Soul Man - Dan Aykroyd is a Blues-Playing Motorcycle-Riding Priest

[00:00:00] Cold Open, We grew up during peak sitcom, signfelt, friends, the fresh prints. But those shows were diamonds in the rough. This podcast is not about those diamonds. It's about the rough. Some sitcoms were briefly popular in their time. Some were canceled almost immediately.

[00:00:18] You probably won't recognize most of these and you'll ask that was a show? That Was A Show, The podcast about failed or forgotten sitcoms from the 80s and 90s starring. Brynn Bernie, Aaron Yager, and Andrew Helmer as Barry. A Radio Gizmo production.

[00:00:49] Just before we get going, I'm gonna give a little explanation of what I'm dealing with here right now. So, for those of you listening, I'm talking weird and I won't be talking very much

[00:01:08] in this episode because recently I was sick and I lost my voice, and I'm still slowly recovering. So, Brynn and Barry will do almost all of the talking in this episode. Which is gonna be torture for Aaron. But maybe that'll be a fun twist.

[00:01:25] And I'll just play audio engineer and chime in with the occasional one or two comments or quips. So before we start this episode, I just wanted to say the past two weeks has been very tough.

[00:01:40] For me it's been very hard and very sad and full of anxiety with what's going on in the world right now. And I'm sure a lot of people listening feel the same way. There's no way to meaningfully talk about these things here and in a succinct way.

[00:01:53] But funny podcasts like this one are actually an important break for people who are going through something difficult and scary. And it's important for us even recording it as a break from those things. So let's just hope and pray for peace and enjoy these breaks when we can.

[00:02:20] And now we're very awkward segue. I will throw it over to Brynn to kick off some fun chit chat with Barry and eventually tell us about the episode you're gonna be reviewing today. Yeah, I mean, thanks for your MPR voice in general there.

[00:02:44] I mean first of all, thanks for saying that Aaron. You know like I know that saying something like that means a lot to you personally and to us too and you know on the topic of praying. This episode we're covering right now is about... Um, nicely done.

[00:03:08] Yeah, it's about the short lived series, Soul Man. Soul Man was a show. The series was created. Sorry. Okay, I'm all fucked up now. It was just sorry that was just a motion I didn't know you were going to say that.

[00:03:29] I don't know you're going to say that so anyways. It's very well said. Yeah. Very well said. Yeah. Okay. Um, Soul Man was a show. The series starred none other than Dan Acroid as Mike Weber, a quirky motorcycle writing,

[00:03:46] a piscobal priest in Michigan who is also a widower with four children. The series also stars Anthony Clark as young, a young Reverend in training named Todd Tucker and they can Matthews as Bishop Peter Jerome.

[00:04:03] The series also co-stars Helen Cates as a church administrator, Nancy Boyd and Kevin Sheridan Courtney Chase, Brendan Ryan Barrett as his three oldest children. The youngest son is initially played by Spencer Brezlin until the role is recast with Michael Finnegwera taking over.

[00:04:26] The theme song is a cover of the classic Memphis Soul Song of the same name written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. So basically we have a very kind of quirky high-concept series about a clergyman who is also into

[00:04:43] music, who is also a biker and has a brood of children. So you know there is a little bit of a theme of spirituality there but I feel like it's sort

[00:04:55] of secondary to the whole idea of him being like kind of an eccentric single dad trying to keep his life together and you know dealing with like a chaotic household.

[00:05:08] I think him being like a priest is all just like they enjoyed the pun and wanted to use the theme song. Yeah, yeah. In one of my few comments that I'll make I just have to say did they start with the theme song

[00:05:23] and then just work their way backwards from there? I feel like they did and it's like a very popular sort of name for a show or movie because of course there are two other series like one series called The Soul Man

[00:05:42] which was starring Sedrick the entertainer and that ran from 2012 to 2016 of a very similar theme and then there's also a feature film that was released in the 80s which was a college comedy that is not hold up in today's world because it's basically revolves around a student in

[00:06:03] blackface so so so man was like a very the the phrase a soul man was like a very popular trope to kind of use and of course the song itself is a banger so any excuse to put that into the mix

[00:06:19] is like a good time all around and kind of like what people thought was like a recipe for success. Kind of a weird choice I thought to not have him sing it. Yeah, yeah right because I think in the blues brothers you know he they perform that song

[00:06:40] pretty sure so. Yeah I mean I know blues she did most of the singing in general but like I mean I can't remember the sequel they made. Blues Brothers 2000 yeah I'm like good man. It was with Goodman.

[00:06:55] It was with Goodman but I'm like did he sing more and that I mean he sings I know he sings. It kind of makes me want to watch the blues brothers honestly like I kind of watch those movies

[00:07:08] if I have to watch Dan Akra on a mission from God it's gonna be that one. Yeah I mean he'll always be a Veda's Salton Fusses dad to me. Dr. Ray Stance for me. Yeah yeah anyway so let's talk about this show the series was created by

[00:07:27] Matt Williams, Carmen Fenastra and I may miss pronounced this but it's David McFadzene they're the team behind home improvement and there's actually a connection between the two series. They're kind of in the same television universe so the character of Mike Weber is initially

[00:07:48] introduced in home improvement as Al Borlan's church minister. So the terms priest and minister are kind of like used interchangeably as well as with Reverend because I guess and the thing that was

[00:08:04] confusing for me is having grown up raised in the Catholic church a priest is like a priest and they're not allowed to marry but I guess in the Episcopal kind of church it's a little different

[00:08:18] so they're more of like a Reverend or a minister and they're allowed to like marry and have children and all that stuff but he's introduced initially as Al Borlan's priest and he appears in a couple

[00:08:33] episodes of home improvement and then in the course of soul man you also get a couple of the characters that pop in you get Al Borlan once again played by Richard Karn and Zachary Ty Bryan as Brad Taylor

[00:08:52] also makes an appearance in a later episode so the idea is they're kind of from the same community in Michigan so it's kind of that like you know that sort of like middle class

[00:09:06] sort of with a blue collar sort of bent to like that kind of community. They really like to focus on like basically like the widest part that's actually they really did yeah essentially

[00:09:22] and it's like you know the fact that it's like soul man is like a little bit like okay it's a little weird it's a little weird yeah because I don't even think it's Michigan I'm pretty sure

