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Gimmicks
By Glitterjaw Queer Podcast CollectiveTV & Film
Gimmicks episodes
- DREW CAREY makes mistakes
The Drew Carey Show: "What’s Wrong With This Episode?"
It's the first April Fools' Day episode of Drew Carey's sitcom, which hosted a contest asking audiences to spot over 50 intentional mistakes -- from characters in mustaches to continuity errors to bears wearing ties to kaiju Craig Ferguson! As we try and fail to talk about the actual normal plot of this otherwise bizarre episode, we get into this show's legacy as the king of high-concept gimmicks, its weirdly forgotten massive success, and how it was ultimately mangled by the network.
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:
A timeline of the life and works of Drew Carey for the Cleveland.com Homegrown Heroes series
Home Brewed: The Drew Carey Story by Kathleen Tracy, 1997
1 hr 51 min - G.I. JOE goes to a parallel universe (with Brett White)
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero: "Worlds Without End, Parts 1 & 2"
Washington, D.C. is the capital of an evil empire?! Brett White of Pop Heist joins us for this disturbingly prescient alternate universe story from the classic 80s toon, which finds an assortment of lesser-known Joes in a world where the bad guys won, forcing them to face their own mortality and commitment to their mission. We talk about the toy-driven and politically progressive background of this series, the many queer-coded villains, and how Cobra's U.S. reflects our world's current state of affairs.
Check out Pop Heist!
Follow Brett:
Instagram | Bluesky
Thankfully that Max Landis G.I. Joe movie has been cancelled since we recorded this, but read Brett's editorial about it anyway.
And check out Brett's G.I. Joe fancasting!
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:
- How Toy Promotions Took Over '80s - History.com
- The Republican Party Is Just Dumb Cobra; or, G.I. Joe Is Quite Liberal, Actually - Pop Heist
- G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero’ Episode 1 Recap: This Cartoon Blasts Fascists
- Joepedia
1 hr 50 min - BABYLON 5 is on the news (with Christian Smith)
Babylon 5: "And Now for a Word"
We interrupt your scheduled podcasting! Christian Smith joins us for a news report episode of the cult favorite space opera, where a Barbara Walters-type journalist shows us the intergalactic news media's perspective on aliens, space war, and space politics -- along with prescient takes on propaganda and evil corporate sponsors. We talk about the strange history of the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN) and syndication, J. Michael Straczynski's pre-planning, and THE PSI CORPS IS YOUR FRIEND. TRUST THE PSI CORE.
Follow Christian:
Instagram | Bluesky
Check out Christian's appearances on Graymalkin Lane!
End Song: "Babylon 5 OST (Extended remix)" by NANKAT
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:
The Babylon Project
The Lurker’s Guide to Babylon 5
Archive of JMS Usenet posts
- Patricia Tallman Interview
2 hr 7 min - DAY BY DAY becomes THE BRADY BUNCH (with Chris Cummins)
Day by Day: "A Very Brady Episode"
You've probably never heard of Day by Day -- a short-lived sitcom with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and, shockingly, Christopher Daniel Barnes playing a Brady Bunch obsessive who crosses over into the Brady reality... six years before he's cast as Greg Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie! Certified Bradyologist Chris Cummins joins us for this prescient and postmodern send-up of the Bradys, as we talk Bradymania of the 80s and 90s, how the show became an institution, and the many gay icons of the Brady family.
Watch Sci-Fi Explosion on Twitch
Follow Chris:
Instagram | Bluesky
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:
- Asaad Kelada interview
- Gary David Goldberg interview
- Sherwood Schwartz Interview
- Lloyd Schwartz Interview
1 hr 56 min - BUFFY makes the sidekick a hero
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: "The Zeppo"
Is this a penis metaphor? Yes, actually! This hilarious episode makes "normal guy" Xander Harris the main character on his own adventure as the apocalypse happens in the background, using him to interrogate toxic masculinity while satirizing and parodying the clichés and tropes of a typical Buffy episode. We get into a brief history of the titular Zeppo from the Marx Brothers, the real-life issues and abuses of Joss Whedon and Nicholas Brendon that make this episode complicated to revisit, and Cordelia Chase as a manifestation of Xander's negative self-talk.
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:
- Passion of the Nerd’s Buffy Guide
- TV Line Nicholas Brendon Interview
- ScienceFiction.com Interview with Nicholas Brendon
- The Marx Brothers: Anarchy, Wit, and the Birth of Cinematic Comedy
- The Undoing of Joss Whedon
2 hr 15 min - COMMUNITY's Christmas takedown of GLEE
Bonus episode! We wanted to wash the bitter Glee taste out of our mouths and send everyone off with a good Christmas episode, so we're chatting about Community's "Regional Holiday Music" -- a musical parody of Glee by way of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
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
55 min - GLEE sings about Christmas (with Hamish Steele)
Glee: "Extraordinary Merry Christmas"
Well, it's come to this: we cover the Ryan Murphy creation Glee and all its slushie-stained complicated creation and ongoing story. Luckily, Hamish Steele joins us to talk about the best of the Christmas episodes of this important but derisive series which all began with a gym cruising adjacent pitch. We talk about capitalism, autotune, a related reality TV show, and an era when it felt like the gays won.
Check out Hamish's Podcast:
Super Mario Moment
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:
- LA Times article "Cool for School"
- Christmas TV writeup for this episode
- Billboard article "'Glee' Warblers Album Flies High"
2 hr 8 min - ALL IN THE FAMILY tells the truth
All in the Family: "Everybody Tells the Truth"
Those were the days, but how do YOU remember them? Archie Bunker and Mike disagree on the night's events, leading to an uproariously funny rapid-fire take on the Rashomon episode! And in true All in the Family fashion, this episode still manages to tackle different ways racism can manifest in both liberals and conservatives. We talk about this influential show from the extensive Norman Lear universe (and how Lear himself was a total smokeshow), Carroll O'Connor's roaring, Edith doing pup play, and the criminal underuse of Sally Struthers as Gloria.
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:
Ethnic Notions (1987) a documentary by Marlon Riggs
Warm Up the Snake (2006) by John Rich
Even This I Get to Experience (2014) by Norman Lear
1 hr 30 min - PEE-WEE'S PLAYHOUSE goes up for sale (with Kevin Cafferty)
Pee-wee's Playhouse: "Playhouse for Sale"
Come on in, and pull yourself up a chair (Like Chairry!) Kevin Cafferty joins us for the series finale of the hugely popular fusion of Saturday Morning kids edutainment and underground surrealist performance art, and its melancholy clip show goodbye inspired by Howdy Doody. We get into the alt-comedy and punk roots of the Pee-wee Herman character, Pee-wee mania in the 80s, the horrible ways Paul Reubens and his sexuality was handled by the media, and why this finale centers on Miss Yvonne and the playhouse puppets rather than Pee-wee himself.
Check out Kevin's Podcasts:
Gleaming the Tube
Best Stuff in the World
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:
Inside Pee-wee’s Playhouse: The Untold, Unauthorized, and Unpredictable Story of a Pop Phenomenon (2012) by Caseen Gaines
Pee-wee as Himself (2025) a documentary by Matt Wolf
No Trick, Just a Treat (2021) by Chris Azzopardi for Philadelphia Gay News
Critics Notebook: ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse redux: Bonus talk with Paul Reubens” by Robert Lloyd for the LA Times
Alison Mork - Under the Puppet #91
Kevin Carlson - Under the Puppet #9
1 hr 47 min - Late night shows are turned on their heads
Bonus episode! With the recent developments in the landscape of late night television programs, we wanted to talk about what's going on and look back at some of the high concept and experimental episodes that are part of the long history of this type of TV.
In particular, we will discuss the Late Night With David Letterman airing from December 9, 1986. Link to watch care of archivist Don Giller.
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
Source: The Lost Laughs of Letterman, Don Giller
1 hr 6 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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