Conversations With Dead People

Stage and screen legend Joel Grey joins the series, and so from this point on Conversations with Dead People is a Joel Grey fan podcast. Sorry Buffy fans.   Okay, seriously, we’re into the darkness of the near-end of Season 5 now, which of course is also a LOT of foreshadowing of the darkness awaiting us in Season 6. To help me get through the pain of these episodes Melane Scala is back, bringing with her a refreshing appreciation for the character of Dawn. In 517, “Forever,” the Summers girls, with Spike’s help, just barely manage to stay out of full-blown zombie mom territory. Episode 518, “Intervention” gives us a Buffy and Giles wearing turtleneck sweaters and jackets in the desert, Spike’s post-coital hair, and a Scooby Gang that inexplicably can’t recognize a Buffybot just weeks after instantly spotting the Aprilbot. And 519, “Tough Love” struggles with writing/pacing issues, but still gives us our first glimpse of Dark Willow. And my questions about the way the show treats issues of mental health, ra

“But I don't understand! I don't understand how this all happens. How we go through this. I knew her, and then she's—there's just a body, and I don't understand why she just can't get back in it and not be dead ... anymore! It's stupid! It's mortal and stupid! And ... and Xander's crying and not talking, and ... and I was having fruit punch, and I thought, well, Joyce will never have any more fruit punch, ever, and she'll never have eggs, or yawn, or brush her hair, not ever, and no one will explain to me why!”   Next: someone (TBD) will join me to discuss episodes 517, “Forever,” 518, “Intervention,” and 519, “Tough Love.”   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 01:44:16 00:00:55 - Intro / Guest 00:06:27 - Main Topic 01:40:56 - Outro / Next   THE LIBRARY Library Closed For Filing - Please Come Back Tomorrow   THE MUSIC “Conversations (feat. Wesley Mead)” by Azura (2017) “Now Only” by Mount Eerie, Now Only (2018)   THE SCHOLARS Whedon Studies Association is a non-profit academic organization devoted to th

Jessica Hautsch is back in the cemetery to discuss two more episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Being massive Spike fans, episode 514, “Crush” gives us both a lot to talk about. Episode 515, “I Was Made to Love You” gives us...less. We have plenty to say about the performative nature of Spike, the arc of his moral continuum, and how wisely (or not) vampires are able to love. We go on and on about how problematic he can be, how much we love him in spite of all that, and how intensely, annoyingly metatextual and condescending Quasimodo comparisons are.    “Doesn’t seem to me it matters very much how you start out.”    When it comes to long, compelling conversations about misogynistic geeks and sex robots...we do all right.   Next: My hetero life mate Arlo Wiley returns to help me tackle the heartbreaking 516, “The Body.” Have the Kleenex ready.   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 01:42:05 00:00:55 - Intro / Guest 00:02:28 - Main Topic 01:38:30 - Outro / Next   THE LIBRARY Library Closed For Filing - Plea

Wait, Ben is Glory?!   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 01:11:53 00:00:55 - Intro / Guest / R.I.P. Rutger Hauer 00:06:24 - Main Topic 01:06:33 - Outro / Next   THE LIBRARY Library Closed For Filing - Please Come Back Tomorrow   THE MUSIC “Conversations (feat. Wesley Mead)” by Azura (2017) “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” by R.E.M., Monster (1994)   THE SCHOLARS Whedon Studies Association is a non-profit academic organization devoted to the study of the works of Joss Whedon and his associates. They put out Slayage: The Journal of Whedon Studies, and Watcher Junior​: The Undergraduate Journal of Whedon Studies, both blind peer-reviewed twice-yearly online publications. They also host the biennial Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses, which brings all these incredible scholars together to present papers, discuss ways of incorporating Whedon Studies in education, and basically just geek out together.  http://www.whedonstudies.tv/

