Episode 200: Listener's Choice: Wendy's Grill Skills Employee Video, MTV's Real World, Most Hated Cartoons(6-18-2025)

The podcast turns the big 2-0-0! The 200th episode is filled with memories, moments, and nostalgia that has been chosen by the listeners over on Patreon. 

It has been a whirlwind of nearly 5 years creating, recording, researching, and editing 200 shows. I am so grateful to all of you who have listened to and supported the podcast. There is no end in sight, so what's on Episode 200?

The show kicks off with a deep dive into the show that changed MTV forever, The Real World. The popular reality show kick-started the 90s and ultimately changed the way MTV perceived itself as a television channel. 

Do you have grill skills? If not, you're in luck because we are going to look at a classically cheesy Wendy's employee training video from 1989 appropriately titled 'Grill Skill.' Singing burger patties, spatulas as guitars, dancing and rapping employees, and Dave Thomas! You will laugh, and maybe learn a new skill.

Me v. AI Top 5 returns with a hotly contested debate. Which are the most hated cartoons ever? I have my picks and Chat GPT has its, which will be read of course by Bonzi Buddy.

There is as always a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule looking back at the very first rollercoaster. 

Become a supporter on Patreon! $5/mo. gets you access to bonus podcast episodes and more!

Helpful Links from this Episode

• Purchase My New Book Cape Cod Beyond the Beach!
• In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod Travel Guide(2nd Edition)
• Hooked By Kiwi - Etsy.com
• DJ Williams Music
• KeeKee's Cape Cod Kitchen
• Christopher Setterlund.com
• Cape Cod Living - Zazzle Store
• Subscribe on YouTube!
• Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog
• Webcam Weekly Wrapup Podcast
• CJSetterlundPhotos on Etsy
• Serenading Romero
• Wendy's Grill Skill

Listen to Episode 199 here

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hello world! And welcome to the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund, coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and this is episode 200. It is listener's choice this week, celebrating 200 episodes of the podcast. Everything you're gonna hear from here on out is chosen by you, my Patreon listeners. So what did you vote for? Well, this week we're gonna kick it off by looking back at MTV's real-world TV show, the beginning of the end of MTV as a music channel. We're gonna go way, way back in the day and look at Wendy's Grill Skills training video, which you won't believe until you see and hear it. There'll be a brand new top five. It's me versus AI Top 5 as we look at the least popular slash most hated cartoons ever. And there'll be a brand new This Week in history and time capsule looking back at the creation of the very first roller coaster. All of that is coming up right now on episode 200, listener's choice of the In My Footsteps podcast. Well, here we are. If you had told me on November 5th, 2020, when I launched episode one of the podcast, that I'd be here over four and a half years later on episode 200 with no end in sight, I'd say, boy, that's a pretty good run that I've had. I'm so excited. I'm so grateful to those of you that voted in the polls that I had up on Patreon. We're gonna have a grand old time going through all of these different topics. It's sort of a same old, same old episode, but with a twist here of kind of retrospective, because I couldn't get to 200 episodes and not look back at where I've been, where I've come from. First and foremost, though, I need to thank my Patreon backers from the paying tier. These are the people that go above and beyond putting their money where their mouth is to support me, my content creation, my dreams of being a self-sustaining person in the arts or creativity. So a big thank you to Laurie, Mary Lou, Ashley, Kevin, Leo, Marguerite, Neglectoid, Crystal, Matt. I couldn't do this without you. I wouldn't have gotten to 200 episodes of the podcast without you and your support. I hope that I have made it worth your while. And for anyone that's listening for the first time, or if you've been thinking about it, five dollars a month on Patreon gets you access to bonus exclusive podcast episodes. It gets you access to the remastered without a map live streams, early access to YouTube videos, and I'm always thinking of new stuff, so who knows what's gonna be up there in the coming weeks and months. But let's travel back four and a half years or so. You can see my improvement as a podcast host as we listen to a little bit from my very first episode. Hello world. Hoping that wherever you are, you're having a good morning, a good afternoon, a good evening, whatever you've got. This is the debut episode of the In My Footsteps podcast. I am thrilled that you could join me. My name is Christopher Setterlund. I'm going to try to give you a little bit of an escape from the world. We're gonna have a little bit of interesting history tidbits, New England travel, where to go, what to see, when the time is right, a little bit of retro going back in time, and some more interesting things as we go along. But as I said, this is the debut episode, so it's gonna be kind of a work in progress. Yeesh. It hasn't aged well. The content is there, the way that I present it is what's different. It was like I couldn't tell if I wanted it to be more fun, humorous, free-flowing, or if I wanted it to be more buttoned-down kind of news broadcast. It's also you grow and evolve in anything you do if you want to get better at it. I think I'm way better as a podcast host here at episode 200 than I was in the first six to eight episodes. But that's not up to me. That's up to you to decide if you think I'm better now or or if you want me to go back to monotone as I was. Stick around though to the end of the show. I'm gonna do more of a wrap-up, a lot of thank yous and shout-outs to everyone that has made 200 episodes possible, because it's more fitting to do it on a round number like 200 or 250. I guess I could do it any week, but it wouldn't make as much sense. But without further ado, you voted for it, at least you on Patreon that took the time to do it. This is one of those that if you don't like what's on the podcast this week, it's not my fault. I should just have people vote on stuff every week, so then if it's not popular, I can blame you. Oh boy, but let's cast our gaze back thirty something years to the beginning of the end of MTV as a music channel, as we do a deep dive into MTV's real world here on Listener's Choice, episode two hundred of the In My Footsteps Podcast. I am one of those people that I am old enough to remember when MTV was pretty much strictly music videos, you know, because music was in the name of the station. A lot of you younger listeners, I'd say 30 and below, you probably don't have many memories of MTV playing music videos. Today they're way more reality-based, way more pop culture-based. That's why they created MTV2. That's more of their old school channel. It is interesting, though, to see the evolution of MTV, especially in the 90s, where they started changing from music and music videos and got more into reality TV, and then kind of flipped the script where it was more reality-based. I'm not saying that the real world is the tipping point for MTV, but when the real world debuted on MTV in 1992, it wasn't just the launch of a new show. It revolutionized television, it changed MTV. What began as a modest social experiment grew into a cultural phenomenon. It helped to define the modern reality TV genre. Before it was reality-based, MTV, music television launched on August 1st, 1981. In the archives, I have several episodes with MTV-based content. Episode 31 looks back at the launch of MTV. So if you're interested in more of a look at the beginning of the channel, you can go back in the archives. But a little bit about MTV. The channel began by playing music videos 24-7. And it quickly became a cultural touchstone for young Americans. It wasn't just a music channel, it was a lifestyle brand. It defined youth culture in the 80s, Gen X. I first saw MTV, I think, in 1985 when my family got cable, and it did, it changed the way that I saw music. By the early 1990s, though, the music video format was showing signs of fatigue. Viewership patterns were changing. MTV executives were searching for new types of programming that would resonate with their core demographic. Young adults and teens. Reality television, it had existed for decades prior to the real world, as far back as the 40s and 50s, the dawn of TV, with shows like Candid Camera. In the 1970s, PBS aired an American Family, which was a documentary-style series chronicling the lives of the Loud family. That's often cited as one of the earliest true reality TV shows. I guess the difference with those was that the early efforts of reality TV were more sociological in nature, not entertainment driven. Then in the late 1980s, there was the arrival of Cops, which used handheld cameras to follow law enforcement on the job. That blended real-life action with tabloid appeal. In episode 136 of the podcast, I did a whole segment about the Cops TV show. So if you're looking for more information about that, you can also go back in the archives. In the early 1990s, MTV turned to producers Mary Ellen Bunham and Jonathan Murray, who were originally brought in to develop a scripted soap opera for the network. They were faced with budget limitations, so Bunham and Murray pivoted. What if they cast real people instead of actors and film their unscripted lives? The idea was revolutionary in its simplicity, with the premise being take seven strangers from different backgrounds, put them in a loft together, and film their interactions. The goal wasn't to create drama for drama's sake, but to honestly portray the lives of young adults navigating relationships, work, and identity. And thus the real world was born.

