Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 110: 'Work It,' 'Downton Abbey,' 'The Firm' & more
Dan and Alan also review 'Shameless' and 'House of Lies' and answer your mail
Welcome to the first Firewall & Iceberg Podcast of 2012, and the last before Dan and I are hip-deep in the events of the winter Television Critics Association press tour. I apologize in advance for two things this week: 1)The audio's not great, as Skype was not our friend today; and 2)The sports talk segment at the end goes on for quite a while. As we've said before, we're doing those things in addition to the TV coverage (nothing was dropped so we could debate Rodgers vs. Brees), and there's no content after, so you don't have to listen to that if you don't want, but we may have gotten carried away nonetheless. (The Hall of Fame discussion alone is longer than any show reviews.) Before that, we do a bunch of reviews of new and returning shows, including an early contender for the worst of the year, and the return of one of Dan's favorites from last year.
The line-up:
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupTyler
January 2, 2012 at 7:07PM EST Reply to CommentI think its a good thing to talk about sports. You both enjoy sports, so why should you not talk about. You guys talk about movies sometimes. Its your podcast, so you guys can do what you want. Also Knicks will not make the playoffs.
January 3, 2012 at 4:40PM ESTGT
January 2, 2012 at 8:14PM EST Reply to CommentYou meant World War One. Whoops.
GT
January 2, 2012 at 8:32PM EST Reply to CommentYou mean World War One. Oh dear.
GT This repeat was an accident, sorry. And the smug tone unintended.
January 2, 2012 at 8:34PM ESTViginti
January 2, 2012 at 8:43PM EST Reply to CommentI don't mind the sports section, though I must admit that as an Aussie listening to you two talking about all that stuff feels exactly the same as watching the first half of the 'Luck' pilot; I don't personally have a clue what you're saying, but it just seems right.
I just wonder if it will set a strange precedent though. I mean, if you can get off of TV for sport then why not for the 2012 election? Why not moderate a large scale religious debate in episode 150. Other series have taken stranger turns after their 100th episodes.
chuchundra I doubt we'll hear Alan and Dan discuss any political topic. That way lies madness.
January 2, 2012 at 9:17PM ESTed w I'm rooting for a segment with them discussing renaissance architecture.
January 2, 2012 at 10:38PM ESTWeebeysPlasticFish "Other series have taken stranger turns after their 100th episodes."
January 2, 2012 at 11:42PM ESTI just hope neither of them end up pregnant. Babies make terrible podcast characters.
Viginti Do I smell a wedding on the cards? If Alan was to leave his wife for Dan during sweeps then that would be both melodramatic and a good time for the pair to finally weigh in on gay marriage, plus it would finally resolve all that will-they, won't-they tension that the series has been stretching out over all these years.
January 3, 2012 at 4:24AM ESTI guess the real question is, need they podcast live on the wedding night? Can't sound any worse than they did in the first carcast.
Andrei How about some stuntcasting for the sports segments? I hear Iman Shumpert has some spare time...
January 3, 2012 at 2:15PM ESTSaveFarris I say combine Sports talk & Australia and spend a few minutes talking about LSU's Brad Wing!!!
January 3, 2012 at 5:07PM ESTJimmbo
January 3, 2012 at 12:22PM EST Reply to CommentDoes anyone know if PBS is cutting Downton Abby like they did last year?
Ivan
January 3, 2012 at 3:08PM EST Reply to CommentGame of Thrones Season 2 is filmed in Croatia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF_E6CfMC60&feature=related
BenH
January 3, 2012 at 5:32PM EST Reply to CommentI love the podcast and I don't begrudge you from talking about whatever you want to talk about, but personally I vote against sports coverage. There's no shortage of sports talk out there, but I don't think there are many podcasts that talk intelligently about TV in-depth.
If it were up to me, I'd rather just have more listener mail or talking in-depth about recent telecasts. If there's no one show to focus on (a la Mad Men or Twin Peaks), maybe you could talk about a telecast of the week from a show that was not discussed elsewhere in the podcast. Or check in on shows that you watch that are not part of the blog rotation.
sepinwall As Dan has explained before, the sports talk isn't taking the place of any TV discussion. Without it, we would just stop the podcast after an hour and talk about sports for a while anyway. This way, we're recording it. You can listen, or not. It's at the end for that reason. If we didn't do it on the podcast, there wouldn't be additional TV content.
January 3, 2012 at 6:11PM ESTViginti BENH, I know we're not supposed to get political but I think you're making a mistake in assuming that this is a democracy. Alan sits on the Iron Throne here, with Dan whispering orders in his ear. We don't get a vote.
January 3, 2012 at 8:28PM EST
January 3, 2012 at 8:55PM EST-Daniel
Viginti Well I would imagine that you're Dan Fienberg and that this is some sort of later iteration of the games, but to play yours I would have to say Little finger. One never really knows where you will stand until the decision has been made, plus you do habitually partake in and promote the occasional guilty pleasure. Mostly though it's because of the balls, Varys' voice could never be so deep nor could he grow such a manly beard.
January 3, 2012 at 10:24PM ESTEither way though your pull grants you power equal to the king himself, just with none of the notoriety.
EdithKeeler
January 3, 2012 at 6:33PM EST Reply to CommentKeep the sport coming! and I'm an Aussie too who knows what you're talking about sometimes (baseball. Go Cubs.) and not in the slightest at other times (basketball, NFL). But I like it.
However in honour of Downton Abbey I think you need to talk about cricket too. So Dan, Alan - India's refusal to use the DRS - Yay or nay?
Re Downton, the Falcon Crest aspects put me off more than Dan but I'm glad his love remains intact. I thought Christmas Special was a return to form of sorts. If nothing else, it gave me my Iain Glen fix before Game of Throne returns.
Viginti I found the pairs dismissal of the Christmas special pretty hilarious, given that it actually is make or break and of vital importance to the season, tying together all of the plotlines like it does.
January 3, 2012 at 8:26PM ESTI think someone needs to start sending Dan and Alan some Australian screeners, given the apparent size of their Aussie audience. I wonder what they would think of the John Edwards efforts in particular; Love My Way would make an interesting Summer retrospective.
January 3, 2012 at 10:52PM ESTThe upcoming Phryne Fisher series looks like something that could end up on PBS or whatever. I hope its good.
Viginti Well, when they mentioned what they had seen of the season Littlefinger... I mean Dan made a comment akin to "though we haven't seen the Christman special, which I'm sure is make it or break it" in that slightly higher pitched, sarcastic 'oh no!' voice that he has at times. Then they riffed on its relation to Doctor Who for a bit.
January 3, 2012 at 11:12PM ESTCould well be a misunderstanding on my part, but it certainly sounded like a bit of a dismissal. Which would be warranted were this a US show, the UK has a habit of making their specials worthwhile though, see Ricky Gervais for an obvious example without Timelords and stuff.
January 3, 2012 at 11:22PM EST-Daniel
Viginti Yeah, that makes sense. I guess it all comes back to what you guys have been discussing over the past few weeks with finales and whether they are make or break and really the Christmas Special ( poorly named given that the Christmas section lasts all of five minutes) really is this season's finale. It even has a courage/cowardice moment in relation to killing off a main character, though I will say no more on that.
January 3, 2012 at 11:28PM ESTSo if any one episode could make or break the year then it most likely would be the special, is all I was trying to say. Peace?
gladly
January 3, 2012 at 10:12PM EST Reply to CommentWill there be "Downton Abbey" episode coverage on Hitfix--either by Dan or Alan? I'm hoping yes.
RU Serious
January 4, 2012 at 9:50AM EST Reply to CommentIf you'd stop apologizing for talking about sports, no one would even care, I say. Just talk about what you want to talk about.
Though I have to say it felt like your argument for Aaron Rodgers for MVP sounded diametrically opposed to your argument for Jose Bautista for AL MVP: you talk a lot about the team's record. I know, apples and oranges, football and baseball, but do you make a philosophical shift based on sport? I know the NFL has always been more about rewarding the most outstanding player and that that playerhas a more direct impact on his teams results (since the NFL leans towards QBs and RB's).
He's never going to win it, but Eli Manning, based on the sheer word "VALUE", should finish third. The guy managed at least three wins on his own this year that they probably would have lost without him (Dallas the first time, the Jets, the Patriots) and it would have been four if their defense could get ONE stop against the Pack.
sepinwall Different sport. A quarterback plays a far greater role in his team's record than an outfielder. Baseball is predominantly an individual sport; football is not.
January 4, 2012 at 3:06PM ESTKevin
January 4, 2012 at 12:23PM EST Reply to CommentI disagree with the idea that Josh Lucas was supposed to steal Matthew McConaughey's career and McConaughey stole it back.
I think Lucas was supposed to steal McConaughey's career, and in the process, Bradley Cooper came and swiped it from both of them.
sepinwall Hmmm... Interesting. But McConnaughey still stars in movies, and Lucas is doing The Firm.
January 4, 2012 at 3:07PM ESTI also hadn't realized that the two co-starred in The Lincoln Lawyer. I feel like that'd be a combination of matter and anti-matter or something, where if they shook hands, the movie blows up.
Kevin
January 4, 2012 at 12:24PM EST Reply to CommentI disagree with the idea that Josh Lucas was supposed to steal Matthew McConaughey's career and McConaughey stole it back.
I think Lucas was supposed to steal McConaughey's career, and in the process, Bradley Cooper came and swiped it from both of them.