Has the Nostalgia Critic jumped the shark?

[thenumberthirteen]

I disagree wholeheartedly. I was a big fan before he ended the character earlier this year, and since he's been back I think he's BETTER than before.

These past 3 episodes have been the best I've seen from him for a while. I really like the extra scenes and sketches he does as its his own new material so it breaks up the review and keeps it from getting stale. I loved the "history of Micheal Bay" bits from Pearl Harbour. I don't get the comparison with "Family Guy" as he's not doing random cutaway one shot gags, but sort of side plots to the main review. Plots which actually link into the topics of the review.

I think allowing himself 2 weeks to make a video instead of just a week has allowed him to make better reviews and put more effort into them.

 

[babinro]

I disagree wholeheartedly. I was a big fan before he ended the character earlier this year, and since he's been back I think he's BETTER than before.

These past 3 episodes have been the best I've seen from him for a while. I really like the extra scenes and sketches he does as its his own new material so it breaks up the review and keeps it from getting stale. I loved the "history of Micheal Bay" bits from Pearl Harbour. I don't get the comparison with "Family Guy" as he's not doing random cutaway one shot gags, but sort of side plots to the main review. Plots which actually link into the topics of the review.

I think allowing himself 2 weeks to make a video instead of just a week has allowed him to make better reviews and put more effort into them.

^

I found Demo Reel to be a complete and utter failure in that it wasn't funny, nostalgic and it didn't tell a memorable story. The new episodes of the Nostalgia Critic however are pretty fantastic and among his best works ever.
The skits and jokes are very hit and miss but so far every episode has had more than enough to warrant a viewing.

I also don't see the comparison to Family Guy particularly since I don't like that show. As much as I love those animated shows, Family Guy has always been 'meh' at best since season 1. If I felt that way about NC I'd have stopped watching the show by now.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I disagree wholeheartedly. I was a big fan before he ended the character earlier this year, and since he's been back I think he's BETTER than before.

These past 3 episodes have been the best I've seen from him for a while. I really like the extra scenes and sketches he does as its his own new material so it breaks up the review and keeps it from getting stale. I loved the "history of Micheal Bay" bits from Pearl Harbour. I don't get the comparison with "Family Guy" as he's not doing random cutaway one shot gags, but sort of side plots to the main review. Plots which actually link into the topics of the review.

I think allowing himself 2 weeks to make a video instead of just a week has allowed him to make better reviews and put more effort into them.

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to write.

He's better than before because with 2 weeks, he has the time and energy to make every review a big production.

The first 2 were a bit rocky, but the Son of the Mask had me laughing uncontrollably. CR's cameo was amazing.

I hope his views increase and he makes back every cent he lost on Demo Reel.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The only reason I'm still checking in on TGWTG is for NChick, Renegade Cut, and CR.

Pshaw. Todd in the Shadows for life, son!

Yeah well, you know... I guess. If you're into the whole "mask" thing. *snub snub*

 

[uchytjes]

Has he jumped the shark? No.

I actually quite like the new format with the cut-away scenes. It keeps the review moving without it seeming too repetitive.

 

[Lilani]

Probably not, I found the "odd life of Timothy Green" and "son of the mask" reviews, mostly because they were hysterical. And I hated those movies.

His style changed, but he is not "in denial" or anything along those lines

Yeah, I agree with you here. The format has changed, but he's aware of it, and he did it because he wanted to do it. Hell that's basically what the entire like 30 minute video previewing the Timothy Green video was--him reiterating his problems with Nostalgia critic, and him explaining why he wants to bring it back and most importantly demonstrating the difference between the new and old shows. And naturally with change comes some people who dislike that change. It's all meh, in my opinion. I still like him, and no matter what direction he decides to take his show I can still respect him and his work because he has such a great rapport with his fans.

 

[Amaury_games]

No. Jumping the shark has three qualities:

1.) The show changes significantly to stay fresh;
2.) The change illustrates how the show's creator is out of ideas; and
3.) The show's quality is on a marked downhill trend.

The first point is objectively true. Doug Walker became so sick of the Nostalgia Critic program that he quit it as publicly as possible to express his disgust with doing the same crap week after week, and when he decided to bring the program back, he had to make changes in order to keep himself interested in doing it. I'm sure he'd say so himself if asked, albeit probably in less blunt language than I did.

The third point is entirely subjective and not worth arguing.

The second point is demonstrably untrue. The show has new jokes, new characters, and new skits with every episodes. In fact, the most common complaint I hear against the program is that it's not enough like the old version, which can only be true if the creators are applying new ideas to it.

The Nostalgia Critic does not display all three symptoms; therefore it does not have this specific disease.

Thank you for clarifying to me what jumping the shark can actually means (not sarcastic here, I swear! I'm really glad to have read your post)! Using this criteria, I too agree that the show is just different, which is obvious, since he stopped doing the NC because he's been doing the same thing for too long. I quite liked the episode he did explaining his motives to get back in the game. I'm glad he's back, although I have so much stuff that I like to follow on the internet that I probably won't be seeing more of his videos (when I go to TGWTG, I go to see Linkara's At4W).

 

[Twilight_guy]

No. Of course then again I've watch At4W which has actual long boring and poorly written cut-aways from the review.

 

[MaxwellMurder]

Well to me It seems he wants to do original entertainment without riffing on the movie. The Problem is He isn't very good at it. in his new reviews the Riffing is fine the skits are the problem. After a while he will get back into the swing of things and the skits will also become funny. Until then we will have to due with poorly executed jokes and skits that go on for too long. I think he is finding a better way to implement them as recently I have noticed that the long Skits are now played in a pattern of
Skit[3-5min]
Review[10-15]
Skit[3-5min]
Commercial
Skit[3-5min]
Review[10-15]
Skit[3-5min]
Which is almost like a new school mst3k except for Mystery Science Theater's skits were funny.

