Patrick J. Adams on the Making of ‘The Madison.’ Plus, ‘The Pitt’ S2E12 and a TV News Roundup.

Chris and Andy talk about the trailer for HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ TV adaptation (1:25), Mahershala Ali joining the cast of ‘Task’ for Season 2 (7:25), Stephen Colbert penning the script for a new ‘Lord of the Rings’ (10:49), and ‘The X-Files’ reboot finding its co-lead in Himesh Patel (16:44). Then they discuss ‘The Pitt’ Season 2, Episode 12 (18:51) and ‘Top Chef’ Season 23, Episode 3 (41:00). Later, they are joined by ‘The Madison’ star Patrick J. Adams to talk about his experience working on the Taylor Sheridan project, acting alongside Michelle Pfeiffer and Dustin Hoffman, what he’s watching, and more (48:33). Subscribe to the Ringer TV YouTube channel here for full episodes of The Watch and so much more! Hosts: Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald Guest: Patrick J. Adams Producers: Kaya McMullen and Kai Grady Additional Video Supervision: Sarah Reddy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

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• 1:41Chris Ryan?

  Hello and welcome to The Watch. My name is Chris Ryan. I am an editor at theringer.com. And joining me in the studio, very little going on this week, it's Andy Greenwald.

• 1:53Andy Greenwald?

  How are you?

• 1:54Chris Ryan?

  I'm doing good, brother.

• 1:55Andy Greenwald?

  Happy opening day.

• 1:56Chris Ryan?

  Good to see you. We represent just the beauty of baseball and the national pastime here.

• 2:01Andy Greenwald?

  I thought for sure we were going to get a Phillies hat today to celebrate opening day, but...

• 2:06Chris Ryan?

  You know what happens if you cut my arm open? Bleeds Phillies red.

• 2:10Andy Greenwald?

  That happens to everyone.

• 2:12Chris Ryan?

  You know, when it comes to hats, I like to mix it up a little bit. We've talked about this.

• 2:15Andy Greenwald?

  Do you think that you are like eagle eyed viewers? Cause we have viewers now of the podcast. Do you think they're aware that you've been subtly spelling out a message? With the letters in your hat? No, that's what I've been, that's the message I've been signaling with my hands for the last six months.

• 2:30Chris Ryan?

  Let's see our month end. Andy, today on the watch, we're going to talk about the pit. We're going to talk about Top Chef. We have a special guest from the Madison. Patrick Adams.

• 2:39Andy Greenwald?

  Here to, here to clear some things up.

• 2:41Chris Ryan?

  I, I feel pretty like I got the plot of the Madison. I got it. Yeah. It's all clear to me. It's not, it's not like Paradise, which we will be talking about on Monday after its season finale.

• 2:50Andy Greenwald?

  Can't wait.

• 2:52Chris Ryan?

  A couple of things at the top to discuss news and notes wise. The Harry Potter trailer did drop. Kind of unexpectedly. Was it unexpected for you?

• 3:01Andy Greenwald?

  No.

• 3:02Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 3:03Andy Greenwald?

  Thank you. Nor was it unexpected to many because yesterday was the HBO Max launch event for UK and Ireland.

• 3:10Chris Ryan?

  Sorry, I was reading the Financial Times. They didn't mention it there.

• 3:12Andy Greenwald?

  And for those people, I know that you are mostly.

• 3:17Chris Ryan?

  FT, we were just kind of really focused on other things.

• 3:19Andy Greenwald?

  You mostly travel by Waymo these days, but if you had taken public transportation in any of the major cities, you would have seen there were like, there were, you know, the best platforms.

• 3:28Chris Ryan?

  I travel by Waymo, but I hire a guide or to like sit in the front seat just to like norm it, make it normal.

• 3:33Andy Greenwald?

  Just to be like, how's the temperature for you, sir?

• 3:38Chris Ryan?

  Would you like the aux cord, my friend?

• 3:40Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, that's great. Yeah. So no, I was not surprised. Also, I don't know why I'm piling on, why are you paying more attention?

• 3:49Andy Greenwald?

  That, that members of the cast posted like tomorrow.

• 3:52Chris Ryan?

  Oh, okay. Great. It's coming in Christmas of this year.

• 3:56Andy Greenwald?

  Yes, that was news.

• 3:57Chris Ryan?

  Okay. That's crazy. I think just my relationship to you being over there is, you know, obviously you were part of the writing staff and, and

• 4:07Chris Ryan?

  it's been a huge deal for you and it's.

• 4:09Andy Greenwald?

  And for my frequent flyer miles.

• 4:11Chris Ryan?

  And for your frequent flyer miles.

• 4:12Andy Greenwald?

  Which I can't wait to use in an airport soon.

• 4:14Chris Ryan?

  When you go to George Bush Airport in Houston.

• 4:18Chris Ryan?

  I wanted to go through the trailer frame by frame and ask you if you're responsible for each scene.

• 4:22Andy Greenwald?

  I think that's the only way we should be covering the show.

• 4:24Chris Ryan?

  I don't, do you have any observations or do you have any reflections or any statements you'd want to make?

• 4:28Andy Greenwald?

  Statements?

• 4:29Chris Ryan?

  Like, to me, this is all new. Like, I've watched Harry Potter movies over other dudes' shoulders on airplanes or in bars when they're on mute for some reason.

• 4:37Andy Greenwald?

  Just two adults staring at children becoming wizards.

• 4:43Chris Ryan?

  What the fuck is wrong with me? I was at a bar once last year and I was like, damn, this is pretty interesting. But it's, you know, obviously, what's it like seeing the stuff on screen?

• 4:53Andy Greenwald?

  At the bar, were they showing one of the later films when they're like a little more mature?

• 4:56Chris Ryan?

  No, they seemed pretty young. Wow. I guess they're always young, right? It's not like the old Potters.

• 5:00Andy Greenwald?

  To us.

• 5:01Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 5:01Andy Greenwald?

  First of all, stop giving good ideas away for free.

• 5:03Chris Ryan?

  Didn't they make an old Potter? Where Potter has a kid? Isn't that the play?

• 5:08Andy Greenwald?

  This should be our podcast for the next year and a half.

• 5:10Chris Ryan?

  I don't think so.

• 5:11Andy Greenwald?

  The play is, yes, many years later and, and the, the children of the first generation

• 5:15Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 5:16Andy Greenwald?

  characters are going off to Hogwarts.

• 5:18Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 5:18Andy Greenwald?

  And maybe this will make you more interested. Um, Harry's son is sorted into Slytherin. Do you like those words in that order?

• 5:24Chris Ryan?

  I never got that. I never understood what that stuff was.

• 5:27Andy Greenwald?

  I, well, you've got, you know, you've got, uh, nine months to catch up.

• 5:30Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 5:31Andy Greenwald?

  And I, I have to say, I really appreciated your enthusiasm about the trailer for a property that you have at this point had no knowledge of.

• 5:37Chris Ryan?

  I will say the corny part out loud, which is like when you see work that your friends have done come to life, it's pretty cool.

• 5:44Andy Greenwald?

  Thank you. That's how I felt about, um, uh, CR month.

• 5:47Chris Ryan?

  It's the same thing.

• 5:48Andy Greenwald?

  It was basically the same thing.

• 5:49Chris Ryan?

  It means, it means the same to the Warner Brothers Discovery Corporation.

• 5:53Andy Greenwald?

  It's possible. Uh, yeah, it was, it was extremely exciting and I'll just say that I thought, I mean, As we go through this, like, and everybody knows, like, I am a consulting producer on the show. I am not the showrunner. I am not involved in the decision making and I am not privy to, like, the cuts of the trailer.

• 6:10Chris Ryan?

  Sure.

• 6:10Andy Greenwald?

  So I was seeing it for the first time and I was really pleasantly surprised because there was footage that I had seen and been involved in and there was things that I had never seen before but was happy to see. And the thing that I was most excited about, about the trailer, was that it did seem to communicate some of the central tenets of what Francesco wants to do with the property and what we want the show to be. And it was also, because this is the first filmed version of Potter, obviously, to happen since all the books have been written, since the movies have been adored and digested, and it is, I think, hopefully, communicating with the fandom as well as opening it up to new people.

• 6:45Chris Ryan?

  If you had been-

• 6:46Andy Greenwald?

  Like you.

• 6:47Chris Ryan?

  If you had been responsible for the trailer, like, if you were the decision maker, would you have used Jay Rue's "Come Clean" as the music for Harry?

• 6:55Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, in the beginning?

• 6:55Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 6:56Andy Greenwald?

  No, I mean, Hans Zimmer is doing the score, but I would have done some of his dune work over this trailer. Just like the real, real blaring stuff. No, I thought the kids looked great. And, um, you know, there's a lot more to unfold. I don't know. What else can I, should I say?

• 7:11Chris Ryan?

  Nothing. I mean, it's coming out at Christmas of this year, you know?

• 7:16Andy Greenwald?

  It's a very Christmasy vibe.

• 7:17Chris Ryan?

  I'm sure, like, more will emerge. It was cool to see Papa Esadeo. That's mostly my relationship to this show, I guess, at this point. Other than Lithgow, right? Nick Frost, also seen, Jenna McTeer, saw her. Randomly got served a scene of her death in another TV series.

• 7:38Andy Greenwald?

  Oh.

• 7:38Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 7:39Andy Greenwald?

  Because of your interest in the Harry Potter trailer?

• 7:41Chris Ryan?

  No, it was like I saw, it was like a prompt of, like, sickest needle drops and her death.

• 7:47Andy Greenwald?

  And it was John Williams' Harry Potter score over her death in- I don't know.

• 7:51Chris Ryan?

  No, I don't want to spoil the show that happens inside. I can't really tell the story.

• 7:55Andy Greenwald?

  It would have been such a good story.

• 7:56Chris Ryan?

  Do you have anything else you wanted to say about the Potter stuff?

• 7:59Andy Greenwald?

  No, I'm excited to, I'm excited to have it out there and I'm excited for Christmas back in London.

• 8:03Chris Ryan?

  Are you gonna be there for Christmas?

• 8:04Andy Greenwald?

  I, I will be introducing the show to the world, yes. I, I know I just sort of acted like-

• 8:10Chris Ryan?

  The premiere would be theoretically in, in London at Christmas.

• 8:13Andy Greenwald?

  Yes, and, and all the principals have decided that who better to introduce the entire project to the world than a podcaster from America?

• 8:22Chris Ryan?

  Most beloved man.

• 8:23Andy Greenwald?

  On the internet, yeah.

• 8:24Chris Ryan?

  Let's talk a little bit about something that happened right as we were finishing what was, I thought, a solid show for us on Monday.

• 8:31Andy Greenwald?

  I always feel like it's a little bit like an away game when we're in a different studio with a different seating.

• 8:35Chris Ryan?

  And didn't we do Monday was like, let's talk about a bunch of different shows?

• 8:38Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 8:39Chris Ryan?

  Right. Um, I thought it was a good show. It was fine. Um.

• 8:42Andy Greenwald?

  It's your, now you're, you're voting it down.

• 8:44Chris Ryan?

  Now I'm turning it down a little bit, but as we were leaving that day, it was announced something that-

• 8:49Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, there's some news, yeah.

• 8:50Chris Ryan?

  NBD had been out there in the ether, which is that, uh, Mahershala Ali, one of my favorite actors, is joining the cast of Task for season two.

• 9:01Andy Greenwald?

  Say the name of his character. Do you have it in front of you?

• 9:03Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, I sure do, dude.

• 9:04Andy Greenwald?

  It's cool as hell.

• 9:05Chris Ryan?

  He is going to play, quote, Eddie Barnes, described as a seasoned and well-respected DEA agent in Philadelphia, whose team comes to, into conflict with Tom's unit.

• 9:18Andy Greenwald?

  This is the same energy I saw on the Harry Potter on HBO subreddit yesterday. Like, we all have our fandoms. And Mahershala Ali playing a guy from Philadelphia called Eddie Barnes-

• 9:29Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 9:29Andy Greenwald?

  Is pretty much our love language.

• 9:31Chris Ryan?

  The thing I wanted to point out, other than the fact that, uh, this is so great to see Mahershala get a role that he will obviously be sinking his teeth into, since he did not get to see, sink his teeth into anything.

• 9:42Andy Greenwald?

  As Blade.

• 9:43Chris Ryan?

  Yes, yes, come on.

• 9:44Andy Greenwald?

  Fucking- Look at us, that was pathetic. Cut that. Actually, run with it. What are we doing? Which one? Open or fit?

• 9:49Chris Ryan?

  I was just doing like a fucking cool, like, Predator guy. Here we go.

• 9:52Andy Greenwald?

  That looked cool.

• 9:53Chris Ryan?

  Blade has been in this sort of development. Hell, I don't know what kind of schedule holds it put on his time. The only real thing that popped off for him-

• 10:02Chris Ryan?

  I'm gonna say since like True D3.

• 10:05Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 10:06Chris Ryan?

  Was Jurassic.

• 10:08Andy Greenwald?

  He had a little beret in that.

• 10:09Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, and he's like.

• 10:10Andy Greenwald?

  That was cool.

• 10:11Chris Ryan?

  Good in it, but it's it's a weird like, that's an Oscar winning actor, man. Like, what's going on? And so it's awesome that he's gonna be doing this and it's also a great zag for Task to be probably making the oppositional force of Tom. Another law enforcement agent. You know what I mean? And it's, we're gonna get into.

• 10:34Andy Greenwald?

  Are you saying all cops?

• 10:35Chris Ryan?

  To live and die in Philadelphia stuff.

• 10:37Andy Greenwald?

  All cops aren't buddies?

• 10:39Chris Ryan?

  That's right.

• 10:40Andy Greenwald?

  Is that what that stands for?

