Popspotting

For TV Tuesday, we first visit with our old friends at Carmichael Industries. We’ve been watching “Chuck” on NBC since the beginning, and the geek-positive show’s Comic-Con panels are always a high point. But this season will be its last. Is the series making the most of the time it has left? Then we jump over to FX, and weigh in on the season finale of “Sons of Anarchy.” This fourth season is one of the strongest yet, but how well did Kurt Sutter and friends both wrap things up, and set the stage for next year?

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law reprise their big-screen turns as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in this second Guy Ritchie-helmed outing, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.” Once again, this classic, brainy crime-fighting pair are dropped into a noisy world of fistfights, explosions, and slo-mo bullet-time shots. There’s no intellectual pretense in this winter blockbuster, but this sequel at least delivers a smarter story and a better bad guy: Dr. موقع رهان كرة القدم Moriarty, played by Jarred Harris.

Updated Dec. 15, 2011, 5:30 a.m. HST | Today’s guest is Joel Robertson, producer and co-host of The Forgotten Flix Podcast (along with Jason Grooms). Joel spent most of his youth as an aspiring movie maker, idolizing folks like Raimi, Carpenter, Dante, Spielberg, Craven, et al. He loves talking movies with other movie fans, supporting indie filmmakers, and, when the time is right, will once again subject the world to one of his movie making endeavors. (Yes, he too has a page on IMDB.) He lives in central Florida with his amazing (and amazingly patient) wife, who was also his high school sweetheart, and their three beautiful, young sons.

Want more Joel? You can find him on Twitter @forgottenflix. He’s also on Facebook at the Forgotten Flix page, and in the Forgotten Flix Podcast Group.

Snarky food writer Anthony Bourdain often mocks colleagues like Samantha Brown and Rachael Ray. So how will he fare in a new Travel Channel series where he must also provide a practical, accessible foodie guide to international destinations? While “No Reservations” was a travelogue of his distinctly Tony-flavored adventures, “The Layover” tries to highlight things everyday people could experience.

Then, we weigh in on the fall half-season finale of “The Walking Dead” on AMC. We’re still fans (or, at least, Ryan still is), but we’re worried, especially compared to where we were after the six episodes of seasone one. While the last few seconds of episode seven earned a resounding “holy freakin’ crap,” was it enough to make up for the decidedly slower pace and limited character development we saw for most of season two?

As excited as we are to see David Fincher’s adaptation of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” we know the Swedes did it first. Before seeing what Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara do with Stieg Larsson’s international bestseller, we decided to take in Niels Arden Oplev’s interpretation, starring Mikael Blomkvist and Noomi Rapace. Although we’ve not read the books (we plan to!), we were curious whether the well-received Swedish version leaves any room for an American remake.

Our show about musicals stirred up some great memories among you. The Broadway shows loved by listeners include “Wicked,” “Oklahoma,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Singing in the Rain,” “Love Never Dies,” “Into the Woods,” and “Dr. Horrible.” We’re not the only ones worried about where “Fringe” is headed. And both kids and kids at heart affirm the draw of “The Muppets.”

Joining us to kick off the month of December is Greg Mariotti, owner and editor of Pixar Talk and the geek behind The Uncool, the official site of acclaimed filmmaker Cameron Crowe.

We first heard from Greg nearly four years ago when we were still doing our primordial HawaiiUP podcast, and he’s stayed in touch through The Transmission and now Popspotting, and he continues to enlighten us on Pixar and other media. You can find him on Twitter at @gregmariotti and @pixartalk.

Before tackling the trivia, Greg shares his love of “Downton Abbey,” a British television period drama, the 2008 Australian thriller “The Square” from the Edgerton brothers, and Blu-Ray, the successor to the trusty DVD.

Author and humorist David Sedaris was in Honolulu last week, wrapping up his latest book tour. His live performance at the Blaisdell Concert Hall left us in stitches.

Even though his island vacation rental home was burglarized, and his laptop stolen, he hadn’t lost his wry, witty, self-depreciating and surprisingly dirty sense of humor. He read a few short stories and shared entries from his travel diary, commenting on everything from socialized medicine to potty practices to kids these days. A hapless, drowned gecko had a front row seat.

So inspired, this week we review his body of work, including six collections of largely autobiographical short stories. After recounting some of our favorite Sedaris tales, we also review the two books published by his sister, Amy Sedaris, perhaps best known as the star of the Comedy Central series “Strangers with Candy.”

Are you a Sedaris fan? Have you a favorite Sedaris story? Any other humor writers you think we need to check out? Please don’t hold back!