Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

Firewall & Iceberg podcast, episode 24: Emmys, 'Covert Affairs,' 'Haven' and more

Four new shows, but only one worth checking out. Plus, Emmy ups and downs.

By Alan Sepinwall Thursday, Jul 8, 2010 5:56 PM

As promised last week, the Firewall & Iceberg Podcast got moved to Thursday because of Dan's vacation and our desire to go after the Emmy nominations were announced rather than before.

What was not planned was that my computer would die the morning of those nominations, which would force me to use my wife's older, slower, twitchier computer, and also that the ridiculous LeBron James saga would have me so distracted. Apologies for both sound quality and the amount of time I spend ranting about the Miami Heat. Also apologies for being unable to talk Dan out of opening the show with the song he chose to open.

Busy show, thanks to the Emmys and a bunch of new series, plus two of my favorite "Undeclared" eps. Here's the rundown:

Emmy Nominations -- 03:15 - 20:30

"Haven" -- 21:40 - 27:00

"The Glades" -- 27:00 - 30:00

"Rizzoli and Isles" -- 27:00 - 36:15

"Covert Affairs" -- 36:10 - 42:20

"Undeclared" ("Rush & Pledge" and "He-- 42:25 - 56:50

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, download the MP3 file or stream it at Dan's blog.

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: Alan Sepinwall, Firewall & Iceberg, Emmys, Covert Affairs, Haven, The Glades, Rizzoli & Isles

Paul C

Alan, what made you so sure that Community would get shut-out? Was it just that Modern Family & I guess Glee made such large initial impressions from right out of the gates.

But having Tony Shalhoub over Joel McHale just makes my blood boil. Ah well, maybe next week.

Agreed about Sons Of Anarchy, it was a long shot, but still very disappointing. Great listen as usual though.
July 9, 2010 at 6:23PM EST Reply to Comment
- Paul C Gah, sorry, meant "next year".
  July 9, 2010 at 6:24PM EST
- sepinwall Paul, I knew Modern Family and Glee were locks, and I didn't think the voters would be willing to just flood the category with fresh blood.
  July 11, 2010 at 2:26PM EST
MatthewL

It was a real surprise to hear How Bizarre in this week's Undeclared. The lead singer died earlier this year, and all the news coverage here in NZ referred to the song being a big success internationally - a comment I had thought was an overstatement, but apparently it really was known in the US. But I agree, it is an awful song.

This week really was a couple of great Undeclared episodes. Samm Levine's obsession with pickles was hilarious, I loved the little sisters being all excited about an awful Springer sketch, and Monica Keena dancing to "What's New Pussycat" may be one of the greatest moments of television history.
July 9, 2010 at 7:50PM EST Reply to Comment