The S1E1 Podcast

S1E1: Ted Lasso

"Ted Lasso" is a series that follows the journey of an American football coach, Ted Lasso (played by Jason Sudeikis), who is recruited to coach an English soccer team, despite having no prior experience in the sport. The show takes place in the fictional town of Richmond, where Ted Lasso and his assistant coach must navigate the challenges of coaching a team that is struggling both on and off the field.
The show has been praised for its smart writing, strong performances, and its ability to balance humor with heart, exploring themes of teamwork, perseverance, and the importance of human connection. Ted Lasso has become one of the most beloved series on television today, but is the pilot episode good enough to win the S1E1 boys over? Listen and find out.
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Starting: Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Jeremy Swift, Phil Dunster, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Nick Mohammed, & Juno Temple
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S1E1: Baskets

"Baskets" was a critically acclaimed TV series on FX that follows the life of Chip Baskets, a man with dreams of becoming a successful clown. Created by Zach Galifianakis, Louis C.K., and Jonathan Krisel, the show is a unique blend of comedy and drama that explores Chip's journey as he struggles to find his place in the world. 
"Baskets" is a character-driven show that explores themes of identity, family, and the pursuit of happiness. "Baskets" ran for four seasons from 2016 to 2019 and has gained a devoted following for its quirky humor, heartfelt moments, and standout performances. Will blending drama and dark humor scare off the S1E1 guys who typically stick to standard format sitcoms? Listen as they do a deep dive review of the show's pilot episode, "Renoir" to find out.
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Starring: Zach Galifianakis, Martha Kelly, Louie Anderson, Sabina Sciubba, Ernest Adams, Hagen Mills, & Kato Kaelin
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S1E1: The Golden Palace

"The Golden Palace" was the 1992 spin-off of the popular sitcom "The Golden Girls" and features three of its main characters: Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), Rose Nylund (Betty White), and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty).
"The Golden Palace" follows the three women as they purchase a hotel in Miami Beach and begin running it with the help of their manager, Roland Wilson (Don Cheadle), and the hotel's chef, Chuy Castillos (Cheech Marin). Despite some positive reviews and high expectations due to the popularity of "The Golden Girls", "The Golden Palace" was cancelled after just one season due to low ratings. Despite its short run does the pilot episode bring in enough familiar charm to get the green-light? Listen as we review.
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Starring: Betty White, Estelle Getty, Rue McClanahan, Don Cheadle, Cheech Marin & Billy L. Sullivan
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S1E1: Welcome Back, Kotter

"Welcome Back, Kotter" was a classic sitcom that first premiered on September 9, 1975, on the ABC network. The show was created by Gabe Kaplan, who also played the character, Gabe Kotter, a former Sweathog who returns to his alma mater to teach a group of underprivileged students. Kaplan drew on his own experiences growing up in Brooklyn to create the show's setting and characters. The Sweathogs, a group of lovable but misguided students were based on his own high school friends. A young John Travolta was cast as the charismatic lead Sweathog, Vinnie Barbarino. The show even took on a second life in the 90's when reruns were aired as part of "Kotter Fridays" on Nick at Nite.
"Welcome Back, Kotter" was an instant hit with audiences, drawing in large viewership numbers and earning critical acclaim for its humor and relatable characters. It was a groundbreaking sitcom that tackled serious issues such as poverty, race, and social class while still delivering laugh-out-loud moments. Its enduring popularity has made it a classic of 1970s television, and its influence can still be felt in many modern sitcoms today. Listen in as the S1E1 boys do a deep dive on the shows first televised episode, "The Great Debate".
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Starring: Gabe Kaplan, Marcia Strassman, John Sylvester White, Robert Hegyes, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Ron Palillo, John Travolta, Debralee Scott, & James Woods
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S1E1: Blossom

In the late '80s renowned television writer Don Reo developed a show based on the novel The Catcher in the Rye. The idea was to create a series about a wise-beyond-his-years, introspective teenage boy. NBC loved the screenplay but had one change, make theain character a girl. From this "Blossom" was born. Mayim Bialik was cast for the lead role and the Pilot episode was aired on July 1990 as a tester and after a little retooling premiered with a full season six months later. The show went on to have a very successful 5 season run.
Did Blossom have a hot show right from the first episode or was all the retooling necessary? Listen as we deep dive the show's first episode.
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Starring: Mayim Bialik, Barrie Youngfellow, Joey Lawrence, Michael Stoyanov, Jenna von Oÿ, Richard Masur, Debra Stipe, Justin Whalin, & Kelly Packard
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S1E1: Everybody Hates Chris

"Everybody Hates Chris" is a show inspired by comedian Chris Rock's memories growing up in Brooklyn. And even though everybody seems to love Raymond, unfortunately the same sentiment is not shared towards Chris. Although it seems odd to think that anybody other than Will and Jada could hate Chris Rock. The show is somewhat autobiographic but plenty of elements of the story have been changed for television. Real life Chris has a different amount of siblings and even grew up a decade earlier than what the show depicts, so don't try using this show to write any book reports.
Changes aside the show was met with a lot of critical acclaim through its 4 season run and talks of bringing it back as an animated series have recently been announced. With all that being said does this show knock it out of the park right from the start? Find out as we deep dive the first episode, "Everybody Hates The Pilot".
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Starring: Tyler James Williams, Terry Crews, Tichina Arnold, Tequan Richmond, Imani Hakim, Vincent Martella, Chris Rock, & Travis Flory
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S1E1: Happy Days

It's hard to find a person that has never seen Happy Days. This iconic show which represented life in the '50s is easily regarded as one of the most popular shows of the '70s. Set in Milwaukee, WI we meet Richie Cunningham, an all American boy and join him in his day to day interacting with his friends and family. The show was met with moderate success but by its second season was already seeing a dip in the ratings. To counter this the show's creator, Gary Marshall retooled the format a bit focusing on broad comedy and increasing the role of a minor character, a cool biker who went by the name of "Fonzie". These changes quickly turned Happy Days into the number 1 program by the mid '70s. Fonzie became a pop culture phenomenon and became one of the most merchandised characters in television history.
Despite the majority of the show's success coming after the seconds season, is there enough in the show's pilot the warrant a green-light? Listen as the boys do a deep dive on Happy Day's pilot episode, "All The Way".
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Starring: Ron Howard, Marion Ross, Anson Williams, Tom Bosley, Henry Winkler, Don Most, Gavan O'Herlihy, Erin Moran, & Kathy O'Dare
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S1E1: Live Bonus Episode (03/09/23)

In celebration of the release of our 100th episode, we decided to go live for the first time for a very special bonus episode. Here we go over some of our backstory, the story of how our show came to be, and take questions from you!
(NOTE: This is the audio straight from the live video)
CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON YOUTUBE
CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON FACEBOOK
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Instagram & Twitter: @S1E1POD

S1E1: Seinfeld

Seinfeld is without a doubt one of the biggest shows of all time. The show was widely popular throughout its 9 season run and somehow 25 years since its final episode still remains one of the most watched shows through syndication and streaming. Its modern day pop culture relevance is insurmountable. However, "The Show About Nothing" was nearly "The Show That Never Was". When the pilot was originally tested the results were overwhelmingly negative. Somehow the episode still made it to air and viewers seemingly liked it more than the initial test audience. This eventually lead to a four episode season being ordered which was the smallest order in US TV history. The rest is pretty much history.
Will the S1E1 guys side with the test audience or will they be giving it the green-light? Find out as they deep dive Seinfeld's pilot episode, "The Seinfeld Chronicles".
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Starring: Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards, Lee Garlington, Jason Alexander, & Pamela Brull
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S1E1: Frasier

When you look at some of the greatest sitcoms of all times many either had a spin-off series or there were at least plans to make one. Cheers was no different. Only four months after the bar where everybody knows your name closed for the final time we found ourselves once again catching up with Dr. Frasier Crane. The producers of the new show didn't want the network demanding that his Cheers costars fill the first season with guest spots so they decided to take the character and move him as far from Boston as possible. Now we see Frasier moving back to his hometown of Seattle to work as the host of a call-in psychiatry show on talk radio.
"Frasier" went on to be one of the most critically acclaimed comedy series of all time and one of the most successful spin-off series in television history. Despite the show's pilot episode winning multiple Emmy Awards, can it also successfully earn itself an S1E1 green-light? Listen as we deep dive Episode 1 of Frasier, "The Good Son".
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Starring: Kelsey Grammer, Jane Leeves, David Hyde Pierce, Peri Gilpin, John Mahoney & Moose The Dog
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