‘The Pitt’ Season 2 Teaser Trailer and ‘Platonic’ Season 2

Andy and Kaya chat about the teaser trailer for ‘The Pitt’ Season 2 that dropped today and the novelty, in today’s TV landscape, of a show returning for its second season less than a year after its first (1:00). Then they talk about the second season of the Apple TV+ show ‘Platonic,’ starring Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, a great hangout show in an era when those are increasingly hard to make (31:52). Host: Andy Greenwald Guest: Kaya McMullen Producer: Kaya McMullen Video Producer: Marcelino Ortiz 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.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  I'm pro-football Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins, and I lived for a long time with something I did not know the name of: major depressive disorder. I carried sadness and anger because I thought I could handle it alone, but I couldn't. Now I want to make sure others know that that support is out there. If you're experiencing similar symptoms, talk to a healthcare professional. Visit MDDAllies.com to watch my story.

• 0:25Speaker 01

  Paid partnership with Johnson & Johnson. Brian Dawkins has not prescribed Caplyta lumateperone.

• 0:37Speaker 02

  I needed more from my antidepressant, so my doctor added Caplyta lumateperone, proven to provide greater relief from depression symptoms than an antidepressant alone, building on my progress without starting over. Caplyta is for adults with major depressive disorder when used with an antidepressant and is available by prescription only. Individual results may vary. In clinical trials, weight gain was not common.

• 0:57Speaker 01

  Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Caplyta is not approved for dementia-related psychosis. Call your doctor about new or sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts right away. Antidepressants may increase these risks. Report fever, confusion, stiff muscles, which may be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. High cholesterol and weight gain may occur, as can high blood sugar, which may be fatal. Monitoring is recommended. Common side effects are sleepiness, dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, feeling tired, and diarrhea. These aren't all the side effects.

• 1:24Speaker 02

  Ask your doctor about Caplyta. Learn more at caplyta.com or call 888-252-4824.

• 1:30Speaker 03

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• 1:37Speaker 03

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• 2:22Speaker 03

  Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more, or visit tremfyaradio.com.

• 2:31Speaker 04

  I need sports staff to clear the room. Stand up and walk now.

• 2:39Andy Greenwald?

  Hello and welcome to The Watch. My name is Andy Greenwald. I still have no official designation at The Ringer, and briefly, I also don't even have a badge to get into the building. We can talk about that on the podcast. I am joined today by our number one producer, our number one friend, Kaya McMoly.

• 2:54Speaker 06

  Hi, how's it going?

• 2:56Andy Greenwald?

  It's great to have you back here.

• 2:57Speaker 06

  We're on a month-by-month basis with your badge.

• 3:00Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, no, I get it. If you continue to co-host the show, would that increase my odds of getting a badge?

• 3:06Speaker 06

  Ooh, um, no, because I don't like co-hosting, so.

• 3:11Andy Greenwald?

  I was gonna ask, do you think this is kind of like what Bradley Cooper experienced when he was directing himself in Maestro?

• 3:17Speaker 06

  Oh, my God. I think people who can direct themselves, like, honestly, there's probably like something wrong in your brain.

• 3:25Andy Greenwald?

  So, right now, what percentage of you in your brain is here with me at this table? And what percentage of you is over there on Pro Tools?

• 3:32Speaker 06

  I'm 100% here.

• 3:33Andy Greenwald?

  What percentage is scrolling the internet for funny things that have happened that have nothing to do with the podcast you're producing?

• 3:38Speaker 06

  Um, Millie Bobby Brown is adopting a child.

• 3:41Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, so they're letting kids adopt kids these days. That's fun.

• 3:44Speaker 06

  I think if you have enough money, they're, they let you kind of.

• 3:46Andy Greenwald?

  They let you do anything.

• 3:47Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 3:47Andy Greenwald?

  As a great man once said. Okay, so we are here. This is The Watch. This is Thursday. It's our only show this week. Apologies for not getting back to you sooner. Um, we are sending our love to our dear friend and co-host, Chris Ryan, who is not here with us in LA at the moment, but hopefully will be back with us maybe even as soon as next week. Some, uh, housekeeping that he always takes care of, so I never have to do it, but this time I'll do it.

• 4:09Speaker 06

  Let's hear it.

• 4:10Andy Greenwald?

  You can email us. I think you should email us. From what I understand, all security filters have been removed from this email account. So, and I don't see it, so feel free to send whatevs. TheWatch at Spotify dot. You can also find us on Instagram at the watch pod underscore where if you do not follow us, you should, because that is where Kai is slowly trying to have me killed.

• 4:28Speaker 06

  That's like my passion project is to watch Instagram. So please, uh, let's get those numbers up.

• 4:33Andy Greenwald?

  She's like, at every moment, like, what is the most cancelable thing that Andy has said? And let's clip it.

• 4:40Speaker 06

  Well, I'm really, I just really want to get to 15K followers. Um, we're at 14.6 right now, and I think we got it.

• 4:48Andy Greenwald?

  I think as a show of support for Chris, we can get there.

• 4:51Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 4:51Andy Greenwald?

  Do you also do the clipping for the other podcast? You do a little show called Good Hang with Amy Poehler?

• 4:56Speaker 06

  No. Um, I'm, we have a separate social person for that. I'm not nearly.

• 5:01Andy Greenwald?

  The reason I ask is because Aubrey Plaza was on this week, as literally now everyone in the world knows, and it was a great episode.

• 5:09Speaker 06

  Thank you.

• 5:09Andy Greenwald?

  I would really, really like just a small audio clip of when Amy Poehler tells Aubrey how to watch Parks and Rec, and she says, Peacock, and she goes, no.

• 5:19Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 5:20Andy Greenwald?

  I would really like just the audio of Peacock, no.

• 5:23Speaker 06

  I'll, I'll put word in. Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure our friends at Peacock loved that.

• 5:28Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, all, all my pals over there is very funny. Um, a lot of, a little bit of housekeeping. Um, if you are listening to this podcast today, Thursday, August 21st, which I imagine some people might be, uh, and if you were in Los Angeles, tonight at 10pm at the Los Feliz Three movie theater.

• 5:43Speaker 06

  10pm?

• 5:44Andy Greenwald?

  Listen, we're gonna, hold on, I have something to say about this. Uh, Chris and I were asked to curate, contribute a movie for the Friends of the Fest for American Cinematheque, which is a huge honor. Um, I generally thought that Sean Fennessy is the friend of all fests, and we might be the enemies of the fest. Apparently not true. Um, Chris is not here, so I will be introducing, uh, 24 Hour Party People solo. Um, but I will be there tonight. I am shocked at this start time.

• 6:13Speaker 06

  Okay, so the movie starts at 10pm?

• 6:15Andy Greenwald?

  Yes. Ask me if I'm gonna be watching the movie.

• 6:18Speaker 06

  No, no, you're gonna go home right after.

• 6:20Andy Greenwald?

  I have to go home.

• 6:21Speaker 06

  Are you going, are you, how late of an espresso are you?

• 6:24Andy Greenwald?

  Great question.

• 6:25Speaker 06

  What's your coffee strategy today?

• 6:26Andy Greenwald?

  Great question. I think the 1pm second coffee, or 12pm, is gonna shift to like a 2 or 2:30.

• 6:31Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 6:32Andy Greenwald?

  But otherwise, it's just gonna be adrenaline, baby. Like, I'm just gonna be, you know, we'll be with the people, all of whom bought tickets to see Chris, and all of whom will be there and kind of settle.

• 6:42Speaker 06

  You guys are a package deal, so.

• 6:44Andy Greenwald?

  And look. We have a constant line of communication, so if people talk to me, they will. It can get to him. Boy, I just asked for it there, didn't I? Anyway, it would be fun to see people there. I think tickets are still available. American Cinematheque is the organization, and they do amazing movies here.

• 7:03Speaker 06

  And remind me what theater that's at?

• 7:05Andy Greenwald?

  The Los Feliz 3.

• 7:06Speaker 06

  Nice.

• 7:06Andy Greenwald?

  On Vermont, which people not in L.A. might recognize as the theater that Kristen Bell and Adam Brody walked past with ice cream before their first kiss in season one of Nobody Wants This.

• 7:16Speaker 06

  Great.

• 7:16Andy Greenwald?

  I think that's how American Cinematheque should rebrand.

• 7:19Speaker 06

  Yes, they should just put ginormous posters of Kristen Bell and Adam Brody up.

• 7:25Andy Greenwald?

