About Something to Be Desired

Something to Be Desired (or STBD) is a web series about life after college. It’s a sitcom… sort of.

How It All Began…

STBD began in 2003, telling the story of Jack Boyd, a DJ at the struggling WANT-FM. He and his friends Leo and Dean, his sister Caroline, and her roommate Dierdre formed the show’s core — a tale of post-collegiate life and love, of shockingly bad ideas and missed opportunities.

… and then reality changed the way we made the show.

Actor Dan Stripp (Jack Boyd) left the series during Season Two, so the show’s focus shifted to Caroline, Dean, Dierdre, and Leo. It became an ensemble dramedy — which was good, because more actors would come and go over the next 5 years.

Season Three Trailer

Season Four: Starting from Scratch-ish

In Season Four, the real-world facilities we used to film WANT-FM and Shout! Magazine — the show’s two fictional means of employment — came under new management, and STBD was no longer able to film there.

Season Four is STBD’s “reboot” year, as WANT-FM and Shout! were phased out and the show’s focus shifted again to follow Caroline and Dierdre to new jobs at Vanity Press and the Affogato Coffee Bar, respectively.

In 2008, STBD was nominated for a Yahoo! Video Award for “Best Web Series.”

In 2009, creator Justin Kownacki relocated to Baltimore and the show ended after its sixth season. But a Kickstarter campaign enabled some of the cast to reunite for a spinoff, The Baristas, which ran for 20 episodes in 2011.

Our Humble History as Web Video Pioneers

Created and produced in Pittsburgh, PA, STBD has been online since the summer of 2003 — before YouTube, MySpace, podcasts or anything else you currently recognize about the Internet.

Tech Specs

STBD filmed in Pittsburgh with a local cast and crew (usually, just Justin Kownacki and a camera — it’s DIY-ish like that). It was filmed on mini-DV (the Panasonic DVX-100A model, to be exact), edited in Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro, and distributed on multiple platforms, including YouTube, Blip TV, and iTunes.

Where Can You Watch STBD?

Every episode of STBD Season 5 and Season 6 are available on YouTube. Earlier episodes had been available on Blip TV, but in 2015, Blip TV closed up shop. This means iTunes is currently the only place you can find all 100+ episodes of Something to be Desired…

… for now.

Questions?

Contact creator Justin Kownacki on his website.