The Best TV of the Year (So Far): Shows, Episodes, Performances, and More!

19:53We could pick Noah Wiley from The Pit. I think he's a worthy entry every year. Dr. Robbie being very sad means a lot to me.

19:59Joanna Robinson:What if The Pit doesn't make it at all on either of our sides? I think we owe somebody an apology. It's just too good a show. And I feel like... That's a real contrary move. We're maybe being a little bit too cute about some of this stuff. And so we're going to have to reconsider squeezing them in at some point. But for the sake of some diversity and a performance in a similarly messy show that I really, really enjoyed, I will be selecting Sarah Pidgeon for Love Story for my performance of the year. All right. So this show is another one that kind of came out of nowhere. The FX show Love Story about JFK Jr.

20:32Joanna Robinson:And Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette is the show, like unquestionably. I actually think she sometimes did not have a great cast around her. Well, speak on it. But she was always delivering an incredible role, incredible follicular performance. Did her hair play into your decision here? It has to. I mean, the sheer number of times that hair is tossed. Correct. Like that's 60 % of the show's screen time. Absolutely. And it's powerful every time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that show, to the extent that it works and your mileage may vary, I like certainly by the finale, I was not on that particular ride.

21:11Joanna Robinson:Yeah. But the early episodes of them falling in love hinges on her performance, I think, more than anybody else's. And like her being captivating, her being charming. It's like there is an it factor there that you could not bottle, that you could not sell. It's just an indefinable thing that I found incredibly potent in that show. Maybe that makes me a sucker. Maybe that means I'm just rolling with it in exactly the way Love Story wanted me to. You love love, Rob. I do love love. You're a yearner. I love a yearn. I love a like, let's get together and bounce around a party or walk around a city for a day kind of story.

21:43And so it's like, yeah, it just kind of the early episodes of Love Story in particular really worked for me because Sarah Pidgeon worked for me.

21:49Joanna Robinson:It was also interesting to, because you had not watched any of the American Crime Story shows, right? You didn't watch OJ. I had not. Yeah. And so you were initially like unsure about the show because you're like, what is this Ryan Murphy joint on FX? I'm not sure that's really my speed. As I'm often saying. Yeah, forever. And then there's also this sort of slight micro generation that separates us in age. You were not around for this story. So it wasn't something that was really on your radar. I think it's like in the broad strokes. You existed. You were born. Yes. Existed was born, but like in the Wikipedia entry sense of like, oh, this is an event I know, but do I understand it?

22:25Right. I got to say, having seen the show, I still don't understand a lot of it. I'm not sure the show entirely understands it, but Sarah Pidgeon got the assignment. Like that part of it, again, is an unimpeachable success as far as love story is concerned.

22:36Joanna Robinson:I think it's always interesting to talk to people who were too young to have experienced the event. Like especially when OJ came out and they're like, what do you mean the Kardashians are connected to OJ, et cetera, et cetera. So to watch people discover it for the first time. And this was the case with younger generations. Loved this show. I mean, the 90s music was doing its work. But also just sort of it felt like a revelation for a lot of people. that moment in time. The Calvin Klein of it all, the tabloid of it all. Yeah. Are you... Where is Love Story on sort of your favorite shows of the year though?

23:11Not? Not.

23:12Joanna Robinson:Yeah. But I think, weirdly enough, is another one of these like kind of incomplete, kind of messy shows that are eligible for several of these categories. I think Love Story has a couple of scene stealers in the mix as well. Guess what? That's my pick. Let's go. But which one? Which scene stealer from Love Story will Joe select? I'm going to guess it is... Actually, no. Oh, yeah, it is. Our mutual favorite, Constance Zimmer, who, I mean, look, has a showcase moment in terms of getting to get up and give a big wedding speech that just like brings the house down in love story. But also a very important how dare you kind of speech.

23:45Joanna Robinson:We love a how dare you moment. Somebody's got to do it. But talk us through it. What are you thinking? We love Constance Zimmer. And when she showed up playing Carolyn's mother, we were both a little like, huh, that's not how I would use Constance Zimmer personally. and also I had to check ages to see if she was age appropriate for that. But Constance Zimmer, who's just been like an absolute killer in TV for a long time, they knew what they had. Yes. And so they deployed her in mid-season and then once again, these closers, like at the end of the season, she really sort of ran away with it for me.

