The Ringer

deanx0

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 7, 2004
2,506
Orlando, FL
The Arrested Development episode they picked (season 1, episode 2, “Top Banana”) isn’t even a top 5 of that season, let alone the entire run. Plus no Veronica Mars, Shield, or You’re the Worst, but the Oprah interview of Tom Cruise and a Price is Right make it? Sure....
 

MillarTime

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
1,338
The Arrested Development episode they picked (season 1, episode 2, “Top Banana”) isn’t even a top 5 of that season, let alone the entire run. Plus no Veronica Mars, Shield, or You’re the Worst, but the Oprah interview of Tom Cruise and a Price is Right make it? Sure....
The biggest mistake they made was limiting to one episode per series. You’re either doing the top 100 episodes or you’re not. Not sure why they limited themselves with MLB All Star rules...
 

deanx0

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 7, 2004
2,506
Orlando, FL
The biggest mistake they made was limiting to one episode per series. You’re either doing the top 100 episodes or you’re not. Not sure why they limited themselves with MLB All Star rules...
Because otherwise it would have been 100 episodes of the Challenge. The staff knows who they are writing to
 

Clears Cleaver

Lil' Bill
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2001
11,370
The Arrested Development episode they picked (season 1, episode 2, “Top Banana”) isn’t even a top 5 of that season, let alone the entire run. Plus no Veronica Mars, Shield, or You’re the Worst, but the Oprah interview of Tom Cruise and a Price is Right make it? Sure....
No Archer!! Absurd
 

ifmanis5

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 29, 2007
63,740
Rotten Apple
The content of that list was laughably bad. I enjoyed the concept and the layout was great to look at but the actual choices were insane. They even violated their own premise with BSG and couldn't even muster a good defense for it. Kind of like the Starbuck reveal, but I digress.
 

Mystic Merlin

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 21, 2007
46,767
Hartford, CT
Waiting for the article titled "Can Nick Foles Save The 2018 NFL Season?"

I like the Ringer, as there's some really great podcasts and a good smattering of writing on various sports topics, but they can stand to lose some of the forced premises that feed the content machine.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
Waiting for the article titled "Can Nick Foles Save The 2018 NFL Season?"

I like the Ringer, as there's some really great podcasts and a good smattering of writing on various sports topics, but they can stand to lose some of the forced premises that feed the content machine.
And, yet, that machine needs to be fed.
 

allstonite

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 27, 2010
2,472
He also re-signed with ESPN today. Interesting he's doing both. A lot of the tension seems to have thawed between Simmons and ESPN which is probably best for everyone.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
He also re-signed with ESPN today. Interesting he's doing both. A lot of the tension seems to have thawed between Simmons and ESPN which is probably best for everyone.
Yes, it's thawed considerably. Things are happening with Simmons and ESPN that wouldn't have even been a consideration two years ago.

And I know Simmons get a truck load of flack on this site, like most individuals in sports media. And this is only anecdotal, but every single person I come across who listens to Podcasts avidly listens to Simmons' podcast. And they love him. This is for both men and women. It's universal and across the board.

He's insanely popular, the number of fans and their love of Simmons surprised even me.
 

Senator Donut

post-Domer
SoSH Member
Apr 21, 2010
5,500
ESPN leadership is completely different than ten team that forced Simmons out, so that seems to have helped the relationship.

I’ll echo a lot of what has been said about Russillo. I remember Simmons used to call into his ESPN Boston radio show that no one listened to (or was it Felger’s show?), and they were both excellent together. The Ringer’s college football podcast is also pretty crappy, so almost any hire would be an improvement.
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,668
Russillo and Bill have been really good together on Simmons' podcast; they'd never do it but a four-hour daily talk show between the two would be interesting. Also, Russillo told an incredible story on the last BS podcast he was on about his interactions with a stalker. Russillo was staying at a women's house (I forget her name, but I think she's an anchor for Fox Sports or something like that) in LA while he was settling in and she wasn't home, but there was a creepy guy waiting in front of her house who said that he was "invited" and it turned out he saw a post on Instagram and said that was an invitation to stop by. It's amazing but also a very sad reality of women who work in media.

Bill mentioned on a podcast not too long ago when a guest (maybe Russillo?) was talking about the Grantland Basketball Hour that never took off because he got fired, and Bill mentioned that "something like that might be happening with (ESPN) down the road." So the ice has definitely thawed.
 

ifmanis5

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 29, 2007
63,740
Rotten Apple
Bill also announced he and Ryen will also do an NBA podcast every Monday after the NFL season is over that will run into July to include the draft and free agent transactions.
 

