kernels

Chris talks to the man behind Peep Show and In The Loop about his major new HBO show Succession, which centres on a Murdoch-esque family ruling the American media. The pair explore how writers' rooms work, what a showrunner actually does, getting your head around complex business jargon for a script, the 'toilet paper draft' and the future of liberalism in the face of Trump.

Atlanta's Brian Tyree Henry just earned an Emmy nomination for his work on Atlanta and is tapped to work with Steve McQueen and Joe Wright on upcoming films. He sits down with Chris to discuss the stage and screen actor's similar acting style to James Gandolfini, how Atlanta season 2's standalone episode format was kinda scary for the cast, the show's silent moments, patient plot advancement, and how it doesn't try to hammer you over the head with a message.

Indie film pioneer Mark Duplass has been forced to issue an apology for recommending a podcast to his followers. We look at how internet mob mentality can seemingly elicit a mea culpa from anyone for just about anything, how there is now no room in Hollywood for dissent, and where all of this might be headed.

Westworld, the heir apparent to Game of Thrones, is back on HBO for a second season, but is it a sophisticated puzzle of a show or just an overly-complicated scramble of information? Christopher Hooton and Jacob Stolworthy chew it over.

After breaking through as Denise in Netflix's 'Master of None', Lena Waithe has found herself doing motion capture in Steven Spielberg's new action-adventure epic, 'Ready Player One'. She talks to Christopher Hooton about working with 'kind soul' Steven Spielberg, growing up in the South Side of Chicago, and the future of 'Master of None' following the whole Aziz Ansari situation.

In something of a meta pod, the Kernels team review and discuss host Christopher Hooton's just-completed first feature film, Meniscus. Jacob Stolworthy and Jack Shepherd give their thoughts on the experimental format drama and find out how Chris and his co-director, David Rapson (also on the pod), turned it around on next to no budget.Later, the guys talk The Lost Boys podcast and, ahead of the Oscars, question whether dishing out awards to actors playing historical figures is justified and if we're confusing impressions with good acting.