The Flop House - FH Mini 139 - Tuboy Tube Talkin' (re)Turns!

Episode Date: October 18, 2025

Stuart's popular "let's discuss TV instead" mini format Tuboy Talkin' Tube to Two Dudes, Tonight All Right returns with a little serious first amendment talk up front and then a lot of goofy Emmy talk.See The Flop House LIVE IN CHICAGO this November! OR if you prefer to watch us from the comfort of your own home: Tickets for Flop TV Season 3 are ON SALE!Subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, “Flop Secrets!

Hey folks, Dore Wellington of the Flop House podcast here. Now, you're about to listen to a Flop House mini episode that was recorded after Jimmy Kimmel had been suspended, but before ABC had decided to reinstate him. So some of the information may be a little out of date. Now, though the immediate threat may be averted, we here at the Flop House feel the threat to freedom of speech continues on. So much of the material we talk about will still be valid. In any case, thank you for listening. Bye.

Hey, everybody. This is Stuart Wellington of the Flop House podcast. And this is another Flop House mini episode, and I'm joined by my two co-hosts. Introduce yourselves all the way from Los Angeles, California. We have... Dan McCoy. And Elliot Kalin, and I really hope that Alex was able to edit out the belch

that happened right before he started saying. Hello to the audience. I hope he looped it. Yes, so they can make it their ringtone. Okay, so as now that I've established, this is an episode of the flop house and it's a flop house mini. Result. This is a flop house mini, yes.

Yes, so let's get the real intro out of the way. Alex, why don't you cue that theme music because we are doing another two boy talking tube to two dudes tonight. That's right. In this case, Two boy refers to me. Stuart Wellington, aka Two Boy, and the two dudes I'm talking to are Dan Nelliot tonight because it's nighttime in New York, it's daytime where they're recording. And it's right because that's early evening where you are in New York.

Oh, okay. I didn't realize I was, I guess it's, that's wrong. I just, I won't want to get any Pinocchio's on the podcast because you said 712 is nighttime. Yeah. This is all Pinocchio. This is an all Pinocchio episode. Oh, okay. This is all goofs and sillies.

This is our whoops, all goofs episode of the Flores. If only, if only we had one of those in us. But the thing is, our dedication to the truth and honesty overrules that. Yeah. So I am here in New York City, and I am recording this with my two co-hosts who are all the way in La La Land, the place where television comes from. Oh, yeah. So I thought it would be a great time for us to revisit a classic Stuart Wellington sub-mini premise. To just talk about television.

That's the premise. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think everybody It's not the most elaborate premise. I think everybody understands the premise. I don't know. I don't know that we need to keep burning stew.

I know. I'm sorry. No, it's okay. He's all worked up. I'm thrown off by having Dan next to me. So I'm holding the hostility I would normally hit him with at you. So I'm obviously.

Elliot's really nervous for Rosh Hashanah dinner tonight, I guess. Yeah, well, that's the thing is I know that I've got to build up some sins that I can atone for in a weekend. half so uh well don't worry uh you'll have you'll have dan there to hold your hand the whole time right so that'll be fun um okay yeah i guess oh it feels nice yeah dan your hands are so warm they're somehow gentle yet callous like a working man's hands so since we're talking about television that's how you know it's a fantasy sorry so since we're talking about television and i'm talking with two television writers uh i think it's important that we address uh one of the biggest

stories in television right now, a fellow named Jimmy Kimmel, who has lost his job because the president put his thumb on the scale. Do you guys have opinions on this? Yeah, I'm anti-I. Yeah, I mean. I think it's a, it's a sign of not just, interesting, yeah. Not just a horrible authoritarian overreach on this part of the FCC and the federal government, but also cowardice and greed on the part of the corporations, which are the ones that ultimately took him away because apparently every single fucking major media corporation

in America is in the midst of merging with another media corporation and needs the FCC to approve it which makes them not only threatens the diversity of opinions and content that we can have the diversity material in entertainment

that's go right off the bat but also means that they are uniquely vulnerable to threats from the federal government to police the opinions and the types of statements and jokes that are made on their channels. It's all very bad. That's the not-so-secret sub-issue to the clear, you know, bullying by the government,

which is that also we should have, for years, been more careful about the development of monopolies because shit likes this happens. They're not all run by friendly, rich uncle penny bags who've just given $10 out every once. I mean, I don't think he's that friendly. I mean, do you look at his face when he's judging that? a beauty contest he looks insane he's very he's when he wins the beauty contest that's the thing he doesn't not judging it he wins second prize you know yeah i mean he's pretty good looking but still i will

say it shows it shows the corruption of the system that rich uncle penny bags win second place in the beauty contest yeah yeah but i will say maybe a mustache contest but it is true that for for decades now i think mergers in the entertainment is i mean mergers in general have not been pleased the way they should be and tech companies have monopolies over so many parts of our lives there's no real competition on them but for decades entertainment mergers i think have been particularly not cared about because entertainment is not seen as a serious business it's seen as like a goofy fake kind of like imaginary business that weirdos do and celebrities and there's and who cares and it's not treated as a as an industry where millions of people who are regular ordinary people who are not celebrities

and wealthy make a living and have to live off of and use so many different kinds of skills and it's the kind of thing that kind of reason that we had a strike a couple years ago. But now. Because of these types of the fact that corporate work was not taken seriously as an issue. But now it's- All sorts of local affiliates, including their news departments, are overseen by hyper-conservative mega-corporations. So that's probably pretty good for speech, right? Yeah.

So I think, Stuart, but you were saying you want to take the opposite, that you actually, you were glad to see people get his, like he said. Yeah, your pro crackdown speech. Yeah. Yeah. I still have a chip on my shoulder since the man show, so I thought it was timely, yeah. The, I think, I mean, so that makes the second late-night show that's going away. I think this highlights a very clear moment that this is not normal, right? No, well, that unfortunately it highlights that this has become normal.

