The host (Aaron & Jim) dynamic

webswinger

It seams to me that Jims role is to shoot down every theory, or meta conversation. You can actually have a drinking game with every time Jim says "oookkayy" or I don't care etc....
He seam like he just wants to watch and go for the ride, and doesn't want to talk about the show for 2+ hrs.
Am I the only one who feels this way or am I just an ahole?

JoshuaHeter

webswinger said:

It seams to me that Jims role is to shoot down every theory, or meta conversation. You can actually have a drinking game with every time Jim says "oookkayy" or I don't care etc....
He seam like he just wants to watch and go for the ride, and doesn't want to talk about the show for 2+ hrs.
Am I the only one who feels this way or am I just an ahole?

I think it's clear that both Jim and Aron are logical thinkers, and they are both creative. However, because of their personalities, Aron's creativity (e.g. crafting fan theories, coming up with interesting questions to ponder, etc.) comes out a bit more, and Jim's logical / analytic side (e.g. breaking down those fan theories, clarifying those interesting questions etc.) comes out a bit more.

A show with 2 Jims... I'm not sure how well that works. A show with 2 Arons... that might get a little crazy. A show with 1 Jim and 1 Aron - that's some good podcastin'.

KingKobra

There are theories he will talk about, I just don't think he wants to go down the rabbit hole if he doesn't connect with a theory. Many of them are VERY loose, which means that you may spend 8 hours talking about it to only have it come up wrong. Personally I think it's good to have a counter point, otherwise it's just a circle j and that doesn't help anyone

bizmarkiefader

I think it says more about where conversations about this show tend to go than Jim being uninterested in the material.

voodoorat

it takes both the chocolate and the peanut butter to make the reese's peanut butter cup.

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gjulleen

I agree with @akritenbrink.  I used to listen to a couple of Lost podcasts, in their heyday, and I enjoyed them, but sometimes they would go on, and on, and on about a theory.  If there was problem with the theory, they argued about it.  It would get very tedious and I wound up hitting the 'forward 15 seconds' a lot.

I like the format of Bald Move.  You have A.Ron who brings up theories and craziness, they talk about it, Jim shepherds them along before it gets old.  If it was 2 A.Rons, you would have one of those old Lost podcasts that just get boring after 2 episodes.  If it was 2 Jims, you would have a recap that listed events.  That would be boring too.

I think they work best as packaged.  It's like the canon behind gnome engineers in World of Warcraft:  There's always one who will go to extremes and blow everything up, and one who is the planner and keeps everything from blowing up.  They partner off and naturally select someone who complements them and this makes them super effective.

Also, Cecily is awesome and makes me laugh.

Dee

I'm more of a Jim than an A.Ron - at a certain point the endless theorising (especially if there's nothing concrete to hook it to) just becomes tedious. I'm at the point now where I just shut down when the two timeline theory is even mentioned.

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webswinger

I guess I'm an a ron. I love going into the theories and and want to debunk, put on hold, or prove them. I found bald move through GoT and love the tin foil casts. When I saw there was a west world pc I downloaded all eps (5). Maybe hearing the podcast after I've seen 5 eps isn't fair to either of the hosts to judge them with knowledge as to what's to come.
I think that on rewatch there is some compelling evidence to say that there are 3 time periods and that Bernard is a host of Arnold.

Aspiewithalibrarycard

I'm a Jim fan all the way. I like the logical step-wise approach he has to every show I listen to them cover. Don't get me wrong, I love me some A.ron too, but Jim is my personal favorite. And, slightly off topic, but a thing that I think is overlooked about Jim a lot is how goddamn funny he is. I'm lucky I work in a lab by myself most of the time because I laugh out loud far too much at the podcasts. That one time that Jim said that thing about Bran's arms in the GOT season 1 podcast had me in tears man. His witty bon mots mixed with a deadpan delivery just get me every time.

A_Ron_Hubbard

Ya, he's my favorite too.

Blue

I'm a fan of these two. I listen to a lot of podcasts with a constant set of two to three hosts and Jim and A.Ron are definitely some of the best. If anyone here used to listen to Podcast Beyond or currently anything Kinda Funny (mainly PS I Love You XOXO), you know just how well Colin and Greg play off and compliment each other. Jim and A.Ron are very similar and probably why I love both of the casts so much and find them extremely re-listen-able. 

Jim/Colin are the people that stay grounded and usually have the cynical opinions (though Colin is much, MUCH more blunt). They have their opinions that are grounded in facts and what we know, and are also able to bring up things from previous stories/episodes that may have been forgotten and given insight on.

A.Ron/Greg are the real go-getters and mean motor scooters. They very obviously have a lot of fun when they're on the mic, they dive into theories and conspiracies and most of the time bring up the people's opinion to have it debated. They also play devil's advocate a lot because they know their co-host is at their best when they have to defend their opinions or just state facts.

