Reflections on Pop Entertainment
By James and Meghan
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Podcast Description
Commentary and analysis of popular entertainment as found in visual mediums, particularly television and film. Weekly shows include an episode focused around a single television program, either reality competition or scripted drama, as well as an entertainment week in review episode focusing on a variety of television programs. Periodic special episodes cover movies and live theatre productions. Link to show's blog: http://reflpopent.wordpress.com/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/ReflPopEnt
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Game of Thrones 2 - Ep. 7 | 0:00 - Introduction 0:20 - Cersei reflects on the pitfalls of incest 3:59 - Jamie Lannister discusses the "honor" of Ned Stark 6:40 - Jon Snow and Ygritte, monarchy vs democracy 11:55 - Qarth: Or, will Daenerys compromise? 15:07 - Did Theon really do that? 18:45 - Wrap-up Game of Thrones is clearly moving forward, but to what conclusion we have given up on guessing. In this podcast we focus exclusively on the 7th episode, "A Man Without Honor" and discuss the awakening that Cersei's character appears to have regarding the repercussions on her (and Jamie's) actions, the shocking cliffhanger involving Theon and two charred bodies and just what the *bleep* is going on in Qarth. We also explore the differences between the seeming democracy described by the Wildlings north of the Wall and the unstable monarchy ruling Westeros and touch briefly on just how "honorable" the late Ned Stark truly appears in retrospect. | 5/23/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Game of Thrones 2 - Eps. 5 & 6 | 0:00 - Introduction 0:54 - The happenings in Qarth 6:21 - The deaths of Renly and Ser Rodrick 10:32 - Arya and her three death wishes 12:14 - Chaos in King's Landing 17:27 - Wrap-up We've passed the midseason point of season 2 and we won't pretend that we have any idea where the show is going! In this podcast we discuss the shocking death that begins episode 5 (seriously?!?!), catch-up with Daenerys and ponder the practicality of her plan to "reclaim" the Iron Throne, and examine how the slow disappearance of Joffrey's illusion of power is beginning to impact the entire course of King's Landing. We also share our thoughts on Arya's predicament and just how terrible Theon Greyjoy is becoming. | 5/13/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Game of Thrones 2 - Eps. 3 & 4 | 0:00 - Introduction 1:55 - Jon Snow and the Night's Watch 5:39 - Renly and Margaery 8:26 - Tyrion as Hand of the King 11:21 - Joffrey (is sadistic) 14:34 - Arya 18:15 - Melisandre and the Shadow-Demon-Baby Thing 20:46 - Wrap-up As the third and fourth episodes of Game of Thrones prove, season 2 shows no signs of slowing down, ending on a crazy cliffhanger involving a very unusual birth and moving Joffrey's character even further into the realm of complete sadism! In this podcast we discuss both of these developments as well as the role of the Starks as leaders, why Tyrion is a much better hand than Ned Stark, what's been going on with Arya and where we hope to see her character wind up and Meghan offers her thoughts on the introduction (finally!) of Margaery Tyrell, played by Natalie Dormer. | 5/6/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Game of Thrones 2 - Eps. 1 & 2 | 0:00 - Introduction 1:08 - What's going on beyond The Wall 5:06 - The war(s) in Westeros 16:11 - Across the Sea 18:56 - Wrap-up Summary Disclaimer: Neither of us have read beyond the first novel in the Song of Ice and Fire series, and therefore our discussion of the events and predictions for future episodes are exclusively based on the events depicted in the HBO series. Game of Thrones wasted no time in the first two episodes of the its second season and has already presented viewers with a plethora of new characters and new drama. In this podcast we discuss a few of these new characters and offer our thoughts on where our established characters are headed as Westeros plunges ever deeper into all-out war. Some topics of note include the isolated storylines of Jon Snow and Daenerys and how they will undoubtedly impact the Seven Kingdoms, the ever expanding list of "kings" in Westeros, the changing power structure of King's Landing and which three characters we agree aren't in danger of dying anytime soon. | 4/24/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Film Review - Game Change | 0:00 - Introduction 1:46 - Political figures, social media, the 24-hour news cycle and celebrity 5:04 - The movie's characterization of John McCain 9:00 - The movie's characterization of Sarah Palin 14:14 - The movie's characterization of the campaign staffers 16:50 - Other odds and ends 20:57 - Wrap-up Summary We take a break this week from our typical TV in Review podcasts to talk about HBO's original movie Game Change, based on the book of the same name by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. While Heilemann and Halperin's book covers both sides of the 2008 presidential race, HBO's adaptation centers exclusively on the McCain/Palin campaign, focusing primarily on the choice and aftermath of picking then Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. While we don't delve into the actual politics discussed in the movie (not the time nor the place to debate those types of issues), we instead examine the movie as an intriguing and often enlightening account of the sudden and drastic change taking place in American politics. In addition, we examine the movie's characterizations of the major players in the campaign, including John McCain (Ed Harris) and Sarah Palin (Julianne Moore), as well as the filmmakers' choice to utilize actual footage from Obama/Biden campaign throughout the film. | 3/24/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTV in Review - Ep. 3 | 0:00 – Introduction 0:16 – Awake 14:18 – Glee 23:03 – Fringe 28:46 – X-Factor judge offers and wrap-up Summary For this TV in Review, we focus on our last new show for the 2012 mid-season and offer our thoughts on the winter “finales” of Fringe & Glee. Check out the teasers below for a taste of what we discuss! Awake- We praise the long-awaited premiere of NBC’s new high-concept drama. Find out why we think it is the most successful new show of the 2012 mid-season and find out why we*shocker* disagree about the which of the two realities feels more “real.” Glee- Hear out thoughts on the shocking events on the latest episode and why we wish New Directions had lost at Regionals. Fringe- We discuss what we’ve learned about the Observers, debate whether there really is another timeline and attempt to predict where the show might be going. Hint: We have no idea. | 3/12/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTV in Review - Ep. 2 | 0:00 - Introduction 0:35 - The River 8:51 - Smash 16:36 - Alcatraz 20:04 - Wrap-up Summary We take a break from discussing some of our established shows to focus on three new mid-season premieres. Take a look at these teasers to get a taste for our thoughts a few episodes into these new shows and see if you can guess which shows we're sticking with and which we're letting go! The River- ABC's new found footage horror series only has 8 episodes in its first season, but surprisingly slow pacing and unengaging characters make this a difficult show for us to connect with. We discuss the first four episodes of the show, including the success of the documentary style in telling the story. Smash- NBC's much hyped backstage Broadway drama is definitely not Glee, but everything that could make the show stand out as a legitimate drama about the highs and lows of putting together a Broadway musical, falls prey to some weak writing and what we argue is a misguided focus on the character of Karen. Alcatraz- Another much hyped JJ Abrams' pilot that promises a mysterious island and lots of plot twists, but fails in every way to live up to these promises. We expand more on our initial thoughts from our last TV in Review Podcast and articulate a bit more our major issues with the series. | 3/4/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTV in Review - Ep. 1 | 0:00 - Introduction 3:27 - Alcatraz 11:38 - Fringe 15:44 - Person of Interest 22:03 - Once Upon A Time 27:03 - The Big Bang Theory 31:21 - Wrap-up Summary We jump into the 2012 mid-season with a new format for TV Week in Review podcasts and our thoughts on the letdown that was this year's much hyped Ricky Gervais hosted Golden Globes. Check out the teasers below for a taste of what we discuss! Alcatraz- Our first new series of 2012 started off with a 2-hour premiere episode. We discuss the inevitable comparison to that other JJ Abrams produced series surrounding a mysterious island, offer our initial impressions of the main characters and give our verdict on how much potential the series appears to have moving forward. Oh, and we give our thoughts on Emerson's apparent prisoner collecting hobby. Fringe- We learn new information on the new shape shifters and discuss the subtle ways the writers have been working in the differences between the two timelines. Person of Interest- Carter's role in the series is finally picking up, we get a homage to Rear Window and we give discuss the blurring line between Finch and the machine. Once Upon A Time- Meghan belatedly laments the loss of Sheriff Graham, we finally learn about Rumpelstiltskin's back story and we discuss what the presence of the "stranger" may mean. The Big Bang Theory- James is confused by the 100th episode fake-out, Meghan announces her favorite moment of the series and we have a bone to pick with the writers (hint: It involves Sheldon and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers). | 2/1/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor and Dexter Finales, and also Boardwalk Empire! | 0:00 - Introduction 0:58 - X-Factor 15:13 - Dexter 29:43 - Boardwalk Empire 31:35 - Wrap-up Summary After several weeks, we're finally back! The holidays may have halted our posting and