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Gimmicks
By Glitterjaw Queer Podcast CollectiveTV & Film
Gimmicks episodes
- 100th Episode Q&A
After our 100th episode, David and Derek dive into submitted questions from listeners about our favorite snacks, what weird episodes look like in the wild, and a bunch of other TV talk.
Check out our new variety podcast feed Glitterjaw Presents!
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Bluesky | Instagram
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
1 hr 50 min - RIVERDALE celebrates 100 episodes in the weirdest way (with Chris Cummins)
Riverdale: "The Jughead Paradox"
It's our 100th episode, and we're celebrating with one of TV's wildest and wackiest 100th episodes! Chris Cummins returns for a reality-bending Riverdale that goes full sci-fi, using an imploding parallel universe to tackle every 100th episode trope imaginable -- big deaths, kisses, weddings, Archie Comics references, and even recast actors fighting each other, all while lovingly honoring the show's legacy. We get into the history of the 100th episode milestone in radio and television, how covering this show for a third time is full circle for the podcast, and most importantly...David finally watches Riverdale for the first time!
Find more from Chris: scifiexplosion.com
Sci-Fi Explosion on Twitch
Check out our new variety podcast feed Glitterjaw Presents!
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Bluesky | Instagram
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources:
Seidman writing for TV by the Numbers “Bubble Watch Season Finale: On Fringe, Chuck, and V One More Time” (Archive Link)
The Radio Times archive
Interview with Cole Sprouse on TV Insider
Variety coverage of Riverdale’s 100th Episode
Gizmodo on the Time Travel Archie Movie
2 hr 10 min - ER goes live
ER: "Ambush"
What could make a tense hospital drama known for its realism and practical effects be even more challenging? Airing an episode live! We're talking about perhaps the most famous episode of the seminal series ER, where a documentary crew ambushes the doctors on a particularly busy night, and the east and west coasts watched it unfold in real time. We talk about the anxiety of medical dramas, Alex Kingston's very British introduction of Dr. Corday, an awkward HIV scene, and whether it's worth throwing out narrative strengths to deliver on an artistic gimmick.
Check out our new variety podcast feed Glitterjaw Presents!
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Bluesky | Instagram
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Glitterjaw Presents trailer song: “Happiest Days” by Three Chain Links. Sourced from RoyaltyFreePlanet and used under CC BY 3.0 / Shortened from original
Sources:
Collider Writeup from 2025
ER Season 4 DVD Special Features - BTS “Ambush” pt. 1 & 2
2 hr 26 min - FRIENDS can't get ready (with Erin Mallory Long)
Friends: "The One Where No One's Ready"
We're breezy! Erin Mallory Long from Best of Friends Podcast joins us for a famous episode from one of the biggest sitcoms -- the first of the regular Friends bottle episodes! We get into the cost-saving measure that brought on this episode's concept, why we relate to Ross's anxiety over being late, what made this show so huge despite its complicated origins (aka Living Single), and we re-explain for the umpteenth time what "bottle episode" actually means.
Find more from Erin and her classic Best of Friends Podcast!
Check out our new variety podcast feed Glitterjaw Presents!
Listen to our Outer Limits episode for a deeper dive on bottle episodes.
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Bluesky | Instagram
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
End song: "Friends Intro Theme as an 80's Synthwave Song" by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio"
Glitterjaw Presents trailer song: “Happiest Days” by Three Chain Links. Sourced from RoyaltyFreePlanet and used under CC BY 3.0 / Shortened from original
Sources:
- Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV, Littlefield (2012).
- Archive of American Television
1 hr 41 min - MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE goes bowling
Malcolm in the Middle: "Bowling"
Life's still unfair across two different timelines! It's one of the most famous episodes of the 00s working class family sitcom, a Sliding Doors-style look at the consequences of each parent taking the kids bowling. We talk about the masterful filmmaking, effects, and timing that made this experiment work, the show's surprisingly uncontroversial production history, and the different parenting styles of Jane Kaczmarek's Lois and Bryan Cranston's Hal.
Take the Glitterjaw Listener Survey by 5/31 and enter to win a $50 gift card!
