You Can't Do That on the Internet Webseries Review

Facebook. MySpace. YouTube. Twitter. The Internet has become a hotbed of social media websites and applications designed to keep us informed, entertained and engaged. Combined with iPhones, Blackberries, laptops and increasingly old-fashioned regular computers, members of today’s society have more than enough in their arsenal to interact with both friends and the world-at-large on an almost 24/7 basis. The webseries You Can't Do That on the Internet examines life in this continually evolving social media landscape by following seven cyber addicts, as well as their addictions, in an amusing yet culturally relevant way.

While the series itself—which takes place at an addiction support group meeting—consists of a mere three-episode first season, additional minisode extras more fully explore the situations the group members only briefly mention during the meeting. From Max spending two-hours online while at work to Leslie’s freak-out over misplacing her Blackberry, these nuggets are just as entertaining and humorous as the actual installments themselves. And although Kate reflecting on getting caught during online Skype sex is amusing enough in episode one, the minisode where she has to explain to her boyfriend what she was doing with a rather large pickle is even more so.

The characters are well-rounded in their addictions and fleshed-out more fully than one might expect for such a short webseries, mainly because creator Kate Sargeant has populated You Can’t Do That on the Internet with an easily identifiable cast. The short descriptions that appear on the screen during their initial introduction, including online monikers and personal preferences, adds more dimension to the characters than hours of additional video footage ever could. There’s the aforementioned Kate (Sargeant), who goes by LilAngelK8 and has a current Facebook status that reads, “Epic Fail”; Cassie (Kelly Huddleston), who has a blog site called “You Can Suck It”; Chris (John Francis O’Brien), who uses the name Txtzilla; Leslie (Theresa JunE-Tao), known as Sweet&SourAsian69, among other things; Justin (Brady Matthews), who has a YouTube Channel called “I Am Awesome”; and Max (Nicholas Downs), who’s favorite online video is “Panda Sneezing.”

Becky (Mary Alyce Kania), meanwhile, is the meeting coordinator who belittles the group with such platitudes as, “When I deleted my account, it was like a whole world opened up to me” and, “Don’t you see that MySpace is a gateway drug; it’s only going to lead to more heinous addiction.” But the words are lost on the others: “I’d like to date a guy and not be able to find all of his ex-girlfriends on his page,” Cassie confesses. “See all the cute little comments they wrote to one another, all the memories they shared right there for me to see and analyze to fricken’ death… but then, what would I do with all my free time?”

“I like MySpace because it’s about me,” Max also later reveals in a voiceover. “It’s my pictures, my influences, my blog. Your comments about me. It’s my music, my life. I always tell myself, just a half-hour, but six-hours later…”

“I wanted to poke fun at our society’s growing addiction to social networking,” producer Kate Sargeant, who served as an assistant to Burn Notice creator Matt Nix and wrote an episode of the ABC crime drama Castle, explains. “Our computer has become our confidant, a matchmaker, and a place where we’ve put our lives on display—sometimes to our detriment.” In an ironic twist, You Can’t Do That on the Internet is intent on feeding web addictions by inviting fans to follow the show’s characters on Twitter and joining its Facebook page. While other webseries utilize such social media outlets for marketing proposes, You Can’t Do That on the Internet appears to be further engaging its audience by adding to its own fictitious-yet-factual storyline.

In June 1995, the Internet’s first webseries, The Spot, made its debut. Because online video streaming had yet to be perfected, The Spot utilized a combination of diary entries and photos to tell its story while also encouraging fans to chat live with the show’s characters. Despite such low-brow narrative devices, the series was still considered to be cutting-edge because its creator (Scott Zakarin) was savvy enough to tap into society’s growing fascination with the World Wide Web.

The Internet has obviously evolved since the mid-90s, and You Can’t Do That On The Internet is not only a very humorous commentary on how far that evolution has progressed but a fitting continuation of what The Spot began all those years ago—an ongoing story involving characters one can easily identify with who utilize the same online tools as everyone else.

Even if they are addictive.

Anthony Letizia (May 17, 2010)

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