The Press Box - 'Jam Session' — Hot Topics: The Rock, the Biebs, and 'Felicity' (Ep. 314)

Episode Date: June 1, 2017

The Ringer's Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins discuss the Rock's star power (5:00), Justin Bieber's smugness and catchy new single (14:00), Ellen Pompeo's Hamptons retreat (23:00), Keri Russell's star on the Walk of Fame (32:00), and Lorde's elitist Instagram comments (42:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey guys, if you're like me and you're not so great at planning ahead, you have to try hotel tonight. Have you heard of hotel tonight, Amanda? I have actually. You told me about it. I have it on my phone because of you. Yeah, that's because it's a great app that helps you find an amazing hotel deal at the last minute up to seven days in advance. I think we were talking about it because I was thinking about indulging at a little staycation. But you could also use it for a spontaneous getaway. You know, if you're in California, go up the coasts, wherever you want. Go to Mexico for all, for all I know. All takes is 10 seconds. just three taps and a swipe.

So what are you waiting for? Get in on these killer last minute deals and download the Hotel Tonight app now. Welcome to Jam Session. It's a Thursday edition. I'm Juliet Lippman. I'm Amanda Dobbins. We got some hot topics to discuss.

We're going to be like a rapid fire lightning round of jam session interests. We are. We'll do the lineup now. Yes. Great idea. So we're going to start with a jam session favorite, The Rock.

He's been in the news a lot lately. Obviously, I mean, he's always in the news. But that's one of the reasons he's so great. Exactly. And then we are going to talk about a young man from Canada named Justin Bieber, who did not go to Spanish class. No. And then Jam Session favorite celebrity real estate, Ellen Pompeo, hit architectural digest. She's got a tight relationship with her architect slash interior designer.

Can't wait to discuss it. She's living really well. After that, we're also going to talk about Felicity, the television show. we have to deal briefly with Taylor Swift, but we'll keep it brief. And then are the one thing that we can't stop thinking about. I honestly can't wait to discuss mine. So you were on vacation. It might have slipped past you.

Who knows? I can't wait. This is very exciting. This is very exciting. First, let's talk about The Rock. Yeah. So it's been quite a month for The Rock. He is obviously in Baywatch, which will come back to.

But I want to start with the piece that he's, did for GQ. He was on the cover of GQ. And friend of the podcast, Katie Weaver, wrote a great profile of him that included a whole section about the Rock talking pretty earnestly about how he would consider running for president. So that has introduced a new timeline of the Rock as a future presidential candidate, which is interesting. But I wanted to talk about his kind of this profile and his press tour generally because the Rock is really. good at being a celebrity. Really good at it.

He's really, really good at it. Their profile is insanely charming. Yeah. I think in part because he is a charming guy and he seems to have made it his job to be engaged and connect with everyone and be a really good celebrity. Like he's identified that as a way to success. He's like a consensus builder. Yes, exactly, which is maybe why he's going to run for president, which we can talk about later. So he's very charming in this profile.

And then on Twitter, he has just been, and he's always this way. He like tweets a lot. He tweets too much. I can't follow him. I don't know whether you do. I don't either. Yeah. I try to keep it to 400 or less in between like following my favorite White House reporters now

and a lot of NBA people. It's just not a lot of room for the rock. How often are you changing in and out of followers, by the way? Not that often. but like when I want to add someone new, someone's got to go. So are you unfollowing the person that goes or are you muting them? No, I unfollow. You don't mute at all.

No, no, I mute too. But only for people who like I feel like it would be offensive, they would be offended if I unfollowed them. It's just not worth the headache. So that's just a mute. No, I agree. I do that too. I have found myself muting a lot lately.

But I'm usually not brave enough to the unfollow. Anyway, the rock tweets too much for me. If you tweet more than six times a day, like, I probably don't follow you, just an FYI. Agreed. But he has been, like, he retweets fans. He did a very charming thing after the profile came out where he retweeted all the praise of the profile and, like, added the writer Katie Weaver. And he went on, like, a talk show and shouted her out. He just kind of really, he retweeted the piece that Chase Serrano and Kate Nibbs wrote this week.

He's really just like, he has his followers, he believes in them. He reads the comments. he wants to hear your comments. He's super involved. And it's also, it seems pretty authentic. It does. The profile's interesting because it's definitely a choice and a performance that he's doing, but it seems like an authentic performance.

Like he doesn't know how to be anything other than this person who thinks really hard about making sure everyone's included. Yeah. And being really sincere, which is, you know, not how I enter the world, but that's because I'm a bad person. The Rock seemed generally really nice. That's kind of one of the reasons why his alleged feud with Vin Diesel so intriguing because he's just not known as a fighter.

Like who are his enemies? Like who is he against other than Vin Diesel? Well, here's the thing is that I've always interpreted that as everyone against Vin Diesel. Yeah. In the most recent, it was Fast 8. Yeah. In Fast 8, it's not just that the Rock and Vin Diesel won't be in a scene together. It's that like Vin Diesel is not in a scene with any of the other cast members for the whole movie.

