Stuff You Should Know - Selects: How Audience Testing Works

Episode Date: June 10, 2023

Did you know some of our most beloved movies originally had different, sometimes better, endings? That is until they were tested in front of focus groups. Learn all about the how, what, and why of audience testing in this classic episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So, there is a ton of stuff they don't want you to know. Yeah, like does the US government really have alien technology? Or what about the future of AI? What happens when computers actually learn to think? Could there be a serial killer in your town? From UFOs to psychic powers and government cover-ups, from unsolved crimes to the bleeding edge of science, history is riddled with unexplained events.

Listen to stuff they don't want you to know on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you find your favorite shows. Welcome to the Good Stuff. I'm Jacob Schick, a third-generation combat marine. And I'm his co-host and wife Ashley Schick. We believe everyone has a story to tell, not only about the peaks, but the valleys they've been through to get them to where they are today. We're joined by some amazing guests who share the lessons they've learned that shape

two they are and what they're doing to pay it forward and give back. Listen to the good stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, everybody. Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. had a TV show for one season, and was it audience tested? I don't even remember to be honest. It probably wouldn't have scored very well, or maybe it would have, there knows. At any rate, this is how audience testing works for movies, TV shows, all kinds of things like that. Please enjoy it.

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey and welcome to the podcast of Josh Clark, there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant and Jerry's over there, so let's just call this stuff you should know, shall we? Hey, that's a good name. Rochelle. Yeah? I came up with that. You did it.

You're the inventor. And from that was hatched all of the stuff podcast. Yeah, but I mean, how stuff works stuff. Yeah, but I don't know. I think you're not, you're selling yourself short. It's okay. So this is another one of our movie centric podcasts that people seem to love.

We've done all kinds of things from exploitation films to movies that change filmmaking to how films are rated. I was at MPAA. And PAA. How TV ratings work. Yeah. 10 exploitation films. Yeah, that was a good one.

And some movies that changed filmmaking. That's right. All the stuff you just said Yeah, before we get going here buddy, we need a blanket spoiler because we're gonna be talking about movies that had their Endings changed and So this is your fair warning the most of them are old movies Most of this information is out there of of course. But if you're one of those people, you get really upset by this kind of thing, you may want to... You've been warned. You've been warned.

And now, Drumroll, we're going to talk about audience testing, which is, depending on the filmmaker and the film, can be a really super awesome valuable tool. Right, it can also be like a terrible, the worst thing that's ever happened to you. Yep. And apparently even if you believe in the system, it's a terrible experience, says Ron Howard. Yeah, he's a famous, well not famous for,

but he is on record along with his producing partner, Brian Gracer, for who by the way, do you know this about Brian Graser? Best hair and show business? Well, clearly. But he has the habit of taking frame pictures of himself over to people's houses and when they're not looking, you do like plants among their family photos.

That's pretty awesome. Pretty cool. That reminds me, I know you hate George Clooney's guts, but there is a... I never said that. There's a famous practical, he's a famous practical practical joker and he prepared this one over the course of like a year supposedly told like his

best friends he had taken up painting. Oh yeah I've just kept that going and going and then like gave some of his close friends. He's awful awful paintings. Right. And you know you're kind of expected to hang it up. Right. They're like oh thanks George. Yeah that's a pretty good one. This is great.

Um I'll be so good about himself after kind of expected to hang it up. They're like, oh, thanks George. Yeah, that's a pretty good one. This is great. I'll be so good about himself after that. So glib. So Ron Howard in his producing partner, Brian Grates, are on record is saying that they really can get a lot out of it. And what they would hate is to put a movie out and find out there's something they really easily could have corrected.

Yeah. They're like confused or upset upset an audience as a whole. Right. But he also said it's terrible to go through. Yeah. Like even when it's a good experience, it's never a good experience. And that's somebody who believes in the system. Yeah.

If you don't believe in the system and you still have to go through it, like Robert Altman did, he's not a test audience kind of guy. No, can you imagine putting him through that? No. That's like letting all of the town's ladies bring boo redly the pies for killing Bob Yule. Yeah. You can't put Robert Altman through

the audience testing system. Who did that? No, I don't know. A dummy. Because he was a maverick filmmaker. My brother and my Emily worked on movies with him. It's pretty neat, legend. I know, it's good stuff.

I wish I could tell a couple of the stories, but... But I mean, did you expect to get rich off of a Robert Altman movie? No, I don't know. Apparently these people did. I wonder what his top grossing movie ever was. Probably the player a mash I'll bet it was mash. Yeah movies didn't gross that much back then. Yeah, but it's good. It's a perennial classic Yeah, that's true the player was great

Yeah, I mean he's made a lot of great movies and some kind of stinkers as well. Oh, yeah, but a lot of classics like Nashville you ever seen Nashville. No, I never saw saw Nashville man so good. So the player short cuts Didn't see the the like well-book on one With Lindsey lowhand for some reason what yeah, they did a Home companion yeah with Lindsey lowhand that's just weird and Merrill Street with Lindsey Lohan. That's just weird. And, um, Mariel Street. Huh. It was like, not a good idea. Let's get a casting director super drunk.

