POLL: Have you watched the Welcome to Wrexham Documentary Series?

Rob

eaststandmike said:

Rob said:

eaststandmike said:

Rob said:

No interest from me. Not jealous or anything. Just can’t be bothered. It’s all American hype anyway. 

No it’s not, it’s actually full of storylines covering local businesses, lifelong supporters of Wrexham and the personal lives of players 

I get that. But, the underlying thing is that it’s American hype.

I say again, it really isn’t and as you state you have not watched it I can’t see how you can comment 

Maybe I should watch it then. I’ll see. 

PrincessFiona

eaststandmike said:

Rob said:

eaststandmike said:

Rob said:

No interest from me. Not jealous or anything. Just can’t be bothered. It’s all American hype anyway. 

No it’s not, it’s actually full of storylines covering local businesses, lifelong supporters of Wrexham and the personal lives of players 

I get that. But, the underlying thing is that it’s American hype.

I say again, it really isn’t and as you state you have not watched it I can’t see how you can comment 

It isn't American hype. Some people won't be swayed - although not sure anyone could even claim it after saying they haven't watched it!!!! I learned a lot about aspects of running a football club

Raith_C_Chattonell

Whilst not all American hype, there is a nod to the American audience and for good reason.

Humphrey Ker does several pieces to camera explaining - in his own amusing way - the finer points of the English pyramid system, the offside rule and the relationship of the executive team.  With him making up the third board member from the entertainment world it highlights the importance of Shaun Harvey the ex EFL boss and Leeds United CEO.  My impression is the club would have ground to a halt without him.

The Guardian wrote this four months ago.

Wrexham’s increasing popularity in the United States helped the club secure record revenue of £26.7m in their latest accounts, up 155% on the previous year. Wrexham, who are co-owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, said they generated more than half (52.1%) of that record turnover from outside Europe – primarily North America – for the year ending 30 June 2024.
That compared with 24.6% of turnover being generated outside Europe in the previous year’s figures. The club said the spectacular rise highlighted the effect of the “Welcome to Wrexham” documentary series, with the fourth instalment being filmed this season.

“While the documentary does not contribute any direct financial return for the club, it delivers incredible global exposure for the Wrexham brand and provides the club with a unique marketing platform that can be monetised through the delivery of TV exposure for our partners,” said the club on their website.

Commercial revenue increased from £1.83m to £13.18m. Wrexham said a new global membership scheme now accounted for 25% of all club memberships, highlighting their overseas appeal. 

bolloxbolder

My phone company a couple of weeks back gave me 6 months free Disney.

I'd previously seen the first two series,  so binge watched the remaining two. 

I found them really enjoyable and both owners are certainly charismatic characters. 

I dislike the media obsession with them, but that isn't their fault. I mean even our club bought into it with those dawned half and half scarves!

PopIcon

The first series was okay, but i stopped watching half way through the second series.

I think some people will watch absolutely anything.

Greenhithe

I like it. I like them. I find it funny. 

It’s mainly set up and formulaic and cheesy and fuck Wrexham etc but it’s harmless 

charltonkeston

I haven't watched any of the episodes and have no intention to do so. I have little to zero interest in any other club, I prefer to focus on our club that to be honest has a richer history and potential future. If Netflix/Amazon/Disney/Sky/BBC or anyone other tv company wanted to make a real documentary of a football club, the last 40 years of our one would have far more meat on the bones than one that devotes time to relaying a pitch twice in a year. Great for Wrexham, the town, their fans and owners but not really unique, rich guys buy football club and turn around the club by investing shed loads of money. 
I watched every play off final this year, I like to see the joy and the misery of those games, that to me is real football entertainment. Oldham has a nice story of a supporter dragging the club back into better times, not as sexy as a Hollywood star though.

guinnessaddick

PopIcon said:

The first series was okay, but i stopped watching half way through the second series.

I think some people will watch absolutely anything.

I would rather watch WTW than, love island, married at 1st sight, etc. 

