Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 68: 'Game of Thrones,' 'The Paul Reiser Show,' 'Happy Endings' and more
Alan and Dan also review 'Law & Order: LA,' the NBC debut of 'Friday Night Lights' and 'Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe'
It's Monday, which means it's time for a new Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, in which Dan and I have some very nice things to say about HBO's "Game of Thrones" and the NBC debut of "Friday Night Lights," and more mixed-to-unhappy thoughts on "Law & Order: LA," "Happy Endings," "The Paul Reiser Show" and the "Burn Notice" prequel movie.
You will also notice that I was podcasting with a very, very sore throat, so apologies that I sound so hoarse. I gutted one out for the team.
The run-down:
"Law & Order: Los Angeles" -- 01:30 - 09:55
"Happy Endings" -- 10:00 - 18:05
"The Paul Reiser Show" -- 18:30 - 27:00
"Friday Night Lights" -- 27:00 - 31:30
"The Fall of Sam Axe" -- 31:35 - 38:00
"Game of Thrones" -- 38:00 - 58:45
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.
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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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April 11, 2011 at 3:43PM EST Reply to CommentThe show must be exhausting if you're run-down. Thanks for the rundown anyway.
Fran
April 11, 2011 at 4:13PM EST Reply to CommentAm sooo glad you two think "Game of Thrones" is promising. The books struck me as more "I, Claudius" than LOTR, and loved them. Woohoo! I'm excited now. Have to go order HBO now.
João Amaral
April 11, 2011 at 4:13PM EST Reply to Commentyou're already like Sansa? shes not likeble yet.
Great talk guys, awesome rundown.
sepinwall I don't LIKE Sansa. I should make that clear. But she is the kind of character (the spoiled, shallow teenager who's constantly causing problems for others because of a lack of wisdom and maturity) who, on a lesser show, I would be incredibly eager to be done with as quickly as possible. (See, for instance, Erica's son on "V.") And while Sansa is pretty irritating, the ways in which she's irritating are interesting. I don't like her, but they at least make me understand why she's the way that she is.
April 11, 2011 at 5:44PM ESTDitto for the Lanister twins, when I have only slightly more use for the kind of wicked schemers they represent on lots of other shows. Where here I enjoy their scenes just as much as the more likable characters.
LJA
April 11, 2011 at 4:24PM EST Reply to CommentOf the umpteen Friends-genre shows that debuted this season, I was surprised to find that I liked Traffic Light the best. I really enjoyed David Denman here, the chemsitry between the guys was great, and I felt the writing was above average. Any chance it will be renewed?
I had a little more affection for Perfect Couples by the end of its run than I did at the beginning, but Olivia Munn really bugs me.
April 11, 2011 at 6:34PM ESTSa mac Like 2.6 mil total viewers bad (overall, not just demo)
April 11, 2011 at 8:07PM ESTLJA Ouch.
April 12, 2011 at 11:39AM ESTConfusingJazz
April 11, 2011 at 4:41PM EST Reply to CommentThings I have learned from this podcast: Don't have two nerds try to describe a rather large plot in the fantasy genre. I have been guilty of it before myself, and it just never works out well.
However, after the glowing review, I am doubly excited. I tried to watch Camelot to hold me over, but that was a big swing and a miss.
Mockfrog
April 11, 2011 at 5:05PM EST Reply to CommentRegarding Cersei and Jaime Lannister being expanded upon compared to the first book, that's taken from the book series when they are described better. One has to remember that in the first book you only see these characters from the point of view of their "enemies", which is why we don't see every aspect of them. Glad to hear that you think they've done a good job of it. Your Podcast was a good listen.
debbie
April 11, 2011 at 5:33PM EST Reply to CommentAlan, do you know if Game of Thrones will be available right away on ITUNES or AMAZON video on demand???
sepinwall I assume HBO will do whatever HBO does for all its other first-run shows. What that is, I have no idea, as I'm both a subscriber and a guy who gets most episodes in advance on DVD.
April 11, 2011 at 5:44PM ESTEli What they do for their other original shows is, they only release them on iTunes when the DVDs come out-- at the end of the season. HBO does have an online streaming video thing, but only if you're already an HBO subscriber. Seems like they're bending over backward to avoid competing with their cable business.