Speaker 9: 9:44

This is the true story.

Speaker 10: 9:46

The true story.

Speaker 3: 9:50

And have their lives taped to find out what happens when people stop being polite. Could you get the phone?

Speaker 5: 9:57

And start getting real. The real world.

Speaker 1: 10:02

The Real World New York, the first season, debuted on May 21st, 1992. It had seven members of the cast. That included Julie Gentry, who was an aspiring dancer from Alabama, Kevin Powell, a politically active writer from New Jersey, Heather B. Gardner, a rapper associated with Boogie Down Productions, Norman Corpy, an openly gay artist and designer, Becky Blasband, a folk singer and songwriter, Andre Como, a rock musician, and Eric Nyes, a model and fitness enthusiast. The show was filmed in a Soho loft and used small handheld cameras and confessional style interviews to add intimacy. One of the most memorable moments from season one, it involved Kevin and Julie having intense conversations about race, privilege, and identity. These were topics that were rarely addressed so candidly on television at the time. And that's what made the real world different from other shows. It was authenticity. These weren't actors. Their conflicts, friendships, and self-discoveries, they were real. Viewers were captivated by how relatable, messy, and raw it all felt. Initially the critical response was mixed, with some dismissing the show as voyeuristic, lowbrow, but others saw it as a fresh, unfiltered look at the lives of real people. And those were the ones that kept tuning in, and those were the ones that made it a hit for MTV. It was like they hit on something that was missing from entertainment, from media. And it's like you don't know that you're missing this until it arrives and you're like, where has this been all my life? And for those people that are upset that MTV is no longer really a music channel, there is the beginning of the end. If the real world hadn't been a hit, then they likely I mean they would have probably found something else different from music videos, but it wouldn't have been such a stark change in programming through the nineties. The Real World quickly became a staple of MTV's programming. The popularity was driven by the fact that viewers saw pieces of themselves in the cast. The confessional style interview format, the focus on interpersonal drama. That became the blueprint for countless reality shows that followed. Because the real world was not the end of MTV's dalliance into reality-based TV. Oh no. It was just the beginning. What MTV found was success with the real world, leaning heavily into reality TV meant it was a cheaper way to produce shows. It was much cheaper than scripted series, and they delivered huge ratings. So in the years that followed, MTV launched a string of successful reality shows, including Road Rules, which came out in 1995. This was a competitive twist where cast members traveled together in an RV. Then they combined the two shows to the real-world Road Rules Challenge in 1998. Later on in 2004, we got Laguna Beach. In 2006, we got The Hills. These were documentary soaps that took the format to a more curated lifestyle-oriented storytelling. And then of course there was Jersey Shore, which came out in 2009. This was a more outrageous, over-the-top take on housemate living. It became a cultural lightning rod. These shows and others, they turned unknowns into celebrities and helped create the reality star as a new type of fame. They paved the way for what they call influencers today on social media. In total, the Real World aired for 33 seasons over nearly three decades, ending its MTV run in 2017, before briefly being revived on Facebook Watch in 2019. It provided a platform for young voices, some of whom would go on to have lasting careers in media, activism, and entertainment. Beyond the format innovation, the show also broke ground in representation and included one of the first openly gay men on television in Norman Corpy, openly HIV positive, cast member Pedro Zamora in season three San Francisco, and real discussions about sexuality, addiction, racism, and mental health. I had debated going more into detail with famous moments from different seasons of the real world. But with 33 seasons, I was like, man, there's only so much time I have on the podcast for even if it's episode 200, I don't want to have it be 200 minutes of real world talk. It is incredible to think about how much MTV changed in the 90s, and it really all started with the real world. Them trying to find something new to engage new viewers and keep their audience. I just went and I checked MTV's programming listings just to see what they have on now. And they've got movies, they've got a bunch of episodes of the Big Bang Theory, tons of episodes of ridiculousness. And I mean like a dozen or more episodes of ridiculousness in a row. You talk about padding out their programming. There's shows caught in the act, unfaithful. The places I was looking at for programming, it doesn't show what's on at 1, 2, 3 AM. Maybe there's videos on then, but the vast majority of their schedule is reality TV, sitcoms, and movies, but yet they still say MTV in their name. As much as I admit, and I sound like the old man, that I'm not a fan of where MTV is at today and its programming, there's no denying the impact all these shows have had. The Real World, it wasn't just a show where people stopped being polite and started getting real. It was the genesis of modern reality TV. So if you like it, you thank MTV. If you hate it, you blame MTV. The Real World captured the ethos of youth culture in the 90s and beyond, setting the stage for a new era in television, changing what viewers expected from entertainment. Its influence still echoes today with everything from Big Brother to Survivor to Love Islands. But the Real World, it began as a risky experiment and ended up becoming a defining part of TV history. This week in history, we are going back 141 years to June 16th, 1884, and the creation of the very first roller coaster. Ah, yes, roller coasters, a common piece of entertainment at amusement parks, they're everywhere, but they had to start somewhere. There had to be an original, a very first. The very first roller coaster was appropriately at the Coney Island Entertainment Amusement Park. Coney Island is located in Brooklyn, New York, and it was during the sweltering beginning of summer in June 1884 that the debut of the very first roller coaster in the United States called the Switchback Railway came around. Compared to what you see today, the Switchback Railway, it was a modest ride, but it would go on to redefine amusement and leisure in the United States. So the concept of the roller coaster, it predates Coney Island by several decades and even stretches across the Atlantic. The earliest inspiration came from the Russian mountains of the 17th and 18th centuries, massive ice slides constructed in the winter in St. Petersburg and other parts of Russia, with sleds or wheeled carts providing short, thrilling rides. Later in France, wooden tracks were added to control the descent and allow for summertime use. These became known as promenades ariennes or aerial walks. But the idea truly matured in the United States in the mid-19th century, when mining railways repurposed for thrill-seeking tourists became a hit. This was especially true with the Mach Chunk Switchback Railway in Pennsylvania. This gave passengers exhilarating downhill rides once used for coal transport. It was this very railway that inspired Lamarcus Adna Thompson, a businessman and inventor with a keen eye for entertainment. He was dubbed the father of the American roller coaster, and he envisioned a safer, family-friendly version of the mining rides located not in the mountains, but in a booming urban playground, Coney Island. So we flash forward to June of 1884, where Thompson's vision came to life with the grand opening of the switchback railway at Coney Island. For five cents, Thrillseekers could board a bench like cart at the top of a 50-foot-high wooden track. The train coasted down a gentle slope at a whopping speed of six miles an hour. It was tame by today's standards, but exhilarating for the audience, unaccustomed to motion-based amusement. The track was a simple gravity ride. One set of rails led the cart down the hill, where it was manually switched to a return track, hence the name Switchback. Riders would disembark, the car