The Television Podcastulacra

By Robby Mettetal & J. Walker

The Television Podcastulacra is a weekly conversation about television, in which an English major (Robby) and an amateur audio engineer (J.) discuss television. New episodes are (generally) recorded T... more

· TV & Film

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FAQs about The Television Podcastulacra:

How many episodes does The Television Podcastulacra have?

The podcast currently has 377 episodes available.

The Television Podcastulacra episodes:

June 27, 2012 Episode 009 - “Walkabout”

LOST!

...Okay, that introduction is probably not going to cut it, but our final show of our retro series is, of course, Lost, and J. is excited. The guys discuss the first four hours of the show -- "Pilot, Parts 1 and 2," "Tabula Rasa" and "Walkabout" -- and J. tries very, very hard not to just blurt out what that polar bear was doing in the jungle. Suffice to say, this talk (and all subsequent Lost episodes of our show) are CRAZY SPOILER-TASTIC, but only for the episodes in question. Robby is going in blind, and J. isn't going to ruin it for him by explaining, say, what the monster is. So feel free to watch along with us if you're new to the party, too.

After that, it turns out that following Terra Nova and The River, Robby decided to watch Smash, and it immediately became his favorite show of all time. Oh, no, wait -- actually it kind of sucked. Robby is there to grumble about the now-cancelled failure -- oh, no, wait, it's been picked for a second season?

Next week, the wheel turns back to Deep Space Nine. In the meantime, be sure to read our TV writing at our respective websites: Robby writes at English Major Glee Reviews, and J. will begin reviewing Star Trek: The Next Generation and/or Taxi this week at The Cold Open.

See you next week. And please, tell your friends about this show.
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1h 35min
June 20, 2012 Episode 008: “Squeeze”

Our summer retro series continues, with The X-Files, the odd show where the creator and showrunner is actually the weakest writer on staff. Robby's watched the pilot, "Deep Throat" and "Squeeze," and there's already trouble brewing. But don't worry, J. swears it gets better.

Then, Robby -- alone in America, it seems -- finished The River. You know, it wasn't so bad -- they just couldn't get the hang of that pesky "storytelling" business. Robby has the details.

And then, "The Phantom," Mad Men's fifth season finale, made the unforgivable mistake of being "great" -- as opposed to "astonishing," like the rest of season five -- so J. is on hand to rake it over the coals. Really, it wasn't so bad, but we're not going to let an opportunity to complain just slide by.

Next week: Lost! And make sure you go to last week's post and vote in our poll: Taxi and Next Generation are in the lead, but Mad Men is right behind.
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1h 33min
June 14, 2012 Episode 007: “Emissary”

Last week might have been a no-show (or a barely-show, anyway), so we make up for it this week with a super-sized episode. Seriously, this thing is huge. Make a sandwich and get comfy.

First, we start our summer retro series with a look at the beginning of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Robby goes back and watches the first three episodes -- "Emissary," "Past Prologue," and "A Man Alone" -- and sparks a discussion about world building, Bajoran politics, and how unprepared Next Gen fans were for DS9's brand of darkness. Also: if Data can talk without his body, does he need to move his mouth? (It's relevant. Barely.)

Then, the season of Gordon Ramsey has arrived, and the return of both Hell's Kitchen and MasterChef is a chance for J. to offer some constructive criticism. Namely, change Hell's Kitchen's theme music. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

And finally, the passing of Richard Dawson leads to talk not only of Dawson, but of game shows in general. It builds to the reveal of the Podcastulacra's choice for the worst game show ever (hint: it's not Jeopardy).

Next week, the summer retro series continues with The X-Files. Cue the spooky synth music!

And at the end of the episode, J. and Robby announce their plan to select J.'s new extracurricular activity, and here is the poll. Which show should J. watch from the beginning and blog about? (He's gotta have something to hype at the end of the podcast, too, ya know.)

What show should J. watch and blog about from the beginning? Breaking Bad Mad Men Star Trek: The Next Generation Taxi The Twilight Zone pollcode.com free polls

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1h 52min
June 06, 2012 Episode 006: “The Menagerie”

Well, folks: it ain't happening this time. There was a whole lotta illness going on over in J.'s camp this week, so a podcast never got recorded. So the Deep Space Nine talk will have to wait until next week.

