April 10-17, 1999

This week Ken wades through a dog related false alarm emergency as he welcomes returning guest Erin Judge and first time guest Jenny Chalikian who have a brand new live record out called "Romantic Comedy: Live! at the Ripped Boddice"

Ken, Erin and Jenny discuss Star Trek, Discovery, Xena, the greatness of Jeri Ryan, Star Trek Voyager, hating a Doug Henning future, being gay, gay icons, Hercules, watching TV with your very conservative family, shows shot in New Zealand, Hong Kong action, representation on TV, Dawson's Creek, growing up in Texas, Ken's history with Richard Roundtree, the is Xena butch or not debate, how Jeri Ryan's ex-husband's bad behavior gave us Obama, femme'd out TV stars, Evil Dead The Series, Cynthia Rothrock's greatness, kids who's sketch show was All That, SNL, SNICK, the power of 90s Comedy Central, Are You Being Served?, Alias, why Jennifer Garner always deserves better, Tom Green, Futurama, Family Guy, the post-Simpsons prime time animated world, how Heaven is America, Millenium, X-Files, Walker Texas Ranger, Chuck Norris' syndicated editorial newspaper column, The Awful Truth, Ally McBeal, how television teaches women you either have powerful careers OR a love life but not both, Highlander: The Series, Becker, whatever the hell JAG was, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, loving monsters and loving weeks but not always monsters of the week, how insane people generally are, Laura Kightlinger, Pulp Comics, Kathy Griffith, The Nanny, the Massachusetts factual inacuracies of Dawson's Creek, the double standard of teacher/student relationships dynamics, Delacatessan, Norm, Dr. Quinn, the bizarre-ness of the streaming business model, Irish Wish, Strangers with Candy, Spin City, Just Shoot Me, The Drew Carey Show, nostalgia for Scared Straight, Sabrina the Teenager Witch, Ben Savage working out his family issues via Boy Meets World, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pini's Pizza Place and wishing you could google who somebody is right in front of you because they are clearly famous but you have no idea who they are.

This week Ken welcomes singer-songwriter behind the must buy brand new album "Erotica Veronica", Miya Folick.

Ken and Miya discuss the troubles of LA, the stress of 2025, trying to be creative and make a living as an artist in 2025, life without respite, no longer being the main character, the dark timeline, allowing yourself to work through your own experience, promoting your stuff, not having kids, growing up as a huge nerd, being social, not getting into music until you were in college, loving doing homework, not having the "cool older brother" effect growing up, college radio, mix tapes, KERTH 101, good peer pressure, Live Journal, being a musician without being able to make every specific tone reference possible, collaboration, songwriting, being an idea generator, planning to learn about music history upon retirement, wanting to shred, Tidal, trusting the algorithym, finding new music, going through music droughts, mood and music, auditory sensitivity tied to your menstral cycle, listening to podcasts, The Ezra Klein Show, The Daily, Democracy Now, Heavyweight, Jonathan Goldman, unresolved issues of the heart, developing parasocial relationships with podcast hosts you listen to, being into super dorky opera competitions, Downtown LA, growing up in Orange County, jumping on the turtleneck bandwagon, master classes at the classical music society, trying and hating acting, the audition process, thinking about a return to acting, Paris, Texas, being inspired by Cinema, Portishead, The Three Colors Trilogy, the magic of cinema, pop music, wanting producers across the country, Steve Albini, the belief that the only good album a band makes is their first album, thinking about going back to or even starting a day job, going to sleep with white noise, not watching TV at night, Marvel Comics in the 1970s, and the nature of storytelling.

January 3-9, 1998

After 10 years Ken welcomes return guest, and certified Hunk, author of the book "Have I Seen You in Anything?", Matt Knudesen.

