A Very Special Episode

In our latest episode, we stay in the 90s but crank up the sadness, as we review the debut episode of NewsRadio 's fifth season, "Bill Moves On", in which the cast deals with the tragic death of the legendary Phil Hartman both in-universe and in the real world. Join Ryan, David & Austin as they try to hold back tears while talking Hartman's legacy, our favorite Stephen Root character, and the...

With a revival looming, we return to Roseanne (and shameless pop culture piggybacking!) to review season 1, episode 23 "Let's Call It Quits", in which Roseanne does her best Norma Rae impression to take on her imperious & casually-chauvinistic boss, future US Senator Fred Thompson! Join David, Carolyn & Austin as we discuss robots, beer and George Clooney's magnificent hair, as well as our...

More power! This week, we dive into one of the 90s longest running shows with a Very Special "just say no to drugs!" installment of Home Improvement , in which Tim & Jill are stunned to discover one of their boys is smoking marijuana. Of course, the whole thing takes on some added meaning considering Tim Allen's...shady past, and you can bet Austin, Carolyn & David point that out. They als...

This week, we finally discuss Ryan's all-time favorite sitcom, Taxi , with a very special episode about coping with the never-ending pressures that life piles on top of you. Carolyn shows up to make jokes about buttholes, alongside frequent special guest, comedian Amy Miller, who was invited on the show because she, too, could really use a great deal of therapy. Come for Danny Devito and Andy Kauf...

For our special Valentines Day episode, the Aluminum Four reunite to tackle one of the white whales of our podcast, an infamous Very Special Episode we've been after since the start of the podcast. Thanks to the help of intrepid listener who tracked down a copy, this week we're reviewing Too Close for Comfort 's "For Every Man, There's Two Women", in which the doofy Monroe is kidnapped and raped b...

This week we're diving into superhero TV to discuss the gun control episode of CW's Arrow , in which the Green Arrow is confronted with a problem he can't just shoot with an arrow, while the audience is confronted with a lot of opinions, but no clear stance on the subject. Join Austin, Carolyn, David and special guest, comedian & podcaster Chris Khatami, as we talk genre TV, hilariously non-sp...

We are back and fully rested from the holidays with a special treat for our first show of 2018: a live show that was recorded back in the halcyon days of 2017! Once upon a time, Ryan & Carolyn were joined by cartoonist and Star Wars Minute cohost Alex Robinson to talk classic public service announcement ads involving drugs, including the infamous "this is your brain on drugs" commercial that u...

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...Christmas in the slammer! That's right, for our final Christmas episode, we're going back to the big house to learn the facts of life as Blair learns an important lesson about convicts being people too. And because this episode is about 2/3 people singing (thus not inspiring much commentary), we pad things out with some d...

Whoa Bundy! Our holiday celebration continues as we look at one of the formative shows of the Fox network, Married...with Children , and its season four Christmas episode "Its a Bundyful Life", in which Al (after lots of setup) finds himself in a (brief)  It's a Wonderful Life pastiche in which Sam Kinison plays his guardian angel. Along the way, we discuss the show's often-problematic treatm...

Our holiday marathon continues as we rock our way into the more recent past to discuss the Metalocalypse Christmas episode, "Dethmas", a very special Christmas episode that plays like a greatest hits of previous TV Christmas specials, but with a coked-up half-naked clown thrown in. This may also be one of our more divisive episodes yet, as one of our hosts quite likes this, while another...does no...

Today's secret word is "podcast" (Ah! Podcast! Ahhhh!), as we kickoff our 2017 holiday programming by reviewing 1988's "Christmas at Pee Wee's Playhouse", in which Pee Wee hosts a bevy of special guests at his titular Playhouse to celebrate Christmas, from Charo to Whoopi Goldberg to Magic Johnson, and learns an important lesson (several times) about the spirit of the season. Join us as we talk fr...

Presenting a very special Very Special Episode, in which four nerds put Star Wars - from the dizzying highs of the binary sunset & dramatic paternal declarations to the lowest Jar Jar Binks-ian lows - on trial. For the Defense, one die hard Star Wars uber-fan & apologist (Austin). For the Prosecution, a triumvirate of fans running the gamut from the jaded (Carolyn) to the casual (David) to...

Gobble gobble everyone! For the second year in a row, we're spending Thanksgiving in the slammer! This year, we return to Family Ties to discuss the season one episode, "No Nukes is Good Nukes", in which Steven & Elyse spend the holiday protesting the proliferation of nuclear arms and end up in jail, while Alex and one of the Darrin's are insufferable asses about the whole thing. So grab some...

In a shameless attempt to piggyback on the pop cultural word-of-mouth surrounding the upcoming big budget Justice League movie, this week the Aluminum Four assemble to discuss that film's decidedly not-big-budget predecessor, 1997's Justice League of America , a failed attempt to launch a TV series inspired by the sitcom-esque Justice League comics by Keith Giffen & JM DeMatteis. This thing is...

Hot on the heels of the recent theatrical version and just in time for Halloween, this week Carolyn, Austin & David review the 1990 TV movie adaptation of Stephen King's It , in which a malevolent being in the form of a clown (Tim Curry) menaces a group of kids and their adult selves. Featuring Harry Anderson & John Ritter in the adult section, with Seth Green & Aluminum Four All-Star...

AVSE returns to the "very special" topic of our first episode (child molestation) with our first review of one of the many 80s era sitcoms centered around a family with nontraditional live-in domestic help, the season four episode of Mr. Belvedere , specifically, "The Counselor", in which bratty Wesley is sent to summer camp and ends up in a sad "boy who cried wolf" scenario when the titular couns...

Na-uu na-nu! Our TGIF-athon may be over, but this week's episode once again plunges into the halcyon sitcoms of yesteryear with a discussion of Mork & Mindy 's season two episode,"The Night They Raided Mind-ski's", in which alien Mork, played by America's beloved funny man, Robin Williams, falls in with a group of white supremacists. The fact that a sitcom episode from 1980 featuring a plot li...

Our TGIF marathon concludes with the show that started our little pop culture coffee klatch, Full House , and the season seven episode "The Apartment", in which DJ doesn't have sex with Steve in his swanky (?) new apartment, but gets the same level of shit from her dad as if she did. And no, this isn't the Papouli episode or the DJ eating disorder one, but more importantly, it is the episode that...

Our TGIF-athon continues with one of the block's oldest shows, Perfect Strangers , as we review season five, episode twenty-one, "This Old House", in which Larry decides to get in on the ground floor of that sweet HGTV money by flipping a house, and in the process, learns an important lesson about...greed...and...chandeliers, and, well, we'll be honest: there's not much "very special" about this p...

Join us as we once more endeavor to convince ourselves that the Friday nights of our youth weren't entirely wasted. That's right, it's part two of our AVSE TGIF series! This week we're discussing "90s  Brady Brunch ", aka  Step by Step,  season three, episode six, "Video-Mania", in which OCD Mark trades his addiction to good grades for that scourge of youth, video games. It sor...

This week, the Aluminum Four return to the halcyon days of TGIF to discuss "Good Cop Bad Cop", a season five episode of Family Matters in which Eddie (Darius McCrary) is pulled over for driving while black, much to the dismay of his police officer father (also, Urkel goes to the dentist). Not surprisingly, things get political in this one, but also personal, as Ryan's deep, abiding love for Urkel...

Mix yourself up a Seven & Seven, as Carolyn, Austin, Aaron and special guest Kyle McCormick attempt to get their "Mixology Certification" by discussing an atypically-morose episode of Community , in which Troy (Donald Glover) turns 21 only to discover adulthood isn't all it's cracked up to be when the study group takes him out drinking. So pour yourself some extra credit, then download and lis...

Hey there, True Believer! This week, we stretch the format of our show once again as we review a trio of "very special" comic books, Amazing Spider-Man #96-98 from 1971, which somewhat famously were published without the seal of the Comics Code Authority due to their depiction of drug use, despite having been commissioned at the request of the federal government to serve as an anti-drug story. Joi...

Hayyyyyyy, squirrel friends! This week, we stretch the boundaries of our show once again, as we tackle an actual current, still-on-the-air show by discussing the entirety of the ninth season of Ru Paul's Drag Race ! Join Ryan and Carol as they spend the entire episode arguing over who's the Ru and who's the Michelle Visage, while All Star and Fan Favorite guest judge Terry Blas returns to the podc...

This week, we finally confront one of life's eternal questions: what would we do, baby, without us? That's right, it's time to tackle one of the seminal sitcoms of the 80s, Family Ties ! Join Ryan, David and special guest Jess Tholmer as they discuss "A, My Name is Alex", in which Alex grapples with grief in the wake of his friend's sudden death, and the show stretches beyond its normal confines i...