Like it's very clear that like no one wants to be around him or maybe that he doesn't want to be around anyone. Yeah. It's like on the good wife when Kalinda was just ended up in like a different city essentially from everyone else because clearly no one wanted to be in a scene with her or there was just too much beef or something. It's a very similar situation. Was it really Kalinda who ended up being the problem child in that one? It's really hard to tell because they will not talk about it. And it's like it's like the main Hollywood story that I want to read about, which is like what the fuck happened between Julianna Margulies and Archie. Punjabi, but I guess because she was not the good wife, Archie Punjabi got like

sidelined and like was literally like just like on these like goose chases for two seasons of the show. It was pretty bizarre. That I remember. I just always thought that it was definitely. And I don't know why I thought this. But my understanding was always that it was Julianna Margulis. It was like I won't be in a scene with her.

Is that wrong? Is that just me projecting? I think that I think that was like the rumor. But that doesn't mean that archie and Punjabi didn't do something to deserve it. Wasn't there also a time when Archie Punjabi, like, tweeted something, some sort of comment on the feud? Yeah. It was like I was there that made it seem like she had been exiled. Yeah.

And in her final scene, there's a goodbye between Alicia and Kalinda. And it became clear that they weren't ever filming together. And Archie Punjabi took a Twitter to weigh in to, like, refute some of the claims or whatever. But she definitely was not, like, putting forth the company line. Anyway, that's a good, that's a digression for another time. Back to The Rock. Okay. So anyway, the Rock.

Extremely likable, engaged celebrity. He seems to have figured out exactly how social media works, how to kind of be a major, major celebrity, very famous in this moment without totally screwing up as like some of the other people who are going to feature it on this podcast later can't really figure out. And I'm generally impressed by that. I think he's very good at it. But so here's what I wanted to talk to you about. That did not help Bewatch at all. At all. Although I did see it.

Just want you to know. And we'll talk about his performance in it and how you felt about it. How did you think he was in Bewatch? Like, fine. Okay. I actually was doing an inventory. I was like, how many of the Rock's movies have I seen? And like very, very few.

I like him as a celebrity and I'm just not interested in his movies. So I'm kind of the opposite of the rest of the world. like they like obviously eat up all of his movies and so like I thought he was fine I don't know like I'm definitely into uh Zach Efron so that was like you know watching them together was more fun than watching either of them separate basically like they should do a buddy cop movie together they they should turn Baywatch into just like a buddy cop franchise of Zach Efron so they have a good chemistry but the film did not serve their chemistry yes is the julia review that's a that's a great way of putting it um also like at one point the rock is like

Spoiler. I know everyone's dying to see Baywatch. At one point, he, like, loses his job and he's working as, like, a phone salesman at a sprint. First of all, I like to think the Rock would go for Verizon or AT&T and not Sprint. And second of all... It's probably who they got for product placement, but anyway. Great point. I don't like to think of the Rock as, like, a regular guy. You know what I mean? Like, and so when they took him out of the sort of, like, super lifeguard, like, watches over everyone. I was just like, well, this isn't fun. Who wants to see the Rock be, like, some regular Joe, Schmoe selling a phone. So that was like a bad look. And that's like part of, I think, his appeal is that he is like so extraordinary, but like manages to seem normal on Twitter, which is like part of what he does so well. He's also a really happy guy and you don't want to see the rock sad. I think there's a line in the GQ piece by Katie that says like there's a scene in Baywatch where he just like confused and sad and you like can't take your eyes away because it's the saddest thing you've ever seen to see this like cheerful giant teddy bear of a man deflated. Right.

That's very true. Okay, so it doesn't use the rock that well. That's fine. That said, many movies that have used their movie stars or, you know, the resources at hand, far worse, have made a lot more money than Bwatch. And I just think I'm really interested. I am interested in the fact that I think The Rock is kind of one of the most famous people working in movies currently if you think about the number of audiences that he reaches. from wrestling, from TV, from people like you who actually don't really care about any of his other movies.

He's been extremely bankable in movies thus far. But this one seemed very much based on his appeal as a celebrity, and it did not work. And I'm kind of like if The Rock cannot sell a movie, I honestly don't know can any movie star sell a movie anymore. I think this is really, really fascinating. I don't know what the right strategy is. I don't really either. Although I think that the movie itself just would have done better if they had played it a lot more true to the show and made it like a lot campier. They should have made it like a camp classic and instead it was like trying to appeal to so many people, I guess.

I don't know. It was really weird. I also thought that like some of the casting was like interesting. Like Priyanka Chopra as the villain seems like tailored for international. audience. It was just because she's more famous outside of America. And like while that makes sense, like a lot of movies, like, do you need like a, do you need a base in some way that is like, but passionate about it in America? I don't know, which is like sells her short because she is, she's actually pretty good in it. And like she's, you know,

very hot, which is one of the qualifications for being in this movie. But I don't know. It just seemed like there was a lot of like cynical forces and weird editing in the mix that maybe just couldn't be stripped away. But I mean, that's. It doesn't really answer your question. I don't know what it takes me to sell a movie. It's also just kind of weird, like, coming off of Moana. He's so popular. Oh, that kind of makes me think, like, a lot of his movies that are really popular are, like, family movies, right?

Like, the Tooth Fairy. Well, they're either family movies or their giant franchises, like Fast and the Furious franchise or... In San Andreas did well, didn't it, even though it was, like, five? Yeah, I made a, I think, 54 million opening weekend, according to the stats I'm looking at. Maybe it's DeFron's fault. I think it's probably that Baywatch is not strong enough of a franchise and that franchise is top celebrity now, even if it's The Rock. They made a lot of weird choices too, like just in terms of if it is a strong brand.