[00:09:34] it's Detroit specifically it's real look it's real look which is like a suburb of Detroit so yeah so it's Detroit but it's the verbs and yeah so basically we watch the pilot because

[00:09:51] we usually always watch the pilot and we watched season two episode three for the purpose of this episode and yeah but I mean you chose that one for a reason right? Oh yes I did because spoiler

[00:10:08] the season two episode three features John Goodman so yeah which also the creators of this show were involved in rosanne so there's all this kind of like cross-pollination there lots of like longstanding

[00:10:22] relationships. Yeah yeah so it's kind of like they're sort of like universe on ABC is like these Michigan based although actually no I don't think that's Michigan I think it's isn't in Illinois didn't we have this argument before? I feel like we've had this exact argument before

[00:10:43] whatever we can double check that but while there is looking that up I'll just kind of summarize the pilot a little bit so yeah I was in Illinois whatever same region it's Midwest okay

[00:10:54] let's not split hairs here um I mean I'm sure that will offend some of our listeners that may be from both areas because they're like they are not the same places but at any rate

[00:11:05] in the pilot we are introduced to Mike and his kind of hyper and percosis children in their family home and we find out that there is a local reporter Bridget Collins who's gonna come

[00:11:22] and interview Mike about his sermons of all things which seems kind of random but the whole thing is meant to be a bit of a puff piece but Mike is excited because he kind of always wants

[00:11:34] to sort of promote the church and you know maybe talk about their upcoming events including a church dance which sounds like the least desirable thing to go to. This is the hot it was the

[00:11:47] hot ticket item that we throw yeah yeah so anyway so we start this the the episode with him kind of like telling it his one son does sort of behave because he's got this lady in there

[00:12:00] and then his second youngest daughter kind of comes in and tells her dad that oh by the way she's single because she's already interacted with Bridget and tells him that oh I just told her that you're

[00:12:14] like desperately lonely so that kind of sets up the interview for a bit of like an awkward interaction you know they start talking and we we sort of get a sense of who Mike is he's kind of like

[00:12:28] again like a saddy's quirky you know he loves pop music and he loves um you know to call his sermons that he has a stack of tapes of his greatest hits and you know he's just kind of he's

[00:12:43] he's not just a priest he's a cool priest that's the idea right so he's you know he's kind of like introducing himself he's kind of has a bit of a witty banter with Bridget

[00:12:58] and she starts kind of admiring his collection of snow globes and his collection of snow globes all have a very specific theme they all feature um gravestones of iconic rock stars and musicians and then in their conversation they discover that his uh prized Elvis Presley

[00:13:20] themed snow globes has been smashed by one of his children so it sort of sets up two plot points in one uh scene because of course in their banter there's a little bit of a flirty tension between the

[00:13:34] two of them and Bridget is very um curious about what it's like to be you know a single man and um a clergy person um and then when the snow globes is broken he's upset and he basically

[00:13:50] decides he's going to play mind games with his children to like find out who broke it and he's like you know so this is kind of thing where he used you see the funny dynamic he has with his kids

[00:14:03] where he's like they're all pretty mischievous and they're all sort of you know like not a afraid to kind of like they don't have boundaries with their dad. They're always kind of getting

[00:14:15] into his office and getting up to something and you know kind of interfering with his like you know potential love life that is awkward and like like they're all fibbing to him about

[00:14:27] what happened to this the snow globe and and so she's finding this all very amusing but I'm not sure why she finds it that amusing I feel like the whole thing is a big red flag because he's talking

[00:14:38] about like playing mind games with his children and we didn't know about those then yeah yeah yeah and that he's just kind of like a cookie guy but for whatever reason she's finding it endlessly charming

[00:14:53] so you know they continue their interview and it really gets into the weeds talking about dating and like what he can actually what the limitations of being in his position and dating really entails

[00:15:14] you know can he date can he have sex like what what are the boundaries there and basically he implies that yes he can date but it's like basically if he dates he has to date seriously

[00:15:30] and implies that he can't have premarital sex and this is a 44 year old man who is a widow and it's got four kids so we know he likes to fuck yeah yes he's you know yeah so yeah so it's like

[00:15:50] a little bit of an awkward conversation because I I found it hard to buy I'm like really like you're that repressed you're that in a sense you're that you know so but you know I just find

[00:16:04] overall like I don't have any lines so jump down specifically but I just kind of find their banter like kind of clever like I found I found that the the conversation the nature of the

[00:16:16] conversation very awkward and in a little bit contrived but what how they were saying it I found it to cubby kind of clever like it wasn't me over in the end he he was a lot less creepy than

[00:16:29] a lot of sitcom men are so it was a little easier to sit through yes yes and which is ironic at some point the youngest daughter did invite her to this like this hot ticket dance

[00:16:45] in the hopes that she would show up and you know like they would continue to hit it off and like the the daughter is very very invested in him like getting a new partner which is funny

[00:17:00] because she's very little but yeah and then the article is produced and ultimately it is all about sex it's very sensational and the idea is that he's this horny guy that's very pent up

[00:17:18] and cooped up and you know really it's very very sensational and his boss the bishop is not pleased with this and everyone's giving him a hard time and he has to kind of like you know he's very embarrassed he's very very embarrassed because it's like a pretty

[00:17:40] pretty sizable like local paper you know as way before the internet so at least he had that going for him but at any rate this was like a very embarrassing situation for him and you know she shows up

[00:17:55] at the dance so there's obviously something there which I found really you know because of course because it's TV and it's the 90s she's obviously way out of his league in terms of like you know

[00:18:11] she's younger and she's a lot more attractive and it's just it's all like a bit contrived she kind of leaves an a panic at the dance because she realizes she's like okay like

[00:18:24] she's a little bit interested in him she's intrigued but she kind of panics because the situation is very complicated and weird and then only to come back later for them to have this like

[00:18:36] little heart to heart on their porch where he explained like you know he explains that you know he's very attracted to her and she admits that she's also very attracted to him but that

[00:18:49] dating him wouldn't really be possible for her because it's very like complicated due to the fact that he has all those children and he makes a joke about oh I could give one of them away if you

[00:19:02] so that's kind of a humor I mean and then you know ultimately it kind of ends with the fact that they're not going to get together he finds out which of his kids broke the snow globe

[00:19:20] and there's kind of a cute back and forth it's like the middle child because of course it's the middle child so when he knew it was he says he knows it was him in the first scene and he

[00:19:34] and he's like I know it's him and it was just basically like throughout the episode it's sort of threaded in there where he's trying to like catch him and mitting it and they have this whole

[00:19:45] beat where they're in his office like his like office where he would like talk to parishioners potentially and he's sort of like admits as like to his dad that he broke it as the priest

[00:20:01] and then he's like okay now you have to be my dad again. Thinking that his dad can't hold it over his head because he told the priest in confidence that he broke it but then he switches

[00:20:16] up it up on him saying that oh your priest told them they're like I know that you that you broke it and it's a cute cause he said my dad was waiting outside the door and overheard.

