Awesome Channel, Inc. is an online media production company based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in 2008 by Mike Michaud, Mike Ellis, and Bhargav Dronamraju. The Awesome Channel operates the That Guy with the Glasses (often abbreviated TGWTG ) site by the end of 2014, when it gradually to the Awesome Channels site. This site is famous for the comedy series Nostalgia Critic , starring Doug Walker.
TGWTG previously hosted by fellow channel by Fiesta Bar Blistered Thumbs started in November 2010. The Awesome Channel currently hosts the YouTube channel of the same name with an emphasis on content generated by Doug Walker and his brother Rob. This previously also included the League of Super Critics YouTube channel, featuring some other top site manufacturers; however, almost all of these creators sever ties with Awesome Channels by 2018. All Awesome Channel content is hosted by Blip or YouTube before the manufacturer's shutdown in August 2015.
Video Channel Awesome
Origins
Mike Michaud, Mike Ellis and Bhargav Dronamraju created the Awesome Channel after they were dismissed from the City Circuit in 2007. All three discussed the idea of ​​such companies while still working, but their dismissal was the impetus to implement their plans. Michaud has stated that "if we do not lose our jobs, [business] will not happen anytime soon".
At about the same time, Doug Walker, an actor, comedian, writer, and film critic, began posting some satirical video reviews about movies and other media on YouTube under the moniker "Nostalgic Criticism." Initially, Walker saw making videos as a side hobby, rarely interacting with his fans and not revealing his real name until a video responded to the shooting of Northern Illinois University. The Walker channel has its content removed from YouTube following complaints from 20th Century Fox and Lionsgate for alleged copyright infringement. Walker attempted to re-upload its content by assigning each new channel a separate video. However, due to continuing problems, Walker decides to leave YouTube altogether and creates the Guy with the Glasses website, with Michaud acting as the webmaster.
Maps Channel Awesome
The Boy with Glass
Guy with the Glasses was launched in April 2008. It featured satirical reviews of movies, television shows, music, comic books and video games. This website is built around Walker's work, including Nostalgia Criticism (a comedy recap of a bad movie), 5 Second Films (feature films being released hyper), Tanya That Guy with the Glasses (comedy and answer questions and answers) and Bum Reviews (funny plot summary of theatrical release). Videos and other written articles are hosted on the site, including some small series and sketches starring Walker. The video is mainly hosted by Blip after problems with previous provider Revver. This website features videos from a number of other creators who continue to be added as contributors for several years.
In December 2008, Walker appeared in an advertisement for the PBS documentary Making 'Em Laughing: The Funny Business of America', performing a series of short imitations of the famous comedian, from Charlie Chaplin to Stephen Colbert. In 2009, Doug and Rob Walker, along with Brian Heinz, produced iRiff from The Lion King to RiffTrax. In March 2009, iRiff was chosen as the winner of the RiffTrax Presents website contest. The players received $ 1,000 and, with instructions from Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett, recorded comments for the Batman Forever film .
Nostalgia Criticism averages 100,000 to 300,000 viewers per week while on site, and one million page views per month. This is expected to increase following the Blip deal with YouTube in July 2009. In July 2009, the site earned more than $ 10,000 per month in advertising revenue and received over $ 11,000 in online donations. In the third quarter of fiscal 2009, the Walker event generated $ 53,000, including $ 32,000 from Nostalgia Criticism only. This revenue is generated by running a network of Puma and Starburst. The success of the show has enabled Walker to earn a living and quit his previous job as an illustrator, as well as pay the salaries of Ellis, the site's founder and COO. This site is featured in the magazine Entrepreneur in December 2009 where the history of the site is discussed and plans for the future.
During 2011, Michaud was looking for a warehouse space in suburban Chicago. He told The New York Times: "My company has a lot of growth to do, but I'm sure that within the next year or two someone will make a series that makes everyone talk.. [ and attract viewers] to an endless online video choice. "As of June 2011, the company employs seven full-time staff. According to Walker, "these guys are cheap to get because we love to see some money". Awesome Channel Capability to attract significant audiences with low expenditure proclaimed to have an effect on the production of video entertainment.
