WLTV – Opposite of Jumping the Shark

An article by Ryan    No Comments

4th post into this new blog, 2nd post about Gary V. I’m not trying to turn this into a Gary V nuthuggingfest but for some reason, tonight I was wondering exactly what episode Gary changed the format of his show to really let himself be himself. I’m admittedly a very late comer to Wine Library, started watching it late 2007 but I did know he started very conservatively, very polite and very much catering to his existing customer base. I didn’t know at what point he went from polite and polished Gary selling wine to the real and raw Gary that everyone who watches his show loves today. Well a little browsing of the archives and I found episode 57  posted in July of 06.

Gary at the time had been doing WLTV for just 5 months and had already been approached by 2 TV networks to do a TV show. For some reason, the fact that they tried to make him conform to what they wanted pushed a button within him and really lead him to let loose in those next episodes. To me, that is the point where hit his stride. Whats the opposite of Jumping the Shark? Diving Under the Shark? Yeah he did that.

Boring episode 56

compared to episode 57

It’s not really 100% Vaynerchuk yet like we see today but you can see that this episode was the point where he realized he needed to be true to himself.

I think there’s a really important lesson to learn here. People appreciate authenticity. Not only that, with the internet today, it’s almost impossible to not be your real self. Remember Michael Richards (Kramer)? You can’t hide your true self anymore. If you’re a dick, you’re going to be found out, if you’re a good guy you’re going to shine. In this new age of the web, Good Guys are going to win. How awesome is that?