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Channel Awesome, Inc. is an American online media production company based in
Lombard, Illinois Lombard is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. The population was 44,476 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Lombard was originally named "Babcock's Grove", after the Babcock brothers ...
. The company was created in 2008 by Mike Michaud, Mike Ellis, and Bhargav Dronamraju. Channel Awesome operated the ''That Guy with the Glasses'' website (often abbreviated ''TGWTG'') until late 2014, when it was phased into the ''Channel Awesome'' website. The site is best known for the comedic film review series ''
Nostalgia Critic ''Nostalgia Critic'' is an American review comedy web series created, directed by, and starring comedian Doug Walker. The series initially launched on YouTube on July 3, 2007, before moving to Walker's own site, That Guy with the Glasses, and f ...
'', starring Doug Walker. ''That Guy with the Glasses'' previously hosted fellow channels by ''Bar Fiesta'', beginning in November 2009, and ''Blistered Thumbs'', beginning in November 2010. Channel Awesome currently hosts a
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel of the same name with an emphasis on content produced by Doug Walker and his brother Rob. All of Channel Awesome's content was hosted by
Blip Blip may refer to: * Beta-lactamase inhibitor protein * Blip.tv, a defunct web video platform * Blip.pl, a Polish social networking site * Blip, a message in the Apache Wave (formerly Google Wave) collaboration platform * Blip Festival, an an ...
or YouTube prior to the former's shutdown in August 2015. After a series of scandals, nearly all affiliated creators severed ties with Channel Awesome and departed in April 2018.


Origins

Mike Michaud, Mike Ellis and Bhargav Dronamraju created Channel Awesome after they were laid off from
Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...
in 2007. The three discussed the idea of such a company while still employed, but their dismissal was the impetus to put their plans into action. Michaud has stated that "if
hey Hey, HEY, or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the ...
didn't lose our jobs,
he business He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...
wouldn't have happened anytime soon". At around the same time, Doug Walker began posting several satirical video reviews of films and other media on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
under the screen name of "Nostalgia Critic". Initially, Walker viewed making the videos as a side hobby, rarely interacting with his fans and not revealing his real name until a video responding to the
Northern Illinois University shooting The Northern Illinois University shooting was a school shooting that took place on Thursday, February 14, 2008, at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in DeKalb, Illinois. Steven Kazmierczak, 27 years old and a 2006 NIU graduate, opened fire wit ...
. Walker's channel had its content withdrawn from YouTube following complaints from
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
and
Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...
over alleged copyright infringement. Walker attempted to re-upload his content by assigning each video a new, separate channel. However, due to continuing issues, Walker decided to leave YouTube altogether and create the website ''That Guy with the Glasses'', with Michaud acting as webmaster.


''That Guy with the Glasses''

