If people watch a web series and the creators are able to get paid then I'm happy too.

Will I watch this? Probably not.

McCormick with an "i" :p. Yeah, now I sound douchey lol.

The thing is -- Looking at the declining quality in production values of TV shows like Comedy Central's Workaholics (that looks like it was shot on 8mm sometime in the 70s) contrasted to the rising production quality of webseries...

...there's going to be a point where the two collide.

And a model for pay will have to be created simply because networks are paying more for TV of crap quality, than webseries of higher quality.

It's really past the point of not having a viable, consistent, business model for webseries. The only thing missing is that studios and networks haven't pushed for it. There has been no need.

I guarantee, as soon as someone comes up with something that surpasses what the studios and networks can do in terms of both quality and profit margin -- they'll adopt those practices.

WB backing something like this, seems like it is the first step towards the future of entertainment. One where television and internet content are synonymous.

I think the quality of this webseries has a purpose behind it... WB is releasing a relaunch of the Mortal Kombat video game series, and that just happens to be next week. SO they are definitely trying to build up some brand hype behind the franchise so people will buy more of the 60 dollar video game. Which I think it really a good idea, especially since this video is pretty much viral already.

Question: Is writing for the web going to require a new understanding of the shorter narrative then for film or TV?

I believe that this series is going to run for 10 episodes, which put together would make a decent feature film. I wonder what new writing techniques one would need to make a web clip compelling in itself, but still have you 'click' on the next episode. I think it's similar to, but not exactly like television where you are structuring for commercial breaks.