Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: What up, everybody? And welcome back to another episode of the Nerdjourn Report. I'm your host, Pablo. And joining me, as always, is Mister Brian Schultz. Brian, today we have a special guest, Tracy Spivey, 4994. How you doing, Tracy? How's everything?
[00:00:18] Speaker B: It's a Sunday night and everybody was chilling. I'm having a good time.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Brian, how you doing?
[00:00:23] Speaker C: Good, good. Eager to watch Penguin episode two. As soon as we're done, tape.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Brian, the numbers.
Tracy, I know you haven't seen it. I know, but I know you've heard.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Yes.
[00:00:37] Speaker A: The conversations about this show.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: Brian, what do you think? First of all, let's just acknowledge that the penguin is a hit. His first episode, right. Is a hit. Everybody's talking about it. Everybody seen him more than once. I'm sure the numbers just came on in terms of the viewership. Brian.
[00:00:54] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: What does this all mean with respect to the Batman and the future of DC?
[00:01:06] Speaker C: Well, it's so funny because we had this conversation last week after the premiere, lamenting the calendar and kind of saying, if only the Batman part two was coming out this November, immediately following this show, but instead we gotta wait till fall of 2026 and then we get the numbers for the premiere. So the premiere, 5.3 million us viewers on HBO, basically a little bit behind true Detective premiere, but ahead of the premiere of other prestige shows like succession, well ahead of White Lotus. It overall landed the biggest four day audience for a new series since the Last of Us, which obviously was a mega hit when it came in the beginning of 2023. Also of note, viewership of the Batman jumped by three and a half.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: X. Wow.
[00:02:01] Speaker C: Following the premiere, not percent.
Right. So that's a 350%. Yeah. Right. So 450% of what it was is what it did.
So people went looking for the linkage to our point of, yes, this is all probably going to work out, but they are going to lose some momentum and they are going to lose some dollars because they don't have part two of the Batman waiting to go when this show wrap ends.
[00:02:28] Speaker A: Yes, and it's a shame, Tracy, you haven't seen it, but you've heard the rumbling.
What do you think about Brian's assertion that if they had their stuff going to over there at DC, that they would have had a big bundle of money at the end of the rainbow when Penguin finished?
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Well, Brian's absolutely right. And unlike other people, I rewatched the Batman during the course of a twelve month period, knowing that the penguin would come up. I have rewatched the Batman. I get the connections. And maybe I was a little goaded into rewatching the Batman anyway because I knew the series was coming out. My caveat has always been, last year, Hollywood strike, no entertainment. This year, in the next three years, we're going to get an overload.
This series was greenlit prior to the strike because they saw something in it. I don't want to become a fanboy, but they saw something prior to a strike. So everybody putting your thinking, captain, acknowledge that there was something, there was something in the mix. Little did they know it would be this much or little did they know they'd have the caveat that we have very limited entertainment and a lot of things strive. A lot of other series like Brian has indicated strived. And here we are. The numbers are great. Some other series, the numbers are great. But like I said before, Penguin was greenlit prior to a strike. They thought they had something in the, in the ingredients. They knew they had something. Yes, I, you know, you guys, other podcasts where we talked about Mister Farrell didn't like the ten to 25 hours putting on the makeup. P. You indicated that maybe it's a ploy to maybe negotiations down the line. Brian, on the other hand, said, well, not for nothing, you do get a little wrestler sitting in that chair for like 14, 15 hours. But the end of the day, the fact that the spike in re watching the Batman is obvious. They have a hit. People want to reconnect and of course, to answer finally, yeah, it is kind of bad as far as the studio is concerned, not to have another property out there to extend the success at the moment.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: So all this is great.
Does this or has this success not only with the Penguin, but with the Joker, both being Batman villains? Now, two other names have been thrown in the mix for possibilities.
We have Deathstroke and we have Bane. Tracy, do you think the success of the Joker and now the Penguin, which again, would have translated into big bucks had they planned this outright, are there it seemingly. And I think Brian and I had a conversation about this, that they're basically, are they doing a Sony where they're taking it upon themselves, you know, to just do stuff, just to get stuff out there and I guess take advantage of the success that they had with Joker now with the Penguin, and they now want to continue on with more, uh, with more popular characters like Deathstroke. Right. And Bane. These are very interesting characters. They're not your c level characters, right. They're very, very popular characters. So, Tracy, do you think this is a result of the success of those ips, Joker and Penguin.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: I think Mister Gunn had a plan, and maybe you guys will agree with it. I want to introduce the Titans. The Titans. It doesn't work without Deathstroke's introduction. Bane is a Batman villain. Bane will always be there. We've already had several interpretations of Bane, but the fact that a plot, a script with, of course, the obvious courtesy call to Mister Schneider if he wants to use Joe Magnolia once again in that casting, or maybe. Maybe James and say, you know what?
