The Protagonist Podcast

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Producer Andrew and Joe are revealing the winner of their Fantasy Box Office game from 2025. Then, they are looking ahead at the films coming out in 2026 and making their draft selections. Throughout the year, they each accumulate their picks domestic box office multiplied by its Rotten Tomatoes score, and whoever amasses the largest total wins the game.

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Returning guest John Darowski joins Joe to discuss the comic book series The Great British Bump-Off. In this cozy mystery, a poisoning occurs during the filming of a popular British baking competition. Shauna, one of the contestants, must solve the mystery before filming wraps.

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Show Notes

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Returning guest Kate Reid joins Joe to discuss a holiday-themed episode of The West Wing, “In Excelsis Deo.” This episode tells the story of Toby receiving a phone call when a homeless man dies from exposure but has Toby’s business card in his pocket.

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Returning Protagonist Podcast co-founder Todd Mack joins Joe and Producer Andrew for their annual Christmas Special. Producer Andrew has provided Todd and Joe with a list of titles for Christmas movies they have never seen, and Todd and Joe each pitch a plot based on that title. We’ve been doing this for over a decade, but the new Christmas titles just keep coming.

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Returning guest Cavan Helps and Norman Mitchell join Joe and Producer Andrew for a role-playing Christmas adventure. This year, we’re celebrating the holidays in the Marvel Universe.

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Returning guest Kjerste Christensen joins Joe to discuss the 1816 short story “The Nutcracker” by E.T.A. Hoffman. This story has been adapted frequently and has become a Christmas classic. It tells the story of a young girl’s favorite Christmas toy coming alive and battling the mouse king.

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Returning guest Kate Reid joins Joe to discuss the classic sitcom Friends. We’re talking about a pair of their Thanksgiving episodes, “The One with All the Thanksgivings” and “The One Where Ross Got High.” Besides talking about the specifics of these episodes, we learn that these are the first episodes of Friends that Joe has ever watched.

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First-time guest Jonathan Wade joins Joe to discuss to classic, early sci-fi stories, “The Machine Stops” and “Mechanopolis.” In the 1909 short story “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster, humanity has begun living in underground cities with all their needs met by the machine, until one day their machine stops. In the 1913 short story “Mechanopolis” by Miguel de Unamuno, a man recounts his journey to a city that is solely occupied by machines. 

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First-time guest Andy Hartzell joins Joe to discuss his graphic novel Monday. Monday tells the story of Eve and Adam trying to navigate their first days after creation as Snake offers suggestions about what they should do and God is interested in making one more creation.

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Returning guest John Darowski joins Joe to discuss the Japanese film Grave of the Fireflies. This 1998 film was produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by Isao Takahata. It is based on the semi-autobiographical short story of the same name by Akiuki Nosaka and tells the story of Japanese siblings trying to survive the end of World War II.

Show Notes