Podcast Episode 9: Claudia Cogan Explains Hate-Watching and Why The Great British Bakeoff is Great

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From Last Comic Standing and New York, comedian Claudia Cogan happens to be one of Sue's favorite comedians. On this week's podcast she explains what makes hate-watching so appealing using the examples of Whitney and Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce. There's also discussion regarding the new Pretty Little Liars spin-off,  Today Show gossip on Megyn Kelly's new hour, and how everyone should give The Good Place a chance.

If you're reading this blog because you already listen to the podcast, thank you! If you haven't checked it out yet, that's okay. I mean, it's just a great podcast with funny people discussing TV every week that will keep you informed on all things television. Some people, just aren't into that and we respect it. If you have the means though, we highly recommend subscribing, telling everyone you know, posting incessantly about it on social media, bringing it up at dinner parties, and getting your pets addicted to it while you're at work. Thanks!

Episode 8: Kwanza Osajyefo on The Podcast Discussing a Shocking TV Moment That Cured Him

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Kwanza Osajyefo worked with Sue at About.com a lifetime ago. He also happens to be the author of the graphic novel BLACK which is being made into a feature film.  On this week's podcast they drink a bunch of red wine (Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel) and discuss Sanford & Son, The Cosby Show, the best moments of the 2017 Emmys and tons of other great television.

Thank you for listening! If you'd like to chat back please tweet @iluvtvmorethanu or leave a comment on Facebook.com/ILoveTVMoreThanYou

Podcast Episode 7: TV talk with Ben Tahija from Murder We Spoke and Pretty Little Podcasters

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In this pre-recorded episode, podcast pals Ben Tahija and Sue Funke discuss the best TV episode, the best TV season, the best TV show you've never seen, and the state of TV overall. If you're not familiar with Ben's podcast work, get your download on! His podcast Murder We Spoke covers Murder She Wrote from a millennial perspective which is a refreshing and loving homage to Jessica Fletcher that all mystery and humor fans will enjoy.

You can chat with Ben on twitter as @MurderWeSpoke or on @PrettyLittlePod  You can reach out to the podcast with questions, suggestions or corrections @iluvtvmorethanu or follow Sue on all social media platforms as thesuefunke.

Please subscribe and share this podcast with your friends, because the news is horrific, TV is a wonderful escape and listening to people chat about TV is as close to zen as free podcasts can buy.

Podcast Episode 6: Darin Patterson recalls a jarring episode of Twilight Zone, and the moment Walter White Broke Bad

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Darin Patterson has performed stand-up with Sue Funke on the same comedy show. You can see this from this week's episode photo which was taken from the same Dennis Has A Podcast flier. Podcast lovers may know Darin from his podcast 'The Virgin Chronicles' or from some of the stand-up shows he's on seen on his website.

Darin came by podcast corner to chat about shows that stuck with him such as The World Series of Pop Culture, The Chapelle Show, Happy Endings, This Is Us, Breaking Bad and so much more. A TV lover with a pop culture award to back him up, this is an episode not to be missed, but definitely to be tweeted. 

Chat with us @darincredible or @iluvtvmorethanu on Twitter! Let people know how you feel about this podcast, review it on iTunes or share it with friends.

Podcast Episode 5: Selena Coppock takes us on a tour of Sex and The City, The Bachelor, and a new blonde bombshell show

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Comedian and author of 'The New Rules for Blondes' Selena Coppock traveled all the way to Queens to take Sue on a tour of the greatness that is Sex and The City, the importance of this season of The Bachelorette (she's an expert) and why Ghostwriter was her favorite slow writer. 

If you'd like to learn more about this hilarious guest star, follow her  @SelenaCoppock 

 or her parody account @NYTVows. If you want to talk to more people about this podcast review it on iTunes or share it! If you had feedback write @ILuvTVMoreThanU on Twitter.