[00:06:47] Speaker A: I don't. He.
[00:06:49] Speaker B: I don't want to deal with that DCE.
[00:06:54] Speaker C: I think there'll be somebody in the studio with 50,000 volts of electricity preventing him from doing that. If he tries to do that, we don't do that.
Yeah. We don't hold over.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Which would be a smart move.
I think maybe James already had that in mind. Obviously with Suicide Squad, obviously with thunderbolts. Obviously there's a thing for villains. Joker two is coming out, so to make money.
[00:07:21] Speaker C: Yeah. So.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: And that's. That's another thing. Yeah. Venom made money, despite what me or anybody else said. Really not interested in Venom without Spider man. But do I think it's a Sony move? Not really. I think this was part of the agenda. Deathstroke and Bane are two very popular characters, and if I want to introduce the titans, I have to introduce Deathstroke. Hopefully, Deathstroke won't be turned into Taskmaster and they completely flip the character like they did over in Black Widow. That's right. I said my piece. What a mistake that was.
[00:07:54] Speaker C: Thank you, Tracy. That's. Oh, my God. That's one of my biggest. Like, one of the reasons I have Black Widow so low is what they did to that character throughout that movie. And sadly, I guess we're gonna. Olga Karolenko might be back as that character in Thunderbolts in some capacity. So you might have to do more of this. So I did want to. Let's segue the two things. So one is, before we totally leave Penguin, I do want to give. We just gave warners a little bit of crap for how they've organized this, but let's give them one thumbs up. They were right to put this on HBO proper. The audience suggests this, which is a spinoff in all ways. The audience was there for this, which kind of tells you, when we talk about things like lanterns down the road, people will be there for these as prestige shows. And that's a good sign. So that's a thumbs up there. The Bane destro thing. So I'm kind of lukewarm on it, like, we'll see what they do with it, however. So the writer is one of the guys who wrote Brave New World.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: TBD. We'll see.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:09:00] Speaker C: But the one thing that was kicking around is the guy that we were talking to to direct the original version of this with Joe Manganiello was Gareth Evans. If they get Gareth Evans to do this movie, he of the raid.
Yeah. Let's go. Let's ride. I'm fine with that. I want to see what that guy can do in this world. I wanted him for the Blade movie. I will accept him for. For a Deathstroke Bane movie, if that's what we can get.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:31] Speaker C: And gun is star, as we said, we think gun and saffron is star hunting directors. That's what they're. That's what they seem to be doing. It's the only way to explain plastic man and Sergeant Rock. It's like it's the guys behind the camera that are bringing them. These ideas are name people. So if Gareth Evans is still out there saying, yeah, I will do deathstroke and vain for you, then that probably is going to get it done.
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Yeah, that sounds like man of gold with swamp thing. That's a whole run. If it goes that.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: What is the inspiration, though, to get all these announcements? We even. We haven't even gotten superman yet. Yo. And this sounds to me rockish.
Oh, this plan. We got this plan. We got this plan. We still haven't even got this movie out yet.
[00:10:16] Speaker C: I think it's a rush in part because Gunn knows the future of the company is uncertain.
I think there is a little bit of urgency to. If I can get a lot of these in motion, I can create maybe some value and maybe some of these. Look, we saw this with the last regime, remember? There was that wave of stuff that started to get announced right before the Warner brothers discovery merger happened, some of which never will see the light of day, as we know. But I think there's a little bit of that here that they're kind of gunning this universe, pun intended, to see if they can, you know, get stuff up on the board. I also think James Gunn, we've seen this. Whether it's guardians or suicide squad, he is a rogue at heart. That's kind of how he's wired. So I kind of feel like if you get a name director or name writer who pitches him an antihero, he's always going to listen. Much more so than a classic hero. That's just what we've seen in his.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: DNA and a good direct and, and good people that are pitching him. This stuff is not just.