[00:20:28] Yes exactly exactly. I just want to say real quick about that whole plot. The snow globe thing reminds me of like screenwriting classes back in school. Yeah. When everyone would get the note

[00:20:41] that you got to raise the stakes and I just like nah I don't care about your fucking snow globe. Sorry sorry man. I didn't need a I feel like I feel like for a pilot like I don't

[00:20:53] need a B plot in a pilot. Yeah yeah just it was supposed to be I think it take on one of those old school's family sitcom trope. Oh yeah yeah you know like the really wholesome family sitcoms

[00:21:08] where the kid breaks something and the whole thing is like oh you know like the you know hiding it from the parents and then the punishment like that's like a that was like

[00:21:20] on the bready bunch. I was on like a lot of like different family sitcoms and I think this was meant to be kind of like a funny modern take on that where he's trying to you know like construct

[00:21:33] all these psychological like mind games and then the kids as well being clever in the way that they hide it as well. So sort of like I think that was their attempt to sort of like saturize that

[00:21:46] but you know whole some way because it's ABC and then uh yeah it's like they you know I was more interested in the other plot about him and the woman because it was more you know the then I adult

[00:21:59] uh subplot um but yeah they definitely had to wedge that in there because it was sort of like what kind of show is it? Is it about him dating or is it a family sitcom? Yeah Aaron is pointing

[00:22:14] to a note to me that on his behalf so I will say I'll make a comment on behalf of Aaron why is she coming on to him meaning Bridget because she is like you know out of his league. Well you know

[00:22:31] small town small town there's probably not a big selecting and this is dating apps if you're all over 30 and the dating world in the 90s it must have been a nightmare. She I mean she works for

[00:22:43] she works for a newspaper that like publishes three page stories on priests so I don't know for careers going that well either so I just certainly yeah I don't know she I don't know if she

[00:22:59] really has it all together um yeah it's it's interesting because like this is one of those shows that I did watch I did too I didn't like it religiously haha but no I'm not gonna be there.

[00:23:13] I'll add the episode but definitely remember that opening with him getting on the motorcycle like that was a hard to forget you know yeah yeah it's a real like yeah so I remember watching this

[00:23:27] and so I was kind of looking forward to seeing it again it was completely fine um it's like a real like you know it works mostly because of Danac right but I mean like you know I mean that's not the

[00:23:42] worst sitcoms in to commit because I think a lot of sitcoms co-spying on the legability of their lead actor there's a lot of moments uh in the episodes especially in the the second one we watched

[00:23:57] where it's just a little it's a lot of like and then Danac right will just sort of vamp and you know dance around or or sing or or or or or wrestle or just we'll fill some time up with with Danac

[00:24:14] or I just do and stuff yeah do and stick and you know there's so that works and he works he's you know he's he's good here it's it's always interesting because he I don't you don't want to call

[00:24:27] him a character actor because he's not yeah but he usually plays weirder than this so to see him play like between it's this it's this and my girl are the ones where I'm like this is like the

[00:24:40] normalist Danac or I guess yes yes he is like the dad who's a little bit off beat he's he yeah it's like he's the dad who's just a little bit dorky and weird you know he works he works in that

[00:24:55] and it's all it's weird like that he never really got more he never really got any real dramatic work like not much and he's he's not bad at that yeah well still some over the years like in later years

[00:25:10] yeah but never really you know nothing yeah nothing never it's just I don't know why I just remember this but didn't he play uh didn't he play Britney Spears' dad in the script thank drops roast

[00:25:24] yeah very random uh yeah the most random role that he's ever done I think um but yeah he like I feel like he always kind of plays a little bit of a version of himself like it always puts

[00:25:43] himself in there so you know he is like he does a lot he usually he also does a lot of accent work like a lot of heavy Chicago accents like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah we just funny because he's Canadian

[00:25:59] but he definitely I feel like he's always associated with the Midwest like he's always associated he just strength me as like a Chicago guy or like a Michigan guy so I don't know and I know

[00:26:14] very you and I have like a weird connection to the Midwest just because of where we grew up specifically in Canada so we also like find like a connection with that so yeah I'm sure

[00:26:26] he's interesting and he's not from where we're from so I don't know really he's born in Ottawa he's he's maximum Canadian yeah he might have I feel like I should have done more

[00:26:38] looking into but maybe this is Chicago thing he might have come up in the Chicago comedy scene of yeah I think he did I think it's how he got to SNL yeah that's because so he would have

[00:26:51] yeah so I bet you he did a lot and that probably got that's probably yeah yeah yeah and all came from but yeah we also watched as I said we watched season two episode three and I of course chose

[00:27:05] that one because of uh John Goodman and so basically the plot of that is like a little dark so John Goodman plays his old friend from their military days and he comes to visit to like

[00:27:25] hang out and reconnect and he hasn't seen him in several several years and this character has like it's established immediately that he's like troubled and has like a serious drinking problem and you know he's getting into all kinds of hijinks with him which is a problematic thing for

[00:27:45] Mike as like a you know community leader and priest you know they go out to a bar and he gets they get into a brawl and he has to go to church with a big shiner and it's like a really really

[00:27:57] bad thing and you know he doesn't necessarily want his kids around someone who's actually like that but of course his longtime connection with this guy as well as his like you know we're perceived your responsibility to counsel people in crisis you know makes him like feel very

[00:28:17] conflicted and you know they they they share all these memories about them and another guy what's the characters name that they reference it's their their longtime friend um all you was somebody in there in their squad and basically what he finds out is that this guy was killed

[00:28:38] and the implication sorry I need to rewind first let's pause for a second I didn't like know what exactly happened you guys remember yeah so they're in the military Mike Mike Mike Dan Akraot's character Mike Mike my brother yeah Mike has since left but

