Episode 33 - Dave'll Get You Steve

Not my best title, not my worst.

Conrad directed this one.

This one is about supply.  

This one is about profiteering.

This one is about capitalism in general.

Some nice Catch 22 references noticed by Steve.

Amateurs study tactics, professionals study supply.

This one is about scamming.

This one has a classic Black Sheep heist, which we all enjoy.

There's some really nice aerial footage this week.

As usual we have interlopers on 'Pappy's' island.

In some ways I consider this a series, or at least a season finale.  The show's tone takes a hell of a turn shortly.

This episode is the final appearance of Anderson and TJ. We'll miss you guys.

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Episode 32 - Steve and Dave Stand Down

It's just a title, we aren't going anywhere....

Another decent season 2 episode.  

That changes shortly, as season 2 gets weird in two episodes.

Wait, was that Battle of the Network Stars?

Either way Conrad got to take his shirt off...

Some nice misdirection to the audience.

'It tastes like wax'.

There's a reason for that Pappy.

Micklin and Dutch are pretty funny.  Andy Micklin is always funny actually.

Once more we have decent Col Lard this season.

Tommy is Pappy in Wolves in the Sheeps' Pen

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Episode 31 - Daves in the Steve Pen

Just substituting names is the lowest level of clever title.

TIM MATHESON!

Boy the wolf thing got really old, really fast.

Interservice rivalry was a thing, still is.

Remember these guys are mostly just draftees.

Steve found a nice recording for this week.

Jon will not be Fonzieing™ this podcast.

I wonder why they are invading the Thousand Islands.  Maybe they needed salad dressing.

Micklin is great in this one.  Lots of fun lines.

In keeping with early season 2, Lard is not that bad here.

Oh I forgot to mention during the recording that the stuff at the end is a report from the Battle of Iwo Jima.  

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Episode 30 - Steve and Dave Podcast on Friday

This title works on many levels.

P51!

This one is pretty much the poster child for 'don't lean your history from a tv show'.  

As much as Steve and I love the P51 Mustang, Yamamoto was shot down by P38s.

I can see some real MASH connections this week, like two different episodes too!

I don't think Yamamoto was called the Hawk.  

Andre Dawson was, however, the hawk.

Hal Holbrook, in a robe, in Midway.

TJ is a creep.

The Pacific War isn't thought of as one that displaced civilians, but it did.

Conrad directed this one!

A Corsair could never beat a Mustang.

Lard is pretty reasonable here, and General Moore has no idea what's going on.

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Episode 24 - Neither Dave Nor Steve are the Fastest Gun

Mundane title, but I'll take it.

Season finale!

The director, Phillip DeGuerre, took some neat chances this week.

Micklin is taking over from Hutch.

Steve and I talk a bit about the idea of 'knights of the air'.

What's with captain sgt. Bilko?

Efficiency experts are now called industrial organizational psychologists.

I love Hirachi throwing 'rice ball' back at Pappy.

TJ reads Japanese as well as he flies.

'You got American chocolate?'

'You got Japanese rice wine?'

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Episode 23 - Last One For Dave and Steve

It's a play on the title of the episode as usual, not some retirement announcement...

This might be, at least to me, the best episode of the series.  It is certainly the best episode of season 1.

To quote Steve 'once you get Red West, the character of Hutch is unnecessary,  Joey Aresco is gone.'

Muted Micklin is a bit different, I liked it.

Indeed, Red West showed a side of his acting I didn't know existed.

Col. Lard does what he can here, as does Gen. Moore.

Doug the DJ who did coke on WKRP was one of the pilots this week!

Wait, so was Mr. Carlson!

This is the only episode that has ever brought a tear to my eye.

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Episode 21 - Poor Little Dave and Steve

I like this title.

Nice performances by guest stars this week, especially Soon-Tek Oh.  We're both big fans.

OH look, an episode with a crash an a nun, I think Dan and I have covered an episode like this.

'I am not French, I'm Swiss'.  So was my grandfather, he fought Nazis and Japanese fascists, just saying...

