Pulled episodes, HDTGM

[tan1230 4]

As I was listening to several old episodes of HDTGM I noticed the Green Lantern episode (14) was missing. I couldn't find any messages regarding why episode 14 is not available. Will someone at Earwolf help me understand what's going on? This is the second episode to be removed (episode 16 - Smurfs, being the first by "reasonable request") and it's making me concerned that this occurrence may become frequent, which would be disappointing and off-putting.

I hope to receive a reply soon. Thank you.

[HotSaucerman 2051]

I think the general assumption is that Jason, Paul, and June work in Hollywood, and they cross paths with some of the people from those movies. Jayma Mays, who was in "The Smurfs," actually played Paul's love interest on a few episodes of "The League." Only thing I can think of for "Green Lantern" is that Paul and Jason have written for the Deadpool comics, and Ryan Reynolds is playing Deadpool in the movie.

 

Also, have you noticed lately how they pick movies that are usually older and more obscure? And/or don't have lots of current comedic actors in them?

[SeveralCircles 426]

Nooooooo I love that episode!

 

Glad I recently relistened. I hope Paul Rust at least comes back.

 

Funny that the minisode calling it a failure is still up. Might as well nix that too, JD.

[qrter 79]

Yes, they tend to retract episodes that feature movies with friends in them - it's also why they supposedly won't feature any of their own less than favourable movies (for example, Bride Wars, which was co-written by June). It all seems a bit precious and silly to me, but then I don't have to meet these people face to face.

[RossFnord 2]

Like it or not, networking is the way of the world. That goes double for show business.

[Bumpy 1674]

Not sure the Hollywood politcs reason holds up. Were these episodes they dipped deeper into the 'on the spectrum' jokes? I know there's been some blowback from that and those jokes have dried up in more recent shows.

[fanny pack 29]

Boo. How boring of them.

[Benicio Del Bore-O 132]

Making fun of safe target movies with safe target jokes is not going to capture my interest.

I don't know HDTGM well, so I won't guess at why they're making their decisions.

 

I'd argue that a braver show of this sort should make fun of predominantly recent movies, including successful ones.

 

I'd also argue that ridiculing someone/behaviors being possibly on the spectrum is completely fair game, and completely different than making fun of a person with legitimate autism (which one could still joke around about, but not 'make fun of').

Ridiculing someone for being maybe weird in maybe a clinical way, where we wonder "can that person help it? because that is some weird shit" comes from the center/normal part of society, and is usually a joke with some cruelty in it, but:

A: absolutely everyone ridicules from their point of view/their center, even the most puritanical political types

B: if the target is someone who could possibly help it, that's a fair target (we don't know, and we will never know, quite where a psych condition takes over and constrains someone's actions, so I'd argue that making fun of mild conditions is 100% in-bounds and a necessary social force. What's 5 out of 100 on the spectrum? Does that mean the person completely can't help it? Prove it.)

C: the center of society ridiculing personality types for their different extremes and errors is basically a positive force, in general, provided the society is basically a positive force. The 'norm' is not always the 'wildly extreme' force that the political extremes would cast it as, when they attack the norm from their extremes..... obviously, right? The norm is the norm, and not necessarily evil.

D: humor 'twas ever thus. It's where the word 'humor' comes from. Different tempraments get made fun of for having the wrong temperment in the wrong situation = Humor.

 

Giving in to a social pressure on this specific issue is a chicken-shit thing to do (again, I don't know if HDTGM did so, since I don't know the show well enough). Comedians need to stick to their guns, and chew over what kinds of jokes are ok themselves, with some recourse to other people, but without ceding their own decisions to whoever makes the most noise. If you take a minute to consider what percentage of people in the US in 2015 basically don't get satire or other kinds of humor, it's a large number. You can see it with backlash on any humorist/satirist. There's always an angry dumb-ass twitter crowd ready for a witchhunt. Some of them are just plain stupid, but the majority have an axe to grind from the left or the right or one religion or another. Their ideas and sensitivities are not to be protected, any more than mine or yours are.

And however many points I am on the spectrum, I don't want mine protected.

[Benicio Del Bore-O 132]

By the way, I think that Jason, June and Paul are fantastically talented, and I'm a huge fan of all three.

 

I was only critiquing their possible decision to stop saying 'on the spectrum' due to sensitivities.

So many psychological traits have a 'spectrum'. I'm contending that the traits themselves, especially in basically functioning people, are fair game for jokes.

 

As an analogous example: making fun of someone for having OCD is different if that person:

A: cannot function

B: functions well in life but irons her socks before she can put them away, and has to put coasters at right angles to the tables they're on.

 

B is fair game for jokes, as is some guy's mild Asperger's, or the neuroticism of the people who want to raise hell about 'on the spectrum' jokes.

[SamTaurone 18]

The good news is that these episodes can easily be found on Google.

[Wien 401]

Man they keep pulling all my favorite episodes. Jerks.

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

Man they keep pulling all my favorite episodes. Jerks.

 

Was something else pulled?

[TimCogan 2]

I would be willing to bet Green Lantern was pulled because Taika Waititi is in it and he directed and wrote for Flight of the Conchords and June guested on that show.

[CaseyRafter 42]

I've been able to track some of these episodes on youtube over the last few months. I HAD to hear them for completionists sake.

[PatrickHothersall 3]

I can understand not wanting to hurt friends. I suppose actors can maybe be a little sensitive, but I can also imagine how improv people want to be very supportive.

 

In any case, I DL my episodes. I have them all.

[ICMexican 151]

In a HDTGM ad on today's WSGLL, Paul mentions Green Lantern as an example of movies they've covered. I thought to myself, "hey--I thought they pulled that one!" Well, turns out it's back. http://www.earwolf.com/episode/green-lanternpaul-rust/

 

Smurfs is still missing, though.

[Shannon 2953]

If you follow that link Cool and Indie, you will find that it is not actually the episode.

 

BUT there is good news. Green Lantern AND The Smurfs are both on Howl and Stitcher Premium!

 

Episodes 14 and 16 respectively. Enjoy.

[old_T 0]

On 5/5/2017 at 5:53 PM, Shannon said:

If you follow that link Cool and Indie, you will find that it is not actually the episode.

 

BUT there is good news. Green Lantern AND The Smurfs are both on Howl and Stitcher Premium!

 

Episodes 14 and 16 respectively. Enjoy.

Where on stitcher premium is the green lantern episode?  For me it goes straight from minisode fourteen to minisode fifteen.

[Shannon 2953]

9 hours ago, old_T said:

Where on stitcher premium is the green lantern episode?  For me it goes straight from minisode fourteen to minisode fifteen.

Hrm, I am seeing the same thing. 

Unfortunately, I don't work on the Stitcher Premium team anymore so I have no info for you. But if you email support@stitcher.com someone over there should be able to investigate for you.