Firewall & Iceberg podcast, episode 19: 'Undeclared,' 'Burn Notice,' 'Royal Pains' and more
The podcast's summer season begins.
The start of summer TV brought with it a surprisingly long (and, at the end, contentious) edition of the Firewall & Iceberg podcast, in which Dan and I discussed the following:
"Are We Done Yet?" -- 02:19 - 9:25
"Burn Notice" -- 9:25 - 13:30
"Royal Pains" -- 13:30 - 19:10
Listener Mail! -- 19:20 - 39:00
"Undeclared" -- 39:00 - 49:50
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.] You can also download the MP3 file, or you can stream it at Dan's blog.
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
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June 2, 2010 at 6:40PM EST Reply to CommentI can't believe the guest star list for the first episode. Its like a who's who of today's TV stars. Tom Welling (Smallville) Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory), Jenna Fischer (The Office) and Lizzy Caplan (Party Down). Add them to the actual cast and its amazing. The minor leagues of acting?!
sepinwall So where was Lizzy? Please help us! We can't find her!
June 2, 2010 at 7:03PM ESTKensington I'm told that Lizzy is the girl who screams at her parents to hurry up and leave. The camera just barely captures her.
June 2, 2010 at 7:12PM ESTLJA I'm going by memory, but wasn't Amy Poehler in the pilot, too?
June 2, 2010 at 11:11PM ESTbabaoreally Kesington is correct. You only see her from a distance, but the voice is unmistakable.
June 3, 2010 at 2:52AM EST"Mom, will you just wake up Grandma and leave already?"
babaoreally Kesington is correct. You only see her from a distance, but the voice is unmistakable.
June 3, 2010 at 2:53AM EST"Mom, will you just wake up Grandma and leave already?"
babaoreally Kesington is correct. You only see her from a distance, but the voice is unmistakable.
June 3, 2010 at 2:58AM EST"Mom, will you just wake up Grandma and leave already?"
Alex Guys, I hate to disagree with you, but I think Alex Breckenridge is the one screaming at Mom to wake up Grandma. The girl saying that line is too tall and the hair's too long to be Lizzy.
June 3, 2010 at 6:24PM EST
June 2, 2010 at 7:02PM EST Reply to CommentThe audio commentaries on the Undeclared DVD are probably the coolest I've ever heard. I love how Judd and the writers, producers and actors all interact. You can tell they had an awesome time making this show.
I forgot how great Jarrett Grode's lines were. Louden Wainwright plays the best over the top dad as well. Short but sweet.
June 2, 2010 at 7:47PM EST Reply to CommentI thought she was one of the girls with their backs to the camera when Steven was handing out fliers, but guess not.
Matt
June 3, 2010 at 12:29AM EST Reply to CommentAlan, you mentioning the post-9/11 premiere of this made me remember some article I read comparing this single-camera comedy with a young, game, and mostly unknown-at-the-time cast with another, namely Scrubs.
Beyond Fox's handling of live-action comedies in general, what do you think accounts for the remarkably different outcomes in the shows' lives?
MatthewL
June 3, 2010 at 7:54AM EST Reply to CommentI think I disagree with you about Jenna Fischer in the episode - while you're right to a degree, she wasn't being a full-on bitch, I did think there was something slightly superior and cruel in how she handled them. Certainly it felt unpleasant to me as I watched it.
I enjoyed watching the episode, and look forward to rewatching the show, but it reminded me why I've never revisited the show, despite enjoying it at the time and despite owning the discs for several years. At university I was the quiet boring type(still am), I never went to parties (which are really dull if you don't drink), and so I don't really feel like I relate to any of the experiences or, to be honest, any of the characters. (Even Steve seems more like a fantasy version of geek-goes-to-college that I can't relate to.) Where with Freaks And Geeks every episode would have some moment where I could say "That was me," I didn't have that with Undeclared, at least not wth the pilot.
fred
June 3, 2010 at 8:45AM EST Reply to CommentNathan Fillion, I'll probably watch anything with our captain in it. I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for him, I would have dropped Castle, which isn't (to me) character-oriented enough, and too much of a (boring) cop drama...
And yes, you can put the rest of the Serenity crew in that category. (Also, I admit I gave Happy Town a try because of Amy Acker, but didn't go past the pilot...)
I also think that applies to the cast of The West Wing, why else would have I watch Past Life??
And of course, I'm pretty sure I'd watch anything with Damian Lewis in it.
Alan: I understand your reaction to Paris Hilton, but I also believe you're wrong. See, it's the genius of the guys behind Supernatural, they actually managed to get her into an episode, and I was sure, too, that I would hate it because of that, and as it turned out, I really didn't.
Hatfield
June 3, 2010 at 2:31PM EST Reply to CommentI will follow any and all Deadwood alums, or at least cheer when I see them.
You guys don't speak much of Lie To Me. Is the rest of season 2 not up to par with the first part, or does its nature just not lend itself to much analysis?
sepinwall I liked the first episode back, but Dan hadn't seen it, so we couldn't discuss it.
June 3, 2010 at 3:52PM ESTJB
June 3, 2010 at 4:05PM EST Reply to CommentFor anybody watching "Undeclared" for the first time: the episodes are out of order on the DVDs. You can get the order in which they should run over at wikipedia. Love that show!
MatthewL I think they may have corrected the problem. Certainly I bought the discs a couple of years after they were released, and the booklet lists them all in the correct order - I assume the discs were fixed as well.
June 3, 2010 at 4:18PM ESTKevP
June 3, 2010 at 11:20PM EST Reply to CommentSeems to me that every episode of Undeclared is up on youtube. So it's not even necessary to get the DVD's to follow along with Alan and Dan.
Anyaa
June 4, 2010 at 3:48AM EST Reply to CommentJust finished Undeclared and every episode had something in it from my college experience. I graduated over a year and while those moments are fresh, Undeclared managed to nail it 10 years ago. What a accomplishment. I have to admit I am a huge Judd Apatow fan and will watch anything he is involved in. Jay B was great as the nice/impressionable/funny guy freshman year.
By the way, i didn't know that was Jax from SOA until they mentioned it on the podcast. What a great moment for me realizing that the little hottie on Undeclared had grown in to a full blown gangster in SOA.
God Bless America.
Pickles!
Gmac4419
June 5, 2010 at 10:28AM EST Reply to CommentWrite a comment...
Gmac4419
June 5, 2010 at 10:33AM EST Reply to CommentI liked the question about actors that ruin a show...back when How I Met Your Mother premiered I liked the show enough but Josh Radnor is so miscast, unfunny, and so not on the same level as NPH, Segel, and Hannigan that I had to drop it. I'll catch an episode every now and again but usually change the channel because the question of why they would cast a guy who can't really act always trumps whatever is going on in the episode. Drives me nuts. Has Radnor improved over the years?
dangit Radnor achieved a Zach Braff-level douchiness as the years went by.
June 6, 2010 at 2:20PM ESTKarenX
June 7, 2010 at 3:58PM EST Reply to CommentSo Lizzy Caplan in Undeclared...
She's credited as the "Beautiful Girl," and there's a scene at around the 6:20 mark on YouTube where the four guys are hanging out in the elevator, not handing a girl a flyer to their party. Is that her? I can't tell, because she's looking down and I am bad at faces. There is no other girl singled out as pretty in any other part of the show.