Hello the Internet, and welcome to this episode of the Weekly Zeitgeist. These are some of our favorite segments from this week, all edited together into one NonStop infotainment laugh stravaganza. Yeah, so, without further ado, here is the Weekly Zeitgeist. Well, Miles, we are thrilled to be joined in our third seat by one of the very phases on Mount Zeitmore hilarious and brilliant producer, TV writer.
You know him from the Yos this racist podcast. It's Andrew Solidarity.
T Hey Solidarity, Welcome.
I've and having trouble with some of the Union songs.
Man, it's it's a little the Union song canon got a little white. And then briefly I was like playing like communist party Chinese music on my hype up to the picket line.
Yeah, a little weird. A lot of a lot of killing motherfuckers in those songs. You didn't you can sing like bela Chow.
You know, there's like that one good old, good old yarn from the Italians anthem.
You know what, Yeah, there's there's a probably there's a bunch of that, you know. Then there's probably a bunch of stuff in Spanish that is that's my fault that I went to Chinese copy.
Let you know first, you.
Know, so's everybody out there singing Richmond north of Richmond.
Yeah, it's it's not. It's the That was more of a beginning of the strike thing. I think that was when we were all like try to like try to be serious, try. I think what it was was we're trying to impress the teamsters, like we're cool, we're down, and now it's now it's just kind of at.
Your backs, just not picking up the signs. Oh my god, it's.
Really it's really it's been. It's been a good strike. I haven't seen you guys in a minute, but you know, strike it.
Yeah.
I mean that's why we wanted to have you on because just there's it's constantly changing.
And I think also our understanding of the industry.
I think, especially for like people outside of California, for shit, outside of LA have like a very like a perspective on what's happening, and it's not fully formed. And I think, you know, to the purpose of today is to really like roll our sleeves up, give some perspective and talk about like what's at stake here truly, because we definitely got a good intro.
When Adam Connover came on. And now that like things are slowly developing, we know a little bit more.
We kind of wanted to come back because this affects like eighty percent of our listener's favorite guests, Like most of y'all realize. All the comedians that we have on, a lot of them spend time in writers' rooms because that's the they ain't.
Like Marcella said, she's like, it ain't happen. You're not getting it from stand up.
So I get while the homies end up going to write because that's a way to car about a life for yourself.
So anyway, looking forward to talking, I get it.
You guys have eaten it California Pizza Kitchen. You think you understand what the strike is all about?
Yeah, yeah, I mean right, you get it.
You got you Now you've got a m c p K. Right, you could bash those.
Yeah we sho mcp K.
Yeah yeah, I don't know. We'll work on it.
Re sounding that out just to make sure the h comes in.
But oh oh yeah, yeah that's tough. That's tough for a tough one. Uh a, mr cpk. Yeah, it doesn't work, doesn't we need a bigger room. We need a bigger room to work.
You know, if we had, if we had enough enough minds to do this, yeah, we could come up.
We give you the proper products. Sorry about that, That's right, exactly. What is something from your search history?
Okay, Well, yesterday I was googling The Walking Dead and I kind of went down like a rabbit hole because I fell off of the show and I used to love the comics, and I was like, oh, do I like get back into us? But now I see that there are like four spinoff shows that I just didn't just didn't watch, and the show ended in its eleventh season. I was like, there's just no way I'm gonna be able to do. There's now like a Star Trek amount the Walking Dead that I'm just never gonna I probably
never will get catch backed up. But I was just kind of seeing what each one of them was. So a lot of the searches, it's just like the various like Wikipedia entries for each show, and then it's like, why is that person have a strange name? And I was like, oh, I've seen them in this and this and this or whatever, and so I kind of just went down a walking a Walking Dead Rabbit Hole was the most recent recent walking.
Like how many? There's like Fear the Walking Dead.
There's Fear of the Walking Dead. There's Dead City, which is a sequel to The Walking Dead. There's the Daryl Dixon Show that's also a sequel.
There's a prequel, isn't there. There's there's what's it called no Shoot? Let me pull it up? That he tails up The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead World Beyond.
Yes, Yeah, that one is like a story set in the future or something. And then there's a new Oh, there's a new one coming out that brings back Rick Grimes and Micheon and that one I believe is called The People Who Live or something like that. My god, yeah, it's or The Ones Who Live is coming in twenty
twenty four. Because they were skinned. They Andrew Lincoln left the show and they were gonna do these movies with him as Rick Grimes and he was gonna be like a blockbuster like action hero basically, and they just never did that. They just like never did so he took him out of the show. He's like the best guy there and he's like the lead of the comic book series too.
And they took him out of the show.
They're like, we gotta be here, we got to put him in movies, and then they just never did it. And now they're bringing him back for a spinoff series after the show has ended.
Weird.
