Streamed & Screened: Movie and TV Reviews and Interviews

It's October and Halloween is approaching fast, which means it's also the season for scary programming. But not everything has to be scary and for adult audiences like "Saw X" and "The Exorcist: Believer," both of which are currently in theaters.

"Goosebumps," a new series based on the R. L. Stine series of books, debuts on Disney+ and Hulu on Friday, Oct. 13. Executive producers Pavun Shetty and Conor Welch spoke with co-host Bruce Miller recently to discuss the program and the love for books.

Miller and co-host Terry Lipshetz also discuss some great family-friendly options to watch this fall, including "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," "Ghostbusters,"  "Beetlejuice," "The Addams Family," "Casper" and more.

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About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Welcome everyone to another episode of Streamed and Screened, an entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer at Lee and co-host of the program with the ghoulishly mischievous Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and a long time entertainment reporter. It's Halloween is in the air. I love it. I love doing Halloween or whatever that song is from Nightmare Before Christmas.

That's right. Yeah. Danny Elfman, this this Halloween, that kind of stuff. Yeah. You know, are you a fan of Halloween movies? Do you really like all those scary kind of movies? Not scary. Scary. We don't. So the key with movies is they can't scare me where I can't fall asleep for a week. So what would be one that would scare you?

What would be a bad one? Anything gory? Like I'm not going to watch a saw movie. Like, saw whatever. They're on the 35th installment of that. I've never seen any of them, and I never will. And I like the Halloween movies. The Freddy Krueger ones, the Jason, the Slash. I just won't watch any. So those are just not for.

They're not for me. Yeah, well, I get it. I get it. I think when they get violent, it's not really fun, right? But it's a mystery. And you hear things, but you don't necessarily see anything. Yeah, that it's fun to watch those kind. But if it's the kind like I'm sitting in the house and it could happen to me in a minute if somebody jumped out and had a night or something.

No, not right. Yeah, I don't need any. And some of them are just. What was that movie? The Human Centipede. You know, the concept is somebody sewing people together internally. This is just ridiculous. Now, I don't mind a movie that's going to make me jump in my seat a little bit. You know, that's where I get like. Like movies, you know, like Jurassic Park where a dinosaur jumps out at you from the jungle.

That's cool. I'm into that. I'll watch that kind of thing. Ghostbusters. And we'll talk about some of these movies soon. But like a movie. Like a Ghostbusters, where goes, it's a little bit scary. There's some make up involved and some things that'll, you know, maybe give you a little trouble falling asleep. But it's not it's not gory, it's not gross.

And those are the ones that I just don't want to watch at all. I have no interest. They're not grabbing you in a bear trap in your own house. Right, right, exactly. I love psycho. I can watch Psycho all the time. It's real. It's like, okay. And especially after, you know, the secrets to Psycho. Then you go, Oh, it's even more interesting.

And then you start, you know, the bathtub for the 44th time that you're looking at this thing. You see that? Wait a minute. That's. That's somebody in the background that I recognize from a TV show, you know, So there are different things you see each time. And I think that the editing on that is impeccable. It's just incredible how they were able to make you think that it was scary when actually it probably wasn't.

Yeah, and even a film like Silence of the Lambs, which has moments that are pretty disturbing. Yeah, a little a little bit gross. But but that it's a psychological thriller about a serial killer. And that's the type of film that I can watch. But they're more realistic. It is realistic, right? Exactly. What about all those scary things like vampires and Frankenstein monsters and werewolves?

Do those get you like would Twilight be something you'd say yes to Twilight? I've seen bits of it. It's not really my cup of tea in terms of just, you know, it's like more of a team thing. So it's it's not really, but that is the type of film I would watch, like Interview with a Vampire with Tom Cruise.

I love that movie. I thought that was that was good. And those those types of films I'll watch. I like I like the Alien franchise, you know, with Sigourney Weaver and those are scary. Those are scary, but it's it's sci fi. It's a little bit more on the sci fi things. So what's the rule at your house with the kids?

Do Are they are they hot to see some of these films? Do they say, Oh, we've got to see this, we've got to see this, we got to see this, And then you say no, or what do you do? Some of them now I've got twin daughters. One of them is a little bit more adventurous, the one that I've spoken about who loves Star Wars.

She's a little bit more adventurous. My other daughter, who they're twins, but they're not identical. So one of them looks a little bit actually more like my wife, and that's the one that loves Star Wars. And then there's another daughter that has more of my characteristics and features. Is it bigger? What's that? She has to be here. Yes.

She has a very long beard. No, she has a lot of she has long hair. But it's on her head, not on her face, but she's very similar to me where she will get petrified by anything remotely like we watched Jurassic Park as a family and she will not watch the other ones. Like she tapped out after Jurassic Park one and she's 12.

Though I would think that The Exorcist is off the table. Off the table? That's not happened. Yeah. And they have a sequel out now. You could see that. Yeah. I'm trying to think if I would see The Exorcist. I mean, I've seen bits and pieces of like, I watched a bit of Poltergeist. I mean, I kind of watch that one.

I find if you go in the daytime, it's better when you come out. It's light though, at like seven or 8:00 at night and you come out and it's dark. They are everywhere. All the monsters that you can think of are out there. They're waiting. Yeah, yeah. I'll go during the daytime. You'll be able to enjoy those Doors was a horror film.

Sure. But that's. That's different. Like, that's the kind I would watch. That's kind of. I love Jaws. I think that's. It's a great movie. I don't the sequels, not so much but that's that's other reasons altogether. So if we limit it to the the kind of crazed, killer slash eternal scary films. Yeah, they're off the table. Yes. Those I won't watch at all.

Did you ever see the ones with Vincent Price and Peter Laurie and Boris Karloff back in the day in the sixties? They did a lot of American international pictures that were creepy, maybe scary, probably, and black and white. And we went to them like they were like soup. You know, We were just we were slurping them up. But many of you watch them now because they'll show them on Turner Classic Movies or TCM.

They're not that scary. No. And I think there is a bit of a difference also, because I think the movies of the last 25, 30 years or so as technology has improved and computer graphics and special effects and all that stuff, you can fall back into that level of filmmaking, I think, and increase the Gore level. Whereas some of those earlier movies from the fifties, sixties, even into the seventies, those movies were a little bit more reliant on psychological thrillers and is sometimes the unknown is scarier than the known, right?

You know, what you don't see can be scarier, like what's happening just off to the side of the screen that I can't see. You know, that Halloween is one of the biggest holidays of the year. Right. And as a result, they're trying to be as family friendly as they possibly can because there's money. There's money on the table that needs to be made.

And so they're kind of, if you will, softening the the horror films, but they're still out there like your Ghostbusters. Ghostbusters is a good example of one that they've tried to reboot. Now, how many times? Well, there's another one due out March eight, as long as it's still on target with with the Strikes Go, the sequel. We don't have a name for it yet, but it's it's Ghostbusters, Afterlife Sequel.

It's set to be released March 29 for 2024 or later or later. Right. But those are those work like hocus pocus, which is another one. And they've been hugely successful now in in rerun you know, on streaming services and they are making new ones they're it's it's a franchise in Disney is making big money off that so I don't think that will end but I do think there is room for new kind of thrilling family films right.

Yeah well and even even if you look at one of the biggest shows on streaming in the last year, Wednesday and Sunday. Right. And that's that's a spinoff of The Addams Family. Right. And my kids love it. Both my daughters love that show. Yeah. Why? Because it's clever. And I think if you go for just the stupidity of some of these things that are just, how can I shock you?

That's not that good. Right? And I think the I would talk a kid out of seeing some of those because I don't think that it would be really worth your time. Yeah, I can. I can scare you. Just give me a minute. But am I scaring you and then maybe teaching you something in the process? That's where it gets a little more interesting.

Yeah. So what are some of your favorites? What are your favorite acceptable films for family or family? So I think the first one that is my go to and as a fan of music, one I love and it's it's is a staple of television for years and years and years. It's a great pumpkin. Charlie Brown with the soundtrack by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.

And I think yeah. And you know, for somebody, I'll tell you this, I'm not a huge, huge jazz fan. Like I have some jazz albums in my collection. But if you're looking for a gateway into jazz, sure, there's like Miles Davis and John Coltrane, all those. But if you if you dig the Peanuts TV shows and you can get into the Vince Guaraldi Trio, that's a good entry point to jazz music.

But I digress. You know, I love Very Pumpkin. Charlie Brown is just one of my favorite. You got that one and you've got the Christmas one. They've just have a handful of these programs, you know, themed at holidays, which I think you know, are just staples every year. You got to watch them. You mentioned the music in that I am sure if you were around back in the day, you would not have said, Oh, let's put some jazz with this.

It it doesn't fit with peanuts. It doesn't seem like something that you would have with it. And yet we can't think of it now without that kind of music. Right, Exactly. Yeah. And you know the song Linus and Lucy, which is pretty much in every Peanuts television show I've heard the Dave Matthews Band cover it. It's a such a key piece of music there that we all listen to.

Absolutely. Yeah. So if we ever go ice skating, we'll know that we have to have the music with us exactly as it just wouldn't be the same. Okay, what else can we watch? So I love and this one that I would like to show to my kids because I think they're old enough and I don't think it's that scary.

But I always loved it as a kid was Beetlejuice, and that one is another one that has a sequel, a sequel that's due out later next year with most of the original cast. I love that movie. And again, you're dealing with Tim Burton here, so there's a little bit of a weird genius in play. And then, of course, the music by Danny Elfman is tremendous as well.

You mention Tim Burton. He's kind of the king of the family friendly Halloween ask, you know, Yes, you look at all these ones that he has had. Corpse Bride? No. Edward Scissorhands. Yep. A number of those ones fit that that niche where you would go. Yeah. Okay. And he knows how to do it where it's not so scary that you won't sleep for a night or two.

But they are creepy and ParaNorman is another one like that. You just throw them all on the heap and it's like. And then Nightmare before Christmas. Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's made a career. I mean, he's. He's a, he's a bit of a weird dude, but a weird dude in a good way. Yeah. And technically doesn't even do all of these films, but his name is on them.

Other people are the directors, so you have to be very careful when you look at them to make sure that you're you're, you know, checking the right one. But yeah, it's is and print is on them very significantly and it's fun to watch, I think. Yes, absolutely It would is a classic but not necessarily scary but it does talk about those people who made those kind of films back when.

Yeah. You know, it's movie kind of going back and it scared me a bit as a kid, but I still enjoyed it and love it to this date is Gremlins, and I think that's one of the values that didn't that one kind of lead that and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom among the early films that were they weren't rated R because they definitely weren't R rated level films but they listed them as PG and you kind of needed something in between.

And I feel like, wasn't it Gremlins and Indiana Jones that kind of leads that PG 13 rating? There's a little there's a little more risk involved, if you will. And then it became everybody wanted a PG 13 rating. And so then they had to kind of parse it so that how many words are PG 13 ask? And they arrived at the theory that one certain four letter word we come up with it in your own mind once in a film was still PG 13.

Yeah. And there was a little bit of like you can allow, you know, some backsides, bare backside would be okay for PG 13, but not right. Not anything about that. Yeah, but then get into the R and then by then you're on the slippery slope to an X, so that's who knows what happens. Yeah. And it became a thing that kids didn't want to go to PG They wouldn't go to G movies because G movies were for babies.

That right. The way they'd look at that. Yeah, but a PG movie was one that parents would send you and you didn't have to have the parents sitting with you. PG 13 They might take a dimmer view about, Well, let me see here. Let's see what this is all about. Yeah. And now, you know, I think the kids want to see R-rated all the time.

I always look at when you get into movies with sequels, the ones that start out as rated R movies in the first movie, but then get knocked down to PG 13, like National Lampoon's Vacation. I think that was an R-rated film when it came out. But by the time they got to, I think European Vacation was even maybe PG 13.

Bigger audience, You're going to get more money. And that's exactly bottom line is the bottom line. Yeah, yeah. The gremlins is no good. No hire. I like a good R-rated movie when it's just for language because it's like, What the heck, I hear this at work, so I don't have to worry about what we're getting on the screen.

But sometimes they end up, you know, overdoing it just because they want to shock you with that end of things. But for the most part, PG 13, you're going to get enough thrills there. You're going to get enough of something, and mom and dad aren't going to be mad. Yeah, I agree. Another one that I really loved as a kid, but it did scare me a bit as a kid, but I kind of outgrew that a little bit.

Was Ghostbusters I love. I went to see Ghostbusters when it came out. I had a little trouble sleeping that night because you've got that early scene, really, you know? Yeah, well, you know, you go down into the into that basement at the New York Public Library and the ghost that was, you know, sifting through the card catalog. But yeah, you had a kind of scared scared me to death.

And I was I'm trying to think how old I was when at that time, you know, I was under ten years old. Eight, nine years old. So it was still a little bit scary to me. But to me, that that is a classic film, that one Ghostbusters two is just okay, I didn't mind the reboot, the Melissa McCarthy reboot from a few years ago.

I thought that was fine, but I really actually loved the Ghostbusters afterlife that came out a couple of years ago. I thought it was a nice tribute, some good callbacks to the original film, and I thought there was some some nice tributes to it. I thought they did a nice job with, like, let's say, Harold Ramis bringing him back into the film even though he had passed away.

I thought that was nice. It was a good tribute. So I am looking forward to the sequel that's due out next year. Or not? Or not? Maybe not. We allegedly Hey, I'm ready. I'm ready for it because I do like when they make you laugh. In fact, that's kind of the real surprise is that you can see a scary movie, but you still have a reason to laugh.

And I think too many of them get very, very serious where you're like, Oh, man, this could happen to me right here in this theater. This is not good. Yeah, exactly. When I was a child, we had movies where you could you were interactive, if you will. They even add some movies where they would wire the seats and they'd have what was called The Tingler.

And then it would shock you during the course of the film and you get a jolt from all of that. But one of the things I remember most, because it was my scariest movie ever, was one where you got to vote before you got into the theater. Should the guy, you know, thumbs up or thumbs down and you had to vote.

And then at the end of the film, they would show the real door that you had voted for. Now, did anybody ever vote? You know, I don't even know if they made a second real because everybody wants to see a certain ending. Man, you know, they can tell you, oh, you're voting and this is going to count. But this sounds like, you know, politics today.

You got a chance to do thumbs up and then you'd put it into this. I remember this vividly in a light and the light would show what you had voted thumbs up or thumbs down. Did the movie scare was called Mr. Sardonic Tests? Mr. Sardo I've heard about that. I never saw it, though. And it was just this man with this frozen face where he had this.

It was like, You look like the Phantom of the Opera if you want to have a point of reference. Mr. Sardonic would give you that e scary ride, and that creeped me out as a kid so much that every night I had to go and check to make sure that the basement door was locked so that Mr. Iconoclast wouldn't come up and get me in the middle of the night.

Oh, wow. Wow. That's crazy. My parents were letting me go to all his crap. Now I turned out this is great back that it was probably rated G, So yeah, I that it was and you know, I probably was with people that you don't even hear about. You don't even know their names anymore because they were done very cheaply and they were sent all around the country at different times.

So you weren't necessarily going to all see the same movie on the same weekend. It was like a special thing. But the idea that it was interactive was, you know, as fun as a little thing. But we were always scared. We were scared, you know. Did you like Young Frankenstein? Mel Brooks, his movie. I try to think if I've ever even seen it, it's black and white.

Right? The story of Frankenstein's grandson, I believe it is. Or a and so he inherits the place in in Germany. And he goes over there or Bavaria or wherever it is. It's, you know, some place over in Europe that's Transylvania, like. And the people are all like, you know, well, you're his his grandson, right? And no, no, no, I pronounce it Frankenstein.

And there are all the you know, Marty Feldman's in there with the as Igor or Igor, whichever is in it, and Madeline Kahn was in it. And Cloris Leachman, I mean, it was a clever, clever film and a good way of kind of approaching all this. And it did have scary moments. But, you know, is it is is it one you show your kids?

I think without the point of reference. Yeah. Having seen Frankenstein, I don't know that you'd get the humor now. I don't know if this would be appropriate for the kids. They still might be a little young for it, but it's along the lines of Frankenstein. But would you consider this to almost be a Halloween ish type of movie?

Weird science, the John Hughes film? Yeah, that's clever. Yeah, it's kind of it is like a it is sort of like a Frankenstein. It's just writing teenage boys with the hormones raging. They don't create a monster. They create a hot woman. Right? Right. Well, what about Teen Wolf? Oh, yeah, that's a great fox. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's it's in that genre, all those universal pictures that were classics and they're still mining them now, but then they give him a little twist.

And here we've got something that maybe works for a younger audience. Yeah, Teen Wolf, too, right? That was the sequel. But it didn't have Michael J. Fox. Probably not. No. Is Teen Big Thing. It was like Teen Wolf, like not the number two, but it was like, oh, yeah, I think by the time he did, that was one of those ones that they kind of kicked off.

And then he got all that success from Family Ties and then he was in the back to the Future trilogy. So he was really. Did he need to do one? No, probably not. No. I think he probably didn't get paid much either. No, no, no. But that was a classic of my youth. I remember that one vividly. And yet it was a cheap movie.

Exactly. You know, another one which I don't know if I would consider this. I saw it on some lists for Halloween films, and I don't necessarily know if it's Halloween, but it took place during Halloween and it's E.T. The extra terrestrial. That's a classic false movie. I don't think that counts. I don't think yeah, I don't know if it's a I see it on the list and I get it.

And, you know, they dressed up E.T. and and it made it look like a costume in all that. But it's more I think the time of the year, Halloween time than necessarily being a Halloween movie. If we're ditching Jaws as a legitimate movie for this time of year, we're ditching E.T.. It can't be it. I'm fine with that.

I'm fine with that. All right. Any more on the list? The girls did watch this one at a pretty young age, and I think it's a good kind of ghost movie. And it appeals both to, I think, parents and Kids is Casper the 1995 film. And that one was kind of fun because it is Casper. Casper, of course, is the Friendly Ghost, but it had fun little callbacks because wasn't Dan Aykroyd as the Ghostbuster made an appearance in it, and you had Father Guido Sarducci from Saturday Night Live.

Amen to exercise the house and all that. And I thought that was always a fun film to watch and it's one that's appropriate to the kids. It's not going to scare them. You're you're alright with that and they're not going to go, Wait a minute Dad. What did you do to us? The one that's a spoof of horror films, Scary movie.

Would that be one you'd consider? I don't know. I, I think I hate the genre so much. I mean, I've seen Scary Movie. I've seen all know. It's almost like I just don't even I hate I hate that aspect of the genre so much that the the spoof of it just doesn't appeal to me. I never I mean, I know it's not scary scary, but I just like, I can't I don't enjoy the references to begin with, so I'm not going to watch it.

How about arachnophobia? Oh, boy, that's been a long time since I saw that one. There was this kind of creepy spiders. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And then what about this is one maybe you did see with your kids the house with the clock in its walls. Have you seen that one? I don't think so. But it on the list.

Put it out. It's. I think it's pretty good and creepy. Okay. And it has people that you you you know, I'm not going to tell you all this because I think you want to go in blind, but it has actors that you recognize in their playing, kind of heightened versions of maybe what we know them for. Okay. But yeah yeah it's Ruby House now.

The Haunted Mansions. I have never really liked anything that they've done with Haunted Mansion. The current one that's out in theaters are heading to DVD. I don't like it. I think it is too much plot for what it's trying to unpack. And there, you know, it's like we got to try and tie in with the theme park somehow.

We got to make sure that we have these things that we're imagining and we're going to add the music. And then we got to have the hot hatbox ghost because that's going to be at the parks at some point. I hate that. And the Eddie Murphy one that came before was no good either. But I did like when the Muppets did a Haunted Mansion.

Oh, yeah. You can't go wrong with the Muppets. Yeah, the Muppets. They. You know, the Muppets were everywhere. The Muppets had done everything. Even though you think where they been, they don't really do too much, do they? Did they did a lot, but they had their own Haunted Mansion movie. And of the three, I think that's probably the best one as a second one out.

I don't I don't know if I ever saw that one. That would be fun. Yeah. It's it's cute to see Coco. Oh, yeah. What maybe be classified in this is in this genre because he goes to the dead you know where he's and it scare. I thought it was scary in parts. Yeah but I'm yeah I then it's an animated film and I think it's it's a beauty full film it was visual It's really because that was a Pixar movie.

Right. Right, right. Yeah. I'm trying to think of that. And then maybe my favorite recent Pixar film, I'm not sure if there's been a whole lot after that, but I really loved it. It was a really well done. Yeah, very well done. I saw that on some lists for Halloween movies and I was on the fence as to whether or not I would consider it, but they knew the characters out and I wish I could think of the name of the guy.

He was the singer who sings Remember Me? Yeah. Yeah, he looks like a skeleton. And they have that character at the theme parks now, singing and talking and interacting with the audience. And I think, Well, that's kind of interesting, but it's not so scary that you would, like, run away from it. You know, you get yeah, it's this could be good.

And then the original Addams Family films, those were good. Oh, sure. Yeah. Did you like the you're talking about the ones with like Raul, Julia and Anjelica Huston, right? Yeah, those were fine. I enjoyed them. The reboots that they did, CGI, not so much. Not on your list? No. Now the kids don't mind a may I? They've watched them a number of times.

And I think they're they're at least family friendly enough. I don't mind them. I got I think I got dragged to the movie theater to see one of them and it was okay. Yeah. You know who we do? Well, Scooby Doo is awesome. Well, now the live action Scooby Doo. No, I'm not going to watch A lot of Freddie Prinze Jr was in it commercial.

No, and I watched that. Yeah. What about monsters Inc? That's a fun one I love. But, I mean, that gets back to the early Pixar movies that I think almost everyone hit it out of the park. Yeah, my one daughter who doesn't like scary things. I think we tried showing that to them when they were little, like four or five years old and she's like, Come back to it since.

Yeah, Coraline, that's not so bad. I'm trying to think when I've seen it, but it's been a really. Yeah, well, that's the one with the button eyes and all that. Yeah. Mm. Yeah. So there we are. Cruella. I'm throwing that one at you. That's scary. The live action one for a couple years. Yeah. No, that was fun. I never know if I would.

I consider that to be Halloween ish. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. But he dresses up. That's a really good soundtrack. Yeah. Costumes, I think. Was it? It was nominated for best costume? I think so. Yeah. I didn't even want it. My. No, I remember because one of my daughters went as cruel a few years ago for Halloween.

And so she absolutely wants to see that in the theater. And I, I enjoyed it. And I thought the music kind of kept me going on it. It was well-done from that end. Yeah. No, it's a you know, again, Disney knows how to lean into these things because they know there's money on the back end with that. So if they can find a way to monetize some kind of property, they've got somewhere Maleficent, you know, in there, they'll do it, they'll do it.

But I think they're your safest bet when you're looking for something that you can show the kids without corrupting the kids, right? Absolutely. Yeah. One of the things that I have in my back pocket that actually is premiering this week is Goosebumps. Oh, Amber Goosebumps. Did you read any of the books they were before? Well, after my time, I should say.

Right. I was not a Goosebumps person. Yeah, I didn't read the books. That kind of I'm not sure when the books came out, but I just either either I'm a little too old for them or it's just not something that I ever got into. The kids loved them and I met R.L. Stine, and R.L. Stine does not seem like the type of guy who would write those kinds of books, but there were more than 60 of them.

And then there were spin offs and all these kinds of things. And there were TV series, there was a TV series that would take each book and then, you know, make an individual show about that. But now they've come up with a new series that kind of mash them all up. It's also called Goosebumps. It's it'll be on Hulu and Disney Plus.

And what it is, is they've taken five books. The premise of five books, and then created this kind of overlay where it's a high school and the kids are realizing that something is amiss in their school and a ghost possesses one of their favorite teachers and they're worried about this. They don't know what's going on. They're trying to get to the bottom of it.

But what they've taken is those five individual stories of these five kids and turned them into they're kind of subplots. So they become social issue ones. Maybe I have a diety when I'm at school. Maybe there is something about the kids don't like me. I mean, those kinds of subplots that play into this. And I was able to talk with the producers of the film or the series or whatever you want to call it.

And they were able to explain, you know, how did why do they do this? How do they do this? What's going on there? Connor Welch and Pavan Shetty and they are both former executives at networks. One was at ABC, one was at NBC. And so they kind of knew from the background what would work, what they could do.

And they realized that, you know, wait a minute, what you need is a great idea, and then you figure out what to do with that great idea. And so we do have an interview, if you'd like to hear it. Absolutely. Producers, are you two were you big Goosebumps fans as kids? Is that what this is all about? Is this why it happens?

That's where it all began. Yes. Voracious Goosebumps reader. The first book series that made reading feel fun as opposed to a task or ad sure that my parents or teachers made me do so. Yeah, I said little seminal series. And now my my oldest daughter is reading them as well, which is really fun. Same with you. Yeah. Yeah.

Garner and I are the same age, so we kind of grew up on these books and, and, and, you know, we're looking back on them with a sense of nostalgia. Now. But like kids, like Connor's kids getting scared for the first time. So it's a lot of different perspectives on the same material. And so it was really important to us that we sort of put those things together and made a show that felt appealing to both kids and adults at the same time.

It does seem a little more adult than past series. Was that intentional? You you plan that? Yeah, absolutely. We wanted to just sort of, you know, elevated a bit. And also, you know, the book series when I was reading them and now when my daughter reading them was always a little scarier and a little funnier than you expected.

And so that was certainly the intention with this series that we would surprise an audience with with more scares and more humor, hopefully, than they thought we would bring. And, you know, in in the landscape with premium television, it was important to us that it that it felt really sophisticated and cinematic and and yeah, it would play well for audiences of all ages.

So where do you get the idea to mash things up? Well, you know, we were lucky enough to have access to all of the Goosebumps books because R.L. Stine gave us access and our partners at Scholastic did too. And you know, there's a lot to choose from. So our creators, Rob Letterman and Nick Stoller, had a great idea where they came up with the structure, where for each of the first five, we're following a different character who's dealing with one of the issues from the books.

And mid-season they come together and realize what's going on and decided to take matters into their own hands. So we harnessed five of the books for the first five, and then we're pulling from a lot of them throughout the entire series. There's Easter eggs for a Goosebumps fans throughout the entire first season of the show. So if you go a second season and then will these same characters travel with that or does it become a whole new thing?

Yeah, the intention would be that these characters would would continue. And yeah, we were just so excited by these new actors, a lot of who will be brand new faces for for, for the audience. And they really just sort of hit their stride and found a really fun chemistry pretty early on in the season. So we'd love to see those dynamics play out for many more episodes to come.

Where do you find somebody to be Harold Biddle, for God's sakes, And how do you advertise for that? Well, we were lucky that that, you know, Justin Long, who ends up being possessed by Harold Biddle, comes along. And obviously Justin is so good at both comedy and horror, you know, from even Jeepers Creepers. And he just did Barbarian before we cast him.

And some of us were lucky enough to work with him before this. And, and I think Justin is someone that's perfect to do. Both those really comedic physical comedy set pieces, but also is able to be super scary and most importantly, be scared on camera in a really good way. And I think you know, our our he plays Mr. Brad is possessed by Harold Biddle but I think it was important that all of our cast be really good both comedically and dramatically because I think we switch back and forth between comedy and and thrilling stuff pretty seamlessly in the show.

Did you worry about him getting hurt because he does bring himself up Quite. I mean, what is this? You know? No, he is just an incredible physical comedian. And to watch him struggle with being possessed by a teenage boy and, you know, not all of it that entails was really, really hysterical. And Justin is just someone who is surprising at every turn.

Like every single take is a little bit different. And so we got some really, really fun, compelling performance out of him. And you said, we can't match anything. So doing all over again, right? That's good. Did you talk with R.L. Stine during the course of all of this? And what does he say? We did, yeah. Which was of the most thrilling parts of the entire process.

You having his name, you know, in bright green across most of the books in my library, in my child childhood bedroom. But yeah, he was involved in reading scripts and watching cuts. And yeah, one of the most exciting parts was when he first watched the pilot and reported back that that he loved it. And yeah, that was just a thrilling cherry on top.

I think, you know, for us we, we didn't take lightly how beloved the books are. I mean, they are massive, massive book series, over 400 million copies, 32 languages, I mean, and we genuinely love them. So we wouldn't have done this without his sort of blessing and support to go forward with this version. Well, your concept of, you know, the mash up does seem like something that, you know, is original.

It's not just we're taking another book and we're doing the same thing. It is a different a different take on it. What is it about horror, though, that people love? I think it's the surprise. I think I think actually there's something very similar about horror and comedy in the cadence and the rhythms of it. It's a lot of set up in surprise.

The surprise for a horror being a scare or a jump, the surprise or a a joke being the punchline. So Rob Letterman and Nick Stoller, the creators, and Hilary Winston, our showrunner, I think did a really great job of sort of harmonizing between those two genres throughout. So sometimes when you would expect a scare, you would get a laugh.

Another other times when when you were thinking, you know, there was a laugh coming, hopefully we we jump scared yet and this is you know there's lot of stuff like that. But we also talked a lot about how just being a high school kid today is super scary. Also, you know, we're dealing with a lot of personal issues these kids are dealing with.

So their teacher, he might be possessed by a ghost, but that's not even anywhere near as scary as being rejected by someone you like when you ask them out on a date. And so we're really sort of taking that. And those are universal issues, right? So that's pretty scary growing up right now. Those old media is scary. That's the the real threat that I never had to deal with.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Two were both executives at networks. What did that inform you about what people want? I'm just surprised that this is the direction you're going. You know what I mean? Where you you could control what we put on the air, but now you're creating the content for that. Yeah, well, I mean, you know.

Go ahead, go, go for it. Okay. I would say that being on the network side was helpful in perhaps selling and convincing to the powers that be, how to get your original idea through. And so with this, we were lucky enough to have a giant piece of intellectual property, as Bob and said, this is a book series that has sold over 400 million copies around the world.

Many different languages. So that is, is that from a network point of view is a great selling point. Okay, you check the big box that handles a lot of marketing, a lot of awareness, and then I think it was helpful in being able to articulate to the the buyers why this was going to be thrilling in different This was going to be something that's funny and scary great.

This is going to be something for adults and their kids. Grade This is also going to be something for adults who don't have kids, who grew up watching the book, or maybe adults who don't have kids who aren't a fan of the series. So, yeah, I think having been on the other side just sort of helps speak the language a little bit to get our very original idea through.

And I think, you know, we were both I was at NBC, Connor was at Fox, and then we both started producing and we've gone back and forth between comedy and drama. But I think when you're at a network and you're trying to program to a broad audience, you do try to chuck a lot of boxes. You have a medical show, you have a workplace comedy.

And I think at the end of the day, what we both learned is that you just have to have a good show. If you have a really good show that's authentic and takes risks and is just, you know, is fun to watch, then people are going to find it. You know, the audience will find the show. And I think at the end of the day, that's what was important to us here, is that we really just make a good show and and then the rest will happen.

Now, how is it this time, though, breaking through? Because there are so many shows out there and you do have the built in name recognition, but how do you make sure that you get see? Yeah, well, I think it just has to feel real and relatable. So, you know, as pub and said, all of these issues, all of these hauntings start from a hopefully very relatable place of insecurity, of the burden of finances, of does the boy I like, like me back and vice versa.

And then we get to elevate it with these big scary set pieces and monsters and and hauntings. So I think as long as it starts with a relatable nugget, you can kind of explode it to be a big spectacle. And and hopefully some combination of those things will break through the noise. And it's fortuitous that the show revolves around a Halloween party, and that's where the kids find all these items.

And we're premiering on October the 13th, Friday the 13th, right before Halloween. So the timing kind of works out to where we're doing a really scary show that comes out in the scariest month of the year, obviously. So what scares you guys? Everything. I think it strikes tomorrow. Yeah, right. That leaves this possibility of never being able to make movies and television again.

Yeah. You got everything done though. You have all ten in in. Yes. Very good. Like this. This was all pretty before before the strikes went down and we've been able to. Yeah. Unfortunately our our talent and creators and actors can't do the press. So that's why you see Puppet and I go to outside of that we're very grateful to have gotten it all in the can before this all turned upside down on us and have an are you related to the dean of a certain college or university?

Oh, that's funny. Yeah. I also produce the boys and the spin off Gen V and that's coming out this month. And they did name one of the characters after me. So I guess that's that's quite a bit. Yeah. But I think you know that hopefully my character is in, in real life isn't represented by the character in that show.

But, but it's that's another fun one that'll be coming out soon too. When you do have those kinds of series that are all on, how do you know which child gets what you know like with this for example, how do I know I should have this in that show and not in that show? You know, I do, Yeah.

Luckily, there's not a lot of crossover between the boys universe and Goosebumps. They're they're pretty different audiences. And I think if we did have some of the same tonal touchpoints, we'd have a little bit of a problem. I think it all comes from the creators, Rob and him in here with a really specific point of view and worked with this material and and that in the very beginning they knew exactly what this show was going to be.

And with Sony and Scholastic and Disney plus really shape this. And so it sort of took on a life of its own once these guys started and and they just really embraced, you know, their comedy background and the horror here. That's very different than other shows that I work on. And it's it's super exciting. Hey, you guys, thank you so much.

I'm dying to see the whole thing. I've only seen a couple of episodes, so don't spoil it. I don't want to know what happens, but I'm glad it's back. I'm really glad it's back. And the idea that it's a lot of stories where you can go, Aha, I get that. Oh, that's from that one. This is a really cool concept.

So thanks so much. Hey, if you need to teach at the university, just call me. Oh, this is very appreciated, man. All right, Bruce, thank you for those interviews. Did you catch in there? That one is also a producer of the boys and Gen V, which is a spinoff of that, and they've named a character after him, Dean Shetty.

And they said, you said they just did that. But, you know, it's like, hmm, what do we do with our producers here? Let's give them let's give them some kind of a profile. And maybe it's related to reality. Yeah, Yeah, I thought that was pretty funny. It's a good way to to, you know, kind of brown nose a little bit, I guess.

Right. We all take after people, too. Let's. Let's make the producers happy. Right? Right. Can't go wrong there. So this show, it debuts on Friday night. It's yeah. Scary. And then it runs for ten weeks and they're looking for a second season. So let's see if it happens. Well, on that note, we will wrap things up. Go get candy.

I think we should. That's always a good thing. After a Halloween film, Eat more candy. That's the trick. And visit your dentist and yeah, there you go. All right. Thanks again. And join us again next week for another episode of Streamed and Screened.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did you miss Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour or Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour? Fear not Swifties and fans of Queen Bey as they both have concert films due out soon.

Concert films are nothing new. Since "Woodstock" in 1970 — and even some earlier films that The Beatles did as they slowed and stopped touring — films have captured important festivals and tours, and provided insight into bands as well as the fans during specific time periods.

And even acclaimed directors have gotten into the act. Martin Scorsese has directed some of the most notable concert and musician biopics of all-time when not busy with gritty dramas.

Crank up the volume as co-hosts Bruce Miller and Terry Lipshetz talk about their favorite concert films of all time, discuss the marketing genius that is Taylor Swift, and share additional stories and thoughts as well. 

Where to watch

"Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé" in theaters Dec. 1

Contact us!

We want to hear from you! Email questions to [email protected] and we'll answer your question on a future episode!

About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Headliner and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Terry Lipshetz: Welcome, everyone, to another episode of Streamed and Screened an entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer at Lee and co host of the program with our band leader Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and a longtime entertainment reporter. So if you're John Lennon, does that.

Bruce Miller: Make me Ringo? No Paul McCartney. Oh, I'mccartney you get to be the big one. Why not go for the good one, right?

Terry Lipshetz: Exactly.

Taylor Swift's concert film is coming out next week

Terry Lipshetz: So music. Taylor this is the week.

Bruce Miller: This is the week. Did you know this? If you were a Swiftie, you would know these kinds of things, and that is that Taylor Swift's movie is coming out in the next week, and it's based on her era's tour. What I like to look at this as those of us who couldn't afford or get tickets to her tour will be able to see it without having to really bust a hump.

Terry Lipshetz: That's the best part to me about concert films is that it's a great way to get you to the show, if you can't get to the show, because sometimes some of these tour stops and, I mean, you're in Iowa, so for you, how often does I mean, you'll get shows. Sure, come to Iowa, but not something this big, right?

Bruce Miller: Yeah.

Terry Lipshetz: You got to travel. You got to go to Chicago or, Minneapolis.

Bruce Miller: I had friends tell me they spent $12,000 to see Taylor Swift.

Terry Lipshetz: Holy cow.

Bruce Miller: $12,000. Someday this will sound like I'm, absurd thinking that that's a lot of money, but in this day, it's a lot of money. It factors in the price of the tickets, the cost of getting there, the hotel room you have to have. I mean, it's like, I don't know that there's anybody on this earth that I would spend $12,000 to see.

Terry Lipshetz: I don't have that kind of spending cash.

Bruce Miller: But knowing that it is coming out on film, on DVD, I'm sure eventually all those kinds of things, it's an opportunity for all of us to enjoy whatever it was that was put out there and then maybe be even a little more critical about what they saw. Because I think they were all caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment. So I don't know. Maybe it isn't that good. Maybe 44 songs is too many. Who knows?

Terry Lipshetz: It sounds like, from what I've heard, it's a really good show. I've seen a lot of clips of it. If you like Taylor Swift, I think it's definitely a show you want to see. I keep hearing 44 songs, but it's not like she performs them in full. There are some snippets here and there, and she kind of goes through the eras. No word if there is ranch dressing involved. Did you hear about no, no. So she's dating or at least seeing Travis Kelsey from the Kansas. You can't escape.

Bruce Miller: Right.

Terry Lipshetz: So every little thing she does now gets dissected, and on social media. They were looking when she was at the Chiefs game in her luxury suite, somebody spotted a picture of her with a chicken finger on a plate with what appeared to be ketchup and then a white substance that was labeled as seemingly ranch. Seemingly ranch. So ranch dressing companies, are like, running with it. Taylor eats ranch dressing.

Bruce Miller: Who knew that she had such clout? Right.

Terry Lipshetz: Right. It's crazy.

Bruce Miller: Anything she does when she was here, she did play here way back in the early, early days when she was considered a country artist, if you dare say that. And, the thing I found most amazing about her is that she didn't do her t shirt in one style. She did the look of it in like five different colors. So these fans would want all five of them. And I thought that is a brilliant marketing decision by somebody that you weren't just getting the tour shirt, you were getting all of them. Because, if I'm going to get one, I got to have them all. What color do I pick? How do I pick? What am I going to do? So marketing genius. I think she's far more skilled at selling herself than she is at anything else. And that is not a diss. That means that she is just a genius at it. She should be teaching this at Harvard.

