Top Chef penultimate episode

This summer, fanoo is the best place to bet on goals, Inluding equalizers. Uhh. Vollies? Y, headters. Every goal is worth more on fanu. So let there be goals New customers get up to a one thousand dollars and bet reset tokens when you bet five dollars five daily. Cote one plus and present in select states, often required, Refund issueed does non withdrawal of bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. M minimum five dollars wage are required for five consecutive days. Max refund two hundred dollars per day. Restrictions apply, including token expiration, SeaFful turnurns at Vventual dot com slash spportsbook. Gambling probleblem, callall one eight hundred gambler or one eight hundred my reset And we're live from the living room as Doug eyes up the match they spread He's reaching for the buuffalo wing. Perfect Hang on, what's this? Oh, he's good for a Cat of Pepsi too. Incredible What's a finish? Sensational combination. Look at the delight on his face. There's no doubt about it. He just tastes better Match days deserve Pepsi. Food deserves Psi. Grab a pack of Pepsi Zero Sugar for today's match Poetry in motion I supports staff to clear the room Stand up and walk Now Hello and welcome to the watch. My name is Chris Ryan. I am an editor at the ringer dot com and join me in the studio. He doesn't want a refund. He just wants the person who did this to find out. It's Andy Greall! That was a joyful opening for what might be a sad show. I wanted to let you know that I have accepted an offer to run sixty Um I feel qualified to do this I have a little bit of a built in vibe to you, you know? Wow. in what sense? Gadfly overcetition. Spectacle. Yeah. Ready to tear down bober industry to industry, justust sort of like hey guys, let's open the box and then throw the box off the table. Jokes aside I do believe I was a finalist, but his writing credit on the idol, I think is what pushed him over the top. We can talk about sixty minutes if you want. We can also talk about A name the Widows Bay. yeah. Maximum pleasure, guaranteed. Yeah. Top chehef. Okay. I have a prompt for you that's related to Star City, but will not involve people having watched Star City And will not be in its's native Russian. Yeah, I have a couple of things to say. One, you can email us at the watch atpotify. com. You can follow us on Instagram at the watchpot underscore Yeah You That's on Instagram. And then you can watch us on YouTube at the Ringer dash TV channel along with the prerestige TV pod They're going to be rocin Cape fear on Friday, you and I Both gritting her teeth trying to decide. Are we jumping back in with Max Katie? I don't know. What else what else? what else? You can also listen to us on Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. I told you what we're listening to today. And Star City. We'll probably talk about episodes two and three in detail on Monday. if people are watching. I will repeat to anyone who skip through our Star City conversation. A, I love it. B. You don't need to have seen for all mankind to appreciate it U Star City got the rare CR Instagram boost. Did it you you posted on Instagram that you like it because I don't think in the title it talked about how much I liked it. And Star City is one of these weird shows that people are like Like I was texting with a friend last night. Yeah, you should watch Star City and she was like An Apple show that no one's heard of, say less. like whichich we will be talking about Apple TV. It's a weird Apple TV moment. They've got a ton of stuff on right now I mean, this this moment is an argument for their frankly borderline irresponsible strategy, which is to flood the zone and they have a number a disproportionate number of Good to very good to, in one case, absolutely great series on the air right now. Yeah So kudos to Tim Apple I did have a Star city thing for you. Hey, do you like hey, actually really, like with the sixty minute stuff. Yeah I don't When's the last time you watch sixty minutes Like sat down and watched it And Andy Rooney retired when I mean, this spirit is with us in the room. Let we just Blink twice. like Jice of Andy Rooney has been doing this podcast with me. Conservatively, I would say nineteen eighty million. Are we really sure Siddney Sweeney knows what she's doing? L don't be the. Why did I Jimney click that When's the last time you saw sixty minutes? Sam Levinson. There's opportunity here. Do you want to commit to this? Um Yeah, sixty minutes. Have you watched? No? I watched some with my mom over the last couple of years. It was obviously a staple and I think for most people, it's kind of a It means it's time for school next tomorrow. it means football's over I watched a episode Not too long ago because it got recommended to me somehow I think in YouTube to watch none other than Scott Pelly piece about Ghost truckers, Serbian ghost truckers. I spoke about this story on the on the wait a second podcast. J Tyler, singer Serbian Ghost trruckers on the pod when I was you. Yeah, I mean, they broke up after that, but that's okay. No, but it was a great piece about Tucks on the American highways that are basically circumventing Department of Transportation rules. I don't know if the Department of Transportation has rules any longer. Yeah. All those guys are just bronzing statues in DC now. Get ready for two hundred fifty. Sean Duffy' making his reality show But it was an incredible piece of journalism that like definitely made me look at Trucks, the roads and trucks differently. So It's disappointing if it winds up going away or turning into something that it is a pale shadow of itself. I mean, I just separate and I'm not going to sit here and pr plantation of itself, don't watch I didn't watch the Steven Colbert program. I don't watch sixty minutes. I'm not going engage with the merits of those programs specifically or the larger conversation about market trends for late night shows and television broadcast news. Yeah. What the joke at the top was more like, I just find this all so borderline despicable. the ego and the incompetence in a perfect encapsulation of what living in America' felt like for the last ten years, where people who have it's not about having reverence for the institution, like listen Who are bigger hashtag disruptors than the two of us? That's true. It's about the presumption that TV on our phones. The presumption the Barry Weisses of the world and the Nick Bills of the world know better because they are challenging orrthodox groupth or whatever, that you could be a Vanity Fair editor and a screenwriter, both of which are fine professions and be like, yeah, I could probably run the most stable and respected news organization in the history of television news internationally, probably as well. The ego of that is lame and why we are where we are. Yeah. I mean, I think that my only take on it really is that This is the this is an example in the media like, you know, you could make your arguments about how much it costs to run a late night show versus what it actually brings in in terms of ad revenue versus what it brings in terms of viewership. sixty Minutes is a profitable and popular teelevision show that I think is relatively popular across the political spectrum because it is not the nation. Yeah. it never has been. So it's strange that I think To me, what I respond to in the stories that I've read about the upheaval at the show is just a disgust on the part of the new leadership with the principles and processes that go into making sixty minutes. Principles. But it's just the idea that like, you know, because this may not bend around the shape of a narrative that I want out there or that I want to tell. I want to do away with certain methods of producing good journalism. and it's just like, I think journalism just became too big of a tent whereere it's just like they're just I just think that like there sixty minutes did a really good job telling stories that people didn't know in a very fastidious way. and now it's like going to be yet another Bastion of op Ed. You just ask Gemini, bro. Look I just feel like these like avaricious climbing bootlickers are behaving like nothing's ever going to swing back. And maybe they're right. Yeah. and jokes on us. but generally Pendulum swing And then what are we doing? And then what are the ruins that we're left with? So Uh I had to seeee you guys next week. C couple talk about the top chehef finale Frs with you for the for the top of the show. I have participated in and listened intently to Sean and Amanda documenting this moment in movies on the big picture. So I you document it when you're not on the show. Do you take notes U No, they docented. I listened to their document. Oh yeah So I they've beencent. Yeah. I was on the backrooms episode and the obsession episode talking about those two movies individually. And then since then, Sean and Amanda have talked really, really intelligently about like what it means for movies, Seaan wrote a great piece in on his substack projection about You know, I don't even know is it It is projections. for a second, I thought it was a singular projection, but that wouldn't really make sense. No he lives his life. No. On his substack he wrote a great piece about like what this moment means in movies. and it has been a minute since I have felt