TV Time: The Guild

Photo: The guild

Okay so sometimes I’m late to the game when it comes to new shows.  It’s a side consequence of training all the time and then writing and keeping up with hobbies.  I watch no TV except what I find online, but that’s another post all together.  So my friend and writing compatriot Andrea turned me on to this show called the Guild.  Thank you Netflix for having it.  You make my life a happier place.

Now I admittedly am not a MMORPG’er.  I’ve never had the time or desire to play, and if you want to know more about my uphill struggle with video gaming you can check it out here.  That being said, I love me some high level geekery and to laugh as much as possible, thanks to being married to a silly lady.  So when I tuned in to the ol’ Netflix for the first episode of the Guild, I went at it as I do most new shows, as tentative background to my writing or painting.  Well I was pleasantly surprised, much like I was with Spartacus: Blood and Sand after I gave it a second chance…

Wait, did I just compare the Guild and Spartacus?  Yeah, that just happened.  I bet Felicia Day and her crew of hysterical miscreants never thought they were Spartan.  Well booyah.

Anyway, the series is a brainchild of the aforementioned Felicia Day, which you may know from other projects like Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long and the Legend of Neil, as well as her guest appearances on Dollhouse, House, Eureka, and more.  Day plays the social awkward geek who spends too much time with her “guildies” playing something that sounds a lot like WoW, for far too much of the day.  The partial video blog, partial documentary, partial uncomfortable itch you can’t scratch in public, style of filming only contributes to the shows brilliance.

And speaking of brilliance, the dialogue on the Guild is hysterical.  Zaboo, played by Sandeep Parikh, is the constant source of great one-liners.  The cast has a flawless dynamic of epic awkward proportion.  Vork, played by Jeff Lewis, with his packrat ways, A-type personality, and awesome monotone delivery will keep you chuckling.  And Day with her fantastic facial expressions and random awkward explosions will have you giggle-snort-farting the entire episode.

Yeah that’s right.  I said giggle-snort-fart, like a gisnart, or something. Well typed actually, even though I’m sure you’re completely mesmerized by my imaginary voice.  Not that my voice is imaginary, it’s real I promise…

Anyway, the mini-episodes are compiled into one long show format through the magic of editing on Netflix, but to find S4 you’ll need to hit up their website, YouTube, iTunes, or Xbox Live.  All together the episodes run like 70 or so minutes when compiled, and it’s awesome.

Day is also working on a Dragon Age short series called Redemption in collaboration with BioWare\EA and you can check a cool interview with her here.  She has kind of become the independent web film queen of all thinks geek.  In the interview she briefly discusses the advantages of the web verses more mainstream media approaches.

So if you haven’t seen the Guild then you need to.  If you have, then you know what gisnarting awesomeness I’m talking about.  Do your self a favor and go check it out.  Geek TV rules.

Wait, what?  Your TV isn’t a dual-purpose media center?  Well check back soon for a post on how to remedy that situation.

What are some of your favorite webseries, shorts, or indie shows?