#161 A Toast to Crossing the Streams (Bonus Ep29) – Great TV binge watching suggestions!

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

It is I Jeff Dwoskin, your host of crossing the streams and of course classic conversations. Welcome to our bonus episode. I love the bonus episodes, we pull segments from our live show that we do every Wednesday 9:30pm Eastern time. You can watch it on Facebook or YouTube or Twitter link in the show notes. We talk about TV shows that you should be binging we have over 85 hours of TV binge watching suggestions awaiting you on YouTube this bonus episode. So in case you just don't want to go anywhere, we're feeding three of those right into your ears from three of the different shows from Episode 4053 and 83. Common atcha we got toast of London, we've got rip Marvin Hagler boxing's greatest warrior and station 11 Each one of these segments pulled from the live show, you can go listen to the whole show on YouTube, and you're welcome to join us what is crossing the streams? We are here to answer the universal question. What should I be binging next? I just finished something I need something else. You have come to the right place kick things off with Brian green all the way back from Episode 40 of crossing the streams, toast of London. Brian loves the British comedies, you'll love Brian's podcast, that commercial break as well. Here's Brian, he's gonna take us through it. Let's talk about

Bryan Green 1:55

you gotta be picking on me, man. Toast of London. Yeah. So Joseph London is a show that I started watching, I don't know maybe about a month and a half ago. It's written by Matt Berry, who you may know from IT Crowd or currently What We Do In The Shadows, which is an FX show based about vampires who live in Staten Island. And Matt Berry is a British comic who wrote a television show about kind of a self aggrandizing actor in London who runs around to various auditions trying to get various parts that he's clearly not qualified for and ended up taking kind of secondary jobs everywhere, including a lot of voiceover acting where he's just made fun of constantly he he likens himself to a Cocksman but he's really not. And so he ends up kind of stepping all over himself when he's trying to get with the ladies. And he's got a cast of characters around him that I just think is is second to none. Listen, it's it's British humor. No doubt. It's absurd. No doubt. Oftentimes, he breaks out into song for no particular reason, like an actual song like the music starts playing. He's in a music video. All of a sudden, there's a song that almost seems like they're trying to be serious, like the song is not funny. It's not some kind of improv comedy. It's a serious song that he's now singing for three and a half minutes during the episode. But each episode lives on its own. You don't necessarily need to see the last one to see the next one. He's got a counterpart that is he calls him Ray fucking purchase, who's like the other actor who doesn't really you know, who thinks too much of themselves and runs around and they oftentimes battle for parts. Each episode to me is it was I just found it ballbusting ly funny. I am a big fan of British humor first of all, second of all, I'm a huge fan of those kinds of Michael Scott type characters, those Dwight Schrute type characters who are just they think that are more than they really are. And despite all credible evidence to the contrary, they just keep going with their own opinion of themselves even when people are clearly telling them that that's different. And I think it's so well played by Matt Berry. And there are laugh out loud moments. I think, I think every five to 10 minutes in these episodes. So for me in a very serious time you know the pandemic and and everything that's going on, right all of us are stressed, stressed out and things are stressful. I found this to be a fresh air on a nightly basis, I would watch an episode or two before I went to bed is the whole after a few episodes. I think when they get into season two, there's four seasons started in 2012. It was on BBC and then it went to sky and then it came over to Netflix. I think it's actually ending on Netflix soon and then it's going to be with IFC. But around like the end of the first season beginning of the 62nd season. Each episode begins with with a character toast Steven toast inside of a audio booth doing some kind of stealing some kind of recording for voice voiceover work, right. And so, one of the episodes one of the episodes starts and he goes the end. And then there's someone on the other end and then there's two young guys on the end of the glass right? And it's you know, it looks over and then the kids are talking behind the glass or the candy And then presses the button. And he goes, Steven, we'd like that we'd like that take, we're just wondering if you could do it, I don't know, maybe a little less energy. He's like, the end. So this goes on for like two minutes. And he ends up screaming the end like a million times. But I don't know the bravado of the character and the totally and nuanced way that he plays it is just really laugh out loud, funny. And I think anybody who has an opportunity to watch it, who has, you know, 27 minutes to catch up and get a good giggle? This is the show for you. And listen, I have a podcast that also deals with kind of absurd, ridiculous humor. So I'm attracted to that kind of television show. And but toast apparently has done very well on Netflix. Oh, ballbuster. Yeah. And, and I think that I think it's great show. And so what I wanted to say was, I lost my train of thought what I wanted to say was, they now have a YouTube channel that is dedicated to Steven toasts voiceover work. So there's a YouTube channel where it's just purely audio and it's new. It's essentially their new episodes of Steven toast, but now they're just on YouTube as the audio version of what he was doing inside of those booths, and I can't wait to catch up on it. I just read about it today. And I think it's gonna be really funny. vias cool.

