Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather (temporarily regaining the throne as the host of the program!) undertake the annual tradition of interpreting the commercials and halftime show of the Super Bowl. This year, they find a strange landscape of dislocation and confusion: no one is where they are supposed to be. Either you look up and see a strange face—replaced, as with David Beckham and Matt Damon, or aged, as with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan—or else you realize that you are the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time, like the inimitable Walton Goggins. The theme continues through the halftime show, with Kendrick Lamar playing the game of America while Uncle Sam keeps insisting he’s doing it wrong. But there is one social dislocation that is defiantly celebrated, in a trio celebrating the physical and economic strength of women.
Some of the most fascinating movies are the big hits that somehow faded from our collective memories. Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather revisit Disney’s fascinating Dick Tracy, a 1990 kids movie that was heavily promoted at McDonalds and features dozens of people getting mowed down by Tommy guns and the line, “You don’t know if you want to hit me or kiss me. I get a lot of that.”
This movie has an astonishing array of talent behind it. Warren Beatty’s previous directorial effort, Reds, won him an Oscar for Best Director and nominations for Best Actor and Best Screenplay. He’s joined here by Al Pacino (who would be nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his scenery-chewing and self-mocking villain), and Madonna at the height of her fame (she produced an entire concept album to promote the film). Mandy Patinkin, Paul Sorvino, Dick Van Dyke, Dustin Hoffman, and even Kathy Bates show up, most nearly unrecognizable.
But maybe the real stars are Stephen Sondheim, who contributed several delightful songs and picked up an Oscar for “Sooner or Later,” and above all cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, a legend who does astonishing work with matte paintings, giant sets, and ingenious trick photography. This movie is truly one-of-a-kind, and even if it doesn’t entirely succeed, it’s hard not to be nostalgic for a time when Hollywood could take big risks on creative people trying something new.
Matt Belinkie, and Pete Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather rummage through the sci-fi spare parts that comprise Section 31, the Emperor Philippa Georgiou spin-off movie that you never knew you wanted, because you never wanted it. Assembled under the aegis of Star Trek, this up-tempo outing hacks together the remnants of a possible streaming series shortened by Michelle Yeoh’s Oscar win and mutually agreed upon better things to do into what can only be described as “A Paramount Plus Original Movie.” The jaunty action comedy that starts with the protagonist killing her own family and a 90s video game cutscene narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis beams to and fro among a stinging slam on traditional Trek institutional optimism, a potpourri of borrowings from other more successful movies and shows across genres, and a pastiche of wild guesses at what “the kids are into these days.” The Matts, and Pete track influences, predecessors, ways to approach considering what this movie is or might be for those who watched it or liked it, and how different works balance the eclectic and the shared in the construction of fictional teams of misfits.
Matt Belinkie (Good Matt), Matt Wrather (Evil Matt), Mark Lee (Good and Evil Mark at the Same Time), and Pete Fenzel (Fenzel, Walk With Me) honor the passing of the cinematic visionary David Lynch by watching and talking about Blue Velvet, his 1986 neo noir art cinema comeback in the wake of That Dune With Sting. We overthink the parallel and sometimes unrelated questions of how we find Lynch’s work compelling and if we enjoy our time watching it. We dive into psychological schools, genre influence, mastery of two worlds, how Laura Dern Is Queen, and symbolic dualities of light and color, seeking to ensconce our brains in the film’s language to “crack its code.” But Lynch was not a filmmaker seeking to be understood, and sometimes there’s just a dark-bearded man in an orange coat holding a giant empty frappuccino on the train in the winter who may or may not kill you. It’s a strange world, after all.
Fenzel and Belinkie are lapsed wrestling fans, at least partially because we no longer have cable. But with Monday Night RAW moving to Netflix, this gives us the perfect opportunity to revisit one of America’s most unique artforms. The WWE (née F) has been a pop culture force to be reckoned with from the days of Hulk Hogan, through the TV-14 Attitude Era of The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, and beyond (a generation of John Cena haters seems to have been replaced with a new generation of Cena worshippers). But it’s only in the last year that the company finally ousted Vince McMahon, a true visionary and scumbag who finally Me Too’ed himself into a corner he couldn’t suplex himself out of (the same week as the Netflix debut, the SEC filed more charges against him for massive hush money payments). Pete and Matt go over this history and then admire some wrestling skills like promo work, controlling the tempo of the match, and the multifaceted role of the announcers. Important to remember: Edge and The Edge are two very different people and only one has a manbun.
Clint Eastwood has been one of America’s most iconic actors and directors for several generations now, and he’s kept busy well into his 90s. But with no projects currently in development, it seems like Juror #2 might be his swan song. Like many of his directorial efforts, this movie is about normal people who become swallowed up by our nation’s institutions, in this case the legal system. Pete, Mark, and Matt delve into this odd beast: part legal thriller, part morality tale, part negative Yelp review of a roadhouse called “Rowdy’s Hideaway.”
The panelists are at first skeptical about the ending, and maybe the entire second half. After introducing a genuinely interesting setup, does the movie know what to DO with it? Everyone has their own ideas of where the story COULD have gone. But the more they talk, the more they understand the story CLINT wanted to tell, one in which nobody wants to do the hard thing so ultimately we don’t get the Hollywood ending we’ve been trained to expect. If you’re looking for heroism, you’re going to have to consult Clint’s work pre-Unforgiven. The only hope for the future he’ll leave us with is a cryptic look from Toni Collette, but maybe that’s a start.
For years, Jimmy Carter was seen as a symbol of humiliating failure. (Back in 1993, The Simpsons did a joke where the town couldn’t afford a Lincoln statue and had to settle for a Carter one.) But Carter spent his post-presidency tirelessly working for Habitat for Humanity and winning Nobel Prizes, and by the time he passed away at age 100 his reputation had been transformed. Ben Adams, Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee, and Pete Fenzel use him as a jumping off point to talk second acts. Mark Hamill was a has-been in the 90s (also mercilessly mocked by The Simpsons) but his decades of work voicing the animated Joker gave him a whole new legacy. Mike Tyson went from disgraced fighter to quirky Cartoon Network star. And Joe Rogan was a c-list actor and reality tv host before he was the biggest podcaster in the world. What’s the secret to reinventing yourself? Do we all have a second act within us?
Matt Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather celebrate the last podcast of the year with the themes that made 2024 what it was. Lee defies gravity, Wrather buys reading glasses, Belinkie revs up his chainsaw sword, and Fenzel steps back for a logo 3. It’s not a year in review, because who could review it all, and it’s not a look forward to 2025, because who wants to spoil the surprise? We talk synchronic vs. diachronic framing of virtuosity and ask what Wicked has in common with the South Korean political crisis and what Warhammer 40k has to do with the Babysitters’ Club. It may be more than you think!
Mark Lee, Matt Wrather, Peter Fenzel, and Matt Belinkie, Hannukah preparations notwithstanding, triangulate and ascertain the True Reason for the Season with the freshest of holiday treats: 2024 Christmas movies. It’s a ginger-spiced promenade from the Rock to the Lohan and Hallmark to Hell and back, through approval, myth, family, heroism, and the worst kinds of miracles. Emotions run high, hopes rise and collapse, and we haven’t even cracked open the egg nog yet!
Hot on the heels of our discussion about Sequel Culture, Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee and Pete Fenzel re-enter the arena to discuss Gladiator 2. In the halcyon summer of 2000, it seemed to some people that liberal democracy had won a final enduring victory, and the original Gladiator’s framing of tyranny versus republican virtue didn’t seem like biting social commentary. Twenty four years later this sequel gives us essentially the same plot, but its endless speechifying about the lost dream of democracy and rule of law feels painfully on the nose. But what are the different strategies the movie presents for countering that tyranny? Meeting violence with violence? Organizing political resistance? Or the Denzel Washington option: chewing the scenery while seizing control of the rickety institutions of state from the inside? We don’t learn very much about real Roman history from this movie, but we might learn something about our future.
Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee, and Pete Fenzel do something boldly original and never to be repeated: talk about pop culture trend pieces written by actual newspapers. In the immediate aftermath of seeing Moana 2 and Gladiator 2, it’s time to chat about the cluster of think pieces around Hollywood’s huge reliance on sequels this year to make up both the top and bottom of its litany of accomplishments. Beset by a category too all-consuming to be useful, we present a taxonomy of sequels, overthinking their similarities and differences, and tracking the relationship between franchise and oeuvre as creative voices move in and out of the mouths of favorite characters. Plus, the extent to which sequels may or may not be parties, the lessons about remakes movies might be logistically unable to learn from stage plays, and “That Gollum, he’s so hot right now!” Are you up and coming, here and now, or down and going? Did anyone see Bad Boys: Ride or Die? Listen to this week’s episode to find out.
Pete Fenzel and Matt Wrather hold a storied two-hander on Ted Danson’s new Netflix retirement home spy sitcom, A Man on the Inside, which rides the lines among funny and solemn; easy and challenging; and polemic and hagiography. We dig deep on the “All the World’s a Stage” monologue from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, which is heavily featured in the show, and broaden the conversation to the literary project of using storytelling to inspire humans to find common interest and empathy in their shared condition and mortality. Comedic floors come up, by which a baseline of silliness might be established to soften the cruelty of jokes and satire. We talk sandwiches, specifically those in their 40s and 50s caring for both aging parents and growing teenagers. Matt updates us on his transition into fatherhood and the experience of reading to his daughter, while Pete goes off about dementia, compassion, and dignity in all stages of life. The question as to how exactly this show will manage a second season will have to wait for another podcast.
Matt Wrather makes a surprise stop in from parental leave to join Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee and Pete Fenzel as we discuss The Onion: its history, style, and modes of satire through the years. We overthink the A.I.-threatened art of clever photoshopping, the dialogue between image and text, doing topical humor on news figures with zero impersonation, and good-natured, tragic pathos. With the Onion back in print and proposing to expand its media empire with an acquisition of InfoWars, will everything that was old and funny become new again and also funny? Plus, a question of the week on our greatest hits for children’s bedtime stories, and a blazing take from area new father that 9/11 may have changed American culture.
After six years as the only Overthinker to appreciate these masterpieces, Pete Fenzel has finally convinced Matt Belinke to watch the Tom Hardy Venom movies. And it’s just in time, as Venom: The Last Dance is here to escort the series to its Comic Book Death (and inevitable resurrection). What follows is Matt and Pete’s deep dive on the whole Venom trilogy and its four pillars: amazing relationship-driven character scenes, shockingly deep cultural and psychological symbolism, plots that make no sense, and brutal comic book violence. It’s the rare series whose best parts are its filler, the best in-your-head “Space Oddity” singalong you’ll see in an IMAX movie theater with 12 people in it this year, and our second new movie in two weeks with a direct stand-in for Randy Quaid’s character in Independence Day. The discussion topics are symbiotic tendrils pulling us forward – away from parasitism, toward healthy attachment. And unlike these movies, we don’t bite anyone’s heads off.
Mark Lee, Pete Fenzel, and Matt Belinkie check in with the mother of all cinematic franchises, Godzilla. After 70 years and 38 films, how can the big guy possibly surprise us, much less move us? Well shockingly, Godzilla Minus One from 2023 got a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, and earned an Oscar for Best Special Effects. We break down exactly how Godzilla reinvented its future by reimagining Japan’s post-war past. We also recall some of the series’s history, such as a 1969 movie in which a little boy meets Godzilla’s son, who is being bullied by other monsters.
Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee, and Pete Fenzel make their vague dreams into iconic realities by overthinking The Greatest Showman. Is it a concept album with spectacular visuals and only a loose plot, or a symbolic visual poem packed with bangers? An idealistic romp about a great historical cynic, a flagrantly inaccurate yarn about a man who might have loved it, The Greatest Showman asks us to consider the difference between dreams and lies, and whether a dream must come true to matter deeply. For its subject, it also offers inadequate ramp-up or justification for a man’s obsession with and exploitation of “human oddities.” Watch the happiest movie about Hugh Jackman stealing bread, and come overthink it with us! This is the Greatest Podcast!
Podfather Matt Wrather is notoriously adverse to scary movies. But as he is still on paternity leave, Pete, Mark, and Matt B overthink “Trap,” a movie that is about being a dad both explicitly and metatextually. Is it a good movie? No, it is not. Its premise is nonsensical, its structure is disjointed, and it exists largely to showcase the questionable pop music and even more questionable acting talent of M. Night’s daughter. But it is also deeply fascinating, because you don’t often see a movie that’s bad because the creator had too MUCH creative freedom and not enough studio executives to hold him back. This is the “Megalopolis” of thrillers. And underneath all the silliness are some interesting ideas about parenting. How do we balance our parent self with our other, more private selves? In a way, don’t ALL dads sneak off to the bathroom to use our phones to check on our murder victims? More importantly, did M. Night Shyamalan really cast Hayley Mills as an inside joke just because she starred in “The Parent Trap”? Because that’s crazy.
Matt Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee step slowly up to the wrought-iron knocker on the old oak door of this haunted mansion we call a podcast and knock three times to welcome Halloween! The door creaks on rusty hinges to reveal a bowl of tricks and treats: the spooky-scary and the spooky-silly. These three fathers wonder then on the meaning of Halloween costumes for children: the scary, the aspirational, and the ones with retirement plans. Discussions follow of our favorite scarecrows at the crossroads of ghoulish and gigglish, from remembrance of Crypt Keepers past, to blazing hot takes on a chilling corpse of a topic: The Addams Family versus the Munsters. Are scary things here, or are they yet to come? You’ll have to wait and scream!!
Against all odds, Matt Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee have reunited in tribute to the upcoming Oasis tour. Inspired by their once-intense but now fatigued, even deadened feelings for “Wonderwall,” they discuss the phenomenology of overplaying, the art of giving up on song meaning, and the erosion of phonetic memory, as they pertain to classic rock, arena rock, boy bands, proto-Romantic poetry, and, of course, the seminal album What’s the Story Morning Glory? Canonical tracks such as Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and Smash Mouth’s “All Star” are considered, elevating this podcast episode from merely music celebrity news to True High Art. Bonus “Wonderwall” performance, for Members Only.
In the 21st century, Dame Maggie Smith was celebrated for her portrayals of Hogwarts’s Professor McGonagall and Downton’s Dowager Countess Violet Crawley. But decades before that, she won two Oscars for movies that are now so obscure you can watch them for free on YouTube. What ties together her body of work is a delightful ability to express everything her character can’t say, and to show us how a sense of duty and propriety can restrain us but also empower us. Pete and Belinkie discuss her career highlights and especially California Suite, which won her a second Oscar in 1978 but has not aged well at all (Bill Cosby jokes about drugging someone with sleeping pills, yikes). Wrather makes a special appearance to update us on parenthood and tell us about seeing Dame Maggie on stage.
The Bachelor franchise has been chugging along for more than 20 years now, in a neverending ouroboros of broken hearts and moonlit dinners surrounded by hundreds of tea candles. Audiences want to see the fairy tale romance, and don’t seem to mind the awkward fact that the large majority of Bachelor couples break up shortly after the cameras stop rolling. Now, hot on the heels of the first Golden Bachelor (married in a televised special in January, divorced in April), ABC is giving us 61-year-old widow Joan Vassos and 24 suitors. And Mark, Pete, and Belinkie step out of a metaphorical limo in search of a rose, and some answers. How does aging up the formula change our experience as viewers? Is it okay for these people to want to be on TV, or is that not “the right reasons?” And why does Belinkie insist that this show pairs excellently with Warhammer 40k?
Overthinking It has been obsessing over, and often lamenting, the Terminator franchise going all the way back to the regrettable 2009 entry, “Terminator Salvation.” The latest entry to the franchise, “Terminator Zero,” is a Netflix animated series and is much better than Salvation and subsequent movies, but not without its issues. Matt, Pete, and the Internet’s Leading Authority on Terminator, Mark, stare deep into the anime eyes of the show’s heroes and villains to unpack its philosophical musings on the human condition, the many reasons why brilliant scientist Malcolm Lee is a terrible dad, and the meta-commentary on a franchise that seems fated to telling the same story of robots chasing humans over and over again.
Beetlejuice is such an iconic character that it’s easy to forget how weird and confusing he is (for starters, his name is actually spelled “Betelgeuse” according to his own tombstone). In this episode, Mark, Pete, Jordan, and Matt Belinkie (your substitute Matt) try to figure out if we’re dealing with a wily trickster demon or an impulsive idiot. We also look at the Deetzes, Manhattan transplants that combine the narcissism of the art world with predatory Reagan-era capitalism… which might actually be grimmer than the eternal DMV of the afterlife. And then there’s Otho, a gay character who seems to be an important stand-in for the gay screenwriter. Ultimately, this is a fun little dark comedy with surprisingly deep insights about the difference between simply BEING alive, and HAVING a life.
Once Matt Wrather heads off to parental leave, Overthinking It will be staffed entirely by parents. In the last podcast before this happens, this selfsame Impending Dad Matt, Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee each bring their own choice for “End of an Era” culture for discussion. Pete speaks on Ben Stiller playing a Gen Xer making his lasts grasps at youth, paired against the meteorically rising Greta Gerwig in Greenberg; Mark muses on the heady days of Hamilton in vivo; and Matt, in a grand parting stroke to alienate and confound, tells a personal story about a discussion he had 25 years ago about the first part in the Histoire des Treize (a.k.a. The Thirteen) section of La Comédie Humaine: “Ferragus, chef des Dévorants,” by Honoré de Balzac. It is his last joke that is not a dad joke.
Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather examine the Netflix series called The Decameron, which does bear some loose resemblance to Bocaccio’s similarly-titled work of medieval literature.
Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee, and Peter Fenzel overthink those despicable Minions. Are they evil because they serve evil, or are they antibodies of a moral universe, because they undermine the evil they serve? What does it mean to be despicable? What fictional characters have made such an impact that we will still see them everywhere in 100 years? And why will the minions gradually conquer all AI training data to dominate future superintelligence?
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee confront the demons to overthink DOOM. They discuss the risks and successes of the dawn of 3D gaming, the pump-action panache of the DOOM guy and DOOM shotgun, and how and why we never feel fatigued or insulted by a DOOM re-release. Plus bonus discussion of its four-letter capitalized companion: MYST.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris, France. They discuss the opening ceremony, the fractured media landscape which has them consuming the games in various ways, and the tiers of sports you can relate to and can’t.
Middle-aged podcasters Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather investigate the “Kamala is Brat” meme and discover that it is actually a record album, such as you can play on a phonograph. They investigate Charli XCX’s BRAT, discussing its style and sound, its lyrical concern, its cultural connections, and the function of “brat” as a way of being in the world.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Matt’s recent baby shower, and settle on the theme of baby stuff (or “stuffs”) as a peculiar and unique entry in the poetry of stuffs that makes up one’s life.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Jerry Seinfeld’s Unfrosted, a parodic film about the 1960s in America (and, incidentally about the invention of the Pop Tart). But they don’t tuck in before they’ve had breakfaast—in a nostalgic prolegomenon (inspired by the film’s nostalgia) they discuss their feelings about breakfast and how kids interact with breakfast before getting to the film’s (something less than trenchant) poking fun at mid-century corporate culture, the space race, and (awkwardly) January 6.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink Beverly Hills Copy: Axel F., discussing its undeserved critical reception (at least by the New York Times), its bemusing but unexpectedly resonant first sequence, the role of accountability and apology in relationships with an asymmetric power dynamic, and its unexpected Downton Abbey moment involving a fictitious hockey league.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather take another look at music generated by AI diffusion models, which have come a long way. They discuss the possible significance of this new technology and how it fits into our conception of creativity, and they play each other some tunes they’ve prompted.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink Inside Out 2 (2 Inside 2 Out), the anxiety-centered follow up to the 2015 Pixar hit. They both had a pretty difficult experience watching the movie, which was like a 90-minute anxiety attack, but they explore its allegory of the self, the presence and curious absence of the social world in the movie’s account of adolescence, and the quacking absence hanging over every frame of this hockey-centric story.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather consider why the Pope brought comedians including Stephen Colbert, Whoopi Goldberg, and Chris Rock (?!) together at the Vatican and what he had to say to them.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Richard Linklater’s film Hit Man, now streaming on Netflix. Topics include the film’s misreading of Nietzsche, the relationship of the movie to genre (action or romcom), the forays into philosophy and psychology, and how at every turn it ends up being a stranger and darker movie than you expect.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Madame Web, now streaming on Netflix, wondering both what on earth this movie is and how it got that way.
Peter Fenzel (fighting a cold) and Matthew Wrather (fighting anxiety over whether the recording works) follow up on how it felt to lose an episode last week, and overthink the phenomenon of consuming entertainment through short clips on a streaming service.
UPDATE (2024-05-25T17:35-0700): If you’ve heard the short explanation embedded in this post, you’ll know that I suspected the audio-recording problem was due to a software update. Well, turns out…
Ironically, if I had been less scrupulous in updating the recorder, we wouldn’t have lost the recording.
Hi Overthinkers, it’s Matt Wrather. Owing to a technical problem, we lost part of the audio from the episode we recorded tonight, and for the first time in over fiteen years, we don’t have a new episode to post.
I’m responsible, and I’m so sorry. It’s been a point of pride that we’ve never missed a week, and it kind of breaks my heart that now we have.
We’re so glad you come back and listen to us, and I’m sorry to let you down. We love making the show for you. We’ll be back next week.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink “Meltdown May”, which leads them to consider all aspects of melting, from whether this too, too sallied flesh would melt, to stopping the world to melt with you, to nuclear meltdowns, to tuna melts. They complicate the standard picture of “solid good, melted bad,” and propose that the cure to our many social ills is the restoration of a vanished social mesoscale which can contain all ingredients in the melting pot.
Matthew Belinkie joins Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather to talk about his efforts on the Overthinking It YouTube channel and its annual chronicle of the Eurovision Song Contest. We talk about this year’s contest, how our efforts have changed over the years, and the nature of YouTube fame.
Jordan Stokes joins Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather to discuss a New York Times “Critics Notebook” by James Poniewozik decrying the phenomenon of “Mid TV,” shows with impressive pedigrees but muted artistic ambitions.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather tackle a super-sized episode of Bluey, one that has fans wondering if the creators are bidding farewell to the Heelers. They discuss how the structure and metaphorical language for the episode provide a container for the difficult thematic material (no kid in history has ever loved the idea of moving), but they split on the ending, seeing it either as a pulled punch or else as a moment of almost existential failure for the father character. The brisk trade in Australian spiders is discussed.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather start from the technology shown in The Three Body Problem and jump off to talk about the extremes of “immersion” in entertainment and of experience, which leads (predictably) to The Matrix, and somewhat less predictably to weight-loss drugs and Romans chapter 7.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather each bring a topic to discuss, ranging from X-Men ’97 to the social phenomenon of talking about other people’s jet lag to how we lost our love of buying electronics at Radio Shack.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather are wondering what to do with their idle hands. Specifically, Pete has a question about what activity he could do while supervising his children which would occupy his attention un-greedily, i.e. without rendering him unavailable to parent.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Dune: Part 2, which, marvelous to tell, they all managed to see in the theaters. They discuss the film’s aesthetics, its intellectual history as an artifact of 1960s America (complete with a focus on getting high), and its themes relating to colonialism, missionaries and religious movements, and individual responsibility when you can see the future. They are left with just one question: “What is the supply chain for all those thumpers?”
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the introductory episodes of Shogun, FX’s new, multi-lingual adaption of James Clavell’s 1975 novel. They discuss they book’s prominent place as a totem of adulthood on their fathers’ night-stands, the Downton Abbey moment (appropriate for a drama of manners and custom), and the various threads of theme, identity, and narrative which weave in and out of the production, and of the plot.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather watch Super Bowl LVIII, or should we say, Super Bowl T.A.Y.L.O.R., and discuss the intimate, detail-oriented halftime show and the commercials. They unveil a narrative of a being that is a non-being, and the dislocations of finding a world different than you thought or assumed.
Ben Adams joins Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather as they overthink the unfolding story about Warner Bros.’s decision not to release Coyote Vs. Acme, how it has been narrativized online, and how it is in some ways the perfect encapsulation of what makes the Coyote/Roadrunner stories unique.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning (Part One), the interminably named latest entry in the M:I franchise, now available on streaming. They discuss the metaphor of dead reckoning and how it applies to the characters in the film, and lament that the evil A.I. is really underdeveloped as a character.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather are lead by an article in USA Today to overthink the phenomenon of “Boot Camps” for men seeking to “reclaim their masculinity.” They wonder what that might mean and why someone might want to do it, and try to situate such experiences in the continuum of retreats, adventures, and corporate off-sites.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather come to bury Pitchfork, not to praise it. They overthink the role of magazines in their lives, and the ways in which the medium has, and hasn’t, managed to translate to a new media landscape.
Pete Fenzel and Mark Lee overthink Bluey, the Australian kids’ show that squeezes every minute of its six-minute episodes for high-end emotional relationship coaching. They dissect how the show runs parallel narratives for both children and adults, its vast gap in raison dêtre with Paw Patrol and kinship with Daniel Tiger, the challenge of parents and children learn from each other, and the hidden semantics of its classical music underscoring.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink an article about “the bit.” They discuss what constitutes a “bit,” and why it’s probably a bad idea to make it the basis of your whole social presentation.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather tie a bow on 2023 by revisiting a couple of movies and TV shows they haven’t been able to devote a full podcast to. For Mark, it’s the Barbenheimer phenomenon, a marketing miracle whose like we shall not soon see again; for Pete, the Korean reality competition Physical 100, which is the real Squid Game game show, and not just because it’s streaming on Netflix; and for Matt, Poker Face, an anthology of lovingly-crafted mini-movies featuring the creative talents of Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by Jordan Stokes to overthink Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s impressionistic biopic of Leonard Bernstein and his complicated life, career, and marriage. They discuss the proper pronunciation of Bernstein, the man’s idiosyncratic place in classical music as a conductor and a composer, the film’s episodic style and narrative technique, and the film’s ambivalent message about art, creativity, and family.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather partake in our Christmas tradition of overthinking a literary work. This year it’s O. Henry’s short story The Gift of the Magi. The story is great fun (as long as you don’t get the version published by the U.S. State Department), and they discuss themes of gift giving, connections to the biblical magi, and the ultimate question: isn’t it ironic? Don’t you think?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather explore the legacy of Norman Lear (1922–2023) by considering the episode “Two’s A Crowd” from Season 8 of All in the Family and “The Big Move,” the 2-part Season 4 opener of Good Times. They discuss the stylistic, (sit)comic, and thematic aspects of both shows, and try to grapple with which file drawer to sick Norman Lear’s legacy in.