Ken and Matt discuss living the dream, how great we still look, Sears Craftsman Tool Chests, art supplies, growing up in Iowa, RIP K-Mart, North Dakota, finishing high school in So-Cal, cheap motels, the wonder of cable TV while traveling, Nickelodeon, You Can't Do That on Television, Stacey Keach, taking out a loan to get your first apartment, acting, Kevin Costner's post-appocalytpic obession, TV Guide in the movies, confusing Star Trek and Star Wars, Joe's Apartment, getting the Jerry O'Connell upgrade, Richard Belzer's WWF lawsuit, seeing Stevie Wonder live, The Family Channel JAMS, Bosom Buddies, debates about nerdy minutia, how sometimes stories just should end, the Animal that is Cosby, experiencing a lion in person, Y2K, Man or Astroman?, go bags, House II: The Second Story, old character actors, Royal Dano, Fast Times, Paul Dooley, Breaking Away the TV Series, US remakes of UK shows, streaming, how even huge stars can't get movies into theaters, Starting Over, Burt Reynolds, location shooting, being in commercials, stunt driving, Kurt Fuller, the actor to real estate agent track, how Ken feels Seinfeld doesn't hold up, massive executive mistakes, Woman of the People, watching yourself in something and realizing the project is awful, Mike Hammer, Mickey Spillane, Cloris Leachman, not knowing if you can do something but claiming you can anyway, cheating at Celebrity Jeopardy, laughing Gary Owens bobbleheads, and how Santa Claus as a music critic is a total jerk.

February 12-18, 1994

This week Ken travels back to Valentine's week 1994 with the great human and very funny comedian behind the new album "Mixed and Confused" (available everywhere great digital albums are sold/streamed), Christine Little.

Ken and Christine discuss if we really want to know how people are doing in 2025, stomach issues, cutting your own hair, funeral barbers, Boyz II Men, weird perverted graphic layout cover artists, Nancy Kerrigan, ice skating, getting "Pullout" on the cover, Ask TV Guide, where the college from Beverly Hills 90210 is located, what pony tailed guys on TV are ok to punch, Luke Perry, 8 Seconds, riding mechanical bulls, posters on your walls, dying doing what you love to do, posthumiously being embarrassed, drunken actors, Lenox Crystal cats, Boomerang, The Mommies, getting a development deal, Sisters, Bone Thungs n Harmony, Schitt's Creek, Charles Bronson Pinchot, Living Single, 900 numbers, Pee Wee Hockey Dads fighting in Boston area parking lots after games, writing your own theme song, graduating in the future, live on television executions, being into psycho-sexual thrillers, Sliver, mail fraud, Fresh Prince of Bel Aire, Point Break, Blankman, Fabio playing Cupid, birds flying into Fabio's face, bird blood, teen idol Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson's house chores, Police Acadamy, Melrose Place, Andrew Shue and how he's persuing a propect doing very well and his kids are very happy, The Truman Show, Jim Carrey, In Living Color, people you know into erotic asphyxiation, Wonder Years, Family Matters, Married...with Children, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, Kids in the Hall, The State, waiting on Fred Savage, waiting on Stephen King, and the gross brilliant nature of The Substance.

Travel back a decade ago, to 2015 as we go week by week through the high highs (and the shocking low lows, some Trigger Warning here re: trauma, suicide, abuse etc, about half way through) of 2015. Is it the year the show peaked? You be the judge.

April 18-24, 1998

This week Ken welcomes actor, producer, director, writer Gregory Lay.

Ken and Gregory discuss growing up as a TV Guide guy, calling out sick to school for game shows, cultural markers, pop culture reflections, making the case for what you like, Press Your Luck, Classic Concentration, Savage Steve Holland, One Crazy Summer, why Late Night talk shows are totally useless now, access to stars, actors who started on TV, George Clooney, Elizabeth Shue, Michelle Pfeiffer in Delta House, Meritt Ultra Lights, pay TV channels, Break Down with Kurt Russell, being forever disturbed by Pet Semetary, The Omen, Backdraft, being terrrified of The Incredible Hulk, how people can't stop talking like Hunter S. Thompson or Jeff Goldblum when they hang out with either, failed pilot "My Dad with the President's Daughter", how we'd vote for Dabney Coleman for president, E! True Hollywood Story: Bob Crane, how the X-Files CLEARLY didn't have a plan, the fake Dukes, The Moonlighting problem, realism vs. escapism, shows with all bad people, Shelly Long and Robert Hayes returning to sitcoms, The Brady Bunch films, how irony can be done well, The Prophecy, all the weird religious films around the turn of the Century, Presumed Innocent, when Leslie Neilson stopped being funny (hint: It's when he started to think he was funny), The Omega Man, Frankenstein, Top Gun, the 30th Anniversary of Friends, movies that don't hold up, movies that DO hold up, Steven Segal, Jurrasic Park, CGI, when stories are thrown by the wayside, how Dark City is The Matrix if it was good, being trapped in an elevator, Beyond Belief, memes, Scott Baio's complete lack of selfawareness and reality, Pumpkinhead, Stan Winston, hating crossovers, and why P. Diddy was a sack of garbage even BEFORE we learned about him being a sexual deviant assaulting waste of humanity.

