Blank Check with Griffin & David
Presentation
Hosted by
Genre
  • Film
  • Comedy
LanguageEnglish
UpdatesWeekly
Production
Production
  • Ben Hosley (Production)
  • Marie Bardi (Social Media/Production, 2020–present)
  • Alex Barron (Editing)
  • AJ McKeon (Editing)
  • Angela Ferraguto (Co-Production, 2018–2020)
  • JJ Bersch (Research)
Theme music composed byLayne Montgomery and The Great American Novel
Audio formatPodcast (via streaming or downloadable MP3)
No. of episodes445 (as of October 1, 2023 (2023-10-01))
Publication
Original releaseMarch 23, 2015 (2015-03-23)
Provider
Related
WebsiteAudioboom/BlankCheckPod

Blank Check with Griffin & David is a film podcast following the career output of notable directors who had significant success early in their careers and were then offered a figurative blank check to pursue their passion projects. Most episodes focus on a single movie from the director's filmography, and the show is grouped into "miniseries", in which some or all of the director's films are reviewed. The show is hosted by The Atlantic film critic David Sims and actor Griffin Newman.[1]

Series overview

The Blank Check website describes the podcast as:

Not just another bad movie podcast, Blank Check reviews directors' complete filmographies episode to episode. Specifically, the auteurs whose early successes afforded them the rare ‘blank check’ from Hollywood to produce passion projects. Each new miniseries, hosts Griffin Newman and David Sims delve into the works of film’s most outsized personalities in painstakingly hilarious detail.[2]

Origins: Griffin and David Present

The podcast was originally entitled Griffin and David Present, and assessed the Star Wars prequel films as if in a universe where the other Star Wars films did not exist. Originally planning to spend 50 episodes on each film, producer Ben Hosley convinced the hosts to only do ten. Having used a lengthy analysis of a filmography as a means of discussing the films' director, Newman and Sims decided to use a similar approach in reviewing the works of other directors, and retitled the show Blank Check with Griffin and David.[3][4]

Title Title reference Director Initial Release
Episodes First episode Last episode
1 The Phantom Podcast Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace George Lucas 11 March 23, 2015 June 1, 2015
2 Attack of the Podcast Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones 10 June 22, 2015 September 8, 2015
3 Revenge of The Podcast Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith 10 September 21, 2015 November 30, 2015
4 The Star Wars Sequels — 6 December 6, 2015 January 11, 2016

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Each miniseries is given a loosely comedic title which combines the word "podcast" with either a title of a film or the director's name. If a director they've previously discussed releases a new film, they will work it into their schedule of upcoming shows.

