West Week Ever: Pop Culture In Review – 10/18/24

This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about how much social media has changed. This is a common topic around here, but there’s always something new that stirs up those thoughts. X, formerly known as Twitter – Seriously, if you constantly have to include the “formerly known as”, it means your rebranding FAILED – announced a change coming to the Block function. Historically, if you didn’t want someone seeing your posts or interacting with you, you’d Block them. That would cut them off, easy peasy. Well, not so much anymore. Since King Elon knows he and his kind are the “victims” of Blocks, he decided to change how they work. Coming soon, blocked users will still be able to see the posts of the blocker, but they simply won’t be able to interact with that post. This is all towards Elon’s goal of “free speech”, but users didn’t see it that way, resulting in an influx of new signups over on Bluesky. Good luck to ’em!

Yeah, I’m on all the sites, mainly waiting for a victor to rise, but I never really experienced the toxicity on Twitter that drove a lot of folks away. Hey, maybe that means I’m the problem! That’s not to say negative experiences didn’t exist, but rather I feel I was decent at curating my feed and avoiding the “wrong” conversations and fan bases. I mean, I’ve blocked no more than 5 people, and that was mainly because they sucked at life, and I wanted to ensure our paths never crossed again. Otherwise, what do I care what some rando said to me during his lunch break at Firehouse Subs? Well, I care. Don’t get me wrong. I CARE. But I’ve never cared enough to block ’em. Once you get bored, and stop replying, they tend to move on to the next person.

Through all this, though, I’ve taken stock of the different sites, and what I get out of each of them. Though I refuse to leave, I notice I don’t really use X anymore. I post and run. It’s just another stage in a long line of Open Mic “Bringer” Shows. I stay because I have folks there who have no interest in migrating, and I don’t really blame them. I just tend to be an early adopter of things, which sucks when they don’t pan out (I’m still getting emails from Vero). Still, it’s sad to see what X has become, in terms of influence. This was a tool that used to be touted for its role in spreading democracy and toppling regimes, and now it’s where shitposters rag about pronouns. I just miss the power and influence the site used to have.

I got retweeted by Perez Hilton this week. THE Perez Hilton. A lot of folks don’t remember a time when there were only, like, 5 known North American bloggers: Perez did the pop culture stuff, while Ariana Huffington, with the Huffington Post, as well as Ana Marie Cox, of Wonkette, handled politics. Throw in Nikki Finke, with Deadline Hollywood, for the Hollywood stuff, and Feminista Jones for race stuff. You got on their radar, and things changed, for better or worse. Well, let’s just say that Perez RT did absolutely NOTHING for me, in terms of following or engagement. Hell, I had more engagement from a flippant Stevie Nicks tweet during her SNL performance last Saturday night. It’ll never be what it was, but I’m having trouble saying goodbye to the online monoculture.

Trailer Park

The Electric State (Netflix, March 14)

I’m gonna get snooty here, but you’re used to that by now, I’m sure. So, when streaming was on the rise, it was sort of a wasteland. Streamers would pick up shows that couldn’t hack it on network, or they bought the movies that would normally have gone straight to DVD. Simply because they needed content to lure subscribers. Then, they decided they wanted to be taken seriously. So, they shelled out a LOT of money on big name stars and directors. And I’m not so sure any of those investments have been worthwhile, though we’ll never know, as they love to keep their numbers close to the vest. The big problem, though, is the streamers saw themselves as Big League Players, but I’m not so sure the audience agrees with their self valuation.

When I see a movie released solely on streaming, I think something is wrong with it. Otherwise, why wouldn’t they put it out in the marketplace, where ticket sales are the name of the game? It’s not a reliable measure, but it’s more of a gauge than we have in the streaming model. When a studio goes straight to streaming, I hear “We didn’t think this could make money at the box office, but we’ve already invested in it.” And I fear this arrangement is tarnishing the sheen on those same actors and directors who jumped at those big checks. Here, they tout all of the Russos’ credits (predominantly MCU films that each made a LOT of money), but that doesn’t instill confidence in me. This feels like they want to “play it safe”. They went for the money as opposed to the challenge. And I’ve never been That Guy. Hell, go get paid! I don’t care about “integrity of the art”. Until, now, I guess I do. Next time I see that Chris Pratt is in a box office movie,  I’m gonna think, “Eh, I can see him at home in that movie with Stranger Things that folks talked about for exactly one weekend.” Just another example of how streaming has hurt movies more than it has helped them.

Carry-On (Netflix, December 13)

See, THIS is what I think streaming should be doing. Yeah, it’s Taron Egerton, but despite Kingsman and the fact he played Elton John, he’s still not a household name. Your grandma doesn’t know who he is. I don’t even know what this movie is ultimately about, but I’ll watch, and I’ll watch it at home. When Egerton gets another box office movie, I’ll think “Glad he got out of that Netflix slump!” Plus, this is the kind of mid-budget movie that doesn’t really work theatrically anymore, so I totally get it.

