Rod, Justin and Karen discuss picking your battles, old podcast beef, activism beef, diversity training, getting our shots, Crack, A Love Song For Latasha, The College Admission Scandal, Q Into The Storm, Conspirituality podcast, Snowfall, WandaVision, listener feedback and pregame news.
Pre-Game: (Protected Content)
What’s up y’all.
Hope the break was relaxing and refreshing.
Definitely have to shout out my Aries sister, queen K! Happy birthday girl! Wishing you many more!
On a more somber note rip to midwin Charles. I heard the news and I’m like wait I recognize that name! She was on tbgwt, great episode! Condolences to her family!
Snowfall still doing the damn thing! And got renewed for another season! Still that show on tv!
Happy to have you guys back.
Fyahworks Out
Good evening Rod, Justin and Queen Karen,
I agree that Snowfall is excellent. I am not engaging in the foolish debate over which show is better. I love The Wire and Snowfall, they both have their equally valid lane (Snowfall the internal governmental role in the distribution game and The Wire the localized governmental role in communal destruction). I do think that were it not for Michael K. Williams’s portrayal as Omar in The Wire, a show that focuses on a Franklin might not have ever had the chance to exist. In fact, I think when you factor in timeframe for when it aired and the platform it aired on, a strong case could be made for Homicide: Life on the Street being the best even though it is an all encompassing police drama. It preceded both The Wire and Snowfall, airing in the early 90s and was subjected to Network Television constraints of airing on NBC, a network that rarely did right by the show. Plus, any show that gave us Andre Braugher, Yaphet Kotto (RIP) and Giancarlo Esposito as the son of Yaphet’s character, cannot be slept on. Each series is excellent and immensely rewatchable (so says the person who owns the complete series of both Homicide and The Wire).
Having said that, I get the focus on Franklin, but for me, the best character is Cissy Saint, played by Michael Hyatt of The Wire fame. For me, she is the real foundation of Franklin’s success. Without her willingness to be Franklin’s real “ride or die,†I don’t know if Franklin would be standing tall now. Having her character be both the in the dogfight support and moral anchor to Franklin is so real. I love how even though she played/plays the mother of drug dealers in both The Wire and Snowfall, there is no mistaking or confusing Cissy Saint and Brianna Barksdale. Hyatt has been top notch in everything I have seen her in. For me, Ms. Hyatt is the classic example of an under appreciated character actor. She is so subtle in what she does and she is rarely in the starring role, so people tend to overlook her.
Other great movements in tv right now for me are Falcon & the white guy, Invincible, Queen Sugar, Solar Opposites, and as always, Curb (I’m on my Season 10 rewatch).