Awards Daily Tv's Water Cooler Podcast

One of the most exciting things about this upcoming Academy Awards is the introduction to the newest category: Best Casting. This will be the first new category implemented by the organization since 2001, and there are a lot of questions swirling around. Which films will have a shot at the inaugural trophy? Will some popular films make the shortlist when they are announced later this month? For legendary casting directors Nina Gold and Doug Aibel, they might have the same questions. Their work on Jay Kelly is one of the many reasons why Noah Baumbach’s character study is as successful as it is. We began our talk reflecting on what it means for them to finally be in competition for an Academy Award. If you put their resumes together, you would find enormous accomplishments. Aibel cast Materialists, The Phoenecian Scheme, and Long Bright River this year alone, while Gold worked on Ballad of a Small Player, Too Much, and Hamnet in 2025. For Jay Kelly, Gold and Aibel had to populate entire worlds of the ent

As we lead into the Thanksgiving holiday, are we thankful for Jon M. Chu’s Wicked: For Good? Find out on this week’s podcast! Wicked: For Good gave the U.S. box office a sorely needed shot of adrenaline. Headed into this week’s Thanksgiving holiday, the film appears likely to continue drawing in audiences and will serve up near-record box office numbers with Zootopia 2. On this week’s podcast, Megan, Joey, and Clarence catch up on the latest happenings in Oz and ask, “Does For Good correct the perception that the stage show’s second act lacks magic?” Also, Wicked, the first act, received 10 Oscar nominations last year. Will Wicked: For Good see similar results? Based on lower critical appraisal, many online Oscar watchers dropped the film from the top ten, but what do we think? What films could realistically take its place? Find out as we break it all down for you. We close our podcast with a Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week. We’

This week, we review Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson’s new film, Die My Love, and wrestle with director Lynne Ramsay’s esoteric approach. Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson star in director Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love. The film debuted in theaters last weekend and received an audience-based Cinemascore rating of D+. But that’s a typical reaction to films that […] The post ‘Die My Love:’ JLaw, RPatz Descend Into Montana Madness [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

Megan’s back on the podcast this week to riff on ‘Hamnet,’ ‘I Love LA,’ and Sidney Sweeney at SCAD Savannah Film Festival. Megan returns from the SCAD Savannah Film Festival where she was supposed to chat with Christy star Sidney Sweeney. Did the chat happen? Find out as Megan recaps her experience at the south’s premiere […] The post ‘I Love LA:’ Do We Love Rachel Sennott’s GenZ Comedy? [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

Joey and Clarence dip into terrifying Stephen King territory in their review of HBO MAX’s IT: Welcome To Derry.  While Megan’s away, the boys will play. Or cower in terror at the new HBO MAX series It: Welcome To Derry. A prequel to the recent IT films, Derry revisits an early era in the life of Bill Skarsgård’s […] The post I Don’t Think You’re Ready For This ‘Derry’ [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

Mark Johnson joins the Water Cooler as he and Joey reveal everything that went down at the 2025 Middleburg Film Festival. Joey returned from his third year covering the Middleburg Film Festival for The Contending. This week, he and podcast special guest Mark Johnson dish on the details of the festival. Hosted at the luxurious […] The post Middleburg Film Festival: Recapping This Year’s Fest [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

In a very special podcast, Megan McLachlan is joined by Grits & Gab’s Tarcia Bush and Animation World Network’s Victoria Davis to preview the 2025 SCAD Savannah Film Festival. The 2025 SCAD Savannah Film Festival runs from Saturday, October 25, through Saturday, November 1, and this year the Savannah College of Art and Design is […] The post Podcast: 2025 SCAD Savannah Film Festival Preview with Grits & Gab’s Tarcia Bush, Animation World Network’s Victoria Davis appeared first on The Contending.

On this week’s podcast, we’re remembering the great Diane Keaton, lamenting the Spider Woman roll-out, and much more! It’s a bit of a potpourri this week as we have much to cover. First up, the legendary Oscar-winning actress Diane Keaton suddenly passed away this weekend. Megan leads a reminiscence about her career, our favorite films […] The post Diane Keaton Remembered, ‘Spider Woman,’ and More! [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

This week, the two dog owners of Contending at the Water Cooler talk about what they love about Ben Leonberg’s supernatural pup flick, Good Boy. As the cats across the country advance their plot for world domination… There are so many horror films that include dogs, but there aren’t any that give us a canine’s […] The post Does ‘Good Boy’ Fetch Good Reactions? [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘A House of Dynamite’ currently both have great-to-good reviews. But which is the real Oscar contender? We’ve all finally caught up to Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. Coming into its debut weekend, the film boasted a reputation as The 2026 Best Picture Winner. After seeing the film with […] The post ‘One Battle,’ ‘Dynamite’ Enter the Oscar Race [PODCAST] appeared first on The Contending.

