99 episodes
HoopleCast: An IntroCast For HBO's Deadwood Seth Bullock
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- TV & Film
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3.6 • 40 Ratings
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HoopleCast is an IntroCast-style podcast for HBO's Deadwood. The host has seen Deadwood previously. His cohosts have not. Each installment we discuss characters, plots, themes, and the true history of the infamous 19th century mining camp. Send feedback to hooplecast@gmail.com. Find our recording schedule, show notes, discussion threads, and more at hooplecast.com. [Warning: Explicit Language.]
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BONUS: The Last of Us 1x09. "Look for the Light"
The hoopleheads and Steve discuss the season one finale of The Last of Us. | Send feedback to hooplecast@gmail.com. Find our recording schedule, show notes, discussion threads, and more at hooplecast.com. | Recorded March 26, 2023. Released April 2, 2023. [Warning: Explicit Language.]
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BONUS: The Last of Us 1x01. "When You're Lost in the Darkness"
Matt A, Steve, Matt H, and Mel discuss the premiere of The Last of Us. | Send feedback to hooplecast@gmail.com. Find our recording schedule, show notes, discussion threads, and more at hooplecast.com. | Recorded January 18, 2023. Released January 22, 2023. [Warning: Explicit Language.]
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HBO PROJECT: Westworld (2016) | Big Little Lies (2017)
The distant future. The year 2052. Western-themed LARPing has inexplicably become a recreational pursuit for the world's wealthy elite. Willing to spend thousands, and risk almost certain personal injury and/or death, the degenerates of the upper crust indulge in their most depraved and violent delights at Westworld, an amusement park where nothing can possib-lie go wrong. Based on Michael Crichton's 1973 film of the same name, Westworld (2016) is an incoherent mess, but boasts a phenomenal cast and glossy production. (13:53 - 1:49:50) ... Somebody's dead in the premiere of Big Little Lies (2017), a pulpy mystery set in the community of Monterey, California. Before we learn the identity of the victim, we rewind to the first day of orientation at Otter Bay Elementary when Ziggy, son of Jane No Middle Name Chapman, is publicly accused of choking a little girl. Battle lines are drawn amongst rich, helicopter parents, and soon the hostilities and secrets buried within this affluent enclave will be brought to the surface. ... Also, The White Lotus, The Gilded Age, Six Feet Under, Michael Kenneth Williams, The Many Saints of Newark, and The Last of Us. (0 - 13:52) Special thanks to this episode's guest, Steven! | Send feedback to hooplecast@gmail.com. Find our recording schedule, show notes, discussion threads, and more at hooplecast.com. | Recorded December 12, 2021. Released February 20, 2022. [Warning: Explicit Language.]
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HBO PROJECT: The Night Of (2016) | The Young Pope (2016)
In The Night Of (2016) horny college student Nasir (Riz Ahmed) becomes ensnared by the criminal justice system after he gives a cipher a ride in his dad's timeshared taxicab and--flash forward past the steamy drug-induced knife play--she ends up murdered in the upstairs bedroom of her Bohemian hoarder house. His fingerprints and blood at the crime scene, the murder weapon in his pocket... could Naz BE any more guilty looking? Tattoo this message onto your brains, listeners: COPS ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS. (6:49 - 1:34:24) ... We're not sure if The Young Pope (2016) is intentional farce or something else entirely, but there's no denying that Jude Law is entertaining as Lenny Belardo, the first American supreme pontiff and Italy's #1 Cherry Coke Zero fanboy. A sociopathic narcissist with bully tendencies, Lenny has somehow hoodwinked enough cardinals to get himself voted into high papal office, and not even his favorite nun/surrogate mother Diane Keaton may be able to control him. On the pod we discuss the Catholic Church's genocide against Canada's First Nations people, and Mother Teresa, hardly a saint. (1:34:25 - 3:36:56) ... Also, Hacks and Our Flag Means Death. (0 - 6:48) | Send feedback to hooplecast@gmail.com. Find our recording schedule, show notes, discussion threads, and more at hooplecast.com. | Recorded June 27, 2021. Released August 14, 2021. [Warning: Explicit Language.]
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HBO PROJECT: Vinyl (2016)
It's the 1970's and New York City is a grungy, graffiti-tagged, drug-fueled, teetering-on-the-brink of economic collapse urban hellscape. But, holy fuck, what a time to be a music exec. Bobby Cannavale is Richie Finestra, the founder and president of American Century Records, successful enough to have a rotary phone in his car, but unhappy and unfulfilled in that male protagonist of a prestige drama kind of way. With the impending sale of his company, Richie is at a crossroads. Although he's about to offload his debts and responsibilities onto some unsuspecting Germans, Richie still has real passion for the biz, and a jonesing to discover new artists. It'll take the murder of Andrew Dice Clay and a structurally unsound performing arts venue for Richie to recalibrate his life. Vinyl has a plot as overstuffed as its characters' nostrils, but does it earn its feature-length running time and $30 million price tag? (20:38 - 2:19:44) ... Also, In Treatment, The Nevers, and Warrior. (0 - 20:37) | Send feedback to hooplecast@gmail.com. Find our recording schedule, show notes, discussion threads, and more at hooplecast.com. | Recorded April 25, 2021. Released June 6, 2021. [Warning: Explicit Language.]
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HBO PROJECT: The Leftovers (2014) | Show Me a Hero (2015)
After two percent of the world's population inexplicably vanishes, the residents of Mapleton, New York are left to grapple with the "whys" and "hows" and "but Gary Buseys" of it all. Adapted from the novel by Tom Perrotta, The Leftovers (2014) is a series about loss and grief and cults and Justin Theroux being the messiah, maybe. Although the premiere (and first season) is a bit of a downer, the series as a whole is an absolutely riveting puzzle box of a mystery. (18:32 - 1:45:37) ... In the late 80's, federal judge Leonard Sand ordered the city of Yonkers, New York to build two hundred units of public housing in an attempt to desegregate the city. The first part of Show Me a Hero (2015) starts with nasally future mayor Nick Wasicsko (Oscar Isaac) campaigning for office, and later installments delve into the heated racial politics of the era. Things are about to get very bonkers... in Yonkers. (1:45:38 - 3:20:18) ... Also, The Nevers, Constantine, The Last of Us, and Lovecraft Country. (0 - 18:31) Q: Have you written a "thank you" note to your mayor, yet? | Send feedback to hooplecast@gmail.com. Find our recording schedule, show notes, discussion threads, and more at hooplecast.com. | Recorded February 21, 2021. Released March 26, 2021. [Warning: Explicit Language.]
Customer Reviews
I can't say it enough
Amateur podcasts are always a gamble. It is truly "hit or miss" on what they will be, because all you have to go by is the subject matter. More often than not, they turn out to be flat, uninspired, and totally lacking in the qualities required to keep you listening.
Every once in a while, though, you stumble across a true gem... the kind of show that, once you get past the initial unfamiliarity, draws you in like a warm hug. The kind that is so well done as to seem professionally produced, and where you find that you grow to like the people involved so much, they start to feel almost like friends.
This is one of those podcasts. It is a gem (or a nugget of gold, if that is more appropriate in the context of a Deadwood podcast)
It is done in "IntroCast" format, where only the host has seen the show before, with the co-hosts experiencing it for the first time. If you are a Deadwood veteran, and you probably are, if you are searching for Deadwood content, listening to this style of podcast can be very enjoyable indeed... you know where the story is going, and all of the answers to the speculations brought up by the "newbies". You are in the Catbird seat, so to speak.
Let me be clear. This is a very, very well done podcast, with a perfectly balanced mix of personalities among the four regular cast members, consisting of two women and two men... there is Carol, a school teacher by profession, who brings smart and intellectual analysis to every episode, unintentionally funny at times in her seriousness... and Melanie, a ray of sunshine by profession, is bright and bubbly, sweet and adorable, funny and imaginative, with the kind of laugh that can make men fall in love... Matt H., an unassuming young man with a great "under the radar" sense of humor, comes across as just an all around nice guy... and Matt A., who serves as the host, lends a little bit of an acerbic edge with just the right amount of good-natured sarcasm and pithiness.
All of them are well accomplished podcasters in their own right, mostly in the arena of television, as are most of the "secondary cast" of loyal feedback providers and guest co-hosts.
As host, producer, and editor, Matt A. does an amazing job putting together every single episode. Not enough can be said about the effort and care he takes in crafting and creating the finished product. It is truly astounding, if you think about it... the in depth scene by scene recaps, the background information about the actors and the show, the historical research into the real Deadwood, the painstaking record keeping of every statistic generated by each episode of Hooplecast... all of it serves to make the structure and content of this podcast what it is-- Top Notch.
With the Deadwood coverage long since done, the show still marches on, watching and discussing the pilot episodes of other HBO dramatic series, and hopefully will continue to do so long after that particular well runs dry.
Lastly, let me say, to the people who felt the need to leave negative or "one star" reviews after sampling a single episode, or based on idealogical differences with the hosts and not on the content of the podcast:
...we get it. You have strong, important opinions. You have every right to express them. They're just not very well informed, and they say more about you than they do about the podcast... but, of course, that is what you intended, wasn't it.
Mel keeps this pod from being worthwhile
It’s impossible to respect a host who won’t bother to watch the chosen material. Even Mels fellow co-hosts call her out on it. Not great.
Excellent companion to the series!
A++
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