Hola, Sneakers!
So…iTunes is strongly encouraging podcasters to not include episode numbers in their posts so from now on we will be differentiating episodes by giving them a title related in some way to the main theme or topic of each show. (We also have to go back and remove episode numbers from our past 377 shows so…hooray?)
That said, this week on the show: science questions; calories; Tic Tacs, sparks in the closet; Sparks in book form; accelarating work rates; hairballs; Ian loves Ten Speed and Brownshoe; Stephen J. Cannell shows; Ian and Dave have thoughts about TV show finales: Life, Medium, Life on Mars, Corner Gas, Extras, Dream On, Ash Vs. Evil Dead; Land of the Lost all get a mention; Supernatural B.C.; Freddie Mercury as Bond villain; horse whispering; priorities; The Price is Right, bitch; “speaking of heroin”; Ian has complicated feelings about your idea of fun; new uses for Mt. Everest; Tom Cruise and his ego; shout outs; Dave’s choir goes straight to Hell; and, finally, a Frostin’ of Austen.
Question of the Week: Which TV shows ended best? And Sub-Question of the Week: Which ended worst?
Here is a clip of Free Solo climber Alex Honnold discussing mountain climbing in the movies:
The filmmakers of Free Solo discuss the making of the film:
Alex Honnold discusses how he planned and undertook his free solo climb of El Capitan:
Tom Cruise discusses the HALO jump in MI: Fallout:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Great show guys. That sucks about having to remove the numbers from the shows. I’ve been going back and downloading the old shows (and binge-listening). So far I’m back to where David has made his chicken coop.
Worst show ending: MASH
You’re darn right about the M*A*S*H finale. Yuck!
After posting the show – and reacting to a message from our podcast host – I researched this new iTunes requirement and it looks like they walked it back. So, it’s numbers ahoy!
Six Feet Under had a great final episode.
Yep, that had one of the greatest finales of all time.
Yeah, that final sequence had tears rolling down my face and I’m a pretty tough nut to crack. I thought Breaking Bad wrapped up well too.
Firmly siding with David on this one. Many people would rather chase adrenaline and die young than live a long boring (in their opinion) life. In fact, a long, safe, risk-free life is probably a fate worse than death for them. Different strokes for different folks!
Also, no, you don’t get nearly the same kind of thrill using a VR program or taking drugs (??!).
Then we need better VR programs and drugs, I don’t want my dumb 20 year old self killing me. I only got to be a person I kinda like 15 years ago.
You do you. Let them do what they like.
Is it too soon to say the Seinfeld finale was great?
Spaced also ended perfectly, wrapping everything up, but leaving me wanting more.
Treme was a series that started out superbly and kept me hooked for two seasons. It lost its way in season 3 though, and the final episodes were like a different show altogether.
The ending of The Prisoner was pretty terrible, but also fun, in a batshit crazy way.
I’m still trying to work out whether the end of Blake’s 7 was brilliant or awful. If you haven’t seen it, it’s on YouTube. Is it left open for another series, or not? You’d have some heavy and implausible explaining to do…
Ditto The Prisoner. Does anyone know what that was all about?
I’ve watched that guy from Free Solo and I think to myself, that’s crazy. But I also competed at a high level in a sport that has the highest human fatality rate, and at the time, I was aware that there were dangers, but also confident in my own abilities. An Olympic coach I’ve done clinics with put it this way: there are four levels we travel through when we are learning something – 1) is unconscious incompetence (you don’t know what you don’t know; blissful unawareness); 2) conscious incompetence (you know your weaknesses); 3) conscious competence (you know what to do); 4) unconscious competence (you don’t even need to think about what to do, you react). Getting to that fourth stage, whether you call it the zone, or flow state, or some other term, is the nirvana for all athletes in all sports. It’s like drugs, sure, but only in the most superficial and negative of comparisons. There is a euphoria, but there’s so much more to it that so much more positively affects a person both in the short term and in the long term. Many people take drugs to escape from their fears; sports can be a positive way to learn that fear is something that can be overcome.
You and Nina are probably both right.
Sorry, hadn’t finished listening to the entire episode when I posted the above; now that I have, for the latter half, I’m going with Team Ian on a couple of points.
I think when you make the transition from doing something that is a passion to doing something that is a paid gig, that’s when we have to sit back and take stock a bit more. Periodically, chasing the dollar can take precedence over one’s health, and we feel compelled to do a thing because it’s now in the hands of others (a boss, for instance), or through circumstances, we’ve given it over to others (an audience, etc.).
The two times I have been injured by horses (the aforementioned horse falling and rolling over top of me, but some broken ribs about three years ago) were both situations where, if it had been my own horse, I would not have been there – I would not have been out riding, as the horse wasn’t ready. But in both cases, there was a lot of pressure from clients to make sure we got out there to ride. Because time was the limiting factor in both cases, hence the push to get going. And I’ve been in those situations many times, and things worked out.
But life’s a gamble. And sometimes, you roll the dice and … it’s you who ends up rolling on the ground.
Anyway, long story short, I’m now at an age where I just go ‘Nope’ when people ask me to climb aboard their bucking bronco. But I see the starry eyed youth out there taking big risks, and my heart and my aching bones hurt for their future selves.
So, I hear ya.
Best Finales
Cheers
The Wire
Everybody Loves Raymond
Breaking Bad
Re: catching up Supernatural (and other TV series). If you’re only planning to watch the episodes once and don’t really want to own them, the Vancouver Public Library has complete seasons on DVD or Blu-Ray you can borrow for free. The downside with library DVDs is that you occasionally run into a scratched one that freezes. But I have one of those CD and DVD scratch repair kits and I’ve always been able to fix them.
I’m a huge Cheers fan and I can honestly say I remember watching the first episode when it originally aired. I was watching it with my Dad, who grew up in my Grandparent’s tavern. When it was over, he said Cheers was the most faithful representation of a neighborhood tavern he’s ever seen on TV. From that moment on I followed every season right to the last episode on May 20th, 1993. At the end, when Sam is alone, he stops to straighten a picture of Geronimo on the back wall of the bar. I read somewhere that the picture was donated to the set by Nicholas Colasanto, who played Coach Ernie Pantusso from 1982 to 1985 and it was a small homage to him from Danson. Best finale I can remember.
One of the worst finales was Heroes. Actually it got bad long before the finale, maybe due to the writer’s strike back then, but ending that show was like putting a dying animal out of it’s misery. I liked not so much when it first started, probably for the first two seasons, so in contrast to how much I liked it, it was just painful to watch.
Another finale that I might need to go back and watch is the LOST finale, maybe the entire series needs re-watching. I was a huge fan of that damn show and the ending was just perplexing as hell. Maybe you guys can discuss your take on it.
I’ll finish this out with The Sopranos finale, so bad and confusing that it’s now regarded as David Chase’s work of genius? Debatable….
I have no idea what the best finale would be, but one of the worst has to be How I Met Your Mother‘s. It wasn’t a bad concept, but pulling a bait-and-switch after ten years of getting fans invested in the central gimmick didn’t work out.
My pick for the best ending would be “Newhart” (the one where Suzanne Pleshette appeared).
I didn’t like the Lost finale when I first saw it but I rewatched it the day after (to enrage myself again, I guess) and I’ve come to believe it might be one of the best endings of a show ever, because of the shear size of its balls. It could seriously be the end of any show because it basically just says “this is the most important story that happened to all of these characters and now they’re going to get to live their afterlife together regardless of religion or beliefs.” I mean, that’s pretty strong stuff right there! A real massage circle for the writers room. Also, it wasn’t all the after life. The island was real, the time travel, escaping the island, it all happened, it’s only the final season that had the “flash sideways”, which was the characters drifting through the afterlife, waking up to the realization and finding each other again. It’s worth a second look!
Also, disregarding season 9, Scrubs had a wonderful ending with the montage of JD and Dr Cox’s families growing together and the two of them finally becoming equals and friends. I cried a lot from that one. My wife will tell you… it was ugly. Like… I don’t know how we ended up married.
Also, I remember Parks and Rec having that great “5 years later” ending. That was both hilarious (naturally) and satisfying.
And here’s one from left field – the Scooby Doo Mystery Inc show. The one that got only two seasons to tell one long mythology (as well as monster of the week stuff) which ended on a cyclical nature to show the gang heading off on all the adventures that had come before. That show was seriously under appreciated.
Oh, and the Puss In Boots Netflix show that ran for 5 seasons but ended on a real kick in the teeth ending that nullified everything you’d just watched but left Puss himself in a better place. That was kinda ballsy too.