A new podcast episode of Couch Potatoes Unite!, which is based on a blog of the same name hosted at our website: couchpotatoesunite.wordpress.com. In this episode, our panel of resident CPU! MASHed Potatoes and fans of wartime dramedies – including moderator Nick, Sarah, Michael (K), Jenn (K), Josh, Mary, and Chief Couch Potato Kylie – reconvened Around the Water Cooler to Look Back at Seasons 4-7 of M*A*S*H. This is the second part of a three-part CPU! Retrospective podcast series in which Couch Potatoes Unite! reflects upon one of the most lauded, most well regarded, and most highly rated situation comedy-dramas in television history. This second episode was recorded in July 2020, and, as always, if you haven’t seen any of M*A*S*H – if that is even possible – be aware that there are MAJOR SPOILERS! Tell us what you think, and/or if there are other shows you’re interested in CPU! covering, below; email us at couchpotatoesunitepodcast@gmail.com; or check out our Guestbook at the website, our Facebook page, our Twitter (@cpupodcast), our Instagram (@couchpotatoesunite), or our Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/couchpotatoesunite. Until next time, until next episode…buh bye!
Executive Producer/Chief Couch Potato: Kylie C. Piette Associate Producers: Krista Pennington and Selene Rezmer
Editor: Kylie C. Piette Logo: Rebecca Wallace Marketing Graphic Artist: Krista Pennington
Theme Song: Written by: Sarah Milbratz Singers: Sarah Milbratz, Amy McDaniel, Kels Rezmer Keyboard: Kels Rezmer Bass: Ian McDonough Guitar: Christian Somerville Engineer/Production: Kyle Aspinall/Christian Somerville
Who: “M*A*S*H” is an American war comedy-drama that aired on CBS for eleven seasons, from 1972-1983.
What: “M*A*S*H” follows a team of doctors and support staff stationed at the “4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital” in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War (1950–53).
SYNOPSIS
Developed by Larry Gelbart as the first original spin-off series adapted from the 1970 feature film M*A*S*H, which, in turn, was based on Richard Hooker’s 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, M*A*S*H is an ensemble situation comedy drama revolving around key personnel in a United States Army Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) in the Korean War (1950–53). Episodes were both plot- and character-driven, with several narrated by one of the show’s characters as the contents of a letter home. The show’s tone could move from silly to sobering from one episode to the next, with dramatic tension often occurring between the civilian draftees of the 4077th – Captains Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce (Alan Alda), Trapper John McIntyre (Wayne Rogers, Seasons 1-3), and B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell, Seasons 4-11), for example – who are forced to leave their homes to tend the wounded and dying of the war – and the “regular Army” characters, such as Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan (Loretta Swit) and Colonel Sherman Potter (Harry Morgan, Seasons 4-11), who tend to represent patriotism and duty, though Houlihan and Potter could also represent the other perspective at times. Other characters, such as Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake (McLean Stevenson, Seasons 1-3), Major Charles Emerson Winchester II (David Ogden Stiers, Seasons 6-11), and Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger (Jamie Farr), help demonstrate various American civilian attitudes toward Army life, while guest characters also help further the show’s discussion of America’s place as a Cold War participant and peace maker.
When: The show aired on CBS from 1972-1983; Season 4 aired from September 12, 1975, to February 24, 1976, with a total of 25 episodes; Season 5 aired from September 21, 1976, to March 15, 1977, with a total of 25 episodes; Season 6 aired from September 20, 1977, to March 27, 1978, with a total of 25 episodes; and Season 7 aired from September 18, 1978, to March 12, 1979, with a total of 26 episodes.
Where: The show is set in Uijeongbu, South Korea, during the Korean War (1950–53).
Why: Listen to Episode One of our Retrospective Series, linked below, for the panelists’ individual stories on how they found M*A*S*H.
How – as in How Much Do We Love this Show?!– THOUGHTS
To listen to Episode One of this series, covering Seasons 1 through 3, click the embedded link below:
Seasons 1-3
Panelists Sarah, Michael (K), Jenn (K), Josh, and Mary return to the Water Cooler this week to continue our Retrospective M*A*S*H discussion, along with your friendly neighborhood Chief CP participating as a regular old panelist as well as the famous (or infamous?) Nick moderating our discussion, as we celebrate the quality writing and unprecedented longevity of this wartime satire, one of the most highly requested shows by our Couch Potatoes, Couch Potatoes adjacent, and by some of our listeners – of all CPU! time. Our panel of so-called “MASHed Potatoes,” therefore, reconvened “Around the Water Cooler” to move forward with our Look Back at a show with a legacy that has only expanded as the years have passed, particularly when one reflects upon how ahead of its time it was in light of some of the subjects that it addressed.
