The Incomparable Mothership

Our astute panel of TV watchers reconvenes to induct 30 excellent series, all from the 21st Century, into the Incomparable’s TV Hall of Fame.

21st Century TV Hall of Fame

Host Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Moisés Chiullán, Micheline Maynard, Monty Ashley, Andy Ihnatko, Shelly Brisbin, Steven Schapansky, David J. Loehr, and John Siracusa.

Show Notes & Links

Previous 21st-Century inductees:

Round 1:

For Halloween we watched a… not particularly spooky movie. It’s the 30-year-old supernatural comedy “The Frighteners,” starring Michael J. Fox and directed by Peter Jackson, who was about to embark on making many “Lord of the Rings” movies. We are not sure we see the connection! But this movie… is not normal. Who is the target audience? Why does Jeffrey Combs appear, mid-film, combing it up at 100%? How many ghosts of loved ones would you want at your hot date at the Medieval Times? We have lots of questions, but very few answers!

"The Frighteners" (1996)

Host Jason S...

Put on your shin guards and get out on the pitch, because we’re tackling the return of “Ted Lasso” for a fourth season after it seemingly ended with season 3! What did we think of the new story arcs? Was the villain obvious and did it matter? Is Roy Kent the Fonzie of “Ted Lasso?” Follow the money.

"Ted Lasso" season 4

Host Jason Snell with Chip Sudderth, Erika Ensign, Kathy Campbell, Moisés Chiullán, Casey Liss, and Brian Warren.

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Referenced Works

In Jason’s absence, Shelly indulges her fondness for disaster movies, a genre that peaked in the 1970s. And what better way to revel in disaster than with a draft? From shipwrecks to nuclear war to runaway planes and trains, we’ve got you covered in cinematic mayhem. There’s even a zeppelin.

Disaster Movie Draft!

Host Shelly Brisbin with David J. Loehr, Monty Ashley, and Micheline Maynard.

Show Notes & Links

Inhale deeply of the intoxicating gases and get ready to discuss the “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” season gone by. Our panel of puppets, “Casablanca” characters, badmirals, and high fantasy types have opinions on the genre-shifting penultimate season. Too much Kirk, or just enough? What’s up with La’an’s journey? Beam us up, Scotty, but only if you’re not still experimenting with the transporter…

"Strange New Worlds" season 4

Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren, Erika Ensign, Moisés Chiullán, and Shelly Brisbin.

Referenced Works

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Helene Wecker’s third Golem and Jinni novel, The Gates of Midnight, is now available! Jason asks her about her multi-decade journey to get to the end of the trilogy, how research has changed along the way, the themes of the three books, and what she might do next.

"The Gates of Midnight"

Host Jason Snell with Helene Wecker.

Referenced Works

The Gates of Midnight

The Golem and the Jinni

The Hidden Palace

Show Notes & Links

(There are so...

Once a subcategory for mysteries, “cozy” feels like the latest craze in publishing with every genre getting in on the act. Is it really a new thing? Are authors able to take sci-fi or horror and turn it into something to be read while cuddled into a warm blanket with a cup of tea at one’s elbow? Our panel discusses what makes a piece of media cozy, drafts a few books (sometimes with media tie-ins), and then throws it open to anything that gives us that cozy feeling. David includes tea pairings with his choices and Antony tells us how...

The Summer of Sundance comes to an end with “The Natural,” a story of a legendary baseball player—no, we’re not talking about Joe Don Baker as The Whammer, or are we? It’s Bernard Malamud’s take on baseball as American mythology, filtered through the mind of Barry Levinson. Barbara Hershey shocks and confuses, Glenn Close glows, Wilford Brimley is very old and near retirement despite being younger than us, and Robert Redford is so versatile he can play a teenager and a man in his mid-thirties despite being in his late forties.

"The Natural"

Host J...

