In my last two blog posts, I discussed how the internet has become a battleground for both distribution and marketing of television shows. A growing part of issue is the use of unique web content to market television shows to new viewers or to develop deeper relationships with current viewers. Here are some examples of television shows that do this right.

The Office, Blackmail

The Office always does a great job bringing to life the mundane absurdity of the corporate workplace and this webisode focuses on exactly that. The webisode grants writers the opportunity to focus on minor characters that are not often featured in their own plot lines, in this example Creed. The storyline is a lot of fun and is an overall great watch.

Battlestar Galactica, Face of the Enemy (NSFW)

In other cases, webisodes can be used to give background on charecter’s history and motivations. Battlestar Galactica created three series of webisodes meant to run off season. Each series focus on upcoming storylines by presenting a deeper understndng of the world in which the charecters reside. The series, Face of the Enemy, foreshadows an important character arc that takes place in the fourth season. This clip is NSFW so please be cautious.

Rescue Me, Juiced

Because of the WGA strike, more than eighteen months passed between the airing of season 4 and 5 of Rescue Me. In order to bridge some of that time, a series of ten webisodes were produced. The episodes give us some insight in to the past of the characters. This episode, Juiced, takes one of the most significant events in the series and puts it in the context of the mundane.
What are your favorite television webisodes?