Next Month Watch Molly McIsaac Every Tuesday Night on ‘Fangasm’

Cast_Fangasm

You might recall that some time ago we had a columnist named Molly McIsaac. She disappeared from the iFanboy family for a while on a mysterious project that we can finally talk about.

It was announced yesterday that Molly will be appearing on Fangasm, the new geek-based reality show from the Syfy Channel. Here’s how the show is described:

From the producer of Jersey Shore comes Fangasm – a six-part docuseries that celebrates the incredibly unique, often misunderstood, and infinitely fascinating fan girl and fan boy culture. The show follows seven pop culture-obsessed fans (whose passions range from comic books and collectibles to science fiction and fantasy) living together in an LA apartment complex and working together at Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo. The seven must contend with each others oversized personalities and conflicting fandom as they vie for an opportunity to work within Lee’s organization. Because when different passions come together, you get a real big bang.

Fangasm runs for six episodes on Syfy beginning on September 24th and 10/9 central.

Molly McIsaac_Fangasm

Comments

  1. Looks awesome!! Go Molly!!

  2. Awesome to see Molly involved in this!!

    However, this phrase makes me nervous “From the producer of Jersey Shore.” I just hope the show accurately portrays the true passion and enthusiasm these individuals must have for geek culture and doesn’t simply commodify and dramatize it for easy mass consumption. There have been a number of (and more coming) “geek” shows in the wake of the success of the Big Bang Theory. Things like Comic Book Men and King of the Nerds. I didn’t like either one and felt both, especially King of the Nerds, simply played on convenient stereotypes for cheap laughs.

    All that said, SyFy does have a good reputation for doing reality TV well. Face/Off is one of my wife and my favorite shows on TV! They tend to play down the drama and focus on the creativity and goals at hand so hopefully this show will be the same way. I’ll certainly give it a watch!

    • The objective of “reality TV” is to get people to sit in front of the TV saying “OMG look at these people!” So wouldn’t get your hopes up.

    • I feel that “CBM” is more…”genuine” maybe? Like its not as fake as other reality shows. Sure, alot of it may be staged (isn’t most things on “reality” shows?) but I feel like its pretty real. Its also one of my favorites to watch.

    • My first TV job was on Jersey Shore. While the content of the show is exactly what it is, the crew and producers at 495 productions are nothing but professionals.

      I also worked there on their development team a few months back and you would be surprised the number of pilots that get passed on that are actually “good” reality TV. In the end the networks decide what they want to show and what they want to pick up and America tends to watch the dumb stuff.

      My point is don’t judge them solely by their previous work.

      That being said, this could be good, I wont be watching.

    • You kind of contradict yourself there at the end.

      I liked “WWTBASH” so this could be good since it’s on SyFy. Which, did they just pick up all the Geek stuff G4 dropped when it sold out? There’s cosplay shows, costume design shows, “Collection Intervention”(which I kind of liked, where did that go?). What’s next, how to make it into comics? Actually I would watch the hell out of that.

    • I wont be watching it purely because i don’t dig the modern “geek” thing.

      My point is don’t’ just see Jersey Shore and assume oh I will never watch something from that company, judge it based on the program itself.

    • @ed: That’s a fair point. I intend to watch the first episode at least and then make a decision on the rest of the series.

    • Guess I will too, but I reserve the right to rag on it because it’s the same people behind JS. Some stuff you can’t forget or let go of, no matter how much you want to.

      Something else that might be a hang-up for me;Molly’s performance on the show (or even the Micheal Moore editing they use). I hope she’s not gonna be like Danielle from “King of the Nerds”.

    • I haven’t seen “King of the Nerds”, but I can tell you outright what I was “cast” as: I was the opinionated, loud, voice of reason on social issues in the house. I stood up for my beliefs and was incredibly outspoken the entire time.

    • Sounds about right, but doesn’t assuage me very much.

    • @Molly
      Good on you.
      “Opinionated” and “loud”, makes me think they’re going to have a lot of fun with your footage in editing. Opinionated people are very rarely portrayed well in reality shows.
      Take a debate, strip out one side of the argument so it looks like one person is ranting apropos of nothing and edit in some voxpops of other house members upset.
      Suddenly you’re the villain of the series. But then maybe I’m too cynical, we’ll have to wait and see.

