A Degree Absolute!

Merry Christmas With the Moms and Dads: Yuletunes Eclectic & Inexplicable XVIII — Hall Deckening, Part One Dec 24, 2023

WARNING: THIS IS NOT AN EPISODE OF THE BELOVED AND INFLUENTIAL PODCAST "A DEGREE ABSOLUTE!"

Yippe kai yay, Christmas lovers. It’s your buddy Chris — sans Glen this time — with yet another installment in the metronomically reliable and stereoscopicaly hi-fi-able yuletunes eclectic and inexplicable compilation series. This is installment 18 — they grow up so fast! Which makes it the Ulysses S. Grant edition in the schema of U.S. Presidents. In the discography of Prince, may he rest in power, this would be the Emancipation edition. It’s the Tomorrow Never Dies entry, in EON productions James Bond parlance. I guess I could look up which Marvel movie was the 18th, but when I started this project, there were no Marvel Studios marvel movies. That’s how long I’ve been doing this.

"A DEGREE ABSOLUTE" SHALL RETURN!

The Airborne Yuletide Event [Side B] Dec 23, 2022

WARNING: THIS IS NOT AN EPISODE OF THE BELOVED AND INFLUENTIAL PODCAST "A DEGREE ABSOLUTE!"

The yulemix enters its Pierce Brosnan era with this seventeenth senses-shattering installment! It's another paradoxically digital yule (ana)log, optimized to obfuscate and illuminate your holiday season. Each side will conveniently fit onto a one side of a 100-minute cassette. Break off those recording tabs and commence hall-decking, revelers!

"A DEGREE ABSOLUTE!" SHALL RETURN!

The Airborne Yuletide Event [Side A] Dec 02, 2022

WARNING: THIS IS NOT AN EPISODE OF THE BELOVED AND INFLUENTIAL PODCAST "A DEGREE ABSOLUTE!"

The yulemix enters its Pierce Brosnan era with this seventeenth senses-shattering installment! It's another paradoxically digital yule (ana)log, optimized to obfuscate and illuminate your holiday season. Each side will conveniently fit onto a one side of a 100-minute cassette. Break off those recording tabs and commence hall-decking, revelers!

"A DEGREE ABSOLUTE!" SHALL RETURN!

The Computer Wore Menace Shoes Nov 14, 2022

It's a Y2K-pop extravaganza as Chris and Glen emerge from their unplanned and unannounced hiatus to dissect 72-year-old Patty McG's brief-but-memorable guest appearance reprising the role of Number Six for (the final eight minutes of) the Season 12 Simpsons episode "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes." Cowabunga!

The Simpsons, season 12, episode six — "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes"

Written by John Swartzwelder

Directed by Mark Kirkland

Originally aired December 3, 2000

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek

Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark

Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark

Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark

BRASS TARGET with Keith Phipps Aug 04, 2022

Our guest Keith Phipps is not just a sterling critic and a dad — an essential component when we cover a movie as openly paternal as 1978’s post-WWII espionage thriller Brass Target. He is also the author of new book examining the career of a singularly idiosyncratic actor. A Degree Absolute! endorses Keith’s book Age of Cage absolutely.

And Brass Target? Well, minute-for-minute, it has the most undiluted Patty McG purity rating of any film we’ve covered save perhaps for Braveheart. It’s much harder to find than that one but worth the hunt for those such as we. Invest in physical media, people.

Brass Target

Screenplay by Alvin Boretz, adapted from Frederick Nolan’s novel The Algonquin Project

Directed by John Hough

Released December 22, 1978

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek

Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark

Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark

Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark

Bass by Marcus Newstead

Darling / Schizoid / Checkmate (THE PRISONER 2009, part two) Jul 20, 2022

It's More Talk About A-Frames and Holes as we slog dutifully through the back half of The Prisoner's 2009 Jim Caviezel-and-Ian McKellen-starring update.

It turns out Chris did review Serenity, the Steven Knight film he referes to 54 minutes into this episode. Read that review if you wish!

Darling, Schiozid, and Checkmate

Written by Bill Gallagher

Directed by Nick Hurran

Initial airdate: November 15 & 16, 2009

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek

Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark

Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark

Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark

Bass by Marcus Newstead

Arrival / Harmony / Anvil (THE PRISONER 2009, part one) Jul 06, 2022

We’ve got good news and bad news for you, Villagers: After a long sojourn examining Patty McG’s eclectic-not-checkered filmography, we’ve returned to Prisoner content… in the form of the 2009 Jim Caviezel-and-Ian McKellen-starring update. At Glen’s suggestion, we are devoting a mere two episodes to this six-episode series, because inflation. Who’s hungry for a wrap?

Arrival, Harmony, and Anvil

Written by Bill Gallagher

Directed by Nick Hurran

Initial airdate: November 15 & 16, 2009

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek

Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark

Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark

Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark

Bass by Marcus Newstead

A TIME TO KILL with Linda Holmes Jun 08, 2022

Matty McC meets Patty McG in the battle you didn’t know you wanted to McSee!

Look, A Time to Kill, the fourth big-studio adaptation of a John Grisham legal thriller to hit theaters in a 37-month period during the first Clinton Administration, is not a great showcase for our man Patty McG. There are just too many high-caliber, high-profile, and high-maintenance players in its stacked cast, and probably too much studio pressure for him to get away with anything weird. (Braveheart, released 14 months earlier, was a long time ago.) Company-man director Joel Schumacher seems to have saved all his creative chits for putting nipples on Batsuits in this era, turning in a serviceable but unshowy piece of work the summer in between Batman Forever and Batman and Robin. He sure does like to spray his actors with baby oil, though.

The good news is that our friend Linda Holmes is back this episode, lending her quadruple-threat expertise as (in increasing order of significance) a Sandra Bullock expert, and Grisham expert, an actual-albeit-no-longer-practicing lawyer, and of course as a world-class critic to our examination of the picture. Join us, won’t you, on this jurisprudent journey back to nineteen-niner-six.

A Time to Kill

Screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, adapted from John Grisham’s novel

Directed by Joel Schumacher

Released July 24, 1996

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek

Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark

Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark

Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark

Bass by Marcus Newstead

BABY, SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND with Jordan Morris May 25, 2022

Terrible fonts! Racist tropes! Puppetty brontos! A doomed marriage! A movie that was made for no one! Plus Paddy McG phoning it in - hardly a single trilled R! Listen, and catch the opposite of a fever!

Prolific podmedian & Eisner Award nominee Jordan Morris joins us to carbon-date a seminal document of his dino-loving youth, BABY, SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND! Starring Rachel the Replicant, The Greatest American Hero, For He's a Julian Fellowes, & Patty McG as the heel.

Baby, Secret of the Lost Legend

Screenplay by Clifford and Ellen Green

Directed by B. W. L. Norton

Released March 22, 1985

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

ALL NIGHT LONG with Casey Erin Clark May 04, 2022

MOOR COWBELL! Slip into your cardigan, roll yourself a jazz cigarette, and prepare to savor one of Patty McG's most sinister heel turns as our lovely theme-song singer Casey Erin Clark joins us to deconstruct All Night Long, director Basil Dearden's 1962 adaptation of Othello set in the London jazz scene. PLUS! Casey draws upon her expertise as a voice coach and musician to examine several of McGoohan's most distinctive vocal performances, and presents her findings to the court.

All Night Long

Screenplay by Neil King and Paul Jarraco

Directed by Basil Dearden

Released February 6, 1962

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

KINGS AND DESPERATE MEN Apr 06, 2022

A movie for McGoohan die-hards that creator Alexis Kanner the Once-Boxed sued the makers of Die Hard over! Paddy McG and Kanner! Squaring off, with a Montreal radio show as their Thunderdome. A film with all the makings of a taut thriller involving hostages, a building wired with explosives, and McG in fine form: Rolling them Rs! Slamming them consonants! Playing drunk! Almost evincing sexual-adjacent desire! Features more overlapping dialogue than if you played Nashville, A Wedding, and McCabe & Mrs. Miller all at once!

Kings and Desperate Men

Shot 1977; released (sort of) 1981

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek

Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark

Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark

Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark

Bass by Marcus Newstead

"All-Time High"

Music by John Barry; lyrics by Tim Rice

Performed by Townland, from their fine new album Honey on the Hi-Fi

Special thanks to Linda Holmes, Gene Demby, and Jessica Reedy

THE MOONSHINE WAR Mar 23, 2022

Patty McG's first major project after The Prisoner wrapped up in early 1968 was The Moonshine War, for Sex and the Single Girl director (and title-song lyricist!) Richard Quine. Quine did not write this film's remarkably concise and descriptive title song, "The Ballad of Moonshine," leaving that to Hank Williams, Jr. The great crime writer Elmore Leonard adapted the screenplay of The Moonshine War from his own 1969 novel. No one will argue it's on the level of later, adapted-by-other-screenwriters Leonard translations like Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, Out of Sight, or the TV series Justified, but the seeds are here.

Also here: Richard Widmark! A pre-M.A.S.H. Alan Alda! A pre-fame Teri Garr and a pre-billing Tom Skerritt! A pre-The Waltons Will Geer! Lee Hazlewood of Lee Hazlewood Industries as gun thug Dual Metters! Plus the Patty McG bedroom scene you've been dreading.

Here's the condescending and phony behind-the-scenes featurette we discuss on the episode.

The Moonshine War

Screenplay by Elmore Leonard, from his novel

Directed by Richard Quine

Released July 1970

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

THE THREE LIVES OF THOMASINA with Josh Spiegel Mar 09, 2022

Does Mister-not-Doctor Andrew MacDuhui (Paddy McG) hate pets? (He does not, no matter what his low-information neighbors in the fictional Scottish town of Inveronoch think.)

Did Walt Disney hate cats? (Our very special guest Disney expert, Josh Spiegel, makes a compelling case.)

Were animals harmed during the making of this motion picture? (Most certainly, regrettably.)

Our principled stand against pandering to the Internet's insatiable appetite for cat content crumbles as we pad, paw, 'n' claw our merryish way through...

The Three Lives of Thomasina

Written by Robert Westerby, from Paul Gallico's novel Thomasina, the Cat Who Thought She Wa God

Directed by Don Chaffey

Released December 11, 1963

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

THE SCARECROW OF ROMNEY MARSH with Margaret H. Willison Feb 23, 2022

On February 9, 1964, Ed Sullivan introduced a band from Liverpool, England formerly known as The Quarrymen to an estimated 73 million viewers of his primetime CBS variety show. And down the dial on NBC, the anthology series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color drew an audience of something less than 73 million for the first installment of its three-part The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh, an adaptation of Russell Thorndike and William Buchanan's novel Christopher Syn starring our man Patty McG as an 18th century man of the cloth* by day/masked-smuggler-by-night who helps the common people by... paying their taxes, we think? Using the funds he earns from smuggling brandy and tobacco. He also helps them elude the pressgangs who roam the marsh looking for reasonably able-bodied youngish men to abduct into King George III's Royal Navy.

*Specifically, a "fuckable vicar" in the estimation of our generously oversharing special guest Margaret H. "Hula Hoop" Willison, whose effervescent personality really ties the room together. (Dang. That's the wrong Coen Bros. reference.)

The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh

Teleplay by Robert Westerby, from the novel Christopher Syn by Russell Thorndike and William Buchanan

Directed by James Neilson

Original airdates February 9, 16, and 23, 1964

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

SILVER STREAK with Ronald Young Jr. Feb 09, 2022

Pop some vitamin E before listening, because it's gonna be hug 'n' munch all the way to Chicago! Solvable host Ronald Young, Jr. joins Glen and Chris to examine Silver Streak, ostensibly a hybrid romantic thriller / buddy comedy that gave the world the long-running Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor screen partnership and was a huge hit upon its release in 1976. America's bicentennial anum was a great a year for movies, more despite Silver Streak than because of it, but hey, the movie features a loveably smarmy Columbo-era Patrick McGoohan as the despicable villain. Along with a lot of trite and, by contemporary standards, deeply offensive comedy. Choo choo!

Silver Streak

Written by Colin Higgins

Directed by Arthur Hiller

Released December 8, 1976

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

BOXING DAY SPECIAL: Let's Talk About Christmas (2019 yulemix) Dec 26, 2021

CAUTION: This is not an episode of A Degree Absolute! This is a halldecking aid.

Happy Boxing Day, Degree Absolutionists! With Glen still waging his one-man war on Christmas from the sunny heathen hinterlands of Miami, I, Chris, have made an executive decision to use up our vacant server space this month to re-present my 2019 holiday mixtape, "Let's Talk About Christmas!"

And if you don't want to talk about, hear about, or think about Christmas, fear not! You can skip this non-episode entirely and catch us when regular programming returns in January.

I wrote about my long-running Christmas mixtape project in this 2012 Washington Post essay. 2012! That was like two or three years ago at least.

Cheer Is the Mind-Killer—Yuletunes Eclectic & Inexplicable XVI [Side B] Dec 23, 2021

#Yulemix21 ABIDES! In this second half of my XVIth senses-shattering installment in the apparently unkillable Yuletunes Eclectic & Inexplicable series, Chris attempts penance for preempting your regularly-scheduled podcast with my mixtape by roping Glen & Casey in for some festive preamble before we get to the damn tape. Those halls aren't going to deck themselves, merrymakers!

Cheer Is the Mind-Killer—Yuletunes Eclectic & Inexplicable XVI [Side A] Dec 12, 2021

This is not an episode of A DEGREE ABSOLUTE! This is a halldecking aid. A DEGREE ABSOLUTE! shall return.

What this is is the sixteenth installment in what has become a venerable holiday tradition that invariably makes me feel unhinged in the final couple of months of each year. Sixteen! They grow up so fast. The Yuletunes Eclectic & Inexplicable compilation series, most installments of which remain available to stream—I wish this had not become a joke—my Soundcloud is now as licensed to drive as any Cory. In the chronology of the EON Productions James Bond film series, it is Licence-d (sic) to Kill.

