The Press Box - Ep. 158: 'Jam Session' With Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins

Episode Date: July 27, 2016

The Ringer's Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins give their thoughts on the 'Gilmore Girls' reboot trailer, Lindsay Lohan's social media activity (17:00), and Wendi Murdoch's Rolodex reveal in 'Vogue' (25:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of Jam Session on Channel 33 is brought to you by Seekek, our presenting sponsor, and the only fan-friendly app for buying and selling sports and music tickets. Seekek makes buying tickets on your phone a total snap. With just two taps, you can instantly buy tickets to an event that same day, have your tickets deliver straight to your phone, and enter the event without ever having to print a ticket. And if you can't go to a gamer show, you can sell your tickets directly from the app in less than 30 seconds. But Seekek, there's no guesswork. You'll know exactly where you're sitting, what you will pay,

and whether or not you're getting a good deal. All right from your phone. So drop your old ticket app and experience buying and selling tickets the way it should be. To start using Seekek, download the free Seekek app or go to Seekek.com. And one more thing.

Let me just tell you, we've got merch available. Go to bitly.com slash ringer merch where you can find shirts and hoodies. A portion of the proceeds from each purchase will benefit charity water, a nonprofit organization that provides clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

Again, go now to bitly.com slash ringer merch. That's B-I-T-L-Y.com slash ringer merch. Welcome to Jam Session. I'm Julietette Lippman. I'm Amanda Dobbins. It's a Taylor Swift free week. We're not doing it.

We're just not. We're not going there. There's really not a lot to say. No change. Do you think everyone just closed there? Yeah, they're like over this podcast. Let's move on. But there's still many wonderful things starts talking about.

A wonderful, I mean, like enticing and exciting, not necessarily positive. It's true. It's a range of emotions this week. We've got the Gilmore Girls trailer, which just hit. Breaking news, if you will. We have Lindsay Lohan's Possible. Yeah, and potential pregnancy.

That's tough. That's the low point of the emotions. And we have a Wendy Murdoch profile in Vogue. I know. I love that she's going with Wendy Murdoch. We'll talk about that later. Let's talk with Gilmar Girls first. Just giving your first impression.

First of all, you shared the Italian version of the trailer with me. That's the trailer that came to me. I'm trying to get you the news as fast as it happens. Juliet. At Netflix IT. And I shared at Netflix IT with you. Anyway, Netflix just did their Go More Girls panel at the TCA's. They released a trailer. It's about two minutes. We had mixed feelings. It was ominous. My first reaction, and this is a really weird reaction, I was very weirded out by the HD, not in the sense that I think they both look great. It has nothing to do with how anyone looks, but I was just like, Gilmore Girls is not supposed to be an

HD. Right. That's a square experience. Yeah, this is not how this looks. And again, you know, I feel like we've talked about this a lot where fan service is like a very common thing these days, but I have never experienced it before. And finally, they're making my shit again. It's coming for you.

And I guess everyone has dealt with this, but I'm just like, huh, that's, that's not how it looked. Yeah. Imagine what it's like when you're used to reading Spider-Man and then you see Spider-Man, like on the screen. Now I understand the fan voice play. Now I relate. I was most upset by the fact that it seemed like Alexis and Lauren had no chemistry anymore.

Yeah, that was tough. Like it was sort of like they were at a table read or something. Like they were at a table, in fact, but they were on camera. Like it just seemed like they like didn't know each other anymore. I don't want to be like the bro who discusses cinematography at length. But again, I would argue that something about the HD made it feel closer and more intimate. Yeah. and then they aren't like delivering the chemistry and the energy that goes with it.

Also, I think I would have gone on the walking scene for the first scene. Like, can't we get them walking through Stars Hollow? Yeah, that's true. I just also, their kitchen does not appear to have changed. No decorations in like, what, 10 years? There was some Christmas stuff behind them. I could see some lights. Yeah, but it's like Christmas stuff on the normal stuff.

It's still all the same junk. Right. And if Luke and Lorelai have broken up, which is rumored as possible, like wouldn't she have gone through some kind of like design overhaul? all purge yourself of your of your exes? Also, if she and Luke are over for good, then she's not in Stars Hollow anymore because there are too many memories and she can't deal with it. Can there be a Gomore Girls reboot that does not end with them either like falling back in love, getting remarried? I mean, we're assuming they broke up. Like, like, what's the point of Gilmore

girls without Luke and Loreline together? Like, seriously, I need to know. Yeah, I guess there's no point. I have to be honest that I was never as like OTP about Luke and Lorelie as everyone else. Because he's so grumpy? They're both so annoying. This is the thing also where like so many rewatches because Gilmore Girls is the show that I'll put on for comfort food in the background just because it's on Netflix. It really depends. Sometimes I'm in a Jess mood. Sometimes I'm in a Logan mood.

