Smells Like Humans
Top 5% global podcast! Smells Like Humans is a seasonal podcast dedicated to bringing a humorous perspective to quirky and curious aspects of human behavior. Each show, the SLH crew will focus on a different topic, and share personal stories and observations in a way that sounds like you’re hanging out with your funny friends. The stories and commentary are presented with humor and warmth, since let’s face it: we all smell like humans. (Contact us: contactSLH19581980@gmail.com)
Smells Like Humans
RE-RELEASE! WE LOVE THE SPECTACLE OF THE DATING SHOW
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Jaimee explains the world of dating shows to Ross. Tangents include: Milf Manor; The Dating Game; serial killers; "dating bone"; trash tv; tube socks; Wet Naps; Gladiators; Marsha Brady; "second hand embarrassment"; Flava Flav; The Bachelorette; Thirteen Lives.
Notes:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dating_game_show
- https://allthatsinteresting.com/cheryl-bradshaw-dating-game
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq0JSl6W74E
Contact us: contactSLH19581980@gmail.com
What is it that that's so delicious about these?
SPEAKER_02It's just like such a like hot, wet dumpster fire.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to another episode of Smells Like Humans. This is the podcast where we explore the curious things that people do, the very human things that grab our attention and cause us to wonder what and why. I'm Ross, your host, and today my guest is a fab human whose brain is like a five-course meal at a fancy restaurant with utensils you don't know when or how to use. It's Jamie. Hi, Ross. Welcome, Jamie, and welcome everyone. Thanks for joining us for this episode. And thanks for helping us out by sharing the show with anyone you think might enjoy what we're doing here. I said I would read interesting and sparkling reviews. We got one recently on Apple Podcast. This is from No Nicknames Left For Me, How Sad. But the title of their review was Silly While Thought Provoking.
SPEAKER_01And I thought that's our brand. That sums it up.
SPEAKER_00Because I wondered what our brand was.
SPEAKER_01That's it.
SPEAKER_00And I feel like that is pretty accurate. This person says there's already a review that says it feels like sitting around talking like friends because there is one like that. But that's exactly how I feel about this show as well. While most of the subjects are lighthearted, they also they are also laced with hints of wisdom. And I'd love to know when if you notice me hinting at wisdom, will you please point that out?
SPEAKER_01Point it out, please.
SPEAKER_00Not so much for me, but for the audience so they can realize they're getting a hint that there's wisdom. And this person writes, I enjoy all the different perspectives. Thank you for making my work days a little less miserable. And I feel like that's our highest calling is to help people pass their day a little easier. We are not gonna make you work on this show. We're not gonna make you feel bad.
SPEAKER_01Barely think.
SPEAKER_00So let's get started, shall we?
SPEAKER_01Let's do it.
SPEAKER_00Now, Jamie, we know that people are fascinated by the challenge and the spectacle of dating. When we are in date mode, we are constantly kept on our toes trying to navigate the veritable obstacle course of challenges and struggles that we face. And at the same time, we kind of like watching other people in date mode. It's fun watching other people solve the mystery of dating and love and just struggling through it. Now, a few years before you were hatched, there was a television show that started in 1965, and it was called The Dating Game. You remember this show? I do. So the original black and white version of this game was pretty earnest, and the basic premise was you would have a bachelor or a bachelorette asking questions of three contestants uh who they could not see. Yeah, they were behind a partition. Contestants on the other side trying to win the date when a show first came on the air. They tried to be clever or funny, but it was never really salacious in any way. Okay. That came later. So as they kept redoing the show and bringing it back, they kept trying to find ways to amp it up. And the questions became much more suggestive and loaded with double entendres. If something was watchable about it, watching these people trying to win the date, and if they did get picked, then they would win something, usually a trip. And one of the ones I watched, they won a trip to uh Switzerland. That didn't always happen. Sometimes the prizes weren't pretty lame. You're gonna go to Knott's berry farm. And a lot of people who were on the show later became somewhat famous or very famous. But I tried to pick out ones that you might have recognized because this obviously is an older show. So most of the people who are famous are old or dead.
SPEAKER_02Right. And I'm so young and you're so young and youthful.
