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-
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
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-
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Show review for 1/13/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Father Jim being on the show is praise enough... and of course where there's Father Jim, there's another awesome installment of What's Up With That. But if that's not enough to stir your soul, Mama Rulli drops in and drives her son nuts for 30+ minutes with a special African-themed edition of Answer The Question. Smoking weed can't get you this high.
Lows: This could potentially be the last installment of TCGS you'll ever hear if Lino's plane explodes en route to/from Africa... or if he gets eaten by a giraffe while he's there.
Our take: It would've taken a complete disaster for any show featuring Lino's mom to merit a bad grade... and fortunately there was plenty of other good stuff to enjoy as well. If Lino's remains end up getting spread across South Africa by some wild animal, this show was a pretty good way to go out.
Grade: A
Highs: Father Jim being on the show is praise enough... and of course where there's Father Jim, there's another awesome installment of What's Up With That. But if that's not enough to stir your soul, Mama Rulli drops in and drives her son nuts for 30+ minutes with a special African-themed edition of Answer The Question. Smoking weed can't get you this high.
Lows: This could potentially be the last installment of TCGS you'll ever hear if Lino's plane explodes en route to/from Africa... or if he gets eaten by a giraffe while he's there.
Our take: It would've taken a complete disaster for any show featuring Lino's mom to merit a bad grade... and fortunately there was plenty of other good stuff to enjoy as well. If Lino's remains end up getting spread across South Africa by some wild animal, this show was a pretty good way to go out.
Grade: A
Friday, January 13, 2012
Where To Go From Here
This morning started out like any other… waking up waaaay too early to get ready for work and get my kids ready for school. With the house still silent I fired up the ol’ Internets and checked what was happening on Twitter. “A new post on CatholicGuyShow.com”, I said to myself with delight. So I clicked on it.
And I was stunned.
And within seconds… before even reading what dustin had to say… I knew exactly where they were coming from. Because for months I had been agonizing over what to do with LinoRulli.net.
I posted a whopping 24 times for all of 2011… and only five of those posts came during the latter half of the year. (In contrast, the site’s corresponding Twitter account has been far more active, with nearly 250 followers and over 500 tweets.) Most things that I used to post I can now broadcast more effectively over Twitter, and I simply haven’t had the time or inclination to post clips from the show or more in-depth thoughts that necessitate a full-fledged blog post. Life for me has changed a lot in the past three years.
Additionally, Lino has gotten his social media act together. When I started this site in 2008, Lino was still relatively new to Facebook and wasn’t even on Twitter yet. Now he tweets multiple times a day and responds to just about everyone who posts to his Facebook wall. The off-the-air conversation between Lino and his fans used to be facilitated by sites like this and CatholicGuyShow.com, but now the conversation is directly with Lino… which has started to make sites like these obsolete.
So last month with the domain renewal for LinoRulli.net coming due, I seriously considered pulling the plug. But I had also been toying with ideas for making the site worth reading again, and after doing many trial runs offline to see if I could make it work I launched an effort earlier this month to summarize each show and give it a grade. While reading a summary is no substitute for listening to the show, it gives people who can’t listen for whatever reason a sense of what went on that day so that they’ll be in the know. And the show highs and lows are there to give a little context as to how the show felt listening to it.
So I’ll see how it goes. It’s been a labor of love so far, but if external forces keep me from doing a good job on this, I’ll likely hang up the site for good.
Which brings me back to the winding down of CatholicGuyShow.com. To dustin, Alli, Elaine, LaJuan, and all of the other awesome people who have contributed to the blog throughout the years: thanks for the memories. The Official UnOfficial Lino Rulli Fan Club has been around almost as long as the show itself, and this wild ride wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun without your site leading the way. I’ll miss it immensely, and will try to keep the fan presence going on the Internets in my own small way.
God bless,
Steven
Show review for 1/12/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The evil Father Timmy hijacking Father Dave's Facebook account was shamefully entertaining. Lino's sound-effect laden demonstration of how a cellphone stopped the New York Philharmonic in its tracks was good... and got better when Father Rob kept up the sound effects to the point of annoying Lino to death.
Lows: Unfortunately, Father Rob's cellphone effects also served to distract us from what Lino was trying to say. An entire hour was spent on The Catholic People's Choice Awards, but Lino and Father Rob barely got through three of them... they needed to pick up the pace a bit. And the whole discussion of Father Rob extending his school's day next year just fell flat.