    • That’s about half of my concern @kzap. Of course another I would find irritating is if someone is a “bad guy” but that revealing footage is saved for the end of the show. It kinda sucks learning to like someone over a period of 6-10 weeks and then learning how horrible they really are. Not that I believe that’s likely with this show.

  3. You beat me to it!

    Hopefully they’ll make it watchable and not exploitative, but the show’s title doesn’t inspire confidence.

    • It had a different title when originally announced, something similar also with “fan” in there but I forget what it was. But I agree, the title, especially considering it was changed after filming, doesn’t inspire confidence.

    • Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

      It was originally called “Fandemonium.”

    • Thank you Paul!

      I have to say I like the original title much more.

    • Yeah…Fangasm is kind of a terrible title, but judging the show by a poor title choice on the producer’s end would be a bit unfair.

    • No, its not sexy enough! We need to sell this to mainstream culture; we need sexy girls in heels. Men with bulging muscles. Get Rob Liefield in there, he knows how it works!!!! 😉 .

    • Spotted Molly on twitter saying the filming was quite pleasant but as everyone knows its the editing that makes or breaks these types of shows and can turn it from something fun to something voyeuristic and sleazy very easily. Fandemonium is a much better title. I wonder would the participants have been as keen to join the show if they knew the final title?

    • “Fandemonium” was sacked because of some copyright issues – there’s been a few other shows called that in the past. At first “Fangasm” rubbed me the wrong way, but it’s actually a well known term within the fan community to explain that overwhelming feeling of fan excitement when something awesome happens within your fandom: IE I had a “fangasm” when I drank with Matt Smith. Besides, I think it’s catchy. 🙂

    • I doubt they would have much say. Except for Maury, Cops, or those others, I don’t think anyone likes how they appear on “reality” shows.

    • Wait, Molly you drank with Matt Smith and you’re on television.

      Congrats you lucky lucky girl.

  4. I was hoping that we’d get a show like this when Comic Book Men was originally announced. I hope it’s a hit!

  5. Congrats Molly!

  6. Congrats Molly, I look forward to watching this!

  7. Cool! Molly can be the control; we know she’s cool, so we’ll get to see how much they have to edit to make her look like a lunatic.

  8. I think I liked this better when it was called “Who wants to be a Superhero?”

  9. You lost me at “From the producer of Jersey Shore “…

    • That above image reminds me of a Dave Chapelle joke. Something like “Every reality show has 1 black guy that they try to make look crazy”. Which would be a shame of course, cause that group looks pretty homogenious without him.

  10. “The seven must contend with each others oversized personalities and conflicting fandom …”

    What that really means is that producers via the magic of of music cues and editing take the most innocuous of things and blowing it out of proportion x1000, lets not kid ourselves, ‘reality’ tv here in the US is designed to appeal towards the lowest common denominator. The show’s title has the word ‘-gasm’ on it, that’s a reddest of red herrings if I ever saw one. Wish Molly the best but this show along with Comic Book Men are DOA for me.

    • Exactly, it’s all constructed, Charlie Brooker did an excellent video on it just google “Screenwipe – Reality TV Editing” and that just covers the more innocent things they do. The stories I’ve heard are downright horrible, immoral and disgusting.
      Hopefully the show Molly is on will be one of the better ones and I wish her all the best.

  11. **COMMENT MODERATED**
    congratulations Molly, I hope the show is a success.

    • **COMMENT MODERATED**
      Molly is awesome and one of my favorite iFanboy contributors, so this is excellent for her.

    • haha, first time I’ve had a comment moderated. Just to clarify I’ve always loved Molly’s editorials and was just joking.

    • **COMMENT MODERATRED**
      @Invincipal
      Wait… They actually moderate comments here? I always thought that was a joke with people ironically writing “**COMMENT MODERATRED**” themselves.
      Can you say (in a more polite manner) what was moderated? I’m super curious now.

    • No didnt put that in myself. I made a joke about the title of the show’s name while referencing some of the editorials Jim has been posting lately. I Guess the moderators did not find it very funny. I also don’t really care if they moderate comments, its not my website, so whatever.

    • @Invincipal
      Haha, I was going to make the same joke. I thought it was strange no one had made it yet, guess I know why.

