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Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather–joined by special guest Mark Lee during the halftime show–overthink the commercials of Super Bowl XLI and what they say about American society. In case you’re worried, don’t be. The problem isn’t you. You’re great. It’s literally everyone else. So make all the speculative investments you want!

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Episode 711: Why are the Payouts Different from the Probabilities? 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, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink Steven Spielberg’s near-universally praised remake of West Side Story, with a screenplay by Tony Kushner aiming to give more dimension and social resonance to the characters. We discuss our impressions of this film and talk through the power of its score by Leonard Bernstein.

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Episode 710: “…Bad Jazz?” 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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Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather watch and overthink the classic film of The Music Man, starring Robert Preston, on the occasion of Mark seeing the Broadway show.

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Episode 709: We Get Older, the Music Man Stays the Same Age 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 meaning of Meatloaf, grappling with the complex phenomenon of disinhibited or socially irresponsible outsider artists.

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Episode 708: The Meatlovian and the Steinmanian 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 and Matthew Wrather pay tribute to Betty White on the 100th anniversary of her birth. They watch and describe a sampling of her work from her decades-spanning career, along the way upending the theory of comedy and describing why the loss of a beloved performer affects us so deeply.

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Episode 707: Her Skill Wasn’t Being Nice, Her Skill Was Being Funny 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 Being the Ricardos, Aaron Sorkin’s take on what really made I Love Lucy great. (Spoiler alert: It wasn’t that it was an awesome sitcom.)

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Episode 706: I Indeed Have Some Explaining To Do 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 Matrix: Resurrections, a film which intends to be complex and difficult to pin down and is, but not for any of the reasons it wants to be. They explore the interlocking set of ironies which seem to undercut the bases on which the film’s project is predicated, whether that’s the original Matrix trilogy or the questions the movie wants to ask about free will and choice.

This episode contains material of interest to shepherds, and also a spoiler for And Just Like That.

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Episode 705: Have You Ever Tried To Control A Sheep? 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, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather keep Christmas well with a reading of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, making sense of its economics, its religious convictions, its supernatural qualities, and its convictions about the meaning of Christmas. God bless us, every one!

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Episode 704: Why Do Bad Christmases Happen to Good People? 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 and Matthew Wrather consider Spider Man: No Way Home, where Peter Parker grows from a spider into… John Wayne. Or something. There is a false Downton Abbey moment to which the actual themes of the movie–that hurt people hurt people–give lie.

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Episode 703: Who’s Gonna Ride ‘Em? You? 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 and Matthew Wrather watch the Kenny G documentary Listening to Kenny G, now streaming on HBO Max. To deal with an artist that inspires such strong, polarized reactions, we discuss our complex relationship to Mr. G, and try to puzzle out the discursive framework around his music and identity, and discuss what surprising things the documentary reveals about the man behind the phenomenon.

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Episode 702: G-tente 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)]