Channel Awesome
Channel Awesome, Inc. is an American online media production company based in Lombard, Illinois. 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, starring Doug Walker.
Not to be confused with Network Awesome.Industry
Online media
April 2008 (as That Guy with the Glasses)
- Mike Michaud
- Bhargav Dronamraju
- Mike Ellis
- Mike Michaud
- (CEO)
- Doug Walker
- (actor and presenter)
- Rob Walker
- (COO and screenwriter)
$150,000 (2009)
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 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 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 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 [they] didn't lose our jobs, [the business] wouldn't have happened anytime soon".[1][2]
At around the same time, Doug Walker began posting several satirical video reviews of films and other media on YouTube 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. Walker's channel had its content withdrawn from YouTube following complaints from 20th Century Fox and Lionsgate over alleged copyright infringement.[3] Walker attempted to re-upload his content by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.
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),[17] Allison Pregler (Obscurus Lupa) and Phelan Porteous (Phelous).[18] 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.[19] She intended to continue producing videos for League of Super Critics on YouTube and her own website, Chez Apocalypse.[20]
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.
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.[33]
On December 15, 2011, Lindsay Ellis posted a video about Channel Awesome staff traveling to Washington, D.C. to lobby members of 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.[34]
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 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.[35] One such allegation from Lindsay Ellis stated that during production on the film To Boldly Flee, she was repeatedly pressured into 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.[35]
In March and April 2018, several more producers—including Lovhaug (Linkara),[36] Todd Nathanson (Todd in the Shadows),[28] Daren Jackson (Rap Critic)[37][38] and Mike Jeavons (MikeJ)[39]—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.[40] 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.[41]
On that and the following days, more producers, including Omar Ahmed (Yomarz),[42] Nash Bozard,[43] Mathew Buck (Film Brain),[44] Tony Goldmark (Some Jerk with a Camera),[45] Elisa Hansen (Maven), Brian Heinz (The Last Angry Geek),[46] Leeman Kessler (Ask Lovecraft), Heather McDonald (Calluna),[47] Dominic Smith (The Dom),[48] Luke Spencer (Rocked) and Chris Stuckmann[49] left Channel Awesome, with some citing their dissatisfaction with the company's response to the controversy as their reason for doing so,[43][48] lowering the number of producers for the website from forty to about ten by April 5.[50] Channel Awesome's planned tenth anniversary was cancelled as a result of the controversy.[45]
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".[51]
Within 48 hours of the response's posting, nearly all of Channel Awesome's remaining producers, including long-time veterans Joe Vargas (Angry Joe),[22] Bennett White (Bennett the Sage) and Lawrence Simpson (MasakoX), as well as Gaming Wildlife,[52] Bargain Boy, Ryan Molina (Battle Geek Plus),[53] Timid Jester,[54] DToons Productions (maker of the series Toons These Days)[55] and Eric Rodriguez (Blockbuster Buster)[56] 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".[57] 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.[58]
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.[59]