Boob Tube!

TV isn't always easy (see: Leaving Neverland) but it can often provide valuable insight into the stories you didn't fully comprehend decades ago (see: Lorena). We talk about those two docu-series, but don't worry — we lighten things up with John Mulaney hosting SNL and a Broad City episode about meeting a Holocaust survivor (really, it's funny!). Plus, of course, we take some time to hate on shows we don't plan to watch.

Shows discussed: Broad City, Lorena, Leaving Neverland, Mom, Saturday Night Live (hosted by John Mulaney), The Widow, Law and Order: Hate Crimes

Do you remember the "creaky door" sound of someone signing on to AOL Instant Messenger? What about, say, making out during the movie Wild Things? The band B*Witched? If the answer is yes, you definitely need to check out the first season of Hulu's Pen15, and if the answer is no....well, you should still watch this sweet, hilarious, cringe-worthy show about the exquisite hell that was seventh grade in the year 2000. Elsewhere in the tv-verse, Amanda signs off on Sarah's Kimmy Schmidt endorsement, and Sarah introduces you to a hidden gem on Comedy Central.

Shows Discussed: Pen15, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Other Two

Sweet birthday baby! If you haven't yet watched all of Russian Doll, stop what you're doing and watch it (maybe even twice). Then come back here for our discussion of Netflix's new show starring Natasha Lyonne. Plus: Sarah discovers that serial killers aren't so nice, even the "allegedly" hot ones, and Amanda learns more about the Troubles in Ireland thanks to a TV comedy about teenage girls.

Shows discussed: Russian Doll, Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Derry Girls, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Masked Singer

Let's talk about SE-ok, ok, we're not going to do the song. But this IS a week of sexy British comedy-dramas, or drama-comedies, or whatever the parlance of our times determines them to be. We talk about Netflix's "hit" Sex Education, which projects a fun fantasy world where male friends talk honestly about their sexual anxieties and '80s neon prints and shoulder pads are still all the rage. Then we come back down to earth to discuss "The Bisexual," Desiree Akhavan's sharp look at what it's like to blow up your life and try to navigate a shifting sexual identity in your thirties.

Shows Discussed: Sex Education, The Bisexual, The Good Place, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Yes, we know award shows don't matter, but these days isn't it refreshing to get righteously indignant about things that don't matter? Among the eye rolls (Kominskyyyy!! *shakes fist*) were some real high points, so we're going to focus on those. We're back in the new year after a three week break, so we have some catching up to do. Sarah fills Amanda in on a choose-your-own-adventure Black Mirror episode (sounds suspicious), and Amanda tells Sarah about a new French rom-com series (sounds super-French).

Shows watched: The Golden Globes, A Very English Scandal (sounds very English), The Hook-up Plan, Black Mirror's Bandersnatch, Escape from Dannemara

In which we comb back through 12 months of Google docs to answer the age-old question: what the hell did we watch this year, anyway? Only in the year 2018 can one have watched approximately 40 different television shows and still feel you've barely skimmed surface of what's actually out there. Stay tuned to find out what was the best of the best, what was the most disappointing, and what we're still never going to get around to watching. All that, plus the Best Use of a U2 Song in a Television Program.

Shows Discussed: Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Americans, The Good Place, about 25 other shows

What does it say about us that we, like Eleanor Shellstrop, find John Travolta's egregious attempt to say Idina Menzel to be utterly hilarious? Or that we think parental neglect in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel could be well-served if it were handled humorously? From fantastic mid-season finales to intense Italian coming-of-age drama to fast-talking comediennes, this episode is full of women-led TV. Oh, and we also talk about a wonderfully strange man named Rahul.

Shows discussed: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Good Place, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, My Brilliant Friend, The Great British Bake-Off, The Kominsky Method

Plus: Golden Globe nominations!

Did you know there's an explicitly queer, body-positive, gender-fluid re-boot of She-Ra: Princesses of Power currently airing on Netflix? Well, Amanda knew, and she's here to tell you that it's not just wonderfully inclusive, it also has the benefit of being *good*. Sarah gives a "meh" and a "zuh?" to the new season of Room 104, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has an uneven start to its final season, but at least there are some all-time great songs to keep things moving.

Shows Discussed: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Room 104, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Sometimes, the place you think is heaven turns out to be hell, and sometimes the place you expect to be terrible turns out to be, well, enriching, funny and ... charmingly/vaguely Canadian. It's an episode chock-full of likable people and hilarious characters, and we're not just talking about Sarah and Amanda. Plus, we're dreaming of traveling to good places with Samin Nosrat (and maybe letting her cook for us?).

Shows discussed: Salt Fat Acid Heat, The Good Place, Schitt's Creek

Netflix doesn't have another Stranger Things installment to bore us with quite yet, so instead they've debuted two spooky new series just in time for our favorite time of year (and our first anniversary!)- The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and The Haunting of Hill House. How do they stack up? Well...let's say not all scares are created equal. In other demonic news: Alec Baldwin!

Shows Discussed: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Haunting of Hill House, The Alec Baldwin Show