Web Series: A Definition

What is a web series?

To be regarded as a web series, a series should be created for the internet and feature a continuous narrative, recurrent characters, and consistent theme/tone.

For example, Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog is a three episode series, with each episode roughly 15 minutes long. It was designed, produced, and shot for the web. Each episode picks up where the last episode left off, and the narrative, characters, and thematic elements are consistent across each episode. Though the series is no longer available online (it may be purchased on DVD and Blu Ray as a single movie) its origins on the web solidify it as a web series.

Conversely, Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s series Zero Punctuation is a continuous web-series that reviews videogames, intended and still-available on the web. Though the style of reviewing does not allow for a continuous narrative, the author creates canon through a consistency in each episode. The minimalistic cartoon imagery is in each, as is Croshaw’s avatar Yahtzee and his distinct trilby. Though the series lacks a story, the narrative canon (in the style of The Daily Show or Roger and Ebert at the Movies) compensates, while the consistent characters and Crowshaw’s humour fulfill the final two points of what makes a web series.