Chris Hardwick: Hilarious Host, or Universal Avatar of criticism?
Comedy Central’s new show @Midnight, is yet another funnel for pop culture commentary via this ubiqutious host.
As Chris Hardwick did a cold-open for his new show on Comedy Central, he astutely pointed out that this is the only show he has where he isn't talking about other shows.
From his excellent work on the Nerdist Network, (Nerdist Bowling and the titular podcast) to his “Talking” shows (Talking Bad, and the Talking Dead), Hardwick has been our filter of Pop Culture commentary. In all of the shows he is (and has been) a part of, he discusses our comments through social media and the traditional TV call in.
But why not just let him do all the questioning? He has proven himself a hilarious and insightful pop culture devotee.
As Hardwick stated in an interview with Susan Karlin,
“We’re not in an information age anymore. We’re in the information management age,” he adds. “People gravitate toward information delivery sources that they can relate to on a personal level.”
If this is true, than he is one of the most successful on-screen Information Curators of this age. He is successful by his own volition, and additionally, his appointed works as well. Mainly, I think it comes down to the fact that this is all in pursuit of his (and our own) numerous pop-culture infused passions.
This kind of begs the question, who are the “editors” of this information? Are some of these picks from Twitter Hardwick’s own, or who is the staff behind the scenes?
Chris Hardwick is the modern age version of the antiquity era Greek Chorus, distilled into one man. He assists in summarizing, giving background information (from the creators), and even sometimes he gives the characters that didn’t have a voice a chance to express themselves regarding certain pivotal scenes.
It’s Ouroboros; something that’s constantly recreating itself.
The more intelligent commentary that is created by all of Hardwick’s “Talking” shows; the more the fans grow a rabid love for the show,and the more commentary greats created (and potentially featured in his shows). Then ultimately, the Nielsen ratings grow exponentially for both the show,and the show about commentary.
Finally, because of all this, AMC can charge more for advertising for commercial breaks of both shows; pulling in $400,000 per commercial for the finale of Breaking Bad alone.
In his new show, @Midnight, Hardwick takes a step away from the direct commentary on TV shows, and moves into commentary on, well…us. @Midnight features an absurd and hilarious rotating panel of comedians Twitter-shaming (without any profile reveals),mocking scary Craigslist ads, and reacting to our reactions of any Pop Culture happenstance big or small.
Maybe this could be a start of the next wave of commentary being the featured content, (Bravo even has “The People’s Couch” of people watching shows for god’s sake.) Judging by the ratings and demographics of @Midnight, that might be a safe bet.
I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to a future of criticizing criticism.One starts to wonder,after meta-commentary, what can be next?
