Yes.

There ya have it, best answer here.

If you listen to the shows from 1998-2008, you would understand how badly Opie changed.

Back then, Opie was the straight man for Anthony's comedy. He did this while also steering the show from topic to topic. It worked like a charm. He have Anthony room to operate, but guided the content.

Now, Opie is obsessed with Opie. He doesn't care about the show - he cares about his brand. He stomps on funny conversations just to make his voice heard - even when his voice on the matter isn't funny. He obsesses over social media and drools over "going viral."

He thinks humor is getting people to click on a trick shot basketball video and he screams at people who have legitimate questions/comments.

But most importantly, he believes he isn't the problem. He thinks he is super funny and skilled, and for anyone who thinks otherwise - he believes the show evolved and matured while you didn't.

It's a huge cop out and FU to a very loyal audience. That is why there is so much Opie hate.

Kind of strange how he spent the last 5 years being a self-absorbed ass on a show where he is supposed to be a straight man setting up Ant and Jim for comedy. The own format of the show that worked for 15 years has past them by.

Pretty much. Opie in WNEW and earlier XM days was a different person.

I used to be a huge Star Trek fan, and then they ruined it with Star Trek Enterprise, and later the shitty JJ Abrams movie.

Then I spent the next 5 years bitching at every opportunity on every forum and focusing on everything I hated?

Nope. I just moved on. Things change, and I have old shows to enjoy. I've lost nothing really. As a fan of anything, you can't expect things to last forever, and when you change there's always new things to enjoy.

That is why there is so much Opie hate.

No. It's a core minority of mentally ill people who can't handle life.

I don't bitch at every opportunity. However, I will address a newbie's question as to why there is so much Opie hate.

And, by you just saying the "shitty JJ Abrams movie" you are bitching and admitting the movie wasn't up to par. You probably left that theatre feeling pissed and cheated - and rightfully so.

Being a die hard O&A fan for 15 years, I have every right to be pissed at what the show has become. Opie is doing a Ketchup taste test? He's promoting Sam eating eggs for the first time? This is the same Opie who made anal implants of whiffle ball bats.

Lastly, you can excuse JJ Abrams for screwing up Star Trek - because it wasn't his original project. It is a lot different when the actual creator of a project is the one who destroys it.

I know, I'm "mentally ill" because I want my comedy shows to be funny. Talk to me about how ill you are when some up and coming director turns Star Trek into a rom-com.

And, by you just saying the "shitty JJ Abrams movie" you are bitching and admitting the movie wasn't up to par. You probably left that theatre feeling pissed and cheated - and rightfully so.

Yes, I don't deny complaining about something in my life, but apart from bringing it up just now I put almost no thought into how much Star Trek has sucked since Enterprise. I'm still a fan of the shows that came before, and I still watch them.

Star Trek was just an example. I know you can't compare it to a comedy show, but it's the same principle at play. If you're a fan of something, and then that thing changes, you're wasting your energy complaining about it. It's gone, and it's time to move on. You still have the old shows.

If someone did a Star Trek\My Little Pony crossover I wouldn't even be mad. The old shows are still there. Nothing is meant to stay the same or last forever. This is why fans of anything are sometimes responsible for making it worse. They don't realize that leaving the audience wanting more is often what prevents the audience from realizing that the next thing you do will suck.

There are thousands of hours of O&A shows in the archives. There's almost 150 Patrice shows, each episode featuring a classic bit you've probably never heard before. There's just so much material, how can someone who enjoys all that look at this subreddit and not think the opie haters are just mentally ill. They cannot let go, or focus on anything positive in their lives. they're sitting with all that hate while the rest of us are listening to Colin Quinn go at it with Patrice.

We're more alike than you'd think.

Went on a long road trip this weekend and, rather than listening to the SXM replay, I listened to shows from 2000.

It was 15 hours of pure enjoyment. And you're right, I've been listening for years and some bits were brand new to me.

I'll always have those shows. I'm just upset I won't have any new ones. Just like you may not have any new (great) Star Treks.

It's alright, we'll get through this together

you bet ya. Opie has sucked since he's been doing radio when he was 18.

A few years back I thought he became a lot more laid back / less needy and a lot more valuable to the show and much more enjoyable. Then he resorted back to being the Opester.

For the first few post-Ant shows, he seemed to be back in "just be cool" mode and it was actually a good listen and I think a fair amount of the people here were happier with him. Once again he regressed to a being a needy try-hard. His acting like a bitch on social media isn't helping.

This is as bad as the subreddit has been, probably because Opie is way out of his depth and it's more clear than ever that he's ill-equipped to do anything other than Jocktober-worthy radio.

There was always hate but the majority of the listeners started realizing how much suck Opie is once ant was gone.

Agree. Opie was basically just "there" most shows. Yeah, he would sometimes drop some head scratcher or ruin a bit by butting in, but ultimately Ant and Jimmy were still there, so whatever it takes to keep the show going.

Now, it is just blatantly obvious that he sucks.

It was always there, sporadically. But it would be levelled by a lot of "go fuck yourself if you don't enjoy the show". The only difference us that now, no one is defending him or the show.

This is our Alamo

There was some, but not as much. I mean, the guy obviously sucks. The hate should go back to where it belongs: directed at that fucking mutant Roland.

I really really really fucking hate Roland. He is a waste.

There were complaints, but it was a lot more fun than it is now. People would complain about valid things, instead of just contributing to the echo chamber.

lol at how delusional you all are. If anything bad was said about Opie it was downvoted. Remember when /u/opiesucks was at the bottom of every thread instead of the top. Everyone went after that guy.

Now you're all trying to be "I always hated him, He's always sucked"

Just because it was down voted didn't mean it didn't exist. Plus there were far more positive comments than down voted ones.

opie and fez should get together

So Opie can step on all of Ronnie's great lines?

No, more in the direction of the ron and jim show being enjoyable and the fez and opie show being shit.

The Opie hate in the past was drowned out by people saying, "Get over it! He's just a part of the show; Ant and Jim more than make up for it!" I've had comments buried over and over for pointing out how Opie is simply not nearly as funny as he believes he is. Breaking things? That's where you go when you have ZERO comedic input to the show. Edgy, psycho-Opie with OCD? It's painfully forced and not even funny in a self-deprecating way. I think the core reason is that Opie has never been able to decide how he wants to play his intellect. Is he secretly a genius who skillfully crafts a show or is he as dumb as he thinks the listeners are with his complaints about technology, politics, finance, etc., when he asks, "Why can't they just figure this shit out? What is so difficult about it?"

I don't hate Opie. I like the guy. Not the asshole character he's playing on the show and Twitter right now, though.

I go back and forth with him destroying the show on purpose, or he hasn't recovered from being kicked in the guts with Ant's firing. Or both. I don't know. I just don't like what the show is now, and it's sad, because it was a daily part of my life for a long, long time. Watching Jimmy and Ant crack each other up the other day only made it more obvious how lacking the current Sirius show truly is.

Not like this. I've said it before - this subreddit is basically in a bitch spiral. Where people are constantly trying to outdo others with their bitchin'. Pretty soon we'll reach Peak Bitch.

Critical Ass will be reached.

Yes, but it wasn't as concentrated (or as mindless) as it is now.

The ironic thing is that, much as they complain (and rightfully so) about Opie being insufficiently funny, what they loved the most about Ant had nothing to do with Comedy.

what they loved the most about Ant had nothing to do with Comedy.

Go fuck yourself you presumptuous dumbell.

I'm not wrong, am I.

You're exactly right, that's why everybody is praising TACS for the reduced political talk, and wishing Jimmy was a guest every day. Because we all know how much he hates "those people".

Jump in a lake, your schtick is terrible.

>The ironic thing is that, much as they complain (and rightfully so) about Opie being insufficiently funny, what they loved the most about Ant had nothing to do with Comedy.

I don't know if it's the fact that he's unfunny, I think a lot of people are bitching about how incapable he is at being the cornerstone of a radio show and how his (what look like) inadequacy issues are manifesting themselves in previously unseen levels of "me too" bullshit stories and his teenage girl Twitter crap of late.

But he's not meant to be the cornerstone, he's meant to be one part of a three-person team; SXM took one of them away, so now what is he supposed to do?

He and Ant were co-hosts and Yimmy was third mic.

