drama

76: The Haunting of Hill House / Season Finale

In this super-long season finale, Eric and Marcus sham-write a pair of ghostly tales based on the recent Netflix original series, The Haunting of Hill House. Prepare yourself for plenty of frights, because there be a whole lotta ghosts up in that house! Meanwhile, your hosts probably set a record for the number of times "spooky" is said on a podcast. They also prove to be pretty bad at math, while attempting to count how many episodes we've made this season. Be sure to stick around after the stories and discussion (if you dare!), because the guys share their favorite shammed properties from this season, as well as their favorite fics written this season. Thanks for listening to Sham Fiction this year! We hope you enjoyed Season Duel!

Links:
The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80189221
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/shamfiction
Sham Fiction episode archive: http://www.twojackets.com/shamfictionepisodes

Tags: netflix, horror, drama, television, tv, series, streaming, scary, supernatural, fiction, fan fiction, fanfiction, shamfiction, mike flanagan, carla gugino, michiel huisman, timothy hutton, ghost, house, haunted house, podcast

73: Riverdale

Riverdale. "The town with pep!" If you're just passing through, you see what they want you to see: white picket fences, manicured lawns, the unmarked chrome of the famous dining car, Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe. Go to Riverdale High, you'll see happy, healthy teens, hitting the books and their extracurriculars with enthusiasm and spunk. It all seems so perfect. ...but stay a little longer, and more will reveal to you. The mysterious death of the high school quarterback. His girlfriend, committed to an asylum. A student sleeping with his teacher. A family fleeing a criminal past. And one man just searching for the truth behind it all, while wearing a very unfortunate hat. You know their names: Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead. But you don't really know them. This week, Eric and Marcus get acquainted with the darkness and angst under the beguiling veneer of Riverdale.

Links:
Riverdale on the CW: http://www.cwtv.com/shows/riverdale/
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/shamfiction
Sham Fiction episode archive: http://www.twojackets.com/shamfictionepisodes

Tags: riverdale, archie, betty, veronica, jughead, cole sprouse, kj apa, lili reinhart, camila mendes, comics, cw, teen, drama, mystery, murder, small town, television, tv, show, shamfiction, sham fiction, writing, fan fiction, podcast, two jackets

62: You're the Worst

Jimmy Shive-Overly, the subject of today's featured property, would definitely have a heckle or two (or seven) for us for even attempting to sham his elevated lifestyle and prodigious literary talent. However, like his oppositionally-defiant counterpart, Gretchen, we're willing to risk it. Sham Fiction can go anywhere! The delightful cruelty of FXX's You're the Worst is simply too great to pass up. But do Andrew and Eric have the literary talent to capture Jimmy and Gretchen's hyper-articulate misanthropy and self-destructive impulses? Will we finally learn the exact measurement of "The Width of a Peach"? Listen now to find out!

Links:
Watch You're the Worst on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/youre-the-worst
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/shamfiction
Sham Fiction episode archive: http://www.twojackets.com/shamfictionepisodes

Tags: tv, television, fxx, you're the worst, chris geere, aya cash, stephen falk, jimmy shive-overly, gretchen, comedy, drama, dark, black, drinking, alcohol, los angeles, sham, sham fiction, shamfiction, writing, writers, literature, podcast, game show, game

61: The Shape of Water

The darkly beautiful fantasy worlds of director Guillermo del Toro have captured movie-goers' imaginations for over twenty years. Now, with The Shape of Water, his work has captured the film industry's top honor, the Academy Award for Best Picture, and del Toro himself received the award for Best Director! Holla at ya boi! About damn time, says Andrew. It's also about damn time we hold a duel of the shams with del Toro's work, which itself is an honor of some sort. But do Eric and Marcus have what it takes to make us both swoon with longing and squirm in horror? Listen now to find out!