It had very little to do with the show. And like I was really into the show as a child. I would like rush home from school to watch it. And like the cornyness and campiness of it like was effective back then. I think it would have been effective now. They should have gone with that. Maybe that wouldn't translate. internationally. Though I think honestly, the quality doesn't matter here, you know, like Pirates of the

Caribbean, the fifth Pirates of Caribbean movie made $78 million, starring Johnny Depp. So honestly, you can't explain anything other than people recognize the name. And I guess Pirates is more famous than Baywatch. But this to me is sort of the definitive. If the Rock can't sell something, then I honestly, I don't know what movie stars are left. God help us. Yeah. I really honestly sort of think this is the movie star is officially over. which is depressing because I like movie stars and I like The Rock. Me too. It's a great point.

You know, maybe he'll just run for president. I just want to say I hope that doesn't happen, but I do like the Rock very much. I think we, I agree with you. I was about to say I think we all agree and I really cannot say that anymore in 2017. But jam session opinion, the Rock is great. Maybe not for president. Yeah, not for president. For anything else, whatever.

But so he's been responding to people, they're responding to critics, right? Yeah, that's the only, that's the one false note. Yeah. He was doing a great job. But then the movie got a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes and he took it personally. I will say, having seen it 19 is a little low. I would have put it at like 35. It's not like, I mean, this is sort of the problem with Rotten Tomatoes, right?

It's not like someone went to a movie theater and said, I give it 19 out of 100. That's a, you know, it's an average of the number of positive reviews versus. is negative reviews. Right. And you even gave it a negative review. So you would probably be a not fresh on rotten tomatoes as a war. I considered leaving before it was over, but that I had pledged that I would see it for work. So that felt too irresponsible.

But I really thought about it. I just want you to know. How many minutes into the movie did you think about leaving? Like 35. I was like, I have another hour and a half to go here. I don't know if I can make it. Oh, God. Also, I was like, I just come from working out.

so I was really dirty and I was then I was getting cold because I was like wet. Oh, I wanted to go home. That's really tough. Too much information. Sorry. No, I had one of those moments during Guardians of the Galaxy 2, but then I just took a nap for 30 minutes in the middle. I love a movie nap. You do love a movie nap.

You always love a movie nap. Fans love the movie, huge positive scores, big disconnects with critics and people, which I don't know, man. Maybe that's true, but there weren't enough people in the movie theaters to have a big disconnect. Like, you just didn't sell, you didn't sell enough tickets for there to be a giant disconnect, sir. And this is also a bad move.

This is the first, because he's selling positivity and sunshine and I will save you from all the bad things in the world, even Donald Trump, which is. probably how he would run for office. But to suddenly be whining, bad look. That's not the brand we all fell in love with. Never whine about the critics. Stay above the haters. That goes for celebrities and normal people alike. Just some advice for me to you. Okay. I hope the rock listens to jamming. I do too, actually. I would be so excited if he tweeted out to obsession. Maybe I'll tweet it at him. It would be great. Anyway, I wish him well. Someone else that I used to wish well, but I'm not sure anymore.

Yeah. Justin Bieber. When was the last time you wished Justin Bieber well? Probably the year 2011. Okay. What was happening in Bieber 2011? It's all luring together for me. He was, it was like a year, it was like following his movie when he was like really

coming up and he seemed kind of sweet. So it was like it was the never say never era. I will never say never. Yeah. It's like when him and Usher performed at the Grammings together, I really enjoyed that. That was 2011. That was the last time I wished well for Justin Bieber. I think the last time I wished Justin Bieber well was possibly the jingle ball in 2000.

I've talked about this jingle ball many times. Very formative jingle ball for me. Yeah, apparently. Was it 2011 or 2012 when Taylor and Harry Styles were briefly dating? I believe it was 12. Okay, so I apparently wish Justin Bieber well as late as 2012. That actually might have been 13. I think that was 13.

Wow. All right. Well, I was holding on. Anyway, very short story. Justin Bieber was the last person at Jinglewell. ball and I was there. Yeah, that was the boyfriend era, 13. Right.

And I was sitting next to a younger teen who had asked if I would like help her find her mom after the concert because I was the only adult in the area because it's the jingle ball. And I was happy to do that. So after Dustin Bieber finished, the teen and I were walking out of the concert and then I heard him come back for the encore. And the teen definitely did not care about seeing Justin Bieber's encore. But I, the adult, was like, we need to.

to go back into the stadium and watch Justin Bieber perform baby. And then we can go find your mother. Baby's a great song. And we did it and it was great. Because here's the thing. Justin Bieber is an extremely talented individual who is also a bad person. I was going to say bad person. And then I was like, am I being too hard? I think he might. I think he's a bad person. I think he's a bad person too. All the evidence points to bad person. Yes. Or just like spoiled Brad on steroids. Like it's just like really the shit that he pulls is like just inexcusable. I hate it. It's awful. The Joffrey comparison is old

but still apt. Yeah. Still applies. By the way, I subscribe to binge mode if you want to know about Joffrey. Yeah, so this latest with Bieber I mean there's just been so many bad things but the latest with Bieber is that he was at One Oak which is a nightclub in New York as well as in Los Angeles and Las Vegas

and he was at the New York version? He was the New York one Okay. And Despacito is one of his current hits on the radio. It's number one. Number one featuring, or he's featured on the song by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, who I had not thought about in a very long time, by the way. And his part comes on and he has the mic in his hand and he doesn't know the Spanish. So he just starts saying, blah, blah, blah, I don't know the word.