North Lower Neil

Really nice update recently in that the young lad Archie that they feature is in remission:

https://x.com/vapunapili12/status/1939289765821530428

RodneyCharltonTrotta

North Lower Neil said:

Really nice update recently in that the young lad Archie that they feature is in remission:

https://x.com/vapunapili12/status/1939289765821530428

Fantastic 

Greenhithe

North Lower Neil said:

Really nice update recently in that the young lad Archie that they feature is in remission:

https://x.com/vapunapili12/status/1939289765821530428

Brilliant news. 

eaststandmike

PopIcon said:

The first series was okay, but i stopped watching half way through the second series.

I think some people will watch absolutely anything.

Strange comment, I am 67 and very particular about what I watch 

PopIcon

guinnessaddick said:

PopIcon said:

The first series was okay, but i stopped watching half way through the second series.

I think some people will watch absolutely anything.

I would rather watch WTW than, love island, married at 1st sight, etc. 

I've heard of them, but i've never seen them. In my opinion, most TV shows have too many episodes. 

soapboxsam

Never watch the Wrexham documentary and probably one of the few on CL that never watched the Sunderland series despite my son saying about it.
That's why I only had this forum to inform on Charlie Methven.

Jints

Law of diminishing returns. I enjoyed the first couple of seasons, the third was OK. The last one felt tired - the marathon training etc was very dull. 

JiMMy 85

A couple of years back I worked alongside the WTW crew when they came to film Dorking Wanderers, where I shoot my own stuff (in case you haven't heard me bang on about it before lol).

I got to know the producer a bit, as he and the DoP were around our training ground and then we met them again when we played at their place. As he explained it to me, the show was supposed to be much more like Sunderland Til I Die. The intention was to do six one-hour episodes for the first season, but Mcelhenney got more involved and, given his background in 22-minute sitcoms, it's not hugely surprising that the show changed to a lighter, shorter format. 

They interviewed all of us when they came to Dorking's training session, even me, and one of the questions they asked was "Are Wrexham the underdogs this season?" to which I obviously replied no. Afterwards he explained why he asked me such a stupid question - the producers back in LA were demanding that Wrexham be treated as the underdogs, and he was trying to help them understand that Wrexham was the complete opposite of that, and Dorking were exactly the size of club the LA guys wanted Wrexham to be. He hoped our interviews would land that message, but it seems it didn't work. 

He also said he was uncomfortable with the way the LA side were 'cheating' with the documentary. Lots of acting is going on in there, which is obvious if you think about it. But in a doc it's really poor form to fake as much as they do. For example, in the opening episode they make out that Phil Parkinson was not keen to join, and it took an hour long phone call that he didn't want to have recorded, so we see Rob M walking around on the phone in a studio lot. In reality Parkinson didn't take any convincing, said yes straight away and that phone call never happened. 

When I started doing what I do, I did an online Masterclass thing with documentary godfather Ken Burns, and in that Burns explains that it's okay to cheat a little bit if it helps tell the actual truth of what happened, but made it clear you never, ever cheat with the truth. Which is what the LA guys are doing a lot. 

(On Sunderland Til I Die you can see that they are using crowd reaction shots from different games, but they are not changing the fundamental fact that the crowd did cheer a goal. I don't even like editing like that, I always think it's obvious I've lifted a bit of footage from a different game so I won't do it. It's entirely understandable and acceptable that they do something like that to help tell the truth of the story, just as most of the audio in an Attenborough doc is recorded in a studio by a foley artist). 

When the Dorking episode came out, rather than be a 30-40 minute episode comparing Wrexham to Dorking (they shot a good ten+ hours of stuff), they showed a brief interview with the DW gaffer, a few bits of my old footage and then cut to some random woman. The episode was still called Underdogs, which was a hangover from what the ep could and should have been. The producer quit after Season 2 because he didn't like the way the show was going, and said that he hoped we could one day see the original cut of Underdogs, because it was a brilliant bit of TV. Sadly, we never did. 

North Lower Neil

Did notice in the 'close your eyes, think of yourself as kids' bit that a player who'd left by then was there, had a search online and apparently that was all filmed before a different game, when they drew, rather than taking place before the Charlton game as shown.