TV Geek Out 172: Mad Men, "The Beautiful Girls"

And so the Blankenship has sailed, taking with her one of Mad Men's most affecting episodes about how girls and women survive -- or don't survive -- in a Mad Man's world. Sally Draper wants her dad's attention; Peggy wants to be respected for her personal and professional choices; Faye wants Don to accept that she has chosen not to have kids; and Joan wants a family and a man who will be there for her. Above all, however, these characters want to be understood and respected for who they are, not what they can do for men. As Joyce rather poignantly asks Peggy, after she explains how women are expected to be the "pots" that contain and warm the "soup" that is men, "who's to say we're not soup?" Another great episode led to another impassioned TV Geek Out discussion. Check it out here!

TV Geek Out 171: Boardwalk Empire Premiere

What kind of series do you get when the masterminds are the number two man on The Sopranos, the executive producer of Entourage, and the greatest living American filmmaker? Why Boardwalk Empire, of course! It's an ambitious historical gangster story about the Prohibition era with a remarkably strong cast fronted by Steve Buscemi as a New Jersey politico on the take (and, yes, that is redundant). Listen in as TV geeks Dana, Perry, and Heather tackle the debut episode, offer up a history lesson on anti-Semitism, and try to untangle plot threads that are already thoroughly knotted in just 75 minutes of show. Check it all out here.