Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 83: 'Breaking Bad,' 'Damages,' 'Alphas' & more
Alan and Dan also discuss the latest 'Twin Peaks' and answer your letters
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Welcome to what we hope will be the first of two episodes of the Firewall & Iceberg Podcast this week: one a standard review show, and then an Emmy nominations discussion on Thursday. (And if you're a "Friday Night Lights" fan watching the show on NBC, you'll get a third bonus podcast with the all-"FNL" podcast Dan and I recorded in the winter.) Today's run-down:
"Alphas" -- 02:00 - 14:15
"Damages" -- 14:15 - 26:00
"Breaking Bad" -- 26:35 - 37:15
Listener Mail focusing more on TV/Film Actors -- 37:20 - 52:50
"Twin Peaks" -- 52:55 - 01:03:30
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.
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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July 11, 2011 at 5:12PM EST Reply to CommentAnother reason to listen to the podcasts: When you guys do things like put a hyphen in "rundown" or make "Ã la" into "ala," we can't hear it.
Stacy
July 11, 2011 at 6:40PM EST Reply to CommentSo freaking excited for Breaking Bad. VERY happy to hear it is worth the wait!
Jamestown
July 11, 2011 at 6:48PM EST Reply to CommentWhenever I put this podcast on my MP3 player, this is the artwork that is assigned to it by my player: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512JVSWX1ML._SL500_AA300_.jpg
"My Best Friend Daniel" by The Lovely Feathers
Fireflame94
July 11, 2011 at 6:53PM EST Reply to CommentI think that Breaking Bad actually gets too much praise for the cinematography in the show. Sure, there are breath-taking shots in almost every episode, but people don't tend to think about the rest of the cinematography.
The thing that frustrates me with Michael Slovis as a cinematographer/Director in both Breaking Bad and Rubicon is a disturbingly heavy use of hand-held cameras throughout both shows, to the point where the close-ups and wide shots tend to jitter a lot, which is not a sign of strong cinematography for a show that isn't exactly striving for a verite feel.
In terms of consistent visual style, I would actually suggest that Mad Men is the better-looking show. The use of colour and the often beautiful (especially with Phil Abraham directing) compositions, that are always locked down, I think that Mad Men is probably the most consistently cinematic show on TV.
Of course, I am judging this entirely on the fact that I find shaky cameras frustrating when used so heavily and my view that Breaking Bad isn't a show aiming for a verite feel, but I think it is something that people should at least think about when praising Breaking Bad for it's cinematography.
July 12, 2011 at 12:59AM ESTlztouchthedream I think something you may not be taking in to consideration in your annoyance at the praise for Michael Slovis is that no one is really comparing him to great movie cinematographers. A lot of what he's doing is aped somewhat from movies, something I think he's admitted in the commentary. The praise for him, at least how I see it, is the fact that a lot of what he's doing hasn't been done, or hasn't been done anywhere near as well, on television.
July 12, 2011 at 11:41AM ESTThen again, I don't mind the shaky cam that much either, at least in Breaking Bad. I can't speak to Rubicon, but I think they use it very effectively to build tension on BB.
kicker of elves
July 11, 2011 at 7:02PM EST Reply to CommentTop 10 Breaking Bad episodes through 3 seasons:
1. Full Measure
2. Half Measures
3. Sunset
4. Phoenix
5. One Minute
6. 4 Days Out
7. ABQ
8. Peekaboo
9. Fly
10. Crazy Handful of Nothin`
July 12, 2011 at 1:01AM EST
July 12, 2011 at 4:46PM ESTHatfield
July 11, 2011 at 7:24PM EST Reply to CommentI could not be more geeked up about this show coming back. In fact, short of Deadwood or The Wire, I haven't been this excited for a season premiere ever. And to think, I didn't even bother for 3 years because the first three episodes just didn't do it for me.
Do you think we could get Mike his own spinoff?
odessasteps
July 11, 2011 at 9:03PM EST Reply to CommentI somehow posted to dan's version of the thread, so reposting....
YOU Since my email didnt make the cut, can you briefly talk about what youre looking forawrd to at san diego?
Owen
July 11, 2011 at 11:27PM EST Reply to CommentTwin Peaks: One thing I noticed in this episode was that the Log Lady is seemingly the only character that Agent Cooper is uncomfortable around. Agent Cooper is suave when conducting every other interview, while Sheriff Truman stands watching in awe. In Log Lady interactions, Truman and Hawk are at ease, while Cooper is awkward (even getting slapped on the hand for reaching for a cookie). It's a nice changing-up of things. I could easily imagine Cooper, with his Nepal-ness, being down with the Log Lady. I like it much better this way.
ed w
July 12, 2011 at 12:52AM EST Reply to CommentI think you should just go ahead and do an ep of Twin Peaks with each podcast even if at times it's 2 or 3 per week. It will solve the issue you raised during the podcast about getting through the whole series.
Most listeners are probably not watching it along with you, I know I'm not. It's just something interesting to hear you discuss. In other words, you'll be doubling up but most of your podcastinators won't be.
So anyway, Dan liked Alphas. Therefore Alphas must have some very attractive young women in it. Noted. ;)
WaltEagle
July 12, 2011 at 1:29AM EST Reply to CommentAlan, I've seen all of Damages to date and I'm not a huge fan of it and agree with most criticisms of it, but if you haven't seen "I Hate These People"--the season 1 episode that won Zeljko Ivanek his Emmy--you're missing out on the show's format put to its best use, in addition to having genuine character emotion to go along with the reveals.
odessasteps
July 12, 2011 at 2:14AM EST Reply to CommentI'd be content if you reviewed Twin Peaks up until the reveal of [spoilers sweetie] and stopped. I was not a fan of the other storyline from S2 after that.
lztouchthedream
July 12, 2011 at 11:35AM EST Reply to CommentI didn't think I could be any more excited about Breaking Bad, but hearing how happy you guys are with the first few episodes just shot it way up.
Andrew Hendricks
July 13, 2011 at 2:41AM EST Reply to CommentI think that Donald Glover, Alison Brie, and Aaron Paul will all become huge movie stars.
MatthewL
July 13, 2011 at 6:28AM EST Reply to CommentIf I could express a preference regarding Twin Peaks, I would love it if you would watch until season 2, epiosde 9, since that's the episode that brings an end to the Laura Palmer story.
I do think just jumping straight ahead to the reveal of the killer is doing the show an injustice. Sure, it's flawed, but there is also a lot of really good stuff in the first part of the second season. And the discussions about what exactly does work, what doesn't, and why it doesn't work could be interesting.
Now, obviously, I realise you're both busy, and there is Breaking Bad to watch, so I don't want to overburden you. But in an ideal world, that's what I would prefer.