The Ringer Guide to Holiday Bingeing | 'The Watch' x 'Prestige TV' Crossover

Speaker 1 Hello, how's it going? I'm Chris Ryan. This is Joanna Robinson.
This is Rob Mahoney. Collectively, we co-host the Watch and the Prestige TV podcast.

Speaker 1 You're going to start being able to see all that stuff here on this YouTube channel. So, thanks so much for watching.

Speaker 1 And we thought we'd get kicked off on this channel with a little bit of a holiday television stocking stuffer.

Speaker 1 Non-denominational.

Speaker 2 Non-denominational.

Speaker 1 Joe, Rob, and I are going to be recommending shows to watch over this holiday break coming up so that if you have two days or 10 days or two weeks with your family or your loved ones or all on your own, you may be looking for something to watch.

Speaker 1 You may be looking for things to watch in different situations with different groups of people with different tastes. We're going to try and help you out.

Speaker 1 Leave comments if you have questions about, oh, what about a situation like stepfather, angry gamer, stepbrother? It's 10 p.m.

Speaker 3 We want to laugh, but we want to fight.

Speaker 1 If that is something you need help with, we can try and jump in there.

Speaker 4 Is it fallout?

Speaker 3 It might be. It might be.

Speaker 1 All right, so we're going to break this down into categories. We have a few.
We're going to start with for the whole family. Yeah.
I throw that in air quotes because family can mean anything, Joe.

Speaker 1 Right.

Speaker 4 You could be talking about any number of age ranges, but I decided to go like kid-friendly, but maybe the adults would enjoy it too.

Speaker 3 Yes.

Speaker 1 Interestingly enough, I have a different definition of this.

Speaker 3 Okay, great.

Speaker 4 So, and not to go to House of R-Pill right away, no it's but i am rolling with skeleton crew which is the new star wars show on disney plus most of these that i picked are not currently airing but this is one that i've been surprised to hear how many people really are digging this.

Speaker 4 I thought like only kids would like it, but adults really seem to be enjoying it as well.

Speaker 4 It's, if you don't know what Skeleton Crew is, it is Jude Law as a space pirate and then a bunch of kids who are also Star Wars fans. They're like, they love a Jedi and and they're lost in space.

Speaker 4 So it's like Flight of the Navigator, E.T., they're going hardcore, Amblin, entertainment vibes, kids on bikes, but they're space bikes. And Judah is a pirate.

Speaker 4 And I think that's really all you need to know to enjoy yourself.

Speaker 2 The skeleton crew.

Speaker 1 Do you think it's for the young at heart? Will the adults like it as well, you think?

Speaker 4 That's what I'm saying. I'm hearing from a lot of adults that they really, really like it.
I thought it was just going to be, I was like, it's fine that some Star Wars is just for kids.

Speaker 4 I think that is totally okay. And that's what I thought this was going to be.
But a lot of adults and not just my co-host Mallie Rubin are enjoying this. So I was like, all right, skeleton crew.

Speaker 2 On a zero to 10 scale of pluck. Yeah.
You know, 10 being like Goonies,

Speaker 2 young Leia on Obi-Wan.

Speaker 3 Like, where are we on the rage?

Speaker 4 This is a great question. Van Lathan, enemy to pluck, loves this show.
Okay. Van loves this show.

Speaker 4 We're not in Leia territory.

Speaker 3 That's good. But really a relief to hear.

Speaker 4 The important element is Jude Law.

Speaker 3 He's the whole family.

Speaker 4 Judel is just like counterbalancing the pluck in a really important way.

Speaker 4 So that's my pick.

Speaker 1 Rob, what about you for the whole family?

Speaker 2 So you two are TV scholars. I went with another contemporary pick, something that came to me this year.
And I also took a different definition of family.

Speaker 2 For me, the concern is not how do I appeal to the kids? It's how do I appeal to the next generations above me?

Speaker 3 Okay.

Speaker 2 What is the mom and dad and me show all at once? I went a little off the beaten path with a cooking show. Are you familiar with Culinary Class Wars?

Speaker 3 Is that a new show from Karl Marx?

Speaker 3 It's not from Karl Marx.

Speaker 4 Rob, is this a real thing that exists?

Speaker 2 This is a real show that exists coming out of Korea, which, look, it's a complicated situation in Korea politically right now, but they have cracked the reality and competition TV code.

Speaker 1 We should mention that we are shooting this on December 3rd.

Speaker 2 So just to put it out there,

Speaker 2 take your classic cooking competition show format. Here in America, we're like, let's put 15 people in a kitchen, in a house.
They're living together, competing. Great.

Speaker 2 The geniuses in Korea are like, what if we made it 100 competitors?

Speaker 2 And more importantly, what if 50 of those competitors are celebrity chefs, Michelin chefs, and the other 50 are just up-and-comers who are trying to prove themselves.

Speaker 1 Okay, so this is like squid game, but with cooking.

