The Line – a new web comedy series from Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video, directed by SNL veteran Seth Meyers – is a bomb.

The series features two friends, Josh (Hader) and Duffy (Joe Lo Truglio – Superbad), as they score the coveted first spot in line outside of a movie theater, 11 days prior to the world premiere of one of the summer’s most highly anticipated films, Future Space.

Could be promising – but the series is also an attempt to integrate sponsored product placement with viral videos.

The Line is sponsored by Sony Pictures. Since the show takes place outside a movie theater, the studio integrated three real-life Columbia Pictures releases, Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, and The House
Bunny, into the webisodes.

“This integrated marketing opportunity with The Line feels like the most organic user experience that I’ve seen in a very long time,” said Dwight Caines, executive vice president of worldwide digital marketing strategy for Columbia TriStar Marketing Group. “The project is so clever and will certainly resonate with our target audiences.”

Unfortunately, the target audience for The Line appears to be next to non-existent. The first episode, which has been up for three weeks, has received just over 5,000 views on The Line’s YouTube channel:

Later episodes are doing worse.

5,000 views might be OK if you’re putting up a video of a huge, dead snake.

But when you’ve got the creator of Saturday Night Live, three SNL veterans & Sony Pictures behind you and you only get 5,000 views, you’ve got a bomb on your hands.

But not just any bomb – a bomb of epic, even Quarterlife-size proportions.

via Cinematech