Chicano Squad
The Death Of José Campos Torres
This new 11-part historical series from Vox Media looks back on a past story of police brutality and racial conflict with the present very much in mind. The central narrative of Chicano Squad follows the exploits of a newly created team of Latino police officers in late-1970s Houston tasked with solving as many homicides as possible in 90 days. The first act, however, instead examines the inciting events that led to the team’s formation. José Campos Torres was a 23-year-old troubled war veteran who was arrested after a bar brawl and later died in police custody. That he was viciously beaten by police was not disputed, nor was the fact that local jail refused to book him on grounds that he needed medical attention. A wider narrative scope shows how Torres’ death came amidst a relatively new wave of seething racial tensions, as the once largely black-and-white oil town swelled with an influx of Latino workers during WWII-induced labor shortages. Even before that, the show points out, the heavy-handed tactics of Houston police were well known, immortalized by the musician Leadbelly. These collective traumas all fueled the flashpoint sparked by Torres’ death and burned in the background of everything that came next. [Zach Brooke]
How Did This Get Played?
Yo! Noid with Danielle Radford
One can’t help but hear the title of this podcast and think about its Earwolf ancestor How Did This Get Made?, but hosts Heather Anne Campbell and Nick Wiger (along with producer Matt Apodaca) manage not to imitate the dynamic that Paul Scheer, Jason Mantzoukas, and June Diane Raphael have going on over at HDTGM. Instead, this crew maintains its own signature vibe as they discuss weird and awful games, joined each week by a different guest who has suffered through the bad graphics, storylines, and physics and lived to tell the tale. This time around, writer/producer/comedian Danielle Radford comes aboard to discuss the old school Capcom/Nintendo game Yo! Noid. Yes, as in The Noid, of Domino’s Pizza fame. It inevitably becomes a conversation about product placement in video games, culminating in the absurd gaming artifact that is Yo! Noid. Revisiting these goofy ’90s-era pizza-themed adventures is what HDTGP was put on this earth to do. [Jose Nateras]
Search Party: The Podcast
“Denial” with Taran Killam and Charles Rogers
The deliciously off-kilter hipster-noir comedy/legal drama Search Party from HBO Max (previously TBS) achieves the perfect balance of silly bits and biting cultural criticism, all wrapped up in cotton candy fun. Each episode is so filled with Easter eggs and pop cultural homages that newcomers need a fan to guide them through it all. Cue host Bowen Yang and Search Party: The Podcast, which provides the space that cerebral fans need to parse through and unpack each episode. The audio companion series provides insight from co-creators, actors, writers, directors, and celebrity fans into the process of creating a complicated genre dramedy. This premiere episode (featuring superfan Taran Killam and series co-creator Charles Rogers) explores the themes of denial woven throughout season three and asks the big questions: Why did Drew need to find the swan tape? Does Dory believe her version of Keith’s death? And what does it mean for the gang to be faced with where they’re from? A good listen for anyone who wants to think they’re a good person. [Morgan McNaught]
WTF with Marc Maron
Thundercat
Even though he’s been interviewing musicians on and off for about a decade now, it’s always fascinating to hear the usually rock/indie-minded Marc Maron interview someone you wouldn’t expect to be in his musical wheelhouse. Surprisingly, he’s all prepared to holler at Stephen Bruner, a.k.a. Thundercat, the bass-playing, Grammy-nominated musician/composer/producer who has collaborated with Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, and childhood chum Kamasi Washington (who Maron interviewed a few years back). The episode is a nerdy earful, as the ever inquisitive Maron asks Bruner about his influences and how he comes up with the jazz/funk/soul music that usually makes up his albums. They also delve into such geek matters as anime and the new Wonder Woman movie. Of course, since this is WTF, Maron gets Bruner to open up about the people he’s lost in his life. Even though they don’t touch on some things Thundercat fans would like to know more about (what it’s like having Ariana Grande as a fan is high up there), it’s still nice hearing Maron have a respectful talk with a funky fella. [Craig D. Lindsey]
20 Comments
HDTGM is basically someone reading an old cracked article called ‘5 weird SNES games to read about while taking a dump in 2013′ while somehow making it less interesting
I like it sometimes. If you enjoy their commentary and find it funny then great it’s for you. If not it’s not. You have so many other things you can listen to available. It’s not spreading misinformation or anything harmful, why bother pointing out you hate a podcast if it’s benign? Do you want a refund?
because its a recommendation page with an attached discussion page where its expected people will discuss the stuff they recommend? HDTGP is at best lazy and often insulting (when they don’t bother to research the game and end up crapping on a perfectly serviceable game that just happens to be aimed at a fandom they personally are not familiar with.)
