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So let me just say on behalf of the #TotalDrama editorial board: We hear you, we respect you. And without you, we are nothing.
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Quote The Song Remains The Same 1974
“A comment is more incriminating than A comment”
‘Oh is it really’
“Yes”
‘Good, NO COMMENT!’
Leo Laporte “If there was No Evil there would be No Jimmy Page”
Nice!
McCLaNe» Quote comment
Faaaauuuucking auto correct!
‘NO Comment is more incriminating than A Comment”
McCLaNe» Quote comment
Years ago I had a feeling that something was wrong with TWiT.
Because of the constant promotion of Carbonite and my desire for some online cloud backup service, I not only tried it out, I prepaid for 3 yrs. of service. Long story short it is NOT a long-term backup service like they claim (they delete dormant files) and I wanted a refund. Carbonite refused, and wouldn’t even give me a prorated refund on the 2 years I obviously hadn’t even used yet (a 66% refund). I ended up contacting TWiT and writing to Leo and whoever else was there saying they recommended a service that was fundamentally broken and had a shady customer service. It took several more emails, but I finally got a prorated refund back.
That was before Lisa came on board.
I was grateful TWiT did that to at least get me a small refund, but I learned some valuable lessons:
1) TWiT advertises and endorses crap products/services
2) TWiT CONTINUES to advertise crap products/services after they are made aware of advertisers’ shady business dealings
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After that, I automatically ignored whatever Leo advertised. I didn’t trust him. He had become a used car salesman. It was then that I started to look at the shows’ content more critically, and I noticed a disturbing trend:
Leo enjoyed bringing on lots of loud mouth, low tech guests – especially to his flagship show. This includes dreck like Jason Calacanis, Robert Scoble, Baratunde Thurston and Brian Brushwood (that’s right – I find Brian’s appearance and loud mouth antics completely abrasive).
TWiT stopped being about meaningful discussion and devolved into just random no-name tech pundits discussing the lowest common denominator in terms of tech. This usually meant phones. PHONES. PHONES. PHONES. 24/7 PHONES.
What happened to the awesome show it once was!?!
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TWiT suffers from “I’m-happy-at-this-size” boss syndrome. You see, Leo – like so many other small business owners – has done the work and laid the foundation that can allow a company to grow and become mega successful…but they purposefully sabotage the efforts of staff to grow it.
Why?
Because after a certain point – I’d say after 20-30 people, the owner cannot effectively have his hand in every cookie jar and be in every kitchen. He HAS to give up control to staff beneath him, and has to trust that they are capable of keeping the boat afloat.
Leo is the perfect example of a boss/owner who doesn’t want to get any larger.
I think Revision 3 succeeded where TWiT failed (afterall, they got bought out by Discovery, right?) because they wanted to grow. They radically changed business models and axed shows and tried to get the dedicated audiences that made the company look great for acquisition. Leo has done none of that – he has burrowed into every show so much that a larger company knows TWiT would effectively die if Leo wasn’t involved.
So I find the whole situation funny. Leo has effectively killed his own chances of having TWiT acquired because he never figured out that he didn’t have to be the focal point of everything TWiT.
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And so, nowadays I follow TWiT’s demise. I like seeing companies struggle and buckle and ultimately implode, because I feel like more often than not, the people running companies have no business doing so. Case in point: Lisa. Case in point: Leo.
In Silicon Valley you get to see the birth and death of companies happen at a super accelerated rate, and it helps us as workers and consumers understand what makes a business fail and how problems can be avoided in the future.
TOTAL DRAMA is helping bring to light all the nitty gritty details that – maybe on their own won’t explain much – but altogether map in crystal clear detail what will ultimately lead to TWiT’s demise.
5 years from now, when Leo is on some random podcast explaining why TWiT closed up shop, he can say whatever he wants…but because of the work of Total Drama and other sites, we’ll all know the other side to the story.
Scott» Quote comment
Wow Scott. Your comments are always so insightful
David – The Original» Quote comment
He should have his own posting alias.
DatGuy» Quote comment
Gandhi would be a Drama ite too.
Ghostdog» Quote comment
Scott nailed it. The loudmouthed guests (I nominate Owen “Ohdoctah” Stone to the list) ; the advertising for crappy products (I got fooled to the tune of $1,000 by Leo’s ads for Drobo); the obsession with phones; the disgraceful mismanagement. All of them are killing what was once a compelling product.
TWiT will likely be gone by the end of 2015.
The Ghost of Ring Lardner» Quote comment
This post is racist.
Dusty» Quote comment