I am never really here for season one in the Dean stuff. It's pretty boring. Season one I find boring. I do like her first year at Yale. That's probably my favorite season. Yeah, that's because Logan is secretly the best boyfriend. It's fine. It's fine.

He's not until second season of Yale, though. Doesn't he show up at the, oh, that's right. Because she's dating Dean. And her first year ends with. Sleeping with Dean. Right, and then she goes to Italy. Logan Lorla, like it. Okay, fair enough.

It's a great season. I love it. Also, she cuts her hair for the first time. I also just, I like the flustered girls, and they're both flustered in season three. Or, sorry, season four. That's the one I'm talking about. Is that also this season where Lorelei is dating Chris Eagerman? Yeah.

I was recently watching that season, actually. I'm in the middle right now. Anyway, that's Jason, right? Yeah, Digger. Yeah. Yeah, so I watch it so many times that, and I do find that every single time I watch it, Lorelei becomes a little more annoying, and Luke becomes a little grumpier, and I just become convinced of the, like, oh, you are just hateful people.

Please stop talking. I've also, the other thing that I've noticed, side note, is now that I live in Los Angeles, I'm like very aware of how they frame the shots to cut out like the Burbank, you know, matters in the background. I'm just like, oh, I can see it. I can see it. Yeah, but anyway, I'm also aware that Luke and Lord like kind of hate each other. So, IRL, you mean?

I don't know, but also on the show. It's just kind of like. I actually don't know if they hate each other. IRL. I would believe it. But it's just they seem. Another like rewatch realization I've had is that as we're like we're both in our 30s, it's really weird to think about Lorelai, like being close to our age and having a teenage daughter.

Yeah, that's very true. And it's really weird to like think about how she was dressing, which I actually think was very realistic. Like if you had a daughter very young and like didn't really get to like experience fashion until you're in your 30s, you would probably wear stuff you wish you had worn when you were 20 or whatever and look bad, which I think is like a funny way to interpret her first day at Chilton outfit when she's wearing the jeans shorts and like just like a total mess. But it's just, it's weird to like to have been close to Rory's age when we were watching and now watching now and being close to Laurelize's age.

Like that's such like a weird reversal. Yes, that's totally true. I have two responses that I'd like to make to that. Please do. The first response is to the clothes, which is just like, wow, what a terrible dresser. Terrible. It was awful. And I don't even think it's like.

All her shirts were too short. And just like weird bad patterns. And she, you know, they go on at length about how she's such like a great snazzy dresser. and like, what's the Lorelei style this season, et cetera? And it's, the Lorelei style is a nightmare every season. That's the answer. It's so bad. And it's not even like, oh, weren't the 2000s weird and we made mistakes about fashion bad?

It's just objectively bad. Yeah. Okay. The other thing that I want to say is that I do relate to watching the show now and having that weird moment of being like, oh, so now I'm a contemporary of Lorelei and Rory. And I guess that's probably why I'm harder on her, though. Rory or Lorelei? On Lourley.

I think I was always a little hard on Rory. The WB had terrible female heroines, so they were all awful. The tricky thing, though, is that you and I are basically the same real life age as Rory. Yeah.

Like, within a year or two, we both graduated from high school at the same time. Yeah. So it's, Lorelei is still too old and for me. Sure.

She's not old, but I still look at her and I'm like, that's not my person. Rory's my person. Oh, yeah. I remember watching the series finale in my junior

year apartment and just like weeping because I didn't want college to end like ever for me. And I was just like so upset to be going through it with Rory, but I was so proud of her for not going with Logan. It was like a very, very emotional experience. One of my main problems with Alexis Ledell, and this is kind of weird considering how much I love Gilmore girls, is that I just can't see her outside of her madman role anymore. Like for some reason that really haunts me. Yeah. And I think maybe it's because she's married to Vincent Carthizer. So it's like that lingers on more for me. And that was like a very, I actually really liked that arc on Mad Men when she basically played like a Beljar character who then got a lot of shock treatment just like in the Beljar. And that like really obscures Rory for me.

Maybe also because she was better playing Beth on Mad Men than she was playing Rory in seven years. Disagree. You think she was pretty bad on Mad Men? I think she was really bad on Mad Men. I think also most people were bad on Mad Men. I'm really anti. I'm out. I'm not anti, but I'm like everyone needs to calm down.