Director Title Title reference Initial Release
Episodes First episode Last episode
1 M. Night Shyamalan Pod Night Shyamacast Name of director(s) 11 January 25, 2016 April 12, 2016
2 The Wachowskis The Podchowski Casters 9 April 18, 2016 June 10, 2016
3 Cameron Crowe We Pod A Cast We Bought a Zoo 10 June 23, 2016 August 26, 2016
4 James Cameron Podinator: Judgment Cast Terminator 2: Judgment Day 11 September 18, 2016 December 3, 2016
5 Steven Spielberg (The DreamWorks Years)[note 1] Pod Me If You Cast Catch Me If You Can 15 January 28, 2017 May 20, 2017
6 Christopher Nolan The Pod Knight Casts The Dark Knight Rises 10 June 25, 2017 August 13, 2017
7 Kathryn Bigelow Pod-19: The Widowcaster K-19: The Widowmaker 10 September 17, 2017 November 19, 2017
8 Paul Verhoeven (English language films)[note 2] Podship Casters Starship Troopers 8 January 7, 2018 March 4, 2018
9 James L. Brooks Podcast News Broadcast News 7 March 18, 2018 April 29, 2018
10 Brad Bird The Podcastibles The Incredibles 7 May 13, 2018 June 28, 2018
11 Ang Lee Podback Mountcast Brokeback Mountain 13 July 1, 2018 September 27, 2018
12 Nancy Meyers Something's Podda Cast Something's Gotta Give 7 October 14, 2018 November 25, 2018
13 Tim Burton Podward Scissorcast Edward Scissorhands 17 December 9, 2018 April 28, 2019
14 Michael Mann Michael Mannsplaining/Cast of the Podhicans Mansplaining/The Last of the Mohicans 12 May 19, 2019 August 4, 2019
15 Hayao Miyazaki Howl's Moving Podcastle Howl's Moving Castle 12 August 11, 2019 November 7, 2019
16 Jonathan Demme Stop Making Podcasts Stop Making Sense 16 November 10, 2019 March 19, 2020
17 George Miller Mad Pod: Fury Cast Mad Max: Fury Road 10 March 29, 2020 May 28, 2020
18 Nora Ephron You've Got Podcast You've Got Mail 9 June 7, 2020 August 2, 2020
19 Gina Prince-Bythewood Pod & Basketcast Love & Basketball 4 August 9, 2020 August 30, 2020
20 Robert Zemeckis Podcast Away Cast Away 20 September 6, 2020 January 31, 2021
21 Ron Clements/John Musker The Poddle Mercast The Little Mermaid 7 February 7, 2021 March 21, 2021
22 Elaine May The Podbreak Cast The Heartbreak Kid 4 April 4, 2021 April 25, 2021
23 John Singleton Podz n the Cast Boyz n the Hood 9 May 9, 2021 July 4, 2021
24 John Carpenter They Podcast They Live 18 August 7, 2021 December 5, 2021
25 Jane Campion The Podcastiano The Piano 9 January 9, 2022 March 6, 2022
26 Sam Raimi Podcast Me to Hell Drag Me to Hell 15 March 20, 2022 June 26, 2022
27 Bob Fosse Pod That Jazzcast All That Jazz 5 July 3, 2022 July 31, 2022
28 Stanley Kubrick Pods Wide Cast Eyes Wide Shut 12 August 7, 2022 November 13, 2022
29 Henry Selick Ben Hosley's The Podmare Before Castmas Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 5 November 27, 2022 January 15, 2023
30 Danny Boyle Trainspodcasting Trainspotting 13 January 22, 2023 April 30, 2023
31 Buster Keaton Podcast Jr. Sherlock Jr./Steamboat Bill, Jr. 6 May 7, 2023 June 11, 2023
32 Park Chan-wook I'm a Podcast, But That's OK I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK 10 June 18, 2023 September 3, 2023
33 David Fincher The Curious Pod of Benjamin Buttcast The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 12 September 10, 2023 November 26, 2023
34 Barbra Streisand Podcastl Yentl 4 January 14, 2024 February 4, 2024

Blank Check: Special Features

On January 1, 2019, Newman and Sims created a Patreon page, Blank Check: Special Features, where fans could pay a monthly amount in exchange for extra content. Blank Check Special Features focuses primarily on audio commentary about films that are part of franchises, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Toy Story, Mission: Impossible, The Santa Clause, and Alien.[5][6] The Patreon feed also offers monthly bonus episodes and other content related to the current miniseries or general interest.

As of November 2023, the Blank Check Patreon was ranked 15th in the podcast category and 39th overall based on the number of paying supporters, with 18,692 subscribers.[7][8]

Franchise Initial Release
Episodes First episode Last episode
1 Marvel Cinematic Universe 23 January 1, 2019 December 1, 2019
2 Star Wars[note 3] 8 January 1, 2020 April 21, 2020
3 Toy Story 5 May 11, 2020 June 21, 2020
4 Mission: Impossible 6 June 30, 2020 September 21, 2020
5 Alien 6 October 1, 2020 December 21, 2020
6 Crocodile Dundee 3 January 1, 2021 February 1, 2021
7 Star Trek[note 4] 6 February 21, 2021 May 1, 2021
8 The Twilight Saga 5 May 21, 2021 July 21, 2021
9 The Chronicles of Riddick 3 August 1, 2021 September 1, 2021
10 The Mummy 5 September 22, 2021 November 11, 2021
11 The Santa Clause 3 November 21, 2021 December 21, 2021
12 Ghostbusters 4 January 1, 2022 February 21, 2022
13 The Matrix 4 March 1, 2022 April 21, 2022
14 Live Action Batman[note 5] 7 May 1, 2022 August 1, 2022
15 Roger Moore Bond 7 August 21, 2022 November 21, 2022
16 National Treasure 2 December 1, 2022 December 21, 2022
17 Qatsi Trilogy 3 January 1, 2023 February 1, 2023
18 Men in Black 4 February 21, 2023 April 1, 2023
19 Planet of the Apes[note 6] 5 April 21, 2023 June 21, 2023
20 Ocean's 5 July 1, 2023 September 1, 2023
21 Pierce Brosnan Bond 4 September 21, 2023 November 1, 2023
22 Austin Powers[note 7] 3 November 21, 2023 January 1, 2024