Yeah. It just have a point out photo. So, that's how we'll cast this. Uh, and then McCabe and Miss Miller. And that's a classic as well. Never even heard of it. More in Bady. I like to mash though. That was a good one.

It was. Um, so Ron Howard calls the process brutal and hideous. Yeah. He said even if it's going well, it's not fun. Yeah. Francis Ford Coplas somewhat responsible, although they have tested movies all the way back in the 30s. Was it a boss? Yeah. When the audience just said, you know that somewhere over the rainbow song, really slows things down. It's a stinker Get it out of there Thank goodness they didn't listen because that became one of the most iconic

Singing performances ever in a movie. Yeah, and apparently pointing that out is a really good way to talk somebody out of cutting something Yeah, it's a story. It's a shit? Yeah. Think about somewhere over the rainbow, chief. So when Coppola was making Apocalypse Now, he had focus groups. Really? Yeah. Would not have guessed that. Well, that movie, you've seen the hearts of darkness, right? Know the documentary about it?

Yeah. No. It's really good. He had a lot of studio heat coming down on him. You know you've got a great movie when the documentary about your great movie is a great movie Yeah, that's a good point. It's really good. I think it's wife made that although that's not necessarily true The best worst movie was a great documentary and trolls too was not a good movie in any way shape or form I've never heard of best worst movie. It's about have you ever heard of trolls too?

I've heard of trolls so I guess I've heard of trolls too. Apparently, made by totally different filmmakers, completely unconnected, story-wise and everything. This is just trolls too. Gotcha. And this documentary caught up with the people from trolls too, because it became like kind of this cool hipster thing to like, look at how terrible this movie is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like the room. Sure. Um, and the, the, the documentary kind of followed this movement and went and found the people who were in this movie who had no idea This is going on and then like basically puts them on the road going around promoting showings of trolls to and just Live in it up. It's great documentary. Oh the documentary is good the movie wasn't good right, okay So I ate my own words understood No, you didn't but I think one of your pals from UCB is in it

Entralls to in the best worst movie who the documentary do you know? Man one of the founders No, not Matt Besser it might be yes, it might be Matt Besser Not Matt Besser. It might be Matt Besser. Besser? Maybe. I don't know. One of the guys from you, there's like a bunch of UCB people in there.

Yeah, but okay, I got you. Besser was one of the founding members though, with Amy Poler and Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. This may be. Matt Walsh is the one that was in old school, right? Yeah. So this is the other Matt. Yeah, I think he might be in it. Yeah, he's a good guy. He listens to our show. Prove me wrong, Matt. Prove me wrong. Go, uh, Razerbacks. That's for him.

He's an Arkansas fan or he just really likes Razerbacks. Yeah, he's an Arkansas guy. Gotcha. Yeah, he's just a fan of the thing. Are we at an ad break yet? Not yet. Not until I finished a story about Coppola. Um, he, when he was making Apocalypse Now, hired a man named Joe Ferrell or Ferrell to help with marketing. And Ferrell said, you know what? I see a pretty big opportunity here. And so he partnered up with Catherine, Catherine, Para, and formed the National Research Group. I don't know.

I don't think they're still exclusive, but at the time, signed all the studios to an exclusive contract to do their audience testing. And I think they're still the top dog in audience testing, even though I think there are other companies that do it now. This is the company with the extraordinarily secretive name, NRG, the National Research Group. Yeah, and they also do, contract hits i think for the cia and the ns a no but they don't have a website that i could find like i was trying to just get a little information about the company but they're so they're a division of nielson well which of course their seat super secret if we already they are but uh yeah so it's crazy like this it's like a

cabal yeah you know very much so. Randy Quaid was right. He might be. And they don't just do audience testing. They also, back when people had telephones, would do a lot of just random calling and saying, like market research, like did you know this movie was coming out? That's called awareness.

Yeah, awareness campaigns and stuff like that. And then they split you into four quadrants, right? Which is the four quadrants that everyone on the planet is divided into. Men under 25, men over 25, women under 25, and women over 25. That's right. That's it.

There's the division of importance at age 25. You cross over and get put out to pasture, basically. All right, so that's the long to set up in history. So wait a minute. I wanna make sure I understand what you're saying, because I made a lot of jokes in the middle of all this. They were flying. But you're saying that NRG, the National Research Group,

flying, but you're saying that NRG, the National Research Group, came out of focus groups done for apocalypse now. Yes, that's the way I understand it. Wow. Yeah, did not know that. Yeah, but they were already doing focus groups, but this company really ran with it, I think, in the corner of the industry. Yeah, I got you. All right, so let's take that promised break, and we'll talk more about audience testing right after this.

[♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ There's a ton of stuff they don't want you to know. Does the US government really have alien technology? And what about the future of artificial intelligence, AI? What happens when computers learn to think? Could there be a serial killer in your town? From UFOs to psychic powers and government cover-ups, from unsolved crimes to the bleeding edge of science, history is riddled with unexplained events. We've spent a decade applying critical thinking to some of the most bizarre phenomenon civilization

and beyond. Each week, we dive deep into unsolved mysteries, conspiracy theories and actual conspiracies. You've heard about these things, but what's the full story? Listen to stuff they don't want you to know on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you find your favorite shows.

What's up fam? I'm Brian Ford, Artisan Vaker and host of the new podcast, Blakey Biscuit. On this podcast, I'm going to get to know my guests by cooking up their favorite nostalgic meal. It could be anything from Twinkies to mom's Thanksgiving Jurassic. Sometimes I might get it wrong, sometimes I'll get it right. I'm so happy it's good because man if it wasn't I'd be like you know everybody not my mom. Either way we will have a blast, you'll have access to every recipe so you can cook and bake alongside me as I talk to artists, musicians and chefs about how this meal guided them to success. And these nostalgic meals, fam, they inspire one of a kind conversations. When I bake this recipe, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Does this podcast come with a therapist? Yeah, it can. Listen to Flaky Biscuit every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hola hola! It's your girl cheekies and I'm back with brand new episodes of my podcasts, cheekies and chill and dear cheekies. Last season, I shared so many intimate stories with you guys and had conversations with some

of my favorite people. This season, we're picking up right where we left off. We'll talk about everything from spirituality, relationships, women's health, and so much more. And guess what? Dear Chiquis is also back. Seguiré contestando todo a tus preguntas. I'll be answering even more of your questions.

And honestly, guys, I cannot wait. Asi que not de pierdas, nune momento, de chiquis and chill, and de your chiquis, as part of the Mycultura Podcast Network available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check, little jokes. That makes sense to me. Yeah. Like if you're testing a comedy, totally makes sense because a couple of comedy writers that you put into like a room and say, right, this hilarious movie or take this dog of a movie and punch it up with some jokes. It's very subjective. It might sound funny to you. Sure.

But then you're a movie executive and you had like a three-scotch launch. So everything seems kind of funny right now, you know what I mean? Yeah. So 1960's. Right. So I get that. and then like this joke landed, this joke didn't, this joke was too far, and it went against like what the character we've developed so far, that to me makes sense. Like I see audience testing to that end for sure. You see the value. But if it's like, should this explosion be 70% more explosive? Well,

I wish this guy's brain splatter like more or less. Well, with the violence you have a point, that is something they will also test for it. Are you turned off by the amount of violence? Could we dial it back a little bit? Yeah, what was the movie that was given an example in this article of something that was found to be too violent? Good fellows. Yes. Yeah. It was in a mental floss article, right? Yeah Yeah, good fellows the audience like he had and that was the first movie Scorsese he had ever tested Yeah, and yeah, that's another guy. I don't see like testing stuff. I'm really surprised about a apocalypse now Yeah, well like I said it was studio heat. Yeah, I got you.

Yeah, Squarsaysie, I think like 40 or 50 people walked out in the first 10 minutes because of the violence. And they said that they didn't like that third act where, you know, just thought it was too intense. And apparently very drawn out, way more drawn out than it even is now. Yeah, they thought the ending of Goodfellows is too intense. Right, and again, very drawn out than it even is now. Yeah, they thought the ending of Goodfellows is too intense.

Right, and again, very drawn out. So he went to a quick cut montage thing, which actually ended up making it better because Henry Hill is like, coax to the gills at this point. And like that whole thing, he's looking, driving, watching the helicopter that's following him. And it's like chop, chop chop chop. It really gets the point across. Yeah, it was very effective. So it worked in that case. Yes, right? The system works. I don't know about that. It worked in that case. So how these things work is if you live in the

Los Angeles area and you go to the mall or if you're even in a movie line Yeah, you've probably been approached or seen the people with clipboards Don't run away because they are not trying to sell you something. They're trying to give you something Which is a free screening? That's true and they'll come and sign you up there. I ask if you're interested. Hey, we got a new Oh, and Wilson movie that we're screening in Burbank next Friday night. Everybody starts to remember me Oh movie that we're screening in Burbank next Friday night. And everybody starts to mumbling, oh, what's, oh, what a level. He's a national treasure. And everybody starts signing up.

What's with the nose? He got a broken when he was younger. It looks like more than once. I like that he didn't fix it though. Yeah, he was a smart Alec. That thing is just like so crooked. And he's just like, yep, this is me. He said he always expected to do something like go into advertising

or whatever, but if you're a buddy of Wes Anderson's from like, yep, this is me. He said he always expected to do something like go into advertising or whatever, but if you're a buddy of Wes Anderson's from a young age, you're going into movies, sorry. I'm a big fan of him and his nose. Yeah. So you're gonna get approached, like I said, probably in LA, but they do test all over the country because we've talked about will it play in Peoria?

