Welcome to the 249th episode of TV’s Top 5, The Hollywood Reporter’s TV podcast.
Every week, hosts Lesley Goldberg (West Coast TV editor) and Daniel Fienberg (chief TV critic) break down the latest TV news with context from the business and critical sides, welcome showrunners, executives and other guests, and provide a critical guide of what to watch (or skip, as the case may be).
Here’s how this week’s episode plays out:
1. Headlines
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Glen Powell, Dennis Quad and True Detective — and original creator Nic Pizzolatto — lead the week’s industry headlines.
2. WTF: Freevee
We return with another What the Bleep segment as we check in on what’s happening with Freevee, Amazon’s free, ad-supported streaming platform. Amazon has refuted news reports this week that said it would “sunset” the platform. This segment looks at what Amazon could do with Freevee and why. (Memo to Amazon: renew High School and Primo!)
3. Late Night Lately
Last Week Tonight returned for its 11th season with HBO making a big change to the way it releases digital clips from the John Oliver favorite — and the host isn’t happy about it. On the other hand, Jon Stewart has been back at The Daily Show for two weeks and Comedy Central wastes zero time on launching those clips. This segment looks at both strategies as Dan weighs in on what’s working for Stewart so far.
4. Showrunner Spotlight
Our guest this week is Amy Schumer, the actress and comedian who created, writes, directs, produces and stars in the Hulu comedy series Life & Beth, which returned for its second season Feb. 16. The semi-autobiographical comedy also stars Michael Cera as Beth’s husband and, in season two — spoiler alert! — explores themes including autism and antisemitism. In the interview, Schumer opens up about exploring personal storylines from her marriage as well as why it was vital for her to explore the ways in which Judaism played a role in her childhood. “Antisemitism has been on the rise for a long time and I wanted to do my part to show… a younger person who doesn’t really understand where that’s coming from, but just accepts it as part of life,” she says. As for the future of Life & Beth, Schumer hopes to continue making it for years to come and, with Hulu having acquired the Inside Amy Schumer library, possibly revisiting the sketch show for the streamer.
5. Critic’s Corner
As usual, we end with Dan’s thoughts on this week’s new and returning series. In this episode, he weighs in on FX’s Shogun, Apple’s Constellation, Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and AMC’s The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
Hear it all now on TV’s Top 5. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to never miss an episode. (Reviews welcome!) You can also email us with any topics or Mailbag questions you’d like addressed in future episodes at TVsTop5@THR.com.
