Listen: Firewall & Iceberg Podcast No. 175
Dan and Alan talk 'Hannibal,' 'The Walking Dead,' 'Mad Men' and more
Comments: 36
Happy Monday, Boys & Girls! And happy Opening Day, baseball fans!
This week, though a busy installment of The Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, Sepinwall and I watch the Red Sox/Yankees game while talking about tons and tons of new stuff including some stuff we love ("Mad Men" and NBC's "Hannibal") as well as some stuff we don't love ("Rogue" and ABC's "HTLwYPFtRoYL"), plus the "Walking Dead" finale.
Note that the "Rogue" conversation ends up being much more about the state of TV saturation than about "Rogue," so if may interest you even if you don't care about "Rogue."
Check it out...
Monday's breakdown:
"Mad Men" (00:02:25 - 00:10:05)
"Rogue" and TV Saturation (00:10:05 - 00:22:30)
"How to Live With Your Parents For the Rest of Your Life" (00:22:31 - 00:32:10)
"Hannibal" (00:32:10 - 00:48:35)
Listener Mail: HBO's "Vice" (00:49:00 - 00:53:55)
Listener Mail: Garret Dillahunt (00:54:00 - 00:58:38
Listener Mail: Shows and their networks (00:58:40 - 01:03:45)
The "Walking Dead" finale (01:03:45 - 01:26:45)
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.]
And as always, feel free to e-mail us questions for the podcast.
Recap: 'The Amazing Race' - 'Be Safe and Don't Hit a Cow'
Welcome to Africa... Goats and donkeys.
Caroline is good at working the pole on "The Amazing Race"
Credit: CBS
Darnit, "The Amazing Race." Why can't you keep momentum going?
Last week's episode sucked, but you came back with a new episode immediately.
This week's episode was really solid, so naturally "The Amazing Race" is taking next Sunday off in favor of one of the 75 country music award shows I'm basically convinced are elaborate charades to help Taylor Swift feel better about her various breakups.
To that, I can only say, "Boo."
But regarding tonight's episode? An agreeable, "Yay." Sunday's episode featured some amusing and photogenic nature, some interesting and difficult tasks, some previously unexplored travel miscues, minimal cultural myopia and racism and a reasonably exciting conclusion. When folks say that I judge "The Amazing Race" by too high a standard, I say, "Not true." And this can be a good illustration for a solid, engaging episode of "The Amazing Race."
More after the break. Then I'll take a week off. Except for all of the other things I do.
'Game of Thrones' star Isaac Hempstead-Wright discusses hanging with and from Hodor
Bran finds a new form of transportation this season
Try not to pay too much attention to it, but Isaac Hemsptead-Wright is growing.
Perhaps more than his "Game of Thrones" siblings Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams, Hempstead-Wright has become markedly larger than the wee Bran we watched gambol along the rooftops of Winterfell in the series premiere. Bran does very little gamboling these days, what with his Lannister-induced paralysis, so that means we can't be distracted by his growth when he's standing alongside other characters, but it also means that he's spent a lot of time strapped to the back of Kristian Nairn's Hodor, which'll cause extra problems if/when they're the same height.
Unavoidably, I brought up the issue with Hempstead-Wright on the recent "Game of Thrones" premiere red carpet in Hollywood. Fortunately, the young actor explains that he goes from Westeros Baby Bjorn to being carted via cart for most of the show's upcoming third season. On Hodor's behalf, we all say, "Whew."
Check out the full interview above with Hempstead-Wright teasing the new season. Check out the full interview above. And you should also check out my red carpet interviews with George R.R. Martin, Rose Leslie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Oona Chaplin, Natalia Tena and John Bradley.
Plus, I have a longer -- text only, sorry -- interview with Natalie Dormer.
"Game of Thrones" returns to HBO on Sunday, March 31.
Interview: 'Game of Thrones' co-star Natalie Dormer discusses her Margaery Tyrell
How is this new aspiring queen different from Anne Boleyn?
Natalie Dormer and Jack Gleeson of "Game of Thrones"
Credit: HBO
Over the past couple weeks, I've been posting my interviews from the "Game of Thrones" red carpet premiere in Hollywood. At the event, I got a couple minutes with many of the show's stars, but the actor I was most disappointed to miss may have been Natalie Dormer.
The British actress, who I first noticed in "Casanova" and playing Anne Boleyn on the first two seasons of "The Tudors," is giving what I think is one of the most interesting performances in the deep "Game of Thrones" ensemble.
Dormer's Margaery Tyrell is surprising partially because she has almost nothing in common with the child-bride introduced in the "Song of Ice and Fire" novels. As Dormer plays her, Margaery has an interesting and pragmatic understanding of the game that gives the HBO drama its title. She knows what she has to do to secure her position in Westeros and she's prepared to do it, whether it meant accommodating Renly's secretive sexual orientation or Joffrey's not-so-secretive ickiness. And as the new season begins, Margaery is showcasing a different, even more complicated, side with the help of her feisty grandmother the Queen of Thorns, played by Dame Diana Rigg.
Having missed her on the red carpet, I got on the phone last week for a longer conversation with deeply invested and fiercely thoughtful actress.
The full Q&A is after the break. It contains information, but I wouldn't think to call any of it "spoilers."
Interview: Julia Landauer talks 'Survivor: Caramoan' and vanilla ice cream
Race car driver and Stanford undergrad discusses her 'Survivor' run
Julia's "Survivor" torch is snuffed
Credit: CBS
Nobody's ever been cast on "Survivor" to be "vanilla." But sometimes it happens. Not everybody can be a Phillip or a Brandon or a Shamar and in a season that happens to have a Phillip, a Brandon and a Shamar all battling simultaneously for screentime, it's hard for anybody to keep up.
