TV Geek Out 197: 2011 Oscar Nominations

With just a few days remaining until Hollywood's most important awards are handed out, Heather, Dana, and Perry are here to help answer all of your burning questions: Will The King's Speech get the better of The Social Network? Does anyone have a chance of upsetting Christian Bale? How the heck do I know which live-action short to pick in my office pool? So listen in as the trio gives you all the info you'll need, and more trivia than you might have expected here!

TV Geek Out 196: The Walking Dead, "TS-19"

And so the first season of The Walking Dead ended with a bang and a whimper. In "TS-19," Rick and the rest of the survivors discover that the CDC is far from the haven they'd anticipated, and that Dr. Edwin Jenner isn't as much of a samaritan as they'd thought. Or is he? Jenner offers to share the certain death the CDC's computer is counting down to -- one of the few sure things our crew has encountered, and something that's all the more tempting now that it's clear the whole world has fallen to the zombie outbreak. Sure enough, some of the crew takes him up on the offer (bye, Jacqui! We hardly knew ye!) but the option of taking the easy way out only strenghtens Rick's resolve to survive. The last vestiges of the survivors' hopes that civilization will return anytime soon go up in smoke along with the rest of the CDC, and the search for a safe place begins again. Yet for the season finale, "TS-19" was surprisingly light on zombies, aside from the tantalizing opening glimpse of just how bad things got at the hospital while Rick was sleeping. And besides the drama surrounding how and which of the survivors would escape from the CDC, the episode was so low-key that it bordered on anticlimactic. Despite the show's unevenness, its mini first season made a maximum impression. We talk about the strengths and weaknesses of "TS-19" and the season in general, our hopes for season two and much more here.

TV Geek Out 195: Boardwalk Empire, "Broadway Limited" and "Anastasia"

TVGO's Heather and Dana discuss the 3rd and 4th episodes of Boardwalk Empire. In "Broadway Limited," Van Alden goes medieval on the newfound survivor of the roadside shooting, literally squeezing the name Jimmy out of him before he dies. Word travels fast, and Rothstein orders Luciano to take out Darmody. Perhaps lucky for Jimmy, Nucky's already banished him from town, so he heads to Chicago, but not before becoming suspicious of Angela and picking a fight with her as he leaves. Nucky also deals with the lynching of Chalky's driver and the ever-increasing cut that White wants of the bootlegging profits. As for the ladies, Nucky gets Margaret a job at high-end dress shop Belle Femme, where she later waits on his girlfriend, Lucy, in a tense exchange. In "Anastasia," Margaret is swept up in the news of the mysterious Russian woman claiming to be the missing Romanov princess. Meanwhile, Nucky is planning an elaborate "surprise" birthday party for himself -- and to wine and dine two political bigwigs. When Margaret goes to the party to deliver Lucy's dress, she gets swept up in all the opulence and Nucky is very taken with her. Later, after reading that "Anastasia" was a fraud and seeing Lucy with Nucky, the disillusionment leads Margaret to steal a camisole from the shop. Elsewhere, Eli arrests the leader of the local KKK under suspicion of the recent lynching, and puts White in charge of the interrogation, leading to one of the most memorable scenes of the season. In Chicago, Jimmy joins up with Capone, whose pranks are downright dangerous, and Jimmy takes up with prostitute Pearl, planning to go west with her. It's not to be, as Capone's brutish dealings with local gangsters lead to the slashing of Pearl's beautiful face. It was these two excellent episodes that finally turned Dana and Heather into Boardwalk Empire geeks, so check out why here!

TV Geek Out 194: 2011 Golden Globes Discussion

The TV Geek Out crew celebrated 40,000 downloads (thank you, loyal listeners!) by downing some lip-loosening libations and then dishing on the ridiculous splendor that is the annual party thrown by the Hollywood Foreign Press. So lift up a glass and join Perry, Dana, and Heather as they crack wise about January Jones’ anatomy, weigh in on the ongoing Ricky Gervais controversy, and basically treat the Golden Globes with the lack of reverence it so richly deserves. Check it out here!

TV Geek Out 193: 2011 Golden Globe Nominations

The awards season kicks off in earnest with the Golden Globes telecast this Sunday night. So before you sit down to watch alcohol-fueled acceptance speeches and the stinging barbs of host Ricky Gervais, join Heather, Dana, and Perry as they offer their predictions on who'll be taking home the big awards. Listen in here!

TV Geek Out 192: The Walking Dead, "Vatos" and "Wildfire"

TV Geek Out covers two installments of The Walking Dead with this chat about "Vatos" and "Wildfire," the 4th and 5th episodes of the series. In "Vatos," Rick, Glenn, T-Dog, and Daryl react to the discovery of Merle's severed hand in Atlanta, follow his trail of blood, and attempt to retrieve Rick's big bag of guns. Complications quickly arise when they run into another human in the middle of the operation, who calls out for help from his seemingly hostile gang of survivors. Back at camp, sisters Andrea and Amy go fishing and Jim is obsessed with digging holes, but the big event is the gruesome nighttime zombie attack! during the fish fry that night. "Wildfire," deals with the fallout from that horrific attack, in which, among other victims, Amy was killed and Jim was bitten. Andrea is traumatized and won't leave her sister's corpse... until Amy eventually turns into a zombie and Andrea puts her out of her misery. Meanwhile, the group is split over where to go now that their campsite is no longer safe, and how to handle the Jim situation as he slowly deteriorates. And in the last part of the episode, the show takes a leap into the CDC, where a sole scientist is still toiling away trying to develop a cure for the outbreak. Listen in as TV geeks Heather, Perry, and Dana discuss all this and more here!

