CALGARY — Lisa Kudrow is well aware that Internet surfers don't concentrate on one thing for very long.

That was part of the inspiration for her improvised online show "Web Therapy," which will receive a digital media award this week at the Banff World Media Festival.

"People's attention span isn't too long on the Internet -- like three minutes," Kudrow told The Canadian Press.

"I thought it would be so funny if people knocked things out -- tasks, errands while they're on the Internet.

"It would be funny if people thought: 'I could knock out therapy... someone's offering a three minute session!' Because it's such a dumb idea, that's the worst way to do therapy. We just started developing the character that thinks offering therapy online for three minute sessions is a good idea. And we came up with a horrible person."

"Web Therapy" stars Kudrow as Fiona Wallice, a therapist who decides that the traditional "50 minute hour" version of counselling gives people too much leeway to talk about irrelevant things. Her three-minute sessions take place over the Internet via webcam.

Web traffic and reviews have been so good that Showtime plans to air half-hour episodes beginning July 19.

Kudrow, of course, has found success on various platforms since her days as Phoebe Buffay on the smash sitcom "Friends." She's appeared in movies such as "Easy A" and "P.S. I Love You" and is currently the executive producer for the NBC version of the hit U.K. television series "Who Do You Think You Are?" in which celebrities trace their family trees.

Kudrow had her roots traced in season one and discovered her great-grandmother had died in the Holocaust.

"I got to see where they all are in their final resting place. There's a monument there which I really wasn't expecting," said Kudrow in a telephone interview.

"And I found a relative that my father was pretty certain was dead. It was a happy ending."

Stars that have been profiled in the series include Sarah Jessica Parker, Spike Lee, Matthew Broderick, Brooke Shields, Tim McGraw and Kim Cattrall, who returned to the United Kingdom to discover that her father, who had abandoned the family before they emigrated to Canada, had remarried and started a new life.

"It takes a long time to do. We have people who are coming to us and then we have people we go out and ask because we think they might be curious about it," said Kudrow.

"It's a great show. I thought it could work here and I knew there were at least enough people to keep it on the air that would watch it."

It seems viewers are also watching "Web Therapy," which features high-profile guest stars including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Meryl Streep and Michael McDonald.

The way people use the Internet seems to fascinate Kudrow, whose character has a husband who is running for office.

Kudrow doesn't rule out art imitating life in future episodes, in light of what has happened to disgraced U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner, who sent lewd pictures of himself to women over the Internet and then lied about it.

"Oh we will. To me it's even funnier when the situation is acted out and you can sort of exaggerate it a little bit. In our third season we have Fiona's husband ... running for Congress," she added.

"I don't know what people are thinking. They're publishing things. I mean half the things people get caught doing -- has that worked before and that's why you thought it was okay to do it now?

"It's like people are not aware that you're actually broadcasting and publishing yourself."

The Banff festival runs through Wednesday.