'Severance,' 'Survivor,' 'The Pitt,' And The Shameful Sixteen Is Set, On Podjiba!

A warning for our listeners: the show begins with a new segment, Penis Talk, which is absolutely relevant due to recent episodes of The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones! It’s not particularly dirty, but still, if you’re not interested, you probably should fast forward about 7 minutes.

But don’t worry, you aren’t missing out on much, because it’s a big show this week, as the 2025 Fiscal First Quarter Categorization Challenge is set! This year’s bracket has been dubbed (by Tori) THE SHAMEFUL SIXTEEN, as we have chosen sixteen shows that we are ashamed (or should be) to have not seen at all (not even one episode).

The actual showdown begins next week, but this year’s entrants are:

THE DUSTIN REGION
The Shield (FX)
The Comeback (HBO)
This Fool (Hulu)
Outer Banks (Netflix) *chosen by Dustin’s children, who are adamant that it must get out of the first round

THE TORI REGION
Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul (AMC) *allowed as a duo because Better Call Saul is the choice, but she knows she should watch Breaking Bad first
Mad Men (AMC)
Halt And Catch Fire (AMC) *Tori do you, like, need to borrow an AMC+ subscription?
Justified (FX)

(as an aside, the Tori region is BRUTAL, my God. We assumed this would be our opportunity to get her to watch Justified, but…)

THE DAN REGION
The Americans (FX)
The Leftovers (HBO)
Stranger Things (Netflix)
Dark (Netflix) *this one is mostly here just to annoy Dustin & Tori when it inevitably loses

THE WILDCARD (ANYONE) REGION
Felicity (The WB) *for Tori and Dan
Cowboy Bebop (Sunrise) *we can force Dustin to watch this if things play out right
X-Men: The Animated Series (Fox)
Mr. Show (HBO)

A lot of strong competition here. Gonna be fun arguing over which show we should feel most shame over/should watch later this summer!

As for this week’s television, a grab bag of topics, including the return of Top Chef and the shenanigans on the most recent episode of Survivor, a brief check-in on the AppleTV+ shows we watch (Mythic Quest and Severance), before rounding things out with a discussion of last week’s episode of The Pitt, which remains maybe the best show of the year thus far (or at least definitely the best show that Tori doesn’t watch, wait SHOULD THE PITT BE IN TORI’S REGION? No that’s crazy. Or is it?).

Anyway. It’s a lot of fun stuff and definitely not as much nonsense as last week.

Podjiba! The exclusive home of the Fiscal First Quarter Categorization Challenge, can be found anywhere you get your podcasts, including below!