Please do not be alarmed. I know you all have grown accostomed to our warm and welcoming voices over the years, but we thought we would mix things up and bring a guest on the show to spice things up for a special mini episode. We invited our good friend Mike Skubik (follow him) into the Ozcast studios to throw down on the state of Community in the aftermath of the mid-season shelving.
Mike dons a beef jerky mustache and beard (audio only, sorry) in an act of solidarity with the dark timeline NBC has set Community on. Eventually we talk him off the ledge, citing syndication and NBC’s sympathy as possible reasons for optimism. We also toss around the idea of the show benefiting from martyrdom a la Party Down and Arrested Development. We also somehow weave in some Ricky Gervais bashing in the mix, so enjoy that!
Oh, and if you are questioning our guest’s bonafides, just know Visser of Ozcast was the SECOND podcast he appeared on that day. We are very excited for Mike to reap the benefits of the Visser of Ozcast bump, though.
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.
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
Welcome to the Visser of Ozcast! Doesn't that just roll off the tongue? Not only do you get to indulge us and our unhealthy penchant for puns, but you also get to speak in a funny European accent every time you tell your friends about this wonderful new podcast you've discovered! Win/win, I'd say.
