Have you ever stopped to wonder what’s up with the cast of the short-lived web series The Avenue? Have you ever asked yourself, “what is editor-in-chief of Défilé magazine Arta Ghanbari up to?” Or maybe, “Where is social-climbing YouTube sensation Gregory Gorgeous?” Well, we have some answers: Mr. Gorgeous has been making appearances on weird DIY YouTube reality shows, and Ms. Ghanbari is a style editor at Lifestyler magazine. And now, they’ve been asked to return to the show that made them sort of Internet-famous by teen interest publication Verve Girl, who will be creating new episodes that focus on Ghanbari’s life as an editorial assistant at Verve Girl (we’ll admit that the demotion from editor-in-chief to style editor to editorial assistant seems bizarre) and Gorgeous’ rise to the A-list (okay). There’s no official date set, but the teen publication positioned the launch in a press release as one of its holiday 2012 campaigns. Depending on how you feel about this fairly innocuous program (we obviously love to laugh at it), Christmas may have just come early.
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PANCAKE POLL: Who looks more appetizing—Justin Bieber or Ryan Gosling?
Ryan Gosling and Justin Bieber each have a legion of adoring fans proclaiming how hot they are to the world (even though Gosling was robbed for People’s Sexiest Man Alive). But now a rogue element has upset the balance: pancakes. While we’d gladly take a bite out of the Almighty Goz, we think Bieber might have the edge in pure numbers. We put it to you: who looks tastier?
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The Avenue recap, episode 3: interview with a non-empire
The word “empire” is used in the titles of a lot of acclaimed works: Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back, Jay Z’s Empire State of Mind, the Empire State Building and now, The Avenue. The web series decided to gradually elevate its characters’ non-titles (intern-editor, vlogger-celebrity) by creating empires out of nothings and cutely playing off popular vampire fiction, in episode three: “Interview with an [ugh] Empire.”
We didn’t spot any moguls, but we did wonder how Jessica—a model who never works—can afford to go shopping (wasn’t she just complaining about not making rent in episode two?). But more importantly, what’s really in Gregory’s purse? We assume his collection of Lisa Frank stickers, craft glue, vials of glitter and some helium. We’ve done a lot of the work so other people don’t have to risk brain failure (we’re close) from watching this kind of reality, and this will be the second-last recap of a show that never should have happened in the first place. Look forward to our finale recap to come, but first check out the full rundown of episode three, including “Interview with an Empire” images, after the jump.
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The Avenue recap, episode 2: Just Dan-ce, like the Lady Gaga song, only more tragic
Toronto can be cold and complicated, and no one knows this better than the characters on the Web TV show The Avenue. Whether it’s finding the perfect lip stain to complement a failed modelling career or simply getting by after losing an off-screen sugar daddy, it seems like there’s nothing that a night out can’t fix for this group of 20-nothings who are, by no one’s standards, “taking Toronto.” This week’s episode is titled “Just Dan-ce,” because Gregory’s now-ex-boyfriend (spoiler!) is named Dan, and that is just how clever the writing is on this breakout hit. Here, our play-by-play of the trashy indulgence that is The Avenue: Episode 2, wherein Greggy weeps, Arta gropes a model and we take issue with the show’s claim that it’s entirely unscripted. Oh, and this recap is late, because frankly, we have better things to do with our time.
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The Avenue recap: new Web series “takes” Toronto—and so far, we want it back
Toronto-focused television already has its place in fiction, from the mind-warping fantasy of Being Erica to the gang’s-all-here approach of Metropia. So when The Hills collapsed in Lauren Conrad’s absence and a trashy void needed to be filled, Toronto stepped up with the racial stereotyping of Lake Shore. Or that’s what we thought until we saw The Avenue.
Local production company Fisher/Morris had dollar signs in their eyes after meeting Gregory Gorgeous, a flamboyant, back-treading gay caricature from an undisclosed Ontario suburb, and stuck him in the show. The Avenue is a Toronto-based Web series that has generated some early interest after only five heavily scripted Webisodes (everyone seemed to be talking about its coming finale on Twitter last night). Here, we go back to the beginning to recap the first installment, following the show’s five vacuous wannabes as they tear up over snubbed non-contracts, difficult gay men and the trials transplants face when trying to “make it big” in the dark, mean streets of semi-privileged Toronto.
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