HeyJaredContending at the Water Cooler
A weekly look at the entertainment landscape from The Contending.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 13
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- Sep 22, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 7, 2026
Latest episodes
Oscars 2027: First Fests Wrap-Up, Updates on 2027 Oscar Race (opens the original)
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With Joey, Megan, and Frank all back from the first rounds of film festivals, we take stock of the 2027 Oscar race and see how the landscape has changed. The recent Telluride, Venice, and Toronto film festivals gave us our deepest view yet into the 2027 Oscar race. Many contenders emerged and faced shifting winds as they screened for varied audiences. Joey, Megan, and Frank attended the major three early festivals and share their informed view of the 2027 Oscar race on this week’s podcast. Which
2026 Emmys Review Podcast: The Good (Rhea!), the Bad (No Hacks?), and the Ugly (Those Songs) (opens the original)
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The whole Contending team gets together to review and recap the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards. And with that, another Emmy season comes to a close. Last night, Apple broke last year’s The Studio record for wins with Widow’s Bay completely steamrolling over Hacks in all the acting categories (except for Jean Smart, of course). Many predicted The Pitt to dominate, but it only went home with two in the major categories, for Drama Actor and Drama Series. Finally, it was a good night for DTF St. Louis ,
Emmys 2026: Final Thoughts Ahead of Next Week’s Primetime Emmys (opens the original)
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Jalal and Clarence consider the 2026 Creative Arts Emmys winners and how that might forecast next week’s Primetime Emmys. Joey and Megan are taking a much deserved rest after their brilliant Telluride experience . This week, Clarence and Jalal leverage the recent 2026 Creative Arts Emmy Awards to see if their initial thoughts on the Primetime Emmys have changed. Can Pluribus upset The Pitt ? Is Beef still a contender, or did DTF St. Louis sew it up? And can Widow’s Bay break into Hacks ‘ final s
Oscars 2027: It’s Time For 10th Annual Fantasy Oscar Pool! [VIDEO] (opens the original)
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It’s time for the 10th Annual Fantasy Oscar Pool, another one of our favorite podcasts of the year, as we head into film festival season! For long time listeners of our podcast, this is the one where we really earn the Explicit rating (thanks largely to Joey). It’s the 10th edition of our Fantasy Oscar Pool! Before Megan and Joey head to the mountains of Telluride, Colorado, we make our first round draft picks for the Fantasy Oscar race. Then, we’ll follow our selected performances and films thr
Podcast: What to Expect at the 2026 Telluride Film Festival (opens the original)
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The 2026 Telluride Film Festival runs September 4-7 at Telluride, Colorado. In this podcast, Megan McLachlan, Joey Moser, and special guest Mark Johnson discuss what they’re expecting out of the film schedule lineup. The 2026 Telluride Film Festival is right around the corner, meaning we’re gearing up for another awards season. This year looks like a doozy, with past Oscar winners like Julianne Moore in the mix, newbies like Jordan Firstman campaigning their first awards season, and actresses li
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