The Big TV Preview Episode!

Hey everyone.

This is the first of its kind.

It's the only podcast episode that we have ever done where we do not spoil a thing.

Nothing to be spoiled.

You can hear the whole episode.

So we're back.

We're back twice in one week.

That's not our usual schedule.

This is kind of a bonus episode.

We're going to talk about upcoming shows from January through the spring.

We're going to gauge our interest, let you know about where to find them.

You might want to watch along and listen along to us.

Normally we're out on Tuesday and we do a non spoiler segment and then a spoiler segment.

But here it's all non spoilers.

We haven't seen any of these shows but we still have opinions on what we think.

If we might watch them, will they be any good?

Hope you enjoy this bonus episode.

Thanks for listening.

If you do like us, let us know.

We really don't know.

We see sometimes the number of listeners, but we never really know.

Email us, tell us you enjoyed it.

We do not mind that whatsoever.

Leave us a Review.

Give us 5 stars if your podcast app allows you to do that.

This is episode 269.

Can you believe we've been going that long?

We're all three in the saddle today.

It's me, it's Adam, it's Donovan.

We're talking shows coming late winter, early spring.

Are they any good?

Let's find out.

Let's get the guys in here.

A Alabama tape projection.

Yes, indeed.

Bonus.

It's all three of us again and damn if it isn't sudden.

On top of all that, it's a rare episode with no spoilers at all on any television episode because we've seen none of these.

We're previewing them, so we'll have to avoid spoilers.

When talking about these, I will mention a couple of shows from the top 10 list from 2025 on the Alabama tag.

You can look at those in full.

So what I'll do is I'll give a little later on.

I'm gonna give descriptions, creator stars, maybe more to Donovan and Adam and we'll gauge our interest level.

Why or why not belief in its success maybe or whatever we want to say about these possible TV shows that are January through April.

I think is as far as this list will go.

But before we get there, any qualms about my end of the year list?

I'm always admit my qualm is that I'm not able to make one.

Yeah.

Oh well, you can.

I mean, no, no, no, not not in the.

I'm physically unable to make one or do not have a space in which to post it.

But you.

You always manage to have both your favorites, and often you're like, I hated this.

And I'm like, I didn't watch anything I hated.

Cause I just.

Cause you don't.

I did something else.

But, like, you.

You're more on it than me.

I'm gonna be 100% honest with you, Blaine.

I do not remember what your best ones are.

That's okay.

It's been a while.

Because I.

Because my favorite is your worst ones.

I almost like it more than the.

Cause a lot of times.

Oh, your favorite to read.

Yeah, yeah.

Because a lot of times, like, I mean, you'll.

You'll often like a lot of the stuff that you is in your favorites.

It's like, oh, yeah, we.

We.

I watch that too.

But a lot of, like, the bad stuff, I'm like, I want to know, number one, why did Blaine hate it?

And number two, what it is so I can stay away from it.

But we both watched Adults, which was on my.

That was.

That was easily my worst TV show of 2020, and I was not surprised to find it on there.

That one was bad.

So, yeah, I gotta.

I'm actually.

I'm pulling up your best.

Oh, I can't remember.

Okay.

Yes, I remember your Worst better than your best.

You guys riffing on Adults, which I never saw, but remember y' all talking about it?

Y'.

All.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Y', all, like, described something that happened, and I laughed, and y' all were like, no, no, no, it wasn't funny.

We just did.

Is far funnier than.

Yeah, Donovan and I could have written that show, except we're just a little too old to have written it.

But it's such a funny thing when, like, you describing something ends up being a better quality than the thing itself.

Yes, it was not great.

No, my number one was Adolescence.

And yes, my number two, I think, was Task.

I remember now that I looked at it.

Honestly, Blaine, my own.

This is not a qualm.

Because I might just say I like, I might move andor higher, but damn if I know which of those top three I would move down for.

Andor.

Say, are you moving Severance down?

No, I don't.

Maybe Severance.

Severance was third.

Was good.

I think Task was your number two.

Blaine Tassa.

Two.

So Severance must have been third or fourth?

Third.

And then fourth was Andor.

Yes.

Yeah.

All right.

You put Chad Powers on there, and by gosh, if it's.

If it's not the award, you know, the winner of the Doing better than it needs to be.

Yeah.

You know, it deserved to be up there.

Now, where I also put this season.

Of It's Always Sunny.

Now, what I might have moved down a little bit, move some other things up is.

Is the season of the.

Of the Bear.

Okay.

Lower or higher?

Probably a little lower.

Yeah.

And.

And the more this is maybe not fair to the talented people who work on the Bear, but the more I was thinking about this season, I just felt like I see your tricks, you know, like, they're like, okay, now we're gonna be like, you know, we're having a conversation, like, in the kitchen.

And.

Yeah, like, I'm really stressed.

And that's.

And it's like I.

It felt somewhat artificial, which is not fair.

These people are very good at their jobs.

I think perhaps the emotions that the bear trades in can very easily overstay their welcome.

Like, they're very powerful.

But I don't know, because when I saw that you had it seventh, I thought, yeah, that feels right.

Well, the wedding episode and the last episode where Carm and Sidney finally hashed out things, almost like a play, I thought, gave it a top 10.

Now, if those two episodes had not been there, it would have been, you know, what, 15 something.

It was still.

They were still doing good stuff for sure.

Like, it wasn't.

It wasn't bad, you know, this is not worst of tv.

You know, My takeaway from this list not to jump topics here is that I have to remind myself it's time to watch Death by Lightning.

Oh, yeah, totally.

It's only folds.

I know.

And then this would have been.

This is a great wintertime show, you know, like, we'll get into what's coming up next as far as new stuff, but, like, this would be a nice one to knock out in a week or two.

Oh, yeah, And Death by Lightning is, you know, this, I guess by now, but it's so much better than you think it is.

Yeah, I thought too, two good performances as, you know, Michael Shannon and I've completely forgotten his name.

McFadden.

Thanks.

But also, Nick Offerman is really damn good in it.

I thought he.

I thought he elevated himself to.

To something really good in as much.

As, like, a stray thought went through my head, like, should I read about a President from the 1880s now?

Instantly I was like, that's foolish.

It's the case that if this guy would have lived, we might have been a little bit better for A while.

Yeah, it was good.

And at four episodes, it's really short and sweet.

I appreciate you guys glancing at the list.

That list, both the best of and worst of, are on the Alabama take.

Anybody can go read them, figure it out for yourself.

Leave us a comment.

What?

Did you like what you hate from last year?

It's the new year, though, so let's dive into this.

Most talked about shows that are coming between now and April.

And again, I think that's as far as this list goes.

So we're talking late winter and spring hbo.

I don't know if y' all have seen this.

HBO is claiming it has its strongest season of television this year.

Have you all seen them?

Like, that's not a headline I've seen.

Commercial.

Yeah, that's not like a vulture.

That's not AV Club saying something.

They are saying.

Nope.

This is our best list of television shows ever.

Blaine, that's prop.

That's propaganda.

With the changes that have happened at HBO and the fact that that reeks of, like a dude declaring himself the strongest guy in the room or the toughest guy in the room, it's like, I hate that.

But wait till you hear this list.

I'm sure it's going to be good.

I just don't like that.

All right, we'll run them down here.

HBO is my home for tasteful nudity, and I like them better when they stick to the basics.

Well, they've almost quit that.

Tasteful, at least.

Maybe we're not watching the right HBO shows.

First up, though, is the Pit.

It returned for its second season, honestly, a couple of weeks ago by now, and it's even gotten a third season before the.

Before the second even aired for me.

Can't be more excited.

I watched the first episode.

Thursdays are real again.

We have a tendency in our home to watch them when they release.

It's just such good television.

So this is.

The whole house is watching.

Well, not my daughter.

Yeah, but a little too many.

A little too many open chest cavities for my daughter.

Well, me too, but it's.

That's my fear, y'.

All.

It's always interesting.

What.

What takes over a house.

You know what I mean?

What.

What show is like.

No, this night is for whatever this is, and that's very rare these days.

Well, my wife watches.

We don't watch TV together a lot because she will watch Real Housewives and stuff like that.

And she also can watch shows while she's folding laundry or.

Or.

Or planning something for work.

And I can't this is our We Watch It Together show.

Yeah.

And it's good.

It's been getting good buzz to this new season.

But you seem to really enjoy it.

I'm kind of.

I. I have to, like, nerve myself up to watch it for the chest cavity reasons.

Oh, man, I haven't watched it yet.

Yeah, there are a few of those.

We're gonna be jumping around everywhere.

Netflix.

This too's already out, and I haven't watched it yet.

Came out on January 8th.

And Netflix drops all episodes, so our listeners may have seen his and hers.

It's from a novel.

No, Donovan's out on reading.

I don't like reading.

Oh, this is a show.

So good.

Good.

Oh, it's film.

Yeah.

But it was associated with a book at one point, which, you know, the fingerprints of literature are tough to shake off.

Who has time for this one?

Stars Tessa Thompson, whom I like a lot, and John Bernthal.

So Tessa Thompson's a journalist investigating a murder in her hometown, and Bernthal is the detective who does not trust her.

So it sounds boilerplate as hell, but give me Tessa Thompson and John Bernthal and I might watch it.

It's been getting pretty mixed to negative reviews.

Oh, no.

So, I mean, it's a January Netflix show.

What do we expect?

I'll still check some of it out.

At least some.

You're a glutton for it.

Nah.

And then on Apple tv, you guys might remember this one, Apple tv, which you would have assumed this one would be a one and done.

It's Hijack, The Idris Elba show about the airplane.

I found the first season compelling, and I watched it all, so.

But what more is there to say?

Yeah, Is this.

We're getting into the Die Hard 2 territory where.

Jesus Christ, so much happens to this guy.

Well, maybe he'll hijack, like, a sailboat or something.

What else can you hijack?

I don't know.

I mean, so, yeah.

How do you keep getting yourself into this kind of trouble?

I don't know.

Could be good.

Idris Elba is still good actor.

Hell, take a bus next time.

But maybe that gets hijacked.

Maybe that turns into speed for him.

That would.

Yeah.

Anything can be hijacked, Blaine.

Drive your own goddamn car.

That can also be hijacked.

I'll take that over from you.

Carjacked.

Can you imagine getting carjacked and you're sitting in the passenger seat and someone who doesn't even know how to drive safely is driving?

That must be so scary.

What if it's not actually A carjack.

And you just mistakenly get into a waymo.

Eight episodes of someone not understanding what that is.

Yeah.

Last year, especially toward the end, I noticed Peacock really trying to elevate its game this coming.

Let's see.

Is this.

It's January 15th.

I forgot what day we released this episode, but it's called Ponies, all capital letters.

It stars Emilia Clarke and Haley Lou Richardson as ponies and what that is in 1977.

Moscow.

Ponies is an acronym of People of no interest.

So they must.

Oh, that sounds boring.

They must be people of interest if, you know.

But it's in the title of the show, Blaine.

It's a spy thriller, though.

This is the first one that I was.

I thought, oh, I might watch that.

Yeah, dude, it's spy thriller.

Moscow, 1977.

Yeah, it's got the right ingredients.

Probably looks pretty gritty.

Was there something exciting happening in Moscow in 1977?

I mean, I failed to see the appeal.

Well, they may have been able to get the bootlegs of the May 77 run by the Grateful Dead, so that would be exciting.

Rip Bob, Willy.

What may be one of the biggest.

And allowing HBO to make that bold proclamation.

It's the year's probably might be the year's most watched, second most watched.

The Night of the Seven Kingdoms.

It has my attention.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, yeah, me too.

It's a century before Game of Thrones.

We got this guy Sir Ducken and his squire, and they're going to get into shenanigans, guys.

That's what I watch for.

Yeah, look, it's Game of Thrones.

It's getting prime HBO Sunday slot on January 18th.

I think we're in.

Right.

I'm hopeful for it.

And I also feel HBO's decision to film things featuring Game of Thrones, that doesn't make George R.R.

martin suicidally depressed is a good one.

My question is, will they show Pean?

Oh, Sir Pean.

He's a pretty big character.

Yeah, yeah.

Great.

Great character.

You know, HBO has done something that I thought was very wise the last.

At least the last two Christmases that I've noticed, and that's if you have an actual Cable subscription or YouTube TV and you have HBO, they just start playing Game of Thrones a couple days after Christmas.

Like they start on season one, and they just play it.

You ate it up this year.

I did last year, too.

Well, you were texting us more about it this year.

You were like, oh, you gotta watch it.

Yeah, well, we leave our TV on for the dog.

If we're coming or going.

It's like.

It's a nice ambient noise, you know, that classic thing.

And so you walk through and you're like, oh, yeah, this was a great show.

Yeah.

And I bring that up because so many of the great moments are outside the houses of power, you know, the spaces of power.

I mean, those were great, too, but, like, the shenanigans along the Kings Road, the.

The general.

Like, we're in the woods just shooting the shit.

It's like, those were great.

Hey, the last episode is still visually stunning.

The last episode of Game of Thrones.

Yeah.

It's not a great ending, but it's a visually stunning episode for sure.

Yeah.

And I. I think that that left.

I mean, how many times have we had this conversation on this show?

Like, how sour a taste that left in everybody's mouth?

Yeah.

And the House of Dragons is, like, it's pretty good.

It's fun, but it's not really.

I think this.

This is a nice way into that world.

I'm glad you mentioned House of Dragons, because it's next on the list.

Its new season drops this summer or a little later, which I'll look forward to.

Yeah, I'm looking for.

I was much higher on season two than I was on the first season.

Not that season two was perfect.

I thought season one was fine.

Obviously, I watched the second season.

I remember loving season two.

I remember loving how they brought those guys into the cave and were like, go give it a try, bud.

If they're building on the good stuff that they did in the second season, I think it could be really good.

Go see if you find a dragon down there, buddy.

Jump on down there.

Who's next?

Yeah.

And now, as an owner of a bearded dragon, I know the danger immense.

Is it the fire seething?

He's in the room with me.

Okay.

Over on Disney plus, which you may have forgotten existed.

It's fair.

Premiering is Wonder man on January 27th.

Not that excited about Marvel stuff, but Donovan.

I was gonna say fool me once.

Yeah.

But here's the thing, okay?

Here's the one thing this is about.

They're finally getting meta.

Like, deeply meta.

This is a show about a Hollywood company making a series about a superhero.

They're finally acknowledging we have superheroes in our world.

Wouldn't there be a show about one?

Now I'm good.

I read Animal man here.

I want to throw the gauntlet down to Marvel.

Yes, Marvel, you bunch of cowards.

You own the rights to Miracle Man.

Written by Alan Moore.

Miracle Man.

Alan Moore and the artist decided that it was very, very, very important to them in kind of their second big chunk of the arc, to show an entirely anatomically correct childbirth.

Wow.

Put that on tv, Marvel.

Is that real?

That's real.

Is it gross?

Yeah, it's anatomically correct.

So you tell me.

Wow.

And that's something that, like, they discussed, and you're like, we're gonna put this in our comic book.

So, Marvel, you've owned the rights.

Ball's in your court.

Yeah.

Wonder man stars Yahya Abdul Martin ii.

And he's some good acting.

I don't know.

I'm kind of with Donovan.

Fool me once.

Right.

Shrinking is going to return on January 28th, and I'm sure.

Well, just because the water's cold.

Blaine, come on.

They're all trying to figure out who's crazy and who's not.

Spoiler.

They all are.

You said no spoilers.

Blaine, come on.

I know Adam watches this one.

What does this show need to do to maintain your interest?

You know, this almost has the quality of, like, a elevated sitcom.

Okay.

And that, like, do you really needed to do all that much?

Yeah.

Follow the recipe.

It's like a band that makes really good records within themselves, and, like, as long as they, like, kind of maybe take it in some new ground just slightly, then that's fine.

If the story is compelling, I'm sure that I will get tired of this show at some point, but it's a very easy one to.

To just click on and, you know, and I think they left enough character arcs in interesting places.

If I'm remembering, there's.

There's questions of mortality and not childhood ending, but, you know, new beginnings with young adults and a lot of life changes.

So that.

That seems like it would be pretty rich ground to draw stories from.

Could be.

I don't.

You know, you.

It's almost like the bear or it has the potential to be where.

Yeah.

Like, how many times can people.

Like.

I know that we as humans make the same mistakes over and over again, and that's kind of our M.O.

but do I have to see that on television?

You know?

Yeah.

Well, remember, that was my initial complaint of Madman Donovan.

Do you remember this?

We were.

We were at a Mexican restaurant, and I said to you, I love it, but God damn, Don Draper just keeps doing the same thing over and over.

And you were like, that's the point.

Yeah.

You know who would absolutely fall for the old honey pot?

Don Draper.

Moving on, Apple TV has a show coming up called Interesting Women with Kerry Washington.

And Speaking of Mad Men, Elizabeth Moss.

She's also famous for the Handmaid's Tale.

So here's the story.

They're old friends.

They have a bit of a push and pull between them, but because a third friend is murdered, it also has Corey Stoll and Joel Kinnaman in it.

You know, you get the writing right, the recipe, you know, there could be some good ingredients.

That's right.

If the writing's right for that one, it could be good.

I find Elizabeth Moth to be good even when the writing is not very good.

So if she gets a good script to work with, she's phenomenal.

Yeah, she's easy to watch.

Another Apple show.

This is a quick turnaround for this one.

Your Friends and Neighbors second season comes back on in April.

I really like that show.

I thought the final scene was a little iffy, but the otherwise, it was really great to see Jon Hamm on tv.

Sticking with our Mad Men motif.

You know, I never finished that one.

It's.

It's pretty good.

It's pretty good again.

And I'm serious.

It's like the final scene.

I'm just like.

Interesting.

Around the same time in April, Apple will be airing this show from a popular novel, Margo's got Money Troubles, where Margo's played by Elle Fanning.

She.

I love this description.

She tries her hand at only fans, much to the chagrin of her mom.

Okay.

Her mom is Nicole Kidman.

So, so far, so good.

The best part of this is pitch of the show is that her estranged dad is a pro wrestler played by Nick Offerman.

This is some star power in this program.

Sign me up.

And hilarity.

Yeah, I don't know if listeners got around watching Death by Lightning.

We were talking about it, of course, but Nick Hoffman's on the top of his game, so it could be hilarious.

What is this one for Men?

This is Apple.

Okay.

Yeah, I'd watch that.

Margot's got money troubles.

And that was a huge novel.

I remember it.

It had a rom com cover to it.

It's nothing I would have picked up and read, I suppose, but I remember that.

Did you guys realize that Malcolm in the Middle and Scrubs are both returning?

I knew Scrubs was.

I was not aware of Malcolm in the Middle.

Did they ever figure out who killed the dad?

Like Malcolm in the Middle's dad died.

Didn't it famously end with Malcolm's holding the bloody knife?

Right.

And the camera zooms in on him and he's like, oh, my bad.

And then series ended.

Right.

Well, Bryan Cranston's back, so I don't know.

So they don't find out who killed him.

He just shows up with no explanation.

I guess we have to watch.

This is very confusing.

I know.

With Scrubs, Adam's a big fan.

It's still got Zach Braff and Donald Fierson doing Scrub things on H. That one's on abc.

Malcolm in the Middle is going to be on Hulu.

You know, if you had to check the tape on what me and Donovan consumed more hours of in college, I mean, Scrubs and King of the Hill are like neck and neck because it was just on TV all the time.

All the time.

I never really watched Scrubs.

Is it.

Is it that funny?

I mean, it was just on, you know, I remember I had a funny relationship with it in that I. I didn't really enjoy it that much when it first came out.

I thought the humor was like a little.

It's silly and it's so, like, gag oriented.

And like, I remember one of the early things that was, like, kind of shocking.

Not shocking, but like, oh, this is a new brand of humor on TV was the.

Where, like, one of the characters just melted and became the skeleton.

You remember that, like, the visual gag.

And it's.

He's daydreaming and then he snaps out of it.

And it's like, you know, they're making Arrested Development right now.

You don't have to watch this kind of comedy.

But as time went on and it hit, really, the reruns in syndication, I was like, oh, this is.

This has its moments.

So I don't know.

Donovan, do you.

Do you care to revisit these characters?

