I was over on Nerve checking out their video. They have a bunch of original series including Young American Bodies, the Mary Van Note Show, Boys and Girls, Tight Shots and Annie Mated. They also have a system in which you can rate each video on three scales: sexy, funny, smart. When I saw that, I was hopeful. Who wouldn't want to watch stuff that's sexy, funny and smart?

After watching several dozen webisodes, my conclusion is that they need a fourth scale, for story. The videos are well-rated by the audience. Some are beautifully shot. There's definitely sex: talk about it, doing it and even full frontal. There's even a few laughs to be had. But there didn't seem to be much in the way of story.

After watching about a dozen episodes of the third season of Young American Bodies, a daily soap, I was just starting to figure out some of the character dynamics. I enjoyed watching it, but it bewilders my story sense. I can't figure out why half the scenes are included. In the third season premier (embedded below), there's no beginning middle and end as far as I can tell. I don't know why those five scenes are included or why the scenes start and end where they do. What about the scene with two women and a muffin? Does that serve a purely character function or does it push the larger story forward in some way? I don't know, but viewers rated that episode a 9 for sexy and a 9.5 for smart.

Tight Shots is about making a movie or living together or both. There didn't seem to be any structure or storytelling technique to the episodes I watched, just kind of a meandering improv.

I just don't get these shows. They aren't using a traditional story structure that I'm familiar. They don't have cliff hanger endings and I find it hard to identify the dramatic beats in the scenes. What I do recognize from TV is titles and tail credits wedged each and every teeny little 5 to 7 minute webisode. And advertising here taking the form of pre-rolls. I think I may have to watch a lot more of these shows to decipher what's going on.