Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: As has often been the case, Father Rob's temper stole the show, both when he exhibited it (Father Rob's Righteous Anger) and when he was forced to apologize for it (Lino Is Sorry… And So Is Father Rob). In between both, we got another solid round of No Dumb Questions about the faith.
Lows: Nothing really to speak of.
Our take: Much better than the past two days of shows.
Grade: B+
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Show review for 6/28/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: It wasn't a bad show, but this time around there just wasn't anything that really made us sit up and listen.
Lows: Fortunately there wasn't really anything that repelled us, either... unless you count the incessant talk about the Italy-Germany soccer game that was happening live during the first hour.
Our take: Nothing objectionable, but nothing that really made us want to tune in, either.
Grade: C+
Highs: It wasn't a bad show, but this time around there just wasn't anything that really made us sit up and listen.
Lows: Fortunately there wasn't really anything that repelled us, either... unless you count the incessant talk about the Italy-Germany soccer game that was happening live during the first hour.
Our take: Nothing objectionable, but nothing that really made us want to tune in, either.
Grade: C+
Show review for 6/27/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We don't normally single out Mark Hart's weekly appearance on the show because it's usually good anyway, but there's no way we can get away without noting how Father Rob jumped all over Mark like a rabid dog this week.
Lows: The tangential discussion about seeking recognition when giving a large gift to the Church just didn't hold our interest. And Lino and Father Rob's mockery of Father Jonathan Morris' recent Fox & Friends appearance (where they made him out to be a priest with anger issues) fell equally as flat.
Our take: This one had us looking at the clock a little bit too often.
Grade: C+
Highs: We don't normally single out Mark Hart's weekly appearance on the show because it's usually good anyway, but there's no way we can get away without noting how Father Rob jumped all over Mark like a rabid dog this week.
Lows: The tangential discussion about seeking recognition when giving a large gift to the Church just didn't hold our interest. And Lino and Father Rob's mockery of Father Jonathan Morris' recent Fox & Friends appearance (where they made him out to be a priest with anger issues) fell equally as flat.
Our take: This one had us looking at the clock a little bit too often.
Grade: C+
Show review for 6/26/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Since mockery is what Lino does best, it's no surprise that our favorite part of this show was his dissection of the obviously-stilted CNN piece about the Vatican's hiring of a new communications advisor from Fox News. We also felt that Lino did a decent job defending himself against the listeners' assertions of laziness after yesterday's show got canceled at the last minute, and the whole "I'm thinking about getting a pet" segment was surprisingly entertaining.
Lows: While he defended himself well against the laziness accusations, Lino still never explained why he waited until 12 minutes before the start of the show before telling us that it wouldn't be live... that's probably what ticked most people off, and not the fact that the show itself was canceled.
Our take: A generally solid show that takes a minor hit for skirting around the aspect of yesterday's show cancellation that really mattered.
Grade: B
Highs: Since mockery is what Lino does best, it's no surprise that our favorite part of this show was his dissection of the obviously-stilted CNN piece about the Vatican's hiring of a new communications advisor from Fox News. We also felt that Lino did a decent job defending himself against the listeners' assertions of laziness after yesterday's show got canceled at the last minute, and the whole "I'm thinking about getting a pet" segment was surprisingly entertaining.
Lows: While he defended himself well against the laziness accusations, Lino still never explained why he waited until 12 minutes before the start of the show before telling us that it wouldn't be live... that's probably what ticked most people off, and not the fact that the show itself was canceled.
Our take: A generally solid show that takes a minor hit for skirting around the aspect of yesterday's show cancellation that really mattered.
Grade: B
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Show review for 6/22/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: At long last we were reunited with one of our favorite segments, as Lino puckered up and cranked out an entertaining version of What's Lino Whistling. And as always, Lino Is Sorry generated scores of laughs as we got to hear Lino (and Father Rob) apologize for their on-air indiscretions.
Lows: For someone who's worked in local news before, Lino's inability to understand why a seemingly local news story was featured on ABC's national news broadcast was beyond us. (Our take: A. It was unusual, and B. It was illustrative of the oppressive heat that the entire northeast was experiencing at the time.) And Lino's conversation with Father Rob about the way he always wonders about the mundane details of Jesus' life was only slightly more interesting than actually hearing him throw out a detail or two.
Our take: A good show that ran out of gas 30 minutes before it ended.
Grade: B-
Highs: At long last we were reunited with one of our favorite segments, as Lino puckered up and cranked out an entertaining version of What's Lino Whistling. And as always, Lino Is Sorry generated scores of laughs as we got to hear Lino (and Father Rob) apologize for their on-air indiscretions.
Lows: For someone who's worked in local news before, Lino's inability to understand why a seemingly local news story was featured on ABC's national news broadcast was beyond us. (Our take: A. It was unusual, and B. It was illustrative of the oppressive heat that the entire northeast was experiencing at the time.) And Lino's conversation with Father Rob about the way he always wonders about the mundane details of Jesus' life was only slightly more interesting than actually hearing him throw out a detail or two.
Our take: A good show that ran out of gas 30 minutes before it ended.
Grade: B-
Show review for 6/21/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The hilarious "Mystic Wayne" prank clip was a great way to lead in to some high quality Minor Confessions, with the added bonus of being forced to listen to Lionel Richie's Hello five times over. And who doesn't enjoy spending an hour talking about Lino's love life (or lack thereof) with Anthony Buono?
Lows: None that we could hear.
Our take: The last few minutes of the show seemed a little soft (almost like Lino ran out of things to talk about), but overall a very solid outing.
Grade: B+
Highs: The hilarious "Mystic Wayne" prank clip was a great way to lead in to some high quality Minor Confessions, with the added bonus of being forced to listen to Lionel Richie's Hello five times over. And who doesn't enjoy spending an hour talking about Lino's love life (or lack thereof) with Anthony Buono?
Lows: None that we could hear.
Our take: The last few minutes of the show seemed a little soft (almost like Lino ran out of things to talk about), but overall a very solid outing.
Grade: B+
Show review for 6/20/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: In a "damning with faint praise" sort of way, Boring Catholic Radio actually wasn't too bad overall, with the quality of the segment improving as it went on. We had been critical in the past of the segment because it was beginning to sound very forced, but that wasn't as evident this time around.
Lows: The sound clips segment that took up most of the first hour wasn't as entertaining as we hoped it would be… they were all decent, but not decent enough to spend an entire hour on. And although Boring Catholic Radio wasn't bad, it still doesn't hold a candle to the first time Lino did this segment way back in 2007. We've said it before and we'll say it again: if Lino wouldn't try as hard it would sound more natural and he'd have another true classic on his hands.
Our take: We're oscillating between giving this one a "B" or a "C". Fortunately for Lino, we're in a good mood today.
Grade: B-
Highs: In a "damning with faint praise" sort of way, Boring Catholic Radio actually wasn't too bad overall, with the quality of the segment improving as it went on. We had been critical in the past of the segment because it was beginning to sound very forced, but that wasn't as evident this time around.
Lows: The sound clips segment that took up most of the first hour wasn't as entertaining as we hoped it would be… they were all decent, but not decent enough to spend an entire hour on. And although Boring Catholic Radio wasn't bad, it still doesn't hold a candle to the first time Lino did this segment way back in 2007. We've said it before and we'll say it again: if Lino wouldn't try as hard it would sound more natural and he'd have another true classic on his hands.
Our take: We're oscillating between giving this one a "B" or a "C". Fortunately for Lino, we're in a good mood today.
Grade: B-
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Show review for 6/19/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: In what was easily the most hilarious Eleventh Commandment segment we've ever heard, Father Rob proposed that you should always eat what is put in front of you when you're somebody's guest... but Lino and the callers shot so many holes into Father Rob's commandment that it was unrecognizable by the time the segment was over. As an added bonus, Father Rob got so irritated when Lino advocated just serving pizza when hosting guests that he mocked a phone call placing a pizza order... and started a new catchphrase for the show by inadvertently addressing the pizza at the beginning of the call instead of the restaurant that makes them: "Hello, Pizza? I'd like to order..." We think it's going to be a while before he can live that one down.
Lows: As brilliant as the last hour of the show was, the first half of the show was a complete dog. To begin with, Lino spent waaaaaay too much time pondering why he finds daily Mass so boring and taking calls that tried to convince him otherwise. We won't judge him for the subject (who hasn't gotten bored at Mass before?), but that segment deserved 20 minutes tops, not an entire hour. Following that was a completely lackluster edition of Lino's Casting Couch, a typically good segment that was done in by the rather uninteresting story choice of Joseph, Potiphar, and his wife. We're wondering why he didn't choose something like the story of Naboth, King Ahab, and Jezebel, which is not only more intriguing but would've coincided nicely with the day's Scripture readings. And to top it all off, it didn't help that Lino (and Father Rob to a lesser extent) kept pronouncing Potiphar's name as "Potimer" the entire time. All in all, our brains were pretty much on autopilot during the show's first 100 minutes... and that's not a good thing.
Our take: The third hour by itself is a classic that would've earned an easy "A" from us. Too bad it was preceded by an hour-and-a-half of us looking at our watch wondering when it would end. At least Lino got some good hate mail out of it.
Grade: C+
Highs: In what was easily the most hilarious Eleventh Commandment segment we've ever heard, Father Rob proposed that you should always eat what is put in front of you when you're somebody's guest... but Lino and the callers shot so many holes into Father Rob's commandment that it was unrecognizable by the time the segment was over. As an added bonus, Father Rob got so irritated when Lino advocated just serving pizza when hosting guests that he mocked a phone call placing a pizza order... and started a new catchphrase for the show by inadvertently addressing the pizza at the beginning of the call instead of the restaurant that makes them: "Hello, Pizza? I'd like to order..." We think it's going to be a while before he can live that one down.
Lows: As brilliant as the last hour of the show was, the first half of the show was a complete dog. To begin with, Lino spent waaaaaay too much time pondering why he finds daily Mass so boring and taking calls that tried to convince him otherwise. We won't judge him for the subject (who hasn't gotten bored at Mass before?), but that segment deserved 20 minutes tops, not an entire hour. Following that was a completely lackluster edition of Lino's Casting Couch, a typically good segment that was done in by the rather uninteresting story choice of Joseph, Potiphar, and his wife. We're wondering why he didn't choose something like the story of Naboth, King Ahab, and Jezebel, which is not only more intriguing but would've coincided nicely with the day's Scripture readings. And to top it all off, it didn't help that Lino (and Father Rob to a lesser extent) kept pronouncing Potiphar's name as "Potimer" the entire time. All in all, our brains were pretty much on autopilot during the show's first 100 minutes... and that's not a good thing.
Our take: The third hour by itself is a classic that would've earned an easy "A" from us. Too bad it was preceded by an hour-and-a-half of us looking at our watch wondering when it would end. At least Lino got some good hate mail out of it.
Grade: C+
Show review for 6/18/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We were concerned at first that the Fathers & Sons segment that comprised most of the last hour was going to be nothing but cheap schtick, especially with Father Rob constantly mocking the song Cat's In The Cradle. But what we ended up with was a very heartfelt tribute from both Lino and Father Rob to their dads... especially from Father Rob, who doesn't open up a lot about stuff like this.
Lows: Why, oh why, did Lino and Father Rob have to bend the rules for the last contestant on Who's Your Daddy and ask him sports-themed questions? It was just an insult to the first two contestants who had to answer real questions to try to earn a Popener
Our take: Not a bad day's work from the dynamic duo.
Grade: B
Highs: We were concerned at first that the Fathers & Sons segment that comprised most of the last hour was going to be nothing but cheap schtick, especially with Father Rob constantly mocking the song Cat's In The Cradle. But what we ended up with was a very heartfelt tribute from both Lino and Father Rob to their dads... especially from Father Rob, who doesn't open up a lot about stuff like this.
Lows: Why, oh why, did Lino and Father Rob have to bend the rules for the last contestant on Who's Your Daddy and ask him sports-themed questions? It was just an insult to the first two contestants who had to answer real questions to try to earn a Popener
Our take: Not a bad day's work from the dynamic duo.
Grade: B
Monday, June 18, 2012
Show review for 6/15/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We think Father Rob may have missed his calling… given the brilliant hour he spent mocking and ridiculing Lino's most recent appearance on FoxNews.com LIVE, we think he might've had a great future as a Fox News analyst. (Then again, if Father Jonathan Morris can be both a priest and an analyst, why can't Father Rob?) Fortunately, Lino got his revenge at the end of the show, with a great Lino Is Sorry segment that was skewed very heavily towards Father Rob's misdeeds. Love it!
Lows: Not a d*mn thing.
Our take: This one was pretty much a winner from beginning to end.
Grade: A-
Highs: We think Father Rob may have missed his calling… given the brilliant hour he spent mocking and ridiculing Lino's most recent appearance on FoxNews.com LIVE, we think he might've had a great future as a Fox News analyst. (Then again, if Father Jonathan Morris can be both a priest and an analyst, why can't Father Rob?) Fortunately, Lino got his revenge at the end of the show, with a great Lino Is Sorry segment that was skewed very heavily towards Father Rob's misdeeds. Love it!
Lows: Not a d*mn thing.
Our take: This one was pretty much a winner from beginning to end.
Grade: A-
Show review for 6/14/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We're really starting to like it when Lino plays random sound clips and mocks them, and today's show had some good examples, particularly the "Let's Pizza" automatic pizza machine that he and Father Rob just lit into. (Note: If you'd like to see the entire "Let's Pizza" video, here it is for your viewing/listening pleasure.) And Lino's Music Makeover seemed more lively than usual this time around.
Lows: The segment at the end of the show where Lino wondered if people's over-reliance on St. Anthony of Padua's intercessions bordered on superstition was a weak way to end the broadcast day.
Our take: Some fine entertainment… at least for the first 2½ hours.
Grade: B+
Highs: We're really starting to like it when Lino plays random sound clips and mocks them, and today's show had some good examples, particularly the "Let's Pizza" automatic pizza machine that he and Father Rob just lit into. (Note: If you'd like to see the entire "Let's Pizza" video, here it is for your viewing/listening pleasure.) And Lino's Music Makeover seemed more lively than usual this time around.
Lows: The segment at the end of the show where Lino wondered if people's over-reliance on St. Anthony of Padua's intercessions bordered on superstition was a weak way to end the broadcast day.
Our take: Some fine entertainment… at least for the first 2½ hours.
Grade: B+
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Show review for 6/13/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Once again Father Rob stole the show with his antics. His continued fear of doing prison ministry made him cannon fodder for most of the first hour, then he declared himself smart enough not to need St. Anthony's help to find things that he's lost. But the pièce de résistance was his borderline insane rant during Father Rob's Righteous Anger, taking DVRs to task for failing to record programs properly if they don't start/end at the right time. They might want to look into having a blood pressure monitor in studio for him.
Lows: The segment analogizing the causes of Lino's chronic knee and back pain to the causes of his penchant for pride and lust was a little lackluster. And while Lino was talking about how he wanted Oklahoma City to win over Miami in the NBA Finals because of his un-Christian attitude towards LeBron James, we couldn't help wondering what's worse: LeBron stiffing the Cleveland Cavaliers, or the Oklahoma City Thunder stiffing their former home of Seattle? Now who are you going to root for, again?
Our take: Despite a couple of flaws, a very solid piece of work.
Grade: B+
Highs: Once again Father Rob stole the show with his antics. His continued fear of doing prison ministry made him cannon fodder for most of the first hour, then he declared himself smart enough not to need St. Anthony's help to find things that he's lost. But the pièce de résistance was his borderline insane rant during Father Rob's Righteous Anger, taking DVRs to task for failing to record programs properly if they don't start/end at the right time. They might want to look into having a blood pressure monitor in studio for him.
Lows: The segment analogizing the causes of Lino's chronic knee and back pain to the causes of his penchant for pride and lust was a little lackluster. And while Lino was talking about how he wanted Oklahoma City to win over Miami in the NBA Finals because of his un-Christian attitude towards LeBron James, we couldn't help wondering what's worse: LeBron stiffing the Cleveland Cavaliers, or the Oklahoma City Thunder stiffing their former home of Seattle? Now who are you going to root for, again?
Our take: Despite a couple of flaws, a very solid piece of work.
Grade: B+
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Show review for 6/12/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: No Dumb Questions made a welcome return engagement, but the real star of this show was when the 1,000 Corporal Works of Mercy segment turned into a bickering match between Father Rob and Lino over Father Rob's reluctance to go into a prison and Lino's desire to go to a women's prison so that he could get to know some of them better. Petty arguing at its finest = entertaining radio.
Lows: The whole segment about finding rap songs that had a modicum of faith in their lyrics was pretty much a dud. Maybe that's why it ended so quickly.
Our take: The second half of this show fared distinctly better than the first half and kept it from a mediocre score.
Grade: B-
Highs: No Dumb Questions made a welcome return engagement, but the real star of this show was when the 1,000 Corporal Works of Mercy segment turned into a bickering match between Father Rob and Lino over Father Rob's reluctance to go into a prison and Lino's desire to go to a women's prison so that he could get to know some of them better. Petty arguing at its finest = entertaining radio.
Lows: The whole segment about finding rap songs that had a modicum of faith in their lyrics was pretty much a dud. Maybe that's why it ended so quickly.
Our take: The second half of this show fared distinctly better than the first half and kept it from a mediocre score.
Grade: B-
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Show review for 6/11/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Another good episode of Mystery Science Homilies was enjoyed by all, but two shining moments from Father Rob really stood out: the first being when he insinuated that electricity existed during the 1700s, and the other when he opined that a nun who wrote a sexual ethics book that wasn't in line with Church teaching should "Get out" of her profession. You can always count on Father Rob to spice things up a little bit.
Lows: Nothing really stood out, but the whole show had a bit of a "ho-hum" feel to it even though most segments by themselves were pretty good.
Our take: A decent, but a bit uninspired, outing.
Grade: B-
Highs: Another good episode of Mystery Science Homilies was enjoyed by all, but two shining moments from Father Rob really stood out: the first being when he insinuated that electricity existed during the 1700s, and the other when he opined that a nun who wrote a sexual ethics book that wasn't in line with Church teaching should "Get out" of her profession. You can always count on Father Rob to spice things up a little bit.
Lows: Nothing really stood out, but the whole show had a bit of a "ho-hum" feel to it even though most segments by themselves were pretty good.
Our take: A decent, but a bit uninspired, outing.
Grade: B-
Monday, June 11, 2012
Show review for 6/1/2012
NOTE: There will be no review of Lino's live show from Ireland on Friday, June 8th. It's sufficiently different from a normal show that it would be too hard to grade fairly.
Click here for a brief summary of the 6/1 show
Highs: When Lino and Father Rob are forced to apologize you can never go wrong, so hearing Lino Is Sorry after an extended absence was true ear candy. We also enjoyed the double-whammy Lino and the callers laid into Father Rob: first for holding him to a higher standard than Lino for eating meat on Friday, then for refusing to turn in a lost MetroCard he found on the subway station floor. Great fun.
Lows: We have a bad feeling that Lino's never going to be able to read all of the Corporal Works of Mercy people are sending in on the air this month... he'd have to do about 65 a day to make it work. And no warning at all that Lino's headed to Ireland next week? We'll have a side of jerk chicken, please.
Our take: Entertaining enough to get a solid grade.
Grade: B+
Click here for a brief summary of the 6/1 show
Highs: When Lino and Father Rob are forced to apologize you can never go wrong, so hearing Lino Is Sorry after an extended absence was true ear candy. We also enjoyed the double-whammy Lino and the callers laid into Father Rob: first for holding him to a higher standard than Lino for eating meat on Friday, then for refusing to turn in a lost MetroCard he found on the subway station floor. Great fun.
Lows: We have a bad feeling that Lino's never going to be able to read all of the Corporal Works of Mercy people are sending in on the air this month... he'd have to do about 65 a day to make it work. And no warning at all that Lino's headed to Ireland next week? We'll have a side of jerk chicken, please.
Our take: Entertaining enough to get a solid grade.
Grade: B+
Show review for 5/31/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Lino got himself in a ocean of hot water by agreeing with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's recent attempts to limit the size of sodas sold in the city... and it was boatloads of fun listening to him wither under relentless attack from Father Rob and most of the callers. And we enjoyed the TV sound clips that Lino found that show that generous, classy people still exist in this world.
Lows: Nothing really stood out.
Our take: For some reason this one earns a higher grade than it feels like it should get. We can't put our finger on it.
Grade: B-
Highs: Lino got himself in a ocean of hot water by agreeing with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's recent attempts to limit the size of sodas sold in the city... and it was boatloads of fun listening to him wither under relentless attack from Father Rob and most of the callers. And we enjoyed the TV sound clips that Lino found that show that generous, classy people still exist in this world.
Lows: Nothing really stood out.
Our take: For some reason this one earns a higher grade than it feels like it should get. We can't put our finger on it.
Grade: B-
Show review for 5/30/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We enjoyed Lino mocking the interview between Wolf Blitzer and Donald Trump over the whole "Was Obama born in the U.S.?" question. Father Rob's attempts to move in with Lino on a trial "Odd Couple" basis was a riot. And we're impressed that Lino's attempting to take on such a huge project like his 1,000 Works Of Corporal Mercy endeavor... we just hope he didn't bite off more than he can chew.
Lows: Timing is everything, and unfortunately the whole "Odd Couple" discussion ended up shortening up The God's Honest Truth to such a degree that it probably would've been better to do something else. Is the clock in the studio broken or something?
Our take: A less inspired outing that we hoped it would be, but definitely not bad.
Grade: B-
Highs: We enjoyed Lino mocking the interview between Wolf Blitzer and Donald Trump over the whole "Was Obama born in the U.S.?" question. Father Rob's attempts to move in with Lino on a trial "Odd Couple" basis was a riot. And we're impressed that Lino's attempting to take on such a huge project like his 1,000 Works Of Corporal Mercy endeavor... we just hope he didn't bite off more than he can chew.
Lows: Timing is everything, and unfortunately the whole "Odd Couple" discussion ended up shortening up The God's Honest Truth to such a degree that it probably would've been better to do something else. Is the clock in the studio broken or something?
Our take: A less inspired outing that we hoped it would be, but definitely not bad.
Grade: B-
Show review for 5/29/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Mystery Science Homilies just keeps getting better and better each time we hear it... today's rip-roaring outing is the best we've heard so far since the segment was reintroduced. The discussion about lightest and harshest penances was intriguing, and Father Rob sporing sunglasses in lieu of his forgotten specs was a pleasant way to get the show started.
Lows: Ugh... Lino just had to cover something controversial, didn't he? This time it was the recent arrest of the Pope's valet for stealing personal documents with the intent of leaking them to discredit the Vatican's Secretary of State. While we don't agree with the guy's actions, it felt like Lino was just bringing the hammer down on this guy when he should've been more empathetic over the consequences his actions had on his family. What's the point in kicking him when he's already down? And why not a little more discussion about why he might've done it rather than just a scant mention that he might've been put up to it? It makes the whole discussion seem one-sided, which is no better than the reporting coming out of the mainstream media on this topic.
Aside from that, the only other downside was Lino's rambling discussion of his weekend spent back home in Minnesota... which rambled and changed directions just a bit too much for our tastes.
Our take: If we had heard just the last hour of the show we would've thought it was pretty good... unfortunately we heard the whole thing. It wasn't that bad, but Lino and controversial topics just don't make for a good combo on this show. And as happened the last time we ripped him in a review, we have no doubt that Lino will be writing us to express his extreme displeasure with our take on his comments.
Grade: C
Highs: Mystery Science Homilies just keeps getting better and better each time we hear it... today's rip-roaring outing is the best we've heard so far since the segment was reintroduced. The discussion about lightest and harshest penances was intriguing, and Father Rob sporing sunglasses in lieu of his forgotten specs was a pleasant way to get the show started.
Lows: Ugh... Lino just had to cover something controversial, didn't he? This time it was the recent arrest of the Pope's valet for stealing personal documents with the intent of leaking them to discredit the Vatican's Secretary of State. While we don't agree with the guy's actions, it felt like Lino was just bringing the hammer down on this guy when he should've been more empathetic over the consequences his actions had on his family. What's the point in kicking him when he's already down? And why not a little more discussion about why he might've done it rather than just a scant mention that he might've been put up to it? It makes the whole discussion seem one-sided, which is no better than the reporting coming out of the mainstream media on this topic.
Aside from that, the only other downside was Lino's rambling discussion of his weekend spent back home in Minnesota... which rambled and changed directions just a bit too much for our tastes.
Our take: If we had heard just the last hour of the show we would've thought it was pretty good... unfortunately we heard the whole thing. It wasn't that bad, but Lino and controversial topics just don't make for a good combo on this show. And as happened the last time we ripped him in a review, we have no doubt that Lino will be writing us to express his extreme displeasure with our take on his comments.
Grade: C
Show review for 5/25/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Lino had another appearance on FoxNews.com LIVE, and we had another good time hearing Father Rob critique every aspect of his appearance. We were also surprisingly amused with Lino's detour during Homily On The Spot, where he wondered for minutes on end exactly where mustard seeds come from.
Lows: Is it just us, or is Interviews With The Saints getting a bit long in the tooth? Father Rob ain't no Mel Blanc... there's a limit to how many voices he can throw out there and continue to make this segment interesting.
Our take: Father Rob seemed mad at everything today, which added a little spice to a solid outing.
Grade: B
Highs: Lino had another appearance on FoxNews.com LIVE, and we had another good time hearing Father Rob critique every aspect of his appearance. We were also surprisingly amused with Lino's detour during Homily On The Spot, where he wondered for minutes on end exactly where mustard seeds come from.
Lows: Is it just us, or is Interviews With The Saints getting a bit long in the tooth? Father Rob ain't no Mel Blanc... there's a limit to how many voices he can throw out there and continue to make this segment interesting.
Our take: Father Rob seemed mad at everything today, which added a little spice to a solid outing.
Grade: B
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Show review for 5/24/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Hearing the discussion on the germiest places that can be found in a Catholic church was disgustingly entertaining, as was the payoff from yesterday's American Idol bet. But what really struck us was Lino's twisting of a Seize The Day segment from earlier that morning about flashing oncoming motorists to warn them of speed traps... what should've been a certain "low" because of its fire sale-price humor turned into a major "high" when Lino tied it in to the way that the media has taken the positions of the Catholic church out of context in recent days and weeks. Well done, Lino!
Lows: Didn't hear anything that really rubbed our fur the wrong way.
Our take: A good outing that gets pushed up into elite status with the clever "flashing" segment. Good job!
Grade: A-
Highs: Hearing the discussion on the germiest places that can be found in a Catholic church was disgustingly entertaining, as was the payoff from yesterday's American Idol bet. But what really struck us was Lino's twisting of a Seize The Day segment from earlier that morning about flashing oncoming motorists to warn them of speed traps... what should've been a certain "low" because of its fire sale-price humor turned into a major "high" when Lino tied it in to the way that the media has taken the positions of the Catholic church out of context in recent days and weeks. Well done, Lino!
Lows: Didn't hear anything that really rubbed our fur the wrong way.
Our take: A good outing that gets pushed up into elite status with the clever "flashing" segment. Good job!
Grade: A-
Show review for 5/23/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: It's always entertaining when Father Rob and Lino wager on something, and today was no exception with the priest taking 3.5:1 odds on Jessica Sanchez winning American Idol. That man will truly bet on anything.
Lows: Nothing particularly sucked today... at least by Lino Rulli standards.
Our take: This was a generally pleasant yet by-the-numbers installment, but it gets a bump due to Father Rob's on-air gambling exploits.
Grade: B
Highs: It's always entertaining when Father Rob and Lino wager on something, and today was no exception with the priest taking 3.5:1 odds on Jessica Sanchez winning American Idol. That man will truly bet on anything.
Lows: Nothing particularly sucked today... at least by Lino Rulli standards.
Our take: This was a generally pleasant yet by-the-numbers installment, but it gets a bump due to Father Rob's on-air gambling exploits.
Grade: B
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Show review for 5/22/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Themes that carry over from one show to the next are usually disasters because they induce boredom very quickly... surprisingly, the "silence" theme carried over very well when Lino had to defend his assertion that there are too many moments of silence during Mass (and not enough silence in others). And what else can be said about Father Rob humming the hits of the 70's during a very special What's Father Rob Humming?
