Post-GAME OF THRONES diet

Obviously, I’m really excited about the return of GAME OF THRONES this Sunday. In anticipation, I’ve been trying to remember all the fun things to do after watching the show. I should have made this list last year, but when Season 3 ended, I re-read the books and forget.

Here are the things I enjoy after an episode of GAME OF THRONES:

Shortly after airing

• The AV CLUB “for newbies” review.
• The AV CLUB “for experts” review.
• Alan Sepinwall’s review on HITFIX.
• Sean T. Collins’s post-show interviews / reviews on ROLLING STONE.

The following day

• Andy Greenwald’s thoughtful review on GRANTLAND.
• WIRED’s double-bylined recaps.
• Thomas Fichtenmayer (aka stannisisthefury) over on ESQUIRE.

Later in the week

• GRANTLAND’s Hollywood Prospectus podcast
• Boiled Leather Audio Hour
• GAY OF THRONES on FUNNY OR DIE. (I hope they do this again as it was one of my favorite things last year.)
• SOUND ON SIGHT’s GOT coverage, including dedicated episodes of the Televerse podcast.

Adding to the mix this year

• Lawyers, Guns & Money podcast
• UNspoiled podcast

Podcasts I don’t listen to

WiC’s Game of Owns. I find their lack of critical-thinking (one co-host “didn’t see” any sign of SanSan or other romantic pairings / foils in the text) and nerd rages (“But in the book, his hair is LONG!”) unpleasant. Other opinions are available, but that’s mine.

And then Tumblr. I spend a lot of time on Tumblr during the GoT season, even though it’s frequently just re-blogs of the same GIF-sets.

What am I missing? Where do you like to go after an episode of GoT?

The Americans “Pilot” 1×01 (FX)

There were two moments when I cried foul watching the pilot for FX’s Soviet-sleeper-spies-in-the-80s series THE AMERICANS and I was really glad that I wasn’t the only one to catch the most egregious one. David Bianculli, Andy Greenwald & Chris Ryan over at Grantland’s Hollywood Prospectus podcast and Ryan & Ryan all mentioned the (mis)use of Phil Collins‘s “In The Air Tonight” during a driving scene. I actually yelled “Come on!” to the screen because that song is so closely associated with the opening of the pilot to a little show called MIAMI VICE (NBC) that premiered in 1984 and Changed Everything Forever.

I was pleased (relieved?) that other people out there singled the moment out because it meant that I wasn’t the only one old enough to remember what A Historic TV Moment that was. Because it was.

The second was a minor thing, but one of those little production details that just pulled me right out. Matthew Rhys, the Soviet spy husband, enters his and Keri Russell‘s bedroom and turns the TV volume knob up so that they can talk spy stuff. Keri Russell ends the conversation by clicking the TV off from her 90s-looking remote. The show is set in the early 1980s and I am pretty sure that TV sets with knobs couldn’t be controlled by remote at the time. I know this because my dad was an early adopter and our first remotes were attached to the TV or VCR via a long cable. Later, when we got our first cordless remote TV, the remote itself was practically the size of an ingot.

You can’t control this TV…

…with this remote.

Still, I’m totally into the show. Spies! The 80s! Guess jeans!