

Pods Against Tomorrow: Reinvestigating Film Noir
Abehugh Productions
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Oct 28, 2026 • 1h 42min
Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987) with Katie Stebbins
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.This week's Ace in the Hole is Katie Stebbins, Digital Projects Librarian at Clark University's Goddard Library. A Clark Screen Studies alum, Katie has created a number of film zines that combine her collage work and writing; she currently co-hosts a monthly podcast called "The Power of '73 Compels Us", which takes a look at the films of 1973 one double feature at a time. Katie joins us to discuss Norman Mailer's profoundly polarizing Provincetown potboiler, TOUGH GUYS DON'T DANCE!Theme music by autumn_bray.Check out The Power of '73 and give it a 5 star rating!Follow Pods Against Tomorrow on social media:InstagramTwitterLetterboxdSoundcloudemail: [email protected]

Sep 27, 2026 • 1h 39min
The Long Goodbye (1973) with Soren Sorensen
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.This week's Ace in the Hole is Soren Sorensen, documentary filmmaker and Screen Studies program director at Clark University. His most recent film is Omar Sosa's 88 Well-Tuned Drums, which is available on Amazon for rent or purchase. The film's soundtrack LP is available at your local record store on Otá Records. The lone member of PaT's five-timers club, Soren joins us to discuss Robert Altman's 1973 post-hippie counter-cultural PI-satire and feline extravaganza, THE LONG GOODBYE.Theme music by autumn_bray.Follow Pods Against Tomorrow on social media:InstagramTwitterLetterboxdSoundcloudemail: [email protected]

Aug 30, 2026 • 1h 38min
Strange Days (1995) with Andi Graceson
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.This week's Ace in the Hole is Andi Graceson. After their brief career at MTV, Andi is now an Adult Services Librarian focusing on digital literacy and outreach at the Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield, MA. Andi holds a Bachelors Degree in Film Studies and Computer Science from Clark University, an MS in Communications from Clark University, and an MLIS from the University of Alabama. They're a known lover of trashy genre films, and a known hater of Yorgos Lanthimos. Andi believes any future wiretripping should be accessed privately with a VPN, and that all users should be wary of streaming services that don't support ownership of S.Q.U.I.D. tech. Andi joins us for the second time to discuss Kathryn Bigelow's 1995 VR-Noir, STRANGE DAYS!Theme music by autumn_bray.Follow Pods Against Tomorrow on social media:InstagramTwitterLetterboxdSoundcloudemail: [email protected]

Jul 21, 2026 • 1h 42min
Raging Bull (1980) with Joseph Reynoso
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.This week's Ace in the Hole is Joseph Reynoso. Joseph is a clinical psychologist with a psychoanalytic practice in New York City for children and adults, including a subspecialty with athletes. He is also co-editor for the Psychoanalysis and Sport section of the multi-disciplinary open access journal Cogent Social Sciences. Theme music by autumn_bray.Follow Pods Against Tomorrow on social media:InstagramTwitterLetterboxdSoundcloudemail: [email protected]

Jun 24, 2026 • 1h 41min
Following (1998) with Jason Landrum
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.This week's Ace in the Hole is Jason Landrum. Jason is a professor of English at Southeastern Louisiana University, where he specializes in film, literature, and critical theory. Jason comes back to the pod to discuss Christopher Nolan's career-launching micro-budget neo-noir, Following.Theme music by autumn_bray.Follow Pods Against Tomorrow on social media:InstagramTwitterLetterboxdSoundcloudemail: [email protected]

May 24, 2026 • 1h 44min
Odd Man Out (1947) with Sankeerthna Vedamtam
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.This week's Ace in the Hole is Sankeerthna Vedamtam, M.A. Sankeerthna is a film writer whose work has appeared in MovieJawn, Naya Mag, and Senses of Cinema. She is a proud former co-host of the Mawrters at the Movies podcast; she currently works as a film programmer and critic, while trying to collect classic movie-themed Funko Pops.Theme music by autumn_bray.Follow Pods Against Tomorrow on social media:InstagramTwitterLetterboxdSoundcloudemail: [email protected]

Apr 27, 2026 • 1h 33min
La Otra (1946) with Michael Mersereau
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.This week's Ace in the Hole is Michael Mersereau. Michael in an interdisciplinary artist from the San Francisco Bay Area, currently based in Durham, North Carolina. He explores the language of cinema as a tool to create experimental video, sound, performance, and installations. Michael has exhibited and screened his work internationally at museums and galleries, most recently in Oaxaca, Mexico, and Montreal, Quebec. He holds an MFA from the former Mills College and is an adjunct professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Art and Art History, where he teaches experimental video in the studio arts.Theme music by so.lxis.Follow Pods Against Tomorrow on social media:InstagramTwitterLetterboxdSoundcloudemail: [email protected]

Mar 29, 2026 • 1h 46min
Coma (1978) with Jon Quinn
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.This week's Ace in the Hole is Jon Quinn, a Clark University graduate and a former film, photography, and music teacher. Currently based in Portland, OR, he is working on webcomics and writing projects when not watching and logging movies. Jon is particularly fond of 70s and 80s era films, and joins us for the first time to discuss Michael Crichton's paranoid 1978 medical thriller, COMA!Theme music by so.lxis.Follow Pods Against Tomorrow on social media:InstagramTwitterLetterboxdSoundcloudemail: [email protected]

Mar 3, 2026 • 1h 43min
Blood Simple (1984) with Robert McDonald
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.This week's Ace in the Hole is Robert McDonald. Robert is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Kansas. He researches at the intersection of rhetoric, economics, and the unconscious; and teaches psychoanalytic approaches to film in his seminar entitled: "Sex, Fate, and Death". He's also the author of the book "Works like a Charm: Incentive Rhetoric and the Economization of Everyday Life". Robert joins us to discuss the Coen Brothers fishy neo-noir debut, BLOOD SIMPLE.Theme music by so.lxis.Follow Pods Against Tomorrow on social media:InstagramTwitterLetterboxdSoundcloudemail: [email protected]

Feb 13, 2026 • 1h 36min
TRAP (2024) with Max Hooley
Pods Against Tomorrow reinvestigates the noir genre one film at a time. Join our hosts, Hugh Manon and Abe Doubleday-Bush, along with a rotating guest — our "Ace in the Hole" — as they delve into an analysis of classic, neo-, and pastiche film noirs. Each episode explores the timeless themes that shaped the film noir genre and changed American pop culture forever.This week's Ace in the Hole is Max Hooley, a Clark alum with a double major in Screen Studies and Psychology; now he works in Malden, MA, as a staff attorney for the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Max returns to the pod to dive into M. Night Shyamalan's nepo-noir, TRAP (2024).Theme music by so.lxis.Follow Pods Against Tomorrow on social media:InstagramTwitterLetterboxdSoundcloudemail: [email protected]


