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    6 TV Recap Podcasts for Better Binge Viewing

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    These shows will help you go deeper on your favorite small-screen series, whether cult classics or current staples.TV recap shows are among the oldest of podcast genres, and they’ve become even more plentiful during a Golden Age of television.As podcasts have exploded in popularity, actors from numerous series have started their own recap shows, in which they share behind-the-scenes anecdotes and nostalgic reflections. The quality of those star-led offerings can vary wildly, however, and the most rewarding episode-by-episode discussions are often hosted by die-hard fans who know a series inside out.Here are six of the best episodic recap podcasts — of both those types — to help you go deeper on your favorite small-screen shows, whether cult classics or current staples.‘Buffering the Vampire Slayer’There’s no shortage of podcasts about “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the beloved series that followed Sarah Michelle Gellar as a teenage girl tasked with facing down the forces of evil. But this savvy, creative show, hosted by Jenny Owen Youngs, a musician, and Kristin Russo, an L.G.B.T.Q. activist, is special — not least because each installment ends with an original song inspired by the episode. Both Owen Youngs and Russo are queer women, and they approach “Buffering the Vampire Slayer” with an eye for marginalized viewpoints and systemic injustice. That often makes for frank discussions about the aspects of the series that haven’t aged well — particularly given recent accusations of misogyny against its creator, Joss Whedon — but that never takes away from the hosts’ clear love for “Buffy” as a flawed but powerful feminist text.Starter episode: “Welcome to the Hellmouth”‘The West Wing Weekly’An early example of a recap podcast co-hosted by one of the show’s stars, “The West Wing Weekly” avoids the pitfalls that can come with that setup. But Joshua Malina’s tenure on the NBC drama was an unusual one: His inscrutable character, Will Bailey, joined at a tricky moment midway through the series, shortly before the contentious departure of its creator, Aaron Sorkin. As the actor still wryly notes in his Twitter bio, he’s considered by some fans to be among the elements that “ruined The West Wing.” Malina, with that self-deprecating tone, and his co-host, the “West Wing” superfan Hrishikesh Hirway (known to many podcast fans as the creator of “Song Exploder”), make for a winning combination. Guests since the show’s debut in 2016 have included Sorkin, nearly all of the main cast members, and political figures who were fans of the show, like Pete Buttigieg and Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau. “The West Wing” has became a popular comfort watch for viewers seeking to escape into a more noble version of Washington, D.C., and the hosts’ rapport is a soothing side order, striking a tone that’s irreverent yet heartfelt.Starter episode: “Special Interim Session (With Aaron Sorkin)”‘Too Long; Didn’t Watch’Have you ever watched the pilot of a show, followed immediately by the finale? The answer is probably no, because it’s an ill-advised (not to mention ridiculous) way to actually experience a show. But it does make for an entertaining podcast. Putting a comedic spin on the traditional recap format, Alan Sepinwall, the chief TV critic for Rolling Stone, invites a different actor onto the show each week for a crash course in a classic series they’ve never seen. Much of the fun comes from the deliberate dissonance between guest and subject — Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” shows up to deconstruct “Gossip Girl,” and the comedic actress Eliza Coupe (“Happy Endings,” “Scrubs”) gets to grapple with “Breaking Bad” — as well as the guests’ bemused attempts to figure out the arc of a show having seen only the beginning and end.Starter episode: “Jon Hamm Watches Gossip Girl”‘A Cast of Kings’HBO’s fantasy behemoth “Game of Thrones” is tailor-made for intensive recapping, thanks to the dense mythology of its fictional world, its twist-filled storytelling, and its endless controversies. So unsurprisingly, there’s a dizzying array of “Thrones” recap shows to choose from — even one meant to send you to sleep — but this is one of the most consistent and sharp. Hosted by David Chen, a veteran podcaster, and Joanna Robinson, a cultural critic who is one of the internet’s most well-known “Thrones” commentators, “A Cast of Kings” provides detailed insight into every episode, and doesn’t shy away from critiquing the show’s blind spots when it comes to gender, race and sexual violence. It’s also spoiler-free, making it an ideal companion for those who are belatedly catching up on the show. And for those who’ve made it through all eight seasons of “Game of Thrones,” the podcast recently returned to cover the new prequel series, “House of the Dragon,” with the entertainment writer Kim Renfro replacing Robinson.Starter episode: “A Cast of Kings — Series Retrospective”‘Breaking Good’Bald Move was one of the earliest players in the fan-hosted TV podcast game, and has been producing recap shows for buzzy dramas and genre shows like “Justified” and “The Walking Dead” since 2010. The company’s “Breaking Bad” series might be the best showcase for the affable dynamic between the co-hosts Jim Jones and A. Ron Hubbard, who deliver analytical run-throughs of each episode that hold up just as well today. Although the podcast began during the fourth season of “Breaking Bad,” Jones and Hubbard have since gone back to recap the earlier seasons. With palpable enthusiasm, the duo delve into the psychologically nuanced story of Walter White, the chemistry teacher turned meth king, unpacking the deeper meanings of the show’s characters, visuals and even some of the misogynistic elements of its fandom.Starter episode: “Pilot”‘Gilmore Guys’The cozy dramedy “Gilmore Girls,” which followed the quirky lives of a fast-talking mother and daughter in small-town Connecticut from 2000 to 2007, found legions of new fans once Netflix began streaming episodes seven years after the finale. “Gilmore Guys,” hosted by Kevin T. Porter and Demi Adejuyigbe, took off that same day in October 2014. Porter grew up watching the show, while Adejuyigbe comes to each episode fresh, which makes for a more layered conversation than might have been had between two devotees. Over more than 200 episodes, Porter and Adejuyigbe have built up a following almost as dedicated as the one for the series itself, thanks in part to the reliably hilarious and insightful riffs from guests like the comedian Jason Mantzoukas and the writer Sarah Heyward.Starter episode: “They Shoot Gilmores, Don’t They? (with Jason Mantzoukas)” More