You know, I was just thinking it's a show that you could kind of find a comfortable groove with, but I'm not.

I'm not sure if I. I'm not sure if I need to go back.

I don't know, maybe.

Maybe it'll blow me away.

Maybe I'll hear.

It's amazing.

Speaking of Bill Lawrence, who created Scrubs, am I right?

Correct me if I'm.

And shrinking.

Right, and shrinking, yeah.

He created and wrote for Scrubs.

He's made his first show for HBO called Rooster stars Steve Carell as a guy who has some issues with his daughter he's trying to fix.

Yeah, I'd watch that.

Me too.

That's not even a.

That's not even a thorough description.

And I'm like, yeah, I mean, you.

Know, I think Steve Carell may be.

It's hard to imagine when the office was at Its like full peak of like still making episodes and kind of dominating everything.

There's been a funny revisionist history on the Office, you know, like, not in that it's gone.

There have been missteps or anything like that.

But like, people are like, oh, when it hit Netflix, it got huge.

It's like, were you not, I guess people saying that were too young to have been around when it was like.

That's the thing is it's these gen zers.

I mean, it dominated when they heard of it.

Right.

And I've even seen like the actors say, like they were surprised at the bump in fame and notoriety that they've had since say, like Covid.

You know, people watch so much of it anyway.

All that to say, Steve Carell, such a stuck in such a goofy role.

But to be like, almost like, I'll watch anything he's in kind of actor.

Because he's so good.

He was so good.

Patient.

Yes, he was.

When he was Michael Scott and one of the guys from Anchorman.

It's like, huh, that guy.

You're gonna watch everything that guy's in.

Exactly.

Brick Chamlin.

Yes.

Good pull.

Apple TV.

Once again, April 29, it is billed as a horror comedy titled Widow's Bay.

It's about residents of a New England town, maybe near Donovan.

Donovan.

Who think that the town's cursed, but their mayor won't hear them out.

And guess who their mayor is.

Donovan.

I would say me, Matthew Reese.

And, oh, he's going to look very sad about it.

He's playing Donovan.

Matthew Reese is playing Donovan.

Yes.

He finally made it.

Well, I'd practically watch anything with him in it.

I know.

And, and you know, sometimes it's the brand.

The brand, Yeah, I guess it is the brand.

You know, it's an ample TV show.

Promising.

Horror comedy's tricky, though.

Very tricky.

Oh, isn't it hard to do.

Right.

It might be more horror than comedy.

I don't know.

I'll take that.

Speaking of comedy, dark comedy on HBO with Jason Bateman, Linda Cardinelli.

Hmm.

And David Harper, fresh off Stranger Things.

I'm intrigued.

It's a love triangle.

Intrigued.

It's about some middle aged shit.

It's called DTF St. Louis.

That's pretty good.

Very silly.

Down.

DTF St. Down to flee St. Louis.

Like you don't want to.

You're like, ah, I'm in St. Louis.

So the story of the Los Angeles Rams.

Yeah.

I think to all of our surprise euphoria, is actually returning for a third season sometime in April.

I thought you were joking about that when you texted.

No.

The only thing I'm certain about is that there's going to be a time jump post high school.

Of course, to account for the act.

The fact that they're all like 30 years old now.

Right.

And big stars.

Yeah.

The biggest question it'll have to answer, or I'll be curious about is how much will the actor Angus Cloud be missed?

Who was killed, of course, and tragically, in New York, I think so those are on my radar and maybe all of ours.

Of course, streamers like Netflix release things without even any fanfare that suddenly become cultural documentations.

So we'll see.

It's a promising winter and spring you might hear us talk about some of those.

Feels likely.

DTF, St. Louis.

DTF with DTF, St. Louis.

Dtf, Connecticut.

Oh, for sure.

People are Leaving every day.

Starring Matthew Rhys and Donovan Ronwald.

Can you imagine if I was in an erotic thriller with Matthew Reese?

Oh, it'd be so good.

I wouldn't be good, but he'd be good.

Yeah.

That is it for our 269th program.

Oh, nice.

I'm Blaine.

And for Adam and Donovan, we hope that you too are a wonder man.

Or a wonder woman.

Or a wonder person.

God bless.

See you next week.