This is a blog about the history of the entertainment industry so I spend a lot of time discussing and analyzing film, television, games, celebrities, theme parks, technology and other stuff related to pop culture both past and present. But I am not only a person who likes to create content. I also like to consume other people’s content and listen to their opinions, reviews and reports about pop culture as well. So in this article I thought I would share a list of some of the media critics, content creators and fellow entertainment junkies who I currently enjoy the most. As longtime readers may have noticed, I have very broad taste, so the people included on this list can vary wildly in their content and style. Some are comedians, some are journalists, some are just regular people who set up a webcam in their house, and the subjects they tackle range from film reviews to cultural analysis to political discussions. But the one thing they all have in common is that I love watching and listening to them all.

Adam Conover

The stand-up comedian, podcaster and CollegeHumor alum Adam Conover got his start in the public eye debunking myths on truTV’s Adam Ruins Everything and he’s still giving us a reality check on a regular basis on YouTube with his entertaining and enlightening commentary on pop culture and politics, often highlighting issues that I wish more people cared about and discussing things that I often think about, such as the ways that corporations are exploiting workers, AI is destroying the planet and systems of government are failing their citizens. He’s very much in the Daily Show school of information through comedy and I always like to revisit his channel when I want to hear a voice of sanity in a country gone mad.

Breakfast All Day

Film critics Christy Lemire and Alonso Duralde are my modern-day Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. They don’t always agree with each other and I don’t always agree with them, but they still have entertaining discussions and an eye for quality cinema and I always like to see what they think of the latest movie releases (partly so I can get the Gen X cinephile perspective). They do tend to be more receptive towards originality and more cynical towards blockbusters and big franchises so they may come off as snobby to the average filmgoer, and despite them both being excellent writers I don’t even think they are necessarily the best or most natural YouTubers (sometimes watching them is like watching your mom and dad operate a YouTube channel), but that is kind of part of their “normal person” charm and I appreciate how great both are at eloquently analyzing what works and what doesn’t work about a film.

ChillyBoy Productions

Larry Chillson is one of my go-to YouTube film critics because he has a great antenna for which films work and which films don’t work and he is really good at explaining why. Oftentimes when he reviews films he will go into the positives and then go into the negatives, so you really have a clear understanding of the quality of their execution. And he’s not like some other overly harsh critics I’ve seen who seem to get enjoyment out of bashing bad films. You can tell Larry genuinely respects cinema as an art form and he wants to have a good time. So when he has a criticism, I trust him. And when I watch something that he reviews, I tend to agree with him a lot. He is high among the pantheon of my most trusted fellow media analysts.

Council of Geeks

Doctor Who megafan and sci-fi and fantasy geek Vera Wylde is by far one of the smartest people I follow on YouTube and Patreon. They often review books, films, TV shows and video games on their channel the Council of Geeks Break Room (which I also subscribe to) but on their main channel they do a lot of well researched and well thought out long-form explanations and analyses of all kinds of fascinating and sometimes controversial topics, such as separating the art from the artist and cisgender actors playing transgender characters. But they also make a lot of fun and lighthearted videos as well. Vera is one of those people who can see things in the media that other people often miss and listening to them sometimes makes me a smarter person. The fact that they are a genderfluid trans woman leads to some very insightful takes on queer representation as well. Plus they are a writer themselves, which leads to some heavily opinionated reviews, but Vera is so good at explaining things that I love listening to them even when I disagree with them. I even like their Doctor Who videos and I’m not a Doctor Who fan!

Criterion

Wherever Criterion shows up, whether it’s YouTube, Instagram or Twitter, I follow them. They will often deliver insight and fun facts about classic films, filmmakers and actors that I did not know, plus they always keep me informed about which films will be added to their collection next, which I take seriously as a personal film recommendation list. Not to mention seeing contemporary Hollywood figures go into the famed Criterion Closet and pick out their favorite films is always fun and insightful. I like Criterion for the same reason I like watching DVD bonus features and for the same reason that I liked reading books about the history of cinema ever since I was a teenager. It helps me appreciate something that I love even more.

Defunctland

As a person who loves history and theme parks, I have occasionally delved into theme park history in this blog, and Defunctland is my go-to channel whenever I have to do research on something like that. Kevin Perjurer’s videos are like mini-documentaries with a lot of old footage and simple fact-based narration, which is exactly the way I like my documentaries. Obviously I have also watched his DefunctTV videos where he dives into the history of old TV shows, which are just as good.

Emergency Awesome

I’m a big sci-fi geek and a lover of all things nerdy. But I am not as smart as some other people who are, for example, more versed in the lore of Marvel comics than I am. Which Is why I often visit the Emergency Awesome YouTube channel hosted by Charlie Schneider because he takes all these things just as seriously as I do but he has a lot more insight into which comics certain scenes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are referencing, what certain Easter eggs mean, analysis of trailers and post-credits scenes, providing context for things that happen in the MCU as well as predicting where Kevin Feige might be taking the MCU next based on what has happened in the comics before. He does the same thing with DC but he also has informative videos about Invincible, Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty and other things that are popular in the nerd sphere, which makes Schneider valuable as a person who helps me understand and appreciate the significance of certain developments in these fictional universes that are sometimes hard for me to follow.

