68: Fall TV shows, Hanna from Sweden and Ask Amber

Did a lot of work in Los Angeles, covering the Death March with Cocktails. Didn't do a podcast. Said I was going to do one -- or three -- and didn't. In this podcast, I fess up to that. But it's not really an apology. Who needs one of those? On the plus side, this particular podcast, complete with Question Boy (Joe Garofoli) and Manny (Benny Evangelista), has yet another new theme song, features us calling out of the podcast for the second (and third) time in history and, brace yourelf for this: we're going to outsource a bunch of our questions to someone who can actually answer them. First we call Hanna from Sweden, who's actually Irish (and who was in San Francisco -- but it still counts!). We are trying to have drinks with Hanna, as promised, because it would really set a bad example if someone came all the way from Sweden, stayed in Oakland where both QB and I live, plus visited The City and had dinner a half block from The Chronicle -- and we couldn't fit them in for drinks. It will happen! Then we cold-called Amber, our Outsourced TV Expert From Canada, and she said, "Why would you do that to me?" Awesome. A great start. Another person to make fun of me. Anyway, Ask Amber should be a significant upgrade on the podcast if she hasn't already put the call blocker on. We then got another call from Andrew from Ireland, confirming once again that we are the International TV Podcast of Record. Totally gassed by all the effort -- two calls out, chatting, taking calls from Ireland and such -- we decided to wind it down. A little shorty robe talk, a little light banter and we were done. Then we all hugged. Just to shake the rust off. "Your man" also is planning a major party for TVTM listeners and The Bastard Machine readers, which you can kinda-sorta find out about in Thursday's tighter and brighter podcast.