Cast of the Podhicans (also known as Michael Mannsplaining) is a miniseries covering the films of Michael Mann. The miniseries began in May 2019.
Summary[]
Finally, the two friends get to one of David's favorite directors, and his dream miniseries subject: Michael Mann
Mann's career is definitely unusual. He starts out in television, makes some films that don't do so well, returns to television and redefines the crime drama genre with Miami Vice (a series he didn't actually direct a single episode of, but is still recognized as its auteur). Then he returns to film, makes some acclaimed movies that still are box office disappointments, becomes obsessed with digital film while it's still a very new technology, and seemingly ends his career (for now?) with one of the biggest bounces in recent memory.
Griffin and David acknowledge that at first glance, Michael Mann seems like a strange choice for the show. He rarely gets big budgets, and he never made a single guarantor to grant him check after check. However, Mann's personality and worldview shine through in each of his movies, and he has a masterful ability to convince the biggest stars to commit to his idiosyncratic vision over and over again.
How does Mann make things seem both realistic and super cool? How does his commitment to detail and admiration of expertise make its way into his work? Why are his films somehow simultaneously dated and ahead of their time? What makes Mann's manly characters so tough and yet so complex...and why are his female characters, admittedly, typically much less developed? Why does he keep re-editing all of his movies? Will he make another film? And what's the deal with The Keep?
This miniseries is preceded by the Podward Scissorcast miniseries on the films of Tim Burton. It is followed by the Howl's Moving Podcastle miniseries on the films of Hayao Miyazaki.
Milestones and Ephemera[]
- The Heat episode with Jon Gabrus held the podcast record for the longest episode (2 hr and 52 minutes) for just over a year until it was bested by Lucky Numbers. It has since moved further down the list since the 3-hour episode seal has been broken.
- There is an infamous error in the Public Enemies episode.
- * Producer Ben nickname: Public Benemies
- Rejected nicknames: Dollarhoz, Michael Benn, Hosli
- There was much discussion/difficulty selecting a name for this miniseries as most Michael Mann films have one-word titles that were not able to be made sweaty enough to meet Griffin's standards. After much discussion, "Cast of the Podhicans" was chosen, but was later walked back on mic and replaced with "Michael Mannsplaining". Eventually both titles were included on the episode artwork while the fan-supported "She's Pod a GREAT CAST" was acknowledged by David but never officially used.
Episodes[]
Special features episodes with a check mark (✔️) have been released from behind the paywall.
| # | Title | Audio | Guest(s) | Blank Check? | Length | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 217 | Thief | 🔊 | No | 2:09 | 5/19/2019 | |
| 218 | The Keep | 🔊 | Alex Ross Perry | No | 2:48 | 5/26/2019 |
| 219 | Manhunter | 🔊 | Chris Cabin Eric Szyszka |
No | 2:12 | 6/2/2019 |
| 220 | The Last of the Mohicans | 🔊 | Dana Stevens | No | 2:09 | 6/9/2019 |
| 221 | Heat | 🔊 | Jon Gabrus | Yes | 2:52 | 6/16/2019 |
| 222 | The Insider | 🔊 | Andy Levy | Yes | 2:31 | 6/23/2019 |
| 223 | Ali | 🔊 | Jamelle Bouie | Yes | 2:19 | 6/30/2019 |
| 224 | Collateral | 🔊 | Katey Rich | No | 1:51 | 7/7/2019 |
| 225 | Miami Vice | 🔊 | Yes | 2:44 | 7/14/2019 | |
| 227 | Public Enemies | 🔊 | Fran Hoepfner | 1:31 | 7/28/2019 | |
| 229 | Blackhat | 🔊 | Bilge Ebiri | 2:09 | 8/4/2019 | |
| 458 | Ferrari | 🔊 | Bilge Ebiri | Nope | 2:33 | 1/7/2024 |
| Bonus Episode | ||||||
| 228 | Miami Vice - Pilot Episode | 🔊 | N/A | 1:23 | 8/1/2019 | |
| Special Features | ||||||
| SF020 | The Jericho Mailbag | 🔊✔️ | N/A | 2:05 | 6/10/2019 | |
| SF023 | The Keep RPG | 🔊✔️ | Angela Ferraguto Alex Ross Perry Emily Yoshida |
N/A | 2:34 | 7/11/2019 |
Ranking The Filmography[]
At the conclusion of the miniseries, the Blankies rankings were compiled from a voting thread found on the r/Blankies sub-reddit. where the results were later posted.
| Rank | Griffin | David | Blankies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thief | Heat | Heat |
| 2 | Heat | Miami Vice | Collateral |
| 3 | The Insider | The Insider | The Insider |
| 4 | Manhunter | Collateral | Thief |
| 5 | Ali | Thief | Miami Vice |
| 6 | Collateral | Manhunter | Manhunter |
| 7 | Public Enemies | Ali | Ali |
| 8 | Blackhat | The Last of the Mohicans | The Last of the Mohicans |
| 9 | Miami Vice | Blackhat | Blackhat |
| 10 | The Last of the Mohicans | Public Enemies | Public Enemies |
| 11 | The Keep | The Jericho Mile | The Jericho Mile |
| 12 | The Jericho Mile | The Keep | The Keep |