''That Guy with the Glasses'' was launched in April 2008. It showcased satirical reviews of
movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...
,
television shows A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platfo ...
,
music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...
,
comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
and
video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
. The website was built around the work of Walker, including ''Nostalgia Critic'' (comedic recaps of bad movies), ''5 Second Movies'' (hyper-edited feature films), ''Ask That Guy with the Glasses'' (a comedy question and answer show) and ''Bum Reviews'' (humorous plot summaries of theatrical releases). Other videos and written articles were hosted on the site, including some minor series and sketches starring Walker. Videos were primarily hosted by
Blip Blip may refer to: * Beta-lactamase inhibitor protein * Blip.tv, a defunct web video platform * Blip.pl, a Polish social networking site * Blip, a message in the Apache Wave (formerly Google Wave) collaboration platform * Blip Festival, an an ...
after problems with earlier provider
Revver Revver (originally known as ChangeTv) was an American video sharing website that hosted user-generated content. Until its shutdown in 2011,
. The website featured videos from a number of other content creators who were steadily added as contributors over the course of several years. In December 2008, Walker appeared in a commercial for the
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
documentary ''Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America'', performing a series of brief imitations of famous comedians, from
Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
to
Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
. In 2009, Doug and Rob Walker, along with Brian Heinz, produced an iRiff of ''
The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical coming-of-age drama film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn, and written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, and Linda Woolverton. Produced by Walt Disney ...
'' for RiffTrax. In March 2009, the iRiff was chosen as the winner of the website's RiffTrax Presents contest. The performers received $1,000 and, with instruction from
Michael J. Nelson Michael John Nelson (born October 11, 1964) is an American comedian and writer, most known for his work on the television series ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''). Nelson was the head writer of the series for most of the show's origi ...
, Kevin Murphy and
Bill Corbett William Daniel Corbett (born March 30, 1960) is an American writer and performer for television, film and theatre. He was a writer and performer on the cult television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''), for which he voiced Crow ...
, recorded a commentary for the film ''
Batman Forever ''Batman Forever'' is a 1995 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. It is the third installment of the ''Batman'' film series, acting as a standalone sequel to ''Batman Returns''. Directe ...
''. ''Nostalgia Critic'' averaged 100,000 to 300,000 viewers per week while on the site, and one million page views per month. This was expected to increase following Blip's deal with YouTube in July 2009. As of July 2009, the site earned more than $10,000 per month in advertising revenue and received more than $11,000 in online donations. In the third quarter of the 2009
fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...
, Walker's shows earned $53,000, including $32,000 from ''Nostalgia Critic'' alone. This revenue was generated by
run of network Run of network advertising is a form of internet marketing where an online advertising campaign is applied to a wide collection of websites without the ability to choose specific sites. An advertising network sells space for online ads to appear o ...
from Puma and
Starburst MicroPro International Corporation was an American software company founded in 1978 in San Rafael, California. They are best known as the publisher of WordStar, a popular early word processor for personal computers. History Founding and early su ...
. The success of his shows has allowed Walker to make a living performing and to quit his previous job as an illustrator, as well as pay the salary of Ellis, the site's co-founder and COO. The site was featured in ''Entrepreneur'' magazine in December 2009 where the history of the site was discussed as well as the plans for the future. During 2011, Michaud was looking for warehouse space in suburban
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. He told ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', "My company has a lot of growing up to do, but I believe that sometime in the next one to two years someone will create that one series that gets everyone talking... nd attract audiencesto the endless options of online video." As of June 2011, the company employed seven full-time staff. According to Walker, "these people are cheap to get because we are happy to see any amount of money". Channel Awesome's ability to attract a significant audience with a low expenditure was proclaimed to have an effect on video entertainment production. The site gained a wealth of personalities and shows, quickly reaching twenty-plus. The first time the producers made an initiative to put each other in the same
fictional universe A fictional universe, also known as an imagined universe or a constructed universe, is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative or a work of art. This concept is most commonly associated with works of fantasy and scie ...
(or "Reviewaverse", as was coined by one of its former producers) was with their first anniversary video, which was a twenty-minute fight between each other, with set up and dialogue only stating it was video game reviewers vs. movie reviewers, egged on by the Nostalgia Critic and
Angry Video Game Nerd ''Angry Video Game Nerd'' (''AVGN''; originally known as ''The Angry Nintendo Nerd'') is an American retrogaming review comedy web series starring and created by James Rolfe. The series centers on Rolfe's titular skit character, often simply ...
rivalry that had been going at the time. A full-length site crossover movie was decided for the next year's anniversary. It ended up being a trilogy: ''Kickassia'', which had the plot of the Critic getting a number of the personalities together to take over a
micronation A micronation is a polity, political entity whose representatives claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by any sovereign state. Micronations are classified separately from list o ...
in
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
called
Molossia The Molossians () were a group of ancient Greek tribes which inhabited the region of Epirus in classical antiquity. Together with the Chaonians and the Thesprotians, they formed the main tribal groupings of the northwestern Greek group. On thei ...
; ''Suburban Knights'', where the Critic got together much of the same personalities to find a mystical gauntlet via forced Live action role-playing game, LARPing; and ''To Boldly Flee'', where the Critic and ''TGWTG''s cast travel to space to stop a cosmic anomaly and fight corporate villains. On June 28, 2012, Channel Awesome content producers Walker, Lindsay Ellis (Nostalgia Chick), Lindsay Ellis (The Nostalgia Chick; no relation to Mike Ellis), Brad Jones (The Cinema Snob) and Todd Nathanson (Todd in the Shadows) signed exclusivity deals with Blip, which directly hosted most ''TGWTG'' and Channel Awesome programming until it was shut down in August 2015. The deal did not affect the appearance of the producers' videos on ''TGWTG'', and would assist the increase of budget of the four series, as well as provide technical improvements. An extension of this deal was a Blip-run YouTube channel called "League of Super Critics", which also uploaded the unedited videos of all four producers, with the exception of Jones, whose videos were edited down from the original version so that the only way one could see the full video was to go to Blip. On December 3, 2014, the site shut down and rebranded itself as ChannelAwesome.com. The old URL redirected to ChannelAwesome.com until June 2018, where it now redirects to the Channel Awesome YouTube channel.