BS_SoxFan

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2005
2,230
Merrimack Valley
The GM Street podcast has been unlistenable since Hard Knocks started. I can’t believe no one from The Ringer has told Lombardi to give it a rest on the constant criticism of the Browns. He clearly has a conflict and bias given his history there. It’s painful to listen to.
 

allstonite

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 27, 2010
2,472
Once I got used to their personalities back at Grantland I came to really enjoy Chris and Andy. However, I think The Watch has dropped off considerably in the past few months. Andy is making his own show, which is great for him, but it's really ruined one of my favorite podcasts. Every episode lately is Andy saying "haven't seen it, haven't seen it, inside joke, haven't seen it, saw one episode and I won't be continuing" or the two of them rehashing their same arguments about remakes or where TV/streaming is going.

It's understandable why this is happening but it makes for really bad content for listeners. I'd rather have Chris with other personalities on to discuss the more current topics in pop culture and maybe have Andy's check ins be just about the ins and outs of making a pilot and what goes in to it. To be fair they've been leaning towards this lately but Andy's call ins are still mostly useless.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
Once I got used to their personalities back at Grantland I came to really enjoy Chris and Andy. However, I think The Watch has dropped off considerably in the past few months. Andy is making his own show, which is great for him, but it's really ruined one of my favorite podcasts. Every episode lately is Andy saying "haven't seen it, haven't seen it, inside joke, haven't seen it, saw one episode and I won't be continuing" or the two of them rehashing their same arguments about remakes or where TV/streaming is going.

It's understandable why this is happening but it makes for really bad content for listeners. I'd rather have Chris with other personalities on to discuss the more current topics in pop culture and maybe have Andy's check ins be just about the ins and outs of making a pilot and what goes in to it. To be fair they've been leaning towards this lately but Andy's call ins are still mostly useless.
The "haven't seen this, that, this, that and this, heh heh heh isn't it funny because this is a TV and movie podcast called The Watch and I don't watch anything" repartee is definitely grating.

Seems like Sam Esmail has time to watch TV and he's always working on big productions.
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,668
I thought this was funny and I'd probably buy an Issac Lee album if he released one:

 

allstonite

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 27, 2010
2,472
The "haven't seen this, that, this, that and this, heh heh heh isn't it funny because this is a TV and movie podcast called The Watch and I don't watch anything" repartee is definitely grating.

Seems like Sam Esmail has time to watch TV and he's always working on big productions.
Coming back to this after yesterday's episode I think I'm done with The Watch episodes that Andy is on. Did he age an extra 40 years in the past few months? He used to be very critical which people complained was negative but now he sounds miserable when talking about today's pop culture on his pop culture podcast. I'm not going to see Aquaman either but I know why it exists and that's because it'll make about a billion dollars. I could have done without him ripping it for 15 minutes. Also, for someone who was a music critic at the beginning of the internet music age in the early-mid 2000's he can't open a zip file? I still love Chris, especially on pop culture, so hopefully Andy's show gets picked up and he can't record as much so Chris can take advantage of some of the rest of the Ringer's talent on the show.

Speaking of Ringer Pop Culture podcasts, Micah Peters' On Shuffle is surprisingly good. I wasn't impressed when he appeared on other podcasts. His voice isn't the best and he always talked in memes or obscure rap lines and then he overlaughed. However, he's a great host on this. He is really well informed on a wide variety of music and he gets great guests. The production is really well done when they splice in sections of the songs being discussed. He also keeps them at 40 minutes max which is perfect for this show.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
Coming back to this after yesterday's episode I think I'm done with The Watch episodes that Andy is on. Did he age an extra 40 years in the past few months? He used to be very critical which people complained was negative but now he sounds miserable when talking about today's pop culture on his pop culture podcast. I'm not going to see Aquaman either but I know why it exists and that's because it'll make about a billion dollars. I could have done without him ripping it for 15 minutes. Also, for someone who was a music critic at the beginning of the internet music age in the early-mid 2000's he can't open a zip file? I still love Chris, especially on pop culture, so hopefully Andy's show gets picked up and he can't record as much so Chris can take advantage of some of the rest of the Ringer's talent on the show.

Speaking of Ringer Pop Culture podcasts, Micah Peters' On Shuffle is surprisingly good. I wasn't impressed when he appeared on other podcasts. His voice isn't the best and he always talked in memes or obscure rap lines and then he overlaughed. However, he's a great host on this. He is really well informed on a wide variety of music and he gets great guests. The production is really well done when they splice in sections of the songs being discussed. He also keeps them at 40 minutes max which is perfect for this show.
And the Press Box with Curtis and Shoemaker is a Top 3 podcast right now. They are really awesome when it comes to news and politics and how the news relates to the world and to politics.
 

