FH Mini 139 - Tuboy Tube Talkin' (re)Turns!

Stuart Wellington

[0:00] Hey folks, Stuart Wellington of the Flophouse podcast here.

[0:03] Now you're about to listen to a Flophouse mini episode that was recorded after Jimmy Kimmel had been suspended,

[0:10] but before ABC had decided to reinstate him.

[0:13] So some of the information may be a little out of date.

[0:17] Now though the immediate threat may be averted,

[0:21] we here at the Flophouse feel the threat to freedom of speech continues on.

[0:26] So much of the material we talk about will still be valid.

[0:30] In any case, thank you for listening. Bye.

[0:37] Hey everybody, this is Stuart Wellington of the Flophouse podcast.

[0:41] And this is another Flophouse mini episode.

[0:43] And I'm joined by my two co-hosts.

[0:46] Introduce yourselves all the way from Los Angeles, California.

[0:50] We have Dan McCoy and Elliot Kalin.

Elliott Kalan

[0:54] And I really hope that Alex was able to edit out the belch that happened right before you started saying hello to the audience.

[1:01] I hope he looped it.

[1:04] Yes, they can make it their ringtone.

Stuart Wellington

[1:06] Yep.

[1:06] Okay.

[1:07] So as now that I've established, this is an episode of the Flophouse and it's a Flophouse mini.

[1:11] Result.

[1:12] This is a Flophouse mini.

[1:13] Yes.

[1:14] Yes.

[1:14] Let's get the real intro out of the way.

[1:17] Alex, why don't you cue that theme music because we are doing another Two Boy talking tube to two dudes tonight.

[1:26] That's right.

[1:27] In this case, Two Boy refers to me, Stuart Wellington, a.k.a. Two Boy.

[1:31] And the two dudes I'm talking to are Dan and Elliot tonight because it's nighttime in New York.

[1:36] It's daytime where they're recording.

[1:38] And it's right because that's what we're doing.

[1:39] It's really evening where you are in New York.

[1:41] Oh, okay.

[1:42] I didn't realize I was, I guess it's, that's wrong.

Elliott Kalan

[1:45] I just, I won't want to get any Pinocchios on the podcast because you said 7-12 is nighttime.

[1:51] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[1:51] This is all Pinocchios.

[1:53] This is an all Pinocchio episode.

[1:54] Oh, okay.

[1:55] This is all goofs and sillies.

[1:56] This is our whoops all goofs episode of the Flophouse.

[1:59] Oh, if only.

[2:00] If only we had that, we had one of those in us.

[2:03] But the thing is our dedication to the truth and honesty overrules that.

[2:07] Yeah.

[2:07] So I am here in New York City and I am recording this with my two co-hosts who are all the way in La La Land, the place where television comes from.

[2:16] Oh, yeah.

[2:17] So I thought it'd be a great time for us to revisit a classic Stuart Wellington sub-mini premise.

[2:24] Two Boy Talks to Two Dudes Tonight.

[2:25] To just talk about television.

[2:27] That's the premise.

[2:28] Just talking about television.

[2:28] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[2:30] It's not the most elaborate premise.

[2:33] Wow.

[2:33] I think everybody understands the premise.

Dan McCoy

[2:36] I don't know that we need to keep burning Stu on every—

[2:39] I know.

Dan McCoy

[2:39] I'm sorry.

[2:40] No, it's okay.

[2:40] Elliot's all worked up.

Elliott Kalan

[2:42] He's all prepared to—

[2:44] I'm thrown off by having Dan next to me.

[2:46] So I'm holding the hostility I would normally hit him with at you.

[2:49] Sorry, Paul.

Stuart Wellington

[2:50] Elliot's really nervous for Rosh Hashanah dinner tonight, I guess.

Elliott Kalan

[2:55] Yeah, well, that's the thing is I know that I've got to build up some sins that I can atone for in a week and a half.

Stuart Wellington

[3:00] Well, don't worry.

[3:02] You'll have Dan there to hold your hand the whole time, right?

[3:05] Mm-hmm.

Elliott Kalan

[3:07] So that'll be fun.

[3:08] Okay.

[3:08] Yeah, I guess.

[3:10] Ooh, it feels nice.

[3:11] Yeah, Dan, your hands are so warm.

[3:13] They're somehow gentle yet calloused like a working man's hands.

Stuart Wellington

[3:16] So since we're talking about television—

[3:19] Sorry.

[3:22] So since we're talking about television and I'm talking with two television writers,

[3:27] I think it's important that we address one of the biggest stories in television right now,

[3:31] a fellow named Jimmy Kimmel who has lost his job because the president put his thumb on the scale.

[3:37] Do you guys have opinions on this?

Elliott Kalan

[3:40] Yeah, I'm anti.

[3:42] Yeah, I'm anti.

[3:42] I think it's a sign of not just horrible authoritarian overreach on this part of the FCC and the federal government,

[3:51] but also cowardice and greed on the part of the corporations, which are the ones that ultimately took him away

[3:58] because apparently every single fucking major media corporation in America is in the midst of merging with another media corporation

[4:05] and needs the FCC to approve it, which makes them—not only threatens the diversity of opinions and content that we could have,

[4:14] the diversity of material in entertainment, that goes right off the bat,

[4:18] but also means that they are uniquely vulnerable to threats from the federal government to police the opinions

[4:25] and the types of statements and jokes that are made on their channels.

[4:30] It's all very bad.

Dan McCoy

[4:31] That's the not-so-secret sub-issue to the clear, you know, bullying by the government,

[4:38] which is that also we should be—we should have for years been more careful about the development of monopolies

[4:46] because shit like this happens.

Elliott Kalan

[4:48] They're not all run by friendly rich Uncle Penny bags who've just given $10 out whenever he wants.

Stuart Wellington

[4:53] I mean, I don't think he's that friendly.

[4:55] I mean, do you look at his face when he's judging that beauty contest?

[4:58] He looks insane.

Elliott Kalan

[4:59] He's very—well, no, but he wins the beauty contest.

[5:01] That's the thing.

[5:02] He doesn't—not judging it.

[5:03] He wins second prize, you know.

[5:04] Yeah, I mean, he's pretty good looking, but still—

[5:06] I will say it shows the corruption of the system that Rich Uncle Penny bags wins second place in the beauty contest.

[5:12] Yeah.

[5:13] Yeah, but I will say—

Dan McCoy

[5:14] Maybe a mustache contest.

Elliott Kalan

[5:15] But it is true that for decades now, I think mergers in the entertainment is—

[5:19] I mean, mergers in general have not been policed the way they should be,

[5:22] and tech companies have monopolies over so many parts of our lives.

[5:24] There's no real competition on them.

[5:26] But for decades, entertainment mergers, I think, have been particularly not cared about

[5:30] because entertainment is not seen as a serious business.

[5:33] It's seen as like a goofy, fake, kind of like imaginary business that weirdos do and celebrities.

[5:40] And there's—and who cares?

[5:41] And it's not treated as an industry where millions of people who are regular, ordinary people

[5:47] who are not celebrities and wealthy make a living and have to live off of and use so many different kinds of skills.

[5:52] And it's the kind of thing that—kind of reason that we had a strike a couple years ago.

[5:56] But now—

[5:56] It's because of these types of—the fact that corporate work was not taken seriously as an issue.

[6:01] But now it's—

Dan McCoy

[6:02] All sorts of local affiliates, including their news departments,

[6:05] are overseen by hyper-conservative megacorporations.

[6:10] So that's probably pretty good for speech, right?

Elliott Kalan

[6:13] Yeah.

[6:13] So I think, Stuart—

[6:15] But you were saying you want to take the opposite—that you actually—

[6:17] you were glad to see people get his, like you said?

Stuart Wellington

[6:19] Yeah, I still have a chip on my shoulder since the man show.

[6:25] So I thought it was timey.

[6:26] Yeah.

[6:27] The—I think, I mean, so that makes the second late-night show that's going away.

[6:34] I think this highlights a very clear moment that this is not normal, right?

[6:38] No.

Elliott Kalan

[6:38] Well, that—unfortunately, it highlights that this has become normal.

[6:42] That if there's three, then that just becomes regular MO.

[6:45] Is that if two—

[6:46] A New York Times trend piece.

[6:47] What?

[6:48] It becomes a New York Times trend piece.

[6:49] It does become a New York Times trend piece.

[6:50] Like, my favorite—

[6:51] Speaking of another—

[6:52] My favorite style trend piece ever, which was pot bellies are big in Brooklyn.

[6:55] And it was like, no, the guys are just getting older.

[6:57] Yeah.

[6:58] But the—I think that fact that you've had twice this year,

[7:01] companies that need approval for mergers throw away—

[7:06] cancel someone who is running afoul of the president.