BRAVEHEART with Alexandra Petri Nov 17, 2021

It's primae noctis for your ears because we can put it off no longer: The quintuple-Academy Award-winning a-historical epic Braveheart is the most widely seen and, your hosts agree, best latter-day expression of undiluted Patrick McGooted. The Washington Post's Alexandra Petri returns to discuss her journalist doppelganger, the New York Times' Alexandra Petri, and to share with Glen the virgin Braveheart experience. Freeeeeeeeeeeedommmmmmm!

Given the volume of Star Wars talk that seems to follow (the Post's) Petri around, it's a wonder we forgot to mention that Braveheart was produced by Alan "Laddie" Ladd, Jr., who 20 years earlier had been the guy preventing the board of 20th Century Fox from firing George Lucas off of the weird, expensive kiddie movie he was making and/or shutting the production down.

Braveheart

Written by Randall Wallace

Directed by Mel Gibson

Released May 24, 1995

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

Our Top Six Twos Nov 03, 2021

THERE CAN BE ONLY TWO(s) as Chris & Glen rank their top six on this week’s exciting episode! Thanks to @UrbanSpaceMan64 for suggesting the topic.

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

"Break Me Gently" written and performed by doves

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS Oct 27, 2021

It’s the Notorious V.R.G. v. the founder of the Jackson Fivehead in this 16th century showdown among two dope queens—and we don’t mean Timothy Dalton & Ian Holm! PLUS: Jimmy Stewart! Current Release Corner! Dispatches from the French of Liberty, Kansas!

Mary, Queen of Scots

Written by John Hale

Directed by Charles Jarrott

Released December 1971

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

"Mary, Queen of Arkansas" written and performed by Bruce Springsteen

THE HARD WAY with Patrick Flynn Oct 06, 2021

It's Patty McG v. Lee Va C as Original Cast host Patrick Flynn joins Chris & Glen to discuss the existential 1980 thriller The Hard Way.

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

"I Learned the Hard Way" written by Bosco Mann; performed by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

Shattered Visage Sep 25, 2021

Chris and Glen discuss Dean Motter & Mark Askwith's 1988 four-volume comic book sequel to the unclassifiable and unforgettable TV series.

The A Place to Hang Your Cape interview with Dean Motter we discuss in this episode is here.

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

"Shattered" by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards; performed by The Rolling Stones

THE PHANTOM Sep 08, 2021

An increasingly besotted Glen & unceasingly bemused Chris wax purple on THE PHANTOM, 1996’s two-fisted failed franchise starter with Billy Zane as the 30s comic strip hero who coulda been called WHITE PANTHER & Patty McG as the Ghost Who Walks™ ’s… Ghost Dad?

The Phantom

Written by Jeffrey Boam

Directed by Simon Wincer

Released June 7, 1996

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

"Purple Rain" is by Prince, obviously

SCANNERS with Alexandra Petri Sep 01, 2021

Democracy dies in dorkiness this week as the brilliant Washington Post columnist, essayist, playwright and retired (?) Emo Sith Lord Alexandra Petri joins us to autopsy David Cronenberg's 1981 explosive migrane of a cult classic Scanners, featuring 24 minutes of a possibly first-billed, maybe third-billed, but unequivocally box-named-on-the poster Patty McG as a, um, North American mad scientist named... Dr. Ruth. Glen is determined to spark an international incident by dismissing Steven Lack, the picture's aptly named lead player, as "Canadian hot" while assessing future Lion in Winter star Michael Ironside as "Philadelphia hot."

It's a ripe program, this one. Ripe indeed.

Scanners

Written and directed by David Cronenberg

Released January 14, 1981

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead "Head" written and performed by Prince, obviously

Mail Call! The Dog Days of Summer Edition Aug 27, 2021

Chris freestyles and epic poem about getting his iPhone replaced and eventually he and Glen dig deep into the too-long-neglected mailbag. Casey sings a reader-penned jingle.

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead "Nobody Does It Better" written by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager; performed by Carly Simon

ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ with Jesse Thorn Aug 18, 2021

Maximum Fun? More like maximum security! Maximum Fun podcast network founder and San Francisco native Jesse Thorn joins us this week to tunnel through the crumbling walls of Escape From Alcatraz, the 1979 Clint Eastwood-starring dramatization of the real 1962 prison break, featuring Patty McG as…The Warden. Stunt casting doesn’t get any stuntier, though Glen and I differ on exactly how much The Artist Formerly Known Only as Number Six contributes to the 115-minute picture in his roughly 10 minutes of screen time.

