What Were We Saying?

Send us Fan Mail

Six episodes into Season 3, WWWS continues to operate with the reassuring sense that it knows exactly what it's doing. The early-season rust has largely been shaken off, the new segments are finding their footing, and The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era remains a title we're prepared to defend despite the absence of any formal recognition.

This week, Say What Now? ventures into the world of hobo slang, giving Big Uke another opportunity to decipher the language of a bygone era. The terminology is unfamiliar, the interpretations are questionable, and the historical record may yet demand an apology.

The WWWS Mailbag also makes an appearance, opening the floor to listener correspondence and reminding everyone that sending something to the show is one way to ensure it gets discussed by two people who may not be qualified to discuss it.

Meanwhile, Big Uke reports back on his latest cinematic assignment, Charley Varrick (1973), a crime thriller involving a bank robbery, double-crosses, and the sort of complications that make a perfectly ordinary criminal enterprise go sideways. It's a fitting choice for an episode where the only thing more uncertain than the characters' loyalties may be the hosts' interpretations.

And, as always, 3 Things That Can Kick Rocks brings the proceedings to a close, because even a show operating at the alleged peak of modern podcasting still has grievances to air.

Hobo slang. Listener mail. Criminal misadventures. Fresh complaints.

The momentum continues. The standards remain entirely self-administered.

Keep your expectations low. The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era is still accepting correspondence.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

With four episodes of Season 3 now under its belt, WWWS continues to build on its recent run of form. The audio is behaving, the rhythm is holding, and The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era is beginning to look less like an idle boast and more like a claim that would benefit from absolutely no independent scrutiny.
This week introduces This Week in 1926, a new journey into the newspapers of a century ago. From peculiar headlines and curious local happenings to the everyday details of a world long gone, the guys explore what was making news in 1926 - and discover that the past had no shortage of material worth bringing back into the present.
Greenlit? also returns, with Big Uke once again tasked with identifying the completely fabricated television premise among a collection of shows that actually made it to air. His instincts will be tested. Television history will be left to defend itself.
Meanwhile, Big Uke receives a new movie assignment, continuing the show's well-established tradition of turning leisure time into mandatory cinematic homework. The viewing schedule waits for no one.
And, naturally, 3 Things That Can Kick Rocks closes things out, because a hundred years of history and several episodes of renewed momentum have done nothing to reduce the world's supply of irritating nonsense.
A century of headlines. Questionable television. Mandatory movie homework. Fresh grievances.
The momentum continues. The archive expands. The legend grows.
Keep your expectations low. The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era is now exploring the past for material to sustain its future.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

With the rust officially shaken off and the audio demons apparently banished back to wherever they came from, WWWS enters Episode 304 feeling like the machinery is finally back where it belongs. The rhythm is returning, the episodes are tightening up, and the completely self-appointed title of The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era once again seems dangerously plausible.
Pick Your Poison returns, putting Tubesox through another series of carefully constructed no-win scenarios courtesy of Big Uke. The choices remain impossible. The cross-examination remains unavoidable.
Then comes the debut of The Classifieds, where the guys dig through old newspaper advertisements in search of forgotten opportunities, unusual requests, and evidence that people have always been willing to put some very strange things in print.
Meanwhile, Tubesox reports back on his latest movie assignment, Deepwater Horizon (2010), adding another entry to the increasingly substantial WWWS cinematic homework archive. More importantly, the review leads Tubesox to learn something about himself - a development nobody could have reasonably expected from a movie about an exploding oil rig.
And, naturally, 3 Things That Can Kick Rocks closes things out, because getting back on track doesn't mean the world has suddenly become less irritating.
Impossible choices. Strange advertisements. Explosive cinema. Fresh grievances.
The bounce-back has officially become a trend.
The rhythm is back. The machinery is running. The mythology continues to expand.
Keep your expectations low. The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era appears to have recovered nicely.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

After a rusty Season 3 premiere and the unfortunate return of an old audio demon in Episode 302, WWWS finally gets the bounce-back it was looking for. The rhythm is back, the machinery is humming, and - most importantly - the audio is behaving itself.
The Tubesox Top 10 returns with another carefully assembled, and topical ranking, because nothing says the show is back on its feet quite like confidently assigning numbers to things that probably didn't need to be ranked.
Then comes the introduction of Harold Winthrop's Musical Junk Drawer, a new excursion into the musical archives, where forgotten facts, strange stories, and assorted pieces of musical detritus are pulled from the drawer and deposited directly into your ears. Whether any of it was worth preserving remains unclear.
Elsewhere, Big Uke assigns Tubesox a new movie, continuing the show's increasingly institutionalized tradition of turning leisure time into mandatory cinematic homework.
The episode also introduces (with a big budget video) the WWWS Sustainability Initiative, a special appeal addressing the ongoing financial survival of the program and asking listeners to consider supporting the show. Naturally, there may be something in it for those willing to contribute to the continued operation of The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era.
And, as always, 3 Things That Can Kick Rocks closes things out, because even a show finally back in rhythm still has plenty of grievances to process.
A new segment. A new movie assignment. A questionable financial appeal. And an episode that, for once, actually behaves itself.
The bounce-back is here.
The audio is clean. The episode is tight. The mythology continues to expand.
Keep your expectations low. The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era appears to be back on its feet.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

After a Season 3 premiere that was perhaps a little more rusty than anyone would have preferred, WWWS returns determined to deliver the elusive bounce-back episode. Unfortunately, the universe appears to have other plans.
Say What Now? sets things in motion with a trip into the world of old-time sailor and maritime slang, once again asking Big Uke to decipher language that was apparently perfectly understandable to people who spent their lives shouting across wooden ships.
The WWWS Mailbag also returns, opening the floor to listener questions, observations, and contributions from people who have somehow decided that participating is worth the risk.
Meanwhile, Big Uke reports back on his latest movie assignment, The Thief (1952), a Cold War thriller that presents a rather unusual challenge for a modern movie reviewer. Whether the film earns its place in the WWWS cinematic canon remains to be determined.
And then, somewhere along the way, the dreaded audio glitch from Season 1 makes an unwelcome return. It's nowhere near the catastrophe that nearly derailed Episode 112, but the familiar sound of technical betrayal is unmistakable. Apparently, some problems don't need fixing. They simply need time to return.
Naturally, 3 Things That Can Kick Rocks closes things out, because even when the machinery is conspiring against you, there are still grievances to document.
Old sailor slang. Fresh mail. Cold War intrigue. Familiar technical problems.
The bounce-back episode has been postponed.
The rust is coming off. The rhythm is returning. The equipment, however, has chosen violence.
Keep your expectations low. We're apparently going to need another episode.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Season 3 begins with WWWS returning from its brief and entirely deserved period of rest, presumably refreshed and ready to continue its ongoing campaign to become The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era. Unfortunately, several weeks away from the microphones appears to have had consequences.

The rhythm isn't quite what it was. The timing is a little rusty. The machinery takes a few minutes to remember where the switches are. Clocking in at just over 45 minutes, this is also the shortest episode since 201 - a coincidence that we are choosing not to investigate.

Fortunately, there are several more episodes ahead to get everything back to its proper operating level.

Would Anyone Miss It? kicks off the new season to consider whether some of the everyday things we've come to accept would actually be missed if they disappeared tomorrow. The answers may be surprising. The arguments probably won't be.

Big Uke’s Bunch O’ Stuff returns with another assortment of observations, opinions, and assorted material that presumably seemed important enough to bring to the microphone. After a lengthy break, the conversation is back - even if the conversational gears require a little lubrication.

Meanwhile, Big Uke receives his first movie assignment of Season 3, officially reopening the WWWS cinematic homework program. A new season means a fresh supply of movies for one host to watch and the other to discuss.

And, naturally, 3 Things That Can Kick Rocks makes its way back onto the agenda, because apparently the offseason did nothing to reduce the world's supply of irritating nonsense.

A new season. Familiar segments. Fresh grievances. A little rust. And an oddly abbreviated runtime.

The machinery is running again. The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era may simply require another episode or two to get back up to operating temperature.

Keep your expectations low. Season 3 has begun.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Season 2 may be over, but apparently there was still enough material left behind to warrant a second trip through the evidence locker.

The Condemned Pt. 2 continues the Season 2 highlight deep dive, revisiting some of the segments, moments, and questionable decisions that helped shape the season. This time, the focus turns toward What's Dumb This Week?, Greenlit?, and Pick Your Poison, along with a special look at the dumbest news story of the entire season - a category that featured an unusually strong field of contenders.

And because apparently 21 grievances weren't enough the first time around, we close out the two-part retrospective with 21 Things That Can Kick Rocks, one final opportunity to formally acknowledge the people, places, objects, concepts, and assorted irritations that earned Tubesox's displeasure.

A deeper look at the dumb. Television that should probably have remained unmade. Impossible choices. One truly exceptional news story. And 21 final grievances.

Two highlight shows. One season fully excavated. No lessons learned.

And with that, the Season 2 archive is officially closed.

For now.

Keep your expectations low. The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era will return.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

Season 2 may be over, but there was apparently still enough material left behind to justify two more episodes.

The Condemned Pt. 1 takes a closer look at some of the moments and segments that helped define Season 2, revisiting a few of the show’s more memorable experiments, discoveries, and questionable decisions along the way.

We revisit Lieutenant Eric taking the WWWS Quizzer, putting our first-ever guest through an examination that was never formally recognized by any educational institution. Would Anyone Miss It? asks the important questions about the things we take for granted, while Edgar’s Fun Facts continues its ongoing campaign to make useless information feel essential.

Say What Now? returns to the archives, giving Big Uke another opportunity to confront the strange language of the past, before we close things out with 21 Things That Can Kick Rocks - a comprehensive inventory of the people, places, objects, concepts, and general irritations that earned Tubesox’s displeasure throughout the season.

It’s not quite a clip show. It’s not quite a retrospective. It’s more like opening the Season 2 evidence locker and deciding that some of this stuff still needs explaining.

One season. Five areas of investigation. Twenty-one grievances.

And somehow, this is only Part 1.

Keep your expectations low. The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era has apparently left things in evidence.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

WWWS arrives at the Season 2 Finale with the sort of swagger normally associated with a show that has already decided its legacy is secure. After a season of new segments, questionable developments, a first-ever guest, increasingly ambitious movie discussions, and a steadily expanding belief that this may be The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era, there is now only one thing left to do: make a finale and try not to ruin it.

This week, The Tubesox Top 10 returns with one more carefully assembled ranking before the season closes, because apparently fifteen episodes of accumulated evidence have done nothing to discourage the practice.

Edgar’s Fun Facts also makes its final Season 2 appearance, continuing its noble mission of providing information that may or may not improve anyone’s life.

Meanwhile, Big Uke reports back on his latest cinematic assignment, Duel (1971) - another reluctant journey into mandatory movie homework, and one that gives the guys plenty to talk about. Because by now, everyone should understand that a WWWS movie review is never merely a movie review. It is a commitment.

And, naturally, 3 Things That Can Kick Rocks gets the final word, because no season should end without taking inventory of the things that have managed to irritate us along the way.

One final Top 10. One final round of questionable facts. One final movie review. One final list of grievances.

Season 2 ends here. The momentum is real. The mythology is growing. The greatness remains largely self-appointed.

Keep your expectations low. The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era will return.

Support the show

Send us Fan Mail

WWWS continues its march toward the completely self-appointed title of The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era, a designation that remains technically disputed but increasingly difficult to discuss without someone bringing up lawyers.

This week, Say What Now? heads into the world of beatnik and hipster slang, once again putting Big Uke on the spot to decipher expressions from another era. The terminology is obscure. The guesses are delivered with authority. Historical accuracy remains a secondary concern.

The WWWS Mailbag opens for another round of listener questions, observations, and contributions from an audience that continues to demonstrate an alarming willingness to participate in all of this.

Meanwhile, Tubesox reports back on his latest movie assignment, Road To Perdition (2002). What begins as a movie review gradually develops into a much longer conversation, because apparently neither host has learned that a film can be discussed for a reasonable amount of time and then simply allowed to end. The result is another episode that runs a little longer than anyone originally intended.

And, as always, 3 Things That Can Kick Rocks closes things out, proving that no matter how long the movie discussion gets, there will always be enough time left over for petty grievances.

Old slang. Listener mail. Gangsters. Extended film analysis. Fresh complaints.

The show continues to build momentum. The runtime continues to follow suit.

Keep your expectations low. The Last Great Podcast Of The Modern Era apparently has a lot to say.

Support the show