Monday, March 23, 2026

RW696 - Eureka Rewatch - Now Entering Eureka

 

In this episode zero of The Eureka Rewatch, Cory and Tom introduce you to the new rewatch plans and discuss the main cast of Eureka.

Advanced Research:

Main Cast-


Colin Ferguson played Jack Carter. His biggest credit is Eureka. He also appeared in the Monkees biopic Daydream Believer, and has been in a number of other series and movies, mostly Hallmark style movies and lesser known series, mostly as a supporting character. He was a lead in the American version of Coupling, but it only lasted 10 episodes (Doctor Who's Steven Moffat wrote it, it was meant as a replacement for Friends).


Jordan Hinson played Zoe Carter. In recent years, she has done a number of lesser known movies from all genres: Alien abduction, rom com, drama, yet all are very lowly rated, including A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas. She also has a few low rated series, Hank (with Kelsey Grammar) and Kevin From Work.


Dr. Allison Blake was played by Salli Richardson-Whitfield. She was in a series called Stitchers (a secret government agency that solves crimes by entering the minds of recently deceased individuals) from 2015-17. Before that, she was the lead in Being Mary Jane (life of a young black woman, her family, and the talk show she hosts). She was part of the main cast in the lawyer procedural Family Law, as well as a main lead in Gargoyles: The Animated Series.


Dr. Henry Deacon was played by character actor Joe Morton. He was in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Zack Snyder’s The Justice League, Marvel’s Wastelanders: Hawkeye (a podcast series playing Ringmaster), and the series Scandal (a former White House Communications Director starts her own crisis management firm only to realize her clients are not the only ones with secrets), Smallville, The Good Wife, Law and Order, and Equal Justice (all law procedurals) to name a few. Recently, he was in the series Our Kind of People (a single mom risks it all and moves her family to a vineyard with hopes of taking her natural-hair-care line to the next level by infiltrating the African American elite in Oak Bluffs).


Dr. Jim Taggert was played by Matt Frewer, best known for playing the artificial intelligence known as Max Headroom. He has done many guest appearances on shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Falling Skies, Stephen King’s The Stand, Orphan Black, Supergirl (the movie), Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, Timeless, and 12 Monkeys. He was a main character in the series Intelligence (Organized crime and the Organized Crime Unit (OCU) work together to achieve the opposing goals of each respective world), and the lead in Doctor Doctor (a medical procedural). He did voice The Leader in the Incredible Hulk animated series, as well a series based on Disney’s Hercules and the Dumb and Dumber cartoon. He was also a part of Dan Aykroyd’s Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal.


Erica Cerra played Josephina "Jo" Lupo. Before Eureka she has minor appearances here and there in many different series, including Smallville, Dead Like Me, The Dead Zone, Huff, The 4400, and Battlestar Galactica.  She has continued a run of guest spots in shows and movies, with appearances in The 100, The Astronauts, Nancy Drew, and a part in the latest animated Diary of a Wimpy Kid.


Neil Grayston played Dr. Douglas Fargo. He’s had numerous one off roles in series, but he was a lead in a series called Godiva’s (follows the lives of 10 friends working at the hip Godiva’s Bistro). He had a supporting role in the 2006 movie The Time Tunnel (reboot of the original tv series where they go back in time to fix the past).


Vincent was played by Chris Gauthier. He was a lead in a short lived series called Health Nutz (washed up hockey player who inherits a Juice Bar on one condition-he has to get and stay sober). He had a recurring role in Smallville as Winslow Schott (the Toyman), and in Harper’s Island (Harper's Island was once the scene of a gruesome series of murders. Seven years later, family and friends gather on the island for a wedding, but one by one they begin to die). Recently, he did some Hallmark style movies, but one of his more well known roles is as Smee in Once Upon a TimeHe was also in Freddy Vs Jason but was below the fold. He died at 48 in 2024 after a short illness (heart attack).

What's Up Next?