Escape From Alcatraz

Directed by Don Siegel

Screenplay by Richard Tuggle

Based on the book Escape from Alcatraz by J. Campbell Bruce

Released June 22, 1979

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead "Folsom Prison Blues" (Live at Folsom Prison, January 1968) written and performed by Johnny Cash

McGoohan on COLUMBO with Linda Holmes Aug 10, 2021

DID YOU KNOW that Columbophiles are properly nomenclatured Columboheads or Trenchcoatheads?

DID YOU KNOW that fans who divide their sympathies equally among Patrick McGoohan and Peter Falk are formally designated McGalks?

Pal Linda Holmes joins Glen & Chris to investigate Patty McG’s historic run as a four-time Columbo killer / five-time Columbo director. Brandon Routh, the George Lazenby of Supermen despite being admirably heighted to the role, also gets a surprising quotient of airtime on this typically tangent-tolerant episode of our private, personal, by-hand, punchcard-driven podcast!

Read Linda's November 2020 essay on her pandemic discovery of Columbo here. And follow her on Twitter, obviously.

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Leave us a five-star review with your hottest Prisoner take on Apple Podcasts!

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead "Watcing the Detectives" written and performed by Declan Patrick McManus

LOST in America with Jen Chaney Jul 28, 2021

Vulture TV critic and noted Lindelofologist Jen Chaney joins us to examine the influence of THE PRISONER on subsequent stranded-by-the-seaside puzzle-box shows like LOST. Plus we once again pop The Hatch on the mailbag.

Read Jen's definitive oral history of the LOST finale here! Follow her on Twitter here!

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead "With Or Without You" (Live from Sun Devils Stadium, Tempe, AZ, 19 Dec. 1987) Written and performed by U2

Fall Out Jul 14, 2021

Patty McG has claimed he was driven out of England after this puzzling final episode of The Prisoner debuted on Feb. 1, 1968. McGoohan admitted to financier Lew Grade that he'd been bluffing a year prior when he told the moneyman that he had an ending in mind for the strange new series he'd proposed.

While this episode certainly reflects its creator's exasperation and exhaustion, it's more satisfying than any conventional resolution of the show's myriad mysteries could possibly have been... isn't it?

"Fall Out"

Written and directed by Patrick McGoohan

Original airdate February 1, 1968

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling (the band, the filmmakers, the supertalented PRISONER superfans) Jul 07, 2021

I (Chris) have long suspected The Prisoner is a show with a particular appeal to creative people, and I love to be proven right.

Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling is a Prisoner-inspired punk duo comprised of filmmakers/musicians/writers/creators/etc. Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein. When we saw their video for "Arrival" — a meticulous, two-years-in-the making recreation of The Prisoner's opening title sequence — we knew we had to meet them. From this wildly ambitious and improbably successful short film, they graduated to making features, as they tell us in a conversation that reaches far beyond The Prisoner to address the joys and the confines of fandom. Plus, I learned a new word.

Watch their "Arrival" video here!

Find their music on Bandcamp! And learn more about their current activities — and hire them if you want! — here.

"Arrival"

"A., B., & C."

"Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling"

"Hammer into Anvil"

"Living in Harmony"

"Many Happy Returns"

"The Girl Who Was Death"

"Once Upon a Time"

Written by Sophia Cacciola; performed by Sophia Cacciola (vocals, drums) and Michael J. Epstein (bass, programming, additional vocals). "A.,B., & C." and "Hammer into Anvil" feature Rachel Leah Blumenthal on oboe and Susannah Plaster on viola.

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

Once Upon a Time Jun 30, 2021

Shot in December 1966 under the title "Degree Absolute" and not broadcast until more than a year later when it became The Prisoner's penultimate — and, we agree, ultimate — episode, "Once Upon a Time" is the real thing. A bottle episode that locks GOAT Number Two Leo McKern and Number Six in the black-box "Embryo Room" and compels them to reenact the Seven Ages of Man that that glover's son from Stratford wrote about, shooting it almost killed McKern. And talking about it almost killed us! Our private, personal, by-hand, punchcard-driven discursive dissection of this epistemological epic is more tangent-tolerant than ever! Get comfortable, because Second Childishness & Mere Oblivion await!

DID YOU KNOW that if you go up to Glen and say "Deep! Power! Nuggets!" he is bound by the terms of his parole to give you $5? Try it!

"Once Upon a Time"

Written and directed by Patrick McGoohan

Original airdate January 25, 1968

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead "This Is How We Do It" written by Montell Jordan, Oji Pierce, and Ricky Walters; performed by Montell Jordan "Fall Out" written by Stewart Copeland; performed by The Police

EXTRASODE: Village Mailbag, Indoors & Out Jun 26, 2021

Chris and Glen respond to listener email and then take up a tactical position on the western emplacement of Glen's Remote Mountain Stronghold to discuss their IRL reunion and promised viewing of Rob Marshall's Best Picture-winning 2002 film version of John Kander & Fred Ebb's Chicago. Which has precisely nothing to do with The Prisoner but hey, we are, famously, a tangent-tolerant podcast.

Then they read a few more listener emails. It's a bit anticlimactic, honestly. But the reunion was lovely, as are your emails.

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead "Once Upon a Time" written and performed by Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling

ICE STATION ZEBRA with Matt Gourley Jun 23, 2021

What If Jimmy Page played a session with Stillwater? Our podcastin' inspiration Matt Gourley joins us for a Cinerama epic of an episode that we didn't plan to release on Father's Day week, but the cookie happened to crumble serendipitously. Because our subject is a genuine, certified, no-foolin’ Dad Movie, Ice Station Zebra, based on The Guns of Navarone author Alistair MacLean's novel Ice Station Zebra.

The moderately thrilling Cold War thriller that Patty McG cheated on The Prisoner with is an all-star affair featuring Rock “The Dwayne” Hudson, Ernest “Resistance is Futile” Borgnine, Jim “One Night in Miami” Brown and the dirty half-dozen himself, Patrick McGoohan!

And this episode is, like Roger Ebert’s 1969 review of Ice Station Zebra, a one-star affair... the star being Mr. Gourley, who nails it like Harrison Ford in Witness when he hails Ice Station Zebra as “a Saturday lawnmow.”

Ice Station Zebra

Directed by John Sturges

Screenplay by Douglas Heyes

Screen Story by Harry Julian Fink

From the novel by Alistair MacLean

Released October 23, 1968

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

The Girl Who Was Death Jun 16, 2021

Number Six must elude the tender embrace of a lady who probably uses pseudonyms at least as often as he does in a late-in-the-run-but-lavish filler episode that sends up the spy genre circa ’67 & burns plenty of Sir Lew Grade’s money. (He refused to finance a floated 90-minute version.)

Justine Lord and Kenneth Griffiths are your magnificent guest stars, and Patty McG appears to be having a grand old time in the relatively few scenes where he's onscreen. Apparently he was called back to Los Angeles for a few more weeks of shooting on Ice Station Zebra late in 1967, resulting in an episode that relies heavily on doubles, particularly in the location footage shot at the Kursaal Fun Fair at Southend.

"The Girl Who Was Death"

Written by Vincent Feeley from an idea by David Tomblin

Directed by David Tomblin

Original airdate January 18, 1968

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead "Secret Agent Man / James Bond Is Back" written by Steve Barri / John Barry / P.F. Sloan and performed by Bruce Willis

Living in Harmony with Ben Blacker Jun 09, 2021

Prolific screenwriter, prosewriter, comic book writer, and podcaster Ben Blacker — co-creator of the magnificent monthly-live-show-turned-podcast The Thrilling Adventure Hour, and its delightful Western parody feature, Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars, among his many other notable and impressive credentials — joins us this week to dissect "Living in Harmony," perhaps the curviest of The Prisoner's curveball episodes.

With script editor George Markstein out, Patty McG and David Tomblin put out a call for The Prisoner story ideas. Ian Rakoff, a film editor with no prior screenwriting experience, responded with a pitch for a Western-themed episode, and did not learn until the episode was broadcast in the last days of 1967 that Tomblin had reduced his credit to an "idea by" nod while taking sole writing credit himself.

McGoohan stunt double/series stunt arranger Frank Maher also claims to have inspired "Living in Harmony," saying he and McGoohan cooked up the idea while playing squash. The episode gives Maher his only credited onscreen role in the series, as Third Gunman. (Also, I love knowing that McGoohan and Maher hung out together, like fading star Rick Dalton and his assistant/stuntman Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood.)

Guest stars Alexis Kanner and Valerie French had played lovers only months earlier in an episode of the ITV series Love Story entitled "Cinema Verité", where their relationship was, one hopes, more... consensual than the one depicted here, between Kanner's mute sociopathic killer The Kid and French's working girl Kathy. David Bauer, who plays the crooked judge who controls Harmony and wants Six to be Sheriff (i.e., his enforcer) was an American actor who fled the blacklist and ended up in a pair of Bond flicks, 1967's You Only Live Twice and 1971's dreary Diamonds Are Forever.

"Living in Harmony"

Written by David Tomblin and Ian Rakoff

Directed by David Tomblin

Original airdate December 29, 1967

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling May 31, 2021

It seems Patty McG had softened his "don't call it television because television cuts corners and we'll never ever do that" position by the time of The Prisoner's much-abbreviated second and final season, because for most of the production of this week's episode he decided his time would be better spent in Los Angeles co-starring in John Sturges' unmemorable 1968 thriller Ice Station Zebra with Rock Hudson, Ernest "Resistance Is Futile" Borgnine, and Jim Brown.

"Chimes of Big Ben" screenwriter Vincent Tilsey got the unenviable job of coming up with a Prisoner story that would require neither the show's star nor its key location, Portmerion in North Wales. He came up with a brain-swapping scenario that would allow hardworking actor Nigel Stock to play Number Six. Upon his return from the States, McGoohan demanded extensive changes to the show that had been made in his absence. But he did not demand that Stock un-kiss Six's left-behind fiancee Janet (Zena Walker), who was never mentioned prior to this episode and shall never be again. Also, the head of MI6 was going to be SIx's father-in-law, apparently. Script editor George Markstein was long gone by this point and no one was minding the store.

The mailbag overfloweth this week, so we moved the listener mail segment to the back half of the episode. Thank you for your correspondence.

"Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling"

Written by Vincent Tilsley

Directed by Pat Jackson

Original airdate December 22, 1967

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

A Change of Mind May 26, 2021

Number Six's Public Enemy Number Six act is getting tired — and what is alternately referred to within a single scene as The Committee, The Council, and The Commission will tolerate it for only so long before they decree that their prize captive must undergo Instant Social Conversion. It's a procedure so chilling that Number Eighty-Six (the marvelous Angela Browne) must narrate it step-by-step, and very, very slowly, so as not to induce panic. John Sharpe is our unctuous, openly misogynistic Number Two. Happily, we get to see Six's homebuilt crossfit gym in the woods once again.

"A Change of Mind"

Written by Roger Parkes

Directed by Joseph Serf (Patty McG)

Original airdate December 15, 1967

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead "I Changed My Mind (Stereo MC's Rattlesnake Mix)" written and performed by Lyrics Born

It's Your Funeral May 19, 2021

There's an assassination plot afoot in The Village, and Number Six must protect his oppressor to spare his fellow Villagers. Derren Nesbitt is our Number Two and Annette Andre is our Girl Friday. Neither one of them could stand their scene partner an (uncredited) director, Patty McG. Pink-blazered henchman Mark Eden didn't hate him, but he did resent his attempt to strangle him on camera.

This creative tension results in one of The Prisoner's most rewarding episodes, replete with crossfit and and Kosho and lots more. Plus, listener mail!

"It's Your Funeral"

Written by Michael Cramoy

Directed by Robert Asher (but really Patrick McGoohan)

Original airdate December 8, 1967

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead "Back in the Village" written by Adrian Smith & Bruce Dickinson; performed by Iron Maiden "Push It" written by Hurby Azor & Ray Davies; performed by Salt-N-Pepa "Theme from Mission: Impossible" by Lalo Schifrin "Pinball Number Count" written by Walt Kraemer; arr. Ed Bogas Annette Andre and Darren Nesbitt interview clips from Don't Knock Yourself Out, directed by Tim Beddows and Thomas Cock "Jammin' Me" written by Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, & Mike Campbell; performed by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Hammer into Anvil May 12, 2021

Pride Goethe before a fall. To boldy Goethe where no one has gone before.

Just how well do you know your Johann Wolfgang von Goethe?

Patrick Cargill is back from "Many Happy Returns" and in Number Six's crosshairs after he drives a woman to suicide two minutes into the episode. And so begins Six's campaign of vengeance via psychological warfare.

>Featuring Basil Hoskins as Number Fourteen, the man who challenges Six to an ostensibly (per the script) dirty, not-according-to-Hoyle game of... Kosho.

Written by Roger Woddis

Directed by Pat Jackson Original airdate December 1, 1967

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

Checkmate May 05, 2021

We are all of us pawns, my dear, in this quintessential Prisoner episode that some observers believe should've aired third in the run but didn't surface until much later. Wherever it belongs, what is undisputed is that it combines an underdeveloped chess metaphor with another conspiracy to escape The Village and an important life lesson for Number Six about how one should treat one's fellows. You might say that the real jailbreak was the friends he utterly failed to make along the way.

But on the plus side, Peter Wyngarde is this episode's Number Two, and his scarf is longer than that worn by any prior runner-up. This is a post-The Avengers, pre-Department S, pre-Jason King Wyngarde performance, and certainly worthy of further study. Which is why Glen briefs (debriefs?) us on his arrest record.

Also starring Ronald Radd as Brian Cox, Rosalie Crutchley as Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Patricia Jessel as Bea Arthur, and Basil Dignam as Luke Wilson.

Written by Gerald Kelsey

Directed by Don Chaffey

Initial airdate: November 24, 1967

PLUS: A mildly embarrassing correction! A deeply embarrassing confession! Listener mail! A discussion of Wyngarde's brief career as a recording artist, and a possibly triggering play-through of his 1970 single "Hippie & the Skinhead." Plus an unexpected detour into one of the darker corners the career of Mr. Tom Hanks, America's Reasonable Dad!