So I say Dorito. And the only word he does know is Bakito, which means small. And it was just a really bad look. Like, just like he seemed like gleefully uninformed and like gleefully ignorant. And it was just like, Justin, come on. Matt, like you've been famous for a while. Like, shouldn't you manage yourself a little bit better? A good encapsulation of Justin Bieber to date this video because he is definitely

partying and possibly not 100% sober. And is has been handed a great song. success and also, you know, can pull it off because he is very talented. It's a great song. You and I both love the song. And it's just sitting there being a smug, ungrateful, little asshole. And insensitive and disrespectful. And it's not cute. I like, I don't find this cute at all. I think some people did. And I was just like, wow, you're, you're garbage. You have not learned anything. It's also just like, least of all Spanish. Also, my favorite pop stars are the ones who like work hard who like clearly are committed to being a pop star and like being good at music.

Yeah, I agree. Whatever that means to them. And he doesn't work hard, obviously. Like if so, he would have like learned the song by now. It bothers me. I appreciate someone who, if people are trying at anything, whether it's trying to be good at being famous, like The Rock, for example, or trying hard to be a really good pop star or just trying hard to not be a little shit.

But sorry, he is. That's the only way to describe it. He's just so annoying. And this is like the eighth time that we've watched him do this. I know. And it's not going to matter that song's going to be number one all summer long because it's great. Yeah, it really is. It's great.

He's been on, it's so many good songs in the last two years. I know. I mean, he's kind of like the secret weapon of pop songs. There's put a just... You know, it's so funny. Like, once in the last time he had his own single that he was the lead on because his hits recently are on the one, the DJ Khalid song, which is very good as well, Desposito. And then he had the song with Diplo and then the major laser song.

Right. Like he just hasn't had his own hit in a while. I can't really remember the last one. I think it would be the smash hit, Sorry, which was, that was the late 2015. That song, by the way, I was listening to it this morning. That song is perfect. Yeah. It's excellent.

And then also love yourself, which, you know, Ed Shearin just handed to him. Why did Ed Shearron give that one away? I don't know. I think because he wrote it as fuck yours, go fuck yourself and didn't want to do it for himself as love yourself. Yeah, I guess so. That's because he likes being explicit way too much and it grosses me out all the time. Anyway. So someone, I'm glad you brought the song up though, because that was always interpreted to be about Selena Gomez, but probably isn't because Ed Shearne wrote it.

But I really like that there was love yourself and now we have bad liar from Selena Gomez written by our favorite Julia Michaels, which I just assume is about just. lesson Bieber, but again, probably is not. Isn't Bad Liar supposed to be about the weekend? Oh, it is. I think so, because first of all, Bad Liar is an unbelievable song. It's such a jam. It was like you and I both listen to it at the same time

and we're just freaking out simultaneous, which is very rare. Normally a pop song has to grow on me, but that was just like instant flames. Totally. It's really good at Soul Cycle too. When she goes, can we turn reality into actuality? It's like just so great.

It really plays. I love it. I love it. Anyway, yeah, because the whole thing about Badlier is that, you know, I'm trying, I'm trying not to think about you, which is a very same reaction to being in a relationship with the weekend, by the way. Good job, Selena, to have some hesitation. Totally.

Yeah, I think it's, that's my understanding of it. Okay. She's moved past Bieber, which is good. Good. Yeah, that is really good for her. I'm happy for her. Yeah, Justin is just not good. Although, like, he's going to be around all summer.

I will say, like, his management team, like, to keep getting him on these songs are, like, very smart. Like, I am a Scooter Braun fan, and I think he, like, is almost in some ways, like, underestimated. Because I feel like Carly Ray Jepsen's had a second life with, like, the cool kids. Oh, yeah, ongoing. Yeah, totally. She had new songs this week. Yeah, it's a really good one. Justin Bieber, like, cannot be taken down.

There's, like, nothing. I don't know what he could, what he would have to do to, like, no longer be popular. and, you know, he just is like a very shrewd manager. Shout out to him. Completely agree. Okay. Moving on. Next topic.

This one is really important. This week in Architectural Digest, there's a spread on Ellen Pompeo's Sag Harbor home, which is a renovated guest house. Yet, it still has a pool, a lot of land, and like a lovely, like, open floor plan with a locked bedroom. and no square footage was specified and I'm just dying to know what qualifies the guest house for Ellen Pompeo.

So I have some questions about the guest house in relation to the regular house. Right. There is no regular house. Okay. So what happened to the regular house? I don't know. My thought is perhaps

she was just calling it the guest house based on its size and assumed it would be such. Or something. I don't know. It's really weird. It doesn't make any sense unless it was like some really old property that like I don't know. It's like that's a good. You've stumped me. I have no solution for that. Okay. I think that this house is definitely a giant house. Yeah. It's really lovely. Sag Harbor is lovely. As you pointed out, she has homes in Malibu and Sag Harbor. Uh-huh. Which is just, again, as you pointed out, Gray's Anatomy pays. Yeah. Great. So she's been on the show for 13 years. she makes like what like many millions per episode so she's like really rich like this is what

network television can get you if you're the lead character if you're the eponymous character it's pretty amazing like this she she said they basically only go to this house for a couple weeks over the summer and for Thanksgiving do you think you can run it yeah probably but like even I don't know if you're that rich what's the point of running your house out I don't know it's because you just risk, like, people fucking things up. You don't need the money. It's not like it's like an income property for you. Yeah, fair enough.

