August 27, 2026 • 10 mins
This week’s Double Thumbs Up serves up a great mix of TV recommendations, book picks, and a podcast spotlight on the one and only Dolly Parton.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hear more gold podcasts, playlists, and listen live on the
free iHeart app.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Got anything good?
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Hey, this is the Christian O'Connell Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
First half hour of every Friday show on Friday Recommendations,
we call Double Thumbs Up. You can share your recommendations
as well. What are you really enjoying at the moment?
Am I a book, podcast, TV show, a movie? Text
us yours. 0475 031043. Patsy, what's yours this week?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yes, as per a listener's recommendation last week, I have
started watching My Brilliant Career on Netflix, which is like
a new adaption of a 1900 novel by Miles Franklin.
We actually studied it at school, I think, in about
year 11, but it was also a movie in 1979
with Sam Neill and Judy Davis.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Oh, wow. It was brilliant.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
And we watched the movie at school as well. But anyway,
this is a new adaption and it's really beautifully shot
in Aussie bushland. Like it's just so lovely. I could
almost smell the gum trees watching it. And it's brilliant.
It's this modern adaption and they've taken a leap.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You put all that effort into the relationship. And he'd
gone at six. I'm sorry. I also think you haven't
got a lot to say.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Oh, no.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
See, I don't mind it. I don't mind it because
then I can move.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
On to the next best thing. Ideally 12th.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I was going to say, what's your eight?
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Eight to 12. Eight minimum. Yeah. Otherwise, I'm not investing
it if it's six.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Really?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Just as I get to know you, you're going to
leave me.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
What about you, Ray? What's your ideal?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, I like Christian.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I like him a bit longer because once you're in there,
he's like, well, I want to stay in this world
for as long as possible.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
It's like reading a book and you already get into
it and you're saying, oh, no, I'm in the final third.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And then it's all going to be over.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And I go through a morning after a great TV
show or a great book. I really miss that world.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
And how annoying is it having to find a new show?
You've got to.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Decide between all the different ones. Oh, it's the worst.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
First world problems. How annoying is it to find a
new show? I'm going to have to Google something. Or
go like this. Click, click, wait. There's another billion shows.
There's too much pressure.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
There's too much pressure.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
This is why we do Double Thumbs Up, guys. It's
why we're here. Why we're here. Okay, mine.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
A brilliant TV show we are tailing through at the moment.
It's called Furious. I've not seen a cat and mouse
detective show like this before. Two female leads. One is
an FBI detective. One is a female serial killer. It
is gripping, savage, timely. It is very, very, very good.
It's why a lot of people are saying this is
TV show of the year. I've never seen anything like it.
(02:52):
It's some show. I cannot recommend enough.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
It's called Furious. It's on Disney +. That's great. Guilty
pleasure of mine, the brilliant new Reacher is back. Ludicrous.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Don't you just want to see a very, very large
man smashing bad people in the face and throwing them
through the air into walls?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
I do. Every episode that happens and it pleases me.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
How many episodes are we talking?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I've seen so far five episodes. Okay. All those family
members who come in and they go, don't talk to
your dad right now. He's with Reacher. He's with his
other family. I think he's catnip for dads.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Oh. In fact, I should just say, hey, dads. It's
an early Father's Day gift.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Our boy reaches back. Is he a spy?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Your dad's favorite TV show. He's a former military cop
who just drifts around. And where there's wrongdoing, suddenly, lo
and behold, guess who's there?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Richard. You got it, buddy. You got it.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I love Sean McAuliffe. I think he's really, really is
a classy, smart comedian. He's done this TV show called
Sean McAuliffe's Origin Stories. And the episode I want to
talk about is the one with the new king of comedy.
Right now in Hollywood is someone every Australian should be
very proud of, Aaron Chen. The episode with Aaron Chen
(04:06):
is really surprising. Aaron has an act, a certain way
of doing things. And so I watched it thinking, I
wonder if he's going to stay in kind of character.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
But he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And there's a scene where they're having dinner where it
actually moves Sean to tears. And then it moved me
to tears as well. Just what an impact. And just
how much he admired Sean McAuliffe. Cannot recommend that. It's
on SBS on demand.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Really good.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Is that the show where he sits down to dinner
with Aaron's aunt and uncle?
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yes. I've seen a clip from that.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
It looked incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Watch the show. It's really, really good.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
And then a book I've just finished reading, which is brilliant,
A Waiter in Paris.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
That is outstanding. It is so good.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Really, really good. Cannot recommend that enough. I read it
in two days flat. Brilliant memoir. Young guy trying to
become a waiter in Paris. If you loved Anthony Bourdain's book,
Kitchen Confidential, it's as good or.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I'm going to whisper it. I think it was better. Wow.
You know what?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I tried to listen to the audio book of Kitchen Confidential,
and the story is obviously incredible, but clearly Anthony Bourdain
has no interest in reading the audio book, and.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
He's so lackluster and has no energy. He's so bored
in the audio book. Imagine being the producers that were
the light. Because doing an audio book, it takes about
three days. You better go two or three lines without
fluffing up. You have to go back.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I reckon none of them were brave enough to go, Anthony,
I think you just fluffed up. Okay, now don't worry
about Anthony, actually. I think the way you pronounced it
is probably the right way. Don't bother Mr. Bourdain. No,
I got it years ago. And it actually sounds like
he's taking the piss.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
It does, no.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
How do you know, mate? I was interested in your story. Rio,
you recommended a podcast this week on the show. Obviously,
we've been talking a lot about the late, great Dolly Parton.
And I listened to it all day. Oh, no way.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Dolly Parton's America? Yes.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Fascinating. Fascinating. It's so interesting.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Yeah, I honestly knew absolutely nothing about Dolly Parton until
this podcast came out in 2019.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
It's about six 40-minute, half-hour episodes. I burned through it
like an audio book. I couldn't stop listening to it
this week, and it's fascinating. I didn't know the true
story about I Would Always Love You.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
It's one of the greatest love songs, but unlike any
other love song, it's not bitter. It doesn't have a
hit-the-road-jack-or-screw-you moment in it.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's a song of grace.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Of an ending of a relationship with no bitterness or resentment,
just of grace. And she wrote it. The guy that
discovered her used to be like the, he had a
big country and Western TV show and the young stars
he discovered, he signed up and they were in pretty
dodgy ironclad contracts. Portner Wagner was the guy. She said
one day, I want to leave now. She wanted to
(06:41):
take a breakout from his camp and see if she
could go out into the world as a sound. He went,
no way. She went and wrote, I would always love you.
as a breakup song to him. She went into his office,
played it to him. It's actually giving me goosebumps, this story.
You know, in a couple of years' time, we're going
to see this scene on a movie, aren't we?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yes, you can see it. She plays it to him.
He says, that's the greatest song you've ever written. And
he lets her go.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Years later, he sues her.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
For a million and was bitter and mean throughout his
whole life to her. Multiple lawsuits. In this interview, in
the podcast series, though, they keep trying to push Dolly.
They wanted to say how angry she was at the
way he treated her. And she refuses to. And in
the end, the interviewer says, you know, and in the end,
how did you get over his unfair treatment to you?
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And she said, I forgave him. She says the most
important quality in life is forgiveness. That's all there is.
Incredible woman of real grace.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I think what's amazing about the reaction to Dolly's death,
it's like, it's not just all the music and the
incredible output and writing over 3,000 songs. I must have
checked that on Google a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Maybe it's 300. That's a hell of a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Writing over 3,000 songs. The big thing that I think
has really affected us is her kindness and generosity.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
It's one thing.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
It's enough to become an amazing singer and writer and
do that over multiple decades, run your own business empire,
but when no woman had done that before. But to
actually create that imagination library, I donated money to it yesterday.
It's a charity she set up. that's helped over 320
million kids all over the world, is something, I think
(08:17):
she's the greatest living American person ever.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
100%.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I think she reminds people, it must be quite sad
for America, I was thinking about this, she feels like
a bridge to an America that isn't there anymore. And
I don't want to say anything more, I do not
want to make it political because she wasn't about that,
but that's what it feels like. She was an embodiment
of what America dreamt it could be.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
There's a great line in the podcast about her being
the great unifier. And they talk about how at the
concert there's drag queens, rednecks, lesbians, construction workers, gay guys,
straight people. There's everyone there and they're all getting along,
all talking to each other, having a great time. And
I can't think of any single other person who's had
(09:00):
that effect, especially this was in 2019 in a very
divided America. Yeah. And to be able to do that
and to live with such wisdom and grace and to
write incredible songs.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
In 2017, the New York Times asked their readers, what
can all Americans agree on?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
The number one answer was Dolly Parton.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Is that the greatest question and answer? Everything.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
The one thing, they can't politically, okay, but the one
thing they could all agree on was Dolly Pond.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I think it's incredible, just the reaction to her.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And the last thing that I want to say really
about it this morning is that there's still a reaction
to her kindness, grace, and generosity, and service. She definitely
lived a life of services. Those are qualities and things
that any of us can have every single day. You
don't need to have written, I will always love you
(09:52):
and Jolene in one day. We can all be, I
wrote it down the other day, be more Dolly. I
think we can all be a bit more Dolly. Maybe
we can take that into a weekend to keep that
spirit going.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
The Christian O'Connell Show. Go on. Podcast.
iHeart Podcasts.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hear more gold podcasts, playlists, and listen live on the
free iHeart app.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Got anything good?
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Hey, this is the Christian O'Connell Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
First half hour of every Friday show on Friday Recommendations,
we call Double Thumbs Up. You can share your recommendations
as well. What are you really enjoying at the moment?
Am I a book, podcast, TV show, a movie? Text
us yours. 0475 031043. Patsy, what's yours this week?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yes, as per a listener's recommendation last week, I have
started watching My Brilliant Career on Netflix, which is like
a new adaption of a 1900 novel by Miles Franklin.
We actually studied it at school, I think, in about
year 11, but it was also a movie in 1979
with Sam Neill and Judy Davis.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Oh, wow. It was brilliant.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
And we watched the movie at school as well. But anyway,
this is a new adaption and it's really beautifully shot
in Aussie bushland. Like it's just so lovely. I could
almost smell the gum trees watching it. And it's brilliant.
It's this modern adaption and they've taken a leap.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
You put all that effort into the relationship. And he'd
gone at six. I'm sorry. I also think you haven't
got a lot to say.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
Oh, no.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
See, I don't mind it. I don't mind it because
then I can move.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
On to the next best thing. Ideally 12th.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I was going to say, what's your eight?
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Eight to 12. Eight minimum. Yeah. Otherwise, I'm not investing
it if it's six.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Really?
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Just as I get to know you, you're going to
leave me.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
What about you, Ray? What's your ideal?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, I like Christian.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I like him a bit longer because once you're in there,
he's like, well, I want to stay in this world
for as long as possible.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
It's like reading a book and you already get into
it and you're saying, oh, no, I'm in the final third.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And then it's all going to be over.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
And I go through a morning after a great TV
show or a great book. I really miss that world.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
And how annoying is it having to find a new show?
You've got to.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Decide between all the different ones. Oh, it's the worst.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
First world problems. How annoying is it to find a
new show? I'm going to have to Google something. Or
go like this. Click, click, wait. There's another billion shows.
There's too much pressure.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
There's too much pressure.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
This is why we do Double Thumbs Up, guys. It's
why we're here. Why we're here. Okay, mine.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
A brilliant TV show we are tailing through at the moment.
It's called Furious. I've not seen a cat and mouse
detective show like this before. Two female leads. One is
an FBI detective. One is a female serial killer. It
is gripping, savage, timely. It is very, very, very good.
It's why a lot of people are saying this is
TV show of the year. I've never seen anything like it.
(02:52):
It's some show. I cannot recommend enough.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
It's called Furious. It's on Disney +. That's great. Guilty
pleasure of mine, the brilliant new Reacher is back. Ludicrous.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Don't you just want to see a very, very large
man smashing bad people in the face and throwing them
through the air into walls?
Speaker 1 (03:10):
I do. Every episode that happens and it pleases me.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
How many episodes are we talking?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I've seen so far five episodes. Okay. All those family
members who come in and they go, don't talk to
your dad right now. He's with Reacher. He's with his
other family. I think he's catnip for dads.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Oh. In fact, I should just say, hey, dads. It's
an early Father's Day gift.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Our boy reaches back. Is he a spy?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Your dad's favorite TV show. He's a former military cop
who just drifts around. And where there's wrongdoing, suddenly, lo
and behold, guess who's there?
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Richard. You got it, buddy. You got it.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I love Sean McAuliffe. I think he's really, really is
a classy, smart comedian. He's done this TV show called
Sean McAuliffe's Origin Stories. And the episode I want to
talk about is the one with the new king of comedy.
Right now in Hollywood is someone every Australian should be
very proud of, Aaron Chen. The episode with Aaron Chen
(04:06):
is really surprising. Aaron has an act, a certain way
of doing things. And so I watched it thinking, I
wonder if he's going to stay in kind of character.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
But he doesn't.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And there's a scene where they're having dinner where it
actually moves Sean to tears. And then it moved me
to tears as well. Just what an impact. And just
how much he admired Sean McAuliffe. Cannot recommend that. It's
on SBS on demand.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Really good.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Is that the show where he sits down to dinner
with Aaron's aunt and uncle?
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yes. I've seen a clip from that.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
It looked incredible.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Watch the show. It's really, really good.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
And then a book I've just finished reading, which is brilliant,
A Waiter in Paris.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
That is outstanding. It is so good.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Really, really good. Cannot recommend that enough. I read it
in two days flat. Brilliant memoir. Young guy trying to
become a waiter in Paris. If you loved Anthony Bourdain's book,
Kitchen Confidential, it's as good or.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I'm going to whisper it. I think it was better. Wow.
You know what?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I tried to listen to the audio book of Kitchen Confidential,
and the story is obviously incredible, but clearly Anthony Bourdain
has no interest in reading the audio book, and.
Speaker 5 (05:10):
He's so lackluster and has no energy. He's so bored
in the audio book. Imagine being the producers that were
the light. Because doing an audio book, it takes about
three days. You better go two or three lines without
fluffing up. You have to go back.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
I reckon none of them were brave enough to go, Anthony,
I think you just fluffed up. Okay, now don't worry
about Anthony, actually. I think the way you pronounced it
is probably the right way. Don't bother Mr. Bourdain. No,
I got it years ago. And it actually sounds like
he's taking the piss.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
It does, no.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
How do you know, mate? I was interested in your story. Rio,
you recommended a podcast this week on the show. Obviously,
we've been talking a lot about the late, great Dolly Parton.
And I listened to it all day. Oh, no way.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Dolly Parton's America? Yes.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Fascinating. Fascinating. It's so interesting.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
Yeah, I honestly knew absolutely nothing about Dolly Parton until
this podcast came out in 2019.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
It's about six 40-minute, half-hour episodes. I burned through it
like an audio book. I couldn't stop listening to it
this week, and it's fascinating. I didn't know the true
story about I Would Always Love You.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
It's one of the greatest love songs, but unlike any
other love song, it's not bitter. It doesn't have a
hit-the-road-jack-or-screw-you moment in it.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's a song of grace.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Of an ending of a relationship with no bitterness or resentment,
just of grace. And she wrote it. The guy that
discovered her used to be like the, he had a
big country and Western TV show and the young stars
he discovered, he signed up and they were in pretty
dodgy ironclad contracts. Portner Wagner was the guy. She said
one day, I want to leave now. She wanted to
(06:41):
take a breakout from his camp and see if she
could go out into the world as a sound. He went,
no way. She went and wrote, I would always love you.
as a breakup song to him. She went into his office,
played it to him. It's actually giving me goosebumps, this story.
You know, in a couple of years' time, we're going
to see this scene on a movie, aren't we?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yes, you can see it. She plays it to him.
He says, that's the greatest song you've ever written. And
he lets her go.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Years later, he sues her.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
For a million and was bitter and mean throughout his
whole life to her. Multiple lawsuits. In this interview, in
the podcast series, though, they keep trying to push Dolly.
They wanted to say how angry she was at the
way he treated her. And she refuses to. And in
the end, the interviewer says, you know, and in the end,
how did you get over his unfair treatment to you?
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And she said, I forgave him. She says the most
important quality in life is forgiveness. That's all there is.
Incredible woman of real grace.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
I think what's amazing about the reaction to Dolly's death,
it's like, it's not just all the music and the
incredible output and writing over 3,000 songs. I must have
checked that on Google a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Maybe it's 300. That's a hell of a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Writing over 3,000 songs. The big thing that I think
has really affected us is her kindness and generosity.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
It's one thing.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
It's enough to become an amazing singer and writer and
do that over multiple decades, run your own business empire,
but when no woman had done that before. But to
actually create that imagination library, I donated money to it yesterday.
It's a charity she set up. that's helped over 320
million kids all over the world, is something, I think
(08:17):
she's the greatest living American person ever.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
100%.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I think she reminds people, it must be quite sad
for America, I was thinking about this, she feels like
a bridge to an America that isn't there anymore. And
I don't want to say anything more, I do not
want to make it political because she wasn't about that,
but that's what it feels like. She was an embodiment
of what America dreamt it could be.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
There's a great line in the podcast about her being
the great unifier. And they talk about how at the
concert there's drag queens, rednecks, lesbians, construction workers, gay guys,
straight people. There's everyone there and they're all getting along,
all talking to each other, having a great time. And
I can't think of any single other person who's had
(09:00):
that effect, especially this was in 2019 in a very
divided America. Yeah. And to be able to do that
and to live with such wisdom and grace and to
write incredible songs.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
In 2017, the New York Times asked their readers, what
can all Americans agree on?
Speaker 1 (09:18):
The number one answer was Dolly Parton.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Is that the greatest question and answer? Everything.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
The one thing, they can't politically, okay, but the one
thing they could all agree on was Dolly Pond.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
I think it's incredible, just the reaction to her.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And the last thing that I want to say really
about it this morning is that there's still a reaction
to her kindness, grace, and generosity, and service. She definitely
lived a life of services. Those are qualities and things
that any of us can have every single day. You
don't need to have written, I will always love you
(09:52):
and Jolene in one day. We can all be, I
wrote it down the other day, be more Dolly. I
think we can all be a bit more Dolly. Maybe
we can take that into a weekend to keep that
spirit going.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
The Christian O'Connell Show. Go on. Podcast.
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