Wait, What? Ep. 211: Happy Birthday To Jeff, Happy Birthday Dear Jeff Lester

October 31, 2016

0:00:00-00:32:39: Hey, everyone! It’s Jeff Lester’s birthday today! (Or October 31st, if you’re reading this late.) And as you read these words — as long as you read them in the next couple of weeks — he’ll not be able to see them for himself because he’s abandoned us all for life on the open seas. Now you know why I’m doing these show notes. It’s not just Jeff Lester’s birthday, however; it’s actually Jeff Lester’s 50th birthday, which means that he was born in the same year as the Monkees, the Adam West Batman TV show and Star Trek, the coincidence of which we discuss in this opening segment, which also touching on unseasonably warm weather, 1980s Chernobyl nostalgia and the secret connection between Bob Haney and Saturday Night Live.
0:32:40-0:47:18: Talk of the 1960s Batman show leads us, in a very roundabout fashion, to our favorite superhero TV shows, which means that we reference the following:

Be warned: not all of these shows are our favorites.
0:47:19-0:51:46: For a brief second, we take a break to discuss different ways of marking childhood birthdays in Scotland and the U.S. Listen as Jeff is horrified by “the bumps!” Hear me being amused by schoolyard spankings and the way in which adolescent Jeff wrestled with the concept!

0:51:47-1:10:05: Moving from one area of nostalgia to another, Jeff wrestles with Marvel’s Luke Cage Netflix series (In his words, “It’s ambitious, but it’s not really good,”) and argues that it’s actually a mix of Batman, Star Trek and The Monkees, while I explain my dislike for its opening titles. But having opened those floodgates, we soon move on to…
1:10:06-1:22:53:Gotham, Daredevil and whether or not the second seasons of both are better shows because they’re of a more consistent quality throughout, as opposed to swerving wildly between peaks and troughs. Also, what value does camp have in a show like Gotham, and just how much more fun is Erin Richards having now that she’s allowed to play a fun (if evil) character in Gotham?

1:22:54-1:39:04: What makes a good superhero TV show, anyway? Jeff asks if the fact that I like DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and The Flash and dislike Jessica Jones and Daredevil comes from a bias against Marvel and towards DC, but I frame it more as enjoying upbeat trash more than pretentious scowling. We compare Legends to Doctor Who, and talk about why Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD‘s true consistency comes from disappointment. (Spoiler: Dollhouse is referenced. Remember Dollhouse?) Jeff works out what he wants from a superhero TV show, which then leads us to…
1:39:05-1:50:38: …What comic books would Jeff and I like to see on television? The answers might… actually, probably not surprise you that much. Angel & The Ape! Blackjack! The Spirit! Judge Dredd! Y: The Last Man! Challengers of the Unknown! All this, and the answer to the question you’ve often asked yourself: What does the CW stands for, anyway?

(This isn’t a TV show, but still; it’s Brad Bird’s 1980 pencil test animation for The Spirit…)

1:50:39-end: Closing comments, in which we remind you to look for us on Twitter, Tumblr and Patreon, where fine folks like the brave souls of American Ninth Art Studios and Empress Audrey, Queen of the Galaxy help us help you with this fine show.
Next week: It’s time for another Baxter Building! Episode 23, wherein we return to the regular series for #201-214 and wish that we hadn’t. Join us, won’t you?

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10 comments on “Wait, What? Ep. 211: Happy Birthday To Jeff, Happy Birthday Dear Jeff Lester

  1. I would like to point out that the Delfonics are from Philadelelphia, not so much to correct your “Harlem luminaries” comment as to project the vain hope that Season 2 Luke has an exciting adventure in Philly with wall-to-wall TSOP music.

  2. Daniel S. Nov 1, 2016

    We had Birthday bumps in Canada in grade school. They were applied by fist though I remember.

  3. I remember being *very upset* when Dallas started showing, since that meant there was no more hope of additional seasons of Man From Atlantis. Apparently I was *that desperate* for action-adventure content in the late 70s. These days, I don’t even bother with the CW shows.

  4. Hi guys
    Could you post the direct download link please.

    Thanks!

  5. Happy birthday.

  6. John Kane Nov 4, 2016

    Happy birthday! Here’s to another fifty years of Jaunty Jeff Lester!

  7. daustin Nov 7, 2016

    Happy Birthday!

    I’ve similarly been working my way through the original Star Trek series on Netflix. I grew up during the Next Generation era, and never much cared for it even though I had a number of friends who were regular watchers. My only experience with the original crew were the movies and occasional snippets I’d catch on TV. So far, I have to say that they are quite fun, despite the poor special effects, regressive sexual politics and occasionally very silly plots. Shatner and Nimoy are both great, and the show tends to move pretty quickly. I’m roughly halfway through the first season so far.

  8. David Morris Nov 9, 2016

    Bumps in Belfast went on through secondary education and involved people holding your arms and legs and swinging you up and down, bumping you on the ground. The Greenock version sounds more hardcore.