#121 Crossing the Streams with Pam and Tommy (Bonus Ep18)

CTS Announcer 0:01

Looking for your next TV show or movie to binge? Well buckle up, grab the remote and settle into your couch for this special edition of crossing the streams. We're here to help you tune in and get the most out of those 50 monthly streaming channels you're currently paying for. So without any further ado, here's your host of crossing the streams. Jeff Dwoskin

Jeff Dwoskin 0:30

Hey everybody, Jeff Dwoskin here. Welcome to a bonus episode of live from Detroit, the Jeff Dwoskin show, where we focus on segments from crossing the streams our live show that we do every Wednesday at 9:30pm. Eastern Time on the Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. Join us there live. It's a ton of fun. As we talk about TV shows and movies. You should be binging you're paying for all those services and we're going to help you maximum out crossing the streams answers universal question what should I watch next? And we're here for you. We got your back. You will know a bonus episode is coming because the intro is slightly different than when I do interviews. But similar to the interviews, which are real nice, casual conversations, that's what crossing the streams as just a bunch of folks casually discussing TV shows they love with hopes you'll love it too. And check it out thinking I've interviewed so many great ones lately on the podcast Wil Wheaton Judy to nuda Roy Schwartz, Spencer Garrett and practically the whole Happy Days gang was there as well, Ralph mouth Potsie and Mrs. C. So if you haven't caught all those, check those out but right now we're gonna focus on some TV binge watching suggestions. In this episode, we're gonna cover manhunt, Unabomber sex lies of college girls, and Pam and Tommy TV shows for you to take in and then consider for your own TV binge watching experience. We're gonna kick things off with man hunt Unabomber Ron libbets going to take us through that show. Take it away Ron. This is man hunt unit bomber Ron's gonna take us through this this guy do

Ron Lippitt 2:11

you guys know the show? Have you guys have you guys seen it at all heard about it and you haven't even heard about that one. I appear to be cornering the market on every frickin show on streaming about serial killers and people that just are murdering people. And if the if it's a historical documentary or any type of dramatic reenactments of the historical documentary that's for me and sure enough, I was looking for a show to check it out the algorithm boys on Netflix trotted out this one from regarding the Unabomber for those of us who are from Michigan. The Unabomber holds a special place in our in our historical background, given fact that he got his PhD from the University of Michigan which is my own alma mater. So fun. Well, let's learn about the Unabomber. Right, who's with us? Just six square this was put out by discovery in 2017 that Discovery Channel and their their streaming platform it was ultimately picked up by Netflix so you can see it now Netflix the manhunt series of which manhunt Unabomber was the first season and then there was a second season which I don't know if it was if it was as good or not. It was called manhunt deadly games. And that came out last year to not a lot of acclaim. But the Unabomber series was excellent. It was eight episodes and it takes you through the as I said the dramatic reenactment of the story of Ted Kaczynski and it starts Sam Worthington, who, you know, I kind of learned Sam Worthington during the avatar world. But he does a great job as Agent Jim Fitzgerald, who tracks down the Unabomber, and does so over a series of years at the risk of his career and his family and really just absolutely committed his life to finding this guy, Paul Bettany, who I'm sure you guys all know, because of his Ironman vision, background and his vision. Exactly. So he was an Ironman Ironman to Ironman three, The Avengers, so all that stuff, none of which other than the original Ironman I've ever seen, but apparently, it's a big deal.

Jeff Dwoskin 4:09

It was just an Ironman. So you didn't you didn't miss it. Is that true? It's just a voice is Jarvis? Yeah.