• 10:42Chris Ryan?

  Damn.

• 10:43Andy Greenwald?

  That's tough.

• 10:46Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, you like that one.

• 10:47Chris Ryan?

  Your ACAB jokes are pretty funny.

• 10:51Andy Greenwald?

  Because they're right. I'm dancing on the edge.

• 10:52Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 10:53Andy Greenwald?

  You never know which way I'm gonna go with them.

• 10:54Chris Ryan?

  Well, you know, really, I mean, like, those wars, you know, I guess ACAB gets comes up, but we wanna, it's a lot of bastards out there, you know?

• 11:03Andy Greenwald?

  So you don't want to just like limit them?

• 11:05Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 11:05Andy Greenwald?

  For one.

• 11:06Chris Ryan?

  Exactly. I don't want it's limiting. Um, so any other thoughts on this?

• 11:09Andy Greenwald?

  No, it's just exciting. I mean, it also potentially is proof of concept for why Task is an ongoing series, which is that they can attract really A-list talent to come play in this sandbox.

• 11:22Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 11:22Andy Greenwald?

  For presumably one season runs, or maybe one, and then you've come back in a sort of like, you know, we don't know the terms of his deal, but I would imagine that he is not joining the show to become the new.

• 11:33Chris Ryan?

  Tom Pelfrey?

• 11:34Andy Greenwald?

  Or the new number two on the cast, on the call sheet.

• 11:36Chris Ryan?

  No, I would imagine that.

• 11:37Andy Greenwald?

  But they are building a pantheon of characters and worlds within the setting of the show that could be revisited, depending how long it runs.

• 11:44Chris Ryan?

  And then Sir Kristen Cole gets out of the Bing at the end of season two, and he can be the big bad guy for season three, or the good guy for season three. You know, it's, there's a lot of opportunities here. I also think at some point, not that he would probably do it, but if the concept of the show is durable enough, Ruffalo could leave in one way or another, and you could, you could have two different characters. I mean, it doesn't have to be an anthology for it to change a lot.

• 12:07Andy Greenwald?

  No, I mean, the star of the show is basically the Wawa diaspora.

• 12:11Chris Ryan?

  That's right.

• 12:12Andy Greenwald?

  So like, as long as you can get a hoagie. Within spitting distance of where the characters live, they can be the stars of the show.

• 12:18Chris Ryan?

  I didn't really have that much more for you on the news side of things, but I did want to ask if you saw the Lord of the Rings news this week.

• 12:26Andy Greenwald?

  Yes. Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that.

• 12:27Chris Ryan?

  So it's like some sort of Lord of the Rings celebration or anniversary this week? Or it's like Lord of the Rings Day?

• 12:33Andy Greenwald?

  Some sort, like, couldn't be me, you definitely have no idea what's going on.

• 12:37Chris Ryan?

  It wasn't in the Financial Times.

• 12:39Andy Greenwald?

  It wasn't?

• 12:39Chris Ryan?

  They weren't writing about it in Alpha Bill.

• 12:42Andy Greenwald?

  I mean, the price of gold is fluctuating, so thus the one ring may have gone up in value.

• 12:46Chris Ryan?

  But Peter Jackson did some straight to camera video stuff on social media and he was like, "Yeah, you know, Andy Serkis's movie is going pretty well, The Hunt for Gollum, we discussed that."

• 12:54Andy Greenwald?

  We sure did.

• 12:55Chris Ryan?

  Uh, and he was like, "Little surprise." And he patches in the co-writer of another Lord of the Rings movie that is in development. And it's Stephen fucking Colbert.

• 13:06Andy Greenwald?

  Yes.

• 13:06Chris Ryan?

  And it turns out Stephen Colbert really likes chapters four through eight of Fellowship of the Ring, which aren't really in the movie Fellowship of the Ring. So he's like, "What if we did that?"

• 13:19Andy Greenwald?

  Is that all like the Tom Bombadil chapters? Yeah, I can, I can fucking get it. Come on, now we're doing this?

• 13:24Chris Ryan?

  Hold on, you put me,

• 13:25Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah!

• 13:26Chris Ryan?

  You put me on an ice floe and sent me out and started shooting arrows at me, like a Viking, when I knew

• 13:33Andy Greenwald?

  What are Vikings called?

• 13:34Chris Ryan?

  Isildur was.

• 13:34Andy Greenwald?

  Middle Earth.

• 13:36Chris Ryan?

  Okay, those guys are dwarves, right?

• 13:38Andy Greenwald?

  You talk to your people about that, I don't know.

• 13:40Chris Ryan?

  The Gimli and all those guys?

• 13:42Andy Greenwald?

  This is the thing, you can't pin me down.

• 13:44Chris Ryan?

  Well-

• 13:44Andy Greenwald?

  You don't know where I'm at.

• 13:46Chris Ryan?

  This is honestly-

• 13:47Andy Greenwald?

  I only like the chapters in those books about the little minstrels singing his songs. No, I'm just trying to zag.

• 13:53Chris Ryan?

  Okay, because I'm having my, my reaction to this news is closer to what you were like, like, where you're like, "Why are they hunting for Gollum when they just hunt for Gollum for four, five movies?" And, uh, for three movies. And my, that's my reaction to this, which is I know that there are L O T R fans who are like, "Tom Bombadil is actually," and I don't really know if that's how you say his last name.

• 14:16Andy Greenwald?

  When you say it like that-

• 14:17Chris Ryan?

  He sounds like a 1984 Phillies left fielder who platoons left right, but like-

• 14:21Andy Greenwald?

  What? No, he doesn't. He sounds like a rapper who hung out with like, uh, like, uh, Buckshot and like the rest of the gang.

• 14:29Chris Ryan?

  Black Moon.

• 14:30Andy Greenwald?

  Black Moon and like, Show and AG and Tom Bombadil dropping knowledge.

• 14:35Chris Ryan?

  He apparently, I haven't read the books, and since he's not in the movies, I'm not certain about this, but is like the counterweight to Sauron, right?

• 14:43Andy Greenwald?

  Who is?

• 14:44Chris Ryan?

  Like, he's Tom.

• 14:45Andy Greenwald?

  I thought he was just like a dude with a banjo.

• 14:47Chris Ryan?

  Nah, cuz the whole thing is at one point, he puts the ring on and nothing happens.

• 14:52Andy Greenwald?

  Because?

• 14:53Chris Ryan?

  Cuz he's powerful.

• 14:54Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, I thought it was because he chose himself. He doesn't need to get married. Tom chose Tom.

• 14:59Chris Ryan?

  I chose me.

• 15:02Chris Ryan?

  Anyway, this is, uh, on one hand, I guess this could be a 90-minute movie. I doubt it, but it could be like a tight, interesting little like slice of life with a bit of who was this guy? And, you know, what did he mean to this world? But, um, shout to Stephen Colbert, man. Uh, he is not gonna be hosting, uh, the Late Show.

• 15:23Andy Greenwald?

  Much longer.

• 15:24Chris Ryan?

  Much longer, but he is gonna be writing a Lord of the Rings movie.

• 15:26Andy Greenwald?

  Do you wanna weigh in on, I, there was an interesting, Daniel Didario wrote an interesting piece in Variety about Stephen Colbert's, um, victory lap of a final season?

• 15:35Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 15:36Andy Greenwald?

  And how it was sort of becoming-

• 15:37Chris Ryan?

  Curdling?

• 15:38Andy Greenwald?

  Curdling a little bit. I don't know if you had any feelings about that.

• 15:40Chris Ryan?

  I haven't seen it. I, I haven't seen a single second of it, to be honest.

• 15:43Andy Greenwald?

  This is like, this is like someone-

• 15:45Chris Ryan?

  Well, I mean, like, curdling how? Is he like-

• 15:47Andy Greenwald?

  You sound like the federal judge is testifying in front of the Senate nominees. Just like, who won the 2020 election? And you're like, I haven't seen it.

• 15:54Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, I read the Financial Times, so I don't know.

• 15:56Andy Greenwald?

  Financial Times guy.

• 15:57Chris Ryan?

  No, I, I have no idea. Is it different than the way it was in 2017?

• 16:01Andy Greenwald?

  Right. I mean, I think that the thing is, is that because of the political nature of what happened and that he's had this long runway to be, I think, righteously aggrieved.

• 16:12Chris Ryan?

  Sure.

• 16:13Andy Greenwald?

  All of the guests who have come on, including the star of HBO's upcoming Harry Potter show, John Lithgow, are just using their time on the show to just glaze him. And, and like, Lithgow wrote a poem about like- The rapier wit of Sir Steven, you know, and all this and how like the scared orange man ran.

• 16:31Chris Ryan?

  It's a miracle that this that this is not a popular thing with most of America.

• 16:35Andy Greenwald?

  This is the thing. It's like it is because you this is.

• 16:39Chris Ryan?

  I mean, Colbert does well, right? Like he does. His show does pretty, pretty well.

• 16:43Andy Greenwald?

  I think it all does pretty well. I think it's expensive. I think that people who are old like us remember Johnny Carson's last week. I mean, we didn't watch. They have to watch Johnny Carson, but do you remember what a big deal that was?

• 16:53Chris Ryan?

  I do. I have a recollection, yeah.

• 16:54Andy Greenwald?

  Like Bette Midler came on and sang him a song and he was like, you know, crying, but that was like four days after 30 years.

• 17:01Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 17:01Andy Greenwald?

  So it is a little bit of a long. Anyway, I'm glad he's gonna do something. He's a very smart, very talented, multi-talented guy. And this seems like a passion project.

• 17:07Chris Ryan?

  He is co-writing this with his son.

• 17:09Andy Greenwald?

  That's nice.

• 17:10Chris Ryan?

  And with a longtime Lord of the Rings screenwriter, co-screenwriter, Philip Boyens.

• 17:16Andy Greenwald?

  What do you think? How do you think Philip is feeling about that? Like trying to like be the third wheel and a man and his son doing their dream?

• 17:22Chris Ryan?

  Well, I think he's probably like, how do we make these? Like, I think she's trying to work on like making the chapters that are intentionally like the beginning of a journey have a first, a middle, a beginning, a middle and end.

• 17:35Andy Greenwald?

  What? And I don't want to put you on the spot here, but I will. Of your favorite works of literature, which three chapters would you like to adapt into a film? Like, for me, I would say it's chapters 36 through 41 of Larry McMurtry's Texasville. Just the rest of it, you kind of get it.

• 17:55Andy Greenwald?

  There's, there's no good answer. It's just kind of a wild.

• 17:58Chris Ryan?

  Answers are really disturbing. They're like parts of Blood Meridian that are unfilmable.

• 18:02Andy Greenwald?

  But you and your 15 year old ward would adapt it together? My boy.

• 18:06Chris Ryan?

  There is kind of a 15 year old ward in Blood Meridian.

• 18:09Andy Greenwald?

  Is that what gave?

• 18:10Chris Ryan?

  A little younger.

• 18:10Andy Greenwald?

  That would give you the idea?

• 18:12Chris Ryan?

  I was like, this seems great. The judge and this kid.

• 18:14Andy Greenwald?

  There's one other thing. I don't know if we, we, we mentioned that Danielle DeWiler is gonna be the star of the X-Files reboot.

• 18:22Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 18:22Andy Greenwald?

  Do you see her co-star was announced this morning is Himesh Patel?

• 18:25Chris Ryan?

  That's great.

• 18:26Andy Greenwald?

  Who we like a lot from Station Eleven.

• 18:27Chris Ryan?

  I saw that Gillian Anderson was like, it's gonna be really fucking cool.

• 18:30Andy Greenwald?

  That was nice of her. Didn't have to do that.

• 18:32Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. I mean, I think that those two have like a good relationship to X-Files.

• 18:36Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, Duchovny's been silent about it.

• 18:38Chris Ryan?

  But to come like, has he talked about like, who's gonna win the MVP in the NBA? I mean, he's a pretty silent guy.

• 18:44Andy Greenwald?

  You think?

• 18:45Chris Ryan?

  I don't think he has like a pod where he's just like, tonight, my takes on-

• 18:48Andy Greenwald?

  Tom Bombadil.

• 18:49Chris Ryan?

  The TSA.

• 18:51Andy Greenwald?

  Did we talk about, I mean, we'll have time to talk about this, but like, have we established on the pod where we are with X-Files? I think we've talked about it. Is this interesting to you, like this reboot?

• 19:01Chris Ryan?

  Honestly, I probably, first of all, I was a little bit more of a Millennium guy.

• 19:05Andy Greenwald?

  That is such an elite you take. That's incredible.

• 19:08Chris Ryan?

  I have had two runs, not complete runs through X-Files, but my wife and I did the lore cut basically once, where you basically watched the alien version of it and all the like continuing cigarettes and stuff. And then there are like, just like the top 15 monster of the week.

• 19:33Andy Greenwald?

  And you see what Vince Gilligan was capable of.

• 19:35Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, and then it's just like, oh damn, you know, like, and everybody, like practically everyone who worked on that show is like of note, you know?

• 19:42Andy Greenwald?

  I think it's very cool. I think we should also 100% go, when this show comes out, we should do a podcast where you're like, the only true text was Millennium and I could come back with actually the Lone Gunmen spinoff.

• 19:54Chris Ryan?

  I don't think either of those shows are available to watch.

• 19:56Andy Greenwald?

  We should just talk about them.

• 19:58Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 19:58Andy Greenwald?

  I think that would drive interest, but, but, but I think it's exciting and I, I'm curious to see the path that, considering two of this year's best director nominees were both involved in the very delicate and purposeful rebooting of beloved 90s, early 2000s television shows, we know what happened with Chloé Zhao's Buffy, and so I'm curious to see what happens with Coogler's X-Files.

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• 22:46Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. Why don't we talk about a beloved show that's on right now? Spoilers for this evening's episode of The Pit, which is 6pm?

