Pilot Study

The newest episode of Pilot Study and our finish of "Heightened" theme month centers on the FX series "Louie." We discuss the lead-up to the show, how the stand-up is cleverly worked into the plotlines, and the program's music. Stay tuned next week for our season finale.

Our SXSW live episode talks both "Flight Of The Conchords" and "Tenacious D." We discuss how each show looks in 2017 — with Flight on its 10-year anniversary and Tenacious on its 20th — and how music assists narrative in each. We end with a live round of the IMDB Game. Michael Escanuelas of Missing Artwork/The Modern Vinyl Podcast guests. Special Guest: Michael Escanuelas.

The newest episode of Pilot Study takes on "Maron," in our first entry of "Heightened" theme month. We discuss the WTF podcast origins, being afraid of silence, and the title sequence/blues riffs. We end with a round of "Spin Out" where Grimes pitches an animated show that kinda has to happen.

The newest episode of Pilot Study takes on "Riverdale," and its "Archie Got Hot" tagline. Chris is joined by Modern Vinyl staffers James Cassar and Meghin Moore, while they discuss the Ms. Grundy conundrum, Josie & The Pussycats, female friendship and much more.

The newest episode of Pilot Study takes on "Legion," the new FX series set within the "X-Men" universe. Noah Hawley (Fargo) serves as showrunner and the cast is led by Dan Stevens (The Guest). Garth Watson of Film Brew guests and plays a round of The IMDB Game. https://soundcloud.com/filmbrew

The newest episode of Pilot Study is our first "Pilot Preview" episode. Here, we look at "Greenmount," a 14-minute proof of concept that stars Shane Kippel and Samantha Munro (Degrassi: The Next Generation). You can watch the pilot, here: https://www.facebook.com/joshua.prior.58/posts/1428728183827663. You can donate to their GoFund Me, here: https://www.gofundme.com/greenmount-television-series

The newest episode of Pilot Study takes on the recent premiere of "The Young Pope" on HBO. We talk the opening dream sequence, the "meme culture" surrounding the show, and how the present day Pope affects this show.

The newest episode of Pilot Study takes on the first of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia," a show now unexpectedly lasting into its 12th season. We talk the original, $200 pilot, how that evolved into the FX show, along with how the show's structure hasn't changed all that much. Timeline 1:21, The show’s music 3:05, Plot summary/What surprised us 6:44, Quiet comedy/teasing what’s to come 9:30, The “$200 Pilot” 18:35, Random Notes

We continue "Murder Month" with an hour-long discussion on True Detective. We dive into the Rust/Marty dynamic, some of Rust's more memorable musings on life, along with much, much more. Timeline 2:30, Specs for “The Long Bright Dark” 7:08, Title Talk 9:55, Structure, Shortcuts 18:40, Plot breakdown Identifying with Rust 23:40, Marty and Rust Dynamic The dinner scene 28:06, Line-O-Rama 34:30, Random Roles Michelle Monaghan 37:30, Random Notes + Reviews 49:00, Casting + Season 2 52:42, Reviews continued

The beginning of "Murder Month" is all about "Dexter," the Michael C. Hall-led show that hit its 10-year anniversary earlier in 2016. We discuss if this show represents peak anti-hero in concept, how it'd be seen today and introduce a couple new segments: Guess The Rent & Random Roles. Next week: "True Detective." Timeline 1:50, A finale coloring an entire series 3:55, “Guess The Rent” 9:15, Talking the cast Dexter as peak anti-hero Mistrust in the system 20:10, Preference in pilot wrap-up 23:55, Michael C. Hall thoughts 29:20, “Random Roles” 35:18, Notes/Spoilers (we warn you) 47:30, Reviews

Finishing up our ____ & ____ theme month, we talk the cult favorite "The Adventures of Pete & Pete." The Nickelodeon program, along with its indie scene roots, is explored by way of history, modern day comparisons, and the road trip concept being used in a pilot. Next up? Murder month.

Continuing our ____ & ____ theme month, we talk the pilot episode of "All That" spinoff, "Kenan & Kel." We get into the Coolio-penned title sequence, Kel's changes from episode 1 to 2, and the comedic stylings of '90s live action Nick. Timeline 2:14, Episode Specs “All That” spinoff 4:40, Title talk 6:50, “Kel Stuff” 12:00, Episode plot “Chappelle ripped off Kenan Thompson” 17:40, In Chicago wearing a Knicks jersey

Continuing our ____ & ____ theme month, we talk the pilot episode of Dharma & Greg. From its charming first few minutes, to the avalanche of plot that follows, we come out with relative enjoyment of the '90s laugh track sitcom and its very '90s title sequence. Stay tuned to the end for a preview of next week's episode.

Episode 35 of Pilot Study takes on the cult-favorite Adult Swim show, "Rick and Morty." It's show 1 in our Blank & Blank theme month (aka shows with two characters in the title). We start with its history and "cease and desist" inspiration, along with the ending message and what it possibly says regarding learning disabilities. We'll continue the theme month in the next episode.

As part of its 10-year anniversary, we welcome "Friday Night Lights" to the Pilot Study Hall of Fame. Chris makes his case for the honor, while we also talk the changing state of football, a thankless Tami Taylor pilot role, and monkey studies (don't ask). Coming up, we have the start of our _____ & _____ theme month. Timeline 1:30, Hall of Fame Induction 2:10, Our relationship to the show 7:20, Plot Breakdown 13:35, Kyle Chandler’s next move 16:12, Best looking athlete on the show 19:00, Specs 25:00, Role models for the community 28:52, Football changing and the show 32:24, Staging of the football 39:08, The “Street Moment” 48:45, New York Times Review

As part of its 20-year anniversary, we welcome "Spin City" to Pilot Study. The Michael J. Fox series also stars Richard Kind, Connie Britton (more on her next episode), Carla Gugino and Alan Ruck, in a really stacked cast. We get into Fox's alternate career, had illness not been a factor, along with fancy camera work and much more. Timeline 1:10, Start of Spin City talk Alternate Michael J. Fox Timeline 5:30, Filmed in front of a live studio audience The camera work 9:06, Michael J. Fox bed flip 12:15, Major plot points Moving in/“What are you drunk?” 21:58, Reviews + More

The latest episode of Pilot Study is all about Donald Glover's new show, "Atlanta." Over at FX, Glover's put together something that avoids the Entourage "show about fame" pitfalls, gets by without using the musical talents of Childish Gambino, and that lives up to those Twin Peaks comparisons, for a couple very different reasons. The pilot was previously free on YouTube, but has since expired. You can find it now at the typical digital outlets.

"Unaired" month continues with a look at Kanye West's mysterious HBO pilot. The pilot has only been publicly displayed once, by co-star Wyatt Cenac, which makes for a fascinating dive into the history and lone 3 minutes available online. We talk its relation to "Curb Your Enthusiasm," director Larry Charles and somehow, Tom Cruise. Next week, we talk the new Donald Glover series, "Atlanta." Note: I'm sick. My apologies. HBO Kanye Clip Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjcPXO2utRM

"Unaired" month continues with our look at the U.S. version of "The IT Crowd." Starring Joel McHale, the show attempts to transition the UK property, utilizing one of the original lead actors in the process. We talk McHale's casting, a terrible pratfall and Moss' glasses. Special guest Alan Miller (The Vinyl Crawl, real life IT guy) joins us and plays a round of The IMDB game. Special Guest: Alan Miller.

The newest episode of Pilot Study continues our "Unaired" month with "Revenge Of The Nerds," the movie to TV adaptation. It's racist, sexist and well, probably a show written by white dudes. All this, plus a plot that makes little to no sense, gave us the "worst pilot we've ever done." Special guest Nick Spacek (Modern Vinyl/From & Inspired By) joins us once again. Timeline 3:14, Title Talk 8:00, Movie vs. Show Plot 10:44, “The Worst Pilot We’ve Ever Done” 14:40, Privileged white people 19:25, “It just seems grimy” 24:08, “They used all the most boring parts” 30:00, Random Notes 38:30, IMDB Notes 40:40, Recommendations Want to sponsor the podcast? If you'd like to sponsor the podcast, you can contact us at advertising@modern-vinyl.com. It's very affordable and you get numerous mentions throughout the show.