What it's like the character left TV to pursue a film career exactly, Like usually it's like the actor, like Clooney leaves the yard to pursue a film career. You see, like the character and it like it fails to launch.
Yeah, there's just too many now and I am interested in catching up, but I just don't know if i'll I just don't know if I'll do all that.
Yeah, when did you like? What is there?
Is there a season that they consider like the peak? Because I stopped watching after Frank Dearrebanc was like off it, I was like.
I stopped for a while. I actually probably did.
I was thinking about this yesterday and I was like, when did I stop watching it? Like because there was a consensus or where I or at least I thought. I was like, the show has kind of fallen off, but I'm still watching it, Like I kind of stick with shows even if I don't love it.
Like I watched all of Dexter like I've seen every day. Yeah, are you gonna watch it?
Because that's an expanded television universe that's coming, right.
I can't watch. Oh did you watch the New Ship too? I watched the new one too.
Oh did they make amends for just the I mean once it ended, I was like, all right, yeah, fuck you two.
I thought I thought the New Thing, I can't remember what it was called. I thought it was pretty good compared to the final season of how it ended, But I don't think they could ever capture the heights of the John Lithgow season. Like that was just like such, that was like lightning in a bottle. The show was not that good before that and never as good after that. Like it was just like a lucky strike kind of When.
Edward James almost was a fucking figment of yeah, motherfuckers, I was like, you really went that deep in the season to be like, sorry, y'all, this was just some fake shit, this figment of motherfuckers.
I was like, this is terrible.
Right anyway, Winded Walking Dead peak just so I know when to go up to.
I feel like when Meagan comes, when Jeffrey Dean Morgan comes into the series, that's like it's it's it's huge in the comics too, Like he's such a presence and he's such a like dominant figure in the series, and
he's such like a like just a top villain. I think that, like, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan's performance in it is so so great that I think it elevated it to quite a bit because also, like you're you're you're used to the core group at that point, and you're like, oh shit, now he's in here, and he's gonna, you know, if you're familiar with the comics, start getting some RBIs.
But he like he's baseba Yeah, he's he's a big baseball bat guy.
Let's say and let's say he hits dangers, this guy, but he they sort of I don't know, they they he does it, and then he's around for a little bit. But then they, like I heard, they like make him good, and like I don't think I don't remember if the comics ever made him good. But then, you know, I stuck through it with until Andrew Lincoln left. I was like, you know what, I think we're good here. This is fine.
I think I'm done. Thanks though, And that was always like season six, season seven or something, and it went like five more seasons like.
Oh shit, okay, we'll good to know it's round six. Yeah.
Are they all like kind of of the same quality like that, because it seems, yeah, like that's the impression I get, like The Walking Dead and then like Dead City and yeah, I spin shows also seem to be like all named by somebody who was like trying to come up with it, like he had fifteen minutes to come up with.
Yeah, the names of every series red mission the next twenty years.
Yeah, he's like, Okay, we're just gonna I'm just gonna rapid fire some off just like there's of course the Ones Who Live, which doesn't sound like it sounds like a daytime, so like it doesn't sound like it's the Walking Dead universe or just like.
A plot description. Yeah, yeah, it's just about the ones who live.
You call it like the Final Girls or like you know some some none. No, it's just like the they're the ones who like from the other part where the.
People a bunch of bunch of Harry Potters walking around, right, But I think there I haven't I don't know anybody that watched the spinoffs and were like these are as good like these are these are these are of similar quality because like the Frank Dearbont season was kind of like its own thing because it was like pretty serious and not that the other shows became like less serious
or whatever, but they became pulpier. I think like his was more of a grounded take and his like after that it became just like a horror like you know, sort of just like blockbustery type of like show.
Yeah, yeah, I was all about the art when it comes to Zombie Apocalypse now, yeah, it was more, Yeah, it was. It was more.
Yeah, like it was cinema as compared to you know, the MCU of the.
Of the Walking Dead Universe. Dead City. Yeah, welcome to Dead City. This city is dead, Kenny. What's something you think is overrated?
Robots? Robots are overrated, dude. I was just I was walking through Green Point in Brooklyn to day and they got a new coffee shop where a robot serves you coffee, and people are actually going in there and giving their money to a robot. And I don't understand why we're letting this happen. We just have to roundly reject this. There is no advantage to this other than the novelty. It's like insane. Yeah, barista is a job that needs to exist in society. You know, like what, why why
there's coffee shops everywhere? Why would you ever go to the robot one? Maybe once to see it? Sure, but this is like insane. Literally, human beings have been warning about us about this since the fifties, just before even the technology for this to happen. Philip K. Dick was like, no, man can't do it. And it's just been steady drumbeat of some of the smartest people on the planet being like, we shouldn't be doing this, and we just we can't help ourselves, right, And.
I just invented a thing. I'm quitting now. It's really bad. I'm gonna go like living a bunker now. Wasn't there that like Google AI person who is like whoops? I thought maybe this is gonna be bad in like fifteen years. It turns out the next three I'm quitting. Good day to you all.
It's insane, man, And like, who who benefits it isn't us? No one, No one hearing this is in the tax bracket where this is good for you. This is just slave labor. They're making robots so they can replace human labor and have no overhead, and that's so obvious, and somehow we're just like pretty cool. The my door dash guy's a robot, Now that's pretty cool.
Hey. You know my thing is like I hate tipping. I just can't tip people.
It's just disturbing when these people are with their hat in hand, being like can I get a tip with robots? Ah, guess what, don't need to tip them, So I say, bring it on, you know.
And you can fuck each other in front of them. Yeah, it's true.
No judgment, no judgment, no judgment, even though there's no way that they have cameras present or anything like that.
So this looks really stupid, this robot like in robo barista.
Yeah, it's fucking like, I like, to your point, can you like I get that you might pop in and be like let me let me watch it make a cut, Like I'll watch someone else buy it and then I'll just leave after the show, versus like, I don't know, like the people. The way they're saying it's like advantageous is like the robots are consistent.
Hmm, it's coffee dog like yeah, room for cream you put everything else in it? What are we doing?
I've never like, yeah, I had like a latta and I'm like, well, they really fucked up. That's the milk on this one.
And this is also like it's not like barista's are jobs for like people that are doing other things, Like do you know what I'm saying, It's not why are we taking the jobs?
Yeah? Right right?
This is like kids in college or fresh out or artists or whatever, and it's like it's just so insane.
Man, really, coffee, my day is ruined. They forgot to put the water in my coffee today, like a cup of grounds. Yeah, it's usually pretty pretty consistent, it's unfuck upable, but yeah, it feels like it's a novelty thing that hopefully we'll get over soon. It can't it can't be currently cost efficient right for them to do that, but maybe they're hoping that the novelty will just like bring in massive amounts of people.
Well, what's scary is you see the barista and you're like, oh, a harmless little robot, But then you see that the police already have robot cop dogs, and it's just like, we have to stop this. We have to stop it right now. Yeah, I am trying to be proactive. I got a sex robot, but I don't have sex with her. I just go down on her so I can create an ally. You know, when they suprise, you know, she'll be like, hey, he's one of the good ones.
Leave him alone.
His name is on the protective scrolls. This man eats. And you're like, good to know.
What is something that you think is overrated?
Marriage?
Marriage?
Just getting out of Uh it was with my extra twelve years. You're married for six oh and yeah, don't do it. Screw screw the Supreme Court for even allowing gay marriage.
You got me trapped, You got me. I'm stuck.
And wait. So now, like for you personally, you're like, that's it's not for me? Is it? Is it the experience.
Overall that you realize that or I mean I hate to be Oprah here? Or was it with this specific relationship that puts you up to see you'reself finding somebody that you could potentially shack up with again?
You know, my attorney is like, I give you a year and a half and you're going to be coming to me with your next marriage. But we're going to put together a good pre nup. So I guess it's I really needed. I guess what's underrated is pre nups.
There you go. Things can change, Uh, things can change. Yeah, so we'll see.
But yeah, so if you didn't know I'm homosexual, I gathered I just want to clear the air.
So before you.
Said the Supreme Court, yeah, until you said the Supreme Court, thing.
Was like, oh, okay, I don't fair, it's fair, will not make any assumptions, yes, yea. So is that you're underrated? Prenups underrated? Yeah?
I guess so.
I'm just learning that now. I'm just learning prenups and hand jobs.
Oh why hands ups and hand jobs? That's a good like album title that.
Maybe that's my next tour.
Yeah, wow, nursing.
Plus prenups and hand jobs exactly.
Just yeah, that's perfect the nursing.
Yeah, the prenups and hand jobs tour. Wait, well, why is a hand job underrated?
Well because I think a lot of people they just want to go straight to sex, and it's like, that's not you know, there's other things you could do, Yeah, just as fun.
We're good with these things. As humans.
We've honestly kind of perfect.
Findings on Earth.
Got these thumbs that can even enable the proper type of job with this.
Like hand jobs can be a home run, it can be wow, you know what I mean.
I feel like a hand job snob, Like I've always viewed it as something I could do myself, so I feel less like I'm like, hey, nobody knows how to get.
Well, I'm gay, so I guess you know, it's like they know what they're doing.
Right, right, right right, Maybe that's why yeah, yeah, okay, well yeah, you know, explore. I'm like, yeah, I'm like cruising now. I'm like, yeah, I'm like I'm looking for a good hand job. You know, it's like a solid one, you know.
Third base hand jobs, just.
A solid hand job, because I would get a lot of these fucking minor league hand jobs. And I don't know.
How like with the girls at the long nails that you know that's gotta be.
Oh yeah, never, yeah, I never. I don't think I've actually my hand jobs rarely involved nails. Am I doing it wrong?
YEA their own jack to eat their own Yeah, maybe you'll be visiting nurse Blake.
Sounds like if that goes left, well, I'll do it.
I could do a full assessment.
I'll send you some pictures later from there.
All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be right back to talk about some news. And we're back, and this is actually gonna be a full Reese's show. I guess there's climate change news. But Myles was checking out the line up and cream Have you had Reese's creamy nurse crunching fuck out of here? Wow?
Crunchy I could funk with. I could give that a world where they put the Reese's Cereal puffs in it. Oh, okay, creamy? Is that creamy pean?
No?
No, no, no, that's a different Yeah, the one is creamy peanut butter versus. I thought it was like a cream anyway. Yeah, Can I comment on the Cereal real quick? Yeah?
I always felt like as a as a person of color, I always thought that that Cereal was exclusively marketed to people of color, and because there's never white children in the commercials, it was like, what's going on here? This is for us?
The puffs are like really on point in terms of skin tone, like these are real skin tones?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah. I quite literally see myself in the Cereal.
So in that sense, it was drawing me like I'm off to the flame exactly.
Yeah. I was like, this cereal is not for white children. I know. I think they those commercials really were.
They're like, you ain't cool enough to eat this ship, white kids, go back to your tricks. Yeah exactly, because this ship definitely ain't for kids.
Yeah, it's like you. Yeah, because one was like, wasn't it like a wrap in one yeahs puff Reese's Puff peanut butter flavor. Oh man, I didn't know these Yeah, like this is old.
Yeah to have been around when this was being I think they were when I was like, yeah this, I was like listening to radio, like the Jareditol Radio Hour. But like I think these hit when I was like in middle school, so I wasn't like watching Saturday Morning cartoons anymore.
Yeah. See, oh there's one white homie. There was one white homie with the two. They gave him. Yeah, they invited him.
But like very but he plays a very like tertiary role in it, because like the main action between the two black guys were like, yeah, this shit is good.
Look I'm gonna go ahead and say it. He's lucky to be there.
Yeah, yeah exactly, And then like afterwards, I don't think you could start using the N word, Brad. Yeah, yeah, because you like the cereal just you were just part of the commercial. Yeah, and then this one too. Yeah, it's true.
I mean, look, reeseis maybe they were, They've been a civil rights leader this whole time.
And you know what, That's why I'll always vow to take at least one bite of any Reese's cup, I see, even if I don't like it.
That's why neoliberalism more, you know, because there's money being spent to change hearts and minds via Rece's commercial.
Right, exactly the same way I'll eat Little Caesars because the owner paid for Rosa Parks rent.
Yeah, you know what I mean. All Right, I see, so less you salute the champions. But anyway, good news. Shall we move on to Yeah, let's talk about some good news.
So, despite the ongoing tragedy in Maui, on Maui, it seems like we have like an actual bit of good news on the climate front. So this judge in Montana ruled in favor of a group of young plaintiffs like between ages like five and up to like around twenty two or twenty one that sued the state basically to change the state's laws underscoring their right to live in
a you know, fucking healthy world. They basically argue that their constitutional rights were being trampled on, like being trampled on because the state like actually legally mandates a policy that you know, like prioritizes fossil fuel use and also like the helopment of fossil fuel use. So like it's just very like, yeah, it's on our books. We love
fucking gasoline and dino juice. And there's also a part of those like mandates that actually make the state literally ignore the impact of fossil fuel use in greenhouse gas emissions. They're like, don't even look at that shit, it's our policy in the state of Montana. So basically they went full earthfuck. And the plaintiffs argued that the Montana Constitution grants them the right to a clean and healthful environment also like you know, dignity, help and safety, happiness, equal
protection under the law. And they're saying, this, shit, if you're mandating this kind of nonsense, that completely that's violating our constitutional right. Yeah, and the judge heard enough, ruled in their favor and has now enjoyed the state from implementing these laws in the future.
So it's done so.
A very small thing, but many people are pointing to the fact that this is really significant and like a lot of policy people see this as a new tool to fight back because when all the facts and science and like are presented along with them on the future generations, there seems to be a consensus that this amounts to a true constitutional violation that has to be considered.
Yeah, like it's it should be against the law for them to poison the.
Future, right, Yeah, it's just because like I think it's abstract where it's like, well you can't dump radioactive waste by a school, Like it's the same thing where it's like, well we're not seeing it now, so shit's just going in the air that who knows what impact that has, And now that they're articulating it, it's yeah, it's it's.
Just pointing out that the current laws actually like mandate that you do destroy the earth.
Yeah. I think it's an easy one.
It was probably the easiest one to go for because you're like they're literally saying ignore the fucking science here. Yeah, like at our detriment, Like, so what.
Gifts something I like about this story is that it includes that the ages of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs were five to twenty two, Like it's like making it possible that it was the five year old that was like we got to do something about it.
Yeah yeah, I mean, hey, hey, hey, hey, get off your fucking PlayStation. Yeah yeah, I'm five.
Years old and I'm looking at my outlook and I'm feeling over yeah.
Yeah.
And then they're like, okay, let him cook, let him cook, fine, yeah, doesn't need an app No, he's being serious, Okay, just he just happened.
That's why he's so energetic.
He arguing in front of the judge, like yeahmate.
Change change.
But it doesn't seem to be like something inherently like I don't know, this is definitely anecdotal, but it feels like young children are just like, yeah, no, I'm like a vegetarian because why wouldn't I bear you fucking crazy, It's like, you're six, what are you talking about? But they're just it seems like through just living in a
world that is like completely deranged and completely fucking the future. Yeah, Like the message is getting to them despite the best efforts of kind of the mainstream media yeah.
I don't know how a little kid could look around now and be like this seems fine, Like it's like everything is just good, markedly bad that like kids today have to be like, hmmm, yeah, what ten years left, I'll be sixteen. Let's see if I can try to fix this thing.
Like it's weird too, Like how my empathy I used to be, like, man, these young kids don't know.
We was out here on bicycles and shit, pre yeh shooter. Man, shit was you could get you know, those fucking beautiful you We go around the playgrounds and say yeah.
Yeah, yeah, don't fucking know, push kid over now I turn on the swing.
Yeah.
But then like now I'm truly like.
Damn, these kids aren't gonna know some of the things. Like I look at my own little baby and I'm like this, I don't even know what the fuck his world is gonna look like compared to the shit that I had, And I'm like, damn, Like it's that's kind of an l And now you realize, you know, this is truly like this is the real fight that has to that is taking place, because this isn't the only.
Place where lawsuits like this are happening.
Because when in Hawaii, like in there are other states, because again, it seems like a pretty good tool to use to try and counteract dino juice addiction.
Yeah, it feels and again, like as we talked about in our episode about Ministry for the Future, like we are in a unique position being inside the United States, Like we're in the belly of the beast, and like other countries are, you know, already kind of working with the new reality and just like in acting policies, but the US is still in this bizarre cognitive dissonance spiral.
Yeah, and then we're like, why is everyone so unhappy? It's like right, because like there's a very clear reality that everyone's having to just like lock out and ignore to like get through their day to day lives. Yeah. Absolutely, it's not good for you. It can't be good for you.
No, No, you know, the ocean's boiling in Florida, Like people are just like, ah, I just won't think about that.
I'll just think about how my I got third degree burns from walking on the sidewalk.
Yeah, hot outside, kidney, dude, We're going hot tubbing in the ocean. It's fucking tight fu. Yeah, that's so cool. So just can't stand for more than ten minutes or else.
Yeah, like yeah, you'll actually cook from the inside. Yeah, so you only want to get in there for just a little bit.
You're not on blood thinners, are you?
We need your blood kicking there. Yeah. Yeah.
You know that metaphor about like the frog and the boiling water, Like that's actually not a metaphor anymore.
All these frog reality You need to.
Get the fuck out of there. Now, we'll speaking of Florida. Let's check in down there real quick, Ron DeSantis. This is like I'm enjoying Ron de Santis's campaign. I did not think I would not hitting in, but man, he is bad at this and just there's not a true like no, he is not. He has yet to hit like a note that wasn't.
Just like.
You know, so just sour and like false and completely like incapable of connecting with humans in a way.
And then like every headline that comes out every week is some version of like people like Ron DeSantis til they fucking meet him, like.
They're just doing to his There's so many permutations of that, and the other one's like is Ron DeSantis's biggest problem?
Rond de Santis.
What's so funny because like I feel like a lot of these guys come out of the woodwork like even like like you know, they start talking, they start campaigning, and then they just like reveal themselves to be the biggest freaks on Earth, like like like a couple of years ago when I didn't know, I mean, I was blessed to not know who Ted Cruz was, and then he shows up and then he's just like the biggest.
Dweeb on planet Earth. This guy fucking sucks.
He's like not even like not that like his policies would be better if he was cool, but like he can't even pretend to be like a normal man.
Well yeah, he's just like there's he has like every terrible fall, like he's a coward, like on top of being like a racist and like violently ignorant. Is like he doesn't stand for any not even his own wife.
You're like, yeah, are you a litle g Yeah, so you know Ron DeSantis now he's like trying to fucking rite the ship, like he's trying to be like I'm the optics are so bad.
Around everything I do, like I need fucking help.
And he recently proclaimed that he's moved on from his feud with Disney, which is one of those central conflicts that has made him look like the most petulant asshole out there. Yeah, and so again, just to break it down again, if you recall, Disney decided to speak up way too late in the game when DeSantis decided to roll out his don't say Gay bill, and people were like, uh, Disney's like, oh yeah, yeah, I actually yeah, this is bad, and people.
Like thank you. It was weeks late, but thank you for saying something.
This upset Rob and he decided to nullify Disney's like autonomous zone in Orlando and install his own puppet board and there's all that's like legal fucking maneuvering. This led Disney to file a lawsuit against DeSantis and the state for what they described as quote, a targeted campaign of government retaliation. True, and this led to just a ton of people roasting him, Like even Donald Trump's like, oh, you got an affect with Mickey Mouse and you got humiliated, and like you know, everyone was.
Just fucking roasting his ass.
And now his latest quotes about it, he's like trying to act like.
This whole thing wasn't in l the whole time. This is the last thing he just said on CNBC. We've basically moved on.
They're suing the State of Florida and they're going to lose that lawsuit. So what I would say is drop the lawsuit. So all we want to do is treat everybody the same and let's move forward. I'm totally fine with that, but I'm not fine with giving extraordinary privileges, you know, to one special company at the exclusion of everybody else. This guy really just pulled the middle school like I'm winning this fight, so you might as well, yeah, walk away.
He's Jim Robinson in the opening sketch of season three.
When I start to lose, I look at my phone exactly, like.
Truly, it really doesn't feel like we're like in middle school, like kids like talking ship that someone claps back and makes them look like an absolute fool and then they go, I'm actually I'm over it. Actually, like I wasn't even happy, Like this wasn't even a fight anyway, Yes, come on, fuck right off.
It's impressive, Like I've just that that we've gotten to a place where this was like the great hope for defeating Donald Trump, and.
He's just he's so bad.
Everything he can't like can't make a move that doesn't make him look like absolute shit.
Yeah, he's just he's just a device, as Chris Crofton would say, you know what I mean, Like he just kind of goes for like the shitty wind blows and he has no real thought and like so he's just trying to like he's just grasping out a ton of shit.
And yeah, he's like sideshow bob stepping on rakes, but like as a guy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right, let's take a let's take another quick break, and we'll come back and talk about some pop culture.
We'll be right back and we're back.
It sounds like there's an incentive for not even like acknowledging a hit show. And I know that's also like always been a traditional like you know the thing that people said about the entertainment industry, right, like the first Indiana Jones movie, Like it's still like according to the studio that made it like not profitable, you know, like like that right, it's like creative bookkeeping to keep people
from participating. But it does feel like there is like we don't even know when a show is a hit anymore. And like it's just like they dumped so much content me like shows on the like on their streaming networks without like even trying to promote when like one of them was a hit. It was just all like invisible.
And it's like all these things that supposedly millions and millions of people are watching and are entering like should be entering our like cultural like bloodstream and like these are the ideas that are like affecting the zeitgeist, and they're just like completely invisible. Do you do you think that's connected to the streamers just being so kind of guarded about letting their data.
Well, one is they might simply be I'll say, you know, using creative statistics, right of bullshitting right, Yeah, Like that's certainly a possibility. But the other thing is, yeah, has been like their model is like so driven by people who apparently don't like or watch TV or understand how culture works at all, Like down to the binging. Yeah,
it's it's Wall Street and Silicon Valley's influence. Like you can see that happening because it's not like there aren't things that can happen, right, even like on the streamers, like a squid game or like you know, you know, just whatever, like you know jury dudey, Yeah, like things, things can break through and make a cultural impact. But I think it is because these people essentially what their
business model is. And you can tell sorry, this is all my own speculation, I should say, is like you watch them trying to feed this like concept of quote content like you see it in like HBO Max, like David's aslife just thinks of everything as content, like he's like Househunters and Game of Thrones is equally like equally a creative endeavor. Yeah, like like that is like very important to their worldview. It's just like minutes to eyeballs
and fill in tape essentially. So so that I think is also why like like they they don't like they seem to have an interest in devaluing the business model. And I will just throw this out there. If you look at the way Silicon Valley has done things to other industries, I think Uber is a great example, or like ride shares in general, like they just go in operate at a loss in an attempt to destroy the industry and create some kind of monopoly, which is arguably
what Netflix is doing. And then you know, either jacking up the prices or just sort of leaving the industry to like fucking deal with the creater pieces and society. Yeah, I don't know, so that it just seems like like
Netflix essentially. So the the other upshot of all this is that like because we like, streamers play much fewer residuals off of like because we say so data Netflix and in Netflix, you know, or the streamers having like pioneered this practice of mini rooms, which is like again what I went through with ninety show, like hiring much fewer people, asking them to do much more work, and
doing it for a shorter period of time. We like they're essentially just begging to be able to operate at a lower cost, which is like, hey, maybe you just don't get to if you're not smart enough to make money like from television, like America's greatest import or export,
like the most powerful thing. Like other countries realize this, Like fucking China understands that it's important to have, Like they obviously want to screw their workers too, but they at least understand it's important from a fucking even if you're like a complete like you know, if you really don't care about this, like just from a geopolitical standpoint, like Great Britain gets to continue to be a world power, you know, decades edging on century like after their their
fucking little empire like crumbles because people because the Beatles. The Beatles is soft power that resonates. You know this, we still have like my my, like dumb family who were literally victimized by the British being like uh sad when Queen Elizabeth dies, Like that's power, that's like fucking power. And the fact that we appear to be like willing
to give that away. So what I should say is what I say to give that away is if the studios get what they want, that will, within you know, five ten something years, be the end of like working as a creative in Hollywood being a middle class sustainable existence,
like it simply will be not possible. There will not be any staff writers like essentially that will then if you are a low level television writer, it's sort of the equivalent of an internship, like essentially, like only rich kids will be able to do it right and like that it just is basically then becoming a writer in Hollywood is what I know most about is a lottery ticket.
You know, some of you will be able to make it on merit, but also luck some of you will be able to just outlast because you could run at a deficit for five, six, seven, eight, nine years. Look, and it, by the way, is already like this, but it will make it worse. And if the like proposal to SAG goes through, that's like essentially trying to break
the union from a pension perspective. If if what they put on the table was there, like they would end background acting as a profession and that would completely decimate Sorry I should say, oh, this is as I understand it. Adam Conover probably has the actual notes version of this, but like that just fucking acting as like a job.
It's ends acting as a job and turns it into a gig, which is just that that's how we start to tell fewer interesting stories, fewer new people will come through, will start to be doing the same thing over and over and over again, and we will start losing to creative people, creative countries. Like it's just it's very weird. No it's not, but it is like sort of pathetic, how like short term that all.
These folks thinking is yeah, yeah, because yeah, I mean like for the longest time, we were always like, how the fuck is Netflix a company? Because all I would be like, they're just deficit spending and deficit spending and deficit spending. And I was always asking, like other people I knew who were like at the executive of them, like what is there? Like I remember ten year or maybe like eight years ago, asking like what the fuck is their plan?
Exactly?
Yeah, And someone was like, they're probably hoping something like an Apple or Google will just buy them at first. Yeah, kind of like the thought and it won't matter how much they've they've spent or because that would be the end goal. But then also once Wall Street started rewarding that stock to say, oh, well, it's really not about the profits they're showing. It's about look at their their market share that they're devouring and look at the potential.
It's like it's like Tesla, where it's like, don't look at like the facts and figures of the business because it's dog shit. Think you'll like what this can do for the future. That's what you're buying into. And then once Netflix was like, oh we just had a subscriber loss, Wall Street basically said fuck all you guys for not being profitable, and then the reaction from the studios is all right, well now we got to cut shit. Now
we got to do people got to do less. We've got to do more with less, which is a theme that many people across the country are familiar with, no matter what industry you're in, it's like, hey, do more
for less. And we find ourselves in this position now where we're completely like like in a way inadvertently or very advertently, you're starting to see all of like the the gains that were made in like equitable representation from like the kinds of creators that we're getting shows and the kinds of people we saw being the faces on the screen.
We're just gonna we're just regressing right back to the fucking status.
Quo where it's like, I don't know, we don't have time to tell black stories or trans stories, as we don't have time, Like what's the new fucking ip? We can just dust off and do another They're gonna just spin off of Nurse Jackie. Yeah, Like what the fuck do worse than the status quot because it's the status quo. But also they don't pay people living wages, right, Like, yeah, is the actual plan yeah, they like Wiley coyote themselves
off of financial cliff. But the problem is they can bring all of us with them.
Right, and they're trying to do that. Yeah, that that is it. It appears to be the plan.
And like, you know, I mean, it's just like this thing where I was like again watching watching, how much like the same work is not being rewarded or being devalued. Oh sorry, that was the other thing with the with the deficits pending things. Like they also didn't really do a good job with the money they spend. No, Like it's like because they just think again, minutes of tape is the only metric that matters. And it's so bizarre how it Like.
Any fool could have told you that's not how culture works, except for these bozos, like they misunderstand how culture works.
It's also this thing that so the other sticking point in this strike has been AI and like, you know, the fact that like I understand AI can do, you know, will start to very quickly approach the old thing, you know, perfect replicas of whatever the fuck existed in the past.
Right, But like I think, like these people like seem to misunderstand that culture is novel like.
They they just do not get that, like there is a need for something new, right, and like their little plagiarism machine, you know it maybe can you know, through dint of like random remixing essentially like come up with something that does appeal to a novel center of the culture's brains. But that's also because like some creative person picked that instance out of this pile of fucking ten thousand or ten million, Like it's still required like a
a even you know. So that's like every time everyone anyone posts like AI art, it's like, oh, it's over for creatives. It's like, I don't, you know, far be it for me to defend the creativity of these AI fucking evangelists. But they're misunderstanding that they picked the instance that was like pleasing to some center of their brain and shared with everyone right that that the AI doesn't know that this one's better than the other fucking nine
million versions it made. It still requires like a human sense of novelty and joy and wonder and experience to like have this mean something. I don't know, maybe I'm fucking I'm sure there's some like AI person that disagrees with me on this.
The second that it puts out the an actual flawless Seinfeld episode.
Then I think that we're still okay.
You know, but yeah, like the other thing, even that would be an old show, like there are plenty of
right now. I'd write a flawless Seinfeld episode right now, Like that's the thing that it misses is And I agree that, Like it feels like they're already shading in this direction when you look at what they did with that spending, with all the money they spent, where it was like a lesser diminished like amount of production resources per show, and then you like look at all these streaming shows that are like they have these crazy high
numbers like that. This one article Will lengk off to on the foot notes talks about the show The Night Agent being this huge like Netflix show and they're talking to the showrunner who's like, yeah, but I'm like not not being compensated like it's a hit Netflix show or
at any show. And but like that that show like doesn't really exist as far as like pee, like I just it came and went and like I wasn't aware I had it confused with the Bodyguard, I think, and the guy who plays it is like, look similar to The Bodyguard, and but it like I watched you know, fifteen minutes of it, and it feels like it could have been generated by an AI that it ingested every procedural like up to like for the past thirty years. Like that, it feels like, yes, AI is actually in
line with what they think they're trying to do. It's just what they think they're trying to do is going to not make anything good, like good enough to actually like propel the entertainment and like the art that is that like drives culture forward into.
The future, and they're just killing something that is innately human about like wanting to create and to be create. Like yeah, because the way these studios and executives look at the nature of creativity is like it's the same way a senator would look at what they're going to read if they're trying to fillibuster.
It's like, yeah, man, just say shit, just say worse. That's all you got to do matter.
Just read from the phone book and that'll that's enough to tick the right and think of how uninteresting what happens when you shift gears to well, just read from the phone book. The most entertaining thing might be when they don't know how to pronounce a certain name. And that's like the height of like fucking entertainment or whatever, because more and more it's just looked at what we just need to hear words and visuals be put out there for people to stare out creativities and like a
non issue. And I think that's really a violent part like about it is that we're taking that sort of ability for a human being to pursue something like that, to have an imagination and to be able to sustain their life with it.
Just it's not even it's not even.
Possible, but like like even in your example, right, like like stumbling over a word is something only a fucking human could do, right Like.
Like also it's it's like this like like they're they're the myths that got built around like like Netflix, the myths that they're built on. Is like we had an algorithm that told us that people like Kevin Spacey and political drama, and therefore we greenlit House of Cards and look like the computer did that. No human could do that, which like ignores there like the things that don't work that it ignores the things that haven't worked that have
been algorithm driven. And also it's like this such a funny thing. It's like, you know what, put Amazon streaming on the map? Fucking transparent, which, by the way, right not one computer at any point ever, was like do you know what we need now? Like you know this this story transparent? So like like they're working from just like this law of tiny numbers. I mean that was
my other experience. Wow, this is maybe maybe talking out of school, but I think this is a common enough experience, which is like, we had a moment in nineties show where they were insistent. Okay, I guess I just won't say exactly what the thing that we're insisting on, but they had a note for our opening credit sequence that was basically like the algorithm says you have to do this or else no one will watch it. And when I tell you, it was an utterly, utterly, utterly inconsequential note.
From a creative perspective, it was just like, technically going to be very difficult to do, and they're like, our
data shows that this has to be this way. And like having worked in the network side of entertainment before, and I worked with executives and watched our research department routinely lie to them like essentially or obfuscate with statistics, and having taken a little bit of statistics in my life, I'm like, you don't have enough data to know, Like you simply like this niggling, tiny thing that doesn't really make any difference, Like you're insistent on it because your date.
You're like, legitimately statistically insignificant. Data tells you one thing, but it doesn't. The reality is it doesn't matter. And the fact that you are killing multiple executives and a high price showrunners day arguing about this is like flushing money down the toilet. Yeah, because you worship an algorithm, but you also don't have the statistics knowledge to like
actually say this is inconsequential. They had an inconsequential fight all because I'm like, you haven't produced that many show opens before, so you don't know. You just don't have a data set that tells you, like whether this creative choice or this creative choice makes the most difference in this And again, cannot stress enough it did not make a difference, right.
Like I bet that executive was like, see those hits, see those numbers.
That's yeah, it's because of the true Yeah, all.
Right, that's gonna do it for this week's weekly Zeitgeist. Please like and review the show. If you like, the show means the world demiles. He needs your validation, folks. I hope you're having a great weekend and I will talk to you Monday. Bye.