Speaker 3 Less death. Yeah.
But otherwise, yes. I really thought you were going to say, what if half of those people were hovering over a pit of spikes? At any moment, the floor could give away.

Speaker 3 But it feels that way.

Speaker 2 And I think ultimately, like in the first episode, half the pool is eliminated. Like, these are the stakes stakes that we're dealing with.
And ultimately, this is my pitch for this show.

Speaker 2 There is a cooking challenge.

Speaker 4 Half the pool is eliminated over a pit of spikes or just sort of like sent home?

Speaker 2 I'm not here to spoil that for you. Okay, great.
There is a cooking challenge in the later episodes of the show that is so good, and I have never seen anything like it.

Speaker 2 I don't even want to tell you what it is because the sensation of seeing it for the first time is that exhilarating.

Speaker 4 Okay. Can I ask you for a potential political spoiler?

Speaker 2 I'm scared to say yes, but yes.

Speaker 3 How are the home chefs doing?

Speaker 4 How are the home chefs doing?

Speaker 3 They're crushing it. Okay, great.

Speaker 3 And so well represented in this.

Speaker 1 Are the Michelin star chefs sore losers? Are they like, I didn't pay this much money to go to go to some sort of French culinary school and come back and get ass care?

Speaker 2 Some, exactly so.

Speaker 3 Oh, my God.

Speaker 2 Some with dignity and grace. Some are sore losers.

Speaker 4 Sorbonne hates this show.

Speaker 2 They absolutely do. And I think, look, it is the kind of show that if you throw it on, there will be skeptics in the room.

Speaker 2 What is culinary class wars? What am I getting? What in Karl Marx am I getting into? By the end of the first episode, you will be in. You will be hooked.
It is an instant, instant reaction.

Speaker 4 Where can I find this?

Speaker 2 On Netflix. On Netflix.
On Netflix.

Speaker 1 Okay. For my for the whole family pick, I feel like often what happens is that we over-index for the young.

Speaker 3 You know, I think this is a fair.

Speaker 1 I feel like it's often like, well, I don't want anything to be too edgy. You don't want anything to be too violent.
That's fine if they're like younger than eight. Right.

Speaker 3 But when they get to nine, ten type of grow up, they kind of want to watch diehard put some Zins Zins in their hands and send them on their way.

Speaker 1 And the closest thing I can get to Die Hard is hijack.

Speaker 1 So For the Whole Family is a show that I literally have not met anyone who doesn't like hijack. Yeah.
Yeah. It is honestly the unifying television show of last year.
Idris Elvis Apple show about

Speaker 1 a plan during hijack that he is on. Shocker.
He is somehow connected to the situation on the ground. There's a kid.

Speaker 2 There are families in hijack.

Speaker 1 You know what I mean? Now, is it violent?

Speaker 4 There's multiple kids on that floor. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 It's a little violent. Yeah.

Speaker 4 But no more violent than your standard diehard. Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 I just think that this was one of those things where it's like in this fractured, very niche, very sub-sub, sub-genre world, it's hard to find shows that grandpa, grandma, wife, kids, husband, everybody, the dog are going to be into.

Speaker 4 Dogs love it, Risalba.

Speaker 1 And I just feel like this has been one of the shows. It's also a pretty easy watch.
It's only like six episodes.

Speaker 1 and it has that kind of 24 jack bauer thrilling cliffhangery play the next episode thing yeah so you're done with the meal whatever it is it's seven o'clock eight o'clock you're like oh you know what i don't want to go to bed the christmas lights are up let's fire up hijack there's a lot of other stuff out there but i thought that this would be a good one for the family

Speaker 2 that is a great one it's very like 90s action yeah film right also to speak for the eight-year-olds the time in your life where you get to push the boundary of what you're allowed to watch is in this holiday situation.

Speaker 2 Like, you don't want to be excluded. I just want to be part of the family.

Speaker 2 You're just trying to get yourself in the room to watch something that's a little age inappropriate for you, even if it's about airplanes.

Speaker 1 I was thinking about recommending Black Doves just because it's got so much Christmas cheer.

Speaker 3 Did you find another category to put Black Doves into?

Speaker 1 And Black Doves had too many headshots.

Speaker 3 So there's just a lot of stuff. There's a lot of blood spatter in the first episode of Black Doves.

Speaker 1 There's too much blood in Netflix. But it is Chris Ryan's new favorite show.

Speaker 4 Is it on your top 10 list of 2028?

Speaker 3 It might be.

Speaker 1 I haven't decided yet. All right.
So, Joe, next category. Yeah.
Your personal escape. I'm very interested in your definition of this and also what your answer is.

Speaker 4 Well, this is Rob's category. So, Rob, how are you defining personal escape?

Speaker 2 So, my personal definition is, you know, the holidays are a stressful time for a lot of people.

Speaker 2 You're either hosting a bunch of people, maybe you're not hosting a lot of people, and that's a source of anguish for you, or you're visiting, and it's just like kind of a lot all day.

Speaker 2 It's the end of the day. You finally have some time for yourself, whatever that means to you.
And whatever you need in that moment, what's a show you can turn to? Okay.

