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Reposted by Myles McNutt

Caroline Siede @carolinesiede.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

If you want a 10,000 word deep dive into what makes Heated Rivalry so good, boy do I have a series of essays for you!

Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The VMAs’ simultaneous desire to remain tied to music history while also privileging current artists is a fascinating cultural experiment, but it sure created a dire George Michael tribute up until they broke the latter rule for Adam Lambert.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Whatever they paid Nigella wasn’t enough, tbh. #GBBO

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I don’t think we’re talking enough about how the NYT lists were unranked and all it really means is what shows the most people thought they should have on their lists, which is not nothing but isn’t actually evaluating the best show of the 21st century.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I realize that this isn’t illogical—of course people are more likely to watch a movie they haven’t seen over one that was wildly successful at the box office—but it’s still very funny to me.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Is there anything more TV in 2026 than watching a limited series you saw some buzz about but no one’s talking about it anymore and thinking “Wow, I’m so late to the party” and then realizing it only dropped five weeks ago? I was charmed by #MyBrilliantCareer, is what I’m saying.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

#TedLasso's insistence on making 50+ minute episodes with a perfectly good 30-minute episode buried in it brought me back to Benioff's infamous "themes are for eighth-grade book reports" quote. Do you know what might make this version of the show work better? Thematic parallels.

episodicmedium.tv

Review: Ted Lasso, "Follow the Anger" | Season 4, Episode 8

A perfectly good episode buried in a themeless blob

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

On the one hand, yes, the clips from this show are 100% an improvement on an audio-only experience. But on the OTHER hand, if this is the case, then why oh WHY are the ad reads at the beginning of the episode read from a script instead of a prompter?!

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Reposted by Myles McNutt

Rick Porter @rickporter.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This is probably closer to what the Peacock "Traitors" gets per episode than you'd think. The big minutes watched total in streaming ratings doesn't *necessarily* mean a giant per-episode audience, especially since the Nielsen streaming numbers include watch time for every episode of a show.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

#SlowHorses is back for season six, which means that I can finally publish reviews I wrote months ago because this is easily the show with the longest lead time for screeners due to filming a full year in advance. Thoughts on a premiere that tests whether the show is capable of being overstuffed.

episodicmedium.tv

Review: Slow Horses, "Circle of Life" | Season 6, Episode 1

From the day Lamb arrived on the planet / He farted us into the sun

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Let the record show that it was @davechen.bsky.social who first identified people who watch award shows obsessively “sickos” but it was I who earnestly ran with it, because accurate. Our breakdown of the 2026 #Emmys can be watched here: youtu.be/R_IuVB9rw-o

youtu.be

Breaking down the 2026 Emmy Awards (feat. Myles McNutt from Episodic Medium)

YouTube video by Decoding TV

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Reposted by Myles McNutt

Alan Sepinwall @sepinwall.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

One year ago today, I left Rolling Stone and turned What's Alan Watching? into my full-time business. I'm SO grateful to everyone who's supported me. I've got a preview of what's to come, and a discount for people on the fence about signing up for a paid sub:

whatsalanwatching.com

It was a very good year

Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll stick around for a lot more

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

#ThePitt S2—while very good—struggled to escape the feeling that it only cared about Robbie's character, so it's sort of fitting that its only major #Emmys wins were for series and Noah Wyle, y'know?

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Look, I get why this is happening, but if you don't even put in a half-hearted attempt to reframe Dolly Parton as a TV star, you don't deserve to be producing a TV award show. #Emmys

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Really hard to suggest a more defining TV director of the past decade, given Atlanta (2016) and Widow's Bay (2026) as bookends. #Emmys

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I like #SlowHorses, but it winning writing/directing awards remains an incredibly bizarre #Emmys narrative I really can't explain.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Rewinding a bit, but Matthew Rhys should win a third Emmy for remembering who he was supposed to thank when he won the Limited Series award. #Emmys

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I'm largely ambivalent on the "Broadcast Carousel vs. Simulcast vs. Streamer" debate on the future of the #Emmys broadcast, but there's no question that the question of host will be opened up considerably if it's no longer tied to a single broadcast network.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I hate blind award show ballots as a genre, but Harrison Ford losing from the position of prohibitive favorite two years in a row to two very different winners (last year a dark horse nominee, this year another show gaining massive momentum) raises a lot of questions for me. #Emmys

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Were Todd and Mr. Peanutbutter responsible for this? #Emmys

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Pretending that the #Emmys didn't ignore Buffy by obscuring the daytime on Sarah Michelle Gellar's Emmys makes this stolen valor Buffy tribute even more egregious.

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Reposted by Myles McNutt

Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I've spent the last year and a half wondering how WWE Raw's move to Netflix was reshaping its weekly ritual, so what better way to investigate than participant observation? My reflections from attending Raw live last month are up ahead of tonight's Mexico City event.

episodicmedium.tv

Week-to-Week: WWE Raw Live vs. WWE Raw Live on Netflix

How Netflix's investment in weekly ritual is—or isn't?—reshaping the WWE product

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Reposted by Myles McNutt

Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Four years ago, we ran a subscription drive to signal Episodic Medium becoming a full-service, reader-supported, contributor-driven television criticism newsletter. And the reality of "reader-supported" means we'll do it again every year. Our fall schedule and our 20% off deal are back.

episodicmedium.tv

Month-to-Month: Episodic Medium's Fall 2026 Schedule

The best time to subscribe and support independent TV criticism is back

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

episodicmedium.tv

Week-to-Week: WWE Raw Live vs. WWE Raw Live on Netflix

How Netflix's investment in weekly ritual is—or isn't?—reshaping the WWE product

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

episodicmedium.tv

Month-to-Month: Episodic Medium's Fall 2026 Schedule

The best time to subscribe and support independent TV criticism is back

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Nina Garcia pretending like she had strong feelings about the designers in the finale when she was absent for over half the runways was honestly an impressive bit of acting. Like you almost forgot! #ProjectRunway

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

My take on the Muppet Show discourse is that until we get Nellie Andreeva and her sources to clarify what they think the word "premise" means in totality, I'm not able to fully discern how angry we should be.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I'm late in posting Episodic Medium's fall schedule but it's because CBS has still not released final Cupertino key art so there's no official logo for me to decide whether it makes more aesthetic sense to mash up into ElsTino or CuperBeth, I know you understand what I'm going through.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Was just talking over the weekend about the ecosystem of internet interview content formats, and now Chicken Shop Date comes off the board. Probably the least sustainable (since she’s kind of stuck “in character”), but helped shaped the trend nonetheless.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Without any of the controversy, do we think the (delightful) #CoyoteVsACME performs better or worse than the $14m-ish it’s projected to make this weekend if it releases on the same weekend in 2024?

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Objectively good show, but I'll admit that the deeper we've gotten into the season the idea of them making a second has seemed increasingly messy. Curious how the finale lands.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

I mostly dug the new #Insidious film, straightforward as it might be, but I’m a little stuck on what seems to be a transitional moment from Bad Photoshop Family Photos to AI-Generated Family Photos (of the elderly couple across the street, if you’ve seen it).

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Peter Moldanado cameo better happen.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I know I’m too deep in my IMAX rabbit hole because I was watching #TheEndOfOakStreet in LIEMAX and every time the ratio expanded I just thought “And to think almost no one will ever see the full effect because The Odyssey is still in 99% of the 1.43-enabled theaters.” (Good movie good, tho)

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Have you truly lived if you haven’t been seated for a Mystery Movie and they play the trailer for the movie everyone wants the Mystery Movie to be and there’s this rolling realization you’re doomed to be disappointed? I say not.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Interesting this is a Disney Channel project? Feels like that is pitching this to a very different demographic than the people anticipating the fourth game.

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Reposted by Myles McNutt

Emily St. James @emilystjams.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Money's a little tight and getting tighter every day during the long wait between TV jobs. The best thing you could do for me -- and our whole team! -- is sign up for a subscription to my newsletter today. For as little as $5/month! episodes.ghost.io#/portal/acco...

episodes.ghost.io

Episodes by Emily St. James

A newsletter on culture, identity, and many other things by critic and writer Emily St. James

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

It's notable to me that #ThePitt has been a massive success, and HBO Max actively tried to develop shows on this model, and they looked at this cop show and said "Nah." I'm curious what they learned from this failure.

deadline.com

'American Blue' Cop Drama Pilot Dead At HBO Max - Exclusive

HBO Max is not proceeding with one of its 2 pilots, American Blue, starring Milo Ventimiglia. Warner Bros. TV is looking to find a new home for it.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Sony ordered this without a distributor and now they're renewing it before it premieres, presumably without any formal distribution agreement for that second season. Television!

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

This isn’t a drag I swear, but it’s always funny when the soap operatics of wrestling mean that the night’s biggest moment is two dudes NOT fighting, y’know? Had a fun time at my first RAW since 2003.

Officials attempt to separate Oba Femi and Bron Breakker for no reason other than to delay their first physical contact for a show in a bigger city.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Peacock’s commitment to scripted binge releases remains so strange to me given how powerful weekly/daily investment has worked with their reality shows.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I purposefully have avoided reading the source material for #HouseOfTheDragon in the hopes of creating a sense of discovery and surprise in its narrative, and this season's finale underlined that this was ultimately futile. My review is up for Episodic Medium subscribers.

episodicmedium.tv

Review: House of the Dragon, "The Treasons at Tumbleton" | Season 3, Episode 8

Even without having read the books, there's a ceiling on the story's potential

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

With Charlie Gillespie in the news, seems like a worthwhile time to revisit this 2020 article I wrote on the moment when it felt like Netflix would truly cultivate stars, which turned out to begin and end with Millie Bobby Brown.

cultural-learnings.com

Starstuck: Streaming, Celebrity, and the state of the “Netflix Star”

In the fall of 2018, Netflix was still not releasing formal ratings data for its original programming, but they were nonetheless invested in using data to demonstrate their cultural influence. And …

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I’ve literally been following Justice Smith since Anna Deavere Smith’s YoungArts MasterClass, but I’m going to hold onto my comments on the Harris situation and just say how thrilled I am for Gillespie and everyone about to enjoy Julie and the Phantoms.

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

My review of #TheShards is that I accidentally watched the last episode first, and I honestly didn't notice until the episode was over, which certainly says...something? Not sure what, to be honest. (We went back and watched the rest).

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Myles McNutt @memles.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I regret to inform everyone that the #KingOfTheHill reboot chose to risk all of its goodwill on a WHOLLY illogical presentation of reality television production in its penultimate episode, you hate to see it.

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