Episodes
Ep. 252 | Anthology 2025 Episodes 2 + 3
We pick up where we left off, in March 1963. The Gab Two follow the Fab Four along their journey in Anthology episodes 2 and 3: touring Britain, navigating Beatlemania, (probably) disappointing the Queen Mother, (probably) disappointing the boys in Paris, and—just in case you haven’t had enough coverage of it—INVADING THE STATES. #Don’tTellICE
Tee-Jay and Tony continue their Disney+ Deep Dish, and in classic Gen X fashion, spend most of their time waxing poetic about how much cooler everything was in the 90s. Their nostalgic trip leads them to the important inquiries, like:
⚡️🐱👤 Which one’a those Mighty Morphine Power Rangers played the sax?
📰📺 How’d NBC 5 Chicago’s Carol Marin end up on CBS News? WHEN DID CAROL MARIN GO MAGA? (#buzz)
🤡🤡 Do you think middle-aged Tony regrets teenaged Tony’s decision to get a hipster Morecambe and Wise tattoo in 1993?
EPISODE LINKS
Ep. 251 | Anthology 2025 Episode 1
Short attention spans. Am I right? I mean you’re reading this right now, when you could be with your family or punching a Nazi. (We at the UBP heartily encourage both.) Fortunately, the good folks at Apple & Disney are well aware of short attention span syndrome, most felt during slow dissolves and still images over credits. Thankfully, they’ve done us the favor of removing some incredible Beatles content to save time, all while making the remaining and new footage look and sound perfect. Less Beatles content, more commercials? What kind of Calderstoner would say no to that?
In today’s episode, Tony & T.J., vaguely replicate their critically panned, cantankerous relationship from their brief run on ABC’s “The New Odd Couple” back in 1982 (when Tony & T.J. went by their stage names, “Ron Glass” and “Desmond Wilson”), and take a look at the first chapter of “Anthology…2025”. They spotlight some of the exciting easter egg discoveries, as well as some of the curious cuts and changes to satiate, I don’t freaking know, “Bluey” viewers? Biscuits!
The pod world’s most serious gonzo rock journalists also ask a few other wild questions, such as:
🔎 Can The Pacemakers and The Dakotas tell the difference between The Pacemakers and The Dakotas?
🎺 Is it possible to discern who Foghorn Leghorn voted for merely by his accent, or by his penchant for fighting against the right to choose in the name of “freedumb”? #IsayIsayCancelFoghornLeghorn #Freak
☔️ Does not including any music from el groupo Rain in “Anthology” render it second banana to the Mexican-TV version of “Birth Of The Beatles”?
EPISODE LINKS
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13 Green Potatoes by MENDOZA on Bandcamp/Apple Music/Spotify! (and other streamers)
Ep. 250 | Anthology 2025 Documentary First Impressions
Many Beatles scholars (NOT YOU, Lewisohn) often cite this familiar and prophetic John Lennon quote: "It came in a vision – a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, 'From 2020 on, all crucial Beatles film projects will be kept behind a Disney paywall, where you will pay to subscribe and still get commercials'." John later relied on this memory to write the inspired-by-Joan Lunden Pepper track, ”Good Morning, Good Morning America”.
(Angry Chicago Guy: AND HOW COME THEY LET STRAHAN ON THAT SHOW BUT DON’T GOT BRIAN URLACHER?)
Back to The Beatles. If you weren’t aware, Disney is now streaming The Beatles Anthology, alongside a million Star Wars spin-offs from the last decade that nobody knew existed. It goes without saying that the original TV Anthology, and the vastly expanded home video version, are legendary. The latter has existed as a period piece trapped on VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD since 2003, never remastered or re-issued. Until now.
