The Prestige TV Podcast - 'Dead to Me'

Episode Date: May 11, 2020

'Dead to Me,' starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini and set in picturesque Orange County, is well-executed television that is perfect for bingeing. Hosts: Chris Ryan and Juliet Litman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Toss green salads with delicious ranch dressing or zesty Italian. Serve smooth, crave-crably creamy potato salads with mayo. We all know it's not a cookout without craft. Hello and welcome to TV concierge, a daily podcast where Ringer staffers help you navigate the crowded TV landscape. I'm Chris Ryan, and today I'm joined by Juliet Litman to talk about Dead to Me. It's returning for its second season, or it's returned for its second season. on Netflix. Juliet, what's up? And tell me why I should watch Dead to Me. Hello. Great to talk to you, Chris. You should watch Dead to me because it's a fun and easy watch. And there aren't that many of these.

And I think it's sort of like, if you like the money laundering of Ozark, then give this a shot if you want something a little bit lighter. I will say this show would benefit from Jason Bateman, but it's still doing great. Christina Applegate and Linda Carnalidi are the two leads. They both have their own cult followings. Christina Applegate was nominated for an Emmy in fact. And it's like a, it was a surprise hit last year. It ended up on my Netflix and I was like, huh, what's this? I'll watch it. And I watched it all in one weekend and regretted it because I wanted it to last longer.

So it's just kind of like fun. It's just like a fun version of basically Southern California meets Ozark is what I all say. So this is one of these shows that I think you want to give people if they don't know a little bit of a breakdown of the premise of the show. Yes, absolutely. So Christina Applegate husband has died in a hit and run accident. And she is at like a grief group where she meets Linda Cardalini, who's kind of like a wacky woman who's also grieving. Not exactly sure what you find out later.

And then she works at a senior citizen's home. And Linda Cardalini does. Meanwhile, Christina Applegates trying to kind of like move her family forward. She's a real estate broker in Orange County. And it's kind of about these two women's friendship that they strike up as their both dealing with grief. And then it takes a money laundering turn, which is like a maybe a mild spoiler, but who cares? And it's just like enjoyable. Like both those actresses are really pleasant and really good actresses. So this is a great example of a show that I feel like really,

in some ways, could only be on Netflix or really could only be as popular as it is on Netflix. I think it's a really entertaining show. It's the number one show on Netflix's top 10 as we're recording this right now on Monday. And it's second season's been out for a couple of days. But There's something about you take high concept, you take somewhat darker material, a little bit raunchy at times, a little bit like, let's be real. I feel like it definitely couldn't be network television. And in some ways, it's hard to imagine this on HBO. You know what I mean? Like it doesn't seem like it's prestigious enough maybe to be on HBO.

But it's actually just like very, very, very well executed television that is like perfect for binging. Can I tell you what it's true antecedent is? Sure. It's ancestor. Desperate Housewives. There's no question. It's sort of a spiritual successor, but with like a Netflix twist. And so it has a lot of like that kind of fun intrigue that that show had.

And it very much captures the aughts Orange County vibe of like the big house and like the ocean vaguely nearby that was part of Desperate Housewives and the OC. And it sort of is like a very familiar backdrop. And then it feels super Netflix-y. in a weird way. And there's something about these shows, this ineffable Netflix vibe that you get. And is it because it's on Netflix or is it because you watch it all in one sitting

or are writers writing for Netflix now? I don't really know the answer to that. I think that there's a combination of a bunch of different things. Like, what was that show? The show with Drew Barrymore and... Santa Clarita Diet. Santa Clarita Diet is another really good example of this

where it's like a little dark, very high concept, but essentially in its execution is like a basically like a network dromedy. Like that's what it looks, you know? And that's the same thing I would say for like you're saying with Detimie. It kind of has all the vestiges of what people are used to with watching television with like all the like titillating parts about prestige or pay cable TV.

Yeah, totally. And there's something about seeing these two women together that I think is particularly fun and reminds me more of. network television than it does of HBO. But I just think like no one, no one was really like, you know who needs a new vehicle and no shots, but no one was like, Lyndon Hartalini, let's get her a new show. Or Christina Applegate, let's get her a new show. But they're both veterans of television, right? Like they're on like beloved cult classics. Christina Applegate is a big part of my childhood via married to children, obviously. And it's sort of like two actresses and I feel like we're

kind of like wayward and now have this great show to anchor them on Netflix. Yeah. And they it's two actresses who also were getting cast a lot, or probably like if everything had stayed the same with the way TV and movies worked, probably would have had careers going forward as playing like the wife, the girlfriend, or the office friend in movies and TV shows.