What's that dude, Henry Garcia wasn't named the rocks.
[00:11:22] Speaker C: Hiring Garcia. The rock.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: Yeah, that's his part.
[00:11:26] Speaker C: $7.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Yeah, $7.
[00:11:28] Speaker C: Yeah. Red one. Red one had a new trailer the other day. I'm sure you guys are fired up.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: Well.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: You know, you know what? The rock is a businessman. If you want to get in business with him, you're absolutely right. But James Gunn hiring these directors for these projects, as if we had alluded to it a little earlier, the Lanterns, that's a tv series. But he's got basically the entire brain pattern. And of the old HBO the Watchman series.
Now once again, that comes into whether you, you like it or not. But critically, it was acclaimed. It's critically acclaimed.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: So now we have Deathstroke, Bane. And now that we have finally confirmed Cal channel, our Hal Jordan.
[00:12:23] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: Yes. Kyle Chandler, who when I saw the name, I had to really take a look and look at. Put the name to the face and I said, oh, yes.
[00:12:33] Speaker C: Yeah, that works. I say coach Taylor, what was that? Coach Taylor's gonna coach John. Gotta coach Jon Stewart now.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: And we'll, and we'll get to that. But gentlemen, what do you guys think of that, that choice? Tracy?
[00:12:47] Speaker B: Well, like when you, when you sent me the text, I said, you know what, cuz I was picturing him in the last Godzilla, king of the monsters. And I said, millie Bobby Brown, he acted as the father. He also, you know what to be older cop Hal Jordan. Okay. It works obviously with the caveat. What? Nobody wanted this role.
Yeah, they were having problems with a list is wanting to roll or they wanted too much money. But Cal Chandler, I put the mask on, he's got the hair going. You know what? Okay, he can play nobody else wants it. He can play Green Hornet if you really want to get to it. But anyway, the original greenhorn, I generally.
[00:13:33] Speaker C: I'm generally okay with. That means 59. So he's writing the demographic they wanted. He's one Emmy. He's not necessarily a list of a list all of Hollywood, but he's kind of a list tv. You got an Emmy on your board as the lead actor that counts. Everyone knows him. I don't know anyone that would be like, oh my God, I hate, I can't stand Kyle. He's always pretty good and he's got, he's got a little a hole to him.
He has that little key to this. Like you how can't be warm and fuzzy. No, he ain't gonna be warm and fuzzy in this show. So that's why I had some of the problems with, like, you know, like, Ewan McGregor's too nice, man.
I don't see it. You know, you need. Yeah. This guy needs to kind of grate on Jon Stewart. Like, I don't know if he needs to go so far as Nick Nolte to Eddie Murphy in 48 hours.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: I was just doing my job keeping you down.
[00:14:23] Speaker C: He needs to kind of push him a bit.
[00:14:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:26] Speaker C: For this show.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: So now we have our Hal Jordan, who will be our Jon Stewart. The names that are being thrown out there. Dams and. Dams and Idris, which I was having a conversation with a friend about that, and I wasn't too keen on him being Joshua. He's just not believable as a sergeant or general.
[00:14:50] Speaker C: He was on my list. Yeah. One of my three.
[00:14:53] Speaker A: I just don't. I just don't believe it.
[00:14:56] Speaker C: Oh, hey, are you judging the body type? Because I don't think you can do that with these roles. I like. I think, like, guy, because, like, we're gonna. We can have a discussion about, like, David corn swim, put on 40 pounds.
[00:15:13] Speaker A: Look believable.
[00:15:14] Speaker C: He's short. That's the one thing against him. He's not that.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:15:17] Speaker C: That's the negative.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: If you not imposing. He doesn't.
[00:15:20] Speaker C: Chandler's pretty short, too, so if you want. I don't know if you want to smallish guys. That's the one thing. But, yeah, yeah.
[00:15:28] Speaker A: He just looks too young. He just looks too young for the role.
[00:15:31] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:15:32] Speaker A: And so the other two names, Aaron Pierre, and I believe there was another one. I forget the name.
[00:15:39] Speaker C: Steven James was another guy. He's on homecoming. That was another guy I thought could work. He's like 32, 33. He. He kind of. He and Aaron Pierre have sort of similar. Somewhat similar. Yeah. Look to them. I had also thought Lionel, boys from the bear. Now he would have to trim down a bit for the role, but I thought, acting wise, he could have been an interesting choice. But look, it's. I mean, I don't know. It's. It's Aaron Pierre. If it's. I mean, I don't even. You know. Yeah.