Unknown Speaker 6:14

And definitely gonna have to check it out. You

Jeff Dwoskin 6:15

gotta Casey Ryan flat convinced. So that's can't get nice.

Bryan Green 6:19

He likes my ration of ballbusting. Leave British humor.

Ron Lippitt 6:24

And brilliant. Brian, did you by chance? I did a review several episodes back about Frank of Ireland on Amazon Prime. Have you have you got that show

Bryan Green 6:35

yet? No. But someone sent that to me believing that it was my type of comedy they sent it to I just haven't had a chance to watch it.

Ron Lippitt 6:41

That's exactly why I brought it up. Because based on everything you just said, I think it's right up your alley with with the kind of insane silliness of British humor. I think you'd like Frank of Ireland.

Bryan Green 6:52

Because I'm going to toast Yeah, I'm toast. I like Monty Python and Catherine Kim. And I like a lot of those kinds of, you know, off kilter, ridiculous comedies. For me, it just turns my brain off, you know, in in a world that's very serious. Way. Did you ever see. Very serious. Did

Ron Lippitt 7:10

you ever see John Cleese's funeral speech of I forget which Monty Python member died? Oh, gosh,

Bryan Green 7:17

I know. I forgot who remembers but I did. Yeah, I

Ron Lippitt 7:20

mean, he just slayed as a stand up at a funeral. I mean, just people were crying tears of laughter at this. And it's just only as only the British could do it at a at a funeral like that. And certainly, John Cleese is

Bryan Green 7:37

I think the only other eulogy that I've heard that would be close to as funny is Howard Stern's eulogy of Joan Rivers, which starts off with a joke that is way too racy to say here. But it was just it was 15 minutes of pure comedy off to work

Jeff Dwoskin 7:52

for that. Well, I will say I got some good laughs when I did the eulogy for my dad's funeral. Jeff, you did? Funny. It was funny. Yeah. And it was probably the biggest crowd I've ever played to. There were literally 1500 people there. I remember walking up and it was it was hot. It was I walk up and I turned to the guy who runs a funeral I go what we didn't pay for the air conditioning package. And and like everyone laughed, so that kind of just opened the door. Right? And it was just it was anyway I don't want to go but like, be at it's it's great. It's the best time it's when people want to laugh. I know firsthand, people come up to me, they're like it helps us get through it. You know, so nobody wants to hear this sad, generic stories. My question is, though, did you get 50% of the door? All right, Brian Greene and toast of London, also Frank of Ireland was discussed. So if you love the British humor, you can tune in for those. Check those out, let us know what you think. Next up is station 11. This one's a little different. Ron sometimes brings reviews of shows that he isn't fully endorsing. So he's going to discuss it and then when we want to hear your opinion of it later on the Twitter or other socials. In the meantime, here's station 11. And Ron, take it away with Ron and station alive at

Ron Lippitt 9:18

station 11. Now, I will just say this was a recommendation from my wife five years ago or six years ago as a book. And apparently this was a New York Times bestseller for a while and it chronicles a post apocalyptic world ironically from a flu bug. Granted, this was written six years ago. So this is not COVID related, but wow, does this sting of COVID When When you watch the the mini series and it is it is interesting in Israel limited series and HBO Max, it's it's eight episodes. There's a bunch of folks that who you don't know and that's actually a good thing. It's a lot of Canadian and European actors. The one name you will know is Himesh Patel, who I loved in the movie Yesterday if you guys have seen yesterday he was the lead in that role. And he does a great job as an American kind of loser who is, I would say the kind of the the lead supporting actor in the show. So now that I've kind of set that all up again postapocalyptic that the show starts off as a, as a explanation of how a young girl who is part of an acting troupe becomes homeless, and then, you know, taken in by Himesh Patel, and then becomes the lead person in a traveling acting troupe in the post apocalyptic world 20 years later. And that may sound like an interesting thing. And I'm here to tell you now four episodes in on tap. And this is my negative review of station 11. Because I've given this up, I've given the show for full episodes to finally have a payoff and to take me somewhere that I was excited to go that just as yet another dystopia bullshit show that doesn't really go anywhere. And I'm here to tell you, that's exactly what this show is at least four episodes in. So I don't have a lot to recommend about the show, the acting is okay, the production is obviously HBO seems to put a bunch of money into this. So but I'm not seeing a lot of it in marketing, and that it's not in my algorithm, I had to seek it out to find it based again, on the recommendation for my wife, it's just there's just not a lot there. So I you know, I'm sure the second half of the season, you know, episodes five through eight, which again, I am not going to be watching, I'm sure they probably are going to take you somewhere and I'm sure there's gonna be some kind of conclusion that may have allowed this to have been worth it and may have given you the path you're looking for. But this is yet another example about how shows, they've got to draw you in and pull you along before for episodes, you've got to you've got to really like it an episode or two at the most to really start to root for people or to enjoy the theme, or to at least get a sense for where it's going. And this isn't doing any of that for me. And so because of that I am going to tap out of the show. And for that reason, I'm not going to recommend station 11 and HBO max. And that's my friends is the entirety of my review.

