Vuguruforeignbody
A 50 episode, daily published medical industry thriller partially set in India, Foreign Body is the ~~2nd~~ 3rd series release* from online vid studio Vuguru -- the Eisner-helmed co. which, despite sporting a name that smacks of herbal remedies, earned 15M views last year (now 25M+) with the MySpace teen thriller 'Prom Queen'.

With this latest online drama, outlined by top-selling novelist Robin Cook and fleshed out by 'Prom' production co. Big Fantastic, Eisner continues his online vid experiments: the entire series serves as a prequel to the Cook's August 4 release of the same name. It's straight-to-DVD quality fare, sans DVD production and distribution costs, and serialized online.

Business-wise, that's a neat trick. Obviate distro costs, capitalize on web video's cache, and circumvent the online vid advertising hoi polloi by creating a series that is, effectively, a very long advertisement. Regardless of its' success as original entertainment, Foreign Body the book (the real breadwinner) receives tremendous press coverage (e.g., this post) just in time for summer travelers to snag an airport copy and read about "medical tourism".

My full review will appear later today on HollywoodReporter.com. In the meantime, a few brief notes:

The series, like Prom Queen, is well-produced and relies on salacious fare (boobs, more boobs) to titillate the audience.
Body also relies on episode to episode cliffhangers. A good mechanism at this point in online video's development, where the online viewing habit isn't fully formed yet.
Body's distro outlets are below. Personally, I think the show would fare better on a soccer mom platform like MSN, AOL, or Yahoo. The audience for the show and book would seem to overlap there.

Bodies will premiere today on foreignbody.tv, and throughout the week on other platforms including YouTube, Veoh, Hulu, blip.tv, and Dailymotion.

* Vuguru also launched Prom Queen: Summer Heat.