Cheech and Chong in Outer Space

(Originally Posted August 26, 2011; minor edits.)

You all know what actors look like they're acting; it's especially evident in silent pictures (they were compensating for lack of sound), and often in radio (where they compensate for lack of pictures); when you can see or hear the acting, you're not seeing or hearing the story.

I stumbled across two radio series I was unaware of and thought I'd offer my opinion:

2000 Plus
Unremarkable so far; I can get 10 minutes in and my mind is wandering so badly I forget what just happened a minute ago. Still worth the listen, there aren't very many. "The Insect" is good, but suffers from a prolonged effort to convey "these people are really scared; don't believe me? Wait, wait... listen to them be scared some more..."

http://www.archive.org/details/otr_2000Plus 

Chett Chetter's Tales from the Morgue 
I hate to say anything bad about anyone that grooves on radio plays as much as these guys do, but Mark Sawyer and Jay Reel must have watched too much Dr Who and Monty Python; their stories, despite excellent production values, are filled with potty double entendre and voice characterizations that are too obviously old, southern, or dumb to be any of those things.

And there's absolutely no reason for these stories to be told in a morgue.

http://www.archive.org/details/OTRR_Chet_Chetters_Tales_from_the_Morgue_Singles 

"Peace to the Frifalites"
I think this episode introduced "the Master Constipator"; call this one "Cheech and Chong in Outer Space" (Right, never would have put those two ideas together; just listen, won't take you long to get it; after that, well, that's all you get.)

Listen to "Peace to the Frifalites"
from Chett Chetter’s Tales from the Morgue

What do both have in common? Long stretches of dialog between a couple or few people that requires few new sound effects to move the conversation along, but unfortunately the conversation doesn't move the story along, it just burns through a few more minutes of airtime.

Any writer, whether he's working in type or sound (which are ultimately the same thing), that finds himself stretching dialog to fill space, doesn't deserve your attention any longer.

The best pieces have no more words than they need, and no less.

And that is why I am stopping here.