Hey Somethings,
You’ll hear about me talk about this a bit on an upcoming episode, but, I recently purged a bunch of my streaming services to cut down on expenses, and have been living the Tubi life lately. Every time I start up a new free service (I did the same with Peacock), I inevitably find myself wrapped up in shows I don’t have to think very hard to watch just to see what they offer… so it’s a lot of “Fail TV” and “IdiotTV” and such as I typically watch as I’m going to bed and it’s easy to fall asleep when it’s something you don’t have to devote a lot of thought or attention to. Invariably, I start looking for something else to watch, and… as the tug of nostalgia is strong.. I end up stumbling upon a show I’ve seen before but loved, and I watch it all over again.
Enter “James May’s Man Lab” and “James May’s Toy Stories”
James May is from the trio that, along with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond, brought you Top Gear on the BBC for many years. Beyond that, he brought us these two amazing shows as well.
Man Lab tries to ‘bring back’ the heyday of when men did (or could do) manly things… like.. change a tire, woo a woman, how to duel, or build a remote-controlled picnic table. Airing from 2012 to 2013, Man Lab takes popular science and ramps it up just ‘extra’ enough to be hilarious yet still amazingly entertaining.
“Toy Stories” does the same when it comes to ‘going big’, but with less tongue in cheek and far more ‘extra’.
From building a nearly three mile long slot-car track, to a fiberglass Supermarine Spitfire at a 1:1 scale, Toy Story takes toys from May’s childhood, and blows right past “11” while ramping them up to 15.
If you’re a fan of British humor, science, and attempting the absurd, I highly recommend checking them out!
– PCR