Sorrel Booke is another great guest star this week.

Nice use of footage from 'Operation Petticoat' in this one, but you do see some pink sub at the end, which kind of both gives it away and takes you (if you're me) out of the scene.

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Episode 20 - Steve and Dave Have Trouble at Fort Apache

It's that time of the month again.  Wait, that sounds bad...

Lots of use of stock footage this week, much of it over Europe.

The B17 was not that big a deal in the Pacific theatre.

Inter service rivalry is a thing.

So general Moore just leaves....

Col Lard working together with Pappy, as much as he can, is a nice twist.

There's still this sense that everything can be cured with a fistfight, though, I suppose that sort of dispute resolution kind of comes to mind when your job is trying to make sure some other guy dies for his country.

I liked this one, though Masters of the Air it ain't.....

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Episode 19 - Dave and Steve Fly One Last Mission Over Sengai

Easy title this time.  

Oh, it's a reference to the title of the episode, don't worry, we aren't going anywhere.

It's directed by Jackie Cooper, and Mills Watson is guest starring, it's going to be good.

Many 70s character actors in this one.

This one says some stuff about PTSD and propaganda which I think is pretty great.  Indeed, the back half of season 1 had quite a few serious plots.

All military or military adjacent shows need a court martial episode.

BTW, a court martial means you are charged and tried, it's not a punishment...

The 5th marines have done some stuff and seen some things, let's say that.

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Episode 18 - Steve the Dave Way

New contender for worst title ever!

This one is fun because the actors are given the opportunity to, you know, act.

Jeff MacKay was really good in this episode.  Indeed, as noted this one was full of very strong performances.

It's a Jackie Cooper directed outing, so it will be good.

The importance of war propaganda cannot be overstated.

The hair still bugs me.

This is one of the best episodes of the season.

Communalism vs individualism.

Kenneth Mars was a lot of fun in this one.

Whenever we mention 'Mr. French' I think of the butler on a Family Affair.

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Episode 17 - Dave and Steve in the Slot

That may sound, umm, odd, but it only refers to the title of the episode!

RED WEST!

We also get Tommy Hirachi, Pappy's nemesis in the show (not so much in real life).

Some real exploration of Gutterman's PTSD.

Ginty's best work of the series so far.

Wait, you can't solve everything with a punch?

OK, well you can solve some things.

I am warming up to Col. Lard.

This is a crossover episode with WKRP

Andy Micklin is basically a walking trope and Steve and I don't care.

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Episode 15 - Dave is Steve's Deadliest Enemy of All

It's a two parter, so next time it will be how Steve is my deadliest enemy.

The New Britain campaign and strikes on Bougainville were a thing.

Oh yeah, here is a link to the documentary about the 214 Steve talked about.

Fighter sweeps were too.

So we have some actual historical accuracy here!

Nurses are great, if you are an officer.

Also, why are the nurses in civilian nursing uniforms?

James Whitmore Jr. kills it in this one, but Robert Conrad shows some chops too.

Patterson the red shirt...

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Episode 14 - Steve and Dave are the Uni Biz Warriors

Long trip for this title.  I apologize in advance.

Wait, what did you pay for the podcast? Nothing.  I retract my apology.

JAMES DARREN!  I love Jimmy Darren.  I loved him in the Time Tunnel, I loved him in DS9, and he plays 'movie star' really well.  Of course Jimmy died on Sept 3.  If you get a chance, check out the interview with him on the Shuttlepod podcast.  It's excellent.

Hollywood stars did joined the armed forces, as did pro athletes etc.

Who?  Oh, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Glenn Miller, you know, no big stars...  This is the equivalent today of say Ryan Reynolds, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and oh I dunno, Taylor Swift joining the armed forces to fight the evil that is fascism.  This shows you how seriously people took this.

Rod getting names wrong, classic.

Everything is solved with toxic masculinity.

What's Nancy's problem?

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Episode 13 - Dave and Steve

Easy title this month.

