The Watchers

This week on The Watchers: Pilot Season, Jodie and Andrea review, “Good News About Hell,” the first episode of Dan Erickson's sci-fi thriller, Severance, which is basically like if The Office and The Backrooms had an inappropriate workplace relationship that resulted in a weirdly symmetrical little baby. We talk aesthetics, getting serious about work-life balance, and why we’d both be really good at data refinement.

For next week’s pilot, we’re watching The Leftovers, HBO’s 2014 drama based on Tom Perrotta’s novel of the same name. In The Leftovers, 2% of the global population disappears, and everyone else is left to deal with it. So, like, a small-scale apocalypse? It’s a Damon Lindelof jawn, so who knows what’s gonna happen? We’ll find out next week!

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Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Our sister show, New Jersey Is the World, on Instagram (@newjerseyistheworld)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

We’re deep into pilot season here on The Watchers, and this week we’re wrapping up our post-apocalyptic jaunt with 2023’s HBO drama, The Last of Us. We talk adaptation, genre, parallels, and plot as well as Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s relationship, which seems to be at the heart of what makes The Last of Us one of the very few successful video game adaptations out there. 

Next week, we’re out of the QZ and back in the office to review Dan Erickson’s sci-fi workplace thriller, Severance. The show is available on AppleTV+

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Our sister show, New Jersey Is the World, on Instagram (@newjerseyistheworld)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

It’s Pilot Season here at The Watchers, and this week, for our penultimate installment of our post-apocalyptic dystopian run, Jodie and Andrea watched “Freedom Day,” the first episode of the AppleTV+ series, Silo, based on Hugh Howey’s novel Wool (so far). We discuss Silo’s use of post-apocalyptic dystopia as the setting to tell a mystery story, the small town vibes inside the silo, why dystopian societies are real freaks for the mid-century modern aesthetic, and a whole lot more. 

Join us next week as we emerge from the down deep to get up close and personal with the fungus among us, in another post-apocalyptic pilot. This time, it’s The Last of Us, HBO’s adaptation of the hit video game series of the same name. 

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The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Our sister show, New Jersey Is the World, on Instagram (@newjerseyistheworld)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

We had so much fun in the post-apocalypse with Fallout last week that we decided to stick around a little longer. This week, Jodie and Andrea watched “Wheel of Fire,” the first episode of Station Eleven. This particular dystopian post-apocalyptic drama swaps ghouls for Shakespeare and delves into life after a flu pandemic. We discuss the show's relevance to our own pandemic, its unique–possibly more human–spin on the genre, the Bard's influence, and more.

Join us next week for one more dystopian jaunt as we dive back underground to watch “Freedom Day,” the first episode of Graham Yost’s AppleTV+ drama, Silo.

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The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Our sister show, New Jersey Is the World, on Instagram (@newjerseyistheworld)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

We've spent the last few weeks looking back on some of the greatest television pilots of the past few decades. Now, we're applying what we've learned to something new: Fallout. Based on the video game series of the same name, the series follows folks in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian, retrofuturistic United States, a few hundred years into our future. It also features our beloved Ella Purnell and a few other familiar faces, including everyone's third favorite FBI agent (after Mulder and Scully, OBVIOUSLY), Kyle MacLachlan, and the perfectly named Walton Goggins. We get into what makes for a successful video game adaptation, how this show manages to avoid the pitfalls of adaptations past, and whether or not the Fallout pilot holds its own for viewers unfamiliar with the series. Plus, of course, Jersey.

Watch the grimly funny "Duck and Cover"

Watch Nicole Byer and Sonic be best friends

Join us next week for another jaunt into a post-apocalyptic dystopian landscape, with 2021's Station Eleven.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Our sister show, New Jersey Is the World, on Instagram (@newjerseyistheworld)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

For this week's installment of The Watchers' Pilot Season, we're talking about what some have called the greatest television pilot of the 90s, the first episode of Chris Carter's The X-Files. Join us as we break down the mysterious world of the two most beautiful agents ever employed by the FBI, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. We get into the weird encounters, shady government dealings, and spooky phenomena that hooked people in the first place. We also, of course, get into the giant suits, boxy cars, and perfectly 90s special effects. And we dive deep into the biggest conspiracy out there: Is Princeton even really in New Jersey?

Join us next week for our review of the new Amazon Prime original, starring our beloved Ella Purnell, Fallout.

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The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Our sister show, New Jersey Is the World, on Instagram (@newjerseyistheworld)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

Alright folks, for this week's installment of our pilot season here at The Watchers, we watched "Northwest Passage," the first episode of Twin Peaks. Created by the strange and unusual pair of David Lynch and Mark Frost, this '90s gem has been a huge influence on so many of the shows Jodie and Andrea love. Join us as we navigate the quirky charm and eerie mysteries of this small-town-thriller-soap-opera-mystery-whodunit-horror story and break down what makes this show so unique.

Join us next week for our review of Chris Carter's sci-fi drama, The X-files.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Our sister show, New Jersey Is the World, on Instagram (@newjerseyistheworld)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

It's pilot season here at The Watchers, and we're talking about the first episode of The Sopranos. Created by David Chase, this series, running from '99 to '07, is a Jersey landmark, so you know Jodie and Andrea are taking this review seriously. Join us as we dissect the pilot's portrayal of mob life, family dynamics, and moral dilemmas. More importantly though, its portrayal of business parks in Paramus, shfooyadell and gabagool, and Little Steven Van Zandt.

Join us next week for our review of the David Lynch/Mark Frost cult classic, Twin Peaks

‘The Sopranos’ Rewind: Season 1, Episode 1: ‘The Sopranos’ - Alan Sepinwall

The Rascals Hall of Fame Induction Speech by Little Steven Van Zandt

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Our sister show, New Jersey Is the World, on Instagram (@newjerseyistheworld)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

This week on The Watchers, we’re continuing our journey into pilot season with Six Feet Under, a show that Jodie loves and that, somehow, Andrea has never seen. Created by Alan Ball, the show aired from 2001 to 2005 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest TV dramas of all time. Most importantly, Jodie’s obsessed with it. Join us as we discuss what makes this show so unique. From its darkly funny sense of reality, to its matter-of-fact handling of death, to lots more in between, we're really getting our hands dirty with this one, folks.

We'll see you back here next week for our review of–come on, you knew it was coming–the very first episode of The Sopranos.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Our sister show, New Jersey Is the World, on Instagram (@newjerseyistheworld)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

It's pilot season here at Watchers HQ. With our Yellowjackets season 1 recap all tied up, Jodie and Andrea are kicking off a new series where we revisit some of the most acclaimed, iconic, and/or controversial TV pilots of all time. We're starting with the shows that have some connection to our beloved Yellowjackets. You'll be shocked to hear our first installment is a rewatch of the groundbreaking ABC show, LOST. We take you through how the show changed the TV landscape and give you a general idea of what it's all about. Then, we dive into the pilot episode itself. As we watch each pilot, we'll be looking for key elements like character introduction and world-building. And while we won't spoil any specific plot points, we'll definitely be discussing some of the major themes and arcs in these shows. So, if you're super spoiler sensitive, you might want to go watch all 120 episodes of LOST real quick, just to be safe.

We'll see you back here next week for Jodie's first pick, Six Feet Under

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Our sister show, New Jersey Is the World, on Instagram (@newjerseyistheworld)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."