Ep 199: The Cult, Ads for Shoes, Garry Shandling

Hi everybody. This is episode 199. We talk about the New Zealand show, The Cult and some other stuff.

Our energy levels were down. We apologise but we’re just saving it up for a big show next week.

Contact us by sending us email or send us an SMS on 0458 288 837 (0458 CUTTER)

Sorry.

If You Watch One Thing

  • Brett: 4 Corners – Monday at 8.30 pm on ABC 1. Repeated on Tuesday, 13th October at 11.35 pm.
  • John: The Avengers – Thursday night/Friday morning at 1am, Channel 9.
  • Josh: Louis Theroux, Channel 7, 11:30pm Wednesday.

24 Comments

  1. murrayNE says:

    You can watch Four Corners at http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/

    Is it odd that even though he's mentioned it several times, I still laugh whenever John says that he doesn't watch television on this television podcast?

  2. I should stop saying it – I do say it 'cos I think it's the most infuriatingly pompous thing someone can say. When someone tells you “I don't watch television” it usually means a) they're lying and b) they're an arsehole. I find the people who say it usually watch a whole heap of terrible television (reality TV in particular), but they want to feel smug.

    I once heard a librarian at Fitzroy Library doing the whole smug “I don't have a television” thing, and I wanted to say “You're a librarian! How can you deliberately cut yourself off from one of the major sources of information in the world???”

    Our lack of TV appears to be flat-specific-cabling related – we can get a terrible analogue signal, and no digital signal, and we've been too lazy to find out exactly what's wrong… what with all the DVDs of The Wire still to be watched, and Mad Men to be downloaded…

  3. I think this week's show is every bit as good as porn. Granted, it's only as good as the average of porn, but I have faith that you'll be back on form next week. *crosses fingers*

    Also, why can we no longer use the Facebook Connect thingy? The only option I get is the original-flavour Disqus login.

  4. My god, what a strange episode.

    Also, you tagged this post with 'New Zealand Shoes'. Not that I mind.

  5. I've never done it this way before and this time it's just to check how it works for DanBo.

    Perhaps this week's show is like slightly questionable pr0n… you feel a bit strange while it's on but it's still getting the job done and then you feel a bit sick and dirty when you think back on it.

  6. I'm not impressed how it squeezes my entire profile pic in the space of the detail area which is inviting and enigmatic.

  7. 4 Corners may even be available as a podcast for downloading… but Josh wasn't satisfied that it didn't work in his iView player.

  8. It's working fine now, but I'm not sure if that's just because I'm on my home confuser, rather than the one at work.

    I understand what you mean about the questionable pr0n, and I'm glad that that's a universal experience.

  9. murrayNE says:

    They don't seem to do podcasts of current shows (they have audio podcasts of shows from 2006 or something like that), but if iView is what floats Josh's boat, he could always go to http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/series/four%20cor… (or did he get to the site, but have it fail?)

  10. I have given up on entering the contest. I have been trying since August. I even filmed a pilot. It was crap, but it was decent crap! However, I filmed it on a Sony Handi-Cam that predates my birth and have since spent literaly tens of dollars trying to transfer it to assorted forms of recordable media.
    It has not worked.
    Epic fail.

  11. I did hear about the Hey Hey debacle on the national newscast (imaginatively called “The National”) but if it helps, it did seem like the 'good-news story' in a weird way.

  12. Oh noes! You could just send us some pix of your diorama.

    Handi-cams… did you have to use Hi-8 tapes with it? During _my_ media production training, we used Panasonic cameras with VHS tapes! Serious old school.

  13. You know what? I'm an idiot.

  14. Okay, about 'the' interview.

    Don't get so hung up on it, I've listened to 100 (maybe 10s) of Boxcutters interviews and never complained, 1 out of however many still isn't a bad batting average.

    My post tried (using Jenna speak) to say that although I'm sure your intentions were good, and that you did try to ask the probing questions about why you'd go on the show, you never got the answer, and to be honest, it didn't feel like you pushed, you just let them give the cliched answer, so by the end of it I was completely frustrated as it appeared simply as a paid for commercial (I hope you enjoyed your fruit!) I know it wasn't, I know that's not how you guys work, but the frustration (like, seriously) was overwhelming , or maybe you did cut through but it was too obsequious for me? ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Paul Jackson.

  15. SophieXIV says:

    So *that's* what those are! Yeah, they weren't VHS, that's for sure. The camera in question predates my birth by several years. 1987-1990, I'd say. (nobody can remember when we purchased the thing.)
    Can I send you my script?

