Mayim Bialik's Breakdown - David Lascher & Christine Taylor: Blossom, Brady Bunch, & 90’s Nostalgia

Episode Date: May 23, 2023

David Lascher (Blossom, Hey Dude) & Christine Taylor (Zoolander, Hey Dude) discuss David’s experience playing Mayim’s boyfriend on Blossom, how the pandemic brought Christine and husband Ben Stiller back together, and they help us break down the deeper psychological layers of nostalgia. They reflect on the cult following of their show Hey Dude on the early days of Nickelodeon, Christine’s comedy trajectory and her legendary role as Marcia Brady in the Brady Bunch movies, and what David thinks landed him the Blossom role. Mayim, Christine, and David explain why people are so nostalgic for the 90’s and why content from that era resonates with so many today, why the pandemic forced us to reexamine our interpersonal relationships, and why their kids are better prepared for the world than they were. David Lascher & Christine Taylor's podcast, Hey Dude... The 90's Called: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ben-stiller-thats-it-thats-the-title-because-its-ben-stiller/id1658407772?i=1000597172616 BialikBreakdown.com YouTube.com/mayimbialik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion we experience. When we think back to a past experience that was better than the life we're currently leading. That's from psychology today. Oh, that's actually sad. People our age are very nostalgic for the 90s decade, which was the last decade before all the distractions came in. If you can capture two different demographics, right, people our age that want to reminisce and look back, and then younger people that want to know what it was like shooting Blossom. There are no, like, blue-collar shows anymore, right?

I mean, the Russo family was a very middle-class, blue-collar family. No one was rich. I mean, now it's like, you know, it's the O.C. and the Housewives, and everyone's rich living in, you know, $50 million mansions. I feel like it might be time to, the pendulum to switch. back the other way and represent the rest of the world. Everything's so safe. Everyone's so scared.

I mean, you'll get canceled for saying anything. So isn't it time now for someone to come out with a show that just pushes the envelope a little bit? I mean, the comedians are the last ones that are really, like, doing that. Even they're scared. The 90s was coming out of that very conservative time and was, like, it's a fun. free expression before social media, before, you know, YouTube and whatever the kids are distracted with today,

you know, it led to, you know, the blossoms and, you know, friends and all the, you know, the great entertainment, the great music that came out in the 90s, and I feel like everyone was happy in the 90s. I think I was blissfully ignorant for that period of time. It's my and be allics breakdown. She's gonna break it down. for you because you know she knows a thing or two.

And now she's going to break down. So break down. She's going to break it down. Hi, I'm I'm Biallic and welcome to my breakdown. This is the place where we break things down so you don't have to. I'm going to break down a good one today, the entire decade of the 90s, with the help of David Lashor and Christine Taylor. Now, David Lashar played Vinny on Blossom.

So if you remember Blossom, you remember David Lashore. And he and Christine Taylor were in this little show called Hey Dude on Nickelodeon, literally at the same time that Blossom started. But Christine, you also know from a ton of amazing things. She's had roles in films like Dodgeball, Zoolander, Tropic Thunder, the wedding singer. She also played Marcia in the Brady Bunch movie and its sequel. The two of them are super fun together. I was on their podcast and they agreed to come on mine.

I'm without Jonathan today, sadly. but we will fill him in on all of the good nostalgia that we talk about today here on The Breakdown. It's really a pleasure to welcome David Lashor and Christine Taylor to the breakdown. Break it down. Yes. Thank you for having us. So, David, you had expressed that you were worried

that you were coming on here to basically have a therapy session with me and talk about childhood trauma. Is that what you think this podcast is? No, let me say I'm a huge fan of your podcast. and of your intellect and how deep you can go with your guests. So I've heard lighter episodes, you know, and I've heard episodes that go into, yeah, childhood trauma, and I'm ready for whatever.

We could do a, you know, a fun trip down memory lane or we can go deep as you want. Well, sometimes a trip down memory lane involves going deep. So it might... That might involve childhood trauma, right? Exactly. Sometimes memory lane just is trauma. Thank you both for being here.

You collectively have a podcast. Indeed. Correct. And I was on your podcast, and now you are on my podcast. And what's really special about the two of you together is that while I knew in the back of my mind and head somewhere that you had been in a show together, when you were younger. When I heard you had a podcast together, I thought, well, that's an interesting pairing.

And I thought I have relationships and interactions with both of these people. Because Christine, I used to watch you in the Real Live Brady Bunch, which was the play that obviously became a sensation as a movie. But I knew you as, you know, this young actress who did an amazing Marsha Brady.

And then I knew that you married Ben Stiller. These are things I knew about you. And then David and I worked together on Blossom. But then when I heard you at a podcast, I thought, well, that's cute that those two people. And then I remembered, oh, wait, you were on a television show together. So tell us what that show was and tell us when it came on. Christine, you're on? I was going to say you should take this one because you were saying Miami knew nothing about it.

Well, yeah. Which most people didn't. I'll say, when I auditioned for Blaham, when I auditioned for Blah, Blossom, I had just done a few episodes of 902.1.0. And I remember distinctly that you had watched those episodes. And I feel like, and I've told Jenny Garthus, I feel like my episodes on 90210 got me the job on Blossom. Because you were, you and I think Jenna also were like, oh, my God.

We were huge 90210. But Hey Dude was a Nickelodeon show, like the first scripted. live action show and we filmed it in Tucson, Arizona, starting in, I guess it aired in 1990. We started shooting in 89, and we had no idea what it was. We had really no idea what Nickelodeon was

or if anyone was watching. But looking back on it, people were watching, and there are generations of people that really the show meant a lot to, and I'm proud of it, but it was a very trippy bubble we were in, not knowing what we were doing,

but Christine, what do you think? I mean, we were all brought out to the middle of Tucson, Arizona. The premise of the show was a bunch of teenage kids working on a dude ranch as their summer job. So we were on an actual dude ranch, like sort of, you know, we would use some of the real dude ranch for sets, but then they built sets. So we were really, literally, literally,

planted in the middle of the desert coming from. I came from like Middle America, suburbia, Pennsylvania. David, you came from Westchester, New York. A couple local kids from Tucson, right, David? Yeah, I'm someone younger. But we were all East Coast kids and actors. Yeah, in the middle of high school, too. For people listening or watching,

who may not really kind of understand the time that we're talking about, Nickelodeon was a station I didn't even get. like we still only had three stations in those days. There was CBS, there was NBC, there was ABC, and then there was this weird network Fox that was never going to go anywhere. But this was really the start for many of us of like the knowledge of cable. Like there were stations other than the ones that just were free that just like came when you plugged your TV in. But Nickelodeon was known for animation, right?

Like it was not known for live action. You were literally the first. Yeah, and they also did game shows, too. Like, right? Didn't they do like, like, like, you know. You can't do that on television. Exactly. Double dare.

Was the double dare? Double dare. That's right. But I think, yeah, we, I think what, what, what Nickelodeon became was sort of like the Snapchat of the early 90s, right? There were no parents welcome. The kids felt like they owned it, right? And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and every show.

was kind of like, it's as if a kid wrote it and created it and like, it's fun, right? Yeah, it was, they, the kids felt like they owned it. If you were eight, nine, 10, 11, 12 years old in 1990, that was your place to enjoy entertainment away from your parents. And that was their thing. And can you talk a little bit each of you about sort of where you were before that? I don't need to give away ages. But if you want to kind of talk. about when just, you know, briefly, just so people can imagine, like, when did you start acting? And how long after you started acting did you get cast in this Nickelodeon show? Well, I was living in the suburbs of Allentown, Pennsylvania, like super Middle America.

I came up doing my, you know, high school, elementary school shows, community theater, big thing in Allentown. And I was, you know, like, in my sophomore year of high school or ending my sophomore year of high school and a talent manager had seen a musical, a community theater, you'll love this, Mayam. Fiddler on the roof, which I did flexed at here. Wait, we did Fiddler on the roof at my Catholic school, directed by a priest. She's an honorary Jew. I'll tell you that. I knew Mayam would love it. I knew she would love it. Directed by father. What part did you play? The rebellious daughter runs off at the Russian drama. She can't even say Hama and she played We went with HAVA.

We went with HAVA. Yes. Oh, yeah. I mean, that I don't think would happen today. But, yes, so I did, we did Fiddler on the roof. I did Fiddler only twice and twice in my life. And that was my experience of,

of Fiddler. But I, which is like one of my favorite musicals anyway. But I, a talent manager saw me in one of those shows. or some other show and said, would you ever be into going to New York and auditioning for commercials and, you know, that whole thing. And we lived, it was a two-hour drive

from Allentown to New York. And it just started out as like a, why not? Sounds like a fun idea. I auditioned for a Burger King commercial, got that commercial, like the countergirl. And, you know, we talked about on our podcast, mine, you were not the commercial girl, right? We talked about your,

Or how, you know, and I was, I was that all-American, whatever, cookie-cutter version of what they wanted to see back then. Right. No, you definitely, you had, this is not a disparaging comment. You had a beautiful, all-American look. Right, whatever that meant, which was as generic as possible. Doesn't, you know, doesn't offend, just can say the lines and smile, say two burgers for a buck.

And but then the audition for Hey Dude came fairly soon after that. I mean, it was at a period of time where they, you didn't really have to sign with an agent. You could kind of, you know, freelance with different agents and thing. And Hey Dude came up. I was a, I think it was right at the beginning of my senior year in high school. And that was, yeah, I graduated. I'm a year older than you, David, right? We're a little over a year.

I think one year, yeah. So I was a year older than you. But that was it. That was really how quickly. it happened and it was sort of like a let's just go with this. This was not really the plan, but I'm loving it. I enjoy it. I loved theater. And I was like, why not? I also started in theater. I did, there was a thing called Scarsdale Summer Music Theater. I did two summers. I did Damn Yankees and the Music Man. And then I played the prince in the king and I.

at Pleasantville Music Theater. And honestly, whenever I, anyone asked me, like, how do I get in the business or I think I like this? I always say, start in theater, even community theater. Like, see if you like it, the camaraderie, the rehearsal, the bonding, the, you know, being in front of an audience. So I loved it. And, yeah, one of the plays I did, a manager came down, signed me.

and then I spent ninth grade through, well, the next few years running around Manhattan, auditioning for commercials. My first job was a Burger King commercial as well with Jerry O'Connell, who we talked about on our podcast. Jerry and I were in Burger King commercial. And then I got a pilot my sophomore year, David Hemings directed it. It ended up not going. And I remember feeling like, what do you mean it's not going?

Like, I didn't understand what that meant. You know, I had flown to L.A. six weeks. We shot an hour pilot, and then it didn't go. And then the next year, I flew to L.A. to test with Alyssa Milano to play a role on who's the boss, her boyfriend. And I didn't get that either. and it was, she had been, Alyssa had been dating a guy named Brian Bloom and his brother, Scott Bloom,

was the kid testing against me. And I didn't know. I didn't know that I had no shot flying there, but, you know, whatever. I started in theater and commercials and then I guess, Hey Dude was really like the first show that actually went with longevity for me.

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But for a limited time, our listeners get an additional $20 off with the code break. Head to superpower.com. Use the code break at checkout for $20 off your membership. And after you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them. Make sure to mention my ambiolics breakdown to help support the show. So what's funny is when I kind of think about the timing and also part of why I may not have been that tuned into, hey, dude, was because Blossom started exactly the same time. So we kind of had these like parallel timeframes.

I met Don Rio in 1989 who created Blossom. And then we started in 90. So David, what year did you then join us? I remember doing the season finale of either season one or season two. I can't remember, but it was it was like where you ran away with me. And we were in a car. I just remember being my heart pounding out of my chest in front of the studio. audience and thinking this is not, I think I'm going to get fired. And they literally call,

my agent called me the next day. They're like, yeah, they want to offer you a three-season deal on Blossom. I'm like, you're kidding me. But listen, it was, it was the greatest experience. And I don't know if it was season one finale or season two finale, where we ran away together. So you did not film in front of an audience out on a dude ranch in Tucson. It was a multi-cam. So, I mean, we did have three cameras. So we shot it as if it

was a situation comedy with an audience, with jokes. And it was a bunch of sweaty guys standing in the blazing sun. And, you know, we had no sense of what, I mean, you know, David, we talk about it now, but we had such

a great team of writers. And we had these, you know, I mean, the other thing, too, is we were brought out there. Our parents didn't come with us. Excuse me? No. I mean, I was 17, but I wasn't 18. And we were brought out there and they assigned us a legal guardian who was. That's right.

That's what they used to do in those days. Who just happened to be the accountant for the Knoxville, Tennessee production company. Was it really? Cindy. Yeah, Cindy. She was the accountant. She would give us our predium. She was also our guardian. Yeah, she gave us money every week, but she certainly didn't check on our whereabouts.

We never checked in with her. We never checked in with her. It wouldn't fly today. No, but we were also like kind of, we were really good kids. Like, we did not take advantage of the system either when I think about it. Like, we actually were rule followers. We, you know, the work was important to us. I think we took it very seriously. looking back now way more seriously than I should have taken it. I'm proud of it, but I really, I think I remember getting very intense and heated when people would forget their lines. Like I was, I took issue with Joe, our co-star, because he wasn't even an actor. They hired a local kid who got drafted before.

Our head writer, Graham Yose, immediately after, hey, dude, went and wrote the movie Speed. and became a, you know, he's a tremendous screenwriter. And him and the writing staff and David Brisbane, who played, he was the only adult on the show, was like a trained Shakespearean theater actor. No, he's terrific. So, like, we could have shown up and been like, you know, we're going to, you know, sleepwalk through this thing and just have fun.

But we couldn't because the people we were working around took it so seriously that Christina are like, why do you guys care so much? Like, what is going on here? I guess we should care a lot, too. Well, I guess that was going to be my next question because you did, I think, 65 episodes, is that right? Mm-hmm. Of this show.

And, you know, when you watch clips now, it feels very, you know, it doesn't age. I don't want to hear the adjective here. Here's the thing. I would say it doesn't age the way a lot of, of sitcoms do because like when you watch save by the bell or something like there's a laugh track and it feels very like it feels very current you know it's very like fashion heavy and things like that and your show kind of feels like it's i don't want to say stuck in time but it's it's a very specific style you didn't like christine's fashion with her bowler tie and her short short you didn't like my pleaded

khakis with my you know belt and the bandana around there's something there's something very wholesome about it. Very wholesome. And, but also, like, if you, if I didn't know that you were in it, I might say, like, was this made in 1979 instead of 89? This is so good. It's, no, but it's, I have, I think also it, it has this kind of cult following, you know, for many people, it was such a specific time in their childhood or their teen years or their, you know, their youth. And it's true. It was a, it was a pioneering show. You know, we hadn't seen a show like that on Nickelodeon, right, when it came out. But I wonder if, you know, kind of at the time, did you, besides taking it seriously,

