Talking Simpsons - Bonus New Year's Episode - TalKing of the Hill "Meet the Manger Babies"

Episode Date: January 10, 2022

The Talking Simpsons Network is taking a week off for the holiday season, so to fill the content gap, we've decided to post an episode of our Patreon-exclusive TalKing of the Hill podcast miniseries! If you like this episode and want to hear the other 23 (with more to come every month), head over to Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and sign up at the $5 level. Once you do, you'll have immediate access to all of our limited miniseries, covering animated shows like Futurama, Mission Hill, The Critic, and Batman: The Animated Series. So visit Patreon.com/TalkingSimpsons and sign up today!

What you listening to, son? Howdy y'all and welcome to Talking of the Hill, where God has a plan for us and it involves puppets. I'm your host, Selfish Bull All-Star Bob Mackie, and this is the Talking Simpsons Network's chronological exploration of King of the Hill, who is here with me today. Hey, it's Henry Gilbert, and I've come down with a case of the YBs. And today's episode is meet the manger babies. You're a good man. Man. Today's episode aired on January 11th, 1998.

And as always, Henry will tell us what happened on this mythical day in real world history. This is Hank Hill with the news. Bobby half baked is released in theaters. Marvel vs. Capcom 1 is released in arcades. And, since this is such a football episode,

in the AFC Championship playoff games, the Denver Broncos win and they will go on to Super Bowl 32 in two weeks and win that as well. I have that in my notes because I was wondering how close this was to Super Bowl Sunday. Of course, it did not air then, right?

Yeah, it did. No, no, no. And I think Fox had the Super Bowl at this point in time, right? I think so. The next year in 99 would be when they debut Family Guy and not Futurama. Right. So I think unless it was traded around years i think they had it this year as well yeah and would you believe that i've never seen half-baked oh seriously yes yes uh you used to be a real ganja man uh yeah i was not into drug culture ever but

i didn't uh really understand it and when i was. I did not have any, none of my friends were smoking weed. I didn't actually encounter anyone in my life that smoked weed until my late, mid to late 20s. You know, I actually didn't either until my, well, let's say 19 or 20. I didn't smoke a doobie until, actually it was a bong that I got high off of. That's a bad first time to smoke anything, kind of a bong. I know. I was like, no, light it for me. Oh, I spilled the, oh, this is what you did.

It took like two tries. So embarrassing. But that's why I was like, can you just give me a thing I eat? But nobody I knew could cook their own edibles back then. They didn't know. But now we have stores. But I saw Half-baked because i was properly advertised to on comedy central about the film i i don't think i knew dave chapelle that well

as a comedian even then like it was i think his first big special was like the year after that like killing them softly but i think i probably saw for jim brewer because i was like yeah good old go boy the go boy finally these guys on show so unlike most people who watched half-baked i actually saw it in the theaters it was for many people a dvd thing but i saw it in a very empty theater in florida with my mom with your mom my mom well because i wasn't old enough to go alone. So she took me and my brother. There's definitely filthy jokes in there. A lot about prison rape in that movie. And Bob Saget being dirty for the first time that anyone could remember. Yeah.

And also, finally, Willie Nelson could be open about his weed smoking at last. And music by Alf Klaassen. One of the few non-Simpsons things he did after this i mean during the simpsons that's cool i i always forget that bit it was like this and he did the music for the bet middler sitcom that went nowhere that's basically it uh that uh that half-baked look it's uh it's fine it's a good uh movie i also just think of half-baked because when i saw mitch hedberg open for harlan williams all right right i've told the story uh before but yeah when i saw mitch hedberg i went there to see mitch hedberg but he was opening for harlan williams so we were sticking around and every this was at a college

and every fucking person was just screaming like do the half-baked line from harlem williams is not a good comedian so it was only making the night worse like i you i hadn't thought of harlem williams in years henry yes he's i think we've brought him up before and people have said like well the reason he you don't hear about him much is that he actually got really rich off a kid show and he doesn't need to do anything else that's for the best that's for the best and marvel versus capcom one correct yes yeah i i like this one and i think i like it more than the second game uh controversial opinion but i do like in the first game how everyone gets their own backgrounds their own levels yeah and two they're just like random ideas you can fight in no it

somebody who cares about marvel history when they don't go basically anywhere that's based on marvel uh instead it's like well that's just a circus like oh a circus but gameplay wise the speed of marvel's capcom 2 i played it way more than one as a kid for this one for me it was growing up with the nes i was like oh mega man's in a fighting game that's really cool mega Mega Man can fight Wolverine. Neat. Oh, man. And all the picture of just the pixelated.

It was like the last time Capcom did truly great pixel art for something. I guess really Street Fighter 3 maybe is the or the final Darkstalkers. But the MVC games were basically the end of that. And yeah, that when we're talking about this this i'm hearing want to take for a ride in my head which is the next game not the first game thankfully and yes this episode shockingly this is the last episode of this run of talking to the hill but guess what buddy it's the first week of june we got your money you got owned i'm kidding of course we appreciate all of your support yeah we're gonna get more great stuff this month yes of course uh monthly talking

futurama is on the patreon and uh another uh mini series coming in the fall so please don't go anywhere we've got lots of great stuff for you and new surprises all summer who knows what we'll do next yeah but this is a fun one to end with because it is uh Luann centric and I just re-watching season two really solidified for me that Luann is like one of my new favorite characters on the show like I I still think I like Bill the most and then Bobby after that but Luann there's just so much beneath the surface with her that they can just explore with yeah i think uh bill does get all of the dumb jokes and luann gets a few but they come from a sweeter place and i do like exploring her as a tragic character which this episode really gets into because you just want to hug

her like you uh bill is pathetic but you don't like he also kind of pushes you away because he's like not only is he pathetic but he's also whiny. But meanwhile, Luann, the way Brittany Murphy plays her like multiple times in this episode, that she is confused and lost. And that makes her sad. And you're just like, oh, I'm sorry. And it's also we talked about this on the Halloween episode weeks ago, but it was also a different time in America where things were becoming more secular. This is before, you know, the war on terror and Georgeorge w bush being a born again christian being the president and it was interesting for a show to be like no let's look at religion sincerely and not mock a character for being religious like the simpsons would do which is fun those jokes are funny it's funny to make fun of ned flanders but the show was not

saying oh luann is stupid because she believes in god yeah yeah and that luann like both in this and Halloween one of her only outlets for like a life that is her own is her church you know and that and yeah the way the church is portrayed here it's just a small town boring church there's not even like a a repressive jerk in charge or anything it's

yeah but god just Luann everything she says in this episode just makes me laugh so much and this also you know for an episode that is sort of about the politics of making television that it's not too in your face with it like oh poochie is one of the funniest episodes of tv ever but it's right in your face of like this is how simpsons is made we're talking about our show it's very very subtle and i do like what they do with it here on different levels. But this episode begins.

It's a Super Bowl episode, of course. And fortunately, Hank's TV is on the disabled list. And the dark truth, he tells Bobby, is that America, the greatest country in the history of the world, no longer makes TV sets. yeah it i love that he even though he has to admit that made in usa is not true for any television in 1998 he still will not say that that is a defeat of america or that it's not the best country in the world and you will not buy a japanese tv set he refuses to you know do you think he would be more ready to buy say a tcl tv from china or a samsung tv from korea is it is it just that it's japanese or any foreign television i think it's any foreign one but i think he knows brands like sony are foreign maybe if they cover it up because this made me think of uh i i talked about this

on when i first got on retronauts and people thought i was making it up but you probably had this experience too in that there was xenophobia about japanese things in the 80s and that's why uh sega kind of skirted past their whole japanese past because families i knew well when there was a uh a japanese car on the block you'd be like oh my god they bought a foreign car what's going on there and then uh a family that i knew which were kind of like the flanders is um they did they weren't allowed to have nintendo because it was japanese so they bought a sega and i at the time i didn't know sega was japanese but later i found out i was like that family they totally got swindled they bought a said they bought a japanese console they didn't even know it if you told them that

they'd be like those tricky japanese they got us again they schemed their way into my house yeah well i think too you you probably i definitely saw that growing up though my my dad for all his um opinions on things he actually didn't seem to care much about buying japanese eve the car we owned my entire life was always a honda he's i was when i was born he had a honda accord and he just if we got a new family car it was a honda model so he my dad was not so against japanese things yeah hondas were just starting to get cool in the late 90s early 2000s and that was a turning point for me i was like i thought people told me these cars were bad growing up but now everyone is driving a japanese car if i ever buy

another car it's gonna be a honda baby that's a Honda Fit. That's the one I've been eyeing if I ever had one. Also, I mean, the fact on Japanese or television is not made in America. Are you going to hear me say a thing? I don't say much. Donald Trump was correct. But in 2016, so I was looking up how many TVs are made in America or are any ever? No, they are not. But this came up my source was a politifact article which the point of politifact is to exist it's called donald trump a liar but in 2016 in one

of his many rambling uh old crazy man speeches he's like america we don't even make the tvs anymore it's uh sorry i don't i hate giving you his voice but politifact was like well is this true and then you're like yeah it is you really there's two companies that call themselves like oh we're an american-based tv company and in both cases from their investigation they either are shipped televisions directly from a factory in china and they put them in an american box or they just get parts made overseas and assemble it here. But nowhere in America, apparently, do they manufacture the parts that are used to make a television. That makes sense to me because we don't make anything anymore in America.

All of our jobs that are not essential jobs are made up. It's just like, well, I'm assistant executive brand manager. When I say this as a person who bought a big TV that's much cheaper than it used to be americans mostly don't want to buy something that would cost what it would cost if you paid an american to make it because we like how things are cheap we don't want a thing to be expensive it's true i do remember uh this is an example i always think of all the time is that uh the fabled papa john the the great pizza magnate he proudly said that

if he gave his employees health insurance it would cause the price of pizzas to raise a dime and he wouldn't do it he refused to where does it go from there yeah it's uh the that's uh the different story the opposite side of it was that costco guy i've heard him talk about it on the podcast right of like one guy who owned costco he was told by other people like we can't keep selling the hot dogs or pizza this cheap and he's like it is key to costco that we have this cheap thing if you find a way to make it work for a dollar fifty hot dog it gets them in the door it gets them in the door in the door yeah me in the door i do love hanks just utter disgust for bobby when bobby says can't we just buy a japanese one he goes bobby go to your room and not even hank is so dogmatic about it he won't even buy

a foreign made part that would go inside his tv because he know know his foreign maid like that you know it's the gentle xenophobia of Hank that he can't it's more it's not that he distrusts other countries that he loves America too much to use other countries he doesn't want a part of America to die so while Hank is being sad about his TV

Luanne is sad about other things hello Buckley what of course not Lou Anne is sad about other things. Hello, Buckley. What? Of course not. We could go to the outlet stores next week. It's not like they're having a sale or anything. They have everyday low prices.

Why are people so mean, Aunt Peggy? It's been 2,000 years since Jesus was born, but we're still acting like cavemen. Oh, honey. Peggy, we're still acting like cavemen. Oh, honey. Peggy, we're going shopping for the Super Bowl party, not your feminine items. Diet soda? Hank, we have got a situation here. Luann has come down with a bad case of the why me's. Come on, just do something to cheer her up, please. Hey, Luann, me and Bobby are heading over to the megalomart

you want to go for a ride is it okay if i don't feel like talking sure why not so again uh the insidious megalomart is working its way into every episode as we've been talking about this season that's right you know what the hank hank should take some of the blame you know i made in usa doesn't exist anymore hank you're going to the megalomart and playing paying megalo prices i'm sure because we don't see them there they put that line in for that reason it's just like hank is lamenting about the state of america but then he's going to megalomart to go shopping well that's the i mean that is the power of the actual big box retailers because like the few brands scream heartland of america more than walmart but everything you get in there is cheap uh cheaply made thanks to exploitated uh foreign labor like overseas labor

i or well not even overseas like mexico too but uh also that line oh man it's been 2 000 years since jesus was born but we're still acting like cavemen. Like that, cavemen and Jesus like 2,000 years ago, but cavemen, I just, it's so funny. It's a good line. And the set, oh man, this is when you, from the first scene, you want to feel so bad for Luann. She's just sitting on the curb in a dress and they were going to go have fun at the outlet malls. She put on such a nice dress and she's not sitting in a chair. She's like, no, I have to be.

I mean, also, I think she's sitting on the edge of the driveway because Buckley will not pull his motorcycle any more into there. He's like, no, no, I'll just pick you up on the curb. And again, something I like throughout the season is characters repeating things they hear on TV. They're saying they have everyday low prices. Oh, you're right. God, I love that. Also, again, poor Luanne. She's a good Christian girl who gave it up for Buckley her saying they have everyday low prices oh that's you're right god i love that also again

poor luann you know she's a good christian girl who gave it up for buckley and he can't you know they're having casual premarital sex and he can't even do one weekend trip to the outlet mall buckley doesn't know how good he has a luann is hot buckley yes oh my god she is 10 times she is five levels of hotness above buckley This fool he deserves to die I'm just going to say it that Buckley As we mentioned before these have some deleted scenes on the discs And I noticed that in the deleted scene on these episodes They're cut out because they make Hank look like an asshole

So in this one That is cut out of the episode It's implied that Lady Bird Was going to ride with them So Hank has to tell Lady Bird it's a false alarm. And then he tells Peggy, drive around the block, would you? I can't do everything around here.

Oh, man. So because Lady Bird can't go with them to Megalomart, Peggy has to drive Lady Bird around the block in her car. That shows, yeah, I do like Lady Bird jokes of Hank, who is, you know, wouldn't baby his son like this, but for his dog, he's like, please just drive around the block my poor dog ladybird is so missing from the season because all of the ladybird scenes are cut

yeah i guess you know in season three they start figuring out some things for ladybird but you're right they're not really interested in her in this i i also love that joke that you think hank is setting up to say you know i don I don't know, tampons or something. But a feminine item is diet soda. He would never, no man in Hank's mind would drink diet soda. So they're in Hank's truck on the way to Megalomart and Luanne is lamenting about the state of the world. And clearly she's been reading Weekly World News because she's saying, look what's happening. Aliens are getting autopsies and devil babies are being born every day.

That's so good. I also love how much she looks up to hank like it's an early coding of uh i mean i think the point they're making with her in this episode like in so many others luann had no good father figure growing up she is now super interested in hank and is searching for like could you tell me i'm good kind of thing and and that also i think is why they write her to have crappy boyfriends like buckley because she just thinks like well men in my life exist to treat me poorly like or at the very least that's the psychoanalytical reading they are putting on to luann i mean there's a reason that she sees hank as god yes yep yep yep and uh so hank points out you know it's up to every one of us to make to Luann. I mean, there's a reason that she sees Hank as God. Yes. Yep. Yep. Yep. And so Hank points out, you know, it's up to every one of us to make the world a better place. He says,

take me, for example, I sell a clean, burning, energy efficient fuel. And then when Luann is just searching for something in her life, she's like, do you think I could do that? And he starts laughing. Oh, that's so that Hank, that's so mean of Hank to just be like, well, no, obviously you couldn't do it. No one could do. My job is way too hard. I also like, too, that she just says, like, you're right. You're usually right. Like, yeah. And then Hank has to bring everything back to bragging about propane, too.

That's so good. And so we swerve into a garage sale where Hank finds his deflection coil made in the USA inside an old TV on sale. Very convenient for Hank. He has to find a dead man's TV. I figure that's what he usually does. Like, well, somebody died, so they're selling their old TV. Let's see if I can scrap it for parts. And he goes, with this in our set,

the only thing beyond our control is the size of the NFC victory. Yeah, so I looked into that. Thank you, because AFC, NFCc i've heard these terms i barely know what they mean i know their conferences yes yeah there's one group of teams that's in the nfc and one group of team that's in the afc and then the winners of those championships face each other in the super bowl and the cowboys the cowboys are in fc yeah so well that's the funny thing this also cowboys football is important in this episode but uh in 96 they had just won the super bowl but now the cowboys weren't doing as good but uh and

please football person in the comments correct me if i'm wrong on this but for my research in 1998 they were coming off of the nfc 13 straight Super Bowls in a row. The AFC team never won. But then in 1997 and in 1998, two weeks after this episode airs, that's when the Broncos start winning and the AFC actually starts having a reign of their own. So Hank's joke is inaccurate this month. Maybe he's hoping for a comeback you know i think so 97 the afc won right uh the afc won okay so this is probably written right after that yes yeah yeah the uh but so it's a and apparently at this point if you were to count all total super bowls

it is virtually tied i think one has won one more super bowl than the other so and we are starting to get uh bill is disgusting jokes in this episode they're starting to bring that in and there's a lead scene where they point out how much more disgusting he is and we'll get to that soon but bobby wants to know why they can't just watch it at mr dotriebs because he keeps snacks in his couch cushions i hope bobby is not eating those but i think he is i think so i think that joke especially when hank explains the order of doing it i think based on bobby's age that was the first time he got to go to the super bowl party and it was at bills and he ate things in the couch and then hank points out that uh another disaster that happened was

boomhauer's dip was too thick yes yeah it snapped i like uh hank has no empathy for Joe Theismann. He thinks of him as a man with weak bird legs. Like potato chips they are. This is when Luanne knocks over a box of animal puppets and the manger babies are born. My name is Luanne. What's yours? I'm Mr. Cat. Me, how do you do? You're pretty good with those.