Tonight’s episode is the second part of a three-part miniseries in which CPU! Looks Back at M*A*S*H. In this episode, our panel reviews the middle four seasons, Seasons 4-7, when Colonel Sherman Potter (Morgan), Captain BJ Hunnicut (Farrell), and, eventually, Major Charles Winchester III (Ogden Stiers) arrive at the 4077 to participate in all of the requisite and beloved hijinks and shenanigans, while Colonel Blake (Stevenson), Captain Trapper John McIntyre (Rogers), and, eventually, Lieutenant Walter “Radar” O’Reilly (Gary Berghoef) and Major Frank Burns (Larry Linville) depart the long-running series. Many of these seasons aired before any of our resident panelists were born, though one panelist (who shall remain nameless) entered the world roughly during the run of Season 6. In addition, we have some cool surprises planned and attached to subsequent episodes in this CPU! series that we hope to be more generationally all-inclusive.
Plus, M*A*S*H constitutes another entry in our “Best Of!” series. To wit, herein be the list of M*A*S*H’s Best Of!:
#25 on TV Guide’s list of 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
#8 on TV Guide’s list of 60 Best Series of All Time
#47 on Empire‘s “50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time” in 2016
#13 on The Hollywood Reporter‘s “Hollywood’s 100 Favorite TV Shows”
TIME Magazine’s All-Time 100 TV Shows
#16 Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
In addition, M*A*S*Hranked #5 on The Writer’s Guild of America’s Best Written TV list in 2013, as it is also considered one of the best written (scripted) television series of all time.
This particular CPU! episode was recorded in July 2020, and there are, without question, MAJOR SPOILERS, as the panelists cover key plot points, situations, sight gags, and jokes of Seasons 4-7 of M*A*S*H! Listen at your own risk, and let us know what you think by commenting below!
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@cpupodcast), Instagram (@couchpotatoesunite), Pinterest (@cpupodcast), or email us at couchpotatoesunitepodcast@gmail.com – or subscribe to this blog, the YouTube channel, our Apple/iTunes channel, our Stitcher Radio channel , find us on Google Play, on Spotify, on Castbox, on iHeartRadio, on Amazon Music, and now on Patreon(!) to keep track of brand new episodes. In the meantime, let us know what you think! Comment or review us in any of the above forums – we’d love your feedback!
Remember, new episodes and blog posts are published weekly! Next week, our Outlander panel re-gathers at the CPU! Water Cooler to continue a five-part Catching-Up series with Episode Two, in which we discuss the second season of the wildly romantic historical Starz drama. Stay tuned!
RECOMMENDATION
M*A*S*H – if you haven’t already watched it – is recommended to anyone who hasn’t somehow seen any portion of it in the over 40 years since it first premiered and who enjoys well-written, thoughtful situation comedies and/or anyone who considers themselves a TV connoisseur, because one could hardly adopt such a label without taking a look-see at one of the longest-running comedies with the most watched series finale of all time, an honor that has never been surpassed in the Nielsen ratings. M*A*S*H, in many ways, pioneered and perfected the ensemble comedy formula that has become a staple of everything from Cheers to Friends to The Office to Modern Family, but that also elevated its own contribution to the craft by injecting satire and piercing social commentary into the usual slapstick and farce situations that made for contemporary popular television. As we discuss in this podcast episode, M*A*S*H clearly influenced so many other comedies and dramedies to follow, not to mention spin-offs of its own, though none of them could match the success of the parent show. M*A*S*H continues to be a timeless, engaging fusion of ensemble cast chemistry and poignant social subtext that no doubt managed to push the boundaries of network censors. If you love trying something new, and if you have somehow missed this series, you should make time for M*A*S*H. The panel universally “seems to really like this show,” as Moderator Nick observed in Episode One, and can only imagine that others, of any age, generation, or sensibility, would probably feel the same if they gave the show a real shot – gun, rim, or otherwise.
All eleven seasons of M*A*S*H are currently available to stream on Hulu. In the meantime, the CPU! M*A*S*H Retrospective Series panel will return next month with the final episode, Episode Three of this miniseries, in which we talk Seasons 8-11. Until then!
A new podcast episode of Couch Potatoes Unite!, which is based on a blog of the same name hosted at our website: couchpotatoesunite.wordpress.com. In this episode, our panel of resident CPU! Trekkers – including moderator Chief Couch Potato Kylie, Nick, Sarah, Kyle, and Michael – reconvened Around the Water Cooler to Look Back at Season 5 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This is the ninth part of a multi-part CPU! podcast series – the biggest multi-part series we have ever undertaken – in which we venture into space, the final frontier, by covering each season of each series of the entire Star Trek franchise (the movies too)! This ninth “Star Trek 50+ Series” episode was recorded in January 2021, and, as always, if you haven’t seen any of Star Trek, TNG or otherwise – if that is even possible – be aware that there are MAJOR SPOILERS! Tell us what you think, and/or if there are other shows you’re interested in CPU! covering, below; email us at couchpotatoesunitepodcast@gmail.com; or check out our Guestbook at the website, our Facebook page, our Twitter (@cpupodcast), our Instagram (@couchpotatoesunite), or our Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/couchpotatoesunite. Until next time, until next episode…buh bye!
Executive Producer/Chief Couch Potato: Kylie C. Piette Associate Producers: Krista Pennington and Selene Rezmer
Editor: Kylie C. Piette Logo: Rebecca Wallace Marketing Graphic Artist: Krista Pennington
Theme Song: Written by: Sarah Milbratz Singers: Sarah Milbratz, Amy McDaniel, Kels Sprague Keyboard: Kels Sprague Bass: Ian McDonough Guitar: Christian Somerville Engineer/Production: Kyle Aspinall/Christian Somerville
Who: “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” an American science fiction series created by Gene Roddenberry, which aired in syndication from 1987 to 1994 for seven seasons.
What: “Star Trek: The Next Generation” follows the adventures of the star ship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) and its crew. The third series in the Star Trek franchise, it is the second sequel to Star Trek: The Original Series.
SYNOPSIS
Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of the United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of a Starfleet star-ship, the USS Enterprise-D, in its exploration of the Milky Way galaxy. The Next Generation features a new crew: Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker, Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data, Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Commander Worf, LeVar Burton as Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi, and Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher, as well as Denise Crosby as Lieutenant Tasha Yar in Season 1 and Wil Wheaton as Ensign Wesley Crusher in Seasons 1-4.
When: The show aired in syndication from 1987-1994; Season 5 aired from September 23, 1991, to June 15, 1992, with a total of 26 episodes.
Where: The show is set in “space the final frontier,” in what is allegedly the 24th Century, though it should be noted that calculating star dates as quoted during “Captain’s Logs” on the show is an exercise that seems to be more logical in this series than in The Original Series but does not seem to correspond to our present-day time measurement system. Then again, there is probably an explanation in some fan encyclopedia somewhere. We’re not going to worry about that right now, though, gentle listener.
Why: Listen to Episode 5, linked below, for the panelists’ individual stories on how they found Star Trek: The Next Generation.
How – as in How Much Do We Love this Show?!
In 2017, Couch Potatoes Unite! appeared live at Grand Rapids Comic-Con in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where we engaged in one of our spicy “Vs!” debates, specifically the debate entitled “Star Trek v. Star Wars: Battle of the Stars!” During that special, our second most involved panelist, the infamous Nick, gave an impassioned speech in favor of the Star Trek universe, of which he is undeniably a huge fan. In light of Nick’s passion, then, and of his subsequent repetitive bouts of subtle encouragement dedicated to starting this series, we here at CPU! triumphantly continue our biggest – no, really, this will be our biggest – Retrospective Looking Back series of podcast episodes to date. Listen to previous episodes in this series here:
The Original Series: Season 1
The Original Series: Season 2
The Original Series: Season 3
The Animated Series: Seasons 1-2
The Next Generation: Season 1
The Next Generation: Season 2
The Next Generation: Season 3
The Next Generation: Season 4
Our panel of CPU! super-regulars and resident Trekkers – specifically Nick, Sarah, Kyle, and Michael – continue our likely “five year mission” to boldly go where (probably) no one has gone before with this eighth episode of our “Star Trek 50+ Series.” In this feature, we are taking a critical Look Back at a franchise that, perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, perseveres, despite occasional periods of dormant but simmering popularity and attempts to regroup in an effort to generate new entries in its over five-decade saga. In each episode of this multi-part series, our panel will Look Back at each season of each series of the Star Trek franchise and will consider how this universe has not only withstood the test of time, while simultaneously becoming timeless, but also continues to rank among the panelists’ personal favorites, not only as a series of television programs but as a favored fandom among many, while remaining one of the most nationally and internationally acclaimed series of television shows of all time.
