OmniaSubSole

Podcasts: TV Crimes

I stumbled upon the TV Crimes podcast when searching for something related to Wil Wheaton.  I wasn’t sure what I would get, but knowing how much I enjoyed TableTop on YouTube, I figured it was worth a shot.

TV CrimesThis wasn’t a bad assertion.  Now, I’m not nearly as obsessed with this podcast as I am with others (*cough* Tanis, The Black Tapes and The Message), but I do enjoy the frivolity of this pop culture massacre.  Basically, it is fun and makes me laugh.  Wil gets a little rant-y and Mikey uses Hannah-Barbera sound effects to censor the f*bombs and various other cusses.

So what’s it about?  Well, each week co-hosts Wil Wheaton and Mikey Neumann watch a previously determined egregious sit-com relic of the 80’s and 90’s and take notes.  These ‘notes’ are often described to the other co-host and sound like the journaling of an angst-ridden teen.  A perfect complement to the era in question.

Episodes include gems from Family Ties, Murder She Wrote and best of all, Baywatch Nights.  Yeah, I did not even know that show existed and apparently I really missed something.  The episode in question for Baywatch Nights details the search for a wolf-like creature from Yugoslavia kills teens.  If you’re wondering about that sounding strangely familiar, you’re right:  it’s a werewolf.  A werewolf that targets the city’s downtrodden teens, because that trope has never been used before.

The hosts do a fine job to dissect the show and the absolutely ridiculous premise and terrible writing that I feel like I watched the show without having to sit through the travesty.  It is a beautiful thing.

Now, please don’t get me wrong, I am not a giant critic of television or film.  I typically can suspend my mind and have a level of enjoyment for a lot of really stupid shows, but I also enjoy learning how to think critically about the writing and production of something.  TV Crimes has let me into that world, and I’m quite intrigued.

Marie Wheeler