Small Screen Stakeout: January 15, 2010 (Episode 1)
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Lori and I spend so much time discussing the TV shows we watch, we decided to launch a weekly podcast so you all can share in the fun/arguments. This week we cover Bones, Better Off Ted, American Idol, Fringe, Law and Order: SVU, Grey’s Anatomy, Modern Family, and my personal favorite, The Good Wife, as well as two two new web series/videos which I’ve embedded below so you can watch them before listening, if you want to.
This being our first audio podcast, it’s a little on the long side, and includes a lot of rambling asides — from six degrees of Sanaa Lathan, to the benefits of marathoning TV shows, to why we hated the latest Twilight movie New Moon. It clocks in at around an hour and half, so you may want to multi-task while you listen.
Hope you enjoy it, and let me know in the comments if you agree/disagree with our take on a show or episode.
So happy you guys are back! Do you guys watch dollhouse??
Great to hear from you both! I always enjoyed your vlogs, never missed them, and its great that you are doing something similar. I still miss the bunnies, but hey
I’m looking forward for the next podcast
Wow, that was awesome! Glad that you’re back, I enjoyed SMMWT on AE a lot!
When I read that the podcast was 99 min long, I thought OMG, that’s like really long! But it went by so fast and was highly entertaining, great job! Unfortunately, I’m from Germany and don’t watch most of the tv shows you were talking about (except for Fringe, which totally rocks, btw :D) but it was great anyways^^ Everytime you made a reference to something I know, I was like ‘whohoo, I know that one’ or ‘yay, I got that joke!!’. And don’t stop rambling, it’s just hilarious!!
So again, great job, I’ll try to get to know some more shows until next time, so that I can follow you a little bit better
Oh, and I second the other comment: do you watch dollhouse and what about Anyone but Me? Cause I watch these two as well^^
I’ll really stop now…
Greetings from Germany!
SMMWT and WTTWGI were two of my favorite Afterellen vlogs and so I’m thrilled at the prospect of having you two discussing television again–it really is like sitting down and discussing your favorite shows with old friends. Plus, it’s always good to know that there are people out there who watch more television than me (four DVRs?!).
But anyway…
I find myself feeling the same way about “Better Off Ted” that I did about “Pushing Daisies”–it’s just too smart for the audience. ABC’s not helping the matter, though, putting the show opposite “Scrubs” (the worst lead-in ever) and by pitting it against the resurgent “Ugly Betty.” SIGH.
Of course, I love Veronica on BOT but, I have to say, my opinion of any given episode really hinges on how well Phil and Lem are utilized. In my two favorite episodes of the show–Racial Sensitivity and It’s Nothing Business, It’s Just Personal–Phil and Lem are really integrated into the main storyline and everyone hits their stride together.
“The Good Wife” is my favorite new show of the fall season, hands down. I think that show does the best job of interweaving narratives–the Stern/Lockhart cases, Alicia’s home life, Peter’s case, the kids’ investigation and the personal lives of Alicia’s colleagues–of any show I’ve seen in a long, long time. Good stuff.
I was never able to get into “The Mentalist” in large part because it seemed like a rip-off of “Psych,” minus the comedic element. Moreover, seven seasons of devoted “West Wing” watching obliges me to support anything and everything that Dule Hill does.
Sidenote: I had the great displeasure of watching an episode of Nip/Tuck a few weeks ago and words honestly fail me in describing how god awful it was. Hands down, the most transphobic thing I’ve ever seen (featuring Candis Cayne, no less). The next day, I was looking for somewhere on the Internet to share my outrage and there was nothing…I guess everyone’s just stopped watching the show.
So I’ll be the brave soul that bites the bullet and admits it: I watch “Private Practice.” I’ve watched the show on and off for the first two seasons with much frustration but this new season has really captured my attention. Kate Walsh (in “The Parent Trap”), Kadee Strickland (in “Another Second Chance”) and Amy Brenneman (in “Strange Bedfellows”) have delivered their best performances to date and I love what’s on the horizon. The show still has its shortcomings (namely, Dell) but I think it’s been better, overall, than what I’ve seen of Grey’s this season.