SPEAKER_00You're so you're you're you're just uh you're a baby, is what you are. Keep going. You're just a baby. So here are some people that I thought Jamie might have heard of.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Karim Abdul Jabbar, the basketball player. He was on before he was a big famous person.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00He was always big.
SPEAKER_01Big.
SPEAKER_00But he wasn't uh the famous person that he is now. He had not done airplane yet. Uh Brian Cranston from Breaking Bad, he was on there as a very young person.
SPEAKER_02Interesting.
SPEAKER_00Don't know if you've ever heard of the Mamas and the Papas, but Cass Cass Elliott was on. Farah Fawcett, before she was famous, of Charlie's Angels and other things. Sally Field, who's still pretty well known, but a huge actress, you know, back in the day. Ron Howard, who was OP and then turned into a famous producer. It's got a movie out right now called Thirteen Lives.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's a watchable movie.
SPEAKER_03Is it?
SPEAKER_00It's about the kids, the Thai kids who got caught in a cage. Oh, sure. Yeah. Flooded. And it was recommended to me. It's called 13 Lives. And I was thinking, I don't know, a rescue movie.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And the person that recommended it to me said, Well, there's a couple different movies on this. This one focuses on the rescue and how they did it. And I'm like, and so it was one of those nights where there was nothing. So I tuned in and it was just so well done and amazing. Like I was amazed because it's true.
SPEAKER_02Crazy story.
SPEAKER_00It's a crazy story, and it's true. And if you haven't seen it, when you get to the part where they figure out how they're going to get the kids out of there, yeah, it'll blow your mind. So Ron Howard was on the dating game. Michael Jackson.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_00When he was a little kid in 1972. Steve Martin. You've heard of Steve Martin.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I love Steve Martin.
SPEAKER_00Do you remember uh Marcia Brady from the Brady Bunch? By the way, for a little short period of time, I don't know why it was so short. Maybe because I tried to talk to her. Marsha Brady had a locker near mine.
SPEAKER_01What?
SPEAKER_00In uh the high school I went to.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was a younger person. And the uh person who played Batman on the TV version of Batman, his name is Adam McWest. Yeah. Was on early on in the show's history before he was uh famous. It doesn't really matter which episodes you watch because I was sampling some old episodes. They're all they're just sort of uniformly awkward and bad. Sure. But there's something that about the campiness that keeps you watching.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I uh some of us just like campy stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think going back to where I started with this, I think it was actually a vehicle for people who were like, I want to be on TV. What sh how can I be on TV? Well, you can be on a show like the dating game. They're always looking for young people. Probably in there, there were some real people maybe early on.
SPEAKER_02Well, the only person that I know, maybe you're gonna get to this. Oh, no, it's do you already know? You already know.
SPEAKER_00I was so hoping I was gonna surprise you. No. Darn it. Dang it.
SPEAKER_02Jamie! Yeah. I watch an exorbitant amount of true crime.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I wanted to surprise you. So I'm reading along and going down this dating game rabbit hole to find out in 1978, Rodney Alcala. I would pronounce it Alcala, but they were saying Alcala on the show. Okay. And he was introduced as a successful photographer who between takes you might find him skydiving or motorcycling and apparently murdering people.
SPEAKER_02Murdering people.
SPEAKER_00He at the time was killing people. He was a serial killer. So I watched his episode.
SPEAKER_02You can watch it, right? He won it. He was picked. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00He was the guy who said, when they said, when the person asked him, what would you cook for me? What what would you be on the menu or whatever? He says, a banana. And then you have to peel me. And then he also said, the nighttime is the best time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so everything he does and says, and every the way he looks and everything he does, knowing that he's a serial killer, which to me blows my mind that he's on this show. Right. But everything that he does looks creepy. Totally. However, if you just look at any of these shows and any of the dudes, and you just tell yourself, well, that person's a serial, make it up in your head that that person's a serial killer, they will also look.
SPEAKER_02All of their answers sound horrible and creepy.