Yeah, sometimes they wanna go to Ohio and see what someone outside of the LA area feels about the movie. Right, but the reason that your chances are vastly higher of being asked to be in a test audience for a movie in Los Angeles is because a lot of times the people working on the movie who live in Los Angeles have to attend these things.

Yeah, because not only do they want to, they want to get the feedback from it, which we'll find out about, they also want to experience it firsthand. Sure. So they get a real feel for how the audience is responding. Yeah. And if you're 18 to 34, you're more likely to get approached because that's the sweet spot. Of course, that you talked about. Yeah. if you're older than that, then forget it. No one cares about you. No one cares about your thing. Just give up all of your dreams and work and smoke a pipe, be quiet.

That's right. If you are an assistant editor or any part of the editing crew, it's going to be a bit of a hellish experience because you're going to be scrambling, trying to temp in music and temp in special effects, like some really hackneyed version of special effects, just so they know, like, in the scene, it's going to be a spaceship. Right. The editors like, well, because cut to this stock quick time footage of a spaceship landing and get the point across.

And they're like, sure. So they're going to be scrambling, trying to put together as much of a finished project as they can. And most of the times they will also be at the theater. They're going to queue it up and watch it, just to make sure it's ready to roll. Yeah. Before the audience sees it.

You're going to have a moderator? You ever been to a test screening? No, of you. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, it's neat. What? I don't remember. Wow. Cool. Yeah, it's neat. What?

I don't remember. Wow, it must have been a very good movie. That was a long time ago. Um, 95. Yeah, that was it. I love that movie. It wasn't. I did watch that the other night though, in full.

That's so good. That was one of the songs that I sang at piano karaoke. 95. 95. A couple of dollars on the tune. A couple of dollars on the tune. You mean I sang I was in the stream? Oh well. Did she do the Kenny Rogers part and you did the

Dolly part? We switched it up a little. 9-5 is very hard song to sing by the way. And that movie holds up, man. It's still very funny. Yeah. The great Dabney Coleman. Great Lili Tomlin. The great Dolly Parton. Great Jane Fonda. The great Jane Fonda. So good. And you know the three of them, like,

it was just a great shoot. They were best buds and they remained friends. All these years later. You can tell. Yeah, it's kind of neat. All right, so where was I? Oh yeah, someone's gonna introduce the movie and they're gonna get you all excited

and like everyone's glad to be here so you know when Wilson's new movie. Right, Right everybody reach under your seat for some free red vines Yeah, yeah, you might get a little free something you never know And they're going to explain like what you're about to see is gonna be a little rough in parts and the effects aren't complete So just don't take that into account right they're not looking for like well Maybe you should color correct it a little more before you release it. They're aware of that. I think you're supposed to take the green screen out of the shot. Right.

What they're looking for is pacing. They want to know you as like an audience member is keeping up with the movie and how it's going, right? Yeah, you're going to, well, you're going to watch the movie just as cleanly as possible and then you're going to have to fill out comment cards. And they're pretty standard, but they can tailor it for the movie. If let's say you think there's a problem with one

of the characters, they might specifically say, what do you think about the Luke Wilson character? Too much? Too little? He's no Owen Wilson. They might ask your favorite parts. Your least favorite parts. how it flowed, anything stand out to you is like, like, could you follow it the whole time?

Yeah, did it make sense? That's a good one. Right. What did you think of the jokes? Yeah, what did you think of the jokes? They drill down. They try and get as specific as they can. And these are just the comment cards.

Yeah. Supposedly, if you're in the demographic that they're shooting for in release, and you're at this thing, as you're trying to leave, they might come up to you and be like, hey, and like, yeah, this is just kind of the shlubby, like, audience. You want to be part of a real focus group, come with us. And then you follow this stranger to a second location. Yeah. Do you follow them to a van with a little round window in the back? This has been covered over with a black plastic bag.

Yeah. Pickout dark. It did. So the big thing they're looking for though, the money question is, would you recommend this movie to a friend? That's the one thing they want to know, and that is where you're going to get your overall score that they really are going to hone in on.

Right. They want to know that. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad.

So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. So bad. at the end and it's based apparently exclusively on whether or not you say you would definitely

recommend the movie to a friend. Yeah, out of 100 people, they will score that. So yeah, or however many people, but for example, out of 100, if 60 people say that, yeah, I guess I would recommend it to a friend and 40 people say that they definitely would, that movie got a score of forty terrible not even like a like you can't even take into account that yeah probably you have to say you definitely would recommend it to a friend to get a point for that movie yeah and they said in this article i'm sure there's a huge caveats and a sliding scale but the odds in a sliding scale, but then anything over 80, they think they're in pretty decent shape. I would guess 80% a low B average, which really says a lot less than 80s lately.

Yes, me. Well, it makes you an X machina. That was a pretty great movie too. So good. They ask in this article though, it makes you wonder like when a train wreck of a movie comes out, like what happened? Did they focus group it? Did they test screen it?

