Hey everyone.
Normally, I would do a vlog posting what is coming up for Old School Lane, but I don't have the time right now, so I'm posting it as a blog. 2023 was an up and down year for the channel. First, the ups. I had done, not one, but TWO panels. The first was back in May 2023 where I covered the topic "Writing Analytical Essays on Media" at MomoCon in Atlanta, Georgia. Not only was it my first panel ever, but it was my first time at MomoCon. It was one of the biggest conventions I had ever on in my life. I met some amazing people, including people I have been acquainted with like content creators ToonrificTariq, Offbeat Kiki, Harriyana, and Nicktendo. You can check out my videos down below.
The second convention I went to was back in October 2023 where I went to KamiCon HAI (Huntsville Anime Invasion) in Huntsville, Alabama to cover the topic "The Importance of Slice of Life & Coming of Age Animation". It was a much smaller convention, but it was a lot of fun. I sadly didn't record it because my camera was acting up, but it was still a great experience. If you want to see me cover a similar topic, I did on my YouTube channel. Go check it out if you missed it.
Another up for Old School Lane in 2023 was the amount of podcasts we posted. 20 episodes of Casual Chats, an episode of PixMix on Elemental, completing Journey to the Blue Sky looking back at all the Blue Sky Studios movies, visited the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden, and watched Wonka and the four short films by Wes Anderson for the Roald Dahl Retrospective, watching and covering Season 1 of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, watching all the DreamWorks Christmas shorts on DreamMinis, In Search of the Crystal Skull on Keanu Reeves Month and The Little Mermaid live action remake, and interviewing Martin and Olivia Olson and Rebecca Rose. If I had to do my top 10 favorite episodes of Casual Chats for 2023, they would be said interviews, the Cartoon Network podcast, The Owl House Season 3 Discussion, the Quest for Camelot podcast, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Weinerville, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Favorites of the Disney Eras, and Wish. I did a poll about a month ago asking you on what were your favorites and least favorite podcasts of this year. You overwhelmingly chose the Cartoon Network podcast as your favorite and Wish as your least favorite. I was surprised as your dislike of the Wish podcast because Arun and I enjoyed that discussion a lot. But maybe Wish had a bigger fanbase than I thought. If you did enjoy it, go on and enjoy it. You do you.
The virtual reunion livestream of 2023 was the 30th anniversary of Weinerville. Getting Marc and Max Weiner as well as some of the crew who worked on the show was a fun time. They reminisced about writing for the show, doing the puppet work, composing the music, and creating the props. While it didn't generate a large crowd on the livestream compared to previous livestreams, it was still a blast getting together.
Finally, I did four videos this past year. Two of which required months of research to do because there was little to no information on it. The first was A Lookback at the You Don't Know Jack game show. I released it as a part of a tribute for actor Paul Reubens when he passed away last August. While most people did a video tribute on Paul Reubens primarily focusing on his man-child persona Pee-wee Herman, I covered a more obscure role he performed as: a game show host named Troy Stevens. Many people nowadays know about the party game series You Don't Know Jack, but when the game show premiered in 2001, it was a niche game series that hadn't caught on to the mainstream until 10 years later. Thanks to an anonymous source who worked on the game show and the game studio at the time, they answered a lot of questions and corrected some misinformation that was posted on the Internet as legitimate answers. I broke the episode into three sections: the rise, fall and resurgence of Jellyvision Lab, the rise, fall, and resurgence of game shows, and the rise, fall, comeback, fall, comeback, and farewell of Paul Reubens.