April 11, 2011 at 6:26PM ESTtheholyavenger
April 11, 2011 at 6:05PM EST Reply to CommentAlan it sounds like you just haven't ever read any good fantasy as there is a ton of it out there.
janeway
April 11, 2011 at 6:19PM EST Reply to Commenti was very supprised that in your podcast about game of thrones you did not mention one the most important chracters in the show, which is catlyn played by michelle fairley, to me i think she makes the show
Sam
April 11, 2011 at 6:40PM EST Reply to CommentSorry you're not feeling well, Alan, but I love the reviews as always. After reading your initial impressions of Sansa and the Lannister twins, I hope you continue watching the show without reading the books, because when/if Thrones gets picked up for later seasons I'll be dying to read your *Oh my God!* moments -- these characters undergo some magnificent development. I almost wish I could unread the series so the experience will be fresh again.
zacharydaniel
April 11, 2011 at 6:50PM EST Reply to Commenthow would you compare Game of Thrones to Boardwalk Empire, as far as overall quality?
Jack I thought it took a few episodes, but Boardwalk Empire became a great series.
April 11, 2011 at 7:53PM ESTSa mac
April 11, 2011 at 8:15PM EST Reply to CommentYour voice sounds almost as bad as mine today, Alan. Thanks for pushing through the podcast anyways, as I know this is an episode that I, like mang of your readers, have been anxiously awaiting due to the Game of Thrones review. I'm guessing that doing an hour plus podcast with laryngitis is about as much fun as having laryngitis while lecturing to 200 plus rowdy
college students ( i.e., how I spent my afternoon). Feel better!
April 11, 2011 at 8:26PM EST Reply to CommentDan,
What character had more going on then in the book? Renly? I know I missed that the first time I read it, picked up the second.
ideemo
April 12, 2011 at 9:33AM EST Reply to CommentBTW I hate being a pronunciation Nazi, but "Omid" is pronounced "Oh-meed." I only bring it up because it's my name too so I sympathize with him.
ideemo Although it doesn't matter because I doubt the Paul Reiser show is good enough (or will last long enough) to be discussed on this podcast again lol
April 12, 2011 at 9:35AM ESTsepinwall Fair enough. We have a long and embarrassing history of mispronouncing names on this podcast (or I guess I do, since Dan leaves all the intros to me), so we can add Omid to that list.
April 12, 2011 at 9:41AM ESTideemo Haha I know, I always enjoy that. I don't think anybody actually knows how to pronounce Piper Perabo. And I can't believe I commented on the pronunciation of my own name without saying "MY NAME IS MY NAME!" Missed opportunity.
April 12, 2011 at 9:58AM ESTdan I leave the intros to you because when I do the intros, "Game of Thrones" happens and we get loving hate mail. And instead of mispronouncing names, I mispronounce "chipotle."
April 12, 2011 at 12:11PM EST-Daniel
Alf
April 12, 2011 at 3:07PM EST Reply to CommentDoes anyone know if the NBC version of Friday Night Lights will have cuts made to it versus what we might see on DVD? I seem to recall that in a previous season, some scenes didn't make it to NBC from DirecTV.
Fran
April 12, 2011 at 7:07PM EST Reply to CommentFor folks who have cable but not HBO: check your cable bill! It turns out my cable company is offering HBO viewing for free this weekend (presumably to promote HBO with GoT). I guess I won't have to throw money at them until next week.
And yes, I know there are ways of watching online for free, but I would hate for GoT to go the way of "Deadwood" if it's as good as I hope.
April 13, 2011 at 8:00PM EST Reply to CommentHey Alan,
Sorry to break topic, but I can't figure out where I should post to bring this up.
I recently e-mailed you and Dan a question for the podcast. But the e-mails were kicked back to me and google gave me this message:
The recipient server did not accept our requests...'
This error message indicates that we've attempted to make a connection with your recipient's server but didn't receive a reply. Some possible causes include the following:
The other domain doesn't have up-to-date MX records or is otherwise misconfigured.
The other domain is blacklisting or graylisting messages from Gmail.
The other domain is experiencing temporary networking problems.
(END OF MESSAGE)
Does your site have any of the three problems listed there? If not, do you happen to know what the problem is? Again, sorry to break topic.