Did they ignore it? Yeah. Like what, what, how does that thing get released? Is the question. Or are you asking me? Yeah. Well, I mean, no. I'm just throwing it out there.

I know. I know the one has been to one of these test screenings. No, it does make you wonder though like they probably didn't sound a bit they didn't screen it or the the people who had Edit rights didn't care to listen But this this article keeps picking on glitter. What seems mean because there's a lot of stinkers out there Yeah, apparently human set of p3 Has the I think it came out recently is this the one in prison? I don't know.

I think it's in prison right there. I've always seen the first like hundreds of people playing center peds. Yeah. It has the lowest meta-crick score of all time. Really? You saw the first one? Yeah, have you seen it?

No. Dude, it's definitely worth seeing. Really? Yeah. I just think I get it just by seeing the trailer. You would, no. No. I mean, there's no real surprises

beyond what you've seen in the trailer, but it's not even appreciating it in an ironic way, even taking it on its own terms, you're kind of like, it's worth seeing at least once. Like, can't be disturbing or, yeah. Okay. But not like, not like hostile, can't be disturbing. Have you seen hostile?

Yeah, I didn't think that was very can't be. It was just straight up disturbing. This one, already disturbing. Yeah. The guy was definitely going for an already bit despite the premise of the movie. All right, but yeah, there's some disturbing stuff. I'm curious to see if that guy has anything left

in his bag of tricks because you can only Go mouth the butt for so long. What's um, what's campy disturbing? Give me an example of that. Oh, I think like Like a reanimator type of thing. Oh, yeah, okay. I see yeah, hostels not campy disturbing Reanimator definitely yes Can we talk about Tom Cruise for a minute and how obnoxious this move was yeah? I Guess he really believed in the the way the editing process was already going. Yeah, he crashed his own test screening of mission impossible three allegedly

and Ran in there and looked like, hey everybody, I'm Tom Cruise. Let's high five each other, enjoy the movie. Give me a couch to jump on. I mean, can you believe that? That totally negates the purpose of an audience screening. Right.

Because everyone there, I'm sure there were a few people who are like, oh, I hate your guts, you weirdo. But the rest of the people, like, oh my God, Tom Cruise just came into the very test screening. Yeah. And like, they probably didn't feel good about writing negative comments. Right, you know?

He just like, he just didn't hear. He might wanna hang out with me after this, and I wanna be able to tell him that I gave him high marks. I can't believe he did that. I can't believe he did that actually. Yeah, I can too. So, by the way, also, there is a really interesting long form article in LA Weekly about a year ago called How YouTube and Internet Journalism Destroyed Tom Cruise are last real movie star.

And it's not an apologists view, but it definitely defends him against a lot of, it's just a view, but it definitely depends him against a lot of... It's just read it. I'm still a fan of his acting in most cases. That edge of tomorrow movie was terrific. Yeah, I haven't seen it yet. I've heard nothing about good things about it. Yeah, it was really good. I can still watch his movies and separate that from the wacko in real life.

Yes, this is defending his acting as well, but it's defending that public perception of him as being a wacko in real life. This is, yes, this is defending is acting as well, but it's defending is that public perception of him as being a wacko. Yeah. And basically, like, really kind of pulls apart like all the layers and you're like, oh, yeah, like, it really goes to town stressing that he never jumped up and down on the couch, right?

He just jumped up on the couch. Exactly. But they go to great lengths to point out that that is not the same thing is just offhandedly saying, oh, yeah, he jumped up and up on the couch. Exactly. But they go to great lengths to point out that that is not the same thing. It's just off-handedly saying, oh, yeah, you jumped up and down on that couch. Like, he's crazy. Yeah. Now, he jumped up on the couch once and then stepped down or something like that. So it's a really great article. Really interesting.

Because he's just been like kicked around for so long now. Yeah. It's really, it's almost surprising to see somebody step up. Not as like a crusader on behalf of Tom Cruise, but just more to be like, so long now, it's almost surprising to see somebody step up. Not as like a crusader on behalf of Tom Cruise, but just more to be like everybody put your knives away. Well, I think the knives are out, not just because, oh, he's a Scientologist and people think that's weird. It's like, when you dig down into Scientology and find out the things that he abides by,

like the slave labor to decorate his cars and to wash his truck and you know that makes you kind of not a good person you know. I see what you mean. Like that's beyond like, oh, that's just a strange religion. That's like people are being paid 15 cents an hour to take care of me. Oh, for the being paid, that's not slavery. That's true.

That's a good point. What was the name of the, was it an HBO documentary? Going clear. Going clear. Yeah, based on the book. Going clear. I saw the guy who wrote the book come speak. Oh, really? Thank God. Like something. I don't remember his name. But like, I mean, whatever you think of his book or his journalism, that guy had brass ones. Oh, really? He's the one who did it. He's the one who went after Scientology when no one else would touch you.

