Webseries Review: Infamous

By Melissa Voelker

I learned an important lesson this week, regarding the old saying “never judge a book by its cover.”  If I had judged the webseries “Infamous” by the synopsis on its homepage, I may never have watched it. It read like a poorly written ‘About Me’ section from someone’s Myspace page that was trying way too hard to sound cool.  It immediately brought out my snarky side, and with my need to mock turned on full force I pressed play on episode 1 “Hookers and Guns” expecting a slapdash mix of amateur acting and poorly written material.  And then I was actually surprised by how professional and funny the show turned out to be.

Tom and Anthony are two young actors looking to make it big in Hollywood.  Unfortunately they don’t have as much time to work on their craft as they would like, due to their day job taking up so much of their time.   It’s a common affliction for a lot of wannabes in LA, but unlike a lot of other beginners, Tom and Anthony aren’t paying the bills by waiting tables or driving taxis or walking real actors’ dogs.  Instead they are contract killers, shooting their way into the movie business one corpse at a time.

“Infamous” is a brand new webseries that premiered on September 18th and so far only consists of one 4 ½ minute webisode.  It’s a smart, funny, and mature piece of work, however.  The actors playing Tom and Anthony obviously know what they are doing, and so does the camera crew.  While shot with a handheld camera, this doesn’t have the feel of an amateur program.  That probably has to do with the production company that makes “Infamous.”  60Frames Entertainment advertises themselves as makers of “really awesome, original Internet programming” made with “really talented artists.”  If the rest of the programming they offer is as good as “Infamous” I’d be inclined to believe their hype.  I did check out several webisodes from a series called “Things You Can’t Do…” which is also a 60Frames product, and it was pretty funny.  Especially “Things You Can’t Do as a Stormtrooper” (pilaticize!) and “Things You Can’t Do During the Day” (cat burgle someone’s house!)

The star line up for “Infamous” includes several familiar faces, including AJ Wedding, who appeared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (as an extra) and Craig Bonacorsi, who did a stint on “Medium.”  A very familiar name that is listed on the cast list but who hasn’t appeared in the show yet is Nick Wechsler, who played Kyle Valenti on Roswell.  I always kinda liked him on that show; he wasn’t nearly the butthead most exes are when their main character girlfriends run off with rogue alien leaders.  There are two others listed in the cast for “Infamous” that have also not made their grand entrance, but who I am definitely looking forward to seeing.  Samuel Stewart Witwer, who was Crashdown on Battlestar Galactica, and Michael O’Hearn, who is currently also an American Gladiator.  Who doesn’t want to see if an American Gladiator can actually act as well as beat people with giant Q-Tips?  (Wait, do they do that in the new American Gladiators show?  I’ve never watched it, but I remember that being my favorite event in the old show.)

Anyone who wonders what beginner actors do as their day jobs will probably get a kick out of this webseries.  It has quite a bit of adult language (who knew you could fit the F-word into 4 ½ minutes that many times?) and more than enough sex and guns to label this as “for mature audiences.”  But that doesn’t take away from just how funny it is, and how clever the premise turned out to be (all synopsis’ aside.)

“Infamous” can be seen on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/infamoustheseries, or at their very own website: http://www.infamoustheseries.com.  If you don’t think it sounds like something you would be into watching, at least check out the trailer for it.  Its
pretty good, and certainly sold me on the show.

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About Melissa: By day a mild-mannered tv station receptionist, by night a fighter of crime and corruption in the dirty streets of Spokane, WA . . . or maybe not so much. More like a hyperactive, anal-retentive daytime receptionist and a melodramatic, hyperactive nighttime fangirl who only wishes she could be a fighter of crime and champion of justice (except that would lead to getting my super costume all dirty and I hate doing laundry.) Though my intent has always been to write bestselling novels and live a life of wealth and luxury, putting my talents for snarkiness and word doodling together while letting my geek flag fly suits me just fine – for now.

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