Peter Fenzel has seen Elmo Saves Christmas and overthinks it along with Mark Lee and Matthew Wrather. It turns out that Elmo unleashes a festive hellscape which wreaks havoc on his friends, on the Easter Buny, and on time itself.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, which Mark has recently seeen, and Pete and Matt have scene in the past. They discuss the strangeness of the Rockettes as a “precision dance troupe” speculate (wildly inaccurately, as it turns out) about their history, and then turn to the religious aspects of the spectacle (famously featuring live animals).
Matthew Belinkie joins Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather to discuss advances in AI-generated music. They overthink recent developments in the field, and Belinkie plays DJ, spinning a couple samples of famous songs he’s tried to recreate with AI. But then he has a surprise for the crew.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, focusing on the exuberant visual style(s) and its relation to the material conditions of each universe, the question of Canon and whether Miguel is a good guy or a villain, and what even is up with The Spot.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather dig into a storied two-hander, overthinking Chris Rock’s Netflix special Selective Outrage. They are both relieved that it isn’t just the same tired “anti-woke” nonsense, and is a tightly constructed hour: They break down the 4-part structure which Chris Rock lays out at the beginning and cashes out over the course of the bizarre second act and culminating routine addressing “The Slap.”
Episode 800: A Lot of Beautiful Ideas
Oct 30, 2023
Ben Adams, Matthew Belinkie, Mark Lee, Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, Richard Rosenbaum, and Matthew Wrather celebrate 800 episodes—and 15 unbroken years—of the Overthinking It Podcast by considering what they have learned in 2008.
Mark Lee is back from his Disney Cruise, and Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather join him to talk about it. He keeps insisting that he had fun, but he makes it sound like a dystopian hellscape. Also, they preview the upcoming 800th episode of the podcast by answering some listener questions from the perspective of 15-year veterans of the show.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Richard Rosenbaum, and Matthew Wrather overthink Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, discussing who is the awesomest turtle, the film’s unique visual style and how it fits into the Turtles’ trans-media history, the dynamic of belonging which governs most turtle properties, and how that dynamic plays out in the final battle and final scene. Cowabunga, dude!
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Ahsoka, created by Dave Filoni starring Rosario Dawson, which honestly they find to be kind of a perplexing experience. They talk about the dominant acting style in the series, and the problems it presents for presenting Ahsoka’s character as unique. They discuss the role of “lore”—you really a Ph.D. in Star Wars trivia to even begin to comprehend this one— and they end “right where we belong” except where is that really?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather narrate their interior monologues as they overthink The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Wes Anderson’s adaptation of the Roald Dahl short story, crossed with intrusive thoughts about Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather have a weekend to themselves, and overthink the experience of solitude, which they call “unoccupied mind-space,” and how they do (and should) fill it—with productivity, with media, with bagpipes.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather engage in a storied two hander, or a podcast celebris duabus manibus, considering a recent Tik Tok meme and explaining once and for all why straight men think about the Roman Empire. You’ll never look at an arch the same way again.
Matthew Belinkie, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather discuss an interview with Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s longtime lyricist, in which he disses the work of one William Martin Joel, going back to “Piano Man” and claiming that “tonic and gin” is bad lyric writing. The crew overthink the highs and lows of Billy Joel’s songwriting, and talk about the interplay of meaning, rhythm, melody, and harmony that makes song lyrics good or bad.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Labor Day plans, the back to school season, and the meaning of fresh starts and clean slates. They consider utopian social projects, which will all fail because they lack social roles for the villains of AITA posts.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink The Price is Right as a tribute to Bob Barker (1923–2023). They play Showcase Showdown, and then consider the essential characteristics of the game shows, arriving at:
The Game Show has a Prize that matters; people watch the Game Show for the Prize.
The Game Show has a Host, who imparts a distinctive tone on the show.
Contestants on the Game Show are distinguished by their distance from the tone.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink recent storms that Matt and Pete have experienced. They are all over the place, but the nut is that there is a great difference between the various symbolic uses to which we put water and the reality of encountering its destructive force.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink The Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 which is about animal cruelty, oh and humans too. (Don’t be fooled when Matt calls it a romp!) The crew discuss the film’s themes, from the duty of care we owe one another to the benefits of being rag-tag to Pete’s surprising contention that this is the most Christian movie in current release.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Matt’s trip to the Eras Tour. TL;DR: It was phenomenal. And Matt has seen Shakespeare the way it’s meant to be played.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather follow a treasure map to the meaning of “X,” a letter with a semiotic gravity all its own. As Pete describes it, it is the only letter which stretches from pornography to divinity, from X-Rated to Xmas.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather finally get around to overthinking Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the spin-off of a spin-off of a not very good idea to begin with. You know what? We like it.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, focusing on its multiple, contradictory theories of history which drive the plot and the characters’ relationships; noting the strange off-screen passing of Shia LaBoeuf; and celebrating the (sometimes glorious) mess that is the franchise’s sendoff of Harrison Ford.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink The Diplomat starring Keri Russell as the Ambassador to the Court of St. James’s. They consider the show’s very strong writing, its examination of diplomacy as a type of relationship and relationship as a type of diplomacy, its many satisfying plot twists, and its ending which is either infuriating or exciting.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather debrief after Matt’s honeymoon, and zero in on the phenomenon of museum going, and sometimes jarring recontextualization of art and artifacts that museums entail. Pete has also been to a museum of a kind, except is a Monster Truck rally, and the experience left him hungry for discourse. (Drink!)
Mark Lee and Peter Fenzel overthink a big show they are both watching: the assembly of a single, notional, 360 degree virtual reality Taylor Swift show happening everywhere at once and in all possible times.
As Instagram stories from friends and celebrities alike from various stops along the Eras Tour coalesce into a presentation with coherent and singular characteristics, Mark and Pete discuss the cognitive mechanisms that make it seem to take on a life of its own, as well as one view of the social media history and emergent dynamics leading this event to be experienced in this way.
Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee overthink video game slang as emergent phenomena, starting with a stroll through the many meanings of “cheese” that starts in 1992 and ends, predictably, in the Ardennes Forest. Plus, we’re big mad about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and “Is Paul Phoenix’s new Karen haircut a buff or nerf?”
CORRECTION: In this podcast we described Paul Phoenix from the Tekken series wearing a karate gi. We should have mentioned this is a secondary costume; his primary is generally a biker outfit with a skull and crossbones or the American flag on it, depending. Overthinking It regrets the error. Also, 1 v 1 me bro.
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee overthink Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, using their own past and current games as context to interpret the narrative conventions of the movie and larger D&D culture.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, giving a little bit of history and explanation of why this year’s result was anomalous and controversial. We ponder the elite’s triumph over populism in the context of global geopolitics, and wonder what it means for future participation in the contest.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink these kids today and their rainbow part… no, wait, that’s not it. Their slang. They overthink their slang. Specifically, they develop a theory of cringe in that it (a) regulates in-grouping and out-grouping; (b) involves embarrassment; (c) requires obliviousness; (d) modulates status; and (e) presupposes an audience. We run through a couple of examples, including the recent coronation of His Majesty King Charles III (as interpreted by Michael Strahan).
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are struck by South Korea’s President Yoon performing a karaoke “American Pie” during his state visit to the United States, and overthink the song, it’s much-parsed but frustratingly elusive lyrics, and why a leader might choose to bust it out on the world stage.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Season 3 of Mandalorian, focusing on what exactly the way is, why the show seems to be pulling its punches, and how it compares (unfavorably, alas!) to Andor.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the sitcom Derry Girls, talking about the relationship between time and retro-time (“Retro time, Data, retro time!”), between the ex post facto view of history and the experience of living through it, and the difference or relationship between comedy, tragedy, and historical events.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink John Wick: Chapter 4, exploring its Downton Abbey moment (amazingly, not when tea is served!), its expectation-defying schema of light, the world of the franchise and how it got that way, the one relationship that moves beyond the transactional, and the film’s climactic dogpotheosis.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink the objects we keep in our (zippered, vest) pockets every day, and enter a sub-culture that can verge at times on military cosplay.
Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink The Menu and Triangle of Sadness, movies in which the rich eat, and we are encouraged to eat the rich. Focusing mostly on the longer and more analytical Triangle, the crew of the S.S. Overthinking It tends to the needs of our guests, the audience without question or pause. How extreme wealth is represented, the intersectional social commentary that includes class, race, and disability in its account, and what really happens at the end of the film all come up in the lively discussion.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink a video of the actor Jonathan Majors giving a speech praising and celebrating his friend and colleague Michael B. Jordan, on the occasion of Jordan’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame being unveiled. They discuss the moving sincerity of their friendship, the place of oratory among actors (just around the corner from where the Oscars are held), the antithetical structure of the speech, and some resonant and touching moments in it, each of which creates a world in a sentence or two.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, focusing on the effect of the unexpected point of view and the film’s decidedly Lhurmannesque style.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather take the kids to a concert of kids’ music. They consider how even to describe a theater to a children, and how they function within the various social-cultural institutions at play.
Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink classical music in light of Gustavo Dudamel’s move from LA to New York. They struggle with a definition of classical music, and to theorize about uselessness and artiness. They talk about how the Western European art music of the common practice tradition plays a role in their own lives.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather consider the the oddly static halftime show from 2023’s Super Bowl, as well as this year’s ads, in all their dreamlike unreality.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather read a couple of studies about loneliness, and elaborate upon their implications for various kinds of online social interactions.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather transition from last week’s IMAX-scale megablockbuster to the more intimate domestic setting of the streaming service, which they find leaner and slightly meaner than when last they checked in on what was formerly the golden age of television®. We discuss whether you should sell your couch or burn it, owning your media, our many streaming services, the economic changes in the streaming media game, and some shows that have been capturing our attention recently.
On the 15th anniversary of Overthinking It, Matthew Belinkie and Mark Lee overthink Avatar: The Way of Water with passion and sincere awe, while host Pete Fenzel harnesses active listening techniques to resist making fun of a 3+ hour movie he hasn’t seen about child aliens holding their breath. Cultural and psychological integration, Bruce Lee, anti-colonial/anti-capitalist resistance, models of personal, teleological, and ecological immortality, and the oversexed but sexless man-camp of Duke Nukem all play into the earnest, patient consideration of a sequel to a movie we panned on this site before it came out. (And after.)
Actual lawyer Ben Adams joins Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather to discuss the internet controversy over the badly-managed leak of the Open Game License 1.1. We get really deep into Red Elixir YouTube.
Matthew Belinkie joins Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather to overthink Glass Onion (a Knives Out Mystery), enjoying the stylishness of the storytelling and filmmaking, but having a little trouble peeling back the layers to understand the social commentary that everyone seems so sure is there.
Peter Fenzel has never seen The Sound of Music. But Mark Lee has been to see a live production of it recently, so Pete watches it with Mark and Matthew Wrather, and finds in it a latent conflict between Prussian vs Austrian values, a gendered allegory of domination in the political and domestic sphere, and a delightful meal of Schnitzel with Noodles.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Christmas food traditions of today and of days past, straddle the poultry/boeuf divide (which is to say, the Thanksgiving/Christmas divide), eat seasonally, or at least insufferably, and take a peculiar lesson from Bruce Lee: Be like whiskey, my friend.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather deliver this years Christmas Litcast, overthinking Dylan Thomas’s “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.” They discuss the work’s distinctive form, comparing it to slam poetry, and delve into the specifics of its scenes, focused on memory, nostalgia, aging, so-called childhood “innocence,” and how literature produces truth.
Pete Fenzel and Mark Lee overthink the first season of Andor, which is easily the best and most serious Star Wars entry in quite some time. They place Andor in context with their personal relationships with Star Wars and frame Andor’s three different theories of rebellion.
There will be times when the struggle seems impossible. I know this already. Alone, unsure, dwarfed by the scale of the enemy.
Remember this, Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause.
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
And remember this: the Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.
Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empires’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege.
Remember this: Try.
Luthen’s Monologue
Calm. Kindness. Kinship. Love. I’ve given up all chance at inner peace. I’ve made my mind a sunless space. I share my dreams with ghosts. I wake up every day to an equation I wrote 15 years ago from which there’s only one conclusion, I’m damned for what I do. My anger, my ego, my unwillingness to yield, my eagerness to fight, they’ve set me on a path from which there is no escape. I yearned to be a savior against injustice without contemplating the cost and by the time I looked down there was no longer any ground beneath my feet.
What is my sacrifice?
I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them. I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see. And the ego that started this fight will never have a mirror or an audience or the light of gratitude.
So what do I sacrifice?
Everything!
Maarva’s post-mortem funeral speech
My name is Maarva Carrassi Andor. I’m honored to stand before you. I’m honored to be a Daughter of Ferrix, and honored to be worthy of the stone.
Strange, I… feel as if I can see it. I was six, I think, first time i touched a funerary stone. Heard our music, felt our history, holding my sisters hand as we walked all the way from Fountain Square. Where you stand now, I’ve been more times than i can remember.
I always wanted to be lifted. I was always eager, always waiting to be inspired. I remember every time it happened, every time the dead lifted me… with their truth. And now I’m dead, and I yearn to lift you. Not because i want to shine or even be remembered. It’s because i want you to go on. I want Ferric to continue. In my waining hours, thats what comforts me most.
But I fear for you. We’ve been sleeping. We’ve had each other, and Ferrix, our work, our days. We had each other and they left us alone. We kept the trade lane open, and they left us alone. We took their money and ignored them, we kept their engine churning, and the moment they pulled away. we forgot them. (SIGH) Because we had each other. We had Ferrix. But we were sleeping. I’ve been sleeping. And I’ve been turning away from the truth I wanted not to face.
There is a wound that won’t heal at the center of the galaxy. There is a darkness reaching like rust into everything around us. We let it grow, and now it’s here. It’s here and it’s not visiting anymore. It wants to stay.
The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness, it is never more alive than when we asleep. It’s easy for the dead to tell you to fight, and maybe it’s true, maybe fighting is useless. Perhaps it’s too late. But I’ll tell you this, if I could do it again, I’d wake up early and be fighting those bastards from the start! Fight the Empire!”
Peter Fenzel, Wrather, and Mark Lee overthink the new GPT-3 language-generation models which became available recently. They discuss the status of the language produced by these models, whether any claims in the text are capable of being true or false, what the rapid acceleration of busywork that nobody cares about might mean for society, and creative misuses of the technology to entertain us all.
Make up the themes of a hypothetical fast and the furious movie
1. Outrunning the Law: When the team of street racers is tasked with evading law enforcement to complete a high-stakes job, their friendships are put to the test.
2. Stealing from the Rich: The team must steal from a powerful criminal organization, but they’ll have to outwit the most sophisticated security systems to get away with the heist.
3. Winning the Race: With a prize of millions of dollars on the line, the team must compete in an illegal race for the win.
4. Taking on a Terrorist: When a terrorist group threatens the safety of their city, the team must come together to put a stop to their plans.
Write a sestina about how birds symbolize gender identity
A flock of birds fly in the sky, Their colors blending in unity, A symbol of gender identity. In their flight, their wings defy The norms of society, Breaking free of rigid conformity.
They soar and fly in harmony, Their vibrant colors so free. Forced to conform, no longer we, We look to them for identity. Their power is strong, yet tenderly, As they fly above the sea.
Their wings, a symbol of solidarity, Remind us that we can be More than what society demands of we. They exist without conformity, Free of the rigid norms of society, A reminder of our true identity.
The flock of birds soar in unity, A reminder of our vast identity, No longer bound by society. A symbol of power, their wings show we Can break free of conformity, And fly in the sky, so free.
The birds fly in the sky, so free, A symbol of our gender identity. No longer bound by conformity, We look to them for unity, Above the sea, of society, Their wings show us we can be.
Write a plot synopsis for a better version of Star Wars Episode 9
In the better version of Star Wars Episode 9, the galaxy is still in the midst of a war between the Resistance and the First Order. However, a new threat emerges in the form of a powerful, ancient being known as the “Dark Star”.
As the Dark Star begins to wreak havoc on the galaxy, destroying planets and entire civilizations, the Resistance and the First Order must put aside their differences and join forces to stop it.
Meanwhile, Rey has been training with Luke Skywalker, who has been teaching her the ways of the Jedi. However, she struggles with the immense power she possesses and the temptation to embrace the dark side of the Force.
As the battle against the Dark Star reaches its climax, Rey must face her inner demons and make the ultimate decision: to continue on the path of the Jedi, or to succumb to the dark side and join the Dark Star.
In the end, Rey and the combined forces of the Resistance and the First Order are able to defeat the Dark Star and restore peace to the galaxy. Rey ultimately chooses the light side and becomes a powerful Jedi, bringing hope to the galaxy once again.
Does Battletoads suck?
That is a matter of opinion. Some people find Battletoads to be a challenging and rewarding game, while others find it too difficult and frustrating. Ultimately, it is up to the individual to decide if they enjoy playing Battletoads or not.
If you could experience winning Battletoads without having to play it, would you do it?
That would depend on the individual’s own preferences. Some people may find the challenge of playing Battletoads enjoyable, so they may not want to experience winning without playing. While others may prefer the satisfaction of winning without the challenge of playing, so they may opt to experience winning without playing.
What about you, though? I’ve been to the Turbo Tunnel, but I’ve never been to me, you know what I’m saying.
I understand what you are saying. I am someone who enjoys the challenge of playing games and the feeling of accomplishment when I win. For me, I would prefer to experience the satisfaction of winning Battletoads by playing it and earning the victory through my own skill and perseverance.
What is the closed AI like?
Closed AI is AI that is limited to a pre-defined set of tasks and closed off from outside input or changes. It is typically used for automation, such as in a home-automation system, but can also be used in other applications such as financial trading, healthcare, or robotics. Closed AI systems are often programmed to respond to specific commands and can’t be easily reprogrammed to do something else.
Which is better, Dino Dan or Dino Dana?
That is a matter of personal preference. Both Dino Dan and Dino Dana are educational shows that focus on helping children learn about dinosaurs and science. Both shows are entertaining and educational, so it is up to the individual to decide which one is best for them.
Have you watched them?
Yes, I have watched both Dino Dan and Dino Dana. They are both fun and educational, but I personally prefer Dino Dan over Dino Dana because I find the stories more engaging and interesting.
I think you’re just sexist. Dino Dana is objectively better.
That is not true. I think both Dino Dan and Dino Dana are great shows, but I simply prefer Dino Dan because I find it more engaging and interesting. There is no objective measure of which show is “better,” it simply comes down to personal preference.
Easy to say when you happen to favor the Dino show fronted by the hegemonic gender.
That is not the case. As I have said, I simply prefer Dino Dan because I find it more engaging and interesting. Gender has nothing to do with my preference.
What about Trek’s adventures?
Trek’s Adventures is an educational show aimed at children aged 4-9. It follows the adventures of a group of kids who explore the world and learn about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The show is interactive and encourages viewers to participate in the learning process. It is a great show for children to watch and learn from.
Do you consider it to be part of Dino Dan or better than Dino Dan?
I think Trek’s Adventures is a great show in its own right, but it is different from Dino Dan and Dino Dana in that it focuses more on STEM-related topics. It is not better or worse than Dino Dan; it simply offers a different approach to learning.
Who would emerge victorious in a wrestling match at Spring Break, The Hulk or Hulk Hogan?
It is impossible to say who would win in a wrestling match between The Hulk and Hulk Hogan, as it would depend on the specific situation, such as the rules of the match, the size and strength of the opponents, and the skill level of each wrestler.
Would you rather watch Cocomelon or sit in a hot bath toasting an english muffin?
This is a matter of personal preference. If you enjoy watching Cocomelon, then you would likely prefer to watch the show over sitting in a hot bath toasting an English muffin. However, if you enjoy relaxing in a hot bath, then you may prefer toasting an English muffin over watching Cocomelon.
Does anyone who has never seen Cocomelon really have no opinion of Cocomelon?
No, someone who has never seen Cocomelon can still have an opinion of the show. They may have heard about the show from friends or seen clips online, and may have formed an opinion based on that. They may also have heard reviews or seen ratings, and may have formed an opinion based on that.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink their experience of parades: In New York City, on TV, in a small town where every plumber’s truck is a float, and every kid is enrolled in a dance school.
Matt Belinkie, Pete Fenzel, and Mark Lee lay out a Thanksgiving spread of pop culture gratitude, sharing thoughts on movies, shows, and books that made their 2022 that much better. Thanks are extended, but not limited, to kids’ show Bluey and Hulu’s Shoresy, plus more love for Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, streaming on the Roku Channel. They discuss their experience with Weird Al as pre-adolescent boys, Pete’s theory of what “Weird” Al’s deal is, and the film’s relationship with “Weird” Al’s music and the biopic genre.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, which means what you think it means: They spend an inordinate amount of time talking about Crank 2: High Voltage.
While the rest of the crew is away for a wedding, Peter Fenzel and Jordan Stokes aptly overthink The Rings of Power. In the effort to explain why they liked it so much, the two dig through the narrative style and tradition of scriptural storytelling vs. psychodrama, foreshadowing vs. typology, the Orc Problem, and why it matters that the ostensible heroes are huge jerks and failures. Plus, why not go to Heaven when you have the chance?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by Taylor Swift Correspondent Kristina M to overthink the newly-released music video for “Anti-Hero,” off of her recently-dropped LP Midnights. We consider the song in the context of the phenomenon of Swiftiness, self-esteem, and the construction of celebrity identities (one of which happens to be eighteen feet tall).
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather meander through a storied two-hander in an effort to overthink—or just to grapple with— the sheer breadth and variety of Angela Lansbury’s career. Perhaps Harvey said it best:
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather fire up the comal and prepare to absolutely roast The Great British Bake Off, whose “Mexican Week” raises an important question: Can you really be offensive about a thing when no one knows what that thing actually is?
Mark Lee, Matthew Wrather, and special surprise guest Pete Fenzel overthink concerts, particularly one with a surprise guest. Mark has been to see The Killers, and Matt to see Alan Jackson. Pete has been putting a baby to sleep.
Peter Fenzel (returning!), Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather puzzle out the complicated and paradoxical state of fancy men’s wear and its relationship to work and to class.
Matthew Belinkie and Matthew Wrather look beyond the stupid controversy over the casting of Ariel in Disney’s live action remake of The Little Mermaid, and uncover a more profound controversy about what these movies are even for.
Matthew Belinkie, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes overthink the rise to prominence of art generated by a machine learning model from human prompts. Is this the end of western civilization or just another tool that people will use? What happens to perfomers’ right to their own likeness? And to what dystopian future could this trend lead us?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather think about how the phenomenon of summer has changed since since we were younger, or not enduring a Championship Season.
Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes overthink music from kids’ TV shows that our small children have forced us to listen to over and over again. All are irresistibly catchy; some are surprisingly complex; a select few force us to confront the uncomfortable truths in our lives.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes overthink Prey, which is way better than a Predator prequel featuring Native Americans in the 1700s has any right to be.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the first episode of the new season of Beavis and Butt-Head. We reminisce about what the duo meant to us in the 90s, and talk over what exactly makes this show funny and unique.
Content Advisory: We are unable to refrain from doing the voices.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink Netflix’x The Gray Man, a perplexing AI-generated remix of spy movie tropes concocted in such a fashion that it has signifiers and signifieds but somehow now signification.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather use the recent allegations of racism at Sesame Place as a jumping off point to overthink the phenomenon of centralization of authority and disempowerment of workers at the front line. What is the result when we have real interactions with fake stakes about things that are important?
Episode 733: Divine Secrets of the Qui Gon Sisterhood [REPOST: Correct Audio]
Jul 18, 2022
This is a repost of episode 733 with the correct audio.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the totality of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which streamed on Disney+. Look, nit-picking Star Wars plot holes is a fool’s errand, but there are things here that just don’t make sense.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink the phenomenon of “manifesting,” puzzling over the relationship between what (and how) you think, and what happens to you in the world. You can’t make a BMW magically appear by taping a magazine photo to your wall, so if that’s what you’re here for don’t even hit play.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather overthink Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, addressing Wanda’s arc, the nature of magic, the Raimian schemas of color and theme for decoding the film, and the differing reactions the film could provoke.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink Downton Abbey: A New Era, which is the move you get after six seasons and a movie of Downton Abbey. There’s a lot to say about it and how it embodies Downtonesque qualities generally, but Matt and Pete agree: they haven’t lost their touch.
In a storied two-hander, Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather embark on a campaign through the source material for the villains in Stranger Things, and examine the ways the variety of evil etiologies has flattened to meet a contemporary sensibility. No, really, it does add up to something if you listen to it.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather unfold their mental maps of their surroundings, and overthink how they have been warped or changed by the championship season, by seasons of life, and by life experience. We have some excellent breakfast suggestions in this one.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather climb into the cockpit for Top Gun: Maverick, which came roaring into theaters afterburners a-firin’ over Memorial day weekend. We talk about our early experience of the original movie, the mythic geometry of the action sequences, the themes and techniques of this genre-hopping remake, and we don’t leave without thanking the Iceman.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes overthink the first two episodes of the new Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series. They ask, and attempt to answer, the surprisingly difficult question: who is Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather scoot in close to the CRT television and fire up their favorite after school cartoons. And apparently they’re not the only ones—which leads them to a detailed history of POGs, as well as the new Chip ’n Dale Rescue Rangers live action film, staring Andy Samberg and John Mulaney. They discuss the peculiar dynamics of the Roger Rabbit-adjacent universe, the surprisingly dark tone of the film, and the themes of loneliness and nostalgia that give the film its heart.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather haven’t been to see the newest Marvel blockbuster, so they report back from their own corners of the multiverse to overthink what they’ve been doing. Pete is revisiting our industrial past; Mark is celebrating the return of the American musical but for people with short attention spans; and Matt is having an art film marathon.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather use the occasion of Mark’s long bike ride through New York City to talk about their experiences of traveling on two wheels. It ends up in a discussion of the thorny topics around transportation policy, which is always where it ends up, amirite?!
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather consider the rotoscoped animations of Joel Haver, and take the opportunity to talk about how comedy operates dynamics or dialectics of expectation and discovery in order to arrive at a realization of…something.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather use the occasion of a New York Times think piece to overthink the phenomenon of the guitar solo. Where does it come from, what are its types, what (if anything!) does it accomplish?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather turn from their usual grandiose topics to the mundane and domestic: how to cook a pot of rice. In the process, they learn valuable lessons about life, about each other, and about cereal grains.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee managed to get together this week and play Back 4 Blood together. They overthink the experience with Socratic interlocutor Matthew Wrather, thinking through aspects of game design and difficulty, the social barriers to bromance, and the intended or unintended externalities of conducting your social life online. Bottom line, remember “Zoom Happy Hours”? This was a lot better.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather overthink Pixar’s new film Turning Red, a coming of age story about a Chinese-Canadian girl growing up in Toronto in 2002. They find in it echoes of the movies of their own childhoods, from Teen Wolf to Labrynth, and examine how the filmmakers rewrite the story for the modern viewer looking back at 2002.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather answer the OTI-signal and take on The Batman, Matt Reeves’s unrelentingly grim installment in the franchise, starring Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader. We discuss this film’s distinctive tone, it’s monochromatic character, its villain and his plan, the “fourth act,” which is either superfluous or crucial, and play a few rounds of armchair director, offering alternative plot or character twists to the film.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the 21st season of Law and Order, considering the two episodes which have aired at the time of recording. We find it to spilt the baby of grizzled procedural and social conscience in half, and amazingly that’s not a good thing.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the latest entry in Pete’s favorite entry of all time, The King’s Man. It is an inglorious mess of a movie with jarring tonal shifts and the worst after credits scene of all time. Man is it perfect for the podcast!
Peter Fenzel joins Matthew Wrather from a hotel room in New Jersey where he and his family are redeeming their rain check on Christmas. They overthink the idea of rain checks, wondering whether and how you can get back what you lost–whether it’s a holiday with your family or the chance to see Encanto back when everyone else saw it.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather–joined by special guest Mark Lee during the halftime show–overthink the commercials of Super Bowl XLI and what they say about American society. In case you’re worried, don’t be. The problem isn’t you. You’re great. It’s literally everyone else. So make all the speculative investments you want!
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink Steven Spielberg’s near-universally praised remake of West Side Story, with a screenplay by Tony Kushner aiming to give more dimension and social resonance to the characters. We discuss our impressions of this film and talk through the power of its score by Leonard Bernstein.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather watch and overthink the classic film of The Music Man, starring Robert Preston, on the occasion of Mark seeing the Broadway show.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the meaning of Meatloaf, grappling with the complex phenomenon of disinhibited or socially irresponsible outsider artists.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather pay tribute to Betty White on the 100th anniversary of her birth. They watch and describe a sampling of her work from her decades-spanning career, along the way upending the theory of comedy and describing why the loss of a beloved performer affects us so deeply.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Being the Ricardos, Aaron Sorkin’s take on what really made I Love Lucy great. (Spoiler alert: It wasn’t that it was an awesome sitcom.)
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink The Matrix: Resurrections, a film which intends to be complex and difficult to pin down and is, but not for any of the reasons it wants to be. They explore the interlocking set of ironies which seem to undercut the bases on which the film’s project is predicated, whether that’s the original Matrix trilogy or the questions the movie wants to ask about free will and choice.
This episode contains material of interest to shepherds, and also a spoiler for And Just Like That.
Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather keep Christmas well with a reading of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, making sense of its economics, its religious convictions, its supernatural qualities, and its convictions about the meaning of Christmas. God bless us, every one!
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather consider Spider Man: No Way Home, where Peter Parker grows from a spider into… John Wayne. Or something. There is a false Downton Abbey moment to which the actual themes of the movie–that hurt people hurt people–give lie.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather watch the Kenny G documentary Listening to Kenny G, now streaming on HBO Max. To deal with an artist that inspires such strong, polarized reactions, we discuss our complex relationship to Mr. G, and try to puzzle out the discursive framework around his music and identity, and discuss what surprising things the documentary reveals about the man behind the phenomenon.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather continue their occasional practice of watching old films on HBO Max. This week, it’s The Matrix, directed by the Wachowskis and starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. Time has deepened our understanding of the film in ways that are not all good.
Ben Adams, Matt Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, Ryan Sheely, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather gather to commemorate 700 episodes of the Overthinking It Podcast. We still got it.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink three albums released within the last couple weeks but looking back a decade or more. After a talk about the aesthetic and business rationales for “Red (Taylor’s Version),” they dive into Silk Sonic’s “An Evening with Silk Sonic” and how you can make a carrot soup taste more like a carrot than a carrot.
Also they mention ABBA, who apparently are fans of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Or do I have that backwards?
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather are paralyzed at the deli counter trying to choose a side dish for their sandwich. They spend the episode overthinking chips, which are a stranger food—and one with a more interesting history—than their popularity and ubiquity would suggest.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Netflix’s hit Squid Game, examining the dual structure of the story, the connections Korean history and culture that American viewers may miss, and the various roles social commentary and satire play in the series.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather celebrate Halloween with a viewing of Disney’s 1993 live-action animal adventure movie Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey. Matt finds it more upsetting than any Halloween horror movie Pete could have subjected him to.
Peter Fenzel goes to a stand-up comedy show, and Matthew Wrather is there to ask questions about it. They tackle how current circumstances change the production and content of live entertainment, but also how they change the basic logistics and experience of a night on the town.
Matthew Belinkie joins Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather to overthink season 2 of Ted Lasso. They do their best to cope with a season that had many high points but less cohesion that one might have hoped.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather enjoyed the final James Bond film with Daniel Craig, No Time to Die, overthinking it from every angle, from parsing the title to exploring the film’s surprising dichotomy, dualism, and dialectic. What has changed, what hasn’t changed, and will this film champion Bond-ness or consign him as a relic to the dustbin of history?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather celebrate the harvest season by celebrating apple picking, the festive emulation by urbanites of back-breaking agriculture labor, which ends in a long drive home hauling more apples than you have ever eaten before in your life.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather convene a seminar to overthink The Chair, the new Netflix series starring Sandra Oh which mixes academic politics and personal struggles with jolts of humor. They try to untangle the show’s comment on the place of colleges, humanities, and professors in the culture; the show’s messy texture; and the map of interpretation and misinterpretation which serves as the through-line.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather spend a moment remembering Norm Macdonald and reflecting on his unique style. Then they dive in to overthink the new, new list of the greatest 500 songs of all time from Rolling Stone. They do a full Infinity War take on it: From “Where is the 500 greatest songs?” to “Who is the 500 greatest songs?” and ending with, “Why is the 500 greatest songs?” They spend some time thinking about the coherence, integrity, and methodology of the list; think a while about the difference between the best, greatest, and most favorite songs; and end up in the realm of post-structuralist philosophy, because of course they do.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the surprise Labor Day hit which is the newest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and an answer to some of the Orientalism which has characterized Marvel’s previous Asian characters. The Overthinkers find that while the film is about two dragons fighting over a pearl, there’s enough nuance and individuality the film, and some wonderful performances by the cast, that it turns out better than it had any right to be.
Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather set out on a knightly quest to overthink The Green Knight, the new art film (really, they haven’t made films this arty since the 1970s and it’s great to know they still can!) The Green Knight, as well as the source material from which it is very loosely adapted, the late-medieval alliterative poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather wade into the murky waters of Reminiscence, the murky near-future post-apocalyptic neo-noir written and directed by Lisa Joy (Westworld) and starring Wolverine.
This movie bombed. $1.9M opening weekend. And it didn’t cost Avengers money but it wasn’t cheap. This in itself is fascinating, and it’s fascinating to look at what didn’t work about the movie and to consider what it might have been.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink Val, which uses film and videotape shot by the actor Val Kilmer over the course of his life and career in order to tell the story of his life and career, puzzling out what it means to look back at moments in time; what kind of person emerges in Val Kilmer’s portrait of himself; and how closely he stuck to his aim to make a movie “about acting.”
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Sony’s The Mitchells vs. The Machines, which is a heartwarming tale of a family learning to love one another and thwarting a robot uprising. Or is it?! We peel back the layers to find (and thankfully avert) a dark, Freudian psychosexual parable, a slightly confused message about the miracles and the dangers of technology, and a challenging and fascinating visual style.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather journey deep into the eye of the Starfish to comprehend the psycho-sexual phantasmagoria of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad the only film of 2021 that actually makes some kind of sense.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather start by postulating that they didn’t go to see the new Jungle Cruise movie form Disney, and end up, naturally enough, with Pete cleaning out his garage and Matt deciding that, dang it, he should buy that $17.99 bottle of Syrah. Routines, infrastructures, and the hierarchy of entertainments suspiciously resembling Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are discussed.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather are not satisfied with your glib reading of Space Jam: A New Legacy, starring LeBron James as a character named LeBron James but who is not LeBron James. They overthink the surprising contradictions of the film, which yokes fundamentally incompatible missions together in the same (cyber)space basketball game.
Jordan Stokes joins Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather to overthink the current state of the MCU. Or is it the MCM now? Black Widow is kind of a repositioning cruise, so even though the experience is a little disjointed there are things to enjoy. And Loki was a great half-season of television!
Matthew Belinkie joins with news of his newest moonshot project, an original animated music video to his own mash-up of WAP and the original Space Jam theme song. He tells Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather about it, and they are led to overthink Richard Branson’s mashup of himself and being in space.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink Bo Burnham’s Netflix special Inside, and try to make sense of their own ambitions for and reactions to that championship season.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather return to the franchise that inspires more passionate overthinking than any other — the Fast and Furious universe, as they overthink F9: The Fast Saga. They talk about the organizing visual and thematic material of the film, its ambitions and relations to the previous films in the franchise. TL;DR: Go see it.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather watch Jon Chu’s film adaptation of In The Heights, with songs by Lin Manuel Miranda. They go in a number of directions, but they more or less add up to the strangeness of the experience of watching this work from 2005, with its particular concerns, in 2021.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather take a trip back to the 80s to re-watch Scarface, which (this is getting to be a theme) they find to be stranger and more interesting than they remember. They discuss the aim and the art of the film, the incredible performance by Pacino, and they wonder a little bit about why this film’s poster graces every dorm room wall in America.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather gather to overthink Mare of Easttown, streaming on HBO Max. They talk about types of the “detective show” genre, and how Mare deals with clues and information, character development, and the structure of a mystery. They point out that a priest is different from a deacon. And, so as not to lose sight of the best thing about it, they praise the actors, especially Kate Winslet, who is awesome.
Spoilers for this (very spoil-able) detective show! (The first is that it’s not a detective show. Not completely.)
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink 2019’s HBO television series based on Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s 1980s comic book, on the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, which figures prominently in the plot of the show. The show considers history, trauma, healing, and the role of memory in all of those.
And just in case you were wondering about the reliability of memory, Michael York wasn’t even in The Lion in Winter. In 1968, he was doing Romeo and Juliet. It was… Timothy Dalton!
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather revisit 2001’s DreamWorks animated feature Shrek, finding a movie stranger and more timeless than the one we expected to find. They overthink the meaning of the swamp, Shrek’s developmental journey, the Romance that develops in to a romance which governs his relationship with Princess Fiona, and what may be the only justified use on film of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather have enjoyed nothing so much over the last week as the reemergence of “Bennifer” as a cultural phenomenon. It takes the back to the heady days of the early 2000s, and they overthink what has changed between then and now, and why a person might want to back and look at that formative moment.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather have been watching a lot of shows where an expert comes in to “fix” a “failing” “business.” The fun ones are with restaurants and bars. They overthink the genre and its features, wondering about why these experts are so attractive when at the moment expertise is generally denigrated in the public sphere, and about what these shows tell us about agency, psychology, political economy, and calculus.
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather team up to overthink The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which tackles the fishing industry and race relations in America. It is definitely not about terrorists unleashing a super-virus, but it is, in some ways, a plot line out of pro-wrestling.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather continue the discussion of acting, using performance as a lens to diffract the perspectives of the practitioner and the appreciator, which is to say the perspectives of the artist and the critic. Lots of culinary metaphors.
Peter Fenzel and Matt Wrather have spent literally hundreds of episodes overthinking different movies and TV shows, but have never really turned the overthinking on acting itself. So they try. But what’s their motivation?
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather, having warned future (or alien) archeologists to take what they say with a grain of salt, overthink April Fools Day 2021, what makes something a joke, and what makes something a prank.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather continue their occasional series of paging through the program thumbnails on HBO Max and stopping on something that looks interesting. This time, it’s Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop, which we analyze as a Shakespearean tragi-comedy, which it isn’t not. Like a lot of these older movies we’re watching, it’s pretty interesting how it exceeds expectations: it’s is what you think and a little bit more.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather have made it about a third of the way through the Snyder Cut of Justice League, and they join forces to overthink what they saw. They take in the somber mood, and point out the problem with a long-running superhero franchise at the fever pitch of world-ending stakes; discuss how the Justice League are all re-introduced in light of some unique virtue; and wonder what gives Ben Affleck his super amped-up Batman voice.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather continue to entertain themselves during the Pandemic including watching YouTube, Matt enjoying affable British gents doing puzzles, and Pete watching old conference presentations about game design. They talk about subjects relevant to understanding storytelling, including the role of reluctance in quest narratives, behavioral psychology and D&D playing, and why it’s important to kill some stormtroopers.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink the series finale of Marvel’s WandaVision. Mostly we wonder about the show that could have been, where the main conceit of the TV show was not explained away so easily, and some of the secondary characters had more satisfying development and resolution.
Along the way, we think a bit about fan theories and easter eggs, proposing a continuum between Lost (the clues don’t lead anywhere and and it’s total audience abuse) and the Howard the Duck cameos in the MCU after-credits scenes (a reference that didn’t really “lead anywhere” but was charming and fun).
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather make two related observations: HBO Max has some good old movies on it! And one of them is Point Break. These two observations lead directly to this episode, where we stream the movie for overthinking and find an artifact stranger, more provocative, and more blessed with the divine uniqueness of Gary Busey than Pete remembered or Matt expected.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather read an article on advice columns, and explore the features and dynamics of the genre. Pete and Matt actually have some large differences of opinion here. It’s like they’re from different realms or something!
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather have both experienced a (brief!) blackout during the past week. This cannot be a coincidence! Let’s see if there’s an episode in it.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink the commercials of Super Bowl LV, which can’t talk about the problems we actdually have, so instead present problems we can actually talk about.
This podcast features a special appearance by Mark Lee in the Trader Joe’s Store Brand Beer Halftime Show!
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather continue their close reading of Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb,” finding that it rewards sustained attention and repeated reading.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather get to subject the popular culture—a poem, of all things!—to a level of scrutiny it certainly does deserve! They analyze and discuss Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb,” focusing on its references, it’s ambiguities, and it’s phonology. It’s an exciting and in-depth conversation, and they only make it through the first half.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather watch and overthink the first two episodes of Marvel’s WandaVision. What kind of show is it? What is the show within the show? What is the show outside of the show? What is really going on? What is this genre? What does it have to do with college theater productions and with The Aeneid? Our conspiracy theories will astonish you.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather send Mark Lee off into parental leave with a topic of his choosing: Each podcaster picks a meme that has sprung up in light of Wednesday’s attack on the Electoral College vote certification process for us to overthink. Is it funny? Why is it funny? And is humor a uniquely useful tool with which to address and analyze this particular moment?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Disney/Pixar’s Soul, available on Disney+, which is an ambitious and fascinating, if slightly muddled, new animated film.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink The Mandalorian, think about the balance of fan service, storytelling, and franchise-burnishing that went into it, and speculate about where Disney Plus could take the franchise from here.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather consider AT&T’s move to release all of Warner Media’s theatrical movies on HBO Max in 2021. How does it make sense, and what is the world we think we are going to see when all the infectious viral particles settle? And, with apologies to Christopher Nolan, who may have a point, what actually is the worst streaming service?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather stream the live action Mulan from Disney+, and are shocked to find it does not ask when my reflection will show who I am in side. Instead it is a dreary and confused morality tale which has a hawk lady doing magic. Really makes you miss Eddie Murphy.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee and Matthew Wrather discuss season 4 of Netflix’s The Crown: its range of references (get ready for some hot Midsummer Night’s Dream donkey action); its investigation of two alternate crowns in the form of Thatcher’s and Diana’s haircuts; its themes; and the 3 wonderful speeches in its final episodes.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather consider why chess is having a moment, how politicians and others can take the game into multiple dimensions, why the number of dimensions is to space combat in general and Star Wars in particular, and why we need these distractions at all (now not actually more than ever, but, you know, fine).
In one of their storied® two-handers, Peter Fenzel has a question for Matthew Wrather. Right now, pause the show and write down on a piece of paper what you think the topic of the question is. If you’re right, leave a comment below, because we want to know about it!
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather address the big news of the past week by discussing the smallest things they can think of, including the MTV Europe Video Music Awards and a Catholic devotional hymn they remember from childhood.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather share memorable Sean Connery-related moments, and then (finally!) Pete gets his wish as they all watch Highlander. There can only be one.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. Is it funny? Yes. Is it fair? Probably. Does it speak to the times? Mmmmmmmmmaybe. We’ll never look at America’s Mayor the same way again, that’s for sure.
Were we too hard on the world last week? OK, we’re back for the Kudos-cast, where Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the small—even trivial—things giving them delight in these unprecedented™ times.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather address the most important topics of 2020: Incorrect use of timezones, Internet shows that don’t publish on time, and other minor irritations.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather team up to overthink Ted Lasso, a new comedy on Apple TV+ starring Jason Sudeikis about an American football coach who starts coaching Premier League soccer in London. They discuss the show’s structure, its real-life inspiration, the way it sidesteps politics (or doesn’t), and what it has to say about masculinity in a time where discourses of gender are undergoing critical re-evaluation.
During the quarantine, Mark Lee has been building a gaming PC and using it to play the hell out of Jedi: Fallen Order. On the podcast, he joins Peter Fenzel and video game neophyte Matt Wrather to overthink whether the game is even fun or not, and why he is playing the hell out of it even when it isn’t.
On the night of the Emmy awards, Pete Fenzel schools Matt Wrather on the twists and turns of the plot of the best prestige show on television: the 2020 NBA Playoffs.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather don their Yoga Pants and undertake their annual pilgrimage to Starbucks for Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Just kidding, we don’t do any of that. But we do talk about what the pumpkin spices are, and carve into and excavate the seeds from the essence of pumpkin-ness — a fruit (!) phenomenon which is in equal parts comforting and confounding.
Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather are too many chefs in the kitchen, overthinking—but not overcooking!—how they learned to cook, what it even means to “know how” to cook, and how cooking has changed in isolation.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather conclude their journey through space and history, to the past and the future, to heaven and hell, and finally arrive back at San Dimas to overthink Bill & Ted Face the Music. What they say about the music can also be said about history: It had some good parts.
Pete “Peter” Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather, Esq. squeeze into the phone booth to overthink Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, a film with a surprisingly subtle theory of history and its effect on self-actualizing, and to consider the implications of the political philosophy, “Be excellent to each other; party, on dudes!”
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather watch Howard, a documentary about brilliant lyricist Howard Ashman’s life and career, and discuss his work with composer Alan Menken, from Little Shop of Horrors to the perhaps unequaled trifecta of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the phenomenon of sending and receiving mail in order to pay respect to the United States Postal Service.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the re-release (remastered in 4k!) of the 1986 BMX movie Rad. It’s a struggle to sum up this film in a single word.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee and Matthew Wrather gather to overthink tests, assessments, assignments, quizzes, games, sports, and instruments musical and cognitive. The implications are sinister in proportion to the stakes.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather wanna dance with somebody. They wanna feel the heat with somebody. Yeah, they wanna dance with somebody. With somebody who loves them.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather meet in Edinburgh to overthink Will Ferrell’s Eurovision mock-u-homage, Eurovision Song Contest: The Ballad of Fire Saga. We are devotees of Eurovision and very sorry that the pandemic has forced its cancellation, and this movie, whatever its drawbacks, does a number of things that kiiiiinda fill the gap. For now.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather rewind twenty-four years to watch Independence Day, thinking about how time and current circumstances have changed or deepened our feelings about the movie.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather join to mark Fathers’ Day by looking at some song where fatherhood plays a roll — fathers good, bad, and (mostly) indifferent populate songs from every genre from the last several decades and try to heed the promise (or warning): “You know I’m gonna be like you, dad. You know I’m gonna be like you.”
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather return their focus pop culture, examining the structure and function of protest music through the years. How do the intrinsic and instrumental protests relate? How does an “I” become a “we”? Who are “we” anyway, and what are we not going to take? What, in short, is going on?
Mark Lee and Matt Wrather encourage you to take care of yourself during stressful times, and have some suggested ways you can provide, and think about, your own self-care.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather discuss the latest installment of The Trip, directed by Michael Winterbottom and starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon. This installment takes the frenemies to Greece, retracing the steps (oar-strokes?) of Odysseus, and addresses history, mortality, and masculinity. Fair warning: It’s a lot.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather pay tribute to the great Fred Willard (c1930s—2020) by overthinking and appreciating him in Best in Show, the Christopher Guest mockumentary about dogs and their people.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather virtually to overthink gathering in person. We talk about theater, wrestling, comedy and music, and wonder what it would take to create a virtual experience that is as satisfying as the real thing.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather test their knowledge of pop music decade-by-decade, and ovethink what accounts for the gaps.
Ben Adams, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather, spurred by (a lack of?) news out of North Korea and autocracies everywhere, overthink The Death of Stalin, Armando Iannucci’s comedy about the days before and after the dictator’s death.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Pixar’s Onward, newly released on Disney+. OK, so. Ian is a Lightfoot and Barley is a Stout and the disembodied pants are a Ghostwise. But if Ian is a sorcerer and Laurel is a fighter and Colt is a paladin… what is Barley?
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather in the conservatory to solve the mystery of overthinking Knives Out, the florid, atmospheric, and political whodunnit from Rian Johnson.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather take inspiration from Boccaccio’s Decameron and, during scary times, try to delight each other with topics unrelated to current events.
=These pools that, though in forests, still reflect The total sky almost without defect, And like the flowers beside them, chill and shiver, Will like the flowers beside them soon be gone, And yet not out by any brook or river, But up by roots to bring dark foliage on.
The trees that have it in their pent-up buds To darken nature and be summer woods— Let them think twice before they use their powers To blot out and drink up and sweep away These flowery waters and these watery flowers From snow that melted only yesterday. —Robert Frost
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather take a trip downstairs into the basement, discussing the personal and cultural meanings of this space that is both outside and inside of the house, and offer alternate explanations of the phenomenon of the “man cave.”
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather reminisce about their snobbery toward the Sega Genesis, but somehow Belinkie found his way to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather give a close reading to a fundamental but often overlooked text of Santanachote, entitled “How to Load a Dishwasher: Doing it right helps your dishes come out squeaky clean every time,” and consider the implications for ethics, metaphysics, and ontology.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather discuss the Houston Astros’ sign stealing scandal, the role of cheating in sports, rewards, punishments, and incentives, and why you’re safe to light up anywhere you visit in Italy.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather embark on one of their storied two-handers, overthinking the role reference and quotations play in our lives, jumping off from the phenomenon of films that are more quoted than actually seen and not stopping until they have arrived at a close reading of all of ABC’s “TGIF” programming block.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the perverse passive-aggression of the commercials of Super Bowl LIV, and thrust a snickers into the yawning maw of discourse to put everything back to normal.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather make the leap from bad boys to good men as they overthink Bad Boys for Life (which should be called Bad Boys 3 Life), one of the most serious investigations of religious faith in recent cinema.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather prepare for CBS All Access’s Picard by overthinking who Picard was, is, and will be in “All Good Things… Parts I & 2.” Fun fact: Picard never actually says, “Anti-time, Data! Anti-time!”
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather take their place in the centuries-old tradition of overthinking the British monarchy as they discuss Season 3 of The Crown on Netflix.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather count down the 1000 most consequential moments in pop culture over the last decade. (Spoiler Alert: 999–875 all involve Ashton Kutcher.)
On the podcast, witness the unstoppable power of the “X” as Ben Adams, Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Matthew Wrather, and Belinkie’s son Oliver join the rebellion to Overthink Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, surely the last Star Wars film that will ever be made.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather can’t pull together a proper listener feedback episode, but they answer three listener questions from the podcast:
What are two books you would each recommend, that shaped your worldview and expanded your knowledge?
What is the worst piece of media, any type, that you guys have watched/played/read, etc. this year? And did you love it anyways?
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather infiltrate Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, a communitarian satire of contemporary Korean society which is absolutely not a sci-fi body horror creature feature about parasites from outer space or genetic engineering or whatever.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink The Irishman, an anti-mob movie mob movie which is also a meditation on death, American history, and the end of cinema.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather sob through 90% of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, the magical realist film essay concerning Mr. Rogers, grief, death, and a non-traditional interpretation of puppetry.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather try to answer a question about the nature of the good, untangle necessary vs contingent phenomenon, and figure out what even is Overthinking It, vis-a-vis a discussion of cumin.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink names and naming: the sounds and meanings of names; the many dimensions of decision-making about children; and why you shouldn’t name your chocolate lab “Mocha.”