I don't really get it. And then she spends most of her time in California. She's like, always at Lakers games. Well, I mean, there are a lot of episodes of Grays. So she's working on LA. Also, like, the kitchen was referred to as small, and it's like larger than probably like 90% of the kitchens in New York City. Yeah, so I want to do some design notes here.

Okay. I'd like to talk about photo number one. Okay. I'm with, I'm there. Ellen Pompeo on the driveway leading to her Sag Harbor property. So maybe it was a guest house and the original house is no longer there and she just owns the property and wants the whole property and wants to call it a guest house to be quaint. I'm fine with that.

It has some nice fuzzy Airbnb vibes if you say guest house. Sure. So Ellen is pictured on the driveway with a horse, an anonymous horse. We don't know the horse's name. We don't know her relationship to the horse. It's a white horse. Yeah. It's a beautiful horse.

Also, this is just the strongest opening photograph in the world. I wish I knew more about Ellen Pompeo's interest in horses, where this horse lives. Did this horse just wander over? Did they hire the horse for, you know, the experience? Does she actually keep horses? It's really expensive to keep horses, especially if you're only there a couple weeks a year. Yeah. This can't be like a permanent resident of the grounds.

I mean, that would just be a whole other level. I mean, maybe it is. That's true. But it seems strange to keep a horse for only a couple weeks a year. I'm no expert on horses or how to keep them, but that seems like a lot. Basically, what I know about keeping horses is from Gilmore Girls when they opened the end, and they talk about how cleetus the horse is very expensive to keep, but adds a lot of charm. Cleetus and Desdemona.

Yeah, exactly. Oh, hey, Desdemona. Anyway. Okay. Photo number two. Yes. Oh, sorry, number three. Let's skip number two.

Okay. I mean, that looks nice. Yeah, very high ceilings here, which I think also, like, it's underestimated. I live in a guest home and there are not high ceilings. The kitchen is beautiful. It's like just stunning kitchen. And it's referred to in the article as like rather small, but it has like one of those, like, what are they called? Like, butcher's, what's the name of the sink where it's like very deep?

I can't recall. But it's like a deep. Oh, I know what you mean. But it's like a country house sink or something like that. I forget what it's called. It's like lovely. It's like this beautiful marble countertops, like a full range stove. It's like seriously beautiful. I love this kitchen, all this white cabinetry. I don't know. How big does your kitchen need to be in your third home anyway?

Can I just side note? So I don't know whether this is an Aga stove, though it kind of looks like one. But over the weekend, I actually walked by an Aga store. Like I have basically only read about Aga stoves in a British novel set in the 50s and 60s. and I walked by an actual August store. Do you know how much an aga stove is selling for right now, Juliet? Guess. Like $5,000? $21,000.

What? 21,000. Wow. Can you believe that? I don't believe Ellen Pompeo cooks, so that's just, I don't know what she's being for. 21,000. Anyway, they were beautiful.

I honestly, that's insane. This kitchen is immaculate. I think, Juliet, the only reason they might call it small is that there's not a huge amount of countertop space. That's true. And as far as we can see, there's also, like, not an island or a peninsula. Yeah. And those have become hallmarks of fancy kitchens.

I don't really know why, though. Like, I like a peninsula, but I actually don't like an island. Oh, I like sitting at an island. I like any place where you can, you know, pull a stool up and put a set the counter where someone else is cooking. Yeah. That's kind of one of the major upgrades in my all-I life. That's true. You do have a good one, but that's a peninsula.

I like that. Yeah. Well, yeah. But I would take an island, too. Anyway, this kitchen is spectacular. Yeah, it's really great. It's amazing. And then my favorite thing about this home is that she painted the walls dark.

And that's like a point of contention. It's supposed to be like that's like really risky that she did that because it can make a small home seem smaller. Yes. And she's like, actually, add depth. And it's like, girl, it looks great. Just own it. We don't care. It's also a giant home.

So you're fine. Yeah. I have to say I'm usually not a fan of that. I think it looks great here. Yeah. Because she did half the walls. There's a ton of light and it's kind of open to nature so it doesn't feel as oppressive. That's what I hate is when it's just all kind of.

of blood red or, you know, dark navy walls and there are no windows and you're just like, I'm in some sort of brothel or whatever. I understand. The way that these photos are presented, you can't get a really good feel for the full layout. And that's why I just feel like I'm being lied to about the square footage, because you just don't really understand. There's nothing that, like, indicates floor plan or, like, sense of direction, you know? There's the one photograph of the pool facing the house that makes it seem, I don't want to

say small, but cozy. Yeah, sure. It's not sprawling. The pool is spectacular, by the way. And the planners with the flowers on either side, well done them. Totally. It's almost like, looks like a small, I don't even, it's like a Cape Cod style house basically, right? Like that's what that is.

The A-frames. It's really nice. I don't know. I'm just really into it. I'm just happy to know that the star of my favorite television show is living so well. It is nice to kind of see the fruits of 13 years of TV watching devotion, you know? Because in a way, Julia, like, you contributed to this. This is partly your home because you...

I've never stopped watching, Ellen. That's what I'm saying. I stopped like 10 seasons ago, and that's fine. I still have respect for it. I check in from time to time. But you... This is the house that Grey's Anatomy and Juliet Lippet built is basically what I'm saying. So congratulations.