Our take: We really wanted to like this one more than we actually did.
Grade: B-
Highs: The evil Father Timmy hijacking Father Dave's Facebook account was shamefully entertaining. Lino's sound-effect laden demonstration of how a cellphone stopped the New York Philharmonic in its tracks was good... and got better when Father Rob kept up the sound effects to the point of annoying Lino to death.
Lows: Unfortunately, Father Rob's cellphone effects also served to distract us from what Lino was trying to say. An entire hour was spent on The Catholic People's Choice Awards, but Lino and Father Rob barely got through three of them... they needed to pick up the pace a bit. And the whole discussion of Father Rob extending his school's day next year just fell flat.
Our take: We really wanted to like this one more than we actually did.
Grade: B-
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Show review for 1/11/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Father Rob's takeover of the news segment by demanding the manufacture of chocolate Twinkies (and subsequent arguments with the listeners about various snack cakes) is radio gold and the kind of stuff you'll never hear anywhere else. Despite a somewhat bumpy start (primarily due to Lino acting like a doofus), the new game The God's Honest Truth hit its stride and sounded like a keeper.
Lows: Nothing really bad stood out (unless you want to count Lino's mind-numbing Pope impression during the General Audience segment).
Our take: Twinkie-gate (and no obvious lows) pushed this one into top-tier status.
Grade: A-
Highs: Father Rob's takeover of the news segment by demanding the manufacture of chocolate Twinkies (and subsequent arguments with the listeners about various snack cakes) is radio gold and the kind of stuff you'll never hear anywhere else. Despite a somewhat bumpy start (primarily due to Lino acting like a doofus), the new game The God's Honest Truth hit its stride and sounded like a keeper.
Lows: Nothing really bad stood out (unless you want to count Lino's mind-numbing Pope impression during the General Audience segment).
Our take: Twinkie-gate (and no obvious lows) pushed this one into top-tier status.
Grade: A-
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Show review for 1/10/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The Catholic Guy Advice piece on whether a girl should break up with a budding seminarian was a riot. The "Tim Tebow, Anti-Catholic?" segment wasn't as funny but was nevertheless intriguing.
Lows: Whether by design or not, Lino and Father Rob harping on poor Scott for not precisely timing the reading of news stories with the sound effects made us want to smack Laurel and Hardy upside their heads. Lino's Casting Couch didn't exactly set the world on fire... it felt like the segment was getting bogged down at some points and going rapid fire through names at others.
Our take: On paper it wasn't bad. Listening to it, it was just good enough to have avoided a "C".
Grade: B-
Highs: The Catholic Guy Advice piece on whether a girl should break up with a budding seminarian was a riot. The "Tim Tebow, Anti-Catholic?" segment wasn't as funny but was nevertheless intriguing.
Lows: Whether by design or not, Lino and Father Rob harping on poor Scott for not precisely timing the reading of news stories with the sound effects made us want to smack Laurel and Hardy upside their heads. Lino's Casting Couch didn't exactly set the world on fire... it felt like the segment was getting bogged down at some points and going rapid fire through names at others.
Our take: On paper it wasn't bad. Listening to it, it was just good enough to have avoided a "C".
Grade: B-
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Show review for 1/9/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: The Mark Wahlberg interview (despite it being only five minutes long) was enjoyable. It was also good to hear some Minor Confessions after a long hiatus. And This Or That was certainly enhanced by the goofy technical glitches and Scott's odd voicing of the questions.
Lows: The combination of Tim Tebow's playoff performance and Father Rob gloating over the Giants' victory took up exactly half of the show. Both subjects deserved their time... but someone needs to remind Father Rob that this is The Catholic Guy Show, not Mad Dog Radio.
Our take: An entertaining outing, but the heavy dose of football-related talk keeps this one from earning an "A".
Grade: B+
Highs: The Mark Wahlberg interview (despite it being only five minutes long) was enjoyable. It was also good to hear some Minor Confessions after a long hiatus. And This Or That was certainly enhanced by the goofy technical glitches and Scott's odd voicing of the questions.
Lows: The combination of Tim Tebow's playoff performance and Father Rob gloating over the Giants' victory took up exactly half of the show. Both subjects deserved their time... but someone needs to remind Father Rob that this is The Catholic Guy Show, not Mad Dog Radio.
