AFT #141: ‘Tyrant’, ‘The Leftovers’, More New Shows, Nostalgia Kid Comedies, ABC Shakeups and More

This week, Jason and Joel talk about Tyrant and the upcoming HBO show The Leftovers. They also talk about kid and teen shows that trade on '90s nostalgia, like Mystery Girls and Girl Meets World and more.

Patrick Harbron/FX
http://antennafree.tv/podcasts/Antenna_Free_TV_Podcast_141.mp3

We’re a little late with the podcast this week, mainly because Jason has a lot of stuff going on right now. But it’s not like we didn’t have stuff to talk about:

We start by talking about more post-apocalyptic shows coming on the air, like TNT’s The Last Ship (00:00 – 11:45),
That leads us to talk about HBO’s The Leftovers, which premieres on Sunday. Joel watched the screener, and read the book, and he talks about how the two compare. We also discuss whether people who haven’t read the book will understand the premiere, why the show is different than other post-apocalyptic shows, and how much pressure Damon Lindelof has on him right now (11:45 – 33:00),
Then we talked about the series premiere of FX’s Tyrant, whether it’s wallowing in too many Arab and Muslim stereotypes, why the central character and his family is so boring, and why Howard Gordon seems to make the same character mistakes on all his shows (33:00 – 48:00),
Then we discuss the other FX and FXX premieres, including Wilfred, The Bridge, You’re The Worst and Marriage. We also talk about The Strain, and whether Joel will watch it or not. Jason, though, is pretty sure it’ll be a success, even on a busy Sunday night (48:00 – 55:00),
We then talk about some ABC Family sitcoms, Mystery Girls and Young and Hungry, along with Disney’s Girl Meets World. Do these kid/teen sitcoms with ’90s nostalgia elements really work for both the kids and their parents? Why did Disney make Girl Meets World as over-the-top as its other kid-oriented sitcoms if they’re trying to target adults, too? And what the hell happened to Ben Savage’s nose (55:00 – 1:11:45),
Then we talk about another upcoming FX show, Partners, which stars the odd combo of Kelsey Grammer and Martin Lawrence. We discuss the 10/100 model that this sitcom is working under and which shows have succeeded. We then also talk why Grammer is such a distraction due to his public personal issues (1:11:45 – 1:20:00),
Then we discuss Diane Sawyer leaving ABC World News, and why George Stephanopoulos is staying on GMA despite being named “lead anchor”, why morning news is now driving the financial bus at the news divisions, and why ABC decided to go younger at night (1:20:00 – 1:32:15… listen for Joel running to the door and birds chirping during this talk),
Finally, we talk about the purge at The View, how annoying the show is, and who might sit at the table (1:32:15 – 1:46:43).

You can listen to the podcast above (if you don’t hear anything, fiddle with the volume slider), download it via this link, subscribe to our RSS feed, or subscribe via iTunes. You can also find us on the Stitcher radio app for smartphones and iPads. By the way, the bumper music is “Trevor Trailer Trash” from the late, great band Cropduster.