Episode 35- Batman the Animated Series

I imagine this is Batman's christmas card...

We're back, with SLEIGHbells on. That's right- we celebrate the Holidays (all of them, Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Memorial Day...) by watching a Christmas epsidoe of one of the greatest shows ever produced, Batman: The Animated Series. Call it a present to ourselves, but we just decided to wtach a legitimately good show. And we were not disappointed.

Listen in as the lyrics to "Kiss From a Rose" which totally make sense are dramatically read, while we also,the naming conventions of Gotham City landmarks, the resourcefulness of the Joker, how many Robins there are in the world (of all kinds), and the greatest Foley artist of them all, Priest Isley.

We also are joined by Summer Gleeson, Gotham's number 1 news anchor, though she doesn't appear to know her own name. She does, however, compose a mean romantic Christmas song.

Thanks for listening, and why not say hi to us on Facebook, twitter or via an iTunes review?
And Merry Christmas, in spite of the loss of the Batmobile's wheel, Robin's unfortunate egg laying and the Joker getting away.

The whole episode is available on Amazon Prime Instant Videos, but here's a taste of Mark Hamill at his best:

Episode 34- Life with Louie

No original art this week...
like you care.

Well, it's a tiny bit past Thanksgiving, but that won't stop us from "celebrating" with a Thanksgiving episode of a show none of us wanted to watch: Life with Louie! While none of us could tell you exactly what Louie Anderson's standup involves, we can tell you we thought his voice was already the worst, until we remembered his voice as a child.

In this episode we discuss so much, including how sweet Edie McClurg seems, the oddness of an early 60s-set cartoon that aired in the mid-90s, why someone would agree to let themselves be designed as a cartoon human basketball, just how unlikely it is that you'd be the sponsor of the Santa Claus float in the Macy's Parade (entirely unlikely), and of course how much we hate Louie Anderson's voice.

We also were joined by the titular Louie and, for some reason that is difficult to understand, former President John Kennedy. He was pretty surprised too.

Enjoy the episode and happy belated- Thanksgiving! Thanks for listening, and make sure to give a rating on iTunes. You could also like us on the Facebooks, follow us @SMDGpodcast, or do something You can also listen to us on Stitcher. You can also share the art at our Tumblr.

Feel free to watch a not-so-timely episode of Life with Louie right below. Or don't, as you'll probably be happier that way...

Episode 33- Back to the Future

Great Scott! It's a trite intro!

Yes this month we sat down and brought back from the past... Back To The Future the Animated Series. A show that was made after a great movie, but as we learned, unlike Scott, not all things are great. We also learn that Giancarlo could not be a part of the episode because of an acute case of being lazy, a condition his doctors called, "a waste of their time." We also learn his closest friend in the world is probably a dead confederate general. Is that sad? THAT'S FOR YOU TO DECIDE!

This episode also features our first letter from a fan, which we read aloud and then get all Charlie Rose on your ass by talking semi-seriously about the death of Saturday morning cartoon's and what it use to mean to anticipate television programs versus having them appear whenever you damn well please (lousy generation of tomorrow). 

But more important than anything else in this episode, Tim tells us his opinions on the film Looper.

Now pop open a Tab cola pull out your hoverboards because for where you're going you won't be needing roads...or ears...no I take that back, you do need ears. BUT NOT ROADS!

Thanks for listening, and make sure to give a rating on iTunes. Because you are our density.

You could also like us on the Facebookings, follow us @SMDGpodcast, or do something 
unrelated. You can also listen to us on Stitcher. You can also share the art at our Tumblr.

Good luck finding a place to watch this online... it ain't easy!

Episode 32- Goosebumps

As we come to the climax of this month of terror, we watched the scarily insane "Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns" from the 90s live-action Goosebumps. Actually, Tim might not like our use of the word "climax." There are a lot of things Tim might not like in this episode, seeing as he has the sensibility of a normal human and it's possible that the rest of the SMDGers, in explaining why he's missing this episode, might go a little far... you be the judge, once your ears stop bleeding. For the first time, we have special guest- Sean Duffy (Can't Make This Up podcast) who fills in, and he helps us wade through the bedlam of this episode of Goosebumps and the numerous Shampoolint (check the SMDG archives!) twists that occur at the end.

Listen as we discuss Mr. Duffy's podcast, the grown-up allure of 'Fear Street,' the villainous side to Earthworm Jim and why Canada seemed to produce a lot of horror anthology shows for children.

We also have a two-hander interview featuring some aliens who might not have the best grasp of the English language, but know what they like in a good meal.

Thanks for listening, and why not subscribe and rate us on iTunes, like us on the Facebookings, follow us @SMDGpodcast or at least give Sean's podcast a listen? You can also listen to us on Stitcher. You can also share the art at our Tumblr.

Episode 31- The Real Ghostbusters

As the air turns crisps and people start putting cooky faces on pumpkins, it can only mean one thing- we have to check our episodes from last year to figure out how we do Halloween episodes. And this time, we do Halloween with The Real Ghost Busters (the space is canonical, look it up!) and the episode "When Halloween Was Forever."

In this episode, we are playing a man (or WO-man, as it is) short, but we do our best to make up for it by talking about more nonsense than usual. We discuss the origin of Halloween, how Dan Aykroyd wasn't that fat in 1984, the punctuation needed to find the true meaning of the lyrics of "Walking on Sunshine", how terrible Roger Moore's Bond films are (KANANGA IS INFLATED TO DEATH!!!), whether or not you should be eating Creepy Crawlers (answer: no) and we go in depth on the honors bestowed at the annual Fart Expo (that's why Andrea isn't with us.)

We also get booked with two interviewees, one on purpose, the episode's antagonist and spirit of Halloween, Samhain as well as the easy-to-mistake-for-Samhain, Hollywood screenwriter Sam Hamm. But they get along and it's a terrific interview.

As the episode intro says, if you want to help spread the word of our show, vote for #7 "Wormy Autumn Nights" in the Flophouse Song of the Autumn Contest!

Thanks for listening! As ever, subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher. And you can do the Twitter stuff @SMDGpodcast and Facebook stuff. And I'm sure other stuff not related to this show.

And, as always, you can watch the episode right here! At least until copyright law is exercised and this becomes a dead link!

Episode 30- Columbo Jr

On this week's episode of Saturday Morning Deathgrip, we watched a true rarity- the much beloved but oft forgotten animated gem - Columbo Jr. That's right, Hollywood allowed the fantastic team up of Hanna Barbera and the late, great Peter Falk  and produced a Saturday morning cartoon based on LA's best homicide detective and his precocious nephew.

In this go-round, we talked about what the Harlem Globetrotters really sound like, the ins and outs of pun making, how much baseball Steve Harvey does not actually play, and words that rhyme with "brooms". There are many of those. You know what else can be called "many?" The number of guest stars this episode had- Phyllis Diller, Charles Bronson and even a time-traveling Eleanor Roosevelt- all the kids' faves!

For our interview segment ("Conversations with Stars!") we have our very first four hander, as we were visited by Lt. Columbo, the titular Columbo Jr., Mrs. Columbo and even their dog, Dog (the most adorable of all Columbos and the best at rolling over).  Through some hard-hitting investigative journalism, we learn about gambling mishaps involving the lacrosse team at Columbo Jr.'s elementary school. And we also discover that the Columbos lived next door to a young Steve Wozniak. Just a typical interview in SMDG-land.

Once again, thanks for tuning in! If you're looking to kill some time, think about heading over to iTunes and subscribing to our show. If that isn't time consuming enough, consider writing a review! If time has seemingly stopped, you might as well listen to this episode again on Stitcher. And if you want to complain about why there are so many empty hours in one single day, feel free to direct any rants towards @SMDGpodcast or leave any comments on our Facebook page.

We'd invite you to watch this episode, but for SOME REASON, it's not on YouTube...

Episode 29- Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers

After a short summer break, SMDG is back and we treated ourselves to a cartoon that is made by people who had bother resources and evident desire to make a quality program, the fine folks who brought us Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers, a show that feels like it should have a colon or a possessive in the title, but doesn't! And it's Tim's favorite RR episode, "The Case of the Cola Cult" (it's because of this song right here.)

In this episode, we discover the startling similarities between NBC sitcom Wings and Rescue Rangers, we pitch a second cartoon Earth vs Orphans (the premise of which you'll never guess), the stage magic of Dracula, Andrea's fatigue leading her to say things that do not fit into any sort of context, Giancarlo's love of wearing a bowtie and breakaway pants, and the most Michael Winslow discussion since probably his parents talked about naming him "Michael" or "Foley Artist".

We also are visited by Pop Top, the leader of the titular Cola Cult, and learn about his other dealings with cults, soda-based and non-soda-based. 

Please enjoy before the date on printed on the bottom of this can of podcast! Subscribe on iTunes and maybe write a review! Or listen on Stitcher and do the review thing there! You could also like us on Facebook and follow on Twitter @SMDGpodcast. You can do a lot of things.

And below you'll find the episode, at least until Disney exercises it's copyright!