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Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 140: Press tour, 'Breaking Bad' & 'Buffy'

Dan and Alan discuss the early doings for the Television Critics Association

By Alan Sepinwall Wednesday, Jul 25, 2012 6:54 PM

The

Dan and I are at press tour together, which means it's time for an in-person installment of the Firewall & Iceberg Podcast. We're punchy enough that it took some prompting for Dan to remember what day it was, but we talked quite a bit about the tour so far, answered your mail and did the usual "Buffy" and "Breaking Bad" pieces.

The line-up: 

TCA Press Tour (00:00:00 - 00:40:30)
Comic-Con Listener Mail (00:41:25 - 00:49:40)
"Breaking Bad" (00:49:40 - 01:03:20)
"Buffy the Vampire slayer" (01:03:25 - 01:13:30)
 
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.
 
And as always, feel free to e-mail us questions for the podcast.
Alan-sepinwall-sm
Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching
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
Related Searches: Firewall & Iceberg, Alan Sepinwall, Breaking Bad, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Press Tour, TCA Press Tour

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  • Default-avatar

    Jack

    I'm betting that Revolution will be a big hit for NBC. Looks really interesting.

    July 25, 2012 at 8:16PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    S. Tarzan

    Re: the Go On pilot, was it really the basic premise of Community that made it such a niche show? I don't remember whether Community debuted well or not, but it seems like Community struggled to reach a large audience because Dan Harmon has an idiosyncratic sensibility, not because the basic idea of a straight man who is learning to become a better person thanks to a group of lovable goofballs is inherently uncommercial.

    July 26, 2012 at 1:18AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Mike

    That scene with Buffy and her Dad really is exceptional. Even though by this point, as you said, you absolutely know that it's Buffy experiencing her nightmare and it's not reality, Sarah Michelle Gellar is just so great in that moment that you completely suspend your knowledge of that fact and totally buy into what a crushing blow it is for her to hear something like that from her own father. Just great stuff by Gellar.

    July 26, 2012 at 2:07AM EST Reply to Comment
  • 500full_talkback_profile

    velocityknown

    I've been very pleased with the first two episodes of "Breaking Bad". I don't think Walt's evolution or how quickly he gets his comeuppance will be a big issue because this show has moved so quickly up until this point. I mean, it hasn't even been a year yet. I think it's perfectly understandable that Walt would fall as quickly as he rose just by virtue of his lack of self-awareness. Which he's had for quite a while now.

    Maybe I have terrible hearing, but I went in knowing that Laura Fraser was Scottish but I didn't hear any problems with her accent. Maybe it's because I've dealt with Andrew Lincoln's terrible southern accent for so long that I don't pick up on anything that's even half-good.

    July 26, 2012 at 10:16AM EST Reply to Comment
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      Eric Yeah, her accent was fine.

      July 26, 2012 at 12:28PM EST
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    srpad

    My other favorite aspect of that episode of "Nightmares" in addition to what you mentioned, is seeing a Vamped out Buffy. I am pretty sure that is the only time in the series they did that trick.

    July 26, 2012 at 12:02PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      Andrei Unfortunately, SMG couldn't speak through the prosthetics any better than all the other vamps - seriously, Joss couldn't let them dub their lines later, or is it canon that all vampires have lisps?

      .

      July 26, 2012 at 2:19PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    Eric

    Is Dan starting to drive anyone else a little crazy? I'm all for being critical and evaluating things closely, but the guy has been a major wet blanket all the time lately. I get the feeling that he could suck the joy out of a week-long festival of pizza and blowjobs. "Well, I wasn't DIS-pleased by the pizza per se, but the pepperoni was just a little too salty, and the sauce had an undertone that I just don't think of as Italian. Now as for the blowjobs..."

    July 26, 2012 at 12:30PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Eric - Is the pepperoni salty? Were there issues with the sauce? If so, I'm not going to feel guilty for mentioning it.

      Now as for the blowjobs... [Not a comment I expected to be typing...]

      -Daniel

      July 26, 2012 at 12:42PM EST
    • Default-avatar

      Eric Fair enough Dan - but I WILL hear your analysis of those blowjobs, dangit.

      July 26, 2012 at 1:25PM EST
    • Default-avatar

      andrei I really, REALLY hope that it won't be a live-blog!!

      July 26, 2012 at 2:21PM EST
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      Mike I'd say no to the idea that Dan is driving me crazy, mainly because I've always felt Dan liked BB a little less than I did, so it doesn't come across as a particularly shocking development. To me, the idea of any Mad Men season being better than the corresponding Breaking Bad season (excluding the truncated first season) is laughable, but if I had to guess, I'd say Dan felt the exact opposite way.

      July 26, 2012 at 3:26PM EST
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    thedecade

    Thought Dan was right on about the women of Breaking Bad...

    July 26, 2012 at 6:57PM EST Reply to Comment

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