"angry" gamers/critics

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CWCissey said:
Quite a few people have pointed this out. However, I'm more likely to say that Garth Marenghi's Darkplace is what Demo Reel was trying to be.
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Does Doug actually watch it, though?

I haven't watched Demo Reel. The thing about Dark Place is that it's about a guy who obviously takes himself way too seriously, and doesn't understand the trainwreck and camp of a show he created. But the actor obviously doesn't take himself seriously, no one does, which makes the show and actors enjoyable. Doug takes himself way too seriously, and his shows way too seriously, so much so that I doubt he can ever play a character like that.

I will watch Demo Reel it if it has Richard Aoyade and Matt Berry, though. Because they were on Dark Place and I love them (plus my avatar played a Monkey Man). So, the moral of my ramble is don't try to be Dark Place if you already take yourself seriously and think your show is the second coming of comedy Jesus.
 
darkhorse816 said:
Does Doug actually watch it, though?

I haven't watched Demo Reel. The thing about Dark Place is that it's about a guy who obviously takes himself way too seriously, and doesn't understand the trainwreck and camp of a show he created. But the actor obviously doesn't take himself seriously, no one does, which makes the show and actors enjoyable. Doug takes himself way too seriously, and his shows way too seriously, so much so that I doubt he can ever play a character like that.

I will watch Demo Reel it if it has Richard Aoyade and Matt Berry, though. Because they were on Dark Place and I love them (plus my avatar played a Monkey Man). So, the moral of my ramble is don't try to be Dark Place if you already take yourself seriously and think your show is the second coming of comedy Jesus.
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Demo Reel wishes it was Dark Place. Its first episode is singlehandedly the worst thing I have ever watched, beating out venerable buckets of shit I've seen like Biodome, Jim Ether's Alert, Elektra, and all of the Channel Awesome movies.
 
darkhorse816 said:
Does Doug actually watch it, though?

I haven't watched Demo Reel. The thing about Dark Place is that it's about a guy who obviously takes himself way too seriously, and doesn't understand the trainwreck and camp of a show he created. But the actor obviously doesn't take himself seriously, no one does, which makes the show and actors enjoyable. Doug takes himself way too seriously, and his shows way too seriously, so much so that I doubt he can ever play a character like that.

I will watch Demo Reel it if it has Richard Aoyade and Matt Berry, though. Because they were on Dark Place and I love them (plus my avatar played a Monkey Man). So, the moral of my ramble is don't try to be Dark Place if you already take yourself seriously and think your show is the second coming of comedy Jesus.
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Not that I know of (he has seen Black Books, so you never know), but MikeJ definitely does and that's another reason why he's cool.

But you did sum it up perfectly, Doug takes himself way too seriously and that causes him to write terribly.
 
Adamska said:
Demo Reel wishes it was Dark Place. Its first episode is singlehandedly the worst thing I have ever watched, beating out venerable buckets of shit I've seen like Biodome, Jim Ether's Alert, Elektra, and all of the Channel Awesome movies.
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I went and watched Demo Reel because of your posts. Motherfuck, you were so right.

It was more than just bad. Demo Reel actually made the likes of Freddy Got Fingered and the Movie Movies look good in comparison. It was below middle school play quality, only done by adults. I'm stunned at how a man who'd been making a successful show for years could put together something of such low quality.

What the hell were Doug, Rob, and Michaud thinking? I can't imagine how out of control someone's ego could be to the point where they'd put a product that bad out for release. Did he really think he could get a TV deal with that shit?
 
*Asterisk* said:
What the hell were Doug, Rob, and Michaud thinking? I can't imagine how out of control someone's ego could be to the point where they'd put a product that bad out for release. Did he really think he could get a TV deal with that shit?
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It's because any amount of fame and success leads to this. These people live in a bubble with a constant stream of positive reinforcement coming at them all the time. Given time you start to believe it and when you put yourself out there for a larger audience to see reality bitch slaps you and so begins the fallout.
 
Phil Ken Sebben said:
It's because any amount of fame and success leads to this. These people live in a bubble with a constant stream of positive reinforcement coming at them all the time. Given time you start to believe it and when you put yourself out there for a larger audience to see reality bitch slaps you and so begins the fallout.
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I'm just amazed that at no point throughout the years did he figure out a single thing about how movies and shows were made, despite the fact that he claims analyzing and dissecting media as his job. There is no craft whatsoever in anything Doug has produced, which is baffling beyond all levels; you'd think he'd at least have learned SOMETHING from all the stuff he's watched.
 