[7:08] Like, that—it's the norm now, which sucks.

[7:10] I don't like living in that world.

Stuart Wellington

[7:11] And they not only—they're not only canceling the host and the people, but it's like the

[7:17] huge group of people who work there.

[7:19] Hundreds of people who are—

[7:20] There's hundreds of people who are thrown out of work.

Elliott Kalan

[7:21] And they—it's—that's not fair to them.

[7:25] It's not good to them.

Dan McCoy

[7:26] And the point was made, you know, back at the—when Colbert, this happened to Colbert.

[7:31] Like, there's a whole local economy, too, around these shows.

[7:35] Like, it brings money to the city that it's produced in over and above, like, the people

[7:42] who are employed.

Elliott Kalan

[7:43] Well, it's a—I think there's been a—I mean, it's part of also a larger thing of, like,

[7:47] the government crowing about how it's fired so many people from the federal government.

[7:50] The federal government employs a lot of people, and those are people.

[7:52] Those are American citizens who pay taxes, have bills to pay, have families.

[7:56] They're not this kind of, like, subspecies that we want to throw away and shoot into the

[8:02] sun.

Stuart Wellington

[8:02] Or the movie subspecies.

[8:03] If they were, that would be awesome.

Elliott Kalan

[8:05] That would be awesome.

[8:06] It's this—the idea that the government then kind of crows about, yeah, we're kicking people

[8:11] out of work, you know.

[8:12] But I also think that if the things they are saying about AI are true, which I don't know

[8:16] really what they are, where they're like, oh, yeah, this will eliminate 50% of white-collar

[8:19] jobs, then I think we all have a revolution on our hands, and we'll have whole new issues

[8:22] to deal with.

[8:23] So once the middle class feels like it can no longer control its own life in any way

[8:28] or can't pay its bills, that's when historically they start to overthrow governments.

[8:32] So they may be sowing their own destruction.

Stuart Wellington

[8:36] You don't feel the middle class is feeling that way?

[8:39] I mean—

Elliott Kalan

[8:40] I think the middle class is feeling that way, but not—it has not hit the point of, and

[8:44] there's something I can do about it.

[8:46] At the moment, it feels like the middle class feels the way, and there's nothing I can do

[8:49] about it.

[8:49] But you get pushed—much like the—I mean, this is much like the reason we have the programs

[8:56] from the New Deal that the Republican Party wants to destroy so badly is because things

[8:59] got so bad that people were like, we either have to change or we're going to have a revolution

[9:04] on our hands.

[9:04] And I think we're going to—we're now at a place where the people in charge are like,

[9:09] we don't want to change and we don't care.

[9:11] And then you end up with—and then you end up with a revolution.

[9:14] I'm not advocating a revolution because that's not good for families in general, and I have

[9:18] one.

[9:20] It's really good for like, I don't know, young guys who like to shoot people, which I'm not

[9:23] in favor of.

[9:24] And so I'm not advocating that, but I'm saying if you really make people feel like they cannot

[9:28] support themselves because you're eagerly throwing them out of work and making it impossible

[9:33] for them to pay their bills or feed their families, then it causes trouble.

[9:37] It's trouble with a capital T, and that rhymes with P, and that stands for pool.

[9:41] Pools of blood, Daniel.

[9:42] That will run down the streets.

[9:45] So the—in this specific case—

[9:46] This got dark.

[9:47] Thanks for bringing this up, Stu.

[9:48] This must be a fun podcast.

Stuart Wellington

[9:49] Hey, that's why we're doing it up top.

[9:53] It'll get more fun as we get.

[9:54] Yeah, this is—we're eating our broccoli now so we can have dessert later.

[9:56] Yeah, yeah.

[9:57] Okay, now that we got the vegetables out of the way, we're going to move on to the next—our

[10:02] next segment.

[10:04] Guys, recently, I don't know if you pay attention to this sort of thing, but there was a thing

[10:08] called the Emmys, and at least one of us watched the Emmys ceremony.

[10:13] Can you guess which one?

[10:14] It was Dan.

Dan McCoy

[10:16] Dan watched the Emmys.

[10:16] I mean, Elliot probably can because it wasn't him, I'm assuming, from the way he looks.

[10:21] So—

[10:22] What?

[10:22] About—

[10:23] You just have an expression on your face like, well, it wasn't me, so—

Elliott Kalan

[10:26] No, I assumed it was Dan, yeah.

[10:28] So, yeah, it was Dan.

[10:28] Yeah, it was Dan, you know.

[10:29] Yeah.

[10:29] I'm like, I don't see Stuart really watching it.

[10:32] I didn't.

[10:32] I know I didn't.

[10:33] I mean, Stuart likes award shows.

[10:36] It's like we're playing a game of a werewolf here, but instead of a werewolf, it's who watched

[10:39] the Emmys.

Stuart Wellington

[10:40] Guys, I like award shows for movies because I like having an excuse to get excited and talk

[10:45] about movies.

[10:46] In general, I like award shows because I love glitz and glamour, baby.

[10:50] But I did not catch the Emmys.

[10:52] But let's talk about some of the winning programs.

[10:55] And I think we're going to play a sub-game that I think we'll probably carry through most

[10:59] of today's mini-episode, which is, has Elliot seen this show?

[11:04] I think—

[11:05] Without Elliot answering yet, Dan is going to have to chime in on all these.

Elliott Kalan

[11:09] I have an advantage on that.

[11:10] And for me, it's more of a dom game than a sub-game because I know the answers already.

[11:14] So, Dan, I think you'll—this is—you're playing this solo today.

[11:17] What?

[11:18] Hmm.

Dan McCoy

[11:18] Dan Solo.

Elliott Kalan

[11:20] That was when Dan signed on to that Starcrafter.

Stuart Wellington

[11:23] Yeah, that Starcraft.

[11:24] No last name.

[11:25] Yeah.

[11:26] He was fighting the Zerg.

[11:27] Okay.

[11:28] So, one of the big winners, The Pit, won things like Best Drama, Best Actor, I think maybe

[11:35] Best Writing.

Elliott Kalan

[11:36] Best Writing for Dale Keown, the creator of The Pit.

[11:39] Yeah, sure.

Stuart Wellington

[11:40] Yeah.

[11:41] That was the thing.

[11:41] I watched the pilot and no fucking dude with crazy blade fingers showed up.

[11:45] So, I was like, fuck this.

Elliott Kalan

[11:47] Like, where's the little kid with the monster with the long hair?

[11:49] What's going on?

[11:50] Yeah.

[11:50] Did any of you guys see that?

[11:51] The Joe first lost on me.

[11:53] That's for 90s comics kids.

[11:55] Dan's not going to get that reference to Dale Keown's The Pit.

Stuart Wellington

[11:57] First off, Dan, has Elliot seen The Pit?

Dan McCoy

[12:01] I'm going to say Elliot has not seen The Pit, definitively.

Elliott Kalan

[12:03] Judges, has Elliot seen The Pit?

[12:05] Ding, ding.

[12:06] Elliot has not seen The Pit.

[12:07] Yeah.

[12:08] Okay.

Stuart Wellington

[12:08] I've only seen the, I only saw maybe 20 minutes of the first episode.

[12:12] Dan, have you seen The Pit?

Dan McCoy

[12:13] Weirdly, I have seen all of The Pit.

[12:15] I say this as a person who does not like medical shows.

[12:19] The closest to a medical show I've watched in the past is House, which is actually a mystery

[12:23] show and not really a medical show.

[12:26] A medical mystery show.

[12:27] But our friend Linda Holmes was so positive about The Pit, I wanted to check The Pit out.

[12:34] I started watching The Pit.

[12:36] And my fear was that as someone who is, has a lot of medical anxiety, that the show would freak me out.

[12:45] Whereas instead it comforted me.

[12:48] It's kind of competency porn.

[12:50] Like a lot of bad things happen, but it's, you know, a bunch of doctors who really care, damn it.

[12:57] Yeah.

[12:58] And are good at their jobs.

[12:59] And so that, it was, you know, it was a lot of fun.

[13:02] It's a very-

Elliott Kalan

[13:02] You were always going to be a show about doctors screwing up constantly and leaving their keys

[13:06] inside people's kidneys and stuff like that.

Dan McCoy

[13:07] You know, it's old fashioned melodrama with a bunch of really good doctors who are good at their jobs.

[13:12] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[13:12] I, we, Charlene and I started watching it and I think we were watching it while eating something.

[13:17] And we're like, you know what?

[13:18] This is not for us.

[13:21] Yeah.

[13:21] We, both of us have issues.

[13:23] I, I have issues in hospitals and she has issues in hospitals.

[13:26] And for some reason-

[13:28] You can't get those issues out of those hospitals.

[13:30] Yeah.

