Appointment Television

This week’s show sees the return of Hatewatch Watch, here renamed “Bashville” because of all the hate that Margaret has to aim at ABC’s Nashville. We then move on to the newest installment in our TV Book Club series, the first episode of Black Mirror. It is, how you say, not what we were expecting. Andrew also explains the art of faking an orgasm, which you should be able to use if you ever find y...

This week, we talk about sitcoms and social issues as Kathryn makes Andrew and Margaret watch The Carmichael Show and they wonder what the heck she was thinking. Once we're all on the same page, Kathryn discusses the way The Carmichael Show reminds her of Norman Lear's All in the Family, and we talk about the importance of having TV shows on the air that we don't necessarily like. We then turn to...

This week we continue our examination of fall TV by jumping into the first two episodes of ABC's The Muppets. Our verdict is mixed but mostly negative, and we share our concerns about the show's tone and format. We move on to a mailbag about Kathryn's controversial ruling last week, and then close out with a talk about TV tropes and why it's not always bad when they work out. We're also trying a n...

Kathryn moderates a debate between Andrew and Margaret about TV's best, primarily non-sexual female friendships—Kathryn must choose between Abby and Ilana from Comedy Central's Broad City or Emma and Maggie from USA's Playing House.  Then, Andrew tells everyone about a gem of a show from former professional wrestler and Minnesota governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura, the show bids a fond farewell to...

Andrew, Margaret and Kathryn add on to the pile of fall TV previews with a rundown of new series they're excited about, new series they just don't quite get, and returning shows they're looking forward to seeing again. After a brief dip into the mailbag, TV Bookclub returns with a discussion of episodes eight, nine and ten of the much mourned one season wonder, Terriers. 

Last week Margaret and Kathryn argued about the best summer reality TV show; this week, we sadly wave goodbye to summer with a discussion about TV seasonality and whether it is fading away. Andrew and Kathryn share their TV-trawling discoveries with a brief chat about Airplane Repo and Bait Car, and then we all return to TV Bookclub to talk about episodes five, six and seven of Terriers. 

Ah, summer, the time when TV usually takes a break from trying too hard. In this week's TV vs. TV segment, Margaret and Kathryn try to convince Andrew of the value of two experimental, off-the-wall summer reality shows: Whodunit, or For Love or Money. After letting Kathryn talk about how awful Celebrity Family Feud is, we then move on to the second, third, and fourth episodes of Terriers, that FX...

In episode two of Appointment Television, we tackle the art of the TV rewatch. Why do we do it? What do we watch? How do we feel about these shows and these characters the second or third time around? In the second half of the episode we call the first meeting of the TV Book Club - this week, we talk about the pilot of Terriers, a one-season wonder from FX. It's got a bad name, but it's a diamond...

Welcome, friends, to Appointment Television!  The first subject we tackle in this, our inaugural episode, are the mechanics of “behind-the-scenes” TV shows. These are the shows that attempt to show you the way something works—maybe it’s a radio station! Maybe it’s the White House! Maybe it’s a sketch comedy series! In any case, these shows use their real-world settings to drive stories that may or...