would be pushed back up the incline, and a new batch of passengers would climb aboard. The ride may have lasted less than a minute, but its novelty was undeniable. The switchback railway was an immediate success. Lines snaked through the Coney Island boardwalk as people of all ages flocked to experience this mechanical marvel. The ride paid for itself within weeks and earned Thompson a small fortune. Naturally there were imitators, new versions of roller coasters popping up at Coney Island and beyond. Innovations in design led to figure eight layouts, steel rails, higher drops, banked turns, and later by the early 20th century, loop-the-loops and corkscrews. By the 1920s, which is referred to as the Golden Age of Roller Coasters, there were more than 2,000 such rides dotting the United States. The roller coaster became more than a thrill. It became a symbol of American ingenuity and industrial progress. For the first time, ordinary people could pay a few cents to experience the kind of physical excitement once reserved for the wealthy or the daring. Roller coasters stayed popular even during hard times like the Great Depression and the World Wars, fading a little bit in the mid-20th century with the rise of television, but then having a rebirth in the 1970s and 80s, with the advent of steel coasters and massive theme parks like Six Flags and Disneyland. From the humble 50-foot drop of the switchback railway to today's 400-foot 120 mile per hour mega coasters, the roller coaster has evolved dramatically. Yet it all started with one man's idea brought to life on a sandy stretch of Brooklyn boardwalk 141 years ago, this week in history. For this time capsule, we are going back 33 years to June 16th, 1992. What was going on in the world of pop culture back then? Well, let's find out. The number one song was I'll Be There by Mariah Carey. This was off of her MTV Unplugged special album. This was the cover of the Jackson 5 song. Interestingly, this song, I'll Be There, was not intended to be released as a single, but there was overwhelming demand by people who had seen the MTV Unplugged show. The unplugged album has sold more than 7 million copies worldwide, and I'll Be There is one of 19 number one songs that Mariah Carey has had. The number one movie was Batman Returns, and you could get into the theater with a ticket costing $4.15. This is Tim Burton's sequel to his 1989 Batman movie, starring Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman, Danny DeVito as the Penguin. It's an excellent sequel, perfectly dark. It was a massive hit, making nearly $270 million on its budget of somewhere between $50 and 80 million. It's 82% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and I highly recommend it. I saw it in the theater. The sequel, Batman Forever, made even more money at the box office, grossing more than $325 million, but it is not as critically well received. And don't even get me talking about Batman and Robin with George Clooney as Batman. The number one TV show was Game Six of the 1992 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Portland Trailblazers. The game was won by the Bulls 97-93 to clinch the series in six games. Michael Jordan led the way with 33 points, clinching his second NBA title of six that he would win in the 1990s. This NBA finals I have vivid memories of because I was on an eighth-grade field trip, an overnight trip to Western Massachusetts, and I remember me, several friends of mine, we all played on the middle school basketball team. We and our coach, Coach Dentino, Mr. D, we watched game one, and that is the famous Michael Jordan Shrug game, where he had 35 points in the first half, and when he hit one of his last three pointers of the first half, he just looked over to the sidelines and shrugged like he couldn't believe how good he was playing. So yeah, this series always holds a deep special place in my heart. And if you were around back then, June 16th, 1992, maybe you had some new cassettes or CDs you wanted to listen to, but you need a way to play it, well, you're in luck. There's a big sale going on at Jordan Marsh, a Magnavox portable CD player on sale for $99.88, or about $230 when adjusted for inflation to 2025. There's also a massive Kenwood stereo closeout sale. It's got a 5 CD rotation changer. Do you remember those? Load in five CDs and you can just go in between them like you were making your own mixed CD. Well, that's $798. Or just a shade over $1,800 when adjusted for inflation. So hurry into Jordan Marsh for these deals. They're only going to be open for a few more years before they go out of business. That'll wrap up another time capsule, another this week in history. Now, again, you voted for it, listener's choice. Coming up, the brand new top five. It's me versus AI as we look at the most hated cartoons ever coming up right now. Oh boy, yes, that sound can only mean one thing. Well, it could mean a lot of things, but on this podcast, it means the return of me versus AI Top 5. We put it to the vote on Patreon. You chose the least popular slash most hated cartoons ever. The funny thing is the reason that I say least popular slash most hated is because when I asked ChatGPT for most hated, they come back to me with, well, that's subjective. So then I had to kind of change up my wording and say, okay, what were the least popular cartoons based on reviews, ratings, etc.? That's how this works with the me vs. AI top five. We each have five picks. There's no honorable mentions here. I will give you my top five, and then I will hand the microphone over to ChatGPT as read in the voice of our dear friend Bonsai Buddy, the virtual desktop assistant, the purple monkey that came around in 1999. It gave me loads of fun times with my oldest niece Kaylee when she was a little baby, and we would have Bonsai Buddy talk to her. So for this top five, what I looked at were cartoon shows that throughout the years got a lot of negative reviews, a lot of hate online, weren't around for very long. I tried my best to cover a lot of decades because I found a lot of stuff from the last 15 years. I'm like, well, I can't have it be all recent things. And I tried to do the same with ChatGPT. I said, try to stick mostly to the 20th century because this is a Gen X nostalgia podcast. Me as the older generation, I could find plenty of stuff on TV I don't like that's out now. That's low-hanging fruit. This here is the fifth installment of Me vs. AI Top 5. Typical top fives, they have some honorable mentions. Most of the top fives are in no particular order. I know my top five here is not. I cannot speak for Chat GPT. So let's just dive right in. Like I said, we're starting with me. My top five most hated cartoons ever. We're gonna start with number one, ShirtTales. This one I remember as a child. It was on TV 1982 to 1984. They are based around Hallmark greeting cards, so very commercial. There were five different characters. Tig Tiger, who was in orange, Pammy Panda in pink, Digger Mole in light blue, Rick Raccoon in red, and Bogey Orangutan in green named that because he spoke in a Humphrey Bogart type voice. He was an actor in the forties and fifties for anyone that's not super old like me. The connection between shirt tales and Hallmark greeting cards, that's where the lack of popularity comes in. It was only on for twenty three episodes. For me, I'm not a big fan. There may be a lot of you out there that grew up with it that feel differently. That's the whole point of the top five. These are my picks. This next one I think a lot of us might agree on, and that's number two, Annoying Orange. This is the most recent one. It's from 2009. It's fruit that has human mouths so they can talk. So it's a little bit different than a typical animated cartoon. Oh man, I could not put this list together without putting this hunk of crap on there. I apologize if any of you like Annoying Orange, but man, this is mainly on YouTube. The Annoying Orange YouTube channel has 13 million subscribers, so I mean I guess it's got some popularity, but the backlash is just as big. It's pretty easy to go on Google and put annoying orange hate and find loads and loads of posts of people that just cannot stand this animated short. If you've never seen it, never heard of it, go to YouTube, and I would say within ten seconds you'll have seen all you need to see with this. Let's move on to something less offensive, but no more popular. And that's number three, Hammerman.