  16. Why do I appear to be the only one who can't log in using facebook connect?

  17. YES PLEASE!

    If you have an edit list together, you could even send over the tapes and I could capture and edit it for you… a bit like Race Around the World.

  18. It seems to be random connection issues with Facebook. Nerida has often been labeled Facebook User and DanBo was having probs a couple of days ago.

    I just setup a Disqus profile as soon as we implemented the system. I assume you can put a link to the FB profile in yr Disqus profile if that's important to you.

  19. Speaking for myself, I'm a bit of a perfectionist and hate it when something I'm doing is obviously not working.

    Having the two of them in together probably didn't help in our interrogation – if there was something one of them was unsure about being able to talk about, they could sidestep and let it go through to the other, only to have them talk about something else – or Jenna would hit or kick Corin.

    I say 'interrogation' facetiously… I find the way we do it is almost the opposite – promoting relaxed conversation to open up rather than standover tactics.

    Having said that, obviously my lack of talent in the vocabulary area makes it a minor miracle that I can even tie my shoelaces, let alone talk intelligibly to anyone. Luckily, I usually just have someone tie them in a really tight knot with the shoes loose enough to slip on and off ๐Ÿ™‚

  20. Okay, I understand, hopefully you see this 'review' as constructive.

    Maybe, and yes, I understand the relaxed approach (although you don't take that approach personally with poor James ๐Ÿ˜‰ hah hah), and yes, that does work really well, and makes the discussion usually so much more organic, and maybe that too is the problem that this interview felt like a harsh clash against that style.

    Don't be so hard on yourself, you are my barometer (ala David and Margaret — I always follow Margaret (except on Aussie films where she is a soft touch!)…. I find your questions, viewpoints and reviews normally mirror mine, and as for the wordplay, it's just amusing (plus I learnt a new word from episode 199 – yes, I had to look it up, but I did learn a new word!). Or just get slip ons or velcro shoes ;).

  21. dalekboy says:

    It was a weird show, but still enjoyable.

    I have at least two base ideas for shows for the competition, the problem is time! Between looking after the baby and other stuff, it's in short supply.

    At the moment, if you don't mind them being acted out by Doctor Who action figures, and everyone sounding exactly like me, I may be able to get one of them done.

  22. dalekboy says:

    In all honesty, while we've always had a TV, I can think of a solid period of about two years where the only thing I remember watching was South Park once in a while when it was on. And my wife only occasionally watched that.

    News depresses me with its inbuilt bias towards making people scared, and so much other stuff that's presented as factual is just spin. Most of the stuff on free-to-air is rubbish, and we just can't be bothered with it. Or if it's good, it's on at stupid times, or bounced around, so it's easier to download it. Or loan or buy the DVDs.

    At the moment our whole TV watching for the week is Top Gear – that's it for the wife. I might go on to watch some Flashforward.

    That's not to say there aren't shows we'd enjoy, but you just forget they are there. The less TV you watch, the less you watch, because you don't get reminded about other programs. I can look at a guide, make a list of things I want to see, and I'll just forget they're on.

    Funnily enough, Go! took off the only show of theirs that I occasionally tuned in to see, Dog the Bounty Hunter! Yes, I was their viewer for that one! It was a very guilty pleasure.

    Meanwhile I'm watching the 2000 series of the Invisible Man, Now and Again, the first season of Fringe (if I catch up to where it's at on TV, I'll watch it on FTA), Dollhouse (which is crap, but I'm giving it a chance), QI, Sarah Jane Adventures, Supernatural, and I'm listening to missing Doctor Who stories (just finished The Massacre). And I'm planning on buying the US boxset of West Wing, because it has all the extras.

    Then there's a tonne of shows I've ended up watching more recently because I listen to your show, though sadly I couldn't find active torrents for The Cult.

  23. chuckles73 says:

    I would like to defend the Rivers ads you were discussing (as a Ballarat listener living in the vicinity of the Rivers factory). Rivers have had a long tradition of making their own ads without outside help. The voiceovers and models (and probably scriptwriters, directors, producers and editors) have always been Rivers employees, and that has given the ads a certain amount of annoying charm – I recall a series of ads with no sound whatsover – just a slideshow of products for sale (ingenious as it always made you turn to the TV to check it was still on!). Loving the show, keep it up boys.

  24. Thanks, Chuckles73. That is an interesting take on television advertising.

    Do you know if that's worked for them? I mean, has television advertising been as useful as their brochures?

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