Tim Goodman's TV Talk Machine

The holiday songs have been sung, the presents unwrapped (thanks, Santa, for the velveteen shorty robe) and we have said goodbye to 2008 (velveteen shorty robe a HUGE hit at the party). Vacation, holidays, sick days -- all over. Time to work in the new year. So here it is, our very first TVTM podcast of 2009. In a surprising twist, we actually have some TV related content here. Lots of it, actuall...

So, yeah, we were off for about a month. Vacations. Being sick. "Manny being Manny." But we got the Three Wise Men back in the studio (insert uproarious laughter right here) and went to work on bringing the TV Talk Machine podcast back to life for two versions this week. Question Boy (aka Joe Garofoli, Chronicle media writer) and Manny (aka Benny Evangelista, former savior to the Business Departem...

Yeah, it's late. Whatever. Benny apparently finished his basement work (at the Chronicle, not at Chez Manny), sometime on Sunday, but it's not like I'm home frantically checking for his updates. And yet, here it is, in all of its glory. And yes, it's oozing glory. See the info in Part 1 to give you a pretty good idea of what's going to happen here. Since we're so late in this week's double-dose, w...

We cold call Daniel in Toronto and make him answer a very hard question. Then we accuse him of flirting with J.J. Abrams. It's very complicated. And very flirty. And we call him on the usurping Amber thing. And we make another hockey reference (That's pretty much the extent of our Canadian understanding, outside of the beer.) Daniel does a fine job. At some point, we answer questions. Mostly accur...

I provide an explanation, nearly two years too late, about what we do and what you're listening to (hey, we're adding lots of new listeners who have no idea what they're getting into or hearing). After that, we get to a string of letters, accusations, suggestiveness, poorly executed singing and random vocal mannerisms (translation: our usual stuff). I then read a letter that suggests I've been fli...

Calls and letters from around the globe. A song for Joe. Our man in France resurfaces -- and his name is Jerry. And we all totally lose it in the podcave when Joe does his French Walton. Maybe there really was some kind of genius in not telling people outside of America who Bill Walton really was, because not knowing allowed them to do their own versions. A man for all seasons, all countries. But...

Take the TVTM to the polls with you! Help kill the time -- "and any intellectual curiosity you might have." So sayeth Question Boy (Joe Garofoli) who helped bang out this podcast before donning his Election Shorty Robe (with bunting!)and jumping on a plane to cover the election. Good for him. It's handy to remember he's actually a journalist, not just a guy who does really lousy voices on this pod...

First, a few minutes on drinking and throwing up. But then -- after a lovely musical interlude, we have a chat about "Mad Men." Question Boy (Joe Garofoli) is a huge fan of the series and, of course, I am as well. On this very Bastard Machine blog you can find three long and detailed entries that 1) Deconstruct Season 2 up until the finale 2) Deconstruct the finale and 3) discuss 10 mostly relevan...

A lonely nation turns its ears to the TVTM and we respond by filling those ears with nothing -- precisely the remedy that will get us through these tough times. After administrative machinations deprived the world of the TVTM, cooler heads have prevailed as international negotiators working around the clock in Geneva and also, simultaneously, in a small, secret space inside the United Nations, hav...

It's not a goodbye. We'll be back. And if for some reason we're not, we'll put up a long, teary-eyed post about it then, and wear shorty robes with black arm bands. Until then, we will not partake in emotion, nostalgia or even anger. We believe in radio without the listeners. We believe in offering almost nothing just as you expect nothing. Our 40+ minutes of new media stupidity will return. And h...

Is Girlina a show-killer? Ah, we kid. I told Girlina, who came all the way from New Orleans to be at our Bastard Machine/TVTM Birthday Bash hootenanny, that she was the Paula Marshall of Question Girls. Let's hope not. But as you may have noted on a previous post, this and Thursday's second half podcast may be our last TVTM for a while (possibly forever), since Benny Evangelista is being recalled...

