July 13, 2015

EP. 79 — Hidden Rules Behind Famous TV Shows

A frequent topic on this podcast is the way all movies follow the same structure and how our brains are trained to look for these common rules. Whether it’s Die Hard  or Star Wars or The Godfather, all movies follow the same relatively specific beats. If they don’t, we usually end up feeling short shrifted or confused. That’s why a filmmaker like Terrence Malick can be so frustrating to audiences.

But how does this apply to TV, a medium where outside of the half-hour or hour-long time  constraints, a premise could conceivably last for tens or hundreds of hours? How do you maintain and break expectations in a world where the Simpsons need to face a new conflict every week for 30 years? Rules, that’s how!

This week on the podcast, special guest host Dan O’Brien is joined by Cracked editors Soren Bowie and Alex Schmidt to discuss the secret rulebooks that kept the Looney Toons and Community afloat, and how applying strict guidelines to TV shows both maintains their continuity and keeps them watchable.

Recent Episodes

January 26, 2020

Freedom sucks…and that is why we have to defend it. Because our democracy involves doing a lot of stuff that takes energy, takes time, and lacks that Michael Bay Quality that only a surprise missile launch can provide. So on this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt and special guest Jason Pargin (who writes for Cracked as David Wong) are exploring the ways being afraid of everything (an easy action) can stop us from being free. Discover the decades-long tradition of some Americans wanting to give up everything in exchange for not needing to think, the centuries-long tradition of people inciting fake panics, and the reasonable ways you can help change things for the better.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/why-fear-based-democracies-arenE28099t-free-with-jason-pargin/

January 19, 2020

How’s your local shopping mall doing? Have you checked on it lately? Swing by sometime, because its department store might’ve turned into a call center or a hospital or a go-kart track. On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by the one and only Kai Ryssdal (Marketplace, Make Me Smart) for a look at surprising, strange, and shocking stories from all over the U.S. economy. Discover an international pig flu, a 26-word statement that built the modern Internet, and more amazing ways cash is ruling everything around you. By the way, if you’re an American listener, you spent the past few years funding an astonishingly huge bailout. Surprise! Listen for details!

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/5-parts-u.s.-economy-that-are-stranger-than-you-think

January 12, 2020

Movies, TV, gaming: three things that are theoretically a waste of time. Oh sure, they deliver value in the art sense, and comfort in the goofing-off sense. But what if they’re more valuable than that? What if consuming shows and playing video games (accidentally) turns people into real-life heroes? On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/writers Caitlin Gill and Alex Watt for a look at the surprising number of times that exact thing happened. They’ll explore stories of regular people who saved a life thanks to skills gained randomly from cartoons, sitcoms, ‘World Of Warcraft’, and more silly entertainment.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/9-times-pop-culture-accidentally-taught-people-to-save-lives/