Pop Smart - Turner pulls the plug on SuperDeluxe

Never heard of SuperDeluxe? Guess that was a big part of the problem. For the uninformed, SuperDeluxe was a comedy website created by Turner Broadcasting here in Atlanta to showcase original videos and cartoons. Quietly launched in January 2007 to foster a word-of-mouth following, the site initially used material from FARKtv before hiring a number of local jokesters and improv groups to create videos. One of those funnymen was ex-Loafer Noah Gardenswartz, who still writes comedy reviews for us.

But before SD could truly go viral, it soon found itself upstaged by the headline-making debut of the similar Funny or Die. That website’s inaugural video, The Landlord, starring co-founder Will Ferrell, has been viewed more than 50 million times. That’s a difficult number to compete with. It’s also tough to go up against Funny or Die’s roster of celebrity cameos: Michael Cera, Katherine Heigl, John C. Reilly and Bill Murray.

Last week, Turner canned the SD staff and announced it would soon roll the existing SD content into the Adult Swim website. And that, unfortunately, is no joke.