Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 43: 'The Walking Dead,' 'In Treatment,' 'Friday Night Lights' and more
The zombie apocalypse, scripted therapy, Texas high school football and more
No "Mad Men" for this week's Firewall & Iceberg Podcast? No problem, as Dan and I had tons of other things to discuss (so much, in fact, that we put off the "Boardwalk Empire" mid-season check-in for at least a week). We belatedly discussed "Sherlock," Dan watched "In Treatment" for the first time, we got our zombie on with "The Walking Dead," answered a bunch of reader mail and (at the end for the benefit of non-DirecTV viewers) previewed the fifth and final season of "Friday Night Lights." The rundown:
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupEchos Myron
October 25, 2010 at 4:04PM EST Reply to CommentMad Men season 4, Breaking Bad season 3, Rubicon season 1 (which I didn't really care for, but which many people seemed to enjoy), and now The Walking Dead. Has any network in the history of the medium provided so much quality TV in a single calendar year? They're wiping the floor with HBO at this point.
Shitegeist It's quite a winning streak. I adore their three current shows and, as a Robert Kirkman fanatic, will most likely adore Walking Dead.
October 25, 2010 at 8:46PM ESTmike I was listening to the Ryan and Ryan podcast* they with Todd Vanderwerff about the Mad Men finale and Todd made the shockingly rational point that since it would make the most sense to only have one of their 'hit' shows playing for a given stretch we could potentially be facing the situation where Breaking Bad comes back for the summer, Rubicon(/Walking Dead?) is the fall show, and we end up not seeing Mad Men season 5 till Jan. 2012!! I could barely handle Lost's stretches between seasons, I dunno if I can get through a Mad Men-less year.
October 25, 2010 at 10:57PM EST*I apologize in advance for anything that looks like podcast-defection, I remain a stalwart Firewall&Iceberg-ian.
chudleycannonfodder Echos, I raise you an FX. This year they had Justified, Terriers, SoA, Damages, Rescue Me (okay, that's debatable), Archer, Louie, The League, and Always Sunny.
October 26, 2010 at 2:24PM ESTchudleycannonfodder Should clarify there - the debatable reference was if that show was worth including in the list of awesome shows. I'm just not familiar with it enough to make the judgment, but I figured I'd include it anyway.
October 26, 2010 at 2:25PM ESTLenny
October 25, 2010 at 5:11PM EST Reply to CommentThe conversation on accents is interesting. However why have I never heard yourself or Dan complain about the truly horrific ulster accents in this season of Sons. Titus Welliver, usually wonderful, is unwatchable as a consequence. But frankly they are all bad. Maybe your ear isn't used to this accent so you're not really noticing, which is fair enough; but I can assure you truly awful.
Shitegeist Yeah, I agree entirely, Titus' accent is shocking. Whenever I see him in a scene with a genuine Northern Irish-accented person (such as Paula Malcomson) I can't help but cringe.
October 25, 2010 at 8:44PM ESTLenny
October 25, 2010 at 5:13PM EST Reply to CommentI obviously meant to say they are truly awful. Typing in a hurry
LJA
October 25, 2010 at 7:58PM EST Reply to CommentI must have dementia. What was ABC's second highest-rated show that they canceled last season?
dan "Lost" and there are plenty of caveats to that status as "second-highest" and it obviously wasn't "cancelled" so much as "ended."
October 25, 2010 at 8:09PM ESTCaveats galore. But the central point is sound...
-Daniel
LJA Okay, I'm with you now. Thanks for clarifying.
October 26, 2010 at 2:23AM ESTTickletock Reply to comment...
October 26, 2010 at 6:19AM ESTShitegeist
October 25, 2010 at 8:40PM EST Reply to CommentI feel for Andy Lincoln here as he's at a supreme disadvantage. Southern accents seem to be done atrociously by American actors, let alone English ones.
mike I forget which English actor it was, but he said that it was actually really easy for him to switch into the sort of olde-timey, Southern aristocrat style accents (something about the dialect sort of being the closest thing to a Kings-English holdover the States ever kept) but that he couldn't imagine being able to do 'modern' Southern accents without sounding like a parody of a hick.