SPEAKER_00Creepy. Especially when they by the late 70s when Rodney was on, because they were pushing them to be like all of them were being pushed to do the double entendre thing and to sound salacious and sexy. And so the fact is, he actually was legitimately creepy. Yeah. He wins. So he wins. And they get the prizes, it's not a good prize. They're gonna go, they're gonna get tennis lessons in the valley. They're gonna get some tennis clothes, and then they're gonna go to Magic Mountain, which was an amusement park.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00It was sort of a off-brand Disneyland. Right. So the per so he gets selected, and the person who selects him is a contestant named Cheryl Bradshaw. She, so they have a little green room time where she can get to know him, and they were supposed to go on their date the next day. And she said, I can't go out with this guy. He's creepy.
SPEAKER_02There's something bad vibe.
SPEAKER_00There's something creepy about him.
SPEAKER_02And how cocky of him to go on a game show mid-killing spree.
SPEAKER_00This is what I couldn't figure out. And I tried to find the answer to this question. And I I know it exists somewhere, but everything that I that that I took time to read about this incident, I can't find any explanation for why he wanted to go on the show. Narcissist.
SPEAKER_02He's just a narcissist.
SPEAKER_00Was he just also trying to be on TV? Was he, yeah, just it was just part of his narcissistic delusion? Was it like because you know when he went to the audition, one of the I think the husband of the producer, or anyway, related to one of the people making the decision, said, This guy's weird and you should not put him on the show. But they put him on anyway. So he was giving off weird vibes that people, some people were picking up on. But it's like, I just want to know, like, what like did he get recruited? Did someone see him somewhere and say, Oh, we want you on the show. Did he seek it out? I want to know.
SPEAKER_02Seems odd to draw so much attention to yourself when you're actively committing crimes. This is a complete side note, but I just watched a true crime documentary. I didn't know that Drew Carey's fiance was murdered.
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I didn't know that. It's horrible. Yeah, it was crazy. I will tell you that this show, the dating game, was the brainchild of Chuck Barris, who did other game shows. And he was the guy who wrote a book in which he claims that he was an agent for the CIA secretly.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_00Where he says, No, I was this whole time I was doing game shows, he was the guy that was on, he was actually the host of the Gong Show, the original Gong Show. He played this really weird dude, host dude. But he came up with the idea for the dating game and other games, like I think the Newlywed game and other games. He was sort of a games a game master. The dating game, whatever it did, good or bad for popular culture, what we can agree on is that it spawned many, many, many other dating shows around the world and popularized this device, this vehicle for getting attractive people in a contest for each other ostensibly for love. Yes. I just picked a few. There's a long I was just I I was amazed at how many shows. I just picked a few examples.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00I don't even know what they are, but I just like the titles. One, Date My Mom.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00A Shot At Love with Teela Tequila.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00I don't know what that was.
SPEAKER_02Remember that one?
SPEAKER_00Naked Attraction.
SPEAKER_02Oh.
SPEAKER_00Don't know what that was.
SPEAKER_02I don't know that one.
SPEAKER_00Uh so you watch some of these shows.
SPEAKER_02I watched an embarrassing amount of these shows.
SPEAKER_00So the first thing, tell me I don't know where to start. I wanna I wanna let's give you some examples of shows that you think really tickle your dating bone. I don't know what to call it. Um, it sounds bad.
SPEAKER_02It does.
SPEAKER_00Um it would be on the dating game, that show. Bachelor number one. Yes. How would you describe your dating bone?
SPEAKER_02I resisted for a long time watching The Bachelor, but I do watch The Bachelor slash Bachelorette.
SPEAKER_00Very popular, it's been on a long time, right? Like many, many seasons.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um I started watching it because my best friend watched an episode and then she was like too embarrassed to watch it by herself, so she made me watch it with her. And now we have like a weekly ritual where we watch The Bachelor on Tuesdays and we like order food and watch the the trash.
SPEAKER_00So I understand I have seen a few episodes. I don't know if I've watched an entire season. This show's been on a while.
SPEAKER_02A long time.
SPEAKER_00Because I think there were times when I'd be in a and I'd have a partner and they would want to watch those shows, and so you know, you'd be a supportive person and like, okay, I'll watch this with you. I remember there was something with flavor flavor.
SPEAKER_02The flavor of love.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Great.
SPEAKER_02It was great.
SPEAKER_00That seemed to me to be a little more action-packed.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. That one was that one was off the rails. Yeah, and spitting in someone else's mouth. Yeah, it was wild. That show was crazy.
