Tim Goodman's TV Talk Machine

Amber adds value to an otherwise value-free podcast

And now, Thursday's podcast a day early! That's very unlike us. But with a dearth of calls, we opted for lots of letters and when those ran out we just did a bunch of stupid voices. Now, that's very like us. Included is QB's take on The Count from "Sesame Street," who sounds suscpiciously like like Vladimir Putin. And once you get The Count, you know what follows. See, we give the people what they...

It's Tuesday's podcast a day late (and several phone calls short). But hey, our very own Tin Man, Benny Evangelista (aka Manny) checks in with an MP3 and doles out thank yous for all the support he's received. (Not from me, of course, or Question Boy aka Joe Garofoli we've mostly just made fun of him. But we're not hurt by his love for everyone else we think he's milking this heart attack thing fo...

Most of you got this last week via iTunes or when super sub Justin put it up on the podcast page at SFGate.com. But when I was partaking in a very busy week, I pulled away from the curb and left this little guy sitting by his lonesome. Ah, cute little Thursday 'cast. Don't worry about it a little therapy goes a long way. Calls, MP3s, letters, inanities. You know the drill.

Oh, heck yes we have calls. And MP3s. We complained about the lack of them, and voila they arrived. Question Boy (Chronicle media and politics writer Joe Garofoli) details why Benny is out (we think he listened to an entire podcast for the first time, THEN had the heart attack) and the recent appearance of Voice of America in the podcave. Benny, by the way, told super sub producer Justin Beck wher...

Justin finds all the messages people left for Benny (better late than never!) and we have a record amount of MP3s.

After acknowledging that producer Benny Evangelista had a heart attack recently but is recovering nicely and should return sometime soon to man the knobs we get back to business at the TVTM. And that business is to give the people nothing. ("And loving it!") We actually do have stuff to talk about. The Voice of America was filming and recording Question Boy (Chronicle media and political writer Jo...

There's a machine that records our voices. We borrowed Justin Beck to turn it on. Question Boy (Chronicle media and political writer Joe Garofoli) spoke into one microphone. I spoke into the other. When it was over, this is what happened.

It's uncharacteristic of us to ever turn serious in regard to the TV Talk Machine, but we thought it was time to tell you the good news about some recent bad news. On March 4, our friend, colleague and producer, Benny Evangelista, had a heart attack. He's now out of the hospital and well on his way to recovery, but we thought you should know -- with Benny's blessing -- why he's been absent and cou...

Here's the promised podcast interview with Mitch Hurwitz and Will Arnett. Hurwitz is the creator of "Arrested Development" and Fox's upcoming animated series "Sit Down, Shut Up" airing in April. Hurwitz also has a plethora of pilots that could be picked up this season including a remake of "Absolutely Fabulous." He has a lot of insight into the creative process and how things get done in the TV in...

Jason provides a new theme song. The man is tireless. "And loving it!" And yes, we have a normal (wait, "normal") assortment of stupidity, nonsense, non-answers, calls, e-mails, MP3s and a four page script for "Bars" sent in by BobMac from the 707, which we read cold (and badly, but at least with some awareness that we're bad, which might be funny). Also: "You've gotta be cruel to be kind." Wicked...

Well, on the day we get to post the 100th episode of our TV Talk Machine podcast, we now have to expedite the plans for that party. Given the news regarding The Chronicle today, it would be nice to be around for Ep. 200 -- or Ep. 103, for that matter. So, yes, we're going to hoist some beers (and relatively quickly) to celebrate our 2nd Birthday and 100th episode and maybe for some good luck cheer...

Thanks to QB for dreaming up both a Maxwell Smart voice and also Vladimir Putin and Porno Putin. ("I am going to go to Black Sea resort and pick up whores!") Question Boy gets put on the spot immediately and rallies, even if he confuses William Shatner with my David Brinkley. He does come up with Generic Latin Suave Man. (It's a start...). "That's going to need some shower time." Our 99th episode...