• 22:55Andy Greenwald?

  I believe it's 6pm.

• 22:57Chris Ryan?

  6pm.

• 22:57Andy Greenwald?

  And I think the tenor of the episode is set early on when someone says, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em, this place is going tits up."

• 23:05Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, Santos says that.

• 23:06Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 23:07Chris Ryan?

  This was another banger. Even with the very stilted turns to camera and says, "Well, you know, emphysema is a rising cause of death in the senior citizen community." Moments. It's really coming together, man. And I am really impressed with what they are doing with Robbie. Because for as much as, obviously, there is a kind of parasocial relationship with TV characters that is a pretty common phenomenon these days and people being like, Robbie is being inappropriate in this workplace, which I suppose he is, but it's also compelling television and it's fiction. So you can stand at arm's length and watch it.

• 23:49Chris Ryan?

  I didn't really get it, maybe in the first few episodes, or not get it, but I was like, well, this is interesting. Like, what are they gonna do and how are they gonna land this with him? And I think when I say I didn't get it, I was like, well, he's come in, everybody is immediately keyed into this helmet thing and this motorcycle trip. But what you don't really see, or what doesn't really become apparently for a few episodes, is the lack of, his loss of his warm touch. That this ability to take somebody aside and make them feel okay, or make them feel better, or share, or be vulnerable, or talk about like, here we stay, you know, we do a moment of silence and we do a debrief and all these things.

• 24:31Andy Greenwald?

  And this is a teaching hospital.

• 24:32Chris Ryan?

  All the stuff that was like, obviously, like, principles of the hospital that he had internalized and made part of his, like, character, essentially.

• 24:41Chris Ryan?

  He lost, he's lost it. You know, he is a guy steamrolling through his last workday and is making everybody around him pretty miserable, including people that he's trying to help, like Duke, who he's brought in and insists on him getting a scan so that Robbie can leave. Because now, there's obviously a ton of speculation about to what extent Robbie is leaving and what plane of existence he is leaving. And several characters, or at least Dana pretty specifically, is like, you are giving off like Last Will and Testament vibes, pretty much.

• 25:17Andy Greenwald?

  It was nice to see that some of the characters on season two of The Pit seem to be watching season two of The Pit.

• 25:22Chris Ryan?

  This is what, that's a very succinct way of, the long way of what I just said, yeah.

• 25:26Andy Greenwald?

  Santos says something, Dana goes right at him. I really like Santos's, I feel like I mistyped it, but something about like a grand ego death and Robo Doc over there shooting her in the proverbial dick.

• 25:38Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 25:38Andy Greenwald?

  I'm like, yeah, that's a pretty, she should be a podcaster. That's pretty good. During the first eight or nine weeks of the show, it seemed like you and many people, myself included, were waiting for the other shoe to drop in terms of the big event that was going to royal the ED. And that, part of that may have been just what the show had taught us to expect, that if they were going to choose a day, they were going to choose an exceptional day, probably due to something beyond, you know, beyond any expectation of what an emergency department can expect to handle. So it's a mass shooting in the first season, and this season sets us up to believe there's going to be something because people are, it's incredibly hot, people are gathering for the festivities for

• 26:20Andy Greenwald?

  the holiday. We have seen some fireworks-related incidents. There's the looming cyber attack that actually, this episode reminds us, never came. They just shut themselves down to avoid it. In the last two weeks, the storyline that has emerged as the central story of this, of this season, is Robbie's internal

• 26:42Chris Ryan?

  Combustion.

• 26:43Andy Greenwald?

  Combustion.

• 26:44Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 26:44Andy Greenwald?

  And I'm wondering how you feel about, it seems like you're feeling positively about it, but the way that the show, I don't know if it rope-a-doped us, or just lulled us into expecting one thing and then suddenly receiving another. But do you feel like your engagement with the show is at the same level that it was last year? And how has this resolved your feelings about the first part of the season?

• 27:05Chris Ryan?

  Great question.

• 27:06Andy Greenwald?

  Thank you.

• 27:06Chris Ryan?

  I think that there's a way in which this, what they're doing on the second season is a great leap forward and a great example of how this show's going to be able to iterate and move forward and do five, six, seven, 10 seasons, however many they want to do. That being said, the Robbie Bullet is in some ways the same kind of caliber of Bullet of a mass casualty event. Like, I don't know how many times going forward on the series, they're going to be able to do winding Robbie up and having him come apart over the course of a day. So it's an interesting gambit that they're doing at this early in what I think we would all assume is at least going to be a four-season run, right? Like-

• 27:48Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, I mean, I think the nature of the show, I know I turned to camera last week and I was like, Robbie is not leaving the pit, or not dying on the pit. In a perfect world, this, the pit isn't just like a reboot of a broadcast network-style show.

• 28:04Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 28:04Andy Greenwald?

  They want this to run for 10 years. So I would imagine, in success, this show will outlive, not literally, but many of its characters.

• 28:14Chris Ryan?

  Well, even, you know, and that was one of the cool things I thought about this episode was as the night shift started coming on and you see Mateo and you see homeboy with the coffee who's just the greatest triage nurse of all time.

• 28:26Andy Greenwald?

  He's a doctor.

• 28:26Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. You're like, oh yeah, like, and then when Mateo says to Gervadi, like, you should join the night shift, it's like-

• 28:33Andy Greenwald?

  The dark side.

• 28:34Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, the dark side. It's sitting right there for them to do that. Now, I don't know if they could maintain the same level of quality that, whether you'd want to make season three the night shift, or whether you'd want to spin it off and do shift, the pit night shift. I don't, this seems like a very carefully-written, important show to the people who are writing it. I don't know if they're ready to franchise it yet.

• 28:55Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 28:55Chris Ryan?

  But there's so many different directions as it can go, and that's what I'm saying.

• 28:58Andy Greenwald?

  It's Dr. Shen, by the way. Love him.

• 29:00Chris Ryan?

  Dr. Shen.

• 29:03Chris Ryan?

  I feel good about it. You know, I was glad, actually, when I think Alashimi says the other two hospitals have paid the ransom and we're gonna have like our defenses up soon.

• 29:16Andy Greenwald?

  Did you like that she knew that with her own internal wifi? She was like, hold on, I have a signal.

• 29:23Chris Ryan?

  I've come to like her as well, you know, I'm a pretty, I'm a pretty easy date when it comes to this show.

• 29:29Andy Greenwald?

  Well, she is doing the part, she has taken on part of Robbie's job and responsibilities and personality in that she is quite calm and seems to be very comfortable conducting and teaching, like a professorial vibe and role, and that seems to be working with a lot of the younger doctors and residents. Yeah, I think if you think about the potentials, it's an HBO Max show, but it's an HBO show in many ways, and an HBO show is nothing if if it doesn't have a morally complicated and conflicted male lead. And one of the challenges to probing and exploring Robbie as a

• 30:13Andy Greenwald?

  main character, not just as the engine that makes the entire show go, is that as a doctor, he is essentially flawless. He, through, I don't know how many episodes, it's been 15 plus nine, so 24 episodes. He is, I don't think he's ever made a mistake or a misdiagnosis. And other than the slash trach, there's nothing he hasn't seen before.

• 30:32Chris Ryan?

  Right.

• 30:32Andy Greenwald?

  So if you accept that, and I think there might be hopefully room to poke at that in future seasons, what you needed to do in this season was to give him the runway to experience what a crash out would be without the temporary high of a crisis. The first season was about him walking in on a day that was going to be very traumatic for him and memories of COVID and of his mentor. And then in a, I was about to say strange way, but I don't think it's strange at all. The day gave him something that he almost needed to not deal with the trauma. It gave him a different mountain to climb and he could focus on the thing that he's been focusing on for his whole life, which is what's in front of him as opposed to what's behind him.

• 31:16Andy Greenwald?

  The smart character misdirect of this season is we all thought that there was, it was gonna happen again. And in fact, what's happening as this season winds down is he could go now. He could go, it seems.

• 31:27Chris Ryan?

  Sure.

• 31:28Andy Greenwald?

  And he is not going.

• 31:29Chris Ryan?

  Well, this is the best scene of the episode to me, very on the nose, but The Pit is a very direct show in a lot of ways. Was the Dana Robbie confrontation outside.

• 31:38Andy Greenwald?

  Mom and dad are fighting.

• 31:39Chris Ryan?

  Well, her just being like, I always like when there's a hierarchy to a television show.

• 31:48Chris Ryan?

  But then it gets broken by the characters of the TV show itself. Robbie is the main character of The Pit. But I liked the fact that Dana reminded him and the viewers that in real hospitals, these places and these institutions have to keep running for as long as they can.

• 32:06Andy Greenwald?

  Yep.

• 32:06Chris Ryan?

  With or without the heroes, the main characters.

• 32:09Andy Greenwald?

  Which is also-

• 32:09Chris Ryan?

  And the fact that she's like, it's still here without Adamson, it'll be here without you, it'll be here without me. Like-

• 32:16Andy Greenwald?

  Which is what we said about ER when Dr. Green and Dr. Ross left.

• 32:19Chris Ryan?

  Right. And it's, so it's just like, dude, basically, if ego death is what you're looking for, like, you can get it here. You know? And I really liked that, that confrontation that they had. It seems like, I would be curious to know whether or not Dana and Robbie's relationship is something that they have basically gotten feedback about, like Catherine Lanasa being who she is and being as popular as she is. And then like, we need to make Dana his foil.

• 32:54Andy Greenwald?

  Yes. Well, I think that- There isn't, there's the potential for this to be the case, but in the early episodes of season one, it's not necessarily a given that these are the two main characters, that these are the two pillars of the show, the North and South Pole, who you're rooting for. And what's uniquely interesting about that relationship is that we have no idea if they have ever spoken socially in their lives, if they have ever hung out, if they ever have a different valence of their communication. Like, can they chill out and talk about the pirates?

• 33:25Chris Ryan?

  Right.

• 33:26Andy Greenwald?

  We don't know. And so this scene was particularly interesting because they were going at each other with the level of energy and frenzy that exists in the emergency room. I know this kind of breaks some of the central rules of the show, but in that scene, thinking about what they were like together in that moment, it had me wishing that if we ever get another Beers in the Park moment, like we did at the end of season one, like, could we see what they... Or is it better for actually finally having a television show where work family isn't really family, it's just work?

• 34:03Chris Ryan?

  I wanted to talk about like the off-ramp of this season, because I believe there's like four episodes left, three episodes left?

• 34:08Andy Greenwald?

  What number was this?

• 34:09Chris Ryan?

  It's 6pm, but now they're past shift now.

• 34:12Andy Greenwald?

  But this is episode 11, is that right? Or episode 12? And there's 15.

• 34:15Chris Ryan?

  So we have three episodes left, let's say.

• 34:17Andy Greenwald?

  Four.

• 34:18Chris Ryan?

  You're such a stickler to...

• 34:19Andy Greenwald?

  What about a bonus episode, like Stranger Things, which I know the powers that be are still denying, but the real heads know it exists.

• 34:26Chris Ryan?

  I was pretty bummed out that Sora went out of business because I was almost done assembling my Stranger Things secret episode.

• 34:33Andy Greenwald?

  Your supercut. Wow, they didn't even let you back up.

• 34:36Chris Ryan?

  Where Snape and Tom Bombadil come in.

• 34:40Andy Greenwald?

  Can I ask you off the record, how did we cast Bombadil?

• 34:43Chris Ryan?

  How did I cast him?

• 34:44Andy Greenwald?

  Colorblind?

• 34:45Chris Ryan?

  I have Shrek playing him.

• 34:46Andy Greenwald?

  That's so sick. So Scottish representation, finally.

• 34:50Chris Ryan?

  In the first season, they're like, we're gonna finish the mass casualty event, we're gonna tidy up, we're gonna take a look at Pittsburgh from the roof and from the park, and now we're gonna go home. I don't know when these guys are getting off work. Like, Santos has her paperwork to do, Joy kind of ostentatiously...

• 35:06Andy Greenwald?

  Joy left.

• 35:06Chris Ryan?

  ...puts up boundaries. Classic Greenwald move there, to be like...

• 35:10Andy Greenwald?

  1 million percent.

• 35:11Chris Ryan?

  To be like, "I'm off the clock!"

• 35:13Andy Greenwald?

  I respected the hell out of that.

• 35:14Chris Ryan?

  Did you really?

• 35:15Andy Greenwald?

  Yes!

• 35:16Chris Ryan?

  God, you're such a zoomer.

• 35:17Andy Greenwald?

  I know. That's why I'm the voice of, I'm the younger voice on this podcast.

• 35:21Chris Ryan?

  It's just like, then, then, like, do you really want to be a doctor then?

• 35:27Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, she doesn't want to be an emergency room doctor.

• 35:29Chris Ryan?

  I guess that's been abundantly clear. I like her character a lot, but that was very funny. It was also sort of an abrupt like, is this a SAG thing? Like, they didn't want to pay her for extra episodes.

• 35:38Andy Greenwald?

  No, I think they are really leaning into something that we are not used to seeing, which is a complete lack of sentimentality about entrances and exits.

• 35:45Chris Ryan?

  Like Abbott's like, I'm gonna go take a nap for four hours. So, goodbye.

• 35:48Andy Greenwald?

  And we don't know if he's coming back. I assume he's coming back because of his prominence in the show and, you know, night shift and all that.

• 35:54Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 35:55Andy Greenwald?

  But Nurse Jesse might be out, might be gone. And I think this is another example of how nimble they are. They know that the show is gonna be running for multiple seasons. They know that they have opportunities to give all of these actors and these characters more room to grow. But they're, because they know that, they're kind of being savages. And they're using something that they didn't intend, which is the departure of Dr. Collins to be permanent, like do not disturb forever. But they're using the audience's surprise by that to their advantage. Because now there's a sense in the casual fan of like, Jesse might just get remanded to a different country. We may never see him again.