I used to play with the puppets all the time with the social worker. Hey, how much for the puppets? You mean it? Well, if it costs 25 cents to make you smile, it's a bargain. Look, Dad, an old wig. Bobby, take that off. I'm not saying it was a miracle, Reverend Thomason, but I don't usually trip into boxes. I think God has a plan for me, and it involves puppets.

Luanne, I like the idea of a Christian puppet show, but try to see things from my perspective as the spiritual leader of this congregation. We just laid new carpet in the activities room. You put 30 kids in there and lose their attention. Fruit punch all over my new carpet. I like Maurice Lamarche in these kind of muted roles. Yeah, yeah. He's so great. What a great bit of such a calm reverend that he's not saying puppets would demean the message of christ or i'm trying to be serious these puppets aren't good for it he's just like i just spent you know

two thousand dollars on new carpet you have a kid spills on it then it's ruined forever i just can't do it and actually before this scene there was a deleted scene that was not on the final episode and that this is where luane gets her idea to entertain uh kids with the puppets because we see her at the beauty academy and she's trying to sweep up hair but all these little kids keep running through it one is shoving it in his mouth and she uses the cat puppet to tell them that eating hair is wrong and god doesn't like it and she starts coughing and you think she's doing a bit where the cat is hocking up a hairball but really she's choking on the hair that's in the air oh man that's good that's so that's where her idea comes from to entertain the kids with puppets so there should have been a scene before that where she's

actually at the beauty academy which she technically still is in but we rarely see that in this season yeah that's that's an important it is kind of without it it is an a to c move they give her the line of her saying like uh that she said it was a miracle she found it as i guess why she's like oh because this was a miracle i came to you reverend with it but it's better to see it done casually in person but i guess this is a packed episode yeah it's hard to cut anything there's a lot going on but i do love luan's pitch to the reverend like you know baby jesus was born in a manger no reaction from him yes yeah he's setting it up and uh her idea is that these animals that witness jesus's birth they're adventures that happen afterwards yes yeah this her pitch is what you pitch a tv show

with like how she comes in with this pitch and the reverend pokes holes that it is like well you know the the animals kind of disappear and never show up again in the thing and then she then for a bad picture of a tv show that thing from an executive you go like oh well i guess i give up but luanne she is on the ball she's like even better because um what happened to them after that people would want to know they're just waiting around like us for Jesus to come back. They'd have all sorts of crazy adventures. Yeah, I love that. Also, when she discovers the puppets, that line of like, I used to play with puppets all the time with a social worker.

Social worker, yeah. A lot of past experiences are coming out with these puppets, especially Joe Sixpack, because there was a history of drinking in her family for sure yeah yeah no the she what's also cute about it is that luanne doesn't realize how all of her inner demons are coming out through these we're not it well like her personal feelings are coming out through the the pet of manger baby and there's a deleted scene in this or deleted tag on this where it maybe it's like a bit too on the nose where luan straight out says like these puppets are my chance to do good in the world so reflecting what hank said about what she should be doing or she should be trying to do that's a good line too i kind of wish they kept that i i now a lot of the spirit of this especially mr cat with a meow stuff that's mr rogers like yeah oh yeah like okay so i really love the luan logic that goes into

naming all of these things and giving them backstories so there's a retinol the feather bottom the third which is the penguin it's just like you know the very proper british penguin there's obadiah the donkey who just like makes donkey noises and talks there's the cat that talks and cats speak like henrietta pussycat from Mr. Rogers. And then there's an octopus that just says gurgle, gurgle. For some reason, the octopus can't talk. The octopus came in the box. So she's like, well, and an octopus because it was in there. Yeah.

Well, and also like the Christian puppet show thing, the local Christian puppet show thing is such a constant of American small time TV. And to me, nothing is unintentionally funnier than christian puppets uh as a big fan of found footage nothing is funnier than getting those really funny clips of christian puppet shows i will say there's some found footage ones where i can't watch them because they make me cringe too hard and mostly it's the christian ones yeah yeah and that that also i don't think she realizes the implications too of like how you're fucking with a kid's head to have a puppet that they trust say that god something is a sin and you'll go to hell uh but but yeah the her with her puppets is just

so so funny and sad that she's just so excited the second she has this creative outlet it also shows that luanne just like how she is amazing at car repair can just rebuild an entire engine on her own she also can be a fun performer who likes having just silly voices and everything in our next clip she'll pitch this idea to the family i call it the manger babies We're headlining next week in the activities room. Manger babies. How do you like that? This is going to be a great show, Luanne. I know.

But now I've got so much work to do. I have to write a script, build a puppet theater, learn to talk without moving my lips. If you want, you can make a theater out of that old refrigerator box in the garage. I keep it pretty clean. Uncle Hank. Thank you thank you hey who said that so i like hank being supportive and i also like the joke about him not just having an old box in the garage but also maintaining the old box yes yeah so he's cleaning his old boxes most people would throw away that refrigerator box but he kept it but he also is cleaning it regularly i yeah and such great like southern dad positive energy like how do

you mange your babies how do you like that and there's another deleted bit in here where instead of hank you know he goes uh who said that or whatever he's he's kidding around with luanne he's being supportive of her in this deleted scene he's kind of a dick once again where he says uh sorry luann but i got super bowl fever the only cure one super bowl so he's like just got super bowl in the mind so he's not even being supportive of this idea at all he's just being like i only care about the super bowl so yeah that's what's going on in his mind that i'm glad they made that change because it works better that he is very supportive of Luann until it comes into contact with the Super Bowl. Then that supersedes it.

It's better that instead of him saying throughout the whole time, like, you know, whatever, Super Bowl's coming. Whatever's happening with you is meaningless to me. I also love just the pride that Luann has with such a dumb name as manger babies. Yeah. And they're not babies either. They're adult things i guess they were babies once when it was important uh and also uh her like like just great that again the late britney murphy doing silly voices in her luann voice is so good and she clearly doesn't care

about not moving her mouth when she's on stage anymore. Oh, I mean, I could deconstruct the whole thing, but the way her performance is such a great joke about performance because the point of doing puppet shows is to hide the artifice. Yeah. And she stands up. They make the puppet box for her to be able to go below it and be invisible and just have her hands up. You know what?

I never thought about that because I've just seen this so many times. I take it for granted that, oh yeah, on Manger Babies, Luanne is just with them. But instead, yeah, she has a puppet theater. And then at the end of the first act, she sinks down into it when she doesn't know what to do. Yeah, yeah. And she even takes off the puppet and puts it on in front of the audience. Like she has none of the knowledge of you know what professional puppeteers do but that's part of the fun of her that the there's an

innocence to that in the next scene she's building the puppet theater and uh this is the scene that is ripped from mike judge's life the origin of mr anderson and hank hill where it's her wanting to do something and doing an okay job at it but then deferring to these middle-aged men for help, and they just immediately rush at the problem and take over completely. Yeah, I love the bit of all of them just itching in there, going like, when is she going to ask for help so we can just build the whole thing? Because they respect someone else building stuff, so they wouldn't take it away from them.

But if you ask for help, they will then take over like that they they're just such a handyman i i also you know what else i was thinking of with her uh and her puppeteering was our friend uh popperina on his knickknacks videos for sherry lewis when he covered the career sherry lewis i was like oh is, you know, a beautiful woman with her puppets. And especially, I mean, Obadiah is not too far away from the horse character. Oh, Charlie Horse. Charlie Horse, yeah. Oh, you got to look up that video because I didn't know about her Las Vegas act with Lamb Chop. And she was a gorgeous woman, too.

Yes, yeah. And her with Lamb Chop is so funny. And on her shows, all the excuses she had to be like how do i hide my elbow like how do i make it and she unlike luanne could throw her voice very very really well yeah so yeah we're at arlen first methodist and the reverend wants to remind everyone that spilling juice on the carpet is a sin in case you missed his sermon so he brought this up in his sermon as well uh which i don't know that's in the the bible but uh it but it'd be very expensive to clean that brand new carpet. And finally, we have the manger baby's intro.

Once upon a time, almost two thousands of years ago, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born in a manger. And in that manger lived the cutest little animals. This is their story. After Jesus left, King Herod came, demanding firstborn sons. He cast an evil spell on them, freezing everyone. He slayed the apple, turned nativity scene out of yard sale secondhand. Cast an evil spell on them, freezing everyone.

Years later, I bought ten nativities, the 90 yards, they're second hand. They came to life, and then, amen, I met the manger babies. There's Obadiah the donkey. He says, yeah. Hosea the cat, meow, meow. And octopus, too, gurgle, gurgle.

But let's not forget the very British bird, Serenity Featherbuff from the Thed, charmed, I'm sure, governor. They are the manger babies getting in trouble. The manger babies spreading God's message of love. Manger babies. Manger

babies. There's a lot to talk about here. Danger Babies But just the background story and how, I guess, factually incorrect it is because it's after Jesus left, King Herod came. I think she says King Harold. After Jesus left, King Herod came demanding firstborn sons. That happened before the birth of Christ. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's true. It actually didn't happen. But according to the Bible, King Herod heard that this Savior was coming.

This Messiah was coming. But he's like like i'm the king round up all the firstborn sons and kill them yeah that happened before the birth of christ but it actually didn't happen i mean that story makes christ divinity more clear instead of just like no it's a a mash together of character of people who were messiahs at that time and uh but yeah it's a that she she's like well where do i pull this from where do i get the magic that makes them freeze uh king harrod yeah yeah so instead of killing the firstborn sons he freezes them and that's how uh luann finds them in a nativity

scene i love that she found him i really love how much he's created the compelling backstory that they have been frozen for almost 2 000 years she bumped then to them she's like they came to life and then amen i met the manger babies and the clumsiness of her pitching to the kids what the show was about says like major babies getting into trouble major babies sharing god's message of love major babies no verse oh that's so good yes god you know all her poses like she turns around and turns back and she has all this like energy but like you know clumsy energy to her god and and again like i said never goes out of sight just always there because i think dude she's just she's happy she's like i want to see all the people in the audience i'm i'm here for them

and meanwhile hank is distracted by a nail he left sticking out of the puppet theater. I love that. You know, that's almost like a comment on TV creators too because when you make something, you only see the flaws that nobody else notices and it starts driving you crazy. It reflects poorly on my craftsmanship.

And also the only other people who notice it are insiders who are like, oh, my God. All the other men were disapproving. Let's hear the manger baby sketch. Today's episode. Going to the movies. Who wants to go to the movies? Yeah, I do.

Yeah. Uh-oh. There are five of us and I only have four tickets. One of us blokes could sneak in. Watch what. Help me out. Is it sneaking room? Yeah.

Everybody's doing it. Yeah. Okay. Let's go. La, la, la, la, la, la, la. We're going to the movies. La, la, la, la, la, la, la. Yeah, but it reflects poorly on my craftsmanship.

That's all I'm saying. Hank, you're the only one who notices. That's real. It might be worth it. I think it's just the work. It's the conscience. Here you go. Four tickets.

But there are five of you. You were trying to sneak into the movies. You and your babies are in a lot of trouble unlocking you in a closet no no and that's why you shouldn't sneak into the movies the end there's so much stuff i love about that luan clearly new to storytelling but i love how when characters need to go somewhere in her story she actually has to reflect the amount of time they spend she's like la la la la we're going to the movie la la la la it's good cover for a cut to hank getting lines but yeah just her in the background to think that these kids who have terrible attention spans they're watching her with puppets go like for like 20

seconds and how how again i love how low the stakes are for all of this but they're the major baby's great scam is to get one person into the movies for free yeah and then to be like uh five people for the movies wait there are there are only four tickets here so their scam is awful and stupid and i thought through it all a terrible terrible writing on luann's part and that yeah just ends with them locked in a closet and she's getting a lot of notes live i also have to think yeah me too luann was locked in a closet for punishment more than once in her childhood and that's why such a specific punishment is done to the manger babies which that is an extra dark layer on top of that that she's like oh the manger babies well what's the worst punishment that could happen well a thing that

happened to me when i was like eight by an abusive parents i just like the idea of a movie theater manager locking you in the closet yes uh not that but yeah that the movie theater guy would throw them out like he wouldn't or say like you're banned from this theater, but she can't think of that. She just thinks, well, they'd lock him in the closet. Like how I was punished as a little kid.

And the storytelling is not working on these kids because they're getting very bored and they want to know what happens next. And she cannot improv her way out of the situation. And they ask if she got, if they got out of the closet, she goes, sure. I guess. Yeah. And they want to know how, and she's like, how, how? situation uh and uh they ask if she got if they got out of the closet she goes sure i guess yeah

and they want to know how and she's like how how and she starts crying and the act break is her uh like just sunk down in the puppet booth crying and meanwhile hank has moved his way up to the front row to uh get rid of that nail or do something with it but try to push the nail in with his shoe like that's his plan the sight of him in the front row with all the kids is very funny. Yeah, I love that. I love this giant man, like, sitting in front of all these children. And also, the cut to the reverend seeing the kids, like, getting bored. And the one little fat kid he's been staring at the entire time with his cup of juice.

He's like, oh, this kid. I mean, just give them the juice before the show, right? Yeah, show right yeah you know honestly it's his fault for letting juice be served like you're in charge here reverend don't serve juice there is an alternate scene in here again that makes hank look like a dickhead in that you actually so hank moves to the front row to presumably take care of the nail in the deleted scene he kicks the nail in and in doing that he startles luann and she loses her train of improv thought so in a way Hank causes this to happen oh I don't boy these these are good edits yeah yeah Hank should only I much prefer in this episode that Hank they've done two episodes already in

the show like Hank doesn't want Luann around and he's mean to her. They're finally past that. It's like they've reconnected twice now. One in a twister, one when he made her move out. This time, just let him be nice to her. It's good that they take out these scenes of him being worse because it makes him a much better character, even if he is a dick later. Yeah, yeah. And also, very inventive act break that it makes it seem like

it all happened in real time. And she started crying and now it's just been murmuring in her box, audibly brainstorming what the next scene could be. And we come back from the break and Luanne is still trying to figure out how they got out of the closet. And meanwhile, Hank is trying to tell her, Jimmy, the lock opened with a coat hanger. And she doesn't understand. And meanwhile, Hank decides to come to the rescue and save her story. open with a coat hanger yes and she doesn't understand and uh meanwhile uh hank decides to come to the rescue and uh save her story i'll save you manger babies you will yes uh because i'm the assistant manager of this movie theater i sell popcorn and popcorn accessories. And you are fired. We're free!

We're free! Woo! Thank you, assistant manager. Meow, can we ever repay you? By never forgetting this lesson, sneaking into the movies is wrong. As wrong as spilling juice on a new carpet. Bravo!

Bravo! Bravo! You know, Luann really shouldn't waste this kind of talent on church. If you want, I could show her taped to my boss at Channel 84. He's always looking for quality children's programming and home videos of things blowing up. Well, Luann really could use a booth right now, but I could not take advantage of our friendship like that, no. Oh, Peggy, honey, this is show business. That's what friends do. now but i could not take advantage of our friendship like that no oh peggy honey this

is show business that's what friends do yeah i really like that they cut out the nail scene because it makes it seem as if in this final cut uh hank is doing this because he doesn't want luanne to screw up yeah yeah not that because he caused the screw up to happen yeah it's not that he feels guilty it's just the he feels bad for her that she's looking so embarrassed and in front of all these people. And it's being filmed by Peggy. It almost seems too creative for Hank to improv a character, but that he makes it basically himself, but with popcorn. He has no imagination. He's just like, I guess I could be another assistant manager.

And you know what? He should fire that guy for locking children in a closet. That's above and beyond. There is the deleted scene in which Luann is trying to make the scene go on longer, where after he fires the clerk, he says, Luann goes, what about my wife and seven kids? And he goes, Luann, we're clearly done with this. Oh, that's great. Like Luann's trying to, that's funny.

I also love Nancy just saying like she really shouldn't release that kind of talent on church. That's such a great line. And yeah, this is more about show business, that it is who you know and cronyism. I mean, Greg Daniels, I think he's a great, great writer. But how did he get his first job in SNL? Well, he was a Harvard guy. Harvard guys worked at SNL. All the Harvard connections. in snl well he was a harvard guy and harvard guys worked at snl all the harvard connections but he's probably did great daniels might be the best writer of that harvard crop i think based on

pure writing and ability based on what he's made uh since then yes for sure at the very least the most productive i mean you'd say his old co-writer conan was pretty high up there too but conan didn't become... I mean, I guess he writes even when he's hosting the show. He's like, yeah, I'm making something up and that's him being creative. But Daniel's more productive than Gene, Reese, Jeff Martin, all those guys. It makes me think, I don't know if I mentioned this before on the show, but if there will ever be an Office reboot because uh steve carell uh i love him i

don't think he's a movie star and especially after welcome to marwen uh let's let's let's rope in him pal come back be michael scott and that uh whatever that dumb politics movie was that john stewart wrote and directed oh like irresistible or irredeemable or whatever irresistible or there was that bad okay well i know because hearing people talk about they're like well and of course the end theme song is simply irresistible and then the ear and istable disappear in the title and it says resist get it bob i don't like that you get it oh i want to not vote now yeah just throw away all political content from 20, political comedy content from 2016 to 2020.