The site gained a wealth of personalities and performances, quickly reaching twenty plus. The first time the producers made the initiative to put each other in the same fictional realm (or "Reviewaverse", as created by one of the previous producers) was with their first anniversary video, which was a twenty-minute fight between each other. , with the set up and dialogue just stating it was a video game vs. viewer of the movie, which was burned by Nostalgia Criticism and Angry Video Game Nerd that had taken place then. Full-length crossover films are decided for next year's celebrations. It ended up being a trilogy: Kickassia , which has a Critical path that gained a number of shared personalities to take over a micronation in Nevada; Suburban Knights , in which Criticism gathers much of the same personality to find mystical challenges through forced PARP; and To Brave Loss , where Critical explorers and TGWTG went into space to stop cosmic anomalies and fight corporate criminals.
On June 28, 2012, Channel Awesome content producer Walker, Lindsay Ellis (The Nostalgia Chick; nothing to do with Mike Ellis), Brad Jones (The Cinema Snob) and Todd Nathanson (Todd in the Shadows) signed a deal of exclusivity with Blip, immediately hosted most of the TGWTG and Awesome Awesome programming until closing in August 2015. The deal did not affect the producer's video appearance on TGWTG , and will help increase the four-part budget, technical improvement. An extension of this deal is a YouTube Blip-run channel called "League of Super Critics", which also uploads unedited videos from all four producers, with the exception of Jones, whose video is edited from the original version so that only the way people can see the full video is to go to Blip.
On December 3, 2014, the site was closed and renamed ChannelAwesome.com.
The Awesome Channel declared a plan to build on Guy's success with the Glasses with a network of cool Channel site subdivisions, including Fiesta Bar to cover Chicago entertainment and nightlife, and Inked Reality for anime and comic books. Blistered Thumbs started in 2009 as part of That Guy with the Glasses for residential video game content. It gained popularity and Blistered Thumbs was launched as its own website on November 4, 2010.
Joe Vargas (Angry Joe), already an established video game observer at That Guy with the Glasses , is the original head editor. Staff writers are taken from various websites including Men with the Glasses , TechRaptor and Normal Boots . Austin Yorski eventually replaced Vargas as chief editor.
In late November 2014, the website Blistered Thumbs is closed.
ChannelAwesome.com
The Awesome Channel site just debuted in late 2014. All content from TGWTG was moved to the newly established ChannelAwesome.com. Every week there's a Highlights section to promote website producers, as well as Featured Bloggers.
In January 2015, four of the site's old colleagues went, including Andrew Dickman, Kyle Kallgren (Oancitizen), Allison Pregler (Obscurus Lupa) and Phelan Porteus (Phelous). Dickman, Porteus and Pregler went exclusively on the Phelan site, Phelous.com, while Kyle went to produce the video exclusively for Chez Apocalypse. Later in the same month, Lindsay Ellis concluded her longtime show The Nostalgia Chick , which had been shown as a companion event for Criticism Nostalgia in September 2008. She intends to continue producing videos for League of Super Critics on YouTube and its own website, Chez Apocalypse.
This is not the first time the manufacturer of the site has gone. Noah Antwiler, and his resident character "The Spoony One", became exclusive on his site, Nostalgia Criticism is the most popular video series made by Doug Walker, in which he plays titular reviews. The show was written by him and his brother, Rob Walker. The series was originally launched on YouTube before moving to Blip TV in 2008. It is a flagship show for Awesome Channels, which has since been built on it with additional content, additional websites, and Nostalgia Chick spin-off events >.
Long running event
Nostalgia Criticism
Above Fourth Wall
Above the Fourth Walls (In short AT4W) is a showcase of the leading comic book reviews on the site, hosted by native Minnesota Lewis "Linkara" Lovhaug. His nickname comes from the character he created when he was a teenager, writing an amateur fantasy novel. The show is one of the benign tones on the site, as Lewis has one of the healthiest and lightest personalities, and does not use strong indecent words on the show.
Become one of the bigger protectors of sci-fi and fantasy and movie shows, such as Doctor Who , Star Trek , Babylon 5 , etc. , he is one of the strongest users of a storyline, which he features in the same video as his review, where he is an important and high-ranking agent against paranormal and extraterrestrial threats in the Awesome Channel universe. He's also a big fan of Power Rangers and Poky, and once featured MissingNo errors. as a villain on his show. He also hosts a separate event where he discusses the history of Power Rangers.
In March 2018, Lovhaug announced on his website that he had left the Cool Channel.