  It would do numbers.

• 7:26Speaker 06

  They're filming again. They're out and about in L.A. Have you seen them?

• 7:30Andy Greenwald?

  They've wrapped.

• 7:30Speaker 06

  Oh, shit.

• 7:31Andy Greenwald?

  They're done.

• 7:32Speaker 06

  Wow.

• 7:32Andy Greenwald?

  They're, yeah.

• 7:33Speaker 06

  TV is back.

• 7:34Andy Greenwald?

  TV is so back. It's a job for people again. It's kind of nice. We're going to be talking about that. Only other bit of housekeeping is that, here's the thing about Chris. He likes what he likes, and what he likes is the Alien franchise. And he really wanted to talk about the third episode of Alien Earth, which I did watch and I was prepared to talk about, but we are going to graciously hold that.

• 7:59Speaker 06

  Would it be helpful for you if I told you I got through one half of an episode of Alien Earth?

• 8:04Andy Greenwald?

  See, this is why you're good at what you do. This was my question. I didn't know if it had graced the screens in your home.

• 8:09Speaker 06

  So Alien Earth is what I would consider a couple show, where sometimes I will bring things to my boyfriend Nick and I will say, "Hey, this might interest you. Maybe this is something we can watch together."

• 8:21Andy Greenwald?

  That's nice.

• 8:21Speaker 06

  But if he is not interested, then there's no chance that I'm going to take up that mantle alone.

• 8:28Andy Greenwald?

  To watch alone or to force him to sit through?

• 8:31Speaker 06

  Both. Like, if he's not interested, I gotta say, I don't have a lot of experience with the Alien franchise. I actually don't know if I've ever even seen a full one.

• 8:43Andy Greenwald?

  This is a safe space. If Chris was here, he would be mad, but this is fine.

• 8:46Speaker 06

  So I watched half and I was kind of bored to tears. And yeah.

• 8:53Andy Greenwald?

  So not because I, you know, longtime listeners know that you and Nick do a lot of dystopia in your household.

• 9:00Speaker 06

  Yeah, so I thought aliens.

• 9:01Andy Greenwald?

  I thought it might help.

• 9:02Speaker 06

  Yeah, I thought he would, I thought he would be game, but he, he was not.

• 9:05Andy Greenwald?

  He was out also.

• 9:06Speaker 06

  He was out also, and I don't think he's, I don't think him, he has seen the Alien franchise either. But, so maybe that will be a project for us in the near future, because we do a lot, we're doing a lot of movies lately.

• 9:18Andy Greenwald?

  Okay.

• 9:19Speaker 06

  Um, so.

• 9:20Andy Greenwald?

  Dystopian movies as well?

• 9:21Speaker 06

  Yep, always.

• 9:22Andy Greenwald?

  Oh.

• 9:23Speaker 06

  Always.

• 9:24Andy Greenwald?

  Wow. Okay, so all right, so what's, what's been on rotation?

• 9:27Speaker 06

  Ooh, what is the like latest dystopian movie?

• 9:31Andy Greenwald?

  Or any movie, really, because.

• 9:32Speaker 06

  Well, we watched this really cool movie this week called Victoria, which is a 2015 German crime thriller.

• 9:40Andy Greenwald?

  Here's the thing, people say that Chris and I make a show only for ourselves, and that you're the voice of the youth and the voice of the people. But look at you, a 2015 German crime thriller? Kya, today you became president of the watch.

• 9:54Speaker 06

  I, I feel really proud about that one, and it gets even better, it was all shot in one shot. Um, so one continuous shot, um, it gets a little gimmicky at times, and like the way they made it is like very fascinating to me, because they basically shot the entire movie three times through, and they were like, the third one, the third shot is our best shot, but it's also the only we also are going to run out of money after we shoot three times, so like.

• 10:23Andy Greenwald?

  It better be the best one?

• 10:24Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 10:25Andy Greenwald?

  You know what else did something like that? A show that I know you don't watch called Adolescence.

• 10:29Speaker 06

  I know.

• 10:30Andy Greenwald?

  But they had more money. They did it like 24 times.

• 10:32Speaker 06

  Holy shit.

• 10:32Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, I know.

• 10:34Speaker 06

  Is that kid okay?

• 10:35Andy Greenwald?

  After doing it that many times?

• 10:36Speaker 06

  I'm worried for the kid in that show.

• 10:37Andy Greenwald?

  This kid is, he's, he's really good. He's, he's prodigy.

• 10:41Speaker 06

  But yeah, Victoria, um, you do have to rent it on Apple TV. It is not available for streaming anywhere. And also, please, if P, anybody, I mean, I think we've watched like almost every apocalypse, zombie, dystopian, genre movie, but if anybody has any niche recommendations, hit, hit the inbox.

• 10:59Andy Greenwald?

  So last week, after recording the pod, I walked over to the other studio and I did a little, I did a hit on House of R, our good friend Mallory. Shout out and love to Joanna Robinson as well, who is out. And Mallory asked us all to come up with, um, like stock tips for.

• 11:17Speaker 06

  Which you're really, you're really good at.

• 11:19Andy Greenwald?

  I'm kind of a quant.

• 11:20Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 11:20Andy Greenwald?

  I also don't know what that means. But.

• 11:23Speaker 06

  Have they used that word in industry before?

• 11:25Andy Greenwald?

  Yes. Yeah, yeah, that's. Yeah, I was, I was like, here's what you gotta buy the dip.

• 11:31Speaker 06

  Yep.

• 11:31Andy Greenwald?

  And I was like, that's what people say before a Super Bowl party, not before going to Wall Street, as far as I'm concerned. But I want to know, what do you and Nick think of my take? Which was, I was shorting, that's another term I learned on industry,

• 11:44Andy Greenwald?

  dystopia. Cause I was like, as the world becomes increasingly dystopic, I think it's time for our entertainment to do better and show us some hope and whimsy. This is obviously wishful thinking on my part, but I wonder what your appetite is.

• 11:59Speaker 06

  Well, it's kind of like, you know how when COVID first hit, everybody wanted to watch Contagion?

• 12:04Andy Greenwald?

  I'm gonna stop you there. Not everybody, but 99% of people.

• 12:07Speaker 06

  And one Bill Simmons, I know, wanted to do a rewatchables episode on Contagion.

• 12:12Andy Greenwald?

  Sure did.

• 12:13Speaker 06

  I think there's always going to be an appetite for people to like, see their experience reflected on TV. And it's almost like a voyeurism. And yeah, I don't know, it's like a perverse thing where people want to see some, see their lives reflected back at them, even when it's bad.

• 12:31Andy Greenwald?

  But it's not like, for you guys in your apartment, it's not like you're preppers. You're not like, ah, you will be the crossbow wielder.

• 12:38Speaker 06

  No, I'm a, I'm of the mind where if like an apocalypse happened, or like a zombie thing happened, I'd be like, we're good. Like, I'll, I'll just die in the first.

• 12:46Andy Greenwald?

  You 100.

• 12:47Speaker 06

  I don't really.

• 12:47Andy Greenwald?

  This is the least explored take, because it would make a bad movie. But it is 100% better to be gone in the first wave. I don't want to rebuild this shit.

• 12:55Speaker 06

  I'm gonna run out of contacts. My glasses are gonna break. Once my glasses break, it's like, alright, we're done.

• 13:03Andy Greenwald?

  Can I tell you, okay, my coffee grinder broke and I was in shambles for two weeks.

• 13:12Speaker 06

  Oh yeah, what did you do? You would have to go.

• 13:14Andy Greenwald?

  Do you know how much, first of all, I was in denial for probably 10 days, where I was basically getting pencil shavings and packing it in to my little espresso maker thing, and then running it four times?

• 13:25Speaker 06

  Nice.

• 13:25Andy Greenwald?

  Because that was easier than dealing with fixing it.

• 13:29Speaker 06

  Right.

• 13:30Andy Greenwald?

  I'm done. It's fine.

• 13:32Speaker 06

  It's fine. We had a good run.

• 13:33Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 13:34Speaker 06

  We're good.

• 13:34Andy Greenwald?

  The goal was to get to the point where we could care about things like little, little lenses to stick onto our eyeballs or whatever. Like, we won. Think about how many people throughout history wish they could grind their own coffee to espresso fineness, you know?

• 13:47Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 13:48Andy Greenwald?

  So many.

• 13:49Speaker 06

  We achieved so much. We're good now.

• 13:50Andy Greenwald?

