Anyone else disappointed in the new shows?

I'm ok with riding it out with all these new shows, seeing what sticks and what doesn't. I like Bak2Skool, Hot Takeout, Very Online Show and Guilty Treasures. There's still a bunch of old shows that I can check out that I haven't gotten to and I've been here like 8 years now so that keeps me subscribed just for that stuff.

My concern is that the Bombcast and UPF have largely been very boring for a while now, mostly due to the pandemic. I don't watch either of them live anymore and skip through the archive of each show to hear anything of value or entertainment. I feel like a broken record but not being in the same room is hurting them a lot. I know there's not a ton they can do about that right now but I'm waiting for the announcement that the studio thing is done for good. From what we've heard from Rorie, it just keeps getting pushed back with no timetable in sight. Not to mention, the crew seems to be spreading to the far corners of the country as well.

OP your not alone. this topic has been talked about a ton honestly , it seems to have slowed down slightly here tho and i think thats because of how negatively some ppl act towards other's negative opinions. that said i'll voice mine again anyway since there have been a few new things added to the site siince i last delved into a convo on here about it .

i have liked...

• Guilty treasures- its games content with discovering what weird games came up in the other's lives with what seemed like was gonna be history on the game also , first ep was great 2nd was interesting and 3rd seemed rushed even tho it was on hold for month.
• Borne to Run- i was very much mehh on it at first because souls content has been done to death , even on this site we've already had a og demon souls playthrough , around ep 3 it started to get interesting tho and the cliff-hanger before danny went on vac. was interesting and its understandable but super annoying its been on hiatus since thats really been the only real long-play content of a game in idk how long anymore , but definitely this yr.

• The Very Online Show- i didn't like the pitch for this but the execution has been pretty great and frankly bombcast aside is what keeps me coming every week given there isn't much else weekly i've liked.
• Voidburger's Hot Takeouts- we've had 2 episodes and given how spaced they are its hard to say since i loved the first and just thought 2 was ok. its a topic thing so i suspect i will like it more then feel mehh.

Things i've Hated what i seen of.

• Albummer- i started the first ep and turned it off half in , i finished the second and said i really don't like this. its not for me at all , the hosts seem like jerks and in this day and age i can't see the point of making a show to bash things the way it seemed, the pemise seemed fine but the execution is poor. that said i guess they're leaning more in the comedy and less the music angle than i expected so comedy is subjective.
• Reel Layers- that episode 00 was a bit right? thats the setup. i watched the 1st episode and i'm not here for it , it felt like a waste of my time.

Things i'm mehh on or dislike

• Ranking of Evil- i watched 2 epsodes so far . it seems fine for what its going for , i don't need it but i'll watch it to see what games they talk about.
• Grubbsnax- Grubb himself seems cool and the show seems fine , but i don't need a single person news/speculation show when i have other podcasts that cover news. i'm sure its better live. i watched 3 of this.
• Armed & Rangerous- i haven't touched this but it sounds like all systems goku which i also skipped so while i can't speak to the quality the concept seems fine , i'm glad jan has an outlet i guess.
• Bak 2 Skool- I came to this site cause i liked dan so you would think i would like this. i reupped my sub because the promise of something with dan in it on the site again was enough to talk me into saying Yeah! i'm gonna want to see this! but no ...i watched 1 episode of it , got pretty much nothing i liked out of the random dan not knowing stuff targets that i've always liked before out of it and said i'm good i think. .. i think the idea could have worked but the way it was done isn't for me. i like bakalar but i like tangents more with more than just 2 ppl and i think thats really whats missing ...also i don't need to spend that long watching educational youtube videos inside another video thanks :/
  
  I think thats all of the new shows, so ... i guess i like 4 out of 10 things? that wouldn't seem too horrible of a ratio but only one of those is weekly , 2 Might be monthly sorta and 1 Might be back next month? when you look at they're frequency then those are honestly shit odds. at this point the only reason i even stop in is because of the bombcast and the weekly except when it sometimes isn't very online show. UPF is what it is and its always been hit and miss for me even moreso in recent years so since i don't catch it live normally if they don't play something i want to see i skip it ( thank you show notes!)
  
