Dive into the complete episode list for Streamageddon. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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Pub. Date
Title
Duration
13 Nov 2023
#61 – Did Loki Stick the Landing?
01:00:13
Our long national nightmare is finally over!
(Are we referring to the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike or the Loki finale? You’ll have to listen to find out!)
———
📺 Review: Loki Finale
🚨 Spoiler Alert: All Episodes of Loki, also the last Ant Man movie, also probably some other Marvel stuff (starting at 20:49) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 2 (All Episodes Available)
Where to Watch: Disney+
Spinoffs: If a Spinoff is a Spinoff of a Spinoff is it actually called a Spinsoff?
#32 – Fleishman Is in Trouble, But At Least He Isn’t Bob Chapek
00:47:27
Disney’s board is bringing Bob Iger out of the Disney Vault and we’re stockpiling the hot corporate goss like limited edition Beauty & The Beast DVDs in 2002. It’s like if Succession had a PG rating… and we’re loving every minute of it!
But don’t worry, because we’re still thankful for Peacock’s latest shenanigans (somebody pardon this bird, STAT!) and our beloved Hulu. Yes, little Hulu. The stepchild of the Great Big Bob Breakup. What will happen to poor Hulu??
… We might not have the answer to that question, but we do have a glowing review of Hulu’s latest FX joint: Fleishman Is in Trouble.
———
📺 Review: Fleishman Is in Trouble
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes (starting at 28:14) 🚨
Where to Watch: Hulu
Releases: Thursdays through Dec 29
Based on: The novel Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
We saw the latest Knives Out mystery in theaters and we have spoiler-free thoughts to share to help you get excited to stream it on at home!
We’ll discuss Netflix’s latest experiment with a hybrid theatrical/streaming strategy, plus the other mysteries plaguing the streaming universe, such as…
Cecily Strong’s sudden departure from SNL!
Peacock’s puzzling pivot!
And all the suspicious disappearances plaguing HBO Max…
It’s a case only Benoit Blanc can solve, but unfortunately you’re stuck with us instead!
———
📺 Review: Glass Onion
🚨 Extremely light spoilers starting at 44:29, but really we’re not spoiling this one for you!🚨
It’s been 2 years since the “Netflix Correction” and we’re here to correct the record: How did Netflix become the sole survivor of an industry-wide crisis kicked off… by Netflix itself? We’ll take stock of the changes that helped solidify Netflix’s place at the top of the streaming food chain and what that means for the future of the little guys.
And speaking of little guys: Peacock! Comcast is eager for their streamer to offset the never-ending losses in their cable TV division, and guess what? It might be working?!
Plus it’s the most jam-packed edition of Daily Show Host(s) Watch yet!
It’s so much podcast we had to push the review of Fallout to next week! But you can get caught up on Amazon Prime Video now (we’ll be reviewing episodes 1-5).
It’s our 2024 Fall TV and Streaming Preview Spectacular! We’ll dish on the shows we’re excited for… and also other shows! That also exist! (Surely someone is excited for all the Citadel spinoffs!)
Then we’ll channel the dark arts of streaming to transform our excitement into buying advice in a special Fall installment of Add? Keep? Cancel! (The segment where we spend your money for you!)
📺 Featuring:
Have I Got News for You with Roy Wood Jr. — CNN/Max, Premiers Sept. 14
High Potential — ABC/Hulu, Premiers Sept. 17
Marvel’s Agatha All Along — Disney+, Premiers Sept. 18
The Golden Bachelorette — ABC/Hulu, Premiers Sept. 18
The Penguin — HBO/Max, Premiers Sept. 19
St. Denis Medical — NBC/Peacock, Premiers Nov. 12
Only Murders in the Building (Season 4) — Hulu, Returned Aug. 27
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Season 2) — Amazon, Returned Aug. 28
Pick up some pork buns and chain your ankle to the floor because we’re digging into a delicious drama this week with the intriguing short-form limited series The Patient now streaming via our favorite FX: FX on Hulu.
Speaking of favorites: It’s about time we made our case for the emotionally satisfying— if imperfect— season finale of Peacock’s The Resort.
All that plus dwarves, trolls, and the ancient history of a mystical land known as the CW!
———
📺 Review: The Patient
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episodes 1 and 2 (starting at 36:10) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 1 (In Progress)
Where to Stream: FX on Hulu
———
📼 Rewind Review: The Resort
🚨 Spoiler Alert for ALL EPISODES (starting at 55:15) 🚨
This week we’re force-ing ourselves to see both the light and dark sides of the newest Star Wars series: Obi-Wan Kenobi (like Ewan McGregor, we are cranky old dad-types now and our jokes will reflect that). We’re reviewing the first four episodes and making our predictions for the final two!
We'll take a look at the “Marvel-ization” of the Star Wars universe that’s accelerated since the launch of Disney+ (try to guess how many Star Wars shows are currently in development!) and we’ll try to answer this week’s big questions from the streaming universe. Questions like…
Is it cake?
What is “Breaking News” anyway?
Wait, Premier League Cricket is worth how much?
Do you think J.J. Abrams will take our notes about his sci-fi epic Demimonde and give Demi Moore the Emmy she deserves??
No really, is it cake??!
And can Netflix pivot to blockbuster movies? In this economy?!?!!
———
📺 Review: Obi-Wan Kenobi
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episodes 1-4 (starting at 26:31) 🚨
Welcome to Streamageddon, where we try (and fail) to watch everything.
04 Oct 2024
#94 – Agatha All Along and the Ghosts of Marvel Shows Past
01:12:08
Spooky Season has arrived and Disney+ is leaning into it with the long-awaited (and repeatedly retitled) WandaVision spin-off Agatha All Along. It’s got a killer cast, but can it shake the Marvel curse?
And speaking of Marvel: We’re assembling our own coven… of shows! Join us as we each draft a team of 6 Marvel shows that we hope Kevin Feige resurrects for another season. Which one of us will assemble the Avengers of Avengers-adjacent characters?
But first, in the news:
Wake up, babe. New bundle dropped!
And we begin the bittersweet farewell to satellite TV.
———
📺 Review: Agatha All Along
🧭 Where to Watch: Disney+
🗓️ Episodes: 9 (Wednesdays at 9 PM ET)
🔄 Renewal Status: TBA
📚 Related Titles:WandaVision
📚 Where to Stream Related Titles: Disney+
🤩 Starring: Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Debra Jo Rupp, Patti LuPone, Aubrey Plaza
🧑🎨 Created By: Jac Schaeffer
⚠️ Spoiler Warning for first 4 episodes starting at 42:46
#95 – Granny Matlock! Sassy Monk! Procedurals are BACK!
00:52:04
The hottest new shows of the fall TV season are old school (and in some cases: Old people!), with CBS and ABC leading the way: We’ll look at freshmen hits Matlock and High Potential. These network detective procedurals have even more in common than meets the eye… but will you be able to crack the case with us?
Plus: Could Agatha All Along usher in a new era of budget-concious Marvel shows? How confusing could the DirecTV/Dish merger get? And what’s the TV crossover of our dreams and how is it actually happening?!?
———
📺 Review: Matlock
🧭 Where to Watch: CBS and Next-Day on Paramount+
🗓️ Episodes: 1 (Thursdays at 9 PM ET)
📚 Related Titles:Matlock
🤩 Starring: Kathy Bates
⚠️ Spoiler Warning for first episode starting at 15:15
———
📺 Review: High Potential
🧭 Where to Watch: ABC and Next-Day on Hulu
🗓️ Episodes: 3 (Tuesdays at 10 PM ET)
📚 Related Titles:HPI (Original French series)
🤩 Starring: Kaitlin Olson
⚠️ Spoiler Warning for first 2 episodes starting at 33:17
Netflix was looking for some Game of Thrones magic when they hired D.B. Weiss and David Benioff to helm a western adaptation of the Chinese sci-fi epic 3 Body Problem, and they were rewarded with a surprise nomination for Best Drama at next month’s Primetime Emmys. Does it stack up against the competition? (Hint: We’ve got some problems with 3 Body…)
☀️ But first: We’re looking back at the summer in streaming!
Including updates on the next seasons of Shogun and Hacks (two of our favorite shows this year!).
The shocking (for some!) cancellation of The Acolyte as Disney struggles to combat franchise fatigue and hostile fans in the Star Wars universe.
In SPORTSPOCALYPSE: A dramatic legal twist for the mega sports streamer Venu…
… and a make-or-break moment for Peacock.
Plus: We crown the story of the summer! And break down the logic behind Chick-Fil-A’s rumored push into streaming!
———
📺 Review: 3 Body Problem
🧭 Where to Watch: Netflix
🗓️ Episodes: 8 (All Episodes Available)
✅ Renewal Status: Renewed for 2 final seasons (3 total)
🧑🎨 Created By: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Alexander Woo
📖 Based On: The book series Remembrance of Earth’s Past by Liu Cixin
⚠️ Spoiler Alert for first 3 episodes starting at 41:34
Ciao! And welcome back to another season of sexy potential murder victims (and Jennifer Coolidge victims) on HBO’s breakout hit The White Lotus (now with extra Sicily!). We’re sharing our thoughts on the season premier, discussing why expectations for the show might be unrealistically high, and making our predictions for this new installment of Mike White’s excellent anthology series.
But first we’re unpacking three strange news stories you might’ve missed:
The holidays are almost here which means we’ve got a roundup of all the exclusive merch Disney is dying to sell you… if you subscribe to Disney+ (Bob Chapek would hate to see this limited edition Lightsaber fall into the wrong hands…).
Is Disney merch not your style? Well then Netflix would like to invite you to your local Wal-Mart for some good old fashioned corporate synergy (and popcorn!).
And just in case you forgot that the holiday are almost here (terrifying, we know) Peacock is continuing its grand pivot from NBC-style comedies to… Hallmark original movies? Sure, why not?!
Plus a startling Simpsons confession from Dianne, our favorite anthologies of all time, and we accidentally introduce a brand new segment: TV TAROT!
So join us, won’t you? It’s in the cards…
———
📺 Review: The White Lotus (Season 2)
🚨 Spoiler Alert: Season 2, Episode 1 (starting at 37:19) 🚨
We’re less than a month away from the Primetime Emmys and one show is poised to sweep the Drama categories with a big pivot (and an even bigger renewal): It’s the FX not-so-limited series Shogun. We talk about the big 2-season renewal, its awards chances, and the shocking series-turned-season finale. (We’ll have some follow-up about the season 2 plans next week, too!)
But first: It’s America’s favorite unlicensed game show! RENEWED OR CANCELED?!
———
📺 Review: Shogun (S1 Rewind)
🧭 Where to Watch: Hulu
🗓️ Episodes: 10 (All Episodes Available)
✅ Renewal Status: Renewed for Seasons 2 and 3
🤩 Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai
🧑🎨 Adapted By: Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks
⚠️ Spoiler Alert for all 10 episodes starting at 25:44
This week we’re chasing the cure for Star Wars ennui (like regular ennui, but backwards you say it)… and thankfully it’s easily accessible on the streaming app that's steadily consuming the galaxy as we know it: Disney+
Yes, we’re completely obsessed with the 3-episode premier of Andor and everything it does right in a cinematic universe that has done so much wrong (say some!) as of late. Where else can you find a show brave enough to combine Star Wars with Blade Runner with… the thrilling reality of statistics-based policing and the corrosive effect it has on society at large? (Really!)