[13:31] Yeah.

[13:31] They're valuable.

[13:32] Yeah, yeah.

[13:32] Spider-Man number one.

[13:34] Yeah.

[13:34] Spider-Man number one.

[13:35] Your action comics number one is at a hospital right now.

[13:37] Yeah.

[13:37] My, my death of Superman foil cover that I have.

Elliott Kalan

[13:42] Dale Keels, the pit number one.

Stuart Wellington

[13:44] Why is it at the hospital?

[13:45] Yeah.

[13:45] Thank you.

[13:46] Cause it's called the pit.

[13:47] So, uh, Dan, would you say that this is a show that is worth, worth the accolades?

Dan McCoy

[13:51] Is it worth the hype?

[13:52] I think it's great.

[13:53] It's a, you know, it's, it's a very old fashioned show in a lot of ways, uh, combined with sort

[14:00] of a newer style.

[14:01] New fashioned morals.

[14:02] Well.

[14:02] They're all nude.

[14:03] It's a nude hospital.

[14:04] Whoa.

[14:06] Wow.

[14:06] You know, it's, it clearly has a lot of, uh, ER in its DNA to the degree that there was

[14:12] a lawsuit about it.

Elliott Kalan

[14:13] Well, cause it was originally developed as an ER reboot or spinoff.

Dan McCoy

[14:16] Uh, but it also is kind of a more modern show where like it's each, each hour of the show

[14:22] is one hour in the same day.

[14:24] So it builds on itself that way.

[14:27] Uh, but yeah, it's, it's a very well done version.

Stuart Wellington

[14:30] So are there 24 episodes?

Dan McCoy

[14:34] Well, a whole shift is thankfully not 24 hours.

[14:38] You don't usually want a doctor who's been awake for 24 hours.

[14:40] It happens though.

[14:41] It does happen.

[14:42] It does happen.

Elliott Kalan

[14:43] But, uh.

[14:43] I will say, I haven't seen it.

[14:44] I'm actually kind of more interested in watching it because everyone's like, it's old fashioned.

[14:48] It's a throwback.

[14:49] I've been seeing for years now in pitches of shows that I've been pitching that there's

[14:53] a hunger for old fashioned, more traditional types of television shows that we've kind

[14:58] of gone as far as we need to at the moment in deconstructing what a television show is

[15:03] and making it more about, I don't know, artsy moments or whatever.

[15:07] I love artsy moments, but like sometimes you just want to sit down and watch a show that

[15:10] tells you a story and you're like, oh, what a story.

[15:12] Very satisfying.

Dan McCoy

[15:13] Well, this is very artfully done, but it is in an older mode.

Elliott Kalan

[15:16] It's not like, oh, now I've got to track the clues of this winding mystery or I've got

[15:20] to figure out what the secrets are.

[15:22] And I think there's, I think it does not surprise me that in a world of instability, uh, where

[15:27] again, we're on probably the edge of a revolution someday, that, uh, people would hunger for

[15:32] something that is a traditional form of storytelling, you know?

Stuart Wellington

[15:35] So speaking of more, uh, let's say aggressive storytelling, uh, we have with the next couple

[15:41] shows kind of a touch on that.

[15:43] Another big winner was the studio, which won for best comedy writing, directing, acting for

[15:49] Mr. Seth Rogen.

[15:50] Uh, have you guys, uh, has Elliot watched the studio?

Dan McCoy

[15:53] Dan, have I watched the studio?

[15:55] Uh, I'm going to say that there's, there is a chance that Elliot has seen like an episode

[16:00] of the studio, but I'm going to say no.

[16:02] Judges?

Elliott Kalan

[16:04] Elliot has seen three episodes of the studio.

[16:07] Oh, wow, wow.

[16:07] And it was at that point that I decided I've seen what this show can do.

[16:11] Maybe I'll come back to it sometime.

[16:12] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[16:13] Um, you guys are both, you guys both, I would say have strong opinions about comedy.

[16:19] What do you feel?

[16:19] I don't think so.

Elliott Kalan

[16:20] I don't have a book about it coming out this November from the University of Chicago

[16:22] Press.

[16:23] Joke farming.

[16:23] Alex, edit that out.

[16:24] Other nonsense.

[16:25] Alex, make it bigger.

[16:27] Make it, repeat it throughout the episode.

[16:28] Bold.

[16:29] This November, joke farming by Elliot Kalen.

Dan McCoy

[16:32] I think I may have seen three episodes.

[16:35] Maybe I've actually seen less of the studio.

[16:37] I might've just seen two.

Elliott Kalan

[16:38] I saw, I saw, I definitely saw the episode.

[16:40] I think I saw up to the episode with Ron Howard.

[16:42] It's either the third or fourth episode.

[16:43] And I saw the one-er episode that everyone was talking about for a while.

[16:46] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[16:46] I, you know, the problem with, I am into the studio.

[16:50] I would watch more of the studio.

[16:51] The problem with me watching the studio is Audrey finds it so like stressful.

[16:58] Like it's, it's built on such, it's not awkward comedy, but it's comedy where you know everything's

[17:04] going to go wrong.

Elliott Kalan

[17:05] There's never, you're never wondering if Seth Rogen's going to, what's he going to do to

[17:08] save the day this time?

[17:09] Yeah, no.

[17:09] You know he's just going to make it worse.

Dan McCoy

[17:10] How's he going to fuck it up?

[17:11] Yeah.

[17:12] And she finds it very stressful.

[17:13] And I'm like, you know, I could watch the studio alone.

[17:16] She's like, no, I'll watch.

Elliott Kalan

[17:19] The curse of the married man.

[17:21] You can't watch the thing you want.

[17:23] There's the eternal promise that you'll watch it, but never.

Stuart Wellington

[17:25] Yeah.

[17:26] I think, I think I'm kind of the same way.

[17:28] Like it is a little, at least for me, it's a little more like form over function.

[17:33] And I, I just, as much as I can watch it and be like, ah, this is clever.

[17:39] I don't, I don't particularly enjoy it.

[17:42] I don't.

[17:42] I mean, I think it's beautifully done.

[17:44] I think it's well done.

[17:45] It looks great.

Elliott Kalan

[17:45] And there's stuff in it that's, I do find it funny.

[17:47] Like there's stuff in it that's funny.

[17:48] But like, I never find it as funny as I find Seinfeld, which I also have access to, you know, so I usually end up watching Seinfeld.

Stuart Wellington

[17:56] The, I feel like the structure.

Elliott Kalan

[17:58] I will say, my saying that the TV show Seinfeld is funny is in no way an endorsement of Seinfeld's, the man's views on the Palestinian situation.

[18:04] So don't write me letters about that.

[18:06] I'm opposed to him on his views of what Israel should be doing.

[18:10] But Seinfeld, the sitcom, I still find hilarious.

[18:12] I'll bite, often racist, but it's still hilarious.

[18:15] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[18:16] I was just saying that I think that the studio is a thing where I, like, I appreciate how well made it is and how, like, I appreciate the structure and everything.

[18:26] But I don't have much of a, I don't feel very connected to it.

[18:30] I don't really view them as like characters.

Elliott Kalan

[18:32] Well, I think that's the issue for me is I feel like Seth Rogen does a real, I think his comedy performance is really, is really funny.

[18:39] But that character, he doesn't, like, I don't, maybe I need to watch more of it to find it.

[18:43] But I don't watch it and be like, oh, yeah, I love this character.

[18:46] I want to see more of him.

[18:47] Instead, I'm constantly like, dude, like, just, come on.

[18:51] I watch it thinking even more Catherine Han, please.

Dan McCoy

[18:54] And more outfits.

[18:55] Catherine Han is really funny in it.

Elliott Kalan

[18:57] Yeah.

[18:57] And more Catherine O'Hara.

[18:58] The Catherines in it are great.

[18:59] Yeah.

[19:00] It's got two of the best Catherines.

Stuart Wellington

[19:02] And especially because he's also on Platonic right now, which is not Emmy related.

[19:07] But I think he at least is playing like a distinct character in that that feels like a human being with a, like a complete life.

Elliott Kalan

[19:16] Which he's certainly capable of.

[19:17] Like, he's incredibly capable of it.

[19:19] Yes, he's great.

[19:19] But he's playing more of a comic type in this show than he is playing a full character.

[19:23] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[19:24] Okay.

[19:24] So another.

Elliott Kalan

[19:25] But again, I'm happy to see, but I'm happy to see best comedy go to a show with jokes in it.

Stuart Wellington

[19:29] You know?

[19:30] Yeah.

[19:30] I would argue I am not, though I don't love it, I'm like, okay, cool.

[19:37] Yeah.

[19:37] I guess it's worth at least some of the hype.

Dan McCoy

[19:40] Yeah.

