When it comes to sensitive TV dramas, two names come readily to mind: Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz.

Through the 1980s and ’90s, the pair created such revered shows as “thirtysomething,” “My So-Called Life” and “Once and Again.” As the latter two series proved, subtle is not for everyone and they were criminally short-lived.

Then Zwick and Herskovitz moved into film, where they created such critically acclaimed works as “Glory,” “Legends of the Fall,” “Traffic,” “Sam I Am” and “Blood Diamond.”

More recently, they started dabbling in a new medium: the Internet.

Their drama about 20-somethings, “quarterlife,” initially launched on MyspaceTV.com and on quarterlife.com in November 2007. The Internet series includes 36 eight-minute webisodes, with two new episodes airing each week.

Facing a lingering writers’ strike, NBC decided to have Zwick and Herskovitz knit these webisodes into a network hour. (Recycling! What a perfectly green thing to do!) So “quarterlife” debuts at 10 tonight, before moving to its regular timeslot of 9 p.m. Sundays on March 2.

Up against the glut of reality TV which has made up the bulk of strike filler, “quarterlife” is an exquisite gem.

The drama is propelled by its narrator Dylan (played by Bitsie Tulloch), an editorial associate (i.e. intern) at a women’s magazine who creates a blog detailing the day-to-day activities of herself, her roommates and others in their orbit, often much to their chagrin.

These include her best friend Deborah (Michelle Lombardo) and Deborah’s filmmaker boyfriend Danny (David Walton), Danny’s film-making partner and best friend Jed (Scott Michael Foster), their co-worker Andy (Kevin Christy) and their other roommate, actress-bartender Lisa (Maite Schwartz). (Some of the possessive pronouns may be wrong, because it’s impossible to tell who actually lives there.)

Yes, there’s more than a little bit of melodrama. Jed longs for Deborah, while Dylan aches for Jed and Andy lusts for Dylan. Lisa, for whom every male lusts, can’t open up enough to succeed in her chosen profession. There’s enough angst for a CW show, even though “quarterlife” doesn’t have the requisite soundtrack.

This cast of unknowns does a marvelous job of conveying the anxiety of the painful transition into adulthood. Their emotional awkwardness is at times hard to watch, but it rings true.

With its “real” shows coming back, NBC seems unlikely to renew “quarterlife.” So let’s just enjoy it as if it were a miniseries, then keep up with the group’s further adventures on the Web.