This week, we look at the new Hulu documentary ‘Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery’ which details the creation and legacy of the first female-driven music concert. In the late 1990s, Sarah McLachlan and other major female artists banded together to kick off Lilith Fair. Against all odds, the concert series flew in the face of […] The post Lilith Fair: Exploring the ‘Mystery’ Of a Female-Driven Sensation [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

Team Contending gathers around the Water Cooler to recap the 77th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Plus, we create the 2026 Emmy Time Capsule. In our annual tradition, Team Contending gathers around the Water Cooler to share their thoughts on the 77th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. We chat about the ceremony and how the host, Nate […] The post Goodbye Emmys 2025! Hello Emmys 2026, Emmy Time Capsule! appeared first on The Contending.

The Contending’s Megan McLachlan is joined by Tarcia Smith Bush of Grits & Gab to discuss the twisted Netflix documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish.  Everyone has been bullied in high school at some point. (And if you haven’t, you’re probably the bully!) But Netflix’s new documentary Unknown Number: The High School Catfish takes […] The post PODCAST: Talking Netflix’s ‘Unknown Number’ Documentary & Why That Twist Is So Epic (And Sad) appeared first on The Contending.

Jalal Haddad joins the Water Cooler for our 2025 Emmy predictions podcast! Who do we think will take home the top prizes on Sunday night? Sunday night, the Television Academy will unveil the winners for the 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards, so naturally, it’s time for our 2025 Emmy predictions podcast! Our own Jalal Haddad joins […] The post 2025 Emmy Predictions Across All Primetime Categories [PODCAST] appeared first on The Contending.

We proudly present the 9th Annual Fantasy Oscar Pool, another one of our favorite podcasts of the year! It’s a short podcast this week, but it’s one of our favorites and one where we really earn the Explicit rating (thanks largely to Joey). It’s our Fantasy Oscar Pool: the 9th Annual Edition (except for the […] The post Oscars 2026: It’s Time For Our 9th Annual Fantasy Oscar Pool! [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

Emmy nominee Carrie Coon talks to The Contending about the politics of art and the beauty of Mike White’s writing in The White Lotus. If you follow her on social media, then you know that acclaimed actress Carrie Coon does not shy away from a political conversation. Coon regularly debates conservative points of view, points out […] The post Carrie Coon Explores Politics, Friendship, Gratitude in ‘White Lotus’ appeared first on The Contending.

This one’s for the YouTubers. It’s our 2025 Emmy Charades contest between Megan and Joey! Yeah, podcast listeners won’t get much out of this one. Sorry folks. This is for the YouTube fans! To celebrate the start of the 2025 Emmy Phase 2 voting window, Joey and Megan face off in our first Charades: Emmy […] The post Emmys 2025: It’s Charades, Emmy Edition! [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

We’re exploring this year’s Emmy-nominated Main Title Themes this week. Plus, we look at recent major horror films including Weapons. Two weeks ago, Joey, Megan, and Clarence chatted about the Emmy nominated Main Title Designs. This week, we return to the Emmy discussion by looking at another favorite Emmy category: Main Title Themes. Typically, this category […] The post No ‘Weapons’ Needed, Just Killer Emmy-Nom’d Main Title Themes [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

This week, two special guests join the Water Cooler to give Megan and Joey a crash course on the Telluride Film Festival. Within film circles, Labor Day weekend brings the highly influential Telluride Film Festival. Nestled in the lovely Rocky Mountains, Telluride offers a sequestered community, an intriguing mixture of high art and great food […] The post Telluride Film Festival: Crashing, Speculating Before Fest Launch appeared first on The Contending.

“One Wonderful Day” marks the end of Desperate Housewives’ first season and of our look back at the Emmy-winning series’ first season. Desperate Housewives ended its first season with episode 23, “One Wonderful Day.” The episode learned from the mistakes of Twin Peaks and other series before it by giving the audience what they wanted most: answers. However, Mark […] The post “One Wonderful Day:” Ending Our Revisited Journey With Some Expert Help appeared first on The Contending.