This was GREAT!!!! I loved it, it is my favourite by far of all of the web soaps out there right now.  The characters seemed like real people and I can't wait for the next one!

Ellen Wheeler is biting off a puppy's head right now, as Jamey would say!

The ending left me wanting more, which is good if they expect people to pay for it. The beginning was so hot that I had to watch it twice. LOL!

WOW! Amazing! I want more! Crystal and Jessica still got it. Yum! 

AWESOME!!! Best web soap out there. I want more!!!!

I'll have to say this one made more sense of any of the web series out there. It just wasn't long enough even though it's longer than the others.

How often are these episodes supposed to air? The others aren't on often enough to remember they're still on.

A new episode will be posted every Friday night!

I can't wait until next Friday because the premiere hooked me big-time. The acting, writing, and directing were spot on.

And wonderful production values too. It seems more like a high-quality indie film than a web series.

 Great 1st episode, now I'm hungry for more!

Holy Moly, I actually identify with a Galen Gerig character/   Awesome all around. 

 Oh My Goddess. What a first episode. Calm, rational thoughts not present at the moment. Watched it multiple times. Thank gods for YT because of the website crash.
Team We Break Shit. 

I've already subscribed. $9.99 for ~72 minute season + bonus behind the scenes stuff - TOTALLY worth it!

The ending left me wanting more, which is good if they expect people to pay for it. The beginning was so hot that I had to watch it twice. LOL!

-----------------------

GossipGirl,

Ellen Wheeler created the Otalia pairing.  It was also revealed that it was P&G who forbade any physical intimacy against Wheeler's desire.  Wheeler has gotten a bum rap. 

Wheeler may have done some stupid things while at GL but she did have the best intentions for Otalia. 

WOW! and OMG! I think that's all I can say right now...

I have to say regardless of the stumbles along the way to get here (including sketchy server issues, and yes thank god for youtube)...that Venice really did deliver. Near the end of GL, I think I had gotten so frustrated and full of grief over what coulda been that I forgot why exactly I had been so taken with the Otalia s/l in the beginning. Well, hello nurse! I remembered within like half a second. So my cynical self which has so dominated over the last several months, has been utterly kicked to the curb...and of course seeing Jessica Leccia again with Crystal, well their uh "work" speaks for itself. Enjoy kids!

Really LOVED the first episode and so worth the wait. I have my membership and I am impatiently waiting for episode 2. Congrats to the crew of Venice, you all delivered BIG time.

 I absolutely loved it I just wish it where longer. I have already paid for my subscription and I hope the show does very very well and has a very long run. Kudo's to Crystal and all the folks involved from cast to crew.   Venice is so much better than anything GL did visually and Jessica and Crystal where smoking OMG!

I finally got to see Otalia make out. Cool, lol!  Well the show looks great, which was more than I could say for GL. It's too early to tell how good the writing is going to be, but so far so good. All these actors lined up for Venice...are they going to be cameo roles, like Galen in this episode? Is it just going to be one storyline (because of the time constraints)?

One criticism: what was up with the slo-mo around the halfway point? I'm not a big fan of slow motion in general, and especially when it's sort of inserted randomly in a scene. I mean, Getting Morning Lattes doesn't exactly scream 'slo-mo moment' to me, lol. Other than that, I enjoyed it

I'm gonna have to say, for me it was kinda eh. Don't shoot me over saying that people, lol. I know everybody is going nuts about it and loving it. I'm sure it will be successful. I just wasn't feeling it. I'm gonna give it a second chance and then decided if I'm with it. I'm not really a fan of web series. Well, except for one that has now become a tv show.

Um... so that's what all the fuss has been about? 

I love the cast, let's get that outta the way first.

But from the camera work to the sets and location shoot, to the characters to the over-reliance on overly-loud background music, it looked like an episode of GUIDING LIGHT!  

Sorry, but I think the only thing exciting about this was being able to see "Otalia" consumate their relationship. And having Galen's character say "oh brother" does not a cliffhanger make. In fact, since it seems the majority of excitement about this has come from Otalia fans, it looks as if they basically got what they were looking for: The much-anticipated make-out session (which sure as hell didn't disappoint!).

But the "future" of soaps? 

Hmmm. No. At least not based on this first episode.

Don't shoot...
The Messenger

That Was Pure Awesomeness

pretty good. loved gina's ringtone but i'm a huge lady gaga fan. can't wait to see more. it was pretty hot but i'd like to have more storyline too or maybe just longer episodes. i'm greedy like that. i actually like owen in the series so far. maybe its b/c galen isn't annoying like his soap character on this. we'll see what happens though.

So far it seems like we're hearing feedback/critique mostly (but not exclusively) from two camps: the camp that sees Venice as the greatest thing in the history of filmed storytelling, and the camp that has had their knives sharpened ever since the project was announced to such great fanfare and anticipation (rather like the finale of a series like Seinfeld or Friends; there are some who are gonna tear it to shreds no matter what). I'm taking the middle ground, I hope by offering the following:

I thought it was quite good. The production values surpass anything else comparable I've seen on the Web so far. A lot about the characters was communicated in a scant 6 minutes. CC and JL continue to show the chemistry. CC nailed it, but JL was particularly good, here; I felt so sorry for Ani, and the heartache she felt over Gina's commitment issues was well played. Galen Gering worked for me; his reaction over seeing the two together added another view to this complicated relationship. The teaser has made me greatly anticipatory of meeting Gina and Owen's conservative, unapproving father, played by Jordan Clarke.

For those complaining about the cliches, I'd guess we'd get just as many complaints if those cliches weren't there, because some would complain, therefore, that it's not real. All I want to say about cliches is, I live in hope we never have to hear "What do you want from me?", the most overused line in...yes, the history of flimed storytelling.

Venice's major obstacle to success as of this writing is its Web site. If it's not down, it's slow or access is denied. While I wasn't surprised by problems with the Web site, it's the biggest no-brainer that a Web series needs a functional Web site to succeed. I do, however, anticipate that these issues will be resolved in the coming days. They better be, for everyone's sake.

Lastly, I'm just thrilled that an assortment of very creative, talented, pro-active people are developing these series. I'm supportive of them all, and wish great luck to them all. Now, onward to epi 2 of Gotham Monday!

I enjoyed the first episode - I thought Gina and Ani are a great pairing, both are obviously pretty fraught and conveyed their history really well in the short time given.

That's probably my only complaint - so short!  That, and the crashing of their website - that needs to be worked out asap.

Otherwise a good first start!

Hmmm. No. At least not based on this first episode.

Don't shoot...
The Messenger

I won't shoot.   I agree, it's not the future of soaps at least not in the immediate future.  I think the networks can sleep tightly if they are actually interested in saving the soap genre.

I thought Venice looked great and they sure have an appealing cast but was the first episode enough for me to pay for the remainder of the season?  No it wasn't.

Good luck to them though and I'm sure the Otalia fans are giddy with excitement.

Venice is great and other soaps should take a page from CC and Kim. This show has a minial budget and still is better than most of the soaps on air.

I thought Venice looked great and they sure have an appealing cast but was the first episode enough for me to pay for the remainder of the season?  No it wasn't. -- troymcclure

 But, troymcclure, you've stated many other places that you had no intention of paying for the show one way or the other (unless Cosgrove was on) so even if "Venice" had been the greatest thing since sliced bagles (which, IMO, it wasn't) you wouldn't have ponied up the dough, thus the quality or implied lack thereof the first episode wasn't your deciding factor on buying a subscription. To imply otherwise is disingenuous.

I thought the first episode had plusses and minuses, like most tv show pilots. Typically the writer( s ) attempt to cram in as much exposition as possible rather than trusting their actors to sell the story through their interactions. I was hoping since CC is both an actor and the producer she would be more inclined to go for the latter but that wasn't the case here. Rather there were many on-the-nose lines that didn't need to be there and, in the future, I'm hoping won't be. The editing was choppy in places and I'm utterly baffled how no one noticed that CC was blocked out of two shots by GG's shoulder in the rooftop cafe scene. These upgraded cameras have playback capability, the "director" should consider utilizing it in the future. The biggest SNAFU, however, is that the website for a webseries' debut was incapable of handling the first flush of traffic. Bad, bad, bad form, Team Whoever Was In Charge. Also, whoever is writing the bio's and show descriptions should really reconsider the (over) use of the term "sassy" when describing the two African American actors on the show. It's embarrassing. One last gripe is the music. Turn it down Team Venice or, even better, pick less blatant songs because the audience doesn't need the tunes as narrative device to get that this is a messed up relationship with miles to go if/before they ever settle down together. Once again, trust your actors more.

What I enjoyed was the very element that initially drew me in: the well-known, off-the-charts chemistry between Jessica Leccia and Crystal Chappell and it was there in spades. Mostly, though, I really enjoyed JL's subtle and natural acting and I think CC might be the world's greatest kisser. We could send her to troubled spots in the world and tell warring countries that if they knock it off they can be kissed by Crystal Chappell. It could work. It's worth a try. I also enjoyed the brief screentime Galen Gering had. He managed in less than a minute to be far more appealing than he has been in the weeks since I've been watching him on DOOL.

I can't wait to watch Jordan Clarke, Nadia Bjorlin, and Hillary B. Smith.

I'm not as blown away as others, but I might pay for a subscription. I mean, it's $10 so why not, you know?

 Ladyofthelake and themessenger I agree with you completely.  and no Suz, the rest of us don't have our knives sharpened.  

I support web soap 100%, but IMO it was just eh for me.  It reminded me a lot of GL and I enjoy CC, JL and GG a lot so it was nice to see, but I wasn't overly impressed, nor was I disappointed.  eh...I give it a solid B.

So far it seems like we're hearing feedback/critique mostly (but not exclusively) from two camps: the camp that sees Venice as the greatest thing in the history of filmed storytelling, and the camp that has had their knives sharpened ever since the project was announced to such great fanfare and anticipation
 

Not true. In my case just because I wasn't awed by it doesn't mean I was out to get it (so to speak) since I heard about it. I apploaud the efforts. But to say that people who don't like t ihave an agenda is just plain dumb. Not everyone is going to like the same thing. I happened to not get into it, I'm gonna give it a second chance, will see how it goes from there.  Judging people like that is wrong in any matter. We all have a right to say what we want, but so far I've only read two posts that read they didn't like it and one was from me. It just pisses me off when a statement is said without real knowledge or proof of the intention of the people, pro or con.

I  thought it was good, I really think it will get extra good from the 1st teaser, the only thing is this, it is too short. I am trying really hard to get invested in these web soaps but geeze they are just too darn short. Venice seems like an hour long soap to Gotham's half hour lol. I love the concept and will debate further on watching(paying) more shows.

Thanks for the feedback to my earlier post. I absolutely agree that there are lots of opinions out there and everyone's counts. I've just been fascinated by the emergence of these web series, how they're going to make themselves financially viable, what the quality will be like, etc. Truly, I've read some pretty scathing comments (elsewhere) that seemed, at least to me, to be not constructive. Thus my comment about the sharpened knives. Whether you loved Venice, liked it, were bored, thought it was nothing special, hated it, or thought it was the savior of soaps, your opinion is valid, and a constructive critique can only help every web series endeavor out there. I'm excited about the whole thing!