MuggleCast
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| MuggleCast | |
|---|---|
 No Theory Is Safe…[1] |
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| Host(s) | Andrew Sims Ben Schoen Kevin Steck Eric Scull Jamie Lawrence Laura Thompson Micah Tannenbaum Mikey Boucherou |
| Website | http://www.mugglecast.com/ |
| Update Schedule | Weekly |
| RSS | feed://mugglenet.com/mugglecast/mugglecast.rss |
| Launch Date | August 9, 2005 |
| End Date | Ongoing |
| Genre | Harry Potter |
MuggleCast is a weekly podcast featuring several staff members from the Harry Potter fansite MuggleNet that discusses a large range of topics related to the Harry Potter series. The first show was launched on August 9, 2005 and was made available through the Apple iTunes service. Less than a week later, on August 14, it reached the number one position on the list of highest rated podcasts on iTunes. Transcripts of the podcast are available on the MuggleCast website, and are usually posted five days after the episode has been released.
Contents |
[edit] Show format
The show begins with a small commercial for their sponsor, Go Daddy.com, then moves on to the theme song: "Mugglecast", by Andrew on his famous TWA (three watt amp). The hosts state their names, and the show begins with a news roundup done by Micah Tannenbaum and then features discussions about the books and films. It then is handed over to one of the MuggleCasters who goes on to read the listener rebuttals along with a voice mail section where listeners can send recorded questions to the panel about previous episode discussions and questions about the Harry Potter series in general. Usually lasting at least an hour to an hour and a half, MuggleNet staffers Andrew and Ben Schoen are the lead hosts, typically joined by several other staff members, including Laura Thompson, Eric Scull, Kevin Steck, Micah Tannenbaum and Jamie Lawrence. The podcast covers some breaking news events, including the press conference hosted by Warner Brothers in advance of the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and featuring many of the film's stars. There are also a number of contests featured that are sponsored by advertisers whose gifts usually include various Harry Potter merchandise, including film giveaways and walk on roles in the next Harry Potter film. Members of other Harry Potter fan sites have also appeared on the podcast as guests, such as John Noe from The Leaky Cauldron/PotterCast, Jeff Guillaume from the Harry Potter Automatic News Aggregator, HPANA for short, and Matthew Vines from Veritaserum.
[edit] Segments
This is a complete list of MuggleCast segments. Segments whose titles are in italics have either been retired or are on substantial hiatus, due to either lack of listener interest or lack of original content.
- Chapter-by-chapter discussion. The MuggleCasters will go through a few chapters each episode, analyzing details.
- Character Discussion. The MuggleCasters discuss a character, their name origins and what they have done in Harry Potter.
- Editorial section. An editorial from MuggleNet is chosen, and the author is invited to discuss.
- "What-if..." What would have happened if just one detail in the series had happened differently?
- Theory of the Week. The hosts take a popular theory from MuggleNet's Chamber of Secrets forum and discuss.
- Listener rebuttals. A review of listeners' emails and voice mails about the previous show.
- Favorites. The hosts name their favorite... related to the Harry Potter world.
- '''Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Listener's Soul' formerly 'Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Soul'[2]: . An email that shows how MuggleCast brightened someone's day or life is read aloud. Ben is attempting to have the name changed to Chicken Soup for the MuggleCast Listener's Soul while Jamie and Andrew are gone.
- Ben's Give me a Butterbeer. Modeled on John Stossel's segment on 20/20,"Give me a Break," Ben picks a Potter-pertinent topic. Despite a lot of positive listener feedback, Give Me A Butterbeer has been taking a hiatus in recent episodes.
- Spy on Spartz Spy on Spartz was a segment in earlier episodes in where the MuggleCasters would call Emerson Spartz and "spy" on him, ie. ask him what he was doing. The segment got booted because fans were getting bored with it, or as the MuggleCasters put it: "Emerson loves college too much". The segment was brought back later briefly, with the threat to reveal one digit of Emerson's phone number every time he did not answer his phone. It got booted once again, and listeners were not given Emerson's phone number anyway
- Andrew's Huh!?. Features weird emails sent in by listeners of the show.
- Jamie's British Joke of the Day. Features a joke told by Jamie, who is British.
- Eric's Crackpot Theory of the Week!!! Eric Scull is sent a strange/obscure theory from a fan and has 1-2 minutes to defend it to the best of his ability.
- Dumbledore Norris Facts Jamie reads "facts" about Dumbledore inspired by the popular "Chuck Norris Facts."
- The Dueling Club Two MuggleCasters say two different Harry Potter characters at the same time. They then defend their character to decide which of them would win in a duel.
- Debate Teams of one or two hosts debate over topics Harry Potter related or occasionally not (see episode 61, in which the topic is trick-or-treating) One host is the judge, whose vote counts for 25% of the winning vote. Listeners then decide the final winner on the poll on the website. The winner is announced on the next show.
- What's Buggin' Micah?, where Micah rants about something bothering him. In the past, he has complained about the length of time in between updates to Rowling's web site. Not too long after, Rowling did indeed update her web site, prompting MuggleCasters to speculate whether she listened to the podcast.
- Andrew's Weekly Challenge Where Andrew comes up with crazy challenges for the listeners to do, was taken off the air, but has made a comeback in recent episodes.
- Dylan Spartz's Inspirational Quote of the Week, This is when Andrew asks Dylan Spartz, a MuggleNet staff member, for a quote that is supposed to make the listeners feel good and think. It was canceled after only two segments, but made a comeback in a later episode where Dylan was on the show.
- Special Guest Interview, Every now and then, the Mugglecasters interview someone related to the Harry Potter fandom. In the past, a variety of people have been interviewed, including the makers of the Harry Potter video games, a few fans, people related to the movies, and persons working with the book. Among the many iterviews was a huge guest, Rubeus Hagrid himself! Much to the joy of some fans and outrage of others.
- Pokémon Connections, This newly created segment originates from MuggleCast #78 when the Mugglecasters when off on a tangent about the connections between Pokémon and Harry Potter. It was named a segment in MuggleCast #80 when the Mugglecasters read other connections found by listeners.
- Bloopers, After the show has ended there usually are some funny outtakes from the show. One long blooper was when Ben podcasted from the hallways of his Moundridge, Kansas high school which included plenty of foul language and trash talking.
[edit] Catch phrase
Although it is not a part of the format of the show, host Andrew often says "Pickle! " at any random moment, after being dared by fellow podcaster Melissa Anelli to create a catch phrase. Similar to John Noe of PotterCast's, use of the word Dawlish, Andrew declared "Pickle" the MuggleCast catchphrase in Episode 54, though its use in the show has recently reduced. "Pickles" has now been recognized by listeners as something to say when there is nothing else to say on a subject.
[edit] The Leaky Mug
MuggleCast has a very friendly rivalry with The Leaky Cauldron and its PotterCast. Hosts of PotterCast have appeared on MuggleCast on occasion and they have teamed up to record joint podcasts, which are titled "The Leaky Mug".
One joint podcast was recorded live in New York City on November 12, 2005 at the Union Square Barnes & Noble coinciding with the United States premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. During this show, PotterCast host Melissa Anelli's mother, who was at the premiere after party, called in with Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Katie Leung (Cho Chang), Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory), Jamie Waylett (Vincent Crabbe), Tolga Safer (Karkaroff's Aid) and Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) on the phone.
Two joint live podcasts were held in the summer of 2006. The first was in July at the Lumos 2006 Symposium, a Harry Potter convention that was held at the JW Marriott Hotel in Las Vegas. A few days later, the LeakyMug team held another live podcast in New York City at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square where the first live podcast was held. The show was focused around JK Rowling's August 2006 visit to New York and the readings she did for the event "Harry, Carrie, and Garp" at Radio City Music Hall on August 1st and 2nd.
A LeakyMug was also held in late September 2006 at the Borders in Westwood, California. It was a small and intimate podcast.
Four live podcasts are in the works for summer of 2007, as announced on MuggleCast 72. One is going to be during Enlightening 2007, which is from July 12 - 15 a Harry Potter camp, where Andrew Sims, Ben Schoen, and Jamie Lawrence are going to hold a seminar on How to Create A Podcast. Two more are going to take place during the two premieres of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - one in England, and the other in New York. Finally, perhaps their biggest of the four podcasts will be the one held at Prophecy 2007, a Harry Potter conference from August 2nd - 5th.[citation needed]
[edit] Awards
MuggleCast was voted Podcast of the Year by the 2005 Weblog Awards, which are decided by popular vote. In late September 2006, it was also awarded the 2006 People's Choice Award at the 2nd annual Podcast Awards in Ontario, California.