Join us to discuss the pilot episode of Eureka, along with the prologue webisode of Hide & Seek.

Check out our Youtube Playlist for all webisodes.

Further Resources:

Contact Us:

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Friday, March 20, 2026

RW695 - Bonus - Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

 

In this bonus episode of The Rewatch Podcast, Cory and Eoghan somehow need to separate fact from fiction as they discuss the bio pic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

Trailer:

Our Favourite Trivia:

In 2010, Funny or Die released a fake trailer for a satirical biographical film titled Weird: The Al Yankovic Story directed by Eric Appel and starring Aaron Paul as musician "Weird Al" Yankovic. Additional co-stars in the three-minute-long trailer included Olivia Wilde as Madonna, Gary Cole and Mary Steenburgen as Yankovic's parents, and Patton Oswalt as Dr. Demento. Yankovic himself cameoed as a record producer. Yankovic would play the trailer on his concert tours leading some fans to think it was for a real feature film or encourage him to adapt it into one.

Studios passed on the idea of his biography being a spoof of musician biographies, not wanting to produce full on parodies. Yankovic and Appel played on common tropes, mostly amplifying the arbitrary changes to the true life story. They opted to retain the setting of the film within Yankovic's early career between 1979 and 1985, only going off this period for the inclusion of "Amish Paradise" from 1996 at the end of the film.


Yankovic and Appel were aware that Radcliffe was a fan of classic comedic musicians such as Tom Lehrer; for his part, Radcliffe felt that his November 2010 appearance on The Graham Norton Show, during which he sang a rendition of Lehrer's song "The Elements", was the reason for his casting.


As part of his preparation, Radcliffe learned the principles of playing the accordion, Yankovic's signature instrument, through video tutorials Yankovic had made for him. Radcliffe sang the songs live on camera while filming, but his vocals were replaced with pre-recorded ones by Yankovic in the final product. Yankovic and Appel would later express some regret over not letting Radcliffe perform his own vocals, given Radcliffe's Broadway background.


Some events in the film are based on facts from Yankovic's life: he did receive his first accordion from a traveling salesman; "My Bologna" was recorded in a public bathroom, though in real life, this was a bathroom across from the KCPR radio station offices; there has been a "Yankovic effect" in that being parodied by Yankovic helped boost the success of the original songs by other musicians, notably with Nirvana and Yankovic's parody "Smells Like Nirvana"; and Madonna did originally come up with the concept of Yankovic's parody "Like a Surgeon", which Yankovic had heard about and agreed was a good idea.


It was actually "My Bologna" that got 'Weird Al' Yankovic a record deal. In mid-1979, Dr. Demento helped popularize "My Bologna" after receiving a tape from Weird Al, whose music he already knew and promoted due to a 1976 encounter. Dr. Demento played "My Bologna" on his radio show to good response from listeners. So when Yankovic met The Knack after a show at his college and introduced himself as the author of "My Bologna", the band knew what he was talking about. The Knack's lead singer, Doug Fieger, said he liked the song and suggested that Capitol Records vice president Rupert Perry release it as a single. The label gave Yankovic a six-month recording contract and released it as a single.


'Weird Al' Yankovic really did perform "Another One Rides the Bus" for a major audience for the first time in the presence of Dr. Demento. In addition, his percussionist Jon improvising and using an accordion case also happened, just not in the way portrayed in the film with the entire song being improvised on the spot. In reality, on September 14, 1980 Yankovic was a guest on the Dr. Demento Show, where he was to record a new parody live. The song was "Another One Rides the Bus", a parody of Queen's hit "Another One Bites the Dust." While practicing the song outside the sound booth he met Jon Schwartz ("Bermuda"), who told him he was a drummer and agreed to bang on Yankovic's accordion case to help Yankovic keep a steady beat during the song. They rehearsed the song just a few times before the show began.

