TV: Rewind and Rehash

July 31, 2014 3:20 PM

Are you combing Netflix trying to find all the TV shows you missed the first time around? Or maybe you just want to take a nostalgia trip and revist all of the great television that is gone but not forgotten? So much good TV! Problem is, it's not like you can stand at the office watercooler chatting about that awesome episode you saw last night...especially if it first aired in 1994. So what do you do when you want to really mull over an episode you just watched? You listen to some great podcasts with fans discussing in depth your favorite shows, that's what.

Angel
- The Angel Rewatch

Battlestar Galactica
- The Resurrection Cast a Battlestar Galactica Intro Podcast

Breaking Bad
- Breaking Good - Breaking Bad Podcast

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Art of Slaying: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Retrospective

Dexter
- Dissecting Dexter

Friday Night Ligths
- The Friday Night Lights Podcast

Lost
- LOST Rewatch

Seinfeld
- Seinfeld Challenge Podcast

Star Trek
- Star Trek: The Rewatch

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
- The Carson Podcast

Twin Peaks
- The Twin Peaks Podcast

Veronica Mars
- The MARS Effect

The X-Files
- Kumail Nanjiani's The X-Files Files
- X-Files Truth

What are some good ones I missed?

posted by BeBoth (19 comments total)

I've been enjoying the Star Trek Mission Log podcast, as recommended by a fellow Mefite over in the Trek watch post on Fanfare.
posted by Atreides at 3:31 PM on July 31, 2014

Also, The Republic City Dispatch for Legend of Korra. I'd link, but on phone. No good on phone.
posted by Atreides at 3:33 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]

I was going to say, it's an outrage that Mission Log is not included.

I wanted to plug April Richardson's "Go Bayside" Saved by the Bell podcast, which has been the perfect thing for my dazed, sleep-deprived newborn-keeps-waking-me-up mental state.
posted by gerryblog at 3:42 PM on July 31, 2014 [2 favorites]

Go Bayside is worth it for April's Max-related madness alone.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 4:14 PM on July 31, 2014 [4 favorites]

I don't know if these qualify as "rewatch" but they're certainly good podcasts and there to enjoy when you get around to Breaking Bad:

1) The Ones Who Knock - David Chen / Joanna Robinson Breaking Bad podcast

2) The official BB podcast with Kelley Dixon. Because it's associated with the show (Dixon edited), they get cast and crew to come on, including Vince Gilligan. Really good.

I think the BB podcast you listed is one I tried and didn't really like the hosts (not sure). David Chen and Joanna Robinson have great synergy and it's a very entertaining podcast.

That people are doing re-watches of Johnny Carson is just incredible.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 4:27 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]

A few years ago, I went through an intense Buffy phase. I was obsessed. I wish I'd known about this then. I'm sure people thought I was crazy and there was no one to talk to about th episodes. Most of the Buffy blogs weren't really that active anymore. I'm over Buffy now. Mostly. But I am going to checkout the podcast.
posted by shoesietart at 4:37 PM on July 31, 2014

I also found the Breaking Good hosts a bit too bro-ey.

Seconding The Ones Who Knock. Chen and Robinson also do a Game of Thrones podcast, A Cast of Kings. They have a nice rapport: Chen sometimes gets bogged down in "but what are the rules" minutiae, Robinson pulls him out; sometimes you can almost hear her eyes rolling. (Note that both of these podcasts are contemporaneous, not re-watch; they very studiously avoid spoilers for upcoming/future episodes.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:44 PM on July 31, 2014

Good post! However, scroll down the page, and click the Fanfare button. We need you.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:24 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]

To continue the Robinson connection, she joined the Legend of Korra podcast I mentioned above last season.
posted by Atreides at 7:04 PM on July 31, 2014

As far as I'm concerned, the only LOST podcast worth listening to during its original run was The LOST Podcast with Jay & Jack, which I thought struck a nice balance between reasoned analysis and just shooting the breeze. I haven't really kept up with them since the end of LOST, but I think I've still got a J & J DHARMA microphone-logo t-shirts in the back of my closet someplace.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:05 PM on July 31, 2014

Chen and Robinson also do a Game of Thrones podcast, A Cast of Kings. They have a nice rapport: Chen sometimes gets bogged down in "but what are the rules" minutiae, Robinson pulls him out; sometimes you can almost hear her eyes rolling.

I feel like Chen's gotten a lot better about not letting his nerdery sidetrack his geekery over the last season or two. As they say at the beginning of every podcast, Robinson's read every book in ASOIAF, and Dave's only watched the show, so I appreciate hearing his take on the events of each episode, mostly as a check to see if non-book-readers got as much out of it as I did.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:16 PM on July 31, 2014

The X-Files Files is defo worth a listen - the recent episode in which Kumail Nanjiani talks to Dean Haglund (who played one of The Lone Gunmen) is an absolute joy, packed with wonderful stories from Haglund's time on set, and some fascinating stuff about fan influence on the X-Files thanks to the writers lurking newsgroups.

It seems to have really taken off, to the point that future episodes featuring Anderson or Duchovny seem like a possibility, however remote. *crosses fingers*
posted by jack_mo at 7:53 PM on July 31, 2014 [1 favorite]

It'd be a laff to see discussions of non-deep mainstream shows from earlier times that were thought-provoking, like the "Laverne & Shirley" where Shirley meets her deadbeat dad in a dive-bar after standing her up for a father-daughter get-together...that episode totally explains her insecurities and neurosis as being sourced from a crushing sense of abandonment.

"Bonanza" had one episode where their Hispanic ranch cook experiences a series of ungodly misfortunes and unlikely set-backs, culminating in him falling to his knees in a rain storm and crying "why, god, why?" Clearly an homage to the parable of Job in the bible. That one stuck with me for weeks, it was haunting.

What did the beach invasion farce episode, "The Grunion Invasion" from "Beverly Hillbillies" really signify? Was it really a critique of Southern political intransigence?

I want answers.

Popular shows used to have a strangle-hold on TV viewing, across all subcultures. We lost that in the 90s. I've still never seen an episode of X-Files, I thought of it as a show for bored accountants.
posted by obsolutely at 8:54 PM on July 31, 2014

When there were only 3 channels, and 2 of them were boring most of the time, the watercooler was the place to talk about *the* interesting show that was on last night. There was only one.

Back in those days Saturday Night Live got discussed every Monday. Not because it was good, but because it's all there was.
posted by el io at 9:35 PM on July 31, 2014

What did the beach invasion farce episode, "The Grunion Invasion " from "Beverly Hillbillies" really signify? Was it really a critique of Southern political intransigence?

I want answers.

Have I got a site/podcast for you... (No seriously, that's their exact kind of thing)
posted by Wandering Idiot at 7:07 AM on August 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

I've been re-watching The X-Files and just finished season one. The X-Files Files helped a lot, though it's often maddening if you're older than 30 (like me) and actually know a bit about the era when the show first aired and before. (For example, if you know, when listing previous films about evil children, that "The Bad Seed" might be a good one to mention.)

I insisted on watching the entire first season, which I don't recommend. If I continue with this project (I wasn't expecting to get to the point where the Conspiracy arc is a waste of time so soon, but as early as "E.B.E." it's flatlining) I'll stick solely to the episodes discussed there. And, considering they're planning on covering "Roland", maybe not even all of those.
posted by Legomancer at 7:30 AM on August 1, 2014

I think it's better to approach The X-Files as an anthology series like The Twilight Zone and cherry pick the best ones cause everybody knows the Big Conspiracy goes nowhere and is muddled and uninteresting
posted by The Whelk at 10:29 AM on August 1, 2014

That people are doing re-watches of Johnny Carson is just incredible.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 7:27 PM on July 31

Welllll....that one is a bit of a cheat, but I felt like I needed to include it because it's so good. It is a podcast where the host interviews celebs (Carol Burnett, Stephen Wright, Rich Little, etc.) who appeared on the show multiple times, discuss their appearances and how it affected them personally.
posted by BeBoth at 10:54 AM on August 1, 2014

Not TV and not a recommendation, but I feel compelled to mention James Bonding. I really wanted to like it but found it way too unfocused. The hosts do not spend enough time actually talking about the movies.
posted by Sand at 9:30 AM on August 3, 2014