Well, I most certainly got with the program after a few weeks in UMass 302 (like the pun… program?). After a few readings and some personal online webisode research, I began to understand what web series really were. I had never really explored the realm of entertainment on youtube besides random music, rock climbing, and funny cat videos. I did however, after a while, find one web-series-like video called Bee and Puppycat. This is the closest I have gotten to a web series outside of what I have been shown in class or what I have sought out because of class. This is an anime short that originated on youtube much like any other web series on youtube. However, Bee and Puppycat does not address some of the issues that are addressed in other web series. A lot of minorities are absent in modern television, and web series create a way for these minorities to shine through despite the restrictions on major television networks and their lack of diversity. I feel like this is a great way for these minorities to be noticed!

Recently, a lot of these web series have been noticed by large television networks like HBO and Comedy Central. These networks are noticing the popularity of web series that include stars that are part of minority groups like blacks, single mothers, the working class, women, and the LGBTQ community. The web series medium is creating a way for different communities to represent themselves accurately and in a more positive light so that others within the same community can see a positive representation of themselves rather than the stereotypical representation or lack of representation on mainstream television networks. Then, because of the popularity of these more accurate shows that appear on the internet and their popularity amongst web browsers, main stream television networks are beginning to take an interest in this new form of show and the diversity in the actors and actresses that appear on these webisodes.

Despite the fact that I am now informed on web series and all the different series there are to explore on the web, I find that many of my peers still do not know where to find these kinds of shows or they may not even know that they are out there. I wonder if there is a way to make these more popular, because it isn’t like there are commercials on the web, especially not for shows that have very little funding or no funding at all. The only way for these shows to gain popularity is by the off chance that a web browser will stumble across a link in a blog or a friend will recommend a show when they have seen one. I think that it is important to inform more people, to tell our friends about all the web series about diverse groups of people on the web, because honestly some of them are much funnier than anything I watch on television, and maybe that is because of the rawness of the content. Whatever it is, it needs to be shown to a larger crowd, because this is the start to the reinvention of the television as we know it.