Marie WheelerI stumbled upon the TV Crimes podcast when searching for something related to Wil Wheaton. I wasn’t sure what I would get, but knowing how much I enjoyed TableTop on YouTube, I figured it was worth a shot.
This wasn’t a bad assertion. Now, I’m not nearly as obsessed with this podcast as I am with others (*cough* Tanis, The Black Tapes and The Message), but I do enjoy the frivolity of this pop culture massacre. Basically, it is fun and makes me laugh. Wil gets a little rant-y and Mikey uses Hannah-Barbera sound effects to censor the f*bombs and various other cusses.
So what’s it about? Well, each week co-hosts Wil Wheaton and Mikey Neumann watch a previously determined egregious sit-com relic of the 80’s and 90’s and take notes. These ‘notes’ are often described to the other co-host and sound like the journaling of an angst-ridden teen. A perfect complement to the era in question.
Episodes include gems from Family Ties, Murder She Wrote and best of all, Baywatch Nights. Yeah, I did not even know that show existed and apparently I really missed something. The episode in question for Baywatch Nights details the search for a wolf-like creature from Yugoslavia kills teens. If you’re wondering about that sounding strangely familiar, you’re right: it’s a werewolf. A werewolf that targets the city’s downtrodden teens, because that trope has never been used before.
The hosts do a fine job to dissect the show and the absolutely ridiculous premise and terrible writing that I feel like I watched the show without having to sit through the travesty. It is a beautiful thing.
Now, please don’t get me wrong, I am not a giant critic of television or film. I typically can suspend my mind and have a level of enjoyment for a lot of really stupid shows, but I also enjoy learning how to think critically about the writing and production of something. TV Crimes has let me into that world, and I’m quite intrigued.
