It's a very special Saturday Morning Deathgrip, as this serves as our finale. We watched the final episode of 'David the Gnome' in which he and his wife decide that they're too old and need to die. Yep. That happened. We are also joined by ALMOST EVERY GUEST WE'VE EVER HAD. Our booking agent, Mort Fischerman, decided to sacrifice his spirit in order to revive every guest. If you've ever wondered how Shades from 'Denver the Last Dinosaur' is doing as a human toilet, you can find out. If you wonde...
Feb 05, 2015•1 hr 48 min
It might be New Years, but according to the Catholic calendar, it's still Christmas until January 4, so we're still celebrating. And how are we doing it? Disney Afternoon-style, with Talespin and the episode "A Jolly Molly Christmas". Listen in as we discuss such topics as what David Lynch's Talespin would have looked like, the actual failures of the business practices of Higher for Hire, what you call the piece of wood a pontoon boat lands next to (certainly not a dock), and whether certain mem...
Jan 02, 2015•58 min
We're back, with SLEIGHbells on. That's right- we celebrate the Holidays (all of them, Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, Memorial Day...) by watching a Christmas epsidoe of one of the greatest shows ever produced, Batman: The Animated Series. Call it a present to ourselves, but we just decided to wtach a legitimately good show. And we were not disappointed.Listen in as the lyrics to "Kiss From a Rose" which totally make sense are dramatically read, while we also,the naming conventions of Gotham City ...
Dec 16, 2014•1 hr 4 min
Well, it's a tiny bit past Thanksgiving, but that won't stop us from "celebrating" with a Thanksgiving episode of a show none of us wanted to watch: Life with Louie! While none of us could tell you exactly what Louie Anderson's standup involves, we can tell you we thought his voice was already the worst, until we remembered his voice as a child. In this episode we discuss so much, including how sweet Edie McClurg seems, the oddness of an early 60s-set cartoon that aired in the mid-90s, why someo...
Dec 02, 2014•1 hr 2 min
Great Scott! It's a trite intro! Yes this month we sat down and brought back from the past... Back To The Future the Animated Series. A show that was made after a great movie, but as we learned, unlike Scott, not all things are great. We also learn that Giancarlo could not be a part of the episode because of an acute case of being lazy, a condition his doctors called, "a waste of their time." We also learn his closest friend in the world is probably our interview guest, who happens to be a dead ...
Nov 11, 2014•1 hr 8 min
As we come to the climax of this month of terror, we watched the scarily insane "Attack of the Jack O'Lanterns" from the 90s live-action Goosebumps . Actually, Tim might not like our use of the word "climax." There are a lot of things Tim might not like in this episode, seeing as he has the sensibility of a normal human and it's possible that the rest of the SMDGers, in explaining why he's missing this episode, might go a little far... you be the judge, once your ears stop bleeding. For the firs...
Oct 27, 2014•1 hr 1 min
As the air turns crisps and people start putting cooky faces on pumpkins, it can only mean one thing- we have to check our episodes from last year to figure out how we do Halloween episodes. And this time, we do Halloween with The Real Ghost Busters (the space is canonical, look it up!) and the episode "When Halloween Was Forever." In this episode, we are playing a man (or WO-man, as it is) short, but we do our best to make up for it by talking about more nonsense than usual. We discuss the orig...
Oct 09, 2014•1 hr 3 min
On this week's episode of Saturday Morning Deathgrip , we watched a true rarity- the much beloved but oft forgotten animated gem - Columbo Jr . That's right, Hollywood allowed the fantastic team up of Hanna Barbera and the late, great Peter Falk and produced a Saturday morning cartoon based on LA's best homicide detective and his precocious nephew. In this go-round, we talked about what the Harlem Globetrotters really sound like, the ins and outs of pun making, how much baseball Steve Harvey doe...
Sep 26, 2014•1 hr 20 min
After a short summer break, SMDG is back and we treated ourselves to a cartoon that is made by people who had bother resources and evident desire to make a quality program, the fine folks who brought us Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers, a show that feels like it should have a colon or a possessive in the title, but doesn't! And it's Tim's favorite RR episode, "The Case of the Cola Cult" (it's because of this song right here .) In this episode, we discover the startling similarities between NBC sitco...
Sep 08, 2014•1 hr 2 min
For this week's Saturday Morning Death Grip , to the delight of everyone but a deeply indifferent Andrea, we watched an episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, "Convicts from Dimension X." And for that, we can also be considered heroes (though sadly we are not in half-shells). Should you decide to hit "play," you'll be treated to VERY accurate impressions of absent co-host Sean, revelations about how Mickey Rooney was the original Splinter and the origins of everyone's favorite cartoon, Nursing...
Aug 14, 2014•1 hr 8 min
Our long plugged, much anticipated live show came and went on July 12. We had a warm yet intimate (gross) audience come out and join us, and we appreciate it! We were also joined by Pete Lepage ( Comic Book Club Live ). This episode's format was a tiny bit different, as rather than review a single episode of anything, we pulled some of the most insane clips from the shows we've reviewed. You can visit our webpage (unless you're reading this at the site, so then look around...) and we will have t...
Jul 23, 2014•55 min
In this week’s episode of Saturday Morning Deathgrip , the gang is once again tortured by another of Giancarlo’s terrible suggestions – My Little Pony Tales . At this point, we’re relatively certain that Giancarlo’s entire being goes against the Geneva Convention. And, as soon as this post goes live, we will look into having him charged with some war crimes. Fortunately, while we’re getting Giancarlo deported to The Hague, you can feast your ears on scintillating discussions regarding horse mens...
Jul 07, 2014•1 hr 9 min
On this week's episode of Saturday Morning Deathgrip we watched C.O.P.S. and unlike many of cartoons we put ourselves through, this show was surprisingly un-horrible for a change. In addition to learning about Empire City and it's cybernetic team of law enforcers, we also learned that Giancarlo doesn't know what the word "slobberknocker" means and joins a long list of many, many other words. However, that is not the only shameful fact that gets revealed, as we also learn that Sean is from Georgi...
Jun 15, 2014•59 min
In this latest episode of SMDG, Giancarlo manages to trick the rest of the gang into watching a cartoon version of the comic strip Blondie. We quickly discover why only two episodes were ever produced. And we come to the conclusion that Giancarlo is never to be trusted again (in fairness, we should have come to this realization years ago). As Giancarlo tries in vain to defend his choices and Blondie’s artistic sensibilities, we manage to broach the staunch conservatism of Tim’s hometown newspape...
May 30, 2014•1 hr 10 min
In this latest episode of SMDG, we continue paying homage to upcoming films (we are addicted to homage!) as we subject ourselves to the cartoon version of Godzilla , co-produced by Tim's beloved Hanna-Barbera. The only bright spot is that the show might have helped to curb our aforementioned homage addiction. In other words, Godzilla could possibly be cartoon methadone. Of course, fear not; we move far beyond the potential palliative effects of Godzilla. Indeed, we address the rumors that Gianca...
May 15, 2014•55 min
In honor of the upcoming films Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-men: Days of Future Past , we (foolishly) decide to once again test the waters of Spider-man and His Amazing Friends . We were promised a crossover with X-men. And, as you can imagine, this promise was only partially delivered. However, we do manage to push through the heartbreak to discuss the type of pants Juggernaut may or may not wear, Aunt May's stress levels while unknowingly hosting the X-Men and whether or not a quickie can cause ...
May 02, 2014•1 hr 1 min
For today's episode we watch the 90's camping "classic" Camp Candy , a show about a camp owned by Canadian comediean John Candy with no explanation as to why Canadian comedian John Candy owns a camp. It's a real doozy! And by "doozy" we mean, "Uuuuugh." Join us as we discuss how to actually pronounce M. Nigh Shyamalan's name properly. Giancarlo pitches his script "Horsey: the Magical Flying Horse" which doesn't get the reception he's looking for, while Tim and Sean might just ruin Giancarlo's ch...
Apr 15, 2014•1 hr 12 min
For today's epsiode, we watched the "classic" animated series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe . And we can all thank Filmation for making the term "classic" hold no meaning for us. Listen in as we discuss the complexities of smartphone map systems. We also learn about Giancarlo's (not so) secret fantasies about robot horse/non-robot human relations. All of this is in an effort to not really focus on "Origin of the Sorceress," the somewhat confusing and convoluted episode focusing on the ...
Mar 31, 2014•1 hr 5 min
In this episode, we return to the unrelenting mediocrity of Hanna-Barbera in the 80s by watching The Snorks . This time around, we talked about a terrible clarinet and snare drum quartet Andrea was in in 6th grade that played Bryan Adams "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)", Tim and GC play by the syntactical rules of The Snorks while singing the theme to a much better show. If you do'nt know those syntactical rules, don't worry, we help you out with that, just like the shows, by strictly definin...
Mar 17, 2014•55 min
In honor of the new Robocop , we watched an episode of the animated Robocop, our second straight R-rated movie turned into a kids cartoon. What a world we live in, right? This time around, we learn Andrea's nickname, which has led her to legal trouble, Giancarlo fantasizes about some sexy cartoon ladies (never done that before, right?), some of us try to one up each other on Nixon references, and we talk about X-men for the thousandth time on a episode that's not at all about the X-men. Yes, we ...
Mar 01, 2014•1 hr 5 min
We are back and we are once again down one host. But luckily, we have four hosts normally, so it's not like there are awkward pauses. And one of the remaining host most certainly doesn't leave in the middle of the recording but gets edited in a way that makes it appear that she is there the whole time... certainly not! In this week's episode, we watched the pilot of one of the very first children's cartoons based upon an R-rated movie- "Rambo". Because what makes for better kid's cartoon than a ...
Feb 15, 2014•59 min
Hey everybody, we're back with a new episode. We really turned our formula on its ear by watching something we enjoyed, an episode of Muppet Babies. During this episode, we're a man down, as someone had the unmitigated gall to be sick and not present. But the remainder of the team carried on, stalwart and bold, like the fearless troopers we are. Anywho, in this episode you will thrill as we discuss Sean's potential contraction of Space AIDS, Tim discusses his unabiding love of June Cleaver, we f...
Jan 31, 2014•54 min
Hello there Grippers (a new name for our fan base, we’re just trying it out), because if there is anything we learned from this cartoon, it’s how much nicknames help make sense of everything. In today’s episode we watched the pilot episode of the 1985 Ewoks cartoon/forest fire PSA entitled, “The Cries of the Trees.” Listen as we talk about the Ewoks’ love of certain presentation styles, their love of their own confusing language and their love of dropping manure on other Ewoks. They’re a very po...
Jan 17, 2014•1 hr 3 min
We extend a belated (thanks to some computer issues) Christmas present to everyone, a second holiday episode of Saturday Morning Deathgrip. For this episode, we watched the episode of Alvin & the Chipmunks called "Merry Christmas, Mr. Carroll" which you'd never guess from the title, but it's an adaptation of Dicken's A Christmas Carol . In this episode we discus The Codcast (check your local listings!), who David Seville is not related to, the saddest old man in pop culture history, Richard ...
Dec 31, 2013•1 hr
In this excerpt from episode 14, we have an interview with two-thirds of the Chipmunks- Simon and Theodore. We hear about their take on thier films, reading in English, chemical weapons to protect America's freedoms, and the beauty of the holiday Chipmunkakah. If you enjoy this, why not listen to all of episode 14?
Dec 31, 2013•15 min
We sure do love Holiday episodes, don't we? Because here we are with a Christmas episode of SMDG. And what a Christmas it is. We, in fact, had ourselves a Morlock little Christmas, as we watched the episode of X-men "Have yourself a Morlock Little Christmas". We bucked our normal trend of watching things we despise by watching something we (at least three of us) genuinely love. But that doesn't mean we had nothing to talk about. I even think we avoided getting too technically detailed for you no...
Dec 13, 2013•1 hr 2 min
Excerpt from Episode 13 in which we interview Callisto, leader of the Morlocks, from the "X-men". Callisto is doing about as well as you'd expect from a physically scarred, one-eyed, sewer-dweller. We even find out what happened to her eye, and her Twain-like origins from before she made it to New York and moved into the realm of the DPW. If you enjoy this, why don't you listen to the full episode?
Dec 13, 2013•14 min
Hey folks. It's late November, the trees have all changed, there is turkey on our tables, Black Fridays that for some reason start on Thursday or even Wednesday at K-Mart, and we watched a Thanksgiving episode of an 80's classic, Care Bears. By classic, we mean, why did anyone watch this ever? In this episode we discuss at length the horrible idea of naming two of your characters "hugs" and "tugs", the importance of the traditional Thanksgiving speech in front of the whole town, how a small gas ...
Nov 27, 2013•52 min
An excerpt from Episode 12 of Saturday Morning Deathgrip, wherein we watched a Thanksgiving episode of Care Bears. Mort Fisherman, our booking agent, landed us not one, but two stars of the show, the baby Care Bears, Hugs and Tugs. We got some milage out of their names on the actual show, but here we just learn what the two tikes have been up to, we hear a couple of their original songs, the sad economic state of Cloud City (not Lando's sadly), and the official hugs of countries around the world...
Nov 27, 2013•13 min
Friends, we are back and we watched the most Eighties show that ever Eightied, "Jem and the Holograms." We watched the pilot episode, which, unbeknownst to us, was a two-parter, so we have no clue how the story ends. I don't know when our collective rear ends will be off the collective edges of our collective seats, but, boy oh boy, cliffhanger tension! In this episode you can thrill as we (the three guys) try to talk much more about the X-men cartoon from the 90s (including the world's greatest...
Nov 19, 2013•57 min