Howard Rosner 12:11

It's interesting because it's the opposite on Rotten Tomatoes from what Red Notice that Jeff did last week is it's 97% by critics, but the audience is 66% Yeah, so critics loving a weird, artsy well shot piece, but audiences tapping out like you.

Ron Lippitt 12:32

Yeah, it's it is beautiful. I'll say that. And, and that does allow you to stick around for a little bit. And I think that the themes are interesting, but they don't follow up on any of it. And they don't make it any more compelling. It's just, you know, it's like I said, it's just proof that they've got to draw you in in some way and take you on a story that you're interested in rooting for. And there's nobody I'm rooting for in this story. There it is. Gotcha.

Jeff Dwoskin 12:57

That's unfortunate. What other shows have you guys been watching the you tapped out of I gotta tell add a morning show season two to this list of shows to avoid. I love season one to be clear. Season two, I thought they're like, Oh, I guess it was so popular. We have all these big names we might as well do with Season Two. It's just it was Yeah.

Ron Lippitt 13:21

Jerry Jerry just brought a comment on if you want to throw that up or not but about you know, HBO throwing away money and you know, canceling their Game of Thrones prequel which I did hear about it's been 30 million bucks on that episode just to throw it away which I have to say on some level I kind of give them credit for to be able to walk away from a $30 million investment just because you recognize it sucks. I think that I think that's very professional.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:42

I think I mentioned this to you and I'll trivia for Jerry if he doesn't know it. I think we're on it. We might have talked about this as the pilot of Game of Thrones that we know and love today is not the original pilot. They also shot the threat pilot and throw it out through an agent had different actors and least actresses. Dragons was different. I think Mrs. Dark was was different. They will throw stuff out.

Ron Lippitt 14:09

So Jeff, just just to answer your question. I ended up tapping OUT OF THE HANDMAID'S TALE after Season Two. It just got stupid and it didn't hold my attention any longer. But I'm sure there's probably better examples that you guys probably

Sal Demilio 14:20

I tapped out I mean, I know it's a famous show but I tapped out a Dexter I couldn't watch the nine year whatever seasons it did I think after lifto or whatever I just lost interest. Yeah,

Ron Lippitt 14:32

it started jumping the shark didn't that Sally started jumping the shark.

Jeff Dwoskin 14:35

I always tell people for Dexter if you stop at the end of season four, that's the Lithgow season. Season. It's the perfect show. Because the end of the big is a whole AI is a big deal. And then they get lazy towards the end. I remember watching that back to back with the end of Breaking Bad I am thinking how lazy that was getting with everything. And it was our breakdown that you couldn't wait for the end, obviously, panels and all that kind of stuff.

