Back at the start of 2012, I didn't think I wanted a second film podcast in my podcast lineup -- actually, a second podcast, period. Especially if it was going to be hosted by those two who sometimes substituted for the regular hosts of my first and only podcast, Filmspotting, when they went on vacation. He reminded me of the squeaky voiced "That's against our policy" ticket-taking teen from The Simpsons; she just didn't sound ready for primetime. Together they sounded how I would sound if I made a podcast in my basement, or maybe not even that good.That was six-and-a-half years ago. Today, I mourn the loss of what may legitimately be my favorite podcast. And I listen to a lot more than two podcasts nowadays.
On my ride to work on Wednesday morning -- yes, I listen to podcasts while I'm riding my bike -- I was hit by the following announcement: the next episode would be the last of Filmspotting: SVU. I remember quite clearly where I was when I heard the news. I was on Exhibition Street right around Lonsdale, just starting the incline up towards Bourke and Collins.
Matt Singer and Alison Wilmore made the announcement with little fanfare, in the spot of the show where they usually do a round-up of recent new releases, as their show's primary focus was movies and TV available from streaming platforms. See, that's what its clever title meant. Not Special Victims Unit, a la Law & Order, but Streaming Video Unit. I always appreciated that joke. I didn't always appreciate Matt and Alison and their senses of humor, not from the start anyway. But I always appreciated that joke.
Over time, I came to appreciate Matt and Alison immensely. The fact that they were kind of like me doing a podcast became endearing, and then it became ... real. I found that their opinions made a lot of sense, sometimes a lot more sense than the hosts of what they referred to as "the mothership," the regular Filmspotting podcast. Matt, who had initially been the one who really bothered me, came to feel like a kindred spirit. I love a person who commits to a joke, as it's something I pride myself on doing. Matt is that guy. He'll follow a joke to its logical conclusion and will fearlessly not stop until he gets there.
As just one example, when trying to come up with a title for the aforementioned new releases segment of their show, Matt either came up with himself, or took from a joking suggestion of a listener, the title "Singer & Wilmore's Completely Concise and Totally Succinct New Release Roundup." What would have, on most podcasts, been floated as a one-time joke of something they were going to use, Matt used for like a year, developing an entire running joke about saying it as quickly as he could, and the fact that Alison either pretended to not know what the segment was called, or was just unwilling to say the title. He was so committed that you got the sense Alison was truly annoyed by his insistence in flogging the joke -- though of course would have just nipped it in the bud entirely if she really didn't think it was working on some level. Or, whether it was actually working or not, she allowed it to continue because it was a pure expression both of who Matt is, and of his commitment to a bit, a commitment I appreciated immensely.
What did shine through was this camaraderie, born of years of podcasting together. Matt and Alison, who have both been critics in print and online media throughout, started together on a podcast for IFC probably more than a decade ago, though I never listened to that. They developed a give-and-take and personal style over the years, one that made them incredibly charming to listen to and gave even their shaggier attempts at humor immense amounts of likeability. They came across as perfect "work spouses," anticipating each other's tendencies and cracking each other up.
One of my favorite things about them, though, was their earnestness and lack of pretension. They could appreciate an arthouse favorite like the best critics, but they weren't afraid to champion low culture. Matt in particular loved Arnold Schwarzenegger (and did a great impression of him), and awful martial arts movies; Alison unabashedly supported horror. I don't listen to critics because I want them to wax rapturous about the undisputed greats of the medium. I like it sometimes when they're just willing to go on and on about Gymkata.
And I also enjoyed how they were unafraid to say that they didn't get the affection for a particular film, especially one where it seemed like the only acceptable public stance on it was to sing its praises. In fact, in their annual year-end show called "The SVUvies," they had segments called "We Didn't Get It," in which they talked about failing to appreciate a critical darling, and "They Didn't Get It," about films that they felt were misunderstood. Last year Matt chose Call Me By Your Name as his "We Didn't Get It" film because he just didn't think it was worthy of all the hype. I agreed, but could not figure out how to articulate that publicly without someone assuming the reaction came from a place of homophobia. Matt and Alison stuck by their guns, which I very much appreciated.
The point I noticed the podcast perhaps eclipsing its forbear, though, was the two podcasts' respective reactions to Star Trek. I can't remember the occasion where it came up on "the mothership," but Filmspotting host Josh Larsen was downright dismissive of all the original Star Trek movies starring William Shatner et al. Now, I don't want to deny Josh the right not to like Star Trek, but it was the terms in which he discussed it that frustrated me, almost as though he thought it was so silly he was just doing the verbal equivalent of brushing it aside. Around that same time, Matt and Alison had the occasion to revisit and discuss my favorite Star Trek film, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. They delved in deep discussing the things that made it great, and the contrast with Josh's laughing dismissal of it was palpable.
I don't know if it would truly be fair to say that I liked SVU better than Filmspotting in the end, though the fact that it was even up for discussion shows just how much Matt and Alison grew on me in those six-and-a-half years, how much they became part of my weekly (actually biweekly) listening routine. And how much their absence from it will hurt.
They were just two film nerds like me who liked to crack each other up, while being true to their own tastes and their love of the medium. Sure, I'll be able to find their writing out there, if I look for it. They're both still working critics.
But their voices will be gone from my earbuds, and that's sad. It's like saying goodbye to two friends.
Happy trails, SVU.
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