Speaker 6: 31:14

Hammerman!

unknown: 31:15

Hammer!

Speaker 6: 31:16

Hammerman! Hammer! Whenever there's a time, some good some gonna do time. They all better beware, because the hammerman will be there!

Speaker 1: 31:26

Because nothing screams cash grab than a cartoon based on one-hit wonder rapper of the early 90s, MC Hammer. The show was on for 13 episodes in 1991, and it follows MC Hammer going under his real name, Stanley Burrell with his magic shoes that can sing and dance. This show was listed in Entertainment Weekly as the top five most ridiculous things to be made into a Saturday morning cartoon. If you were curious about what the other four things on that list were, there was Pac-Man, Laser Tag, Mr. T, and on my list, number four, Rubik's Cube.

Speaker 4: 32:23

Hello, my name is Rubik.

Speaker 1: 32:27

Yes, they made Rubik's Cube into a cartoon. This is another just incredibly stupid and an obvious cash grab. Rubik's Cube was the puzzle with the different colored squares, and you would have to put them together to make each side that one color. It was a hugely popular toy, especially in the early to mid-1980s. That does not mean it needs to be made into a cartoon. Rubik the Amazing Cube was on for twelve episodes in 1983. He comes to life and has magical powers once all of his sides are lined up with the same color. Rubik was voiced by Ron Pelillo, who some of you may know as Horshack from Welcome Back Cotter. This is another one. All you need is a few minutes of watching this, and you've got the premise for the whole show. No need to watch all twelve episodes. And finally, for me, number five on the list of most hated cartoons ever is Mega Babies. It was on for 26 episodes, but again, all you've got to do is look up most hated cartoons ever, and this is on almost every list. Grouse out humor, uninspired animation. Usually it gets lumped in with shows like The Brothers Grunt or Ren and Stimpy. I also, just to put it out there, I tried my best to not have this list bleed over into other lists I've done, Forgotten Cartoons of the 80s and Forgotten Cartoons of the 70s, which is why if you're looking for something like Mr. T, that's where you'll find it. And even though Ren and Stimpy is considered pretty gross, and it is, I couldn't put it on my most hated because I enjoyed it. Sorry. But now, without further ado, Bonsai Buddy, bring your purple furry ass in here and read this off from ChatGPT.

Speaker: 34:54

Thank you for that weak attempt at an introduction. I don't know why I keep coming onto your show. You came in the management that are on the U that you claim to have paid for was a wagon. Anyway, let's get into some of the most hated cartoons ever, shall we? Number one, the brother's runs, 1994. Critics and audiences like found your shows with testamentally pleasant. If heart style was intentionally repulsive, and it likes clear humor for engaging characters. The animation was really deliberately ugly. It was a temporary animation that likes deliberately contemporaries like Jesus and Number 2. If you are technique called Synchro 6, where live actually is for superficial cartoons faces. The storytelling was playing is what really can do. Number 3, problem solvers 2. It refuses for reviews for its confusing narrative sensory overload approach. It alienated heroes instead of new systems. Despite a code following, it was critically fancy hands on season. Number 4. MJ Hammer himself forced a version of himself to transform into the superhero. Hammer Man using magical token shoes. It only lasted 13 episodes. And finally, at number 5, on 58's list of most hated cartoons ever is. So here you have it. Some of the most hated cartoons ever. You know what? Mr. Podcast hosts I met the only cartoon that could be more hated than the one dimension with the cartoon based on your exciting life. I would say congratulations on 200 episodes of your show. See you later, Shuffles.

Speaker 1: 38:36

So there you have it. Who won me vs. AI Top 5 for most hated slash least popular cartoons ever? Did you prefer ChatGPT with brothers Grunt, Clutch Cargo, Problem Solvers, Hammerman, and Mighty Ducks? Or did you prefer me with ShirtTales, Annoying Orange, Hammerman, Rubik's Cube, and Mega Babies? We need a show of hands out there, or applause to see which one is louder. I won't be able to see or hear either, but I will trust that you voted for me. But now, oh boy, do we have a big heaping slice of 80s cheese voted on by you for episode 200 as we look at Wendy's grill skills? Oh man, you're gonna love this one. I've had so much fun in the past reviewing these restaurant employee training videos or business employee training videos. I've done ones from McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Blockbuster Video, Crystal Pepsi. They all really are a slice of life from a certain time period. These are all meant to be seen by employees of these companies. I don't know how they ended up getting out on YouTube, and I don't care. I just love the fact that they are freely available for you to view. This one here, boy, I am so glad you all voted for the Wendy's grill skills. There was way more laughing and head shaking than I anticipated from this one. It is extremely dated, and it tries so hard to be hip and cool. This video is about 15 minutes, 15 and a half minutes long. It's from 1989, and within the first second, it immediately starts off with music that is very appropriate for the times, with the title that says Wendy's International Incorporated presents. So we get done laughing at the music to start it off, and then we get a famous face. Dave Thomas, the founder and owner of Wendy's. He's there in what looks like the back stock room of a Wendy's, and he gives you his two cents about why the burgers need to be made a certain way. Dave Thomas goes into detail about why the burgers are square, how to properly cook it. What I like is as Dave Thomas is giving his monologue at the beginning of this video, he's walking around a Wendy's, and in the back you can see the famous superbar, the salad bar that Wendy's had in the eighties. There's one that says Garden Spot, which is the salad. There's another one that says Mexican Fiesta. Then Dave Thomas gets into something that will be a big part of this video. The four-corner press process of the burgers. Don't worry, we'll get into what it is. And then Dave gets in line explaining the burger he's gonna have while we watch what goes on behind the scenes. Then we get to the morning and there are employees punching in, putting their coats on hangers. There's a kid named Bill. He and a lot of the employees have these either green shirts with white pinstripes or red shirts with white pinstripes, button-up collars. I don't know. Do you remember those uniforms for Wendy's employees in the nineteen eighties? Anyway, Bill is punching in and he's told that Mary wants to see him. When he goes over to see Mary, she tells him he's being taken off of fries and being put on grill. Ooh, big step up. Mary gives him the rundown of the setup for making burgers where the meat is, the cheese, the toppings. But then things really take a turn when she gives him a VHS tape to watch about how to make burgers. Until he put the cassette into the side of the machine. You'd have to see the video. It honestly, I thought it was a microwave that then played videotapes. Then the TV starts making buzzing noises and smoking. Then we get this head come floating out of the TV wearing a Wendy's hat and sunglasses saying he's the Duke of the Grill, and he ends up sucking Bill into the TV, into the world of grill skills. And then we get into stage two of insanity of this video. So you get a very generic, cheesy hip-hop beat, and the guy that is the Duke of the Grill starts dancing around, and his green uniform shirt is way more sparkly. They're surrounded by what looks like just a bunch of metal scaffolding. And then the Duke of the Grill gets into his very generic rap. Yes, everything rhymes, but it sounds like it was written by someone that had never heard hip hop and thought this is what it should sound like. Oh my, it's so bad. He's explaining what you need for your grill setup, and then when it gets to having your spatula, he then plays it like it's a guitar. And this guy raps about everything that goes into making the burger, how to lay it out on the grill. It's at this point where you learn about the four-corner press method I mentioned that Dave Thomas was talking about, but I guess it's more hip and cool when a rapper says it. And then to add to the insanity of this video, you get singing patties of beef. So this whole rap about grill skills goes on and on, every step, how to make the Wendy's burger perfect. And then it's time for Bill, the whitest of white kids from the late 1980s, to try to do it himself. And he starts reciting how to make the burger, and it becomes almost like a duet rap where Bill is saying the things that the Duke of the Grill said, and then he will continue the phrase on. It's very awkward and cringy as he tries to be cool, repeating the rap.

Speaker 9: 46:48

I've got a salt meat from the back to the front. It makes it taste complete. Not too little, not too much. With the little finesse, I think I'm getting the touch. Hey.

Speaker 1: 47:00

And then finally, when Bill gets it right, the Duke of the Grill is so excited. They do like some different kind of fist bump handshake. It is so cheesy. I don't know if anyone who was watching this that worked at Wendy's thought it was cool in the late 80s, early 90s. It does not age well in the mid-2020s. What's interesting is they start talking about making a single or a double burger. And this is where you learn if you break one of the patties, don't worry, because you throw it in with the chili. That was always the urban legend that the chili from Wendy's was the broken burgers. And here in this video they show you, so you're told to save the broken patties for the chili fans, and it's like some old man in the snow. So quite literally chili as in freezing cold. But of course, you can't throw cheeseburgers in the chili, because according to the Duke of the Grill, it'll ruin our chili, so the experts say. And then he just smiles and stares at the camera for a few seconds too long. They cut to a montage of cars going through the drive-thru. It's only a few seconds, but it really shows you when this was filmed. All of the cars are late eighties models.

Speaker 3: 48:38

I'm stage three, you press me twice, just one more stage before I'm nice. Stage four, I'm hot.

Speaker 1: 48:44

They also make it a point many times to explain why their hamburger patties are square and not round. Dave Thomas says it's because the edges of the burger will hang off the bun, and that's more pleasing to customers. I don't know. I think it makes it easier to ship square patties. You could fit more in a box, but what do I know? I'm not management at Wendy's. Then the rap portion of this finally ends with the Duke of the Grill reading a quote that is the Wendy's way, and he reads it in some like founding father's 1700s voice.

Speaker 8: 49:22

The Wendy's Way. Always serve top quality, nothing less than the best. That's a guarantee. Remember this rap, and you'll be hot. Give the grill your very best shot, and soon you develop some real grill skill.

