The Rolling Tape

What better way to celebrate 250 years of American history than by talking about the upcoming Emmy nominations? That's right. As of time of this recording, we were just four days away from the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards nominations set to be announced Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at 11:30 A.M. EST, where we'll celebrate the best television has to offer from June 1, 2025, through May 31, 2026.
We have new shows, returning favorites, and series finales to discuss, so it's a packed episode as we deliver our final Emmy nomination predictions for the Drama Series, Comedy Series, and Limited Series categories, along with their respective lead, supporting, and guest acting races. Altogether, that's sixteen acting categories.
Throughout our discussion, we also work in our writing and directing predictions for each section to help strengthen our arguments for each show's overall performance. It's a lot of ground to cover, especially since this is our very first Emmy predictions episode, so we brought in a couple of TV gurus to help navigate this awards-season terrain.
On this episode:
Paul Rai
Jake Fittipaldi
Tate Fowler
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Credits:
Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
Artwork: Danny Jarabek
Editor: Danny Jarabek
Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

We are here to tell you where the minions were between 1939 and 1945...
Minions & Monsters is directed by Pierre Coffin and written by Coffin and Brian Lynch. Produced by Illumination, it is the third installment in the Minions prequel series and the seventh installment overall in the Despicable Me franchise. Taking place in 1927, 41 years before the events of Minions (2015), the film follows the Minions as they aim to make a monster movie of their own in Old Hollywood. The film stars director Pierre Coffin as the Minions, alongside Trey Parker, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges, Zoey Deutch, Bobby Moynihan, and Phil LaMarr.
We will review the film before discussing the best of the first half of 2026 and previewing our most anticipated titles yet to come.
Our pre-episode Patreon exclusive conversation features:
Werwulf trailer
Heat 2 officially happening
Artificial picked up by NEON for the 2026-27 awards season
On this episode:
Danny Jarabek
Adam Patla
Joshua Mbonu 
Support the show
Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon
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Have questions? Email info@therollingtape.com
Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
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Credits:
Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
Artwork: Danny Jarabek
Editor: Danny Jarabek
Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

To conclude our Pride Series for 2026, we start off with a speed review of LEVITICUS, by Adrian Chiarella, an Australian horror-romance that follows two teenage boys who must escape a violent entity after their religious community discovers their sexuality.

We also discuss Gender-Based media, exploring and recommending films that are not based on sexuality, a main topic often included in conversation on Queer Cinema. 
Resources:
Pride Watchlist
POC & International Queer Cinema
On this episode:
Sara Ciplickas
Red Broadwell
Jake Fittipaldi
Bobbi Miller
Des Mack
Support the show
Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon
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Have questions? Email info@therollingtape.com
Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
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Credits:
Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
Artwork: Danny Jarabek
Editor: Danny Jarabek
Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

You are unlikely to encounter another movie like Maddie’s Secret this year. The film, born from the mind of writer, director, and star John Early, satirizes both the Lifetime movies of the 80s and 90s and modern influencer culture while also sincerely addressing disordered eating. arly plays Maddie, a dishwasher turned content creator for mega-company Gourmaybe. It’s her dream come true. However, the newfound attention and popularity in front of the camera causes a relapse of her bulimia.
Adam Patla is joined by director John Early to discuss the unique tone of the film and how he executed the project both behind and in front of the camera.
Read more from the interview here.
Follow our interviewee online:
John Early on Instagram, Twitter, IMDb
Follow our interview host:
Adam Patla
Support the show
Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon
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Have questions? Email info@therollingtape.com
Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree
Credits:
Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
Artwork: Danny Jarabek
Editor: Danny Jarabek
Assistant Producer: Evan Miller

We’re going to podcast about Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. When the conversation is done, and the recording is finished processing, then you have my permission to die.
RETRO//RANKED is a Rolling Tape network series ranking the individual entries of beloved franchises and filmographies, timed to major new releases. For season 7, we're diving into the complete filmography of Christopher Nolan, building episode by episode, two films at a time, toward the release of his latest film, The Odyssey.
Inception is Christopher Nolan’s seventh movie. It was released on July 13, 2010. For better or worse, Nolan is credited as the sole writer of the film. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Nolan explained that he based the roles of the Inception team similar to roles that are used in filmmaking. Cobb is the director, Arthur is the producer, Ariadne is the production designer, Eames is the actor, Saito is the studio, and Fischer is the audience.
The Dark Knight Rises is Nolan’s eighth movie. Like the previous film in the trilogy, it was co-written by Christopher Nolan, alongside his brother Jonathan Nolan off a story by Chris Nolan and David S. Goyer. The film released on July 20, 2012, four years and two days after The Dark Knight. The wait must have been excrutiating.
Enjoy all VIDEO episodes of SEASON 7 one week ahead of their public audio-only release.
Our current collaborative ranking so far:
The Dark Knight
The Prestige
Memento
Batman Begins
Following
Insomnia
On this episode:
Evan Miller
Kam Ryan
Paul Rai
Red Broadwell
Support the show
Subscribe for Early Access and Video:
The Rolling Tape Patreon
Listen Here:
Spotify
Apple Podcasts
All Listening Platforms
Have questions? Email info@therollingtape.com
Podcast Website Link
Website & Publications: www.therollingtape.com
Social Platforms on Linktree
Credits:
Theme music: Eugene Rocco Utley & Karl Vincent
Artwork: Danny Jarabek
Editor: Danny Jarabek
Assistant Producer: Evan Miller