AFT #155: ‘Marry Me’, Cancellations and Pickups, ‘Walking Dead’, ‘Constantine’ and More

This week, Jason and Joel spin around the dial and talk about many of the new shows, including the inexplicable success of The Mysteries of Laura. Plus, they discuss why NBC can't figure out how to make a popular comedy, and more.

Byron Cohen/NBC

http://antennafree.tv/podcasts/Antenna_Free_TV_Podcast_155.mp3

Miss us while we were gone? No? Well, no matter; we’re coming at you with a crapload of talk about the young TV season:

We talk about the first cancellation of the season, Manhattan Love Story, what might be next (Selfie) and why the networks are waiting so long to ax shows this season (00:00 – 10:30),
We then start going around the dial: Why Joel may dump Gracepoint and just watch Broadchurch instead, and why The Affair is a beach-based show that is getting things right from the first episode (10:30 – 16:55),
Then we talk about the inexplicable popularity and full-season order for The Mysteries of Laura. Maybe people just want fun shows? But The Flash and Jane the Virgin do fun so much better than Laura does! (16:55 – 27:00),
Then we talk about Sean Hayes ruining (er… joining) The Millers, how Forever sounds like Elementary when you close your eyes, and how skippable Scorpion and Stalker are (27:00 – 33:45),
Then we discuss the premiere of Constantine, whether fans of the comic it’s based on are going to like the show, whether non-comic fans will like it (probably not, says Jason) and if there’s potential for the show to build its characters better (33:45 – 39:35),
Then we take a few minutes to do our quarterly grumbling over how the television news media overblows some story or another. This time it’s the Ebola scare (39:35 – 44:20),
Then talk about the hilarious first couple of episodes of Marry Me, and how it makes us miss Happy Endings. Then we launch into a long discussion about why NBC hasn’t found its comedy identity yet, why it drops shows like Go On that have broad potential, and why CBS (multi-cams) and ABC (families on Wednesday, comedians on Friday) have seemed to find what works for them (44:20 – 1:17:35),
Then we talk about the dramatic improvement in The Walking Dead this season and why it may finally be able to stand with its AMC mates, Breaking Bad and Mad Men, quality-wise (1:17:35 – 1:44:45),
Finally, we preview our spoilerfest for Transparent, which we were supposed to do this week, but will hold for next week (1:44:45 – 1:50:33).

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.