September 22, 2017
Man, there is a good television show buried somewhere deep in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but it's barely visible through the haze of Aaron Sorkin's smugness. We watch "Nevada Day," Parts 1 and 2, and "The Option Period" and try to find it. Come for the nonstop political tirades, stay for the inside baseball plot points about screenplay formatting! Then, Mad Men sends Lane Pryce careering off the deep end in "Commissions and Fees."
September 16, 2017
We've got three second-season Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes this week that don't have a whole lot going for them -- we do our level best to get something interesting out of "Time Squared," "The Icarus Factor," and "Pen Pals," but they didn't make our work easy. After that, Mad Men wades into some gross territory and probably pisses off the real Jaguar in "The Other Woman."
September 16, 2017
To be fair, it's not just about Studio 60. We also talk about podcasting in general, the Twin Peaks revival, and other things. But Studio 60 takes up the bulk of the conversation, and, you know, this is a show with problems. We talk about "The West Coast Delay," "The Long Lead Story," and "The Wrap Party," and see if Aaron Sorkin can get around himself to just write a decent script (spoiler: no). Then, Mad Men, as Joan and Don dance a "Christmas Waltz."
August 27, 2017
Would the head writer of a television show sabotage another writer's script, just to piss him off and make him look bad? We don't know, but J. has a theory. We're talking second-season Star Trek: The Next Generation this week, with "The Dauphin," "Contagion," and "The Royale," and one of these episodes has a backstory way more dramatic than anything on screen. And one of these episodes is so flamboyantly stupid it might be genius. Spoiler: it's the same episode! Then, Mad Men bums everybody out and basks in "Dark Shadows."
August 27, 2017
My God, that's Aaron Sorkin's music! And it sounds like Gilbert and Sullivan! Yes, we're kicking off our next one-season-only show in this episode, with Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. With such a pedigree both behind and in front of the camera, how could it have gone wrong? We'll explain it to you! Then, Mad Men backs up a truck full of money to pay for a Beatles song on "Lady Lazarus."
August 5, 2017
Seriously, deliberately getting Data's chosen pronouns wrong is not cool. We talk about that, along with old age makeup and how Klingons are rad as fuck, in our episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation this week. We watched "Unnatural Selection," "A Matter of Honor," and "Measure of a Man," and two of these are amazing! Then, we watch Mad Men's "At the Codfish Ball" and can't remember if Megan's parents are supposed to be French or French-Canadian. It's the former, right?
Next week: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
July 26, 2017
Well, we said we'd decide if we wanted to continue talking about Flashforward this week, and...uh...we certainly decided. We watched "The Gift," "Playing Cards with Coyote," and "Believe," and wonder if these writers have ever left the writers' room, since they don't know how one gets a job, or plays poker, or gets text messages, or responds to an innocent question from a friend. Then, it's back to Mad Men, as Don, Peggy, and Roger look to sherbet, anonymous sex, and LSD -- respectively -- to take them to "Far Away Places."
July 20, 2017
We're talking Star Trek: The Next Generation season 2 this week, and boy does this season earn its reputation. We watch "The Outrageous Okona," "Loud as a Whisper," and "The Schizoid Man," and try desperately to find anything resembling a plot. In any of them. (For real, a good chunk of one of the episode is watching Data watch Joe Piscipo do a Jerry Lewis impression. It's that kind of season of TV.) Then, we talk Mad Men, as "Signal 30" digs deep into Pete Campbell and Lane Pryce. Yes, it's the Pete-Lane fistfight episode.
July 12, 2017
Hey, so, Flashforward is not a good show, is it? Nope, no, it's not, and the problems we saw in the first three episodes aren't getting fixed. We talk about episodes 4-6 ("Black Swan," "Gimme Some Truth," and "Scary Monster and Super Creeps"), and wince and the show's attempts to be a cop show, a doctor show, a politics show, without ever becoming a good show. Then, Mad Men gets a little crazy, as Don sees an old fling, Ginsberg calls an audible, Roger and Peggy deal, Joan has enough, and Sally hides under the couch from a "Mystery Date."
July 5, 2017
Good news: we're starting Star Trek: The Next Generation season two this week! Bad news: the awful producers chased Gates McFadden off the show after season one. Mixed news: they replaced her with Diana Muldaur as Dr. Pulaski, who is...polarizing? We talk about the new doctor, among other things, as we discuss "The Child," "Where Silence Has Lease," and "Elementary, Dear Data." Then, we continue our look at Mad Men season five, as Pete gets petty (shock!), Roger gets his ego bruised (shock!), Peggy is disrespected by a man (shock!), and Betty gets worried about what she sees in her "Tea Leaves."
July 5, 2017
(This was recorded a couple of weeks ago. J. apologizes for the delay.)
It's summer time on the Podcastulacra, and that means one thing: Mad Men! As per our tradition, we swap coverage of Elementary out during the summer months to focus on the adventures of Don Draper and his merry men (and oppressed women). We're starting season five this week, so cringe along with Don at the season opener, "A Little Kiss." Before all of that, though, we're also starting a new One Season Only show this week, as we flashback to ABC's Flashforward. Maybe if the writers had seen a flash of the future, they wouldn't have been so timid in their storytelling!
