I listened to this while driving up North to attend Ben's wedding (it was great ,BTW, Congrats, buddy!). By far, my favorite episode of this podcast ever. But at the same time, my wife Vickie would see me cringe in frustration while listening time to time. So, I'm going to share those thoughts as well.
The high points:
1) LYNNE!!!! I'm so glad that so many people get to finally hear her and her perspective. She is the secret weapon of WS2. Her background, insight and talent is what takes all of the forensics and brings them to a stellar reality. She is the master chef that puts all of the ingredients into a perfect blend. This is not to take anything away from what Chuck does but I feel most people who follow anything about WS2 are well aware of his talents. I was just glad that people got to hear what makes them such a lethal team.
2) Memory lane. Listening to them talk about the journey that has brought them to this point of their career was yet both familiar and new.
3) Anything they had to talk about or share. I could listen to them all day and week.
The low points:
I apologize in advance but I have to finally say this about the podcast series. First a quick disclaimer: kudos that it's being done and the brothers are enjoying themselves doing it and it's been going on for so long. But there is always room for improvement and I don't want my critique to be taken has having any malice behind it. Also, everybody's own experience and mileage may vary of their expectations or entertainment with the podcast.
1) The hosts don't seem to do either enough homework or significant prep for the show(s). Especially when it comes to when they bring on a guest. They read a script or a rewrite of a script but rarely have any other notes about that episode handy when they go to record. I have had heard at least one episode where one brother hadn't even read the script before recording. What? Way too often (feels like almost in every episode these days) I'll hear, "I don't have my notes on that one so I wouldn't know, but I guess..." or "I didn't get a chance to look into this episode in the Dozier files before we started this episode, but I would guess..." I'm sorry but one could put the show on hold, pause or a "please stand by" double click on a handy PDF, fact check , come back, continue the conversation with some real meat and edit out the gap before airing. It's not even just Dozier file detailed stuff, it can be a simple Google check for when both goes, "I don't know what that is, but I guess..." Those moments just make the hosts seem lazy and the show drops in professionalism and interest for me. That wouldn't seem like such a bad thing if it were just two DJs sitting around a table at their mics trying to fill up time on their morning show saying, "Hey, remember that Batman show?" But this podcast was and has been presented as a more academic approach to examining and dissecting the making and legacy of the TV program and not just two brothers sitting on a couch just guessing at stuff. Maybe my expectations are too high about these things but I have found it so frustrating over the years, I rarely listen anymore as I have not witnessed any growth or effort to do better on that front.
2) About the lack of prep before speaking to a guest. I find it insulting to the guest (whether they take insult with it or not) when the interviewing host doesn't even do the slightest bit of research on their guest so they can be a little more familiar and have somewhat knowledgeable questions. Google is a handy thing and just a little bit of digging or rather clicking can make those interviews so much better. Two licks revealed to me:
http://williamsstudio2.com/about-us/lyn ... abricator/
http://williamsstudio2.com/about-us/chu ... -sculptor/
This would have been great to have read before someone talked to them. "So what do you do?" "Can people buy your stuff?" "What's the cowl made out of? Is it all fabric?" Are the sort of uneducated questions I expect from someone on a Con floor with a cameraperson and a mic who knows absolutely nothing about who they are talking to or that they were ever going to encounter them. That is so different from being a host with a guest. That puts all the pressure on the guest to come up with the content while it seems the host is making up questions as they go along. Just a bit of familiarity would give it a "conversational but with quality content" aspect to it. Something like, "Lynne, I read that you worked on some movies like 'Honey I blew up the Kids' and 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.' Were there any odd challenges or things learned on those that might relate to a production like Batman or in recreating these costumes?" or 'Chuck, I saw on your store, Williams Studio 2 over on Etsy, that you offer a Shakespeare bust that you say in the description was 'created after tracking down the original 170 year old bust that the TV show bust was created from.' Wow, how did you figure that one out?" Instead, we get:
"So um, if people like want to order a costume or something, how do they find you?"
"On Etsy, um, Williams Studio 2."
"Hmm, okay..cool" (sounding surprised to find this out)
In my opinion, this really needs to get better. Sorry, but if one sees a friend drinking poison, that person is better off letting the other know so. And to be honest, the items I have brought up here in general seem to be the most common offline complaints whenever people discuss the show over the years.
Last but not least. I ask that this post is not included in any way on the podcast. In the past, the rebuttals on the shows are often very one sided and often more defensive. If someone from the podcast takes issue with what I've said or perceived intent, I am more than open to chat about it with them either here, PM, email, phone call, Skype, Zoom or other (I'll learn another program to do so) if it will help to clear anything up. Again, I do not condemn or hate the show or have anything personal against either brother. They have been more than kind to me in the past. I just hope things can grow from here.