Well, this is a first: We actually remembered our birthday before it happened. Normally it's a couple of months too late. And in all honesty, Manny (Benny Evangelista) remembered. (Of course, he came upon the anniversary date while preparing to tell us he wouldn't get the second of this week's podcasts up until the weekend...but still....). Happy 2nd Birthday, TVTM! Honestly, we had no idea we'd m...

The hardest working people in podcasting are back at it. And we waste little time in getting right at it. What "it" eventually is, we do not know. But we know this much: "It" is not entertaining. Bob sends in a picture of him in his shorty robe and it's very short. "Bob's getting it done" we agree. Except for maybe the white socks. He's our third listener to send in a picture of where he listens t...

We are joined here by Amber from Canada, continuing our brilliant rush of getting things done in 2009. Our efficiency is off the charts. Although at a later point, someone tells us we're doing too many podcasts and we need to cut back. That didn't hurt our feelings at all. We cover a lot of ground in the two podcasts this week. In addition to Amber, we talk about Hanna from Sweden who -- above and...

It's the Chaser Edition! "A podcast about television." But what will you get in it? Um, face punching, Question Boy (Chronicle media and political writer Joe Garofoli) brings up some interesting new voices. I ate the rest of Megan's cookies and Manny (Benny Evangelista) is stunned by that news -- since he never got any of them. He's less stunned that "Benny's Corner" has been canceled. (There is,...

Unfortunately this podcast starts with a certain someone celebrating a certain Super Bowl victory which he rubs in another certain someone's face. We try to offset that -- thanks George D! -- by bringing back some great radio calls from the glory days of Your San Francisco 49ers! Elsewhere: News from television poorly told. Question Boy (Chronicle media and politics writer Joe Garofoli) unveils a...

I think we're going to start calling this The Chaser Edition, since the Tuesday edition pretty much takes care of all the news of the week, like TV stuff and music and books and What's Benny Been Doing? etc. We might even be able to call this particular podcast "efficient" and almost "fast-paced." Well, no. Probably not. We kick it off with a letter from Australia. Aussies in the house! (Teacher T...

I think we say in this TVTM that we have 36 Facebook friends as of Monday's taping. Last Joe checked the TV Talk Machine fan page on Tuesday, it was 54 or something. Apparently it's no longer embarrassing to be our friends. Good news. Elsewhere in the podcast, we make good on our promise to make Manny (Benny Evangelista) a pop culture icon by creating a "What's Benny Been Doing?" segment and boy,...

"What has Benny been up to?" We think this might be a great new segment for us. Benny is also on Facebook. Of course I mocked this on Tuesday, but on this day we're just looking to get Benny some love. Also, Benny found out that someone started a TV Talk Machine fan site on Facebook and we had, like, six people who loved us. Of course, we find this painfully funny. Later the number "jumped" to 10....

New president, new TV Talk Machine podcast. Coincidence? Yes! Just thought we'd ride the inaugural coat-tails there a bit...Not only do we have a new president -- welcome Barack Obama -- we have a new theme song for 2009! It's totally awesome and inspiring! Thanks Jason, you're the best. (And sorry for badgering you and shaming you into doing it...but we love it.) While we're still recovering from...

Question Girl Sheri from the Vale returns for part two, we get an e-mail from South Africa (hello South America, you are on the clock); and Question Boy (Joe Garofoli) continues his unfortunate impersonation of Porno Dick Nixon. Dave from the 707 gives us a professionally constructed MP3 that includes snippets of Colin Murray's "Fighting Talk" -- Dave suggests we could change our name to TVFTM (TV...

Sheri from the Vale, one of our Question Girl "winners," showed up for two podcasts this week. This one really needs to be heard to be believed. As does the next one. Question Boy (Chronicle media writer Joe Garofoli) got along splendidly with his alleged QG rival. Almost too well, as you'll hear. And he busted out another voice. Which I wish he wouldn't have, because it's skeevy... But I was over...

We did our part. We rambled forever. We took calls and read e-mails and did dumb stuff. That's what we do. That's our ART, man. So here it is. With one strange caveat. I think we forgot to do Walton. Seriously.