[00:28:59] Goodman and let's call him Shmidi stayed in and they had there was an accident with helicopter okay that Goodman's character was flying and he blamed himself for it okay okay so all just me summer and so Goodman's character was trying to push this other guy

[00:29:24] to do a similar kind of flight stunt that he himself was able to do and this guy didn't want to do it and goodman pushed him to do it and he crashed and well they cracked they were together

[00:29:36] they crashed I got that I didn't remember anything my confidence least thought I did yeah goodman survived the crash but the other guy died thanks for thanks for jumping in Aaron and

[00:29:53] reminding us of that anyway helicopter guy died goodman blamed himself yeah so it's kind of you know and that's kind of a trope that you see in a lot of the the very special episodes of these like sitcoms

[00:30:06] where there's like some sort of you know anytime you see a troubled man in one of these sitcoms it's always something related to this it's always some like trauma that they haven't dealt with

[00:30:18] and they're this kind of jovial guy and I don't have any other specific examples but it just feels like something I saw a lot in TV at that time where they'll come in as this larger than life

[00:30:31] character and then gradually they sort of unravel and they've got this you know they're sort of becoming very kind of becoming a very chaotic presence and then it's revealed that they have

[00:30:43] this like really awful trauma and you know the the way they basically deal with it at the in this episode is they go to Mike's church and they start singing to get through which I found the

[00:30:59] little like it was like a very mournful you know which made it weird that then in the credits they did an outtake from that scene where it was just them fucking around and having fun I was like

[00:31:14] you really really killed the mood of your ending by like immediately showing me an outtake where they were dancing around but the song choice was very odd it was Mustang Sally of all because they were saying that what's his name always played it they're they're departed

[00:31:30] friend yeah you know it's column schmitty because we can't remember the characters name so yeah so it was like you know it was definitely fun to see John Goodman we see our first kind of glimpse of Anthony Clark in this episode he's like a recurring character

[00:31:47] we don't see him in the pilot I think he's I think he's full regular he just wasn't in the pilot yeah this wasn't in the pilot but we see him in this episode briefly because he's you know he's

[00:31:58] he's sort of a young reverend in training that Mike has taken under his wing and yeah so you we see him and for something I think pretty in consequential but at any rate it was another you know it was

[00:32:14] a pretty good episode but it was very tropey and like this show is tropey tropes upon tropes say trope again yeah yeah but you know it wasn't bad it was like entertaining and they

[00:32:29] definitely I think it's you know that production team really got all the ringers in there like they got you know like like the fact that they even got Dan Acrode to begin with like there must have

[00:32:42] been some long standing relationship between them because you mean goodman no well yeah that they had a relationship with him because of Rosanna I'm saying Acrode like to get into being the series

[00:32:54] at all to like develop this series with him at all because Dan Acrode was already like a full fledged movie star for several years so yeah but this would have been I mean this this is him after

[00:33:07] a pretty lengthy break yeah in successes so this this would have been like the old days when going to TV was considered bad yeah yeah but it is now you can get away with doing a TV and and

[00:33:22] maintain the successful yeah but he had been in like cone heads all the my the both my girl movies like he had been in all this like stuff you know I feel like he wasn't hurting and I feel like

[00:33:37] Dan Acrode I don't I feel like he's not the type of guy that would like have an ego but anything I feel like he just does whatever he feels like yeah I think yeah this is definitely a Dan Acrode

[00:33:49] projects so the whole thing would have come out I mean and all of everything in there seems tailored to him yeah totally like the humor the like the persona the weird hobbies like it's just

[00:34:03] it does kind of scream him and there were kind of like yeah we're just going to have you do your kind of stick and this is the concept and you know like it's kind of like they just

[00:34:16] wanted to do obviously wanted to do another family sitcom but they were like okay let's like find a high concept way to do a family a family sitcom let's get a really like well-known person and

[00:34:31] you know it was kind of like a formula for success unfortunately it wasn't successful like it only lasted a total of 25 episodes but again I would say like I don't think anything to do with

[00:34:46] the quality because the quality was up there with most things that were successful at the time like I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed a home improvement that's for sure and home improvement

[00:34:58] was one of the biggest shows of the 90s yeah yeah I mean honestly it really probably comes down to like uh how it would play with most most most of America right like I mean it to to Malin is

[00:35:15] more of a household name yeah then Dan Acrode is right Dan Acrode is beloved by those who who love him yeah but I don't think he's really like uh like everybody run out let's got it we

[00:35:27] gotta see this Dan Acrode thing yeah yeah where is which is funny though because and I would amat I maybe basing this off nothing uh I would imagine that the two audiences don't necessarily meet

[00:35:43] that much because like I can't stand to Malin yeah and I don't I don't care for his stick at all well I'll say that's like my dad would watch both shows like my dad loved home improvement at the

[00:35:59] time he always did the like weird grunt that Tim Allen did the four power dad's loved that was like a baby boomer dad show of the 90s oh it was huge but then my dad also

[00:36:15] would have watched stuff with Dan Acrode like he liked you know the Ghostbusters movies and you know Dan Acrode outside of Dan's yeah yeah outside of Wakens yeah yeah I yeah the second

[00:36:33] episode is very interesting I had a few a few thoughts from it I got to thinking about what you were talking about with like oh we do a bit of a special episode with this

[00:36:44] largest life character he's got some demons and the more I was thinking about it over the last week I was just like this is because this is so prevalent in the comedy world that people are dealing with

[00:36:59] these people all the time right there and you have all this story I mean Dan Acrode specifically lost one of the most famous ones right so like you know or or or or your crew

[00:37:14] Chris Farley is you know these people who everybody said lit up the world but we're battling these huge demons and John Goodman this is one of those things where like you always saw the

[00:37:29] son Rose Ann right John Goodman and you see it every in every performance John Goodman does period but like John Goodman can can flip a switch and go from the funniest person in the room to scary

[00:37:43] because he has this yes he did that on Rosanna like he has this anger in him yes that is palpable and like and on Rose Ann like when Dan got mad on Rose Ann it would be like frightening

[00:37:57] yeah and it it's such a because he is this big teddy bear basically but like you know that he has a lot of darkness in these character cities playing I you know I don't know

[00:38:11] she's honestly there's never he's always seems to be like everybody loves John Goodman in general so I don't know how much that's in him but he sure knows how to channel it oh yeah he does he does yeah