  12. Congrats to Molly but I have no faith in a Geek Reality show at all.
    Even when it’s made by geeks themselves, like the web series Strip Search, I don’t enjoy it. When it’s made by reality TV producers I know I won’t be able to stand it, so I’m not going to inflict it on myself.
    Still I wish Molly all the best and if this makes her happy more power to her.
    I just hope the MANY horror stories I’ve heard about the behind the scenes of these shows don’t apply to her.

  13. Congrats Molly!

    so…it’s like Big Brother with nerds? (shudder).

    🙂

  14. It’s on SyFy. This should be better than Sharknado.

  15. Congrats on the show Molly! That’s pretty rad! I see one of your “roommates” Andrew is from Sacramento – my hometown. Hopefully he represented the State Capitol well – as well as a nerd that hasn’t had a girlfriend in 4 years and still lives with his parents. 😉

  16. sorry, not Andrew, but Paul is from Sacramento.

  17. I hope this show doesn’t have the forced “competition” factor that some reality shows have. I’d find it much more interesting to just watch instead of it being a contest.

    And Molly, what’s up with the rooster?

    • It wasn’t like a competition elimination show – there was actually very little competition. We all worked for Comikaze as interns and there was a possibility of ONE of us getting a job out of it, but it wasn’t the main factor of the show. The point was more to show geek culture as what it is. We cosplayed, met celebrity idols, went to comic book stores, went to cons… it was super fun!

      It’s not a rooster, it’s a chocobo from Final Fantasy.

    • Sounds like something I would like, so I will be watching!

      I’m only slightly familiar with FF, so sorry I thought it was a rooster! 🙂

  18. OOOHH, I always liked her posts! Looking forward to this!

  19. This….this it not for me.

  20. Real question is how many times were you able to name drop ifanboy? Could be great advertisement:-)

  21. Best of luck, Molly!

    Go get ’em.

  22. 1) The title is cringe-worthy and insulting. I can’t imagine ever being involved with something like this or writing anything “-gasm” on my resume. It reminds me of Jimski’s article from last week. The oversexualization of geek culture is just disgusting.

    2) It seems like the idea of the show runs against the grain of literally dozens of iFanboy articles. This sort of show further stigmatizes “geeks” in a weird way, BY promoting them in obnoxious and narcissistic ways. It’s like the mantra is “Be PROUD to be a geek . . . and the only way you can do that is by being a self-promoting narcissist!” Yeah, that sounds healthy.

    3) I remember an article in which Molly talked about having issues with her body when she was younger. Looking at her pictures, then and now, she obviously had no reason to feel that way. It’s a sad thing and a real problem that many people go through, and we should all have a ton of sympathy for people who have to deal with those issues. It isn’t fair and it should change. But here’s the thing: It’s media like “Fangasm” that causes this oversexualization and overconcern with everything. Look at the cast photo: Everyone is photoshopped and the ladies all have makeup expertly applied. The very medium and the studio transforms them and then insists that everyone view them as “everyday people”. You’re not longer an everyday person as soon as you get on camera. You’re a celebrity of sorts, whether you like it or not.

    4) People care way, way, way too much about media, particularly TV. It’s just not good and makes everything weird and contentious.

    • 1) It’s worth keeping in mind that when Molly signed up for the series it had a different title. They apparently changed it to avoid confusion with several other series with the same name but I wouldn’t be surprised if they picked the original name to have an excuse to change it to something more sexual later.
      That said I disagree with Jimski’s article, simple because I don’t think “sexualisation” is always “disgusting”, that seems to be a very old fashioned conservative viewpoint that “sex is wrong” and “expressing sexuality is disgusting”. Also geek culture isn’t being sexualised specifically, ALL culture is. And I think the word “porn” can be used as a non-offensive metaphor, like we use the word “addict” without trivializing addiction.
      2. I agree with this.
      3. I also agree with this. As much as I’m not against all forms sexual expression, I find the way reality shows (and a lot of TV) use it to be tacky and cheap.
      4. I disagree, but then I’ve spent the last two years studying TV Production at University so of course I’m going to.
      I think there’s nothing wrong with caring about TV or any form of media, every platform has good content and bad content and can be used to express good ideas or bad ideas (or neither). There’s plenty of great things on TV that the world SHOULD care about; like Breaking Bad.

    • Media is how we connect to the world, books are media, letters are media, essay and business memos are media.
      It’s IMPOSSIBLE to care too much about media.
      Even if you limit it to entertainment media (TV, books, film, games, radio…) I still think it’s impossible to care about it too much, our entrainment media is what forms our culture. You could argue all the problems with are culture come from not caring about entertainment media ENOUGH.

    • See, I’m ALL about sexualization. I’m a feminist that is super into exploiting sexuality because I don’t think that it should be wrong or shameful in any way. I think the fact that people get upset about it is old fashioned and rooted in old social constructs that should be destroyed.

      As for the makeup, I look like that every day because it is my dearest desire to be an anime character. And I DO want to be famous – not because I’m a narcissistic, but because there needs to be a strong geek woman that new generation geeks can look up to, and I think I can hold that role. I would have KILLED for a girl like me to look up to when I was an awkward and bullied nerd.

      I obviously can’t speculate TOO much before the show hits the chopping block, but the filming experience was very positive. There was very little – if any – manufactured drama, and the producers mostly encouraged us to share our love of Fandom. The point of the show SEEMS to be to show the world that geeks can be socially adjusted, awesome people. I think it’s trying to DISPEL stereotypes.

    • I mean, I’m not one to talk, and not to degrade anybody based on their appearance; but some of those guys aren’t exactly movie star handsome. I mean it looks (based on the top image) that they tried to show people with different body types and personalities. No idea if they succeeded but that’s but interpretation. So maybe the show isn’t quite as sexualized as you say. That said “KOTN” surprised me in the last few episodes with the last few girl contestants partying. Hard to believe if they acted like that with no coaxing or shoddy editing.

      I think this show (probably) will just take Geek culture and put it into digestible chunks for muggles. I mean people and things on tv have to fit a certain box, because it’s what the viewer (or execs believe the viewer) wants. Nothing is really “real”, it’s tweaked fit your screen. So I think Geek culture won’t be cannibalized exactly but the show may skew it alittle bit for regular audiences.

      3. I disagree with.

      4. Sorry @kzap, but I absolutely believe you can carry too much about media. And that Americans put too much focus on television. Hopefully we ween ourselves off dependence on it.

      But I agree things are too sexualized in media. Not just Geek culture, alot of things really. It’s completely unnecessary, and talking with some co-workers today it’s what’s killing “Doctor Who” (yea I said it!). Hopefully we cool down on that too, but I’ve never heard of anyone describing humans as having self-control. It may be a forgotten virtue at this point.

    • @Molly
      Well said, you hit the nail on the head about “anti-sexualisation” being routed old fashioned beliefs, personally I think it’s up to the individual, they should be allowed to dress however they want (completely sexual or not at all) and wear as much or as little make-up as they want, regardless of gender.
      And I hope you’re right about the show being low on manufactured drama and trying to dispel stereotypes, that would be fantastic if it was true and I might just have to watch it after all.
      Like I said in another comment I’m far too cynical.

    • @IthoSapien
      I guess I’m going to disagree with you on both points there.
      I think Americans are too obsessed with the wrong type of television, there are plenty of great programs that people should be watch.
      To quote Charlie Booker “TV can be many things. Nowt wrong with a bit of mindless entertainment now and then. But when someone with purpose seizes and commands it, it can also do the incredible.”
      As for Doctor Who I’ve been a fan since Steven Moffatt took over (never really got into the Russell T. Davies era despite a few spectacular episode), the latest series has been a bit hit and miss but that has nothing to do with sexualisation.
      I actually liked Amy Pong trying to seduce the Doctor in one of her first episodes, and had always wandered why none of the other companions had been so forthright before. Plus we get a lesbian lizard and her wife which is great for equality.
      That said, I’m SUPER looking forward to Peter Capaldi taking over the role (he was in my top three choices before he got the role), it will be a nice change to have a different dynamic with the companion.
      And as for sexualisation in Doctor Who it’s not a new thing just google search “Peri Brown”.

    • @Kzap, “Nowt wrong with a bit of mindless entertainment now and then.”. The key word there is a bit. People watch too much tv in my opinion, and I think their are psychologists and sociologists arguing this and gathering data all over the world about. Not tonmention the quality of what they watch. Can you honestly tell me that the quality shows get the deserved attention? I’m not being snide, I’m being sincere. It seems to me the most POPULAR stuff, is trash. Buts that’s my opinion.

      Season 5 of DW was great. But I think Moffat needs to be reined in. The first half of season 7 I thought was terrible, and the second half somewhat better. But I’m sick of EVERY COMPANION (female that is) falling in love with the Doctor. What, is he James Bond? Aside from Donna, Mickey, and maybe a few guests, all the female companions fall in love with him. It’s getting tiring to me. Now I’m seeing the same thing with Claire. Yes, I liked Amy trying to seduce the 11th but I thought they dragged out the end result. Why can’t the next 4-5 companions just have a platonic relationship with the Doctor? I’m somewhat familiar with Peri, but can see your point, but the reason Amy was so forthright is 1)they had to be new with her relationship to the Doctor and 2) she’s a younger companion in the modern era. Girls as young as 13 are sexually active now (or it’s more admitted/known) so I guess Amy is modern now. Plus she was a Kiss-A-Gram, hard to imagine someone like that being shy and reserved.

      I’m actually not a fan of the Lizard wive thing but I wasn’t talking about sexual orientations exactly. Or maybe it finds into my other problems with the show, IDK. I’ve heard that Britain is more open to sex than America so maybe that’s something to consider. Plus it has to be modern. But I guess my main complaint is the Doctor/companion love subplot being used so much. Even a few of the past Doctors are complaining about it.

    • Just curious: why is it hard to believe that geek girls would party? I go to clubs and get sloshed all the time.

    • Not surprising.

      It’s not, alot of women I know party. Though not alot of them are geeks. It’s just jarring seeing 3-4 women go from talking about comics,games, and cosplay for 7-10 weeks to suddenly drinking and grinding on each other, and talking about how much they love sex. Which went on for ten straight minutes. Not that I didn’t enjoy it somewhat, but it just seemed like a drastic shift in presentation.

    • @MollyMcIsaac: is getting “sloshed all the time” supposed to come across as a positive thing?

    • @filippod: It often is!

    • Great, now youre making me wonder if “shloshed” is something dirty…

    • It means “drunk.”

    • I knew that, but I was starting to have doubts.

    • @IthoSapien
      Good points about Doctor Who, I won’t go into detail except to say I mostly agree. I too am bored with the same type of relationship between Doctor and companion, that’s not to say I don’t like it but it’s just been overdone.
      Like I said, that’s why I’m looking forward to Capaldi taking over the role, I suspect we’ll see a different type of relationship (either friendship or fatherly/grandfatherly).
      As for being too obsessed with TV, I go back to my original point: The problem isn’t people caring too much about TV but caring too much about the wrong CONTENT. Television is simply a delivery mechanism.
      Quality show’s DON’T get the deserved attention, that’s my point, the trashy content that people care about isn’t the fault of Television, the same content could be delivered in magazines, on the radio or Internet.
      If you said America is too obsessed with shallow fatuous and unintelligent entertainment I’d agree with you but you can’t lump that in with ALL of Television.
      That’s like saying America is obsessed with reading but not making the distinction between OK! magazine and Shakespeare.

    • @kzap, yeah but both have been done before. The original Doctor had a father/daughter thing with his granddaughter. But I’d welcome a return to the classic dynamic.

      I stand by what I said, people care too much about tv. People watching QUALITY programs would be an improvement, sure. But in America (which is where I reside)? Too much tv. Like 8000 channels of it. Imagine how much “quality” stretches over all that. Then again I’m using lateral thinking here, so who knows? But I wouldn’t be opposed to more quality stuff. And less trash tv. Both of those AT ONCE would be Christmas.

  23. Sounds like It could be like The Real World. I liked those older seasons of Real World like the season with Judd Winick, cause the cast was interesting not just a bunch of hot kids drinking, they had Pedro, Judd’s now wife Pam, and Puck.

  24. Great to hear about Molly’s ascent into the world of global broadcast media! (Or actually cable media.) (Well, cable and satellite media… and eventually, probably, VOD and blu-ray wtf you get the point I’m just happy for Molly!)