Ron Lippitt 4:15

Okay, there you go. Well, so anyway, so this story is very, very well done. I have to say this is a well produced thing I would have preferred you know, we've talked about this in Netflix as a, I think a tendency for dramatic marionettes, reenactments to extend further than the need to and Howard you and I have talked about this before. Yeah, I think they could have done this show. In four or five episodes. It is eight episodes each episode between 45 minutes and an hour. So not bad. It's not like you're wasting two hours for each episode, but but I feel like they could shorten this up. I feel like the story on the front end could have sped up to really what is the best part of the story, which is how they ultimately tracked him down. And do you guys remember how they ended up catching the Unabomber because it really is a fashion Historically, it was in his cabin at the time wasn't anyone in his cab and that's where they that's where they, that's where they apprehended him. But do you know, do you know how they caught him because he, this guy was so freakin smart. He planned these murders out so well in advance. And some of them didn't work logistically with the bombs. But I mean, just the packaging that we get the nitrate where we get the bomb materials, how we sent it, where he sent it the manner in which he targeted people. I mean, just super creepy intelligent about how he did this. And he just was not going to get caught. He lives completely off the grid. As we all know now there was no way to track him. There was no Internet, there was no way to figure this out at all. So the question stands, do you know how the FBI caught him? I don't know. He was turned in by his own family. Did they recognize the hoodie, they wrecked? No. They recognize his manifesto, the writing in his manifesto and the ranting about the government and about control and all the things that he'd ranted about through his scholastic career even at University of Michigan, by the way, and his sister recognized the writing and contacted the FBI. And that led to you know, a set up of a number of targets that they thought were he might be and one of them turned out to be the correct place that cabin out in the woods. So it really is a super fascinating story. And it does walk you through all of the elements of this that make this story truly an exceptional one because he really these were not random bombings, you're very targeted people who we felt were detrimental to society as he saw it, he was in his mind and even this is still true today. He thought he was doing the right thing for the world. So you know, listen, he may turn out to be right. But but it's still a crime and and you gotta cut for it. But it listen if you're if you're into these dramatic reenactment reenactments and if you're into kind of understanding what went down, particularly the inner workings of the FBI, and the struggle of not just the entire agency trying to catch this guy, but the struggle of the lead investigator who on almost lost everything to make this happen, which is absolutely a true story. Check it out. One last thing I'll just say is, is there anything that Jane Lynch can't do? She was Janet Reno and your series. Janet Reno is fantastic as

Unknown Speaker 7:22

Janet Reno and she's amazing and everything.

Ron Lippitt 7:26

She really is I you know, I just was watching.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:30

Party Down know the

Unknown Speaker 7:33

one about the the comedian and Amazon. Yeah. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Ron Lippitt 7:38

She's so freakin good. And that's

Howard Rosner 7:41

great. And that she is.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:43

She has arranged to be great. So hey, now she's grading all the murders in the building. I've heard that. I haven't seen it. I've heard that she's a plays. She plays Steve Martin's old stunt double.

CTS Announcer 7:56

She was brilliant. And glee.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:58

Oh, Glee. Yeah, I think that was what kind of exploded or beyond like the amazingness of like Best in Show and 40 year olds officials have already old virgin to right. She was so popular in those movies. But I think it was glee. She was bringing match in that movie. Oh, yeah. She was amazed. Yeah. Well,

Ron Lippitt 8:18

anyway, she she is I mean, just as a you know what I appreciate about talents like her being just willing to take us completely side character. And that being the the story and not be the main thrust of the movie. And I always appreciate it when actors that are that good are willing to take those roles. And as it turns out, in this case, she's perfectly cast as Janet Reno if you want

Howard Rosner 8:38

to watch a really funny Jane Lynch, YouTube clip, Google Jane Lynch, Rich Eisen. She was on the Rich Eisen show and he has this thing where he asks them true or false questions, and he asked her about being a 40 year old virgin, and she came up with the song that she sings in Spanish, and she actually she's like, Would you like to hear me do it? And he's like, of course, she just does it off the top of her head down food ball. It's, it's brilliant. She's She's amazing. Back to manhood.

Unknown Speaker 9:06

I highly recommend it.

Ron Lippitt 9:08

I don't know how many sauce jars I'm gonna give it. So I would say three and a half out of five and the only reason I didn't score at four is I do think they could have shortened the front end of the of the story. But boy it speeds up and it really grabs you and you have to finish it out because it's it's a really chilling tale

Jeff Dwoskin 9:29

All right, that was manhunt Unabomber Obama pulled from Live episode 51 of crossing the streams. Thank you Ron lip it amazing how a conversation about the Unabomber turned into an amazing conversation about Jane Lynch amazing actress. Alright, let's move on to the next show pulled from Live episode 56 This is sex lives of college girls led by Howard Rosner take it away Roz? Talking about the sex lives of college girls with Howard I was on HBO max. So

Howard Rosner 10:01

I'm flipping through the HBO Max app. And I'm like, Yeah, let's see if there's anything good to watch. And it pops up as a recommendation. The sex lives of college goes on. I'm like, great. The HBO Max app is now recommending only fans pages to me, like that's, that's just super, that's what I've come to. And then I'm like, well, maybe I should watch and I'm like, Okay, well, no, I'm not even gonna flip on it. Because that's then when my wife goes to watch and just like that, it's just going to pop up in the recently watched, I'm like, just gonna see sex lives at college. Like that's not going to work either. So I didn't. But then over the next couple of

