The TV Doctor

Send us some fan mail! It might just be the best show of the summer. Hell, it might just be the best show of all time. When a show says " I May Destroy You ," take it as a WHOLE trigger warning. There's so much to unpack here that it takes The TV Doctor and her Second Opinion ( New York Times bestselling author Elaine Welteroth) TWO episodes to do it. Here's the first. And don&...

Send us some fan mail! Dearest listener, do you take this podcast episode to be your downloaded and subscribed favorite? To positively review and rank? To laugh and to swoon? In long delays between episodes (blame COVID...I do) and House Calls on Instagram in the meantime, from this day forward, until a lack of internet do us part? You do? Then I now pronounce you ready for this episode! You may n...

Send us some fan mail! What do superheroes have in common with a 9-1-1 operator, a Parent Trap -esque dating spree, an Evil Queen, and the 1970s sitcom What's Happening ? They're all hints about the shows that made my list of the Best TV Pilots of all time! Can you use these hints to guess which shows I've chosen? You'll just have to listen to the episode to see if your guesses...

Send us some fan mail! The TV Doctor returns for a third season, kicking things off with a journey through the way three shows tackle the greatest question known to humankind: what do I BELIEVE? From the non-denominational certainty of Proof , to the ironically irreverent treatment of organized religion in Lucifer , to the dreamy optimism of Star Trek: Discovery , join in for a conversation of how...

Send us some fan mail! The representation of law enforcement on television is highly problematic, prompting some to call for it to be abolished along with the institutions it portrays. Others, like yours truly, instead recommend a change in the kind of representations we see (as well as more informed and critical consumption of television messages, of course). HBO's Watchmen has started that...

Send us some fan mail! Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the TV Doctor podcast. Its continuing mission: to explore strange (yet familiar) new topics, to seek out new understandings about television texts and new connections for listeners, and to boldly go where thousands of podcasts have surely gone before, but in a totally new way. Ready to talk Trek? Well then...ENGAGE!  --- Se...

Send us some fan mail! Cheers to the Badass! Let us salute the characters who are serving us toughness, intellect, respectability, success, bravery, empathy, and vulnerability. May we know them. May we be them. May we watch more of them on television. May we learn more about them in this week's episode. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message

Send us some fan mail! This is not your average "what to watch while you self-isolate" list. Take a sneak peek inside The TV Doctor's A List (shows you REALLY SHOULD WATCH but just haven't done so yet) and B List (shows you REALLY SHOULD WATCH but probably never will, if we're being totally honest). Do you agree or disagree? Did The TV Doctor forget a show that belongs on...

Send us some fan mail! If, like pretty much anyone who has Netflix, you've already heard of (or totally devoured) the "social experiment" known as Love is Blind , then why not hang out with The TV Doctor and friends for a spell as we chew it up and spit it out in all the ways you hadn't yet considered?   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message

Send us some fan mail! Gimme a "DOCU"...gimme a "SERIES"...what's that spell? It spells: we're talking about the docuseries on this week's episode! From the awe-inspiring beauty of Planet Earth to the surprising depth and empathy of CHEER , we explore the sub-genre that reality-based programming wants to be when it grows up. --- Send in a voice message: https://a...

Send us some fan mail! Don't worry that you're in the Emergency Room...you're under the capable care of The TV Doctor! It appears you have an acute case of SMOTS: Social Media on Television Syndrome. Your symptoms include blurry eyes (Where IS the line between reality and fiction online, anyway?) and text neck (which is a real thing...look it up), but our conversation about Netflix&...

Send us some fan mail! It's a question that has existed as long as the medium itself: can television be considered art? (Here's a hint: YES.) Now, here's a much younger question: how do we feel about art ON television? How does it impact the meanings we make and the positions we take as a result of being exposed to it? The gallery is open... --- Send in a voice message: https://anch...

Send us some fan mail! No need to grab a hammer, you won't need your hot glue gun, and put down that tape measure. The only thing you'll need for this episode about DIY-TV is a time and place to listen! Let's get all "home and garden" with it, shall we? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message

Send us some fan mail! Celebrities: they're just like us (if by "like us," you mean they too freak out when their opportunities to embarrass and/or exonerate themselves on national television start to dry up)! In this episode, the TV Doctor ponders the nature of what the folks over at VH1 call "Celebreality" -- are they wearing masks on the show, or is it their real life f...

Send us some fan mail! Who doesn't love a good countdown? It's the end of the year AND the end of the decade, and everyone wants to tell you about their Top 10 shows ( Game of Thrones , Breaking Bad , Mad Men ...blah blah blah). The TV Doctor, however, wants to tell you about the OTHER Top 10 shows, the ones that everyone else snubbed, ignored, missed, or forgot. Can you guess which show...

Send us some fan mail! From Saturday Night Live to MADtv , from Key and Peele to A Black Lady Sketch Show , and a quick stop in Portlandia , this episode breaks the fourth wall between the audience and the stage in that television staple, the sketch comedy. In this episode, the TV Doctor considers the quiet revolution taking place on Comedy Central, the incredible burden of being critical of one&a...

Send us some fan mail! It's the Season Finale, so it's only right that we wrap up our first season with a fond look back at the way we were (and apparently, we were advertising executives on Madison Avenue in New York City, rock star flight attendants, and time traveling, crime fighting history enthusiasts)! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message

Send us some fan mail! After weeks and weeks of The TV Doctor dragging   The Walking Dead around (like Michonne used to drag her zombie "pets"), it's finally time to learn what really motivates the Doctor's discontent. We're doing a Dead deep dive, y'all! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message

Send us some fan mail! What does it mean that it's been 25+ years and The Golden Girls is still the "gold" standard when it comes to representations of older people on television? We'll also ponder why Ron Cephas Jones is such a national treasure, why we could never cancel Betty White, and why our love for Majel Barrett Roddenberry is written in the stars. --- Send in a voice m...

Send us some fan mail! From Dracula and the Wolf Man to being exorcised or buried alive, there's tons of spooky fun to be had on the small screen. No need to go to the theater...just scoot a little closer to your viewing partner on that couch, and enjoy one or all of the bone tingling delights suggested in this week's episode.   --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/me...

Send us some fan mail! The TV Doctor gets a Second Opinion from a real live actor on the topic of shows that depict the chasing of dreams. The OTC is an assortment of feel good moments from Reality-Based programs, and in Urgent Care, the TV Doctor writes a prescription for herself...it might be unethical in the real world, but it's just fine in podcast land! --- Send in a voice message: https...

Send us some fan mail! If you are a television show, there is only one fate worse than death: jumping the shark. You were once young and fresh and sexy, but then you ran out of interesting things to say, and you thought a gimmick would be the way to make people love you again. You were wrong. You jumped the shark, buddy, and now we're going to talk about you in ways you're not going to l...

Send us some fan mail! Have you ever wondered what the following items have in common: the Stanford Prison Experiment, Batman: the animated series , Tales from the Crypt , musculoskeletal radiology, and Jimmy Iovine? No? Well, The TV Doctor is here to connect it all for you anyway. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message

Send us some fan mail! Exploitative television (TV that benefits from the pleasure we get from watching the hot messiness of others) is on the rise, and it's got us addicted, even when it's a show on the topic of addiction! Find out why Reality TV "stars" would sign up to be exploited; how Alicia Jay created a Giant Life on her own terms; and why Intervention is beautiful and t...

Send us some fan mail! They say you should feed a cold and starve a fever, but this fever deserves to be fed! This week's shows are lighting a fire under antiquated notions of who should be represented on television and in what ways. We'll explore three shows that are turning up the heat on your screens and representing the LGBTQIA+ community with integrity, nuance, complexity, and love....