The Tastemakers |Talking Alien: Earth with Stephen Fishbach

Each week, The Tastemakers reviews television and movies, advising listeners on “what you should and shouldn’t watch”.

This week, with Taran on “Big Brother duty”, Grace is joined by “off-brand Taran”, Stephen Fishbach.

Watch on this episode on Youtube:

https://youtu.be/-e-akyIX4jI

Key Topics and Discussion Points:

The main topic of the episode is the recently concluded show Alien: Earth, which Grace and Stephen discuss in “full spoiler detail”.

Alien Earth Analysis:

Stephen, a fan of the Alien franchise, argues that critics who complained about the characters in Alien Earth behaving misunderstand the premise of an Alien movie. Grace and Stephen agree that the show contained “a ton of really interesting ideas,” but they felt that many were not executed perfectly, leading to a “disjointed” feel. Grace believes that Noah Holly, the show’s creator, felt constrained by being asked by FX to do an Alien show set on Earth before the events of the first Alien movie. They discuss Holly’s strong central idea of putting human consciousness into synthetic bodies as a means of saving humanity. However, they felt this Peter Pan idea often clashed with the necessary inclusion of aliens. The metaphor was described as “really heavy-handed”.

Both hosts praised Episode 5 (the Imaginino episode), which Steven found “so perfect”. They also found the “eyeball alien” to be “much more interesting and cooler than the actual xenomorph” in the show. They agreed the show was “really beautifully done” and looked “great top to bottom,” praising its “cassette futurism” and the way it successfully nailed the Alien visual identity. Steven felt the character Maro, played by Baba, was the most exciting part of the show and suggested he should have his own spin-off series. They noted that the Xenomorph model looked a little off, with Stephen suggesting it “looked like someone wearing alien pants”. Grace rated Alien Earth as potentially in her “top 15” shows of the year, but “not elite,” noting that even during the dry summer for television, there were better shows.

Stephen’s Viewing Habits:

Stephen shared that he watches very little TV, often watching Jeopardy with his wife after the kids are down and then scrolling on his phone. He notes that he has to be selective because his wife dislikes anything with drama or conflict. He primarily finds things to watch that “percolates up” and match his “existing interest,” such as the Alien franchise.

The Chair Company:

Grace discusses The Chair Company, Tim Robinson’s new 30-minute absurdist and surreal HBO Sunday Night Show. Stephen, who enjoys Tim Robinson’s previous work (I Think You Should Leave), admits he usually breaks up episodes into pieces and watches clips on YouTube due to lack of time.

• Stephen’s Book: Escape!

Stephen discusses his upcoming book, Escape (with an exclamation point). The book follows a reality TV contestant seeking lost glory on another jungle reality show. Stephen explains that the novel explores the competing dramas between the contestants and the show’s producers, who are “storytellers” crafting narratives out of human lives.

Book Recommendations:

? Stephen highly recommends the sci-fi book Annihilation (by Jeff VanderMeer), praising its world-building and perfect narrative arc, and the science fiction book Children of Time (by Adrian Tchaikovsky).

? Stephen also mentions Alex Garland’s book The Beach.

? Grace recommends the very popular audiobook Project Hail Mary.

? Grace mentions picking up Richard Osman’s fourth book in The Thursday Murder Club series. She also discusses the Red Rising books.

•Other TV Recommendations:

Grace recommends the FX show The Lowdown, an “Oklahoma noir” by Sterling Harjo (creator of Reservation Dogs). She also praises The Pit and Andor Season 2.

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