Jpod
A few nights back, while playing FFXI, I receive a message from Paul with a link to cbc.ca/jpod. Now when I was first introduce to Jpod a few months ago in a departmental sneak peek meeting, I thought, "okay, a young, edgy drama/comedy about a band of misfit videogame designers. Looks like CBC is going after the 20-something market again". While the concept is withing my realm of interest, the pitch didn't hook me, nor did the barrage of promotional material I've seen. Today, while slowly losing my soul to my 8 hour cube prison, I decided to check the show out since all the episodes are hosted online for the digital generation's viewing pleasure.
Jpod's biggest failing is that it tries to do too much. Group of misfit game designers having to cope with a new go-getter boss, good concept. Suburban dysfunctional family with a extra shot of near-family-guy-esque randomness, done to death but a decent concept. An old couple living in an empty nest trying to cope in a modern world, one a horticultural gardener making a living selling pot to the underworld, the other an ex-structural engineer turned ballroom dancer/movie extra (played by Allen Thick no less), pretty damn good concept. However, a show about a young man who specializes in gore, working with a group of misfit game designers, dealing with his go-getter boss, while being called away from work every 20 minutes to help out his dysfunctional family, specifically his completely off the wall parents, in both career and personality, who are cheating on each other despite what appears to be a rather happy marriage, (GASP FOR AIR), is completely ridiculous.
After watching both episodes currently online, I feel it's almost my duty to hunt down the producers and their writing team and whip them with the cord from my Atari 2600 controller. Not only does Jpod fail as a character driven show, but its attempt to reach out the gamer public by offering an hour of random, completely unrealistic, near ADHD entertainment is rather insulting. About the only believable aspect of Jpod is the New-boss character, like the show he's totally out of his element, can't connect to the younger generation, doesn't know a thing about videogames, and acts like a complete and total douche.
Save the RAM, skip Jpod.
Jpod's biggest failing is that it tries to do too much. Group of misfit game designers having to cope with a new go-getter boss, good concept. Suburban dysfunctional family with a extra shot of near-family-guy-esque randomness, done to death but a decent concept. An old couple living in an empty nest trying to cope in a modern world, one a horticultural gardener making a living selling pot to the underworld, the other an ex-structural engineer turned ballroom dancer/movie extra (played by Allen Thick no less), pretty damn good concept. However, a show about a young man who specializes in gore, working with a group of misfit game designers, dealing with his go-getter boss, while being called away from work every 20 minutes to help out his dysfunctional family, specifically his completely off the wall parents, in both career and personality, who are cheating on each other despite what appears to be a rather happy marriage, (GASP FOR AIR), is completely ridiculous.
After watching both episodes currently online, I feel it's almost my duty to hunt down the producers and their writing team and whip them with the cord from my Atari 2600 controller. Not only does Jpod fail as a character driven show, but its attempt to reach out the gamer public by offering an hour of random, completely unrealistic, near ADHD entertainment is rather insulting. About the only believable aspect of Jpod is the New-boss character, like the show he's totally out of his element, can't connect to the younger generation, doesn't know a thing about videogames, and acts like a complete and total douche.
Save the RAM, skip Jpod.