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

Dance of the Dead Apr 28, 2021

It's Carnival in The Village, and Dance of the Dead — an episode that was nearly scuttled on account of Patrick McGoohan's disdain for it (and refusal to shoot at least part of its climactic scene) — offers a fascinating glimpse into The Prisoner's conflicting aesthetic priorities.

Marry Morris, our latest Number Two, is a memorable malefactor whom Glen admits he’d like to have as his mom. He also laments the undisciplined nature of her color-coded-or-not telephone system, and goads Chris into railing against the cosmic obliviousness of umbrella-users.

You also get a great heel turn by Aubrey Morris, a haunting performance by Alan White as a doomed former colleague of The Prisoner, an oddly flat showing by Norma West as The Prisoner's observer, and some of the most indelible visual imagery of the entire series.

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

Many Happy Returns Apr 21, 2021

The first half of this episode is dialogue-free! This episode of The Prisoner, that is, not this episode of A Degree Absolute!, though that's the sort of formal experimentation we'd be game to try. Anywho, Number Six awakens in an inexplicably raptured Village and opts for the seaborne escape route, where starvation, pirates, and intrigue await. As does Georgina Cookson, on whom Glen has developed a serious crush.

PLUS: Listener mail!

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

EXTRASODE! With I AM NOT A NUMBER author and REPO MAN writer/director Alex Cox! Apr 17, 2021

SPOILERS AHOY for the entirety of the 54-year-old television series The Prisoner! You've been warned! Save this episode for later if you haven't yet seen the whole series! Lifelong Prisoner fan Alex Cox joins Chris to talk about his 2017 book I Am Not a Number: Decoding the Prisoner, and What It's All About.

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

The General Apr 14, 2021

Glen is under the influence of digital vermouth and under the spell of John Castle in our dissection of "The General." Wherein Number Six gets anger-cruised and Kirks a computer, and Colin Gordon "returns" as Number Two from "A.B. & C." — an episode obviously intended to follow this one, but which was broadcast before — apparently having survived his encounter with a tumescent scarlet telephone handset and the unheard but clearly menacing voice on the other end of that line.

One hundred percent entry; one hundred percent pass!

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"A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek

Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark

Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark

Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark

Bass by Marcus Newstead

The Schizoid Man Apr 07, 2021

Number Six comes face-to-immobile-face with the only opponent who can truly make him doubt his resolve: Himself!

It's the The Parent Trap episode. It's "Mirror, Mirror" episode. It's the Double Impact episode. It's the if-I'm-not-me-who-da-hell-am-I-episode. It's the episode that teaches us that fingering an electric socket may on rare occasions be quite necessary, despite what your parents and teachers would have you believe.

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

Free For All Mar 31, 2021

It's election time in The Village and Number Six is the frontrunner! Eric Portman, this episode's Number Two, greets him thus: "Good morning, good morning! Any complaints?" And of course Six has complaints. He's like Portnoy: famed for his complaints.

Featuring the lovely Rachel Herbert as Number Fifty-Eight, his irrepressibly enthusiastic and enthusiastically unintelligible driver/assistant/etc. Or is she?

This is the episode in which our dearth of a title song with lyrics gets well and truly solved. And in which a voicemail from a listener sparks a discussion of Number Six's... likability.

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Our song: "A Degree Absolute!"

Music and Lyrics by Chris Klimek Arranged by Casey Erin Clark and Jonathan Clark Vocals and Keyboards by Casey Erin Clark Guitar, Percussion, Mixing by Jonathan Clark Bass by Marcus Newstead

A. B. & C. Mar 24, 2021

Chris and Glen revisit the first of The Prisoner's nonessential episodes. It features Peter Bowles telling Patrick McGoohan “I want you,” a classic John McClane-style air-shaft constitutional, some dodgy fisticuffs, the plot of the 2010 Christopher Nolan film Inception, and a milk-drinking Colin Gordon as a Number Two menaced by an alarmingly erotic red phone. Nonessential, you say?

Will we ever hear about Number Fourteen's Wonder Drug or this dream-viewing technology again? Perhaps, dear listenter. Perhaps.

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The Chimes of Big Ben Mar 17, 2021

Number Six attempts to escape The Village with the help of a newcomer named Nadia and a "basically primitive" abstract art project with a hard-to-overlook nautical vibe. He also finds out where The Village is.

Unequivocally.

Indisputably.

Maybe.

Featuring the first of the great Leo McKern's appearances as Number Two!

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Arrival Mar 08, 2021

Chris & Glen embark upon their first look back at Patrick McGoohan's 1967-8 British sci-fi series The Prisoner in many years and hope that the show's ethos — "militant and individualistic," in the expression of one of The Village's ever-changing Number Twos — will turn out to be something more generous than it seems. Also, will Number Six ever be nice to a woman?

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