June 7, 2017
Well, this one turned out to be a monster. As promised, we dedicate this week's entire episode to a discussion of the second season of the FX series Fargo. We talk about the things we agree on (the acting! the dialogue!), the things we don't (the split screens! Hanzee's entire character and arc!), J. pontificates on the Coen brothers, and we all have a grand old time.
May 24, 2017
Elementary's fifth season comes to an end that has us going all "Uhhhhhh..." Then, we talk the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation's first season, with "Conspiracy" and "The Neutral Zone." Hey, did you know 20th century humans were pieces of trash? 'Cause the Enterprise crew is here to tell you all about it!
May 19, 2017
We've reached the end of Wonderfalls, and it's a bittersweet conclusion. That's to be expected from a show that was this far out of step with its time, really. In addition, we talk about the penultimate episode of Elementary's fifth (but not final!) season, Robby learns about Tim Allen's life of crime, and we go on about a billion tangents. It was kind of night.
May 11, 2017
Denise Crosby deserved so much better than the first season of The Next Generation. We watch "Symbiosis," "Skin of Evil," and "We'll Always Have Paris," and have a whole of complainin' to do. We also manage to bring up Red Shoe Diaries multiple times, so get your Podcastulacra bingo cards ready.) Elsewhere, Elementary is kind of whatever, which J. can talk about just as soon as his wife finishes updating him on MTV's The Challenge.
May 3, 2017
We've been doing this podcast for five years! That is a piece of time. We think back to the old days, briefly, until moving on to this week's Elementary, which is...eh?...followed by a few more installments of Wonderfalls. When Wonderfalls is good, it's great, but it's starting to really be unfortunate they never got a chance to work out the kinks.
April 26, 2017
We start off with goofiness inspired by The Leftovers, because J. is a dork. But then we move on to regular business, as Elementary does an episode about magicians that would have been great without its problematic B-plot, and then Star Trek: The Next Generation's first season gets...good? What? That can't be right. We talk "Coming of Age," "Heart of Glory," and "The Arsenal of Freedom," and take one last chance to dump on Gene Roddenberry. Hey, everyone needs a hobby.
April 19, 2017
We continue our look at Wonderfalls this week, as we think about the difficulty inherent in doing a television show whose defining characteristic is "quirk." What happens when you can't thread the needle with your tone, and you end up too serious or too silly? Or, um, seesawing violently between both extremes in the same episode? Elsewhere, we talk the endless NBA playoff schedule, and some CBS show called Elementary. It's pretty good, why don't they air this more often?
April 12, 2017
So, Elementary got bumped from the schedule thanks to golf (thanks again for moving the show to Sunday, CBS), leaving us with only Star Trek: The Next Generation to discuss this week. We talk about "Too Short a Season," "When the Bough Breaks," and "Home Soil," and break off into random-ass tangents at every opportunity.
April 5, 2017
It's back to the land of talking animals as we continue our look at Wonderfalls, after some lengthy prattle about baseball and Wrestlemania.
March 29, 2017
Have I mentioned that the early episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation are pretty badly flawed? Because that seems important. We watch "Datalore," "Angel One," and "11001001," and, like, guys, what the hell? These scripts are so sloppy we're amazing the actors could even read their lines. Elsewhere, J. gets hyped(-ish) for Wrestlemania week and we talk about the the latest Elementary, in which the show finally decides to do something with Shinwell, which is...I guess an improvement?
March 29, 2017
So, this was recorded a week ago, and it should have been recorded a week before that. We had problems. But! Good stuff! We add Wonderfalls to our podcast, talking about two of the early episodes, and we talk about a couple of...eh, less than stellar episodes of Elementary. Hey, this season has been rough.
March 16, 2017
Well, probably not. But Star Trek: The Next Generation did, for one of these episodes we're talking about this week. We talk about "Hide and Q," "Haven," and "The Big Goodbye," and, honestly, it's not hard to guess which episode won an award. We talk about the holodeck, Lwaxana Troi, and how the writers, again, insist on being gross to Tasha Yar (and Denise Crosby). Also, Elementary is back, and finally gets its groove back.
March 1, 2017
Well, we've reached the end of The River, and it's...well, it's probably not the end the producers wanted. The show gets canceled before they can reach the end of their journey, or reveal everything in the characters' backstory, or explain really much of anything. We break it all down, and heap praise upon the things that deserve praise. And a lot of it actually does! Elsewhere, it's Crazy Game Show Corner, as J. talks about The Wall. No, not the Pink Floyd album. Yes, we make that joke, don't worry.
February 23, 2017
Man, the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation is a rough road, idn't it? We watch "Lonely Among Us," "Justice," and "The Battle," and do our best to tease out the highlights from the gunk. It's not easy. We also talk about this week's Elementary, which was absolutely flabbergasted at internet content creators. Like anybody would be dumb enough to create something for the internet!
