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In this episode of The Fringe Podcast, we review the Fringe episode titled, “Back To Where You’ve Never Been.” We discuss the return of David Robert Jones, September’s gun shot wound, Peter’s new role, Broyles’ betrayal and much more. We also discuss the recent comments made by FOX president Kevin O’Reilly at the TCA and the response of the cast and crew to O’Reilly’s comments.
Send in your thoughts and theories to 304-837-2278 or feedback@thefringepodcast.com.
the return of the return of the return!
I am glad you guys are not sugar coating the truth and are telling fans straight up that fringe is more or less dead. Fienberg and Sepinwall have said the same thing. Warner Bros has no incentive to give fringe away anymore since syndication has been met already.
Looking at fringe with a creative perspective this season has been very weak. They have gone out of their way to stall the narrative and restore Walter and Olivia as the leads. They could not keep the same characters because then Peter would have to have an arc. They could not explain why he disappeared because again an arc would be needed. They could not do a continuation of the story because they just do not want to use Peter. In a way this is dishonest storytelling and smart fans have caught on and left, fans finally see what and who wyman and pinkner really are, it is not pretty.
It is very sad to see your increasingly desperate attempts at making the Global Cash Card promotion a part of your podcast. I’m sure you’re doing an excellent job from their point of view, but as a listener, all I can say is that even the most awkward product placements in Fringe felt more natural. It’s gotten to a point where, as soon as I hear you mentioning GCC, I want to stop listening and delete the file. I realize that you want to make money, and that you’re now trying to turn this into a podcasting network similar to Cliff Ravenscroft’s GSPN. But do I enjoy the Fringe Podcast anymore? Not much.
Rumo,
Thanks for the feedback. I’m sorry our inclusion of Global Cash Card has made you stop liking the podcast. Our podcasts are typically 60-90 minutes and GCC only gets 1-2 of those minutes. I do understand that it is different than when we didn’t have a sponsor. However, GCC allows us to do things that we couldn’t do before such as the Mission Impossible Challenge and other contests. They are also a big reason we were able to go to Comic-Con last year and be a part of the Fringe panel. Do you have any suggestions as to how we could incorporate sponsors more seamlessly?
Darrell
Darrell,
let me start by repeating what I said above: I do realize that you want to make some money. That is okay. Most podcasts I listen to have sponsors. Podcasts are free for the listener, but most certainly cost those who make them a lot of time and money. And a good podcast deserves to make some money, in my opinion.
Anyway, here’s an example of how a sponsor was incorporated almost seamlessly, and I think you know (knew) the podcast and how they did it: The Transmission by Ryan and Jen. They had the big advantage of actually being able to make the connection between the podcast’s sponsor and the podcast’s topic, since the sponsor was Audible, and many different (real life) books were prominently featured in Lost. The jump from “Sawyer read Evil Under The Sun in this episode” to “Get the audio book on Audible” is not too far and feels natural, even though you still relize that someone is trying to sell you something there.
With GCC, this is not so easy. I think you have to realize that, and you probably do. It is not so much the duration of the message, but that it seems like the show stops for a couple of minutes, just when there’s a commercial break during Fringe. But the podcast is a different situation. You don’t switch channels during the break or get something to drink. You could fast forward, but personally, I find that very annoying, especially on the software that I have on my phone.
So, what to do about it? First of all, the stories you try to tell can sometimes feel very awkward, especially the one that Clint told in this episode (418). It is very hard to believe that you are as enthusiastic about GCC as Ryan and Jen were (pretending to be) about Audible. Try to make it less of a testimonial. I don’t think even GCC expects you to be GCC fanboys. It is too obvious that this is about money, and you’re trying to come up with a reason to sell the procuct. I would prefer if you would just present the facts, this is what GCC is, this is why you should get one, and maybe have that message being the same every week with small variations.
Secondly, I believe talking about GCC at the beginning of the podcast to get it out of the way would be a huge improvement. I don’t want my podcast to stop in the middle (technically, not the actual middle of the podcast, I know) for a commercial break.
Darrell, I hope you or Clint don’t take any of this as an offense. This is one of my favorite podcasts that made me continue watching Fringe when I had already given up on the show. You two are doing an excellent job, but that doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement in some spots 😉