• 36:30Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. The, it does make me think that if I ever get into like a car accident or something, I want it to happen at like around six. Like, get the, get the-

• 36:39Andy Greenwald?

  Get the fresh blood coming in.

• 36:41Chris Ryan?

  But also like, cool, maybe like some of my fan faves are still on the work.

• 36:45Andy Greenwald?

  So they're bringing you in and you're like, oh, thank God, Dr. Shen.

• 36:50Andy Greenwald?

  I bet you're still on that first Dunky's high. That guy loves his- He, that's so interesting. We should do an RFK Jr. Dr. Shen thing. Because Dr. Shen loves Dunkin' Donuts.

• 36:59Chris Ryan?

  Does RFK love Dunkin', Dr. Donuts?

• 37:01Andy Greenwald?

  He does not. You don't, have you not been reading the news? Oh, I'm sorry, financial news only for you.

• 37:07Andy Greenwald?

  Things going well for your portfolio? Yeah, he was like, you can't call this-

• 37:10Chris Ryan?

  There's a lot of opportunity.

• 37:12Andy Greenwald?

  He was like, you can't call this milk in this coffee drink.

• 37:17Chris Ryan?

  Just shut the fuck up and try and like fix some other problems. It's just milk. No, him. He's worried about Dunkin' Donuts milk?

• 37:25Andy Greenwald?

  Yes.

• 37:25Chris Ryan?

  Oh, because of this like creamer, like the flavored splashes that they put in there?

• 37:29Andy Greenwald?

  I can't think of a single bigger problem in America right now, honestly.

• 37:32Chris Ryan?

  Do you know what, man? You know what's good?

• 37:34Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 37:34Chris Ryan?

  Is when you go to Dunk and you get a fucking like hazelnut infused whatever. Like, let people do what they want.

• 37:40Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 37:41Chris Ryan?

  You know?

• 37:42Andy Greenwald?

  We used to feel that way in this country.

• 37:43Chris Ryan?

  Worry about other shit.

• 37:45Andy Greenwald?

  I think this is really-

• 37:46Chris Ryan?

  Dunkin' Donuts.

• 37:46Andy Greenwald?

  Do that to camera.

• 37:47Chris Ryan?

  Hands off.

• 37:49Andy Greenwald?

  Send this clip to Bill.

• 37:52Chris Ryan?

  Because he loves RFK or because he loves Duncan?

• 37:54Andy Greenwald?

  He's from Boston. I thought that he would represent the-

• 37:56Chris Ryan?

  I had no idea RFK was coming for Dunkin' Donuts.

• 37:58Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, first Dunkin' Donuts-

• 38:01Chris Ryan?

  That being said-

• 38:02Andy Greenwald?

  Sweetgreen is next.

• 38:02Chris Ryan?

  That being said, it's-

• 38:04Andy Greenwald?

  It's said to you, honey.

• 38:05Chris Ryan?

  I don't want to invalidate any contractual obligations I have to Sweetgreen, but it has, you can feel it. You can feel the kale is from elsewhere now.

• 38:15Andy Greenwald?

  Elsewhere?

• 38:16Chris Ryan?

  Something. It's soft. It just doesn't have a crunch. Yeah.

• 38:19Andy Greenwald?

  What if that's domestic kale? Because the tariffs of the sweet, delicious Canadian kale-

• 38:23Chris Ryan?

  That Ukrainian kale that I've been feasting on. What are you talking about?

• 38:27Andy Greenwald?

  I don't know. I'm just asking the questions.

• 38:28Chris Ryan?

  We're getting way off track and we have a tight show today. Whitaker and Santos, I thought was nice. I mean, tell me what you want to talk about because I thought that there were a lot of really nice character moments in this one. Did you catch Santos pocketing-

• 38:45Andy Greenwald?

  A scalpel?

• 38:47Chris Ryan?

  Scalpel and suture pack, I think, yeah.

• 38:49Andy Greenwald?

  I did. I did. And that was the moment when, poorly timed moment, that Whitaker chose to be like, admit that you like having me in the house and that we're roommates and we can be friends.

• 38:57Chris Ryan?

  I thought she admitted it.

• 38:59Andy Greenwald?

  She admitted it with her anger, but then-

• 39:01Chris Ryan?

  Her casual Santos, the classic Santos frustration, yeah.

• 39:04Andy Greenwald?

  I think Santos has had a really good arc this season.

• 39:06Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, me too.

• 39:07Andy Greenwald?

  She made Garcia happy. She did a good job. I'm trying to, I'm trying to look up the name of the director of this episode.

• 39:12Chris Ryan?

  It's Amanda Marcellus, brother.

• 39:14Andy Greenwald?

  She did great. You did great, Amanda.

• 39:16Chris Ryan?

  And she did a great job in the first season.

• 39:17Andy Greenwald?

  She did.

• 39:17Chris Ryan?

  I don't know if she's, maybe it'll be her first second season in episode.

• 39:21Andy Greenwald?

  So, just for the record, this was episode 12. There are three left. You were correct.

• 39:26Andy Greenwald?

  Noted.

• 39:27Chris Ryan?

  Every once in a while.

• 39:27Andy Greenwald?

  Every once in a while, you get one. I wanted to mention Amanda Marcellus is because I thought the part of the filmmaking excellence of the show is surprisingly un-showy. Like, we rarely, even though the camera is constantly moving and the choreography is tighter and more demanding than on, I think, any other television show currently on the air, it doesn't call a lot of attention to itself. You're focused on the patients and the doctors and the medicine, even if you don't understand it. So I thought it was really noteworthy and cool when they did take a little cinema moment, when the firework guy starts to go south-

• 40:03Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 40:03Andy Greenwald?

  And Robbie says, "Perla, get the brother out of here," and the camera in a oner followed Perla and the brother out. Perla does some breathing.

• 40:10Chris Ryan?

  Every once in a while, they fucking do it, man. They flex.

• 40:13Andy Greenwald?

  Cinema.

• 40:14Chris Ryan?

  As far as patients go, coked out golfer.

• 40:18Andy Greenwald?

  Whoa, he's not beating the allegations. You know what I mean? Like, there was no-

• 40:21Chris Ryan?

  Well, I was like, oh, maybe he has like a brain worm that's made him mean. And it turns out it was just cocaine and White Claws.

• 40:27Andy Greenwald?

  Brain worms just make you hate Dunkin' Donuts, as far as I can tell. From my limited study of the field. But, yeah, like, that, it's kind of funny that, like, again, sometimes with a show like The Pit, with the relentlessness and the pace, the zigs can be zags, where it's just like, this douchebag who assaults nurses and golfs and drinks all day, might be a jerk.

• 40:48Chris Ryan?

  And his no friends, they're just like, uh, yeah, I'm gonna come back at like 9pm if I have to.

• 40:52Andy Greenwald?

  Never met the guy.

• 40:53Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. Uh, and then the only other one that I wanted to mention was, like, the only other, like, big plot thing I wanted to mention,

• 41:03Chris Ryan?

  I guess it was just Emma's first day. I suppose, paralleling with Joy being like, doctors get burned out, it's important to go off your shift when you do.

• 41:11Andy Greenwald?

  Mm-hmm.

• 41:11Chris Ryan?

  I don't get paid to be here, uh, this is my internship, I'm not trying to become an ED doctor anyway, uh, was Emma being like, I'm gonna stay, uh, after being put in the headlock by a cocaine golfer. So I thought that was, they do nice jobs, like, balancing out, like, stories with like, well, there's this way of doing it, there's that way of doing it, neither one is better than the other.

• 41:32Andy Greenwald?

  And, or just how about Dana carrying around some tranquilizer ever since she got assaulted last year?

• 41:36Chris Ryan?

  Same. Not because I was assaulted, just because you never know.

• 41:39Andy Greenwald?

  You work downtown?

• 41:40Chris Ryan?

  Slam some Versed before I have to talk to you.

• 41:44Andy Greenwald?

  Taking town a notch? Uh, I, I would say, you want to talk McKay at all? She had some pretty, um, cheat to camera scenes of like, sometimes I worry I've lost access to my human emotions.

• 41:57Chris Ryan?

  Yes, I thought that that was a bit of a, I, I, I like Fiona Durif as a performer, and I just think that that was a, a little bit of a rigid scene.

• 42:05Andy Greenwald?

  I, I agree.

• 42:06Chris Ryan?

  Langdon kind of being like this lost lamb in the ED.

• 42:10Andy Greenwald?

  Trying to connect with everyone.

• 42:11Chris Ryan?

  But I thought that was good because it would have been like, the hour after you get yelled at like that, deservedly so, probably. Uh, and I liked that they even followed up with Santos being like, I don't care that he's an addict, I care that he was an asshole, you know?

• 42:22Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, and they also added context in the Dana Robbie scene where he's just like, he's a criminal and I let him get away. Which is a level of it. We hadn't really been discussing in terms of why he hates him and thus hates himself.

• 42:32Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 42:32Andy Greenwald?

  Dana called him on it. I think that McKay is a really, really good character and presence in the space. And they use her well as like a finishing touch in a lot of canvases. But without the ankle monitor drama of season one, she hasn't had as much to do about herself. So I thought it would be interesting.

• 42:50Chris Ryan?

  Well, she's supposed to have a date that night, tonight. She has three hours till her date.

• 42:54Andy Greenwald?

  That doesn't seem as ticking clock to me as Jesse got arrested by ICE agents and is now in a detention center. But, you know, I guess everyone comes with their own, their own points of view to the show.

• 43:05Chris Ryan?

  Oh, man.

• 43:05Andy Greenwald?

  But what she says, but she's the one who says to Robbie at the end, I had friends who would go close to the edge. And so if she, it's curious to see, is she going to be the person who gets him at the right moment?

• 43:15Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, I don't know. I mean, there's a lot of different. We have Santos kind of spiraling. We have Langdon, like you would assume is like,

• 43:25Chris Ryan?

  quote unquote, okay, but I don't know. Mohan is having a crisis of confidence in terms of like what she's going to do with her life. And also obviously they've threaded through her relationship to her senior patients really well this season.

• 43:41Chris Ryan?

  And I think that this show is not like slick, but it might surprise us with who needs care at the end of the season scene.

• 43:47Andy Greenwald?

  It might be us because the only other note I had is that if, and I don't know what members of the larger Warner Brothers Discovery family or the make people to make the show do listen to the pit, but I would just like to make a personal request for like 20% fewer elder care storylines going into season three, particularly ones. So do you remember how like when we would watch, we reference this often, but like we watched four seasons of The Wire being like, no show has ever had this level of verisimilitude about the drug war than The Wire. And in season five, they showed journalists and we're like, nah, this is some real phony bullshit. That's the only time I got taken out so far in two seasons of The Pit is when the stubborn old couple who can't live alone,

• 44:31Andy Greenwald?

  accept help thanks to the patient care of two young doctors.

• 44:35Chris Ryan?

  Well, they accept help because it turns out like their meds were the only thing in their way.

• 44:39Andy Greenwald?

  Let me tell you something. Where's the camera? It's probably not just the meds. You know what I mean? I'm just gonna say like that was a little bit. Shout out Brittany Young from Glow though is the daughter.

• 44:48Chris Ryan?

  That was great.

• 44:48Andy Greenwald?

  I thought it was nice to see her. I do like seeing friendly faces from other TV shows pop up like it's a love boat.

• 44:54Chris Ryan?

  Patrick Adams is gonna be joining us soon. But I did wanna talk to you about Top Chef.

• 44:59Andy Greenwald?

  Oh Christ, yeah. I know. We need, we need to get into this.

• 45:00Chris Ryan?

  This is the thing is sometimes I need you to kinda watch, watch the sheet music while you're playing fiddle, you know?

• 45:07Andy Greenwald?

  Like Tom Bombadil?

• 45:08Chris Ryan?

  Um, I have one thing to say about this. Whole episode, and if you haven't watched the most recent episode of Top Chef, which is the

• 45:16Andy Greenwald?

  Third.

• 45:16Chris Ryan?

  Third episode.

• 45:17Andy Greenwald?

  Season 23, episode 3, True Colors.

• 45:19Chris Ryan?

  And it's about, the elimination challenge involves using natural dyes.

• 45:23Andy Greenwald?

  Hmm. That's what RFK wants to do.

• 45:26Chris Ryan?

  If Nana hadn't been sent home, she seems like a lovely person and I'm sure is an excellent chef. If she had not been sent home, it would have been by January 6th. Because they opened it up to the idea that somehow not putting food on a plate wouldn't get you sent home? Like she just has like an onion sauce at the bottom of a bowl.

• 45:47Andy Greenwald?

  Which, by the way, for you as a diner, that's as good as no food.

• 45:51Chris Ryan?

  I don't really love onions, yeah. I mean, I know that they're in everything, but like as like a, I fucking hate raw onions.

• 45:57Andy Greenwald?

  Yes.

• 45:58Chris Ryan?

  And I don't really like.

• 45:59Andy Greenwald?

  In a bowl of dyed yellow onion soups.

• 46:01Chris Ryan?

  No, I would have just been like, I pass. And then they kind of, the judges, which I thought this was a fascinating, and this is an awesome season of this show so far. But I thought it was so interesting because Nana goes a little bit early. I think she's like second or third. Can't finish any of her plates, like does just this stuff because her chicken galantine won't come together. And she undercooked it, right?

• 46:26Andy Greenwald?

  First she undercooked it, then she didn't get it on, she just didn't even slice it.

• 46:29Chris Ryan?

  I thought they used the inevitability of her exit as a green light to tee off on all of the contestants.

