Whedon's 'Horrible' an Online Hit

Hollywood’s Internet video forays have mostly been failures—remember Quarterlife?—but none of them starred a dorky singing mad scientist. Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog thankfully features just such a character, and it’s almost too successful for its own good. The first episode had been online less than 24 hours when demand crashed its site, sending Whedon scrambling for more bandwidth.

Whedon may be a famous and powerful producer, and Dr. Horrible has a star-studded cast—including Neil Patrick Harris in the title role—and a 6-figure budget. But it’s not a studio production, and bears no evidence of corporate meddling. “There were no rules—and there still aren’t,” one co-writer tells the LA Times. Whedon himself thinks Horrible’s a success because, like all Internet hits, it’s “truly, transcendently goofy.” (More Joss Whedon stories.)