AFT #156: Bill Cosby, ‘Hot in Cleveland’, ‘Walking Dead’, ‘Transparent’, ‘The Millers’ and More

This week, Jason and Joel apologize for missing two weeks, talk about Bill Cosby's troubles, cancellations and pickups, give up on Homeland, and finally do their Transparent spoilerfest.

Erica Parise/FOX
http://antennafree.tv/podcasts/Antenna_Free_TV_Podcast_156.mp3

We missed two weeks because both of us have effed up schedules. So there was a lot to catch up on, not the least of which was the latest in the turbo news cycle:

We start by talking about why we disappeared for two weeks (00:00 – 08:30),
We then talk about the resurfacing of sexual assault accusations against Bill Cosby, why the news cycle is picking up on it again (thanks to Hannibal Buress), if this will kill his upcoming NBC sitcom and Netflix comedy special, and why the perception of his cancelled talk show appearances changes depending on the headline you read (08:30 – 26:30),
Speaking of headlines and context, depending on who you read, Hot in Cleveland is either ending or TV Land cancelled it. We’re going with the former, mainly because the biggest draw on the show, Betty White, is 93 and starting to slow down (26:30 – 37:00),
Then we talk about cancellations: Selfie, Bad Judge, and A to Z. We also talk about CBS canning The Millers and replacing it with Mike & Molly. On the topic of Chuck Lorre shows, we defend Mom as the best of the four he has on, and also mention that Two and a Half Men has given all Lorre shows a bad rap (37:00 – 54:04),
Then we discuss the full-season pickups of Mysteries of Laura, Forever and pretty much all of CBS’s new shows. We also talk about the near-full-season order for The Mindy Project  and how that show and New Girl are rebounding quite nicely (Allison Tolman needs to get a sitcom — stat) (54:04 –  1:03:40),
Then we take a few minutes to talk about a new show, Benched, and three returning shows on HBO: The Newsroom, The Comeback and Getting On. We also scratch our heads about the proposed Luther remake on FOX (1:03:40 – 1:16:00),
Then we talk about why it seems like everyone, including critics, are losing interest in The Affair (1:16:00 – 1:19:30),
Then we talk about how Homeland continues to squander the goodwill it built up in its first season and how the “surprise” from two weeks ago may have soured Joel on the show for good (1:19:30 – 1:28:00),
Then we talk about the latest episodes of The Walking Dead, and discuss the steps showrunner Scott Gimple took to get it where it is now (1:28:00 – 1:47:50),
Finally, we do our Transparent spoilerfest (at last), and are both surprised how much of the show we can recall months after seeing it (1:47:50 – 2:04:05).

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.