Two Houston podcasts cheer and chide beloved flicks
Local Houston photographer Tracy Carlson wanted to do a podcast.
She first got the hankering to do one when she began listening to “My Favorite Murder” during project trips. “I loved the casual vibe,” she says. “It made me laugh. I loved it. And I was like, ‘I have to do a podcast. I have to have something podcasty in my life.’”
She knew she had a good idea for a show when she would discuss films with her husband, film critic Daniel Carlson. “We’ll talk about movies, and I’ll mention a movie that he absolutely should’ve seen, and he’ll go, ‘Yeah, I’ve never seen that.’ And I’m like, “How have you not seen this! Like, you’re a film critic!’ And he was like, ‘There’s only so much time!’ ”
And, thus, “How Have You Not Seen This?!” was born. Launched in June and regularly released on Mondays, “Seen” is just one of many film-review podcasts out there on the web where the hosts will thoroughly break down a movie they’ve just seen, either praising its vision or ripping it to shreds. (Another married couple has a podcast called “You Haven’t Seen What?”)
The Carlsons usually rotate who will pick what, with Mr. Carlson forcing Mrs. Carlson to watch such classics as “Network” (she didn’t dig it as much as he does) and the Mrs. retaliating with flicks such as the ’80s teen comedy “Better Off Dead.” “I have been harassing him about that film for 10 years,” Tracy says. “Nonstop,” Daniel adds.
Though it’s fun hearing the Carlsons use their affectionately smart-alecky chemistry for film-critiquing purposes, they aren’t the only podcast hosts in this town hitting each other with movies they should’ve seen by now. For the past two years, a pair of BFFs has been recording “Why Was This Ever Cool.”
two weeks, hosts/good friends Cody Green and Shayla Williams go back to their respective childhoods and pick apart beloved films they may or may not have seen. They often review films in a hilariously catty, occasionally petty manner. Sometimes, they’ll forget the names of actors and actresses and just refer to them as the movie/TV show they’re most famous for.
“Cool” came about when the pals were dishing it up at their marketing day jobs and a coworker thought they were funny enough to have their own podcast. Even though he would produce it, Williams didn’t think much of it. “And one day,” she remembers, “he came and was like, ‘Hey, I spent all this money on microphones and all this for our podcast.’ And we were like,
‘How Have You Not Seen This?!’
Mondays notseenthispod.com ‘Why Was This Ever Cool?’
Every other Wednesday instagram.com/whywasthisevercool
‘Oh, he was serious. We really have to do this now.’ ”
Just like when Mrs. Carlson had her “Eureka!” moment in what “Cool” would be about, Williams found inspiration when she was flipping through channels and saw the Steven Spielberg flop “Hook.” Remembers Green, “And she was like, ‘I have no idea why this was ever cool!’ ” (“Hook” would eventually be the first movie they would review.)
“Cool” also has something else in common with “Seen”: Both female co-hosts were amazed when their male counterparts said they’ve never seen the Ice Cube stoner comedy “Friday.” While Mrs. Carlson exclaimed, “That’s just insane,”
Williams, an African-American who usually chooses films for African-Americans, had a feeling her white compadre might not have caught it. (She was amused that Green will sometimes quote lines from “Friday” and other black films, without knowing that they came from those films.)
Both the hosts of “Seen” and “Cool” get amused by the responses they receive from listeners. Mrs. Carlson thought “Seen” would get only three regular listeners. That was before she got feedback from old acquaintances and high school teachers. “And I’ll get messages from people that are like, ‘Loving the podcast. When’s the next season?’ And
I’m like, ‘Wait, what? You’re listening to it? I swear a lot!’
Green says he receives random messages from people on Facebook about “Cool.” But he understands why people would be drawn to the show. “We’re basically, like, watching the movie back with you, trying to keep it in order and let you kinda follow along with us,” he says. “And, honestly, we’re hilarious. So, there’s that, too.”
Mr. Carlson also enjoys taking listeners on a cinematic ride. “One of the things that I always loved about writing about movies in the first place was getting to share movies with people that they might not have heard of or might not have remembered, or maybe they forgot about it,” he says. “So, it’s been really fun for me to kind of share movies with people that they’re like, ‘Oh, I haven’t seen that in forever’ or, ‘I forgot all about that’ or, ‘Oh, that’s new to me.’ ”