I've read this entire thread and here's just my two-cents:
Are you sitting comfortably?
Brad/ Cinema Snob is awesome, but I will admit I stopped watching his actual Snob reviews around the time his theme song changed (Believe it or not, I'm talking on air...). Around that time I was really preferring the old stuff, but not necessarily the oldest where the reviews were only 5 or so minutes, and going back to a few choice favorites.
DVD-R Hell is still a win for me, as are Midnight Reviews. Mostly.
The whole Jake debacle is pretty shit and no one deserves that from as close a friend as he was. I never liked Jared (Jarrid? Jared? Whatever). He was always unfunny. Case and point- him not knowing that Asperger's was a real term and preceding to have the most obnoxious laughing fit. Also he apparently made vulgar comments about Jillian to people at cons. If you get kicked off the team 2 or 3 times, you probably suck.
Someone mentioned that the Snob crew has a pretty odd dynamic since most of them have dated or been married and until this thread I just thought they were just really cool before they entered into relationships and somehow made it work afterwards. I kinda retract my thoughts. I never noticed any hostility or negativity when did reviews or when they had a giant Best/Worst of year end review.
As for Brad being catty and two-faced, I don't think anyone posted any "proof". I think Brad is very good at what he does and is very realistic but I don't think the man walks on water.
His new girlfriend is in some Midnight Reviews. I don't watch the ones with her, and I think it's a bad idea to have a girlfriend in the videos. I know he sometimes has random people like his mom or that other friend (Ryan, I think his name is. He looks vaguely Asian to me) but making your girlfriend a regular just seems like a bad idea.
I saw something that said Jillian stopped doing review because she didn't feel like doing it anymore. Fair enough. I don't think the two could have been on too terrible terms since Jillian did the new website back when and that was well after their divorce.
I checked on the site a while ago and I think there was a mention Jillian was sick and they were collecting donations for her care.
I have to say, the team seem to at least pretend to give a shit. I remember they raised money for Jake (pre-Rayne of course) to help him after he got into a care accident. I think they sold autographed DVD's of the Snob movie.
I used to watch some N-Chick. I think my last viewing was of her Addam's Family movie reviews and I liked them enough. Some of her stuff I really liked, like her crossovers with Todd and RapCritic.
I think the rumors about her sexing up all (but one...) TGWTG male is a bit crap. I don't think I've seen any "confirmation" or anything similar. And even if it's true, if it wasn't malicious and was more just one nighters or something I can't say that it's anyone's business aside from her and her partner(s). I dunno, personally I wouldn't do that and think it's a stupid idea but I don't support shaming her over it.
I never really liked when Nella and her other friend co-starred in her stuff, but I find Nella a good touch sometimes.
I really like ToddintheShadows. I watch all his stuff and think he's very funny and insightful enough for what he's doing. He's doing funny internet videos, I don't need a thesis level defense/trashing.
Someone mentioned one of his Worst Of reviews just being hate without description- and my defense is that because he's doing so many songs, he doesn't have the time to do a real review on every song. Especially since some of the songs on the Worst Of he already gave a proper review to and that has the real meat on it.
I don't really mind him being not-so-impartial on certain genres like nu-metal. I like his honesty that he flat out doesn't like it and isn't gonna BS some praise. Maybe he shouldn't do those types of songs, but I enjoy them.
I think he's pretty down to Earth and enjoys what he does.
I can't comment on N-Chick and Todd's politics. I don't have a twitter and I don't follow them on any social media so all I see are there reviews. I just don't know enough about their deals and what they're involved in (and no, I don't really know shit about Gamergate either).
I only watched a few of NC Avatar vlogs. They seemed alright enough. I just never saw his appeal and never felt the need to watch his stuff. His website is horrible.
Ashens is entertaining as can be and I'm glad he's about 0% related to TGWTG.
I do have to say though, he did do something fairly questionable. He sold "Ashens' Box" that was filled with some merchandise about him and the show. I saw a lot of backlash in the comments about how the merchandise looked like crap and this was a desperate cash grab. Still, that was one bump in the road.
I also heard the movie he crowdfunded and put out for free online was good, so that's nice (and it had Warwick Davis!) .
What boggles my mind is that people quit their day job for this. For some, like Brad, it makes some sense since he went to school for film and has always had a production ambition (Dave mentions he and Brad have been making movies since high school) so I could understand him really pushing to make this successful. As for a lot of the others, is screaming at a camera really that secure?
I think it was relatively soon after YouTube started their paid affiliates program TheArchfiend railed on the Irate Gamer about quitting his job to make videos since there was no contract and all of his income could vanish at any time.
Don't quit your day job. Let the Internet be a bonus (which I have to say, TheArchfiend was smart to do, at least back in the day).
TL;DR: I like some people. TGWTG has always been 90% unimpressive to me. It has a really bad website.