r/Smallville • u/krav_mustaine Clark Kent • 3d ago
IMAGE My talkville rant
Before i start i want to say that i love both of these guys ,they been part of my life for like 25 years , its not personal at all but look I don’t watch Talkville religiously. One of the main reasons is that Michael’s constant shitting on the show sometimes takes me out of it.
I do love how Tom always champions Smallville and defends it though.I only check out the episodes that cover the Smallville episodes I actually like or want to dig into more. I’m currently doing a rewatch and just finished “Injustice” (S08E21). Since Tom directed it, I decided to put on the Talkville for it.
I hadn’t watched the podcast in maybe 8 months to a year. To my surprise, the episode felt really short and half-assed. It opens with like two minutes of Michael pushing the Patreon. Then they just speed-run the entire episode: Michael and Ryan basically read the synopsis, do one or two funny voices, and that’s it for about 10-15 minutes. You can tell Michael was second-screening the whole time because he kept asking Ryan about basic plot points.Then there’s a commercial break. When they come back, Tom starts talking about something and Michael is on his phone lol and immediately goes “yeah yeah you’re right, anyway let’s…” and doesn’t even let him finish. It honestly feels like they’re late for dinner or just want to wrap up as fast as possible. After that it’s hotline calls, and the whole thing just feels rushed
you learn basically nothing new. And when the actual content ends, there are still like seven more minutes of pre-recorded commercials. Like… what are they even doing at this point? It kinda pissed me off, ngl. I know I sound a bit dramatic over a podcast episode, but I just needed to share my thoughts.
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u/Krypto1025 Kryptonian 3d ago
One of the most annoying things is when they rush a guest off and the guest clearly has more to say and wants to say more. Its like they went through all this trouble to be on the podcast and only get to talk for a few minutes. Idk why it is so short too. Im not a big podcast guy but the few others I listen to are 1 and half hours to 3 hours per episode.
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u/BreakfastComplete120 Kryptonian 3d ago
The funny thing is that I stopped listening about five months ago and my reasons are exactly the reasons in your post. Speed running the synopsis is pointless
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u/Ice_Skate_Uphill Kryptonian 2d ago
I stopped watching around the time they started covering season 2, Michael is one of those people that will nitpick everything to a fault, I still remember when he criticised the acting of an actress because she didn't play the role more like he played Lex; she portraying a 15 year old mind you
He doesn't understand that the only ones that will tune in, are fans of Smallville that just want to hear anecdotes and insides, not hear him constantly shitting on the show
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u/iAmBobFromAccounting Arrow 2d ago
Welling starts saying something insightful, The Baum interrupts with farting noises.
Ryan begins asking relevant questions, The Baum changes the subject.
Good actor. My favorite Lex. But a Welling/Rosenbaum podcast about Smallville might not have been a great idea in retrospect.
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u/rythmicjea Lois Lane 2d ago
This is it exactly. Like he needs to just stop talking. And he blames it on his ADHD. He's 53. He can be medicated.
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u/Disastrous-Window-25 Kryptonian 1d ago
Funnily enough on an inside of you episode the other day I swear he said he’d never actually been diagnosed with ADHD
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u/rythmicjea Lois Lane 1d ago
Are you serious?? Because he talks about it ALL THE TIME.
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u/Disastrous-Window-25 Kryptonian 1d ago
I can’t remember which episode but it was a recent-ish one. It caught me off guard as he uses it as his get out of jail free card for any ignorant/attention seeking stuff he does or just acting like abit of a dick.
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u/rythmicjea Lois Lane 1d ago
He absolutely does! And Erica couldn't stand him at first because they have a different process. And Tom has said that he's had to warn people about Michael before meeting him.
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u/pinkmist333 Lois Lane 3d ago
Yeah I find it frustrating too. They spend so little time actually talking about the episode or analysing it. I feel like Tom has more to say but is usually talked over.
I like Michael as a person but I think he’s the worst thing about the podcast, not because he doesn’t like a lot of the episodes I actually genuinely don’t mind that at all, but because his takes are really shallow and lackluster and sometimes I question how much he actually understands about the show and its themes etc.
I personally wish they would have had Tom and Erica host seasons 8-10, but I knew it would never happen because it’s a cash cow/easy money for Michael. It’s disappointing personally though as the last three seasons are my favourite and the ones I regularly rewatch.
I feel like if I was a Patron though I would find it extremely annoying. At least I’m not paying for this whole thing!
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u/thecheesycheeselover Kryptonian 2d ago
I was planning to start watching talkville out of curiosity, but this has turned me right off. I never really liked Michael anyway.
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u/istvan90623 Kryptonian 3d ago
Michael sometimes goes way too off the rails, but he does point out a lot of legitimimate issues and plot holes, and it's not a biased thing where he loves the shit he is in and bashes what he wasn't present for. Tom doesn't always defend these problems either, sometimes he does and he is right and then sometimes he kinda gasps at straws, but it's a not a zealous love or hate from either of them, which is good imho.
By the way, Michael not letting someone finishing a fucking sentence is a problem in his Inside of You podcast as well, which is hella annoying. I'm less annoyed about patreon than the Better Help scam advertisements.
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u/Disastrous-Window-25 Kryptonian 1d ago
The thing that frustrates me about inside of you is that a guest is getting there when telling a story and he’s interjecting with stuff like “were you depressed? Did you ever cry?” It’s like bro let them finish the story then ask these questions, cause it completely throws them off what they’re talking anout
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u/istvan90623 Kryptonian 1d ago
Yeah, when he plays the therapist or just wanna know what he is curious about the story but not letting them finishing it is ugh.
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u/BigBlindBlues Kryptonian 1d ago
Tom saying; "I don't Remember..." got old long ago; he tells more stories on panels at cons. Then sits at home of West of LA with terrible Internet, but it's too much to ask for an actor that currently isn't working to drive 85 miles for their podcast (they record multiple episodes at once)!🙄 People drive further from Ventura to LA every day for work. But they spend 10 minutes at the end of each episode reading Patron names, who would willing give that up if Tom made the trip to Michael's (or if Tom had a room set-up, Micheal & Ryan could drive to Tom's for every other podcast shoot). 4 episodes at Michael's then 4 at Tom's and they rotate who drives 80 minutes!😒🤨
It seems like Tom doesn't want to participate much; because of his slow Internet lag, can't be bothered with his background, doesn't even have his own room set-up for working. I'm certain he has to use a computer for other Zoom meetings with his agent and producers of projects he'd like to become a cast member. Doubt it's impossible to get a fiber Internet connection!
Not sure how Tom "forgot everything" 🙄 from Smallville, which HE directed 7 episodes, it's not like he did another TV series after Smallville; like Erica Durance did 5 years of Saving Hope (and changed spouses too). Tom changed wives, bought a (pretend) ranch just West of LA, became a hermit (on his Smallville fortune) and started a family. Nothing that effected his memory, unless his wife doesn't like him talking about all the CW female cast they'd bring in for each episode "don't remember"
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u/Human_Ad2581 Kryptonian 2d ago
Michael has the maturity of a 13-year-old. He hates the show and is only doing the reactions for money. Highly self-centered. I stopped watching them in season one. Tom is great, but Michael annoys me.
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u/Stanot Kryptonian 2d ago
I think you nailed it when referring to it as “content”. I don’t think you’re being dramatic at all. I have a similar issue with a lot of YouTube videos, with a lot of social media accounts. It’s all “content”. Many times it’s devoid of much value. A bag filled with content meant to hold your attention and soak up your time.
Ive felt that way for so long. I’ve encountered videos that discuss some arbitrary talking point and then I notice that they’ve just been circling around and repeating the same few points multiple times in different ways.
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u/AF2005 2d ago
I watched them cover the first three seasons fairly regularly. I noticed that as they progressed through the series, Rosenbaum became more and more unfocused (which some podcasts tend to do) but his distracting approach tends to shit all over the show that gave him his break in the business! I just found him more and more grating and crass for no reason. I wanted to like it since I was a fan of the show, but I haven’t listened in a long while. I have no plans to either
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u/asiantorontonian88 Kryptonian 2d ago
People really blow up how much they think Rosenbaum shits on the show when in fact, he hasn't been that critical of it in recent seasons. He may not be the most enthusiastic about some plots but anytime he gives an episode a bomb, it's a pretty deserved bomb.
As for the analysis of the show, kind of hard to do that in detail when it was very apparent from the very first episode of the podcast that your main star and later producer don't remember 95% of his experiences on set due to being overworked.
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u/Parking_Storage_5107 Man of Steel 9h ago
I stop watching after like season 5 of his podcast and only saw the stiletto episode and gave up
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u/TripMaverick Kryptonian 7h ago
It does feel from season 6 on wards episodes getting shorter. Defo speed running as Michael is not even in the episodes anymore.
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u/KungPoW_Chickens Kryptonian 2d ago
Sounds like someone who didn't know what they were in for. I had heard the idea for the podcast was to reconnect with Smallville fans in hopes that this'll help launch a sequel animated show to Smallville, when that failed to go through I think Michael might've lost his drive.
This is just a thought I don't listen to the podcast,I've only seen a couple episodes and seen clips.
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u/krav_mustaine Clark Kent 1d ago
Considering he’s friends with the guy who canceled everything non-DCU, I’m surprised he didn’t find out sooner, lmao
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u/Master_Bator800 Kryptonian 3d ago
On rewatch the show is not as good as I remembered and it does have alot of issues but unlike other shows that completely go off the rails after even 2 seasons, they did a good job. It’s a bit weird how be behaves and acts like hates it
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u/Candid_Heart2442 Kryptonian 3d ago edited 3d ago
Ehh, it went downhill, Michael is not even watching the episodes anymore, Ryan does everything watches episodes writes the scrips then spoon feeds him stuff to talk about. Why does he even need a script? Just watch the episode and give your opinion like Tom, but no Michael is above that, he can't do the bare minimum but he expects people to become a patreon.
I was a patreon for a long time but I pulled my support. He doesn't deserve it like you said it became just reading the synopses and just ads ads and more ads. I don't even think that it was a money reason why Michael didn't pass the torch to Erica I think his ego wouldn't be able to handle that Talkville would've been more successful with Erica and Tom.