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Peter Fenzel and Matt Wrather overthink series 16 of The Great British Bake Off, a reality competition show that takes place in a comforting world swaddled in gingham, where the stakes are as low as a soggy bottom. With one contestant so dominant, this year’s competition was nearly devoid of suspense; and the presence of a Ukrainian baker nearly forced the show to confront a world with a tragedies many times worse than the collapse of a cake.

They puzzle out how the show tries to make meaning through its casting and through the relationship between the hosts and the judges, and try to imagine what the show must mean to its intended (British) audience, playing on both nostalgia for a simpler time of village fêtes and the contemporary diversity of modern Britain. In the end, everyone can agree: Alison Hammond has made the show’s flavor’s pop.

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Episode 906: Hero Flavour originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

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Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the world of decision-making outside of the voting booth—a world where each vote might have a decisive effect on your future voting power. (Matt, for example, is never allowed to chose the movie again, after Phantom-gate.) They touch on decision theory, Pareto efficiency, and economics, ultimately deciding it’s the right move to hold onto your tickets for Hidalgo, even if you’re going by yourself, and throw away your tickets to Highlander: Endgame.

But how to make decisions in that ultimate kid-tatorship, the family. Do you Matrix your kids or let them experience the vertigo of unlimited choice? And how can Dads stay cool? They join a casual rock band, where enthusiasm outweighs consensus every time.

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Episode 905: Bayesian Democracy originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

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With the French crown jewels still in the wind after the recent daring daylight robbery at the Louvre, Mark Lee, Matt Wrather and Pete Fenzel turn from the sparkly to the skeletal, to overthink the grand seasonal decorations on display in their urban and suburban communities.

Among its many moments of horror, 2020 saw Home Depot release “Skelly,” a 12-foot plastic lawn skeleton with glowing LCD eyes, to amaze your neighbors and terrify their children. Like or unlike other trends from that year, Skelly and his ilk have advanced in the years since, unceasing. This year, the Depot released an entire “Boo Crew” of additional family for the boney bachelor, and Mark, Matt and Pete have seen not just Skelly, but similarly large and ostentatious Halloween display ramp up in a multi-year grand ornamental Dance of Death.

The Overthinkers tackle the cultural or psychological significance of grand Halloween displays, alongside other over-the-top carnivals of the cursed, such as the continued wearing of the Koh-i-Noor diamond in British coronations. They also muse on Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 16th century panel painting “The Triumph of Death,” how to consider the changing meaning of “cheapness,” and the provenance of Dolly Parton in the cultural importance of spangles and rhinestones.

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Episode 904: Skelly Extended Universe [REPOST] originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

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The year is 2025. The United States has devolved into an authoritarian, dystopian society where violence is used as a form of social control. In a stunning act of defiance, three brave podcasters–Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather–fight back by analyzing the 1987 version of The Running Man, just in time for the Edgar Wright re-adaptation of the original Steven King novel to hit the big screens. We haven’t seen it yet, but it’s safe to say it will be very different from the quip-and-kill Schwarzenegger version that doesn’t really have anything coherent to say about the use of violence in entertainment, except, perhaps, “this is awesome.” But it does come down super hard against floral print button down shirts.

The panelists compare the movie to other notable examples where violence as spectacle is front and center: Gladiator, Robocop, and The Hunger Games. They also try to rationalize the role of the show in-universe as a method of social control, but mainly find that the world-building just doesn’t hold up as well as its higher quality contemporaries. But what the movie lacks in coherence and cohesion it makes up for with physicality and spectacle.

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Episode 903: How Can You Run a Dystopian Government If You Don’t Know What Gilligan’s Island Is? originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

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Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the complexities of time management, especially as parents. Matt wants to know how Mark and Pete “have it all,” balancing work, family, and personal time, overseen by an all-knowing paper calendar. Is your schedule “squishy” like a waterbed, or “firm” like the rock you need to sleep on to keep from throwing your back out now that you are old?

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Episode 902: It’s Not for You; It’s for You Later originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

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Mark Lee, Matt Wrather, and Pete Fenzel whoop whoop (that’s the sound of the police!) for Liam Neeson’s arrival on streaming as Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. of Police Squad in The Naked Gun. The overthinkers welcome this successor to the legacy of spoof, tracing the broader historical journey of latter-day parody from the alpine peaks of inflatable pilots and Reggie Jackson, to the dark forest of Poe’s Law and reality more absurd than fiction.

