Jonah Ray was on the most recent episode of WTF. It was a fairly interesting conversation if a little sad at times (he and Maron talk about the death of Jonah’s friend Neil Mahoney and the death of Maron’s partner director Lynn Shelton).
The key thing relating to MST3k was that Jonah seemed to think from the start that the Season 14 crowdfunding campaign was a case of going to the well one too many times.
He also said while he would do more MST3k if he got the chance he was happy to have done 3 seasons and if that’s all he gets to do then he’s fine with that.
It seems like Jonah is in a sort of transitional place in his life right now all told. Where you almost get the vibe that he’s becoming more interested in doing other things (directing mainly seemed to be the thing).
It’s an interesting and poignant interview that is ostensibly about promoting Jonah’s new movie. I’d recommend checking it out.
In my honest opinion, I’m fine with Jonah doing other things if the show returns. I’m just wondering that if and when the show ever returns, will Joel hire a new host or keep Emily? I think Emily’s addition to both the live shows and the show itself were great, and I don’t want her to be a one trick pony MST3K wise.
I’m listening right now. Sounds like he might be done, maybe not. Its a good conversation (between two anxious friends), as expected. They touch on many parts of these strange times we are living in, and its funny.
If he’s ready to move on, that’s a bit surprising, as he always had a commanding presence on livestreams like he was taking on a leadership role, ready to champion mst3k into the future.
However, that was a year ago. That’s a lot of time for views, feelings, and priorities to change.
He may be right, that s14 was a bit too much for the fanbase to finance. Although with several things working against the campaign, I couldn’t say for sure. But I was really hoping, not so much for s14 to succeed as for the Gizmoplex altogether as an idea to succeed. But maybe bringing s13 to life sucked up all the momentum.
We’ll have to see what new plan they introduce in 2024 (assuming they can get something figured out).
I’m probably reading too much into it … but … based on my first listen, it’s less Jonah changing his mind and more that it’s (mostly) not his decision at this point.
Other than that, I agree with your take, and your additional thoughts.
I can and will only speak for myself. We wrote, shot, etc. season 13 in 2021. I had a lot of time between writing my last line and this Crowdfund not making to consider every possibility.
So it was not very difficult to start making other moves once it went the way it went.
I doubt I was the only one with contingency plans. But I don’t know that for certain so don’t put this in Variety.
When Netflix cancelled the show and there was a long period with no news, I had a sinking feeling that any return to the show would come with changes to the cast as people understandably would move on. I think that we were incredibly fortunate to get even one more season with this team. Revivals are tough work, and entrenched fans aren’t always kind, but they did it. They brought back MST3K.
I’ve thought a lot about this revival series with the perspective of the original run, and… for a lot of people, the “core” cast of MST3K was about Joel as host and Trace and Frank as the mads, but that version of the show only lasted 3 1/2 seasons. The Sci-Fi Channel seasons were a sort of revival in their own right, and that version of the show lasted 3 seasons. In terms of longevity? This cast is at least as significant a chunk of the show’s history as any other.
I was hoping I’d meander my way toward a point by the end of this, but I guess… my hope was always that this team would get to keep making the show for as long as they wanted, and my continuing hope is that they’ll find an avenue to revive it again. But for the people who want to move on, godspeed to them, and I hope they can enjoy what they accomplished.
