Let's Talk Ten

Dan is joined by SAM PANCAKE – veteran actor (“A Million Little Things”, “Samboyant! A Gay Hollywood Memoir”), podcast host ("Sam Pancake Presents the Monday Afternoon Movie"), and master raconteur -- for a hilarious, Me-Decade-tastic conversation about their favorite “MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES OF THE 1970'S”.  

Everybody remembers “Trilogy of Terror” – especially that psychotic little Zuni doll.  But how about “Satan’s School for Girls”?  Or our national obsession with the Bermuda Triangle?  

 Dan and Sam sure do, as they share a lot of laughs talking about those and other cogent topics:

-- How “horny” were the 1970’s, anyway?

-- When running away from disciples of Evil, how come nobody can remain upright for more than five yards?

-- Were Richard Crenna, Darren McGavin, and David Janssen all the same person?

-- And lots more!

SUPER-SPOOKY BONUS: A SPECIAL-EDITION “HALLOWEEN” version of the “Let’s Talk Ten” THEME SONG, created by April Fisher.  

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In 1966, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, and many other musical greats released albums that would define the 1960's and inspire listeners for decades to come.

So who'd the Recording Academy choose to award its  Album of the Year Grammy?    For the third time (!) that decade, Frank Sinatra -- for a warmed-over "greatest hits" package -- where Ol' Blue Eyes spent nearly as much time talking about himself as he did singing.

Before writing the whole thing off as just another terrible choice from Academy voters (see also Dan's "Parallel-Universe Oscar" mini-episodes), Dan figured it was only fair for him to listen to Sinatra's 1966 Album of the Year, "A Man and His Music" to judge for himself -- and while he was at it, he listened to a ton of albums from that year to determine what was REALLY the true and rightful Album of that Year.

(SPOILER ALERT: It wasn't Frank.)

Besides Dan's many opinions and lots of cool trivia, this is a tuneful episode -- you'll hear everything from Sinatra to Stevie Wonder to Dylan, The Beatles, Barbra Streisand, Roberta Flack, The Mothers of Invention, Bill Murray....and a lot, lot more.  

At less than thirty minutes, it’s a perfect listen for a commute, your morning workout, or a jaunt to the grocery store and back.  

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Once again, host Dan Fisher looks back on the Oscars -- and whether or not the Academy got things "right" in their choices.  This time, the year is 1982.

The Academy would give Best Picture that evening to the three-and-a-half-hour epic biopic Gandhi -- but was that really the best motion picture in a year that brought us E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Tootsie, The Verdict, Sophie's Choice, My Favorite Year, and many other terrific films?  Should Ben Kingsley have beaten out Dustin Hoffman, Jack Lemmon, Paul Newman, and Peter O'Toole for Best Actor?  Is Best Actress winner Meryl Streep overrated?  These questions still gnaw at Dan, nearly forty years later.

To make things even more interesting, Dan's adding Parallel-Universe "kicker" nominations for each category -- ones that would never, ever meet the Academy's idea of what's "best", but that deserve some form of recognition and reappraisal.

Like the real-life Oscars, these Parallel-Universe ones may delight you, or they may infuriate you.  But you will certainly find them, and this "mini" episode of "Let's Talk Ten" -- to be funny, thought-provoking, and entertaining.  

And the winner is.....

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Film writer/critic and podcaster ADAM LONG joins Dan Fisher for a free-wheeling conversation about their favorite "CULT MOVIES" -- films that were overlooked, or sometimes outright flops, on their initial releases but that found their (sometimes fanatical) audiences eventually.  

No spoilers, but some of their favorites might be familiar,  others a bit more obscure -- but if you're a real movie maniac, you might consider Dan and Adam's Top Tens a browsing list for when you're in the mood for something slightly weird or unconventional.

It's just a jump…to the left…..

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Another "mini" episode that's not particularly mini -- there's just too much great stuff to edit out.

Renowned cartoonists MIMI POND (National Lampoon, The Village Voice) and TERRY BEATTY (Batman & Robin Adventures, Rex Morgan M.D.) join Dan Fisher for a panel discussion on their shared love of MAD magazine -- its history, their favorite features and artists, and the influence that MAD had on their lives -- as well as on modern humor and our culture.

The conversation includes remembrances of personal interactions with many of the legendary Usual Gang of Idiots (what did Al Jaffe say about Dave Berg?), seeing MAD for the first time ("Starchie!"), and MAD vs. The National Lampoon.

New episodes  -- "minis" like this one, alternating with the Top -en-based "regular" episodes -- drop every Monday.

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A great debut album won't just change the lives of the musicians who made it.  It can change yours too, just by hearing it for that first time.

Dan Fisher and Baltimore-based producer/mixer/sound mixer Mat Leffler-Schulman talk about the debut albums -- some well-known, others not so much -- that made  differences in their lives, that changed their perceptions of what music was and what it could be.  For Mat, much of it would hold a strong influence as to what he would do for the rest of his life.

Packed with fun and sonically adventurous samples, like a great debut album, this episode will be one that you'll want to discover before all the "cool" kids claim to have gotten to it first.

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When is a "mini" not really a mini?  When you get three pop culture fanatics together to have them talk about one of the greatest TV shows of all time, "THE TWILIGHT ZONE".  The conversation was simply too much fun to limit to the usual "mini" length.

MICHELE MANTYNEN and JOSH CHAMBERS, social media caretakers for "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast", are both certified "Twilight Zone" fanatics, while host Dan Fisher is more of a casual fan.  Breaking with the usual Top Ten format of the show, each of them choose three of their favorite TZ episodes to discuss in a sort of "round table" way.

As usual, the discussion is not as much about "this one is better than that one" (nobody chose "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"?) as it is about why we love what we love and why "The Twilight Zone" still matters to us.

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Like, ZOINKS!

To talk about Top Ten favorite television shows for children, Dan Fisher reached out to an old pal and former star of kids TV himself -- Michael Maronna of  Nickelodeon's "The Adventures of Pete and Pete".

Because Dan grew up in the 1970's while Michael was a 1980's/1990's kid, they have a lot of fun comparing the programs they each watched in their respective childhoods -- with a few mentions of shows they've watched with their own children.

From the "educational" stuff to brain-dead but irresistible kiddie fare, it's a nostalgia trip, for sure -- but an also occasionally thoughtful exploration of why these shows  still occupy their thoughts, all these years later.  

It's MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE – and ears!

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Following up on the previous mini episode, "The Grammy Experiment: 1994", host Dan Fisher looks back on the Academy Awards honoring the movies of that year, as well.

Having created an imaginary "Parallel Universe" where he can control time and its chain of events, will Dan "right" Oscar's "wrongs" of that night?  Will Tom Hanks take home his second consecutive Best Actor award?  Will Jessica Lange still be honored for her little-seen "Blue Sky"?  Will it be  "Gump"'s night all over again?

Most urgently -- can he prevent Oscars host David Letterman from attempting his infamous "Uma/Oprah" bit?

Until you listen to this mini -- only the two representatives of Price Waterhouse will know for certain.

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Property Master KEVIN LADSON ("Malcolm X", "Creed", "30 Rock") joins Dan for a nostalgic and often hilarious discussion of their parallel lives as movie-obsessed kids growing up in the 1960's and 70's -- though Dan hailed from a tiny West Virginia town with no movie theater while Kevin was a city kid from Queens.  

Among many other things, they talk about their love for stop-motion animation, Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, and movie soundtracks. They also make each other laugh -- a lot.  You probably will too.

Lost in a cinematic world of pure imagination and flying cars,  having to limit their lists to just ten choices apiece was anything but child's play.

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