The Summer of Sundance continues with the paranoid thriller, “Three Days of the Condor.” A devastatingly handsome nerd goes out to buy sandwiches for the office, and the next thing he knows he’s on the run and kidnapping Faye Dunaway…

"Three Days of the Condor"

Host Jason Snell with David J. Loehr, Shelly Brisbin, Paul Weimer, Glenn Fleishman, and Dan Moren.

Referenced Works

Three Days of the Condor

Robert Redford

Show Notes & Links

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Now the curtain is going up, “The Sting” is starting the show! Snappy patter and jokes, along with the star power of Robert Redford and Paul Newman, drive this story of an elaborate con that goes right—or does it?! Also there’s a lot of Scott Joplin music.

"The Sting"

Host Jason Snell with Micheline Maynard, Dr. Drang, Monty Ashley, and David J. Loehr.

Referenced Works

Robert Redford

The Sting

Show Notes & Links

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Eleven books later, our Awards Book Club has finally reached the end of the line. In this episode we cover our last uncovered book, “Shroud” by Adrian Tchaikovsky, recommend some Hugo-nominated short fiction, and rank all eleven books. Plus: What are we reading other than shortlisted novels?! See you next year.

2026 Awards Book Club, final chapter

Host Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Aleen Simms, Heather Berberet, and Scott McNulty.

Referenced Works

Shroud

Show Notes & Links

What are we reading?

Erika: Wooing the Witch Quee...

Our Summer of Sundance kicks off with Sundance himself, as we travel back to the end of the old west (and, later, to the garden spot of Bolivia) to visit a couple of robbers, their lady friend, and their not-very-important gang with “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Did they use enough dynamite? Is Woodcock a little too loyal to his employer? What does it say about the old west when a call for a posse is hijacked by a bicycle salesman?

"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"

Host Jason Snell with Dr. Drang, Shelly Bris...

Buy some flowers and get ready to profess your feelings—we’re here to talk about “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” in which Tom Holland’s Peter gets to be a sad sack who is saving New York while his personal life has fallen completely apart. There are surprising character reveals, unsurprising character twists (well, at least Peter was surprised), interesting guest-star choices, and a lot of themes involving the dangers of letting yourself become isolated.

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day"

Host Jason Snell with James Thomson, Moisés Chiullán, and Ben Rice McCarthy.

Referenced W...

Put on your summer best and board a ferry to New England’s hottest tourist destination! It’s time for us to discuss “Widow’s Bay,” a funny horror story about the mayor and other denizens of a cursed island. Of course there’s a creepy clown, and a slasher, and a dark secret that goes back centuries. Of course Stephen Root is wild-eyed! Once you visit Widow’s Bay, you’ll never want to leave… which is good, because you might not be able to.

"Widow's Bay"

Host Jason Snell with Annette Wierstra, Tony Sindelar, and Mont...

It’s one of the best “Star Trek” movies, a classic Dad Movie, and the start of a franchise that never really started. It’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” in which oceans have become battlefields and privateer ships lurk like horror-movie monsters. Don’t get attached to any of those nice young sailors!

"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"

Host Jason Snell with Steven Schapansky, Philip Michaels, and Brian Warren.

Referenced Works

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Show Notes & L...

Non-linearly begin and end your journey across a wide range of cursed islands! We discuss Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” a film now in theatres and a story that’s (nearly) 3,000 years old! Pig sculpting! Lotus eating! Horrible horse hiding! Were we the sea people all along? That’s a tale as old as time.

”The Odyssey”

Host Jason Snell with Brian Warren, Glenn Fleishman, Kathy Campbell, and Moisés Chiullán.

Referenced Works

The Odyssey (2026)

Show Notes & Links

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Our awards shortlist book club rolls on with a selection of books we’re much more receptive to: “A Drop of Corruption” by Robert Jackson Bennett, “The Raven Scholar” by Antonia Hodgson, and The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow.

2026 Awards Book Club, Part 3

Host Jason Snell with Aleen Simms, Erika Ensign, Scott McNulty, Heather Berberet, and Paul Weimer.