I think I had a hard time divorcing her from Rory. in Mad Men. She was just also too blank in Mad Men. I mean, she's not a good actress. No, there's that. It's really tough. Yeah. And it's going to become tougher as we watched her try to be a grown-up.

Yeah, but I think with Rory, at least you have the association of when she was a teenager and just, like, cute and didn't know what's going on. And that's supposed to be the character. And she was pretty good at that. Yeah. And so I'm willing to forgive her more. It also, yeah, that's a good point. I mean, Mrs. Adel shoes, really going to miss Edward Gilmore. That's going to be sad.

That's really sad. I love Kelly Bishop so much, though. I'm really excited for some Emily Gilmore action. I think that'll be great. I was just reading some reports from the TCA panel. Apparently, we will get an answer on who Rory ends up with. Oh, interesting. Which I'm pleased about, but not all questions have been answered. I was doing air quotes there about just since you can't see me. That's about Lorelize. Huh. So what do you think that means? Not all questions will be answered about Lorela. I don't know what that means.

That's strange. It probably means they're going to do more on again, off again, Luke, bullshit to try to extend the series as long as possible. It's fine. Is Christopher on this show? I actually don't. I always liked Christopher. No, I think he is. I mean, he sort of has to be right because he's Rory's dad.

Yeah. I always liked Christopher. Great character. Great character. Never should have been married. No. That was a bad choice. That was the worst thing.

happen about Amy Sherman and Paldino leaving for season seven. Yeah. Because I actually didn't think that season was that bad except for that storyline. They had that one episode where Christopher and Lorelite go to Paris and they never go outside. Like because they're like jet lag the whole time. That was just like really silly. That didn't really work out well. Maybe a funny idea. I also assume that was just because they couldn't shoot a location. Totally. Yeah. They're just like, they'll just be jet lagged the whole time. Because like, that just doesn't really make sense, but whatever. It is also a major plot point in Francis Ha though. Yeah. But that is really well done. and really funny and it's like spot on for frances what time did puss and boots start is still one of the

greatest all-time movie lines it's so good oh man i mean so uh gilmore girls comes out the day after thanksgiving i'll definitely watch it that day i'm very excited about that only one episode though right four oh all four yeah that's my understanding is that it's all i just saw the amy quote saying that she would hang herself in her bathroom if they all came at once so i assumed that maybe she won that but you're probably right. Like, wow, that's like Netflix's this whole thing. I'm actually very confused about why difficult people is coming once a week on Hulu. That's a great question.

Did, like, someone can actually demand that? Is it a test case? Like, I don't really get it. I mean, I wonder if it has something to, I don't know the answers, but I wonder if it has to do with the fact that Hulu does host a lot of network. Kind of footage, so they're used to doing it on a weekly basis. Right. That makes sense.

It is a great source for catching up on Grey's Anatomy if you're ever behind, which I know you would never be Amanda. You would never lose track. I'm literally about six to seven years behind, but spiritually I'm always with Graze Anatomy. I'm always up to date. How about that? It's so good. It's really weird that Grace Anatomy and Gomore Girls were on at the same time, once upon a time.

And Graze is still going strong. Yeah. Still going strong. I'm looking forward to coming back, in fact. So am I. Sure. Spiritualally. I support.

I like living in a world where Grace is on TV. Yeah. How about that? Me too. I actually really do too. I was just reading an article about Ellen Pompeo. She chose, she said, she told People magazine, which I then read about on the cut, where she said, thanks to my mom, or sending it to me, that she chose to stay with Grades Anatomy

because of her age. Like, she just thought she wouldn't get as good of a job and she'd written off because she's in her 40s. And I realize that like Grace Anademy is a workplace drama where I feel like the people who are on the show very openly treated as like just the job. Like being on Grace Anatomy is like not some like emotional, all encompassing experience. It's a great, steady job. And I kind of, like, very much appreciate that. I feel like television and actors should talk about television more like that.

I would just say go beyond television. Like, I admire that for all walks of life. Yeah. Like, what that we all could just have, like, a nice, rewarding job that is comfortable? And then we go home and have our other lives. Yeah. I really, I like, it was kind of, like, refreshing. Yeah.

