Podcast

This week, the Cooler Gang dives into the Golden Globes Comedy races and tries to figure out who this year’s unexpected Comedy Actress ingenue nominee will be. Or will there be one?

This week at the Water Cooler, we’re continuing our month-long coverage of the upcoming Golden Globe Awards, nominations to be announced on December 6. Today, we look at the Golden Globes Comedy series races. Will a yet-unseen new season of Marvelous Mrs. Maisel dominate? Or will Chuck Lorre’s The Kominsky Method, starring the great Michael Douglas, dominate despite mixed reviews? But most importantly, who will be this year’s Golden Globes Comedy actress ingenue?

But first, Megan has better cell reception so she can properly dive into her experiences at the Napa Film Festival. Plus, it’s finally time for Clarence, Megan, and Joey to trade out their nonperforming Fantasy Oscar candidates. Finally, we pause to consider what we’re most thankful for this holiday season.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Once you’re done stuffing yourself with turkey, make sure to catch up with Joey’s Our Favorite Movies Volume 6 pick with 1985’s Clue. Yes, we really mean it.

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This week, the Cooler gang looks at potential surprise Golden Globe TV nominees such as Netflix’s Bodyguard. Plus, Megan fill us in on the Napa Valley Film Festival.

This week at the Water Cooler, we’re kicking off our month-long coverage of the upcoming Golden Globe Awards. The nominations for the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards will be held on Thursday, December 6. To start our deep dive into the awards, we are looking at the potential dark horse candidates for television nominations. What left-field candidates will the notoriously fickle Hollywood Foreign Press Association push forward with their announcement? Will a smash reception in the UK help Netflix’s Bodyguard stand out? What else is lurking under the radar?

But first, Megan tells us about the Napa Valley Film Festival and its potential Oscar stories. As long as she has phone connectivity, that is. (We explain on the podcast.) Also, Joey updates us on the Fantasy Oscar pool before second round trades kick in later this month.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

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This week, the Water Cooler Podcast gang catches up on a few random topics (including the importance of voting) and discuss Sam Esmail’s Homecoming.

We’re diving into Amazon’s newest critically acclaimed series, Homecoming. Starring Julia Roberts, Bobby Cannavale, and Stephan James, Homecoming was created by Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg based on their wildly successful podcast of the same name. We compare/contrast the series with the podcast. We also talk about the cinematic techniques and famous scores director Sam Esmail brings to the material. Finally, we talk about the various performances and the awards future for the series.

But first, we discuss few random topics like film festivals, haunted hotel rooms, this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, and more!

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

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The Water Cooler Gang celebrates Halloween with a look at two of Clarence’s favorite horror films. We cover Scream and The Cabin in the Woods, in the latest Our Favorite Movies entry.

It’s almost time for one of favorite holidays of the year, Halloween. To celebrate, we’re looking at not one but two scary movies as Clarence kicks off Volume 6 of the Our Favorite Movies series. First up is 1996’s Scream. Directed by Wes Craven, Scream kicked off a slew of self-referential (meta) movies stemming from kids who grew up amidst 1980s horror. Opening just before Christmas to meager box office, Scream exploded thanks to stellar word of mouth. It eventually grossed over $100 million thanks to a 1997 re-release. We talk about the film, what influences it captures, and our personal relationships to it. 

As Scream is most special to Joey and Megan, Clarence tosses in one of his all-time favorite horror films: Drew Goddard’s 2012 horror comedy The Cabin in the Woods. While Scream is playful meta take on horror, The Cabin in the Woods simultaneously exists as a horror film and completely eviscerates it. Clarence discusses why this is one of his favorite horror films, and Megan talks about her strong reactions against it.

But first, we finally dive into Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House now that all three of us have seen it.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

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This week, the Water Cooler Gang take a look at the new Halloween entry, look back at this year’s The Wife, and look forward to the 2019 Drama Series race.

The opening music to the Water Cooler Podcast clues you in to one of our main topics this week. David Gordon Green’s Halloween returns to theaters, breaking box office records for the series. Premiering at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival, Halloween has also been warmly received by critics thanks, in part, to its female power narrative. But does that shift work for die-hard fans of the series? We talk about our reactions to the film and discuss the possibilities for future, inevitable sequels.

Additionally, Clarence finally saw The Wife. We talk about reactions to that film and Glenn Close’s chances at Oscar glory.

On the TV front, we’re wrapping our ridiculously early look at the 2019 Emmy race. Prepped for the biggest shake up of all, the Drama Series race enters the 2019 Emmy season with several major contenders potentially absent. We talk about what nominees are likely to repeat and what returning series will make it in. Finally, what new series, currently airing or future dated, stand the best shot at entering the 2019 Drama Series race.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

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This week, the Water Cooler Podcast embarks on a bunch of firsts: looking at First Man, the potential for a first female Genius, and a ridiculously early first look at the 2019 Comedy Emmy race.

“Whitey on the Moon” opens the podcast. That must mean we’re talking about Damien Chazelle’s First Man. Opening in third place at the box office this weekend, behind new Oscar front runner A Star Is Born, First Man premiered at the the Venice Film Festival to several high profile rave reviews. Once it screened at the Telluride Film Festival, many Oscar watchers pegged it to be an Oscar front runner. Then, something happened along the way… We review the film and talk about its Oscar chances. Plus, why did the internet and critics turn against it after such a warm initial welcome?

On the TV front, Brian Grazer is barreling forward with an Aretha Franklin-focused third season of Genius. That assumes he can gather the appropriate rights, of course. We talk about what this means for the anthology series (hint: it’s a game-changer) and who could play the great Aretha Franklin (hint: Jennifer Hudson is already starring in a Franklin biopic).

Finally, we take a look at the 2019 Comedy Emmy race with Veep presumably back in the race.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

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The Cooler Gang looks at Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s melodramatic love fest, A Star Is Born. Plus, we take an obscenely early look at the 2019 Limited Series Emmy race.

This weekend, one movie united the Cooler Gang. Nay, the world. That film was A Star Is Born. Starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, the film grossed $42 million, received an A Cinemascore grade, and had dozens of Oscar watchers declaring it the front runner to win. We’ve all seen the film, so we talk about our reactions to it. Then, is it really the Oscar front runner? Do we think it can indeed win Best Picture? We talk about that and a few other films we’ve recently seen.

Then, we start our ridiculously early dive into the upcoming Emmy season, starting with the Limited Series races. Without a significant Ryan Murphy entry on the horizon (wherefore art thou American Crime Story: Katrina?), what limited series stands the best shot at dominating the 2019 race? We run through the guaranteed, possible, and long shot nominations as we start populating the Emmy Tracker.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

And make sure you listen all the way to the end for Clarence’s Volume 6 selection of the Our Favorite Movies series. Hmm… It’s October! Hmm… It’s almost Halloween! Does that mean a scary movie is in the works? Maybe… You’ll have to listen and find out!

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

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This week, the Cooler Gang catches up on new and returning fall television and new movies. Plus, we take a very, very early look at the 2019 Oscar race.

This week, we’re playing catch up. After two weeks of Emmys and silent lambs, it’s been more than a minute since we’ve caught up on new movies and television. We talk about a few fall movies we’ve seen and how the very early Oscar race is shaping up. Then, we talk about some of the new fall television shows we’ve seen. Are returning shows like South Park and Saturday Night Live stepping it up? What new shows are capturing our attention? And what the hell do we make of the highly anticipated Murphy Brown reboot?

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

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The Our Favorite Movies series concludes Volume 5 with Megan’s choice, Jonathan Demme’s 1991 masterpiece The Silence of the Lambs.

With the 2018 Emmy season behind us, the Water Cooler Podcast turns to the world of cinema as we conclude volume 5 of the Our Favorite Movies series. This week, Megan gives us Jonathan Demme’s 1991 Oscar-winning masterpiece The Silence of the Lambs. She’s in great company too. Based on the 1988 novel by Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs is one of only three films to win the Big Five Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. We recap the film and talk about what makes it such a wildly popular film. We also touch on how the film resonates within the modern LGBT culture. Plus, we take a quick look at its legacy including what films and television shows it inspires even today.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

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The Cooler Gang is joined by ADTV’s Jalal Haddad to celebrate their 200th podcast and chat about the 2018 Emmys ceremony. Plus, we put our 2019 Emmy predictions into the 2019 Emmy Time Capsule!

Last night marked the 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which remarkably came in at under its scheduled three hour running time. So, to honor both the 2018 Emmys AND our 200th podcast, we’re dishing on the Emmys. What did we think of the ceremony? What did we think of the surprising winners? And what did we think of hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che? Then, we revisit last year’s time capsule. Exactly one year ago today, we put Emmy wishes into our 2018 Emmy Time Capsule. We’ll revisit our predictions and see how well we did. Plus, we make new entries into the 2019 Emmy Time Capsule and seal that up for next year’s Emmys.

We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

But first, Megan’s choice for Our Favorite Movies, Volume 5, is Jonathan Demme’s 1991 classic The Silence of the Lambs. Get ready.

Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on iTunes!

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