Tony, T.J, producer Casey, and a sassy, housemaid robot all gussied up for a new year of hilarious hijinks - it’s TGIF on A-BEATLES-C! - begin to dissect this wild re-release/re-thinking of the most important Beatles moment since their break-up in 1970. (Sorry, “Love Songs” fans. #SorryLoveSongs)
But they also ask the hard hitting questions that only a Robin Roberts/Charles Gibson would ask, like:
6️⃣7️⃣ If T.J. uses a popular word from 2022 in 2026, does that give him the right to make 2025 jokes in 2029?
🦃✈ What’s your favorite generic Muzak-rock track from the Fox Season 1 DVD of “WKRP In Cincinnati”?
🍻⚪️🧦 (Angry Chicago Guy, in an admittedly lazy callback:) HOW COME THEY LET PAUL SING “TILL THERE WAS YOU” BUT THEY DON’T LET RINGO SING “SHIPOOPI”? AND HOW COME CONNIE’S PIZZA AIN’T ON SALE AT THE JEWEL NO MORE AND HOME RUN INN NEEDS A DIGITAL COUPON AND I AIN’T GOT A PRINTER NO MORE
EPISODE LINKS
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Ep. 234 | The Beatles "Help!" (1965 Film) Part 3
Their second film is fab and gear! Untitled Peedles, Have No Fear! 2025, what a year! And our final look at “Help!” has arrived! #WeDidntWriteNoPoetry
Tony, T.J., and producer P3Z-Casz put the Finnishing touchers on their “Help!” deep-dish, with a side of extra kvetching, as old, sad, deranged people do. Who doesn’t want to hear that? Are U a fan or not, pal? And, while we’re here, are you a fan of these questions?
📚 (Angry Chicago Guy, he’s up late, hoping MeTV will show ONE MORE “Hogan’s Heroes” before sunrise:) “How come Tony thinks he can name so many improv scenes on “The Bear?” Does this jagbag think he’s Del Charna? (#Runaway) And how come Mike Myers never made no movie about Del that I read about in the Reader back when Borders was on Diversy and Clark and Diane ain’t dead?”
🤦♂️ Why didn't T.J. get to his “super important”, underlined note about a “shockingly different” Paul vocal track in the heavily edited “The Night Before” scene? The guys recorded for like six hours, what the hell?
🐴 What about your father’s horse?
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Ep. 233 | The Beatles "Help!" (1965 Film) Part 2
Help! I need somebody once told me the world is filled with Kaili, but some folks call her Kylie instead. (#SmashMinogue)
What does any of this have to do with the “Help!” film? Good point, Buck O(wens); but, then again, what does anything in “Help!” have to do with “Help!”? I mean, the boys are skiing, they’re fighting villains at restaurants, they legit own multiple vending machines… Talk about privilege! #DefundTheBeatles
60 years on, “Help!” presents some of the most iconic scenes and songs in any Beatles-related film not named “Broad Street”. And gentlepeople, this week, Tony & T.J. have got the tapes on “Help!”- specially, the original MPI VHS - and they begin to break down the Fab’s second movie. They also break down emotionally, as they ponder:
🍬 Does P3Z-CASZ represent a dystopian future, or merely a few (legal) edibles?
🐣 (Angry Chicago Guy, after a few Malorts and general sadness because he hasn’t seen Diane since the series finale of “ER”): HOW COME THE LONDON HARRODS DON’T SERVE NO FRIED CHICKEN LIKE THEY DO AT THE HARRODS CHICKEN SHACK ON SOUTH WABASH? AND HOW COME THESE BEATLE BOZOS MAKE SO MANY DUMB JOKES ABOUT REGIONAL CHICKEN RESTAURANTS BUT DON’T GOT THE BALLS TO SOLVE NO BROWNS MURDERS?
🎸T.J. here - real Untitled Beatle Peedles have already streamed “13 GREEN POTATOES”, the new kick-ass album from our very own MENDOZA that just dropped, right? RIGHT? Don’t make P3Z-CASZ find you! (See below for link!)