In this ninth episode of CPU!’s “Star Trek 50+” series, our panel discusses Season 5 of The Next Generation (TNG). We discuss our favorite and least favorite episodes in Season 5 as well as our general impressions of the long-term success of the series as a whole.
Plus, Star Trek: The Next Generation constitutes another entry in our “Best Of!” series. To wit, herein be the list of TNG’s Best Of!:
#46 on TV Guide’s list of 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time
#37 on Empire‘s “50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time” in 2008 and #30 in 2016
#55 on The Hollywood Reporter‘s “Hollywood’s 100 Favorite TV Shows”
In addition, Star Trek: The Next Generation is one of the most celebrated cult TV shows, as the show ranks at #8 on Entertainment Weekly’s Top Cult TV list from 2014. Plus, Star Trek: The Next Generationranked #79 on The Writer’s Guild of America’s Best Written TV list in 2013, as it is also considered one of the best written (scripted) television series of all time.
This particular CPU! episode was recorded in January 2021, and there are, without question, MAJOR SPOILERS, as the panelists cover key plot points and episodic stories of Season 5 of Star Trek: The Next Generation! Listen at your own risk, and let us know what you think by commenting below!
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@cpupodcast), Instagram (@couchpotatoesunite), Pinterest (@cpupodcast), or email us at couchpotatoesunitepodcast@gmail.com – or subscribe to this blog, the YouTube channel, our Apple/iTunes channel, our Stitcher Radio channel , find us on Google Play, on Spotify, on Castbox, on iHeartRadio, on Amazon Music, and now on Patreon(!) to keep track of brand new episodes. In the meantime, let us know what you think! Comment or review us in any of the above forums – we’d love your feedback!
Remember, new episodes and blog posts are published weekly! Next Wednesday, our M*A*S*H Retrospective Series panel triumphantly returns to the Water Cooler to Look Back at Seasons 4-7, i.e. the seasons featuring the arrivals of Colonel Sherman Potter and Captain BJ Hunnicut and the departures of Lt. Colonel Henry Blake and Captain Trapper John McIntyre as well as the subtle but notable shift from comedy to comedy drama in the long-running, all-time acclaimed series. Stay tuned!
RECOMMENDATION
Star Trek: The Next Generation – if you haven’t already watched it – is recommended to anyone who hasn’t somehow seen any portion of it in the over 30 years since it first premiered and who enjoys well-written science fiction stories because, as much as Star Trek: The Original Series pioneered good science fiction television in so many ways, not the least of which includes quality stories underlying each of the show’s imaginative episodes, TNG took that sensibility all that much further 20 years after TOS started the trends. As we discuss in all of the TNG podcast episodes, TNG, like its progenitor show, clearly influenced so many other science fiction and fantasy genre programs to follow, not to mention further spin-offs and sequels in the Star Trek universe. To wit, Star Trek: The Next Generation continues the Star Trek tradition of being a timeless, magical fusion of ensemble cast chemistry and out-of-the-box creativity. Indeed, TNG, like TOS, has a bit of everything, and, if you love the genre and/or if you love trying something new, and if you have somehow missed this series, you should make time for Star Trek: TNG. The panel universally agrees and predicts that even if a potential viewer estimated that they would struggle with the aged quality of special effects and performance/presentation of The Original Series, The Next Generation would allay those concerns and would become the gateway Star Trek series worth watching to experience the magic of the universe and the richness of characters and stories it produces. Though, as one of the actors of this particular cast is fond of saying, and to paraphrase, you don’t have to take our word for it!
All seven seasons of TNG are currently available to stream on Netflix, Prime, Hulu, CBS All Access, and maybe some other services of which we are not aware. In the meantime, the CPU! Star Trek 50+ Series panel will return later this year with Episode 10 of this series, in which we talk Season 6 of TNG. Until then!
A new podcast episode of Couch Potatoes Unite!, which is based on a blog of the same name hosted at our website: couchpotatoesunite.wordpress.com. In this episode, recorded in August 2020, our supersized panel of Pearson-loving resident Couch Potatoes – moderator Chief Couch Potato Kylie, Kristen (L), Spencer, Eddy, Emily (S), Kristin (T), and Jared – convenes for the first time around the CPU! Water Cooler, cheering “Big Three!” all the while, to discuss Season 1 of the critically-acclaimed and widely popular NBC family drama This Is Us, in this, Episode One of our four-part “Catching Up on This Is Us” Series. As always, if you have not watched any of This Is Us, be aware that there are, most definitely, MAJOR SPOILERS! Tell us what you think, and/or if there are other shows you’re interested in CPU! covering, below; email us at couchpotatoesunitepodcast@gmail.com; or check out our Guestbook at the website, our Facebook page, our Twitter (@cpupodcast), our Instagram (@couchpotatoesunite), or our Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/couchpotatoesunite. Until next time, until next episode…buh bye!
Executive Producer/Chief Couch Potato: Kylie C. Piette Associate Producers: Krista Pennington and Selene Rezmer
Editor: Kylie C. Piette Logo: Rebecca Wallace Marketing Graphic Artist: Krista Pennington
Theme Song: Written by: Sarah Milbratz Singers: Sarah Milbratz, Amy McDaniel, Kels Rezmer Keyboard: Kels Rezmer Bass: Ian McDonough Guitar: Christian Somerville Engineer/Production: Kyle Aspinall/Christian Somerville
Who: “This Is Us” is a romantic family drama series that currently airs on NBC, fall to spring Tuesdays at 9:00 PM.
What: Created by Dan Fogelman, the series follows the lives and families of two parents and their three children in several different time frames and stars an ensemble cast featuring Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz, Justin Hartley, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Sullivan, and Ron Cephas Jones in Season 1.
When: Season 1 aired on NBC from September 20, 2016, to March 14, 2017, with a total of eighteen episodes.
Where: The action follows the core family members – two parents, three children, and their eventual spouses – who are originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but who later move and spread, particularly in the present/future timelines, to Alpine, New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Los Angeles, California; and New York City, New York.
Why: To find out why individual podcast panelists started watching this show, listen to the podcast episode via the link below!
How – as in How Was It?
The pilot/premiere rating scale:
***** – I HAVE TO WATCH EVERYTHING. HOLY SMOKES!
**** – Well, it certainly seems intriguing. I’m going to keep watching, but I see possible pitfalls in the premise.
*** – I will give it six episodes and see what happens. There are things I like, and things I don’t. We’ll see which “things” are allowed to flourish.
** – I will give it three episodes. Chances are, I’m mainly bored, but there is some intrigue or fascination that could hold it together. No matter how unlikely.
* – Pass on this one, guys. It’s a snoozer/not funny/not interesting/not my cup of tea… there are too many options to waste time on this one.
This Is Us = 4.8, by average of the podcast panel.
SYNOPSIS
This Is Us follows the lives of siblings Kevin (Hartley), Kate (Metz), and Randall (Brown, known as the “Big Three”), and their parents Jack (Ventimiglia) and Rebecca Pearson (Moore). It takes place mainly in the present and uses flashbacks to show the family’s past. Kevin and Kate are the two surviving members from a triplet pregnancy, born six weeks premature on Jack’s 36th birthday in 1980; their brother Kyle is stillborn. Believing they were meant to have three children, Jack and Rebecca, who are white, decide to adopt Randall, an African American child born the day before and brought to the same hospital after his biological father William Hill (Jones) abandoned him at a fire station. Jack dies when his children are 17, and Rebecca later marries Jack’s best friend Miguel. Randall becomes a successful finance professional and marries college classmate Beth (Watson); they raise two daughters (Tess and Annie). Kevin becomes a successful actor while struggling to be taken seriously. After lacking direction much of her life, Kate meets Toby (Sullivan).
Most episodes feature a storyline taking place in the present (contemporaneous with airing) and a storyline taking place at a set time in the past, but some episodes are set in one time period or use multiple flashback time periods. Flashbacks often focus on Jack and Rebecca in and around 1980, both before and after their babies’ birth, or on the family when the Big Three are children or adolescents (and played by two sets of younger actors); these scenes usually take place in Pittsburgh, where the Big Three and their parents are born and raised. As adults, Kate lives in Los Angeles, Randall and his family are in New Jersey, and Kevin relocates from Los Angeles to New York City and back again.
THOUGHTS
Frequent CPU! contributors and panelists often suggest shows for CPU! to cover in our podcast episodes – loyal listeners should have picked up on this particular trend by now. As the podcast has been underway for several years now, many of our long-yearning Couch Potatoes and This Is Us devotees called repeatedly for a This Is Us panel and subsequently encouraged meticulous season-by-season coverage of the whole complex, multi-layered shebang. Thus, herein we offer our Season 1 recap and review of This Is Us, in which our new panel remarks upon the success or lack thereof of the series. The panel convening at the Water Cooler tonight includes requesting CPU! panelists Kristen (L), our most involved panelist and one of our moderating team; Spencer, our fifth most involved panelist (this week) and one of our moderating team; Eddy, who is currently active on our American Horror Story Series panel but who has appeared on several past panels; Emily (S), who is currently active on our American Horror Story Series and Riverdale panels but who has appeared on several past panels; Kristin (T), who is currently active on our The Crown panel; and Jared, who is currently active on our Full/er House Series panel. Our newly constituted panel of “Big Three”/Pearson supporting Couch Potatoes, therefore, gathered “Around the Water Cooler” to take a “First Look” at this gripping and layered family drama, and in so doing, to ruminate in-depth upon the production values, performances, writing, and, in the case of this panel, the music of this acclaimed program.
As such, tonight’s episode is the first episode of a four-episode series in which CPU! gets caught up on this show, which premiered on NBC in 2016. In this chapter, our panel reflects upon and recaps Season 1 of This Is Us, in which we are introduced to the Pearson family in several different eras of the family’s story and in pieces and parts, providing clues to a larger mystery around how the family survives hardship while remaining centered and grounded in the face of life’s greatest challenges. The enthusiasm from our panel is palpable – this series is one of the highest rated shows (by review of our panelists) that we have covered on the podcast.
This episode was recorded in August 2020, and there are, without question, MAJOR SPOILERS, as the panelists cover key plot points of the first season. Listen at your own risk, and let us know what you think by commenting below!
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter (@cpupodcast), Instagram (@couchpotatoesunite), Pinterest (@cpupodcast), or email us at couchpotatoesunitepodcast@gmail.com – or subscribe to this blog, the YouTube channel, our Apple/iTunes channel, our Stitcher Radio channel , find us on Google Play, on Spotify, on Castbox, on iHeartRadio, on Amazon Music, and now on Patreon(!) to keep track of brand new episodes. In the meantime, let us know what you think! Comment or review us in any of the above forums – we’d love your feedback!
Remember, new episodes and blog posts are published weekly! Next Wednesday, our “Star Trek 50+ Series” returns to the Water Cooler to continue their mega-sized Retrospective Series covering all shows under the Star Trek franchise banner. Next week’s episode will talk Season 5 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Stay tuned!
RECOMMENDATION
This Is Us is recommended by our latest CPU! panel to “almost anyone” who enjoys watching television – full stop – but particularly to those who enjoy family dramas like Parenthood, Brothers & Sisters, and The Council of Dads and to those with some years of life experience. Our panel believes that this show will resonate most with people who appreciate some reality in their fiction, as opposed to pure fantasy, because the creator and writers have infused their story with an undercurrent of wisdom and a concentrated sense of genuineness that renders the show a fulfilling and emotional viewing experience that keeps one wanting more, as the story is told non-linearly, with meted out clues and parallelisms connecting well-meaning, three-dimensional characters with whom it quickly becomes easy to identify. The panelists universally describe This Is Us as well-written, well performed, and well directed, with expertly plotted, interweaving storylines that both tease the mind and fill the heart and are executed by earnest and genuine performers who breathe a comfortable vitality into smart, relatable, and emotionally complex characters. Our panel notes that a decision to watch this NBC drama should be one made with a firm commitment, a preparation for an investment that requires full concentration for the watch without the “second screen experience” and other distractions, as there are glimpses and hints of story revelations in early seasons that ultimately play out masterfully in later seasons (these become subjects of future episodes in our “Catching Up” Series). The panel further praised the casting, lauding the seamless ensemble of this drama and its effortless cast chemistry. In the end, the panelists unanimously enjoy this series and enthusiastically recommend it to any would-be viewer who would be enticed by it to start, without hesitation; in fact, our supersized panel proved all too eager to continue watching – or to re-watch – Season 2, which we will discuss in Episode Two of our “Catching Up” Series next month!
THE FUTURE OF THE SHOW
NBC renewed This Is Us for three additional seasons, including a sixth season, at the same time that the show received its fourth season renewal (May 2019); Season 5 is currently airing, and a Season 6 premiere date has not yet been announced. CPU! will next visit This Is Us for Episode Two of this “Catching Up” Series in April 2021, during which our This Is Us panel will focus upon Season 2. Like, follow, and/or subscribe to the website, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher Radio, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Castbox, Amazon Music, Patreon, or our social media accounts to stay abreast of new episodes regarding This Is Us as well as new episodes for all of our podcast panels! And, if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. Thank you!
A new podcast episode of Couch Potatoes Unite!, which is based on a blog of the same name hosted at our website: couchpotatoesunite.wordpress.com. In this episode, recorded in July 2020, our panel of Actives who are anything but asleep – moderator Chief Couch Potato Kylie, Kristen, Sarah, Spencer, Selene, and Kallie – convenes around the CPU! Water Cooler, in Canceled Corner, to Look Back at the erstwhile Fox-produced but quickly canceled (after two seasons) high-concept, science fiction thriller, Dollhouse. As always, if you have not watched any of Dollhouse, be aware that there are, most definitely, MAJOR SPOILERS! Tell us what you think, and/or if there are other shows you’re interested in CPU! covering, below; email us at couchpotatoesunitepodcast@gmail.com; or check out our Guestbook at the website, our Facebook page, our Twitter (@cpupodcast), our Instagram (@couchpotatoesunite), or our Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/couchpotatoesunite. Until next time, until next episode…buh bye!
Executive Producer/Chief Couch Potato: Kylie C. Piette Associate Producers: Krista Pennington and Selene Rezmer
Editor: Kylie C. Piette Logo: Rebecca Wallace Marketing Graphic Artist: Krista Pennington
Theme Song: Written by: Sarah Milbratz Singers: Sarah Milbratz, Amy McDaniel, Kels Rezmer Keyboard: Kels Rezmer Bass: Ian McDonough Guitar: Christian Somerville Engineer/Production: Kyle Aspinall/Christian Somerville
Who: “Dollhouse,” an American science fiction series created by Joss Whedon that aired on Fox for two seasons, from 2009 to 2010, until it was canceled.
What: “Dollhouse” depicts a corporation running numerous underground establishments (known as “Dollhouses”) around the globe that program individuals refer to as Actives (or Dolls) with temporary personalities and skills.
SYNOPSIS
Wealthy clients hire Actives from Dollhouses at great expense for various purposes, including heists, sexual encounters, assassinations, expert counsel, and all manner of unique experiences. The series primarily follows the Active known as Echo, played by Eliza Dushku, on her journey toward self-awareness.
When: The show aired on Fox for two seasons from February 2009 through January 2010. Each season consists of 13 episodes.
Where: The show is primarily set in Los Angeles, California, and surrounding areas, though the Dolls do travel quite frequently when the mission or task suits whomever employs them. The time is contemporaneous present day at the time of the show’s first run.
Why: Listen to this episode, linked below, for the panelists’ individual stories on how they found Dollhouse.
How – as in How Was It? – THOUGHTS
It’s no secret that we have several fans amongst our sack of eager Couch Potatoes – yours truly, the Chief Couch Potato, among them – of the works produced by a certain television creator who has, of late, become something of a persona non grata due to allegations of on-set harassment and abuse by several people who have worked with him over the years. While we at CPU! acknowledge that the man is not the paragon of virtue some might have made him out to be (and we certainly never advocated as such in the past), he has made good TV, even though it seems he did so in an, at times, unprofessional manner. As we also have the ability to compartmentalize and contextualize creations, not as extensions of one creator or producer but as an overall work produced by hundreds of people, from writing and directing staffs, to performers, to work crews, we persist with publishing this recording, which we recorded during Quarantine Summer ™ anyway. Plus, since we’ve covered every other property created by the man but for a “Sing Along Blog” – Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD – it seems only right that we round out the list, since it is not likely to be growing anytime soon (except for The Nevers, but we’re keeping our eyes on that one, as there has been some effect on that show as well).
Thus, we embarked upon convening a panel, which features our most involved panelist and a member of our moderating team, Kristen; our third most involved panelist and a member of our moderating team, Sarah; our seventh most involved panelist (prior to this week) and a member of our moderating team, Spencer; our tenth most involved panelist and one of our Associate Producers, Selene; and panelist Kallie, who is active on our American Horror Story panel and has also appeared on our “BuffyVerse Series” panel as well as Looked Back at Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. All panelists have since watched or re-watched the series at hand and take time in this episode to reflect on the (unfortunately) unrealized potential of the two seasons of this high-concept, topically complex science fiction thriller.
Our one-time Dollhouse panel, then, gathered Around the Water Cooler, in Canceled Corner, to Look Back at a series for which our panelists express the kind of passion that only fans of the TV creator in question seem to share for the related properties over the years as well as the inevitable regret and/or elation resulting from the series’ end as orchestrated by the network. Whatever else might be said, this series also clearly made an impression on our panelists, which they dissect in the episode linked below.
This particular CPU! episode was recorded in July 2020, and there are, without question, MAJOR SPOILERS, as the panelists cover key plot points and important twists depicted throughout the entire series of Dollhouse! Listen at your own risk, and let us know what you think by commenting below!
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Remember, new episodes and blog posts are published weekly! Next week, a new panel gathers at the CPU! Water Cooler to begin a four-part Catching-Up series, wherein we take a First Look at the first season of wildly popular NBC family drama This Is Us, a highly requested show for Couch Potato-led discussion here at the podcast. Stay tuned!
RECOMMENDATION
Dollhouse is enthusiastically recommended by our entire panel to anyone who enjoys complex/high-concept science fiction vehicles, such as Altered Carbon, Sense8, Person of Interest, and Fringe; to fans of the TV created by the guy who created this show; and to fans of the individual cast members, some of whom have become famous as a result of working for Mr. Whedon and some who agreed to work on this series, quite possibly due to Mr. Whedon’s past successes. The panel sees Dollhouse as a perfectly-contained 26 episodes of escape television that, though flawed, provides reasons to think while being both engaging and entertaining. Our panel especially praised the cast, with the most accolades heaped upon Dushku, Enver Gjokaj (who played Victor/Tony), Dichen Lachman (who played Sierra/Priya), and the guest turns by Amy Acker (Whiskey/Dr. Saunders) and Alan Tudyk (Alpha). The panel further unanimously lauded the overall writing, with appreciation for the intricacy of the narrative, even as the ending felt rushed and unearned, as well as somewhat unsettling and strange, due to the pall of cancellation that hovered over this show for most of its run. As we discuss in tonight’s podcast episode, Dollhouse managed to maximize the impact of its short on-air stay, as it offered completely shocking twists and turns with the rapid pacing and keep-you-guessing thrall of actors who were able to play different versions of their own character for much of the show’s two short seasons. The direction was also thoughtful; aside from the first four to six episodes of the series, which are devoted entirely to table-setting and the need to establish many of the “ins and outs” of this world, the two seasons of Dollhouse feel evenly paced and ultimately satisfying, though our panel did disagree somewhat on whether including the first Epitaph episode, the unaired first season finale, in the streaming version is a good choice since the exposition it offers is too confusing and disconnected to the previous narrative to be worthwhile to new viewers, even as it provides more detail and backstory for what becomes the series finale, the second Epitaph, in the end. All in all, though, we can confidently offer a CPU! Official Endorsement ™ for Dollhouse. Though Mr. Whedon might be someone whose real-life choices are worth examining in terms of how he treats/treated people vis-a-vis and especially in light of the premise of this series, the art his ideas seeded still remains engaging television, even if Dollhouse is not as beloved by our panel as, say, Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Firefly. If you watch Dollhouse, which is currently available to stream on Hulu, know that the art is more than the man who started it, and that Dollhouse is a fulfilling two seasons of television, despite its ultimate and regrettable cancellation (thanks again, Fox).
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