adult swim

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 501 – Scavengers Reign

Levi (voiced by Alia Shawkat) and Azi (voiced by Wunmi Mosaku) in Scavengers Reign (2023), created by Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner

Gobbledygeek episode 501, “Scavengers Reign,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

We’re crash-landing back into regular podcasting with the Max original animated series Scavengers Reign. Created by Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner, the seeds of Scavengers Reign were planted in an Adult Swim short before blossoming into a brilliant sci-fi series teeming with surrealist detours and bits of body horror. Paul and Arlo rave about the show’s Cronenberg-meets-Miyazaki vibe, laud the series’ refusal to provide easy answers, and hope against hope that this beautiful, otherworldly thing will continue to thrive in a second season. Plus, Arlo is the worst.

NEXT: more Western adult animation with heavy influence from the East, as the boys confront Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:45  –  Intro / Arlo is the worst!
  • 00:27:55  –  Scavengers Reign
  • 01:53:45  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “Interstellar Outer Space” by Anderson East, Maybe We Never Die (2021)
  • “Slime Creatures from Outer Space” by “Weird Al” Yankovic, Dare to Be Stupid (1985)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 390 – “Freegobble: Return to InfoPrison”

A Shakey’s Pizza in the wild.

Gobbledygeek episode 390, “Freegobble: Return to InfoPrison,” is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

Ever have a job so shitty, it haunts you years (or even decades) down the line? Paul and Arlo have, and it’s called Gobbledygeek! Hey-o! In all seriousness (?), Paul recounts a traumatic experience at Shakey’s Pizza and Arlo is filled with regret over his time at the right-wing call center InfoCision. Cue flashbacks to high school football teams ravenous for wings and evil televangelists separating the faithful from what little coin they carry. Speaking of the latter, Arlo laments Kanye West’s evangelical turn on Jesus Is King. Elsewhere, Paul watches TV, including Succession, Primal, Daybreak, Watchmen, and Modern Love; and braves crowds of drunken revelers at shows for Bastille, Joywave, Trampled by Turtles, and The Avett Bros.

Next: TBD.

THE BREAKDOWN

Total Run Time: 01:39:58

  • 00:00:33  –  Intro
  • 00:01:12  –  We are NOT sponsored by the Gobble meal delivery service
  • 00:07:30  –  Cold pizza and really, really hot wings
  • 00:14:43  –  Way too much about InfoCision
  • 00:43:48  –  Not nearly enough about some great new TV shows
  • 00:54:08  –  More than a little bit about Succession
  • 01:07:20  –  Unfortunately, we discuss the new Kanye album
  • 01:15:30  –  A Popeye’s chicken sandwich interlude
  • 01:17:15  –  Back to Kanye (and controversial comments on Beyoncé)
  • 01:24:31  –  Lastly, Paul’s been to some concerts
  • 01:37:05  –  Outro / Next

THE MUSIC

  • “This Fucking Job” by Drive-By Truckers, The Big To-Do (2010)
  • “Blastoffff” by Joywave, Blastoffff (Single) (2018)

THE LINKS

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Listen to ‘Gobbledygeek’ Episode 306, “Unmaking Soup”

Gobbledygeek episode 306, “Unmaking Soup,” is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

This week, Paul and Arlo turn on and tune into the wonders and terrors of the superhuman mind by taking a gander at the first season of Legion. The FX series, developed by Fargo‘s Noah Hawley and theoretically set in the X-Men universe, is unlike most other superheroic media. David Haller is either schizophrenic, an extremely powerful telepathic/telekinetic mutant, or both. Witnessed through his eyes, the world is fractured, bizarre, disturbing, and a tad surreal. As such, the typical X-Men plot–David is rescued from a mutant-hunting government organization known as D3 by a group of rebels with a Magneto-esque leader–is given a swift kick in the pants. The boys discuss this inventive telling of a simple story, the show’s many visual flourishes, why it’s a powerful exploration of mental health, and Aubrey Plaza’s revelatory turn as a 50-year-old man. Plus, a surprise Rick and Morty pre-empts Samurai Jack, overjoying one of our hosts and causing considerable frustration in the other; and the boys rave about the fifth season of another brilliant FX drama, The Americans.

Next: film critic and horror expert Jess Byard joins Paul and Arlo to ask, “Where has all the good sci-fi horror gone?”

(Show notes for “Unmaking Soup.”)

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Paul & AJ’s Top 10 New & Returning TV Series of 2013

Last week, we brought you our favorite movies of last year (finally saw Inside Llewyn Davis, by the way, and yes, it would have made the cut). This week, we change channels to focus on TV. We’re doing things a little differently this time out, with separate top 10 lists for new shows and returning favorites. Though there were a lot of new shows I enjoyed over the past year, I’ll admit I couldn’t stretch them to 10; instead, I’ve got 8, while Paul’s just crazy enough to have a full 10.

As always, there are shows we couldn’t get around to: I haven’t seen Rectify, Top of the Lake, Broadchurch, or The Wrong Mans, all of which I’d hoped to see in time for this list. Oh, and to absolve him of all guilt, I should mention that Paul has never seen Breaking Bad. Wait, I don’t think that absolves him.

NEW SERIES

PAUL: 10. HANNIBAL (NBC)

hannibal

I wasn’t particularly interested in a television adaptation of the Thomas Harris characters. But names like Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, and Bryan Fuller pulled me in. It’s one of the most visually stunning and hauntingly…haunting shows ever to make it to network television. It’s also one of the most shockingly violent and grotesque. All positives in my book. But I can’t put it any higher on my list because it’s crushingly depressing.

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Paul & AJ’s Top 10 TV Series of 2012

On this, the eve of 2013, Paul and I begin to look back at some of our favorite things of 2012. First up, our ten favorite TV series.

Also, let’s give a slow clap to Paul, who struggled through severe illness just to get these words to you, dear reader. A speedy recovery to you, sir!

– AJ

PAUL: 10. PARKS AND RECREATION (NBC)

Adam Scott, Amy Poehler, and Rashida Jones in 'Parks and Recreation'

Season 5 gets out of the office a little bit, with Ben and April in Washington D.C. (with an evil robot congressman). Ron gets a new love interest (the always lovely Lucy Lawless). Tom starts a new business. And Andy finds a new career.

AJ: 10. GAME OF THRONES (HBO)

Peter Dinklage in 'Game of Thrones'

What Game of Thrones did in its first season was nothing short of exceptional, a 10-episode narrative that goes down as one of the finest accomplishments the medium has seen thus far. And while the second season struggled at times to recapture that majesty, it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. The scope and breadth of George R.R. Martin’s world remains impressive; the cast, especially Peter Dinklage as the kind of noble imp Tyrion Lannister, continues to knock out high fantasy material that would crush lesser actors; and thrilling hours like “Blackwater” remind us that this is the closest thing we have to a Lord of the Rings on TV. And it’s a whole lot nastier and sexier, too.

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