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Listen: Firewall & Iceberg Podcast No. 143

Dan and Alan talk 'Go On,' 'Animal Practice,' 'Hell on Wheels' and Olympics

By Daniel Fienberg Wednesday, Aug 8, 2012 3:12 PM

The

Happy Wednesday, Boys & Girls!
 
As promised, here's a mid-week bonus installment of The Firewall & Iceberg Podcast.
 
We came in under an hour on this one and it's fairly straight-forward: We review NBC's "Go On" and "Animal Practice," chat about the start of the second season of AMC's "Hell on Wheels" and we use one piece of Listener Mail as our opening to chat about NBC's Olympics coverage a bit.
 
Here's the breakdown:
"Go On" (00:01:30 - 00:15:30)
"Hell on Wheels" (00:15:30 - 00:25:40)
"Animal Practice" (00:25:45 - 00:38:25)
The Olympics (00:38:25 - 00:55:00)
 

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.

Firewall & Iceberg - Podcast 143

Dan-feinberg-sm
Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor
A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.
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  • Default-avatar

    James

    Animal Practice could be a really big hit. Never under estimate the appeal of animals to people in Middle America.

    August 8, 2012 at 4:07PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    J

    I don't really get why people keep trying to do sitcoms about support groups. The Trouble With Normal and Help Me Help You both flopped as did the Eric Schaeffer abominations Gravity and Starved (which also featured Laura Benanti.) Shouldn't we give up on this as a concept?

    August 8, 2012 at 4:45PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan J - Two words "Dear" and "John." Once you establish that a support group can be used for one of the greatest sitcoms in history, you've gotta keep trying to rekindle that magic. [Granted that I'm joking a wee bit, "Dear John" ran for a solid four seasons... NBC would kill to get 85+ episodes out of "Goon."

      -Daniel

      August 8, 2012 at 4:55PM EST
    • Harry_lime_talkback_profile

      odessasteps Well, it wqs also used to an actual great sitcom, e bob newhart show.

      August 8, 2012 at 8:56PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    Mark

    Dan, Terrell Owens actually had a nice season with the Bengals in 2010, the last time he played in the NFL. 72 catches, 983 yards and 9 TDs is pretty respectable. I love when you guys talk about sports, though.

    August 8, 2012 at 5:50PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Mark - Huh. No clue why I remember him sucking. But sure, those numbers are obviously perfectly respectable...

      -Daniel

      August 8, 2012 at 5:57PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    Sareeta

    Your comments about Hell on Wheels sound encouraging. I might watch the season 1 finale and try season 2.

    Will you guys be reviewing Prisoners of War on Hulu? I've seen the 1st episode and think it is quite good and it's interesting comparing it to Homeland. Any thoughts on Hulu's exclusives/originals? I haven't watched it yet, but I understand Rev is pretty good.

    August 8, 2012 at 7:08PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Brendan Noel

    Interesting Olympics discussion. I was definitely eager to hear your take considering everyone on Twitter is losing their minds over NBC's coverage. I agreed with everything you said re: the American TV business model and such. I live in Canada and we definitely see a lot more live on TV. Outside of 6pm and 11pm hour newscasts, CTV airs live coverage throughout the day starting at 4am eastern, and then airs highlights from 7-11pm as a sort of "convenience" replay thing rather than NBC "saving" events to show exclusively in primetime. Although from what I've read, CTV is in a similar boat regarding overpaying for the games and was not willing to pay enough for rights to the 2014 and 2016 games.

    August 8, 2012 at 7:21PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Harry_lime_talkback_profile

    odessasteps

    Thankfully, ive mostly watched/listened to bbc covergae.

    To show what nbc thinks of foreign athletes, jessica ennis, the poster girl for the games, had her gold medal win in the heptathalon shown on nbc at around 11:45 et.


    As i mentioned in alans thread, heres dick ebersol discusing his olympics philosophy

    http://sportsonearthblog.com/2012/08/08/for-dick-ebersol-its-simple-were-here-to-make-great-television/?comments

    August 8, 2012 at 8:59PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Erika Herzog

    while the structure / comparison to COMMUNITY is definitely there this was not what the issues were with this show (at least for me). i agree that it is a "Matthew Perry issue."

    yes, his voice was weirdly modulated. sort of brought back some of the negative issues of STUDIO 60 with Perry's casting / struggle to be someone other than Chandler Bing for me.

    in addition to the issues with Matthew Perry, i think the casting was off on the love interest chick, badly. but i have to say there's a bigger problem (again in my problem): i spent half the episode curled up in a figurative fetal ball crying and half the episode sort of mouth agape semi-fascinated at the train wreck of not so funny MUST SEE NBC sitcom-esque comedy.

    so yeah, it's the tone and the through line of the show that was the worst thing to me. in a time of shows like BORGEN, LOUIE, LONGMIRE, etc. is there really a need to have a show with such a confused vision of itself?

    August 9, 2012 at 10:36AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Tattoo_talkback_profile

    Hatfield

    Glad to hear the Swede is still kicking around. His introduction was the only really good episode of last season, and he was completely wasted, even more than Meloni, on True Blood this season.

    August 9, 2012 at 11:56AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    cxman

    I've had good experience w/ the live streaming ... watched most of the 'big' events live and was able to stream 720p w/o any hiccups. I also prefer the online live announcers to NBC's primetime teams (especially in gymnastics, Shannon Miller was way better than the pre-taped commentators).

    August 10, 2012 at 1:08PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Madmen_icon_talkback_profile

    LJA

    Which shows are going to be opposite Go On? It was okay, certainly worth giving a chance, unless it's opposite my favorites.

    August 10, 2012 at 10:30PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    JamesTown

    I love when you guys do two podcasts in a week. I know I'm not the only one. Thanks.

    August 11, 2012 at 12:36PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    JamesTown

    I love when you guys do two podcasts in a week. I know I'm not the only one. Thanks

    August 11, 2012 at 12:37PM EST Reply to Comment

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