Contending at the Water Cooler

Team Contending gathers around the Water Cooler to spill the tea on the Emmy nominations 2026 edition, led by HBO Max’s The Pitt . Today, the Television Academy unveiled their Emmy nominations 2026 . HBO Max’s The Pitt led all series by nearly doubling its take from last year with 25 nominations. The medical series overcame some relatively quiet naysayers to get in across the board inc...

Twas a few days before Emmy nominations… Megan and Joey sit down and parse through our recently posted Emmy nomination predictions (Clarence is still traveling back from attending Taylor and Travis’ MSG nuptials, duh…) since some readers need to hear our thoughts while they run on the treadmill or take their pup for a stroll. There’s a lot of talk about The Pitt, Hacks, The...

AppleTV’s  Widow’s Bay developed seemingly overnight into an online viral sensation. Will the Television Academy be equally bewitched? AppleTV began screening episodes of its latest series  Widow’s Bay several months before its late April premiere date. That’s always a good sign. Critics reacted in kind: the series achieved a 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 78/100 on Me...

It’s a hot (and spoiler-filled) one at the Water Cooler this week: Megan, Joey, and Clarence face off on Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day.  Steven Spielberg remains one of history’s greatest and most influential directors. Audiences tend to pay attention when he tackles the question of whether or not we’re alone. In the grand scheme of “alone.” Aliens, we&#8217...

David Phillips meets with  Industry’s Marisa Abela to discuss the series’ development and her personal growth as an actor . HBO’s Industry started out as a sharply written, crisply shot, and boldly performed cult show that may not have had a huge audience, but those who tuned in were ardent followers. While the show seemed destined to maintain its cult following, viewership took...

Joey and Megan finally weigh in with their  Obsession  reaction and dip their toes into  Margot’s Got Money Troubles. There’s no doubt about it: everyone is talking about Curry Barker’s Obsession . The $750,000 film has made boatloads of cash since it debuted last week, and horror on a budget has had quite the run these last few weeks. Megan and Joey dissect who is the film&#8217...

The Emmy 2026 documentary landscape includes two buzzy Netflix documentaries: the touching Marty, Life is Short and the viral The Crash . The 2026 Emmy documentary landscape includes the typically wide array of potential contenders. Netflix added to the pile with two buzzy titles that recently debuted.  Marty, Life is Short lovingly explores the career and personal life of Martin Short, one of our...

Memorial Day marks the beginning of Summer 2026. We offer up the 15 entertainment milestones we’re hottest for this year. Summer 2026 is here. It’s hot out, and movies are already burning up the box office. But there’s more to summer than just good movies. This week at the Water Cooler, Clarence, Joey, and Megan each list the five events, films, music releases, television shows,...

This week at the Water Cooler, Megan & Joey dive into Jack Thorne’s Netflix adaptation of the classic novel Lord of the Flies . If you can wade through all the chatter Megan and Joey do about high school and the politics of Lincoln High, you might be able to survive the unexpected brutality of Netflix’s limited series, Lord of the Flies. William Golding’s 1954 novel has been...

‘What’s up, faggots?’ is the first line of Elliot Tuttle’s buzzed about new flick, Blue Film . The two-hander, starring Kieron Moore and Reed Birney, has courted some controversy before its release this weekend, but the reviews have been really solid so far. Frank and I are always talking about the queer films that don’t get as much attention as the ones that enter th...

First up, we review The Devil Wears Prada 2 . Then, we continue in our “Megan’s Never Seen This Michael Douglas Movie” journey with The War of the Roses . This week, we chat about Meryl Streep’s return as Miranda Priestly in  The Devil Wears Prada 2 . The sequel to Oscar-nominated film revisits the publishing industry in a modern, digital era. How does this film justify its...

In Episode 550, we look deeply and longingly at The Pitt.  How much did we love Season 2? More importantly, how will Season 2 rewrite The Pitt Emmy narrative? We love  The Pitt, and that did not change with Season 2. Yes, certain online communities seem to have already turned on the medical drama, but we believe Season 2 remained consistent in its extraordinary character depth and authenticity. Af...

Joey and Clarence look at  Beef  Season 2: the themes, the performances, and its Emmy chances. Plus, an early look at  Michael . Beef Season 2 dropped last week without the typical Netflix limited series fanfare. Audiences reacted in kind: initial ratings ranked 60% lower from season to season. But  Beef  Season 2 may not be a shower, more of a grower. Starring Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, Lee...

We continue our break down of the 2026 Emmys race where we focus on the bleak Comedy Actor race and the 2-woman Comedy Actress race. We’re back from our spring break and ready to tear into the 2026 Emmys race once more. With HBO MAX’s  Hacks receiving series-best reviews in its final season, we wonder if anyone can beat Jean Smart’s clean sweep. Will she win Comedy Actress for al...

Joey and Megan kick off Emmys 2026 with a look at the early frontrunners as we head into the end of the eligibility window. Are you ready to dive into some Emmy contenders? Yes, it is only April 1st, but we already have some bonafide Emmy passion with even more on the horizon. Megan and Joey begin this Emmy season with discussing the conclusion to Connor Hines’ Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr...

With the Oscars behind us, Joey and Clarence introduce Megan to the classic erotic thriller  Basic Instinct . With Oscars 2026 put to bed, we’re turning our sights elsewhere this week. A few podcasts ago, Megan shockingly revealed that she’d never seen the 1992 erotic thriller  Basic Instinct . Directed by Paul Verhoven from a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas,  Basic Instinct stars Sharon S...

Joey, Megan, and Clarence regroup at the Water Cooler for an Oscar Quickie to reflect on the 2026 Oscar ceremony. We waited 24 hours to let the 2026 Oscar ceremony sink in. We wanted to let a little perspective in before passing full judgment on last night’s 98th Annual Academy Awards. And we think that’s a good idea that should be echoed across the internet. So, Joey, Megan, and Clare...

The full roster at The Contending gathers around the Water Cooler to give their (somewhat) final 2026 Oscars predictions! We are about to put the 2026 Oscars season to bed. Join the full team at The Contending as we give our predictions (as they stand at the time of recording) across all 24 Oscar categories. Some (Animated Feature, Song, Best Actress, to name a few) seem like foregone conclusions....

Following last night’s surprising and at times emotional Actor Awards, we chat about the 2026 Best Actor and Best Actress Oscar races. It was a big weekend of film awards. If you follow the Oscar race, then you’re either cemented that  One Battle After Another ‘s Best Picture coronation is inevitable or you’re convinced that a Sinners upset waits in the wings. There’s...

Jalal joins the Water Cooler to discuss this weekend’s shocking BAFTA Supporting awards and to weigh in on France’s favorite, Ella McCay . We’re not sure what’s more shocking: this weekend’s BAFTA Awards or French film critics’ great love of James L. Brooks’ Ella McCay.  But, we are here to break it all down for you. First up, we thought we had a handle on...