Bonus episode! We wanted to wash the bitter Glee taste out of our mouths and send everyone off with a good Christmas episode, so we're chatting about Community's "Regional Holiday Music" -- a musical parody of Glee by way of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Glee: "Extraordinary Merry Christmas"
Well, it's come to this: we cover the Ryan Murphy creation Glee and all its slushie-stained complicated creation and ongoing story. Luckily, Hamish Steele joins us to talk about the best of the Christmas episodes of this important but derisive series which all began with a gym cruising adjacent pitch. We talk about capitalism, autotune, a related reality TV show, and an era when it felt like the gays won.
Check out Hamish's Podcast:
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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All in the Family: "Everybody Tells the Truth"
Those were the days, but how do YOU remember them? Archie Bunker and Mike disagree on the night's events, leading to an uproariously funny rapid-fire take on the Rashomon episode! And in true All in the Family fashion, this episode still manages to tackle different ways racism can manifest in both liberals and conservatives. We talk about this influential show from the extensive Norman Lear universe (and how Lear himself was a total smokeshow), Carroll O'Connor's roaring, Edith doing pup play, and the criminal underuse of Sally Struthers as Gloria.
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources:
Ethnic Notions (1987) a documentary by Marlon Riggs
Warm Up the Snake (2006) by John Rich
Even This I Get to Experience (2014) by Norman Lear
Pee-wee's Playhouse: "Playhouse for Sale"
Come on in, and pull yourself up a chair (Like Chairry!) Kevin Cafferty joins us for the series finale of the hugely popular fusion of Saturday Morning kids edutainment and underground surrealist performance art, and its melancholy clip show goodbye inspired by Howdy Doody. We get into the alt-comedy and punk roots of the Pee-wee Herman character, Pee-wee mania in the 80s, the horrible ways Paul Reubens and his sexuality was handled by the media, and why this finale centers on Miss Yvonne and the playhouse puppets rather than Pee-wee himself.
Check out Kevin's Podcasts:
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources:
Inside Pee-wee’s Playhouse: The Untold, Unauthorized, and Unpredictable Story of a Pop Phenomenon (2012) by Caseen Gaines
Pee-wee as Himself (2025) a documentary by Matt Wolf
No Trick, Just a Treat (2021) by Chris Azzopardi for Philadelphia Gay News
Bonus episode! With the recent developments in the landscape of late night television programs, we wanted to talk about what's going on and look back at some of the high concept and experimental episodes that are part of the long history of this type of TV.
In particular, we will discuss the Late Night With David Letterman airing from December 9, 1986. Link to watch care of archivist Don Giller.
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Source: The Lost Laughs of Letterman, Don Giller
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: "Mr. Ferguson is Ill Today"
When this TV sequel to Terminator 2 has a climactic face-off with its series-long cyborg Big Bad, it does so in style -- following the disparate ensemble of heroes from their individual perspectives until they come together in Mexico. We talk about why this is one of the best installments of the Terminator franchise, Derek introducing David to yet another short-lived FOX genre show with a 90210 cast member (hi, Brian Austin Green!), how this narrative structure is owed to the 1999 film Go, and much more.
Check out the Are You My Mother episode on Sarah Connor.
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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Batman: The Animated Series: "Almost Got 'Im"
What happens when five of Batman's rogues gallery play a game of cards together? They tell stories about their greatest foe! Comic writer Lan Pitts joins us for this series of vignettes and mini-Batman adventures from Joker, Poison Ivy, Penguin, and Two-Face (Killer Croc just threw a rock at 'im.) We get into the history of this iconic show and why this is regarded as one of its best episodes!
Look out for Lan's upcoming graphic novel with Mad Cave!
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Bonus episode! We just talked about What We Do in the Shadows last week, and we wanted to briefly talk about last year's series finale... which featured three different parody "hypnosis" scenes in the middle of the episode, depending on when and where you watched it. Listen to David learn about and watch these alternate scenes for the very first time!
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Source: Gold Derby Interview
What We Do in the Shadows: "Go Flip Yourself"
Bad news?! Matt Bruneau-Richardson (from Tiny Siren Animation) joins to discuss the reality TV spin of of the mockumentary style show What We Do in the Shadows. We celebrate this series' queerness, alongside its horror and comedy while also talking about the history of home renovation programs, what they've become, and how watching them might be really bad for our brains.
Check out Matt's upcoming feature, Sirenetta: Part-Time Mermaid on Kickstarter.
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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Only Murders in the Building: "The Boy from 6B"
It's one of the smartest takes on a silent episode when the murder mystery dramedy takes on the perspective of its deaf character Theo (James Caverly)! We get into how a series headlined by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez could actually exist, and how its stylized take on the genre allowed deaf creators to craft one of the show's most rich and complex episodes with almost no vocal dialogue. Plus, we talk about the nature of true crime podcasting and this show's nuanced take on the subject!
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Bonus episode! We just talked about jumping the shark last week... so we decided to chat about our favorite instances of TV shows doing the opposite! We talk about the concept of "growing the beard" -- moments when shows that started out rocky improved and became their best selves. We get into Star Trek, RuPaul's Drag Race, The X-Files, Bojack Horseman, Tru Calling, and much more!
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Happy Days: "Hollywood, Part 3"
You've heard the phrase "jump the shark." But what about the episode that created it? We're talking the hugely popular 1970s sitcom about the 1950s -- Happy Days, and the Hollywood beach vacation three-parter and pseudo-Jaws riff that led to Henry Winkler's Fonzie waterskiing over a shark... and defining "TV shows going downhill" for the ages. Does the episode deserve the infamy? How much evil has Ron Howard inflicted on the world? And should you, in fact, sit on it?