He's the guy who did. And apparently, five million lawyers read that book before it was ever published. I think HBO supposedly had like a hundred attorneys when they went to adapt it as a documentary. Yeah. And this is after it already been fed by all of the lawyers in the book publishing world. Yeah. It's good. Yeah. The great book. All right, let's take another break here and when we come back we'll talk about some of the more famous examples of movies that have been changed due to audience screenings. It's gonna be so good. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ There's a ton of stuff they don't want you to know.

Does the US government really have alien technology? And what about the future of artificial intelligence, AI? What happens when computers learn to think? Could there be a serial killer in your town? From UFOs to psychic powers and government cover-ups, from unsolved crimes to the bleeding edge of science, history is riddled with unexplained events. We spent a decade applying critical thinking to some of the most bizarre phenomenon and civilization and beyond. Each week, we dive deep into unsolved mysteries, conspiracy theories and actual conspiracies.

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As I talk to artists, musicians, and chefs about how this meal guided them to success. And these nostalgic meals, fam, they inspire one of a kind conversations. When I bake this recipe, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Oh. Does this podcast come with a therapist? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha They can! Listen to Flaky Biscuit every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hola hola! It's your girl cheekies and I'm back with brand new episodes of my podcasts, cheekies

and chill and dear cheekies. Last season I shared so many intimate stories with you guys and had conversations with some of my favorite people. This season we're picking up right where we left off. We'll talk about everything from spirituality, relationships, women's health and so much conversations with some of my favorite people. This season, we're picking up right where we left off. We'll talk about everything from spirituality, relationships, women's health, and so much more. And guess what?

Dear Chickies is also back. Segure contestando a to tus preguntas. I'll be answering even more of your questions. And honestly guys, I cannot wait. Asi que no te pierdas, nune momento, de Chickies and Shell, and dear Chickies,

as part of the MyCultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Así que no te pierdas, un momento de chiquis y chiles y de chiquis como parte de la mi cultura podcast, available en el I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, o wherever you get your podcasts. Entonces chica, hay The Chuck! The Chuck! The Chuck! The Chuck! The Chuck! The Chuck! So Chuck, there's some legendary changes to movies that have been made over the years. Like we mentioned, the Boisert of Oz. Yeah. Good that was not a change actually, but like a test audience suggested it be taken out somewhere over the rainbow. Apparently, also very famously, James Bond's movie license to kill was originally called

license revoked. And even after all the promotion material posters that they made, they changed the name. Because American test audiences were like, I don't understand what the title means. Like, his driver's license was revoked. And they were serious. Yeah. So they changed. I mean, it sounds like a queen Latifa comedy

You know like where she's a bus school sassy school bus driver and like the K and the R backwards Just something like that and the poster. Yeah, absolutely She's a sassy Pretty woman the movie the saccharin feel good movie from Richard Gear and Julia Roberts. Apparently not, started out as saccharin. No, this is hysterical to me. It was originally titled 3,000 based on the amount of money it cost to hire a hooker for a week. Sure, that one, it made no sense.

Yeah, apparently they changed the name not because of the test studies because the execs were like, it sounds too science fictionyy and they were right. They were right. Pretty woman is a much better title for that movie. And then apparently it was had a lot darker edge when it was in script form and it ended with Richard Gears character kicking Julia Roberts character out of his car and driving away. That's how it ended. Not very rom-commy. No. No, there wasn't a rom-com. That was Gary Marshall. But see, what I want to know is... Wait, Gary Marshall, he's a rom-commy director. No, that's what I'm saying. He made that. It seems to me like all that would have changed

with Gary Marshall, not like in test screenings. Yes, I think that's what happened. And then the test audience, the hand they played was that they're like, you need to change that ending. Okay, got you. I need to get together. Right. Fatal attraction, famously changed. Yeah.

So the ending of fatal attraction apparently has Glenn Close, Glenn Close, whose Michael Douglas's one-night stand turn stalker, killing herself, slitting her own throat. Yeah, pretty good. With a knife with Michael Douglas's fingerprints on it, and then Michael Douglas is arrested for her murder. Yeah, and like, it's supposed to, they don't show trials and things, but like ends with him going to prison. Yeah, and that's a great ending.

Glenn Close loved it. She was very sad when audiences were like, nope. We hate this character so much. Like she has to be killed off. She can't kill herself. Somebody has to kill her. Yeah. And just for good measure, make it the wife.

Well, that makes sense, because I think people, people weren't rooting for Michael Douglas in that movie either, because he was such a jerk. Right. Um, toyed with this woman, left her, had this great wife at home and kid. Right. So people, I think they said, you know what would go over the top is if the only sympathetic character in this movie, which is Ann Archer, is the one who does it.

Right. And it was effective. I'll give it to him. Yeah. But apparently Glenn Close is like the original ending was way better yeah she washed her hands of it did you ever see scott pilgrim versus the world no i like my close era it's a good flick um the original ending of that one had him uh...

had his character ending up with his uh... his love interest um knives, chow, played by Ellen Wong instead of his dream girl, Ramona Flowers. And the test audiences didn't like that and said basically, this guy spent the whole movie annoyed by this girlfriend and pining for this other girl and defeating her evil ex-boyfriends, he can't just not end up with her at the end, it's very anticlimactic. So they said, all right, we'll change it.