Jeff Dwoskin 10:37

hours on the bill Howard, it just says

Howard Rosner 10:43

if you stop before 10 minutes, you can watch through the squiggle vision and you don't get charged for it you just click off but over the next few days after I first saw that, when I was looking at all the end, the year lists that people had for Best TV shows it was in a bunch of them as one of the 10 best shows of the year. And then I would just did a little reading on it and I realized it was executive produced by Mindy Kaling, who was a major part of the creative process. And you know, Mindy Kaling, obviously heavily involved with Never have I ever done a show that we've talked about that I really enjoyed. So I'm like, You know what, I'm gonna give the first episode a shot and I really enjoyed it. It's kind of it's that Howard Rosner rip to pass Saj theme coming of age kind of show. It's kind of like similar Never Have I Ever goofy comedy yet still trying to make good points, but taken to an a next level of adulthood, still trying to character still trying to find out who they are. So basic gist of the show is it's set at a fictional Vermont Ivy League type University, called Essex University. And it's for roommates who are brought together randomly. It's a total comedy, by the way, but also some very biting social commentary and good insight to you know, college now and issues that abound. So the four roommates, our character who starts off seeming like it's going to be the mean girl, right? She's rich, her family's name is on the library, she's puts everybody down. The next character is a soccer star, who's the daughter of a US senator. Third is a student, an Indian woman, young woman who wants to be in comedy and wants to work for basically a fictionalized version of you know, the Harvard Lampoon. That's your goal in life is to be a comedy writer, she's recently discovered her, like, majorly sex positive. And then the fourth is a woman from a really like from Arizona, lower socio economically on scholarship and work study, and very naive and they get thrown together. And you know, you, you do feel like this could very easily be stereotypical plotlines for all of them. And it's 10 episodes in the first season. It's really not, I mean, the characters go in very different directions than you think from the first episode or two. And they do hit some very poignant subjects that are, you know, part and parcel to the college experience. Not that you know, I know fully but just from reading and understanding sexual harassment, faculty affairs with student issues, coming to terms with one sexuality, coming to terms with having to make choices that have gone against your core principles your entire life, but now you're doing because you're stuck in an environment that you're not sure how to handle. While some of the jokes might at times be a little expected or trite. Were most of those storylines go don't go the way that you would think, which is good, it's refreshing. I read an article today about it that popped up on Twitter that was saying how it's really changing a lot of expectations of what college can and should be because of the way they're dealing with the situation. So the young women who are and I shouldn't say young for all I know they can be 30 playing college students, which is still young to me, I should put the most of us on this. I would add, but they do a really I think they do a really really good job. It's an it's an enjoyable show. Like I said, it's entertaining. It's pretty funny, but yet it's also it's got some good social statements that it makes so quick episodes on HBO Max, I enjoy it. Oh, real review about the bikini shots. Is there a lot of Bikini shots? Such sexuality? There's not any nudity that I recall. There are some really quick sex scenes but they're almost comic in the way they approach most of them. Sounds like a quick quit comedy.

Jeff Dwoskin 14:54

He's only two minute episodes. 10 episodes Yeah. They're in LA for

Howard Rosner 15:02

20 minutes. And if you rewind to see Sullivan,

Jeff Dwoskin 15:04

black, but don't get up and go,

Howard Rosner 15:08

again, it's kind of in that Never Have I Ever vein of, you know, characters that character study in. It's kind of got that you can kind of tell if you'd watch Never Have I Ever that the way they approach some of the characters and the way the storylines intersect that it's kind of got some of that Mindy Kaling feel to it from a creative behind the scenes process. But again, you know, a much more mature version of that they've already approved a second season. And I'm excited.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:36

I'm a big fan of Mindy Kaling 's work. I think she's really, really, really good. All right, thank you, Howard Rasner when you guys finally get around to listening to one of these shows, definitely tweet at us at Jeff Dwoskin show on Twitter. I'd love to hear your opinion of any of the shows we've ever discussed on crossing the streams up next, I'm taking you through the world of Hulu's. Pam and Tommy take it away me. Speaking of Hulu, Hulu recently put out and Tommy ham and Tommy This is of course is the story of Tommy Lee and Pam Anderson and their infamous sex tape. Let me let me start by saying that this was made 100% Without any of their input or approvals. I didn't know that Oh, my wish that it got made. And Pam Anderson has gone on record as saying she would never watch a millisecond of this. That's and I assume Tommy Lee would feel the same. It's mostly based on an article from Rolling Stone called Pam and Tommy, untold story of the world's most infamous SEC state. I also believe that article had very little to do with little input from him and Tommy, but don't quote me on that part.