podcasting, but never fear! After taking a few weeks, we're back and ready to tackle the new season of television with added enthusiasm. But before we jump in to discussing returning favorites and mid-season premieres, we flashback to the last few weeks of 2011 and close up some thoughts on the finales of two of the major shows we followed during the Fall TV season. X-Factor Melanie Amaro's much deserved win was no surprise to us, or to most viewers, but the underwhelming finale of one of the most over-the-top singing competitions on TV was certainly a disappointment. We wonder if having each of the three finalists (Melanie, Josh & Chris) sing their audition songs again was a wise decision, as we both agree only Melanie was able to top her original performance of the song. The duets, while in theory a good idea, did not play out well at all. Melanie and R. Kelly gave the only performance that came close to sounding like a true duet, while Josh was seemingly so overcome with awe at singing with Alanis Morissette that he allowed her to completely overshadow him. We feel Chris Rene faired the worst of the three, both in terms of the actual performance and his partner (Avril Lavigne) who seemed like a completely random pick, not fitting his vocal styling at all. The actual Finale episode also disappointed, using its 2-hours not to showcase eliminated contestants, but rather to feature guest artist after guest artist. Even early fan favorites such as Drew, Astro and Marcus Canty were only given a couple lines to sing (poor Drew only got to sing two words with idol Justin Bieber!) and Rachel Crow's only solo appearance was performing hosting schtick with Steve Jones. We close out our thoughts on X-Factor by exploring some of the many aspects of the show that could and should be improved upon for next season. Getting rid of Nicole as a judge/mentor, scaling back on the production numbers and visuals and finding ways to market contestants to different genres top our list. Additionally, we debate how the caliber of the judging panel could be improved, as what during the audition rounds showed promise of being a more professional and helpful panel of "experts," led by LA Reid and Simon, quickly devolved into either a bickering or overpraising mess once the live shows began. While we both enjoyed the US X-Factor's first season more than recent seasons of American Idol and feel that some true talent was found by having a show that allowed both old and young contestants (Astro, Drew, Leroy Bell, Josh), we're looking forward to having a break from such involved competition programs for a while. Note: In the podcast we mention that Josh Krajcik, among others, was signed to a record deal after the show ended. This isn't entirely true. Josh has been given several offers and is considering his options. Dexter Our coverage of this past season of Dexter has taken a very long break, our last podcast ending with the episode prior to Brian Moser's return. With so many episodes, we take a quick look at some of the second half of the season's most important moments, including examining the impact of Brian's temporary replacement of Harry as Dexter's "conscience" and question whether his return will have any lasting impact on Dexter the character and Dexter the show. We also discuss the Doomsday Killers as the "big bads" for the season, including the shocking (not really) twist involving Travis and Prof. Gellar, Deb & Dexter's relationship, particularly the season finale's shocking final moments and spend a few minutes exploring the possibilities the show could be setting up with "Intern Guy." We close out by addressing some of the criticisms this season has received and plead our case for Season 6 as a whole. We close out the podcast with Meg | 1/20/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor: Top 9 Through Top 4 Week | 0:00 - Introduction 1:07 - Top 9 Week Eliminations: Lakoda Rayne & Leroy Bell 4:23 - Top 7 Week Eliminations: Astro & Drew 10:13 - Top 5 Week Elimination: Rachel Crow 13:48 - Top 4 Week Elimination: Marcus Canty 14:18 - Melanie Amaro was amazing during Top 4 Week and Josh Krajcik performed "Hallelujah!" 16:57 - The background dancers, choreography and Simon Cowell 18:52 - Wrap-up | 12/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor: Top 10 Week | 0:00 - Introduction 0:11 - Astro controversy 8:36 - Astro and Stacy's performances 12:45 - The rest of the performers: LeRoy Bell, Rachel Crow, Chris Rene, Melanie Amaro, Josh Krajcik, Lakoda Rayne, Drew and Marcus Canty 24:56 - Wrap-up Summary Rock week brought the drama on The X-Factor. After the previous week's excellent set of songs, many contestants found themselves stumbling as performance night contained a bunch of song arrangements that were not really rock, which we largely blame the judges for because they should know what constitutes rock music.. Despite the genre problems, the bigger issue at hand was that the actual numbers, rock or not, were just not that good. This let-down calls into question the wisdom of having these theme weeks, as it not only distracts the judges by having them argue over style categorization but it also results in performers tackling songs and arrangements that just do not suit their personality. It's impossible to talk about this week of The X-Factor without discussing what happened on elimination night. Astro and Stacy Francis were in the bottom two and Astro did not react well to the news. This included not wanting to perform his "sing for your life" song and having an argumentative and dismissive attitude during the judges' vote. As expected, this resulted in a flurry of activity on twitter, facebook and blogs where the general reaction was hostile and negative. In this podcast we discuss in detail our thoughts about how Astro responded to the situation and America's general reaction thereafter. You'll have to listen to hear our thoughts, but as a quick summary, we think Astro should have handled his reaction better and do not condone his behavior, although we at least understand where it's coming from. America's rage towards him was way over the line. The abusive comments towards him and the assumptions about him and his family are uncalled for. On the humorous side of things, the irony of the angry and irrational rants from middle-aged adults about Astro's immaturity amuses us. Stacy Francis going home was the right decision. Her off-pitch caterwauling during "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" was too much to ignore and concluded a journey that was going slowly downhill after her initial audition. It appears her audition song was her ace in the hole and she used it way too early in the competition. Combine that with the questions about how authentic and honest she was being about her past and it was inevitable that the viewership would turn on her. Astro has a chance to rebound. Stacy does not. | 12/5/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor: Top 11 Week | 0:00 - Introduction: Steve Jones, no backing tracks and high quality performances 2:56 - Bottom Two: The Stereo Hogzz (eliminated), Lakoda Rayne and Paula Abdul's breakdown 7:22 - Astro 10:01 - Leroy Bell 11:20 - Josh Krajcik 13:11 - Rachel Crow 14:58 - The rest: Stacy Francis, Marcus Canty, Drew, Melanie Amaro and Chris Rene 23:31 - Wrap-up Summary This proved to be a high quality week for The X-Factor with many of the contestants putting forth their best performances since the beginning of the live shows. We really enjoyed Astro's version of "Lose Yourself," which showcased a lyrical talent way beyond his years. Leroy Bell and Josh Krajcik were also standouts for us, both choosing songs that suit their respective voices which resulted in performances that felt like excerpts from a concert for each contestant. Rachel Crow took a step back from the material Simon has been giving her, which we haven't been fans of, and sang "I'd Rather Go Blind." Although we're still of the belief that we'd like her to wait a couple more years until her voice develops more fully, this number showcased a depth in her vocals that hasn't been present since her boot camp rendition of "If I Were A Boy." The bottom two was predictable with the two remaining groups, The Stereo Hogzz and Lakoda Rayne, ending up there. Neither group had a good night, although Lakoda Rayne's awful harmonies in both their Wednesday performance and Thursday "sing for your life" song grated our ears and made us want to fast forward our DVR. The Stereo Hogzz, now backing track free, displayed better blending but were having a bit of an identity crisis as each week they adopted a different visual style and genre of music. We would have kept The Stereo Hogzz simply for their more coherent singing, as Lakoda Rayne has progressively gotten worse with each passing week. But in the end it's not a big deal for us as we aren't attached to the groups category. | 11/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTV WiR: Dexter 11/6/11 | Summary The newest episode of Dexter ended with the shocking return of Brian Moser, aka the Ice Truck Killer from way back in season one of the series. Based on spoilers, we speculated that he would be returning in this manner, so it was exciting to see one our predictions pan out! Brian's return may mark a dramatic, series-changing direction for the show, as we have the possibility of Dexter of completely indulging his dark passenger and leaving behind anything he may have learned in the previous seasons. It opens up a lot of possibilities that haven't been present in the show for a long time. In this special podcast we discuss the implications of this cliffhanger, as well as the interesting juxtaposition between the character of Dexter and the character of Travis. | 11/12/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTV WiR: 10/30/11 through 11/5/11 | 0:00 - Intro 1:05 - Fringe 7:06 - Glee 12:45 - Once Upon A Time 15:06 - The Mentalist 20:46 - How I Met Your Mother 23:02 - Dexter 31:39 - Dexter- Spoilers! Summary Fringe: We discuss the immediate effects of Peter's 3 week delayed return and speculate on just who the new and improved Shapeshifters could be working for. Glee: Finally back after a LONG hiatus! We offer our thoughts on the addition of Glee Project winner Damian McGinty, how the show is living up to its self-proclaimed intention to focus on character this season and Meghan expresses her love for Burt Hummel. Once Upon A Time: We learn about what the Evil Queen had to sacrifice to enact her curse, Meghan wonders just how much Rumpelstiltskin remembers and James finds out what he missed by not watching this week. The Mentalist: The show continues to serve as a repository of secondary actors from other programs (hi Lost's Ethan!) and James talks about the decision to continue the Red John arc even after he was "killed" last season. How I Met Your Mother: Ted finally finds the Slutty Pumpkin, Meghan speculates on how this could impact Ted's arc and laments how long it's been since we've seen the slap bet. Dexter: As the Ice Truck Killer continues to be mentioned in the show, we speculate on what this could mean. We continue to discuss whether or not Professor Gellar is real or if the "clues" are simply a creative choice by the episode directors. We also discuss Brother Sam's last words, "we should do this again sometime" and how they always seem to precede a character getting killed. | 11/9/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor: Top 12 Week | 0:00 - The Stacy & Dexter controversies, group routine lip syncing, the Eliminations show format and PEPSI! 