Socially Distanced

The moral gray and "thicc mushroom daddies" are on tap today for Socially Distanced. Host Bill Bodkin is joined by resident guest Alisha Weinberger and special guest Kelly McGovern to discuss The Last of Us Episode 5, 'Endure and Survive.'  The episode pre-game has the trio discuss their favorite movie trailers from last Sunday's big game -- Scream VI, Fast X, Indiana Jones and the Dial of De...

The Last of Us Episode 4 brought Joel and Ellie into a new world of danger, and the Socially Distanced team is here to talk about it all. Al Mannarino, Amanda Rivas and Bill Bodkin are joined by Pop Break staff writer Sam Niles (who writes The Last of Us reviews for the site, and hosted the Marshall's Movies Podcast ) to discuss everything that went down in "Please Hold to My Hand." They discuss t...

The Last of Us Episode 3, 'Long, Long Time' may just be one of the best episodes of television ever, and Socially Distanced is talking about. Amanda Rivas, Al Mannarino and Bill Bodkin are joined by Alisha Weinberger to discuss this landmark episode of the fledgling series. In the episode they discuss the performances of Nick Offerman as Bill (shockingly no the original actor cast in the role) and...

It's time to talk about the first undeniable runaway hit TV series of 2023 -- HBO's The Last of Us. Al Mannarino, Amanda Rivas and Bill Bodkin are joined by their favorite "geriatric millennial daddy" Alisha Weinberger to discuss the small screen adaptation of Naughty Dog's classic video game series. They discuss video game adaptations, Pedro Pascal's performance as Joel and how it differs from Ma...

Join us on The Golden Mile as we discuss the final film in the Cornetto Trilogy -- The World's End! Released in 2013, the film was the final time Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have worked as trio and the film remains one of their most underrated to date. Pop Break senior writer Ryan DeMarco and his cadre of cats joins Al Mannarino, Amanda Rivas and Bill Bodkin to discuss the ultimate bar...

Here comes the fuzz!  The Cornetto Trilogy (aka The Three Flavours Cornetto) rewatch continues with Hot Fuzz the 2007 action comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (and directed by Edgar Wright).  Al Mannarino, Amanda Rivas and Bill Bodkin are joined by comedian Melissa Jouben who helped inspire the rewatch series during our Spaced episode from last year. On the episode they discuss t...

Yeaaaa boooiiiii ... welcome to the Season 4 premiere of The Socially Distanced Podcast! The podcast kicks off 2023 with its first-ever rewatch series as for the next three weeks we're watching the films of The Cornetto Trilogy. This episode kicks things off with the greatest rom-zom-com of all-time, Shaun of the Dead . Bill Bodkin, Al Mannarino and Amanda Rivas are joined by Tyler McCarthy and Al...

It's the final episode of 2022 aka Season 3 of the podcast. Bill Bodkin, Al Mannarino, Amanda Rivas, Kat Manos, Cole Rothacker and Ben Murchison get together for the final part of the Socially Distanced Holiday Spectacular to present the first ever Socially Distanced Awards! The Main Event: The First Annual Socially Distanced Awards Category #1: The Bluey Award for The Best Television Series of 20...

Yipee Kay Yay! The second part of the Socially Distanced Podcast's Holiday Spectacular continues with a deep dive into the ultimate Christmas movie -- Die Hard ! The inspiration for this show came from Pop Break's podcast editor Alex Marcus, who despite seeing almost every movie known to man, has never seen Die Hard ... so what better time of year to do it than the Christmas season! Alex joins Bil...

Welcome to Part One of the first-ever Socially Distanced Holiday Special! In this special, Bill Bodkin, Amanda Rivas and Ben Murchison "review" the infamous 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. The special which aired on November 17, 1978 starred Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Bea Arthur, Art Carney, Harvey Korman, Jefferson Starship and Diahann Carroll. It's one of the wil...

It's the final review episode of 2022!  Hosts Amanda Rivas and Bill Bodkin are joined by "Socially Distanced Hall of Famer" Ben Murchison to dive into the new world of LucasFilm properties. They begin the episode discussing the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (aka Indiana Jones 5). They discuss their hopes and fears about the fifth (and probably final) Indy film. Willow, the...

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Socially Distanced celebrates the beginning of the holiday season with a present -- the return of Al Mannarino! Al joins Bill Bodkin, Amanda Rivas and Ben Murchison to talk about the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and the first season of Andor . Drax, Mantis and Kevin Bacon are on everyone's minds when discussing the excellent Guardians of the Gal...

Socially Distanced heads back to the MCU to discuss the latest record-breaking Marvel Studios film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever starring Letitia Wright, Tenoch Huerta, Angela Bassett, Lupita N'Yongo and Danai Gurrira. Host Bill Bodkin is joined by Pop Break wrestling editor and senior writer Murjani Rawls (also the lead film and TV writer for Substream Magazine) and Nynoshka Vazquez Suaro -- a...

James Gunn and Peter Zafran are the new heads of DC Studios, so the crew at Socially Distanced Podcast are discussing the future of the DC Extended Universe. Hosts Amanda Rivas and Bill Bodkin are joined by Dan Cohen -- a former Pop Break film editor, the current host of the Batman by the Numbers Podcast and the author of the Bold Box Office Predictions column. In the episode they discuss the curr...

Are you ready for some football? Good! The NFC East (now BEAST) Group Therapy Session has reconvened and we're excited to talk about all things football. Hosts Bill Bodkin and Amanda Rivas are joined by "The #1 Commander in Our Hearts" Ben Murchison, "The Voice of God" Marshall Stevenson (of Blerd Life with My Wife & Blerd Watchers) and Lucas "Picks Terribly in Fantasy" Jones.  In the epi...

It's time to re-enter the House Pop Break as we're talking all things about the Game of Thrones Universe. Hosts Bill Bodkin (third of his name) and Amanda Rivas (Queen of Dragonstone) are joined by Ben Murchison (The #1 Commander of The Kingsguard) to discuss Season 1 of HBO's House of the Dragon .  Prior to HOTD talk, they discuss Doctor Who moving to Disney+ and the reveal of the new (inter...

Welcome to the spookiest episode of The Socially Distanced Podcast! This week host Bill Bodkin is joined by venerable panel of horror aficionados -- Pop Break staff writer Tommy Tracey, the #1 Commander of our Hearts Ben Murchison (admirably filling in for Ann Hale - get well soon!) and the absolute ace, Kelly McGovern to discuss Halloween Ends. They gruesome foursome talk about the highly divisiv...

The Socially Distanced Podcast dives deep into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a review of Werewolf by Night and the entire first season of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law . Hosts Bill Bodkin and Amanda Rivas are joined by Matt Kelly -- host of Nando v. Movies , The Nando Cut and The Mostly Nitpicking Podcast (as well as the guy behind the name "The Pop Break" and the current design of the site). In...

Hello you lucky people, you! Socially Distanced heads to 23 Meteor Street in Northern London (metaphorically speaking) to discuss the brilliant British sitcom -- SPACED. The series air in 1999 and 2001 on Channel 4 in the UK and starred Simon Pegg, Jessica Stephenson, Nick Frost, Mark Heap, Katy Carmichael and Julia Deakin and was directed by Edgar Wright. Hosts Bill Bodkin and Al Mannarino (in hi...

Socially Distanced returns to a galaxy far, far away as we're talking about the first four episodes of the new Star Wars Disney+ series, Andor. Hosts Al Mannarino and Bill Bodkin are joined by resident Star Wars walking encyclopedia Amanda Rivas and Pop Break staff writer Ben Murchison to discuss the Rogue One prequel series. Before they jump into the Star Wars Universe, the gang talks about the a...

Sea. Hear. Now 2022 is in the books and there's lots to talk about. Hosts Bill Bodkin and Al Mannarino are joined by their least favorite person Ryan DeMarco to discuss the annual music fest that takes place on the Asbury Park Beachfront. Ryan, Bill and Al discuss this year's lineup as opposed years prior, the evolution of the festival, the change in vibe of the festival, improvements that could b...

We're reacting to all the LucasFilm news from Disney's D23 Expo last weekend. Hosts Bill Bodkin and Amanda Rivas are joined by the newly married Pop Break senior staff writer Ben Murchison to discuss Willow: The Series , Indiana Jones 5 , and all things Star Wars . They dive deep on the future of a potential "Indyverse" and how Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge could make for an interesting successor...

Socially Distanced makes its return to Middle-Earth! In this episode host Bill Bodkin is joined by Alex "The Grey" Marcus -- the wizard of all things podcast on Pop Break and Rachel Freeman -- The Galadriel of The Pop Break (aka Comic Books and Anime Editor) to discuss Amazon Prime Video's high-priced new series, Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power . In the episode we discuss our relationship with P...

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has so many new films and TV shows on the horizon. Hosts Bill Bodkin and Al Mannarino are joined by Allie Nelson and Tyler McCarthy of The Not Couple Goals podcast to predict the future of the MCU. In the episode they stunt cast the roles of the entire Fantastic Four, Wonder Man, Wolverine, Professor X, Doctor Doom, Storm, Jean Grey, Cyclops and other X-Men. They talk...

After three years, the doors to "The House Pop Break" have re-opened as we return to Westeros to discuss the brand GoT Universe series, House of the Dragon. Host Bill Bodkin is joined by the new third host of the show, Amanda Rivas to discuss the new series along with Socially Distanced regular, Pop Break staff writer and the #1 Washington Guardians fan Ben Murchison and Aaron Sarnecky, the co-hos...