VIDEO: Zombie Squad August 2025: MacGyver
The boyz discuss MacGyver S2E18 "Partners” (1987).
Comments (43)
So studies have shown analog recordings of music affect our brains differently than digital. I’ve wondered if the same is true for film.
Rodgers when is “To Live and Die in LA”? I can’t keep edging this long
Next summer
Eddington is my favorite movie of the year so far. I've seen it three times, twice in theaters and it just gets better every time.
Murdoc episodes are the easiest things for me to watch when viewing old MacGyver’s for their comic book villain situations. For the first Murdoc, this is one of his weakest of the bunch. He’s way too subdued. The following two episodes Widowmaker, and Cleo Rocks are when he’s really in Frank Gorshin’s Riddler territory with performance, and plots. Especially in Cleo Rock’s with its silly Phantom of The Opera like setup.
Hulk Hogan owed his real success to one person - Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the '70's, bodybuilder/big muscle wrestlers had [mostly] been villains because of that public perception that they were effete or gay. The hero's promos would call them out for being sissies. Even Hogan started as a villain. Arnold changed public opinion, paving the way for Hogan's success as a crowd favorite. This is largely why the wrestlers he stole his gimmick from didn't find the same success.
Giant muscular men were babyfaces in wrestling since there was wrestling. Tony Atlas was a top babyface when he was beating Hogan in 1980.
Stanger is so fly goddamn
As a sneaker head and fly mf myself I can certainly agree with this take
I just got out of a screening of Weapons. That wasn’t Stanger mowing the lawn at the end was it?
I just found out my wife’s uncle interviewed Richard Dean Anderson in 1996 at a celebrity golf tournament.
After watching the MacGyver episode, I got curious about Michael des Barres who played the evil Murdoc. This dude is a European Marquis, hosts Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius XM, was the touring singer for the Duran Duran spin-off group The Power Station (including performing at Live Aid), and wrote the classic song "Obsession" by Animotion. What a wild career!
I think his father had to sell the title when he went to prison. His family life was fucked up. Like SUPER fucked up.
Wrestling fan activated... Hulk Hogan was a rip off of Superstar Billy Graham... also Snooki wrestled in a match at Wrestlemania 27....
Can we get Stanger on Guys?
Regarding the early discussion of "flat duct tape"- There's an old trick in the production industry involving flat gaffer tape. When you check in to your hotel you make sure you get two key cards. You can wrap gaffer tape around one and carry it around in your pocket. Much more convenient than carrying around an entire roll, which you'll never need all of.
I often get MacGyver confused with the show based on the FX films. I think all the gadget based crime fiction of the era is melting into a puddle in my head.
"Why won't Rodgers let Stanger have a microphone stand?"
Loved MacGyver as a kid. That intro is still amazing. The show definitely jumped the shark a couple of seasons in, best/weirdest example of that is probably the two-parter in the last season (S7 E7-8), in which Mac is researching his family's English roots, but is knocked out and in his dreams he's transported to Arthurian England where Pete is now King Arthur, etc. Unhinged.
Off-topic but speaking of TV, a friend of mine recently made this supercut of "best" moments from a show I had never heard of before, MANIMAL. If I didn't know my place I'd recommend it for Zombie Squad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=117fdJaHa68
I really liked Eddington -- it's messy and chaotic, both funny and horrifying, but ultimately it follows some kind of logic, in the end it makes a ton of sense I think. Also heard from people who said that they checked out and disliked the last hour or so (the turn, as it were) but I found it completely in line with the overall story and Joaquin's character. The film is a big swing, odds were absolutely not in Aster's favor.
Was too busy watching ALF in 1988 to watch MacGuyver.
The eagle/hang gliding episode was my favorite. I would watch every day after school hoping it would be that episode.
ANOTHER CHIMP?
I had a really similar experience with Eddington… the second the credits rolled somebody in the front row yelled “That was awful”! (something I had never experienced before). And then the people I was with were very dismissive, and didn’t even really wanna talk about it. But I woke up the next day feeling that I had seen something brilliant. I think it really spoke to disenfranchised men with anger issues, who are still somewhat self aware.
am I making this up or does MacGuyver have a wacky Scottish cousin (also played by RDA) who sometimes shows up for adventures?
Does not have that. There's two episodes where he dreams of being in the old west. And on where he dreams that he travels back in time to meet Merlin and his ancestor. Jessica Fletcher did have a British cousin that she also played and they had her be the star of those episodes.
"Silk Stalkings" is available on Peacock. I would advise everybody to watch the first episode - the male lead calls the female lead from a crime scene and says "It looks like we've got a Silk Stalking."
I watched the ep you guy’s mentioned where a rich villain shoots a eagle from a helicopter with a crossbow. It was a glorious episode!
Also our #1 show growing up. First nightmare was the Mac episode with the lab accident where the woman turns into a dog.
She doesn't turn into a dog, her dog dies from a virus Mac collects from a satellite. They basically do an Andromeda Strain.
Eddington ruled, it was fun to talk about and figure out stuff after with friends and online. Way more approachable to audiences than any of his other stuff. Very dark and funny and interesting
I wanna watch but I'm in the "too soon" camp and would probably be more pissed off than anything else. Which I guess is the point, but I'm just trying to hang in here at this point.
I think the useful distinction between conflate and confuse is long gone, if it ever existed.
"I'll add it to the ball" - best Simpsons MacGyver quote
Watching you guys watch the opening is making me really emotional? 😢 When I started listening to this podcast in the before times, I always really wanted to see Ben in a reboot of MacGyver. Edit: MacGyver and the Alexander technique? Christmas came early this year!
Pizza?
The USA MacGyver promo they mentioned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVcpeHNrO3k
Here's the one of the ones I always remembered, where they showed a problem and how he solves it with a Macgyverisim in 30 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdyQRCT9BlM
Gave myself a lobo before watching and it enhanced the experience quite a bit
ROBO WANT LOBO.
We all though we could fix something with chewing gum and paperclip after this show.
If I had a spy kit I could do anything