TV Geek Out 185: The Walking Dead, "Days Gone Bye" and "Guts"

TV Geek Out begins our coverage of AMC's smash-hit zombie series, The Walking Dead, with this epic chat about the first 2 episodes! In the premiere, "Days Gone Bye," small-town cop Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to learn that zombies have overrun society, which mostly now looks like a ghost town scattered with corpses, both dead and undead. We discover this terrifying, sad new world along with Grimes as he heads out in search of his family and meets father-and-son survivors Morgan and Duane, and we're introduced to a camp of other survivors outside of Atlanta and discover along with Grimes that the big city is the very opposite of a safe haven. In "Guts," Grimes meets a group of people who are on a mission to retrieve supplies from Atlanta. He helps them deal with their power-hungry bigot, Merle, as well as the dilemma (partly caused by him) of how to get out of a building surrounded by hordes of famished zombies and escape the city alive. The answer leads to possibly the most disgusting couple of scenes in the history of television -- let's just be glad that TVs don't come equipped with Smell-O-Vision! TV geeks Heather, Dana, and Perry discuss how the slow, contemplative style that the show establishes fits right in with AMC's other series, and analyze how the zombie world here compares to other stand-outs in the genre, as well as the comic it was based on. Listen in to this mega-geek out here.

(Note: The "Guts" discussion begins at about 57:13.)

TV Geek Out 184: Conan -- The First Week

After months of waiting and expectations, Conan O'Brien returned to late-night TV last week with Conan, his simply named show for TBS. While some things were better than O'Brien's brief stint hosting The Tonight Show -- letting sidekick Andy Richter return to his rightful spot next to Coco among them -- Conan got off to a somewhat soft start. The TV Geek Out geeks discuss what went right and what went wrong with O'Brien's first week on the job here.

TV Geek Out 183: TV News Discussion

The TV Geek Out geeks get together to chat about the latest news in TV-land, from ratings to cancellations/renewals to what we've been watching lately! Despite being as timely as possible, there's already been at least one more casualty between this recording and its posting -- J.J. Abrams' struggling spy show Undercovers. Listen in as we try to keep track of all the current procedurals and who's on them, realize that we don't really watch ABC at all anymore now that Lost's gone, and discuss the recent controversy regarding Mike & Molly here.

TV Geek Out 182: Mad Men, "Blowing Smoke"

Can it really be that Mad Men has gone nearly four whole seasons without titling an episode “Blowing Smoke”? But when they finally did, boy is it a doozy! Don attempts to salvage the company with a bold letter to the New York Times, Cooper picks up his shoes and goes home, the Campbells have their biggest fight in years, and one of Don’s old flames is now a heroin addict. TV geeks Perry, Heather, and Dana have much to discuss about the penultimate episode of the season, including Sally’s positive response to therapy, Glen’s inability to fill out a football uniform, and Midge’s memorable description of what heroin feels like. Check it all out here.

TV Geek Out 181: True Blood, "Bad Blood"

TV Geek Out returns to our True Blood coverage with this discussion of the third-season premiere, "Bad Blood." Events pick up right where they left off, with everyone in a bad state. Sookie is distraught that Bill's gone missing, and frustrated by human law enforcement's lack of interest in his disappearance. Jason's freaked out that he killed Eggs, and in one of the episode's best scenes, Andy tells him he has to act like his normal self if their cover-up is going to be believed -- "Conscience off, dick on!" Tara is beyond consolation over Eggs' death, and winds up locking herself in Lafayette's bathroom and downing a bunch of pills. Bill's stuck in a speeding car full of V-loving dudes, who set a new low for trashiness on the show as they greedily drink from him; he easily outwits them and escapes, but they eventually track him down and surround him -- in wolf form -- for the big cliffhanger! Meanwhile, Jessica's not dealing well with the fact that she's "accidentally" killed a trucker, and Hoyt fails in his attempt to reconcile with her and moves in with Jason. Sam's off in search of his birth parents and has an awesome sexy dream about Bill, Jason can't perform when he picks up two chicks, and Eric can apparently perform for six hours straight in his multipurpose dungeon. Add in a visit from the queen of Louisiana and the Magister, and TV geeks Dana and Heather had plenty to geek out about! Listen in as they discuss all this and much more here.

TV Geek Out 180: 30 Rock Live!

Tina Fey and company attempted the seemingly impossible, a live version of a sitcom that seems dependent on the ability to cut quickly to throwaway gags. While this may seem as difficult, and unnecessary, as a live version of Family Guy, the TV Geek Out crew were quite impressed with the effort, even if they varied in their opinions of how funny it was. So join Dana, Perry, and Heather as they break down the differences between the East Coast and West Coast versions, enthuse about Chris Parnell, and continue to gush over the always amazing Jon Hamm. Check it all out here.

TV Geek Out 179: Mad Men, "Chinese Wall"

Dr. Faye Miller might claim to have a “Chinese Wall,” but leave it to Don Draper to demolish that defensive structure and get her to abandon her own ethics. After all, what woman doesn’t fall for Don’s much-employed charms? Certainly not our favorite Canadian, Megan. In the meantime, Peggy finally falls into bed with someone she isn’t actively deceiving, Roger reveals the truth -- sort of -- about the end of Lucky Strike, and the partners take advantage of a funeral to network for new business. Yes, it was a Mad Men episode chock-full of beginnings and endings, so join TV geeks Perry, Dana, and Heather for a spirited discussion of the fourth season’s 11th episode here!

TV Geek Out 178: Glee, "Audition" and "Britney/Brittany"

How has the TV Geek Out trio responded to Glee so far this year? Well, one of us is thinking our relationship with the show might be as dead as Don and Betty’s marriage on Mad Men. Find out who might be happier with a whole lot less Glee as Dana, Perry, and Heather debate the merits of pop tunes vs. showtunes, lament the lack of screen time for our favorite characters, and wonder if Glee’s Brittany S. Pierce has more talent than Britney Spears. Check it all out here.

TV Geek Out 177: Mad Men Season 4 Finale Reactions

And so season four ends not with a bang, but with a ring. It was a surprisingly mellow close to a season filled with darkness and upheaval -- if you can call a surprise engagement, a not-so-surprise pregnancy and an overdue business triumph within the span of an hour mellow. After watching the finale on Sunday night, we couldn't resist recording our initial thoughts about "Tomorrowland." Check them out here, and stay tuned for a more in-depth discussion!

TV Geek Out 176: Fall TV Premieres, Part 2

TV Geek Out returns with the second part of our discussion of all the fall TV premieres that we've been watching. We cover a lot more ground this time, chatting about new shows, returning shows, summer series we loved, and midseason series we can't wait to see, including Fringe, Undercovers, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, NBC Thursday-night comedies, Dexter, Rubicon, and much more! Check it all out here.