Howard Rosner 15:09

I just, I got so excited that it within the last week or two that previews on HBO for the second season of the righteous gemstones, which it's, and then it reminded me that I tapped out of that in the middle of the first season. It's such a good cast, you know, John Goodman, Danny McBride, and what's his name from Pitch Perfect and other folks that are just incredible. All the Danny McBride shows on HBO, Eastbound and Down and then what was the other one in the school? Where he was the principal? Yeah, vice principals. I think so. He's great. But that shows just terrible bored the shit out of me and now

Jeff Dwoskin 15:53

the previews look like they're trying so hard. And plus with this new season, it was like who's six? Succeed? John Goodman. I'm like you already have a show with this plot. Yeah. All right. Well, those are good shows. All right. So the beauty of this is we're trying to save you time too so you can focus on the other ones to watch all right, Ron made it to episode for anyone out there who's seen more than that the full picture let us know if it's something we need to re investigate and if there's other shows that you bailed on, we'd love to hear about those as well join in on the conversation hashtag classic conversations hashtag crossing the streams on Twitter. i We got one more for you, Bob Bill was brings an amazing point of view to the show with his boxing documentaries. This is Marvin Hagler rip boxing is greatest warrior. I love hearing Bob talk about boxing and these documentaries always fascinating. Take it away, Bob. Bob Phillips, going where he loves best matching Larry Hashim for passion with Marvin Hagler rip, boxing's greatest warrior

Bob Phillips 17:03

is marvelous Marvin Hagler This is a great documentary. It's only like 45 minutes long. You can catch it on YouTube, all of the highlights of his life and his career. The thing that I loved about Marvin Hagler was that he always showed up in unbelievable shape gave every fight his all, he you know, his his story is a lot like some of the ones that I've talked about here before born and grows up in near poverty and sees a way out by getting into boxing, and I won't talk too much about that. But he hooked up with a couple of Italian businessmen in Brockton, Massachusetts, goodie, and was it Leo Petra, Nelly, I forget the other brother. But anyway, they took him under their wing and promoted him and he was so good, too. He couldn't get a shot at the title because everybody was afraid they were going to lose to him so everybody avoided him and that was back in the day when you could do that. You shut people aside but now social media, you know, everybody's calling out everybody else has become rather shrill. He he finally got. Joe Frazier took him aside and said, Look, you're not gonna get a shot at the title for a while, while for three reasons. you're black, you're a southpaw, and you're really good. And nobody wants to fight that guy. So he got he got a shot with a guy named Mustafa homme show who was kind of an afterthought in all of this, but he beat him show but they gave the decision to harm show hecklers career. His whole existence in the boxing world was marked by disrespect until he won the title went over to London beat the brakes off a guy named Alan Minar. And while he's trying to celebrate in the ring, they won't even let him put the belt on because people are throwing things in the ring. How dare this black guy come over and take the title from our beloved Alan Miller. So anyway, he comes back to the States, he carves out a career for himself the most boring era of excellence in the middleweight division. He's one of the top five guys of all time, if you ask me, and he just keeps beating guys and beating guys and beating guys. People know that he's good, but he can't get the big fight. You know, Leonard won't fight him. He doesn't have an Olympic career to fall back on. He had a 55 and one amateur career and even the one that he supposedly lost there's that's debatable. He was just so good that you just got used to seeing him and going okay, he's gonna win. You know, he was he was like Tyson before there was Tyson then the when I did this one, I guess six months ago, maybe longer than that about the three kings. You know, the Four Kings boxing in the 80s Duran, Leonard Hearns and haggard Well, these guys started to fight each other. So Duran comes up from lightweight and decides to fight Hager and middleweight and everybody's gone dude. Turanza lightweight. You should mop the floor with him. Well, he doesn't Duran gives him help. But Hager wins the fight anyway, still no respect. He's still making decent money but nothing like Leonard and Unlike Hearns well then he finally gets to fight hers. And we know what happened that the they call it the best three rounds in boxing history. I'm gonna disagree with that. It's the best first round the best round and boxing green. Yeah. And so then then everybody's like, Oh, okay, this is the casual fan is now tuned into Marvin haggard. Well, they still can't get any respect, because he keeps wanting to, you know, have had people call him marvelous Marvin Hagler, and they won't they won't say it in his in the promotions. They won't say it on TV. So he literally goes to court and legally changes his name to marvelous Marvin Hagler. So they have to call him that. So it's just a strange thing to be looking back on that how he was, well, he was revered later up, that guy held the the middleweight title for seven years, seven years. I mean, that's unheard of, you know, guys hold a belt for a year, maybe two to three fights. He just kept knocking guys out whatever they put in front of him, he beat him. And then he finally he finally gets the big money fight with Sugar Ray Leonard, the thing he always wanted, because he couldn't stand let her let her had all the things that he didn't have when he was coming up. The Olympic fame, the endorsements and everything. And Hagler was just sort of unto himself. So he finally gets the fight with Hager in 19. Or excuse me with Leonard in 1986. And he loses. But he doesn't lose he beat he beat Leonard. But Leonard employed this strategy that he had done before and other fights were the last 30 seconds, he would go in and read flurry bounce a bunch of punches off Marvins dome, and would steal the route. So he's had enough at that point, he's just had enough of the disrespect, he's had enough of everybody getting the big, you know, the all the accolades. So he says, I'm out of here, he literally leaves he moves to Italy and becomes an actor lives in Milan.