And that's how it was in the graphic novel, too. So I don't know why they changed it to begin with. Who knows? So they went back to the original ending that it was of the material that was adapted from. That's right. Yeah. Pretty in right. Yeah. Pretty in pink. Yeah, this one's pretty famous too.

Like, I'd heard this many, many years ago that originally they had Molly Ringwald ending up with John Criar. Yeah, with Ducky. Rather than Blaine, Andrew McCarthy. Which by the way, saw Weekend at Bernie's again recently. It's, uh, no. It's not that bad.'s again recently. It's a, no. It's not that bad. Really?

Yeah, it's very thin. Well, it's one, it's a one joke. Yeah. But boy, they take it in so many directions. Yeah. It's pretty funny. And it's amazing how young Jonathan Silverman and Andrew McCarthy look.

I mean, young. Yeah, and the guy who played Bernie, who like, I don't think ever did anything else. No. I never saw him do anything else. He threw out the ball at like a Los Angeles Dodgers game or a San Francisco Giants game or something like that. In 1987. Yeah.

Interesting. No, no, like last season. Really? I don't remember the reason why, but it was like, he's been working that character for a long time. Do you know what would have been genius if they would have had silverman and McCarthy out there, like, grabbing his arm and throwing the ball for him as if he were dead? It would have been great.

That would have been pretty good. I think they call that meta these days. Yeah. They do. Or meta's already out. That was like so two years ago. You know, 28 days later, you saw that one, right? Yeah.

That one ends with Jim's, a Celian Murphy's character, dying in the original ending. And his people were gonna rescue him, just like going back out to fight the zombies again. Right, now all he's saying is like, no, that stinks. I love this guy. Yeah, so he recovers. Yeah, then the end in like a field or a meadow or something like that. Or they're

like romping in the field. And I think they see a plane. I'm sure Danny Boe was like, oh, you want a happy ending? Yeah, you're happy. Stupid ending. You're stupid ending. Choke on it. You stupid audience. I like the ending though. I don't, I like both. I don't mind a happy ending when it's done well, but also like dark endings. Yeah, you know, one of the, it doesn't have to be one of the other. What about the opposite dark beginnings and, and undark beginnings like with sunset boulevard? All right, go ahead and break it down. I don't know that one. Oh, Sun, have you ever seen sunset boulevard? No, that's on my list.

As a classic movie for a reason. It's a truly great movie. But apparently, at the beginning of it, originally, they had Bill Holden's corpse. The character he plays corpse, talking to other corpses in the morgue, explaining how he got there. Oh wow.

And audiences were like, is this a comedy? Like what is going on here? Apparently, and a lot of people walked out and Billy Wilder, the director, was there. Yeah. And some lady told them to his face that it was a steaming pile. And maybe he didn't know it was him or something like that, but the legend goes that she told them to his face like, this is terrible. And so, he reshot the beginning to where it's Bill Holden's core. The legend goes that she told them to his face like this is terrible.

And so, he reshot the beginning to where it's Bill Holden's corpse, but it's a voiceover and he's not talking to other corpses in the morgue. But it's not a comedy, right? It's not at all. Maybe because it was Billy Wilder people had an expectation. Yeah, and I mean, there's some parts that you wonder, like, did he mean that to be like kind of funny like in a really dark way Maybe yeah, it's quite possible, but that is a great movie. I need to see that a little Billy Wilder you should watch it like tonight

Doesn't matter the mood you're in it doesn't matter what you got going on just you could watch sunset ball of art Be like this is a great movie. Okay Heathers did you see heathers? Mm-ers? The regular ending, well I'm sorry the, yeah the ending they went with was Christian Slater's character wants to blow up the school gymnasium during a basketball game. Yeah. And Veronica, what's her face is, one on a writer's character, shoots him dead, stops it, and ends up bonding with the outcast girl. Yes. In the original ending and the script,

I don't think this was, I don't think it was shot, but she kills Christian Slater's character, straps the bomb to herself and blows up the school and everyone has prom in heaven and Like everybody gets along the nerds and the geeks are all like living in harmony. Huh, yeah Not bad. You're like, yeah, I could see that Blade Runner What perhaps the most famous changed ending of all time. I had not heard that