Speaker 1: 49:34

And throughout this whole rap, the guy is just dancing around, around the grill with his sequin striped green shirt. It ends with him saying, You'll be tough on the grill, Mr. Bill. Not the Saturday Night Live character. But then it comes back and Bill is staring at the TV, the video's over, Mary is there trying to wake him up from his coma that he's in. So they leave to go get started on the grill, and the video lingers on that TV for way too long, probably 10 seconds with music starting to play. We get this music that sounds like it should be some kind of 80s sitcom beginning, and it's a montage of Mary, who's gotta be manager, showing Bill everything with the grill. Mary looks like Gina Davis, the actress, if you got her from Wish.com. I looked, I couldn't find anyone, the names of the people that are in this video. I was trying to find who the Duke of the Grill rapper was. So then we circle all the way back around, and Dave Thomas is getting his meal, and Dave talks about again how to make the burgers, and he says making them right isn't easy.

Speaker 2: 51:14

You know, it's an old-fashioned hamburger, just like this one that keeps our customers coming back to Wendy's. But cooking and pressing our hamburgers isn't easy. It requires a special talent which takes some practice to develop.

Speaker 1: 51:27

He makes it sound like flipping burgers on the grill at Wendy's requires like a bachelor's degree from college. I guess you want your employees to feel important. Oh, but then we get to the best part of this, maybe, and that is the rock song montage at the end. It starts with this filtered video, it all looks very metallic and liquidy. There's someone, another one, playing the spatula like a guitar. You've got three Wendy's employees with their aprons and their green striped shirts standing in front of the Wendy's dancing around. It's a song, again, it goes back to the Grill Skills song, but this is the extended cut, and you've got loads of Wendy's employees singing to the camera. All the guys have the typical 80s mustache. It's so funny.

Speaker 5: 52:23

I've got grill skill. It takes nerves of steel. When you got artists to feel, you need the one with the grill skill.

Speaker 1: 52:40

Grill skill takes nerves of steel. Remember, you are not performing open heart surgery, you are flipping a burger at a fast food place. I did notice during this montage, they had actual order sheets like you would see in a typical restaurant. It's real quick, it's a few seconds, someone filling out a whole bunch in fast forward, but it's got the Wendy's logo at the top, and a whole bunch of stuff listed down the sheet that I couldn't see even if I zoomed in. But it's gotta be burgers and how you want them and such. I didn't know they had those. And it's funny, they've got a lot of people that come and go in this video. There's one cute girl that's singing that she's in it a lot, so they must have realized she's the eye candy for the employees. There's even one guy that just does the laugh to the camera that's part of the song. I can't tell if he has a mullet, but he's got the typical 80 stash. You've even got people that aren't singing lyrics, they're just like smiling and shaking their heads. You imagine sitting in the meeting thinking of the idea to create this video for your employees, and you're like, you know what? We'll have a Southern rock song called Grill Skills, and then for those that like hip hop, we'll have the Duke of the Grill do a terrible attempt at a rapper. We end with a saxophone solo and just people pointing to the camera and thumbs up. It ends with one of those title cards like you would see on music videos on MTV or VH1 where it says Grill Skill by the Crew, and the album is Wendy's Music International. I'm sure it's just a joke, but could you imagine if you could find the full album, Wendy's Music International album, with this song and the grill skills rap. Then you get Dave Thomas singing opera or something on it. But that's it. It fades out, and that is the end of Wendy's Grill Skills from 1989. Again, I'm so glad you guys voted for this one. It was so much fun to watch. It's so cheesy that you will absolutely love watching it. It's only a little over 15 minutes. You talk about getting a dose of 80s nostalgia, it's all right there. Plus, it'll make you hungry to go to Wendy's, which I am now after watching it for a second time. Obviously, as we go forward in the podcast, there will be more employee training videos. I cannot get enough of those. They are so funny, and I love reviewing them for you. So go on now when this podcast is over and sharpen up your grill skills. But until next week, that is gonna wrap up listener's choice. That is going to wrap up episode two hundred of the In My Footsteps podcast. Thank you again to all of you who voted in the polls. I hope you enjoyed the content that was voted on. I will say, likely in the next few weeks and months, the content that did not win in the polls will be covered. So if what you voted for didn't make it, don't worry. It'll be coming up. Next week we keep the train rolling with episode 201. We're gonna be going in depth covering Jaws, the movie, the 50th anniversary, living on Cape Cod, right there is Martha's Vineyard. So I've got a deep connection to the movie. So that'll be a lot of fun to get into. Like I said at the top of the show, if you like my content, if you want to support me, you can do so. Five dollars a month on Patreon.com gets you access to bonus podcast episodes, the remastered without a map live streams, early access to YouTube videos. You can always go buy me a coffee, that's as little as a dollar. Or if you don't feel like spending money on content creators is feasible, and I totally understand that, sharing what I do, that does every bit as much good. Getting new fresh eyes and ears on the content that I work so hard on, that means a lot. So those of you out there who listen and share, I appreciate you so much. It's amazing to think back when this all started, when this podcast was a kernel of an idea. I can still remember it. I had only quit drinking probably a week before, and it was hard. I was constantly tempted because I had been drinking a lot, most days for several years. So when you give up something like that, it creates this hole that you've got to fill, otherwise, you'll just slide back into your old ways. I was out for a run. I was actually running sprints on a football field at a high school near where I live, and the idea for a podcast popped in my head where I would talk about all the different things that I enjoy: New England and Cape Cod history and travel, fun and foolish stories from my own life, a lot of 80s, 90s, nostalgia, and honestly, the brainstorming, the planning, and now all the recording of all the episodes of the podcast, it all stems back to me giving up alcohol. At first it was a way to keep me from drinking, and now it's just a part of my life. I'm not saying if I stopped doing the podcast, I would immediately start drinking again, but you never know, so please keep listening, or else I'll become a drunk again. The show has grown and evolved over the years. Obviously, you heard at the beginning my first intro from the first show where it was way more subdued and news-like. And over the last four and a half years, you listeners have gotten to be a part of kind of the evolution of my life. When I started this podcast, it was in the middle of COVID. So it was a way to feel connected to people. I started off, I did a whole bunch of interviews. I interviewed my buddy Steve about dedication to the craft, our photography trips and tips. I interviewed my friend Kaylin Orr. She was a personal trainer at the time, doing stuff at different gyms, and now she owns her own gym, MSFTS Studio. I interviewed my sister Kate when we were talking about her Wear