It's even hard to keep up if you happen to have the daredevil spirit of a race car driver and the intellect of a Stanford undergrad.
Julia Landauer is both of those things, not that you'd know either fact from her time on "Survivor: Caramoan." In fact, all you'd probably know about Julia is that she didn't get along with Shamar, she didn't get along with Phillip and Cochran didn't think too highly of her.
"I'm tempted to say that she has a vanilla personality, but that would be doing a great disservice to the flavor of vanilla," Cochran cracked during Wednesday's "Survivor," just moments before Julia was voted out of the game, just missing out on the Merge.
In this week's "Survivor" exit interview, Julia certainly comes across as sharper and funnier than she appeared to be on the show, attributing what was perceived as "vanilla" to varying parts strategy, youth, an unfortunate game situation and a lack of outrageousness compared with other contestants. It seems like a plausible combination of factors.
Check out the full conversation after the break...
'Game of Thrones' co-star John Bradley discusses what's coming Beyond the Wall
Actor explains why he skips the Samwell Tarly chapters
On the pages of George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" books, Samwell Tarly is on a journey.
That's not a spoiler, because Sam is also on a journey on HBO's "Game of Thrones," but actor John Bradley only knows how far his character has made it in each TV script, rather than his eventual [in-progress] literary destination. Or at least that's what Bradley says.
On the red carpet for HBO's recent Hollywood "Game of Thrones" premiere, Bradley told me that while he's ready Martin's books, he's skipped any future chapter either from Sam's POV or potentially featuring Sam. I'm not sure how realistic that sounds, but I like Bradley's explanation for the actorly reasons behind it.
For now, Samwell finds himself Beyond the Wall with many members of the Night's Watch, albeit separated from his buddy Jon Snow. Initially a bumbling object of ridicule, Sam is becoming a tiny bit more capable, but don't expect him to become too capable too quickly.
"I think when playing Sam, it's always good to have a little bit discomfort in the back of your mind," Bradley says. "He doesn't fit into his skin very well, despite the fact that there's a lot of skin to fit into."
Check out the full interview above. And you should also check out my red carpet interviews with Martin, Rose Leslie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Oona Chaplin.and Natalia Tena. And stay tuned for a couple more interviews in the days to come.
"Game of Thrones" returns to HBO on Sunday, March 31.
Recap: 'American Idol' - Top 8: Results - Plus Katharine McPhee and Keith Urban
Which singer received the fewest votes after their Detroit-themed performances
Katharine McPhee
Credit: Scott Kirkland/Picture Group
It's time for our "American Idol" Thursday results.
The way I'm figuring it, the judges would let Devin Velez or Lazaro Arbos go home without hesitation.
If anybody else finishes last, the Judges' Save would be a definite possibility. Burnell Taylor would be the most interesting case. I think all five "Idol" women would get saved if they're voted out this week, but would the judges go out of their way to protect the best male from this season's dismal crop?
Let's see how things go after the break... Plus? Katharine McPhee performs!
Recap: 'Survivor: Caramoan' - 'Tubby Lunchbox'
Phillip is crazy, Cochran is wise and Malcolm is awesome. What else is new?
Gota of "Survivor: Caramoan"
Credit: CBS
Pre-credit sequence. "That was the first time I've ever come close to wetting myself," Julia says as Bikal returns to camp. Good to know, Julia. I mean, we don't know anything else about you, but you're not incontinent. And that's a start! Michael already misses his buddy Matt, but he vows to keep trying to build friendships. Fortunately, Corinne is more friendship than any one gay dude could ever possible need. Corinne wants to protect Michael, but she isn't ready to flip on Phillip just yet. So she tells Michael they just need to make it to the Merge. "I want her gone," Phillip tells Cochran. "Not next, though?" Cochran asks. Phillip does, indeed, want Corinne next, no matter how sensibly Corchran protests that if won't look good after a Merge. Well, if Phillip can't get rid of Corinne, he's willing to take out "her new gay friend" if he has to.
Recap: 'American Idol' - Top 8: Music of the Motor City Night
Expect lots of Stevie Wonder from our Finalists
The "American Idol" Top 8
Credit: FOX
It's Motown Night on "American Idol," a theme that usually means a lot of of Stevie Wonder, since "American Idol" contestants don't know much by way of Motown, just like they don't know many songs by the Beatles.
Oh well.
Click through for all of the excitement...
'Game of Thrones' co-star Natalia Tena discusses her 'younger' and 'plumper' Osha
'Harry Potter' veteran discusses her road-trip season
"Song of Ice and Fire" author George R.R. Martin has been very open about Natalia Tena's Osha being the character whose incarnation on "Game of Thrones" he perhaps prefers to her version on the page.
Last week, on the "Game of Thrones" premiere red carpet in Hollywood, I talked with the "Harry Potter" franchise veteran about how her Osha is different from the Osha in the books? The key differences, apparently? She's younger and plumper. But how did she come to be plumper? Well, Tena has theories.
In the conversation, Tena explains how Osha is "like a psychopathic mother-bodyguard" this season and describes the closeness of the Belfast contingent of the "Game of Thrones" cast.
Definitely one of my favorite interviews from that red carpet, Tena also uses at least one word that may not be safe for your workplace, depending on said workplace. You've been warned.
Check out the interview above. And you should also check out my red carpet interviews with Martin, Rose Leslie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Oona Chaplin. And stay tuned for a couple more interviews in the days to come.
"Game of Thrones" returns to HBO on Sunday, March 31.
