Visser of Ozcast is back for its 16th installment and boy do we bring the heat!
With the fire of a thousand suns, we scorch the earth with incendiary topics such as:
(0 - 17) NBA Playoffs! We discuss what’s worth paying close attention to over the final days of the regular season, what potential first round match-ups intrigue us, and lastly, we offer up our predictions for the West, East, and the whole Finals schabang.
(17 - 33) Mad Men! Only four episodes in to S5 and there have already been so many memorable moments (dinner parties, fat Betty’s, office fight clubs!), but we worry Mad Men is a little too unsubtle these days! Do you feel like you have to put on your “Unpacking Metaphor” hat every time you watch the show? We unpack that question in this segment, but eventually talk off our Metaphor Hats and put on our We Enjoy This Show Hats!
(33 - 51) Lastly, we discuss this season of Justified, including the EXPLOSIVE finale. We debate all the hard questions: did the show take a step back this season in the villain department by going with quantity and quality? Is Boyd better than Raylan? Listening to this segment is the ONLY way too hear the definitive answers to these cut and dry questions, so don’t miss it.
Thanks for listening, guys. Tweet us your thoughts at: @visserofozcast, @peteroverzet, and @austipasti.
Two episodes within 7 days? Don’t look now, but Visser of Ozcast is hitting its stride mere weeks removed from a long podcasting hibernation!
Before the show gets underway, we excitedly address our first ever piece of reader mail, which made a convincing case for AMC’s portrayal of zombies.
After basking in the glow of listener feedback, we set our eyes on NBC’s Thursday night slate of television, otherwise known as “Comedy Night Done Right.” More like, “Comedy Night Done Almost Right” (because of Whitney, amiright?!). Don’t worry, we don’t talk about Whitney. We do come to the conclusion that for the most part, Community, Parks & Rec, and The Office are pleasant and charming enough, but not necessarily churning out knee-slappers. The Office has certainly lost a step without Carell manning Dunder Mifflin. This year’s “Remedial Chaos Theory” is one of the better episodes in the entire Community cannon, but the season is still off to a relatively slow start. Parks & Rec has probably been the most consistently funny of the three and for the most part avoids the nauseating voice-over moralizing crutch at the end of its episodes that has somehow become a staple of sit-coms these days (I’m looking at you, Modern Family). Show don’t tell, y’all!
Despite our indifference last week, we succumbed to the AMC vortex and watched the Hell On Wheels pilot. We agree that if AMC is serious about entering the comedy market, casting Common as an ex-slave is a great place to start. For the most part, Hell on Wheels is itself not unlike an unfinished railroad, meandering its way through the middle of the country with no discernible end in sight. The pilot casts a wide net, introducing a lot of characters and potential directions the show could head, but it sadly appears AMC is content to use a cookie cutter Deadwood mold to fulfill their western period piece quota. It could turn around, but we aren’t holding our breath. Oh, and whoever is the Hell on Wheels cinematographer needs to chill out with their brightness, contrast, and sepia knobs.
We transition from one train wreck to another, the AFC West. The Raiders now lead the division at 5-4, with the inept Broncos, Chargers, and Chiefs all sitting at 4-5. While the division title is certainly up for grabs, not one of these teams is inspiring much confidence. Look elsewhere for watchable football.
Finally, we introduce a new Visser of Ozcast segment, where we pick a movie available on Netflix Instant that we all can watch during the week and then discuss on the following episode. This week’s pick, Biutiful, is a foreign language film starring Javier Barden (relax, ladies!). So fire up your Qwikster and test your laziness with some good ol’ subtitles!
See ya next week, Ozcasters.
Reader Mail: 00:01:30
NBC TV: 00:04:00
Hell on Wheels: 00:15:00
AFC West: 00:22:40
Netflix Pick of the Week: 00:31:00
Stream the episode below or right click/save as on this post’s title to download the MP3 to your Zune or whatever.
