Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 116: 'Downton Abbey,' 'On Freddie Roach,' reality TV & more
Dan and Alan also answer your questions on pilot season, Ann Perkins and Jeremy Lin
It's a slow week in television, relatively-speaking (no major premieres, at least), which makes for an eclectic Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, where talk of the Dowager Countess of "Downton Abbey" rubs up against discussion of boxing trainer Freddie Roach, Ann Perkins' love life, pilot season, and, of course, new podcast mainstay Jeremy Lin (but only kinda-sorta).
The line-up:
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About This Blog
All through his childhood, Alan Sepinwall's relatives told his parents, "All that boy does is watch television! How's he going to make a living doing that?" His career as a TV critic has been 15 years and counting of his attempt to answer their concerns. "What's Alan Watching" is a blog whose title is self-explanatory: Alan watches TV shows, then writes about what he watched. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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February 20, 2012 at 5:47PM EST Reply to Commentwhen are we going to have the weekly Justified discussions?
sepinwall We'll hit Justified again later in the season. Doing a weekly discussion of it six days later feels off, among other reasons.
February 20, 2012 at 6:10PM ESTed w
February 20, 2012 at 9:43PM EST Reply to CommentThe Ann Perkins issue is interesting. Even apart from chemistry or believability issues, it simply shrinks the world to have so many characters dating each other. Having her date someone from the outside (perhaps a librarian?) would expand the world and add more story possibilities.
As far as giving her stuff to do, it would have helped the show if it were Ann running for office not Leslie. It would have simultaneously given Ann a nice storyline, kept the campaign arc from overwhelming the comfortable workplace comedy the show had evolved into and given Leslie fresh aspects to play with being both proud and envious of her friend, torn between helping her and wishing she was in her position.
And at least with that arc we'd know there's a possibility Ann might win. With Leslie it's a forgone conclusion that she has to lose or if she wins it will be a very short term of office somehow. It's called Parks and Rec, not City Council.
Ray Let me solve the problem for you: Leslie wins the council seat and Ann takes her job in the P&R dept.
February 22, 2012 at 9:16AM ESTed w That won't work, or happen. Leseli is the main character and will structurally need to remain in the Parks department.
February 23, 2012 at 11:56AM ESTSareeta
February 21, 2012 at 11:36AM EST Reply to CommentI'm glad you guys talked about On Freddy Roach. I stumbled across it a few weeks ago and was surprised how well made and moving it was. I've always been fascinated by Freddy Roach. I by no means consider myself a boxing fan (I don't regularly watch matches and I would never pay to see one), but when there's a good fight, I'll watch.