Mugsy's Jock

Eli apologist
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 28, 2000
15,069
UWS, NYC

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
I just caught up with The Firm Rewatchables podcast. It was excellent, and absolutely hilarious! The Ringer keeps on churning out pretty stellar stuff on the Podcast front.
 

cheech13

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 5, 2006
1,608
Bryan Curtis' oral history of Fox's acquisition of NFL rights (and John Madden) from CBS, and then the subsequent lead-up to their first season in 1994, is absolutely fantastic:

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2018/12/13/18137938/nfl-fox-deal-rupert-murdoch-1993-john-madden-terry-bradshaw-howie-long-jimmy-johnson-cbs-nbc
Agreed. A great story and lots of interesting details that I did not know. I was 11 when the switch happened and it all just looked like football to me. I had no idea how unique and forward thinking the change in presentation was.
 

allstonite

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 27, 2010
2,472
The Godfather Rewatchables was great but I really wish they had Koppelman, who was mad he wasn't on it, in Fennessey's chair. I'm sure he's forgotten more inside Hollywood stuff than I'll ever know but this seemed like a big blind spot for him. How did he not know Frankie 5 Angels was supposed to be Clemenza? And that was Luca Brasi's bulletproof vest? There were a few other times he seemed a little lost or surprised.

Besides that it was a lot of fun as I expected it to be. Bill screwed up a ton of names and minor stuff like that but that comes with the package with him. You can tell he really loves this movie and has seen it tons of times.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2008
4,263
New England
The Godfather Rewatchables was great but I really wish they had Koppelman, who was mad he wasn't on it, in Fennessey's chair. I'm sure he's forgotten more inside Hollywood stuff than I'll ever know but this seemed like a big blind spot for him. How did he not know Frankie 5 Angels was supposed to be Clemenza? And that was Luca Brasi's bulletproof vest? There were a few other times he seemed a little lost or surprised.

Besides that it was a lot of fun as I expected it to be. Bill screwed up a ton of names and minor stuff like that but that comes with the package with him. You can tell he really loves this movie and has seen it tons of times.
Thanks for the heads up. Downloading now. It’s my first foray into the series.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2008
4,263
New England
The Godfather podcast was hit and miss for me.

Miss: But I've spent at least 100 hours thinking about the movie, and I've never once cared what Michael was doing after the war and before the wedding.

Hit: I've spent at least 200 hours thinking about The Sopranos, and I never realized Bada Bing was an homage to Sonny's explanation of shooting a cop at close range.

The impressions were pretty great, even Simmons's Kraut McFriend. But Simmons's take on Johnny Fontane (he's too old!) was just plain wrong. His staff tried to explain to him that Johnny (like Vito) was supposed to have lost a step, but he wasn't having it.

But I'll tune in for the episode on Part II, and peruse the back catalog. I love JAWS and just saw Face/Off last week. I've never seen The Firm.

I'm intrigued by The Godfather Notebook that they mentioned in the podcast. I didn't know it exists, so that's cool.
 

Kliq

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 31, 2013
22,668
Maybe I'm too young to understand this, but Fennessey's argument that The Godfather wasn't James Caan's apex because he was still a few years away from doing Rollerball seemed odd. If you walked down the street and asked people to name one James Caan movie, how many people would say Rollerball?
 

Spelunker

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 17, 2005
11,858
Maybe I'm too young to understand this, but Fennessey's argument that The Godfather wasn't James Caan's apex because he was still a few years away from doing Rollerball seemed odd. If you walked down the street and asked people to name one James Caan movie, how many people would say Rollerball?
Now, sure. But then? Was he a bigger star, with more 'juice', in 72 or 75?
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2008
4,263
New England
Maybe I'm too young to understand this, but Fennessey's argument that The Godfather wasn't James Caan's apex because he was still a few years away from doing Rollerball seemed odd. If you walked down the street and asked people to name one James Caan movie, how many people would say Rollerball?
If you ask me, I’d say Elf. Maybe Misery. His performance as Sonny is marvelous, but I think Caan and my mind goes there.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 23, 2009
20,676
Maine
Miss: But I've spent at least 100 hours thinking about the movie, and I've never once cared what Michael was doing after the war and before the wedding.
Caught up on the episode today and this part jumped out at me too. Even though he referenced it a few times, I don't think Simmons read the novel. If he did, he'd know what Michael was up do after the war and before the wedding...he was in college at Dartmouth with Kay. It is referenced a couple different times in the movie. Sonny's line about "blowing his brains all over your nice Ivy League suit" being the most obvious.

But Simmons's take on Johnny Fontane (he's too old!) was just plain wrong. His staff tried to explain to him that Johnny (like Vito) was supposed to have lost a step, but he wasn't having it.
Yes. Again, if he'd read the novel, he'd have a better grasp of Fontane's back story. He was aging out of his heartthrob crooner days and losing his singing voice, so he wanted the film role because it would give him a new career where he didn't have to rely on his voice. I think Simmons was too married to the idea that the role was based on Sinatra...the back story yes, the whole character...not so much.

Obviously since those details aren't in the movie, it's hard to fault a guy for not knowing them. But for as big a Godfather fan as Simmons claims to be, you'd think he'd have read the book at some point.