24:15So Constance Zimmerman,

24:18Joanna Robinson:she deserves that Emmy. That's what I say. I mean, this is one of our favorite games as we cover a lot of these shows week to week, episode to episode. When someone like Constance Zimmer shows up, It's not just like, oh, that's a weird way to use her. But like, do they know and when will they deploy it? Like, when is the bomb going to go off for these wonderful supporting actors? Do they know what we know, which is that Constance Zimmer absolutely rules? I mean, somebody watched Unreal other than us. Sometimes they don't know. Like, remember how Donald Logue is in that show for no good reason whatsoever?

24:47Joanna Robinson:Which Kennedy does he play? I refuse to acknowledge. Recall or acknowledge? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I think I'm going to get in on Ensemble just because that is now one of our few competitive categories. Actually, our only competitive category yet that we're vying for. And this is where I had a lot of options. I had a lot of great cast this year I was looking to support. But if we don't put the pit on the board, I think somebody is going to riot. I might riot. And so I will be selecting the pit for the best ensemble. What's wild about the pit in terms of ensemble is like you have such a broad group of actors just playing the doctors.

25:19Then you've got the rotating guest stars that come in on the show.

25:22Joanna Robinson:It's just an unusual format for a show. that you can spend so much time, not just like singular episode guest stars, but guest stars who show up and stick around for like four, five, six episodes, sometimes just in the background. It just feels like this completely lived in world. I think it's like a perfect pick for Ensemble, except I didn't make it, but it's a perfect pick for Ensemble. Thank you for your support, though. You're welcome. Are there any other picks you want to praise while we're here? Mine? No, I wasn't what I was thinking. But yeah, I think, look, clearly The Pit is a Noah Wiley driven show and maybe secondarily a Catherine Lanasa driven show.

25:59But everyone getting their moments. And I think this is something that any show has to deal with in kind of the growing pains of season two is like, how do you deal with the fact that there are deep fandoms and deep appreciation for all of these characters individually?

26:12Joanna Robinson:Oh, so do you want to talk about The Pit fandom losing its collective marbles this year? Well, I think the fan art attests to that. But more so just like... How do you explored any of that fan fiction I sent you, Rob? Not personally, but thank you for sending it. It's just good to have on record. Yeah, yeah. And our work email. Again, very professional, everything we do. But how do you find time for all these people? How do you find plot lines for all these people? Within, you know, The Pit is in some ways a very traditionally constructed show, traditionally shot and published show. But like an ABC plot doesn't service 18 different doctors and nurses who are bouncing around this place.

26:46Like how do you make that work? and within the context of how you're telling a season story over the real-time course of an entire day, what are the arc payoffs? Like how much growth can you really have if you're one of these characters? I think given those constraints, constraints they created for themselves, you should all acknowledge, I think they do a pretty damn good job of juggling all of these different doctors. And yeah, sometimes like, you know, Taylor Dearden in season two, like you're not gonna have as much to do as you did in season one. That's just the reality of playing a team sport.

27:15And the pit to me, I can't think of a single better team sport on TV in terms of the blocking and the production and the way that show is shot and made than what we see on The Pit.

27:23Joanna Robinson:Which character's stock was most on the rise for you this season in The Pit Ensemble? It's a great question. I mean, honestly, it might be Shabana Aziz, who I just continue to be floored by. And that's a character who I kind of wonder if she's entering that space where you can't minimize what she's doing. Like you can't push her into the background. I think her and probably Issa Briones for me are the two where it's like, I really want them to be involved constantly. And maybe the pit is that kind of show. Maybe it's not. Maybe in the next season we'll be their spotlight. Maybe it won't. But I think in terms of the presence they bring to the screen and what those characters represent, that's who I'm most invested in seeing right now.

27:59Joanna Robinson:As you know, I really only like to support white men on screen. So I have to say Patrick Ball is my guy. I mean, we got to talk about it. I mean, you and your therapist need to talk about this. You have something going on with Patrick Ball. I mean, specifically this arc of like a doctor in recovery who's seen and done some things and is constantly trying to apologize to everyone and work in appropriate ways. I don't think there's a mystery here, Rob. This is an archetype I enjoy, which is a character who has a huge fall from grace and then tries to claw their way back. Are they usually white men?

28:27Joanna Robinson:Yes. But you know what? This is what we're here for. It's true. What are you thinking next? Where do you want to go? I would probably do ensemble. and this is where I'm going to surprise myself and also see if I can write on this board from this chair and pick the bear. I will say as far as the ensemble goes for the bear, this to me is sort of the opposite of the euphoria problem. The previous season of the bear or partial season of the bear, however you want to break it down, there was a lot of fact going on. You know, like love Maddie Matheson. Way over fact. But sometimes you're over indexed on a show like this.

