I get questions from Richard Sandomir at the New York Times or Michael Hiestand at USA Today about issues .., 'well, there's a blog site that says you root too hard for the Red Sox. Or people don't like you because you're rooting against their team ...'I don't want to say it's bad. There are certainly things you learn from the internet. You certainly learn from people's opinions. I think you're going to get some of the negative a lot more than the positive, but I think you can learn from it.
Sure I hear what people say. But the only opinions I care about are from the fans.
You are always going to get extreme views around coaches and players.
I always consult five to ten people who are hardcore fans, to see how far I can push a role. When they go, "Wait a second, you can't do that! That's a sin!," you go, "Okay, fine, we're not going to do that. We tried too far."
I'm very aware that pro wrestling fans can be some of the most vocal and passionate and descriptive about how they feel when it comes to pro wrestling. So I'm totally fine with how fans talk about how they feel, cause if they're not allowed to voice how they feel, then what's the point of being a wrestling fan. You gotta know what you like and what you do't like and that's fine.
At the end of the day, your fans are the people who support you in and out. And their opinions matter.
There are the horror fans that love the 'Evil Dead' because of the humor, but I'm sure it's not all of them. Not all horror fans love 'Evil Dead' because of the humor, at least not me.
The train's always full of football fans going up to see matches. Oh, they make sure I hear their points of view all right. They all want to have their say about their team, and make their opinions known.
I think the rating system is a way to open more discussion with wrestling fans about matches. To me, it's just another outlet to voice their opinions, so that's why I think they are so passionate about it.
In regard to criticism, we are in the world of football and subject to continuous criticism.
When you look at critics in wrestling, it's a real special fan base. There's a lot of voices, but at the end of the day, there's only one voice that really matters, and that's your boss's, right? There's a lot of cooks in a lot of kitchens. It can be hard because there are some fans you really have to set aside.
Not all horror fans love Evil Dead because of the humor, at least not me.
You have to trust your instincts and hope the fans like what you do, but you don't gut check with the fans. If we're going to make a series, people are going to have a lot of opinions and if there's one overwhelming majority or one thing you continuously hear repeated from the fans, you certainly take that into account going into next season.
A lot of times, the fans aren't listened to, or their opinions are overlooked a lot.