TV Pilot's License

A podcast about a tv show about a podcast? Marc Maron is salivating. It’s Only Murders in the Building!  We’re back in a big way friends, AND we finally remembered to pick Max up from soccer practice (sorry buddy). Join us as we deep dive on the original cast of Wizards of Waverly Place Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez reunited for a murder mystery now greenlit for its fifth seaso...

It’s that time of year! The end of it! The guys continue the tradition of individually reviewing the pilots of shows that got the old heave ho this year. Geoff gives us the Greek God Gab of Netflix’s KAOS, Max takes us to the dark world of Parish from AMC, and Rich rounds us out with the woulda coulda shoulda of the year with American Born Chinese from Disney+ It’s a cancellation spectacular!

G’Day Mates! Welcome to Dance Academy, the teen drama set in Straya! We have returning champion, first member of the Five-Timers Club Korama Danquah on this week who loves this show heaps. Airing on the Australian Broadcasting Company, this show starred Xenia Goodwin, Alicia Banit, Tim Pocock, Thom Green, Dena Kaplan and more. Join us as we dive into the mediocre pilot that set off a show that act...

This week we dive into the best spy agency with the worst possible name, it’s ARCHER! The guys welcome long time friend and co-pilot, actor/Model/Malort spokesman John Machesky! You can catch him in the new series Cowboy Dreams dropping 12/19 on the Vigloo app! Archer is the FX animated hit from Adam Reed which started as a character that embodies the sauve lifestyle he wanted. A little bit James...

Ironic this is on Lifetime because this week’s protagonist is big time DEAD!  It’s Drop Dead Diva! This week we welcome back returning champion J. W. Crump (past episodes Nick Arcade and JEM!) to your ears. He brought us this lovely show with a terrific cast including Brooke Elliott Jackson Hurst, Brooke D’Orsay, Margaret Cho and Ben Feldman. We talk fat politics in TV, legal procedurals, act...

Gobble Gobble Podcast freaks! It’s time for a tradition that goes back to our forefathers in 1978, the Turkeys Away Episode of WKRP in Cincinnati. Instead of a pilot, we went with the the episode that cemented WKRP’s place in sitcom lore. We cover how the show was made, the importance of this episode in the overall success fo the show, and of course, the insane Les Nessman report on the scene. Enj...

If you’re a fan of abstract, format breaking TV welcome to your new favorite episode! It’s Moonlighting, the comedy-drama-action series starring Cybill Shepherd as Maddie Hayes, professional supermodel who is fleeced by her investment advisor leaving her with the controlling share of a shady detective agency. This is an historical TV moment because we get introduced to future movie superstar Bruce...

A romantic… comedy…? Well alright if you say so! Your funeral. It’s the new Netflix series Nobody Wants This! A romantic comedy formatted for a full season of TV and a rare new show pilot for the podcast. An ambitious project for sure, but where does it fall in the great pantheon of Rom Coms? Starring the incredible Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, right off the bat you have an entire pilot dedicated...

You’ve gotta be veepin’ kidding me! It’s the fast talking, hammer swinging, uninhibited, unscripted, awards darling VEEP! Armando Iannucci, Scottish satirist, created this originally about the English government and let it explode in the world of the vice presidency in the US. Headed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as the fictional VEEP Selina Meyer, and backed up by improv and acting powerhouses Tony Hal...

They walk amongst us, ready to attack at any moment and turn us into lifeless husks, podcast hosts, podcast hosts everywhere. Welcome to beautiful, mythical Staten Island where we get to meet our way cool creatures of the night, its What We Do In the Shadows! The FX comedy powerhouse from the minds of New Zealand’s goofiest brains. This dream team of Taika Waititi, Jermaine Clement and Paul Simms,...

It’s high time we send you back to the pit of the damned where all vampires spawn from, the San Fernando Valley oooOOOoooOO! That’s right it’s BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, the high school Van Nuys Van Helsing with a name fit for a paper towel mascot. We’re tackling the beloved franchise adopted by Joss Whedon. Break out star Sarah Michelle Gellar brings Buffy to life with a core cast of Alyson Hannig...

Doctor doctor, gimme the news, I got a bad case of loving Hugh! It’s HOUSE MD BABY! The pill poppin’, heart stoppin’, chart toppin’ medical procedural. We’ve got all your favorites here at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Hugh Laurie, Lisa Edelstein, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard Jennifer Morrison and Jesse Spencer are your all-star team solving the special case medical mysteries. A fun an...

G-g-g-ghosts??? D-d-d-d-d-Dylan McDermott??? Grab your popcorn and leave your kids with the neighbors it’s fright night with American Horror Story. The show that brings the terrors of the silver screen to your living room. We talk about the history of the show, and it’s insanely prolific show runner Ryan Murphy. We’ve got everything here, campy horror, rude twins, Connie Britton, old ghosts, young...

5,6,7,8! TVPL heads to The Great White Way with a look back on NBC’s musical theatre drama, “Smash.” To quote Velma Kelly, I can’t do it alone, so we recruited the hottest duo on Broadway, Connor and Dylan MacDowell (DRAMA. with Connor & Dylan MacDowell) to join us this week! Our ensemble talks about the soon to be Broadway production of Smash, pledges our allegiances to either Team Karen or Team...

You pressed your call buttons and we answered! Presenting the first ever TVPL all in-flight questions episode! Join us as we dive into the topics that you, our frequent flyers, wanted to know including our desert island shows, chaos inducing fantasy casting, Letterboxd top four and so much more. Stick around to see what high ranking political figure Rich has been trying to book on the show and det...

Phillies Nation, stand up! First Always Sunny and now THIS?? Phanatic, come on the pod! That’s right folks, we’re popping into Mr. Feeny’s class for the first time on Boy Meets World. Come join us as we talk life in the fourth grade, teachers, baseball, Shakespeare, treehouses, detention, older siblings and the TGIF family show that brought us Cory and Topanga! Find out how this staple of family p...

Fall is here! And you know what that means, time to slightly hate all the friends you hold dear in the pursuit of $400! That’s right y’all it’s The League! The mostly improv story of 30-something friends engrossed in a cutthroat fantasy football league. The critics are calling it Curb but Chicago. With an unreal cast of improvisors, Nick Kroll, Paul Scheer, Jon Lajoie, Katie Aselton, Mark Duplass...

Wow Connecticut is so beautiful, I wish it were real. Welcome to beautiful Stars Hollow, where we have another cardigan-clad, cappuccino slugging, friend of the pod joining, the wonderful Rosey Blair! You may remember Rosey from our NYC girlie pop episodes, ‘Girls’ and ‘Sex & The City.’ Check those out on your page if you’re like us and cannot get enough of her. Rosey is back for another north eas...

The gang makes a podcast! Come take a lovely journey to our friends at Paddy’s Pub, you know, the hottest gay bar in town! We take you back to the long forgotten time of 2005. A young Rob McElhenney, started shooting a low budget pilot with actor friends Glenn Howerton, Charlie Day, and Kaitlin Olson. The group we’ve come to know and love all these years was born. All the milksteaks, the green men...

We have a saying here on the island: “leave us a 5-star review!” Aloha friends! This week we’re taking you to the island of O’ahu for some prime-time soap TV to compliment the Fox smash hit The OC. Does it work? Well… try finding the pilot anywhere other than YouTube and let us know what you think. Jason Matthews (Kristoffer Polaha) runs the Grand Waimea Hotel and Resort in this prime-time soap. A...

Okay… did we know this show had a great reputation? Sure. Did we know that this show was originally created by Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance? Definitely. Did we forget to tell Max that there was a talking monkey in it? I’m afraid so. Obviously we’re talking about the Netflix Original series The Umbrella Academy! Starring Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castaneda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Shee...

IT’S OLYMPIC (errr) BIG GAME FEVER Y’ALL! While you watch our ladies and gents pommel some horses and uneven some bars, let’s half tuck in to the ABC family show Make It Or Break It! Inspired by the 2006 movie Stick It, MIOBI is the brainchild of showrunner Holly Sorensen who wanted to make a drama centering around “The Rock” training center in Colorado. The show features actors Josie Loren, Ayla...

Where on earth can you get Shaquille O’Neal, Jim Palmer, Danny Tartabull, Bob Costas, Deion Sanders, Gary Payton, Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza, Tommy Lasorda, Don Mattingly, Scottie Pippen, Dan Marino, Barry Larkin, and the 1996 Miami Dolphins in the same room? An Arliss table read of course! This long-lasting cameo-loaded HBO original series is the brainchild of star Robert Wuhl who you’ll recognize...

Ring the Jimmy Burrows Alarm™️! We’re back with the smash hit Will & Grace! The show that brought gay comedy to the mainstream after the despicable shunning of the Ellen Degeneres show. Join us as we learn how it came to be, the legacy it leaves, and some fascinating tidbits about pilot and character development straight from the Jimmy Burrows memoir ‘Directed by James Burrows’ Come catch all your...

Do you have what it takes to be a sister at Kappa Kappa Tau? Tasteful fashion, a legacy mom, an unquenchable thirst for blood? Welcome to our own syllabus week for Scream Queens! Another Ryan Murphy staple taking the insanity and campiness of the Scream franchise and putting making it a star studded tv series! Hot off his last success with Glee, here comes Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts, Ariana Gr...