Pizza Hut and Blockbuster Have the Same Problem

Shiftheads - The King Paid Tax. The Public Paid for Everything Else

Columnist and commentator Rob Breakenridge joins for two stories: what King Charles's voluntary tax disclosure actually reveals about royal finances, and what's happening to the Corb Lund coal petition in Alberta. King Charles paid eleven million pounds in income tax last year, voluntarily, continuing a practice the Queen began in 1993. Rob unpacks why the numbers raise more questions than they settle: the palace renovation funded by taxpayers, the land the royal family profits from, and the 177 helicopter trips logged in a single year. Then the conversation turns to Alberta, where a grassroots coalition of ranchers spearheaded by country artist Corb Lund has been fighting to get a coal development question on the provincial ballot, only to have the rules changed mid-process and the timeline suddenly become inconvenient for the government that set it. Topics: King Charles taxes, royal family wealth, Alberta coal petition, Corb Lund, Alberta government accountability GUEST: Rob Breakenridge | robbreakенridge.com | @robbreakенridge Originally aired on 2026-06-25

ICYMI - The Robot Didn't Replace the Waiter. It Replaced the First Job

Technology analyst Carmi Levy joins to talk about where restaurant automation is actually heading, and what gets lost when the entry-level job disappears from the equation. Robots are already in restaurants, following servers from kitchen to table, handling the physical load so staff can focus on service. Carmi is fine with that version. What concerns him is the version where the human is removed entirely. McDonald's tried AI in the drive-thru, pulled it after too many errors, and is now trying again with more mature technology. Wendy's and White Castle are doing the same. The kiosk replaced the counter. The robot is replacing the runner. And the first job that taught generations of kids how to show up, take direction, and function in a workforce is quietly going away with nothing equivalent replacing it. Topics: restaurant robots AI, fast food automation, entry level jobs technology, AI drive-thru, Carmi Levy GUEST: Carmi Levy Originally aired on 2026-06-25

Pizza Hut and Blockbuster Have the Same Problem

You miss Pizza Hut. You'd go back. You just wouldn't go back next week. Ryan O'Donnell thinks that's the whole problem, and that he's seen it before. The parallel he draws is not about food. It's about what convenience does to the things people love, and whether nostalgia can survive the moment it gets what it asks for. The stuffed crust pizza at the center of this throwback has its own origin story, and someone out there believed it was worth a billion dollars to prove it. Topics: Pizza Hut nostalgia, Blockbuster parallel, stuffed crust pizza lawsuit, fast food dine-in, convenience culture Originally aired on 2026-06-25

You Wanted Pizza Hut Back. It Came Back. Nobody Went

Historian and Retro Ontario founder Ed Conroy joins to trace the stuffed crust pizza back to 1995, the celebrity fast food wars that produced it, and why the nostalgia for that era says more about being a kid than it does about the pizza. Pizza Hut brought back its dine-in restaurants after years of people posting throwback photos online and guaranteeing half a million views. Ed explains why it didn't work: the tablecloths came back, the Pepsi glasses came back, and everyone sat there staring at their phones. He also covers the open-air salad bar as a casualty of the COVID era, what happened to Mother's Pizza and Chicago deep dish in Toronto, and why fast food losing its price advantage is the real story of where the industry went wrong. The restaurant you remember wasn't really about the pizza. It was about being twelve. Topics: Pizza Hut nostalgia Canada, stuffed crust pizza history, 90s fast food wars, retro dining Canada, Ed Conroy Retro Ontario GUEST: Ed Conroy | http://retrontario.com [http://retrontario.com] | @‌retrontario Originally aired on 2026-06-25

NEW: Toy Story Almost Died. A Work-From-Home Mom Saved It

Film critic Richard Crouse joins for two conversations covering the week's biggest entertainment stories and a pair of cocktails built for a superhero movie night. A Single Line of Code Nearly Killed Pixar Toy Story 5 just posted the second biggest animation opening of all time, but Richard Crouse traces the franchise back to a near-catastrophe: in 1998, one misfired Unix command deleted 90% of Toy Story 2 in seconds. The only surviving copy lived on a home workstation belonging to a supervising technical director who had just had a newborn. Crouse also gets into why the fifth film actually works when it shouldn't, the 30-year nostalgia cycle that keeps bringing audiences back, and what the AI voice licensing debate means for actors like Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine. Supergirl Starts Strong and Plays It Safe Crouse reviews Supergirl, now in theaters. The film opens with a genuinely unpredictable, messy character that he finds refreshing. By the midpoint, it has become exactly what every other superhero movie is. He also bartends two drinks built for the occasion: a Supergirl cocktail with blue curaçao, white rum, and maraschino cherries, and a Classic Kryptonite featuring Midori floated over coconut rum and pineapple juice. Topics: Richard Crouse, Toy Story 5, Supergirl movie review, AI voice licensing, Booze and Reviews GUEST: Richard Crouse | http://richardcrouse.ca [http://richardcrouse.ca] Originally aired on 2026-06-25