Web-Smart Sitcom 3.0 Makers Update Ancient Comedy Formula

From Wired:

Backwash-660-tweaked Shorter and darker than the half-hour comedies that ruled TV for five decades, the new wave of net-based series draw from documentary-style breakthroughs The Office and Arrested Development, which gave the wheezing format a second wind early this decade. While a handful of TV comedies still feel fresh — witness nerd goddess Tina Fey’s half-hour gem 30 Rock, starring recent Wired cover boy Alec Baldwin — a promising crop of microbudgeted webcoms, like Crackle.com’s upcoming Reno, Nevada-based series Backwash (pictured), suggest that broadband, not broadcast, will deliver the big laughs in decades to come.

In advance of next month’s Streamy Awards honoring web-based entertainment, Wired.com deconstructs three examples of Sitcom 3.0 humor — no laugh track required. After you’ve taken a look at the clips, let us know what you think and weigh in with your own favorite web comedies.

More here.