Shift yourselves, wains, it's time to talk about Derry Girls! This week we're joined by culture maven Sophie Brookover to talk about this wee Irish sitcom that we love very much. Topics include: Bono, narrative structure, peace walls, teen girl tropes, why Sister Michael became a nun, and several incredibly persuasive book recommendations.
And our Paternity Leave Project continues with a discussion of episodes 4, 5, and 6 of Deadwood S2. Learn: Kathryn's favorite Deadwood episode title! Joanie's inability to pick a good business partner! Our delight in the nuance with which Deadwood depicts historical prejudice! And ever so much more! Next week we'll be digging into episodes 7, 8, and 9.
As previously noted, while Andrew's dadhood was still hypothetical when the episode was recorded, it is now definite. We once again apologize for unmooring you in time.
It's a special edition of TV book club for Andrew's paternity leave! Welcome to Dadwood, our journey through Deadwood season two. This week we're discussing the first three episodes of the season, which Kathryn is aghast to realize means that there is no resolution yet to Al's kidney stones. Hang on to your gleets!
In a rare Andrew-less episode of Appointment Television, Kate Racculia returns to talk with us about the revival season of Veronica Mars. Guess what! We have some critiques! At some point this also involves discussing Lodge 49 and reading character descriptions from the new HBO Joss Whedon show The Nevers, but really it's mostly about Veronica Mars. Be warned: we will spoil what happens at the end of this season!
On this week's episode of our every timely podcast, we're discussing season 3 of Stranger Things with special repeat guest Kate Racculia! Whose wit, charm, and Big Barb Energy you might recall from her appearance in our Stranger Things, S1 TV Book Club. Listen to find out what made Margaret want to throw her computer across the room in annoyance, why Andrew thinks capitalism is the strangest thing of all, how many times Kathryn can say the word serial before you absolutely must eat a bowl of serial or die, and the SURPRISE TWIST mention of Little Women you never see coming. If you are as struck with Kate as it is evident we are, follow her on Twitter or Instagram, or-- better still!!-- buy one of her great books:
On this week's episode we discuss both Pop TV, the channel that's now home to Schitt's Creek and One Day at Time, AND ABC's new #PeakSummer tv: the miniature golf/obstacle course show Holey Moley. Plus we address the all-important question: is listening to "mood music" when you bone down a super weird?
Look, we accept that the order of this is going to be a little wonky. Paternity leave! Things got a little out of order. But this week we're going to talk about the Deadwood movie, even though we also announce that later this summer, we will be doing Deadwood season 2 as a paternity leave book club. Spoilers for Deadwood, a very old show!
Before we get to the Deadwood movie, and Kathryn waxes rhapsodic about all things David Milch, we do a brief mailbag segment where we talk about Blue Bloods!
In the last episode we've recorded before Andrew departs on paternity leave, we have a nice long talk about all the TV we're looking forward to catching up on. Spoiler: Margaret suggests we assign her stuff and then laughs heartily and the idea she might actually watch any of it.
We also have a brief conversation about the 2019 Emmy nominations, and some thoughts on how far we as a culture have come in the past 10 years.
This week! We're checking in on Amazon's Wheel of Time series in light of fresh* casting news, answering one particularly novel mailbag question, and then wrapping up our Good Fight book club with a desultory conversation about episodes 7-10. A conversation which includes a lot more information than you'd expect about the classic 1989 family film, The Adventures of Milo & Otis.
*(when we recorded)
This week we are deeply saddened that Andrew is not with us, and immensely joyful to welcome someone else in his absence: his wife Suz! We break down all things Big Little Lies, including but not limited to: why this season exists, who our favorite characters are, the dubious utility of dressing up as Bo Peep when you're giving therapy to a child, and Meryl Streep's teeth.
For our big 200th episode, we hope you enjoy the backdoor pilot for THE BONES ZONE, our weekly podcast about the show Bones. It’s been a long road, folks, but we’re so glad you support us in our weird art.
SHOW NOTES:
“Emily Deschanel on Biggest 'Bones' Lessons”: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/emily-deschanel-biggest-bones-lessons-working-david-boreanaz-returning-tv-1215108
WATCH THE SHOW BONES: https://www.hulu.com/series/bones-08cc467f-2057-4331-825a-1f993c79c862
What if CBS All Access ... is good? We're pretty sure it's not but there are enough things about it now that we feel like it's worth discussing. We also chat about episodes 4, 5 and 6 of the first season of The Good Fight.
PLUS, stay tuned for an extremely important announcement about our 200th episode regarding what Zone it will occupy.
This week's show is all about one of our favorite writers and performers, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. After talking about her current and upcoming projects, we dive deep into the masterwork that is season 2 of Fleabag.
SHOW NOTES:
PWB's HBO pilot: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/phoebe-waller-bridge-comedy-run-lands-hbo-pilot-order-1102282
PWB and rehabilitating James Bond: https://deadline.com/2019/05/phoebe-waller-bridge-bond-1202624860/
Kathryn on Fleabag's wall-breaking second season: https://www.vulture.com/2019/05/fleabag-season-2-fourth-wall-ending.html
This week we're starting our latest TV book club, the CBS All Access / briefly CBS series The Good Fight! It's a spin-off of the long-running legal procedural The Good Wife, so we start with a little game where we try to come up with some especially unlikely or improbable spin-offs of our own. But when we turn to The Good Fight, we want to make things very clear: You do not need to have seen the original series to enjoy this show. Plus we will explain the very few Good Fight references you'll find here. We'll also explain the phrase "Chunk Palmer."
