For the internet addicted, music attuned, multi-tasking generation, an exciting new web series has been released by the WB. On March 17, “Rockville, CA” kicked off its first season of webisodes on theWB.com.
Starring Andrew J. West (“Privileged”, “Greek”) and Alexandra Chando (“As the World Turns”), “Rockville, CA” follows the ever-changing beat of the Los Angeles music scene from inside a local club. Creator/executive producer Josh Schwartz’s impressive resume includes “Gossip Girl”, “Chuck,” and “The O.C.,” so it comes as no surprise that his creative switch cannot be easily turned off. Schwartz took the unique approach of featuring hand-picked, real bands in every episode alongside the scripted cast. Each 5-6 minute episode of “Rockville, CA” features a new band. With 20 total episodes, 20 bands respectively get invaluable exposure while being a pawn in the trendy plotline.
Andrew J. West plays Hunter, the 20-something resident music nerd at Club Rockville. This may sound a little like the character of Seth Cohen on “The O.C.,” however, according to West “‘Rockville, CA’ differs from Schwartz’s other works (“The O.C.,” “Gossip Girl”) in that it is “edgier and more comedic based, the show is for the college music lover, and it’s made relatable by adding a young plotline.”
Hunter’s character, a former columnist at Brown, patrols the music scene at Club Rockville. “Hunter is enamored with music and has the slightest little bit of nerdy aspect to him. Most of that comes out when he spouts out monologues about different albums and artists- music is his obsession” West said. For West, getting into the character of a music “geek” (unfair term) proved to come naturally. Of his personal favorite band featured, West said:
“The White Lies were fantastic- I love music and it’s easy for me to tap into that passion about certain band, I definitely had an understanding going into the character of Hunter.”
Alexander Chando (“As the World Turns”) plays Deb, the driven talent scout who enters Club Rockville with a history of experience in the music business. Hunter and Deb’s relationship gets off to a rough start as he is intimidated and annoyed by Deb’s presence. While it may seem that their relationship was doomed from the get-go, throughout the season a romance develops between the two music fiends. “I met her briefly at an audition for a project but I didn’t really meet her until the day we started filming. Working that day was really easy and comfortable,” West said of his experience filming alongside Chando.
Los Angeles sets the perfect scene for the blooming romance and hipster music environment in Club Rockville. “There’s a certain vibe that LA has, it’s really unique, there’s a certain type of band that is attracted to the LA music scene” West said. The actors of “Rockville, CA” not only endured chaotic filming schedules, but also survived an on-set food recall scare.
“We had a recall on a food item that was on the Kraft service table with the peanut butter crackers and two months later we got a call with warning not to eat them… aside from the PB cracker-attack scare, one day we showed up and they set off a roach bomb and shooting got cancelled,” West said, recalling the random occurrences during production.
The brief format of Schwartz’s 5-6 minute web episodes is a deviation from the norm in TV dramas. Perhaps it shows an adaption to the age of information technology where time is of the essence and all is available at the click of a touch pad. “Rockville, CA” is “definitely for anyone who enjoys good music and a good storyline…when I look at the series as a whole it almost feels like a cool little indie music movie” West said.
Interested? Check out “Rockville, CA” on theWB.com.