28:59Sometimes the shooting schedule dictates who gets to be the focus of the frame. And I thought this season was just a huge course correction of like, let's actually let the main characters of the show who are now massive film and TV stars. Let's get them in the same places for a concentrated amount of time and actually let them carry potentially the ending of this show.

29:19Joanna Robinson:We didn't cover the bear on the prestige feed, the two of us, because our pals Van and Charles have been covering it since the beginning. Brilliantly. Yeah, brilliantly. So they landed the plan that we haven't really talked about the bear. Do you want to take a moment here at Televerse to talk about The Bear? A show that's had so many ups and downs. But like if this is the end of the show, I actually found myself. I was so out last season. Yeah. As was everyone. And then this season started. I was like, oh, no, it's still not great. Oh, no. And then it just really clicked into place in this last night of service way.

29:59Joanna Robinson:and the penultimate episode, which involved a payoff for a lot of our supporting characters having big emotional triumphs, really got, I was like sobbing during, like really unexpectedly sobbing through the penultimate episode of The Bear. Let's do this right now because I'm going to be selecting that episode, Caramel, for my best episode of the season. So a little pick synergy and then we can dive into it a little bit. Okay, yeah. So I don't know. I guess I'm going to ask the room, which is maybe not a great thing to do for recording because people can't hear you. but like clap if you enjoyed this final season of the bear.

30:32Joanna Robinson:All right. Clap if you were sort of out on the bear and you stayed out. Okay. Even split controversial. I would love to hear that argument because I would say the things that I did not like about the previous season were mostly the balance of the show. The balance of who was again, like featured in it, the plot lines. And I thought this episode in particular caramel to me is you need the work workplace anxiety bomb if you're going to sell me the constant dad rock scored navel gazing. Like I need both of those things. You need the salt and the caramel together to really bring out the flavor of both.

31:10Joanna Robinson:Wow, Rob. Thank you. And so this for me was such a back to basic situation. Like let's put all these crazy, very accomplished, very successful, talented chefs in a kitchen together for one night of service. You know how I feel about a real time episode. And like, let's just get the season four version of the receipt printer going into overdrive. Let's get that feel back. And getting to experience that on the other side of everything that these characters had been through, I thought was just like the payoff of payoffs for me on TV this year. And I think in part because I disliked the previous season so much, it was nice to know that this was still in the bear.

31:46Joanna Robinson:Right, they still have the juice. What did you make of the accusation that it was sort of the pedification of the bear, that the bear was sort of leaning heavily on this pit premise to deliver the ending of the season. They didn't invent this shit. Like if anything, the success of the pit is dependent on being a version of a show that we all know and love. Something that we've experienced before. There's like a nostalgia and a warmth and a familiarity of the patter and the rhythms of the pit that like helps it really lock into something that in this TV context feels different, but is really quite traditional.

32:18And so, I mean, we've seen like there's been versions of that on the West Wing. There's been versions of that in like every major drama that has probably ever existed of like, there's a ticking clock. How are these characters going to survive over the course of this hour of TV? So yeah, it feels a little pit-ish, but I feel like it's different enough in some of, I mean, maybe the food porn part of it, if you want to categorize it as that, which certainly appeals to me. Yeah. But also just in the dynamics of these characters. And I think if anything, we're on the other side of where the pit is now, where for the pit, all of these like calcifying character dynamics are just kind of starting.

32:54Like we're, you know, days or months or years in, depending on how you want to classify the passage of time in that show versus, I mean, the people in the bear have been through some stuff together already. And so this to me is the culmination of all that more so than where the pit is.

33:07Joanna Robinson:First of all, how would you describe this as the one where this episode? I mean, I think it is the one where they have to survive the crucial night of service at a fine dining restaurant. But to me also just the reveal of the caramel candle, which you see coming. Like, look, I've eaten at some of these restaurants. Have you, Rob? I have in my day. But even if you haven't, it's like it's not a secret that this candle is something. It's been like toiled over and carried over for multiple episodes by now. And yet, the idea of serving a delicious inventive dessert to your kind of estranged father to show him, you know what?

33:41My life actually did turn out okay. And maybe I am worth something. Look, it did something for me. I don't know what to tell you.

33:46Joanna Robinson:The way that that is paired inside of that episode with this moment for Sydney, like getting to be out on the floor and sort of hear people talk about how good her food is. This is me weeping buckets of tears and really enjoying myself. Is this a big year for Weepy TV for you? I know The Bear has some of those moments. I mean, did any of the deaths in Euphoria have that effect on you? Did any of – I mean, I guess spoiler alert for Euphoria. You were sitting next to me while I was crying through Euphoria. I was just cheering you up to absolutely go to bat on that show. But whatever – I mean, look, has anything else – The Pit certainly has that capability too, I think in terms of some of the cases especially.