  as for non new shows. the Bombcast is generally great or mehh but overall i'm happy with it , with voidburger being hired now i wish she was on it but with danny and ben on it i could see adding another maybe complicating things with so many . bakalar i liked better as the east coast rotating chair , it is what it is tho hes hit and miss on this side but hopefully time works out those kinks. UPF as i said is hit and miss for me ,i always mostly just liked those cause of the weird in person food stuff in the past and things being what they are that is what it is. not to say this format can't be good too , just depends on whats being played now for me. Quicklooks appear to Slowly be making a comeback the solo stream cuts and UPF clips are Not what i think of for a quicklook but we'd have some lately that seem/feel more like a proper quicklook of old. i understand how ppl can just brush them aside saying ehh everywhere has this stuff. but honestly when you know a person's taste in things already vs finding a random it is ALOT more informative and frankly those were the reasons i stayed coming to the site vs gi so long in that i got to know n like the personalities and their tastes making those. i don't think i would have bothered with the site if that wasn't my foot in the door and a mainstay.
  
  as for actual old shows well.. more than half the staff is gone in the last 2 years , those remaining are great but i'll be frank in that i come here for games and enjoy the tangents , i don't come here for the other stuff and i would rather they got back to long form game content. i was all for the contractor idea cause i thought it would bring more of that which would show us new ppl whle they would be able to focus on stuff better while being short staffed. instead what we got was random topic X in mostly podcast format.. i don't need more podcasts and i don't like most of what they've gotten us. i know ppl don't like when others mention ending their subs but fact is i'm paying for a 'service' i used to enjoy and frankly my 'premium' offering aren't what i would willingly pay for so far. the couple things i do like aren't enough for me to want to put money on when as others said there is a sea of free content that is similar. no offense to anyone making them at all ( except albummer i give them my offense cause they earn it) but the offerings just aren't for me anymore i think. i have a sub till september tho and if that changes between now n then i will consider re-upping and if not well...if they're still doing QLs then i'll visit for that and frankly ads on the bombcast never bothered me so i won't miss it much because of that. why would a person pay for something they don't enjoy? i sually pay for a yr in bulk because 1 its a deal and 2 i've never had reason to doubt the content and its quality and if i would like it or not , i've liked Most of it before ... these days i'll have to be talked into a monthly in the future if at all. again nothing against those making the stuff and honestly i'm happy for those who enjoy it too but sadly in the last half yr since the guys left and this started i've gotten more enjoyment out of these forms

My biggest issue with the shows is that I don't understand what they are from the names, and can't find any good descriptors of them. My time is valuable and I generally like GiantBomb's stuff, but I don't have any connection to what they're doing right now, so I've chosen other avenues to explore.

I think they should do a better job of explaining what these shows are to their audiences. I looked at the Show Schedule Jeff Bakalar posted awhile back and had absolutely no idea what anything was.

I just watch the Bombcast, Grubbsnax and some quick looks these days.

they were pretty piss poor about rolling out alot of what X is in a timely manner when they first started on here so i can understand having that issue , maybe @rorie ( sorry? for the tag but it seemed suitable) might be able to remedy that or have one of them add in possible descriptors to that page so similar ppl won't have that issue. if one can have it many could have it so it would probably be more helpful than it might sound to some.

I've either liked or been ambivalent on most of the shows. Anything with Jan is a homerun for me, though.

BUT. I've got to say this because I've been wondering about it. What the fuck is up with Albummer? Not only is it not good and doesn't involve gaming or site personalities, it seems like the antithesis of everything Giant Bomb is. When Kotaku made that article shitting on the mobile X-Com or whatever, Gerstmann made a very underlined point that Giant Bomb is not a site for cheap dunks and clowning hot takes... which is entirely what Albummer seems to be about. I don't know if it changes later, but it really doesn't seem like a show where the hosts make fun of albums they like, but try to come up with jokes to shit on albums they hate. I will apologize if it was just a bad first impression, but man. Just the existence of the show bums me the fuck out.

IMO, Bakalar is not my cup of tea (which is fine) and it seems like he's in charge now. GB lost people who were frequently trying creative things that didn't always work, but at least didn't feel sanitized. That seems gone. My favorite GB moments come from mess ups or people being caught off guard or put in uncomfortable positions or arguments.

@retris: same here honestly , i really don't understand how it got here other than the fact that bakalar liked other stuff they'd put out elsewhere , which ...i understand they kinda wanted to spotlight things they liked or had friends doing but putting that aside yeah it seems very much the way you said from my perspective as well. honestly no offense to bakalar but i feel we have extremely different tastes if he finds them humorous to the point that with everything else if hes steering the content like its been implied at least in a not the games stuff way then i honestly worry for the site.

and frankly i still worry about the games content cause honestly we don't have a ton of that video wise ( not podcast ) tho it seems to be improving

@retris: I disagree, I don't think it's "cheap dunks" and they even explain it in a few episodes that they are trying to find the good in what are considered bad albums. They readily admit when they like music on bad albums. It feels more like a group of friends sitting around and joking to me, which is kinda what GB is imo.

I think a lot of the new stuff is fun. GB tends not to cover the kinds of games I like much anyway, so it's not a source for me for like, serious game coverage. Their new shows about games are the ones I'm probably enjoying the least, not that they're bad or anything. Outside of speedruns I just don't need to watch Souls content anymore. Grubbsnax is kinda repetitive because questions get reasked. Hot Takeouts... I guess I need to see more to talk about it really, but it feels like content I could more easily read in a Medium article. Ranking of Evil is odd, I kinda wish it was more about specific evil moments in games (probably because the KH one was hilarious). Guilty Treasures is really cool though, I love the passion there.

Albummer is like hanging out with all my fuckoff friends, which I miss in these times. Armed and Rangerous is a fun listen since I've always been sentai curious, and Jan rules. Very Online and Bak 2 Skool are great Jeff B torture devices. Reel Layers killed it, but I hope it's a sort of infrequent, maybe monthly thing so it can stay creative.

Core GB obviously shines in a studio setting, and I am looking forward to when the crew can get back and hire a few more people. But I hope they keep having offsite shows, too, with people who have a different vibe or different interests. I think it's cool.

As long as Rorie shows up for UPF I'm good. Also bombcast is dope now that Ben is back.

Hate to break it to you but...

@obese_chipmunk: not to burst your bubble but ben is back off the bombcast starting next week i guess in favor of a temp. seat to kick off the new voicemail dumptruck show which sounds like its aftermath by another name. i hadn't finished this weeks bombcast till after i stupidly long wall of text above mentioning him being back n all too so on one hand him leaving it again is disappointing cause its been nice having him back , but who knows maybe that'll make room for voidburger/jess to join it now that shes staff (hopefully?) ... i don't need another podcast but i can see how moving that Back to its own thing could be good having it been its own thing before

I think the new team is doing really great work. I know its unrealistic and improbable to hope that we will get more content with them together in a studio ever again, but id like to see stuff like game tapes and demo derby make a return. Those you can probably do virtually right?

RANKING OF NEW SHOWS:

1. Grubbsnax: I was barely familiar with Jeff Grubb prior to this show, but this show was an instant hit for me. Grubb is extremely good at holding down a solo show (which is not an easy thing to do), and I absolutely love more in-depth industry discussion. Obviously the main thrust of the show is different, but I get some of the same enjoyment out of this that I did out of Jar Time, which is an old favorite of mine.
2. Albummer: This show is exactly for me. I was skeptical at first because I had never even heard of 2 Minutes to Late Night, but the cast won me over pretty quickly. Turns out dunking on Rivers Cuomo will get me every time. I love the discussions on why the think these albums got made, dives into the history of the artists, and the show is consistently funny.
3. Hot Takeouts: This would likely be my favorite if there were more episodes. Jess has won me over in record time for a new hire. I really like these sorts of deep dives on game topics. The Firewatch episode might be my single favorite piece of GB content this year.
4. Bak 2 Skool: I will never not enjoy Dan being Dan. I don't engage with his twitch streams cause I just don't want to be on that website ever, so I'm thrilled to have him show back up here.
5. Guilty Treasures: I love the idea of this show. If anything, I wish the dives into these games went a little deeper. Don't listen to whoever told you to take out the gameplay bits, Danny! Really helps inform me as I have spent little to no time with any of the games so far, and I'm just not going to go look up longer form footage of them separately.
6. The Very Online Show: Love having Tam & Lucy on the site. This show has been very fascinating, even if it is often a Real Bummer.
7. Borne to Run: The first set of episodes were enjoyable enough, and obviously they are gesturing toward doing something different with the rest of it- but without having seen what that is, this is kind of just more souls games on GB with a few old references thrown in.
8. Ranking of Evil: I love the idea for this show, as I love ranking things. However, having the model be EvilUno being the sole arbiter of what is evil and what is not sucks potential for interesting discussion out of the show. The show needs more meat to it. Ultimately kind of just feels like a simple gimmick that has no longevity. Which is a bummer cause I like EvilUno and the core idea!
9. Reel Layers: I do find it hilarious how much of the GB audience is wildly incapable of telling when something is a bit or not. However, after 1 episode, the bit itself is not actually funny yet. I'm willing to give it more time. With so much of the fanbase as... up in arms about the new shows as they are, this show seems very ill advised. Maybe would have been a better idea after they rebuild the editorial team and have more regular video game content again? They had to know how much a big chunk of people were going to hate this, right?
10. Armed & Rangerous: The one new thing I have not actually consumed cause I do not care for Power Rangers at all.

In conclusion: Jess needs to be on the Bombcast.

You're not alone in your opinion OP. As with anything new, some things are a hit (with me, Very Online Show, Guilty Treasures, Bak to School, Hot Takes (i think that was Void Burger stuff), Grubb's podcast thingy) and others are misses (Ranking of Evil, Armed and Rangerous)... the problem though, is that a few of the shows are off putting (Albummer and Reel Layers), and make me question if I should re-sub. I really don't like them, tried to watch them, and had a very negative time. Its one thing if they were a one time thing, or minor content, but it seems these shows are popular, and more of them are getting made/added. And if that the direction the site and community is going, I don't know if i'll stick around for that (which i know people won't care, and am hesitant to share this opinion, since in previous topics about this, people have attack those who aren't fully onboard with everything this site does).

I can deal with lack of gaming content. Its lack of gen X content that would drive me away.

I'm here for Jeff, and Bombcast is a pleassure to listen recently, but the new shows are garbage.

Regardless of what Jeff said in the past, chasing that jack-of-all-trades model that IGN, Gamespot, Kinda Funny, etc., are doing doesn't make much sense to me. I think GB could distinguish themselves by focusing on games. Hey, but what do I know?

It’s bad, real bad. Pretty much all of them are a big pile of donkey doo-doo. I dug Bourne to Run, but that’s pretty much in. And even that, they sold a premium show with the promise of running through all the games by the time Elden Ring comes out. The game is right around the corner and the series is on hiatus after several episodes, still on the first game.

Overpromise, underdeliver. Giant Bomb. A website about video games. Sometimes.

i extremely feel this position , its honestly sad how some ppl act when ppl don't like a thing and voice their opinion which at times was flat out asked for :/

is i pretty much agree with

As much as people were hungering for drama, I think this is a huge part of why Brad, Vinny, and Alex left to do their own thing: they wanted to start anew with the GOAL being: "we play games on the internet"-kind of content, which is something that lends itself into things like small teams (tiny at this point), crowdsourcing, and remote play (AKA: everything OG Giant Bomb was, save maybe the remote play).

Giant Bomb has been on the cutting-edge for a decade, and that's really not an exaggeration. They were doing "talking over game footage" before it was even called "Let's Play" and were doing long-form podcasts for even longer.

The thing about remaining on the cutting edge is: you're going to lose people who got comfortable and like it that way. Similar example: I haven't watched anything Adult Swim has put out in YEARS because it feels utterly not FOR me. Like I don't "get" it. And that includes navigating their website. All of which is apparently intentional.

Jeff Gerstmann is someone whose career I've been following since seeing him be from Petaluma meant "at least ONE cool person grew up in this shitberg I find myself growing up in" and I emailed him at the age of 12, and he actually responded! He has ALWAYS been ahead of the curve, and I think this is that. (That was 24 years ago, btw, do the math)

It's not going to be for everyone, it never is, but I think it's a great move especially because "Let's Plays" and long-form videogame videos are becoming more and more commonplace.

Even back in the day, they talked about doing a bunch of different websites (Whiskey Media was the prototype for that, and I remember people HAAAAAAAAAAAAATING it back then too), and now? The other websites came to them. And now they have those music and wrestling "sites" they always wanted, but all hosted in the same place.

@styx971:

shoot, i'm a couple bombcasts behind. So he'll at least be around to do a separate voicemail dumptruck show? I did like him on the bombcast for that nice chaos factor which feels a bit missing lately, or almost like it stays contained to the beginning of each show. and I also liked him for keeping Jan's segueways in check (I am a Jan fan though too lol).

@vonkoz00: I'm mostly with you. I've been premium for like 8 years or so, but I'm actually not sure, if I'll extend (it's prepaid for a while anyways). I support trying out new stuff and I have no ill will towards the shows. But to me the very core of why I support GB has been the feeling, that I get a good overview of what's happening in games, as long as I keep up with the Quick Looks. And I loved that. I def enjoyed some premium shows too, but QLs where my absolute main reason to be here.