Bob Phillips 21:55

And never comes back for I think, My God, I don't know, it was 20 years, something like that didn't want to come to Vegas to to be a part of any other fights just just had had enough. It said I'm making a ton of money over here. Um, he was like doing spaghetti was I don't even know what he did. Eventually, he did come back and kind of, you know, bury the hatchet with Sugar Ray. Everybody now realizes what an awesome fighter he was. And then Unfortunately, he passed a year ago, not quite a year ago, there was some kind of thought that he might have died of COVID. They did not prove that one way or another. I think it was a heart attack. But then, of course, when he dies, the whole boxing world comes out and says, Oh my god, I can't believe we had this guy in our midst. And we didn't know it. We didn't know what we had. And so if you look back on his career, if you're a boxing fan, or even a casual boxing fan, you just like my Lord, that He just beat everybody, everybody they put in front of him. And that's all you can ask from a fighter. And he did it. He did it with grace. He did it with he didn't lip off. He just did his job. So that was Marvin Hagler. Yeah, the relationship

Howard Rosner 23:01

between those two or the scenario with Leonard and Hagler was very, very similar. On a smaller scale to Ali and Frazier brasier was a hero of the black community. It was a hero of everybody. Sorry, it was in reverse.

Bob Phillips 23:19

I know what you're saying. Yeah, yeah. One that had all the jazz behind them. Yeah. And

Howard Rosner 23:25

Leonard was Leonard was very flashy and you know, use that to his advantage and got bigger paydays got those kinds of things. I'll tell you one of the best fights I ever saw my life was during that run with Hagler as as middleweight champ was one of the most brutal fights I ever saw was him against John The Beast mugabi. When those two guys just pounded each other? Well, 15 rounds. Yeah, that was a good, yeah, crazy.

Unknown Speaker 23:53

I think this whole thing would have been better if it went off. Like Jeff said, Jeff, very badly at the beginning wanted to say marvelous Marvin Hamlisch. He did.

Bob Phillips 24:06

Call him Marvin Hagler wish

Unknown Speaker 24:10

he very badly wanted to say Marvin Hamlisch. And if you listen back to the show, you will hear it too.

Howard Rosner 24:18

You gotta watch it and replace now.

Unknown Speaker 24:21

To find when he went to Italy, he was starting a movies, right? Yeah, and I don't I'm pretty sure there were ninja movies.

Bob Phillips 24:31

In the fight with Leonard, which proved to be his last fight, he was so frustrated with that, that tactic that Leonard would employ, and then he would dance for the other two and a half minutes and a Hagler stood in the center of the ring and said fight me little bitch. They got it on the mic.

Howard Rosner 24:50

Leonard, use that same tactic in the second Hearns fight, which all of us especially being Detroiters firmly believe there's no question Hearns one that fly he won that fight. Yeah, he clearly won that fight but it was the same thing he he flirted late and rounds. It gave him rounds that were really dominated otherwise by her and so but Hagler was a great fighter. so straightforward. Just a comma, come straight ahead. I mean, a good boxer and a great slugger, but just one of those guys that just showed up to fight surance every time Yeah, and I love watching his fight. That was the obviously the era that I choose a huge boxing fan. I love watching Cabify

Jeff Dwoskin 25:32

bodies every time you do a boxing thing. It just makes me realize I'm missing out on something here. All right, that's three great ones. Great job, Bob. That's Marvin Hagler rip boxing's greatest warrior. We talked about toast of London and station 11 little controversial on station love and want to hear about it. Tell us also what shows you bailed on when we were talking during that segment we were talking about? We were talking about an abandoned Game of Thrones prequel. How's the dragon has come out. So I think there was another one that were that at the time that did get cancelled. And how's the dragon one for anyway? That one's supposed to be great. Well, I'm sure we'll talk about it in a future episode. Anyway, you got toasted London Marvin Hagler station 11. To decide on. Go grab your remote, drop yourself on your favorite location on your couch, cross your own streams, and we'll see you next time.

CTS Announcer 26:26

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. I'll be busy for a while.

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