I’m not a big “hey, news” blog, but this has been one of my favorite shows, so I’m inclined to comment.
The Talk Show has moved over to Mule Radio Syndicate. The places this is being reported are littered with comment threads about how Gruber’s a jerk on the air, Benjamin’s a jerk off the air, and the show won’t be any good elsewhere.
The show’s been fairly stagnant on 5by5. It’s one of the original podcasts for the network – the first run preceded 5by5, if I have my timeline right – but since the full run of Bond movies finished, there’s not been a lot of great content short of the usual decent Gruber Apple commentary – and that just doesn’t carry a show week-to-week anymore… see MacBreak Weekly.
(I also love MBW. But there are definite lulls of good content in that well.)
One thing that is a frequent topic on all the 5by5 shows is that you’ve got to love what you’re doing, and you’ve got to focus on it to make it work. I’m going to hazard a guess that both Dan and John felt the show declining in its current form, and simply couldn’t agree on exactly the direction to take it.
The great thing I’m seeing – or not seeing, I should say – is any kind of public bad-mouthing of “the other guy” by either party. Despite a number of calls for an explanation, some commentary, an acknowledgement of the situation, neither party feels this is worth addressing – and frankly, I agree. There’s a disagreement happening, it has no business being public, and it doesn’t need to be. I hope neither party says anything in public save a simple, “Great working with him, I wish him the best.”
I doubt we’ll ever know the real reason behind all this, any more than we would know the real reason behind any given Apple product decision. The show isn’t about the show. It’s about the content, and these guys apparently have different decisions on how to present the content going forward.
So, it’s a change. I wasn’t consulted, neither were you, and neither of us deserves an explanation. I’m going to give the new show a try for a little bit, and I’m going to wear my The Talk Show T-Shirt when it arrives with pride. And I sincerely hope that both John and Dan get exactly what they need by doing what they do best: producing great content the way they want.
Update:
Dan posted a very nice response, that’s right in line with what I had hoped to hear above.