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High-profile names and studios have been trying to conquer the Web for several years now—Sony, Disney, Warner Brothers, MySpace and Michael Eisner’s Tornante company have all created operations dedicated to churning out online programming. Last year, “thirtysomething” creators and industry heavies Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick released the online show “quarterlife” which even enjoyed a one-episode stint on NBC. But not a single one of these industry efforts has managed to find a mainstream audience. Kids in Nebraska making YouTube movies behind the barn have won more viewers. Really, I’m not joking.

But Dr. Horrible looks to have a different fate. The first of the show’s three 15-minute episodes went live Tuesday at midnight and immediately, international viewers were screaming that they couldn’t watch it (the Hulu video player they were using didn’t work overseas). And those of us who tried to pay $1.99 to download the show from iTunes couldn’t do that either. Still, those were the least of “Dr. Horrible’s” problems: by the time U.S. viewers woke up yesterday, so many people were clamoring to watch the show that its web site crashed completely, sending the makers scrambling to find more bandwidth…

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Even with the stars, the big crew, and permission to use the Universal Studios backlot (eerily, the location where they shot was completely destroyed by June fire), Dr. Horrible manages to retain a casual, low-stakes feel. Not quite YouTube-low, thankfully, but neither is there the slightest evidence of corporate fingerprints—the Minus Touch.

“We had nobody to check in with, said Tancharoen. “There was nobody giving us notes. There were no rules—and there still aren’t. That’s why the Internet is cool.”

Harris remembered a scene during the 7-day shoot when the sun had gone down and there was no longer enough light to get the shot. “Someone just grabbed a flashlight and shined it on my face,” he said. They got it in one take.

“We had the freedom to behave like professional amateurs,” he said. “And that sort of worked into the vibe” of the show.

A key element of that vibe is what Whedon called “the silly.” …

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