[00:38:24] the sure and and this is a real like seeing it was funny because he comes in in this and the right off the bat I was like oh this is this is funny it's gonna be John Goodman you know getting to be a little

[00:38:35] sillier than he does and then it's like oh no oh it's the other guys here yeah yeah yeah the other the other side of the coin is the other I was curious which everybody knows this about me

[00:38:50] every seldom go past the required reading on these shows yeah I did watch another episode of John Goodman in it yeah and it was a lot of funnier okay he's still dealing like you can tell he's still

[00:39:04] dealing with things yeah but he gets to be goofier and like they're you know they're so good together like they're back and forth and really good yeah yeah you would have been a good

[00:39:18] he would have been a good reading character yeah yeah so yeah yeah I mean wait was this before or after the blues but brothers 2000 I think this is that yes you know this is I believe this is before

[00:39:33] because blues brothers 2000 yeah it was yeah but I so I looked all this that they were already performing together okay as as as as a little as brothers yeah while you're looking that up I'm just

[00:39:50] gonna add a quick comment on this actually thought the plot with John Goodman in that second episode we watched was quite interesting it's it's a pretty sad plot theme about pain and regret and

[00:40:06] and on the one hand like the cynical part of me is like this is a sitcom taking like more arising family sitcom to its conceivable maximum apex the other part of me is like you know a character

[00:40:19] like that suddenly jumping into the fray on a sitcom could have like just gone off the rails into something really like a small tear or just like you know trying too hard but with John Goodman

[00:40:32] like I'm on board yeah honestly he's when it comes to that like what you just described the person who's like essentially a sad clown sort of character like this he's a superstar yeah

[00:40:45] he knows exactly he's got the sensitivity that's what it is like it's not just the darkness he has the sensitivity to being able to play that genuine earnest yeah yeah yeah I'm a big big big goodman

[00:41:02] fan yeah I think we all are like he did uh he did one of the Cloverfield movies Cloverfield Lane can can rare or something essentially the plot is like it's it's a bottle

[00:41:15] movie it all takes place in a you know in like a emergency like a bombsheltar like under house and he takes in this girl or and keeps her there and he has that side he's so quiet and so like

[00:41:34] sweet and like nurturing but he's like fucking scariest shit in it and it's like one of the things where you're just like this guy is can do anything yeah yeah he's a superstar he's a superstar by the way Blue's brothers 2000 came out in 98 so yes it's after

[00:41:55] after this but not at two but I feel we were all very you got to go back to the 90s you're only very excited it invested in 2000 and I feel like a lot of our early email address it has

[00:42:09] had like 2000 in them everyone has a success with 2000 like it was the whole thing sign-felt did the millennium new year episode yeah yeah in the late 90s it's like it's very everybody's favorite but everybody's favorite pedantic fact that for that entire year

[00:42:30] was that the millennium wouldn't start until 2000 and won yeah yeah um and it's really funny now that like why two k-quad on quote fashion and like stuff is like making a comeback and like

[00:42:45] well it already did I feel like maybe it's probably played out again already but uh yeah like there's like this new fascination with the era in the last few years and I'm like why talk about it it was a weird

[00:42:58] time that's not like and like I'm very just personally triggered by the fact that stuff that I wore when I was a pre-teen and teen are now like you know what 20 year olds are

[00:43:14] wearing and like like there's a recent you know we were out and about uh Aaron and I we like went out for dinner drinks and we were like ended up going kind of walking through lots of youngsters

[00:43:29] hitting the bars and they were all the I swear they all looked exactly like myself and my friend from like 2000 and I was like this is so bizarre no no toothbrush bracelets though oh god let's not go there

[00:43:44] yeah I used to I used to I used to make toothbrush bracelets it was a thing I used to wear an arm full of like colorful bracelets and I Aaron's looking shocking on a fight right now but I

[00:43:57] used to take old toothbrushes and I would like melt them and shape them into bracelets and stuff and so they were like bracelets but they always had to be those clear plethora like the

[00:44:10] clear like acrylic ones because otherwise I wouldn't shape properly yeah yeah yeah yeah they're not not the solid like she wasn't doing like oral B like yeah they were great they I don't know if

[00:44:24] they were great somebody's got to put them in a movie yeah I used to wear but yeah like a lot of the stuff that I used to wear is like now like a thing and the space buns remember a berry that's

[00:44:36] like my signature hairdo in like high school I had two buns on the top of my head yes you did like they were and they've got increasingly intense some of your colors are back I've noticed that some

[00:44:50] of the colors you wore a lot in high school back so like as long as the excessive blue eyeliner doesn't come back that's you know then I'll be okay but like that's because that was my look

[00:45:03] that was my go-to look space buns brush bracelets and like way too much frosted blue eyeliner that was like well I'm looking at myself yeah I'm looking at myself and I'm like how what was

[00:45:16] I wear it I'm like well I'm wearing a pink Floyd shirt now probably wearing a pink shirt yeah yeah yeah um yeah I don't know it's wild it's like really wild and like you know we

[00:45:33] we went to Catholic high school of course so we wore uniforms so all of this stuff I mentioned is just accessories on top of like our like uniform outfits that's big part as big part of

[00:45:47] the uniform in general was trying to find ways to yeah yeah I had to dress it up you had to express yourself somehow so so I would overdo it with the colorful bracelets and uh too much sparkly makeup

[00:46:01] oh mercy me yeah yeah um all right well I mean I feel like this was a fun show to revisit I remember watching it once again it's like Dan Akroy and I feel like you can't really like

[00:46:16] you know go wrong with it and Aaron's writing something that I'm gonna have to read aloud okay this is our stick guys every coming keeps doing this I just keep picking shoes so must be a good one

[00:46:29] I just keep picking creamer like drawing on Elaine's do okay okay yeah so the question is why didn't the pilot have a musical number uh good question it did we had to make room for the snow gloves

[00:46:46] the snow gloves were a big thing those were like a big showpiece oh and where was the okay so the bit where they show him doing a sermon and part of the sermon is he's doing a bit that he's talking

[00:46:59] on the phone with God which I thought was kind of funny um like two his parishioners was that in the second episode that we watched or was that in the pilot I can't remember uh that was in the pilot

[00:47:12] the reason well because he pulls out the devil hand puppet yes yes yes yeah the did yeah okay for his sermon's being such a talked about thing we did pick the wrong episodes because