That doesn't make one better than the other. It doesn't make one boring or worse of a host. They all have a ton of history with each other and just bring an entertaining yet informative discussion and kill it almost every single time. Yeah, Jim is the quieter one and maybe more "boring" or subdued, but he brings out the best in A.Ron and I still think their podcasts are miles beyond (beyond!) anyone else either of these two have been paired with.

webswinger

Seems the people have spoken, I'm the ahole. I reread my first post and I came off like I didn't get Jim. I do get him and his roll on the show. Like I said in my second post as soon as I saw bald move did a westworld cast I was all over it so I am a fan.
But listening to this one it seems like Jim is in extra shut down mode. Maybe I don't notice it on the GoT podcast because up until this season Jim was in the dark and it was fun hearing little Easter eggs that were dropped for us sullied listeners.
Anyway Jim if you read this I'm a fan of you even though I may have a weird way of showing it.

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Blue

I didn't think you came off like an ass, that's just me though. Jim didn't seem much different IMO but he wasn't as big a fan of the episode as A.Ron. I also think even though he may actually really enjoy the show, his strengths as an entertainer don't lie with all these crazy theory-heavy TV shows like True Detective, Mr. Robot and Westworld. With shows like Breaking Bad he was on the same playing field as everyone else because the show almost always shows you everything that the characters know as opposed to the characters knowing stuff we don't. I think that's what Jim dislikes the most is when he feels like they're dicking us around for the sake of it.

webswinger

I do think that the way the episodes are cut is dirty pool, if the TP thing is true

Jim

No worries, @webswinger.  Different strokes for different folks.  While I definitely don't go down the rabbit hole on these theories in the same way A.Ron does, I'm a big fan of the show.  Sometimes the 2+ hour podcasts start to grate on me when we're spinning our wheels so I try to shuffle the conversation along.  I think it keeps the audience engaged, but equally important, it keeps me engaged.  Bored hosts are bad hosts.

davemcb

@Dee @akritenbrink in the last Westworld pod I let out an audible groan when the Anagram stuff came out only to have Jim lose his mind at the same time, I don't normally align totally with Jim (except on Mad Men) I found it pretty funny. Its good to know others dislike a lot of the Westworld theories

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phoenyx1023

Aspiewithalibrarycard said:

I'm a Jim fan all the way. I like the logical step-wise approach he has to every show I listen to them cover. Don't get me wrong, I love me some A.ron too, but Jim is my personal favorite. And, slightly off topic, but a thing that I think is overlooked about Jim a lot is how goddamn funny he is. I'm lucky I work in a lab by myself most of the time because I laugh out loud far too much at the podcasts. That one time that Jim said that thing about Bran's arms in the GOT season 1 podcast had me in tears man. His witty bon mots mixed with a deadpan delivery just get me every time.

Alllll of this. Jim is lowkey hilarious. And it's usually some throwaway comment that you barely catch that makes me literally LOL. It also cracks me up that his "this was the worst thing ever" voice is the exact same as his "this was the best thing ever" voice.

As a certified member of both Team Introvert and Team "Show Me the Receipts!", I appreciate Jim.

voodoorat

nobody said "it takes both the shit and the bread to make a shit sandwich"?

FlashGordon

I think there are definitely roles but that's with any presenter or comedy duo , Jim's more the straight man , they're both equally  hilarious in their own way

Luke

I agree with where Jim and usually Aaron draw the line. Once theory talk devolves into "well what if x" with absolutely no support other than "that would be cool" it's no longer interesting to discuss in a podcast format. Because there isn't anything to really discuss at that point it's just a series of declarative statements based on nothing. Hell you could just keep going and say "well what if we are all living in a simulation man and none of this is real". It's fun talk for the forums or if your high but not in a environment where you are actually trying to critically analyze something.

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Natter Cast

Jim is luke warm water and A Ron is a preserved moose

aberry89

I feel like this has been happening more on the Westworld podcast than anywhere else. Not sure why. I would think that since Jim is more of a sci-fi fan this would be his time to go down the rabbit hole and drag A.Ron along. 

I prefer and revel in A.Ron's way of discussing things, and sometimes feel like good points of conversation and theorizing get shot down immediately. To me, that's the whole point of podcasting - to discuss and explore ideas. But I will echo what everyone is saying, Jim keeps  the train moving. You have to get through the many points you want to discuss in a reasonable amount of time. 

There are two kinds of people, people who watch all the Lord of the Rings behind the scenes Appendices and read the Silmarillion - and there are those who don't. And you probably need one of each to run a productive podcast. 

Dee

In all seriousness, I think they're well matched, because podcasts where everyone is a Chatty Cathy are a pain in the arse. People are always butting in on each other and talking over each other and thoughts get lost. Having one talkative one and one more introspective one is a nice balance.

gjulleen

And if they ever need to sell themselves on the street corner, they have complementary skill sets and selling points! A.Ron is good for cuddles and conversations, I don't remember Jim's contribution.

Melia004

aberry89 said:

There are two kinds of people, people who watch all the Lord of the Rings behind the scenes Appendices and read the Silmarillion - and there are those who don't. And you probably need one of each to run a productive podcast. 

I really like that analogy, as somebody that watched all the LotR extras. Those really made you feel the way the cast was like a big family.