TV Geek Out 191: True Blood, "It Hurts Me Too"

TV Geek Out covers "It Hurts Me Too," the third episode of True Blood's third season. Eric takes out a werewolf in Sookie's home, but only after she's heard him think "Jackson," which they soon figure out means the city in Mississippi. She's determined to go there in search of Bill, so Eric sends the (good) werewolf Alcide to watch over her and help her in her mission. Elsewhere, Tara has a steamy one-night stand with a mysterious vampire in a seedy motel. She and Sookie later make up when Sook pays for Eggs' funeral service. Sam returns to Bon Temps, but unfortunately for him, his birth family follows him and starts to cause trouble. Meanwhile, in Jackson, Lorena recovers from her burns, and Bill gives in to the king's wishes in order to protect Sookie. In a dream, he flashes back to the last time he saw his human wife, after he'd become a vampire; the experience was so traumatic for her that he had to glamour her into forgetting it. Bill's so forlorn in the present day that he has extreme hate sex with Lorena, leading to perhaps the show's most disturbing moment ever! In other events, Jason wants to become a police officer, Arlene is indeed pregnant, but with Rene's baby(!), Lafayette's got a new Bentley, Sheriff Bud Dearborn quits, and much more. TV geeks Heather and Dana discuss all the crazy goings-on here!

TV Geek Out 190: Boardwalk Empire, "The Ivory Tower"

TV Geek Out is back to talk more about HBO's latest hit show, the captivating Boardwalk Empire! Though the pilot may have had a few too many narrative bumps for most of the TVGO crew, the second episode, "The Ivory Tower," went a long way toward winning us over. Join TV geeks Dana, Perry, and Heather as they expound on the pleasures of Michael Shannon and Steve Buscemi having their first face-to-face confrontation on the show, marvel at the fact that Dabney Coleman can still play unrepentant racists and assholes decades into his career, and share their confusion about the relationship between Gretchen Mol's and Michael Pitt's characters. Listen in here!

TV Geek Out 189: The Walking Dead, "Tell It to the Frogs"

TV Geek Out covers The Walking Dead's third episode, "Tell It to the Frogs," in which Rick reunites with his family and joins the band of survivors outside Atlanta. Meanwhile, Merle is still baking on the city roof and having a serious a meltdown as hordes of zombies try to force their way through the chained door to devour him. Rick and the others struggle to decide what to tell Merle's brother, Daryl, when he gets back from hunting, and Rick, not surprisingly, insists on the moral route of total honesty. He even decides that he wants to go back for Merle, and spends much of the episode attempting to convince others to join him. They also deal with the disturbing arrival of a zombie near camp before a group of them head back to Atlanta for Merle -- and for Rick's abandoned bag of guns, ammo, and his walkie-talkie (for communicating with Morgan and his son). Also, at the quarry Shane teaches Carl about hunting frogs before getting told off by Lori and later stepping in on a skirmish between the women and wife-beater Ed, in which Shane beats the living daylights out of him. Listen in as TV geeks Dana, Perry, and Heather discuss all this and more here!

TV Geek Out 188: True Blood, "Beautifully Broken"

TV Geek Out covers the second episode of True Blood's third season, "Beautifully Broken." After Bill's bloody battle with the werewolves, he meets the king of Mississippi, Russell Edgington -- the vampire behind his abduction. Russell whisks Bill off on horseback to his mansion, where we meet the king's charming partner, Talbot. The next night, over an extravagant meal, Bill finally finds out what the king wants -- his help in convincing Queen Sophie-Anne to marry him and join their kingdoms into one. When Lorena shows up, an enraged Bill throws an oil lamp at her, setting her afire! Back in Louisiana, Sookie goes to Eric for help regarding the Operation Werewolf symbol, and we get a flashback to Eric and Godric in WWII, dressed as SS officers and hunting down werewolves (yay!). Meanwhile, Lafayette stops Tara from ODing, and takes her to the psychiatric hospital where his mother is a patient, showing Tara that they are the strong ones in their family. He also meets a hot nurse named Jesus. As for Tara, she ends the episode getting picked up by a dangerous English vampire, who encourages (and helps) her to beat the crap out of some racist rednecks outside Merlotte's. Elsewhere, Sam finds out his birth family kinda sucks and Andy and Jason's misadventures lead them to Hotshot, where Jason glimpses a beautiful but mysterious woman and busts a drug dealer. The episode ends with another werewolf/vampire standoff, this time plus Sookie! TV geeks Heather and Dana discuss all this and more here.