Most podcasts like that are just middle class people doing a hobby that gives them trivial amounts of income. It’s like booing someone at a small town gallery or shitting on a super tiny theater production. When you could just leave instead. You just don’t like this form of benign comedy or the topic. Comedy is subjective. I didn’t shit on Search Party on this and I hate the cringe comedy hipster fest. Oh fun it’s like Entourage meets Hardy Boys.
‘Most podcasts like that are just middle class people doing a hobby that gives them trivial amounts of income’
and these are professional comedians who were hired by a podcasting company that is owned by a major media conglomerate to talk about something they don’t seem invested in, with a rotating group of other professional comedians who rarely seem to play games themselves.
hilariously highlighted by the episode where they decided to bring on a native american comedian to discuss custer’s revenge, a barely existent atari ‘game’ that is correctly only remembered for being infamously racist and ill conceived. if you’re so out of touch with games history that you just see the title and go ‘yeah, we need a tokenized minorities hot take on this’ then maybe just stop.
They intentionally released it and apologized profusely for it. Leaving it still available to show themselves fucking up and owning up to it to this day. They had every ability not to release it and you would never know about it. So they did the right thing in the end which is a lot better than many people ever do. You’re supposed to admit you’re wrong, apologize, change, learn and grow right? Have you never fucked up in your life? Then have to learn and grow from it? I just checked they don’t have many of their old episodes up for free, but they left that one. Should they be doing something different than this oh perfect human?
yeah, see, i wouldn’t have invited a native american person (or, any person) on my light hearted comedy podcast to discuss a video game called ‘custers revenge’ in which the second sentence in the wikipedia description is ‘the game gained notoriety owing to its goal of raping native american women.’ I think i can pretty decisively say that i would have gotten to that sentence and decided to go in a different direction.
Did you read my reply?Have you never fucked up? What should they do after the fact to make it better?
Related, do you think Disney and DC should refire James Gunn? He fucked up, guess he can never live that down right?
Is it not human to err?
Seriously though it’s also human to criticize. Where you coming from with this “only positive commentary please” stuff, this is a comment section on a review article on a review site. Criticisms are to be expected, even if the reviewed thing was free at some point.Personally I was more inclined to agree with the mistake in the first post where he abbreviated it as HDTGM. That show does suck. Unfocused, rambly, yelling over each other, and yet still somehow incredibly predictable.
As personally valid as your complaints may be, the fact that multiple other people have pointed out they enjoy the podcast should be ample enough proof that they have little need of stopping- if entertainment has an audience, your judgment bears little proof on anything besides how you shouldn’t be a part of said audience. You should just learn to enjoy the things you enjoy, and move along when they don’t.
Is that the only one you’ve heard or is that just the one you read about and felt outraged?
professional comedians who were hired by a podcasting company that is owned by a major media conglomerate to talk about something they don’t seem invested in
Wiger started out in game development, and Heather Anne-Campbell is a former video games journalist. Whatever your feelings about the show, it’s pretty clear the hosts are invested in the subject matter.
I 100% love it.I think they have a great dynamic and Heather Anne Campbell specifically is a joy to listen to in all her dorky glory.
The show’s fun, I like it.
The cast of Search Party is tremendous. The show overall is clever and scathing, but I have to say despite having some personal issues with millennials, the show might be somewhat too harsh on them
the creators (besides Showalter) and writers and cast are essentially all millennials, ones that obviously work in the media / creative sector, so i think it’s self-deprecation and lived experience more than anything. it’s mainly skewering a very specific sliver of the demographic, too. i don’t think they’re inferring that let’s say… 30 year-old guys who work at auto body shops are privileged and clueless
My only previous exposure to How Did This Get Played was that time they thought it was a good idea to bring a Native American man on to talk about fucking “Custer’s Revenge”.
Joey Clift has since been on again earlier this year to talk about a stupid Garfield game. It was fun.I think if he can move on from it, so can the rest of us.
Joey Clift wrote about his experience on the podcast in a thoughtful essay: https://www.avclub.com/i-celebrated-native-american-heritage-month-by-ruining-1840152081
Wow. Thanks for posting that. What a great piece.