A podcast about the high-concept, experimental, structure-breaking gimmick episodes of TV! From musicals, to noirs, to bottle episodes and more -- we look at an...
Smallville: "Lexmas"
The first Christmas episode of this Superman adaptation pulls out all the holiday stops, as a dying Lex Luthor is offered a Christmas Carol/It's a Wonderful Life-infused dream of a love-filled future from the ghost of his mom...complete with the most tinsel and soft glow you've ever seen. Oh, and did we mention Santa Claus is real and young Superman talks him off a ledge? AND that this is the episode where Michael Rosenbaum's Lex goes bad for good? We dig into it all, including Derek's weirdly deep history with Smallville as a midnight cult show, what makes this comic book adaptation refreshingly different from current TV and superhero media, and more!
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Twitter: @gimmickspod | Instagram: @gimmickspod
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources:
Smallville: The Official Companion Season 5 by Craig Byrne
Talk Ville Podcast
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2:05:53
BROAD CITY posts Instagram Stories (with Hamish Steele)
Broad City: "Stories"
The great Hamish Steele returns for an episode told (almost) entirely through not-quite Instagram stories! As
Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer take a 30th birthday walk along the entire length of New York City, we talk about this show's insights into social media and millennial culture, the weird political space it occupied by straddling pre- and post-Trump America, and how this gifable Tumblr darling of the late 2010s went under the radar in its final season. Plus, butt videos as legitimately good gifts, a touch of cultural appropriation, and the time Guillermo Díaz flirted with Derek.
Find more from Hamish!
Other cool stuff you should check out:
Self-Esteem and the End of the World by Luke Healy
Hamish's upcoming comic, Go-Man, Champion of Earth
Weekend as a 28 Year Old in Chicago
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Twitter: @gimmickspod | Instagram: @gimmickspod
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources:
The Hollywood Reporter
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1:54:59
DEXTER'S LABORATORY is written by a six-year-old fan (with Tyler Lee)
Dexter's Laboratory: "Dexter and Computress Get Mandark!"
When Tyler Lee was six and a half, he and his mother recorded him narrating his own story for his favorite cartoon... and then it was animated into a famous episode! Tyler himself joins us to talk about his brush with Cartoon Network fame, and how it led to his brief stint in child acting and now a professional career as an opera singer and D&D podcaster. Plus, we dispel misinformation (he didn't die!), and dig into why only a Genndy Tartakovsky cartoon could pull this off, the iconic nature of "YOU ARE STUUUUPID", and even deleted scenes from Tyler's original recording!
Check out what Tyler is doing now as an adult:
Instagram: @tylerleetenor
The Predicting Chaos D&D Campaign: YouTube (@PredictingChaos) and Twitch (@predictingchaos)
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Twitter: @gimmickspod | Instagram: @gimmickspod
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources: Washington Post | Brian A. Miller of Cartoon Network Studios
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1:24:42
MY SO-CALLED LIFE tells a ghost story (with Matt Baume)
My So-Called Life: "Halloween"
We're joined by Matt Baume (YouTuber, award-winning author, and host of Matt’s So-Cast Pod) for this seminal Gen X teen drama and the poster child of 90s cancelled-too-soon TV--and the much-maligned time it ditched the grounded realism it was so famous for in a Halloween ghost story involving time travel and dying young. We talk about the breakout performance from Claire Danes, Jared Leto jumpscares, the show's groundbreaking queerness, and more!
Find all of Matt Baume's incredible work:
YouTube | Matt’s So-Cast Pod | Hi Honey, I’m Homo!
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Twitter: @gimmickspod | Instagram: @gimmickspod
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources: San Francisco Bay Guardian | Tampa Bay Times
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1:23:20
BREAKING BAD is obsessed with one fly (with Daniel Roemer)
Breaking Bad: "Fly"
It's a tentpole of the golden age of television, so we had to get to Vince Gilligan's crime thriller eventually...and that meant doing its most divisive episode, a Rian Johnson-directed low-budget chamber piece all about catching a fly! We dig into Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul's performances, the inventive camerawork, an even lower-budget Spanish remake, and why this episode is not at all filler. Plus, we have an interview with Daniel Roemer, creator of the Amazon Prime TV series Chaser, about creating high concept television like this!
Find more from Daniel Roemer:
Linktree | Instagram: @dfroemer
Check out Chaser on Amazon Prime!
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Twitter: @gimmickspod | Instagram: @gimmickspod
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources:Vulture retrospective | Pardon My Take podcast | AV Club’s “Best Show, Worst Episode” roundtable from 2011
A podcast about the high-concept, experimental, structure-breaking gimmick episodes of TV! From musicals, to noirs, to bottle episodes and more -- we look at any television episode that breaks from its own formula in some way.
Derek B. Gayle and David Arnold (and occasionally guests!) dig into a different episode of a different show across the entire TV landscape every other Monday!
Ireland