Socially Distanced

This week on Socially Distanced, Bill and Amanda are joined by The Pop Break’s Director of Podcasting Alex Marcus to dig into the highs and lows of Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu. 

The three dig into the debate over whether this feels more like a movie or a collection of television episodes, whether the creatures and puppets were a strength or if it made them long for human characters, and whether the film got the most out of its third-billed star Sigourney Weaver. They also get into it over Jeremy Allen White’s role as Jobba the Hutt’s son and other members of the Star Wars Animated Cannon making their big screen debuts here. Finally, they question the future of Star Wars, in a lively debate over whether fun, inoffensive vibes is enough to satisfy Star Wars’ increasingly hard to please fan base or if we should be holding Star Wars to a higher standard.

In the pre-game, Alex spills the tea on how Euphoria’s third season killed off a major character before the three discuss their favorite and least favorite shocking television character deaths. Spoilers are in full effect, so be warned!

It's a Bill and Amanda episode! That's right. No guests. A wild format. Two friends just talking about the pop culture they love.

In this episode they kick things off in a different way - discussing books. In the pre-game segment they discuss Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Bill picked up the first issue of the Dungeon Crawler Carl comic (Chapter 1 of the graphic novel) on Free Comic Book Day, so he gave it a read and discussed it with Amanda - a diehard DCC fan. They discuss the popularity of the series, DCC themed candy and how Amanda should leverage the podcast to get free candy for her wedding, and Seth MacFarlane's adaptation of the series for Peacock.

They move onto their summer preview — discussing food, concerts, wrestling, book releases, Spider-Man, lucha libre, The Odyssey, Supergirl, House of the Dragon and more! They then preview the upcoming Star Wars mini-series they're launching on the podcast, Branden Hilton's Qmir cosplay, Bill's admission to only watching Revenge of the Sith once, the appeal of Mando & Grogu and more.

Socially Distanced heads back to Hell's Kitchen for the final time in 2026 as they discuss the finale of Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.

Bill Bodkin is in the host seat and is joined by "The Human Star Wars Encyclopedia" Amanda Rivas, "The Professor of All Things Daredevil" Tyler McCarthy (co-host of Not Couple Goals), and special guest DJ Chapman of Roses & Rejections and Mostly Nitpicking.

In the episode they discuss the importance of Karen Page to the season's success, Matt's controversial giving of "grace" to Wilson Fisk, the use of Jessica Jones throughout the season and that wild courtroom scene. They also do a post mortem on Season 2 discussing their favorite action scene, Wilson Bethel's Bullseye, and the fate of Buck Cashman ... or just Bill's impression of Buck.

They close out the Daredevil discussion by putting on their tinfoil hats to theorize about Daredevil's usage in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Matt and Karen's relationship, Fisk's return to power and whether they support an expansion of the street-level Marvel universe.

In the pregame segment, they go all in on the Marvel Special Presentation - The Punisher: One Last Kill. They discuss the questionable release date of the special as well as how it does not really fit within the world of Daredevil's timeline. They discuss the thrilling action sequences, bad CGI and the tour de force performance by Judith Light.

It's our annual May the 4th episode!

"The Human Star Wars Encyclopedia" Amanda Rivas gathers her Jedi council of Pop Break's Editor-in-Chief Bill Bodkin, Kelvin Kately of The DFPN & BCP+ and "Good Brother" Jeff Grettler of the Dos Incredibles Podcast to celebrate Star Wars Day, Star Wars Week, Star Wars Month and of course, Star Wars life.

In this episode they discuss the season finale of Disney+'s Maul: Shadow Lord. Spoilers abound! Listen to them absolutely geek out over this animated series. They discuss the big finale reveal, the status of Maul's morality, lightsaber fights, and how they hope this is the direction of Star Wars animation going forward. The panel debates whether animation is carrying Star Wars right now or not.

Amanda and Bill make a special announcement about Socially Distanced's new monthly Star Wars mini-series where they will be revealing all the films in honor of A New Hope's 50th Anniversary + the release of Starfighter starring Ryan Gosling.

In the pre-game they discuss the first full-blown trailer for Christopher Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey.

Bill Bodkin, Pop Break's Editor-in-Chief, is in the host seat with a huge football loving crew: "The Human Star Wars Encyclopedia" Amanda Rivas (Dallas Cowboys), "The Voice of God" Marshall Stevenson (Go Birds), "The Commander of our Hearts" Ben Murchison (Washington Commanders), "Al Noir" Al Mannarino (The New York Football Giants) and Josh Sarnecky (Green Bay Packers).

They discuss their respective team's best and worst moves in the off-season, and in the draft. They hand out awards like the "Mel Kiper Golden Pompadour," "The Daniel Jones Fool's Gold," "The Mariah Carey Sweet, Sweet Fantasy," and of course the, "Way Too Early Super Bowl Prediction." Ben and Al preview their losing strategy for their second season of The Don't Tail This! Podcast, while Amanda takes a lot of guff from the guys about being a Cowboys fan.

In the pre-game, they discuss the trailer for Amazon Prime Video and MGM+’s new series Spider-Noir starring Nicolas Cage and produced by Lord & Miller.

Also, be sure to check out Bill’s new interview with Olympic Star Skater Isabeau Levito over on NJ.com!

Socially Distanced remains in Hell's Kitchen.

"The Human Star Wars Encyclopedia" Amanda Rivas is in the host's seat and is joined by Bill Bodkin, "The Professor" Tyler McCarthy and the Jessica Jones of The Pop Break, Allie Nelson.

On the episode they discuss the return of Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Danny Rand, Spider-Man, Ms. Marvel and cameos galore. They get into the moral debate of whether they are Team Matt or Team Karen, the fate of BB Urich, their division on Michael Gandolfini's performance, the big fight scene, Buck Cashman's sexual proclivities and more.

In the pre-game they discuss the teaser of the new DC film, Clayface.

Socially Distanced returns to Hell's Kitchen as we discuss Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episodes 4 & 5.

Bill Bodkin is in the host seat this week and is joined by "The Human Star War Encyclopedia" Amanda Rivas, our resident Daredevilian Tyler McCarthy and special guest Andrew, the Green Arrow of SA.

The episode begins with the pre-game segment where they discuss the teaser trailer for Godzilla -0, which dropped at CinemaCon over the weekend, and whether the critically acclaimed Godzilla film necessitated a sequel.

They then dive into all things Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episodes 4 and 4. They dive into The Watcher Theory, whether they would have some Bullseye mercy, the spoilers dropped about Season 3, who gave the best performance in these episodes, Bullseye's best action scene, diner orders and so much more.

Socially Distanced returns to a galaxy far, far away as they dive deep into the series premiere of Maul: Shadow Lord.

"The Human Star Wars Encyclopedia" Amanda Rivas is in the host seat and is joined by Pop Break's Editor-in-Chief Bill Bodkin, and very special guests, the returning SPACE SWIFTIES. That's right, Meg and Davor from the definitive Taylor Swift x Star Wars podcast have returned and here to discus all the Star Wars goodness.

In the episode this foursome hop into the Millennium Falcon to discuss the new animated series revolving around Darth Maul. They discuss the series film noir aesthetic and if it works, they debate series star Sam Whitwer's comments about the accessibility of the series, and they go into the shows merits as it relates to its animated predecessors - Star Wars: Rebels and Clone Wars. They predict the future plot point of the series, what worked and what didn't work in the premiere episodes, and what the world of Star Wars TV and movies will look like under the new management regime.

In the pre-game segment, they discuss the addition of writers from The Bear and Beef to do rewrites on the script for Marvel's upcoming X-Men film.

Socially Distanced returns to Hell's Kitchen to discuss Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episodes 1-3.

Bill Bodkin is in the host seat and is joined by the Elektra of the podcast Amanda Rivas and our resident Daredevlian, "The Professor" Tyler McCarthy (we upgraded him from being a magical lad). They discuss whether the season has gotten off to a slow start, the Matt and Karen of it all, Bulleye's allegiances, Amanda's sister's crush on Bullseye, short kings, Thunderbolts*, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who dies at the end of the season plus the parallels between Fisk's task force and real life events.

In the pre-game segment they discuss the Krypto-centric official trailer for DC Studios' Supergirl.

By order of the Socially Distanced Podcast, we're talking about Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.

The film, currently sitting atop the Netflix's film charts, dropped on March 20, and we've got Ben Murchison in the host seat to lead the team through the twists and turns of Tommy Shelby's return to Birmingham ... and streaming.

Ben is joined in this episode by your regular Socially Distanced hosts Amanda Rivas and Bill Bodkin as well as Randy Allain - cohost of Podelay! - A Beck Podcast and The Media/Lit podcast. In the episode they discuss their history with Peaky Blinders, the addition of Barry Keoghan, Tim Roth and Rebecca Ferguson to the cast. They talk about the lack of certain Shelby character and the decisions made with other Shelbys. They talk about the brevity of the film and how that hindered the series' trademark storytelling. They also talk about the fate of the Shelbys going forward.

In the pre-game segment they discuss the entire Buffy the Vampire Slayer drama happening over on Hulu.