Episodes
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This Halloween, let's take a spookily ironic look at EVERY president ever portrayed in any episode of any version of THE TWILIGHT ZONE!
Believe it or not, it wasn't until Jordan Peele's 2019 reboot of The Twilight Zone that we got the series' first truly fake president. In "The Wunderkind," John Cho stars as a hotshot campaign manager, Jacob Tremblay as the 11-year-old candidate for American president Cho takes under his wing, John Larroquette as "a" fake POTUS (but not "the" fake POTUS of the episode), Allison Tolman as the episode's sole voice of reason, and Jordan Peele as the narrator.
We'll also be taking a look at some real American presidents portrayed fictiously in "classic" episodes of The Twilight Zone from the 60s and 80s, like an undead JFK and a very dead Lincoln.
Find us on Threads and Instagram at Fake_President. Or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com to join the conversation!
00:00 - Intro
02:22 - "The Passersby" (1961)
06:12 - "Profile In Silver" (1986)
10:41 - "The Wunderkind" (2019)
48:55 - Closing
49:58 - Post-Credits Bit
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Did you know there's a fake president in Jason Statham's pulpy, hit actioner THE BEEKEEPER? We didn't! Not until a listener gave us the heads up. British thespian Jemma Redgrave plays the American president. Josh Hutcherson is her not-quite-failson. Jeremy Irons is back in Alfred-mode. And Minnie Driver inexplicably gets a couple scenes for no real apparent reason. We know what this movie says about scamming the elderly (it's bad!)... but what does it say about American politics in the year 2024?
Find us on Instagram and Threads at Fake_Presidents or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com to join the conversation... or just to give us a heads up about other fake potuses secretly lurking in unexpected movies!
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Missing episodes?
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It's the last cinematic voyage of the original Enterprise crew, but the first (and only) for the new Federation President, played by The 70s Show's Kurtwood Smith. Kurtwood joins William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, as well as Star Trek newcomers Kim Cattrall, Christopher Plummer, David Warner, and... Christian Slater?
What kind photos did Kim Cattrall get in trouble for taking on the set after hours? How much Shakespheare in space is too much? If the Klingons in this cold war-inspired story are supposed to be Russians, and the Federation supposed to be Americans, does that mean Kurtwood Smith's alien president is supposed to be... Ronald Reagan? Let's find out!
Find us on Threads and Instagram at Fake_Presidents or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com, to join the conversation!
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From a Ken Doll in fatigues to "action figures" with kung fu grip to an afterschool cartoon and finally to... a live action theatrical release! It's 2009's G.I. JOE: RISE OF CORBA. The fictional President is nameless, but is he also faceless? (Well...technically, yes, in a way, but we'll get to that...)
THE MUMMY'S Stephen Sommers directs a cast of literally thousands (of names). Every character (except for The President) has at least two names, some have three. It's needlessly complicated. But is the nefarious plan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's The Doctor aka Cobra Commander aka Rexford "Rex" Lewis also needlessly complicated? (Yes, yes it is. Very much so.)
Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Rachel Nichols, Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Quaid, Lee Byung-hun, Arnold Vosloo, Ray Park, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and an uncredited Brendan Fraser star alongside Sir Jonathan Pryce as the faux potus.
Find us on most social media sites at "Fake_Presidents." Or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com if you want to be in the next mail bag. (And you do!)
00:00 Intro
2:32 - Background
10:47 - The Channing Tatum Game
16:45 - The Plot
33:18 - What is the movie trying to tell us?
40:35 - What do we know about this POTUS?
43:36 - Approval Ratings
49:54 - Closing
51:39 - Post-Credits Bit -
It's a house divided in this episode as our hosts have very differing takes on just how successfully this new film from writer/director Alex Garland (ANNILHILATION, EX MACHINA) infuses its narrative with grounded politics... and whether it needs to at all?
Nick Offerman gets an upgrade from municpal parks and rec employee to POTUS. Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson are journalists caught in various crossfires. And Jesse Plemons gets to recreate the moment he and Kirsten Dunst first fell in love in real life.
Join us on Threads and Instagram at Fake_Presidents or email us at fakpresidents [at] gmail.com to join the convo!
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In the spring of 2022, a new play opened on Broadway called "POTUS," with the lengthy subtitle: "OR, BEHIND EVERY GREAT DUMBASS ARE SEVEN WOMEN TRYING TO KEEP HIM ALIVE."