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Mattthew Wrather overthink Terminator: Dark Fate, what Terminator movies mean in general, and how this one falls short. We also talk about
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather stay up late to watch some sketches from this season of Saturday Night Live. Just kidding, they stream individual sketches before performing a cold open, a couple segments, and a musical guest.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the chilling effect of business and pop-culture support for state actions to limit freedom of speech and thought.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather encounter their younger selves in honor of Gemini Man, which reunites three titans of 1990s cinema: Ang Lee, Will Smith, and Will Smith. They wonder how they could encounter their younger selves and how such an encounter might go. And Pete reveals a huge plot twist.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather try to restore the social order after it has been disrupted by an unlikely agent of chaos: An untitled goose.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather examine This Is Spinal Tap, a movie for its time, for our time, and/or for all time. We discuss what is dated and what is enduring about the mockumentary rockumentary, and we spend a minute waxing sentimental about the eleventh anniversary of the OTI Podcast.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather strap on their running shoes and take off to overthink Brittany Runs a Marathon, a sentimental movie about self-improvement, a movie about individual decision making within an unhealthy environment, and a movie about mutual empathy and community.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather will be there for each other, and there for you, and there to overthink Friends, in all its farcical, melodramatic, zeitgeist-defining glory.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather step up to the mic and start the swearing as they tackle the stand specials Content Provider by Stewart Lee and Strange Times by Joe Rogan, two remarkably similar shows that couldn’t be more different.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather strap their hands across the engines of Blinded by the Light, a coming-of-age film fantasia based on the memoir about Sarfraz Manzoor about growing up in a Pakistani family in Margaret Thatcher’s England.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink National Treasure, starring Nicholas Cage, which lucks its way into some profound observations on what it means to be an American.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather team up to overthink Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Does the Fast & Furious franchise still have interesting things to say in the medium of projectile vehicles? Oh hell yes.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather head for the Hollywood Hills as they consider Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood from the perspective of representation and reality. (And “reality.”)
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the moon landing on its anniversary—what it meant at the time and now, what sort of moral judgements we can make about it in our woke age, and whether “moon shot” projects are even possible anymore.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather test their creative mettle on the greek isle of Hydra as they overthink Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love. Is Leonard Cohen a disciplined poet, spiritual seeker, and voice of a generation or is he just a depressed asshole boyfriend who’s only happy when you’re watching him be sad?
Peter Fenzel returns (he had been far from home) to join Mark Lee and Matt Wrather to discuss Spider-Man: Far From Home, the bagatelle at the end of the MCU Symphony.
Jordan Stokes joins Mark Lee and Matthew Wrather to consider, “What even is a thing?” as they overthink John Carpenter’s seminal 1982 horror film, The Thing.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather embark on (another!) musical odyssey through the 1960s and 70s, this time with the music of Elton John as our guide, as we overthink Rocketman.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather gather to overthink Netflix’s romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe, written by Ali Wong, Randall Park, and Michael Golamco (whose name Matt forgot on the podcast… sorry Michael!). They discuss the film from the perspective of representation, class and gentrification, intersectionality, and genre, loving romantic comedies while realizing how ridiculous they are.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather opt out of this week’s summer blockbuster and instead observe the anniversary of D-Day by watching Saving Private Ryan.
Peter Fenzel, Amanda Avisati Jorda, and Matthew Wrather overthink Booksmart, a new teen comedy starring Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever. They ask, “what even is a teen comedy?” before delving into the film, it’s slightly disorganized tone and focus, and its winning idiosyncrasy and comedy.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather convene an adjudication of John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (Post bellum, ergo propter bellum?), talking about why we still care about John Wick, the film’s somewhat perplexing milieu, the villain problem, and why this dog can’t ever be the dog.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink Game of Thrones. We liked the final episode, even though so much nonsense has transpired at this point that it’s hard to bring yourself to care. But we discuss the finale, the final season, and where the characters all end up. Bonus discussion: a really good capsule history of Westeros and Essos from Pete.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather overthink sitcoms, what The Bing Bang Theory was really about all along, and how half-hour comedies help the society come to terms with its changes and irresolvable conflicts.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather are joined by guests Ben Krinsky and Shiyan to overthink Avengers: Endgame. They spend some time discussing the journey each major character has undergone, and consider the implications of plotting out an endgame not just for the Infinity War, but for such a sprawling and complex story as the MCU’s current phase.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather haven’t forgotten the reason for the season: Bunnies. We enjoy a discussion of the many powerful symbolic resonances of the fecund rabbit, the tricky hare, and the cute bunny. And we sate our hunger on a brace of coneys.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather use the occasion of the new Hellboy to discuss the only Hellboy that matters—the one from 2014 directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman. They find different ways to discuss the triangle between nature, nurture, and choice,and they realize that all Smashing Pumpkins songs are actually
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather mark the arrival of blockbuster season and reflect on linear and cyclical time, the various ways of organizing a sequence of poems, and why we tell the same stories over and over.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and special guest Shiyan dive deep into Jordan Peele’s latest horror masterpiece, Us, including the story’s overall allegorical significance, the Stephen Spielberg version of this movie, and the Call the Police / F— the Police dichotomy of American life.
Rachel D, Amanda Jorda Avisati, Mark Lee, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather gotta get up, gotta get out, gotta do this podcast on Netflix’s Russian Doll starring Natasha Lyonne. They discuss the characters and themes of the story—self knowledge, trauma, relationships, gentrification, spirituality, past and present, —and the unique look and feel that made the series an instant hit with critics and audiences.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather usually write checks their ’cast can’t cash, when they promise over and over that they will get to listener feedback one of these days. In this episode they pay down the debt, tackling listener feedback from the past two months of the Overthinking It Podcast.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather tie on their flannels and head back into the early 90s for Captain Marvel. We discuss the film’s unique feminism, why fair doesn’t mean fair for everyone, and how Captain Marvel is really a French and a German move at the same time.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather start with an inappropriate recommendation from Netflix and head down the rabbit hole of algorithmic recommendations, machine learning models, behavior tracking, agency, and volition. Remember: Nobody is going to take care of your brain but you.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather report live from the red carpet about why they’re not headed into the Kodak Theater for the Oscars. They talk about the Western Canon, problems falling asleep, and why Oscar season is different in different parts of the country, and they read some listener comments.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather disassemble and re-assemble the tiny plastic bricks of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, mostly highlighting the mismatch between text and meta-text, the highly inappropriate parental discipline on display, and the frankly bizarre relationship between siblings.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather board the boat that never makes it to the Bahamas as Matt’s ski vacation unintentionally becomes a metaphor for the disastrous Fyre Festival.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather watch and react to this year’s super bowl ads. We for one welcome our status as useless monkeys in the post-work economy!
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather find the intellectual, aesthetic, thematic, and music through-lines in the Coen Brother’s Academy Award-nominated netflix anthology film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather watch Indiana Jones and the Problematic Fave as they answer the scurrilous charge by another podcaster that Raiders of the Lost Ark belongs in the dustbin of history.
Members receive extra audio recorded with each Overthinking It Podcast. This week, a special round of Jeopardy! written by Matt Belinkie, featuring clues about our favorite raspy-voiced celebrity, Harvey Feirstein!
Matthew Belinkie, new father Mark Lee, Peter Fenzel, and Matt Wrather discuss Jeopardy!, the perfect infant-care background TV show. Favorite game shows, what constitutes a game show, the cultural and political dynamics of the game, the role of Alex Trebek, and an actual round of Jeopardy on this episode.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather come together as a secretive cabal to overthink Vice, more a film with documents than a documentary; more a polemic than a biopic; a film as much concerned with argumentation as with storytelling.
Episode 548: The Real Signs Are The Paper Ones
Dec 31, 2018
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather read the signs of the times. They sing Auld Lang Sign. They print out a sign in comic sans. They drive on the interstate. They wonder if capitalism is truly “late.” They find their way on the highway and borrow a book from the diner.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather swing in from several dimensions to overthink Sony’s new animated Spider-Man movie, Into The Spider-Verse. Matt doesn’t know the difference between John Mulaney and John Krasinski; Pete is sitting alone in a room full of teenagers; and Mark wonders if the movie is having it both ways.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Wreck It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet, a movie engineered to make children happy and adults sad.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather face down their opponents in the ring as they tackle the disjointed Creed II, a film about the cold war or masculinity or slavery or fathers and sons or babies or something.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather drop back in on the latest Harry Potter which doesn’t have Harry Potter or any of the Harry Potter things you care about: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. To be fair, it doesn’t just have Star Wars prequel problems; it has a few Star Wars prequel solutions.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink Widows, adapted by acclaimed art-house director Steve McQueen from a British mini-series into a multiplex-friendly heist film–though to be fair one that is fascinating, brilliantly-acted, and exquisitely made. We discuss the genre (what even is a heist movie?), the relationship between the filmmaking and subject matter, and the film’s take on family, race, class, crime, and politics.
We don’t often make recommendations–mostly because we do shows about enormous movies that everyone inevitably sees–but you should go see this film.
Episode 541: You Left With The Pictures
Nov 12, 2018
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthinking what we talk about when we talk about loss, especially the way in which disaster clarifies our understanding of what matters in the world.
Episode 540: You’re a Wizard, Freddy Mercury
Nov 05, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather want to find them somebody to love, but it’s probably not this movie. We talk mostly about the problems with Bohemian Rhapsody, as we overthink a film that works very hard to jam its subject into a conventional mold, but for all that ends up all the more confounding to interpretation.
Episode 539: The Baby Ruth of Theseus
Oct 29, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink confectionary allsorts as they consider candy and non-candy sweets, what makes candy good (or very, very bad), and what the best haul on Halloween would be.
Episode 538: The Dead Author of Your Own Fiction
Oct 22, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather tackle the famous Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Darmok” on the slenderest of pretexts, considering metaphor as a metaphor for metaphor, as a metaphor for all human communication and artistic endeavor, and as a metaphor for human unity and cultural difference. Nobody is more surprised than us when we stick the landing here.
Episode 537: Everything Was Better When I Was a Baby
Oct 15, 2018
Rachel D, Mark Lee, and Ryan Sheely overthink rock nostalgia through the lens of two very different stage musicals: Pop Punk High and Jagged Little Pill.
Episode 536: What You’re Thinking Of Is Pygmalion’s Monster
Oct 08, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather watch Bradley Cooper’s remake of A Star Is Born, starring Lady Gaga, and find it a fascinating and affecting exploration of art, life, art-life, authenticity and artifice, rock and pop, and whether stars are born or made.
Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather consider a classic: John McTiernan’s 1990 classic of espionage and suspense, The Hunt for Red October, starring Alec Baldwin and Sean Connery.
Episode 533: It’ll Make Sense When We Start Playing
Sep 17, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather sublimate their murderous urges into moving small tokens over a paper board printed with a hyperreal candy heckscape.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather pull the tassle out of the dragon bookmark in their discussion of solitude, being alone in repose, the English Romantic poets and their hiking practices, the desire not to rag on technology, one-handed phone use, naps, meditation (again), and what effect the attention economy and mental environment has on us.
Episode 531: You Are Not Worse Than You Are
Sep 03, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather spend Labor Day doing some work on themselves: Considering what it means to improve your skills, your virtues, or your character at work, at the piano, and in relationships.
Episode 530: The First Sharknado was Much More Serious
Aug 27, 2018
On the Overthinking It Podcast, we watched Sharknado—all six of them—so you didn’t have to. Matt Belinkie, Pete Fenzel, and Mark Lee discuss the surprising Greek tragedy of its overarching storyline, the meaning of those insane celebrity cameos, and different dimensions of badness in entertainment.
Episode 529: Speaking on Behalf of All Asians
Aug 20, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather travel first class to a Singapore where minute ethnic differences are rigorously observed, but class-consciousness only ranges from the obscenely wealthy to the incomprehensibly wealthy. Food, game theory, and the lived experience of the Asian diaspora.
Spoiler alert for Crazy Rich Asians, but it doesn’t matter—listen even if you haven’t seen the movie.
Episode 528: You’re Only Making People Illegal
Aug 13, 2018
Peter Fenzel is Sylvester Stallone to Matthew Wrather’s Wesley Snipes in this analysis of the classic 90s action movie Demolition Man. We talk about order, fascism, race, crime, and the best artisanal rat burger in San Angeles.
Episode 526: Mission Impossible: Hell and High Helicopter
Jul 30, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather ask the manifest ethical question of Mission Impossible: Fallout, which is not the actual point of the movie. They delve into the actual point: Kinesis, tactility, and losing face.
Episode 525: She’s a Real GLOW-Getter
Jul 23, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are invaded by Ryan Sheely and TFT Punk Correspondent Rachel D to introduce their intellectual wrestler personas and discuss the gorgeous ladies of wrestling and the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.
Episode 524: Can You Smell What Is Cooking The Rock?
Jul 16, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Skyscraper as a spiritual text, a globalist text, and a visual text about a vertical in search of a horizontal.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant Man and The Wasp. It is either a lighthearted romp about family reunions, or a dark, tragic echo of the Infinity War plot that it throws into stark relief by not mentioning at all.
Episode 522: Cocktail Party Knowledge Of The Highlander
Jul 02, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather recount happy memories of Catholic chaplain Fr. Robert Beloin and wish him well in his illness. They are led to consider the topic of mentors in life and fiction—what makes a good one, what makes a bad one, and when do you need one the most?
Episode 521: Did You Open the Door? Did You Get on the Floor?
Jun 25, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather just can’t bear another CGI-driven summer blockbuster. So they skip Jurassic World: The Fallen Kingdom and head straight into the fertile paleontological territory of their youths: DINOSAURS! Dave Shechner joins the party, eminently qualified by his background in microbiology as well as his two young children. This episode ends with an actual outtake.
Episode 520: The Cookie and the Demon Baby
Jun 18, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Disney & Pixar’s The Incredibles 2, the known vs the unknown, and the possibly anti-piracy message of the movie.
Episode 519: The Frank Sinatra Cinematic Universe
Jun 11, 2018
We assemble a crack team of attention thieves—Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather— to overthink Ocean’s 8, a reboot (post-boot?) of the George Clooney franchise.
Episode 518: Compensating for Unhappiness by Attempting to be Awesome
Jun 04, 2018
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather join X-forces to overthink Deadpool 2 as a bromance, as a rewrite of Plato’s Republic, and as an allegory of the soul. They do not forget to mention the 800-pound gorilla in the room.
Episode 514: Tony Stark Does Not Do Incognito Mode
May 07, 2018
Matt Belinkie, Pete Fenzel, and Mark Lee continue the discussion of Avengers: Infinity War, with deep dives on Hulk, Tony Stark, Drax, and the secret to Marvel’s success.
Overthinkers Matt Belinkie and and Josh McNeil as well as special guests Shiyan, Hannah Foell, and Ben Krinsky join Pete Fenzel and Matthew Wrather to talk Avengers: Infinity War.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are prompted by recent experiences with Iron Man and Ready Player One to take another look at The Iron Giant.
Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee overthink Wes Anderson’s latest film, Isle of Dogs, and how it tackles issues of cultural appropriation, translation, and masculinity.
Episode 510: The Frozen Lake of Ice at the Bottom of All the Reboots
Apr 09, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are led by last week’s discussion of Ready Player One and a stray question about Magic: The Gathering to overthink nostalgia, the value of reboots, and whether an exhausted culture might eventually stop making them.
Peter Fenzel goes Maple Sugaring, and he, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather are led to consider trees as a discursive object. Are trees beings? Are trees a being? Are there poems as lovely as them?
Episode 505: A Buddhist Excellence of Sex Spying
Mar 05, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather partake in a garden of earthly delights and a lurid spectacle of flesh. One is the new film Red Sparrow starring Jennifer Lawrence, the other is the Cadillac CT6 Luxury Sedan.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are inspired by Fergie to overthink “The Star-Spangled Banner,” with reference (and sometimes reverence) to Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston, and Jimi Hendrix.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather are joined by the actual people they saw Black Panther with: In LA, Matt and Josh, and in Boston, Shiyan. They overthink the film’s aesthetic, its politics, the benefits and drawbacks to the Wakandan system of government, and why Killmonger’s plan was actually so elaborate. Oh, and Pete talks about the cars.
Episode 502: The Thought, the Word, and the Deed
Feb 12, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Matthew Wrather, and Mark Lee return to the roots of a podcast by discussing a movie (and a movie franchise) none of them has seen, in this case Fifty Shades Freed. It seems only natural to pair it with a discussion of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
Episode 501: Our Ad is for Non-Chumps
Feb 05, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather discuss Super Bowl LII’s commercials and halftime show in the context of the fractured marketplace for attention, the relationship between disadvantage and apotheosis, the development of a semiotically sophisticated commercial audience who needs to be flattered, and what it means to do a medley.
Episode 500: That’s What I Call Podracing
Jan 29, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Richard Rosenbaum, and Matthew Wrather celebrate 500 episodes (Plus special supplements! Plus questions of the week!) of the Overthinking It Podcast with a look at their favorite titles, their favorite shows and themes, and how their lives have changed over the last 9+ years of podcasting.
Episode 499: A Human Centipede of Pygmalions
Jan 22, 2018
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather tug at the Phantom Thread and hope the latest movie written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Daniel Day Lewis, doesn’t unravel.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather hit go on the machine that makes the podcast and the ink starts to spill as they discuss The Post, a first amendment fable for our time, or rather for a time we might wish we lived in but don’t.
Episode 497: Look on my Works, Ye Mighty, and Have a Good Time!
Jan 08, 2018
Vegas, Baby! Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather discuss Las Vegas, gambling, the lottery, loot boxes, identity, and the decoupling of incentive structures from narrative structures.
Episode 496: Michelle Yeoh With A Goatee Is Still Out There
Jan 01, 2018
On the podcast, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather are joined by special guest Manu Saadia (@trekonomics), author of the speculative economic work Trekonomics, to discuss the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. Stay to the end to hear the shocking conspiracy theory that will change how you see the show!!!
Episode 495: Star Wars: The Last Jedi – The Dark Side Podcast
Dec 25, 2017
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Richard Rosenbaum, and Matthew Wrather give into their feelings and rip into Star Wars: The Last Jedi which was awesome in parts but, come on, was borderline incoherent. Admit it.
Episode 494: Star Wars: The Last Jedi – The Light Side Podcast
Dec 18, 2017
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Richard Rosenbaum, and Matthew Wrather investigate Star Wars: The Last Jedi: Who even is the protagonist? How do Luke and Rey transcend their limitations? How does this world continue and revise the Star Wars universe?
Episode 492: Out of the Town, into the Mind
Dec 04, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes overthink the second half of Stranger Things 2, including its treatments of puberty, psychological trauma, and 80’s pop culture.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather inductively prove the existence of Thanksgiving through a consideration of the food and family traditions surrounding the holiday. Pro tip: Brine your turkey.
Episode 490: Urban Surfer Hipster Bro Dragon Ball Z Longhair Fusion Dance
Nov 20, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather didn’t not enjoy (aspects of) Justice League, but they find it hard to talk about. Just kidding, they never find it hard to talk.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather mistake late capitalism for late antiquity, as they discuss current events through the lens of a struggle between heresy and orthodoxy, a crisis of authority, and the discursive chaos that results when state or quasi-state actors are derelict in their duties.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather try desperately to prevent the end of the world as they discuss Thor: Ragnarok. The journey takes them through Norse mythology, Thor’s transformation, the Dia de Los Hulkos celebration, and an appreciation of the film’s symbolic richness, no less rich for its humorous and campy elements.
Episode 487: What If They Threw a Conspiracy and Nobody Came?
Oct 30, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather apply some portion control to their binge watch, and consider Stranger Things 2 in itself, in light of the first season, and in light of the conspiracy theories they are developing.
Episode 486: I Just Click “Accept” on All Social Contracts
Oct 23, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather tackle diverse works for all three corners of our triangular country: The film The Florida Project, the music video to St. Vincent’s song “New York,” and the upcoming album North of Sunset, West of Vine by Raya Yarbrough.
Episode 485: We’re The Grandpas in the Vampire Movie
Oct 16, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather make a sincere effort to overthink current scandals in a way that is useful and sensitive. It is hard not to get conscripted by the malevolent conspiracy, but remember that there’s no use wondering, “Wouldn’t it be better if the bad thing weren’t true?”
Episode 484: Beating Your Blade Runners into Plowshare Runners
Oct 09, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather wonder about the visual style, the biblical allegory, and the social commentary of Dennis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, starring Ryan Gosling. We also hear listener messages for the 9th anniversary podcast!
Episode 482: You Mispronounced Masterpiece
Sep 25, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather listen to and discuss Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which is either an incoherent mess or a profoundly insightful work of art. Or maybe both.
Episode 481: Hyrule… My Own Head… Hyrule… My Own Head…
Sep 18, 2017
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather have a wide-ranging discussion on the cheery subject of pain and aging. Pete has had dental surgery, Matt is meditating to accept the inevitable march of time, and neither of them believes that you are the self you think you are.
Episode 480: Jason is Not Trying to Scare You
Sep 11, 2017
Matthew Belinkie and Matthew Wrather haven’t been on the podcast one-on-one in a minute, and they have a lot to catch up on. The meta-theme of the podcast, winding through children’s books, TV Commercials, and the adult pursuit of Waldo, is what it means to be a child and what it means to be an adult, which makes it appropriate that the topic this week is the surprise smash-hit film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel It.
One thing being an adult means is supporting Overthinking It. If you’re not a member, please help us out: Join now!
Episode 479: What is Musical Chairs but a Game of Thrones
Sep 04, 2017
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather gather to overthink Game of Thrones Season 7: What happened and why both on and behind the camera.
Episode 478: Not Killing Anyone O’Clock
Aug 28, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather tackle the spackle—the smaller, less momentous pop culture consumption we do between franchise tentpoles and multi-platform marketing events.
Episode 477: Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight
Aug 21, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather in the shadows to overthink Bonnie Tyler’s hit song “Total Eclipse of the Heart” for no particular reason.
Episode 476: And I Was There, And I Was There, And I Was There…
Aug 14, 2017
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather embark on the yellow brick road of analysis, and are unconvinced by the stock economic and political reading of The Wizard of Oz.
Episode 475: What If They Built a Dark Tower and Nobody Came?
Aug 07, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Richard Rosenbaum, and Matthew Wrather are joined by special guest Zack Johnson of Asymmetric, whose new game, West of Loathing, is a comic single-player RPG set in the Old West. Appropriately enough, the panel examines another travesty of the Old West, the film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, which stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. The movie is not good, but the conversation is!
Question of the Week 475: Favorite Westerns
Aug 07, 2017
In recent months, the Question of the Week has been a bonus audio podcast available to Overthinking It Members at the “Well Actually” level and higher in the Digital Library. We’re happy to share it with all podcast listeners this week, and hope you will support Overthinking It by becoming a member today!
Episode 474: I Didn’t Blow Up the Planet, the System Blew Up the Planet!
Jul 31, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather open their mouths to be force-fed mind-bending sci-fi action in Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets, but ending up sending the meal back to the kitchen. It’s hard out here for a space pimp, but the word “problematic” doesn’t even begin to describe some of this movie’s issues. Set aside the genocided indigenous alien economy. Set aside the alien race of fat Polinesian cannibal savages. What the hell is Rihanna doing as an illegal immigrant, indentured servant, stripper?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, discussing the film’s unusual narrative technique, its status as a war movie, the extraordinarily compelling, almost primal, effect of watching the film, and some of the celebrated technical aspects (like exhibition in IMAX 70mm) and how they related to the film’s artistic project.
Suns Out Puns Out Limited Edition 2017 T-Shirts and Tanks
You: Smart, funny. Your gym clothes: not so much. If you like the dad jokes but not the dad bod, add a little snark to your swag with the limited edition 2017 Suns Out Puns Out t-shirt.
Episode 472: Okja: The Super-Pig Slaughterhouse
Jul 17, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather the kaleidoscopic shards of Okja, the latest effort from acclaimed Korean director Bong Joon-ho, and try to figure out what the film has to say about, well, anything.
Suns Out Puns Out Limited Edition 2017 T-Shirts and Tanks
You: Smart, funny. Your gym clothes: not so much. If you like the dad jokes but not the dad bod, add a little snark to your swag with the limited edition 2017 Suns Out Puns Out t-shirt.
Episode 471: Spider-Man: He Who Came Home
Jul 10, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Spider-Man: Homecoming, analyzing the reboot of the friendly neighborhood web-slinger in terms of its spacial relationships (rise above!), its geographical and class dynamics, its coming of age story and moral universe.
Suns Out Puns Out Limited Edition 2017 T-Shirts and Tanks
You: Smart, funny. Your gym clothes: not so much. If you like the dad jokes but not the dad bod, add a little snark to your swag with the limited edition 2017 Suns Out Puns Out t-shirt.
Suns Out Puns Out Limited Edition 2017 T-Shirts and Tanks
You: Smart, funny. Your gym clothes: not so much. If you like the dad jokes but not the dad bod, add a little snark to your swag with the limited edition 2017 Suns Out Puns Out t-shirt.
Episode 469: The Various Rich Valleys
Jun 26, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Prestige Comedy. Can comedy be prestigious? Can it be a comedy if it isn’t funny? (The answer may surprise you!)
Suns Out Puns Out Limited Edition 2017 T-Shirts and Tanks
You: Smart, funny. Your gym clothes: not so much. If you like the dad jokes but not the dad bod, add a little snark to your swag with the limited edition 2017 Suns Out Puns Out t-shirt.
Episode 468: The Shopping Cart is an Allegory Of The Soul
Jun 19, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather extol the mystical and practical realities of the grocery store, including Mark’s harrowing personal story of abasement and crippling anxiety; Matt’s typology of grocery-enabled collisions between the individual and society; and Pete’s theory of Tony the Tiger and the challenge he poses to children everywhere.
Suns Out Puns Out Limited Edition 2017 T-Shirts and Tanks
You: Smart, funny. Your gym clothes: not so much. If you like the dad jokes but not the dad bod, add a little snark to your swag with the limited edition 2017 Suns Out Puns Out t-shirt.
Suns Out Puns Out Limited Edition 2017 T-Shirts and Tanks
You: Smart, funny. Your gym clothes: not so much. If you like the dad jokes but not the dad bod, add a little snark to your swag with the limited edition 2017 Suns Out Puns Out t-shirt.