Subdivisions

Channel Awesome expressed plans to build on the success of ''That Guy with the Glasses'' with a network of subdivisions of the Channel Awesome website, including ''Bar Fiesta'' for covering Chicago entertainment and nightlife, and ''Inked Reality'' for anime and comic books. ''Blistered Thumbs'' began in 2009 as a subdivision of ''That Guy with the Glasses'' for housing its video game content. It gained popularity and ''Blistered Thumbs'' launched as its own website on November 4, 2010. Joe Vargas (Angry Joe), already an established video game reviewer on ''That Guy with the Glasses'', was the initial editor-in-chief. Staff writers were drawn from various websites including ''That Guy with the Glasses'', ''TechRaptor'' and ''Normal Boots''. Austin Yorski eventually replaced Vargas as editor-in-chief. In late November 2014, the ''Blistered Thumbs'' website was shut down.


ChannelAwesome.com

The new ''Channel Awesome'' website debuted in late 2014. All content from ''TGWTG'' was relocated to the newly established ChannelAwesome.com. Each week there is a Spotlight Section to promote a website producer, as well as a Featured Blogger. In January 2015, four of the site's long-time associates departed, including Andrew Dickman, Kyle Kallgren (Oancitizen), Allison Pregler (Obscurus Lupa) and Phelan Porteous (Phelous). Dickman, Porteous and Pregler went to being exclusively on Phelan's site, Phelous.com, while Kyle went to producing videos exclusively for Chez Apocalypse. Later that same month, Lindsay Ellis ended her long-running show ''The Nostalgia Chick'', which had premiered as a companion show to ''Nostalgia Critic'' in September 2008. She intended to continue producing videos for League of Super Critics on YouTube and her own website, Chez Apocalypse. Noah Antwiler, and his reviewer persona "The Spoony One", went to being exclusively on his site, ''The Spoony Experiment'', a little before the fourth anniversary film, but still had a prominent role in it with his consent. As of January 2024, the website has been deactivated, with new content instead being uploaded to the Channel Awesome YouTube channel.


Long-running shows


''Nostalgia Critic''

''Nostalgia Critic'' is the most popular video series created by Doug Walker, in which he plays the titular reviewer. The show is written by him and his brother Rob Walker. The series was initially launched on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
before moving to Blip.tv, Blip TV in 2008. It is the flagship show for Channel Awesome, which has since built on it with additional content, additional websites and the spin-off show ''Nostalgia Chick''.


''The Angry Joe Show''

Jose "Angry Joe" Antonio Vargas hosted the leading video game review show on the site. It generally consisted of reviews by Vargas stating his honest opinions of current releases of video games, mixed with sketch comedy. In April 2018, Vargas announced his departure from the Channel Awesome website.


''Todd in the Shadows''

''Todd in the Shadows'' is a music review show created and presented by Todd Nathanson. The show's primary focus is on its three main series: ''Todd's Pop Song Reviews'', in which Nathanson reviews songs that, at the time of review, were or had recently been record chart, high-charting; ''One Hit Wonderland'', in which he examines and chronicles the careers of One-hit wonder#Music industry, one-hit wonders; and ''Trainwreckords'', in which he analyzes albums considered to have "ended [the] thriving careers" of their respective artists. ''Cinemadonna'', in which Nathanson reviews Madonna filmography#Feature films, Madonna's feature filmography, was one of the show's main series until its conclusion in 2016. In the show, Nathanson keeps his appearance anonymous, filming himself in silhouette while sitting at an electronic keyboard in a dark room. When his face is not in silhouette, he covers its upper half with a black cloth. Nathanson debuted the series in 2009 and joined ''That Guy with the Glasses'' the following year. In March 2018, he announced his departure from Channel Awesome on his Twitter account. In 2023, Nathanson released a video where he accused James Somerton of regularly lying and spreading Misinformation on YouTube, misinformation.


''The Cinema Snob''

''The Cinema Snob'' stars Brad Jones as a pretentious art critic who watches and comments on a wide variety of films, including exploitation films, religious films, and pornography. His association with Channel Awesome began with "E.T. The Porno" (January 7, 2010). Like many other shows on Channel Awesome, Jones started his show on YouTube until he was confronted with a copyright claim from the filmmakers of ''Nail Gun Massacre''. Jones has also created additional shows for Channel Awesome, including ''Brad Tries'' and ''Midnight Screenings''.


Awards

On January 6, 2011, Doug Walker was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year in Las Vegas at the 4th Annual Mashable Awards.