Al never smoked, drank, or did drugs. One of his college buddies claimed if they had got him to do any of that, he might turn "normal."


Even though Weird is a parody, the filmmakers sought to cast actors known primarily for dramatic roles. Appel believed the humor would then come from the actors playing their roles in a serious, grounded manner, as if they were in a dramatic biopic, despite the absurdity of the scenes.


Yankovic reached out to his "holiday card mailing list" to bring a number of celebrities to cameo in the film, most shown during the Dr. Demento pool party scene. While the script called for Al to be challenged by Freddie Mercury at the pool party, terms of Yankovic's agreement with the band Queen for "Another One Rides the Bus" said that Yankovic could not mention Mercury. They reached out to The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone) to appear as the other members of Queen instead, but while Samberg was unavailable, Schaffer and Taccone still wanted to participate in the film, and were cast as Alice Cooper and Pee-wee Herman, respectively. David Dastmalchian was eventually cast as bassist John Deacon. Lin-Manuel Miranda contacted Yankovic within minutes of the announcement of the film's production, requesting a role.


Guests at Dr. Demento's pool party include Devo, Frank Zappa, Salvador DalĂ­, Andy Warhol, Tiny Tim, Pee-wee Herman (Paul Reubens), David Bowie, Gallagher, Wolfman Jack, John Deacon, John Denver, Divine, Elton John, Elvira (Cassandra Peterson), Alice Cooper, Grace Jones, and Kate Pierson.


Devo is present at Dr. Demento's pool party. Though Al never directly parodied one of their songs, his song 'Dare to be Stupid' is a "style parody" of Devo's sound, and Devo's song "Jocko Homo" is the first song in "Polkas on 45", 'Weird Al' Yankovic's first released polka medley.


During the pool party, Andy Warhol (played by Conan O'Brien) comments on the future of 'Weird Al' Yankovic by saying, "I give him 15 minutes." This is a reference to the famous saying (misattributed to Andy Warhol) that, in the future, everybody will be world-famous for at least 15 minutes.


Patton Oswalt, who played Dr. Demento in the original short, had been set to play this role in the film, but he broke his foot shortly before shooting began, and due to the tight schedule, the production could not afford to wait. They were able to bring in Rainn Wilson to play the role three days before filming commenced. Oswalt was still able to cameo in the film as a heckler in a bar. Aaron Paul, who played Yankovic in the original short, had been set to cameo as the said bar heckler, but he came down with COVID-19 during the filming period and was unable to participate.


Dr. Demento's pool party draws inspiration from a similar scene in the film Boogie Nights (1997), while Al being arrested onstage is based on the 1969 incident with The Doors frontman Jim Morrison during a concert in Miami. The end-credits scene includes a parody of Carrie (1976), in which Madonna comes to visit Al's grave, only to be grabbed at the wrist by a zombified arm.


The film's soundtrack was released the same day as the film's release. Regardless of the lyrics in Weird Al’s original track “Now You Know” for the end credits, the film did not get a full theatrical release, therefore was not eligible for the 95th Academy Awards. It was, however, eligible for the 75th Prime Time Emmy Awards.


When looking at the flyers for band auditions, one flyer is advertising "Kuni's Karate School." Kuni was a character from 'Weird Al' Yankovic's The Vidiot from UHF (1989) who ran a karate school and berated his pupils for being "stupid."

What's Up Next?

In another pick up episode, Wes Anderson is back and we're rewatching The Phoenician Scheme.

Contact Us:

Send us an email! TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com
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Head over to our TeePublic and/or Redbubble stores today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us, and covers our hosting costs. We appreciate every purchase. 

Resources:

Friday, March 13, 2026

RW694 - Naked Gun Rewatch - The Naked Gun (2025)

 

In this episode of The Naked Gun Rewatch, Cory and Eoghan return to Police Squad for some classic deadpan comedy as they discuss The Naked Gun (2025).