October 25, 2010 at 10:50PM ESTI'm guessing Walking Dead features a lot of 'hick'-Southern accents? Or are the twangs just really forced?
rosengje
October 25, 2010 at 11:41PM EST Reply to CommentYou're killing me by forgetting about Debra Winger's crucial role in Rachel Getting Married.
dan rosengje - Alan thinks of that as a cameo and so he's trying to clarify that this is a substantive and extended part, in contrast.
October 25, 2010 at 11:53PM ESTShe'll always be the star of "Urban Cowboy" to me...
-Daniel
LJA Apropos of nothing, twenty years ago, someone wanted to buy me a drink in a bar because he was certain I was Debra Winger. Since I'm not, I insisted a drink wasn't necessary, but when I spoke, he was convinced I'm Debra. After listening to her tonight on her first episode of In Treatment, he was right. Our voices are identical.
October 26, 2010 at 2:22AM ESTaamadis
October 25, 2010 at 11:47PM EST Reply to CommentI just don't get the interest in zombie stories. Mindless, slow-moving villains who want to eat people for no reason. I never found that interesting to watch. The generic Hollywood zombie story lost a lot by distancing itself from it's (usually misinterpreted) vodoun or african roots. At least in the original zombie stories there was usually someone controlling the zombies. A real villain with motives and personality. This co-opted version is about as dull as watching people being chased by furniture.
James Sounds like you know a lot of The Walking Dead and don't need to watch it.
October 26, 2010 at 12:19PM EST
October 26, 2010 at 4:16PM ESTJake
October 26, 2010 at 2:19AM EST Reply to CommentHBO has declared war on AMC with Boardwalk Empire which is on its way to becoming a tv classic. It will loads of Emmys.
Tickletock
October 26, 2010 at 6:25AM EST Reply to CommentOh pooh. Sorry about that.
Is the biggest caveat the question of whether Lost would have been ABC's #2 show if it hadn't been in its much heralded final (all the answers) season?
Ed W
October 26, 2010 at 9:03AM EST Reply to CommentFun podcast as always but the knee-jerk dumping on Outsourced not just by you guys but other prominent online critics gets tiresome. And I say that as someone who reads your blogs and enjoys you guys, but being honest here.
At least Outsourced is about something, at least it has the guts to take on a topic, unlike most sitcoms which tend to be either about 1) the well known problems that comfortably off white middle class people seem to have to struggle with and 2) friends who just sit around making wisecracks and drinking.
Outsourced isn't a very good show yet, and I don't consider myself a major fan, but it's better than some other shows were in their first episodes, including the critical fave Parks and Rec. I think it deserves more credit for having the balls to take on a topic and not taking the easy way out like most other sitcoms.
One criticism that's been made is that it's a "minstrel show". But really, is it more minstrelly than Tom on Parks?
As to the recurring time slot issue, I don't think Parks has any chance of becoming a big mainstream hit no matter when it airs. It's just not that kind of show. However if Outsourced or another new show became a hit then Parks might have something to hide behind and survive with, so fans of Parks (which I am one, but with eyes wide open) should be rooting for new NBC comedies to become hits.
Despite all that, as I said fun podcast and I wish you guys would do another one this week.
sepinwall "But really, is it more minstrelly than Tom on Parks?"
October 26, 2010 at 9:07AM ESTI haven't watched Outsourced the last couple of weeks, though I'll give it a try again soon. But in what way, other than the fact that he's played by a minority actor, is Tom Haverford a minstrel character? The whole concept of minstrel work is that it's exaggerating ethnic stereotypes, where Tom's ethnicity is his least defining character trait.
October 26, 2010 at 4:05PM EST