Lows: Lino's time-filling segment where he detailed how he ate an expired yogurt and lived to tell about it was not the stuff good shows are made of. But that paled in comparison to the news segment, where Lino ditched three perfectly good stories Father Rob had prepared after the latter unintentionally bungled the introduction of each. Was that really necessary?
Our take: If you stuck around for the third hour, you enjoyed some good radio. If you tuned out halfway through the second hour because Mr. Perfectionist took his ball and went home after the news segment got screwed up, we understand.
Grade: C+
Highs: Themes that carry over from one show to the next are usually disasters because they induce boredom very quickly... surprisingly, the "silence" theme carried over very well when Lino had to defend his assertion that there are too many moments of silence during Mass (and not enough silence in others). And what else can be said about Father Rob humming the hits of the 70's during a very special What's Father Rob Humming?
Lows: Lino's time-filling segment where he detailed how he ate an expired yogurt and lived to tell about it was not the stuff good shows are made of. But that paled in comparison to the news segment, where Lino ditched three perfectly good stories Father Rob had prepared after the latter unintentionally bungled the introduction of each. Was that really necessary?
Our take: If you stuck around for the third hour, you enjoyed some good radio. If you tuned out halfway through the second hour because Mr. Perfectionist took his ball and went home after the news segment got screwed up, we understand.
Grade: C+
Show review for 5/21/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Mystery Science Homilies is usually a good segment anytime, but today's version seemed even more so, with Lino being especially critical of Father Rob's work. But that was nothing compared to the news segment, where we got to groove to a cacophony of Bee Gees hits from the '70s as Lino and Father Rob discussed the passing of Robin Gibb. Break out the disco ball!
Lows: "Silence" was the theme of the first hour, and aside from Lino trying to convince Father Rob that reading a book about the Saints was a way to listen to God, it left us a bit underwhelmed.
Our take: First hour was kind of blah; the second and third hours were notably better.
Grade: B-
Highs: Mystery Science Homilies is usually a good segment anytime, but today's version seemed even more so, with Lino being especially critical of Father Rob's work. But that was nothing compared to the news segment, where we got to groove to a cacophony of Bee Gees hits from the '70s as Lino and Father Rob discussed the passing of Robin Gibb. Break out the disco ball!
Lows: "Silence" was the theme of the first hour, and aside from Lino trying to convince Father Rob that reading a book about the Saints was a way to listen to God, it left us a bit underwhelmed.
Our take: First hour was kind of blah; the second and third hours were notably better.
Grade: B-
Show review for 5/18/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The Eleventh Commandment was yet another brilliant illustration of Father Rob promoting a rule (in this case, attempting to pay for a meal that you know someone else will pay for) purely for the sake of politeness... and listening to him defend the indefensible was music to our ears.
Lows: The Catholic Guy Advice segment was good to bring up a 14-year-old's problem with the Mass being boring, but it didn't make for great listening because everyone (primarily the callers, who were all adults) kept giving advice from the parents' point-of-view. Who (other than Lino) was trying to advise the kid what to do?
Our take: A strictly middle-of-the-road affair that overall felt like slightly less than the sum of its parts.
Grade: C+
Highs: The Eleventh Commandment was yet another brilliant illustration of Father Rob promoting a rule (in this case, attempting to pay for a meal that you know someone else will pay for) purely for the sake of politeness... and listening to him defend the indefensible was music to our ears.
Lows: The Catholic Guy Advice segment was good to bring up a 14-year-old's problem with the Mass being boring, but it didn't make for great listening because everyone (primarily the callers, who were all adults) kept giving advice from the parents' point-of-view. Who (other than Lino) was trying to advise the kid what to do?
Our take: A strictly middle-of-the-road affair that overall felt like slightly less than the sum of its parts.
Grade: C+
Friday, May 18, 2012
Show review for 5/17/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We were thrilled that one of our favorite segments, Catholic Password, has made a return to the show and is as good as it ever was. Also making a welcome return to the show was Anthony Buono, who with Lino and Father Rob had a rip-roaring discussion of the finer points of Lino's dating life.
Lows: Today was a classic example of not stopping while you're ahead. The dating segment with Anthony Buono was great, but then Lino kept the conversation going for a good 40 minutes beyond that... and by that time the whole discussion was in one ear and out the other. Additionally, the five minutes spent on Billy Bob Thornton's recent TV interview had us looking for something else to do.
Our take: What should've been the grand return of a beloved segment and favorite guest was tarnished by spending fully half the show on one topic. Variety is supposed to be the spice of life, but this one spent too much time sitting in the spice rack.
Grade: C+
Highs: We were thrilled that one of our favorite segments, Catholic Password, has made a return to the show and is as good as it ever was. Also making a welcome return to the show was Anthony Buono, who with Lino and Father Rob had a rip-roaring discussion of the finer points of Lino's dating life.
Lows: Today was a classic example of not stopping while you're ahead. The dating segment with Anthony Buono was great, but then Lino kept the conversation going for a good 40 minutes beyond that... and by that time the whole discussion was in one ear and out the other. Additionally, the five minutes spent on Billy Bob Thornton's recent TV interview had us looking for something else to do.
Our take: What should've been the grand return of a beloved segment and favorite guest was tarnished by spending fully half the show on one topic. Variety is supposed to be the spice of life, but this one spent too much time sitting in the spice rack.
Grade: C+
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Show review for 5/16/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Lino's Music Makeover is usually good in its own right, but the level of argumentativeness displayed during today's installment simply had to be heard to enjoyed. Speaking of arguments, we also enjoyed Lino and Father Rob bickering over the latter's idea of starting a website where visitors to churches could rate them.
Lows: None to speak of.
Our take: The animosity factor on display between the greasy ginzo and the ordained leprechaun definitely took this one up a notch.
Grade: B+
Highs: Lino's Music Makeover is usually good in its own right, but the level of argumentativeness displayed during today's installment simply had to be heard to enjoyed. Speaking of arguments, we also enjoyed Lino and Father Rob bickering over the latter's idea of starting a website where visitors to churches could rate them.
Lows: None to speak of.
Our take: The animosity factor on display between the greasy ginzo and the ordained leprechaun definitely took this one up a notch.
Grade: B+
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Show review for 5/15/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We're suckers for a good dose of karma, and Lino illustrating via sound clips how Chris Matthews got his after his terrible Jeopardy! performance was music to our ears. We also enjoyed Lino and Father Rob displaying their innocent naivete while talking to farmers about who they are and what they do... very good stuff there, and something we'd love to see with listeners of other occupations.
Lows: Nothing to report, sergeant.
Our take: A pleasant way to spend three hours.
Grade: B
Highs: We're suckers for a good dose of karma, and Lino illustrating via sound clips how Chris Matthews got his after his terrible Jeopardy! performance was music to our ears. We also enjoyed Lino and Father Rob displaying their innocent naivete while talking to farmers about who they are and what they do... very good stuff there, and something we'd love to see with listeners of other occupations.
Lows: Nothing to report, sergeant.
Our take: A pleasant way to spend three hours.
Grade: B
Show review for 5/14/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The whole inane discussion about what states constitute the Midwest was surprisingly entertaining (as was Lino's absolute refusal to believe the facts when presented to him). Equally as funny was the fight over the pronunciation of the word "eclair" (as was Father Rob's absolute refusal to believe the facts when presented to him).
Lows: The whole segment about the increase in priesthood vocations was overshadowed by Lino's infatuation with pronouncing the research firm's acronym. That was worth two minutes of air time tops, and Lino somehow spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to say "CARA".
Our take: Satisfying overall, but not quite as satisfying as a Snickers bar.
Grade: B
Highs: The whole inane discussion about what states constitute the Midwest was surprisingly entertaining (as was Lino's absolute refusal to believe the facts when presented to him). Equally as funny was the fight over the pronunciation of the word "eclair" (as was Father Rob's absolute refusal to believe the facts when presented to him).
Lows: The whole segment about the increase in priesthood vocations was overshadowed by Lino's infatuation with pronouncing the research firm's acronym. That was worth two minutes of air time tops, and Lino somehow spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to say "CARA".
Our take: Satisfying overall, but not quite as satisfying as a Snickers bar.
Grade: B
Show review for 5/11/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The whole inane discussion about what states constitute the Midwest was surprisingly entertaining (as was Lino's absolute refusal to believe the facts when presented to him). Equally as funny was the fight over the pronunciation of the word "eclair" (as was Father Rob's absolute refusal to believe the facts when presented to him).
Lows: The whole segment about the increase in priesthood vocations was overshadowed by Lino's infatuation with pronouncing the research firm's acronym. That was worth two minutes of air time tops, and Lino somehow spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to say "CARA".
Our take: Satisfying overall, but not quite as satisfying as a Snickers bar.
Grade: B
Highs: The whole inane discussion about what states constitute the Midwest was surprisingly entertaining (as was Lino's absolute refusal to believe the facts when presented to him). Equally as funny was the fight over the pronunciation of the word "eclair" (as was Father Rob's absolute refusal to believe the facts when presented to him).
Lows: The whole segment about the increase in priesthood vocations was overshadowed by Lino's infatuation with pronouncing the research firm's acronym. That was worth two minutes of air time tops, and Lino somehow spent 15 minutes trying to figure out how to say "CARA".
Our take: Satisfying overall, but not quite as satisfying as a Snickers bar.
Grade: B
Show review for 5/10/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Once again we got to enjoy Father Rob exhibiting some Righteous Anger over an accident at a bar... and we enjoyed it even more when almost nobody came to his defense. We also appreciated Lino tackling more than one listener question on Catholic Guy Advice, and we think that that approach might work very well in the future.
Lows: Are you familiar with the old "Deep Thoughts With Stuart Smalley" skit from Saturday Night Live? There was at least one segment in each hour that felt a little like that, where Lino went into deep thought on either the canonization of St. Damien, the Foo Fighters, or various elements of Jesus' humanity. While we appreciate the effort, it felt completely out of place in a show where humor is the dish du jour. (And yes, we remember Lino's segment about Jesus and the moon from last week... but that ended up being hilarious.)
Our take: If it weren't for a little too much deep thought every hour, this one would've done better.
Grade: C+
Highs: Once again we got to enjoy Father Rob exhibiting some Righteous Anger over an accident at a bar... and we enjoyed it even more when almost nobody came to his defense. We also appreciated Lino tackling more than one listener question on Catholic Guy Advice, and we think that that approach might work very well in the future.
Lows: Are you familiar with the old "Deep Thoughts With Stuart Smalley" skit from Saturday Night Live? There was at least one segment in each hour that felt a little like that, where Lino went into deep thought on either the canonization of St. Damien, the Foo Fighters, or various elements of Jesus' humanity. While we appreciate the effort, it felt completely out of place in a show where humor is the dish du jour. (And yes, we remember Lino's segment about Jesus and the moon from last week... but that ended up being hilarious.)
Our take: If it weren't for a little too much deep thought every hour, this one would've done better.
Grade: C+
Show review for 5/9/2012
NOTE: Because the 5/8 show was not a full three hours and the second hour was a lead in to the Cardinal Dolan Town Hall, we will not be providing a review of that show.
Click here for a brief summary of the 5/9 show
Highs: Lino thankfully replayed the excellent Martin Sheen/Emilio Estevez interview from yesterday, especially considering that anyone who normally listens to the 10:00pm ET rebroadcast likely missed it. And Mark Hart's presence on the show is always a winner.
Lows: Nothing particularly offended us today.
Our take: Aside from Mark Hart and the Sheen/Estevez rebroadcast, this one didn't really have anything that truly hooked us. But it still gets a decent grade.
Grade: B-
Click here for a brief summary of the 5/9 show
Highs: Lino thankfully replayed the excellent Martin Sheen/Emilio Estevez interview from yesterday, especially considering that anyone who normally listens to the 10:00pm ET rebroadcast likely missed it. And Mark Hart's presence on the show is always a winner.
Lows: Nothing particularly offended us today.
Our take: Aside from Mark Hart and the Sheen/Estevez rebroadcast, this one didn't really have anything that truly hooked us. But it still gets a decent grade.
Grade: B-
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Show review for 5/7/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Really the entire show was one big long high, but if we had to pick a specific moment we'd choose the segment where Lino pondered about Jesus looking at the same moon that we do... and specifically when the first caller threw cold water on his thoughts by pointing out that Josef Stalin looked at the same moon as well. It took a few minutes to pick ourselves up off the floor after that one.
Lows: Seriously?
Our take: Father Jim shows are usually brilliant, and this one was especially so.
Grade: A
Highs: Really the entire show was one big long high, but if we had to pick a specific moment we'd choose the segment where Lino pondered about Jesus looking at the same moon that we do... and specifically when the first caller threw cold water on his thoughts by pointing out that Josef Stalin looked at the same moon as well. It took a few minutes to pick ourselves up off the floor after that one.
Lows: Seriously?
Our take: Father Jim shows are usually brilliant, and this one was especially so.
Grade: A
Monday, May 7, 2012
Show review for 5/4/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Sometimes the best parts of the show are the unscripted ones... so Father Rob somehow breaking his pen, spilling ink all over his hands, and ill-fatedly attempting to clean it up was radio gold. The segment immediately preceding it where Lino contemplated getting "ordained" online to marry two friends of his was also good and not something you often hear on a Catholic radio show. And who doesn't want to hear Father Rob speaking and singing en Español with the listeners? (If you raised your hand, you're listening to the wrong radio show.)
Lows: You'd think a Catholic priest would show more respect for the dead than Father Rob did upon the passing of Adam "MCA" Yauch of The Beastie Boys. Geez, even Lino called him on this one.
Our take: Really good stuff... enough to earn a top grade. We'll drink a margarita later tonight in honor of this one.
Grade: A-
Highs: Sometimes the best parts of the show are the unscripted ones... so Father Rob somehow breaking his pen, spilling ink all over his hands, and ill-fatedly attempting to clean it up was radio gold. The segment immediately preceding it where Lino contemplated getting "ordained" online to marry two friends of his was also good and not something you often hear on a Catholic radio show. And who doesn't want to hear Father Rob speaking and singing en Español with the listeners? (If you raised your hand, you're listening to the wrong radio show.)