[00:47:27] they weren't they weren't featured in them but I couldn't feel like maybe they should have opened the pilot with him giving like a ridiculous sermon that shows that he's weird and like yes why he might attract attention yes they should have done that you know just like it's

[00:47:44] sign fell though he starts with Jerry doing his act so they should have done like a sermon or close it with a sermon or close every episode of the sermon as the tag and then made

[00:47:57] that which I think they they did in that pilot but then they didn't continue that it seems but anyway that would have been clever to kind of summarize like the themes of the episode like

[00:48:08] ending it with the sermon at each time okay Aaron's pointing to another comment the juicy pores for his daughter looks like windshield washer fluid for a car it's a bit on the side but yes

[00:48:22] it was the one these ones these reduces those reduces do you remember frutei frutei this big jugs I used to love those yeah I feel like okay the best part about this show is how

[00:48:36] it's like unlocking these weird nostalgia moments for us because it feels like very like even though all of like the shows that we cover kind of unlock some nostalgia like for some reason this one is

[00:48:50] like getting me I don't know why well we don't often talk about it but sometimes if we can't find shows on on streaming services you know we'll see if they're on YouTube yes and this one was

[00:49:02] and it's the best commercial all the commercials in it yes it was incredible anytime I see a long like anytime I see that it's gonna it's a 30 minute video I'm like yes it's gonna be full

[00:49:16] commercials yeah okay another message from Aaron the cut from a very ordinary first scene to the opening titles with exciting lighting and music was crazy it was it was it was it was

[00:49:33] it was I'm still not over him not singing it yes yes yeah well never get over that whenever you know there's a lot of there's a lot of weird choices that were made that don't seem like obvious

[00:49:47] lazy choices they would they are a lot they veered they veered lazy when they when they didn't but do we know that or is it network notes is it annoying executives peeping in and being like

[00:50:00] well no we don't want you to do that we can't get the yeah yeah and then okay so another note from Aaron this is a nice message episode what's again I'm sorry everyone I hope you enjoy us

[00:50:18] I can talk a little bit but I'm enjoying it oh she's just and they're almost random don't connect anything and that's why it's weird okay so this this comment is this the snow globe plot is simply a demonstration of what happens when you raise kids with fear instead

[00:50:38] of guilt I don't think there's guilt too because the implication is that they should hold like what they did you know and remember and you know I think there is guilt he's a clergy person of course there's

[00:50:53] guilt but no it Aaron's right like the kids have no problem continuing to lie because but they are afraid of consequences you know okay which I won't say that that reminds me of any specific

[00:51:09] religion at all like uh not certainly not the one that the show is about yeah I mean one of the the biggest tropes of the era is the widow and widower like if you know that's raising dad's

[00:51:26] raising kids yeah what a world yeah but like you would think if you only watched 90s sitcoms and that was your only reference to the 90s you would think there were so many widows and widowers out

[00:51:39] there like there is an epit... who's an epitome yeah like there were so many like that was how many funny white men lost their their wives yeah yeah it's so so weird um but in this pilot the

[00:51:55] one thing you don't get that you often see when uh that's like a major plot point is like some sort of like heart to heart like reminiscing about the the dead parent like they don't really have that at all

[00:52:10] we don't know anything about his wife yeah because we don't need to anymore it's like you know we don't need to see Batman's parents die in the alley anymore we know what happened so you

[00:52:20] just move into the Batman stuff yeah now everybody knows like oh oh where's the wife oh she's dead all right well move on yeah I'm sure there's like I'm sure there's another episode where they do talk

[00:52:33] about her a little bit I'm sure there is but like in the two we watched it was just such a non thing like it was just such a non issue and I was like all right well it was well uh the exposition was

[00:52:47] well handled I yeah we got dumped a whole lot of exposition in the pilot and most of it felt pretty natural yeah yeah even though it was specific well because of the interview yeah because of the interview

[00:53:03] he had to tell her about our life so he gave all like his anxiety way for him to like give his exposition class yeah okay now Aaron is pointing to another comment that again is not is a complete

[00:53:16] non-separator uh the bar fight was wild yes it was indeed it was very choreographed and very the bar fight of course happened with him and John Goodman's character and the second episode we watched

[00:53:31] and it was very rambunctious I did note that as well it was very like you know people were being thrown it was very intense um but yeah that would have been some scandal at that church it would have been I

[00:53:43] I'm surprised he but again because like you know it's kind of kept within that community you know he's sort of just canceled for like a week amongst his group of perishiners like yeah

[00:53:58] you know there's no like internet outcry or anything like that like it's just this kind of like uh oh I did appreciate uh a signer for a week you know I did appreciate uh you don't see this a lot

[00:54:13] in TV and movies but the reality of a church having multiple priests because they all do most of them do that was a good bit of realism yeah and uh like they kind of like they were elements

[00:54:29] of it that they were kind of trying to make it you know relatable like have it bit be a bit of like workplace thing where there's the kind of bumbling younger guy and then the boss who's like

[00:54:41] you know yeah he's added up to here with with his standing in the back exactly so yeah and then the fact that another trope oh Aaron says like father Ted oh man I wish I wish I wish I wish

[00:54:59] the old I wish father Jack from father Ted was was the old priest in the yeah totally um but yeah like another trope was the idea of the workplace of the the main parent being

[00:55:19] literally right outside the the house because well that's that's that's what happens with priests though exactly exactly that's true but it's it's again it's an efficient way to have that right

[00:55:34] because like there were a lot of other examples of that the most obvious one I think of his um on step-by-step carols beauty salon is like right off of their house and like the um there's

[00:55:47] like lots of things where either the parent works in a home office or their workplace is literally like right there um Aaron's like remarking right now he's writing a note he's saying you remember

[00:56:03] details from step-by-step yes I do she we both watch step-by-step like that by step was like a gorgeous yeah it was a very iconic sitcom for me I wouldn't say it was like a great sitcom but

[00:56:20] no it was just always on and it was very like you know just a reality just a fact of life you know one of the family matters and step-by-step we're back to back and I watched him make

[00:56:35] everyday. Aaron says fucking always on yes they were always on um yeah and like it was like a big it was just like a it was like part of life step-by-step was just part of life and then in my

[00:56:50] house holding the 90s especially because one of the characters was played by an actor that had my brothers exact name so yeah that's true yeah so yeah so yeah so weird yeah so funny and weird and uh

