Too Much TV

We're adding a second show to the rotation: Lanterns, the new HBO Green Lantern series. We didn't cover episode one last week, so we're doing episodes one and two together.

Honest verdict up front: it's fine. It started pulling us in by the back half of episode one, and by episode two we're both genuinely interested. We're staying with it and we both think it's going to get better.

Kyle Chandler is the standout as Hal, basically playing a drunk, jaded superhero who's over it (very Hancock energy). The sheriff nails him: he's not fearless, he's lonely. And the man lives in a gorgeous mansion with nothing in it but a bed and a single fold-out soccer chair. I've got a theory that something scared Hal and that's why he's losing the ring — "are you afraid" gets said twice, and it might be a Mjolnir situation where he's simply no longer worthy.

We get into the John and Hal dynamic (is he training a partner or hazing an errand boy?), the fact that they're somehow sharing one ring, the ring charging like a cell phone and telling you it's at one percent, and the apple-shooting intro with John's military dad that was intense as hell. Also the funniest exchange of the season so far: John admitting he might have slept with a guy's wife and Hal responding with pure "wow, Junior, I'm impressed."

Then the big detour: why does the DCU keep falling flat when Marvel worked? Our theory is depth. Iron Man had layers you got to know over multiple movies. A lot of DC characters have a title and a power set and not much else. Though we'll admit Superman and the Pattinson Batman both had real arcs, so maybe they're learning.

Plus: our Manhunter theories (I say the sheriff, Jeff is honing in on Zoe), that excellent interrogation scene with the Harry Potter and Obama questions, and the fact that this show has barely scratched what the ring can actually do.

Also: anyone who has a militia in a TV show is a psychopath. That's just true.

Next episode we're back to Ted Lasso, episodes three and four, out Friday.

This week we're doing something different: our top five favorite shows of all time. Favorite, not best. That distinction matters, because at least one of mine has not aged well and I knew I'd have to defend it. We also didn't share our lists beforehand, so every pick is a genuine reveal.

Jeff comes out swinging with Love, Death & Robots at five, and honestly? Banger. We get into the box-of-chocolates gamble of every episode, the ones that feel like someone animated a dream (Jibaro, Fish Night), and the time I showed Zima Blue to my sixth grade class and a student went home and watched ALL of them. My mistake. My five is Friends, and I stand by it. When you're fifteen and everything with your parents is friction, that show is a warm place to land.

From there the lists split hard. Jeff takes Lost (he knows he's getting roasted) and Community. I take Top Gear UK, which is really a show about three friends doing terrible things to each other with cars as the excuse, and Invincible, which might be recency bias but I don't care. Season five next year. We'll be there.

Then we both flip our number two cards over and it's the same show: Game of Thrones. And it would be number one for both of us if the ending didn't exist. I watched that finale and legitimately had a bad day. Who has a better story than Bran? EVERYONE. Everyone had a better story.

Number one splits us one last time. Jeff goes The Office and makes the case that Steve Carell's performance is the greatest comedic acting of all time, timing and facial expressions included, then defends the show against the Jim-bullies-Dwight criticism. I go South Park, the show that masquerades as stupid humor while being smarter than almost anything on TV. The Wheel of Fortune episode, the Scientology episode with the "this is what they actually believe" banner, thirty years of walking lines nobody else would even approach. Just don't start with season one. Please.

Thanks for hanging with us on this one. Special shout-out to Jeff's mom for listening all the way through!

We're mixing it up. No more House of the Dragon (for two years, anyway) — this week we're starting Ted Lasso.

I binged all three seasons in about three weeks and then went straight into the first two episodes of season four, so we spend the first stretch talking about what makes this show work. Jeff put it best: Ted Lasso the show has the same effect on you that Ted Lasso the character has on people. It takes a while to warm up to, it chips away at your defenses, and then it wins you over like almost nothing else can. We're both pretty cynical guys and it got us anyway. I got teary at the end of season three. There were also multiple scenes that made me want to look away from the screen. Both things are true.

We get into why a show this warm still feels made for adults, the Colin and Isaac episode, Ted distrusting therapy while functionally being everyone's therapist, and how nobody in this show is perfect but everybody handles their problems in a way we genuinely admire. Also a brief detour into how none of the soccer would ever actually work. Nathan becoming head coach of West Ham? Zero percent chance.

Then season four. Jeff watched the first two episodes twice and said the first pass felt like a fever dream, like why are we reopening a box that was so neatly closed? By the second watch he was warming up again. I'm nervous they had lightning in a bottle. We both think the show is smart to bring back the coaching staff without dragging the male players along.

The best material this season so far is Rebecca. She stands up and says "women are the future," and then Coach Chilton asks if she ever considered a woman for head coach, and Rebecca has to say no and swallow it. Watching a character discover her own bias on screen is exactly what this show does better than anyone. Was she wrong? We go back and forth and never really land, which is the point.

