Episode 01
Our first podcast episode investigates the hit television series Ted Lasso. We discuss the ways in which season one subverts the expected conventions in sports comedies, especially when it comes to race and masculinity. We also take a critical look at some of the areas where the show misses the mark. Two guests join host Jonathan McIntosh for this conversation: professor of literature and culture Felicia Lopez and writer/filmmaker Imran Siddiquee.
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About the podcast
Just like our video essays on YouTube, this podcast series will offer a critical look at the meaning and messages embedded in movies, tv shows, and video games. New episodes will be published once a month (for now) and feature an in-depth discussion covering a range of sociopolitical issues including representations of masculinity. In many ways this new audio series will be very much like our video essays, only in a more casual format and with more voices contributing to the media analysis. Podcasting will also allow us to comment on media news or new releases in a much more timely manner.
Future audio file investigations will include an episode examining the politics of the MCU, an episode exploring where The Rise of Skywalker went wrong, and an episode analyzing Hollywood’s representation or rather misrepresentation of Black radicals. I hope you’ll join us again next time!
Support this project
All of our Pop Culture Detective media projects, including this one, are 100% funded by listeners and viewers. You’ll never hear ads and all episode will be made available for free online. So if you enjoy the kind of in-depth media criticism you just heard, please consider supporting our work over on Patreon.
Fair use
All multimedia clips included in this podcast constitute a ‘fair use’ of any copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of U.S. Copyright law, which allows for criticism, comment and scholarship. Learn more about fair use via New Media Rights!
Show credits
Audio production: Jonathan McIntosh
Intro music: Simon Stålenhag
Outro music: Rick Lopez
2 Comments
Add Yours →Great inaugural episode.
Ted Lasso wasn’t something that I was interested in, until I kept hearing about how progressive it was and checked it out a few months ago. I came away feeling pretty positive about it, but there were some moments that were eyebrow-raising. As talked about on the podcast, these moments involved Roy, and Nate. Besides what was already mentioned, I’m thinking of Roy only successfully stopping Jamie from bullying Nate by going to a club, attacking Jamie’s friend and threatening him. With Nate, he calls Rebecca a shrew when he thinks he’s been fired, and the show just glosses over his overt display of sexism.
Haven’t gotten to the second season yet, but all the discussion surrounding it has me curious to jump in when every episode is available.
This is unrelated, but I recently watched your Steven Universe videos after finishing the entire series a week ago and I’d love to see a podcast episode discussing the whole show.
I know you mentioned covering the MCU, but I also think covering DC media would be worthwhile because there are lot of claims made about superheroes like Superman being positive examples of male characters that don’t really hold up. Anyway, love your YouTube channel and looking forward to future episodes of the podcast.
I don’t want to give you any spoilers.. but season 2 will give you a deeper understanding of Nate (and even Roy and Jamie). It’s really excellent.