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.

TV Geek Out 187: Mad Men, "Tomorrowland"

In this installment, TV Geek Out analyzes Mad Men's season-four finale, "Tomorrowland," in greater detail than our initial-reactions discussion. Listen in to what Heather, Dana, and Perry had to say about the episode after we all had some time to reflect on the major turn of events in Don Draper's life. After a season of hitting what seemed like multiple rock bottoms, Don went on another trip to the West Coast and fell in love... with his secretary. Was becoming a cliché the only path to Don's salvation? The TVGO geeks discuss this and much more -- including Betty's firing of Carla, Peggy's continued savvy at work, the milkshake of destiny, and that unforgettable chat between the two most powerful, and underappreciated, women at SCDP -- here.

TV Geek Out 186: Glee, "Grilled Cheesus," "Duets," and "The Rocky Horror Glee Show"

It's time to take another ride on the Glee roller coaster! Season two has had some thrilling, and not so thrilling, ups and downs since the last time we discussed it. "Grilled Cheesus" fell into some of the traps we at TV Geek Out cannot stand about the show: it took on a heavy subject -- religion -- but did so in a simplistic, patronizing fashion, once again used Kurt and Burt Hummel's fraught but ultimately loving relationship as a vehicle for a Very Special Episode, and reduced the rest of the characters to caricatures (we're looking at you, Finn, you numbskull). "Duets," on the other hand, was a tantalizing reminder of just how great Glee can be. Not only did we get more of new character Sam (the fantastically named Chord Overstreet), the episode actually had the New Directions kids performing believable songs in a believable way for a believable reason -- to win dinner at Breadsticks! Glimpses of Santana and Brittany's relationship and great performances of "River Deep, Mountain High," "Le Jazz Hot" and "Sing!" made it one of the second season's best moments. Finally, "The Rocky Horror Glee Show" got into the Halloween spirit while remaining completely Glee: racy, campy, subversive and heartwarming all at the same time. That the kids didn't get to perform the show for an audience was a bit of a buzzkill (as was Mr. Schue's increasing creepiness), but with Glee being so unpredictable this year, you take your pleasures where you can find them. We discuss all this and more here.

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!