Cutting the Cord: Crackle's 'The Art of More'
Original TV dramas have become commonplace from popular streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon.
Another streaming service to have on your radar: Crackle.
The Sony Pictures Television-owned site is probably best known for hosting Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Web series, which debuted in 2012.
Now the free ad-supported service is expanding into drama with its first original scripted drama, The Art of More, a suspenseful program set in the high-stakes art auction-house world. The 10-episode series has some star power, too. Dennis Quaid (Vegas) plays a real estate tycoon who dabbles in art auctions, while Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns) is a cutthroat auction-house rival for Christian Cooke (Witches of East End). Cary Elwes, perhaps best known for his starring role in The Princess Bride, takes the role of a law-skirting mentor for Cooke.
Each episode — all 10 are available to stream now — is framed around a specific piece of art or artifact that is auctioned off. Crackle has apps available for Roku, Apple TV, PlayStation, Xbox and Android and iOS devices. A note: Your eyes are not deceiving you, if you watch now on Roku 4, PS3, PS4 and Xbox One, the video is standard definition. Those devices will be upgraded to HD early next year. For now, you can watch in HD on Apple TV and Roku 3.
You do have to watch some commercials, but I found the series intriguing even if it's not as refined as a series such as House of Cards. And the auction-house world is one that rarely serves as a story setting.
Even if that domain doesn't do it for you, Crackle has some content worth perusing. TV series include 10 Seinfeld episodes, including "The Soup Nazi," and All in the Family. Movies currently available on Crackle include King Kong (the Peter Jackson remake), Crumb, The Fifth Element, Fletch and Vantage Point (another Quaid vehicle).
Quaid appeared on CNBC recently to promote the show and said that a certain Republican presidential candidate served as an inspiration. His character, Sam Brukner, is "a real estate mogul who has political aspirations in New York City," he said. "He’s definitely not Donald Trump. He could be his cousin."
With Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and Crackle experimenting with original programming, Quaid said, "it's like a renaissance. What is going on in television right now reminds me of what was going on in movies back in the 1970s where you felt like the inmates had taken over the asylum. There is all this original new stuff."
Cutting the Cord: Streaming video cuts into pay-TV subscriber base
Cutting the Cord is a regular column covering Net TV and ways to get it. If you have suggestions or questions, contact Mike Snider via email at msnider@usatoday.com. And follow him on Twitter: @MikeSnider.