that way about TV. I also have a different relationship to television. than Sean does to movies where I think Sean very much sees the movies as a kind of like quasi third space religious kind of pastime for himself. and television is cool. U This is how I feel about movies on TV too, honestly. I don't think he's wrong. No, yeah, but I don't have like that William H Macy in Sports Night, like tearful conversation about teelevision being the American campfire C I have a William H. Mac and Boogy Kights attitude towards people working between the two mediums What am I trying to ask about this? We've had conversations before about whether any outsiders could come into television and talk about the The hurdles to like independent television making and how expensive and complicated it is to put together a long form series, but It does feel like obsession in backrooms have moved into like pole position and moved movies into like A real like center of the culture kind of Everybody you know people at the gym, people at the coffee shop or like, haveave you seen back rooms, you seen this? What what do you think of it? So I would say it's interesting the way you're framing it because I think there's a different way to look at it. I think there's a way to look at the rise in an important way, certainly for the big picture podcast and the movie industry, to look at the success of those movies as Fresh blood coming in, fresh voices, fresh perspective, and audiences desire getting away from IP taken on necessarily trips I would counter with is the most recent comparison to something like a phenomenon, like backrooms would be And the reason I say the pit is not because these are young people showing you a fresh way in. That is the opposite of what the pit is. It is old hands Both have done, though, I would say, is remind people why we engage with these mediums in the first place in a collective celebratory a way Meaning the Pit has both reminded multiple generations and taught a new generation This little box used to give us a story every week and it used to give us stories that we were excited about, surprised by, compelled by, and it built over time. and we would talk about it. I think it is safe to say that like in terms of water cooler chat if people even for those of you who aren't working from home dominates. People were talking about it in a way that we used to talk about television shows. So I think that in terms of putting things back in the center of culture in a way that felt Both affirming for those of us who work in those spaces, but also giving a sense of optimism that maybe a new generation might begin to speak that language, that would be the comparison That's an awesome take. Thanks, man. I gotta tell you. you know, I don't even have like one that's comparable. I think that You know, I was listening to the town And Matt Lucas, Shaw were talking about this phenomenon and Craig chimed in, Craig Rarlback, who who' our producer on the rewatchables as well And it was just like you guys are going back and forth about whether studios are going to keep making IP And he's like the point is is that like Younger people don't give a shit about nineteen eighties franchises or nineteen nineties franchises and We'll see. I mean, there's a world in which you can AB test this easily, but like there's a world in which Cape Far is a sensation. There's a world in which like not a single person you know watches it. It's an example of something where it was like, who was asking for this? Is this even intellectual property that is worth worthy of expansion? It'sve had two movies. You can say you're going back to the book, but we all know like People are tuning in to watch Bard M, D De Niro and D Mitem. Yeah is kind of like you're taking something that was a polished diamond of a thriller and now expanding it I believe to ten hours. Well, I think the comparison though I think Cape fears the margin for Cape Far isn't going to convince anyone I think when we talked about it before, that At whatever level these conversations exist at Apple, I don't think they are actively saying or at least they're not even addressing the idea of like reinventing Cape Fear for a new generation. Yes. This is comfort prestige food for a generation that doesn't go to the movies anymore. Right. The comparison, I think that Craig was right to point out would be There's a fucking Man movie opening this weekend. and it's apparently pretty good. Okay, we talked dead your tracks didn't it? that is not a that was a take. I was not a she man man. was so I don't know? Those Toys were fine Those toys I think that there are guys out there years waiting to see Skeletor do his work like this for a long time. Wake me when Tony Gilrod does the Orco spinoff Okay Just let me know when that's on the docket Okay, you're too afraid of my dangerous ideas. That's why I'm in. recently I saw a bunch of behind the scenes photos of Tony on the set of Michael Clayton, you know, wearing a cool parka and going like this. we should just photoshopp in. floatinguck. To be clear, Orco was the floating magician who didn't have a body and was just like a shirt. Sure U That was cool time for us to watch cartoons. My point isn't even that like The Masters of the Universe thing, even if it's good, there's a cynicism baked in the root of it where like I don't think there's even converting a new generation to like follow the story of Eternia. there wasn't even really a story. from everything I understand about the movie, it's like apologizing for itself as the bit throughout which is just such loser cul deac culture shed. Somewhere at Vice Venice Beach at the outdoor gym at Venice Beach, some gu like is a story. That's because guys, I've always been an Adam. notot a he man. like I think there's There's two types of there are two genders. so I get it. but I But yeah, like I think we would both want? The Fresh young voice in television, but television is a such a profoundly different beast and it's a lot harder television is assembly line, even at its most prestige or auteour driven, you still need to unless you're being asked to do something that is radically outside the norm of a series order, you have to conform in ways and you have to have you have to kind of know what you're doing or surround yourself people who know what they're doing in a way that I think is less I mean, that exists in movies, obviously but I think it's less interventionist maybe in movies, where a kid has a vision for something, and then obviously he has line producers and professionals like making it a movie. But that's different than saying, we will write this and execute it across ten hours and deliver it in a traditional cod. And you know we're going to talk about some series today that I think grappled with some of the requirements of being what they are, you know and being being told in the format that they're being told I do feel like, you know maybe the closest comparison I have. It's not necessarily they're nowhere near as big as these films have wound up being But the moment that I'm thinking of for TV probablyrob that And my dates could be wrong, but that seventeen through twenty era of Atlanta Flea bag. Yeah I may destroy you industry coming on. this feeling that Not only was there diversity of POVs, but there was like a generational shift Oh were speaking to like a cohort of the audience that often doesn't feel kind of seen or addressed or vocalized, you know, I think that that felt like also formally we were getting some different kinds of stuff that I think you're right. I think I'm being too conservative in my vision in that way. like there was a moment when It wasn't just that there was a moment when streamers needed to get attention, not just retain subscribers, so they were willing to take bigger risks on things and the hopes of hit hopes of hitting a home run, but that creators is like Phoebe Waller Bridge and Donald Glover and a host of others, Michaela Cole I would put in there as well. esssentially jump the line in what has been often to its detriment, but sometimes pyarentheses the pit, not to its detriment, kind of stodgy and kind of wait your turn. Yes. And there's like a ten to twelve year process of starting at the bottom of a writer's room and then getting all the way up to executive producer. An example we use a lot is Madmen the Madmen pilot was the spec that Matthew Weiner wrote when he was working on the Ted Danson sitcom Becker in order to be hired by David Chase to spend However many years, four, five, six years at his knee basically writing that show before he got a chance. And the reason he got a chance when he was older than those creators we just mentioned was because AMC was in a position that a few years later, Netflix and Amazon were in slightly where they were like Well do the thing everyone else won' and we're kind of kind of past that. Yeah Yeah. we talk about IP And we roll our eyes us. Right now I'm going to play a little game with you about a piece of IP because apparently for all mankind is IP. We talked a little bit A Monday show about Star City, which is the Series on Apple that's already aiir two tomorrow. It'll be the third episode where it's a sort of retelling of the period of for all mankind from the POV of the Soviet space program I don't know. I would assume that Apple is going to give this show more