Lows: You'd think a Catholic priest would show more respect for the dead than Father Rob did upon the passing of Adam "MCA" Yauch of The Beastie Boys. Geez, even Lino called him on this one.
Our take: Really good stuff... enough to earn a top grade. We'll drink a margarita later tonight in honor of this one.
Grade: A-
Show review for 5/3/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Once again, Higher/Lower was a winner/winner... whether it's been ripped off from The Price Is Right or not. And it was fun to once again ponder the mysteries of everyday life during the Mysteries segment
Lows: Nothing bad caught our ear.
Our take: Pleasant enough, but it was a bit by-the-numbers for our tastes.
Grade: B-
Highs: Once again, Higher/Lower was a winner/winner... whether it's been ripped off from The Price Is Right or not. And it was fun to once again ponder the mysteries of everyday life during the Mysteries segment
Lows: Nothing bad caught our ear.
Our take: Pleasant enough, but it was a bit by-the-numbers for our tastes.
Grade: B-
Show review for 5/2/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: A great interview with actor Andy Garcia and some pretty good Minor Confessions highlighted today's show... and just hearing the theme to The God's Honest Truth makes us want to visit our local discotheque tonight.
Lows: Can't say we found any.
Our take: Nice highs + no lows = a solid show in our book.
Grade: B+
Highs: A great interview with actor Andy Garcia and some pretty good Minor Confessions highlighted today's show... and just hearing the theme to The God's Honest Truth makes us want to visit our local discotheque tonight.
Lows: Can't say we found any.
Our take: Nice highs + no lows = a solid show in our book.
Grade: B+
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Show review for 5/1/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Today's big highlight was Lino's very personable and well done interview with TV adventure man Bear Grylls. We also appreciated and enjoyed the discussion of Blessed John Paul II's ultimate legacy in future centuries on the first anniversary of his beatification.
Lows: It's a little nit-picky, but Father Rob's Eleventh Commandment ended up being a bit too complicated, so that by the end of the segment we still weren't quite sure how much and under what circumstances he and Lino advocated giving to the collection when attending Mass at another church. A solid topic that suffered from too many details.
Our take: Pretty solid overall, but it left us wanting occasionally.
Grade: B-
Highs: Today's big highlight was Lino's very personable and well done interview with TV adventure man Bear Grylls. We also appreciated and enjoyed the discussion of Blessed John Paul II's ultimate legacy in future centuries on the first anniversary of his beatification.
Lows: It's a little nit-picky, but Father Rob's Eleventh Commandment ended up being a bit too complicated, so that by the end of the segment we still weren't quite sure how much and under what circumstances he and Lino advocated giving to the collection when attending Mass at another church. A solid topic that suffered from too many details.
Our take: Pretty solid overall, but it left us wanting occasionally.
Grade: B-
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Show review for 4/30/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Two oldies-but-goodies made a return to the show today. We've dearly missed Lino ripping apart Father Jim's homilies on Mystery Science Homily, but now it's back and better than ever with Lino going after Father Rob's words of wisdom from the weekend. And we also enjoyed the return of Do You Watch More TV Than A Parish Priest, one of our favorite play-along-at-home games that has been dormant for far too long.
Lows: We were slightly disappointed that a few of the theme songs in Do You Watch More TV Than A Parish Priest were recycled from earlier shows... c'mon, there's hundreds of theme songs out there to choose from, so no sense in repeating a few. And the segment where Lino was asking whether or not to write the forward for someone else's book didn't hold our interest very well because the conversation sometimes became convoluted and went off on tangents. But hey, sometimes stuff like that happens.
Our take: Despite the lows it was another good show... particularly with the return two beloved segments we hadn't heard in a while.
Grade: B+
Highs: Two oldies-but-goodies made a return to the show today. We've dearly missed Lino ripping apart Father Jim's homilies on Mystery Science Homily, but now it's back and better than ever with Lino going after Father Rob's words of wisdom from the weekend. And we also enjoyed the return of Do You Watch More TV Than A Parish Priest, one of our favorite play-along-at-home games that has been dormant for far too long.
Lows: We were slightly disappointed that a few of the theme songs in Do You Watch More TV Than A Parish Priest were recycled from earlier shows... c'mon, there's hundreds of theme songs out there to choose from, so no sense in repeating a few. And the segment where Lino was asking whether or not to write the forward for someone else's book didn't hold our interest very well because the conversation sometimes became convoluted and went off on tangents. But hey, sometimes stuff like that happens.
Our take: Despite the lows it was another good show... particularly with the return two beloved segments we hadn't heard in a while.
Grade: B+
Monday, April 30, 2012
Show review for 4/27/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The Confession Q&A segment during the first hour was really good… sort of a one-topic version of the No Dumb Questions segment. Hearing Kayla and crew rate Christian music was entertaining as always. And who doesn't like to listen to Lino and Father Rob rate potential draftees into the Catholic Church during the annual Catholic Draft?
Lows: Nada.
Our take: Not quite top tier, but definitely worth the time spent listening to it.
Grade: B+
Highs: The Confession Q&A segment during the first hour was really good… sort of a one-topic version of the No Dumb Questions segment. Hearing Kayla and crew rate Christian music was entertaining as always. And who doesn't like to listen to Lino and Father Rob rate potential draftees into the Catholic Church during the annual Catholic Draft?
Lows: Nada.
Our take: Not quite top tier, but definitely worth the time spent listening to it.
Grade: B+
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Show review for 4/25/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Nothing really struck our fancy today, except maybe hearing Lino talk to middle schoolers about the things that they like.
Lows: Fortunately, nothing really rubbed our fur the wrong way, either.
Our take: Another mostly pedestrian show, but it gets a slightly higher grade than yesterday for being a little more interesting overall.
Grade: B-
Highs: Nothing really struck our fancy today, except maybe hearing Lino talk to middle schoolers about the things that they like.
Lows: Fortunately, nothing really rubbed our fur the wrong way, either.
Our take: Another mostly pedestrian show, but it gets a slightly higher grade than yesterday for being a little more interesting overall.
Grade: B-
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Show review for 4/24/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Random Thankfulness is usually a good segment, but it turned into a great segment today when the callers turned on Lino and Father Rob: one was thankful for the times that Father Rob takes the day off and makes room for a guest host, and another was thankful for robbers who stole everything out of his home except for his copy of Sinner, which they apparently didn't see any value in. Awesome way to end the show.
Lows: Nothing really stood out... but most of the rest of the show had a run-of-the-mill feel to it.
Our take: Aside from the last segment, this one was merely okay. Then again, anything had to be an improvement over the previous day's train wreck of a show.
Grade: C+
Highs: Random Thankfulness is usually a good segment, but it turned into a great segment today when the callers turned on Lino and Father Rob: one was thankful for the times that Father Rob takes the day off and makes room for a guest host, and another was thankful for robbers who stole everything out of his home except for his copy of Sinner, which they apparently didn't see any value in. Awesome way to end the show.
Lows: Nothing really stood out... but most of the rest of the show had a run-of-the-mill feel to it.
Our take: Aside from the last segment, this one was merely okay. Then again, anything had to be an improvement over the previous day's train wreck of a show.
Grade: C+
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Show review for 4/23/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Despite it being a complete rip-off from The Price Is Right, we loved loved loved the new game Higher/Lower and look forward to hearing it again in the future. And we'll give Lino and Father Rob brownie points for daring to bring up the HHS Mandate again. That being said...
Lows: Once again, Lino and Father Rob laid a big fat egg when talking about the religious liberty issue. We don't disagree with Lino's assertion that the Church relies too much on press statements and not enough on getting their position out on TV and radio, but to imply that the mainstream media is ready, willing, and able to grant as much face time to the Church as it is the President of the United States shows just how naive he is about the media's priorities and workings. We could see (and have seen) Church leaders reach out to local media outlets on the topic, but getting the media to listen on a national level is much more difficult than Lino made it out to be. And getting the public interested in the topic isn't simple, either. One caller mentioned that the sexual abuse crisis has lessened the public's willingness to listen to the Church's point-of-view, and all Lino could do is shrug his shoulders and agree... and then go right back to pushing for the Church to make its voice heard in the mainstream media. Hey, Lino... care to give us a few pointers on how to make a skeptical public actually listen to the Church? Instead of just telling us what we already know, give us an idea of how to deal with it.
And by the way, if Lino and Father Rob had bothered to actually read some of the statements that the Cardinal Dolan and the USCCB have put out, they'd know that the Obama Administration isn't budging an inch from their current position, so stoking this issue in the media is pretty much a pointless exercise right now. The best way to go about getting the mandate rescinded is to get rid of it either legislatively or have the courts declare it unconstitutional, and those processes need time to play out. And that's why there's nothing in the media about it right now.
Kathleen (the last caller who got mysteriously cut off) absolutely nailed it when she questioned Lino's willingness to regularly bring up the topic, or at least bring somebody on who actually knows something about the topic. A little more research into what exactly is going on with the issue right now would've made for a much more informative segment. Instead, we got Father Rob dredging up a press statement from two weeks ago and telling Lino, "Hey, maybe we can have a little fun with this!" Pathetic.
Our take: This show would've gotten a pretty decent grade if Abbot and Costello hadn't gone off on their whole misinformed religious liberty rant without offering any constructive ways to solve the problem. We'll give them credit for trying, but the amount of effort they put in to reading up on the topic was akin to using Wikipedia as the only source for writing a term paper.
Grade: D+
Highs: Despite it being a complete rip-off from The Price Is Right, we loved loved loved the new game Higher/Lower and look forward to hearing it again in the future. And we'll give Lino and Father Rob brownie points for daring to bring up the HHS Mandate again. That being said...
Lows: Once again, Lino and Father Rob laid a big fat egg when talking about the religious liberty issue. We don't disagree with Lino's assertion that the Church relies too much on press statements and not enough on getting their position out on TV and radio, but to imply that the mainstream media is ready, willing, and able to grant as much face time to the Church as it is the President of the United States shows just how naive he is about the media's priorities and workings. We could see (and have seen) Church leaders reach out to local media outlets on the topic, but getting the media to listen on a national level is much more difficult than Lino made it out to be. And getting the public interested in the topic isn't simple, either. One caller mentioned that the sexual abuse crisis has lessened the public's willingness to listen to the Church's point-of-view, and all Lino could do is shrug his shoulders and agree... and then go right back to pushing for the Church to make its voice heard in the mainstream media. Hey, Lino... care to give us a few pointers on how to make a skeptical public actually listen to the Church? Instead of just telling us what we already know, give us an idea of how to deal with it.
And by the way, if Lino and Father Rob had bothered to actually read some of the statements that the Cardinal Dolan and the USCCB have put out, they'd know that the Obama Administration isn't budging an inch from their current position, so stoking this issue in the media is pretty much a pointless exercise right now. The best way to go about getting the mandate rescinded is to get rid of it either legislatively or have the courts declare it unconstitutional, and those processes need time to play out. And that's why there's nothing in the media about it right now.
Kathleen (the last caller who got mysteriously cut off) absolutely nailed it when she questioned Lino's willingness to regularly bring up the topic, or at least bring somebody on who actually knows something about the topic. A little more research into what exactly is going on with the issue right now would've made for a much more informative segment. Instead, we got Father Rob dredging up a press statement from two weeks ago and telling Lino, "Hey, maybe we can have a little fun with this!" Pathetic.
Our take: This show would've gotten a pretty decent grade if Abbot and Costello hadn't gone off on their whole misinformed religious liberty rant without offering any constructive ways to solve the problem. We'll give them credit for trying, but the amount of effort they put in to reading up on the topic was akin to using Wikipedia as the only source for writing a term paper.
Grade: D+
Monday, April 23, 2012
Show review for 4/20/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Just by itself, having Father Jim on the show is one big high. But apart from that, we really loved being able to hear the entire audio clip that started the whole "What's up with that?" phenomenon, and we were pleasantly surprised that Father Jim remembered as much detail from the Italy pilgrimage as he did.
Lows: We're pulling hairs here, but the whole conversation about kids not having time nowadays to really discern their vocation in life probably lasted just a little longer than it should have.
Our take: Solid, solid stuff. Since Lino stubbornly refuses to allow two priests in studio at once (which is what we'd really like to hear), here's hoping that Father Jim can give Father Rob a chance to play golf a little more often.
Grade: A-
Highs: Just by itself, having Father Jim on the show is one big high. But apart from that, we really loved being able to hear the entire audio clip that started the whole "What's up with that?" phenomenon, and we were pleasantly surprised that Father Jim remembered as much detail from the Italy pilgrimage as he did.
Lows: We're pulling hairs here, but the whole conversation about kids not having time nowadays to really discern their vocation in life probably lasted just a little longer than it should have.
Our take: Solid, solid stuff. Since Lino stubbornly refuses to allow two priests in studio at once (which is what we'd really like to hear), here's hoping that Father Jim can give Father Rob a chance to play golf a little more often.
Grade: A-
Friday, April 20, 2012
Show review for 4/19/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We were very pleasantly surprised to hear Kayla back on the show helping Lino and Father Rob rate Christian music... and if that wasn't enough, we were treated to Father Rob picking some really bad songs for the segment. We also enjoyed the on-air voicemail message that Lino left for his Dad, who turned 69 today, and were pleased to learn that Father Rob's growth on his neck was nothing more than a treatable infection.
Lows: The low-less streak continues...
Our take: It was pretty much expected that today's show wouldn't be as good as yesterday's gem, but it was still pretty decent... especially with Kayla back on the show.
Grade: B
Highs: We were very pleasantly surprised to hear Kayla back on the show helping Lino and Father Rob rate Christian music... and if that wasn't enough, we were treated to Father Rob picking some really bad songs for the segment. We also enjoyed the on-air voicemail message that Lino left for his Dad, who turned 69 today, and were pleased to learn that Father Rob's growth on his neck was nothing more than a treatable infection.
Lows: The low-less streak continues...
Our take: It was pretty much expected that today's show wouldn't be as good as yesterday's gem, but it was still pretty decent... especially with Kayla back on the show.