• 46:35Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, they had, we had angry Tom early in the season.

• 46:38Chris Ryan?

  And it almost got to the point where I was like, if it's so easy, you fucking go do it?

• 46:42Andy Greenwald?

  Look at you.

• 46:43Chris Ryan?

  Not like in a mean way, but I was like, is there, is there somebody out there who can really easily use natural dyes to confuse but delight the judging panel?

• 46:52Andy Greenwald?

  And use them in a way, I think the, the brief was have them be brilliantly colored, which is also very hard because look. Shout out to, shout out to our health secretary. I've seen Fruit Loops in England. You know what I mean?

• 47:04Chris Ryan?

  Oh my God.

• 47:04Andy Greenwald?

  I've seen them.

• 47:05Chris Ryan?

  And what do they look like?

• 47:06Andy Greenwald?

  Very muted, very chill. Very chill. It's kinda like Cool Ranch Doritos over there. You're like, what is this? Why does this taste like milk and cheese? And not, like, I'm just gonna keep eating them.

• 47:18Chris Ryan?

  Don't you prefer the American version of Cool Ranch Doritos?

• 47:21Andy Greenwald?

  Yes, what?

• 47:22Chris Ryan?

  Where it's just like pure Versed?

• 47:24Andy Greenwald?

  I don't, yes, I don't, you don't need to lie to me.

• 47:27Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 47:28Andy Greenwald?

  You know what I mean? Like, I can eat healthy, and I can also like Doritos.

• 47:32Chris Ryan?

  I know it's not healthy.

• 47:32Andy Greenwald?

  I have made a choice here.

• 47:34Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 47:35Andy Greenwald?

  Why do we sound libertarian all of a sudden?

• 47:36Chris Ryan?

  Ironically, I find I don't like cigarettes over there.

• 47:40Andy Greenwald?

  Okay.

• 47:41Chris Ryan?

  Which is probably for the same reasons, like where they're like treating it differently or less or whatever. It's just like tobacco, you know?

• 47:47Andy Greenwald?

  They had to come here to get it, and they better.

• 47:50Chris Ryan?

  The Camel Company puts smack in theirs.

• 47:53Andy Greenwald?

  It's toasted, I believe.

• 47:56Chris Ryan?

  Anyway, sorry, go back.

• 47:57Andy Greenwald?

  No, it's a great, first of all, this season has been absolute fire. It's been great. There is a completely renewed pep in its step, and it's really impressive. And one of the things that was so impressive about this episode is they are not handholding anyone. The two challenges of this episode, there's a quickfire with our old pal Emerald comes, and it is a challenge to class up liver mush. If you had a drinking game in which you took a drink of alcohol every time a character said, "liver mush", my respect and condolences to your family, you died.

• 48:29Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 48:30Andy Greenwald?

  That was, and by the way, that's basically what you and I would call Scrapple.

• 48:34Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, I thought it was gonna be more like pate, but it wasn't.

• 48:37Andy Greenwald?

  You looked real sad.

• 48:38Chris Ryan?

  I didn't eat it, but I didn't look like pate after a while, yeah.

• 48:41Andy Greenwald?

  But I really like that early on, which is often a time, because it's hard to track the characters anyway at this point, this is a, maybe a more convenient time to be like a Troll's Six activation challenge. But instead, they were like, here's a regional delicacy that many people would turn their noses up at, and you have to make it good.

• 48:58Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 48:59Andy Greenwald?

  Uh, was cool. And then the die challenge was another thing, where they like actually, in a way that I feel like they had kind of lost touch with the last few seasons. They educated, they were like, this is a hub of garments manufacturing and dying, and so we're going to have you do this thing. I actually liked they almost all fucked up. Because it was, it was a big flashing sign being like, this is hard.

• 49:20Chris Ryan?

  And I know it was television, so I know that they have to kind of entertain that. But Nana had had not gotten her food, well, she left a mold on her, in her first dish for elimination. For her second elimination dish, she had, she had completed some of them, didn't plate them great. Had a, obviously, she was quite upset about that. And then in the third episode, completely messes up her chicken gallantine dyed dish. I guess very upset, but to her credit was like, I'm walking out in front and I'm being like, I did not complete my dish. Then you get 17 chefs after her and they're all being told like, you fucked up. You know, this was bad.

• 49:59Andy Greenwald?

  So do you think it was melodramatic television, reality show optics at play? In which they had to kind of hide the ball and make you forget that this challenge was decided instantly when it started? Or, because I think even if that's the case, they pivoted it into an opportunity to just roast everyone.

• 50:20Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 50:20Andy Greenwald?

  In a way that I think was-

• 50:21Chris Ryan?

  Which I thought was cool, but the last 15 minutes of the show, I was like, they're not really gonna make some weird like, Nana not doing the dish at all was better than somebody making something boring.

• 50:33Andy Greenwald?

  Who is, who's the woman, was it Sherry? Who was just like, I have studied decades for this challenge. I know how to make like beautifully rainbow.

• 50:42Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, the black, the charcoal pork thing that she made.

• 50:45Andy Greenwald?

  But then she made like rainbow colored spitzel and then downed them in like white sauce? And then made black, was she make black, parsnip, gray parsnip mush?

• 50:55Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 50:56Andy Greenwald?

  Dude, they fucked up. It was kind of interesting. And do you feel, but speaking of your, um, January 6th was a beautiful day of liberation ideology that you're bringing to this television show. Fair. Uh, just, are you justice for day? Do you feel now that the ring mold debacle?

• 51:14Chris Ryan?

  You could say, you could say the second guy as well, the guy who made the vindaloo lamb. Is that like, he made, his cumulative cooking probably stood higher than, than Nana's.

• 51:25Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, it's pretty, it was interesting that they had to-

• 51:28Chris Ryan?

  And now Nana gets to go to Last Chance Kitchen and those other two chefs aren't. So that's interesting to me. That's interesting.

• 51:34Andy Greenwald?

  Are you doing the wind horse fingers?

• 51:36Chris Ryan?

  Why is that?

• 51:37Andy Greenwald?

  Why is that happening? This is, I know people, my assumption is the people who don't watch Top Chef or have stopped watching Top Chef have also stopped listening to us talk about it. But I would say again, this season has the juice.

• 51:51Chris Ryan?

  It has the juice.

• 51:52Andy Greenwald?

  Check it out.

• 51:52Chris Ryan?

  Kaya's watching every week before these pods.

• 51:55Andy Greenwald?

  Did you watch before the pod?

• 51:56Chris Ryan?

  I watched last night.

• 51:57Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, good. What do you think, Kaya? Season wise, Nana wise, January 6th wise, would you just want to weigh in?

• 52:04Chris Ryan?

  Would you have been upset if Nana had won, or not won, but if- Yeah, if Nana-

• 52:07Andy Greenwald?

  Not won, she was certified the winner. Do you understand what I mean by that?

• 52:12Chris Ryan?

  If they did not send Nana home, I would have been upset. Oh, yeah. I was like, you're done. Yeah. You're done. Yeah.

• 52:19Andy Greenwald?

  Well, she has a more reasonable temperament than you. You're a little hot-headed about these things.

• 52:23Chris Ryan?

  Let's stop down for a second.

• 52:25Andy Greenwald?

  Okay.

• 52:26Chris Ryan?

  And when we come back, we'll have Patrick Adams from The Madison. Andy and I are honored to be joined by Patrick Adams.

• 52:33Speaker 05

  It's happening.

• 52:34Chris Ryan?

  From The Madison. We've been kind of circling each other.

• 52:37Speaker 05

  Longtime listener, first time caller. Online flirtation. I brought this for you, Andy. I wanted to bring a gift.

• 52:43Andy Greenwald?

  Thank you.

• 52:43Speaker 05

  Like a peace offering.

• 52:44Chris Ryan?

  I just want to say, if this is from Taylor Sheridan and he's giving Andy some kind of gift through you-

• 52:49Speaker 05

  They did check it at security.

• 52:51Chris Ryan?

  I'm gonna be upset.

• 52:52Andy Greenwald?

  This is actually the Hornets Nest.

• 52:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 52:54Andy Greenwald?

  From the out house. This is very nice. Oh, my god!

• 52:58Speaker 05

  I just wanted to make sure you had it through your collection.

• 53:02Chris Ryan?

  Physical media!

• 53:03Speaker 05

  Signed, you know, obviously signed. I didn't sign this in case Chris wanted one, but I feel like you probably need both.

• 53:09Andy Greenwald?

  I really appreciate this. This is really-

• 53:12Chris Ryan?

  I know it's unavailable on streaming too, you know?

• 53:15Speaker 05

  I know it's already off book on the series probably, but I just wanted to make sure you had physical media.

• 53:19Andy Greenwald?

  That's really kind of you. Any bonus content on here?

• 53:22Speaker 05

  Uh, yeah, tons. But I don't want to ruin the surprise.

• 53:25Andy Greenwald?

  Did you do an audio track?

• 53:26Speaker 05

  I think, actually, that's a good question. I think we did on the first season? Yeah, commentaries. So, yeah, you can get the behind the scenes.

• 53:33Andy Greenwald?

  Could, could you just bring this back when Megan signs it?

• 53:35Speaker 05

  Oh, boy.

• 53:37Andy Greenwald?

  Damn.

• 53:40Andy Greenwald?

  It's going good.

• 53:41Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah. It's such a pleasure. You guys know I'm huge fans.

• 53:44Chris Ryan?

  It's like, we've been aware that you listen. It's sort of shocking.

• 53:48Speaker 05

  Are you shocked? Are you shocked when people listen to your podcast?

• 53:51Chris Ryan?

  Yes.

• 53:51Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 53:52Chris Ryan?

  Really?

• 53:53Speaker 05

  Yeah, I think we just assume.

• 53:54Chris Ryan?

  You guys are a big deal.

• 53:55Andy Greenwald?

  Sometimes I think they just indulge us in that these cameras aren't connected to anything.

• 54:00Speaker 05

  No, no, no, I'm there. I'm listening weekly, except when you're gonna spoil a show that I love. And I'm, cause like, I'm watching Industry Now because of you.

• 54:07Chris Ryan?

  Oh.

• 54:08Speaker 05

  So I try to avoid like, industry talk.

• 54:10Chris Ryan?

  Are you at Industry, like, are you?

• 54:11Speaker 05

  Season two.

• 54:12Chris Ryan?

  Season two.

• 54:12Speaker 05

  Just basically.

• 54:13Chris Ryan?

  There's a lot coming.

• 54:14Speaker 05

  There's a lot.

• 54:15Chris Ryan?

  I was gonna ask you, you know, this is sort of the end of your Madison run.

• 54:19Speaker 05

  Last interview.

• 54:20Andy Greenwald?

  For S1.

• 54:21Chris Ryan?

  For S1.

• 54:21Speaker 05

  S1.

• 54:21Chris Ryan?

  S2 is already in the can. Do you feel like you are coming out the other end of a shoot of like, a kind of Taylor Sheridan promo tour whirlwind? Like, how's it been?

• 54:32Speaker 05

  I have never experienced anything like this. I also have a two-month-old daughter, as we just discussed, so I don't know where I am or what's happening. And this press tour, like all things with Taylor Sheridan, is just like, the craziest version of a press tour for a TV show. I mean, they don't really do this for TV shows. Your show probably won't have this.

• 54:53Andy Greenwald?

  Yes, but I won't be floating around the country to talk about it.

• 54:56Speaker 05

  So we did London, we did New York, and then I went to Toronto, cause I'm from Toronto.

• 54:59Chris Ryan?

  Oh, awesome.

• 55:00Andy Greenwald?

  To help sort of prime the pump for the locals.

• 55:02Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, we gotta get the Canadians excited.

• 55:04Chris Ryan?

  I bet Canadians are digging Taylor's stuff.

• 55:06Speaker 05

  Oh, they love it.

• 55:07Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 55:07Speaker 05

  They love it everywhere. I didn't know why we were in London, but apparently it's huge. She's a big deal there.

• 55:11Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, I can imagine. They watch Landman in a different way over there, I think.

• 55:16Andy Greenwald?

  Confirms all of our priors.

• 55:17Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 55:18Speaker 05

  How do you think they watch it?

• 55:20Andy Greenwald?

  You let me know how much we can spoil about the television show, The Madison.

• 55:23Chris Ryan?

  Sure.

• 55:23Andy Greenwald?

  But I would say that you were doing a press tour with actors whose lifespan on the show.

• 55:28Chris Ryan?

  I think we talked about that part the first.

• 55:30Andy Greenwald?

  Are limited. And so we did see some of these actors.

• 55:33Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 55:34Andy Greenwald?

  You decide whether we name them or not.

• 55:35Speaker 05

  We had to walk a bit of a high wire.

• 55:37Andy Greenwald?

  And some of these actors had to be like, boy, it was really great doing that scene.

• 55:40Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 55:41Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 55:41Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, we can't, I mean, and a lot of us never worked together.

• 55:44Andy Greenwald?

  Right, but you had to be like.

• 55:46Speaker 05

  Yeah. How great it was to be on set with them. No, but. But we could walk a fine line. I mean, we were given the ability to talk about loss. And that there was some, that there was a tragic loss. They just didn't want to name that loss.

• 55:59Chris Ryan?

  I think that's diagrammed in the trailers and stuff like that. And we talked about it when we talked about the first couple of episodes. Let's talk a little bit about your character, Russell, if you don't mind. We can do like the sort of more official.

• 56:11Speaker 05

  Have you guys watched?

• 56:12Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, I watch it.

• 56:12Speaker 05

  You have to watch.

• 56:13Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 56:13Speaker 05

  You have to watch everything, which I don't know how you do.

• 56:16Chris Ryan?

  We don't have to watch everything, but I choose to watch, I chose to watch The Madison. And it was like.

