Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 455 – “Reservation Dogs (feat. Nikki Stafford)”

Paulina Alexis, Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, and Lane Factor in Reservation Dogs (2021), created by Sterlin Harjo & Taika Waititi

Gobbledygeek episode 455, “Reservation Dogs (feat. Nikki Stafford)”,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

The best show on TV is on FX–well, FX on Hulu, that is. It’s called Reservation Dogs, it was created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, and it is about four Indigenous kids from Oklahoma dreaming of escape to California. To discuss this funny, heartbreaking show, Paul and Arlo are joined by pop culture writer extraordinaire Nikki Stafford. The gang discusses the show’s subtle storytelling, its incredible cast, the way Harjo and his team thread the needle between tragedy and comedy, and how this series breaks ground for mainstream Native representation in America. Plus, Arlo almost killed Paul.

NEXT: second time’s the charm; hopefully, we’ll actually do a Four-Color Flashback on John Layman and Afu Chan’s Outer Darkness.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:42  –  Intro / Guest
  • 00:10:45  –  Reservation Dogs
  • 01:25:45  –  Outro / Next

MUSIC

  • “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges, The Stooges (1969)
  • “Come and Get Your Love” by Redbone, Wovoka (1973)

GOBBLEDYCARES

Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 449 – “The Americans: Season 3 (feat. Wesley Mead)”

Matthew Rhys, Holly Taylor, and Keri Russell in The Americans season 3 (2015)

Gobbledygeek episode 449, “The Americans: Season 3 (feat. Wesley Mead),” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

To paraphrase Philip and Elizabeth Jennings’ new/old handler Gabriel, “Podcasting and timeliness in many ways are antithetical.” After a series of delays, Paul and Arlo are back with guest of honor Wesley “Wezzo” Mead to continue their discussion of Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields’ modern classic spy drama The Americans. This time, they’re taking a look at season 3, a masterclass in thematic cohesion. Everything, more or less, comes back to the challenge of parenthood: on a micro level, how the Jennings plan on guiding Paige into the world of spycraft; on a macro level, how they can act as individuals under the forceful hand of the Centre. The gang talks self-actualization, bone-crunching, necklacing, and Frank motherfucking Langella. Plus, a detour into the “wholesomeness discourse” raging around Ted Lasso.

NEXT: John Cusack and Paul Dano take on John C. Reilly and Jenna Fischer in a Geek Challenge. It’s the very real music biopic Love & Mercy versus the parody music biopic Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:44  –  Intro / Guest
  • 00:05:37  –  Some words about Ted Lasso
  • 00:25:48  –  The Americans: Season 3
  • 02:22:37  –  Outro / Next

MUSIC

  • “Only You” by Yaz, Upstairs at Eric’s (1982)
  • “Vienna” by Ultravox, Vienna (1980)

GOBBLEDYCARES

Listen to the Gobbledygeek Season 11 Finale – “Geek Challenge: Thunderheart vs. Dead Man”

Top: Graham Greene and Val Kilmer in Thunderheart (1992), directed by Michael Apted / Bottom: Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer in Dead Man (1995), directed by Jim Jarmusch

Gobbledygeek episode 423, “Geek Challenge: Thunderheart vs. Dead Man,” is available for listening or download right here and on Apple Podcasts here.

Because our mascot is a turkey, and because we generally frown upon genocide, Paul and Arlo are spending Thanksgiving weekend discussing films with ties to Native American culture. For this Geek Challenge, Paul urges Arlo to watch Michael Apted’s 1992 conspiracy thriller Thunderheart, starring Val Kilmer as an FBI agent who grows to embrace his Sioux heritage. In turn, Arlo makes Paul watch Jim Jarmusch’s 1995 psychedelic Western Dead Man, wherein Johnny Depp’s iteration of William Blake takes an offbeat journey to the next life. The boys address the major caveat of both films starring white men, as well as their own lily whiteness; determine that Graham Greene and Gary Farmer walk away with their respective movies; and discuss how both films explore spiritual death and rebirth. With a bonus discussion of Apted’s documentary Incident at Oglala!

NEXT: Arlo’s having a baby. We’re going on hiatus with hopes of returning in mid-to-late January. We wish everyone a happy and, more importantly, safe holiday season. We love you.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:01:00  –  Intro / Guest
  • 00:07:15  –  Thunderheart
  • 01:08:16  –  Dead Man
  • 02:09:36  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “Grafitti Man” by John Trudell, A.K.A. Grafitti Man (1986)
  • “NDN Kars” by Keith Secola, Circle (1992)

GOBBLEDYCARES