did you feel like this doesn't feel authentic? Does it, did it feel kitsy to you? Or it felt like we're going to do, you know, our best with these situations. And, and, I mean, it's fun. I think the writing was very strong. Like, it was, you know, like, a Sammy. and Diane kind of thing between myself and the Bradley character. There was, there was, the writing was really good for however bad the production look,

you know, shooting on tape outside with multi-camera and no audience. And very flat artificial lighting too. Like they actually lit it outdoors even though it was sunshine. There was still the artificial light that made us look very 2D or something. something like we didn't quite look like people. But Christine, the storylines were as good as any of like my favorite sitcoms, honestly, right? I give credit to the writers, Graham and Lisa. And they got to, you know, what was great about it was because we were on location and the writer,

there was always a writer who lived in the hotel with, like, they got to know us so well. So they would really write to what the things that were going on in our lives, the things that were important to us. If someone loved music or art or something, they'd write that into that character storyline, you know? But yeah, I do feel like, with all that said, David, there was still every episode someone kind of had to end up in a horse trough filled with water.

Yeah, but, you know, like, John Rutter, listen, some of my favorite actors would fall down and their pratfalls were, you know, hilarious to me. And I learned that from, from Hey, dude. David, when you, you know, when you came to work on Blossom, and it was, it was the end of season two. And then you came back in season three and obviously completed the series three, four, and five. You know, my perception of you was that you were a very serious actor. Like, you seemed to have a lot of methodology to you.

You seemed a lot more skilled in many ways than, like, I felt, you know, I felt like a real sitcom actor, and it was really my first show. What was your kind of experience? You know, I've never gotten to talk to you about this. Like, what was your experience of, you know, working on our show in terms of like this was what you did as an actor that also a lot of people then knew you from?

Well, I felt like the stakes were higher than anything else I had ever done, right? NBC sitcom that was already a hit. We were a show that, like, was never kind of never in the top 20, you know, like we were always struggling with ratings and like trying to get there. But you're right. We did have success. We had, there was some notoriety surrounding us, but there were shows a lot more popular than us, you know, and we were up against Monday Night Football. But, well, the Fresh Prince Blossom Hour on NBC was was big time for me.

I mean, and Christine and I, we always talk about, you know, our few years on Hey Dude, we've really felt like the cable children, you know, like... And so this... Children of television. Like the forgotten. Even at... Nickelodeon invited us to present at their own awards, but we were still like...

Christine says we felt like we were the staff. We were like the staff, for sure. They owned us in that way. Also, listen, the writing on Blossom also, I mean, Don Rio and that whole staff And I, you know, I mentioned this to you the other day, but Paul Witt and Tony Thomas as amazing as they are. I mean, I can't even go back to how much entertainment they created. They scared me.

And I was very intimidated most of the time on the, on all three years. But except when I was with you or with Michael or doing the work. And luckily, most of my scenes were with you. And we were so close and it all felt very comfortable. But, you know, the run-throughs, the read-throughs and all that stuff, I was terrified. And Christine, can you talk a little bit about sort of what you did, you know, right after? You know, obviously you went on to have a really awesome and hilarious set of roles in, you know, some really, really, really specific kind of humor. And you really kind of, you know, really flourished and thrived in such a fun, you know, comedy

atmosphere. What was the time kind of right after, Hey, Dude, like? Well, I, you know, like David's, we sort of both had gotten into college. You know, that was the thing. Like, we were in our college application process when the show came and we had gotten into school. And it was, hey, dude, you know, took us, like, it was sort of like, okay, we're going to defer this. We're going to do that. But then it was after two years of being on the show and already being out West, I was like, okay, I'm going to try L.A. for six months. I had met somebody, you know, during that period of time on the show, one of our directors, an actor that our director introduced me to. And she was looking for a roommate.

It was like, it just felt like the natural, you know, progression of let's just try it and see what happens. And I want to say, right away, I just started booking episodic, you know, TV. And Blossom was one of the first, I would say, three jobs that I got. It was saved by the bell. It was the final finale of the TV series Dallas, the finale, like the series finale, where I was with Joel Gray. I was working with Joel Gray and Larry Hagman. And I, like, had no idea what I was doing. But Blossom was one of it.

So it was really hitting in. audition circuit like I had never done before. And reconciling that feeling of going from having a steady job where it was a paycheck and it was like, this is my life to now I'm living in LA. I have some money so I don't have to get a job yet. I don't have to wait tables right now, but I have some money saved. I can kind of live on this for a bit. But the in between of the auditions and the waiting and the, was really challenging. And I just found very quickly,

you know, we joke because when I did blossom, David and I were not speaking at that point. I've apologized. I just like to bring up every chance I get. No, you, like I said, I don't even remember you not speaking to me, but I did meet a couple of friends who were also guest actors that week.

week who literally became like my closest friends in L.A. Like they're still to this day my friends. And I sort of surrounded myself with this great network of, you know, unemployed actors that we were all going out and auditioning. And there were many moments and timers like, you know what? Maybe this is not the thing. There's just a lot of waiting around. Maybe I just go to school and then I would get a little thing.