And it was like a real, like, woman at work story. I really appreciated it. I don't know. I just like that. Yeah, that seems great. I support them. I have one other Lauren Graham thought and then we can move on. Great. This is related to my Alexis put-out problem. I loved parenthood so much that

Sarah from Parenthood is seeping into Lorelei for me because their hair is very similar. So you were able to move on from, from Yolmore Girls. For both characters. Yes, it was. That's really interesting. Yeah. That's surprising. That's some advanced TV psychology. I have heard that Parenthood is that powerful. I try to watch Power. I don't think you would like it. Wow. Why? Because I don't have feelings. It's just like so sentimental. I will say, I like that, but I don't think sentimental. Like every week? Yeah, of course.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I like Gilmore Girls. Definitely watch it. But it's like a different, it's different than Gilmore Girl sentimental. It's like, weeping, it's like ugly weeping in the corner sentimental. Listen, I contain multitudes. My issue was that I tried to start parenthood during like a very emotional period of my own life.

And I was just like, this is too much. I vividly remember. It was when I lived in Brooklyn Heights and I was sitting in my little studio, trying to watch Parenthood and just like sobbing. And I was like, no, I don't have room for this. I like really miss Parenthood. I'm really excited for that show on NBC that is like that has like the This Is Us or whatever.

Oh yeah. That looks like Parenthood replacement. I just want more television shows that feel like a warm blanket over me when I watch them. But here is my follow up question about this. Because it's a warm comforting blanket that also makes you weep. Yeah. In like a safe space and like a warm.

Which I have noticed is sort of like your number one pop cultural enthusiasm. I'm thinking also of me before you. Yeah, I love that. But in general, what you want is like a comforting experience and then to cry a lot. Yeah. Like I just want to like create a space where I know I'm going to cry and like do it and then and then move out of that space. Is that like periodically? I guess so. It's just like this is where I'm safe to cry. No, that's interesting. Yeah. See, I just want something where I do not have to pay any attention at all. And it's like people. like have good banter and go on nice vacations. And it's like, oh, I'm also bantering and going on nice vacations. So I'm looking for more of like a purely escape as like fun experience as opposed to an emotional crying experience from my pop culture. Sure. Yeah, no, I just love a good tear drinker television show. Okay. I can't wait for this is us this fall. I'm going to be the only one watching. It's probably going to be canceled and I'll be pissed. How many episodes does a show have to like survive through before you invest to protect against that devastation. I like to get in from episode one. Wow. I don't I don't need to guard against cancellation. I just like I'm going to be

all in. So like for example, I can still bemoaning the cancellation of Loon Star many years later. Okay. I really wanted that show to stay on the air. I mean, it's tough. Okay, let's move on. But first, Amanda, do you want to tell us about me, undies? Oh, I'd love to. Oh, great. Juliet. Yes. Whether you're wearing a suit or sweats or a lovely dress as you're wearing today, or a jumpsuit maybe, because it's summer, you spend almost 24 hours a day in your underwear. But instead of making a statement like Superman's tights under his everyday clothes, your underwear is probably boring. Me undies is here to change that. Every pair of me undies is made from sustainably sourced modail,

a fabric that's twice as soft as cotton. Nothing can describe the fit and feel of me undies, But once you try them on, you'll understand why they're called the world's most comfortable underwear. And if you don't love your first pair of meandies, they're free. No questions ask. Meandies has dozens of styles and limited edition prints to help you make a statement with your underwear, whether anyone can see them or not. Shipping is free in the U.S. and Canada, and you can save up to $8 a pair with the meandies subscription plan. Whoa.

It's like days of the week underwear, but, you know, every week. get this subscription or a single pair get 20% off your first order when you go to meundies.com slash jam. That's meundies.com slash jam for 20% off your first order. And just to be clear, JAM is for Juliet and Amanda. That's true. I just want everyone to know. Jam session.

Jam session. Go to Meundies. Okay. Back to our podcast. I'm looking forward to go more girls. I just talk myself into it in that conversation. I think I am too. I'm also just kind of like, it's.

It's going to be enjoyable. Yeah. Sometimes all I ask is that we have a nice time watching TV. Yeah, our friends coming back together. Or a movie. That's it. Like, I had a nice time and then I moved on with my life. I had a nice time and then I moved on.

That's a great slogan. Yeah, okay. That'd be a nice name for a memoir, too. Someone is not having a nice time right now. Lindsay Lohan. Yeah, this is tough. This is bad. So, Lindsay Lohan is also like our age.

She's actually exactly my age. Yeah. And we have grown up with her. Yeah. Because. Did you like her parent trap? I loved her parent trap. I saw it in theaters.

I tried to, like, I somehow identified, like, this sad half wisp of bangs that she wears at paratroap is, like, a hairstyle that I at 12 also needed to try. Yeah. And, like, took a picture of, honestly, just, like, three pieces of hair brushed on the side of her forehead and was like, please give me this haircut. So, yeah, I identified with the parentrap. I really liked its depiction of camp. Not, like, not necessarily all of it, like, two girls that never be sequestereded

to one bunk together. But, like, that was very... A giant, lovely... plastic bunk. But that is like what like my camp looked like. It was like very similar. And like, you know, I really understood it. Weird that Janus from Friends is in that movie as the camp director.

Oh, correct. So strange. Yeah, that's a very weird one. But whatever. Anyway, I really into that movie. Also very vividly recall seeing Mean Girls in my senior year of high school when I was going to Northwestern and Northwestern like plays a role at the end of that movie. Oh, right.

Or actually in the whole movie because her parents are professors there. And I remember I was like in a crowded, sold out theater. theater on a Friday night wearing like some really lame like Corona trucker hat that I just purchased on spring break and like yelling like go Northwestern in the theater. It was like a really poignant pre-college. I'm a horrible teenager moment. But like I just, I just say Lindsay Lohan's been with us for a long time. And now she's really in decline. Like actually she's not in decline. She has declined. I mean, it's been a long road. Oh my God. Did you watch her Oprah show? No. It was very, very upsetting. Like it was seriously.

hearing. Like, she just, she can't follow through on anything. Like, she can't, like, she can't have any commitments, professional or apparently personal. I mean, it's been upsetting for 10 years. It's essentially, it's a slightly lower intensity version of the Britney Spears saga because she was never quite, like, the legal issues didn't become quite as fraught. And you didn't have, like, the iconic umbrella photo that you had with Brittany of just, like, things are very wrong here. But it was very clear that things are very wrong here. But it was very clear that things are very wrong here. And she got some help and there have been some good periods and some bad periods. She's a good actress. Yeah. But like she has not like had it been like together enough to act

successfully a long time. There's that really long article about the canyons that was in the New York, the filming of the canyons. That was great. New York Times magazine a few years ago. The or the Orlando Hotel figures prominently. Right. Here in Los Angeles. Yeah. Just kind of lays out some of the issues at hand in her professional life. Yeah. That was a great article. It was very good. So, you know, basically,

she had been relatively quiet until, I guess we should talk about them Brexit first if we really want to go like big picture. 2016 with Lindsay Lohan. During the Brexit voting, or leading up to it as well, she was tweeting. The day, the night of, the day of, etc. As the results were coming in,

like Lindsay Lohan got very involved with Brexit, Twitter, and was was spouting a lot of facts and using a lot of hashtags. And it was like, it was really entertaining in the sense that she was honestly like rattling off weird European like economic figures. And I was like, Lindsay Louand, how the fuck do you know that? How did she know that? Did she like an assistant feed her facts? I think so. Or she just kind of went on some, you know, I don't know if the facts were true because I don't know anything about European economics.

So I think that she was honestly maybe just pulling facts from random things she was reading. She was also like simultaneously tweeting to the Independent and the Guardian and the various British newspapers. It was hugely entertaining because it was so random and you were like, why are you doing this Lindsay Lohan? But if you thought about it for three seconds, you were just like, okay, well, something's off here. She did tweet a mean girls quote in response to the, in the Brexit. She tweeted, for the love of hashtag her majesty of the queen dot dot the hashtag leave, hashtag you can't sit with us. Yeah, I mean, it was. I believe Lindsay wrote that herself. I totally believe that she wrote this tweets herself.

I just want to be very clear. It was definitely Lindsay Lohan, like, locked in on Twitter at, like, 2 a.m. UK time. She also accidentally tweeted hashtag one loan. I think she meant one love. She's traveled. Yeah. It's not funny.

I mean, it was like, it was really, the thing was that in practice, in a bubble, it was hilarious. But it was not funny. Yeah. She also did hashtag working class people. Do you think she knows that? means. No, I think she has no idea. I mean, this is dark. We're laughing because it's so dark. Right. So that was, it was a thing. It was also, it got a lot of attention. I think she, like, even had to respond to the attention and sort of offended it. And then you were like, okay, well,

we hadn't heard from her in a while. It seems like she's taking an interest in current affairs. Yeah. Okay. Got some free time. She's reading out. And then on Saturday night, the wheels really came off again. Yes. So she started tweeting about how her now ex-Russian boyfriend, who is named Igor Tarabasov, was out partying with an alleged prostitute. Info via page six, one of my go-to sources. Right. Were you looking at the Instagrams in real time? No, it wasn't. I was. Oh, my goodness. Tell me about that. I don't know what this says about my life. But I was made aware and I did kind of seen him in real time. They were, it was clear that she was alleging that he was a cheating asshole, but other than that, they were fairly incomprehensible. Yeah, they really were. I was

like, I had no idea she's talking about. Yeah. And she's deleted most of them. She left one up of, it's a picture of him with his face scribbled out. That's one of my favorites. It's like very poorly scribbled as well. So it's not really like much of an indictment of him. It's just the whole thing. It's really weird. Yeah. So, you know, by Monday, she was, had deleted things. I was asking for privacy. She's in Sardinia on a boat with friends, so the pictures look great. Sounds great.

Meanwhile, her jackass dirtbag father is literally like calling TMZ to announce that she's claiming she's pregnant, which... And he says he found out via text, much like Hillary Clinton's vice president. Everyone's doing text messages these days. Let's unpack the layers. I mean, she's... our age. She's a grown woman. She'll be fine. She can do what she wants. It's unfortunate that like the breakup and the, you know, it's just a really crazy. It's an emotionally troubled,

like, turbulent time for her. Yeah. It's also been over 10 years of her parents like very clearly using her for their own attention. I mean, that's the real thing. That's the worst part. Her dad is just the worst. Yeah. And they're both terrible, Dina and Michael Lohan. Yeah, that's true. And it just so open. It's like we've had this version of this story so many times in 10 plus years. It's pretty sad. I mean, of course Lindsay Lohan's messed up because this is the kind of shit that happens to her. Right. And her parents were taking an email for and literally calling the tabloids to confirm stories about her. That's unacceptable. I know. It is really bad. And like what is she like, what

is she supposed to do? I mean, like when... I mean, I guess go on a boat in Italy, which I hope she has good friends. They seem, they look nice on the photos. It seems like they're having a nice time on the boat, which, you know, I hope she has good friends too. It's sad. Yeah. Also, it's interesting that she's kind of decamped to London. I feel like that's been our home base for a while. Oh, I assumed that was because of the fiancé. Yeah, and she also was in like some plays there. Like maybe she can just get more work there. Certainly not cheaper, although it might be now after the Brexit vote. I mean, I don't know. Like she is, she and Misha Barton are very similar, or in like the same camp to me now. Although Linsillahan had so much more promise than Misha ever did. It's really. Yeah, that's really true.

It's really a bummer. She could have been a great actress, I think. Maybe she could. She's what, 30? Yeah. You never know. Also, Rumors is a great jam. Rumors is actually an incredible song. It really is.

It's a great song. I vaguely remember just that it was like the winter of 2005. Like five. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of sad for Lindsay. But the parent trap is still a great watch on syndication. Your Trap is still a great movie. I mean, maybe, you know, they're third and fourth and fifth acts. Did you see the movie version of a Prairie Home Companion? I assume you did that she's in. Is that the one with Merrill or that's...

Yeah. There's also Georgia Rule. Yeah. Because Prairie Home Companion is really weird. It's like... I definitely saw a Prairie Home Companion because... Robert Altman, I think. Yeah. But I'm just trying to remember whether I saw both. I didn't obviously George to rule but I already have to see like pieces on cable but a prayer home companion is like

I feel like that was like the last like she could have like pulled things together like being in a Robert Altman movie could like restart your career or something or like point you on like an indie direction that's healthy but it just didn't work out like in a different life Lindsay Lohan could have had the career of like Emma Stone

or she could have been like just more I don't know more beloved choosier so sad yeah like only one red head at a time I guess Yes. That's depressing. She never should have gotten rid of the red hair, too. When she went blonde, I was like, oh, no, disaster. She had beautiful red hair. Yeah, I had a little bit of blonde. Blonde was fun for a minute until it went dark. That's bad. How ironic that she had blonde hair and she went

dark. It's really tough. Let's move on. Lindsay, we wish you the best. We really do. I'm holding out. That's great. I never know. I believe. I believe. I believe in comebacks. Yeah, sure. If we don't believe in comebacks, what can we believe in? Yeah. So true. Speaking of a comeback, Wendy Murdoch, you'd think that divorce from Rupert when he's remarried to Jerry Hall would hold her down. But no, there's a Vogue profile of Wendy Murdoch this month. And my main takeaway was that Wendy Murdoch seems really busy. Like, really, really busy. She does have a lot going on.

