Fun Size Episode 52 – The Show That Launched a Thousand Vasectomies

Broadcasting live through the smoking ruins of the ‘Quar, we’re back! Again! This month, we’re joined by Patrick Johnson to try and make sense of it all.

We dig into everything from obscure – but real – DC Comics characters, to the limits to which Casey’s kids can make him rewatch the LEGO Batman Movie.

And we look at the massive outpouring of parental joy and relief at the cancellation of the infuriating PBS children’s show Caillou. How has that show influenced and modeled bad behavior in kids, and has the impact of shows like Beavis and Butt-Head and MTV’s Jackass had a similar negative effect on older viewers?

And finally… is the age of the movie theater, at last, dead?

Radio vs. the Mailbag: Rooting for the Bad Guys

Badguy

Let’s face it. Sometimes the good guys just suck.

More than once in fiction, we’ve been asked by a novel, television show, comic book or movie to get behind a hero who is insufferable, obnoxious, morally repugnant or just plain awful.

And sometimes, we’re given a villain who isn’t. Sometimes we get antagonists who are more interesting, nuanced,  or….actually morally justifed in their actions. Bad guys that we want to see win in the end.

This month, listeners, we have a doozy of a question for you:

“Have you ever found yourself cheering for villain to win (and the hero to lose) in a work of fiction?”

This is a question comes with an important qualifier.

We are not asking for you to name your favorite villain. Fiction has plenty of excellent, compelling, or hilarious villains who outshine their respective heroes. And we’re not talking about stories like Breaking Bad or the Sopranos where the main character is a “bad guy.”

We’re specifically asking about villains who you wanted to see defeat the main characters  and win at the end of the story.

Our hosts had this to say:

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