Well, well, well. It’s been too long, members of Visser of Ozcast Nation (and by “nation,” I mean these two). After an eighth month hiatus, we are finally back with a JAM-PACKED episode of that fire-breathing, pop culture/sporty goodness you’ve come to expect from this transcontinental podcast operation.
We waste little time dusting off the cobwebs, jumping right into a discussion about season two of AMC’s The Walking Dead. Despite never-ending plot holes, repeated inconsistencies, 2D characters, and a pacing equivalent to the limp of a zombie, we somehow arrive at the sad conclusion that we will continue to do the mental gymnastics necessary to justify watching the show. Gluttons for punishment, we are.
To cleanse the AMC pallet, we do a very belated wrap-up of the terrific fourth season of Breaking Bad. Does the Walt/Lily of the Valley math add up? Should Giancarlo Esposito win an Emmy for his S4 performance? And just how badly will shit hit the fan in the remaining 16 episodes? If you think those are just rhetorical questions, boy are you in for a treat upon pressing the little play button down below.
We then make the jump from unparalleled scripted TV drama to the NBA lockout, which is playing out like a horror movie script (with David Stern playing the timeless role of “Man Wielding A Chainshaw”). We break down the owners and players positions, who we think is at fault, and why there is little reason for optimism at this point. Sigh.
Lastly, we bring the show on home with some NFL and fantasy football talk for all of you fake footballers. One of us promises the Chargers will turn it around this week against the undefeated Packers. So take that to the bank and don’t think twice.
Alright, now that the table is set, go ahead and sloppily tuck that napkin into your shirt and dig in to this auditory feast:
Walking Dead: 0:00
Breaking Bad: 0:13
NBA Lockout: 0:27
NFL/Fantasy Football: 0:39
Thanks for listening! If you want to shoot us an e-mail with any show topics you’d like to hear in the future or just to tell us why we are idiots, you can do so at visserofozcast@gmail.com. Hear ya later!
After taking a two week hiatus, The Visser of Ozcast triumphantly returns in 2011 with that same fire-breathing podcast goodness you’ve grown accustomed to. In fact, we’re so amped up for the New Year that we decided to do a 2010 retrospective show. We just can’t quit you, 2010!
In Episode 4, we discuss our favorite movies, music, and television shows from 2010. No sports (believe it haters). Did Justin Timberlake ruin The Social Network? Is Kanye West the bestest ever? Is Outsourced unbelievably racist? Actually, we don’t really talk about any of those things. You’ll have to stream the audio candy down below to actually discover a few of our favorite 2010 things. (Spoiler Alert: We both somehow saw Alice In Wonderland this year and opposite of loved it!) Jokes aside, we really do talk about highlights from 2010 like Shutter Island, Dom’s Sun Bronzed Greek Gods EP, and pretty much everything the meth slingin’, 60’s-fetishizing, zombie-loving brainstrust over at AMC touched.
Enjoy! We look forward to having you join us for an especially Vissery and Ozcasty 2011!
Movies: 0:00
Music: 16:35
TV: 28:56
On today’s Visser of Ozcast we flip the “traditional” three subject format established in the ground-breaking inaugural episode to discuss just two—albeit significant (ha!)—topics: the surprise firing of Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels and the solid The Walking Dead finale that aired Sunday on AMC.
Listen to us to try to make sense of the dysfunctional mess that is the Denver Broncos franchise and reconcile McDaniels’ seemingly in-control demeanor with the fact that he absolutely ran the franchise into the ground after starting the 2009 season with a 6-0 record.
We also talk about what makes The Walking Dead such an intriguing show with a lot of promise for the future. With only six episodes, AMC barely let us take a sip of that sweet, zombie blood. Needless to say, we are ready for more (character development that is, not blood).
If for some reason only one of these topics is of interest to you and for some reason you don’t feel like hearing our sweet, dulcet tones for the full duration of the podcast, you can que up the McDaniels’ chatter from 0:00 to 12:30 and The Walking Dead spoilers (oh yeah, spoilerz!!!) from 12:30 to the end.