And she knows every person of like any relevance at the moment. Like, across industry. It's an astounding name-dropping document. It really is. Okay. I want to talk about, I want to talk to you as an editor about this piece by Rob Haskell. Sure. This piece really blew me away. It sort of seemed like she was, she was right. It makes Wendy Dang's, Wendy Murdoch's narrative so simple. Okay. And like so, like, so, um, like, Vanity Fair, Becky Thacker, Becky Thatcher to me, like sort of like scrappy woman, like rising up or whatever. ever. And like, I just felt like it was too simple. And, like, I don't know. Well, the tricky thing about it is that it does skip the whole middle 15 years of her life when she was married to Rupert Murdoch. And clearly that had some role in her current position as a connector of influential people. Right. And it just totally skips over it, which it's a Vogue profile and Vogue profiles are

puff pieces, almost exclusively. I shouldn't speak categorically, but usually they are, the purpose of them is to make the person in question look great. And there is a whole section of, I was actually surprised that the Vogue profile even addressed all of the rumors about Putin and Tony Blair and etc. So there is a section about Murdoch and about the divorce, but it's written, like, it's essentially written by her PR person or written by someone who is used to writing like treaties between nations. And it's like, Wendy and Rupert have made a joint decision to not discuss their divorce in public because of the children. And then she gives a couple, like I actually thought pretty well-pitched quotes about her children. She even talks about

Jerry Hall and is like, I've only met her once briefly. My children like her. Yeah. I say to be nice to her. I like one of the only people who commented for this article were, by the way, just side, let's do a whole podcast on Vogue comment. or sometime. But anyway. It's really notable that the person who's kind of like her character reference here is Ariana Huffington. Oh, yeah.

Media mogul, politically opposed to Rupert Murdoch, has her own empire that is like completely opposed to the Fox empire. Right. It sort of like benefits her to like speak up for Wendy here. Yes. It's like pretty comical. But the way that she, in the way that she knows Ariana Huffington, they were introduced, I think, to like their mutual trainer, I believe is what it said.

Yoga instructor. They shared a yoga. instructor in Los Angeles. Yes. Thank you. Yeah, which is incredible. And that comes in a paragraph that also mentions her other

her other like friends, like professional colleagues. All friends at a dinner dinner party that is organized for the express purpose of showing the Vogue reporter how impressive she is. Let me just do a quick reading

of who's at this dinner. Yeah. Dave Clark of Uber. Right. Josh Kushner, who's dating Carly Klaus and his brother of Jared, son-in-law of Donald Trump. Yes. Carter Cleveland of the online art platform artsy,

which I never heard of. Alan Tish of the Tish is. Ryan Williams of the investment firm Cadre. Bennett Miller, director of the movie Moneyball, which really upset me because I thought I respected and liked him with Bennett Miller. Amy Choir, the tiger mom, Ariana Huffington, Charlie Rose, Mark Ritchie, the chairman of Lionsgate. Who lives downstairs?

Who lives downstairs. And, of course, Wendy herself. Yeah. That's ridiculous. It's insane. Carly Closs, which she was. She was she, oh no. Sorry, only Josh missed there.

Yeah. I think I've heard that it's hard to get them as a, as a double. Interesting. Why is that? I think it's just that Carly is trying to be her own person. Like, they didn't even acknowledge their relationship until I think last year and they've been dating for three to four years. Interesting. I am like very concerned about kind of Carly Klaus and Jared Kushner's relate, not Jared Kushner,

Josh Kushner's relationship in general. Just given all of the Trump stuff and the Trump Association, I think it must be particularly fraught, but I don't know. I do root for Carly Klaus. I don't know why, but she seems lovely. She's committed to education. She goes to NYU. That's true. I don't know. She also seems to be friends with literally everyone. Yeah.

Not a particularly discerning. You know, I think she just says yes. But she's a great model. I like her. I wish her well. She's very tall. Anyway, back to Wendy Murdoch. So yeah, she just like, it seems like she was like a collector of like anything that she thinks might have importance.

of people, art, et cetera. Here's, I would love to read a sentence from the first two paragraphs, which is like, okay, here we go. Great. Murdoch, as everyone who knows her will tell you, thrills to a great many things, art, technology, fashion, film, investing. The current that runs through them all, it would seem, is the yearning to forge connections among the people in her vast orbit.

if Murdoch is not one of New York's leading Salonistas, it's only because her aims extend well beyond the transient trifle of good conversation. Okay, so honestly, the whole thrust of this profile, and while she's in Vogue, is like, Wendy Dang is good at networking, which like makes me, sorry, Wendy Murdoch, I'm, you know, is good at networking. That makes me want to die, because there's nothing worse than networking, by the way. Like I kept reading through this and it was really a paragraph to paragraph, wow, it seems like she has a great life and look at all these fancy people. And then the next paragraph, oh my God, and all she does is like take meetings and talk to people I want to die.