I get a little job, a little nugget. And then, you know, honestly, it was the real-life Brady Bunch that was a transformative moment for me because it was a little thing. It was a very niche thing happening in L.A., but it was the beginning of what this, this, you know, sort of Marsha Brady path for me, which ultimately was, you know, hugely successful. But I was not in the original Real Live Brady Bunch cast. I was filling in for Becky, who I think was shooting a pilot or something. something. Like, they were all getting so much attention. They were so funny and so good. Right. Like, at the top of their game. And so I, my roommate at the time said, did you read? They're looking for a Marsha Brady. Like, my agents didn't even know about it. I had to call them and say,

my roommate told me there's like a Marsha Brady role on stage, which I'd read all about. I'd read all about it in Chicago. And so that was really sort of like the, a little bit of a turning point, getting to know that group of people. The Brady Bunch film was soon after that. They really had nothing to do with it, but it was sort of this like entryway for me into that world of her and comedy. And also for people who may not have heard me on your podcast, at the time, Jill and Faith Salloway were the ones behind this Real Life Brady Bunch play and what it was was actual

scripts of the Brady Bunch that were recreated verbatim, verbatim, verbatim. on stage. So you would go on any variety of week or weekend, and it would be a new episode. I saw, I may have seen a couple, I went 29 times in case anyone was counting. But, you know, at the time, like, Andy Richter was in it and Jane Lynch, and it was just like this amazing group. And I remember you were new Marsha. That's what we called you, because I went enough times that you weren't the original Marsha. And I remember when I went, I was like, oh, no, where is? is regular Marta. And then you were, you, it was a, it was a very big deal.

It's a very big deal. I'm nervous for myself hearing that, yes. But for those of us who had, you know, I mean, it was like a regular thing that I obviously went to. And so, and you were phenomenal. I mean, it was so fantastic. But it was a really, really special and interesting community. And, you know, in the days before cell phones and spin classes, we went to theater.

It's a thing that even young people often did. So it was like a really, really big and an awesome deal. I wanted to ask both of you a little bit about nostalgia. And, you know, there's been many reboots, many reboots of shows literally from the era that we grew up and kind of were raised in. And also, as we spoke about, you know, I have interest. And David, it sounds like you have interest as well in seeing where our character. would be, you know, today. And I wanted to just, though, ask you because, you know, you specifically have all these guests on your podcast that specifically tap into nostalgia.

Valerie pulled this definition of nostalgia. Nostalgia is a bittersweet emotion we experience. When we think back to a past experience that was better than the life we're currently leading. That's from psychology today. Better. That's a vague, that's a subjective term. That's actually sad. Well, so part of it, when I read that definition, part of it made me sad, but part of me made it like I was interested about nostalgia in that framework because sure, it's fun. Like there's plenty of my childhood I don't want to remember.

And sure, there's plenty about the fashion of the 90s that was fun and blah, blah, blah. But I wonder if, you know, either your kind of collective decision to do this podcast or the experiences you've had interviewing people has tapped into more than just like, oh, it's fun to remember. But gosh, that was a time that was a lot less complicated. Well, I think that was our original idea for the podcast is that people our age are very nostalgic for the 90s decade, which was the last decade before all the distractions came in, right? And I found that like my teen kids were fascinated with.

with the 90s. So I was, I thought, like, if you can capture two different demographics, right, people our age that want to reminisce and look back, and then younger people that want to know what it was like shooting Blossom or, you know, the guests that we've had on, they're all little, like, time capsules. And we had, we had David Faustino on last week and talking about married with children. And it led to us discussing that there are no. no like blue collar shows anymore, right? I mean, the Russo family was a very middle class, blue collar family.

No one was rich. I mean, now it's like, you know, it's the OC and the housewives and everyone's rich living in, you know, $50 million mansions. And I feel like that's what our, or at least our kids generation worships that kind of wealth and wishfulfillment. And, you know, so I feel like it might be time to, the pendulum to swing back the other way and represent the rest of the world. Yeah. And I think, Ma'am, you hit the nail on the head when you said, did it become a little bit more than just that trip down memory lane or that memory of, oh, yeah, I love that period of time or those, because we have that too, where we all will come together and say, oh, that one restaurant.

or that one place that, you know, but it has struck a nerve. I think I feel like it's become this, and I'm not selling it like it's this heartfelt, but I have felt personally going back to that period of my life and where I am now as a mother and a, you know, in my 51 years old and to look back at those, that period of time in my 20s and see this connective tissue between a lot of the people that we've interviewed, some of them really good friends that we've reconnected with, that is very meaningful. That is very,

because it does bring you back to a time when we weren't all just texting each other. I would have to pick up those friends that I talked about, you know, that I met on Blossom. We would all pick up the phone, call each other and say like, hey, what are you guys doing today? Do you want to play paddle time? Do you want to? And we would all get together. We weren't behind screens. We weren't isolating. We, it was, it was a very communal time. And I think it's, I feel like it, it feels nice to reconnect to that because particularly post-pandemic and how we all just were shut-ins. I'm very good at it. I am very good at shutting myself in and away. And I love when no kids are home. And I get to just be solo.