Your Wish clothing and accessories brand. I interviewed my nieces Kaleigh and Emma when they were in college during COVID. I interviewed my good friend Crystal, who's a Patreon subscriber, and we talked all about her cookbook. It's amazing the amount of fun memories that I have through 200 episodes of this show. I joke about doing time capsule segments every week on the podcast. The podcast itself now is a bit of a time capsule. You know, I changed jobs. I went from working at a retirement home in the kitchen. I quit in the middle of COVID because the retirement home I worked at was not great. So I preferred to kind of cut the cord and see what came next. I got a day job as a trainer and chiropractic assistant at Mind Body Spine Chiropractic and Brewster when the podcast started. I had five books out. I now have nine. I mean, the biggest thing from the time that this show has been going is I got involved in the Lady of the Dunes murder mystery. Producer Frank Durant during making this podcast, he found me. We talked, I wrote the book, he did the documentary, the case was solved, and you all who listened got to be kind of there in real time as things were going on. I became an actor during the time that this podcast has been going on. Granted, I've had one role so far, but still, that wasn't anything on my horizon. So much has changed, so much has evolved in my life, not just the podcast. So I'm so grateful to be at this point in my life, 200 episodes with lots of loyal listeners, new people coming aboard every week. So anyone out there, if you've ever listened to one minute of one episode, thank you so much for giving my work a try. I'm going to continue to grow and evolve the podcast, my content creation. It's been the dream since I was eight years old to do something in a creative field. Self-sustaining with that, using my brain. Who knows where the show goes? I have enough content. I could easily do another 200 episodes. And who knows what happens in my life in that time. I know the movie that I filmed my first acting gig for in March. I believe it's coming out sometime early fall. I now have an IMDB page, if you look me up. It's got two credits, This Podcast and Serenading Romero, the video that I mentioned I did for my friend Frank Durant, the producer. I have producer and editor credits on it. Life is just one long journey. It's a road that you stay on, and the road never ends until life ends. Meaning that if you're not where you want to be in life right now, the road is not done. There are so many other roads to get you to where you're meant to be. There are very, very few people in life that it's A to B and you get what you want, where you want, doing what you want. Most people, it's a lot of roller coasters, like I talked about in this week in history. So if you're not where you want to be, just keep going day by day. You never know what day is gonna be the day that something great happens for you. Showing up is half the battle. Oh, and I just mentioned my buddy Steve a minute ago. His birthday is today when the podcast goes live the Wednesday. He thinks he's getting some kind of special birthday shout out. Nope, what you're gonna get is a collage of all the other times I wished you a happy birthday through the years on the podcast. So enjoy that, my friend. I wanted to make sure that I took a few moments to properly wish one of my oldest and dearest friends, Steve, a happy birthday. It would have been yesterday from when the podcast goes live. And he doesn't often listen to the show, so I can really embarrass him here. He's the one we coined the phrase dedication to the craft for our wild photo adventures of getting the photo, even if it puts us at great risk to physical harm. He taught me so much of what I know as a photographer, so much so that my Cape Cod Heart and Soul Beyond the Beach photo book is dedicated to Steve and my high school photography teacher, Mr. Murphy. It's kind of fitting that we had the phrase dedication to the craft, because when I think of Steve, I think of dedication to people, friends, family. He works full-time, has a side gig, ooh, just like me. But I know, and so many of you out there that know Steve know that if you need him, he'll always have your back. And as I've gotten older, I hate to say older, but I've realized that traits like that are so rare to find in people in your life. I can look around at my life right now, and I am lucky that I have people that I know if I needed them, they would be there. But people like that don't grow on trees, so if you have them in your life, never take them for granted. It's more than him being my friend for over thirty years now since Monsieur Steve and Monsieur Chris in French class at DY. It's photo trips that are some of my favorite memories of my adult life. It's laughs and talking trash and hanging out. It's even putting in a dock, getting soaked in muddy to help other people out. So happy official birthday to my brother from another mother, Steve, dedication to the craft. I am lucky to know you and consider myself blessed to have you as a friend. Thank you all again so much for making it to the end. This has been a longer episode than usual because it's a celebration of 200 episodes, a lot of work, and a lot of help from a lot of people. But until next week, remember, in this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path and enjoy every moment you can on this journey we call life because you never know what tomorrow brings. Thank you all for 200 episodes of the In My Footsteps podcast. Here's to 200 more. I am Christopher Setterlund, but you already knew that. And I'll talk to you again soon.