 

[Weaver]

I dunno, I never liked any of the stuff he's made.
In fact, I'd argue TGWTG is kind of just amature hour, especially now that Spoony is gone.

 

[doggy go 7]

The only reason I'm still checking in on TGWTG is for NChick, Renegade Cut, and CR.

Pshaw. Todd in the Shadows for life, son!

Rap critic's the best reviewer on the site, and no-one ever seems to mention him, so this is me sticking up for him.

OT: I liked, and like, the critic, and I don't really mind the cutaway gags at all, although I do wonder if they're included in order to make the demo reel guys feel better about themselves. (for the record, I watch linkara, oancitizen (another awesome underratted guy), occasionally cinema snob, Todd, NC and the aforementioned rap critic)

 

[BrotherRool]

The only reason I'm still checking in on TGWTG is for NChick, Renegade Cut, and CR.

Pshaw. Todd in the Shadows for life, son!

Rap critic's the best reviewer on the site, and no-one ever seems to mention him, so this is me sticking up for him.

I was thinking about mentioning him and I don't even follow rap! His No Love review
http://blip.tv/rapcritic/rap-critic-reviews-no-love-4915117
Is probably my favourite review ever, the ramping up interrupting perfectly fits the idea of what makes No Love and Eminem great.

yeah... his critic shows have become boring, and i havent see a single demo reel because it lacks on the advertise department on his site(ie none at all)

This was the same for me.

And in general I never miss an opportunity to ***** about how bad That Guy With The Glasses site design is, it's sacrifices non-functionality for the sake of lack of accessibility and ugliness, which is a pretty impressive feat. And it's clearly not very flexible, because they didn't manage to make a Demo Reel category and for ages and ages everything Nostalgia Chick was filed under 'dudette'

 

[bug_of_war]

Eh...personally I didn't mind his old reviews and I care about his new ones about the same. I'm more or less just annoyed how he went about the whole process. Firstly, he used the TGWTG anniversery plot to basically have everyone tell him how good he is (seriously, he has film brain say he is the best person there) and how he is so good that he has to die to save others. Then he comes back a few months later and has people like the Nostalgia Chick and others to tell him that the NC needs to come back. I just found it annoying and a little egotisticle, especially seeing as how every anniversery has always been focused on him (well, except for suburban knights hich was a little bit more open, but still kind of centered on NC).

So yeah, his reviews are meh in my eyes, I watch them if the movie seems interesting enough, but I'm not a real big fan of where he has taken the show, I really only visit the site for Film Brain, and prefer watching Angry Joe, Brad Jones and Spoony (I know he's no longer with TGWTG) on their own channels.

 

[Rariow]

Frankly, I enjoy the new stuff, but I feel very bitter about it. I really appreciated him ending the character's run before it got stale (And let's face it, the couple reviews before that god-awful aniversary special were pretty bad). Whilst I didn't like Demo Reel, it was fairly entertaining and was at least going somewhere. Whilst the couple new things he's put out are up to the snuff with the show's standards in my opinion (The new sketch sections are pretty hit-and-miss, I really enjoyed the one about Michael Bay but not very much the one in the Son of the Mask review), I can't help but feel that any moment he's going to get so sick of it that he's going to start pumping out episodes for the sense of pumping out episodes, and then it's just downhill from there.

In short: It's OK so far, but I am expecting the shark to be jumped hard any moment now.

At least Spoony seems fairly stable. Frankly, never went on TGWTG but for NC and him, and now that he's left it it frankly seems he's getting even better.

 

[natster43]

I stopped watching most of his videos around the time of his Mortal Kombat 2 review, I then watched his Judge Dredd review and felt he dragged all his jokes on for way too long. So I stopped watching them all together.

 

[Atmos Duality]

No, he hasn't jumped the shark.

I like his new format a bit better.
It's not quite as "Scream-Whine" as before, and it has better developed jokes instead of just memes and counting gags.

IMO, the Demo Reel crew are not that bad.
The skits haven't quite reached the point of "padding" yet (though Pearl Harbor was pushing it) and the jokes are fairly relevant.

 

[Talaris]

I admit I don't really like the inclusion of the Demo Reel style gags. On their own it's fine, the acting and humour is decent enough, but it just doesn't fit well with the tone of the reviews themselves.

In fact today was the first in a while where I chose to stop watching part-way through, though that may have more to do with the fact that The Son of The Mask is an abomination of a film.

 

[Vault101]

people complain about the skits with the actors from demo reel

but honestly? they are the funniest parts, he's ok but his formula isnt perfect

IMO, the Demo Reel crew are not that bad.
The skits haven't quite reached the point of "padding" yet (though Pearl Harbor was pushing it) and the jokes are fairly relevant.

the funnyest moment for me was that one shot in the pearl harbour reveiw this "micheal bays version of women" charachter sitting on the couch and her face is obscured by her own boobs....friggen hilarious

I like the actors..I think they are good

 

[kortin]

Nope, I genuinely enjoy all of NC's videos, present and past. He definitely hasn't jumped the shark is easily the most entertaining thing on TGWTG.

 

[unstabLized]

The pearl harbor one had some funny bits, but yes, the cutaways were kind of annoying. Still, it was okay in my book. The Odd Life of Timothy Green was really funny to me, made me laugh a lot and there was a constant smile on my face.