Took me awhile to put my finger on it.
They have let their “characters” become their identity. Nothing interesting, just bad acting.
I blame steezus, most inauthentic non-skater to infiltrate our beloved brotherhood.
this is half right in my opinion.
its not steezus by himself (i like steezus), its too many flavors on the plate. too many people jumping in, too many opinions, the show is kind of mushy. i don't really feel "connected" to them any more. i don't listen as hard anymore. i like all of these guys individually but together its too much. the show is cluttered and the episodes blend together.
the trinity of CRob as a guiding star, Rog as the grounded straight-man, and kelly as the feelgood relief was perfect. the balance was great. the flavors were sharp. it was easy to understood their relationships and opinions. they each had there very distinct personalities and it was easy to learn which voice to follow.
adding LD to the second show worked because he's really good at understanding when less is more. he knew when to fall back, and how to let the show flow around him. he was very defined and complemented the others.
putting on steezus on when LD wasn't there was great. it felt fresh and new. He was a nice funny surprise. Very different than LD but great in his own way, unlike LD he moved the flow of the show, kept it feeling sharp. Steezus was also great at pushing the show to be more "professional" and engaging the fans and egging on fan contributions. he added real value. I credit him with pushing the "second" show past the main show in content quality. However adding Steezus full time made the mic a little crowded. it was hard to know whose voice to follow. there was a lot of voices being pushed down. a lot of half finished sentences. there was less opportunity to build a para-social relationship with the people you were listening to (which is where the show excelled the most ) but the show was still working and working very well.
When Jeron started filling in as a guest host, it was a cool surprise and didn't disrupt too much because it was still 4. Jerons episodes were like a "special adventure episode" . you were being introduced to your friends' friend and that was cool. it was a nice break from the regularity and it was manageable. Adding him full time though made the issue of overcrowding into a real problem. it completely drowned one of the most valued voices out of the equation. No ones voice could come to the surface. It no longer feels like Chris' show. it no longer had direction and personality. its just a "bunch of dudes hanging out" which sounds great in concept-- but doesn't make for compelling listening. on top of that Jeron bridges all the personalities together too closely. he lessens the separation between the voices and opinions which makes it even more mushy.
the other issue is that the bunt is getting better and better and better. this season of the bunt is by far the most listenable season to date. the voices are crisp, the separation of personality is clear, Cephas and Donovan are flowing together cleaner than ever, the pacing is perfect. They never step on each other. they are bringing out the best in each other. that show is a sauce that's simmered and reduced down to perfection. its flavor is
so clear. with the bunt growing up and improving so dramatically its hard not to notice the issues the 9club is having.
when the show first started i was a fan. a big fan. i was a patreon member, i bought the merch. it was first priority podcast when episodes came out. i 'engaged" with the show. i looked forward to new episodes. i slowly fell off right around the time Jaron was coming on as a regular because i don't feel like i'm missing anything if i miss a show or two. I'm still a fan and i think the show will continue to be one of the marquee skateboarding podcasts for years to come. i'm absolutely not saying "fire everyone" and go back... but i am hoping that once the lock down ends Chris will do a main show with just the trinity and play with with substitutes and line ups for the second show. Maybe make the big get together a once a month thing and rotate out one or two of the other 3 every week.
Topic: Wtf is up with the nine club (Read 367041 times)