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Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 123: 'Girls,' 'NYC 22,' 'Mad Men' & more

Dan and Alan also review ABC's 'Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23' and answer your mail

By Alan Sepinwall Monday, Apr 9, 2012 5:15 PM

The

After a few weeks with mega-jumbo Firewall & Iceberg Podcast installments, this week's is a trifle shorter, owing in part to fewer new shows debuting and in part on Dan's desire to please his dad (a podcast listener without ample free time) while staying with him this week for Passover. Still, we had time to offer unleavened opinions on "Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23," "NYC 22," the terrific "Girls" and last night's "Mad Men," in addition to asking a few pieces of your mail.

The line-up: 

"Don't Trust The B---- in Apt. 23" (00:01:10 - 00:14:45)
"NYC 22" (00:14:45 - 00:23:40)
"Girls" (00:23:40 - 00:39:15)
Listener Mail - David Simon Disapproves (00:39:30 - 00:48:15)
Listener Mail - Impact of outside feelings (00:48:15 - 00:54:10)
"Mad Men" (00:54:10 - 01:15:30)
 
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, download the MP3 file or stream it on Dan's blog.
 
And as always, feel free to e-mail us questions for the podcast.
Alan-sepinwall-sm
Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Related Searches: Firewall & Iceberg, Alan Sepinwall, Mad Men, Girls, NYC 22, Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23

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  • Madmen_icon_talkback_profile

    LJA

    Don has indeed smoked in previous episodes, just less often than we are used to from previous seasons.

    April 9, 2012 at 8:10PM EST Reply to Comment
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      Ilyrio Yeah, it's gotten to the point where Roger seems out of place by having a cigarette in his mouth.

      There's not as much pressure to smoke any more.

      April 9, 2012 at 10:43PM EST
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    Stan

    What was the comment at the restaurant about the accordion? I don't remember an accordion even playing in that scene.

    April 9, 2012 at 10:33PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      mp Accordion player came over to dinner at awkward time and starts playing. Joan's mom pipes up something like "Joan used to play the accordion, too".

      April 10, 2012 at 10:09AM EST
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    Greg

    I liked Liza Lapira and the pervert guy didn't bother me. The pilot is amusing and I really liked both actresses, but nothing made me laugh. And I guess ultimately that's what makes me stick with a sitcom or not. I stopped watching The Middle and Suburgatory because of that, even though I don't have any problem with any other element of the show. It just wasn't funny enough to justify the time I was spending with them.

    I'll wait a little longer to see if it gets better, though.

    April 9, 2012 at 11:46PM EST Reply to Comment
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    whistlingmtn

    Am I the only one that didn't find "the look" to be racist at heart? Doesn't everyone have a sort of natural paranoia when leaving a bunch of money next to someone they don't know very well staying overnight? It's good manners to remove the purse just so that there's no possible way for there to be confusion the next day.

    Seems more like excessive general white guilt going on than some kind of actual faux pas. Heck if I were Dawn I would have asked her to take the purse out of the room, again, so there can be no confusion about the money if Peggy has "miscounted" the money the next day...

    April 10, 2012 at 9:14AM EST Reply to Comment
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      Ilyrio Even if Peggy had no racist intentions in mind (and I personally think she did, though I guess you can read it differently), there's no way Dawn wasn't going to take it that way, especially since the two of them just started interacting recently. In that time, it would be impossible to take it any other way.

      April 10, 2012 at 3:23PM EST
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    Shawn

    In your discussion about 'Girls' you mention its authenticity in regards to the Brooklyn/NY feel and locale, but one of the major complaints I've seen online about this show is the lack of diversity in the cast (both main and peripheral). I find it odd that a show could be praised for authenticity when it lacks any form of minority (black, hispanic, asian, whatever), and then tries to set itself in Brooklyn and NYC in general.

    Is it possible to get your (and Dan's) thoughts on this, since the podcast seemed to gloss over it entirely.

    April 10, 2012 at 12:36PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Mark Madel

    I posted this once on Alan's Mad Men review page, but I'll post once more here (because much get's lost in 600+ comments anyway):

    I was fairly certain that Don was dreaming from the moment he first answered the door to see Andrea standing there. And then his brief conservation with Andrea seemed quite odd and full of non-sequitors ("It was just sex; it doesn't mean anything").

    But there was one more subtle - yet unmistakably oddball - clue that Weiner left for observant viewers to recognize the event was certainly a 'dream'. When Don gets back into his bed after booting out Andrea, the images shown are the exact reversal of the footage of Don hearing the bell and getting out of the bed.

    The first time I saw it, it struck me as looking very odd - the second time I watched it, I knew clearly that it was reversed footage of his 'awakening'.

    Here are the two sequences edited back to back in a youtube clip I posted:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNkEjOIomnw&feature=youtu.be

    April 11, 2012 at 1:59PM EST Reply to Comment
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    JimfromCT

    why is Dan so negative about everything? Alan can you set him up with @AmyKinLA ??? I think that would vastly improve his life.

    April 11, 2012 at 5:13PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Amy's cute, but I don't think Alan knows her.

      And we've had a couple weeks in a row with shows I've liked more than Alan did. Why pick on my negativity NOW?

      -Daniel

      April 11, 2012 at 5:17PM EST
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    gladly

    Holy crap, my cable package doesn't come with FX, so I have never seen Sons of Anarchy and haven't followed the Kurt Sutter story. But I did just see a tweet in my timeline from Kurt Sutter about the A.V. Club. There is no way I would be able to evaluate a show of his without thinking of the personality behind it. You fellows must be champs at compartmentalization! Or have very thick skins.

    April 12, 2012 at 10:16AM EST Reply to Comment



  • David Simon would show up on tv critics doors with a bat like kevin smith and jason mewes at the end of jay and silent bob strike back, to get revenge on "the haters."

    April 13, 2012 at 12:38AM EST Reply to Comment

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