Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick have been behind some of the most popular TV series in recent history. They have brought TV shows that showed realistic characters with normal motivations and quirks. The shows were Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, and Once and Again.
The shows dealt mostly with people trying to reaffirm their stances in their own lives through events that took place around them. Their new series Quarterlife seeks to do the same thing, except it keeps up with the themes of growing up in a largely digital age as things such as Myspace and Youtube become more and more a part of daily life in the world.
Quarterlife is the story of six twentysomething artists who find themselves dealing with life as they try to make it in today's digital generation. The series stars Bitsie Tulloch as Dylan Krieger, Scott Michael Foster as Jed Berland, Michelle Lombardo as Debra, David Walton as Danny, Maite Schwartz as Lisa, and Kevin Christy as Andy Melman.
There are several others in the series. The series has gained popularity due to its being broadcasted originally over the internet. The internet allowed the show to reach a wide audience, however it is also more difficult to find an audience in some respects due to the fact that dozens of productions exist throughout the internet, and therefore a series needs to truly stand out in order to gain popularity.
The series has gone on to receive thousand upon thousands of viewers every week. Perhaps part of what keeps bringing viewers back is the fact that the episodes are segmented into six parts apiece. In all, there are a total of six episodes thus far, but production of the show could very well be accelerated.
The National Broadcasting Company has just picked up the rights to broadcast the series on network television, and the plan is to broadcast the first six episodes with hopefully an order of more. The decision to bring the show to television may be a result of the Writer's Guild of America strike that has crippled a large majority of television and film everywhere.
Possibly the appeal to Quarterlife is that it addresses some of the issues that today's generation faces as it tries to build a future in a digital world where competition will be more difficult, where love is more complicated, and life is, perhaps, a bit more interesting. Quarterlife is set to hit NBC sometime in early 2008.