The Watch | March 14, 2025

Episode Summary: Despite Everything, ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Works. Plus, ‘Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney,’ ‘The Pitt’ E11, and the ‘Top Chef: Canada’ Premiere.
Hosts: Chris Ryan & Andy Greenwald | The Ringer

Overview

Chris and Andy dive into an overflowing docket of TV and pop culture: the turbulence around marketing and launch strategies for prestige streaming shows, a detailed review of the first three episodes of Disney+'s Daredevil: Born Again, John Mulaney’s new Netflix live show Everybody’s Live, the emotionally intense eleventh episode of The Pitt, and the Canadian-infused premiere of Top Chef season 22. The duo explore what’s working and what isn’t in TV industry trends, and, as ever, process the culture as longtime friends and voracious viewers.

Table of Contents

1. Streaming Show Marketing: Changing Game, Disconnected Rituals
2. John Mulaney’s Everybody’s Live: Netflix’s Event TV Experiment
3. Daredevil: Born Again — A Surprisingly Successful Marvel Reboot
4. The Pitt, Episode 11: High-Stakes Drama in the ER
5. Top Chef: Canada Premiere — New Scenery, Same Recipe

Streaming Marketing (06:10–19:30)

Main Points:

• The hosts discuss the curious and often inconsistent ways that platforms like Apple, Disney+, and Netflix market their prestige TV series.
• Apple is slow-rolling trailers for highly anticipated series like Your Friends and Neighbors, prioritizing ecosystem over hype. Disney+ is experimenting with cross-platform marketing (free Andor episodes on Hulu and YouTube).
• The disappearance of network identity and event-viewing rituals ("appointment TV") is highlighted.
• Andy notes the "flattening" of TV culture: "you're just making content widgets for a larger unfeeling company that makes decisions at a level you don't really understand." (17:07)
• Netflix, meanwhile, is threading the new trend of live events and global activations, even as the communal viewing experience erodes.

Notable Quotes:

• Chris: “I think that what everybody needs right now is a feeling that there is a banner under which this stuff exists that they can depend on. That was what made HBO so great.” (10:38)
• Andy: “The flattening effect that you’re describing matters internally within a creative industry... when you just really are making content widgets for a larger unfeeling company.” (17:07)
• Andy: “Netflix’s increasing investment in live events is its version of addressing this concern... to be the hub for what we watch and process and enjoy.” (21:27)

Mulaney’s Live Show (21:42–31:40)

Main Points:

• John Mulaney’s return to Netflix live format with Everybody’s Live is discussed, including Mulaney’s evolution as a live talk show host, the show’s LA setting, and its new mission statement to bring "cultural detritus" to a new generation.
• The energy and unpredictability of live TV is praised. Andy muses, “it does create a lean-in kind of experience... it is live. And that alone adds this frisson of excitement.” (25:44)
• The first episode’s high/awkward moment: Joan Baez’s impromptu political statement, leaving the room silent before Mulaney deftly moves on.
• Both hosts marvel at the eccentric specificity and nostalgia Mulaney brings to his live concepts.

Memorable Moment:

• Joan Baez, live: “...I just want to say: unelected oligarchs are destroying our country and we’re living in an insane, like, end of democracy times.” (30:08)

Notable Quotes:

• Andy: “He’s very, very good at being the ringleader, which isn’t always the case for solo practitioners... it does create a lean-in kind of experience watching it because it is, it is live.” (25:44)
• Chris: “He did an entire credit sequence that’s an homage to William Friedkin’s ‘To Live and Die in L.A.’” (24:25)

Daredevil: Born Again (32:42–54:46)

Main Points:

• The rebooted Daredevil show on Disney+ had a turbulent production with showrunner swaps, reshoots, and re-cuts.
• Despite the behind-the-scenes chaos, Daredevil: Born Again is “pretty good”—with a POV, tone, and narrative logic reminiscent of the celebrated Netflix series.
• Chris singles out the “first 15 minutes of the first episode as the best thing Marvel has done in years.” (34:25)
• Andy describes the series as an “expensive example of corporate humility”—Marvel returning to TV roots, letting a showrunner run the writer’s room.
• The balance of legal drama and brutal superhero action—plus standout performances from Michael Gandolfini (Kingpin’s advisor) and Vincent D’Onofrio as Fisk—is praised.
• The show’s willingness to push violence, commit to consequences, and focus on character stakes is contrasted sharply with previous Marvel TV efforts.

Key Segment Timestamps:

• [First 15 minutes praised] (34:25)
• [Show’s tumult, Marvel TV’s humility] (36:30–39:46)
• [Violence and character work] (41:44–45:56)
• [Structural changes and focus on ground-level drama] (48:25–50:46)

Notable Quotes:

• Chris: “The first 15 minutes... are the best fucking thing Marvel has done in years. Seriously.” (34:25)
• Andy: “On some level, this might be one of the more expensive examples of corporate humility we have on record.” (36:30)
• Andy: “This is a show about a MCU character who isn’t in the Avengers and what he does. And they were incapable of... telling those stories up to now.” (45:49)
• Chris: “Despite myself—despite my cynicism about this entire project... I thought it was pretty good.” (36:19)

The Pitt – Episode 11 (57:14–71:30)

Main Points:

• Episode 11 features an intense and realistic depiction of childbirth complications, evoking visceral reactions from both hosts. Both Chris and Andy admit to watching parts “through hands over [their] eyes.” (57:25)
• The drama is not just for shock: it pays off long-simmering character arcs, with events deeply affecting Dr. Collins and leading to emotional honesty between Robbie and Heather, cashing in “checks that were written in hour one.” (62:44)
• The looming mass shooting at Pit Fest, foreshadowed all season, finally happens—leaving the episode on a heart-stopping cliffhanger.
• The show’s subtle depiction of opioid temptation, moral decisions, and professional cost (especially re Robbie and Santos) earns further respect.

Key Segment Timestamps:

• [Childbirth sequence] (57:17–60:29)
• [Character arcs & manipulation] (61:09–62:44)
• [Pit Fest shooting setup] (63:13–64:39)
• [Langdon/Robbie opioid subplot] (64:39–66:26)
• [Dr. McKay’s emotional breaking point] (70:40–71:16)

Notable Quotes:

• Andy: “They gave us the, quite literally, almost heart-stopping moment... but also some real moments of like, the Collins Robbie scene... beautiful earned character moment.” (62:44)
• Chris: “This is probably my favorite show that’s currently on TV.” (62:50)

Top Chef Canada Premiere (72:51–82:44)

Main Points:

• Season 22 of Top Chef launches in Toronto to little local fanfare—the hosts note a glaring absence of thematic tie-ins or cultural context for the Canadian setting.
• Both consider the glut of contestants (15 chefs), rapid pacing, and branding—“Delta Medallion Status!”—to be distractions.
• While competitors’ backstories are still developing, both Andy and Chris call out this season’s relatively weak first episode—several culinary disasters, flat introductions, and a lack of the local flavor that has marked previous international seasons.
• Still, excitement abides for the competition to deepen, and both hosts mark favorites and question some contestant over- or underperformers.
• Kristin Kish, in her second season as host, is lauded for confidently owning the role.

Notable Quotes:

• Andy: “This first episode did not even attempt to make a case for why they did it [in Canada]... it felt so off the cuff that I was like, are they here purely for tax reasons?” (75:08)
• Andy: “Every single thing is branded. They were like, the prize is Delta Medallion Status. I’m like, I’ve won that prize... I guess I’m a top chef now.” (77:16)
• Chris: “Starting at 10 and letting it breathe would be better. But there are a lot of people who are just watching for quick fires and eliminations…” (78:57)

Memorable/Funny Banter

• The hosts riff on podcast listening habits—especially celebrity guests (“If I heard us talking about my show, I’d be like, fuck these guys.”—Chris, 27:58).
• Mulaney’s “adrenaline” via talk show instead of drugs (29:10).
• Imagining the side characters of Daredevil: “You should get the guy from Sidetalk: ‘I got a Subaru Forester so strippers can give me Shape Ups in the back.’” (51:05)

Final Thoughts

Chris and Andy, in their signature blend of highbrow insight and comedic digression, navigate the current pop culture moment, highlight what works (and what frustrates) in TV marketing and narrative, and provide deep-dive reactions to Daredevil: Born Again, Everybody’s Live, The Pitt, and Top Chef. The episode is an essential listen for plugged-in viewers wrestling with the modern streaming era’s highs, lows, and head-scratchers.

Next episode: Monday — White Lotus, Severance, and possibly a review of Adolescence.

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