Phil Ken Sebben said:
It's because any amount of fame and success leads to this. These people live in a bubble with a constant stream of positive reinforcement coming at them all the time. Given time you start to believe it and when you put yourself out there for a larger audience to see reality bitch slaps you and so begins the fallout.
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I get that, but even by the standards of out of control egos and amateur abilities in the areas that counts, Demo Reel was just terrible beyond measure. Every quality aspect from the acting to the cinematography to the directing to the writing to the editing was so far below par I can't even fathom how a man with a successful webshow for years could've missed the mark to such a degree.

It was actually below the level of quality of Lewis Lovhaug's masturbation fantasies. At least those are fun to mock. Demo Reel has all the anti-comedy force of Little Man, only worse in every way. I'd watch Little Man a dozen times in a row if it would erase Demo Reel from existence.
 
Adamska said:
I'm just amazed that at no point throughout the years did he figure out a single thing about how movies and shows were made, despite the fact that he claims analyzing and dissecting media as his job. There is no craft whatsoever in anything Doug has produced, which is baffling beyond all levels; you'd think he'd at least have learned SOMETHING from all the stuff he's watched.
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I've said it before and it bears repeating, just because you know what to do doesn't mean you know how to do it. There's a huge difference between the two.

You can teach somebody how to play guitar. They can learn the theory, how to read and play music, how to critique others and so on. You could teach a master's class on what to do and not to do but it doesn't mean you're going to be able to play like Joe Satriani, Stevie Vai or even Slash for that matter.

It's no different than what these guys do. They have the tools and the knowledge to make something. What they really lack is the discipline and the skill.

*Asterisk* said:
I get that, but even by the standards of out of control egos and amateur abilities in the areas that counts, Demo Reel was just terrible beyond measure. Every quality aspect from the acting to the cinematography to the directing to the writing to the editing was so far below par I can't even fathom how a man with a successful webshow for years could've missed the mark to such a degree.
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He drank the Kool Aid.

It was actually below the level of quality of Lewis Lovhaug's masturbation fantasies. At least those are fun to mock. Demo Reel has all the anti-comedy force of Little Man, only worse in every way. I'd watch Little Man a dozen times in a row if it would erase Demo Reel from existence.
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I only watched a portion of it but it just didn't work for me. Part of the problem with it was there's just not enough material or skill to pad out to feature length.

It's like Dana Carvey. He was good on SNL and playing small roles. Give him a big budget movie that plays to his strengths and you've got the flimsiest of plots with no payoff. Fact is he's a funny guy, he can play a character but he's not a leading man. The people on TGWTG are just terrible actors.
 
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Phil Ken Sebben said:
I've said it before and it bears repeating, just because you know what to do doesn't mean you know how to do it. There's a huge difference between the two.

You can teach somebody how to play guitar. They can learn the theory, how to read and play music, how to critique others and so on. You could teach a master's class on what to do and not to do but it doesn't mean you're going to be able to play like Joe Satriani, Stevie Vai or even Slash for that matter.

It's no different than what these guys do. They have the tools and the knowledge to make something. What they really lack is the discipline and the skill.
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No, you don't understand what I mean: I mean he shows no signs of even knowing what the fuck to do on top of how to do it. Demo Reel and his movies clearly show that not only does he not know how to make any form of media, but that he fails to understand the what. Doubly confirmed when you count what he thinks a gameshow is like.

I'm not asking for expertise on that level; I'm only asking for babby's first guitar. Something that shows that he at minimum knows what end of the instrument to hold and the like. Doug can't even do that; in your analogy he'd be using it like El-kabong and then going "dafuq why is it not playing music". Doug walker lacks both the theory and the practical.
 
Adamska said:
No, you don't understand what I mean: I mean he shows no signs of even knowing what the fuck to do on top of how to do it. Demo Reel and his movies clearly show that not only does he not know how to make any form of media, but that he fails to understand the what. Doubly confirmed when you count what he thinks a gameshow is like.

I'm not asking for expertise on that level; I'm only asking for babby's first guitar. Something that shows that he at minimum knows what end of the instrument to hold and the like. Doug can't even do that; in your analogy he'd be using it like El-kabong and then going "dafuq why is it not playing music". Doug walker lacks both the theory and the practical.
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I don't know about that. I feel he knows the theory of it. He knows what to do but can't put it into practice.
 