That if there's three, then that just becomes regular M.O. Is that if two, if a company wants. A New York Times trend piece. If a, what? It becomes a New York Times print piece. It does become a New York Times trim piece, like my favorite New York sense. My favorite style trend piece ever, which was pot bellies are big in Brooklyn. And it was like, no, the guys are just getting older.

Yeah. But I think that fact that you've had twice this year, companies that need approval for mergers throw away, cancel someone who is running afoul of the president. Like, it's the norm now, which sucks. I don't like living in that world. And they're not only, they're not only canceling the host and the people, but it's like the huge group of people who work there. There's hundreds of people who are thrown out of work. and they it's that's not fair to them it's not good at them the point was made uh you know back at the

when colbert this happened to colbert like there's a whole local economy too around these shows like it brings money to the city that it's produced in over and above like the people who are employed well it's a it's a i think there's been a it means part of also a larger thing of like the government crowing about how it's fired so many people from the federal government The federal government employs a lot of people, and those are people. Those are American citizens who pay taxes, have bills to pay, have families. They're not this kind of like subspecies that we want to throw away and shoot into the sun. Or the movie subspecies.

If they were, that would be awesome. That would be awesome. It's the idea that the government then kind of crows about, yeah, we're kicking people out of work, you know. But I also think that if the things they're saying about AI are true, which I don't know really there are, where they're like, oh, yeah, this will eliminate 50% of white-collar jobs. then I think we all have a revolution on our hands and we'll have whole new issues to deal with. So once the middle class feels like it can no longer control its own life in any way

or can't pay its bills, that's when historically they start to overthrow governments. So they may be sowing their own destruction. You don't feel the middle class is feeling that way? I think the middle class is feeling that way, but it has not hit the point of and there's something I can do about it. At the moment, it feels like the middle class feels away and there's nothing I can do about it.

But you get pushed, much like the, I mean, this is much like the reason we have the, the programs from the New Deal that the Republican Party wants to destroy so badly is because things got so bad that people were like, we either have to change or we're going to have a revolution on our hands. And I think we're going to, we're now at a place where the people in charge are like, we don't want to change and we don't care. And then you end up with, and then you end up with revolution. I'm not advocating a revolution because that's not good for families in general, and I have one.

It's really good for, like, I don't know, young guys who like to shoot people, which I'm not in favor of. And so I'm not advocating that, but I'm saying if you really make people feel like they cannot support themselves because you're eagerly throwing them out of work and making it impossible for them to pay their bills or feed their families, then it causes trouble. It's trouble with a capital T, and that rhymes with P. And that stands for pool.

Pools of blood, Daniel, that will run down the streets. So in this specific case, the... This got dark. Thanks for bringing us up, Stu. It's supposed to be a fun podcast. Hey, that's why we're, that's why we're doing it up top. The, uh, it'll get more fun as we go. We're eating our broccoli now. Oh, thank you.

Dessert later. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Uh, now that we got the, uh, vegetables out of the way, we're going to go, move on to the next, uh, our next segment. Guys recently, I don't know if you pay attention to this sort of thing, but there was a thing called the Emmys. And at least one of the, one of us watched the Emmys ceremony.

Can you guess which one? It was Dan. I mean, Elliot probably can because it wasn't. wasn't him, I'm assuming, from the way he looks. What? You just have an expression in your face, like, well, it wasn't me, so... No, I assumed it was Dan, yeah. So, yeah, yeah, I'm like, I don't see Stuart really watching it.

I didn't. I mean, Stuart, we're playing a game... It's like we're playing a weird show. It's like a werewolf here, but instead of a werewolf who watch the Emmys. As I, I like award shows for movies because I like having an excuse to get excited and talk about movies. In general, I like award shows because I love glitz. and glamour, baby. But I did not catch the Emmys. But let's talk about some of the winning programs.

And I think we're going to play a subgame that I think we'll probably carry through most of today's mini episode, which is, has Elliot seen this show? I think... Without Elliot answering yet, Dan is going to have to chime in on all these. I have an advantage on that. For me, it's more of a Dom game than a sub game, because I know the answer's already.

So, Dan, I think you're playing this solo today. What? Hmm. Dan Solo. That was when Dan signed onto that StarCriter. Yeah, that StarCraft. Yeah. Yeah.

He was fighting the Zerg. Okay. So, one of the big winners, The Pit, won things like best drama, best actor, I think maybe best writing. Best writing for Dale Keown, the creator of the Pit. Yeah, sure.

Yeah. That was the thing. I watched the pilot, and no fucking dude with crazy blade fingers showed up. So I was like, fuck this. Like, where's the little kid with the monster,

the long hair. What's going on? Did any of you guys see? The Joe first off, Dan is, that's for 90s comics kids. Dan's not going to get that reference to Dale Keown's the pit. First off, Dan, has Elliot seen the pit? I'm going to say Elliot has not seen the pit definitively. Judges, has Elliot seen

the pit? Ding-ding, Elliot has not seen the pit. Dan, you're right, yeah. I've only seen the, I only saw maybe 20 minutes of the first episode. Dan, have you seen it. Weirdly, I have seen all of the pit. I say this as a person who does not like medical shows. The closest to a medical show

I've watched in the past is House, which is actually a mystery show. And not really a medical show. A medical mystery show. But our friend Linda Holmes was so positive about the pit. I wanted to check the pit out. I started watching the pit.

