Two Philadelphia podcasters who have watched every episode of The Andy Griffith Show, hated a good chunk of it, and still can’t stop, walk Mandy through Opie the Birdman, a man who is in a hurry, an inconvenient number of dogs, and the fandom that turned a fictional town into a real one.
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Cher was almost cast as Louis. Jonny Lee Jr. returns to walk Mandy through the Anne Rice vampire universe, where the blood drinking is sexier than the sex, the five-year-old is the smartest one in the room, and Tom Cruise — against all odds and her own initial objections — absolutely earns his place as Lestat.
Clark Hill has pinball machines in his blood, quarters in his pocket at all times, and a very reasonable explanation for why you are both encouraged and expected to physically shove a 300-pound machine while playing it.
Mandy has spent decades successfully avoiding The X-Files. Filmmaker Chelsea Stardust has six episodes, zero aliens, and one extremely persuasive Flukeman to fix that.
Krissy Lenz is back in the nerd chair, this time making the case for Serenity — the 2005 movie that exists only because Fox couldn’t kill Firefly hard enough. Mandy watches the space western, meets the Browncoats, and discovers that a fandom is hardcore when it can get a movie greenlit, commission a documentary about getting the movie greenlit, and also organize themed parties called Shindigs.