[00:16:06] Speaker B: That would be the typical Hollywood mood. He's hot selling this to the board. They got a green light it. We got to put the insurance on it. Pitch, pitch, pitch, sell, sell, sell right now is, to me, Aaron Pierre. If everybody's Hollywood like they usually and normally are, well, in some ways, I.
[00:16:24] Speaker C: Mean, you know, I don't think Kyle Chandler has to be as nasty as Don Johnson was in Rebel Ridge, but some of that dynamic is kind of what you're looking for. That's a little bit of it.
[00:16:36] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:16:37] Speaker C: There's a whiff of it in there. And so, you know, I think we've already seen the proof of concept. And like I said, aaron Pierce, 63. The physique is there. That's not a problem. Athleticism is there. That's not a problem.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: So voice.
[00:16:49] Speaker C: Voice is great. That's the one. X factor. His voice is amazing.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: So there it is. Yeah. You know, I know f one is coming out, and that's going to be popular and he's going to be in demand, but I think he can play other roles. This one, this one just ain't it.
Before we wrap this one up, you, you mentioned Cohen swept, Brian.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Uh.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: We'Re getting all these other announcements, and we haven't gotten Superman. Superman supposed to come out when? July, long time from now. We still. Brian, we were hoping for.
[00:17:25] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:26] Speaker A: A trailer. Do you think we get past October without one?
[00:17:32] Speaker C: Well, yeah, now I do because there's nothing for them to attach it to. Yeah, I. Super bowl, but that's, to me, that's too late. Five months before. Five months before release, you need to, I mean, they put out a teaser for man of steel a year before it came out, and look what that did, man. People got excited when they hit that. They put out a teaser for Superman returns a year before. This idea that, like, you're going to, in a 2025 to Tracy's point we talked about on our show, there's so many movies coming out of. Yeah, you need to get ahead of that. You need to get people buzzing that this thing looks good and is coming, you know, and plant a flag in July. Like, in July alone, you've got f one and Jurassic World, and the trailer's already out and got some buzz. Yeah.
[00:18:21] Speaker A: Like, yeah, you can't, I mean, I understand the Super bowl. All the eyes are going to be there. You're going to have millions of viewers, but you're also going to perhaps have millions of views for the Fantastic Four trailer if they decide to bring that out.
[00:18:35] Speaker C: Yeah, you want your own, so, but look, we just talked about a marketing mistake with Batman, too, so. Yeah, maybe that's a weak link right now. And.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: You got the Thanksgiving weekend, maybe Christmas weekend prior to Super bowl to get it. Get a teaser out there, you know, a couple, a couple of newspapers. Newspapers flying off a newsstand. We don't have newsstands anymore, but I.
[00:19:03] Speaker A: Just feel like they're missing out on opportunities to do, you know, put something out. I mean, they could have done something to get the buzz, the buzz up when, when the document, the superman Reed documentary came out. It was only out for two days. You could it. Yeah, could have. I mean, the only people to a.
[00:19:21] Speaker C: Teaser, I mean, look, the only obvious place remaining is to attach it to Joker. But, like, that's an odd pairing to me. I mean, character wise, but it's a big release if you're looking for what is their big fall release. That's it. So, yeah. So I don't know if that counts as October. I mean, I guess it's coming technically, right, the beginning of October, but that's it. Like, there is no Christmas movie this year. There's no Harry Potter movie at Christmas this year that Warner Brothers put now or other DC movie they're putting out that they can attach this to. So I think, I think if they just did like an online only release, that's kind of lame. Like, I think this thing deserves better.
[00:19:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:19:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:58] Speaker A: So, yeah. So, yeah. Let us know in the conversation below what you guys think about the death, Deathstroke and Bane announcement.
Is this following a trend? And like Brian says, you know, they're, they're putting out what they think will be valuable as what they've done so far. Like the Joker and Penguin, those things are getting buzz and are providing us also some value. So they want to add more to it in case the DCU is not with Warner Brothers anymore.
Let us know in the comment section below what you guys think of the new Hal Jordan and who you think should be his Jon Stewart. Let us know in the comment section below. And we'll see you next time on the Jerry, what.