EPISODE LINKS
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Ep. 231 | The Beatles "Help!" (1965 Film)
“Help!” It’s the second smash film, from the biggest band in the world, released when Beatlemania was still at its peak. It’s filled with great - and in a few cases, top-tier - Beatles music. Its cast includes well known actors, and the director was an expert in maximizing the boys comedic, personable on-screen talents. It satirizes the burgeoning Bond franchise and, it’s in color! (Take that, Boxing Day 1967 UK airing of “Magical Mystery Tour”)
And yet the question must be asked all these years later: is “Help!” a classic? A great movie? Merely a good one? And in the grand scheme of Beatles excellence, what’s wrong with that?
UBP’s Medved and Maltin (which one’s which??) ask these questions, and also ponder:
☠ Is Poison’s “Every Rose Has Ken Thorne” the most famous power ballad about the “Help!” incidental music composer?
🎿 Are The Skitles Obertauern’s most famous skiing-themed band? No? Cool, go ahead and name a few more, since you seem to know so much about ski-bands from Obertauern. We’ll wait.
🦁 (Angry Chicago Guy): HOW COME MACCA DEEP CUT “ZOO GANG” DIDN’T GET NO LOVE AS THE THEME SONG TO ED ASNER’S SHORT LIVED 1987 NBC DRAMA, “THE BRONX ZOO”? AND HOW COME CBS DIDN’T GIVE MARTIN MULL’S “DOMESTIC LIFE” MORE TIME TO GROW AN AUDIENCE BACK IN ’85? AND HOW COME WOR SUPERSTATION OUT OF NEW YORK DON’T SHOW “DOMESTIC LIFE” NO MORE LATE AT NIGHT AFTER MARTIN MULL DIED AND DIANE STILL AIN’T HOME FROM BOWLING LEAGUE?
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Ep. 224 | "Backbeat" Soundtrack (1994)
“Nevermind”. “Ten Summoners Tales“. “The Backbeat Soundtrack”. Sensing a theme here, fellow alt-rocker?
Perhaps more than any other record not named “The River Of Dreams", these three albums are at the very heart of the alt rock/grunge/post-chillwave scene. Going to Metro in 1994? Better bring your cassingle of “Fields Of Barley”. Because at Metro, they don’t take American Express.
And yet, of all the great grunge albums, none is grungier than the motion picture soundtrack of “Backbeat”.
Was (not was) that a little too much? Cut me some slack! The Backbeat Soundtrack really does have some of the early 90’s most notable alt rockers, tearing through a selection of early rock standards that the pilled-up, live Beatles once adored. This week, Tony & T.J. travel back to a time when the world was still mourning the painful assassination of “Cheers”, and ask about Backbeat:
Does the soundtrack hold up? Did it ever? Did Wilson Phillips hold on for one more day? Is our angry Chicago friend still upset that they closed the Phillips gas station on Wilson in 1982? AND HOW COME CHANNEL 9 STOPPED RUNNING “PHYLLIS” IN STRIP SYNDICATION ON WEEKDAY AFTERNOONS, IS CLORIS LEACHMAN’S TONED ARMS TOO WOKE FOR SKILLING? And is one full-length paragraph of questions the new format going forward for these blurbs? I mean, does anyone even read these? If so, stay tuned all holiday weekend to Appleton’s Home For F**K Rock, WFUK, 96.69 FM. Kathy and Judy will return, in oil, after these words from the Sheboygan County Correctional Center and Drive Thru.
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Ep. 223 | “Backbeat” Film (1994)
1994 proved to be one of the most fertile years for Beatles-inspired filmmaking. The titles of cinematic classics either directly about The Beatles (“The Secret Of Roan Inish”, “Blue Chips”) or clearly inspired by their music (“Ski School 2”, “Wesley Snipes’ Sugar Hill”) were ’94’s dominant cultural and commercial hits. (Yeah, go ahead and f off, “The Air Up There”.)
