This week, it's Blaine and Donovan discussing the varied plot threads throughout the second season of Perry Mason as they break down the third episode, "Chapter Eleven" (2:42). After a short break, they talk about how The Mandalorian is good, but has big problems (22:48). Lastly, they dissect the pilot episode of Lucky Hank, which stars Bob Odenkirk and airs on AMC each Sunday (34:02). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find the other podcasts produced by The Alabama Take in podcast app or directly on the site.

To help us do a complete wrap on The Last of Us, we bring in host of This Song Sucks Josh Kavanaugh to talk about the show, the game, and if it all worked (2:57). Josh sticks around to help analyze the first three episodes of The Mandalorian and is surprised by The Book of Boba Fett in the process (31:26). At the end of the show, Donovan and Blaine praise the first two episodes of the HBO show Perry Mason for taking it slow and casting Matthew Rhys (46:51). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find the other podcasts in the network on the site or your favorite app.

With even more laughs than usual, Taking It Down starts with ads that aren't ads at all as well as music announcements (1:30). From there, the group discusses a goodbye of sorts for Arrested Development, which turns into a lesson on digital versus physical copies (3:51). It all leads to a hilarious set of listener questions that involve spoilers and spoiler hatred (6:02), Point Break (11:23), albums that never get old (13:15), Cocaine Bear (17:05), doing our homework (18:02), an Ant-Man query (18:58), and stand-up comedy (19:33). After the break, which is newly redesigned and you'll want to hear, Donovan and Blaine break down the beauty of the seventh episode, "Left Behind," of the HBO series The Last of Us and conclude that it is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet once again (23:31). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find the other podcasts in the podcast network in any podcast app!

We begin this week's episode with some spoiler-free thoughts for those considering watching the new Amazon Prime Video series The Consultant, which stars Christoph Waltz (2:58). From there, we have different ideas on the film Tár, which is now streaming on Peacock and in the running for a few Academy Awards (6:23). After the break, some of us more than others are excited for the new season of the HBO show Perry Mason (25:42). To wrap, we give brief thoughts on the sixth episode, "Kin," from the HBO show The Last of Us (26:37). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find the other podcasts in the podcast network in any podcast app or on The Alabama Take website.

This week, we respond to the reviews of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2:38) before some thoughts on what James Gunn taking over the DC Universe means for those franchises (9:01). After the break, we discuss something that's been very funny: the BBC2 and Netflix series Cunk on Earth (13:44). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find the other podcasts in The Alabama Take's network in any podcast app.

In the crew's goofiest show to date, this episode of Taking It Down easily has more Patrick Mahomes than ever offered in the show's catalog thus far. To begin, the Taking It Down group shares some recommendations and possible ideas for upcoming episodes of the podcast, including: the 1963 unreliable narrator novel It Happened in Boston?; the WWII film Narvik on Netflix; new television from Apple TV+ Shrinking and Servant; and the strange South American novel Tender Is The Flesh (1:19). No spoilers for any of the recs, so listen to see if something strikes you. After the break, it's spoilers galore! The gang breaks down the fourth and fifth episodes of The Last Of Us on HBO, including if the show can rise above a few tropes of the genre and even some its own tropes the series is settling into with regularity (13:05). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find the other podcasts in The Alabama Take podcast network in any podcast app.

The gang is divided on two topics of recent interest: that third episode of The Last of Us (2:51) and the newly streaming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (19:47). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find the other podcasts in the podcast network in any podcast app or directly from the site.

The folks at Taking It Down morn the loss of Tom Verlaine and reflect on his music to begin the podcast (1:02). From there, it's a discussion on what makes Everything Everywhere All At Once worthy of its eleven nominations but a sign of modern culture (4:23). After the break, everyone gives some quick thoughts on Bob Dylan's seventeenth Bootleg Series release, Fragments, which came out last Friday (29:42) before getting into what The Last of Us may need to do to change things up from its second episode (35:25). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find the other podcasts in the podcast network in any podcast app or on the site.

We get right into the fine dining of the HBO Max movie The Menu, which we all liked but only to a point and it doesn't hurt us to try to cram in as many food puns as we possibly can (2:43). After the break, we talk about video games and the first episode of the HBO show The Last of Us (23:26). It's a series that could be tailor made for at least one of our hosts. The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find our other podcasts in your favorite podcast app

To start, we talk the joy of local libraries before we get into White Noise on Netflix and why it reminds us of both Steven Spielberg and David Lynch (3:42). After the break, it's all about the Netflix film Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths and why two of us found it mesmerizing and one of us did not (26:41). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find our other podcasts in your favorite podcast app.

Thoughts on 2023 makes us question if it is the year of A.I. (2:07) which leads to a quick takedown of the movie Moonfall and Natalie's draw to disaster movies (3:15). After that, Blaine makes some revisions to the top television of the previous year as Fleishman Is In Trouble deserves some praise (5:28). The gang then analyze the lovable Glass Onion, which is now on Netflix (8:15), and the drama on recent episodes of this season of The Challenge (26:43). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find our other podcasts in your favorite podcast app or on the site.

For the final show of the year, we recap the year that was (2:47). We give thoughts on such pop culture b.s. as Twitter, crypto, and NFTs (3:56) before getting into what we liked about the year (7:58). After the break, host Blaine previews his top ten television shows of the year (25:55). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going. Find our other podcasts in your favorite podcast app or on the site.

Donovan gets excited when Liberty loses, which is what happened in some recent bowl game action (2:06). This week's podcast primarily focuses on the connection to Showtime's miniseries George and Tammy (2:40); the overview of Michael McDonagh's works (7:21); and some thoughts, analysis, and spoilers for The Banshees of Inisherin (15:24).

No Natalie this week as she's off working for the joy of the holiday season (3:58). Blaine and Adam are itching to talk about Bono's autobiographical writing Surrender as well as U2 as a whole (4:36). Somehow, we can't avoid Avatar talk (20:51), which leads into not one but two stories about Dances With Wolves (22:36)! Come for the Avatar bashing, stay for the Dances With Wolves childhood tales! From there, it's the bulk of the episode as the gang dissects the enjoyment of the Netflix movie Emily The Criminal (26:14) as well as a very deep dive into the final episodes and overall amazement of The English from Amazon Prime, including why its flawed but still great (42:17). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going.

The whole gang of Taking It Down is back to talk about the latest from legendary rock group Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers with their recent release of Live at the Fillmore, a twenty-night stand recorded perfectly (2:30). After the discussion, what's with the hoopla around the new Netflix series Wednesday, an extension in the classic story of The Addams Family (10:31)? After a break, Blaine and Donovan revel in the beauty and fascination of The English on Amazon Prime Video (16:29). To finish the episode, the group questions where The Guardians of the Galaxy's Christmas Special stands in the plethora of similar, holiday-themed television (34:21). The Alabama Take brings you all the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going.

It's only Blaine and Donovan this week, and they sort through where everyone else is as well as the sincere intricacies of why Taking It Down didn't return for a weekly format until five weeks later (2:00). If you have mental health issues, do what you can do to ensure that you're okay. Speaking of mental health, we also talk about Twitter and its possible demise and its possible replacements if the social media giant does go under (5:18). Then Netflix could very well have a great movie on its hands with the Florence Pugh-led film The Wonder: but how good, exactly (9:05)? We answer that and pondered what it was that made Andor the best Star Wars has delivered perhaps ever (30:54).

After a two-week hiatus due to vacationing, resting, and traveling, Taking It Down, the pop culture podcast from The Alabama Take network, is back to first briefly discuss Halloween and Halloween songs (3:43). Then it's an equally brief and broad talk about the new Taylor Swift album (5:02). It's important that we discuss our disdain for the botched She-Hulk ending, which was good with merely one aspect, but horrible with much more (6:28). After that, the hosts discuss plenty of news from the first two episodes of this season's The Challenge, which is subtitled Ride or Dies. (You can also read a weekly column on The Alabama Take site every Thursday afternoon.) After a short news break, the gang does as deep of a dive as they've ever done and this one is on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power from Amazon Prime with two actual Tolkien scholars (31:14)! Listen on the this site with the player above or in any podcast app by searching for Taking It Down.

Welcome back, Taking It Downers! This week, it's some brief banter about sports, namely college football (2:47) before some heady and serious discussions begin centered around the film Blonde, which was recently released on Netflix (6:27). Keeping with the Netflix motif, the hosts briefly discuss what watching Dahmer says about us as a culture (21:23). After a break, it's a quick check-in with the Disney+ show Andor (28:06) and it's just too fun not to talk about House of the Dragon, which has the hosts talking about the sixth episode of that HBO show (36:03). The Alabama Take brings everyone the entire family of podcasts and writings -- all with no ads! Yet we still have some bills to pay. If there's nothing in the shop to interest you, feel free to make a donation: venture to Buy Me A Coffee or visit our Venmo and PayPal to help to keep the site, the writings, and podcasts going.

It's autumn music from listeners' suggestions (2:24). House of the Dragon and its stellar "We Light The Way" fifth episode (13:24). We don't talk She-Hulk and it is easy not to do (30:21). There is a plethora of television shows now, and we can't decide what could be next (31:12). We do talk about the premiere of Andor and its three episodes (33:41). There's enough for everyone to come eat at the show that is The Patient (42:56) Listen on the this site with the player above or in any podcast app by searching for Taking It Down.

On Taking It Down this Tuesday, we start with a check-in on the FX/Hulu series Welcome to Wrexham (4:03) before revealing how Twitter can get it done after some college football (8:02). Then it's talk on large swaths of entertainment news: corrections about our episode; the return of The Handmaid's Tale and why it's hard to care; the b.s. online about The Little Mermaid; and a gauge on our interest of the AMC series Interview with the Vampire (12:10). After that, everyone gives a temperature check on the Amazon Prime show The Rings of Power -- good for those who want no spoilers (15:19). However, the conversation about House of the Dragon's fourth episode "The King of the Narrow Sea" is packed with spoilers as we dissect what it has to say for the show now and moving forward and explain why Donovan needed an adult for it(19:36). After the break, we offer what we can about She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (33:29) and enjoy discussing The Patient on FX/Hulu (41:45).