Plus, in the news: What to expect in Season 48 of SNL, the Peacockalypse comes for your favorite comedies, and all the Tudum news that’s fit to print (but not on Tudum, because they fired all those people).
———
📺 Review: Andor
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 3 Episodes (starting at 28:06)
Renewal Status: Picked up for 2 seasons, 12 episodes each
Releases: Weekly, Wednesdays through November 23
Where to Watch: Disney+
Spinoffs: Uh, he kinda dies in the movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, doesn’t he? (And before you say something about spoilers let us remind you that this movie came out when Barack Obama was President.)
Hihi, this week we’re going undercover with Donald Glover and Maya Erskine on their new Amazon Prime Video original Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It’s inspired by the 2005 blockbuster Brangelina action rom-com, but this new darkly comedic martial thriller has more in common with FX’s The Americans than the title suggests…
…and speaking of FX: Peak TV prognosticator (and veteran FX chief) John Landgraf is back with his annual tally of scripted originals and an ominous prediction. With the number of new series in decline, is the era of Peak TV is truly over? (He’s only predicted it twice before, so this time might be for real!)
But first!
Sony once again poses the question: Should you start hoarding physical media in the attic?
Chris explores the wide world of Plex channels…
…and Dianne plays a brand new game called Plex or Not?!
———
📺 Review: Mr. & Mrs. Smith
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes (starting at 20:35) 🚨
Total Episodes: 8 Episodes (All Episodes Now Streaming)
#54 – How To with John Wilson, Hulu’s Animayhem, and Which Streamer You Should Cancel RIGHT NOW
00:51:02
We’re sharing life lessons this week with our favorite episodes of HBO’sHow To With John Wilson (now in its third and final season) plus the inaugural edition of our new segment that helps you make the most of your streaming budget: Add / Keep / Cancel (like F@%& / Marry / Kill, but for streaming!).
But wait, there’s more! Because we’re digging into the Animayhem at Hulu, and playing America’s favorite game— with a twist! Yes, it’s a special all-animation edition of Renewed or Canceled!
This week we’re playing hide and seek with the ever-talented Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) in the new Netflix original series Ripley. He’s a conman traipsing through the black-and-white vistas of the Italian coast (let’s call it shabby chic) in this prestige adaptation of the classic novel.
But first!
Chris plays hide and seek with the Hulu content buried in the new Hulu Hub on Disney+ (it’s like Hulu, but worse!)…
Dianne breaks down the big network TV vibes coming to Max…
And all of us marvel at the $40 million Disney spent fighting off an activist investor (that’s a whole 1.5 episodes of She-Hulk!).
———
📺 Review: Ripley
🧭 Where to Watch: Netflix
🗓️ Release Schedule: All 8 Episodes Available Now
📚 Related Titles: Based on The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (Novel)
🤩 Starring: Andrew Scott, Dakota Fanning, Johnny Flynn
🎬 Created By: Steven Zaillian (Writer/Director/Executive Producer)
🫣 Spoiler Warnings:
🤫 Light spoilers for first 2 episodes: Starting at 37:57
🚨 Major spoiler for episode 3: Starting at 51:00This spoiler is mentioned in most of the show’s reviews.
#92 – Is FX the New HBO? English Teacher Enters the Chat
01:06:47
FX cleaned up at the 2024 Emmy Awards, but can they keep the winning streak alive? Could the engine behind Hulu’s premium content even be on track to surpass HBO as the de facto home of prestige TV?
We’re looking at both sides of that equation with a review of the new FX comedy English Teacher and a deep dive into David Zaslav’s latest swerve with Max (coming soon to a basic cable package near you!).
But wait! There’s more:
The ABC Presidential Debate brought in big ratings across all the news networks, but did viewers punish CNN for hosting the infamous first debate?
Speaking of that Cable News Network: The channel’s new leadership continues to undo the legacy of Zaslav’s first pick, Chris Licht. That means Brian Stelter’s back, baby!
The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon becomes the final nail in the coffin for Friday night Late Night, with all the major shows down to 4 new episodes a week. With ratings in a free fall across all the networks what will the future of Late Night look like? (Maybe it’s more of an After Midnight style affair.)
———
📺 Review: English Teacher
🧭 Where to Watch: FX and Hulu
🗓️ Episodes: 8, Releasing Weekly (Mondays at 10 PM ET)
🤩 Starring: Brian Jordan Alvarez, Stephanie Koenig, Enrico Colantoni, Sean Patton, Langston Kerman
🧑🎨 Created By: Brian Jordan Alvarez
🎬 Directed By: Jonathan Krisel, Brian Jordan Alvarez
We’re ringing in the holidays with a festive Show Swap, Christmukkah-style! Join us as we wrap up the year in news, discuss what makes a holiday-themed episode work, share some of our favorites, and then exchange our gifts: Reviews of two classic holiday episodes that combine Christmas and Hanukkah with hilarious results.
———
🎁 From Dianne: “The Best Christmukkah Ever”
📺 Series:The O.C.
📼 Episode: Season 1, Episode 13
🧭 Where to Watch: Hulu, Max
🗓️ Originally Aired: December 3, 2003 on Fox
⚠️ Extremely Light Spoilers starting at 34:32
———
🎁 From Chris: “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz”
📺 Series:Frasier
📼 Episode: Season 6, Episode 10
🧭 Where to Watch: Hulu, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video
#79 – Streamers Go Nuclear: Fallout, Marvel, and Cancellations, Oh My!
00:41:36
The fallout from Season 1 of Amazon Prime Video’sFallout is still going strong, with ratings juggernaut Nielsen declaring the show a much-needed hit for the #1 streaming service that also sells toilet paper.
We’ve finished the full season and are ready to dish on all the twists and turns, whether the binge model worked for us, and what we expect (and hope for) in Season 2. Plus we revisit our predictions and grade our TV Tarot!
But first!
We dissect Disney’s earnings and the latest strategy shift at Marvel in a brand-new installment of What’s That, Bob?!
And with the abbreviated 2023-24 TV season coming to an end, both streamers and traditional TV networks are courting advertisers with some big announcements about their upcoming shows. That means it’s time for an extra-large edition of Renewed or Canceled?!
———
📼 Rewind Review: Fallout
🧭 Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video
🗓️ Release Schedule: All 8 Episodes Available Now
✅ Renewal Status: Renewed for Season 2
📚 Related Titles: Based on the Fallout franchise of games
🤩 Starring: Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Walton Goggins, Kyle MacLachlan
🎬 Created By: Jonathan Nolan (Director/Executive Producer) and Lisa Joy (Executive Producer)
Generational comedy works best when the writers understand the generations involved, but does Hulu’s new Hollywood satire Reboot deliver on the pilot’s surprising twist? You’ll have to listen to our review of the first there episodes to find out!
Plus all the news you didn’t know you needed to know:
SNL’s Charmin Bears deny any undue Charmin influence
Peacock is thrilled to announce that they finally convinced some people to watch Peacock (just don’t ask them about their Bundle Envy)
Comedy Central’s identity crisis comes Ito focus
Paramount’s late night dominance is in doubt
HBO Max’s disco daddy Warner Bros. Discovery continues its animation purge (Anime Edition!)
And we play everyone’s favorite game: Renewed or Canceled?!
———
📺 Review: Reboot
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 3 Episodes (starting at 30:13) 🚨
After months of speculation the new season of Saturday Night Live is here and we’re ready to share our unsolicited thoughts and feelings like a certain purple McDonald’s mascot. Yes, those nine absences in the opening credits were a shock (don’t worry, Cecily Strong will be back!), but… guess what? They kind of owned it! And one of the new guys got the Pete Davidson slot on Weekend Update! And then, there were the sponsored sketches…
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, because this special edition of Streamageddon kicks off with BREAKING-ish NEWS in the late night comedy world: The Daily Show is beginning its search for host #4 after Trevor Noah stunned his audience (and reportedly his bosses at Paramount) by announcing his retirement after 7 years on the job.
We’re breaking down all the news about the fake news (the good kind) this week, and if that sounds intimidating just relax, because Dianne already made Chris cut his 30-minute rant about the clashing serifs in the new SNL fonts so you have nothing to fear!
We’re taking a bite out of spooky season by doing the scariest thing imaginable: Trying a new streaming service! 😱
Join us as we explore the haunted halls of AMC+ with a truly terrifying game designed to test your undead knowledge (because like half the shows on AMC+ are Walking Dead spin-offs). If you dare survive this hair-raising trial you’ll be treated to our surprisingly enthusiastic review of Interview with the Vampire, which is so good it just might lure you into subscribing…
BUT FIRST:
A boatload of Netflix news!
No, really! The password crackdown is nigh!
Some Trevor Noah news!
Some Trevor Noah NETFLIX news!
And, yes, even MORE Netflix news!
———
📺 Review: Interview with the Vampire
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes (starting at 32:24) 🚨
We love a good storytelling gimmick and this week we’re sharing our favorites (and least favorites) as we unpack the new Netflix heist series Kaleidoscope.
Plus we answer all your burning questions, like:
What did HBO Max erase from existence while we were on vacation?
Who is hosting The Daily Show now that Trevor Noah is gone?
Why is Netflix teaming up with Nike?
And is the streaming universe doomed in 2023?!
But first it’s a surprise round of America’s favorite game: Renewed or Canceled?! Play along as Dianne guesses the fate of these streaming shows:
1899 (Netflix)
61st Street (AMC)
Wednesday (Netflix)
Dangerous Liaisons (Starz)
Step Up (Starz)
Can you go 5 for 5? Lock in your guesses now and find out in this week’s episode.
———
📺 Review: Kaleidoscope
🚨 Spoiler Alert starting at 43:34 🚨
Where to Watch: Netflix
Total Episodes: 8 Episodes, 1 Season
Renewal Status: No Renewal Announcement (Limited Series)
It’s hot out, so why not stay inside with two of the most influential (and bingeable) shows from the mid-2000s? It’s a Summer Show Swap that pits one of Dianne’s favorite series against one of Chris’s. Which side will you take?
✈️🏝️ Can Dianne convince Chris that iconic ABC drama Lost (now streaming on Netflix) is worth the 6-season binge? We discuss the pilot and how it redefined network TV.
🏡🍃 And will Chris convince Dianne that Showtime hit Weeds (now streaming on Hulu) overcomes its tonally inconsistent pilot to deliver one of the all-time best second seasons of TV? We’ll break down the first 3 episodes of the series and how the show was retooled after the pilot. (Bonus: Chris will tell you which seasons you can skip!)
But first! News!
A shocking twist in the Paramount Death Watch!
We introduce you to a brand new streaming service, because there really aren’t enough already!
And Warner Bros. Discovery rebrands 5 high-profile “Max Originals” under the HBO umbrella, because apparently people actually liked the HBO brand? Who knew!
———
🔀 Show Swap: Lost
🧭 Where to Watch: Netflix
🎟️ Originally Premiered: September 22, 2004 on ABC
🍂 Seasons: 6 (118 episodes)
⚠️ Light Spoilers for the 2-part Pilot Episode starting at 25:25
———
🔀 Show Swap: Weeds
🧭 Where to Watch: Hulu (or Peacock, supposedly)
🎟️ Originally Premiered: August 7, 2005 on Showtime
🍂 Seasons: 8 (102 episodes)
⚠️ Light Spoilers for the first 3 Episodes starting at 43:49
Death pays us a visit as we go on a spoiler spree with a full season review of Hulu’s killer Steve Carell/Domhnall Gleeson drama FX’s The Patient (…on Hulu).
But don’t worry! We promise not to sneak up on you with any spoilers, because there’s plenty to talk about first:
Did HBO retake the iron throne of prestige fantasy drama (which is definitely still a thing) with its HotD?
Disney CEO Bob Chapek dreams of using your Disney+ viewing data to create a panopticon of magic on your next visit to one of his many all-seeing, all-knowing theme parks. What’s not to love about that?
Netflix prepares us for the pending password crackdown by ending some of its home-sharing pilots in Latin America…
… but don’t you want to pony up for a new season of Girs5Eva? Peacock punts the third season of the comedy to Netflix and leaves us wondering if Peacock still Peacocks comedy.
Plus: Join Dianne as she plays the hot new game that proves Peacock still has wings: It’s Peacock or NOT?!
———
📺 Review: The Patient (Rewind Review)
🚨 Spoiler Alert for All 10 Episodes (starting at 29:36) 🚨
#96 – The Franchise Suffers from Franchise Fatigue
00:36:50
Marvel’s franchise fatigue seems like the perfect target for comedy, but can the new HBO satire The Franchise overcome the baggage of the subject matter? Is it more of a 30 Rock or a Studio 60?
But first! Big ratings for our favorite new procedurals, trouble in paradise for the Golden Bachelorette, more scoops on the Abbott/Sunny crossover, and a triumphant quarter at Netflix (featuring surprise Mulaney news!).
———
📺 Review: The Franchise
🧭 Where to Watch: HBO / Max
🗓️ Episodes This Season: 8 (Sundays at 10 PM ET)
🔄 Renewal Status: TBA
📚 Related Titles:Avenue 5,Veep
📚 Where to Stream Related Titles: Max
🤩 Starring: Himesh Patel, Aya Cash, Bill Magnussen, Jessica Hynes, Lolly Adefope, Richard E. Grant
🧑🎨 Created By: Jon Brown, Sam Mendes, Amando Iannucci
⚠️ Spoiler Warning for first 2 episodes starting at 20:00
We’re sending the investigation in a whole new direction this week with our impressions of Season 2 of Hulu’s hit series Only Murders in the Building. It’s a wildly inaccurate portrayal of podcasting, but a delightful and empathetic look at the cloistered lives of quirky city dwellers (Caution: Contains highly relatable and extremely awkward interactions with neighbors).
Then we’re revisiting our review of Season 1 of Showtime’s I Love That For You. It’s a series that piqued our interest but left us worried the dark twist would sink the stellar comedic performances. So, how did it turn out for Joanna Gold at SVN? You’ll have to listen to the end to find out!
———
📺 Review: Only Murders in the Building
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Season 1 (All Episodes) and the first 3 Episodes of Season 2 (starting at 22:49) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 2
Where to Watch: Hulu
———
📼 Rewind Review: I Love That For You
🚨 Spoiler Alert for ALL EPISODES (starting at 46:45) 🚨
#52 – Summer of Strike, Comedy in Crisis, and Disney's TV Dilemmas
00:37:34
We’re gathered in the Streamageddon war room with a clear-eyed (panicked), sober (not), and thoroughly researched (hastily googled) analysis of the shocking double strike that seems destined to paralyze TV and streaming productions for months to come.
In less than 40 minutes we promise to (maybe) explain:
Why Netflix might be willing to throw their “peers” in the AMPTP under the bus
Which shows are still in production (and why!)
Who stands to lose the most with the shift away from residuals
And why that Black Mirror episode about AI CGI Annie Murphys was probably more accurate than we were willing to admit…
You’ll even learn why Ronald Reagan’s name was in the news again last week!
But that’s not even the only emergency-pod-worthy news we have for you!
The Emmy nominations are here, they’re weird, and apparently we have to get used to calling The Bear a comedy now.
Speaking of TV comedies: Wait, where did all the TV comedies go? And why aren’t any of them on NBC?
At least ABC has Abbott Elementary… at least until Disney’s Bob Iger says something ominous that gets us asking our favorite question-slash-segment: “What’s That, Bob?”
Also, we have an extremely legitimate pitch for John Oliver to buy The Disney Channel. (Just hear us out, Bob!)
Finally, we’ll lighten the mood with two spoiler-free streaming recommendations!
#56 – The Meryl of It All: Disney Drama, Cable Clash, and Only Murders (Season 3!)
01:05:58
We’re teaming up and uncovering all the secrets inside the House of Mouse: From the drama over Bob Iger’s bathroom (really!) to the mysterious disappearance of ESPN and other Disney-owned channels for Charter and Spectrum cable customers. (We even have the latest details on the last-minute deal they struck on Monday!)
Plus: Why is Comcast eagerly moving up the Hulu sale? What does Brian Roberts know that we don’t?? And is it the identity of Ben Glenroy’s killer?!
Yes, we’re also digging into season 3 of Only Murders in the Building, which just passed the halfway point and is turning into quite the whodunit. Except this season one of the whos who might’ve dunit is none other than Meryl Streep. What does her celebrity star power do to the carefully-balanced gravity of our beloved Hulu comedy? Listen through to the end of the episode to find out our opinions on "the Meryl of it all" and our predictions about the identity of the latest killer stalking the halls of the Arconia.
But first! Join us as we…
Catch up on the Hollywood strikes!
Discuss Rolling Stone’s bombshell piece about the toxic culture at Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show.
And pour one out for Quibi (again!).
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📺 Review: Only Murders in the Building (Season 3)
🚨 Spoiler Alert: All Episodes through Season 3, Episode 6 (starting at 41:23) 🚨
#67 – New Year, New Marvel: Echo (Plus Amazon, Paramount, and Other Kingpins)
01:09:34
Whoops, we accidentally predicted the future too well in our last episode! So we’re back to catch up on the doom and gloom at Paramount+, the mass hysteria surrounding Amazon Prime Video’s turn to ads, and more news from the past month.
Then we’ll make the case for why Marvel’s new “Spotlight” series Echo breathes new life into their struggling TV formula… if you can make it through the first 25 minutes of franchise-mandated flashbacks.
Plus it’s a new year, so it’s time to get your streaming house in order. We’ll help you budget with the return of our awards-pending advice segment Add/Keep/Cancel.
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📺 Review: Echo
🚨 Light Spoilers: First 3 Episodes (starting at 42:35) 🚨
Total Episodes: 1 Season, 5 Episodes (all released)
For our 100th episode we’re celebrating one of TV’s hardest working genres: The Workplace Comedy. We’ll discuss the classics, debate the mockumentary format, and marvel at the wide range of characters and stories that fit into this surprisingly versatile genre.
We’re talking about all our favorites, but in the second half of our conversation we’re going to roll up our sleeves and dive deep into two specific workplace comedies: One is riding off into the sunset with its sixth and final season (FX’sWhat We Do in the Shadows) and the other is riding high with early buzz and a full season order on NBC (St. Denis Medical). Vampires and doctors? In one genre?! What a world!
But first! Follow-up that spans all across the year in news: Paramount, parades, Iger, ESPN, the MAX app, another password sharing crackdown, and yes! A very special 100th Episode Game that we’re calling HBO or NO?!
We’ll even answer the burning question of our time: Is The Bear a workplace comedy?
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📺 Reviews: St. Denis Medical (Season 1) & What We Do in the Shadows (Season 6)
🧛 What We Do in the Shadows
🧭 Where to Watch: Mondays on FX (Next Day on Hulu)
⏰ Next Episode Airs: Monday, December 16 (Series Finale)
🍂 Seasons: 6
🗓️ Episodes This Season: 11 (61 Total)
⚠️ Light Spoilers for entire series starting at 31:29
🧑⚕️ St. Denis Medical
🧭 Where to Watch: Tuesdays on NBC (Next Day on Peacock)
⏰ Next Episode Airs: Tuesday, January 14
🍂 Seasons: 1
🗓️ Episodes This Season: 5 so far (18 ordered)
⚠️ Light Spoilers for first 4 episodes starting at 31:29
We’re smashing our way through season 1 of She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law in this spoiler-packed Rewind Review!
BUT FIRST:
Troy and Abed: Reunited?!
Trevor Noah’s last day: REVEALED!
Are these the end times for Showtime?
An Andor mid-season vibe check!
And Netflix finally adds a tier for the most underserved streaming community of them all: The BASICS among us.*
(*Seriously, we have everything you need to know about Netflix’s new “Basic with Ads” option that you will undoubtedly be forced to sign up for when they crack down on that password you’ve been sharing with your roommate who moved out in 2016.)
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📺 Rewind Review: She-Hulk (Season 1)
🚨 Spoiler Alert: All 9 Episodes (starting at 30:30) 🚨
Renewal Status: To Be Announced
Where to Watch: Disney+
Spinoffs: Uh… how many MCU properties did they tease?
We’re bringing sexy back this week with our review of the excellent new HBO Max comedy Minx. But first we share our love of corporations, brainstorm potential MGM reboots for Amazon, and beg our parents not to kick us off their Netflix in response to the streamer’s potential crackdown on password sharing.
Oh, and a story about a pigeon. 🐦
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📺 Review: Minx
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episodes 1 and 2 (starting at 38:19) 🚨
#3 – The Single Drunk Female in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window
01:11:35
We’re doing double duty this week with a pair of boozy dramedies: Single Drunk Female (Freeform) and The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window (Netflix).
But first: ViacomCBS is going all-in on their Paramount branding and announcing more new projects than we know what to do with (Smurfs! Sonic! Baby Shark!), Netflix is losing their Marvel shows, and we get a peek at the ratings for The Book of Boba Fett and talk about Disney’s streaming strategy. Grab a glass of wine (or a club soda) and join us!
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📺 Review #1: Single Drunk Female
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episodes 1-2 (starting at 35:15) 🚨
Episodes Watched for Review: 2
Number of Seasons Overall: 1
Where to Watch: Netflix
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📺 Review #2: The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episodes 1-2 (starting at 50:58) 🚨
One of our favorite New York shows is back and… headed to Hollywood?!
We’ll break down the bicoastal mystery in season 4 of Only Murders in the Building, and revisit all 3 seasons of Hulu’s hit comedy: From Tim Kono to Ben Glenroy, we’ll discuss all the ways the show has evolved since its surprising summer 2021 premier. Between its annual consistency and willingness to take big swings, we’re thrilled to hear the show has already been renewed for a season 5.
But first! We’re going down to South Park for some news!
Yes, we’re talking about Comedy Central’s parent company Paramount and the literal parent bankrolling the Skydance merger (it’s on again!)...
… and the news that South Park is sitting out the election (and the rest of 2024). Are creators Matt and Trey sick of politics, or are they sick of Paramount’s legal battle with Warner Bros. Discovery over streaming rights to one of TV’s most iconic animated comedies? (A deal that expires in 2025!)
And speaking of animated comedies: Can you guess which two pillars of adult animation are current mainstays on the Nielsen streaming charts? We’ll take a look at the top 10 for the first week of August and celebrate the latest 2000s-era show to be crowned “cool again” by Netflix: Prison Break.