I don't think the Walker Brothers even have the "how", @Phil Ken Sebben. I see them more as pretenders. They wanted to learn the "how" and may have even attempted such by attempting study, even if only as autodidacts. But whatever they attempted, it all went right over their heads. Yet they soldiered on anyway.

It was the Internet nobody equivalent of Lil' Wayne's rock album, but at least Weezy could afford to hire a real crew to put his disastrous vision into reality. Demo Reel was below even that mark. It wasn't even bad on the level of The Shaggs. At least they were sincere. Demo Reel's detached "ironic" humor and badness is the kind of wretched noxiousness that you find in things like Glee.

The Walker Brothers and Michaud didn't shoot and miss, they shot while trying to miss and hit someones beloved pet dog.

Edit: Maybe the "what" instead of the "how" is more accurate. But it doesn't matter, since none of those three men have either down.
 
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I think like most of the 'stars' of CA now, they all started out putting in actual time and effort with the limited material and money they had, and after a few years of constant asspatting and now the Patreon trend, they cannot see anything they create as being lesser or boring or flat-out bad. Without worrying about any holes in your 'writing' or reviewing, you're not gonna consider improving anything because you know everyone will say it was 10/10 and five stars and "the best episode they've ever seen, so far." Even if a show or episode blows, they find an excuse for it or ignore it. They know they're gonna get money either way so what do they care?

It's not even about the actual reviewing of a bad movie or show anymore, it's just constant skits about someone and their alternate OC characters of them in wigs or hats. Even with reviewers who are joking about their own reviewing along the way, no one is serious in criticizing or pointing out why they dislike something, just wave a bunch of keys in front of the camera and scream and flail and keep everything as it is.
 
*Asterisk* said:
It was the Internet nobody equivalent of Lil' Wayne's rock album, but at least Weezy could afford to hire a real crew to put his disastrous vision into reality. Demo Reel was below even that mark. It wasn't even bad on the level of The Shaggs. At least they were sincere. Demo Reel's detached "ironic" humor and badness is the kind of wretched noxiousness that you find in things like Glee.
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Think you're giving the Walker bros a little too much credit here. Glee, as terrible as it was, tried. I didn't succeed, but it tried.

Doug and Rob, I don't see any iota of trying in Demo Reel at all. Seriously, how does one think making the Nolan Batman villains rap while butchering the Fresh Prince theme is a good idea? In fact, It's not just Demo Reel. Anything these jokers have written would make me watch Glee, willingly, over the shitheaps they pass off as "films".
 
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*Asterisk* said:
Doug comes off as pretty awkward when he's in a room alone. The only way it could be just you involves Bizarro World.
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Yeah! You've seen when he plays on "James And Mike's Mondays"? Damn that's awkward, he was trying to be constantly funny with this whined & spiraling down voice, like he was constantly reminded that he can't do stuff without a script.
 
Doug reminds me of Ed Wood in some ways but whereas Wood was fueled by his love of film making, Doug is fueled more by his ego. As a result, stuff like Plan 9 comes across as endearing whereas Doug's work feels like a vanity project.

I'd say Doug is more a Tommy Wiseau, only trying (and failing) to be self-aware.
 
*Asterisk* said:
I still can't decide which I hate more: Doug's handling of the whole Wiseau fiasco, or his Douchey McNitpick character.
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I was going to say taking 90,000 dollars from his idiot fanbase and using the money to pay off debts and to half ass a single episode of a gameshow that looks like it was done by children due to incompetence after over a year of not meeting any promises with the money he took.
 
I've tried going back on some of Doug's old videos because my little brother is still a fan of the Nostalgia Critic and I... I can't seem to recapture my original enjoyment of his work. He seemed overly nitpicky, like he wanted to complain about a video being bad but he didn't know exactly what was wrong about a movie. It really separates him from people like Plinkett who not only have obvious knowledge of film theory and academia, but can show it in their reviews. You can go through Plinkett's blasting of Star Wars without getting bored, yet I tried watching one of Doug's videos and, despite them being even less than a quarter of the length of Plinkett's analyses, it seemed more repetitive.

I think the issue is that Doug's "critiques" are, well, superficial at best, and his shows have always generally been comedy routines in the guise of reviews.
 
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