[19:40] I'll say that.

[19:41] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[19:42] Another show that is very structure focused that won a bunch of awards is Adolescence.

[19:48] Dan, has Elliot seen Adolescence?

Dan McCoy

[19:52] I'm going to say.

[19:53] It's only four episodes.

[19:54] Yeah.

[19:55] But I'm going to say, no, he has not seen Adolescence.

Elliott Kalan

[19:58] Ding, ding.

[19:59] You're right, Dan.

[19:59] I have not seen Adolescence.

[20:00] Everyone tells me it's really good.

[20:02] I'll see it eventually, I guess.

[20:03] I don't know.

[20:04] It's not what I need in my life right now.

Stuart Wellington

[20:06] Yeah.

[20:06] You mentioned Oners.

[20:07] The show's got some Oners.

[20:09] It's got lots of Oners.

[20:10] Isn't it all Oners?

[20:11] I think it is all Oners, right?

[20:12] That's what I've heard.

[20:13] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[20:14] I've only seen part of the first episode.

[20:16] I got like 10 minutes in and then I was like, again, I'm like, I don't know, maybe Audrey

[20:23] will want to see this.

[20:24] It's like, you know, it's got British people in it.

[20:27] She likes that.

[20:29] Yeah.

[20:29] Like, is there a mystery?

[20:30] I've never watched it.

[20:32] If there's a mystery, it certainly isn't cozy.

Stuart Wellington

[20:34] I do feel like Charlene and I watched it.

[20:37] And by the end of the fourth episode, Charlene's like, why did we watch this?

[20:43] Just made you sad.

[20:44] Yeah.

[20:45] I mean, well, it's kind of sad and I feel like it doesn't necessarily like part of the strength

[20:49] of it.

[20:49] And I don't, it doesn't feel like it's, it doesn't feel like resolved in any way.

[20:54] Yeah.

[20:54] They got to leave it open for season two.

[20:56] Yeah.

[20:57] Return.

[20:58] Yeah.

[20:58] Adulthood, I guess.

[20:59] But so I guess of the people who have, I've seen all of it, I would say, yeah.

[21:06] I mean, it's certainly like if the idea of watching something that is structurally very

[21:10] interesting and complicated and it deals with some fairly heavy issues facing young people

[21:19] in our like modern world.

[21:22] Yeah.

[21:22] I would say it's, it's, it's worth watching.

Elliott Kalan

[21:24] It's tough.

[21:24] I mean, I've heard it's all about the pressures that young people are feeling.

[21:27] And I feel like that's, as a parent, I can relate to it.

[21:30] My son feels such pressure to catch them all.

[21:32] People say he's got to catch them all.

[21:33] And yet it's impossible to catch them all.

[21:35] You know, you just can't.

Dan McCoy

[21:36] In this modern world, you can't.

Elliott Kalan

[21:37] No.

[21:38] Cause that other team is always out trying to catch them.

[21:40] And those guys are mean, you know.

[21:42] Team Rocket.

[21:43] Team Rocket.

Stuart Wellington

[21:44] Yeah.

[21:45] But they're like really hot.

Elliott Kalan

[21:48] But still makes it harder to catch them all.

Stuart Wellington

[21:50] Yeah.

[21:50] I guess that's distracting.

[21:52] Okay.

[21:52] So the next couple of shows we're going to talk about, uh, mainly one, like maybe one award

[21:56] here or there, but I still think they're worth mentioning.

[21:58] Uh, we got the Penguin, which won, uh, Kristen Miladi won for, uh, actress.

[22:04] Uh, she's lovely, amazing.

[22:06] Dan, has Elliot seen the Penguin?

Dan McCoy

[22:08] I'm going to say, uh, almost with definite certainty that Elliot has not seen the Penguin.

Elliott Kalan

[22:15] I have not seen the Penguin.

[22:17] I am on a, I think Batman related media moratorium.

[22:20] Yeah.

[22:20] Personally.

[22:21] I heard that the Batman was good, but I kind of, I'm Batman'd out for the moment.

[22:25] I don't need more Batman right now.

[22:27] I figured that was, Colin Farrell, Colin Farrell doing his like.

[22:31] I love Colin Farrell.

[22:32] I love Kristen Miladi, but I, I don't know.

[22:34] Is Batman in it or no?

[22:36] He's not.

[22:36] Okay.

[22:37] I'll, maybe I'll watch it if Batman's in it.

[22:38] Again, maybe I'll watch it as if I have any time in my life to watch.

[22:40] I figured that was your policy.

Dan McCoy

[22:42] And like, for me, the thing about the Penguin was like, well, I'm, I'm Batman'd out on the

[22:48] one hand.

[22:48] On the other hand, do I need to see like a gritty crime drama, but except it's in like Batman

[22:54] world and we don't see Batman?

[22:56] Like, I was like, I don't know.

[22:58] But then I kept hearing how good Colin Farrell was in it, how good everyone was in it.

[23:03] And I, I watched it and sure enough, they are.

[23:06] And Kristen Miladi is amazing.

Elliott Kalan

[23:08] When you put incredibly talented performers into your project, they will be really, you got

[23:13] to work hard to make them bad in it.

[23:15] They'll be really good in it.

[23:16] And I think that's the thing is it's like, there's a, there's a limit.

[23:20] And maybe this is me being a snob.

[23:21] Maybe this being Martin Scorsese or Francis Ford Coppola or whatever.

[23:24] I love comics.

[23:24] I love superheroes.

[23:26] I feel like there is a limit to the seriousness of the issues of the world that can be addressed

[23:32] and that were the aspects of the human condition that can be addressed in a gritty crime drama

[23:38] about the Penguin.

[23:39] And maybe I'm wrong about this.

[23:40] Maybe is he, does he use umbrellas in it or no?

Dan McCoy

[23:43] No, I don't remember any umbrella stuff.

Elliott Kalan

[23:46] Cause I, but I feel like there's a, if I want to see a crime thing.

Stuart Wellington

[23:50] He does drive a purple car though.

Elliott Kalan

[23:53] Yeah.

[23:54] I mean, but real people do that sometimes.

[23:55] Prince did that.

[23:56] He was a crime boss, right?

[23:58] Yeah.

[23:59] I think these, I think there's a.

[24:01] Batman adjacent.

[24:02] There's a certain, there's certain things that I get out of superhero stuff that I don't

[24:05] get elsewhere, but gritty crime I can get elsewhere.

Dan McCoy

[24:09] I want to say one funny thing I find about the character of the Penguin is like, she is

[24:15] either like the dapperest little man you ever did see or a gross brood of a man.

[24:20] Yeah.

[24:21] Like there's like two ways you can go with the Penguin and they're like fundamentally

[24:25] like on opposite end of the Jason spectrum.

Stuart Wellington

[24:27] Which is what's kind of amazing about Danny DeVito in Batman Returns.

[24:31] He's kind of both.

Elliott Kalan

[24:32] He's kind of both.

[24:33] But he's kind of both.

[24:33] But it's like, you can't do it where he is, has a little bit of style and he's a little

[24:37] bit monstrous.

[24:37] He's got to be extreme, you know?

[24:40] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[24:40] Yeah.

[24:40] That'd be boring.

[24:41] I just think it's funny that they created this character and he's like, he's like, I don't

[24:45] know, a Heisenberg uncertainty, like particle.

[24:49] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[24:50] Yeah.

[24:50] The pitch meeting where they're like, okay, he's the grossest little monster, but he's

[24:54] also the dapperest little gentleman.

Elliott Kalan

[24:56] He wears a tuxedo and tails all the time, but also he eats people's faces and he lives

[25:00] in the sewer.

[25:02] I mean, now you've talked to me into wanting to watch it if that's what happens in it.

[25:05] But I think there's a, and I don't want to, anyone who likes the Penguin, the TV show,

[25:10] this is not me casting, throwing shade at you.

[25:13] That's okay.

[25:14] It is not what I'm looking for in my life at this moment.

Stuart Wellington

[25:16] Yeah.

[25:17] I liked it quite a bit.

[25:18] I think, I think there's moments that like, it could have been trimmed a little bit, but

[25:23] I feel like there's some really like cool stuff in there.

[25:26] And I feel like for like, like a pulp story, I think it was, I think it, it came at a time

[25:31] where I was like, I needed something that was like just gritty enough, but mainly just

[25:36] like a fun pulp story to watch.

Elliott Kalan

[25:37] I mean, maybe, maybe I would enjoy it if I watched, right now I'm at a point in my life

[25:40] where I do not know what I am looking for particularly.

[25:44] And I'm like, literally I was on looking at Tubi at what they have and they have all

[25:46] of Babylon 5 on there.

[25:47] And I'm like, I've never watched Babylon 5.