From the director of "THE PRODUCERS" (the Broadway musical), this comedy starred Vanessa Williams, Julianne Hough, Rachel Dratch, Suzy Nakamura, Lilli Cooper, Lea DeLaria, and Julie White.
Neither of us were able to catch it.
But this past winter, the show came to Los Angeles...
And one of us was there!
Now you can be there too. Via us!
Or, rather, via Ben.
Find us on Instagram and Threads at Fake_Presidents to join the conversation...
00:00 - Intro
01:06 - Some MANHUNT and Garfield assassination talk
04:38 - Background on POTUS, the play
10:33 - Portrait Corner!
16:49 - The Plot
26:20 - Party and Politics
32:58 - Legacy and Approval Ratings
34:48 - Closing
36:07 - Post-Credits Bit -
Eric couldn't sleep and happened upon a late night rerun of a classic TV show from the 80s that suprisingly had a fake president. Which got us wondering... what other TV classics have one-off, nearly disposable fake presidents?!
Oh, and we talk about Gareth Edwards' THE CREATOR. Well, we talk about whether or not we should talk about it.
00:00 - INTRO
03:01 - THE CREATOR
07:48 - HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN
23:06 - SEAQUEST DSV
41:02 - LOST IN SPACE
49:19 - SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH
57:28 - CLOSING
58:56 - Post-Credits BitFind us on Threads and Instragram to join the convo...
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We finally get to do something we don't usually get to do...speculate about the future! Ben and Eric take a look at two new trailers with heaps of potential for (prestige) fake POTUSes to see what 2024 may have in store for fictional politics.
Nick Offerman is a fake president while America is torn asunder in Alex Garland's CIVIL WAR? Kate Winslet is the head-of-state of a fascistic European nation in HBO's THE REGIME? SAY NO MORE. (Actually, do say more, because these trailers are scant on details...)
Oh, and we also follow-up on a couple projects with some interesting new developments. Which presidential loser gets to finally be POTUS in FOR ALL MANKIND season 4? (hint: they got the popular vote!) And which "incendiary" holiday movie we covered is now getting a sequel!?! (Seriously, of all the movies we've covered, it's truly the LAST one we'd ever thought would get a sequel.)
Find us on Threads or Instagram to join the convo.
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A "Hallmark-style" holiday rom-com featuring a fake president? Of course we had to watch it! (So you don't have to!)
CHRISTMAS AT THE HOLLY HOTEL is a fictional movie about a real hotel that once played a role in George H.W. Bush's ill-fated reelection campaign. It stars no one you'll recognize, directed by no one you've heard of, but it's made lovingly by people who seem to care very much about getting every detail of this hotel right.
But what about the details of the phony potus? Did they get those right?
Let's find out...
Find us on Threads or Instagram or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com to join the convo!
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Uma Thurman is the faux potus in Amazon's romantic comedy RED, WHITE, AND ROYAL BLUE. Taylor Zakhar Perez is the young, handsome First Son whose public feud with a young, handsome British Prince (played by Nicholas Galitzine) threatens his mom's reelection campaign. But things get even messier when the hate gives way to VERY different feelings for each other...
Can a congresswoman from Texas win the presidency if she can't even win a statewide election in own state? Can a college-aged first kid throw a rager on the White House lawn? Do political rom-coms even need a grand gesture? This is a movie where the romance might be the queer, but the politics are oddly straight.
Find us on Threads and Instagram at Fake_Presidents. Or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com to join the convo!
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A special doll-centric Halloween episode!
Did you know that the latest season of CHUCKY, the TV series based on the CHILD'S PLAY horror movies, takes place in The White House? Did you know there was a CHUCKY, the TV series? Neither did we!
Ben watched it because Eric is a fraidy-cat and reports back with all the juicy political goodness in the first couple episodes. Is it enough to get Eric to get over his scary-movie-and-TV-fears and tune in?
Devon Sawa is the POTUS. Chucky is still a killer doll. And the first episode steals a title from a 90's Wesley Snipes murder-in-the-White-House-flick we still need to cover.
Also: We talk some BARBIE: THE MOVIE, featuring Issa Rae as a fake president!
Find us on Threads and Instagram @Fake_Presidents. Or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com to join the convo! (And suggest other stuff for us to cover!)
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IDIOCRACY, co-written and directed by Mike Judge, barely got a theatrical release in 2006, but has it persevered enough to become a cult classic since then? Or is its biggest cultural footprint simply its title?
One thing we know for sure: The movie's faux POTUS -- Terry Crews as the one, the only, President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho -- is on our Fake President Mount Rushmore for a reason.
Find us on Threads and Instagram (and other social media platforms) at Fake_Presidents, or just email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com to join the conversation!
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Eric and Ben are pretty sure there's going to be a fake president in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART TWO when it comes out next year, but they're less sure who it's going to be. Ben thinks it'll be a familiar face to the series. Eric thinks it'll be someone new. Are there any clues in PART ONE? (Yes! Kinda! Maybe.)
Also: We finish up our MARVEL'S SECRET INVASION coverage. Did Dermot Mulroney's President Ritson go out with a bang or a whimper? (Both? Neither? It's complicated...)
01:36 - Beginning of our SECRET INVASION talk
23:52 - When we switch to MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
Find us on Instagram and Threads at @fake_presidents, or email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com, to join the convo!
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Dermot Mulroney's fake President is back in Disney Plus's MARVEL'S SECRET INVASION, and so are we! After covering episodes 1 & 2 in our last look of this series, we now get into episodes 3 & 4. Who was right in our bet on who would be a secret Skrull in this series? We got our answer way earlier than we expected...
And then, at the 32:00 minute mark of the podcast, we discuss the returning fake President in Amazon Prime's TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN, season 4. Did they finally make him interesting?!
Find us on Instagram and Threads! Or just email us to join the conversation: fakepresidents [at] gmail.com
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Ben and Eric are doing something they've never done before -- covering a TV series as it airs in (near) real time!
But first, they got some more FOR ALL MANKIND stuff to talk about, now that Ben has FINALLY seen the show.
THEN they just had to dive back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe when they saw that the MCU was introducing yet ANOTHER fake president. The POTUS is not William Sadler from IRON MAN 3. It's not Harrison Ford from the upcoming THUNDERBOLTS and CAPTAIN AMERICA movies. It's... Dermot Mulroney (NOT Dylan McDermott)!
Can Sam Jackson's Nick Fury stop an army of shapeshifting aliens from replacing world leaders and starting a global thermal nuclear war to destroy all (human) life on Earth? Do the politics of the superheroes & alien-saturated MCU have any resemblance to the real world anymore? Is the POTUS really a lizard person in disguise?!
Let's see what we can suss out...
Find us on Instagram to join the conversation!
(We're still on Twitter, too, but who knows for how long!)
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Michael Bay's THE ROCK has peak Nicolas Cage, silver age Sean Connery, and a shockingly effective (if completely unnecessary) fake president. Best summer movie ever? Could be! Best fake president ever? Let's discuss...
Find us on @INSTAGRAM or email us at fakepresidents [@] gmail.com for join the convo!
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A special episode!
From mayor to television legend, few people are as representative of the cross section of politics and pop culture as the late, great Jerry Springer.
And did you know that he also played a fake president in a movie? We didn't! Not 'til we read about it one of his many obituaries.
Jerry Springer is the President of the United States in 2004's THE DEFENDER both starring and directed by Dolph Lundgren, and we watched it so you don't have to!
(well, we watched most of it)
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Our first trip into the Clancy-verse!
Amazon Prime's TOM CLANCY'S JACK RYAN stars John Krasinski as the titular CIA analyst turned field agent. In season one, he saves a president's life. In season three, he saves a president's ass.
Join us as we tackle the big questions: How does THE OFFICE alum Krasinski stack up to the Jack Ryans of Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine? Do the politics of Tom Clancy still hold up in 2023? And the biggest question of all: Why is this show so indebted to NASH BRIDGES?
Got a question? Comment? Suggestion for a movie to cover? Email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com
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It's Presidents' Day!
Which means we're back with another very special episode for this very special holiday. This time we're asking the question: What already existing fictional characters from pop culture should become POTUS within their movie/TV universes? From famous commercial pitchmen to the world of superheroes and even a dip into the works of Pixar, we leave no stone unturned as we look for the ideal candidate.
BUT before we get into that, we dive into some BREAKING NEWS regarding the addition of two new fake presidents in two big movie franchises... is Harrison Ford really stepping back into the oval? (Sure looks it!) And so is...Nick Offerman?! (Outlook more hazy on that one)
Comment, question, suggestion? Email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com!
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After an unexpected hiatus, we're back!
And so is Morgan Freeman!
This time, Olympus isn't falling. It's the sky that's falling. 1998's DEEP IMPACT features an iconic fake president that originally made our Mount Rushmore of fake presidents, but does this speechifying fake prez still feel so iconic two decades later? One of us certainly doesn't think so...
Got a question? Email us at fakepresidents [at] gmail.com.
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