Not sure this will make much sense to anyone who wasn't there. I lived through it (barely) so I haven't even listened to it yet. But in the words of one attendee, it was "epic." We came to a movie theater in "the ELC," (the Cerrito Speakeasy -- thanks guys!), we saw (television shows, public displays of affection, boozing, the tossing of swag, etc.) and we recorded it for posterity. Or something....

Ah, it's a little case of "My Ever Changing Moods." Whatever. Hope you liked our PSA that opens this podcast. Here's the pertinent information for this Thursday's fabulous hootenanny -- aka, the late birthday party for The Bastard Machine and The TV Talk Machine Podcast. (And yes, we're going to show some new fall fare and some great stuff from the vault, plus play some music and perform a live po...

Well, we take calls. We take e-mails. And we answer them. Period. That's what we do. Give the listeners what they come looking for. Thankfully, most of them come to the TV Talk Machine looking for and expecting nothing. And so we give them lots of that, too. The good news is that Question Boy (Joe Garofoli) atones for his complete and utter lack of worth in the last podcast with a sterling effort...

In this TV Talk Machine podcast, coming in at a sterling, entertainment packed 36 minutes, we get Manny (Benny Evangelista) back "working the knobs." In many ways, we missed Super Producer Sub Justin Beck. You always love what you can not have. But anyway, let's not defer the major announcement: Our Sept. 25 hootenanny at the Cerrito Speakeasy will not be a benefit (because we couldn't get the tec...

More scintillating TVTM to prick up your ears. Question Boy (Joe Garofoli) says he has a "man crush" on Jon Hamm (aka Don Draper), proving yet again that we are fearless in our sexuality. We also fearlessly have no information. But then we get rolling and boy, is that a good time. We also pimp our next big hootenanny on Sept. 25, where we will be doing this podcast LIVE on stage (pause for tingles...

After weeks and weeks of no TVTM to bore you with, we're back! And rustier than ever! The unprecedented work stoppage was littered with catastrophic failure at every turn -- vacations, actual work, other vacations, holidays, the lack of adequate or available fill-ins, Question Boy (media writer and political reporter Joe Garofoli) doing his other job, laziness -- you name it. Well, let me tell you...

Vacations (and perhaps some laziness) are taking a toll on the normally unflagging TV Talk Machine podcast production. This just in: Um, I forgot to post Part 2 from last week. (Hey, it was on the site, just not on the blog, and most of you seem to be getting it from iTunes anyway...). This also just in: Manny (Benny Evangelista) is on vacation, so he sent an e-mail virtually demanding that I wait...

Did a lot of work in Los Angeles, covering the Death March with Cocktails. Didn't do a podcast. Said I was going to do one -- or three -- and didn't. In this podcast, I fess up to that. But it's not really an apology. Who needs one of those? On the plus side, this particular podcast, complete with Question Boy (Joe Garofoli) and Manny (Benny Evangelista), has yet another new theme song, features u...

Was reminded that we posted this on SFGate.com but not on The Bastard Machine. And yes, I've got more audio stuff but am too lazy to upload most of it and forgetful in other instances and can't be bothered in still more. Oh, and too busy with words to bother with sound. Clearly a TV Talk Machine podcast from here seems very, very unlikely. Anyway, off to the CBS hootenanny.

Spike Lee was here representing his documentary on Kobe Bryant for ESPN. He touched on issues like Obama, the possible enlightenment of power people in Hollywood and the fact that he hasn't been able to make three films on black artists (but they will eventually get done). Here's a snippet.

The kinda-sorta lost episode of TVTM... Yes, it was posted on the front of SFGate.com, but as Benny "Manny" Evangelista pointed it, I never posted it to The Bastard Machine. Just a little housekeeping here and then back to the inanity of this day.

Back from Paris and a little rusty, but how could anyone tell? Question Boy (Joe Garofoli) and Manny (Benny Evangelista) are no longer sitting on their hind parts with nothing to do. It's the TVTM -- the same rambling and pointless lovefest for humanity (and the arts) that it was two weeks ago and several lost e-mails ago. There are two TVTM's this week before I -- your Citizen of the World -- hea...

Brutal. Another example of the dumbassification of America. And then some. But it's not our fault.

Oh, it's a thing of beauty. That's all that need be said.