Just be like, we're done with it. You know, in Office Jim, it's really cute that you think you're Paul Ryan and you like the CIA, but just be the smug guy looking at the camera like, derp. You know, I guess the question is, if there's going to be an Office remake or not, is if Office Jim gets cast, and I don't want to call him by his real name, if Office Jim gets cast as Reed Richards or another Marvel character, then he's locked down in Marvel Town for a decade, so

he couldn't do an Office reboot, but you know, The Office ends with such a good ending. They basically had two finales to that show, the Michael Scott finale and then the real last episode. I think they should debase themselves for our amusement. I mean, had two finales to that show the michael scott finale and then the real last episode i think they should debase themselves for our amusement i mean they some already are they already are

doing a podcast as debasing as it can get who could who could do that with their lives disgusting uh so we're back at the hill house and uh hank tells bobby it's safe to plug the tv back in and bobby never unplugged it so you know, dealing with those tube TVs, you can kill yourself. Yeah. Just by touching the wrong thing. They carry so much electricity in them. Ah, man, I love that Bobby realizes he almost killed his father accidentally. He's like, uh, uh, okay.

He just has to mime. The little bit he mimes plugging it back in, the little motion to it is great. You know, the only big note I'd give on this episode is that Luan getting involved in show business in some way is in no way appealing to Bobby. He doesn't care one way or the other, which that's not the Bobby I know. I guess Bobby is really sidelined in this episode. Yeah, yeah. I mean, he's just a little fat boy who plays his Game Boy. His main plot point is either talking

about snacks or the game boy that's uh one of two things he hasn't been fully figured out yet sometimes he is like the class clown sometimes he's just a lazy boy who wants to play game boy yeah and uh peggy has finished scotch guarding the couch uh scotch guarding scotch guarding which i don't think i do people still do this let me know i don't know i i haven't ever done it maybe i should i have a washable slip cover because i have a cheap couch from ikea oh yes yeah you you're a decade plus on that ikea couch uh it's on its last legs and i pray that i can move before i it kills me it's all you're only still on it because you don't want to buy a new couch before you eventually move and i don't i don't want to pay people to take it out of my apartment i can't do it myself but uh so peggy has finished cleaning the couch and tells

tells hank it'd be a lot easier if he just would tell bill to not wipe his hands on the couch and so they plan a zone defense around the chips oh that's so great and that's why later he is wiping his hands on the couch because peggy and luann aren't there to block. That's true. Just, again, Bill, they have to, they can't tell Bill not to be a messy slob, so they have to just plan around his ability to get crumbs on his hands. I like his, Peggy's like, won't he just scramble around the coffee table? He's like, he doesn't have that kind of quickness, Peggy. Not anymore. Not anymore.

He's reflecting that Bill is not the high school athlete he used to be. He's not the Billdozer anymore. The Billdozer, yeah. So there's another deleted scene in which it makes Hank look like an asshole again. So they're cutting out all the scenes where Hank is a jerk. So when Peggy tells Hank, why don't you tell Bill to not wipe his hands on the couch? Instead of saying, let's plan our defense, he says, why don't I ask him to wipe his feet before coming in? Why don't I ask him to shower and brush his teeth why don't i just ask

dale to not smoke in our bedroom and then he apologizes to peggy's like i'm under a lot of pressure i'm sorry for yelling at you that is a real snap at her i wouldn't have liked that because him being that mean to her but the details are that like bill is filthy and gross all the time like he stinks awful they're not this early in the series they're not ready to make bill this disgusting in a few years he will be uh and that dale the specific that dale not only smokes in the house but that he goes into their bedroom which when you're a guest at someone's house unless they're bad the only times i've ever gone through someone's bedroom when i'm i guess their house is they're like oh the other bathroom's not free i guess

just go through the bedroom and use that bathroom. Otherwise, you're not supposed to go in someone's bedroom when you're a guest. I think it's implied that Hank asked Dale to go outside. Instead of going outside, he just goes in another room and smokes cigarettes. Totally, totally. God, he thinks like, oh, I'm getting away with it. Luann comes out and asks Peggy to move her car out of the garage because it's practice time for her puppet show. And Luann tells Hank that she wrote a role for him.

And it's God. Yeah. She describes as the greatest hero of them all, which is not like God. God controls everything. He's not the hero. It's funny to say that about God. Not Jesus, but God. Yeah.

And one thing I didn't mention earlier is during the first sketch is that it's also like a joke about bad writing in that hank is the deus ex machina character it's it's perfect for him to play god because he just shows up and solves the problem with no setup at all oh my god that that is why it's so perfectly about bad writing is because he is the god character and that he just comes out of nowhere to solve the problem at the end oh bob thank you aren't i so smart oh man that is such a great that instead of having a person give her the note that in the original uh in the first thing that she did hank showing up to solve all their problems was you know stylistically the deus ex machina. But then Luanne, her lesson was, I should have just made that literally God

who literally solves everything. She must be thinking, oh, storytelling is easy. Just have God show up and fix the problem. And that's what her manger baby's episodic structure will be. They'll get into a problem, then God will show up and fix it. Oh, that's so good. Man, this is such a smart parody of storytelling stuff i love that so much like it's not it's not all in your face that

sounds like a snide comedy writer saying my job's actually really hard you know and it's also again quietly sacrilegious because hank is literally playing god and dressing up as god i love that both hank and peggy seemingly are offended at these ideas and then they're like no no that's great like how when bobby compares himself to jesus peggy is only mad she's like don't assume that let luann cast you as jesus if he she does let's hear hank playing god god sure you're great as the hero of my last show, so I figured, why not have you play the greatest hero of them all? Tell you what, Luan, just as soon as I finish turning beer into water,

I'll meet you in the garage. Great! She made me God. Hey, if you're God, I guess that makes me Jesus. Bobby, honey, you really shouldn't say that. That is for Luan to decide. Let there be light. And it was good.

Yeah, that's super, Uncle Hank, but can we get back to the script? We're at the part where you meet your archenemy. Bobby's G.I. Joe? Joe Sixpack. He's a drunk driver who died in a car crash and was sent to hell. And then he borrowed Satan's pickup truck without asking and trashed it so he got kicked out of hell. And now he roams the earth riding buses and doing evil like he won't call you on your birthday and he throws beer bottles at your head. What?

He crashed a truck? You will feel my wrath. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. That's got to be a Beavis the Butthead reference, right? Yes, yeah. The way he laughs like that, there's no other reason why they would end the scene on that laughter. Totally.

That kind of laughter. Totally. And also how he says, and it was good. That definitely sounds like a Butthead pronouncement. A come to Butthead style. Yeah. But like you hinted at before, Joe Sixpack is her dad. Definitely, yeah.

It's the descriptor of not calling you on your birthday and throwing beer bottles at your head. Those are the two evil things he does. Yes, yeah. And then also that Hank is most offended that he broke he crashed a truck like that that's so wasteful and i love the posing on luann with the puppets on her hand but she's in full hollywood producer posture of like scripting like now the script says here like that's great hank is offended that he crashed the devil's pickup truck though which like isn't that good shouldn't you want to destroy the devil's pickup truck

sounds sounds like joe six-pack you know the ends justify the means there i'd say so hank comes out into the alley with his uh god beard still on and dale wants to know what grandpa's throwing out the money poured into the social security system and he explains to everybody how he's playing god and bill is asking god who's going to win the super bowl and dale points out it it was filmed six months ago in the same hangar where they filmed the moon landing. And that's probably the first time I heard anything about that conspiracy theory. I think so. There's no mention of Kubrick, which was what would become that conspiracy theory. Stanley Kubrick filmed the moon landing and there are references to it in The Shining.

I remember in the probably right after this, like Fox did a special of, was the moon landing faked? And then they disprove a bunch of the main arguments of it at the time. And I just remember it because after it aired, I went to my art class at high school and the art teacher who was a very like a nerdy uh arts lover one of the other students was like i just watched this mood landing thing last night you know it's all faked and then the guy goes off the teacher goes off like a 10 minute tangent of like people have been trying to say it's fake for 30 years it is not fake i have all this i was like whoa you you touched a raw nerve with that

fake moon landing from what i've heard the latest film godzilla versus king kong confirms the hollow earth theory though it does that is correct yeah it's actually real uh the uh podcaster in that film he uh he it proves that most he's on old conspiracies though so he's a conspiracy podcaster but he talks about like a fluoride in the water and and stuff like that and faking the moon landing i was like you are 800 conspiracies ago this is like for this movie where joe rogan started exactly yes yeah 10 years ago if you watch ancient joe rogan comedy he's he's talking about false flags or whatever it's like that is so so 1999 uh that also the podcaster in that movie look are there some cheap jokes about podcasting for sure but if you haven't seen the movie yet skip out of 10 seconds but his last line in the movie

is asking someone to be a guest on his podcast and i have to say that was very correct that's i'm going out yeah so uh in response to that moon landing clip boomhauer babbles something about capricorn one which is a movie i've heard of in passing, but I didn't know what it was about. And so it's a 1978 thriller about faking a Mars landing. OJ Simpson is in it. And the story goes that these guys are about to go off to Mars, these astronauts, but then the last second they're pulled off the shuttle. There's something wrong with it. For the sake of America, we have to fake this now. So that is what the entire movie is about i've never seen it it sounds fun but uh yeah that's capricorn one wow okay i i like that in boom howard's mumbling he both is complimenting the film capricorn one but also says obviously it's fake and that you have to respect neil armstrong

i i love that and there is a joke in which uh bill's hygiene is called into question because he's like only four more days till the Super Bowl. And then Hank says, no, it's three days. And he pulls off his one shirt that says four days till the Super Bowl. And there's one under it that says three days till the Super Bowl he's wearing. Implying that he's probably wearing four shirts at once then,

at least for the four countdown. And leaving them on. Yeah. Do you think he started the week with seven shirts on and he's been slowly peeling them away? I think so. They're just not commenting on it. Also, Bill doesn't know it's four days until he looks down at his shirt and says, it's only four days.

That's how he's keeping track of time now. So in our next clip, Luanne gets her a big break. God's not angry on that line. He's vengeful. Let's try it again. Luanne, it's the TV station. Hello. Oh, Hank, look how excited she is.

You know, just a few days ago she was talking like the world was coming to an end. You're a good man. Man? We did it! We did it! Channel 84 is putting manger babies on the air! It's UHF, Uncle Hank. Ultra high frequency! Oh, Luanne, you have thrust your hands into something wonderful this time.

We'd better get back to work. We've got a whole hour to fill on Sunday. Well, that doesn't give us much time to get ready. I mean, Sunday is... Sunday? Now, is that before or after the Super Bowl? During. Can you believe it? They put us on against the highest rated television event of the year because they know we're the one show that can beat it. It's a huge responsibility.

But I know I could do it with God on my side. That's great. Yeah. that's great yeah and i like again uh the low stakes of the show sorry if i keep repeating myself is that lou the big break for luann is uh getting aired on a uhf station a christian puppet show during the super bowl i think it's assumed that they don't know who luann is just say oh this is the least advertised portion in our entire schedule just let her do whatever she wants yeah it's like this is it may as well not happen. No one will watch this, so screw it.

Just put her there. Who cares? And UHF, by the way, these are all forgotten things because broadcast TV is gone forever now after the changeover. But UHF, ultra high frequency, a lower tier than VHF, I believe. And that means that with UHFf stations the signal did not go as far which is why the weird on movie uhf is meant to imply it's a low frequency tv station that does not go a lot of places unpopular and not watched yes yeah yeah which was barely uh like the meaning

of that title was barely known at the time and it wasn't known an overseas either so they had to call that uh i think in like france and other territories it was called the vidiot or the vidiot from uhf and now the title is meaningless but you have to just know that uhf means like it's a low powered broadcast station it's not getting to a lot of places i my favorite parts of uhf are when it has this the the local TV show energy to it, that movie. Otherwise, the parts where it's like, oh, now it's just like a parody of a movie or like Weird Al's character has a Donahue show on it. I'm like, eh, that kind of gets away from the spirit of UHF. But when they have the twin guys who look like Popeye going, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh. That feels like UHF.

One of those guys is married to Bette Midler. What? Yes. Wow. I did not know that. It's a real comedy act and it's very weird. Man, that is so... The Kipper kids.

The Kipper kids. The Kipper kids. Wow, man. I mean, I can go off on a beat. This is not even related to UHF, but I just thinking, hearing UHF, I think of the movie Sex with Furniture. What do you think? That's the Donahue segment.

Or Geraldo Rivera or Morton Downey show. I like when he crushes the head of the KKK guy. Like it just collapses the hood. Yeah. But that Luann thinks ultra high frequency means it's the best. She's like, yeah, it's the best ultra high frequency. And also I feel like that is a joke about giving a line reading like, no he's not angry there he's vengeful like I bet Brittany has been told like no no Luann in this scene is sad she's not mournful or whatever she's naive she's not stupid yes yeah I I think

that's probably her goofing on line read she had been given by greg daniels so we come back for this last act and hank is coming in very sheepish about you know letting her down and she realizes her octopus only has six legs but is reluctant to call him a sextopus because it would offend sensibilities so funny how she says offend sensibilities that's so good and he's really skirting around uh this whole thing just so hank goes you know i'm sure you'll figure it out before Super Sunday. I call it Super Sunday because that's when they play the Super Bowl. This Sunday. Clearly not understanding any of it. And this is when he backs out of the show

completely. Oh, poor Luanne. She's just destroyed. This is as far as she cares, this is God forsaking her. This is the one father figure she's ever liked or has been supportive to or to in this version of the show. And he's just pulling away.

She's just broken by, and you feel so bad for her there. And I like that Hank is also feeling bad about this. He's not just like, whatever, Luann, I'm going to do my thing now. Because she asked him, are you not going to be there? He's like, oh, no, I'm not saying that. There could be a terrorist attack. Or what was the other excuse he gives? Oh, it could end early due to injury.

You never know. Yeah, you never know. But the Super Bowl always runs a long time. I don't think anything has ever stopped it before. Maybe weather once. But it is nice to be, Hank is not so callous that he's like, yeah, I'm abandoning you.

Shut up. I'm leaving. He's just like, well, no, no, no. I'm not actually doing this. He feels too much guilt to actually say, no, I am leaving you for this party. Well, Borlaway and another like father figure is just lying to her.

I'm just like, well, no, I'm not really backing out because what if it did end early? Then I'm going. So it's not so bad. It's like, no, you're lying. Just say, at least have the guts, Hank, to tell her you're not doing it. And we come back to the kitchen

and Hank is now testing out his chip snapping potential of this dip that he's making and hank is a real nerd i buy pre-made chip dip and i just got some uh i buy chip dip like once a year but i must recommend the hell of a good chip dip it's great the potato chip dip is great that sounds good i i also like to find out peggy peggy bets on football oh no this is a tournament. I'll go more into it after this next clip. Okay. You think I want to miss the Super Bowl? No, sir.

I've got enough money on this game to cover the bath I took on the Dinah Shore classic. But I will sit through that puppet show because Luann asked me to. Oh, come on. I'll be God some other time, like Easter. That's during baseball season. Who cares? Mike, Luanne believes in you. How can you allow suffering in her world when you have the power to prevent it?

Suffering is a part of every religion, Peggy. I mean, look at what the Jews have been through, and you never hear them complaining. It's all very good jokes. Dinah Shore Classic was a woman's golf tournament that started in 1972 and it's now called the ana inspiration and dinah shore was an early television entertainer i believe she was on the radio as well and she was one of the first like professional women golfers yes yeah yeah she uh the the ana i looked that up too it's like that is the japanese airline like it's oh really okay i think too. It's like that is the Japanese airline. Oh, really?

Okay. I think it's interesting that they are paying for what is, I mean, it is the longest, I believe it's the oldest women's golf tournament in the world. I think so. It's had several names, but at this point it was still Dinosaur Classic. I think in 2002 it was renamed.

Also, it's funny that peggy is into that because this was not public knowledge at the time uh i only learned it from you know knowing about gay things but it is also a major destination for lesbian tourists lesbian golfers yes yeah it was it was called like you know the biggest gathering of the women who love women in the world over there's an episode of the l word that was just about going to dinosaur week it's an entire week of things you do around the dinosaur classic though of course not promoted by the dinosaur people because you know they they really want to deny the that some women who play sports might be gay but yeah i found out that for it was known as like one of the lesbian hot spots

around the world okay i did not know that dinosaur all sounds like dinosaur that's pretty fun yeah that's fun i like that maybe the lesbians just like dinosaurs they all should uh so this next joke i feel like is too similar to a Simpsons joke. They did it better in that they're standing for the singing of the National Anthem in their living room. So it's very, very funny that they're actually standing in their living room for the National Anthem. Yeah.

They respect the flag that much that even while no one's watching but just their friends. And I especially think like, why would Dale care about America? But he takes his hat off, I think. Yeah. They all crack their beers when it's over. And you find out they were betting on the national anthem and it went on for three minutes and 40 seconds. So like in The Simpsons, it's another joke about how singers embellish the national anthem. Yeah.

And then it was Boomhauer who won, too. He got the pile of money. I also love the bit that Hank, you know, Hank doesn't not like baseball. But from a gambling or intensity of sports thing april baseball is kind of meaningless really it doesn't matter until you're like august i think with baseball and from what i know about baseball is that like there are a lot of games and football there are way fewer games and they all seem very important because you can't actually play a lot of football games because it destroys your body yeah meanwhile if you go to a baseball game if your team loses you don't even think like

well they blew it for the season you just go like well that was one game out of a hundred or whatever who cares they could still get in the world series like i've uh the biggest danger i have going to baseball games is if i stay to the ninth inning it usually ties and then i'm like just one more inning and it just turns into this test and then the last time i stuck around until they finally ended the tie like inning 14 they lost anyway i was like god so i got to stay here an extra hour to see them lose getting old it's all about being done with an event about 75 of the way through it just like you know what i got this band's music at home, and this triple encore is really killing my back. Let's get out of here.

Well, also, you know, you got to beat that traffic. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. When I've gone to games in Oakland or shows in Oakland, it's just like, if I don't try to beat the traffic, it's me and every other person who is in that theater at the BART station all waiting for like, well, it's four cars, four different trains. in that theater at the bart station all waiting for like well it's four cars four different trains i'll finally be able to get on this yeah so peggy

comes out with luann and they're about to go to the tv station and she's wearing her boggle jacket which seems very hard to animate which is why it doesn't come back that often oh that's fun though she's like it's a little cold i'll put on my boggle jacket and she tells hank to enjoy the selfish bowl and then they're at the tv station and Peggy is helping Luann get ready. And Peggy has a feeling Hank won't show up. So she's trying to let Luann down easy and saying, you know, if Hank isn't here, it doesn't mean the world's a bad place. And Luann goes, oh, yes, it does. I love that.

So just very matter of factly just saying, oh, yeah, this will confirm for me. It's all riding on this. And this is the point in the story where you have to think this is when Peggy decides i have to go fuck with hank yeah or else luann will lose all faith in the world so you know really peggy is the hero of the story on song absolutely yeah she is the the visible hand of god do uh moving all this around i mean i love how she just has given up like peggy had said earlier oh i thought you know i'm so happy for this i thought she'd thought there's nothing good in the world and now she's seeing that luann thinks that once more and you know i don't think she thinks luann will self-harm but she will at the very least

make terrible decisions in her life because like who cares she does not need uh the cruelty of the word can confirm to her anymore the cruelty of the world sorry uh so uh there's a leaded scene in this i believe a bit in that luann goes on a bit further just the joke about luann not being not being very bright and she says uh oh yeah uncle hank is testing my faith and i've got the patience of job so she says job instead of job and that's the joke it's a little it's a little too like yeah the first first drafty for this kind of character choice. Yeah. That's all. It's also like too dumb. I think so. I think so. So we go back to the Hill House.

Bill wipes his hand on the couch and we see him get up to use the bathroom. And there's just like big stains where his hands were. I do like he celebrates it like I made it to the commercials. Like he had successfully held in his bodily needs until the commercial. And Dale, when Bill gets up to use the bathroom, there's a deleted scene in which Dale tells Bill that right now 200 million Americans are headed to the bathroom and no sewer system can handle that. And he says in 60 seconds, there'll be a back flush of apocalyptic proportions.

That's good. I like that. And Bill's response is one more flush will make a difference. It's just like voting. Ah, that's funny. I like that. So they should have kept that in what we do get is uh hank hill saying what did tina turner's legs have to do with

auto insurance and i don't know if that was a reference to a commercial i couldn't find it but i did i do know that tina turner's legs were insured it's like one of those things like oh her fingernails are insured by lloyds of london like one of those stories you hear her legs were insured okay i do remember that story now so that must be then just a joke of like for the super bowl this year the insurance company is advertising that her let with her legs that's uh instead by the 2000 or so insurance companies just had the ads that were like completely meaningless of just like a whale and a bird fly this fun lizard is here to talk to you and here's a flow right oh yes yeah that's true yeah i uh though tina turner in 2000 would perform at the

super bowl halftime show so uh yeah these but these jokes about super bowl commercials they couldn't imagine uh how much crazier super bowl commercials would be no it's like the return of all your favorite ip now right yes oh god yes yeah i did well this year marty we gotta get direct tv marty it's a great deal yeah this year featured big bird and wayne and garth telling us about ordering out yep and please i i can't big bird just lock him up. It's over. And also, I remember the Bud Light did an Avengers Endgame, but for characters who were in Bud Light commercials. It was all of the Bud Light characters assemble who were ever in a Bud Light commercial.

Cedric the Entertainer, the guy on the telephone, the Boba Fett-looking guy, they're all here. You know, I missed like 20 years worth of Super Bowl commercials, so I'm kind of behind on these character rosters. I watched a handful of them. Every year, I like to stay in the know. Did you see the one this year, Bob, of the Edward Scissorhands Jr. commercial? No. Oh, man.

No. Well, they got Winona Ryder back, but not Johnny Depp. You know, I heard about about this but i didn't want to see it because i love that movie i just re-watched it over the holidays i still love it a lot makes me cry like a baby please continue sorry uh well did you see who plays junior in it it's uh well i think it's good casting it's timothy chalamet sure sure yeah he's the johnny depp of now and none of the baggage he's just a cute little boy no problems of wine addiction what part of the movie do they ruin uh well basically they live on the same street they used to live in and she talks about how uh now that they have a kid uh but

the uh edward senior is nowhere to be seen he needs car insurance or a safe car to drive with his scissor hands no the point of the movie is that he cannot be accepted because society is too cruel and he makes it snow for everybody and it's beautiful and she becomes an old woman and she marries somebody else because he's too pure for this world well unfortunately that's not that then the non-canonical commercial then takes that away, I guess. It sucks. So back to this. So this is when the TV starts going on the fritz. And we go back to Nancy's channel.

She's talking about the weather and the upcoming premiere of The Manger Babies. And Dale is very upset by this. And he says, if I wanted to spend Super Bowl Sunday staring at my wife, I would have married Fran Tarkington. That's a funny line. Fran Tarkington's a great name. Also, you know, they don't mention it enough hank should be saying like oh my tv's on the fritz because he's been repairing it all episode they don't really connect it to him thinking like oh my tv's shorting out because i've been fixing it and clearly something's wrong i think maybe they just trust the viewer enough to be like well hank has been repairing his tv for like half the show so this could be a result of that they leave it to you to assume yeah yeah and we go back to

the uh the studio and hank is praying and a man comes up behind her and taps her on the shoulder she thinks it's hank but it's actually the stage manager telling her she's on in five oh that's so she oh that and then also like that she was praying five seconds before she's about to go on the air. I like that, too. And we're cutting back and forth to the station and to the studio. And they cut back to the Hill House. And they miss the touchdown, but Bill's happy they get to see the end zone dance.

He kind of mimes it a bit. His hair goes to the wrong color during that dance. Oh, it does? It's a lighter shade of brown. Yeah. And Hank swears he's not the one doing this. And we get some more manger babies in our next clip. Come on, manger babies.

I'll give you a ride. We don't need it. God is the designated driver tonight. God doesn't care about you. How can you say that? God does care. And he will show it. This is getting old, Hank.

It's not me. It's this damn remote control. Bill must have dripped crumbs in it or something. Maybe God had a flat tire or... What the hell is going on? All I know is this is the part of the movie where I start thinking, why don't they just get out of the house? Don't be an idiot, Luan. God's not coming.

He's watching the Super Bowl. Now get in. We better do what he says. He is our only ride. Luan, no! Don't get in the car oh that's so i mean first off i think luann is definitely doing an impersonation of her father oh for sure yeah like he doesn't care about you oh and god just the way he's like she says he is her only ride like that's the justifications he's probably made of like well he is my only ride out of here about some guy she dated. And Luann is very thinly disguising God as Hank because she's not even trying.