Referenced Works

The Everlasting

A Drop of Corruption

The Raven Scholar

Show Notes & Links

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What if “The Martian” but with an alien buddy? We break down “Project Hail Mary,” and marvel at what a good translation of a sort-of-unfilmable book it really is! Why do we love alien puppets so much? Why is Jason checking his watch at the end? We give this movie a thumbs down—by which we mean we liked it! Amaze amaze amaze!

"Project Hail Mary"

Host Jason Snell with Aleen Simms, Quinn Rose, Brian Warren, and Casey Liss.

Referenced Works

Project Hail Mary

Show Notes & Links

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Get out your PowerBooks and prepare to punch an alien in patriotic fashion! We celebrate Independence Day with a 30-year-old film, “Independence Day”! It’s a lot of movie. Is Jason ready to forgive it?

"Independence Day" (1996)

Host Jason Snell with Moisés Chiullán, David J. Loehr, Aleen Simms, and Tony Sindelar.

Referenced Works

Independence Day

Show Notes & Links

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We combine our love of “Star Trek” with the appreciation for old movies that can only be provided by our sister podcast Lions, Towers, and Shields, by drafting “Star Trek” actors (TOS and TNG only) and the movie roles we loved before they appeared on Star Trek!

And be sure to listen to this summer’s LTS’s Star Trek summer event.

Star Trek Movie crossover draft

Host Jason Snell with Shelly Brisbin, Micheline Maynard, Cicero Holmes, and David J. Loehr.

Referenced Works

Star Trek (franchise)

Show Notes & Link...

William Gibson Book Club reconvenes to close out the legendary Sprawl trilogy with “Mona Lisa Overdrive,” a book in which there are lots of vibes from a lot of people who are secondary characters in a story being driven by an AI that we never really meet. Robot art projects! Many overlapping jackets, none of them the same size! And a car ride to… the future?! We break it all down.

"Mona Lisa Overdrive"

Host Jason Snell with Antony Johnston, Erika Ensign, Lisa Schmeiser, and Glenn Fleishman.

Referenced Works

Mona Lisa Overdr...

Get behind your typewriters! Old Movie Club follows the money to discuss 1976’s “All The President’s Men,” in which the power of dogged reportage and journalistic freedom triumphs over the banality of evil.

"All the President's Men"

Host Jason Snell with Philip Michaels, Shelly Brisbin, Micheline Maynard, Steven Schapansky, Dr. Drang, and Jean MacDonald.

Referenced Works

All the President's Men

Robert Redford

Show Notes & Links

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Our survey of award-nominated novels rolls on with “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter,” “When We Were Real,” and “Sour Cherry.” Not gonna lie: we’re struggling with the reading a bit this year. But at least one of these novels threw us a lifeline.

2026 Awards Book Club, part 2

Host Jason Snell with Scott McNulty, Erika Ensign, Aleen Simms, Heather Berberet, and Paul Weimer.

Referenced Works

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

When We Were Real

Sour Cherry

Show Notes & Links

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We went out to the movies to see “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” the first “Star Wars” film this decade. We had a really good time, thanks in large part to the charisma of many different puppets. (This is “Star Wars,” after all.) We aren’t without our criticisms—Is there ever really any danger? What is Sigourney Weaver doing?—but all in all, this film filled a Star Wars-shaped hole in our hearts.

"The Mandalorian and Grogu"

Host Jason Snell with Erika Ensign, Steven Schapansky, Helene Wecker, Moisés Chiullán, Dan Moren, and Brian Warren.

Let’s travel 40 years back in time, to Chicago in 1986, where on one legendary day, a high school student named Ferris Bueller bends time and space, all in service of cheering up his best friend. We break down what makes “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” still work after all these years.

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"

Host Jason Snell with Cicero Holmes, Quinn Rose, Deborah Stanish, Erika Ensign, and John Siracusa.