7:50 - Bottom Two - The Stereo Hogzz (Yep, they're lip syncing!) and InTENsity 12:36- Leroy Bell 14:32 - Rachel Crow 16:40 - Lakoda Rayne 18:20 - Brian "Astro" Bradley 20:34 - Drew 23:06 - Quick words about the other acts: Melanie Amaro, Chris Rene, Josh Krajcik, Marcus Canty and Stacy Francis 30:06 - Wrap-up Summary Vocal artists and lip syncing, this topic gets debates raging about what's acceptable and what's not in the world of music performance. It's known that pop artists make use of lip syncing when their live shows involve lots of dancing or when performing and sometimes during late night television appearances, but what's more controversial is whether this practice has a place in singing competitions. The X-Factor showed us in several instances that lip syncing is being used during the elimination episodes, from Leroy Bell's vocal cue mishap during the group number to the Stereo Hogzz using a backing track during their survival song "Emotion." To our ears, it also sounds like the Stereo Hogzz's live Wednesday performance contained enhanced background vocals to beef up the sound. FOX issued a statement about the observations, which admits to lip syncing being used during the group numbers and for the backing tracks in the survival songs. Aside from the lip syncing stuff, the performance episode contained a mixed bag of performances, from the excellent Melanie Amaro and Drew to our lukewarm reaction to Chris Rene. Rachel Crow's performance did not work for us, being too focused on flash at the expense of substance. Rachel's vocals again weren't as strong as we've seen from her (see "Mercy" and "If I Were A Boy"), but we're more concerned about the image and performance style Simon grafted on to her. It's bubblegum pop that wears thin on the ears. Josh Krajcik's "Jar of Hearts" performance also had its issues in the first half of the song. The arrangement placed him in the bottom-end of his range, which led to several sour notes and the loss of his trademark bluesy grit. By the end he regained his strength, but we're not happy that Nicole gave him a song that made half the performance weak. Lakoda Rayne we found to be the worst act of the night, from the brutal harmony clashes at several points in the song to the "sweet" arrangement and performance that jarred with the lyrical content of "Landslide." We don't know what in the world the judges were thinking with the "singing with one voice" comment, or why the dresses were the point of contention, a silly superficial distraction from the larger problems of the number. For them to be the only safe group on Thursday night shocked and confused us, begging the question, who likes this and is voting for them? We agree that Steve Jones needs a new tagline ("Bye bye" doesn't work), that Nicole needs to give Leroy Bell songs that are closer to his solo album material and that Vote For The Worst's pick of Astro doesn't bother us at all. InTENsity's departure, while sad, doesn't upset us as we weren't too attached to any of the groups. As we discussed in previous podcasts, we were expecting the various groups to go home first in the competition. And Marcus Canty, while a fun performer, isn't proving to be memorable for us. James in particular completely forgot what his performance sounded and looked like by the time we got around to recording the podcast! | 11/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTV WiR: 10/23/11 through 10/29/11 | 0:00 - Intro 0:58 - The Amazing Race, Big Bang Theory & The Office 5:00 - Once Upon A Time 10:00 - The Real World 15:37 - South Park 19:31 - Dexter 26:28 - Dexter: Spoiler Alert! 30:38 - Wrap-up Summary It's a little delayed, but our TV Week in Review for last week is finally ready for download. Now that we're all nice and caught up, these should start coming out on time again. The Amazing Race: We briefly discuss the sudden implosion of the Father/Son team Big Bang Theory: Another previous cast member of Dexter makes an appearance on CBS! The Office: Jim and Pam's ghost debate seems way too familiar to us Once Upon A Time: Meghan and James share a rare difference of opinion regarding the quality of ABC's latest new series, with Meghan viewing it as an engaging and promising premise and James finding it difficult to get past the complete fantasy of the fairy tale world. We also point out some of the writers' heavy handed Lost Easter Eggs. The Real World: Our dislike of Zach is solidified in his confrontation with Sam and we debate whether Zach's "don't ask don't tell" attitude is truly harmless. Did we mention we don't like Zach? South Park: Randy + Stephen Sondheim + Bro Down= Amazing Dexter: We continue to discuss the theory that Professor Gellar is a hallucination in Travis' mind and note the accelerated pacing of Dexter tracking down and killing this season's "Big Bad." The Ice Truck Killer case is getting lots of references which we think is the writer's cue that something from that case is going to play a very important role later in the season. Finally, we wrap up our discussion by considering some pseudo-spoilers. Source 1 and Source 2 for the Dexter spoilers we discuss. Do not look at them if you want to remain spoiler free! | 11/3/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor: Top 17 Week | 0:00 - Introduction: Our thoughts on the live show stage and production and Steve Jones 4:23 - Eliminations: Phillip Lomax, The Brewer Boys, Dexter Haygood, Simone Battle and Tiah Tolliver 12:27 - The performances we loved: Brian "Astro" Bradley, Leroy Bell, Josh Krajcik and Drew 19:05 - The performances we didn't like: Chris Rene, Marcus Canty and Lakoda Rayne 23:51 - Controversial/Lukewarm performances: The Stereo Hogzz, InTENsity, Stacy Francis, Rachel Crow and Melanie Amaro 32:24 - Wrap-up Summary The X-Factor, from its first audition episode, was full of flash and bombast. Everything was big! This didn't prepare us for the over-the-top production values found in the first live show, which featured floor-to-ceiling monitors, a transparent stage with flashing lights, smoke machines and a small army of backup dancers. The only thing missing from the spectacle was pyrotechnics. It made an impression, but we're not convinced it was necessary to be flashier than American Idol. In the end, it came down to the performances whose quality was independent of the special effects employed throughout the evening. Indeed, stripped down performances made for some of the best moments in the show. Josh Krajcik gave a soul-stirring performance of "Forever Young," eschewing instrumentation in favor of a controlled vocal tone that rang out and filled the room. Drew followed suit with a low-key arrangement of "What a Feeling" carried by the haunting qualities of her voice. Both contestants established themselves as strong contenders for America's vote and the five million dollar record contract. Leroy Bell did things his own way when singing "Nobody Knows." Even though it's not a song best suited for his artistic style, Leroy ran with it and let his charisma and smooth, intense voice carry the song, showing how his past experience as a song writer and an indie performer will turn him into a dark horse for this competition. He doesn't have a lot of buzz behind him, but he's one of our favorites and the comments we find for him are very positive. This is not to say that flashy and fun performances didn't have merit. Brian "Astro" Bradley's opening hip-hop mashup of "Rump Shaker" and "Jump" demonstrated his rapping prowess, spitting forth rhymes and rhythms in quick machine-gun bursts. Even with multiple re-watches we are in awe of his ability as a hip-hop MC. InTENsity and the Stereo Hogzz, while having issues in each of their respective performances, were fun to watch and showed that Paula Abdul can and will take the groups category in a positive and constructive direction. Some performances have us worried. Chris Rene, Rachel Crow and Melanie Amaro all had some problems in their songs with vocal issues creeping in during important moments. We're the least worried with Melanie Amaro, as it appeared that nerves got the better of her due in no small part to the mind games Simon Cowell has played with her. If she knocks it out of the park on the next show she'll be fine. As for Chris Rene, the song highlighted his limited range and downplayed his smooth R&B flow, which is the opposite of what we think L.A. Reid would want from him. He needs a song that recalls the moments from his audition or his fan-base will dwindle in the coming weeks. Rachel Crow was the most controversial performance for us. The judges and many