Terry Lipshetz: Well, you know, with me, I'm, a record collector because you've seen my music collection and stuff in the background. Taylor. It extends to releasing physical media. So with the, album, actually, all of her recent albums, she'll release it on vinyl on a standard black edition. Limited. Limited, but well, the black is always that's standard. You can get that anytime you want. But then there is a different colored version that you can buy at Target. And then you can buy four different versions with four different album covers on four different colors through her website. And she puts them up at these intervals, like for the next 48 hours, only you can buy this one. And then it goes away. And then people freak out because they're like, you're making me buy it multiple times and you're charging me shipping multiple times. Why can't you just put it all up? But people will do that. I've seen people on social media sharing out. She's only got it's not like she's got 35 albums. She's got a solid catalog of a dozen different albums or so. But each one has like five or six or ten variants. Like you could literally have a, ah, collection of 200 Taylor Swift records. And it's just like a dozen albums.

Bruce Miller: At this point, which is kind of unreal. That is crazy.

Terry Lipshetz: And people buy like Taylor's army. They will buy it. And it's like, as I said, I'm a record collector. I do have multiple copies of certain albums, but it's less about like, I need a black version and I need a green version and a red version. It's like I've got the original pressing, an early pressing of Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. I have a Japanese copy. I have a UK copy. They're pressed in different places, so the sound might be a little bit different.

Bruce Miller: Are they unplayed? Do you keep them so that nobody touches them?

Terry Lipshetz: No, I play them. And that's a little bit of the difference with some of the Taylor Swift fans is they might play one copy, but then they've got 13 that sit on a shelf or they hang on a wall or something.

Bruce Miller: That could end up being the Beanie Babies of our era. It's going to be, should I say eras?

Terry Lipshetz: eras. yes, Beanie Babies of our so. But yeah, like shameless self promotion.

Beyoncé's film drops after the end of her tour

Terry Lipshetz: Bruce, if you do want to check me out on social media, my Instagram handle is at vinyl underscore Terry. And you can just see what music I'm listening to.

Bruce Miller: I will look. That's great. Check it out. The Beehive is also or the Beehive, I should say, is going to have its film in. Know, she's once she sees what Taylor does, she's got to do one better.

Terry Lipshetz: well, and her strategy is a little different. So with Taylor, she's a little bit on hiatus at the moment. She's taking a small break in her tour. Right. Well, she goes I think in another month she heads down to South America. She's going to do like, Argentina and all that. So her film is going to drop October 13, I believe. And then, with Queen Bey, her tour is over. So she's going to drop hers on, I believe it's December 1 and it's going to air in theaters on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for about four weeks. So it's going to be like a limited run month of December. But her tour is done. So it's not like right. You either saw it and want to relive the moment or you missed it and here's your opportunity. Whereas with Taylor, this is just kind of just another opportunity to see her. And then you can fly off to South America or you can wait for her to circle back in North America next summer.

Bruce Miller: We've got to spend $12,000 and follow her around.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah.

Bruce Miller: And then go to all the, Chiefs games to make sure that we see that in case she happens to wave to the audience from the skybox. You know how it is. Well, I must tell you, I have followed these kinds of films for know going Back to Woodstock was probably the first good concert ish film because it did give you a sense of it and made me glad I never went there because I don't think I could have withstood Mud and all that kind of whatever crap was invited. I was in California one summer and I was invited. I think it was summer. It either was summer or January, but it was the, preview of, One Direction's film. One Direction had a film called this Is US. I think it is. This is us.

Terry Lipshetz: Okay?

Bruce Miller: And they were having this sneak in the Grove, which is a kind of upscale shopping center in Los Angeles, okay? And somehow the word got out that this was going on and all these little girls who were fans of One Direction gathered there. They were outside this theater like you couldn't believe. It was like the scene in Frankenstein where the villagers are going to storm the castle because they want in. And they had heard that One Direction was going to be there. That they were going to turn up for, this screening that they weren't invited to that they couldn't get into. And so I'm sitting in the theater, right? And we get the manager of the theater looking just really whipped and he says, whatever you do, do not leave your seat. If you leave your seat and you leave the theater, you will not get your seat back. Because if somehow they break in and they start sitting in the seats where there aren't people, we can't kick them out, huh? We have no way of doing it. So please do not leave your seat. And we heard people pounding at the door outside and this made news. You'll find if you want to go back and look it up, pounding at the door, insistent that Harry Styles was in there somewhere and we were keeping them from meeting him. It was unlike any situation I've ever been in that's, a preview of anything. Was the movie okay? I have no clue. I was worried that I was going to be beaten by a twelve year old at some point because I was in there sitting and watching this movie that meant so much to them.

Terry Lipshetz: But they weren't well, they, didn't show up, right?

Bruce Miller: They were out there, but the cops came and the cops kept them and got them out of the theater. So they were not in the theater at all. And then when we walked out, you could see that there was like you who was in there? Who was in there with you? Did you see Niall? Was he in there with were the kids were real questioning. I thought they could kill people. I think they really could kill people.

Terry Lipshetz: They probably could if you're determined. If you're determined.

Bruce Miller: And so then I said, oh, it was wonderful. You've got to see this film. It's just so yeah, yeah.

Scorsese directed a documentary about Bob Dylan's 1975 concert tour

Terry Lipshetz: Woodstock, though. That's probably the first concert film I had ever seen. It was actually one I'm trying to think when my dad let me see it because it's a know, there's some language in it, there's some drug use in it, there's definitely some nudity in it. And it may have even been the first movie I had seen with nudity. But it's really a fascinating look at what went on. I think my dad always had a real connection with it too, because he bought tickets with friends to Woodstock. Yeah, he didn't get to it. He got stuck on the New York State throughway and eventually had to turn around because they left a little too late on whatever day it was. And by that time it was crazy. People had stormed the grounds. It had become a free concert. And he was angry. So he did what any other person who bought a ticket tickets? No, he sent it back and got a refund. And he regrets it. he regretted it for the rest of his life because he wished he could have had that ticket stub of like, I actually bought a ticket and I couldn't get there. But yeah, it was all of his favorite bands were playing. It's an incredible thing. So I think he always wanted us to, my siblings to really feel that connection with him, with Woodstock. But it's a fascinating film too, because Woodstock, up until that movie, was just a financial disaster. And it took that movie to kind of help them break even, basically.

Bruce Miller: Well, and it showed you how acts that they weren't counting on turned out to be the stars really made their fortunes for them. Whereas other ones that they were counting on, it's like, well, not so sure here. This is not necessarily the star.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. And you know who, not a director of the film, but one of the film editors of it. Do you know what famous, director Scorsese was? One of his earliest, works was as a film editor on Woodstock.

Bruce Miller: See what happens see what happens when you're available and you can get to that place.

Terry Lipshetz: Right.

Bruce Miller: Only but he wouldn't have gotten a t shirt because he probably weren't selling any.

Terry Lipshetz: yeah, but Marty, and we know Martin Scorsese by Marty because we're.

Bruce Miller: He'S one of our pals, right, right.

Terry Lipshetz: But he's got a long history in doing movies, documentaries, know musicians. He directed The Last Waltz, which was the final concert of the Band. He did, ah, no Direction Home, which was the documentary about the early life of Bob Dylan. They captured him leaving Minnesota and then going to New York and kind of rising through the folk scene. And then it kind of ended, when he plugged in. He did a documentary on, George Harrison. did you ever see the one he did called, Rolling Thunder Review a Bob Dylan Story. Do you remember that one?

Bruce Miller: No.

Terry Lipshetz: So he directed this and it was the most bizarre thing. So it's based on Dylan's concert tour during I think it was 1975, it was a transitional stage in Dylan's career. But he went out with this huge group of people. It was like 20 people on stage. It was almost like a circus dylan painted his face. He had like white makeup on every night and wore a big hat. And it captures a lot of those performances. But the film that Scorsese did was almost part fiction because it plays into the myth that is Dylan. And it talks like, I think Sharon Stone was in it and she talks about how she was a groupie during but she wasn't, she wasn't on the tour with Dylan at all. But they added in, for whatever reason, different moments of fiction to what was actually supposed to be a documentary of his tour of the mid seventy s. So it's kind of a crazy oh, my crazy thing. Yeah.

Bruce Miller: One that I am fascinated by is the Michael Jackson one. Supposed to be about his last concert tour. And they kind of created it into that tour. I mean, if you were there, you would see all of the numbers that they were planning to do, but you realize in the course of that somewhere, there was no way he was going to be able to produce this every night. He couldn't. He didn't have the energy, he didn't have the stamina. I mean, it was fascinating when they did each number, but you'd think somebody's got to go get some oxygen at some point because it's just way too much. And it's telling because it shows how talented he was, but also how old he was. And the idea that you can do that maybe past your prime is unreal. But if you haven't seen that one, please watch it because it's unbelievable.

Terry Lipshetz: This is it, right? Yeah. And that came out in 2009. I remember watching that one and it was really fascinating because it took you inside of the prep for the tour. But it was also really sad too, because you were seeing his decline basically too at the time. Obviously, in retrospect, when you see it, you're like, well, okay, that makes sense. But at the time you probably didn't even realize that he was nearing the end of his life.

Bruce Miller: Right? Well, I think it's one of those things where he thought, too, I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to be able to do this. This isn't going to happen. Instead of doing it once and doing it for film it and then you never have to do it again, why know, right. Do you remember when HBO was real big about doing these live, specials? And there was a Diana Ross one live from Central Park, and it started to rain, and it was like the worst rain ever. And not as bad as the one they've had recently, but it was bad so that the people were like, well, she just kept on going. She was the bunny and wouldn't let it up and come on, everybody, sing with me. And it's like, wow, this is real. But I think they like that document of their time because it is a way to mark certain hallmarks of their career. And then also it's a way for fans to say, you know what, she or he really was that good.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah, I won't watch every concert documentary out there. But if it's a musician that I at least either like or respect, I like to check it out. Because it's always a good time capsule to kind of see what happens.

Led Zeppelin's concert films bookend two eras

Terry Lipshetz: An interesting one for me is, The Song Remains the Same, the documentary concert film, about the, Led Zeppelins tour from 1973, where they filmed it at Madison Square Garden. And here is that band at, really the height of their popularity, right? It's middle of their career. Things are crazy. And it captures the moment. And that came out in 76. And then years, years later, they did another concert film. And it's called Celebration Day. And that came out in 2012. Now, this is after John Bonham had died. And after John Bonham died, the band broke up. And they swore, we're never getting back together. And there were little things here and there, like Robert Plant and Jimmy Page did a side project together. But they never really went back out. I think they had that one off, like at Live Aid, where they came together and played. But they never again really did any sort of tour or anything. They swore we're never going to reunite. But then they ended up doing, a benefit concert at the Two Arena in London. And it was just a one off. And they said, we're going to do it. We're doing this benefit. It's for one of their early managers or promoters. So that's the only reason we're going to do it. And it's sold out in minutes. And the cool thing about it, though, is that they brought in Jason Bonham, who is John Bonham's son, to play on drums. And I always thought it was cool watching that concert. Know, you knew that this is know, you're not going to be able to see them again. They're never going to get back again. But they opened it up with the song Good, Times, Bad Times. And it was very much like a drum driven song. So we're going to open it up. We're going to let Jason Bonham kind of take center stage in honor of his dad kind of thing. And then they kind of tore through like 16 songs after that. So it was a really nice moment. And there's a band that kind of had two ends of the spectrum. Like one at the height of craziness in the we're like grandparents now. But this is us. We're going to get back to one more time. We're going to honor a friend of ours and do it one more time. And I thought that was pretty cool.

Bruce Miller: Well, and we look at the Beatles really did concert films too. They just did them more like music videos, right, with all of their kind of help and you name it, Let It Be, all that kind of stuff. Had a moment. They never really sat it down and did, something that we're seeing a lot of, but so we still have that kind of record of their time on earth. The Rolling Stones, however, had, give me shelter.

Terry Lipshetz: And do you?

Bruce Miller: That was like, wow, yeah, those times. I don't know that I would have been eager to go to those concerts at the time. But in retrospect, as an older person with more hopefully smarts about what I'm doing, I can appreciate it much more than I would have at the time. I would have been worried about getting out. Are we getting out time? Ah, is the parking going to be bad? Do I have to worry about all that? You know what I mean? Now it's a lot of fun to watch it, and especially when they're still performing. I'm sure every move they make now when they're in concert is photographed somewhere, somehow. We didn't have social media back in the day, so everybody wasn't holding a phone up and, recording it. They were just appreciating what it was at the time.

Terry Lipshetz: The Beatles, it's an interesting example because they had several movies that are still popular to this know, like A Hard Day's Night, and there were concert elements within the film, but it was more of a traditional film. But it captured Beetlemania, ah, at the height of Beetlemania. So if you weren't there in the experience, Beetlemania, even though it's kind of a light hearted film, you still got the essence of it. And then you got some of the goofiness with help and all that. But it's really a shame with them because they stopped touring in the mid 60s because they couldn't hear themselves. And if you ever get a chance, I have like a bootleg DVD of their Shay Stadium concert. And it's the craziest thing. It's like a 25 minutes concert. I mean, that's all their concerts were back there. They would do 20 songs in 25 minutes and then they were done.

Bruce Miller: Wow. I've been to the theater, the Ed Sullivan Theater, where they did their big performance on television, the first one. And the place is small. It's really small. And I remember seeing people in the balcony, like they were jumping up and down and were so excited that they thought it was going to come down. And you realize, wow, we were really kind of duped back in the day thinking that it was just this huge Madison Square Garden kind of experience. And it was just a small you know, the cameras made it look like it was much bigger than it actually was.

Terry Lipshetz: If you ever get a chance in New York City, you take the NBC Studios tour and they usually will take you to a couple different sets, including it's like they always do Saturday Night Live, and then they'll give you like, one or two. And I remember when I took the tour one time we went to the Saturday Night Live set, and you're just kind of blown away because you realize you actually can't see some of if you're in that studio audience. Because of the way they have to arrange the floor. They might be filming part of it off to the side where the audience can't actually see it. And you have to watch it on monitors. You just see where they come out for the monologue and you see where the band performs. But then some of the other configurations are all over the place. And then we also went out to, I think it was Conan O'Brien's when he was still it was before he the Tonight Show, and he had that late, night program. And I remember going there and we saw the Max Weinberg drum kit sitting out there and Conan's desk. But it's tiny. It's a tiny little.

Bruce Miller: Sneaky. Yes.

Bruce Miller: you mentioned Saturday night. I was lucky enough to have been there during the early years. I saw an episode that, I don't know if you remember any of these things, but there was a dance that Gilda Radner and Steve Martin did and they were, like, going all around the whole area and they came near me, and I was able to get on camera at some point with them. So if you ever have access to that, go back and look. But it was fascinating because you could not see all of the skits. There could be a skit right down below you, but, you can't lean in and look at that. And so you'd basically get to see a couple and that's about it. But, the flurry of activity that's going on between the skits is just amazing. And then the sound is really good for, the guest artist, whoever is singing that week or whatever. It's really good. a couple of times I've gotten to go to Saturday Night Live. It's like the most impossible ticket to get because, at best, you're going to get a rehearsal ticket at this point because they do a rehearsal before they do the final show, right? And, somehow they'll let people in there. But you really need to know somebody if you're going to go to the actual show itself. So put that on a bucket list. It's really worth it.

Bruce Miller: You had mentioned back a little bit earlier about the two this huge venue in London, and, every year, it seems they're rerunning this on PBS. And that's the Les Miz anniversary special. And it's just unbelievable. I love the show. Les Miz arabla. As a musical, it's wonderful. But this they combined a whole bunch of old stars, people who had been in it before, made this kind of masterful thing. And then you saw these people walking up the aisles of this show and it was like, oh my God, I can't believe this. And those are those once in a lifetime experiences that somehow need to be captured on film. But The Two is a place where they all play at some point. Look at all the things they did when Prince Charles and, when Queen Elizabeth had her anniversary. You name it, they did something there. And it's a place I'd love to go to just to see what it's like in person.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah, that would be a fun one. And then you think about entertainment destinations now, too, with The Sphere in Las Vegas with U Two and U Two, because U Two is such a visual band that they're able to utilize the interior. I mean, that's just amazing. It's just a giant Led screen, basically. But they had a concert film as well. I don't know. Do you remember Ratle and Hum?

Bruce Miller: Oh, yes, I think we got them. And get it free. If you had like, some Apple product, they gave it to you.

Terry Lipshetz: I don't know, you might have, but no, I think that might be something else. But Ratle and the Hum came out in, I think it was 1988. And it was a combination, album. It was like a live album that came out after The Joshua Tree. And it also had a companion film that went with it. The companion film. Some people love it, some people hate it. I don't know if there's very many people that are kind of like in the middle on this one. It's really bizarre. So on one hand, you get a lot of performances from the Joshua Tree tour, which is really at that know, they had a few earlier albums that did were critically acclaimed, but they didn't necessarily explode commercially. But The Joshua Tree exploded commercially and they had huge hits. So they documented parts of this tour and they shot a lot of it in black and white. But then near the end, they went into color. But then they had these intermittent weird side journeys where they went to Graceland and they talked about their love for Elvis and they met with BB. King and they did this. And it was just kind of a strange document of the time. I would have been happier with. Just give me 25 songs of a straight YouTube concert. If you got to take a few performances from a few different shows, so be it. But, I don't know. I could probably have done without the side commentary. Yeah, exactly. Because I love you two and I've seen them in concert and I have all their albums. But Bono has a certain way about them, I guess is a way of saying it. And it's just like they're a little bit too over the top sometimes, even for me. I think Rattle and Hum really, it sums up that time, at least, even though.

Bruce Miller: All those little pop stars. Anna Montana, right? bieber had one. I think it was 3D. Katy Perry, you name them, they all get these movies at some point. And it's somebody saying, you know, here's how we can make the budget on that tour. That didn't go so well. We'll put out a movie, and then we'll make up the difference that we lost in, know, having that big set piece that you had. There was a great mockumentary about Madonna's tour. Remember how Madonna had the cone bra and all that? And Julie Brown. Not the Julie Brown that you remember from MTB, but a different Julie Brown who was a comedian, did her spoof of was. So I think she called herself Medusa or something.

Terry Lipshetz: Okay. Yeah.

Bruce Miller: But if you ever get to see that, it is such a hoot. It makes fun of these in the best way. The best way. And Madonna had to have loved it. And she's another one who should look at those things and say, I'm glad I have this document. I really am. Because I don't know that her tours now are as iconic as they should be. Gaga she has done things. She's done films or specials, but I don't know that she's done one of these kind of big movie things that would have told all or showed all or whatever. And maybe she's ripe for one.

Terry Lipshetz: Maybe. You know which one I really like, too. And this was an opportunity because I couldn't get to New York, and I'm a huge Springsteen fan. And then this is like my other Broadway. Yeah. In my other shameless self promotion, I have another Instagram account called at Bruce Springsteen Collection, where I document all of the Springsteen albums in my collection. And I'm not just talking about the regular stuff. I've got some things that were not officially released that I show off on this thing.

Bruce Miller: But does Bruce know?

Terry Lipshetz: He knows this stuff is out there.

Bruce Miller: Okay.

Terry Lipshetz: but, yeah, no, I'm a huge hardcore. I've seen him in concert 1314 times at this point.

Bruce Miller: Why didn't you go to the Broadway show? Come on.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah, I mean, I really wanted to, but the cost for tickets, I got to travel from the Midwest to the city. Yeah, it's an expensive show. So, when Netflix made the deal to air, know, one of the performances of Spring Scene on Broadway, it was a really good opportunity. And I would have loved to have gone to the Walter Kerr Theater to see it live. But I think in this type of setting, the way they filmed it, you felt like you were right there.

Terry Lipshetz: It was a very well done documentary, know, whatever you want to call it. it captured the know, it was kind of like, with Hamilton, because if you couldn't see the original cast, you at least got to see it on Apple TV. And I think that was a good second opportunity. And I think that's what this is.

Bruce Miller: I told you my story about Hamilton, right? That I was determined to see Hamilton no matter what.

Terry Lipshetz: No, I don't think I heard this one.

Bruce Miller: Oh, do you mind if I go ahead. Story. The thing about me is I have to see the original cast. I have to see the original actor in a Broadway show or I don't feel like if it's a big thing sure. And I knew that Hamilton was going to be a big thing even before Hamilton was a spark on anybody's radar. And then it got out there and I thought, I've got to go, but when am I going and how do I get tickets? And it was like this whole thing where I couldn't get the tickets. The tickets were just outrageous. And I decided I was going to go on StubHub. And so StubHub I went on, and it was like, 1000 something for the tickets, and am I going to spend $1,000? And then I start rationalizing all these things. Well, life is short. You're not going to be around that much longer. You want to see it, you should go. The original cast was breaking up after that. I was rationalizing.

Terry Lipshetz: Right. You played it out, like, 15 steps and you're like, I'm on board.

Bruce Miller: And it got down to the point where it was $777.

Terry Lipshetz: Oh, you got to do it.

Bruce Miller: And I did it. I jumped. And then I was at a hotel and we had to add, you know, how this thing is where you print out the tickets, but you're not really sure about all this, and you think, oh, they're going to take money to the cleaners and I'm going to lose $700, and it's going to be just the worst, right?

Terry Lipshetz: Yes.

Bruce Miller: And so I went to the business office at the hotel and they said, yeah, these are pretty good. You should be all right. You shouldn't have a problem. But if I were you, I'd get to the theater early, because if somebody sold this ticket twice, which could happen, you won't be the one who gets in. It'll go the one who got in before you. I made a beeline to that theater as fast as I could. And when I heard that M of the ticket, it was like, yes. So I get to my seat, and the seat was really good. And I'm talking to the people next to me. And there was a family from Los Angeles who came because the daughter had been listening to the album all along and wanted to see this. Right. This was her goal. And they gave up going to any other shows. They weren't going to any kind of theme parks. They weren't doing anything but Hamilton. And they spent $10,000. And they were sitting next to me. And we talked to people, like, in the row before us. They spent nothing. Somebody handed them tickets at the theater. So there were all these kind of stories that were going around among the people, and you felt lucky. You felt like, I have won the lottery. I am here. And then you hear and you think, this is, like, the most unbelievable experience I've ever been in my life. It was everything. And then a little bit more. And I'll tell you an, intermission. I ran to the merchandise table and bought $200 worth of crap just because I wanted to prove that I had been to Hamilton, right? So it was my thing. And I realized, you know what? It was money well spent. It was really money well spent. Now, when I saw the Apple version of or I mean, the Disney version, disney plus version of, Hamilton, it was perfect. It lived up to all of the things that I remember, because after that cast, the original cast left. I did go see it again, and it did not live up to the hype. But having seen the original cast and then seeing the original cast do the filmed version of Was, if you want to know how good it was, watch that. It was very good. And I think they did a great job of capturing that whole moment. But, yeah, that's cool. My Hamilton story. So for the next year after that, I got more Hamilton crap from people because they said, well, you're the one that really likes Hamilton, don't you? Here's a hamilton. Whatever. But I had talked to Lin Manuel Miranda before he was even writing it. He was on a TV series as, like, a third stringer. And I said, well, what are you working on? Because he had done some other stuff for the theater. And that if you know anything about me, I'm just a hardcore theater person. I live for that. And he said, well, I'm working on a little thing I call the Hamilton mixtape. It's a show about Alexander Hamilton, but it's done with rapid hip hop and that kind of stuff. He says, we'll see where it goes. And I'll look where it went.

Terry Lipshetz: We'll see where it goes. It may pan out. Who knows?

Bruce Miller: It's a fascinating story. And then to even take it further, while he was doing Hamilton, he was writing the songs for Moana. He would do zoom calls with the directors of Moana, who one of them happens to be from Sioux City. And he would tell me about how yeah, he'd come after before they start the show or during an intermission or whatever, and they would like, work well, this song needs to be this, and this song needs to be that. Okay, I'll work on it, and I'll get you another one. And then he'd go out and do the show.

Terry Lipshetz: That's crazy.

Bruce Miller: Yeah, it's weird, but there's your $0.02 worth on those kind of direct to the screen versions.

Bruce Miller: But you know what? I think these are ways for all of us to enjoy entertainment that we maybe don't have the access to.

Terry Lipshetz: Absolutely.

Bruce Miller: It's an affordable way and you still get all the bells and whistles. And even if you had a bad seat at the show itself, if you did go, here's a way to see things that maybe you didn't see.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah, and it's a cool way too, because it captures the moment of the time. So if you're like me, who I'm in my later forty s and I was born after Woodstock. I can see what m people of my parents age looked like and acted like ah, as youngsters and realized that some of the things that they yelled at me for, they were doing them also back in.

Bruce Miller: As someone who was around, I will tell you they were just as bad, if not worse than we see kids today.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah, exactly. And then I look back at something like 1991, the film The Year Punk Broke, which looks at bands like Sonic Youth and Nirvana when they exploded in the early ninety s. And I watched those and I'm like, oh, did I really dress that way in high school? Yeah. Oh man.

Bruce Miller: No, it's fascinating. I was talking to a college student today, and she was doing a project for one of her design classes. And she says, I am going back to the I'm trying to kind of conjure all those things that were big in the some of these things that you're coming up with weren't in the little careful, because I don't remember this stuff. And I remember the 70s like nobody.

Terry Lipshetz: You do. Yeah, you absolutely remember them. So again, we've got October 13, Taylor Swift's, the Era's tour film, coming out. Beyonce has her film coming out in December. And check out some of these films that we talked about opportunities like Woodstock, Ratle and lot of like Scorsese has done a lot of if you're into like like you know, he's got a lot of things besides, the gangster films. He loves music and it plays into all of his films and he's done quite a few, so a lot of good things. And he's got a new movie coming up and then we have another episode coming out next week. You have an interview with that, right?

Bruce Miller: With Goosebumps? Yeah. Get ready. We're getting closer to Halloween and they've rebooted Goosebumps. They had a series where they would do a different book for each episode. Now they've created a kind of a mashup where they put the characters together and they're telling stories from four or five different books in the course of a season. And you'll get a chance to hear the producers talk about why they did what they did with this. And it's a little more adult than you may remember the Goosebumps book being. So look for that. That's next week when we come back on Streamed and Screened.

Terry Lipshetz: Sounds good. So we'll talk about Goosebumps and we'll talk about maybe some other family friendly ish kind of Halloween things that we can dive into if you must.

Bruce Miller: If you're not we're talking about saw.

Terry Lipshetz: I will tap out. If we're talking horror movies, I am tapping out before we get started. We won't do saw. None of that stuff. I like to get a solid night's sleep, Bruce. I don't need horror things flashing through my head. That stuff's scary. I don't like scary things.

Bruce Miller: Yeah, we'll play the Springsteen white noise machine, and you'll be able to go to sleep.

Terry Lipshetz: Sounds good. All right. We'll be back again next week with another episode of Streamed and Screened.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The writers strike is over so new programming — at least in the form of late-night television — will be returning soon. But with actors still on strike, most television shows and movies are not yet completely back in production.

That means in most cases actors can't promote their work, which has led to some offbeat movie premieres such as a record number of dogs showing up on the red carpet for "PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie." But not all actors are prohibited from speaking to the media, which meant a new interview from co-host Bruce Miller with Oliver Dench (yes, he's related to Judi Dench) talking about "Hotel Portofino."

Bruce and co-host Terry Lipshetz have been using the time to get caught up on the limited new films and shows hitting theaters and streaming services such as the new series "Gen V," the latest "Star Wars" installment "Ahsoka" and the new baseball documentary "The Saint of Second Chances." Bruce also managed to make it to the end of the fourth installment in the "Expendables" franchise.

It's a pretty big list, so be sure to use our list below to help map out your schedule! 

Where to watch

Contact us!

We want to hear from you! Email questions to [email protected] and we'll answer your question on a future episode!

About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Headliner and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Bruce Miller and Terry Lipshetz discuss writers' strike ending

Terry Lipshetz: Just a quick note about this episode Bruce Miller and I recorded after it was revealed that writers and studios agreed to a new contract and had stopped picketing. But prior to writers being given permission to return to work. Welcome everyone, to another episode of streamed and screened an entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer at Lee and co-host of the program with Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and a longtime entertainment reporter. Bruce, we got some good news.

Bruce Miller: There is news.

Terry Lipshetz: We have a almost, almost it's not officially, not all the I's dotted and T's crossed, but we're so close, so close with the writers.

Bruce Miller: How good is it if we have no actors that can do the scripts that they're writing?

Terry Lipshetz: Right, exactly. But it could mean things like our late night programs come back a little Jimmy Fallon, maybe.

Bruce Miller: How good is it if all we get are late night programs and game shows? It'll be game shows galore with all the Jeopardy champion of Champions, the ultimate reality star game show. I think tonight, too, we start Dancing with the Stars. So that is not really covered by the rules, apparently.

Terry Lipshetz: Right.

Bruce Miller: because you can dance, but you probably shouldn't talk.

Terry Lipshetz: It is kind of quirky. There's these little carve outs here and there, like broadcasters for sporting events. They're members of the Actors Guild, but it's a carve out for them. And there's other little things, like know, because, like, Drew Barrymore was coming back with her then, and then that got reversed because she had a couple writers that were on strike, and so they pulled the plug on again. You know, she's an actor, but presumably now with the writer's strike ending, we'll be back at work very soon.

Bruce Miller: And I think she's a producer too. So what trumps what highest title that you carry?

Terry Lipshetz: So it's good news. It sounds like they pulled, the Writers Guild told their membership, you can stop picketing. We'll get you the information. We really haven't seen too many details yet come out, but they just sounded very happy with it. They'll send it to voting members. It said like a week to ten days, and then they should be kind of back at it, which on one hand gives you optimism because you think, okay, they got the writers done now, they're going to move over and we can get the actors done. But then right before we came on to do this show, I saw that the screen actors just voted to begin a, walkout against video game makers. Because there's actors involved with the making of video games, because you've got voice actors and stunts and things like that that they use for motion capture and all that. A lot of the video game makers are the same groups that are in charge of studios like Disney and Sony Entertainment and all these. So, the last strike, against video games, 2016. And it lasted nearly a year. So a little concerning. I don't know how this will play.

Bruce Miller: I think we can give up video games. I don't care.

Terry Lipshetz: My kids might care.

Bruce Miller: Bring the acting back. That's what I want most of all. Well, we wish them well, and we hope that they reach a quick resolution on all of that, because it is making it difficult for us.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah, well and it makes your job difficult because you like to, of course, talk to the actors.

Bruce Miller: I'd rather talk to an actor than a producer.

Terry Lipshetz: Would you talk to a dog?

Bruce Miller: I would talk to a dog.

Terry Lipshetz: Dogs that apparently aren't covered by the Screen Actors Guild. Because I don't know if you saw this, but Paw Patrol: The mighty movie, had its big red carpet premiere, and 219 dogs showed up to watch the premiere. Because dogs will sit and watch a premiere, and it set a new Guinness, world record.

Bruce Miller: So that's where we're at with each.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. It's gone to the dogs. Hollywood has gone to the dogs.

Bruce Miller: Well, wait till they start striking. Imagine what they'll do.

Terry Lipshetz: They'll bury their bones.

Bruce Miller: Or they might just all do a no walk out and then no walking. And then they come to this, and they take a dump right on that red carpet. Right? There you are.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah, I know.

Bruce Miller: It's been done before, so I think we're okay.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. And then there's some programming out there that are the equivalent, I guess. But it's given us, some opportunity. We're getting caught up on things that there isn't a lot of new material. There's some there's some things here and there.

Bruce Miller: I have started watching some new shows. There's season two of, Hotel Portofino. Have you seen this one? It was on Bridgebox, and now it's moving over to PBS. And it's very Downton Abbey, if you're looking for something like that. It's about the family that runs a hotel. And it's set many years ago in the early 20th century, rather, 19 hundreds, whatever. And very glossy, with upstairs downstairs kind of talent and a little dirty. We'll just say that. Put that out there. And, interesting. So that was good.

The Boys on Amazon is about superheroes who are evil and vile

Bruce Miller: This week is the last week of reservation dogs on FX, if you want to see the end of that. In the last episode, I cried profusely, so you have that to look forward to. I have seen the first episodes of Gen V. Now, if you're a Boys fan, the Boys on Amazon, where it's about the superheroes. Are you familiar with this?

Terry Lipshetz: I'm not, no.

Bruce Miller: The Boys, it's about a world in which superheroes are kind of the ultimate. They really run everything. And there's a group called the Seven. Homelander is the leader of the Seven, and they seem like very kind of noble and virtuous and looking for all the right things. Well, you realize that that's an act that's an image that they're putting on, and behind the scenes, they're evil and vile, and they're slitting everybody's throat. And there's a group of people who are trying to take down these superheroes. Okay, so that is the boys. Now, there's a new sequel, ah, series called Gen V. And Gen V is about training people to be in that superhero world. Fascinating. Fascinating. It's like a college drama. And they go to this college, that they have abbreviated to God You, and they learn how to harness their powers and use it for various different crime fighting as a class. And, you see the kind of unpolished versions of their things. It's very X Men. If you're into the X Men, it's like but one of the stars of the show is Patrick Schwarzenegger. Arnold's Son plays this kind of golden boy, and he's the one that they all want to be, but he turns into Fire. And apparently he doesn't wear clothes, because they always talk about how he is naked, but his kind of temper gets the best of him. And if people are taunting him or whatever, he could be trouble. So you see that he could be another Homelander who is vile. But you don't know how this plays out in school. And the first episodes were great, but dirtier than you can believe. This is not, something that you let your kids watch. It is not Riverdale at all. There's one woman who becomes small. She can shrink down to, like, the size of, a paperclip. And she meets a kid at college who wants her to get small for various reasons. And I can't explain them on a podcast that hopefully is going everywhere. Yeah, it's dirty, dirty, dirty.

Terry Lipshetz: Wow.

Bruce Miller: If you're looking for an adult kind of look at the superhero world, gen V, wow.

Terry Lipshetz: I might have to check that out. You know, I'm not a big superhero person, but something that's a little off the beaten path.

Bruce Miller: Yeah, the Boys is a good kind of entry drug with this, because if you don't like superheroes, you get to see how nasty they really are. And so it makes you, yes, be that bad. I like that. And then you've seen how they have morphed and how they're actually fighting each other to be seen as the most virtuous. it's very good. And the seven always is, like, shifting. You never know who's part of the seven on one time or not. And it's run by an evil corporation. Of course it's run by an evil and they are pulling the strings on these poor superheroes. But now we're at the college, and we're trying to see how that all shakes down with them. So that's a new one that will be starting very soon. And then it, just started, but I binged the whole thing selling the OC. Now, if you're a fan of those real estate shows where they also never work, right? This is one of them. This is a companion to selling sunset. And that was about the people who work in Beverly Hills in like a strip mall. And they never seem to be selling a home. They always have these listings for like 35 million. And then all they do is walk around the house and have a party there. And then you never hear that somebody sold this. Well, now Selling the OC is the companion piece there in Orange County. And they've got a better office, but still just as much drama. And the women all look like they're going out for some evening cocktail up there. When they're in the office during the daytime, you think, do you really wear an evening gown for daytime work? And never, ever shuffle a piece of paper? They're just sitting there all the time gossiping about each other. And this one guy, Tyler, is kind of, not, necessarily a target, but a goal for many of the women there because he got divorced from his wife, who happens to be Britney Snow, who was in a bunch of TV series in the past. And they all think they could be the new Britney Snow. So they're all kind of like sucking up to Tyler and seeing if he know. How are you feeling? Can we have a talk? Can I do a one on one? Can we just converse about your situation? And Tyler is like drinking it all in. He is taking all the attention. I don't think that guy has ever sold a house. If he has, I'd like to see the paperwork because it sure isn't coming through on the show. But fascinating to watch. I, binge the whole thing. And then of course, what do we always do when we are in real estate? We have a pajama party at, one of our properties so that then, we can all just wear nightwear. And doesn't this kind of just open the floodgates to god knows what? I don't think I'm just going to look at you in the baby doll pajamas. I think I might actually make a.

Terry Lipshetz: Move that doesn't seem appropriate. Does this violate some aspect of.

Bruce Miller: Context laws against this? Because I sure open, up a, selling OC rule about you cannot fraternize with the other people in the office. It's not happening. But it was. Yeah, I binged it. That's how good it was.

Netflix's House Hunters is aimed at prospective buyers looking for homes

Terry Lipshetz: Okay.

Bruce Miller: Netflix. And, I just saw oh, I'll watch one. I haven't seen one for a while and we'll see what happens. No property sold here.

Terry Lipshetz: I might have to check that out. I don't mind watching some of those house selling like it's a little bit more house hunters.

Bruce Miller: Yeah, but a house hunter is unrealistic expectations.

Terry Lipshetz: Right.

Bruce Miller: Want the $2 million home for $200,000. And they're always, ah, we entertain. And you never see those people entertain ever. It's relatives and the real estate agent, that's who shows up.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. I know somebody, a, former colleague, I want to say, reached out to House Hunters to see how you can get on the program when she was looking for a house. And it's actually, you know, how this is going to go anyway because there's obviously behind the scenes drama of how this all gets set up. But basically they told her you have to have an accepted offer and then we'll show you two other houses. And then you get blown away by.

Bruce Miller: The house, basically, that you're already badmouth the ones that you aren't going to take.

Terry Lipshetz: Right.

Bruce Miller: I think there's possibilities. I like that highway going through the middle of our yard. Maybe a deterrent, maybe.

Terry Lipshetz: But it could be making commuting easier too.

Bruce Miller: It could. And then we have easy access. Right. I think we're all right. Too bad we have a lot of dogs, animals, and children that could get hit by a car in the process. But on keeping it on the list.

The latest entry into Star Wars. Been watching it with my daughter

Terry Lipshetz: Well, like you, I've been trying to crush through some things before regular programming gets back to us. So ahsoka. the Star Wars. The latest entry into Star Wars. Been watching it with my daughter, who's also a huge Star Wars fan. This week is the 7th episode and then, first week of October is already the 8th and final episode of season one. I don't recall how many episodes or how many seasons they're planning. I don't think it's going to know eight seasons. It's going to be two or three. Because what I've read is that they're going to take ahsoka, and then they're going to take the Mandalorian and the book of Boba Fett. They're going to marry them all together into something for movie theaters. Like there's going to be some big movie that's going to come out that's going to tie up all these storylines because they essentially take place the same timeline of the same universe. I would say that this is a good show. We've enjoyed it. The two problems that I have with it is if you didn't watch the cartoon Star Wars Rebels, you would be really lost with this. And I know a lot of people who kind of didn't really you're a Star Wars fan, but maybe didn't want to watch the cartoons because you thought, I'm a little too adult for the cartoons. And if you didn't watch those cartoons, you would really be lost with some of these characters who are in this because it basically picks up a few years after the final episode of the final season of Star Wars Rebels. But if you're a fan of Star Wars Rebels and a lot of people who I know who watch the show were because it was a really good cartoon, I thought they did a really nice job with it. I think you'd be a fan of this show. The only downside I would say with Ahsoka is it feels like they're taking a really long time to kind of get to a certain point. And then we're going to go to this big cliffhanger to season two. It just feels like we're not trying to tie up any loose ends quickly in any way. Yeah, the big villain that they've been talking about for almost the entirety of The Run so far only recently made an appearance. And you're only going to get basically two episodes out of him. Three episodes. So it's kind of a slow build. I think it's really good. I don't know if the series is as good as Andor, which really, really liked. But I might put this one ahead of the Mandalorian because I think this one might be yeah, it's good. And it kind of gets you back to Jedi because a lot of the series that we've done, we've kind of moved away from Jedi and looked more kind of the ordinary people within the universe. but now we're getting back to lightsabers and using the Force and things like that. So it's kind of fun to move back into that world a little bit.

Bruce Miller: You know, what I don't like about those kinds of shows is they never have a chill day. They never say, you know, today we're not going to go out and do Jedi games.

Terry Lipshetz: We're just going to sit still at.

Bruce Miller: Home and look at the rocks that we've got in our yard and kind of just decide what we like about ourselves. They don't that stuff. They're always on a mission for something.

Terry Lipshetz: They are. And the missions don't go to plan. They never go to plan.

Bruce Miller: Okay, who drinks blue milk? What Star Wars One is that?

Terry Lipshetz: That was, the first the original one, the Bantha milk. Come on.

Bruce Miller: Because they do have that at the Disney, parks, the, Resistance. And there's a bar there and you can get the blue milk. And I always wondered what would that taste like because I don't like milk anyway. So if you threw some blue coloring in it, does that make it any better?

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. Well, what is it? Does it taste like? Is it just milk with blue? No, I think it's something else.

Bruce Miller: I think there's liquor in it.

Terry Lipshetz: Well, then I would enjoy that.

Bruce Miller: See, that's probably what they do is they're also liquored up. So they really don't know what they're doing and, going from there. But are there more announced? Are there other Star Wars series that are coming?

Terry Lipshetz: Or yeah, there's a couple others. but some of them are in this kind of gray area like the Acolyte, which is supposed to be coming out. But that one it sounds like production has kind of been up and down. I don't know what the current status of that one is. I know there's another season of Andor coming up, another season of Mandalorian, coming up. But I don't recall offhand what the timeline of releases is and also how much of it has been maybe delayed by the strikes that have been going on, too.

You could do a high school Kylo Ren. What was he like in school

Bruce Miller: Okay. Would we ever have, like, the Adam Driver character? What was his name?

Terry Lipshetz: Oh, yeah. well.

Bruce Miller: Kylo Ren's early years. What was he like in school? Was he a real brat, or was he a good guy and then he turned bad, or what?

Terry Lipshetz: Well, he was Ben Solo, the son of, Han and Leia.

Bruce Miller: But then wasn't he kind of like, I don't know who my family yep. So wouldn't he be a good one to kind of lean into?

Terry Lipshetz: It would be a, and this is where the current producers it's paying a lot of fan service. It's that kind of Luke Skywalkers post Return to the Jedi. And they've brought him in a couple of times using CGI, making Mark Hamill look a lot younger than he is. But, I think they know that era is something that fans are really interested in, but of AI is a major player because unless you recast those roles, a lot of those characters are getting too old and they can't play themselves anymore.

Bruce Miller: You could do a high school Kylo Ren.

Terry Lipshetz: That'd be fun.

Bruce Miller: And then Kylo could be like, maybe people pick on him too much know he doesn't really know where he belongs. He's not picking a lane. And then he turns dark, and then he realizes, oh, gow, I'm into something here. I'm getting attention. I think it could be something the early years of his career as a bad guy.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. And, you know, prom night won't go well. There'll be something.

Bruce Miller: Oh, God. It's a Carrie. It's Carrie all over again. Except it's Kylo, and he'll be mad.

Terry Lipshetz: That's right.

There is a really good baseball documentary that just came out on Netflix

Terry Lipshetz: So I've been watching, know you've been talking about some shows you've been watching on Netflix. I don't know if you're a baseball fan at all, but there is a really good baseball documentary that just came out in the last week. It's called the Saint of second chances. And I don't know if you've ever heard the story of Mike Veck. He's the Son of Veck.

Bruce Miller: I know who he bill, we, have a team here that played in the same league as his team, the.

Terry Lipshetz: St. Paul the St. Paul Saints, right? Yeah. So Mike Veck, the son of Bill Veck, who is an owner of the Chicago White Sox, mike Vek came up with he was a very innovative know, if you think about luxury suites, that was something that Mike Vek introduced in old Kamisky Park as a way to bring in extra revenue. But he also came up with Disco Demolition Night, which did not go so well. And it pretty much drove him out of the game of baseball for quite a few years until he was able to redeem himself as owner of the St. Paul Saints. So the saint of second chances. It kind of goes into his relationship with his father, his relationship with baseball, the relationship he had with his daughter, who he brought in to help, him as a little child and then was hoping to bring up and continue working in the family business of baseball. And there's some emotional things that go in. I don't want to reveal too much.

Bruce Miller: About the story, participate or not.

Terry Lipshetz: Mike thack yes. Yeah, he helps narrate and very good story. And they talk with a lot of folks too, that it wasn't just about his second chance, but second chances for other people. Like, there was this one woman who all she ever wanted to do is play baseball. But you can't let a girl play baseball, right, because it's a boys game. And she was somebody who he brought in to pitch for the St. Paul Saints. So they talk with her. They talk with Daryl Strawberry, who was a very famous baseball player who pretty much worked himself out of the game because of substance, abuse problems. And he gave Daryl a second chance with the St. Paul Saints. And it helped get him back into Major League baseball. So it gets into that, and they talk with Daryl Strawberry. So it's a really fascinating look. And if you're a fan of sports documentaries, baseball documentaries, it's really good. And I would know. Hop onto Netflix ASAP and check that one out.

Bruce Miller: Is Bill Murray in it?

Terry Lipshetz: Bill Murray actually is sort of I don't recall him being interviewed, but he does make an appearance in it, yes.

Bruce Miller: And where is that located? Where can I find that?

Terry Lipshetz: That is Netflix.

Bruce Miller: Netflix. So we'll be looking. Yeah, Netflix. I can never tell what they've got coming. It's a price. I've got one coming next week, I believe, in theaters from Netflix. And then it goes in October to, it'll be streaming on Netflix. And it's called fair play. Incredible, incredible relationship drama. Reminded me a lot of, fatal, attraction. It's about a couple who work in a trading firm. And they're a couple. I mean, you see a lot of it's rated R for a reason. And then he thinks he is going to get the promotion when this one guy is out. And she's all supportive and everything. And then he doesn't get it. She gets it. And then you see how their relationship changes and shifts throughout the course of their relationship. And it's fascinating. It's very much like some of the things, Emerald Fennell did a film a couple of years ago she won an Oscar for. It about this woman getting back at somebody for her friend. It's a fascinating, fascinating film. The woman, I don't know who she is. Phoebe Dynavore. I don't even know if I'm pronouncing it right. But she is very good. And she plays opposite Alden Aaron Reich. And you've seen him in a lot of but he never he's in a Star Wars one. I think he's Han Solo. Correct. He has never really gotten that kind of break that I think he deserves. And this could be it. But it is very good. It's opening in theaters. It's called fair play. It'll open next week. And then it's going to open on, Netflix, on a streaming basis in October.

Terry Lipshetz: Wow, that sounds good. I'm definitely going to well, and I may have know because it's crazy. You get those emails from Netflix saying, coming soon. And I'll look at the trailer. What is know?

Bruce Miller: I don't know what this is.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. And I'll put it in the reminder.

Bruce Miller: Because then they'll just keep bugging me all the time if they know that I'm looking for that. You probably forgot that you did this, right? I don't need it.

Mosquito: We're getting caught up on a few TV shows

Bruce Miller: What else have you seen?

Terry Lipshetz: We're getting caught up a little bit. I mean, there's no new programs for the most part. So we're getting caught up on a few things. My wife and I started Painkiller, which is starring Matthew Broderick as, you know, from Purdue Pharma. And it kind of gets into it's another dramatization about the Opioid crisis. It's okay. first of all, it's very weird watching Matthew Broderick playing somebody that old. Because I'm still in my mind, he's still bueller.

Bruce Miller: Yeah.

Terry Lipshetz: And if he's old, that means I'm old and I can't be that old yet. Can I really be that old?

Bruce Miller: No, you're younger than me. So that gives you a leg up right there.

Terry Lipshetz: So it's, looking it's a different perspective of the crisis.

Bruce Miller: How similar is it to dopesick dopesick.

Terry Lipshetz: With Michael Keaton I thought was really good. I thought Michael Keaton in that was really good. But the perspective of Dopesick was coming mostly from the doctor, the prescriber end of things. And this is more of the investigation side of things and the Purdue Pharma side of things. Not painting Purdue Pharma in a good light in any way, but it's more of how the crisis was manufactured from that end. And then it looks at some of the stories of how they got to where they got to. I don't think the stories are as compelling as Dope sick, but we're not going to stop watching it. It's a six episode miniseries. How far are you in three episodes?

Bruce Miller: you kind of have to make a choice.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. We're at that point now where I think we're committed and we'll knock it off and it's not bad. But Michael Keaton I thought, was just very good. Michael Keaton is just, to me, has aged very well as an actor. Like he's gotten yeah. Yeah. It's not just the goofy little things know, you think of him as like, Beetlejuice and some of those comedies he did. But some of the things that he's done later in life have just gotten so much good. Really good.

Bruce Miller: I find. you do get to that point where you say, do I fish or do I cut bait? And I will bail on series. I have had one and done. I'll watch one episode, realize this is way too much for me to invest. And the first killer, with those things is when it says ten episodes, because somewhere around seven, it wanes until we get to nine, and then it'll pick up, and then you get the ten. And it's all right. Sometimes I have even watched one, and if I have the access to the ten, I'll watch the ten and I won't watch ones in the middle.

Terry Lipshetz: Interesting. Yeah.

Bruce Miller: Might be bad, but, life's too short. And I believe that you shouldn't have to watch crap just because you made an investment initially.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. There is a couple shows that my wife and I watched, like, we watched a little bit of that. Was it tomorrowland on Apple TV? The one yeah. And it looked was I we didn't make it to the end of episode one, and we just, I can maybe see where it's going, but I can't dig in on this one. There was another one, too.

Bruce Miller: Yeah, I watched it all, and I thought, where are they going with this? Because I bought in in the beginning that it was, this is the way the world is. We are doing this. And then you realize it's a scam, and they're, just scamming people. And then how are they getting out of the yeah.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. So I just couldn't get emotionally invested into it. Now, there was another one that was also on Apple TV Plus, where I watched the first season. My wife and I watched the season, and we liked it. And then it came back for season two. But then I read that it got canceled because the ratings weren't quite there. And a number of the reviewers said, well, it kind of ends on a cliffhanger now, so am I going to watch it? Aren't I going to watch it? It was the Mosquito Coast, and, I liked season one of the Mosquito Coast, but I couldn't quite figure out if I wanted to invest it. And we got hung up in that spot of like, do we watch it? Don't we watch it? We went ahead and watched it. I didn't love it, but it doesn't end on a cliffhanger. I thought it wrapped up for me.

Bruce Miller: I was done.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah. It got to the end. I was like, okay, we kind of dragged this out. The performances in season one I thought were better, and this one is just kind of it was a little too over the top, but it ends, like, where it ends. You're fine. I was totally fine. There is that last episode. It is explosive. There is some drama, some characters may or may not be with us to the very end, but it does not end on some weird cliff where. You're like, they canceled it. Now I'm never going to be able to know what happens because I was totally fine with it.

Bruce Miller: Watch the Harrison Ford movie and you got it all.

Terry Lipshetz: Yeah, I probably got it. I watched that so, so long ago. I don't even remember know that's why.

Bruce Miller: They'Re remaking things is you don't remember what?

Terry Lipshetz: I remember a minute, and I remember watching it, but I don't even remember it at this point. It was so long ago. Yeah.

Bruce Miller: And they always wanted to throw in something that well, we never thought that there would be, like, robots. And so they'll throw in a robot in a show.

The Expendables Four looks like it was written by a computer

Bruce Miller: Not in this one, necessarily, but wait a minute now. this was like a 1950s movie, and we changed it a little and we threw in a robot.

Oliver Dench: What is all about?

Bruce Miller: But it's just a way to again, this may go back to the writer strike where they just kind of take some property and twist it a little bit, and then the original creator gets nothing from it, right. So maybe they'll be protected. I hope to God that we don't see AI things. I hope they are not going to be the future. I have seen those some m good AI things, I got to tell you. Oddly enough, this last week, I went to see Expendables Four, okay? I swear that was written by a computer. It had to be. It was so bad. It was so bad. It's the kind of movie that when you go to it, you think, are they reading from teleprompters? They've got to be reading from teleprompters because you wouldn't remember this crappy dialogue if you tried. And then their eyes are darting and you think, that's got to be reading across the screen while they're looking at something. Plus, which they haul in people that you think, where did these people come from? I am not familiar with this person. I don't know if he's a big star in Korea or what he is, but apparently he's a big deal because he's in this show, so you don't know those things. And then they all back. And sure it's Sylvester Stallone. And Jason Statham star as the expendables that we remember. Dolph Lundgren's in there, too. And poor Dolph Lundgren has this bad wig that he wears, and they reference Farah Fawcett. And I'm thinking, who would remember Farah Fawcett's hairdo as the reason why you would reference Farrah Fawcett? You wouldn't. You just mean it doesn't work for today. I get it, but it's bad. And then they make a bad, bad joke about Stevie Wonder, which I think that is not relevant today, nor is it something you would include in your movie. And then you look at the film and you see that they have so much green screen in this sucker that basically it could have been shot in my backyard. There is no need for all of that and the special effects are really unspecial. The fight scenes are very bad. It goes down a list and you think, who talked them into this? This has got to be, clearly a money grab. And then, of course, you have the ultimate evidence that it is a money grab and that's that it has Andy Garcia in the film. Name a decent film that Andy Garcia has made in the last five years. You cannot but he's always in movies. He's in those book club movies. He's in all of these other kind. He plays this kind of role. And, I think, oh, Andy Garcia's here. That should be something to tell you. What's up with this? Megan Fox is in there, too, but you don't know really. What is she, an expendable? Is she really one of those people? And she turns out to be Jason Statham's girlfriend, but she has martial arts skills, so bring her with I think she can work on this. But that's where you get with this stuff. You think they're writing it. It's machines that are writing this crap because it sounds too unrealistic to even buy.

Terry Lipshetz: Nobody saw it. Nobody watched that movie. Do you see it opened? It got beaten by the nun, the nun two in the third weekend.

Bruce Miller: But, you put names like that and whenever they have a big list of names, this goes back many, many years. If you may remember, back in the 60s, cinerama was a big thing and, this widescreen stuff, and they would put casts of thousands in them. And how the west was won was one who had every big name star there was. Then we had the disaster films that had all the big name stars in it. And now we're into that era where it's action adventure, and it's usually people who aren't good actors, but they can do a dust hunt or two and then have a catchphrase or throw off a good liner now and then. And so it ends up being, this is how we're putting them in there. And, do we need it? I don't think we need it. The really strange thing is my phone fell off my lap into the seat. And they're recliner seats. And I must spend a good 15 minutes digging that chair to try and find the phone that I thought was actually more action and better action than what I was seeing on the screen.

Terry Lipshetz: People were watching you, if there was actually anybody there. And they're thinking, wow, this guy over here. This is the best part of the movie. Watch this guy dig for his phone.

Bruce Miller: I'm digging for the phone. And I tell you, if there was $50 bills in there, I don't know, there could have been money in that seat. When I started messing around, I did find popcorn, but so that was good. And I did get the phone. Ultimately, I did get the phone.

Terry Lipshetz: Well, that's good.

Andy Garcia was supposed to be the next Al Pacino

Terry Lipshetz: I am laughing now thinking, though, because you bring up Andy Garcia. And the first thing that comes to my mind is his addition to, the Godfather trilogy.

Bruce Miller: Right. He was kind of the next, Al Pacino. He was going to be the heir apparent. And he got great work, and he did great work. But now it's like that thing where you go, who else is in this? Andy Garcia. Let's get Andy. So he must play well with a certain audience. And they go, oh, yeah, Andy Garcia's in it. But I think he might be the sign of a bad movie now, because he's taking everything he can get. And it probably isn't reading the scripts. Because I thought he was a good actor at one point. I really did. But this crap.

Terry Lipshetz: he's going to.

Bruce Miller: Do the sequel to, Al's extra work.

Terry Lipshetz: He could instead of AI, they could use Andy Garcia to play a younger Al Pacino. There you go.

Bruce: What do we have coming up in our next few episodes

Terry Lipshetz: So what do we have coming up, Bruce, in our next few episodes?

Bruce Miller: I know I've got a lot of stuff for you. I've got, a, talk with the producers of Goosebumps. They've rebooted a well, actually, we could put it on this week. We could add it in. I'm doing it tomorrow. I'm talking to one of the actors from Hotel Portofino.

Terry Lipshetz: Okay. We can slip that in. Yeah.

Bruce Miller: it's Oliver Dench. Now, that name, does that ring a bell? Oliver Dench. Oliver Dench.

Terry Lipshetz: That name is it sounds a little.

Bruce Miller: It'S her nephew. Yeah. Working. And his dad was a big actor in, yeah. And he's the star of Hotel Portofino. He plays the son who comes back to help run the hotel. So we've got him coming up. I've got a number of films that are opening. But again, we're going to see where we sit if we can solve that actor strike. We're going to talk to some actors. Otherwise, you're going to get some producers. And I know you don't want in.

Terry Lipshetz: The worst case scenario, we'll be interviewing dogs barking at us.

Bruce Miller: And we'll get the dogs.

Terry Lipshetz: We'll get them. Paw patrol coming soon.

Bruce Miller: It could be good. I think it could be a good thing.

Terry Lipshetz: All right, so we'll go now to an interview with Oliver Dench. And then we will wrap up and see you again next week for another episode of Streamed and Screened.

Would you rather do shows in the present or the future

Bruce Miller: I look at the things you've done in the past. What period do you really like to be in? do you like to be in the present? Would you rather do shows that are in the present, things in the past, or things in the future?

Oliver Dench: It's interesting that I don't really think of the time period that much. When I think of work, obviously it comes into it. And obviously when we're shooting, there are differences like accent or manners or general etiquette of the things. But those aren't really the interesting things to me, I think the things that stay more essential to it, are interpersonal relationships and character. and they transcend time, really, or at least they transcend time in the kind of stuff that I would be doing and the kind of roles I would be interested in playing. I know there would be some really far out there, things really far out there character that could only exist in Sci-Fi. But in terms of the things I've done, I've always played humans.

Bruce Miller: That's good, right?

Lucian is very guarded in this film. Is that a product of the times or is that yeah

Oliver Dench: Yeah, which is good.

Bruce Miller: He seems so guarded. Is that a product of the times or is that yeah.

Oliver Dench: that is something I have found interesting about this time period in particular. But I think that applies to all characters. I think that one in particular, a lot of what is guarded about Lucian is a product of the times. But that would come up in any period. There would be reasons why people would be suppressing certain aspects of their personality and reasons why other things would be allowed to flourish. The fact that this is happening in the 20s just means there's a different buffet of things to choose from. But he is guarded. There's a lot of pressure on him.

Bruce Miller: Did you relate to him at all? Did you say, oh, yeah, I see this, or do you go, no, that's not me at all.

Oliver Dench: I've led a much more fortunate life than Lucian. I did not fight in World War I. So I think there's already, like, a massive jump of understanding that I couldn't really realistically, ever hope to, empathize with, but sympathize with. I absolutely can. And I think that's sort of our job as actors. There are a lot of things about Lucian that are different from me, but there's obviously a lot of myself that I bring into the character. And I think this is how I understand these social situations. Now I just have to layer on the different, things that Lucian is dealing with to try and make what I hope is somewhat interesting to watch.

You were pulled into the family business and you became an actor

Bruce Miller: pulling him into the family business is kind of a thing. Was that the way it was with you, too? You were pulled into the family business and you became an actor? Or was that always something you wanted to do?

Oliver Dench: No, that was something well, it wasn't always something I wanted to do. When I was very young, I had an idea that I wanted to be a marine biologist. And I don't know why it seems kind of off the wall, but I've spoken to lots of people I knew, and I think it was very in vogue when I was in my preteens to want to be a marine biologist, because loads of people seem to have this idea. I don't know if it was like a David Attenborough inspired thing or something that was happening on the BBC in the UK at the time. But lots of people I know inexplicably wanted to study jellyfish and things. I didn't end up being a marine biologist. I then wanted to be a chef for a while, but I'm not a massive fan of professional kitchens. When I did, like, the tiniest amount of work experience in, when I crumbled completely ineffectual. But no, I wanted to be an actor. I don't think I was pulled in any particular direction.

Bruce Miller: So what appealed to you about it is it just the idea that you get to be different people all the time?

Oliver Dench: Well, originally it was more poetic for me, and this hasn't really been, the type of work I've ended up doing, but I think while I wasn't pulled in certain directions, I was very lucky to have the family that I do, and my granddad, who was, a Shakespearean actor, on the stage. I was exposed to a lot of Shakespeare when I was growing up, and I loved that. I thought that was absolutely amazing. So originally, I think it was interest in text that made me want to act, because I thought it was so beautiful. I thought it was amazing. Made me want to write as well. But I think acting seemed, I don't know, more immediate, for me, and that's kind of what pulled me into it. The idea of character almost came secondarily to that, which I don't know if is how many people have kind of come into it. But that was definitely the pull for me.

Bruce Miller: Shakespearean, though, come on. I read that, and I can glaze over very quickly, especially at a young age. How do you attach to that? How do you say, like this, even though it's difficult to read?

Oliver Dench: Well, I think the first thing is, as everyone kind of says, it's not meant to be read. it must be heard. So if you have someone really skillful doing it, then it's amazing. If you have someone who's not very skillful doing it, then it's the most boring thing. Imagine it's difficult. It is really difficult. but I was lucky to have someone who was skillful at the beginning, sort of explain it to me, and then after that, it becomes, the more you're exposed to it, the more effectively you're able to interpret it. And that's almost a problem in its own right. I think that's often why it's so confusing is because the people who are putting on these plays often are people who are very exposed to it. So the language is very immediate for them. So they watch and they think, what's the problem? I understand every single word. I know it really well. An audience who is maybe not so exposed to it might find it more difficult to interpret. So I think that can be a problem in modern Shakespeare productions. but it is true, once you get into it, the more you read by the time you've read or watched a number of plays in a short span of time, it'll become easy. it just requires doing that work, which is why it's so elitist. It can be really elitist.

How difficult is it to memorize Shakespeare? Easier than some other plays

Bruce Miller: How difficult is it to memorize?

Oliver Dench: Easier.

Bruce Miller: Much easier, really.

Oliver Dench: It is much easier. Well, again, probably this might not be everyone's experience, and some of the plays are split differently. So some of the early plays are almost entirely verse, which means all the lines have rhythm. Or some of the early plays, almost all the lines have rhyme, which I think is actually really ugly often. and some of the later plays are more prosaic, which means that it's more difficult to learn. But when you're learning a speech and you've got the rhythm and the rhyme to rely on, I actually find that to be a great crutch in memorizing, because, you know, if you've got a single word wrong, when you're memorizing, if you're there going to me that is the question whether noble are in the blah blah blah blah. You understand when it goes, off the tracks. and that lets you know that you've messed up. Whereas some other stuff you can mumble through scenes for pages before you realize you've got everything wrong.

Bruce Miller: One of those you have a checklist then, and you start checking off the characters that you want to play.

Oliver Dench: I used to, not a physical checklist, but I definitely used to think that the most legitimizing career would be some John Gilgood like thing where you first play Romeo and then Troyless and then Hamlet and then blah, blah, kind.

Terry Lipshetz: Of work your way up.

Bruce Miller: Yeah.

Oliver Dench: Eventually you play Lear and then you die on stage and it'll be, wow, what an incredible experience. but I had to because it wasn't what I was doing. But I sort of let go of that some years ago. Not to say I wouldn't still want to play those parts, but I don't necessarily think they have to be in such a linear progression anymore. I feel as though when I was young, I felt like I was running out of time to play characters that meant something, to me. And in some ways that's true. There'll come a time where I'm less likely to be cast as Romeo. but in general, I think there's such a wealth of characters, not just in Shakespeare, but in everything, in other things that I hadn't really given attention to before, that one could never play everything that is interesting.

So doing television does allow you or afford you the opportunity to do theater

Bruce Miller: So doing television, does that allow you or afford you the opportunity to do theater? I mean, I'm assuming that it's very difficult to have a career in the theater these days because it isn't as financially viable, as it might be in television or in film.

Oliver Dench: Yeah. it still exists in London in quite a big way. I'm not saying that it's not an issue. And, theatre acting in general, tends to be underpaid, mainly because it's, under attended. and that's a problem for people who are trying to kind of carve out a career in theater. I guess, in that aspect, doing TV does let you, does give you more opportunities to kind of wait for theater jobs when they come. But it's also about what you're busy doing. And if you're running in certain circles, like, I haven't had a theater I haven't been meeting theater people in quite a long time because I've been shooting things. And that makes it difficult to have a career in theater because no one knows who I am comparatively. I know lots of people who do theater much more regularly, and they find it more difficult to meet people who are organizing TV jobs is difficult. It's complicated. I think the world is so big and vast now that it's difficult, to always be doing what you want when everything fits.

You say the best acting advice is do nothing. What was it like when you first tried to do something on camera

Bruce Miller: a Broadway actress told me that when she went to Hollywood, she realized that she was so stiff that she had no emotions because she was afraid she would be too broad on camera. What was it like when you first tried to do something on camera? Was it like, oh, my God, I got to watch, so I'm not, like, blinking. I have to watch. I'm not moving.

Oliver Dench: I've been through in the things I've done so far, which is not I'm not the most experienced actor in the world, but in the things I've done so far, I feel like I've come through a cycle of being terrified to do anything and thinking that the best acting advice was do nothing. And if you have an impulse, then squash it, and it's wrong and just be completely plain. And in some cases, that's true. In some cases, oddly, due to some quirk of human psychology, or how we recognize emotion, in some cases, we recognize a blank face as a number of different things, and we laud amazingly subtle performances. But I think it's important to not feel stifled by that. And I'm now at a stage where I think make a crazy choice and do something interesting and, hope that you have the skill that that will still come across as natural. And I think it has to exist somewhere between that, because just doing nothing forever is very stifling when you're on camera and even more stifling when you're on stage.

Bruce Miller: It's called soap opera. Right. You do nothing. Right? Yeah.

How did American television differ from British, uh, television

Bruce Miller: How did American television differ from British, television? this wasn't Pandora. That was an American production. Right?

Oliver Dench: That was an American production. Yeah. it doesn't really not essentially about what we're being asked to do. I know it does in a multitude of ways, but I find that very difficult to keep a handle on. Like, I know that the CW who broadcast Pandora want different things than PBS, who are broadcasting, hotel Portofino. I know that they have business plans and they have ideas, but that's, personally, for me, not my favorite way to interpret character and to work on a set. I find that kind of foggying and dizzying and confusing and kind of gets in the way of me feeling comfortable and natural in things. So I think the way I see that is I let the director worry about that. I let the directors and the producers worry about what they're going to do, and I'll just try and be here on set and be as mindful of what I'm doing as possible. And hopefully that fits into what the people around me want. I'm not saying they don't want different things or that it doesn't differ all know, English TV, the BBC is not different from, stars or whatever, but I find it more useful for me to try and concentrate just on the microscopic.

You hear about people with huge social media following getting roles

Bruce Miller: Well, how does all the social media how does that factor in? Because you hear about people who have this huge social media following, getting roles, and you're thinking, wait a minute, they have no talent. What is this?

Oliver Dench: I always think that I don't have any big grudges against people getting cast from things. Not for them personally. Because if they want to do it and someone wants to give them a job, then they're going to do it like anyone would. I don't have a lot of hate for people around me, or even I might have envy sometimes if they get jobs that I want. But the way I feel I kind of thought about social media a lot, but I'm not very good at it. I don't like it. I've never been one to tweet a lot. I have an instagram. I think I tried to delete it, but it's still up there. And I think my last post is from two years ago or something. for a long time, I kind of put a lot of stress on myself to get better at that. And then I realized that I don't really like it. And for me, the social media itself is quite damaging for my mental health. And that might be a good tool for getting cast. I know it helps. I know people want to cast people with big following, but considering I'm not good at that, I shouldn't beat myself up about it, and I should just let that go.

When you look at a career, where would you like to see yours go

Bruce Miller: So when you look at a career, where would you like to see yours go? What would be the ideal direction for you?

Oliver Dench: I'm not really sure. Like I said, when I was younger, I had a much clearer idea of here comes my M. Macbeth. Wonderful. But now, like I was saying earlier, I've realized that things have opened up to such a degree in terms of the style of things I would be playing that, I find it much more difficult to predict that. I hope I am working. And I hope I am happy. But I'd much rather think about my mental health being high, my own positivity being high, and me enjoying the work that I do and finding it interesting than I would think about, exactly where I'm going to be. Because my experience has been that whenever I imagine a job in a certain way, it doesn't always line up with, the way I expect my well being, the, place I expect my well being to be at. When I have that job, it's very easy to think when I get a TV job, I'll be very happy. And I don't think that's how my happiness has always moved. So as long as I find it interesting, then, and I'm working, then that'll.

Bruce Miller: Be do you plan know, I always need to go back to the theater because that's where I feel most welcome, or is that because didn't you do Cabaret this last? Yeah.

Oliver Dench: Yeah, I loved it. I love that show. I was very lucky to do Cabaret this year. in terms of my career, the question that you actually asked me before I started Rambling is, I would like to be doing a mix of things. I would like my career to be continuously mixed. I would like to do some theater and some screen work. I would like to write. I find the variation to be spicy and interesting and exciting. and I find that thrilling. I think that's what I want out of a career rather than something I don't have a particular magnetism back to the theater, and that's where I want to spend my time forever. I just want it to be varied and interesting and satisfying.

Bruce Miller: Do you look at your great aunt's career? I mean, come on. She's had the most varied career of anybody. Do you look at that like a, template for something like this?

Oliver Dench: Yeah, it would be unbelievable. But few people have a career as.

Bruce Miller: Amazing as come on. Yeah, right. But look, she did Cabaret, for God's sake.

Oliver Dench: Yes, she did, famously, very well.

Bruce Miller: But you did too, so go for it, they say.

Oliver Dench: But no, I absolutely if I could have a career that's half as wonderful as that, I'd be very happy.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gamers know the longtime PlayStation racing series Gran Turismo. The story of Jann Mardenborough, who turned a passion for the game into a career racing real cars was brought to theaters this summer in the film "Gran Turismo."

But how closely do these films stick to reality? There's a reason why many include a disclaimer at the start that some characters and stories have been changed or dramatized.

We talk about the recently completed HBO series "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty," which has been criticized by some portrayed on the show.

The there is the 1989 film "Great Balls of Fire!" starring Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. A lot of people were critical of the film, but co-host Bruce Miller interviewed Lewis and says the singer loved Quaid's performance..

What about movies like "Elvis" and the upcoming film "Priscilla," which both had the involvement of Priscilla Presley? Or the music biopic that largely led to the modern music biopics, Oliver Stone's "The Doors," which was criticized by the surviving members of the band?

Even documentaries have been known to stray a little, such as the Oscar-winning "Searching for the Sugar Man" based on the life of Sixto Rodriguez. The film failed to mention the singer had modest success in Australia, so he wasn't a complete unknown. 

We take a deep dive into true stories that have been turned into movies and even have an interview with Mardenborough, who was involved with the film. He also talks about his involvement with actor Archie Madekwe, who played Mardenborough.

Where to watch

Contact us!

We want to hear from you! Email questions to [email protected] and we'll answer your question on a future episode!

About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Welcome everyone to another episode of Streamed & Screened an entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer at Lee and co-host of the program with Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and a longtime entertainment reporter. But first, an important disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are a fusion of professional critiques and passionate fandom.

While Bruce's experience and my dedication to the couch may suggest an odd pairing, it's what makes this podcast a delightful mix of the expected and the unexpected. Listener discretion is advised and an important addendum to that. Bruce. No animals were harmed during the recording of this episode.

Where did you get that? ChatGPT.

Is this the future in the film?

It wrote a lot more than that.

First of all, we're out of jobs. That's what happens if everything's good, right?

Man, I was thinking, you know, we were talking about this episode a week ago, and I said, you know, might be fun to have a disclaimer. And I'm sitting there like, What kind of disclaimer would we have for us?

A We can say whatever.

Exactly.

Exactly. Yeah. And not be. Can I tell you, I always I hate this when somebody gets a bad review. And what do critics know? You know, why or who are critics? Well, a critic is somebody who probably watches a lot of what you do and has an idea about what is good and what isn't good. And so listen to them.

But I've always said to them, anybody who pays money for something is a critic and is entitled to an opinion. So have at it.

Absolutely. And you know what? I think it's like anything else where maybe, you know, you're a critic, you're doing it professionally, but you're still you're still a human being that needs to entertain yourself and something's good or something is bad. I mean, it is what it is.

And I think you do need to be a fan to be a critic. Otherwise, if you hated the medium that you were were criticizing, you wouldn't do it, right. So there is that moment. But I you know, there are those who are like, greasy. They're a little over the top with the oh, my God, it's the greatest thing ever.

I how many times have you read quotes from some movie ad that says this is the best thing since Gone with the Wind or, you know, and you got really I don't think it was or truth should be this great, You know? I mean, it's like, what are you saying? Right. But those are the things that you find.

And they're quotable. Yeah. That they try to a lot of those when you look at reviews that are polled or quoted, those are written to get quoted because the critic who is saying, I can't believe movies have gotten this good wants to get his name in the ad. So then it helps boost his position as a critic and helps get the name out about the publication.

So this podcast. Incredible. Four stars.

I think the one nice thing though about the modern criticism in in any form, whether it's music or TV or movies or whatever you're following, the Internet has opened up all new avenues, right? Because in in the old days, you know, you might pick up your your Shoe City Journal and you would just have Bruce Miller, the one telling you or if you're in Chicago, you might have Siskel and Ebert or wherever you might be, you just have that local voice.

But now you can go to Rotten Tomatoes where it's picking up the aggregate and and, you know, sure, the folks in the industry might not want to hear what a critic has to say, But when you go to like a Rotten tomatoes and you've got 300 critics saying your movie's terrible, yeah, it's probably it's probably stinky. It probably is not good.

Well, that's really encouraging, isn't it?

Is that.

But it goes the other way, too, where if you actually want your critics to love it and it's, you know, certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah, right. That's great. And then you get the weird ones where, you know, the critics will love it and then the fans dog on it or vice versa. And then you just bang your head on the wall and don't know what to do.

The ultimately you are your best critic.

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Did we offend anybody in the process of that? And did we and or whatever our disclaimer said, I don't know.

All I know is no animals have been harmed in the filming of this episode.

So we're good. We're good. You know, we're we're going to talk about something that I think is just very fascinating. Do you know how many years in the Academy Awards have not had an actor nominee who is based on an actual person? Well, I'm eight years out of I think it's 90 some 95 years have not. How many?

I'm just going it's like three.

Eight, eight.

Wow.

Years. And look at last year we had Elvis. We had Marilyn Monroe. The famous ones could be considered beasts or, you know, sort of. Yeah. So there are those So that's it's a sure way to an Oscar is to play somebody who actually exists. Yeah. And there were the most the most at 12 in 2018. Isn't that unbelievable.

It's crazy. We're just grabbing anything. We can throw it up on the screens. It's based in fact, you know, So that's a surprise to me. But it's it is sure content. You will know that there is some story to base it on. We saw now recently with the blindside, where Michael Oher is just kind of like now, this is not this isn't what I remember.

So he's trying to speak against this as the ultimate. And it's never, never, ever, ever in the history of filmmaking is a film, an absolutely accurate depiction of what happened.

Right. Because it's not a document, right? It's not a documentary.

Even that with documentaries, Right. You can't trust them.

No.

I remember I This tells you how far back we go. Okay. I did a master's thesis on the validity of critics. It's like, do critics make a difference? Is basically the thesis that I did. And we looked back and there was like, this sliver of time when actually critics would have any kind of impact on the audience. And what it was was in those days they were showing what like people were like Eskimos were like.

And people had never seen Eskimos. So they believed exactly what they saw on the screen and said that is exactly the way it is, even though it may not have been so. And it was just a very sliver of time that critics could have some kind of impact on what people saw after that don't make a difference at all.

People just kind of watch something and. Yeah, and you see that even now with like Netflix where movies that bomb at the box office. But all of a sudden we'll get they'll be trending on Netflix. You'll see like, you know what's that most popular and it'll be some movie from seven years ago that nobody went to see all of a sudden gets hot because it's just people for some whatever reason now algorithm and then it catches fire.

Yeah, well look at Green book. Green Book won Best picture the Red critics were, like, kind of lukewarm on it as a as a movie movie. And the people who were related to the man portrayed said it isn't his life. This isn't all at all what it was like. Right. But it played well because it kind of touched those heartstrings that we were looking to touch.

And so they made do something to you emotionally, but they may not do it realistically.

Yeah. And, you know, you talk about these dramatization scenes, but it's even in documentaries, the storytelling can be twisted in a way to help tell a narrative and one that I wanted to bring up because the person that was featured in it just died recently. Sixto Rodriguez, who was a musician out of Detroit, he released two albums and they didn't they didn't do very well commercially, and he got dropped by his label and he kind of fell into obscurity.

And he got popular in South Africa during apartheid when when the the country was basically cut off from civilized nation. There is no Internet at the time, so there's no way of researching. And this mythology was built about the sugar man and this documentary, Searching for the Sugar Man. It won an Oscar for best Documentary. But even in that case, it's failed to mention that he had like these small pockets of international fame.

It wasn't you know, he never achieved some level of glory and made tons and tons of money. But in the late seventies, early eighties, Rodriguez was actually touring in Australia. And and that was before they discovered, you know, he was alive in South Africa. So even in that case where you have a story, which is it's a documentary, it's interviewing the real person, there's no actors involved.

It's supposed to be reality. They kind of fudged with reality a little bit just to tell the story of, you know, here is this person that's completely obscure, even though in Australia they knew exactly who he was because he had been there a few times there.

