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-
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
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
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