Our take: An entertaining outing, but the heavy dose of football-related talk keeps this one from earning an "A".
Grade: B+
Monday, January 9, 2012
Show review for 1/6/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Pretty much the whole damn show... but if we were forced to pick, how could one not enjoy hearing Cardinal-designate Dolan shoot the breeze with Lino and Father Rob after interrupting a fire-sale giveaway of non-Catholic bibles? You just can't make this stuff up.
Lows: Ummm...
Our take: Not quite an instant classic, but definitely three hours of pure Catholic pleasure.
Grade: A
Highs: Pretty much the whole damn show... but if we were forced to pick, how could one not enjoy hearing Cardinal-designate Dolan shoot the breeze with Lino and Father Rob after interrupting a fire-sale giveaway of non-Catholic bibles? You just can't make this stuff up.
Lows: Ummm...
Our take: Not quite an instant classic, but definitely three hours of pure Catholic pleasure.
Grade: A
Friday, January 6, 2012
Show review for 1/5/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Father Rob's impersonation of Lino praying that sounded like a cross between Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island and Judge Smails from Caddyshack. Also good was a quote from a caller talking about Father Rob's McDonald's temptation: "Having a sip of a McDonald's Coke is like fat girl crack."
Lows: The Li-Nie Awards. A normally hilarious segment felt like it was running on half a tank of gas this time around.
Our take: Not bad... but not great, either. At least it kept our interest.
Grade: B-
Highs: Father Rob's impersonation of Lino praying that sounded like a cross between Thurston Howell III from Gilligan's Island and Judge Smails from Caddyshack. Also good was a quote from a caller talking about Father Rob's McDonald's temptation: "Having a sip of a McDonald's Coke is like fat girl crack."
Lows: The Li-Nie Awards. A normally hilarious segment felt like it was running on half a tank of gas this time around.
Our take: Not bad... but not great, either. At least it kept our interest.
Grade: B-
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Show review for 1/4/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: Hearing Father Rob defend his assertion that men have no obligation to give up their seat to a woman was great fun. Almost as much fun: listening to Lino beat his head against a wall after his attempt to help someone gets buried in an avalanche of listener suggestions. But none of those topped What's Father Rob Humming, which is in a class all by itself.
Lows: If we had to pick, we'd say that the opening segment about the Iowa caucuses was a little underwhelming.
Our take: Like a good wine, this show got better as time went along. Still a tad bit flat in parts, but much better than Tuesday's underwhelming performance.
Grade: B+
Highs: Hearing Father Rob defend his assertion that men have no obligation to give up their seat to a woman was great fun. Almost as much fun: listening to Lino beat his head against a wall after his attempt to help someone gets buried in an avalanche of listener suggestions. But none of those topped What's Father Rob Humming, which is in a class all by itself.
Lows: If we had to pick, we'd say that the opening segment about the Iowa caucuses was a little underwhelming.
Our take: Like a good wine, this show got better as time went along. Still a tad bit flat in parts, but much better than Tuesday's underwhelming performance.
Grade: B+
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Show review for 1/3/2012
Starting with the first show of 2012, we are going to post a brief review of each new episode of TCGS, along with a link to the show summary so that you can get filled in on what happened each day in case you weren't able to listen. So without further ado...
Broadcast Date: 1/3/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: A caller from Atlanta trash-talked Father Rob into a $25 bet on the Falcons-Giants game this weekend.
Lows: Most of the second hour. What started out as a promising segment about how people allow external events to get between them and God ended up being a 40-minute snoozefest that had us wondering when they were finally going to play a commercial.
Our take: Some nice moments like the impromptu bet and Father Rob mocking Lino for the way he spent New Year's were overshadowed by too much talk about subjects that were only mildly interesting. For the first show of the year, this one hit the ground with a thud.
Grade: C-
Broadcast Date: 1/3/2012
Click here for a brief summary of the show
Highs: A caller from Atlanta trash-talked Father Rob into a $25 bet on the Falcons-Giants game this weekend.
Lows: Most of the second hour. What started out as a promising segment about how people allow external events to get between them and God ended up being a 40-minute snoozefest that had us wondering when they were finally going to play a commercial.
Our take: Some nice moments like the impromptu bet and Father Rob mocking Lino for the way he spent New Year's were overshadowed by too much talk about subjects that were only mildly interesting. For the first show of the year, this one hit the ground with a thud.
Grade: C-
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