Now, for the downs. As much as I posted a lot of podcasts this year, almost all of them have very low listens and views. In comparison, I did a quick 5 minute video reviewing the Good Burger 2 meal from Arby's and it was double the views of most of the podcasts I posted this past year. When looking at the most successful podcasts I did this year, the highest viewed ones were both the Wartime Era and Favorites of the Disney Eras, the Quest for Camelot podcast, the My Life as a Teenage Robot podcast, the Cartoon Network podcast, and the Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island podcast. The latter was a bonus podcast for Old Spook Lane Creepy Chats on Tim Burton Month and it crushed in viewership generating most listens than the 4 podcast episodes combined. I consider Tim Burton Month a failure and question if I should even bring back Old Spook Lane Creepy Chats this Halloween season. I also consider Keanu Reeves Month on In Search of the Crystal Skull a failure too because all of the episodes with the exception of SpongeBob SquarePants: Sponge on the Run had very low views, especially The Matrix Reloaded episode. But even then, the Sponge on the Run discussion had half the views of the other SpongeBob podcast.
Now for the videos, the Media Hall of Fame video on the As Told by Ginger podcasts was my most successful video this year. Not too much of a surprise since those tend to do well. It might be my last As Told by Ginger video I'll do for a long while. I do recommend checking out the video. Although half of the podcasts are no longer posting new episodes, they're still a good listen.
A Charlie Brown Christmas special was a minor success, but the You Don't Know Jack game show video and Christmas Every Day video were a disaster in viewership. I understand that they're very niche and the latter video was posted a few weeks after Christmas, but I was hoping for at least 1,000 views after all the hard work I put into it. But no, it ended up having slightly more views than my podcast episodes and that is NOT a good thing. The reason I hadn't posted a lot of videos in 2023 was because I had suffered from depression and writer's block. For the life of me, I couldn't write any ideas for videos if my life had depended on it. But when Paul Reubens died, that was when I had to write a special tribute to him in the form of the You Don't Know Jack game show video since I loved his work since I was a kid. But when the video premiered with low views, I had learned that 35% of my subscribers didn't watch it yet and 10% either hated it or thought it was simply okay. It devastated me. The Christmas Every Day special crushed me even more on how much no one tuned into it.
I wish I could dedicate more time to posting videos, I really do. But my priorities have changed a lot since I graduated with my Bachelor's Degree in 2022. I had been working a lot and rarely have time to sit down and write videos. I am getting closer to sorting out the next chapter in my life of being a married woman and sorting out paper work that'll take months to complete. I'm not the same 25-year-old who was unemployed and unsure what was going to happen in my life. I'm now a 37-year-old who has a job, a husband, and responsibilities to take care of. I do have a complete script in hand: my review of the Good Burger 2 Go book. But I'll release it around April when All That celebrates its 30th anniversary. I'm working on a few scripts for the 25th anniversary celebration of Azumanga Daioh and Avatar: The Last Airbender in honor of the Netflix live action series coming out this month. I do have some other ideas in mind for new videos and podcasts, but I'll post it when it's the right time. I don't want to rush into it just for the sake of posting something mediocre and unfulfilling to stay relevant on YouTube or the podcast feed. I want to take my time and post something that I enjoy and hopefully others will too. Now for some, this is content creator suicide, but seeing as how so many people are quitting being full time content creators because they want to live normal lives again and not worry about appealing to the never ending demand of content just to make money and notoriety, I'm okay with this.
Before, I used to be scared when new content creators would come along and post similar things I was covering and getting 10x more views, recognition, and awareness. I wonder on where I went wrong. But now, I realize that I shouldn't compare myself to them. I should be my own person and create something because I enjoy it and I'm happy that I'm sharing something I love to the world. Just because they don't tune into your content right away doesn't mean that they never will. Recently, I've gotten comments from the YouTube channel of people tuning into We're in Between for the first time and that podcast series ended almost 6 years ago. At the end of the day, doing something we're passionate about should be about the art, not the money or fame. Even if you're not recognized for your hard work, at least there's someone out there who appreciates it whether you know it or not. Never give up. Keep trying and you'll succeed at the end in some way. It was thanks to posting my content online that I met Arun in the first place. Now, we're married. I don't need millions of subscribers, tons of sponsorships, or thousands of dollars in one video to feel content. I've made friends, online colleagues, and the love of my life. I'm happy where I am now.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Hope to see you around soon. Take care.
-Patricia
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