This one is about bullying, and hit home for both of us (you'd never guess the two of us would be bullied, no, kids love weird kids who read a lot...)

I like that it focusses a lot on Larry.

I like that it focusses a lot on Jerry.

Look, I like these guys.

Wartime romances were a real thing.  They were often intense, and often a bad idea.  A lot of guys came home to babies that couldn't have been theirs, and a lot of couples generally had kids outside of marriage, which was not as accepted a thing, generally.  Mostly people moved on.

Some really good dogfighting scenes in this one.

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Episode 12 - Steve and Dave are the Cat's Whiskers

Better title this month I think.

Hey this one has not one, but two made up islands!

The 'well if we could just get a mission we won't get court martialled' trope continues.  (Also, is it martialled or martialed?). OK, turns out it must be the double l one right?

This one was broadcast on December 7, 1976.  You may not know this, but, a pretty big thing happened on  December 7, 1941, just saying.

I don't put my feet up on my desk much, but if Admiral Nimitz says it's a good idea I will start.

I really liked how Lard knew something was up because there was too much Scotch on Espartos Marcos.

Pappy's plane changes a few times scene to scene which is pretty funny.

'It's called stock footage David, be quiet'.

That said, much of the dogfighting stuff is great.

You sir, are no admiral Nimitz.

There are, today, listening posts like the show talked about.  This one though seems to detect things using active sonar pings and Morse code...

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Episode 11 - Dave and Steve on My Mind

This one has some great 70s guest stars.

The New Georgia campaign actually happened!

Pappy and the Black Sheep don't seem to get that in wartime the whole thing doesn't revolve around you.

The lack of military discipline in the show can usually be overlooked, but Steve and I are pretty sure enlisted men don't talk to officers like they do in this episode.

Coastwatchers were a real thing, JFK knew that. Oh so does Peter Frampton.

Generally this one was supposed to make me hate the marine raiders, but, umm, the 214 are just as bad as far as Steve and I are concerned.

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Episode 10 - Anyone For Steve and Dave?

I wonder if this episode title would be used today.

We get Pappy drinking aftershave in this one!

Come to think of it, I shouldn't have used an exclamation point there, like, am I excited about alcohol use disorder?

Classic military movie trope of volunteers only in this one.

Classic military movie trop of drawing lots.

Whitmore Jr is really good in this one as usual.

The USS Princeton was a real carrier.

Those extra guys are a bunch of Dales.

Pappy is horrible. in the one.

The Fraser strait on the other hand....

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Episode 8 - A Steve and Dave Circus

Not a bad title this month.

Repeat this with me, there was no Christmas Island campaign.

I wonder if what Pappy proposes is technically a war crime.

Some great stuff about carrier operations this week.  That guy is in a dumb looking shirt and hat for a reason.

US Navy vs USMC rivalry is a real thing.  Inter service rivalries are in general in every country with armed forces.

We get some proper toxic masculinity this week.

We both love Gutterman.

We also get the 'flying misfits vs the US armed forces' this week.  I'm not complaining BTW.

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Episode 7 - Presumed Steve and Dave

Bad title.

Wait, Kent McCord and James Hong!

You don't send out active SONAR pings like that.

Also, why did Dobson speak Japanese when the Col speaks English?

There are some really great flight scenes in this one.

I wonder if any of the planes are still around.

Why would they be doing recon over an island they figure has nothing on it?

Some real Manchurian Candidate vibes in this one.

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Episode 6 - Prisoners of Dave and Steve

Nice title Dave, why thank you Dave.

This is one of the most highly rated by fans, according to IMDB anyway.

There is a strong 'war, what is it good for' vibe in this episode.

Gutterman is about to snap, even more than usual.

Ping pong/table tennis is not Japanese, though what would he be good at, baseabll?

Hutch shows us the NCO vs officer tension that exists in most militaries.

Wow, the Japanese are about to attack Mexico!

TASK FORCE!

We both like this one a lot, inaccuracies and all.

Pappy Boyington wouldn't commit war crimes.

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