Second Breakfast #26 - The Top 10 Shows of 2024

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[00:00:30] Welcome one and all to our annual Public Second Breakfast where we tell you the unequivocal, indisputable Top 10 Shows of 2024.

[00:00:44] Well if you're new here, I'm John.

[00:00:46] And I'm David.

[00:00:47] And I'm Alicia.

[00:00:49] And for some reason your first podcast is a roundup of the year with us.

[00:00:54] Hey, it's a good place to start.

[00:00:55] That's true.

[00:00:57] You can get a pretty wide swath of our, yeah, of our taste, of our opinions, of our wrongness about things.

[00:01:04] It'll be great.

[00:01:05] It'll be great.

[00:01:05] My biggest, I feel genuinely stressed about the fact that I, for instance, did not, I've started the shows of From and Hacks,

[00:01:14] but have not watched the newest season, so they're not on my list.

[00:01:16] And for some reason I'm feeling stress about that at the moment.

[00:01:20] You know, I just want people to know that I love those shows season one, and I'm sure they're great season three.

[00:01:26] Somehow I don't think that any network is listening to this podcast calling, I wonder if I should renew this show.

[00:01:31] Oh, well, David or John or Alicia decided it's on their top ten, so we're going to renew it.

[00:01:37] We're going to renew it.

[00:01:37] People must know that I have taste.

[00:01:41] It's all about taste.

[00:01:43] But before we get into our rankings, because we didn't have a normal 11s this month, let's talk about January.

[00:01:49] Oh, can we also just half step back about tradition?

[00:01:55] Yeah.

[00:01:55] I guess we can do that.

[00:01:56] We'll do the January 11s East picks, and then we'll talk a little bit about the setup for this show.

[00:02:02] Then I'll give you your tab year moment.

[00:02:04] Okay.

[00:02:04] Thank you.

[00:02:05] Mm-hmm.

[00:02:06] Alicia, why don't you walk us through, because you're the January picker.

[00:02:09] All right.

[00:02:10] Yes, I'm the January picker.

[00:02:11] It's my birthday month, so we are doing, we're back to the essential Alicia list, but I've switched a few up.

[00:02:17] So, I've presented 11 options, and the guys have gotten a chance to take a look, but just so the listeners get a measure of what the options are.

[00:02:28] It's a very nice looking list.

[00:02:29] You laid out everything very well.

[00:02:31] I almost feel like we have to share it just on that basis.

[00:02:34] Thank you.

[00:02:35] I do enjoy layout.

[00:02:37] It was complete.

[00:02:37] I feel your completionist qualities coming through.

[00:02:41] That's true.

[00:02:41] I made all the posters line up together with the text.

[00:02:45] They are beautiful from a graphic design standpoint.

[00:02:49] But so, okay.

[00:02:50] So, the 11 options are, I wrote little taglines for each.

[00:02:53] We've got Clueless from 1995, the classic 90s take on Jane Austen's Emma that taught a micro generation, that taught micro generation Xennial how to dress and speak.

[00:03:02] Stir of Echoes, 1999, when skeptical Tom's sister-in-law implants the prompt to open his mind during a hypnotism.

[00:03:10] It has unintended consequences as Tom begins to see a ghost haunting his house, trying to get his attention.

[00:03:16] Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, 2022.

[00:03:20] A middle-aged business owner who has been struggling to connect with her family experiences fractured identities, all the infinite possibilities for her life during a tax audit.

[00:03:31] Office Space, 1999.

[00:03:33] Peter will try anything to make his computer programming job more bearable, and maybe hypnosis, a waitress with just enough pieces of flair, and an epic 90s soundtrack are exactly what he needs.

[00:03:43] And I noticed, by the way, that I have two movies with hypnosis as like the central plot point.

[00:03:49] What are you trying to do here, Alicia?

[00:03:51] Yeah.

[00:03:51] Hmm.

[00:03:52] Look into the swirling light now.

[00:03:54] Um, Clue, 1985.

[00:03:57] Based on the popular board game and set during the 1950s, an assortment of eccentric guests called to a mysterious mansion retreat, find themselves investigating a murder and trying not to become the next victim themselves.

[00:04:09] The Last Unicorn, 1982.

[00:04:13] In this deeply moving Rankin Bass production, animated by the studio that would eventually form the core of Ghibli, a unicorn who learns she is the last of her kind teams up with a hapless wizard and a woman worried she is past her prime to find others like her.

[00:04:28] Saving Grace, 2000.

[00:04:30] A desperate widow in debt, in danger of losing her English seaside family home, turns to growing weed with the help of her Scottish stoner gardener, Mayhem Ensues.

[00:04:41] And we're on eight now, Y Tu Mama Tambien, 2001.

[00:04:45] One, the film that puts Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Alfonso Cuaron on the map about two young friends going on one last road trip before college with a mysterious older woman and the truths they confront about themselves along the way.

[00:04:58] Number nine, Zoolander, 2001.

[00:05:02] This movie is really, really ridiculously good looking.

[00:05:05] Number 10, Mars Express, 2024.

[00:05:08] Like Blade Runner meets AI meets Scavenger's Reign, this animated film has something for everyone from philosophy to action to weird life forms.

[00:05:16] It's one of only two films from 2024 I have given a perfect five stars.

[00:05:21] And the other one's Dune, in case anyone's wondering.

[00:05:24] And the final one, Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1961.

[00:05:28] When Paul, a struggling writer, meets Holly, an eccentric young socialite, his life is blessed with a lot more drama, New Corners of New York City, and Cat the Cat.

[00:05:39] All right, David, you said you think you know what your choice is?

[00:05:42] Yeah, it was a pretty tough list.

[00:05:44] And there's a couple of past titles that I have picked before.

[00:05:49] And so that sort of caused me a little confusion.

[00:05:51] I was like, oh, should I go back and pick one of those?

[00:05:55] But I, just going on on gut and I haven't seen it in a long, long, long, long, long time.

[00:06:02] And it's outside of our typical genre picks for like sci-fi and weird stuff and all that kind of thing.

[00:06:10] I want to go with Breakfast at Tiffany's.

[00:06:13] Okay.

[00:06:14] A classic, classic film.

[00:06:16] Wow.

[00:06:17] That set a generation expectations of a bunch of different things.

[00:06:21] And it would be interesting to examine it again and enjoy the joie de vie that is Aubrey Hepburn.

[00:06:32] We just got a call back to it in episode three of Silo, Audrey Hepburn singing.

[00:06:37] Oh, nice.

[00:06:38] Oh, yeah.

[00:06:38] Yeah.

[00:06:40] David, you know, as Alicia was reading this list, I was thinking to myself, I would watch Breakfast at Tiffany's.

[00:06:47] I've never seen it.

[00:06:48] Oh.

[00:06:48] But I don't want to touch podcasting about that with a 10-foot pole.

[00:06:52] By God, there's minefields.

[00:06:54] Minefields of things.

[00:06:55] I mean, we will acknowledge up front what the controversies are.

[00:06:59] I think there's only really one super offensive thing from my perspective.

[00:07:04] Huh.

[00:07:05] I'm curious.

[00:07:06] Now I'm even more curious as to what those controversies may be.

[00:07:09] Don't say.

[00:07:09] Save it for the podcast.

[00:07:10] All right.

[00:07:11] I don't think you've watched it in a while.

[00:07:13] No, I haven't.

[00:07:13] The clips is what I've seen.

[00:07:15] And I'm like, oh my God.

[00:07:16] Well, I mean, besides, you know, gender norms at the time.

[00:07:20] Right.

[00:07:21] Well, not anymore about the neighbor.

[00:07:22] Yeah.

[00:07:23] Yeah.

[00:07:23] Yeah.

[00:07:23] That's what I'm referring to as well.

[00:07:25] All right.

[00:07:26] Hey, you know more than I do, John.

[00:07:28] That's funny.

[00:07:29] That's funny.

[00:07:29] Just from TikTok, which is going away anyway.

[00:07:32] So.

[00:07:34] And where will children get their film education then?

[00:07:36] That's true.

[00:07:37] That's true.

[00:07:38] You know what?

[00:07:39] Take that Supreme Court.

[00:07:42] All right.

[00:07:42] I'm going to choose the last unicorn because I put on the Rankin Bass Hobbit for my kids

[00:07:51] the other day for the first time.

[00:07:52] Very cool.

[00:07:53] And they loved it.

[00:07:53] And I felt very warm in my heart that they love the same Hobbit movie I loved when I

[00:07:58] was a kid.

[00:07:59] So I want to keep on this Rankin Bass trade.

[00:08:02] I like it.

[00:08:03] I don't know if my child would be interested in some of those.

[00:08:07] We actually forced Emmett Otter's jug band onto the television last night and she acquiesced

[00:08:14] and watched and it seemed fine.

[00:08:18] But then I was surprised at how, I don't know, it was not at all what I was expecting

[00:08:22] from a Henson produced thing, but it's not a Henson story.

[00:08:25] So I think that's the important thing, but it's a very, very sweet spin on the gift of

[00:08:30] the Magi story.

[00:08:32] Yeah.

[00:08:32] All I can think of when I watched the Hobbit animated is they did this in an hour and 17

[00:08:37] minutes, Peter Jackson.

[00:08:41] And yeah, they cut out a bunch, but you didn't need three.

[00:08:43] Although I think that was the studio's decision.

[00:08:45] We don't have to re litigate that.

[00:08:48] Okay.

[00:08:49] So for third pick, Ooh, now I'm between two.

[00:08:54] Um, I'm between everything everywhere all at once and Mars express, but since you chose an

[00:09:00] animated film, maybe I'll go with everything everywhere all at once.

[00:09:04] I've never seen it and I've wanted to see it.

[00:09:05] So I'm glad you.

[00:09:06] Right.

[00:09:08] All right.

[00:09:09] All right.

[00:09:09] No, we just have to see if the, um, if the listeners pick it.

[00:09:13] Yeah.

[00:09:13] Well, we'll see.

[00:09:14] So the final three are everything everywhere all at once, the last unicorn and breakfast

[00:09:20] at Tiffany's.

[00:09:21] And we know that we're prohibited from watching anything unless the listeners vote for

[00:09:25] it.

[00:09:28] Yes.

[00:09:28] You can still watch everything everywhere, John.

[00:09:31] I know.

[00:09:31] Yeah.

[00:09:31] I know.

[00:09:32] All right.

[00:09:33] Well, Alicia, thank you for a lovely list.

[00:09:35] I think that was a fun little pick session and it's, it's our own drafts.

[00:09:39] It's our own properly Howard moment.

[00:09:42] And now it's time for the Thunderdome.

[00:09:44] Um, get out your air horns because we need to, we need to get into the top 10 TV of 2024.

[00:09:51] Now I want to talk a little bit about the process here.

[00:09:54] So we are going to go round and round.

[00:09:58] We go, we're going to go David, Alicia, John, just, just from 10 to one.

[00:10:05] We're going to do our bonus categories first, I think, but then we're going to go from 10

[00:10:09] to one and I'm going to intersperse the community rankings.

[00:10:14] Now the community rankings were done like this, every vote counted.

[00:10:19] So this was not, this is not your general us election where, you know, if you're, if

[00:10:23] your candidate doesn't win, you don't get anything.

[00:10:25] This is ranked choice voting.

[00:10:27] People were modernizing things.

[00:10:29] And this was a practicing democracy.

[00:10:31] That's true.

[00:10:32] Um, so this was an idea.

[00:10:35] I don't remember who, but a bunch of people helped us last year with, um, with the top

[00:10:39] 10 calculations and Greg sauce helping us out again this year and a few other people volunteered.

[00:10:43] And I appreciate that.

[00:10:45] Um, just to use a point system rather than just having the number ones count.

[00:10:51] And so what I've done is I cleaned up everything so that the, the titles all match and I could actually

[00:10:56] do pivot tables and whatnot.

[00:10:58] I assigned.

[00:10:59] So if you ranked it 10, it got 1.9, it got two points, et cetera, until you got to one,

[00:11:03] it gets 10 points.

[00:11:04] So that way, the higher you ranked it, the more points you were able to give that show.

[00:11:09] And so it should reflect accurately how the community felt.

[00:11:15] And so we've got our top 10 for the community.

[00:11:18] We've got our top 10 for the three of us, and then we've got our bonus category.

[00:11:21] So, uh, why don't we start with our bonus categories?

[00:11:24] And, and before we start, I want to say if my voice doesn't go too high today, it's because

[00:11:28] I'm still getting over a sickness a little bit.

[00:11:30] This podcast brought to you by DayQuil and we are, uh, getting, getting through this as best weekend.

[00:11:36] You dropped like 18 octaves when you were like the other week.

[00:11:40] It was pretty wild to hear that.

[00:11:42] You made a little sample recording.

[00:11:44] You should release that to the patrons.

[00:11:45] I should.

[00:11:46] I'll put it right here.

[00:11:47] Here's my Darth Vader impression.

[00:11:48] You don't know the power of the dark side.

[00:11:53] Yeah, I think we should, uh, um, you know, you know, I'm sure there's some voice work for James Earl Jones, you know, to backfill some of his stuff.

[00:12:01] So that's right.

[00:12:02] We should just send that right over to George Lucas.

[00:12:04] I guess not George, but Dave Filoni.

[00:12:06] Oh, we should also mention too, to be on the lookout for the top three, the conversations that we have with our affiliates.

[00:12:14] Yes.

[00:12:15] Yes.

[00:12:15] So we're going to do that, um, in a separate episode.

[00:12:17] That's going to be a second breakfast part two.

[00:12:20] And that'll come out the day after this.

[00:12:22] Right.

[00:12:23] Boxing day.

[00:12:24] Yes.

[00:12:24] Boxing day.

[00:12:25] This comes out on Christmas.

[00:12:26] Boxing day will be the top three with the affiliates and the is story.

[00:12:31] All right.

[00:12:32] So let's start with our bonus categories.

[00:12:35] Our bonus categories are of course, let's start with our biggest misses, which I'm changing right now.

[00:12:43] David.

[00:12:44] Oh, you're changing.

[00:12:45] You're changing.

[00:12:46] I'm changing.

[00:12:47] I'm not even going to write it cause it's going to.

[00:12:50] All right.

[00:12:50] Mine is a black doves.

[00:12:52] Uh, I had a really hard time picking my biggest miss this year there as I was going through all the different lists and we, you know, our show tracker and what other people were pointing, pulling out.

[00:13:03] I couldn't figure out a biggest miss for me.

[00:13:07] Um, that wasn't something that they crammed into this last month.

[00:13:12] Uh, I've seen one episode of this.

[00:13:18] Uh, it, it, uh, some of the production values of the first episode were pretty questionable in a couple of spots, but the story seemed a little intriguing.

[00:13:30] You know, it has to do with sort of secret spy, you know, fake secret spy assassin, John Wick, Mr.

[00:13:37] and Mrs. Smith kind of stuff.

[00:13:39] But, um, it was interesting enough that, uh, I feel badly that it got jammed into December when it should have been something.

[00:13:48] It could have been a fun summer hit or, uh, you know, a mid fall sort of palate cleanser such as it is.

[00:13:55] I don't know that a palate cleanser is the right thing, but some, uh, some other interstitial space.

[00:13:59] And I, I really feel like it's a, uh, a big miss and I don't know why they crammed it into the end of the month.

[00:14:05] Cause it seems like there's three or four things that they've just shoveled into December.

[00:14:09] Right.

[00:14:09] Like someone just brought up a hundred years of solitude.

[00:14:13] I was like, oh yeah, I knew that was coming, but it just, they just binge dropped it.

[00:14:17] Apparently what and what Netflix?

[00:14:20] Uh, I guess.

[00:14:22] Yeah.

[00:14:22] Yeah.

[00:14:22] I guess it's on Netflix, but it's like how this is one of the most seminal stories, you know, of literature.

[00:14:29] How can they just drop it like that in December?

[00:14:33] Yeah.

[00:14:34] I had no idea that was even happening.

[00:14:35] Apparently it's good, but yeah, definitely haven't watched it yet.

[00:14:38] Yeah.

[00:14:39] That's it's weird.

[00:14:40] December.

[00:14:40] Everybody's got December.

[00:14:42] Yeah.

[00:14:42] Netflix six episodes.

[00:14:44] Interesting.

[00:14:45] I don't watch them.

[00:14:45] Although I haven't actually read the book yet.

[00:14:47] It's been on my bookshelf for a long time.

[00:14:50] So speaking of December drops, should we mention the rule and the, the award for the show that most violated the rules?

[00:14:58] So people are not surprised.

[00:15:00] I'm pleasantly.

[00:15:01] Uh, yeah.

[00:15:02] So the rule that I instituted in my draconian rule is that the show has to have ended in 2024 because I think you can't judge a show fairly until it is done because an ending matters.

[00:15:16] Mm-hmm .

[00:15:16] So I've been saying that since Ahsoka.

[00:15:18] Yeah.

[00:15:19] Um, wait for the, for the whole draft?

[00:15:23] For this whole thing.

[00:15:24] Yeah.

[00:15:25] Right.

[00:15:25] Okay.

[00:15:25] It's got it.

[00:15:25] So the end date has to be in 2024.

[00:15:27] Yeah.

[00:15:27] Oh, where did you post that?

[00:15:28] I didn't see that.

[00:15:29] It's in the, it's in the form.

[00:15:31] It's in the Google form.

[00:15:32] It's in the instructions.

[00:15:33] I didn't look at that.

[00:15:33] It's everywhere, David.

[00:15:35] Um, and unfortunately.

[00:15:35] Well, you took it over this year, you know, so like I wasn't plugged in like, uh, I was last

[00:15:41] year.

[00:15:41] So that's true.

[00:15:42] So this is, is this our third top 10 that we've done?

[00:15:45] This is our third top 10.

[00:15:46] Yeah.

[00:15:46] Right.

[00:15:47] And so we're, we're, we're, our culture around it is still evolving.

[00:15:50] Yeah.

[00:15:51] Uh, so you took it on this year, which is a big help because we've been busy on Dune.

[00:15:56] Happy to do it.

[00:15:57] I like doing pivot tables in Excel.

[00:15:59] Yes.

[00:16:00] Um, I will announce that there was a show that dominated those who didn't read the rules

[00:16:05] and that was Silo.

[00:16:06] Silo wins the, I didn't read the rules award.

[00:16:10] So it's not on my list for, for that reason.

[00:16:13] And also, yeah, skeleton crew would probably be on my list.

[00:16:16] And so I already have, I already have a list starting for 2025 with those and creature

[00:16:22] commandos and yeah, all this other stuff.

[00:16:24] So.

[00:16:25] And, and in second place on that award was, uh, blue eye samurai, which really didn't

[00:16:30] at all touch 2024, which was funny.

[00:16:32] That was, that was in there too.

[00:16:34] That was a big miss for 2024.

[00:16:36] Wasn't it?

[00:16:37] For 2023.

[00:16:39] We need to compile all these somewhere in a single place.

[00:16:42] Yeah.

[00:16:44] All right.

[00:16:44] So the community, well, I didn't give my biggest miss.

[00:16:47] Did I?

[00:16:48] Nor did I, but I already said mine.

[00:16:50] Man, I am all out of order here.

[00:16:52] Sorry.

[00:16:53] Drink some coffee.

[00:16:54] Yeah.

[00:16:55] I don't drink coffee anymore, David.

[00:16:56] I've had to give it up.

[00:16:58] I'm a sophisticated man.

[00:17:00] Oh my God.

[00:17:00] I feel like doing the Ted Lasso spitting it out.

[00:17:06] Um, so yeah, I already said mine though.

[00:17:08] It's from and hacks.

[00:17:09] Um, and I'm not choosing between them.

[00:17:10] Sorry.

[00:17:11] What's from from is it's a hard.

[00:17:14] Um, about a, these people arrive in this town and they can't exit it.

[00:17:21] And, um, it's fine during the day, but at night these monsters come out.

[00:17:26] So they have to, they have this whole ritual system about hiding from them, but also trying

[00:17:32] to figure out how, what's going on and how to get out of there.

[00:17:35] Hmm.

[00:17:35] Interesting.

[00:17:36] Nice.

[00:17:37] Never.

[00:17:37] Didn't even know that it was a thing.

[00:17:39] Oh, it's on season three.

[00:17:40] And apparently season three was quite good.

[00:17:42] There was some chatter on the discord about it.

[00:17:44] Um, but yeah, I I'm still on season one.

[00:17:46] I just finished season one.

[00:17:48] Nice.

[00:17:50] And what was your other one?

[00:17:52] Oh yeah.

[00:17:52] Hacks.

[00:17:53] Hacks is definitely.

[00:17:53] So it was a bigness, right?

[00:17:54] Cause you just said that you haven't caught up to it.

[00:17:56] Right.

[00:17:57] It's good.

[00:17:57] It's interesting.

[00:17:57] It's a season four is going to be a big pivot.

[00:18:00] Um, character wise.

[00:18:02] It's like, wow.

