Screen Time: A Quarantine Family Podcast

In this week's new episode, the kids tackle a couple of things that are "new to them"--the computer game turned remastered platform gamer series Monkey Island. Mark talks way too much about the hypothetical third game that never actually happened, while Malcom painstakingly describes the mechanics of some of the puzzles. Coco talks about Barbie Life at the Dreamhouse and whether or not the show has any role models. Mark and Brigitte dig into the controversy and deep underlying sadness that is the Netflix docuseries (or as the Emmy category calls it "Unstructured Reality" but like whut?) and are shocked to realize it's the first show they've watched that has actually talked about this f****** pandemic. Whew.

Mark and Brigitte go child-free for this week's episode to dive deep on the Dexter New Blood finale. Yes, Dexter, the eight season ratings juggernaut of Showtime, returned in 2021 for a new "final" season. Did Showtime stick the new landing? Is this actually the new landing or is this just another excuse for Showtime to go down the old reliable path of a cozy, stakes-free serial killing where they can milk many more seasons out of their very valuable property? Tune in and find out in a spoiler-filled recap and deep dive of the new-old series.

In this episode that for us feels like a throwback to March 2020 when this whole Covid business started because now we're all home dealing with our own (mild!) cases of Covid, the kids talk about the lovely new animated feature film Ron's Gone Wrong. Mark and Brigitte talk about Jane Campion's buzz-worthy new "anti-Western" Western The Power of the Dog. Also, the gang debuts a new, less long theme song (just 45 seconds!) What do Mark and Brigitte think of the Netflix streamer? 

Mark and Brigitte dig into WandaVision from the lens of total MCU n00bs who know nothing about the universe but enjoy a good television program. Find out what their overall thoughts were on the series, how it connects to other Marvel properties, how interested they are in checking out other Marvel-related things, and what is the deal with that orange dot in the middle of that purple guy's forehead?? (Seriously Mark is kinda dumb about these things.)

First though, the fam gets all into superhero stuff finally, and the kids talk about Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse, the new-to-us Academy Award-winning animated feature that is pretty much super great. The kids also talk about the Disney+ movie Flora & Ulysses, which features a lot of funny actors that Mark and Brigitte enjoy (but did we enjoy the movie?)

Stephen King and movies about pets galore!

The fam is back in 2021 to talk about the things we've been watching. Brigitte and Mark have some thoughts about Netflix's trashy highbrow Gossip Girl plagiarism Bridgerton. Mark asks a lot of questions about the overall idea of Dukes and Duchesses and what not. Malcom and Coco talk about Solo: A Star Wars Story and the Disney classic Sleeping Beauty. Featuring a cameo by Coco's very strange little doll that speaks to all of us named Honeydew.

Merry Christmas to All! We have another special episode to listen to with the family around the dinner table, as Film Trace hosts Chris and Dan re-join the podcast alongside podcast friends Timothy and Caleb to discuss the 49th best Christmas movie of all time, 2005's The Family Stone. Among the talking points: is Meredith (Sarah Jessica Parker) a good character or a bad character? Who is the main character, anyway? Why doesn't Dermot Mulroney's character know about Meredith's mushroom allergy? Is the dinner table scene a powerful message of acceptance or a yucky neo-liberal virtue signaling? All of that discussion and more--listen now!