Speaker 4 Love this for me. I tried so hard not to have too many UK shows on here because Chris and I have a problem in that regard.

Speaker 4 But I couldn't resist myself here.

Speaker 4 Black Books, one of my favorite TV shows of all time, which is about

Speaker 4 a very crusty bookshop owner and the people who work with him. Dylan Morin, a great Irish comedian in the lead role there.

Speaker 4 That's on Prime, Black Books, and it's like three seasons, short UK seasons, and it's just like

Speaker 4 just pure, like as someone who used to work in bookstores, as someone who always wanted to be this crusty about unreasonable customers, as someone who loves, you know, Irish British humor.

Speaker 4 I love this show. And it came out around the time of The Office and the IT crowd and just never broke as big in the U.S.
as some of those did.

Speaker 4 So in case people missed Black Books, again, it's on Amazon Prime. So I really recommend that.

Speaker 1 Was Dylan Ward also working in the bookshop in Notting Hill?

Speaker 2 Is he, where is he?

Speaker 3 Has he ever like one of the friend group? The friend group. That's a great friend group.

Speaker 1 I love this idea. I cannot possibly imagine you being an edgy

Speaker 1 retail person.

Speaker 3 Like, I feel like. But you aspire to be a edge.

Speaker 1 Like, it's hard to imagine going in and being like, man, that lady by the counter just told me to go screw myself.

Speaker 4 No, I wouldn't, but like, that's why, but that was like, that's inside of me. Okay.
But it would never, it would never come out. Okay.

Speaker 4 There is a, there is a moment in Black Books while on the clock that he, he demands his, his sort of clerk to bring him his ice lolly.

Speaker 4 And it's just a bottle of wine that he, that is frozen, that he cracks the glass off of and just like licks the frozen

Speaker 4 bottle of wine. And that's what we're dealing with here in Black Books.
And it's just,

Speaker 3 yeah.

Speaker 2 But like, it sounds, you know, when you said bookshop as a, as a comfort recommendation, I'm thinking like straight cozy core. Like this is a perfect winter recommendation.

Speaker 4 No, this is like everything you've ever wanted wanted to say to someone who was annoyed to you.

Speaker 2 It was a high fidelity, but bookstore.

Speaker 1 What if your bookstore didn't need to make money?

Speaker 3 Yeah,

Speaker 3 basically.

Speaker 3 We're finding that out in real time, unfortunately. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 But yeah, the whole like, get your patchouli stink out of my store moment from High Fidelity, that's this entire sort of series.

Speaker 1 For my personal escape, at the end of the night, maybe.

Speaker 1 five milligrams of melatonin later. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Maybe a glass of red wine, whatever. It's an activity, not a a show.
It's spelunking around tubie.

Speaker 4 Are you pure tubi or you ever freevie?

Speaker 1 No, it's tubi.

Speaker 3 It's tuby.

Speaker 1 It's specifically just like lying down,

Speaker 1 laptop open

Speaker 1 and just sort of seeing what spaghetti westerns they have and seeing what 80s TV I've never heard of. And then all of a sudden you're pretty tired and you haven't watched anything.

Speaker 1 But it's kind of like channel flipping

Speaker 2 on your laptop.

Speaker 2 How much are you bouncing around versus committing to one western?

Speaker 1 An obscene amount. Like watching five minutes of something, being like, oh,

Speaker 3 yeah, I'm going to try something else.

Speaker 1 Yeah. And so my to watch list on Tubi is so much longer than my watched list on Tubi, but it's a really fun activity.
And it's kind of like, it almost gives you this sensation of like cable.

Speaker 1 in the 90s with like public access and like weird channels that you're like, why do I have this channel? But it hasn't been taken over by big pharma.

Speaker 1 Like you're really in like having this weird nostalgic feeling of surfing around without having to choose everything. You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 Because like part of the sensation that we have now is everything's curated. You have your list of things that you have to watch.

Speaker 5 But this is like, huh?

Speaker 3 Is this surfer also a sheriff? I mean, like,

Speaker 3 Lorenzo Lamas, what are you up to now?

Speaker 4 No, that's amazing. No, but I think that, yeah, this is, this is what we talk about when we lament like bookstores going away or record trusting.

Speaker 3 I kind of of think you don't want.

Speaker 4 Or record trust going away or video stores going away is like the joy of the discovery, not the like sort of planned curated playlist that's right in front of you.

Speaker 4 And I know we're like curating playlists for people right now. That's exactly what we're doing, but I love that you are doing it next time.
You do this on YouTube.

Speaker 1 I'm not necessarily recommending that people get inebriated to do this, but I think it does help a little bit.

Speaker 4 It wouldn't hurt. You do this on YouTube, though, sometimes too, right?

Speaker 3 Absolutely. That would be a good idea.
You're a YouTuber. Spelunker.
Those are dangerous rabbit holes.