Grade: B
Show review for 4/18/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Oh, where to begin. The listeners creating their own Father Rob-themed word puzzles after his Wonderword snub... check. Lino's Mom coming on the show to play Hickety Pickety and get under Father Rob's skin... double check. Father Rob playing sound clips of himself calling into four different Catholic radio shows posing as "Timmy" and making non-stop mentions of his spiritual director "Father Rob" and of himself being "a man"... absolutely priceless.
Lows: It's not a low in the "bad radio" sense, but Father Rob's growth on his neck is certainly not a good thing and merits prayers.
Our take: TCGS has finally broken out of its April rut... this was truly three hours of "pure Catholic pleasure and fun".
Grade: A
Highs: Oh, where to begin. The listeners creating their own Father Rob-themed word puzzles after his Wonderword snub... check. Lino's Mom coming on the show to play Hickety Pickety and get under Father Rob's skin... double check. Father Rob playing sound clips of himself calling into four different Catholic radio shows posing as "Timmy" and making non-stop mentions of his spiritual director "Father Rob" and of himself being "a man"... absolutely priceless.
Lows: It's not a low in the "bad radio" sense, but Father Rob's growth on his neck is certainly not a good thing and merits prayers.
Our take: TCGS has finally broken out of its April rut... this was truly three hours of "pure Catholic pleasure and fun".
Grade: A
Show review for 4/17/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: All sorts of stuff. Let's start out with Father Rob's Righteous Anger over being snubbed for the special Catholic Channel-themed Wonderword puzzle, which was just a delight to hear. That was quickly followed by another Father Rob snub... this time his displeasure over not being invited to go along with Lino on speaking engagements. Interviews With The Saints was funny as usual, and Lino's interview with Vinny G. from Jersey Shore was far more interesting than it had any right to be.
Lows: Again, nothing really bad. Are we still listening to TCGS?
Our take: Now that's more like it... some really good stuff combined with the absence of anything overtly bad equals the show's first top grade in quite a while.
Grade: A-
Highs: All sorts of stuff. Let's start out with Father Rob's Righteous Anger over being snubbed for the special Catholic Channel-themed Wonderword puzzle, which was just a delight to hear. That was quickly followed by another Father Rob snub... this time his displeasure over not being invited to go along with Lino on speaking engagements. Interviews With The Saints was funny as usual, and Lino's interview with Vinny G. from Jersey Shore was far more interesting than it had any right to be.
Lows: Again, nothing really bad. Are we still listening to TCGS?
Our take: Now that's more like it... some really good stuff combined with the absence of anything overtly bad equals the show's first top grade in quite a while.
Grade: A-
Show reveiw for 4/16/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Hearing both Lino and Father Rob butcher the German language in honor of Pope Benedict XVI's birthday was disturbingly entertaining. We also enjoyed hearing Lino describe his time in Texas over the weekend... especially the inordinate amount of attention people focused on his beard.
Lows: Nothing really comes to mind... which is certainly not a bad thing.
Our take: It's funny... there have been fewer "lows" on TCGS this month than anytime since we started reviewing the show, yet overall the show can't get above a "B". Lino and Father Rob are doing something... we're just not sure what it is yet.
Grade: B
Highs: Hearing both Lino and Father Rob butcher the German language in honor of Pope Benedict XVI's birthday was disturbingly entertaining. We also enjoyed hearing Lino describe his time in Texas over the weekend... especially the inordinate amount of attention people focused on his beard.
Lows: Nothing really comes to mind... which is certainly not a bad thing.
Our take: It's funny... there have been fewer "lows" on TCGS this month than anytime since we started reviewing the show, yet overall the show can't get above a "B". Lino and Father Rob are doing something... we're just not sure what it is yet.
Grade: B
Show review for 4/12/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We're always suckers for an installment of No Dumb Questions, so hearing it today was a real treat. We also appreciated Lino declaring a tie for Lino's Favorite New Catholic when he and Father Rob couldn't come to a consensus on a winner... smart move. But the best part of today's show was probably the whole discussion about forgiveness of others... particularly when the whole segment came to a screeching halt after the first caller revealed that Gus Lloyd had covered a similar topic on Seize The Day earlier this morning.
Lows: While we were happy with the way Lino ended Lino's Favorite New Catholic, we weren't happy with the way finalists were chosen by Father Rob: none of the finalists came from email entries, and Father Rob's sole criteria was that the show was entirely (or almost entirely) responsible for their conversion. Really Timmy? Even Lino thought that was kind of a dumb move.
Our take: Another show, another "B". We wonder if the dynamic duo is running out of ideas... or if Lino is just on autopilot since he'll be in Texas tomorrow
Grade: B-
Highs: We're always suckers for an installment of No Dumb Questions, so hearing it today was a real treat. We also appreciated Lino declaring a tie for Lino's Favorite New Catholic when he and Father Rob couldn't come to a consensus on a winner... smart move. But the best part of today's show was probably the whole discussion about forgiveness of others... particularly when the whole segment came to a screeching halt after the first caller revealed that Gus Lloyd had covered a similar topic on Seize The Day earlier this morning.
Lows: While we were happy with the way Lino ended Lino's Favorite New Catholic, we weren't happy with the way finalists were chosen by Father Rob: none of the finalists came from email entries, and Father Rob's sole criteria was that the show was entirely (or almost entirely) responsible for their conversion. Really Timmy? Even Lino thought that was kind of a dumb move.
Our take: Another show, another "B". We wonder if the dynamic duo is running out of ideas... or if Lino is just on autopilot since he'll be in Texas tomorrow
Grade: B-
Show review for 4/11/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Ironically, the best parts of the show were the ones that were out of Lino's control... specifically, when the phone lines went down during nominations for Lino's Favorite New Catholic, and when Lino pointed out that The Catholic Channel is still playing Lent-themed commercials. We were also pleased to hear Mark Hart destroy Lino/Father Rob in a movie line/biblical quote quiz... thanks in no small part to the 1st grade-level movie lines chosen by Father Rob.
Lows: Wow, another show without anything we truly disliked. This must be a record or something.
Our take: April hasn't been kind to TCGS so far, but with the last two shows we're seeing signs of improvement. Keep it up, guys!
Grade: B
Highs: Ironically, the best parts of the show were the ones that were out of Lino's control... specifically, when the phone lines went down during nominations for Lino's Favorite New Catholic, and when Lino pointed out that The Catholic Channel is still playing Lent-themed commercials. We were also pleased to hear Mark Hart destroy Lino/Father Rob in a movie line/biblical quote quiz... thanks in no small part to the 1st grade-level movie lines chosen by Father Rob.
Lows: Wow, another show without anything we truly disliked. This must be a record or something.
Our take: April hasn't been kind to TCGS so far, but with the last two shows we're seeing signs of improvement. Keep it up, guys!
Grade: B
Show review for 4/10/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: It's always fun to hear Lino lament about not being able to attract girls... and it's even better to hear listeners advise him on what he can do to change that.
Lows: Nothing really stunk up the joint today.
Our take: While this show didn't have a lot that was either very good or very bad, it still made for decent listening for three hours, so it deserves a grade a notch higher than what the show has been earning recently.
Grade: B
Highs: It's always fun to hear Lino lament about not being able to attract girls... and it's even better to hear listeners advise him on what he can do to change that.
Lows: Nothing really stunk up the joint today.
Our take: While this show didn't have a lot that was either very good or very bad, it still made for decent listening for three hours, so it deserves a grade a notch higher than what the show has been earning recently.
Grade: B
Show review for 4/9/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: "He is risen, indeed!" Well, yes, Jesus rising from the dead is always a high... but we were referring to Lino's disbelief that Father Rob didn't know this traditional answer to the declaration "He is risen" heard on Easter. Even more fun were the sound clips Lino played of baseball fans in Milwaukee who justified their decisions to put Opening Day above religious observance by partaking of baseball and bratwurst on Good Friday.
Lows: Nothing really struck us as being particularly bad today.
Our take: It would seem like this show deserves a better grade than it got, but even with no real lows, a lot of the show was merely okay. We're seeing a trend here... and it's not good.
Grade: B-
Highs: "He is risen, indeed!" Well, yes, Jesus rising from the dead is always a high... but we were referring to Lino's disbelief that Father Rob didn't know this traditional answer to the declaration "He is risen" heard on Easter. Even more fun were the sound clips Lino played of baseball fans in Milwaukee who justified their decisions to put Opening Day above religious observance by partaking of baseball and bratwurst on Good Friday.
Lows: Nothing really struck us as being particularly bad today.
Our take: It would seem like this show deserves a better grade than it got, but even with no real lows, a lot of the show was merely okay. We're seeing a trend here... and it's not good.
Grade: B-
Show review for 4/4/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Lino and Father Rob's attempt at one last Lenten parody was delightfully awful... especially when you know that there's just no way Father Rob can keep up with a song as fast as REM's It's The End Of The World As We Know It. Equally as entertaining was the war that ensued over Lino's failed $50 bet with Father Rob, and whether the listener attempting to go to Mass was good enough to satisfy the bet. Brilliant stuff.
Lows: While we appreciate Lino's efforts to finish the show's book club review of Gus Lloyd's Magnetic Christianity before the end of Lent, cramming the last four chapters in one segment and blowing through them at warp speed wasn't the way to go about it. What's wrong with finishing the book after Easter?
Our take: Better than yesterday's show, but a somewhat underwhelming way to go into the Triduum.
Grade: B-
P.S.: There will NOT be a review of tomorrow's show, as it'll just be Lino and Mark Hart going through the Biblical narrative of Holy Week for 90 pre-recorded minutes. But it's bound to be good... when has Mark ever let us down? :)
Highs: Lino and Father Rob's attempt at one last Lenten parody was delightfully awful... especially when you know that there's just no way Father Rob can keep up with a song as fast as REM's It's The End Of The World As We Know It. Equally as entertaining was the war that ensued over Lino's failed $50 bet with Father Rob, and whether the listener attempting to go to Mass was good enough to satisfy the bet. Brilliant stuff.
Lows: While we appreciate Lino's efforts to finish the show's book club review of Gus Lloyd's Magnetic Christianity before the end of Lent, cramming the last four chapters in one segment and blowing through them at warp speed wasn't the way to go about it. What's wrong with finishing the book after Easter?
Our take: Better than yesterday's show, but a somewhat underwhelming way to go into the Triduum.
Grade: B-
P.S.: There will NOT be a review of tomorrow's show, as it'll just be Lino and Mark Hart going through the Biblical narrative of Holy Week for 90 pre-recorded minutes. But it's bound to be good... when has Mark ever let us down? :)
Show review for 4/3/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The voicemail Lino played at the end of the first hour, where the caller didn't understand the rationale for the show and requested that Lino give him a buzz so that he can explain what the show should really sound like... bold and hilarious.
Lows: The segment where Lino mocked The Fray's rendition of The Star Spangled Banner during the NCAA Championship game... Lino made it seem like it was as horrible as the infamous Carl Lewis version, but it really wasn't, and that made the whole segment less entertaining that Lino had intended.
Our take: Aside from those two segments and Let's Make A Catholic Deal, the rest of show was just kind of "blah". And two hours of "blah" doesn't earn a top grade.
Grade: C+
Highs: The voicemail Lino played at the end of the first hour, where the caller didn't understand the rationale for the show and requested that Lino give him a buzz so that he can explain what the show should really sound like... bold and hilarious.
Lows: The segment where Lino mocked The Fray's rendition of The Star Spangled Banner during the NCAA Championship game... Lino made it seem like it was as horrible as the infamous Carl Lewis version, but it really wasn't, and that made the whole segment less entertaining that Lino had intended.
Our take: Aside from those two segments and Let's Make A Catholic Deal, the rest of show was just kind of "blah". And two hours of "blah" doesn't earn a top grade.
Grade: C+
Show review for 4/2/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Two words: Gus Lloyd. The host of Seize The Day spent the first hour of the show co-hosting with Lino, and it was a real treat. Nearly as much fun was Father Rob calling in to the show during the third hour, and letting Lino have it for being kept on hold for nearly 15 minutes.
Lows: We really hate to say it, but Father Jonathan Morris' appearance on the show during the second hour was underwhelming. We're sure he's an awesome priest and is a great addition to The Catholic Channel as Program Director... but he speaks in very measured tones, and putting him up against Lino's mile-a-minute delivery speed made the whole conversation seem slow and ponderous.
Our take: This was an odd show, what with two guest hosts for the first two hours and Lino flying mostly solo for the third. You'd think that the show would've hit one out of the park given all of that, but overall it felt more like a ground-rule double... especially during the second hour.
Grade: B-
Highs: Two words: Gus Lloyd. The host of Seize The Day spent the first hour of the show co-hosting with Lino, and it was a real treat. Nearly as much fun was Father Rob calling in to the show during the third hour, and letting Lino have it for being kept on hold for nearly 15 minutes.
Lows: We really hate to say it, but Father Jonathan Morris' appearance on the show during the second hour was underwhelming. We're sure he's an awesome priest and is a great addition to The Catholic Channel as Program Director... but he speaks in very measured tones, and putting him up against Lino's mile-a-minute delivery speed made the whole conversation seem slow and ponderous.
Our take: This was an odd show, what with two guest hosts for the first two hours and Lino flying mostly solo for the third. You'd think that the show would've hit one out of the park given all of that, but overall it felt more like a ground-rule double... especially during the second hour.
Grade: B-
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Show review for 3/30/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We're not sure what we liked more: Lino and Father Rob botching their parody of Simon & Garfunkel's 59th Street Bridge Song during the second hour (and subsequently slinging mud at each other), or basking in their success at nailing it in the third hour. We also enjoyed Lino admitting on the air to breaking his Lenten penance last night while at a bar with Father Leo Patalinghug, as well as admitting that he lied to the listeners about why yesterday's show didn't happen.
Lows: There's not really much, but the fact that Lino did lie to us about yesterday's show instead of giving us a sufficiently generic yet truthful excuse was disappointing.
Our take: Deception aside, this show was a nice way to end both the week and the month.
Grade: B+
Highs: We're not sure what we liked more: Lino and Father Rob botching their parody of Simon & Garfunkel's 59th Street Bridge Song during the second hour (and subsequently slinging mud at each other), or basking in their success at nailing it in the third hour. We also enjoyed Lino admitting on the air to breaking his Lenten penance last night while at a bar with Father Leo Patalinghug, as well as admitting that he lied to the listeners about why yesterday's show didn't happen.
Lows: There's not really much, but the fact that Lino did lie to us about yesterday's show instead of giving us a sufficiently generic yet truthful excuse was disappointing.
Our take: Deception aside, this show was a nice way to end both the week and the month.
Grade: B+
Friday, March 30, 2012
Show review for 3/28/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The $50 bet Lino made with Father Rob over another listener's Lenten penance was amusing, as was he and Father Dave mocking up what Father Rob might sound like conducting a parish mission. But there wasn't really anything major that stood out.
Lows: Fortunately, there wasn't anything major that stood out here, either.
Our take: No real highs, no real lows... this one was about as middle-of-the-road as it gets. But it was entertaining and it had Mark Hart in it, so it deserved better than a C.
Grade: B-
Highs: The $50 bet Lino made with Father Rob over another listener's Lenten penance was amusing, as was he and Father Dave mocking up what Father Rob might sound like conducting a parish mission. But there wasn't really anything major that stood out.
Lows: Fortunately, there wasn't anything major that stood out here, either.
Our take: No real highs, no real lows... this one was about as middle-of-the-road as it gets. But it was entertaining and it had Mark Hart in it, so it deserved better than a C.
Grade: B-
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Show review for 3/27/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: To tell the God's honest truth, The God's Honest Truth was lively, entertaining, and has that awesome disco-esque theme song that makes the whole segment rock. And surprisingly, the discussion about the priest who ad-libbed at Mass kept our interest from beginning to end.
Lows: We usually appreciate the fun news stories found in Tell Me Something I Didn't Know, but this time around the discussions just kept branching off on tangents left and right, which made our heads spin because we were never sure exactly what was being discussed. Let's stick to the stories, kids. And the singing of the Seize The Day theme song during the Lino's Book Club segment is starting to get old... especially when they do it three or four times in the same segment.
Our take: A promising outing that got pulled down by going into the weeds too many times. Lino and Father Rob can do better than this.
Grade: C+
Highs: To tell the God's honest truth, The God's Honest Truth was lively, entertaining, and has that awesome disco-esque theme song that makes the whole segment rock. And surprisingly, the discussion about the priest who ad-libbed at Mass kept our interest from beginning to end.
Lows: We usually appreciate the fun news stories found in Tell Me Something I Didn't Know, but this time around the discussions just kept branching off on tangents left and right, which made our heads spin because we were never sure exactly what was being discussed. Let's stick to the stories, kids. And the singing of the Seize The Day theme song during the Lino's Book Club segment is starting to get old... especially when they do it three or four times in the same segment.
Our take: A promising outing that got pulled down by going into the weeds too many times. Lino and Father Rob can do better than this.
Grade: C+
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Show review for 3/26/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We're still doubled over in laughter after the clips of Lino's appearance on FoxNews.com LIVE, where the anchor twice mispronounced Lino's name (and don't think that Father Rob's hysterical reaction didn't have a lot to do with it). Also good was the whole discussion of what URL Father Rob should get for his own website and what kind of stuff he should put on it.
Lows: We've loved the Lenten song parodies in the past, but at this point we think it's been overdone and is starting to wear thin. They probably need to give the parodies a rest until after Easter.
Our take: An entertaining show, with the first hour being just brilliant enough to push this one into the top tier.
Grade: A-
Highs: We're still doubled over in laughter after the clips of Lino's appearance on FoxNews.com LIVE, where the anchor twice mispronounced Lino's name (and don't think that Father Rob's hysterical reaction didn't have a lot to do with it). Also good was the whole discussion of what URL Father Rob should get for his own website and what kind of stuff he should put on it.
Lows: We've loved the Lenten song parodies in the past, but at this point we think it's been overdone and is starting to wear thin. They probably need to give the parodies a rest until after Easter.
Our take: An entertaining show, with the first hour being just brilliant enough to push this one into the top tier.
Grade: A-
Monday, March 26, 2012
Show review for 3/23/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Just having Father Jim on the show for the first time in more than two months was awesome enough. But there's certainly more: we (finally) got to hear some stories from last week's pilgrimage to Italy, we got to revel in Things That Drive You Crazy At Mass, and there's just something about the What's Up With That? segment that's infinitely funnier and more entertaining than the Tell Me Something I Didn't Know segment we usually hear.
Lows: Our only complaint is that, relative to the first three pilgrimages, we didn't hear nearly as much detail about what went on as we would've liked. We can only hope that Lino will fill us in with some more tidbits from the trip in a future broadcast.
Our take: That complaint notwithstanding, shows featuring our favorite campus minister rarely disappoint... and this one certainly didn't.
Grade: A
Highs: Just having Father Jim on the show for the first time in more than two months was awesome enough. But there's certainly more: we (finally) got to hear some stories from last week's pilgrimage to Italy, we got to revel in Things That Drive You Crazy At Mass, and there's just something about the What's Up With That? segment that's infinitely funnier and more entertaining than the Tell Me Something I Didn't Know segment we usually hear.
Lows: Our only complaint is that, relative to the first three pilgrimages, we didn't hear nearly as much detail about what went on as we would've liked. We can only hope that Lino will fill us in with some more tidbits from the trip in a future broadcast.
Our take: That complaint notwithstanding, shows featuring our favorite campus minister rarely disappoint... and this one certainly didn't.
Grade: A
Friday, March 23, 2012
Show review for 3/22/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The outrage that oozed from both Lino and Father Rob when they found out that the other had broken their Lenten penances in a big way without fessing up to them was a hit. Also good was the nice interview with October Baby star John Schneider, and hearing Father Rob's girlish glee in anticipation of singing the Seize The Day theme song during the book club segment was priceless.
Lows: Today's Lenten song parody, Lent Is A Bear, was incredibly bad even by Lino/Father Rob standards... and then they went and sang it again.
Our take: As the old Scottish folk tune goes, "You take the high road and I'll take the low road". And that leaves the middle road for this show: nothing really bad, but nothing really great either.
Grade: B-
Highs: The outrage that oozed from both Lino and Father Rob when they found out that the other had broken their Lenten penances in a big way without fessing up to them was a hit. Also good was the nice interview with October Baby star John Schneider, and hearing Father Rob's girlish glee in anticipation of singing the Seize The Day theme song during the book club segment was priceless.
Lows: Today's Lenten song parody, Lent Is A Bear, was incredibly bad even by Lino/Father Rob standards... and then they went and sang it again.
Our take: As the old Scottish folk tune goes, "You take the high road and I'll take the low road". And that leaves the middle road for this show: nothing really bad, but nothing really great either.
Grade: B-
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Show review for 3/21/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: What bigger highlight could there be than Mama Rulli coming back on the show to make her son squirm with a new game? (We couldn't think of one, either.) Also good: Lino forcing Father Rob to run the board to see how hard it is, their disagreement over the punishment handed out to Saints coach Sean Payton, and a rip-roaring book club segment where Father Dave got dragged into belting out the Seize The Day theme song with Lino and Father Rob. However...
Lows: As fun as the singing was, all of the frivolity resulted in the book club segment getting ditched after only the first question, which was hardly fair to Gus Lloyd and his new book. Also, the whole discussion about Lino's new look with the beard and glasses did nothing for us and barely kept us awake.
Our take: This show was like a second-class sandwich: two slices of freshly baked artisan bread (the first and third hours) surrounding some deli meat that had been sitting in the fridge for a few days (the last 2/3 of the second hour). But thanks to Lino's mom, this one still gets a pretty good grade.
Grade: B+
Highs: What bigger highlight could there be than Mama Rulli coming back on the show to make her son squirm with a new game? (We couldn't think of one, either.) Also good: Lino forcing Father Rob to run the board to see how hard it is, their disagreement over the punishment handed out to Saints coach Sean Payton, and a rip-roaring book club segment where Father Dave got dragged into belting out the Seize The Day theme song with Lino and Father Rob. However...
Lows: As fun as the singing was, all of the frivolity resulted in the book club segment getting ditched after only the first question, which was hardly fair to Gus Lloyd and his new book. Also, the whole discussion about Lino's new look with the beard and glasses did nothing for us and barely kept us awake.
Our take: This show was like a second-class sandwich: two slices of freshly baked artisan bread (the first and third hours) surrounding some deli meat that had been sitting in the fridge for a few days (the last 2/3 of the second hour). But thanks to Lino's mom, this one still gets a pretty good grade.
Grade: B+
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Show review for 3/20/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: What's Father Rob Humming was as brilliant as it's ever been. It was also a good show for hearing Lino squirm: 1) When he got criticized for not backing up the files he lost, 2) When he was forced to apologize to Father Rob for the whole wearing cologne debacle, and 3) When a caller made him feel bad enough to give him a copy of Sinner after declaring he wouldn't get one. Good stuff.
Lows: As we've complained before, Free Therapy Tuesday gave us almost nothing from Lino's therapist's point-of-view... why emphasize the therapist if we never hear from her?
Our take: A little bit better than yesterday's show (due in no small part to Father Rob's humming skills), but still very middle-of-the-road as TCGS goes.
Grade: B
Highs: What's Father Rob Humming was as brilliant as it's ever been. It was also a good show for hearing Lino squirm: 1) When he got criticized for not backing up the files he lost, 2) When he was forced to apologize to Father Rob for the whole wearing cologne debacle, and 3) When a caller made him feel bad enough to give him a copy of Sinner after declaring he wouldn't get one. Good stuff.
Lows: As we've complained before, Free Therapy Tuesday gave us almost nothing from Lino's therapist's point-of-view... why emphasize the therapist if we never hear from her?
Our take: A little bit better than yesterday's show (due in no small part to Father Rob's humming skills), but still very middle-of-the-road as TCGS goes.
Grade: B
Show review for 3/19/2012
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Highs: Lino and Father Rob going through the "enthusiasm" chapter of Gus Lloyd's Magnetic Christianity was a good start to what should be a fun series showing just how un-magnetic these two clowns can be at times. And Father Rob yelling at Father Dave for abstaining from alcohol during Lent (including St. Patrick's Day) was hilarious.
Lows: We were a little disappointed that today's Minor Confessions segment was so short.
Our take: Not a lot stood out either high or low, so this one ends up being pretty neutral.
Grade: B-
Highs: Lino and Father Rob going through the "enthusiasm" chapter of Gus Lloyd's Magnetic Christianity was a good start to what should be a fun series showing just how un-magnetic these two clowns can be at times. And Father Rob yelling at Father Dave for abstaining from alcohol during Lent (including St. Patrick's Day) was hilarious.
Lows: We were a little disappointed that today's Minor Confessions segment was so short.
Our take: Not a lot stood out either high or low, so this one ends up being pretty neutral.
Grade: B-
Friday, March 9, 2012
Show review for 3/7/2012
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Highs: The announcement of the winner of the Saints, Sinners, and Salami contest was the highlight of the show... especially when the winner's bride came on air to deliberately not apologize to all the other people who didn't win. (Did we also mention that the winner went on the last listener pilgrimage? You can't make this stuff up.) Also entertaining was Father Rob deliberately taking only positive calls after singing the latest Lenten parody song.
Lows: Hot Tub Bible Time Machine was a clever name in search of a decent segment to go with it... in-depth descriptions of Biblical places are lackluster enough for TCGS, but all of the unusual pauses Lino had during the conversation made us want to pull our hair out. And the premise of today's Catholic Guy Advice was more complicated than it should've been, which didn't lend itself to attentive listening.
Our take: A pretty blah way to transition into two weeks of best-ofs.
Grade: C
Highs: The announcement of the winner of the Saints, Sinners, and Salami contest was the highlight of the show... especially when the winner's bride came on air to deliberately not apologize to all the other people who didn't win. (Did we also mention that the winner went on the last listener pilgrimage? You can't make this stuff up.) Also entertaining was Father Rob deliberately taking only positive calls after singing the latest Lenten parody song.
Lows: Hot Tub Bible Time Machine was a clever name in search of a decent segment to go with it... in-depth descriptions of Biblical places are lackluster enough for TCGS, but all of the unusual pauses Lino had during the conversation made us want to pull our hair out. And the premise of today's Catholic Guy Advice was more complicated than it should've been, which didn't lend itself to attentive listening.
Our take: A pretty blah way to transition into two weeks of best-ofs.
Grade: C
Show review for 3/6/2012
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Highs: The whole second hour was scary yet brilliant, what with Lino broadcasting from his in-room jacuzzi with a constant threat of electrocution looming. That hour also featured the very welcome return of the No Dumb Questions segment, with some truly excellent answers to questions of the Faith. Also fun: hearing Lino get ridiculed by Father Rob and the listeners for declaring keyless ignition in cars a useless innovation. And a good set of Mysteries rounded out a show that was almost perfect. We say "almost" because...
Lows: Answer The Question didn't live up to expectations because 1) Lino was trying to be a perfectionist control freak during the whole thing, and 2) the first contestant got cheated out of a Popener when Lino and Father Rob mistakenly counted one of his answers wrong. Shame, shame, everybody knows your name.
Our take: An excellent show that took an unfortunate hit because of the Answer The Question shenanigans.
Grade: B+
Highs: The whole second hour was scary yet brilliant, what with Lino broadcasting from his in-room jacuzzi with a constant threat of electrocution looming. That hour also featured the very welcome return of the No Dumb Questions segment, with some truly excellent answers to questions of the Faith. Also fun: hearing Lino get ridiculed by Father Rob and the listeners for declaring keyless ignition in cars a useless innovation. And a good set of Mysteries rounded out a show that was almost perfect. We say "almost" because...
Lows: Answer The Question didn't live up to expectations because 1) Lino was trying to be a perfectionist control freak during the whole thing, and 2) the first contestant got cheated out of a Popener when Lino and Father Rob mistakenly counted one of his answers wrong. Shame, shame, everybody knows your name.
Our take: An excellent show that took an unfortunate hit because of the Answer The Question shenanigans.
Grade: B+
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Show review for 3/5/2012
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Highs: Lino trying to trick Father Rob into using part of his Lenten text allowance... and Father Rob seeing right through his trickery... was highly amusing. And the first hour in general (with Lino describing his environs and the whole Purell at Mass discussion) was pretty decent as well.
