Hitting Play

Join Scott and Hamish as they continue their look at the Marvel animated series of the 90s and watch an episode of what some call the worst Marvel cartoon ever made: “Avengers: United They Stand”. Imagine if The Avengers we’re saving the world in the future, and had to wear hideous transforming robot suits of armor. Oh, and also Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor aren’t even on the team. Who would lead the team, then? Why, none other than Ant-Man! The fun-loving Scott Lang Ant-Man? No, the perpetually angry and insecure Hank Pym Ant-Man! And it just keeps getting better from there! Listen as they breakdown the episode “Command Decision”, a very special story where Captain America randomly shows up to help the Avengers fight Baron Zemo and his “Masters of Evil”. They’ll discuss the making of this series, how closely connected it is to the rest of the Marvel animated series of the 1990s, and why it pales in comparison to the shows that came before it. They’ll also detail the origins of the characters in the co

Join Scott and Hamish as they take a warp pipe back to 1989, a time when the Super Mario Brothers had their own television show that was a unique blend of both live-action and animation: "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!" Listen as they break down and review both parts of the show’s 62nd episode: the live-action segments starring Rowdy Roddy Piper entitled “Rowdy Roddy’s Rotten Pipes” and the cartoon “Crocodile Mario”. They’ll discuss the humble beginnings of the Mario Bros. franchise and its surprisingly small history in television, as well as the many changes and adjustments to this short-lived, yet long running show. They’ll talk about the over-the-top acting by not only a very angry Rowdy Roddy Piper, but also by Captain Lou Albano and Danny Wells, playing the very nervous Mario brothers, and why it all adds to the delightful ridiculousness of the episode. They’ll also discuss why the Crocodile Dundee-inspired cartoon segment “Crocodile Mario”, featuring our heroes taking a trip to “Down Under Land” not

Join Scott and Hamish as they take a special two-part look at Marvel’s mid-90s Saturday morning cartoon block: The Marvel Action Universe! More specifically, the Marvel Action Universe block that aired on the morning of November 4, 1995.   In this episode (part two), they review and breakdown “To Battle The Living Planet”, an episode of Fantastic Four in which the team gets summoned by Thor to help fight Ego, a gigantic purple, sentient living planet that is mad at Earth! Oh, and if that wasn’t a big enough story, there’s cameos from members of the Avengers and the New Warriors and even Galactus joins the fight! Listen as they discuss the history of the Fantastic Four in comics, television, and film, and how they’re slowly making a comeback. They’ll talk about how this series, much like Iron Man, was disliked by critics for its first season, leading to many changes for season two. They’ll compare this version of Ego to his appearance as the main antagonist of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, how the Marvel A

Join Scott and Hamish as they take a special two-part look at Marvel’s mid-90s Saturday morning cartoon block: The Marvel Action Universe! More specifically, the Marvel Action Universe block that aired on the morning of November 4, 1995. In this episode (part one), they review and breakdown “Iron Man, On the Inside”, an episode of Iron Man: The Animated Series in which Tony Stark shrinks down to microscopic size to perform surgery on Hawkeye’s spine. Listen as they discuss the history of the character of Iron Man from the comics and the members of his short lived Avengers offshoot team, Force Works. They’ll talk about the show’s initial poor reception and what big changes were made for season two, and for the entire block as well. Getting into the episode, they’ll talk about how this episode pretty much copied elements from the films Fantastic Voyage and Innerspace, why the villain’s plan to use the giant android Ultimo was really stupid, why Tony Stark isn’t a good friend and much, much more! So slip into s

Join Scott, Kevin, Sarah, and Hamish as they take a look back to the very first episode of one of television’s greatest talk shows: Late Night with Conan O’Brien! Listen as they take a very deep dive into an episode that would end up being the beginning of a magnificent 16 year run, spanning more than 2,700 episodes. They’ll detail the history of the show, from David Letterman’s departure from NBC, the hiring of a relatively unknown Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter, Conan’s chance meeting with drummer Max Weinberg, and the early criticism the show faced. They’ll also discuss Conan’s history on television, from his early days writing for SNL and the Simpsons, to his time as host of the Tonight Show, to his current show on TBS and new podcast. They’ll break down each of Conan’s first segments, including his very first monologue, comedy bits, and interviews with his first three guests: John Goodman, Drew Barrymore, and Tony Randall, and much, much more! They’ll also talk about the origins of the show band The Max

Join Scott and Hamish for an interesting look back at a very strange and short-lived TV show from the early 80s, the Star Wars themed sitcom "The Cantina". Listen as they discuss this odd and long forgotten series starring Billy Crystal as the struggling Mos Eisley cantina barkeep Blorp and his one employee, the clumsy, yet ambitious wolf man Grunchy, played by Tony Danza. They'll talk about the many factors that ultimately led to the show getting cancelled after three episodes: its poor props and makeup, its silly acting, and most of all, its frequent commercial breaks. With a decently famous cast, (along with guest stars like Ed O'Neill, Craig T. Nelson, and Sally Field) and the Star Wars mythos backing it up, how could a show like this possibly fail? Very easily, it turns out. So put down your lightsaber mop, grab a sugar glass mug of bantha milk and listen to whatever this thing is! Oh, and if you've read this far, you deserve to know that this is a fake show we made up for our Hitting Play commercial cl