SPEAKER_00And but I got to appreciate big time pieces.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So anyway, back to The Bachelor, Bachelorette.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they do like a cocktail party and like chat with each other, and then they have a rose ceremony at the end where they like give the roses out to people that they want to stay on the show, and then if you don't get a rose, you get the boot.
SPEAKER_00So what's interesting about that kind of show is your dating bone gets tickled by this voyeur this opportunity to watch, you know, somebody else struggle with this concept of, you know, I want someone to like me. How do I get that to happen? I want them to like me and not this other person.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00There's also a competition. And I'm assuming you get like interested in certain contestants and you want them to succeed.
SPEAKER_02So, like this season of The Bachelor, we all were really disappointed who they chose for The Bachelor. No, nobody likes him. There is talk on the internet that he's a robot. He's not a real person because he's very robotic.
SPEAKER_01Oh, we should have had him in our robot.
SPEAKER_02I know, yeah. Um, so so we don't like him, but we're watching this season only because then we get to meet all of the women. So, okay, there's The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, right? There's those main series. And then during the summer, there's what's called Bachelor in Paradise, which is the only one that matters. It's where they take all the losers from all the seasons, all the previous seasons, and they put them all on a beach together and they have to date each other. And it's great. It's the best trash, it's the trashiest of all of the seasons. So the only reason that we usually watch the main episodes are to get to know the losers that are gonna be on Meradise.
SPEAKER_00You've gotta know your losers so then you know how trashy the trash is gonna be in the summertime. So um that's interesting. So if you get on the Bachelor, Bachelorette, and you lose, you still get another shot.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Mm-hmm. If you're interesting enough on your season, they'll select you to go to Paradise.
SPEAKER_00So these days in the modern world where there's a million shows to watch, so this is still network TV.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So what do you have to do to be interesting if you're on this show to get like your attention?
SPEAKER_02You have to be like a villain. Okay, a villain, that's good. Always the villain of the season, and you know it's like so blatantly apparent that the um bachelor or bachelorette is not interested in this person. They don't want them, but the producers are making them keep this person because they make such good television.
SPEAKER_00Right. They would have to keep them used to be. They have to keep them. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you have to keep the villain.
SPEAKER_00Because you love to hate them.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But what makes them so villainous? Are they just sleazy?
SPEAKER_02Or they like are really Yeah, they're like devious, they're like mean to the other contestants, or they do stuff to sabotage the other contestants. Like what? How do you sabotage another Well, like they'll go to the bachelor and say that so-and-so did some thing that they're gonna be. Yeah, pooped on the staircase, spit in someone's mouth. Yeah. Um yeah, just lie, I guess, about the other contestants, or kind of try to try to like set them up somehow, or spread rumors in the house that they did something, and then the other girls are like, Did this really happen?
SPEAKER_00Now, are all the bachelors uh uh who are competing, are they all living together too?
SPEAKER_02All of the contestants live together, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But do they make them stay together to force more conflict? Like they don't all get their same in uh their own rooms.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because then nothing would happen. Right. But if you stick a bunch of dudes competing, yeah, but in a bunch of bunk beds. Man, it sucks. Now I imagine, and I don't mean to seem overly cynical, but I imagine that just like in the old dating game, if people went on that show were thinking, maybe I'll get noticed and I'll get that to your movie.
SPEAKER_02There's always every season, there's someone that comes on that like brings their guitar because they're like, Oh, I'm gonna write a song for The Bachelor or The Bachelorette. And then it's like, oh, you're just here for your music career because you want to get famous.
SPEAKER_00It would seem to me that that is the main motivator. Yeah. First of all, you have to, I'm assuming you have to be attractive some way, right? Either classically or in some sort of interesting way. You have to have uh some great looks. I guess I'm guessing that the typical person who goes on this show isn't someone who's actually just in it for the date. Right. They're there to be seen on TV, to be noticed by an agent, or because their agent said, Why don't you go on here and maybe Steven Spielberg will see you and cast your next epic movie, or Jordan Peel will see you, whatever it is, right? Yeah. Totally. So they're playing for the cameras, they're taking the producer suggestions.