online fans loved it, but we didn't like the song choice and heard multiple vocal errors in the verses of the mashup. Simon is placing her in this child performer box that she is going to outgrow in one or two years, which is a dangerous place to put her. The eliminations were the correct choices as they consisted of the poorest performances of the night. Dexter, Simone, Phillip and Tiah all had over-wrought set concepts and backup dancers coupled with sub-par vocal performances. We actually enjoyed the Brewer Boys, but since the groups category had an even level of quality it was hard to argue for another group to leave. W | 10/31/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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TV WiR: 10/16/11 through 10/22/11 | 0:00 - Intro 0:13 - Dexter 12:04 - America's Next Top Model 15:48 - The Real World 22:16 - James mentions his favorite Easter eggs from The Mentalist and South Park 25:01 - Wrap-up Summary We're close to getting back on schedule with our TV Week in Review podcasts! This episode is shorter than normal with us only discussing a handful of shows. Dexter - The Ice Truck Killer case reappears, the motives of Travis and Professor Geller remain unclear and Dexter learns a lesson from the Tooth Fairy. America's Next Top Model - We discuss just exactly what type of season Tyra is attempting to produce and how successful the All-Stars are at living up to their titles. The Real World - Frank can't seem to confront the real source of his anger issues, we explain our dislike of Zach and Nate is DEFINITELY not gay. The Mentalist - The Ice Truck Killer from Dexter and Scott Farkas from A Christmas Story make an appearance! South Park - James proves what a dork he is by pointing out the source of the parodied songs in the "Bass to Mouth" episode. | 10/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTV WiR: 10/2/11 through 10/15/11 | 0:00 - Intro 0:50 - The Playboy Club 4:09 - The Amazing Race 13:33 - Dexter 27:23 - Suburgatory 29:52 - Our favorite line from The Real World 30:29 - The Office 34:21 - Person of Interest 38:24 - Fringe 43:37 - Wrap-up Summary After a several week hiatus, we're back! We go through the back-burner and discuss the shows that aired over the past couple of weeks. We promise to stay on schedule in the future (okay, maybe not, but we're going to try)! The Playboy Club - We discuss why The Playboy Club was just so terrible. The Amazing Race - A controversial sign led to a shocking double elimination and we debate whether the race has become too predictable or intentionally vague. Dexter - The intriguing premiere introduced religion into Dexter's world in the form of a friend (Brother Sam) and a foe (Travis and Professor Geller). We speculate on whether or not the Professor Geller character is real or akin to Harry, a manifestation of the consciousness of Travis. Suburgatory - Barbecue story line proves the show is finding its voice and embracing its awkward/absurdist humor. The Real World - "We were besties!!!' The Office - Slowly finding a voice for the new Nard-dog era, "Garden Party" brings us the best prank in several seasons and James reveals what he felt was the funniest moment in the past two episodes. Person of Interest - Reese begins to get emotionally involved in his cases and we debate on how this will affect their mission going forward as well as potential overlapping cases in the future. Fringe - Meghan draws the line at killer brain-moss, Walter attempts to give himself a lobotomy, we get more insight into changes in the alternate timeline... oh and Peter's back. | 10/26/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor: Judges' Houses Week 2 | 0:00 – Introduction: the Melanie Amaro controversy 2:55 – Girls category: Jazzlyn Little, Rachel Crow, Tiah Tolliver and Melanie Amaro 7:28 – Boys category: Brennin Hunt, Tim Ciphers, Marcus Canty and Chris Rene 12:07 – Over 30s category: Josh Krajcik, Leroy Bell, Tiger Budbill and Christa Collins 17:38 – Groups category: The Stereo Hogzz, 2 Squar’d, Illusion/Confusion and InTENsity 22:06 – Top 5 girls (Simon Cowell): Simone Battle, Drew Ryniewicz, Tiah Tolliver, Rachel Crow and Melanie Amaro 24:01 – Top 4 boys (L.A. Reid): Brian “Astro” Bradley, Phillip Lomax, Chris Rene and Marcus Canty 25:53 – Top 4 over 30s (Nicole Scherzinger): Josh Krajcik, Dexter Haygood, Leroy Bell and Stacy Francis 27:44 – Top 4 groups (Paula Abdul): Brewer Boys, Lakoda Rayne, InTENsity and the Stereo Hogzz 30:09 – Wrap-up The second week of judges' houses means the conclusion of the casting portion of the show, where we meet the Top 17 contestants that move into the live show competition where America takes the reigns and votes for their favorites. It wouldn't be a reality show without controversy and the third judges' houses episode was full of it. Simon Cowell's ridiculous decision to initially cut Melanie Amaro shocked us and felt like a slap in the face. Simon realized his mistake and reversed the decision by the end of the episode, but we cannot for the life of us understand the first decision. We believe the same could be said for the other three judges, as we were given the impression that they had strong words for Simon when they learned about his choices. The second half of the 32 contestants performed in this set of episodes, which brought some excellent renditions of existing songs. Josh Krajcik, Leroy Bell and Melanie Amaro all blew us away and are by far our favorites going into the live shows. The inconsistent and baffling group category stayed just that with InTENsity putting out a Glee-like rendition of their song, the Stereo Hogzz performing like a solo act with backup singers, 2 Squar'd putting forth a choppy and uneven arrangement of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Illusion/Confusion getting the worst edit of the night by having their interviews intercut with their singing. The second four people in the boys category generally underwhelmed us as well, which was disappointing. We predicted 13 out of the 17 final choices, with us being wrong on Phillip Lomax, Dexter Haygood, Lakoda Rayne and Simone Battle. We predicted Tim Ciphers, Elaine Gibbs and Anser to make it through, as well as Melanie Amaro who was added back in at the last minute. Since we're analyzing this show from a record deal standpoint, we understand why most of the choices were made and agreed with the majority of them. In a world based on singing ability alone the list would be different and if we were given complete control to pick our preferences we would change things around even more, but we remember that it's about finding a person to sign a five million dollar contract which carries with it the responsibility to sell albums and tour tickets. Out of all the selections, Simone Battle is our biggest source of disagreement and you'll have to listen to the podcast to hear why :-) We're excited to see what the live shows hold! | 10/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor: Judges' Houses Week 1 | 0:00 - Introduction: Baseball preempts the show and our thoughts on the judges' houses format. 7:11 - Girls category: Simone Battle, Caitlin Koch, Tora Woloshin and Drew Ryniewicz 12:51 - Boys category: Brian "Astro" Bradley, Skyelor Anderson, Phillip Lomax and Nick Voss 18:14 - Over 30s category: Dexter Haygood, Elaine Gibbs, Stacy Francis and James Kenney 23:25 - Groups category: The Anser, Brewer Boys, Lakota Rayne and 4Shore 29:54 - Wrap-up Summary We only had one episode of the judges' houses portion of the competition this week as a rain-delayed baseball game preempted The X-Factor, pushing the second episode to Sunday. Not wanting to delay our X-Factor podcast, we decided to just go ahead and do a recording covering the single episode from Thursday. The episode presented the full auditions for the majority of the sixteen featured contestants, giving us plenty to think about and discuss. Having tangible arcs for all the contestants as we move into the live shows works and keeps us interested in their journeys. Unlike the auditions, here the contestants were given a song to practice and present to their mentor and a guest judge to prove their talents. The song choices didn't work in some cases, as we saw with Tora Woloshin and Dexter Haygood. Tora wasn't identifying with the song, producing a muted energy and Dexter is in desperate need of direction. We don't know what Nicole was thinking by turning him loose on a Beyonce song. In other cases, the songs provided excellent performances such as Brian Bradley's aggressive hip-hop attack and Stacy Francis's all-enveloping vocals. The quirk and twang in Drew Ryniewicz's voice continues to engage us and we hope that Simon sees the live show as a wonderful opportunity to further explore her tone and style. Our expectations were low with the group category and this episode didn't do much to change that. The Anser had some blending issues, 4Shore's tenor continues to grate our ears and Lakota Rayne, while producing quality harmonies, tripped its way through amateur Coyote Ugly choreography. The Brewer Boys gave the most stable performance. There are four more groups to go, but at the moment we're convinced a group will not win this competition. | 10/15/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor: Boot Camp Week | 0:00 – Introduction and general thoughts on the boot camp episodes 8:25 – Top 8 Girls: Caitlin Koch, Tora Woloshin, Rachel Crow, Melanie Amaro, Simone Battle, Drew Ryniewicz, Jazzlyn Little and Tiah Tolliver 15:34 – Top 8 Boys: Brennin Hunt, Skyelor Anderson, Tim Ciphers, Marcus Canty, Brian Bradley, Nick Voss, Phillip Lomax and Chris Rene 22:49 – Top 8 Over 30s: Elaine Gibbs, Leroy Bell, Josh Krajcik, Dexter Haygood, Tiger Budbill, James Kenney, Christa Collins and Stacy Francis 29:55 – Top 8 Groups: Stereo Hogzz, 2Squared, 4Shore, Brewer Boys, Illusion Confusion, Anser and the two judge-created groups 34:13 – Thoughts on the judges and their mentoring categories: Paula Abdul – Groups, Nicole Scherzinger – Over 30s, Simon Cowell – Girls, L.A. Reid – Boys 36:30 – Odds and Ends 