34:25Has this been a big emotional year of TV? Or is it just one that has been good for laughs and horror and good times?

34:30Joanna Robinson:Well, I'm an easy cry, honestly. And I think they usually come in surprising places. I think if a show is trying to make me cry, which probably the bear was trying to make me cry in that episode. They always are. Yeah, yeah. But oftentimes it comes where you least expect it, which might tee up my next category. Please. I love a transition. Controversially, perhaps I'm putting this in comedy, but I think this is probably where it belongs. it's Night of the Seven Kingdoms which definitely made me cry multiple times this season I mean as much as I would love to fight you for category fraud something that I find you guilty of in most drafts that we participate in I can't argue with the show being a comedy if almost every episode they are dedicating some kind of fart or shitting joke to a significant portion of the run time and the character development the comedy is a huge part of why that show works and it is so fucking dialed in from the jump in a way that is super refreshing, at least for me, with like IP-driven spinoff entertainment.

35:33Joanna Robinson:Was this the, sort of the height of genre? You and I don't cover a lot of genre shows together because I usually do that on my other gig, House of R. Thanks for the invite. Yeah, you're welcome, Rob. But we covered Alien Earth together. It's true. I occasionally get to play along with you guys. But like, we didn't get to talk about this show. So like, was this the best genre show for you this year? Do you have another candidate? I think it's really the only one. Okay. Other than Widow's Bay, which I don't know if we're quite counting it as that. I guess, yeah, I'm kind of putting it in a different category with your, you know, your Spider Noirs and your Daredevils and like, I mean, what are the peer group?

36:07Joanna Robinson:Put some respect on Spider... No, don't worry about it. I will. I will defend Nicolas Cage on this in any stage. But this to me, again, it's like... You picked Spider Noir in a draft, did you not? I'm not saying it's not a good show. And did you wind up watching Spider Noir at all? We don't have to talk about that. Okay. That's what I thought. But for Night of the Seven Kingdoms, again, a text that like you are intimately familiar with the core text of these shows. So you're experiencing them in a totally different way. A low stakes, pleasant surprise. We're just going to get like the meeting of these two historically crucial, but ultimately like fun, rompy characters.

36:41I mean, it's a one. I thought this was yet another candidate for best episode of the season. I think you could argue the huge battle episode as far as those things are staged. and I found to be more emotionally engaging than almost any big battle on Game of Thrones ever was. Like the backstory elements of that really worked for me. But rewind it, the like, let's get a team together episode, I think is also a good candidate.

37:02Joanna Robinson:Yeah. There's, I love that you're calling it a battle when it was just like - It's a bunch of dudes swinging a mace. A couple guys in the mud, you know what I mean? What is your definition of a battle? I think it's more of a melee than a battle, actually, at the end of the day. But I think because it was so small scale and so you could really invest in the characters. And like this was a short season with short episodes and so just a surprising amount of depth there. This is adapting these novellas by George R.R. Martin. So, you know, I'm going to put some love on House of the Dragon's name and say it's a much easier task than the House of the Dragon writers have in terms of they can just adapt it almost word for word off the page of the novella onto the screen and it's just the right match of show and source text and stuff like that.

37:46Joanna Robinson:And so it just worked perfectly. And what I loved about it is because people do feel quite split on House of the Dragon, whether or not they're really enjoying it, and are, maybe me, still nursing their wounds from the end of Game of Thrones. And so something about Night of the Seven Kingdoms, it was just an uncomplicated joy to be back in Westeros with the Night of the Seven Kingdoms. It was something almost everyone could agree on. I don't think I talked to a single person who watched the show who didn't have a great time with it. And also there were people who were wary of it. They were like, this looks dumb.

38:15Joanna Robinson:I'm still mad about Game of Thrones. I didn't really care. And who are these guys? I don't even know who these, because secret Targaryens, right? And so there are no dragons. What are we even doing here? And it turns out you don't need dragons. You just need a couple guys and some fart jokes. Honestly, one of my favorite things about TV is just that, that you don't need the dragons. Like every show will tell you what its stakes are, what matters. And sometimes the stakes are just like getting in the ring. Like the fight for legitimacy to even just like have these lords hear you and acknowledge that you are a knight, that's not a crucial plot line on a show like Game of Thrones, where you're talking about an existential threat against Westeros' version of humanity.

