I am sure most of you never got to see a full episode of Infomania, but if you read my Facebook/Optigrab accounts passionately, you'd recognize the impact the show has had on me since I discovered it one day, well over a year ago. When I discovered it, I personally felt a subtle revolution on my Thursday line-up. Listening to host Connor Knighton and the various co-hosts satirize current events was mind blowing to me.
It wasn't mind blowing in the sense that I had never seen a satirical show before (Daily Show), but I had never seen one of this caliber. It wasn't essentially making fun of one genre, like politics or celebrities. It was more segmented like a magazine, with each co-host tackling a different topic, whether it be politics, gay rights, feminism, music, technology, or viral videos.
The overall feel had a small community feeling, which is essentially one thing I crave in TV. Having just recently started college and falling in love with the video department of journalism, I sought inspiration from this show in ways that could be seen more as respect. I knew how hard it was to piece together a show (though ours was 10 minutes as opposed to 30) and have consistent transitions. The editing. The time. The writing. I related to that.
After about two months of watching the show, I nominated it for one of my favorites, watching episodes numerous times in reruns, never once losing it's charm. I fell in love with the personalities and began to imagine that if I could find the right people, I could have a show as cohesively entertaining.
It all started around March 2010. I had just launched my radio show, Nerd's Eye View with Andrew and Sandro. We set out to cover the world of movies, television and (for a short, short time) music. I was still doing video productions at the time, but most of my passion had been put into getting the show off of the ground.
One of our first guests was future Mind Blow radio host Sydney. I cannot recall the exact set up, or even if it was on the show, but somehow in our conversation, she mentioned the Rotten Tomatoes Show. It was a non sequitor one-off, but somehow it stuck. I had seen the show when I was flipping through channels, but always considered it a gimmick show, speaking I had yet to get the appeal of the website it was so named after.
Then I tuned in based on that comment. After a month, I was obsessed with the show. I loved the general format that I felt was cutting edge of having five people review the same movie simultaneously (occasionally it included audiences) and the fact that hosts Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox sometimes didn't agree with the Tomatometer.
They also had brilliant segments, like Top 5's and Where Were They Then? I ate every episode up admiringly, notably because somehow I had began to admire Erlich's persona. He carried himself casually and cool through every review, and I loved that he could deliver a joke like no other. Even the occasional songs and cutaways were brilliantly edited, even if they seemed like I could've made them on green screen.
This lead to me discovering Infomania. I was not entirely ready to give it a show on the account that it looked to be a news show. I felt that if I wanted to see people make fun of the news, I'd go for Daily Show (which even then was not happening). But, when I saw a commercial that involved Erlich saying "You must be this stupid to ride," I was kind of willing to give it a chance (though I was more obsessed with the Sergio Cili bit "When are they going to play the Black Eyed Peas song where I get to yell mazel tov?" in a Yiddish accent. This was after seeing that commercial five times a week).
Sadly, as time went on, the Rotten Tomatoes disappeared. It morphed into Infomania briefly, but eventually went viral, mostly doing video reviews on Rotten Tomatoes' website.
Yet somehow, I saw Connor Knighton on my first Infomania making fun of the news and reality TV. I didn't realize at the time, but I would come to enjoy it. As the show continued, I discovered brilliant segments by Erlich, Sergio Cili, Matt Hoffman, Erin Gibson (who is not pictured in above picture), and Bryan Safi.
After two months, I began to feel a groove and fell in love with it. It felt like a show that I wanted to make. I admired Erlich from the beginning, but slowly grew to look forward to each segment (though Knighton was the weakest for me, personally).
It felt weird that besides Sydney, no one knew about this show. In a sense, it felt cool because of that. However, I made it my duty to promote it whenever it was coming on. I'd post about three comments before I would watch an episode. This show became my favorite, inspiring me to have bold honesty in my satire without losing the humor.
As time went on, Knighton left at the end of December. I worried that the show was cancelled because they left no word on their continuation with the series. Luckily, somewhere around January, Erlich's Twitter account had stated the return of the show with him as host. I personally was ecstatic about that, what with him being a big inspiration for me.
With that came small changes, but essentially the same show. There were a lot more guests (including a great Reggie Watts psychedelic performance) and the show had managed to create a new level of credibility in my book. As I had moved on to produce other shows, I used Infomania's segments as a model. I felt that it had the core elements needed to make a show interesting... and Erlich is pretty charismatic. I once listened to Sklarbro Country just for him.
I also enjoyed that they were viral people as well. While I denounce Twitter, I get Erin Gibson's stream on Facebook and through time, I have found an odd attraction to her humor that I felt I didn't entirely receive just by watching her. Along with the others (who posted fairly humorous rants), I felt that community vibe extending beyond the show and while I cannot say I know these people, I would love to be at a press meeting with them.
After a few schedule changes, the show announced last week that it would be coming to a close. Now, I hadn't watched it from the beginning, but it has been a part of my life for a long time. It felt personal and I loved their rants (Ben Hoffman had the best). Sure, I felt it was a shaky first few episodes with Erlich in charge, but the show eventually returned to an entertaining catalog of segments that pushed the show into finding it's own voice after Knighton's departure.
However, hearing that it's leaving is tragic. I never quite recovered after the Rotten Tomatoes Show left. These were blueprints and inspiration for my work. I didn't get anything out of Daily Show. It was too scripted and perfect. Infomania had more of a pure heart at the end of the day and to say the least, I would watch it instead of Community every week.
If anything, I don't want to lose the staff. Every member has come to mean something for me, and they open my mind to stuff I otherwise wouldn't care about. I just worry that they will fall off of the radar after the final episode next week, and I would hate that. I love seeing their work, using their online rantings as fuel to get through the week.
So, let's just say that here is one fan that is going to miss this show a lot. I am secretly hoping there is some surprise at the end of the episode where future plans are revealed. I'd hate for this to be the last time they have a career in media. If anything, I'd love for Erlich, Hoffman, or Cili to start up a podcast and continue it that way.
After all, they are the reason I respected Current TV and noticed their work. Maybe it was my fault for not converting more people. I feel bad about that. However, you know that I might just be watching this next episode three times because it means that much to me.
Here's to Infomania. It's been a good run.
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