What’s Good on the Tubes
The Best of Original, Creative, Plot-driven Shows on Youtube
Editor’s note: this article was originally published in 2016, but it is being regularly updated.
There’s a lot of content on Youtube. That’s actually an understatement. There’s a metric ton of content on Youtube. But most of it, in my experience, is something one-off that’s funny, or it’s information-oriented, or it’s commentary. There’s a lot of commentary. So here, I’ve tried to put together a smallish list of what I’ve found on Youtube that I think is the cream of the crop when it comes to well-made, creative, original material.
So, here are the criteria for what you’ll see in this list. I’m not going to cite any talking heads. Even if they’re riotously funny, I’m citing material that has a plot, at the very least—even a modicum of a plot if it’s a series. So that also means no music videos. And I’m not going to mention anything that’s “meta”. If it’s a video that borrows, critiques or even steals, from someone else’s intellectual property, they don’t make the list. So no parodies. Anything that delivers information is right out.
And just to note, this list isn’t in any particular order and there’s no sort of grade or rating. As far as I’m concerned, anything mentioned here is good—I leave the rating to you. Some of it may be to your liking, some of it may not. I don’t even have an opinion about what’s best here; just that it meets the criteria I’ve set out. In fact, I’ll just do them in alphabetical order to be fair.
Update 2032
Wow. This article was originally posted in 2014! A lot has happened since, and yet I have found very little to add to this list. I guess it’s a lot easier to get a streaming deal than try to make money with advertising on Youtube? At any rate, there are a couple of original shows worth mentioning that have appeared since 2014.
Sassy Justice
It almost goes without saying that this show is from the creators of South Park. The weird adoption of purposefully bad imitations of celebrities alongside great deep fakes is practically a staple of the animated show. I mean, South Park opens with the disclaimer: “All characters and events in this show—even those based on real people—are entirely fictional. All celebrity voices are impersonated…..poorly.” Couple this with the meta-element that the whole show is about investigating deep fakes and you’ve got South Park level satire.
Adult Wednesday Addams and Wolf Girl
Adult actress and writer Melissa Hunter starred in a great Youtube series called “Adult Wednesday Addams”. The series posted 3 seasons about Wednesday Addams being a rather awkward roommate and somewhat awkward, though awesomely weird and original adult. Turns out, NBC must have liked it because with some re-jiggering of the cast and premise (no doubt due to IP stupidity) they’ve released the digital episode “Wolf Girl” which largely follows the same premise as “Adult Wednesday Addams” but now the lead is a young woman who was raised by wolves, and is largely known in the tabloid media as “Little Red.” The production values have improved a bit with the NBC Digital version, and overall, I like all the other changes made to the show, including the roommates and the now, more original premise. Unfortunately, NBC Digital only made the one episode — cowards. But we still have “Adult Wednesday Addams.”
Bravest Warriors
Bravest Warriors is not only wildly original and plot-driven, it’s a cartoon. Anything animated on Youtube is doubly impressive to me, just because of the effort and work required, but Bravest Warriors goes beyond that. I suppose it’s a little unfair to compare it to other animated fare on the Tubes because it comes out of the same studio that produces “Adventure Time” (see minisode) for Cartoon Network, so you know they’ve got talent, and maybe even a little extra cash. But so what. It’s good. And it’s funny. (Extra points: Maria Bamford voices more than a few characters!)
Don’t hug me I’m scared
This six part series, at first, seems like a weird parody of something like Sesame Street that gets a little mean-spirited. Stick around, it’s much more than that. It takes a few episodes to even understand what the payoff might be, but trust me: it’s worth it for the existential mystery that takes shape. It’s puppet strings all the way down, friends.
H+
I don’t think this list would be complete without mentioning one of the best produced Youtube series: H+. It’s hard not to see that this wouldn’t be at least interesting given that it’s backed by Warner Brothers (Digital) and Bryan Singer (director of The Usual Suspect and X-men). The “comptuer as holgram” trope and special effect is everywhere, and a little tiresome at times—are we really going to do that to ourselves? Overall, though, this is clearly a professional production and if you like anything like
“Black Mirror” or “Almost Human”—what I would call chic pop sci-fi—then you’ll likely enjoy this series.
I Hate Being Single
What? A show about young New Yorkers being single in New York? So original! Yeah, it’s a bit contrived, but this little seven-part series definitely shows what kind of solid production values even a little indie series can obtain. And hey, film what you know.
