Former Tampa Palms Residents Team Up In ‘The Doll’ Web TV Series

By Gary Nager

When I was in my 20s, cable TV was still in its infancy, so most entertainment programming on TV was still being produced by the (at that time) three broadcast networks — ABC-TV, NBC-TV and CBS-TV (Fox-TV started a few years later).

Today, with thousands of free and pay TV channels and websites like Youtube.com and Vines.com offering unlimited viewership opportunities for millions of videos worldwide, creative people have so many more ways to make their voices heard and their talents seen than they have in the rest of human history combined.

Somewhere in the middle of this vast wasteland of mostly average televised product steps a former Tampa Palms resident who graduated from the Blake High School for the Performing Arts in Tampa and then ventured out to Los Angeles — still the mecca of the world of TV and film entertainment.

Bri Azmoudeh, 27, says her mom was a huge Barbie doll collector who hosted the 2013 National Barbie Doll Convention in New Orleans and held meetings at her home for Barbie enthusiasts right here in New Tampa.

“I’ve been inundated with Barbie my whole life,” says Bri. “I knew there was something funny I could tap into in the world of Barbie that would make for a funny TV series.”

Inspired more by British sitcoms than those here in the U.S., Bri created and is one of the writers and stars of “The Doll,” a truly funny (I’ll be stunned if you don’t think it’s hysterical) web-based series which currently has a short (4:40) pilot airing on Youtube and on the fund-raising site Indiegogo.com, where Bri and her co-producers are trying to raise $7,000.

“That would be enough for us to pay to produce the entire first season of ‘The Doll,’” she says. “All of the creative people involved in the program are donating their time for free, so we’re keeping our costs as low as possible.”

One of the creative people Bri has brought on to be part of “The Doll” is her former Tampa Palms neighbor (and my good friend) Susan Saiger, who moved out to LA-LA Land a couple of years ago to pursue her dream of standup comedy stardom. Although she doesn’t appear in the pilot episode, Suzi is playing the role of Harriet Fowler, the slightly buzzed member of what Bri calls “The Bid Committee” on the show.

“We’ve known each other for years,” Bri says. “I stayed in the house Mrs. Saiger bought in Los Angeles until she was able to move from Tampa. And yes, even though we’re working together, it’s hard for me to not call her Mrs. Saiger.”

Suzi, of course, got her big acting break in the 1982 cult classic, “Eating Raoul,” where she played Doris the Dominatrix. She also had a featured role in “The Presidio,” the 1988 made-for-TV thriller starring Sean Connery, Mark Harmon and Meg Ryan.

But, Suzi isn’t the only professional working with Bri on “The Doll.” In fact, the director is Bradford Dworak, who has worked on “America’s Got Talent,” the TBS Cable Network’s “Deal With It,” and with “The Ricki Lake,” “Dr. Drew” and even “Oprah.” shows. Cast members have appeared on “The Biggest Loser-Australia,” “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Anger Management,” “Political Animals,” “Babylon 5,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Mentalist,” “Touch,” “ER,” “CSI,” “Raising Hope,” “CSI: Miami” and “Behind the Candelabra” (HBO).

“The Doll” is the story of a young woman (Azmoudeh) who suspects her boyfriend is cheating on her, but what he actually is hiding is the fact he’s a closet doll collector in the Glitter Us Doll Club.

I hope you’ll help this talented, young, local-girl-trying-to-make-good (and Suzi, of course) by visiting Youtube.com/channel/UCmRALaVHEl1igN_WwT1teKg and then go to the series’ fund-raising page at IGG.me/at/thedollwebseries to make a donation of $1 or more and like the page at Facebook.com/thedollwebseries.