TBS has given Storyville the green light. The ten episode animated series, based on episodes that first aired on Okayplayer, a hip-hop and alternative music site, promises to deliver insider tales “straight from the mouths of top celebrities.” The show intends to offer a funny look inside the lives of the rich and famous. Think about it as Entourage, but different in every imaginable way.
The Storyville news arrives as TBS, TNT, and Mass Appeal, the art, music, skate, and fashion publication, embark on a content partnership. Mass Appeal has historically had more edge than most networks and pursued a number of business interests, serving in part as a music label, a magazine, and a creative agency. Comparisons to Vice are apt, though Storyville will look very different from anything that publication has helped produce.
So far there’s really just rumors about which comedians, musicians, and actors will be narrating their animated lives, but there’s still plenty of reason to be optimistic. Anything that lifts the curtain on celebrity is compulsive watchable. Anything with that does so with cool cartoons won’t be anything fun.
