The Pilot Podcast: Watching the first episode of TV shows so you don't have to

The Premise (from Apple Podcasts):

The Pilot Podcast answers our listeners’ question: “Should I watch this?” by reviewing pilot episodes of TV shows (network, streaming, and otherwise) in an efficient, informative, and funny format. Let us help guide your television viewing experience!

Series or standalone:

Standalone

Begin listening to:

Any episode that is of interest to you!

Format:

Disucssion/chat/recap

Host(s):

Friends/TV fans BJ & Mitu

Sound/production quality:

Very good

Rating/age suitability:

I believe it’s swear-free but am not quite sure. I just don’t think most kids/teens will particularly care for a TV recap show like this.

Approximate length of episodes:

15-30 minutes

Curricular ties:

n/a

Similar recommended pods:

Watch What Crappens, Rose Pricks, Office Ladies

Podcast Librarian’s Review

Listen, it’s no secret that there are way too many shows to watch. Ever since Netflix started doing Originals, it became clear to me that I will not live long enough to watch all the shows I want to watch--and that’s not even counting everything on Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, etc. This podcast helps by giving a synopsis/review of the pilot episode of shows, helping me decide whether I want to bother trying something new. Once they started following me on Instagram (and I figured out that it was pilot as in TV shows, not as in airplanes) I jumped in by listening to episodes about shows I had already watched to see if the hosts (friends/TV addicts BJ & Mitu) and I are on the same page. Their episode about Emily in Paris was spot on. One of the best things is that the episodes are short—like 30 minutes or even less. The longer episodes typically feature a few different shows, so none of the segments ever feel overly long. That’s helpful because a) when you listen to over 20 hours of podcasts per week, time is of the essence and b) it would make no sense for the pod to be as long as the actual tv show. BJ and Mitu strike a great balance of conversation and more serious analysis of the episodes--it’s not as funny as a comedy podcast and not as stuffy as a film podcast but is somewhere right in the middle. Their style is a bit more scripted, which I actually like because it helps keep the discussion focused and speedy. I have gone on to watch some of the shows because of their recommendations (and have skipped some other ones that they thought were lackluster). This pod has been around since 2018 and is definitely still getting noticed--it recently won at the @blackpodawards .