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Bluesky | Instagram
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
End song: "Boss of Me" cover for a fake Malcolm Gameboy Advance game
Sources:
- Alex Reid interview with Orlando Sentinel
- Linwood Boomer interview with Polygon
- Frankie Muniz interview with AOL
1 hr 46 min - SPONGEBOB gets job training (with Russ Moran)
Spongebob Squarepants: "Krusty Krab Training Video"
Are you ready to learn the sacred and dark secrets of preparing a Krabby Patty? Russ from Kaiju ComicCast joins us for this spot-on parody of cheesy fast food job training videos, from mythologizing franchise history to corporate propaganda to silly acronyms and music rip-offs. We also get into the history of weird job training videos, including Wendy's raps, Del Taco getting meta, and a cybersecurity training presented as a prestige TV show.
Check out Kaiju ComicCast!
Bluesky | Instagram
Take the Glitterjaw Listener Survey and enter to win a $50 gift card!
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Bluesky | Instagram
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources:
- Krabby Patty Collab
- Spongebob Wiki
1 hr 40 min - The SIMPSONS/X-FILES pseudo-crossover (with Glitterjaw's Ben & Tommy)
Take the Glitterjaw Listener Survey and enter to win a $50 gift card!
BONUS EPISODE! We complete the prophesized Weird Fox Crossover Trifecta when Mulder and Scully meet The Simpsons in "The Springfield Files"! X-Files fan Ben from Little Dead Aliens and Simpsons fan Tommy from Lee Carvallo's Podding Challenge join us for this zany episode that also includes Leonard Nimoy, some of the most iconic AND dated Simpsons jokes, and maybe...not enough Mulder and Scully?
Check out Little Dead Aliens
Check out Lee Carvallo's Podding Challenge
Check out Distant Echoes: A Star Wars Podcast
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Bluesky | Instagram
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
1 hr 7 min - MODERN FAMILY is on a laptop
Modern Family: "Connection Lost"
Five years before TV was forced to do Zoom episodes, Modern Family had their own take -- an entire story told through one Macbook screen with Apple apps like FaceTime and iMessage! We talk about why episode writer Megan Ganz is a Gimmicks favorite, the long legacy of this hit mockumentary sitcom and the discourse around its queer representation, the very 2015 references of Facebook and cronuts, and more.
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Bluesky | Instagram
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources:
- This is How “Modern Family” Filmed an Episode Entirely with iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks
1 hr 29 min - The SIMPSONS/AMERICA'S MOST WANTED crossover no one saw coming (with Tommy Proffitt)
Bonus episode! We may have covered one iconic crossover between Fox juggernaut properties, The X-Files and COPS, but years earlier another complicated production pitted The Simpsons with America's Most Wanted. Was it as good? No! But it was iconic.
Take yourself back in time for the program designed to lead into The Simpsons season 7 premier of "Who Shot Mr. Burns Part Two" by first listening to us discuss "Springfield's Most Wanted."
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Bluesky | Instagram
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
1 hr 14 min - X-FILES is on COPS (with Tyler Watson)
The X-Files: "X-Cops"
Two unexpected titans of the FOX network cross over -- one a fictional paranormal drama, the other a reality show about law enforcement. Somehow, it works! Tyler from Fear Coded joins us as Mulder and Scully face annoying cameramen, an invisible monster, incompetent police officers, and getting their swears bleeped. We unpack the long and upsetting history of the exploitative but hugely popular Cops, the apex of copaganda spanning decades, and how this Vince Gilligan-penned episode perfectly mimics it while also saying ACAB.
Check out Fear Coded!
Find Tyler: Bluesky | Instagram
If you want more X-Files podcasts, check out Glitterjaw's newest show Little Dead Aliens!
A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective
Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website
Email: [email protected] | Bluesky | Instagram
Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Sources:
- “Arresting Television: After Nearly 25 years On-air, John Langley is Still Keeping Reality TV Real,” by Alejandro Benes, writing for Cigar Aficionado (2013).
- “The Unreality of Cops,” by Sophie Gilbert writing for The Atlantic (2020).
- Cavender, Gray. “In the Shadow of Shadows: Television Reality Crime Programs.” Social Problems: Constructionist Readings (2003).
- Cops Finds New Home on Fox Nation by Ryan Schwartz for TV Line (2021)
- Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to the X-Files by Zach Handlen & Emily St. James
1 hr 58 min
About Gimmicks
From the publisher's feed
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!
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