Rising from the Ashes: My Favorite Former CA Producers

Hello, and welcome back to Silver Linings where I shine a spotlight on the maligned, forgotten, and overshadowed.

Like a lot of people, I'd been actively paying attention to the collapse of Channel Awesome. I wasn't happy to see the source of much of my entertainment for the past ten years go down in flames. However, any business that would do even a third of the things reported in the "Not So Awesome" Google document really should not be around.

However, I'm not gonna dwell on that. This is Silver Linings, after all. What I do want to do is shine a light on some of the producers who gave me info and intelligent laughs during that time. See, one of the biggest complaints made was that Doug Walker kept hogging the attention on the site. Well, I want to give some attention to the others. Now, this is based on videos that are already available. Not all of these producers are still actively making videos, and not all of them are on YouTube. Some have their output on Vimeo, DailyMotion, etc. It was tough narrowing the field down to twenty. If you want to see all of the contributors to the site throughout the years, check out this page of the Channel Awesome wiki. Now, on with the countdown of my favorite reasons to visit Channel Awesome.

Although he is mostly known for his "Amazing Atheist" stuff, TJ Kirk was first introduced to me as "The Distressed Watcher". His no-holds-barred takedown of the Star Wars prequels made me a fan almost overnight. I definitely miss his "tough love" style.I was introduced to Jill Bearup, AKA Sursum Ursa, when she teamed up with Film Brain (oh, I'll get to him) to look at the Ashton Kutcher movie Killers. I checked out her show "Stuff You Like" and enjoyed it. She's intelligent and sarcastic, she keeps her videos short and to the point, and... she's just adorable. There, I said it! :-)

Paul Schuler, AKA Paw, is mostly known for his Let's Plays of various classic PC adventure games. However, I became a fan thanks to his "Music Movies" series. I've always loved musicals, and it was great to find someone on the site who was willing to take some playful jabs at the genre.

It took me a while to get into Phelan Porteous's dry sense on humor (must be the Canada thing), but it worked when I got it. Phelous goes very meta with his horror movie reviews, and I always like it when the fourth wall gets shattered. His in-depth look at the Ghostbusters cartoon made me a fan.I tended to avoid Lewis Lovhaug's show "Atop the Fourth Wall" for a long time since I was never much of a comic book reader. However, out of curiosity, I checked out his two-part review of the infamous "One More Day" story arc and was hooked. I also enjoy his look at the "History of Power Rangers". Amazing how he could take a formulaic show like Power Rangers and make it interesting to analyze.

Chris Stuckmann's movie and occasional game reviews are short and simple, but they're always interesting. The occasional jokes work, and he gives plenty of time to classic movies as well as new releases. I actually prefer Chris Stuckmann over Jeremy Jahns.

Jason Pullara, AKA LordKat, is definitely a better gamer than I would ever be. He'd proven it with his show "Until We Win" where he goes through the hardest games ever made and provide tips to get through them. His sharp humor makes the pain of the game's difficulty easier to swallow.

Julien Diaz, AKA SadPanda, may be a bit hard to understand sometimes due to his VERY thick French accent. However, it's worth it as his show "Forget About It" is just friggin' hilarious! These quick videos try to sum up various franchises but get crucial plot points hysterically wrong. I haven't found one episode that didn't get me cracking up!

If you want snark, Allison Pregler's got it. Obscurus Lupa has hosted three big online shows. While she can be criticized for sticking to low-hanging fruit like dumb action flicks and Baywatch, she provides thoughtful analysis with plenty of great wisecracks. None of her humor feels forced; it just works.Brandon Tenold is one of my newer finds, but he's become one of my favorites. He looks at cult classics including Japanese kaiju films and horror movies. With his level of snark, I'd like to think of him as Canada's answer to The Cinema Snob. One of his best episodes is his two-part look at Lifeforce, but it was his look at Black Christmas that made me a fan.Hello, he's a British person. Mike Jeavons is as dry as any member of Monty Python and can be just as funny. While his movie review show Shameful Sequels got him started, his show Infomercialism where he tries various gadgets sold on infomercials really made him. The crappier the gadget, the funnier the episode. Even watching the commercials can be a hoot as in the case of the Tiddy Bear.

While she got her start as part of Lindsay Ellis's posse, Elisa Hansen came into her own thanks to a great gothic wardrobe and a bunch of vampire movies. "Vampire Reviews" looks at anything and EVERYTHING that's centered on vampires; she even reviewed Count Chocula cereal at one point! She clearly took some cues from Elvira, but she still carved a great identity for herself. She's also an author; I look forward to checking out her first book when it releases.

Eric Rodriguez is one of the most energetic bad movie reviewers I had seen. His limitless energy got put to good use by creating a superhero alter-ego for tackling big budget crap called the Blockbuster Buster. While his reviews do include skits and side characters, they never overshadow the review itself and never overstay their welcome. He's a fanboy fighting for fanboys everywhere, and I look forward to seeing more bad films get a taste of his trusty hammer Lucille in the future.

Yes, I know Noah Antwiler's name is mud these days due to his primadonna behavior over the last few years. However, that doesn't stop his movie and game reviews from being some of the funniest videos Channel Awesome ever featured. It's worth it just to see Spoony rip apart the more divisive entries in the Final Fantasy and Highlander franchises.

Mathew Buck is the Film Brain. He, more than anyone else, had found the perfect blend of intellectual film study, brutal sarcasm, and anger for covering the worst movies in the world on his show "Bad Movie Beatdown". I'm amazed he hadn't gotten completely brain-damaged just from covering so many Asylum films.

Bennett White may have started with video game reviews, but he found his true calling when he started the show "Anime Abandon". No anime more than ten years old is off-limits in this show, and Bennett relishes praising the great anime like Ninja Scroll as much as bashing the stuff that never should have left Japan like Angel Cop. He even had the balls to put Grave of the Fireflies under the microscope!Though Linkara is often thought of as the ultimate Star Trek nerd, I think Charles Sonnenburg, AKA SF Debris, has him beaten. His reviews cover all avenues of science fiction, but his claim to fame is with his reviews of Star Trek. All the series have been covered extensively (though there are hundreds of episodes left), and he laces his analyses with wry humor that works wonderfully. Note: The only way to see all of his stuff is through his website.Nash Bozard is an island in a sea of abject stupidity. His site Radio Dead Air gives valuable time to finding the worst of the stupid in the news with his live show entitled "What the F*** Is Wrong With You?" The stories featured are the kind that get you cringing and laughing in equal measure. Where else will you hear about sex with vacuum cleaners and exploding ham?"Angry Joe" Vargas was named the #1 video game reviewer on YouTube by WatchMojo.com for a reason. His production values are sky high, his analysis is VERY thorough, and his jokes almost always hit the mark. He can be just as funny with great games as with bad ones as he had proven with his review of The Witcher 3. He is both the most trustworthy and the most entertaining video game reviewer I had ever seen.I had mentioned him before, but I must reiterate that Todd Nathanson is my favorite former Channel Awesome personality. His look at pop music is both sharp and scathing. Along with warning me against the worst of the pop world, he also turned me on to musicians I would've dismissed otherwise. I have been entertained by every episode he did, and I don't see that stopping anytime soon.

Before I stop, I want to give an honorable mention to Brad Jones. His "Cinema Snob" and "Brad Tries" episodes are always a hoot. The reason I didn't put him on the list is because I can't tell if he's still with Channel Awesome or not. It's that unclear.

Who are your favorites of those who started on Channel Awesome? Let me know, and take care!