

No one has yet figured out how to create a sustainable video success on the Web. It is clear, though, that viewing habits are different on the Web. Users, especially those lacking high-speed Internet connections, will tolerate lower production quality. Comedy works well. Anything longer than six or seven minutes seems to sputter.

"Quarterlifes creators Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick sought to bring television production qualities to the Internet. The two certainly have an impressive resume. They created landmarks television series "thirtysomething and "My So-Called Life.

The duo followed the television playbook: hire a set of attractive actors and actresses (including one with online credibility: Bitsie Tulloch of lonelygirl15 fame), use polished scripts, and create professional-grade content. They did embrace at least some of the more distinct aspects of Internet videos, with short episodes and a heavy dose of interactive content.

The show did reasonably well on MySpace, with some episodes drawing several hundred thousand viewers.

By and large, though, the shows creators fell into a classic trap....

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