Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 183: 'Behind the Candelabra,' 'The Goodwin Games,' 'Motive' & more
Dan and Alan also review 'Save Me,' talk about 'SNL' departures and a wacky 'Mad Men'
The Firewall & Iceberg Podcast is actually on a Monday for once this week, though we'll be back to an irregular schedule next week thanks to both the Memorial Day holiday and Netflix's release of "Arrested Development." (Dan and I want to have enough time to watch it all.) In the meantime, we had an awfully busy podcast today, including reviews of three summer series, the best HBO movie in forever, analysis of two finales and debate about an especially wacky episode of "Mad Men."
The lineup:
Review: ABC's Canadian cop drama 'Motive' gets summer off to a slow start
A police procedural that doesn't bother with whodunnit, but doesn't replace it with anything interesting
Louis Ferreira and Kristin Lehman in "Motive."
The broadcast network TV season doesn't officially end until Wednesday night at 11, but it already feels largely wrapped up. Many of TV's biggest hits, from "NCIS" to "Big Bang Theory" to "American Idol," already aired their finales last week, and while several big shows aren't done yet ("The Voice" will run into mid-June), the networks have already started slipping into their summer clothes. FOX brought back "So You Think You Can Dance" next week and is beginning the Summer Burn-Off Theatre run of "The Goodwin Games" tonight (I hope to write a short review of that later today, and I'll definitely be discussing it with Dan on the podcast), and tonight ABC launches another of its Canadian import dramas: the police procedural "Motive."
Get a signed copy of Alan Sepinwall's book 'The Revolution was Televised'
The paperback is being re-released tomorrow
"The Revolution Was Televised."
Back in November, I self-published a book, "The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever." It was a look back at some of the best and/or most influential dramas of the last 15 years — "The Sopranos," "Oz," "The Wire," "Deadwood," "The Shield," "Lost," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Battlestar Galactica," "24," "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" — told through both my critical eye and the voices of the men and women responsible for making them.
Review: 'Mad Men' - 'The Crash'
Don and Stan get a special shot, the agency loses a leader and Sally meets her 'Grandma Ida'
On "Mad Men," Jim Cutler (Harry Hamlin) and Stan Rizzo (Jay R. Ferguson) have a footrace.
A review of tonight's "Mad Men" coming up just as soon as I experience 24-to-72 hours of uninterrupted creative focus, energy and confidence...
Review: 'Game of Thrones' - 'Second Sons'
The Lannisters throw a wedding, Daenerys faces a new army, and Stannis meets Gendry
Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Sansa (Sophie Turner) struggle through a formal occasion on "Game of Thrones."
A review of tonight's "Game of Thrones" coming up just as soon as I build a shrine to myself at the next brothel I visit...
Upfronts 2013: 10 things we learned and 1 thing we didn't
Promising pilots, puzzling scheduling moves and more
Upfront Week 2013 is over, and you can find all of HitFix's upfronts coverage — including schedules, analysis, new series photos and most of the trailers that advertisers were shown — here. Even after all five networks announced their fall and midseason schedules, even after we learned which shows were renewed and which were canceled, there remains a ton of uncertainty. Shows that looked good in trailer form might not work at full-length, and vice versa. A scheduling move that seems puzzling might turn out to be the most successful of the fall, and some decisions announced this week (say, FOX scheduling sitcoms on Friday) might never come to pass.
But there are a few things that Fienberg and I feel more confident about today than we did a week ago, plus one thing we wish we had an answer for already (and would vastly prefer one answer to another about it):
Season finale review: 'Doctor Who' - 'The Name of the Doctor'
The Doctor uncovers Clara's secret and comes face-to-face with a surprising figure
Jenna-Louise Coleman as Clara on "Doctor Who."
A quick review of the "Doctor Who" season finale coming up just as soon as I retire and take up watercolors or beekeeping...
Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 182: Upfronts, 'The Office' finale, 'American Idol' & more
Dan and Alan also discuss the recent finales of 'Survivor' and 'The Amazing Race'
As promised, Upfront Week led to a bonus installment Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, in which we break down the CBS and CW schedules, ride into Dan's Reality Round-Up to talk about the recent conclusions of "American Idol," "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race," and then talk for a while about "The Office' series finale and some of our favorite (and least favorite) moments from the life of the show.
The lineup:
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.
And as always, feel free to e-mail us questions for the podcast.
Series finale review: 'The Office' - 'Finale'
Dwight gets married and the staff revisits the documentary in a lovely farewell
Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski in "The Office" series finale.
A review of "The Office" series finale coming up just as soon as I sell ceramic tile out of Newark...
Review: 'Hannibal' - 'Fromage'
Lecter becomes interested in a local killer, and Will begins hearing things
Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter.
A few quick thoughts on tonight's "Hannibal" — and other recent developments on the show — coming up just as soon as I take a hammer to my chimney...