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📺 Review: Only Murders in the Building (Season 4)
🧭 Where to Watch: Hulu
🗓️ Episodes This Season: 10 (Tuesdays at 3 AM ET)
🍂 Seasons: 4 (40 episodes)
⏳ Where to Stream Past Seasons: Hulu
✅ Renewal Status: Renewed for Season 5
🤩 Starring: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Cyril Creighton
🧑🎨 Created By: John Hoffman and Steve Martin
⚠️ Recap Spoiler Warning for seasons 1 through 3 starting at 42:55
🚨 New Episode Spoiler Warning for the first 2 episodes of season 4 starting at 1:01:13
Hollywood is in turmoil but what does that mean for your fall streaming?! We’re digging into the upheaval with a super-sized round of Renewed or Canceled?! that will leave you screaming… and then apologizing to the people around you for screaming (tell them to subscribe!).
Then we’re digging into the show of the summer: The Bear.
Join us for some hospitality, won’t you?
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📺 Review: The Bear (Season 2)
🚨 Spoiler Alert: All Episodes through Season 2, Episode 10 (starting at 34:46) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 2 (All Episodes Available)
The holidays are here and Bob Iger is celebrating by stuffing Hulu into the Disney+ stocking (some exceptions may apply). We’ll prepare you to answer your relatives’ streaming questions with everything you need to know about the historic level of Disney synergy sweeping the nation:
Dianne walks us through the new Hulu Hub on Disney+
Chris confesses his love for (Disney’s) Doctor Who and (Disney’s) Wheel of Fortune
And we’ve got your one-stop guide to all five seasons of FX’sFargo (streaming now on Disney’s Hulu Hub!)
Plus, updates from every corner of the Disney universe: From ABC to Pixar to Star Wars to Marvel. Even NatGeo makes an appearance! That’s right, Disney owns National Geographic, too!
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📺 Review: Fargo (Season 5)
🚨 Spoiler Alert: The First 4 Episodes of Season 5 (starting at 1:08:51) 🚨
#106 – The White Lotus Gets Freaky, SNL Turns 50, and Bond Goes Full Bezos
01:24:22
Dianne is out on a very special assignment so Chris is joined by guest host (and real-life SAG voter) Ian Brodsky to discuss everything from the future of James Bond to Mike White’s extremely specific references. Featuring our predictions for Season 3 of The White Lotus on HBO (uh, yes, we’re going to talk about what’s going on with the “Will They? Won’t They” Brothers).
But first! So much streaming, including:
The best moments from the NBCSNL50 special (also Chevy Chase was there).
Our undying love for the just-wrapped first season of ABC’s High Potential.
A ratings update on The Night Agent and Ian’s elevator pitch for why Black Doves should be your next Netflix spy fix.
And some big surprises from some even bigger personalities behind some of the world’s biggest IP: Kathleen Kennedy plans to step aside at Star Wars and the Broccoli family finally relinquishes the keys to the James Bond kingdom (we’re pitching our Bonds for Bezos, of course).
Correction: Michael Wilson is Barbara Broccoli’s half brother, not stepbrother. Stepbrothers were just on the mind this week!
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📺 Review: The White Lotus (Season 3)
🧭 Where to Watch: HBO / Max
🗓️ Episodes This Season: 8 (Sundays at 9 PM ET)
🍂 Seasons: 3 (21 episodes)
🤩 Starring: Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell, Walton Goggins, Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Jon Gries, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sam Nivola, Sarah Catherine Hook, Tayme Thapthimthong, Patravadi Mejudhon
🧑🎨 Created By: Mike White
⚠️ Spoiler Warning for everything through the first 2 episodes of the latest season starting at 58:56
After over a decade off the air the comedy Party Down is back, but can it still serve the laughs? (First you’re going to have to figure out how to give STARZ your $3 to tune in, but we’ll get you caught up in meantime!)
Plus: Peacock doubles down on the success of Poker Face by reminding us that they’ve got plenty of Monk to tide you over until season 2 of the Natasha Lyonne hit. Oh, and maybe they’re threatening to kill off Monk in a new Monk movie? No biggie.
Speaking of movies: What the heck is going on with Netflix’s movie strategy and why don’t they want spend $180 million on the new Nancy Meyers romcom? (But $150 million was totally cool, obvi.)
And HBO celebrates another breakout hit with The Last of Us surpassing House of the Dragon, but that’s not enough to make Disney+ pay to keep streaming HBO’s content in India.
Wait, why is Disney streaming HBO’s content in India? Where’s MAX in all this mess? Someone get us David Zaslav, STAT! (And while we have his attention could he greenlight our Barry spinoff starring NoHo Hank?)
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📺 Review: Party Down
🚨 Spoiler Alert: The first 3 episodes of Season 3, plus assorted spoilers from Seasons 1 & 2 (starting at 24:30) 🚨
#83 – Fantasmas is Fantastic, Netflix Does Retail, and Late Night Gets Lean
01:12:01
Julio Torres (Los Espookys) is back on HBO with a new 6-episode series that blends sketch comedy with a surreal narrative about a lost oyster earring, a concerning mole (or maybe it’s just a birthmark), and Julio’s struggle to find a new apartment without providing his “proof of existence."
We’ll take you on our dream-like experience watching the first three episodes, featuring guest stars like Aidy Bryant (in a wild informercial bit), Jaboukie Young-White (as a influencer confronted by The Algorithm), and Tilda Swinton (as the voice of water).
But first!
We’ve got the latest news from the Paramount Death Watch, including the $2 Paramount+ price hike that will probably solve everything.
Netflix is launching permanent retail spaces in two U.S. malls. We try to imagine the synergistic experiences that await.
It’s Pride Month so we’re sharing our favorite LGBTQIA+ shows from the Streamageddon back catalog and check in with series like Interview with the Vampire and Ripley.
And find out which late night talk show host Chris has completely blocked from his memory in a round-up of news from 11 PM and beyond! (Hint: It’s a CBS host!)
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📺 Review: Fantasmas
🧭 Where to Watch: HBO and/or Max
🗓️ Release Schedule: Weekly on Fridays at 11 PM ET (HBO and Max)
✅ Renewal Status: TBA
🤩 Starring: Julio Torres
🎬 Created By: Julio Torres (Los Espookys, Problemista)
🫣 Spoiler Warning:
🦄 Light Spoilers for the First 3 Episodes: Starting at 52:33
#87 – Disney’s Franchise Fracas: (Dr.) Doom, Gloom, and The Acolyte (Spoilercast!)
00:34:45
The Star Wars franchise sent Disney+ into hyperspace when the service launched with breakout hit The Mandalorian, but the sci-fi cornerstone of Disney’s streaming play has struggled to replicate the unstoppable force of Grogu and Mando.
Enter The Acolyte, which has been review bombed for all the wrong reasons… but also might be burdened with some pretty serious storytelling problems. We revisit the series after finishing the full season and debate what worked, what didn’t, and whether the show would’ve succeeded as a Rogue One-style standalone movie (especially with so much riding on the upcoming big screen Mandalorian spinoff).
But first, in the news:
Disney finally shakes off the Marvel funk with a successful Deadpool movie, but will a desperate pivot back to RDJ and the Russo Brothers save the flagship Avengers franchise?
And speaking of the Russo Brothers: Amazon reveals some compelling casting for one of the least compelling shows we’ve ever watched. Can Citadel convince us to come back for season 2?
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📺 Review: The Acolyte (S1 Rewind)
🧭 Where to Watch: Disney+
🗓️ Episodes: 8 (All Episodes Available)
🔄 Renewal Status: Unclear!
📚 Related Titles: The Star Wars-es
📚 Where to Stream Related Titles: Disney+
🤩 Starring: Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto
🧑🎨 Created By: Leslye Headland
⚠️ Spoiler Alert for all 8 episodes starting at 12:40
#81 – Hit Man, Box Office Blues, and Summer Shows (Or No?!)
01:01:36
Did streaming break the box office? It sure seems like it, with attendance and ticket sales in a perpetual slump, layoffs plaguing juggernauts like Pixar, and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claiming that he could’ve made the Barbenheimer without a theatrical release (we disagree, Ted!). We’ll break it all down and preview this weekend’s new Netflix movie Hit Man, which Dianne saw during its brief theatrical run.
But first! Summer also means it’s time for a parade of new streaming shows you’ve probably never heard of! Can you pick the real shows from the ChatGPT-created hallucinations? Find out when we play our newest game: Show or No?!
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📺 Review: Hit Man
🧭 Where to Watch: Netflix
🗓️ Release Schedule: Available Now
🤩 Starring: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Retta
🎬 Directed By: Richard Linklater
📝 Written By: Richard Linklater, Glen Powell
🫣 Spoiler Warning:
👍 Extremely light spoilers for the premise of the movie: Starting at 29:08
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#104 – We're Getting Some "Night Action" with Netflix
00:41:39
This week we’re all about Netflix, which is riding high while the rest of the streaming universe is filled with turmoil. The next big pivot is live: From Mulaney to Beyoncé, from the NFL to the WWE and everything in between (the Jake Paul fight is somewhere on that spectrum). Oh, live and price hikes.
We’ll break it all down and then go deep cover on Netflix’s spy hit The Night Agent. Listen for our review this week, and the get ready for the spoilercast next week!
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📺 Review: The Night Agent
🧭 Where to Watch: Netflix
🗓️ Episodes This Season: 10 (All Episodes Available)
🍂 Seasons: 2 (20 episodes total)
✅ Renewal Status: Renewed for Season 3
🤩 Starring: Gabriel Basso, Luciane Buchanan, Amanda Warren, Arienne Mandi
🧑🎨 Created By: Shawn Ryan
🤔 General spoilers for Season 1, but mostly spoiler-free! starting at ==TIME==
It’s our Spring Streaming Spectacular featuring our favorite show of the year-so-far: FX’s Shogun (streaming on Hulu!). We’ll share our thoughts before digging into spoilers, plus:
Which streamers should you add, keep, and cancel this spring? We have the answers in a shocking edition of Add / Keep / Cancel!
And looking for even more Spring shows? We’re doing our first-ever Vibe Check to help you triage your watchlist.
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📺 Review: Shogun
Spoilers:
Overview: Light Spoilers for Episode 1 (starting at 37:35)
🚨 Full Spoilers through Episode 5 (starting at 55:27)
#102 – Class of 2024-25: It’s the Streaming Superlatives Spectacular!
00:55:37
It’s the Streamageddon Streaming Superlatives Spectacular! It’s our annual tradition where we hand out yearbook-style honors to streaming services, shows, stories, and the people who make the things we (mostly) love to watch. This year we’re looking back and looking ahead, making picks for both 2024 and 2025. 🔮
All your favorite categories are here, along with the series and news stories that explain the state of Streaming as we head into 2025: Who was last year’s Life of the Party, and who will take the crown this time around? What were our Biggest Disappointments of the year, and what do we expect to disappoint us all in the year to come? Who’s Most Likely To Succeed? What about the Best Glow Up? And you’ll never guess who Chris picked for his Class Sweetheart!
📺 Next Week: We’re watching the first 3 episodes of The Pitt on Max. Join us!
This week we’re reviewing Showtime’s Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber and we’re so pumped we might say “super pumped” even more times than Joseph Gordon-Levitt does in the pilot.
