The Point Radio: Kevin Smith’s Comic Shop Secrets
Kevin Smith and and the guys from The Secret Stash are already back into a new season of COMIC BOOK MEN on AMC. Kevin catches us up and talks about how the show has evolved over three seasons, and where it’s headed. Plus The DVR scores again for TV ratings and Alex Ross celebrates Marvel.
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Transcript
The Point Radio Hey, it's Mike Rodd. You know, if you've ever hung out in a comic book store, you know exactly the kind of magic that takes place on comic book men. Kevin Smith's series is already into three seasons, and we talked to Kevin about where it's been and where it's going. Plus, the DVR scores again as far as TV ratings go, and Alex Ross celebrates Marvel. Let's get to The Point. This is The Point. The Point Radio. Get The Point Radio.
The new season of Comic Book Men is rolling on AMC. I talked to show creator Kevin Smith about how at the beginning of the series, there was criticism about how the show painted guys as just hanging around in a comic book store, even though that's pretty much what they were doing. But Kevin was quick to point out there was another side to that. We really didn't feel like the show celebrated stereotypes of anything. It was just like dudes sitting around picking on each other. So first episode airs and long sharp knives come out, teeth come out and shit. So much so that like Brian, who's got very thick skin,
I'm of course eggshell fucking skin and everything bothers me. Brian, like who never gets bothered by anything, was like hit really hard. He was like, he's just like, I hate everything and I like this show. And I was like, yeah, but you're on the show. Like, and it stars people you like and stuff like that. So after the first episode, we felt we're dead in the water. We only had six. They were hour long for the first season. And we figured that's it, man. Once the fucking show runs its course, they're never going to pick it up with people saying shit like that because you get so focused on, you know, flip, you flip the microphone. Like when you live on the Internet, you have to remember to flip the microscope periodically and remember that you're looking at something magnified, very big, which in all actually something not all that big.
Because at the end of the day, yes, there were people bitching about the show. There were a lot of people who drowned out to kind of like the show. We got to hear them episode two and three. Of course, in TV, there's only one constant that judges everything in TV. It doesn't matter how you feel or if you like the fact that your friends are on a show or something at the end of the day, it's ratings. And so we had a nice solid number. Granted, we're traveling in the wake of a juggernaut. We're behind the Walking Dead season one for us. And then season two, when we went back for the first part of season two, they had the smart idea of putting talking dead after walking dead because you used to go walking dead, us then talking dead so they can take advantage of the live feed kind of thing. But then they just switched. It makes more sense once you follow the other. And then we follow in the wake. So once the numbers came in, suddenly it didn't matter like that.
People were like, fuck you and your friends in your show because the network was like, this is exactly what we were hoping for. Thank you very much. The show is not that expensive to produce. Some people I've seen online go, how is this fucking show at season three? The key is to keep it inexpensive. Like we don't go in there and be like, this is what it's going to cost to do the show this year. It's a big steep raise. Not at all. This show benefits as an absolute fucking commercial for my store. So we don't go in and rake them over to Kohl's. We don't bend them over a table and be like, give us some of that TV money. I don't go in there and be like, here, here's my check to you. But we don't take them for a ride at all. And because of that, the ratings are strong enough with a budget that's small enough where we could kind of get to a season three. Last season, there were a few changes, some good and some well.
They moved to season two to a Thursday night reality block program or unscripted block program, I should say. And, you know, the ratings were not what they were behind for us for compliment behind the walking dead naturally. So we were scared as fuck at the beginning of when they ran that last cycle at the Thursday nights that that was it. Like it's been a nice ride. We had at the end of the day, we'll have had two seasons, but there's no way this goes any further. And God bless AMC. They're like, we're going to double book the show. We'll throw it on another night and see if it gets a number there, too. And it did. And suddenly the night that we weren't on Thursday, they rerun it again late on Sundays after walking and talking. It was pulling a better number than it was pulling on Tuesday. So they were like, look, we believe in the show. We moved it. We're experimenting. Don't worry about it. You just keep making your show. Don't think about ratings and stuff. Because if we were to think about ratings, it looked like we wouldn't come back. And then we got the call at the end of the season. Like we like this show, man. We think it's great. We're going to put it back where it belongs after the dead shows. So I got lucky and believe me, I know it every second of the day. I'm not sitting there going. This show's so fucking frighteningly original. That fucking it deserves. It gets no. We've got a very friendly network who happens to like the show a lot. It helps when the network actually likes the show as well. And in a few weeks, that all starts again. You know, it'll come the same thing at the end of the season will happen where we're like, God, I wonder if they'll go one more season because for me, I just wanted one.
I was like, we could just do one season of a show. Fantastic. And then as we got to the end of it, you suddenly were like, just two or two would make us legitimate. And then they could cancel and shit. But then when we got to three, like now the pressure is kind of off. If they cancel it after the season, I'll be like, look, they gave us a great fucking run. And I've got a bunch of episodes of a show that stars my fucking friends that that to me will be the greatest trick the devil ever fucking pulled like. So it doesn't matter if it goes on for like five years, 10 years or one year. It happened. And the first thing I want to do is just go back to the show. And I'm like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to
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