Links:
Watch The Shape of Water on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LAuu91
Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/shamfiction
Sham Fiction episode archive: http://www.twojackets.com/shamfictionepisodes

Tags: film, movie, oscar, academy award, 2017, guillermo del toro, fantasy, horror, drama, romance, michael shannon, sally hawkins, octavia spencer, richard jenkins, sham, sham fiction, shamfiction, writing, writers, literature, podcast, game show, game

 

58: Unforgiven

It's a helluva thing... writing a sham. Eric and Marcus should know that more than most. In this episode, they have to bear the heavy burden of shamming Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood's Best Picture-winning western from 1992. In preparation for writing, they'll have to reckon with all their misdeeds from when they were younger, crueler men and channel that pain and guilt into their prose. Or maybe they won't do that. Maybe they'll just have a good time tackling the western genre! Come to think of it, why does Andrew keep pitching these heavy properties? Didn't we just sham that silly Species movie last time? Why don't you do something like that, Andrew? You trying to impress us with your refined taste in "prestige" film and TV, Andrew? Get over yourself, ANDREW. And enjoy the show, listeners!

Links:
Watch Unforgiven on Amazon: http://a.co/0ps0q0P
Support Sham Fiction: https://ko-fi.com/shamfiction
Sham Fiction episode archive: http://www.twojackets.com/shamfictionepisodes

Tags: shamfiction, sham fiction, unforgiven, 1990s, academy award, oscar, western, clint eastwood, morgan freeman, gene hackman, drama, podcast, writing, literature, fanfiction

51: HamFiction #3: Marcus writes Mad Men

This week, we're going MAD! ...ison Avenue as Marcus writes the sixties-set, smoke-filled, booze-soaked drama, Mad Men! Meanwhile, your hosts may be legitimately going mad. Like the "crazy" kind of mad. Why? Because Eric and Marcus believe they're on a ham-themed show, and Andrew may be losing sight of what's real and what's make believe! And how does Mad Men fit into their salty scheme? Because it stars Jon Hamm, of course! That makes sense, right? Right? NO! It doesn't! That was a test! It doesn't make sense because there's no such thing as HamFiction! There never was! It's all smoke and mirrors, people! You've been duped by a couple of sham-artists! My, how fitting! It was a SHAM all along! Being tricked doesn't feel good, does it? Just remember, I tried to tell you. Now, please excuse me. I'm going to take up smoking. <3 Andrew

36: Marcus writes Mr. Robot

Hello friends. Are you ready to take back control of your lives? Oh, we know what you're thinking. "You're mistaken, ShamFiction guys. I'm in control of my life." WRONG! You are not! We see that Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte in your hand and your eyes glued to that iPhone screen. You've lost control, friends. The corporations own you. Luckily, we've met the guy who's going to change everything. We'd like you to meet him, too, so you'd better listen to this week's episode. His name is Mr. Robot.

Mr. Robot: Season 1 (Blu-ray + DIGITAL HD)
$23.45
Starring Rami Malek, Christian Slater
Buy on Amazon

33: Marcus writes Brick

Cover for us in homeroom! We have some sleuthing to do! Well, Marcus does at least. This week, he's raiding lockers, turning over tables in the cafeteria, and knocking heads together under the bleachers - anything to solve the mystery at the heart of Rian "Star Wars Episode VIII" Johnson's high school film noir breakout, Brick! He just better watch out for any of those long-haired lugs! Especially if they're named Chuck Burns!

Read the fiction here.

31: Eric writes The West Wing

On this week's show, Mr. Carlson goes to Washington! Ready or not, Eric's been assigned an immense challenge: to sham-write a piece based on the most prestigious of all prestige dramas, Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing! Will people walk and talk at the same time? (They'd better!) Will President Bartlet tell a folksy story of great significance? (Most likely!) Will all our nation's most pressing issues be solved? (We're counting on it!) If there's an Emmy for podcasting, this is our chance to bring it home! No pressure, right?

Read the fiction here.

From the Vault: Marcus writes There Will Be Blood

The Dueling ShamFiction finale proved too big a beast to tame in only a week's time! In its stead, we've pulled an episode out of the vault! This is a complete test cast from back in 2015 when we were sussing out the show's structure and getting comfortable in front of the mics. We believe you'll find the quality of the content and the audio to be more than sufficient for your listening pleasure! Can Marcus drill deep enough to strike black gold? Find out in his attempt to break into the oil business with this sham of Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood!