‘TV’s Top 5’: A Critical Conversation About ‘Boba Fett’

Welcome to the 155th 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).

It’s Super Bowl week so it’s been a relatively slow week of industry news, so in lieu of a showrunner interview, we’re joined by the great Alan Sepinwall, the Rolling Stone chief TV critic and all-around Friend of the 5, to join us for a look at two big streaming shows that recently wrapped their seasons.

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Here’s how the full episode breaks down:

1. Headlines
This was the week for sophomore shows as a number of them scored renewals for third seasons. Elsewhere, Apple adds two more star-studded shows, ABC looks to The Rookie for its next franchise and much more.

2. Mailbag!
In this recurring segment, Dan and I respond to listener questions covering the use of profanity on broadcast and episode counts. If you have a question or topic you’d like to hear us discuss, drop us a line at TVsTop5@thr.com.

3. Disney changes
Disney impressed Wall Street with its glowing Q1 earnings and subscriber growth across Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ but it was the expansion of three ABC shows to stream on the former platform that raised our eyebrows. Plus Hulu revives one big Disney IP while Disney+ puts another on ice.

4. Critics’ Conversation
Sepinwall joins us for a look at Amazon’s Reacher and Disney+’s The Book of Boba Fett as both shows (spoiler alert) seemed to underwhelm critics. Also, if you’re reading this before listening, you’ll want to watch this viral video first. Trust me.

5. Critic’s Corner
As usual, every episode ends with Dan offering his reviews of what to watch in the week ahead. In this episode, he reviews Shonda Rhimes’ high-profile Netflix drama Inventing Anna, Peacock’s dramatic Fresh Prince update Bel-Air and more.

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.