Plus: Roy Kent is based on a real player (Roy Keane, look him up), Rebecca and Keeley passing the Bechdel test in the best way, and a genuinely interesting tangent about ACL tears in women's soccer that turns into a bigger conversation about risk, bias, and why women's sports are still climbing.

Going forward we're covering two episodes at a time. Ted Lasso is lighter than House of the Dragon, so it's less about picking apart every scene and more about the overall vibe and what it's trying to say.

This week we discuss the Season 3 finale of House of the Dragon, "The Treasons at Tumbleton." And we need to tell you something up front: we don't think we like Rhaenyra anymore.

She sucks. Baela was right about her, "if a person is useful to you, you wield them, if not, you abandon them," and then Rhaenyra proved the point by dismissing Mysaria one episode after sleeping with her. She killed the Pope, gave a speech about ancient demons in the north that made the Grand Maester and Manderly exchange the greatest side-eye in television history, and delivered the High Valyrian line she'd clearly rehearsed in her head to complete crickets. The smallfolk don't care about the Song of Ice and Fire. They want food.

Meanwhile Helaena breaks our hearts one last time. "Do you think life is nothing more than not being dead?" "Our father would hate you for this." "Everything you love is ugly." Emma D'Arcy's fake interest during the beetle conversation is some of the best acting of the season, and Helaena catches it immediately. We also think we cracked the horse in her vision, and it's not good news for Rhaenyra.

But let's talk about the battle. Twenty-plus minutes of it and it delivered. Ormund putting the children on the battlements is monstrous and tactically brilliant at the same time, and we go back and forth on whether you can see past the monster to appreciate the move. The Winter Wolves' haka gave us chills (Viking berserker energy, and the cut to the terrified kids is brutal). Ser Roderick Dustin is the shooting star of the season, "gates open, then we die," arms wide open laughing at his own death, and one of the most iconic exits this show has ever done. Daemon charges headfirst into a burning gate with no idea what's on the other side and the man's armor actually WORKS. Captain Aura Farm saved it all for the finale, even if he kind of lost that fight with Roxton.

Plus: Aegon returns doing a full Heath Ledger Joker ("no no no, I'm supposed to ENJOY this"), Ulf gets found on the toilet, Alys and Harrenhal continue to bore us to tears, and the aftermath of the battle is genuinely haunting. Daemon on the ground in the middle of a dragon attack, seeing the cost up close for the first time.

Season verdict: solid B+. First three episodes great, finale really good, the middle was fine. Josh wanted more sugar and finally got his ice cream.

Two years until season four. But A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is back next year — and next week, we're doing something completely different. Ted Lasso.

This week we discuss Episode 7 of House of the Dragon, "The Dragon in Winter." The best episode of the last few, and yet the pot is still simmering. It's been simmering for four episodes. Somebody please let it boil.

We open with Helaena's visions, which keep getting darker: the birth, the dragonpit, the farm with the chickens (Kiki's take: "Helaena just wants to be a trad wife"), and then a blizzard that looked suspiciously like White Walker imagery. She also delivers the line of the episode to Rhaenyra: "You have many dragons. Do you not think you have altered?" Dragons as a metaphor for power. That's the whole show in one question.

And Rhaenyra has officially lost it. She's forcing visions out of Helaena, she sent Alicent off to kill her own son, and by the end of the episode Mysaria is running the Red Witch playbook on her (you will be queen, your children will rule, now let's have sex... we've seen this one before). She wants all the power and she wants everyone to be happy, and in trying for both she'll get neither.

Meanwhile at Harrenhal: the fake Alicent scene. We hated it, then we understood it, then we hated it more. Aemond has a full Oedipus situation going on, and interestingly, so did Daemon (rewatch season two if you don't believe us). Also the most awkward three person family dinner in television history, and Alicent taking one look at the place and getting the heck out.

Ormund though. Ormund might be the smartest man in Westeros. The knife he hands Corlys becomes the finger he sends to Alyn. Pure psychological warfare. His one weakness? He understands manipulation but he doesn't understand love, and that's exactly where he lost Corlys. And when he says he has "the piece on the board that will bring her to her knees," we're convinced it's not who you think it is. He's had word since they last spoke.

Plus: the Sheepstealer fight is genuinely sad (a wild animal getting punished for doing what wild animals do, and Rhaena's the one who brought it into this), Daemon gets vulnerable for maybe the first time ever (the man said please TWICE), the Baela and Alyn plotline continues to be garbage, and Sunfyre is ALIVE. We were completely wrong. Again. Kiki found the perfect meme about it.

One episode left. Battle of Tumbleton or bust. This finale decides how the whole season gets remembered, and we'll be there either way.

This week we discuss Episode 6 of House of the Dragon, and the big one finally happened. Cole is dead.