39:31 – Wrap-up Summary This week The X-Factor shifted gears and moved into the boot camp episodes where the judges whittled down the field to 32 contestants evenly split into four categories: the girls, the guys, the over 30s and the groups. The original field included over 150 people and two sets of cuts brought us down to 32, filling the episodes with plenty of drama, emotion and genuine surprises. The X-Factor serves itself well by continuing to focus on the people we got to know during the audition episodes and keeping the pacing at a comfortable level. We were also introduced to new talent, such as Tim Ciphers who surprised us with his strong range and clear tone. We didn't see anyone cut that upset us and are quite happy with the majority of the field left at the end of the week. We disagree with some choices, such as putting through Simone Battle and The Stereo Hogzz, but these are small nitpicks compared with an overall strong field. In the podcast we spend time talking about the top 32 contestants, sorting out who we like and who we don't as well as discussing their prospects for making it through the judges' houses round. Our top favorites are Melanie Amaro, Josh Krajcik and Leroy Bell. The judges' houses round sounds intriguing although we don't know much about how this portion of the show will run. Will it be a drill session to push people to their limits and center around the selection process or will it be a more laid back mentoring session where the judges dispense one-on-one advice? Either possibility should prove to be good television. We have reservations about Nicole's ability to mentor the over 30s category and it's a toss-up whether Paula will find success in leading the groups. Simon and L.A. are both strong choices for their respective categories. We're excited to see who makes it through and who goes home! Let us know what you think after listening to the podcast! Leave us a comment here, on Pure X-Factor or tweet us. We love feedback and will respond either with a comment or in our next published show. | 10/9/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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TV WiR: 9/25/11 through 10/1/11 | 0:00 - Introduction 1:39 - The Amazing Race 9:12 - Pan Am 11:53 - Boardwalk Empire 18:29 - Suburgatory 21:28 - The Real World 25:47 - Glee 27:51 - The Office 31:16 - The Big Bang Theory 33:31 - Fringe 37:10 - Wrap-Up Summary With the first day of the week bringing with it even more premieres, we had another busy week of Fall TV! This week we talk about more new shows as well as offering our thoughts on some established show's second episodes of the new season: The Amazing Race- The season premiere of the show's 19th season offers up some supposedly game-changing twists right away, but confusing clues and lost passports proved to be the teams's real challenges Pan Am- A new series from ABC with a big budget pilot that succeeded in offering intriguing characters, a solid cast and good writing (aka everything The Playboy Club lacks) Boardwalk Empire- The season premiere introduces increasing race tensions within the Southern Jersey community and highlights the dangerous and deceptive political climate surrounding Nucky Suburgatory- A new series from ABC with a ridiculous premise, but that made great use of the "fish out of water" to present audiences with one increasingly uncomfortable situation after another The Real World- The 26th season of MTV's original reality show about annoying 20-somethings living in a house together returns to San Diego and brings with it volatile cast members and Meghan attempts to justify why she didn't give up on the show years ago Glee- Auditions for the musical and the return of Quinn & Puck's baby make for genuinely interesting story arcs and the musical numbers have a purpose again The Office- James questions whether the cold open was really that far-fetched and we speculate on Andy's transformation into Regional Manager The Big Bang Theory- A largely Sheldon-free episode allowed the under-used Amy Farrah Fowler to establish herself as a strong stand-alone member of the ensemble and Meghan does her best impression of Howard's mother Fringe- A stand-alone episode that introduced some interesting questions about the nature of the "truce" between the two universes and what Peter's "erasing" means for how this came to be in the new timeline | 10/4/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor: Auditions Week 2 | 0:00 - Introduction: We enjoyed auditions lasting two weeks, O Fortuna! and thoughts on the host Steve Jones 2:42 - What's up with the eccentric mother/daughter pairs in every city? 3:35 - Auditions that left an impression: Kim Terek, Skyelor Anderson, J Mark Inman, Josh Krajcik, 4Shore, Tia Tolliver, Brian Bradley, Ausem, Tora Woloshin, Brennin Hunt, Devon Talley, Jazzlyn Little 26:46 - Other auditions: Brock and Makenna, Drew Ryniewicz, Phillip Lomax, Cari Fletcher, The Stereo Hogzz, Paige Elizabeth, Leroy Bell 32:49 - The people to watch going into boot-camp 36:07 - How will the judges be assigned to groups? 37:29 - Wrap-up Summary This week continued and completed the audition portion of the show. We're happy that The X-Factor went the So You Think You Can Dance route and kept this portion of the competition short, unlike American Idol which drags the process out for several weeks. We were introduced to some amazing singers such as Josh Krajcik and Jazzlyn Little, as well as interesting talent including Tora Woloshin, Brian Bradley and the performance piece that was J Mark Inman's audition. The show wouldn't be complete without the requisite bad auditions, of which Devon Talley's ceremonial murder of RENT's "Seasons of Love" took top prize. We now know how to measure a year. Going into the boot camp episodes, we're worried about the groups. We haven't seen anyone impressive and even the judge favorites, such as 4Shore, presented weaknesses that will become more apparent as weeks go on. The judges appear to be reaching for acts to fill the group slots as the decision to put through The Stereo Hogzz illustrates. We're looking forward to the boot-camp episodes and the developments sure to happen in them. We saw some footage of the contestants learning choreography (assisted by Mark Kanemura from So You Think You Can Dance!), an unexpected development that could change the contestant landscape. There was also footage of several favorites breaking down, although we can never be sure if this is a red herring or foreshadowing by the show's editors. | 10/1/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTV WiR: 9/18/11 through 9/24/11 | 0:00 - Intro 0:34 - The Playboy Club 3:45 - Person of Interest 8:53 - How I Met Your Mother 10:23 - Glee 13:17 - The Office 20:15 - The Big Bang Theory 22:09 - The Mentalist 23:51 - Fringe 30:33 - Wrap-Up Summary It was an exciting week of premieres, both old and new! In this week's podcast we discuss following shows: The Playboy Club- A new series from NBC that offered a very polarizing first episode that we aren't quite sold on yet Person of Interest- A new series from CBS and our favorite new show of the fall season How I Met Your Mother- We got to see more of Barney's wedding day, but still no sign of who the bride will be Glee- The show returns to its Season 1 roots and has solid, well-placed musical numbers The Office- The new boss is revealed and the show attempts to move forward without Michael Scott and we attempt to reconcile the changes that the show has undergone since Season 4 The Big Bang Theory- A quick resolution to a "shocking" cliffhanger The Mentalist- A legitimately shocking cliffhanger gets a legitimately ridiculous resolution Fringe- Everything is reset and we have no idea what is going on | 9/26/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanX-Factor: Auditions Week 1 | 0:00 - Introduction: We enjoyed the first two episodes and compare it with American Idol. 4:21 - About the production: General feel, how it's different from American Idol, how the audience affects the process. 8:20 - Discussion about the judges 12:43 - The lower age limit: Rachel Crow and Ellona Santiago 16:47 - Can really old people do well in this? Dan and Venita. 18:48 - Benefits middle-aged people the most: Stacy Francis and Dexter Haygood 22:19 - Bad auditions: Geo Goddley, Dylan Lawson, Xander Alexander 27:50 - Interesting auditions: Siameze Floyd, Marcus Canty, Nick Voss and Caitlin Koch 33:13 - Amazing auditions: Chris Rene and Melanie Amaro 38:54 - Wrap-up: What do you think? Summary We enjoyed the premiere of The X-Factor, contrary to what we expected when we first sat down to watch the show. We were expecting the auditions to be like on American Idol, but instead the feel of the episodes was closer to what So You Think You Can Dance does. The first episode in particular focused on the good contestants and relegated the majority of the poor auditions to a montage. The moderate pacing and extended length for the songs gave the show an organic flow in contrast to most reality shows which make use of quick cuts and short sequences. The structure of the show is interesting, from the audience appearing to influence the choice of who gets through and who doesn't to allowing people too old or young for American Idol to shine. We're not convinced really old people will do well in this show since the need for energy and a strong vocal performance will be necessary in the long run. We also didn't see much strength from the group auditions so far. We're hoping the next round of auditions will reveal a compelling group act for us to enjoy. Of course, no reality audition process would be complete without the bad auditions, of which we had several from Geo Goddley dancing around in a leopard print thong (no, he wasn't naked although the censoring X made it appear that way) to Dylan Lawson's freakout (we still have no idea what he was doing or what song that was supposed to be). Xander Alexander was an interesting case as his vocal ability wasn't bad, but his attitude just turned the audience against him. We're convinced that if he auditioned for American Idol, he would have gone through and then would have had an intense backlash. Siameze Floyd, Marcus Canty and Nick Voss intrigued us. We're not yet convinced by them as their vocal abilities aren't stellar, but they make up for it with a good performance so we're giving them the benefit of the doubt and want to see more. Caitlin Koch we don't get at the moment. Her voice is good, but we didn't find it as appealing as the judges did. Because a lot of people online and the judges liked her, we're waiting to see another performance from her before we pass judgment. We were blown away by Chris Rene, Stacy Francis and Melanie Amaro. Chris Rene pulled out a performance and sense of musicianship that we didn't expect and Stacy and Melanie provided stellar vocal work and personality. Stacy's soulful cover of Aretha Franklin moved us and made us happy to see her finally get her break. Melanie floored the room with their amazing control, strong range and sense of dynamics during her performance. She commanded the room without even having to move around. We're looking forward to the next round of auditions! | 9/24/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanTV WiR: 9/11/11 through 9/17/11 | 0:00 - Introduction: Where have we been? SYTYCD Canada cancelled! About our TV Week in Review podcasts. 