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The following podcast contains explicit language.

I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gap Fest, Bengal Tiger

Giving Birth Edition. It's Wednesday, September 5th, on today's program, early glimpses

of the fall television season with Slate's own June Thomas. And then, is there a vast left-wing Hollywood conspiracy? A left-wing pundit says, indeed there is. And finally, the Norton Anthology of Literature turns 50 this year. We'll talk about that and more on the Slate Culture Gap Fest. Joining me today are Slate's deputy editor, Julia Turner. Hello, Julia.

Hi, Steve. And of course, Slate's film critic, Dana Stevens. Hey, Steve. And then, as promised in the

studio today, Slate's own June Thomas. June, welcome. Thank you. It's so great to have you and to talk about

television. This is sort of a two-part discussion in preparation for which we watched three of the new shows on the upcoming fall season. But we watched them in a slightly different way. We'll get to that in a moment. But first, let's detail what they are. We watched the Mindy Project. Right. The Mindy Celling Show from Fox. Yep. We watched the new normal. Right. Gays having babies. You're very good at this. And finally, we watched animal practice. An animal hospital and people. That one's a little bit harder to encapsulate.

Interesting, which might be a glimpse into its future. But first, let's talk about these shows. What did you make of them? Which ones did you like? What tickled your fancy?

And what do they represent about what television has in store for us this coming year?

Well, I don't know that it can really draw too many conclusions about the entire new season,

although I do see certain similarities even among the early shows.

But the fact that these ones have been released early, they're on

Hulu. Anybody can watch them on the NBC site. That is pretty revolutionary. I mean,

it's been happening the last few years, but it's a new way of trying to get around just the

massive avalanche of new shows that falls down on us in September and

early October that often seems overwhelming and dooms several shows. I mean, every year we get

shows that are cancelled after just one or two episodes. And so it's interesting to see what the

...