The Playlist Podcast Network

On this episode of the Bingeworthy podcast, The Playlist's TV podcast dedicated to what we watch and how we watch it in the accelerated streaming age, we speak to multi-hyphenate super thread Lake Bell, an actress, filmmaker, writer, producer, and voice actress, who recently was tapped to directed some crucial episodes of Hulu's series, "Pam & Tommy," about the Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee '90s sex tape scandal.  While Bell is known for her acting career first and foremost, she turned to creating her own stories with 2013's acclaimed Sundance film, "In A World," that she starred in, wrote and directed. She followed that up with 2017's "I Do... Until I Don't" comedic treatise on marriage and then co-created the ABC comedy "Bless This Mess" with Elizabeth Meriwether, in which she starred in, and directed and wrote on.

Her latest directing gig is joining Craig Gillespie and a talented crew of filmmakers on "Pam & Tommy." Chronicling the marriage between actress Pamela Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, played by Lily James and Sebastian Stan, the Hulu series tells the tale of how their home-movie sex tape was stolen from their home, and eventually screened and sold to the whole world, a massive invasion of privacy that strained their marriage and arguably tanked Anderson's career.  Moreover, this personal, private tape which they had no intent on selling, let alone showing to anyone was a massive violation and invasion of privacy, that shamed, humiliated, and made Anderson the butt of cultural jokes for years.

While "Pam & Tommy" starts out rock n' roll, funny and vibrant, it eventually gets pretty dark when the sex tape is stolen-- an act of twisted "karma"-- as Anderson is shocked and emotionally devastated about this violating exposure. 

Bell is there to direct the key fourth, turning-point episode "The Master Beta," right after the tape is stolen and begins to leak and spread, illustrating the emotional panic the couple feels when they learn it was stolen (Seth Rogen plays a disgruntled carpenter who took a safe that had the tape). She also returns for the penultimate and seventh episode, which airs March 2 on Hulu and further gets into the darker turmoil of this story and how Anderson is put through the wringer as she is exposed to the world.

While "Pam & Tommy" is entertaining, it's also the story of reclaiming Pamela Anderson's narrative and reminding the world she was a real victim in this story, caught between the warring of two stupid men (her husband and the carpenter he refused to pay), grifters trying to make a buck (Penthouse, the porn industry, the burgeoning online industry), lawyers and judges who make neanderthal-like decisions against her privacy and agency, and a culture all too willing to not see her side of the story-- a clear violation of her privacy--and just cruelly mock her. 

This is really the meat of what Bell digs into in this podcast, telling Anderson's story, trying to reclaim her narrative, and digging deep into still-relevant topics of privacy, agency, and lack thereof, violation, and the horror of feeling helpless. Bell herself was a victim of a 2014 cyberattack that exposed private photos of herself and dozens of other celebrities and she speaks about that violation of her own privacy for the first time as well, candidly talking about that humiliation and how it helped her relate to Anderson's story.

Bell also speaks about her solo directing career (at least two new projects on the way, that she wrote), working for Marvel as the new Black Widow on Disney+'s "What If?,? voicing Poison Ivy on the animated "Harley Quinn" and much more.

Jeb Stuart is a name that has been around Hollywood for quite a while as a writer on such classics as “Die Hard,” “The Fugitive,” and “Another 48 Hrs.” After a long break from the industry, he has found a niche as a television showrunner for projects like Netflix’s “The Liberator,” and his latest, “Vikings: Valhalla,” which drops on Netflix on Friday, February 25th.

In the wake of "Death On The Nile," Be Reel peers through its spyglass at that classic sub-sub-genre Nautical Murder Mysteries. Along for the pleasure cruise is Mashable illustrator Bob Al-Greene, who's currently working on the first-ever graphic novelization of an Agatha Christie mystery. We talk Poirot, Branagh, and distracting CGI before diving into our other nautical murder mysteries: "Dead Calm" (1989) and "Murder Mystery" (2019). Did the skipper do it? Listen in.

Nearly 50 years after the original was released, Netflix is ready for a whole new generation to discover “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” with a new sequel arriving today. And on this episode of The Playlist Podcast, filmmaker David Blue Garcia joins to talk about the latest entry in the history of ‘Chainsaw’ films.

The Bingeworthy boys, Mike DeAngelo, and Playlist Editor-in-Chief Rodrigo Perez, are back to talk about all of the TV news and shows that are worth your time. This week finds us discussing the big Paramount investor day presentation news and digging into the depths of HBO Max to uncover a hidden gem of a show called “Painting with John.”

The Yellowstoners, Mike DeAngelo and Rodrigo Perez, have returned to discuss Episodes 7 and 8 of the hit Paramount+ prequel spin-off series, “1883.” They also have multiple new "1883" and "Yellowstone" creator, Taylor Sheridan, shows to discuss, as it was reported earlier this week that Captain Yellowstone himself, Mr. Taylor Sheridan, has had 5 series greenlit for the Paramount+ streaming service that will all premiere over the next year or so, including a new "Yellowstone" spinoff series, "1932."

Bingeworthy has returned—the relaunch of a fairly-long dormant Playlist TV podcast that will no longer stay asleep! We’re in and have been in, a new age of streaming - the uber years beyond Netflix. Everyone has their “+” subscription service and, hell, Disney+ only launched at the very end of 2019 with Apple, Paramount, Peacock, and many others will follow in their footsteps.

This episode, #1 as we consider it a total reboot, relaunch, focuses on Lucasfilm's "The Book Of Boba Fett," an extremely hit and miss show and arguably the worst Lucasfilm series to date. Written by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, the head's of "Star Wars" on TV these days, and directed and executive produced by Robert Rodriguez, "The Book Of Boba Fett" went something like this: terrible, boring, then more interesting when it decided it was no longer at all concerned with its title character. "The Book Of Boba Fett" became "The Mandalorian" 2.5, and while that was more interesting, it was also very strange for a show to just abandon its lead character, pivot to Mando, and oh yeah, slather us with fan service cameos while they were at it. 

Favreau discussed in the past and teased how different this show would be, saying that it was influenced by "Game of Thrones," but if interweaving A, B, C, D, E, and more storylines were the goal-- just like uhhh... all television that juggles multiple storylines, it was a major failure.  While it wasn't a total wash and there were interesting things within it, we'd love if Lucasfilm could figure out their "interconnected" storytelling world with a bit more finess.

You’ve probably seen the endless TV spots and trailers for Roland Emmerich’s new disaster film, “Moonfall.” And while that film looks appropriately dumb and ridiculous, it’s unlikely going to be one of the best disaster films of all time, right? Thankfully, The Playlist Podcast is here to give you a few recommendations in this particular world-ending subgenre to explore if you’re content with skipping “Moonfall” this weekend.

The hosts discuss all the spoiler-y "1883" details, that major episode 5 death scene, more big cameos, and their predictions and hopes for the rest of the season, and, afterward, LaMonica Garrett stops by to talk about playing Thomas on "1883," the rarity of finding positive representation for Black characters in Westerns, working with Sam Elliott, and his new show "The Terminal List" that's coming to Amazon Prime Video later this year also starring Chris Pratt.

While 2020 kept so many families painfully apart, three acclaimed indies from last year made the opposite case: "Why do I see these people again?" Playing a little 2021 catch-up, Chance and Noah drop by to visit "Spencer," "Shiva Baby," and "The Humans" to explore how families—be they English royalty or middle-class Americans—banter, bristle, covet nostalgia, push buttons, and flirt with genuine horror. But hey, just look at that spread.