Vulture’s exclusive announcement that VH1 might shelve Best Week Ever for good and not just until 2010 (which sort of counts as forever in blogger years) comes as no surprise. Once a hardcore devotee, I haven’t been able to stomach an entire episode since they changed up the format last October.
Yes, I understand that network execs were just trying to compete with The Soup, but Paul F. Tompkins is no Joel McHale. His brand of humor is less universal and there’s something about his presence that’s more in your face. While that might be a good thing on the stand-up circuit (I’ve never seen either of them perform live), it has turned BWE into a show that’s more about Tompkins and less about the funny things that pop culture personalities do to hang themselves.
For VH1 of all networks to forsake their popular talking head format was a critical misstep. For me, it made the shows feel too similar to watch both each week, and I’m sure plenty of people felt the same way. Also: If viewers happen to dislike Tompkins (I’d argue many did), then you’re screwed. Why reduce your odds of connecting with viewers like that? Instead they should have gone for The Soup‘s Achilles heel — their original comedy segments — which is something that the old BWE troupe could always hit out of the park.
So, now you know where I stand on the issue. What are your thoughts?