Podcast Episode 4: Tommy Geraci comes with cheesecake and wine because Golden Girls and Will & Grace

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If you have ever live tweeted a show, you've probably seen him in the conversation amongst your hashtagging, @teeco71 is a social media influencer, as well as a TV lover. Also known as Tommy Geraci, his love of TV Land put him on Sue Funke's radar and now they're BFF's.

Listen to these two giant TV fans go on about the classics and current gems you may also love. We invite you to chat back to us by tweeting:
@teeco71 or @iluvtvmorethanu with your thoughts, feelings, and Venmo dollars.

Podcast Episode 3: Audrey Gater on why we need to watch Hands Maid Tale and the best of Reality TV

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Sue Funke sits down to chat with her former TV Land co-worker, Audrey Gater. They discuss Ed Sheeran's surprise cameo on Game of Thrones, the very first show Audrey ever binged watched, and how she's a SNICK kid, not a Disney kid.

WARNING: This podcast was recorded while Sue was working, so there are some keyboard noises and weird cuts. We're living and learning audio editing slowly here, so apologies for the side noise.

Podcast Episode 2: Katie Compa Talks Rachel Maddow, Murphy Brown, and I Love Lucy

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This week Sue Funke talks TV with her comedy co-host pal, Katie Compa. The two run a comedy show together at QED called, Happy Place Comedy. You can see it every 3rd Thursday at 9pm. Today, you can listen to them banter about I Love Lucy, Mad Men, That 70s Show, an epic series finale and some shows that haven't even made it to air yet. 

Enjoy the show, and this throwback photo of them from a BBQ in 2011. 

Podcast Episode 1: Netflix Cancellations and Saves, Emmy Wishes, 90s TV, and More with Dennis Sarlo

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Sue Funke sits down with Dennis Sarlo to discuss his top 5 favorite TV shows and moments. One of the shows is Wonder Woman, which isn't a surprise seeing as Sue and Dennis once dressed up as Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor for Halloween when they worked together at About.com.

TV Podcast Preview

The Podcast Is Coming...

I Love TV More Than You is becoming a new podcast! Download the preview here to learn more!

Amazon Pilot Season: The Cure for the Fall Jitters

What are the Fall Jitters you ask?

It's the shakes tv-aholics like myself get in late August/early September. The need for our favorite shows to come back and to finally see all the new fall shows we've been teased about for the past month.

I am in desperate need for new TV seasons. A girl can only watch Happy Endings  and Pretty Little Liars so many times before feeling an overwhelming need for new material.

Thankfully, Amazon's latest experiment gave me something new to watch with the power to vote on it, to boot.

At amazonoriginals.com I saw some decent new shows with some of my favorite actors. They brought back Sarah Chalke, Paul Reiser, and Chloe Sevigny to some interesting and different shows. While I'm not a fan of all that I saw, everything I watched was a decent pilot.

I really enjoyed Really because of the cast, the writing and the ending that definitely has me wondering what is going to happen next?

Red Oaks brought back Paul Reiser, and made him out to be a cocky-villain that I just really want to see more of.

The disappointment was The Cosmopolitans. I wanted to love this show so much because of the cast, and it's set in Paris. Unfortunately, it's more short film than compelling series material. With that said though, I'd give another episode a shot.

The best thing about all of these shows though, it helped soothe my need for new TV.. for an hour or so.

I want my fall TV....
(Stay tuned for some fall TV picks)

Friday Funke: Weekly TV Recap 2/24/12

Hey pals! It's a little late because I had a ton of TV to catch up to today, but here's this week's TV recaps and stories.

Favorites

1. The Good Wife - My only complaint about this show is completely CBS's fault. Why the heck did you put your best drama on Sunday nights during sports seasons? I hate having to DVR both The Good Wife and CSI: Miami, mostly because I'm embarrassed to have CSI: Miami on my DVR. With that said, this show is so strong with story line and characters. I was impressed by the famous Christian hand-job giver from True Blood, Anna Camp, this week. Her characters two-timing teases have me excited to see where they'll bring it too. I love the Alan Cummings story as well, mostly because if you were going to have two women vie for the attentions of Eli Gold, Parker Posey and Amy Sedaris are the only plausible actresses to pull that off.

2.Raising Hope - It's dangerous territory to put together two characters that have had chemistry. They did a good job with the first week of Jimmy and Sabrina's relationship and I hope they keep it up. The one thing that threw me off, why was Maw Maw so present this week as compared to her typical far-from-lucid demeanor?

3. Cougar Town - I caught up on the return and this week's at once. The start of the season was really strong. I want a wine necklace. I think the humor is definitely there, but I'm surprised how much more I like Happy Endings. They're very similar except Happy Endings doesn't have as much wine, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

4. Happy Endings - I love that there were Clueless references, butterfly effect jokes, and the fact that Max was literally a bear the entire episode. The best part though, "kewl!" I love the lexicon that this show brings back, or makes up. It's totes ahmazing.

5. Suburgatory - It was a really funny take on suburban trends this week, and a great Dahlia face-off to boot. I think this show is doing great for a first season, but this episode really nailed suburbia to me.

Changing channels...

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

1. Glee - This week was every school assembly + after school special combined with some less-than-exciting musical numbers. There were way too many themes jammed in, and by the time they got to the last one, not only did everyone see it coming, we were wincing because no one wanted it. I think that Ryan Murphy loves it when we talk about his shows. I think he's doing a great job at that, I just wish he was focused more on having us talk about the fantastic writing and flawless musical numbers instead of how ridiculous it is. I guess that's why we have Smash now.

2. How I Met Your Mother - So, this week we followed up the billionth "I love you, Robin" the same way pretty much all of them have. Nope, Ted and Robin shouldn't be together... but maybe Robin and Barney? I'm giving them one more episode and then I'm pulling the plug and watching repeats of RuPaul's Drag Race instead.

TV Trivia:

Real life couples on prime time that gross me out:

Penny & Leonard dated on and off on The Big Bang Theory, and Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco dated off-screen during the first season.

That has to be awkward to make out with your ex...

Almost as awkward as making out with your on screen brother, which is exactly what Lauren Graham and Peter Krause are doing. That's right brother and sister Braverman are together off-screen. First season several critics complained that the sexual tension between the two off-screen made for awkward on-screen scenes. Check out when Sarah and Adam worked together at the sneaker factory to see if you can see the sibling sparks. (grossssss)

Friday Funke - Your Weekly TV Recap 2/17/12

Oh man, this week had redemption and some serious sitcom turmoil. Let's take a look at the playback, shall we?

Best of the Week

1. Joan Rivers on WWHL - Watch What Happens Live is Andy Cohen's talk show where usually the guests are forced to talk about all things Bravo. (BTW, Andy, call me. I'd TOTALLY be there.) This week he had Joan Rivers on and she was fantastic. Her honesty, and quick wit showed through. It was really awesome to see a female comic crack everyone up and reveal so much about the industry.

2. 30 Rock - Fantastic. I know I bashed last week's episode, but in comparison this week was possibly one of their best in a while. It was everything that made 30 Rock great. It had New York City references, a Batman reference, even the Jenna story was great. Also, I don't know why Mr. Met showed up, but as a Mets fan it totally made my night.

3. Smash -Oh wow, how original, another critic loves Smash. Honestly, I wanted to hate this show. I wanted to find the American Idol reject who sang 'Beautiful' in the constantly aired commercial and punch her in the face. That's how much I didn't want to like this show. The thing is, it's a pretty great show. Debra Messing is just as great as she was on Will & Grace, she even has a gay side-kick. I hope it's able to keep up the spot-on theatrical work, because if so, NBC finally might have some must-see TV again.

4. Revenge - I won't spoil it for you, but I just have to say this evening soap is doing a magnificent job with the twists and turns. It is keeping me hanging on, and counting the days till the next episode (Not for another 2 weeks!)

5. Parks & Recreation - They brought back Louis CK and he perfectly off of Adam Scott. As always though, Ron Swanson steals the show. The jazz subplot, just fantastic. Let's celebrate with some Ron Swanson meme:

Now, onto the best thing that ever happened to Reality TV

Big Ang.

Good lord, this woman is flippin' fantastic and crazy. Much like the rest of the Mob Wives, really. As Drita put it "Ya gotta love Big Ang, I mean, that voice!"

Biggest Upset of the Week - How I Met Your Mother.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT WRITERS ROOM??? Did everyone just get really tired and say, ya know what? Let's just pull a story line that we've done like 10 times now, because everyone will really dig that.

Come on! I feel like even the actors had to question that script. There better be a fantastic twist to follow, because that ending made me reconsider watching new episodes moving forward. Such a bummer.

SPOILER ALERT ABOUT HIMYM

Ted told Robin that

- wait for it-

he loves her.

In the most recent episode. Just like he has almost every season. Kids, you are never finding out who your real mom is.

Downton Abbey Progress Report - I am on catch-up with this fantastic show. Unfortunately, I made it my gym show, so I've only seen 3 hours of it. I really need to step up my game and get on an elliptical because I really feel like I'm missing out. What I will say is, what I've seen so far, I LOVE.

Fun Family Shows:

Shows that are actually still appropriate to watch with your kids:

Once Upon a Time

The Middle

Favorite TV Trivia of the Week:

The license plate on Cam and Mitchell's car on 'Modern Family' is the same as Larry David's on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' : 2GAT123

Friday Funke - Your Weekly TV Recap

This week had a lot of great shows. Let's take a look at the playback...

Best of the Week

My top 5 shows:

1. Pretty Little Liars - If you are not watching this show, what! what! what are you doing? Is it because it's on ABC Family? Get over it. I know the commercials for Joey & Melissa are painful, but this show, like Spanx, it is worth the discomfort.

Is it because they're teens? What, you'll watch them when they are singing but not when they are keeping life threatening secrets?

I'm just saying if you enjoy bitchy people, suspense, and some good ol' fashioned murder/teen drama get into it.

This week the girls had a slumber party in school, which made me wonder, does that really happen? I can't imagine there are enough chaperones in the world to handle a co-ed high school slumber party, but alas, it happened in the world of PLL. The best part of this week was the unexpected alliance of Mona and everyone's favorite lesbian swim team member, Emily. Their interactions made it seem like Mona was A more than ever, but at this point I could be A. Have you heard people think it might even be Ezra?

2. Top Chef Texas - This season promised it would be bigger and it is delivering. There's been really different competitions, and drama this season with the girls being edited as super catty (Which just begs for a reunion show, please Andy Cohen? Pretty please with Maker's Mark on top?). The best part this season though - Last Chance Kitchen. It was seemingly a throw-away at the end of each episode to drive traffic to bravotv.com. The chef that got kicked off was challenged by another former cheftestant in a short cook-off challenge, judge solely by Colicchio. Every week it was an awesome bonus to each episode. This week they let the winner return to the main competition and it was, of course, the most controversial chef - Beverly. While I wish she wouldn't cry so darn much, I really don't have anything against her. The rest of the chefs seem to have a beef with her - and it is not a delicious one. While I can't remember what they cooked, I do remember that this was the episode that everyone cried - it felt like a Michael Landon convention in the kitchen. I am bummed about who lost but still think the final challenges will be interesting and mouth-watering to watch.

3. Modern Family - Two of my favorite TV critics GMMR & Ducky of the TV TalkPodcast recently brought up a great point about this 3rd season sitcom - it's missing the allure of the first season since we were meeting all these crazy characters and didn't know all of their quirks. This week, in almost a way to combat that they brought together the characters in a new way foiling Cam and Gloria in the kitchen and bringing a new character onto the scene, Betty Luke. Greg Kinner's cameo was good, but it felt a little trite. Taking on mouth-kissers feels as though it's been done to death and while they tried to put a fun spin on it, it definitely wasn't the best part of the episode.

