Collider

So much.

And our mission today, we are unpacking this colossal shift in the world of television, and to do it, we are using a really fascinating article that was published on September 9, 2026 over at Collider.

Oh yeah, the Charlie Ridgely piece.

Yes, written by Charlie Ridgely, and he is a 10-year veteran of the entertainment industry, so he covers everything from like huge blockbuster movies to really deep cut fandoms.

When I was hosting shows, didn't get paid.

Other than at Collider when I did those after shows for The Flash and I can't remember what, oh, what? know was it walking dead no walking dead was when i was full-time at collider but when i was uh freelancing at collider i co-hosted or i hosted some shows um and i was paid 25 bucks a show that's all i got 25 bucks uh not even the gas money to get to there from where i was living at the time in in west hollywood to burbank but 25 bucks is what i was paid for the flash show and i think i did another show but i can't remember right now another after show But that's how I made my bones, right? And I was happy to do it.

And I didn't mind going on free.

I just was honored that people would let me on their show so that I could get better at doing what I'm doing.

this is the sexiest patrick wilson performance all right anyway

oh collider.com of course that place of course yeah so

anyway uh uh cape fear watch it at your you know watch it at your own risk but or watch it if you're interested in it and let me know if you disagree with me and and steven obviously does and good for you if you enjoyed it i i i'm glad you got something more out of it than i did but i felt so frustrated with that family Episode after episode, just making dumb decisions that that obviously from a story point of view, made this be a 10 episode series instead of it being like a six episode series.

It's weird

And that distinction is really the heartbeat of today's deep dive.

We are looking at a massive cultural touchstone today, specifically an article published on Collider.

September 6th, 2026.

Yeah, September 6th, 2026.

Right.

But the wild part to me is how she takes that highly rigorous, deeply serious academic framework and applies it to her day job.

She's a senior author at Collider, meaning she's literally transcribing the chaos of San Diego Comic-Con panels, the Toronto International Film Festival Sundance.

which, if you think about it, is the perfect training ground for a cultural critic.

And as I don't have John here today, I do have a special guest though.

I have acclaimed cinema writer and editor at Collider.com, Robert Brian Taylor.

Hey,

how's it going? It's going great.

much for being on here.

This is a fun one.

So Robert is not only is he a cinema writer and editor at Collider.com, but he's also a card carry member of the PFCA, Pittsburgh Film Critics Association.

And Robert, when I put out the call for guests, you like hopped on this one.

That was the start of a long year for the production, as Romanek, who's probably best known for his many music videos, including the Johnny Cash version of Hurt, clashed with the studio over his vision for the project.

According to an interview with Adam Chitwood for Collider, he wanted something a bit more artistic and cinematic rather than what he described as a popcorn movie, and the studio got cold feet over his version, causing them to part ways in January of 2008.

It sounds like he might be a bit particular about doing things his way, as according to Shock Till You Drop, he forced Rick Baker to go back to the drawing board literally thousands of times to get a version of the legendary werewolf that satisfied him.

When Johnston came on board to replace Romanek, he went with the second design Baker had come up with.

Um, so there's been a lot of back and forth, and I, I, I think it's obvious to anybody that's paying attention, like, there is a paradigm shift coming from Marvel.

But you've got, you know, uh, outlets like Collider reporting, like, definitively, like, Marvel TV's done.

You're not gonna see any more Marvel TV series.

And then you've got this person, Julia Al- Alexander, that's saying no, there are Marvel TV series on the way.