Whether you just discovered the dudes from Buzzfeed Unsolved premiered a new ghost hunting show or you stumbled across Ghost Files without having ever seen Ryan and Shane before, perhaps you find yourself a bit lost regarding Watcher.
So here I present a not-quite-short (yet I hope comprehensive) guide to Watcher Entertainment!
What is Watcher?
Back in 2019, three ex-BuzzFeed employees (Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej from BuzzFeed Unsolved and Steven Lim from Worth It) joined forces and announced they were launching a new production company and YouTube channel called Watcher. They toiled at it for an entire year and their new channel premiered on January 10th, 2020 with seven shows, the first of which was Puppet History (but more on the shows later).
They started with a grand total of five employees: the three cofounders, Brittney Lee (Production Supervisor) and Anthony Frederick (Creative Director of Post Production). Now, Team Watcher has grown to include several more people, including some ex-BuzzFeeders like Katie LeBlanc (who used to produce BFU and Worth It, today is Head of Development at Watcher), Annie Jeong (who you may know from Worth It and the Berry Boys video featuring Ryan and Shane, now a Senior Creative Producer) and Mark Celestino (cameraman for BFU, now Senior Creative Producer at Watcher).
Currently, Watcher presents a new episode of whichever show it's currently in season (right now it's Ghost Files of course) every Friday at 12 PT. Between shows, or sometimes on Wednesdays, they might air One-Offs, which are smaller, well, one off videos. Over at their Patreon you can find more content including:
Early Thursday access for Friday videos
Watcher Weekly+, a weekly talk show featuring any combination of cofounders and/or Watcher crew, where they answer fan questions and sometimes open fan mail. NOTE: for a taste of these, you can refer to their now-extinct Watcher Weekly show, formerly airing on Wednesdays over at YouTube dot com.
For higher tiers, a monthly livestream also featuring any combination of cofounders where they shoot the shit for an entire hour
Also for higher tiers, audio commentaries for select episodes
And for the highest tier, Discord AMAs with different members of Team Watcher.
Onto the shows:
Watcher has many shows. A whole lot of them. Ryan, Steven and Shane are very creative guys and it shows. When they first started, they began with a new episode of a different show every week, which was for some people very confusing. They've settled into airing whole seasons now, so after we're done with the premiere season of Ghost Files, we'll move onto a new season of Puppet History and then onto another show.
Because it's so many shows, I'll only describe the ones that are still being produced, along with the shows that premiered for the first time in 2022, in chronological order.
Puppet History
Helmed by Shane Madej, this was the first show that appeared on Watcher and the host, a puppet named The Professor (played by Shane) has become the de facto mascot of Watcher. If you liked the Hot Daga and Ruining History, this is essentially its spiritual successor. Here, The Professor leads Ryan and a different guest through a journey of a wacky historical event, while they compete to see who will become History Master. The lore gets really deep.
Top 5 Beatdown
A Ryan Bergara concoction, Shane and Ryan debate asinine topics ranging from the hottest Disney cartoon characters to top dog breeds, comparing top 5 lists and often fighting about it. When they do not fight, the duo showcases their one shared braincell. In every episode, they have a guest who knows more about the topic than them.
Are You Scared?
Also created by Ryan Bergara, Are You Scared? began as a Zoom show and evolved to being shot in person after pandemic restrictions eased. Ryan tells Shane one of the spookiest stories from the internet, and they both laugh over it. In a way, the format is similar to Unsolved, and the promotion campaigns for it are hilarious: once, Ryan pretended he'd been kidnapped by The Professor and made an entire photo shoot about it.
Too Many Spirits
From the galaxy brain of Katie LeBlanc, this was the first show shot in person during the pandemic, and also the only Friday show to feature all three co-founders. Ryan and Shane gather in a backyard to read ghost stories submitted by fans, but they get drunker and drunker every episode. They start off very normal, but by the fourth and last episode of each season, they are absolutely unhinged. By the way, the drinks? Handmade by Steven Lim himself, who turns out, is a (not) wonderful bartender. In the most recent seasons, we get an actual professional bartender, Ricky Wang, who has a very special working relationship with Steven.
Dish Granted
Created by and for the suffering of Steven Lim, Dish Granted is about love and food and friends. In each episode, Steven sets out to grant a friend of his their dream dish, even if it costs Steven his own sanity. Currently, the episode with Simu Liu holds the honor of being the Watcher video with most views. I love it, and you should too.
Worth a Shot
In each episode of this show hosted by Ricky Wang (of Too Many Spirits fame), he creates a special cocktail for a different guest. Ricky definitely knows what he is doing, and so, this show has a very soothing quality to it.
Eat Like Me
Also made by Steven Lim. Join Steven as he learns more about different cultures and/or lifestyles as he eats for one day as someone else. In the pilot season, he discovered the joys of the diet of a Korean college student, the woes of British people, and the pain of a professional eating competitor.
Pretty Historic
Created by Selorm Kploanyi and directed by none other than Sara Rubin, Pretty Historic looks at history from another point of view: beauty and makeup. It is an incredibly pretty show, the aesthetics are top notch, and it dives into really interesting subjects. I am begging for y'all to watch this.
