Insufficient Funds: The Institute Web Series

Insufficient Funds is a weekly post in which we feature a free, or very close to it, piece of media that you can enjoy without overdrafting your bank account. So if you're low on funds, stay tuned to Cerebral Pop every Friday morning.
Before YouTube became known for videos of people getting hit in the crotch and boring vlogs, there was likely some expectation of the service being used as an outlet for creative people. Luckily there is now some of that going on, and people are attempting to put out some content that actually took a little bit of thought. Like the web series, which offers up mini-episodes of shows that would likely never get a greenlight on a network station. Somehow I always get sucked in when I start a series, and the latest in which I'm entangled is The Institute.

The Institute would definitely not have been greenlit on a network station given it's plot. Two brothers start a school for upcoming pornstars back in the 70s when pornography was just starting out. Each episode follows the gang of "teachers" and their attempts to keep their "school" up and running, as well as gives a mock origin to a well-known sexual term such as The Dirty Sanchez or The Blumpkin.

The thing that really drew me in, though, was the quality. As far as Internet web series go, it looks pretty good. By the time you've watched a few episodes, the characters start to grow on you. It might not be groundbreaking or a complete laugh riot, but I smirked quite a bit and was drawn to watch each subsequent episode right after the previous came to an end. And you can't beat free.

Check out the first episode, and if you like it you can find more here.