Listener sentiment
Kermode & Mayo's Take is experiencing a significant erosion of trust among longtime listeners, despite Mark Kermode's film criticism remaining widely respected. The most substantive complaints—appearing across dozens of detailed reviews—center on format contraction (fewer films reviewed per episode, sharply reduced runtime, fewer guests, remote recording instead of in-studio) and aggressive commercial practices (rapid price increases, unwanted podcasts forced into subscriber feeds, content increasingly locked behind rising paywalls). A secondary but persistent theme is that political commentary, while welcomed by some, has substantially crowded out the film-focused banter that originally defined the show. Perhaps most damaging, the production team's silence on these changes and apparent indifference to long-standing audience feedback about feed pollution has bred cynicism among the show's most loyal listeners—some of whom have listened for 20+ years. While a smaller base of enthusiasts remains, the detailed, substantive reviews heavily favor former listeners citing the BBC iteration as superior and the current independent version as profit-driven and hollow.
Apple3.5 · 587
Summary generated May 28, 2026