You have excellent taste. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. We're going to move on to another one, my favorite television shows. But first, let us tell you about our new podcast that The Ringer is launching next week. Monday, June 5th, that's next Monday. The Ringer is launching binge mode, a podcast dedicated to rewatching and giving expert analysis on our favorite TV shows. For the next six weeks, our dear friends, the Ringer's Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion will dive deep into HBO's Game of Thrones.

And guys, I have watched them do the prep. They really went all in on this one. From theories to history to their best impersonations of Robert Barathean, watch along with our Thrones experts. The 10 first episodes of Binge Mode drop Monday, June 5th, which correspond to season one of Game of Thrones. Every Monday after, we'll release a new batch of 10 episodes leading up to the premiere of Game of Thrones season 7. So just to math, that's 60 episodes. You can subscribe to Binge Mode Now on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcast. Something really exciting happened this week.

Carrie Russell got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Question for you before going further in this anecdote. Yes. Does walk of shame come after walk of fame? Like, is that specifically where it comes from? Oh. I don't know. Do you think that they're related?

I mean, I suppose they rhyme. Yeah, they do rhyme. I just, I never really put it together until I've now said walk of fame like several times. And every time I want to say walk of shame. Yeah, I bet it does come after. Just kind of historically speaking. Yeah. Okay.

Anyway, she got a star And as a result There was like a ceremony and she invited some friends And like her two noted friends that were there Were Amanda Foreman who played Megan Her roommate on Felicity And Scott Speedman who played her The Love for Her Life on Felicity Ben Covington

And also her ex-boyfriend And also just one of my favorite actors As a result of him playing Ben on Felicity And it was so exciting Oh my God! Then they went on Jimmy Kimmel together And they talked about talked about what a bad boyfriend Scott Speedman was. And Carrie Russell told a story about a Hulu Hoop contest at J.J. Abrams's birthday party where Scott Speedman and Tom Cruise both participated.

It was like Mission Impossible 3 era. I think that's the one she's in, right? Mission Impossible Three. And it's just like hugely exciting. I just, I have such a passion for Felicity that will never die that I, I don't know, like it just makes me bashful and it just makes me smile. And it, it's just really great. And we talk a lot about this Scott versus Scott. Foley versus Speedman. Yes. Foley is really undeniable at this point. So I was just really happy

that Speedman had a moment, even if I accept that Scott Foley has jumped ahead. But Noel will never be Ben. So there's that. I got to say that Speedman was the real star of this for me. And I am a noted and staunch

Scott Foley supporter. You're a Foley head. Actually, I have to admit, I am not caught up on this season of scandal because that's gone off the rails a little bit. but I was watching through season six and very much Team Jake. I think that he has aged incredibly well.

It's really astonishing. And I got to say, like, visually speaking, I still think Scott Fulley has the edge, but Scott Spiebeman was incredibly charming in this interview, really carrying the whole segment. And I couldn't tell whether that's because he is just that charismatic or whether he was just hogging the spotlight.

Maybe you could fill that in for me. I was also wondering who was a little sauced up, perhaps, because I've watched a lot of Scott Speedman footage in my day. And he's very rarely that open and, like, kind of, like, goofy in an interview. I really enjoyed it. So I think it might have been that he was loving the spotlight. But maybe he was just really charismatic. He was very charming. He really was.

Oh, my God. I just, it was so exciting. Also, I feel like he has not aged as well, but he looked pretty good, which made me happy. Yeah, yeah. He was still kind of, he had real Ben vibes. It was kind of the first time that I had seen Ben vibes from him in a while. So bad. Also, he was really funny.

He was like, yeah, I do a Felicity reunion. I'd be on lifetime in a second. Come on. Who doesn't love that? Nod to his own irrelevance. It's the best. And I appreciate Carrie Russell in the corner, just kind of looking perplexed the whole time.

And then when he mentions that they dated, she just freaks out. She doesn't actually freak out, but you can just kind of watch her try to maintain her facial expression while she's like, this is going off the rails so quickly. Yeah. It was great. Good job by him. It's 20 years next year. How does that make you feel?

Old. Makes me feel very old. Me too. I was like, I was like weeping when Felicity ended. Actually, first I wept at the episode that should have been the finale where he like meets her at med school in Stanford. And then it comes back for the stupid five episodes of like alternate timeline, classic JJ Abrams.

Yeah. And then at the second finale, I was just like such a mass. Yeah. What a great show. Loved it. I don't really know if like teens of today would like it, though. I don't think it's aged very well. I don't really think any of that era of teen shows has aged very well.

Yeah, Dawson's Creek has aged really badly. I was about to say I saw a clip of Dawson's Creek on Twitter the other day with I have no idea why. And I watched all three minutes of it. And I was embarrassed for my past self. that was really, really. It was very teen. It was just a pure teen show without any kind of appealing to adults, which has its merits. And we certainly appreciated them at the time.

And I don't know whether teens today watch that stuff. I think they expect a little more. I think Ben would still play, but I don't think Pacey would. Really? Yeah. Pacey's so charming. Pacey's not threatened. I think Ben is almost too threatening.

Oh, man. I don't know. I mean, I understand the appeal. I'm not trying to argue that we need to redo Ben. I'm just saying that I think Pacey does have an appeal to a certain type of teen. Okay. I can accept that. At this point.

I don't know. It's time to DTR. Let's get into it. Okay. Breaking news today. Yes. Taylor Swift has a new boyfriend, allegedly. I thought that that was rumored last week.

And then there were photographs today that confirmed. I didn't even know about last week. Yeah. So I think my read on the situation is that they were softening the ground last week and then staged the photograph today to kind of use her back in. Because I have to assume it's what? It's been six months, basically, since we last since the Kim tapes. No, it's been almost a year since the Kim tapes.

Can you believe it's been almost a year since the Kim tapes? Yeah, no, I know. I think it's been more or less six months since she said anything publicly, maybe more. but except for the Zane song in 2016 and the really vague and meaningless tweets about the election and other things. She has not been in the public eye. And so I have to assume that this is their strategy for slowly reintroducing her. And I would also note that it's happening as the exact same time that Katie Perry is on a press tour. for her new album.

Interesting. Yeah. Oh, interesting, Amanda. Yes. The man in question is 26-year-old Joe Alwyn, who's British, right? Yes. He was in Billy Lynn's long half-time walk.

And the Daily Mail selected a photo of him in which he looks 17. And it's really creepy. I just said that on a Google image search of him, he looks a lot like Taylor and it's really weird. Really? Interesting. It's kind of like she's dating the male version of herself, in my opinion. And it's probably just because he has, he's blonde and he has a very specific cheekbones or something. I'm not really sure.

Anyway, I don't know a lot about this person. I'm not really not interested. He looks pretty bland. He does look bland. British accents are nice. Is this her saying now, bland guys, from England? I don't know. I think that, I guess this is, I mean, is this real?

Is this real or is this well-timed XYZ? That's what you have to ask, because she's kind of at the moment where she needs to start slowly easing back into the public eye in a low-key bit sympathetic way so that she can finally release her single by September, I would guess, to then hit the December album, whatever. You also just have to notice that,

so Katie Perry has a album coming out, Lord has an album coming out, Heim has an album coming out. There's someone else I'm probably forgetting, but it's quite a moment for a... You know what this says to me? It's time to reboot Lilith Fair and make it pop. Let's get them all together.

I like that you correlated this to Katie Perry's press store because Katie Perry's really been going after Taylor and just sort of been begging her to make a comment. Which I would say is not flattering for Katie Perry, but it also is just sort of like puts the onus on Taylor Swift to weigh in on what's going on between them. Yes. It kind of paves away for her to come back.

there are some conspiracy theories, I think, on BuzzFeed, that it's all staged. Do you buy that? More and more, yes. And it's maybe not staged, but I think they're both aware of the fact that the feud gets attention in a way that little else that they do now will. And, you know, on the one side, on the one hand, that's sexist and exhausting. And on the other hand, it's more fun when people fight than anything else, whether they're men or women or other. I don't mean physically fight. I mean, say it means things about each other in public.

So it's not bad as a strategy. And, you know, I don't think that songs that Katie Perry's release are going particularly well. So she's got to do something. I like swish, swish. You did. Yeah. Swish, swish, bish. I like it a lot.

I'm okay. It's fine. So I watched Katie Perry's whole set from the BBC Radio One Big Weekend, which was last weekend. Yes. It's like they're kind of, it's sort of like. the kickoff festival in the UK for the summer festivals. I also watch Heim set.

I had a really busy weekend, as you could tell. And she did teenage dream, but kind of like a like a house music remix of it. And it's interesting. Like for I can tell, like this tour is going to be a lot more like

she's paired back while the stuff around her is kind of like more psychedelic. It sort of seems like she's like like her what is the katie perry's version of a psychedelic face um which will be interesting to watch unfold because usually it's so much like confection and like over the top props and um racial appropriation and this just seems much more like katie perry's version of a disco face it's i'm curious to watch this unfold even further i also read a blind item about an unnamed pop star with a dramatic haircut who um like had like a drunken situation go awry and then had to ask their

hairdresser to fix it and like salvage it. And the impression I got was that it was about Katie Perry. But that is completely unconfirmed. That's just based on the blind item. Interesting. I'm curious to see how it all pans out between, I'm curious to see how Katie album, Katie Perry's album is received.

I'm curious to see how Lord's second album is received. Because that one's coming very soon. And that's kind of, if it's an interesting moment for. Not a lot of momentum. No, not at all. That one song. And then it just kind of trailed

off. Though, can we talk briefly about the Lord Instagram comment that you found? Yes, we can. Which is quite frankly the best thing that's happened on the internet. Yes. You know, that was my one thing. So let's just transition. Oh, shit.

I spoiled it for you. No, that's great. No, I'm glad you brought it up. My one thing. You put it in Slack and I responded to it so deeply. You did? I didn't respond in Slack because I was so late, as you noticed, I was traveling. Yeah, you were on vacation, so I thought maybe you missed it.

No, I scrolled back and I really appreciated it. Go ahead, Juliet. I didn't need to say to you. Though no, you did it. It was a seamless transition. The one thing I can't stop thinking about is Lord's comment on Kiernan Shipka's Instagram of her meal from Squirrel in Los Angeles. Okay.

Start. First of all, explain Kiernan Shipka's Instagram relationship to Squirrel because that shit's out of control. Kiernan Shipka played Sally Draper. Okay, so you forget her first name. And now she's like a model or something. She's really pretty. Yeah. And like wears clothes really well.

She was in a feud. She was. Yeah, she was Susan's Randon's daughter. Susan's Randon's ungrateful daughter. Oh, cool. That's great. And she basically just does, just Instagram pictures of her eating primarily at squirrel. She's there all the time.

It's very weird. Do you think that she gets to cut the line or does she just have enough time to wait in line at squirrel all the time? I don't know. I bet she cuts the line. I mean, she posted in April a picture of this meal, like basically a poach egg on top of rice, which is very good. I will say. And the caption is, you never get old, do you? Like, it's just, I don't know,

she has, she gets the same thing there basically every time. And she just photographs it every time, too. She does. In December, she had it. And she said, my one and only. It's, I don't know. It's just her favorite meal, I guess. Can I be, I have to squirrel cookbook. I still have never been to the restaurant. Oh, you have it? I have a, I have a gift certificate. We could go. I appreciate that. But when are we going to go? Because you have to wait online for forever. You know me. I'm not a morning person. Yeah, if I say if you go before nine, it's not that bad. Yeah, I don't eat before nine. It's far too early for me. But anyway, I think that's the problem, but you're right. Okay. So anyway, she took a picture. I mean, she went again a couple days ago and she posted a picture of her meal.

Do we know what meal it is? I think it's like this like rice bowl thing they do. I forgot what it's called. Is it like the sorrel pesto one? Yes, exactly. It's the sorrel pester rice bowl with an egg on top. So Lord commented on the picture. First she responded, laughing, crying emoji, and then the like aces emoji where you do like the circle and the three, you know? I just turned up to be like aces. You're like perfect. Yeah.

And that was probably in reference to the caption, which was Kiki saying, shaking things up in a self-aware twist. And then follow-up comment from Lord where she said, how funny is Chateau's carbon copy of this dish? Unreal. Unreal. It's the most elite celebrity thing you could say. So can we just, we should break this down for.

people who are not. So the Chateau in question would be the Chateau Marmont. Chateau Marmont, the famed hotel that's like known for privacy for celebrities. It's a very nice hotel. It's very fun. I recommend going to lunch there if you want to spend $80 on a squirrel bowl. But it is very charming. That said, how funny is Chateau's carbon copy of this dish, implying the familiarity with the chateau and with their menu that you are regularly ordering their fake squirrel bowl is so elite and unselfaware, young celebrity comment. I cannot believe it. It's also just like not what you expect from the Lord, but now I'm like, yeah, of course

I respect that from Lord. At first I was like, wow, it was surprising. And now this is like her brand, which is like unaware celebrity. And it's, I love it. I just love it. It's incredible. It's just so L.A. as well. It's just ridiculous.

I can't even. I don't have the words to express how perfect it is. The apex of celebrity culture. I'm kind of surprised because she, first of all, she literally made all her money off royals, which is a song that is the antithesis of this. But she's always kind of been like, hey, it's me with my zip cream on Twitter or whatever.

And has been playing the down to earth. Yeah, not anymore. Ever since she dumped her pedestrian boyfriend. She's just been a different plane. You know what? Go live your life. young, you have a ton of money. Yeah.

I am curious to see how it affects the album. I don't think it's going to go well for her. There's not a lot of green light was a good song and just like not a lot of momentum. Yeah, it's true. And also, if our whole staff of like not that young people liked it, I just feel like it can't be that popular. That's true. If we like something, you're screwed.

Yeah, totally. It's true of basically everyone on this podcast, except for Justin Bieber, I guess. Okay, Amanda. What's your one thing? Okay. This is niche per ridiculous. Okay. So I was traveling this weekend and I was on an airplane, so I bought a copy of Vogue.

It is a hundredth anniversary, apparently. And so to celebrate. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Or no, 125. I'm sorry. Yeah, Vogue's very old.

Wow. Cool. So to celebrate, Julia, I swear to God. They had their own rose made. Like a rose? Like a brand of rose. Like you can order. They kind of did the rose breeding or whatever, which they explained at length in Vogue magazine.

But so now there's a thing called the Vogue Rose, which you can buy. Which I just, I don't even know what to say. The article explaining how they came together and decided what a Vogue Rose should be is bonkers. And it's just kind of like a Vogue. It should be. What does it look like? What color? is it? I mean, it's pretty. I mean, it's a rose. I don't know. Is it red? No, it's not. It is kind of an

orangish yellow. It's very pretty. The color is very pretty. And it's also, as I learned from this article, which I apparently don't know a lot about roses. They're discussing, there's a whole paragraph about what should a vogue rose be, which is beyond parody. But here's one thing. It should be an English rose, parentheses, the layered, heavily peddled variety favored in gardens, rather than the quick to wilt things sold in grocery stores. Oh, my God. So it's like a rose from the future. It's like a rose for the future.

It's a very beautiful rose. They make this whole thing about it. And then they also do a photo shoot with the rose because it's vogue, you know. And so I swear to God, in the bottom corner of the rose portrait, a full-page rose portrait, there is a disclaimer that says, proceeds from this rose will go to Vogue. Oh my God. It's just like they're legit making money off a rose that they've made for their

verse. I can't believe it. I really don't believe it. That's peak commercialism. It's peak something. It's peak Vogue. It's really peak Vogue. I couldn't believe it happened and I needed to share.

Amazing. I'm happy for you and for Vogue. They are at least staying themselves, which, you know, It's hard to do, I guess. Be true to yourself. I suppose. Unless you're Justin Bieber, in which case change. Please learn Spanish and change.

That's the moral of this week's episode of Jam session. Yes. Thanks to everyone for listening. Thanks to Hotel Tonight. And reminder to subscribe to binge mode.