GameXplain

If you are a video game fan like me and the thought of Nintendo teaming up with Illumination or Mario and Zelda getting their own movies excited you, you should check out GameXplain because the people running this channel are always on top of every single development or leak that comes out about Nintendo’s film slate. Watching their videos has even helped me appreciate the critically panned Super Mario Bros. Movie more, specifically when André Segers created a convincing series of videos for why the film’s story was well-told. But the people running this channel also talk about new and upcoming video games as well, because they are genuinely enthusiastic fans who grew up playing video games in the nineties just like I did so I feel a kinship with all the people on this channel and their passion for Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Star Fox, Super Smash Bros. and more. When a Zelda movie trailer comes out, this is the first channel I will visit to see a trailer reaction, because I know everyone here will be just as hyped as I am.

The Howard Stern Show

Sirius XM radio host and shock jock Howard Stern always has the smartest and most insightful interviews with celebrities, which makes him an outlier because most people interviewing celebrities ask boring questions. Although the fact that he has a sick and twisted sense of humor and doesn’t care about offending people has always made him entertaining even when he’s just talking with Robin Quivers or a member of his Wack Pack. I used to actually pay money for a monthly satellite radio subscription just so I could listen to my favorite celebrities talk to him and have smart conversations with him. It was a delightful bonus that he also happened to be a filthy-mouthed maniac.

IGN

My go-to channel for video game reviews because they always have straight-forward in-depth analysis of the latest games with plenty of footage to give you a feel for what the game’s vibe is like. I listen to everything the critic says during the video but I don’t necessarily value the review score as much as the actual gameplay footage itself, because that tells me more than anything if a video game seems fun enough for me to want to play.

Last Week Tonight

Daily Show alum John Oliver is the best of all the current late night comedians, not only because he doesn’t have to waste time plugging movies and pandering to sponsors but because he dedicates his entire show to one real-world topic and dives straight into it with a lengthy and well-researched analysis of all the problems with things like the legal system, greedy corporations and corrupt politicians, all while mining the worst of humanity for humor with his smart (and sometimes dumb) jokes. While I prefer to watch the entire episode in full as intended, HBO always puts John Oliver’s main story from Last Week Tonight on YouTube in full, which is great because he often talks about things that are important enough that they shouldn’t be blocked by an HBO subscription paywall.

Mr. Coat

Stefan Ellison’s reviews, film history lessons and speculations about hypothetical situations as prompted by his Patreon subscribers are always measured, articulate and informative. In addition to his YouTube channel Mr. Coat, I also follow him on Letterboxd and his movie palette may be bigger than any other person I follow on that website. It’s no wonder that he has so many great takes because I find it’s always the people who watch the most films who give the most intelligent film reviews. He’s one of those rare content creators on the web who feels at times like your average passionate film fan next door but is also a knowledgeable person with a reverence for cinema as an art form and a willingness to give any movie from any era, genre or country a try.

The Serf Times

Nothing restores my dirtbag leftist soul like watching Canadian live streamer Lance of the Serf Times regularly tear into the political right by making fun of them and highlighting all the ways in which many of them are hypocritical, cruel and stupid. The great thing about Lance is that he is actually a knowledgeable person, so while he is making fun of conservatives, centrists and even liberals (usually establishment Democrats who don’t go far enough to the left like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi), he drops a lot of truth bombs about why none of their anti-woke rhetoric is making the world any better than if we embraced far-left policies. And I’m a far-left progressive (or as the right would call me, a radical America-hating socialist) who thinks the world would be better if all politicians were more like Zohran Mamdani, so this is exactly the kind of content I love to have injected into my veins.

TV Trash

The only thing I might love more than watching television shows is watching Chris Moore aka Rowdy make fun of bad shows. Whenever I have time, I like to visit Rowdy’s website (rowdyc.com) and go through his back catalog of TV Trash episodes (I’m currently getting through the episodes from 2022) to see him discuss why many classic shows and specials, a lot of which I remember from my childhood, were actually worse than I remember, all through his angry and loudmouthed TV critic persona. You might assume a content creator like this who seemingly tears down art for fun while screaming all the time might be annoying, but that’s not at all the case with him. You can sense he has a heart, he’s always fair in his negative reviews, you can tell he has a genuine love for good TV (he gives positive reviews as well, under the banner of “TV Treasures”) and he also writes and edits genuinely funny videos and sketches, which counts for a lot, because even if I disagree with his TV takes, there’s a high chance I will still find something to enjoy about his video.

Tyler Calvert

Tyler Calvert is a YouTuber who will often review the latest films, usually stuff in the fantasy, horror and sci-fi genres, as well as offering trailer reactions, rankings, unboxings and episode by episode analysis of popular shows like House of the Dragon, Cobra Kai, Harley Quinn, The Last of Us and Invincible among many others. Like Charlie Schneider I find his knowledge valuable because he will often catch things in these movies and shows that I missed as someone who isn’t as knowledgeable about the lore, but I also like Calvert because so many people in fan bases like these are addicted to negativity and sound whiny about things like Star Wars not being as good as it used to be, but Calvert proves that these fandoms don’t have to be miserable because he emits real enthusiasm and you get the sense that even when a movie disappoints him, he doesn’t enjoy wallowing in negativity. He is a genuine fan boy and I always devote time in my day to watching his videos and hearing his opinions.