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I'm Stephen Metcalfe, and this is the Slate Culture Gapfest, Do-Eye Triangle Player Edition, is Wednesday, February 19th, 2014.

On today's show, the new comedy transparent, it's not only a TV show, It's a business model. We'll discuss Amazon.com's foray into series TV. And then the Italian movie The Great Beauty is the presumptive favorite to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. We'll discuss whether it deserves to be. And then finally, is the great era of branding coming to a close. Joining me today is Slate's deputy editor Julia Turner. Hello, Julia. Hi, Steve. And of course, Slate's film critic, Dana Stevens. Hey, Dana.

Hello, Stephen. All right. Well, digging right in, with House of Cards, Netflix showed the world

that a la carte programming may well be the future of television. Amazon tried to enter that

arena by premiering eight pilots last

year and what turned out to be a kind of wacky beauty contest in which no one really took home

the crown. Now many critics, including Slate's own Willa Paskin, believe Amazon has broken through

with HBO Quality Fair. Transparent is the brainchild of writer-producer Jill Salloway, best known for her

work on the TV show Six Feet Under. It stars the wonderful Jeffrey Tambour as an L.A. patriarch with a big secret that he wants to tell his kids. We're going to spoil the show a little bit, though in our judgment, really, it's not much of a spoiler. It's kind of the premise of the show, and we'll definitely be talking about it. But if you want to skip ahead, please feel free. Why don't we start by listening to a clip?

Yeah, and just to set this up a bit. So this is, the Patriarch has invited his three children to dinner because he has something to tell them.

Hey, guys.

Hi.

Listen, I have, I need to talk to you about something.

There's a big change going on.

Oh, God.

I love your kids.

I love your kids.

I love your kids.

...