than one season just because it That's Apple's MO, but I don't know if they're going to time jump at the exact moments that for all mankind has. So it might be interesting there may be some You know, if you were a for all mankind completist, you might be able to watch Star City and be like, oh, so that's what it looked like when this happened that was offs screen in between all mankind. U Anyway, I wanted to play a fun game with you because we'll talk more about episode two and three on Monday. but Uh takeake a well regarded or not show and then craft an alternative POV of the main narrative. So this is kind of what Star City is Now you are not restricted to following a letter of the law way of this prompt. but I thought what else would you Star City here Um Well, I've got five options. Jesus You know, you walk can I just tell people he walked in with none That's what that's what I'm working with here. He is When the light goes on, yeah. He can compare backrooms to the pit and he can come up with five other star cities. In my offense I was started my day in London time today So you are these are peak hours right now. Well, it's transfer, you know, the transfer window is open in England. so do do do we transfer ourselves U You want to go back and forth? Let's go back and forth Okay. And you're doing so well today. I want you to go first. Um Okay U which one should I start with? Well I'll start with the most obviously star cities. which is If we take the premise where for all mankind is a respected and beloved show that has never set the world on fire And you're going to tell the Russian side of events Are we ready for a spin offff of the Americans? called the Russians And would you Americans actually be the American side of things Uh It wouldn't be Noah Emmerick's home life The season of television would be the KGB trying to fer it out deep cover American agents in Moscow in the eighties. Okay Youee see what I mean? Yeah Like o, I see. canan we Russians? R. How small can we make the aperture for something that we would like Are Star City using those Lithuania sets all year round or we could do like the pit and the night shift where they just keep rolling. Yes. use the same cast, honestly. U Okay, my first one M The smoking section Oh, you've named these shows? Yes See, that's what I could have done yesterday. The smoking section. All right The X files as told from the POV of the cigarettte smoking manan. He yeah. Now I'm gonna it's basically a guy who loves smoking and has to like fend off these pesky FBI agents from time to time. So he tries to bring aliens to it. So it's autobiographical. This is a deeply personal project. always fending them off My only for cash stop calling me, man. inststant green light ere you casting as the younger cigarette smokey manan because the original actor sadly is no longer with us, to not due to the cigarettes He's one of those guys that looks like he was born sixty four years old. Great. It's hard to imagine him as Nicholas Gazeltine or whatever his name becausecause no one looks like that at. Yeah. So Wh Wh looks like shit It's not who looks like shit. It's like he's a guy who is probably pretty attractive. Right. And then and then smoked three packs a day until he looked like Mike Schmidzs field in glove, you know? So you want to cast someone almost too beautiful. Yeah. So maybe you do want Castle teine He's ready to go to TV after. Let's do that. Let's do Nick. Do you like it. I don't know. He's in Hean. No, I know. So you think that this is a soft landing spot for him at It's a. Once he's done being swoll for Hean, he can come. you could smoke away pounds. Okay. I like it. Okay, go, you're doing your next one. Okay, u My next one is a show called recreation and parks It is a comedy show set in Eagleton, Indiana, staring Parker Posey. and it is just that side of the story of the run of parks and recreation, which for people who don't watch the show, there was a kind of like Echoing the Simpsons, there was a Springfield Shelbyville like there is the evil other town. In the case of Parks and Rec, it was Eagleton where everything was rich and fancy and perfect, and the parks department there was run by Parker Posey's character, who was Leslie's friend turned nemesis and Who doesn't want Sam Elliot was on the show? Oh, yeah, He was in Ingleton was he? He was he was the hippie run more sandals. That's right. There's a lot there. We could do it. Samily would love to be sitting in more television shows at this point. so yeah. I mean, who can blame him? My next one is Veep H Vice President John Hoynes's POV on the Bart Light Ministries Nicholas Gazeltine. this is this is so Niche right now We are going so small booreard. Yeah. But what if we brought in some of the cast of Vep to work in his office? Yeah. You know, just have to have hitmaker, you know, get get Tony Hale in. but is they put their earnest now? Yeah. So the zag is Vep was a show that prefaced that like foreshadowed clown car of American politics in the decade to come. So when you watch Vep now, it feels really prescient, whereereas if you watch Parks and Rec now, you're like millennial cringe. Yes, right. So. And if you watch Westwing, you're like, is this the expanse?ly. What do are you feat? Is this, this is for all mankind where there's an alternate So this would be Zagging I mean this would be a bad TV show because it would be a guy being like, damn, I'm frustrated. This other guy is really kicking ass. We mean that's a bad TV show. that's breaking bad. But you could have the campaign, you know what I mean?? All TV shows are men frustrated that other men are doing better. No, but those guys are really good at one thing. on those shows. Yeah like this. So good advertising. I'm good at math. Who played hoins Matison. All right., what was he good at? Like what fraising? I believe I think he was the Texas Okay, but's a Texas politician. Let let me push you the way a good showrunner might. like how do we storify that? Like you want to add something that makes him more interesting? or is he hosting parties in Texas and he Well maybe I start connect the CRIP CU. Wait, say it again. CRIPCU And we have John Hoynes working in in conjunction with the cigarette smoking Men to bring aliens. This will stop Bartlet. And what's amazing is we never saw. We like Bartlet was seeing all kinds of crazy shit with like like cornfields and bees and oil. Yes. And still he was just like What heals America is our common thad of decency Is granting clemency to a turkey.very more often than you'd think. Yeah U You got another one? That's great. I got one more Uh ye, I mean, this is sort of obvious, but industry in Y see Oh I have an industry one as well. Yeah, which would be the events of industry of the past few seasons, but told through the Pure Point New York office The addld Aler verse the expanded Adler verse where and here's what this is the part that's going to be slightly different and I want you to stay with me because it's kind of breaks canon a little bit But the sexy young people who work on Wall Street go out and do drugs all night and fuck each other in sexually curious ways. Oh, I was gonna say that's kind of like, what if all they did was go get matchas and work out and walk their dogs? Yes They just like, theyve in Williamsburg and they just go to the equinox that's next to the Chase Bank now. Yeah, storify that I think we lived it. My industry spitoff is called Valley Boy And it's the previous season of industry told from the perspective of Rob living in California That's a good show actually. And he just It's not even the perspective of the season. it's just put that character and all of a sudden, the audacity is interesting. Yeah, right? Yeah I'm sorry. that was a stray. We haven't watched it. but I think our lack of interest is No I haven't I haven't checked it out so I don't know. But those are my three. Did you have one more you wanted to do? Yes., I have two more U, what One is called Thoroughbreds D you just name it In this moment, No. Okaykay Yes. Okay Thoroughbreds. I didn't know we had to come up with cool names. You guys what are thoroughreds, Chris? How do you define thoroughbrered? What is a thoroughbad? A resource? Not just a resaceource. U a different adjective What makes them race horses they run fast Fast horses, baby. Okay. This is a show slow fast. This is a show set in the modern England, English secret service with the people who were good at their jobs. Oh, so the Chott Thomas. What's who's the blonde lady who's She's the head of the dogs? Yeah No, but it's not even about the dogs because the good H, it's the Christian Scott Thomas side of things like when she's not dealing with Gary Oldman. Yeah. like It's just the agency in London with Kristine Scott Thomas and they don't fuck up and like pass gas all the time. Yeah and actually have like big things to do. like not just like yeah. What's wrong with that? Like Spy died on a bus. Like you know what the pit taught us? It's like show about doctors doing doctor stuff. Good. Yeah. Spy show also Um The last one is You know, I think what was interesting about Star City was that it took began in the same place essentially that Braw manan same again. For mankind begins with the Soviets landing on the moon and spins off in alternate history. Star City begins, however many years later, I think it' sixix or seven years since for all mankind premiered, despite however many seasons they put out Same went back to that initial alternate history hingche pointoint and went off. So I'm going back to the pilot episode of a beloved series, all the way back to two thousand o seven when a little show called Mad Men began with a young woman coming to Don Draper and saying, we would like to hire your firm to do the advertising for our And Roger Sterling said, Why don't they get a Jewish fir Reader? I listened. Jewish madmen? Mad Mitzva, baby It's just the ad game with guys who the Krumhololdz. It's it's one hundred percent Krumt in it. I should see I didn't do all the homework here U, but I'm sure we could probably find a couple Jews in Hollywood who were ready to act on a television show. Trum Holt is obviously the heavy. he's the draper I don't know if hes no he's not the draper You need you need more of like if we're looking for a young half Jewish stars, at least like you need like a Chalet energy to be the young person, But Krumelt is like Krumelt is definitely the stterling. Okay stterling his family firm and, uh Basically everything is the same except you can't mix meat and dairy That's it can't mix it keep Kosher, you can' Do you keep kosher? you don't do that right now? Yeah. How long have we know each other? You love having a steak with a glass of milk. I had one right before this podcast. You can tell by my energy. Okay, so that's like we'll get back into Star City on Monday. he You love a game I do love a game. I don't know that we didn't really award each other points so who knows who won. But if you guys have your own ideas for Star City shows, hit us up.. Also if you have any ideas over who won. makeake that very clear in the emails, I won't see them. Do you hear that Sounds like breakfast is ready becausecause Quakers coming in hot with morning nutrition one hundred percent whole grain oats and a good source of fiber to fuel the rhythm of your morning and kickstart your day. And that sounds absolutely delicious. Fuel to start whatever's next. Quaker, official sponsor of FIFA World Cup twenty six. This episode is brought to you by Street Easy. Here's the thing. Wna be the grandparents who bolted to the Burbs or the cool relatives still living in NYC? The city that people come to to be at the center of everything. With twenty years at NYC know how, Street Easy has the tools, agents, and guidance to make you a forever New Yorker too Visit streeteasy. com to buy a rent in NYC. StreetEasy is an assumed name of Zillow Inc, which has licenses in all fifty states Would you like to do maximum pleasure guaranteed first, or would you like to do Widows Bay first? You call it, man, we're staying on the Apple platform. You know what? Here's the problem with Widow's Bay. which is this will be the first problem. It is now getting Is Widow's Bay too good? You know, like I almost Is that your concern? Well, you know, I hate being like you texted me this because people aren't privy to this, but you were like, so it's just showing off now Yeah. And this episode your baggage, which aired on Tuesday night. He. week Witten by Emma Ketchem and directed by Andrewy Young. Andrew Dng did the Mushroom trip episode from a couple of weeks ago. He directed the Tim Robinson movie Friendship and their big chair company vibes. Y in this episode. Basically is about every character confronting their past, Patricia with the Boogeyman, Evan and Tom trying to come to grips with what happened to Evan's mother and Tom's wife and Wick K kind of going over a childhood trauma that split him up from Jerry who works in the historical society and now has a nice enough but annoying husband And you know, this was obviously a bit broadcast when the previous episode ended with We got them. it's all good. And there's a great moment at the beginning of this episode that was kind of reminded me of pulp fiction when they're in the diner and they're kind of they'rearing the clothes that they Theana slugs t shirts and they're like, you know, just kind of peace before there's an armed robbery, but I almost am like getting to the point with this where I'm like, I don't really have any notes, man. You guys are able to every week Do an homage pianu a great American e sub genenre or explicitly a film U The Monster of the Wek thing continues to work seamlessly, the running time of the episodes makes none of them mature uh, there is legitimate This would be among the best slashers I have seen in years if they just made this into a movie. R. But also is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time is watching Kate O' Flynn run from an incredibly slow but persistent Slasher, who is the incarnation of Jason Vores and Michael Myers. Yes. What did you think of this episode? I want to I feel like I loved everything about it. I am not historically a fan boy of any kind, but I believe I wrote ellia Patricia in my notes. L I was on Twitter in twenty fourteeneen when she had the shotgun because it felt so good and then her holding the shotgun. on the hopefully dead, not undead body of the Boogeyman throughout his cremation process was incredible U So I am just loving it and I am a fan full stop I always want to engage with the show also in the myriad ways in which it just fucking impresses me. And a moment ago I was I was half kidding, but I was talking about like showrners saying like how do we make it story? Because can have all the good ideas in the world And you can have all the speculation and thematic dream making, but how do you do it communicate it practically because that's actually what the job is. And so two examples of this episode are just remarkable to me. And what Katie Dipple, who's the creator and showrunner, is able to accomplish by making these decisions that seem obvious or seem simple once they're done well, but actually many, many shows, good shows struggle to find them Um week to week it dazzles me. So one number one would be Um Where are we in the real time story And how can we take advantage of that moment? So you could look at the fact that they've dispatched the ancient evil, supposedly at the end of the last episode and think of it maybe in a way where you're like greedy to get onto the next thing. You're worried about a lull, you want to show the audience. But no one's seen the show yet. So this is entirely in your own head. And the fact that she and her writers were like No, let's let them sit in a moment of happiness andace. And what does that look like? And more importantly, not just what does it look like in terms of the comedy, what does it look like in terms of storytelling opportunity What can we explore Second point was your baggage. U I think I saw an interview that Katie did this week. or one of the writers, I believe was Katie, saying that is this the script notes one that she did? It could have been In't listen the whole thing. I just saw the I just saw this as a takeaway that init the big shift in the episode that made it click for them was that they were going to tell Patricia's story with a Booyman and flashback and then they realize not to do that. and that unlocked everything in the episode because it connected it to the forward momentum. It's a smart choice after back to back episodes, one of which was a giant flashback and one of which was about an ancient evil. But then the execution to make Patricia, in real time, complaining about her takeout order and then running screaming out of her house from a masked killer with a knife, make that feel both like tonally and emotionally and narratively consistent with Tom and Matthew Reese's really affecting performance, him weeping over the fate of his deeceased wife? Yeah How do you do that in a way but they do. It does not feel like whiplash to go between those storylines. There was two really lovely surprising in the hands of another show would not have maybe gone this way moments that I wanted to throw at you I think it ties to what you're saying here The Matthewese, the Tom and Evan conversation. is something that you could draw out for episodes And for all I know because of the thunderstorm and the terror of the island likeike Matthew Rus is going to go or Tom's going to go back on his promise to take Evan to Boston. I asse he will. I'm glad it didn't happen in this episode. Evan basically being like I get it Like when when when when his dad explains to him what happened and and he's got these letters and he's like, you shouldn't have hid this from me And, you know, Tom is like It would make me sadder than I already am for you to know happened to your mother. Yep. Evan kind of forgives him And also they have like a hug, like there is like a genuine moment there And most other shows would be like now these two are angry at each other, so Evan is gonna to put himself in danger so that Tom as to save him so that they can realize the true spirit of Christmas. So that's one thing. The show has the confidence and fearlessness of something. like they're not afraid to resolve stories. Yes, because there's a belief that they carry rightfully so that there is more story to mind. There's also like the kooky Patricia stuff When she shows up at the book club, And Chrissy is that who it is? I think who or Chris gives her like the riot act and is like you're just insane and that's why nobody's your friend and like