Listen: Firewall & Iceberg Podcast No. 101
Dan and Alan review 'Hell on Wheels,' the new season of 'Bones' and more
Happy Halloween, Boys & Ghouls. Time for Firewall & Iceberg Podcast No. 101.
I'm not sure how this podcast became as long as it did, but we certainly had plenty to talk about, with "Hell on Wheels," the return of "Bones" and PBS' "Page Eight." We also did another installment of Dan's Reality Roundup and a few random segments, including a ratings update.
New week isn't gonna be nearly as full, so send e-mails.
This week's breakdown:
"Bones" -- 1:55 - 8:25
"Page Eight" -- 8:30 - 17:00
FX getting into Charlie Sheen -- 17:10 - 27:00
"Hell on Wheels" -- 27:05 - 41:40
Recent Ratings Overview -- 41:45 - 53:45
Dan's Reality Roundup -- 53:45 - 01:14:30
Listener Mail: Women watch football too -- 01:14:35 - 01:19:45
As always, you can subscribe to The Firewall & Iceberg Podcast over at the iTunes Store, where you can also rate us and comment on us. [Or you can always follow our RSS Feed.]
And here's the podcast...
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
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Login or create a HitFix account Login Signupeddieisannoy
October 31, 2011 at 5:14PM EST Reply to CommentWhich segment covers the "we totally jumped ugly and overreacted to American Horror Story because we think Falchuk and Murphy are jerks, but now we realize the show is unique and interesting, so yeah, sorry about that" ?
sepinwall The segment in which we discuss how we still hate it?
October 31, 2011 at 5:30PM EST
October 31, 2011 at 5:32PM ESTBut troll away, good sir. Troll away!
-Daniel
Tausif Khan I do think there is a related issue that I would like a response to. When the whole Glee labor situation poped up and specifically when Falchuck treated the reporter terribly I remember there being a podcast when you (Alan and Dan) said they treat their employees horribly. I felt that was a bit extreme given that nothing concrete had been decided while some of the actors displayed open confusion none displayed the open disappointment and anger of Julie Benz after she was killed off of Dexter. Do you (Alan and Dan) stand behind the comment that Murphy and Falchuck treat their employees terribly?
October 31, 2011 at 6:06PM EST
October 31, 2011 at 6:13PM EST-Daniel
Tausif Khan Thanks for the response.
October 31, 2011 at 7:24PM ESTeddieisannoy I'm not trolling, I'm just calling you on your bias but you guys just go ahead, keep pimping Chuck. Let's keep our fingers crossed for another season so Jeff and Lester become the Intersect and win a Grammy.
October 31, 2011 at 7:35PM EST
October 31, 2011 at 7:41PM EST-Daniel
M As someone who reads/listens to most everything you guys do, I just want to call BS on everything this poster has said. Did you guys criticize Murphy and Falchuck over the summer? Yes. But have you ever given the impression you were SO enraged by them that you're automatically going to trash anything they do? Not even remotely. (And, frankly, to think anyone would be that worked up over that situation is completely ridiculous.) You guys both criticized the Big Love showrunners for their damage control after the Chloe Sevigny incident, but if you go back and read any of Alan's reviews, even the negative ones, it's pretty clear he's being totally impartial and juding the episodes on their own merit. All of your reviews of American Horror Story have clearly been based on what you've seen on the screen and your reasons for not liking it have been well reasoned. To accuse someone of bias simply because they don't like something that you do is childish. And it's even more childish to throw the accusation out EVERY time the subject of the show comes up. Guess what? There are plenty of people out there who think American Horror Story sucks and it has NOTHING to do with how they feel about the people behind the scenes.
October 31, 2011 at 8:47PM ESTM
October 31, 2011 at 5:48PM EST Reply to CommentI have a few questions about "Anger Management." Do you know if it will be single or multi-camera? Based on the fact that it's a Debmar-Mercury show I assume it'll be multi-camera. Would that make it FX's first multi-cam comedy? That alone makes it seem like an odd fit for the network. Also, do you have any idea how exactly the Debmar model works? Given that most shows struggle to come up with 22 episodes each year, how exactly are they able to churn them out so quickly?