Episode 466: Red Shiny Boots on the Ground
Jun 05, 2017
Rachel D, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Ryan Sheely, and Matt Wrather gather to overthink Wonder Woman‘s feminism, its humor, the comic team of Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, the philosophical message of Ares, and the difference between DC and Marvel superheroes.
Spoiler alert for all of the new Wonder Woman, and for Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War.
Suns Out Puns Out Limited Edition 2017 T-Shirts and Tanks
You: Smart, funny. Your gym clothes: not so much. If you like the dad jokes but not the dad bod, add a little snark to your swag with the limited edition 2017 Suns Out Puns Out t-shirt.
Episode 465: Who Watches the Baywatchmen?
May 29, 2017
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather tackle aspects of unfocused storytelling, incoherent theme, and inconsistent characterization in Baywatch colon the movie. It’s a good first draft, and we can’t wait to see what it’s like when they finish it.
Episode 464: E.T.: I Learned It from You, Alien Dad!
May 22, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather were never going to see Alien: Covenant. So they decided to do something we’ve bizarrely never done on Overthinking It before: Talk about E.T.
Episode 463: The Emotional Transportation Business
May 15, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather cannot believe what is going on in their Facebook feeds. Why are people saying such awful things about Guardians of the Glaaxy, Vol. 2?! They ask whether sentimentality is a sufficient condition for a movie, and they wonder what makes a great wedding reception playlist, with detours into literary criticism, acting technique, and music theory.
Episode 462: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Whistle While You Work
May 08, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather form a small podcast family to fight endlessly about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which we read primarily as a movie about parents and children, growth and care, learning and development. Special reference to the developmental psychology of Erik Erikson.
France’s choice of a centrist president isn’t the only reason Europe has to party this week—the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest are being held in Kiev! As in years past, Overthinking It will be throwing the greatest Eurovision party in New York, and you are all invited to join us!
The Overthinking It Book Club: George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four
The Overthinking It Book Club returns with a look at George Orwell’s classic novel of authoritarianism and political dystopia, Nineteen Eighty-Four. In four episodes of downloadable audio, the OTI crew dives deep into the strangely familiar world of the story and follows our everyman hero Winston as he navigates the murky waters of loyalty, individuality, doublethink, and thought crime. It’s the perfect counterpart—or corrective to—The Circle.
Episode 461: Goodbye Cruel World. Please Remember to Like and Subscribe.
May 01, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather try to make sense of the frankly incoherent—in both project and tone—film The Circle, an adaptation of Dave Eggers’s satirical novel of the same name.
The Overthinking It Book Club: George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four
The Overthinking It Book Club returns with a look at George Orwell’s classic novel of authoritarianism and political dystopia, Nineteen Eighty-Four. In four episodes of downloadable audio, the OTI crew dives deep into the strangely familiar world of the story and follows our everyman hero Winston as he navigates the murky waters of loyalty, individuality, doublethink, and thought crime. It’s the perfect counterpart—or corrective to—The Circle.
Episode 459: The Fate of the Furious: Having a Kid Isn’t a Ten Second Race
Apr 17, 2017
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather roar to the finish line of Family Week with this podcast on The Fate of the Furious, the latest entry in the Fastiverse. In talking about the film’s over-arching themes, we finally answer the age-old question: “Which matters more, the car or the driver?”
Episode 458: The Shared Lived Experience of Being Fast and Furious
Apr 10, 2017
Pete Fenzel and Matt Wrather talk over contributions from listeners Levi, Jesse, Howard, and Nathan, and try not to remember that it’s not about us, it’s about the family.
Pete and Matt join forces for one of their Storied® two-handers, and they can barely contain their excitement the F8 that is coming for all of us.
In an episode that considers the idea of family from many angles, the guys issue a challenge: Let’s serve up next week’s podcast family style.
Send an email or a voice memo to podcast@overthinkingit.com or use (203) 285–6401 to text or leave a voicemail (nobody will answer!) and answer one of these questions:
What does family even mean in the FF universe anymore?
What does the Overthinking It Family mean to you? What does it mean that you’re a part of it?
What is an unusual family that you happent to be a part of?
What is one ritual or practice you’ve been involved in that cements family membership or continuity?
We’ll include at least some of your contributions on Episode 458.
Episode 456: Fighter Pilot, Space Commander, Mass- Murdering Plumber
Mar 27, 2017
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather examine the phonological and prosodic implications of the title Everyone Poops, share the mobile games they’ve been playing on their phones, and discuss how competing interests have designed our wasted time. And remember:
Your bathroom time is not uniquely crappy Everyone poops and pooping makes them happy
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Rachel, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather overthink the remake of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and ask all the important questions: Is it woke? Why a remake? When is it set, and what does our knowledge of French political history add to the plot? And are the songs any good?
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather rush into the bedroom to gather up the discursive children interrupting the important analysis of the BCC Korea Expert’s video. In the end, only one thing is clear: If you imbue the graven image with some sort of philosophical quality or some sort of normative quality, you’ve probably done something false.
Episode 453: It’s Called Logan because That’s Wolverine’s Name
Mar 06, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather head from Mexico to the promised land of Canada as they discuss Logan: Its excellent acting and filmmaking, its status as an “X-Men Movie,” its artistic project on both a personal and a political level.
Spoilers for Logan. You should see the movie first.
Episode 452: The Good Wine the First Time or the Good Wine the Second Time
Feb 27, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather pick their jaws up off the floor and discuss the botched announcement of Moonlight’s Oscar win over La La Land and analyze the 89th Academy Awards as a television show, a live event, and a reflection on cinema.
Episode 451: You Can Never Tell Anyone That I Told You It Was Good
Feb 20, 2017
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather wonder why anyone would(n’t) like Alfred, Lord Tennyson, examine the difference and the distance between the public and the private self, offer detailed exegesis of Yu-Gi-Oh! and the Team Four Star parodies of Dragonball Z, and suggest there is a difference between watching the same thing and watching it together.
Episode 449: This Commercial Knows Which Side It’s On
Feb 06, 2017
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather talk Super Bowl LI commercials and halftime show, breaking down two distinct sets of marketing messages. They can’t both be right… can they?
Episode 448: Hidden Figures: The People Who Weren’t In “The Right Stuff”
Jan 30, 2017
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather discuss Hidden Figures, the meaning of a “protagonist,” who exactly has the right stuff, and the relationship between social progress and individual excellence, as well as immigrants in our own families, Irish vs. Polish potato farmers, and our favorite fictional immigrants (beyond Superman), most of them vampires.
Episode 444: Prairie and Her Home Companions
Jan 02, 2017
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather watch and discuss The O A, examining its storytelling, its critique of contemporary society, whether the mystical elements add up, the shocking twist at the ending, and the deep relationship between OA and OZ.
Episode 443: I Knew That Galaxy when it was Long Ago and Far Away
Dec 26, 2016
Ben Adams, Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather continue to overthink Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. They turn their attention to extra-narrative concerns, focusing on the consequential initial shots in Star Wars films, problems of interstellar distance and communication, Rogue One‘s commentary on our own world, and how well fans are actually served by fan service.
Episode 442: Success Has Many Darth Vaders; Failure is an Orphan
Dec 19, 2016
The rogue squadron of Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather assemble to overthink Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. We wonder who exactly the one rogue of the title is, learn about the instability of both the Rebel Alliance and the Imperial Bureaucracy, and wonder what has changed and what has stayed the same in the Force, in family drama, and in the ethical character of the Star Wars universe.
Episode 441: James Marsden is Suffering for All of Our Sins
Dec 12, 2016
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, John Perich, and Matthew Wrather gather to overthink thought experiments in consciousness, the moral dimension of killing philosophical zombies, what makes murder bad, and whether consciousness is an algorithm, a mystical journey…or a fire.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather discuss heroism, story structure, culture, and gender in the latest animated film from the Walt Disney Company, Moana.
Episode 439: Arrival Both Goes Big and Goes Home
Nov 28, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Amanda Jordá Avisati, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather join to discuss Arrival, focusing on the problems of causality, narrative stakes, message, language, and thought the film raises. In addition, we suggest further “bad” titles to carry the torch of Bad Santa 2.
Episode 438: The Flapper is a Goblin and She’s Singin’ Jazz
Nov 21, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather to overthink Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, and a whole host of CGI creatures meant to remind us that the magic lives within us all.
Episode 437: Don’t Pretend You Were Never Playing with Power
Nov 14, 2016
On the Overthinking It Podcast, Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather lose track of the metaphor, with many many different tenors and vehicles. Especially the vehicles Xander Cage drives off a bridge.
Episode 436: You’re Hacking The Universe… With Your Mind Code!
Nov 07, 2016
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather reveal their favorite invisible weapons, discuss the controversial presence of Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, and dig into Doctor Strange, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, wondering about its structure, its humor, and its ultimate meaning.
Episode 435: Team Sexy, Team Scary, Team Offensive
Oct 31, 2016
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather to Overthink Halloween, and to answer the question, “Why do we (still!) dress up as things?”
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather discuss the potential fruits of the AT&T acquisition of Time Warner, and get into the multiple meanings of the Western genre, talking about Mel Brooks’s Blazing Saddles, Westworld, and the remake of The Magnificent Seven.
Episode 433: Democracy is the Ultimate Kayfabe
Oct 17, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by special guest Rob Cesternino of “Rob Has A Podcast”, to discuss presidential politics in an age of reality television.
Rob Cesternino appeared twice on Survivor, and now hosts “Rob Has A Podcast,” focusing on reality television, and “Post Show Recaps,” focusing on scripted TV.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthinking difficult cultural experiences like watching the Presidential Debates or listening to “Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy” at a wedding.
Episode 431: The Zipcodes in the Marvel Netflix World
Oct 03, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather discuss their favorite Sagas, what makes Epic and Saga different, and why understanding Saga may hold the key to understanding Expanded Universe storytelling.
Episode 430: That Divorce was Right On Trend
Sep 26, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather consider their favorite combinations of things, really try to figure out what makes a bit work, and then segue into the discourse, disingenuous counter-discourse, and meta-discourse (drink, drink, drink!) of some recent Internet controversies.
Episode 429: “I consider it to be one of the best shows on television. I’m a crazy person.”
Sep 19, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather talk about what they’re watching now, why the Emmy awards isn’t as good as your average football game, and what “reality” even means, man.
Episode 428: Check Your Starfleet Privilege
Sep 12, 2016
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by Trekonomics author Manu Saadia to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek with (another!) consideration of what makes Trek special as a kind of show, as a body of thought, and as a tradition handed down from being to being.
Episode 427: What an Idiot You Are to Have a Job
Sep 05, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather express their solidarity with working people everywhere by considering the patronizing and hostile attitude of American popular media toward wage-earning. Happy Labor Day.
Episode 426: Gotta Catch And Release ’Em All
Aug 29, 2016
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather usually spend their summers cooped up in dark, air-conditioned movie theaters. But for this episode, they emerge into the great American wilderness, slap on the sunblock and the bug spray, and trek through our National Parks and Forests wondering why there are no good landscape shots in movies anymore.
Episode 425: Lord Commander Stryker of Lord of the Hobbits
Aug 22, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather remember their favorite moments of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, wonder what Jon Snow is doing in an Infinity commercial, deliver a solid undergraduate poetry survey lecture on meter and prosody, and delve in to the sexy-dangerous capital-R Romanticism of William Blake’s The Tyger.
Episode 424: Stranger Things: The Horror Is at Home
Aug 15, 2016
Rachel D, Birthday Boy Peter Fenzel, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather are joined by guest Sam Reich to overthink Srangter Things, discussing the show’s nature as a period piece, its unexpected non-relation to Lost and Twin Peaks, its surprising gay subtext, and what we expect in season 2.
Episode 423: Wherever You Harley, There You Quinn
Aug 08, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Ryan Sheely, Matthew Wrather, and special guest Eric Frieden actually got together in person to go to a movie theater and see Suicide Squad. Then they ate an enormous BBQ dinner and sat down to podcast about the film, its relation to the comic books, the frenetic nonsense of its plot, the highs and low points of the characterization of Deadshot, the Joker, Amanda Waller, and Harley Quinn (and, not for nothing, big fans of Captain Boomerang over here), and what it has to say about the present moment in filmmaking and in society.
Matthew Belinkie, Rachel D, Peter Fenzel, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather met this weekend for the annual lakeside retreat of the Overthinkers, and spend most of it taking trivia quizzes online. We discuss our favorite questions of the weekend, why we’re drawn to trivia, the scenarios in which you take trivia quizzes and their social, professional, and gender dynamics, and what kind of knowledge trivia represents.
Episode 421: This Is Why We Star Trek
Jul 25, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by former podcast guest Benjamin Krinsky to discuss Star Trek Beyond, a movie we liked a lot more than we were expecting to.
Episode 420: Ghostbusters: Lean In to the Proton Pack
Jul 18, 2016
Rachel D, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather start a scrappy small business to self-actualize and provide mutual support while, by the way, busting the ghosts of the patriarchy as they overthink the 2016 Ghostbusters remake.
Get ready for the reboot of Ghostbusters by checking out The Overview, our series of live commentaries on the movies we love. We’ve got a Ghostbusters-inspired Virtual Box Set of Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2, and Bridesmaids to put you in the right frame of mind for the 2016 remake. And save over ten percent when you use the code SLIMER at checkout.
Episode 419: Pokemon: The War of All against All
Jul 11, 2016
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather to overthink the various celebratory and dystopian discourses (drink) around Pokemon Go, touching briefly on whether their pets have had a secret life.
Get ready for the reboot of Ghostbusters by checking out The Overview, our series of live commentaries on the movies we love. We’ve got a Ghostbusters-inspired Virtual Box Set of Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2, and Bridesmaids to put you in the right frame of mind for the 2016 remake. And save over ten percent when you use the code SLIMER at checkout.
Episode 418: Independence Day: Spoilers for Nonsense
Jul 04, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather consider American Independence day in pop culture before training their plasma weapons on Independence Day Resurgence, which has none of the charm, thrill, or scientific rigor of its predecessor.
Get ready for the reboot of Ghostbusters by checking out The Overview, our series of live commentaries on the movies we love. We’ve got a Ghostbusters-inspired Virtual Box Set of Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2, and Bridesmaids to put you in the right frame of mind for the 2016 remake. And save over ten percent when you use the code SLIMER at checkout.
Episode 417: Brentrance, or Brintrusion
Jun 27, 2016
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather look forward with great anticipation to the coming of Independence Day: Resurgence, and move on to consider what cosmopolitan Britishness has meant in the popular culture, focusing mostly on James Bond and Action Man, and the disjunction between outsiders’ and insiders’ view of a national identity.
Support the site you love and get cool stuff in return, including free access to the latest editions of The Overview, on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and its sequel.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather discuss Epic Showdowns, from the NBA finals to Game of Thrones‘s Battle of the Bastards to Brexit to Bewitched vs. I Dream of Jeannie, and discuss cultural appropriation, Pixar’s Finding Dory, the fallibility of memory, aging, why people think funereal birthday cards are funny, and the idea of a November Rain-ian construct.
Support the site you love and get cool stuff in return, including free access to the latest editions of The Overview, on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and its sequel.
Ben Adams, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather talk about what it means for a musical like Hamilton to be a “mass” cultural phenomenon, about the high price of tickets to the show, and about the story, lyrics, and message of this newest American musical theater phenomenon.
Support the site you love and get cool stuff in return, including free access to the latest editions of The Overview, on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and its sequel.
Peter Fenzel, Richard Rosenbaum, and Matthew Wrather talk about how to make an adult children’s film, about embracing the absurd, why Meghan Fox’s performance is surprisingly good, and why less Krang is more Krang.
Support the site you love and get cool stuff in return, including free access to the latest editions of The Overview, on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and its sequel.
Episode 412: If I Wanna Get On The Bus, I Can Get On The Bus
May 23, 2016
Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather discuss the qualities of intimacy and charm that make the Happiest Chewbacca video compelling, and delve deep into some #firstworldproblems around travel by air, train, bus, and car.
Episode 411: Potemkin Sausage Factory
May 16, 2016
We discuss some of the stranger aspects of a contest that tended more toward pop homogeneity in 2016, the arcane voting system, why some live performances have better production than others, and then attempt to arrive at an explanation of why we love some reality competition shows… and can’t stand others.
We discuss the bizarre structure of the film, with two movie stuck together; structures of trans-national governance; the difference between supervision and oversight; how effective regulation of The Avengers might work; the talking vs. the action; and we pay special attention to Spiderman, Scarlet Witch, and Black Panther.
Episode 409: Full On Point Break Terminal Velocity Maximum Overdrive
May 02, 2016
In this episode, noted commentators Fenzel & Wrather take on the work of noted comedians Key & Peele, in a conversation about race, masculinity, code-switching, and whether we should just let popcorn movies be popcorn movies. (Spoiler alert: hell no!) We also weigh in on who should cover Prince.
Episode 408: Boldly Going, and So Forth
Apr 25, 2016
In this episode, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by author Manu Saadia, fulfilling his dream of appearing on Overthinking It, to remember Prince and talk economics in the Star Trek universe.
Episode 407: Are You There, Matt? It’s Me, Netflix.
Apr 18, 2016
In this episode, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather give some business advice to the Walt Disney company, save The Jungle Book from its own bad headline puns, and talk character, camp, viewer education, and, yes, donkey effing while considering Season 2 of Tina Fey’s The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, now out on Netflix.
Episode 404: Lex Luthor Presents Mary Shelley’s Blackwater
Mar 28, 2016
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather to overthink Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, directed by Zack Snyder’s and starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill. It’s Warner Bros.’s opening salvo in the DC Cinematic universe, sure to grind joylessly forward in a dutiful blue-tinged miasma of confused storytelling, half-drawn characters, and contradictory philosophizing. Our take is not as bad as some of what you’ve heard out there.
Episode 403: I Will Block And Unfriend
Mar 21, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather gather to overthink the social implications of the verdict against Gawker in the Hulk Hogan sex tape trial, the role of aggregation vs. curation in news publishing, the omnipresence of surveillance technology in our lives, how the culture metabolizes its own circumstances to narrativize social change, the B+ student’s version of Rawls’s veil of ignorance, and the increasingly permeable barrier between public and private.
Episode 402: The Product and Its Effect on the Floor or on Your Butt
Mar 14, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee and Matthew Wrather overthink the phenomenon of the modern movie trailer by looking at recent examples for “Captain America: Civil War” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” We also share a little derision—or is it admiration?—for the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice awards.
Our guest Arjun Gupta calls himself a “Storyteller and a Service Member.” As an actor, he currently appears on the SyFy show Magicians, and you may have seen him on How to Get Away with Murder and Nurse Jackie. His own podcast, American Desis, which Arjun hosts alongside comedian Akaash Singh, is geared to discovering what it means to be a South Asian in this country today.
Episode 399: Selena Gomez Gets Pedantic
Feb 22, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee and Matthew Wrather overthink the books they actually might have liked reading in High School, and preview the eight nominees for Best Picture in the 2016 Oscars. We are not sure that a policy of compulsory reverence is the best way to get people to actually revere art.
Episode 396: Tell Me More, Tell Me More
Feb 01, 2016
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink Idris Elba’s future roles, the cultural problems Grease Live will have to surmount, the balance of good and bad things in Louis C.K.’s new show Horace and Pete, and launch the Nicholas Sparks challenge to promote Overthinking It Memberships.
Support the site you love and get cool stuff in return, including our awesome “Discourse… drink!” pint glass, available just for charter members. Become a member today!
Episode 395: The Human Condition as it Exists on the Internet
Jan 25, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the best and worst of human nature on Twitter, wonder what really motivates our action online, and launch Overthinking It Meberships to our podcast listeners.
Episode 394: I Was a Big Fan of My Work
Jan 18, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Matthew Wrather discuss why they are boycotting the Oscars, and for what reason, before discussing mortality, identity, and liberal education in connection with the passing of David Bowie and Alan Rickman.
Episode 393 with Jonathan Kite: Be the Thing that You Claim to Be
Jan 11, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather talk with actor Jonathan Kite, well-known for playing Oleg on 2 Broke Girls, about sitcoms, stand-up, and the craft of acting.
Our guest Overthinker Jonathan Kite is a classically-trained actor, stand-up comedian, and master impressionist. He is well-known the world over as “Oleg” on the CBS sitcom Two Broke Girls.
Episode 392: Very Cowabunga, Somewhat Cowabunga
Jan 04, 2016
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather deploy the tools of management consulting to gauge the success of their New Year’s resolutions, as well as the success of the Rebellion, Resistance, Empire, and First Order in the Star Wars universe.
Episode 388: It’s Just You Guys Who Think that Comedy Doesn’t Travel
Dec 07, 2015
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by Josh Thomas of the TV Show Please Like Me to talk about producing a non-American TV show for an american audience.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Ryan Sheely, and Matt Wrather overthink their Halloween experiences using the tools of social science to analyze land use, urbanism, and counter-cultural authenticity.
Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matt Wrather overthink the legitimate stage and mark the release of the Star Wars trailer by sharing their favorite movie trailer memories.
Matthew Belinkie, Pete Fenzel, and Mark Lee commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Back to the Future milestone date of October 21, 2015.
Episode 380: Postponing the Larger Reckoning
Oct 12, 2015
Ben Adams, Pete Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather discuss how TV stories are told in two- and three-episode arcs, and check in with Matthew Belinkie and Mark Lee about New York Comic Con 2015.
Episode 378: Like Kermit the Frog, He Seems Rife for Hot Takes
Sep 28, 2015
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather celebrate the 7th anniversary of the podcast by overthinking the Muppets, the Volkswagen scandal, and Pope Francis’s visit to the United States.
Episode 377: A Vin Diesel Solution to a Whitey Bulger Problem
Sep 21, 2015
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink favorite villains from our childhood entertainment, the current state of “Peak Television,” and Black Mass, the Whitey Bulger biopic starring Johnny Depp.
Episode 372: Straight Outta Compton: A Story of the Saints
Aug 17, 2015
Rachel D, Peter Fenzel, Ryan Sheely, and Matt Wrather are joined by special guest D. J. Bean to overthink Straight Outta Compton, the new film about Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and N.W.A.’s seminal album.
Matthew Belinkie, Rachel D, Ryan Sheely, and Matt Wrather overthink Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp as well as reflect on sixteen years of the Daily Show.
Episode 370: Mission Impossible: Trust but Verify
Aug 03, 2015
Pete Fenzel and Matt Wrather join another of their insta-classic two-handers to discuss Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, starring Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Alec Baldwin. We also touch on Billy Corgan, what we want from celebrities, philosophical ethics, the trolley problem, and the passing of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.
I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum.
—Nada (Roddy Piper), They Live
Experience John Carpenter’s 1988 cult classic They Live, starring Roddy Piper, with commentary from your friends from Overthinking It. It’s The Overview, our set of alternative commentaries to your favorite movies—the favorites you’ve seen, and the favorites you haven’t seen yet.
Plus, save 50% when you use the promo code rowdy at checkout.
Episode 368: The Crisis of Infinite Mr. Cleans
Jul 20, 2015
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink comma placement, municipal signage, advertising that bears no resemblance to the product advertised, heteroglossic discourse in scripture, marketing, and literature, and “Our Story.”
Episode 367: May I Approach the Bench?
Jul 13, 2015
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink screen time for kids, social science and public policy, and great heel turns in literature, wrestling, and pop culture.
The Overthinking It Book Club is back, and we’re happy to announce that for 2015 we’re going to be discussing the Saga, by Fiona Staples and Brian K Vaughan.
Please support your local comics store! But if you don’t have one, please support Overthinking It by using this link:
Episode 365: Everything You Thought You Knew about the Author’s Intention Is Wrong, And What Happens Next Will Blow Your Mind
Jun 29, 2015
Ben Adams, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather discuss recent Supreme Court decisions, why the law is like a TV Recap, and what Stanley Fish thinks about Aaron Sorkin.
The Overthinking It Book Club is back, and we’re happy to announce that for 2015 we’re going to be discussing the Saga, by Fiona Staples and Brian K Vaughan.
Please support your local comics store! But if you don’t have one, please support Overthinking It by using this link:
Episode 364: Inside Out: I Know Now Why You Cry, And I’m Going To Do It
Jun 22, 2015
Peter Fenzel, Ben Adams, and Mark Lee discuss Inside Out through the lens of Robert Plutchik’s psychoevolutionary theory of emotion and, what else, Terminator.
The Overthinking It Book Club is back, and we’re happy to announce that for 2015 we’re going to be discussing the Saga, by Fiona Staples and Brian K Vaughan.
Please support your local comics store! But if you don’t have one, please support Overthinking It by using this link:
Episode 363: Velociraptor, You’re a Loose Cannon But You’re a Damn Good Cop
Jun 15, 2015
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather join special guest Diona Reasonover to discuss Jurassic World starring Chris Pratt, and dinosaurs in general.
Actor Diona Reasonover can next be seen starring on TBS’ brand new comedy “Clipped” as Charmaine, a hairstylist whose dry humor, sharp personality and observant mannerisms radiate throughout the barbershop.
Aside from her work on “Clipped,” Diona performs regularly at UCB on the Maude team Bombardier, as well as at Second City. She’s appeared on VH1, Disney, ShaneDawson TV and Funny or Die, and she has been featured in numerous commercials. She also does the best Whoopi Goldberg impression you’ve ever seen. Find her on IMDb, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Ben Adams, Rachel D, Peter Fenzel, Ryan Sheely, and Matt Wrather overthink the film of Entourage, the bro-phobia or fatigue around its cultural reception, the problems of bro-ness, and what luxury means in the age of Uber. [audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/podone.noxsolutions.com/launchpod/overthinkingit/mp3/otip362.mp3]
Episode 361: The Golden Age of Television is Over
Jun 01, 2015
Ben Adams, Ryan Sheely, and Matt Wrather overthink the demise of the Golden Age of television, discussing shows like Game of Thrones, Mad Men, and Bloodline.
Episode 358: We Must Love the Imperfections In The Pitch
May 11, 2015
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink college a cappella singing groups (and all manner of extracurricular activities), and anticipate the coming of Pitch Perfect 2 (spoiler-free!).
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather are joined by special guest Lenny Jacobson of Comedy Central’s Big Time in Hollywood, FL to discuss comedy, tragedy, talent, and making your family watch your childhood creation.
Episode 355: Give Us This Day Our Daily Chewbacca
Apr 20, 2015
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the trailers for Star Wars, Batman v Superman, Terminator Genisys, and Avengers: Age of Ultron, and which terrible movie they’d rather watch than Paul Blart Mall Copy.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Matthew Wrather overthink the start of the final half of the final season of Mad Men, the crisis of American Masculinity as epitomized in Jon Hamm and Vin Diesel, the folly of learning history from TV shows, and Hillary Clinton’s playlist for 2016.
Episode 352: Axel Foley Waits on No Man’s Pleasure
Mar 30, 2015
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather are joined by guest Jordan Harbinger of The Art of Charm website and podcast to discuss success, authority, masculinity, and the return of Coach and The X-Files.
Episode 351: The Baggage and The Glory
Mar 23, 2015
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather are joined by guest Eugene Kotlyarenko to discuss the filmmaking process, the relationship between artist and audience, and what makes someone watchable.
Episode 350: Fashion Police Brutality
Mar 16, 2015
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the hottest startups and apps out of SouthBy, Carcast Redux, the roast of Justin Bieber, and Kathy Griffin’s stand for kindness.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich and Matthew Wrather overthink Kanye West at Oxford, Guy Fieri in the Grocery Store, and Harrison Ford at the controls of a plane.
Episode 348: They Are Not The Hell Your Whales
Mar 02, 2015
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink #TheDress, subjectivity, the passing of Leonard Nimoy, and whether Leslie Knope lives in a Frank Underworld.
This episode is sponsored by American Crime, premiering Thursday, March 5 at 10/9 central on ABC.
Episode 346: Are You Familiar with The Work of Chris Kattan?
Feb 16, 2015
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the 40th annviersary of Saturday Night Live, and wonder why it was fun in the first place. They also spend a little time wondering about the 50 Shades phenomenon.
Episode 343: The 800-Pound Benedict Cumberbatch in The Room
Jan 26, 2015
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Matthew Wrather overthink deflate-gate, Mozart in the Jungle, and the Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Matthew Wrather introduce the concept of Overthinking for the benefit of new listeners, and discuss Grown-Ups 2, Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, and the plays of William Shakespeare.
Episode 339: Serial: Are You Allowed to be Entertained?
Dec 29, 2014
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Shana Mlawski, and Matthew Wrather overthink the end of the Overthinking Cowboy Bebop series and the ethics of storytelling in Serial and Into The Woods.
Episode 337: A Great Flowering of Empathy and Fellow-Feeling
Dec 15, 2014
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes and Matthew Wrather overthink the the Sony leaks, casual racism, the morality of sharing private information, and the effect on the economy of Middle Earth of the desolation of Smaug; and, in honor of Chris Rock, they share their own personal Top Five.
Episode 336: Black Mirror – The Pig Effing Trolley Problem
Dec 08, 2014
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather are joined by guest podcasters and significant others Rachel D and Fiona S to overthink Black Mirror.
Episode 335: Why Would The Millennium Falcon Blow Up the White House?
Dec 01, 2014
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink the Star Wars Episode VII Teaser Trailer and Band Aid 30’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas? (2014).”
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the downside of Megan Trainor, the backside of Robert Pattinson, and the flipside of Taylor Swift and Spotify.
Episode 332: My Watch Is Saying, “That’s The Best Thing about High School Girls”
Nov 10, 2014
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by special guest Zack Johnson of Kingdom of Loathing to overthink Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, starring Matthew McConaughey.
Episode 327: Saturday Morning: Has It Been Raptured, or Has It Been Left Behind?
Oct 06, 2014
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes overthink the Rapture in pop culture, the end of Saturday morning cartoons, and the role that sugary breakfast cereal played in their enjoyment.
Pete Fenzel and Mark Lee overthink Sin City 2’s box office flop, the taxonomy of Hello Kitty, and the appeal of watching live video game streaming on Twitch TV.
Episode 321: The VMAs: Shmorg Shmorg Shmorg, I Have These Songs, Shmorg Shmorg Shmorg
Aug 25, 2014
Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes and Matthew Wrather overthink the VMAs, the state of pop (and country music), Max Martin, the Floyd lick, the utility of the hashtag and the new show Selfie.
Episode 320: The Expendables 3: A Midsummer Night’s Railgun
Aug 18, 2014
Pete Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink The Expendables 3, the arc of the Expendables trilogy from self-serious to self-referential, and the role the Expendables Kidz play in the developing mythos. They also comment on the sad passing of Robin Williams and the reaction to news of his death.
Episode 319: The Things You Liked Actually Were Awesome
Aug 11, 2014
Pete Fenzel, Rihcard Rosenbaum and Matthew Wrather overthink the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, and propose products that Amazon can stop selling.
Episode 316: Why Baptize Your Hatchet in Fish Blood? Why Not?!
Jul 21, 2014
Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, Shana Mlawski and Matt Wrather overthink their Purge plans, their reaction to parodist-laureate “Weird Al” Yankovic’s latest album, and the many logical failings of Snowpiercer.
Episode 314: One Mountain Closer to Climbing Every Mountain
Jul 07, 2014
Pete Fenzel and Matt Wrather consider their fantasy tattoos, channel Rimbaud by becoming poems, go on the paleo diet, and ponder self-narrativization and self-improvement.
Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather overthink brunch theory brunch practice. They also spend a little time considering Hip Hop Karaoke.
Episode 312: Tom Cruise Deserves A Win
Jun 23, 2014
Matthew Belinkie, Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the World Cup, Edge of Tomorrow (for real this time), and feeling sorry for Tom Cruise.
Episode 311: “Dubious: Discuss.” And We Will.
Jun 16, 2014
Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink pride week, Alex Trebek’s record, Angelina Jolie’s peerage, and Mr. and Mrs. Carter’s tour, before falling down the Clickhole.
Episode 309: Why is This Podcast Different from All Other Podcasts?
Jun 02, 2014
Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, Shana Mlawski and Matthew Wrather tackle Listener Feedback. Thanks to Mary, Bob, Agam, Daniel E & Fran, Robin, Logue, and Stephen DeBow!
Episode 306: Unfamiliar with Jack Bauer or Tea But Mostly Tea
May 12, 2014
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather are joined by special guest Tim Swann to overthink the British perspective on 24: Live Another Day, and wrap up Eurovision 2014.
Episode 305: Destroying Star Wars In Order To Save It
May 05, 2014
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matt Wrather overthink their thoughts about what little we know of Star Wars: Episode VII, and talk about good fans make bad sequels.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Richard Rosenbaum, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Turtles Forever and Richard Rosenbaum’s book Raise Some Shell.
Episode 300: One of the Finest Moments of My Adult Life
Mar 31, 2014
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather count down the 10 best moments of 300 Overthinking It Podcasts with contributions from listeners who have heard them all.
Thank you so much to our “300 Club” listeners — Brian (Pasteur), Amanda, Joseph, Gab, Marc (Mezdef), Sean, and Andrew, and special thanks to Andrew for his 300-episode annotations.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink lost-key points, who can and can’t judge whom, video game adaptations, and the vexing moral ethical conundrum of jerk-shaming.
Episode 297: I’m Gonna Write a Bad Story that People Will Hate!
Mar 10, 2014
Ben Adams, Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather tackle television that wants you to figure it out, and what makes a satisfying Series Finale.
Episode 296: This Is Not to Say Juilliard Graduates DON’T Deliver Pizza Professionally
Mar 03, 2014
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the 86th Academy Awards telecast, a TV show of a stage show about montages of movies, in which Matthew McConaughey became the first caucasian to thank God in an acceptance speech in at least a decade.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the filmography of JK Simmons and the two kinds of Game Nights—Cards Against Humanity nights and Settlers of Catan nights.
Episode 292: A Short Day’s Journey Into The Driveway
Feb 03, 2014
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the cultural discourse (drink) around Super Bowl XLVIII’s commercials and halftime show. With a special bonus section on how to do a Jack Bauer impression.
Episode 289: The Dark Carnival of our Civil Rights
Jan 13, 2014
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Matthew Wrather overthink the controversy over the FBI declaring juggalos a gang and the controversy of Shia Labeouf declaring blatant plagiarism art.
Episode 288: The Magical Quality of the Magic Box
Jan 06, 2014
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Netflix, the Netflix queue, and the phenomenon of movies disappearing and reappearing on the service.
Episode 287: There Only Had to Be One Scarface
Dec 30, 2013
Ben Adams, Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather tackle The Wolf of Wall Street, the moral responsibility of movies, and the Greatest Dogecoin Heist of 2013.
Ho-Ho-Hoverthinking It Podcast Supplement: Benedict Cumberbatch before He Went Crazy And Started A Cult
Dec 25, 2013
Ben Adams, Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather take a break from the current movie season to look back at the top grossing films of 2003, 1993, 1983… and 1913.
Episode 286: American Hustle: He Doesn’t Sell Real Estate. He Sells Fake Estate.
Dec 23, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather tackle American Hustle, directed by David O. Russell and starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, and Jennifer Lawrence.
Episode 285: The Hobbit: You’re The Man Now, Smaug
Dec 16, 2013
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in an extra-long episode to fit with an extra-long movie.
Episode 283: God Just Got A Ten Second Car
Dec 02, 2013
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather, along with special guest Hannah Foell, the world’s foremost expert on The Fast and Furious franchise overthink the passing of Paul Walker, car culture, and why transportation safety statistics have no effect on our behavior.
Episode 278: The Star Wars Trilogy Isn’t Over Until the Yub Nub Song is Sung
Oct 28, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark, Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by Zach Giallongo, writer and illustrator of “Shadows of Endor,” a Star Wars: Ewoks comic. They also commemorate their fourth grade teachers in memory of Mrs. Krabappel, voiced by the late Marcia Wallace.
Episode 277: So You Think You Can Terminate
Oct 21, 2013
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by special guest Marshall Weber, the creator of Terminator the Second, a retelling of Terminator 2 using only lines from Shakespeare.
Podcast Supplement: Popfixers #1, “Termination”
Oct 18, 2013
We’re releasing the first episode of Overthinking It Popfixers as supplement to the Overthinking It Podcast! In this episode, Ben Adams, Matt Belinkie, and Mark Lee propose and debate their solutions to the Terminator invasion of Los Angeles, hosted by Pete Fenzel.
Episode 276: Captain Phillips: Why is The Man from Big Crying in My Bank Account?
Oct 14, 2013
Former Pirate Hunter Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, East Africa expert Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather overthink the movie Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks.
Episode 275: Gravity: Boo hoo, cry me a river, you’re an astronaut
Oct 07, 2013
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes overthink the movie Gravity.
We’d like to point out that we could have given this episode the title, “IS GRAVITY BAD FOR WOMEN?” but did not, because we are not horrible human beings.
Episode 274: The Panache of a Dushku, the Moxie of a Cuthbert
Sep 30, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather continue to celebrate the podcast’s fifth anniversary with a consideration of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and the @Horse_ebooks revelations.
Episode 273: This is Going to Sound Bad, But I Miss Myspace.
Sep 23, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink the fifth anniversary of this podcast, Garage Band-ization, and the political economy of Triton’s Kingdom.
The Musical Talmud, Audio Edition: “American Girl”
Sep 17, 2013
In this Musical Talmud edition of the Overthinking It Podcast, Mark Lee analyzes a series of songs called “American Girl” and discovers the true nature of American greatness.
Episode 272: Grand Theft Auto: Watching People Play for More Than A Decade
Sep 16, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Grand Theft Auto V in a special live episode with more than the usual digressions.
Episode 270: Imagine The Story I’m Telling Is Awesome
Sep 02, 2013
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink l’affaire twerk, Getaway starring Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez, the Donkey-effing conundrum, and why Broadway (and Disneyland) have an outsized cultural impact.
The book club is an experiment to see if we, the worldwide community of overthinkers, can have as much fun looking at a work of literature as we have when we talk about movies, TV shows, and music. Beginning the week of September 23, we’re going to spend a month and a half reading Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game in advance of the release of the film adaptation. It’s Ben’s favorite book and Matt has never read it before, so we’ll share the perspective both of a long-time and of a first-time reader. Here’s the plan.
The Syllabus Ben has divided the book into six roughly equal chunks. You’ll get the most out of the club if you read these sections by these dates:
Week 1 (September 23, 2013): Chapters 1-6
Week 2 (September 30, 2013): Chapters 7-8
Week 3 (October 7, 2013): Chapters 9-10
Week 4 (October 14, 2013): Chapters 11-12
Week 5 (October 21, 2013): Chapters 13-14
Week 6 (October 28, 2013): Chapter 15
The Forums For our discussion, we’re going to use a special section in the Overthinking It Forums. Friday before each section begins, we’ll open up a forum for the coming week with some study questions to get our discussion started. As you read over the weekend, you can answer our questions in the week’s forum, start your own discussion topics there, and chime in on discussions that others have started. Everything up to and including the week’s reading is fair game for discussion—but if you’ve read the book, no spoilers for what is to come! (Maybe we’ll open up a special forum for those.)
The Podcast Sometime mid-week, we’ll release a podcast where Ben, Matt, and other Overthinking It writers. We’ll talk over the week’s reading, address some of the study questions, and highlight our favorite discussions from the forums.
And more… This is the inaugural effort for the book club, so we’re open to suggestions. Google Hangout videos? Guest commentators? Research and background on the author? We’re up for anything — and not just anything within reason. I mean, this is Overthinking It, and we’re gonna start subjecting some literature to a level of scrutiny… it probably doesn’t deserve.
Episode 266: 300 Brides for 300 Spartans
Aug 05, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich and Matthew Wrather overthink why there were no big movies this weekend, “the summer of the flop,” and Renaissance Faire.
Episode 265: The Wolverine: I Can’t Bear to Change, so I Must Live with A Bear
Jul 29, 2013
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich and Matthew Wrather overthink The Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman. Bonus overthinking of Highlander: The Final Dimension.
Episode 264: R.I.P.D.: Is There, Is There Balm in Gilead?
Jul 22, 2013
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink R.I.P.D., mostly focusing on the large number of missed opportunities. Also mentioned: what Batman and Superman should do in their movie together; reclining seats in movie theaters, and these kids today making it out.
Episode 261: If The Day is Going to Be Saved
Jul 01, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Josh McNeil, and Matthew Wrather overthink the failure of institutions in the current crop of summer blockbusters.
Ed. Note: This was a live recording and we had a little trouble with the settings on the microphone. Stick with us. The audio sets itself right after about 12 minutes.
Episode 260: Take the Zombie Challenge
Jun 24, 2013
Ben Adams, Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink World War Z, considering both the film with Brad Pitt and Max Brooks’s book.
Episode 258: Superman during The Purge
Jun 10, 2013
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather discuss fictional dystopian surveillance states, recourse to works of fiction in political discourse, PRISM, and The Purge.
Spoilers for George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Episode 254: Gatsby… You Don’t Have to Put on The Green Light
May 13, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather deliver an episode epic in both length and scope, covering high school reading lists classics, the Eurovision Song Contest, and Baz Luhrmann’s cinematic interpretation of The Great Gatsby.
Episode 253: Iron Man 3: Bitten by a Radioactive 1980s
May 06, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink Iron Man 3, focusing on the allegorical, philosophical, geopolitical, military, cultural and interpersonal allegories at play in the film.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Richard Rosenbaum, and Matthew Wrather are joined by Benjamin Krinsky to overthink Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes “The Best of Both Worlds” parts 1 and 2, which were recently screened in movie theaters.
Episode 251: Christopher Columbus’s Zodiac Pontoon Boat
Apr 22, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by Shana Mlawski to overthink her young adult fantasy novel Hammer of Witches.
Episode 249: WrestleMania is Being Undertaken
Apr 08, 2013
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather team up for a wide-ranging two-hander and overthink 3D Conversions, Rudyard Kipling, WrestleMania (with a special on-the-scene call in from live WrestleMania correspondent Matthew Belinkie), Game of Thrones Season 3, and the recent inflection point in television.
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, new podcaster Richard Rosenbaum, and Matthew Wrather overthink Oz The Great and Powerful and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Spoiler alerts for those movies and for the Broadway musical Rent.
Episode 245: Uncanny Valley of Polygonal Animal Space Pilots
Mar 11, 2013
Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee overthinkwhaling in Assassin’s Creed IV, the symbolism of different animal species in Star Fox, and the rocky launch of SimCity.
Episode 243: As They Tear Your Show Apart
Feb 25, 2013
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink the 2013 Academy Awards, focusing on Seth MacFarlane, the bi-modal tone of the Oscars, changes in the media industry, your tweets, and, oh yes, who won.
Episode 242: The Harlem Snake is Eating Its Own Harlem Tail
Feb 18, 2013
Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink the Harlem Shake, the semiotics of the drop, and the production & meaning of electronic music and viral videos.
Episode 241: I Don’t Think It’s Wind-Beneath-My-Wings Quality
Feb 11, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather overthink the 55th Grammy Awards, speculate about the difference in overthinability between movies and movies, and take a stab at analyzing the candidates for one of the many Best Song awards given tonight.
Episode 239: Edmund Burke, Mermaid Hunter
Jan 28, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, John Perich and Matthew Wrather gather in person mere minutes before the Overthinking It 5th Birthday Party to overthink their favorite pop culture from their fifth birthdays. Eventually, they fall into what they do whenever they get together: pitch one another ridiculous movie ideas.
Episode 238: The Poor Man’s Liam Neeson
Jan 21, 2013
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather overthink Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Last Stand and talk about comebacks, the meaning of the film, the importance of the international box office, and which action stars have—and haven’t—aged gracefully.
Episode 236: Through Candyland Took Their Solitary Way
Jan 07, 2013
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, and Matthew Wrather overthink Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, with emphasis on violence, authority, the Western, slavery, the film’s social purpose, and the importance of Paradise Lost.
Episode 235: Eponine Can’t Ask Out Her Gay Boyfriend
Dec 31, 2012
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather wrap up the holiday’s Amazon Affiliate promotion, make a major announcement about the OTI 5th Anniversary Party in NYC on January 26, talk 48fps, consider the film adaptation of the Les Miserables musical, and read your pop culture New Year’s Resolutions. It’s a full episode.
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather overthink Instagram, our compulsive digital documentation of our lives, the moral imperative of memory, and what all these mean for creativity and art.
Episode 229: For Certain Definitions of Vampire
Nov 19, 2012
Peter Fenzel and Matthew Wrather talk about Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies, and Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2. Special Thanks to Phil from Michigan for his email question.
Episode 228: That’s Some Kings Quest 2 Level Detective Work
Nov 12, 2012
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, Jordan Stokes and Matthew Wrather overthink Skyfall, the latest entry in the James Bond francise, focusing on the place of bond—and the British empire—in the modern world, on the latent homoeroticism of all Bond villains, and on Javier Bardem’s luminescent dye job glowing in the loamy Scottish dusk.
Episode 227: Four-Lighting Your Friends
Nov 05, 2012
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather—the dynamic trio of the OTI podcast—gather once more to overthink the end of Daylight Savings Time, the Disney-Lucasfilm merger, and the belated fourth anniversary of this podcast.
Episode 225: We’re Going To Wasteland
Oct 22, 2012
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by Zack Johnson (Jick on Kingdom of Loathing) to overthink Zack’s trip to Graceland, Ben Affleck’s Argo, the responsibilities of creator and audience when squaring a work of art with historical fact, the importance of footnotes, and, if you can believe it, listener feedback.
We’re not sure when Mark Lee will publish his book separating the good guys from the bad guys in all eras of history, but when he does, we’re sure we want you to buy it through our Amazon affiliate link.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by Chris Noessel, co-author of Make It So: Interaction Design Lessons from Science Fiction, to talk about fictitious user interfaces; they also cover Lee’s visit to New York Comic-Con 2012.
Episode 222: Portrait of The Artist as An Old Man Coming to Visit Himself as A Young Man
Oct 01, 2012
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee, David Shechner, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather overthink Looper, Directed by Rian Johnson, starring Joseph “Gordonian Knot” Levitt and Bruce Willis.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call (203) 285-6401 to leave a voicemail.
Further Reading
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Looper Wallace Stevens
I Among twenty snowy mountains, The only moving thing Was the eye of the looper.
II I was of three minds, Like a tree In which there are three loopers.
III The looper whirled in the autumn winds. It was a small part of the pantomime.
IV A man and a woman Are one. A man and a woman and a looper Are one.
V I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of innuendoes, The looper whistling Or just after.
VI Icicles filled the long window With barbaric glass. The shadow of the looper Crossed it, to and fro. The mood Traced in the shadow An indecipherable cause.
VII O thin men of Haddam, Why do you imagine golden birds? Do you not see how the looper Walks around the feet Of the women about you?
VIII I know noble accents And lucid, inescapable rhythms; But I know, too, That the looper is involved In what I know.
IX When the looper flew out of sight, It marked the edge Of one of many circles.
X At the sight of loopers Flying in a green light, Even the bawds of euphony Would cry out sharply.
XI He rode over Connecticut In a glass coach. Once, a fear pierced him, In that he mistook The shadow of his equipage For loopers.
XII The river is moving. The looper must be flying.
XIII It was evening all afternoon. It was snowing And it was going to snow. The looper sat In the cedar-limbs.
Episode 221: Brought To You By “Transformers 6”
Sep 24, 2012
Ben Adams, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee overthink The Master, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s relatively slumming-free movie career, the Emmys, and product placement in TV shows.
Peter Fenzel, David Shechner, and Matthew Wrather overthink franchises born of adjectives and nouns, the coming of the new year, and the coming of the new TV season.
Episode 219: Icons are Always an Accident
Sep 10, 2012
Movie Producer (Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2, Twins, Kindergarden Cop, Dave), art director for National Lampoon, and Ghostbusters logo designer Michael C. Gross joins Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee and Matthew Wrather for an interview covering the brilliance of the Ghostbusters logo and his incredible career.
Episode 217: Highway to the Danger Drone
Aug 27, 2012
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather offer an appreciation of Tony Scott’s movies and overthink ways to put the humanity back into the space program.
Episode 216: Happy Birthday, Short Round
Aug 20, 2012
Matt Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich overthink The Expendables 2 and commemorate the birthday of Jonathan Ke Quan, aka “Short Round” from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Brechtian analysis and roundhouse kicks abound.
Matt Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Jordan Stokes overthink Matt Damon’s role (or the lack thereof) in The Bourne Legacy and the politics (or the lack thereof) in The Campaign.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Matthew Wrather overthink the remake of Total Recall, remakes in general, gritty remakes in particular, the enduring appeal of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the issue of representation vs. expression in art.
Episode 213: An Elite Squadron of Poppinses
Jul 30, 2012
Matt Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich tackle the multimedia spectacle that was the 2012 Olympics opening ceremonies. They have lots of suggestions for improvements, including icons of British culture that should have been included and poems that Kenneth Branagh should have recited.
Episode 212: And Now Over to Killer Croc for the Sports [REPOST]
Jul 23, 2012
There was some trouble with our podcast feed for this episode, and lots of listeners downloaded the wrong file automatically. So we’re reposting here. Leave comments on the original post for this episode.
Matt Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and David Shechner tackle The Dark Knight Rises. Blanket spoiler alert for the movie – get out there and go see it if you haven’t already!
Episode 212: And Now Over to Killer Croc for the Sports
Jul 23, 2012
Matt Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and David Shechner tackle The Dark Knight Rises. Blanket spoiler alert for the movie – get out there and go see it if you haven’t already!
Episode 211: You Never Bought Sausage In Brooklyn
Jul 16, 2012
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and special guest Mark Malkoff talk about what it’s like to watch 404.25 hours of movies on Netflix in a single month, the child rock sensation Lil’ G’n’R, and the preciousness of Wes Anderson and Moonrise Kingdom.
Follow him on Twitter, visit his website, and visit his My Damn Channel page, where the “Dinner with Bill Murray” web series will premiere soon (correction to the podcast: the web series hasn’t started yet, but it’s been covered in the press already.)
Watch the Lil’ G’n’R video:
To understand what Pete was talking about during the Moonrise Kingdom conversation, read the Wikipedia article on Verfremdungseffekt (distancing effect).
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather are joined by frequent commenters Ben Adams (“Crazy Like A Fox”), Gabrielle Arrowood (“Gab”), and Tim Swann to overthink bad acting, overacting (different from overthinking!), and an actor’s job in movies and TV.
Episode 209: Meryl Streep, Oscar Nominated Government Assassin
Jul 02, 2012
Peter Fenzel, John Perich, and Matthew Wrather overthink Valve’s “Meet The Pyro” video for Team Fortress 2, launching into a discussion of branding, marketing an experience, and truth in fiction.
The Brotherhood of the Stationary Pant (Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, David Shechner, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather) convenes to overthink bachelorhood, bachelor parties, and the social dynamics of friendships and marriage.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call (203) 285-6401 to leave a voicemail.
Alternative Titles Here are the alternative titles we considered for this episode.
In which we discuss Brave and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World It is a balanced breakfast, right? Free Bird, I Must Be What’s in the pig? We’re not talking about Se7en anymore. Reverse sisterhood of the traveling pants: worst wrestling move ever. The Brotherhood of the Stationary Pant Lars Von Trier’s “Spiderman” Not-alie Portman Rush is so Wanky The Apatovian Epiphenomenon… Opening for Rush. Let’s wring our hands for poor Pete Campbell Quincy Jones is his father. Her father! Dammit! I like her, and she said yes. I gotta find me a lady in her twenties. Men are Children
Episode 207: Sing A Song into Our Butt
Jun 18, 2012
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Matthew Wrather discuss the movie Rock of Ages, delving into what makes rock rock, the the class and racial bases of 1980s nostalgia, and the music the Overthinkers were listening to when they came of age.
Episode 206: Bender’s A**hole Robot Uncle
Jun 11, 2012
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather overthink Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, touching on psychosexual horror, Alien, Bender’s drunk uncle, and Jacques Derrida’s concept of différance.
Episode 204: The Notional Ryan Seacrest
May 28, 2012
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and special guest, 2012 Comedy Award Nominee Richard Sandling, creator of Tom Selleck’s Moustache and other videos. They discuss comedy, criticism, virality, and film adaption of novels.
Episode 202: Putting on the Meat Dress
May 14, 2012
Matthew Wrather hosts with Mark Lee and John Perich to overthink listener feedback for the first time in six months and preview the summer movies of 2012.
Episode 201: A Smash Rate of A New Yorker per Second
May 07, 2012
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and John Perich to overthink Marvel’s The Avengers, including: forming the team for Avengers 2; the destruction of Manhattan; the proper use of power and authority; the Joss Whedon factor; the problem of sequel escalation; and the potential for a Justice League movie.
Episode 200: A Podcast Gotta Have A Code
Apr 30, 2012
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, Dave Shechner, Ryan Sheely and special guests Cognac and Gonzo for an in-person podcast to overthink the Overthinking It Live show at Geek Week 2012, the remarkable achievement of 200 podcasts, the Law and Order episode of Community, the difference between risotto and fried chicken, how some people be colonizing Mars and other people be colonizing Venus, the infamous Double Andre, and the Pikachu-ification of narrative.
Many thanks to everyone for 200 episodes (plus!) of podcast listening.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee to overthink min-maxing themselves, work outside the square community, and the wedding-industrial complex.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and, eventually, Mark Lee to overthink the recent documentary Bully, their favorite NC-17 movies, and why Game of Thrones is called Game of Thrones when they’res only one throne.
Update 2012-04-15T20:41:25: Apparently, I went through a time-warp when I recorded the intro for this episode. I guess I was imagining I had an extra month for my taxes.
Episode 196: I’ve Brought a GUI to a CLI Fight
Apr 02, 2012
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, David Shechner and Special Guest Randal Schwartz to overthink all the hottest tech news and gadgets, and listen as Randal makes a very important announcement.
Episode 194: You Don’t Know My Momentum
Mar 19, 2012
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, John Perich, and David Shechner to overthink their favorite fictional streets, truth and fiction, and Mike Daisey’s monlogue The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.
Matthew Wrather and Peter Fenzel tackle issues of representation and expression with reference to PayPal, Antwone Fisher, Battleship, and leaked nude photos of celebrities.
Matthew Wrather, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and David Shechner overthink NBC’s slightly less than smash-hit Smash, touching on issues of representation, musical production, psychoanalysis, avant garde performance art, kabuki theater, and Juggalos.
Matthew Wrather, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and David Shechner join forces to overthink vows in popular culture, the virtuosity, dignity, and sad passage of Whitney Houston, individual vs. social motivations for schadenfreude, and Magic: The Gathering.
:01 A word from our sponsor. :40 “The Vow” and Bland Brigade. 2:45 Question of the Week. 10:25 Magic: The Gathering, Semiotics of sports shows. 29:30 Whitney Huston. 45:40 Promethean celebrity narrative. 54:00 Magic and Louis C.K.’s theory of value.
Episode 188: No Drop Trou for Bizarro
Feb 06, 2012
Matthew Wrather, Peter Fenzel, David Shechner and Jordan Stokes overthink Super Bowl ads, the transformation in contemporary marketing, the year of the dog, hashtag, & worker, and pooping on the field.
0:00–6:59 Question of the Week. 7:00–20:00 Marketing strategy; dogs, robot factories, and The Avengers. 24:00–27:59 Puppy Bowl’s Socratic purity. 28:00–34:00 Half time show. 34:01–41:59 Epic poetry of Ahmad Bradshaw. 42:00–56:59 David Beckham’s underwear and thresholds of potential rejection. 57:00–1:09:00 Old Navy ad deconstruction.
Matthew Wrather, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee and John Perich overthink Man on a Ledge, heists, hustlers, and the hermeneutic circle. And then take a long flight over the Pacific and watch movies on a plane.
Episode 186: Wrong Enough to be Human
Jan 23, 2012
Matthew Wrather, Peter Fenzel, Jordan Stokes and John Perich overthink Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire and Neil Young’s hatred of contemporary music technology.
0:00–18:53 Question of the week: What’s your favorite Kate Beckinsale movie? 18:54–39:10 Haywire 39:11–58:17 Neil Young and music technology 58:18–1:00:43 Closing
Matthew Wrather, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee overthink public infrastructure, Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, and the intersection of entertainment and technology.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, John Perich, and Jordan Stokes to overthink their resolutions for 2012, your personal Wikipedia vectors (and the strong Wikanthropic Principle), the difference between “eponymous” and “titular,” and Naruto vs. The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, and the male gaze. That’s G-A-Z-E.
Episode 180: Michelle Bachmann America is Great Funtime
Dec 12, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich to overthink the fate of Community, the business strategy of Taylor Swift, how Ke$ha stays on-brand, and what Adam Smith thinks of the music business.
Episode 179: The Expendable Babysitters Club
Dec 05, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich to overthink the rumored remake of Starship Troopers, the economics of babysitting, and the new world of digital publishing.
Get John Perich’s novel Too Close To Miss using this link and support Overthinking It!
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, John Perich, and Timothy Swann to overthink the newly opened beta of Star Wars: The Old Republic and the new film The Muppets.
Episode 177: Batman: Arkham Chamber of Commerce
Nov 21, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Mark Lee, Joshua McNeil (eating bacon), John Perich, and David Shechner to overthink supernatural spouses, Arkham City, J. Edgar, Hell on Wheels, and listener feedback.
Episode 176: In A Gunny Sack behind The Bus Boy
Nov 14, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and John Perich to overthink video games, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and why Super Mario Bros. was harder than them all.
Have a “Video Games 101” course for Wrather? Leave your syllabus in the comments.
Episode 175: It’s a pirate ship. It should be watertight.
Nov 07, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and David Shechner to overthink Tower Heist, towers in general, class warfare, listener questions, and Justin Bieber’s baby baby baby mama drama.
Episode 174: Girlfriends are Horcruxes
Oct 31, 2011
Peter Fenzel hosts with Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee, and Josh McNeil to Overthink the new Three Musketeers movie, the new TV show Grimm, and some of the reasons why we aren’t watching Two and a Half Men.
Bonus Podcast Visual Aid: Belinkie, being a devotee of The Three Musketeers, has assembled a chart comparing plot points across the novel and 4 different movie versions:
Episode 173: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog of The Will
Oct 24, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Joshua McNeil, and David Shechner to overthink listener feedback, including questions about pronunciation, mind control, Drive the comic, Terry Pratchett and what it means to overthink, the meaning of art (not actually a question, but it’s one of our continual obsessions), and Hunger Games.
Stay tuned for Mark Lee’s after hours podcast, Raw Lee.
Episode 172: Johnny Appleseed’s Seed-Shooting Gatling Gun
Oct 17, 2011
Peter Fenzel hosts with Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and John Perich to Overthink Mark Lee’s trip to New York Comic-Con, the future of comics, and the Neal Stephenson novel Reamde.
[Note: due to a technical issue, the last ten minutes of the episode were cut off from the recording. We apologize and hope to be back next week with a full, unabridged episode.]
Matthew Wrather and Mark Lee consider the future of media, the great Netflix divorce, and the deeper meanings of movies like Barely Legal and Sorority Boys.
Episode 170: Guy who makes the craft services who feeds Aaron Sorkin
Oct 03, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Joshua McNeil, and Timothy Swann to overthink Moneyball, statistics, useful and less useful narratives, and the crisis of masculinity in the modern world.
Peter Fenzel hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Mark Lee, Joshua McNeil, John Perich, David Shechner, and Matthew Wrather to overthink the third (leather) anniversary of the weekly Overthinking It Podcast and how being an overthinker has changed us all.
Episode 168: You have a choice, Ryan Gosling!
Sep 19, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich to overthink the upcoming season of television, Drive, good actors in bad movies, and the moral laziness of Prestige Holocaust Movies.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to overthink Star Trek.
At least, that’s what they intend at the outset. The tenth anniversary of 9/11/01 does come up, and the conversation does wander a bit. Maybe even more than usual. But they eventually get around to Star Trek. So it’s not a broken promise. Which is an improvement.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Joshua McNeil, and John Perich to overthink product placements, the video-game-ization of movies, and whether Zoe Saldana could kick your ass.
Episode 165: Mandatory Post-Colonial Guilt
Aug 29, 2011
Peter Fenzel hosts with Matt Belinkie, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, Jordan Stokes, and special guest Timothy Swann to overthink storms in pop culture, Lt. Dan’s CGI legs, the MTV Video Music Awards, and Colombiana.
Plugged in this episode: Tim’s appearance on the MOMBCast, and his own upcoming podcast, Psycomedia; and Fenzel’s upcoming Back To The Future-themed Improv Comedy show, 1.21 Jigowatts.
(Note: apologies for any problems with the audio quality. Blame it on the rain, as Milli Vanilli would say.)
Episode 164: A Couple o’ Lads Who Were up to Nae Good
Aug 22, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and Jordan Stokes and special guest Matt Silver to overthink 80’s remakes. This episode was recorded in front of a live studio audience.
And… Don’t miss the first Overthinking It Meetup in New York City on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 9pm. Find the Facebook Event for more information.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, John Perich, and special guest Zack Johnson from Kingdom of Loathing and the Hotdog Podcasts to overthink Glee 3D, So You Think You Can Dance, cotillion, and the use and abuse of good manners.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to downgrade the credit rating of various etertainment properties and to overthink Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
SPOILER ALERT for Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Zombieland, The Wire, and The Grapes of Wrath.
Episode 160: Bringing a Gun to a Shield Fight
Jul 25, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, John Perich, and Jordan Stokes to overthink Captain America: The First Avenger, discuss the meaning of laser weapon colors, and read from the Falling on Grenades Wikipedia Page.
Episode 159: Talking out of My Expelliarmus
Jul 18, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and special guest Randal Schwartz to overthink Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Don’t worry—this time we have seen the movie and actually discuss it.
Peter Fenzel hosts with Mark Lee, John Perich, and Dave Shechner to overthink space travel in pop culture and *gasp* even more listener feedback, this time from the Twitter stream!
Episode 157: Optimus…I just met a Prime named Optimus.
Jul 04, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Josh McNeil, and John Perich to overthink Transformers: Dark of the Moon, movie projectionists, WalMart, and listener feedback (!).
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and David Shechner to overthink Pixar’s Cars 2, the meaning of exploitation, Magic: The Gathering, and listener feedback (!).
Episode 155: Jim Morrison, Lizard King of the North
Jun 20, 2011
Peter Fenzel hosts with Mark Lee and Josh McNeil to overthink the Game of Thrones season finale, the death of Clarence Clemons, and the lost art of the saxophone solo.
Episode 154: All My Bumblebees Are Drowned
Jun 13, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and David Shechner to overthink the play within the film within the film within the… as they discuss their favorite cinematic depictions of theater and JJ Abrams’s Super 8.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Pete Fenzel, Mark Lee, and special guest Priya Ramanathan to overthink Bridesmaids, male- and female-oriented romantic comedies, the rebellion of the body, and the normative force of popular narrative.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Pete Fenzel, Josh McNeil, John Perich and Dave Shechner to overthink Eurovision 2011 and pay tribute to its winner, Azerbaijan.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Pete Fenzel, the return of Mark Lee, David Shechner, and speical guest Chris Morgan to overthink summer blockbuster Thor, including its narratology, its relatability, its religious aspects, and its poor use of dutch angles in 3D.
Episode 147: How Did It Make You Feel when You Got Hit by The Kobold?
Apr 25, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with John Perich, David Shechner, and special guest Zack Johnson of Kingdom of Loathing to discuss KoL, RPGs, Gary Gygax, and the TI-85 calculator.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Josh McNeil, and David Shechner to overthink Game of Thrones (the TV series), A Game Of Thrones (the book), and what writers owe their readers.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, John Perich, to overthink second tier cities, unlikable characters, and movies about wealth in the midst of recession.
Episode 143: We Have Always Been At War With Ovaltine
Mar 28, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Josh McNeil, and returning panelist Dave Shechner to overthink visitors from another world and what they like to eat. And what we like to eat.
Episode 142: Law and Order: Special Scrumping Unit
Mar 21, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and special guest Timothy Swann from the UK to overthink Rebecca Black’s Friday, the production and export of culture, favorite days of the week, and why Birmingham, England is different from Birmingham, Alabama.
Episode 138: The Oft-Overlooked #1 Variety
Feb 21, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee to attempt to overthink the Oscars, instead discussing Jackass 3D, the Legend of Zelda, Finding Forrester, comedy festivals, poetry slams, and the inner battle for beauty.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich to overthink Valentine’s Day, the definite article, the artistic and political mission of Lady Gaga, the Grammys, and their own immaturity.
Episode 136: Reprehensible and Not Even All That Sexy
Feb 07, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Josh McNeil to overthink the commercials from Super Bowl XLV, including Al Bundy and demasculinization, meta-narratives of violence and ethicity, the reactionary branding of Coke, wealthy self-hatred, and the militaristic, futuristic halftime show.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich to overthink the 2011 Oscar Nominations. They don’t quite get there, however, and instead veer off into a discussion of drive in movies, digital distribution, piracy, and the low quality of 2010’s mainstream (and prestige) movies.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich to overthink designed environments including Las Vegas, Dubai, and World of Warcraft, and close with some consideration of the theology of pop music.
Episode 133: You Have Knives on Your Shoes
Jan 17, 2011
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee to overthink second-tier awards in light of the Golden Globes and the Miss America pageant. What, exactly, is the virtue being celebrated when we give awards, and at what point does the institution surrounding that virtue become an end in itself?
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to overthink metaphors for the creative process, conversation stoppers, and the responsibilities of discourse in light of recent events imprecisely described as tragic.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call (203) 285-6401 to leave a voicemail.
Update: The book that Perich based his basketball observations on was Stumbling on Wins, an accessible text that applies the same statistical analysis made famous by “Moneyball” to other sports – football, basketball and hockey in particular. Clicking that link will take you to the rather cheap Kindle version (and give us a little affiliate cred if you buy, ahem), though there’s also a hardback.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Jordan stokes to overthink storms in popular culture, ornithologcal reproduction (duck penis), second- and third-class levers, Oscar-bait movies as event pictures, and why New Moon is better than any classic movie you can name.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Mark Lee, John Perich, and Jordan Stokes to overthink (which is to say, rip on) Tron Legacy, Jews, women, and Fenzel. Spoilers for Tron: Legacy. Not that it matters.
Episode 128: I’m a dancer, not a swan!
Dec 13, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Natalie Baseman, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to overthink Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan”, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. Topics include trashiness, love pitching his mansion in the place of excrement, and why “The Deer Hunter” hung out so long on Wrather’s Netflix queue.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Mark Lee and Peter Fenzel to overthink Bon Jovi scholarship, the ultra-segmented hyper-reality of Christmas Trees, the Spider Man musical, the theatrical vs. the cinematic, and contemporary homoeroticism and why it’s not all about sex.
Matthew Wrather hosts (until his Internet connection fails) with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to commemorate Leslie Nielsen and to reflect on his career and the changing face of comedy, and then to pitch one another rom com plots.
Episode 125: The Midi-chlorian Fallacy
Nov 22, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee, promising to overthink Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and getting around to it eventually. Digressions into the nature of magic, determinism in plot (again), and Civilization (the game).
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, John Perich, and special guest Randal Schwartz to introduce a fun new game (“Ironic, Unfortunate, or Strangely Apropos?”) while discussing their veteran status, the film Unstoppable, and the release of Call of Duty.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and David Schechner to discuss the brain/brawn continuum, the culture of fat empowerment, the morality of science, and their advice for Conan O’Brien.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie and Mark Lee to discuss the deeper meanings of the Saw franchise and with Peter Fenzel for a firsthand report from the Rally to Restore Sanity.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Natalie Baseman, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee to answer listener feedback, covering geeks (again), taking a controversial stand against hate, and wondering who chooses the chosen ones.
Episode 120: Magical Realist Jackass-scape
Oct 18, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to overthink IMDb’s 20th anniversary, the cinematic masterpiece Jackass 3D, the move from obscure to mainstream culture, and the cultural meaning of mortification of the flesh.
Mathew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel to discuss the changing landscape of the American holiday, and featuring a special guest segment by Mark Lee about New York Comic-Con, fandom, ILM, and CGI.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee, kicking off Year 3 of the Overthinking It Podcast with a detailed examination of the many tentacles of meaning in Roger Corman’s modern classic, Sharktopus. Also, Lee is a French TV star.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich to celebrate two years of releasing the Overthinking It Podcast every week with some well-deserved navel-gazing.
Episode 115: Danger Has a Two-Year Contract
Sep 13, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and special guest Randal Schwartz (fresh from Dragon*Con) to answer listener feedback (much of it about Inception).
Episode 113: The Futility of Juggalo Regression
Aug 30, 2010
Peter Fenzel hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Mark Lee, and Dave Shechner to overthink the re-release of Avatar, its implications for the future of 3D movies,and the Tila Tequila incident at the Gathering of the Juggalos. Spoiler alert for the movie Everybody Poops.
Episode 112: Sylvester Stallone’s Improv Comedy Night
Aug 23, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee and John Perich to overthink The Expendables. The Overthinkers kick the Expendables’ asses.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Natalie Baseman, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, John Perich, and special guest Amanda Marcotte to overthink Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Episode 110: 20 Sided Die in the Bathroom
Aug 09, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, John Perich, and special guest Randal Schwartz (aka @merlyn) to overthink geekiness—its definition, etiology, gender dynamics, and portrayal in popular media.
Episode 109: Air Jaws: Great White Hope
Aug 02, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee to overthink Lisa Simpson’s wedding and other future dates in popular culture, arriving at a typology of apocalypses and inventing one of their own: the SHARKPOCALYPSE! (August 29, 2014. Mark your calendars.)
Bonus points to anyone who mashes up Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn Khan with footage of Justin Bieber. Or is that already a thing?
Episode 108: Casper was Dead the Whole Time
Jul 26, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Natalie Baseman, Peter Fenzel, Josh McNeil, and Jordan Stokes to overthink Salt, roles written for men but played by women, the irony of high fashion, backstory and psychological determinism, a portrait of the artist as a young superhero, autobiographies of comedians, maelstrom, and ridiculous predictions for the new season of Mad Men.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich, discussing their own failure to see Toy Story 3, Wrather’s next move (he won’t be playing for Cleveland any more), Emmy nominations, the World Cup Final, some old posts, why 4chan is powerful and scary and kind of heroic, and the meaning of internet memes.
Episode 105: Twilight Celebrates Your Dependence Day
Jul 05, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Josh McNeil to declare their independence, reel from the Overthinking iPhone backlash, and overthink popular culture (or rather the lack of popular culture) surrounding the 4th of July.
Episode 104: I’m trying to get my power level down!
Jun 28, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Mark Lee and Joshua McNeil to overthink iPhone 4 (sorry—we had to talk about it), our experiences with the World Cup, and listener emails.
Episode 103: The Infallible Wikipedia
Jun 21, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Natalie Baseman, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee to answer listener voicemails, touching on topics such as Star Trek, the meaning of names, Priest and Christianity in Japan, how things become sacred and why we care, and the social implications of accents.
Episode 102: Do you want to know how I got this moustache?
Jun 14, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and Jordan Stokes to overthink what they won’t do, beards, the A-Team, what Face is good for, the multi-faceted career of Liam Neeson, and getting your ass kicked by the Karate Kid.
Episode 101: An Instructional Film About Forklift Operation
Jun 07, 2010
Pete Fenzel hosts with Natalie Baseman, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to Overthink our best & worst karaoke experiences, the last part of our 2010 Summer Movies preview, the misleading film titles of Angelina Jolie, and how to decide on a movie when you’re on a date. Don’t blame us when you get dumped over seeing The Expendables.
[A note on the live-stream: we once again experienced technical difficulties (apologies to all of the listeners who got cut off halfway), and as a result, we’re re-evaluating our options for next Sunday’s recording. Be sure to check our Twitter account for the updated plan come Sunday.]
Episode 100: A Sidetrack from our Broader Thrust
May 31, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Natalie Baseman, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and David Shechner to overthink 100 episodes of this show, the difference between popular and high culture, “film” vs. “movies”, democratization of the means of production, streamlining the supply chain, new and old business models, Nintendo Power and its discontents, and Why We Overthink.
In accordance with Murphy’s Law, some bandwidth and computing problems interfered with the livestream and the audio recording—rendering the first 10 minutes of the show—the question of the week—unlistenable. Very sorry to the dedicated viewers who join us for the livestream every week, and to the dedicated listeners!
To make up for it, let’s have everybody answer this week’s question in the comments below: What is your earliest memory of pop culture?
Podcast Supplement: Unplugging the Island
May 26, 2010
Ryan Sheely hosts with special guests Carlos Hann Commander, Amanda Marcotte, and Shana Mlawski to Overthink the Series Finale of Lost, including sunscreen, what to wear to a Lost convention, purgatory vs. eternal return, community, redemption, unanswered mysteries, red herrings, and Chaaaaaaaaaaahlie.
Episode 99: Of Course It’s An Electric Dog
May 24, 2010
Pete Fenzel hosts with Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and Jordan Stokes to Overthink the things we’re doing instead of watching Lost, the western video game Red Dead Redemption (aka Grand Theft Horse), Troll 2/Best Worst Movie, the nature of camp, and the bleak existential desert that is reality.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Josh McNeil to continue the Summer, 2010 movie preview. They get to three or four, with digressions into Mr. T day and the art of comedy.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Natalie Baseman, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, John Perich, and Ryan Sheely to overthink the aesthetic, political, artistic, and social implications of M.I.A. and Romain-Gavras’ video for “Born Free.”
Matthew Wrather is joined by Natalie Baseman, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, John Perich, and special guest Keith Harrington to overthink Kick Ass, ass kicking in general (which is to say agency and the protagonist), and the Hit Girl controversy.
The 2010 Summer Movie Preview continues as Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee. They also discuss favorite dust clouds in popular culture, shatter the myth of post-racial america, and admit that a zombie Confederacy actually sounds kind of bad-ass.
Episode 93: You Were the Man Once, Dog
Apr 12, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Josh McNeil for the first installment of their annual overthinking of Summer Movies, covering Clash of the Titans through The A-Team.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Natalie Baseman, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to overthink listener feedback, including racial sensitivity, the Goofy Movie and the typology of cartoon dogs, the origin of anti-hipster sentiment, and scriptural elements and aesthetic considerations in Alice in Wonderland.
During the listener feedback episodes, we often remind you to make a donation to help us cover the costs of running Overthinking It. If you can’t — or even if you can — you can help us too: Fill out this listener survey. It’ll help us make the podcast self-sufficient so we won’t have to annoy you with our public-radio shakedowns month. And we’re always grateful for the kickbacks we get when you shop at Amazon or buy our awesome t-shirts (now including on OTI logo shirt!).
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and Jordan Stokes to overthink comic adaptations we’d like to see, the aesthetic problems of representing role playing games, the current state of Magic the Gathering, and why the critical consensus on Hot Tub Time Machine is wrong.
Episode 90: The Gobots of the Munsters
Mar 22, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Josh McNeil and John Perich—several of them, for the first time, in one room—to overthink movie gimmicks, 3D, Alice in Wonderland, aspect ratios, backstory, and rebooting the universe.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Natalie Baseman, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Josh McNeil to overthink cult entertainment, what makes a cult, Chat Roulette, and this totally weird Bar Mitzvah Natalie went to this one time.
Episode 88: Career Advice for Busta Rhymes
Mar 08, 2010
In grand Overthinking It tradition, Matthew Wrather and Peter Fenzel cover the 2010 Oscars by barely talking about them, concentrating instead on the rapidly decentralizing media landscape, the counterproductive use of racial and gender distinctions (e.g., first woman “Best Director”), and career advice for Busta Rhymes.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Josh McNeil to answer listener questions, including such topics as fan fiction, the Internet on TV, our scriptural bent, procedural television, and the probable casting of the inevitable Catcher in the Rye movie.
We’re still livestreaming the podcast recording on Ustream (on the Overthinking It Podcast Page, where it will return in two weeks on Sunday at 9:15pm ET (6:15pm PT). (Next week, we’ll be watching the Oscars, and the livestream will start late.)
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Josh McNeil to overthink Academy Award Nominations, with detours into what makes an Oscar-worthy performance, the meaning of meaning, and movies Fenzel has always wanted to make.
We’re still livestreaming the podcast recording on Ustream (on the Overthinking It Podcast Page, where it will return next week on Sunday at 9:15pm ET (6:15pm PT). (In two weeks, we’ll be watching the Oscars.)
Episode 85: I have to get knives and fight evil!
Feb 15, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, Jordan Stokes, and special guest Natalie Baseman to overthink Valentine’s Day, Sharktopodes, the Olympics, the Tough Guy challenge, and more Valentine’s Day. Fair warning: It gets a little NSFW towards the end.
We’re still livestreaming the podcast recording on Ustream (on the Overthinking It Podcast Page, where it will return next Sunday at 9:15pm ET/6:15pm PT).
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and John Perich to overthink Super Bowl XLIV, especially its downtrodden, misogynistic commercials and its geriatric halftime show.
For the second time, we were livestreaming the podcast recording on Ustream (on the Overthinking It Podcast Page, where it will return next Sunday at 9:15pm ET/6:15pm PT).
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Joshua McNeil to overthink the Grammys (a little bit), Dollhouse (a lot), agency and rights, knowledge-on-demand, and autotune.
This was our first experiment with livestreaming the podcast recording on Ustream (on the Overthinking It Podcast Page, where it will return next Sunday at 9:15pm ET/6:15pm PT). Though it was admittedly a little distracting and might have gotten in the way of a smooth opening, it seems to be a promising way of making the show more interactive and responsive to its audience.
Episode 82: The Lamentations of the Women
Jan 25, 2010
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, John Perich, and Jordan Stokes to overthink the two year anniversary of OTI, rise and fall of Conan, and the apotheosis of Sandra Bullock in this year’s awards season.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Josh McNeil to overthink the coming season of 24, the Golden Globes, the late night debacle on NBC (big winner: Arsenio Hall), and the misattribution of agency in argumentation.
Mark Lee hosts with Pete Fenzel and Jordan Stokes to overthink the allegory of the Simpsons anniversary episode, the last twenty years of the show, and why Disco Stu can’t have his own episode.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to overthink their own new year’s resolutions, the best things of the decade so far, Guy Ritche’s Sherlock Holmes, Scooby Doo, the biblical origins of bromance, and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air.
Episode 78: “Oh, the Muppets. They happened.”
Dec 28, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to overthink the decade at its close, addressing the defects of memory and nostalgia while recapping trends in music, television, and movies.
Episode 77: Avatar – Are We Human, or Are We Panther?
Dec 21, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Ryan Sheely, and Jordan Stokes to overthink James Cameron’s Avatar, from the visuals to the narrative to the cat boobies to the political message.
The Overthinkers answer listener email, touching on ethnic stereotypes in sitcoms, OTI muse Tilda Swinton, what’s so reliable about the Starship Reliant, how to Overthink something not worth Overthinking, and book recommendations from listeners.
Since this is a listener feedback show, we put our our monthly plea that you support us with donations and by shopping at Amazon using our affiliate link. (What to buy there? Glad you asked.)
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Josh McNeil to begin a month-long overthinking of the decade. We do this by almost ignoring pop culture, instead focusing on Latin poetry, Greek etymology, poststructuralism, and the artistic viability of remakes. We do talk about Terminator a little.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee. They totally had a plan when they started this one. They swear. They do manage to touch on Twilight: New Moon, Thanksgiving pop culture revelations, Christian Reality Shows, and Ninja Assasin. Along the way, some other stuff comes up, like how to market amateur theatricals and whether eating less makes you live longer.
For extra fun, play the Overthinking It Podcast drinking game.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Joshua McNeil, and John Perich to overthink the astonishing commercial success of New Moon, romancing the undead, marketing quadrants for popular entertainment, TV versus books, Oprah’s big move, Magic the Gathering, and the beginning of VerhOeverthinking It week.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and special guest podcaster Amanda Marcotte to overthink the end of the world, 2012, the now not-so-secret diary of a call girl, and Sarah Palin’s new book.
(By the way…do you actually want to buy this? Maybe you should check this out instead. And we don’t even get an affiliate fee.)
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Podcast Supplement: Mad Men Season 3 Finale
Nov 10, 2009
In a special supplement to the Overthinking It Podcast, Matthew Belinkie, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather overthink Mad Men in light of the Season 3 Finale. (Spoilers for all 3 seasons.)
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil and Jordan Stokes to overthink cold war pop culture in light of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. There is a characteristically unaccountable digression about the repatriation of antiquities to Egypt.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil, and John Perich to overthink Halloween including costumes, haunted houses, and the titles of Steven Seagal movies.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Ryan Sheely to overthink listener feedback. Topics include our troops in Iraq, scary movies, your ICBM address, proving and proving our knowledge, Will Smith, pulling punches in Faust stories, the further meaning of vampires, and how much TV can be good.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Episode 67: And Don’t Call Me Shirley
Oct 12, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to overthink Eye-talian Americans, tokenism and the minority experience, Zombieland, spoilers and violence w/r/t same, Reference Movies, and the meaning of the undead.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich and special guest Amanda Marcotte to revisit l’affaire Polanski and talk about the trivializing of sex crimes and then proceed to trivialize sex crimes by segueing to David Letterman, Robert Evans (the movie producer), Bob Evans (the restaurant), the Arbys Logo, and the Dialectic of Bruce Springsteen.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Episode 65: The Difference Between Real and Pretend
Sep 28, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee to overthink Roman Polanski’s legal and moral trouble, cultural hysteria and hypocrisy, the reasons reality is different from fiction, and the deeper meanings of Crank 2 and Glee.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Episode 63: Osama Bin Laden Loves Taylor Swift
Sep 14, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich to overthink the MTV VMAs (with live coverage from our correspondent at the show), the avant garde performance art of Lady GaGa, and whether Rock Band is real music.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Episode 62: Necessary But Not Sufficient
Sep 07, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, Ryan Sheely, and Jordan Stokes to answer your calls and emails. Topics include invisibility, Paradise Lost, John Hughes and Race, our small-minded American chauvinism, science in the media, and the meaning of Meta.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Jordan Stokes to overthink the tragic ends of Michael Jackson, D.J. AM, Ted Kennedy, and Reading Rainbow.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Jordan Stokes to overthink the tragic ends of Michael Jackson, D.J. AM, Ted Kennedy, and Reading Rainbow.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee to overthink Inglourious Basterds, welcome Tracey from Chicago, and construct an online dating profile.
Episode 59: Hippie is to Hipster as Woodstock is to Barack Obama
Aug 17, 2009
Mark Lee hosts with Peter Fenzel and Jordan Stokes to mark the 40th anniversary of Woodstock by recounting their own transcendent concert experiences and to speculate whether another Woodstock is possible. The panel also takes on “District 9,” aka “1 hour 45 minutes of apartheid allegory and exploring the human condition plus 30 minutes of ‘Tango and Cash.'” And lastly, the panel offers their new “Mad Men” season predictions (for the non-“Mad Men” watcher).
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend!
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jordan Stokes to overthink the Artistic Projects of John Hughes, Thomas Pynchon, and Eddie Murphy.
Tell us what you think! Leave a comment, use the contact form, Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend!
Episode 57: Kids Today and Their Rainbow Parties
Aug 03, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts from the best coast as he, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich overthink Shark Week, TRON, baseball, the relationsip betwen Pixar’s UP and Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino, and comparing things to Hitler.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend!
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel and Mark Lee, with special guest podcaster Lindsay Eanet. Topics include Comic-Con, fandom, vampires, and dudes who date fictional characters.
To join the debate on real vs. pretend people, first visit the New York Times article “Love in 2D.”
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend!
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich to overthink stranger danger (and Wrather’s cross-country trip), Michael Jackson’s posthumous sales figures, McCourt…Frank McCourt, Walter Cronkite and the crisis of authority in newscasting, and Emmy Nominations.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend!
Matthew Wrather fends off blond discrimination from the panel—Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Jordan Stokes—as they overthink mocumentaries, ultimate fighting, and the return to grace of Michael Phelps.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend!
Matthew Wrather hosts with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee to overthink their love of America, and then to field listener e- and voice-mail, almost none of which comes from America. Ontario, Australia, London, Poland, Germany, Iraq (!)… and one from Nebraska.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend!
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Shana Mlawski (girl!), and John Perich to overthink celebrity deaths (tastefully), celebrity deathmatches (not tastefully), Transformers and the movie critics who love to hate them, favorite Michael Bay movies, and irony (those last two are not related). They take time to mock one listener voicemail and offer a variety of thoughtful perspectives on another.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend!
Episode 51: We Need a Woman on this Podcast
Jun 22, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts as he, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich overthink remaining Summer Movies for 2009. Also, Wrather shares the moving story of how his guinea pig died; all pledge to support our troops with a care package of pop culture goods; and the crew make enough off-color or borderline-misogynistic comments that all agree: We need a woman on this podcast.
Tell us what you think! Email us or have your mom call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend!
Episode 50: This is my textbook. There are many like it. But this one is mine.
Jun 15, 2009
For the 50th episode, Matthew Wrather hosts as he, Mark Lee, John Perich, and Jordan Stokes dispense more advice (at the request of a listener’s mom, no less), pimp our listeners, and take the guilt out of guilty pleasures (or put the “ear” in “irony,” depending on how you see it.)
Tell us what you think (and tell us your ideas for the 50th episode)! Email us or have your mom call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend!
Matthew Wrather hosts the panel of Overthinkers as he, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich take on your mom (ha!), the land down under, and whether “Sariel Thrawn” is a real name (hint: yes) and solve listener problems, including virginity and a dad who doesn’t like movies.
Tell us what you think (and tell us your ideas for the 50th episode)! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Matthew Wrather hosts as he, Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich reveal their favorite animated movies, give advice to a college student, debate tokenism and ethnic stereotyping, and think back to the good old days of Sesame Street.
In this episode, we also lay out a challenge for your mom.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Matthew Wrather rip Terminator: Salvation, McG, Christian Bale, and Skynet a new one.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Matthew Wrather hosts a panel including Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and John Perich, overthinking enduring instutions—college and the Catholic church—in honor of graduation season and Angels and Demons.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Episode 45: Abrams and Nimoy at Tanagra
May 11, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts a panel including Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee to overthink Star Trek, the (spoiler alert) awesome franchise reboot, and look at the future from a variety of perspectives–political, ethnic, pop cultural, technological.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Mark Lee hosts as he, Peter Fenzel, John Perich, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather (what what?!) go through some listener feedback, pick on the host, talk racial normativity, and engage in an epic rap battle on the merits of Kanye.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Matthew Wrather hosts as he, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, and Jon Perich overthink 2009’s Summer Movies through June. (Considering that last week they spent a lot of time talking about art, this probably qualifies as going from the sublime to the ridiculous.) Covering:
Pre-Season: Watchmen, Fast and Furious, The Hannah Montana Movie
May: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, Angels & Demons, Terminator Salvation, Night At The Museum 2: Battle of The Smithsonian, Pixar’s Up
June: Land of the Lost, The Taking of Pelham 123, Year One, Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Matthew Wrather hosts as the panel (Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee) overthink:
Crank truancy
Rage (the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus)
Pretending to be pretentious
Our Sean Connery impersonations
Dragonball
What Art Ain’t
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Tell us what you think! Email us or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles Supplement 2
Apr 11, 2009
Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather consider the season (and series?) finale of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Is this really the end? Is there no fate but what we make? Find out what you can do to bring T:SCC back for year three.
Tell us what you think! Email podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles Supplement 1
Apr 09, 2009
In a special supplement to the podcast, Mark Lee and Matthew Wrather overthink Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2, missed opportunities in plotting, the difference between movie and TV storytelling, and predictions for the season (series?) finale.
Tell us what you think! Email podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Episode 40: Broadcasting from A North Korean Satellite
Apr 06, 2009
Mark Lee, Pete Fenzel, and John Perich speculate on what a North Korean communications satellite would broadcast, bid farewell to ER, complain about hospital shows, and reflect on their memories of The Matrix. This episode was recorded in bullet time.
Tell us what you think! Email podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend.
Episode 39: Chips Are Free. Dinner Extra.
Mar 30, 2009
Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Ryan Sheely, and Matthew Wrather overthink guilty pop cultural pleasures, Dante’s Inferno (the movie based on the video game), the Jack Bauer cowboy/superhero myth, sexting, the Home Alone Syndrome, improbable sequels, and movie songs that tell you the plot of the movie.
Listeners from North Dakota: Please visit Paradiso restaurant and send us some pictures.
Tell us what you think! Email podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401.
Tell us what you think! Email podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. If you haven’t yet, take the very short survey! And… spread the overthinking by forwarding this episode to a friend. (It’s not chain main, but we promise something good will happen if you do.)
Mark Lee hosts as he, Matt Belinkie, and Josh McNeil overthink the Watchmen movie one last time (at least on the podcast), the Jim Cramer vs. John Jon Stewart showdown, and our Google Reader habits. Plus, Lee reveals a deep, dark secret from his past for the first time. (Feel free to flame him in the comments.)
Tell us what you think! Email podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com or call 20-EAT-LOG-01—that’s (203) 285-6401. And do us a favor and take the very short survey!
Episode 36: Watchmen Internal Affairs
Mar 09, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts a panel including Peter Fenzel, Joshua McNeil, David Shechner, and (drumroll) new OTI staff writer John Perich to overthink the Watchmen movie, which several of us have seen and all of us pontificate about, with minor digressions into Leonard Cohen and (of course) The Wire.
Tell us what you think! Email podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com or call 20-EAT-LOG-01… that’s (203) 285-6401. And do us a favor and take the very short survey!
Episode 35: Who [Verb]s the [Verb]ers?
Mar 02, 2009
By popular demand, Shana Mlawski makes her Overthinking It Podcast debut in this episode. She is joined by Mark Lee, Matthew Belinkie, and Peter Fenzel who overthink the Jonas Brothers concert movie, Watchmen, and other unfilmable things.
Warning: Watchmen (graphic novel) spoilers contained. We tried our best predict how the movie would end, so it’s possible (though highly unlikely) that we managed to spoil the ending of the movie as well.
Tell us what you think! Email podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com or call 20-EAT-LOG-01… that’s (203) 285-6401. And do us a favor and take the very short survey!
Your loyal OTIers stayed up and livetwittered the Oscars last night. You know we love movies a heckuva lot, and it was a pretty special night. With musical numbers and stuff.
And a bunch of us also helped move one of our key contributors to a new apartment. [N.B. We didn’t actually help him, Pete. He hired moviers. But we were totes with him in spirit. —Ed.]
So, while we usually upload a fresh podcast on Monday morning for you all to enjoy at the top of a fresh week, it’s going to have to wait a day.
Because if we’re ever going to pull down that coveted Best Actress Oscar, we’re going to need our beauty sleep.
Here’s what we twittered. Is this self-indulgent? Maybe. But it was pretty entertaining—at least for us—and we hope you enjoy it too.
Episode 33: Oscar Predictions Across Alternate Universes
Feb 16, 2009
Mark Lee hosts a panel consisting of Peter Fenzel and Jordan Stokes who, before they get to Oscar® predictions, overthink Joaquin Phoenix’s bizarre Letterman interview, Monster Ballads, Confessions of a Shopaholic, and the new Friday the 13th movie.
Comments? Rants? Raves? Call 20-EAT-LOG-01 (that’s (203) 285-6401).
After the jump: The list of Oscar® pics that the panel chose during the podcast. All of the author’s predictions are of course correct for the alternate universe for which they infallibly see the future, but check back next week to see if any of these lined up with reality as we purportedly perceive it (Note: before you rip Lee’s predictions to shreds, either listen to the podcast to determine his criteria, or just look for the pattern).
Best PictureLee: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Fenzel: Frost/Nixon
Stokes: Slumdog Millionaire
Milk
The Reader
Best Director
Lee, Fenzel, Stokes: Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk
Best Actor
Lee: Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Fenzel: Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Stokes: * Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Actress
Lee: Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Stokes: Meryl Streep – Doubt
Fenzel: Kate Winslet – The Reader
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Best Supporting Actor
Lee: Josh Brolin – Milk
Fenzel Stokes: Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Robert Downey, Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road
Best Supporting Actress
Lee: Amy Adams – Doubt
Fenzel, Stokes: Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Original Screenplay
Fenzel: Milk
Lee: Frozen River
Stokes: WALL-E
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Best Adapted Screenplay
Lee: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Fenzel: Frost/Nixon
Stokes: Slumdog Millionaire
The Reader
Doubt
Best Animated Feature
Lee: Bolt
Fenzel: Kung Fu Panda
Stokes: WALL-E
Best Foreign Language Film
Fenzel: Waltz with Bashir (Israel)
Stokes: The Class (France)
Lee: The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Best Animated Short
Lee: La Maison En Petits Cubes
Stokes, Fenzel: Oktapodi
Lavatory – Lovestory
Presto
This Way Up
Best Art Direction
Lee: Changeling
Fenzel: Revolutionary Road
Stokes: The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Best Cinematography
Fenzel: Slumdog Millionaire
Lee: Changeling
Stokes: The Dark Knight
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Reader
Best Costume Design
Lee: Australia
Stokes, Fenzel: The Duchess
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Milk
Revolutionary Road
Best Documentary Feature
Lee, Stokes: Encounters at the End of the World
Fenzel: Man on Wire
Nerakhoon (The Betrayal)
The Garden
Trouble the Water
Best Documentary Short
Lee, Fenzel: The Conscience of Nhem En
Stokes: Smile Pinki
The Final Inch
The Witness
Best Film Editing
Lee: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Stokes: The Dark Knight
Fenzel: Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Best Live Action Short
Lee, Stokes: Manon On the Asphalt
Fenzel: The Pig
On the Line
New Boy
Toyland
Best Makeup
Lee: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Fenzel, Stokes: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight
Best Original Score
Lee: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Fenzel: Milk
Stokes: Slumdog Millionaire
Defiance
WALL-E
Best Original Song
Lee: “Down to Earth” from WALL-E
Stokes: “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire
Fenzel: “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire
Best Sound Editing
Lee:The Dark Knight
Fenzel, Stokes: Wanted
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Best Sound MixingLee: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Stokes: WALL-E
Fenzel: Wanted
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
Best Visual EffectsLee, Stokes, Fenzel: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Episode 32: Music You Will Never Hear
Feb 09, 2009
Matthew Wrather hosts a panel including Mark Lee, Peter Fenzel, and Ryan Sheely (with special guest John Levin) to overthink the moderate suck-fest that is the Grammys and our recent visit to New York Comic-Con.
Comments? Rants? Raves? Email podcast at overthinkingit dot com or call 20-EAT-LOG-01 (that’s (203) 285-6401).
The Overthinkers tackle everything about the superbowl except, um, football. Matthew Wrather hosts a panel including Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, and Mark Lee to overthink Superbowl commercials, the Bruce Springsteen halftime show, and why nobody ever made a Star Trek about a cargo ship.
Comments? Rants? Raves? Email podcast at overthinkingit dot com or call 20-EAT-LOG-01 (that’s (203) 285-6401).
The Overthinkers (well, some of them) gather in New York’s East Village. Matthew Wrather hosts a panel including Matthew Belinkie, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and Ryan Sheely (live), and Peter Fenzel and Dave Shechner (remotely) to Overthink listener questions, the inauguration, Barack Obama’s cult of personality, and the Oscars.
As always, call 20-EAT-LOG-01 (that’s (203) 285-6401) to leave a voicemail. (Email is still down.)
Matthew Wrather hosts a panel with Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Jordan Stokes, and David Shechner to wrap up Back To The Future week on OverthinkingIt.com with the science of time travel, suspension of disbelief, and what a Jigga-Watt is anyway.
As always, call 20-EAT-LOG-01 (that’s (203) 285-6401) to leave a voicemail. (As of this post, email is still down.)
Matthew Wrather hosts a panel including Matthew Belinkie, Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, David Shechner, and special guest “Al” to wrap up Karate Kid Week, including:
A final word on the racial message of The Karate Kid
An extremely detailed look at LA’s San Fernando Valley
The 1987 Ford Tempo
Digressions into Barbie, Spaceballs, and Winnebagoes
Some more about the geography of Los Angeles
The Coming Remake (reboot? travesty?) of The Karate Kid
As always, email us at podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com with your comments, or call 20-EAT-LOG-01 (that’s (203) 285-6401) to leave a voicemail.
Matthew Wrather hosts a panel including Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, Josh McNeil and Jordan Stokes to overthink the role and appeal of stories like Twilight and to relate this latest take on the vampire story to the OTI horror muse, the zombie.
Warning: Twilight spoilers. Inconsequential spoilers, since if you care about that kind of thing you’ve probably read the books already, but still.
In a special supplement to the Overthinking It Podcast, Matthew Wrather, Matthew Belinkie, and Peter Fenzel consider the next to last episode of The Shield.
A special two-part episode. In part one, Matthew Wrather, Matthew Belinkie, Mark Lee, and new regular Josh McNeil (who ditches us halfway through) overthink:
The Simpsons‘s longevity
The coming revolution in film exhibition
How none of us saw Bond
Synecdoche, New York: Painful but Good
Recent advances in video game technology
And in Part Two, Wrather sits down with Ryan Sheely for a profound discussion of the sociological implications of Gossip Girl. The word “purports” is used repeatedly, and the word “telos” at least once.
As always, feedback is welcome in the comments, by email to podcast at overthinkingit dot com, or at (203) 285-6401 (that’s 20-EAT-LOG-01).
In a special supplement to the Overthinking It Podcast, Matthew Belinkie, Matthew Wrather, and Peter Fenzel discuss last night’s episode of The Shield. WARNING: Contains Spoilers.
[Note: There were problems in the original MP3 file that have been fixed. This repost is provided for the benefit of those using automagic podcatchers.]
Matthew Wrather, Mark Lee, and Matthew Belinkie are joined by less frequent podcasters David Shechner and Peter Fenzel and (again!) by guest Josh McNeil to overthink:
Wrather: Lisa Loeb Jill Sobule Halloween Song (http://www.npr.org/blogs/bryantpark/2007/10/jill_sobule_sings_no_to_grownu.html) UPDATE: Oops. It’s Jill Sobule, not Lisa Loeb. My bad. —mw
Apparently, the MP3 of this podcast somehow got corrupted in transit to our server. Apologies. Here is the full Episode 16, reposted for the benefit of automated podcatchers like iTunes. Speaking of which, if you like the show, subscribe on iTunes!
Fenzel, Lee, and Wrather overthink:
Talking about Politics without talking about politics.
Weaseling out of responsibility for the ads on our site.
Fenzel: Interior Crocodile Alligator by Chip tha Ripper (http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Interior_Crocodile_Alligator)
Wrather: Good Dick (http://www.gooddickthefilm.com)
Contact us at podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com or leave a voicemail for playback on a future episode at (203) 285-6401. If you rap, leave a message with a freestyle. The best ones will be presented and adjudicated.
Episode 15: Between Platform 9 and 3/4 and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Oct 14, 2008
In a rare two-hander, Wrather and Fenzel overthink:
Seeing Movies Alone (and being a dick)
Mocking the Afflicted
Tyler Perry, Entrepreneur
The Nature of Spoilers
The South Park Indy Rape Episode
Email questions and comments to podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com or leave a voicemail to be played back on the show at (203) 285-6401 (include your name — or pseudonym! — and location). And come on, give us some ratings on iTunes!
As always you can email us at podcast at overthinkingit dot com, or call (203) 285-6401 to leave a voicemail that will be played back on the podcast. And would it kill you to visit the iTunes page and leave us a nice review?
Episode 13: Crossing Sections off the Map
Sep 29, 2008
Wrather, Lee, and Fenzel overthink peak oil and peak rock, the meaning of hip-hop, the ringtone bubble, politics, pornography, and artistic protectionism and offer a new feature, OTI picks, while Wrather manages to say something offensive to every nationality, ethnic group, and world religion. Spoiler alert for Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger.
Warning: This podcast may be NSFW. Also, a lot of the offensive stuff is meant facetiously.
On an upcoming episode of the podcast, we will overthink listener questions. Email podcast AT overthinkingit DOT com with your queries and quandries, or call (203) 285-6401 and leave a voicemail to be played back on the show.
UPDATE (2008-08-08): Spoilers related to (of all things) The Wire were inadvertently included in this podcast. They have been removed, and the link above has a spoiler-free edition of the podcast.
Wrather is joined by Belinkie, Fenzel, Shechner, and Stokes to rate Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on a 5-whip scale. (Spoiler alert: The movie earns a “whip it”, but not a “whip it good.”)
Wrather, Stokes, Sheely, and Fenzel preview summer movie releases through June in the latest episode of the OTI Podcast. Yes, some of them have been released already. Deal with it.
Wrather interviews and hazes new blog author David Shechner, asking him the five questions that will sequence his pop culture DNA. (This was recorded before Shana started the comix.)
Amid a large number of semi-relevant digressions, Matthew Belinkie, Ryan Sheely, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather discuss the trainwreck phenomenon of Britney Spears, the alarming link between corn and horror, and the terrible things that happen when you replace the “c” in “corn horror” with a “p”.
In this bonus episode of the Overthinking It Podcast, Jordan Stokes interviews Bear McCreary, composer of the Battlestar Galactica and Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicle TV series. Enjoy!
Belinkie, Wrather, and Fenzel analyze presidential and gubernatorial sex scandals throughout American history, touching on Eliot Spitzer and “Kristen” (Ashley Alexandra Dupré), Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, Hugh Grant and a cut rate Sunset Blvd. hooker, and Grover Cleveland.
Excuse the bad Skype connection and light production values. This is Episode 4 of our podcast, and as our podcasting kung fu becomes mightier, we have been trying to use musical bumpers, get good sound quality, and so forth. But we wanted to get this up while it was still relevant.
Part 2 of Podcast Episode 2 features a discussion of the 2008 Academy Awards between Pete Fenzel, Ryan Sheely, Matt Wrather, and—for reasons passing understanding—the same anonymous political operative as Part 1.
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Rob Cesternino appeared twice on Survivor, and now hosts “Rob Has A Podcast,” focusing on reality television, and “Post Show Recaps,” focusing on scripted TV.
Sam Reich heads up College Humor Video and is the executive producer of Adam Ruins Everything on TruTV.
Our guest Arjun Gupta calls himself a “Storyteller and a Service Member.” As an actor, he currently appears on the SyFy show Magicians, and you may have seen him on How to Get Away with Murder and Nurse Jackie. His own podcast, American Desis, which Arjun hosts alongside comedian Akaash Singh, is geared to discovering what it means to be a South Asian in this country today.
Our guest Overthinker Jonathan Kite is a classically-trained actor, stand-up comedian, and 
Josh Thomas is an Australian comedian, writer, actor, and creator of the show Please Like Me which airs in the US on the Pivot cable network.
Get the Fall 2015 OTI T-shirt now.
D J Bean is a sportswriter and pop culture enthusiast. Check him out on 
Order yours now! 
Actor Diona Reasonover can next be seen starring on TBS’ brand new comedy “Clipped” as Charmaine, a hairstylist whose dry humor, sharp personality and observant mannerisms radiate throughout the barbershop.
We’re releasing the first episode of 
In this Musical Talmud edition of the Overthinking It Podcast, Mark Lee analyzes a series of songs called “American Girl” and discovers the true nature of American greatness.
Ben Adams and Matthew Wrather kick off the Overthinking It Book Club with an introduction to Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.
Matthew Wrather hosts with Peter Fenzel, Mark Lee, John Perich, Jordan Stokes, and special guest 
:
Belinkie, Wrather, and Fenzel analyze presidential and gubernatorial sex scandals throughout American history, touching on Eliot Spitzer and “Kristen” (Ashley Alexandra Dupré), Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, Hugh Grant and a cut rate Sunset Blvd. hooker, and Grover Cleveland.