Jessica Hautsch is back and prepared to face off with me about the Buffy / Riley breakup. In 510, “Into the Woods,” I finally come to the presumed end of my Quixotic mission to defend Riley Finn...because the writers FINALLY dump him unceremoniously. Did Captain Cornfed get a fair shake, from the writers or the audience? Was Xander unfair to Buffy? Was Buffy’s slaying of the Junkie Vampire Girl problematic? There might not be any easy answers. In 511, “Triangle” however, there ARE some easy answers. Is Anya’s talk with Xander about wanting a ticking bomb clock for any future breakup heartbreaking? Yes it is. Is Buffy’s sobbing a little too cartoonish? Affirmative. Is Spike’s continued fetish for greasy bar food adorable? Abso-bloomin-lutely.   Next: I and a mystery guest TBD will be discussing episodes 512, “Checkpoint” and 513, “Blood Ties.”   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 01:41:35 00:00:55 - Intro / Guest 00:04:55 - Main Topic 01:35:22 - Outro / Next   THE LIBRARY Fan Phenomena: Harry Potter, edited by

No good deed goes unpunished, and so Michael Holland pays for being such a great guest last week, where we got to discuss one (maybe two?) of the best episodes in the entire series. His penance? He’s back with me again, which is perhaps punishment enough, but in fact he’s here to talk about Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes 508, “Shadow” and 509, “Listening to Fear.” In the former he’s forced to endure the worst CGI snake demon the show ever conjures up, and in the latter he struggles to survive the show’s embarrassing X-Files envy.   (That’ll teach him to be so smart and fun, huh?)   Next: PhD student, Slayage contributor, and fellow Spuffy fanatic Jessica Hautsch returns to discuss episodes 510, “Into the Woods” and 511, “Triangle.”   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 01:25:50 00:00:55 - Intro / Guest 00:04:00 - Main Topic 01:18:15 - Outro / Next   THE LIBRARY Library Closed For Filing - Please Come Back Tomorrow   THE LINKS Michael’s Blog - Holland Imaginarium   THE MUSIC “Conversations (feat. Wes

I’m a bad podcaster, but I’m a good man. I’m just so into this Buffy the Vampire Slayer rewatch lately that I decided to get really sick just as we start getting into the episodes that deal with Joyce getting really sick. Fortunately I SEEM to have rounded a corner, and with luck (and maybe a little bit of magic?) this silly little podcast will now get back on some kind of regular track.   That track begins with the triumphant return of Michael Holland, Manager of Television for Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services, who joins me for a very special episode. We kick off with 506, “Family,” where we talk about the way patriarchal systems dehumanize women and how the Jossian found family narrative is perhaps the most profound and moving aspect of anything set in the Whedonverse. And with 507, “Fool for Love,” we reach what is arguably, for me personally, the high water mark of the series. I know, there’s still a lot of great stuff coming up. But...well let’s just say I’m a Spike fan, and I kinda sorta

Plague demons worked their worst to keep this episode out of your earbuds, faithful listeners. But I have valiantly fought my way free of the mucous-based hell dimension to finally bring you my discussion with the inimitable Stephanie Graves about 504, “Out of My Mind” and 505, “No Place Like Home.” People still hate Dawn; Spike gets arguably the greatest five-word quote in the entire damn series; and there’s something about that boy Ben...I can’t quite put my finger on it...   Next: I, and presumably a guest, who shall remain a mystery for now since I can’t get confirmation from anyone, will be discussing episodes 506, “Family” and, a big one for me personally, 507, “Fool for Love.”   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 01:26:39 00:00:55 - Intro / Guest 00:04:22 - Main Topic 01:22:20 - Outro / Next   THE LIBRARY Joss Whedon vs. the Horror Tradition: The Production of Genre in Buffy and Beyond, edited by K. K. Woofter and Lorna Jowett   THE MUSIC “Conversations (feat. Wesley Mead)” by Azura (2017) “No Plac

