During her holiday break, my wife has chosen to catch up on all the episodes of ‘The Walking Dead’, a show that I have given up on due to a bit too much brutality and grimness. Still, I have to admit to getting caught up in several of the episodes, including the mid-season finale, but immediately tuned out in annoyance when the recordings ended with the sound of Chris Hardwicke opening ‘Talking Dead’. Even though I like his work, and am a fan of many of the guests (Chris Jericho did an episode, and I enjoy Wil Wheaton as well), the existence of a show where famous people talk about the thing I *JUST WATCHED* drives me up the wall. Whether it’s the self-congratulatory undertones of the programmers or the fact that I don’t necessarily want to process the opinions of another person (even one as lovely as Paget Brewster) while I’m still digesting the program is unclear, but for whatever reason, I have to tune out immediately or risk a rage-fit, which leads us to today’s quietly-furious query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) knows that my opinion isn’t universal and it wouldn’t be a good idea if it were, asking: Do you think you would enjoy a discussion program like ‘Talking Dead’ about your favorite bits of pop culture?
8 Comments
Hell yeah! I used to watch the “Afterbuzz” Youtube show after watching “American Horror Story: Coven” and now after every episode of “The Flash” or “Agents of SHIELD” I rush to any forum topics or web pages where people are talking about them. I don’t think I would watch a TV program though. I don’t watch much proper TV anyways. But I would definitely love a Youtube show or a podcast about my favorite TV shows.
I am with Mathew – I can’t stand instant actor feedback on the story I just experienced. It breaks the world building for me to see the actors talking about playing the characters. I want to relish in the crazy stuff I just saw go down – not hear about the blood being ketchup or the stand in that made the scene look more “authentic”. But hey, that’s just me.
I never really liked those sort of shows. I’d rather watch something that either encompasses a lot of things (like “The Nerdist” TV show that was on BBC America or something like that) rather than a show about one specific topic. I do like seeing what other people and actors/writers/creators/etc that I like think of something I like, but I just can’t really get into a show that is pretty much focused on one narrow topic. If I’m going to watch anything like that, then I’ll look up the DVD extras or something, not watch it on TV. There are some online short shows I’ll watch, but they usually aren’t as long as a whole TV episode and are more like a DVD extra feature.
I actually enjoy the talking dead as I find it helps me digest the episode.
I watch it infrequently, usually only when something big happens like a major character dying or they tease something big in the next episode. Like that last episode with Emily Kinney.
The Talking franchise isn’t for me.
A several weeks ago (Oct. 12th) after a particularly bad sports night for the local sports teams on a 30-minute program about Sunday football on WNBC, the host *began* the show with “this is a weekend to forget.” Now imagine that people continued to watch!
Another moment in targeted-programming gone wrong is http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/comics-16/idw-transformers-comic-writer-mike-costa-reflects-on-transformers-173922/ . Mike Costa had been writing Transformers comics for years. When he moves on, he agrees to be interviewed by a Transformers podcast. It isn’t schadenfreude, but it fun to think that someone would explain his/her trouble producing specific pop culture to superfans. It is like the reverse of the Chris Farley Show.
I enjoy the Talking Dead bit not emediatly after watching the Walking Dead. I wait at least till Wednesday. By then I’ve processed the current episode and able to enjoy the added experience. Sometime I agree with those on the couches. Sometimes I don’t.
CM Punk has been on a few times and it’s very clear he’s a big fan. So I like it. Anything that keeps things I like popular and in profit is a good thing although listening to actors and actresses talk is kind of like a mailbag episode, think of it that way. You may not be interested in it but some people are. There are after shows for many programs now, they’ll run their course and fall out of favor as all things do in TV. If you don’t like it, just don’t watch it, don’t talk about it, speeds up the death process. I do like when Talking Dead has interesting guests on, I don’t like when Hardwick just has someone on to fanboy out about them. That is pretty dull.