Please note that these are my personal opinions about the show and I will express why I felt the need to write a more analysis-based review on here instead of on a community page. If you genuinely like the podcast, that's good for you and there's no shame in that.
Up until really recently, I really enjoyed this show and even considered buying tickets to go to one of their live-shows. The flaws I started seeing started in 2020. I was listening to the podcast with a friend of mine who only heard it once before but didn't really get into it. I basically caught them up on how it adapted because I tried to get them in by listening to the first episode, before the spy stuff. They then planted a very important seed in this whole issue in the form of a question; "how do we know if [Rocky] is still writing these books and someone else isn't just writing them?". I'm not one for conspiracy theories but it really did make me think, yes, the shift in genre was really sudden and didn't make a whole lot of sense, the storylines progressively got a lot more crazy and the characters became a lot more like outlandish caricatures whereas the original novel had them written as stereotypical erotica characters with a touch of dad humour. Now you could write this off as Rocky hamming up the writing because he knows that it gets the podcast attention, however, Jamie, James and Alice are the ones that get the most attention and coverage from the podcast and no one who knows the hosts personally would even know who Rocky is.
What about the fact 4 books were written but not sold before the podcast even started? We really just have to take Jamie's word for that. Jamie has even said in an interview that there are other people who don't believe Rocky has anything to do with these books, at least not anymore so there clearly are some aspects to the show that cause a minority to see some kind of illegitimacy. Negative reviews are scarce but when you find them, if they aren't attacking Alice, they are most likely saying that the whole thing seems rehearsed or performed, like the hosts know what is going to happen and go in with responses already prepared. This does come across as there have been some times when it seemed like the responses and the writing of the book seem to line up for comedic timing. For example; in the finale for Season 4, Alice comments on how Belinda may pick herself up from the situation she is currently in and pursue the escaping villain, only for the next line in the book to read "6 hours later", only for Alice to respond with "oh, so no" as Belinda did the opposite of what she was suggesting in her previous comment. Again, you could say this is coincidence, however, I do have another good reason as to why it is likely the episodes are either scripted (to a degree) or that Rocky isn't in charge of the writing anymore.
The Christmas Specials are not considered canon to the main story; Belinda is going about her normal business at Steele's Pots and Pans with no reference to the current storyline in the books. To give an example, Season 5 is set at the peak of the espionage/Steele's vs Bisch storyline. The Christmas Special to come out after Season 5's finale follows Belinda going to her friend, Bella's family home for Christmas Eve, no mention of any spies, Bisch or corporate espionage. The next Christmas Special comes out before Season 6 because they couldn't record together due to the pandemic so Season 6 was floated to 2021. By this point, the hosts should know the formula with the Christmas Specials not being canon to the main story. In the special, Belinda is freaking out over having stolen ink cartridges from Steele's. James asks "aren't they dealing with corporate espionage?". Not much to think about, James makes a query on how Steele's would care about Belinda stealing office supplies when they have bigger fish to fry... however, the events in the espionage storyline are highlighted frequently and are the driving backdrop in this special. The story itself is based on "It's a Wonderful Life" but is about Belinda and what would have happened if she was never born and she is shown what would have happened if she was never present at the time of Steele's battle against Bisch. How much of a coincidence is it that with a tradition of non-canon storytelling, the first time they mention the espionage events in a Christmas Special, that happens to be a big factor in the special itself?
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My Dad Wrote a Porno - Good until you begin to see cracks
Non-FictionThe British comedy podcast; My Dad Wrote a Porno, is a podcast I really enjoyed, however, the first flaws I personally saw soon turned into one of the worst things I ever had the misfortune to come across.
