Saalon Muyo

So TV Guide has a weekly podcast. Well, they probably have a few, but they only have one that I listen to. It’s called TV Guide Talk and I’ve got one of those love/hate deals going on with it. On the one hand, it’s got an awesome film critic. On the other hand, for months I’ve sat through discussions on such deep shows as American Idol and Desperate Housewives in the vain hope that a show I actually watch will get brought up.

So what is the TV Guide Talk about?

In this exclusive weekly Podcast, you can listen to Michael Ausiello and the TVGuide.com crew as they provide inside scoop, offbeat opinions and answers to your questions about the latest entertainment headlines, the hottest TV shows, the newest movies and the biggest celebrities.

Erin found it first and listened to it for months before getting me into it. Like anything involving media criticism, it left me shouting impotently at my iPod a lot, but in all honesty I enjoyed it. It had an easy to follow format: 4 people in a room, first talking about television news and reviews, then moving on to movie reviews. It was fun. It at times infuriating, it spent too long talking about empty reality shows like Big Brother and too little time on deeper dramas like The Wire, but it was a good time.

When I started listening, the show had a consistent crew: Michael Ausiello was the Rumor Guy, Maitland McDonagh reviewed films, Dan Manu was the leader, and Angel Cohn…was um…ok, I’m not trying to be a jerk, but I don’t have a clue what Angel’s job was. I think she blogged on the site. It was a good crew. Manu got on my nerves, but he ran a tight ship. Angel was flighty, but funny. Ausiello was a know-it-all, but he was there for scoop, not his deep opinion. And Maitland. Maitland was what kept me coming back every week.

Since then, things have changed. Like when any successful crew breaks up, things haven’t been the same since. Manu was the first to leave, and for a few weeks his role as moderator was filled by Ausiello and Angel. The most memorable thing from those weeks was the amount of shuffling papers as they tried to figure out what to talk about next. Then, just as Matt Mitovich, the new moderator, joined the crew, Angel left. And with her ended the era when people on the podcast actually, you know, watched TV.

When people started leaving, the rotation of temporary ‘casters began. With most, we were lucky if they had done more than TiVo the week’s shows. More and more, the podcast began to sound like the same kind of vapid, crap-is-ok television criticism that shows up all over the place. A difficult, challenging show like Battlestar Galactica, would get nitpicked for nonsense like “It’s ridiculous that Lee shows up in court in a tailored suit!” while unqualified praise would get dumped all over unambitious crap like Private Practice. There was no sense of what the goods and bads of a series were, and how series’ actually compared to each other. The few people on the podcast who actually watched television watched all the same shows so most things just got ignored.

Then this week, one of those mean things I suggest about many television critics was proven. They don’t read. All they really know is television, which makes much of their criticism sound shallow.  At one point in this week’s podcast, the fact that neither Michael Ausiello nor Matt Mitovich read came up. As they were laughing about it (because not reading is certainly cause for laughter), Mitovich informed us, “Reading is overrated!”

Sigh.

I like the podcast. I do. But I listen to a show about television shows to hear discussion about those shows. What’s been happening is barely discussion. The fact that half of the podcasters think reading is a silly and boring thing to do can’t be unrelated. I like Mitovich and I think he could be a good moderator, but he needs a stable fourth host to balance things out. Plus he seems like a decent guy, and that goes a long way.

All that said, I’m sticking with it for two reasons. One is solid, the other is a hope.

Maitland is glorious. Seriously, listen to the podcast and skip ahead to her movie talk. She’s funny, her opinions are well developed and she knows her field. When she does comment on one of the few television shows she watches, she’s got something worth saying there, too. Plus, did I mention she’s really funny?

The second is Matt Roush. I’ve always loved his writing in the magazine and his time as a guest host on the podcast has been just as enjoyable. Unlike the other television critics, he watches as much as possible, and he doesn’t give shows a free pass just for being distracting. If Roush is brought on as the fourth host, the podcast might end up even better than it was before.

On the other hand, if we end up with a fourth host who neither watches much television nor can put the medium in context with other, more mature media like, well, books, my patience may run out. I can always fast forward to Maitland if I have to.

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