Unknown Speaker 17:00

It's crazy that you can do that. Like without somebody's permission. Like I feel like that should it feels illegal. Like it feels illegal for me to be like the Jeff Dwoskin movie and you're like, Nah, I don't make that and I'm like, I

Jeff Dwoskin 17:11

don't know. Fuck you. This is the Jeff Dwoskin story. seems insane. Apparently you can but then you have to do certain things. So for example, like recently I saw stories where somebody was making a Billy Joel movie and Billy Joel came out and said, I give no permissions you can't use it out to my music. So you know like they'll they'll rewrite songs they sing us a song I'm on the Oregon here, you know, I mean like, Right? They'll do something. So I will I will say this is an eight part series. It is on Hulu you could tell streamable now, it stars Lily James is Pam Anderson and Sebastian Stan Lulu James was I believe Cinderella and Sebastian Stan is known as the Winter Soldier amongst other things. Let me say first it's worth watching just to see the insane transformation. They literally turned Lily James into Pam Anderson now four hours of prosthetics and makeup on the turn. They went as far as the space between her eyes her eyebrows the amount of forehead she had her entire chest actually was made her eyes further apart while they kind of I think they kind of made it so it would have here and then different eyebrows and big surgery. Yeah, I mean like her prosthetic chest to give her the workouts and diets to give her the same curves and like I was saying I mean it's it's as close as you can get me it's like crazy and then Sebastian Stan, I guess lost so much weight to play Tommy Lee and and to Jeff's point earlier about can you do this they mimicked his tattoos but they didn't do them exactly the same because you because it's considered art that oh wow, I could have never knew that. They actually came up during I think the second hangover movie when they gave which McCall the Tyson tattoo but it was had helms give it home so Tyson tattoo it but that's considered art and they copied it anyway. So even Sebastian Stan, I mean, like prosthetic nipples. It took 45 minutes a day to put on the mimic most of his tattoos so you wouldn't really know the difference. I mean, everything was prosthetic on him including his penis. So let me get into the fact this is a lot of swearing. And there is a lot of nudity in this. tonally, it bounces back and forth. The first few episodes are crazy and fun and it gets more Docu drama as it goes on. But in the I think the second episode, there's actually a scene where he has a conversation with his very famous penis, Tommy Lee does, and he's on drugs obviously at the time. Or maybe that wasn't Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 20:01

He has a conversation. I guess they pulled that from Tommy Lee's my more. Yeah. Where he just would have conversations. Wow. From my best friend. Amazing. I did. I did read something that said that in terms of accuracy, this story follows the threads very accurately. There was very little that they embellished or kind of blew up. I will say that so the story is about Seth Rogen. This is Seth Rogen, I think was part of putting this whole thing together. He plays a character named Rand Rand is the person who stole the tape. And Nick Offerman is in it. He plays uncle Miltie who is a porn producer. Let me just say Nick Offerman is like a gift from the heavens is so good. He's in it. He's not in it that much. But when in it more in the beginning and then very less as it moves on. But when they cut to him when even in this quick scenes, it's just such a joy. I mean, you're like, Ah, I'm so blessed to be seeing this. This version of Nick Offerman as a scummy porn producer. It's worth it's worth its weight in gold right there. And then Andrew Dice Clay who I think is a good actor actually. He was great. What was the movie with Lady Gaga and license to drive? Oh, remake? Well, stars born star is born. He played Lady Gaga as father in that he was great. Wow. Really? Yeah. And so anyway, so he plays the mobster that gives them the $50,000 to get the tape out there. So it's interesting because it kind of follows the story is ran Seth Rogan's character, I think was interviewed in the Rolling Stone article about how he stoled the tape, and then really tried to kind of put it he went everywhere to try and sell this tape. But none of the porn producers would take the tape because there wasn't consent. There was no consent forms. And so it's an interesting theme. It's like all of a sudden, you start Oh, look, I can say the tape Pam and Tommy sex tape. I've not seen it more than 10 times. I practice that's a good time. Thank you. And, but it kind of like you start to feel. And I think like once there was that all those phone hacks not too long ago, you start to get a different perspective and understanding of we shouldn't be seeing these, there's a difference between the sex tape and porn, right? And they kind of talk about that. And there's a real interesting scene where they say, No, a porn is when they give consent. And this is this was a tape that they made on their honeymoon. And so that's one interesting theme. I was reading a review. And it was interesting that one of the themes is consent. But the whole show was made. Everybody it's actually when you champion a cause without actually committing to it. This is a story about two people that were very much in love. And it was, you know, overall, it's a very interesting story. And they except for the rest of motley crew, which looked a little cosplayers. To me, the level of detail that they went into, to like recreate things was really kind of crazy. It kind of takes you through everything they had to deal with. Once the sex tape was released. It's funny now watching something where they're like, there's this thing called the internet. And, you know, it's like, but that was the way it was, it was so crazy the way they got this tape on the internet and distributing it. And it was interesting that, you know, it kind of covered the difference between its impact on Pamela Anderson, versus its impact on Tommy Lee. And I think it's still today. And it's like, you know, Pamela Anderson becomes the slot and Tommy lane is like this, you know, stud here, right? And it's like, how unfair that that whole thing is. And so I enjoyed it a lot. I think it was really good. I don't think it had to be eight episodes, I think it easily could have been interest for for four or five episodes, I think they kind of expound and go deeper into certain parts of the story that maybe didn't I, I kind of feel like with a lot of real life stories. There's a lot at the beginning and it kind of narrows down, right? I think any story you can talk about, it's like there's so everything happens at the beginning. And then by the time the end, there's just not as much excitement towards the end, you know, it's kind of like a down funnel. So I feel like it's this is the same thing. I feel like they cut a they could have made this a little tighter. You know, I mean, I liked the fact that it was a whole story, but you know, I think it could have been four episodes.

Ron Lippitt 25:00

Why don't do it CRP? Nothing.

Jeff Dwoskin 25:03

I was just gonna say, Well, what do you think like fewer penis Conversations? I'm curious. No, I just mean like, you know, like they do a thing with lawyers. You know, I mean, it could have been, yeah, that could have been 20 minutes. 45 Maybe they had some didn't need 40 minutes to get

Ron Lippitt 25:19

something good. They didn't know where they ultimately were going with it. And in the end, it's so you just described,

Jeff Dwoskin 25:25

I don't think in the end, it sucked. I just, I made my way through it, and I enjoyed it. It's just towards the end, you're like, Okay, you know, it's like, the end is in it. There's not as many huge milestones in the story still, you know, so it's like, you know, we get it, you know, tighten it up. I mean, I definitely recommend it. It was it was definitely enjoyable, and give you a different perspective on when personal things leak and I think they'll give you a different perspective on Pam and Tommy. I'm positive one a very positive. So

Ron Lippitt 25:56

how many eggplants? Are you giving this one?

Jeff Dwoskin 26:02

I give it three and a half eggplants? Strong. Yeah, that was strong.

Unknown Speaker 26:08

Have you all seen it? The tape? Oh, the tape. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I was 15 when I came out, of course. Yeah. Yeah, it was all I don't think I really watched any sex tape. But that one was exactly what you described as I was watching it like yeah, I'm gonna watch it with my roommate brought home the tape the VHS guy and he was like, Yeah, we're like, Alright, let's see some you know, whatever is sex. And it's like, I love you. I love you too. I love you. And we're like rights to people.

Unknown Speaker 26:42

It was very uncomfortable. They were all in relationship or was

Unknown Speaker 26:48

he drove stuff with his penis. And that was cool. Well,

Jeff Dwoskin 26:53

no, no, but they did recreate a lot a lot of it they didn't recreate the second drive.

Unknown Speaker 26:59

He drove a boat with his penis. Oh, wow.

Jeff Dwoskin 27:01

It's yeah, it's

Unknown Speaker 27:03

it is a penis that you talked to at that point.

Jeff Dwoskin 27:05

I mean, that's that's pretty much what came out of it is like Oh, Tommy Lee's got one of the biggest penises and and all rock so I mean, it didn't as I was saying, I was like, I was like he becomes this here is hyung hero and bam is like you know, apparently rank of boat captain the entire time. Exactly. Exactly. All right. That was Pam and Tommy. Great job me. Great job of course. Ron linbit with manhunt Unabomber. Rozner was sex lives of college girls. You guys got a lot of homework. I had a Yeah, three great shows to choose from. So I don't want to keep you any longer. Go grab your remote, find your spot on the couch, cross your own streams. And we'll see you next time.

CTS Announcer 27:56

Thanks for listening to this special edition of crossing the streams. Visit us on YouTube for full episodes and catch us live every Wednesday at 9:30pm Eastern time. Now turn this off and go watch some TV. And don't forget to tell your family yeah, I'll be busy for a while.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai