Podcast

Episode 100: The Cooler Gang welcomes a special guest to celebrate their 100th podcast.

This week at the Water Cooler, we’re celebrating our official 100th podcast by tripping and stumbling down memory lane. We revisit some of our very favorite podcast (or in some cases website) moments over the past two years. Yup, it’s a clip show! Then, we look forward to next year and make a bold prediction or three around Emmy 2017. What shows will make it big? What will be the next shocking omission? How will Joey cope with the Limited Series actress category that could possibly contain Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, and Michelle Pfeiffer?

Before that, we talk about two current events: the recent revelation of the American Horror Story: Roanoke Big Twist and a particular Saturday Night Live skit that we feel owes us a writing credit.

And as always, we’ll close with the Flash Forward to the television we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening on our 100 podcast episode journey! Join us in the celebration by rating us on iTunes!

04:56 – American Horror Story: Roanoke
18:47 – Saturday Night Live from 10/22
29:13 – Celebrating our 100th Podcast
01:11:26 – Flash Forward

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Episode 99: The Cooler Gang revisits the great 30 Rock on its 10th anniversary.

This week at the water cooler, we’re blurghing our way into the 10th anniversary of NBC’s classic showbiz sitcom 30 Rock. Developed by Tina Fey and starring Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, and Jane Krakowski, the series rose above subpar ratings to dominate awards ceremonies over its 7-year run. To celebrate, we’re offering up 10 noteworthy episodes for discussion. These may not necessarily be The 10 Best Episodes, but they’re certainly ones we haven’t forgotten.

Before we leap into 30 Rock, we’ll take a quick look at American Horror Story: Roanoke midway through its run and hypothesize what surprises are in store for its sixth episode. We’ll also follow up last week’s Dynasty conversation with a quick look at some recently announced reboots.

And as always, we’ll close with the Flash Forward to the television we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening!

4:29 – American Horror Story: Roanoke
16:53 – Reboots
34:13 – 10 30 Rock Episodes We Love
1:40:35 – Flash Forward

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Episode 98: The Cooler Gang tackles Clarence’s wicked Halloween television quiz.

This week at the Water Cooler, we’re getting in the mood for Halloween with a scarily great horror television quiz devised by yours truly. Who has the chops when it comes to their savage horror tv knowledge?  Find out as Megan and Joey duke it out. Before that, we’re going to put on our casting hats. The CW recently announced it would reboot the classic 80s soap Dynasty. We’ll take a look at who should fill the four major roles should the series go to pilot. Also, as it is both Halloween and a political season, we talk about the reaction to Donald Trump’s latest controversy and how that impacts Billy Bush.

As always, we close with the Flash Forward of what television most excites us in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening!

3:32 – News: Saturday Night Live and Billy Bush
11:52 – Cast the CW’s Dynasty
21:52 – 2016 Halloween TV Quiz

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Episode 97: The Cooler Gang looks at three major new HBO Fall TV series including Westworld.

Welcome to our 2016 HBO Fall TV Extravaganza! The pedigreed pay-cable programmer rolls out three major new series this fall, starting with the controversial Westworld which premiered last night. Then, premiering next Sunday are two highly anticipated series. First, Divorce marks the return of Sex and the City’s Sarah Jessica Parker to the HBO lineup. Then, Insecure showcases a new voice in comedy in an engaging new series. We talk about each show and look at whether or not each are candidates for awards attention. Or are they just another The Brink or Togetherness on the HBO pile of prestige programming?

Before that, we look quickly (because who can stand to look too long) at last week’s first 2016 Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Did this make for good television? How did this stack up against other major debates? What sound bites will resonate with the viewing public?

As always, we close with the Flash Forward of what television most excites us in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening!

3:38 – First 2016 Presidential Debate
21:27 – HBO Fall TV Extravaganza
1:13:33 – Flash Forward

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Episode 96: The Cooler Gang puts their early predictions for the 2017 Emmy race in the 2017 Emmy Time Capsule.

Fresh from last weekend’s Emmy awards, we take a look at what next year’s Emmy landscape may look like in the Comedy, Drama, and other categories in our 2017 Emmy Time Capsule. Based on the absence of two major 2016 contenders: Downton Abbey and Drama winner Game of Thrones, what drama series will compete for the prize? Who stands to gain the most? And in the Comedy race, since all major contenders are returning, will anything break in? Or is it Veep’s to lose?

Before that, we take a brief look at Rolling Stone’s recent “100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time” list. Is this a comprehensive list? Does it make sense to even try to build such lists? Also, Joey and Megan look at the recent JonBenet Ramsey true crime documentary.

Finally, we close with the Flash Forward of what television most excites us in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening!

7:22 – JonBenet Ramsey special
16:45 – Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
26:14 – 2017 Emmy Time Capsule
1:08:47 – Flash Forward

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Episode 95: The Cooler Gang Looks Back on last night’s 2016 Emmy Awards and at the American Horror Story premiere

Last night marked the end of the 2016 Emmy Awards season with the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. We asked Jalal Haddad to join us to review the ceremony, talk about the winners and losers, and take a look at what most surprised us within the 3-hour ceremony. Then, we took a quick look at the once top-secret premiere of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story Season 6 which may or may not be titled “My Roanoke Nightmare.” What does the new season offer and was it really worth all that secrecy?

Finally, we close with the Flash Forward of what television most excites us in the upcoming week.

Thanks for listening!

5:21 – 2016 Emmy Awards recap
1:01:54 – American Horror Story
1:12:32 – Flash Forward

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Episode 94: The Cooler gang discusses the winners of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, and they gear up with predictions in the Drama categories

The Emmys are almost upon us, and you know what that means. Trophies for everyone and their mother for their work on whatever show they worked on! After this weekend’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards, the three M’s talk about whether top winners like Game of Thrones and The People v. O.J. Simpson will definitely dominate the ceremony next Sunday (come on, we know they will…). Will the ceremony be boring, or there enough potential surprises to change it up?

We then take a dive into the final predictions before the Emmy Awards next Sunday–the Drama Series categories.

Finally, we close with the Flash Forward of what television most excites us in the upcoming week. Thanks for listening!

04:20 – Creative Arts Emmy Awards
28:29 – Drama Emmy Predictions
46:56 – Flash Forward

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Episode 93: The Cooler gang reveals their favorite South Park episodes and tackles a little Emmy business.

September brings the 20th season of one of the longest, and most unlikely, of television’s animated series, Comedy Central’s South Park. To honor this long-running series, we kick off a special Water Cooler Flashback featuring our personal favorite episodes to highlight what we love about the series. We talk about the things that challenge us and include some specially selected clips from each episode. We also take a brief look at the 1999 feature film South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut and what impact it had on the television series.

Then, as the Emmys are fast approaching, we make our final predictions in the Comedy and Limited Series Emmy races.

Finally, we close with the Flash Forward of what television most excites us in the upcoming week. Thanks for listening!

04:06 – Emmy Insider from Entertainment Weekly
11:52 – Our Favorite South Park Episodes
56:12 – Emmy Predix for Limited Series / Comedy Categories
1:17:02 – Flash Forward

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Episode 92: Megan takes control as the Cooler gang tackle potential sophomore slumps for summer shows.

This week, we talk about the sophomore seasons of a slew of summer shows (say that three times fast) and whether they’re ready for junior year or need to revisit their freshman seasons for focus. Are you watching Mr. Robot, Difficult People, Casual, or Fear the Walking Dead? Do you think these shows are avoiding sophomore slumps? We’re actually loving some of these second seasons. Join in the conversation and let us know what you think in the comments section.

We also talk about the most expensive show in TV history, Netflix’s The Get Down. We offer our review of the show and discuss whether all of the money was worth it. Plus, we also look at Emmy predictions for the Guest Comedy and Drama acting categories.

Finally, we close with the Flash Forward of what television most excites us in the upcoming week. Thanks for listening!

02:44 – Sophomore Slumps
47:23 – The Get Down
1:10:03 – Flash Forward

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Episode 91: The Cooler gang comes to terms with TV’s current hottest creative force Ryan Murphy.

On this week’s Water Cooler Podcast, we take on something of a tricky subject for those of us around the water cooler: Ryan Murphy. So, for long time listeners of the Water Cooler Podcast, this topic may feel slightly redundant. We’ve talked about him before, so why rehash him now? Well, there’s method to our madness. This Emmy season, Ryan Murphy amassed a whopping 29 Emmy nominations when considering his American Crime Story and American Horror Story franchises. That’s his highest haul to date, and it made us think about Murphy’s overall legacy. When we look back at this point in history, how will academics regard Ryan Murphy and his cultural impact? Be sure you take a look at this excellent New Yorker article by Emily Nussbaum.

To consider his reputation, we take a look at three different phases in Ryan Murphy’s career: his humble (so to speak) beginnings, his current renaissance, and his future projects. We also look at the attention Emmy paid to each property. Then, as if that’s not enough, we debate the frontrunners in the 2016 Reality and Variety Emmy categories.

Finally, we close with the Flash Forward of what television most excites us in the upcoming week. Thanks for listening!

04:20 – Terms of Ryan Murphy
1:16:00 – Reality and Variety Emmy Categories
1:30:43 – Flash Forward

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