The Inglorious Treksperts, Bob Odenkirk, school dances, and my fear of nature rekindled

Plus Macaulay Culkin and Wil Wheaton swap stories on an old podcast revisited

I don’t know what’s happening, but I’ve had a certain restlessness as of late with podcasts. Maybe it’s the loss of some of my episodic rewatches, I don’t know, but I’m having attention span problems. I’m also trying (and failing) to find time in my life for some silence, which has created a certain sense of discontent.

I probably started six different episodes only to leave them, unfinished, in my queue. Don’t blame the sweet podcasts. It’s all me.

I finally got invigorated by a visit to the Overcast archives, where I found two utterly engrossing episodes of The Inglorious Treksperts.

Robert Hewitt Wolfe and Brannon Braga on Inglorious Treksperts

Any Star Trek fan (or anyone who’s interested in making TV or writing) would love both of these deep dives with Robert Hewitt Wolfe (about Deep Space Nine) and Brannon Braga (about The Next Generation, with a particular focus on the series finale “All Good Things…”). These two men are legends to me, having created and/or contributed to so much of Star Trek in its high-quality heyday. The Treksperts always shine when they have guests like this.

They reveal lots of little tidbits along the way, like the way René Auberjonois used to cross out all the parentheticals in his scripts as soon as he got them, or how Ira had all the casting books (yes, books) memorized, phases when Patrick Stewart was prickly (and then a prick, but it all worked out), or how Brannon was not quite ready to watch the third season of Picard.

I have not created oodles of hours of incredible television, but I understand this deeply. Also, I found it very sweet when Brannon told (Trekspert) Mark Altman how much his reviews were valued back in the day and how much he is part of the Star Trek family. Mark is such a good egg!

More Star Trek coming, but first: Odenkirks!

Tig Notaro had Bob Odenkirk and his daughter Erin on Don’t Ask Tig. They created a children’s book together—he wrote it, she did the illustrations—and looks supercute. I love the illustrations.

I would love to create something with one of my kids one day! There was a great question from a listener seeking advice about whether or not they should keep seeing a doctor who was an excellent specialist but had creepy political views accompanied by an increasing amount of signage at the office. I loved Bob’s answer.

Oh, and I was with Bob Odenkirk on the picket lines in NY on Star Trek Day. Okay, I wasn’t WITH him, but we were both there and I kept my eye on him because it was a very hot day and he had a heart attack not that long ago. Couldn’t help it. I care!

I also saw Michael Emerson (Ben on Lost), Ethan Peck and Melissa Navia from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and Wilson Cruz from Star Trek: Discovery. Talked to the Trek people and gave Michael a thumbs up in a I-see-you-but-I-won’t-bug-you vibe.

Another perfect Armchair Anonymous topic: school dances

Do I even need to tell you what rich territory this is? Podcast gold.

Just finished Dax & Monica’s chat with Jimmy Kimmel and enjoyed it immensely. Jimmy talked about why he loves fly fishing, and a lot of it is about the quiet, the conversation, and the detachment from everything. I dig it. If only I liked being in nature!

A meditation digression. It’s related, I swear!

A few years back, my friend Bridget was visiting me and I brought her to a meditation class I used to go to. To my dismay, there was a substitute teacher, who seemed nice enough but was much too specific in helping us envisage a quiet place in our minds. He told us to imagine we were in a forest, walking along a path, with nobody around.

Me being me, this was a terrifying scenario.

I was the complete opposite of relaxed, filled with questions that soon took all of my attention. Are bugs touching me? How far away is the next town? Is there public transportation? Am I lost, is that why I’m in a forest? What if I get hungry or need a bathroom? Again: Are there bugs touching me?

As I went through this inner turmoil about the imaginary woods, Bridget sat next to me fighting to keep herself from laughing and stay focused; she’s known me since 7th grade and was acutely aware of the terror inspired in my city-slicker brain by the word “forest.”

That said, I do like fishing, although it’s been a while.

Unlike the scary meditation forest, this episode won me over and helped me focus. The conversation encompassed topics like the strike (and how it’s okay to mention old projects), David Letterman love (which I share), Dax’s urge to capture burglars, and their encounters with Bruce Willis. I remember watching Jimmy on Win Ben Stein’s Money a million years ago and thinking, “That sidekick guy needs his own show.”

Heading back into Trek territory

The Delta Flyers have been doing some great weekly interviews with their former Voyager costars.

Roxann Dawson talked about sneaking into a theater audition, Tim Russ described performing in Caligula in college for Leonard Nimoy as his understudy (Nimoy was a visiting celeb, and remembered the encounter years later), and Ethan Phillips talked about working with René Auberjonois on Benson, which tied in nicely with the delightful tweets I exchanged with strangers last Wednesday night about Soap’s 46th anniversary.

This is the regular version; as always, I recommend paying for the Patreon version if you are a Star Trek fan.

Someone on Twitter was talking about child actors who became huge stars and the frequent lack of protection given them, so I pointed her to this unforgettable podcast episode from 2019 where Macaulay Culkin and Wil Wheaton talk about being child stars and their terrible families. Wil seems to have come out strong and stable in the end, but Macaulay, as you probably know, did not.

Can we talk about how my spell-check (Word? Substack? Windows?) knows how to spell certain celebrities’ names? So far in my travels, whenever I’ve mistyped one of these famous people’s names, I get the little squiggle and a suggestion that always turns out to be correct.

1. Jake or Maggie Gyllenhaal

2. Macaulay Culkin

3. Elisabeth Moss

Elisabeth Moss came up because Ethan Phillips had a great story about her. She’s a Star Trek: Voyager fan. Who knew?

I am WAY behind on Strike Force Five, so I think that’s what’s going to get me through my treadmill time for the rest of the week. I lost interest when they got mired in their outdoor grills and what they like to cook on them, so I skipped to the next episode, where Jimmy Kimmel talks about being stalked by Batman.

All Access Star Trek and my teenager

Tony & I reviewed the latest Lower Decks and very Short Treks episodes (yay to the first, boo to the second). We always wrap up with our “bits” of the week, and mine was about this text exchange with my daughter.

Heh.

As always, thanks for stopping by!