Speaker 2 But I do think there's a weird psychological relief of this isn't on my watch list, as you're saying. I had no plans to watch this.
I didn't even know what it was until 16 months ago.

Speaker 4 Yeah, nobody ever needs my opinion on this. This is why I've started sometimes watching Dr.
Quinn Medicine Woman.

Speaker 3 Just give me a while. No one needs my opinion on Dr.
Quinn Medicine Women. I disagree.

Speaker 2 You put it out in the world. Dr.
Quinn Rewatch podcast coming soon. We're looking for it.

Speaker 1 Rob, what's your personal escape? I went with...

Speaker 2 One that kind of caught me by surprise this year, which was I really loved X-Men 97 so much more than I thought I would.

Speaker 2 And for me, when I go home home for the holidays, or really anytime I'm in my parents' house, I regress into a younger version of myself, into a little gremlin.

Speaker 2 And what better way to channel your inner gremlin than going up to your room, slamming the door and watching cartoons?

Speaker 2 And it's also like the perfect balance of substantial enough that you want to know what happens, but not so heavy that it's ever going to bother you. What does.

Speaker 4 Okay, earlier you were speaking on behalf of eight-year-olds. Were you a gremlin child? Like, were you a scamp?

Speaker 3 We all? Are you like?

Speaker 3 Is there a non-gremlin child? Yeah, I have an older brother. Okay.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 Did he like terrorize you, and that's why you were like, I want to go upstairs and watch

Speaker 3 it?

Speaker 2 I would say mild to medium in the range of sibling torment.

Speaker 2 But I think there is just something about being in any kind of family space, especially if you have siblings, where you fall back into those dynamics.

Speaker 3 Absolutely.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And so this one for me, like, again, a show that you probably grew up watching if you are of a certain age that was reintroduced to you this year.

Speaker 2 And maybe you could show your kids if that's of interest to you, or maybe it's just for you. Yeah.

Speaker 3 Rob,

Speaker 4 can i persuade you now or perhaps in the future to give us a rendition of the x-men animated theme song is that something you can do on command only for money

Speaker 2 i mean anyone i think again of a certain age just straight streaming like twitch to me like i'd love to see the coins going yeah just the whole just the whole thing i just want the validation of the coins at the bank okay in order to do the full thing well if you comment enough coins in the comment section of this youtube channel then we get the full i might write lyrics to it if you really want to like we can we can do that So we've kind of started with something that you could do collectively.

Speaker 1 We went to something that's your own personal escape. Now I think we're going to move into a place where your brain is not really functioning at all, which is your background watch.
Right.

Speaker 3 And this is different from you inebriated and kicking around on TV.

Speaker 3 That's active present tension.

Speaker 1 No, that requires a lot of like, you know, participation.

Speaker 3 It's true. It's true.

Speaker 1 Turn this on. Yeah.
Leave the room, come back in, leave the room, come back in. This is, it's on in the background while you're cooking.
It's whatever it is.

Speaker 4 So, joe what's your background watch and i do want to i do want to acknowledge that rob called this category the yule log which i think is like a great um it is hard for me to do that with anything with a plot because i get sucked in so when i do this i go to youtube and i pick once again uh my love and affection for the uk uh i pick a british panel show so would you lie to me is one that i watch a lot never mind the coffee never mind the buzzcocks or uh uh taskmaster which is like a little bit more involved than your classic panel show but that one is just like.

Speaker 2 You can't be walking in and out for Taskmaster.

Speaker 4 Well, I re-watch old seasons of Taskmaster, ones I've seen before. So you can just like come back and you're like, they're doing what with a potato? I know.

Speaker 3 These crazy kids in their watermelon.

Speaker 4 Taskmaster, I think, is one of the best things that has ever existed. And I think if,

Speaker 4 yeah, you probably should not watch it the first time in the background, but I just sort of like, or I'll put on a playlist, speaking of your sort of like spelunking around, a playlist of like the best Taskmaster tasks or something like that.

Speaker 4 Or like, Would You Lie to Me clip shows or Big Fat Quiz of the Year, which comes out at the end of the year, is one of my very favorite sort of things to re-watch. I'll rewatch old seasons of.

Speaker 4 So, yeah.

Speaker 3 I think it's a great pig.

Speaker 2 I mean, this is tapping into that same like YouTube algorithm surfing.

Speaker 2 Like, yes, I am constantly fed these panel shows because they are so clickable and watchable and just so perfect to throw on for a couple of people.

Speaker 1 This wasn't on my list, but I would say anytime you find yourself in a Graham Norton

Speaker 1 rabbit hole where you're just like watching Ryan Gosling appearances, you're just like, this guy's really funny.

Speaker 4 You're like, what did Olivia Coleman say now?

Speaker 1 My background watch, I have two. I cheated.
So for the YouTube, to your point, Rob, I have a channel I like to go to called Go 4x4,

Speaker 1 which is essentially hours and hours of a guy camping in a really kitted out Jeep in the Australian Outback. Yep.

