Is The SFN's DeVanity All It's Hyped Up To Be?

I have been kind-of quite here on the blog lately, especially where it concerns the internet darling that is the SFN web series DeVanity but with Ragged Isle kicking off our web soap coverage into full swing I finally decided to give the series a proper go. Unlike Ragged Isle however, I had the entire first season and a few episodes of season 2 to marathon and get to know the cast and crew through before writing this blog post.


Going into DeVanity I had low expectations, and let's be perfectly honest Devanity really under performed with its initial pilot episode- there were sound issues, certain scenes appeared to be blown out, and I just didn't find thing's really that great within the first few minutes of the program. But a few things kept me going. 1) It was a pilot - it was only going to get better from there. 2) JASON DEVANITY ROCKS! Michael Caruso in my opinion single handedly salvaged this show and made things worth watching because of his impeccable timing and actual acting chops.

So I continued watching, and things continued to get better as episode 2, and 3, rolled around, and by the time I finished the first season finale I was pretty much hooked. Was there still issues I had with the series? OF COURSE! But those issues were irrelevant at that moment because I was literally wondering how Byron (Chris Parke) was going to survive, or rather how Lara (Alexis Zibolis) was going to talk her way out of this situation that she had gotten herself into.

Now knock around to season 2. The production quality of the show kicked it up a notch, long gone was the awkward continuity errors, audio errors and washed out images, now we had crystal clear visuals, bigger sets, and special guest stars that we actually know (and CARE about), add in some excellent one liners, and of course Michael Caruso just being awesome, and you have for a pretty solid few minutes of TV.

Why this review is being pretty optimistic you say? Well fine I guess we can get into the negatives now.

First the length. I don't care who you are, I don't care what you do (*starts singing "as long as you love me"*) but you will NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER Sell me on the whole under 20 minute a week format. I am sorry but you won't. While I LOVE Jason DeVanity and got hooked on the Lara saga, I honestly didn't have enough time to really feel a connection to most of the other characters. Yes Jackie (Erin Buckley) and Bianca (Katie Caprio) had that amazing pool scene (that felt like what a Dynasty reboot would totally include) but it didn't really let me connect to these characters the way I connected to say the cast of the former ABC primetime soap Dirty Sexy Money- because there was simply not enough time there to connect.

IF DeVanity was longer than I think it has a TON of potential, but from everything I have read and seen the economics of it just don't seem to be there at this point in time for 'web series' to be in the longer format... Hopefully it is just a economic thing and not that perceived notion that people do not want to watch longer form content on the internet (as said by a few web soap producers back in 2008-9) but for now it is what it is.

Second - Again as previously mentioned I did not connect to the entire cast. I liked Jason and a few of the other characters but not enough to really distinguish one from the other and feel anything come the second season revelation that Alex (Mike Dirksen) is 'dead', (Sorry if Days of Our Lives and All My Children taught me one thing death is meaningless in soapdom- especially when you don't see a body!).,..like nothing, not a thing. I just kinda waved at my screen "see ya"... With that said his death, I believe, would have impacted me more had the episodes been longer and had I had a bit more time to get to know these characters, because I really did like what I saw of Alex during season 1, but not enough to really care now that he's dead.

Third- The acting...........Did I mention that I love Michael Caruso ? Cuz I do, I really really do....but the rest of the cast I felt had a bit of a learning curve to get to Caruso's level. I do think that they have all improved from episode 1 to where they are now, some leaps and bounds over where they were...and I don't think that their acting would bother me so much had the episodes been longer - I mean I am watching flamin Sunset Beach and most of them need to be told where they are but they grew as actors and I didn't care because I am sucked into the story more than I am the over the top acting/ underacting that occurs.

Forth- the writing - Okay I have mixed opinion's on the writing. I think it has some AMAZING one liners and scenes (The pool fight, the second season premiere, the plan to take down Byron, etc were all great), but there are also some scenes and stories that I feel are a bit weaker than the others. This in conjunction with the time bit (that I swear I have beat into the ground at this point) left me wanting more but at the same time I could see my life "Without DeVanity in it"

Final thoughts-

DeVanity is the critically acclaimed websoap for a reason, it provides some great drama, and lines that no other webseries can get away with. It pulls off some amazing cliffhangers and moments that really provide hope for what the future of web television will become.

The scene that I think exemplifies the most hope, for not only this show but the genera, occurred in this past weeks episode- when Jason is talking to his Nu-Face brother Byron.

Byron asks "hey um were we friends? I mean were we good brothers to each other?" And Jason just looks at him for a moment, the camera cuts to a close up of Jason's face as he somberly says "We will be, I promise"

Simple character moment's like that is why I watch these shows, not for the microchips, whose the daddy's, doppleganger, foolishness that we have become so accustomed to, but to actual well written moments that get what the characters are all about and for just a second allow me to forget that I am watching a fictional show because I am so caught up in what is going on it seems almost real, so it is for moment's like that that I will continue watching not only this show but the genera as a whole. DeVanity is far from perfect, but then again what show truly is perfect? There is always something for us to complain about and always something that the show runners feel they can improve on, but for what it was Devanity knocked it out of the park, and has garnered this fan's attention for at least the foreseeable future.

What do you think of DeVanity? Do you like it? What's your favorite part? and more importantly let's look at the show critically and say what you DON'T like about the show? Being positive about thing's is a lot easier then it looks, but being hard on something and truly being honest about certain things seems frowned upon in this industry, so let's change that, shake up things and discuss the good the bad and the ugly here in the comments below or on twitter @SoapWikiJohn