Is The Naked Gun more than the sum of its naked parts, in either its current of previous incarnations? The three parse the themes of the latest film, as well as its predecessors, and the different contexts and relationships with hyperbolic performance that they represent. They chart styles and exemplars of parody, comedic microstructure and macrostructure, and just how surprisingly funny and excellent Pamela Anderson is.

Plus, if you’ve saw the snowman scene, you knew we’d overthink it, as both revellers in madness and aging adolescents of the late 90s, the two creative energies that perhaps more than any others underpin the latest entry in the storied franchise.

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Episode 901: J. K. r-OWL-ing originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

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Matt Belinkie, Pete Fenzel, and Mark Lee are just as astonished as you are that this show has reached its 900th episode. To mark the occasion, we take a look back at pop culture and broader cultural trends that have come and gone since the podcast began way back in 2008. Remember when female-led movies such as The Hunger Games, Twilight, and Wonder Woman had their moment, and how it all seemed to peak purely coincidentally with the 2016 election? Remember how the streaming age of television gave us an ever-so-brief respite from the onslaught of advertising? Remember when Game of Thrones absolutely dominated the cultural conversation before it collapsed under its own heavy production weight? We were there, podcasting through it all, and we’re still here, podcasting about us podcasting through it all.

And you’re still here–at least some of you! Thanks again to our loyal audience members, especially those of you who were with us from the beginning. We can’t promise you 900 more episodes, and we forbid the use of AI to generate enough episodes to get us to 9,000 after we’re all dead, so you’ll just have to wait a couple years until we hit episode 1,000 and do something really wild to celebrate.

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Episode 900: Here’s a Ton of Dirt Cheap Vampire Kissing originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

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Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather pay tribute to the life and work of Robert Redford by overthinking Spy Game (2001), directed by Tony Scott and starring Redford and Brad Pitt. It is a deeply strange movie where the bad guys are absolutely right. They delve into the unique charisma Redford brings to the performance, the ways in which Brad Pitt seems to be made of discarded pieces from the floor of the workshop where they made Redford, and the Janus-faced aspect of this film’s politics, written and shot before 9/11 but released after.

Contrary to what you might expect, it doesn’t seem like the filmmmakers saw 24

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Episode 899: We Don’t Know. He Just Redfords Everywhere. originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

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Mark Lee, Matt Wrather, and Pete Fenzel weather a tough week in talk shows by looking to the classic exemplars and deconstructed scions of the medium, especially the internet talk show Subway Takes. Is the MetroCard in Kareem Rahma’s hand more or less postmodern than the microphone on Jimmy Fallon’s desk? Why does the 100% agree / 100% disagree formula work so well? Is that jacket a jacket? What is the role of celebrity in a medium where they ride the trains, just like us, rather than regale us in showbiz clothes like Joan Rivers and Betty White? Have we sold the past short, or have we misunderstood past senses of belonging?

Broadening their scope to the interview-intermediated podcast in the modern era, how does the authenticity the public seeks now different from the authenticity of the Instagram-filtered 2010s? And through it all, what is the work being done? And how do we know. In an era where Spotify, an audio app, can load a podcast, an audio medium, and default to video, everything we know seems balanced on the edge.

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Episode 898: One Hundred Percent Agree originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

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Matt Belinkie, Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather form a demonic boy band to dissect KPop Demon Hunters and its rabid global following. Things started out small: it seemed like this would be some sort of parody movie, a lazy cash grab, or both. But the movie turned out to be really good, and the summer camp counselors played the song on repeat for our kids, and the next thing you know, this movie has become the most watched movie ever on Netflix, and the only movie to ever have four songs in the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time.

The panel unpacks the reasons behind the movie’s massive popularity with its target Generation Alpha audience, the thematic resonance of Rumi’s struggle with her half-demon identity, and the Jungian / Marxist / Calvinist readings of the film, because if we’re not going to do that, then who will? They also evoke the musical superhero media of yesteryear, including Jem and the Holograms and the truly dreadful but nevertheless significant KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. It’s really bad. Take our word for it. You’re much better off watching KPop Demon Hunters for the twentieth time with your kids than watching KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.

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Episode 897: Come to Our Concert at the Mouth of the Hell Hole originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]