The WGA’s Surprise Deal With the Studios, Bad Robot Downsizes, and the State of International Crime Thrillers on TV

About this episode

Chris and Andy discuss the WGA's new deal, Bad Robot's downsizing, and review international crime thrillers on TV.

Chris and Andy talk about the tentative four-year deal that the WGA reached with the studios (5:42) and the news that J.J. Abrams’s production company, Bad Robot, is downsizing (12:49). Then they react to the ‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’ trailer (29:09) before discussing a pair of international crime thrillers, HBO’s ‘Privilèges’ (32:19) and Netflix’s ‘Unfamiliar’ (44:16). Later, The Watch: After Dark (01:00:00). Subscribe to the Ringer TV YouTube channel here for full episodes of The Watch and so much more! Hosts: Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald Producers: Kaya McMullen and Kai Grady Additional Video Supervision: Sarah Reddy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Hosts: Chris Ryan, Andy Greenwald

Topics covered

• WGA deal
• Bad Robot downsizing
• international crime thrillers
• Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed trailer
• HBO
• Netflix

Keywords

• WGA
• Bad Robot
• international crime thrillers
• HBO
• Netflix
• Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed
• Privilèges
• Unfamiliar

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: WGA, Bad Robot, HBO, Netflix

Books & works: Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, Privilèges, Unfamiliar

More episodes of The Watch

• Gail Simmons on the ‘Top Chef’ Season 23 Finale! Plus, ‘Widow’s Bay’ Episode 9. · June 11, 2026 · 1h 22m
• Apple Owns TV Right Now. Is That a Good Thing? Plus, ‘Cape Fear’ Series Premiere and ‘Star City’ Episode 3. · June 8, 2026 · 1h 10m
• Is ‘Widow’s Bay’ Too Good? Plus ‘Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed’ and ‘Top Chef’ · June 4, 2026 · 1h 19m
• ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Hacks’ Say Goodbye. Plus, ‘Star City’ Takes Off. · June 2, 2026 · 1h 21m
• ‘Spider-Noir’ Is Unsure of Itself. Plus, ‘Widow’s Bay’ E6-7, ‘Euphoria’ S3E7, and ‘Top Chef’ S23E12. · May 28, 2026 · 1h 35m
• ‘Survivor’ Season 50 Finale, ‘Widow’s Bay’ Episode 5, and All-Time Episodic Runs With Joanna Robinson · May 22, 2026 · 1h 3m