Speaker 1 And it's ASMR. It's like him cooking, starting a fire, hanging out with his dog, chopping wood, doing whatever.
And he's got like three 4K cameras that are set up around his campground.

Speaker 1 And it's just like two hours of you'll walk in and be like, oh my God, it's raining. And then you walk out and it's like, oh, now it's stopped raining.
He's walking with his dog.

Speaker 1 And it's just like, it's, it's honestly mesmerizing. Yeah.
So that's obviously the YouTube one for a narrative show.

Speaker 3 I have questions. Okay, here we go.
Let's go.

Speaker 2 First, do you have any desire to do this style of camping yourself? None.

Speaker 1 Can't even drive stick.

Speaker 2 Do you consider yourself handy in any way? Like, could you start a fire if I gave you the correct implementation?

Speaker 1 Like, if you gave me lighter fluid and a light

Speaker 4 flint and steel, do you feel like you've learned some things from watching this guy do this?

Speaker 1 No, but it's kind of like I like watching him have a dog.

Speaker 3 I don't want a dog kind of thing. Like, it's like

Speaker 1 everything about it is very, very calming and pleasing and centering, but I don't want to be doing anything.

Speaker 4 It is calming and pleasing and centering. It is also like

Speaker 4 macho.

Speaker 3 Yeah, but

Speaker 3 I like lots of things. These are lady cases.

Speaker 4 Not that this is a guy and his dog.

Speaker 3 No, but it's not like Taylor Sheridan.

Speaker 1 It's like a guy who's just camping. It's called the wild.

Speaker 3 It's not coded in any way.

Speaker 3 He's not also like watching Lion is small. I don't think so, but like I like, I don't know.

Speaker 4 Sometimes

Speaker 4 I watch highly feminized things sometimes as a sort of like, that's nice over there. I don't want to do that.
But like, that's interesting. Like that level of baking or sorry, rub.

Speaker 3 I know you're baking.

Speaker 2 People really like

Speaker 3 process-oriented stuff in general.

Speaker 1 But yeah, that's interesting. I didn't really think of it as like masculine.
But another one that I can't really decide how it's coded is I love having Copenhagen Cowboy on in the background.

Speaker 1 This is Nicholas Wending Ruffin's 2023, 22 Netflix series about

Speaker 1 a strange woman who is upsetting the Copenhagen Underground, the mafia in Copenhagen. And it is the neon fever dream.

Speaker 3 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Synth score, everything.

Speaker 1 I have no idea what really happens in this show. I don't want to spoil it for anybody.
It's still on Netflix.

Speaker 3 It's one of the last, like, let's just give Nicholas Wending Ruffin a blank check, man. That's cool.

Speaker 3 Shows.

Speaker 4 We had a single kind of guy who's going to bring eyeballs in.

Speaker 3 It brought my eyeballs

Speaker 1 and the three people I made watch it. But as vibes, because of the visuals and the music, completely awesome to have on in the background.

Speaker 2 Also, one that if we're talking about drifting in and out of the room, you would walk in and be like, what the fuck did I miss?

Speaker 1 You would say, what the fuck did I miss?

Speaker 3 Completely watching the whole thing. That whole time.

Speaker 2 That's why it's the perfect sensation.

Speaker 4 I think it's a great pick for exactly that reason yeah the drive score is like one of my all-time do you want to not feel anything and everything all at once

Speaker 2 yes put it on that's the exact zone I also pick something about feeling everything and nothing and you guys set me up perfectly a lot of buzzwords going around for one being located on the proper side of the pond uh via Joe you mentioned the baking when I think about a Yuleg show I'm thinking about what I want when I'm icing cookies, when I'm baking a cake.

Speaker 2 So let's just get super literal with it and go the great British baking show on Netflix, a classic for a reason.

Speaker 2 But if you drift it out over time, I have to say, we've really nailed down the host pairing now. Noel Fielding, always like one of the best parts of the show, Allison Hammond has joined him lately.

Speaker 2 And we've shaken up some pretty crucial things. Gone are Mexican week, the woeful Mexican week, and the most cursed pronunciation of guacamole

Speaker 3 ever heard in my entire life.

Speaker 2 We've replaced it with, you know, the warm spices of autumn week. We've got the kids of 70s week.

Speaker 2 It really works for me. And I think it's a perfect kind of background show because it doesn't, the process is nice if you want to sit down and watch it.

Speaker 2 But it's also a great results only show if you just want to kind of drift in and out, zoom ahead to the end, see what happens.

Speaker 1 You know what I don't understand is they have, and this is, you know, we've, we've really hit how important British culture is. I think it's okay.
They can hear some constructive criticisms.

Speaker 1 They come up with different words for all sorts of stuff. Why can't they just come up with something new for guacamole?

Speaker 3 Because they can't say it. Because they can't say it.

Speaker 1 So like, why not call it like cado spread, you know, or something? Like,

Speaker 1 can i ask an earnest question that was raised by this episode uh have avocados made it over there i honestly don't when i've had avocados over there i'm just like this is a this is a like honestly a crime against god and nature this ain't it they're like avonays

Speaker 3 um

Speaker 4 uh rob yes i have a question for you because i have sort of dropped off on um the Gregor British Baking Show or bake off as they call it across the pond.