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      Jason Mantzoukas Has Had Time to Really Geek Out on Music

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      Behind the wide-eyed, high-decibel comedy of Jason Mantzoukas, there is a consummate, almost archetypal music geek. Before his roles on shows like “The League,” “The Good Place” and “Big Mouth,” Mantzoukas spent years playing drums, collecting hundreds of records and researching transcendental religious music in North Africa and the Middle East. His love of music is effusive and encyclopedic, and during the anxious, idling days of the pandemic, he found it suddenly reignited. But the kinds of music he was drawn to had shifted entirely.

      Was there a moment last year when you realized your listening habits were changing? When my normal life exists, it’s busy and chaotic. I listen to a lot of music that is slower, melancholy — stuff that juxtaposes against the larger chaos of my life. When life became incredibly simple, that music became too overwhelmingly sad for me to listen to. I can’t listen to Joni Mitchell right now. Even like an album that I loved, Phoebe Bridgers’s record — still so sad. So I slowly started realizing that I was choosing to listen to soul, funk and R.&B., because it just didn’t trigger those emotions. It allowed me to keep my head above water.

      Everything was so scary and stressful in March, in April and May, and I’m a very anxious person by nature. I’ve been in complete solo isolation for nearly a year now; I’ve not touched another person in a year. So my music tastes changed simply because I didn’t want to completely fall apart. I listened to a lot of Meters. I listened to a lot of the Numero Group’s “Eccentric Soul” compilations. My No.1 song I listened to the most — hold on, I made a playlist for this call. It’s the Del-Reys’ “Don’t You Know.” It’s such a beautifully simple song.

      I was obsessed with a lot of music that I literally have no reference for. I feel like I’m having another adolescence — being stuck in my room, just listening to music and watching movies. It’s like a second go at being a teenager, when the only way to access stuff was to try to find new music. Which is why I think I’m drawn to all these reissue labels, all these labels that are finding stuff that I just have not known about: Numero Group or Tompkins Square or Mississippi Records or Awesome Tapes From Africa.

      I know that you studied transcendental music. Was that something you came back to this year? Huge. I feel like holy music has been reintroduced into my life. I’ve gone back to Moroccan Gnawa music. Also a lot of great spiritual jazz stuff — the Alice Coltrane record from a couple of years ago. Did you watch “Ragas Live,” by any chance? You can sign up and watch the whole thing: 24 hours of uninterrupted, absolutely incredible music performances. They had Zakir Hussain, Terry Riley, all these names. They’re all playing from home, so they’re like, “Here’s Terry Riley from Japan!” They went to Venezuela and played this band I’ve never heard of, fronted by this woman named Betsayda Machado. Do you know who this is? I’m going to send you a song. The visual of them out in this beautiful, idyllic, lush green setting, with the river behind them and people going by and boats, and they’re singing and playing this — I was, like, mouth agape. I stood up, I got so excited.

      One of the true surprises of the year was that I listened to a lot of music that made me want to dance around. The Machado song makes me move. All I do is sit and read, sit and type, sit and watch — I don’t need music that just pushes me further into the chair. There’s something about forcing myself to expend energy, even if it’s just out on my porch for 10 minutes. There’s something about that release. That is such a part of my normal life, either through performing or being with friends.

      Or even just getting the experience of two people in a room, being like, “Here, listen to this.” I could literally do this for the next three hours!

      I would love for you to send me your playlist. The playlist is five hours long. I was like: You know what? I’m just going to dump a bunch of songs in there, because I could talk about any of them as part of this year. And then suddenly, it’s five hours.

      The flip side of all this dance-music stuff is that I also spent a tremendous amount of the year deep-diving into ambient and New Age music. This artist who goes by Green-House. And then there was also the Hiroshi Yoshimura reissue of the album “Green.” That Mary Lattimore record “Silver Ladders” — just very calming, a record that really helped me not to spiral out. Beverly Glenn-Copeland. In years past, I would lean more toward harder, experimental ambient stuff — Fennesz, Tim Hecker.

      I’m constantly searching for and trying to find ways to discover new music. One thing that has been hardest for me, in the last 10 years, is that so many of those avenues have been closed, because a lot of them were physical. For me, a lot of discovering music came from being able to walk into Other Music in New York. Amoeba Records in Los Angeles. Aquarius Records, out of San Francisco — they would put out a comprehensive list of new releases, with big, chunky write-ups.

      One thing I’ve spent the last year doing — and again, I’m 48 years old — is trying to understand Bandcamp and use it as a portal to discover stuff. Digging deep and unearthing stuff that was like: “I don’t know what this is. But because I’ve been listening to this other thing, now that weird label has shown me this thing.” Now I’m listening to this Brazilian artist who I’ve never heard of who’s blowing my mind.

      This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. More