October 31, 2011 at 5:52PM ESTAs for the churning, that's a mystery to me and I can't begin to imagine how they're going to follow that pace with a semi-A-lister like Sheen, but that also could surprise us!
-Daniel
Liz
October 31, 2011 at 6:54PM EST Reply to CommentThis is only slightly related to the podcast, but the discussion about the Native Americans conversing in English made me think of "Switched at Birth." I was so impressed with how that show handled the deaf conversations. Subtitles all the way, sometimes for entire scenes at a time. No unnecessary background music or ambient noise. A lot of movies with deaf storylines have one hearing or speaking character repeating out loud everything that the deaf person signed and then responding, which is somewhat awkward and unnatural (see "Children of a Lesser God," a movie that I otherwise love). But "Switched at Birth" doesn't go out of its way to make it "easier" for the audience and just goes for the subtitles. I thought it was such a sign of respect for both the show's characters and its audience.
I understand the slightly more difficult logistics behind this situation, but it's too bad that "Hell on Wheels" goes the standard route.
Sareeta
October 31, 2011 at 9:06PM EST Reply to CommentI am disappointed about Hell on Wheels. The train looks really great considering it was built from scratch, the costumes seem very detailed and authentic, and the 4 main characters appear to be interesting, at least on the surface. Is it too spoilery to explain specifically what you guys didn't like? Is the story not interesting or just not executed well? The acting? The only actor I am familiar with is Colm Meaney. Is Deadwood influencing your opinion?
As for American Horror Story, I enjoyed the pilot. It wasn't perfect and I wouldn't be sad to see Dillon McDermott's character disappear, but I liked more about it than I disliked.
October 31, 2011 at 9:14PM EST-Daniel
Sareeta The impression I got is that you guys didn't like it because it wasn't Deadwood (comparisons between Ian McShane and Colm Meaney, Deadwood monologues, this preacher vs. Deadwood preacher, etc.) and because perhaps the story was too narrowly focused on one man's revenge. Also, I couldn't tell if you didn't like the performances of the actors or if you didn't like the way the characters were written. It's probably hard to avoid the Deadwood comparisons, but I wonder if it is possible to judge it on its own or maybe in comparison to other AMC shows rather than in comparison to the very high standard set by the HBO series. Nothing more I can say until I see the pilot.
November 1, 2011 at 9:42AM ESTAndrew
October 31, 2011 at 9:13PM EST Reply to CommentHow did Alan go an entire segment involving a character named "The Swede" without making a Julie Taylor joke?
October 31, 2011 at 9:15PM EST-Daniel
Greg Actually, there was. "The Swede" was a guy Julie dated briefly in the beginning of season 2. If I remember correctly, he was a lifeguard.
October 31, 2011 at 11:00PM EST
October 31, 2011 at 11:06PM EST-Daniel
Greg Oops, my bad!
October 31, 2011 at 11:10PM ESTAndrew But if this is true, when did Landry go on his 17 state killing spree?
November 1, 2011 at 6:20PM ESTNIcole
October 31, 2011 at 9:43PM EST Reply to CommentYeah, come one guys. Don't you know you are not allowed to have opinions that might differ from most people...See most people LOVE AHS,so the only possible explanation for you two saying you hate it is that you secretly really like it, but because you despise the creators you have to be negative...
Tausif Khan
November 1, 2011 at 12:36AM EST Reply to CommentYay PBS scripted programming coverage! Thanks.
Dan in terms of the tone issue if I didn't know that he spelled his name Bill Nighy I wouldn't know that he wasn't "the science guy". Your conveying of tone hasn't gotten better but I have to agree with Alan.
I also thought he pronounced his name Nyeghee
Michael Gambon is the only one who worked at Hogwarts in Page 8. But to be fair when the first Harry Potter came out my mom commented how it looked like Chris Columbus had cast the movie by watching a recently aired Masterpiece production of David Copperfield so Alan is not too far off on the incestuousness.
