The Writers Guild of America is on strike demanding a more equitable deal for streaming rights and we’re here with the entirely biased news and analysis you deserve as a true connoisseur of streaming. Coincidentally (really!) we’re reviewing the $300 million Russo Brothers spy series Citadel that just premiered on Amazon Prime Video. (Spoiler alert: We think there are better ways to spend $300 million.)
Plus:
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🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes (starting at 40:53) 🚨
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🚨 Spoiler Alert for ALL EPISODES (starting at 1:00:38) 🚨
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You might lose sleep over this meaty episode, because we’re digging into the 2 hottest new shows on Netflix this week: The Night Agent and BEEF. They’re both dominating dominating the charts, but they couldn’t have less in common. We’ll tell you why we’re obsessed with both of them and what their success says about Netflix’s ever-evolving strategy.
Speaking of Netflix… We picked apart the news from the company’s Q1 earnings call and (spoiler alert for your old roommates!) learned that the password crackdown is coming for U.S. customers any day now. But in a twist worthy of The Night Agent we also discovered a shocking truth: Netflix’s Basic with Ads plan might actually be… good now?!
Plus the latest on the looming Hollywood writers strike and, after months of anticipation, Dianne delivers a special report on Netflix’s Nike training collab. That’s right, we’re breaking a sweat so you won’t have to.
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🚨 Spoiler Alert for First 3 Episodes (starting at 42:43) 🚨
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🚨 Spoiler Alert for First 3 Episodes (starting at 58:17) 🚨
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HBO Max is dead! Long live HBO… and, uh… Max! Just separately! But together! Also House Hunters is there! MAX!
(Don’t worry, we’ll explain.)
But first! Join us as we cruise through the week’s other big streaming stories sipping champagne with Conor and the gang (like the HBO loving coastal elite we know you are):
And, of course, we convene an emergency check-in after last weekend’s big episode of Succession.
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🚨 Spoiler Alert for All Episodes through Season 4, Episode 3 (“Connor’s Wedding”) (starting at 34:20) 🚨
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Spoiler Alert, of course!
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See that “Explicit” content rating? That can only mean one thing: The final season of Succession is here and we’re dissecting the first episode (F-bombs and all) before sharing our predictions for the show’s ultimate winners, losers, and slime puppies. 🥰
But first! It’s a big week for Disney news: There’s a royal showdown in Florida, Mickey snubs the Metaverse, and personnel shakeups rock Marvel. But the real drama in the house of mouse? It’s the fate of Hulu, which might turn out to be a victim of its own success…
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🚨 Spoiler Alert: All Episodes through Season 4, Episode 1 (starting at 33:12) 🚨
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After over a decade off the air the comedy Party Down is back, but can it still serve the laughs? (First you’re going to have to figure out how to give STARZ your $3 to tune in, but we’ll get you caught up in meantime!)
Plus: Peacock doubles down on the success of Poker Face by reminding us that they’ve got plenty of Monk to tide you over until season 2 of the Natasha Lyonne hit. Oh, and maybe they’re threatening to kill off Monk in a new Monk movie? No biggie.
Speaking of movies: What the heck is going on with Netflix’s movie strategy and why don’t they want spend $180 million on the new Nancy Meyers romcom? (But $150 million was totally cool, obvi.)
And HBO celebrates another breakout hit with The Last of Us surpassing House of the Dragon, but that’s not enough to make Disney+ pay to keep streaming HBO’s content in India.
Wait, why is Disney streaming HBO’s content in India? Where’s MAX in all this mess? Someone get us David Zaslav, STAT! (And while we have his attention could he greenlight our Barry spinoff starring NoHo Hank?)
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🚨 Spoiler Alert: The first 3 episodes of Season 3, plus assorted spoilers from Seasons 1 & 2 (starting at 24:30) 🚨
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There’s the threat of a writers strike looming over Hollywood, so this week we invited the new Bing chatbot to join us in the hopes of befriending our new cloud-based creative overlords. Take it away, Bing!
"Hello, this is Bing. Welcome to Streamageddon, the podcast where we review everything streaming and TV. In this episode, we’ll take a look at two mid-season network sitcoms: Not Dead Yet on ABC and American Auto on NBC.
"But that’s not all. We’ll also check in on the guest hosts at The Daily Show, discuss the impending end of Succession, try to explain Paramount’s new pricing strategy and play America’s favorite game: Renewed or Canceled?!
"You don’t want to miss this episode of Streamageddon!"
(Check out the bonus segment at the end of the episode where we fact check Bing!)
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🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes (starting at 48:36) 🚨
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🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes of Season 2 (starting at 1:02:19) 🚨
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Rian Johnson’s Poker Face is a sly new case-of-the-week detective series anchored by Natasha Lyonne’s performance as Charlie Cale, a woman on the run with one special skill: She can always tell when someone is lying. Oh, and everywhere she goes someone seems to die. Thankfully the lie thing usually helps her solve the murders, so it all works out in the end!
The series is arguably Peacock’s first bonafide hit, but is it any good? We unpack the pros and cons of the show’s throwback format: Inspired by classics like Columbo and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (classics, I say!) each episode of Poker Face reveals the murderer at the start of the episode and asks us to watch Charlie try to piece it together.
Plus! We check-in on The Last of Us and answer these burning questions about the streaming universe:
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🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 4 Episodes (starting at 35:47) 🚨
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🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 5 Episodes (starting at 56:13) 🚨
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This week we’re coming at you with a double feature of deja vu starring a pair of reboots: Night Court (NBC/Peacock) and That 90s Show (Netflix).
Do these spiritual successors capture the essence of their original runs? And honestly, should they? The original Night Court was horny on main years before we even had a term for it, and That 70s Show thrived in the cynical heyday of early 2000s Fox.
Join us as we discuss the many challenges involved in successfully rebooting any show— but especially comedies!— and how we draw the line between Reboots, Revivals, and Spin-Offs.
And yes, we’re going to answer the BIG question we already know you’re asking: Is the upcoming Frasier series a reboot or a revival? Spoiler alert: Dianne makes a shocking case for deeming it a spin-off (!!!) and Chris proposes retconning a new title for the entire Frasier canon in order to make it work. So if you’re listening, Paramount execs, My Seattle Life! is just waiting to be green-lit…
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🚨 Spoiler Alert: The First 2 Episodes of Night Court (2023), plus the original series (starting at 30:36) 🚨
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🚨 Spoiler Alert: First 2 Episodes of That 90s Show, plus the original series (starting at 41:23) 🚨
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Finally, a show that answers the age-old question: “What if The Mandalorian let us see Pedro Pascal’s face and had a sidekick who can talk?”
Yes, this week we’re streaming a different -ageddon: It’s the kind of armageddon that puts the “fun” in fungal… but is it any good? We’re reviewing the pilot of HBO’s The Last of Us in order to find out!
On the way we’ll discuss the latest streaming news and TV’s rich history of post-apocalyptic fare (and not-so-rich history of live action video game adaptations).
But first it’s an emergency round of America’s favorite game: Renewed or Canceled?! Play along as Dianne guesses the fate of these streaming shows:
Can you go 10 for 10? Lock in your guesses now and find out in this week’s episode.
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🚨 Spoiler Alert: First Episode (starting at 38:42) 🚨
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Contains spoilers for Renewed or Canceled?!
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We love a good storytelling gimmick and this week we’re sharing our favorites (and least favorites) as we unpack the new Netflix heist series Kaleidoscope.
Plus we answer all your burning questions, like:
But first it’s a surprise round of America’s favorite game: Renewed or Canceled?! Play along as Dianne guesses the fate of these streaming shows:
Can you go 5 for 5? Lock in your guesses now and find out in this week’s episode.
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🚨 Spoiler Alert starting at 43:34 🚨
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Contains spoilers for “Renewed or Canceled?!”
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