Previously on Lost....

As previously discussed, I tend to be doing other things as I watch TV.  Mostly because I watch a lot of TV and if I didn't do other things simultaneously, I'd not get anything else done.  That's not to say that the other things I'm doing are very important, but it is what it is.

 

Years ago, I watched Lost.  You may have seen it, an airplane crash lands on an island in the tropics.  There were mysterious lottery numbers that kept reoccurring, and the island had polar bears - it was not a show for the shallow watcher.  I think the show was on Wednesday evenings, and on Thursday mornings, my bosses (Steve and Carrie) and I would gather around my desk (as opposed to the ubiquitous water cooler) and discuss the previous night's episode.

If I hadn't already realized that I skim-watched TV, this series would have made me aware of the fact.  There was way too much "What? I didn't catch that!" and "Whoa! When did that happen?" coming from me during those post-episode wrap-ups.  Fortunately, a couple of seasons into the show, I found this guy online who must not have had a paying job because, although it would generally take him a day or two, he would post a blog going through each episode almost frame by frame.  It was really nice because he would connect the dots that I missed.  Like, Claire goes to look for her long lost father, and it turns out he's also Jack's father who we'd seen in a previous episode, but I didn't recognize the guy.  Or before the flight took off from the airport, as we watched Hurley interacting with someone over here, in the background, we see the guy that sold Locke a car in episode 6.  I enjoy that stuff; I'm just incapable of recognizing it on my own.  And when (or more like IF) I do, I'm VERY proud of myself!!

There have been (and are today) other TV shows similar to Lost in this regard.  But either that guy got a job, or doesn't watch the same shows I watch, because I never found anything quite like his blog for any other show.  Until...  two or three years ago, I discovered the world of Afterbuzz TV podcasts.  I've mentioned them before.  It's this group of people who get together and recap/dissect all sorts of TV shows post-episode.  I can't remember what show was my first... maybe it'll come to me.  But they have shows for almost every show on TV.  Wait a minute.  I think it was Revolution, which was a very Lost-y type of show.  Anyway, they do "shows" on like over 100 different TV series.  Even shows you wouldn't think need dissecting... like Brooklyn 99.

The "hosts" of the Afterbuzz Revolution podcast watched the show with the intensity of the guy who wrote the Lost blog, only they then discussed it in a 30-45 minute podcast.  See I'm an aural learner.  I don't learn from what I read (#1 - because I skim; and B - because I'm easily distracted), but I learn from what I hear, assuming I'm paying attention.  So I quickly became addicted to these podcasts.  Every show that I watch on TV, if there was an Afterbuzz recap podcast, I subscribed.  I started watching Scandal about two seasons into the show over a summer, and as I binged on the older episodes during the weekends, I binged on the older podcasts recapping those episodes during the week.

Now the hosts.  Some are better than others.  I am absolutely in love with a couple of them; and I absolutely hate others.  If the TV show is good enough, though, I put up with them.  For example, there is a woman in the Scandal podcast who LITERALLY uses the word "literally" at least 10 times a show, and she LITERALLY uses it incorrectly 9 times out of 10.

Alternately, the only reason I watch the TV show Under the Dome is because the podcast is so enjoyable.  The TV show is just horrible... although the first season was pretty good. 

But the second season they just veered as far away from Stephen King's book (by the same name) as possible, and it is just inane.  The hosts of the podcast tend to agree that it is ridiculous and have a great time talking about it.  The third season starts next week, I believe, and I have purposely deleted it from my DVR's scheduled recording.  However, if my pod people have the intestinal fortitude to return for the 3rd season, I may too.  Sigh.

Unfortunately, most of my TV shows are off for the summer, and, while there are a few summer shows that Afterbuzz recaps, I've still been going through podcast withdrawal. 

I read an article on Facebook from the BBC about "Five Podcasts You Should Be Listening To" and was intrigued.  I downloaded one of each and the only one I subscribed to is "Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews."  Basically, these two British guys discussing and reviewing the films that debuted the previous week, and they generally interview a star from one of the new 
films.  The only problem I've encountered so far is that movies sometimes premiere at different times in the UK, so they may be reviewing something that hasn't come out here yet, or they might not review something that's come out here because it hasn't come out there.  I really enjoy these guys.  They argue like an old married couple, and one of them went to school with Jason Isaacs and they say hello to him or get texts or tweets from him all the time.  The fans of the podcast, whenever they see him, always say "I'd like to say hello to Jason Isaacs." 

Another podcast that I found in my search for something new to listen to is called "Mystery Show."  This woman decides she's going to solve mysteries.  Not life or death mysteries like in the podcast "Serial," but everyday mysteries like one day a friend rents a movie at a movie store and then the next day she goes to return the movie to find out that the store gone - out of business, the place is empty; or another friend wrote a book, and one day she saw a picture of Britney Spears with the book in her hand, so the friend wanted to know Britney how got it, did she read it, and did she enjoy it.  Following our detective through the solving of the mysteries has been very fun.  There are only 4 episodes so far, but I eagerly await the next one.  Two thumbs up!

I'm also using the summer to catch up on some of the other podcasts I have got behind on.  The Bugle - an "audio newspaper for a visual world."  Hosted by two British comedians, Andy Zaltzman, in Britain, and
John Oliver, in the US.  John Oliver, who I originally knew from  the Daily Show with John Stewart; they discuss current events.  For a new listener, there are over 280 "official" Bugles (and at least half as much non-official ones) so it would be quite an undertaking to bring yourself up to date, but I must say, having done it myself a couple of years ago when there weren't quite so many to catch up on, it is interesting to listen to them discuss "current" events that happened five years ago!

As for another Daily Show irregular, John Hodgeman has the Judge John Hodgeman podcast where people call in with various disputes, and he then makes a "binding" decision.  And of course it isn't necessary to listen to them in order, but it helps because he will sometimes revisit old rulings by having the people call in for updates on their issues.  Or there's the reoccurring jokes like the "Canadian House of Pizza and Garbage," that you wouldn't know what it was about if you hadn't heard that episode.

And yes, I own this t-shirt. 

So there, you have my plans for the summer in a nutshell.  I'll be podcasting it.  Maybe you'd like to join me... in your own home, office, or car, of course.