Smosh

Your YouTube channel goes down the tubes, that's what!

Let me start by saying I'm only rating their 2005-2013 videos a 7. All things considered it would be a 6 or 5.

My friend introduced me to Smosh in 2009 and was immediately hooked. The appeal of Smosh's earlier videos was in their simplicity and accessibility. They had so much charm because you could tell there were no cynical intentions; it was just two best friends having fun by making these simple and silly but very fun videos on this new website called YouTube. The classic age of Smosh, around 2005-2009, was extremely amateurish, with a low resolution camera, awkward acting, and bad effects, but they at least made up for it with the humor.

Around 2009 or so, they really hit their stride, leading to the golden age of Smosh, around 2010-2012. They got a better camera, a few friends to help, better effects, and Ian and Anthony had clearly gotten much more comfortable on camera. This is when they had the highest, most consistent quality content. Sure their videos had higher production value, but you could tell the heart of the show was still these two best friends having fun making these wacky videos. The humor kept getting better and better, and even more absurdist and juvenile. The screaming and yelling was more pronounced here, but never got overbearing.

Slowly, around late 2013 and into 2014, the feel of the entire show began to change. The regular cast was expanding. They stopped filming in their house (a staple of all their earlier work) and were clearly using sets. The humor started changing, too. The insane, absurdist humor was slowly morphing into typical sarcastic millennial humor. It turned out Ian and Anthony stopped writing their videos and instead hired interns to continue writing. The overall quality of their videos slowly began to decline. Smosh had gone from a YouTube channel all about two friends having fun making silly videos to a cynical money-hungry business. Smosh was solidified as a brand when Anthony officially left, citing disappointment in his lack of creative control. Had this happened 5 or 6 years ago, Smosh would have been declared broken up or on hiatus, since he and Ian were the sole creative contributors. Today it's a different story. Ian remains as part of a large new ensemble cast that is projected to have actors come and go over the years and essentially turn it into an unfunny YouTube SNL.

I hope Ian and Anthony can work together in the future outside of Smosh because their chemistry, enthusiasm, creativity, and innocence were what made their older videos so great. Even in their more recent videos where they react to their old videos, you can still see the spark in their eyes.