"We light the way." *dies. The man walked into a trap, briefly made you think he'd fight his way out, then took three arrows for his trouble. Jeff has a mild hot take: by the end he didn't hate Cole, he just pitied him. A sad, obsessed man clinging to the memory of Alicent right up to the last moment. Josh brings the history: Henry V took an arrow to the face at sixteen and survived it, which is why all his portraits only show one side. (The Timothée Chalamet movie skipped that part entirely. Cowards.)

Meanwhile, Gwayne proves he's the smartest Hightower by simply leaving, and his time with Daeron gives us our first real look behind the curtain at Ormund. "You know what he is. I do what I can to keep him from... you know." We have questions. We also have concerns. This is the same man who called Rhaenyra "squeamish," possibly the most ironic line in television history from a guy who can't handle body odor.

Helaena continues to break our hearts ("Was there no other lord who offered my hand?"), the Aemond tapestry imagery gets weird (we'll explain), and we dig into whether Alys is cursed, a Lady of the Waters, or something else entirely. Plus Daemon throws a cup at Torrhen Manderly, Ulf can't resist one ale with the lads, and we're pretty sure we figured out exactly how those men slipped past three dragons unnoticed. It involves Hugh the Hammer's wife.

And Corlys is "dead" again. That's what, the third time? Fourth? Until someone bleeds out on screen, we're not buying it.

Two episodes left. The trailer still has scenes we haven't seen. Battle of Tumbleton, we're ready.

This week we discuss Episode 5 of House of the Dragon, "Unbowed and Unbent," and it might be the darkest one yet.

We were right about Cole. The man is on a suicide mission and basically says it out loud this episode. Jeff has to walk back some of last week's respect (he loves Cole, don't let him tell you otherwise), and we get into what happens when a skilled commander loses the plot completely. Poor Gwayne, btw. That man has never worked this hard in his life.

Aemond gets the most vulnerable we've ever seen him. The mother stuff, the "I'm nothing without Vhagar" confession, all of it going back to that pig scene in season one. Sigmund Freud would have a field day with this guy. Which brings us to Harrenhal: is Alys Rivers actually a witch, or is the castle just haunted? We get into why Game of Thrones magic having no rules is exactly what makes it work.

Helaena breaks our hearts again (we called the pregnancy last week). There's the caterpillar and the nightshade, which we have theories about, and the medieval Plan B scene, with some input from Kiki on that one.

Then the moment of the episode: Larys absolutely dismantling Aegon. "You were a terrible king, but worse than that, you are a terrible man." We didn't expect to be on Larys's side this season, and yet. This spins us into a bigger conversation about privilege, why Aemond is stronger than Aegon, and a surprising Mongol Empire connection, plus why Daemon might be the only Targaryen who actually gets it.

And that ending. Gold blood spilled, three marked in the tally, the account lies open. The Feast for Traitors scene looked like a twisted Last Supper, the score called back to one of the most terrifying moments in Game of Thrones history, and we have a theory about who's really behind it.

Three episodes left. It's about to get loud.

This week we discuss Episode 4 of House of the Dragon, the second plot-building episode in a row, the payoff later is going to be worth it.

We finally meet Alicent's youngest son Daeron (the real one this time) and dig into his complicated relationship with Ormund. Ormund, btw, is hilarious with his smell sensitivity — something we don't think we've seen in any media before. But underneath the comedy there's something darker going on with him, and Josh and Jeff get into the psychology of it: the control, fear, and the way obedience works between the two of them

 We also kick things off somewhere unexpected: the Bayeux Tapestry — an actual medieval artifact made for William the Conqueror in the 11th century depicting the lead-up to the Battle of Hastings, as well as depicting the battle itself. We think the show's intro is directly emulating the tapestry in its depiction of Targaryen history. 

Plus: Daemon has an interesting meeting with Sheepstealer and his daughter Rhaena, a debate we thought might be avoidable. 

There are small moments between Rhaenyra and Alicent this episode that are deeply sad in so many ways. And Rhaenyra seems to be making several wrong choices that we dissect them all this episode.

Perfect for fans craving layered storytelling, character depth, and the psychology behind power, this episode unpacks what’s really at stake in the war of the Targaryens. It's a masterclass in tension, manipulation, and the cost of ambition.

No big battles this week — just pure political chess, and honestly? It might be the most intense episode of the season so far. Josh and Jeff break down Rhaenyra's impossible decisions, Ormund's unexpected submission, the bread crisis Rhaenyra may have cause, and that tense conversation with the High Septon and Corlys Velaryon.

This episode does something quietly brilliant — it makes you feel the weight of sitting on that throne. Every choice has a cost. Every scene has a layer. And Rhaenyra is carrying all of it while we watch her either hold it together or slowly come apart. We're still not sure which.

House of the Dragon just had its best-rated episode of the season — and we couldn't not talk about it.

Episode 2, "Queen's Landing," really got us. We're breaking down exactly why it's hitting different: a small music change that hit harder than it should've, a storyline twist we're still thinking about, and the character moments that had us pausing the episode just to process. Then we get into the bigger question — are these ratings actually telling us something real, or are we all just caught up in the moment?