Podcast Like It's 1999

This Week we take a trip to Cuba and back with Gideon Yago (MTV News, HBO’s The Newsroom, Quantico and Narcos) to talk about BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB, Wim Wenders' seminal documentary about a legendary group of Cuban Musicians and the seminal self titled album they put out.    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Novelist and Screenwriter David Iserson (His novel Firecracker,The Spy Who Dumped Me) joins us again on this Freakiest of Fridays for the discussion of TRICKS AND TREATS, the third episode of FREAKS AND GEEKS. We talk the ups and downs of Freaks and Geeks as it settles into its run and our beautifully awkward Halloween memories.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

TV Shows in 1999. What were the people watching? What Were We Watching? What Was a Hit? What Was a Flop? We sit down with Joe Adalian, West Coast editor for Vulture(New York Magazine), to answer all these questions (or not) and many more. We try to figure out what was up with what people were watching in 1999 and what deserved those views.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this Weeks Freaky Friday, Phil and Kenny sit down with Novelist and Screenwriter David Iserson (Mr. Robot, Firecracker) to geek and freak about BEERS AND WEIRS the second episode of Freaks and Geeks. They talk about watching David's experience having watched the pilot early, the relate-ability and specificity that made Freaks and Geeks great and how the show bumped up against the expectations of TV in the era. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Aaron Thomas(Co-Creator/Showrunner of CBS’ SWAT) joins Kenny and Phil to talk about The Best Man. Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Morris Chesnut, Saniaa Latham, Regina King, Terrence Howard, Harold Perrineu . A generation of African American stars collected in one beloved romantic comedy/drama. Taye Diggs may be the titular THE BEST MAN. But this week we hope that Phil, Kenny and guest Aaron Thomas will be your Best Men to talk about it.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to Freaky Fridays! Every week for the next 18 weeks we'll be diving into a new episode of the 1999 television masterpiece that is Freaks & Geeks. This week we discuss the pilot with Rolling Stone's Chief TV Critic Alan Sepinwall! We talk about the casting, the direction, the writing as well as the launch of the series, its development and its many timeslots. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Literary adaptation Awards Bait is a clear part of any year in films legacy, so this week Phil and Kenny discuss Snow Falling on Cedars, the Ethan Hawke vehicle about a town wrestling with a racially charged murder, information I assume you are all learning now because it effectively doesn’t exist. “  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 1999, one artist released an Album and Music Video so popular and influential that its aesthetics and attitude dominated pop culture throughout the the earlier parts of the next decade. A meteoric rise of popularity was the consequence for its star who thrived as one of the biggest stars on the planet off the back of this record. She's had her ups and downs but now 20 years later we have begun to re appreciate her music and her stardom. The album and music video is ...Baby One More Time and the artist, well, its Britney bitch!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Get ready to get taken for a ride cause this episode Phil, Kenny, along with guests Ashley Lyle(Narcos) and Melissa Lora talk DRIVE ME CRAZY, Melissa Joan Hart/Adrian Grenier high school comedy. The boys and guests take a trip down memory lane and have a lively conversation about what DMC gets right about the High School experience, digging themselves in a deeper hole with the 10 Things I Hate About You fans, talk about the boys and how cute they may or may not be and GASP! at Phil’s lack of familiarity with Clarissa Explains It All. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A hard boiled crime movie taken away from its director. A star whose then future, now past makes it hard to watch. This Week, Phil, Kenny and guest Ben Acker (Thrilling Adventure Hour, Supernatural) talk about Payback, a film that would be up all their alleys if not for a good amount of tonal confusion, it having two cuts that neither of which completely fix it and some sexism disguised as genre trappings. Oh, and its star is also an abusive anti-Semite.   We dig deep on Mel Gibson’s Controversial career, Lucy Liu’s treatment by Hollywood, Ben Acker’s love of the Parker books (inspired by the movie), Director’s Cut v Theatrical Cut shenanigans, the biggest gap in 99 in ratings for a movie we’ve ever had. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

HEAT VISION AND JACK, an experimental comedy pilot which was exposed to inappropriate levels of irony which made it the world’s most ahead of its time 30 minute TV episode. PODCAST LIKE ITS 1999, the podcast with the brains of two TV writers. Together (this week) try to analyze, joke about and appreciate Heat Vision and Jack’s place in the comedy landscape of the time and its influence on 20 years of comedy since.  THE PILOT is viewable on Youtube here https://youtu.be/6lWgXDOAJ5s, watch it quick before the deadly ABC and NBC corporations attempt to stop you. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The 1999 movie SIMON SEZ features a brief scene where Dane Cook sports Dennis Rodman cosplay, and it is not even among the top 10 most painfully dated, over the top and out of place moments in this glorious vanity project for sadly, the person keeping US and North Korean relations afloat.  Listen as Kenny, Phil and returning Guest Teddy Bressman dissect the arc of Dennis Rodman’s career as an actor, the rise and fall of Dane Cook’s star and get behind the scenes info from one of the screenwriters on the experience of taking 5 months in France having to write a movie where an Interpol agent is friends with two hacker monks one of which refers to himself as Free Willy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

So, Podcast Like It's 1999 wasn't 'spose to be this way We did Analyze This, The Matrix, and a Bride who Ran Away!  The movies of 9-9 are great, that's clear But so many other things went down each week and month of that year, so...   We'll do TV, too! Like Friends Season 5 We'll do TV, too! Soon West Wing, Sopranos and more We'll do TV, too! 'Cause we're running out of mooooo... vies... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you’re a fan of set design, boy do we have a movie for you!  Jarett Weiselman (Netflix social media) comes back to the podcast to discuss Jan de Bont’s “The Haunting.” Now, if you’re a fan of logic, dramatic tension, character development, believable motivation, legitimate scares, special effects, utilizing the strengths of your actors or proper villains, look elsewhere.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 1999, there were three distinct takes on the modern American mafia.    One, The Sopranos, was wildly successful both commercially and creatively and remade both American's understanding of the Italian Mafia, as well as the entire television industry.   A second, Analyze This, performed respectfully at the box office and among critics, providing audiences with both unexpected laughs and pathos.   A third, Mickey Blue Eyes, had Hugh Grant trying to talk like an American gangster, which sounded like a man choking as he attempted to gurgle marbles.    Join Phil and Kenny as they discuss the least successful, but silliest (!), entry in the late 20th Century mafia canon. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Podcast Like it's 1999 takes a pass at it's stated goal of expanding its field of coverage beyond their home turf of movies and TV to include the beautiful game and one of its most legendary teams, the 1999 Women's Soccer Team.   Barbara Friend (Station 19) teams up with Phil and Kenny to kick around topics such as feminism, equal pay, progress in sports in America, representation, the similarities and differences between the 1999 and 2019 World Cup Champs, and the use of soccer puns when blurbing. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tea with Mussolini is Franco Zeffirilli's 1999, semi-autobiographical film about his upbringing in WW2 Italy by a group of British ex-pats of a certain age (played by the Dames Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Joan Plowright) and a couple of American women (played by the Goddesses Lily Tomlin and Cher).    It is also no better than the 10th date Phil, Kenny and guest Barrett Doss (Station 19, Broadway's Groundhog Day) would like to share with historic, brutal tyrants, following:   - Irish Coffee with Muammar Gaddafi - Hot Cocoa with Nicolas Maduro - Egg Creme with Idi Amin - Chardonnay with Pinochet - Pabst Blue Ribbon with Kim Jong-Un - Cosmopolitans with Genghis Khan - Red Dot with Pol Pot - Bee Pollen with Joseph Stalin  And - Champagne with Saddam Hussein See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Check out the thrilling conclusion of Podcast Like it’s 1999s two-podcast series on a The Matrix! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

How do you blurb a movie like “The Matrix?”  How do you write a blurb that doesn’t suck?  How do you blurb a movie like “The Matrix?” By mentioning that it’s now beloved by cucks? Many a-things you’d want to blurb about it.  Many a-things you still don’t understand! But how can start to say The film deserves all the A’s Without sounding like a goober or a Stan?! How do you blurb a movie like “The Matrix?” How do you stop a bullet with your hand? Emily VanDerWerff (Vox Media) joins Phil and Kenny to analyze and break down the revolutionary, uber-successful and impossibly influential film “The Matrix.”  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Did you know that in 1999 there was a machine invented called the “Random Sundance Movie Generator?” That’s right! For a fraction of what a screenwriter cost, this machine spit out a complete Sundance movie script in seconds.  Take, for instance, “Happy, Texas.” No human could have come up with this seemingly unrelated combination of elements: Unlikely Lead Actors: Jeremy Northam, Steve Zahn Genre: Low-Stakes Heist  Flyover Country Setting: Rural, Texas Town, Present Day (But make it feel like 1983) Quirky Complication: Children’s beauty pageant   Far-fetched Cover Story: Characters pose as a gay couple Expected Price Tag at Sundance: $500k (or $10 million if you can get Harvey Weinstein to a screening).  So join Phil and Kenny as they discuss the Random Sundance Movie Generator’s magnum opus, “Happy, Texas” and the film festival it was created for.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.