  I'm proud of us. We are going to talk about, I should have said this at the beginning, that's why Chris is better at this, we're going to talk about the Apple TV show Platonic, which I'm very excited to talk to you about. But we do have a couple other topics. One, number one, actually, you already did the topic. This is why you guys are better at podcasting than I am. TV is back.

• 14:08Speaker 06

  TV is back.

• 14:09Andy Greenwald?

  Today, Thursday, August 21st, HBO Max dropped a teaser trailer for the Pitt Season 2.

• 14:16Speaker 06

  Full trailer, like.

• 14:18Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 14:18Speaker 06

  That was a generous teaser.

• 14:20Andy Greenwald?

  It was a generous teaser because that's also the beauty of the pit. They're like, just show people stressed in a hospital. Those, every scene in the trailer could have been from the first six minutes of the first episode of Season 2.

• 14:30Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 14:30Andy Greenwald?

  And we get it.

• 14:31Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 14:31Andy Greenwald?

  Anyway, it seems like it's business as usual.

• 14:34Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 14:34Andy Greenwald?

  At our favorite Pittsburgh hospital. Noah Wiley looks haggard. Trinity looks eager, like Javadi is just like, fuck.

• 14:43Speaker 06

  I feel like the only character who showed the passing of time was Whittaker. Like, his eye bags are really, real pronounced.

• 14:49Andy Greenwald?

  What's his hair different?

• 14:50Speaker 06

  He also has a, like, a light mullet thing going.

• 14:52Andy Greenwald?

  He's got kind of what Rogan's got in Platonic Season 2.

• 14:55Speaker 06

  We're gonna talk about his styling choices in that show.

• 14:58Andy Greenwald?

  I can't wait to talk about the styling. This is why I need you on this beat. No, the other difference was Langdon in civvies. You know, that he's not in scrubs.

• 15:08Speaker 06

  Pittsburgh Steelers hat?

• 15:09Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah. I wonder how he feels about the Aaron Rodgers signing. Not gonna make you weigh in on that. Anyway, this was exciting because the Pitt Season 1 was one of the best shows of the year.

• 15:19Speaker 06

  Nurse Dana back confirmed.

• 15:21Andy Greenwald?

  That was the biggest confirmed answer, although seeing her on the red carpet as an Emmy nominee kinda made it clear. She's amazing.

• 15:27Speaker 06

  She's so awesome.

• 15:28Andy Greenwald?

  We've talked about that she was married to Dennis Hopper. Was that on?

• 15:31Speaker 06

  No, we have not. I don't think on mic.

• 15:33Andy Greenwald?

  Not, we, we talk about this constantly off mic.

• 15:35Speaker 06

  I did a nice perusal of her Wikipedia page. What a woman.

• 15:38Andy Greenwald?

  What a strong, complex woman with a full life. Who's really finding a new level of success, just like you with your contacts and me with my Baratza grinder, no free ads. But they did a good job getting me a new Burr.

• 15:50Speaker 06

  My Breville grinder is still going strong.

• 15:53Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, you have the Breville grinder?

• 15:54Speaker 06

  Yeah, but I mean, I just do it. I have a pour-over situation. It's not espresso, so like, I keep it real simple.

• 16:00Andy Greenwald?

  It's coastal living. Guys just probably in a nice earthenware mug, looking out over the ocean. I'm jealous. Anyway, this is huge that The Pit is back at all. As you were saying, this is not what we are used to for our prestige television shows. The fact that, I feel like there have been a number of shows in the last few years where Chris and I have sat here and we've said, this should be repeatable. An example of that would be Department Q, which we love.

• 16:27Speaker 06

  Which is coming back.

• 16:27Andy Greenwald?

  And that's a segue to say it is officially renewed and Scott Frank is making another season of the show. But that is a show that was so good and worked so well in such a comfortable, familiar way. They should be wrapping season two right now, not announcing it, which means it's at least two years before we get the show again. The Pit is the rare example that actually puts its production schedule where its mouth is. Does that analogy work? And went right back into production and will be premiering in January, essentially a year after the season one premiered.

• 16:57Speaker 06

  With 15 episodes.

• 16:58Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 16:59Speaker 06

  15!

• 16:59Andy Greenwald?

  They went right, right, right back into it. We can still build things in this country. Shockingly. You also made a good observation, though, about it's not just HBO flexing and saying, look what's coming back, you know, stay tuned.

• 17:14Speaker 06

  Well, I can't really claim this. I was just perusing the, I don't think it was the Pit Reddit page, though I should, I should get on to the Pit Reddit page. But someone on Reddit made a good observation that this is the last week of Emmy voting.

• 17:27Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 17:28Speaker 06

  And so it was wise of them to drop this trailer and remind everybody, you know.

• 17:33Andy Greenwald?

  There, there was a moment with the Emmys a few years ago when it had already basically shifted, the industry had basically shifted. And the best drama series was, you know, it was Game of Thrones, it was Better Call Saul, it was all the prestige streaming shows of the day.

• 17:47Andy Greenwald?

  And it was, uh, um, this is us.

• 17:50Speaker 06

  Hmm.

• 17:51Andy Greenwald?

  And it really felt like there was still a not insignificant voting block that was like, we want to reward TV.

• 17:59Speaker 06

  Right.

• 17:59Andy Greenwald?

  We still want to say that this is what we do. This is how we make it, even though it's almost like they're in different languages. What's kind of amazing about this year is that there are two shows that are ostensibly streaming shows that are TV. And you can kind of tell. And one is Paradise and one is The Pit. The Pit flexing like this is going to be noticed.

• 18:19Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 18:20Andy Greenwald?

  I think it is going to resonate with viewers who, again, my own personal taste aside, will look at Last of Us and we got this many episodes that did this much after this much time versus what The Pit is doing and will continue to do for a product that keeps the industry looking good, keeps people employed in LA. And I think that's gonna, I think that's, I think that's gonna tip a lot of voters.

• 18:42Speaker 06

  Yeah, and it is interesting that, um, the lead actor in a drama like category that like race is kind of shaping up to be like Noah Wiley be Adam Scott and Severance is like basically on the, if there is a spectrum, Severance is like off on the other.

• 18:58Andy Greenwald?

  They're on the presidential election cycle.

• 19:00Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 19:00Andy Greenwald?

  I believe. The, Ben Stiller was doing press this week. He was on Marin and he said that he's not going to direct at all in season three of Severance. I would like to officially.

• 19:09Speaker 06

  He's busy making a World War II movie?

• 19:14Andy Greenwald?

  That's what he says, yes. I would like to look in the camera and say, we'll see about that. And I don't even say that with any like, no venom. It just seems very clear that he's one of the creative types that likes to get, likes to get involved. And that has worked out for that show. Okay, so The Pitt, season two, couldn't be more excited.

• 19:34Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 19:34Andy Greenwald?

  Have learned nothing, but we don't need to know anything. That's the beauty of the show.

• 19:37Speaker 06

  Well, we do know is going to be over Fourth of July weekend.

• 19:41Andy Greenwald?

  Was that news broken on our podcast? No. I don't mean right now, but I feel like no.

• 19:45Speaker 06

  Sure, why not? Let's claim it.

• 19:46Andy Greenwald?

  I bet some people learned from when Noah was on our podcast.

• 19:49Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 19:50Andy Greenwald?

  Okay.

• 19:51Speaker 06

  Um, yeah, over Fourth of July weekend. I guess that Langdon, it's been 10 months. Langdon is back from his 10 month mandatory rehab stint.

• 20:01Andy Greenwald?

  Look at this.

• 20:02Speaker 06

  Robbie.

• 20:04Speaker 06

  I think is coming back from some kind of sabbatical or some kind of like mental health treatment. And I read somewhere that he had tried to arrange it so that he would not overlap with Langdon at all.

• 20:17Andy Greenwald?

  Oh.

• 20:17Speaker 06

  Or maybe Robbie's leaving for something, but he basically-

• 20:20Andy Greenwald?

  They say the prodigal son. I think they're talking about him.

• 20:23Speaker 06

  I know, but wait, prodigal son is in Robbie or prodigal son is in Langdon?

• 20:26Andy Greenwald?

  I thought it was Robbie, but maybe, ooh, look at you.

• 20:28Speaker 06

  Entertainment Weekly thought it was Langdon that they're referring to.

• 20:33Andy Greenwald?

  Once again, you're setting up me with enemies in the world. So now it's me versus Entertainment Weekly.

