A couple weeks ago, D23 relaunched Disney Geek, a web-series about all things Disney News. The (typically weekly) show hadn’t had a new episode in four months. Without any explanation, Disney Geek came back with new hosts, a new set, and a new feel. (And people weren’t happy about it.)
Even after the initial uproar, comments are STILL being posted on the YouTube video asking where Jeffrey went.
Many people (myself included) tweeted @DisneyD23 asking what happened. And yet, D23 hasn’t responded to anyone about this change.
As new episodes are coming out, the reaction remain the same. The videos are getting more thumbs-down than when Jeffrey hosted, and people are asking over and over again where he went.
As a potential nod that people were complaining that these hosts were not truly Disney geeks themselves, co-host Carmen said the phrases “we were totally geeking out” and “geek-a-thon” in the April 23 webisode.
Overall, I’m disappointed that Disney hasn’t said anything. As social media becomes more prominent in customer service and marketing, customers are beginning to expect that companies will respond to their queries. I was hoping that if enough people asked what happened, Disney would respond.
(Note: @DisneyD23 does respond to some things, I guess they just decided to ignore the large amount of people asking the same question.)
This policy against responding isn’t unique to D23, though. Many departments under the Disney umbrella are fairly non-responsive as well. (Disney Parks accounts rarely respond, whereas some other theme parks, like Six Flags or Cedar Point, are incredibly responsive on Twitter.)
I guess I’ll just have to let this one go. Unfortunately for me, that means I’ll be tuning out from future Disney Geek episodes. Instead, I’ll turn to fan content (like unofficial podcasts and blogs) because they tend to be more community-focused than corporation-overseen offerings.
But I will keep reading D23’s “Geek of the Week” blog posts because they feel more genuine.
Will you watch future episodes of Disney Geek?
If you let it go, Disney will not have any incentive to make the right changes, either for Disney Geek, or anything else in the future. They’re counting on the fan reaction to subside. Perfect example: Lights of Winter at EPCOT.
Perhaps you’re right. But perhaps this offering, a more “tame” one in my opinion, will resonate better with people who aren’t huge Disney fans. Most people who are speaking up on forums and social media channels would probably consider themselves big Disney fans. (They could be trying to change the target audience of this series.)
The Disney community doesn’t always like the changes/announcements made by the company, but that doesn’t mean we should keep pestering them about things.
I spoke my peace, but I’ll pick my battles elsewhere. Willing to let this one go.
I heard an unconfirmed rumor that Jeffrey Epstein is still a producer on the show and still works for D23.
He definitely is/does. His name still appears in the end credits.
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