#dropout meta

[alexandra-erin]

After seeing how much Dropout meta there is on here, I'm thinking about making a roundup of old BlueSky posts that didn't really find an audience.

But on the other hand, I am tired. So maybe we'll start with one.

[allybeardsleycamoshirt]

this season of Game Changer ending with Ratfish is more evidence that Sam Dalton has been catfishing everyone as Sam the whole time

[achorusofnonsense]

putting these thoughts here instead of on discord because the conversation moved on and i want to see if i can tease them out a little better. the starting reference point was the new vulture article about dropout.

Dropout is very plainly unscripted television made by people whose whole career and training was towards making scripted television. That tension can make it really interesting, but it can also mean that they don't always focus on the particular needs of unscripted/reality. [This was primarily in reference to how bland and comedically unfulfilling shows like Thousandaires and Nobody Asked have been.] It also means that their signature narrative show, Dimension 20, because it's dedicated to improv principles, is all too often narratively unsatisfying; there aren't any second drafts on season finales.

A Dropout sketch show, qua show, in the classic Monty Python-through-Key & Peele tradition, as opposed to individual sketch videos each of which has to sink or swim (and justify its cost) on its own, would probably be good for the overall health of the platform, since it could by definition be less cuddly than the parasocial content that has built the current audience, as well as feeding some of the creative impulses of the people involved. Sam was saying that sketch was too expensive to make five to three years ago; looking at what Dropout is splashing money on these days, I wonder if the economics haven't improved significantly in their favor.

Anyway, my relative exhaustion with Dropout's formula (and I emphasize relative: I still watch every episode of everything they put out, as I have since early 2020) has pushed me towards checking out other RIYL internet content: 2025 is the first time I've done more than dip a toe into Smosh, Mythical, the Try Guys, and the comedy/game show content on Nebula. Dropout is very clearly the big dog in this particular kennel (although Mythical is its own beast), but it's still been kind of refreshing to see even less-well-produced versions of similar content, just because the personalities are different and the discourse surrounding them isn't so claustrophobic. (Well, Try Guys discourse is in another universe of unpleasant, but ignoring that.) As a result I've started thinking about what the future of internet comedy looks like, and it can't be a zillion sub-$10/mo streaming services for every troupe that builds an audience (or even the poor man's version of that, which is Patreon). Dropout, like everyone else, is going to have to evolve or die.