• 20:38Speaker 06

  Well, I think it's Robbie as well that they are referring to. That seemed clear to me.

• 20:41Andy Greenwald?

  Entertainment Weekly paid very on time for my Jimmy World Record Reviews 15 years ago, so I have no beef with them. And Dr. Abbott is back in the cast.

• 20:51Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 20:51Andy Greenwald?

  Sean Patose.

• 20:52Speaker 06

  Yes, and I think he's directing-

• 20:54Andy Greenwald?

  That's fun for him.

• 20:55Speaker 06

  -the episode this season.

• 20:56Andy Greenwald?

  Also, you know, we're only, we've only really done this at this table twice, but I really like the dynamic that's forming where I'm like, who could possibly know what The Pitt Season 2 is about? And you very calmly just said what it was about.

• 21:10Speaker 06

  Me who read Deadline right before.

• 21:13Andy Greenwald?

  I'm kind of a vibes guy when it comes to podcasting.

• 21:16Speaker 06

  Well, yeah, of course.

• 21:17Andy Greenwald?

  So either way, I'm excited.

• 21:19Speaker 06

  I love The Pit.

• 21:20Andy Greenwald?

  The Pit is so good, and I think that's just, The Pit is now in the same space that The Bear was in three years ago, where people would be like, I love loving this.

• 21:29Speaker 06

  Yeah. Well, don't worry, Landman is also coming back for Season 2.

• 21:33Andy Greenwald?

  Soon.

• 21:33Speaker 06

  In November.

• 21:34Andy Greenwald?

  And we have no way of knowing what that's about, right? Actually, we could pretty much assume.

• 21:38Speaker 06

  I didn't, actually, I did not bother to look into that.

• 21:42Andy Greenwald?

  The other show that dropped a trailer this week is Season 4 of The Morning Show, a show that I thought I had not seen since it premiered. You were kind of to remind me that on the request of Dr. Chris Ryan, trauma surgeon, I watched the truly incredible January 6 episode. So I did watch that.

• 22:06Speaker 06

  Great.

• 22:06Andy Greenwald?

  So I kind of get it. You don't watch the show?

• 22:10Speaker 06

  No, I watched, I think, most of the first season, and then I kind of like trickled off.

• 22:17Speaker 06

  It's like, you know, it's, I mean, Apple just has like an insane amount of money and like, I guess if this is what they want to use it for, then that's great.

• 22:27Andy Greenwald?

  I mean, I think the way that they've managed to make this like an absolutely batshit crazy soap.

• 22:32Speaker 06

  Who is why? Like, what is the like? What is the subsection of the population that is tuning? Is it like MSNBC moms like?

• 22:40Andy Greenwald?

  I think you've done it. I think you nailed it. Um, don't you mean MS Now Moms?

• 22:46Andy Greenwald?

  God, I mean, gotta keep up with the branding.

• 22:50Andy Greenwald?

  Yes, because I, it is a classic.

• 22:56Andy Greenwald?

  It's a cracklin' oat bran show and this is a, this is a reference from before.

• 22:59Speaker 06

  Did you see my eyes go flailing?

• 23:03Andy Greenwald?

  My favorite thing about, uh, about growing up in the, in the eighties was that we all just believed stuff. And I feel like we've covered this in some way on the, I know. I know there was objective truth, but also we were all real gullible. So maybe nothing's changed. But in the late eighties, they introduced a cereal called cracklin' oat bran. And it was the same time that everyone was like, cholesterol is a thing that you should be worried about. Cholesterol is bad. And, and the marketing for cracklin' oat bran cereal was this contains whatever that helps lower cholesterol. Cause it has like whole grains or whatever. So this became an obsession. It was like everyone in the country was buying cracklin' oat bran and shoveling bowls of the cereal to get their cholesterol down. At a certain point, someone, I'm sure, you know, with good intentions and good faith mentioned, it's a delicious cereal. It's oatmeal cookies.

• 23:48Andy Greenwald?

  Like you're just eating oatmeal cookies every morning because you're only listening to what it says on the advertising. And in fact, the sugar content is enormous.

• 23:56Speaker 06

  Right.

• 23:57Andy Greenwald?

  This is the morning show in that I think it has the veneer of respectability and intelligence and the right politics. But it is a incredibly sugary soap opera. No, no shame in that. But that is, I think what it is and that is sustaining.

• 24:12Speaker 06

  It's kind of like Good Wife-esque, I guess. I feel.

• 24:18Andy Greenwald?

  Look, I think Peransky did a great job on that show, but I wasn't really like a weekly watcher. That seemed to be a little more.

• 24:24Speaker 06

  Substantial.

• 24:25Andy Greenwald?

  Maybe, but the real genius of the morning show is not just like their use of Apple's unlimited checkbook. It's, it kind of feels like, and I know less about gambling than I know about the stock market, but it does feel like someone just continuing to raise a blackjack hand to get me to pay attention because I'm gonna, I screenshotted the cast list, so let's just go through this quickly. Because the season, I don't know what's going on. It's like, they have a TV network, but the TV network poisoned people. And also, it's not a feminist utopia as Jen had promised.

• 24:55Speaker 06

  Right.

• 24:55Andy Greenwald?

  So, okay, so here's the cast. Ready? Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon. God bless you, ladies. They still bank a million dollars each per episode.

• 25:02Speaker 06

  Is that true?

• 25:02Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah. Yeah, maybe more now. That was their deal for first, the first two seasons.

• 25:06Speaker 06

  You're probably right. It's probably more.

• 25:08Andy Greenwald?

  That's slightly more than Chris makes per episode of podcasts on the Ringer Network.

• 25:12Speaker 06

  We don't disclose numbers.

• 25:13Andy Greenwald?

  That's true. We don't actually know that. Billy Crudup, whom we love, Jon Hamm, Mark Duplass, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee. In this season, we add Marion Cotillard, coming off the bench. Love her. Where's she been?

• 25:29Speaker 06

  Hanging with Daniel Craig in some French villa.

• 25:31Andy Greenwald?

  God, right. You know what she's probably been doing? Being happy. Because she's beautiful and classy in French.

• 25:37Speaker 06

  Wait, sorry, I got, I, for the record, I got Marion Cotillard and Rachel Weisz mixed up, and that's my apologies.

• 25:44Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, you, right. We don't want people to think that, that there's an affair going on. Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz are married.

• 25:49Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 25:50Andy Greenwald?

  I thought you meant that maybe they were couple friends.

• 25:52Speaker 06

  That'd be cool.

• 25:53Andy Greenwald?

  It, no moment in that did I think you had any, there was nothing bad about what you said. I just imagined the beautiful, smart, rich people do hang out in the countryside together.

• 26:02Speaker 06

  Honestly, you're probably right.

• 26:03Andy Greenwald?

  I would, like, that would be my Us Weekly. Just pictures of them, like. Hanging out, like maybe even drinking non-elks, you know, playing with their kids by the pool. Take me away.

• 26:15Speaker 06

  Do you need a vacation?

• 26:17Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, I kind of do. Everyone else is taking one. Watch favorite Boyd Holbrook has joined the show this season. Nestor Carbonell, coming off his memorable turn on Shogun, has joined the cast. The great Jeremy Irons, Nicole Behry, and watch friend William Jackson Harper from Good Place. And Aaron Pierre is on the show. Aaron Pierre, who is an ascendant movie star. Is the last Bill.

• 26:44Speaker 06

  One of the breakout stars of last year.

• 26:47Andy Greenwald?

  Who is now a Green Lantern in the DC Universe, is just doing a couple eps on The Morning Show.

• 26:53Speaker 06

  Maybe he's a fan.

• 26:55Andy Greenwald?

  Do you think that's what it is?

• 26:57Speaker 06

  I would like to believe that every single new person they added to the cast this year, they were like, I just, I love this show. And also, you know what? Email in if you're still watching The Morning Show.

• 27:09Andy Greenwald?

  I think people are. I mean, everyone seems happy with it. Certainly the people who are making it.

• 27:14Speaker 06

  Does Apple continue making shows because they're getting good critical reception?

• 27:19Andy Greenwald?

  I mean, The Morning Show gets nominated. All of these actors get nominated for Emmys. It gets nominated for Emmys, which matters. I think that this is an example of, I think it was John Landgraf had his thing where he's just like, there's the Venn diagram, and the key to success is the overlapping of a few of these things. And it was like, ratings do matter, but so does critical buzz and water cooler.