[00:57:05] like I don't know I mean it just it's so it is so funny as we just continue to explore these shows like it feels sort of random what succeeds and what doesn't like I feel like this

[00:57:20] had all the elements because they're all they're all like pretty most of these ones especially in the this mid 90s run they're all pretty much equally terrible yeah like they're all like at the

[00:57:32] same level of quality like there's nothing that's like better than you know especially like family sitcoms like they're all at the same quality level this one maybe maybe people didn't like something where a clergy person was so like human art it's like they didn't like seeing yeah like

[00:57:51] they didn't like seeing someone who would maybe be dating like if they had a minister or they want them to be married and they wanted to be wholesome you know we saw a lot of dating we saw a lot of

[00:58:03] dating priests in the in the 90s did we yeah or married priests well yeah but they're married like yeah true it's been a decade it was like a big thing right because like they were married but

[00:58:17] they were married and it was a wholesome family thing right whereas like this is like the you know air-enoted that he's flawed yes he's flawed and he's like not a perfect person and he's just

[00:58:29] trying to keep you know keep things afloat and his kids are not very good yeah you're not wrong middle america might not have liked that yeah they might not have because they they in the 90s I mean

[00:58:44] a little you know not to generalize today but it's still somewhat prevalent but in the 90s uh uh sitcom families were Catholic yeah there was lots of plot lines but going to church

[00:59:00] because that's what the americans wanted to see on TV apparently now probably less so but like you just didn't mess with it that was seen oh yeah um oh Aaron's writing something else oh friends

[00:59:17] okay thanks Aaron thanks for not verbal eating up the six degrees of friends all right oh I thought I thought he was trying to be like not on friends they didn't know like

[00:59:28] awesome but I was like no but we've yeah all right so we've we've done I'm pretty sure we have dived into what religion all the characters on friends were right okay just checking um okay so basically

[00:59:44] yeah I mean the funny thing about this show is you would think there'd be several obvious ones and actually it wasn't that obvious it was actually kind of hard and I found it a little annoying

[00:59:55] and frustrating so I only did a couple different connections so yeah basically um they're both through Danacroid you know obviously um so he played Mike Weber obviously he started in so man but he also was in the movie 50 first dates um and obviously his co-star was Adam Sandler

[01:00:19] and Adam Sandler was in a couple different movies with Jennifer Aniston with like was in just go with it and most recently she was in he was in murder the murder mystery movies with her

[01:00:30] so and then Rachel she was Rachel Green as well so that's uh that what is that three that's three and then we have a two degree connection also through that 50 first dates uh movie because Amy

[01:00:45] Hill was also in that movie and Amy Hill who we've seen several times in our kind of twaz career here also guest start on friends so that's two so it's two and three both through Danacroid and the 50

[01:01:01] first dates movie um but yeah I was getting really annoyed like looking this up because usually like my strategies like I start my research and I always go through the main cast and I always

[01:01:15] right away look up at any of them were on friends and none of them were on friends and I found that really annoying and frustrating and then from there it was kind of like okay then then I go a

[01:01:27] little deeper then I like look up okay what else have they been in is there another obvious credit that they have with like one of the main cast um but yeah I like I was like god like usually

[01:01:40] there's always like a one degree connection but this one was like a little more like annoying and I don't usually like to go into movies that were done well after the uh the time period I like to

[01:01:53] try to keep it within the 90s because that's just I don't know if it feels more logical but anyway and then you know in the spin-off like I mean it's the same kind of things we always say like with Danacroid

[01:02:09] he was already very established person he was a household name he had been in several several movies before this so I think everybody pretty much knows like that was like his heyday like he was

[01:02:19] obviously in all the Ghostbusters movies he was in the My Girl movies he was in tons and tons of comedies like mains big mainstream comedies so he was already an established guy but following up

[01:02:31] so man he continued to work so I feel like it was his only real kind of foray into the sitcom world he kind of jumped right back into movies so um following soon after this he was in the movie loser

[01:02:48] he was in Pearl Harbor um crossroads which we also which we already referenced which is probably the most random thing 50 first dates which I already mentioned the campaign and list goes on

[01:03:02] you know he has 114 actor credits on IMDB Tommy boy brin tell me boy but that was before I know I'm just saying like we didn't mention it once I know I know because like I don't know

[01:03:19] my head's not in the game but uh you know he's been involved as a writer and producer and many of his projects as well most notably the Ghostbusters kind of franchise um most recently he co-starred in

[01:03:34] um RL Stein's zombie town which might be kind of cute I think it's more of a YA thing but I'm I might check it out and he had a recurring role on all the Canadian series working moms

[01:03:50] and he plays Katherine Wrightman's characters dad which is obviously like a probably long time family connection through Ivan Wrightman so uh yeah so he's he's still at it he of course has his

[01:04:06] business ventures which a lot of people know about his why and his personal beliefs yeah his weird personal beliefs which we won't get into you know um but he yeah he has his crystal head vodka

[01:04:24] and his wines which I started drinking in my early 20s as like kind of a joke I thought it was funny that he made wine and then it turned out that it was like I didn't know anything about wine

[01:04:35] in my early 20s and then I realized oh this is probably too expensive for a 22 year old to be spending on wine but I bought it because it was funny um haven't had it again in a while maybe I

[01:04:49] know I we drank it a lot because I just thought it was a funny novelty so that's damn fluid absolutely yeah um you've seen it in the store in a while I know I know but that's the crystal head

[01:05:03] vodka is still like a big thing like that's still like always in the L.C.B.L which is a you know Ontario only thing um yeah and then for the rest of the cast uh Daken Matthews uh pronounced

[01:05:22] I didn't know how to pronounce this so I had to write pronounced day can or bacon with the D he's like a guy who's been in so much like he's been in tons and tons of TV and films over the years

[01:05:37] he played the bishop in so man but you know he had tons of credits before this and tons of credits since he guest starred in the nanny the West Wing Providence and YPD Blue, Dexter,

[01:05:53] Veep, Madam Secretary and many many more he has he's had recurring roles in desperate housewives general hospital some fun facts about him is he kind of gets typecast um he gets typecast as

[01:06:09] clergy people so he's played like either a priest a reverend a minister nine times in his career maybe his name just reminds people the word Daken yeah yeah maybe and they're like who do we get

[01:06:22] to get to play this Daken look at Daken Matthews he'll throw him and we'll put him in a cloth like that's something somebody be like it's it's actually pronounced Daken and then somebody be like

[01:06:33] ah I already started down and speaking of cloths he also plays judges so he just switches robes for different roles um so he's played a judge 13 times and um many cops many lawyers so he's kind

[01:06:49] of like this guy who gets slotted into authority figure roles because he must have this bad presence Anthony Clark who we just met in our last episode in our uh Boston common episode um so he

[01:07:09] went on to have his um uh Boston common show he also um starred in the long running series yesterday that we mentioned and still kind of has a career in comedy often on um so the Weber kids

[01:07:27] you know they they haven't the one who's continued to work the most is Kevin Sheridan who played Kenny the oldest so he's had a lot of guest star roles over the years he was in uh judging Amy

[01:07:41] criminal minds Resolian Isle's castle he's had recurring roles in series like American dreams Veronica Mars Barry he played uh Sean Friedrich in that that series which you are a big fan of

[01:07:55] is it multiple episodes yeah multiple episodes oh it's not ring it it's not ringin a bell yeah uh he's also had a like a pretty substantial role in the show Heart of Dixie um yeah uh yeah and then

[01:08:11] some of the the other kids kind of just you know so Courtney Chase Brendan Ryan Barrett Michael Fenaguerra and Spencer Brustlin um they all kind of just popped up here and there over the

[01:08:25] years in guest star roles but they seem to be those I like a lot of 90s actors who kind of like leave child acting hopefully for good reasons hopefully they leave uh for healthy reasons and not

[01:08:39] because they had a really bad experience but you never know um so that yeah that's it and I mean like the guys who created the show still continued to work but this might have been their last like big

[01:08:51] show that they did um they revived the corners obviously uh like because Rosanne was like one of their biggest show that's still going is it still going yeah it's a shame because like

[01:09:06] part of me was like oh I could watch that but it's got rid of the one thing I didn't want to watch on the other thing but uh no I haven't watched it yeah maybe they're uh just for the sake of

[01:09:22] sitcom relating uh things I feel like this is the place to talk about it yeah uh did I there of you guys watch the phraseer no no I watched it was it I guess I can't I don't know

[01:09:40] I can't tell I can't tell I can't tell he likes it or not he's like he's great yeah he he he it is like like slipping on a glove for him like he's instantly the character but you know like

[01:10:01] it just maybe we and we've talked about it like a lot it's weird to watch old-style sitcoms made modern yeah no I'm just made modern like so still but like basically it feels like it could

[01:10:17] of this show could exist in the 90s like if like the writing feels as like still to it and like start a like I don't know I'm just I always you guys should watch it so we can talk about it

[01:10:30] or something okay yeah maybe we'll do a bonus that's like you know we're already watching stream at where is it actually the it was just uh YouTube the Paramounts channel on YouTube

[01:10:44] has the pilot streaming so okay I was like yeah all right it's weird though because like he's the only one back oh there's no supporting cast from from the others at all yeah

[01:11:00] it's amazing you think they would get them back at least what I don't think any of them wanted to yeah I think they were all not wanting to so yeah anyways so old man

[01:11:17] dude dude dude I mean that's such a good song I kind of want to like just like play that after the best part of this you know oh yeah the best part of watching this show was the

[01:11:32] morning I spent after it singing soul man to my cat but obviously replacing the words with mouse and it works really well yeah because he was your cat parent because not even just the

[01:11:53] words like the beat can also become meows is great and then I I believe it was I'm a meow meow yeah and how did how did Courtney responds to that not well she's a critic she's she's she's

[01:12:15] she's a harsh harsh critic yeah we're glancing around at executive producer Gizmo and she's you know she's like what she's hearing either she's kind of like whatever you guys are well all right

[01:12:33] there we're all done okay all right well I mean Aaron doesn't have a voice so do we even bother speaking to Mr. producer uh well I'm not calling him that guy hates me

[01:12:45] Aaron's like pointing like he's saying we should like check in with him so I guess we should all right all right I'll do it where's his number Aaron all right

[01:13:04] hello Aaron my boy I was wondering when you were gonna call oh it's been too long my boy I've been I've been waiting for this hi Mr. producer this is actually Brynn Brynn yeah the co-host of that was a

[01:13:17] show I'm married to Aaron you you've had dinner at my house no no Brynn I know you are where's Aaron is something wrong what's happened is he all right my boy my beautiful boy

[01:13:29] calm down Mr. P he's just recovering from Laryn J does he's like right next to me it's fine Laryn J does that's still laughing matter literally I tell you what you need to do

[01:13:41] no that's okay he's not he's on the mend he's just resting his voice right now what you need is peppers not just any pepper what you need is a peach gum tiger pepper when you

[01:13:51] have that you take a glass of water and well what is that a real thing it is but you gotta get them just right now I have a guy he's based out of Cleveland Ohio calls himself get this the

[01:14:02] cayenne king you call him up you tell him little pepper Tony sent you and I guarantee you he will overnight those peppers to you right away really he's doing all right Brynn I've had Laryn

[01:14:14] 36 times it's rough it takes you up it makes you doubt the world did you ever have a voice a voice is real 36 times well yeah I mean a voice like mine in a it aggravates I can see that

[01:14:29] oh my sweet boy my sweet baby boy oh I hope he better get better soon to hear that voice again that will be the happiest day in my life to think I've taken it for granted never again so

[01:14:42] anyway this week we were talking about soul man with Dan Acroid oh Brynn Brynn I can't talk about silly sitcoms right now I'm too upset my boy my sweet boy I am calling the cayenne king right

[01:14:57] now and I am sending you those peach gum tiger peppers what am I supposed to do with them hello Mr. I think he hung up well that was weird yeah he really cares about you Aaron I didn't realize that

[01:15:17] seems very attached he very very attached oh Aaron's responding sweet guy yeah you guys have like a real mentor and then teeth in going that I don't think any of us are coming on that note maybe we

[01:15:35] should all we should all hop off so that poor sweet baby boy Aaron can get get more R&R but until next time thanks everybody for listening and you know listen to some Isaac Hayes when you

[01:15:52] stop listening to us that was a show is created and hosted by Brynn Brynn Brynn and Drew Barry Helmer and myself Aaron Yager it's a production of radio gizmo in Toronto Canada

[01:16:12] subscribe great review and share follow us on Instagram and tell your friends about it that was a show radio gizmo