Jake and Amir
This comedy pair barely escapes the “talking head” format, but they often have multi-part episodes and leave their usual office setting. They’re with CollegeHumor, and while a lot of the comedy there is college-level, Jake and Amir too often ascend that label and climb into absurdity to ignore. They’re pretty much the Youtube Laurel and Hardy IMHO.
Krogzilla Gets a Job
Another cartoon! In this one, a Godzilla-like monster isn’t as big as he used to be and so he got downsized—get it!?
Neil’s Puppet Dreams
Oh that it were more than nine episodes. It’s not. But it’s made by Nerdist and Neil Patrick Harris and the puppets were made by the Jim Henson studio. Do I seriously need to say anything else? No. I do not.
Oishi High School Battle
From the same folks who brought you “Krogzilla Gets a Job,” Shut Up Cartoons, this one has a unique look since it’s a mixed media show, a la Roger Rabbit. (Hmm… I wonder how many times I can shoehorn that ancient reference into this one article?) Come to think of it, this is kind of a predecessor to “Son of Zorn” on Fox. It’s take on it’s Anime main character is pretty obvious—battle breasts, anyone?—but it’s still worth a giggle.
https://www.youtube.com/@oishihighschoolbattlearchi6015
Simon’s Cat
Ok. I know I said animation is hard, but there does seem to be a lot of it on this list, doesn’t there? I guess that’s because animators really care about what they make, so they make original stuff. Simon’s Cat is series of gorgeously drawn animated shorts staring a rascally cat. With 22+ million views, you’ve probably heard of it, but I recommend this one given that it’s winter in some place right now.
Ted & Gracie
Mockumentary now! After the long dark night of the sitcom, along came single-cam comedies like Arrested Development, the Office, and Parks and Recreation (to name just a few). In that vain, this Youtube series acts like a documentary created by the Newark Times News and looks in on a very strange couple that’s about to get married. The humor is subtle, but the series is funny, the acting is solid, the production is impressively New York Times video journalism-like. Coincidence?
The Guild
Uh. The first episode has 7 million views. If you haven’t heard of “The Guild”, tell your real estate broker that he or she sold you a rock. But, if you’re one of the few who don’t know it, know that this show follows some RPG video game players (I sense a trend) who have to get together IRL in order to do some stuff.
Video Game High School
Yup, it’s a trend. This great show, from Rocketjump, features a very original idea: in a world of professional video game playing (and hey, even ESPN is getting in on the action) there might one day be schools where people attend to get better at playing video games. The plot bends rationality a bit; a school for playing video games? But then, so did Captain American: Civil War. The novel idea in the show is that instead of having characters sitting in front of screens clicking mouses, the show switches to an in-game view. It makes for some great action; just don’t watch it for the acting. Then again, maybe that sitcom-style overacting is part of what makes it funny.
Waco Valley
Ok. Cartoon or show about people playing video games… cartoon or… Cartoon! You may not know him, but if you listen to any podcasts with improv, you’ve heard of Will Hines, who stars as the dinosaur reporter—but you haven’t heard of him, because unlike me, you have a life and don’t listen to a ton of improv podcasts. So just trust me, he’s really funny.
Honorable mention: Superhero Beatdown
Superhero beatdown gets the honorable mention because they use comic properties, both DC and Marvel, so they’re not super original. BUT, their fights are usually ones that aren’t going to be seen anywhere else because they’re often between characters from the DC, Marvel and other universes; something the big companies would just never deign to allow. (Roger Rabbit excluded—ancient reference shoehorned!—BTW how did that movie ever happen?) The fight choreography is solid. The costumes look great. Again, go for the fights, not the acting. But when it’s Wolverine versus Batman, who’s looking for an Oscar-worthy performance anyway?
The Exception to Every Rule: The Gorburger Show
On the one hand, you could look at “The Gorburger Show” as a talk show for musicians, run by a giant monster puppet and so it wouldn’t quite fit my criteria for plot-driven. On the other hand, you should watch the series as an ongoing hostage crisis at a Japanese television station. I mean, Gorbuger is eventually going to kill all of the news staff, right? And the show is worth a mention alone for TJ Miller’s genius ad-libbing.
Russell Warner is a writer, doodler, and computer programmer. His current project is producing an Ism a day (you know, like optimism, skepticism, determinism, etc.) which he hopes to one day turn into a trading card game.