• 27:41Speaker 06

  Maybe if they're like, if we just hold on a little bit longer, make a few more seasons, this will get into like, and just like that territory where people are like, hate watching.

• 27:51Andy Greenwald?

  I think they probably have that now. I think the thing is, Apple's clearly happy with the quality, and they're attracting a lot of actors with either quality or quality of life, meaning paychecks and good hang, but. This is proof of concept for what Apple always wanted. And it was from the minute they greenlit it with stars attached, but no take. Because this was all based on the Brian Stelter book, Top of the Morning. And they, the producer, former HBO guy, Michael Ellenberg, had the rights to the book. And he got Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston to agree to be a part of a show kind of based on the book.

• 28:22Speaker 06

  It's so funny.

• 28:22Andy Greenwald?

  And they had no take.

• 28:23Speaker 06

  Just like from another era. Like it just started like in such a. I think it started in the time when it was like movie stars on TV is still kind of.

• 28:30Andy Greenwald?

  It was, and Apple wanted to say, not only to show that they're open for business with the town, but so that in every Apple store, they could have these two beloved stars. And it would look shiny and it would be appealing. And that was worth it for them. It's obviously now that they're just billboards that say Cash App and have Timothy Chalamet on it, like all, all the lines have fallen, all the, all the firewalls. But essentially like Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon probably wouldn't do iPod commercials, but they get paid however many millions of dollars a year to be on every Apple product. So it works for them. Okay, so.

• 29:06Speaker 06

  That's great.

• 29:07Andy Greenwald?

  Kyle, like this is, this is also great that like you are so ready to step onto this chair on the watch because not only are you watching decade old German films, you are more than ready to do 10 minutes on shows that we don't watch.

• 29:18Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 29:19Andy Greenwald?

  This is like classic.

• 29:20Speaker 06

  And I know people love that.

• 29:21Andy Greenwald?

  Watch material. They love it.

• 29:22Speaker 06

  We will love it.

• 29:23Andy Greenwald?

  You, you, you're in the comments. You know that they're thrilled when we do that. Speaking of shows that we don't watch, I just wanted to check in with your Summer I Turned Pretty, uh, summer.

• 29:32Speaker 06

  It's going really well.

• 29:33Andy Greenwald?

  You're all the way in.

• 29:34Speaker 06

  I, yeah, I think I'm, God, there's just like so much like if, it just reminds me of shows I watched in high school, obvious, because it's made for high school kids. And I just like haven't engaged with that kind of content in a really long time. And so it's really, it's like hitting a little bit of a like nostalgia.

• 29:51Andy Greenwald?

  Heart flutter nostalgia.

• 29:52Speaker 06

  Yeah, like enough so where I can get past the kind of like cringe teen writing. And God, the music budget on that show.

• 29:59Andy Greenwald?

  This is what my kids tell me.

• 30:01Speaker 06

  It's insane.

• 30:01Andy Greenwald?

  It's Taylor, right? All over the place?

• 30:03Speaker 06

  It's Taylor, it's Ariana Grande.

• 30:05Andy Greenwald?

  Damn.

• 30:06Speaker 06

  It's, yeah, like I think they, in their most recent episode, they use. An Ariana Grande song. It's just basically like top 40 pop hits. And it's, they love, they love a music drop.

• 30:18Andy Greenwald?

  My children, like it's working. The, because my children say Taylor lets them use all of her songs because she knows how good of a show it is. Like it's working. Like that makes them feel more confident in the show because Taylor approves of it. Even if she just approves of the check Amazon's cutting her, I don't know.

• 30:36Speaker 06

  Yeah, Taylor Swift has a very interesting, it's very.

• 30:40Andy Greenwald?

  Go on, she'll do numbers for us. Talk about how interesting she is.

• 30:43Speaker 06

  It's very, she has a very like specific, like she's very specific about which movies and TV shows she lets like use her song. And it's just like incredibly random. Um, like it'll be like How to Train a Dragon 2. Um, maybe it's not random, maybe it's just whatever coughs up the most money. But, um, yeah, it's just, she lends her music to very specific things. I don't know if you saw that like Marc Maron, um, article from a couple of weeks ago about how much he paid to let, so he could use her song in his comedy special. So, you know, Marc Maron, Samurai Turned Pretty.

• 31:25Andy Greenwald?

  The Bear, Bearhead Love Story. Great drop. My, here, my only update for the Samurai Turned Pretty discourse is my 12 year old has now fully caught up. It took two weeks, all three seasons.

• 31:37Speaker 06

  Wow, I need to get on her level.

• 31:39Andy Greenwald?

  In between catching up, she just sort of casually read the third book because like she wants to know everything. And, um.

• 31:47Speaker 06

  Yeah, I guess there's a lot of book lore, um, that, yeah.

• 31:50Andy Greenwald?

  So here's her take, and I'm just gonna put, I don't wanna, I don't wanna.

• 31:53Speaker 06

  No, please.

• 31:53Andy Greenwald?

  Color your watch, so to speak, but like, she thinks the biggest change is that, um, it was about Conrad. And that Conrad is made much more likeable in the show.

• 32:02Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 32:03Andy Greenwald?

  Than he is in the book.

• 32:04Speaker 06

  Are you trying to make your Team Jerry campaign still?

• 32:07Andy Greenwald?

  Yes, I am a lonely fighter on this. People are disgusted by this take. Like they say it is, um, what's the word everyone's using? Disqualifying.

• 32:19Andy Greenwald?

  But listen, I think it makes good podcasting when I just pop off on something I know nothing about. But she thinks that because the books are from Belly's POV, Conrad seems moodier and more distant than he does as a fully realized, from what I understand, incredibly handsome character on television. So.

• 32:41Speaker 06

  Yeah, I mean, he just has that like brooding, dark, moody thing going for him. So like,

• 32:48Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, I get it.

• 32:48Speaker 06

  That's catnip.

• 32:49Andy Greenwald?

  I get it. That's my life. But he, but apparently he goes to therapy and like has panic attacks and stuff on the show that makes him more.

• 32:56Speaker 06

  Yeah, he's sensitive.

• 32:57Andy Greenwald?

  More related.

• 33:00Andy Greenwald?

  If anyone likes the other guy, just write in.

• 33:04Speaker 06

  I did. I, well, a couple of weeks ago, when you guys were talking about it and Chris was like, oh, Jer is bisexual. I was like, oh, I wonder, I wonder when they'll all get to that part. They'll start kind of hitting at that.

• 33:15Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah.

• 33:16Speaker 06

  No, episode four, he's making out with a guy.

• 33:18Andy Greenwald?

  That's fun for him.

• 33:19Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 33:20Andy Greenwald?

  That's different.

• 33:20Speaker 06

  This show is good.

• 33:21Andy Greenwald?

  That's, that's different than like Dawson's Creek or whatever. What, when you say, oh, this is going to depress me. When you say high school shows, which, what are, what's your version of the show?

• 33:30Speaker 06

  Probably like Vampire Diaries.

• 33:32Andy Greenwald?

  Okay. That's.

• 33:36Speaker 06

  Vampire Diaries, um, Degrassi, um, I'm forgetting one that was really big. Yeah, I would say like Vampire Diaries, Degrassi. Oh, um, uh, Gossip Girl was basically any, anything CW is what I was.

• 33:51Andy Greenwald?

  Like One Tree Hill?

• 33:52Speaker 06

  Yeah, One Tree Hill.

• 33:53Andy Greenwald?

  Okay. Not Dawson's?

• 33:56Speaker 06

  No, that was a little before my time.

• 33:58Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, yeah, it was, wasn't it? Okay. See, they're doing a big reunion to benefit James Vanderbeek.

• 34:04Speaker 06

  That's lovely.

• 34:05Andy Greenwald?

  That's nice. I mean, you kind of want to see these casts be friendly to each other.

• 34:10Speaker 04

  FanDuel is now available everywhere in the US.

• 34:18Speaker 04

  So you can get in on the sports action no matter where you are, including these places.

• 34:28Speaker 04

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• 34:40Speaker 04

  This episode is brought to you by The Home Depot. The Home Depot has everything you need to launch your holiday season in style. Upgrade your yard with this year's hottest holiday decor, including the showstopping towering Santa. Oh, I like that one. And his impressive reindeer, both 8.5 feet and both designed with incredible detail that stands out day or night. When you want decor that delivers impact, The Home Depot has it. Make your home Santa's favorite stop with the holiday decor you want, all waiting for you at The Home Depot. This episode is brought to you by Boar's Head. You know what I love about football season? It's the football, but also the football watching food. And nothing hits like a Boar's Head sandwich when I'm watching the game. Really, any game day sandwich better with Boar's Head. Philly cheesesteak, layer up buttery slider rolls with Boar's Head London broil roast beef,

• 35:25Speaker 04

  American white cheese and picante provolone. Delicious.

