Kaley Patterson
A&E Editor
@KaleyKayPatt
Chase Mallow sat at the anchor desk starring intently into the hard wood. He sipped from his Batman mug full of water and then began repeating, “Liam Neeson, Liam Neeson, Li-am Nee-son.” Syllable by syllable, Mallow felt more confident about his pronunciation of the famous actor’s name.
“Okay,” Mallow said. “I’m ready.”
Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
“What is up Cameron Aggies? I’m Chase Mallow, and this is Film Geek,” he excitedly said, flashing a smile at the camera during his second filming of the show.
A senior communication major, Mallow has taken the reigns from alumna Ashli Mathiews as producer and host of CUTV’s “Film Geek.”
“Her [Mathiews] format was awesome,” Mallow said. “I loved the show and helped her with it, but everyone has their own thing… See, I’m a huge [Steven] Colbert fan. I love ‘The Colbert Report,’ and I love how he uses a desk. I like his formality.
“You copy what you like, so I’m gonna wear a suit, maybe, or a jacket with a Batman shirt underneath it. I’m gonna do my own thing with it.”
Mallow moved around in his chair – back and forth, up and down – engaging with his audience, pointing his finger at the camera when things got interesting and tossing his pen when in disbelief. An animated Mallow gives viewers a good laugh and knee slap even if the content isn’t hysterical.
“[I’m] trying to put a little comic into it,” Mallow said. “It’s [Film Geek’s] different than what it has been.”
While the trailer for the new “Fantastic Four” movie played, Mallow shifted his desk and chair to prepare for the interview segment of the show and to make room for his guest Jereme Cobb, who is also the director of “Film Geek.” The coworkers joked and laughed while Cobb shared his experience interning for a documentary that premiered at the Trail Dance Film Festival in Duncan three weeks ago.
Mallow said without Cobb and the help of his classmates, “Film Geek” would not be possible.
“Whenever we shot the first show, it was just me, Jeff and Jereme – the only ones there at the time,” Mallow said, “and we were like, ‘oh man, we need to get someone. We need someone to run the audio [and] run the teleprompter.’ We’re going to need the extra hands… You have to rely on other people because you’re not the only one making something or working to make it.”
The trailer for “American Sniper” began rolling next. Mallow and a friend attended a screening of the Oscar-nominated movie, and on the show, they rehashed their thoughts and impressions of the film.
“I’m obviously going to talk about the baby,” Mallow said. “That baby was horribly fake.”
Mallow started wrapping up the show and informed his audience what they could expect in next week’s show. His face lit up when he spoke about his favorite television show, the Netflix Original Series “House of Cards.” He and a guest will review the whole season after its release on Feb.27.
“It is amazing,” Mallow exclaimed. “There’s so much symbolism. I love a show that can go so much in depth… Not very many shows can do that.”
After he listed off the movies playing at his sponsor theatre, Starplex Cinemas, Mallow signed off.
“I’m Chase Mallow, and like all the movies you can’t watch right away, we’ll catch you later,” Mallow said with two knocks of his pen on his desk.
Episodes of “Film Geek” can be viewed on the various televisions set up in the MCC, the Academic Commons and many other places around campus or on aggiecentral.com.