TGWTG.com
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Created by
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Date launched
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April 6th, 2008
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Base of Operations
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Naperville, IL
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Website
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TGWTG.com is the shorthand name forThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com. It's part of the greater Channel Awesome company with the following people in charge:
- Mike Michaud (Chief Executive Officer)
- Rob Walker
- Doug Walker
- Holly Brown
Origins
Formed in April of 2008, TGWTG.com started off when Walker (Doug) had enough of the problems he had faced on Youtube when they took down his 5 Second Movies and episodes of The Nostalgia Critic. With the help of Michaud and Bhargav, the site was created and eventually many more contributors came to join the team. Sub divisions such as Blistered Thumbs were also created as the website grew into a vast community with many different shows and blogs. Based in Chicago, IL, USA, the site has grown into one of the largest communities on the Internet.
ThatGuyWithTheGlasses first made his appearance on the website YouTube. It was here that he began his 5 Second Movies and the beginnings of The Nostalgia Critic. His stay on YouTube garnered many fans, but also complaints from major studios like 20th Century Fox and Lions Gate over copyright infringement. Despite Walker explaining quite clearly in his videos that his videos are satirical, thus protected by the United States First Amendment, the videos and channels were taken off anyway. He then attempted at giving each video a different channel so that if one video was deleted, his others would still be left intact.
According to Rob Walker aka The Other Guy (aka Doug's brother) on the TGWTG forums:
"Eventually, Mike Michaud and (Walker's college friends) Bhargav and Mike Ellis said they were looking for a product to support as the first step in their glorious plans to create Channel Awesome. Mike offered to build the site. We would use the moniker Doug had on YouTube (TGWTG). At that point, most of Doug's work on Youtube was being done to get a fanbase going. The idea was, when we have enough fans, we'd launch the site. At that time, though, Mike's scheme was only one of like four things Doug had on his plate. So it started off slow. And Mike wanted to make sure the site was perfect before launch."
In June of 2008, every single one of Doug's videos were found and deleted from YouTube, much to the pleasure of Walker, who later announced he was planning on deleting the channels himself so that more people would see his videos on his official website. Since then, the site has garnered thousands of fans who visit daily, and also continues to grow as new, talented contributors are added.
Goodbye, Suede!
In early January of 2009, the staff learned that That Dude In the Suede was leaving the site for a missionary job for two years. On Janaury 19, 2009, the staff composed a special farewell to their friend who had made many animé-related reviews. Later that week, Suede himself uploaded a special farewell to his fans and the site itself.
Crossovers!
To show unity on the site, many of the programs began to cross over with one other. In 2008, Benzaie and Suede would comment on each other's videos. That was only the beginning as Linkara crossed over with many of the other site contributors such as MarzGurl and The Spoony One. Eventually, The Nostalgia Critic and TheDudette crossed over as well on February 3, 2009, to review "Ferngully: The Last Rain Forest." For a more comprehensive look at the crossovers, go here: Cameos.
TGWTG Live and Transmission Awesome Live
On February 12th, 2009. the site had a live donation drive with many shows and events occurring. See the report here. Drive Report
Just like the TGWTG drive, the TA Live podcast has not yet aired. It aired on February 18th on Ustream.tv The Transmission Awesome boys promised prizes and a slew of guest stars. For updates on both of these events and more, see Events.
TGWTG Year One
On April 29th, 2009, the site launched a trailer for an event happening in early May. This coincided with the birthday celebration the site had the previous week. Details of the event were sketchy. For more information, see :Year One.
Transmission Awesome Live 2
On May 16th, 2009, another live edition of Transmission Awesome aired. For a full report, see TA2Live.
Ronald McDonald House charity
On December 5th, 2009 the TGWTG team announced another live donation drive for December 5th, 2009. The event will be recorded on the wiki. See Drive Report 2.
Year Two
Year Two began May 17th, 2010 with the launch of the epic movie by the staff of Channel Awesome called "Kickassia"! More videos followed as the team celebrated their second year. More information can be found on the Year Two page.
Year Three
Year Three began June 27th, 2011 with the debut of a new movie by the Channel Awesome staff called "Suburban Knights". Crossover videos were released before, during and after the film as the team celebrated their third year. More information can be found on the Year Three page.
Year Four
Year Four began August 23rd, 2012 with the debut of a new movie/mini-series by the Channel Awesome staff called "To Boldly Flee". Crossovers were released before and after it as the team celebrated their fourth year. It signaled the end of the Nostalgia Critic as a show and is said to be the final large production. More information can be found on the Year Four page.
Year Five
Year Five began July 23rd, 2013 with a five-day celebration of the site's fifth anniversary. Each day, a short film was released by various TGWTG producers. Because of the small scale of the event, no official crossovers were made outside of the films. The change in style was met with mixed feelings, though most enjoyed the films. More information can be found on the Year Five page.
Conventions
On August 18th, 2009, ThatGuyWithTheGlasses accounced that he'll be heading to three conventions in the fall of 2009. See this news report for more information:
- 10/2-4/2009: This convention was apparently Doug Walker's first convention in Nashville,TN. The convention was named The Geek Media Expo, or GMX for short, and was an entire convention dedicated to science fiction and the online community. This was the first ever GMX so Doug has has a place as one of it's first guests to such an event along with Terrance Zdunich, co-creator and actor in Repo! The Genetic Opera, and Marilyn Ghigliotti best known for her role as Dante Hicks' girlfriend in Clerks. The first evening Doug was merely talking to fans and signing autographs at his booth. The second day he had his own panel where he discussed Saturday Morning Cartoons and held a Question and Answer. GMX was also the first convention Doug incorperated in a Nostalgia Critic review; this being the Casper review.
- MagFest 2010: From New Year's Eve 2009 to January 3rd, 2010, several members of the TGWTG team appeared at the Video game conference, MagFest. They were: Rollo T, Coldguy, HopeWithinChaos, Y Ruler of Time, PawDugan, LordKat, Little Miss Gamer, LittleKuriboh, MasakoX and music man, Skitch. Internet personality Kirbopher was also present. There, the crew produced videos and VLOGs where they took questions from users in the forums of the site and hosted a panel.
Doug and co are known to go to other conventions and make videos of the goings on at those conventions such as UCONN 2010 and ACEN 2010.
In August of 2010, Doug embarked on a convention all the way in Austria, making it the longest trip for a convention yet!
Contributors and shows under the Team TGWTG.com
External Links
That Dude in the Suede's farewell.
Facts About Channel Awesome | |
Divisions: | TGWTG.com · Blistered Thumbs · Barfiesta · Inked Reality |
Community: | Arcade · Awesome Blogs of the Week · Best of Blogs ·Featured Blogs · Forum Focus· Staff Picks |
Misc: | Cameos · CDs · Characters · Contributors · Former Contributors; · DVDs · Events · Geek Fight · In the News · Podcasts · Premium Area · Running Gags · Sketches ·Specials· Store · Theme Songs · Timeline · Title Card Artists |
Affiliates: | Channel Awesome Wikia · Channel Awesome Facebook ·Channel Awesome Twitter · Channel Awesome Youtube |
Reports: | Drive Report · Drive Report 2 · Drive Report 3 · Drive Report 4 · NerdLive1 · TA Live ·TA2Live · Year One· Year Two · Year Three · Year Four · Year Five |
Running Gags: | NCgags · FBGags · SpoonyGags · AskGags · BenzaieGags · TeamFourStarGags · LinkaraGags · NChickGags · PhelousGags |