Lows: Most of the last two hours of the show. It's not that it was bad per se... it was yet another example of "all talk all the time" that just got very boring very fast. That's a shame considering that the topics were actually pretty good.
Our take: A promising show that got done in by shoving too much jabber into it. Certainly they can give us a bit more variety even with Lino in the Great White North all week long. If they can't... well, it's gonna be a long week.
Grade: C-
Highs: Lino trying to trick Father Rob into using part of his Lenten text allowance... and Father Rob seeing right through his trickery... was highly amusing. And the first hour in general (with Lino describing his environs and the whole Purell at Mass discussion) was pretty decent as well.
Lows: Most of the last two hours of the show. It's not that it was bad per se... it was yet another example of "all talk all the time" that just got very boring very fast. That's a shame considering that the topics were actually pretty good.
Our take: A promising show that got done in by shoving too much jabber into it. Certainly they can give us a bit more variety even with Lino in the Great White North all week long. If they can't... well, it's gonna be a long week.
Grade: C-
Show review for 3/2/2012
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Highs: The entire first half of the show was top notch... from reading the comments about Lino's hotel in Canada, to Lino and Father Rob bickering over the latter's text allowance, to the song parody of Move Like Jagger. And what better way to end the show than with some of Father Rob's Righteous Anger that actually turned out to be more sinful than righteous.
Lows: The whole "sinful behaviors" discussion didn't really pique our interest.
Our take: Apart from the second half of the second hour, not a bad way to spend your afternoon.
Grade: B+
Highs: The entire first half of the show was top notch... from reading the comments about Lino's hotel in Canada, to Lino and Father Rob bickering over the latter's text allowance, to the song parody of Move Like Jagger. And what better way to end the show than with some of Father Rob's Righteous Anger that actually turned out to be more sinful than righteous.
Lows: The whole "sinful behaviors" discussion didn't really pique our interest.
Our take: Apart from the second half of the second hour, not a bad way to spend your afternoon.
Grade: B+
Friday, March 2, 2012
Show review for 3/1/2012
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Highs: It's always fun to hear Lino getting smacked into a corner, and never was that so apparent than during the Eleventh Commandment segment where he attempted to defend his view that ordering the same meal from a restaurant as a friend was a no-no. And Mark Hart's appearance on the show was stellar as usual.
Lows: Ever seen Les Miserables? Lino's quest to force Father Rob to admit that he has an emotional side felt a little like Inspector Javert's incessant pursuit of Jean Valjean... it was almost petty.
Our take: Good in some parts, mildly amusing in others. We've heard better.
Grade: C+
Highs: It's always fun to hear Lino getting smacked into a corner, and never was that so apparent than during the Eleventh Commandment segment where he attempted to defend his view that ordering the same meal from a restaurant as a friend was a no-no. And Mark Hart's appearance on the show was stellar as usual.
Lows: Ever seen Les Miserables? Lino's quest to force Father Rob to admit that he has an emotional side felt a little like Inspector Javert's incessant pursuit of Jean Valjean... it was almost petty.
Our take: Good in some parts, mildly amusing in others. We've heard better.
Grade: C+
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Show review for 2/29/2012
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Highs: The song parodies and resulting discussions were excellent, but Father Rob missing a cue during the middle of the first parody was spectacular.
Lows: We caught a pretty good nap during most of the first hour… the whole discussion about singing/not singing at Mass didn't deserve nearly as much time as it was given. But that was nothing compared to the rambling out-of-the-blue discussion during the third hour about TV shows they watched in their youth, the movie Something Borrowed, and who's seen what romantic comedy... that was just plain bizarre.
Our take: It may be (by his own admission) the "best" leap day show Lino's ever done, but we're glad he's not doing another one for another four years.
Grade: C
Highs: The song parodies and resulting discussions were excellent, but Father Rob missing a cue during the middle of the first parody was spectacular.
Lows: We caught a pretty good nap during most of the first hour… the whole discussion about singing/not singing at Mass didn't deserve nearly as much time as it was given. But that was nothing compared to the rambling out-of-the-blue discussion during the third hour about TV shows they watched in their youth, the movie Something Borrowed, and who's seen what romantic comedy... that was just plain bizarre.
Our take: It may be (by his own admission) the "best" leap day show Lino's ever done, but we're glad he's not doing another one for another four years.
Grade: C
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Show review for 2/28/2012
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Highs: Lino and Father Rob's reflection on how far more people follow the Twitter account dedicated to Angelina Jolie's right leg than anything associated with the Church was amusing. Even more amusing was the catfight they had over Father Rob's use of cologne and whether or not one would be expected to be served food eaten with hands at the Archbishop's residence.
Lows: Nothing stood out, but we're a bit disappointed that our "highs" ended up being side discussions rather than the main topics du jour.
Our take: The show was funny enough to merit a "B", but did it using "C" grade material. So we'll split the difference and call it a day.
Grade: B-
Highs: Lino and Father Rob's reflection on how far more people follow the Twitter account dedicated to Angelina Jolie's right leg than anything associated with the Church was amusing. Even more amusing was the catfight they had over Father Rob's use of cologne and whether or not one would be expected to be served food eaten with hands at the Archbishop's residence.
Lows: Nothing stood out, but we're a bit disappointed that our "highs" ended up being side discussions rather than the main topics du jour.
Our take: The show was funny enough to merit a "B", but did it using "C" grade material. So we'll split the difference and call it a day.
Grade: B-
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Show review for 2/27/2012
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Highs: Father Rob going off on the seriousness of the Oscars (and Lino disagreeing with him) was yet another classic example of good show material coming from arguments between the hosts. And Lino and Father Rob's deconstruction of Lino's fish-out-of-water appearance on the Fox New religion panel was highly entertaining.
Lows: Catholic Pyramid was a good idea that quickly devolved into a train wreck... even though the later contestants finally got the hang of it, the whole segment was still painful to listen to.
Our take: A good show, but not a great one.
Grade: B
Highs: Father Rob going off on the seriousness of the Oscars (and Lino disagreeing with him) was yet another classic example of good show material coming from arguments between the hosts. And Lino and Father Rob's deconstruction of Lino's fish-out-of-water appearance on the Fox New religion panel was highly entertaining.
Lows: Catholic Pyramid was a good idea that quickly devolved into a train wreck... even though the later contestants finally got the hang of it, the whole segment was still painful to listen to.
Our take: A good show, but not a great one.
Grade: B
Monday, February 27, 2012
Show review for 2/24/2012
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Highs: As has become somewhat of a trend, the best parts of the show were the ones where Lino and Father Rob went off on each other... specifically, the Lenten Loophole segment where Father Rob unabashedly declared that he'd be texting like crazy on Sunday, and the opening segment where Lino attempted to weasel out of sending a three-month late thank you note to Edward Cardinal Egan.
Lows: Nothing really.
Our take: Not quite as stellar as yesterday's show, but very close. Let's keep this trend going.
Grade: A-
Highs: As has become somewhat of a trend, the best parts of the show were the ones where Lino and Father Rob went off on each other... specifically, the Lenten Loophole segment where Father Rob unabashedly declared that he'd be texting like crazy on Sunday, and the opening segment where Lino attempted to weasel out of sending a three-month late thank you note to Edward Cardinal Egan.
Lows: Nothing really.
Our take: Not quite as stellar as yesterday's show, but very close. Let's keep this trend going.
Grade: A-
Friday, February 24, 2012
Show review for 2/23/2012
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Highs: Pretty much the whole damn show... but if we were forced to choose, we would highlight 1) The whole Magnetic Christianity promo, complete with Lino and Father Rob bickering over which traits in the book they possess; and 2) The All Lent Long song parody, which simply defies description.
Lows: ???
Our take: A rockin' three-hour on-air party that just might become a classic over time.
Grade: A
Highs: Pretty much the whole damn show... but if we were forced to choose, we would highlight 1) The whole Magnetic Christianity promo, complete with Lino and Father Rob bickering over which traits in the book they possess; and 2) The All Lent Long song parody, which simply defies description.
Lows: ???
Our take: A rockin' three-hour on-air party that just might become a classic over time.
Grade: A
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Show review for 2/22/2012
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Highs: The entire second half of the show. Mark Hart and the listeners helping to determine the crew's Lenten penances, followed by Let's Make A Catholic Deal, made for some fine listening.
Lows: Most of the first half of the show. The discussion on why people go to Mass on Ash Wednesday was decent enough, but both segments dealing with the Internet and how to handle unwanted emails left us looking for a comfortable place to take a nap.
Our take: A pretty uneven show that just barely avoids a "C" due to a stellar second half.
Grade: B-
Highs: The entire second half of the show. Mark Hart and the listeners helping to determine the crew's Lenten penances, followed by Let's Make A Catholic Deal, made for some fine listening.
Lows: Most of the first half of the show. The discussion on why people go to Mass on Ash Wednesday was decent enough, but both segments dealing with the Internet and how to handle unwanted emails left us looking for a comfortable place to take a nap.
Our take: A pretty uneven show that just barely avoids a "C" due to a stellar second half.
Grade: B-
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Show review for 2/21/2012
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Highs: The contest to determine how many Munchkins Father Rob could eat in three minutes was truly epic. And despite being a very discussion-heavy show today, it kept our interest almost the entire way through.
Lows: Still, the show was a little heavy on talking today.
Our take: For a show that was big on chit chat, this installment turned out quite well... and Munchkin/Wine Cooler-gate pushed it into "A" territory.
Grade: A-
Highs: The contest to determine how many Munchkins Father Rob could eat in three minutes was truly epic. And despite being a very discussion-heavy show today, it kept our interest almost the entire way through.
Lows: Still, the show was a little heavy on talking today.
Our take: For a show that was big on chit chat, this installment turned out quite well... and Munchkin/Wine Cooler-gate pushed it into "A" territory.
Grade: A-
Monday, February 13, 2012
Show review for 2/10/2012
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Highs: We knew this show would be good when it immediately started off with Father Rob's Righteous Anger spewing on everyone who got in his way today, and it kept right on ticking with the whole "Morning Ass" radio display incident. Most of the rest of the show was pretty good as well... even Father Rob explaining to Lino the whole HHS mandate thing kept us listening.
Lows: The show got a little slow going from the second into the third hour... but only a little.
Our take: A fine way to ease into the weekend.
Grade: A-
Highs: We knew this show would be good when it immediately started off with Father Rob's Righteous Anger spewing on everyone who got in his way today, and it kept right on ticking with the whole "Morning Ass" radio display incident. Most of the rest of the show was pretty good as well... even Father Rob explaining to Lino the whole HHS mandate thing kept us listening.
Lows: The show got a little slow going from the second into the third hour... but only a little.
Our take: A fine way to ease into the weekend.
Grade: A-
Friday, February 10, 2012
Show review for 2/9/2012
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Highs: While the discussion surrounding it was a bit mundane, hearing that Father Rob got a decedent's gender wrong while celebrating his/her/its funeral Mass was amusing. And some of the listener ideas for renaming the Crystal Cathedral were hilarious.
Lows: Most of the rest of the show just didn't stand out... maybe because the show was so topic-and-discussion heavy today.
Our take: Today's outing really wasn't anything to write home about.
Grade: C+
Highs: While the discussion surrounding it was a bit mundane, hearing that Father Rob got a decedent's gender wrong while celebrating his/her/its funeral Mass was amusing. And some of the listener ideas for renaming the Crystal Cathedral were hilarious.
Lows: Most of the rest of the show just didn't stand out... maybe because the show was so topic-and-discussion heavy today.
Our take: Today's outing really wasn't anything to write home about.
Grade: C+
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Show review for 2/8/2012
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Highs: We're happy that Lino took up the whole HHS mandate topic again and did a better job of handling it than yesterday (even if we think he's wrong on whether or not the mandate specifically targets Catholics). And what better way to end the show than to witness Father Rob getting body slammed on one of our favorite segments, Do You Watch More TV Than A Parish Priest.
Lows: During Free TherapyTuesday Wednesday, Lino did a good job discussing his fears of not being likeable/lovable, but didn't mention a word about what his therapist had to say about it. Part of the fun of the segment is hearing the therapist's take on his problems, and that was missed.
Our take: Infinitely better than yesterday's HHS hatchet job.
Grade: B+
Highs: We're happy that Lino took up the whole HHS mandate topic again and did a better job of handling it than yesterday (even if we think he's wrong on whether or not the mandate specifically targets Catholics). And what better way to end the show than to witness Father Rob getting body slammed on one of our favorite segments, Do You Watch More TV Than A Parish Priest.
Lows: During Free Therapy
Our take: Infinitely better than yesterday's HHS hatchet job.
Grade: B+
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Show review for 2/7/2012
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Highs: Let's Make A Catholic Deal (and the witty banter contained therein) was excellent as usual. And we're glad that Lino (finally) brought up the HHS contraceptive mandate issue... particularly Catholic League president Bill Donoghue's assertion that this issue may end up being resolved "in the streets".
Lows: That being said, what took Lino so long? This whole issue has been out in the open for over two weeks, and Lino's only excuse for not mentioning it until now was that it wasn't on the radar of the average listener to the show. That's pathetic and insulting... both Gus Lloyd and the Willits have covered this topic on their shows multiple times since the news broke, and Gus in particular was en fuego on this topic just this morning. So does that mean that their listeners are better than those of TCGS? Does Lino really need to wait until everybody hears about an issue before bringing it up on the show? Ridiculous.
Our take: We're inclined to award this show an "F" just because of the way Lino handled the whole HHS issue. But that wouldn't be fair to the good parts of the show... and even the HHS discussion itself wasn't that bad, especially the Bill Donoghue/Catholic League angle. So we're going to give it the highest "needs improvement" grade we can, and pray that Lino will handle the occasional must-talk-about serious topic more adroitly in the future.
Grade: D+
Highs: Let's Make A Catholic Deal (and the witty banter contained therein) was excellent as usual. And we're glad that Lino (finally) brought up the HHS contraceptive mandate issue... particularly Catholic League president Bill Donoghue's assertion that this issue may end up being resolved "in the streets".
