So That's What Happened to Baseball Cards

Back on Topps is a continuing comedy web series that airs every Tuesday and Thursday. To briefly summarize the plot, twin brothers Leyland and Lief Topps, heirs to the Topps sports card company, find out that their uncle has sold the family owned business to Michael Eisner. Aside from not only having the company being sold out from under them, the sinister Gaylen Briggs was hired as their boss in order to raise company revenue. Each episode consists of Lief and Leyland scheming up different ways to make Topps profit, giving the viewer a behind the scenes look into world of baseball cards.
The series becomes quite funny as the episodes progress. Back On Topps contain all of the elements that are found in what is becoming a standard web series (whatever that may be). Each episode can stand on its own and has a different plot than those that precede it. At the same time characters and references to jokes in previous shows tie each episode together connecting the series. This type of connection works well for the Internet because the interlocking of jokes and references create an ongoing illusion of time and interaction, while the brevity of each episode allows the audience to get what they want and leave. While the humor is very similar to that of The Office, or 30 Rock, the show brings a new face to a very dry yet clever breed of humor.
While each episode averages between six and seven minutes, each show presents a dilemma, solution and final outcome. Twice a week Topps viewers receive two storylines whenever they decide to log on. While the average television show will air once a week for twenty-two minutes plus commercials, I can’t help but wonder what’s a greater bang for your buck. I bring this question to surface because before and after each episode there is an advertisement for Skype, the webisode’s sponsor. While this seems reasonable, in several of the episodes the characters plug Skype openly and blatantly within the plot. While I thought that shamelessly plugging the show’s sponsor in the middle of an episode was just comic effect, the repetition of advertisements in multiple episodes is very peculiar. While product placement is apparent in every form of media, this type of marketing takes the viewer away from the show. It also makes me wonder if this type of advertising will become a regular trend in this newly recognized realm of television.
Overall I would definitely recommend Back on Topps to other viewers. By the third episode, I was completely hooked and found the characters very relatable. While “office” humor is becoming a popular trend in television comedy, this show offers it’s own brand of sarcasm and lyrical slapstick that I have not seen in a very long time. While I am also not sure I agree with the sponsor’s advertising concepts, the show has a much higher production value in both aesthetics and dialogue then the majority of web television.