And my fear was that as someone who has a lot of medical anxiety, that the show would freak me out. whereas instead it comforted me it's kind of competency porn like a lot of bad things happened but it's a bunch of doctors who really care damn it

and are good at their jobs and so that it was you know it was a lot of fun you were just going to be a show about doctors screwing up constantly and leaving their keys inside people's kidneys and stuff like that. You know it's old fashioned melodrama with a bunch of really good doctors

who are good at their jobs. Yeah I we Charlene and I started watching it and I think we were watching it while eating something and we're like, you know what, this is not for us. Yeah, we, both of us have issues. I have issues in hospitals and she has issues in hospitals. And for some reason...

You can't get those issues out of those hospitals. Yeah. They're valuable. Yeah, yeah. Spider-Man number one? Yeah, Spider-Man number one is at a hospital right now. Yeah, my death of Superman foil cover that I have. The Pit No one.

Why is it at the hospital? Thank you, because it's called The Pit. So, Dan, would you say that this is a show that is worth the accolades? Is it worth the hype? I think it's great. You know, it's a very old-fashioned show in a lot of ways. Combined with sort of a newer style. New-fashioned morals.

They're all nude. It's a nude hospital. Whoa. You know, it clearly has a lot of ER and its DNA to the degree that there was a lawsuit about it. Well, because it was originally developed. as an ER reboot or spinoff. But it also is kind of a more modern show where like it's each hour of the show

is one hour in the same day so it builds on itself that way. But yeah, it's a very well-done version. So are there 24 episodes? Well, a whole shift is thankfully not 24 hours. You don't usually want a doctor who's been awake for 24 hours. It happens though.

It does happen. It does happen. I will say I haven't seen it I'm actually kind of more interested in watching it because everyone's like it's old-fashioned it's a throwback I've been seeing for years now in pitches of shows that I've been pitching that there's a hunger for

old-fashioned more traditional types of television shows that we've kind of gone as far as we need to at the moment in deconstructing what a television show is and making it more about I don't know artsy moments or whatever I love artsy moments but like sometimes you just want to sit down and watch a show that tells you a story

and you're like oh what a story very sad Well, this is very artfully done, but it is in an old mode. It's not like, oh, now I've got to track the clues of this winding mystery, or I've got to figure out what the secrets are. And I think there's, I think it does not surprise me that in a world of instability, where, again, we're on probably the edge of a revolution someday, that people would hunger for something that is a traditional form of storytelling, you know. So speaking of more, let's say, aggressive storytelling, we have with the next couple shows kind of touch. on that. Another big winner was the studio, which won for Best Comedy, writing, directing, acting

for Mr. Seth Rogen. Have you guys, has Elliot watched the studio? Dan, have I watched the studio? I'm going to say that there is a chance that Elliot has seen like an episode of the studio, but I'm going to say no. Judges?

Elliot has seen three episodes of the studio. Oh, wow. Wow. And it was at that point that I decided I've seen what this show can do. Maybe I'll come back to it sometime. Yeah. You guys are both, you guys both, I would say, have strong opinions about comedy. What do you feel?

I don't think so. I don't have a book about it coming out this November from the University of Chicago Press, joke farming. Alex, made it that out. Alex, make it bigger. Make it repeat it throughout the episode. Bold. This November, joke farming by Allie Kaelin. I think I may have seen three episodes.

Maybe I've actually seen less of the series. I might have just seen two. I saw, I definitely saw the episode. I think I saw up to the episode with Ron Howard. That's either the third or fourth episode. And I saw the one or episode that everyone was talking about for a while. Yeah.

I, you know, the problem with, I am into the studio. I would watch more of the studio. The problem with me watching the studio is Audrey finds it so, like, stressful. Like, it's built on such, it's not awkward comedy, but it's comedy where you know everything's going to go wrong.

You're never wondering if Seth Rogen's going to, what's he going to do to save the day this day? You know he's just going to make it worse. How is he going to fuck it up? And she finds it very stressful. And I'm like, you know, I can watch the studio alone. She's like, no, I'll watch. The curse of the married man.

You can't watch the thing you want. There's the eternal promise that you'll watch it, but never. Yeah, I think I'm kind of the same way. Like, it is a little, at least for me, it's a little more like form over function. And I just, like, as much as I can watch it and be like, ah, this is clever. I don't particularly enjoy it.

I don't... I mean, I think it's beautifully done. I think it's well... It looks great. There's stuff in it that's... I do find it funny. Like, there's stuff in it that's funny. But, like, I never find it as funny

as I find Seinfeld, which I also have access to, you know? So I usually end up watching Seinfeld. The... I feel like the structure... I'll say... My saying that the TV show Seinfeld is funny is in no way an endorsement of Seinfeld's...

The man's views on the Palestinian situation. So don't write me letters about that. I'm opposed to him on his views of what Israel should be doing. But Seinfeld the sitcom... I still find hilarious. I'll bite, often racist, but still hilarious. Yeah. I was just saying that I think that the studio is a thing where I, like, I appreciate how well-made

it is and how, like, I appreciate the structure and everything. But I don't have much of a, I don't feel very connected to it. I don't really view them as like characters. Well, I think that's the issue for me is I feel like Seth Rogen does a real, I think his comedy performance is really, is really funny. But that character, he doesn't, like, I don't. maybe I need to watch more of it to find it but I don't watch it and be like

oh yeah I love this character I want to see more of him instead I'm constantly like dude like just come on I watch you thinking even more Catherine Hahn please and more outfits Catherine is really funny in it yeah and more Catherine's in it are great

it's got two of the best Catharines and especially because he's also on Platonic right now which is not Emmy related but I think he at least is playing like a distinct character in that that feels like like a human being with a, like a complete life. Which he's certainly capable of.

Like, he's incredibly capable of it. But he's playing more of a comic type in this show than he is playing a full character. Okay. So another... But again, I'm happy to see... But I'm happy to see Best Comedy go to a show with jokes in it, you know? Yeah, yeah. I would argue I am not...

Though I don't love it, I'm like, okay, cool. Yeah, I guess it's worth at least some of the hype. Yeah, yeah. I'll say that, yeah. Another show that is very structure focused That won a bunch of awards is adolescence Dan has Elliot seen adolescence It's only four episodes

Yeah but I'm going to say No he has not seen adolescence Ding ding you're right Dan I have not seen adolescence Everyone tells me it's really good I'll see it eventually I guess I don't know It's not what I need in my life right now Yeah you mentioned oneers

The show's got some oneers It's got lots of oneers Isn't it all oneers? I think it is all wonders, right? That's what I've heard, yeah. Yeah. I've only seen part of the first episode. I got like 10 minutes in and then I was like, again, I'm like, I don't know, maybe Audrey will want to see this.

It's like, you know, it's got British people in it. She likes that. Yeah. Like, is there a mystery? I've never watched it. If there's a mystery, it certainly isn't cozy. I do feel like Charlene and I watched it. And by the end of the fourth episode, Charlene's like, why do we watch it?

This just made you sad. Yeah, I mean, well, it's kind of sad and I feel like it doesn't necessarily like part of part of the strength of it. And I don't, it doesn't feel like it's, it doesn't feel like resolved in any way. Yeah, they got to leave it open for season two. Yeah, yeah. Return. Yeah, adulthood, I guess. Yeah.

But so I guess of the people who have, I've seen all of it, I would say, yeah. I mean, it's certainly like if the idea of watching something that is structurally very, uh, interesting and complicated, and it deals with some fairly heavy issues facing young people in our, like, modern world, yeah, I would say it's worth watching. It's tough. I mean, I've heard it of all about the pressures that young people are feeling, and I feel like that's, as a parent, I can relate to it. My son feels such pressure to catch them all.

People say he's got to catch them all. And yet it's impossible to catch them all, you know? You just can't. In this modern world, you can't. No, because that other team is always out trying to catch them. And those guys are mean, you know? Team Rocket? Team Rocket.

Yeah, but they're like really hot. But still makes it harder to catch them all. Yeah, I guess that's distracting. Okay, so the next couple of shows we're going to talk about, mainly won like maybe one award here or there, but I still think they're worth mentioning. We got The Penguin, which won Kristen Melotti one for actress. She's lovely, amazing.

Dan, has Elliot seen The Penguin? I'm going to say, almost with definite certainty that Elliot has not seen the penguin. You're right, Dan. I have not seen the penguin. I am on a, I think, Batman-related media moratorium.

Yeah. Personally, I heard that the Batman was good, but I kind of, I'm Batmaned out for the moment. I don't need more Batman right now. I figured that was... Colin Farrell, Colin Farrell doing his like... I love Colin Farrell.

I love Christa Milotti, but I don't know. Is Batman in it or no? He's not. No. Okay. Maybe I'll watch it if Batman is on it. Again, maybe I'll watch it. as if I have any time in my life to watch. I figured that was your policy.

And like, for me, the thing about the penguin was like, well, I'm Batman out on the one hand. On the other hand, do I need to see, like, a gritty crime drama, but except it's in, like, Batman world. If we don't see Batman, like, I was like, I don't know. But then I kept hearing how good Colin Farrell was in it, how good everyone was in it.

And I watch it, and sure enough, they are. And Kristen Giuliani is amazing. When you put incredibly talented performers into your project, they'll be really, you've got to work hard to make them bad in it. They'll be really good in it. But I think that's the thing is it's like,

there's a limit, and maybe this is me being a snob, maybe this being Martin Sorsese or Francis Ver Cople or whatever. I love comics. I love superheroes. I feel like there's a limit to the seriousness

of the issues of the world that can be addressed and or the aspects of the human condition that can be addressed in a gritty crime drama about the penguin. And maybe I'm wrong about this. Maybe, is he,

does he use umbrellas in it or no? No, I don't remember any umbrella stuff. But I feel like there's a, if I want to see a crime thing. He just drives drive a purple car, though. Yeah, I mean, but real people do that sometimes. Like Prince did that. He was a crime boss, right?

Yeah. I think these, I think there's a... Batman adjacent. There's certain things that I get out of superhero stuff that I don't get elsewhere, but gritty crime, I can get elsewhere. I want to say one funny thing I find about the character of the penguin is, like,

he is either like the dapparist little man you ever did see or a gross brood of a man. Yeah. Like, there's like two ways you can go with a penguin and they're like fundamentally like on opposite end of the choosing spectrum. Which is what's kind of amazing about Danny DeVito in Batman Returns? He's kind of both. He's kind of both, but it's like you can't do it where he is,

has a little bit of style, and he's a little bit monstrous. He's got to be extreme, you know. Yeah. I just think it's funny that they created this character, and he's like, I don't know, Heisenberg uncertainty, like particle, the big point. Yeah, the pitch meeting where they're like,

okay, he's the grossest little monster, but he's also the dapperest little gentleman. He wears a tuxedo and tails all the time, but also he eats people's faces and he lives in the sewer. I mean, now you've talked to me into wanting to watch it, if that's what happens in it. But I think there's a, and I don't want to,

anyone who likes the penguin in the TV show, this is not me casting, throwing shade at you. That's okay. It is not what I'm looking for in my life at this moment. Yeah. I liked it quite a bit.

I think, I think there's moments that, like, it could have been trimmed a little bit, but I feel like there's some really, like, cool stuff in there. And I feel like for, like, a pulp story, I think it was, I think it came at a time

where I was, like, I needed something that was like, just gritty enough, but mainly just like a fun pulp story to watch. I mean, maybe I would enjoy it if I watch. Right now I'm at a point in my life where I do not know what I am looking for particularly. And I'm like literally I was on, looking at Tobe at what they have and they have all of Babylon 5 on there. And I'm like, I've never watched Babylon 5. Is this the period in my life where I really get into Babylon 5?

Maybe I'll start going to conventions. Yeah. We, we, he won't tell us he's watching it, but there will be signs of him making Babylon 5 references. I wanted to say, I would say I'll be making references to da-da-da, but I don't. I don't know even any of the characters in Babylon 5. I can't even fake a reference. But so maybe these are shows that I don't know that I want right now. And I would realize if I started watching them.

I don't know. Okay. Another show that won for writing was Andor. Dan has Elliott seen Andor? I'm going to say no because I believe he is also Star Warsed out. Dan, I watched much of the first season of Andor. Okay. Yeah.

And I think I'll probably pick it up again at some point. Yeah. I watched a couple episodes of the first season and I liked it. I just did not feel like I was in a place to devote the time to it. But I did kind of have a similar attitude where I'm like, I don't know, do I need a gritty Star Wars? Dan, have you watched Andor? I watched all of the first season of Andor and I am like,

I have been for months like three episodes away from finishing it. My problem with it was just like, yeah, I get it. You know, I get where this is, I mean, I've literally seen where this is going and something about the second series where they did this thing where they would do like paired episodes and then a time jump and then paired episodes and then a time jump. Because they didn't want to spend years and years continuing the series, I think. Yeah, well, they knew they wouldn't have that time. Like I think Disney made it clear to them that they weren't going to have that time. I think that that's good in certain ways because I don't want. want to be stuck with something for more time than maybe it needs.

But I also found that it didn't have the sort of momentum that I wanted it to. Like every time it felt like it was building up ahead of steam, it was like, and now we're in the future. I'm like, okay. But it's a very well-done show. It's like, you know, I felt like I was Star Wars out and it pulled me back in. It's a well-made show. I mean, it's another way, I feel like similar to what I was time of the Penguin

where it's like, it's a really well-made show. It's really well-done. but it's like, I have other sources for this type of story that are not Star Wars. And maybe, again, this is me being a snob, like anyone who has watched as much Eastern European cinema as I have, you see a lot of stories about the compromises you have to make when you live under an authoritarian system.

And I'm like, I'd rather get it that way where it feels like it's coming from the people who have lived it rather than in this kind of Star Wars world. But we're all going to be living in that world pretty soon, you know. So I'm going to, we have a couple more Emmy Winner I just want to mention real quick. Right up top, I want to give an extra shout out to Jeff Hiller

winning for somebody somewhere. He gives a lovely performance. He's always a great performer. And did you guys catch any of somebody somewhere? I don't even know what that is. I watched all of it. It was like Audrey's favorite thing in the world. And I also enjoyed it quite a bit,

although maybe not as much. And, you know, he was a mainstay of the UCB theater. would see him improvising all the time. It was good to see him successful. Yeah. Also, two other shows that won a fair amount of acting awards. We have Hacks and Severance. Has Elliot seen Hacks or Severance, Dan?

I'm going to say he is not seen Hacks and maybe saw an episode of severance. I have seen a handful of episodes of both of those series, Dan. Okay, yeah. Well, Elliot wanted to learn what it's like to be a comedy writer, so he watched Hacks. Mm-hmm. Very accurate. He wanted to learn what it's like to work in office, so we watched Severance.

Mm-hmm. I assume accurate. I've seen none of Hacks and all of Severance. Oh, really? I've watched all of both, partly because I love Gene Smart, and I'll watch Gene Smart and almost anything. And I think there's some big stuff there. And she's all over Severance. Yeah, she's crazy all over Severence.

Those are both good shows. I mean, they're not, those are both good shows. Like, with, with hacks, I think I just didn't keep up with it because it was hard for me to watch it being like, well, nitpicky about comedy, about the, not necessarily but about the jokes on the show, but about just like that world. Well, yeah. Certainly as soon as she gets a late night show, I'm like, well, I guess I can't text with my friends about this. And on Severance, it was the issue of like, I kept thinking if this was a movie and it was two hours long, I think I would love this. but to know that I'm going to spend 10 to 20 to who knows

how many hours in this world again it was just like I don't need this right now like this is not what I want to do with... I don't want to spend a lot of time in that world right now but if it's a movie I think I would have loved it you know I think I'm with you it to me it's a beautiful show and I think the performances

are really interesting. Everyone's great in it they do really good job making it yeah there's a thing about the storytelling that feels like it's giving me vibes of like Lost and other puzzle box shows that I just don't have the fucking patience for anymore

like give if at least in a movie I'm like I got two hours I'll enjoy the shit then I'm done yeah I'll watch it if they don't give me answers I'll at least have a story maybe but with TV it's just spending

a lot of time in that in that office like I don't want to spend a lot of time in that office again and and all things like that may sound negative but it really is I'm like this is a show that I feel like is just kind of not for me. I am glad it exists. And if people get some enjoyment or some deeper meaning out of it,

hey, that's awesome. Enjoy that shit. It's a wonderful thing to feel you like you live in an entertainment ecosystem where there are things for you and there are things for other people and everyone's got stuff they can enjoy and where you can feel safe saying like, this is not bad, but it's not what I want to watch, you know, without feeling, I feel like maybe just because people are tired of, I don't know, the need to have to keep up on stuff. I feel like, at least in my life, I don't spend very much time online, so maybe that's for the reason. I feel like there's less of a sense of like, if you're not watching this thing

and you're insulting me for liking this thing, and it's nice to live in a world where, like, different people have different things that they like, and we don't all have to watch the same thing. You know, we're going to be going back into that world while I'll be watching the, you know, the same conservative show that airs 24 hours a day on every single network that just tells us, you know,

to say our prayers and thank the God Emperor for his, you know, you know, divine protection. But it's nice until we live there to be like, oh, yeah, they're all these different shows. They're all made. I don't have to like all of them. But not because they're bad,

but because they're just not my taste, you know. And that's fine. Yeah. Amber Celeste Nash. Welcome to the afterlife. Oh, snap. I have before me the record of all your worldly achievements. The voice of Pamphoon Archer.

I must say we're all a big fan of yours up here. Great. Swing open those pearly. Gates, you big winged, son of a bitch. Bip, that's a fast. It says here that you never hosted your own podcast? I did some other cool stuff, but no, I never got around to making a podcast.

You are here by sentence to relive your entire life. Only this time host a damn podcast. Okay. That's why we should do an Archer rewatch podcast. We should call it rephrasing, and we could even do it with maximum fun.org. Let's just

do the podcast for normal reasons. Okay, grandma. The wizards answer eight by eight. The cornclaves call to demonstrate their arcane gift, their single spell. They number 64 until a conflagration. 63 and 62 they soon shall be. As one by one, the wizards die. till one remains to rain on high.

Join us for Taz Royale, an oops-all wizard's battle royale season of the Adventure Zone every other Thursday on Maximumfund.org or wherever you get your podcasts. And this podcast is brought you in part by Factor. Fall is kind of like a reset season, you know? Like all the travel and whatnot of the summer is ending. If you've got kids, you got,

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If you're in Chicago on Sunday, November 16th, we are performing at Sleeping Village. Our 7 o'clock show is sold out, but don't worry, there's a late show that we added. Go to Flophousepodcast.com slash events, and you buy tickets to that show if you are in Chicago. It is a night of Jim Belushi movies, so if you come to the late show, you'll hear us talk about canine, the movie where Jim Belushi is a cop with a dog. Can you believe it? If you can't get to Chicago, then I pity you. It's a great city. We're going to have a great time there, but you can still watch the Flop House on your computer. That's right. Flop TV is back. The first Saturday of every month at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific, we'll be doing our one hour

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Those recordings will be available through the end of February because this is running from September through February, six episodes. Get a season pass. It's six episodes for the cost of five. Just go to theflophouse. com. Stuart, let's get back to Talkin' Tube with Two boys.

tonight, okay, let's go. Okay, so welcome back to Two Boy Talking Tube to Two Dudes Today, that's right, we'll find out. So, we are on the back half, and so we are kind of doing a bit of a lightning round here. The first part is called Topo the Charts to you,

where we talk about some of the most popular shows currently on streaming platforms. If you've seen it, again, Dan, you're going to have to weigh in if Elliot has seen this show. Your average has not been great so far, Dan. I think it's been pretty good. It's been, I've gotten more...

Listeners, more right than wrong. Okay, so one of the number one shows from Netflix is a streaming show called Black Rabbit starring Jason Bateman and Jude Law. This is a new show, so there's a chance that even Dan hasn't seen this one. Dan, have you seen any of this show? I've not seen it, and there's absolutely no chance

that Elliot has seen any of it. What I saw of it was I saw that there was a New York Times article about it and there was that, where they do that little bit of video that runs ad nauseum, I don't really read the Times much, but I check the headlines. And so I've seen that little bit of footage of Jude Law and Jason Bateman clowning around New York, you know. Yes.

So I watched the pilot of it, and because I'm a sucker for anything that is set in New York, I mean, there's a fucking scene in the pilot where they're eating at Roland Roaster, and I'm like, hell yeah. But it is a show about a New York restaurateur that I feel does not capture that feeling very well. And Jason Bateman, for all his character being like a dirt bad,

It, again, doesn't feel 100% real. Like, a lot of things feel kind of false about this show. So I think it's got, like, I can't, I may watch more of it, but so far I think it's kind of a stinker. Also, like the idea of Jude Law being a successful restaurant tour, who at least from what I can tell in the show, does not have any experience working in restaurants. And his restaurant is mainly just like a cool hangout place.

That doesn't feel right to me. I did see that scene where if someone orders fog raw and he goes, never heard of it. Which seems strange for a successful restaurant tour that he's never even heard of Fawrott. Also, like... Can you get me a fork? What's that?

Seems like if you were in the restaurant business, you know what a fork was, yeah. And Chudelaw looks like a man who knows his way around. A fork and foie gras. Yeah. This is a guy who eats people. He is not dead.

So another show on the list is TASC. This is from the mayor of East Town creator. So it's in that heavy Pennsylvania accent zone. Dan, has Elliot seen any of task? No, Elliot has not seen any of task. I've not even heard about task. It's got Mark Ruffalo in it. It does have Ruffalo in it.

It's about some sort of task force. The guy was like a ruffled buffalo, yeah. Uh-huh. It's, uh, yeah, I started watching, I like it so far. So there's Black Rabbit and there's Task, and you combine them to get Task Rabbit. Yeah. Uh-huh. Let's do a crossover.

Yeah, I mean, I like it so far. It's gritty. I love watching actors go fucking ham on a Pennsylvania accent, which is like, as for regional accents go is like not that noticeable but like apparently they're like let's make a meal out of this fucker. And Pennsylvania ham is delicious. It is. Sure. Yeah. Pan, we call it. From, and Task is from, is on HBO. From Amazon, we have the summer I turned pretty. Dan, has Elliot seen the summer I turned pretty? You're right, Dan. I've not watched the summer I turn pretty. I feel like Charlene and I tried to watch a couple episodes because we're suckers for that kind of garbage.

But it wasn't our speed. But it is also a show that has like three or four seasons. So I'm like, is the summer still fucking going on? Like, is she still turning pretty? You know, endless summer, man. Yeah. It's like how MASH lasted longer than the war, you know. Yeah.

Another hot show, Alien Earth. Dan, has Elliot seen any of Alien Earth? I'm going to say, no, Elliot has not seen any alien Earth. Oh, is the wrong, Dan. I've seen the first two episodes of Alien Earth. Oh, wow. More Alien Earth than I have. I've seen one episode of Alien Earth.

I think I've seen like four or five. Elliot, I absolutely want to hear your thoughts on Alien Earth. I mean, I guess I kind of like it. Any highlights? I don't know. I mean, I love, I think, I wish the alien didn't look less man in a suity. It feels like the one place where the budget is falling down a little bit is the alien sometimes. But, I mean, the alien is always a man in a suit.

But I love all the weird other aliens. These extra weird, I like that gross cat dragging itself around with that eye alien in it. The eyeball alien is king there. The, uh, I also, I gotta say, I didn't, I didn't know if Timothy Oliphant could pull off playing, uh, Kiersh, the weird, uh, android. Oh, no, he's doing great. He's doing great. He's, he's killing it because I think, like, he manages to mix, it's like a perfect midpoint between his, like, sleazeball characters and his, uh, and his, uh, and his, like, stoic cowboy characters. Yes, I agree.

I agree. He's, he comes off. It's such a strange feeling performance, but on purpose. And I think he does it really well, but what I've seen of it. I think what's good, I think I'm like, it's one of those shows where I want to see more of it, but I don't find myself excited to like put it on, you know, necessarily.

But I think part of it might be that it feels like Noah Hawley and this is what he does this very well with other stuff too. I mean, I've liked his previous shows is it's like, I'm going to do an alien show. I'm really more interested in this other thing. But I'll put enough alien in it so I can call it alien show you know he's really more interested i think in the idea of like corporations and trying to extend life in artificial ways and the consequences of that and he's like but i guess i'll throw an

alien in there too so i don't know but i i'm interested in it you know i also i think it's i don't know what like i both appreciate the idea that like the episodes all end with like a 90s like hard rock song but i'm also like this feels weird and alien like all of a sudden i'm like hearing fucking billy corgan say the world's a vampire or something or like somebody starts blasting Dracula. Well, it's a little bit like in this first Star Trek remake movie

where he's listening to Sabotage right while he's driving and it's like, yeah, I guess 200 years in the future, this is still the sound of Young Rebellion is the Beastie Boys? Yeah, sure. Yeah, I guess, I guess so. I mean, like that, I like just as like a joke,

I assume, on William Shatner's pronunciation of sabotage. Maybe. I feel like that's a pretty, that's a pretty, That's a pretty deep-in joke, I guess. Yeah, but, yeah, no one, certainly no sci-fi nerd would put a deep-in joke in something. You're right, you're right. But, yeah, Dan, what do you think about Alien Earth of the one episode you've seen? It was fine.

I haven't seen more, so that says something about it. I wasn't like, I have to immediately return to this, and perhaps now I'll never see anymore. That's possible, yeah. So, in addition to some of those hot shows that are top of the charts, what are you guys watching these days, either with your family, on your own? Are you watching anything on the small screen? My wife and I have been watching,

we've been slowly going through the second season of Pokerface, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a fun show. Other than that, the only thing I've been watching that really counts as a TV show is the TV show version of The Trip, Italy, after I finished watching the TV version of the trip. I have the issue where, like, I don't get a lot of time to sit down and watch TV with my family. And the time, the little bit of, as everyone knows, who listens, the little bit of time I do get to watch stuff is when I'm doing the dishes.

Otherwise, I don't really have time to watch things. And I'd much rather watch a part of a movie. Like, I just always rather watch a movie than a TV show, you know. If I'm by myself, I'm either watching a movie or I'm, like, painting models, or I'm traveling the lands between an Eldon, ring. Yeah. And I feel like I haven't found a show in a long time that hit me the way that like, um, that like the best of the like prestige early HBO shows like the Sopranos or like Deadwood or stuff like that where I was like, oh man, I got every week I got to watch it. Or like when Mad Men was on. I was always like I got to watch it. But I haven't found a show like that in a long

time and I think that says more about me and where I am in life than about television. Because there's certainly a lot of great shows that are on. But it's like, yeah, if I'm like a, uh, see I was thinking about how Dan recommended the Robert Altman Buffalo Bill movie recently. And I was like, I want to watch those Robert Altman movies that I haven't seen before that are on Criterion Collection right now. And I was much more excited about the prospect of watching like come back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean than I was about watching any of the shows that are on right now. Yeah, I think, again, it says more about me than it does about the shows, you know. Yeah, I have found less TV exciting lately. And mostly it's because I just want something fun

and that's always in a lower supply than it seems like it should be. Like, it feels like that should be... Well, it feels like when we were young, TV was where you went for dumb fun and the movies were where you went for a lot of serious stuff. And it's totally flipped now, where the movies that they make are like superhero movies

and horror movies and like they don't make a lot of... Movies are dumb fun like weapons. Yeah, well, like serious movies don't get as much... I feel like there's a smaller percentage they don't get as much wide release. You know, serious movies are still being made. But, like, TV is suddenly like,

well, this is the new novel. Like, we don't go to TV for a day. Adult dramas. Yeah. Adult dramas are TV now. Yes. Like, unless you're going to, like, you can still go to the networks and watch, you know, like,

tracker or something like that. Yeah. I'm trying, like, mostly when I'm alone, too, I would rather watch... Yeah, we're going to talk about... I'd rather bash with... I can't believe it took us this long into two-boy talking tube to two dudes

tonight to bring up fucking tracker. He tracks people. The Adventures of Colter Shaw, yeah. Yeah, Chet Tracker. No, but I will watch movies alone, and then, you know, Audrey will be more keen on watching television, although it's mostly her British mysteries. Like, if we're watching something together,

we've, I don't know, we're just now finishing the last season of shrinking, we're watching Peacemaker, and we're going through not a, sort of a compromised position, not a British mystery, but sort of elementary watching all of the old episodes of that CBS show,

which I never watched at the time. I do love hearing stories from like James Gunn's perspective where they're like, yeah, we really wanted to time the release of Peacemaker Season 2 along with the digital streaming release of the Superman movie. And I'm like, the idea of being like,

yeah, so a person is like, oh, I saw this Superman movie in the theater. It's so cool. What's the next D.C. thing to watch? Oh, the show where John Sina has an orgy in his house with a bald eagle. Like, I think it's great. I just think, and like Michael Rooker...

I mean, the Bull Eagle's there. It's not really part of the Orgy. Yeah, Eagle is... Yeah, yeah. It is funny out... The same way that Sam the Eagle is technically at the Muppet Theater, but he's not taking part in the shenanigans.

Yeah. I think it argued, like, it's... I feel like Peacemaker might be the funniest comedy on TV right now, which is pretty funny. But speaking of like lighter things, Charlene and I are always... Dave Berg's the lighter side of.

Char and I are always looking for kind of lighter material to watch to wind down at the end of the day when our lives are incredibly stressful running too many businesses. And the two shows we've enjoyed lately, we finished, I'm guessing, the second and final season

of this Australian sitcom called Fisk about a lawyer. Wilson Fiske, the kingpin. who is, if only, a lawyer who wears very large suits and she works in like probate law and I don't know, it's very dry and there's not, I guess there's jokes in it. It's funny. It's just very strange. So, but we enjoy that quite a bit. And then we like the, we just watched all of the new office spinoff. Oh, the paper. Okay. How's that? I think it is absolutely fine. It is exactly like it serves up exactly kind of what you'd expect.

The one note, the one of the X, the thing that I think elevates it that gives it a little bit of extra juice is that they realize that one of the, I don't know if they realize this, but like one of the things about the original offices that like the British office is that Ricky Jervais's character, David Brent, is like a bad dude. Yes. Michael Scott is not a bad dude. Which is dumb. So they make a couple of the characters in the paper genuinely like kind of bad people. And one of them is played by Sabrina. I'm going to fuck this name up. The Teenage Witch.

The Teenage Witch. Sabrina T.T. Witch. The actress who played the hotel manager in the second season of the White Lotus, the Italian woman. And she plays a very flamboyant Italian woman who works at a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, which is very funny to me. And there's a great performance from a comic actor Eric Rayhill or Rahil, who was in, he's collaborated with Tim Robinson and was in that movie Rap World with Connor O'Malley. And he just has a way of speaking.

He has like a cadence of like burnout Midwesterner that like is so immediately triggering for me. Like it feels like I'm in a fucking house party back in Fort Wayne. to some weird dude that was two years above me in high school. So that's a thumbs up to the paper. So if that's a situation you're familiar with, Stewart says, run, don't walk to the paper. Yeah. I feel like I've kept you guys here long enough.

Elliot has a rush on a dinner. I've got a rush on a dinner. Dan has to rush a homo to the hotel. Yeah, Dan has to live in down in L.A. And I will say, I think any negative things I've said about television or shows, take it with a grain of salt. at this point in my life the thing that I am like enraptured by

and I can't wait to get I have to keep running back to is Iilo Calvino's book The Castle of Cross Destinies so that's where I am right now so take it just as me being a snob who is into not that you know so not is no way

a criticism of television or the show's being made and take it as me finding no joy in the things that I used to enjoy because life is a bitter place oh I mean there's that too let's not forget depression can keep you from enjoying television shows Also, I feel like the fact that both of you guys

are closer to the world of TV creation than saying your average person If only I twere true But what I would say is that you're at one point closer And now that distance causes an additional ache It's like a phantom limb Yeah, lost love It's hard to lose that feeling of like envy

when you're watching a show that's successful where it's like, it's like, well, you know, they, yeah, I guess this is good, but like I could do good stuff too, blah, blah, blah. And it's a thing that is a very human feeling that we have to push against. And coupled with the fact that it's easy to overlook the fact that your own,

maybe your own struggles when working in the business, you forget that those people are probably going through the same fucking shit. Well, because that's, this is the last thing we say because we do have to get to our dinners. But there is a, the entertainment industry only reports success.

it only in the variety of a high reporter it only tells you in shows sell or when they're picked up or whatever or in a movie script cells they do not cover this pitch failed this pitch didn't get picked up this pilot didn't you know

rarely do they talk about failures and so it gives you the impression that there's a sea of success that you are standing on the shore of and you just cannot figure out how to jump in which is a fake value and one of the things that I found very meaningful about the strike

was finally writers were talking to each other about how failure is just a regular part of being a professional creative person. Yeah, there's a sea of things not getting made in an island of success. Exactly. And so that's something for us to remember, you know, that everyone who is having a success now

has probably failed and will fail again at some point. You know, so no one's immune to it. Okay, well, thank you so much for spending some time talking to me. I always love talking to you guys. Thanks for stepping into the dog house over here. I'm Stu Dogg. I guess I'm Dan Dog. Yes.

And that's E-Dog. And E-Dog. I guess this is an interesting framing to suddenly introduce in the last minute of the podcast. So this podcast is part of the Maximum Fun Podcast Network. Go there. Check out some shows. They're great. This show has been produced by Alex Smith, who hopefully cleaned this up and made it sound extra crispy.

And I'd like to thank my two co-os. My name is Stuart Wellington, and they are. Dan McCoy. And E-Dog, Elliot Kaelin. Okay, bow, wow, wow, wow. See ya. Maximum Fun. A worker-owned network. Of artists-owned shows.

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