And because you have this kind of paradigm shift later in the last like five to 10 years, you get to see like more fully formed, they get to play more fully formed characters. Yeah. So what do you think of season two? You know, it's one of those shows where I'm just like, how do you squeeze a second season out of this? But that is also a Netflix Hallmark. You could say the same thing about Ozark. You could say the same thing, even about

Orange is the New Black, where, you know, obviously they found so much to get out of the ensemble there. But once you get past that initial premise, you're like, wow, okay, so we're going to keep going with this. I actually, I think they've really happened upon like a really dynamic setting for a show, though, and they could go a lot of different ways with it. I've only watched a couple of episodes of the second season, but I really enjoyed it. So far, it's more the Linda Cardalini season. Season one was very much the Christina Applegate. Yeah, and her grief.

Yes, understanding her grief and how it was manifesting. We've moved on in season two to kind of more of the accomplices phase. And the leader of the accomplice phase is Landa Cardalini. And like her character is just sort of like, it's kind of like always a bride's made, never the bride, always an accomplice, never the criminal. And she is just kind of going along with it. But she is now like engulfed in a whole second wave of grief. won't give away too much. But another key piece of information, which I feel like we just have

to discuss. And I'm sorry, this shouldn't ruin things for you too much. But James Marson, still on the show. Yeah. That's right. James Marzen has an amazing ability to keep on coming back. It's like when he was on Westworld and you're surprised to keep seeing him. I'm sure he might still reappear on Westworld at some point. Yeah, you can't write him out. But I was, I was really happy to see him. James Marzen stock, you probably can get a good discount on right now and I'm all in. that guy. Also, just the fact that James Marsden has not aged a day in like 15 years. I know. I was like, are we still in the year 2000? He's been in so many things that I really like. I think that's another thing I like about this show and many shows on Netflix. It's like, actress that you've known

for a long time. And you're like, oh, this feels right. This is a good landing spot for you at this point in your career. The other thing I would just say quickly about this show. And, you know, I think we tend to, when we first start reading about or talking about a show, think about the concept or what it represents. This is. is actually like a pretty well plotted and also very plotted show. Like there's a lot of story going on in this. And those tend to be the best engines for multi-seasons. Like if you're going to do, if you're going to do something like this, you kind of need to have lots of like A, B, and C plots, lots of twists, lots of like how is this going to work out? We have to document everything. Oftentimes if you're

just going to do a show where it's like, this person's just kind of discovering who they are in this wacky city, it's hard to get a lot of miles out of that. Yeah. And there's always like another strand to pull, which is a good part of it. And something like Linda Cardalini, which was smart in the season, she works at a nursing home. So patients come in and out. It's kind of like borrowing from the doctor show. Yeah. Linda Carderlini knows quite a bit about doctor shows.

Hell yeah, ER, nurse Sam. With new patients and new residents, you can like always weave in new people, which is what they also done in season two, which has been nice as well. And I think we just also would be remiss to not say it's like, one of the more fun, totally female-driven shows. Like, the four of the five main characters, four of six, maybe five of seven, are all women. And I think that's actually, that's still pretty rare outside of a show like Orange is the New Black, which is sort of like making a statement about women. Sure.

This show is way more kind of conventional than that. But I think that's one of the reasons why it's so fun to watch all these women acting together is because it's taking a pretty familiar, just premise and going forward with it. which I just enjoy. And that's also another reason why, like, Netflix shows like this work is because they have the latitude to do that. Yeah. I mean, obviously, a lot of other people are enjoying it, too, of it being number one and all.

Do you think if you're, like, a showrunner or, you know, like, it must feel so good to get that number one tag on Netflix now, right? Like, you wake up on Monday morning and you're like, oh, this is what people were doing all weekend. They were watching my show. Yeah. And one of the things that's kind of interesting is that Netflix's PR, like, the way they advertise these shows is so kind of invisible.

Like you just, the platform is the promotion. Like, you know, you won't necessarily see billboards for Dead to Me. It's, it's, you won't necessarily come across trailers for Dead to Me. But when it's on, they will make sure you see it's there and it's right up there in the carousel. And people get excited. They're like, oh, I didn't know this was coming back. It's back.

I have something to watch this weekend. I know. That's what I thought. I was like, oh, Deadby's back. Great. I can't. I would love to know the average amount of episodes watched this weekend because I bet it's not insignificant.

Yeah, it must be really high. And then they'll get people who haven't seen season one in the door because they're advertising season two. I'm so happy they release the top 10. I love knowing what other people are watching instead of like having to guess. Yeah. I find it really fascinating. Outer banks still going strong.

So strong. The teens, man. Teens and people are age as well. I mean, our colleagues all like it. But dead to me. Check it out. Just a fun, easy watch. It's also like if you're working from home, it's great for the end of the day.

It's a good way to ease into your personal time. Yeah. Get into your California. lifestyle. All right, Juliet, Dead to me Season 2. It's on Netflix now. Talk to you soon. Spring just slid into your DMs. Grab that boho look for that rooftop dinner, those sandals that can keep up with you, and hang some string lights to give your patio a glow up. Spring's calling. Ross, work your magic.