The Angry Joe Show
Jose "Angry Joe" Antonio Vargas hosted the premier video game review event on this site. It generally consists of reviews by Vargas who expressed his honest opinion about the current video game release, mixed with sketch comedy. This includes recent problems he sees in the gaming industry such as the exclusivity of titles on a particular console, cuts out previously existing and willing buyers, done because what he says is a misleading preference from console manufacturers money as opposed to consumer money; and what he observes as a triple-A game producer who takes a compatible part of what was once a game that finished just months before the release, and then released it as downloadable content, to artificially increase profits. The show has a humorous joke from Vargas's "Corporate Commander" (a spoof of The Cobra Commander from G.I. Joe), a masked villain who wants to spoil the game community by forcing them to pay huge sums of money for substandard games. Vargas is the founder of "The Angry Army", a community specializing in online gaming.
In April 2018, Vargas announced his departure from the Awesome Channel website.
Todd in the Shadows
Todd in the Shadows is a music review show created by Todd Nathanson, which presents it under the titular person "Todd in the Shadows". The main focus of the event is on three main series: Pop Todd's Song Review , where Nathanson reviews songs that, when reviewed, are currently or recently have high graphics; One Hit Wonderland , where he's been researching a one-hit miracle career; and Trainwreckords , where he checks out albums that are considered to have "ended a thriving career" from their respective artists. Cinemadonna , where Nathanson reviews the feature filmography of Madonna, is one of the show's main series to its conclusion in September 2016. In the show, Nathanson made his appearance anonymous, recording himself in silhouette while sitting on the piano in the room dark. When his face is not in the silhouette, he covers the top with a black cloth.
Nathanson made its series debut in 2009 and joins that with the Glasses in the following year. In March 2018, he announced his departure from the Awesome Channel on his Twitter account.
The Cinema Snob
The Cinema Snob starred in Brad Jones as a pretentious art critic who saw and commented on unclear and pornographic exploitation films, mostly released between the late 1960s and early 1990s. His relationship with the Awesome Channel starts with "E.T. The Porno" (January 7, 2010). Like many other shows on Cool Channels , Jones started his show on YouTube until he was confronted with a copyright claim from the filmmaker Nail Gun Massacre . Jones has also created additional events for Awesome Channels , including Brad Tries and Midnight Screening .
Awards
On January 6, 2011, Doug Walker was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year in Las Vegas at the 4th Annual Mashable Awards.
Activism
On December 5, 2009, the company held a donation activity for Ronald McDonald House Charities. The donation drive lasts up to seven hours and collects $ 26,400. During the event, calls were taken, prizes were awarded to people who donated large amounts of money and videos displaying the talent on the site. The donation drive is extended in a few days with a total of $ 32,200.
On December 15, 2011, Lindsay Ellis posted a video about Awesome Channel staff who traveled to Washington, D.C. to lobby members of Congress on Online Piracy Stops and IP PROTECT Laws. Ellis, Michaud, Rob Walker and content producer Noah Antwiler (The Spoony One), Kyle Kallgren (Oancitizen and Brows Held High), Lewis Lovhaug (Linkara), Todd Nathanson (Todd in Shadows), Paul Schuler (Paw Dugan) and Joe Vargas (Angry Joe) all goes to Washington, DC to represent the Awesome Channel and supports free speech on the internet.
Controversy
Initial allegations
Between October 2014 and January 2015, old content producers Allison Pregler (Obscurus Lupa), Lindsay Ellis (Nostalgia Chick), Jacob Chapman (JesuOtaku), Phelan Porteous (Phelous), and Andrew Dickman depart from the Awesome Channel. After his departure, Pregler accused the site manager of impolite behavior, rarely communicating with producers, imposing inconsistent policies, and failing to uphold appointments or solve problems. Among his allegations was that other producers were allowed to promote his Patreon page even though Pregler had previously been told by the website's management that it was for him not allowed. Pregler also alleged that he was removed from the website for not responding to Mike Michaud's message within fifteen minutes. Ellis stated on his departure that he and the Awesome Channel "are moving in different directions, and at this point it is best for both of us that we part." Chapman alleges that after false accusations were made against him, Michaud and Rob Walker intend to remove them from the website, and that upon knowing this he finally stops.
In March 2018, several former producers suspected, through a series of Twitter posts, mismanagement and ill-treatment by members of the management over the Awesome Channels, including the Walker brothers and Michaud. These allegations include the history of sexist behavior by Michaud against female producers, the inability of the Walker brothers during the company's birthday film production, and the failure to communicate with producers about significant decisions affecting them.
Holly Christine Brown, who serves as the web administrator and director of human resources for the Awesome Channel, alleged that after the summary dismissal after surgery, her severance pay was held until she signed a contract that prohibited her from looking for a job in another production company for up to four years. Brown further alleges that Mike Ellis repeatedly threatened him after his dismissal from the company. Former producer Lindsay Ellis alleged that during the production of the To Boldly Flee film, she was repeatedly urged to do looping for scenes where her character was implicitly raped off the screen by the character of Lewis Lovhaug. He guessed that because of Ellis and Lovhaug's protests over the contents of the scene, Doug Walker rewrote so the implications of the attack were less implicit. Ellis said that he was forced to perform a scene under intimidation. Producer Dan Olson allegedly sacked the wrong one after he uploaded a critical video about the Gamergate controversy.
Further complaints surrounded the allegations of $ 90,000 in funds collected as part of Indiegogo's crowdfunding campaign; The Awesome Channel has allegedly promised forty episodes from a game show titled Hotshot Pop Quiz , an idea allegedly conceived by Michaud but opposed by others involved, but only twelve episodes created to meet legal requirements for Indiegogo. As soon as the charge was made, #ChangeTheChannel started trending on Twitter.
Between mid-March and 2 April 2018, several producers - including Lewis Lovhaug (Linkara), Todd Nathanson (Todd in the shadows), Daren Jackson (Rap Critic) and Mike Jeavons (MikeJ) - depart from the Awesome Channel.
Formal statement about bulk complaints and exodus
On April 2, 2018, the document in Google Drive, entitled "Not So Cool", was made publicly available. It was written by people who were previously affiliated with the Awesome Channel and collected complaints against companies that were previously created and which are not yet publicly known. More than twenty former producers and employees, along with two persons whose identities are kept secret, provide the various allegations included in the document.
Later that same day, the Awesome Channel posted responses on its Facebook and Twitter accounts, stating, inter alia, that the company respected its content producers, "appreciated and heard" previous producer complaints, and was making an internal effort to improve communication. with the remaining producers. The statement was criticized by fans and former corporate producers, as they felt the company did not apologize or take responsibility for their mistakes.
On that day and the following days, more producers, including Omar Ahmed (Yomarz), Nash Bozard, Matthew Buck (Brain Movie), Tony Goldmark (Some Jerk with Camera), Elisa Hansen (Maven), Brian Heinz (The Last Angry Geek), Leeman Kessler (Tanya Lovecraft), Heather McDonald (Calluna), Dominic Smith (Dom), Luke Spencer (Shaken) and Chris Stuckmann left Awesome Channels, with some expressing their dissatisfaction with the company's response to the controversy as their reason for do so, lower the number of manufacturers for websites from forty to about ten on April 5th. The tenth anniversary of the Awesome Channel is planned to be canceled as a result of the controversy.
Second response and fallout
On April 11, 2018, Cool Channel released a second response to the allegation as a blog entry on its website. Entitled "Our Response", the post is meant to deny the most horrific "charge" made by former producer Holly Brown and Jane Doe, described in it as "a dissatisfied individual with retaliatory intent."
Within 48 hours of post-response, virtually all the remaining producers of the Awesome Channel, including old veteran Joe Vargas (Angry Joe), Bennett White (Bennett the Sage) and Lawrence Simpson (MasakoX), as well as Gaming Wildlife, Bargain Boy, Ryan Molina ( Battle Geek Plus), Timid Jester, DToons (creator of Toons These Days series) and Eric Rodriguez (Blockbuster Buster), also left the website.
On April 14, 2018, the website noted two separate producers separated from Walker: Brad Jones (Cinema Snob) and Larry Bundy Jr. (Master Larry); The latter states that among the reasons for remaining is that "no one ever really believed I was ever in TGWTG".
Starting April 15, 2018, the forums and blogs section of the Awesome Channel website are no longer accessible. On June 11, 2018, the channel has lost thousands of subscribers over a 30-day period while its overall view count continues to increase.
References
External links
- Official website
- Cool Channels in Internet Movie Database
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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