Beginner's Guide to Dropout.TV
If you’ve heard of Dropout and you don’t know where to start watching shows on the service, let me help you as a longtime Dropout subscriber.
Hello there internet citizen!
You heard about this up and coming streaming service called Dropout and you don't know if you should get it, or what's on offer.
You might have seen some TikToks and even heard about this Brennan guy or this Sam guy and you don't really know what's going on, but you want to learn more.
First of all, Hi! My name is Oren and I'm a Dropout veteran and have joined the streaming service back in February 2019 when it became available worldwide. It's crazy to think that last February was six years since I joined and almost seven years since Dropout was created.
Let me guide you through all the major shows Dropout has on offer as of September 2024, with a guarantee that I'll update this article when the service introduces major changes.
Let's dive right in, shall we?
Dimension 20
Dimension 20 is an anthology show of campaigns in various table-top role-playing systems. They just launched their 22nd season on service.
Yes, you read that right - there are 23 seasons to this anthology series.
If you are into D&D, role playing games, and Critical Role, this would be your go-to on the service.
The good thing about Dimension 20, is it's easy to start. Only a handful of the 22 seasons of the show are related to each other and some are shorter than others.
If you want to start with a season that would teach you how to play D&D and isn't too time consuming, you would probably start with Dungeons and Drag Queens. It's only 4 episodes long.
If you're looking for something a little longer with more story you might want to dive into A Court of Fey and Flowers - a fey season heavily inspired by Bridgerton.
If you want to start with a core cast season - which are the longest seasons of about 20 episodes - you might start with something like NeverAfter or A Starstruck Odyssey. They are not connected to anything else.
If you want to dive into the culture of the service you would start with Fantasy High - the first season of Dimension 20 - and go from there by the release date of the seasons to experience them as we veterans did when they first came out.
Whatever you decide, here's where you can find all of them:
Dimension 20: Adventuring Academy
This is essentially an interview show between Brennan and other table-top role-playing nerds. In each of the episode there are discussions about useful topics for dungeon masters but not exclusively.
This show essentially teaches you how to be a better storyteller.
It’s also very much a fun discussion to listen to.
Catch it here:
Um, Actually
Um, Actually is a game show where three contestants need to prove which one is the nerdiest by fixing statements made by the host - originally that was Mike Trapp. In the newest season, Mike Trapp passed on the torch to Ify Nwadiwe.
Just like Dimension 20, this show has been around since the beginning. In fact, Um, Actually existed even before Dropout came to be as a series of short videos on CollegeHumor’s YouTube channel, Dropout's predecessor.
As a game show, each episode is different. You can just pick one and go. They always range in 35-45 minute length.
This is one of the longest-running shows on the service. Not 21 seasons like Dimension 20, but over the nine seasons the show produced, it has over 130 episodes + 1 behind the scenes episode.
That's a lot of opportunities to learn some nerd facts.
One of the things I love about the show is that the writers and hosts on this show curate questions not just to make it hard on the players but also to raise discussion about the things that were true in a statement that make no sense or are worth talking about.
Each episode ends with a tradition to ask a "real life skills" question. If you're American, those questions could teach you something new you didn't know before about your economy, health, car, career and more.
Watch them all here:
Game Changer
Game Changer, as opposed to Dimension 20 and Um, Actually, has only 6 seasons. It came out in September 2019, about a year after the service launched.
This game show is Sam Reich's little haven of expression. Aside from smaller episodic games like "Sam Says," the seasons are taking on more ambitious projects like Survivor.
Overall, Game Changer has been a good platform to try out new ideas for game shows on the service.
One of which is the next one we will talk about, called Make Some Noise.
Catch Game Changer episodes here:
Make Some Noise
Make Some Noise started as an episode of Game Changer. In fact, it was the 2nd episode of season 1.
People loved it so much that season after season, Sam would do another episode to continue the rounds.
It got to a point where those episodes became so popular that it was time to diverge from Game Changer and create a whole show just of that gameplay.
Now Make Some Noise already has three seasons. Catch it here:
Breaking News
Breaking News is one of the funniest shows on the service, and each episode is only about 8 minutes or less.
The show's premise is that the participants don't know what they're about to say, and they're not allowed to smile or laugh.
These episodes manage to capture some pure chaos, and I highly encourage you to savor them when you're down. They'll lift you up in an instant.
In the earliest seasons of this show, the fun was in making prompts that would break the cast. But as the budget for this show grew, food challenges and maybe even "crafts" challenges have been added. It's fantastic.
Watch Breaking News here:
Dirty Laundry
Dirty Laundry is a pretty new addition from the last couple of years that took the Dropout community by storm.
That show reveals secrets about our beloved famous people. Each episode has about 10 secrets that the players need to guess their owners. If it's their own secret, they need to deflect and accuse other people. If you manage to slip under the radar undetected, you get three points. If you manage to guess someone correctly, you get one point.
Another segment of this show is "What are we drinking, Grant?" where Grant, effectively the co-host alongside Lily Du, who runs the game, teaches us how to make a drink with his mixologist skills. Some of these drinks look delicious!
It's a lot of fun, alcohol, and "tea," and if you want to know more about your heroes, make sure to watch the episodes their in!
Watch Dirty Laundry here:
Very Important People
Very Important People is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows on the service. Hosted by talented human being Vic Michaelis, the show features interviews with fictional people.
The premise of the show is that each guest will be transformed into a character using makeup, clothing, and even prosthetics in some cases and will not know who they become until the transformation is finished.
Once they look at themselves in the mirror, they need to come up with a personality for the new person and a background.
Later on Vic interviews the guest and it always somehow ends up being a completely unhinged conversation. Watch it for some good improv and funny moments!
Find all episodes here:
Thousandaires
Thousandaires is a testament to how much Dropout has grown over the years.
The premise of this show is that in each episode, one person receives a thousand dollars and needs to decide what to do with them for their friends.
And the reason I call this a testament to Dropout’s growth is because this show would never have been possible in the early days of the service. Not only do you need to pay for the cast and crew for their work, you also need to take out 1000 extra dollars? The early days of Dropout were marked by skeleton crews and wildly limited productions.
So, whether you are already fan of the cast or not, watch an episode or two. It’s just fun and the episodes are wildly different from each other.
Watch here:
Smartypants
This show is the epitome of nerdiness on the service. Rekha Shankar hosts a series of lectures about the most nerdy and funny things. Remember, the premise of the service is to offer giggles. So, even in such a “serious” setting, being funny will always be a part of it.
Each episode has one lecturer and a host of guests that can listen and also share their remarks during the presentation. Rekha is sitting among the listeners and is the “mediator” of the lecture.
This one is more on the nerdier side. Give it a shot and let me know what you think about it!
Watch here:
Total Forgiveness
Total Forgiveness sits somewhere in the middle between a documentary and a reality show. Grant and Ally Beardsley are good friends who just want to pay off their debt.
To that end, they decide to have a candid conversation with Sam about doing a competition where they’ll challenge each other for various amounts of money.
The challenges can’t be easy. They must be serious challenges. And let me tell you, they definitely were.
As a person who also dealt with vast amounts of debt all my life, I thoroughly related to Grant and Ally in this show.
I hope there’s another one sometime in the future.
Watch here:
Gods of Food
Gods of Food is another show by Rekha Shankar. It’s a parody of all of those food shows, but it’s SO well-done! (Pun definitely intended)
Rekha does not actually appear in the episodes, she just made the show. Each episode features a different “food person” whether a chef or a baker, or some other food-related persona. Aside from them telling their story, there are a couple of food rating people who add more context to the story.
Aside from how original this show is, it also looks fantastic with really unique cinematography. And it’s funny!
Give it a shot and watch here:
Kingpin Katie
Kingpin Katie is the logical conclusion of a bit that existed since the days of CollegeHumor. Yeah remember that name? Dropout killed the brand, but all the videos from CollegeHumor are now conveniently still on the CollegeHumor channel which only changed it’s name to Dropout.
So, back then, sketches would be uploaded to the channel. The cast members had their own lore. One of those bits were that Katie is addicted to Cocaine.
It began as a comment on one of the videos that wasn’t even related to the white powder references that came later, but the team decided to lean into it. The “Katie” character slowly adopted more and more Cocaine references in the sketches until it became such a huge deal that people started commenting that in every video Katie was in, regardless of the bit or not.
Kingpin Katie is a show about how Katie become a Cocaine drug dealer and absolutely slayed in her own Katie way.
It’s funny and it’s only one season. Watch it here:
The Rank Room
The Rank Room is Katie’s first show on the service. It began, as most early shows on the service began, as a YouTube series.
In the early days of Dropout, this was one of the shows I loved watching all the time. I still come back to this show from time to time, just because it feels rewatchable.
The premise of the show is a big question and each “contestant” including Katie herself, has to present two ideas to the table. Then after all ideas that satisfy the prompt were presented, each of the contestants needs to choose one for the top three, and then Katie has to rank the top 3.
This is the first show on the channel that felt like it had a professional game show vibe. This came out six months before Game Changer was introduced back In 2019.
Give it a go:
Monét's Slumber Party
This is a new show on the service which I have little experience with. Regardless, I wanted to update you of its existence! I'll watch it and update soon with my own thoughts about it!
Watch it here:
Hardly Working
Hardly working is here to commemorate CollegeHumor’s Legacy. These are all the sketches that came out back in the day. All of them are very good. The good benefit of watching them on Dropout is they’re not censured. Dropout can publish whatever they want on their own platform and that means censorship is not required. Especially since Dropout doesn’t have advertisers to cater to as they did on CollegeHumor.
Give some of these a go. They’re brilliant!
Everything Else
Believe it or not, there are still many shows on the service I did not mention in this article! New shows are added every year and Dropout has been in business since 2018.
Especially now that Dropout is growing. This means bigger and better shows that come out more frequently.
So, once you’re in the mood to find something new, visit the “series” page on Dropout and find something new to watch!
That’s It!
Thank you for reading this long beginner’s guide To Dropout. It’s been a long time coming! I hope it helps you learn more about the service and to find something new to watch!
If you have any questions or feedback or just want to talk about Dropout, feel free to drop a comment below! I read and interact with all of them!