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Sources:
Hein Interview in Michigan Today: “He’s a Maniac” by Alan Glenn (2016)
Interview with Pat Morita who played ARNOLD, a requirement to be seen for season 3 to be picked up
Roseanne: "An Officer and a Gentleman"
We're revisiting this early episode of Gimmicks from 2022 with new commentary! To start, David shares some personal lore related to this very Gimmicks episode, and Derek talks a little about the controversy of the ending of The Conners.
Then, we present the original episode where Kevin from May the Power Protect You Podcast joins for this prescient episode that puts Laurie Metcalf and John Goodman in the spotlight. Nearly 30 years before Roseanne Barr was notoriously removed from her own sitcom, an early episode posited that question: could the show Roseanne exist without its titular star?
Find more from Kevin:
May the Power Protect You Podcast | Kevin on Bluesky: @BridgeMT
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Season 1 Theme song: "Swift Electric" by Cyberbear | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources CBR TV Legends | Roseanne Wiki
King of the Hill: "Pigmalion"
We're revisiting this early episode of Gimmicks from 2022 with new commentary! First, David shares his love for Peggy Hill, while Derek talks about the transition from caution to unambiguous excitement over the impending revival of King of the Hill.
Then, we present the original episode where Tommy Proffitt (Distant Echoes, Lee Carvallo's Podding Challenge) joins to talk about this dark and infamous Halloween episode that puts Luanne in the clutches of a twisted pork mogul played by Michael Keaton, complete with every troubling mental health trope you could think of.
Find more from Tommy:
Distant Echoes: A Star Wars Podcast | Lee Carvallo's Podding Challenge | Tommy on Bluesky: @awkwardcomma
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Season 1 Theme song: "Swift Electric" by Cyberbear | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Episode Sources: King of the Hill Kronology | King of the Hill Alt.TV forum | Archived King of the Hill fansite | King of the Hill Wiki
Dead End: Paranormal Park: "Phantom of the Theme Park"
We're revisiting this early episode of Gimmicks from 2022 with new commentary! To start, David remembers the "nightmares" that led him to Dead End: Paranormal Park, and Derek laments the cancelation of this groundbreaking series.
Then, we present the original episode where Doug Fink sings his own "I Want" song for one of the best television musicals in years! The very queer animated adaptation of Hamish Steele's DeadEndia comics presents its penultimate episode as an inspired rock opera, with music by Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump and influences from Little Shop of Horrors, Phantom of the Opera, and renaissance Disney.
Find more from Doug:
Walloping Websnappers | Novel Gaming | Falling with Style | Skreeonk! | Doug on Bluesky: @ickybooley | www.dougfink.com
Pre-order GO-MAN: CHAMPION OF EARTH! Release date: August 26, 2025
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Season 1 Theme song: "Swift Electric" by Cyberbear | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Episode Sources:
Digital Spy | Awards Watch | Pink News | Dead End Wiki
Moonlighting: "Atomic Shakespeare"
We're revisiting this early episode of Gimmicks from 2023 with new commentary! First, David talks about remembering -- and forgetting -- Moonlighting, while Derek rightfully credits this Gimmicks episode as finally delivering this groundbreaking series onto a streaming platform.
Then, we present the original episode where Kevin Cafferty (Best Stuff in the World, Gleaming the Tube) cometh to discuss the most famous (and expensive) episode of the classic 80s fourth-wall-breaking romcom starring Cybill Shepard and Bruce Willis -- their ambitious, cartoonish Elizabethan parody of The Taming of the Shrew done fully in iambic pentameter!
Find more from Kevin:
Best Stuff in the World Podcast | Gleaming the Tube | Kevin on Bluesky: @kevshindig
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Episode Sources:
Moonlighting: An Oral History by Scott Ryan | Variety's excerpt from the oral history
It's a sequel to a previous bonus episode! We last covered part one of the crossover between Abbott Elementary and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia that aired with Abbott, and we loved it. After many months, we've finally gotten the Always Sunny take in part two, and... well, we love it significantly less. Let's talk about why this didn't work as well as the first installment.
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Saved by the Bell: "Jessie's Song"
Yes, this is the one where Jessie Spano gets addicted to caffeine pills and sings The Pointer Sisters! It's the textbook example of a Very Special Episode and one of the most lambasted episodes in TV history -- and it actually came from a sincere, personal place. We explore how a Saturday morning sitcom for children decided to do a drug story, why it became caffeine, and the better story about pressures to succeed in school that's buried under that singing.
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Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
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Black Mirror: "San Junipero"
Heaven is a place on Earth! Merrilee O'Neil (from Glitterjaw's Fear Coded) joins us for the queer joy of the bleak sci-fi anthology's first break from formula -- a big gay sapphic love story set in the 1980s (sort of) that is not, in fact, a huge downer. We get into the cultural conversation around Black Mirror (and how it led to the creation of this episode) along with complex explorations of death, the meaning of life, and why queerness elevates this sci-fi premise.
Check out Merrilee on Fear Coded: A Queer Horror Podcast
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Bonus episode! When ABC's TGIF block tried to replicate the success of Sabrina the Teenage Witch in the late 90s, it resulted in a very high-concept time travel crossover that injected magic into the entire block! Sabrina, Boy Meets World, and the mostly forgotten Teen Angel and You Wish all get displaced into different decades thanks to Salem eating a magical time ball, and only Melissa Joan Hart's quips and charisma can save them all. We talk about this network crossover's legacy, and how even a fun concept can't save bad shows.
Watchlist:
Sabrina the Teenage Witch: "Inna Gadda Sabrina"
Boy Meets World: "No Guts, No Cory"
You Wish: "Genie Without a Cause"
Teen Angel: "One Dog Night"
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