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The second annual Streamy Awards, honoring the best in web original television programming, is scheduled for April 11^th in Los Angeles.  In honor of the event, we’ll be publishing a series of posts on the nominated series and the people behind them.

With Clicker’s web savvy user base, we expect you’ve heard of many of these web series, especially those featuring Hollywood stars like Zach Galifiankis, Lisa Kudrow, Nathan Fillion, and Courtney Cox. But we’ll also introduce you to many more with dedicated followings and recommend our favorites.

We’ll also provide you with a handy breakdown of the nominees in the biggest categories, and list respective contenders by their odds of winning!*

*Major disclaimer: these odds are solely meant for fun and should in no way encourage illegal gambling. Please enjoy the Streamys responsibly.

Today, we’ll start with a bang by playing prognosticator on three of the biggest awards (Comedy, Drama, and Hosted), but in the next two weeks you can also look forward to posts covering:

· Best Foreign, Branded, Companion, and New to Web Series Awards
· Best Reality or Documentary, News or Politics, Animated, Experimental Series Awards
· Writing and Directing Awards
· Performance Awards
· Clicker’s Favorite Series that Flew Under The Streamys Radar

Best Comedy Web Series

The Guild 3:1 (Will Win)
Between Two Ferns 4:1
Easy to Assemble 6:1
Wainy Days 8:1
The Legend of Neil 10:1 (Should Win)

A year after dominating the Streamys, The Guild comes in as a favorite to repeat.  With three seasons, a mega-hit music video, and the increasingly mainstream success of creator Felicia Day, it’s hard to believe that the Streamys might look to another series to carry the torch for the web world.  But if we look at the rest of the nominations, The Guild also has opportunities in Best Writing and each of the Best Acting categories, so there’s certainly a chance that winning those awards might allow a new contender to step forward in Best Comedy.

In the year of Galifiankis (TM), the obvious choice would be Between Two Ferns, but it’s not the only option. Easy to Assemble produced another strong and cameo filled season, video game adventure The Legend of Neil gets a seat at the table, and Wainy Days, yet another excellent, cameo filled series from creator David Wain, could surprise.  Considering the rude and crude Legend of Neil took home our very own Best of Clicker award for a comedy web series in 2009, we’ll be rooting for the underdog.

Best Drama Web Series

The Bannen Way 2:1 (Will Win, Should Win)
Angel of Death 7:2
Compulsions 8:1
Valemont 12:1
OzGirl 15:1

Well this is awkward.  Newteevee made sure of that by placing a gigantic label on The Bannen Way as the web’s Avatar.

Sure, it’s big and loud and impressive.  But it’s certainly not the only big name out there.  Valemont from MTV and Angel of Death (also from Crackle) are similarly polished.  But it’s definitely Neil Bannen’s award to lose. From it’s pitch perfect, movie star vibe to its Blockbuster style narrative (straight out of ten of your favorite Hollywood action flicks), it’s cool enough that we can forgive them for only leaving us two free episodes online.

Compulsions might best reflect the majority of the web community’s efforts, shot on a fraction of the budget of the flashier series, but still producing some disturbingly visceral moments.  OzGirl seems the obvious long shot, as it’s also a favorite for Best Foreign Series.

Best Hosted Web Series

Diggnation 3:1 (Will Win)
A Comicbook Orange 4:1 (Should Win)
Kevin Pollack’s Chat Show 7:1
Know Your Meme 9:1
The Totally Rad Show 9:1

Alright, so right off the bat Diggnation is a huge name.  It’s widely watched by a rabid fan base, but it’s not clear if that tech and gadget loving fan base is likely to be as well represented by the voting body for The Streamys, which is very much more entertainment based.

For that reason I’ve given A Comicbook Orange nearly equal odds in what should be a competitive category.  After all, the comic book review series, while equally nerdy, has crossed paths with the web series world quite a bit, including for interviews with Dr. Horrible and The Guild.  But it’s also quite good, with creative intros for each interview and an in-depth look at the comics themselves.

And yet having defined the two frontrunners, I’ve relegated three solid contenders to wild card status.  Kevin Pollack’s Chat Show has been quite prolific in a year’s time, producing over 43 celebrity interviews.  And both Know Your Meme and The Totally Rad Show are both approaching four years of defining and discussing Internet trends and phenomena.  As a result, it wouldn’t be shocking to see any of the nominated series emerge as the winner.

Note: Maybe the best videos produced in the run up to the Streamys are these “attack ads” from A Comicbook Orange. (Notice that they were nice enough not to attack their fellow Best Hosted Series nominees.)