Flushed Away From Memory
Sean Beard owns the World’s largest collection of Beavis and Butthead memorabilia. From whoopie cushions to toilet seat covers and even after shave, Beard’s collection is impressive. Ryan conducts an interview that gets to the heart of this collector’s obsession. Plenty of pop culture to learn here; from the show’s early controversy to Beard’s very personal story of his fandom. Essential listening for the you Dump heads.
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This is the story of a 90s Irish traditional song and dance phenomenon that captivated a worldwide audience. Modern stage production mixed with traditional dance to create a dynamic for of entertainment that had mothers and Ren Faire geeks swooning. The rockstar of it all, Michael Flatley, eventually found himself dissatisfied under creator Bill Whelan’s wing. Flately broke off and created his own show, The Lord of the Dance; which positioned its star as some sort of Celtic dance god sex symbol. This much power always creates a little drama, as we know too well here in dumpville.
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Tila Tequila was one of the first internet celebrities and could very well be credited with being the first “influencer.” She is also one of the most controversial reality TV stars. MySpace changed the way we interacted with strangers, especially famous people. This was never more true than with the case of Tila Tequila. Her success landed her her own tv show and kept her in the spotlight just long enough for her to suffer a tragic fall from grace. Dinah Rankin, herself no stranger to the celebrity lifestyle, returns to the show to give us a much welcomed sprinkling of panache.
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We are back in our favorite year, 1999! The boys breakdown Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace and try to make sense out of all of the hate. Was Jar Jar a racist character? Did young Anakin suck? All will be revealed on this week’s Culture Dump.
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Parks takes the reigns with his special guest and friend Max. We dive deep into the XFL, a professional football league with huge ambition and a colossal ratings failure on national TV. The lovechild of WWE executive Vince McMahon and NBC sports titan Dick Ebersol, the XFL had serious potential to rival the NFL. But it appear that when you want to broadcast a professional football league on network TV, you need a plan!
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The 2003 television special “Living With Michael Jackson” promised to deliver an inside look at the life of the world’s most famous person. Not only was the special completely bonkers but it also led to the second child abuse scandal for the singer and unveiled some of the star’s darkest secrets. Warning! This episode contains some greasy stuff. YOO HOO!
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Competitive eating is one of the most bizarre and challenging sports in the world. The sheer amount of food consumed professional competitive eaters is mind boggling, but one man made it look like an afternoon snack. Takeru Kobayashi is the Michael Jordan of competitive eating and in the early 2000’s he captured the imagination of millions of people around the world. Unfortunately, as with many professional athletes, he fell victim to an unfair contract that ultimately led to his retirement from Major League Eating. This is a real HOT DOG of an episode!
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All Star by Smash Mouth was always too easy of a dump, too low hanging of a dump, but with the news of Smash Mouth lead singer Steven Harwell’s retirement flooding the airwaves we decided to dissect what might possibly be the most perfect song ever written. This is a feel good dump, mostly. We talk Shrek, neurological disorders, and bread throwing.
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We have arrived at the scandalous and shocking conclusion of our Dumps of Love series. In part 2, we tackle the Rock of Love branch of this reality tv sensation. Basically a rock n roll (aka whiter) version of Flavor of Love, this show took rocker clichés to unprecedented absurdity. Leather, leopard print and stripper poles helped introduce Bret Michaels (of Poison infamy) as a bonafide reality tv star . However, as these spin offs continued to rule VH1’s programming, a dark turn would bring this dump to an abrupt halt. The spin off Megan wants a Millionaire ended in the death of a contestant and permanently ended the production of these shows. We did not expect for true crime to enter the picture, but that is exactly why we love Culture Dumps.
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We have reached 50 episodes! For our one year anniversary special we are bringing you a juicy two part dump. The “Of Love” series of reality shows on VH1 shaped the landscape of reality television the early 2000s. These shows were inspired by the success of the “Bachelor” franchise, but took the drama to unprecedented heights. Add in excessive alcohol consumption and you have the perfect train wreck. Some felt this was the best entertainment TV had to offer; while critics saw it as an morally bankrupt sign of society’s demise. There are so many shows to cover so we have broken them down into two branches. This week we cover the show that started it all: Flavor of Love
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