Ghost Files
Finally, Ghost Files doesn't really need an introduction. Ryan Bergara's baby, the official successor to BuzzFeed Unsolved, and in the words of Shane Madej (to which I subscribe wholeheartedly), the perfect ghost hunting show. Only an episode and it's corresponding Debrief have been released until now, but it's so good. So different from BFU in a much, much better way, while still feeling incredibly familiar. Wow. The Ghoul Boys have done it for real.
However, Watcher has a vast catalogue with even more shows than those, plus all of their one-offs. My personal favorites and recommendations to you are Weird and/or Wonderful World (with Shane and Ryan) and Homemade (hosted by Steven). Homemade particularly feels like a work of art that I don't feel gets appreciated as much as it should.
Also, I greatly recommend watching Ryan and Shane Eat Everything Boysenberry (Again): Bless Annie for doing this for us. Berry Boys 2, once again taking off at Knott's Berry Farm.
So where can I keep up with Watcher?
If you aren't following them in at least one of their social media accounts, you might want to do that:
Their YouTube official channel
Tumblr
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Patreon
Finally!
These are the bare essentials to getting into Watcher, but I hope it's useful to at least one person. If you have any questions, ask away! Imo, the fandom is incredibly nice and would love to help any newbie find their way through.
I really think they should get Shane Madej on Make Some Noise. Like I know you’re all probably really busy all the time but just picture it. Take me hand. You know those guys would work well together. Put Ryan on Um Actually. Put Shane or Ricky in a D20 campaign. You already had Ify and Brennan on Watcher shows don’t act like you don’t have each other’s contacts. Have Ally or Zac on puppet history. Sam already has a puppet
its like yes shane wants a boyfriend and eventually a husband whatever all of that shit but first of all and more than anything he wants a hot boy to be mean to him
So I've been consumed by The Pitt but by doing so I got my watching fire reignited so I'm also catching up on Watcher vids since I hadn't seen any in the whole of 2026 bc I get easily overwhelmed by life
Anyway I love Steven Ryan and Shane there is not a universe in which I wouldn't be supporting them
Honestly I think a lot of people who have never made a gif for tumblr don't get that it does actually take time and effort, its not just rip it from a video and post it- you have to download the video, in my case I have a video player installed that grabs continuous caps, figure out what parts you need, you have to open those in photoshop or gimp, depending on where you got photoshop you might be paying for it every month and then on top of that is actually sizing, cropping, colouring, sharpening, adding text, etc. etc. like it is something that takes time and effort for which the only real reward is creating something that makes you happy and hopefully people reblog it with a nice or funny tag, so maybe keep that in mind the next time you think gif makers are being mean or unfair for being upset about reposts. It is its own little artform that is fairly unique to this website, and that's a big aspect of why I have always loved tumblr, if all the gifmakers stopped posting things would be a lot more boring around here.
watching old rpf compilation videos from 2018 of the guys from buzzfeed unsolved is crazy because ryan is always like hahaha omgggg it would be so crazyyy if we dated! not like he’s my daddy but his dick is just huge don’t we just look like a couple rn but no… we’re not…. that could never work… hahahaha he’s soooo funny that’s my big guy! and shane’s going man i love eating bugs. in the future we’re all going to have to eat bugs.
band camp, 2019. there was an infestation. i started eating them to get rid of them. i have since eaten cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, and those little green grass spiders.
The weekly podcast known as Pod Watcher and Get Scared has come to an end, but we celebrate all the fun we had these past two years with this infographic (designed by yours truly).
Whether you watched or listened since "Nose, Soap, Apple" or started with the spooky rebrand, this podcast has been a great source of joy in the fandom and it will be missed. Thank you to everyone @wearewatcher who made this series happen!
Remember to stay subscribed to the Watcher Podcasts channel for the new content coming in 2026!
[credits and more under the cut]
For anyone who is curious the most popular podcast episodes are:
Pod Watcher #017: Ed & Lorraine Warren, Planet of the Apes, and Untold Unsolved Stories!
Get Scared #082: We Finally Tell Our BuzzFeed Unsolved Island of the Dolls Story
Infographic icon credits from flaticon.com
Freepik: Bee, Clipboard, Hot Dog, Soap, Tomato, Witch Hat
Pixel Perfect: Nose
Smashicons: Apple
No lead paint was used in the making of this post.
Shane being aware that Ryan is food motivated, so he keeps bringing him treats - bakes him a pie, brings him popcorn, tells him that he'll make croutons for him, brings dinner and drinks and then being dismayed that he forgot/didn't know that Ryan does not like doughnuts
I'm still HAUNTED by Shane telling Matty that "no one ate his donuts" and Matty had to remind him that, in fact, everyone but Ryan had one. He personalized that shit so fast.
ohhh its a good question and a very important one (to me). I dont know but they sure are Like That huh?
My theory goes like this!
They get along well.
Their friendship is based in friendly ribbing including sexual humor.
And, they are in a long term commitment that requires careful peacekeeping in their relationship (not unlike a certain other legally binding relationship. nay, i shant say it...)
Take three of my favorite shyan moments for the road!
Sweaty leather hug
Ryan is so reluctant and Shane doesn't wanna let go...
2. Shane and the happy trail (out of context)
yes its out of context (shane is talking about a drink) but i'm just a little guy! Also, Ryan can barely wait to get an innuendo out.
3. Shane flusters Ryan
A classic moment. stop staring at each other like that!!
In conclusion: they are so cute!! I can't wait to see what they get up to next. thanks for reading!
