The GOTB Skit Timeline
Every skit and clip we have made, in the order we made it, oldest first. 27 so far across 5 series, with new ones added as they are finished.
All characters, robots, dogs and stories are original and fictional. Tap play on any card.
Timeline
Scroll down to move forward in time. Each card shows the date it was made and the series it belongs to.
The timeline
Monday, October 12, 2026
1 skitPrairie Bend: Baseload
Out past the last Chicago exit, a fictional nuclear plant finds extra power, and one dry question follows: who gets it first?
Thursday, October 15, 2026
12 skitsFour Rings, Episode 1
The saga begins: an illustrated explainer on a voluntary AI accord and the layers of checks behind it.
The Infrastructure Guard: Gridline explains AI tokens
Gridline watches the grid, and lately she is watching your chatbot: what a token is and why it costs power.
The Infrastructure Guard: Undertow: what's under your street
Undertow follows the water: where a city water main comes from and why it matters before anything gets built.
The Infrastructure Guard: Ledgermain on how a city pays
Ledgermain keeps the books: how a big city borrows to pay for big projects, in plain words.
The Infrastructure Guard: Commons asks who earns community trust
Commons speaks for the neighbors: when a big builder comes to town, what earns trust?
The Infrastructure Guard: Gridline's hard rule
The grid has limits. When power runs short, somebody gets shed first, and Gridline asks who.
The Infrastructure Guard: The Surveyor on a real warning shot
The Surveyor tests machines before anyone trusts them, with a look at a real test of AI agents.
The Infrastructure Guard: Commons on transit safety
Commons asks what it takes to make riders and workers feel safe on the train.
The Infrastructure Guard: Undertow's site checklist
Undertow follows the water and the power to every big new plant: what to check before the ground is broken.
The Infrastructure Guard: Three questions for any big project
Who pays, who builds, who checks? A budget gap and an airport as the test case.
SafeHarbor website walkthrough
A 50-second tour of the live GOTB site: seven stops on a phone, with captions on screen.
Clam, the catch basin truck: Pay for the Pipe, or Pay for the Flood
Clam is a made-up catch basin truck with a real problem to solve: keeping the drains open before the storm.
Friday, October 16, 2026
12 skitsThe new GOTB website is live
A quick phone tour of the new site: services, explainers and events, built for Chicago.
Finch Post-Review Origin 1: Born Under the Clock
A warm, backlit lab sets up an origin story while one calm line explains telomeres as the shoelace tips of your DNA.
Finch Post-Review Origin 2: Three Hundred Years Young
A wasteland and a scruffy dog make room for a plain-English look at reprogramming as tidying the sticky notes on DNA.
Finch Post-Review Clip 01: The Last Orange Suit
How a wide empty frame tells you the rules of the world before anyone talks.
Finch Post-Review Clip 03: Scavenger's Haul
Props that carry the whole emotional premise in one shot.
Finch Post-Review Clip 06: Pebble Rolls By
Tiny comic relief that sets up a later loss.
Finch Post-Review Clip 10: The Decision
The 'one last project' beat and why it works.
Finch Post-Review Clip 11: Parts Bin Poetry
The tactile pleasure of practical-style robot building.
Finch Post-Review Clip 13: First Spark
The awakening shot: light as consciousness.
Finch Post-Review Clip 14: First Steps
Physical comedy as character introduction.
Finch Post-Review Clip 24: A House With Wheels
The vehicle as character and as home.
Finch Post-Review Clip 41: Wall of Dust
Scale shots and how to make a vehicle feel small.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
2 skitsBehind the scenes: a day of building GOTB
A 45-second look at what went into the GOTB site in one day.
Finch Post-Review Clip 05: Nugget
Why the dog is the film's emotional anchor, shot at dog level.
More on the way
New skits land here as they are finished, in date order.
About
Meet Michael E. Brown
President and Managing Partner, GOTB Consulting, LLC · Chicago
Michael E. Brown has 20+ years of governmental and municipal consulting and lobbying experience. He was lead contract negotiator on the $8.5B O’Hare 21 program and the $800M O’Hare rail extension, and lead lobbyist and contract negotiator on the $400M Chicago Department of Water Management lateral redevelopment. (Dollar figures are program sizes, not GOTB fees.)
He has worked with the Illinois legislature and public officials on public-private partnership (P3) policy, and has consulted to the Cook County Commission on reducing duplicative administrative offices. He is a frequent speaker at governmental and municipal functions, focuses on good government and healthier social and economic solutions for safe, successful neighborhoods, lives in Chicago, and serves on the Board of the March of Dimes.
- M.S., Psychology (1997), University of Iowa
- B.S., Psychology (1995), University of Iowa
About
Meet Richard Butler
Partner, GOTB Consulting, LLC · Chicago
Richard (Rich) Butler is a partner at GOTB Consulting and a 38-year veteran of Chicago city government. From August 2019 to February 2020 he served as First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Administrative Officer of the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA), responsible for day-to-day administration and operations of O’Hare and Midway, including finance, contracts, operations, legal, human resources, workforce development, concessions, real estate and vehicle services. CDA manages the two airports with a federally funded budget of $8.5 billion. (Dollar figures are budget and program sizes, not GOTB fees.)
Before that, Rich was First Deputy Procurement Officer at the City’s Department of Procurement Services and Chief Administrative Officer of the Chicago Park District, where he oversaw procurement, audit, finance, warehousing and general administrative services on an estimated annual budget of $385 million and established district-wide policies and procedures. His City career began at the Department of Aviation as Director of Contracts Administration, and he also served as General Superintendent of the Department of Streets and Sanitation.
He completed the Chicago Accounting and Purchasing System Training Program and the City of Chicago Executive Management Program, was a key team member on the design and implementation plan for the City’s new eProcurement system, and is a member of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing and the Purchasing Management Association of Chicago. He has served on the board of the Chicago Municipal Employees Credit Union and on the US Communities board, representing the City of Chicago, and traveled to South Korea to represent Chicago in the Kotra Alliance to bridge contracting opportunities. A native of Englewood, he attended De La Salle High School.
- B.S., Northern Illinois University