It seems like the best and the worst alternately. But her whole, you know, they kind of position her as like a Silicon Valley like Angel bringing a lot of investors together and all sorts of things. But literally, in every case, all she's doing is just being like, you and you meet. Yeah, she's connecting Americans and Chinese people, basically. Yeah. That's pretty much it. Although, I guess that's... I mean, I think that has its value.

It is not how I would want to spend my days. No. I think that, like, at a certain level, though, it's like you get a cut of every connection you make, right? Yeah, I guess so. So she's bringing in the bank. I mean, this article was just perplexing. It just made her seem like a maniacal networker.

Like, that she just, like... I think maybe she's... she is. Maybe it's like the most honest article about rich people that has ever been written. That's true. Like maybe this is just, I think this is just what they do. Well, that kind of gets back to like, to what I was thinking at the beginning, which is, is this like a flattering

portrait? Like, is this so, is this flattering of Wendy Dang? And like, does this guy who write, like, wrote this? Like, it's almost like, did he have great disdain for the puff piece that he just was trying to like put it, like, usher it through while also getting in his like subtle digs or something? I think that maybe the things you and I are reading it

as digs are just what, rich people and Vogue people are just like, yes, this is how we live our lives. Which is a different, I mean, you know, that's the conflict of reading Vogue in general. Sure. Stuff what happens. Every month. Pick cover to cover as certain people do. And also it was like a real like one percent or tail of like infiltrating the one percent basically.

Of like, and it's kind of like, wow, Wendy, that's impressive. Yeah, I thought that that part was inspired, you know, really impressive. It did skip over the middle part. Yeah. I mean, any story that doesn't include her antics in parliament when Murdoch was on trial is just like incomplete. That's true. That's a big part of her public persona. It's true.

And I would add the hardest thing about this article for me, no, the people were the hardest thing about this article for me. Networking is number one trouble. Sure. But number two is that the article goes out of its way to denounce or ignore like the, the, myths that have made Wendy Murdoch the important person that she is to me today. Right. They probably were like, you can't write about that, only write about the fact that she's an NBA. Right. And then they obviously have to deny the Vanity Fair article about Tony Blair. And she even goes on record and is like, I know them, but nothing has ever happened. Like people. They remain dear friends. Right. I don't

pay attention to people, which what people say, which, you know, good for her for commenting. And then she says that she's never met Putin. They don't believe it. I actually, that's the, I think that I believe the Doni Blair rumors, I think she could probably have never met Putin. I guess that's fair. That rumor was just like, it's so wild. An us weekly report that you and I just seized and like held and celebrated, but I don't know that we ever had the evidence to really confirm it.

Yeah, we didn't, unfortunately. So that one, so that's disappointing because I'm fine with her being like the, you know, rich people, Yenta. if she also is just out here making like incredible romantic choices and dating world leaders. I don't understand why those have to be mutually exclusive. They can all be under one umbrella that is the wonderful and powerful Wendy Murdoch. I mean, all Murdoch news is like fun for me. So like regardless of what they've omitted here, I'm just so happy to have this article in my life.

Thank you, Vogue. Can I also just say, I want to read the last sentence? Please do. So it's after she denies the Putin thing. As it happens, Murdoch is single and happy to be fixed up. The gossip columns aren't always wrong. It turns out that the handsome and much younger British violinist photographed next to her at a fashion show was indeed a date.

And then this is this quote from Wendy. Why not? She asks, am I supposed to be shy? Honestly? Love it. I do respect her. I do. I don't know how I feel about respecting her, but I respect.

respect her. What is, I don't know, it's complicated. It's like blind, it's just like, it's blind ambition, you know? Yeah. I like it. I like it. I mean, it's certainly entertaining. I like her way more as a single woman than as Rupert Murdoch's wife. Let's put it that way. Yeah, sure. How do you feel about Jerry Hall as, as a single woman as opposed to I feel like, I prefer everyone as not Rupert Rupert Rorke's wife. I don't know, though, because Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall is such an incredible power couple. I don't know. I feel like that's the only case where it's like, wow, this just got even wilder. It's so, it really is like surreal.

Like, it's hard to believe it's real. I know. It's incredible though. Rubent Murdoch has given me so much and also caused so much. I was going to say. Negativity in this world. What a way to end this podcast. More importantly, thank you to Vogue for this article.

Yes, thank you, Vogue. And thank you to Go More Girls for giving us more souls to dissect. And thank you for listening. Thanks all around. And don't forget to check out theringer.com.