The Tastemakers | Hallmark Movie State of the Union

Taran Armstrong (@armstrongtaran) and Grace Leeder (@hifromgrace) are The Tastemakers! Every week, Grace and Taran tell you about what’s on TV, which shows are worth watching, and which shows are worth skipping.

This week, Grace Leeder is joined by special guests, Nora Leeder, and Jennifer from the Do You Watch What I Watch podcast to talk through Hallmark Christmas movies!

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Stranger Things Season 5, Vol. 1 Recap

Today, Grace Leeder and Mike Bloom discuss Season 5 Volume 1 of Stranger Things.

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The Tastemakers | Stranger Things Took Too Long

Taran Armstrong (@armstrongtaran) and Grace Leeder (@hifromgrace) are The Tastemakers! Every week, Grace and Taran tell you about what’s on TV, which shows are worth watching, and which shows are worth skipping.

This week, Taran Armstrong and Grace Leeder discuss Stranger Things Season 5 before jumping into what they’ve been watching.

Chapters:
00:00 Intros
01:00 Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1 (Netflix)
24:15 The Mighty Nein (Amazon Prime)
36:00 Task (HBO)
37:00 The Diplomat Season 2 (Netflix)
38:00 The Beast in Me (Netflix)
40:00 A Man on the Inside Season 2 (Netflix)
41:52 Pluribus (Apple TV)
46:00 Heated Rivalry (HBO)
48:00 All Her Fault (Peacock)
52:00 It: Welcome to Derry (HBO)
57:00 Death by Lightning (Netflix)
58:00 Boots (Netflix)
59:00 Zootopia 2 (a movie theater near you)
01:04:40 Wicked: For Good (a movie theater near you)
01:11:00 Bugonia (a movie theater near you)
01:12:00 What’s coming up

Send in feedback every week by emailing [email protected]

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The Tastemakers | Wicked: For Good… Is it Good?

Taran Armstrong (@armstrongtaran) and Grace Leeder (@hifromgrace) are The Tastemakers! Every week, Grace and Taran tell you about what’s on TV, which shows are worth watching, and which shows are worth skipping.

This week, Grace Leeder and special guest, Shannon Guss, discuss what they’ve been watching before diving into Wicked: For Good.

Chapters:
00:00 Intros
02:00 Man on the Inside Season 2 (Netflix)
06:00 The Assassin (Amazon Prime Video)
07:00 Train Dreams (Netflix)
09:20 Keeper (a theater near you)
10:00 The Running Man (a theater near you)
11:00 What’s coming up
22:30 Wicked: For Good FULL SPOILERS

Send in feedback every week by emailing [email protected]

Never miss a minute of RHAP’s scripted coverage!
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The Tastemakers | What Has Been Worth Watching

Taran Armstrong (@armstrongtaran) and Grace Leeder (@hifromgrace) are The Tastemakers! Every week, Grace and Taran tell you about what’s on TV, which shows are worth watching, and which shows are worth skipping.

This week, Taran and Grace discuss Pluribus and Stranger Things before diving into what’s coming up.

Chapters:
04:20 Pluribus (AppleTV)
07:55 Stranger Things (Netflix)
13:30 The Beast in Me (Netflix)
14:40 All Her Fault (Peacock)
15:00 All’s Fair (Hulu)
16:30 Death By Lightning (Netflix)
19:00 The American Revolution
19:30 I Love LA (HBO)
27:00 Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
31:00 The Death of Bunny Munro
32:00 The Chair Company
34:00 Die My Love
35:00 Twinless
38:00 Now You See Me: Now You Don’t
41:29 The Running Man
46:00 Predator: Badlands
47:00 The Mighty Nein (Amazon Prime Video)
49:00 What’s coming up

Send in feedback every week by emailing [email protected]

Never miss a minute of RHAP’s scripted coverage!
LISTEN: Subscribe to the RHAP: We Know Scripted TV podcast feed
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SUPPORT:  Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks!

The Tastemakers | Catching Up and What’s To Come

Taran Armstrong (@armstrongtaran) and Grace Leeder (@hifromgrace) are The Tastemakers! Every week, Grace and Taran tell you about what’s on TV, which shows are worth watching, and which shows are worth skipping.

This week, Taran and Grace discuss tv news before diving into what else they’ve been watching

Chapters:
04:15 TV News
18:00 The Witcher (Netflix)
20:00 Nobody Wants This Season 2 (Netflix)
21:20 Down Cemetery Road (Apple TV+)
22:45 It: Welcome to Derry (HBO)
25:25 Rosemary’s Baby
27:30 Bugonia (a movie theater near you)
29:30 A House of Dynamite (Netflix)
31:45 Blue Moon (a movie theater near you)
34:00 If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (a movie theater near you)
36:00 What’s coming up

Send in feedback every week by emailing [email protected]

Never miss a minute of RHAP’s scripted coverage!
LISTEN: Subscribe to the RHAP: We Know Scripted TV podcast feed
WATCH:  Watch and subscribe to the podcast on YouTube
SUPPORT:  Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks!

The Tastemakers: Black Phone 2 Review

Taran Armstrong (@armstrongtaran) and Grace Leeder (@hifromgrace) are The Tastemakers! Every week, Grace and Taran tell you about what’s on TV, which shows are worth watching, and which shows are worth skipping.

This week, Taran and Grace discuss Black Phone 2.

Chapters:
01:00 Catching up with Taran
15:55 The Chair Company (HBO)
23:45 Mr. Scorsese (AppleTV)
26:30 Monster (Netflix)
27:30 What’s coming up
30:30 Black Phone 2 (a theater near you)

Send in feedback every week by emailing [email protected]

Never miss a minute of RHAP’s scripted coverage!
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The Tastemakers |Talking Alien: Earth with Stephen Fishbach

Each week, The Tastemakers reviews television and movies, advising listeners on “what you should and shouldn’t watch”.

