Sing-along with Dr. Horrible

August 24, 2008 12:57 am

—

Doogie Howser — supervillain?

Believe it or not, that may be the least unusual thing about "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog," the Internet-only show the Web has been buzzing about in recent months.

Directed by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon, the series stars Neil Patrick Harris, the actor formerly known as Doogie, as Dr. Horrible, a wannabee supervillain with a crush on a girl he met at the local Laundromat. He is constantly being foiled in his efforts to gain entry into the "Evil League of Evil" by his nemesis, "Captain Hammer."

If that doesn't sound odd enough, how about this? — the show is also a musical.

Despite it's unusual nature, the show has become a huge hit online. It has consistently been one of the top downloads on iTunes in recent weeks. And when "Dr. Horrible" first went live last month, the site crashed from all of the traffic.

The idea came about as a result of last winter's Hollywood writers strike, according to Whedon.

"Frustrated on the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy," he said. "The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap — but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the Internet."

Originally, Whedon made the three 15-minute Webisodes available for free, but now you have to pay to get them. For $3.99, you get all three episodes, plus a subscription to future episodes. Of course, you can also watch the individual episodes for free at YouTube.

For more information on "Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog," go to www.drhorrible.com. If you don't mind waiting, a DVD of the show with a bunch of extras is also planned.

— Associated Press