Jandau said:
I watch every episode. It's a great show and I'm glad it's still on. I try not to pass judgement regarding the EC/Escapist brakeup since I've heard compelling arguments from both sides and don't care about it enough to try and dig deeper. Shit happened, it's sad, I love both the show and the site, so I just enjoy both.
That being said, what I'd like to know is why ENN left The Escapist. For those of you who may have missed it, ENN didn't disappear. It moved to Penny Arcade TV (where Extra Credits is now) under the name Checkpoint. What puzzles me is that the people making it (Graham, Kathleen, etc.) are all still doing stuff on The Escapist, so it's not like there was some huge falling out there as well. Then why the hell did ENN move?
Escapist ended ENN because the Escapist was short on cash and needed to cut a few shows (like Lisa Foiles' show). Second, ENN wasn't as popular around here as you might think. Months later, PA came to the LRR guys and asked if they'd be willing to do a show for them. LRR thought it would be a cool idea and asked what PA wanted. The guys at PA said something to the tune of "Well, we really liked ENN, could you do that?" LRR then turned to the Escapist and asked if that would be alright. Russ Pitts said something to the tune of "Sure, I mean, we cancelled the show, so there's no hard feelings if you can find another sponsor for it."
And, thus, CPt was born. ENN didn't "leave" and PA wasn't trying to headhunt them away from the Escapist. ENN was cancelled and the show was dead for months before PA approached the team about making a replacement on their site instead. It isn't a competition. There's no reason LRR can't work for both sites.