• 35:29Andy Greenwald?

  Then add roasted onions, peppers and Boar's Head pub style horseradish sauce. I love horseradish. And you've got the ultimate game day cheesesteak. They've also got a whole lineup of premium meats, cheeses, hummus and dips, condiments and more to serve up on game day. Head to your local Boar's Head deli counter or shop now for game day sandwich inspiration and more. Visit boar'shead.com. Boar's Head, committed to craft since 1905.

• 35:59Andy Greenwald?

  Discover the new Myself Odie Toilet Intense. A masculine and long lasting fragrance for every day. A bold scent with sensual musk and woody notes. Myself, Yves Saint Laurent.

• 36:22Andy Greenwald?

  All right. All of this is really just prelude for the thing that I most want to talk about, which is the Apple series platonic.

• 36:29Speaker 06

  Great.

• 36:31Andy Greenwald?

  I believe Chris and I touched on season one incredibly briefly when it premiered two years ago. It was May 2023. I don't know if we could have covered it less, honestly, because we watched the premiere and we were like, I like everyone involved in the show.

• 36:47Speaker 06

  Mm hmm.

• 36:48Andy Greenwald?

  Love Seth Rogen, love Rose Byrne. I like the concept. Seems like a fun hang. I'm good. And I don't know whether that was temperamentally where I was at that time.

• 37:00Speaker 06

  Sure.

• 37:00Andy Greenwald?

  Or if, or option number two.

• 37:03Speaker 06

  Or are we just in the absolute dead of summer?

• 37:06Andy Greenwald?

  Well, or, yes. So there's, so either I was in the wrong place for the show, or the other alternative is that the show has improved markedly and come into its own in a second season, that even its creators, the married couple, Nick Stoller, who people may remember acting in the studio, the other Seth Rogen show, and his wife, Francesca Delbonco, they didn't even think there was a second season in the show. But whatever, what's the word, money they threw at them to dig deep and find a reason, seems to have freed them up and inspired them. Because I'm curious for other people's feedback, but I find, I'm finding this season of the show, and I'm caught up, there have been four episodes, you've watched a couple. I'm finding this to be absolutely terrific, really, really funny, a wonderful hang.

• 37:50Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 37:50Andy Greenwald?

  It is not an old fashioned comedy in the sense that this is incredibly expensive, there are movie stars, it's single camera.

• 37:56Speaker 06

  Shot in L.A.

• 37:58Andy Greenwald?

  And its attitude about the 405 as a viable artery to traverse Southern California is, places it deep into fantasy territory.

• 38:06Speaker 06

  Do you appreciate the Legoland shout out?

• 38:08Andy Greenwald?

  Yes, the only reason anyone with kids drives south of here. Yes. I, it's really hitting for me right now. And I'm curious what your perspective was, because you kindly, knowing you had to step in today, took a break from dystopia and watched the show instead.

• 38:28Speaker 06

  Yeah, so I put this on last night and Nick saw Seth Rogen and was like, oh, did they already make more of the studio? And I'm like, no, this is a different Apple show with Seth Rogen. Um, yeah, it's good. I watched the first two episodes of season two. I did not watch any of season one.

• 38:47Andy Greenwald?

  And you were not lost. I mean, I think this is.

• 38:49Speaker 06

  No, I mean.

• 38:50Andy Greenwald?

  I think you guys get it.

• 38:51Speaker 06

  Yeah, the season one recap played. The only thing I'd need context on that maybe I would have gotten in season one is why is Seth Rogen dressed like that?

• 39:01Andy Greenwald?

  I can't wait to talk about this with you. Uh, they don't explain it.

• 39:04Speaker 06

  Never.

• 39:05Andy Greenwald?

  No, I mean, so broadly speaking, Seth Rogen is a hero.

• 39:09Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 39:09Andy Greenwald?

  Because for many reasons, I think he's incredibly talented and really funny, but he seems to have figured out how to make Waves Vaguely all of this work.

• 39:18Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 39:19Andy Greenwald?

  And one of the ways he's done this is he's now just in business with Apple and he makes two different comedies for them, one that he is the creative with Evan Goldberg, the creative director of, one he's just an actor in. He has figured out ways to do what he does best, which is play kind of the same guy always.

• 39:33Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 39:34Andy Greenwald?

  But differentiate this version to such a degree that he is incredibly specifically fashionable in both shows. It is a specific fashion.

• 39:44Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 39:44Andy Greenwald?

  In Studio, it's very old fashioned, double breasted suits always and his, his cool glasses and the whole studio head shtick. In this, he is color blocked like a pastel parody of a Hawaiian punch commercial.

• 40:00Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 40:01Andy Greenwald?

  Constantly wearing bucket hats and necklaces and shorts.

• 40:04Speaker 06

  Crochet.

• 40:05Andy Greenwald?

  And sandals and high socks.

• 40:07Speaker 06

  Like floppy banana phone case.

• 40:09Andy Greenwald?

  And in every scene, he's wearing another iteration of this absolutely, yeah, so aesthetic.

• 40:17Speaker 06

  So it's never a dress in season one. No one is ever like, hey, are you going through a midlife, midlife crisis? Is that why you're dressed like this?

• 40:24Andy Greenwald?

  To be clear, I watched one episode of season one. In the, when the show begins and, you know, the, again, you don't even need to explain any of it. He and Rose Byrne are adults who are slightly different as adults, who were best friends in college. And they reconnect. They are completely platonic and they need each other and they complicate each other's lives. And it's very fun.

• 40:45Andy Greenwald?

  In the beginning of the first season, he was like, he had a brewery or brew pub in-

• 40:50Speaker 06

  Lucky Penny.

• 40:51Andy Greenwald?

  Yes, in our beloved DTLA.

• 40:53Speaker 06

  In Arts District, right down the street.

• 40:56Andy Greenwald?

  He could have come on the podcast to promote his lagers or whatever. And he just kind of dresses like that, which is not so crazy for men of his age and body type in Los Angeles. But I just think this season, please weigh in. This season, they just pushed every dial up to 11 and I find it delightful. I just find the choices that they're making for his fashion, like what he wears to his engagement party in the season is- What he, it's borderline crazy.

• 41:25Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 41:25Andy Greenwald?

  But it has so much personality that it enlivens what could otherwise be a kind of middlebrow show. And similarly, they dress Rose Byrne, who is more of like a tightly wound, mother of three.

• 41:37Speaker 06

  Right.

• 41:37Andy Greenwald?

  They, they, they do this, they do a similar, let's push all our chips in aesthetic with like her little cardigans. And, and, and that very like, I guess she's West Side Mom aesthetic. But she is the queen of face acting. Her faces are elite on this show. And the spirit of it is, look, it's just a phenomenal hang and we don't have a lot of fun hangs anymore. But I also think it's doing a remarkably good job of scratching two itches. One is there aren't R-rated comedies in the theaters anymore. Naked Gun may be hoping to be an exception to the rule. But the Apatow style, like this is, we're just gonna go hang out with these people for a while. Those don't get made anymore, certainly not in the theaters.

• 42:21Andy Greenwald?

  It's scratching that itch for me.

• 42:23Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 42:23Andy Greenwald?

  And has a nice like-

• 42:25Speaker 06

  Well, I think it's very smart of them to, instead of be like, we are going to make a, yeah, a Neighbor's- Three? Did they make three of them? They made two. They made two. Well, we'll make a Neighbor's Three or we'll make a Neighbor's based sitcom. They were just like, okay, these two people have incredible chemistry. Let's just make a TV show around them.

• 42:47Andy Greenwald?

  And fill out the margins with people that you're gonna want to see and spend time with, like Andrew Lopez, who people have seen recently on The Bear, or Carla Gallo, who's been in all of these Apatow projects over the years. Funny young people from the internets like Vinnie Thomas. It's just a very satisfying.

• 43:06Speaker 06

  Rachel Rosenbloom, who plays the fiance this season, is great.

• 43:10Andy Greenwald?

  The other itch that it scratches for me is it reminds me of a very, very high-budget You're the Worst.

• 43:18Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 43:18Andy Greenwald?

  Did you watch You're the Worst?