SPEAKER_02Can I tell you about my latest find in reality dating? Of course. Very much on this line. Yeah. Uh there's a new show called MILF Manor.
SPEAKER_00MILF Manor, okay. All right.
SPEAKER_02There's only two episodes out, so I don't know how it ends yet.
SPEAKER_00But you're excited about it.
SPEAKER_02The premise of I don't know if I would say I'm excited about it. It's just like a train wreck that I was like, I must know more. Um The premise of the show is okay, so that they start off, they show these women, I don't know how many, ten women, something like that. Um older women, right? It's like the premise of the show is these women are in like their fifties, right? Okay. And they are MILFs, self-proclaimed MILFs, and they're back in the dating game and they're on a game show, and there's a twist.
SPEAKER_00And so Oh, that wasn't the twist? That was not the twist. I thought the fact that they were fifty and on television dating was the twist. Oh, so there's another twist.
SPEAKER_02So they line up all of these women to meet their the men, the male contestants, because they want to date like younger men, right? It's like older women trying to date younger men.
SPEAKER_00You don't want to hagbag it. Right. You want to get out there and get your get your fun on. Yeah, that's right. You want to get your dating bone scratched.
SPEAKER_02Tickle the old dating bone. Uh it's not bad. No.
SPEAKER_00Um anyway.
SPEAKER_02Anyway, so then the so they line them up, they're getting ready to meet the male contestants. The screen comes up, and the contestants are their sons. All of their sons.
SPEAKER_00What the heck are you telling me right now?
SPEAKER_02Whose son? So it's all of the women have a son and all of their sons are the contestants. So their sons are supposed to date the other moms, but they have to share a room with their mom.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_02It's wild.
SPEAKER_00I'm guessing this show is illegal in half the state.
SPEAKER_02I was like, the how who made this show? But please give me more. I need to know more.
SPEAKER_00This sounds like a show that was inspired by Pornhub. Right. Or something. It's just too twisted. It that's the weirdest thing. It's and they're bizarre. How they don't know their kid is going to be on the show?
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah. So they set it up like they both of them were going to be on a dating show, but neither of them knew that they were going to be on their particular dating show.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And then they're not telling them, and you got a bunk and you got a bunk with your mom.
SPEAKER_02So if you're going to bang one of the other moms, kick your mom out of the room.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, hopefully. That's just so it's frightening to think about what the show is going for and what they're going to do. But you're there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You got you've punched your ticket.
SPEAKER_02I did.
SPEAKER_00You're watching. I sure did. So this is what I want to know. That I've never heard of that one. That sounds absolutely wow.
SPEAKER_02Horrific.
SPEAKER_00You love these shows.
SPEAKER_02I love them.
SPEAKER_00Like you, I can tell looking at your face. You are delighted. I don't think I've ever seen you more delighted. So I'm wondering, like, what is it that's so delicious about these shows?
SPEAKER_02It's just like such a like hot, wet dumpster fire. Like I can't I can't look away.
SPEAKER_00So reality television has sort of figured out that we like trash.
SPEAKER_02Trash.
SPEAKER_00Like we like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And garbage.
SPEAKER_00You know who else has figured that out? Is politicians. Because they lived down the created that same dumpster fire. Yeah. But putting that aside, um, yeah, so they figured out, and that started decades ago. Yeah. I can't remember when they first started figuring this out that we like trash.
SPEAKER_02Trash.
SPEAKER_00We really like it. Yes.
SPEAKER_02And I want to not think at all. I want my brain to like lose some points.
SPEAKER_01Yes, you want to come out of it more good than when you started before.
SPEAKER_02That's what we want. Yeah. Life is hard. I need to just like disconnect. I need to be turn my brain off.
SPEAKER_00Drag me through the trash and spank me. So I yeah, so it's so we like trash. Reality television have figured out the formula. You get there's no end of people who are willing to do anything.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00To be on television. Yeah. They will do anything and to get attention anyway. And I know that a lot of people not only do they want to be noticed on television, but they also, you know, want to be influencers and they want to have followers and they hope to have their brand, whatever it is, and their own perfume and their own t-shirts or whatever it is. Like they're all thinking, I'm gonna monetize this experience. And of course, I think while that probably happens, it happens rarely. Rarely. Or if it happens, it doesn't last.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because then the next train wreck comes along. Right. The mom and her son having smooching.