Remember those little interviews they would air after every episode of Game of Thrones? And how they were always kind of bad? And how most HBO shows also do them and they’re almost always kind of bad? We talk about those.
We also chat about the mockumentary format by way of FX’s What We Do In The Shadows, a show that is (thankfully) funny enough to outshine a threadbare format.
SHOW NOTES:
What We Do In The Shadows: https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/what-we-do-in-the-shadows
The Beets (from the cartoon Doug): https://doug.fandom.com/wiki/The_Beets
We decided to talk a little about the shows most viewers do actually watch, that get decidedly less attention than many of the buzziest, prestige-iest series. We talk about some specific examples, including Blue Bloods, Grey's Anatomy, and The Goldbergs, but we also try to think a little about how these shows work, what the appeal is, and what we lose out on by just sort of forgetting they're always out there.
Also, Margaret watches a show called Jonathan Creek for Kozy Mystery Korner, and we laugh quite a bit at his sweet sweet 90s boy hair.
This week we chat about a report correlating TV viewing habits (and viewers' feelings about specific shows) with their political views. Then we talk about how we, as a society, just can't quit our reruns of sitcom rerun standbys like The Office and Friends.
SHOW NOTES:
Get your politics into my TV: http://www.mediaimpactproject.org/uploads/5/1/2/7/5127770/pcc-report_0422_pdf.pdf
People can't stop watching these old-ass shows: https://www.adweek.com/tv-video/the-office-friends-and-greys-anatomy-were-netflixs-most-streamed-shows-last-year/
But there's something about The Office (US): https://www.adweek.com/tv-video/why-the-office-now-one-of-netflixs-biggest-hits-still-resonates-with-audiences/
It's time to check in with a bunch of new and upcoming series for the summer, a segment that includes discussion of such things as: Good Omens, The Society, Big Little Lies S2, Veronica Mars, and The Boys. It's also a very special edition of a Patreon Forcening, featuring an episode someone asked *MARGARET* to watch. The world turned upside down.
First we talk a bit about Barry and Fleabag, two shows which we thought did not need second seasons. It turns out we were wrong! But then, we jump on the bandwagon for an actually timely episode about this week's Game of Thrones battle, so that Andrew can give us a nice little technology corner about why exactly no one could see any of Game of Thrones. Turns out it's... compression! Also, your bad TV lights. Also did you ever calibrate your TV?
This week, Kathryn finally settles her longrunning feud with wildlife expert-slash-goofball idiot Bear Grylls. Then, we gather around the watercooler to discuss the latest character to die on the final season of Game Of Thrones: the concept of watercooler television!! Of course, what is dead may never die.
SHOW NOTES:
You vs. Wild: https://www.netflix.com/title/80227574
Is Game of Thrones the last watercooler show? https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/game-of-thrones-the-last-show-we-watch-together.html
Is watercooler TV just dead, then??? https://www.theocelot.co.uk/is-there-still-room-for-watercooler-tv-in-the-netflix-era/
Our first task this week is to help a patron in need of some recommendations for happy, slow-burning rom-com TV. At the beginning of the segment Kathryn laments how few options there are to provide this; several minutes later, many options are provided.
The main course of this episode, though, is an in depth conversation about Hulu's recent series Shrill, the Aidy Bryant-led adaptation of Lindy West's memoir. Margaret. Has. Feelings.
This week Andrew watches the first episode of Netflix’s Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman, a deeply weird Japanese show about a dude who gets horny for traditional Japanese sweets. Then we get serious and talk about the ongoing situation between the WGA and Hollywood agents, agents who may or may not be profiting too much off of the efforts of writers.
SHOW NOTES: Kantaro: The Sweet Tooth Salaryman: https://www.netflix.com/title/80175348
The WGA’s fight with Hollywood Agencies, Explained: https://www.vulture.com/2019/03/wga-hollywood-agents-packaging-explained.html
How Hollywood Writers Feel About Leaving Their Agents: https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/wga-writers-on-leaving-their-agents-8-weigh-in.html
Margaret updates us on some new offerings in the Cozy Mystery category, including a review of the new spin-off of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and a brand-new Acorn series about mystery writers who, naturally, solve mysteries.
Then, we attempt to break down what is going on with the new Apple TV streaming service, including such important questions as: what does it cost? When will it be available? What will be on it? Will it be any good? (Spoiler: We have answers to almost none of those questions.)
This week we hit all the HOT news about the long-canceled TV show Bones, and then we wrap up our TV Book Club about the first season of HBO's Deadwood (a show that we will, in all probability, revisit).
SHOW NOTES:
Bones! https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/fox-rocked-by-179-million-bones-ruling-lying-cheating-reprehensible-studio-fraud-1190346
Deadwood! https://www.hbo.com/deadwood