• 43:19Speaker 06

  I love You're the Worst.

• 43:21Andy Greenwald?

  You're the Worst, one of the great sitcoms of the century, and just an elite hang show, but also an elite LA hang show in a way that made it feel fun and, you know, understands that this is an insanely often stupid and frustrating place to live, but sometimes has some personality and quirk. And the way that this show's attitude towards the gang is doing something or has to get to a place is, it's really hitting that same vibe.

• 43:48Speaker 06

  Also shout out Love, which I, there's a very.

• 43:51Andy Greenwald?

  Paul Rust and Gillian Jacobs.

• 43:54Speaker 06

  Yeah. Did you ever watch Colin?

• 43:56Andy Greenwald?

  Chris loved it. I watched the first one. I was okay with it, but I didn't get into it.

• 43:59Speaker 06

  It was a Mandzukas recommendation, and maybe it's just because Rose Byrne is Australian, and Colin from The Count is set in Australia, but it's also the similar vein where it's just, I don't know, age people.

• 44:13Andy Greenwald?

  I'm sorry?

• 44:14Speaker 06

  Nothing. Hanging out, and also maybe because the lead guy in Colin from The Count also works at a brewery.

• 44:20Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, there you go.

• 44:21Speaker 06

  So, yeah, it was giving me that vibe.

• 44:23Andy Greenwald?

  Like, so the show is, you know, so Nick Stoller and his wife, they've done, they did the show Friends from College, but Nick has also.

• 44:32Speaker 06

  I liked, I liked Friends from College.

• 44:34Andy Greenwald?

  It had a similar vibe.

• 44:35Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 44:35Andy Greenwald?

  And he, you know, in The World of the Studio, he's making the Cooley movie, but he's also made like Neighbors, like he does these sorts of comedies. They know what they're doing, and what's remarkable about this is.

• 44:50Andy Greenwald?

  They straddle a line between, like, you don't need, the concept here, that there are adults who don't have sex with each other, but they are friends. That's, would have run eight seasons on CBS 20 years ago.

• 45:01Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 45:02Andy Greenwald?

  But in today's, like, hyper serialized world, where they have to tell a story, that is really hard to find stakes.

• 45:07Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 45:07Andy Greenwald?

  What I find really impressive about the first half of the season is that they have managed to make it super funny, like, he's working out for a corporate chain of restaurants, that the nickname of them is J6.

• 45:17Speaker 06

  The J6 bit is really, really good.

• 45:19Andy Greenwald?

  So, these are just actually good laugh-out-loud jokes. There's a bit of physical comedy in the fourth episode that I won't spoil, but is one of the reasons why this engagement might not work out.

• 45:28Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 45:28Andy Greenwald?

  Is so shocking.

• 45:29Speaker 06

  Couldn't have seen that coming.

• 45:31Andy Greenwald?

  I know, so no spoilers. Is so shocking, and so funny, that it made me sit up on the couch. It does those things. But it also is within the framework of, is he going to marry the wrong person? How do we judge our friends' happiness? What do we owe each other, what do we owe each other as friends? It also throws in stuff about, like, what, what do we want in a marriage, or a long-term friendship, or, like, actually, kind of wise emotional beats, like, the episode, I don't know if you got to this one, did you get to the Wild Card episode? Where Beck Bennett shows up as their third-wheel friend, who they call Wild Card, who shows up to have fun with them, but he keeps falling asleep? Which is me tonight at the American Cinematheque Friends of the Fest event.

• 46:14Andy Greenwald?

  Like, it's remarkably nuanced, actually, in the way that it's able to have insightful things to say, while also being a silly comedy where people dress like that and can just go hang out at the Long Beach Aquarium at 10:00 PM?

• 46:30Speaker 06

  Yeah, they're like, he lives in San Diego, but is, like, constantly coming up to LA for a mid-week dinner, I'm like, I mean.

• 46:40Andy Greenwald?

  And to be clear, this is the most LA conversation we've ever had. I'm not saying it's not possible for the Long Beach Aquarium, a family favorite, by the way, for it to be open at night for an adults' event, I'm sure it is, I would love to attend, looks super fun. I'm saying, no one in the history of Los Angeles, since the days of, like, "Let's go get a bottle, see, and drive up the coast," in, like, Raymond Chandler times, has looked at their friends at 10:00 PM and been like, "Let's go to Long Beach."

• 47:06Speaker 06

  Let's go to Long Beach, yeah.

• 47:07Andy Greenwald?

  That doesn't happen.

• 47:07Speaker 06

  No.

• 47:08Andy Greenwald?

  But on the show, it does. It's just like- I don't know, it's, it's good counter-programming, too. They put it on the summer, they put it on at the right time.

• 47:17Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 47:17Andy Greenwald?

  And I, I just, I like these people creatively and on the screen. And I'm really enjoying my time with the show. More than, I don't know, what would you compare it to? Like, I don't wanna, I also really did enjoy Nobody Wants This.

• 47:36Andy Greenwald?

  I am-

• 47:36Speaker 06

  It is a little bit more bite than Nobody Wants This.

• 47:39Andy Greenwald?

  This is hitting more for me right now.

• 47:41Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 47:41Andy Greenwald?

  And I don't know if it's just because I just think Seth Rogen's awesome, or is it because of the tenor, the tone, the vibe, the, what it's striving to do? I don't know. Or, or the fact that, once you find a reason-

• 47:52Speaker 06

  I mean, it definitely is a heavier joke show than Nobody Wants This.

• 47:56Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah. Yeah, there's veterans of like 30 Rock on the staff.

• 47:59Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 48:00Andy Greenwald?

  They do know what they're doing.

• 48:01Speaker 06

  A higher, much higher joke per minute going here than Nobody Wants This.

• 48:05Andy Greenwald?

  So, did you allow Nick to think this was the studio for a certain amount of time?

• 48:11Speaker 06

  I honestly should have.

• 48:12Andy Greenwald?

  You should have seen how long it would have gone. You do see, I mean, again, Rogen writes and directs the studio.

• 48:18Speaker 06

  Right.

• 48:19Andy Greenwald?

  But clearly, he and Nick Stoller agree on a lot of the things that they find funny. There are a lot of long takes, there is, there are a lot of pratfalls and physical comedy.

• 48:30Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 48:32Andy Greenwald?

  He's just, I don't know, he's just like, I kind of like seeing, not just because I too am aging considerably, but I like people finding new gears for what they do, or more comfort levels in what they do, and just owning it the way he has across this year on Apple TV. It's, it's kind of amazing.

• 48:49Speaker 06

  Yeah, I mean, I think of, like, maybe Apple used their budget for more of this than for-

• 48:57Andy Greenwald?

  But, I agree with you.

• 48:58Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 48:58Andy Greenwald?

  But it's hard to do, because this, what's interesting about this to me is the Apple format that we were, I don't know if we were criticizing, but we were certainly pointing out with The Morning Show, which is like, throw money and celebrity at a problem. And then you'll end up with something that is watchable, or screenshot-able, or conversationable, meme-able. Like, that seems to be the bet they take. For that to end up as something that is just outright good, seems harder to me.

• 49:24Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 49:25Andy Greenwald?

  And not necessarily-

• 49:28Andy Greenwald?

  You know, like in terms of comedy, it's actually probably even harder. I remember like when Netflix was so excited, they announced they had the new show from Greg Daniels, you know, who created the American version of The Office and co-created Parks and Rec with Steve Carell. And it's going to be called Space Force. And they threw money at it and they were so excited and it was kind of inert. It was just like, we understand that this has the shape of a comedy that's popular, but it didn't have the soul of it.

• 49:54Speaker 06

  Yeah, it's funny because it's like, I wouldn't call this show like particularly inventive.

• 49:58Andy Greenwald?

  No.

• 49:59Speaker 06

  At all. Like, did you ever, and did you watch Four Seasons?

• 50:02Andy Greenwald?

  I did.

• 50:03Speaker 06

  And I would say like, I would put this like kind of in the same vein as that.

• 50:07Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, I think that, I think, I think it's a great comp. In this, the things that I liked about Four Seasons were, boy, I really like most of these people a lot. And I kind of don't care what they're doing.

• 50:18Speaker 06

  Sure.

• 50:19Andy Greenwald?

  And they're all, they're all looking good.

• 50:20Speaker 06

  So wouldn't you say the same about, um, Platonic?

• 50:23Andy Greenwald?

