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Jan Wahl -- KRON 4's leading lady of film reviews, fag haggery, and rating movies using a numerical hat system -- will no appear on the beleaguered new station's broadcast every week. Her contract, according to Leah Garchik, was not renewed. (God, why!) Garchick says that Wahl has "been contacted by many sponsors enthusiastic about following her elsewhere, supporting a Jan Wahl call-in movie show." We hope so. This woman is absolutely fucking nuts. Delightfully so. Why Gary Radnich remains on the air, while Wahl gets the boots, is a mystery. Anyway, Wahl will appear every other Thursday and for special events, like the Academy Awards and co-hosting the homosexual pride parade with local trannies, and will continue her movie-reviewing gigs on KCBS-AM and Live 105.
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Regarding the Radnich v. Wahl issue, it is possible that Jan Wahl is more expensive and since cost cutting is the order of the day for traditional, the answer is likely that simple. However, I believe that the era of the movie critic is over. Sites like Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes are the best way to get a quick numerical rating without falling victim the indulgences of purposefully contrarian or idiocynratic reviewers such as Mick LaSalle or Jan Wahl. Going to the theatre is an increasingly expensive and cumbersome process and people are less willing to gamble their time and money based on the whims of a single reviewer.
Radnich remains on the air because he's awesome.
Great news. She's a buffoon. What an obnoxious glutton she is. All those idiotic hats - you can't polish a turd.
I'm not a big fan of Bary, but at least he knows on which side his bread is buttered.
Bring out the champagne and the wood burning oven! I've got some hats to roast!
If you want to see something really funny, watch her scream and yell attacking Quentin Tarantino. It's on youtube.com at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L2ukSJFgCM
Oh happy day! This woman should have been booted off the air about a decade ago.
How can the era of the movie critic be over due to the likes of Rotten Tomatoes, when Rotten Tomatoes relies entirely on professionally written film reviews?
@ Brittney, good point. I meant to say that the era of film critics as, well compensated personalities(almost celebrities themselves) with individual and trusted viewpoints is over. Review aggregation sites are turning them into commodities and more or less nullify the opinion of outliers. Venerable institutions such as "At the Movies" seem to be capitulating as evidenced by the hiring of studio shill Ben Lyons. He may entertain the kids, but I'm not sure anyone really takes his opinion seriously.
You might be right in regards to the average movie-goer. But true film aficionados will still want the opinions of trusted, more esoteric critics like Jonathan Rosenbaum or Pauline Kael. What remains to be seen is if there are enough movie buffs to warrant these critic's careers in the future.
Jan Wahl is no Anthony Lane.
Gary Radnich remains on television because our appetite for on-air sexual harassment can never be satisfied.
Given that most ads I see are for cars, beer, and ROSS (see honey - you don't need to go to Neiman Marcu, you can go to ROSS) the 18-55 Straight Mail Demo is more important to KRON, and Radnich has that demo nailed. He's the nuts.
Will she be selling any of her hats to help her through this tough time?
There are a couple of the more glam ones that would be great for Oct 31st evening wear.
Woohoo!
If Mick LaSalle at the Chron says a movie sucks, I don't go.
If Jan Wuhl says a movie sucks, I take it with a grain of salt. I can only hear about how Tarantino is horrible and Casablanca is the bestest movie ever so many times before the hat shtick gets old. And I love the hat shtick.
Mick's tastes resemble the aggregators more closely. As with Rotten Tomatoes, you may miss a good movie, but you'll rarely see a bad one.
Hopefully our local media (tv & newspapers) can use this cost-cutting to focus on more local events. I dont think the era of the film critic is over per se, but perhaps the era of the LOCAL film critic is, and their precious column inches can be geared towards covering local arts. 8 pages of movie reviews in the SF Weekly is a joke, as was Wahl. Unnecessary, redundant.
The awesome that is Gary cant be bested. He's old school (no pants under the desk) and the man is a work-a-holic.
Finally. Good riddance. Horrible hats, face, voice, AND reviews.
Think Radnich and Wahl ever got naked together?
I never watched or read her, but she reminds me of the San Francisco that was when I first moved here. Which makes me feel incredibly old. As for reviews, I judge if a movie is good or not by the number of seeds it has.
I met that loony wretch in Sausalito years ago. She's an eccentric whack job with a firm wrist and a solid knowledge of choice lube. What does she do again?
I'm just happy to discover I'm not the only person who reads Garchik
Jan Wahl is my perfect anti-critic. If she hates something, there is a 99% chance I will love it, and vice versa.
jan wahl loves the gays, silent films, matt damon and anyone singing on broadway. that sure doesnt make her relevant. when are they going to drop henry t and his porn stache? i thought that his career was over after new years 08 at tetrino zanie. check out this medley of jan wahl going off in the poorly lit and very dated kron studio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IgbK8PMmuo