Appointment Television

Latest Episodes:

Episode 019: Return of Bashville, High Wire TV, and the Wall of Plot Jan 07, 2016

Show notes

We kick off the episode with the brief return of our Bashville segment, in which Margaret (surprisingly!) praises a recent change on the ABC series Nashville. Next, we turn to our primary discussion of the week, a concept we call High Wire TV. We define this idea in a few different ways, and consider the broader pitfalls and possibilities of TV that tries to do everything all at once. Andrew talks about Game of Thrones, Kathryn praises Jane the Virgin, and Margaret brings up How to Get Away with Murder and the broader Shonda-verse. All of this feeds into Kathryn's growing realization that she has way too many thoughts on this topic, and we end with an introduction of our new TV Club series, the ABC Family show Bunheads.

Episode 018: A Very Murray Christmas, TV Christmas specials, and holiday melacholy Dec 24, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s ATV, we discuss the new Netflix Christmas special, A Very Murray Christmas, and the inherent flaws in a celebrity Christmas special built around a depressive, alcoholic character who’s not great at singing. We also talk about the Christmas special as a genre and touch on some of our favorites, including A Colbert Christmas, the Rankin and Bass classics, Charlie Brown, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

We then inaugurate It’s a Wonderful Life as a retroactively official TV Christmas special, and move on to discuss some of the emotionally fraught aspects of the holiday. Margaret and Andrew were gift receiving monsters at one point, Kathryn cried at the wrong part of Bridge to Terabithia, and we make some space for those of us who are just trying to muddle through somehow.

Episode 017: Game shows and Tennessee Business Dec 17, 2015

Show notes

Special guest host Craig Getting of Overdue fame joins us this week for a discussion of game shows, those reliable workhorses of the daytime-and-early-evening TV landscape. We talk the hosts and formats we like, and the ones we think we would do the best on.

Craig also tells us about his (sometimes faulty) strategies for solving Wheel of Fortune puzzles, and the time he was robbed of the chance to be on the show.

Episode 016: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and TV's most damaging ironic titles Dec 10, 2015

Show notes

This week we discuss The CW’s new series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - Margaret is a fan, and Kathryn and Andrew have some reservations. Margaret tries to assuage their fears by discussing the show's strengths, and Andrew admits he has liiiiitle a crush on Rachel Bloom. Kathryn’s generally weary of television’s depictions of women as “crazy,” but she’s willing to give the show more time.

Then we move on to a slightly unfortunate TV vs TV, in which Kathryn and Margaret have a misunderstanding about the nature of the debate before finally settling on TV series most damaged by their jokey ironic titles. Margaret argues for the cut-down-in-its-prime one season series Trophy Wife, while Kathryn chides Andrew for his complete disinterest in a good show just because it's called Cougar Town.

Episode 015: MST3K, Endless Reboots, and a Fall TV Check-In Dec 03, 2015

Show notes

On this week's episode, we dig into the recent Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Star Trek reboot announcements and share our deepest hopes and fears. We also share the shows we'd actually like to be see remade, though the list of properties that are ripe for a reboot that aren't already being rebooted is getting short.

Next, we move on to a midseason checkup on some of the shows we mentioned in our overview of Fall TV. For Margaret, it's Supergirl, which is well-intentioned even if it's sometimes a little too on the nose. For Andrew, it's The Muppets, which is still frustratingly milquetoast. And Kathryn has unexpectedly found herself drawn to the TV continuation of the film Limitless, something that spawns a limitless number of jokes.

Episode 014: Thanksgiving TV, bottle episodes, and the Butterball hotline Nov 26, 2015

Show notes

It's Thanksgiving, and we're here to discuss the beloved holiday tradition of the Thanksgiving-themed TV episodes. Kathryn loves them, Andrew is dubious, and Margaret is a happy medium. Kathryn goes long on the relationship between bottle episodes and the Thanksgiving structure, and we discuss Friends, The West Wing, and Bob's Burgers among other holiday classics.

Episode 013: Master of None, the Comedian Sitcom, and Black Mirror S01E03 Nov 19, 2015

Show notes

This week we have kick things off with a discussion of the comedian-driven sitcom, inspired by Aziz Ansari's Netflix original series Master of None and Louis CK's excellent FX show Louie. You really should watch both of them.

After that, we wrap up our TV Book Club series on the first season of Black Mirror, a show that we ultimately didn't like as much as some people do. The last installment, "The Entire History of You," takes an interesting premise and squanders it on a tired old story while asking us to sympathize with a questionable dude in the process. No thanks?

Episode 012: Baby's first hatewatch and the best TV to watch in hotel rooms Nov 12, 2015

Show notes

We open our episode this week with a discussion about the earliest shows we can remember watching even thought we either hated them or hated ourselves for watching them. Andrew has an ongoing love/hate relationship with The Simpsons, Margaret remembers a specific season of Must See TV with stunning clarity, and Kathryn has fallen back into a dangerous Tyra-themed habit.

Andrew and Kathryn then turn to a TV vs TV debate about the best television to watch when you're in a nondescript, underwhelming hotel room. For Kathryn, it's all about the magic of HGTV, while Andrew argues for anything that involves a mystery box of ingredients or Gordon Ramsay. Judge Margaret's wisdom prevails.

Episode 011: The Bechdel Test and Black Mirror S01E02 Nov 05, 2015

Show notes

We kick things off this week with a discussion of the Bechdel Test and its strengths and weaknesses as a method of evaluating the kinds of shows we talk about. It's useful sometimes, just not always.

Then we launch right into our next installment of TV Book Club, this time about the second episode of Black Mirror. This episode included a more fully realized sci-fi dystopia, but its treatment of its female characters is more than a little problematic. It also kind of borrows its main point from the movie Network.

Episode 010: TV Halloween costumes and the best Halloween episodes Oct 29, 2015

Show notes

Join us for our Spooky Halloween Spectacular! Margaret, Kathryn and Andrew discuss what TV-themed costumes they would create if they had all the time and money in the world. Margaret has a brilliant costume, Andrew's costume choices require some very specific facial hair, and Kathryn reveals that she is truly terrible at coming up with costume ideas.

Kathryn then returns to her controversial judicial podium to decide between Margaret and Andrew's compelling arguments for best TV Halloween episode. It's a very spooky nail-biter.

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