I feel like this has re-invited us back into connecting with people. And never having done a podcast before, it's just, it's just such a great way to connect with people in a very different, you know, format. No, that's, that's really helpful, you know, as I sort of frame what nostalgia looks like, you know, for me, because so much, and not to get into childhood trauma, David, as you worry that we would. But, you know, for me, when I, when I think back, you know, on the 90s, I was essentially, you know, I was working, you know, for the first portion, right? I graduated high school in 93. So I was two years out of high school when Blossom ended.

So, you know, for the first part of that decade, you know, my life was, you know, it was keeping an adult schedule, meaning we went to work every day and we were there all day. And, you know, at night, I mean, back in the day, like, we had energy to do things at night, you know, I used to go, bourgeois pig. David, do you remember a bourgeois pig on Franklin? Of course. You used to just, like, go and, like, sit in a coffee shop and, like, I would read poetry, you know, like, that was a thing to do. But, you know, there's also, like, a lot of the 90s that feel like there was a lot of complexity at that time in my life.

And I'm sure for a lot of your get. I mean, I knew David, like, we worked next to each other for years, you know, and we had the same agent when we were kids. So it was also a time of, like, tremendous transition if you were a teen or in your 20s in that decade. You know, it was, we were, we were really first kind of understanding the larger impact of things like, like the AIDS crisis, you know. Like, I remember when Rock Hudson died. You know, I remember, and that was, you know, more the transition from the 80s to the 90s. But, you know, the 90s was all the beginning of these conversations where adults were having to realize that, like, kids were actually having sex. Like, that's a thing that's happening.

You know, it was kind of there was this, this suspension of disbelief, I think, that moved, you know, through the 80s of. like everyone's still living kind of like leave it to beaver. And it's like, well, what do you think we're doing when we were asking for call waiting? You know, we're juggling dates. Like, things are going to happen. So I wonder if you can speak a little bit also. I don't want to say there was like a loss of innocence in the 90s, but part of the nostalgia, I think, is also that as you said, David, it was like it was the crux of a really interesting time socially. And I know for both of you, you know, other interesting things happened after these shows that you worked on. But I wonder also if you think about some of the complexity of that time and how that comes up in your podcast.

We spoke to David Faustino about, you know, the 80s. And look, the time periods, the pendulum swings back and forth, right? The conservative 50s led to the crazy hippie 60s. And then the Richard Nixon Law and Order, you know, into the Reagan era of, you know, say no to drugs. And because of, like you said, the AIDS crisis, no one was having sex. It was very family values. And then 1989, the show Married with Children. And the Fox Network launched with some very edgy, edgy material, right? In Living Color, Married with Children, The Simpsons.

But I feel like we're... And also the Tracy Olman show where The Simpsons started that featured a girl being raised by two men. And people lost their minds. Tracy Elman did a character where she had gay dads and people were like, what is happening? Yeah, no, I told David the other day, the Fox Network was going to live or die

by this edgy material and was the country ready for it coming out of that, you know, Nancy Reagan era. And I feel like we're in a similar time now where everything's so safe, everyone's so scared. I mean, you'll get canceled for saying anything. So isn't it time now for someone to come out with a show that just pushes the envelope a little bit.

I mean, the comedians are the last ones that are really, like, doing that. Even they're scared. Yeah. I mean, look at the backlash, whether it's, I mean, even, I don't want to go into it. But yeah, they get backlash. But I feel like the 90s was coming out of that very conservative time and was, like, it's a fun, free expression before social media, before, you know, YouTube and whatever the kids are distracted with today, you know, it led to, you know,

the blossoms and, you know, friends and all the, you know, the great entertainment, the great music that came out in the 90s. And I feel like everyone was happy in the 90s. It was like, fashion-wise, Christine, what do you think? I mean, you know, I think I was blissfully ignorant for that period of time. Because for me, it was also a lot of culture shock to go from suburban Allentown, Pennsylvania to Tucson, Arizona, and then suddenly being in Los Angeles

in a world. By the way, everyone was beautiful. It was like it was not easy to wander around L.A. and like it was just sort of like, I never felt like it was, oh, this is, you know, this feels so mean. and so home. I mean, it was so different from the way I grew up. I did not grow up with money. I grew up my, you know, very just middle America suburbia is the best way to put it. And,

you know, fairly conservative. So I think even for me, too, it was the branching away from my family life and my, you know, my parents making decisions on my own, you know, like, So I think of it as that feeling of like becoming into my womanhood in a way of feeling like, okay, I'm now living on my own. I get to make these decisions. I don't know that my parents would agree with them. I'm forming and shaping myself in a very different way. And growing up as like a good Catholic girl for a long period of time, like that's, that is kind of

reconciling with a lot, I think, of being able to. because I was meeting so many incredible performers and entertainers and people in the industry. So I do feel like it was all of those things. Yet when I look back on it, I don't know if I felt it in real time, but I look back on it now. And I was like, wow, big things, big changes were happening. Myon, like you said, going from that teenage, teenager into young adult, you know, and moving through that. You both don't look your age. I mean, I feel like I look older than both of you, but I'm sure we all look pretty good to most people's assessment.

But I also want to mention, you know, you're both, I mean, you're grownups, and obviously I am as well. You know, my kids are 14 and 17. And Christine, you, I believe you met your now husband in 99. So like at the end of the 90s, right, you sort of began a relationship that has spanned. Can you each talk a little bit just about, I mean, for people who don't know, like how old are your kids? like what's that like? Also, Christine, you live in Westchester, which is where David's from. I live in New York City, but we do have a place up in Westchester. Oh, got it. I thought you lived in Westchester. Okay, got it. It's like she's returning to where

the salmon spawned. She went back to where he was from. Okay, sorry. Go ahead. Christine, you're at my family's home, right? In Scarville. Yes. I, yes, I sure was. Yeah. No, it's funny, Miami, you said that Ben and I met, and I remember that it was the year that we were, we had gotten engaged, and it was the big millennium. Remember the New Year's millennium? That all the power was going to, like, we were all going to lose. The Y2K. It was like that, like it was all hell was going to break loose. And we were all bracing for it. Were we really or I don't know. But no, I remember that really, you know, it was very end of 90s into,

Ben and I have a 21-year-old daughter who's studying theater at Juilliard. She's finishing up her third year. And we have a son who's finishing up his junior year in high school who will be 18. And yeah, in it, in it with that. Yet, you know, I mean, I look at where I said this a little bit to you when you came on to our podcast, but that I look at who my daughter is at 21 years old. And I flash back to my 21-year-old self. Like I mean, I still, to this day, I'm like, I want to be like you, Ella, when I grow up.

I want to, I want to be able to be so kind of firm and planted in my body and who I am. And she's doing that at 21. And I think that's like sort of a gift of the generation she's grown up in, you know, and so many of the changes that have been going on. But I still, to this day, I'm still like, I would like to be like her. And also, before we go on to David, I can't help but mention, and you talked about this on Drew Barrymore's show, you know, Drew, also a really interesting example of someone who lived through so many, you know, aspects of a person life and a career life and huge element of nostalgia there. But you did also mention that you had been separated and COVID brought you and your husband back together, which I think is remarkable, because Jonathan and I literally started this podcast because we saw what was happening during COVID. COVID and that there was some sort of crisis happening. Everything was getting exacerbated,

like the best of us, the worst of us, the hardest, the easiest. I'm wondering if you can reflect, again, not from a gossipy perspective, but sort of on, you know, how COVID impacted you since, you know, we're connecting around podcasts and this podcast was born out of this sense of like, what is happening. Yeah, I, it's really interesting because prior to the pandemic, we were, we were separated, we were living separately, but co-parenting, probably seeing each other as much. We, you know, it was like he was coming every morning to walk the kids to school. Like, it was bringing me coffees. It was, we had this interaction. We were seeing theater together. We I wouldn't want to let you go either, Christine. Thanks, I am. But we really were, it was,

when I, when I look back and, and I don't know that we would have made a decision, um, to come back together in that way, but when it was sort of like, where are we all gonna hole up and we have this place up in Westchester and was getting out of the city, everyone was afraid of elevators and, you know, I mean, it was really crazy.

So it was, you know, kind of going back and we have nothing but time, nothing but time. Because no matter what, we were going to be in each other's lives forever, no matter what, no matter what version of that. And there needed to be repair around, and who we, how we were co-parenting, how we operated when it came to decisions about our children. You know, it was a period of time where we were able to just do some work because we couldn't not.

We didn't have excuses. There was not a set to go visit. There was not a kid's, you know, school trip or a performance. And it surprised me even. I mean, I really feel like being able to take that time to hold that space, to listen to each other, to take ownership of what the almost 20 years together had been and mistakes I'd made, mistakes he had made. Like, it's a roller coaster ride, a long-term relationships. Well, I just think it's so amazing because I think so many people, and David, I want to get to you because also, you know, I think we all have opinions about this. you know, people really learned a lot in those years and in these past years because anything

you hated about yourself, you really had to look hard at. And if you really didn't like who you were married to or living with, it was going to become super, super clear. So I think it's, it was like a real, it was such a litmus test. I think for, you know, the human experience. And as we talk about on this podcast, you know, for those of us who had mental health challenges, many got exacerbated, but also those of us who had experience with that could also clock it much sooner. Like I knew like, oh, my anxiety is up. And some people were like,

what is this strange feeling? Why can I eat, sleep or think? It's like, oh, you're having problems that many of us have had since we're four. Right. The whole COVID experience, I've seen it break people up. I certainly have seen it break up

you know, relationships, but I have seen it absolutely bring people back together. I mean, yeah, I don't want to name anyone, but, you know, people who had, it, I don't know, it made, it exacerbated everything, right? So if you miss someone, you miss them deeply. If you didn't like someone, you understood it deeply. And to answer your question, yeah, my wife and Jill and I were married in 99. Wow. We, you know, together a few years before that.

So, yeah, I was 23 when I met her. And, you know, to some of my good friends' chagrin, I was, you know, their good, you were off the market. Yeah, I was their good wingman that was no longer, you know, I wasn't going to help them. do their thing anymore. I was the first of my whole group of friends. Do their thing. Do their thing. No, I, my am knows. I mean, you know, in the, oh, my him knows. She knows all the things. In the 90s, whatever, if you're, you know, we, I could walk into a bar and my friends would not have to work so hard to strike up conversations. It wasn't, it wasn't my thing. Listen, I met my wife at 23 because

I was, you know, I had had my share of whatever, but, uh, careful. I'm going to cancel you. No, my share of, uh, ladies loved, the ladies loved, David. Let's just leave it at that, right? And I got, I got sick of that by the time I was 23. I'm just, that's, that's all I'm saying. I was ready to meet like a real, uh, someone that would have a real relationship. And, and, and thank God, I picked, you know, a person that's still my best. friend, my greatest confidant that we'd laugh together. I mean, yeah, of course there's ups and downs. Didn't Jill think you were another actor from another show, though? Didn't you tell that stuff? She thought you were like, who was it?

Scott Wanger. Yeah. Our mutual friends set us up, and she thought she was going on a date with the guy from pool. Yeah. Yeah. You obviously won her over. Yeah, I've been compared to many different actors that, you know, are the same genre, the same time. But yeah, we've been married ever since. I have a daughter, Hannah, who's 20, who's a sophomore at Tulane, studying business. My son, Casey, is a senior in high school.

And like Christine was saying about Ella, Casey is everything that I, like he's just better than was at that age. I got cut from the basketball team in ninth grade. He's captain of his varsity team. He's just the sweetest. He's an incredible, incredible kid. They all are. I'm so blessed that way. He's committed to UT Austin where he'll be going in August. And then our youngest, Chelsea is 13 and she's like gangbusters, completely different than the other two, but with her own agenda and her own talents and specialness. And she just makes us laugh every day. David, I want to say something that's going to freak you out.

Your youngest is how old? 13. That's how old I was when I was cast in Blossom. No. And like, yes. And I'm thinking about, yes, I was cast when I was 13 years old. That's when Beaches came out. That's when I met Don Rio.

And when I think about the ages, you know, and Christine, you touched on it. You know, mine are 14 and 17, right? And I'm just thinking like, I'm thinking about the ages of all our kids and thinking of us at all those stages, you know. And their world is obviously so incredibly different. David still cannot believe that I was 13 when I was cast in Boston. Because we were like making out in every episode season. I was, yeah, by the time you came on, okay, let's do this. By the time you came on the show, I was, I was 15.

I was 15 or 16. and Stephen Dorff had been on the show. Like, he had been on, like, I had to make out with him before I made out with you. That was my first kiss. Like, my first real kiss was Stephen Dorff on Blossom. I mean, it was, I didn't even know, I mean, I barely knew what I was doing in the universe at all.

But, yeah, and I remember when you came on, you were a couple years older than me and that, like, I hadn't really dated, but I was like, oh, this is not someone my age. This feels like, you know, you were an older, you're an older person to me. Yeah, I mean, there was probably a time where I was 18 and you were 16 and I could have been arrested for whatever.

Anyway, speaking of trauma, okay, so, no, but honestly, like for the situation that we were in, you know, it always felt really good and fun and safe and we had a very good camaraderie. But like I said, when I think of my kids, when I think of, you know, all of our kids, going out into the world, the things that we were experiencing. I mean, it was so different. I would never, I can't even imagine dropping my kid at Ed DeBevix and being like, see you in seven hours. No way to get in touch with you.

That's right. Just see you later. I'm so appreciative of both of you being here. And it's just really been a pleasure to reminisce with you. And I think we found the best parts of nostalgia here. So thank you so much. And is there anything else we can plug in your life collectively or something? separately that you'd like to tell people about before we sign off?

Christine has an Apple TV show you should talk about. I was going to say, David, we can... David is also Christine's publicist. Yeah, I was going to say we can plug our podcast. Hey, dude, the 90s called IHartRadio, IHart Podcast available wherever you get your podcast. That sounded great. Yeah, let me just plug one other thing.

I'm in the new season of the other two on HBO Max. That is correct. coming out in May? I have a role in a new series coming on Apple TV Plus that stars Patricia Arquette called High Desert, and I play her sister.

It's coming on next month and it's cool and they're calling it a dark comedy. It's a little bit out there, but Patricia is... That is awesome. That's awesome casting. Matt Dillon's in it. Brad Garrett.

Kiro Dano, plays my brother. plays our brother. But yeah, it was a great time, and that's coming out sometime in May. Wonderful. Well, thank you for being here and hope to see you guys soon. Thanks, Ma'am. You're the best. Great to see you. From our breakdown to the one we hope you never have. We'll see you next time. It's Maya Beallix Breakdown. She's going to break it down for you. She's got a neuroscience Ph.D. or two. One fiction. And now she's going to break down. It's a breakdown. She's going to break it down.