you're just so fucking weird and by by and then Patricia Tases her And she's like, I'm sorry, she's the worst. She's just the fucking worst. It's just great that you give a character like Patricia like full bodied PV to be like, I know I'm weird, but like she is a bitch. Yeah. You know, she sucks. Yeah. Sometimes The other lesson, I think, from successful rooms is Sometimes all of the work do is in pursuit of the simplest solutions Yeah. and you can feel in the same way you can Chef judge can taste when dough has been overworked You can tell when a show has been bigig brained too much. And I'm glad you mentioned the Tom scene. I circled that. Like the line pictures, they make me sadder than I already am is a Thunder cllap. Like that that is such simple writing but it is Everything. It's all you need to know. as an audience, it's all Evan needs to hear And I also think like we are under when we've been praising, I know we've praised him last week. We've been praising all the great character performers, but Kingston Romy Southwickk who plays Ev has such an interesting affect as a performer where he he's very soft spoken and he underplays things. in a way that is so refreshing for young actors A. but B, it allows him to both express the anger and the resentment and the surprise and joy that was more childlike. But then more than anything else, it allows us, I think, to understand the forgiveness coming off of that line. and all that that story resolution for now started seven weeks ago. Well and also When you think about how this show started, this is another example of what we're talking about in terms of knowing how to pace character development rather than story Yeah. a lot of other shows would have Tom and Wick at odds for like F episodes, six episodes of like Tom U buttoned up, new money, trying to like modernize the island. Wick is this myth myth believing old Wacko who thinks that the fog carries a demonic spirit and he is going to do everything he can's going to keep setting off like the storm sirens and you know like that could have been the tension of these episodes for three hours, four hours. and then you could be like now Tom believes and now the second half of the season is going. And instead Tom's pretty much in like he's like I don't really love the way we're going about doing this, but I believe by the end of the second episode. you know good character writing is yes ending. Yes. So to your point about Patricia, she is crazy, but also P much the worse. Yeah Wick is right Also, he's a weird, sad lonely guy. Yeah. Tom is a Kind of a prick, but also deeply deeply hurt and sensitive. And you know, all of these things can be true. And if you embrace that, Again, all this comes from a level of confidence and I hope we can talk to Katie about it. I'm sure I've never met a showrunner who says, I was quite confident about this. No one ever will. It strikes me more than anything else this show is the product of enormous creative confidence and on the part of Katie, but also on Hara Mari and Andrew D. Young and every other director and performer we've called out. L Whatever the secret sauce is, they all understood the assignment U do you know Yeah, do you understand the macro what is happening here? because you were able to kind of be like, o, yes, the you know, the There could be another and the lineage of the Warren family might actually extend to Evan or Patricia or whoever it is that we know might be I I'm so dazzled. on an episode to episode basis of with the notot only the monster of the week, but the homage of the week and how they are like doing a jwzs episode or doing a haaunted House episode or doing a Halloween episode or doing A Wicker Man episode that I am actually a little bit behind on my So what iss going on here? Like Richard Bn made a deal with Satan, but maybe not to protect this island and now his lineage is cursed but And so the curse will continue as long as the lineage lives on the island. And they thought they ended the lineage with Richard Born, but now it would seem that did not happen. No. So my assumption is that Evan is the lineage and this creates an issue of Tom wants to take him off the island, which will kill him, but Wick and others may kill him. U and That would be that was ching. Evan being the part of the lineage would indicate that Tom is not, it's that his mom was. Yes. Okay. And then a matriarchal line, if you will. And just in terms of the way that these different spirits get activated. L so for the boogey man That's just like, hey, if you every day that goes by Something is gonna happen Yeah until you guys end this The less I know about the TikTok of that, not the website, the like U the happier I am I don't want an answer as to why the Boogeyman was activated the day after Richard Warren, you know, I don't even as we reach the point in the series, which is probably the same time it would happen in a movie where the metaphor goes away You know, like I think there's it's a it's a trope of this sort of storytelling where it's like The Boogeyman does represents, you know adolescence or insecurity or whatever, and no one believes in it, but until it starts slashing everybody and then it just becomes an action movie We are at that point, but I don't really want to know. and I'll be very curious to see how the show handles a resolution in the short term while still being invested in being a boogeyman of the week next week. Fair enough, I want to ask you before we move on made this in your mind, an excellent evocation of the silent slow masked knife killer Uh, I think it's the setting. There's something very Haddenfield about the streets of u ay of Widowsay the way D Young kind of shot that scene where it's got evocations of I think definitely the first Halloween and maybe even the second And maybe a second where there's There's a lot of like screaming and crying and banging on doors and people turning their lights out and people like ignoring the hysteria happening outside their house. Kitty Genovvees. Yeah and a little bit of that life. And I thought that the U justust when you think he's dead, he's not, he pops back up stuff. the, you know, the scene with the ambulance drivers was amazing. where it's like, hey, welcome back Pal. He's like slashes at his throat. So there was just a real the thing that you would be the biggest hallmark is the slow methodical pace of the slasher that seems to always keep with the running screaming U And then Patricia turning into the final girl in the in the in the last few minutes and hilariously holding a shotgun on him in the ambulance and then in the it's amazing. Not sure exactly how that cleared all barriers of like investigation to the point of cremation that night, but I'm okay with it. I'm all for an expedited municipalasher was on painkillers. That's right. You know, the little character moments of him in the convenience store being like, I have to eat this here and my wife doesn't want me e like there's just a humanity that exists in every frame of the show that's not just serving the How can we frame this correctly becausecause I'm a relative novice, which is to say, I'm too scared to watch those movies. I didn't know that it would be possible for no one to be inside of the mask Oh, yeah, it's it can be a spirit. Do you know what I mean? Like because there's the scene, the wick scene is interrupted or it ends with him seeing that someone has broken in and stol the stolen the murderers mask. It's a cool thing to have on display. So my mind was wondering, I thought maybe someone had been either had always been the boogyman and R re energized or Someone had been like captured by the spirit. So sure I didn't know if the mask was going to come off and she shot Dale. Yeah, you know, or someone from the office. Yeah. I'm glad it wasn' pillars of that Yeah that'sale. That's why I me. That's I thought it was going to be in there. Um Oh I got confused with Dle Dicky. That's why Dale Dicky who play I did the same thing who plays Rosemary. Yeah. Did you have any comments on Shell. Theers. Breaking pregnant wave who is about to give birth and hopefully not on the island. And Patricia's like, we got to get you off the island It's There's a thunderstorm coming. It's just good plot. The most memorable gifts aren't found, they're made. Zazle is a custom marketplace where you pick any product, a mug, a card, a tote, a phone case, and make it personal, a photo, a name, an inside joke, the kind of gift that actually fits the person. That's what thirty million customers have been coming back to azle for over twenty years to find Right now, save twenty five percent on your first order at zazzle d. com That's azzle dot com Make it amazing. Let's talk a little bit about Maximum pleasure guaranteed, which Blink and You Miss it is now up to episode four. And we missed it. We were behind. Yes on Apple TV. This is a new series from David J Rosen. David J. Rosen, who's worked on Hunters, has worked on Citadel, has worked on Sugar, who wrote the novel I just want my pants back. I don't know that twenty years ago What is that? It was like a young adult novel about living in New York and hooking up with chicks and that was turned into briefly into an MTV series executive produced by Doug Lyman Ied one season. Okaykay. Cool. Does he get his pants back I can't tell you that, you might watch it. This one stars Tatiana Mazlani as Paula, a magazine fact checker going through a rough divorce and custody battle. bllows off steam one night, having cam sex with a guy named Trevor. Not one night. seems like it's ongo. I think that's I'm saying one night Oh you're setting up a that happens. Yeah Oh, oh, o, I'm sorry. I didn't mean interrupt You're accurate. I was like, donon't. Put some respect on that relationship. And during this experience that they're having together through their screens He gets tacked on the screen and Paula sees this, but it becomes apparent that this attack was part of a scam and then it becomes apparent that this scam has gone haywire and Trevor has been killed Paula investigates and pulls at a thread that undoes her life So you watched two of them? I watched two. I watched let's I'll say three. I am I started the fourth one Um, What did you think I really, really enjoyed what I watched, especially the pilot David Gordon Green. it and I really appreciated I really appreciated something that I think is hard to pull off in this contemporary moment of TV, which is that it was highly stylized. It is screen dependent. would say that This may be the most successful product integration show that Apple has had in a number of years. and I don't mean that as a backhanded compliment Um The show correctly uses the most annoying Apple ring tone to be annoying. the show does depend on Faceetiming on MacBooks and having your phone available at all times in ways that feel relevant U, but I think it's hard it's a hard needle to thread to have something that is frenetic and highly stylized and about you know the collision of crime into a normal existence, but also feel like there're someone is keeping Sone's touching grass in terms of trying to remember at all times who this character is and who she wants to be and what her relationship is with her ex husband played by a friend of the pod, Jake Johnson with her tnd dancing daughter Hazel and and her coworkers in her life So I really appreciated the way the entry point for the story, the style in which it was done, but mostly the fact that I was I felt like it was focused on the right half of that equation throughout the first episode I'll also say that like another very contemporary thing that I see with a lot of these shows is We collectively are getting better and better at premise and asking cool questions and then When pilots become series, that's when the real work starts. And so In watching episode two, I was like, okay, now I see the shape of the storytelling taking place, and that was a bumpier transition, but it's harder work you know, Yeah to go from one to the other. I think I see what you're saying. You know, the the rest of the episodes almost feel closer to like whatever the Apple version of the Safi Bothers is, you know, like where I think it's more or less like eighty percent to twenty percent. Unrelenting tension anxiety How the hell is she going to get out of this situation? You've got an interesting So visually and tonally, I feel like it really ramps up in the second, third, fourth episode They also weirdly, not weirdly, but they are trying to have kind of a couple of different treatments of the mystery story for one thing, Murray Bartlet plays Quite obviously, I think the killer, I would assume. I mean, we don't know. Yeah we don't we don't know more, but he is introduced one way and then pretty quickly established as the other.. Muray Barlett from Loo and White Lotus Fame. great are great in this Um It's know how theyit the mystery quote unquote or the investigation to the extent that there is one. so Hula is trying to get to the bottom of what's just happened with with Trevor Murray Bartlet'sank character is trying to investigate Paula You know,u? And so you've got these sort of two convergent mysteries There's two things that I think are not rubbing me the wrong way, but I'll be interested if we continue with this show to kind of check in on One is There's a little like Apple expansion pack happening as the episodes go on where we keep bringing in sping characters. Yeah. and now it's like we're up at like eight, you know I would say that the show seems pretty cutthroat so far in terms of endangering people and having stakes and it's pretty cool So there's that And then there's also just They're playing around with flashbacks And you were talking about the Widow's Bay thing with the idea of showing Tricia's boogman experience has a flashback and instead doing it in the present he can do that. They're doing a lot of like Ciff hanger. and then flashback to explain the cliffhanger Not a lot, but they've done it a couple of times on maximum pleasure donon't know if I love it because it turns into a little bit of like we're built we're wrapping the story around concept of a cliffhanger rather than' wrapping the story over how a cop would find out about information or how somebody would be like, I'm in a tough situation. I need to be transparent about this, but obscure that And instead, it seems like I'm on a TV show So wouldn't it be cool if at the end of an episode, you found out this isn't my first dead body that I'countered? Or wouldn't it be cool if we found out like you think that this woman is like this, but she's actually like that because we went back, you know it's just it is a way of telling a story, but it isn't quite worked for me on this one. It's funny or it's annoying, depending on your perspective, to be TV brained enough as we are and maybe many of our listeners are to see things come in and out of fashion narratively Um I think and how long it takes for the messages to be sent likeike tipping point of exciting scene six weeks earlier The amount of time it took for creators to realize, A, everyone else was doing it, and B, audiences were rebelling against it. There's a long tale because then it takes years of producing things to move on from that Similarly, like something like DTF, which you know, we engage with briefly, but like enough to say There is a similar there's some similar things at play here in terms of surprising maybe not a murder in the way you think told through flashback with quirky cops. in that case, it was Richard Jenkins. In this case, it's Dolly D Leone, who's in Tangle of sadness. Yeah Um There is a we are in the midst of a golden era of cam content and only fan stuff. sure Both I meant we are. Margo. Al pleasure and euphoria. Yeah. But also what we've been up to Well, only for the two of us though. We just straight straight Hey man. Yeah, we don't exactly. The watchatch afterfter Dark is actually just Andy and I camming. Whichs fun is that like there was a period of time when SamSail wouldn't text. He would only communicate over signal because he was worried about, you know being hacked. And so that's why we have stopped texting and calling, we only communicate over cam soda. That's right, just the two of us. Rember Chat Route remember. I' just I'm still holding on to that Anyway. Yeahah. And so I would say that I appreciated the use of screens as mitigating factors and intimacy and the chat stuff on the show because it is well because A, the relationship that Paula has with her camboy. is gentle and there's other layers to it to be unwraped. but it is like emotional and interesting and surprising. And then there was a great scene where she's talking to her colleagues at work And it's one of those like hinge moments of like, what do we gain by spilling it? what do we gain by withholding? And she's like I was being scammed by a camera that I had become inapppriately connected to. And they're like Oh, yeah, that's the most interesting thing you've ever said and they hug her Um, one of those the boy is the Julie Louis Dreifus's son I didn't know you know, I'm on NPo watchatch. He's good. watching. Is he in the Campion kind of like I'll allow it or It seems like he was raised right? Yeah. Yeah. So I'll thank you for asking. I'll allow it, but we are monitoring something. I saw then the Times did a piece about or maybe was Wall Street Journal did a piece about Leon Black's son who's in charge of like a shadowy but very important like United States government investment fund kind. And I was like, how do you get that job? just, you know, he worked harder than everyone else. Yeah. Yeah, I, uh, I'll swing back to the positive. but the other thing that I was the only other thing that I was slightly bumping on and this is not This is actually not criticism. This is a reflection of getting a show made for Apple TV, which is I struggled with Tetiana Muslani being a woman who's struggling with all aspects of her life, including her appearance. She is a lovely, charismatic person who reads as young. She's certainly plausible as forty year old woman who with a like I'm not arguing her acting chops or whether I could buy it. but In a different world, this is the Melanie Linsy show And And I'm like it clicks into place a little bit more, but that's not Apple's business model. I have not you know, she obviously broke onto the scene with Or from. You haven't really seen her very much huh Should I I'm just saying like, there are actors who are big But if they are big on shows like I't think I watched Orphan Black You did a season or two. I did Yeah. I thought maybe you were Orphan Black and she Hulk ignorant I am shei Hogainerant. I find that she has like the appropriate kinetic energy for something that's the million percent. You know, you the rhythm of the show. And She she's athletic and there's things that demand her climbing through skylights and jumping off in the first episode, or is it the second episode where she gets the second episode? Henan in her arm is crazy U 's like a it's cool show. you know, as with everything There's like a Do I urgently feel the need to keep up with this or like is this something I don't I don't really know what the the alchemy is anymore of like what eclipses. That was fine watching it for three or four episodes versus like this is now what I'm watching for ten weeks. I think this is this one for me stands out a little bit because of there's a there's there's surprise. like I think Jake is playing slightly against type. Yes. and I think he's doing a great job I think that one of the hard things to navigate in The last thirty years of television, which are essentially shows about people with families being drawn to the dark side is how do you balance the family stuff? I think the stuff with Hazel is the daughter's name I think that's being Iically it's pitched at the right place for me to believe that so far anyway, through the episodes I've seen, it hasn't tipped fully into genre. It is still attempting to be someone The most fantastical elements of the show so far aren't the crime and violence. The most fantastical elements of the show so far are that A, she drives around New York all day and B. she's still employed as a fact checker at. I think they shot this Nework I think so but New York Why not? Y New York included magazines Yeah, no, I don't mean that. It's just like The traffic situation seems pretty pretty relaxed. And is this set in Ridgewood It's Queensy U Keep an eye on that. Aret you happy to see like that' that magazines are still employing a vibrant fact checking department before Barry Weiss takes over as editor in chief? I thought that was cool. say it's a fun show. The only thing I was thinking while I was watching it because I think there are several shows. I just can't think of one off the top of my head take this kind of like Unbelievably tense Premise And they're just like, and now let's tell it over the course of ten episodes I was watching this and you know, as I think about how Widows is employing Monster of the Wek or how the pit is doing a medical procedural, but with durational storytelling over the course of a day. so you can have Some new school ideas about making TV I almost feel like I'd be more curious about the version of the show that is Paula solving this whole thing. in an episode. And then the rest of the season is Paul a private detective helping people have been scammed Wow, look at you K you I wonder if that's a more durable peatable like idea. Or is that something that David J. Rosen has considered for if he gets to do happ And I but I think because of widows, I have been looking at different TV shows and being like Was this written for TV? Was this and was this written to be because it something that's exciting to watch every week other than how is the story going to end Well, one hundred percent. I mean, it is Katie Dipalt of Widows Bay worked in Parks and Rck. and I think it is One of the enduring legacies of Mike Schure's television shows is that he found a sweet spot It's different in the thirty minute realm or the now the thirty five minute realm A sweet spot of Um can tune you can tune in week to week, but there is a larger spine of a serialized story and I'm not afraid of pushing towards it. But you're not going to be you're never going to see an episode that's just connective tissue whereas att least on one episode, maximum pleasure guaranteed is more of the new school approach of We are going to light a match in the first episode and it will burn through Y and dynamite happens and e. But within that framing, the show that made me think of, speaking of another person who could have starred in it, is Run, which was the one season Phoebe Wellaller Bridge show with Donal Gleason and Merit Weaver. And that show started with similarly like an enormously grabby and exciting premise I didn't feel like And I feel like the marketplace agreed with me. It didn't have conviction or the gas or the horses to make it a season Eurn. beginning This maximum pleasure guaranteed seems more successful to me. for that St Uh let's hit TC real quick, topop Chef, before we get out of here. I just want to tell you a personal anecdote since it's culinary corner. It's culinary corner before it's topop Chef. Okay So I've been kind of seduced by these Instagram and YouTubes of like clean out your pantry pastas or clean out your pantry like, hey, do you have capers and this? Letook what you can do. So I was like, I have some like fly byy jing Instant noodles. What's in my pantry slash fridge that I can like get going and create like some rotisserie chicken. And emulsify with pasta water whyy Okay. I mean, I know that that's supposed to happen. Do you do that with like ramen too? I't make ram at home I only go to like a true like Kotawari shop where like each ingredient is made. But this isn't about me. I'm fuck it out. This isn't about me. I quit. I don't w to do this show anymore. So I was like, okay, I'm going through it And u I was like, okay, I got the rotisserie chicken. I'm looking for like kind of an acid, maybe like a pickle kind of thing Yeah. But I was like, I could use some green in here. And I came across some frozen peas in our freezer. Okay Um My wife historically, this is not violating HIPA by saying she has a bum knee and often needs to ice her knee. And these peas are her knee peas. On Reddit. These are So I go on Reddit. The expiration date for these pes is November of twenty twenty five. Oh, it it's not as bad as I thought and I should note that they have been thought out Upwards of twenty five times. Okay. you. So that's kind of like what is like what is your age versus your real age? Yeah. And so on Reddit, of course, you can be like Pes are past their expiration date, shouldould I eat them? Can I eat them? And everybody's like, yes, that's just a suggestion and if they've been frozen And I get like, pretty deep into the process. you your mesen plus and your prep and your and you know I've kind of like scraped the freezer burn off the peas individually. No, but like I kind of like washed them a little bit to talkw themem out a little bit go back to the Reddit thread now. I was like, it seems like that went on for a while. Let me see what they're talking about And apparently there's a whole thing about booboo peas tease that people keep J just for this is a thing. Yeah. and they're like, don't eat Booboo peas because that's where listeria can get in when you're thawing out and freezing and thawing out and freezing So just as a public service announcement, I stopped this. I this was an incredibly boring dinner because I did not have a green and I didn't really have a pickle or an acid for it. It was just basically chicken with Chicken with noodles. swweet and spicy ramen noodles. I'm not mad at this, but I would say that it was dull and I almost got liseria And my wife was pretty pissed off that I used her boooo. Yeah, how's her knat? That's fine She was like, you gotta get next time to show She finished this dinner, you cook for her and tried to stand up. Oh, no she didn't it hurt. She was out. I was this was a solo like she didn't If you ever frozen peas They They cycle through real know, you know, like on the other videos we watch on Instagram where people are seeing how the Guinness is drinking this evening when they're just like people have been hitting it. so it's like it's fresh lan. It' Yeahah. you want to let twelve guys go first these like when that like giant dude prryime mutton is like, the lads have been drinking it into form. And I'm like, what is the form? Is it physically your form? Because that is what I'm most worried about Despite my love of a fine step. Oh my God. Anyway that the l the frozen peas in my house are constantly eaten into form because and I will you're going to say this came from me with my Kotawari ramen, but it did not. My children who have relatively conservative Pallets, I would say, i. e. they're just kids, normal kids about this. One of their favorite snacks is frozen peas not heated. They like bowls of frozen peas to just pop in. How's that pxture wise? Is that good I mean, have you ever had a frozen grape? Yeah, it's not my favorite. No, so I don't share this passion with them, but I'm just letting you know that the peas are eating into form constantly. So if you need a bag for purposes they needs one. Will they hit some frozen peas? roll it back up and throw it back in the freezer No they a whole bag on a sitting. First of all, this presupposes that they are helping themselves and doing anything independently.espite their advanced a. I have noticed Yeah You've got some notes for your kids recently. Sure about their contributions to to the house. And let me tell you, they are receptive toes. There is nothing they like more than when old pop says Maybe you could have picked I think when they go out into the world in a couple of years, like the light switch is going to flip and they're going to be like, I know how to do this. This is what we all hope. Yeah. This is what we all pray for. don't I try to think that like because because when you're Like one thing that young parents come up against a lot is like their kids come home from school and they act insane and then there's a worry that they' acting this way in school And then G teachers or lying teachers will say They they behave all day. and then being home is like then the shackles come off.'s Marty Gy get it all, they get it all out. Yeah. You know, it's Rum spring every day at four PM So my hope is that they would not, let's say leave Chipwitch wrappers decorating the windowsill in the homes of their friends or people they respect.ight. I don't know.. But all the way back to your point about the frozen peas No no, I take the bag out. Frozen. I pour some frozen into a bowl Back in there. Seal it up Yeah back. Okay. good to know. Top chehef, the penultimate episode of seeason twenty three, which Annie and I have had a fair amount of notes for Yeah donon't have a ton of like nitpicks about this one. It was my favorite episode of the season, I think. Yeah Fair. I realize that it's sort of like the matrix where you're like you're using your eyes for the first time I felt like the judges were basically like, food. Like they were so delighted. They liked everything That they were like finally real cookings. Yeah. we got down to u Gherry, Lawrence, Rhoda, Jonathan. Y. And what' your final for? They were asked to do basically a plating exercise where they could choose these sort of exotic or funky delivery systems for their This is after the Stupid twenty questions thing. Yeah, I mean, I enjoyed it because it just seemed funny that they would be like sppinach and he's like, no, And they were like, I'll put spinach.'s like I'maying very close attention. And it was very funny that they all got mad at Jonathan for asking questions that they thought were stupid. Those questions were dumb as hell. Well, I don't really even know if it didn't seem like a big deal that he asked if it was side dish, but like I am often the person who asks a question where somebody's like, whyy are you fucking asking that? Who does that? In interviews No, not in interviews. Well, Jesse Armstrong ones No I'm just kidding. You' never you've never done that. It just seemed like based on the judges reactions to the food this was at a high, high, high level and they pushed each other Even Jonathan who As soon as he was like I am making bread and butter. I was like, thanks for playing. Al also I want to put a pumpkin on a candlestick. Well, the only tension for the episode was really like Is Lawrence going to accidentally fuck up his rice? Wrappings is his sort of the rice rolls. The rice rolls is the because he's making Carolina and it didn't steam and But that wasn't the issue was that he The episode implied or at least tried to create drama from the implication there was some fuckery with the oven. Not intentional. Jonathan used it first it lingerered on Jonathan being like I set it up for you bro. And he's like, it's all good. It's gonna to take a few minutes to cool down to the steaming setting and then you're good. And then Laurece walked back over like five minutes later and was like, this this thing is not. So then he had to kind of like rather brilliantly like ad hoc multiple tres seeming in pop. Yeah. And it just made it a little bit thicker, I guess. Yeah, that was the drop. I thought that each one of those winning dishes or the dishes that pass through to the final three where ammazing looking rodas especially on the tree bark. I don't know that I would want to eat off of tree bark, but it looks really cool. Someone hasn't been to Noma. Not certainly not. You You know what I mean? What an ally. So I standay with my brothers O line What did you think this episode I mean, you're right. It's a shame that it took fourteen weeks to get to an episode in which the challenge is creative and is met with with an elevation of execution. Like that's that's what the show is supposed to be. Yeah, it wasn't like and you have twelve seconds to do it. But also like it was challenging and they elevated their game. They rose to the challenge, which hadn't really happened consistently. I generally say a version of this every year, which is like unlike some more drama forward competition shows Excellence begets excellence on Top Chef. like the best episodes are ones where Tom is happy, where everyone has done a good job and the conversation is more about like nitpicks rather than like how obvious it was that someone just face planted. That said, it was obvious Jonathan was going home even when it was revealed he did a very good job because ition of what he was so much less than what everyone else was doing and the plating was kind of silly. Do think Tom's been a little bit cranky this season Well I think you should be Um I think there's every reason to be cranky. but the counterpoint is when he's really happy and Christin's like, oh, happy Tom is here Yeah and he seems quite engaged. he still can be engaged when it's all going well. I think the criticism remains the criticism, which is There is something that just feels claustrophobic and off about the an ultimate episode to send people to the finals. and I'm not even sure if they traveled for the finals. Usually they're like next week or they tell them like you're going to Paris you're going to Stariton or Star City if you get a brand activation. like cororrect me if I'm wrong, but they didn't say anything about where they were going and it looked like they didn't do They used to take a long break like four to six weeks. I think they take a break because I think I noticice I always I always enjoy when people come and they have like a slightly different look said It will be another Wind horse fingers, like if they just didn't travel and they're just like still in the Carolinas somehow. about the budget things because this is the penulttimate episode and we're supposed to be this crowning achievement before we get to The obviously challenging, but also the known quantity of makeake the best meeal you've ever made.. And in the episode to send peopleeople to that great opportunity, they played twenty questions in the studio and then picked out plates in the studio and then filming picked up in a Restaurant claustrophobic restaurant with the great John Yao of Cato here in LA being like, You did a good job. Yeah. it feels so smallall. And That's a bummer. And maybe that's as I say every week, like that's the reality of it now Um Or maybe you tell me, maybe this is just a nitpick when the execution was I think that the when when the cooking feels like it's push like I feel like those three those four chefs, but specifically the three that advanced We're actually pushing each other Yeah I think that there' even There's this awareness that Rhoda has momentum L and that she's won a bunch of things. There's like, I think Sherry is actually like Beyond her cooking like an interesting television character who clearly has a lot of self confidence and is a little bit I don't Is she prickly? I don't. I mean my kids hate her Sorry Sherry. But like I'm watching this season for the first time finally with the. But I think she's like, I think I can win this and like I'm going to kind of operate from that assumption. and I just, you know, this this season is peneaking at the right time This season has had a lot of like false starts. It's had a lot of like Prat Falls, It's had the weird last chance kitchen situation. so It's nice to see it ending with like three people whose food I would want to eat and who I think are are pushing each other. We should wrap it up there U Thanks to everyone for listening and we'll be back on Monday with some Star City And um M maybe like of other surprises, but I'm not exactly sure. Well, there's stuff we haven't like we haven't we started Legends, we didn't finish it U There's a couple other shows that I'd like to check out L like Imadeea. So there's things in I have a really hot recommendation for you. You've watched something? I did I don't know if you can handle it I mean, that's fair. Are you watching Dark Wizard Oh, I should watch that. Yeah. soro So first of all, it's seriously scratching my hundred foot waveage. Yes ame filmmakers or just HBO documentary. HBO documentary about a mountain climber, a free solo climber. Dean Potter and his rivalry with Alex Honnald. Just in terms of like the aesthetic of everybody's wearing Patagonia and climbing in Yosemite in the mid two thousands. It's awesome Um I will say no more. But it is fucking tense probably handle it. I was knee jerk avoiding it because my wife's like palms were sweating watching it You just get a frozen peas on it Dror House does whatever he needs I selfishly was like, I feel like I've done enough with Potters and Dark Wizards in HBO recently. But now but I said that Gibly not knowing it was a documentary about mountain climers. Yeah at all. Yeah. So I think that's a good rack. People have been talking about it. Okay, so we'll see you guys on Monday Uncovered windows can make your home feel up to twenty degrees hotter. Stay cool, and save up to fifty percent off custom window treatments during the fourth of July mega sale at blinds dot com. From outdoor shades to room darkening blinds, finding the perfect fit is easy. 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