In this week's show we complain for exactly as long as we want about the terrible bewildering interfaces we all need to use to watch TV right now, and then we talk about some good shows you should watch: Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat, and Hasan Minhaj's Patriot Act.

SHOW NOTES:

Samin Nosrat's "beauty uniform": https://cupofjo.com/2018/10/samin-nosrat-beauty-uniform/

The Patriot Act/Queer Eye Crossover Episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFhRONeopbQ

How Hasan Minhaj fits into our culture of performative dunking: https://www.npr.org/2018/10/29/661624301/hasan-minhaj-breaks-through-dunk-fatigue-with-patriot-act

We're joined by guest Christina Tucker this week, who covers from Kathryn (who got very sick on that recording day) and bravely subjects herself to watching three episodes of The Newsroom. Before we talk about that, though, Christina, Andrew and Margaret chat about their earliest TV crushes, a discussion that involves Christina waxing rhapsodic about Angie Harmon on Law and Order. Then its... you know. The Newsroom. Again.

Kathryn battles through illness as we answer our way through YOUR most pressing TV questions! What TV tropes do we love? Which TV parents would we choose as our own? And what were our favorite shows a decade ago? All that and more, during a wonder respite from The Newsroom!

SHOW NOTES

All of our questions, laid out in order! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G31R0Urzme9gtocIq8qqaoIwsY-rptWMlyod7GHRHQk

Lest we sully any other TV topic with proximity to a discussion of The Newsroom, this week our entire episode is dedicated to episodes 2, 3 and 4 of season 1 of Sorkin's disastrous work. There is much yelling, and gnashing of teeth.

This week we come back for another GoodOne/BadOne, in which we debate the parameters of The Purge TV series and are... surprisingly OK with God Friended Me, as dumb as it is.

SHOW NOTES

The Purge: http://www.usanetwork.com/thepurge/episodes?cid=ps_ThePurge__S1Launch_2018Q3_

God Friended Me: https://www.cbs.com/shows/god-friended-me/

It's an episode full of ups and downs, as we discuss the delights of the second season of American Vandal (and also its few detractions, none of which are seriously troubling), and then turn to kick off our Newsroom book club with a discussion of the pilot episode. Gradually we begin to wonder why we have done this to ourselves, and Margaret goes on a glorious rant about "McKenzie McFucking McHale."

This week, we watch two of our new fall premieres for an old segment newly christened Good One/Bad One. The Good One is The Good Cop, a Netflix show which is vaguely pleasant and generally inoffensive. The Bad One is Manifest, a vaguely Lost-flavored high-concept drama with an interesting premise and bad execution. Also, Kathryn does a Tony Danza impression that shows that when you shoot for the moon, even when you miss, you land among the stars.

SHOW NOTES:

The Good Cop: https://www.netflix.com/title/80157073

Tony Danza on The Good Cop: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8475886/tony-danza-the-good-cop-theme-song-josh-groban-interview

Manifest: https://www.nbc.com/manifest?nbc=1

The Bad Fan Theory Internet Strikes Again: https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Reactions-Manifest-Season-1-Premiere-45311040

It's a bevy of badness this week, alas. We talk about the recent upheaval at CBS after Les Moonves's MeToo moment finally arrived, and point out some recommended reading for this era of revelation and anguish. We also have a recommendation for other guys who've been the subject of MeToo allegations who are now trying to creep back into the public sphere, which is: don't!

From that cheerful topic, we move on to some more lighthearted yelling about TV journalists, namely, terrible depictions of female journalists on TV. Because it's a fest of awful, we also introduce our next TV bookclub... THE NEWSROOM.

This week we evaluate the new era (in the US, at least) of the Great British Bake-Off, which is still at the very least a Good British Bake-Off. Then we try to talk about other reality television shows but mostly end up yelling about the Bachelor again.

SHOW NOTES

Where to find all of Noel Fielding's shirts: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/great-british-bake-off-2018-noel-fielding-shirts-where-how-to-buy-them-ranked-a8534251.html

The New Jersey Life of Macaroni Rascals: http://travel.cnn.com/tokyo/none/macaroni-rascals-mtvs-jersey-shore-comes-japan-490032/

The Great British Baking Show on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80063224

Andrew, compelled by a patron's dollars, watches an episode of professional wrestling; Margaret and Kathryn learn a lot about someone named Joey Ryan and also that wrestlers can be like the Dred Pirate Roberts. We then have a chat about what makes for a good TV narrator, in which Kathryn gesticulates for a while about the new Lifetime series You, and we debate the relative merits of Carrie from Sex and the City versus JD from Scrubs.