Perhaps the most notable fab film from that year was “Backbeat”, which focused primarily on Stuart Stucliffe’s brief but incredibly/debatably important tenure as a Beatle. What does the film get right? What does it get terribly, offensively wrong? How do Beatles (and cinema, damn it) EXPERTS Tony & T.J. feel the film holds up on its’ 31st anniversary? (Forgot about that milestone, huh, Calderstone/Polydor??) The Gab Two deep dish “Backbeat”, and more, including:
🤜 Before he became a brilliant artist and bassist, was Klaus Voormann an eminently punchable German street urchin?
🍻 (Angry Chicago guy:) How come the fellas who wrote the musical “Hair” didn’t make no song about R.E.M. bass player Mike Mills? And how come The Lemonheads didn’t fix that when they had the chance? And how come the White Sox ain’t got no more dollar beer nights, why don’t Steve Dahl do something?
🐓 Would there even be a Hooters without “Backbeat?” And does that make The Beatles technically responsible for Hooters? Or vice versa? Like, could there even BE a Beatles without Hooters, man? Why are you so afraid to consider all opinions?
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Ep. 213 | “One To One: John & Yoko” (2025) / Touring the Shanoff Collection
As our beloved US quickly descends into cruel authoritarian idiocy, the UBP crew reunited IRL to wax fab on new RSD purchases, old Reckless Records purchases, and then attend an IMAX screening of the new Magnolia Films doc One To One: John & Yoko.
Within the fortified safety of their top secret Meigs Field Beatle Bunker Bag, T.J., Tony and Producer Casey hunkered down to opine freely about anything (¿🇺🇸?) and pre-game with some DEEP HARDCORE MACCA. Owwwoooooo!!!!
It wouldn’t be a UBP field trip without a visit to some kind of ROADHOUSE. And while no one got punched completely through the stomach at this particular establishment, the atmosphere was lively with the CRUNCH of real pub-style appetizers AND the PLOP of real hard-hitting questions.
Questions like:
🤮 Does your pronunciation of the Wrigleyville wing-stitution Yakzie’s depend on which side of the tracks you were born?
🎧 How come streaming services don’t feature an XDR chime and 27 seconds of hiss to start off every album?
💰 Why did John have so many copies of Abbey Road in his re-enactment apartment? Was he reselling them to Bleecker Bob’s for rent money???
Sadly, our fact-checking robot P3Z-Nutz was kidnapped by ICE agents on the way to his favorite oil store, where he has been disappeared without due process to be re-tariffed for Government Bitcoins using taxpayer dollars. I think Gary Numan put it best when he said “Is everything stupid?” (Fact-checking currently out of order)
Remember, if you voted for the scrotum-faced man-toddler wannabe-Putin, you’re either in on the grift (rich psychopath), or you got grifted (poor mark). Binary world, right?
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Ep. 197 | Beatles ‘64 Documentary (2024)
George Harrison's tribute to Smokey Robinson, "When Smokey Sings", isn't just Rob Sheffield's favourite solo Beatles tune. The Motown legend, arguably best known for covering "So Bad", is a huge part of "Beatles '64", the Mouse's latest entry in the world of Beatles documentaries.
1964 is THE seminal year in Beatles history, so surely this Scorcese-produced doc provides a comprehensive look at the full year? Clearly, the talking heads are relevant and used sparingly? Obviously, this release comes in concert with expanded, cleaned up footage improving on what we all really want, a reissued "The First U.S. Visit"?
Our own Medved and (Mister) Roeper explore the highs and lows of yet another Beatles holiday gift, and along the way they ask:
📆 If Leonard Bernstein discusses "She Said She Said" in "Beatles '64", should Dave Grohl and Questlove discuss "Now And Then" in "Beatles '67"?
💿 Why did director David Tedeschi opt to open with a whispery YouTube cover of "All My Loving" over one of Tears for Fears' celebrated Depeche Mode covers?
📓 If this doc was trying to attract a younger audience, how come it didn’t include an interview with Matt Gaetz?
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