But wait! You're not left with nothing -- J. will explain the details, but here's a brief slice of Podcastulacra. Just something to tide you over.

See you next week.

(And if you understand the joke of this week's title, score yourself five bonus points.)
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13min
June 01, 2012 Episode 005: “Everybody Dies”

[Yes, the show's late this week. We recorded late because of the holiday weekend, and then J. became mildly ill. Our apologies.]

This week, the Podcastulacra has to make due without Community, but the season finale of Glee there to provide some comfort. From there, J. and Robby actually (gasp!) disagree on something, as the final episode of House causes the guys to take sides: one of the side of "It was terrible," one of the side of, "It wasn't that terrible."

After that, J. smoothly segues into the recent season of Sherlock, the BBC's update of the Sherlock Holmes mythos. This conversation is especially spoiler-riffic, so if you haven't watched Sherlock yet, you should tune out at around the one hour mark. (Or, you could, ya know, just go watch Sherlock. You'll like it, we promise.)

Also, we open we some riffing on Mad Men. It's extremely vague for those who haven't caught up yet, but suffice it to say Pete Campbell is scum.

Next week: we begin our retro TV series for the summer, by going back and looking at the start of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Is it as good as J. said it was? Well, obviously, but tune in anyway.
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1h 35min
May 23, 2012 Episode 004: “The Deconstruction of Falling Stars”

[Note: there is some occasional mild audio distortion during the first thirty minutes or so of this week's show. Our apologies.]

This week, the supernova that is Community swallows the Podcastulacra whole: it dominates the discussion, with the exception of some local news and Law and Order talk at the opening, and some brief diversions at the end. We talk about the three-episode finale (which turned out not to be a real three-episode finale at all), and the shock of Sony and NBC's decision to fire creator/showrunner Dan Harmon. And was it just J., or did "Introduction to Finality" have the unmistakable air of, well, finality to it?

Please tell your friends about this podcast. And please tell us if you're enjoying it. Leave comments and ratings below.
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1h 23min
May 02, 2012 The Television Podcastulacra, Episode 001: “Pilot”

We welcome you to the very first episode of The Television Podcastulacra, a weekly discussion of various television and television-adjacent topics. This week, we begin our show at the obvious point: the beginning, with some noteworthy pilot episodes from recent (and not-so-recent) memory. Also, we take a look at Community's Law & Order spoof/tribute, "Basic Lupine Urology" -- *snort* -- and wonder if the show can get away with just being funny.

A helpful table of contents for this week's episode:

00:00:00 - How 'bout that theme music?

00:03:01 - J. is on his way to actually making a point here, no matter how poorly he's phrasing it ("digital energy"?). See, when an audio signal is converted to digital information, it is cut into tiny, tiny pieces, rather than the smooth and natural curve of an analog signal. This is why vinyl has more "fidelity" than a digital format. It does not mean that records sound better than CDs. (This has been brought to you by the audio engineering department at San Jacinto College.)

00:03:49 - Community and Law & Order

00:25:05 - Bill O'Reilly said something stupid about Glee

00:30:41 - We being our conversation about pilots, with...

00:31:16 - "Encounter at Farpoint," the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation

00:38:09 - NBC's new drama Awake

00:41:27 - Fox's recently cancelled dinosaur drama Terra Nova

00:46:23 - Seinfeld

00:47:57 - The Cosby Show

00:52:20 - We start talking about Firefly, but it quickly becomes a conversation about the merits and flaws of 24

00:56:55 - The Dick van Dyke Show

00:58:40 - Glee (again)

01:05:38 - Good Morning, Miss Bliss (which you probably know better as Saved by the Bell)

01:12:08 - Goodbyes. Seriously, read Robby's Glee reviews.

That's all. Leave us a comment, or drop J. a line on Twitter.

See you next week, as we discuss our five favorite television shows of all time. It's highly likely our lists won't look anything at all alike.
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1h 16min

FAQs about The Television Podcastulacra:

How many episodes does The Television Podcastulacra have?

The podcast currently has 377 episodes available.