PRETTY GOOD

You know, some people might tell you that in order to run for president, you have to be taller than five-foot-five. And that you need things called “political positions.” And that you’re not allowed to go on a two-month vacation during peak campaign season. And that you should actually prepare for debates. And that you should actually want to be President. Well, Ross Perot proved them all … right. But not before proving them kind of wrong first!

In the wake of Ross Perot’s unremarkable showing in 1996, the Reform Party needs a new hero. Badly. They finally find him in the form of Jesse Ventura, one of the most unforgettable figures ever seen in modern American politics. Ventura seems perfectly poised to lead Reform into the future. Everything is going great. I sure hope Ross Perot doesn't start doing Ross Perot stuff again.

By the year 2000, what is the Reform platform? Everything. It’s centrism, libertarianism, blood-and-soil authoritarianism, Black nationalism, and communism. It’s pro-life, pro-choice, pro-gay rights, anti-gay rights. Name a thing and it is both for and against that thing. Nothing means anything anymore. Bear witness as the weirdest collection of wingnuts, cranks, careerists and scumbags ever assembled in American politics presides over the righteous and necessary implosion of what inevitably became the pointless anti-movement we call the Reform Party.

Hey everybody! Jon here again, this time with the first episode of the largest Pretty Good project to date. Throughout humankind’s journey, we’ve often been led forward, or backward, by Tims and Als. Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor, the face of the beloved 1990s sitcom “Home Improvement,” was a thoughtless, inconsiderate, and calamity-prone doofus. Al Borland, his co-host of the show-within-a-show “Tool Time,” was the counterbalancing figure Tim required: wise, mature, empathetic, and an exceptionally skilled craftsman. In the 1800s, the Internet began with a Tim and an Al: the guy you know, Samuel F.B. Morse, and the guy you probably don't, Alfred Vail. In Part 1 of "Fool Time," we explore a partnership that should have worked beautifully if one of them wasn't an attention-desperate entitled no-talent crybaby hack piece of shit.

Hey folks! Jon here again, and I’ve got Part 2 of FOOL TIME ready to roll. In Part 1 (check it out here if you haven’t seen it), we saw the proto-Internet of the 1840s expand throughout North America and Europe in the form of telegraph networks. Now, in the 1850s, the geniuses and dummies in charge of these networks shift their ambitions toward one of the most spectacular engineering feats in human history. Additionally, Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor glues his head to a board.

Hidey-ho, neighbors. I'm Jon, and this is Part 3 of FOOL TIME. In Part 1, we examined the invention of the Internet via Morse code and the expansion of telegraph networks. In Part 2, we got to know the noble mensch who made it his mission to lay a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean and the doofus tycoon who stole his idea. Now, in Part 3, we'll watch as the Atlantic Telegraph Company tries to pull off this near-impossible feat. Yep, this episode is The One With The Ships. Hope you enjoy.

Hey everybody. I'm Jon, and this is the series finale of FOOL TIME. Thank you so much for showing up for this. This is one of the most interesting and fun projects I've ever had the chance to work on, and I hope you enjoy the final episode.