[25:49] Is this the period in my life where I really get into Babylon 5?

[25:52] Maybe I'll start going to conventions.

Stuart Wellington

[25:54] He won't tell us he's watching it, but there'll be signs of him making Babylon 5 references.

Elliott Kalan

[26:01] I wanted to say, I would say I'll be making references to da, da, da, but I don't know

[26:04] even any of the characters in Babylon 5.

[26:06] I can't even fake a reference.

[26:08] But I think, so, so maybe this, maybe these are shows that I don't know that I want right

[26:11] now.

[26:12] And I would, I realized if I started watching them, I don't know.

Stuart Wellington

[26:14] Okay.

[26:15] Another show that won for writing was Andor.

[26:18] Dan, has Elliot seen Andor?

Dan McCoy

[26:22] I'm going to say no, because I believe he is also Star Wars'd out.

Elliott Kalan

[26:27] Dan, I watched much of the first season of Andor.

[26:30] Okay.

[26:31] Yeah.

[26:31] And I think I'll probably pick it up again at some point.

Stuart Wellington

[26:33] Yeah.

[26:34] I watched a couple episodes of the first season and I liked it.

[26:36] I just did not feel like I was in a place to devote the time to it.

[26:40] But I did kind of have a similar attitude where I'm like, I don't know, do I need a gritty

[26:44] Star Wars?

[26:45] Like, Dan, have you watched Andor?

Dan McCoy

[26:48] I watched all of the first season of Andor and I am like, I have been for months, like

[26:54] three episodes away from finishing it.

[26:59] My problem with it was just like, yeah, I get it.

[27:03] You know, I get where this is.

[27:05] I mean, I've literally seen where this is going and something about the second series where

[27:11] they did this thing where they would do like paired episodes and then a time jump and then

[27:17] paired episodes and then a time jump.

Elliott Kalan

[27:18] Because they didn't want to spend years and years continuing the series, I think.

Dan McCoy

[27:22] Yeah.

[27:22] Well, they knew they wouldn't have that time.

[27:25] Like, I think Disney made it clear to them that they weren't going to have that time.

[27:29] I think that that's good in certain ways because I don't want to be stuck with something

[27:34] for more time than maybe it needs.

[27:38] But I also found that it didn't have the sort of momentum that I wanted it to.

[27:43] Like, every time it felt like it was building up ahead of steam, it was like, and now we're

[27:47] in the future.

[27:47] I'm like, okay.

[27:49] But it's a very well done show.

[27:52] It's like, you know, I felt like I was Star Wars'd out and it pulled me back in.

[27:56] It revived it again.

Elliott Kalan

[27:57] It's a well-made show.

[27:58] I mean, it's another, I feel like it's similar to what I was talking about Penguin where I

[28:00] was like, it's a really well-made show.

[28:01] It's really well done.

[28:02] But it's like, I have other sources for this type of story that are not Star Wars.

[28:08] I mean, maybe again, this is me being a snob, but like anyone who has watched as much Eastern

[28:12] European cinema as I have, you see a lot of stories about the compromises you have to make when

[28:17] you live under an authoritarian system.

[28:18] And I'm like, I'd rather get it that way where it feels like it's coming from the people who

[28:23] have lived it rather than in this kind of Star Wars world.

[28:26] But we're all going to be living in that world pretty soon, you know.

Stuart Wellington

[28:29] So I'm going to, we have a, we have a couple more Emmy winners.

[28:32] I just want to mention real quick, right up top.

[28:35] I want to give an extra shout out to Jeff Hiller winning for Somebody Somewhere.

[28:40] He gives a lovely performance.

[28:42] He's always a great performer.

[28:44] And did you guys catch any of Somebody Somewhere?

[28:47] I don't even know what that is.

Dan McCoy

[28:49] I watched all of it.

[28:51] It was, I think it was like Audrey's favorite thing in the world.

[28:53] And I also enjoyed it quite a bit, although maybe not as much.

[28:58] And, you know, he was a mainstay of the UCB theater.

[29:02] I would see him improvising all the time.

[29:05] It was good to see him successful.

[29:07] Yep.

Stuart Wellington

[29:08] Also, two other shows that won a fair amount of acting awards.

[29:13] We have Hacks and Severance.

[29:16] Has Elliot seen Hacks or Severance, Dan?

Dan McCoy

[29:18] Uh, I'm going to say he has not seen Hacks and maybe saw an episode of Severance.

Elliott Kalan

[29:31] I have seen a handful of episodes of both of those series, Dan.

Stuart Wellington

[29:34] Okay.

[29:35] Yeah.

[29:35] Well, you, Elliot wanted to learn what it's like to be a comedy writer.

[29:38] So he watched Hacks.

[29:39] Mm-hmm.

[29:40] Very accurate.

[29:40] And then he wanted to learn what it's like to work in office.

[29:43] So he watched Severance.

Dan McCoy

[29:44] Mm-hmm.

[29:44] I assume accurate.

[29:46] I've seen none of Hacks and all of Severance.

Stuart Wellington

[29:48] Oh, really?

[29:50] I've watched all of both.

[29:51] Partly because I love Jean Smart and I'll watch Jean Smart and almost anything.

[29:56] And I think there's some stuff there.

[29:57] And she's all over Severance.

[29:58] Yeah, she's crazy all over Severance.

[30:01] Those are both good shows.

Elliott Kalan

[30:02] I mean, they're not, those are both good shows.

[30:03] Like with Hacks, I think I just didn't keep up with it because it was hard for me to watch it being like nitpicky about comedy.

[30:11] About the, not necessarily about the jokes on the show, but about just like that world.

Stuart Wellington

[30:15] Well, yeah.

[30:15] Certainly as soon as she gets a late night show, I'm like, well, I guess I can't text with my friends about this.

Elliott Kalan

[30:22] And on Severance, it was the issue of like, I kept thinking if this was a movie and it was two hours long, I think I would love this.

[30:29] But to know that I'm going to spend 10 to 20 to who knows how many hours in this world, again, it was just like, I don't need this right now.

[30:37] Like this is not, this is not what I want to do with, I don't want to spend a lot of time in that world right now.

[30:42] But if it was a movie, I think I would have loved it.

Stuart Wellington

[30:43] I think I'm with you.

[30:46] To me, it's a beautiful show and I think the performances are really interesting.

[30:50] Everyone's great in it.

[30:51] They did a really good job making it.

[30:52] There's a thing about the storytelling that feels like it's giving me vibes of like Lost and other puzzle box shows that I just don't have the fucking patience for anymore.

[31:03] Like, at least in a movie, I'm like, I got two hours, I'll enjoy this shit, then I'm done.

[31:08] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[31:11] I'll watch it.

[31:13] If they don't give me answers, I'll at least have a story, maybe.

[31:15] But with TV, it's just spending a lot of time in that office.

[31:19] Like, I don't want to spend a lot of time in that office.

Stuart Wellington

[31:21] Again, and all things like, that may sound negative, but it really is.

[31:26] I'm like, this is a show that I feel like is just kind of not for me.

[31:30] I am glad it exists.

[31:31] And if people get some enjoyment or some deeper meaning out of it, hey, that's awesome.

[31:36] Enjoy that shit.

Elliott Kalan

[31:36] It's a wonderful thing to feel like you live in an entertainment ecosystem where there are things for you

[31:42] and there are things for other people and everyone's got stuff they can enjoy and where you can feel safe saying like,

[31:47] this is not bad, but it's not what I want to watch, you know?

[31:50] Yeah.

[31:50] Without feeling, I feel like maybe just because people are tired of, I don't know, the need to have to keep up on stuff.

[31:58] I feel like, at least in my life, I don't spend very much time online, so maybe that's for the reason.

[32:01] I feel like there's less of a sense of like, if you're not watching this thing, then you're insulting me for liking this thing.

[32:07] And it's nice to live in a world where like, different people have different things that they like and we don't all have to watch the same thing.

[32:14] You know, we're going to be going back into that world while I'll be watching the, you know, the same conservative show that airs 24 hours a day on every single network that just tells us, you know, to say our prayers and thank the God Emperor for his, you know, divine protection.

[32:31] But it's nice until we live there to be like, oh yeah, there are all these different shows.

[32:35] They're all well made.

[32:36] I don't have to like all of them, but not because they're bad, but because they're just not my taste, you know?

[32:40] And that's fine.

S5

[32:40] Yep.

Stuart Wellington

[32:45] Amber Celeste Nash, welcome to the afterlife.

[32:49] Oh, snap.

[32:50] I have before me the record of all your worldly achievements.

[32:53] The voice of Pam Poovy on Archer.

[32:55] I must say, we're all big fans of yours up here.

S4

[32:57] Great.

[32:58] Swing open those pearly gates, you big winged son of a bitch.

[33:01] Not so fast.

Stuart Wellington

[33:02] It says here that you never hosted your own podcast.

S4

[33:05] I did some other cool stuff, but no, I never got around to making a podcast.

Dan McCoy

[33:09] You are hereby sentenced to relive your entire life.

[33:12] Only this time, host a damn podcast.

[33:15] Okay.

S4

[33:17] That's why we should do an Archer rewatch podcast.

[33:20] We should call it rephrasing.

[33:22] And we could even do it with MaximumFun.org.

S5

[33:24] Let's just do the podcast for normal reasons.

S4

[33:27] Okay, grandma.

S5

[33:30] The wizards answer eight by eight.

[33:34] The cornclaves call to demonstrate their arcane gift, their single spell.

[33:42] They number 64 until a conflagration.

[33:49] 63 and 62 they soon shall be.

[33:54] As one by one, the wizards die.

[33:59] Till one remains to reign on high.

[34:05] Join us for Taz Royale, an Oops All Wizards Battle Royale season of the Adventure Zone,

[34:10] every other Thursday on MaximumFun.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Dan McCoy

[34:15] And this podcast is brought to you in part by Factor.

[34:20] Fall is kind of like a reset season, you know, like all the travel and whatnot of the summer

[34:26] is ending.

[34:27] If you've got kids, you got back to school you got to worry about, you've got busier routines.

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Elliott Kalan

[36:02] Okay.

[36:03] Wait, before we get back to talking about TV, I just want to tell people there's two ways

[36:06] to get the Flophouse in a totally different way than this podcast.

[36:09] If you're in Chicago on Sunday, November 16th, we are performing at Sleeping Village.

[36:14] Our 7 o'clock show is sold out, but don't worry.

[36:17] There's a late show that we added.

[36:18] Go to flophousepodcast.com slash events.

[36:21] You can buy tickets to that show if you are in Chicago.

[36:24] It is a night of Jim Belushi movies.

[36:26] So if you come to the late show, you'll hear us talk about Canine, the movie where Jim Belushi

[36:30] is a cop with a dog.

[36:32] Can you believe it?

[36:33] If you can't get to Chicago.

[36:35] I can't.

[36:36] If you can't get to Chicago, then I pity you.

[36:38] It's a great city.

[36:38] We're going to have a great time there.

[36:39] But you can still watch the Flophouse on your computer.

[36:42] Flop TV is back.

[36:44] The first Saturday of every month at 9 p.m.

[36:47] Eastern, 6 p.m.

[36:48] Pacific.

[36:48] We'll be doing our one-hour on-screen live broadcast of a Flophouse-type show that we

[36:54] do.

[36:54] It's got videos.

[36:55] It's got presentations.

[36:55] It's got animations.

[36:56] It's got us talking about movies.

[36:58] It's the first Saturday of every month.

[37:00] Go to theflophouse.simpleticks.com for tickets.

[37:03] If you can't make it when the show is airing live, don't worry.

[37:07] Your ticket gets you access to the recording of the show.

[37:10] Those recordings will be available through the end of February because this is running from

[37:14] September through February, six episodes.

[37:17] Get a season pass.

[37:17] It's six episodes for the cost of five.

[37:19] Just go to theflophouse.simpleticks.com.

[37:22] Stuart, let's get back to talking tube with Tube Boy tonight.

[37:26] Oh, okay.

[37:27] Let's go.

Stuart Wellington

[37:28] So welcome back to Tube Boy talking tube to two dudes today.

[37:33] We'll find out.

[37:34] So we are on the back half.

[37:37] And so we are kind of doing a bit of a lightning round here.

[37:39] The first part is called Toppo the Charts to Ya, where we talk about some of the

[37:44] most popular shows currently on streaming platforms.

[37:48] If you've seen it, again, Dan, you're going to have to weigh in if Elliot has seen this

[37:52] show.

[37:53] Your average has not been great so far, Dan.

[37:55] I think it's been pretty good.

[37:56] It's been pretty good.

[37:57] Listeners write in and find out.

[38:00] Okay.

[38:00] So one of the number one shows from Netflix is a streaming show called Black Rabbit starring

[38:06] Jason Bateman and Jude Law.

[38:08] This is a new show.

[38:08] So there's a chance that even Dan hasn't seen this one.

[38:11] Dan, have you seen any of this show?

Dan McCoy

[38:13] I have not seen it.

[38:13] And there's absolutely no chance that Elliot has seen any of it.

Elliott Kalan

[38:16] What I saw of it was I saw that there was a New York Times article about it.

[38:20] And there was that where they do that little bit of video that runs ad nauseum.

[38:23] I don't really read the Times much, but I check the headlines.

[38:25] And so I've seen that little bit of footage of Jude Law and Jason Bateman clowning around

[38:29] New York.

[38:30] You know?

Stuart Wellington

[38:30] Yes.

[38:31] So I watched the pilot of it.

[38:34] And because I'm a sucker for anything that is set in New York.

[38:37] I mean, there's a fucking scene in the pilot where they're eating at Roland Roaster.

[38:40] And I'm like, hell yeah.

[38:42] But it is a show about a New York restaurateur that I feel does not capture that feeling very well.

[38:50] And Jason Bateman, for all his character being like a dirt bag, it, again, doesn't feel 100% real.

[38:57] Like a lot of things feel kind of false about this show.

[39:00] So I think it's got like, I can't, I may watch more of it, but so far I think it's kind of a stinker.

[39:06] Also, like the idea of Jude Law being a successful restaurateur who, at least from what I can tell in the show,

[39:12] does not have any experience working in restaurants.

[39:16] And his restaurant is mainly just like a cool hangout place.

[39:19] That doesn't feel right to me.

Elliott Kalan

[39:20] Well, I did see that scene where someone orders foie gras and he goes, never heard of it.

[39:25] Which seems strange for a successful restaurateur that he's never even heard of foie gras.

[39:27] It seems very strange.

[39:29] Can you get me a fork?

[39:31] What's that?

[39:32] Seems like if you were in the restaurant business, you know what a fork was.

Stuart Wellington

[39:34] And Jude Law looks like a man who knows his way around a fork and foie gras.

[39:39] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[39:40] This is a guy who eats people.

[39:42] He is not dead.

Stuart Wellington

[39:43] So another show on the list is Task.

[39:47] This is from the mayor of Easttown creator.

[39:50] So it's in that heavy Pennsylvania accent zone.

[39:54] Dan, has Elliot seen any of Task?

Dan McCoy

[39:56] No, Elliot has not seen any of Task.

Stuart Wellington

[39:57] I have not even heard about Task.

Dan McCoy

[39:59] It's got Mark Ruffalo in it.

[40:01] That's all I know about Task.

Stuart Wellington

[40:02] It does have Ruffalo in it.

[40:02] It's about some sort of Task force, I believe.

Elliott Kalan

[40:04] The guy who's like a ruffled buffalo, yeah.

[40:06] Uh-huh.

[40:06] It's, uh...

Stuart Wellington

[40:08] Yeah, I started watching.

[40:09] I like it so far.

Elliott Kalan

[40:10] So there's Black Rabbit and there's Task.

[40:12] And you combine them to get Task Rabbit.

[40:13] Yeah.

[40:13] Uh-huh.

[40:14] Let's do a crossover.

Stuart Wellington

[40:15] Yeah.

[40:16] I mean, I like it so far.

[40:17] It's gritty.

[40:18] I love watching actors go fucking ham on a Pennsylvania accent.

[40:22] Which is like, as far as regional accents go, it's like not that noticeable.

[40:26] But like, apparently they're like, let's make a meal out of this fucker.

Dan McCoy

[40:29] And Pennsylvania ham is delicious.

[40:31] It is.

[40:32] Sure.

[40:32] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[40:33] Pam, we call it.

[40:34] From, uh, and Task is from, uh, is on HBO.

[40:37] Uh, uh, from Amazon, we have The Summer I Turned Pretty.

[40:41] Dan, has Elliot seen The Summer I Turned Pretty?

[40:44] No, Elliot's not.

Elliott Kalan

[40:45] I've not watched The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Stuart Wellington

[40:46] I feel like Charlene and I tried to watch a couple episodes because we're suckers for that

[40:50] kind of garbage.

[40:51] Um, but it, uh, it, it wasn't our, it wasn't our speed.

[40:54] But it is also a show that has like three or four seasons.

[40:58] So I'm like, is the summer still fucking going on?

[41:00] Like, is she still turning pretty?

[41:02] You know, endless summer, man.

[41:03] Yeah.

[41:04] I guess it's an endless...

Elliott Kalan

[41:05] That's like how MASH lasted longer than the war, you know?

[41:07] So.

[41:07] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[41:08] Uh, another, another hot show, Alien Earth.

[41:11] Dan, has Elliot seen any of Alien Earth?

Dan McCoy

[41:14] I'm going to say no, Elliot has not seen any Alien Earth.

[41:16] Oh, you're wrong, Dan.

Stuart Wellington

[41:17] I've seen the first two episodes of Alien Earth.

[41:19] Oh, wow.

[41:19] More Alien Earth than I have.

Dan McCoy

[41:21] I've seen one episode of Alien Earth.

Stuart Wellington

[41:23] I, I, I think I've seen like four or five.

[41:27] Elliot, I absolutely want to hear your thoughts on Alien Earth.

[41:30] Uh, I mean, I guess I can't.

Elliott Kalan

[41:33] Yes, I kind of like it.

[41:34] Any, any highlights?

[41:35] I don't know.

[41:35] I mean, I love, I love, I think, I wish the Alien looked less man in a suit-y.

[41:40] It feels like the one place where the budget is full, is falling down a little bit is the

[41:43] alien sometimes.

[41:45] But, uh, but I mean, the alien is always a man in a suit, but just that.

Stuart Wellington

[41:48] But I love, I love all the weird other aliens.

Elliott Kalan

[41:50] These extra weird, I like that, that gross cat dragging itself around with that eye alien

[41:54] in it.

Stuart Wellington

[41:55] The eyeball alien is, is king there.

[41:57] The, uh, I also, I gotta say, I didn't, I didn't know if Timothy Oliphant could pull

[42:02] off playing, uh, Kirsch, the weird, uh, android.

[42:05] No, no, he's doing great.

[42:06] He's doing great.

[42:06] He's, he's killing it because I think like he manages to mix.

[42:10] It's like a perfect midpoint between his like sleazeball characters and his, uh, and his

[42:16] like stoic cowboy characters.

Elliott Kalan

[42:18] Yes, I agree.

[42:19] I agree.

[42:19] He's, he comes off, it's such a strange feeling performance, but on purpose.

[42:23] And I think he does it really well.

[42:24] But the, the, what I've seen of it, I think what's good, I think I, I'm like, it's one

[42:29] of those shows where I want to see more of it, but I don't find myself excited to like

[42:34] put it on, you know, necessarily.

[42:36] But I think part of it might be that it feels like Noah Hawley and this is what he, he does

[42:40] this very well with other stuff too.

[42:42] I mean, I've liked his previous shows is it's like, I'm going to do an alien show.

[42:45] I'm really more interested in this other thing, but I'll put enough alien in it so I can call

[42:50] it an alien show.

[42:51] You know, he's really more interested, I think, in the idea of like corporations and trying

[42:55] to extend life in artificial ways and the consequences of that.

[42:58] And he's like, but I guess I'll throw an alien in there too.

Dan McCoy

[43:01] So I don't know, but I think I'm interested in it.

[43:03] You know?

Stuart Wellington

[43:04] I also, I think it's, I don't know why, like, I both appreciate the idea that like the episodes

[43:09] all end with like a nineties, like hard rock song, but I'm also like, this feels weird and

[43:15] alien.

[43:15] Like all of a sudden I'm like hearing fucking Billy Corrigan say the world's a vampire or

[43:20] some shit.

Elliott Kalan

[43:20] Or like somebody starts blasting Dragula.

[43:23] Well, it's a little bit like in, um, in this first Star Trek remake movie where he's listening

[43:28] to Sabotage, right?

[43:29] While he's driving.

[43:29] And it's like, yeah, I guess 200 years in the future, this is still the sound of young

[43:32] rebellion is the Beastie Boys.

[43:34] Yeah, sure.

Dan McCoy

[43:35] Yeah.

[43:38] I guess, I guess so.

[43:39] I mean like that.

[43:40] I like just as like a joke, I assume on William Shatner's pronunciation of Sabotage.

Elliott Kalan

[43:47] I feel like that's a pretty, that's a pretty, that's a pretty deep end joke.

[43:51] I guess.

Dan McCoy

[43:52] Yeah, but yeah, no one, certainly no, uh, sci-fi nerd would put a deep end joke in something.

Elliott Kalan

[44:01] You're right.

[44:02] You're right.

[44:02] But, uh, but yeah, Dan, what do you think about Alien Earth of the one episode you've

[44:04] seen?

Dan McCoy

[44:06] Um, it was fine.

[44:08] I haven't seen, uh, more.

[44:11] So that says something about it.

[44:12] I wasn't like, I have to immediately return to this and perhaps now I'll never see anymore.

[44:17] So.

Dan McCoy

[44:17] That's possible.

[44:17] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[44:18] So, uh, in addition to some of those hot shows that are top of the charts, what are

[44:24] you guys watching these days?

[44:26] Either with your family, on your own, are you watching any, anything on the small screen?

Elliott Kalan

[44:32] Uh, uh, my wife and I have been watching, we've been slowly going through the second season

[44:37] of Poker Face, you know?

[44:38] Yeah.

[44:39] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[44:39] That's a fun show.

[44:41] Um, other than that.

[44:42] Yes.

[44:43] The only thing I've been watching that really counts as a TV show is, uh, the TV show version

[44:47] of The Trip Italy after I finished watching the TV version of The Trip.

[44:51] Yeah.

[44:52] Um, I have an issue where like, I don't get a lot of time to sit down and watch TV with

[44:55] my family.

[44:56] Uh-huh.

[44:56] And the time, the little bit of, as everyone knows, who listens, the little bit of time

[45:00] I do get to watch stuff is when I'm doing the dishes.

[45:02] Otherwise, I don't really have time to, to watch things.

[45:05] And I'd much rather watch a part of a movie.

[45:07] Like, I'd just always rather watch a movie than a TV show, you know?

Stuart Wellington

[45:10] If, if I'm by myself, I'm either watching a movie or I'm like painting models or I'm

[45:15] traveling the lands between an Elden Ring.

Elliott Kalan

[45:18] Yeah.

[45:19] And I feel like I haven't found a show in a long time that hit me the way that like, um,

[45:25] that like the best of the like prestige early HBO shows, like The Sopranos or like Deadwood

[45:30] or stuff like that, where I was like, oh man, I got, every week I got to watch it.

[45:33] Or like when Mad Men was on, I was always like, I got to watch it.

[45:36] But I haven't found a show like that in a long time.

[45:38] And I think that says more about me and where I am in life than about television.

[45:42] Cause there's certainly a lot of great shows that are on, but it's like, yeah, if I'm like,

[45:47] uh, seeing, I was thinking about how Dan recommended, um, the Robert Altman Buffalo Bill, uh, movie,

[45:54] uh, recently.

[45:55] And I, I was like, I want to watch those Robert Altman movies that I haven't seen before.

[45:58] They're on Criterion Collection right now.

[45:59] And I was much more excited about the prospect of watching, like, come back to the five and

[46:03] dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean than I was about watching any of the shows that are on right

[46:07] now, which I think, again, says more about me than it does about the shows, you know?

Dan McCoy

[46:11] Yeah, I, I have found less TV exciting lately.

[46:18] And mostly it's because I just want something fun.

[46:21] And that's always in a lower supply than it seems like it should be.

[46:26] Like, it feels like that should be.

Elliott Kalan

[46:29] Well, it feels like we, when we were young, TV was where you went for dumb fun and the movies

[46:34] were where you went for serious stuff.

[46:36] And it's totally flipped now where the movies that they make are like superhero movies and

[46:41] horror movies and like, they don't make a lot of, I guess.

[46:43] Movies are dumb fun like weapons.

[46:46] Yeah.

[46:46] Well, like serious movies don't get as much, I feel like there's a smaller percentage they

[46:51] don't get as much wide release.

[46:52] You know, serious movies are still being made.

[46:54] But like TV is suddenly like, well, this is the new novel.

[46:56] Like, we don't go to TV for drama.

[46:57] Adult dramas.

[46:58] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[46:58] Adult dramas are TV now.

Elliott Kalan

[47:00] Yes.

[47:00] Like, unless you're going to like, you can still go to the networks and watch, you know,

[47:03] like Tracker or something like that.

Dan McCoy

[47:04] Yeah.

[47:05] I'm trying, like, mostly when I'm alone too, I would rather watch.

[47:09] Yeah.

[47:09] We're going to talk about.

Stuart Wellington

[47:11] I'd rather master it.

[47:12] I can't believe it took us this long into two boy talking tube to two dudes tonight to

[47:16] bring up fucking Tracker.

Dan McCoy

[47:19] He tracks people.

[47:21] He's good at it.

Stuart Wellington

[47:21] The Adventures of Colter Shaw.

[47:23] Yeah.

[47:23] Chet Tracker.

Dan McCoy

[47:24] No, but I will watch movies alone and then, you know, Audrey will be more keen on watching

[47:30] television, although it's mostly her British mysteries.