Referenced Works

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Show Notes & Links

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Awards Book Club reconvenes for 2026, as we discuss Nebula-nominated novels “Katabasis” by R.F. Kuang, “Wearing the Lion” by John Wiswell, and “Death of the Author” by Nnedi Okorafor. The mood of the panel is… cautious. Also: What else are we reading?

2026 Awards Book Club, Part 1

Host Jason Snell with Aleen Simms, Erika Ensign, Heather Berberet, Scott McNulty, and Paul Weimer.

Referenced Works

Katabasis

Death of the Author

Wearing the Lion

Show Notes & Links

Next Awards Book Club: “When We...

Put on your eye phones and jack in to the cyberscape! Rocket Surgery comes for 1996’s cyberpunk epic “Lawnmower Man 2.” (Don’t worry if you haven’t seen the original “Lawnmower Man,” half of us didn’t either.) Matt Frewer is Max Headrooming it up! A bunch of urchins populate a rainy L.A. that’s straight out of “Blade Runner,” but, you know—cheaper. There’s a brilliant doctor in charge of virtual-reality research, and also there’s Jennifer! And everything in the future is hackable!

Rocket Surgery: "Lawnmower Man 2"

Host Jason Snell with Monty Ashley, Tony Sindelar...

Not now, Klansmen, I’m killing vampires! “Sinners” got nominated for all the awards, and it’s also a vampire (with a hint of zombie?) movie. We love it when genre movies get attention, and Ryan Coogler keeps putting out bangers, so we’re all in on the story of magical music opening the door to eldrich horror—oh, and also it’s the deep south in the 1930s so there’s some horrendous racism too!

"Sinners"

Host Jason Snell with Moisés Chiullán, Brian Hamilton, Monty Ashley, Tony Sindelar, and Steve Lutz.

Referenced Wor...

A special Book Club panel provides an overview of Lois McMaster Bujold’s excellent Penric & Desdemona series of fantasy novellas (plus one novel). This series gives its characters time to learn, grow, and age. It’s got some perspectives you don’t see very often in fantasy fiction. We love it and think you will, too.

Penric & Desdemona

Host Jason Snell with Aleen Simms, Erika Ensign, Kat Benesh, and Dan Moren.

Referenced Works

Penric and Desdemona series

Show Notes & Links

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We complete our run through blades with “Blade Runner 2049,” a late sequel in which Ryan Gosling plays a replicant detective searching for an explosive secret that could change everything… and is unsurprisingly tied to characters from “Blade Runner.” We discuss why a replicant might need a holographic girlfriend, Jared Leto’s eyes, and once again, if Deckard is a replicant or not and why that really doesn’t matter.

"Blade Runner 2049"

Host Jason Snell with John Siracusa, Erika Ensign, Dan Moren, and Monty Ashley.

Referenced Works

Blade Runner 2049

Show Notes & Links<...

No voiceovers! More unicorns! Our journey deep into the futuristic world of 2019 Los Angeles continues with another look at “Blade Runner” — this time, it’s “The Final Cut” edition. Deckard’s identity revealed, sort of? Voiceovers removed! Superfans and sort-of-fans compare, contrast, and discuss.

"Blade Runner" (The Final Cut)

Host Jason Snell with John Siracusa, Antony Johnston, Erika Ensign, and Moisés Chiullán.

Referenced Works

Blade Runner

Show Notes & Links

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These movie producers really did a job on “Blade Runner.” They don’t advertise for narrations in the newspaper, every good writer knows that. But when you’re trying to sell a narratively dense piece of visual art to 1982 audiences who just want to see a Harrison Ford movie, that’s the sort of compromise you make. All we could do is sit there and watch it play.

Blade Runner (Theatrical Edition)

Host Jason Snell with Monty Ashley, Steve Lutz, Kelly Guimont, and Dan Moren.

Referenced Works

Blade Runner

Hit the books and polish up your comm badges, because it’s time to go to school—“Starfleet Academy,” that is. We check in on the first season of Star Trek’s latest (and last, for now?) TV series, and find that despite the YA focus, it’s still just really good “Star Trek” that’s worth your attention.

"Star Trek: Starfleet Academy"

Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren, Erika Ensign, Moisés Chiullán, and Tony Sindelar.

Referenced Works

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Star Trek (franchise)

Show Notes & Links<...

Jason was on “Jeopardy!” Now he breaks the experience down with the help of two former “Jeopardy!” champions, Glenn Fleishman and Dan Moren.

Jason on Jeopardy!

Host Jason Snell with Dan Moren and Glenn Fleishman.

Show Notes & Links

Dan Moren on J-Archive

Glenn Fleishman on J-Archive

Jason Snell on J-Archive

"Jamie Ding Game 5"

The Incomparable #112 (Glenn's Jeopardy journey)

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Have your squire put on your best (and only) set of armor and be sure to re-paint your shield! We’re here to discuss the surprisingly delightful “Game of Thrones” spin-off “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which features characters to root for, humor, and other things in short supply in other installments of the franchise.

"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"

Host Jason Snell with John Siracusa, Erika Ensign, and John Moltz.

Referenced Works

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Show Notes & Links

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Charge up your cyberspace deck and avoid all slamhounds! It’s time for us to discuss the second book in William Gibson’s famed Sprawl trilogy, “Count Zero.” Of course, Count Zero is the name of a great hacker… wait, it’s this kid? This is a book that defies audience expectations, from the title character to the way it follows up—or doesn’t, really—the events and characters in its famous predecessor. But, as our veteran Gibson readers note, it sets the template for his career to come.

"Count Zero"

Host Jason Snell with Lisa Schmeise...

Our Book Club reconvenes to discuss Emily Tesh’s “The Incandescent,” which offers a teacher’s perspective on a magical school (that’s mostly not magical, but infested by demons), an interesting story structure, and some very well-drawn characters. Plus: What else are we reading?

"The Incandescent"

Host Jason Snell with Aleen Simms, Erika Ensign, Joe Rosensteel, Heather Berberet, Paul Weimer, and Scott McNulty.

Referenced Works

The Incandescent

Show Notes & Links

What are we reading?

Heather: Higher Magic by Courteney Floyd, Piranesi by Susanna Cl...

Find a cat bed and some apricots, and prepare to upgrade your chicken! While Jason’s away, we play Embark’s hit game “Arc Raiders”, a multiplayer extraction shooter where people can… be nice to each other? (Most of the time, anyway.) We talk survival tips, resource management, and—to nobody’s surprise—John’s got some opinions on the user interface.

Host Brian Warren with panelists Ben McCarthy, John Siracusa, and Chip Sudderth.

"ARC Raiders"

Host Brian Warren with John Siracusa, Ben Rice McCarthy, and Chip Sudderth.

Referenced Works

ARC Raiders

Want to see a dead body? Bring your comb, stock up on cherry flavor Pez, and stay really quiet if you see a deer. We return to the 1980s and honor Rob Reiner by discussing 1986’s “Stand By Me,” a movie Jason has somehow never seen. It’s not a movie with Things That Happen, but that’s just fine with us.

"Stand By Me"

Host Jason Snell with Kelly Guimont, Erika Ensign, John Siracusa, and Shelly Brisbin.

Referenced Works

Stand By Me

Rob Reiner

Show Notes & Links

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with The Incomparable. It’s time to discuss that Canadian hockey show everyone’s been talking about. “Heated Rivalry” just wants to know, “Will you come to the cottage this summer?”

"Heated Rivalry"

Host Annette Wierstra with Kirsten Goruk, Heather Berberet, Stacy Watnick, and Kat Benesh.

Sponsors

Referenced Works

Heated Rivalry

Show Notes & Links

Support this show and other shows like it on The Incomparable network by becoming a member. Members get early access to podcasts, b...