Crackle’s new web series ‘The Bannen Way’ has all the ingredients for an online action hit. Gansters, guns, and gambling? Check. Cocky main character in a sweet sports car?

Bring it on.

(Mark Gantt) stars as Neal Bannen in this thrilling, action-packed, sex-crazed web series. Filled with an undeserved sense of self accomplishment, smoothe talking Bannen has just gambled away the funds he needed to pay off his final debt. With death so close, Bannen decides to accept one more job, retrieving a mysterious black box.

Like any good action show, the main character hires a sexy con-woman and a cliched-virgin-tech-boy to help him. Aside from the obvious stereotypes I actually really love this one. The direction is superb and Bannen is rockin some pretty sweet shades in a fancy-ass car.

Trailer

Here’s the trailer for the series. If you love action flicks, this might just be your cup of tea.

[Click To Watch 'The Bannen Way']

That philandering golfer Tiger Woods is giving tigers everywhere a bad name. This video reminds us that tigers can be downright cute and cuddly … at least until they become vicious man-eaters.

This video makes me forget about that inevitable conclusion though. He just looks so adorable playing with his ball, savaging his toy tiger, and sleeping soundly. He’s like the best sort of kitty cat, one happy for snuggles rather than arrogantly disdainful!

He might grow up to be a scary thing with big teeth and claws, but I’d love to have one of these tigers around the house while he’s so sugary sweet!

With the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street just passing us by, it seems appropriate to reinterpret the classic children’s TV show theme.

Greg Pattillo is the man behind this very modern take on the iconic tune. The flute may be an age-old instrument, but you’ve never heard it played quite like this. Greg adds a little beat boxing to proceedings, and the results are just stunning.

With this contemporary cover, I’m remembering just what I loved about that old tune. It may not have furry monsters, but this is definitely a video that both small children and the big kids can enjoy.

Michael Jackson may be gone, but he’s certainly not forgotten. Yale University student Sam Tsui remembered the late King of Pop with this amazing tribute video.

Look closely and you’ll see that every member of this a Capella vocal group is actually Sam! Thanks to the handy editing skills of his Yale classmate Kurt Schneider, Sam transforms himself from one guy into a seven-piece harmony outfit.

This medley of some of Michael Jackson’s most beloved classics is so beautifully arranged and sung. I’m sure that wherever Michael Jackson is right now, he’s touched by tributes such as this.

This video from Ukraine’s Got Talent has a double dose of value. It shows that the Baltic nation doesn’t only have talent; it’s also got super cute kids!

I had expected this vid to make me melt at the adorable kids, but not much else. I had no idea that they’d be so amazing. Jurij is just seven years old, and his partner Karina only six, but they can perform acrobatic tricks most seasoned pros would struggle with.

Every time I thought I couldn’t be more impressed, they’d perform another incredible display of strength and grace.

I thought I was doing well to master a handstand as a child. Clearly I have a long way to go!

While other major US television networks are struggling with the whole idea of YouTube, CBS are looking at new ways of streaming their shows online.

For example, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal, the network is setting up a site just for short-form video “mashups” and other content created both by CBS staff and by viewers.

The site, which is to be called EyeLab, is designed to appeal to Web surfers who have grown used to watching and sharing YouTube video clips or user-generated tributes to various mainstream shows.

CSI Miami: Caruso One Liners

This includes the collection of corny one-liners from CSI: Miami that a fan going by the name stewmurray47 put together and uploaded to YouTube. The clip has gotten more than a million views, which is enough to get a network executive drooling.

Steve Safran, who writes for the excellent TV blog Lost Remote, describes the conversation that he imagines taking place at CBS after someone mentions the David Caruso clip:

Executive Three: “You mean the thing I wanted pulled down from YouTube?

Executive One: “That’s the one. Anyway, it was a big hit.”

Executive Two: (Suddenly interested) “Oh. Really?”

Executive Three: How big?

Executive One: About one million views and counting.

(Executives Two and Three actually have $$ signs light up in their eyes)

According to the WSJ story, CBS has hired half a dozen video-editing twentysomethings to create mashups like the CSI: Miami clip — and the network also plans to find and distribute similar clips created by users and viewers as well. 

Hopefully CBS has contacted stewmurray47 about a job, since it was his clip that more or less gave the network the idea.

Behind The Scenes Of Heroes

If CBS is looking for ways of using video clips to build audience interaction or interest in a show, it should take a look at what actor Adrian Pasdar is doing with behind-the-scenes video from the TV show Heroes. 

The actor, who plays one of the leading roles on the show, has uploaded to YouTube (using the name “buckshotwon”) dozens of clips of his fellow actors goofing around backstage, and each one gets between 15,000 and 20,000 views.

Whether CBS’s effort will be successful or not remains to be seen, but I think it is an interesting idea. Building a community around your content — or making it easy for people who enjoy that content in different ways to share it with each other — is one of the few tools that the TV networks have left,

Hopefully CBS will find ways of aggregating that content from wherever it is, rather than requiring everyone to sign up with yet another site.

Written by Mathew Ingram, a technology journalist. Catch his views on the intersection between media and the web at MathewIngram.com. This post is licensed under the Creative Commons.

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