Are season openers the weakest link in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer chain? Is Rudolf Martin an interesting Prince of Darkness? Are Xander’s days of being everybody’s butt-monkey finally over? Dax Stokes, host of the podcast The Vampire Historian, makes his Conversations debut to discuss these and other very, very important questions. In the Season 5 premiere, “Buffy vs. Dracula,” that poncy bugger turns up to feed Xander bugs and smolder ineffectually as he blathers on about the Slayer’s darkness. In “Real Me,” Buffy’s little sister finally gets an episode of her own, only 79 episodes into the series, and of course she has a crush on Xander. And in “The Replacement,” Anya almost gets to live the dream with two Xanders at once.   It’s a big week for the X-Man.   Next: Mr. Point Award-winner Stephanie Graves returns to discuss episodes 504, “Out of My Mind” and 505, “No Place Like Home.”   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 01:47:15 00:00:55 - Intro / Guest 00:11:10 - Main Topic 01:40:29 - Outro / Next   THE L

Multi-Mr. Pointy Award-winning author Mary Ellen Iatropoulos returns to discuss Franken-Forrest, Cabin in the Woods, and Joss’ obsession with concepts of hybridization in 421, “Primeval.” And then Season Four comes to it’s oh-so-welcome end with 422, “Restless,” which features some very unsubtle lesbian metaphors, Spike swinging really high, Mayor Meat, and the debate and confusion around the name of the First Slayer.   Oh, and we share our perhaps problematic love of the film Ghostbusters.   Next: I’m joined by Dax Stokes, host of the award-winning podcast The Vampire Historian to discuss the first three episodes of Season 5, “Buffy vs. Dracula,” “Real Me,” and “The Replacement.”   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 02:01:04 00:00:55 - Intro / Guest 00:04:33 - Main Topic 01:53:30 - Outro / Next   THE LIBRARY Joss Whedon and Race: Critical Essays, edited by Mary Ellen Iatropoulos and Lowery A. Woodall III The Aesthetics of Culture in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, by Matthew Pateman   THE LINKS Mary Ellen Ia

Nikki Stafford, author of Bite Me!: The Unofficial Guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (AND Once Bitten: An Unofficial Guide to the World of Angel, but we’ll get there) returns! Stepping briefly away from her watch on the Wall (the final season of Game of Thrones is a demanding master), she joins me to discuss great werewolf actors, bad werewolf makeup, and uncomfortable contemporary readings of previously endearing moments in 419, “New Moon Rising.” And then in 420, “The Yoko Factor” we talk about the perceptiveness of evil, the unnecessary apologies of Angel, the comedic stylings of drunk Giles, and our respective sympathies whenever people gang up on Buffy.   Next: I’ll be joined by...somebody?...to close out the controversial college season with episodes 421, “Primeval” and 422, “Restless.”   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 00:00:00 00:00:55 - Intro / Guest 00:06:15 - Main Topic 01:19:29 - Outro / Next   THE LIBRARY Bite Me!: The Chosen Edition The Unofficial Guide to Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Seven Seas

Superstar Kenn Edwards returns, as Conversations with Dead People transitions into what it was always meant to be...Conversations about Jonathan Levinson! While discussing episode 417, “Superstar,” Paul indulges in many of his worst tendencies to go off on tangents, pondering the nature of magic as “the language of outcasts,” learning to be more accepting of Buffy Summers, and how Danny Strong has cast his own augmentation spell to become the Jonathan Levinson of the real world. And in 418, “Where the Wild Things Are,” we talk about the baffling absence of Oz, orgasm walls and other unsubtle metaphors, and Paul takes another unfair jab at Marti Noxon. Sorry.   Next: the long-awaited return of fan-scholar/scholar-fan Nikki Stafford as we discuss episodes 419, “New Moon Rising” and 420, “The Yoko Factor.”   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 01:37:55 00:00:55 - Intro / Guest 00:03:52 - Main Topic 01:25:13 - Outro / Next   THE LIBRARY Library Closed For Filing - Please Come Back Tomorrow   THE LINKS The Alex