May 19-25, 1979

This week Ken welcomes comedian and old buddy Allen Strickland Williams to the show.

Ken and Allen discuss Nick at Nite, Laverse and Shirley, Barney Miller, what kids watch now, Perfect Strangers, Doral II, no tar = small junk, Pall Mall decisions, disco and pyschotic breaks, Fresh sexy t-shirts, AYDS, PBS funding, Mr. Rogers, Jimmy Carter's press secretary's thoughts on Reagan, Dick Cavett, Ed McMahon, Carson, The Amazing Randi, Rubes, miracle secrets for your less attractive wife, El Producto Cigars, CHiPs, Evil Evel Kinevel, Ghost Rider, Ralph Bakshi's The Hobbit sponsored by Xerox, Cool World, faking it til you makin it, Glenn Supper, prog rock, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, The Brothers Johnson, Ruth Buzzy on Wayne Newston's having a good time, Guiness Book of World Records, the most women kissed in an 8 hour period, the debut of This Old House, Scared Straight, Oscar Winners, The Golden Age of Variety Shows, Quiz Show, Joker's Wild, A Vacation In Hell, Maureen McCormick, After the Bomb, documentaries on Human Sexuality, Benny Hill Street Blues, In Search of..., Gary Marshall, Lenny and the Squigtones, Ralph Nader, when Tongues Start Wagging, Friends of Eddie Coyle, Dinah Shore, the Beegees parents, That's Incredible!, Real People, Vega$, "Dan Tanna", Barney Miller's terrible font, failed pilots, being terrified of Alan King, loving Robert Mitchum, Gallagher, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, The Rockford Files, drag races with James Garner, Candlepins for Cash, Candlepin Bowling, Eric Estrada: Aztec God, creepy K-Mart ads, not getting the joke "This Beats Flying", and creepy sexy ads.

March 19th, 1994

This week Ken welcomes TV producer, writer, and author of the new novel "The End of All Things", Sandra Chwialkowska to the show.

Ken and Sandra discuss moving from Canada to the US to work in television, growing up in Toronto, the US Canadian co-productions of the 90s, the beauty of telling stories on television vs in films, the complexity of character, the move to serialized storytelling in North America, how 1994 changed the way we see television and film, fan petitions, the monumental cultural shifts of 1994, the weird wild west of 90s TV, body positivity, My So-Called Life, toxic advertising, smoking to lose weight, Home Improvement, watching television with your parents, The Oscars, The Barbara Walters specials, the golden age of the high stakes action comedy, tentpole pressure, Jurassic Park, The Fugitive, Spielberg, how difficult it is to adapt a serialized television show into a three act film, The War Room, Philadelphia, The Remains of the Day, John Hughes, the sad death of John Candy, when your child brain evolves to liking complex narratives, The Bride in Black made for-TV movie, Susan Lucci, the strange job of trying to buy life writes of people to make television movies, LifeTime Movies, The USA Network's original comedy line up on Saturdays, Rain Man, Weird Science The Series, Duckman, The Jon Stewart Show, George Carlin's sitcom, ridiculous character names, Snake Pliskin, writing for Hilary Swank, Alaska Daily, The Lost Girl, Letterman's Top 10 Lists, Robin Williams, tonal bizarreness, In the Line of Fire, never seeing cultural touchstone shows, having never seen Mork & Mindy, missing Norman Lear's body of work, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, the ratings game, My So-Called Life Goes On, realizing somebody wrote what you love, blank slate idiots, Stepenwolf, Laury Metcalf, suburbia, visiting filming locations, South Pasadena, re-editing movies in your head while you watch them, re-booting Magnum, Hart to Hart, The Hardy Boys, NOVA, loving procedurals, Bono and Martin Lawrence's live tv potty mouths, and how innocent people are never in the wrong place at the wrong time.