Who's Piloting this Podcast?

At the dawn of the 1980’s, the toy company Mattel began actively developing new content to drive sales after regrettably passing on the Star Wars franchise. Mattel marketing director Mark Ellis brought a new line centered around a sword and sorcery barbarian fantasy world to the executives at Toys R Us.His presentation included a complete line of toys along with a mock-up for a comic series created by DC Comics. But when one of the retail executives retorted “Five year olds don’t read”, Ellis quickly replied “Did I tell you about the two one hour TV specials we are running?”The cartoons were a bluff, and didn’t exist, but a quick partnership with Filmation studios launched a cartoon alongside the toy line. The cartoon ran for 130 episodes and also produced a comic book series, a feature film, a spin-off called She Ra, two reboots, and over a billion dollars in sales.Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we are talking about He-Man and the Masters of the Universe!In this episode, we debate the finer details of Eternian geography, name-drop several friends without permission, invent a banger of a club-hit, and down some beers while reminiscing over plastic barbarian toys from 1983. Beers in this episode include Clown Shoes and a Commonwealth/Aslin collaboration: IPA #13.Also, please be sure to watch Gretchen's Drunk History episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hog0vC23LZI

Join us for the 1990's revival of the 1965 gameshow Supermarket Sweep! Contestants answer dumb trivia questions in order to earn time for a shopping spree where they embody the sprit of American excess by buying five of the most expensive everything in the grocery store. Hams? Check! Turkeys? Check! Diapers? Check! Formula? Check! Tons and tons of aspirin? Why not!Gretchen starts out the show a couple of sheets to the wind and finishes in hammer town, leading us through her general outrage and boisterous exuberance. James attempts to keep the train on the rails, but lets a few crashes happen here and there. At the end, we learn nothing, but have a decent time getting there.

What happens when you watch a relatively pedantic and boring sitcom and then try to talk about it? You produce a relatively pedantic and boring podcast! Come join us as we discuss the first episode of the classic situation comedy: Family Ties. In this episode, we discover the magic of Michael J. Fox, stumble though a few facts and bits of trivia, and generally phone it in.Two pinko-commie parents raise a young republican son who loves capitalism and white supremacy, and a daughter who just wants to own fun clothes while floating through life. There's a third child also, she'll probably grow up to be a roller girl or an anti-vaxer just to try and carve out some semblance of a personality while being continuously overshadowed by her much more interesting siblings. Family Ties tells the story of the Keytons as they navigate the tough choices presented by overwhelming white privilege, and reconcile the hippie ideals they abandoned but occasionally try to force upon their children when useful for a plot-point. 

Guys, here's what happens when you take two full weeks off of your podcast - you come back with a special JUMBO episode clocking in at 71 minutes! For this episode, we are joined by the legendary @boozeraccoons crew for our first ever tele-podcast crossover episode. Zooming in from across America, we discuss the premiere episode of "My So Called Life" and discuss the impacts upon both society and television.Gretchen connects with the pilot and finds herself in two very distinct characters. James expresses pleased ambivalence over the show as he fails to identify with a 15 year old girl. Alex aggressively sympathies with Patti and Sharon, and takes the explicit tag up a notch. Dave and Judith provide quality color commentary while dodging unexpected motorcycles. We all learn a little bit about friendship, and very little about Jim J. Bullock.My So Called Life... spotlights, Animal Bag, flashlight holsters in a tree, cops that stare blankly in the face of teenage philosophy, dudes that shout "you're dead", the Divinyls on mute, so many Devons, creepy dads, LL Bean, eyeliner, and so much more.

In 1986, a show debuted on ABC and brought Balki Bartokomous into our living rooms.  Following a wide-eyed immigrant from the fictional island of Mypos, Balki moves in with his very put-upon distant cousin Larry Appleton who's just trying to make it on the mean streets of Chicago. The pilot episode premiered as the bologna in a Who's the Boss? and Moonlighting sandwich, and somehow managed to sneak under the radar for 8 seasons and helped establish ABC's Friday night TGIF dominance.Our listeners can sample the Perfect Strangers pilot on Hulu if you want to see what all the fuss is about.In this podcast, Gretchen and James actually attempt to record everything live for a change. We share an Aslin Brewing Company Master of Karate, Double New England Style IPA. Gretchen gets a little tipsy, a little sassy, and a lot aggressive as we debate the finer points of this classic television sitcom. James talks about immigrants in a way that makes Gretchen uncomfortable. We take turns debating what is the worst part of this show, and in the end we learn a little bit about friendship and family.Is it a good episode? Don't be ridiculous.