  No, I, for me at least, and maybe it's because of the construction of the first half of the season, which is stakesy in the sense of like, is he going to marry someone or not? Like, there's, there's like a ticking clock in the way that, you know, a show like Hijack might have it. Whereas Four Seasons, I found the balance between, and the desire to balance comedy and drama, to be a little bit, um, a little bit awkward at times. Like, it was heavy-handed in, as, when, when the meter was shifted from one to the other.

• 50:51Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 50:53Andy Greenwald?

  It felt like a project that, based on, I mean, because the movie was like this too, where Tina Fey and Louis Lang and, um, um, oh my God, I'm so sorry. I'm forgetting the third person who created the show. Um, they sat around and they were like, here's the mandate. We are going to make them laugh and we're going to make them cry. And you could feel it. And I feel like Platonic's mandate is like, these two have a lot of fun together.

• 51:15Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 51:15Andy Greenwald?

  And what can we, what are the best possible scenarios? Um, we can put them in, in order to accomplish that.

• 51:21Speaker 06

  Yeah, I will say for me, the, the show really-

• 51:25Andy Greenwald?

  Tracy Wigfield, I'm so sorry.

• 51:27Speaker 06

  Tracy Wigfield.

• 51:28Andy Greenwald?

  Sorry, let me say it again. I said Louis Lang for some reason, which is not, I think that may be her Instagram name. It's Tina Fey, Tracy Wigfield, Lang Fisher, all of whom worked together on 30 Rock and other shows. And they created Four Seasons, a show we're not even officially talking about right now. Okay.

• 51:40Speaker 06

  I love that show though.

• 51:41Andy Greenwald?

  Did you love it? Listen, so you're hiding your take.

• 51:44Speaker 06

  I really, I think, I mean, I've seen less of Platonic than Four Seasons, but I do think Four Seasons was a little bit more my jam. I just-

• 51:55Andy Greenwald?

  I think it's I'm just younger at heart, so I like a younger show, Platonic, you know?

• 51:59Speaker 06

  I feel like we always, we always switch like this, like with K-pop Demon Hunters.

• 52:03Andy Greenwald?

  Wait, you were out on K-pop Demon Hunters? You didn't even watch it, right? You didn't, you'd never heard about it.

• 52:08Speaker 06

  Yeah, but yeah, that's why it's like-

• 52:10Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, but that's because my kids watch it. Like, I, they didn't watch Platonic. That is not okay for them.

• 52:16Speaker 06

  I feel like with Platonic, I enjoyed it. I think the scenes with Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen are very strong. I think the scenes where they are separated are less strong. And I, like, I think there's a lot of really talented people in that cast, but I don't know if, I think it's a little hard to see their, like, star power and chemistry right up against people who have less, so.

• 52:41Andy Greenwald?

  I get that. I did, this is, I'm just throwing this out there, the movie that I watched with my kids the other night was the, speaking of 2015, see, we both watch movies from 2015, and talking about zigging and zagging. The movie I watched with my kids was the 2015 gentle comedy, The Intern.

• 52:58Speaker 06

  I love The Intern.

• 52:58Andy Greenwald?

  Okay, I just was casting, just casting into the river here. I fucking love that movie.

• 53:04Speaker 06

  Oh, it's great.

• 53:06Andy Greenwald?

  It is, I'm not kidding, and I also feel like I have the cinematic weight of Quentin Tarantino, who said something similar. I think this is one of Robert De Niro's best performances.

• 53:14Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 53:14Andy Greenwald?

  I think he's amazing in it.

• 53:15Speaker 06

  I think that's a widely agreed on take.

• 53:17Andy Greenwald?

  It should be, because usually when he's in a not tough guy movie, it's like, analyze this, where he's playing off of that personality, or Meet the Parents, where he's funny, but the joke is that he's a hard ass.

• 53:28Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 53:29Andy Greenwald?

  He's a complete cookie in this movie, and he's completely charismatic and compelling and fun. And my kids are big Hathaway fans because of Devil Wears-

• 53:37Speaker 06

  Hathaway heads?

• 53:38Andy Greenwald?

  Hathaway heads. Yes, Hath heads.

• 53:40Speaker 06

  Hath the heads.

• 53:40Andy Greenwald?

  Because of Les Mis, and because of Devil Wears Prada.

• 53:47Speaker 06

  So they psyched up for Devil Wears Prada 2?

• 53:50Andy Greenwald?

  My older daughter was like, I feel like this is a little bit like the in-between movie, because she's a boss in this one. It's like she was doing the timeline of it.

• 53:57Speaker 06

  Wow, extended double worse product cinematic universe.

• 54:02Andy Greenwald?

  They were, though, the reason I thought of it wasn't just because I wanted to shout out that movie, which I just really, really like.

• 54:08Speaker 06

  Shout out Nancy Meyers. Netflix, cut the check.

• 54:11Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, they're not doing that, right? Like, that's why she hasn't made a movie? The one thing that they struggled with was the Rene Russo, Robert De Niro love story, which is really doesn't get a lot of attention, the movie. But they were like, ew, old people, gross. And I was like, listen, who among us?

• 54:31Andy Greenwald?

  Yeah, they, they also didn't, I feel like I agree with them on this. The movie doesn't end, the ending is a little...

• 54:36Speaker 06

  Yeah, I don't love how it's like, uh, the guy, Zach Perlman, is that?

• 54:43Andy Greenwald?

  No, it's Andrews Holm from Workaholics plays her like, super soft batch, sweet, stay-at-home.

• 54:48Speaker 06

  God, he sucks in that movie.

• 54:49Andy Greenwald?

  Guy, but he sucks. And you, but then you're like, he's set up to suck. Because there's a twist, you know, people haven't seen the 10-year-old movie, The Intern, like, maybe he's not as great of a guy as he seems to be. But then the victory, the Atlantic cover story, yes, ladies, you can have it all, is that she will be her own girl boss of herself.

• 55:06Speaker 06

  It's very 2015.

• 55:08Andy Greenwald?

  Okay, what is more 2015 about this movie? That the hero's arc for the girl boss is that she wins back the love of her straying husband? And also can remain, remains the sole proprietor of her thriving e-commerce business? Or the fact that the number one mode of communication in this movie is email? In 2015, all of these purportedly young people are like, email me the data, email me the directions, email me this. Now, I love emails, but...

• 55:42Andy Greenwald?

  Weren't people slacking in 2015 already? People were texting.

• 55:46Speaker 06

  People were texting, but I mean, people had Gmail on their phone and so maybe...

• 55:50Andy Greenwald?

  I'm gonna, just a quick interjection, do people not have that anymore? Do we not do that?

• 55:54Speaker 06

  No, we still have Gmail on our phone, but maybe, I think now Slack is the primary motive. I don't know. I don't know when Slack was invented. I did not enjoy, join corporate America until...

• 56:06Andy Greenwald?

  It was around the time Dawson's Creek was on. No, the thing about that movie, it is an absolute fantasy land of pre-2016 universe. But it is also, in a good way, an old person's vision of what young people do, which is ride their bikes around Brooklyn warehouses and email each other. And frankly, I wish that's what I did. I wish that's what we did all day.

• 56:29Speaker 06

  Simpler times.

• 56:30Andy Greenwald?

  God damn it. All right, well, I'm sure you have to get on a bike and ride to another recording session. Kay, it is always a pleasure to do the Watch Podcast with you. Thank you for joining me today.

• 56:40Speaker 06

  Thanks for having me.

• 56:42Andy Greenwald?

  I think we'll be back to talk Alien and to talk other topics, cultural and otherwise, next week with our good friend Chris Ryan, whom we love and we miss.

• 56:51Speaker 06

  I will not be here.

• 56:53Andy Greenwald?

  Oh, right. Do you want to?

• 56:55Speaker 06

  I'll be in Italy. Also, if anybody has like... It's Italy-specific, cultural, like, you know, like, books, TV shows, movies, specifically northern Italy, that I might engage with.

• 57:12Andy Greenwald?

  The land of butter, not olive oil, northern Italy.

• 57:14Speaker 06

  Yes. So yeah, hit the email.

• 57:20Andy Greenwald?

  Wow. So you are, just to be clear, you are now using our podcast email just to solicit recommendations for a vacation?

• 57:27Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 57:28Andy Greenwald?

  I'm glad someone on this podcast is taking vacation. You deserve it. Have a wonderful trip. Thank you for going out in style.

• 57:33Speaker 06

  Of course.

• 57:35Andy Greenwald?

  And we'll see some of you next week, Francis.

• 57:46Speaker 03

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