Lows: That being said, what took Lino so long? This whole issue has been out in the open for over two weeks, and Lino's only excuse for not mentioning it until now was that it wasn't on the radar of the average listener to the show. That's pathetic and insulting... both Gus Lloyd and the Willits have covered this topic on their shows multiple times since the news broke, and Gus in particular was en fuego on this topic just this morning. So does that mean that their listeners are better than those of TCGS? Does Lino really need to wait until everybody hears about an issue before bringing it up on the show? Ridiculous.
Our take: We're inclined to award this show an "F" just because of the way Lino handled the whole HHS issue. But that wouldn't be fair to the good parts of the show... and even the HHS discussion itself wasn't that bad, especially the Bill Donoghue/Catholic League angle. So we're going to give it the highest "needs improvement" grade we can, and pray that Lino will handle the occasional must-talk-about serious topic more adroitly in the future.
Grade: D+
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Show review for 2/6/2012
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Highs: Father Rob spent just the right amount of time gloating about his Giants' Super Bowl victory without it taking over the whole show... and his gloating was mighty entertaining at that. And This Or That was also enjoyable.
Lows: Most of the second half of the show dragged a good bit... particularly during the segment when Lino was talking about jump starting his prayer life.
Our take: This show was a hard one to grade. The first half of the show featured lighthearted material that made for good radio; the second half of the show featured deeper material that didn't necessarily lend itself to the kind of show Lino is known for... and for us that made it less entertaining than we're used to. That's not to say that Lino talking about problems with his prayer life and worrying about cheating his fans out of one-on-one time aren't topics worthy of discussion... they absolutely are and show that Lino has an emotional side and cares about his listeners. But we still need to grade in the context of the kind of show Lino is known for, and based on those criteria this show was strictly average at best.
Grade: C
Highs: Father Rob spent just the right amount of time gloating about his Giants' Super Bowl victory without it taking over the whole show... and his gloating was mighty entertaining at that. And This Or That was also enjoyable.
Lows: Most of the second half of the show dragged a good bit... particularly during the segment when Lino was talking about jump starting his prayer life.
Our take: This show was a hard one to grade. The first half of the show featured lighthearted material that made for good radio; the second half of the show featured deeper material that didn't necessarily lend itself to the kind of show Lino is known for... and for us that made it less entertaining than we're used to. That's not to say that Lino talking about problems with his prayer life and worrying about cheating his fans out of one-on-one time aren't topics worthy of discussion... they absolutely are and show that Lino has an emotional side and cares about his listeners. But we still need to grade in the context of the kind of show Lino is known for, and based on those criteria this show was strictly average at best.
Grade: C
Monday, February 6, 2012
Show review for 2/3/2012
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Highs: What's Father Rob Humming is usually a treat all by itself... but Lino's mindless gaffes (trying to start the segment before lining up a contestant, getting contestant's names consistently wrong)... and the whole segment getting stuck on Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N' Roses... just made it better.
Lows: The whole Madonna interview segment did absolutely nothing for us... who cares? And Lino Is Sorry was surprisingly weak.
Our take: If it wasn't for Father Rob's inability to hum, this one would've been a solid C.
Grade: B-
Highs: What's Father Rob Humming is usually a treat all by itself... but Lino's mindless gaffes (trying to start the segment before lining up a contestant, getting contestant's names consistently wrong)... and the whole segment getting stuck on Welcome To The Jungle by Guns N' Roses... just made it better.
Lows: The whole Madonna interview segment did absolutely nothing for us... who cares? And Lino Is Sorry was surprisingly weak.
Our take: If it wasn't for Father Rob's inability to hum, this one would've been a solid C.
Grade: B-
Friday, February 3, 2012
Show review for 2/2/2012
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Highs: The whole "Father Rob impersonates others" is starting to get a bit long in the tooth, but his inability to maintain the voice of "Tampa Bay Timmy" this time around certainly made us laugh. Additionally, Lino had a solid, enjoyable interview with Frank Grillo of the new hit movie The Grey. And the new game You Be The Priest was both entertaining and informative... we'd certainly be up for a return engagement.
Lows: As we said above, the whole "Father Rob impersonates others" schtick is starting to age like bad cheese... certainly Lino and Father Rob must have more creative ideas up their sleeves. And today's Minor Confessions were a bit tame compared to what we've heard in the past.
Our take: An interesting mix of strong and not-so-strong material. We think that the strong outweighs the not-so-strong today... but not by a lot.
Grade: B-
Highs: The whole "Father Rob impersonates others" is starting to get a bit long in the tooth, but his inability to maintain the voice of "Tampa Bay Timmy" this time around certainly made us laugh. Additionally, Lino had a solid, enjoyable interview with Frank Grillo of the new hit movie The Grey. And the new game You Be The Priest was both entertaining and informative... we'd certainly be up for a return engagement.
Lows: As we said above, the whole "Father Rob impersonates others" schtick is starting to age like bad cheese... certainly Lino and Father Rob must have more creative ideas up their sleeves. And today's Minor Confessions were a bit tame compared to what we've heard in the past.
Our take: An interesting mix of strong and not-so-strong material. We think that the strong outweighs the not-so-strong today... but not by a lot.
Grade: B-
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Show review for 2/1/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Mark Hart's rapid-fire attacks on the New York Giants and turtles filled Father Rob with rage and us with glee. Almost as much fun: hearing Father Rob get shot down left and right over his choice of Radio Nowhere as a top Springsteen song. And we got to hear him sing La Bamba again.
Lows: Aside from the above, the whole rest of the show was very pedestrian. When our minds start wandering to other things multiple times while listening to the show, that's not a good sign.
Our take: Aside from Father Rob getting hot under the collar a couple of times and singing his bi-lingual version of La Bamba, this show just didn't stand out.
Grade: C+
Highs: Mark Hart's rapid-fire attacks on the New York Giants and turtles filled Father Rob with rage and us with glee. Almost as much fun: hearing Father Rob get shot down left and right over his choice of Radio Nowhere as a top Springsteen song. And we got to hear him sing La Bamba again.
Lows: Aside from the above, the whole rest of the show was very pedestrian. When our minds start wandering to other things multiple times while listening to the show, that's not a good sign.
Our take: Aside from Father Rob getting hot under the collar a couple of times and singing his bi-lingual version of La Bamba, this show just didn't stand out.
Grade: C+
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Show review for 1/31/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: We really wanted to hate the "Interviews With The Saints" segment because its premise was so hokey, but top-notch execution and timing by Lino and the "Saints" (all of whom sounded a lot like Father Rob) kept us smiling the whole time. The premise of Father Rob auditioning for America's Got Talent has us drooling with anticipation. And what better way to end the show than with a little Super Bowl trash talk courtesy of the show's resident priest.
Lows: We're stretching, we know, but spending the last segment of the second hour talking about Newt Gingrich being sued for playing Eye Of The Tiger at rallies was nothing but useless filler. Put it in the news segment where it belongs.
Our take: All the stuff above plus Lino's charitable act of buying musical instruments for a couple of listeners made for a fine way to close out the month of January.
Grade: A-
Highs: We really wanted to hate the "Interviews With The Saints" segment because its premise was so hokey, but top-notch execution and timing by Lino and the "Saints" (all of whom sounded a lot like Father Rob) kept us smiling the whole time. The premise of Father Rob auditioning for America's Got Talent has us drooling with anticipation. And what better way to end the show than with a little Super Bowl trash talk courtesy of the show's resident priest.
Lows: We're stretching, we know, but spending the last segment of the second hour talking about Newt Gingrich being sued for playing Eye Of The Tiger at rallies was nothing but useless filler. Put it in the news segment where it belongs.
Our take: All the stuff above plus Lino's charitable act of buying musical instruments for a couple of listeners made for a fine way to close out the month of January.
Grade: A-
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Show review for 1/30/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: One couldn't help but be highly impressed with Lino's Saturday Night Concert, where he learned and played Coldplay's Clocks in only 24 hours without sheet music. And the emails Lino read during the hate mail segment were hilariously scathing. On the other hand...
Lows: Most of the calls during the hate mail segment were incredibly tame, more along the lines of "I love your show, but..." rather than "You stink". Lino should've known that true haters don't call into a live show... they leave nasty emails and voicemails so that they don't have to defend themselves.
Our take: Not a bad outing overall, but we're deducting points for the hate mail segment that didn't live up to its billing.
Grade: B-
Highs: One couldn't help but be highly impressed with Lino's Saturday Night Concert, where he learned and played Coldplay's Clocks in only 24 hours without sheet music. And the emails Lino read during the hate mail segment were hilariously scathing. On the other hand...
Lows: Most of the calls during the hate mail segment were incredibly tame, more along the lines of "I love your show, but..." rather than "You stink". Lino should've known that true haters don't call into a live show... they leave nasty emails and voicemails so that they don't have to defend themselves.
Our take: Not a bad outing overall, but we're deducting points for the hate mail segment that didn't live up to its billing.
Grade: B-
Monday, January 30, 2012
Show review for 1/27/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Major kudos to Father Rob for stepping up to the plate after Lino forced him to converse with callers in Spanish, and then again when Lino read the Scripture passages for Homily On The Spot in Spanish. (Hearing Lino mangle the Spanish language while reading those verses was entertaining in and of itself.) And Things That Drive You Crazy At Mass just never gets old.
Lows: It was ludicrous that Lino gave contestants a choice of music to hear while playing The God's Honest Truth. That funky 70s-era game show tune is just too awesome NOT to use during this segment.
Our take: Unlike yesterday's show, there were no tough choices with grading today's pleasant outing.
Grade: A-
Highs: Major kudos to Father Rob for stepping up to the plate after Lino forced him to converse with callers in Spanish, and then again when Lino read the Scripture passages for Homily On The Spot in Spanish. (Hearing Lino mangle the Spanish language while reading those verses was entertaining in and of itself.) And Things That Drive You Crazy At Mass just never gets old.
Lows: It was ludicrous that Lino gave contestants a choice of music to hear while playing The God's Honest Truth. That funky 70s-era game show tune is just too awesome NOT to use during this segment.
Our take: Unlike yesterday's show, there were no tough choices with grading today's pleasant outing.
Grade: A-
Friday, January 27, 2012
Show review for 1/26/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Listening to Father Rob get broadsided by a hysterical Lino (and the callers) after declaring that humans have no relation to one another after a few generations... it was like craning your neck to look at a horrible accident on the freeway while you drove by. The whole African safari recap that bookended Father Rob's insanity was good, too... and it was especially nice to hear in Lino's voice how much he enjoyed his experience. And the new Spiritual Direction With Father Rob segment showed some promise.
Lows: Nothing really comes to mind... although we do wonder if Spiritual Direction With Father Rob might get stale over time.
Our take: A tough decision here: the first hour was good, the second better, the third hilarious. Our gut tells us to give it a high "B", but in another time and place it may have gotten an "A" from us.
Grade: B+
Highs: Listening to Father Rob get broadsided by a hysterical Lino (and the callers) after declaring that humans have no relation to one another after a few generations... it was like craning your neck to look at a horrible accident on the freeway while you drove by. The whole African safari recap that bookended Father Rob's insanity was good, too... and it was especially nice to hear in Lino's voice how much he enjoyed his experience. And the new Spiritual Direction With Father Rob segment showed some promise.
Lows: Nothing really comes to mind... although we do wonder if Spiritual Direction With Father Rob might get stale over time.
Our take: A tough decision here: the first hour was good, the second better, the third hilarious. Our gut tells us to give it a high "B", but in another time and place it may have gotten an "A" from us.
Grade: B+
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Show review for 1/24/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The return of Free Therapy Tuesday was a positive development, and we got to hear Lino's first recap of his trip to Africa.
Lows: There wasn't a lot of meat to either Free Therapy Tuesday or the Africa recap... they sounded mostly like buildup for the good stuff to come in later shows. As for the show's other segments, there was nothing that drove us to change the channel... but nothing that really stood out, either.
Our take: It wasn't a bad show, and individually each segment was pretty decent. But put together, the show as a whole seemed like it was less than the sum of its parts.
Grade: B-
Highs: The return of Free Therapy Tuesday was a positive development, and we got to hear Lino's first recap of his trip to Africa.
Lows: There wasn't a lot of meat to either Free Therapy Tuesday or the Africa recap... they sounded mostly like buildup for the good stuff to come in later shows. As for the show's other segments, there was nothing that drove us to change the channel... but nothing that really stood out, either.
Our take: It wasn't a bad show, and individually each segment was pretty decent. But put together, the show as a whole seemed like it was less than the sum of its parts.
Grade: B-
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Show review for 1/23/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Lino trying to explain his way out of his Sunday obligation b/c he was traveling to Africa was delightfully entertaining... especially in the face of zero support from Father Rob and most of the callers. And he and Father Rob giving a point-by-point rebuttal to the recent "Why I Hate Religion" video was very well done. But those were nothing compared to the sound clip of soccer announcer Ray Hudson going nuts after a goal and declaring that the scoring player was "running like he's got a food mixer down his shorts!" We're still wiping the tears from our eyes.
Lows: The whole Hakeem Nicks prayer thing during 2nd hour (aka, the "Hour of Football") didn't do anything for us.
Our take: A very good show that originally merited a B+ because it went a little heavy on football talk... but the memorable commentary of Ray "out of his Vulcan mind" Hudson kicked this one into the top tier. It's so good, in fact, that you need to hear it for yourself if you didn't catch the show... so click on the YouTube video below and enjoy!
Grade: A-
Highs: Lino trying to explain his way out of his Sunday obligation b/c he was traveling to Africa was delightfully entertaining... especially in the face of zero support from Father Rob and most of the callers. And he and Father Rob giving a point-by-point rebuttal to the recent "Why I Hate Religion" video was very well done. But those were nothing compared to the sound clip of soccer announcer Ray Hudson going nuts after a goal and declaring that the scoring player was "running like he's got a food mixer down his shorts!" We're still wiping the tears from our eyes.
Lows: The whole Hakeem Nicks prayer thing during 2nd hour (aka, the "Hour of Football") didn't do anything for us.
Our take: A very good show that originally merited a B+ because it went a little heavy on football talk... but the memorable commentary of Ray "out of his Vulcan mind" Hudson kicked this one into the top tier. It's so good, in fact, that you need to hear it for yourself if you didn't catch the show... so click on the YouTube video below and enjoy!
Grade: A-
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