I admit it: I'm a bit of a James Rolfe fanboy. I have thoroughly enjoyed most of what James has created over the past 20+ years. Like many, I discovered him through his Angry Video Game Nerd series and eventually explored his other work. James is a very talented creator; many of his non-AVGN reviews and short films are thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring. Many aspiring filmmakers consider James Rolfe to be the catalyst for getting them off their butts and finally making their movies. I consider myself one of them. I want to see him make a new (non-AVGN) original film that recaptures the spirit of his college films and jazzes it up with the skills he has honed since then.
What does this have to do with "James and Mike Mondays?" you might be asking. Well...watch his college shorts "Cinemaphobia" and "Legend of the Blue Hole," then watch "AVGN - Ikari Warriors," then watch whatever the latest episode of "James and Mike Mondays" is and you'll see the stark contrast. Where James' scripted productions contain great humor or interesting plots, J&MM contains two guys sitting on a couch and rambling. Occasionally there will be a humorous random thing, but this is not typical. It's unscripted so there is no opportunity to plan the content and make sure it will be interesting enough as a show...which is fine as long as you're good at improv comedy, but James has said in his documentaries that he's not an improvisational kind of guy. It's not yet another "Let's Play" video, a genre that is so shallow and done to death and flooded with participants that I don't care if I never see another one again. At the same time, it's not really about sparking a fun interaction between James and Mike either.
James and Mike Mondays doesn't really feel like anything at all, and that's my entire beef with it. It leaves the viewer with the impression that the videos only exist to keep YouTube views and watch minutes rolling in and to keep audiences engaged. That's totally fine as long as there's something compelling to watch in there, but there is very little about James and Mike Mondays that inspires me to watch the next "episode" and there is no re-watch value.
From a long-time fan of James Rolfe and an avid watcher of his productions, I feel like it's ultimately a waste of his talent and time.