4:59 - Big Brother 13 Finale 10:49 - America's Next Top Model All-Stars (Cycle 17) 16:53 - Ringer 20:15 - New Fall 2011 TV shows we're watching: Pan Am, Homeland, The Playboy Club, Once Upon A Time, The X-Factor, Suburgatory, Person of Interest 24:05 - New seasons of established shows we're watching: The Amazing Race, Family Guy, Boardwalk Empire, Fringe, Dexter, How I Met Your Mother, Glee, The Real World, The Office, The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist 28:52 - Shows we won't be watching in Fall 2011: Survivor, Dancing with the Stars, Modern Family, Community, Two and a Half Men, Hawaii Five-O, New Girl, Terra Nova, Hart of Dixie, Two Broke Girls, Up All Night 34:46 - Wrap-Up: What do you think about our discussion and choices for Fall 2011 viewing? Look out for our X-Factor dedicated podcast! Summary We're back! It feels good for us to get back to podcasting just in time for this Fall 2011 TV season, which promises to deliver some good programming to keep us amused for the next few months. To coincide with the new TV season, we're introducing a new podcast segment we're currently calling the TV Week in Review. These episodes will be less structured and differ from installment to installment, allowing us to discuss the things we found most interesting during our week of television viewing. Any show that doesn't have a series of podcasts dedicated to it is fair game for discussion and in this episode we briefly talk about all the shows we're planning to watch. The finale of Big Brother 13 happened this past week with Rachel being crowned the winner. Just about no watcher of Big Brother would have predicted this outcome at the beginning of the season and we're still wrapping our heads around this turn of events. We also talk about Adam's delusions of grandeur, that Jeff needs to take a chill pill and that the production team for this show is extraordinarily lazy despite getting high ratings. America's Next Top Model All-Stars (Cycle 17) premiered and after a brief disclaimer from James about why he's watching this show, we dig into what may prove to be a frantic season. The production for the first episode felt like it suffered from a bad case of attention deficit disorder, cutting back and forth and including an over-the-top live judging panel. We talk about the returning models and the controversies that followed some of them. And that elimination collage at the end of the episode? Terrible. We wrap up our new show discussion with the series premiere of Ringer, starring Sarah Michelle Geller and Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert from Lost!). The pilot was uneven as the backstories for the major characters unfolded. The faked death of Siobhan, Bridget's affluent and aloof twin sister, builds intrigue and may lead to an interesting set of episodes. On the other hand, an embarassing green-screened scene involving a motor boat turned off a lot of potential viewers and highlighted the show's limited budget. We've learned to not judge shows just by the pilot, so we'll continue to watch for now. As a final note, we're going to be published a series of podcasts dedicated to The X-Factor, which begins this week. In order to deliver our content to a wider audience we're partnering withPure X-Factor, a new site by Pure TV Network (the same place that hosts Pure So You Think You Can Dance). If you're looking for any news regarding The X-Factor, we recommend checking them out! | 9/19/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSYTYCD 8: Top 4 and Finale Podcast | 0:00 - Introduction: Congrats to Melanie! Guest judges: Katie Holmes and Kenny Ortega and the choice to have celebrity judges 2:37 - Melanie and Marko's disco 4:15 - Sasha and Mark's jazz 5:44 - Tadd and Joshua's hip-hop 7:10 - Melanie and Robert's contemporary 8:29 - Sasha and Marko's broadway 10:46 - Sasha and Tadd's chacha 12:57 - Marko and Lauren F.'s contemporary 14:36 - Tadd and Melanie's jazz 16:01 - Melanie and Sasha's contemporary 18:27 - Marko and Tadd's gumboot stepping 20:28 - The order of the placing: 2 girls in the top 22:22 - Results show: The new top 20 routine and tap routine 24:28 - Results show: The judges picks were stacked towards Melanie, Sasha and Marko and didn't seem to be a retrospective of the season 28:58 - Post-season discussion: The direction of production and how it affects the show - pacing in live shows vs recorded shows, an increasing focus on the judging panel, choreographers tailoring their work to the dancers, variety in the dancers in the Top 20 (stacked towards contemporary/jazz now), variety in routine genres (less ballroom now, more contemporary/jazz) 42:34 - Wrap-up: What are your thoughts on our post-season discussion? What we're going to be doing in future podcasts (Big Brother, The X-Factor, Week in Review) Summary For the finale of So You Think You Can Dance season 8 we give you a super-sized podcast with 15 more minutes of content. We were happy with Melanie's win and were pleasantly surprised that the top two dancers this season were both women, which has not happened before on this program. The performance episode was not up to the high standards of past seasons which was disappointing for us, but there were some highlights such as Marko and Lauren F.'s wonderful contemporary piece by Tessandra Chavez and the captivating performance by Melanie and Sasha in the second Stacey Tookey routine of the night. The results show reminded us of many of the great routines from the season, although we were surprised by how the judges picks seemed to place less emphasis on everyone except for Melanie, Marko and Sasha (even Tadd only had one non-group routine repeated). This portion of the show has historically served as a warm-up for the forthcoming tour and features many of the routines that are expected to show up. But here we had many routines that involved all-stars, none of which will likely be on the tour. It was unexpected for the judges picks to lack variety. We conclude the podcast with a discussion of the show's production and the effect it's having on the pacing and the way we get to know the dancers. We pinpoint that the approach towards the show changed in season 6, when they moved to the live show format. At this point the packages became shorter and contained more schtick and the judges comments started having less substance due to the time constraints of a live program. We also discuss the choreographers and that some of them tailor their work to their selected dancers and that others do not and whether this is a fair way of doing things. Finally, we discuss the variety of dancers in the top 20 in later seasons versus the early seasons and the effect this seems to have on the type of choreography we see each week. | 8/15/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSYTYCD 8: Top 6 Week Podcast | 0:00 - The guest judging by Christina Applegate and Lil 'C 1:35 - Eliminated: Ricky - Contemporary and Waacking 5:57 - Eliminated: Caitlynn - Samba and Jazz 9:05 - The end of the Tyce kiss of death 10:45 - Top 4: Tadd 15:10 - Top 4: Marko 17:45 - Top 4: Sasha 20:18 - Top 4: Melanie 24:00 - The alleged Melanie conspiracy 27:30 - Who's going to win overall? 28:15 - The routines we'd like to see reprised in the finale 34:33 - Wrap-up Summary The top 6 proved to be an interesting week as it wasn't clear which dancers were going to be in the finals and what two were going to be sent home. It turned out that Caitlynn and Ricky were the ones that had their journeys end, which was predictable but still sad to see. Ricky did well in his contemporary in showing us why he made it as far as he did in the competition and Caitlynn had an excellent night with two solid routines. In another season with a weaker pool of girls Caitlynn may have made it into the finals. The top 4 makes for an intriguing mix and we go over their performances from this past week. Like last week, we spend some time on Tadd and go over what we liked from him, but that we feel like the choreographers, for better or worse, aren't challenging him in the same way as the rest of the contestants. Marko, Sasha and Melanie all have been strong the entire season and we've loved nearly everything put forward by Melanie and Marko. Any of these four contestants can win the whole win, which is not a normal situation for most SYTYCD finales. Next week should prove to have a gripping conclusion. We spend a few minutes going over and debunking the "Melanie conspiracy." We don't see any evidence for this view and it's not something we like seeing appear all over the internet, not because we're Melanie fans but because we like to keep the dialogue about reality competitions honest and based in what we see, not what we imagine. We wrap up by giving our list of good routines from this season that we'd like to see appear in the finale. | 8/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBig Brother 13 - Week 3: Nominations, Veto and Elimination; Week 4: Nominations | Time stamps and summary to be written | 8/3/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSYTYCD 8: Top 8 Week Podcast | 0:00 - The guest judging by Lady Gaga and Rob Marshall 1:45 - Discussion of Jess and his elimination 7:48 - Tadd, has he grown more than Jess to deserve a top six spot? 13:28 - Jess's final solo and online fan reaction 15:40 - Jordan's elimination (the Tyce kiss of death strikes again) 16:50 - Caitlynn's work 18:50 - Sasha had a very good night 19:59 - Melanie had an excellent night! 