When they talked about new directions, I had hoped they would build up a network of people that could bring that function back to the site, some Visual novel nerds, some strategy nerds, people who keep up with Destiny, stuff like that.

So yeah, I enjoyed the non-gaming stuff on here in the past, as a break from games. But I don't know if the new direction will keep me here. I did enjoy Bak2Skool, so it's not all lost on me. But even then, I would not pay just to get that.

Still hopeful though. I like voidburger and think Jan has done an amazing job in recent months.

fwiw, they did try to do an "introduction video" or whatever as they launched the shows, but I think they've mostly stopped doing it for the newer shows. I don't know if @mamba219 saw these or not, they got pretty buried if you weren't visiting the site during the debut week of each show. In approximate order of release:

1. [no intro for Guilty Treasures I can recall/find, I think Danny and Bakalar explained it on a Bombcast or something when it was announced]
2. [no intro for Grubbsnax I can recall/find, I think maybe Jeff Grubb guested on the Bombcast the week they announced Grubbsnax]
3. https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/introducing-demons-souls-borne-to-run-s01e01/2970-21128/free-video
4. https://www.giantbomb.com/videos/introducing-the-very-online-show/2300-17115/
5. https://www.giantbomb.com/videos/introducing-albummer/2300-17116/
6. [no intro for Armed and Rangerous I can recall/find, I think it was talked about on the Bombcast or Twitter or something when it was announced]
7. https://www.giantbomb.com/bak-2-skool [Dan's Twitch chat bot plugs this link a lot in his Twitch chat, I wonder if Dan custom requested this easy-to-promote URL instead of dealing with Giant Bomb's usual nightmare URLs]
8. [no intro for Hot Takeouts I can recall/find, I think it was talked about on the Bombcast or Twitter or something when it was announced]
9. [no intro for Ranking of Evil I can recall/find, again maybe a random Bombcast or Twitter mention when it was announced]
10. https://www.giantbomb.com/shows/reel-layers-ep-000-janina-gavankar-announces-new-show-produced-exclusively-for-giant-bomb/2970-21293/free-video

Hey @rorie or @jerf, any chance of mixing these videos into the start of the playlist for each show, or putting these links on the https://www.giantbomb.com/showinfo page? For users who missed the debuts of these shows, most of these introductions are buried unless you already know to look for them via search.

I feel like I'm the only one who has enjoyed absolutely all of the new stuff they've done, a lot of it has turned out to be very funny.

My only wish is that I wish Jan would lead the UPF's. I just over all think he talks about more interesting stuff than Jeff does, also he is more laid back and chill to listen to.

I'm kind of scared of where Borne to Run is heading, I loved the show so far but the last episode didn't leave me much hope that I would be getting what I wanted out of that.

Also, during the Extra Life it was teased that Jan and Jess would do something and my god I hope that is related to Silent Hill as Jess recently revealed her great knowledge of that series.

Honestly, the only reason I'm sticking around is because of Jeff Gerstmann still being involved in the content. The moment he finally retires is the moment I will likely move on. Jan is okay, Jess was a good hire, they need to find more like her. I believe Bakalar should stick to talking about Pinball, since he doesn't really seem to enjoy video games that much by comparison. Danny is good when he is on the site, but that is the problem, he barely is. Grubb of Grubbsnax is a good distraction, but I still don't think it should be a premium show. The interesting thing is that G4TV is coming back, and one of the new hires is Abby who used to be on GB. It will be interesting to see if they are able to make a comeback. As far as GB, I'm still not sure yet if I'm going to renew my Sub or just chill out for a couple of years and just listen to the ad filled podcast and watch the QLs when they do one, until it finally becomes clear what the future of this site is going to be. Right now, it seems like they are throwing a bunch of stuff on the wall and seeing what sticks.

Watching this devolve into a ranking of shows, theories about why GB is this or that, and some insults to some of the hosts of the shows is enough for me.

I'm all for an open discussion about what's missing from the site, or what the new shows aren't doing well in, but this always seems to settle around a grandiose discussion about every piece of the site we don't like.

I remember on one of the final streams before Vinny, Alex, and Brad left to start up Nextlander, Vinny specifically asked us all to remember that on the other side of things are still humans. People who work very hard to provide us entertaining videos and content to enjoy. Tearing it apart every chance we get isn't the same as feedback or constructive criticism. I kinda hope we all practice a bit more empathy and not take things so personally. We all love this site and want the best for it and the people involved.