Mark Oshiro loves his fans, so it was no surprise to find the Internet book club guru hanging out with a few of them long after his official panel at LeakyCon had ended.
This time, however, fans had more on their minds than discussing any of the concurrent series Oshiro is currently watching and reading for his popular sites, Mark Reads and Mark Watches.
Given that Oshiro has had to close both of his suggestion lists because they’ve gotten so long, chances to influence his reading and viewing schedule are few and far between. The Daily Dot took the challenge anyway.
We asked fans to suggest what series or books Oshiro should add to his list. The only rule was that Oshiro could not have seen the show before. Were any of the impromptu fan campaigns successful? Read on and find out.
1) Glee
Natalie: I hate it. I’m on a podcast where I pretty much exclusively talk about how problematic it is, and I want to see you [Mark] either find fault with it or like it. The reason it’s got such an obsessive fandom is because there are so many people who love it but hate it.
Mark Oshiro: That’s exactly why I quit watching. I’ve seen every episode through Tumblr.
2) The Avengers
Megan: I love The Avengers, but I never know where to start with the comic books. I run the comic book section in the bookshop I work at in England, and I just read random one-offs and have no idea where to start with The Avengers world, because it’s so expansive.
MO: I’ve thought of doing a comic series like that, where everyone figures it out, like, hey, this is the chronological order. Not necessarily the Avengers, but like all of Spiderman. Every single one.
3) Primeval
Caitlyn: It’s a British TV series. It involves time travel and dinosaurs, and I don’t know how those could ever not be awesome. There’s five seasons split into two stories, and it’s pretty undeniably awesome.
MO: Sold.
4) Community
Chris: By the time you’re going to get to it, it will probably be over. It’s so good.
MO: It’s one of the very few shows I watch on my own.
5) Homestuck
Chris: And I’m just going to say it, even though you’re not going to do it: Homestuck. Oh my god. It would take you forever.
MO: I did read to after Act 3! On my own! … And I just got to a point where I was like, I don’t… get it. So I’m going to go back and try again.
6) Merlin
Jessie: It’s still on and it’s sort of popular, but it’s goofy. BBC’s Merlin. It’s so funny, and the best thing is Merlin/Arthur. I ship them so hard.
MO: I just know that the guy who plays Merlin is in [the Doctor Who episode] “Midnight.”
7) Wonderfalls
Casey: There are a lot of reasons why I love it, but the reason I think you should particularly watch it is that you’re always complaining about the bad representations of atheists on TV. The main character’s brother is an atheist, but he also has doctorates in religion, so clearly he’s thought about it and engages with it. It’s by [Pushing Daisies writer] Bryan Fuller, it’s only 13 episodes, so it’s short.
8) Chrestomanci
Maggie: I know it’s on your ‘eventually’ list, but oh my god. I need there to be some fandom. It’s by Diana Wynne Jones, who wrote Howl’s Moving Castle, and it’s [about] this nine-lived enchanter who’s in charge of policing all of these separate parallel universes.
MO: I love parallel universes.
9) Inception
MO: I totally get why there is a fandom [for Inception], but it was such a surprise when it happened.
10) Adventure Time
Robin: The other thing I was going to suggest is children’s franchises, like Adventure Time or My Little Pony because they have crazy fandoms.
MO: I am so obsessed with Adventure Time it’s disgusting.
Daily Dot: So which of these would you be most likely to do?
MO: Probably Primeval. It’s weird, because I make jokes so much about how much I love time travel and dinosaurs, and why aren’t those two things in everything? So I’d definitely have to say Primeval.
Photo via Mark Reads
