Appointment Television

Latest Episodes:

Episode 087: Star Trek Gettin' Comfy Week Apr 27, 2017

Show notes

We've got four Star Trek TV Book Club episodes to get through this week, so it's All Trek, All the Time. We cover some TNG greatest hits, including the much-lauded episode The Inner Light. We may or may not have some feelings about the costuming choices there. Kathryn has some thoughts about poker.

Episode 086: A farewell to Girls, and a hello to finales Apr 20, 2017

Show notes

This week's show is about endings. Resident professional TV critic Kathryn VanArendonk tells us how she feels about HBO's Girls wrapping up, and then the three of us discuss the finales that we feel wrap their respective shows up right (and also wrong).

Episode 085: Talking about Mrs Maisel and TV we've fallen out of love with Apr 13, 2017

Show notes

After speculating wildly about the new Amy Sherman-Palladino pilot for Amazon, we watch and discuss the first episode of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and talk about how it (mostly) exceeded our expectations. We then move to a discussion about television we once loved, and then found our affections had soured.

Episode 084: Checking in on TV in Trump's America, and Star Trek TNG Week 2 Apr 06, 2017

Show notes

This week we do the briefest of check-ins with the state of TV in Trump's America—specifically, the post-election cancellation of Reza Aslan's ABC sitcom about a Muslim-American family.

Then, we jump to warp with week two of our Star Trek: The Next Generation TV Book Club, in which we discuss season 1's The Big Goodbye, season 2's Measure of a Man, and season 3's Yesterday's Enterprise.

Episode 083: Streaming services showdown Mar 30, 2017

Show notes

We begin this week with a TV vs TV, in which Margaret and Kathryn go head to head in a debate about the best way to spend your money if you're only going to buy a single standalone streaming service. Many elements are considered, many factors are weighed, and in the end, no one's particularly happy about the decision. (Except the winner). From there we move into a broader discussion of the proliferation of streaming outlets, with a particular focus on CBS All Access and Seeso.

Episode 082: A newbie's guide to Star Trek: TNG, and watching its ridiculous pilot Mar 23, 2017

Show notes

We've got just one thing on our minds this week - Star Trek: The Next Generation. It's our newest TV Book Club, and we'll be watching a series of hand-picked episodes from its seven-year run over the next few weeks to introduce Margaret (and, hopefully, some of you!) to its charms.

Sadly, those charms are largely absent from its sprawling, messy pilot. It's a poorly paced, poorly plotted, and incompetently assembled collection of parts that bears just a superficial resemblance to what the show would later become. But! It's important for continuity reasons, and it'll make it all the more fun in a couple weeks when we start getting into the good stuff.

Episode 081: Amazon pilot season and the spring TV avalanche Mar 16, 2017

Show notes

Did you know that Amy Sherman-Palladino has a pilot for a new series streaming on Amazon? Yeah! We consider the potentially dubious wisdom of that project and imagine how we'd advise Jeff Bezos on its prospects. For our second segment, we consider the brutal onslaught of new TV that'll be appearing over the next several weeks, including new shows like Handmaid's Tale and Feud, and returning series like Catastrophe, Better Call Saul, and Veep.

This week we also promo our next TV Book Club - Star Trek: TNG! We'll be discussing the two-part pilot episode for episode 82, so hop on the bandwagon!

Episode 080: This Is Us (Kate Edition), and a quick visit to Riverdale Mar 09, 2017

Show notes

We get started this week with some listener mail that takes issue with our characterization of Kate from This Is Us; we don't AGREE with the listener, but we do take some time to more fully flesh out our talking points from before.

After taking about an extremely unfair and damaging iTunes review, we then spend some time in the Archie-meets-Pretty-Little-Liars world of The CW's Riverdale, a small town about sexy teens, the people who want to have sex with them, and the mysterious murders they commit.

Episode 079: Big news in Bachelor world and the end of Fargo TV book club Mar 02, 2017

Show notes

This week we talk about the recent announcement that The Bachelorette has cast its first black lead, and dissect the weird spoilery timing of that announcement. We consider why this is an important milestone for the franchise, and why it's total nonsense that ABC actually be applauded for it.

We also turn to the end of our Fargo TV book club, discussing the final three episodes of the first season. It's hard not to spend the entire segment just jumping up and down and squealing about how great the show is.

Episode 078: Wishbone and TV vs TV, Best Book-to-TV Adaptation Edition (Live show) Feb 23, 2017

Show notes

First up, an apology: this is a recording of our recent live show at the Free Library in Philadelphia, and unfortunately the audio quality falls far short of our normal standards. We have learned a very important lesson about Having Contingency Plans and Packing Extra Equipment, and we should hopefully be able to avoid a repeat of this in the future.

For those of you who listen, it's still a good show! We talk up beloved 90s TV dog Wishbone, and debate the merits of letting a talking dog re-enact literary classics. Then, guest judge Craig Getting joins us to help us decide which is the best book-to-TV adaptation.

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