This week, with Taran on “Big Brother duty”, Grace is joined by “off-brand Taran”, Stephen Fishbach.

Watch on this episode on Youtube:

https://youtu.be/-e-akyIX4jI

Key Topics and Discussion Points:

The main topic of the episode is the recently concluded show Alien: Earth, which Grace and Stephen discuss in “full spoiler detail”.

Alien Earth Analysis:

Stephen, a fan of the Alien franchise, argues that critics who complained about the characters in Alien Earth behaving misunderstand the premise of an Alien movie. Grace and Stephen agree that the show contained “a ton of really interesting ideas,” but they felt that many were not executed perfectly, leading to a “disjointed” feel. Grace believes that Noah Holly, the show’s creator, felt constrained by being asked by FX to do an Alien show set on Earth before the events of the first Alien movie. They discuss Holly’s strong central idea of putting human consciousness into synthetic bodies as a means of saving humanity. However, they felt this Peter Pan idea often clashed with the necessary inclusion of aliens. The metaphor was described as “really heavy-handed”.

Both hosts praised Episode 5 (the Imaginino episode), which Steven found “so perfect”. They also found the “eyeball alien” to be “much more interesting and cooler than the actual xenomorph” in the show. They agreed the show was “really beautifully done” and looked “great top to bottom,” praising its “cassette futurism” and the way it successfully nailed the Alien visual identity. Steven felt the character Maro, played by Baba, was the most exciting part of the show and suggested he should have his own spin-off series. They noted that the Xenomorph model looked a little off, with Stephen suggesting it “looked like someone wearing alien pants”. Grace rated Alien Earth as potentially in her “top 15” shows of the year, but “not elite,” noting that even during the dry summer for television, there were better shows.

Stephen’s Viewing Habits:

Stephen shared that he watches very little TV, often watching Jeopardy with his wife after the kids are down and then scrolling on his phone. He notes that he has to be selective because his wife dislikes anything with drama or conflict. He primarily finds things to watch that “percolates up” and match his “existing interest,” such as the Alien franchise.

The Chair Company:

Grace discusses The Chair Company, Tim Robinson’s new 30-minute absurdist and surreal HBO Sunday Night Show. Stephen, who enjoys Tim Robinson’s previous work (I Think You Should Leave), admits he usually breaks up episodes into pieces and watches clips on YouTube due to lack of time.

• Stephen’s Book: Escape!

Stephen discusses his upcoming book, Escape (with an exclamation point). The book follows a reality TV contestant seeking lost glory on another jungle reality show. Stephen explains that the novel explores the competing dramas between the contestants and the show’s producers, who are “storytellers” crafting narratives out of human lives.

Book Recommendations:

? Stephen highly recommends the sci-fi book Annihilation (by Jeff VanderMeer), praising its world-building and perfect narrative arc, and the science fiction book Children of Time (by Adrian Tchaikovsky).

? Stephen also mentions Alex Garland’s book The Beach.

? Grace recommends the very popular audiobook Project Hail Mary.

? Grace mentions picking up Richard Osman’s fourth book in The Thursday Murder Club series. She also discusses the Red Rising books.

•Other TV Recommendations:

Grace recommends the FX show The Lowdown, an “Oklahoma noir” by Sterling Harjo (creator of Reservation Dogs). She also praises The Pit and Andor Season 2.

Send in feedback every week by emailing [email protected]

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The Tastemakers: One Battle After Another is the Best Movie of the Year

Taran Armstrong (@armstrongtaran) and Grace Leeder (@hifromgrace) are The Tastemakers! Every week, Grace and Taran tell you about what’s on TV, which shows are worth watching, and which shows are worth skipping.

This week, Grace and special guest, Ariel, discuss One Battle After Another in full spoilery detail.

Send in feedback every week by emailing [email protected]

Never miss a minute of RHAP’s scripted coverage!
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SUPPORT:  Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks!

The Tastemakers: One of the Best Weeks of TV This Year

Taran Armstrong (@armstrongtaran) and Grace Leeder (@hifromgrace) are The Tastemakers! Every week, Grace and Taran tell you about what’s on TV, which shows are worth watching, and which shows are worth skipping.

This week, Grace and special guests, Ariel and Dr. Amanda discuss what they’ve been watching this week.

Send in feedback every week by emailing [email protected]

Never miss a minute of RHAP’s scripted coverage!
LISTEN: Subscribe to the RHAP: We Know Scripted TV podcast feed
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SUPPORT:  Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks!

The Tastemakers: Gen V Starts Slow But Still Shocks

Taran Armstrong (@armstrongtaran) and Grace Leeder (@hifromgrace) are The Tastemakers! Every week, Grace and Taran tell you about what’s on TV, which shows are worth watching, and which shows are worth skipping.

This week, Grace and special guest, Jess Sterling, talk through Gen V, Black Rabbit, and other new shows.

Chapters:
05:30 TV News
08:30 Paramount and Netflix buying Warner Bros. Discovery
11:10 The Mandalorian and Grogu Movie
15:25 Gen V Season 2 (Prime)
23:10 Black Rabbit (Netflix)
33:25 Swiped (Hulu)
39:00 The Summer I Turned Pretty (Prime)
43:00 High Potential (Hulu)
45:25 The Morning Show (Apple TV+)
49:45 What’s coming up

Send in feedback every week by emailing [email protected]

Never miss a minute of RHAP’s scripted coverage!
LISTEN: Subscribe to the RHAP: We Know Scripted TV podcast feed
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SUPPORT:  Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks!