Welcome to the 150th episode of Top 5 . TV, The Hollywood ReporterTV podcasts.
Every week, organize Lesley Goldberg (West Coast TV Editor) and Daniel Fienberg (main TV critic) analyzes the latest TV news with context from the business and critical sides, welcomes presenters, executives and other guests, and provides provides important guidance on what to watch (or ignore, as the case may be).
To celebrate our big episode, Dan and I are doubling down on showrunner interviews. This week’s episode features an interesting and insightful conversation with James Gunn about his HBO Max series, peace people, and the difference between working for Marvel and DC. Then on Sunday, we’ll do our first stand-alone Showrunner Spotlight special with an hour-long post-mortem interview with Yellow jacket creator Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson about their groundbreaking Showtime series and the final season of season one. Warning: There will be a lot of theories and theories when that post goes out Sunday at 8pm Pacific Time. (Another reason to subscribe, we are available on different podcast platforms.)
But before we get to that, here’s what’s going on for Episode 150:
1. Title!
The holiday season is over and networks and broadcasters are back in a breaking news frenzy, with a slew of new movie orders, renewals and casts, plus plenty of information. differently about how the pandemic is affecting TV.
2. Disney at TCA
The semi-annual Television Critics Association winter press tour kicks off this week, and Hulu and ABC have come to play with some big announcements, including more information on the future of TV. Grey’s Anatomy, the next show comes from Modern family co-creator Steve Levitan and more.
3. Farewell again, Dexter
Showtime wrapped up its series on the serial killer for a second and more certain time this week. Yes Dexter: New Blood The finale offers redemption for that terrible woodworker’s “first finale”? Dan and I argue about the value of New blood. Spoiler alert!
4. Showrunner Spotlight
James Gunn join this week’s show for an extensive interview about HBO Max’s Suicide Squad TV spinoff, Peace people. Gunn hinted at working again with John Cena and showed the actor’s sensitive side. Gunn also discussed the process that led to People of Peace and which comes first: DC’s desire to mimic Marvel’s Disney+ originals or the idea to explore more of Cena Suicide Squad character. Gunn also revealed the worries HBO Max execs have when exploring a racist character on the show and how he handles them. The Guardians of the Galaxy The captain also weighed in on the differences between working for DC and Marvel and why he would essentially run the other way if he wanted him to prioritize a larger connected universe over his own script. . “In two Guardians movies I was never asked to connect to a bigger picture,” he said. “The same goes for DC movies. I have no great interest in doing that. I never wanted my story to suffer because of a bigger story. I want my story to be the most important thing. Any way a bigger story enhances mine, great. But if that note comes, I’ll ignore it. “
5. Critics’ Corner
As usual, each episode ends with Dan giving his assessment of what to watch over the next week. In this episode, he reviews Peacock’s Wolf Like Me, Netflix’s Archive 81, By HBO Someone somewhere and by Hulu How I met your father.
Listen all now on Top 5 . TV. Remember to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. (Reviews welcome!) You can also email us with any Mailbag topics or questions you’d like to address in future episodes at TVTop5@THR.com.
And don’t forget to tune in on Sunday at 8pm Pacific Time for Yellow jacket Interview with Showrunner Spotlight.