Yes, you know the original ending of Blade Runner was very dark and that's the one that ended up in the director's cut, Ridley Scott's director's cut. What was that ending? Basically that Harrison Ford is going to die. Well, that Rachel Ward is going to die, because replicants have expiration dates, and is Harrison Ford a replicant or not? Oh, it leaves it open. I'm pretty sure the director's cut leaves it ambiguous. Even though I think Ridley Scott came out years later and said, yeah, he is a replicate. So in the audience tested version, he turns to the camera and says directly to the audience,

nope, I'm not a replicate. Not quite. But all that terrible voiceover narration was added, and the non-director's cut. And they had the happy ending with infamous blue sky shot, the only blue sky in the whole movie, was them like driving down the road at the end and explaining the voiceover that, well, not all replicants have an expiration date. You're special, so you don't have one. Wow. So we can just live together in harmony and that Philip K. Dick Rollover and his grave

probably so but that shot of the only blue sky it wasn't even from that movie it was pulled from Outtakes of the shining the Car scene and the shining when they're driving up the road. Oh wow. So wow. Yeah, Blade Runner really screwed that one up Huh, and really Scott of course was. He was not so happy about that. I can imagine you make this master piece and then somebody texts on out takes from the shot. Yeah, we're good.

We're good. You got anything else? Nope. Okay, I don't either. We could probably do this for a while though, because there's plenty of other movies that were changed thanks to audiences. But if you are ever in a line at a movie theater

and somebody trustworthy, seeing them, seeing them comes up to you and ask you if you want to be in a test audience, give them a shot. Yeah, and the big thanks to mental floss for all the, a lot of that list stuff came from one of their articles. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, that's all I got. And if you want to know more about audience testing, type those words in the search barhouse.forks.com and since I said that, it's time for Listener Mail. I'm going to call this Oceans Are Cool, if I pay attention. Hey guys, love the show. I used to listen every day when I rode the trains from Brooklyn into Manhattan to work. But recently I started to work in Brooklyn, close enough for me to bike to, so I don't

ride trains anymore. They're pros and cons to that. On one hand, I save over $110 a month in Metro Card fees. Don't have to wait for trains, which adds another 20 minutes to the Google Map travel times. On the downside, when it rains, it's tough to bike to work, although I am learning to love that. And the other con is that I don't have time to listen to you guys as much, since it's very detailed and paying attention is key if I want to enjoy the show, and I need to keep my thoughts on the road. My commute is also down to 15 minutes, which doesn't help much either. I need to reconcile this fellows. This morning I tried to listen to the Oceans episode while doing some work on my computer,

but wasn't long before I knew I'd miss something critical. At some point, riptides were defined and laddered up to equatorial winds. A connection I recall from taking oceanography in high school. But I did not understand when I wasn't paying attention this morning. When I used to listen on the train, the show had my undivided attention. Now I'm trying to find a new time to listen. Maybe I'll save up shows and binge them on a nice long bike ride. And that is from Andrew,

uh, Negroes, N-I-G-R-O-S-H. Dye Groes, Negroes, something like that? Interesting, I've never heard that name. Well thanks a lot, Andrew. We appreciate you getting in touch with us. We hope you figure this out. This sounds like a terrible conundrum. Maybe just get an email job that requires you to do that. It's further away. Yeah. Go work in that ever mod. Yeah. There you go. A problem solves. If you have a problem that you want Chuck and I to solve for you, like we just did for Andrew, you can tweet to us at sysk podcast. You can join us

on facebook.com slash stuff you should know. You can send us an email to stuffpodcast.house.works.com and as always join us at our home on the web, stuffyoushadeno.com. Stuff you should know is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts, my heart radio, visit the I Heart Radio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows. So there is a ton of stuff they don't want you to know. Yeah, like does the US government really have alien technology? Or what about the future of AI? What happens when computers actually learn to think? Could there be a serial killer in your town?

From UFOs to psychic powers and government cover-ups, from unsolved crimes to the bleeding edge of science, history is riddled with unexplained events. Listen to stuff they don't want you to know on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you find your favorite shows. Apple podcasts or wherever you find your favorite shows. Hi, Jennifer Lopez here with the new season of My Overcomfort Podcast. What's over-comfort all about? It's about inspiring confidence in all of us and choosing calling over-comfort.

Every Tuesday I'll be having real and honest conversations. You'll hear it from me first before any cheeseman hits your social media feed. Join me as I create a space where opening up is not only okay, it's encouraged. You'll hear it from me first before any cheeseman hits your social media feed. Join me as I create a space where opening up is not only okay, it's encouraged. Listen to Overcome for Podcasts with Jenna Colopas on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Hola, hola! It's your girl Cheekies and I'm back with brand new episodes of my podcast,

Cheekies and Chill and Dear Cheekies. y me pende a todos los estudios y no me preocupes, me voy a preguntar a vosotros, personalmente, en episodios de Dier Chiquis. Así que acompañáme cada día en el día de hoy en el día de hoy, y a vosotros, y a vosotros, y a vosotros, y a vosotros, y a vosotros, y a vosotros,

y a vosotros, y a vosotros, y a vosotros, y a vosotros, y a vosotros, y a vosotros, También me voy a enseñar tus preguntas personalmente en episodios de Dear Chiquis. Así que acompañame every Monday and Wednesday por nuevos episodios de Chiquis en Chil y de your chiquis en el I Heart Radio app Apple Podcast o wherever you get your podcasts.