Youtube Review: Popular YouTube channel is excruciatingly boring
By William ChamberlimThe Guardsman
Ray William Johnson, creator of the popular YouTube channel Equals Three, recently launched a new channel called Breaking NYC.
On his other channel, Equals Three, Johnson adds clever, “Mystery Science Theater 3000” style commentary to current YouTube videos. Equals Three has gained a following of one to two million viewers.
The new video blog about his personal life, launched in January, seems to have been created to punish his viewers with an intimate look into his rigorously average life in New York City.
Consisting of nothing more than brief shots of Johnson's daily life, Breaking NYC has a mundane dullness that is almost completely absent of interest.
If you want a daily glimpse of someone who plays video games, goes to college, and ponders deep mysteries of the universe like: how gay his roommate is, how hot everyone’s mom is and how the food in his neighborhood tastes, then this might be what you’ve been searching for.
Johnson is very comfortable behind the camera and is able to keep his show, for the most part, to a PG-13 rating with the exception of the staple reference to having sex with “your mother.”
While no profound events occur on camera, the viewer does get to see frequent shots of Manhattan and Brooklyn, which are pleasing to the eye thanks to his roommate and video editor, WillofDC.
In a January episode, “Puppy” Johnson and WillofDC visit their friend who got a new puppy. The best part of the episode was WillofDC’s editing of the guys walking the streets of New York City.
He slowed down the footage and dropped a nice beat into the background.
The popularity and staying-power of the show is going to depend on how long it takes someone to copy the format and have more interesting experiences in front of the camera.
Johnson’s business sense does comes across strongly, however. Essentially, he created one popular show and simply transferred his viewers into his personal life. Perhaps he should try charging each viewer 15 cents per day to check in on him.
With 100,000 - 600,000 views daily, it’s apparent that people enjoy tuning in for a 7-minute shot of Johnson’s normal college life. However, I think I saw just enough episodes to review it and keep it away from my browser.
Entertainment, when I do have time for it, has to come across with more substance.
Breaking NYC may be an accomplished vlog, but it will be easy to avoid this YouTube channel if, in fact, you too have a social life.
