The TV Doctor

The TV Doctor

By M. FossTV & Film
Download on the App Store

The TV Doctor episodes

  • Phantom Limb Syndrome: The Promise of the Premise (Episode 33)

    Send us some fan mail!

    Sometimes our favorite shows will try to convince us that we can't see what we KNOW we can see, or that we ARE seeing something that's not really there, like a phantom limb. Join the TV Doctor for a discussion of three shows that try to get away with this kind of okie doke: Married at First Sight, Basketball Wives, and 90 Day Fiancé.


    P.S. I mentioned an article in the episode, but I forgot to cite it for you. It's called "Unruly Women and Carnivalesque Countercontrol: Offensive Humor in Mediated Social Protest" (2019) and the authors are Anne Graefer, Allaina Kilby, and Inger-Lise Kalviknes Bore. 

    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message
    1 hr 5 min
  • Hypnopompic Hallucinations: Hauntology and Atonement (Episode 32)

    Send us some fan mail!

    Join the TV Doctor as we graciously invite the poltergeist that was 2020 to stop haunting us. Our last episode of the year asks us to consider past, present, and yet to come, just like ya boy Scrooge (Dickens or Duck, take your pick). You'll be visited by three shows that speak to apparitions of atonement: The Umbrella Academy, Angel, and The Crown. Here's to a more meaningful haunting, and a happier future!

    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message
    1 hr 10 min
  • Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca: Tearjerkers (Episode 31)

    Send us some fan mail!

    It's not that you've got something in your eye; it's that you just worked your way through The TV Doctor's list of recommended tearjerkers. It's okay to cry. Let it all out. There, that's better.

    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message
    54 min
  • Dyschronometria: What day is it? (Episode 30)

    Send us some fan mail!

    The TV Doctor is back after some time (a little bit of time? a long time? who's to say?) with some timeless questions: Why is it so difficult to wrap our heads around the concept of time? What can television do to center us in the here and now? And, most importantly, what day is it?

    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message
    31 min
  • Hyperthymesia, part two: I May Destroy You (Episode 29)

    Send us some fan mail!

    In this conclusion to my two-part conversation about the revelation that is I May Destroy You, my Second Opinion guest (the esteemed Elaine Welteroth) and I are joined by Elaine's husband, Jonathan Singletary, who provides an interesting Third Opinion from a man's perspective. We were all destroyed, yes, but you have to tune in to learn why destruction can be a good thing.

    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message
    1 hr 31 min
  • Hyperthymesia: I May Destroy You (Episode 28)

    Send us some fan mail!

    It might just be the best show of the summer. Hell, it might just be the best show of all time. When a show says "I May Destroy You," take it as a WHOLE trigger warning. There's so much to unpack here that it takes The TV Doctor and her Second Opinion (New York Times bestselling author Elaine Welteroth) TWO episodes to do it. Here's the first. And don't say we didn't warn you. You're gonna love it, but it may destroy you.

    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message
    1 hr 19 min
  • Iron-deficiency Anemia: Best TV Weddings Ever (Episode 27)

    Send us some fan mail!

    Dearest listener, do you take this podcast episode to be your downloaded and subscribed favorite? To positively review and rank? To laugh and to swoon? In long delays between episodes (blame COVID...I do) and House Calls on Instagram in the meantime, from this day forward, until a lack of internet do us part? You do? Then I now pronounce you ready for this episode! You may now hit the play button! [Please enjoy my countdown of the best television weddings of all time.]

    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message
    44 min
  • Spontaneous Pneumothorax: Best TV Pilots Ever (Episode 26)

    Send us some fan mail!

    What do superheroes have in common with a 9-1-1 operator, a Parent Trap-esque dating spree, an Evil Queen, and the 1970s sitcom What's Happening? They're all hints about the shows that made my list of the Best TV Pilots of all time! Can you use these hints to guess which shows I've chosen? You'll just have to listen to the episode to see if your guesses were right!

    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message
    31 min
  • Depersonalization Disorder: Faith and Belief (Episode 25)

    Send us some fan mail!

    The TV Doctor returns for a third season, kicking things off with a journey through the way three shows tackle the greatest question known to humankind: what do I BELIEVE? From the non-denominational certainty of Proof, to the ironically irreverent treatment of organized religion in Lucifer, to the dreamy optimism of Star Trek: Discovery, join in for a conversation of how television presents ways for us to strengthen our beliefs by challenging them.

    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message
    1 hr 54 min
  • Emergency Room: Watchmen (Episode 24)

    Send us some fan mail!

    The representation of law enforcement on television is highly problematic, prompting some to call for it to be abolished along with the institutions it portrays. Others, like yours truly, instead recommend a change in the kind of representations we see (as well as more informed and critical consumption of television messages, of course). HBO's Watchmen has started that change, and it's the perfect place for us to begin our conversation about the television intersection where race/racism and the police meet. 

    --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tv-doctor/message
    52 min

About The TV Doctor

From the publisher's feed

Television "prescriptions" to help cure whatever is ailing you.