Ben Leuner/AMCSince his directorial debut with Clerks in 1994, Kevin Smith has been a champion of geek culture. His Comic Book Men series has aired on AMC for five seasons and counting, and now Smith joins Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) for AMC’s new Geeking Out, a 30-minute show celebrating all things pop culture, sci-fi, comics and more. The series will launch Sunday, July 24, at 10pm ET/PT with a Comic-Con special and then begin its eight-week run on Aug. 21.
Smith teased a few upcoming Geeking Out segments, including a behind-the-scenes piece from an episode of The Flash he directed, and another in which Grunberg sits down with J.J. Abrams. “That’s juicy stuff,” Smith says. “The audience that we’re gearing toward, it’s not about, ‘Hey, let’s tell you stuff you already know because you read it on the internet.’ It’s more about like, ‘Hey, here’s some weird access to a conversation you might never have heard otherwise.’”
It’s also about reflecting the great diversity of genre fans, and it will draw from a number of correspondents and reports from fans around the world. “As we jumped into Geeking Out, the big thing was like, ‘Middle-age white men cannot be the only representation of geek culture.’ Even I’m saying that, and I am that.” Smith remembers when he heard that he would be Grunberg’s cohost. “Right away my diversity radar went off where I was like, ‘Boy, we look like f*ckin’ twins of one another, me and this guy.’ You know what I’m saying? Like, it’s not all the colors of the rainbow. It’s Heavy and Heavy With Beard, and white as the day is long.”
In the Comic-Con special, Smith heads to Las Vegas to visit Matt Damon and talk about Jason Bourne. Then Smith and Grunberg take viewers on an all-access tour through San Diego Comic-Con, including talks with some of the biggest comic book and graphic novel creators and artists. And, of course, they’ll showcase some of the convention floor’s most colorful cosplayers. They’ll also meet up with Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino and get a look at the orchestra that will perform Star Trek Beyond’s score live at the movie’s premiere event.