In one hot stinker of an episode, Gretchen and James take a look at 1999's failed pilot "Heat Vision and Jack". Staring Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and Ron Silver, the show was written by Rob Schrab and Dan Harmon, and was directed by Ben Stiller hot off the success of "Something About Mary". In spite of a serious pedigree and an abundance of talent, the pilot was declined by both ABC and Fox and never made it to air. Traded for many years as in bootleg VHS copies, the episode finally made its way to YouTube where it gained a cult following.In this podcast, James tries to explain the plot to a very bored Gretchen as she daydreams about drinking and watching something entertaining. We drink a Victory Sour Monkey ale, get off on a tangent about the extreme mini golf show Holey Moley, and take a listen to messages from our fans. 

Groundbreaking television, socially conscious story lines, dramatic character arcs, and quality character development? "Who's the Boss?" had none of those problems, and instead focused on a fish out of water scenario as Brooklyn-Italian stereotype Tony Danza changes his entire life to accept a subservient role as a live-in housekeeper to Judith Light.In this episode, Gretchen and James drink a can of Aslin Brewing's Pew Pew Pew while discussing the finer points of Judith Light's effortless hair, Tony Danza's skimpy sweatpants, and the difference between a van and a truck.Visit our website at www.whospilotingthispodcast.com, give us a follow on twitter and instagram at @WhosPiloting and join our Facebook page!

Filmed before a live studio audience on Paramount Stage 25 in Hollywood, California, Cheers brought the world down the stairs of 112 and a half Beacon Street in Boston, Massachusetts to a dark mahogany and polished brass watering hole filled with characters that would become woven into the tapestry of television history. But it all started with a pilot.In this JUMBO-sized episode, Gretchen and James dissect the Cheers pilot while drinking a Commonwealth Big Papi DIPA. Highlights from this episode include:The mis-pronunciation of Ken Levine's last nameWe rename "The Good Place" to "The Good Life" even though we watched every episodeJames tries to explain to Gretchen what a "Mentat" isand "Andre" is the worst brand of champagneJoin us every Monday!

What happens when a brilliant inventor solves artificial intelligence, natural language processing, spacial awareness, complex robotics, and atomic power in 1985 using a TRS-80? He uses his incredible scientific breakthroughs to create  a daughter that no one wanted! Welcome to the pilot episode of Small Wonder, where Ted Lawson introduces his wife and annoying son to V.I.C.I., the Voice Input Child Identicant he invented during his spare time at United Robotronics.Gretchen produces her first episode and our senile old dog wanders around the studio while we record. We also learn that the Lawsons have a pervy neighbor, a son with the mind of an old jewish comedian from the Catskills, and a Dad who doesn't know how to be successful and get a promotion even though he's literally advanced science by 50 years in his spare time. Oh, also, his wife Joan exists.Join us as we explore what might have been the worst television show ever to go straight to syndication.

In August 1984, during an event to promote the fall television lineup, 63-year old comedy actress Selma Diamond repeatedly mispronounced Miami Vice instead as as Miami Nice, to the amusement of the executives in the audience. Thinking there was something in the geriatric humor unfolding on stage, NBC ordered a pilot focusing on senior citizens living together in Miami.On Saturday, September 14th 1985 at 9PM, The Golden Girls premiered at number 1 with a 43 share, reaching an estimated 21 and a half million homes. It stayed in in the top 10 for six consecutive seasons, earning 68 Emmy nominations over 180 episodes, but it all started with a pilot.In this episode, we learn about The Golden Girls pilot episode, an actor named Charles Levin, Quentin Tarantino and Sophia's facelift. Mistakes were made, facts were certainly butchered and at the end we learned an important lesson about friendship. Or we didn't.Also, we drink Big Slice Juicy IPA from Three Notch'd in Charlottesville Virginia.Show errata:It's six degrees of separation, not eightGolden Girls ran for seven seasons, not eightThe Golden Girls is copyright Touchstone Television, a Walt Disney Television company. The Golden Girls theme song, "Thank You For Being a Friend" was written by Andrew Gold. The music in this podcast was arranged and recorded by James Barnes.