Trailer:

Our Favourite Trivia:

In 2009 it was revealed that a fourth film starring Leslie Nielsen was planned as a direct-to-TV sequel, titled The Naked Gun: What 4? The Rhythm of Evil. The script followed the story of Frank training a young rookie. The script was developed by Alan Spencer, best known for the series Sledge Hammer!, and was briefly moved to theatrical development where the Zucker Abrahams Zucker team attempted to stop it. Spencer wrote a sizable role for Leslie Nielsen, who would be passing the torch to a new generation of incompetent police, but Paramount asked him to reduce the part to a cameo for budgetary reasons, and later decided to remove his character altogether. After this last request, Spencer left the project. Nielsen died in November 2010.


In December 2013, Paramount Pictures announced that a reboot of The Naked Gun franchise was in development with Ed Helms cast in the role of Frank Drebin, while the script was being co-written by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant. By January 2014, Garant revealed that the working title of the project was Episode IV: A New Hope, while announcing that it was intended to be a sequel to the original films. Helms was intended to portray a character that introduces himself as "Frank Drebin, no relation" so that the movie can introduce a new protagonist without contradicting what came before. In March 2015, David Zucker stated that he was offered a producing role on the project, but had declined to be involved because he felt like it would differ in comedic style and ultimately be inferior to his original films. In August 2015, Helms confirmed that the script was still being written, while acknowledging the concerns that Zucker had with modern-day audience reception, and a need for something other than the spoof genre of the previous movies.


By March 2017, a re-write of the script was being completed by David Zucker and Pat Proft, with the plot being reworked to feature the son of Frank Drebin, who would have been a secret agent rather than a policeman. The script was originally titled The Naked Gun 444 1/4: Nordberg Did It, but was later renamed Naked: Impossible, parodying the Mission: Impossible, Bourne and Daniel Craig James Bond franchises. Zucker felt that "they don't make cop movies anymore. When you do parody, you've got to spoof something current." According to Zucker, Jon Gonda at Paramount liked the script, written by him and Pat Proft that was presented to the studio in 2018, but that somewhere along the line the studio decided not to go with it. Zucker also said that he went on a meeting with Paramount in around 2019, where a female head of production complained over a "mild" joke about a "police officer having to adjust her Kevlar vest or have a breast reduction". He explained saying that a "stupid, mild joke" was too much for them [Paramount].


In January 2021, it was announced that Seth MacFarlane had been hired to further develop the project. After MacFarlane had previously expressed interest in casting Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. in 2015, he was hired by the studio. MacFarlane and Paramount approached Neeson with a pitch to star in the movie. In June, Neeson said MacFarlane was working on a new draft of the script, with the studio additionally negotiating his potential role as director. In October 2022, the film was greenlit with Neeson in the lead role as Frank Drebin Jr. and Akiva Schaffer directing.


In April 2024, Pamela Anderson joined the cast. Anderson was originally offered the role of Tanya Peters in The Final Insult before the role eventually went to Anna Nicole Smith. In May, Paul Walter Hauser joined the cast, playing Capt. Ed Hocken, alongside Kevin Durand in an undisclosed villain role, as well as Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder and Busta Rhymes.


On a budget of $42 million it made a global box office of $102.1 million.


Aside from the still photos, Priscilla Presley and "Weird Al" Yankovic are the only actors to appear in all four films in the Naked Gun franchise.


The scene where the snowman comes to life is set to the tune of "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship. The song was originally used in the movie Mannequin (1987), which was about a mannequin coming to life.

What's Up Next?

Time for the absolute truth about the greatest accordion player of all time in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

Contact Us:

Send us an email! TheRewatchPodcast@gmail.com
Follow the show on Facebook Instagram Threads TikTok or Bluesky
Visit the WEBSITE

Support the Show:

Head over to our TeePublic and/or Redbubble stores today and buy some merch! Every item sold sees a small return to us, and covers our hosting costs. We appreciate every purchase. 

Resources: