I couldn’t think of a third word to rhyme for the title and I will never forgive myself for failing so miserably.

Anyway… Have some free time and wondering what to watch, play, listen to, etc.? Well we have some suggestions for you!

Lauren’s Podcast Pick: The Thing About Pam – The Thing About Pam is a Dateline created, 6 part true crime podcast spawning from a murder that happened not too far from my home in St. Louis back in 2011. I remember hearing bits and pieces of this story on the local news as this was all happening years ago (over the course of numerous years), but it turns out I didn’t even know the half of the craziness surrounding the woman at the center of it all, Pam Hupp. Honestly, if this story was a work of fiction I’d say it jumped the shark part way through as things sprint past the line of believability and just keep running, with more and more reveals coming long past the first time you think: “surely there can’t be more to this story.” But there is, there’s so much more. It truly needs to be heard to be believed, and there’s no better voice to tell it than Keith Morrison.

Ben’s TV Pick: American Horror Story: 1984 – In my opinion, American Horror Story stopped being effortlessly dark with its Apocalypse season and ended up feeling like it was trying too hard to maintain its broodiness and self-seriousness. It was as if the writers behind the long-running show forgot that it’s okay to lighten up every once in a while. It seems that I wasn’t the only one who noticed it either, because the currently-airing ninth season of the anthology horror series has taken a refreshing, if unoriginal, turn into the territory of campy 80’s slasher films. When the announcement trailer for AHS: 1984 dropped, my first thought was “oh man, I hope the actual season has the same cheesy 80’s style as this ad,” and it hasn’t let me down yet.

Ben’s TV Pick: The Good Place – The Good Place is probably one of the smartest and funniest shows to have graced the small screen in the past few years, and its emotional beats may end up matching its laughs in the final season. Kristen Bell’s Eleanor and the core members of The Good Place crew have all come so far after enduring with all sorts of shenanigans in the afterlife and I’m sad that this is their last hoorah, but thankfully the show is going out on what appears to be an extremely high note. It’s a far better fate than getting cancelled after some bullshirt cliffhanger or going on too many seasons and forking it up down the road, that’s for sure.

Ben’s Video Game Pick: Castle Crashers Remastered – Castle Crashers is my favorite indie game. Hard stop. Its simple and fun cooperative gameplay, huge roster of unlockable characters, bizarre armory ranging from swords to giant lollipops, and strong sense of humor have drawn me back to it many times over the past decade. I’ve played it on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Xbox One, and now the Switch thanks to this remaster, which feels like the perfect home for it thanks to the system’s tablet mode. Castle Crashers Remastered doesn’t add anything new to the side-scrolling beat ’em up, but I’d definitely recommend picking it up to those who’ve never played it before or are a huge fan like myself.

And of course I’m still playing a ton of Borderlands 3.

So what do you think about these picks? What content did we miss over the past two weeks while we were spending time with these? Be sure to leave a comment below letting us know about everything (both current and simply new to you) you’ve been consuming lately!

While you’re here, be sure to check out Ben’s writeup of his favorite horror shows, Zac’s written review of Joker, and our podcast episode on It: Chapter 2. And please help us give a warm welcome to Evan, a new contributor to Middle of the Row, by checking out his first writeup for the site, “Evan Recommends.”