But first, in the news: We’re super pumped for the Peacockalypse (coming this fall to Hulu!), but we’re super NOT pumped about Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s pathetic response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. And only time will tell if we’ll ever be super pumped for streaming news services like CNN+ and Peacock’s new “MSNBC Hub on Peacock” (in case you weren’t aware that it’s on Peacock). Oh, and for some reason Chris’s Roku wants him to know that Judge Jeanine Pirro has a thing for American castles (of which there are… many?).
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📺 Review: Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episodes 1-2 (starting at 39:05) 🚨
#40 – Sitcom Reboot Power Hour: Night Court and That 90s Show
01:07:26
This week we’re coming at you with a double feature of deja vu starring a pair of reboots: Night Court (NBC/Peacock) and That 90s Show (Netflix).
Do these spiritual successors capture the essence of their original runs? And honestly, should they? The original Night Court was horny on main years before we even had a term for it, and That 70s Show thrived in the cynical heyday of early 2000s Fox.
Join us as we discuss the many challenges involved in successfully rebooting any show— but especially comedies!— and how we draw the line between Reboots, Revivals, and Spin-Offs.
And yes, we’re going to answer the BIG question we already know you’re asking: Is the upcoming Frasier series a reboot or a revival? Spoiler alert: Dianne makes a shocking case for deeming it a spin-off (!!!) and Chris proposes retconning a new title for the entire Frasier canon in order to make it work. So if you’re listening, Paramount execs, My Seattle Life! is just waiting to be green-lit…
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📺 Review: Night Court
🚨 Spoiler Alert: The First 2 Episodes of Night Court (2023), plus the original series (starting at 30:36) 🚨
Where to Watch the Reboot: NBC and Peacock
Where to Watch the Original: Freevee and Amazon
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📺 Review: That 90s Show
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes of That 90s Show, plus the original series (starting at 41:23) 🚨
It’s a big week for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (but please don’t make us call it that), and we’re celebrating with a deep dive into Loki ahead of this Thursday’s finale that seems destined to set up the next phase of Avengers mayhem (whether we like it or not).
We’ll be back in your feeds next week with our thoughts on the season finale, but that’s not the only Marvel-ing in the news: After months of reshoots and delays The Marvels hits theaters this weekend and promises to reunite us with some of our favorite characters from the Disney+ series WandaVision and Ms. Marvel (if only we can remember those long-ago shows).
We’ll dive deep into the interconnected Marvel mess and discuss whether the company’s new “Spotlight” branding for more standalone series will chart a new path forward.
But first! We’re asking the hard questions that the streaming universe refuses to answer:
Just how much is a Hulu worth these days? (Disney is about to find out!)
What’s going on with the forbidden episode of Bluey?
Who has the better strategy to jam ads in our eyes: Netflix or Amazon?
Why is YouTube willing to lose over a billion dollars a year just to carry NFL Sunday ticket?
And should Marvel arch-villain Kang be replaced?? (Spoiler alert: Yes!)
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📺 Review: Loki (Season 2)
🚨 Spoiler Alert: All Episodes through Season 2, Episode 5 (starting at 46:45) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 2 (Season In Progress)
Renewal Status: Doomed to set up another movie
Where to Watch: Disney+
Season Finale Premiers: Thursday, November 9
Spinoffs: It’s more like an ouroboros at this point (get it?)
It’s our first episode and Streamageddon is already living up to its name with an apocalyptic amount of streaming news, including hot takes on the Netflix price hike and the company’s slowing growth.
Then we ask the big questions: Do we Peacock comedy? Also, why does Peacock have so many tiers? And what does wrestling have to do with Peacock anyway? (Related question: Are the wrestlers actual peacocks?)
Finally we gallop into our first review: THE MOST POPULAR SHOW ON CABLE (that you aren’t watching).
📺 Review: Yellowstone
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Season 1 (starting at 32:15) 🚨
Episodes Watched for Review: First 4 episodes (Season 1)
Number of Seasons Overall: 4 (Renewed for Season 5)
Where to Watch: Paramount Network (not to be confused with Paramount+)
Where to Stream Past Seasons: Peacock!
Spinoffs: 1883, The Mayor of Kingstown (not to be confused with Mare of Easttown)
This week is all about classic sitcom shenanigans as we devote an entire episode to the state of the network sitcom (plus our usual Netflocalypse-of-the-Week). We’ll investigate the mysterious resurgence of network sitcoms that suddenly seem to be haunting the streaming landscape with our review of one of last season’s most successful new shows: The CBS comedy Ghosts.
But don’t look behind you, because there’s another show looming in the shadows this week… and it’s the BBC’s Ghosts (boo!). We’re comparing the original UK pilot with the US remake and picking apart the network sitcom like it’s a rotting corpse (which we swear it isn’t!).
And if that’s not enough sitcom excitement we’re continuing the conversation with a Rewind Review of Abbott Elementary’s excellent season finale! We’ll discuss our hopes are dreams for the show’s next season and share some exciting news (but you’ll have to attend class to learn all about it).
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📺 Review: Ghosts (US & UK)
🚨 Spoiler Alert for both the US & UK pilots, but also it’s just a goofy show about ghosts so maybe just calm down? (starting at 19:05) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 1 (US) and 3 (UK)
Where to Watch (US): Paramount+, CBS
Where to Watch (UK): HBO Max
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📼 Rewind Review: Abbott Elementary
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Season 1 (starting at 51:54) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 1
Where to Stream Season 1: Hulu (now), HBO Max (soon!)
#82 – The Acolyte, Disney’s TV Trouble, and Paramount Goes for Broke
00:58:21
In a shocking twist of events the Paramount Death Watch is back! We’ll discuss Shari Redstone’s last-minute decision to kill the Skydance deal and what comes next for the beleaguered home of CBS. Will a new buyer swoop in? Will Warner chief David Zaslav make a move? And what’s all this talk from Paramount’s three-headed CEO about a possible joint venture with another streamer? Will Paramount+ and Peacock team up for a new Hulu (a Nulu, if you will)??
Then we’re dusting off our Jedi robes and heading to Disney+ to discuss the intriguing new Star Wars prequel The Acolyte. There’s a lot to love, but also the same frustrations that plague most of Disney’s streaming strategy. Can they make these 8-episode “seasons” work? Or are they pulling from the wrong playbook?
But wait, there’s more!
The 2024 Box Office is back, baby! We’ll break down the big weekends from Pixar and the Bad Boys.
Warner Bros. Discovery is serving up some tennis, but can it fill the Charles Barkley sized hold in sports fans’ hearts?
Peacock has a new deal just in time for the Olympics, but can NBC convince you to stick around after?
And Max is raising prices… to the max!
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📺 Review: The Acolyte
🧭 Where to Watch: Disney+
🗓️ Release Schedule: Weekly on Tuesday Nights (3 out of 8 Episodes Available Now)
✅ Renewal Status: TBA
🤩 Starring: Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae
🎬 Created By: Leslye Headland
🫣 Spoiler Warning:
🚨 Spoilers for the First 3 Episodes: Starting at 30:55
👍 Spoiler-Light Discussion of Disney’s TV Strategy: Starting at 47:18
#72 – Back to Comedy School: Abbott Elementary, Ghosts, and Jon Stewart Return!
01:15:14
TV is back and so are we! After a half-season delay (due to last year’s strikes) CBS and ABC are back with their hit sitcoms Ghosts and Abbott Elementary. Despite the extended hiatus both shows are entering their third seasons with a ton of momentum and a stacked (and growing) ensemble. Whether you’re a longtime fan or a brand new viewer: We’ll tell you what you need to know to dive into two of our favorite comedies.
Plus: Jon Stewart is back on The Daily Show and bringing in the highest ratings the show has seen since… Jon Stewart was on The Daily Show (go figure!). We’ll share some hot takes on the evolution of late night and the show’s precarious future.
But it’s not all laughs in Hollywood: Pilot season has all but vanished, with spring sitcom production down over 90% from a decade ago. Can comedy survive the industry’s historical contraction? We’ll debate the future of funny as we catch up on a lighting round of streaming news! ⚡️
1990s Pacific Northwest radio icon Dr. Frasier Crane is back, but is the new Boston-set reboot of Frasier really listening to what viewers want? We’ll share some of our favorite classic Frasiers and compare them to the new Paramount+ reboot (which, like the sherry at a Bean Town bar, we found… questionable).
But first!
Chris shares his love of CNN Max (he’s aware this makes him a middle aged man now, thanks for asking!)
The Daily Show announces more guest hosts (including some returning favorites!)
Dianne learns the difference between Space Whales and Earth Whales (it’s a sci-fi thing!)
Price hikes at both Netflix and Disney+ leave Chris and Dianne wondering how much spaceships and comic books are really worth these days…
…and it turns out Marvel is asking itself the same thing?? We’ll explain!
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🥗 Review: Frasier (2023)
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 3 Episodes 🚨
Where to Watch: Paramount+
New Episodes Release: Weekly, on Thursdays
Spinoffs: Yes, it is.
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🍳 Bonus Review: Frasier (1993)
🚨 Spoiler Alert for… oh come on, it’s Frasier! 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 11
Where to Watch: Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu!
You’ve got questions about The Thing About Pam and we’ve got… even more questions!
Those questions include:
Are we terrible people for slurping down every second of this show like it’s a giant generic fountain soda in the clutches of Renée Zellweger‘s fat-suit-clad hands?
How should we feel about the complicated ethics of a show— based on a podcast based on an episode of Dateline— that treats the real-life murder at the center of the story like the punchline of a joke?
And do the tonal similarities to Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber mean that Renée Zellweger is the Joseph Gordon-Levitt of network television??
Listen in as we grapple with these existential questions, catch up on the latest streaming news, and ponder the future of TV shows based on video games. Plus: There’s a new comedy streaming on… Grindr? Sure, why not!
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📺 Review: The Thing About Pam
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episodes 1-4 (starting at 25:00) 🚨
Episodes Watched for Review: 3
Number of Seasons Overall: 1
Where to Watch: NBC
Where to Stream: Peacock
Based On: The Dateline Podcast The Thing About Pam (based on the episode of Dateline)
Saturday Night Live is back for its 50th season and we’re celebrating with an All-Time SNL Cast Draft! Join us as we discuss the latest episodes and then draft competing casts of 14 team all-time greats: Who gets Belushi? Who will anchor Weekend Update? And which legendary cast member did ChatGPT completely forget about?!
But first, in the news:
Yellowstone returns for its final impossible-to-stream season!
Paramount+ celebrates a change in fortunes!
Netflix purges its interactive specials!
And Max takes the crown as king of the Churn and Return generation!
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📺 Review: SNL at 50
🧭 Where to Watch: NBC (Saturdays at 11:30 PM ET) and next-day on Peacock
#55 – Why You Should Still Be Watching What We Do in the Shadows
00:47:50
We’re back from our hot streaming summer vacation and ready for a sweaty (and depressing) streaming fall! We’ll summon some laughs with our review of FX stalwart What We Do in the Shadows (wrapping its fifth season this week!) and try our best to conjure some good news after a bleak August.
But first! Get excited for a surprise round of Renewed or Canceled?! (Discouraging Vibes ONLY Edition) and a deep dive into the existential questions plaguing the streaming universe:
What exactly will be airing on network TV this fall? And just how many of those things are Bachelor-themed?
What’s the deal with the price hikes at Disney+ and Hulu? Listen in as we struggle to understand our options in real time!
And speaking of Disney: What are they going to do with ESPN?!
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📺 Review: What We Do in the Shadows (Season 5)
🚨 Light Spoilers for this Vampire Comedy (starting at 26:15) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 5 (Season Finale This Week)
#69 – Practicing French with Clive Owen and Corporate Polyamory with Carrie Bradshaw
00:48:38
It’s week two of our Cozy Winter Mysteries Tour and we’re headed to the south of France for vintage cars, red wine, and a whole lotta Clive Owen (literally) in Monsieur Spade.
But first!The Marvels hits Disney+ just as new questions plague the future of the MCU’s streaming plans (RIP our beloved She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law) and we try to unravel Max’s decision to give arch-rival Netflix the keys to Carrie Bradshaw’s kingdom.
All that plus a thrilling installment of BUNDLE WATCH. It’s an episode of Streamageddon you can’t afford to miss!
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📺 Review: Monsieur Spade
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First Episode (starting at 31:16) 🚨
#50 – Joan is Awful, Paramount+ is Purging, and Black Mirror is Back!
00:58:33
Black Mirror is back, but in a truly shocking twist: One of us has never watched it! We’ll rewind time to 2011 and compare the original season 1 premier (“The National Anthem”) with the star-studded season 6 kickoff (“Joan is Awful”). Plus: Chris shares some of his favorite episodes from past seasons (no spoilers!) to help you find the perfect Black Mirror entry point for everyone in your streaming life.
But first! A dizzying trip through the headlines:
Paramount+ pulls a “Max” and purges everything from Amy Schumer to Star Trek…
… and purges their cheapest ad-free plan along the way (But hey, at least you get whatever’s left of Showtime included now!)
Netflix tells new Canadian customers “No cheap ad-free tier for you, either!”
Warner Brothers Discovery casually threatens to murder classic films
And Wheel! Of! Fortune!
☀️ All that and more on a particularly summery Streamageddon. ☀️
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📺 Review: Black Mirror
🚨 Spoiler Alert: All Episodes through Season 6, Episode 1 (But it’s an anthology, so don’t panic!) (starting at 25:06) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 6 (All Episodes Available)
#41 – Peacock’s Poker Face, Showtime’s Untimely Demise, and The Last of Us!
01:12:16
Rian Johnson’s Poker Face is a sly new case-of-the-week detective series anchored by Natasha Lyonne’s performance as Charlie Cale, a woman on the run with one special skill: She can always tell when someone is lying. Oh, and everywhere she goes someone seems to die. Thankfully the lie thing usually helps her solve the murders, so it all works out in the end!
The series is arguably Peacock’s first bonafide hit, but is it any good? We unpack the pros and cons of the show’s throwback format: Inspired by classics like Columbo and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (classics, I say!) each episode of Poker Face reveals the murderer at the start of the episode and asks us to watch Charlie try to piece it together.
Plus! We check-in on The Last of Us and answer these burning questions about the streaming universe:
Why is Paramount+ absorbing Showtime and who chose the service’s terrible new name?
Why is Discovery+ not being absorbed into HBO Max anymore? (Except it still sort of is, but then what does that mean??)
How many Billiions spinoffs is too many Billions spinoffs?
Is anyone actually going to pay for Peacock?!
And speaking of money: How much could one banana cost, Michael? Ten dollars? (Apparently too much for Netflix! We’ll explain…)
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📺 Review: Poker Face
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 4 Episodes (starting at 35:47) 🚨
Renewal Status: Renewed for Season 2
Where to Watch: Peacock
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📺 Check-In: The Last of Us
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 5 Episodes (starting at 56:13) 🚨
Everyone is suddenly rewatching the iconic HBO comedy Veep but with 7 seasons available to stream where should you start? Relax, because we’re here to be your tour guides through the halls of almost-power.
But first: Bundle Watch!Sportspocalypse! And with The Olympics kicking off we ask the eternal question: What’s the deal with Peacock?!
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📺 Rewatch: Veep
🧭 Where to Watch: Max
🎟️ Originally Premiered: April 22, 2012 on HBO
🍂 Seasons: 7 (65 episodes)
🤩 Starring: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, Reid Scott, Timothy Simons, Matt Walsh
🧑🎨 Created By: Armando Iannucci (Showrunner Seasons 1-4), David Mandel (Showrunner Seasons 5-7)
⚠️ Spoiler Alert for all episodes starting at 38:10
Specific Episodes Mentioned:
S1E1 – Fundraiser
S1E2 – Frozen Yoghurt
S3E2 – The Choice
S3E9 – Crate
S4E2 – East Wing
S4E10 – Election Night (Armando Iannucci’s last episode)
HBO Max is dead! Long live HBO… and, uh… Max! Just separately! But together! Also House Hunters is there! MAX!
(Don’t worry, we’ll explain.)
But first! Join us as we cruise through the week’s other big streaming stories sipping champagne with Conor and the gang (like the HBO loving coastal elite we know you are):
The Mario Movie broke records, but finding it on streaming will only break your brain.
WWE and UFC merged, but what will that mean for everyone’s favorite streaming bird: Peacock?
Disney tries to reassure fans that Star Wars is definitely, maybe, probably going to make another movie…
… and that they promise they won’t make us watch another season of Obi-Wan Kenobi (uhh… kind of a weird flex, but okay!).
But no troubled franchise is troubled quite like Amazon’s The Rings of Power, which even fans struggled to finish. We’ll share the eye-popping details from Kim Masters at The Hollywood Reporter.
Rumor has it the mad scientists at HBO are getting ready to invent prequel inception with a Game of Thrones prequel prequel…
… but first we’re all taking a trip to Thailand with The White Lotus!
And, of course, we convene an emergency check-in after last weekend’s big episode of Succession.
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📺 Review: Succession (Emergency Check-In)
🚨 Spoiler Alert for All Episodes through Season 4, Episode 3 (“Connor’s Wedding”) (starting at 34:20) 🚨
The medical drama meets 24 on the new Max series The Pitt, which reunites ER veteran Noah Wyle with ER veteran John Wells to create a show that for legal reasons is definitely not a reboot of ER (we’ll explain!). Lawsuits aside, we’re hooked on this gritty, fast-paced procedural designed to bring some much-needed network flair to the Max app.
Plus: Did you already bail on your resolution to budget better? We’re here to help with our first 2025 edition of Add/Keep/Cancel!
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📺 Review: The Pitt
🧭 Where to Watch: Thursdays at 9 PM ET on Max
🍂 Seasons: 1 (In progress)
🗓️ Episodes This Season: 5 so far (15 total)
⏰ Next Episode Airs: Thursday, February 6
📚 Related Titles:ER, 24
🤩 Starring: Noah Wyle, Tracy Ifeachor, Patrick Ball, Katerine LaNasa, Supriya Ganesh, Fiona Dourif, Taylor Dearden, Isa Briones, Gerran Howell, Shabana Azeez
🧑🎨 Created By: John Wells, Noah Wyle
⚠️ Spoiler Warning for first 3 episodes starting at 13:18
Netflix rescued the 30 Rock-infused Peacock comedy Girls5Eva and it’s a comeback we can get behind… even if we’re worried no one is watching. The show has more jokes in a single song than an entire season of Emmy-winning comedy The Bear but, like so many Peacock comedies, has struggled to find an audience. We’ll give you plenty of reasons to binge the 22 episodes now streaming on Netflix…
But first!
What’s Peacock’s deal anyway? How did it take 4 years for them to figure out that their brand is… NBC?
Is there any hope for Paramount? (We’re not holding our breath!)
Max goes global! (-ish!)
And we’ve got good news and bad news from Hollywood (where intrepid reporter Dianne is live on the ground!)
All that and a jam-packed edition of America’s Favorite Game Show: Renewed or Canceled?!
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📺 Review: Girls5Eva
🚨 Light Spoilers (But No Big Ones for Season 3) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 3 (All Episodes Available)
We know nothing says “dark comedy set in Chicago” like beef sandwiches, Wilco, and the actor who played Lip Gallagher on Shameless (Jeremy Allen White), but this is a podcast hosted two natives of the Greater Chicagoland Area! We aren’t just going to give any old Italian beef a pass, so you can trust our sandwich expertise as we dig into a double helping of FX’s The Bear (now streaming on Hulu).
Plus we conduct a bloody post-mortem on Season 3 of Barry in our latest Rewind Review (don’t worry, there are plenty of spoiler alerts before we get there!).
Yes, finally there’s a podcast brave enough to ask: Where have all our David Krumholtz gone?
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📺 Review: The Bear
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episodes 1-2 (starting at 26:11) 🚨
Episodes Watched for Review: 2
Number of Seasons Overall: 1 (All 8 Episodes Out Now)
Where to Watch: FX on Hulu
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📼 Rewind Review: Barry
🚨 Spoiler Alert for ALL EPISODES (starting at 50:33) 🚨
You’ve felt your feelings, you’ve cast your vote, now distract yourself from the darkness of November! Join us for a super-sized round of Renewed or Canceled?! and a MEGA show swap of Feel Good Fall Shows that will keep you warm as the nights get longer.
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📺 Shows Recommended:
Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
Resident Alien (Seasons 1-2 on Netflix, 1-3 on Peacock)
The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix)
Elsbeth (CBS, Paramount+)
Evil (Seasons 1-2 on Netflix, 1-4 on Paramount+)
Chicken Shop Date (YouTube)
Girls5Eva (Netflix)
Blown Away (Netflix)
Homicide: Life on the Streets (Peacock)
Broad City (Hulu, Paramount+)
Kevin Can F— Himself (Netflix, AMC+)
Yellowjackets (Season 1 on Netflix, 1-2 on Paramount+ with Showtime)
Interview with the Vampire (Season 1 on Netflix, 1-2 on AMC+)
#39 – The Last of Us, CNN, and Other Zombies on TV
01:03:07
Finally, a show that answers the age-old question: “What if The Mandalorian let us see Pedro Pascal’s face and had a sidekick who can talk?”
Yes, this week we’re streaming a different -ageddon: It’s the kind of armageddon that puts the “fun” in fungal… but is it any good? We’re reviewing the pilot of HBO’s The Last of Us in order to find out!
On the way we’ll discuss the latest streaming news and TV’s rich history of post-apocalyptic fare (and not-so-rich history of live action video game adaptations).
But first it’s an emergency round of America’s favorite game: Renewed or Canceled?! Play along as Dianne guesses the fate of these streaming shows:
Abbott Elementary (ABC/Hulu)
FX’s The Bear (Hulu)
Uncoupled (Netflix)
Workaholics (Comedy Central/Paramount+)
Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin (Peacock)
Chucky (SyFy)
Reginald the Vampire (SyFy)
Snowpiercer (TNT)
Minx (HBO Max)
Mel Brooks’ History of the World Part I (Really!)
Can you go 10 for 10? Lock in your guesses now and find out in this week’s episode.
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📺 Review: The Last of Us (Series Premier)
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First Episode (starting at 38:42) 🚨
Where to Watch: HBO/HBO Max
Total Episodes: 9 Episodes, 1 Season (In Progress)
Renewal Status: Not announced (but based on the ratings we’d be surprised if it doesn’t get the green light soon)
Live from New York… it’s your favorite podcast about TV and streaming! This week we take a break from reviewing the newest and buzziest shows so we can review one of the oldest and buzziest shows: NBC’s Saturday Night Live. We’ll break down the recent season finale of the sketch comedy show’s 47th year, share some of our favorite all-time SNL moments, and discuss this year’s big cast departures and what it means for the future of the show.
Plus new details on the upcoming ad-supported version of Disney+, the latest on the Netflocalypse, big names coming to streaming news, and Chris corrects the record in regards to Ted Danson.
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📺 Review: Saturday Night Live (Season 47)
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Season 47, Episode 21 (Natasha Lyonne with Musical Guest Japanese Breakfast) (starting at 53:21) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 47 (!!!)
Where to Watch: NBC
Where to Stream: Peacock (And Hulu, but only until this fall)
#44 – Succession Predictions, Disney Drama, and Hulu’s Hazy Future
00:52:16
See that “Explicit” content rating? That can only mean one thing: The final season of Succession is here and we’re dissecting the first episode (F-bombs and all) before sharing our predictions for the show’s ultimate winners, losers, and slime puppies. 🥰
But first! It’s a big week for Disney news: There’s a royal showdown in Florida, Mickey snubs the Metaverse, and personnel shakeups rock Marvel. But the real drama in the house of mouse? It’s the fate of Hulu, which might turn out to be a victim of its own success…
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📺 Review: Succession (Season 4 Premier)
🚨 Spoiler Alert: All Episodes through Season 4, Episode 1 (starting at 33:12) 🚨
We’re closing the case on our Cozy (and/or Spooky) Winter Mysteries Tour with this winter’s buzziest, prestige-iest detective show: HBO’sTrue Detective: Night Country. Premiering a decade after the original season— with a whole new creator and showrunner— it’s a show that poses the question “So, like, what is a True Detective, man?” [Insert your best McConaughey voice here.]
But first! Will cartoon villain David Zaslav ruthlessly murder Coyote vs. ACME… again?! Can Taylor Swift save Disney+? Can hastily retooling a Moana streaming series as Moana 2 save Disney’s holiday box office? Can anyone explain what Bob Iger is talking about?? And whoops! They made a Sports Hulu!
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📺 Review: True Detective Night Country
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes (starting at 36:38) 🚨
Total Episodes: Anthology, 6 Episodes
New Episodes Drop: Sundays at 9 PM ET (through February 18)
Where to Watch: HBO (Streaming simultaneously on Max)
This week we’re chasing our Hollywood dreams with HBO’s Barry, which just returned to TV after 3 years where absolutely nothing noteworthy happened in the world. Get caught up (or meet Bill Hader’s Barry Berkman for the first time) as we break our review into two parts: First we’ll revisit the first episode from 2018 and talk about what makes it such a killer pilot, then we’ll dig into a spoiler-packed discussion of the first two episodes of Season 3.
Plus, the latest on the Netflocalypse, a flurry of action from the newly-merged Warner Bros. Discovery (forever known as “WaBroDisco”), and a listener question about the future of streaming news caps off our in memoriam tribute to CNN+.
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📺 Review: Barry
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Season 1, Episode 1 (starting at 40:41) 🚨
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Season 3, Episodes 1-2 (starting at 59:42) 🚨
#78 – Netflix LIVE! (Feat. John Mulaney, Tom Brady, and… FOOTBALL?!)
01:16:32
It’s a new era at Netflix: Ads, sports, and live specials galore! We’ll dig deep into the big strategy shift, including our review of John Mulaney’s limited-run live talk show Everybody’s in L.A.
We’ll try to explain the appeal of this one-of-a-kind live show, highlight some of our favorite segments, and recommend the best episode to check out (EARTHQUAKES!). From David Letterman to Conan O’Brien to John Mulaney interviewing David Letterman: We’re taking a full-circle journey through a very specific sub-genre of late night… that just might be the perfect fit for streaming.
But wait! There’s more!
We’ll catch you up with the latest from the Paramount Death Watch 💀
Brace yourself for more price hikes at Peacock and Max 💸
What’s the deal with the new Uber-bundle from Disney and Warner Bros Discovery (Iger and Zaz, together at last?) 💕
And yes, we finally have a sports segment: It’s the SPORTSPOCALYPSE 🤯
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📺 Review: Everybody’s in L.A.
🧭 Where to Watch: Netflix
🗓️ Release Schedule: All 6 Episodes Available Now
✅ Renewal Status:We’re begging you, John. Give us more!
#80 – Hacks is the Best HBO Show That’s Not on HBO
01:04:58
Season 3 of the Max Original Hacks just wrapped and it’s so good we can’t figure out why it’s not on HBO already. It’s a sharp, laugh-out-loud comedy reminiscent of Barry, Veep, and Silicon Valley, and the best part is that it just keeps getting better.
Whether you’re new to the show or a diehard Deborah Vance fan, we’ve got you covered with both an introduction to the series and a full season 3 review.
But first!
The fallout from Amazon’s hit series Fallout continues: The wildly popular video game series drove millions of viewers to the wildly popular show… which drove millions of players back to the wildly popular video game series!
Speaking of fallouts: We check in with activist investor Nelson Peltz after losing the battle for Disney’s board.
FX on Hulu’s smash hit The Bear is coming to… FX on FX??
And in Sportspocalypse: Can Warner Bros. Discovery “nourish” sports fans without a big helping of NBA? We’re about to find out!
Plus: Legitimately breaking news from the Paramount Death Watch!
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📺 Review: Hacks (Season 3)
🧭 Where to Watch: Max
🗓️ Release Schedule: All 3 Seasons Available Now
✅ Renewal Status: Renewed for Season 4
🤩 Starring: Jean Smart, Hannah Einbinder, Paul W. Downs, Megan Stalter
🎬 Created By: Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Jen Statsky
🫣 Spoiler Warning:
👍 Spoiler-Light Introduction: Starting at 29:08
🚨 Spoilers for Season 3 (All Episodes): Starting at 44:07
We’re going big and going green this week with a review of Marvel’s first streaming comedy, She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law, plus a deep dive into Hulu’s pending “Peacockalypse” and a Rewind Review of the green streamer’s hit comedy Only Murders in the Building.
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📺 Review: She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2 (starting at 48:16) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 1 (In Progress)
Where to Watch: Disney+
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📼 Rewind Review: Only Murders in the Building
🚨 Spoiler Alert for ALL EPISODES (starting at 1:19:50) 🚨
#58 – We LOVE The Golden Bachelor (But We Don't Want To Know How He Votes!)
00:59:44
We’re celebrating the end of the WGA strike with a tribute to some of the most emotionally manipulative creative fiction on TV: The Golden Bachelor.
But first we’re wrapping up the big strike settlement, catching up on the return of late night TV, and sharing our streaming advice for YOU in an autumn edition of Add? Keep? Cancel?!
Join us as we bravely enter the Bachelor-verse, even though we’re generally Bachelor-averse!
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📺 Review: The Golden Bachelor
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes 🚨
Where to Watch Live: ABC (Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern)
We don’t want to alarm you, but this week we find ourselves trapped inside a cursed mirror… and loving every minute of it!
That’s because we’re talking about the one-of-a-kind comedy Los Espookys, which just returned to HBO and HBO Max for its second season after a terrifying 3 year hiatus.
Plus we’ll explain why rumors of Warner Bros. Discovery’s demise are nothing to worry about, then discuss why we’re worried that Warner Bros. Discovery is doomed anyway (at the hands of Comcast?! The horror!). And speaking of horror: We’re going to unpack Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s “hard bundle” even if it means risking “organ rejection” (his words!). Tune in… if you dare!
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📺 Review: Los Espookys
🚨 Spoilers for Season 1 (All Episodes) starting at 24:01
🚨 Spoilers for Season 2, Episode 1 starting at 49:29
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, is a political outsider fighting for his nation’s democracy, but his rise to power involves a hit Ukrainian sitcom about… a political outsider fighting for his nation’s democracy. Yes, we’re here to review the pilot of our new favorite anxiety-ridden satire: Servant of the People.
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📺 Review: Servant of the People
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episode 1 (starting at 34:51) 🚨
Episodes Watched for Review: Pilot
Number of Seasons Overall: 3
Where to Watch: YouTube
Spinoffs: The literal presidency of Volodymyr Zelenskyy
We’ve spent weeks practicing this podcast so we can anticipate every possible outcome of our review of the new HBO series The Rehearsal. The show marks Nathan Fielder’s return to the experimental reality-TV-influenced comedy he pioneered on Comedy Central’s Nathan For You, but don’t worry if you’ve never heard of him! We’ll get you caught up and share our thoughts about ethical quandaries inherent in Fielder’s work.
Plus: Netflocalypse! Serial killers! And our rewind review of Ms. Marvel season 1!
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📺 Review: The Rehearsal
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episode 1 (starting at 29:45) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 1 (In Progress)
Where to Watch: HBO Max (Also Airing Fridays on HBO)
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📼 Rewind Review: Ms. Marvel
🚨 Spoiler Alert for ALL EPISODES (starting at 52:41) 🚨
It’s our 2024 Emmy Awards Spectacular! Join us as we review the live show and break down the coronation of FX chief John Landgraf (with one hilarious exception!).
We love this episode for you, and not just because we’re reviewing the new Showtime comedy I Love That For You starring Vanessa Bayer, Molly Shannon, and Jenifer Lewis.
Plus: Netflix accelerates their plan to introduce ads (and crack down on password sharing), Disney+ beats growth expectations, Hulu plans for the post-NBC world by picking up Schitt’s Creek, and we discuss the best (and worst) rated shows on a strange streaming service called Network TV (we hope you like Dick Wolf spinoffs!).
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📺 Review: I Love That for You
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episodes 1-2 (starting at 59:31) 🚨
#62 – All Killer, No Filler… But Also THE Killer (On Netflix)
01:08:00
We’ve got sizzling Thanksgiving episode stuffed full of news, gossip, and… America’s favorite game show?!
First: Will lackluster AI protections sink the SAG-AFTRA deal?
Then we raise a glass to the latest victim of the streaming wars: Showtime Anytime.
Speaking of Paramount-related news: IT’S DAILY SHOW HOST WATCH! (Second timers edition!)
But wait, there’s more! Because after that we feast on an irresistible helping of David Zaslav news.
And finally: We head the big (enough) screen and stream the new Netflix movie The Killer featuring Michael Fassbender as the titular assassin, framed by David Fincher’s direction.
All that, plus: Can you out-score Dianne on a post-strike edition of Renewed or Canceled?! We’ve got 12 shows across TV and streaming that have been hanging in the balance for months now. (Spoilers in the links below!)
We’re back with part 2 of our Night Agent extravaganza! But first we’re playing two games that will challenge your TV and Streaming knowledge in more ways than one:
Can you tell the difference between a real Fake TV President and a fake Fake TV President? And what about the cavalcade of Fake TV Presidents that graced our screens during the epic original run of Fox’s 24? Get ready to Hail to the… WHO?!
It’s 9 PM. Do you know if your favorite shows have been… RENEWED OR CANCELED?!
That’s right: It’s all fun and games until the chemical weapons show up… then it’s hilarious.
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🚨 Spoilercast: The Night Agent
🧭 Where to Watch: Netflix
🗓️ Episodes This Season: 10 (All Episodes Available)
🍂 Seasons: 2 (20 episodes total)
✅ Renewal Status: Renewed for Season 3
🤩 Starring: Gabriel Basso, Luciane Buchanan, Amanda Warren, Arienne Mandi
Streaming bundles are all the rage these days! From Verizon’s new Netflix/Max deal to Instacart’s groceries and Peacock combo (a real thing, we swear!). Join us as we navigate the murky waters of the great big Bundle-verse and who knows? Maybe you’ll find a bundle of joy along the way.
Plus we’re revisiting this fall’s strike-fueled hit: The Golden Bachelor. And stick around at the end for our discussion of everything that went wrong (and right!) with The Marvels.
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📺 Review: The Golden Bachelor (Season Finale)
🚨 Spoiler Alert: All Episodes (starting at 36:16) 🚨
Renewal Status: Almost definitely renewed for season 2
Where to Watch: ABC and Hulu
Spinoffs: It’s Bachelor Nation, Baby. Everything has spinoffs.
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🎬 Bonus Review: The Marvels
🚨 Spoiler Alert for the full movie (starting at 1:03:32) 🚨
Where to Watch: It might still be in a few theaters, but you’ll have to hurry!
#49 – Maximum MAX: Clone High, The Other Two, Succession, and… CNN?!
01:22:14
BREAKING NEWS: Less than 12 hours after we said “yeah but they probably won’t fire him this week…” CNN CEO Chris Licht was driven to a beautiful farm upstate by WaBro Disco CEO David Zaslav. The Hollywood Reporterhas a full obituary of the Chris Licht era.
We also apparently summoned the cancellation of I Love That For You on Showtime, so rest assured: We’re back from vacation and more cursed than ever before!
Join us for a trip through the latest strike news, the existential cringe at CNN, and some shows on MAX that you’ll actually enjoy watching (if you can ever find them in that garbage interface). And as a bonus: We score our TV Tarot predictions after the Succession finale! (Spoiler alert: We’re more Kendall than Tom, if you know what we mean.)
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📺 Review: Clone High
🚨 Spoiler Alert: All Episodes through Season 2, Episode 3 (starting at 34:02) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 2 seasons, 20 years apart (and confusingly separate entries with identical names in the MAX app)
Where to Watch: MAX (or is it “max” all lower case? WHO KNOWS!)
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📺 Review: The Other Two
🚨 Spoiler Alert for All Episodes through Season 3, Episode 6 (starting at 47:08) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 3 Seasons
Where to Watch: MAX (or “max”, your choice!)
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📺 BONUS: Succession (Final Thoughts!)
🚨 Spoiler Alert for All Episodes (starting at 1:11:04) 🚨
The streamers have decreed: Winter is time for cozy mysteries and hard-boiled detective hijinks! We’re investigating this intriguing trend, starting with a review of Hulu’s new series Death and Other Details, starring Mandy Patinkin and a slew of beautiful people who will make you go “I think I know them from something!”
But first!
The 2023 strikes come back to haunt us… with good news?!
Has our (late) night watch come to an end? We’re here with the most unexpected edition of Daily Show Host Watch yet.
And is Netflix just, like, cable now? Hit the proverbial bong with us and get ready to have your mind and/or budget blown by the latest moves from the streaming king.
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📺 Review: Death and Other Details
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 3 Episodes (starting at 35:32) 🚨
#42 – Not Dead Yet, American Auto, The Daily Show, and... Bing?
01:26:20
There’s the threat of a writers strike looming over Hollywood, so this week we invited the new Bing chatbot to join us in the hopes of befriending our new cloud-based creative overlords. Take it away, Bing!
"Hello, this is Bing. Welcome to Streamageddon, the podcast where we review everything streaming and TV. In this episode, we’ll take a look at two mid-season network sitcoms: Not Dead Yet on ABC and American Auto on NBC.
"But that’s not all. We’ll also check in on the guest hosts at The Daily Show, discuss the impending end of Succession, try to explain Paramount’s new pricing strategy and play America’s favorite game: Renewed or Canceled?!
"You don’t want to miss this episode of Streamageddon!"
(Check out the bonus segment at the end of the episode where we fact check Bing!)
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📺 Review: Not Dead Yet
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes (starting at 48:36) 🚨
Renewal Status: Not Announced
Where to Watch: ABC
Where to Stream: Hulu
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📺 Review: American Auto
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes of Season 2 (starting at 1:02:19) 🚨
#46 – Netflix-a-palooza! The Night Agent, BEEF, and… Nike? Plus Everyone’s Favorite Show: The Q1 Earnings Call!
01:22:53
You might lose sleep over this meaty episode, because we’re digging into the 2 hottest new shows on Netflix this week: The Night Agent and BEEF. They’re both dominating dominating the charts, but they couldn’t have less in common. We’ll tell you why we’re obsessed with both of them and what their success says about Netflix’s ever-evolving strategy.
Speaking of Netflix… We picked apart the news from the company’s Q1 earnings call and (spoiler alert for your old roommates!) learned that the password crackdown is coming for U.S. customers any day now. But in a twist worthy of The Night Agent we also discovered a shocking truth: Netflix’s Basic with Ads plan might actually be… good now?!
Plus the latest on the looming Hollywood writers strike and, after months of anticipation, Dianne delivers a special report on Netflix’s Nike training collab. That’s right, we’re breaking a sweat so you won’t have to.
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📺 Review: The Night Agent
🚨 Spoiler Alert for First 3 Episodes (starting at 42:43) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 1
Number of Episodes Overall: 10 (All Episodes Available)
Renewal Status: Renewed for Season 2
Where to Stream: Netflix
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📺 Review: BEEF
🚨 Spoiler Alert for First 3 Episodes (starting at 58:17) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 1
Number of Episodes Overall: 10 (All Episodes Available)
#35 – The White Lotus Finale Had Us Screaming at Our TVs (Even More Than Usual)
01:10:38
It’s kill or be killed (or just, like, have a so-so vacation) in the explosive finale of The White Lotus in Sicily! We’ll dish out the details, including the results of our White Lotus Murder Bracket in less time than it takes to drive to Taormina.
Plus: Will HBO Max drop the HBO and go all-Max all the time? Can you even trademark the word “Max” and does this mean people named Max will be signing up for “Max’s Max”??
But that’s not the only madness brewing in the streaming universe this week, because Warner Brothers Discovery CEO is picking a fight with the big dogs at Netflix. And we have real news about the next chapter of fake news now that The Daily Show is officially without Trevor Noah.
Pour another glass of white wine and join us as we bid arrivederci to one of the year’s best shows!
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📺 Review: White Lotus (Season 2 Rewind) - Part 1
🚨 Spoiler Alert: All Episodes through Season 2, Episode 7 (starting at 22:13) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 2 (All Episodes Available)
We’re hitting the high seas this week as we cruise through the entire first season of the queer pirate rom com we didn’t know we needed: Our Flag Means Death.
But first: Join us as we sail into stormy weather with Netflix’s salty subscriber numbers, search for the treasure buried in the latest video game adaptations, voyage to the far off land of the Amazon (dot-com), and accidentally deliver a eulogy for CNN+ before scattering the young streamer’s ashes into the vast ocean of entertainment.
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📺 Review: Our Flag Means Death
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Season 1 (starting at 42:16) 🚨
It’s our Second Annual Streaming Superlatives Spectacular! Featuring your favorite yearbook-inspired awards plus a host of new categories generated by the true star of 2023: ChatGPT.
Plus we predict which streaming service won’t survive the new year (spoiler alert: the headlines already indicate we might be right!).
———
🏆 The Categories:
🥇 Round 1: The Extremely High School Superlatives
Life of the Party
Class Sweetheart
Class Clown
Best Couple (Platonic or Romantic)
Best Glow-Up (aka Most Improved)
Best Hair and/or Best Dressed
Most Likely to Succeed
Returning Champion (Best Returning Series or Character)
“Miss Congeniality” (The Best Show We Didn’t Review)
🥈 Round 2: The Best Ofs (and Worst Ofs)
Throwback of the Year (Best Reboot, Revival, etc.)
Franchise of the Year
Biggest Surprise of the Year
Biggest Disappointment of the Year
Villain of the Year (Real Life or Fictional)
Best Finale (Season or Series)
Best Thing You Watched This Year (In Any Medium/Genre)
🥉 Round 3: The Streaming Service Showdown
The Most Overrated Streaming Service of 2023
The Most Underrated Streaming Service of 2023
The Streaming Service You Couldn’t Live Without in 2023
🔮 And Finally… Predictions!
The Streaming Service Least Likely to Survive 2024 (we swear we recorded this before the headlines told us that we’re probably right!)
We don’t know our hobbits from our harfoots (really!), but that won’t stop us from reviewing THE MOST EXPENSIVE TV SHOW EVER.
Yes, we’re journeying to middle-earth to discuss the first three episodes of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. It’s a show that promises an epic story, sumptuous visuals, and even more rings than the movies!
Does this big budget prequel deliver? How is anyone supposed to remember all these character names? And can we stop ourselves from comparing it to House of the Dragon?
But before we answer those burning questions we’ll ask some disturbing new ones posed by this week’s news. Questions like “who resurrected the Teletubbies and why is Titus Burgess hiding behind them?”
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📺 Review: Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 3 Episodes (starting at 15:49) 🚨
We’re diving deep into Disney+ this week with our review of the newest Marvel series, Ms. Marvel (which is giving us big Buffy vibes in the best possible way).
PLUS we’re kicking off our “Rewind Reviews” where we revisit shows we reviewed in earlier episodes. First up: The finale of Obi-Wan Kenobi (which, sadly, did not give us any Buffy vibes whatsoever).
What more could you ask for? How about a slew of Disney+ news, intriguing new data on ad-supported vs. ad-free streaming, and an exciting game that will reveal the fate of 18 shows. Were they renewed or canceled? Find out on Streamageddon!
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📺 Review: Ms. Marvel
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Episodes 1-3 (starting at 35:36) 🚨
Episodes Watched for Review: 3
Number of Seasons Overall: 1
Where to Watch: Disney+
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📼 Rewind Review: Obi-Wan Kenobi
🚨 Spoiler Alert for ALL EPISODES (starting at 1:07:10) 🚨
Episodes Watched for Review: All 6 (including the finale)
Ed. Note: The episode was re-posted due to an editing issue. Apologies if it appears in your feed twice!
It’s summer vacation season here in the northern hemisphere, which means it’s the perfect time to get lost in a great book by the pool. But why do that when you can find a missing teenager’s 15-year-old cell phone and drag your spouse on a booze-fueled vigilante investigation all across the Yucatan peninsula instead?
If that sounds exhausting, don’t worry! It’s actually the plot of the new Peacock original series The Resort and once the mystery gets going it’s anything but exhausting to go along for the ride. We’ll discuss the first three episodes and where we think the already-unpredictable story will take us next.
Then we say “yes, chef!” to a spoiler-filled review of the full first season of Hulu’s surprise summer hit: FX’s The Bear (including that big finale moment!).
All that, plus big Krumholtz energy, a surprise round of Renewed or Canceled?!, and a deep dive into some very interesting graphs and charts that we looked at so you won’t have to!
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📺 Review: The Resort
🚨 Spoiler Alert for Season 1, Episodes 1-3 (starting at 33:25) 🚨
Number of Seasons Overall: 1 (In Progress)
Where to Watch: Peacock
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📼 Rewind Review: The Bear
🚨 Spoiler Alert for ALL EPISODES (starting at 1:07:11) 🚨
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