NBC Sets Premiere Dates for quarterlife

BURBANK, December 18: The MySpace-originated series quarterlife is set for a prime-time premiere on NBC on February
18 as an hour-long drama, with full-length episodes to be streamed on the
network’s web portal following their linear broadcast.

The show originally launched on MySpace on November 11 and
on quarterlife.com November 12, marking the first time that a network-quality
series was produced directly for the Internet. Additionally, quarterlife marks the first time that an independent project of
this kind has been owned and controlled by its creators, as well as the first
instance where an Internet series has been created alongside a social
network—quarterlife.com.

The first season is comprised of thirty-six webisodes, with
two eight-to-ten minute webisodes premiering on MySpace each week—Sundays
and Thursdays at 12 a.m.—and released on quarterlife.com the following
day. The web segments will be edited together into several one-hour dramas for
broadcast on NBC in February, with full episodes streaming on NBC.com following
each airing.

From Emmy Award-winning creator-producers Marshall
Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, Blood
Diamond), quarterlife tells the ongoing stories of six creative
twentysomethings as they chart their coming of age in the digital generation.
The central character is Dylan (Bitsie Tulloch: Lost, Lonelygirl15), a young woman whose overly truthful video blog—at
quarterlife.com—spills the secrets of her friends/the show’s characters:
filmmakers Danny (David Walton: Heist, Cracking Up) and Jed (Scott Michael Foster: Greek, The Horrible Flowers), actress-bartender Lisa (Maite Schwartz: Medium, Dexter),
geek-extraordinaire Andy (Kevin Christy: Love Don’t Cost a Thing), and Debra (Michelle Lombardo: Click, Entourage), who is still tied to her parents. Additional cast members include
Barret Swatek (Seventh Heaven, The
40-Year-Old Virgin), Mike Faiola (South
of the Border, Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy), Majandra Delfino (Roswell,
Boston Public) and Bree Turner (Las
Vegas, The TV Set).

Produced by quarterlife, inc., writers for the series will
include its creators Herskovitz and Zwick, as well as actor-writer Devon
Gummersall (Robbing ‘Hef) and Lucy
Teitler. Herskovitz will direct several of the episodes along with Eric Stoltz
(director of Boston Legal, NBC’s Law
& Order), John Sacret Young (China
Beach) and Catherine Jelski (Watch
Over Me). Josh Gummersall (Blood
Diamond) will produce.

The online community at quarterlife.com is invited to
participate in the ongoing creation of quarterlife by uploading their own videos and blogs or their own
versions of quarterlife. The best
submissions will be credited and incorporated into the program.

"The first time Ed and Marshall showed me quarterlife, I knew it was something special and I personally
could not stop watching it,” said Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC
Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. “It was also a great opportunity to
explore a new paradigm.”

"Ben Silverman and NBC are innovators who understand
and appreciate that quarterlife
represents an important shift in television programming, as our Internet series
is the first to air on a major network," said Herskovitz. "Ben also
really gets how special the quarterlife story is and believes in our young talent. We’re truly thrilled to be
part of the NBC family, as they are experts at leveraging their diverse
platform to give their shows maximum exposure."

—By Kristin Brzoznowski