Activism

On December 5, 2009, the company held a donation drive for the Ronald McDonald House Charities. The donation drive lasted upwards of seven hours and raised $26,400. During the event, calls were taken, prizes were awarded to people who donated large sums of money and videos featuring the talent on the site were aired. The donation drive was extended a few more days making the grand total $32,200. On December 15, 2011, Lindsay Ellis posted a video about Channel Awesome staff traveling to Washington, D.C. to lobby members of United States Congress, Congress about the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act. Ellis, Michaud, Rob Walker, and content producers Noah Antwiler (The Spoony One), Kyle Kallgren (Oancitizen and Brows Held High), Lewis Lovhaug (Linkara), Todd Nathanson (Todd in the Shadows), Paul Schuler (Paw Dugan) and Joe Vargas (Angry Joe) all traveled to Washington, D.C. to represent Channel Awesome and support freedom of speech on the internet.


Management controversies


Initial allegations

Between October 2014 and January 2015, several long-time content producers departed from Channel Awesome. In March 2018, several former producers alleged, via a series of Twitter posts, mismanagement and mistreatment by members of Channel Awesome's upper management, including the Walker brothers and Michaud. The allegations included a history of Sexism, sexist behavior toward female producers as well as a history of unprofessional, aggressive and immature behavior towards other content creators by Michaud, incompetence by the Walker brothers during production of the company's anniversary films, and failure to communicate with producers about significant decisions affecting them. One such allegation from Lindsay Ellis stated that during production on the film ''To Boldly Flee'', she was repeatedly pressured into dubbing (filmmaking), looping a scene in which her character was implied to be raped off-screen by Lewis Lovhaug's character. She further alleged that due to her and Lovhaug's protests over the scene's content, Doug Walker rewrote it so the implication of assault was less implicit. Ellis said that she was forced to perform the scene under intimidation. In March and April 2018, several more producers—including Lovhaug (Linkara), Todd Nathanson (Todd in the Shadows), Daren Jackson (Rap Critic) and Mike Jeavons (MikeJ)—departed from Channel Awesome.


Further departures

On April 2, 2018, a group of former Channel Awesome contributors and employees publicly released a document, entitled "Not So Awesome", via Google Drive. The document compiled grievances against the company, both those that had been previously made and ones that had not yet been publicly known. Over twenty former producers and employees, along with two individuals whose identities were kept anonymous, provided various allegations in the document, including poor communication and management, verbal abuse and bullying, and sexual harassment and misconduct. The subsequent response from Channel Awesome was criticized by fans and the company's former producers, as they felt the company was not apologizing or taking responsibility for their wrongdoings. On that and the following days, more producers, including Omar Ahmed (Yomarz), Nash Bozard, Mathew Buck (Film Brain), Tony Goldmark (Some Jerk with a Camera), Elisa Hansen (Maven), Brian Heinz (The Last Angry Geek), Leeman Kessler (Ask Lovecraft), Heather McDonald (Calluna), Dominic Smith (The Dom), Luke Spencer (Rocked) and Chris Stuckmann, left Channel Awesome, with some citing their dissatisfaction with the company's response to the controversy as their reason for doing so, lowering the number of producers for the website from forty to about ten by April 5. Channel Awesome's planned tenth anniversary was cancelled as a result of the controversy.


Second response and fallout

On April 11, 2018, Channel Awesome released a second response to the allegations as a blog post on its website. Titled "Our Response", the post was intended to refute the "most egregious" of the allegations made by former producers, Holly Brown and Jane Doe, who are described within it as "disgruntled individuals with vindictive intentions". Within 48 hours of the response's posting, nearly all of Channel Awesome's remaining producers, including long-time veterans Joe Vargas (Angry Joe), Bennett White (Bennett the Sage) and Lawrence Simpson (MasakoX), as well as Gaming Wildlife, Bargain Boy, Ryan Molina (Battle Geek Plus), Timid Jester, DToons Productions (maker of the series Toons These Days) and Eric Rodriguez (Blockbuster Buster), also left the website. Since April 14, 2018, the website listed two remaining producers apart from the Walkers: Brad Jones (Cinema Snob) and Larry Bundy Jr. (Guru Larry); the latter stated that among his reasons for remaining were that "no one ever actually believed [he] was ever on TGWTG". On February 16, 2024, Bundy Jr. announced on Twitter that he was kicked off Channel Awesome. However, this was due to the website having been deactivated since January 2024. On August 2, 2021, Doug Walker acknowledged the controversy in an interview with Korey Coleman on ''Double Toasted''. He admitted that Channel Awesome had gotten "too big" and thus resulted in poor communication among the staff and producers. Since then, they had been consciously trying to keep everything closer and more personal.


References


External links

* {{Official website, https://web.archive.org/web/20231223043614/https://channelawesome.com/ Channel Awesome Streaming television in the United States Companies based in Chicago Mass media in Chicago American companies established in 2008 Entertainment-related YouTube channels Internet properties established in 2008 Internet-related controversies YouTube channels launched in 2014 YouTube channels Companies based in DuPage County, Illinois