SPEAKER_01Smooching. No. Who knows? I don't know.
SPEAKER_02I'm waiting for episode three to come home.
SPEAKER_00Your dating bone is sick. We watch for the spectacle. You know, when they're watching gladiators uh, you know, kill each other like in the in the arena. Right. And the people would the masses would come and scream bloody murder and watch people kill themselves. I mean, that's kind of the same thing. I mean, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Is it that different?
SPEAKER_02No. Sometimes I get like secondhand embarrassment watching.
SPEAKER_00Whoa, what's secondhand embarrassment?
SPEAKER_02Well, like when you're watching someone do something so cringy, and I like I like have to walk away for a minute because I'm like so embarrassed for the person on the show. They're trying like so hard to get their 15 minutes of fame, you know, that I'm just like watching through my fingers, like embarrassed for the person.
SPEAKER_00I know that feeling, like, oh, you almost feel sorry for them. It's not worth it this time. No. Do you ever feel embarrassed though about yourself? No. So that's I thought that's what secondhand embarrassment was. Like, you're embarrassed for them, but now I'm embarrassed that I'm watching it. No, you're okay watching it.
SPEAKER_02I'm okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00If you're gonna get jump into the dumpster fire, I know what I'm about. Hey, I'm just watching it.
SPEAKER_01I'm just watching.
SPEAKER_00Hey, I'm just turning on the TV. I got my DoorDash. And if they want to get up on that TV and mom and baby want to smooch it up, what can I? No, my problem. I think it's I think it's fascinating. I think just the the ones that are about trying to form relationships, that's fascinating to watch, even if they played it straight up. Like I think it can be good television. And I think at one point they probably did maybe play it more straight up. They've figured out a way to keep amping it up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But I it is fascinating. And to know it's a contest, that's another layer of fascination. And to have people that you like and you want them to win, that's another one. Yeah. There's always the a little bit of uncertainty because maybe they won't pick the person you think is best. Yeah. And then it's like, why? How could they do that? So that you know, that's very much like sports, that seems like sports to me. And you probably identify with certain certain players, like, oh, that's kind of a person's kind of like me. Like I we could be we could hang out. Yeah. We could hang out. That mom and me. Well, that's really fascinating. I don't watch any of these shows, but I have watched them.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00I don't watch them because I now I feel like I can't trust that the behavior is real.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's not. It's the producers mostly.
SPEAKER_00So for me, that kind of takes the fun out of it because I can just watch a movie where none of it's real.
SPEAKER_02Gotcha. I have a problem where I can't have um silence in my house. Like I have to have s noise going on. So I just put on like trash TV for background noise, like while I'm cleaning or like meal prepping or something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think you're watching.
SPEAKER_02So like seasons will just like run in the background and all like peer in. Uh occasionally. Yeah, so I watch like a lot of trash, but it's kind of like just on in the background.
SPEAKER_00So I've gotta ask. I think I know the answer, but maybe I don't.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00So why do you always have to have sound on?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. It I it's like a a white noise thing, I guess.
SPEAKER_00It's like a self-soothing?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, maybe.
SPEAKER_00A lot of people do different noises.
SPEAKER_02I know I also I startle easily. So, like, if someone like walks into a room and I don't hear them and I turn around and you're there, it's like startles me.
SPEAKER_00Anybody would be startled, Jamie, especially if it was me.
unknownI know.
SPEAKER_00Especially if it was me.
SPEAKER_02And Ross does show up in my apartment unannounced. And I startle.
SPEAKER_00I am a startler. I've startled myself. There's a mirror here at Portland Underground Studios. So we are doing this show from Portland Underground Studio, which is a place to be if you ever want to hear yourself talk.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_00Or do anything, play music, whatever you want to do. They will record you here doing. They don't care what you do.
SPEAKER_02You can do whatever you want.
SPEAKER_00We have proved that they have no barriers to entry. You can sit here and say anything, and Derek will sit there and just watch the time. Yep. When is this going to be over? But at some point, you have might have to use the facility and you go in there, and there is a startling mirror that you do not expect to see a murderer is in there.
