The downfall of ChannelAwesome

[BigMac1212]

Once upon a time, in the vast reaches of the Internet, a content creator had a dream, a dream with sharing video review to all. That man was Doug Walker. He created several personas. But the one that sticks was The Nostalgia Critic. "He remembers it, so you don't have to." Along with YouTube, Doug made his website, ThatGuywithTheGlasses.com (That Guy with the Glasses was a second persona that Doug created.) He gained a following of ofter content creators, and his group thrived. He later abandoned the "thatguywiththeglasses" URL and later changed the group's name to ChannelAwesome. The Nostalgia Critic character was retired for a while, but then came back when the new show "Demo Reel" couldn't catch lightning in a bottle the second time. Things were supposed to work out for this group:

Then came April 2nd of this year, when the Google Drive Document "Not So Awesome" was released...

Not So Awesome (The full-length document)

Not So Awesome - Condensed (The abridged version with most, if not, all the alleged grievances against the company)



The shockwaves the document had was enormous. Tons of videos on YouTube ALONE went on analyzing and critiquing/criticizing the situation. Many content creators bailed on ChannelAwesome. Keep in mind that ChannelAwesome was the premier destination in content creator-host. Also, four of the creators that jump ship (Phelous, Allison Pregler (formerly Obscurus Lupa Presents), Andrew Dickman (yes, that's his name), and Team Pansy) left the group YEARS ago. (I think part of the four may have been part of the "Not So Awesome" document, but I refuse to read it for one reason...)

I want to give my opinion on this situation. I do. But I don't want to go into this fight. Why?



I'm a fan of many different content creators, those who are still with ChannelAwesome and those who left the site. I don't want my loyalties divided and question who's right and who's wrong in this situation. It's just a situation that just happened, and I will remain neutral until I die or something else happens. I will still support all those involved, but the less I know, the better for my sanity and morale.

You can have the tread and discuss to your heart's content. I rather stay on the sidelines on this topic.

Click to read more...

 

[aleshemsky83]

Nostalgia critic was always awful. I never got the popularity. Everything he said just seemed unfunny, or nitpicky, or just unrelateable. Everything he said for me was just always off base and unfunny.

 

[NewtJorden]

I'm not surprised by Channel Awesome downfall. Doug Walker is nowhere near as good as he seems to think he is. Rob Walker has always been kind of annoying with his tendencies to hate absolutely everything he talk about. And from what we knew from Mike Michaud, its a wonder how that guy ever got to be at the helm of anything. Its a shame what the video producers had to go through all these years.

I also just saw that Angry Joe decided to leave Channel Awesome yesterday, wich is a big lost for them.

 

[Pilky01]

Just on a cursory glance.....are there any actual allegations of impropriety?

Most of the complaints in that abridged/condensed version just sound like typical boss/employee tensions. What exactly is the issue here?

I have no idea what Channel Awesome is so I am assuming theyre a YouTube channel thing.

I'm a fan of many different content creators, those who are still with ChannelAwesome and those who left the site. I don't want my loyalties divided and question who's right and who's wrong in this situation. It's just a situation that just happened, and I will remain neutral until I die or something else happens. I will still support all those involved, but the less I know, the better for my sanity and morale.

You can have the tread and discuss to your heart's content. I rather stay on the sidelines on this topic.

Unless you are employed by one of the entities involved in this then you sound way too personally invested in whatever this is.

I think this is a very big, and very negative part of YouTube/streaming branding and monetizing. The "community" is so important to an internet "creators" revenue stream that we get this toxic co-dependency where fans of a freaking YouTube channel expect the people running it to maintain them emotionally (I saw discussions recently about some streamer who played a videogame with Logan Paul and apparently the streamer's "community" flew off the handle about it), while at the same time feeling like they owe these YouTubers "loyalty".

YouTube drama is it's own exhausting economy at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if Channel Awsome were only helped by this news story.....I know I have never watched anything by them (that I know of) but now that my curiosity is piqued I am going to seek them out and see what its about.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I have no idea how people can actually care about these YouTube talking heads.

Internet drama is reaching critical levels.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

I have no idea how people can actually care about these YouTube talking heads.

Because criticism of lousy things can be entertaining and some are legitimately good, in-depth criticisms (huge fan of Todd in the Shadows, for instance, and while not adjacent to CA in any way I'm a huge fan of brutalmoose's content).

I liked Nostalgia Critic, but it's definitely not some transcendentally great thing that I'm going to suffer without.

The real question about all of this is how Mike Michaud ever got a job. Like, any job. He seems like the kind of guy who smokes at gas stations.

 

[Shareefruck]

I can't stand the Nostalgia Critic either. He consistently has all these ideas about what entertainment is supposed to be that always feels fundamentally wrong-headed/ignorant/infuriating to me, and he bases all of criticism around that.

Also, Youtube personas are grating as **** in general and it feels like he was, at one point, one of the big influences of that.

 

[Bjorn Le]

They sound like shitty bosses but other than that there doesn't really seem to be anything overly bad there. And the fact that the document is made up of exclusively disgruntled former employees doesn't exactly engender much legitimacy. I can buy Walker was a horrible boss, but those are a dime a dozen and really quite common for small start up companies (when it's the owners livelihoods on the line) to act like despots. Not necessarily justifiable but very common. And some of the claims don't really pass the sniff test. The one about the HR director who claims she was fired then made to sign a non-compete clause reeks of male bovine excrement. Almost certainly a twisted version of the truth. When claims like that are made, it really sours me on the whole complaint. If one claim was twisting the truth, what does that say about the rest?

But in general I don't really care. I though Nostalgia critic was amusing but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch him (or any of the other stuff his channel did).

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Because criticism of lousy things can be entertaining and some are legitimately good, in-depth criticisms (huge fan of Todd in the Shadows, for instance, and while not adjacent to CA in any way I'm a huge fan of brutalmoose's content).

I enjoy that kind of content for sure, I mean I like watching Angry Joe myself.

But there is so much god damn drama. That's the part I don't get: how so many people seem to get sucked in (not necessarily you) into the drama.

I mean I spend a lot of time lurking on forums dealing with various topics (great way to learn) and video games ones are overflowing with drama stories.

 

[BigMac1212]

Unless you are employed by one of the entities involved in this then you sound way too personally invested in whatever this is.

Sometimes, investing in an Internet critic can be the 21st Century version of being a soap opera fan. If you miss an episode, you can be the loss for a while. (Especially "Atop the Fourth Wall." That series has an internal storyline inside the series itself. Trying to watch the show can be a head-scratcher if you're not up to date.) One of the things is that the YouTubers would reference each other works and collaborate with each other, even if they were with opposing channels. They were a community. Seeing CA implode is both sad and a cautionary tale. I thought being a critic might be worth a shot. That is gone forever.

 

[Jumptheshark]

It is getting ugly

 

[Jumptheshark]

But it is not new. There has always been mothership channels that basically made a mint off of a lot of creators and when the creators realized..they were shown contracts where they realized they were slaves

 

[YoSoyLalo]

This is so depressing for me. I started watching Nostalgia Critic around 2010, I was like 14... good times that are now but a memory now that Doug Walker is basically a confirmed narcissist.

At least Todd In The Shadows still makes videos. And at least AVGN is an actual good dude.