Tim Goodman's TV Talk Machine

These days Ricky Gervais is a busy man. He's making movies. He's doing live comedy concert tours. He's writing books, appearing on "The Simpsons," and making perhaps the most popular podcast (and the funniest) in the medium's short history. On and on it goes. In this podcast, recorded on his day off from shooting a film, Gervais talks about the "Extras" finale, why he and Merchant wanted to make this something more than just a comedy, how fame has affected his own life, what he was trying to say through the Andy Millman character, and some "extras" about his own career and work going forward (plus a brief comment on my statement that podcast partner Karl Pilkington just may be "a misunderstood visionary.")

I interviewed David Duchovny today about his role in Showtime's acclaimed "Californication" series. Duchovny did the interview while keeping his eye on the TV news -- the Southern California fires are rapidly encroaching on his home (he also noted, with some sad irony, that his latest movie is "Things We Lost In the Fire"). "Californication" has two episodes left -- one tonight (repeated this week) and then the season finale on Oct. 29. Duchovny talked about why he came back to television, how the difficult-to-describe Hank Moody character -- "he's objectionable" -- is such a challenge to play, how his wife, Tea Leoni, deals with him surrounded by naked women all day, the odd notion of Showtime trying to re-edit "Californication" without the sex and swearing and, yes, what's going on with the upcoming "X-Files" movie, among other topics.

Mood swinging mayhem; future celebrity appearances, efficient rambling. It's the TVTM! Indeed it is. Yet another podcast without our new Question Girl, so it comes back, yet again, to Question Boy (Chronicle media writer Joe Garofoli) and your Cultural Commissar to deliver the goods (or the averages) on yet another TV Talk Machine podcast. There are more Q's and A's here than ever before and all the joyful abundance of swearing, laughing and scoffing you've come to expect. Plus, still more singing. And just so you don't think it's a wankfest of poor production, limited information, terrible humor and time killing wassailing, let it be known here and now that I'll have two upcoming podcasts with David Duchovny and Ricky Gervais. Plus more where that came from. Yeah, so there. Until they appear and get the good stuff with the good questions and the professional sound, please enjoy our normal offering of weekly lameness.

Question Girl winner! Question Boy survives! Actual questions answered! Plus anger, etc. Yep, that's about the gist of it. Plus, Joe Garofoli sings as Juan Antonio Samaranch. We get yelled at. We forget things. But there's a happy ending (no, not that kind) and a lot of phone calls and e-mails get answered. Plus we bash Benny, who, as you know, is "manning the knobs." It's quite fun, actually. And we have now officially destroyed all other podcasts at the Chronicle. Our next goal is world domination -- or getting our loved ones to listen, whichever comes first.

Carnage! Sucking up! Sultry voices! Hating on Question Boy! It's Attack of the Question Girls! Boy, is it. The highly-touted, hotly anticipated throwdown to become the Once and Future Question Girl (and, in the process, firing Joe Garofoli as Question Boy -- but not really) led to a bloody TV Talk Machine podcast. Hear all about it below. So many people participated, that we now have a controversy brewing (or if not, we'll cook it up anyway). Apparently, some Question Girl tryouts might not have made it on air (audible gasp) and some may even have been edited out (hissing from the back) after we picked the six finalists (the what?). Blame for all of that falls to one man, and his name is Not Me. Actually, it's Benny "The Podfather" Evangelista. (He doesn't know that yet. Well, now he does, but still.) Yeah, Benny "Manning the Knobs" Evangelista runs a tight ship. Not only that, in the interest of fairness, a certain someone who shall go nameless -- no, actually her name is Julie King -- noted correctly that she was the first person to ask if she could be Question Girl. That I remember. And she said she also came up with the idea for auditions, though Question Boy claims that. Or did he? Maybe his claim -- and it doesn't really matter because he's fired -- is that he came up with the reality show podcast format thingy. I say this -- it's the start of the fall season. I'm lucky I remember my kids' names. Having promised the role to Julie (and then, in a fairly spectacular fashion, to Laura Jean, cousin of Chronicle Pop Culture Critic Peter Hartlaub), it could be that the TVTM needs to use Google Calendar more often, or a certain someone needs to write notes on his hands. Benny "The Podfather" Evangelista, making the Question Girl cuts. Not to fear, Julie, or Laura Jean. It's not who goes first, or who wins contests, that matters. It's who co-hosts the most times. And you two have been given a Golden Ticket. Stop by anytime. But we have a war to wage! It's the Question Girl Terrordome! Give a listen. At the end, we pick the finalists. And they will appear on The Bastard Machine tomorrow, with a poll. Most votes wins. Alright, I've contacted HR about QB. The paper work is just waiting to be signed. In the meantime, here are your TVTM Question Girl combatants.

Uh, yeah. Question Boy (Chronicle media writer Joe Garofoli) was angry. I was angry. Ignoring us only makes us -- what's the word? -- cranky. We had a lot of letters. But we had no calls. So we went off. Later we talked about shows. Joe sang (the Pittsburgh Steelers fight song...God help us.) We did vocal impressions. We talked about fall shows and, specifically, series premiering this week. I put the bunting out at the house (and on the shorty robe) in honor of this being the official start week of the fall season. Question Boy was not, in fact, fired. But we decided our long-delayed search for a Question Girl should now be turned into a reality show. The first podcast reality show! (that we know of...and no, we didn't actually check).

Actual answers! The return of the shorty robe! An attack on Question Boy! It's the TV Talk Machine podcast. Oh, hell yes it is. We go off! And then we catch ourselves and correct course. Mostly we realized that the show seemed too professional, too helpful, too effortlessly informative. So we ruined it. Or tried to. Next week it'll be lousy again -- promise.

Here -- after a lengthy absence -- is the return of the TV Talk Machine podcast!

Tim's down in L.A. at Death March with Cocktails, where he met up with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns. Tim took the opportunity to chat with Burns about his upcoming seven-part series, "The War," which airs on PBS starting Sept. 23. In the interview, Burns talks about how he handled criticism from those who said his series didn't do justice to the role of Latino soldiers in World War II.

Even more listener calls about the "Sopranos" finale!