Blank Check: March Madness

Every March since 2018, there has been a March Madness style bracket pitting thirty-two directors against each other, allowing listeners to vote and decide a director to be covered later in the year.[9] Until 2022, the votes were cast through Twitter polls, but were later moved to the Blank Check website following use of bots to influence match-ups.[10] Since 2020, there have been brackets exclusive to the Patreon to decide a franchise to cover.

Year Theme Winner Runner-Up
2018 N/A Nancy Meyers David Fincher
2019 N/A Jonathan Demme George Miller
2020 Oscars vs. Razzies Robert Zemeckis Barry Sonnenfeld
2021 Hosts vs. Guests John Carpenter Gore Verbinski
2022 20th Century Filmmakers Stanley Kubrick Orson Welles
2023 World Cup/International Park Chan-wook Bong Joon-ho

Reception

Blank Check has been positively reviewed by Paste,[11] Decider,[3] and The A.V. Club.[12] The show was included in Esquire's list of the best 21 podcasts of 2018,[13] as well as on Paste's list of the top 30 podcasts of the decade.[14] It has also been featured in Vulture and Entertainment Weekly as a selection of the week.[15][16] In May 2023, Luis A. Gómez of The New Yorker wrote about the podcast, stating that "Newman and Sims reveal themselves as connoisseurs of context in engaging, discursive conversations" and are "a positive, authoritative voice in the film-podcasting landscape."[17]

Notes

  1. ↑ Only films directed by Spielberg after he co-founded DreamWorks Pictures in 1994 are reviewed.
  2. ↑ Only English-language films directed by Verhoeven are reviewed.
  3. ↑ Only films that take place chronologically after the Prequels
  4. ↑ Only films based on the original Star Trek series are covered. Any subsequent Star Trek films would be covered in their own miniseries
  5. ↑ Only Batman movies not previously covered on the podcast are covered. Also covered is Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
  6. ↑ Only the original five films from 1968-1973 are covered
  7. ↑ Also included will be The Love Guru

References

  1. ↑ "Blank Check with Griffin & David". Audioboom. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ "Podcast". Blank Check with Griffin and David. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Reid, Joe (January 28, 2016). "'Blank Check' Is the Movie Podcast You Need to Be Listening To (Especially If You're Into M. Night Shyamalan)". Decider. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  4. ↑ ""GRIFFIN AND DAVID PRESENT" IS DEAD!". Twitter. January 27, 2016. Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Toy Story". Patreon. May 1, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Spider-Man: Far From Home". Patreon. December 1, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Blank Check with Griffin & David". graphtreon.com/top-patreon-creators. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Blank Check with Griffin and David Patreon". patreon.com. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  9. ↑ "March Madness". Blank Check with Griffin and David. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  10. ↑ "We're declaring John Carpenter the winner". Twitter. April 1, 2021. Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  11. ↑ Techler, Graham (July 5, 2018). "Blank Check and the Intersection of Comedy and Criticism". Paste Magazine. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  12. ↑ Vanderbilt, Mike; Bulnes, Rebecca; James, Becca; Colburn, Randall; Brooke, Zach (August 14, 2017). "Griffin and David tackle Inception this week on Blank Check's podcast-in-a-podcast". A.V. Club. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  13. ↑ "The 21 Best Podcasts of 2018". Esquire. December 27, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  14. ↑ Jackson, Josh; Paste Staff (October 28, 2019). "The 30 Best Podcasts of the 2010s". Paste Magazine. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  15. ↑ Wright, Megh (August 31, 2018). "This Week in Comedy Podcasts: A Blank Check–Las Culturistas Crossover". Vulture. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  16. ↑ EW Staff (September 8, 2017). "This Week's Must List: Top of the Lake, The Deuce, and Le Carré's Latest". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
  17. ↑ Gómez, Luis (May 15, 2023). "Blank Check". The New Yorker. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
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