Grassroots Series Quiet Desperation Battles Boston's Sudden Influx of Stereotypical Reality Shows

Grassroots Series Quiet Desperation Battles Boston's Sudden Influx of Stereotypical Reality Shows

BOSTON, March 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- This year "Southie Rules", "Boston's Finest", and "Wicked Single" graced the nation's airwaves casting what many consider to be a negative spotlight on the city of Boston. Four years earlier a self-proclaimed "artistic-type" started filming his own Boston-based reality show, "Quiet Desperation", depicting the struggles of artists and musicians in Boston, a city famous for launching bands like Passion Pit, The Dresden Dolls and Aerosmith.

Comedian Rob Potylo, 36, has been in the trenches of Boston's arts scene for over a decade, but since 2009 he's been the creative force behind "Quiet Desperation," a web series that he and director Erik Angra, consider to be the answer to the rash of recent Boston-focused reality shows.

"It depicts the struggles that exist with being a creative type in an environment that caters to the cubicle lifestyle," Potylo said of his series, which debuted its fourth season earlier this month.

"I think the larger corporate stations come up here and force these Southie Rules, Wicked Single-type shows down our throats, and think, 'It's Jersey Shore for Boston, that's what people want.', but they don't realize there is an incredible subculture of budding artists and musicians that are ready to explode."

"Quiet Desperation" is riddled with yelling, blazing bowls, profanity and manic depression all wrapped together with improvised and surreal comedy reminiscent of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

Although Boston's creative community is at the heart of the show, the cast rarely misses a chance to poke fun at the plight of struggling artists.

"Nowadays, Boston can be a very hostile environment for artists trying to invent themselves... We use comedy and dark humor to show that," said Potylo, a self-described "bi-polar manic creative-type."

The surrealist mockumentary-style series is shot inside his Boston, MA apartment, which he shares with co-stars Christiana Celli, 29, her boyfriend Pete Jaquay, 32, and various other "squatters" who come and go. The episodes are filmed and edited in about 24 hours by director Erik Angra who says, "The shows uniqueness comes from the honesty of it's characters."

"I'm playing myself, just different colors and spectrums," said Celli, who, along with her Botticelli-esque curls, supplies some of Quiet Desperation's more dramatic scenes.

Celli is responsible for quotable gems like, "Don't go all epileptic Muppet on me, okay? It's time to discuss the gas bill," "This is not a squatter... This is Yan, and he has the eyes of a f--ing Indigo Child," and, "You look like you're wearing a f--ing dirty old sponge from the God damn bottom of the God damn f--ing Charles River."

As for the future of the series and genre, Potylo said he needs more exposure.

"If the big networks got behind a show like Quiet Desperation with as much enthusiasm as Boston's finest or Wicked Single, you'd see some amazingly unique things happening; a renaissance in television programming, and an entirely new audience of kids who are bored to death with typical reality shows."

Free episodes are available online: http://quietd.com. Contact Creator Rob Potylo at Email 978-729-1113

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SOURCE Rob Potylo

Rob Potylo


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