Will Around The Web

• Adam and I are back with a brand new episode of Remember That Show?, where we tackle the early 90s sci fi show Eerie, Indiana. It’s perfect Halloween listening, so check it out and tell a friend…or ten.

Things You Might Have Missed This Week

• Redbox has been out of business for months now, but it turns out they simply abandoned their roughly 24,000 kiosks, leaving their removal the responsibility of the host retailer. According to this article, Walgreens reportedly pays $184,000 a month (!) to power the defunct machines, because they’re wired directly into the stores’ electricity.
• Rob Lowe started this TV season with 2 shows, and he’ll exit it with none, as his Netflix series Unstable will join 9-1-1: Lone Star in the Previous Roles section of his IMDB profile, with its cancelation after 2 seasons.
• It was announced Project Runway will move to its third (!) network, finding a new home at Freeform, with new hosts and judges to be announced at a later date.
• We’re outta ideas, boys! Yup, toymaker Mattel announced that they’re developing a live action film based on the View-Master.
• Superman’s gonna have his dog, as James Gunn released a pic of the new cinematic Man of Steel sitting next to Krypto the Superdog.
• Dennis Miller (No, not that one) is stepping down as president of The CW after 2 years on the job. Guess he realized that buying a bunch of cheap foreign import shows wasn’t gonna buy him but so much time – especially when a bunch were D.O.A. (Barons, anyone?)
• The worst person you know is probably happy to learn that Rick and Morty was renewed for 2 more seasons, which will take it through Season 12. Don’t get me wrong – I still watch it, but it’s not my whole personality. That said, given that they wrapped up the whole Evil Rick storyline – which has governed the mythology of the entire series up to this point – it seemed like they’d be winding things down as opposed to forging ahead with more…

Ya know, nothing really knocked it out of the park this week in the world of pop culture. I was really getting scared for this part of our show, but things began to look up last night. I remembered that there was a Family Guy Halloween Special released on Hulu this week, so I decided to check it out. I’ve gone on record that I think American Dad is consistently Seth MacFarlane’s best show, but I don’t know if I could ever give up Family Guy. Yeah, I know a ton of y’all are saying “You still watch Family Guy?!”, but I know a couple of you still get your current events info from South Park and The Joe Rogan Experience – unironically – so here we both are, standing in our truths. I’m just watching a show, and not building my personality around it. What was that? “Sheeple”? Cool story, bro.

Anyway, Family Guy is in a weird place right now, as it’s celebrating its 25th anniversary, but not its 25th season. There’s that whole matter of it having been canceled after its 3rd season until Adult Swim reruns prompted Fox to revive it. So, it’s been part of the public consciousness for 25 years, yet it’s not even currently on the air to enjoy it. This is the first season it was not on Fox’s fall schedule, as it’s being held for midseason. The future of the show is also in the air, as it and The Simpsons are in the final year of their last Fox contract, and sources are wondering if the shows might permanently move to Hulu for any future seasons. Well, I guess they’re testing the waters here, as the show’s not “on”, but we’re still getting a Halloween special out of it.

This wasn’t the best episode I’ve ever seen, but it had its moments. Family Guy is comfort TV for me, so it’s good even when it’s “bad”. And several of the past few seasons have been something of a chore to watch. Still, it’s nice how I can just fall back into it after a long absence. I watched it nightly on Adult Swim for over a decade, yet when that contract ended, and it moved to FXX, I sort of forgot about it. Like, it not only airs at the same time as Adult Swim, but it’s also been picked up by Comedy Central, but I can’t be bothered to change the channel. Those timeslots now belong to American Dad and Big City Greens in my personal viewing schedule.

The episode, titled “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Cheater”, follows Peter and the gang as they try to help Joe win a pumpkin growing contest. It features Glen Powell voicing Joe’s nemesis, and I found myself asking “WHERE did this guy come from?!” Seriously, Glenn Powell was a non-entity pre-Covid, and now he’s EVERYWHERE. Anyway, it was one of those celebrity voice roles where you’re like “Oh, that’s interesting”, but it really could have been played by anyone. No, the real masterful stroke of casting came with the B story: When Brian refuses to dress up as Sonny Bono in Stewie’s couples costume, Stewie brings his teddy bear, Rupert, to life to wear the costume instead. Animated Rupert, however, gets confused by his mission, and thinks he’s supposed to kill Brian. And Rupert was voiced by British actor Derek Jacobi, where you might ask yourself “Who?”, but then you see him:

Yeah, he’s a storied actor, but you also realize he’s PERFECT casting as a murderous teddy bear.

Anyway, this isn’t gonna bring the boys to the yard for any non Family Guy fans, but it was a welcome “surprise” for those of us who are. So, for that, the Family Guy Halloween Special had the West Week Ever.