[47:34] Like, if we're watching something together, we've, I don't know, we're just now finishing

[47:39] the last season of Shrinking.

[47:41] We're watching Peacemaker.

[47:44] Yeah.

[47:44] And we're going through not a, sort of a compromised position, not a British mystery,

[47:51] but, uh, sort of elementary, uh, uh, watching all of the old episodes of that CBS show.

[47:57] Yeah, sure.

[47:58] Which I never watched at the time.

[47:59] And, uh.

Stuart Wellington

[48:00] I do love hearing stories about, from like James Gunn's perspective where they're like,

[48:05] yeah, we really want to time the release of Peacemaker season two along with the like

[48:11] digital streaming release of the Superman movie.

[48:14] And I'm like, the idea of being like, yeah, so a person is like, oh, I saw this Superman

[48:18] movie in the theater.

[48:19] It's so cool.

[48:20] What's the next DC thing to watch?

[48:22] Oh, this show where John Cena has an orgy in his house with a bald eagle.

[48:26] Like, yeah, I think it's great.

[48:28] I just think, and like Michael Rooker.

Dan McCoy

[48:30] I mean, the bald eagle's there.

[48:31] It's not really part of the orgy.

Stuart Wellington

[48:33] Yeah, eagly is, yeah, yeah.

[48:34] It is funny how that's like.

Elliott Kalan

[48:35] The same way that Sam the Eagle is, is technically at the Muppet Theater, but he's not taking part

[48:39] in the shenanigans.

[48:40] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[48:40] I think it, like, it's, I feel like Peacemaker might be the funniest comedy on TV right now,

[48:47] which is pretty funny.

[48:49] But speaking of like lighter things, Charlene and I are always.

[48:53] Dave Berg's the lighter side of.

[48:55] Yeah.

[48:57] Char and I are always looking for kind of lighter material to watch to wind down at the end of

[49:02] the day when our lives are incredibly stressful running too many businesses.

[49:06] And the two shows we've enjoyed lately, we finished, I'm guessing, the second and final season of

[49:12] this Australian sitcom called Fisk about a lawyer who is, if only, a lawyer who wears very large

[49:22] suits and she works in like probate law.

[49:27] And I don't know, it's very dry and there's not, I guess there's jokes in it.

[49:31] It's funny.

[49:32] It's just very strange.

[49:34] So, but we enjoy that quite a bit.

[49:36] And then we, like, the, we just watched all of the new Office spinoff, the paper.

[49:44] Okay.

[49:44] How's that?

[49:45] I think it is absolutely fine.

[49:48] It is exactly, like, it serves up exactly kind of what you'd expect.

[49:53] The, the one note, the one, one of the, the thing that I think elevates it, that gives

[49:58] it a little bit of extra juice is that they realize that one of the, I don't know if they

[50:03] realize this, but like one of the things about the original Office is that like the, the

[50:07] British Office is that Ricky Gervais' character, David Brent, is like a bad dude.

[50:12] Yes.

[50:12] Michael Scott is not a bad dude.

[50:14] He's just dumb.

[50:15] So they make a couple of the characters in the paper genuinely like kind of bad people.

[50:22] And one of them is played by Sabrina, I'm, I'm going to fuck this name up, Sabrina Impeccatori.

[50:28] The teenage witch.

[50:30] Sabrina TT Witch.

[50:31] The, the actress who played the hotel manager in the second season of The White Lotus, the

[50:36] Italian woman.

[50:37] And she plays a very flamboyant Italian woman who seems, who works at a newspaper in Toledo

[50:42] Ohio, which is very funny to me.

[50:44] And there's a great performance from a comic actor, Eric Rahill or Rahill, who was, was in,

[50:53] he's collaborated with Tim Robinson and was in that movie Rap World with Connor O'Malley.

[51:00] And he just has a way of speaking.

[51:02] He has like a cadence of like burnout Midwesterner that like is so immediately triggering for

[51:09] me.

[51:09] Like it feels like I'm in a fucking house party back in Fort Wayne listening to some weird

[51:14] dude that was two years above me in high school.

[51:17] So that's a thumbs up to the paper.

Elliott Kalan

[51:18] So that's a situation you're familiar with.

[51:20] Stuart says, run, don't walk to the paper.

Stuart Wellington

[51:24] Yeah.

[51:25] I feel like I've kept you guys here long enough.

[51:28] Elliot has a rush on a dinner.

[51:29] I've got a rush on a dinner.

Elliott Kalan

[51:30] Dan has to rush a homa to the hotel.

Stuart Wellington

[51:33] Yeah.

[51:33] Dan has to live and die in LA.

Elliott Kalan

[51:35] And I will say this, I think any negative things I've said about television or shows,

[51:41] take it with a grain of salt.

[51:42] At this point in my life, the thing that I am like enraptured by and I can't wait to

[51:47] get, I like have to keep running back to is Italo Calvino's book, The Castle of Crossed

[51:52] Destinies.

[51:52] So that's where I am right now.

[51:54] So take it just as me being a snob who is into not that, you know.

[51:58] So there's no way a criticism of television or the shows being made.

Dan McCoy

[52:01] And take it as me finding no joy in the things that I used to enjoy because life is a bitter

Elliott Kalan

[52:08] place.

[52:09] Oh, I mean, there's that too.

[52:10] There's that too.

[52:10] Let's not forget depression can keep you from enjoying television shows.

Stuart Wellington

[52:13] Also, I feel like the fact that both of you guys are closer to the world of TV creation

[52:19] than saying your average person.

[52:22] If only it were true.

[52:24] But what I would say is that you're at one point closer and now that distance causes an

[52:31] additional ache.

Elliott Kalan

[52:33] It's like a phantom limb.

[52:35] Yeah, a lost love.

[52:36] It's hard to lose that feeling of like envy when you're watching a show that's successful.

[52:42] Yeah.

[52:42] Where it's like, well, yeah, I guess this is good.

[52:45] But like I could do good stuff too.

[52:47] And it's a thing that is a very human feeling that we have to push against.

Stuart Wellington

[52:50] And coupled with the fact that it's easy to overlook the fact that your own, maybe your

[52:54] own struggles when working in the business, you forget that those people are probably going

[52:59] through the same fucking shit.

Elliott Kalan

[53:00] Well, because that's the last thing we say because we do have to get to our dinners.

[53:04] But there is a, the entertainment industry only reports success.

[53:09] It only, in Variety and Hollywood Reporter, it only tells you when shows sell or when they're

[53:13] picked up or whatever, or in a movie script sells.

[53:15] They do not cover this pitch failed.

[53:18] This pitch didn't get picked up.

[53:19] This pilot didn't, you know, rarely do they talk about failures.

[53:22] And so it gives you the impression that there's a sea of success that you are standing on the

[53:26] shore of and you just cannot figure out how to jump in, which is a fake value.

[53:31] And one of the, one of the things that I found very meaningful about the strike was finally

[53:35] writers were talking to each other about how failure is just a regular part of being a

[53:40] professional creative person.

[53:41] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[53:42] There's a sea of things not getting made in an island of success.

[53:45] Exactly.

Elliott Kalan

[53:46] And so, and so that's something for us to remember, you know, that everyone who is having a success

[53:50] now has probably failed and will fail again at some point, you know, so no one's immune

[53:55] to it.

Stuart Wellington

[53:56] Okay.

[53:56] Well, thank you so much for spending some time talking to me.

[53:59] I always love talking to you guys.

[54:01] Thanks for stepping into the dog house over here.

[54:03] I'm Stew Dog.

[54:05] I guess I'm Dan Dog.

Elliott Kalan

[54:08] Yes.

[54:09] And that's E-Dog.

[54:10] And E-Dog.

[54:11] I guess this is an interesting framing to suddenly introduce in the last minute of the podcast.

Stuart Wellington

[54:16] So this, this podcast is part of the Maximum Fun Podcast Network.

[54:20] Go there.

[54:21] Check out some shows.

[54:22] They're great.

[54:23] This show has been produced by Alex Smith, who hopefully cleaned this up and made it sound

[54:27] extra crispy.

[54:29] And I'd like to thank my two co-hosts.

[54:33] My name is Stewart Wellington, and they are...

[54:35] Dan McCoy.

Elliott Kalan

[54:36] And E-Dog, Elliot Kalin.

[54:38] Okay.

Stuart Wellington

[54:39] Bow, wow, wow.

[54:40] See ya.

[54:48] Maximum Fun.

[54:49] A worker-owned network.

Dan McCoy

[54:50] Of artist-owned shows.

[54:52] Supported.

[54:53] Directly.

[54:54] By you.

FH Mini 139 - Tuboy Tube Talkin' (re)Turns!

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