I’m sure I’ve written on this topic before, but many years ago, and some people are new here. It’s an interesting topic to revisit in light of the current state of the reviewing community and the current TV/streaming and movie discussion. Let’s talk critics.

Full disclosure of course: I technically am one. I’m not a professional, but that’s because I don’t get paid for this. WordPress gets the ad revenue for free hosting, my Amazon Affiliate links were so unused that Amazon kicked me off, the Paypal never gets used, I haven’t sold anything through the Clutter For Sale section of my other site in years, and while Clip Studio at one point wanted me to post an affiliate link because I use it for my comic work, I wasn’t sure WordPress would let me after they made changes to the service. YouTube decided I wasn’t popular enough to stay monetized, and Maker Studios destroyed Blip so they could use the assets to look pretty for the johns at Disney to buy it. I do this to make myself a better storyteller and because I’ve gotten to do some cool things because of this site. So I am definitely not in this for the money…though if I did make money from this I could focus more on it.

So let’s talk about the ones that are.

In the 1980s there were review shows, or morning talk shows that would have a movie review segment. I remember when Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, two movie reviewers for rival Chicago newspapers, had a show on PBS called Sneak Previews, where they would play movie clips and discuss the movie they saw. They got popular enough that they turned their show over to two other critics to start a syndicated series, Siskel & Ebert At The Movies, which underwent a few host changes when the two originals each passed away from different medical problems. This was before someone set up a bunch of tubes to create the internet, before YouTube existed, and before websites existed that only discussed entertainment. You had to get your news and reviews out of newspapers, magazines, and Entertainment Tonight.

We now live in the early decades of a new century. Any putz can start a website or host a video on YouTube. You’re reading the rambling of one such putz right now. Unlike me, many of them have gone on to be popular, and some other people don’t like it. Of course it’s about going after the popular spouters of opinions you disagree with. For example, around the time of this writing members of Nerdrotic’s “Friday Night Tights fellowship”, including Nerdrotic host and webmaster Gary Buecher and fellow FNT panelists like Ryan Kinnell and Jeremy Griggs of Geeks & Gamers, were reported to YouTube for violations of service that YouTube themselves did not find. The reason is their dislike of The Acolyte among other shows approved by the pro-“inclusion” crowd (actually the “everything for meeeeeeeeeee” crowd who hate something popular not catering to them) but disliked by the Star Wars and other franchises’ fanbases (which includes members of the same groups the crowd claims to speak for). Their reasoning is that it was the reviews of people of the “Fellowship” turning people away from the shows with their negative reviews and ruining the fun for those who enjoy the show.

However, what one needs to realize when it comes to these reviews is something many reviewers try to hide, many websites insist doesn’t happen, and no matter how much we who review things in article and videos try to work around it, is still looming there. We’re all biased as hell! For example, I will admit right now that I enjoy Friday Night Tights, but I don’t always agree with everybody there. The secret is they totally admit to what they are if you actually watch. Now you know my bias you can decide if you want to continue as I make my point. If not, that’s fine. Plenty of other articles, comics, and videos on the site for you, or find someone you enjoy. This is for the open-minded and the biased alike.

Continue reading →