One of the weirdest, longest running and most popular public access shows of all time ended its run last Wednesday. Although “The Chris Gethard Show” may be dead in its public access form, it will experience a second life on the Fusion Network.
Fusion is a relatively new joint venture between ABC and Univision. Unfortunately, the network’s small size and the limited number of cable providers that accommodate it may mean that Fusion is not the next big thing that “The Chris Gethard Show” deserves.
This doesn’t mean, however, that Fusion isn’t striking in its own right. The channel boasts an impressive line-up, including the insanely strange “No, You Shut Up!,” a political show hosted by Paul F. Tompkins along with a slew of puppets. With a show like this as the new network’s forerunner, it almost feels like a homecoming for “TCGS.”
The move from MNN––a public access channel only available in Manhattan––to a cable network available wherever Fusion is provided is a huge step. The show’s host and creator Chris Gethard has also made it clear that just because “TCGS” is moving to cable doesn’t mean it’s losing its edge. To quote Gethard’s Twitter, the structure they’re working in “doesn’t even resemble a box.” The tweet goes on to say, “Watch your backs in April. I have no intention of playing by the rules. We are breaking jaws.”
This may sound super threatening to the uninitiated, but to fans, this is the best possible statement Gethard can make. His angsty New Jersey punk background means that when he gets excited, he gets aggressive. If he’s threatening to break jaws, he’s really excited.
The show will undergo a few minor changes. It will now be a 30-minute program instead of an hour and it won’t be aired live on TV anymore. According to Splitsider, the show will instead go live on the Internet before it airs and may contain even more interactivity than it did in its previous incarnation—which was already a lot.
No announcements have been made about whether the show will continue on with the same cast or not, but it’s possible that the whole show will be restructured. When “TCGS” made its leap from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre to MNN, the show ended up with an almost entirely new cast. The transition from MNN to Fusion may foster a similar change.
Whatever happens with the cast and the structure of the show, I, for one, am excited. Gethard has never disappointed. According to Twitter, Gethard is adamant that the producers of “TCGS” will “either make something that fulfills every promise I’ve made, or a LEGENDARY DISASTER.”