When the Web series My Alibi debuted last year at Take 180, its primary claim to fame was that it parodied the infamous Gossip Girl ad campaign to promote itself.
As My Alibi progressed, its talent tie-ins with ABC shows became clear. Alison Brie, who plays Rebecca, also stars as Trudy Campbell on AMC’s Mad Men.
Zachary Abel, Alibi‘s Jonah, stars in ABC Family’s Perfect 10 and is slated for several episodes of ABC Family hit The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
Now ABC Family has picked up distribution of My Alibi to run on ABCFamily.com. The network sees the series as the perfect complement to Secret Life. Episodes started running on the site last week.
My Alibi focuses on five Wheeler High School seniors who are suspected of pulling a prank on school premises. Principal Tuckerman (Gabrielle Carteris, who played Andrea Zuckerman on the original Beverly Hills 90210) decides to confine the teens a la Breakfast Club until the responsible party confesses.
Interestingly, in this promo photo from the Take 180 site, the nameplate says “Principal Zuckerman,” which is “Tuckerman” by the first episode. Methinks the remake of 90210 ruined a meta joke.
Here’s the first episode:
Twenty-two of 23 planned episodes of My Alibi have been produced, most of which have content suggested by the Take 180 community. Head writer Julie Restivo took submitted anecdotes, notebook doodles and webcam videos and incorporated them into the story. The deal with ABC Family is the first major content picked up from Take 180. Such arrangements may become common as Hollywood learns how to use new media to gain audience share.
ABCFamily.com will post a new episode every Monday at 8 p.m. ET. If you can’t wait, you can catch them all at Take 180.
Have you watched My Alibi? Do you participate in any communities like Take 180? What kind of Web series would you like to see on network sites?
