In 1992, Bruce Springsteen lamented over the dearth of quality programming available on cable television, despite an abundance of choices, in his song 57 Channels (And Nothing On). The lyrics seem so quaint and precious now, don't they? Fifty-seven channels? Adorable! (I understand car phone reception was also spotty back then. How did civilization endure such hardship?) If "The Boss" had trouble finding something watchable on a measly few dozen cable channels, imagine his bewilderment after wading into the mind-numbing array of web TV shows available on the Internet.

Podcasts? Web videos? Web series? Webisodes? Call it what you will, it's all web TV: original, episodic video content created exclusively for Internet audiences. The burgeoning world of web television offers some great, plenty of good, and a surplus of five-minutes-you'll-never-get-back viewing experiences and it – all of it – is changing contemporary entertainment at its core. Like it or not, web TV is the future of entertainment or, at the very least, it's blazing a trail in that direction and leaving breadcrumbs behind for traditional media to follow.

Web television, in all of its forms, matters, and it isn't just about little shows produced by indie Internet studios anymore. This isn't news. While there's certainly a proliferation of content flowing from countless indie channels, a growing number of mainstream media outlets have integrated web TV content into their online platforms.

Lately, the media's focus on web television seems to have narrowed on the development of original, web-only series, top-notch shows that increasingly look and feel like bite-size servings of network TV – and sometimes better. Television networks such as AMC, CBS, and Comedy Central offer a variety of shows made exclusively for the web. Hulu and Netflix, in an attempt to capitalize on established audiences of traditional TV viewers, have also thrown their hats into the original programming ring. Other big media names that recently made headlines by investing heaps of cash in new web television ventures – many with Hollywood heavy-hitters attached – include Yahoo, YouTube, and AOL.

As more corporations with deeper pockets have entered the web TV fray, the production values and star power featured in digital series have increased, giving broadcast television a serious run for its money. There are already some excellent, lower-budget shows online, of course, but how to find them? If slogging around YouTube becomes too overwhelming, try Crackle, Blip, and Clicker. The online video entertainment portals provide orderly access to a wide selection of original web series – from both professional and up-and-coming producers – complete with channel guides and viewer recommendations.

Today, we set sail on the vast sea of made-for-internet television. As we attempt to navigate through the digital chaos, we'll examine trends, discuss industry news, and highlight some of the web's best original programming – web TV worth watching. We'll kick things off with a look at Sketchy, the latest addition to Yahoo! Studios' growing slate of original comedy programming. The first episode of the weekly video series, Hungry Games, stars Alison Becker, Nick Krause, Ryan Lee, and Erin Gibson in a food-themed spoof of The Hunger Games film trailer:

Episode two, "The Artist's" Intervention, features Paulo Costanzo, Jill Maybruch, Judson Jones, and Jerry Colpitts in a hilarious marriage of the Academy Award-winning film, The Artist and A&E's Intervention:

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