349 – Award Shows Are A Joke!

Hi, this is Gary Jock, and you're listening to

the Geekcast Radio Network. This is Geekcast

Radio, episode 349, folks. I am TF2 and Mike,

and we recorded this before the 4 ,000th overall

podcast episode for the Geekcast Radio Network.

We recorded this in early April of 2025, so this

is going to be in the past. So if you have already

listened to All Things Transformers, episode

444 of that podcast, that is the overall... 4000th

episode we have recorded here at the geek cast

radio network in 16 years of the network being

online but i wanted to put this little preview

here this little teaser psa whatever the hell

you want to call it before geek cast radio episode

349 where we talk about Something. I don't even

remember what the heck we talked about in this

episode, but I'm going to find out as I edit

it right now here on the Geekcast Radio Network.

And without any further ado, here's myself and

Steve Megatron talking about something geeky.

Oh, I remember what it was. Award shows are a

joke. Enjoy, folks. Now, back to the show. Welcome

to the 349th episode of Geek Cast Radio. Yes,

that's right, folks. We are back. And no, this

is not a convention attention episode. This is

a normal, everyday GCR that we've been doing

for the last almost 16 years. We are, this is

May something or other. No, not May. This is

April something or other. We're about two months,

a little less than two months away from the 16th.

anniversary of the geek cast radio network i'm

of course tf2 and mike joining me is returning

steve megatron how the hell have you been i'm

bananas uh no i've been i've been doing pretty

good uh finally coming out from under the rock

i've been hiding under and uh looking forward

to you know actually producing more content Yeah,

I've noticed, and you'll probably see this episode

here soon, folks, but I've noticed in the last

couple of weeks, because of how insane I am and

how I'm basically doing daily podcasting, Studio

2009 is in the middle of The Columbo Files, eight

episodes, and then Michael Wilson and I are in

the middle of kind of, sort of, almost, but not

really wrapping up the podcast organization without

a cool acronym, so the entire main slider. Columbo,

Columbo, Columbo, Phineas and Ferb, Columbo,

Phineas and Ferb, Columbo. Yeah, I'm almost borderline

ready to take Studio out of the slider. Stop

it. No. Don't do that. It's there too much, man.

I know. Well, you know, it won't be there that

much longer. Well, I mean, it will be, but it

won't be. So after this month, it'll be back

to weekly. I think. Yeah, it'll be back to weekly

because episode 41 to 51 is weekly movie. It's

the Fast Saga, so it's 11 episodes of that or

something like that. I don't remember. So, yeah,

that's what's going on with the Geekcast Radio

Network website stuff. And tonight, folks, award

shows are a joke. I wrote an article about that.

Yeah. A number of years ago. Yes, yes, you did.

Yeah, it's kind of one. If anybody knows my disdain

for any of these award shows, it kind of comes

around often because, you know, they do these

every year and every year they're a travesty.

I even wrote one in December. Why award shows

like the Oscars and Video Game Awards are a waste

of time. I'm there right now. Yep. Because it's

all spectacle over substance. Like, it's a total

waste of time. And then, and then, because it's

funny because I had the, you know, the whole

section about it being under fire, you know,

about the selection process and then choosing

the nominees and what qualifies as prestigious

and, you know, what's had the huge marketing

budget. And the fact that they're often not picked

on artistic merit or innovation, but on industry

politics and strategic marketing. Yeah. Only

to have it confirmed. Which just, oh, this is

funny. So anyways, I started seeing this on Twitter

or X earlier today. There was this. post by and

i don't take everything at face value because

people just can make crap up and it was by like

film updates and they were like the academy is

now implementing a new rule that members must

now watch all nominated films in each category

to be eligible to vote in the final round for

the oscars and then the screenshot it's got somebody

going in all caps they weren't doing that before

And I was like, oh, this is funny. And then adding

insult to injury, I decided to fact check. And

it's legit. So we have a number of resources.

And yes, the Academy decided that members must

actually watch the films before voting in category.

It's like saying, Mike, Steve, don't just read

the review off Wikipedia. I mean, that's essentially

what they're doing. Like, oh, we're going to

judge it on the trailer and whether we like the

actor or not. So anyways, this new rule is true.

And the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

is officially mandated that the members must

watch all nominated films in a category before

they can vote in that category, which I don't

feel like you could be a legit critic if you

didn't suffer through the film in the first place.

True. That you're pontificating should be something

we all should care about. And especially, it's

kind of biased anyway, because they don't take

true consideration for animated films. They don't

do superhero films. It's very much their closed

basket of... Well, we've always done it this

way and it's always been these type of films

and we're not deviating. Yeah. And, you know,

of course, the Academy has, you know, their track

record with members only screening room. So they're

going to track them with this screening room

app, which I think is wonderful. Yes. For films

watched at screenings or festivals and the members

must submit a form verifying when and where they

viewed them, you know, obviously to make sure

that. They're not pulling this out of their hindquarters.

So the ramifications of the rule are more informed

voting, and it basically ensures that voters

are making decisions based on the actual films

rather than the reputation marketing or personal

biases. I mean, it's no different than any of

these other geek pop culture websites out there

that are, you know, having their personal bias

and, you know, things about the reputation or...

But at least... The ones that aren't owned by

Hollywood studio type stuff actually watch the

movie and, you know, have a fair opinion one

way or the other about it. But they've watched

the movie. Yeah. And so this could also have

the ramification of having potentially fewer

voters because some may opt out of voting in

certain categories if they don't have time to

watch all the nominees, which honestly wouldn't

be a bad thing because you might get some fresh

blood in there. You know, people, some people

that that want to actually watch some of these

movies and not just, you know, nominating Pedro

Pascal for, you know, 50 roles or Oscar Isaac

or, you know, Benedict Cumberbatch or, you know,

how they just kept getting shoehorned. I mean,

it's Chris Pratt right now, too, but they're

all being shoved in these movies constantly.

But I think it's also ramification of these stupid

award shows. Yeah, but it could also impact with.

you know, lesser known films benefiting because

voters will be required to watch them rather

than skipping them. Yeah. Which I know was a

thing. I mean, it kind of makes sense that they're,

they're finally leading to this, but this data

that was compiled just further leads into my

various articles where I'm complaining about

the Oscars and the fact that they're joke. And,

you know, it's, it's saying historically there've

been concerns that. They haven't watched all

the nominees, leading to questionable voting

outcomes. And some of the voters having admitted

they skipped certain films because they were

too long or not in their style. Which, if you're

going to base it on a whole category, you should

at least sample everything in that category and

actually watch it from start to finish. I mean,

if that is your job. Yeah, exactly. But it's

contributed to a lot of snubs and surprising

wins where, you know, films with strong industry

buzz lost out to more mainstream or familiar

choices or, you know, some of the criticisms.

And one of the reasons I consider it a joke is

because they have their personal bias towards

certain genres. Like they kind of skip over sci

-fi. I'm not a personal fan of horror, but they

do skip over that as well. And action films are

typically overlooked in favor of certain types

of dramas or things that, honestly, I wouldn't

give the time of day. And the funny thing about

the drama category is that drama... Okay, maybe

I'm not that into the drama category anymore,

but I remember drama used to be a bigger deal

in movies. I don't know. I think, at least for

me, other genres like superheroes, like sci -fi,

like other things like that have taken over where

drama used to be a bigger niche in that. It's

so weird. When I hear drama film, I'm like, what?

What would that choice be? I know I'm... Out

of it, folks. I get it. But, yeah, I mean, so

there's that, and then there's the campaigning

and politics. You know, how studios spend millions

lobbying for awards. It kind of reminds me of,

and this is something I've noticed from just

being in marketing, the places that are putting

on the awards, it's very much a pay -to -play.

So, like, if you own a business and you... don't

pay for the awards, you won't win the awards.

But if you pay and they like you, you'll win.

Yep. And so it's kind of like it leads me to

wonder how the process works. And I feel like

it's like that with a lot of awards. I feel like

a lot of them are marketing payoffs. Oh, most

definitely. And this is no different. I feel

like they're all kind of rigged. Because you'll

never see a small mom and pop business win compared

to a chain. Or you won't see a smaller movie

win compared to a franchise that's been around

or a director that's highly acclaimed by the

critics of the awards. But they're not... You

kind of get where I'm going with this. It's very

suspicious in that. And so especially when over

the years, many deserving films and performances

have been blatantly ignored, leading to irritation

with the audience for the critics. And then there's

been a lot of backlash for failing to recognize

different, you know, diverse voices in filmmaking

or different, you know, ideals like. I don't

have a problem with it. Like if you know, it's,

they should be doing it based on merit. Yeah,

absolutely. I'm just hoping that it fixes the

reputation and the credibility and makes it actually

worth watching. Yeah. The fact that they're having

to do this set, you know, as a damage control

to try and get the ratings back so that they

can hit that magical 100 tells me that me thinks

they're not doing so well. Yeah, me thinks they're

not doing so well either. And the thing of it

is, is like, okay, so lately they're in the last

two Oscars. This year and last year. I forget

what the moment was last. There were two moments

during the shows where I'm like, oh, that's really

freaking cool. That's awesome. And that's why

I liked it. It has nothing to do with anything

else. Except for those two moments, except for

the show that happened last year. I don't remember

what the moment was, but the most recent moment

that I remember is the Karen Culkin moment about

his wife. That moment is why I love moments like

that is why I love some of the award shows. Literally,

he told them, don't start playing the music.

Literally, When you can do that and actually

get them to listen to you, that's amazing. But

the rest of it, I could... I think the last time

I watched a award show, specifically the Oscars,

Phil Donahue was on with Raquel Welch in the

90s. Oh, wait, that was Naked Gun. Whoops. But

you get my point. Like, I just... I don't...

I don't know. I'm happy for some of these people

that win if they deserve the win. That's great.

That's awesome. But other than that, I don't

buy into all this stuff. Yeah, I agree. I've

not enjoyed really any of the award shows. I

find them all to be just kind of... I mean, I

get it. I understand they want to recognize people

in their industry. They want to, you know...

it is good to recognize accomplishments and growth

and, you know, a job well done in the industry.

I do understand that. And I do feel they have

the right to it. However, it becomes a soapbox

for the, for whoever's winning to pontificate

their beliefs and everything else. It's like,

and Ricky Gervais said it rather bluntly years

ago, you know, thank your you know thank your

creator thank your you know your family thank

your you know spouse and say thanks for your

word shut up and sit down you have no business

telling anybody anything else like just yeah

like just get your award and shut up and sit

down and so like i kind of agree with that yeah

like it's it's like yes you know i'd like to

thank you know the people that got me here and

things like that but like don't we don't need

your whole political and everything else like

just you know speak to the accomplishments of

your peers that worked on the film with you like

they got you where you are like yeah thank you

to the great writer of the film that you were

in that you won the nomination for or the director

or your you know your stunt double or you know

whatever like yeah whatever it is yeah Like,

you know, use that as your soapbox to be humble.

Yep, absolutely. And yeah, you should take some

pride in owning and winning the award as long

as it's earned. You know, which it sounds like

in some cases, I'm sure they were in other cases.

I'm sure that people got snubbed for the wrong

reason. But it sounds like with this new rule,

it could improve the credibility. We'll see whether

it actually does anything, whether it's worth

it. Who knows? You never know. But, yeah, I mean,

I've never understood, like, oh, you have given

me accolades. I am now going to go on a tirade.

Like, no. That's what social media is for. If

you want to go crazy, do it on social media.

Do it on whatever. But don't do it when people

are praising you or people are trying to acknowledge

your accomplishments of doing a good job or whatever

kind of thing or doing an excellent job, not

just a good job. Not everyone has a freaking

Oscar. That's an accomplishment in Hollywood

that should be set above everything else. And

I think that's why the Oscars has always, why

the Academy has always had. the higher standards

why they they don't do the superhero films why

certain like the superhero stuff or the certain

action stuff is excluded because i think they're

they've got their pinkies up in the air they've

got their noses up at us and and they're like

oh those are just everyday films we want highbrow

we want this we want that we want whatever and

you know hey if you're lucky enough to win that's

that's awesome for you go enjoy it have a good

time like you've already said thank who you need

to thank and set the fuck down pretty much i

mean i it is funny because i had this you know

this article in december because the video game

awards yep well the previous time April of 2021,

the Oscars. It's that time again. I wrote an

article then, too. And again, I wrote, you know,

each year, surprising to learn the picks that

did and didn't take home the golden statue. And

it's funny because I've complained about it literally

every year. Well, yeah. I mean, I've spaced it

out some, but it's been the same boat. It's a

running gag that we do. But even my thoughts

back in 2021, commenting on it, suffice it to

say I haven't seen a new movie in theaters in

years. I am mostly a Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Prime,

Disney Plus person when it comes to my film and

television consumption. And then commenting on

other things and hearing about the movies that

came out during that time. Tenet, Mulan. you

know, Borat sequel and all kinds of stupid crap.

And then I complained about the like the Cal

arts crap, which I still hate. You know, I, I,

my own opinion there. And then I did another

one in 2019 around the same time that particular

year. I, I was interested in some of the stuff.

I think, I think that was when they had like,

Billy Crystal hosting? Probably. I don't know.

Something. And there were hosts that did a good

job on there. But I basically said the same thing.

Stop pandering with opinion sessions at the mic.

Recognize content that everyone is familiar with.

Shorten the program. Restructure the awards.

Inclusion of variety. Boom. I have your plan,

and I gave it to you six years ago. Thank you.

That's the thing I'm learning too. The, you know

how I used to make those predictions, you know,

like, Oh, Disney made, you know, it's going to

buy Lucasfilm or going to buy Marvel and you

just watch blah, blah, blah. I've been predicting

things with like websites and like traffic and

just things that I've consumed over the last

like couple of years. And it's, it's funny because

when it comes to some of these things, like I'm,

I'm ahead of my time and I don't realize it at

the moment until the time comes. And then I look

back and I find something that I wrote and I'm

like, Oh, me had idea and it was good. Yup. That's

right. And it took everybody else six years longer

to find out. Just like when, when I wanted to

do the GCRN live back in, in 2010, 2011. Yeah.

And up through 2013 and we just couldn't make

it come together. And then all of a sudden, After

2016, live streaming was all the rage. And still

is. And video content shows. It makes me laugh

because I'm like, we have these good ideas. We

don't necessarily have the time or the cash flow

to make them happen. But we do remember them

when it comes down to it. And I think the Oscars

have their answer here. Authenticity. Yes, exactly.

Be real. That's right. Be real, folks. Be real.

I'm hoping that they can turn this around for

their sake. I don't wish ill will on the Oscars

or the awards show because I think it does stand

for something good. It just needs to be retooled

to not be what it's been over the years. Yeah,

it's time to, like, I understand and I, you know,

respect the tradition of the Academy and all

that, but there's a time and a place for tradition

and there's a time and a place for modernization

of streamlining the system, of streamlining the

product, of making it more accessible to today's

audience, because I'm sorry. It's going to take

me a long time. I don't know if we'll ever cover

this on this network, at least not with me, because

I don't think I can sit through another three

hours of that. But if I can barely sit through

the Batman, what makes you think I want to sit

through three and a half hours of awards ceremony

in 2025 or beyond 2025? Oh boy. Yeah. I don't

have the, I don't have the mentality to sit behind

it and watch. I just, I don't care enough to,

uh, it took me, I think for it, no three days.

And I watched that movie an hour a day. I just,

so yeah, folks, while the title of the podcast

does say award shows are a joke, It's a comedy

thing. It's a title. It's meant to be funny.

It's meant to hopefully have you people listen

to our 349th episode, because episode 350, oh

boy. And yeah, I mean, hopefully, you know, we

will, maybe we'll bring back the GCN Awards at

some point. Probably not this year, but maybe

at some point. I might bring it back for the

tail end of the year, though. Maybe. You never

know. So, yeah, so we got that. Anything else

you would like to bring up with awards or anything

like that? Well, the last time the Video Game

Awards mattered was when they had Mark Hamill

as the Joker for the Arkham City. Which was 2011,

I think. Yeah. Oh, boy. We really don't want

to talk about Mr. Hamill right now, do we? No,

I've already heard what happened to him. That's

what happens when you... when you pick a side

and then you follow a paycheck, but that's all

I'll say on that because I'm not about to jump

into that, that vultures nest. No, I am not picking

a side on the podcast. I have my own personal

opinion and it's not coming out here. Nope. Not

at all. I do. But the man made his, he, he made

his bed and now he has to lie in it. Do you have

any idea how hard it is to win one of these things?

Who do I have to kill to get an award around

here? What? So you finally came to your senses.

What was it? No one else famous on the list?

Scared of what I'll do? So what? is going on

in your brain podcast wise, what do you got coming

up? What do you got going on? Promote yourself,

sir. So among trying to, uh, uh, finish podcasting

reads world with you this year, I'm still working

on altered geek. I know what I want to do for.

I'm wire. I'm just having a hard time making

it come to fruition or finding the time to do

what I want. And so I'm hoping now that I'm done

with some of these projects, I can actually,

produce one and see if it's what I'm wanting

and if it's not retooling it before I release

the episode. Because I do want to revive MWire

in a video format, not in a podcast format, but

I'll probably still export it as an audio and

release it anyway. Okay, cool. So there's that.

I do plan on continuing with the Cyber Dragon

Ball and Altered Geek and all things Transformers.

and just kind of sticking with those four for

a while. And then once, um, once we finished

podcaster meets world, going back to altered

track. Yep. Absolutely. All right, folks. Well,

I think that's going to do it. No ad break this

time. I'm too lazy. I've been editing like crazy

and I don't feel like doing it. So no ad break

this time around. We hope you enjoyed this episode

of geek cast radio. Wish you'll join us next

time. When in the 350th episode of this podcast,

if I hopefully plan this right and everything

goes right with the numbers, it will be the Geekcast

Radio Network's 4 ,000th podcast episode in 16,

almost 16 years, because it'll be before the

16th anniversary. That's crazy. Holy shnikes.

i started paying attention to this when we hit

39 44 and i was like wait a minute no way and

then i just started ramping up and ramping up

and i started doing all the studio And the Studio

Daily stuff, folks, that only really happens

with Columbo, with the TV stuff, with Columbo

stuff. And that's going to taper off because

Columbo, as the series goes on, the episodes

get shorter and shorter per season. So like Columbo

season five, I think, has three episodes. Columbo

season six has like four episodes. And I'm like,

oh, my God, really? Seriously? So it is what

it is. And as I said at the beginning of the

show, by episode 41, we will go back to weekly

on Studio 2009 as we're going to do the Fast

Saga with my buddy Sean. He's going to come on,

and we did Ford vs. Ferrari a couple years ago.

It might have been last year, I think, that we

did that episode. So that's what's coming up

for Studio 2009. We've got the pull bag coming

back, hopefully soon. We've got, like Steve mentioned,

all things Transformers and all the stuff that

Steve and I do. I am working on launching a new

segment for Studio 2009, another origin series,

Origins and Television Watching. So we've already

got the first episode of that recorded. I'll

record one with Steve, one with Optimus Solo,

one with the comic concierge and other people

will come along. as we progress through that.

So that's what's going on there. Like Steve said,

we're going to finish off Podcaster Meets World

this year. If Phineas and Ferb wasn't coming

back for a fifth season, Michael Wilson and I

would have finished Phineas, the podcast organization

without a cool acronym. We would have finished

that off this year, but since it's coming back

for a fifth season, we're going to do a whole

bunch of other episodes to tide us over. until

then so 40 new episodes of Phineas and Ferb for

the TV series which means however the hell many

more episodes for us which ruins the joke of

the whole podcast when Michael and I started

Phineas and Ferb podcast back in 2016 it was

supposed to be 104 podcasts 104 days because

in the show it's 104 days for summer it was supposed

to stop at episode 104 Well, now that they're

coming back and they've done this new movie,

Candace Against the Universe, that they did,

and now they're coming back for Season 5, it's

like, great, guys. Thanks. Ruin the joke. But

yeah, geekcastradio .com. You can check it all

out there. You can check us out on any of the

podcatching clients you choose to use all that

good stuff. For now, I am TF2 and Mike with Steve

Megatron. You'll hear us here on Geekcast Radio

soon. And tune in next time for the 4 ,000th

podcast episode of the GCRN. Oh, yeah. And unleash

the geek in you. I'd like to thank... Oh, yes.

Me! Well, I don't suppose I'll be needing that

anymore, will I? Oops. Spoilers. You've just

heard a podcast from the Geekcast Radio Network.

If you enjoyed this discussion, head over to

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