I like GLEE but probably not as much as everybody else. I love the music but stereotypical characters annoy me. Stupid jock? Check. Sassy black girl? Check. Shy Asian? Check. Effeminate gay boy? Yep. The lack of character development is hard to stomach…
Lastly–I promise–I know Aisha Tyler from her stint as host of “Talk Soup.” This clip gives me hope than when ABC finally pulls out her daytime variety show (they’re working on a pilot now to replace one of their soaps, like OLTL), it’ll be worthwhile.
Hey Sarah,
I was looking forward to listening to your new podcast but the compression noise stopping and starting inbetween segments, and even sentences was bothering me so much I couldn’t listen for more than a couple minutes. Is there anyway for you to encode the mp3 at a higher rate or maybe record at a higher volume (I’m not too versed at audio tech)? I wouldn’t hesitate to download an even slightly larger file but the noise at this rate (or rather: the stopping and restarting. A constant hum would be less annoying,) unfortunately makes it impossible for me to listen through it.
Looking forward to a new and improved installment soon!
Thanks for the great podcast (it gave me something to listen to while I make notes for my research methods exam).
I tried to watch the first episode of Glee the other day (it’s only just started to air here over in the UK) with some friends and I have to say none of us really paid any attention to it, and we ended up switching over. I really wanted to like it because of Jane Lynch too…but lots of people over here do seem to be into it.
I have to agree with you on Twilight too, I went to see it (purely because someone I liked asked me to) and was just gobsmacked at how poor quality it is in proportion to the hype that surrounds it. I mean the woman with the disfigured face who was just like ‘it’s all a part of living with a werewolf’ or whatever? Not a good message at all to impressionable under 18s!
The UK Life on Mars is great, and it’s set in the 70s! Can’t say I know a lot about what it was like to live in them because it was before my time, but it made for an awesome show.
Looking forward to next weeks offering, greetings from the UK!
Oh, and forgot to add, both of those web video links were really interesting - Funny or Die really does have some good quality comedy videos on there, and I\’ll definately keep an eye on Hildy Hildy (that\’s probably my angsty teenager brain talking…).
I am so glad that you guys are back, I’ve missed SMMWT a lot.
Also glad to hear that you’re fans of The Good Wife, I just started watching it and I’m really liking it so far. And almost even happier to hear that you’re not fans of Glee, I was beginning to think that I was the only one who didn’t understand the Glee hype.
What about Criminal Minds though, you don’t watch that? It’s one of the best shows out there at the moment imo.
I would also love to hear your opinions about Venice at some point. I know that you might have been a bit put off by some of the crazed fans during the worst Otalia hype and Venice is far from flawless but it would be great to hear a more unbiased (and much respected) opinion about it.
Thanks for all the feedback, everyone! We re-encoded the audio file at a higher bitrate, and that seems to have helped remove some of the hissing sound, but not all of it. Lori’s fiddling with our hardware and software to try and eliminate it for the next one.
We’ll discuss Dollhouse, Criminal Minds, and Venice in our next podcast.
Pecola - I loved the Racial Sensitivity episode of BOT too. One of the few plotlines revolving around Lem and Phil that I really liked.
Glad to hear so many of you like The Good Wife! Too bad we have to wait a few weeks now for new episodes…
So glad you guys are back - even without bunny visuals. Your vlogs were by far my favorite over at afterellen and this was just as entertaining, even though I don’t watch or like half of the shows you were talking about. Looking forward to what you’ll have to say about Dollhouse (R.I.P) and Venice - any chance you’re watching Castle? Oh, and in defense of dream sequences: Restless!
Loved the show - it’s great to have you two back in the TV commentary business! I’ll third liking The Good Wife (if only it didn’t have that silly name!). Thanks for the web series recommendations, by the way - good web series are really fun, but I have trouble finding interesting ones for some reason.
Random techie note: if you can’t get rid of the hiss by e.g. recording at a higher level, just leave off the noise gate and let it hiss constantly - it’ll be (counter-intuitively) much less unpleasant.