22:10 - Marko continues to amaze us. 24:15 - Ricky: does he dance too tall? And is Anya heavy? 26:10 - Who makes the finals? 28:24 - Next week's all-stars: Kent, Janette, Jamie, Ellenore, Twitch and Pasha! 29:23 - Wrap-up Summary This week's judging panel featured director/choreographer Rob Marshall and pop music icon Lady Gaga, who gave constructive insight into the performance aspect of dance. Although we liked Neil Patrick Harris's judging the most so far this season, the celebrity panel additions have worked a lot better in the second half of the season versus the first half. The elimination show was tough for us to watch. Jess was one of our favorites from the competition and we were both expecting to see him make the top six and possibly the finals. We had a tough time seeing him cut after his growth and improvement in favor of Tadd, who has also grown but hasn't felt as polished when you compare the two. We talk in-depth about Jess and Tadd and draw a line in the small details. Tadd has difficultly with fast choreography and when we consider his solos in total we don't see a wide range in his dancing vocabulary and we don't have these same issues with Jess. We admit, we're biased here, but we try to quantify our feelings of disappointment as best as we can. Jordan's elimination was more straight-forward as her body of work has been hit-or-miss during the season and her solos have revolved around her leg movements. Caitlynn has been consistent and we feel like we still have more to see from her. Marko and Melanie once again had amazing pieces and have solidified their place in the finals. As for who else is going to the finals, it looks to be a toss up when we compare Tadd/Ricky and Sasha/Caitlynn. We think it will depend on what routines they get next week and how well they perform. We consider their bodies of work and speculate on what may happen. | 7/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBig Brother 13 - Week 2: Nominations, Veto and Elimination | 0:00 - Introduction: Recap of the previous week's events 1:12 - Have/Have Not and Veto Competitions 4:48 - Rachel's shenanigans during and after the Veto comp and why Jordan should have put them on the block 9:23 - Is Porsche still part of this show? 10:51 - Cassi's eviction 12:52 - HOH competition 15:14 - Brendon/Rachel vs Jeff/Jordan 16:26 - The confrontation between Rachel and Cassi 18:24 - The alliance and showmance between Daniele and Dominic 20:28 - Kalia and Lawon are this season's floaters (get a life-vest!) 21:43 - Big Brother production is crappy: The Keith resurrection 23:33 - Spoiler discussion 26:53 - Wrap-up Summary It's only week 2 inside the Big Brother house and already alliances are crumbling and the backstabbing has begun. After dominating the house during week 1, the veterans alliance (Rachel/Brendon, Jeff/Jordan and Dani) retained control, with Jordan winning HOH. However, when Jordan nominated the duo of Adam/Dominic for eviction, against the protests of Rachel/Brendon and Dani, this seemingly insurmountable alliance began showing some early cracks. Rachel and Brendon schemed to veto Jordan's nominations, forcing her to nominate Cassi/Shelley, but ultimately were able to keep their hands clean as Dominic won the POV and removed himself and his partner from the chopping-block. Additionally, Rachel continued to remind everyone why she went home so early last season, throwing a hissy fit during the POV competition, and Jeff began seriously considering the idea of putting Rachel and Brendon up as replacement nominees. Ultimately, however, Rachel got her way and Cassi was evicted. Elsewhere in the veteran's alliance, Dani made good use of her position as a Golden Key holder, using her relationship with Dominic to further her social and strategic game. But how long can she keep this up? The remaining houseguests, Kalia/Lawon, and Golden-Key holder Porsche laid low this week, which could be brilliant strategy or could make them easy targets for future eliminations. We also examine the brilliantly designed competitions this week ;) and production's major mistake (and we're not talking about Rachel's ill-timed bathroom break!). | 7/24/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSYTYCD 8: Top 10 Week Podcast | 0:00 - Judges retain control over eliminations 2:00 - Neil Patrick Harris was an awesome judge 3:23 - The all-stars and new couples! 4:30 - The Tyce DiOrio kiss of death 7:30 - Bottom 4: Mitchell/Melody 10:40 - Bottom 4: Ricky/Allison 12:22 - We think Tadd should have actually been in the bottom 4 14:27 - Bottom 2 girls, general discussion 15:30 - Bottom 4: Jordan/Brandon 16:36 - Bottom 4: Clarice/Robert 18:00 - Performance: Marko/Chelsie 19:58 - Performance: Tadd/Comfort 20:41 - Performance: Caitlynn/Pasha 22:22 - Performance: Sasha/Twitch 23:47 - Performance: Jess/Kathryn 25:18 - Performance: Melanie/Pasha 27:36 - Next week's all-stars: Ivan, Jaime, Pasha, Anya, Lauren G., Neil, Ade, Lauren F. 30:10 - Wrap-up Summary It was an exciting night of performances for So You Think You Can Dance. The introduction of the all-stars gave a boost of energy to the remaining contestants and treated us to a bunch of interesting routines that show us just how strong the Top 10 is for this season. We really enjoyed the performances from Caitlynn, Sasha and Melanie as well as Marko and Jess. It goes to show how difficult it'll be to whittle the remaining field down to a Top 4. At the moment, we believe it's Melanie's season to lose as she's been absolutely phenomenal week in and out. In the podcast we discuss what we enjoyed during the performances, as well as special touches we noticed. For eliminations, we were a little caught off guard by the judges retention of control over the eliminations after reaching the Top 10. We didn't disagree with the eliminations of Mitchell and Clarice, we were more just confused about the rationale. We also discuss the effect of Tyce routines on this season of So You Think You Can Dance and how they've replaced the Quickstep as the new "kiss of death." Every single person that has received a Tyce routine has ended up in the bottom three and half of them have gone home (at least one person per elimination week). We discuss what may be happening and wonder if America no longer likes his brand of choreography. We wrap things up by reviewing next week's grouping of all-stars. Overall, we like how this season is wrapping up and we eagerly await the next collection of pieces! | 7/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBig Brother 13 - Week 1: Nominations, Veto and Elimination | 0:00 - Introduction: This podcast is brought to you by spacecows ;-) 0:31 - Keith is one of the worst players Big Brother players ever 5:00 - The Regulator alliance are just Brigade wanna-bes 7:08 - Another week, another set of crazy competitions and Diary Room confessionals (space cows) 10:44 - How Evel Dick's departure affects the game and the veteran alliance. 12:55 - Daniele's position in the game and Julie Chen's awkward question 18:35 - Brendon's a tool (Bookie and demasculination) 21:02 - Which returning couple is better to eliminate first: Brendon/Rachel or Jeff/Jordan 22:36 - Kalia and Shelly voting with the veteran alliance 24:41 - Spoiler discussion (avoid this part if you don't want to hear spoilers!) 28:16 - Wrap-up: Dumbledore-gate and final thoughts Summary It wouldn’t be a new season of Big Brother if we weren’t treated to a player that tries way too hard, fails miserably and is evicted first. Keith demonstrated himself to be one of the worst new players in recent memory, playing the game in a way that made absolutely no sense. Equally ridiculous was The Regulator alliance, which simply looked to be an attempt to recapture the luck of The Brigade from Big Brother 12. Differences in the house dynamic saw to it that The Regulators went nowhere and will only be remembered for what could be the worst alliance name ever. The competitions continued to not disappoint by providing plenty of inappropriate footage and bizarre Diary Room confessions. Evel Dick’s departure changed the game in many ways, both in the power structure of the veteran alliance and securing Daniele a very good spot to go far in the Big Brother game. The elimination episode featured a surprising decision by Shelly and Kalia to evict Keith and we discuss what this may mean for future alliances. The rest of the podcast is dedicated to discussion of some post-elimination spoilers, which you can safely skip if you wish to avoid them. | 7/17/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSYTYCD 8: Top 12 Week Podcast | 0:00 - Introduction: Thoughts for Alex Wong, Emmy nominations and guest judges 4:11 - Bottom 3 couples overview 4:57 - Bottom 3: Caitlynn and Mitchell 7:36 - Bottom 3: Ryan and Ricky 11:45 - Bottom 3: Sasha and Alexander 14:27 - The elimination of Ryan and Alexander 16:38 - Performance night: Jordan and Tadd - Great Travis piece and strong opinions about using "Out Tonight" from RENT 21:32 - Performance night: Melanie and Marko - Wonderful conclusion to a great partnership 24:12 - Performance night: Jess and Clarice - Jess nailed that hip-hop piece! 