There’s clearly been some body swapping shenanigans going on, because somehow infamous prodigal Conversational-ist Arlo Wiley makes his first appearance in the Dead People mausoleum. (I mean at least there wasn’t any hyena possession going on.) We talk around the awkward, metaphorically demonic history between us regarding the origins of this podcast before at last renewing our Faith in each other to discuss this week’s impressive double bill of episodes. In 415, “This Year’s Girl” we see the very welcome return of some long lost fan favorite characters as Faith wakes up from her coma, learns of the fate of her father figure Mayor Wilkins, and shares some tender moments with Joyce. And the extraordinary 416, “Who Are You” gives us two of THE -- BEST -- PERFORMANCES of the entire series, with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku swapping roles to absolutely unbelievable effect.   For serious, guys...these are two of my personal favorites.   Next: superstar Kenn Edwards returns to discuss 417, “Superstar.

Michael Holland returns to the Conversations with Dead People mausoleum to discuss the agelessness of Ian McShane. (Coming soon: Conversations with Deadwood.) We also talk a little about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Episode 413, “The I in Team” covers a LOT of territory, including a dramatically silly but thematically significant trap, the very perfunctory end of Maggie Walsh’s story, and the high watermark (so far) of the patented Buffyverse “slo-mo sex-equals-violence” montage. And episode 414 makes some implied promises with the title “Goodbye Iowa” that maybe don’t pay off the way some viewers expected. Adam studies anatomy, Riley’s off his meds, a certain subtext considers dropping the sub, and the relevance of Road Runner cartoons is discussed.   Next: I’ll be once again by Whedon Studies author and Associate Dean for Faculty, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences at Marquette University James South as we find Faith in episodes 415, “This Year’s Girl” and 416, “Who Are You.”   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time:

We’re back! For justice, and the safety of puppies! Brazilian fan community organizer extraordinaire Johny Ho joins me to talk about the maybe possibly sloggy mid-point of Season Four. In 411, “Doomed,” the kids LITERALLY go back to high school in what Paul rather grumpily refers to as a clumsy attempt to demonstrate maturation. While in 412, “A New Man,” the annual Buffy Birthday Crisis eschews the usual zombies and problematic issues of power and consent in favor of...a mid-life crisis.   Also we lament all those stories and spinoffs that could have been: the more sophisticated Giles vs. Walsh arc we never got; Ripper the Series; and the Giles/Spike half hour buddy comedy series that just simply HAS to exist in the multiverse somewhere.   Next: Someone, possibly Michael Holland, joins me to discuss 413, “The I in Team” and 414, “Goodbye Iowa.”   THE BREAKDOWN Run Time: 01:17:00 00:00:55 - Intro / Apologies / Guest 00:03:48 - Main Topic 01:13:40 - Outro / Next   THE LIBRARY Library Closed For F

I guess we have to talk...   I know, I know, it’s been a while. You thought this podcast was dead and buried. But as so many before you have learned, in Sunnydale...dead don’t take! I’m back, I have more to say, and I’ve brought the most relevant rock musician in the world Kenn Edwards back with me. This time we’re discussing one of the big mile markers of the series, “Hush.” We talk about the debut of so-shy-she’s-almost-speechless Tara; Riley Finn and other classic Greco-Roman Heroes; the subversion of princess and tower tropes; the very significant difference between language and communication; and the most (intentionally?) anti-climactic climactic screams in genre television history.   But of course the real reason to prick up your ears and listen is to hear what we have to say about the Gentlemen. Even the Mr. Burns Mob and Their Coterie of Capering Smitherses can’t stop the Conversation!   Next: Brazillian fan community organizer Johny Ho returns to help me examine episodes 411, “Doomed” and 412,