Now it's the Opie show with Jim Norton. He's the guy now. As far as what can he do now, I'd suggest either securing a new co-host if he plans on re-upping (and assuming he has an interest in making a show that pleases more of the listeners) or ride out the contract and go walk the land "like Caine in Kung-Fu"

Look, that may or may not be the case in terms of the official show name, but that's not true -it's the Opie and Jimmy show for all functional purposes. If people are dissatisfied with the show both of the main on-air guys are culpable (and I love Jimmy).

What doesn't make sense is all the people who cut Anthony slack because he's doing something new but endlessly complain about the O&J show in its first couple months.

What doesn't make sense is all the people who cut Anthony slack because he's doing something new but endlessly complain about the O&J show in its first couple months.

I was prepared to write off Ant's show assuming it was going to be another LFTC, which I thought sucked. But he's making an effort (and succeeding for the most part) at curtailing a lot of the crap that he received so much shit for (endless race talk, gun debates, political rants, Brother Joe). I don't know that he's giving people a lot of reasons to complain - a few weeks out of the gates and it's a solid show. If it sucked, this and his subreddit would be full of Ant sucks/I want a refund posts.

O&J has had such a poor start, which should not happen with the flagship guy being such a radio legend with over 30 years in the trade. It's not just that the show is being compared to the O&A show, but it's also the making shit up / social media crap that he's been pulling of late. His level of radio host aptitude has been made perfectly clear now that he's the guy for the show. I definitely couldn't do any better, which is why my job doesn't involve a microphone.

I'll be honest - I was basing that comment off what I saw when Ant's show initially started, and haven't been here much since it's gone so anti-O&J show.

I don't think many people would argue that, on-air, Ant is much, much more entertaining than Opie - I certainly wouldn't.

Oh yeah - the first few Ant solo shows were kind of a cluster fuck and a tough listen but he seemed to get this stuff in order pretty quickly. I'm not ready to commit to a lifetime subscription yet, but so far it's better than nothing (how's that for a ringing endorsement.) :)

edit: I'm a grown man I just did a smiley face. That's shameful.

That's fair, thanks for the heads up on Ant's show - I really found his racial stuff on O&A to just be a drag, and avoided his show assuming that would dominate it; I'll check out the free show and see about subscribing from there.

Jimmy is trying his hardest to get a decent show going but it's like trying to get a bit going with a brick wall. Opie never responds to any of his characters and if he does it's just a forced laugh. Opie's fully in control and all Jimmy can do is try to bring the funny but it's impossible without any kind of back and forth.

I wish Ant would make the whole Jimmy ep of ACS free because i'd like to see just how many die hard Opie fans would still defend him after seeing Ant both "Steer the Ship" and "Bring The Funny" at the same time without stamping all over it and fucking up the flow.

Seeing Jim and Ant together again doing a whole 2 hours without a break was the final confirmation for me on just how fucking useless Opie is.

Logistically there isn't much "steering" to do on Ant's show, and Ant does have the benefit of seeing how it's been done for 20 years. You can learn how to board op/produce, but being funny isn't something you really "learn", so Opie's kind of SOL on that part.

Opie and Ant's skills converge in some ways - if you were to imagine a Venn diagram of their skills, the business end would be mostly Opie, the comedy/personality part would be mostly Ant, and the board op/hosting stuff would be the part in the middle where they converge.

If anything, it really speaks to the shortcomings of Jimmy if he can't drum up some funny. Op and Ant used to do the show by themselves very often and they were just fine because Ant could be funny. Jimmy is just completely disinterested, it seems.

Maturity has never been Opie's strength.

[deleted]

I used to be a huge Star Trek fan, and then they ruined it with Star Trek Enterprise, and later the shitty JJ Abrams movie.

Then I spent the next 5 years bitching at every opportunity on every forum and focusing on everything I hated?

Nope. I just moved on. Things change, and I have old shows to enjoy. I've lost nothing really. As a fan of anything, you can't expect things to last forever, and when you change there's always new things to enjoy.

That is why there is so much Opie hate.

No. It's a core minority of mentally ill people who can't handle life.

Kind of strange how he spent the last 5 years being a self-absorbed ass on a show where he is supposed to be a straight man setting up Ant and Jim for comedy. The own format of the show that worked for 15 years has past them by.

Pretty much. Opie in WNEW and earlier XM days was a different person.