27:35 - Next week's all-stars! Melody, Allison, Comfort, Chelsie, Kathryn, Pasha, Twitch, Brandon, Robert 31:37 - Wrap-up: Leave us a comment, visit our blog to see what else we're doing and we're really excited to see Harry Potter this weekend! Summary Wrapping up the first half of the competition brought a satisfying conclusion to some partnerships while others seemed to run out of steam and were in need of a change. The bottom 3 was relatively uncontroversial as was the elimination of Ryan and Alexander. As we discuss in the podcast, we believe the judges inadvertently set Ryan up for failure by refusing to give her constructive criticism early on in the show, which generated a fan backlash that landed the Ryan/Ricky partnership in the bottom on three separate occasions. Alexander, while never being in the bottom before, hasn’t been consistent in his ability to emote compared to the other remaining guys and this is likely why the judges sent him home. We enjoyed the Jordan/Tadd Travis Wall piece, both of Melanie/Marko’s routines and Jess’ performance in the Christopher Scott hip-hop was the surprise of the night. We’re looking forward to mixing up the couples and the were very happy with the returning all-stars! This should rejuvenate the competition and break some of the remaining dancers out of their comfort zones and further their growth. | 7/15/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanBig Brother 13 - Premiere | 0:00 - Introduction: Our background with Big Brother, release schedule 2:15 - SPOILER ALERT! 2:53 - This season's twist: Dynamic Duos - Returning houseguests and pairs 4:28 - Meghan can't do math ;-) 5:35 - The second twist: Golden Key 8:50 - The new houseguests: Adam/Dominic 12:10 - The new houseguests: Cassi/Shelly 13:00 - The HOH competition 14:42 - The new houseguests: Lawon/Kalia 15:43 - The new houseguests: Porsche/Keith 17:29 - Jordan is always sleeping, is it a strategy? :-) 18:17 - Returning houseguests: general thoughts 18:44 - What happened to Evel Dick? 23:16 - How does Dick's exit change the game dynamics? 24:31 - Wrap-up Summary This season's big twist is dynamic duos! The houseguests are forced to pair together and several former Big Brother players return to try the game a second time. We discuss how this twist can affect the gameplay during the season and how it stacks up against some of the other, not so good, twists. We also give some of our initial impressions of the new houseguests, offering our opinion of who will make it far and who will go home early. We discuss the HOH competition and the poor performance of the new players, which doesn't seem to bode well for their futures in the game. Finally, we talk about the mysterious exit of Evel Dick Donato and what this means for the rest of the season. | 7/10/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSYTYCD 8: Top 14 Week Podcast | 0:00 - Introduction, thanks to puresytycd.com, new choreographers, guest judges 3:50 - Bottom 3: Ashley and Chris 6:32 - Bottom 3: Jordan and Tadd 8:45 - Bottom 3: Ryan and Ricky 13:20 - Justin Giles: Boys group routine and Clarice/Jess 16:00 - Shaun Evaristo: Sasha/Alexander 17:57 - Ray Leeper: Melanie/Marko and girls group routine 20:13 - Caitlynn and Mitchell 21:20 - Trimming from Top 12 to Top 10 next week 22:38 - Wrap-up Summary In this podcast, we explore how this was an interesting week of So You Think You Can Dance Season 8. For the first time in a month, there wasn't much in the way of controversy regarding the eliminated couple. It seemed pretty clear cut who should go home. We also were treated to a collection of new (to the show) choreographers which, despite the mixed fan reaction on twitter, we feel made for an interesting set of pieces compared to the previous week which we both felt was blander. We also really enjoyed having Travis Wall as a guest judge, although we could do without the celebrity judges. We discuss in detail how, for the first time this week, we really enjoyed Ryan's work and commend her for it. It took us by surprise that she and Ricky were in the bottom instead of Sasha and Alexander, which we attribute to a fan backlash against her. Hopefully this week was not a one-off thing and next week she continues to prove herself. We also discuss what the choreographers, both new and old, brought to the performance episode. We're particularly excited by Justin Giles' work and absolutely loved the male group routine and Jess and Clarice's piece. Justin Giles really has a way with letting music inspire his choice of movement for the dancers! Caitlynn and Mitchell had a wonderful piece and the girl group routine by Ray Leeper was very cool. | 7/8/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSYTYCD 8: Top 16 Week Podcast | We're happy to have a week of So You Think You Can Dance where the controversy was toned down a notch from the previous two weeks. The fanbase was upset at Miranda leaving early, but after sleeping on it we're getting over it and are ready to move on. This week didn't see any trainwrecks in the performances, but the quality gap between the couples is becoming more apparent to us as viewers. We discuss this week's bottom three as well as the other performers, along with giving some speculation as to who will make the top ten and possibly surprise us later in the season. Time Stamps 0:00 - Introduction and the guest judges 1:30 - Discussion of the bottom 3 couples: Ashley/Chris, Miranda/Robert and Caitlynn/Mitchell 5:30 - Tyce routines are apparently the kiss of death 6:11 - Nigel's senior moment 6:45 - Final thoughts on eliminations 7:45 - Ryan & Ricky 11:40 - Quality difference emerging between the couples 12:10 - Melanie & Marko 13:15 - Dee Caspary's "Poison & Wine" routine: The Melanie/Jess partnership 14:16 - Is Jess the dark horse this season? 16:47 - Jordan & Tadd 17:13 - Sasha & Alexander 18:02 - The amazing ballroom routine by Eric Luna & Georgia Ambarian 19:24 - Wrap-up | 7/1/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSYTYCD 8: Top 20 Week, Take Two Performance Podcast | We discuss all the routines from the 6/22/2011 performance show of So You Think You Can Dance. In general we really enjoyed the majority of the routines performed and in particular were quite impressed with Caitlynn and Mitchell along with Robert and Miranda, particularly because we were thinking Miranda and either Robert or Mitchell should have gone home last week. It was amazing for us to see them step up their game and demonstrate why they should be in the competition! We broke down our discussion into dance genres, which allowed us to compare and contrast what the contestants and choreographers did. We offer our thoughts on what we really liked and the things we felt didn't work. We're looking forward to the next set of performances and what they'll bring! Time Stamps 0:24 - Our general reactions to the performance show 2:05 - Ryan & Ricky 4:29 - Melanie & Marko 6:38 - Robert & Miranda 9:02 - Sasha & Alexander 12:03 - Missy & Wadi 14:37 - Jordan & Tadd 16:44 - Nick & Iveta 19:45 - Chris & Ashley 22:00 - Clarice & Jess 24:55 - Caitlynn & Mitchell Comment on the podcast here: http://reflpopent.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/so-you-think-you-can-dance-season-8-top-20-week-take-two-performance-podcast/ 28:28 - Wrap-up | 6/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSYTYCD 8: Top 20 Week, Take Two Eliminations | We talk about the double elimination from Thursday night and the impact it has on the competition with a focus on the judges' rationale for who they kept. We look at the general reactions from fans and SYTYCD alumni from Twitter and various blogs and evaluate the bottom 3 couples in detail. We believe the judges failed on two counts: 1) Not eliminating two people the first week. 2) Their elimination choices don't match up with what they said they were looking for in the E! Online article. Since this show was completely dedicated to the elimination results, we did not get around to discussing any of the actual routines from Wednesday. Our next podcast, which should be up in a couple days, will be a more positive one where we discuss the actual performances. In particular, we were quite happy that Mitchell performed so well and justified his staying in the competition! Time Stamps 0:30 - Recap of events leading up to the double elimination 1:52 - General fan reaction (via Twitter) to double elimination 2:57 - Reactions from SYTYCD alumni - Travis Wall and Jakob Karr 3:54 - Quotes from Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy regarding their decision 5:50 - Evaluation of this week's bottom 3 guys 10:24 - Evaluation of this week's bottom 3 girls 15:58 - Our frustrations with Ryan Ramirez's performances on SYTYCD 22:18 - Do Nigel's justifications in the E! Online article hold? How did all this affect the dynamics of the competition? Our conclusions and wrap-up. Comment on the podcast here: http://reflpopent.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/so-you-think-you-can-dance-season-8-top-20-week-take-two-elim-podcast/ | 6/24/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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CleanSYTYCD 8: Top 20 Week | In this episode we discuss the shocking non-elimination decision on So You Think You Can Dance made by the judges on the results show and talk about the memorable routines on performance night. Time Stamps 0:40 - Non-elimination choice and review of bottom three couples 10:36 - Stand-out routines from the performance show 16:41 - The judges and overpraising every routine 25:49 - Thoughts about top 20 week, take two Comment on the podcast at: http://reflpopent.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/podcast-episode-2-sytycd-top-20-week/ | 6/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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SYTYCD 8: Vegas Week and "Meet the Top 20" | The pilot episode of our podcast gives an overview of our podcast and covers the Vegas week and "Meet the Top 20" episodes of So You Think You Can Dance season 8. Comment on the podcast at http://reflpopent.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/podcast-pilot-episode/ | 6/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 42 Episodes |
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