She's like, well, God isn't here because he's watching the Super Bowl. And maybe God got a flat tire on the way over here. What are the children in the at least she's doing it in front of children. But like, what are they thinking with all this it's funny to think of this as uh her doing this in front of children because uh at this point uh the manger babies are in the car with joe six-pack she's moving it back and forth and uh one of them says i think it's the donkey he says if god doesn't get here soon we're all going to die and then lord feather bottom says maybe it's best that we do die who wants to live in a world without god oh and that's when she tells joe six-pack to point the car at the oncoming headlights so there's going to be in a world without god oh and that's when she tells joe six pack to point the car at

the oncoming headlights so there's going to be like a mass suicide of manger babies in front of these children and she's telling the kids there's no god yeah so it's going to warp all of these children if hank doesn't get there as well that's what also is at stake here the cuts to all the kids watching it are just like what like yeah that yeah it's great that joe six-pack in her story doesn't just go to be a drunk guy who threatens your life by driving with him but he they're just now accepting like then just kill me i want to die there's no god i don't want to live in this world let's have a violent gory death to hear feather bottom especially to be the characters like living a world without gold so So in our next very long clip

the episode wraps up. Oh my God. Yes, I have come. Thank you, Uncle. Lord, we never stopped believing in you. The manger baby's faith has been rewarded. You are all

saved. And as for you, Joe Sixpack, anyone who drinks and drives is a real jackass. Hey! So, Hank, how does it feel doing the right thing? Pretty good, I guess.

Of course, not as good as getting to watch the end of the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is always a blowout. This puppet show, it was a real knuckle-biter. Oh, my Lord, it's Troy Aikman. What are you doing here, son? Sir? Well, it's kind of a funny story. Some guys were snapping towels in the laundry room,

so I went to Bible study to get some perspective on it. And I saw a flyer for this puppet show. Sort of a little miracle, I guess. You know, it was kind of a miracle that brought me here, too. You see, I was watching my TV, and it started flipping channels. Mom, I hope you don't mind, but I borrowed the batteries from your remote control. What remote control? I don't have a remote control.

Sure you do, in your purse. The universal remote that can change the channel on any brand of television. I borrowed the batteries for my Game Boy. When? Before the Super Bowl. But if the remote had no batteries, how did I?

Or after the Super Bowl. I don't remember. It's very Greg Daniels ending of going, yeah, or it was after and there is no miracle. That Troy Aikman thing is very funny because it feels like, I don't know the story behind this, but it feels like Fox was like, guys, we got you. Troy Aikman, you got to put him in your Super Bowl show. And then Greg Day was like, yeah, we'll do that. And it amounts to just a weird celebrity thing where celebrities really just walk on. It's like, wow, it's Troy Aikman.

But I like how underplayed it is and how he should not be there for any reason. Yeah, he calls it a miracle because it's impossible that he would be there. There's no reason. And it's only so they could say like like, the Super Bowl's on Fox, and we've got Troy Aikman on King of the Hill. Get ready for the Super Bowl.

I also like when he says, I was double-checking this on the scoreboards here, when he says, ah, it's always a blowout. The three times his Cowboys won the Super Bowl, they were blowouts. The first time he won the Super Bowl in Super Bowl 27, it was 52-17. So the Cowboys really skunked him there. I didn't know that. So when he says they're always a blowout, that's him joking about how usually lots of people after the first half would go in his games would say well the cowboys are obviously winning who cares i'm not watching the rest of this game i got other

things to do we were talking about it before the show but a very funny line that you have to think about is that when uh so before hank shows up louis is just like okay god there's no god let's all die together and then hank shows up and she says i've always believed in you i never stopped believing in you which is contradictory to what just happened in the show everything that has happened this entire time she's like oh i never stopped believing in you yeah yeah that's it yeah i also the troy acheman was activated by seeing like locker room horse plays like oh that's strange i need to talk to my minister about it he's uh now uh troy now he's looking up i don't know how religious he is but i do know he's now married to like the ex-wife of the nephew of jerry jones who owns the cowboys it's very incestuous uh that's complicated there yeah and i think that

if this was written maybe a year later or maybe in season four even that peggy could not resist taking credit for this absolutely the line that i would write if i was writing this was uh her saying uh you know hank peggy hill works in mysterious ways yes yeah that's my punch up for this but hey peggy's too meek i think she's too humble she would be so proud of herself for setting all of this up season two peggy's not proud enough of herself yeah she she is more about working silently. She should be trying to take credit. You know, it's not until the episode we did for What a Cartoon is Sleeping Dogs that Peggy really becomes the very full of herself and kind of clueless person that she is. There's a bit of the pride in this in that she is kind of like,

she's virtue signaling kind of in a way when she's like, I am going to this thing because Luanne asked me me and i'm a good person that's right yeah she is doing it to rub it in hank's face that he isn't doing it yeah and that he could easily do it but won't and there's an alternate ending of this that i found confusing in that in this uh in the way that it is just now is that bob Bobby says he removed the batteries from the remote and then the clouds part. And when Peggy asks him, when did you take out the batteries? He says, but before the Super Bowl or after, I don't remember. The clouds come back together.

In the alternate ending, it's different. It's that the cloud stuff doesn't happen at all. After Bobby says, I don't remember, that's when the clouds part. And you hear the creaking of machinery. I don't remember that's when the clouds part and you hear the creaking of machinery I don't really get it maybe it's pointing out the artifice of the story maybe I don't really understand I understand why it was cut because I was just confused

so in the final script in the final airing the clouds part when you think it's a miracle then they come back together when it's clearly wasn't in the deleted scene the clouds part at the end after Bobby says I don't remember and then you hear the creaking of machinery so I don't together when it's clearly wasn't in the deleted scene the clouds part at the end after bobby says i don't remember and then you hear the creaking of machinery so i don't understand for an after for a late edit like that i think that's a real improvement in it that also isn't super obvious

too like there's not as obvious as some of the 80 yard line there's a couple times in here like oh hank's mouth moves a little weird there or so does luann though i think the mouth charts on king of the hill characters are so much more subtle than simpsons characters that it's not as obvious their mouths are not 30 of their head like they're on the simpsons so that you can you can easily you can cheat a lot better than you can with the giant maws of the simpsons i want to believe that it was bobby took them out after and that there's no that there was no god but hey i guess it's up to you the listener whether you believe in god or not peggy was the god of this episode all hail peggy uh but yeah i was i was a really fun episode just about

like making things and making fun of bad writing but not being so like up its own ass in the madness of it like and and just to her to force by britney murphy does like six voices in her luann voice like and major babies don't go away uh they come back occasionally like luann will go through some things she will be in beauty school for a bit then she'll go to college and that won't work out like there are different phases of luann and then she moves out but manger babies are constant and so there will be more manger babies in the future for her yeah I I love that they use this bit here of Nancy getting her on tv to then use that as a launching point of Nancy feeling inferior to Luann when she starts taking off at as the new hot thing at the tv station and And yeah, that was our talking of the hill season two,

part one, many series. We got through 11 episodes and it's so great. And you know what? The show only gets better and we can't wait to do more. We probably will do more next year. Yeah. I can't wait to start the true ramp up to the Megalo March finale.

Yeah. But going through this, like spotting so many of the, of the things they're building up to and all of these like internal references and also like some most episodes touched me a lot deeper than i remembered uh they did like i this made me feel like season two of king of the hill just is other than a few things like peggy and bobby aren't fully themselves yet but season two is pretty much king of the hill as

we know it and it looks so much better than season one we've said it before but uh and you can hear that in our Wes Archer interview he they whipped everyone into shape after season one oh yeah they figured out both in the LA offices and overseas at ACOM they figured out a whole lot of things for for season two yeah and that's also been a great thing this season of doing it that we also got to interview wes archer and ask him so many of the questions that came up in our research about king of the hill too but yeah thank you so much to all of our patrons for supporting us we could not do any of this without you and please please stay tuned again there is so much more happening behind the patreon paywall for five bucks a month including monthly talking futurama and early access and any kind of interviews that we do.

We'll go there first and special bonus stuff. Who knows what's happening next, but it's all happening on the Patreon. So please stay tuned. And again, the next big miniseries is coming at you in the fall. And we'll be talking about that more as we get into the later summer months. So thank you so much again, all you supporters. And we look forward to you hearing us on the next miniseries. And before we go, i do want to say a

special thank you to our podcast editor for this series alan he's done such a great job on this and we couldn't put out so many podcasts without great editors like alan so thank you so much again to alan for doing such a great job on this podcast and as for the rest of you we will see you again very soon for another podcast episode thanks again for listening, y'all. Well, maybe we ought to ask God who's going to win the Super Bowl. Going to win. The game was pre-taped six months ago in the same Nevada hangar where they faked the moon landing. Yeah, man, it's like that dang old Capricorn One, man. It's a good movie, but, you know, they ain't going to fake no sand on the ground like that.

They don't do that. They don't do Armstrong.