Appointment Television

In fulfillment of another patreon request, Andrew tells Kathryn and Margaret all about a two-part episode of Quantum Leap. This involves attempting to explain the premise of Quantum Leap, much to everyone's delight and confusion. Afterwards, we talk about news clips and news anchors on TV, which includes a celebration of Perd Hapley. 

This is our Roseanne revival episode. We are unequivocal in declaring Roseanne Barr to be reprehensible; unpacking her show (and the response it has prompted, at least so far) is more complicated. Come and join us on this frustrating quest!  BEHOLD, A SEA OF ROSEANNE TAKES:  The Roseanne reboot and ABC's "heartland strategy": https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/business/media/roseanne-ratings-trump.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur How TV depicts Trump supporters, explained: https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/30/17174720/roseanne-2018-reboot-controversy-trump-explained-review When different viewers like the same show for different reasons: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/04/07/the-great-divide-emily-nussbaum On the divide between the old Roseanne Conner and the new one: https://decider.com/2018/04/04/new-roseanne-advocates/ ABC tries to separate Roseanne the show from Roseanne the person's toxic political views: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/roseanne-boss-asks-viewers-separate-revival-co

Thanks to a recent spate of TV renewals from Netflix and other outlets, we take a moment to celebrate the upcoming third season of One Day at a Time and talk about the campaign surrounding its renewal. Also, apparently, Nailed It! has been renewed, which we have no feelings about.  Afterwards, we chat about the new HBO hitman comedy show Barry, starring Bill Hader. We like it! A lot!

This week, Kathryn and the gang deliver another round of TV recommendations based on listener requests. We then dive into the worst thing we have watched for the show in recent memory, the soulless Netflix baking competition show Nailed It. SHOW NOTES! This week’s TV recommendations: NBC’s Life: https://www.nbc.com/life?nbc=1 ER: https://www.hulu.com/er Southland: https://www.thedailybeast.com/southland-televisions-most-underrated-drama Black-ish: https://www.hulu.com/blackish Grown-ish: https://www.hulu.com/grownish Dead Like Me: http://www.vulture.com/2013/06/happy-10th-anniversary-dead-like-me.html And also there's Nailed It (please do not use this link to watch the show): https://www.netflix.com/title/80179138

This week we kick things off with an overly self-aware discussion about the point of television criticism, who it's for, whether it makes sense to critique things like plausibility and character behavior, and how TV is in fact like books now. (Kathryn, somehow, does not combust). Then we talk about NBC's Good Girls, a show we want to like but also a show that doesn't seem to know what it is yet. 

This week instead of doing a little thing and a big thing, we do a bunch of little things. It's an ATV Lightning Round! SHOW NOTES: We're not fans of casting the same actor in two or more roles in the same project, there, we said it: http://ew.com/tv/2017/09/10/deuce-james-franco-double/ A woman is running Amazon's TV studios: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/02/amazon-jennifer-salke-studio-head-roy-price-replacement Cougartown is on Hulu now: http://www.eonline.com/news/906949/one-tree-hill-everwood-and-cougar-town-coming-to-hulu-in-february-2018 The show Younger is a thing! https://www.hulu.com/younger Recently canceled queer shows that deserved better: https://www.buzzfeed.com/bayleajones/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-butch?utm_term=.twYpk0q59#.txpRmXw4x Stephanie Beatriz on Rosa Diaz's coming out: http://ew.com/tv/2017/12/05/brooklyn-nine-nine-rosa-bisexual/

It's that time of year when a young TV fan's eye turns to what's happening in the world of spring television releases. We do a short round of selections, including the final season of The Americans, Heidi Thomas' Little Women, and the new NBC series Rise. Then we talk about the Netflix reboot of Queer Eye, which we are much more positive about than we thought we'd be! 

This week, Andrew talks about his experience watching the old 70s Lynda Carter Wonder Woman show, which occupies a space somewhere in between the campy action of 60s Adam West Batman and the campy action of the 80s A-Team. Then, we take one last trip to theater camp to wrap up our Slings and Arrows TV Book Club. SHOW NOTES More on Wonder Woman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Woman_(TV_series) Wonder Woman on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wonder-Woman-Season-1/dp/B000NWZGRW Slings and Arrows Season 1 Episode 5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR-jzPyjAcU Slings and Arrows Season 1 Episode 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d90kdolykoI

We catch up with the show that killed a beloved TV dad with a popular kitchen appliance on the night of the Super Bowl, This Is Us. We then talk about the fantastic second season of Netflix's One Day at a Time, and dig into a little about Rita Moreno, how the show does politics, and the frustration of amazing, inclusive, human TV shows that feel destined to languish unseen by most TV watchers. 

This week, special guest Craig (of Overdue fame) joins the show to help Kathryn recommend a new round of shows to our generous patrons. Then, Craig lends us his theatrical expertise as we jump into episodes 3 and 4 of Slings and Arrows. SHOW NOTES:  Show recommendations! Adventure Time: http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/video/adventuretime/ Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: https://www.netflix.com/title/70259338 Orange Is The New Black: https://www.netflix.com/title/70242311 Line of Duty: https://www.hulu.com/line-of-duty Borgen: https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/borgen-season-1-english-subtitles/id1029864055 Slings and Arrows S01E03: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kseo537iflc Slings and Arrows S01E04: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXHBBi79wg8 Overdue, where you can hear Craig every week: http://overduepodcast.com/

We return to the world of Black Mirror after a very long break, this time to do a swing through a few episodes of the new season. Each one of us watched a different episode, and we use this opportunity to play a little game - we describe most of the episode we saw, and the other two have to try to imagine what the inevitable Black Mirror twist will be. Kathryn watched "Hang the DJ," Margaret watched "Arkangel," and Andrew watched "USS Callister." Heads up: we definitely spoil all of them. 

This week Andrew suffers through Better Late Than Never, a not-quite-reality show about old men being casually racist in a foreign country. Then, we chat about episodes one and two of Slings and Arrows, our latest TV Book Club.  SHOW NOTES Better Late Than Never, which is truly terrible: https://www.hulu.com/better-late-than-never Slings and Arrows episode 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4OL2DZLL7k Slings and Arrows episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8ctDIGg_9s

We spend a few moments thinking about our TV resolutions for the new year. For Andrew and Kathryn it's mostly about specific TV they'd like to check out; for Margaret it boils down to "actually watch some TV." We then take a look at the field of new TV to look forward to in the new year, and pick out some of our most anticipated series, including Sharp Objects, Good Girls, and the truly concerning 9-1-1. Finally, we announce our next TV Book Club, Slings & Arrows!

This week’s episode is pretty much what it says in the title - we briefly celebrate the unceremonious and thoroughly deserved cancelation of Wisdom of the Crowd, and then we talk about the pleasant surprise that is the first season of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. SHOW NOTES Wisdom of the Crowd Canceled Amid Jeremy Piven Sexual Assault Scandal: http://tvline.com/2017/11/27/wisdom-of-the-crowd-cancelled-cbs-jeremy-piven-sexual-assault-allegations/ Me, Myself, and I also canceled: http://tvline.com/2017/11/01/me-myself-i-cancelled-cbs-season-1-bobby-moynihan/ Amy Sherman-Palladino talks Mrs. Maisel: http://www.vulture.com/2017/11/amy-sherman-palladino-the-marvelous-mrs-maisel.html We need Hallmark movies because the world is a cold, uncaring place: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/we-cant-take-any-more-of-2017-so-weve-turned-to-the-hallmark-channel-in-desperation/2017/12/07/1ad3dab6-d6ca-11e7-b62d-d9345ced896d_story.html

Margaret actually watched some television! She shares that information with us, and we make appropriately impressed noises.  We also think back on the year in TV, and the way 2017 shaped the stuff we watched, the stuff we stopped watching, and the stuff we watched but then completely forgot about. If you have not watched The Good Place, we do not spoil it! But you should really watch it. 

This week’s abbreviated holiday week episode is all about characters that TV shows want to make “happen.” Sometimes shows and showrunners have a character or a performer that they want us to love who we just can’t love, and that would be fine if they’d just stop trying so hard. SHOW NOTES Kathryn’s recaps of The Crown season two: http://www.vulture.com/tv/the-crown/ Jason Mantzoukas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Mantzoukas Fred Armisen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Armisen Fetch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjt9Qx9MBPk

It's holiday time, so we dedicate the entire episode to a close reading of one of Netflix's forays into the wide world of dedicated Christmas programming: the Hallmark Christmas-style movie A Christmas Prince. Strap in for lying! Mothra! Negging! Jellied meats! Birther scandals! Romance! Tokenism! Constitutional crises! And so much more! 

This week, Kathryn makes a new round of TV recommendations, just in time for the holiday break. We then check in with the adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace, available on Netflix in the US. TV recommendations! Northern Exposure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Exposure ER: https://www.nbc.com/er?nbc=1 Chuck: https://www.nbc.com/chuck?nbc=1 Happy Endings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Endings_(TV_series) Silicon Valley: https://www.hbo.com/silicon-valley Slings and Arrows: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slings_%26_Arrows Bob’s Burgers: https://www.fox.com/bobs-burgers/ GLOW: https://www.netflix.com/title/80114988 Black-ish: http://abc.go.com/shows/blackish Watch Alias Grace on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80119411 Then read Kathryn’s piece on the ending: http://www.vulture.com/2017/11/alias-grace-lets-talk-about-the-ending.html

In the ongoing discussion about how we feel when we find out artists are jerks (or worse), we talk about separating the art from the artist. This discussion happened in the context of Louis C.K., but we think you'll find it relevant for all of your most recent #metoo-era feelings. Afterwards, we wrap up Stranger Things 2 and talk about our thoughts on Bob the Brain, the awesomeness of Dustin, and the less awesomeness of episode seven.  

This week we talk about Amazon’s attempt to make the next Game of Thrones by revisiting the spring from which Game of Thrones sprang, and the kinds of Tolkien-flavored shows we’d really like to see. Then, one of our listeners and Patreon donors makes Andrew watch the pilot for Cavemen, the super-regressive short-lived mid-2000s sitcom based on the old insurance commercials.