38:57But you zoom in far enough and it's like all of these stories can matter. And I think it's just what's so infuriating about so much of the other spinoff attempts on so many other platforms and so many other like properties. Like you can just make this stuff small. And if the actors are good and the characters are good and that's an if. But like if you are dialed in, you can make people really care about this. And I would put Night of the Seven Kingdoms up against like as the most bingeable show of the year. I think because of the runtime, because of the tone, it was certainly one that like I had a really hard time putting down.

39:27And there's some other good entries in that category as well. But just for something that feels so light and breezy while also being in that universe, I think is quite an accomplishment.

39:36Joanna Robinson:I know. When there's like, you know, between six or eight episodes in a season and the episodes are 30 minutes long. You're like, that's watching two movies. No problem. Yeah. I just, because I love this world that George R. R. Martin has created and I've spent, you know, I don't know, hours, months, days of my life, years of my life talking about it. How do you feel about that? Great. Great. I really, I think allocated my time appropriately, but I think that, I think everyone enjoying it just made me really happy because I just want us to all celebrate it. We just want good things. It's really not that complicated.

40:11I just want to bring joy to the masses. I'm going to make my selection in Scene Stealer. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, but this is a good performance. I'm going to be selecting Shailene Woodley for Paradise, a show that if I'm not familiar, have you seen Paradise as of yet, Joanna Robinson?

40:28Joanna Robinson:I think we made a deal that I would watch Paradise in exchange for something else. And I don't think you've come through on your side of the deal yet. This is a shocker to me, honestly. But I think probably you just want to get your fave Paradise on the board. I actually, here's what I know about Paradise. Yeah. Can you please explain the plot of Paradise? Yeah. I mean that as someone who has watched two seasons of that show. I really don't know. Sterling K. Brown. Yep. At some point, James Marsden, but perhaps no longer. No comment. And then something happened in episode seven in season one where everyone was like, whoa.

41:05Joanna Robinson:this is a completely different show now, bro. What do you think that was? Like, did the world end? I don't know. I don't know. Like, it seemed massive. And I was like, oh, I'll get to that. And then I haven't gotten to it. That is a great episode that you're highlighting. I actually do recommend, as far as like bat shit, twisty, turny shows go, you could do so much worse than Paradise. It is a great time. I love Sterling Kitt. What is Shailene Woodley doing that you want to give her credit for? So we're in like a classic, like, okay, I'm going to tip the hat a little. You can spoil Paradisery.

41:37We are in a post-apocalyptic environment.

41:39Joanna Robinson:So the apocalypse happens in episode seven? I mean, it did happen. Well, it does happen in episode seven. And it took James Marsden from us and ported him all the way over to your friends and neighbors? You're going into side roads that we simply cannot go down right now. Tough, tough. Shaylee Woodley plays a crucial spin-off side story. We are totally divorced at first from the Sterling K kind of part of this story. And Shaylee Woodley is a woman who is like... working as a tour guide at Graceland and ultimately like batten, battens down the hatches at the end of the world and somehow manages to survive in the Elvis compound using, I'm sure, just like lots of jars of peanut butter that are stored there and manages to like really pull it out.

42:21And so you get the combination like castaway-ish, like one actor showcase kind of performance. Yeah. Then of course, spoiler alert, Sterling K does enter the picture and she starts kind of entering the main story. But it's like, it's a love story yearning from across the space and time of the post-apocalypse. Oh. It is the story of this woman's survival. It is the story for me of Shailene Woodley being a fucking capital A actor. Okay. And we get those on TV, but you know what? I want to celebrate it every goddamn time.

42:49Joanna Robinson:It's been a minute for Shailene. Like, I feel like she was here and then she sort of retreated for a minute. She diverged, you think? Yeah, you're telling me that she's waiting for me on Paradise. Whenever you're ready. Okay, this is the way you're describing. and you're like, a woman hunkers down at Graceland to survive the apocalypse. This is why, as exhausted as I get sometimes with the unending zombie stories on television, occasionally you just stumble upon a great concept. This is what I'm saying. You know what I mean? You're just sort of like, what if we're at Graceland? And that's it. And it's Shailene Woodley.

43:28Joanna Robinson:Well, everyone else is thinking like, oh, I could hide myself in a bank vault. Like what is the most secure facility? It turns out it's Graceland. It's not Fort Knox. It's Graceland? No. Well, for one, you need places with food storage. You need places with apparently post-apocalypse, very important, horses just hanging around. And so like the adjacent farmlands become very important. I just think like Shailene in paradise had it all figured out in a way that nobody else in the post-apocalypse does. Where are you hunkering come the apocalypse? Joe, let's be real. I'm cooked. Like I'm so done day one.

44:00Joanna Robinson:We're both dead day one. Yeah. We are soft, soft podcasters, but let's pretend we survived day one. Where are we setting up the Prestige TV podcast Survival HQ? It's a great question. Kai's coming. Paige and Charlie are coming. Everyone's here. Sarah, all of them are coming. Well, everyone has to provide a skill. Everyone has to show that they can do something to help keep our little commune alive. Okay. Does Kai have practical skills other than editing podcasts? I really don't know. I don't think there's anything Kai can't do, honestly. See, that I do believe. And also, Kai is such a picky eater.

44:29Joanna Robinson:Sorry, Kai. Kai is such a picky eater that like, I feel like most of the food would be available to us. He would not take too much of the food. I think the only way to open up his palate would be like, I'm sorry, dry turkey is no longer available. You're going to have to make do with something else. But this is like, this is the question. Where are the resources? Like my first thought is like some kind of store. Like, can we survive in a Walmart for a little while? But that's pointing us right in the crosshairs of every other survivor out there. Are there marauders in paradise? Well, when are there not?

44:56Joanna Robinson:Yeah, exactly. See, I don't know where to live and this is why I'm going to die. What about Dollywood, which is like Graceland adjacent, but just like a little bit better? Well, this is the question. Post-Paradise, is Graceland going to be a competitive category? Are people going to be meeting me at the gates of Graceland trying to get in? And they're like, the horses are mine. The horses are there. You can't have the peanut butter. There's like an intense like surveillance system going on here. There's a lot happening. Rob, what's your key survivor skill that is going to make you – that we're going to open the gates for you?

45:25I'm a delegator. Oh, okay. All right. You're a management. management. I'm just writing things down on a clipboard. I'm here to Oregon. Honestly, logistics, very important in a post-apocalypse, it turns out.

45:34Joanna Robinson:Did you know that I can identify poison plants? Is that true? Yeah. What's the backstory there? Do you know that that's a skill I intentionally learned? So like if the apocalypse happened, I could identify poison plants. So you, Joanna Robinson, incredible preparer in all professional aspects. Oh yeah, known to be a preparer. Yeah. You have now developed a life skill just so, not really so you could do it, but really so you could have an answer to this question on a thing like a podcast? Who's to say? I don't have a go bag though. I did used to work with someone like when I was at Vanity Fair, the most sort of hoity-toity upper New Yorker, she was like, my entire family, we all have go bags for the apocalypse.

46:14Joanna Robinson:And I was like, I feel like she knows something that I don't know. And perhaps we should all get our go bags. Well, we live in California. So you need a kind of a go bag. You need an earthquake go bag. You're nothing else. I'm ready for the big one. I think you should be too. I grew up around earthquakes, Rob. You're from Texas. You don't know anything about earthquake preparedness. That's why I'm ready for it. I'm scared of this stuff. Do you have like a hand crank radio? No. Okay. Who do you think I am? You're not ready. All right. I'm going to only be myself with my last pick. Yeah. Who else would I be?

46:43Joanna Robinson:Is there only one pick? Wildcard. Looks like we're both left to wildcard left. And so, I mean, there's so... For the parameters of wildcard that we've established, it can be literally anything. If you were very impressed by the trailer for a show, you could pick it. An actor, a performance, a special effect, a series itself. How do you want to approach this? That shirt that Jacob Elordi wore in Euphoria that was leather even though it looked like flannel. You mean the one that is like his brand? Yeah. Pateka Veneta. I mean just – No free ads, but there you go. Yeah. Just embarrassing. But alas, I've already chosen Euphoria so I cannot pick Jacob Elordi's shirt.

47:15Joanna Robinson:I'm going to pick another show. Okay. Another show entire that we have not covered but is one of my favorite shows of the year. and I cannot wait to watch you vamp while I write this down. It is The Other Bennett Sister. Rob, you tell me what you think The Other Bennett Sister is about. Honestly, I was really hoping you would pick the vampire Lestat so I could at least have some vampire thing I could say here. But The Other Bennett Sister is about the surviving sister because the other one died. And this one is about her attempts to navigate the hoity-toity upper crust life of, I'm trying to think of a cutesy British sure name, but I honestly have none.

47:58How close am I?

48:00Joanna Robinson:Shropshire or something like that? Yeah, Shropshire. Langfordshire. Really wrong. Okay. Yeah, really bad. You did really poorly. I believe it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, pitch me. What is the other Bennett sister actually about? Well, here's what I'll just say. And we have a Pride and Prejudice. I know you don't read books, but we have - This is an allegation that cannot stand. You don't read fiction. I don't read fiction. Okay. I watch it. You've heard of Jane Austen. I have heard of Jane Austen. There is a Pride and Prejudice show coming out on Netflix soon with your guy Jack Loudon as Mr. Darcy.

48:31Joanna Robinson:Maybe James Bond? Maybe James Bond. How do you feel about that? I don't think you can be the worst spy and also a good spy. Yeah. You can't be River Cartwright and James Bond. But he, I mean, look, he looks the part. He could play the, I guess the whole appeal of River Cartwright is he looks like he should be a good spy and yet it's not. what if he's Mr. Darcy and James Bond Starcher Ronan you really did it I mean that is kind of the center of a very specific kind of type and circle if we want to be real about it not really because you you wouldn't cast Matthew McFadden or Colin Firth as James Bond oh Matthew I would you would not Colin Firth I would not absolutely not okay anyway Colin Firth is M maybe I have a lot of doubts about this upcoming Pride and Prejudice show I have a lot of doubts about Jane Austen adaptations in general it's really hard to do it well So really, really hard.

49:16Joanna Robinson:What's even harder is to do something that is like Jane Austen fan fiction essentially, which is what the other Bennett sister is, which is the story of Pride and Prejudice told from the point of view of Mary who is like sort of the nerdy if you're being generous, but like awful Bennett sister inside of that book. So they wickeded this thing? They wickeded the shit out of this thing. All right. And it's great. And what I love about it is that, unlike with Wicked, they didn't have to turn every other character into a jerk in order to turn this character into someone interesting. Genuinely, how do you do that?

49:55Joanna Robinson:You write fully-fledged human characters. Oh, I've heard of those. Have you thought about that? It just seems hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It seems tough. Anyway, The Other Bandit Sister absolutely rules. One of the best shows this year. Really surprising. Like my – I am very persnickety when it comes to Jane Austen literary adaptations, all that sort of stuff. My sister is way worse. She is the worst person to put that in front of. She loved – she ate the shit up. She loved it. Well, so what was – Past the Morgan Robinson test is the point of the other better sister. You have to do it. Yeah. What got you over the hump to even check it out?

50:25Like will you check out an Austen adaptation or do you need to be sold by someone like Morgan who you trust?

50:30Joanna Robinson:No, I will watch every single one and I will judge them harshly. This is just one that cleared, you know? This one actually worked. Yeah. What would it take to get you to watch a Jane Austen adaptation? Very little. I was actually eyeing the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice screening coming up of the film version. Very excited to go re-watch. I mean, look, I love a movie. Yeah. So I was considering that. So you don't have to twist my arm. Sure. I'm in for this kind of story. I'm trying to figure out what to do with Wild Card. You and I don't really talk about any reality TV. I'm tempted to do something from like the suite of very intense and incredibly produced Korean reality TV specifically Singles Inferno is what I might be eyeing here but are you just gonna name a bunch of stuff that you're not gonna pick well this is literally the last this is the last spot on the board so if we're not naming some guys what are we doing I think again a lot of great performances this year that we really enjoyed Charles Melton I thought for achievement in himbo acting on beef just exemplary stuff honestly Nick Cage a pretty good entry here Matt Smith in terms of like acting opposite a shoddily CGI dragon.

51:38He had to do it a lot.

51:39Joanna Robinson:Shoddily CGI? You thought that you thought you think the CGI of the dragons on House of the Dragon is shoddy? I think the scenes in which he is like on a saddle on a dragon. There's clearly just a slightly moving platform. That's the background. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, I know. The dragons look great though. The dragons when they're independent to humans look amazing. The House of the Dragon dragons look amazing. How is it that you bump on every wig on television and you see Matt Smith on like a rocking horse and you're like, that's good TV to me. That's cinema. That is cinema. But I too am just going to pick a show that I loved that I thought I might end up selecting in comedy if you had beat me to Widow's Bay, but you left me no choice there.

52:18And that's How to Get to Heaven from Belfast.

52:21Joanna Robinson:This is a classic Rob choice. And I will just take you behind the curtain before when we – oh, on one knee. Okay, a couple of things. Number one, this is not going to make great audio, but for the listeners at home, Rob is kneeling as he writes his wild card. Two things. Number one, I said, wild card is going to be the hardest one to write. And Rob's like, it's going to be the easiest one to write. You had to take a knee. Secondly, he was like, how are we going to write the really long ones? And I was like, you can just write Belfast if you want to pick How to Get to Heaven from Belfast. Rob, why'd you pick that show?

52:50It's hilarious.

52:51Joanna Robinson:Yeah. If you're going to have your little twisty murder mystery. What's it about for people who might not know? It's about three women who are lifelong friends from their childhood who harbor a dark secret and are also trying to unveil what may or may not be a murder and trying to get to the bottom of it. And I love many things about it. I mean, look, if you are familiar with Dairy Girls, if you're familiar with Lisa McGee, this is in your zone comedically. And does not shy away from that. Wants to be funny. Wants to be engaging. Wants to be pulpy in a beach read kind of way. But also, let's actually have fun with this thing.

53:23and also is in that zone of sex in the city, girls, Seinfeld, like characters as personality tests. Like which one of these people are you? Are you the professionally successful but in a terrible relationship? Are you the one who's like trying to be glamorous but maybe like a little bit vapid as a result? Are you -

53:43Joanna Robinson:And that's you, right? Historically. Yeah. Are you like the offbeat friend that no one understands or are you the one who maybe or maybe not committed a murder that you've been hiding for decades? And that's me. We all know it. The maybe murderer, yeah. All right, so that's our board. We only have a few minutes left. So I thought, even though it may not register at home, so you'll just have to take our word for it, should we pull the audience to see who won this draft? I would love to. I mean, is there any criteria we should give them other than which of these things do you like? Just bear in mind that just because I didn't pick the pit doesn't mean I don't understand what's popular on television.

54:20Joanna Robinson:Wow. already shying away from the results of a poll we have not done any any pitch you want to make for your side i think the work speaks for itself i think it does okay um round of applause for rob side of the board okay all right i like that round of applause from my side of the board it's really close but i there was a really a stronger woo on your side so i'm gonna give it to you rob i think that's because shailene woodley is in the audience okay shailene wooed Thank you so much for acknowledging my work on a great show, Paradise. Anything else you want to say? I loved, I mean, for one, doing this exercise was a lot of fun.

54:57I feel like there's still so much stuff that we didn't even get to dive into because of the categories we created. But I think the top heavy nature of this year of TV did bear out. It is a lot of, you know, Widow's Bay. It is, honestly, the bear kind of entering into that conversation was interesting. The pit, clearly. I'm a little curious that Furious didn't get on your board somewhere.

55:16Joanna Robinson:Well, I don't like to plant my flag on a mid-season. So many shows have disappointed me after mid-season. Where is your courage? Where is my sense? I'm shocked you didn't pick anything from Cape Fear. The corkboard's here, but you didn't pick anything from Cape Fear. I have a wild card. I mean, Javier Bardem is as wild card as it gets in that show. Actually, specifically the spider monkey jump that Javier Bardem does in the finale of Cape Fear through a rainy window is the most athletic thing I've seen on every television and I cover professional basketball for a living. So take from that what you will.

55:52If you haven't seen Cape Fear yet, I honestly would strongly recommend it despite the fact that I really have no idea if that show was good.

55:58Joanna Robinson:I almost picked for Achievement and Horniness off campus, a very popular show. Amazon really like churning out the horny young adult content right now. Is that their brand? Currently, they are shifting in that direction. They're moving away from massive IP to horny teenagers. And they're like, guess what's worked every time? Horny teenagers. To horny video is just an incredible business strategy that frankly, all streamers and networks should embrace. The Vampire List ad, as you mentioned. Wonder Man, which I thought was an incredible show that canceled devastatingly too soon. Young Sherlock, a show that you mocked your parents were watching and I really enjoyed.

56:36Joanna Robinson:My parents are listening. I'm sorry. My parents tried to tell me about Young Sherlock and specifically the episode. I guess, is it early where he meets young Moriarty? It's the premise of the show. I mean, what in the young Sheldons are we doing here? We need to stop this. Anything didn't get mentioned off of your long list? I think the only one I wanted to shout out, I mean, we didn't really get into beef. I think that's more of a performance, maybe forward show than it is a show that we really loved through and through. And in our mutual appreciation, really only eligible for wildcard of the British competition show Taskmaster.

57:07I wanted to highlight the great work of your fellow Joanna, Joanna Page. Correct. Who on a series in which Armando Iannucci is on it, Camille Nagiani is on it, like pretty loaded by Taskmaster standards. The clear winner and clear standout is a Welsh woman who just over explains every single joke she's trying to make. And it was probably the funniest thing I saw on TV this year. Have you ever seen,

57:29Joanna Robinson:have you seen her show Gavin and Stacey? No. Okay, you should watch it. You'll love it. Clearly. All right. Well, that has been our draft of the best of the year so far. We did it. Thank you to everyone here at Televerse who is here. Thank you to our team. And we'll see you for more Furious coverage. And so horses and all the rest of this year. Bye.