Speaker 4 Where are we on the level of taking Paul seriously? Because I feel like

Speaker 4 we swung perilously too far into the coveted handshake. And I was like, no, the point of the show is to make fun of Paula Hollywood.
And I feel like Allison being there would be helpful for that.

Speaker 4 Completely.

Speaker 2 One, they've scaled back the handshakes.

Speaker 2 The power creep of the handshake was too strong. They proliferated out of conversion.

Speaker 4 It was like a, oh,

Speaker 4 that'll do pig from Paul Hollywood. It was the handshake.

Speaker 2 Look, who among us is not above a little pat on the head once in a while? Like, I get the appeal, but they've scaled it back.

Speaker 2 And most importantly, literally everyone on the show makes fun of Paul now.

Speaker 3 So we are in a perfect.

Speaker 4 I'm back.

Speaker 3 The universe is in balance. Okay, great.

Speaker 1 Okay, so we've gotten background watch. Let's talk a little bit about counter programming.

Speaker 2 This is your category.

Speaker 1 Well, sometimes you want something that's affirming of what you're experiencing or even just the climate you're in or whatever. And sometimes you want to just truly escape, right?

Speaker 1 So this would be something that is like

Speaker 1 set in a different place, different climate, different planet, what have you. It could, it's flexible, but what's your counter programming idea?

Speaker 4 It's pretty basic, bitch, but I feel like is important thing for all generations to watch, and it is the television show Lost.

Speaker 2 Have you done a podcast about this previously?

Speaker 4 It doesn't matter, but it's set on an, it's filmed in Hawaii. So if you want like tropical island vibes, you're watching lost.

Speaker 4 If you want there's something spooky, ookie, weird going on, you're watching lost. If you want, spoiler, time travel, you're watching lost.

Speaker 4 So I didn't, you know, I thought about doing Doctor Who for this or something like that, but like, basically, you're saying, I don't want to be here. Yes.
I want to be somewhere else. Yeah.

Speaker 4 Yeah. Get lost.
Okay.

Speaker 1 I love that. I am going to just jump right on the back of that with a show that would not exist were not for Lost.
This is called The Wilds. It was on Amazon a few years ago.

Speaker 1 Did two seasons, got canceled. The first season is excellent.

Speaker 1 It's basically.

Speaker 3 The second season also exists.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the second season is also exists, but probably deviated from what made the first season great. The first season is basically about a

Speaker 1 group of young women who are on a like wellness retreat or going to like kind of like a camp for like juvenile delinquents, sort of.

Speaker 1 And they are in a plane crash onto an island and they need to survive. So it's got a little bit of the Lord of the Flies lost thing.

Speaker 1 There are lots of twists like lost, but it's beautiful scenery, really fun performances, very twisty plot.

Speaker 1 And because it's not six seasons, really by the end of the first season, season, you're like, got it. You know what I mean? Like, I think I understand.

Speaker 1 And this is one of those lost to the streaming avalanche of show 400 shows a year.

Speaker 4 And it dropped right around the same time as yellow jackets. And I feel like yellow jackets just ate its lunch.

Speaker 1 So it's if you like yellow jackets or if you want yellow jackets, but less cannibalism.

Speaker 3 Yeah. Wild.
It's just a smidge. Let's cannibalism.
Just a smidge.

Speaker 1 And it's exotic and warm climate. And, you know, yeah.
So I thought that would be a fun one to highlight.

Speaker 2 I'm going to keep it a a little exotic, but twisted up, which is Netflix's Ripley

Speaker 2 makes me feel like I'm in a different universe a lot of times. Like you're transported to the MLF Coast.
Great. Love it.
We love this for everybody.

Speaker 2 What if we made it perverse and weird and made you uncomfortable all the time while you're there and shot it in the most gorgeous black and white you're going to see on television?

Speaker 2 Like, I just did not know what to expect from Andrew Scott as Tom Ripley. You've probably seen The Talent of Miss Ripley.
You've maybe read the books.

Speaker 2 I think this interpretation is so different and so alienating and makes me so uncomfortable to watch that it is transportive.

Speaker 2 Maybe not in the way that you always want, but you are going to feel anywhere but here.

Speaker 1 I definitely always want it. It's my favorite show of 2024 by far.

Speaker 4 I love that Chris is like, let's pick an escapist show. And we were all like, beautiful ocean vistas, but make it terrifying.

Speaker 4 Make it really uncomfortable.

Speaker 3 Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 1 Okay, so.

Speaker 1 One of the phenomenons of the last few years is that we have so many shows that even the idea of binging is kind of hard for people, I think, at least, especially if you're a very active TV watcher, because you're always starting new stuff.

Speaker 1 You're always trying to find like, what's the cool new show I should be watching? What's everybody talking about?

Speaker 1 And it kind of killed, I think, the behavior of maybe what was like six years ago, where it was like, oh, I found a new show that I like. I'm going to binge it over the weekend or whatever.

Speaker 1 Now, part of the problem is a lot of shows don't finish, or a lot of shows are too many seasons. So it's hard to get them like it's hard to throw your arms around them.

Speaker 1 So we were thinking, what's a doable binge for your holiday break?

Speaker 1 Something you can start and finish, something that will be either you get caught up to date on something that's still running or completely due. So, Joe, what's your doable binge for the holidays?

Speaker 4 I'm thrilled you asked me.

Speaker 4 And even though the show is not American, it is not British. So, let's all celebrate.
Nora was lost. This is on Paramount, home of all of your favorite shows, Chris.
Can I guess? Yeah.

Speaker 1 Colin from Accounts.

Speaker 3 Calling from Accounts.

Speaker 4 The second season of which has dropped on Paramount. And Colin from Accounts, if you've never seen, is is delightful Australian show.

Speaker 4 And it's about a pair of strangers who are brought together over a dog who sort of is gets in an accident and is injured, sort of in front of them. And though they don't know, it's okay, Rob.

Speaker 2 How injured are we talking?

Speaker 4 But the dog is living a really happy life. Are you sure?

Speaker 3 How sure? Yes. Yeah.

Speaker 4 The dog is

Speaker 4 hampered by what has happened to him, but is now

Speaker 4 has two loving co-owners essentially and they don't know each other they're likely for comic release yeah yeah and but like it is doted on so like is definitely living a better life uh than it was when it did not have anyone doting on it i'll accept this and uh it just brings these two like an older man and a younger woman together romantically but also just like in friendship and their friendship groups and all that sort of stuff and it's just like a really fun yeah uh funny show so yeah that's awesome

Speaker 4 two seasons

Speaker 4 eight episodes each i think so it's like you know and a half hour.

Speaker 3 Yeah, so that's a pretty easy.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's a weekend.

Speaker 1 This would be a long weekend watch, but you could do it. My pick for Doable Binge is Blue Lights, which is on Britbox, and you can get

Speaker 1 that on Amazon. It's very grim.
It's about young police officers in Belfast, a contemporary show. It has

Speaker 1 such good bones. Like, so it basically does humor, heart, tragedy, but also serialized storytelling, but also episodic storytelling.

Speaker 1 And it just, there's just literally, it's like pound for pound, a perfect show for what it's trying to do. Yeah.

Speaker 1 And to see these cops sort of like interacting with what is still a very divided city and also like a very different style of policing. But then there's also like, there's a military aspect to it.

Speaker 1 There's an underworld like crime aspect to it. There's these people's love lives and family lives and diets are all part of it.

Speaker 2 But it's just like six episodes each season, two seasons so you can probably do that if you really got into it in a week about yeah and it's really really great something i love about that show is that's like that's one of those classic uk shows where it's like all of the actors are actors you recognize from being bit parts and other things and this is the kind of show that's going to give them a main role to chew on and it's really good i have another one that it may strain the definition of what you can start and finish during the break unless your break is a little longer unless you're a gremlin child who's been said who's hiding out in your room who's to say but this is a great one for visiting with family because i guarantee you whoever you're going to stay with has apple tv plus as all parents do you should catch up on slow horses which we talked about in prestige this season and the sheer number of people who reached out to me as we were covering it in my life to say i was not on the show we just blurred through the first three seasons to catch up it is so easily digestible like I think the combination of the like the propulsion of the plot, six episode seasons, reasonable run times, Gary Oldman through and through, just keeping things light and breezy.

Speaker 2 It's a perfect binge show.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's the, it's the starter pack for people who have not watched UK TV before. Like, definitely.

Speaker 1 When someone I know just recently had a kid and was like, we're basically like awake all the time and we need something to watch.

Speaker 1 I was just like, Slow horses is now the first thing I recommend to anyone asking anything. Like it can kind of satisfy so many different people in so many different ways.

Speaker 1 And because they're so digestible and you can kind of be like, oh my God, I watched three seasons of a TV show in like two weeks it's so it feels it gives you a real sense of accomplishment part of it also is you're just sort of like i just want to hear the mcjagger theme song

Speaker 1 another give me another and as far as the entryway into british tv goes like uh the regional accents are accessible you know it's a gateway into what can be a very elaborate and bewildering uh and often subtitled world in my experience joe what's your new year's resolution so this could be taken a bunch of different ways it could be like what did you what do you want to improve what do you what did you miss that you want to make up for so So what's your New Year's resolution for this one?

Speaker 4 Well, in terms of process and approach, I have nothing to improve upon. I'm perfection.
No, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 3 I have a lot to work on. She has wisdom.
She has grace. I have a lot to work on.
She does not watch Landman.

Speaker 4 There's two things. One, a show that I'm going to make it my mission to try to get everyone to watch.

Speaker 4 And also a classic show that I've never seen that I would like to commit here and now to watching this year. Rob, what is that show? The Sopranos.

Speaker 3 Have you heard of it?

Speaker 4 I will be watching The Sopranos in 2020.

Speaker 1 Where you've like seen the Sopranos but not watched it one to the end.

Speaker 4 I'll tell you this. We're recording this on a day when the New York Times Connections category was related to Sopranos and I aced it quickly.
Like, I am aware of the Sopranos. I know,

Speaker 3 why don't you?

Speaker 4 Like, it was the yellow.

Speaker 3 Calm down.

Speaker 4 But, like, it was, it's, uh, I'm, I'm really aware of it. I have seen at least one episode.
Um,

Speaker 3 I've just never, I just never did it. Yeah.
And I need to do it.

Speaker 1 I never did it either. It came on at a time where I think I was like not staying home to watch TV.

Speaker 1 And then for whatever reason, I just never went one to the end. I don't think anybody is going to be happy about this, but maybe I'll join you in this resolution.

Speaker 2 I also have not seen The Soprano.

Speaker 5 Are you kidding me, Rob?

Speaker 2 Are we allowed to be on this channel?

Speaker 3 It's just the same thing to me right now.

Speaker 3 Block this part out.

Speaker 1 I mean, listen, that's the thing is that this is strange because like if you, when people around the office talk about it, I know what they're talking about.

Speaker 3 Exactly.

Speaker 1 And I don't mean like, I kind of know, I mean, like, I'm like, oh, yeah, I've seen that episode or that scene or whatever, but it's so strange.

Speaker 1 I just have never been like, I'm doing a top to bottom rewatch.

Speaker 2 It does feel like an overwhelming kind of undertaking to just start fresh.

Speaker 2 I am old and washed. To start a new show that I know is going to be.

Speaker 4 But you speak for eight-year-olds and you're old and washed from it.

Speaker 3 Everybody.

Speaker 2 I am the common man and common boy.

Speaker 2 But I think the undertaking of what you're getting into in terms of episode count and how how intense and emotional the arcs are going to be it feels like a lot to just be like okay it's wednesday i'm going to start the sopranos guys this is the beauty of live television i think we've all resolved to watch the sopranos in 2025.

Speaker 1 what else will possibly be going on in 2025 to dig our attention my other part of my resolution is it is my goal to get everyone i care about and people i've never met uh to watch interview with a vampire because i genuinely think it's one of the best shows currently on guess what and that's my new year's resolution is it yeah look at that because you watched the premiere right i did that's cool yeah uh there's my two new year's resolutions were to watch interview with a vampire really and to catch up on pachinko yes which i just didn't watch the second season and it was because it came out i think during like a particularly heavy time and i was like i'll just save it for later so those are my my two i'm along the same lines which is i spent literal years googling when does my brilliant friend season four drop

Speaker 2 and now it is here dude yeah what's wrong with us what is wrong i'm like i'm i i can't take it.

Speaker 2 And so my resolution is: I want to get emotionally ready to the point where I know this season is going to probably rip me apart.

Speaker 2 And I want to get ready to the point where I can actually sit down and watch it. Okay.

Speaker 2 If you haven't watched My Brilliant Friend, I literally can't recommend it highly enough as far as like big personal relationship epics go. Like it's one of the best friendships ever put on the page.

Speaker 2 As far as some people tell you, I wouldn't because I haven't read the books and will not read novels.

Speaker 2 But on screen. Wait, wait, wait.

Speaker 1 So you don't read Ferrante, but you're a big.

Speaker 2 I'm a Ferrante head by association.

Speaker 3 He doesn't read fiction, don't read fiction, really? No, yes, I'm here in the real world, Chris.

Speaker 3 I'm on the front line.

Speaker 4 We have processed this, we have gone through this.

Speaker 3 We all have jobs like we're like, I don't read novels or watch the Sopranos.

Speaker 2 Well, luckily, this isn't a novel recommendation show.

Speaker 3 I can recommend to you, my brilliant friend, the TV product on Max.

Speaker 4 Don't worry, we know our way around YouTube, so that was that's what really

Speaker 3 watches. Rails.

Speaker 1 Please listen to my TV podcast. Please listen to my TV podcast.
It's called The Watch. It's on Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.
You should also listen to Joe and Rob on the Prestige TV podcast.

Speaker 1 We have a very, very, very busy season coming up, but we're going to try our best to make YouTube only content for you guys, some videos.

Speaker 1 I'm going to try and do one about all the Taylor Sheridan shows and what they mean to me.

Speaker 4 Are you going to do it from Sean Fantasy's solo?

Speaker 3 No, it starts right at the end.

Speaker 3 No, we're going to do a lot of different content for the YouTube channel.

Speaker 4 We're going to live stream all of us watching every single episode of The Sopranos. That's right.

Speaker 1 That's right. So, like, subscribe, share with your friends, and listen to our pods on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Chris. This is Joe.
This is Rob. We'll talk to you soon.

Speaker 1 Happy holidays.

Speaker 3 Cheers.