Not Playing with Lex and Dan

As we continue our Football Season, forceful parent Lex Friedman embraces adopted son Dan Moren as they watch the 2009 film, The Blind Side.

Hot topics include the shift in culture, truth being stranger than fiction, and whose viewpoint we’re really seeing the story from.

Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film, members can watch along with Lex and Dan in a full-length commentary track, available in the members-only First Class feed. If you’re not already a member, why not sign up? And if you are, now’s a great time to update your membership allocations and maybe throw a little support in the direction of Not Playing. Thanks!

The Blind Side

Hosts Lex Friedman and Dan Moren.

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

Do we want your life? That’s what second-string high school quarterback Dan Moren is trying to figure out with the help of his buddy, offensive linebacker Lex Friedman in 1999’s Varsity Blues.

Hot topics include muddled plot lines, more mustache-twirling than you can twirl a mustache at, and when a “comedy drama” ends up being neither.

Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film, members can watch along with Lex and Dan in a full-length commentary track, available in the members-only First Class feed. If you’re not already a member, why not sign up? And if you are, now’s a great time to update your membership allocations and maybe throw a little support in the direction of Not Playing. Thanks!

Varsity Blues

Hosts Lex Friedman and Dan Moren.

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

It’s play by the rules, lose by the rules as straight arrow coach Lex Friedman tries to teach mid-thirties freshman quarterback Dan Moren while they watch 1991’s Necessary Roughness.

Hot topics include a surprisingly respectful shower scene, comedy whiplash, and the inevitable tropes of sports movies.

Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film, members can watch along with Lex and Dan in a full-length commentary track, available in the members-only First Class feed. If you’re not already a member, why not sign up? And if you are, now’s a great time to update your membership allocations and maybe throw a little support in the direction of Not Playing. Thanks!

Necessary Roughness

Hosts Lex Friedman and Dan Moren.

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

They say anything can happen, and that’s what strident coach Lex Friedman tries to drill into brash young quarterback Dan Moren as they watch the 1999 film Any Given Sunday.

Hot topics include making a capital ‘m’ Movie, how combining four scripts into one film doesn’t necessarily go well, and just generally why Oliver Stone is a lot.

Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film, members can watch along with Lex and Dan in a full-length commentary track, available in the members-only First Class feed. If you’re not already a member, why not sign up? And if you are, now’s a great time to update your membership allocations and maybe throw a little support in the direction of Not Playing. Thanks!

Any Given Sunday

Hosts Lex Friedman and Dan Moren.

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

They said he was too small to ever make it, but Dan Moren gets encouragement from kindly old janitor Lex Friedman as they sit down to watch 1993’s Rudy.

Hot topics include why Rudy would make a good superhero, young appearances by two well-known actors, and a football movie that’s only sort of about football.

Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film, members can watch along with Lex and Dan in a full-length commentary track, available in the members-only First Class feed. If you’re not already a member, why not sign up? And if you are, now’s a great time to update your membership allocations and maybe throw a little support in the direction of Not Playing. Thanks!

Rudy

Hosts Lex Friedman and Dan Moren.

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

Get your mojo on with tough but fair coach Lex Friedman as he encourages serious quarterback Dan Moren to watch the 2004 film Friday Night Lights, but not the following TV show of the same name.

Hot topics include the heavy weight of Texas high school football, why winning isn’t everything, and why that one dad should not be forgiven.

Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film, members can watch along with Lex and Dan in a full-length commentary track, available in the members-only First Class feed. If you’re not already a member, why not sign up? And if you are, now’s a great time to update your membership allocations and maybe throw a little support in the direction of Not Playing. Thanks!

Friday Night Lights

Hosts Lex Friedman and Dan Moren.

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

It’s a brand new season of Not Playing: Football Season. Join veteran Lex Friedman as he clears the way for rookie Dan Moren while they watch 2006’s Invincible, which is merely coincidentally about Lex’s favorite football team, the Philadelphia Eagles.

Hot topics include the uplifting nature of sports movies, what a 1976 football player gets paid, and the legend of Johnny Two-Hands.

Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film, members can watch along with Lex and Dan in a full-length commentary track, available in the members-only First Class feed. If you’re not already a member, why not sign up? And if you are, now’s a great time to update your membership allocations and maybe throw a little support in the direction of Not Playing. Thanks!

Invincible

Hosts Lex Friedman and Dan Moren.

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

It all comes down to this. We return with a special bonus episode that sees the embodiment of all Jedi, Dan Moren, and the collection of all Sith, Lex Friedman, cover 2019’s Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, thus wrapping up their coverage of the storied franchise.

Hot topics include the surprisingly brilliant deployment of Threepio humor, the camaraderie of our main characters, a Kylo Ren-demption, and building an entire story around cast-off Leia scenes.

Thanks for tuning in, and keep your eyes peeled for season 6 of Not Playing, coming this summer!

Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film, members can watch along with Lex and Dan in a full-length commentary track, available in the members-only First Class feed. If you’re not already a member, why not sign up? And if you are, now’s a great time to update your membership allocations and maybe throw a little support in the direction of Not Playing. Thanks!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Hosts Lex Friedman and Dan Moren.

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

Two tough guys who don’t always see eye-to-eye team up this week, which also happens to be the plot of the final (to date) installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise, 2019’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.

Hot topics include the evolution of the franchise’s female characters (and often lack thereof), wasted villains, charisma up to your eyeballs, and how the heck the Rock fits in a tiny car.

Plus, stay tuned for an exclusive sneak peek at season six of Not Playing, coming to you sometime next year.

Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film, members can watch along with Lex and Dan in a full-length commentary track, available in the members-only First Class feed. If you’re not already a member, why not sign up? And if you are, now’s a great time to update your membership allocations and maybe throw a little support in the direction of Not Playing. Thanks!

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw

Hosts Lex Friedman and Dan Moren.

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.

Family never gives up on you, and neither do Lex and Dan as they embark upon the final main sequence film of The Fast and the Furious franchise, 2017’s The Fate of the Furious.

Hot topics include exactly how you program your military base’s gates to act in case of an emergency, bringing up baby, and why you should always avoid swarms of hacked cars on your commute.

Programming Note: In addition to this capsule episode, which contains our discussion before and after the film, members can watch along with Lex and Dan in a full-length commentary track, available in the members-only First Class feed. If you’re not already a member, why not sign up? And if you are, now’s a great time to update your membership allocations and maybe throw a little support in the direction of Not Playing. Thanks!

The Fate of the Furious

Hosts Lex Friedman and Dan Moren.

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, bonus episodes, and more.