4. New Girl - Speaking of old conventions, New Girl took this week's episode out of the 90s cinema fad of threesomes, and made it hilarious. It resulted in wonderful uncomfortable humor that had me squealing with delight. I feel like it quelled some of the tension between Jess and Nick, which is good because while I wouldn't hate to see them together, I'd be totally cool with them drawing it out Sam and Diane style.

5. Glee - The sass off between Nene Leaks and Sue Silvester was so good I wanna make a ringtone of it. You honestly could just watch that clip, because other than that it wasn't all that thrilling. Ricky Martin was better at acting than I would've thought, in fact he kinda schooled Mr. Shuester in more ways than one. But was the world really missing Ricky Martin? I feel like he can go back to jet skiing with dolphins in Miami, we're good.

Something I Noticed

Wednesday night on ABC is what Thursday night on NBC used to be when it was 'Must See TV'. I have proof!

So, what made 'Must See TV' great was the stellar sitcoms. Just some to grace the mega ratings time slots were: Seinfeld, Mad About You, Friends, Fraiser, News Radio, and Will & Grace. The formula was - 1-2 strong sitcoms, 1-2 not as strong, but still funny sitcoms, and then ER would bring the drama to top off the night.

ABC has this formula playing out perfectly on Wednesdays, and if you're not on board yet set your DVR or put these in your streaming queue:

The Middle

Suburgatory

Modern Family

Happy Endings

and then the drama that tops it off, Revenge.

It's a mirror image to the formula of NBC's Must See Thursday, but now it's ABC Wednesday...and NBC is still trying to get that magic back on Thursday.

Disappointments of the Week

30 Rock - I love this show, I didn't need this week's to be an hour long. It felt stretched. I'm also feeling like Liz Lemon's character is becoming less inspiring. She used to be head of a show, stressing over writing and corralling all her crazy co-workers. I feel like it's now more about her just being an awful woman. Maybe it was just all the period references, but this week bummed me out a bit.

Real Housewives of Orange County - Over it! It just seemed like a build-up for more screaming. Can't you gals be classy like RHOBH and just say bitchy things and then point at each other with stern voices?

Guaranteed LOL Shows

Happy Endings

Modern Family

Shows that Need to Come Back Sooner than Later

Community

Cougar Town

Favorite Trivia of the Week

Madeleine Stowe of the fantabulous evening soap drama Revenge was also in the 1990 shitty movie also titled Revenge. It's not like a Buffy thing though, the TV show and movie do not share plot lines or characters.

TV Recap: Mob Wives

It's Renee's birthday party/thank-god-that-plastic-surgery-didn't-kill-me-party.

She invited Sammy the Bulls Daughter Karen, and self-proclaimed face bashing expert Dritta.

Big Ang, a woman we assume is called that because of her freakish lips, tries to mediate a peace between Karen and Dritta.

This results in a giant brawl. Everyone is involved, including Renee's probi ex-hubby, even though Renee tries to be taken home several times by him.

Dritta thinks she's been set up, Karen explains that she needs to take bitches down whenever necessary.

Renee's ex doesn't fight, but does hit a car.

In the end everyone leaves, and Renee's husband says he doesn't want to lose her and she cries because she's finally "loved."

Aaron Sorkin is Coming Back to Us

That's right American TV fans, we're getting a new show about cable news from Aaron Sorkin.

It's going to be on HBO and, well, it sounds pretty great so far. Check out this article.

Let's Talk Dexter

I'm about to discuss season 6 of Dexter. If you haven't caught up, stop now, and go catch up. I can wait.