• 56:22Speaker 05

  You are a Taylor fan.

• 56:24Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, I would say that there's like 60% of it, I just sincerely like, and then there's 40% of it, I'm just like, this is so. I'm so curious about like how it gets made, how he writes all this stuff.

• 56:36Speaker 05

  That was what I was a dork for. When I showed up, that's what I was interested in is how is this man doing this?

• 56:42Andy Greenwald?

  Because I suffer from, I termed this the other day, TDS.

• 56:44Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 56:44Andy Greenwald?

  I have Taylor derangement syndrome.

• 56:45Speaker 05

  Yes, you do.

• 56:46Andy Greenwald?

  And, and yet, I'm still watching.

• 56:49Speaker 05

  Yeah, we've got you still.

• 56:50Andy Greenwald?

  So, so it works on either side. So.

• 56:52Speaker 05

  I'll be honest, I was probably a bit more in your camp before I started. I hadn't consumed a lot of Taylor. I'd seen 1883, which I think I only watched because I knew that this was maybe in the mix and the director that we had, Christina Boros, on the show had done a lot of that. So I started with 1883 and was really impressed. I watched some of 1923, but I had never seen Yellowstone. And then tried it and it wasn't for me. It was not, it didn't, it wasn't something that I wanted to stick with. But I was profoundly impressed by the production. I was like, something is going on here. So to go and step onto the set and sort of get to see the machine in operation was pretty remarkable.

• 57:30Andy Greenwald?

  What is the machine like? That, we're both curious about that.

• 57:33Speaker 05

  I mean, they've been making shows now for what, 10 years? So this is a group of people who have been working together in an environment that's not easy to shoot in. You know, you're shooting on hills that are like, that Stacy's Valley in the show. It's just like, you know, technical, I'm a nerd for technical. And like, shooting in that valley is an insane thing to try and pull off and they do it with no problem. You're shooting in the elements, it's raining, it's windy. We shoot five cameras, everything. Everything is five cameras. You're inside in a restaurant, we're shooting five cameras. You're out in the field with five cameras. So it's just like the A team that has been, you know, found by Taylor and his team. Over the course of many years, they all love it because it's job security. They're, everybody's so happy to be there.

• 58:18Speaker 05

  And if you're not good at your job, you've probably not been asked back. So you, you sort of step onto that set. Usually you step onto a set and you feel like everybody's getting to know each other. It's like the first day of a new school for everyone. But on a Taylor set, you're the new kid at school. They've been at school for years and you're the new kid and they're like, what do you, what do you got?

• 58:35Chris Ryan?

  The five camera thing, is that like the way they used to talk about like Friday Night Lights where it's like, there's coverage everywhere. So you can kind of do your own thing.

• 58:43Speaker 05

  Yes. It's Friday Night Lights was a little more on the shoulder, you know, right? They would be handheld. And so I did one episode of Friday Night Lights and I remember, I mean famously, there was no rehearsal even. They would just show up and be like, go, just see what happens, which is terrifying.

• 58:58Speaker 05

  As a, as an actor, just walking on the set. This is more prepared. We're rehearsing. We know where they are, but I, you know, I'm a camera guy. I'm a nerd for cameras and I love to know you're on a 50 and you're on an 80. And on suits, we would never have more than three cameras in a courtroom, two cameras every other day. So I'd always be aware, okay, we're kind of here and here. And as an actor, that does something to your brain. On this set, you can't do those calculations anymore. There's too many cameras.

• 59:23Andy Greenwald?

  Also, it's not even a set. I mean, one of the things that we definitely agree on about the Madison is it is gorgeous.

• 59:28Speaker 05

  Beautiful, right?

• 59:29Andy Greenwald?

  It's shot after shot. It's just stunning.

• 59:31Speaker 05

  Stunning. Unbelievable.

• 59:32Andy Greenwald?

  And so you're, you know, you spent years in a courtroom.

• 59:35Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 59:36Andy Greenwald?

  On a set.

• 59:37Speaker 05

  Yeah, in a warehouse in northern Toronto.

• 59:39Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah. It sounds sexier the more we talk about it.

• 59:43Andy Greenwald?

  Suddenly you're on this like this wheat field, golden wheat field somewhere in Montana.

• 59:46Speaker 05

  Overwhelming. Yeah.

• 59:47Andy Greenwald?

  What is, how does that change both the performance and the overall experience of having the job?

• 59:52Speaker 05

  Well, you arrive with a lot of gratitude. I mean, I remember when we drove out there, day one, the, the base camp is an hour. You get on the highway from Bozeman, you drive like 40 minutes, you get off the highway, you get on the small road, then you hit the dirt road. Then you're on the dirt road for 20 minutes until you get to the base camp. And then you're at base camp, you get ready and then you do the. 20 minute drive down the roads that Taylor has built. Taylor in his, not Taylor personally, has not built the roads. But they've built the roads to get down to the cabins that they've put next to this. You know, next to the river, whereas before it was just a ranch, there was nothing there before. So. You arrive filled with like the majesty of nature. You've watched the sun come up over the river. So that does something to you. For me, as the character.

• 1:00:36Speaker 05

  Russell's scared of everything. Like, like, so there's so much to interact with. When the wind would blow in my face, I would get to. Pretend I have dirt in my eyes. There'd be bugs that would drive me crazy. Like. I was just trying to use the environment as much as possible to be as uncomfortable as possible.

• 1:00:51Andy Greenwald?

  That's how I use the environment, always.

• 1:00:53Speaker 05

  Yes. I can relate to that sometimes. But Patrick's a bit more comfortable in that place. So you'd show up and be very grateful that you get to shoot in this insane place with these people that know how to shoot it. That's a big difference. Cause if you could be in that environment with maybe people who are learning it for the first time, I don't know if you've had that experience, but. You can be miserable because nobody kind of knows what to do when the wind blows or starts raining. But these are people that have been on the front lines with Taylor for so long.

• 1:01:18Chris Ryan?

  I was, uh, reading some old interviews with you last night and I came across one when you were, it's like from EW when you were nominated for SAG for Suits. And you said, talking about the character Mike on Suits, you were like, the thing about Mike is he, it gives me the chance to embody the energy of somebody who's in a new environment that scares them. And that they're, uh, not sure that they can survive in. And you were like, I, you were talking about.

• 1:01:41Speaker 05

  I seem drawn to this.

• 1:01:42Chris Ryan?

  Well, then why?

• 1:01:43Speaker 05

  What's going on? I don't know.

• 1:01:44Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. You don't want to be.

• 1:01:46Speaker 05

  I feel very uncomfortable all the time.

• 1:01:48Chris Ryan?

  Mike McD at the poker table, like I know exactly what's going on. You kind of like to be a little bit on your toes.

• 1:01:52Speaker 05

  I think I relate to that more. I don't know. I think the, the desire especially as like an actor and people want you to be a leading man is to be super cool and be the Harvey Specter, you know, to be that character. And I certainly spent a lot of time on Suits wishing I could occupy that space and, and be that. But you know, lo and behold, you come off Suits. And this is what I'm drawn to. It's just what I relate to. I'm much more that guy who's. Uncomfortable and unsure how to be and how to be. With people and I'm into discovering their confidence along the way. You know, Mike became a much more, I guess he started confident, but he was in a very alien environment. And I thought that was fun and that was my experience of being on a show for the first time. I had never, I mean, I'd done guest star stuff, but I'd never, you know, been on a series where we're shooting 16 episodes

• 1:02:37Speaker 05

  and doing all the things that come with that process. And so I would, would have thought maybe I'd be more confident now.

• 1:02:45Chris Ryan?

  Sure.

• 1:02:46Speaker 05

  But when I read a script like this, I see that character and I just think as an actor, there's so much more to do. It's so much more fun.

• 1:02:53Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:53Speaker 05

  I'm more of a Lewis Lit guy. He's on Suits, he was a character from Suits.

• 1:02:58Andy Greenwald?

  That was the beloved USA series.

• 1:03:01Chris Ryan?

  Fire up the DVD player.

• 1:03:02Speaker 05

  I'm more of a Lewis Lit guy than I think maybe a Harvey Specter guy.

• 1:03:05Chris Ryan?

  Gotcha.

• 1:03:05Speaker 05

  I think that's more interesting, like Tom Wambsgans is like, you know, that's who I'm drawn to.

• 1:03:09Andy Greenwald?

  I know that one.

• 1:03:10Speaker 05

  Yeah, you know that one.

• 1:03:12Andy Greenwald?

  I do want to ask about the scripts because as you alluded to at the beginning, The Madison has a sort of unique production history. You shot one six episode season in 24.

• 1:03:22Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:03:22Andy Greenwald?

  Is that right? Then you shot a second season of six episodes in 25.

• 1:03:25Speaker 05

  We just finished it this summer, yeah.

• 1:03:26Andy Greenwald?

  Before any of it premiered.

• 1:03:27Speaker 05

  December. Yes, exactly.

• 1:03:29Andy Greenwald?

  With a project like this, like all Taylor projects, he's the writer.

• 1:03:33Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:03:34Andy Greenwald?

  When you signed on to the first season or when you showed up, are all six scripts locked? Or are, or is it a fluid process?

• 1:03:41Speaker 05

  Not even close. Fluid's a word. Yeah. I think I got one script and I got to decide whether this was something I wanted to do based on that script. And if you watch the first episode, Brussels does not have a lot to do. So it was really just a conversation with him, one of the few conversations I've had with him, where he talked about the part and how he wanted to shoot the show and how he likes to work. And you know, why, what he had responded to in the tape that I had sent in.

• 1:04:06Chris Ryan?

  Did you have to fly to Texas to have this conversation?

• 1:04:07Speaker 05

  No, luckily I got, he, uh, he does these tests in Wyoming.

• 1:04:11Chris Ryan?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:04:12Speaker 05

  Which I don't know why they're in Wyoming.

• 1:04:13Andy Greenwald?

  Much more convenient.

• 1:04:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why not?

• 1:04:16Speaker 05

  But strangely, um, In parallel to the show, my stepfather passed a few years ago.

• 1:04:22Chris Ryan?

  I'm sorry.

• 1:04:22Speaker 05

  And we had this, thank you, and they, um, he, we had this cabin out in the, out in the wilderness north of Toronto. It's sort of a common thing to have cottages up there. And we'd been going there our whole lives, but it was really his domain. He took care of this place. It's very remote, hard to get to. And we had just bought it from my mom.

• 1:04:38Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 1:04:39Speaker 05

  And I had just arrived at this property, at this cabin, and was like, oh my God, I gotta take care of this place. I don't know how to do it. When I got the audition for The Madison. And so, long story short, we were in this environment, living out the story of The Madison, apparently in our own little world, when he said, well, I loved your tape, come to Wyoming. And it was like, it's on an island where we were. I was like, I can't leave my family on an island. My father, who's not well, was coming to visit us. It was just like, I know this is an amazing job opportunity, but I cannot come to Wyoming to see you. And I thought that would be the end of it. And to his credit, he was like, just send another tape. And my team still thought, you're never gonna, this isn't gonna happen if you don't go to Wyoming. Like, that's a part of the process. Taylor needs to like, see you in person and

• 1:05:22Speaker 05

  smell you and see how you do things. And, uh, and I-

• 1:05:28Chris Ryan?

  Make you do an episode of Naked and From Alone or whatever.

• 1:05:31Speaker 05

  Yeah, exactly. So I thought it probably won't work out, and I made another tape. And, uh, and then he called and said, you got the part. So I didn't have to go through that whole process.

• 1:05:39Chris Ryan?

  Which sounded very scary.

• 1:05:41Andy Greenwald?

  That also sounds like that would appeal, like you were living the show.

• 1:05:44Speaker 05

  That's what I thought. I'm like, I'm in a cabin.

• 1:05:47Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:47Speaker 05

  Having this family experience, my father's coming to visit, the sorry, that's more important to me.

• 1:05:52Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 1:05:52Speaker 05

  In this moment than blowing up this whole thing to come over to the show.

• 1:05:55Andy Greenwald?

  I think that's good.

• 1:05:56Speaker 05

  I, I was hoping that. I don't know if it ever landed, because he never said anything about it. I didn't get a-

• 1:06:01Andy Greenwald?

  This is the first he's hearing of it.

• 1:06:02Speaker 05

  Yeah, he's probably-

• 1:06:03Andy Greenwald?

  He only listens to this show.

• 1:06:04Chris Ryan?

  Did you feel like, um, how, what was it like to jump into that blind with only the first script and not knowing the full trajectory of the character? Because I think, for as much as he's an outsider in terms of the environment, he's a city guy, he's a finance guy, and he's all of a sudden out here in the, in the, you know, in the wild. Like, he's also-

• 1:06:24Chris Ryan?

  The only guy among a bunch of women and an outsider to the family, so to speak, because he's the son-in-law and by marriage.

• 1:06:31Speaker 05

  It was a leap of faith. Yeah, it was a leap of, I mean, look, there's worse things than, I mean, I knew, even though I wasn't super familiar with all Taylor's work, I was like, I know this is gonna be a big deal. I know that his shows are a big deal and I know Michelle Pfeiffer's in it as an actor. It's like, I'm gonna get a front row seat to whatever she's gonna do with this part, which is really attractive. And I just sort of trusted that he would become something, more than what was in that first thing. I guess I trusted that instinct that I related to the part and it just sounded kind of like an adventure that I was willing to go on.

• 1:07:08Andy Greenwald?

  The Michelle Pfeiffer thing we have to talk about because she's so amazing generally and she is amazing on the show.

• 1:07:14Speaker 05

  Isn't she like phenomenal?

• 1:07:15Andy Greenwald?

  But it's kind of unique, or at least very rare in Hollywood. She took off, essentially took off decades to raise her family and to have different priorities, but then she comes back with her 100 mile per hour fastball still intact.