Ron Moore's Precinct 17 was described as Harry Potter for grown ups was this the project people were getting confused with some FX project?
I really would like to see Harry's (or anyone's) journey as an auror in an visual format. It would be amazing. Some one please make that happen.
Anyway, thanks for the heads up on the PBS programming. I am sure it will win Oscars (even if it can't I am not sure they weren't trying this pedigree of cast and crew). Hope there is more PBS coverage in the future.
Jamie
November 1, 2011 at 3:41AM EST Reply to Comment"Broad view" -- pun intended? I hope so; I chortled each time you said it.
Shannon
November 1, 2011 at 11:03AM EST Reply to CommentI have to disagree about Bones. The "will they/won't they" tension was always a big part of the show. It may not be your favorite part, or the part you chose to focus on, but it was definitely the central tension for the characters.
Without having seen the new episodes, I can only say that I was immensely disappointed with the way they wrapped things up last season. It felt like a huge cop-out, not to mention an incredibly lame resolution to a love story that was drawn out past the point of all reason. And the way the creators have been reacting to fan disappointment in the press is truly appalling.
November 1, 2011 at 12:23PM ESTBut while I always liked the friction between the characters, I never viewed their inevitable coupling as being the reason for the show's existence, which many fans seem to (I'm not judging here, just noting).
I feel like you'll probably like where the show picks up if you just ignore your annoyance at where it ended up last season... But I could be wrong...
-Daniel
Steven Owen
November 2, 2011 at 10:36PM EST Reply to CommentCan someone please point me to the podcast in which Dan and Alan take Ryan Murphy and Brad F to task for behaving badly off set?
thanks
November 2, 2011 at 10:40PM EST-Daniel
Steven Owen
November 2, 2011 at 11:17PM EST Reply to Commentthanks for the quick response Daniel.
Can you please link to the most prominent discussion - I can't seem to find the relevant podcast/s here.
IAmError
November 4, 2011 at 6:35AM EST Reply to CommentOne idea I saw about where AHS could go in season two actually appealed to me: they end season one with the brutal deaths of all or most of the family living there (perhaps making a few of them into ghosts) and then season two introduces the new suckers who buy the house.
Although it's entirely possible that I only like this idea because it offers the slim chance that Dylan McDermott might go away. I don't know why, but that guy annoys the crap out of me.
EdithKeeler
November 5, 2011 at 4:21AM EST Reply to CommentI dopped out of Bones ages ago and while the description of Recent Developments makes me highly dubious about getting back in, I'll take Dan's word for the fact its well handled and give it a look.
I do sometimes think its a shame we have this Bones which means we'll never see a show based on how Tempe Brennan actually is in the book ie not a single thing like the Tempe in show. This shouldn't be held against the show as it is of course but I can't help wistfully thinking about a show about a 50 year old well adjusted real human being set in Montreal (partially). And Andrew Ryan would be way cuter than David B. ;-) Oh well.
Mary gold
November 5, 2011 at 9:57AM EST Reply to CommentRe: Bones - I thought that they implied a hookup between Brennan and Booth in "The Hole in The Heart." She slept over after Nigel's death and then following that event there were a few mischievous looks exchanged between Angela and Brennan when they tried to discuss it.
November 5, 2011 at 12:30PM EST-Daniel
SMT
November 5, 2011 at 2:08PM EST Reply to CommentLove the podcast, very small request; put the podcast number at the front of the title instead of at the end (sorts better on MP3 players, even more so with ones that have smaller screens). Thanks!
jukeofurl
November 14, 2011 at 3:28AM EST Reply to CommentIt's Nov 14 ---where the f**k are the podcasts? I have dial up & it takes hours to DL anything. This is one of the very few shows where the hosts mostly deliver as advertised & aren't self-absorbed smut talkers. If somebody died, shouldn't there be a box somewhere saying so? I live in a very limited media location & I need this podcast. I hate the @#%&*! Internet.