SPEAKER_01Speaking of it's Rodney Alcala Alcala. Rodney Alcala is in there.
SPEAKER_00Hey, I'd be a banana.
SPEAKER_01Like, whoa, Rodney, you're dead.
SPEAKER_00Not really. I am always here. You can watch that episode on YouTube. It's you should do it. It'll freak you out.
SPEAKER_01I think I have watched it, yeah. It'll freak you out. Yeah. Freaky.
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't think any less of you or anyone who watches these shows because to me, no, I don't, because I mean I love watching everything. I watch a ton. I've always been a TV person. TVs, movies. I watch so much, and not everything I watch is high brow.
SPEAKER_03No.
SPEAKER_00I can relate to being attracted to spectacles of all kinds. Yeah. And I think there's very few of us that don't like a good spectacle. And if you're sitting there listening, is thinking, well, I would never watch one of those shows. You know, if you drive by a crash scene, are you looking at that or are you keeping eyes straight ahead? Maybe you keep eyes straight ahead. If you see someone flaming out at a restaurant with their partner, like they're losing their biscuits. Are you watching that? Are you watching it or are you just minding your own business? I'm guessing you're kind of peeking at that little. And that's kind of what reality television is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like being a fly on the wall.
SPEAKER_00It's it's yes, it's like being a fly on the wall. These kinds of shows, they've been around. See, 1965 till now is about what 60 years? That's a long time for a formula to run. And of course, they've amped it way up. Yep. Like those original dating games were so tame and awkward and not watchable compared to what they put on now. Right. Which sounds gross and sick, and they have to keep upping the ante. Why? Because of our insatiable dating bones. Our dating bones will not be sated.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_00And so and so I think they're here to stay, and I don't think there's anything wrong if you like these shows because it actually is harmless fun. And maybe it helps somehow to see other people doing this. Right. Not everybody does well at dating. Hello, I'm still single. So maybe watching these shows in some way gives people an opportunity to like get some, like, oh, so that's maybe how you talk to somebody. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, maybe that's or that's how you don't.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you don't, yeah, you don't do it that way. You don't do those things. You don't say those words. You don't get into a room with your mom. Date your mom. Yikes. That is I can't I really am expecting you to tell me this is not really a show.
SPEAKER_02I know. I wish it wasn't, but here we are.
SPEAKER_00Well, thanks for joining me, Jamie, and sharing your interest in what you call trash television. I don't think it's trash, it's just a spectacle. You can't blame humans for being interested in the spectacle. We have a long history of being attracted to spectacle. I think it's just part of being a human being. We can't help ourselves. Thanks to everyone for listening to this episode. We can use your help. Sharing the show is a really good way to get the word out. You can follow us on Instagram, send us a message there, and you can support us on Patreon. We're still there. And we would love to be able to pay. We have to pay for our studio time, and we have to pay to promote the show. We're trying to avoid taking commercials at the moment. Someday if we became super famous and we have commercials, everybody's gonna lash out.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00And they're gonna say, Ross, you podcasting fool, you sold us out to who would sponsor us? Um some kind of who would uh tube socks? I don't know. Tube socks. Do they make tube socks?
SPEAKER_02Do they? I know I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I've remember tube socks, but they from a long time ago. Tube socks. That's one of those products that just doesn't sound good.
SPEAKER_01Oh no.
SPEAKER_00It's uh it doesn't, it's nothing wrong with it, it just doesn't sound good. Like wet nap.
SPEAKER_01Remember the wet nap? Like wet naps and tube socks.
SPEAKER_00I want to be at that meeting where they're tossing around ideas. We got this new product. It's like you know, a hand sanitizer, but it's on a like a Kleenex and you wipe your hands with it. And we're thinking wet nap. And nobody at the table says, wait a tick. I'm thinking that sounds I'm not right. I don't know, can we and we hope you will tune in to another episode because whether you are an earnest contestant just trying to scratch your dating bone, or someone bunking in with your mom, it's important to remember that we all smell like humans. Goodbye, everybody. What's happening? I don't know. Oh wait, maybe that's when you were trying to get you were like a pimp for your mom. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You're pimping your mom your mom. So this one's different because you're dating other mom's kids.
unknownWow.