• 1:07:26Speaker 05

  Unbelievable.

• 1:07:27Andy Greenwald?

  And just painting the corners.

• 1:07:28Speaker 05

  And to watch it on set.

• 1:07:30Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:31Speaker 05

  Is to like, it's like I get any, any great craftsmen, you know, when they paint, you're like, oh, that looks easy, I could do that. Like, not that it looks easy, but she just, it's so effortless.

• 1:07:40Andy Greenwald?

  Right.

• 1:07:40Speaker 05

  Like when you're on set, you're like, oh, that's, you just did that. Like it didn't, it doesn't seem to take, I'm sure that there's a ton of prep and God knows what she's doing to get into that place, but she's just so effortless in the doing of it, that it's, it's a thing to behold.

• 1:07:55Andy Greenwald?

  Was there a specific moment you remember where she went from, holy shit, that's Catwoman to Your Colleague?

• 1:08:00Speaker 05

  I never got over it, if I'm honest. I still get nervous around her. I told her on the press tour, and she hates it because it's like the last thing in the world she wants. She's like, we gotta get rid of that. She doesn't want any like mystique, she, she just wants to work. But I was doing this stupid thing where I was re-watching like every movie that she's ever made. While I was working with her, thinking that that was gonna help.

• 1:08:20Andy Greenwald?

  Did you go do the Chris Farley interview with her every day? Like, remember that time in Grease 2?

• 1:08:23Speaker 05

  That's exactly what I was doing. I'd watch like Age of Innocence and then show up and have to shoot a scene with her. I'm like, what am I?

• 1:08:29Andy Greenwald?

  So when you acted with Daniel Day-Lewis, was it like this?

• 1:08:31Speaker 05

  Exactly. I'm like, uh.

• 1:08:33Chris Ryan?

  Call me Russell.

• 1:08:34Speaker 05

  I'm Russell.

• 1:08:36Chris Ryan?

  Did you watch Baker Boys when you were going through?

• 1:08:37Speaker 05

  You know, I couldn't, I couldn't because it's not available.

• 1:08:39Chris Ryan?

  Oh, okay.

• 1:08:40Speaker 05

  Did you know that it's not available?

• 1:08:41Chris Ryan?

  I didn't.

• 1:08:42Speaker 05

  I hate that.

• 1:08:42Andy Greenwald?

  Is it because of the music?

• 1:08:43Speaker 05

  Uh, yeah. It's also like one of those things that it might have been like three studios that have since been merged.

• 1:08:49Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, it wasn't because Bo Bridges is like, that wasn't why.

• 1:08:51Chris Ryan?

  I think they're just playing like piano jazz. I'm sure it's like public domain at this point, but it's one of my favorites.

• 1:08:55Speaker 05

  I was hoping you could get on this as folks at the ring.

• 1:08:58Chris Ryan?

  We'll try. Gil is a, Simmons is a huge Michelle Pfeiffer fan.

• 1:09:01Speaker 05

  Yes, I've heard.

• 1:09:02Chris Ryan?

  And we've talked about doing Tequila Sunrise and a bunch of her movies, but.

• 1:09:06Speaker 05

  Baker Boys is, I remember being one of my favorites, but I couldn't revisit it because I didn't have the DVD.

• 1:09:10Chris Ryan?

  Like, I was curious because you know, you've also done, you've gotten to work with like Dustin Hoffman, you know, on Luck. And whether or not there is a commonality of people at that stature, like that you are ever like, I wonder, you know, obviously maybe their acting styles, their acting schools they come from are different, but is there something that like, that top of the call sheet kind of person brings that is describable?

• 1:09:33Speaker 05

  I've been around some top of the call sheet people that are not people you'd want to be around. But in my experience, especially with those two people, uh, they love acting. That's it. They're really disinterested in being stars or what you think of them as stars. In fact, it's kind of a burden because it's a sort of series of expectations that they're not interested in. I really related to Michelle right off the bat. She would talk about how nervous she was, like real nervous. And I'm nervous all the time, as I've already explained. So to have a person who's delivered those performances say to you like, I'm as terrified as you are. I don't know what I'm doing. And then of course she steps up and throws the fastball and you're like, well, you know exactly what you're doing. But you need that process of saying like, I don't know. I don't know if I have it this time. Uh, Dustin was a little bit less like that. I think Dustin knew he had it.

• 1:10:18Speaker 05

  But he's just, he's just having fun though. He just loves it. I was on an elevator with him shooting Luck once, um, a fake elevator on set. And they had put in the little numbers that change that go up and down to show you what floor it was. And we were alone in the elevator waiting for them to move some lights and I was just standing behind him quietly. And I was watching him watch these lights change as they were like making the floor change. And he was acting the floor.

• 1:10:40Chris Ryan?

  No.

• 1:10:41Speaker 05

  Stopping and starting. Like the cameras weren't on him. He was just like staring at it.

• 1:10:46Chris Ryan?

  To feel like his body was like.

• 1:10:47Speaker 05

  He just was like, this is fun. How could I pretend this elevator is moving up and down? And he looked at me noticing he's like, pretty cool, huh?

• 1:10:55Andy Greenwald?

  You're like, oh, yes, sir.

• 1:10:56Speaker 05

  Yes, sir.

• 1:10:57Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, let's do it together.

• 1:10:58Speaker 05

  No, it wasn't the pretty cool what I'm doing. It's just like, pretty cool.

• 1:11:01Chris Ryan?

  Like they got me.

• 1:11:02Speaker 05

  It's like movie magic.

• 1:11:03Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, right. That's awesome.

• 1:11:04Speaker 05

  Yeah, they're like kids in a way, which I really do.

• 1:11:06Chris Ryan?

  There's some great stuff in the finale, season finale, uh, with you and Michelle. I was curious about, you know, you get on the flight back, um,

• 1:11:13Speaker 05

  The joke.

• 1:11:13Chris Ryan?

  And then you guys do the Irish car bombs together. But she actually starts to unpack your character a little bit. And like, I was curious whether the stuff that's in that season finale about kind of getting at like your character, Russell's like, what do you want, man? Like, what do you think?

• 1:11:30Speaker 05

  That is totally unexamined.

• 1:11:31Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, and that like, if that's a signal towards like what his stuff might be.

• 1:11:34Speaker 05

  Again, I have no idea. I hope that's what it is, you know, it's a leap of faith. I took that scene to mean like, yeah, we're exposing that this character has just lived kind of in fear, for lack of a better word, of his wife and just sort of getting along and just trying to do whatever he can do to like, not cause any waves. And I think that scene is her saying like, who are you?

• 1:11:54Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:11:54Speaker 05

  What do you want? What are you doing? And his inability to answer that, I hope plants a seed for him. I think going into the second season, there's some stuff that shows that he's, you know, on the path to trying to figure out really who he is in this environment and how he wants to show up for these people. But yeah, I don't know.

• 1:12:10Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, I don't know.

• 1:12:12Speaker 05

  That's the thing with Taylor, you really don't know. Sometimes we didn't get those final scripts until days before we shot, so.

• 1:12:18Andy Greenwald?

  This is kind of a bigger picture question and it's a little thinky, but you're here on the podcast.

• 1:12:22Speaker 05

  That's a different podcast.

• 1:12:23Andy Greenwald?

  No, you listen to the podcast.

• 1:12:23Speaker 05

  It's a different podcast.

• 1:12:24Andy Greenwald?

  To look at your IMDB and your CV, like you've had such a phenomenal and long career, which is hard for an actor to have anytime, but it also felt like it was really reflective of the changes in the industry.

• 1:12:34Chris Ryan?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:12:35Andy Greenwald?

  Where if you look at the first few years of your career, you're doing guest spots on really prominent shows and getting your reps in in different styles, Front Night Lights, Lost, Cold Case, like big shows of the era. And then you get the type of thing that a lot of working actors out here dream of, which is like, I get to play a cool character on a popular show.

• 1:12:51Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:12:52Andy Greenwald?

  And I know where my paycheck's coming from and I know my colleagues, I have my parking space or whatever. And then that era of like reliable series work has completely changed.

• 1:13:02Speaker 05

  Evaporated.

• 1:13:03Andy Greenwald?

  And now you're in the streaming era and you may have found it again, but it involves, you know, once a year before anyone's seen the show, flying to Montana.

• 1:13:10Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:13:12Andy Greenwald?

  Almost even, I don't even realize there's a question in that. It's just your observations.

• 1:13:16Speaker 05

  I feel just scrappy. I think I'm just scrappy. I look at my IMDb and it just looks sort of like patched together. Because for me, it was all just survival. It's like, what are we doing? I get a guest spot, you know? Like, I feel like I'm always hustling. People always ask you, when you do press tours, like, what drew you to this character? And it's like, a lot of times, like, I have kids, I need a job, you know? Like, I want to sound cooler than that. Like, I have all the opportunity in the world. And I do have more opportunity than most, but I love what I do. I love acting. And so even at 44 and tired and three kids, I just, I try to take that Dustin story to heart. Or Michelle, which is just follow, you know, find a script that lights something up in me. Even if it's Russell and it's three scenes in the first episode, I go, I can do something with that.

• 1:14:00Speaker 05

  And lucky enough, in this case, you get to do it with like, the top-notch people. But I just love to do it. I really love acting.

• 1:14:07Chris Ryan?

  Do you have any like, have you ever like, been like, oh, this is a different industry than it was seven years ago, 12 years ago? Or maybe it's always you, so it's like, that, there's a consistent thing about your perspective. But I think Taylor's stuff is this weird hybrid.

• 1:14:26Speaker 05

  It's hard, because he like, exists in this like, there's nobody else.

• 1:14:29Andy Greenwald?

  He's not even in the industry.

• 1:14:30Speaker 05

  He made up his own industry.

• 1:14:31Chris Ryan?

  You're watching Dallas, and sometimes it feels like you're watching an action blockbuster film, you know? So it's like this crazy hybrid of like, very old-school TV principals and new, new feature film stuff.

• 1:14:45Speaker 05

  And everyone's a little different. Like, our show, I don't know, so many of the other shows, I wouldn't say rely on it, but like, the cartel's around the corner, and someone's coming for the land.

• 1:14:55Andy Greenwald?

  Don't spoil season two of The Madison.

• 1:14:57Speaker 05

  Our show, Dan, doesn't have any of that. It's literally, it feels, yeah, maybe. But it just feels like Taylor is, you know, I don't know where he writes or how he writes, but he sits down and he's like, meditating on grief. He always talks about plot. There was the one thing he said in that early conversation, was that he's not driven by. Plot, you know, which says to me.

• 1:15:16Andy Greenwald?

  I too have seen Landman.

• 1:15:19Speaker 05

  You know, the process of writing a show, as you know, often is let's put a bunch of cards on the wall and figure out story B and story B and you by committee, now you go write it, but then we're gonna put notes on it and it's, this is a guy in a room going like, this is what I'm thinking about. And sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, if you're, if you're not a fan, but I will say it's kind of cool to be on a show that's just like one person's vision.

• 1:15:42Andy Greenwald?

  Totally.

• 1:15:42Speaker 05

  And they are allowed to do whatever they want.

• 1:15:45Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:15:46Speaker 05

  And nobody's coming in and saying, well, what if it was a little bit more of this or that? It's his idea and he trusts Christina absolutely and I cannot speak highly enough about her. I mean, she is, when you talk about the visual part of the show, she came up through the camera department. She was a director of photography. So she, her spirit is as much imprinted on this thing as, as his is and to his credit, he really lets her run with the ball. So we're given a lot of leeway. It's like, these are the words, do within what you will. So he casts people that he loves. He's put Christina in a position where he trusts her and then he's like, this is what I've written, go see what happens.

• 1:16:23Chris Ryan?

  When you read the scripts, when you get them, do they feel different than a typical episodic television script? Cause like, when you watch them, it does this-

• 1:16:33Speaker 05

  You have a 20 minute dinner scene.

• 1:16:34Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:16:35Speaker 05

  And you're like, what?

• 1:16:36Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. Or you're like, wait, Russell's gonna go out with her? You know what I mean? Like Russell's gonna go out with, with Stacy and like, they're gonna, isn't it gonna be the daughters have like a final, like that's the way the episode should end is they have like this resolution.

• 1:16:48Speaker 05

  He doesn't seem to care about the expectations.

• 1:16:50Chris Ryan?

  But that must make it interesting as a, not a script reader and an actor.

• 1:16:54Speaker 05

  I think it's fun to play those scenes. Yeah. I mean, it sometimes leaves you scratching your head and sometimes you're like, oh, I thought I'd have a moment. You'd sort of expect you'd get a moment that ends up going to somewhere else, someone else. But I think we all bought into this story early on. We both, we all believed in it. We believed in Michelle. We were all there to support her, this performance, especially given what she had to do in the first season. So, you know, you're kind of along for the ride. Yeah.

• 1:17:17Andy Greenwald?

  Was Taylor with you on the press tour in New York?

• 1:17:19Speaker 05

  No.

• 1:17:21Andy Greenwald?

  I really wanted to know what going to New York City with Taylor is like, having watched the first episode of The Madison.

• 1:17:25Speaker 05

  Did you watch his introduction to the premiere?

• 1:17:27Chris Ryan?

  It was very, very tender.

• 1:17:29Andy Greenwald?

  No, I didn't see that.

• 1:17:30Chris Ryan?

  I told you, he was like, he was like, this is like, you know, I lived in New York, I love New York, but New York didn't love me back.

• 1:17:36Speaker 05

  It was a beautiful.

• 1:17:37Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:17:37Speaker 05

  He's, he's a remarkably, I don't know why remarkable, he's an amazing writer and he's obviously prolific, but the way he spoke from the heart in that.

• 1:17:45Andy Greenwald?

  I want that show.

• 1:17:46Chris Ryan?

  And he doesn't do a lot of public talking, speaking.

• 1:17:48Speaker 05

  No.

• 1:17:49Andy Greenwald?

  Taylor, the early LCD Sounds System shows. This isn't working for me. Something's off.

• 1:17:55Chris Ryan?

  He liked other DFA stuff. I wanted to just, so you have the three kids, you're, you're a working actor, but like, are you, do you, are you an avid TV watcher?

• 1:18:04Speaker 05

  I'm a pretty avid TV watcher. I mean, you know, we have kids, I don't, I don't know how you watch what you watch with kids, like you're, you're.

• 1:18:10Andy Greenwald?

  I don't watch that much.

• 1:18:11Speaker 05

  But you do on the show, you're talking about all of it. What do you mean?

• 1:18:14Andy Greenwald?

  I mean, you know, you're an actor, you know, it's like, sometimes you kind of fake it.

• 1:18:17Chris Ryan?

  Yes, he can do like.

• 1:18:18Speaker 05

  I'm waiting for your Bluey watch episode.

• 1:18:20Chris Ryan?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 1:18:21Speaker 05

  Cause we're deep in Bluey.

• 1:18:22Andy Greenwald?

  I am held, I'm held back by this guy. I'm gonna be honest with you, come on.

• 1:18:25Speaker 05

  Yeah, let's do it.

• 1:18:26Andy Greenwald?

  We'll do a Bluey.

• 1:18:26Chris Ryan?

  April 9th, go for it.

• 1:18:30Andy Greenwald?

  Finally cover the real stuff.

• 1:18:31Speaker 05

  Yeah, I try to watch as much as possible. That's why I love your show, honestly, because it's a cool guide to like, you guys have set me onto some things that I didn't know about. I tried watching the first series, season of Industry early on and life happened, I liked it, but I just, life happened, so to hear you guys talk about it, it's like, okay, no, I know. Our tastes are aligned, I'm gonna wanna watch that show. Watching The Pit, what else are we watching? DTF, we just started.

• 1:18:54Chris Ryan?

  What do you think of that?

• 1:18:55Speaker 05

  I like it. I think the tone is really cool.

• 1:18:57Chris Ryan?

  Did you do Patriot? Did you watch that when it was on?

• 1:18:59Speaker 05

  I loved Patriot.

• 1:19:00Chris Ryan?

  So that's, I think that's.

• 1:19:01Speaker 05

  Wait, is that him?

• 1:19:02Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:19:02Speaker 05

  Oh, I didn't realize.

• 1:19:03Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, Steve Conrad.

• 1:19:04Speaker 05

  Oh, that's why I love it.

• 1:19:05Chris Ryan?

  I think it's like, the people who love Patriot, I think, are much more, and I, I, I've, I've tried with Patriot, maybe I should try again, but.

• 1:19:12Speaker 05

  I, you know Patriots, I'm saying I loved Patriot. I don't even know if I finished Patriot, but I just remember loving the vibe.

• 1:19:17Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:19:18Speaker 05

  I was so in on the vibe and his performance. Yeah, I was in. So that's how I felt about this. I was like, I hadn't, I just felt the tone was different than most things and that on TV can sometimes be enough because there's so much that feels the same.

• 1:19:29Chris Ryan?

  As a Canadian, have you ever done Shore Z? Have you done Letterkenny or any of that stuff?

• 1:19:33Speaker 05

  I love them too much. I can't do that. They're too good.

• 1:19:36Chris Ryan?

  No, I mean, but like, do you watch that stuff?

• 1:19:38Speaker 05

  Uh, I watch Letterkenny. I watch Shore Z. I have not finished Heat of Rivalry yet, but my sister is a fan.

• 1:19:44Chris Ryan?

  Okay.

• 1:19:44Speaker 05

  Orphan Black was, I guess, a Canadian and co-production that I was a big fan of. And then I tweeted my way onto that show for a minute. And now I'm friends with Tatiana Maslany, which is amazing.

• 1:19:55Andy Greenwald?

  That's good. Your social media manifests things.

• 1:19:57Speaker 05

  It does.

• 1:19:57Andy Greenwald?

  Look at us. This is really, and they say it's all bad, but I don't think that's true.

• 1:20:01Speaker 05

  Tried to find our videos yesterday. We have to look them up. Someone has to post this on social so we can get a little history here because I couldn't find the original.

• 1:20:08Chris Ryan?

  It was like a video of you in

• 1:20:10Andy Greenwald?

  It was pretty amazing.

• 1:20:10Speaker 05

  In my car.

• 1:20:11Chris Ryan?

  So in your car radio and be like

• 1:20:12Speaker 05

  You have to understand how surreal that was.

• 1:20:14Chris Ryan?

  Because you're

• 1:20:15Speaker 05

  Because I do, I literally listen every week and you guys had never talked about Suits, ever.

• 1:20:20Andy Greenwald?

  Nor did we, which is what made the video so amazing because

• 1:20:23Chris Ryan?

  But you did in that case because you were

• 1:20:24Andy Greenwald?

  Suits came up and

• 1:20:26Chris Ryan?

  You were just laughing about like, why is this show?

• 1:20:28Andy Greenwald?

  Chris, like, it's pretty good. And I was basically like, yes, I know it starred people like Patrick J. Adams and I didn't watch it. Like, I literally said something, just like a shot, like, just a drive-by as you were driving by.

• 1:20:38Speaker 05

  How bad was the response? You've made commentary about 100 people came after you after I made a post.

• 1:20:44Andy Greenwald?

  Yes. No, you got, yeah, you got the Suits stand.

• 1:20:46Speaker 05

  Did they get, did they, were they mean? Were they?

• 1:20:48Andy Greenwald?

  No, they're, they're a polite group. They're passionate. They want to educate.

• 1:20:53Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:20:54Andy Greenwald?

  They want to, they're, they're, they don't, they lead with

• 1:20:56Speaker 05

  How much Suits have you watched?

• 1:20:58Andy Greenwald?

  Since this podcast started?

• 1:20:59Speaker 05

  Yeah. Yeah, where are we at?

• 1:21:01Chris Ryan?

  Well, he was waiting for physical media copies.

• 1:21:03Speaker 05

  Have you seen one episode of Suits?

• 1:21:05Andy Greenwald?

  From what I understand.

• 1:21:06Speaker 05

  You did a show on USA.

• 1:21:07Andy Greenwald?

  I did, I did.

• 1:21:08Speaker 05

  They didn't make you watch Suits before.

• 1:21:11Chris Ryan?

  Is that part of your contract?

• 1:21:13Andy Greenwald?

  No, weirdly, they made me watch Royal Pains.

• 1:21:15Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:21:16Andy Greenwald?

  And they were like from the Blue Sky era.

• 1:21:19Speaker 05

  We'd prefer you to focus on it. Now you, you don't have a place to start and you don't have to stream it.

• 1:21:25Andy Greenwald?

  It was really kind of you. It's really kind of you. We'll pivot. Because we do like to zag on this show. So now, three years after it became the number one show in the world.

• 1:21:33Speaker 05

  We'll do Suits.

• 1:21:34Andy Greenwald?

  Now it's time.

• 1:21:35Chris Ryan?

  Now's the time.

• 1:21:36Speaker 05

  Only the DVD versions of Suits.

• 1:21:37Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah. And I'll be like, actually, the episodes are one and a half minutes longer.

• 1:21:41Speaker 05

  Can we do a Ringer re-watch of Suits that I'll be involved in? Yes. Pitch it here.

• 1:21:46Chris Ryan?

  Probably.

• 1:21:47Speaker 05

  Okay, great.

• 1:21:47Andy Greenwald?

  Do you notice how everyone, yes, probably, yes?

• 1:21:49Speaker 05

  Probably, yes. That's maybe not gonna happen.

• 1:21:52Chris Ryan?

  Who would wanna be on it?

• 1:21:53Speaker 05

  Bill Simmons, obviously.

• 1:21:56Andy Greenwald?

  I mostly hear from Juliette about my Suits Erasure. She's a big fan.

• 1:21:59Speaker 05

  I don't know Juliette, so.

• 1:22:00Chris Ryan?

  She lives in New York. She's, she's, she's our head of operations.

• 1:22:03Speaker 05

  Let's get her in here.

• 1:22:03Andy Greenwald?

  We've just created a moment for her, where she's on the subway listening to it and she hears one of her favorite actors.

• 1:22:09Speaker 05

  Hi Juliette. Thank you Juliette.

• 1:22:11Chris Ryan?

  But this is how we, this is how it works.

• 1:22:12Speaker 05

  Do you wanna know a fun Ringer thing that you can cut out? But Adam Namon?

• 1:22:16Chris Ryan?

  Yeah.

• 1:22:16Speaker 05

  I went to high school with.

• 1:22:17Chris Ryan?

  No way.

• 1:22:17Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 1:22:18Chris Ryan?

  I love Adam.

• 1:22:19Speaker 05

  He's the best.

• 1:22:19Chris Ryan?

  Oh, my God. He's my favorite film critic.

• 1:22:22Speaker 05

  It's so smart.

• 1:22:22Chris Ryan?

  Can I nerd out with you for a second? What's the camera thing?

• 1:22:25Speaker 05

  You were looking at my shirt. I thought we were gonna do that.

• 1:22:27Chris Ryan?

  I love LCD, but I saw that you did, you've done some photography exhibits and stuff for you.

• 1:22:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a couple of exhibits. I haven't done a ton of that, but I survived as a photographer when I was an actor. I was taking headshots and stuff.

• 1:22:39Chris Ryan?

  And do you ever get into like, uh, the, the film side of it? Like the actual like?

• 1:22:43Speaker 05

  I shoot film. Yeah, I shoot a lot of film.

• 1:22:45Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, you mean like, like, like moving images?

• 1:22:47Chris Ryan?

  Cause you were speaking so fondly of the, the photography department on shows you're on.

• 1:22:51Speaker 05

  That's what I'm drawing. I directed some episode of Suits. You'll discover those along the way.

• 1:22:54Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, later on.

• 1:22:56Speaker 05

  Um, and I love directing and I think.

• 1:22:58Chris Ryan?

  They're perverse, by the way. They're just really disturbing.

• 1:23:01Speaker 05

  Very Lynchian inspired, really dark.

• 1:23:04Andy Greenwald?

  What is under these suits?

• 1:23:07Speaker 05

  I'm super drawn, that's where, when I'm on set, I'm always just dorking out with the camera department and trying to figure out.

• 1:23:11Chris Ryan?

  Will you hang out when it's not like a scene of yours just to see what they're doing and stuff?

• 1:23:14Speaker 05

  I was shadowing Christina on this and usually when I'd shadow. Christina, I just go and hang out with the camera department and ask them questions. And I just, I first, I just love cameras. I love visual storytelling. I love getting to understand when you have five cameras, there's so many people who are focused on different things and trying to figure out how you organize all those cameras. Like, well, who's going for the close up? And on most shows, there's like an A camera, and I am in charge of the close ups. And on this show, it was like, so fluid. It was like, no, you're there now. Get that. You get that close up. You're feeling that. Shoot that eagle that's flying by right now. It was like, sort of this beautiful orchestra that nobody really needed to be told what to do, and they all understood it. And so, yeah, I don't know. I'm just fascinated by the camera.

• 1:23:56Chris Ryan?

  So it was interesting to me, like, when actors start to gravitate towards that. I saw, like, Giovanni Ribisi is like, super into it.

• 1:24:01Speaker 05

  He makes the camera. He made the camera.

• 1:24:03Chris Ryan?

  And he like maintains Vista Vision.

• 1:24:04Speaker 05

  That one battle was shot on, right?

• 1:24:05Chris Ryan?

  Yeah, he was the DP on

• 1:24:06Speaker 05

  Yeah, he built it.

• 1:24:07Chris Ryan?

  Strange Darling, like this really good, like, kind of horror movie that came out.

• 1:24:10Speaker 05

  I got to work with him once on his show, which was called

• 1:24:15Chris Ryan?

  Sneaky Pete.

• 1:24:16Speaker 05

  Sneaky Pete, yeah.

• 1:24:16Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, yeah, we covered that.

• 1:24:18Speaker 05

  And it was amazing. He's, he's such a trip. He loves cameras.

• 1:24:21Chris Ryan?

  Yeah. I sometimes see him walking around in Outwater with like, a camera on his neck.

• 1:24:25Speaker 05

  Should walk up to him and be like

• 1:24:27Chris Ryan?

  He would love that.

• 1:24:28Speaker 05

  Just say, "Take a picture of me. Photograph me."

• 1:24:30Chris Ryan?

  Patrick, man, thank you so much for coming on the watch.

• 1:24:32Speaker 05

  Thank you. Great to meet you.

• 1:24:33Chris Ryan?

  Thank you for the gift. The green light to come on. If, when you finish industry, come back on. Talk about that.

• 1:24:39Speaker 05

  I would love it.

• 1:24:40Chris Ryan?

  Good luck with season two, whenever that comes. But congratulations on season one.

• 1:24:44Speaker 05

  Let me come back for season two.

• 1:24:45Andy Greenwald?

  Please, tell Taylor Chris said hi.

• 1:24:47Speaker 05

  I will.

• 1:24:59Speaker 06

  Now streaming on Paramount Plus. I'm Dexter Morgan. I've been killing killers for half my life. It gets to you. You're having a midlife crisis. I'm not ready for this. He's back. I'm older. I'm wiser.

• 1:25:14Speaker 06

  And sharper than ever. Things are gonna get messy. But if I can't believe in myself, I can't believe in anything. Dexter Resurrection. New season now streaming on the Paramount Plus Premium.

• 1:25:29Speaker 00

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