Contending at the Water Cooler cover art

Contending at the Water Cooler

Contending at the Water Cooler

By: Clarence Moye Megan McLachlan Joey Moser
Listen for free

About this listen

A weekly look at the entertainment landscape from The Contending.The Contending, Megan McLachlan, Joey Moser, Clarence Moye Art
Episodes
  • Sending Up a Flare: The Water Cooler Survives ‘Send Help’ [VIDEO]
    Feb 3 2026
    The Water Cooler spends some time deserted with Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien for Sam Raimi’s ‘Send Help.’

    Help! Clarence is deserted on a remote island–someone save him! Or, perhaps, Megan and Joey are talking about Sam Raimi’s Send Help and he’s a little under the weather. Even an S.O.S. can be dramatic.

    If you follow Megan on any social platform, you will notice how much she loves Raimi’s latest, which finds Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien butting heads and slaughtering boars after their plane crashes on a business trip to Bangkok. McAdams’ Linda has the survival skills, but O’Brien’s Bradley thinks he’s still in control. How does Raimi fare when giving this workplace hierarchy dark comedy his trademark bloody twists?

    A few new trailers dropped this week, and Joey and Megan give their instant reactions to The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette. Is the lighting that bad for Miranda Priestly’s return? Will the Ryan Murphy produced limited series be more in line with the quality of The People vs. OJ Simpson?

    We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    Click here to listen to our audio podcast. Our video podcast follows below.

    Podcast Music:
    Royalty Free Music from Tunetank.com
    Track: Here We Go! by cinematic alex
    https://tunetank.com/track/802-here-we-go/

    The post Sending Up a Flare: The Water Cooler Survives ‘Send Help’ [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

    Show More Show Less
    59 mins
  • The Great Catherine O’Hara At the Peak of ‘Schitt’s Creek’ [PODCAST]
    Jan 31 2026
    The Contending’s Clarence Moye returns to his original interview with the great Catherine O’Hara, gone too soon at 71.

    We were not ready to say “Goodbye” to Catherine O’Hara today.

    When a friend send the news that she’d passed, it felt like a punch to the gut. I mourned not only the great comedic performances she’d given — Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman, Beetlejuice, and her Emmy-winning work in Schitt’s Creek — but I also mourned the great performances she’d yet to give. No matter her age, O’Hara always seemed down to play, and I always imagined her bringing that same inspired lunacy straight into her 90s.

    But the universe had different plans for her.

    In 2017, I had the great fortune of speaking with Catherine O’Hara when I wrote for Awards Daily. It would emerge as one of my very favorite interviews. She was kind, she was generous, and she was very, very funny as she dove into the process of Schitt’s Creek and Moira Rose. We talked just as the comedy hit Netflix and exploded into pop culture. She and the rest of the main cast would eventually go on to win well deserved Emmys for their work.

    Here, in this podcast interview, O’Hara and I chat about her work on the series and her partnership with Eugene and Dan Levy. Listening to the podcast again today, I’m struck by how, at times, I wished I’d asked different questions. I wished I’d broadened our conversation to compare Moira to the great roles of her career. I wished I’d gushed a little less. Yet, she remained friendly, open, and ever in praise of the collaborative process that gave us Schitt’s Creek.

    So, join me in remembering this great actress: her brilliance, her razor-sharp humor, and her life.

    And in the words of Annie Murphy’s Alexis Rose:

    “Goodbye to a great actress. ”

    Click here for my full podcast interview with the brilliant Catherine O’Hara or via Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    Royalty Free Music from Tunetank.com
    Track: Here We Go! by cinematic alex
    https://tunetank.com/track/802-here-we-go/

    The post The Great Catherine O’Hara At the Peak of ‘Schitt’s Creek’ [PODCAST] appeared first on The Contending.

    Show More Show Less
    Less than 1 minute
  • Weighing In On 2026 Oscar Nominations, Potential Winners [VIDEO]
    Jan 27 2026
    With a few days behind us, we gather around the Water Cooler to chat about the 2026 Oscar nominations and spitball potential winners.

    We let the dust settle from last Thursday’s 2026 Oscar nominations, and now we’re ready to break them down. We chat about our surprises, our disappointments, and our favorite nominations. We also take our first stab at winner predictions. We have a long way to go before the 2026 Oscars, including major guild wins. Things are bound to change before we lock things in, but these predictions are what we’re feeling in late January.

    Following that, Megan recently reviewed Sam Raimi’s Send Help. Rachel McAdams plays a mousy woman trapped on a deserted island with her dude-bro boss. Based on the trailer, we think she’s not up for his shit. Megan weighs in on the film and McAdams’s performance.

    We’re deeply appreciative for your shares, likes, and positive ratings on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    Click here to listen to our audio podcast. Our video podcast follows below.

    Podcast Music:
    Royalty Free Music from Tunetank.com
    Track: Here We Go! by cinematic alex
    https://tunetank.com/track/802-here-we-go/

    The post Weighing In On 2026 Oscar Nominations, Potential Winners [VIDEO] appeared first on The Contending.

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 16 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.