Yeah, it's well, look at the the film that's leading the way this year for best picture. Oppenheimer Right now that looks about as clean as you can get, except for some of those scenes that are kind of done in the mind, if you will. But it's it's the artistry of the director, you know, so you're not getting the story.

And we've got other ones coming this year. We we had air which was about right the Michael Jordan selling of Nike Napoleon is coming up. Ferrari is coming up. Priscilla, about Elvis Presley's wife. You know, so there are the and the killers of the flower moon, what you're waiting for, right?

Right.

Not all these are based, in fact, for some reason. And it's a jumping off point is what it amounts to. Reality becomes a starting point, but not necessarily an end point.

Right. And we saw this also in another in a series on HBO that just wrapped this past weekend, you know, winning time. Right. Which looked at the the the rise of the Lakers dynasty in Los Angeles. And a year ago, there was a lot of controversy after season one. Jerry West, who is portrayed in it was very unhappy with his portrayal in the show and you know is basically making him look like this crazed lunatic.

And he's not true and he wasn't like it. And and then season two comes along and, you know, of course, they're opening it up with this disclaimer that this is a dramatization. Some of the characters have been changed. And what I found myself doing through the that every single episode that I watched, something would happen. And I was immediately on my phone.

Looking, is.

It is this part, you know, because one of the things near the end was this lawsuit by, you know, a wife of Dr. Jerry Buss, who's trying to take the team from him. It's like, well, you know, who is this person? And I'm I'm kind of Googling it and person's not really a real person. It's sort of a fictional ization of another person.

And so it's those little things like that that they're introducing. But on the flip side, you know, you have Jerry West, who was very unhappy with it, but I read in I think it was in Vulture, they were talking to the to the folks behind the series and they said they showed the episodes to Jeanie Buss, Jerry Buss daughter, who's portrayed in it.

And she loved the series and she felt a connection to her father again, who had passed away a number of years ago. So she really enjoyed watching the show because it kind of, you know, rekindled those memories of of kind of growing up in that time. So it's I guess, you know, how you're being portrayed and in what way and and whatnot.

But, you know, that that was kind of an interesting one from that perspective.

We have this year weird about Weird Al Yankovic, and it's so off the beam. It's not at all what his life was like. He was participating in it. So he, if you will, signed off on it right? Elvis had Priscilla as kind of their guide or through it all, all of this, and it was nominated for best Picture last year.

You know, now this year, Priscilla is probably going to be nominated and Priscilla is talking. So she's rewriting the narrative of Elvis Presley just by what she'll allow or what she won't allow in the story. So that's interesting. But there are duds. There are duds that didn't really work. You know, Can you think of movies where you thought, Oh, my God, that's just terrible, that one.

That one doesn't cut it. And I think one that people always mention is John Travolta as Gotti. Oh, that was a real stinker.

It was so bad. Yeah.

Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs. Yeah, not much there. Michael was his John Belushi and Wired. Well, now somebody didn't like Jerry Lee Lewis portrayed by Dennis Quaid in Great Balls of Fire. But I got to tell you, I interviewed Jerry Lee Lewis about this and he loved it. He thought he captured every bit of him. So, you know, it's all perspective.

If it's my life, you know, come on, Brad Pitt, I'm telling you that right now. Right. And there's no way that I am remotely in the same ballpark as Brad Pitt, But they get a chance to kind of rewrite their own history by having control over who plays them. Yeah, you have play you would you pick and you know better.

You're not going to say, oh, I'm going to take you know, I don't even want to name names, but you're going to pick. So you see, George Clooney is going to play me. Of course.

It would probably be Clooney. I you're right.

Right? Yeah. Either yeah.

These a older.

Clooney were there.

You know, you mentioned Brad Pitt. He was on day of the last season, the day of portraying himself. But it was it was a fictionalized version of himself.

And that was so good, right? So he was so good because you even felt the kind of like tension that he had in that situation, because I don't want to spoil it, but there's this nutty person in the house or that Brad Pitt is in the house and Dave is in the house, and you've got to be How do we get out of the house?

Yeah.

There was that scene to where he in it. He says, Well, you can call me and I can't remember what the name was. He's like, Well, that's that's really what my name is. And again, am I Google like, is that really his name? It's like this is he fictionalized that fictional name, which is comical.

And it doesn't always work. Like I say, there are situations where you go, Mm, this really laid an egg and I think we'll see it this year or two. We're going to see, yeah, films that just might not make it at all. Last year we had blond, which was about Marilyn Monroe in there. Ana de Armas played her and got an Oscar nomination and she was good, but the movie sucked.

It was awful. And I defy you to say that you watched the whole thing. People didn't watch the whole thing. They got to the nude scenes and they shot it off. After that, it was not worth watching because the story didn't make any sense. You know, you have like Freddie Mercury story, Bohemian Rhapsody, right? Liked it because it plays into the the myth that I think has been created.

So who? Yeah, well, I got to talk to one of those real people who's featured in Gran Turismo, which is a film about a guy who won the right to become a race car driver by playing video games. There was a competition and they, you know, whatever. And for whatever reason it clicked. Jann Mardenborough is his name and he is portrayed in this film as that naive person getting into the race car business and what it meant.

He's still a race car driver. And we got a chance to talk about that whole trajectory and what it was like for him and what he thinks of the guy, Archie Madekwe, who plays him, what he thought of his performance. So we have a tape here. If you'd like to run it. We'll listen to what he has to say about portraying real people on screen.

What is it like seeing yourself on a screen? I mean, we're not how many people get this story of their life told in a film? It's like 0.0001% or something?

Yeah, it's it's very it's surreal, really. Being honest. It's it's even more surreal with somebody tells people tell me that the racing driver that had movies based on their lives, they no longer around single that they passed away so soon being 31 years old and have your life attractive. Your life. You told of the Big three. An audience is rare and in my industry very rare.

So I feel very blessed and honored. That can actually tell. You know what shop in my life.

Did you feel a connection to the character or did you see it as somebody else.

Noticed me?

I yeah, it really does feel like you did you have any did you have any say then in who gets to play you? Did you say, I'm going to look at these people and just see.

If it's no secret you was always on the phone by the producers. They kept me in the loop, involved in all the scripts, you know, sets as well. And I was always kept informed of who they like. I see an actor to play me. Apparently the casting will be so long, even a year before Benigni was even shot.

Oh, wow, Boss, she was always been number one favorite, as far as I understand, with many different levels of casting processes. But she was the one from day one.

And did you like him from day one or did you go or. I don't know.

He spoke on Face Time, The lowland scene with a mouth eat it plainly and pseudovirus Because I was in labor at the time that I was like, This looks like straight away. And so that was a great start. We met in person as well. Weeks later, after that phone call, and I it gave you a confidence because I was happy with the script, but meeting the person for the first face, it gave me even more confidence in things like be great, because he was absolutely casting Steely.

Obviously he knew from producers as well and all time and face time and texts that meet somebody face to face difference. And he caught it really mean okay, I can focus on being studied rather and make it to focus on the acting and because we're completely allied on this. Yeah in yes he killed it.

Did he ask you a lot of questions?

Absolutely. And what he.

What did what surprised you that he wanted to know?

A lot of I'm not repeating his emotional my support is in the while it it's sports you have to be quite clinical but he was asking questions about the relationships I've had with certain people within the industry, my friends, my family. I just kind of try to be open is we all. And it became this very good at asking those questions that was so provoking and as two things which are them?

He still dealt with soul so he can work on his craft when he's allowed a chance at this and he can show that and he got on set. How good was he had driving? Well, didn't have a driver's license very recently before shooting. I think for insurance, we'd really have to pass his test. And I didn't know at the time I think it was that a make or break, because if he didn't pass the test, we could have shot with Michelle McCann.

But I know everybody at the meeting. But yeah, he was on a fast track course and then I'd passed and he said it interesting. But he said the favorite brand, right? I was always so, so is mine.

But there you go.

Yeah. He's got good taste, wrong behavior. So yeah, I think if you were bring somebody that have been involved, it looks sort of caused the fault. So it feels very nice. But I have a lot of respect to somebody. Go to another industry and be honest. If I go dancing all through dancin or being a ballerina and let me see myself in that.

So I would not risk that in the business. He'd never done this before, yet no interest because now he is a face granturismo which is just racing was and he is he, he nailed it. So yeah, I will respect that.

But you know, the movie makes a big deal about can you really make the transition from being a gamer to being a driver.

Is it possible? I mean, yeah, was possible with you.

But in the grand scheme of things, was your dad really right? And you said, you know, this is going to lead to nothing. These are not going to be career connections for anybody.

Well, I will indeed. My stepfather to that question. That was the question we were always asking ourselves, kind of be done proof.

But you're one you're one person and, you know, you know, kids sit around and they're doing they're playing games all day and will it lead to something?

And that's where dreams and belief comes into it, because they think that easy, everybody be able to do it but makes it easy. All that accomplishment is hard, as if all and it seems like it's not possible. Well, everything is well. I believe that you can do anything. It's a little set. You can't do everything. You can sit and do anything.

He's taken line to it. I never let that like the beta racing brother go out. I didn't know how I would get from A to B, but always away very much aware from a young age or very headstrong as a person you would as a kid. That's what I want to do. And I'm not going to take no for that.

So I'm not really from other people. That is the gospel of you have spoken in the past with other people about things that I'd said growing up as a teen, where I would say a BMW story, my first car as a child as that when I'm 17 years old and I had my friends because boys, boys, they would rip anything to me for years about that.

And I spoke to my other friends, Solid school lives and that scene in the movie, they were a bar and they told me that they could they had a few drinks them. It must not limit the conversation. And they said to me, Look, you never said to us that you wanted to be a racing driver. And I boulevard and I was like, You're right.

I never I never told anybody. I never told anybody about drink because you have to protect that. You can't walk around. I don't need you should walk out. I want to do this. I wanted that because people call you out today and also it loses the energy over Did you news that that that that you know that energy.

Yeah I believe so I never spoke to anybody about it. It was always my inner drew but I believe you can do anything so anybody watching I learned via high fives in the messages for people about taking an interest in looks, but also telling me I learned to pursue my dream. It would tell me what it is, which I love you shouldn't tell me.

You should tell me what it is I want to pursue my dream. You inspired me to see like me. And I love that kids want to move forward too. Why me? Yeah. The rules of life. We have to follow our actions up to this.

Well, when it does happen, how do you feel? I mean, is it like. Well, now I've got to find a new dream, or, you know.

While in racing, it's that is this thing as the perfect guy. So it's like and it's feel old chase So perfecting your craft and it will never be perfect. So I'm still in the trenches of how can I get better at the race? And rather that's what gives me purpose. Okay, I want to race here, but when I get there, I like to race.

I want to wait. I want it to be fast. I want to recent level championships level, the championship races that lie. My drive is the constant. It's a set them and then we have living. It's up and up whether that be right and whether that can being the way out or I stop what right dress or whatever I my business lines it's always a a quality that.

All right Bruce thanks for that interview. You know with the race car, movies and biopics, what was your thought on this one compared to like something like a Ford versus Ferrari?

Well, this is one that actually had some kind of controversy about the way they messed with time because there's a big accident that's in this film and it has been moved from where it actually happened to a different time because it helps build tension and look at the guy who is it's his story doesn't mind, I guess I can't mind.

But I think also because he's an executive producer, so there might be somebody that helped say, I don't mind. Yeah, yeah, No.

I enjoy the racing movies. I enjoyed Ford versus Ferrari. I thought that was a really good story to tell.

Well, this year, Ferrari, so.

Yeah, exactly.

Helped Ford in there. Exactly. And so you have to go into every screen biography as it ain't all true.

Right? You know, it's interesting, you mentioned a lot of movies based on music, you know, with like Queen and Sugar and you had Elton John. And the one that kind of gets looked at is almost a starting point. I mean, there is there's been a few others along the way, but the one that really kind of propelled, I think the modern film was The Doors from Oliver Stone.

And that's one where the three surviving members of The Doors at the time, they hated it. They were and they worked with Oliver Stone for a while on it to try to help, you know, tell the story. And when that thing came out, they were not at all happy with the way.

And it hurt it because Val Kilmer should have gotten a best Actor nomination. Yeah, he was that good. And boy, they buried it. Yep. And when you look at later ones, Rami Malick, you know, when you look back on that one, you were going to say, why did he win the Oscar for playing Freddie Mercury? And it all boils down to that little number he did in front of a huge crowd because they played that thing forever before you even saw the film.

And that one scene is very good, but the rest of it doesn't really back it up. And I think that's when you look at it, you'll say, you probably shouldn't have got it. You know, it wasn't it wasn't all that. The Whitney Houston one I think is awful and Rocketman is good. But then when it needs to, it'll go into these kind of fantasy sequences so that then you're not really sure what's what's shaking, what's real, what's true, what's not.

You know, it's been an interesting series of films and they're not they're sort of interconnected because they're connected by almost like an individual. There's a producer. His name is Mark Girardi. He was a baseball pitcher. He actually pitched professionally. He pitched for a season with the Milwaukee Brewers. I know the story a little bit more because when I was working in New Jersey, he's actually from New Jersey.

And my newspaper that I was working for at the time did a story on him when some of his movies were making out. So he finished his baseball career. He went into, I think, modeling and he started making Hollywood connections and then he started telling stories through Disney. And, you know, I'm all, you know, like Miracle about the 1980 Olympic hockey team and the rookie.

And I went back and looked at, you know, I was trying to find like, you know, fact versus fiction on those. And I was having a hard time finding very much fictionalized. And I think those in general were pretty well-regarded. I was looking at a story about the Rookie with Jim Morris talking about, you know, the portrayal of him because he was the pitcher who blew out his arm and became a high school baseball coach and then all of a sudden realized he could throw 98 miles per hour again and ended up working his way back into the big leagues.

And he said that the film was about 90% accurate to his real life. So it's good to see that there are some films out there, and I think I've really enjoyed those films that that they've done, like Miracle, like The Rookie, because I find them, you know, they're good, they're family friendly, they're not too over-the-top, but they seem to keep fairly close to historical facts.

Yeah, it's condensing time, basically. You know, everything doesn't happen within a year. I think they're better off when they do a slice of somebody's life where it's like maybe three months of their life. And that's the movie. I think that would be the interesting kind of situation. Maestro is coming up by Leonard Bernstein. And that should be, I think, a really good one in terms of how well they track a segment of his career.

But I, you know, gee, I, I would hate to be the subject of a biopic because I think that you have to kind of then live that that story instead of a real story was, you know, because that's what people think of you. They want to have things condensed and into a, you know, a neat little package that you can see in 2 hours.

And we're done with you and you move on. But there there's much more beyond that. And I think when you look at those those seminal moments, maybe that's all it should be. Ken Burns is a great one to do documentaries about famous people, but what he uses are voices, other people talking about that person. So, you know, it's almost like a print news story where you hear others making some kind of assessment.

And it's not just necessarily the character saying something. So those I find the most accurate in terms of believing what I'm seeing. But again, it's filtered. History is filtered by those who are telling history.

I think the only thing that bothers me, I mean, I always know that there's going to be some creative license, some dramatization to these films, but it just irks me when they make weird changes for the sake of making changes that don't necessarily make sense. Because I remember somebody I've never seen the Buddy Holly story with Gary Busey.

Robyn No, I haven't. I just I need to go back and watch it one of these days. But I remember a friend of mine talking about it and saying that you know, he like he liked the film, but he couldn't understand why they didn't have all the crickets. Like Buddy Holly's backing band was The Crickets. And it was like they had like three of the four members in it but not.

Get their rights.

Right. So it's just like, Why would you make a movie and leave out one of the band members, You know, if there is a reason for it, I guess, you know, somebody would want their story told. But if it was just more because as well, it's it gets a little unruly with four people. So we're going to just narrow it down to three.

To me, those are little things that to the average person may not notice. But if you're trying to also appeal to fans of the band or the musician, these are historical pieces. It's like it's like even watching Field of Dreams, where Shoeless Joe Jackson is is batting from the wrong side of the plate. You know, it's it's you know, when you make a left in the batter right handed or vice versa, that kind of thing is like little details like that.

When you're when you're a fan, you're kind of going.

Like, do a fancy.

Fancy get maybe that right. You know, that's that's kind of irritating.

You know, now Broadway is jumping on the bandwagon and they're doing all of these musicals about musical people because they're very dramatic. They've got a built in catalog of sounds that always will work because people know them. There's a Neil Diamond one out now. There was Tina Turner, there was Cher. And you're going to see more and more of those Mamma Mia, which was just the songs with a different story.

Right? But they're they're easily tapped into bowl. I always say that you can easily tap into them. Right. What I want to say, because you already know something about them, which is the music, and I think that's a shorthand that they don't have to tell other parts of the story because you just assume that's their. Yeah, though, I don't know, it's weird, but if there's a story or a moral or a caution to be added to this, it's a don't believe them.

When you see a screen biography, don't believe them. They're very entertaining, but they aren't necessarily the true story.

Absolutely. That's a good point to to end this episode. Thank you again, Bruce, for that interview.

When Brad Pitt plays me in the movie version of the podcast, you know that it's going to have a different ending.

Absolutely. Yep. And again, you know, just want to point out one last time, no animals were harmed in the recording of this podcast yet. We're all yet going to have a cat wander in here in a second.

No, no, no. I know.

That's all right, everyone. Thank you again. Come back again next week for another episode of Stream. The screen.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What are you passionate about?

For Jim Capobianco, who has a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination from 'Ratatouille' to his credit, his new animated film "The Inventor" was a passion project.

The film was a passion project as well for composer Alex Mandel, who was able to include his daughter Sequoia on a track in the film.

Co-host Bruce Miller shares a story about his own passion projects and then dives into the new animated film about Leonardo da Vinci (not Leonardo DiCaprio), which utilizes both traditional 2-D hand drawn animation as well as brings to life stop motion puppets.

Miller has interviews with both Capobianco and Mandel, who discuss why the film was so personal. "The Inventor" opens Sept. 15 in the U.S. and stars Stephen Fry, Marion Cotillard and Daisy Ridley.

We also look ahead to next week, when we'll discuss the recent release "Grand Turismo" and have an interview with real-life driver Jann Mardenborough, who was the inspiration for the film. Miller and co-host Terry Lipshetz will discuss other movies that depict real people and how far they stray from reality.

Where to watch

Cast of 'The Inventor'

Contact us!

We want to hear from you! Email questions to [email protected] and we'll answer your question on a future episode!

About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Welcome everyone to another episode of Streamed and Screened an entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer at Lee and co-host of the program, shall I say. The inventor of this program, Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and a longtime entertainment reporter. You're here. You're the inventor. You are truly an inventor of this podcast.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. And I don't want any credit for it. Okay. It's not it's not in my head. But, you know, that's it's funny how people have passion projects. Do you have a passion project? Is there anything in your mind that you say, This is something I really I want to be known for? I haven't quite gotten there yet.

I have things that I'm passionate in about in my lives, but I, I don't have a project per say that I'm sharing with the world. Okay. Okay. I, I have a couple of things in my life, okay? One is I have a movie idea in my mind that I think is going to be perfect. Perfect. But until I retire, he will not write that script because names are used.

But the other thing. There was a time when I was in, like, my mid-forties that I thought I was losing my hearing. I really I thought it's it's gone. And I had was tested and they said, yeah, you could lose your hearing. And I thought, as a journalist, I don't want to go through life without something that I could point to that would represent me, that would represent what I could do as a journalist.

And it just all came out about at a basketball game. I was sitting next to a friend at a basketball game and she said, You know, these aren't the same. High school just isn't the same anymore. I go to the games and the kids aren't here cheering. The band doesn't support the teams. It's not like we remember when we were kids.

And I thought, Well, let's just see what that was all about. And so I decided to do a look back at it. At the time, it was the class of 1977, and I decided to talk to the people who were in the class of 1977. And what was high school like back then? Was it really better? Was this something that we should have, you know, embraced and used as an example?

And so I thought, well, this'll be easy because I just go to the school and I ask them for those permanent records that they all seem to have. I went to the high school, and the high school said, We don't have anything like that. I said, You're kidding. My whole life has been built on your permanent record, and I wanted to make sure that my permanent record was was good.

She said, Oh, now we throw those out after the kids are gone, we're good. And I said, Well, do you have the graduation list? No, we don't have that either. I said, You don't have the graduation list. You've got to be kidding me. She said there might be a yearbook in the library. Go to the library if you find the yearbook there, you can take it out for a while and get some names out of that.

So I went to the library and the yearbook had been cut out of. I kid you not. People cut pictures out of it. So what I learned from this was there is no permanent record of your high school life. But I got enough names. It was a class of about three or 400, and I diligently put together this master list of all of these kids in one led to another, to another, to another, to another.

And I ended up with, I think it was more than 160 of the class of 1977 out of 300 or 400. And what I would do at night because I thought I was losing my hearing, is I would sit with a headset on and I would call members of the Class of 1977 and ask them about what was school like, What do you remember?

Was it better than. And I built this whole story about what was it really like and how does it compare to now? Because most of them were be poor would have been parents of kids in high school at the same time. And it was a fascinating thing. I was able to relive all of their high school years and find out how it affected people.

And there were people who said things like, Well, every time I drive by the school, even now, I feel this deep pit in my stomach. I hated that place. I didn't like the people there. As I learned from all of this research, people that I knew I needed to target. The valedictorian would easily be somebody the student body president was somebody.

The star basketball player. Star football player, star baseball player, star wrestler, the homecoming king and queen. I mean, I had all those ones who are like landmarks in a high school class. And I got to all of them. And then I had a group of them who were really close friends get together. And we just talked about high school.

And I'll tell you, it was a fascinating thing because I knew these people as old people and they were talking about their youth. And I learned that some people do not moved on beyond high school. High school is the be all the end all. It is the high point of their life. It was, I think, a 12 part series that I wrote.

Whatever happened to the class of 1977? And even to this day, I have people who will come to me and say, Are you going to do another class? No, I'm not. The good news is, is that my hearing came back, so I didn't feel like I needed to do anything anymore. But yet I think it represented me at my best.

And I look back on it now, and this has been quite a few years since, because I think we hit a milestone and they said, you should go back and revisit them. And I never did, but I was made an official member of the class of 1977, and I have been invited to class reunions. So there is my my chance of being able to do that.

But it was a fascinating thing. Well, in the movie business, there are those passion projects. There are things that people live to do and they don't always get the funding for it. You know, you might try something on a lower scale or a smaller scale, and then maybe somebody will say, Let's do it. Let's make that let's make the film out of this.

And that's what happened with a film that's coming out this week called The Inventor. It was a passion project of writer director Jim Capobianco, who had done a short subject about Leonardo da Vinci. He called Leonardo in 2009, I believe it was, and he wanted to expand this into something much bigger, make it a much bigger film than it ever was.

And so he got that funding, got the people, got everything behind it, and created this animated film that's a hybrid. It's part stop motion animation and it's part 2D or draw on animation. And it's him at his best, at least as he sees it. And it's a way for him to do those stories. And he says, you know, he grew up in the in the Disney what do you call it, the factory.

Disney Factory. Sure. He wrote Ratatouille in case you need to have a point of reference. And they always said, you know, do your passion projects, do the things that you most care about and you'll never go wrong because you're doing something that you have an interest in. And he is interested. Interest was in Leonardo da Vinci. He couldn't believe that this guy did all these things.

All of this kind of stuff. And yet in the later years of his life, what was it that drove him? What was the thing that kept him going? And so that's kind of the thrust of the inventor is those later years when he was in France and what he did with those things. And I mean, my God, go down the list of the stuff that Leonardo did.

Unbelievable. But then he also has to bring in others to share this kind of passion, if you will, and get those people excited about it. And so that's what he did. He had to try and build this thing like he is a Leonardo of an animated feature. This film isn't attached with Disney or one of the other big studios, right?

No, no. It's a very much independent film, which is cool to see, especially with an animated film, because animated films aren't necessarily cheap and it's takes a little bit of work to get them done. Well, and the idea that you're doing stop motion and draw an animation. When do you do which and I think I did an interview with him was hopefully a part of it here that you can listen to.

But he said that he used the stop motion, which are like, if you remember, a nightmare before Christmas. Tim Burton loves to do this using like little dolls, if you will, all of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, any of those kinds of films were done stop motion, and you'd move them very slightly. And then when you had men shoot the frame and then you keep going and eventually it looks like the character is moving around.

But he did reality or the the real part of it in stop motion. And then the flights of fantasy that he might have as the drawn stuff. So you could see drawings come to life and what they would mean for him. You know, he worked on a flying machine and you could see the flying machine come to life.

So it's a fascinating thing. But then he also had to draw others in. And one of the ones he drew in was Alex Mandel, who is a composer who worked with him at Disney on a number of things. But he had a sharper learning curve because he did not know the whole backstory of Leonardo. Let's be honest. Do we all study Leonardo?

You want to see a cartoon about Leonardo? You've probably don't, you know. And so he had to take a lot of the information that he was given by Jim and then work from that. The interesting thing is he also realized that he could take a shift and jump out of this and he wouldn't have to have period music.

It wouldn't have to sound like it was from Leonardo's time. He could be different with all of this. Well, one of the things he did is he recorded a kind of a test song to see how well this would work when they were pitching it and he needed a singer. And so he said to his daughter, who is a singer, ten years old, record this for me.

Her name is Sequoia Mandel. And Sequoia, you know, was and she was in for the money. She thought this was good. This is a good idea. So when they kept kind of adding good, we had the pandemic. We had all these things in there. She recorded another version at 12. She recorded songs at 15. She's throughout this whole thing.

And it helped him also understand the people that they were hiring for the parts. She knew more about the actors who were being hired than Dad did, and it helped him realize what kind of their range was for the music. So it's a fascinating kind of story, and I think this is not a movie that kids might just embrace.

It's this is not the latest for a frozen, you know what I mean? But yeah, tells another story. It is something that if you're an animation fan and you're older, it's something you will appreciate because you see how these people that we now view as just untouchable geniuses that have no, you know, no relationship to us and how the thought process went for them and what they had to do to put it together.

Stephen Sondheim wrote a song for Sunday in the Park with George called Putting It Together. And that's exactly what it is. It's like, what are the little elements that create genius? And that's what you get out of this, this film? Yeah, it sounds like an interesting film, and I agree. It seems like the type of film that it's not necessarily you're going to gather up your five year olds and shuffle off to the theater, but maybe a more mature age children, teenagers and people that can appreciate different types of animation and I love animation.

I've always been drawn to things like the Tim Burton stop motion. And even as a teenager, I was really fascinated by Gumby, which, you know, that was the stop motion television program from, I guess, what, the 1960s? Probably hokey claymation. Yeah, Yeah, exactly. So that's always been fun. So I think this is the type of film that would be really interesting to check out and see.

I'm trying to think like what kind of music would be of the time of Leonardo DiCaprio. Probably a lot of movie. See your make or allow. Well, the music of Leonardo DiCaprio would be very familiar to Taylor Swift. I think she's in the film. But yeah, with Vinci. Yeah, With Da Vinci, you would think, well, there's probably some lutes and liars and all that kind of stuff.

And you didn't write that. Is that what it is? I don't know. But if you can be a little more modern with some of it, it might be a little way of telegraphing what he is thinking or how he is thinking. You know, how do you how do you stay ahead of the curve and not below the curve?

Because most of us are B, below the curve, you know, So what do we want to do? First, we want to go to the interview with Jim Cappa Bianco, if you'd like. Yeah, that'd be a great one. And you'll hear him talk about, you know, his creative time and what he learned from all of this. You'll explain the process a little better than I could.

But if you will grab a snippet from that. And I think that should should give you a sense of of the film. How do you get obsessed with Leonardo DiCaprio? Leonardo DiCaprio now and I'm totally obsessed with, you know, Da Vinci. What is the deal? I think like a lot of artists, you know, you get to know about Leonardo da Vinci in some form.

But then I made the short film. I started researching him for that, and then I just started to see him more as a human being than just a genius. And that kind of aspect of him. I wanted to sort of explore further in the feature. So, you know, that's what kind of drew me to him more, you know, And obviously he's such an interesting character person, you know, with all his interests and everything.

So that just, you know, to be and bring him down to a kind of a more human level was really what's always driven me about him. But then don't people say, wait a minute here, people may not want to go to see something like this, you know? Well, I don't know. I guess I don't maybe the people trying you know, we were trying to get money from and to raise funds for a thought that way.

But I can I just want you know, I'm just going to try to tell the story I kind of want to tell. So I didn't worry about that too much. I mean, I was always in the back of my mind, Would people really want to see the sort of kids and stuff? So but, you know, as a film, as I developed it that I wanted to see, and that's how we always develop stuff at Pixar and Disney.

So it was always like, you know, what's the film that I as a kid inside of me and the adult would want to see in animation. So that's getting out the way you wanted it to, to be. Did it become the vision that you had way back when was beyond my vision? It's just, you know, I think the team we had to get it, we brought together just brought so much magic to the film and I couldn't ask for a better group of artists to work with.

And yeah, I don't think I ever, in addition to what we turned out, we created, it's just amazing. So how do you decide what's going to be stop motion animation and what's going to be drawn anime? I mean, to me that was very fascinating to see how it, you know, it would separate and then it would be this would be that.

How do you make those decisions? Well, as we did well, as I developed it, I started to see the stop motion as the kind of the reality, real world of the world, and then the drawn animation as sort of Leonardo's flights of fancy, or it was more free because the two techniques stop motion has you are rigid in the sense that you can only animate what you've planned because you have to build an armature and it can only do certain movements and you know it can walk.

And it's not like arms if it's going to do some sort of fantastic movement. That animation can do it. You'd have to plan for that. And they are usually built that way. You have gravity, you have a lot of things you have to worry about. But with 2D drawing animation, whatever you can draw, you can pretty much depict.

So it is a much more fluid form of animation. It's freer, it has this sort of sense of lightness to it. So to me that was like Leonardo, you go into Leonardo's brain, you go into his thoughts. That would be 2D animation. When we're in the real world, it would be stop motion animation. Okay, well, is it easier to do one or the other?

People think stop motion is much harder, but I think it's just where you have to put the planning for it or where it the difficulties lie. Like stop motion, you build a puppet. The a lot of the work is in the building of everything and assembling and like working out the costumes, working out how they armatures will be built.

And then once you have the puppets and you animated, that's what you have. I mean, you have it's like a live action shoot and you shoot it and you have that footage, right? It's done with 2D drawing animation. You have the difficulty. There's planning and designing it, but once you animate it, there's other follow on technique. Tasks that have to be done has to be colored, maybe cleaned up because the animators generally draw a rough.

And then there's another artist that cleans it up and stuff. But also you have to deal with each animator might draw the character slightly differently and you need to kind of reign that in and adjust. They're always a little off. I mean, I think if you really go through the film and really analyze it, you'll see the Leonardo's and the 2D change sizes.

Oh, I don't get, I don't get that that mean about it. That could really slow motion. You build this puppet that's it you cannot vary it. Each artist that touches it's going to be the same. So they have their you know, they're both it's animation. Animation is the nuttiest crazy anything going to happen. Right. Right. That anything can happen with animation.

That's right. That's true. Squish and squish. Come on. When you were doing using his his artwork, what did you see that he could have been an animator at some point. I mean, they always thought that actually, you know, you see how he studied motion. He did a lot of studies about how people move or animals move. And you see he does different.

There's these drawings he did of construction workers and you see them in different poses of working and they look like animators, you know, sketches that we would do. We study anatomy and we look at people walking around the street and we do fill our sketchbooks with these actions, you know, and obviously studied anatomy. So he's learning about how the body moves.

And and so, yeah, I've always thought if he if animation was a thing back then, he might have tried animation. I don't think it would be the only thing you do because the guy is always changing his ideas. Well, to me, that's so remarkable that there are all these things he had his hand in and it could you imagine yourself?

I mean. Sure. Yeah. You have a lot of interest in a lot of different things, but he was like at the top of his game with so many of those things. Yeah. No, I don't see myself that way, though. Where do you find the human element to Leonardo? Well, I find it in that he, you know, he had to have a patron.

He had to have somebody who paid him money, but he had these other dreams he wanted to do, which I think a lot of us do. You know, you have to make a living, but you also want to do other things that you find more enjoyable or explore, you know? And then also, he had a lot of fear of like how he would be except did in his world.

And I think that's true of most a lot of people today. He wanted you know, he wanted recognition for what he did and what he could do and that he didn't always receive that, you know. So I think there's a lot of humanity. And then ultimately the story is about legacy and what you leave behind. And I think that to me speaks to a lot of what I would imagine.

I hope people think about, you know, how we touch other people and affect their lives and stuff. So to me that those are the human elements that I really wanted to touch on, you know, and also the curiosity, I mean, the curiosity and all these other things. So how do we start casting the voices? I mean, you had the voices in your mind.

You said this would be perfect for so-and-so or is it just I mean, that to me it's it's an international cast. Yeah. And we really came about I developed the character first and was the story and then and now is still developing the story. But then I was like, okay, who could voice Leonardo? And then, I mean, the only person I could really think of was Stephen Fry, just because he's such a polymath himself and he didn't want the like we were being voice of a Gandalf.

I really wanted like this lighter voice with wit and intelligence. And to me, Stephen was that perfect casting. And even when recording him, he would correct my use of words and then give me ology and that word like, you know, so much fun. So and then Marguerite sing Daisy Ridley and the Disney are the Star Wars films at Disney.

But, uh, he, yeah, she, she just had a nice a power in her voice and also a kind of vulnerability in there as well. And I thought that was perfect for Marguerite. I didn't know I would ever be able to cast her, but I was like, okay, that's the character in some ways, that voice inside Marguerite. And then, you know, you go, Okay, who do you want?

You know, the producers. Like, okay, who should we cast for Marguerite? I'm like, Why is it Daisy? Ridley would be great? And we're like, Well, it's you. We can get these, really. And then you also make a list. You're like, Oh, and so on. So and so. But she was at the top. I really wanted Daisy and then, you know, and she accepted to do it too.

And Marion Cotillard was like suggested actually by the French studio. We're still looking for Louise's voice. And they said we might be able to get Marion Cotillard. And you're like, Well, you know, hey, I guess we could use her. Yeah, maybe. But, you know, the one interesting thing with her is, you know, we have these songs in the film and we actually that was the last song we made because that she sings because we didn't have one for her.

And then I told Alex, the composer, I said, Alex, we have Marion Cotillard in the film. She's the one person everyone knows can sing and we don't have a song for her. So we reworked the story a little bit to put in the UN Guard song on Guard L.A. and it just was like the perfect thing because it connected to the dueling in the earlier part, right?

And like that. And so that's how the film would work and evolve. It's like, Well, we need this here. And it's like, Oh, we have to check connected there and thanks, Bruce, for that interview. Real fascinating stuff. And now you do have one other interview and that would be Alex Mandel. And you'll hear him talk, too, about working with his daughter and you'll hear about those who can't sing because, you know, they don't always put singers in these animated films.

In fact, many of the Disney films, they would have a singing voice and then they would also have a speaking voice. So Aladdin, spoiler alert, The singing voice of Aladdin is not the talking voice of a that and that's that's not uncommon. It's often the practice. But you'll hear him talk about some of the actors who are in the film and their abilities with singing Fill Me In.

Where do you start with something like this? This seems like, Man, how do I a paid tribute to somebody like Leonardo? And then what? Where do I begin with the sound of it. Yeah, well, I mean, Jim Capobianco, the writer and director, has been studying Leonardo for years. He had done a film about narrative energy back in, I think, 2009.

And so I was trying to catch up, but really relied on Jim to say, this is the part of Leonardo da Vinci he was interested in, which is his last year, where he left Italy as a older man, went to France and never came back. And so this is him really dealing with the end of his life and the meaning of life and his mortality and what he can leave behind for future generations, which he did.

And so, yeah, that was the storyline. And so then the question is, well, how do we tell that story? But do you started researching music of the Times and saying it's got to sound authentic to that period? Or do you say, Well, now here's my chance to be an inventor and I can go off the tracks? Leonardo da Vinci was ahead of his time, right?

He was designing flying machines 500 years or 400 years before the Wright brothers created an airplane. So that gave us some leeway because I could have music that sounded more of the time for, say, the King's Court. But then from Leonardo, it was ahead of its time, you know, And so this the music becomes a kind of metaphor for the mindset of that character.

So Leonardo and Marguerite, some of their music sounds like it's 150 years ahead of its time. Some of it sounds like it's modern. Whenever their ideas jump forward to our way of thinking, the music becomes more modern to reflect their their thinking. Okay, so then when you're dealing with the voices and maybe a voice isn't that good at singing, and I'm not trying to name names now he's being called out here, but do you write for them or do you write the songs?

And then you say, okay, well, I guess you can talk through this one. Yeah. And it's there's interesting story there. Stephen Fry, who's a brilliant writer. Not that I'm naming names. Okay. Oh, no, I. And he would be the first to agree. He said, I'm really not comfortable singing. But Jim, Jim's idea was to have him speaking. But even so, there is I don't know if you've seen the film.

There's a scene where Leonardo arrives in France and he builds his workshop. The walls come up and as he names things, they magically appear in stop motion. And that was a very fast, almost like wrap that. Stephen Fry Right, right. It just took a while. He was very worried, but it turned. He did a great job. It turned out great.

Daisy Ridley You know, my daughter said, Dad, you know, here she is singing with Barbra Streisand. And I listened to her voice and I thought, okay, I think I get a feel for her range. She's got a great voice. I'll write the song to suit her voice. And same with Marion Cotillard, beautiful voice. She's recorded a lot. So I had a pretty good idea of what her range was, and I could keep that in mind as I composed songs for her.

So then how long do you have to write these songs? Because here's like nine songs you've got or something? It's nine songs. Yeah. It's it's funny because at the end there, I wrote a bunch pretty fast. The reason was I think Jim saw, Oh, these songs are helping to tell this story, so maybe Daisy needs a song, maybe Marguerite needs a song.

I pitched the idea. I said, We got to get Marion Cotillard to sing it song. She's a great singer. And also I want to learn more about the Queen. Like, what did she want? And because she's a secondary character, you know, you don't have that much time. So the song really summarizes a lot about her in a very quick way.

And that song was written quite quickly, and the fastest song was when Stephen said he really said, I cannot sing at all. So there's a scene where he's talking to Mona Lisa, and we had 45 minutes to rewrite the song, and I suggested Jim, What if Mona Lisa sings the chorus back to him? So he laments his situation, I'm finished and Mona Lisa sings to him.

Yeah, you are. We're out of time. You're done. So sometimes you've got years and sometimes you've got 45 minutes. Okay, there's. There's a credit. That is it. Sequoia. Is that a relative? Sequoia is my daughter. Okay, But then from 10 to 15 or something, what is the deal with that? So we've been working on this movie for a long time.

When Jim asked for that first song, I had my ten year old daughter Sequoia sing it, and then it was cute. She had a very cute voice and it's just adorable. We actually had a singer when she was 12. That's the version that's in the movie. But then Jim said, Oh, I want the girls all for girls to be sing for our harmonies.

So I recorded her when she was 15 too. So we have my daughter Sequoia, singing different songs. And I said, Yeah, and which is again, really fits the theme of the movie, which is about family, and it's about, you know, legacy and sharing ideas with each other through the generations. So it worked really nicely. So what does she think about this?

I think she's she's into it. I think know, she's an aspiring actress, so she wants to be judged on her own merits, which I appreciate. But as far as I'm concerned, she did me a huge favor. And it you know, she's singing a duet with Daisy Ridley. So that's pretty cool. I think she's does she get all these, like, chicks then for each age?

I'd be holding out for that. Can I be her agent? It'd be a cool thing. Thankfully not. No, I. We basically said we're going to put aside a fun for her. There's a certain amount of money that will be set aside for her, and we've handled that within the family. Why did you stick with this so long? What was it?

What was the pole for you? Well, I really believe in Jim Capobianco’s vision. I think he's a true artist. I think that this is it's a work of art. I mean, and, Jim, his passion is contagious. And also, I got to have a lot of creative input, you know? And so Jim would hear me out. He didn't always take my suggestions, but sometimes he did.

And so I felt like I was very much a part of the movie. And I, I wanted to see it succeed. So, you know, some some projects you do, you know, to pay the rent and some you do for passion. And this is a passion project. You must tell your daughter, I want to be your agent, because I think I think you've got a good partnership going on here, I think would be great.

And I would make sure we got more than one check. You know, I'll let you know. I'll get you the list. People keep asking me this and and but she will be she she's happy. She got a very good compensation package. But thank you, Bruce. Thanks for that other interview. And it just to kind of fill folks in on this film as well.

It does have some heavyweights of sorts in this isn't just like it's a smaller, no more independent film, but but we've got Daisy Ridley from the Star Wars Rebels. He's in it. Matt Berry is in it. Stephen Fry is Leonardo Da Vinci. I was going to say. DiCaprio You see, that is your ball. It is like it's not easy.

But yes, there's on demand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So some pretty well-known actors in there. So it should be an interesting one to check out when you put it out there that this is a passion project. People come because they know you're not going to just blow it off and it's going to be a two second kind of thing.

It's going to be something that really gets the attention and the the care and the feeding of it that it needs. And, you know, when it's over, what's next? What's what exactly comes after that. Yeah. And you know, what's fun about this episode, Bruce, is our concerns were a little bit alleviated because we know you can't get actors right now to talk about it right during the strike.

They can't talk to promote their stuff, but you're able to get the composer the film in and the director. So they, you know, we're still we're still bringing them in. Dare to dream we could get a hairdresser. That's right. They could. You never know. It could happen. It could F and costume designer. Yes, Yes. Well, I love all of those big ones, you know, but that gives you a sense of what the other parts of the industry are and that it isn't just about an actor strike or a restaurant strike.

There's a lot more involved with all of this. So, yeah, it's fascinating. And I love hearing their stories because I don't know that I could be that passionate about it. Yeah, absolutely. So what do we have coming up? Anything of interest on your end? Here's the other thing. I this is another kind of spin off of all of that is movies based on people's lives.

And I think next week we're going to look at films that were based on Saw The Blind Side, where Michael was saying, you know, that wasn't true. They used me. How true are these based in truth films and how really can we trust them? And I did get a chance to talk to the real guy behind Gran Turismo, and you'll get a chance to meet Jann Mardenborough and find out his story.

But next week, we're going to look at we're going to look at that whole world of this is based on a true story or parts of this are based on a true story or some of this could be true, you know, but I think we'll look at that. So think of the films you've seen and you go, you know what?

I don't know how close that is. You know, it's an interesting one. And we'll probably talk a little bit more about this one next week. But I started watching the second season of Winning Time on HBO, the one that follows the lake, the rise of the L.A. Lakers. Right. And we talked a little bit about this a few episodes ago, but how there were some criticisms of it perhaps not necessarily being as truthful to reality in the first episode comes on and they put up a disclaimer saying that some of the some of the things here in this show may have been changed for dramatic purposes.

Some characters might have been fudged a little bit. So yeah, I kind of found that one interesting. It's amazing they use those lines well, they get them off the hook, but Right. How they reword that all the time, you know, based on a true story, based in fact, this is a factual ized version of true events. I mean, where did they come up with this crap to to identify it?

But I think it would be fun. And we talked to John and he tells you what it's like and how he thought the movie went awesome. All right. Well, that sounds good and it gives us something to look forward to next week. I know you sent me the interview already had that one kind of squirreled away that night?

Yes, in the bag. And I started I gave it a little bit of a sneak preview. I'll give give a final listen between now and when we speak again. But yeah, until next week. Thank you all for listening to this episode of Strangers Green. Remember your passion.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jon Hamm is back, this time joining two different programs — "The Morning Show" and "Fargo" — as is the reboot of "Frasier," which brings star Kelsey Grammer back to Boston, where the character was introduced to us during the third season of "Cheers" nearly 40 years ago. 

There are also a number of reality series and game shows, another animated program on Fox that was in production well before the writers strike, foreign productions and remakes. 

Ultimately, it's a mixed bag that Bruce Miller runs through with his co-host Terry Lipshetz. The two also dive into favorite programs that 12-year-old Bruce and Terry liked to watch.

Upcoming shows to watch with approximate dates:

Contact us!

We want to hear from you! Email questions to [email protected] and we'll answer your question on a future episode!

About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Welcome everyone to another episode of Streamed & Screened an entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer at Lee and co-host of the program with Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and longtime entertainment reporter. Bruce, it's still like 90 degrees outside all over this country, but it's we're getting ready for fall the fall season.

Time to break up the leaves, the pumpkin spice time. Oh, yeah. Pumpkin, I hate pumpkin spice. Oh, don't I? I hate it. Yeah, I'm with that. I just. We're throwing that out there. But that's what they sell this time of year is was the time of year that 12 year old Bruce would be making a list of all the new TV shows, making sure he got the TV guide that had all of the features about all of them planning and and trying to make sure that the fall TV's schedule was going to be perfect for the next year.

Well, now, old Bruce says, is there even a fall TV season anymore? Because we've got two strikes going on and most of the broadcast networks are not introducing any new series because they want to save them in case they need them for content, for next year. So it's it's kind of a mixed bag, I got to tell you.

But I do have some conclusions that I've drawn from looking at all of their like, maybe 30 some 40 shows that they've got on the books. Jon Hamm is the king of fall TV. Is Jon Amis in the new season of the morning show on Apple TV? And he is the lead character in the new version of Fargo.

Oh, Fargo's back. You're going to get a double ham. Oh, I have a ham sandwich, if you will. Now it's his cup, but yeah, he's pretty big. And then another thing I noticed was there are a lot of series coming from other countries. The swarm. Are you familiar with this swarm? No. No, I don't think so. That bee film that I think was it Michael Caine was in or on or one of those ones way back in the old days.

No, it's about water over the swarm of something under the water. That is going to really bell against the humans that are not keeping the water clean. It's based on a best seller from Germany, and it was a huge international production. They spent more money than Germany has ever spent on a series, and it's a cast of people from just about every country you can find.

So part of it's set in Vancouver, part of it said in Germany, part of it's in Peru. It's all over and it's going to be on the CW. So that's that's coming up this next week. It's one of the first ones that will premiere. And I got to tell you, I think what they've done is they edited some of the R-rated content for broadcast networks because there's a point where that you know, that they're saying a word that probably starts with four letters.

Mm hmm. And they blur out the big lips and then the eye that stays overnight at some woman's house. And you see them walking through. But you don't know if he's naked, but it sure looks like he's naked and it looks like they re-edited it to cut it looked a little a little more presentable. So it's interesting. You don't get the real kind of jump, the thrill that you're looking for, the jaws kind of moment until the end of the first episode.

And then you see that killer whales are out to get you out. So that's that's one of the first ones that you'll see. That's kind of fascinating. Is it in English? Yeah. Oh, they they wanted to make sure it was an international production. So they're all in English haltingly in some cases. But yeah, but it's all done in English.

Neighbors is going to be on Amazon freebie and it's a revival of the Australian series was a soap opera that ran for decades. And then Canada is providing two things for the CW dispenser Sisters and Sullivan's Crossing, and those sounds suspiciously like series we've already seen on The CW. But they're back. Leah Thompson's in one of them, Chad.

Michael Murray is on another one. They were, you know, popular in other times. So they're they're grabbing what they can find to provide content. And then you're seeing a lot of game shows of some sort or another. They're the golden bachelor. You've heard about that. I'm sure you've seen the ads for them. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The guy, he's 70 something who who's looking for love.

And you think, Wow. Who is advertising during this show? Peacock has Love Island Games, which is another Love Island series. But they're playing games, so then they don't have to have a script or anything like that. And then a really fascinating one, I think, is about the villains from reality TV shows. Now, here's a way for them to get all those Vanderpump Rules people out and into another marketplace House of Villains.

It's called in Joel McHale. McHale is hosting that. So those are the kinds of things you're seeing on those those networks. You see what I mean? Yeah, we don't have writers. Yeah. So we're going to do whatever we can there will, or we're going to call it a documentary. That's another kind of a way of dealing with things.

Fox has crap Apple is crap. Apple is this is a man and saw that. Yeah. They put into production quite a bit ago and it's about Greek gods and how they sit around and complain a lot. Hannah Waddingham from Ted Lasso is one of the voices. So, yeah, you know, that's an interesting thing. The boys, if you know the boys from Amazon.

They have a spinoff called Gen B and it's a new a new era of super heroes, super villains. It's much like the X-Men where they go to school to learn how to be. What kind of superhero are you going to be? And, you know, okay, we'll see what happens. NBC has a couple of series that are real series.

The Irrational, starring Jesse Martin, who is on Law and Order. It has him doing more kind of looking into cases and stuff. But the one that I thought was kind of interesting was called Found. And it's about a group of people looking for missing people. One who leads the team was missing herself at one point. And so they try to figure out where is all of this Mark-Paul gosselaar from NYPD Blue.

And then, of course, you know, saved by the Bell is one of the people looking for help. And now what movies have sponsored some kind of content in some fashion. John Wick is coming to television as a prequel. It's called The Continental, and it's about the character that Ian McShane played and how he became like the head of the New York Hotel.

If that makes anything that Scott Pilgrim saves the world has given birth to. Scott Pilgrim takes off. And this is an animated version of Scott Pilgrim versus the rest of the world or whomever or whatever it was. And then documentaries. Do you remember cheer? Did you watch Cheer at all on Netflix? I know. I know it. I. It's about maybe an episode or two.

It wasn't something that really captured. It's not for me kind of thing. It's about a college cheer team. And it was all right. Was it Louisville? Was Texas or Texas? Yeah. They did two seasons of this. It was quite well-received. It won the Emmy for best Documentary series. But now those people have done their own version of another look at people.

And it's called wrestlers. And it's about this place where they train basically all star wrestlers. John Cena was trained at this place. The Miz was trained at this place. And so it's done like it's a documentary and it's done, I think, pretty well for the circumstances and what the situation was. The people behind Cheer really know how to get in there and tell stories with with a crowd.

And then there are some kind of fascinating ones. The one I'm most looking forward to is lessons in chemistry. And I don't know if you've heard of this book, Lessons in Chemistry is was a bestseller was Barnes Noble's favorite book of the last year and it's about a woman in the fifties who is a scientist and wants to really push that career.

And of course, there are men that are keeping her from moving up in that world. So she creates a TV show, a cooking show that uses science to help her through everything, and then talk to the audience about this. And then you see her story play out. The book is wonderful. If you ever get a chance to read the book, please do, because it's fascinating.

Brie Larson stars in that and Bill Pullman son is in it as well. So there are some good things in there that you might want to take note of. Another one to look for is fellow travelers with Matt Bomer, and it's set during the time of Roy Cohn and all of that kind of and Joe McCarthy when they were out to get a lot of people.

Well, these are two two gentlemen in the government service who are trying to hold a relationship, if you will, a gay relationship during a time when they've been targeted by their own government. And so it's kind of fascinating how they will bring in real history and then comment on it from another another perspective. Okay. I'm Josh Duhamel. Did a movie called Buddy Games, and it was about how these friends kind of did goofy games out in the open during a weekend.

Well, guess what? Now, you two can be part of the buddy games. And so they're creating teams of people to compete with one another, to be the best buddy game players. What would a buddy game entail? Well, it'd be like stupid things. It's very much not unlike Survivor. Okay. But it might be like, I don't know, pushing a a beer egg somewhere around the outside, you know?

I mean, just dumb kind of dumb for sure. That's what it is. That's when you get a bunch of guys together and there might be alcohol involved. And it definitely is. And the airing each other, they're just daring each other to do whatever. If you were a were you a fan of Walking Dead? No, I it's one of those that just I wanted to watch it and I just never got into it.

Well, guess what? Now you can start it again because it be doing the it kind of a spinoff series, if you will, called The Walking Dead. Daryl Dixon and this is Norman Reedus is character. And so then they focus on Yemen and finds how he works his way back home. So that's interesting. Hulu has the other black girl.

It's about the only black employee at an editorial company. And then another black woman comes in to the company and how they both discover that there are some maybe not so aboveboard things happening at their company. Wilderness This is from Amazon Prime. Okay. A couple story about a husband and wife who go on a road trip. Now, does this sound now or it's just like you write going on vacation?

Yep. He discovers that he has been fooling around. Now, now we've. We've lost your right. And maybe she's. She's thinking he might want to get rid of her on this trip and get rid of her, not just leave her at a rest area. No, it's like where suddenly she falls off a cliff. No accident. Oh, no. What happened here?

So that could be fascinating, but I don't know how it would last more than a year. You know, at what point does divorce come into this? I think that would be great. Let's take another side. Let's take another summer vacation, honey. After the first time fails again, and this time we're going to be locking all the doors in the car and turning on the the the car in the garage.

This could be fun. Supermodels. It's a documentary about the four big supermodels. Do you know who the four are like of all time? Like Christie Brinkley. And it's true. Brinkley is not one of them. Kathy Ireland. Elle. Oh, boy. Elle MacPherson. No, Come on. There's one that you are, of course, with Kate Upton. No, I don't know. Mary.

Cindy Crawford. Oh, we're going back in time. Well, yeah, because this is like, all time, right? I mean, you know, I'm not bringing out Carol Meryl from Let's make a Deal. But there you go. Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell. And it's a documentary about how they became these supermodels. It wasn't just they weren't just, you know, model models.

They were the real thing. Can you sleep at night? And I know I'm an insomniac. Then you will love. Still up. It's at sleep at night. And they meet and bond over the phone. They talk about what's keeping them up at night. So who knows? Love Bear. Hope this is a Hulu series. That's a reality show, or as they call it, a docu series that shows you what life is like in hope and how kind of deeper is deeper than you think.

There's more going on in that town than you think. You know, last night I watched Roger and me. You remember Roger and me? Yeah. I'm trying to think if I. I know the I know it, but I. Michael Moore did a documentary about Flint, Michigan, and how that town. Yep. Yep. Falling apart at the seams. Right. You need to go back and find out what happened.

And they got the water cleaned up in Flint. But it was. It's very fascinating how he kind of kicked off a lot of this by just showing people doing whatever or talking to people about things that, you know, you never really realized. You never if you didn't put one and one together, you wouldn't get the answer that you're looking for.

Now, you can see if you look back at Roger and me, how he has goosed the story a bit and how. Yeah, like trying to get the reaction he got. But that's what we're seeing with these reality shows. That's why something like Vanderpump Rules has this kind of. Well, let's just throw a little gasoline on this fire and see what happens.

And that's what they do with these reality shows, is try to get a reaction out of somebody that maybe, you know, we didn't see it before or after. Okay. The fall of the House of Usher. Do you remember that Edgar Allan Poe story? I think I remember seeing it as a movie in the sixties with, like, Vincent Price.

Okay. All the House of Usher. Well, they've taken because, of course, when you have this copy, it's free, right? Sure. Yeah. Anything that's already out of its copyright. Instead, it in the pharmaceutical industry and shows how this is how they're going to bring it down for the House of Usher. That's going to work. And that'll start in October.

Frazier. Frazier is coming back. Yeah, Yeah, I saw that. Now I've got a question about that. But go ahead and set it up. Well, Frazier moves. Frazier is not going to be on the West Coast. He's going back to Boston. And very as he doesn't have, Niles isn't with him anymore. But he does get Lilith in there and he does have Roz visiting him.

And then he also has a son in there. If you may remember, they had a son. Right. And he becomes a player in the whole story, too. And there are some touchstones when you look at it, you'll say, Oh, yeah, I remember that from Frasier, but it's Kelsey Grammer. Kelsey just decided to reboot the thing that's on Paramount Plus.

So here's I saw a trailer for it about a week or so ago, and in one of the scenes, it shows Frasier kind of like hanging out at a bar. And it wasn't Cheers. So he appears just kind of the odd thing. Like obviously, Frasier, it's a spinoff of Cheers. And obviously during Frasier, there were a few moments where some of the main characters made appearances on Frasier because they went out to visit or Frasier went back to Boston.

I can't remember all the the episodes, but I kind of found it odd that he wasn't hanging out at Cheers in the clip that I saw. Like, what happened to Cheers? You know, it's like, number one, did he go out of business? And that's why he's going to another bar or, you know, what happened to those characters? Because it just seems odd to me.

If I used to hang out at a bar every day for how long was Cheers on? Like eight years. Nine years, Something like that? Yeah. So. So now he goes back to Boston. He doesn't go back to that bar anymore. So now I've got all these questions Running through my head is like, what happened to the Cheers bar?

Maybe it was bought out by a corporation. That's right. Applebee's. You never know if it's an Applebee's now. Right. I have a fascinating one. I don't know. You know, there weren't a lot of names with it that were from the original series, so I don't know how well a will do when you just have a character and then you reboot it.

But if some of the other ones are signing on, you know, they must think it's it's something. I feel like with that one you have to somehow address. Cheers. Or else it's just going to be weird to be back in the same city. I believe they do. I think you're good. Yeah. Okay. I don't want to say too much.

Yeah, but, you know, the door is always open. Yeah. Like, I mean, you know, we know. I mean, obviously, Kirstie Alley died, so, you know, that's obviously something that can't be part of it, but. But Ted Danson is alive and obviously he could he could be retired old man in the show. And if that's what it is, and he does a cameo and he sold the bar and now it's an Applebee's, then I'm back.

Yep. You know, but Lilith is coming back, so you will see her and you will see Roz. Those are two who have signed on for multiple episodes. So there's something there. But I. You know, willow work. I like the relationship between Niles and Frasier. I thought that was a real kind of cool thing, where it's like yin and yang.

But we'll see. How about living for the dead? Living for the Dead is on Hulu, and it's a reality show where they go ghost hunting. Now, the ghost hunters are gay people, so it could be queer Eye for the Dead Guy. Oh, man. Yeah, we're really. Kristen Stewart is the narrator of this. And you know her Twilight. So we'll see what what happens, I guess.

I'm not Belgian for these things. I'm just telling you what there is. Netflix also has a mini series or a limited series called All the Way We Cannot See. It's about a blind girl and her father who try to get a diamond out of Nazi occupied Paris during World War Two. Interesting. Yeah. Hallmark Oh is in it. But there are people that you don't know who have the starring roles.

The Buccaneers. This is like, if you like. Weren't you a big old Bridgerton kind of fan? Yeah. Yeah, that in the 1870s. It's based on Edith Wharton's unfinished novel. And you know that they're going to have like Madonna singing. That's how they they roll. Right. Yeah. A Murder at the End of the World. This is on effects again, another limited series, very much like the Glass Onion, those kind of things where people are all gathered.

Yeah. Guess what? One of them's dead. Who did the thing? You know, and it has a pretty, pretty star laden cast. But I think that's because it's just a, you know, a short run. It's not like suddenly we get another another whatever bookie. Bookie is coming out on Max. And this is about a bookie trying to make it in Los Angeles after they've legalized gambling, sports gambling.

So it could be. Is that a is this a reality or. That's a the series series. Okay. It's a, you know, fictional. Yeah, but we'll see what happens. Do you remember the how man on HBO years and years ago? They did. It was like a horse racing, but then all the horses kept dying on set. Yeah, it's very I think it's similar.

I think Monarch the legacy of Monsters now. And you know, you've got to sign up for, right? Yep. And these are, if you remember, Godzilla. He had all these kind of characters and everything. Yep. So they're bringing all those characters into play with this, and they've got Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt in the cast. Now, why would they do this?

Why would they be in this kind of a show? But Monarch Legacy of Monsters coming on Apple TV. Plus the last thing I saw Kurt Russell in. Well, other than those weird Christmas movies are Santa Claus. Yeah, the there was a documentary. I can't remember what channel I saw it on, but Kurt Russell used to play baseball and his father owned a minor league.

It was like the last independent triple-A baseball team in America. And it was a really fascinating. I don't remember what it's called offhand, but if you get a chance that that was probably the last thing I actually saw. Kurt Russell And other than those Christmas movies. Well, and he's you know, he had that big old beard that makes him look like Santa Claus.

Right. But I you know, Kurt Russell is somebody who's ripe for a sit down where you say, oh, I got a lot of questions to ask you because I look at you as like Walt Disney's favorite kid, and he knew Walt Disney probably better than most people still alive today. And he could talk about that whole world and what it was like to be not necessarily a teen idol, but a teen actor, and then how he made the transition into really adult star.

And then there's that whole thing with Goldie Hawn that we haven't unpacked, you know? And so there's a lot there that I would love to ask him about, but I don't know if, you know, he's open to that kind of stuff. He might be very guarded about his life, but he's going to be doing the Godzilla movie slash rings and then our last one that I have to put in the list is far away downs.

Far away downs is a way of taking an old movie movie, finding the old footage that never got used and expanding it into a multi-part series. This is a Baz Luhrmann's Australia, and it starred Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. And they're going to beef that sucker up and call it far away downs. Hmm. Now, that isn't that a concept?

Yep. That's like all. What else do they save a lot of copy on? We're going to see this again. But that's a concept. So you see the reality shows that they're doing the they're doing we're adding in the old movies that are redone or re repurposed the foreign the foreign pickups. You know, it's all this stuff that you go, this is a season.

I don't think it is. And they used to have slogans each. Now we're going to have its own slogan. I don't know is it everything old is new again. I don't know what it is here. Yeah, that's a word, basically. And it all starts this next week. The new series start rolling out and you will see them advertising.

The stuff I did watch was it four episodes of The Morning Show? Okay. In a very big way, because they have an Elon Musk character. That's the Jon Hamm character who in the first episode is going to take somebody up in space and is maybe looking to buy the network. Interesting. So that gets back a little bit to the Apple TV, TV plus dilemma that I've talked about prior.

So I actually just canceled Apple TV Plus, but I still have it for a month because it's you know, you cancel it and then you have X amount of time before it actually goes away. So I I'm finishing up a couple of things. The dilemma that I was in is that I watched about half of season two of morning show and then I stopped when I canceled it a year ago.

And now I've got to decide, okay, I'm going to pick up the back end of season two and then maybe keep it going to watch all of season three. Or do I just put Apple TV Plus on ice for a little while? Go on to something else and then come back and knock through it? Is it good enough for me to stick around?

So you got lessons in chemistry coming? Yeah. And then be in October and then I think you'll want to see that I watched one episode of that. Okay. Yeah, I was fascinated, but I could see I've read the book and I loved the book, and to see how it kind of transpired was interesting, but I'd stick with it, spend another then another six bucks, write something like a 99 plus tax event.

Okay, seven. So, you know, you mentioned the slogans. The only one that I can think of, two that actually still applies is animation domination from Fox with crap awfulness. Oh, but there were a lot I wish I could tell you all of them, because I remember each network would have its own and they were. Oh yeah, ABC was the place to be.

ABC. CBS had something to do with the eye. A lot of times are eyes on you or they, you know, they would do those kind of goofy things and then they'd have a song. And if you look back on YouTube, you'll see these old kind of premier video things where they do an episode of like, here's our new shows and we're going to introduce them with John Ritter and, you know, Gavin MacLeod.

And then they would come out and sing and dance. Do you think how did they get those people to do that stuff? That must have been it's almost like indentured servitude, you know, But they're singing and dancing and wearing tuxedos and looking like they really love each other. And they probably hate each other with the animation stuff. With Fox, if I was maybe ten years younger, I might tune in to Crap Apple is, but I feel like the time is kind of passed.

Or those. I mean, clearly they get the ratings to justify continuing. But I'm thinking about it. I was with The Simpsons from way back when it was on the Tracey Ullman Show. I watched every little short that was on Tracey Ullman. I watched every episode from season one and I watched every season from season one up until, uh, I want to say was maybe the 2016 2017 season.

And then I moved from Wisconsin to to work down in Kentucky and I stopped. I haven't watched an episode of The Simpsons since, and it's very similar to even like Family Guy, like, I love Family Guy, but I don't know when the last time I watched a Family Guy episode and with The Simpsons in particular, it just feels like it's the same stories over and over and they just push it forward.

Like there's one episode every year where it's about how Homer met Marge. There's another episode, obviously, of your Treehouse of Horror. You have to have a Christmas episode, you've got to have some episode, which is like, you know, some sort of Storytime Fairy tale thing. And it just feels like it's like, rinse and repeat over and over. We'll hire you to work on The Simpsons.

I think, you know, the the formula and what I the thing that lured me in were all the signs in the background where I would have to watch and then you'd see that stuff and now I don't care. Is that so? Saying something about me. And I love The Simpsons. I do too. I don't know that I would.

It's not appointment TV anymore and maybe be available. They've been on for what, like 30, 35 years now? It's 30 some years. And I knew when it first came out and I remember how kind of gruff the characters looked in the beginning. They were really not as as kind of smooth and, and Disney like and I don't know that they've really they've done anything with that because they're owned by Disney now who they always bit the hand of.

They were always saying bad things about Disney and are they doing it now. I guess we'll have to watch and find it out. But they're they're probably not affected because by the strikes or anything, because they do everything a year in advance. So I think they're okay for now. But yeah, it'll it'll be interesting to see. At what point does it affect the following season with any of these animated shows?

Because so then, you know, when we come around to next fall, instead of it being a 22 episode season, is it a 15 episode season? Right. Would they ever do a live action version of The Simpsons, do you think? I don't know. That's interesting. The sort of had one sort of, but I mean, where do you would, like cast it?

Yeah, I do like because I think you could do it on stage really easily. You know, you'd be interesting, but I don't know if a movie version would work because you need some of those flights of fancy that they have. Yeah. So at the top of the show, you mentioned 12 year old Bruce getting excited for the fall season.

What did 12 year old Bruce get excited for? What were your shows? Do you watch the 12? Oh, you know, I was a I was a huge Batman fan of the Batman with Adam West and Bird and I really thought it was a drama. I'll be honest with you. I did not see it as a comedy or campy thing.

I thought, Oh my God, they yeah, this is just life or death. We've got to find out what happens with Batman and how he, Howie thwarts the Riddler. You know, when is a door not a door? I don't know, Batman. When is a door? Not a door when it's ajar, that kind of stuff. And I was like, Oh, that.

So, so well-written. What I. What is this? But those are the things I hung clung to. And I was really good at kind of ruling the TV at that age. I don't know if you had your kids do this, but my dad would say, Well, now what time is? And then fill in the name of a show that I didn't want to watch.

I think it's not on this week that it's not going to be on. We're going to have to watch this other show that I want. Like Gunsmoke was something I hated. I hated it. And I thought that was a vile series and that it can't be interrupted every week. They're not interrupting Gunsmoke. Every It's got to be on.

I said, No, no Gunsmoke this week. It's not happening. Or rap patrol or combat. Those are ones. I hate it. I love the comedies, though. That was always my big thing. But yeah, and I would I would have all of the material, all the stuff you could think of. I have pictures of the set from the series of the stars.

I you know, this is how crazy I am, okay? Because this will show you how part goes back. I have an autographed picture from Ed Sullivan now, who has an autographed picture of Ed Sullivan. Nobody, nobody would want this but 12 year old Bruce wanted a picture of Ed Sullivan and dammit, he got it. So there there you go.

But yeah, so it was a big thing. And I don't know if you would, like highlight the TV guide like I did, but I would have it all marked up. And then I had to get a special version that would not be touched. Do not ask me where these things are. There's somewhere they got thrown. And that probably was when I went to college.

My mother says, Get rid of all this crap or not having it in there. But I tracked this stuff just really intensely to make sure that I knew every little thing that was going on on TV. And those days, you could you could keep a handle on what was going on. The bad thing about television back in the sixties, seventies and eighties was that they often had more episodes than they had year.

So if there were 30 episodes of a TV series, a number of them wouldn't get rerun, right? And so then they were just lost to the stars. You did not? Yeah. Somebody put them out in a collection and then you get to see them again. And that was always like, We've got we can't. We've got to be home.

We've got to be home because we're not going to get to see this again. It's one time only. It's really a fascinating thing because I look back, I remember one year as a gift to my parents. I think I bought them season one of Leave It to Beaver on DVD and it was like 37 episodes. It was insane.

And yeah, yeah. And I even, you know, thinking about, like, what you mentioned with episodes repeating, there were a lot of times in my childhood where something was preempted because maybe there was a State of the Union, you know, like the president, there's a crisis. So the president. Hopson And it and it great to have to break away from a TV show and then trying to figure out like when can I actually watch that again?

And it wasn't until, you know, ten years ago even where you stopped having to worry about maybe setting a a VCR to to record something, because now, now, now it's easy. You just throw it on your your your program list and it'll record every episode multiple times for you. You'll never miss it, but that the times have changed.

I remember setting one up and it had the the word that in it and everything. They had the word that, you know, it was recorded so quickly. My, my DVR was filled. But yeah, but yeah. And the other thing that would drive you crazy is if the weather was bad and they had to break in and you think, I'm not going to get to see this show, you've got to you've got to not talk.

Do not do a weather update. I don't care. I would rather die in a heap of rubble from the tornado that's coming my direction. Then miss an episode of All in the Family, you know? Yeah. So the 1987 88 TV year would have been kind of covering my 12 year old. So looking down the list of like what the most popular shows was, and these are some great shows, The Cosby Show that was a favorite of mine.

Cheers growing Pains, Who's the Boss? Did you know Danny Pitaro from Who's the Boss? He's actually from my hometown of New Jersey. Yeah. And he went to a different elementary school than I went to. So I never and then he ended up after he got into Who's the boss, he got pulled out and did tutoring and things like that.

So I never met him. But I know kids that when I got into the middle school, like, Oh yeah, I had class with Danny Pitaro in first grade, that kind of things. And he's my age. So, you know, we were we would have been classmates together and also Alyssa milano because she's from Staten Island. And I, I would have to look again because I went to kindergarten on Staten Island and I, I think she may have actually been in the same public school district as I was.

I'm not entirely sure. And that she's a couple of years older than me. You were working as a child. You need to have been working as a child. I know we could be. Yeah. Now. But yeah, some of these other shows do. Night Court. I was a huge fan of that. ALF The Wonder Years. These are some family ties near nearing the end.

I don't know if I was still watching Family Ties in 87, but that was a favorite of mine a few years before that. But yeah, they had far more comedies back then. Yes, comedies repeated well and comedies were good for syndication, so we saw a lot of them. Now you don't see a lot of them because, you know, is there a repeat value there?

I don't know. Yeah, and they probably are very costly in comparison to something else. And you look at some of the comedies that we do have and they seem very repetitive or redundant or, or they're just reboots of shows that might Frasier, Frasier, back again. Here we are. But yeah, and I think, you know, there was a time during one of the strikes where they just repeated old scripts and they took old scripts and then just, you know, change the, the actors and that did not work.

Well, it did not. People saw through it and said, you know what? I think I saw this back with Martin Landau and Barbara Bain. So Mission Impossible is not the same. But they you know, they tried that. They were trying everything. And we'll see what happens with this, with this strike and where where it leads us. But the fall season, it's here all season this year.

I mean, it's a couple of weeks until actual fall, but college football is back. The NFL's back in TV in some form may not be peak TV like we're used to, but it is back. Indeed. Yeah. It'll be fun to see how how it shapes out. Hey, we could be big game show fans, but games were there. Absolutely.

All right. Well, on that note, we will move on from this episode, but we will be back again next week on Streamed & Screened.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Summer is winding down but the fall lineup remains up in the air, so we bring you an episode of organized chaos.

We hear from "The Nanny" star Fran Drescher, who is president of SAG-AFTRA and recently talked about the state of the actors strike. We also hear from "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston.

After talking about finally watching the Netflix series "Dahmer," co-host Bruce Miller talks about all of the movies that are trickling out that might only be in theaters briefly before they head to streaming. His choices might not compete with "Barbie," but they are certainly movies you won't want to miss and will be under consideration when awards season heats up.

And co-host Terry Lipshetz talks about "Silo" on Apple TV+, which recently wrapped its first season. This ultimately opens a discussion about which streaming services are worth our time and navigating screen time selections with the kids.

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About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Welcome everyone to another episode of Streamed and Screened and Entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz is senior producer at Lee and co-host of the program with the legendary Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and a longtime entertainment reporter. Bruce, you're back. So you took a little week off. I mean, the listeners wouldn't know this because they would know that advance.

But yeah, yeah, you're right. Bob Barker Here I am. But yeah, and you know, I really got a chance to dig in to TV and see what's there, because right now, normally I would know all of the new shows that were coming out in the fall. I would have seen all of them. I would probably have talked with the people who were involved.

And this year is this big question mark. We don't know what we're getting. I don't know what kind of shows are out there, what kind of period we're going to be going through, how long the strike will last. It's very, very weird. And so what I've been doing is revisiting things. And one of the things I did do, I was scared to death of watching Dahmer when it first came out.

I really because I don't. Is that giving him too much credibility? Is it, you know, endorsing something that I don't want to be a part of? But I you know, it's nominated for a lot of Emmys. And so I thought, you know, I should watch it. I should see it. Well, I was so scared after the first two episodes.

I thought I got to watch something that's going to kind of calm me down a little bit. And so I found election election on Max. They're kind of pushing it now. Do you remember election was an Alexander Payne film about Tracy Blake. She was is this kind of rabid girl who was running for student council president in high school, played by Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick played the the adviser to the the student council.

And fascinating to see it again because, you know, they were really serious. Wasn't that big when she made this. And Matthew was kind of coming off his Ferris Bueller run and the movie was, you know, I hear it, but it's now prompted a sequel. There's going to be a sequel called Tracy Flick. What is it? Tracy Flick doesn't win or it doesn't always win or shouldn't win or I don't know.

It's based on a new book and they decided to go back and do it. And Reese is producing the thing. We'll see what happens with that. But it was fun to see that because it did cleanse the palette from Dahmer and it gave me a chance to kind of look forward to something that will be coming. Paramount Plus is is actually doing it.

I don't know how far they are in the process, but it is scheduled for the next year. What what was your overall thought on Dahmer? Because I know this was a little bit of an older one. It was on it was last year on Netflix. I watched it especially because of, you know, living in Wisconsin, even though it happened before I lived in Wisconsin.

It's still something that people talk about, you know, a lot out here. What were your thoughts? I would like to say it was creepy, but it reminds you can tell it was a Ryan Murphy product because like his American Horror Story and all those other kind of things, it has that edge that you got. Oh, my God. I think it's going to go over the edge, I think.

And it did. I thought some of those those murder scenes or just even opening the refrigerator was enough to send me reeling. But Evan Peters does a good job because you do see the kind of the the groundwork that's put into play that makes him kind of screwed up. And he plays it very kind of low key. And then you see what he does and it's like, whoa, I don't you know, this would not be made as anything but a streaming service thing.

I don't know that you I know that they've done Dahmer movies and stuff, but they've never done it this intensely. And then I looked up the story of him online, of course, you Google everything, right? Right. And you look and you see, well, how many did he kill? And then you realize I've seen two deaths and there are like 17.

I'm going to have a long haul with this. And this is really hard for me to watch. So, you know, it was fun to see Michael learn it in there as his grandmother. And, you know, there are good supporting performances, but it's tough. It's a tough slog. Yeah, it it was difficult to watch. I'm glad it didn't get as gory as it could have been.

I mean, I was I was that was the one thing that I really because I'm not a big gore. I don't like horror movies. I don't you know, that's not my thing. And, you know, but I do like a thriller. Like I like like Silence of the Lambs, which is the only movie I can think of that's really comparable to you know, that's obviously fiction, although based on some aspects of reality with this, you know, I didn't need to see him like dismembering everybody and in all that.

So I'm glad it didn't quite go down that road, but it was very difficult to watch. But it was also fascinating because the story I don't think the story's been told it's been told, but it's not like some stories. It just keeps on getting retold over and over again. I don't you know, this is the the deepest dive I think I've seen on Dahmer to date.

I don't think it needed ten episodes. I'll be Oh, no, no, no. And I kept questioning why people didn't complain more. You like when they're in he's in this apartment, he's got all this crap and the smell is bad. You'd complain and I think somebody would do something. And then you see these instances where the cops are in the place and they kind of just bypass it, you know, It's like, Oh, yeah, we'll move on.

And I, I would be screaming at the top of my lungs. Plus, here's the other thing. Never go home with somebody that you don't know right now. I mean, if somebody says, come on over to my house and we'll have a drink or something. No, that is a big animal that you can put on anybody's door and do not do it right.

You know, I won't even sell something on Facebook. Marketplace and let somebody come in to buy like Nintendo. We're going to go to the parking lot of the QuikTrip and we will make a transaction there or somewhere holding a gun on you at all times. And I pass the merchandise to you, right? Yeah. Yeah. There is no way.

I mean, unless unless it's I've got like we sold our swing set for the kids on Facebook marketplace. Obviously somebody has got to come to the house and pick that thing up, but it's like I'm doing a deep dive on your face. I'm like, looking to make sure you seem halfway normal or more. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I'm with you.

And I remember, too, when I watched that Dahmer with my wife. The thing that we kept on commenting over and over again is like, why is this thing ten episodes? Because on one hand, it just it was it was such it became a slog after a while, but we couldn't stop watching because we kind of wanted to know.

I mean, we know what happens, but you kind of wanted to know what happens, if that makes sense. So it's like we hit that point where we're just we're in it for the long haul, so I guess we're going to suck it up. But yeah, I wanted to see Niecy Nash because I like her and she's nominated for Best Supporting Actress and she's in right away at the beginning.

And then she disappears for a long period of time. And so I thought, well, there must be some big scene that she gets at some point that would have justified her getting nominated for best supporting actress. So I'm not done with it, but I always know now that I have to have something that's very light afterwards. And I have been looking at, you know, streaming is still putting crap out there.

There's still stuff out there. I think Amazon had red, white and royal blue. Have you seen this? It's about a ten, I think, the American president's son. And then like some spare in the British lineup become secret lovers. And of course this is a huge scandal and it's all it is. It's just a romance that you probably saw on Hallmark, except it's two guys and one is British and one is America.

That's that's about all it is. And they were getting a lot of attention. I mean, interesting. But I don't know that that's something that I would mark my time off to see. Yeah, well, it wasn't is as kind of controversial as they thought it would be. And there are a lot of ones like that that are now popping up.

You're going to see in the next month on Hulu. Theater camp and theater camp is this kind of mockumentary done by Ben Platt from Dear Evan Hansen and a bunch of his friends about going to summer camp for theater kids. And it looks darling from it's you know, it's previews, but who knows? And that's one of those things these films he's there are a slew of these films that maybe get a week in a market and then disappear because they can't stand up against the pressure of a Barbie or a Oppenheimer and Barbie.

Look at that. The money that Barbie is rolling in. She never made that much money when she was a doll. So now as a movie, she's she's just rake. And, you know, the sequel is probably already not being written by the writers who are on strike right now. But yeah. And so you you see these films that maybe will get a window, but if you are watching very carefully for them, you're not going to find them.

One that opened this last week was called Jules and Julie's. It stars Ben Kingsley as Ed and this is what I loved. He's 78 and he's like, seen as this real doddering old man. And I'm thinking, God, I'm closer to 78 than I am to, you know, 21. And he get an alien lands in his itty azalea bushes in the backyard, and he tries to tell people about it, and they just think he's just out of his mind and he doesn't know what he's doing and he needs to go to assisted living.

Well, it is an alien or there is an alien there and he communicates with him and two friends of hers also get to get it. Get in on the secret. Jane Curtin is one of the ones and it's a very, very clever film about aging and what kind of things people go through at a certain point in their lives.

It's very much in the tone of what Clint Eastwood has been doing lately. You know, it's his Gran Torino kind of concept where old people aren't kind of given their due for having an opinion or, you know, being feisty or whatever. It's just kind of, Oh, that's the effects of aging. Yeah. Was there an alien, you know, is it just all in his mind?

But it's a cute film that will it'll make its rounds and you'll see it somewhere on your schedule or maybe on a streaming thing. If you remember last year at the Oscars, there was this thing called to Leslie. Yeah, Yeah. Andrea Riseborough was nominated for best actress for that. And like everybody goes to where is this? How do I see this to Leslie?

It's nowhere. And it wasn't. It was in nowhere. And it's like these little films that crop up and then suddenly after it gets traction, somebody will sell it to a streaming service and then it pops up. And I have since seen two Leslie and it was good, and it should have gotten some kind of attention. But the the bigfoot's kind of stomp him out and you don't find him.

But there is a whole herd of them, a list of them that I went through and said, you know what? These are ones that maybe we need to look at before the end of the year. Okay. Well, that sounds like an interesting list because we are running out of things. I must say. We're running out of things to talk about, but we're in this interesting period right now because you mentioned, of course, that you would normally be out in L.A. previewing the fall season.

We have no idea what's what's even going on because of the strike. This writer's strike in this actors strike, it is it is looking like they're digging in for the long haul. I mean, just last week while you were gone, Fran Drescher, the president of the Screen Actors Guild, was talking about this being an inflection point. And, you know, they're waiting on a deal.

So I actually have a quick clip. We're going to play this really quick and we'll listen to her and then bring it back and we'll talk a little bit more about that and then dive into your list. Sounds good. Actors Union President Fran Drescher says there's been no negotiations with the movie and TV studios on a new contract as actors have been on strike for six weeks.

I marches are a letter with the latest SAG after a president. Fran Drescher says the union is getting the silent treatment from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios. Drescher says the contract dispute is at an inflection point. I don't think anybody that's in charge of the AMPTP quite understands that this is not like any past negotiation.

The actors demands include better pay and protections involving artificial intelligence. The studios have said their offer includes historic pay increases and an A.I. proposal that protects actors likenesses. And then, you know, that was last week. And then just right before we hopped on, I got another clip because the actors from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul gathered and they were talking about it.

So here's one more clip from Bryan Cranston from Breaking Bad. We realize that without organized labor, management will just keep stuffing their pockets and they don't. They don't and will not ever just go, You know what? I don't think this is being fair to those people. I'm going to pay them more. It's just not what they do. All right, Bruce, we had talked a few episodes ago about like, you know, where to put money down.

When is this thing ending? You were a little bit more optimistic. I was much more pessimistic saying that this could go on until later this year. And then the freak out moment would be once kind of the NFL season, college football season, you know, was kind of wrapping up. And then and then the networks or everybody needs something to air come January that's going to be the problem.

So, you know, what are you thinking right now? Are you hearing anything? I think there's you know, it could go whenever. It could go whenever. But they probably will ride it out because it isn't fair. It isn't fair that these people are getting next to nothing and these networks are making pretty big bucks off this stuff. So there are, you know, and the studios come on, if they make a big deal about Margot Robbie getting, what, $50 million for doing Barkley?

Well, she's a producer on the thing. She also is a blue chip star. And I hate when we see these clips of, you know, some famous person, like if Meryl Streep decided she was going to walk with the others. That isn't the instance at all. Meryl Streep and all those blue chip names should not be on the picket line because they don't have a beef with what's going on.

It's the guy who you maybe recognize his face, but you don't know his name that is getting jobbed in all of this. Right. And those are the people that I think those stories need to be told much more. And I would not doubt that the story about Margot getting 50 million is a studio generated story because they want to say, see, look, they're making big money.

Why aren't you know, come on, don't be crying to us. And I think the AIG thing could be a real problem. I've seen some things that have already been written that are not bad, you know, done by a computer because they've been able to input all this other stuff. But where did the other stuff come from that they're trying to duplicate or mimic or whatever that gives us this thing?

I would not doubt that in the future the computers are going to be doing all of our writing. I would not doubt that. But you've got to hold the line somewhere because are we eliminating humans entirely? Is that our goal? With every job? You know how it is where they say, well, we're going to we're going to outsource this and we're going to let computers do it.

Yeah, maybe sometimes you need that personal touch that comes from having a human in there. I don't know. But I find it really disturbing. And I'll turn on Entertainment Tonight on a regular basis. And it's like, Oh, today, look who showed up on the picket line. And, you know, I don't care. I don't care that the big names, because they'll come for an hour or whatever, eat a sandwich and act like they're part of the the normal people.

And what you're doing is not necessarily cheating them out of a job or money, but you are cheating all of those ancillary businesses that rely on this to drive their business. The drivers, the actors, caterers, the set builders, the electricians, I mean, all those kinds of jobs. It's a factory town. Hollywood is a factory town. And if you start cutting that and yet these ones are making just a statement, you know, come on.

I don't know why why those studios need so much money for their executives? I've never believed that that's a good way of doing business, because when you see that somebody is getting a $400 million paycheck for the year, really, is that where they make that kind of decision? A $400 million one? There should be caps on those things.

But, you know, now I'm saying it's only political and I don't mean. Yeah, it is. I read a story, a few weeks ago even where they were actually talking about that point, because, you know, somebody brought up like where are all the stars while everyone else's, the rank and file are marching. But but that's the point, too, is that it gets a little bit touchy because the percentage of people that are making tons and tons of money is very small compared to the rank and file, which is really it has the most to lose out of this.

Right. And then as you mentioned with like a lot of these folks, they're producers on shows now. They're also executives. They're not necessarily running a studio, but it's hard, you know. Sure, they're a member of the Actors Guild and maybe they're a member of the Writers Guild, but if they're a producer or also doing directing work, they're in their hands are in too many parts, and it's probably best that they just stay on the sideline and let things work because it's at some point you got to recuse yourself.

And I think that's what happens. We've had, you know, now for me, the impact is the actors are not doing interviews. They're not going to be talking about a project that's coming up. And I get that. I see the the impact it has on me. But some actors who are producers will do an interview. Now, is that really are you playing the game or what?

You know, which hat is a better hat or a bigger hat? And which one should you be wearing at any given time? Well, hopefully things will wrap up soon because we need we want it. We need our content. Yeah, we need something. We need something.

I know you've got a list here of okay, I've got a list of films that are out there that I have seen some and not seen others. Okay. Golda Which is the Golda meir story? Oh, yeah. Is one that will I think it's starting now in theaters and it's could be another shot for her to win another Oscar.

It's set in just a limited period of time. The 19 days of the Yom Kippur War and how she kind of negotiated all that, what she did, what her thought process was. And it's a great a great character piece, because I do not think of Golda meir when I think of Helen Mirren. They are not alike at all.

But I think that she captures the essence and she brings to life a character that, you know, did we forget her? Do we still think about her? I don't know. But that's one that's out there. That's that's hanging fire. Blue Gene, have you heard of Blue Jean? No, no. This set in the in the 1980s in in England.

And it's about a gym teacher who has this secret kind of private life where she's a lesbian and she doesn't dare come out because she's in Margaret Thatcher. England. And what does this mean for her career? You know, these are things that it seems so long ago and yet these issues come up. And it's a fascinating look at the times.

They really get the costumes right. They get the period right. You see things you think, Yeah, I remember that. I remember the eighties like that. And there's people that maybe you don't you don't recognize, but they've been in a lot of British TV series and things. There's one called The Lesson, and this stars Richard E Grant. You remember him from Oh, man, he's been in so many things.

He was nominated for an Oscar for the Thing with Melissa McCarthy, where she was a writer. I wish I could tell you right off the top of my head. But he. And this he plays another author. Okay. But he, Audie kind of rich author who, you know, is I mean, he's in the driver's seat. He's not a rank and file guy.

And they hire he and his wife hire a tutor for their son. And the tutor sees how this family dynamic is all shaking down Darryl McCormick, who is in. Good luck to you, Leo. Grand. You remember that from with Emma Thompson. He played the guy who was her kind of sex therapist. Okay. Yeah, he was the he was the prostitute.

He plays the tutor in this one. Julie Delpy, if you remember her from all those things with Ethan Hawke, she plays the wife and it's a fascinating look at a family situation. Challengers. Challengers is a film that's set in the tennis world, and it's about three tennis players, you know, and it's who's up, who's down, who's wherever. Zendaya plays a champion, I think like Serena, Venus, one of those kind of, you know, big superstars.

And then Josh O'Connor from the crown, he played Chas, Prince Charles. Okay. He's one of the tennis players. And Mike Feist, who was in West Side Story and has been in Broadway on Dear Evan Hansen. Those are the three. And there just like who is with whom at what time Now it's done by the guy who did call me by your name and it it has the potential to be very dirty.

I'm just throwing that out. It could be a very, very scary next goal wins. Taika Waititi The guy behind Jojo Rabbit and a lot of those, you know what we do in the shadows. A very kind of fun South. I think he's New Zealand. I don't want to say he's Australia, I think he's New Zealand director who focuses on a football coach or a soccer coach played by Michael Fassbinder.

Fassbinder MM hmm. Who has to try and turn a Samoan teen into winners. Now, this is very Ted Lasso in it. Yeah, but I think it could be very, very funny and it could be one of those kind of breakout things. Again, these are all these little kind of pocket films that will show up but not be in theaters as long as Barbie is.

So look for them. Because I think and if nothing else, within a month after that, more than likely they'll turn up on streaming services. Yeah, it could be what we're watching for the next two or three months, Right? Well, and these are also those films, too, that when the Oscar nominations come out, we get by, you know, we'll know the big ones.

But then all of a sudden we're looking at each other and being like, wait, goal while you need it is like 200 people to put your name first. They could be there now. They know that they know what to do. So yeah, and it's funny because I've seen a number of them. They'll, they'll send them to me and then they'll say, See what you think.

And if you can write something, it'd be great. And it's fascinating because a lot of, a lot of times they're better than most of the things that you're seeing. Mm hmm. Yeah. I love a good small time film. You know, sometimes it's sometimes those are the the best ones because it's it's under the radar. It catches you by surprise.

You have no expectations. And it's just kind of fun to see. And we're getting some of the new series are coming back The morning show on Apple is right back with Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. Another one that I did watch was The Changeling, and it's based on a novel by Victor Lovell or Victor LAVALLE, depending on how you pronounce it, who also does the narration for the film.

And it's so bizarre because it goes back in time and forward in time and back way back in time. I mean, in the first episode, you must be in about six different time periods and it shows how maybe there was some kind of I don't know, black magic that was going on and it affected different generations. And what they what it turned out to be for these kids that are in today's world.

Yeah. Fascinating. Lakeith Stanfield is in it and a good acting exercise. But I think it has far too much to try and unpack right away. Okay, We're coming up in in September. We're coming up also around that period where my three month free trial of Apple TV Plus is about to expire and I'm not. So we just watched Sidel go, which it was okay.

And I know it's gotten some decent traction on like rotten tomatoes from critics and fans. It started out I thought it started out a little bit slow. It's your typical the story on that one is it's it's a you know, a post-apocalyptic kind of sci fi world. There's 10,000 people living underground in a silo and they are governed by the pact.

And the pact is, you know, just their kind of their constitution, their law and order. But the society is broken down to you have this it branch that runs the computer systems and keeps things chugging along. That's run by Tim Robbins. You have a judicial branch which kind of enforce this some of the pact and, you know, make sure everybody is law abiding and common stars is one of the leaders of judicial who kind of, you know, runs a crew that it's almost like a military group.

There's also the sheriff's office, which is more of a police type of thing, which is the main character, Julia Nichols. She she works like down below where where keeps the engines running, but kind of gets pushed into this situation where she's the next sheriff, because one of the things that happens is if you say you want to go outside the silo, it's irrevocable and you have to go out to clean off the little camera that shows the desolate world that has become And the it this isn't really much of a spoiler because it sets up the entire series.

But the wife of the current sheriff goes outside to clean and then a year later, the sheriff himself goes outside to clean, but kind of picks Juliet Nickels to become the next sheriff. And, you know, so it's there is this mystery as to like whether what you see on that screen is actually what it's true to be. But then it's also in like a lot of these stories.

Is Tim Robbins a good guy or is he a bad guy? Is common a good guy, or is he a bad guy or are they just put in such unusual circumstances that there's really no good or bad? Everybody is just kind of trying. They're trying to act within the best interests of the society that they're running. So it's it's not a bad series.

I thought that the first few episodes were a little bit of a slog. It definitely picks up once you get through about three or four, it's ten episodes. A few familiar faces, obviously. As I said, Tim Robbins is in it, Carmen is in it. Ian Glen, He played for a moment on Game of Thrones. He plays the father of Sheriff Nichols, Julia Nichols, who's played by Rebecca Ferguson, and then one other person who's in it that a lot of folks have probably seen lately, Harriet Walter.

She plays this woman who lives all the way at the bottom of society. But she was in succession as the mother of the three Roy siblings, younger Roy siblings. So it's a good one if you need something to watch, you know, we've been kind of like bouncing through things and slamming through things. So that and then of course, I've been now watching Asoka, which is back on, just made its debut, the latest Star Wars series.

So do you find, though, that Apple has a lot of dark shows? They do, yeah. Yeah. It's like some executive must have had some midlife crisis or something and then is trying to explain all of it through these because they I honestly besides Ted Lasso and maybe the after party maybe the after party I'm hard pressed to think of comedies that they really embrace.

The one with Harrison Ford or that was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's shrinking with Harrison Ford and Jason Segel. Yeah that's that one was good. My wife and I just we watch it right before Silo and really enjoyed it and kind of looking forward already this season to there's a few like that Yeah like these midlife crisis kind of concepts and I would like Snoopy I think is the only thing that's on there that is not really kind of dark underneath, right.

Yeah. For all mankind. I don't know. I love Vermont for all mankind. There's the space to alternate history space show. But again, you're getting into a world they'll go to another world to, I think, try and make commentary about our world today. Right? Yeah. It's very sci fi driven. Yeah, a lot of sci fi. I don't know that I would see that as apples.

Best calling card. Yeah, I'm. I'm like, really on the fence here because even with the morning show, I watch season one, I watched about half of season two and then kind of got sidetracked and then ended up canceling Apple TV Plus. So now I've got the decision is like, all right, am I going to go back and watch the next five episodes?

And then I'll stick around and watch the third season? Or do or am I at the point now where do I just let the subscription run out? I cancel it, I wait six months or a year, get a new Mac, then. Yeah. And then just kind of like crush through that because I just feel like with Apple TV Plus it just does not have the programing yet.

Still still like Hulu or Netflix, which those are those I can't cancel. There's just too much stuff that comes on them constantly. I think Apple put a lot of money in a few projects and it's big money. You know, it's this is not just anything but I, I don't know if I were to choose that that would be one of the first ones I would pick for my my extra channels.

It's a good one too. You know, you get your, your whatever, a 30 day, 90 day freeze every time you buy an iPhone. So it's really that's what it's you get your free you get your free phone. Well, not a free phone. You pay for your phone. You get a little Apple TV plus on top of it. I mean, it's not expensive.

It's it's like, what, six bucks a month? So it's it's one where if you let it go for a few months and you don't really watch it, you don't necessarily feel guilty about it. It's not like like Netflix is creeped up or HBO. Well, now it's Max. They've creeped up in the price where it's, you know, 16, 17 bucks a month.

And you start to notice that one if you're not watching Apple TV Plus is still low enough where you're kind of like, wow, it's a $6. I'll get it. It's like that gym membership that, you know, that I never catch. You know, it's like, I guess 12. What about Disney Plus then? Are you sold on that one or is that on?

Yeah, no. Well, that's with the kids and I've got the bundle. So it's like I don't I have Hulu, Disney Plus and ESPN plus bundled together which, which maybe if I was only doing one of them I would think twice like, all right, well maybe I'll drop this. But the bundle is it's pretty cheap so I'm not paying a whole lot for all three.

So what what is the determiner then, for you to choose a a service, a streaming service? Is it a certain program that gets you in? Is it the price, Is it you know, the potential it has or where does this all land? Because how would you choose you in this day? You can't have it all. I'm sorry. No, you can't have it.

I'm I. Yeah, I don't know. It's a good I think right now because of the kids I'm fine having Disney plus semi permanently You'll like it too because you get all that Star Wars stuff and you get all the Star Wars stuff. Right. But it's also, you know, when they like ESPN. Plus I get that bundled in. I don't remember the last time I turned it on, but because I get the Hulu and the Disney Plus packaged in there, I occasionally will put on ESPN plus, but not enough for me to I wouldn't I would definitely never subscribe to that one separately.

You know, it's fascinating because you hear people complain about cable when cable keeps raising its prices and stuff, and I can't afford this. This is terrible. And yet they'll add on all these streaming services. And so what gives? And maybe that's the way it just all has to be. All is all a card. Yeah. Just things as you go along and maybe you just have a buy in for X number of weeks or months Yeah, I think at some point and I think it'll, it'll come a little bit more as the kids get older and we're, we're less attached to certain things.

But I feel like I'm getting really close to the point where I don't have anything against Apple TV Plus because I do think it has some good programs. It's just not enough for me to commit 12 months out of the year. And I think we're getting to that point where I need one like $6 a month option. So I maybe going to do Apple TV Plus this month and then maybe next month I do peacock and then maybe the month after that I do Paramount Plus, is it hard to go there?

Gym? Is it hard to get out of the that's that's where unlike cable, because cable's a nightmare like cable. You're on the phone for 45 minutes because I did it a year ago when I finally cut the cord. Right. And it just it takes forever. And it's it's a pain in the butt. But with all of these streaming services, you just log in online.

You know, you got to make sure you get it at the right time because you don't get a refund of $3.18 because you only used it. Right. You know, 42% of of it for the month. So you got to jump before the month is up. Correct. So you like I go to my Google calendar, I put in a reminder like this is the day I got to go cancel Apple TV.

Plus, I'll do it. You know, it'll it'll take me through the end of the month and I'll still have like three more days to watch it because I do it a few days in advance. And then the first of the month I'll subscribe to something else. And as long as you can commit to doing that, you can, you can manage them and you can opt in and out and it's pretty darn easy.

And that's that's the advantage they have over cable, to be honest. It's not even it's almost the point where it's not the cost anymore. Because once although I'm saving a lot of money by not subscribing, I have YouTube TV for my my right were over the year. I figured it out one time like by by dumping the cable.

I'm saving like 100 and something dollars a month. Which can I ask, how much do you spend in a month on services? And you have to factor in the costs for Internet. So between Internet, YouTube, TV and then the other streaming, it's somewhere between 160 and 200 a month. That's not too bad. No, not too bad. I was well over 200 well before I was.

Yeah. And I thought, this is silly. I don't watch all these channels. And I it's just a matter of I, I'm too lazy to go and cancel things. Yeah. And when cable dropped my email and I no longer had email through my cable system, I thought, well, this is, this is the wakeup call I needed. And so then I would like you.

I went to YouTube TV and I was very impressed with that. I find it kind of strange when you're watching a show where it kind of goes to your moment of Zen, where it's they're covering up an ad that isn't going to be shown on your thing. Right. But I'm fine with that. Yeah. And I do like I, I am now looking more for old content.

I really want to see old content. Not because I am nostalgic because that's not me, but I want to see how good it was back then compared to what we have now, what the quality is, you know, and some of the writing was good, but a lot of the production was not as good. You know, you'll see an office or a living room or whatever, and it barely has furniture in it.

And today everything is so overly designed and and done that I think it's made for these very high def TVs where you can look at every little aspect and realize that that ashtray is there for a purpose. You know? So it's fascinating, but I do think I spend too much money on it. But then that's my life. I mean, it's obviously for you as somebody who's who needs to be on top of things, having a little bit more than than somebody is fine.

You know. But yeah, it's tough. Like, you know, when you're just trying to get through with your household and figure out, okay, you know, the wife watches this, the kids watch this, I watch this, what do we need? And, you know, honestly, I have I have not noticed missing very much since ditching traditional cable. There's a few things there's a few things here and there that I can't watch anymore.

But honestly, it doesn't make much of a difference to me how how vigilant are you with your children? Do you say you only get one hour of television time at night? Do you really? Yeah. Really? Yeah. Yeah. And I grew up turning the TV on in the morning with the test pattern and turning off at night. When the test pattern came back on, that was how much TV I watched as a child.

Oh, yeah? Yeah. No, the kids are. They're pretty good with it. I mean. Well, it's getting a little bit tougher now as they've gotten older. And there's other things like, okay, we're not watching TV, but I'm going to play my video game system and or, you know, so we try to limit the screen time. You know, we try to insist that they're reading X number, you know, 30 minutes a day of reading as opposed to something else.

Do you think you are the exception and not the rule? Yeah, I'm watching a lot more than they are, that's for sure. Yeah, but, but, but it for them. Yeah. No, I mean, but we know we've, we talk, I mean some we know some parents they let their kids watch anything. There's another family that we know that they're pretty similar to us with how much TV they let their kids watch.

And so it's just it's you know, there's no right or wrong here. You know, every every family has to make their own decisions. We just choose to limit it. And kids don't have TVs in their bedrooms. It's it's we have a TV in the living room. We have a TV in the family room. I have a TV in our bedroom.

But we're we're trying to limit it so you know, it. It's weird because I don't a do you look at it at the ratings of anything before you like? Oh, yeah. You do. Okay. I do think that because television doesn't really have those standards anymore, or at least it's not as policed below as it was, that it's impossible now to say that kids are being influenced by books or whatever when it's a free for all on television.

Yeah, you can say that. You know, all my kids are going into whatever because they've watched too much television or what. There's not enough policing on television itself to to kind of guide you through that. And I remember the times when there was family hour, the first hour, the broadcast night was family television. It should not have been anything that had any adult content.

And I think parents were safe then just saying, oh, you can watch until 8:00 and then we're not watching TV. That's not the case now, because 7:00 shows can be very R-rated with us. We rely a little bit with like a common sense media where we will go to that website. It's I think it's pretty good. It'll give you some information of like, you know, kids say it's 12 plus, parents say it's ten plus, we say it's 12 plus.

You know, it'll give you that kind of information and it'll also explain, like why the show? So this one has a little bit too much sex talk or this one talks about, sure, you know, alcohol or drugs or cigarets and it gives you some decent information. But you know what you mention, too, with you know, that our block of like these shows should be safe.

Were they? Because I've gone back and seen, you know, like some some shows like we haven't let our kids watch Seinfeld and I mean, like Seinfeld was of like, well, that's that's not that's not adult time. But it is they're talking about sex and yeah, I worked it out tonight on NBC on Thursdays and come on that isn't appropriate for 12 year olds.

That's not happy days. No, it's not. So you know, I know, like, you kind of think about it nostalgically and all that, but there's stuff today that if we had the shows that I grew up with today, we would not let the kids watch the ones that I was allowed to watch. Definitely not. Yeah, it's it's funny how in its day, something like Cinemax, you'd got all the dirty one.

Cinemax. Yeah right. We knew right away. Yeah. That was the dirty one. And so if you were subscribing to that, good, like you're getting everything and everything, that's the bad one. But today it's everywhere. Yeah. I don't know that you can even, you know, there are some of those high end cable networks now though. I mean high end in terms of channel numbers where they've bleeped it or they've done, you know, they've done somehow, But it's still the concept, you know, there are dirty movies on those channels, too.

They just haven't said two or three words out loud. Yeah, I think it's interesting it with HBO in particular, because I remember as a kid, like as a teenager, not not not as like an eight or nine year old, but as a teenager. If you stayed up just late enough on a Saturday night, you would catch something like their real sex show, right, where it would be, things like that, where it's very adult content.

There was nudity and all that. And if you go to HBO now, they've really gone and scrubbed those things like you can't find real sex or what was the other one? It was like taxicab confessions. Oh, yeah. You know, they're kind of dirty, kind of raunchy. And I think HBO and I think that's part of the reason why they they rebranded HBO.

Max is just Max, because they're trying to get away from that concept of HBO being very adult. Like it wasn't it was never quite Cinemax, you know, Cinemax because it never got there. But HBO, you knew that if you stayed up past 10:00 or 11:00 at night, you were going to see some stuff. So if you're, you know, a teenage boy like 15, 16 or whatever, and your parents didn't know you're staying up late to watch something until two in the morning.

It was it was an interesting time to watch HBO. What was that? Bunny Ranch one where? Yeah, right. They went on to the one night at Las Vegas somewhere and then they would go out there and they'd be a bunch of prostitutes basically locking up. And then they pick one of them and and they show the encounter. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I don't think HBO does any of that kind of programing anymore. And I think and I think they've largely eliminated it from the archives. So you can't like if even if you subscribe to you know, where they have pretty much all their programing ever on like Macs. Now I don't think you can watch any of those because they've tried to really, you know, nothing more than R-rated.

And we're going to we're going to tamp it down. So, yeah, it's fascinating how those things shift. And you look at something now on like The Bachelor, right? They're going in directions that I'd be really careful about letting my kids see. Yep. And I, I again, I'm not that person. I'm not one who's uptight about any of that stuff.

But I do think that maybe there's a time for innocence and they need to have that, that I don't have to know something about this. And I think those kind of shows which are showing at 7:00 at night in my territory are a little too much right away after dinner. Yeah, absolutely. Well, how about this? We'll we'll kind of wrap up the show.

Now, if you heard it, I got on a tangent. I did it. It's a digital picture missing. And then it went on to this. But no films on those streaming services. Absolutely. So. Well, how about we do this too? And we'll just open it up. And if we happen to get some feedback, we'll talk about it on the next episode.

But you know, if you're a parent, you're listening to the show, give us some thoughts. Reach out and send us an email to [email protected]. There will be a link in this episode, show notes as well. And just shoot a short line like, you know, where you watch the streaming gear, traditional cable. How often are you with the kids when it comes to what they're watching, things like that.

And well, you know, we can pick up the discussion in the future. So I'm good. I'm that sounds great. That sounds like fun because I want to allow I mean, I, I watch everything. So there is no there is no barrier for me. But I do want to know if people do have those barriers and how they determine what they are.

Perfect. All right. Well, on that note, we will let things go and we will be back again next week with another episode of Stream The Screen. Have a great one.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join us on a fascinating journey through time as we explore Bruce Miller's 44-year career in entertainment reporting, filled with on-set experiences from some of the most iconic TV shows and movies.

This includes all of the various spinoffs of "Star Trek," the penultimate episode of "M*A*S*H" and beloved sitcoms such as "Cheers," "Frasier," "The Big Bang Theory" and "The Office."

We also dive into the realm of TV set design, with stories from the sets of popular shows like "Grey's Anatomy," "The West Wing" and "Parks and Recreation."

We also share a few stories about the 1982 film "Annie," which was shot on the campus of Monmouth University, which co-host Terry Lipshetz attended in the 1990s, and the 1978 film "Ice Castles," which included Bruce as one of the many extras.

Contact us!

We want to hear from you! Email questions to [email protected] and we'll answer your question on a future episode!

About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Welcome everyone to another episode of Streamed & Screened, an entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz, senior producer at Lee and your co-host of a program with Bruce Miller, who we've pulled out of a time capsule this week from reporting. He's been doing entertainment reporting forever with the Sioux City Journal. But he's been everywhere.

And we wanted to do a special episode. We are coming up on 44 years, 44 years. Can you believe that? But you know what? I thought it would be fun to talk about something that people always ask me about, which is do you get to actually go to the sets of these things? Do you get to talk to the movie stars?

Oh, you're just making all that up, aren't you? Now, after this many years, you can't make it up because it's just too difficult to think about. Wait a minute. Didn't I use that line before? I can't use that line again. You need to have that one on one contact. And that's the thing I think has been the biggest joy of covering entertainment, is actually getting to meet people that you maybe admired at some point or you like their work or you think that they're different than their public persona.

So yeah, that's been a really cool thing. And early on in 1980 was the first trip I took to the West Coast for pilot season, whatever you might want to call the new shows. And one of the things that's very common is they'll take you to the sets of various shows so you get a chance to watch them film things.

You get a chance to walk around the set and look at all of that kind of fun stuff. You get to interview the actors. It is a really kind of head turning situation the first time you do it. I have been on the set of every Star Trek series except the first one, and I have sat in every captain's chair, which is interesting because all aren't comfortable.

I've gotten to see, you know, some big back in the day they were mini series. They weren't limited series, but I've been on the sets of those. I was on the set of The Thorn Birds, which was like a it looked like a working sheep ranch in Australia, but it was actually in California and we had dinner on the porch of the of De Gaeta, which was the name of the the ranch and with the stars.

And one of the stars, Rachel Ward, was really upset because one of the producers said that she was in she was a nine in looks and at three and acting up and she got all upset and started walking away from the set of this. And all you could think about is they're not done filming this thing and she's bailing because she doesn't like what the producer said.

And they immediately ran after her and tried to smooth over this problem. And it was all happening before our eyes. Well, we were there to have dinner and watch him. She or sheep. So interesting kind of factor there. We went to Charleston for the filming of North and South, if you remember, that was the miniseries. John Jakes had a series of books and it was about the Civil War times and Patrick Swayze was one of the stars.

Kirstie Alley was another star, and that we were there for several days and they had dinner with them every night. And they were very, very fun because they would tell you things that you you know, you didn't really it never came out any other way. But they said they had given everybody on the on the miniseries a whole name.

So they were different kinds of POWs in this show. Okay. So Patrick Swayze, he because he was a dancer, was called Ho Down, and they went through the whole cast and told us all their different names. And they didn't like Lesley-Ann down who was one of the stars of it. And I said, well, what's what's her whole name?

And they said, You got to go over and ask her herself, and she'll tell you what her whole name is. So we went over to Lesley-Ann down and I said, Well, now they said, Everybody has a whole name. What's your whole name? And she says, I'm a whole show.

That's a kind of that's a stuff you don't get when you're just normally doing an interview over Zoom, or if you're calling somebody on the phone. But it's very fun to be in that environment and you see them shooting scenes and they'll do it over and over and you think, Wow, they're not never going to finish this thing because it's it's taking so long.

And I was fortunate that I was at the last day of MASH. MASH did a big movie for their final episode, but that was not the final episode they shot. They did the episode before that on on the 20th lot. And it was about buried in a time capsule. And they were there and they they did it once and they said, Yeah, we got to do it again.

We got to do it again. And so they did it again and the the guy said after that, that was good. That's it. That's the end of MASH. Thank you. And the actors all kind of fell into each other's arms and were crying. And I mean, it was a real emotional moving time and they had huge media coverage.

I remember standing near Maria Shriver, who was covering it for NBC, and they said to us, You can take anything you want from the set when you leave. And I happened to be standing in the in the shower. And so I have a bar of soap from MASH. That's my memento from that. But it was it's it's that was such a momentous kind of thing.

And even now, when you see it in reruns, it's like, wow, I can't believe I was there when they ended MASH. I sent you a bit of a list of shows that I was kind of interested in, and MASH is on my list because for me as a child, it was one of the first big shows I remember watching now.

It started when the show started. I wasn't even born yet, but as it progressed, a great but as it progressed, I grew up watching it either in real time, but also we would see the reruns. My parents would just have the show on. So I remember watching mostly the later episodes, but what a big deal it was on TV to watch that final episode, that movie episode.

It was. It was huge. It's up until recently was one of the the most still one of the most watched all time shows ever. You know, often I'll just happen to mention that I was on the set of MASH and you can't believe how this smokes out. People who are just hardcore MASH viewers. Yeah, that show early on when they started putting out DVDs of full seasons of of TV shows, it's one of the first shows that I bought on DVD because it was Watch it all.

Yeah, I've I've watched every episode of MASH. Yeah, I love that show. See And for me, it's it's very hard to go back and watch them again. I don't think I'd ever buy a box set. I have box sets, but I, I don't watch them. Yeah, but it's also a little different for you too, because you're watching so much.

Well, you're always looking at the next thing you've got to see, just to see, you know, what's happening, what's new, what's next. But yeah, and there there are fun little things. I was on the set of Gray's Anatomy and they had a party there. And in the operating room, they had this body on, you know, on an operating table.

And it looked bloody. But what it was, was it was salsa inside the stomach and you could use, you know, there were chips all around it. So that was how they were serving the chips. It's just goofy things like that that happened. If you remember, E.R., E.R. had it looked like a really bad hospital. It looked like the last place you'd want to go because it looked so kind of worn down and everything.

And they actually had a an el station outside the thing where they would use it for exteriors. But it basically was George Clooney's basketball court. And you could see where they would play basketball out there when they weren't shooting or weren't doing anything. But inside the the actual operating slash exam room, slash whatever hospital, you could see really great equipment.

And what happened was after the show became a success, a lot of these providers would just send them the equipment so that then it was accurate, but it was like state of the art stuff. So that I'm sure that if you went to your own local hospital, you say, Well, now don't you have the XR 732, which they used in E.R. and the Thecable?

No, we can't afford that. That's like 5 hours. I think it would be one of those things where people would ask for it or whatever. But it had really great equipment in there. And they said everything was as accurate as they could possibly be. They had a lot of advisors who are medical people who would tell them exactly how to hold things, how to do certain procedures.

So they got really pretty good at it. And a lot of times when you have people who are playing doctors on TV, they are expected. A lot of times if somebody collapses on an airplane or whatever, well, come on, you know what to do. And they said it's very intimidating because people expect you to be that doctor, but you're not.

But they do. They do learn a few things that might be helpful if they ever need it. So, yeah. And hospital shows are really it's a they're cheap because you can put everybody in scrubs. Oh yeah. And you have a lot of rooms that can be remade to look like another room because aren't all patient rooms the same?

They're also. Yeah. And so, but they did have hallways and stuff in terms of something that was real big, like that. West Wing really did have those hallways where they did the walk and talks and they had the Oval Office. The Oval Office was cool to see. There were a lot of fun things. And then if you look closely, one of the the coolest places that I had where we could check out things, Parks and Rec.

And I did see a little Sebastian, by the way, I met little Sebastian, the the miniature donkey hockey so thrilled. It was like, you have to see it. There is no star bigger than this. And he was cute. And I somehow I got my picture taken with him, so I was cute. Cool. But if you go inside that city hall, they have pictures and the pictures of past like councilmen, whatever, are people from their staff.

So it was fun working on a show. You can easily get a relative's picture on the wall. And theirs was also one of those kind of sets where you walk around it and you felt like you were actually in a building. That's crazy. It's interesting you mentioned with the West Wing because it is a show where there's I mean, it's a Aaron Sorkin, right?

So it's a lot of conversation. It's a lot of dialog. So I could only imagine the set being huge for a sense of just you have to do one continuous shot, even if you're just like spiraling through hallways, back and forth and weaving. They make sure that the walls are removable. So if they have to have a camera come in, they can or they shoot them through things.

I mean, it's it's very fascinating to watch those kind of shows being put together because it's a different procedure than maybe if you saw a three camera show where you're sitting in the audience, you're just watching things happen. If you watch a show long enough, especially a show that's been on for a very long time, you'll see changes to the set.

And I'm not necessarily talking about, you know, they just updated here and there or swap furniture. But sometimes when a show starts working on a shoestring budget, they don't know if it's going to get picked up beyond the pilot. They don't know if it's going to get picked up after season one. And then all of a sudden it's around for eight years and they really start changing up the set.

Have you ever gone back to a set that you hit maybe early on during a season one and then you go back a few years later and you're like, Whoa, what has happened here? This is totally different. Sometimes they will shoot on that on an existing set. There have been a lot of shows that because they weren't they didn't want to save money.

They didn't want to, you know, so they'll full house. They believe they use that set for a number of different things. So there are ones that they will go back and then when they start their own run they may upgraded or change things. But there is this kind of fear that if you have success and then you change the look, you could be inviting, you know, disaster or Mary Tyler Moore had that because remember how she had that apartment that was supposedly, you know, this whatever, Minneapolis apartment.

And then they decided to move her to another place downtown that looked a little more cosmopolitan and whatnot. And they were freaked that if they did move it from one place to another, the show would would suddenly lose its charm. So they made sure to make a big point of her taking her big AM from the old place and putting it in a place of honor, in the new place.

But yeah, they don't want to toy with that. But if you do have success, they will upgrade. You know, a lot of times look closely at countertops and kitchens. Yep. Because it's a faux painting that they do that looks like granite. And in granite it's painting. But if they have success, they may get real granite the next time they come around.

So if they upgrade this head so it has to be reinforced a little bit. Not too long ago before they ended, I was on the set of This is US, and they had that old house, you know, that the house that they used for the things when the characters were kids. Yeah. Oh my God. It was like walking back into my childhood because they had all of these things that I remembered, the TV sets that were old and yeah, even the kitchen counter where I think wasn't a crockpot that caused a problem and yep, yeah, it was all they had.

No crockpot, no crockpot. We don't have that, that kind of, you know. And the Goldbergs, I was on the set of that and it's filled with toys and crap that are, are unique to that era that they do watch it because if you're there visiting they don't want you swiping something because you like a Rubik's cube that you happen to see on a TV show and they will have things marked off or taped off.

So you can't walk there if you try or a guard will be standing there. The Big Bang Theory has a comic book, right? And that had real comic books that were expensive. And they did have you could not touch anything. And there you could have your picture taken in there, but you couldn't look at the comic books or, you know, touch any of the statues that they had and all the crap that was in their their apartment.

That was real stuff. And but you could I did sit in Sheldon's seat, you know, don't sit in my seat. Oh, and it was cool. It was big. But to see that they had, you know, if you lifted the cushions up, I didn't do this so don't. But they, I think they used it. There was an episode where they actually did put stuff down below and so everything isn't as it seems.

There are ways to kind of cheat it so that then if they need to do something like if somebody was to emerge from the bottom of the couch, they would have a hole built and they could pop up from that. So there are things like the Frazier, the the chair that the dad sat in was it looked horrible on TV and you thought, Oh, my God.

And it wasn't it wasn't when you saw it in person, they just added duct tape to the outside of it. And the cushions were really comfortable. John Mahoney, who played the dad, said it was like he loved just sitting there because he didn't have to do anything in the chair. But then Frazier also had this artwork that was original.

It was not a duplicate or a facsimile of anything. It was real art, and they did not bring it out until the night of shooting, so that when they had an audience there, somebody would hand carry that Kahului bowl or vase or whatever it might be and put it on the set. And then as soon as they were done shooting, they would remove it and put it somewhere else.

But they did not leave them out there just in case, because how would you replace it? You couldn't. That's fascinating, because I've always watched, you know, like I watch Frazier and I watch Big Bang Theory in those types of shows I would watch is like, wow, these are really good sets, especially with Big Bang Theory, because they're geeks and they've got all the toys and the other comic book type things, and I don't collect comic books.

I never really got into them. But I know what a comic book looks like in when they hold them up on the show. I'm thinking like, Wow, that's that's a really good reproduction, but it's not a real thing. It's there. And I'm sure a lot of the people who work on the show are hardcore geeks like that, and they figure when the show ends, somebody's going to have to get that.

I don't know, you know, unless they're just on loan. But I don't think they would be. I think they actually go and buy those. Yeah, but yeah. And so you usually ask the people, now when the show ends, what are you going to take, What do you want? And it's not necessarily the stuff you think Kaley Cuoco from that show had.

There was a picture that she said she always stared at and she wanted that because she remembers that's what she'd look at whenever she was sitting in a seat. She was talking to somebody. It was and it was a big nothing picture. It was not something. You go, Oh my God, it's Spider-Man 1952 now. It wasn't anything like that.

So there are things that mean something to them but don't necessarily mean anything to the show. I know that there were things on Friends that, you know, were iconic and certain people did get those, but boy, they still talk about it. Now, you say yeah, that she that Jennifer she got that and I'm still mad about it and you know, do they even put it in their house somewhere?

Probably not. Yeah. I think somebody took the door or from the set of Seinfeld because it was it was so iconic, you know, like, like Kramer flying through the door. And I don't know who it was. It might it maybe it was Jerry. But I thought one of the big actors walked away with that. Did you ever make it to the set of Everybody Loves Raymond?

But any chance I did. I did. They did. But it was like a just a regular house. Did you get to at least sit on the the couch that was covered in or zip zipped up in plastic? Yeah, well, but, you know, I was on Roseanne's couch, too, in case. Oh, yeah, Yeah. Usually they'll let you sit there so that then you can feel like you were at the show or you were part of this show or whatever.

And you meander around the sets and you look at things and you see things that you don't see when you're watching, you know, And there and I'm not naming names because but there are actors who don't memorize their lines. And so they'll stash them and they'll have things like there might be magazines on the table, and if you open up the magazine, you might find a script in there that's crazy.

So they would you know, they would act like they were reading a magazine when they were actually reading the scripts. Now, in recent years, some of these shows were done not not any big show that you know, but some of these cable ish shows, if you will, they would shoot three episodes in a week. And it was impossible for for the actors to memorize those scripts.

So they had huge, big screen TVs like like they were teleprompters that would be behind the characters so they could just read the lines off them. And that's fun to see because you go, Oh, I thought they had to memorize all this stuff. Maybe I could be an actor. I, you know, I would worry about that. But yeah, so it it varies from where you go on the Disney campus, if you will.

A lot of those Disney Afternoon shows that you'd watch on the Disney Channel or wherever were nearby each other. And it all got to be real good friends with each other. You know, they all knew Miley Cyrus. They all knew the Jonas Brothers. They all and they hang out together. They were actually friends and did things together. And it's it's amazing to see now, you know, when some of them moved on to other roles and other things, how what part that played for some it was for worse and for some it was better.

I was with the Zack and Cody kids, the Sprouse kids deal and I'm blanking, but they took me back to their their dressing room and they show me where they actually studied with a tutor. You know, they have to have so many hours a day with a tutor if you're using a kid and they can only work so many hours a day.

Though one of the boys said, you know, truthfully were able to, I think as actors were about a four. We're not that good, but we're trying to make money to get our college people. And so, you know, we buy into this. We see what this is all about. We know and they are far more sophisticated than you think on these kids shows.

These are not kids who are, you know, just throwing it out there and wanting to be stars. Some are. They're just because it's a job. Yeah, I the money and both the Sprouse boys did go to college. Now one ended up on Riverdale and they're both working in the business now but it was never the goal that that was that's kind of a byproduct that they still get to work.

And I always remember Demi Lovato telling me about kids today. I said, you know what don't they realize about being a young actor on a TV show? And she said they think it's all about the purse. I said, What? And she said, They think that you can have a really expensive purse and they don't realize what you're giving up or what you have to do.

And it's not all about the purse. And I thought, well, that that was a very kind of fascinating way to kind of size it all up, because I think fans look at these things and they think it's much more glamorous than it is. It's not sets. Are you doing these huge warehouses, kind of barn facilities where mice can easily be running around?

There's not a hesitation there. There's a huge craft services table, but you don't know whose touch that food or where that food's been, you know? So, I mean, there are a lot of things that don't make it seem like, Oh my God, here comes Greta Garbo and Clark Gable walking down the street. Not at all like that. It really is a factory.

Yeah, Factory of entertainment. Yeah. And a lot of those Disney ish Nickelodeon, Nick Junior kind of shows to that. Not I'm not saying that the sets don't look good, but you see a lot more artificial grass on the shows, which clearly isn't crass. The production value isn't necessarily is as high as you would expect either. And they would talk about how there's a Disney style at all.

But you know, where they have to do kind of those broad gestures and everything. And some of the kids really thought that that was wrong, that they didn't want to do that. And you can see where now they've shifted with some of these shows that they aren't as kind of obvious. Maybe that's a term for, but they are a little more adult and they talk about themes that are more contemporary than they did back in the day.

Any shows you've been on because you mentioned Star Trek, some of those shows, especially the SCI fi shows, where there might be a lot of green screens and and other things. Any any one in particular that we watch on TV that looks like, Wow, that is impressive. You know, there's the deck of the enterprise, but you're on the set and you're like, what is this?

What is this? This is the most unimpressive thing I've ever seen. Oh, well, Star Trek, The Next Generation. I mean, they had like an area that was basically every planet they visited. So it had parks and things and they just redressed it and put up a different. Yeah. So that that was what you're talking about. The Orville. Do you ever remember the Orville was on Fox for a while?

No, I don't. I think it's still going to be honest with me. It was Boeing, but I'm I'm not going to vouch for that. But they had an actual ship that you walked on. You walked through the whole hallways. It seemed like it was the real deal. And that's because Seth Macfarlane, who was producing it, was able to, you know, say, I want the real thing.

Okay. And you saw the costumes that were just bizarre. I got to shoot the guns that they they had. And it was like you were actually if it was a an amusement park, that's what it would be like. It was cool. But first of all, a lot of those ones, boy, they cheat a lot of stuff. You know, Star Trek was a real key one.

And if you looked at the Paramount that you would say, Well, I think I've seen this place before. What I watch sometimes you'll see buildings that they love to do schools, and it's just the outside of the of the paramount lot. Yeah. Executives place and you go well that's there's no school like that but they'll dress it up and make it seem like it is another one that was like shot at a place.

Scrubs okay. Scrubs was in a used to be a hospital and they just took it over and, you know, and there was a bet that they had going on that if anybody would spend time in the in the morgue, they would pay them extra. If they would go do that. But because it had been a hospital, they constantly had people coming in and acting like, I need help, I'm bleeding, can you help me?

And they'd have to turn them away and say, no, this is this is not a real hospital. It's a movie set of these. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One's like that. The office was shot in a warehouse kind of situation with offices. It was real offices. So when you see them all sitting around like that, that's how it was. And you could walk around all of their desks, look at everything, and they said that their computers did work and they would do like one did Christmas cards.

Mm hmm. Well, they were because they had to be on the set. You couldn't leave. You had to be there. Well, other scenes were shot because you're Mr. Right. Right. You're an actor, but you are also background. So they would do stuff like that or they'd chat to each other on their their screens and act like they were working.

Sir, there was the warehouse that was attached to it, and this was out in some industrial area, you know, outside of Los Angeles. It wasn't, you know, there was a fence up and all of that. But the the, the storage area or the loading dock was actually filled with paper. Wow. Yeah. Cool to see. Very cool. You know, And yes, I do have a name, plaque that says I'm assistant to the assistant regional manager or whatever.

But yeah, very fun because that I think those kinds of shows make it feel like you actually are. There is a lot of the ones where you're sitting in seats and they will do that If you happen to go to California and you want to see a show shot, there will be tickets available to the public. Now, usually if you go to Universal Studios, they have a ticket box or a counter or whatever that they will let you know which ones are available.

Things like game shows have a lot of availability, so you could probably go to prices, right, and sit in the audience. You won't necessarily get picked, but you could go watch something like that. A sitcom could be a little more difficult because they have different nights that they shoot and they will suck up X number of tickets just to hand out.

Or if they're really bad, they will hire people to sit in the seats and laugh. Yeah, well, and they say that they used to have prisoners that would come and sit at the. Oh, jeez. 0i1 thing I did meet was paid laughs. Or did you know that they have people who are paid to laugh? Well, I knew there was laugh tracks, but I didn't know there was paid laughs.

And these were some of those series that do not have an audience. But the kids need to know when to hold for a laugh. And we had like five or six people honest to God, this was the strangest thing I've ever seen sitting at a table, and they would get her. Her? Oh, well, oh, different kinds of laughs.

And then the directors say, Okay, tone it down a little bit here. We don't need that much. And it would it would help the actors learn how to react to this crazy this thing. But yeah, and they would like read they be reading the newspaper. Well, they're laughing or knitting or doing something else. But it was a job and I had paid laughter.

I want that. I want to be somebody who's paid to laugh. Can you get me the gig? I'm there with my luck, though I'd be on the the absolute least funny show you can think of. Like, okay, we need you to laugh right now. Oh, my God. And that's the way it is. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting to see how success changes people, because the first year of friends, nobody knew who they were.

And they were very they were more nervous than I was to interview them. And we had, they had given us mugs that said friends on it, you know, those big latte mugs or whatever. Right. Right. And they were so thrilled that the name of the show that they were on was on a mug that they started grabbing up as many as they could.

So they at least had a set of them. So here you see these big stars who, you know, went on to make what, millions of dollars serve this series, swiping mugs that were supposed to be swag that was given away to the media. And then when they had the last episode of Friends, we went to this set and they would not let us get down on the set.

Isn't that all? They don't have taken anything or didn't want us touching anything. We could not talk one on one with the actors and the boys. It wasn't like it was covered or anything. It was just that's how the world had changed. These were big stars that did not. Unless it was cleared, you were not able to talk to them.

And. Yeah, sorry, I don't have time for Bruce Miller. No, I'm not doing some low class person like Iowa. I'm speaking as the one from Iowa. Yes, I believe we have somebody who's serving coffee over here who's from Iowa to talk to him now. One of those kind of. Yeah, but it's for me, it's a fascinating thing to look at the sets and just see stuff close up, how they dress that and how they add all those things has really changed.

In the old days, it was very kind of minimal. You wouldn't see much on the counters and stuff and now, boy, they pack this and to make sure that it matches, you know, the others, they'll shoot pictures and everything and make sure that every box is where it needs. And I went to how I met your mother or father, Both mother and father, but father.

And it was such a mess on that set. It was like last year, this last year. And I thought, how would you keep track of all that stuff? Because it's just it's like litter, basically. But they, you know, they keep an eye on it. I was on the set of How I Met Your Mother just before it ended, and we were in the bar and I'm not sure what the bar.

Claire MacLaren's Yeah, what it is, okay. Gloria Bar set. And we were sitting at the table where the, the group usually sits and Neil Patrick Harris had carved his initials on the table and then he and it had plus D be his husband's name, David Burtka, and drew a heart around it. And I thought that was really cool and the picture of that.

But, you know, a little a little thing that you probably didn't know when you were watching it on on TV. Yeah. Because you would never see that. No, it wouldn't show. What's interesting to me too, is because all these shows generally have like real life exterior shots. Right? And I remember taking a trip to Boston and taking a walk to the Bull and Finch Tavern, which is where they shot the exterior shots for Cheers.

And the bar inside was kind of used loosely to inspire the look of the real bar. And I remember how cool it was like, Whoa, you know, here's the sign. And at this point, too, they had put up a sign that said Cheers, you know, downstairs because they wanted you to to recognize it. And and they had the seafood restaurant was there, too, that you can walk into.

But I remember walking down the steps to cheers and then opening the door. And then how unimpressed I was, because this is just this tiny little, you know, like eight seater of a bar. It's not anything impressive at all. And the real thing was huge. Really huge. Yeah. And it did work. So if you were there visiting, they could make you a drink.

Do you know, was there alcohol in them or was it. Well, if there were if they're shooting, you couldn't have alcohol. But when you're there there's out there with alcohol. And I remember sitting in one of the booths that were on the side with the actors, you know, it was funny about Cheers. They sure didn't have faith in that when it started.

Right? They did room. They did a room interview where you'd go in the room with the actors and they had just had five actors in the room with one reporter. And you're thinking, well, normally you'd kind of wouldn't you try to maximize size your exposure? Right? And I think we're just trying to blow it off. And then we went to a party on the set of it and we got to sit on Norm's stool and, you know, walk around and look at everything.

And it had changed. It had really changed. Once success hit again, you never know what's happened there, but Cheers is fun. But yeah, if you go to the bar, the Cheers bar in Boston, it's not the same. No, no, definitely not any. Any other stories? I have one to share. Once we're ready to wrap, let's come on out.

All right. I'm just going on. You got to shut me up. Okay, So I was sort of on the set of the movie. Annie. Do you remember Annie from 1982? Annie. Annie. Dust until come now. Tomorrow. Were you one of the authors? I know. So I went to college at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, and in the University.

It's on it's kind of in this old neighborhood in West Long Branch, in the centerpiece of the campus is, I believe now they call it Shadow Lawn Mansion. They used to call it Wilson Hall. They use the mansion as Daddy Warbucks mansion in the movie. So they shot almost the entire movie on location at my college. And I remember taking, you know, before I before I decided on where I was going to go.

And you take those campus visits and they bring you on tours and the big selling point at Monmouth at the time and probably still is, was this is where we filmed Danny in the hall, which is Wilson Hall when I was there. It's where the president's office is. It's where the registrar is. There's some classrooms in there, too, is always very cool.

You would get a class because they didn't have a ton of classrooms in that building because a lot of them it's a lot of very small rooms. But you would you would go in there and occasionally have a class and it was very cool to have a class there. They would have receptions for, you know, honors students there.

I worked in my freshman year. I was tutoring foreign language students who were they were struggling in English and I was helping tutor them. And the tutoring center was in the basement of Wilson Hall. And you would walk on the floor and you could sense there was something hollow beneath it. And it was because the big pool, if you remember the scene, was the pool in Annie.

That's where the pool, the pools in the basement of Wilson Hall. But they had covered it over and converted into two classroom space. So yeah, so it was, it was very, very neat. And there is a scene, I think it's early in the movie when they're first bringing Annie to the mansion and you see the car turn down into the gates.

But it's one of those scenes where if you look very closely, you could see the dorms across the street, but you wouldn't know it If you're watching the movie. You just see some building in the background. But it's like, oh, there is. There's the dorms, which is crazy. They ask anything, Well, where did you start seeing Hard Knock Life at some point?

I did not know, but I did watch. I did actually watch the movie after I went to school there because I it wasn't high on my list of movies to see as a as a child, it didn't quite appeal to me. But once I got there, I watched it. It was it was fun to watch and then see the different locations and think, Oh, LA, you know, I've been there.

I had to I had to register for my sophomore year there and I had to go pay a late book fee or something there. And yeah, that was crazy. So that's where we kind of relate to these things, is that we can find the real place that was used and go, What was that for? I know. And if you ever go on the Universal Tour or the Warner Brothers tour, anything, recycle these things all the time.

So I, you know, like you, when I was in college, I was in a movie. They needed extras and they said, if you come, you know, maybe you'll get on camera, maybe you won't. It was Ice Castles, Ice Castles with Lin, Holly Johnson and Robby Benson, and it was about a figure skater who lost her sight. And we were supposed to be in the audience watching her.

When you realize, Oh my God, she's blind. She can't see where she's skating. And then. Right. And Robby Benson comes out to greet her and everything. Well, I happened to have a camera with me because it you know, if you're not with the camera, are you anybody you need a camera. All, all situations. And these were not cell phone days.

This was back in the days of a camera. And so they were they were thrilled that I had my camera there. And if you watch for a millisecond, you will see that I am in the movie Ice Castles because I happen to have a camera and it's me holding my camera. It captured that moment when they discover that she's blind.

Wow. Is that not real? But there's my movie. Yeah, well, I don't think we can top anything else now that we know. Now we've done it. It's done it. Okay, well, we're going to do another episode like this sometime because this is fun. I enjoy story time with Bruce. Well, if anybody has shows that they're interested in or want to know about, if they want to drop us a line, we'll be glad to put them on a list and then we'll talk about them.

Because like I say, 47 years I've been just about everywhere that you could go unless there was some ban put on people. And no, you can't talk to those people. And maybe I'll tell you my Zendaya story some oh, I want to hear that one. So you can you can reach out those podcasts at least dot net. I check the email regularly and I will screen those emails and we will get back you and talk about it in a later episode.

That sounds great. All right, everyone. Well, thanks again for listening to this episode of Streamed & Screened.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been a pretty big year for movies so far. "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," "Barbie," "Guardians of the Galaxie Vol. 3" and "Oppenheimer" have all gotten film fans off of couches and back into theaters.

And there have been a number of big streaming shows this year, including several notable series finales from "Succession," "Ted Lasso" and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." Plus, HBO launched "The Last of Us" and we've enjoyed other streaming hits like "The Bear" and "Shrinking."

But how good of an entertainment year has 2023 been? Are Oscar races still a bit unclear? Will this year's movies and shows stand the test of time?

This week's episode is a report card of sorts as we have tipped past the midway point in the year.

About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Welcome everyone to another episode of Streamed & Screened, an entertainment podcast about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises, I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer at Lee and co-host of the program with the incomparable Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and a long time entertainment reporter. Bruce, we're here then halfway through 2020. You know what it is?

It's report card time. It is. We have school buddies, report card time for entertainment because we're past the halfway mark. We should look at the things that are have already happened. Which ones are good? Which ones are bad? Which ones will stand the rest of the year? Because right about now, people start talking. Oscar. At which films would actually make it to that big time at the end of the year when they go, Oh, of course this is going to be a winner.

Last year we had Top Gun Maverick as kind of the one that was like, yeah, that's that's a done deal. That one's going to be in there. And it was. But this year, boy, I think I have three titles that will make it to the end of the year. Okay. Can you. Ah. Which will make it to the end of the year.

Yeah. That will be considered for awards at the end of the year. Well, Oppenheimer. Right, Definitely. Are we only talking movies that we've seen so far or movies that have happened since January to now? So we're going to go. Oppenheimer Oh, yeah. Barbie. Barbie Yes, I do. I really do think it'll be in there. I think it'll be in the.

Okay. Okay. One more. I'm going to just I'm going to throw this one out there. Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse man could be. Yes, Spider-Man could be. You know, they like to marginalize animated films. Yeah, I'm in the animated category, so it could be because it was very good. But I think air might have another opportunity. Oh, yes, Yes.

That's still on my list of movies to see. Yeah, because it had really good supporting performances. Matt Damon was good in that and Matt is all over the map this year. He's in everything and I don't think he has enough clout to get a nomination for Oppenheimer, even though he's in it. But I think he's like the least of the big names that are in it.

I think Robert Downey Jr has a better shot than he does. I would agree. Yeah. So ere is my third one. Asteroid city is one that could creep in there because of the west Anderson imprint. You know, I was going to throw that one. Yeah, I was going to throw that one out at you, too, if you could, because that's one I didn't get a chance to see it, but it's now available for, I think, streaming and DVD rental.

So I'm planning to check that one out very soon. And then I asked friends, I said, What would you put on the list? And now you're going to be shocked when I tell you this. Are you? If God, it's me, Margaret. Interesting. And that is not on my list at all, huh? But they thought it was really well done.

They thought it was a good adaptation of a Judy Blume novel. Well, you know. All right. And then, like you, Spider-Verse, I think, has a a shot at something. But I don't know if it could be best picture, but that's that's kind of where we're at. I don't think it goes beyond those films for Oscar consideration because have you really seen something that good that you you want to remember?

Yeah, we've talked about this on some some past episodes to where it's an effort for me personally to get out to the theater. I'm not I'm not going to just go and see every single film. If there's a lot out there, I'll see as many as I can, you know? And last year I saw two Top Gun and Avatar.

I'm up to about six now this year. Oh, my God. Right. Because there's like I know because there's been a lot that I've wanted to see this year. But even now I'm looking at what's still to come. And really, until we get to that Scorsese film killers, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if there's a whole lot else that I want to see.

Like the Granturismo. I know you just saw that one. I sort of want to maybe see it, but I think that's just a wait until it comes out on streaming for me. That's a fast and furious crowd kind of picture. Yeah, I wanted it to be more Ford versus Ferrari, you know, but it's not. It's it's rocky on wheels is what you get out of that sucker.

Maestro is a big one to look forward to where Bradley Cooper plays Leonard Bernstein. And it looks like he has a real shot of beating Killian Murphy for best actor. Really? Yeah, that's. That's a big one. And then that they've done a remake of The Color Purple, the the Steven Spielberg film. But now the musical version that's getting a lot of buzz.

I'm hearing things about Saltburn, which is an emerald vinyl film. I know that image is throwing you off the track here. Alexander Payne has the holdovers. Okay, so there are ones that are out there that you probably haven't heard about but are getting early buzz as potential best picture, best actor, best actress. You know, so Napoleon, that's another one.

We don't know who's going to make it. So, you know, doing might be next year might not be this year. But best actress, when you look at that very thing this year, very thin. I mean, if I'm thinking of Margot Robbie as best actress for playing Barbie, is this really going to happen? And then you have Fantasia Barrino in The Color Purple.

That's that's almost a made for nomination role, but it's a remake of sorts. It's not you know, I mean, have you have you gotten excited about that? I'm not so sure. You look at best actor Gillian Murphy is the only one that you've been hearing about for best actor. But like I say, Bradley Cooper could be in there.

Matt Damon could be in there for air. There are some other ones, Joaquin Phenix for Napoleon, for the holdovers. So there are ones that sound a little better there. But the real strength is in the supporting actor categories. That's where you're going to see some people that you've, you know. Okay. Emily Blunt from Oppenheimer. She was the wife and she was always kind of mean and nasty.

Florence Pugh from Oppenheimer as the girlfriend. Right. Right. Then from there. Are you there? God, it's me, Margaret. Kathy Bates, Rachel McAdams, potential Scarlett Johansson from Asteroid Fever. Asteroid City, rather. Mm hmm. Potential. And then supporting actor Robert Downey Jr, I think is a must. He's in there. Ryan Gosling as can. Come on. Possibly. Yeah. I loved him.

He was great. I think they always do try to throw in one there so that you think pretty pretty possibly get this this could be it. And then then they don't give it to him. They pull it from him. But you know, potential best director Christopher Nolan, because that will absolutely right. Greta Gerwig Because she did something with Barbie that wasn't just the same old crap that we've seen before.

Wes Anderson because of, you know, they like him. Scorsese Come on, you can't be him. I think you can even say right now he's in the list. Really win it. I don't know. He's always yeah, he's always left kind of off to the side, but he's a bridesmaid all the time. So. So. So you never really know where these are going to go.

But I do think that thus far we have not had a rush of strong best picture, best actor at best actress. You know, I think it's anybody's game at this point. And they they only have to get into theaters briefly by the end of this calendar year. Correct. They've changed it so that you have to have two weeks.

And it used to be you could do kind of a one week and a thing and then you open in January and you kind of take a run with it. But they've made it a little more difficult. But I think it's a little fairer and it had to be a number. It wasn't just one market in Los Angeles or some other kinds of things.

So maybe we'll actually get these ones. You never know. But the rules are a little, little different this year. Do you think there's anything that might get screwed up, too? Because, you know, there's been a few delays here and there, the writers strike now I'm assuming most of the films that are still due to come out this year are at at worst, just in post-production right now.

Correct. I mean, there's probably nothing filming. I thought they said that there could be a problem with Dune coming out in December. Will they push it to try and get there? We'll see just how we're going to go the next year. Don't worry about that. And then there's the anticipation. So that could be affected. But most of the ones that we're seeing advertised now, they're done.

They're ready. I was watching a baseball game last night, The New York Mets, they've got a three man TV booth, but then they also have a fourth person that kind of wanders around and we'll talk to celebrities. We'll talk to, you know, family of players might, you know, retired players, that kind of thing. So he's wandering around and speaks with Steve Schirripa, who you may remember from The Sopranos is as Bobby Bakula above Bobby Bucklebury.

And they were talking to him because he's doing a podcast now, I think is with Michael Imperioli, where they're looking back at The Sopranos, and I believe they're just rewatching all the episodes and kind of talking about them. Now, he made an interesting comment, and this is one that I've always thought about this show because I watched it heavily when it first came out.

And then a few years ago, I actually rewatched the entire series start to finish. And we're talking, you know, a solid eight, eight or nine years after it went off the air. And one thing that he mentioned, which I've always felt strongly about, is that it's a show that will stand the test of time, because other than the cars that they're driving or maybe the technology that they're using, like those old flip phones, or they would still make some phone calls on a payphone every once in a while, which those things don't exist anymore.

But other than those things, the show still holds up. I mean, it's just a show about relationships. Are there any movies this year that you see that are going to stand the test of time? I mean, like in Oppenheimer? Sure, because it's a period piece. So, you know, there's no reason that wouldn't. But are there movies that we're seeing this year that we're going to be watching 50 years from now?

I think we're going to see a lot of Barbies. I've said this before. I think they're going to be trying to milk that one for every dime they can get out of it. And so I would not be surprised to see Barbie two, three, four or five. It's like Rocky. You saw Rocky and you said, oh, my God, this was so good.

And then all of a sudden we're up to Rocky six. And then they're doing Creed as a subset of all of this. So yeah, I think some of those ones that are very populist, they feel that they are no lose. You can't lose with these things because there's a built in audience for it. And even if it's bad, they'll come.

This is a bad year because we haven't had a lot of variety in terms of the kinds of films that we're seeing. In fact, I, you know, when you see these last few covered years, you look and you think, do they really need ten nominees for some of those? You know, four for best picture? Because, man, some of those shouldn't be on those lists, to be honest.

Do you think they'll ever pare that back to the. It was traditionally it was five right up until whenever you know what studios are behind that and they'll make a lot of money if their show can say it was a best picture nominee. And so are they going to give up the opportunity to advertise that? No way. But I really wish they would go back to five because they were easier to get your hands around.

And then they had to have really something. It had to have it to be able to make it into the final five. Yeah. And I always feel, too, that it's like the Disney Pixar thing where one of the whatever movie they do is almost guaranteed to be an automatic in that ten and if you get a 20 right now, right.

You're going to tell me right now that Elemental is the best picture nominee. No, I think in that case, I if they're are going to put an animated one in, that's where Spider-Verse gets in their mind, because that was far better than sorry, Elemental. Yeah, I tolerated it. It was okay. But I preferred Super Mario Brothers, to be honest with you, over Elemental.

I didn't like the look of it. I thought it really cheap and it looked like something they totally wouldn't do. Like, could you see any of that? It was designed to look like an amusement park, but I couldn't imagine doing a ride where we going around and all of a sudden we're on fire. And then the next thing you know, we're in wet.

And I mean, it's like a ride. So I don't know. That's maybe they could do it as it's a water park ride where you ride through the wet part first and then you dry off, semi dries you off with a blowtorch. That's right. You know, can I just sidebar here? I'll tell you a story. Sure. There was a home show here in town way back when.

Like this is like so far back is like, was it a home or are there things that are still home worthy? And they had a thing called the environment. And you go in there and it goes through four seasons. Well, you're in the thing. So it's basically a shower, right? Because it rains on you and then it has like a cool breeze.

It goes through so winter and then there's a warming breeze summer, and then there's kind of like a wind and that's fall. And you got all of the Four Seasons in the course of the thing I did it and I thought, this is something I will never have in my house is, you know, now we all have them in our homes.

So there we are. But yeah, and that's kind of what Elemental is, is just a way to get the elements together and make it look like we're doing more than we are. But no, I, I think that has no shot. Okay. What about TV? What do you think is worthy of the TV things? Yeah. So, you know, we've talked about how it's tough to get me out to theater and this is really good, but when it comes to TV, it's easy to get me right because it's the end of the night.

Kids get to bed, you know, even if it's just 45 minutes before my wife nods off, We can we can usually sneak in something in a lot of the shows that are nominated for primetime Emmys, which have been pushed back now to early next year. Yeah, they were supposed to be in September, but there's a lot of shows that made the nominations list, which came out in 2023.

I mean, we're starting with one that that I think could clean up The Last of US from HBO. Oh, all right. Okay. You know, that was to me, HBO has been putting out some really good kind of doomsday ish programing for a number of years now. And it always feels like it's like a, you know, end of the year or beginning of the year type of thing.

And I think they went off, you know, splendidly with Last of US. I mean, that is just it. I got roped in from the beginning and it was a zombie show. I'm not a big horror person, so I'm not going to I don't want to watch gory things. And it had its moments of kind of grossness, but it was more of like the humans story of what happens to people who are put in very difficult situations.

And it's a show that's based off of a video game and they made it work. It was tremendous. I loved it. So you think it's going to stand the test of time? Do you think it'll have five years from now? People will be talking about it. I think it's the type of show that possibly they could be. Now we'll see what happens when season two comes.

You know, will they be able to continue that magic that they found in season one? We'll see. We'll see. I thought that the bear I loved in the first season and I adored it in the second season, I thought they were able to avoid a sophomore slump and make it even better because we knew the characters. So I had one.

I don't know what a three third season would be like. Maybe they fall apart and covidiots and they have no business. I don't know. I love that show. I think that was the real keeper. Yeah, I'm only about halfway through the season two of the bear, but other than I thought it was a little bit, I thought that first episode was a little sluggish, but I like how they've kind of developed the characters and given each character kind of that moment to shine, where, you know, we're looking at a sushi chef and what she's doing, and then they send the pastry chef overseas and give him a moment to shine.

So I think it's really been a good season for character development. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, and I think those stand alone episodes are good. I like that where you maybe give the other people kind of a week off and then you focus on one. I think that's a great idea that should be copied by others. There's another show that I just started as well, so I'm kind of bouncing back and forth now between between the Bear, which I just watched by myself.

And then my wife and I just started this because I still have the Apple TV plus going right now, but shrinking, which came out in January with Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams. And I think that picked up a couple of nominations for it for for actor and actress. Have you seen that one at all? Yeah, and I couldn't get into it, really, one that I really cared about and you see what I mean?

Yeah, It was one where I can usually sense for my wife right away if she's going to like it or not. In comedies, it's, it can be a tough sell, but I think it has the type of humor that she likes. And it's it was co-created not just Jason Segel, but Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein from Ted Lasso were part of that.

So I think that kind of darker humor that you see in Ted Lasso carries over into this show. And it's one I think, you know, we're going to keep watching it for sure. And I'm already looking forward to what will season two bring. I don't know if it will stand the test of time, but but I am enjoying it as a show so far.

Would Ted Lasso stand the test of time? Yes, in less. Here's the caveat to that. If soccer finally gets so huge in America like they've been talking for the last 40 years, I remember as a kid, my parents signed me up for soccer and they're like, it's going to be the next big sport in the U.S. And 40 years later, it's doing a lot better now than it was 40 years ago.

But but man, oh man, it just cannot top baseball or football or, you know, and isn't that weird how parents get their kids into soccer? I mean, it's like manic. And every Saturday they're gone somewhere. And you think this has got to grow. It must be the kids get sick of it. And then they say, and I following it anymore, and I'm done not to take away from the accomplished.

It's because it is. I mean, you look at women's soccer in America and it's huge. I mean, it's obviously where where it's really excelled is it's become other than this current world Cup where the U.S. got bounced early on on the men's side, it just has not quite evolved to where it is. But they are still you know, MLS has been around now for 20 plus years.

It's doing well. It's you know, stadiums are getting larger, the crowds are, but it's just it's still not where the NFL is. But as long as soccer remains kind of, you know, on the periphery, then it makes sense. But but as soon as, you know, soccer becomes mainstream in the U.S. like it is in Europe or anywhere else in the world, then the humor that you get out of this, you know, American football coach, it just wouldn't make sense in here.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, how are you? Where do you stand on succession? I don't know if that one is going to stand the test of time. And I'll tell you why. Politics are very cyclical and they are taking a page out of current politics and the current state of Fox News to do that show. I think that show will will definitely hang on as being kind of an in the moment type of thing.

And and maybe a decade out, people will still be talking about succession. But if the landscape changes drastically, but also not only just at the political landscape but the technology cycle, because part of what makes that show is they were talking about, you know, how will the Waystar royco get involved in other technologies, other forms of media? And as soon as the media changes into some other format, that just doesn't make sense that we can't understand anymore, or it just seems too old.

I think it might go away, but it's a great show. I love it. Yeah, I think it's one of those ones that the hype was bigger than the actual execution. It didn't have one of those kind of creators to it. At least not that I can pin who this was. His driving project. This was his life. This is what he is putting out there.

It seemed very much like Law and order always is ripped from the headlines when you find something on it that you say, okay, let's go with it and let's go as outrageous as we possibly can, and we'll do an audience. But I don't think it's one of those ones where you go, Oh my Lord, they really came up with something here.

I want to watch All in the Family is kind of that, you know, that was obviously a comedy, but it was so groundbreaking for the time. But today you just wouldn't even think twice about that type of humor. It might not even work. I don't think about air. I don't think because they'd say, Oh, no, we can't. We're going to offend somebody here, right?

We cannot do this. It's not getting on. So I don't think it would. And that actually came from Great Britain and we adapted it and look at how well that worked out. That was a good thing. And those you know, they would do maybe six episodes and be done with it. And in the United States in those days, you had to be 20 to 30 episodes of a show to have a season.

And that's, you know, that's an interesting look at where they are. But, you know, I really I struggle a because a lot of the shows that we're watching on network TV aren't good numbers, right? And then on streaming, it's such an abbreviated season that you don't get enough time to dig in and kind of embrace it. So I don't know if I mean, you look at White Lotus, that was a big thing last year and White Lotus got a lot of attention.

But season two, okay, it's okay, but it isn't one of those ones. You go, Oh my God, White Lotus changed the landscape. It didn't. No, I think I think you're right. With the episode length, the structure of every series. I mean, I'm thinking about one what was one of the network TV shows that got a lot of buzz this year?

And it was night court because it actually did well. And I am shocked when people go, oh one, the best TV shows ever, Abbott Elementary, It's borrowing the office. It's borrowing from a lot of I mean, it's it's a fine show. I enjoy watching it now they don't have Modern Family to watch on Wednesday nights. It's my my anchor.

But it is not as groundbreaking as they want it to be, I think, because there are certain things that need to. When they did lean in to the plight of teachers today, that's where they were going. Right. But when it starts getting to be a principal who's running a side business at the office, I don't care. I really do.

Yeah. The the thing that I found interesting with with Night Court, there is a piece I read in the New York Times that talked about how they kind of followed the model of the original series, which was to not necessarily pull headlines out and make it a little bit more timeless. Right? You can, you can watch an episode of Night Court from the late eighties today, and it wouldn't you just watch and be like, Yeah, yeah, exactly.

But here's the problem with night court. Even the modern version of it, who goes back and watches old episodes of night court? I'll watch old episodes of Cheers or Seinfeld all day long. I love Night Court when it first came out years and years ago, but it's not a show that I go back to, you know, maybe if it popped on, if I was flipping through a channel nice, I was like, Oh, there's night court, Maybe I'll maybe I'll watch 20 more minutes of rent and then move on.

But I think that's the problem with that show is, is the reason why it's kind of resonating. The new version, the rebooted version is, sure, it's kind of timeless and, and it doesn't really matter and it's not right. And it's just kind of that basic comedy sitcom humor, but it's not above and beyond anything we've seen before. It's just it's a pleasant 22 minutes to kind of me I don't have to turn the channel kind of show.

Yep. You know. All right, I'll sit through it because I got to finish out the hour and then we'll see what happens at the end. 8:00. You know, it's just it's that kind of a concept. But yeah, this was not a year to remember it, even though we're going to hear a lot of. Oh, my God, this is just the best series.

This is the best whatever. I don't think so. And I think the more we get away from it, like Jan, to reward these people, the less we are going to remember about what it was that made them so great. Marvelous. Mrs. Maisel. Well, that one stand the test of time. No, not at all. Yeah, I liked it. I like I do, too.

You know, I marveled at the idea that they were spending so much money on that show. I mean, the costumes, the sets, the. And it was purely a vanity product. You know, they went to this couple and they said, what would you like to do? And they said, you know what we'd like to do? Here's what we'd like to do, but it's going to cost us some money.

And they did it. And I love that. I think that's a great thing. But there are episodes where you go, Jeez, this could have been 30 minutes. It didn't need to be 45, right? Yes, I agree. And I also think that with Mrs. Maisel, it's a little bit like Seinfeld, where it's very geographic. So for me, as somebody who grew up in the New York metropolitan area, it resonates with me.

And there's a lot of people across the country that certainly love Seinfeld, certainly love Mrs. May's all. But if if you're turned off by such a regional program like that, it's not going to sit with you. You know, with that show, I was constantly fact checking because he would bring out something that wasn't in that year. I know that wasn't in that year.

And then I'd have to go back and try and find what year this was. And the MFA wasn't right. They did the fact checking, so props to them. And like I say, I love watching it, but I don't know that that's one that I'd say I'm putting it in a box and I'm going to pull it out five years from now and I'm going to watch it and I'm going to be just ripped.

I told you earlier this during the COVID thing, I watched all of Mary Tyler Moore over again, and I loved every minute of that. It was it was like a warm hug from the past. And I was able to remember things about that era. And I laughed every every time I left. And I you know, people are big Golden Girls fans, too.

And you see them. And what I look at that right away is and I say, God, that the screen format is so small and it's kind of fuzzy. And, you know, those are the things that tripped me up. And so I don't know that I could watch some of those shows, but if they did it like Lucy, Lucy is going to last forever.

And it's because it was well-written, well-produced and well-performed. It doesn't matter when it was, but it's that stands the test of time. There's one other show that we did an episode about, you know, because we had it was like the big four that went off the air right around the same time. Barry That's another one, which it would get nominated every year.

But I always felt I like Barry, I enjoyed Barry, but I always thought that it was maybe a little overhyped. I think it had a good in it, and they're all good the first year. The first year is great. We have a vision, but then they kind of veer. And I think with Barry, he got time off Bill Hader to kind of rethink things.

And I think that rethinking maybe didn't do it any big favors. It's still well done. Yeah, but I don't yeah I don't know it once you know the kind of the ending. Yeah. I don't know that you want to watch through the other parts. Yeah. That you're a better call Saul fan right. Mhm. See that's another one I couldn't get into.

I Breaking Bad was too big for me to want to worry about another character I really liked. Better Call Saul. I thought I just saw that last season I did not love it. I didn't love the ending. That's, you know they say are they going to reward them for their last year? Yeah, I think the answer is no.

Yeah, I agree. You know, it's interesting with both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul is I. I crushed through both series kind of in short periods of time. I didn't watch Breaking Bad when it came out. There was a covered show for me and I watched everything and I loved it. It was a good, good series. And then better call Saul.

I didn't. I knew it was out. Obviously, when I was watching Breaking Bad, but I chose to kind of wait on that one too, until the last season was done. So late last year, I watched all of the first whatever, five seasons of Better Call Saul. And then the last season finally hit Netflix at the beginning of this year or middle of this year, whenever it was.

And I slam through that one super quick. So I didn't it wasn't a show that you pulled me in or a series. It didn't pull me in for a decade because that's pretty much how long it took to get through both series. It's just I watched them within a two year period, more or less, but I felt like that one just kind of tailed off at the end and I would not have been happy if I invested six years of my life in that one, I guess is a good way to put it.

You know, one of the greatest things about being a critic is that you often get to see all of it before anybody else does. Sure. So you don't have these outside influences and you also we did binging a lot sooner than anybody else did. And I think once we threw that out there to the public, the public want they want that.

They want to be able to plow through a show in a weekend if they have to. Yeah. And I think that has affected the movie business because if you have your choice between seeing a show that you've really been waiting for or going to a marginal movie, you're going to take that show and sit at home. And let's face it, our home setups are probably just as good as a film theater, you know?

I mean, you got the big screen, you got a comfy chair, you got food nearby, you can stop at to go to the bathroom. Does it get any better than that? It does not. And so I think that's the uphill battle that that the movie business faces is they've got to try and combat that. And how do they do that?

And it's not by making the movies longer, you know, that I'm I'm on that. It's not that they want 3 hours of something. It's that maybe you've got to make that content so compelling that they have to go see it. There's one show that Season two came out this year. It recently aired. It came out in April. It's a show that I don't think it's really any buzz.

I don't think it had any Emmy nominations, but it's one that I have kind of come to enjoy because I find it to be a little quirky and it's another one out at HBO. Somebody somewhere, Have you seen that one at all? Somebody, somewhere. Help me out. Who's in it? Bridget Everett, the comedian. It takes place in Kansas.

She's a late 40, early, 50 ish single woman, somebody most unlikely star of a TV show. Right. Right. And it's an interesting program. Yeah. And it touches on a lot of topics that seem a little almost taboo because it's in Kansas, which is obviously a very conservative state. So it's kind of touches on just a lot of different things.

But I also find it to be just a sweet show. You know, it's like I watch it and I think, oh, that was a very pleasant 30 minutes I just had. Yeah, that just shows us that they're opening the doors to other voices, which is, which is good because if you were a on network TV, you'd have to have some kind of a profile or you'd have to have some like I would assume if we didn't have all these other things, it would be tick hours.

We could be bombarded by tick tock people on network television because they able to bring a crowd with them. Whereas with this, I don't know. Does she have a following? If she does, I'm sorry that I haven't paid attention. The only reason I even heard of her is because she appeared on an episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with Jerry Seinfeld.

I had never heard of her before. I had never seen her standup act, which is a crazy act where she sings and it's like a burlesque show almost.

And it's wild. You know, how she ever came to get into this HBO program? I have no idea. But it's it's done very well. And I think it's just it's a little bit of an under the radar program where it the episodes aren't very long. There's not it's like eight or ten for a season. It's at the bare minimum to qualify, but it's gotten some, you know, a decent following.

The average tomatometer 100% from critics. Audience score 93%. So people like it. It's just not a lot of people are watching it, right? Yeah, You don't have the numbers attached to that is how many does that represent? Well, there you go. Back in the old days, somebody like Margaret Cho, who they loved and thought she was a great comedian and she had just something there that we have to put on television.

And then they got her a show and they changed everything that made it about her. It was like they were trying to shoehorn her into Cinderella's slipper and it didn't work. And that's what I'm afraid they would try to do with people today. Thank God there are areas like HBO where they can find that talent, put their talent on.

I think though too often they want to have something quickly. They want to have a success right out of the chute. They don't you know, you hear that a lot of times with people who are our musicians, that we had an opportunity to fail through two or three albums. And then, you know, maybe one would hit. But now with music, if you don't have a hit, they don't give you an album.

You've got to get that one shot, you know, mega hit, and then you'll get maybe a chance for a second one. And if there's enough of them for an EP, then they'll do that. And then if you sell enough money, you know, if you got to sell enough copies and you make a lot of money, then you might get a real album now.

And if you get enough, enough money, you're like Taylor Swift and you can do whatever you want. Yeah, you know, that's where that's where I almost think to an extent, Network TV is almost dead in a sense with programing because you can at least go on to you can go on to Netflix because they don't nobody releases any of their their data.

It's you don't have Nielsen ratings in the same way. So a show if they're willing to finance it and their internal numbers show that there's some sort of audience and they're not losing money off of it, it's almost like they're willing to give you an opportunity. And maybe that is where someone like a Bridget Everett can do it, somebody somewhere, because it's on HBO and it's not on NBC or CBS or Fox, and they probably would have canceled the show after three episodes.

It would be interesting to know how much they will give you to do a show. You know, is it you're getting like pennies and then you've got to try and make something out of that with pennies? Or do they throw a lot of money at you? And then if it's not good, you're out, right? All right. It's I yeah, it's a fascinating thank God we're not in that world.

We're only observing from the outside. I think it's harder to, you know, Bo Burnham I don't know if that name rings a bell with you, but he did a great, great, great COVID era special where it was just in his house. It was just him in his house singing songs that he had written marvelous. It's like really something so creative and you know that they're not going to give him anything.

They'll give him another special. That's it. But they're not going to say, Let's do the weekly Bo Burnham Show, because that's not going to happen. So it is very interesting, but I don't think this year I'm a bottom line is I don't think there's any big story to be told about the TV things that we are watching every I think that we haven't yet seen all of the the movie things, but it's pretty slim pickings at this point.

And until we see what comes in November and December, the year hasn't been written, I would agree. All right, Bruce. Well, on that note, I think we'll wrap things up and we will be back again next week with another episode of Streamed & Screened.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most of the big blockbusters have already hit theaters and with the writers and actors on strike, most of Hollywood is at a standstill. Co-host Bruce Miller would normally be soaking up the sun of Southern California, interviewing the stars of the upcoming fall television series, but instead remains rooted in Iowa.

So instead we take a look at some streaming options that are out now or dropping soon:

One show that has become a staple of summer programming is "American Ninja Warrior" on NBC. The 2023 season began on June 5 and will be wrapping soon. Bruce has an interview with Scott Behrends and his son Ben, who both advanced on the show. Their episode will air later this month.

Where to watch

About the show

Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.

Next week

With no end to the strikes in sight, we plan to look back at the year so far. What are the hits? What are the misses? And what will stand the test of time?

Related episode

Artificial intelligence and how we deploy it is likely the top ethical dilemma the world is facing, and recent actor and writers strikes in Hollywood have put the issue in a bright spotlight. In a recent episode of The Ethical Life — How will artificial intelligence change how entertainment is made? — Richard Kyte and Scott Rada discuss how worried we should be about computers taking over more of what we watch and read, and whether live performances and sports will benefit.

Episode transcript

Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:

Welcome everyone to another episode of Streamed & Screened, an entertainment podcasts about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer at Lee and co-host of the program with the Ninja Warrior of the Cinema, Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and a longtime entertainment reporter. Did you come in all stealth-like, ready to sneak in and attack this episode?

I am all ready. I am so pumped. I actually I realized that I will never, ever be a ninja warrior and I don't have any skills. And I probably would slip on the first step. So I think I'm I'm out of it. But, you know, Terry, the the new season, the third season of only murders in the building starts this week.

And it's about podcasts now. Now, yeah. You are the biggest fan of Only Murders in the Building. I've watched one episode of season one and I don't remember why I stopped watching the show. I think it was one of those deals where my wife and I popped it on. She didn't like it, and then I just never came back to it.

So I feel like nobody wants to watch people do a podcast. Oh, it's so boring, that podcasting stuff. Podcast. Forget it. That's not a career track. That's not happening. People make a living doing that. I can't believe this is terrible. Well, in the third season now, it's been going three seasons, so you missed two of them. The third one brings in Meryl Streep and Meryl Streep plays the actress who's kind of not successful.

She's she's just hoping to get a part in a in a play directed by Martin Short and he's excited because he's back on Broadway again. Yes. And there's a part for a nanny and she gets his role as a nanny. And then they start kind of circling each other like there's going to be a relationship. But the leading man drops dead in the first episode.

So is the play going to go on? What happens? It starts this week, so you should be able to keep that all kind of condensed in one little nice package and honest. Don't spoil it at the end. Who? Who is responsible? Maybe I should go back and crush the first two seasons again, because that's Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, is it?

Selena Gomez. Yeah. And it's weird because in the first two years they were together all the time, kind of doing the seek and destroy information thing to find out who was the killer. The third season, they're all kind of separate. So I wonder if it was a filming thing. Maybe Selena was on some tour or something or doing some other show, but she's not with the other two as much as she should be.

So it's not as much the trio, but they're all you know. Martin Short's nominated for an Emmy. The show is nominated. So we'll see when the Emmys are in 2027 or whatever, when they do start airing those things if they won for the second season. But, you know, I watched it all at once. I was able to binge it, so I felt good about that.

And then reservation dogs, are you a fan of that? No, I haven't watched that one at all. My God, my rez dogs. I love that show that is starting its third and final season. This week. And it's you know, these these kids who live on a reservation are kind of searching for something. And last season, they went to California to see that was their goal, was that they were all going to go to California to start this new life and everything.

And they realized when they got to California it wasn't what they thought it was going to be. And so now they're making their way back home in this third season, and you'll see what happens to them on that trip. They go on a bus. They thought they were going to call it a plane, but they couldn't afford the plane.

So they're riding in a bus and they stop somewhere along the way. And much happens. That's what I can say about as dogs. And then my high school musical, you know, I pitched that the last time and I was trying out that was that starts it's going to be a big thing. What's weird about this time of year is it's normally fall preview.

And if you were one of those hardcore TB watchers in your childhood, you always knew that you waited for the TV guide that would have all of the the new shows listed and you'd watch the ads that were coming and it was going to be like, Oh, I can hardly wait Thursday. And I'd memorize the schedule of all the shows are going to be on Thursday night, and then I'd be watching that.

Well, that's not happening this year because of the strikes that are going on and so there's a lot of built in material on the networks, a lot of game shows, a lot of shows that are coming from Canada that you'll see. So it isn't going to be a typical fall TV season. It's going to be, you know, kind of hit and miss.

The streaming services are still going ahead with their their programing lineup. So you'll see a lot of new shows in August, September and October that were planned to be rolling out and then they're hoping that everything will come back into shape, hopefully with the end of the strike. But we'll see what happens. It it could be weird, but it is for me, it's like withdrawal.

I'm going through those kind of shakes that I'm not going to get all my new fall shows. Oh, you sound like me right now. But. But I'm as a baseball fan. My my New York Mets have punted for the year. They traded and they traded half their team while I was out last week. And it's just it's not looking too good.

You know, you mentioned the streaming services. They're kind of secretive. We don't actually know what they have stored in the bank. I've read a few things saying that, you know, they probably have a lot more than you're aware of because they film some of these and then they just they just leave them there for a while. And then when they're ready, they they dust them off and bring them out.

They do the worst job of publicity. Can I just be honest? They really don't let you know far enough in advance what's coming. They also pick up a lot of stuff now from Asia, so a lot of Asian series because they can subtitle them and throw them out there and Paradise gave everybody that kind of confidence that let's go look at Asian markets and see what kind of shows are out there.

And then you had all the things on Netflix that they pulled out of Asian markets and there you go. Yeah. The only things that I'm really looking forward to at the moment is on Disney. Plus in the next couple of weeks, we will see the debut of the Ahsoka Ahsoka Tano spinoff, which is part of that ongoing Mandalorian book of Boba Fett Universe that takes place after Return of the Jedi.

So that's coming out on I think it's August 23rd. They've got two episodes that are going to stream that first night, and it sounds like it's going to be almost movie length, like, like 90 minutes straight of those first two episodes. And then the other one, it just came out, I think, this weekend, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet and I don't even want to call it a good show.

But I got roped in on the first season because I'm a I'm a sports fan. Winning Time. The rise of the Lakers dynasty. It's like it's supposed to be a true story, but they they dramatize it so much. I think Jerry West, who was the GM of that those teams. Right. I think he threatened to sue because it made him look ridiculous.

So on one hand, it's kind of this oddball semi fictional account of the teams, but I just couldn't stop watching it because I found it so entertaining. You can tell it's a heightened version. You can tell that it's not you know, it's like the Weird Al Yankovic movie you could call that. That wasn't, you know, all this is exactly how it happened.

Well, it's the same way with that. With the Winning Time series, you could tell that there was a little goose there that kind of made it a little different. So I think it's fine to get that little extra something, but if you're featured in it, maybe you don't like that kind of stuff. Jerry West did not look good in that first season.

I mean, it made him look like a sociopath, but he's going around, he's throwing his MVP trophy against the wall. It may be kind of ridiculous. I don't know. Maybe it did. But, you know, it's nice entertaining. Yeah. You could be watching Kim versus Connor, the divorce series that's coming up. Yeah. So, you know, who knows? There's a lot of strange stuff going on and there are, you know, new sequels that are coming out, new kinds of series, animated series that are out there.

But again, it's not like you're not going to get a heads up on all of this. You need to do a little research. In fact, today I got a thing about a new Netflix series that I had never heard of, and I thought, wow, this is this is kind of odd that they would drop it that quickly. But, you know, there you are.

Archer's coming out with another see a season a let me ask you, though, about that Star Wars stuff. Do you like all those kind of morphing things that they've got that are coming out of the Star Wars universe or are you you know, like you say, is this too much? I'm kind of mixed. On one hand, it took them so long during that George Lucas period because he did the three movies and then he said he was done and then he did the prequels and then he said he was done and then they sold it to Disney.

And then once that happens, you know, you're going to we're doing everything. We're doing everything right. I think they've done a pretty good job with some of the shows where I want the good ones to keep on coming out. But, you know, I looked at the Emmy nominations and the Obi-Wan Kenobi mini series got nominations, and I thought that was me, you know?

Yeah, he was Ewan McGregor was a really good Obi-Wan Kenobi. I thought he he did a nice job honoring the legacy of Sir Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi. And I was really looking forward to that series. But it just it was. Yeah. And I can't believe it actually got nominated for awards. Now, Book of Boba Fett was okay.

It had some ups and downs. I think The Mandalorian has been generally pretty good, but it even this last season was it felt like a little bit of a downer to me. I'm looking forward to season two, which is supposed to be the final season of Andor because I thought that one was really good. And the funny thing is I still think that Andor was the best of all the series so far that they've done.

It's just been amazing to me. And the irony is, is I think Rogue, one of all the new movies that have happened is really been the best of the movies that they've done too. So it's just kind of ironic that that the same character arc is the one that I've been attracted to the most. I am looking forward to this.

So Kitano series, I know my daughter loves the character. She's she watches the Clone Wars episodes all the time and just loved it. So I'm looking forward to watching the show with her, but I don't know what we're going to get. And supposedly they're going to take these series and it's part of that theatrical release. They're going to tie up all the loose ends in one big movie that's going to bring Ahsoka, Boba Fett Mandalorian all together to tie up some sort of story arc and who knows when.

But that's still going up. Page from Marvel. Yeah, but they're just not doing a good job at it that, you know, you hear about people who are such hardcore Star Wars fans, but are they Star Wars fans of the original, the, you know, the classic three films and that's what makes them Star Wars fans and these other things are kind of dip in and out.

I don't know how that how that plays. It's interesting because of the generational differences. Also because if you talk to someone like me who's a Gen Xer, we don't really love those prequel movies at all. We love the three originals, but the prequel movies not so much. But my my youngest brother, who's a millennial, he was my age when the prequels came out compared to me when the original series came out.

So to him, he loves The Phantom Menace and he loves those three movies because that's what he grew up on. So I think there is a generational thing too. And then my daughter, who's 12 years old, this is all she knows. She knows the three newer movies that came out, the cartoon series, all that stuff. So I think I think it just depends on when you come into the series.

It's like your favorite animated film. It's when you were kind of in that, what, 10 to 12 age range, where that was the movie that came out. And so that becomes your all time favorite animated film. And I think when you look back on those original three, we've we've seen them here in concert versions with a symphony, you know, they show them on the screen and then the symphony plays underneath.

They do all the music accompaniment and you see all, my God, these are kind of slow or these are kind of like hacky. Yup. And that's the original ones that you thought were just like, the best ever. And when you see them in a different light, it's like, Oh, but so I don't know, you know, as one who isn't.

So I'm not a Star Trek person either, but I would am not sold on like, Oh, I've got to see the next one. That's going to be my, my future, my life. If I don't see that the world is ended. You know, I have no buy in like that for those kinds of things. And maybe it's because I think they're always dragging us around by a leash.

So I don't know. You know, you bring up before we kind of move in to the the main event, if you will, that I did want to bring up a little bit more just because the strike has created a few interesting things. You know, number one, it's it's shut down some production while shut down most production, you know, with some some exceptions here and there.

But I read recently The Little Mermaid, now it's made over $500 million globally, but it's kind of being looked upon as a failure for Disney. And they have since, you know, it's been leaked that The Hunchback of Notre Dame, notre Tom the the they were going to do a live version of that and it's done it's they've canceled it Well there's a hunchback Broadway show too that's been on the books for a long time.

So maybe they want to lean into that first before they do a film. But The Little Mermaid, they overhyped. Yeah, they they pushed that way too much. It got caught up in all of that kind of wokeness, if you will, that people were asking about. And I think that just just undercut it. I thought it had too much.

It was way too much, you know, like when they went under the sea, there was like, is it crowded down there? Is it that much stuff that you want to be like? No wonder she wanted to get out of that Sea World. She wanted it be a little less congested, but they tried to heart. And I think that's always where you go wrong.

Sometimes the simpler the better. And that's I think the Little Mermaid shot itself in the foot. Yeah. Or jail or whatever. I can't get into any of those live action remake. Oh yeah. The bunny rule. It's a mean it's all it is And I always believe that if you know, if you really loved like The Lion King, for example, rerelease it, you don't need to see a live action version where you go, Oh my God, that thing looks like he's going to kill you, right?

You know? Yeah. So it just it's my take on it, and I wish they would do that. There used to be a time when they would rerelease movies like the animated Movies, and you go, Oh my God, it's coming back. It's coming back. But see, then the DVD market just made it. Well, I got it in the closet.

We can watch it any time you want. Yeah, I don't mind. Yeah, I don't mind a remake in some cases. You know, I find it interesting is okay, you do Ocean's 11 in the sixties with Frank Sinatra, and now you want to do an updated version of it with George Clooney. You sure? I might check that out. Or, you know, The Manchurian Candidate, where you may you may want to update it for The Times.

And it's sort of the same movie and the concepts, but you updated for the modern times. I don't mind that, but if it's done well, but for something, if you're just going to do like a straight pickup of of the movie, I fell asleep during Mulan. I couldn't even watch that one. I, I went to a drive in theater to see The Lion King with the kids.

It was okay. I mean, I kind of laughed a little bit when John Oliver, he was doing the voice of of the bird, but it was I didn't need it. Yeah, there's way too much expectation and little delivered is what happens with that kind of stuff. And you know, they're looking for a money bag. It's if they can make a bunch of money off this and then they have more toys, you know, they came out with more Little Mermaid dolls.

So that's a whole industry in and of itself, I'm sure. And when Little Mermaid first came out, they as an animated film, they said they couldn't have a red haired era one because they never had one. She's got to be blond. And Ron Clements, who was one of the directors, had red hair at the time. And he said, No, I really like to see a redheaded heroine.

Well, that was like, though, the most difficult thing to bring to pass. And look what happened. It was a huge. So now they're looking to make sure that every segment is represented. And oddly enough, Barbie has done it. Yeah, Barbie, all of the Barbies in there, any kind of Barbie, you could have ever wanted. They're there and they're they're selling dolls like crazy.

$1,000,000,000 now. Yeah, it's it's huge. But I, I really caution them now when they do a sequel, if they're doing a sequel and I'm sure they're doing a sequel, that they use the same kind of sensibility. And if Greta Gerwig isn't doing it, then go with another indie director that has a different take on Barbie, you know? But if you're just trying to do more of the same, good luck.

It's just trying to merchandise, that's all. Interesting thing with Barbie, I did read that none of them are under contract to do another movie, so if they are going to do a sequel, they're going to have to get the gang back together. And, well, I feel like you could do Asian Barbie and Asian Cat and then you could do a story with that, and that could be a whole different thing.

And I'd be I'd be up for it. But you can't kind of, okay, we're going to put in, you know, Reese Witherspoon as old Barbie and all Barbie is going to be playing around with Ben Affleck as old man. I don't think that's going to work. No, no, no, no. Good luck. And I think sometimes those things should be left alone.

It's it's great to have a great idea and move on from there. You know what's interesting, The first big Black summer blockbuster and I think I've mentioned this before on the blog, the on the podcast, rather, is was Jaws 1975. I believe it was huge. And it kicked off this whole thing of summer blockbusters. We didn't do it before 75.

We didn't look forward to a film that was like going to be We must see this. And then we've had it ever since. Well, now this year they're doing a Broadway show about the making of Jaws and how difficult it was. This called The Shark. Some of it has to do with the shark. The shark didn't work or the shark doesn't work.

And all the kind of trouble they had, it's written by Robert Shaw's son and he's in it as his dad. And it's kind of weird that this comes full circle now with all this time. But yeah, there's still look they this year Meg to Meg too is another one of those kind of sea creature things that is trying to eat and destroy.

It's the same stuff they will repeat until tomorrow comes and we tell them no more and then they'll still repeat. They'll still do. I mean, you look at all those horror movies, how many times have they brought Freddy back or whatever, or Jason, and you think, Oh, good, he's dead now. And like Halloween, they just did a threequel with Jamie Lee Curtis.

And I don't know how they could bring that guy back again because they ground him up and everybody in town saw it. But hey, it could happen. Be ready. Those Fast and Furious movies, too. They keep bringing all their characters back from the dead to a well. And then it's not even a horror movie. No. And that they do all that kind of air stuff that you think, wait a minute here, now we don't want this.

Let's just go back and look at the past. And as I always use the Polar Express as my all example of why we don't need a guide, you stop right there. Not a fan of that. Oh, I hated that movie. That movie creep me out so much. I thought, it's a Christmas horror film. And those people looked all kind of dead and scary.

And even Tom Hanks, who was in it, looked bad. He did look terrible. Right. And he played so many characters so that I wouldn't show that to a kid. I'd read the book two of them before I'd show them that movie, because that movie was dreadful. Oh, yeah. So what do you have for us this week? You've got a little interview.

Okay. So you know, you know that I'm a huge fan of American Ninja Warriors. I would love that show because it's everything I can't do. And I love watching and I love cheering them on. And I think all if they only had done this or if they'd run faster, if they'd done this and they're getting near the finals.

And that's another thing I always worry about is I never get to see the finals. This year I am clued in because I talked to a father and son, the first father and son to make the finals of American Ninja Warrior, and they tell me it's the last week in August that the finals will be held and you'll get to find out who actually won.

So this is my my impetus for watching that. Scott and Ben Behrends are their names, and they have created their own Ninja Warrior gym, for lack of a better term, and they train you on each of the apparatuses or apparatus I that you would see on the warriors, so that then you would be able to try and do it because that always freaks me out is like, Oh my God, they threw in something.

Now that I've never I've never seen this thing, how do I grab it? What do I do? And I you know, I was curious about some of the kind of technical aspects of this. Like I said, do they wipe the equipment off after somebody has been through it? Because what if they were a real sweater and they were sweating up all of the equipment and then you have to come next and you slip because they didn't wipe the step up, but they do wipe the stuff off.

So there is your $0.02 worth on that one. But they do say it's hugely popular. They have little kids that are in their gym doing this whole kind of ninja stuff. They have a series of YouTube videos. If you want to follow them. You can see, you know, the techniques and the training things that they tell you. But it is, I must tell you, sorry, dear, it's a young man's game.

Scott The father tells me that kids have an advantage at this that we don't have. Although they did tell me, you know, Bruce, there is somebody at our gym who's 70 years old and about 70 years old. That's like, close to me. I don't like hearing that. That's old. But there they are. But yeah, so you'll hear them talk about what this is because it was fascinating to me.

If you're fast as fascinated as I am about this, you'll hear kind of the secrets of what it's like to be a ninja and what they go through and what's better. Should you wear long pants? Should you wear short pants? Should you go shirtless? All those things that you probably have wondered at some point, is that the advantage or the disadvantage that will keep you from being that big winner at the end?

So this is Scott and Ben Barons and they're from Cedar Falls, Iowa. This show is an obsession of mine. I love watching it. Awesome. I know that I could never, ever do it. And I think that it takes a special kind of person. Do you guys see that to get to a point? I think it's definitely the right kind of person.

But, you know, it's fun seeing all kinds of ages jumping in and figuring out, you know, what they what they didn't think that they could do that they can actually do. So, Ben Caplan, are there certain skills or certainly exercises that you need that you have to be able to do to be able to compete pull ups? I know that that's the trick.

I mean, obviously, like any sport, there's just a ton of technique that you learn over the years. And, you know, I it's definitely a up and coming sport that like anything, the more training you have, the more experience you have on the courses. I mean, it definitely pays off. It's I would say there's especially once you get to a certain level, there's no chance anyone that hasn't done this before could ever even keep up with.

But the early start, the faster you get better. So if you start young like you do, it's a good thing, right? Very much so. So are you better than Dad or not? Maybe. Maybe there's you know, there's no maybe there. He's competing pro and doing quite well where I'm in the Master's division. And that old timers. Is that what that means?

Exactly. Yeah. So I'm 82 and yeah, that's, I mean it's just a whole nother level, you know, it's like going from college to pro sports. Like it's, it's maybe even high school to pro it's, it's a huge jump when you're 42. How old are you? I'm 60. Is that kind of a good wheelhouse to be in or. Yeah, right.

Year or is five better? Yeah. Right now a lot of teens because they've, you know, been doing it for six years or so 6 to 8 years like me. So basically right now the best things in the world are, you know, 18, 19 years old and there's a bunch of young. So yeah, so again, we're aiming for that big that big prize you you're the first father son team to make it to nationals.

Is that right? Yes. Yep. On American Ninja Warrior. Yep. We're the first father son duo to make it to the national finals. Did you know that going in that you would be the first or did you just not even think about it? Yeah, I. I actually had no clue. We didn't really know until it kind of happened and they announced it and I'm like, Oh, I guess I never thought of that.

Yeah. So it's pretty exciting. So is there competition between the two of you? Do you compete and say, Oh, I did that one better than you did? Or I think the competition is if I ever beat Ben, it's incredible. There's a few things that I'm generally good at doing an obstacle. The very first try. Yeah. And that most people don't know this, but an American ninja warrior, you don't get to try anything.

They just kind of tell you the rules and you have to go. So generally it pays off. If you can be good at your first try doing something. And I'm I'm pretty good at that. But since I'm so old, I need to rest and recover between obstacles where he's just motoring through it, you know, keep sprinting. Yeah. You know, the thing that bothers me is do they wipe this stuff off after somebody's been on it?

Because I would think, what if you had sweaty hands in front of you? And then they they've touch things and you kind of slide off things. Do they do that. Yeah. So they actually have like grip tape on the obstacles. Nothing, almost nothing is just like a straight metal bar, right? There's usually tape or something on it that's grippy to help you.

And then obviously if you know it gets where splashed onto pads, it'll dried off and stuff before you run. Okay. Because I worried I could just see this sweater person that was in front of me who would go through the hole, Is that bad? So I throw that the forward part of me and then I would drop right away.

Yeah, there's some of that. But like he said, most of the top rob schools have like grip tape on them, so it doesn't really affect you as much. You're not allowed to talk on the show until the very last stage, if you will, for finals. So then in that can be a good thing, right? Because the course courses, number one looks cleaner.

And number two, sometimes charcoal after a while does kind of compact and get slick. When you are preparing for this, how do you know what kind of obstacles they might have when you get to, you know, the television stage? You know, you don't you really can't usually will go back and watch seasons before just to see what obstacles they've had, you know, what obstacles they thought up last year, because usually the newer ones will stay.

But, you know, we really have no clue whatsoever. Well, then which ones are your worst and which ones are your best, like obstacle wise? Yeah. Yeah, Which ones are you really good at? You go suck. I think I would say I'm I'm pretty good at any kind of big dynamic move that kind of throws you and like I said, I can generally hit an obstacle pretty well.

But it's the long grip endurance ones that really tax me fast. I just don't have that endurance as much as I used to. Oh, I would say mine is like I would say it's a lot of endurance, but also like change of direction. It's basically when you're like hanging and your kick, your swing is going one way and you got to change it and take a different direction.

I'd say that's probably one of the best that which are the ones that you can't do well. And you it's so hard to get consistent on balance. Like that's that's basically the thing that every ninja fears is falling on balance because yeah, so our to be consistent and on and on the show those are obstacles that are generally more sketchy balance I'll say where it's just kind of sprinting across these obstacle work.

Those are sometimes hard to set up in a gym, right? Because if you fall on those, you fall in the water. But if you would fall in a gym, you'd might like roll your ankle or how, you know. So I kind of all those like say a prayer and run across obstacles and you know, ninjas practice just sprinting through something.

Yeah generally it's not a slow slack line type balance. It's generally a sprint across. So but yeah, every, every ninja loves upper body and rarely do they like balance. What about the water? Is the water cold? Yeah. So obviously. Well a lot of people don't know is they film at night so it's you know in California it's still cause you know 40 degrees or depending on the time of year.

Yeah. Depending on the time of year. It's like 40 degrees at midnight, you know, that's an hour competing. So water's outside temperature. So it's not very not very warm, but usually you're zoned out if you fall. So you don't really feel it, but you start to dry off in the way the finals like that. Have you gotten hurt?

Neither of us have really gone out on the show. There's a couple people that have. But yeah, when you look, you know, sometimes when they fall, they'll hit like the wall. The the water wall. And I think, oh my God, they hit their head. Something is bad here, but I'm assuming it's really padded. So that yeah, the show does a fantastic job making sure everything's as safe as possible.

And, you know, I mean, even training kind of going back to obstacles and what what to work on for the show is like, we don't even know. But you have to kind of put yourself in these kind of big situations. Yeah. You have to figure out, right, that

 situation. So sometimes I'm less likely to do this because I'm 42, but sometimes you kind of put yourself big, huge moves like the show has and you know, if you fall off of that at a gym, like I don't care how much padding you have, it's you're going to feel it.

So a lot of ninjas have kind of been through in, you know, you almost practice how to fall. Yeah. So overall, I mean, like I said, the show does a fantastic job making sure everyone's safe. When did you first get interested in this? At what point and what prompted it? Yeah, so I think the first time I ever, like, fell in love with Ninja was actually not Ninja is gymnastics and P.E. and I just loved it.

And my dad made a course in our backyard. And your gymnastics course you're taught. Yeah. They kind of made, like, an obstacle teasing, just stuff. Yeah. And that's how back door indicated was born was offer making courses in our backyard and then we discovered snowballed from there. Yeah. So Backyard Ninja Kids is a YouTube channel. We started up shortly after they boys came home and we started making obstacle courses in our backyard.

Wanted to kind of become that positive influence on social media and teach my boys at a young age what that looks like. And then, yeah, a couple of years early, several months later, we went to our first ninja gym down in Saint Louis and it kind of snowballed from there. And then a couple of years later, we opened up our gym ninja view and yeah, boys were on American Ninja Warrior.

JR What cool thing was the gym wasn't even open, so they just had backyard experience and maybe one or two gym experiences really. So it's kind of cool to see. That was their very first ninja competition. Was this TV show. Wow, Really cool to see how they performed realistically, just using backyard, like not even really crazy or moves or anything and just but kind of talk.

Going back to what we said at the beginning, like they just knew the moves, they knew how to do peg boards. They knew how to, you know, do some dynamic stuff, but you put yourself in a position and you got to figure it out. When do nationals happen or have they happened in? You already know how it all worked out.

Yeah, yeah, it's already been recorded. And yeah, you just have to tune in and see what happens. I guess you have a date for the finals. You know, this is the other thing I get about this show. Okay? I'm sharing it with you so you can share with the others is they don't billboard enough. When the finals are, it's like suddenly it's like, wait a minute, I went away for a week and it's not there.

So they need to make a better attempted letting you know when the finals are. But would you we know when they they'll air We we know that our episode will be August 28. Okay. At least currently sometimes, you know, playoffs are different things than they go as it was. The Olympics can shift it right, that ours will be August 28 and yeah well, do they swear you to secrecy and then they'll kill you if you say anything is that.

No, that works. I mean yeah, it's it's a it's a, you know, a sporting event that's based on a reality TV show wrapped around it. Right. So of course, they don't want any I mean, just like American Idol, right? It's already done and recorded. But they you can't give away the winner otherwise. No, I don't know. So. Right.

You don't see that kind of thing. Yeah. I get about being quiet about it. I would be that would be tough. It is tough sometimes, but it's also like there's this exciting element, right? Like sometimes like even when I wasn't on the show, but my fellow gym mates were like, It's kind of fun to see them on the show, but it's like when you know the results, it's like not quite as fun.

Yeah, you don't so necessarily want to watch it. Like this season it's less fun to watch because I know how everybody does. Yeah, but like seasons before that. I love it. Yeah. Thanks Bruce, for that interview. I will probably have to go and check that out. I know the kids love to watch American Ninja Warrior, so probably have to tune in near the end.

And least I think I'm like you. I've never actually seen the end. I'll watch it periodically during the summer because it's on and it's just there and I need something, but I have no idea who's ever won or I'm counting on you training. I want you to be a warrior right down there on the sideline in the t shirt, cheering you on like crazy.

We'd call you. What would we call you? What would be a good name for you? Oh, man, the pod master that were there. I am. So they're pod master. Pod pod board. I would slip and fall immediately. I'd probably hurt myself before I even got on to something I'd be getting out of that year. Would they announce you and you come out and you stand there, Fall down, Break in there.

There we are. There we are. So we here at LA Enterprises produce quite a few podcasts across the company. Another one that I thought I'd bring up as we close out this episode, it's called The Ethical Life, and it's hosted by Scott Rodda, a colleague of mine who manages social media. And he he does it with Richard Kyte, who is a professor at a university in Wisconsin and their most recent episode of The Ethical Life.

It's called How Will Artificial Intelligence Change How Entertainment is Made? And they talk about the ethical aspects of the great debate as far as AI goes tied to movies, because that's one of the things that is holding up these negotiations with actors who fear that AI is going to come in and, you know, maybe take some of their jobs and and that kind of thing.

So you if you get a chance, go check out the Ethical Life. How will artificial intelligence change how entertainment is made? It is available on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Can you do a link? We will have a link in this episode. Show notes as well. Go ahead. Oh, that sounds great. Well, I'm counting on it, but I am an A.I. A.I. person because I can just imagine what they can do with that and how.

And so, you know, you're I'm I'm fully confessing that I don't like it, But maybe there will be that one instance where you say, I love that. That's so wonderful. It's the best thing ever. And Marilyn Monroe is back. But I don't think I want it. No, it's an interesting conversation if you get a chance to listen to it, because they do talk about just even the evolution of special effects.

And, you know, we as watchers, viewers of movies, TV shows, would we even notice it if if they used A.I. because we've gotten so used to seeing such crazy special effects. So, you know, they talk a little bit about the evolution of, you know, like a Christopher Reeve in Superman years ago, being hung with wires and all that stuff.

And now you've got, you know, all these movies being produced with A.I. and other other animation in ambition. Right. Right. You know, what happens is usually they work two weeks and then they're done and everything else is being done by an animator to make sure it looks like they've just done all that kind of stuff. I even question if sometimes the superheroes are wearing the costume.

I swear it's a stunt man who wears the costume. They throw him around a little bit and then if they need to, they superimpose the face of the actor on them. So, yeah, see what happens. But that sounds fascinating. That's what we want to watch next week. You know, what I'd like to do was that I'd like to look back at the the year to date and look at the things that were and the things that were misses and the things that will last.

It sounds good. Yes. Let's do that. All right. Make your list. All right. I'm going to start making my list. I will check it twice. We'll see. Oh, we know that Santa Claus. That Santa Claus. You're going to be a ninja. Remember? I am a die hard. But. All right. Well, on that note, we will wrap this show.

Thank you again for listening to this episode of Streamed & Screened.

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