Culture Gabfest - The Biggest Show on Paramount Is Big Oil Propaganda Edition
Slate Culture Feed
Slate Podcasts
4.2 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2025
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s show, Dana and Steve are joined by guest host Rebecca Onion for a Gabfest first: a segment about something from the sprawling Taylor Sheridan television universe. They strap on their cowboy boots and hop in the pickup for a conversation on season 2 of Landman which stars a rangy and world-weary Billy Bob Thornton as an oil industry fixer.
Next, they turn north of the border for some good, old fashioned, Canadian gay hockey romance. They discuss HBO’s surprise—and surprisingly graphic—hit Heated Rivalry. The series sure is steamy, but does it feature enough hockey?
Finally, they mourn the passing of legendary filmmaker and Hollywood omnipresence Rob Reiner. They share their favorite moments from his films. Given those films include Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, The Princess Bride, and many more indelible classics, there’s much to share.
Endorsements
Rebecca: The podcast Posting Through It featuring hosts Jared Holt and Michael Edison Hayden discussing the ins and outs of rightwing infighting and the recipe Holiday Rocky Road by Sohla el-Waylly in New York Times Cooking.
Steve: For more melancholic Christmas music, Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite. Also, the Booker Prize short-listed novel The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits, who Steve will be in conversation with at an event on January 5, 2026 at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble— details here.
Dana: The Rob Reiner-directed documentary Defending My Life about his childhood friend Albert Brooks and this brilliant clip of Rob Reiner at his 2000 Friar's Club Roast reading from Roger Ebert's legendary pan of Reiner's film North .
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Dana Stevens, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest. |
| 0:13.5 | The biggest show on Paramount is Big Oil Propaganda Edition. |
| 0:17.5 | It's Wednesday, December 17, 2025, and this week we'll be discussing, first off, Landman, |
| 0:22.5 | the Texas set oil industry drama from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, which is now beginning its second season. |
| 0:29.1 | Next, we'll get into heated rivalry, which is a new Canadian show streaming on HBO Max. |
| 0:34.0 | This show follows two closeted gay hockey players and their intermittent and groundbreakingly graphic sexual relationship. |
| 0:40.7 | And finally, just as we were getting ready to talk about an entirely different third topic this week, the horrible, truly unthinkable news broke of the deaths of Rob and Michelle Reiner. |
| 0:49.9 | We immediately, of course, decided to pivot and talk about this huge, truly legendary career. |
| 0:54.8 | Rob Reiner was a director, an actor, a producer, an innovator in the entertainment industry. |
| 0:59.2 | There's so much to say about him. He's an artist and a munch who will be deeply, deeply missed. |
| 1:04.4 | Joining me to talk about these topics today are Slate senior writer Rebecca Onion. Hey, Rebecca, always so happy to talk to you. Thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here. |
| 1:12.9 | You are definitely the right person for this show and we will soon be getting into why. And as always, I'm joined in studio, which is very nice by Stephen Metcalfe. Hey, Steve. |
| 1:22.6 | It is really nice. Hey, Dana. And we, as I said before we went on in front of microphones. These are not thin topics today. Very, very eager to get to it. |
| 1:33.7 | Yeah, it's going to be the case that all of them were not going to be able to devote all the time we would want to. |
| 1:39.1 | Easily could be a two-hour show. Yeah, I'm sure our listeners can't wait. |
| 1:43.6 | I'm already nudging it in that direction with this slow motion banter. |
| 1:49.6 | Let's do it. |
| 1:50.9 | Let's do it. |
| 1:52.6 | Think about cheese. |
| 1:54.4 | Make your thoughts cheesier. |
| 1:56.8 | Now add 100% chicken breast fillet, Chipotle sauce and Amiga cheese melt, and it's giving the new cheesy chicken stack at McDonald's. |
| 2:05.0 | Did we mention it's cheesy? |
... |
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