The Occasionalists Podcast

We are back with our second full episode of Sports in '61, as we take a look at the television deal that would shape the NFL and other sports in America for the next six decades: The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.

New month! New year! New theme! We step into 1961 to take a look at the sports landscape. Yes, a full month of sports episodes all centered around that specific year. Is that even possible? Oh buddy, you have no idea just how possible it is. But first, some trivia about some major people, places, and things from the sports world of 1961.

Once again, the Einstein-Rosen Bridge has provided us with a news brief. This time from the year...2065! Bad time to be part of the online outrage mob. Great time to be a Browns fan!

Our last episode of this potpourri 1985 month finds us turning our oversized Sherlock-esque magnifying glass toward one of the 20th century's most infamous terrorists, Ted Kaczynski, aka The Unabomber. While his run of horrific bombings extended before and after 1985, this year proved to be one of the most active and pivotal times in his 17-year reign of terror, including the first time his bombs killed someone. We'll talk about the infamous manifesto and how it's an extensive look into the mind of someone suffering from lifelong, untreated emotional distress.  

Our second potpourri episode for 1985 is live, and we are tackling (trying to!) what might be the greatest team in NFL history, the Monsters of the Midway, the 1985 Chicago Bears. If not the greatest team of all time, it is undeniable they had the most dominant season in NFL history, only to cap it with an even more historically dominant playoff run that saw them bully and demolish every single opponent.  All while there was infighting amongst the coaches and players, with a nasty rift between legendary head coach Mike Ditka and legendary defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, growing wider every day the two were together. And when they weren't exploding teams on the field or exploding at each other on the sidelines, they were also busy becoming pop culture icons. All in a day's work for....Da Bears!

We are in the hot, sweaty dog days of summer, folks. Which means it's a new month and a new year.  For August, we are taking things back to 1985! A pivotal year in the middle of a bunch of really important years for both pop culture and the world at large. Which means, we kind of miss out on some major events and critical pieces of art. But that means we get to freestyle a little bit this whole month. Hooray! First up, a look at how the video game industry nearly buckled before a plucky Japanese gaming company came along to save the Princess from the clutches of Bowser and/or Gannon industry and create new ways to make video games and a whole lot of money.  

Since you asked for it no one at all asked for this here's the Silas Crane cut of OCC Headline News for July 31 2100. Amazing that I was able to clear up the signal!

We've once again found a frequency emanating from deep inside the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. There's some temporal jumbling happening, but this signal is the farthest in the future we've been able to intercept thus far.  Wait, this is actually two separate signals, but they are riding into our space-time together all the way from the year 2100! Spoiler alert: Sounds great! OR IS IT?!

We wrap up this month's episodes covering the events of 1999 with a look at two of the most impactful, world-changing events of the last millennium: The Battle in Seattle (WTO Ministerial Conference) and the Columbine High School Shooting. One forever changed our economies and dealt a blow to domestic labor and the environment and the other fundamentally shook every American to their core in a way no one ever fully recovered from.

Our second 1999 episode takes a wide look at the movies and musical acts dominating their respective charts, how consumer and studio habits have changed the movie landscape, and why certain musicians are just so indescribably "millennial."  

Was it a hoax? A fear-mongering tactic? A crisis that was carefully averted? A little bit of all of the above? One thing is for sure, though: Y2K was THE hot topic of 1999.

July is here, which means hot dogs, fireworks, swimming, and a new theme month! It's 1999 all month long on the podcast, and what better way to introduce some of the big things we're going to be talking about than with some pop culture trivia?! Is that your final answer?

An oddity sprang up today, as if having an Einstein-Rosen Bridge in your house wasn't enough of an oddity, but we received our first broadcast signal from the past. This is a very exciting development in the short existence of this seemingly one-way street of communication. More puzzling is that it seems to be a combination of two distinct signals from different times in the past. It's getting weird around here!

Our final episode of 1959 takes us to Moscow to fight the Soviets on unusual turf: the kitchen! While scientific and medical leaps defined the Space Race and the broader Cold War, the geopolitical and ideological struggle had a tangible impact on the American household. Rapid advancements in consumer technology and everyday goods dramatically elevated the domestic standard of living, placing the US miles ahead of the Soviet Union. And the US was not afraid to brag about that widening gap on the world's stage.

The next episode in The Gateway to Tomorrow series has us rediscovering the incredible medical breakthroughs of 1959 that changed disease treatment for millions worldwide. We also look at how stigma and shame around diseases perpetuate the barbaric treatment of the most vulnerable in society.

Our first full topic episode of the month takes us back to when the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union really kicked into high gear. By 1959, the Soviet Union held a massive technological lead in the Space Race. Driven by intense Cold War geopolitics, the United States and its newly formed space agency, NASA, went all-in on a singular, daring goal: beat the Soviets to the Moon. As America stood on the precipice of global scientific domination, Russia's time as a superpower was rapidly coming to an end, as the country crumbled from within.

It's June, and you know what that means....new month, new year! We are stepping into the WAAAYback Machine to take a look at the year 1959. The earliest possible year for this year's parameters and very likely, one of the farthest looks back ever on this podcast. This whole month, we will be focusing on the pivotal scientific advancements from this year that touched the lives of everyone on Earth and set the world hurtling toward a new modern age.  

Once again, the spatial anomaly in my house has delivered, albeit later than usual, a radio signal from the future. We are checking back in with the movie review tandem of Brayson Lee and King Garcia Sato Jr. and their long-running movie review show, From The Balcony.  This time, they are tackling some legacy sequels, including a new Star Wars installment. Shocking, I know!

Our final episode for this double-feature Movie May special takes us back into one of my favorite comedy subgenres: the spoof! Yeah baby! We are looking at the movie that reinvented what movie spoofs would look like for the next 3+ decades with the ZAZ classic, Airplane! Then we are off to posh, 1930s England to view a send-up of British period pieces, Fackham Hall. Will Airplane! Hold up to another rewatch? Will Fackham Hall charm someone who has never seen Downton Abbey? But more importantly: Have you ever been to a Turkish Prison?

Our next double feature for Movie May finds us tackling a horror movie that feels decades ahead of its time and its sequel that somehow manages to balance a whole bunch of stylistic spinning plates.  First, we hammer down on The Shining. The movie that beat the "Trauma = Horror" trend by about 30 years and remains a polarizing film for fans and critics alike. Then we take on The Shining's lega-sequel, set nearly 40 years after the original, Doctor Sleep. A movie that tries to tie together three separate storytelling styles while honoring a modern classic.

Our first review of Movie May is now live! We tackle the "Dark Blockbuster" with a look at the second installment of the Star Wars franchise, The Empire Strikes Back. Somewhat controversial in its own time, it set the standard for how to create a blockbuster that was downbeat and saw our heroes lose and lose big.  Much more controversial in more recent times is its franchise mirror, The Last Jedi. A purposeful upending of some tropes and storytelling beats that was roundly punished by toxic fandom. Let's take a closer look at these two middle, darker chapters of the Star Wars mega-franchise. 

New month! You know what that means...new theme and a new year to cover! For Movie May, we are jumping into the blockbuster films of 1980. A truly great year for film. HOWEVA — We need to make a detour through the late 1970s to see exactly how films, marketing, technology, and even the business model changed in just a few short years. 

Once again, we are using the spatial anomaly that has taken up residence in my house to explore the future. This time, we are getting what appears to be a series of previews for the Summer slate of programming on the newly formed mega-network, SkyMount Universal on Verscovery Bros+. We are getting a rare glimpse at a new Yellowstone spinoff, and it looks like a grittier reboot of Star Trek. How exciting! Let's see what this media conglomerate is offering us in just a few years.

Our final TV in 73 episode for Boob Tube April finds us doing a mini-review for the gritty, visceral, macho cop show, Police Story. Abandoning escapist storylines for something more real and borderline cynical, Police Story broke new ground in the early 1970s with a true-to-life approach to the criminals and cops that make up the Los Angeles crime world. There are few happy endings in Joseph Wambaugh's vision of policing in LA. Let's get to it!

Boob Tube April rolls on! Our next episode of TV in 73 explores how the shift from escapist, light-hearted entertainment changed drastically over a few years. It was perhaps best exemplified by the massive popularity of the Watergate Hearings, where the American people watched in droves and in real time as all goodwill between them and the institutions they had come to trust evaporated over 47 days. Plus, bonus coverage of one of the greatest docuseries of all time (The World At War) that digs into the atrocities of WWII and how easily an entire country was turned over to a madman and his desires for power and vengeance. Serious Television, indeed!

Our first breakdown for Boob Tube April finds us taking a deep dive into the seminal docuseries An American Family. A first-of-its-kind show that followed the everyday lives of the Loud Family of Santa Barbara, CA, and put all of their strengths, weaknesses, triumphs, troubles, and turmoil on display for millions of Americans every night. A controversial and groundbreaking series, the show is widely credited as the first reality TV show. Depending on who you ask, of course. If you haven't already, let's meet the Louds!

Our first episode of April has us examining the TV landscape in the year 1973. A turning point for emerging TV technology, the Golden Age of the Sitcom, and some landmark programming that marked the first steps toward shows recognizable even today. Television...That's what makes America great, buddy.

Once again, we are tapping into the astronomical anomaly in my house to peer into the future. This time, a much nearer future as we hear some of the big headlines from March 31st, 2028.  

We are back to wrap up this week's minisodes on the demise of physical media with a brief chronicle of the most vicious device ever created. The smartphone! Vicious in the sense that it ruthlessly killed its biggest competitor in less than a decade and then began killing other everyday devices that had enjoyed their place in the consumer marketplace for decades. The smartphone takes no prisoners and shows no mercy.

Our last full week of minisodes is here, detailing the change in our media consumption habits that hits an interesting inflection point in 2008. First, we examine how rapidly our physical media of choice changed over a few decades. Or in some cases,  in the course of a couple of years. One question that might be impossible to answer: What comes after streaming media? And how fast will it take over?  

Our next minisode, shining a light on the country's financial health in 2008, has us taking a deeper look at the perpetrator of the biggest Ponzi scheme in US history, Bernie Madoff. How could someone swindle so many people out of so much money? As it turns out, rich people and the people regulating wealth aren't actually that smart.

You think things are bad now? They could always be worse.  Case in point: The Great Recession. In 2008, the global financial system spun out of control, pushing the US and other developed nations to the brink of another depression.  We avoided that fate, but at a significant cost. What will the current affordability crisis cost us? Besides credibility on the world stage and the lives of American soldiers, of course.

***UPDATE*** Some technical difficulties scuttled the original episode. However, that has been corrected. So please enjoy this episode as usual. THANK YOU! ------------------------------------- Our next episode of The Outsiders examines how the tools of digital activism and online protest were co-opted by the oppressors and turned against The Outsiders in just a few years. And how in less than a generation, the idea of digital activism has fundamentally changed for the worse. But it's not all bad, right?! Right? *insert Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker meme here*

Our first political minisode of 2008, The Mirror Twins, is here! Surely there's nothing that Barack Obama and his public nemesis, Donald Trump, share in common. Right! Right?! *Insert Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker meme here*

The March of Minisodes is upon us, and so is a brand new year! This time, we are tackling the latest year of our challenge, 2008.  For many of us older folks, 2008 feels like only yesterday. Yet, despite that sense of recency, it was a year of pivotal beginnings and endings—many of which flew under the radar at the time. Pause that special edition VHS and have a listen to The Year of Firsts and Lasts.

As it turns out, the physics-defying Einstein-Rosen Bridge in my apartment receives multiple frequencies from across different times. This one is from exactly 44 years in the future, believe it or not! So, without further ado, I present a Chicago-based movie review show featuring two aging Gen Alpha culture critics: From The Balcony.  

We close out our 1991 coverage by examining the most dangerous weapon ever unleashed on the American public: RAP MUSIC. That's right — not the threat of nuclear war, not the crack epidemic, not even a backmasked Judas Priest record begging every child to join their local Satanic Church — Rap. Thanks to the tireless moral guardians at the Parents Music Resource Center, we now know that 2 Live Crew, NWA, Public Enemy, and Ice-T were single-handedly responsible for the complete collapse of Western civilization. So join us for a look at the world before these men destroyed it forever. Somehow, improbably, we survived.

Our next 1991 pop culture episode is live. This week, we're looking at how cinema diverged sharply from its past — and discuss whether or not that divergence still holds today. We're highlighting three movies from 1991 that show how studios and filmmakers were positioning their movies along three distinct tracks, and give the hallmarks for each: The Silence of the Lambs (Prestige Cinema) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Modern Blockbuster) Slacker (Indie Film Takeover)  

Our first episode of February finds us navigating a big year for pop culture, 1991. We kick off our coverage of this critical numerical palindrome with a look at how the dedicated fans of underreported music genres and proper data collection radically changed the musical identity of an entire decade. Plus, we talk about how to make your music more mechanical and why it's super chic to rebel against your parents. Dust off those flannels, we're going back to 1991!  

In one of the more interesting developments on this podcast, we accidentally found a direct signal from the future. It's only tuned into this one news broadcast, but it seems like a valuable resource we're definitely going to tap every month. Here's the first dispatch we received from 20 years in the future.  

We wrap up 1965 with a look at how the media covered the height of the Civil Rights Movement. From the Deep South to the West Coast, America was embroiled in a civil rights battle that the establishment would prefer to have crushed rather than even acknowledge. The similarities to our present are stark—once more, the establishment is using state-sponsored violence and repression in the face of civil unrest, and is actively trying to rewrite a narrative we are watching in real time. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The second episode of our dive into 1965 is now live. We pick up and head to Vietnam for the beginnings of a generation-defining conflict that reshaped the government's relationship with the media, showcased the cost of American interventionism, and changed public perception of the US forever.

Our first episode of 2026 is here! To kick off our brand new theme, we are taking it way back to a year of political turmoil, foreign wars, and true crime. That may sound very current, but that's the point! We are discussing the year 1965 for all of January, and we are starting with the unprecedented rise in violence in the United States, headlined by America's budding interest in serial killers.

Our final episode of 2025 is a revisit to the top episode of the year, and it's no surprise what's taking the top spot: The Walking Dead! Specifically, our look at The Walking Dead during Franchise February with Chemma. This episode's popularity is proof that not only is TWD a legit mega-franchise, but maybe the biggest in television history. Maybe?  Let's discuss it! 

Our last new episode of 2025 is a look at some of the best of pop culture in 2025.  Short and sweet synopsis, no? See you next year, kiddos!

Our #2 episode of the year is another academic-style episode where we broke down the differences between movie scores and soundtracks and some of the key terminology that comes with this musical territory. Enjoy!

It's time for our first of two wrap-up episodes, offering a direct look back at each month and what was learned throughout the year. Enjoy the first part of our Year in Review.

The #3 episode as voted (there was no vote) on by you is another intro minisode. This time, it was our intro to the world of Horror Comedies.  What makes a horror comedy great and how do the two genres overlap? Listen and find out!

This past week has been one of the hardest all of us associated with the podcast have ever had. Our dear friend Dennis Kisela passed away unexpectedly last week. He was a building block of what this show would eventually become, teaming up with me almost two decades(!) ago to produce our stupid little sports and pop culture podcast. Needless to say everyone who knew him is crushed and words alone cannot do him justice. I think re-sharing the Drinking W/ Buds episode, Denny's last on the podcast, will give everyone some insight into the funny and kind person he was and why he was a great friend to me for over 20 years. Dennis Kisela. Gone but not forgotten.

The #4 episode of 2025 has been revealed and it is...an intro episode?! I'm assuming this is because it's really short and our brains can't focus for more than 30 minutes at a time. I get it! Enjoy this brief minisode on the goings on for the first ever Musical Movie May.