[00:18:04] They, which I think is something I appreciate in, in these reoccurring comedy shows is that

[00:18:10] it's, uh, like same with only murders.

[00:18:14] What's your stick each year you've got to invent and, and I iterate, you know, as to what you're

[00:18:21] going to do to keep people's attentions.

[00:18:22] Otherwise it just gets cookie cutter.

[00:18:24] And I have to say the end of season three of hacks really sets up a season four that is

[00:18:29] going to be very tonally different.

[00:18:32] And that's good because they're pushing the storyline.

[00:18:35] So I appreciate what they're doing on hacks.

[00:18:37] We, my wife and I really enjoy the show.

[00:18:40] Yeah.

[00:18:41] Very cool.

[00:18:42] I like, yeah, I'm interested.

[00:18:43] I'm intrigued by the characters, but I'm still in season one.

[00:18:45] So yeah, it's good.

[00:18:48] It goes places.

[00:18:49] It's good.

[00:18:51] Nice.

[00:18:52] Well, my John, my biggest miss was shrinking.

[00:18:57] I think one or two, I've not watched any of it.

[00:19:01] Okay.

[00:19:01] Um, well I watched like one or two episodes of it and when it first came out and I was

[00:19:05] like, Oh, I got to finish watching this.

[00:19:06] And I think we just got busy with different shows on the podcast.

[00:19:09] And I, I've just heard that season two has been so good and I, I love all the actors

[00:19:14] in it.

[00:19:14] I really love the premise.

[00:19:16] I, I cannot wait to finish it.

[00:19:19] I just need to go back and do it.

[00:19:20] I think that's going to be my binge over.

[00:19:21] I'm taking some time off from the holidays.

[00:19:24] I think I want to do the holiday binge with it.

[00:19:26] I like it.

[00:19:27] Yeah.

[00:19:28] That's a good category.

[00:19:29] Holiday binge.

[00:19:30] Yeah.

[00:19:30] That's fine.

[00:19:31] We should have done that.

[00:19:32] We should have done that.

[00:19:32] We still could.

[00:19:33] What's your holiday binge?

[00:19:34] Write it here.

[00:19:36] I don't get to binge over the holidays because I'm with my family and that's when I'm

[00:19:40] the most like, I have to be present, you know?

[00:19:42] Oh, right.

[00:19:42] Yeah.

[00:19:43] But I'll sneak in.

[00:19:44] Yeah.

[00:19:45] Yeah.

[00:19:46] But also there's, we have like activities organized and spending time and things we

[00:19:50] can watch together.

[00:19:52] Yeah.

[00:19:52] Well, that, that's, or your house for Christmas.

[00:19:55] Maybe our, our holiday watch, like maybe in January we can, we can cycle through like any

[00:20:01] binges or special movies that we caught up on with family, et cetera.

[00:20:08] So.

[00:20:08] Wow.

[00:20:08] That was a deafening silence.

[00:20:12] So, all right.

[00:20:13] So let's go to the community biggest miss.

[00:20:15] That was Pachinko.

[00:20:16] Pachinko.

[00:20:17] Uh, this was actually a pretty diverse list.

[00:20:20] Um, this was not like a clear winner.

[00:20:22] This was just barely two votes ahead was Pachinko over hacks and shrinking with two votes.

[00:20:28] Uh, so yeah, a lot of diverse answers for this one.

[00:20:32] Uh, but Pachinko came out ahead.

[00:20:34] Yeah.

[00:20:35] For the bonus questions, it's really hard to, there's no, there's generally no consensus.

[00:20:39] It's, uh, it's really all over the place.

[00:20:40] So.

[00:20:41] And because it's one answer, you can't really rank it.

[00:20:42] It's just, you know, whoever picked what.

[00:20:44] Yeah.

[00:20:45] But Pachinko and, and I gotta watch that too.

[00:20:47] I would like to catch up on Pachinko.

[00:20:49] Sure.

[00:20:50] You all talk it up very much.

[00:20:51] I've listened to some of your spoiler free stuff.

[00:20:53] We have three full episodes on it.

[00:20:56] Yeah.

[00:20:57] Let's do a one shot.

[00:20:58] Yeah.

[00:20:59] Well, you know, color me shocked.

[00:21:03] David, bring us your guilty pleasure.

[00:21:05] My guilty pleasure for this year is pretty, uh, anodyne.

[00:21:10] It is Top Chef.

[00:21:11] Uh, it's nothing that is, uh, earth shattering.

[00:21:15] Last year, I believe it was a hundred foot wave, which is a ridiculous show, but beautifully,

[00:21:22] uh, shot and, and put together as a kind of quasi documentary, uh, reality show.

[00:21:29] So, but, uh, Top Chef is back with a new host with Kristen, uh, since Padma has left.

[00:21:37] My wife has been a big fan of Top Chef for many, many, many years.

[00:21:41] And so when we got together, she roped me into it.

[00:21:43] And so now I'm into it.

[00:21:46] And so this year was like a big change, um, with Padma retiring.

[00:21:51] And I thought they did a good job that there's a, there was a question of the quality of cooking

[00:21:57] with the group of chefs that they had this year.

[00:22:01] But given the major shift that they had, I thought they, they pulled the show off credibly

[00:22:05] and they did a good job with it.

[00:22:07] And, and it's, um, uh, it's something that I unabashedly enjoy watching.

[00:22:13] And I don't think I would ever rank it as a top 10 finalist show, but, uh, it is a solid,

[00:22:22] uh, it is, uh, it is the, um, uh, I was going to try and come up with a food metaphor, but I can't think of one, but it's just a staple in our house.

[00:22:30] Uh, so whenever it comes on and our daughter is even kind of getting into it a little bit.

[00:22:34] So, uh, yes, happy to see top chef thriving with, uh, with Kristen.

[00:22:38] I think she's doing a great job.

[00:22:39] So.

[00:22:41] Very cool.

[00:22:42] Very cool.

[00:22:42] Very cool.

[00:22:42] It's tough when they have to do a shift.

[00:22:45] That's really tough because those, those shows really hang on the judges.

[00:22:51] Yeah.

[00:22:51] Yeah.

[00:22:51] And the hosts.

[00:22:52] Yep.

[00:22:53] There's yeah, the energy, the dynamic, what you're used to.

[00:22:56] Cause part of that, the, the, the appeal of those kinds of shows is the good cookie cutter nature that there's a similarity to them and a repetition to them.

[00:23:05] Um, and so changing and Padma was such a, um, iconic person in that.

[00:23:13] And so to, to shift her energy and shift the host dynamic is a, is a really big deal.

[00:23:18] And, uh, I think they picked the right person and, uh, and Kristen's doing a really good job.

[00:23:24] It's, it's a hard thing to do.

[00:23:26] And I, I give them a lot of credit.

[00:23:28] Very nice.

[00:23:29] Alicia, what's your guilty pleasure?

[00:23:32] I'm going with the circle season six.

[00:23:36] Um, it is, and I want to point out that it is not the circle season seven because after the circle season six, I really enjoyed it.

[00:23:45] They did two seasons this year.

[00:23:46] Um, after the circle season seven, I fooled myself into thinking that I will not watch the show anymore because I'm so sick of their shtick where it's now, it's like only we have to have young vapid people who are mean to each other.

[00:24:01] And that's not the circle started as the opposite of that, where it's just like diverse people.

[00:24:07] Sometimes even with pets in the British version who, um, well actually, no, they've started incorporating pets again, but they, it was about like warmth and forming alliances with strangers and stuff.

[00:24:16] And now it's just about like, what's the meanest twist we can come up with.

[00:24:20] But anyway, the circle season six was the last that I really enjoyed.

[00:24:25] Nice.

[00:24:26] Well, now I know who wrote that in my chart.

[00:24:28] I have never heard of this show in my life.

[00:24:31] You've never heard of the circle?

[00:24:33] Never.

[00:24:33] It's okay.

[00:24:34] It's on Netflix and it's basically, it's from, is it from the same?

[00:24:38] No, I don't know which company does it.

[00:24:40] But anyway, the idea is they have people in these different apartments in the same building, but they don't see each other.

[00:24:46] They are interacting through a social media interface and they set up profiles.

[00:24:51] And so some of them set up profiles of them themselves.

[00:24:54] Some of them will be like themselves with a slight tweak.

[00:24:57] Some of them will pretend to be somebody completely different.

[00:25:00] And then they, they rank each other as they go through and they have influencers who get to vote out the people at the bottom.

[00:25:09] So it's sort of a survivor format, but with social media.

[00:25:11] Oh my God.

[00:25:13] I can see why this falls into this category.

[00:25:17] That's funny though.

[00:25:18] But it's, yeah, it's really addicting.

[00:25:20] Except for the last season.

[00:25:21] I struggled with that.

[00:25:24] Well, I'm glad you had fun with it, Alicia.

[00:25:27] I can't promise I'm going to watch that, but I'm glad that you're having fun.

[00:25:29] You don't need to.

[00:25:30] It's probably best they don't get the encouragement to continue down the track they're going.

[00:25:35] Fair enough.

[00:25:36] Is it, is it largely, is it, is it one of these shows that's replicated internationally from a standard format or is it an international?

[00:25:44] It actually started as a British show and it was filmed in the UK for a long time.

[00:25:49] They have, they have, they, they've done other countries I think, but mostly it's just been the US.

[00:25:56] Okay.

[00:25:56] I guess.

[00:25:57] Yeah.

[00:25:57] Okay.

[00:25:58] No, I guess they have done, I forget now.

[00:26:03] Well, I'm going to go to my, my, my British pleasure pleasure.

[00:26:07] Um, yeah, I was thinking British because the community guilty pleasure was great British baking show or depending on your, depending on your region.

[00:26:14] The, uh, and GBBO ranks in one of our affiliate, uh, tops as well in their top three.

[00:26:22] Oh, good.

[00:26:23] Who or what position, but yeah, it's a GBBO is getting some love out there.

[00:26:28] I will say it, it just eked out one vote over from the arc and the legend of Vox Machina.

[00:26:33] Mm.

[00:26:34] So, uh, plenty of diverse answers on that too.

[00:26:38] My personal guilty pleasure was curb your enthusiasm in the final season.

[00:26:43] Well, that didn't actually rank on your top 10.

[00:26:47] No, because it was stupid, but I loved it.

[00:26:49] It's just, it's pretty, pretty good.

[00:26:51] I think you and Anthony should do a, uh, cause that, that, uh, that figured prominently in his, uh, end of year reflections.

[00:26:58] Oh yeah.

[00:26:59] Yeah.

[00:26:59] And I think you and Anthony would have a good one shot on that.

[00:27:02] I mean, it was excellent.

[00:27:04] It was, it was really good for what it was.

[00:27:06] It's just like, if it does not fit in on my list, you know what I mean?

[00:27:09] Like I'm looking at my list and I'm like, this does not fit in here.

[00:27:12] Uh, but really, really, really, really excellent for this, uh, conclusion to the series.

[00:27:18] Uh, Richard Lewis died shortly before or like in the middle of the season.

[00:27:23] Um, but he got to finish filming the season and then during its run, right.

[00:27:27] He passed away and, and it was very sad, but it was very meaningful.

[00:27:31] He just, it just, it just felt right.

[00:27:33] All the ending and, and having him and Larry have like arguments where they're going to each other.

[00:27:37] When are you going to die?

[00:27:39] Like it, it really, it felt fitting.

[00:27:41] It felt fitting as an end to the series.

[00:27:43] They did a bunch of homages to Seinfeld and it just, it was right.

[00:27:47] It was all right.

[00:27:48] So guilty pleasure.

[00:27:49] Loved it.

[00:27:50] The, um, the namaste meme, uh, part of Larry David.

[00:27:58] Do you know the one I'm talking about?

[00:27:59] I think that was an earlier season, but yeah.

[00:28:01] Yeah, it was in early, it is an earlier season, but every once in a while that meme sort of, or that clip drifts through my social media feeds.

[00:28:08] And it's the one where he's leaving a yoga studio and the instructor's like, Oh Larry, I noticed you didn't say namaste.

[00:28:14] And then they get to this whole thing where he enrages the yoga studio owner or teacher.

[00:28:19] Oh, he's really good at that.

[00:28:20] So much that she's just like, get the fuck out and never come back.

[00:28:24] Yup.

[00:28:24] Yup.

[00:28:25] He's so good at just like, and he's like, Oh, you just made my day.

[00:28:28] Thank you.

[00:28:30] This is why I don't watch this show.

[00:28:32] That just makes my blood pressure rise.

[00:28:33] I love it so much.

[00:28:34] I love it so much.

[00:28:37] Super cringe.

[00:28:38] All right.

[00:28:39] Our last bonus category.

[00:28:41] Yes.

[00:28:41] David's trying to cheat.

[00:28:42] He has like three extra picks plus two honorable mentions.

[00:28:46] I filled them in.

[00:28:47] So I'm, I'm on the cheating train.

[00:28:48] Are you kidding me?

[00:28:48] We're not doing top 13.

[00:28:50] No.

[00:28:50] Yes.

[00:28:51] I said in the discord channel that I put those there simply because I, you know, if questions come up, I need to remember where these particular shows ranked in my way.

[00:29:02] I can lock these as, as unreachable for the rest of this podcast.

[00:29:08] Right.

[00:29:09] No, I'm going to read them out because now I put them on my list and change my honorable mentions accordingly.

[00:29:16] All right.

[00:29:16] Okay.

[00:29:17] Uh, most anticipated and or no questions, no questions asked.

[00:29:22] Yeah.

[00:29:22] All right.

[00:29:23] And that's fair.

[00:29:24] And that would be mine, but, um, surprising.

[00:29:26] No one I'm going with the wheel of time.

[00:29:28] All right.

[00:29:29] I get it.

[00:29:30] I get it.

[00:29:30] Uh, uh, blue sky of time.

[00:29:33] Is that, I don't know what he, what's skies, what's skies.

[00:29:37] Okay.

[00:29:38] Well, what's guys is reveling, uh, for season three.

[00:29:42] I see.

[00:29:42] Yes.

[00:29:43] My feeds.

[00:29:44] Yes, absolutely.

[00:29:45] It's this is, they're adapting the best book in the series in my, or maybe second best book.

[00:29:49] It's, it's like where the series really finds its own identity separate from being like kind of inspired by like the Lord of the Rings and similar stuff.

[00:29:59] Okay.

[00:29:59] And I was saying if I had more time, I would definitely do a David style breakdown of that teaser trailer because, um, you have time.

[00:30:07] Um, I mean, not this, not this, not right now.

[00:30:11] No, no.

[00:30:11] In the new year.

[00:30:12] Yeah.

[00:30:12] Yeah.

[00:30:13] Yeah.

[00:30:14] All right.

[00:30:15] Mine is severance.

[00:30:17] Okay.

[00:30:17] I am.

[00:30:18] I just have to feel the hype for it right now.

[00:30:20] It's right around the corner.

[00:30:21] Mm hmm.

[00:30:22] I think, you know, is it genuinely your show for, for that next year?

[00:30:28] Like most, it really is like, you're not just, it's not a region.

[00:30:31] Okay.

[00:30:31] Yeah.

[00:30:32] No, it's, it's, it's because and or, and the wheel of time, I love them both, but I know where they're going.

[00:30:38] Mm hmm.

[00:30:38] I know generally where they're going severance.

[00:30:41] I have no idea what's happening.

[00:30:42] Interesting.

[00:30:42] Okay.

[00:30:43] I want to know.

[00:30:44] I, I crave the knowledge.

[00:30:45] I hate not knowing.

[00:30:47] Mm hmm.

[00:30:47] So that is my most anticipated.

[00:30:49] And it's a mystery box and you're, you, you have opinions about mystery boxes.

[00:30:54] Yes.

[00:30:54] And not all good ones, but it's the best mystery box there has been.

[00:30:57] I've seen.

[00:30:58] Wow.

[00:30:59] Okay.

[00:30:59] Now the community agrees with David by a whopping 12 votes.

[00:31:04] Yeah.

[00:31:04] I noted that.

[00:31:05] We have a, which is double the next entry, which was severance and everything else only got one vote as their most anticipated.

[00:31:13] Yeah.

[00:31:14] I think it's going to be a, I think it's going to get a lot of podcast coverage in the marketplace and a lot of YouTube videos and yeah, it's going to be a busy show.

[00:31:22] Well, we were there for season one when everyone had lost hope.

[00:31:24] Exactly.

[00:31:25] About Star Wars shows.

[00:31:26] We showed up.

[00:31:27] There are even other podcasters who were like, Oh, well maybe I should talk to you about that.

[00:31:31] And they were like, mm hmm.

[00:31:32] Yeah.

[00:31:34] Yeah.

[00:31:34] Yeah.

[00:31:35] Yeah.

[00:31:35] Yeah.

[00:31:35] You crazy.

[00:31:35] I never lost hope.

[00:31:37] I just want people to know.

[00:31:38] I think even the book of Boba Fett had its moments.

[00:31:44] Well, I think we are ready for the real deal starting with number 10.

[00:31:50] Oh, come on.

[00:31:51] I'm reading out 11 through 13.

[00:31:52] All right.

[00:31:53] You can read it out, but we're having no lengthy explanations.

[00:31:56] Okay.

[00:31:56] It's not going to be a four hour podcast.

[00:31:57] Okay.

[00:31:59] All right.

[00:32:00] So, um, Hit Monkey just, uh, it was a show that was slow to pick up in the first season,

[00:32:06] but I'm all in on after, especially after season two fallout of course was super fun.

[00:32:11] Can't wait for more.

[00:32:12] And I haven't gotten that far in this one, but so far interior Chinatown is really inventive

[00:32:18] and fun.

[00:32:19] And I can't wait to see where, where it goes.

[00:32:21] So, but we also had our other, other honorary mentions.

[00:32:25] Well, we can do honor, honoraries at the end.

[00:32:28] Okay.

[00:32:29] Okay.

[00:32:29] Last thing.

[00:32:31] Um, so, well, I'll, I'll read out my two, uh, or three, 13 is Dune, 12 is the bear and

[00:32:39] 11 is Agatha.

[00:32:41] And my number 10 is Mr.

[00:32:44] And Mrs. Smith.

[00:32:46] And these, all three of these could, could have replaced, like they've changed.

[00:32:51] Dune, I'm sorry, is, is falling through the floor.

[00:32:54] I know the show isn't over yet, but it's, there's a lot that I love about it, but it

[00:32:59] is not holding for me relative to everything else that we've gotten this year so far.

[00:33:04] Um, but Mr.

[00:33:07] But Agatha, the bear and Mr.

[00:33:09] And Mrs. Smith all could have there, they're, they were like constantly changing places with

[00:33:13] each other.

[00:33:14] And, uh, I, I really enjoyed them, them all.

[00:33:18] But I, when I get down to it, what I, when I think back about the vibes of what I was watching

[00:33:25] and what really made me like excited to watch the next episode and to see where the story

[00:33:34] was going to go, it was Mr.

[00:33:36] And Mrs.

[00:33:37] Smith and the Danny Glover and Maya Erskine, their chemistry was so great.

[00:33:43] I loved the premise of kind of a quasi romantic comedy, modern assessment of where relationships

[00:33:51] are wrapped in the, uh, international assassin spy thing.

[00:33:57] I thought was great.

[00:33:59] I loved the, the groundedness that they each brought.

[00:34:03] Like they're very real.

[00:34:04] There were some early scenes where, you know, if, if this had been a James Bond movie, like,

[00:34:10] uh, Danny Glover was running at one point and he got, he gets winded and it's like, well,

[00:34:14] James Bond would never get winded.

[00:34:16] And so I love the, the groundedness that they, they brought to it.

[00:34:20] The acting was just lovely.

[00:34:22] Everybody just was.

[00:34:24] Yeah.

[00:34:24] Did you say Danny Glover?

[00:34:26] Did I say, what did I, what did I say?

[00:34:29] I, did you say Danny Glover?

[00:34:30] Donald Glover.

[00:34:31] Donald Glover.

[00:34:31] I did this.

[00:34:32] I actually thought for a moment.

[00:34:34] I was like, was he in it?

[00:34:35] And then I go, wait, wait, wait, wait.

[00:34:36] I did the same thing on, uh, I think it was when I was talking to Jean or was I talking

[00:34:40] to Anthony?

[00:34:41] I can't remember.

[00:34:41] I was talking to somebody about our top 10.

[00:34:43] I did the same thing anyway.

[00:34:45] The Glover.

[00:34:47] And, uh, I would really love that.

[00:34:49] I would love to see this as an anthology series.

[00:34:52] Uh, I just, it was just so delightful.

[00:34:56] And every episode I was just on edge, just waiting to see where they were going to take

[00:35:01] this literally in the storyline and the character development and the character interactions.

[00:35:08] And then around the world, like where were they going to be next?

[00:35:11] And, uh, it was just, uh, it was inventive.

[00:35:15] It was fresh and, uh, Glover's comedy.

[00:35:21] He's not cringy.

[00:35:22] So that's what, you know, but he, he pushes the boundaries of things and he makes you think

[00:35:27] about stuff.

[00:35:28] And I just thought it was a, it was a real triumph, a real masterpiece of, of, um, this scale of, of television

[00:35:35] making.

[00:35:36] So yeah, solid.

[00:35:37] Now Agatha and the, the bear see this season.

[00:35:41] Hmm.

[00:35:41] You know, it's, uh, and Agatha was really great.

[00:35:44] And I just, um, uh, I couldn't put it higher, but it's, it should have been, it could have

[00:35:50] been number 10 easily.

[00:35:51] So.

[00:35:52] Very nice.

[00:35:53] Very nice.

[00:35:53] I've definitely come up my list.

[00:35:55] Everyone's cheated.

[00:35:56] Since everyone's cheated and changed the format, I've come up with three.

[00:35:59] I can list for my 11 through 13 quickly.

[00:36:02] Okay.

[00:36:02] And then we'll go to Alicia's number 10.

[00:36:04] Okay.

[00:36:05] All right.

[00:36:07] House of the dragon is my 11.

[00:36:09] I'm not putting it on my top 10.

[00:36:11] I cannot in good faith do that.

[00:36:13] And I'm going to address the controversy.

[00:36:14] Now the show had a really strong start.

[00:36:20] It fell very flat and it fell very flat because of studio interference, not letting them do 10

[00:36:26] episodes, not letting them do what they wanted to do.

[00:36:28] It seems like.

[00:36:30] Um, and then there were very confusing explanations.

[00:36:33] Like, Oh, we thought this was a good place to end it.

[00:36:35] It absolutely wasn't.

[00:36:36] Um, the story felt very muddled at times.

[00:36:39] And while the production design was fantastic, I am primarily a story driven guy when I podcast

[00:36:45] and I am very into where's the story, where's the lore.

[00:36:49] Right.

[00:36:50] This season didn't do it for me.

[00:36:51] I thought it felt way.

[00:36:52] It felt way flat compared to season one.

[00:36:56] And I hope that they can bring it back for season three.

[00:36:58] And I think they will, they have a lot of big moments, uh, but I can't in good faith,

[00:37:01] put it on my top 10 list this year.

[00:37:03] It's, it's not on my list either.

[00:37:04] And it wasn't in the 13 or honorable mentions either for the same reasons.

[00:37:08] So fair enough.

[00:37:09] Fair enough.

[00:37:09] And then I'll just quickly say frere and beyond journeys.

[00:37:13] And it was a really fantastic anime and I loved it.

[00:37:16] It's not on your list.

[00:37:18] No, because I thought that I, I, this is probably my fault.

[00:37:21] I thought it was a standalone series.

[00:37:22] And when it ended in an open ended ending, I was like, Oh no, I thought, I thought it was

[00:37:27] going to be one season thing.

[00:37:28] It's it's coming back for season two, which I think it'll still be really good.

[00:37:31] It was great.

[00:37:33] Um, but I'll let you talk about it at length.

[00:37:35] If you get to, I'm assuming you're going to get to it now.

[00:37:39] Um, and then lastly, Abbott Elementary, I think it's really bringing back the mockumentary

[00:37:43] as a staple of the comedy genre.

[00:37:45] Really fun.

[00:37:46] Oh my God.

[00:37:47] That needs to be on my shoot.

[00:37:49] That should be on my honorable mentions too.

[00:37:51] Then your honorable mentions.

[00:37:55] You can't just list every show you watch this year, Alicia.

[00:38:00] I watched a lot of shows this year.

[00:38:02] So there you go.

[00:38:04] All right, Alicia hit us with your top 10, your number 10.

[00:38:07] Okay.

[00:38:08] My number 10 is, um, genuinely forgot what I put here.

[00:38:11] All right.

[00:38:11] Somebody somewhere, uh, which just finished its third and final season.

[00:38:16] And it's one that's like, I brought it up before on second breakfast.

[00:38:21] It's really, it's a difficult one to recommend people.

[00:38:25] Cause it's like, what is it about?

[00:38:26] Like, well, it's about dealing with trauma and hanging out with your sister and best friend,

[00:38:33] but it's just so poignant and real.

[00:38:37] The, um, situations that they deal with and how they grapple with their own.

[00:38:42] Well, shortcomings or traumas or things like that, you know?

[00:38:45] And, and one thing I like about it, you know, they just wrapped up the third season.

[00:38:49] And in the very last episode, most of the characters are still struggling with some version of the same things they were struggling in the first episode, because that's how life works, but they've made progress.

[00:39:00] So at one point, just somebody shares a friendly wave with someone who used to bully them in high school.

[00:39:07] And that's just the perfect closure, you know, that they've earned that moment.

[00:39:11] And it's that kind of show that just really, it's, it's, it's like hanging out with your friends and doing karaoke, you know?

[00:39:18] Nice.

[00:39:18] I think with those kinds of shows too, it's important to get progress.

[00:39:23] If you don't feel as if you are progress, even if it's not forward, probably if it's lateral or backwards, but movement, like you need movement from where the character was to where they are now.

[00:39:35] And that's what keeps it interesting.

[00:39:37] Right.

[00:39:37] But yeah, it's the stakes and the progress are like, you know, someone is finally ready to accept help from someone who loves them, you know?

[00:39:44] Mm-hmm.

[00:39:45] Right.

[00:39:46] Which is, yeah, that's, it's, it's just so real.

[00:39:48] And it's lessons that we all are struggling with ourselves.

[00:39:52] Right.

[00:39:52] Yeah.

[00:39:53] Maybe, maybe their hearts are in conflict with themselves.

[00:39:57] In conflict with themselves, fo sho.

[00:40:01] Oh boy.

[00:40:02] All right.

[00:40:03] What about you?

[00:40:04] My number 10 is X-Men 97.

[00:40:06] Oh yeah.

[00:40:07] Solid pick.

[00:40:08] I, I didn't watch it, but good ball solid pick from what I hear from everybody.

[00:40:11] I just can't believe how well it tackled so many mature themes in this like random animated continuation of a nineties cartoon.

[00:40:20] Mm-hmm.

[00:40:20] I didn't even watch the nineties cartoon.

[00:40:22] I started it briefly right after the series.

[00:40:25] I plan to go back to it.

[00:40:26] It's just time.

[00:40:27] But a really great show.

[00:40:29] I, I love all the nineties animation.

[00:40:33] It reminds, I love the homage to the nineties arcade video games that were in like Chuck E. Cheese and random like kids arcades.

[00:40:40] I, I just loved it.

[00:40:42] I loved everything about it.

[00:40:43] And, and I had probably more fun with this than most shows this year.

[00:40:48] Hmm.

[00:40:48] Yeah.

[00:40:49] Super fun show.

[00:40:50] Didn't make my list, but, um, it was in strong consideration.

[00:40:54] Well, the, uh, is it coming back?

[00:40:57] Yeah.

[00:40:58] Yeah.

[00:40:58] It's coming back for season two, which is kind of season eight, right?

[00:41:03] Is that what, or season nine?

[00:41:05] I don't know.

[00:41:05] Uh, because of the, the previous continuity.

[00:41:08] Wait, what was it?

[00:41:08] There were five before five, six, six, six, six, six, seven, eight.

[00:41:10] Well, I don't know.

[00:41:11] Yeah.

[00:41:12] I don't know.

[00:41:13] Somebody write it.

[00:41:14] The community with a 44 votes chose another animated show arcane, the Netflix show based

[00:41:21] on league of legends, the video game, which nobody thought was going to be good and ended

[00:41:25] up being apparently fantastic.

[00:41:29] I arcane season.

[00:41:30] This should be on my biggest miss list.

[00:41:32] Cause I have not watched season two, but season one was fantastic.

[00:41:35] But season two, I heard more con not controversy, but like more, um, people weren't as solid on

[00:41:42] it.

[00:41:42] It felt like.

[00:41:43] Oh, I thought people liked it better from what I was here.

[00:41:46] Oh, interesting.

[00:41:47] It got more buzz this year for whatever reason.

[00:41:50] I mean, it definitely broke through to the point that the, uh, radioactive, uh, ramblings

[00:41:55] decided to cover it.

[00:41:57] Sure.

[00:41:58] But I think, I mean, I think it was based off of the success of season one.

[00:42:02] Season one was really came out of nowhere as a coup.

[00:42:06] When did season one come out?

[00:42:08] Yeah.

[00:42:08] Like three years ago.

[00:42:10] Wow.

[00:42:10] Okay.

[00:42:11] Yeah.

[00:42:11] Oh, this is a while then.

[00:42:13] I didn't realize that.

[00:42:14] Yeah.

[00:42:14] So to come on.

[00:42:15] So this, I heard a, uh, you know, a passing reference that the average episode cost per

[00:42:22] episode cost of this thing was between 12 and $15 million.

[00:42:27] I think it's the most expensive animated series ever.

[00:42:30] It's re it's just wild to think about like, what are they doing?

[00:42:34] It looks great.

[00:42:34] It looks great.

[00:42:35] Yeah.

[00:42:36] That's I was like, Oh, maybe I should at least just, you know, see what this is about.

[00:42:40] Well, it's also the writing of season one, at least I can't speak to season two, obviously,

[00:42:44] but season one writing is phenomenal.

[00:42:46] It's just the nuance.

[00:42:48] It's about what does family mean?

[00:42:50] And what does it mean to love someone?

[00:42:52] And what should you sacrifice for someone?

[00:42:54] And just, you know, the, uh, these minute misunderstandings that blow up into war.

[00:43:01] Uh, yeah.

[00:43:02] Yeah.

[00:43:03] And it's got like, I call Jinx, I call her Harley Quinn 2.0.

[00:43:08] Funny.

[00:43:10] Uh, I, and I've never heard of this video game.

[00:43:13] I'm just, I feel massive.

[00:43:15] And from what I've heard, everyone who plays it hates themselves for playing it.

[00:43:20] It's very competitive.

[00:43:22] It's, it's one of those free to play, but you can spend a billion dollars just microtransactioning

[00:43:27] forever.

[00:43:28] Does it fit like a Fortnite niche or something?

[00:43:31] No, it's, it's a MOBA.

[00:43:35] Mm-hmm.

[00:43:35] From what I understand, which is, I, all right, this is a bad explanation.

[00:43:40] If somebody actually plays MOBAs, please just explain it better.

[00:43:43] But, uh, it's, it's no, it's not an MMORPG.

[00:43:47] That's what you're thinking.

[00:43:48] Uh-huh.

[00:43:49] It's a battle arena, right?

[00:43:50] Yeah.

[00:43:51] You have like a set of heroes and you're going up against other sets of heroes and

[00:43:55] it's.

[00:43:56] That sounds like a, doesn't Fortnite do that?

[00:43:59] Or what's the tank one?

[00:44:01] Fortnite's more of a first person shooter.

[00:44:02] That's a, it's a, um.

[00:44:05] But you're a team and you're fighting against another team.

[00:44:08] Yeah.

[00:44:08] But it's, it's like top down.

[00:44:10] It's, it's, it's a different vibe.

[00:44:12] Okay.

[00:44:12] It's a very different vibe.

[00:44:13] Okay.

[00:44:13] Fortnite is a first person shooter or third person shooter rather.

[00:44:17] Um, and, uh, why can I, about a battle Royale is what Fortnite is.

[00:44:21] And I don't think legal bludgeon says that maybe it does have a mode.

[00:44:24] Okay.

[00:44:24] But it's David, we're splitting hairs here, but in the gaming world, if you could, if

[00:44:29] you say Fortnite is the same as legal legend, somebody is going to have like pull their

[00:44:32] hair out.

[00:44:33] So that's why I'm trying to save you here.

[00:44:35] Go to bed, grandpa.

[00:44:36] They can just tell me to go to bed and I'll be like, fine.

[00:44:39] I'll just sort of mutter to myself as I shuffle off.

[00:44:41] Uh, I don't really know the difference because neither of these are, I'm, I'm definitely the

[00:44:47] RPG player.

[00:44:49] Well, Ted Lasso and Seinfeld are the same because they're both comedies, right?

[00:44:53] You know what I mean?

[00:44:54] This is what, this is what I'm saying.

[00:44:54] I know.

[00:44:55] I know.

[00:44:57] All right.

[00:44:58] So David, give us your number nine.

[00:44:59] Where it is my number nine.

[00:45:01] My number nine is, uh, rings of power.

[00:45:05] All right.

[00:45:06] Fair pick.

[00:45:07] Um, solid entry, you know, continues to, you know, push itself.

[00:45:12] Uh, this and house of the dragon and Dune, regardless of where their relative rankings

[00:45:18] are all get a lot of credit from me in general, just for the fact that they're taking on the

[00:45:28] biggest IP titles that you could take on right with huge fandoms, um, complex stories, uh,

[00:45:36] uh, uh, demands, high demands on visual effects to make it, you know, make the world building

[00:45:45] feel immersive.

[00:45:46] Like, oh, okay.

[00:45:47] We, you know, you're, you're really bringing these fantastical and, uh, uh, environments

[00:45:53] to life.

[00:45:54] And so, uh, it, um, I can't not, you know, give it some kind of nod.

[00:46:00] And I know I was hot and cold on the season.

[00:46:02] I even got called out on the Apple podcast.

[00:46:04] We'll call you out for anything.

[00:46:06] So, yeah.

[00:46:06] So, you know, fair enough.

[00:46:08] Uh, and I, I tried to like it and there's a lot that I do like about it.

[00:46:13] And, uh, yeah, I, I just think it needs to, you know, when I'm ranking it and thinking

[00:46:21] about what's beyond my personal enjoyment, but also sort of like what's important for

[00:46:27] television, I, I kind of feel like these big IPs.

[00:46:29] I mean, if you think about it, we've got foundation, we've got Dune, we've got Tolkien

[00:46:34] and we've got Martin all screen and start.

[00:46:39] Well, yeah, Star Wars and Star Trek, you know, those are these ongoing things, but at least

[00:46:43] with Dune and foundation and Tolkien, those, at least those three have all, you know, they're,

[00:46:51] they've been, there's a reason why that they haven't been produced up until now.

[00:46:55] I mean, Tolkien has in, in various forms, but, uh, to serialize it as a television show.

[00:47:00] Um, and I just think it's a, it's a pretty remarkable thing.

[00:47:03] So I could not go in good conscious on my top 10 without having rings of power in there

[00:47:10] somewhere.

[00:47:11] We're getting a Martin show for every two years for the rest of our lives, David.

[00:47:18] Mm.

[00:47:18] Mm.

[00:47:18] I'm really excited for it.

[00:47:19] HBO is not letting that cash cow walk away.

[00:47:21] Yeah.

[00:47:22] But Seven Kingdoms, I've been dying for an adaptation for that for ages.

[00:47:25] So I'm really excited that that's the next one.

[00:47:27] I do love that book.

[00:47:29] Night of the Seven Kingdoms.

[00:47:29] Yeah.

[00:47:30] Compilation.

[00:47:30] Yeah.

[00:47:31] Right.

[00:47:32] Yeah.

[00:47:32] I haven't, I read them as individual stories when they were first published.

[00:47:35] So now I'm going to reread them as I got the, uh, full book compilation.

[00:47:40] I don't know if they changed anything, but.

[00:47:42] There is a, an audio book version of the trilogy read by the voice actor from Viserys

[00:47:48] in Game of Thrones, like the, uh, the original, like Danny's brother Viserys.

[00:47:53] Mm.

[00:47:54] Oh yeah.

[00:47:55] Abby was saying something about that.

[00:47:57] But apparently, cause we, we were doing a fan casting on the Silo spoiler cast and someone

[00:48:02] fan casted him as a character.

[00:48:04] And Abby was saying that apparently people are going nuts for his audio books.

[00:48:08] He's really good.

[00:48:09] He's really, really great.

[00:48:10] Um, so what's your number 10 and number nine, Alicia.

[00:48:14] My number nine.

[00:48:15] Oh, by the way, I just want to say about somebody somewhere.

[00:48:16] I think I forgot to say that it's really funny.

[00:48:18] It's a really about like silliness and like friends pooping together and stuff like that

[00:48:23] too.

[00:48:23] So I just want to not misrepresent it, but it's my number.

[00:48:27] Well now I'm in.

[00:48:28] But it's also, I'm not usually into like poop humor humor, but like, they're just so earnest

[00:48:34] and like, I don't know.

[00:48:36] It's anyway.

[00:48:37] Was it like real, it's like real talk.

[00:48:39] Like real talk.

[00:48:40] Yeah.

[00:48:40] But also just like, sometimes you know, someone's your best friend when you poop together on

[00:48:44] the phone, you know, that sort of thing.

[00:48:46] Yes.

[00:48:47] That would be a very intimate relationship.

[00:48:51] Acceptance.

[00:48:53] If you're both have food poisoning.

[00:48:55] Yeah.

[00:48:55] Okay.

[00:48:56] There you go.

[00:48:58] Um, but okay.

[00:48:59] So number nine is less on the funny side, although it has its moments, baby reindeer.

[00:49:04] Um, it was, yeah, it was a limited series.

[00:49:08] It's about for anyone who doesn't know, it's based on a true story about a comedian and

[00:49:14] kind of the horrible things that happened to him, the ways he was mistreated coming up.

[00:49:18] And, um, it's just really.

[00:49:21] Engrossing and well-written.

[00:49:23] And, uh, the casting was just phenomenal, especially for the character of Martha.

[00:49:28] I just really want to see her and more things now.

[00:49:31] Um, the actress.

[00:49:32] So I really recommend it.

[00:49:35] It's not always, it's definitely not always an easy one.

[00:49:38] Watching, you know, throwing content warnings out there in a general way.

[00:49:41] But, um, yeah, it was very good.

[00:49:44] Very good.

[00:49:44] Very well-written.

[00:49:45] Yeah.

[00:49:46] Got a lot of, uh, critical acclaim.

[00:49:48] Uh, I would have.

[00:49:50] Yeah.

[00:49:50] Sorry.

[00:49:51] Did well at the Emmys.

[00:49:53] Mm-hmm.

[00:49:53] Yeah.

[00:49:53] And I would, I would almost put it for me.

[00:49:56] I would put it in a bucket of like, along with beef.

[00:49:58] I didn't watch.

[00:49:59] I started.

[00:50:00] It's really good too.

[00:50:00] Yeah.

[00:50:01] I started both of those and, and couldn't go for it.

[00:50:04] They just weren't, weren't vibing with me.

[00:50:07] But the, the reaction by writers and other, other people within the industry and other

[00:50:14] storytellers and people who think, you know, critically about stuff, it's really a strong

[00:50:19] react, like a strong positive reaction from a lot of people.

[00:50:22] Hmm.

[00:50:24] For both shows, I should say.

[00:50:25] Yeah.

[00:50:25] Yeah.

[00:50:26] And there's a season two coming, right?

[00:50:29] For baby reindeer or beef.

[00:50:31] Yeah.

[00:50:31] For beef.

[00:50:32] Yes.

[00:50:32] I thought I heard baby reindeer was coming back.

[00:50:35] Um, I, not that I've heard of, I don't know.

[00:50:38] Maybe, maybe I'm wrong.

[00:50:39] There's a lot of controversy by the way, because the woman that Martha is based on,

[00:50:43] uh, who stepped out and said like, this is based on me.

[00:50:47] Like, well, now you've told everyone, but yeah.

[00:50:52] So there's yikes.

[00:50:54] Uh, what about you?

[00:50:56] It's gotta be quiet.

[00:50:58] Um, I don't remember what I put.

[00:51:00] So let's go.

[00:51:02] I like the accolade.

[00:51:03] What is my number?

[00:51:04] No, you are saying wow that it's on there.

[00:51:07] Cause it's definitely higher.

[00:51:08] Yeah.

[00:51:09] Well, I thought it was great.

[00:51:10] I thought it was great.

[00:51:11] And I thought it was unjustly canceled and I was not going to let it not be on my

[00:51:15] list because it eat created a lot of potential in the higher public era.

[00:51:20] I loved seeing the higher public finally on screen.

[00:51:23] Do we say it differentiated it a little bit more visually?

[00:51:26] Uh, but really, really great stuff.

[00:51:29] I thought, uh, a man blood did a really amazing job playing the twins.

[00:51:34] I really loved, I can't remember the name of, of master soul, the actor.

[00:51:38] Um, okay.

[00:51:41] Yes.

[00:51:41] Thank you.

[00:51:41] Well, he did an amazing job.

[00:51:43] Uh, the fights between him and Manny Jacinta were just incredible.

[00:51:46] I think, I think the, uh, the nighttime fight scene was perhaps the best lightsaber battle

[00:51:52] I've seen since episode three, since the Anakin V Obi-Wan duel.

[00:51:58] And I just wish it had gotten another chance.

[00:52:01] Hmm.

[00:52:01] You know, I, you know, there, there were nitpicks I could do, but overall the show kept me immersed.

[00:52:06] It made me feel like it was an interesting star Wars story and it dove deeper into the

[00:52:10] star Wars lore.

[00:52:11] We even got a plague as tease.

[00:52:13] And now we're going to just shut that down.

[00:52:14] I mean, come on, come on.

[00:52:16] Uh, I, I think it's great.

[00:52:18] It deserves a spot on the list.

[00:52:19] Yeah.

[00:52:20] I will be gushing about it more later.

[00:52:23] It's fair enough.

[00:52:24] Fair enough.

[00:52:24] We'll save it then.

[00:52:25] Uh, we'll give the community number nine, which was interview with the vampire coming

[00:52:30] in with 50 points.

[00:52:31] These were all pretty close to these.

[00:52:33] It's all very close.

[00:52:34] It's all just a few points separated until you get to number one and two, and then it's

[00:52:38] separated by over a hundred points.

[00:52:40] Yeah.

[00:52:41] I think this should be higher, but more people need to watch it.

[00:52:44] Yeah.

[00:52:45] That's, I think that's really it is, is it's not that watched.

[00:52:49] And, uh, which is, was more popular than it, which is insane.

[00:52:53] Mm.

[00:52:53] Mm.

[00:52:54] And you had a, a pretty fun interaction and, uh, hopefully some future, uh, crossover stuff

[00:53:01] with, um, podcasts, another podcast.

[00:53:04] Yeah.

[00:53:04] Christina from vampire insider, vampire insider.

[00:53:08] That's right.

[00:53:08] I couldn't remember.

[00:53:08] Yeah.

[00:53:09] So they had to really in-depth coverage of interview with the vampire and mayfair witches,

[00:53:13] which they feel the same about as John and I.

[00:53:16] Yeah.

[00:53:16] Yeah.

[00:53:17] I hate watch mayfair witches.

[00:53:18] I had to go back and listen to their podcast to make sure that I wasn't crazy.

[00:53:21] Mm.

[00:53:22] And it was listening to you and Christina talk.

[00:53:25] It was really enjoyable.

[00:53:27] That was a, that was a fun podcast.

[00:53:29] Yeah.

[00:53:29] And I'm obviously going to be gushing about this one further up the list as well.

[00:53:33] Yeah.

[00:53:34] All right, David, bring us to number eight.

[00:53:38] My number eight is only murders.

[00:53:41] Hmm.

[00:53:42] Very nice.

[00:53:43] What is a season four?

[00:53:44] Um, it's a weird pick for me to throw it this high, but I can't do it without recognizing

[00:53:53] that the show is getting stronger season after season after season.

[00:53:59] And it's a little bit what I talked about before, which is you got to reinvent the shtick.

[00:54:03] It's like, well, how many more murders can they have in the Arconia?

[00:54:06] Right.

[00:54:06] You know, like how can you do this over and over and over again?

[00:54:10] It's a little bit ridiculous.

[00:54:12] And yet somehow they're able to reinvent the show each season, find a new centralized theme

[00:54:21] to work in and around.

[00:54:24] I love the fact that it's becoming a kind of a cameo, uh, machine.

[00:54:30] Now, no, there was one performance this season that I, it was pretty bad from the cameo standpoint.

[00:54:38] Uh, but the, at least that, that the character and the character was somewhat determinative

[00:54:45] for the plot, but it was fine.

[00:54:47] I don't know.

[00:54:47] Is this about a bad accent?

[00:54:49] Yes.

[00:54:50] A very bad accent.

[00:54:51] Very, very bad accent.

[00:54:53] Worse than Dick Van Dyke in, um, the original Mary Poppins, um, which we watched recently,

[00:54:59] uh, with, uh, with our daughter and, and she, she's very into supercalifragilistic

[00:55:04] expialidocious right now.

[00:55:06] And, uh, anyway, that said, um, I just have a lot of respect and for Martin and, um, and

[00:55:16] sure and Gomez to find this, you know, these two iconic actors from my gender, you know,

[00:55:26] for that I grew up with and, and watch their careers to find this late stage resurgence.

[00:55:35] And then somebody who's not a primarily known as a comedic actor to the, the, the chemistry

[00:55:42] between the three of them is great.

[00:55:45] And I just think they're building something that's really fun and lovely and consistent

[00:55:52] in quality, but yet innovative in the comedy style and the topics that they're, uh, you

[00:55:58] know, the, the, the setup, the mystery and the setup that they're doing, they really have

[00:56:03] nailed it.

[00:56:04] And I just appreciate everything that they're putting into it.

[00:56:09] And I don't know how long they're going to run, you know, you know, we'll, we'll see.

[00:56:13] Uh, but if they're doing, if they, if the magic that they've discovered, if they can hold

[00:56:20] onto that and keep it going, I think this is just going to be a, it's just going to keep

[00:56:23] growing.

[00:56:24] I think it's a very cool show.

[00:56:26] Nice.

[00:56:26] I got to catch up on that.

[00:56:27] I didn't even watch season three.

[00:56:28] Hmm.

[00:56:29] I still have to finish the last two episodes of the new season.

[00:56:32] That's a good reminder.

[00:56:33] Mm hmm.

[00:56:35] Well, thanks for bringing that to our attention, David.

[00:56:37] Indeed.

[00:56:38] Alicia.

[00:56:39] All right.

[00:56:40] So my, what are we on?

[00:56:41] Number eight is freer in.

[00:56:44] And I have to say, I have not, um, it probably would be higher maybe if I had finished the

[00:56:49] season.

[00:56:49] So I'm putting this in the next one above it are both ones that I am in the middle of the

[00:56:54] season, but I just am so into them.

[00:56:57] Um, this is completely, I mean, I knew people were like, oh, it's like a D and D thing, but

[00:57:04] it's a bit different.

[00:57:04] I'm like, okay.

[00:57:05] And so you go in and then you really see like the first episode just subverts your expectations

[00:57:11] so much.

[00:57:12] So minor spoiler for the first episode, but then it starts with them coming back from a

[00:57:18] journey, you know, after journey's end is, is the subtitle.

[00:57:21] And, um, then suddenly, you know, you have this character who's an elf who doesn't age and

[00:57:27] time is just like slipping by where her friends are aging and dying.

[00:57:32] And this is where it begins.

[00:57:34] And you're like, whoa, where is it going to go from here?

[00:57:36] And it's just, every episode is sort of like a meditation on humanity in a way.

[00:57:41] I don't know if you want to add anything, John.

[00:57:44] I can see why I ranked it lower than you.

[00:57:47] I liked that.

[00:57:48] She just bypassed me and went straight to you.

[00:57:50] Did you watch it?

[00:57:52] No, no, no.

[00:57:53] I've that's why you knew I didn't watch it.

[00:57:56] So you were also like shaking your head the entire time she's talking.

[00:58:01] So, uh, I think I have heard of it once.

[00:58:03] I maybe I've been trying to convince Maryland to watch it because it is essentially what

[00:58:08] if the fellowship of the ring was successful and disbanded and then Legolas like a hundred

[00:58:14] years later is like, did that mean something in my life?

[00:58:17] I'm immortal.

[00:58:18] It's like, it's like Legolas musing on his meaning in life, but this is Freer and an

[00:58:23] elvish mage trying to figure out like, what did those 10 years of journeying with my fellowship

[00:58:28] mean?

[00:58:28] Yeah.

[00:58:29] And you said you could see why I had it ranked higher.

[00:58:32] Why is that?

[00:58:32] Yes.

[00:58:33] Because I think that the last third of the season stalls out on moment.

[00:58:37] Okay.

[00:58:38] Okay.

[00:58:39] So you think that actually it would be lower if I had finished the season?

[00:58:42] I do think it would be lower.

[00:58:44] And this is why I broke your rule.

[00:58:46] You did break my rule, but it's okay.

[00:58:48] Well, you didn't break my rule.

[00:58:49] You don't have to finish it, but, um, I do think that.

[00:58:52] Is it out?

[00:58:54] It's all out.

[00:58:54] Yeah.

[00:58:55] Yeah.

[00:58:56] Then it's fair.

[00:58:57] It actually started in 2023 and finished in 2024.

[00:59:01] Yep.

[00:59:02] Yep.

[00:59:03] And, uh, look, it's, it's still really great.

[00:59:05] And that's why I wanted to mention it.

[00:59:06] Um, and I think season two has the potential to be really great too.

[00:59:10] I think they, they had something that they wanted to get through and it felt like they did a lot of exposition and set up for season two in the last third.

[00:59:19] Okay.

[00:59:19] That just the momentum of where we felt, where I felt we were going.

[00:59:23] Mm hmm.

[00:59:24] Was just really, really stalled out.

[00:59:26] So that's why I didn't rank it.

[00:59:27] Okay.

[00:59:28] Okay.

[00:59:28] So what is your number eight?

[00:59:30] Question about Freeran.

[00:59:32] Uh, yeah.

[00:59:32] Relative to Freeran is, um, has anybody watched Vox Machina's?

[00:59:37] No.

[00:59:38] Yes.

[00:59:38] I still haven't finished the season.

[00:59:40] I'm in the middle of it.

[00:59:41] I enjoy it.

[00:59:41] I enjoy it, but I just, for me, Freeran has more depth and I have friends that will disown me for admitting.

[00:59:49] Yes.

[00:59:50] I know.

[00:59:50] I have, I know people who are really into, and I think it also helps the people who have watched all.

[00:59:55] So Vox Machina is based on, um, these campaigns that you can watch online by a group called critical role.

[01:00:02] Yep.

[01:00:03] And the people who have watched all the campaigns and stuff are super into it.

[01:00:06] And I definitely intend to do that, but they're also really a lot and long.

[01:00:09] So, yeah.

[01:00:11] Cause you're watching live play D and D with professional actors, but still there's a lot of that stuff that just is like, oof, it's a slog to get through.

[01:00:19] I'm just curious because.

[01:00:21] I mean, people love it.

[01:00:21] I think it's good.

[01:00:22] It's just, it's just, um, a lot of time that you have to dedicate to doing it.

[01:00:26] Even on double speed.

[01:00:28] I'm just looking at a couple of clips online of Freeran and it seems very D and D to me, which, you know, I'm a D and D player.

[01:00:36] So I like, I'm usually, but I can see like, Oh, that's what it would be like to cast that particular spell and to fight that particular golem or, or what have you.

[01:00:44] Yeah. Well, David, there's literally an episode where they're like, we need a warrior.

[01:00:47] Hmm.

[01:00:49] Cool.

[01:00:50] Yeah.

[01:00:51] So anyway, uh, my number eight, again, I forgotten what I wrote on most of us cause I didn't cheat in a while.

[01:00:58] Uh, it was fallout.

[01:01:00] I, a pleasant surprise.

[01:01:01] I enjoyed fallout quite a bit.

[01:01:03] I went in with very low expectations as I am someone who doesn't really like the fallout games.

[01:01:08] I've played them.

[01:01:09] I I've really tried to get into them and I love the elder scrolls games, which are made by the same company, same play style kind of.

[01:01:18] There's just something about the vibe of it that I've never been like, I just don't like this play style.

[01:01:22] Oh my God.

[01:01:24] Um, and then the show comes out and it felt so fresh.

[01:01:26] It felt like such a really cool take on the universe.

[01:01:29] Mm hmm.

[01:01:30] And I felt like the world building was great.

[01:01:33] I can never remember the names of the, these actors and things.

[01:01:36] Who was the lead?

[01:01:37] Oh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Scroggins, uh, uh, Ella Purnell.

[01:01:41] Oh, her.

[01:01:42] All right.

[01:01:43] Ella Purnell.

[01:01:44] He wasn't the lead.

[01:01:45] He was not the lead.

[01:01:46] I was just, I was fishing for names.

[01:01:48] That's all.

[01:01:48] Walter Durgan.

[01:01:49] He was great too, but Ella Purnell needed to sell their money.

[01:01:53] She was like, she could have overdone the whole, like I'm goofy, you know, naive thing, but she did it just the right amount.

[01:02:02] Having her become tough while still saying okie dokie was so funny and so like totally disjunctive the best way.

[01:02:09] Yeah.

[01:02:10] I love it.

[01:02:11] Shout out for yellow jackets in terms of shows I'm anticipating for 2025.

[01:02:16] She's always slipping.

[01:02:18] And then another one.

[01:02:19] Yeah.

[01:02:21] We should be, if we had more time, I would make us at least do well, maybe we should do a one shot on yellow jackets.

[01:02:28] Anyway,

[01:02:29] I haven't, I haven't caught up deafening silence.

[01:02:32] I have, I have very little interest in that.

[01:02:34] I'm going to be honest with you.

[01:02:35] But if you want to find a cohost, then you do that.

[01:02:39] By all means, by all means.

[01:02:40] I think is, does John like, I can't remember.

[01:02:42] I know somebody out there likes one of our, John, it looks like you are in concordance with the community.

[01:02:50] Sure am.

[01:02:51] The community is right with me in number eight fallout that got 63 points, 63 points.

[01:02:59] Wait, we didn't give the number nine for the community, did we?

[01:03:03] Yeah, we did.

[01:03:04] Interview with the vampire.

[01:03:05] Oh, we did.

[01:03:05] We did.

[01:03:06] Yeah.

[01:03:07] Number nine with 63 points.

[01:03:09] Interview with the vampire had 50 points.

[01:03:11] I think that's what I didn't give is the number of points.

[01:03:13] Not that anybody probably cares at home, but I care.

[01:03:16] According to the media strategy guy or whatever his name is, I posted this on our top 10 channel

[01:03:21] on the discord.

[01:03:22] Fallout was a, for stream within the streaming ecosystem within the American market, fallout

[01:03:29] was extremely successful for a brand new property for, you know, a season one.

[01:03:36] It did extraordinarily well.

[01:03:37] I think it was his number two top, you know, and this is like data analytics, like what,

[01:03:42] what, what data that can he extract and pull out from all these different sources.

[01:03:46] Mm-hmm.

[01:03:47] And as far as he could tell that, that, that sort of the number two Bridgerton was the number

[01:03:51] one stream show apparently.

[01:03:54] But, uh, fallout was really popular for, um, in the streaming market.

[01:03:59] There's so much so that I think when, with radioactive ramblings, their downloads for their episodes

[01:04:05] were really high because there was not a lot of podcast coverage for it.

[01:04:09] Yeah.

[01:04:09] So good job guys on that, by the way.

[01:04:11] Yeah.

[01:04:11] Yeah.

[01:04:11] Fallout had the benefit of having a, a built in audience of it's a very popular game.

[01:04:17] It's just a really popular game that's been around for decades now.

[01:04:20] And, um, you know, I, I do think that when you're talking about IP crossover, I think more

[01:04:27] gamers are watching a lot of TV than book readers are watching a lot of TV.

[01:04:32] Right.

[01:04:32] And so, um, you know, overall and community levels, I know that we all read books and we

[01:04:38] all, you know, all that.

[01:04:38] Um, so I think that getting those people to turn on their TV to watch another fallout

[01:04:43] story.

[01:04:44] Plus you had Todd Howard, the head of Bethesda saying, Oh, well we're treating this as fallout

[01:04:48] five.

[01:04:49] This is just another game entry.

[01:04:50] As far as the story goes.

[01:04:52] I think that helped a lot.

[01:04:53] I really do think that helped a lot.

[01:04:56] Cool.

[01:04:56] David, give us your number seven.

[01:04:58] My number seven is true detective night country.

[01:05:04] I'm shocked.

[01:05:07] I buried this show.

[01:05:10] You say what?

[01:05:11] I said, I buried this show.

[01:05:12] Yeah, you did.

[01:05:13] And I, and that did, uh, that did factor when in, in part of my internal con monologue,

[01:05:19] uh, when I was doing this, uh, a quick side note on my process this year, you know, the

[01:05:26] last couple of years I tried to be very methodical and I've set up a, uh, a ranking system for

[01:05:30] industry score and entertainment value and tier or sort of category.

[01:05:37] And, um, you John throughout a thing that we were, we're going to like try to, um, give

[01:05:44] this year a kind of a moniker or some sort of description of like what the, what the vibe

[01:05:51] was.

[01:05:51] Yeah.

[01:05:52] Brand.

[01:05:52] Yeah.

[01:05:53] And, and so back to the note on process, I I'd been throwing titles into my list of

[01:06:01] shows and then I was looking at that just going, Oh my God.

[01:06:06] And that goes, this goes into the, the, the brand for the year is just like, this was a

[01:06:09] very chaotic year television wise for me, the way that I was reacting to television.

[01:06:15] I was like having a really hard time sifting and sorting through things and what have you.

[01:06:20] And so I just sort of collected up a whole bunch of titles, jammed them into this format

[01:06:24] and then started, you know, going through and ranking them.

[01:06:27] I really enjoyed this show, uh, on a vibe level.

[01:06:31] I liked the, the mystery.

[01:06:34] I love Jodie Foster's performance.

[01:06:37] Uh, I loved the extension of the brand.

[01:06:42] Uh, and I know, you know, towards the end, maybe, I mean, it's hard with a mystery box, you

[01:06:49] know, to, to bring everything to a conclusion in, in your set number of episodes.

[01:06:55] I, it was shaky, but credible.

[01:06:59] I thought Issa Lopez did a great job.

[01:07:02] I'm looking forward to seeing more from her.

[01:07:05] Visually the show was, uh, I just really appreciated the idea of setting it in night country as

[01:07:11] it were.

[01:07:11] So yeah, I, um, I really enjoyed it.

[01:07:15] And, uh, and it's really a lot on vibes that I, that it ranks this high.

[01:07:19] So David, I'm glad I'm genuinely glad that you ranked it.

[01:07:22] I think that it, it just was not a show for me.

[01:07:25] And I, and I hope people feel represented now.

[01:07:27] I hope people feel hurt.

[01:07:29] I will watch that one day.

[01:07:31] I promise.

[01:07:32] You know, and, and in defense of it, I loved the last episode.

[01:07:37] I thought it was other, other than the ending where she was just like, well, this is what

[01:07:41] happened and I'm going to tell you everything.

[01:07:43] Just sit down with the FBI and tell them everything.

[01:07:46] Um, I really loved like the way that it resolved, um, a very meaningful moment when everybody

[01:07:51] comes together.

[01:07:52] I don't want to spoil it.

[01:07:53] Uh, but, and it's funny cause I think that was one of the least popular moments of the

[01:07:57] season overall for people.

[01:07:58] And so that's when I knew that the show wasn't for me is that I liked the things people didn't

[01:08:02] like and I liked most of it.

[01:08:04] Um, but yeah, I think it had a lot of, I mean, Jodie Foster and Kelly Reese.

[01:08:09] Yeah.

[01:08:09] She was great.

[01:08:09] They were both really great.

[01:08:11] I thought that their, their back and forth was the best part about the show.

[01:08:14] Mm hmm.

[01:08:15] Yeah.

[01:08:15] I just wish the show had a little bit stronger writing.

[01:08:18] I think that's really what it was for me.

[01:08:19] And I, I, I, I, for me, a show lives or dies on the writing.

[01:08:23] I, I'm a, I'm a sucker for this genre to the, the noir and the hard bit.

[01:08:28] Um, and I thought Jodie Foster's hard bitten was perfect.

[01:08:33] It's actually interesting because this is both noir and hard bitten because she's hard

[01:08:37] bitten and Kelly Reese is noir in the sense of discovering something, you know, suddenly

[01:08:43] encountering a world that's always been there, but the protagonist is unaware of and suddenly

[01:08:49] falling into this.

[01:08:50] I thought I knew the rules.

[01:08:51] Now I don't.

[01:08:53] Yeah.

[01:08:53] So I thought that it was an interesting mix of, of genre and then bringing in the sort

[01:08:56] of cosmic horror stuff, uh, as well.

[01:08:59] I liked it.

[01:09:00] So.

[01:09:01] Yeah.

[01:09:01] Alicia, what's your, uh, number seven?

[01:09:03] My number seven.

[01:09:04] So this is the other one that I haven't finished because I just started it very, very recently,

[01:09:09] like a sort of the panic last minute, like, ah, the shows that I wanted to watch and didn't,

[01:09:14] and I should do it right now.

[01:09:15] So it's Mr.

[01:09:16] And Mrs.

[01:09:16] Smith.

[01:09:17] And I just.

[01:09:18] For a not finished show.

[01:09:20] Just immediate.

[01:09:21] Well, I'm like halfway through and just immediately captivated from, you know, where I, you know,

[01:09:26] I've been supposed to be watching Christmas movies and stuff.

[01:09:30] Um, but I keep sneaking in episodes about it, of it because I keep thinking about it and

[01:09:35] just the, you know, everything that you said, David, when you talked about it, but also,

[01:09:40] um, I, I love both of the actors, my earth screen and, um, and Donald Glover.

[01:09:46] I almost said Danny.

[01:09:48] Oh yeah.

[01:09:48] I was wondering, I was like, wait, is it Danny or Donald?

[01:09:51] I had it stuck in my head for me saying it, but I love Donald Glover in general from

[01:09:54] like, you know, community and, and his music and, um, can't wait for Lando.

[01:10:00] But anyway, yeah, this just the specificity of, of human intricacies.

[01:10:07] This is sort of, I realized what I'm drawn to, especially in, you know, I love good character,

[01:10:12] rich character writing like that.

[01:10:14] And just the complexity of their situation and the action is almost incidental, but then

[01:10:21] it becomes more exciting that way because like they are in a situation that seems normal.

[01:10:26] And then suddenly you're like, oh, yes.

[01:10:28] I like it.

[01:10:29] It's so good.

[01:10:30] Mm-hmm.

[01:10:31] It's so good that way.

[01:10:33] And when they do it internationally as well, you're just like, wait a minute.

[01:10:36] What?

[01:10:37] Where are we?

[01:10:37] What's going on?

[01:10:39] It's so good.

[01:10:41] And what about you, John?

[01:10:43] I have to, I, again, I don't remember any of these.

[01:10:45] Mr. and Mrs. Smith actually.

[01:10:47] Hey!

[01:10:47] Hey!

[01:10:48] Look at that.

[01:10:48] That's funny.

[01:10:49] I feel bad for ranking it so low.

[01:10:53] I did genuinely, um, uh, uh, what finished the whole thing and I finished it late.

[01:11:00] I finished it after David, you did the one shot with Ron.

[01:11:03] Yep.

[01:11:04] That was a fun podcast.

[01:11:05] Really.

[01:11:06] And I did listen to it afterwards.

[01:11:07] Excellent podcast.

[01:11:08] But it was like Alicia was saying, it's really unique.

[01:11:12] It feels like it touches on so many like true relationship stereotypes, tropes, uh, real experiences

[01:11:21] while also being like a ridiculous spy thriller.

[01:11:24] Mm-hmm.

[01:11:25] And that's so impressive.

[01:11:26] I was just so impressed with it.

[01:11:27] And what's impressive is it takes a movie that was so unserious and so like memed out.

[01:11:33] Mm-hmm.

[01:11:34] And we all had no expectations for this because of it.

[01:11:37] And it just takes that brand.

[01:11:40] It takes that label.

[01:11:41] It takes kind of the premise and it turns it into a real in-depth character drama and

[01:11:46] comedy too.

[01:11:47] Like it's, it's funny too.

[01:11:48] Yeah.

[01:11:48] I'm often like laughing out loud as they're like shooting people and going through these

[01:11:53] like crazy high risk things.

[01:11:56] Really, really funny show and really beautiful ending and everything.

[01:12:00] I, I enjoyed it front to back.

[01:12:03] There was not a bad episode in it.

[01:12:05] I love the ending.

[01:12:08] I want to touch on that really quickly, but I think it was interesting listening to people,

[01:12:14] you know, in the media, you know, other reviewers and other podcasts and stuff relate to the show

[01:12:19] is like, oh, you know, the original movie with Pitt and Julie.

[01:12:24] I'm like, this has, this, this has, and I didn't, I am not a fan of that movie.

[01:12:28] And so when I was coming to this, I was coming to this because of Glover.

[01:12:32] Um, and to, it just seemed so incongruous to compare this to it's a, you know, progenitor

[01:12:40] in title, uh, other than the basic setup of a, of a man, woman, assassin team kind of thing.

[01:12:45] So, uh, it's, it's hard to compare it for me, but I love the ending.

[01:12:51] I just absolutely adore the ambiguity of the ending.

[01:12:54] It's so good.

[01:12:55] No spoilers.

[01:12:56] Do you think they're going to do a season two?

[01:12:58] I, I, I, there is chatter about it and, and it rolling into a sort of anthological, can

[01:13:03] you say that anthology style thing where, where you would have different protagonists

[01:13:07] and then that would give opportunity for other characters to roll back in at key moments to

[01:13:13] give you that real Zao and wow factor.

[01:13:16] So fingers crossed.

[01:13:17] My first gut instinct with that is I don't want them to, but then I'm like, but I didn't

[01:13:23] want them to do this and this was amazing.

[01:13:25] So maybe I should just trust the process.

[01:13:27] Yeah.

[01:13:27] Trust Glover.

[01:13:28] Yeah.

[01:13:28] Especially if it's an anthology that gives them room to do different things.

[01:13:33] Yep.

[01:13:34] Keep experimenting with the form.

[01:13:36] Right.

[01:13:37] Well, let's hear from the community here.

[01:13:38] We've got Pachinko coming in with 65 points, only two points ahead of fallout.

[01:13:45] And, uh, but it's also the biggest miss.

[01:13:49] So you've got to imagine.

[01:13:50] That's interesting.

[01:13:51] If more people were able to watch it, it would be higher.

[01:13:52] Yeah.

[01:13:53] That's true.

[01:13:54] That's true.

[01:13:54] Probably would have done better.

[01:13:55] Hey, when you finally get around to watching it, dear listener, we have three, three podcasts.

[01:14:04] Breaking down the first two seasons and you can listen to the first one after season

[01:14:08] one because that's only about season one.

[01:14:10] And then the second, the second and third are about season two.

[01:14:13] And then with Nate's insights into the historicity of it and how the show runners folded in the

[01:14:19] history so seamlessly into the storyline so that when you then uncover that, you're like,

[01:14:25] Whoa, it's chef's kiss.

[01:14:28] Really great stuff.

[01:14:29] Very nice.

[01:14:30] David, give us your number six.

[01:14:32] Me number six is I'm conflicted about my number six.

[01:14:39] I struggled with this.

[01:14:40] I kind of couldn't remember where or what, like what my feelings were during the season.

[01:14:45] It's house of the dragon.

[01:14:46] Um, if somebody wanted to like argue with me and, and, you know, uh, uh, shake me out of my senses a little bit relative, especially what you said, John.

[01:14:57] But at the same time, I can't not, not rank it in some ways because again, from an industry standpoint, it's an important show.

[01:15:05] It's an important IP.

[01:15:06] I IP the acting, you know, uh, the, the, uh, all of the performances that were delivered were so good in, in so many cases.

[01:15:20] And, um, yeah, I don't know.

[01:15:23] I, I guess it's my weakest, like, Oh, where does this go?

[01:15:26] Even though it's got to go on here somewhere.

[01:15:28] Uh, it's still a prestige drama.

[01:15:30] It's still a gorgeous show.

[01:15:32] It's still tons of production value.

[01:15:33] That is very, very, very, very good.

[01:15:37] And, uh, I have to give a lot of credit to a lot of great actors, uh, who really delivered some potent and powerful performances.

[01:15:45] So I guess maybe that's where it ranks.

[01:15:47] It was at times maybe a little, it was an, a little bit of an effort to watch maybe at times.

[01:15:54] So enjoyment factor might've been low, but, um, from an industry standpoint, it still ranks very high in its aggregate.

[01:16:02] I hear you.

[01:16:03] And I think you care more about the industry stuff than I do for me.

[01:16:06] I'm like, I'm watching this to have fun.

[01:16:08] Am I having fun?

[01:16:09] No, I'm not in the last couple of episodes, not on the list.

[01:16:13] That I think that's what it was.

[01:16:14] It's like, I just remember the last couple of weeks, it felt like a chore to like prep for the podcast and whatnot.

[01:16:19] And I didn't, and I never felt like that with rings of power or anything like that.

[01:16:23] So, and that was rings of power was more work to prep.

[01:16:27] So I, again, like I, I think that's where it had to fall off my list, but you're right.

[01:16:32] A plus plus on production.

[01:16:34] Like the, remember all like the picturesque screenshots we got.

[01:16:38] Yeah.

[01:16:39] Like, you know, somebody standing in front of a doorway and you just see everything framed like a painting.

[01:16:43] Amazing.

[01:16:44] So I do want to shout that out.

[01:16:46] When you look at, uh, Emma Darcy's performance or Reesey Fawn's performances, just exceptional, right?

[01:16:53] Uh, I, we got a little Patty Constantine, I think back in, in this one.

[01:16:56] Oh yeah.

[01:16:56] He was great in season one.

[01:16:58] Patty Zompsedine.

[01:16:59] Yeah.

[01:17:00] Uh, Millie, Matt, you know, uh, just, just sort of really potent, potent acting.

[01:17:08] So.

[01:17:10] Hmm.

[01:17:11] That's it.

[01:17:11] Number six.

[01:17:12] Alicia.

[01:17:13] Okay.

[01:17:14] My number six is the penguin, which was just.

[01:17:17] Wow.

[01:17:17] So low.

[01:17:18] You think that's so low?

[01:17:20] Well, yeah.

[01:17:20] Well, you got some other things in there that are going to be much higher.

[01:17:23] So it makes sense.

[01:17:24] It makes sense.

[01:17:24] I mean, yeah, the, I guess the reason why it's slightly less, I was going to say because

[01:17:30] it's so dark, but then I have some other, some rather dark things, but there was, it

[01:17:34] wasn't as humorous as some of the others.

[01:17:36] And I do enjoy, I enjoy dark humor the most.

[01:17:39] So that tends to get up.

[01:17:41] Um, but it was just, yeah, the, the writing, obviously the acting just, uh, completely forgot

[01:17:48] most of the time that it was Colin Farrell.

[01:17:51] Um, Kristen Malati was the real revelation.

[01:17:54] Yeah.

[01:17:54] She was, she was the highlight.

[01:17:56] Yeah.

[01:17:57] She, I'm surprised she didn't get like more recognition, um, at some of the awards that

[01:18:03] are being called out now.

[01:18:04] But anyway, uh, yeah, it was just an absolutely superlative show.

[01:18:07] And I think probably it sounds like David has it ranked higher.

[01:18:10] So he's about it some more.

[01:18:13] Anybody want to take a guess where John has it ranked in the top three?

[01:18:17] I know for sure.

[01:18:19] Yeah, for sure.

[01:18:20] Yeah, that's true.

[01:18:21] We do know.

[01:18:21] Based on formatting, it's in the top three.

[01:18:23] Well, yeah, but I, I just know in general.

[01:18:26] Yeah.

[01:18:26] I think his top three is includes this Agatha and I guess I should be able to guess the

[01:18:30] other.

[01:18:31] Anyway, no, we'll let him say.

[01:18:33] Yep.

[01:18:33] Yep.

[01:18:34] I had a lovely conversation with him about his top three.

[01:18:37] So.

[01:18:37] And thank you for filling in.

[01:18:38] I was supposed to do all the top three conversations and my voice decided it was

[01:18:42] dead for a few days.

[01:18:43] Well, I'm not going to let you get away with, uh, doing it all next year.

[01:18:47] I had a good time talking with everybody.

[01:18:49] Fair enough.

[01:18:50] Yeah.

[01:18:50] Fair enough.

[01:18:50] One of my favorite things to do is to engage with our affiliates.

[01:18:55] Have a little amuse-bouche, you know?

[01:18:56] Yes.

[01:18:57] Yeah.

[01:18:58] All right.

[01:18:59] Mine.

[01:19:00] Unless you want to say anything else, Alicia?

[01:19:02] Uh, no, I think we'll, we'll be talking about the penguin more in a bit.

[01:19:05] I'm sure.

[01:19:06] I think we will.

[01:19:07] Mine is Fargo.

[01:19:07] I didn't want to let this one go.

[01:19:09] This is one of those that started in 2023 and ended in 2024.

[01:19:14] I thought season five was excellent.

[01:19:15] I didn't watch any Fargo before this.

[01:19:18] And, uh, it really subverted my expectations in the best way with that ending.

[01:19:23] Uh, if you'll recall, there was, there was a whole thing where we thought there was going

[01:19:27] to be something super violent and it was a very different ending than it was leading

[01:19:33] to.

[01:19:34] Mm-hmm .

[01:19:35] And that's the kind of subverting expectations I want.

[01:19:38] Right?

[01:19:38] I always say like, don't subvert them only.

[01:19:41] You have to exceed them too.

[01:19:42] Mm.

[01:19:43] And that show exceeded it.

[01:19:45] And, uh, uh, Juno, what's her name?

[01:19:48] Uh, yeah.

[01:19:49] Juno Temple.

[01:19:50] Yeah.

[01:19:51] Amazing performance the whole way.

[01:19:53] Jon Hamm, an excellent villain and Munch.

[01:19:55] Oh, Munch.

[01:19:56] What a memeable guy that we just love.

[01:19:59] You know what?

[01:20:00] I forgot about this and this is also my biggest misses list.

[01:20:06] She's adding it to her list now.

[01:20:08] The list is like a CVS receipt at this point.

[01:20:13] I, uh, am glad that you put it on the list, Jon.

[01:20:16] I'm glad to see it up there.

[01:20:18] I didn't include, cause I think I included it in my 23 list.

[01:20:22] Oh, okay.

[01:20:23] Uh, site unseen, you know, uh, uh, finale unseen.

[01:20:26] Uh, so I'm glad.

[01:20:27] And I saw it a bunch on the community surveys if I'm correct.

[01:20:32] Yeah.

[01:20:32] I think it had, uh, I can tell you how many points it got.

[01:20:35] It's not on their top 10.

[01:20:36] No, but it, it got some acknowledgement.

[01:20:38] So I'm glad that you, you put it there.

[01:20:41] And, uh, I think.

[01:20:43] It got to 15.

[01:20:43] It got, it got at number 15 on the community ranking.

[01:20:46] I think it deserves.

[01:20:49] Uh, yeah, I just, it would have been on this list if I hadn't been thinking about the, which, you know, cause I don't think we had, uh, yeah.

[01:20:57] Yeah.

[01:20:57] The whole question of does it start or does it end?

[01:21:00] And like, where does it, you know, where do we fit it in?

[01:21:02] So I'm glad you covered it.

[01:21:04] And we had a really great podcast.

[01:21:05] We did a one shot about it.

[01:21:06] Yeah.

[01:21:07] Yeah.

[01:21:07] We did two shot on it.

[01:21:09] Yeah.

[01:21:11] All right.

[01:21:12] The community says it's the bear, the bear number six.

[01:21:15] Did you ever finish it?

[01:21:17] John?

[01:21:17] I watched episode one.

[01:21:19] Wow.

[01:21:20] Of the new season.

[01:21:22] Of the new season.

[01:21:23] Okay.

[01:21:24] I'm halfway through the new season.

[01:21:25] I haven't finished it yet either.

[01:21:27] It is a radically different show in some radically different.

[01:21:33] Is that, can I say that?

[01:21:34] Is that too much?

[01:21:35] It's different.

[01:21:36] This season is very different than the previous two seasons.

[01:21:40] And in many ways, it's more of a, uh, I hate to use this phrase, a tone poem.

[01:21:45] Um, but I don't know how else to describe it.

[01:21:48] There's just much more vibe stuff going on as opposed to dramatic advancement of story and, and character.

[01:21:59] And in some ways it, it felt, um, it meandered a little bit for me.

[01:22:04] Um, and that's why I didn't make the top 10.

[01:22:08] It just didn't have the punch that season two.

[01:22:10] And I don't know if that's because it failed.

[01:22:12] It set its own bar so high that it couldn't get over it.

[01:22:16] Um, but not only did it not go over it, it didn't, it almost wasn't playing the same game as episodes or seasons one and two.

[01:22:23] So, uh, don't expect fishes.

[01:22:26] Don't expect, um, the crazy highs and lows and, and super energetic stuff.

[01:22:33] There is one episode that's like that, but then the rest of the season, it's very different.

[01:22:37] It's very, I was glad, I was glad after episode two, that it backs off the constant stress factor because that was, I was finding that wearing.

[01:22:47] Um, and I do think that, um, there, there are like, there are some, I really loved the first episode and I think, what was it?

[01:22:57] Like maybe fourth episode or something was another one.

[01:22:59] I really liked it.

[01:22:59] Like there were moments that I am really into it and I'm enjoying watching it.

[01:23:03] It's just keeps getting shoved down under all this other stuff.

[01:23:07] Yeah.

[01:23:10] Right.

[01:23:11] All right.

[01:23:11] I think we're up to number five.

[01:23:15] All right.

[01:23:15] Top five.

[01:23:17] Pachinko is my number five season, Pachinko season two.

[01:23:20] Uh, it was a late fit for me in terms of, of getting it in.

[01:23:26] I had a weird little window where I was able to, to binge it.

[01:23:29] I, we were, what were we covering rings of power when it was airing concurrently?

[01:23:33] So yeah.

[01:23:34] Yeah.

[01:23:34] And I just didn't have the emotional bandwidth to handle, uh, it.

[01:23:38] And in some ways I feel a little bit cheated.

[01:23:42] Uh, I've cheated myself because I, I, I binged it.

[01:23:47] And so, you know, binging, you, you don't pick up details in the same ways.

[01:23:50] Um, it certainly could have been a short form podcast for us to have covered if we had had the bandwidth for it.

[01:23:58] Cause there's so much episode to episode and I really would have liked to watch it week to week, but yeah, feasibility, uh, was, was not there.

[01:24:06] But we've already said a bunch about it and I'll just, uh, re highlight the fact that the historicity is amazing.

[01:24:14] The actors, the casting is so good.

[01:24:17] The main character, the, um, the fact that the character is played by different actors over the different time periods, because it is this incredible weave of storytelling across time.

[01:24:31] And you don't always understand how things connect or why they connect, but they will cut and jump time sequences.

[01:24:39] And there are, sometimes there are direct and overt reasons to connect things.

[01:24:44] And then other times you don't know what or why they connected to a couple of scenes.

[01:24:48] And then it unfolds later or even unfolds in another season.

[01:24:52] So from a craftsmanship standpoint, this thing is exquisite, is so faceted and so intricate and so intricately built.

[01:25:01] Uh, it's, it's amazing.

[01:25:03] And, and then again, the acting is phenomenal, deeply, deeply soulful.

[01:25:08] And I'm just a sucker for a lot of the stuff that they're throwing at us.

[01:25:11] It's true. You know, people struggling with shame and transfer and then going through some sort of transformation, people persevering and enduring, uh, um, deep family connections, heartfelt drama, uh, just good.

[01:25:26] It's just across the board.

[01:25:28] It lights, it lights me up everywhere.

[01:25:29] So go watch it.

[01:25:31] If you have not.

[01:25:32] Very nice.

[01:25:33] Very nice.

[01:25:34] I have to watch it.

[01:25:35] Alicia, what's your, uh, top five?

[01:25:37] Uh, so number five.

[01:25:40] And yeah, I can't believe that this is so low, but still it's top five, the acolyte.

[01:25:45] And for me, the acolyte is just peak star Wars.

[01:25:49] Like obviously from, I had so much fun putting together the podcast from that, from the lower perspective, obviously, because this has mined the legends lore.

[01:25:58] Like, you know, we've rarely seen in Canon before and yes, the new Disney Canon, but that's Canon.

[01:26:04] Um, and I, you know, you brought up Plagueis, um, that we saw.

[01:26:09] We saw the, we saw Cortosis, the shorting out of just, ah, the lightsaber fights are so fricking cool.

[01:26:17] Yeah.

[01:26:18] Like all of them were amazing.

[01:26:20] I loved the characters.

[01:26:21] I loved the character of Kymer, you know, they got me falling for the bad boy again.

[01:26:26] Um, I, I loved also, you know, we got a space witches.

[01:26:32] Um, I really want to know more about that coven.

[01:26:37] I want to know more about, you know, these locations introduced like Brendock.

[01:26:43] Um, I want to know more about, I mean, obviously, yes, we have the hybrid public novels and we have some continuations going, but I will be sitting here holding my breath, waiting for season two.

[01:26:55] Um, someday it's gonna, they're going to have to continue this, the story of this at some point.

[01:27:00] And you know, this one, the acolyte is one that keeps showing up on lists about at the top of lists of where people are saying the shows that the most shocking and upsetting cancellations basically.

[01:27:12] So there is still a lot of support.

[01:27:16] Um, a lot of people who want more of this and I do think someday we're going to get it.

[01:27:21] Uh, hopefully they don't wait too long, uh, because I will be turning blue in the face.

[01:27:28] And the only reason it's not higher is just the four shows on top of it, I think are more perfect.

[01:27:33] If that makes sense.

[01:27:34] Yeah.

[01:27:35] It was not a flawless show.

[01:27:36] It was really excellent though.

[01:27:38] And, uh, I'm glad that I'm glad to see it so high on your list.

[01:27:42] I was, I'm not shocked either.

[01:27:44] No.

[01:27:46] I am not shocked for the rest.

[01:27:48] What's your number five?

[01:27:49] My number five.

[01:27:50] Again, I don't remember what I put in this.

[01:27:53] The rings of power.

[01:27:54] Oh, nice.

[01:27:55] I, uh, I really thought that this was a great comeback story.

[01:27:58] This was, this was excellent compared to season one, especially.

[01:28:03] Yeah.

[01:28:03] I did.

[01:28:04] I did yell about Grand Elf a little bit at the end, but, um, you know, the finale overall worked

[01:28:12] for me.

[01:28:12] It was just a few little like cringy moments.

[01:28:15] And that is why it's not higher on this list, but it's also why it's not lower on this

[01:28:18] list is that they did tie up everything nicely.

[01:28:21] They did set us up for an amazing season three.

[01:28:24] Tom Bombadil, man, did that make me go in with low expectations and man, did they nail

[01:28:30] it?

[01:28:30] And I'm furious at them for nailing it because we could have had this in Peter Jackson.

[01:28:35] We didn't.

[01:28:36] And so I, I just, I can't believe how much better this season was than season one.

[01:28:42] I actually felt like people like Gil Gallad had a personality where they really didn't

[01:28:46] in season one.

[01:28:47] Uh, Ben Daniels.

[01:28:49] I'm going to, I'm going to nominate him for, you know, character actor of the year between

[01:28:53] this and, and interview with the vampire.

[01:28:57] Um, I know foundation was last year, but he was really great in foundation.

[01:29:01] Uh, so yeah, yeah, I'm just, I'm just, I could gush about rings of power.

[01:29:07] It was for a, for this Tolkien nerd.

[01:29:09] They really brought it to life in a way that I haven't seen since the PJ movies.

[01:29:13] Okay.

[01:29:14] Rory Kinnear walked a very fine line.

[01:29:16] Yes.

[01:29:16] Very fine.

[01:29:17] And I thought he incredibly pulled it off in that there's a, there's a one particular

[01:29:24] painting of Tom Bombadil, you know, with the hat and the boots and he's kicking up a

[01:29:28] thing.

[01:29:28] And I, and it's kind of the iconic thing that set the, maybe what we at writ large think

[01:29:36] about Tom Bombadil, which is a goofball.

[01:29:39] And I, and I don't think that, I think the nuance that Kinnear brought is that he's not

[01:29:44] a goofball.

[01:29:45] He's, you know, he's irreverent because he's such a, you know, powerful character.

[01:29:52] He's doesn't fear a lot of things.

[01:29:53] You know, he's got this different vibe to him and to pull that off was, uh, was really

[01:29:59] a Bravo, a well done moment.

[01:30:03] Yeah.

[01:30:04] It's, he's, he's Elvis, right?

[01:30:06] He, he is matter of fact in everything.

[01:30:08] And I think that feels strange to people because he's so matter of fact, you know, when the,

[01:30:12] when the stranger takes the, the, uh, branch from the tree and he goes, well, why didn't

[01:30:17] you ask him?

[01:30:18] Like it's, he's just so matter of fact with things and that feels alien to us.

[01:30:23] And, and so, yeah, anyway, but it's not a raise the power podcast.

[01:30:26] Go listen to like the million podcasts we did on it.

[01:30:28] Uh, I just love the show.

[01:30:30] Uh, number five for the community was Agatha all along, which is our first triple digit vote

[01:30:36] that had a hundred points.

[01:30:38] Woohoo.

[01:30:39] We're going to talk more about that.

[01:30:40] I'm sure.

[01:30:41] Yeah.

[01:30:42] Down to the last four.

[01:30:44] We've got David's number four.

[01:30:47] So one of these late entry, dark horse, uh, not a lot of pre publicity and haven't finished

[01:30:57] it yet, but not unlike Fargo, I am going finale unseen and ranking it at my number four.

[01:31:07] Say nothing.

[01:31:09] This is an extraordinary drama about the troubles in Northern Ireland about it's, I I'm not sure

[01:31:19] the historicity of it.

[01:31:20] I'm used, I've used that word like three times in this, this podcast.

[01:31:23] The, uh, as far as I can tell that there is, uh, uh, uh, inspired by or based upon a real

[01:31:30] life story stuff, it is told slightly out of time as well, where there's sort of a, not

[01:31:41] a, it's still in the past, but not in the far, far past of primary characters retelling

[01:31:47] what happened during that time.

[01:31:49] And then we get the dramatization of that.

[01:31:52] It's about a pair of sisters who are growing up in Belfast during the troubles and who get

[01:31:58] involved with the Irish Republican army.

[01:32:00] Jerry Adams plays a, the character Jerry Adams is, is a prominent in this as well.

[01:32:06] And it's an extraordinary character drama of watching these two sisters navigate this incredibly

[01:32:13] dangerous and complex landscape.

[01:32:16] And at the same time, there's like, if the, if it's like 75% really difficult, dramatic things

[01:32:24] to watch as a two communities who have a lot of anger and vitriol towards each other.

[01:32:32] Uh, and, and just, and then all, you know, this war, this like this very low level war going

[01:32:38] on.

[01:32:38] And then there's this weird 25% of it where the show is hilarious.

[01:32:42] It's funny.

[01:32:43] It's irreverent.

[01:32:45] And it makes the rest of it palatable.

[01:32:47] The mixture, it's just enough, you know, whipped cream to, you know, pie filling or, you know,

[01:32:52] however you want to do that analogy, beautifully shot, uh, superbly acted, superbly written.

[01:33:00] An absolute, if it would be higher, if I had finished it, uh, and assuming that the finale

[01:33:05] is, uh, uh, you know, lands, but again, it's just one of these things where like, where did

[01:33:10] this come from?

[01:33:11] Where was the publicity?

[01:33:12] Why is it coming out so late?

[01:33:14] Uh, it's just, uh, it's a, one of these late season heaters, uh, and it is extraordinary.

[01:33:20] Okay.

[01:33:21] There's been a lot of late shows this year, which is very different than most years.

[01:33:25] Usually people are very scared to put things out around the holidays.

[01:33:28] I don't know what changed.

[01:33:30] Yeah.

[01:33:30] Cause you mentioned Lee Jung Jae earlier, and I just wanted to shout out that apparently a

[01:33:33] new squid games came out.

[01:33:35] Yeah.

[01:33:36] Yeah.

[01:33:36] I obviously haven't even watched that because it's just, I mean, it's not that they, they

[01:33:41] did like a whole podcast set up and stuff, but it's just, why is there so much competing

[01:33:45] for my attention in December of all months?

[01:33:48] And there was a squid games live action thing where they actually did it like a reality.

[01:33:55] Yeah.

[01:33:55] Not like a scripted drama, but like actual, a couple different, a couple different versions

[01:34:01] of that.

[01:34:01] Um, but yeah, those, those were, yeah.

[01:34:04] But I just can't believe they're unceremoniously after squid games, uh, season one fanfare.

[01:34:09] Like, why are they just dropping it in December?

[01:34:12] Why are, is there something like, was there some meeting in the industry where they're like

[01:34:17] December is a new hot month where people are watching stuff and now there's just too

[01:34:20] much.

[01:34:21] I wonder if it's just that they're an old production overload and they're like, well, nobody ever

[01:34:25] drops anything in December.

[01:34:26] Let's schedule this for them.

[01:34:28] There was a lot of conversation at the beginning of the year prior to the strike about, uh,

[01:34:33] volume.

[01:34:35] And now that the quote unquote streaming wars are settling down and there's some stability

[01:34:39] into, you know, and people are figuring out their, the mechanics that they need to, you

[01:34:45] know, figure out what, how the market is working and to match that, that, uh, they, um, there's

[01:34:53] a, there, there was an overabundance of production and now they're looking at, well, how do we pair

[01:34:59] that back down?

[01:34:59] And so I think we might've just ended up with this backlog of stuff, like a big dam

[01:35:04] of, of content and they're, they're just kind of releasing it so that they can clear the

[01:35:09] decks a little bit.

[01:35:10] I don't know.

[01:35:11] That's just complete conjecture.

[01:35:13] Who knows?

[01:35:14] Sorry for the Disney sound, but I just added say anything to my watch list or say nothing.

[01:35:21] Yes.

[01:35:21] I know.

[01:35:21] I kept doing that too.

[01:35:22] Say anything is just like, wait, ah, but say nothing refers to like keeping mum when you're

[01:35:27] being interrogated by the authorities.

[01:35:29] So, all right.

[01:35:31] Alicia, what's your, uh, number four?

[01:35:33] My number four is Shogun.

[01:35:37] So, okay.

[01:35:39] I mean, yeah, I don't think I need to justify being this high on the list.

[01:35:42] The only reason it's not higher is because there were some really, there's so many other

[01:35:45] good things.

[01:35:46] There's some really excellent things that came out this year.

[01:35:48] Um, and because this one pretended that people were speaking, uh, Portuguese and Dutch when

[01:35:55] they're speaking English.

[01:35:55] No, I'm just kidding.

[01:35:58] Listen, I, I'm sorry.

[01:35:59] Even though they nailed the historic Japanese, right?

[01:36:03] Right.

[01:36:03] No, they did.

[01:36:04] Yeah.

[01:36:04] They nailed the Japanese side.

[01:36:06] They nailed the Japanese side.

[01:36:07] Um, but no, in all seriousness, obviously this was, I was composing poetry to Marco at the

[01:36:13] end.

[01:36:13] Like I was all in on this show.

[01:36:15] I continue to think about it.

[01:36:17] Um, I, something about the season two, maybe dulled a little bit of the, I I'm, I'm worried

[01:36:24] about the season two, but obviously I'm on board and I assume we'll be covering that.

[01:36:29] Oh yeah.

[01:36:30] You got to cover it.

[01:36:31] I, I hope that it's good.

[01:36:33] I hope that it's good.

[01:36:34] And I'll be honest.

[01:36:36] Yeah.

[01:36:37] James Clavel was the source material for this, but some of the best stuff was not at all in

[01:36:42] the novel.

[01:36:42] No, I credit the team who made this the right.

[01:36:45] Yeah.

[01:36:45] So I'm okay with them going off script because I, I think James Clavel is kind of ancillary

[01:36:51] to the success of the show, to be honest with you.

[01:36:54] No, it's not about going off script.

[01:36:56] It's just that it had the perfect ending.

[01:36:58] And now a lot of the characters that we loved are gone and it just feels like it was, it was

[01:37:03] perfect and complete.

[01:37:04] And now they're opening it up to feeling, I don't know, like they, they're open.

[01:37:12] Yeah.

[01:37:13] Oh, now I get to have my earworm back of you, Alicia saying the honor of women.

[01:37:18] The honor of women.

[01:37:19] That was an earworm in my head for like a week after you shouted that on the podcast.

[01:37:24] Every time I thought about the show.

[01:37:27] So I'm the first one to mention Shogun.

[01:37:29] So I assume that there will be more discussion of it.

[01:37:31] There will be more discussion of it.

[01:37:33] What's your number four?

[01:37:36] John.

[01:37:36] Who knows?

[01:37:37] The penguin.

[01:37:38] Wow.

[01:37:39] Low again.

[01:37:40] Low.

[01:37:40] Oh, come on.

[01:37:43] It's number four.

[01:37:45] As they say on top chef, you get sent home for cooking an excellent meal, right?

[01:37:50] It's, it's harder and harder to get to that number one spot.

[01:37:53] Yeah.

[01:37:54] Yeah.

[01:37:54] And the penguin, I mean, you know, I could do without the fat suits.

[01:37:58] I don't love people using fat suits.

[01:38:00] We don't have to do that.

[01:38:02] Uh, we don't have to demonize people with heavier body types.

[01:38:04] You know, it's, it's really a thing.

[01:38:06] I, I encourage you both to look up a literature on this.

[01:38:10] People are, are, are very anti fat suits these days.

[01:38:14] And I agree with that, but Colin Farrell did the performance of his lifetime.

[01:38:19] And I think he did an incredible job and I don't blame him for the fat suit.

[01:38:25] Um, and Christian, but I also think, yeah, he couldn't have done it without it.

[01:38:29] So I think he could have, I don't think the penguin needed.

[01:38:31] Are you, is your fat suit?

[01:38:33] Like this is a, uh, serious.

[01:38:36] Are you, are you being a little tongue in cheek or are you being quite honest?

[01:38:38] No, I think that we should stop using fat suits.

[01:38:40] I think we should either cast fat people and I'm using that as a preferred term of people

[01:38:43] who are in that activism community.

[01:38:46] Um, I think we should either cast people who, who consider themselves fat or we should rewrite

[01:38:52] the character so that the character doesn't have to be fat.

[01:38:55] Hmm.

[01:38:56] Interesting.

[01:38:56] Okay.

[01:38:57] That's what I think.

[01:38:58] Okay.

[01:38:58] You know, we can do a whole other podcast about deconstructing the, that, that statement,

[01:39:03] but I think, I think in a good way, like in a, in a good way, I'm not arguing with you.

[01:39:07] In general, I agree, but I would point to this as like, and I'm, I'm never going to be

[01:39:12] absolute about, well, not about most things.

[01:39:14] So obviously, um, there are, there are points, but, um, I, but yeah, I, I think that this

[01:39:21] is one example that shows where it was well done, well used.

[01:39:26] Um, I think Colin Farrell could not have played the part.

[01:39:29] He would have been too recognizable if he were not completely transformed.

[01:39:32] And it, that also has a lot to do with the, um, probably even more to do with the facial

[01:39:37] makeup.

[01:39:38] I think more to do with facial makeup.

[01:39:40] Also, I don't even know Colin Farrell from anything else.

[01:39:43] What?

[01:39:43] I don't, I mean, come on, that's a you thing.

[01:39:47] No, that's very much a you thing.

[01:39:50] All right.

[01:39:51] Well, anyway, I don't want to get hung up on the fat suit thing because I, I think that

[01:39:55] the performances from him and Kristen Milioti were incredible.

[01:39:58] I think I said on our, on our penguin wrap up podcast that I think Milioti has been overlooked

[01:40:04] for years.

[01:40:05] I think she was amazing in how I met your mother.

[01:40:07] She did a, an episode of 30 rock.

[01:40:08] She was amazing in everything I've seen her in.

[01:40:11] She has given 110% to, and she has committed to the bit.

[01:40:14] And this is absolutely hilarious.

[01:40:16] I still will always remember her 30 rocks shouting.

[01:40:18] Like Liz Lemon is a Judas to all women.

[01:40:22] I mean, just amazing delivery of any line that she's given.

[01:40:26] And the way that she does this accent that should sound silly, but absolutely doesn't

[01:40:31] sounds like it's genuine from her and is able to deliver these serious lines while affecting

[01:40:36] her voice so much.

[01:40:37] The way that she performed in the asylum scenes.

[01:40:40] I just, absolutely incredible.

[01:40:43] The tragedy of Vic will continue to be one that haunts me for the rest of my life.

[01:40:47] Yeah.

[01:40:47] And, uh, you know, I don't want to spoil everything entirely, but it's just amazing.

[01:40:53] I can't believe they pulled off a Batman story without Batman.

[01:40:56] Yeah.

[01:40:57] Yeah.

[01:40:58] Agreed.

[01:41:01] Anyway, it seems the community agrees with you as well.

[01:41:04] I know.

[01:41:04] I swear I didn't cheat.

[01:41:05] I wrote this before I tallied the community rankings.

[01:41:08] I think you win the, in most concordance with, uh, I have, I have, I licked my finger.

[01:41:13] I put it up in the air and I felt the direction of the wind.

[01:41:16] Uh, yeah.

[01:41:17] So this is the community number four as well coming in with 105 points.

[01:41:23] So just over Agatha all along.

[01:41:25] And I wonder how many people actually watch it.

[01:41:27] Did, did, was there a, uh, uh, how did it rank on the biggest miss?

[01:41:32] I wonder.

[01:41:33] Biggest miss for Penguin.

[01:41:35] Penguin, uh, Penguin had two points for biggest miss.

[01:41:41] So two votes.

[01:41:41] So not, not much.

[01:41:42] Not many.

[01:41:43] So we didn't have a huge turnout.

[01:41:44] We had a few more than last year, but we didn't have a huge turnout on this.

[01:41:47] We have to decide next year how we, how we get more people involved in this voting.

[01:41:52] Yeah.

[01:41:53] Yeah.

[01:41:53] It's, uh, part of it is, and I'm looking on what the, the discord, some of the comments

[01:41:59] on the discord were, uh, there was, I forget who it was.

[01:42:03] Somebody said, can we call this the agony?

[01:42:05] Yeah.

[01:42:06] This year was, was so difficult, you know, which is a joke to, to Dune, but it is this thing

[01:42:12] of, uh, you got to keep track.

[01:42:14] The show tracker last year, I kind of gave up on, on updating it halfway through this

[01:42:20] year.

[01:42:20] I think we're going to have a much more accurate show tracker for subscribers.

[01:42:24] Nancy's been helping out.

[01:42:26] So, and we're going to community source titles a little bit more.

[01:42:30] So that will help, but it is really a trick of record keeping.

[01:42:35] And then for people to sit down and go, uh, this is a lot of work.

[01:42:40] So, you know, I use the TV time app.

[01:42:43] And so I'm able to see like in what months I was watching one.

[01:42:45] And that's, that's been really helpful.

[01:42:46] Right.

[01:42:48] So we'll, we'll see what we can, maybe we can talk about our top 10 and reminding people

[01:42:55] over the course of the year so that by the end of the year, they're not, uh, you know,

[01:42:59] and plus we got to start advertising it earlier.

[01:43:02] Yeah.

[01:43:02] I write down everything that I watch in an app and I recommend everyone do the same.

[01:43:07] It might just in my notes app.

[01:43:08] Right.

[01:43:09] Okay.

[01:43:10] All of my.

[01:43:10] All right.

[01:43:11] Let's get into the top three.

[01:43:12] Yes.

[01:43:13] Let's do this.

[01:43:14] David.

[01:43:15] Bring us to the final countdown.

[01:43:17] My top three to reveal Ripley.

[01:43:19] Okay.

[01:43:21] This show was absolutely gorgeous.

[01:43:24] So yes, this is a variation on the amazing Mr. Ripley storyline made famous by, uh, oh,

[01:43:33] who was it?

[01:43:33] It was, um, how about them apples?

[01:43:36] Uh, Matt Damon, Matt Damon, you know, that was the more popular one.

[01:43:41] I think there was another version of the movie as well.

[01:43:43] I did not unlike Mr.

[01:43:45] And Mrs.

[01:43:46] Smith.

[01:43:46] I did not come to the show because of the past film history of this movie, but because,

[01:43:54] because of the actors and the prestige that it was, and I started the show and then I stopped

[01:43:59] it and then I picked it up again, just because of the, uh, podcasting workload.

[01:44:04] Um, this film is, uh, follows the main storyline of the amazing, the amazing Mr. Ripley.

[01:44:11] What is it?

[01:44:12] Whatever the, uh, the actual official title is, but basically where it's an assumed identity,

[01:44:18] uh, storyline, uh, that takes place in Italy with a group of Americans.

[01:44:24] Americans.

[01:44:25] And, um, this show is probably one of the most visually beautiful shows I have ever watched

[01:44:33] in my life.

[01:44:34] It's all done in black and white.

[01:44:37] It's done in the black and white that I love, which is very high contrast, inky blacks, but

[01:44:43] where the white is not so blown out that you don't, you know, that you lose detail.

[01:44:48] So it's just the, the contrast is beautiful.

[01:44:52] Um, the storyline is a quasi murder mystery, uh, uh, again, assumed identity storyline.

[01:45:03] I, there were episodes where my heart was absolutely pounding out of my chest.

[01:45:08] I was so nervous for what was going to happen in, in a really intense high stakes way, not

[01:45:15] in a, you know, cringe humor-y kind of way or anything like that, but like actual general,

[01:45:19] like what is going to happen?

[01:45:21] I don't know what's about to happen.

[01:45:23] And I'm really nervous for everybody that I see on screen.

[01:45:27] Uh, I think Andrew Scott plays a standout performance for his career.

[01:45:34] Uh, Dakota Fanning is great.

[01:45:37] Uh, uh, Johnny Flynn is amazing.

[01:45:42] And there's a handful of other characters.

[01:45:44] The, uh, Italian police detective is phenomenal.

[01:45:49] It's exquisitely crafted and it ranks above Pachinko for me in as much as the visuals of

[01:45:56] this were better than Pachinko.

[01:45:58] And I think Pachinko is one of the best shot films or TV shows that I've ever seen as well.

[01:46:04] Very nice.

[01:46:04] Pachinko, uh, absolutely adored this.

[01:46:08] And I was so happy that I went back and finished it.

[01:46:12] Uh, cause it was a real thriller.

[01:46:16] Um, so yeah, if you like murder mystery, thrillery kind of stuff, this is so good.

[01:46:22] Okay.

[01:46:23] Very nice.

[01:46:24] Yeah.

[01:46:24] I don't think it's going to be show.

[01:46:26] Does it, what's that?

[01:46:27] On my miss list too.

[01:46:29] Okay.

[01:46:31] That's the deadly part of top tens is like, Oh my, my, your miss list just grows and grows.

[01:46:36] And I don't think it's going to, I don't think it ranked at all in the, did it in the community

[01:46:40] rankings, John?

[01:46:41] Uh, Ripley.

[01:46:43] Yeah.

[01:46:43] Ripley got number 11.

[01:46:45] So Ripley was almost on the list.

[01:46:46] It lost my one point to Arcane.

[01:46:48] Wow.

[01:46:48] I was going to say there was some good buzz about it on the server.

[01:46:51] So good.

[01:46:52] So good.

[01:46:53] Yeah.

[01:46:54] So it was, it was close.

[01:46:55] It was close to getting into the list.

[01:46:58] Alicia.

[01:46:59] Uh, okay.

[01:47:00] So my number three is Pachinko.

[01:47:05] So yeah, it's just, uh, as David said, it's one of the most gorgeously shot ever, but of

[01:47:11] course I'm always going to drill down on what about the characters?

[01:47:15] And I am, I just, I'm obsessed with the characters.

[01:47:18] I can't stop thinking about them.

[01:47:20] I can't stop thinking about like Sunja and Honsu and yeah.

[01:47:23] Um, probably part of this is because we keep podcasting about it, but it's,

[01:47:29] it's, it's just as a, yeah, but it's, it's just perfect in every way.

[01:47:35] Um, in every level of the production and the acting and the writing.

[01:47:41] Um, I am now have the book loaded up, dying to read it.

[01:47:45] We're going to figure out some form of book club.

[01:47:47] Um, I just want more of this story and it, it engrossed me a lot with, um, the way that

[01:47:56] the characters intercept with history and the questions of identity.

[01:48:01] And I think that's also probably what it has a lot to do with is I've always been someone

[01:48:05] who for various reasons has felt an in-betweenness in my identity, you know, like, uh, for instance,

[01:48:12] I'm a dual citizen, so I'm part of two countries, but neither at the same time, you know?

[01:48:18] Um, and that's been the thing.

[01:48:20] And a lot of my life has been like that.

[01:48:22] So this is a show that does particularly speak to that as well.

[01:48:28] Very nice.

[01:48:29] Really good.

[01:48:30] I really got to check the show.

[01:48:30] Everybody says it's so good.

[01:48:32] Yeah.

[01:48:33] One day you'll convince me.

[01:48:36] Does Maya like the kind of soulful drama?

[01:48:39] Maya doesn't watch a lot of TV.

[01:48:41] Hmm.

[01:48:42] She does.

[01:48:43] I mean, she'll watch what I'm watching, but like, that's pretty much the TV.

[01:48:47] But when she does, does she like a soulful drama?

[01:48:49] I think so.

[01:48:50] She loved blue eyed samurai.

[01:48:51] That was like her show of the year last year.

[01:48:52] This is not blue eyed samurai.

[01:48:54] No, no, no.

[01:48:57] That's pretty soulful though.

[01:48:59] No, true, but it's not, uh, animated violence.

[01:49:02] So.

[01:49:03] But, uh, all right.

[01:49:04] All right.

[01:49:05] Fair enough.

[01:49:05] And she loved, she loved the penguins, you know?

[01:49:07] So I think she'll, she's in for a good drama.

[01:49:09] Okay.

[01:49:11] Your number three, sir.

[01:49:13] My number three.

[01:49:14] And this is where I call the Alicia influence corner.

[01:49:17] Agatha all along.

[01:49:18] Wow.

[01:49:19] That's my number three.

[01:49:20] Wow.

[01:49:20] I had more fun with this show than most shows this year.

[01:49:25] Mm-hmm.

[01:49:26] Maybe any show this year.

[01:49:28] No, most shows this year.

[01:49:29] Wow.

[01:49:29] And, uh, I, I just think that Catherine Hahn is a genius.

[01:49:33] Mm-hmm.

[01:49:34] She is.

[01:49:34] We should all be bowing down to her.

[01:49:35] Truly.

[01:49:35] Because her range, her comedy is just something that's incredible.

[01:49:40] And something that I really appreciate is it's incredibly difficult to create a good ensemble.

[01:49:46] Mm-hmm.

[01:49:46] And this was it.

[01:49:47] This was a, an amazing, flawless ensemble.

[01:49:51] So, yeah.

[01:49:52] I mean, I, I can't say enough good about this show.

[01:49:55] I, I feel like this is just going to be at least just like one or two.

[01:49:58] So I'm just going to let her know about it more in a minute.

[01:50:00] It hasn't been on the list yet.

[01:50:02] So.

[01:50:02] It hasn't been on the list yet.

[01:50:03] And I'm sure it's going to be on the list.

[01:50:06] Uh, but yeah, for me, it has to be number three.

[01:50:09] It has to be number three.

[01:50:10] Okay.

[01:50:10] And the community is here with House of the Dragon.

[01:50:13] They liked it a lot better than we did.

[01:50:15] Mm-hmm.

[01:50:17] Good.

[01:50:18] Yeah.

[01:50:18] It's interesting to look at the community top three too, because they're all big title

[01:50:22] shows.

[01:50:23] Yeah.

[01:50:23] It's true.

[01:50:24] Yeah.

[01:50:24] Because maybe, because it's, I think it's also comes down to that a lot of people don't

[01:50:29] necessarily have time to watch all the shows.

[01:50:31] And so these are the shows they're more likely to watch.

[01:50:34] Yeah.

[01:50:34] But at the same time, I think the ranking does, the ranked choice voting does account for that.

[01:50:38] Mm-hmm.

[01:50:38] Because if a lot of people put, uh, for their number five that they love Freer in, Freer in

[01:50:46] could still win.

[01:50:48] Mm-hmm.

[01:50:49] You know what I mean?

[01:50:50] So like, or, but that's what I mean is like, it's like, if like a lot of people watch Strings

[01:50:55] of Power, but it was all number 10, then it's probably not going to win.

[01:50:58] So this, I do think that the ranked choice voting helps like get away from just a mob mentality

[01:51:05] wins.

[01:51:06] Agreed.

[01:51:07] David.

[01:51:08] All right.

[01:51:08] Number three is two.

[01:51:11] Sorry.

[01:51:12] Shogun.

[01:51:13] Very nice.

[01:51:14] Yeah.

[01:51:15] Uh, yeah, there's, can't argue with it again.

[01:51:18] Can I use the word historicity one more time?

[01:51:21] If you're playing along at home, take another shot.

[01:51:24] A, um, absolute tour de force, beautifully shot, extraordinarily acted.

[01:51:30] I love, I think the thing that I love the most about the story is that they, or let me rephrase

[01:51:37] that.

[01:51:37] The thing that I respect most about this show is that they were able to reframe the story

[01:51:43] relative to the cultural point of view of the original source material and book and the

[01:51:50] original television series, limited series.

[01:51:54] And that they were able to, rather than othering anybody, they were able to balance that extraordinarily

[01:52:01] well done.

[01:52:03] Yeah.

[01:52:04] And not an easy thing to do.

[01:52:06] And, uh, I too was very happy and satisfied with a end, you know, like season, you know,

[01:52:13] just a limited series.

[01:52:15] Great.

[01:52:16] Tell your story.

[01:52:17] Fabulous.

[01:52:17] So good.

[01:52:19] I'm nervous about, uh, a quote unquote season two, but I also have a lot of faith in the

[01:52:25] creatives behind this, uh, production that they'll be able to see their way through that

[01:52:32] tricky, you know, navigate those tricky waters.

[01:52:35] And if they don't try to go, Oh, what does Blackthorn do the next morning?

[01:52:39] He wakes up, but we jump in time or place.

[01:52:41] Right.

[01:52:42] And we, we move the story into a, a different, uh, uh, a different plot and a different intricacies

[01:52:50] of plot.

[01:52:50] Then I think we'll be fine.

[01:52:51] I wish they would have, they would do, it sounds like they're continuing the story with

[01:52:56] the characters we have.

[01:52:57] And of course there is, you know, they can pull from history and do that, but I wish that

[01:53:00] they would do an anthology and just jump to a completely different period and keep the

[01:53:04] same cast.

[01:53:05] Right.

[01:53:07] I think that both of Marco's husbands will fall in love.

[01:53:10] And that's how we'll start season two.

[01:53:14] Excellent.

[01:53:16] Alicia.

[01:53:17] All right.

[01:53:17] So my number two is Agatha all along.

[01:53:21] Um, and yeah, it's, it's just, it was fun.

[01:53:26] It was emotional.

[01:53:28] It was every single character, you know, this was really an ensemble show where they had limited

[01:53:34] background characters.

[01:53:35] Like it was nice to see the neighbors from WandaVision come back and do their, their bits were always

[01:53:40] great, especially Herb.

[01:53:41] But, um, they just really were able to showcase every letter.

[01:53:47] They could have done Jen a little bit more, but yeah, I just, every, every character had

[01:53:52] me caring about them, had me invested in where did they come from?

[01:53:57] Where are they going?

[01:53:58] What are they struggling with?

[01:53:59] But also I was just having an absolute blast laughing and singing and putting together like

[01:54:06] the most highly produced episodes that I think I've done.

[01:54:10] Uh, I just, I, this show got me hooked, um, hook, line and sinker all the way.

[01:54:16] And only, only reason it's not number one is there's one other show that just does everything

[01:54:21] that all the other shows.

[01:54:23] Yeah.

[01:54:24] Uh, quick power ranking.

[01:54:28] You don't have to do the whole thing, but how high does this rank in your Marvel television

[01:54:32] shows, not movies, but just television only?

[01:54:34] Um, I think it's number one.

[01:54:37] Yeah.

[01:54:38] Okay.

[01:54:38] It's number one.

[01:54:39] Yeah.

[01:54:40] I, I would agree with, I would be in the same position with this is it, it was a solid,

[01:54:44] it was a, and it was a solid win for Marvel too.

[01:54:47] It was like after the show that shall not be named to be able to then put this on screen.

[01:54:52] Good job guys.

[01:54:53] Like, thank you for like sorting yourselves out.

[01:54:55] There's also, we, you know, us in the, um, LGBTQ, which crowd needed a win after what

[01:55:03] happened with that light.

[01:55:04] Right.

[01:55:05] Fair point.

[01:55:06] And that's not on, I'm not putting that on the show.

[01:55:08] I'm putting that on certain.

[01:55:09] Yeah.

[01:55:10] Squats of the audience, especially.

[01:55:12] Yeah.

[01:55:12] Yeah.

[01:55:13] David, that's interesting that you say that this would be your number one too, because

[01:55:16] I think you ranked Loki last year and you didn't rank Agatha this year.

[01:55:19] Yeah.

[01:55:20] Uh, I, I would say maybe it's Loki.

[01:55:24] Loki and Agatha are going to be like, how am I feeling that day?

[01:55:27] Maybe, maybe that's the truth of it.

[01:55:30] Yeah.

[01:55:30] Because the B the ending of Loki season two was beautiful, but this Agatha storyline,

[01:55:36] when you, even though it's her show and there's a bunch that's not about her and it's about

[01:55:40] all these other characters, when you bring that all back around the way, what the, the,

[01:55:46] the topic matter that they deal with and how they deal with it is extraordinarily well

[01:55:51] done.

[01:55:51] It's, it is a really good show, even though it doesn't rank as high on my list as it,

[01:55:55] as it quite, as it could.

[01:55:57] Yeah.

[01:55:57] I'm a sucker for a personified death.

[01:55:59] I mean, the disc world stuff I love.

[01:56:01] So yeah.

[01:56:02] Yeah.

[01:56:03] Well, cool.

[01:56:05] Yeah.

[01:56:05] What's your number two?

[01:56:06] My number two, continuing with the Alicia influence is interview with the vampire.

[01:56:11] John.

[01:56:12] I knew it.

[01:56:12] I knew it had to be high up there.

[01:56:14] Wow.

[01:56:15] Yeah.

[01:56:15] Well, he's already told me he wants to do next season.

[01:56:18] Oh, really?

[01:56:19] Okay.

[01:56:19] I can't believe how good this show was.

[01:56:22] No.

[01:56:23] Okay.

[01:56:23] We don't have a date now, but.

[01:56:25] But there's already.

[01:56:26] It was, I mean, I have a crush on Lestat that will never go away.

[01:56:32] That's it should be.

[01:56:33] That's how you know it's well done.

[01:56:35] Because he's also, he's a problem child too.

[01:56:38] Exactly.

[01:56:38] Like I, I want him to hurt me.

[01:56:41] You know what I mean?

[01:56:45] He's the performances.

[01:56:47] Absolutely.

[01:56:48] Amazing.

[01:56:49] Louie annoys me sometimes, but I think he's supposed to.

[01:56:51] Right.

[01:56:53] Armand.

[01:56:53] Oh yeah.

[01:56:55] I want to hit him.

[01:56:56] And I want to hug him.

[01:56:58] And I just.

[01:56:58] I.

[01:56:59] The, all these people are so problematic and yet you want to understand them more.

[01:57:04] Again, Ben Daniels, amazing performance in season two.

[01:57:08] For me, it's the best of the Ben Daniels.

[01:57:10] Yeah.

[01:57:11] I would agree with that.

[01:57:13] And dealing with a recast of one of the main characters and dealing with it so well

[01:57:19] is an incredible feat.

[01:57:21] Yeah.

[01:57:21] I was so nervous about how she was going to do, but then I ended up liking her even more.

[01:57:27] And someone pointed out that maybe it was a good thing because the first version.

[01:57:32] So the first season of Claudia, she's more naive.

[01:57:35] And then the second season, she's more, you know, she's been a vampire for a while.

[01:57:38] So that kind of, the recast kind of worked in that way.

[01:57:43] And that there are different personalities.

[01:57:46] Well, since I've now seen the promo of Lestat being a sarcastic musician, I am all in for

[01:57:54] season three.

[01:57:55] You're not going to be able to kick me off that pod, Alicia.

[01:57:57] I'm coming in.

[01:57:59] I'm invading the interview space.

[01:58:01] Excellent.

[01:58:01] And we'll, we'll mention that Mayfair Witches is having a new season coming out soon.

[01:58:05] I'm not covering that.

[01:58:06] No.

[01:58:07] We'll mention it at the beginning of the season three pod in case of anything.

[01:58:11] Because they are part of the same universe.

[01:58:13] They are.

[01:58:14] Yeah.

[01:58:14] I'll watch it, but I'm not covering that.

[01:58:16] No, no, no, no, no, no.

[01:58:17] If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

[01:58:22] Community says the Rings of Power is number two.

[01:58:25] Okay.

[01:58:25] Which is very cool.

[01:58:27] I'm glad that the community is really.

[01:58:28] Yeah.

[01:58:29] I'm glad.

[01:58:30] Again.

[01:58:30] Yeah.

[01:58:30] That could be just that we were originally a Rings of Power pod and a lot of people started

[01:58:34] with us there.

[01:58:35] But yeah.

[01:58:36] I mean, amazing comeback story.

[01:58:38] I think we've kind of hashed that out.

[01:58:41] David, your number one show.

[01:58:44] Here it is.

[01:58:44] Of 2024.

[01:58:46] And it's an unlikely pick for me because this is not my preferred genre.

[01:58:52] But I cannot.

[01:58:55] It's really hard for me to fault this show.

[01:58:58] And it's really hard for me to compete with the enjoyment that I had watching it.

[01:59:06] The Penguin.

[01:59:07] Okay, cool.

[01:59:07] I had a great time watching this.

[01:59:12] I was constantly amazed at the acting and the performances.

[01:59:18] I love the fact that they were able to pull off a superhero genre without a superhero showing

[01:59:23] up once.

[01:59:24] You know, we got...

[01:59:25] Well, is that a spoiler?

[01:59:27] I don't know.

[01:59:27] It's not a spoiler.

[01:59:28] That's general knowledge.

[01:59:29] Yeah, that's fine.

[01:59:29] I won't say anything else about it.

[01:59:33] I thought that from an industry standpoint, I was debating with myself if this was an 11

[01:59:39] or a 10 for me.

[01:59:40] 11 in my book is something that shifts the overall industry and pushes new directions and

[01:59:49] opens up new spaces.

[01:59:51] It's real borderline for me on that.

[01:59:53] But the argument for it is that they navigated the big screen to small screen back to the

[01:59:59] big screen thing.

[02:00:01] If the movie pans out and the stakes that were raised by this movie really pay off in that,

[02:00:07] then I think they've cracked part of the code.

[02:00:10] I mean, people have been trying this for a while now, but have they been successful?

[02:00:13] Question mark.

[02:00:14] Debatable.

[02:00:15] Arguable.

[02:00:15] Well, this, I think if they can...

[02:00:17] If the movie works and it picks up on what the TV show put out there, then I think that'll

[02:00:26] be a real game changer.

[02:00:29] I said this before.

[02:00:31] Colin Farrell, absolute stand-up performance.

[02:00:33] Kristen Miladi, amazing.

[02:00:35] I was captivated by her for the entire episode or the whole season.

[02:00:41] So really...

[02:00:42] And again, unexpected.

[02:00:43] I was like, oh, it's going to be a superhero drama thing, whatever.

[02:00:46] And it just really blew me away.

[02:00:48] The craft and the consideration that they put into it was phenomenal.

[02:00:53] Very cool.

[02:00:54] Yeah.

[02:00:55] Penguin was great.

[02:00:56] Alicia?

[02:00:57] Mine is obviously going to be Interview with a Vampire.

[02:01:00] Whoa.

[02:01:01] Wow.

[02:01:02] Just...

[02:01:02] Everything nice.

[02:01:03] Not surprising, just like it's so high for everybody.

[02:01:06] Just everything nice I said about all the other shows is true for this one, you know,

[02:01:10] in terms of character development, in terms of the visual composition of the shots, in terms

[02:01:15] of the casting, the writing, the writing, the writing.

[02:01:18] Oh my God, the writing.

[02:01:19] The acting.

[02:01:21] Yeah, obviously there's great directing.

[02:01:23] The way they handle...

[02:01:24] Like the way they handle special effects, it's minimal, you know, it's mostly practical.

[02:01:31] So it just really superbly well done.

[02:01:34] The costuming, the...

[02:01:36] I laugh, I cry.

[02:01:37] I just watch certain scenes over and over again, like no spoilers, but from the second season,

[02:01:45] there's a scene where they're all in a kind of coffee house or a bar together.

[02:01:52] And I just...

[02:01:54] And then the entire...

[02:01:56] Everything about all of their relationships changes in one moment, just as one character

[02:02:01] realizes he did the wrong thing and it's too late.

[02:02:04] And oh my God, yeah.

[02:02:06] I just think about moments like that or just that whole part in the 70s in that apartment

[02:02:13] in New York.

[02:02:13] Again, no spoilers, but I just...

[02:02:16] It lives rent-free in my mind.

[02:02:18] The portrayal of, yeah, Ben Daniels being added this season.

[02:02:21] He plays an iconic character from the book and he makes it even more iconic on screen.

[02:02:25] We didn't even really talk about Madeline, but she's...

[02:02:29] She is a character that exists in the book, but they added so much complexity to her

[02:02:34] in the TV show.

[02:02:38] And one thing that they do particularly well with this is also, yeah, it also has to do

[02:02:43] with the historicity.

[02:02:44] They lean into that more.

[02:02:46] Like they shifted some of the timelines from the book, but I think that that's just added

[02:02:50] whole new layers to explore.

[02:02:52] And so for example, the second season largely takes place in post-World War II Paris and how

[02:03:00] that just changes and makes Madeline this more fully realized character.

[02:03:05] And she ended up being one of my favorites of the season and she's like an almost nothing

[02:03:10] blip in the book, you know, somebody who's just part of another character's arc.

[02:03:14] And this show, just every episode that I watch finds new ways to surprise me, to move me,

[02:03:22] to make me think and laugh too.

[02:03:25] Yeah.

[02:03:26] A really incredible show.

[02:03:27] And if I could just add, my sister was my daughter, was my throw pillow, but he didn't

[02:03:32] look at me kindly.

[02:03:33] Lestat, Lestat, Lestat, Lestat, Lestat, Lestat.

[02:03:35] Okay.

[02:03:36] Iconic line that lives...

[02:03:37] Yeah, they say she said some of the...

[02:03:38] In my head...

[02:03:39] She said some of the craziest lines.

[02:03:41] Yeah.

[02:03:42] It really did have like these iconic moments as well as having depth.

[02:03:47] And that is something that is really hard to do in a show.

[02:03:50] So...

[02:03:51] Right.

[02:03:52] Right.

[02:03:53] What's your number one?

[02:03:55] I've got to close it out with another community agreement on Shogun.

[02:04:00] And the reason is...

[02:04:01] You're pandering.

[02:04:02] You're pandering.

[02:04:03] I'm not pandering.

[02:04:05] I'm potting.

[02:04:06] Pottering.

[02:04:06] I don't know.

[02:04:08] Look, I don't know another show that has exceeded my expectations the way Shogun has

[02:04:15] done.

[02:04:15] Mm-hmm.

[02:04:16] And the episode that convinced me was Crimson Sky.

[02:04:21] Mm-hmm.

[02:04:21] Was this idea of this whole season where...

[02:04:24] All right.

[02:04:24] So we have the character drama, but it's clearly all leading to this big battle, right?

[02:04:27] We're going to have this big war between the different factions and it's going to be

[02:04:31] bloody and we're going to spend all the budget for the season.

[02:04:33] We're going to blow it all in one shot.

[02:04:35] No.

[02:04:36] Anna Sawai is going to walk through the door as she is going to take down a fucking empire

[02:04:41] just by dying, just by peacefully dying.

[02:04:46] Mm.

[02:04:47] What?

[02:04:48] What?

[02:04:50] The fact that she was Crimson Sky all the time was an incredible twist.

[02:04:55] It was an incredible way to subvert expectations while exceeding them.

[02:04:59] I need D&D from Game of Thrones to just go and watch this show and learn what subverting expectations

[02:05:07] means so that we can take that phrase back.

[02:05:10] Because this was absolutely incredible.

[02:05:13] And Anna Sawai, I think that's the reason I'm most nervous about season two is without

[02:05:17] Anna Sawai, I don't know where the show goes.

[02:05:20] Mm-hmm.

[02:05:20] She was really the highlight of the show.

[02:05:22] Yeah.

[02:05:23] Yeah.

[02:05:24] That's also my problem.

[02:05:26] And also, what's his name?

[02:05:28] Yabushige?

[02:05:29] No.

[02:05:29] Yabushige is the main thing.

[02:05:30] Yeah, Yabushige.

[02:05:31] Yabushige was the guy who's always scheming.

[02:05:33] Yes, Yabushige.

[02:05:34] Okay, yeah.

[02:05:35] I'm going to...

[02:05:36] I also think a lot...

[02:05:37] I think about...

[02:05:38] Are we allowed to spoiler this?

[02:05:40] I guess it's been a while now.

[02:05:42] I already did, so...

[02:05:42] Yeah.

[02:05:42] But I think about also his death moment and him just looking back at the last moment,

[02:05:48] like, are you going to let me go again?

[02:05:52] And it doesn't happen.

[02:05:53] And yeah, without those two characters, I'm a little nervous.

[02:05:56] That's why I wanted it to be an anthology series where they use the same cast again in a different story.

[02:06:02] And using his death moment to let us into Toranagra's secret heart.

[02:06:06] Right.

[02:06:07] Amazing.

[02:06:08] Amazing way to show and not tell this idea of the secret heart.

[02:06:14] All the three hearts that people have and whatnot.

[02:06:18] Amazing.

[02:06:19] I just can't think of a show that did anything better.

[02:06:21] And that poignant moment for What's-His-Face, the honor of women, that you don't know if it's a happy ending for him or not.

[02:06:31] Yeah.

[02:06:32] It's both?

[02:06:34] Yeah.

[02:06:34] Bittersweet.

[02:06:36] And the community, if you haven't guessed from the way we're talking about it, did vote Shogun.

[02:06:40] And let me tell you, this was not a close vote here.

[02:06:43] It dominated.

[02:06:45] This was 262 votes, 262 points compared to 141 for Rings of Power.

[02:06:51] Wow.

[02:06:51] So this was over double the amount of points for Shogun.

[02:06:57] That's significant.

[02:06:58] That is a clear and resounding thing.

[02:07:00] Yeah.

[02:07:00] I think it's broken.

[02:07:03] I guess when we look at it in terms of acting, character arc and development and all that stuff.

[02:07:11] Plot, like you said, subverting and twisting things.

[02:07:16] History, lots of interesting things to look at and examine and understand.

[02:07:22] Was it a perfect Lorehounds show?

[02:07:26] Does it sort of tick all the quadrants or boxes or what have you?

[02:07:31] To me, the fact that it so dominated the community vote, I think it does indicate that that's the case.

[02:07:40] Let me make something else clear.

[02:07:41] Every single person who voted had this on their list somewhere and had it six or above.

[02:07:47] Okay.

[02:07:49] That's an interesting analysis, right?

[02:07:50] Like where the distribution?

[02:07:52] Every single person watched this and voted it.

[02:07:55] Wow.

[02:07:56] Very cool.

[02:07:58] Nice.

[02:07:59] All right.

[02:08:00] Well, we did it, everyone.

[02:08:02] I have one bonus question for everyone before we go.

[02:08:05] Okay.

[02:08:05] Well, let me get a quick honorable mention.

[02:08:08] Honorable mention.

[02:08:11] Steve, it's a documentary in two parts about Steve Martin.

[02:08:15] Absolutely amazing.

[02:08:17] Super good.

[02:08:18] And along the lines of that, We Are the World, a documentary about the way that the We Are the World song came together.

[02:08:27] Really, if you're of my generation and those were important markers or individual or a cultural thing, those are really, really great little shows to pick up.

[02:08:37] And then we had 2020 where all the celebrities of the world thought it would be fun to do Imagine Together and we all cringed.

[02:08:45] Yeah.

[02:08:47] Remember that?

[02:08:48] I'm not letting anybody forget that.

[02:08:50] Anyway, go on, Alicia.

[02:08:51] Okay.

[02:08:52] So my honorable mentions is, so first of all, I really enjoyed the live action Avatar The Last Airbender.

[02:08:59] I was really worried about it going in, but actually I thought that they did a good adaptation, great casting, and I really enjoyed it.

[02:09:06] I also wanted to shout out What If Season 3.

[02:09:09] I haven't been able to watch it yet because they're doing this dumb drop thing where they're going to drop it between the 22nd and the 30th of this month.

[02:09:16] So it's not eligible for next year.

[02:09:18] It's not, yeah, and nobody's going to see it.

[02:09:20] Oh, wow.

[02:09:20] But I really enjoyed the first two seasons and this third season looks epic.

[02:09:24] We're going to have Storm showing up.

[02:09:26] We're going to have Agatha showing up.

[02:09:29] We're going to have, it just, yeah, all of the storylines of the past two seasons are coming together and I'm super excited about that.

[02:09:36] And one show, I've only gotten to watch one episode of it so far, but it is because it was one, like I sort of panicked, watched an episode at the end.

[02:09:45] But several of my friends, including Simon, who was on Doctor Who with us, John, have been, you know, you have to watch this.

[02:09:55] This is a show of the year and it's Supercell and it's set in South London and it has mostly black protagonists and they are, it's like a sickle cell anemia analogy, but instead of that, they're getting superpowers.

[02:10:10] Superpowers.

[02:10:12] And I watched the first episode so far and the production design is so good.

[02:10:16] The cinematography, the photography.

[02:10:20] Yeah, it's off to a really great start.

[02:10:22] So I just wanted to shout that out in case people are interested.

[02:10:25] Nice.

[02:10:26] Nice.

[02:10:28] Last shout out.

[02:10:30] Really quick, unless you have any honorable mentions, John.

[02:10:34] Oh, I'll shout out Doctor Who.

[02:10:35] Doctor Who was, had a very good comeback this year.

[02:10:37] A very good return.

[02:10:38] And you guys are going to be covering the Christmas episode?

[02:10:41] Yes.

[02:10:42] Yes.

[02:10:44] And the new season.

[02:10:45] There's a new season coming, right?

[02:10:46] Next year.

[02:10:47] Yeah.

[02:10:48] I think May-ish is usually the time.

[02:10:50] The other big shout out is Alicia.

[02:10:53] This is your first official top 10 as a full Lorehound as part of the Triarchy.

[02:11:00] So welcome and thank you for being here.

[02:11:02] Thank you for agreeing to play in the sandbox that is the Lorehounds.

[02:11:08] Thank you for inviting me to join your recess.

[02:11:14] I love the fact that your and I's tastes sometimes are always loud enough, but I love the fact that your eclecticness adds so much to our conversations and to our community.

[02:11:26] And so, yeah, I'm just really pleased that you're here.

[02:11:29] And you've definitely influenced me if you look at my list.

[02:11:32] Totally, right?

[02:11:33] Totally.

[02:11:33] Yay!

[02:11:34] Everybody watch Interview with the Vampire and Agatha all alone.

[02:11:38] You can't say it.

[02:11:39] You have to sing it.

[02:11:39] It's part of it.

[02:11:40] Right.

[02:11:41] You're legally obliged.

[02:11:43] Well, I'm thrilled that you're here, Alicia.

[02:11:45] So thank you for being part of this team.

[02:11:48] I'm thrilled to be here.

[02:11:49] Thank you, guys.

[02:11:50] Now, Alicia, why don't you start?

[02:11:52] I want to ask you, what would you brand this year of TV?

[02:11:57] You can pass if you want because I said this to you last night.

[02:12:01] Oh, I didn't.

[02:12:02] I missed that last night.

[02:12:03] Okay.

[02:12:04] It was in the Discord.

[02:12:05] Oh, I totally missed that.

[02:12:06] I was sorry.

[02:12:07] I was busy working the book project.

[02:12:09] I don't know.

[02:12:10] Yeah, you guys start because I'm not even sure how to approach this question at the moment.

[02:12:14] Yeah, I had a similar problem with this.

[02:12:18] And I was wondering, John, did you have a brand?

[02:12:21] Did it occur to you?

[02:12:23] And then that's where you came up with the question after the fact?

[02:12:25] Yes, I had an answer to my own question, yeah.

[02:12:27] Before you even had the question.

[02:12:28] Yeah, I reverse engineered this question.

[02:12:30] I completely figured it was.

[02:12:32] Yeah.

[02:12:33] So, because you're clever like that, too, with your wordplay.

[02:12:39] You got to be.

[02:12:42] I couldn't come up with a word or a phrase or a sentence.

[02:12:46] I came up with a visual metaphor, which was the John Travolta in Pulp Fiction confused meme,

[02:12:54] where he's sort of standing there pointing in one direction and then pointing in another direction

[02:12:58] and then sort of shrugs and like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

[02:13:02] That's what I felt.

[02:13:04] And it's not because of the quality of the shows or what shows were what.

[02:13:07] It was the fact that we were, like we talked about before, flooded with content.

[02:13:10] And it was very hard to absorb it, take it all in.

[02:13:15] My list of shows that I started and didn't finish is insanely long.

[02:13:21] And that is not the case.

[02:13:23] That has not been the case in years past.

[02:13:25] And so I just kind of felt like I was constantly looking around in a sort of a confused state.

[02:13:32] So that's my brand.

[02:13:34] What's your brand, John?

[02:13:35] And I'll see if I can add to it.

[02:13:38] I want to name this the Year of the Witch because it is a comeback year for witchy stories.

[02:13:45] 100%.

[02:13:46] Agatha, The Acolyte, Freeran.

[02:13:49] I think that we have a lot of witchy stuff boiling up.

[02:13:54] Dune.

[02:13:54] Oh yeah, that was the other one I wanted to say.

[02:13:57] This is just a year of witchy stories in a way that I don't think that we've seen in a while.

[02:14:02] Yeah, Wicked, of course.

[02:14:04] Wicked.

[02:14:05] Oh, yeah.

[02:14:05] Duh.

[02:14:06] You keep, and there's witches and references to witches and so many other.

[02:14:11] Right.

[02:14:12] True Detective even could be in a sense because they're a coven, right?

[02:14:16] Right.

[02:14:16] The group of women, more details.

[02:14:20] But yeah, there's a group of women who affect something.

[02:14:23] I think Wicked really epitomizes where this is coming from because it is, you know, I'm going to give you an opening, John, to make fun of the Wicked marketing.

[02:14:36] But people are holding space for defying gravity this year for sure.

[02:14:39] Yeah.

[02:14:40] Yeah.

[02:14:41] I just thought it was funny.

[02:14:42] I don't actually have any beef with anybody.

[02:14:45] But, I mean, it really is, I think, the reason why witches are popular this year.

[02:14:52] You know, Marilyn and I did that episode for subscribers.

[02:14:57] That it's a way of people saying, like, I will not be silenced.

[02:15:02] You know, I will not go quietly into the night.

[02:15:06] And I don't think, I don't want to go generally people.

[02:15:09] I think women are feeling particularly present this year.

[02:15:12] Especially with things like, well, yeah, we don't talk about politics.

[02:15:15] Yeah, we don't have to get into details.

[02:15:17] We know women are not doing well.

[02:15:18] And also the LGBT community.

[02:15:21] And, yeah.

[02:15:24] So I brand this the Year of the Witch.

[02:15:26] Do you have any brand ideas, Alicia?

[02:15:28] To be honest, I was thinking something along the lines of witchy, but also what David said resonated with me.

[02:15:34] And I feel like it's the year of the clash where you see, like, when David shared that list of the highest performing shows, there were shows on there like Fallout where I'm like, oh, yeah, I agree.

[02:15:45] And then a bunch of shows that were where I realized that the majority of people are just not consuming the same entertainment that I am.

[02:15:56] And what I see a lot is things that I'm not so into, you know, like the spy stuff or, I mean, you know, there are exceptions, of course.

[02:16:06] But in general, the more.

[02:16:10] I don't even want to call them grounded because they're absolutely not.

[02:16:13] But the non-fantasy, non-sci-fi, non-horror stuff.

[02:16:17] Primary world-y kind of stuff.

[02:16:20] Yeah.

[02:16:20] But it feels like because the numbers are so high on those sorts of things that, like, look, for instance, right now, Moana 2 is dominating the movie theaters.

[02:16:31] And I don't hear anyone gushing about it the way I heard people gushing about films that didn't do as well, like Wild Robot.

[02:16:41] I mean, Wild Robot did fine.

[02:16:42] But, you know, it's not like the billion dollar thing.

[02:16:45] So I think there's this clash between the what's the most accessible for the widest amount of people and what is really pushing the envelope in terms of, you know, the witchy side of things.

[02:16:58] And that's just one example of what I mean by the pushing the envelope things.

[02:17:03] The Shogun was one that luckily did pretty well in both, but still.

[02:17:08] Yeah.

[02:17:09] Yeah.

[02:17:09] It wasn't on that list, David shared, was it?

[02:17:12] I don't think so, no.

[02:17:14] No.

[02:17:15] Yeah, we are definitely getting into these more divided, alternate realities of media consumption.

[02:17:21] Mm-hmm.

[02:17:22] Which, on the one hand, I love that we all have these options.

[02:17:25] On the other hand, I'm almost like, do we have a cultural consciousness?

[02:17:28] Number six.

[02:17:28] It's not anymore.

[02:17:29] Mm-hmm.

[02:17:30] Yeah.

[02:17:31] It was number six, Alicia.

[02:17:31] Okay.

[02:17:32] So at least, okay, at least that one broke through.

[02:17:34] So there are these rare shows or films that manage to do both, like Wicked is doing now in the theaters.

[02:17:42] But, yeah.

[02:17:44] It just, yeah, feels like there's a divide.

[02:17:47] And I'm afraid of the shows I love being defunded.

[02:17:52] Yeah.

[02:17:53] Like The Acolyte.

[02:17:54] Right.

[02:17:55] Right.

[02:17:56] Well, I think we have a lot to look forward to in 2025.

[02:18:00] Oh my God, it's already overwhelming.

[02:18:02] We'll do our best to prop up the shows we want to come back.

[02:18:05] Right.

[02:18:05] I want to plug a couple of things.

[02:18:07] One for subscribers.

[02:18:09] Thank you to all of the subscribers who you guys don't understand the value and the impact of your subscription to what we do.

[02:18:16] It really makes the difference.

[02:18:18] We could not do this without all of your material support.

[02:18:24] And there's a lot of benefits.

[02:18:25] And we talk often and we think often about how to structure that.

[02:18:30] But just thank you.

[02:18:32] I also want to shout out The Show Guide.

[02:18:34] We'll have that more up to date this year.

[02:18:36] And that's a subscriber benefit that will help you keep track of show tracker.

[02:18:40] Sorry, not The Show Guide.

[02:18:41] Just Show Tracker.

[02:18:42] Keep track of the shows that are coming on.

[02:18:45] Huge shout out to Nancy for all of the help that she provided this year in wrangling the feedback for Rings of Power and now for Dune.

[02:18:56] And she's helping with The Show Tracker as well.

[02:18:58] Huge shout out to our moderators on the Discord.

[02:19:03] We've lost track of Adrian, but I think he's been swallowed up in his change of things.

[02:19:09] But he's still part of our community and we think of you often.

[02:19:12] But to Brian8063 and Aaron, thank you guys so much for everything you do.

[02:19:18] Brian is also, we have a blog.

[02:19:19] So if you are a person who likes to write words and read words, we have a space for that as well.

[02:19:25] And I encourage you to submit things if you go to the website.

[02:19:28] There's a blog link and there's a post there that explains how to submit something.

[02:19:32] It's an open submission policy.

[02:19:35] What other thanks or acknowledgments do we need to shout out?

[02:19:40] We do have a whole list.

[02:19:41] We do.

[02:19:42] Of that, that list.

[02:19:44] But I meant in more general terms.

[02:19:47] Anyway.

[02:19:48] Our listeners, thank you for listening.

[02:19:51] Yeah.

[02:19:52] We wouldn't be here otherwise.

[02:19:54] It was a strong year for us and hopefully next year we'll even be stronger.

[02:19:58] Yeah.

[02:19:59] I think we'll talk about year and business stuff in the January second breakfast.

[02:20:06] So that way we have some more space to do that.

[02:20:09] For now, we've spent two and a half hours talking about the top TV 2024.

[02:20:14] And you've heard it here.

[02:20:15] This is the definitive list.

[02:20:16] If you like anything off of this list, you're wrong.

[02:20:19] And that's that.

[02:20:20] And this will all be, by the way, in a visual format crafted with primarily the help of Greg Saw.

[02:20:29] So thank you.

[02:20:31] Send Greg Saw a thank you on the Discord channel when it posts.

[02:20:35] Because we could not do this without him.

[02:20:38] I don't know how to use Tableau.

[02:20:39] I just don't know how to do it.

[02:20:41] And that'll be on our website on the blog section.

[02:20:44] Yes.

[02:20:44] We'll link to that in the blog.

[02:20:47] All right, everyone.

[02:20:48] Let's give our thank yous.

[02:20:51] Who wants to do it?

[02:20:53] You should just pick somebody.

[02:20:54] Don't mark.

[02:20:55] All right.

[02:20:55] Because otherwise.

[02:20:56] I don't have the list in front of me.

[02:20:58] Okay.

[02:20:58] I have the list in front of me.

[02:21:00] Okay.

[02:21:00] I guess it's me.

[02:21:02] By default.

[02:21:02] I'm leaving it in.

[02:21:04] All right.

[02:21:04] Discord server boosters.

[02:21:05] Aaron K.

[02:21:06] Tiller the Thriller.

[02:21:07] Dork of the Ninjas.

[02:21:08] Dove71.

[02:21:09] Athena A.

[02:21:11] Tina.

[02:21:11] Lestu.

[02:21:12] Nancy M.

[02:21:13] Ghost of Perdition.

[02:21:15] Radioactive Richard.

[02:21:17] And Lore Masters.

[02:21:18] Samartian.

[02:21:19] Michael G.

[02:21:19] Michelle E.

[02:21:20] Brian P.

[02:21:21] SC.

[02:21:22] Peter O.H.

[02:21:23] Bettina W.

[02:21:24] Adam S.

[02:21:24] Nancy M.

[02:21:25] Dove71.

[02:21:26] Brian 8063.

[02:21:27] Frederick H.

[02:21:28] Sarah L.

[02:21:29] Gareth T.

[02:21:29] Eric F.

[02:21:31] Matthew M.

[02:21:32] Sarah M.

[02:21:33] DJ Miwa.

[02:21:34] Andra B.

[02:21:34] Kwong Yu.

[02:21:35] Dead Eye Jedi Bob.

[02:21:36] Nathan B.

[02:21:37] Alex V.

[02:21:38] Aaron T.

[02:21:39] Sub Zero.

[02:21:40] Aaron K.

[02:21:41] Dally V.

[02:21:42] Mothership 61.

[02:21:43] Gnarles.

[02:21:44] Kathy W.

[02:21:45] Lestu.

[02:21:46] Jeffrey B.

[02:21:47] Elisa Yu.

[02:21:49] Neil F.

[02:21:50] Ben B.

[02:21:50] Scott F.

[02:21:52] Steven N.

[02:21:53] And Adrian.

[02:21:55] Thank you everyone.

[02:21:57] For a lovely year.

[02:21:59] Go listen to all the affiliates.

[02:22:00] During the break.

[02:22:02] And regularly.

[02:22:03] Just do it.

[02:22:03] Just do it in general.

[02:22:04] Don't wait for me to tell you.

[02:22:06] Watch Silo.

[02:22:07] Watch Silo.

[02:22:08] And put it on your 2025 list.

[02:22:10] So Alicia doesn't get upset.

[02:22:12] Don't forget about it in 2025.

[02:22:14] Because of John's rules.

[02:22:15] No.

[02:22:16] It's a reasonable rule.

[02:22:18] All right everyone.

[02:22:20] See you in the new year.

[02:22:22] Happy holidays.

[02:22:24] The Lorehounds Podcast is produced and published by The Lorehounds.

[02:22:27] You can send questions and feedback and voicemails at thelorehounds.com slash contact.

[02:22:33] Get early and ad-free access to all Lorehounds Podcasts at patreon.com slash thelorehounds.

[02:22:39] Any opinions stated are ours personally and do not reflect the opinion of or belong to

[02:22:43] any employers or other entities.

[02:22:44] Thanks for listening.

[02:22:45] We're going to see you in the new year.