A Reaction from Season 6, Episode 6: Just Let Go

This season of Dexter is definitely very different than others. Instead of having his own "dark passenger" persona and a pal that is a personification of the dark passenger (his brother, Lila, Miguel, Trinity, Lumen) this season Dexter's friend is on the "light" side as a man of God. Brother Sam was introduced as a possible killer in the beginning of the season, but when he's cleared of wrong doings Dexter finds him useful in explaining faith, something Dexter never had. His religion was basically "righting wrongs" by killing.

This week's episode was exquisite writing with the choice of turning Dexter away from the light. When Sam sends Dexter to forgive his killer, Dexter seems rather genuine. He didn't bring his tools, he took him to the beach to remind him of brother Sam's teachings. But, when the killer won't repent, Dexter let's his dark passenger take over. This is a pivotal moment of rejecting the light is a huge turning point for this season. Not only did Dexter reject the light, but by doing so he's embodied even more of his own darkness. This is illustrated by the person that watches over Dexter from the beyond as he kills his victim. It is no longer his father, Harry, but rather his brother.

The new darkness that will encapsulate Dexter looks extremely manic. Perhaps the methodical, careful Dexter is now gone.

What an amazing choice by the writers and absolutely worth the build up. I know many have disliked the tone of this season, but I believe this about-face proves that these writers know exactly what they're doing, and I am buckling up and eagerly anticipating the rest of this ride.

Why Am I Watching These Shows?

There are certain commercials that will come on every now and then for TV shows that you can't help but wonder, "WHO is watching that?"

Here's a short list:

NCIS LA - LL Cool J "acting"

Shark Tank -has nothing to do with sharks.

Desperate Housewives

Grey's Anatomy

There's no dash next to those last two because... I'm the one watching them.

I know, I know - look away from me! My poor-taste is too awful to watch!!

These shows are more played out than my Billy Joel greatest hits tapes (Don't look at me like that, I'm from Long Island), and yet I tune in week after week.

I'd love to say that I'm still riveted, or it's the investment in the characters --and even though those things do factor in -- it's more a matter of a need for answers.

For example...

Grey's Anatomy

Will they ever just kill Meredith?

How do male actors read this script and not say something about how completely unnatural it is?

What stupid medical procedure will they do for ratings/to remind us they still work in a hospital?

Desperate Housewives

Does it end up that it turns out to actually be the town I grew up in?

Will they ever learn to stop keeping secrets and just tell the police?

and with both of these shows...

How much longer must I wait for a man to take off his shirt and show off his killer abs?!

I could call these shows a guilty pleasure, but the ridiculous decline of both of these series seems to merit something worse. Perhaps we should just start calling the love of such shameful, poor-quality TV Jersey Shore Pleasures. Although in some ways, the writing for that is even better.

I'm excited to see how they conclude Desperate Housewives, although the road we're going down right now doesn't seem all that sunny. The current story-line is reminiscent to season one's suicide. Oh, those zany housewives!

And as for Grey's...I think I'm simply looking forward to how much more ridiculous it can get.

If you're looking for a sappy movie that is so bad it's hilarious, just try an episode out. I'm telling you, there are some quality, unwittingly funny moments in this show that are worth the watch...

if you're really bored.

I Totally Stopped Watching 'The Ringer'

I know I said it wasn't that bad, but here's the thing - it wasn't good enough for me to remember what day it was on. The fact that I remembered that The Rachel Zoe Project is on Tuesdays but couldn't bother to recall that about The Ringer is a telling, albeit embarrassing, truth.

I am watching some great new scripted shows and hoping with my recent job-loss to get into some new ones that are getting great reviews. Here's my new-fall must-see list

1. Suburgatory - Totally off my radar, but really like it. Great casting, decent writing.

2. Up All Night - I know some have given up hope, but I am still trying

3. New Girl - It's a fun show, and I would also like a theme song at any given moment so it's relate-able.

4. Revenge - Haven't seen it but friends are raving that it's a great adult sitcom

5. Once Upon a Time - it hasn't premiered yet, but it looks way better than the other fairy tale show, Grim. I love the cast and premise. Here's the preview: