The Prestige TV Podcast - Five Things To Know About 'Bridgerton'

Episode Date: December 25, 2020

Juliet Litman and Kate Halliwell tell you five things you need to know about 'Bridgerton,' the sexy new period drama from Shonda Rhimes. Hosts: Juliet Litman and Kate Halliwell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My name is Lady Whistledown. You do not know me and never shall, but be forewarned, dear reader, I certainly know you. The social season is upon us. We shall discover which young ladies might succeed at securing a match. Let it be known If there's a scandal, I shall uncover it And share every last detail. Concierge, I'm Julia Lippin.

I'm Kate Hallowell. Kate, I've been waiting to do this episode for a really long time. We have gathered here today to discuss Netflix's frothy, juicy, steaming. me Christmas drop, Bridgerton, a new show from Chris Van Dusen from the Shandaland family of television programming. Kate, what do you think? I had a great time watching this show. I knew very little going in. I had watched the trailer and I knew you were excited to talk about it and that was it. So it was a real ride. It was a real experience. I don't know why I've been like so eagerly anticipating it. And I do because we're going to talk about the show. But like, I also read the book.

for some reason, I just like latched into this one. And now here we are. We're going to talk today about five things to know about Bridgeton because we have a feeling people are going to be talking about it. It just seems like it's primed for that. Absolutely. I mean, it's coming out on Christmas. It's like I did a perusal of the landscape.

There's not a lot of other major TV drops on Christmas. Of course, there's Wonder Woman 1984 and Seoul. More to come on those on TV concierge later. not as important right now. But like the show people I think are going to be binge watching is Bridgetton. Is there anything else in contention that you're even excited about? No. And I think it's so tailor made for like our current like people are locked in their houses.

They want something light and entertaining and buzzy with hot people and great costumes and make out sex scenes. And like it's perfect. And like it's just almost festive too. It's not Christmasy, but it has all these these balls. and these dances and it just it's brightly colored it's like perfectly tailor made for this exact moment in exactly i agree so as we said we're going to do five things to know about bridgerton but just before we do that the bridgerton is about the bridgerton family who live in regency

london there are eight siblings i believe they are named an alphabetical order like by age like the first sibling has an a name the second sibling has a b name they do i didn't notice that that's so funny. That's actually a big part of the book. So I read the book as a result and that is like mentioned many times, which is one of the reasons I'm aware of it. Anyway, this is about the fourth eldest Daphne. She is the heroine of this one. And it is about her getting married and more on who she marries in a moment. And it's just like, it's just such a melange of colors and flavors. And there's just like a lot happening. Actually, we have a whole whole. list of questions, but I want to start with, Kate, what are the TV predecessors of this show?

What does it evoke for you? For me, it is Downton Abbey meets Harlitz because it's steamy. I've never seen Harlots. Interesting. Meets pushing daisies because of the weird, whimsical, quirky, brightly colored things with the narrator. And then Dickinson, because it's sort of this anachronistic period drama creation. There are all these songs, like they've, you know, they're at balls and they're dancing to thank you next by Ariana Grande, but it's like a regency era, you know, string quartet. Yeah, string orchestra. Like Sean Mendez, they have like a rain sex scene to like wildest dreams by Taylor Swift.

So it's like all these like sort of anachronistic music, this like classic period drama, beautiful costumes, but then like really sexual. Yeah, that's what I went with. Those four shows. What about you? That was really good. For me, I've been thinking Down Abbey meets Gossip Girl. Absolutely.

And then a little bit of Jane Austen thrown in as well, but she's not necessarily TV. But so Bridgerton is set in this one area of London during the Regency period. So that is the 19th century or sorry, 18th century. And it's about Daphne Bridgerton finding a suitor. And the whole show takes place over the course of like the social season. And the sort of like the exoskeleton of the show is a character named Lady Whistledown who is voiced by the one in all. only Julie Andrews. Unbelievable.

Incredible. And so Lady Whistledown is basically an 18th century gossip girl. She writes like a neighborhood newsletter of like going dons about the people and who's, who's courting whom. It's a pretty good conceit. It's really good. And the narrator is so like, just whimsical. And she's like, well, dear townspeople.

And like it introduces who's doing what. And like, it's just such like a fun, quirky way to frame the whole show. it's really great. It's not Dan Humphreys, but it's close. But it is as fun as Kristen Bell, though, right? Like, yeah, perhaps more fun because it's Julie Andrews. But when I heard her voice,

I was like, what? Lady Whistledown is Julie Andrews? You never see her, but you hear her. And she is a really big part of it. The way that Kristen Bell was a big part of gossip girl. But it sets like a really fun tone. And it strikes a really good chord between like stately and serious because it's, of course, Julie Andrews,

but also very, as you said, whimsical and like, and fun. word that I just keep thinking of is frothy. Yes. And it has a lot of the like attempts to like formality of society that down Abbey really dug into. Coincidentally, this area where the whistle downs and family friends live looks a lot like Belgravia, which is Julian Fellows' newer show. I don't know if you watch that, but like the sets look very similar just in terms of like

the stone and whatnot. But they really like even that is like kind of fantastic where they have all the flowers on the outside of the houses and like. the bees flying around. I'm like, it's, it's like this fantasy world almost. It is a fantasy world.

It's sort of like, it's sort of like if London was Candyland. Right. Yes. And then let's talk about some of the casting. Beginning with hello and hello to only Réjejejejejean page who plays Simon Bassett. He is the male lead of the show. And what is his title?

He's the Duke of Hastings. The Duke of Hastings. Put some respect on his name. because he is so hot. He is so hot. As I said to Kate earlier in the week, he's just an Adonis. Like, there's no other way to describe his beauty.

He is so classically beautiful, such an incredible heartthrob. I'm, like, really happy to know about him. And I feel stupid that I didn't know about him before because this is not his first acting job. Genuinely, it was the thing where, like, he walks on screen and you're like, how have I never seen your face?

Because it is a perfect face and you're a perfect human. It's the opposite of that moment where it's like, this is not it. It's like, yes, this is it. This is the one. And I love that the show just like knows how hot he is, like how stupidly hot he is. And they put him in like these high collars and like, you know, Regency Air London doesn't exactly like the sexiest clothes of all time. No. But he has like these velvet like, you know, plush fabrics.

Yeah. Billowing shirts. And he's always like tossing off his cravat. And it's just his eyebrows also just do some incredible heavy lifting where he like quirks his eyebrow. I'm like, oh my God. He was previously on For the People, which is another Shonda show that was on ABC, very short-lived. I never watched that one. I'm now mad at myself.

I have to now. I could have liked it. He also was in Roots, the recent TV adaptation as well. He is from Zimbabwe originally moved to London in his teens once he went through like some royal drama school. and I think this will not be the last we see of Régé Jean-Page. If it is, we're doing something wrong as a civilization. Also, his character is like such a great TV heartthrob, where he is like the perfect mixture of compassionate and smooth and huge jerk,

which is truly my personal kryptonite. Absolutely. It's like the guy who's an asshole to everyone accept you, you know, like the perfect. But he makes me feel special. Like just like the dashing duke who's like an asshole to everyone accept the main character that he falls in love with. He's so tall. He just like walks through the halls. Everyone just looks ridiculous in comparison.

Yeah. Just a great character. It's outrageous. Great face. Everyone else on the show is like looks, you know, they're all actors. They're all attractive. But they all appear anywhere from like unattractive to normal or average because he skews the scales so badly. Absolutely agree.

And I think that there's many other faces in the show. It's a really sprawling cast. So there's a second family also called the Feathering Tins, which is sort of like in this show, they are played very similar to the ugly step-sisters of Cinderella in like the many TV Cinderella iterations. They particularly reminded me of the ones from the Brandy and Whitney Houston. Sorry, yeah, yeah.

Cinderella. there's a lot, a lot of people. The female lead is named Daphne. That's the character. And the actress herself is named Phoebe Dinever. I think I'm saying that correctly. She's British. And like, I just feel sorry for her because Phoebe looks like a woman and she's playing against an Adonis.

And like, it's so unfair. It's, first of all, it was like a losing role to begin with. Like, she, it's just, like, you would have had to cast like literally the most beautiful woman in the world for it to, like, visually make sense. And I think Phoebe was miscast as Daphne in the first place. And I don't think it's necessarily her fault. She does a fine job. But she just, like, didn't bring that much to the role to me to be, like, the person carrying this whole series.

Yeah, they have no chemistry, like, at all these two. Which is insane because it's like, how could you not have chemistry with him? But they really kind of don't. They don't. There's no chemistry. And the styling of her character is so bad. Oh, my God. The styling.

The bangs. Awful. He has these like wispy baby bangs on like both sides, like one side of her face and the other side of her face. And they just don't help her out with that. And like she's just supposed to be this like diamond of the season, this woman that all these men are in love with that this like Duke will like, you know, break all of his like family vows to be with. And you're just like, is she though? You know? I don't know.

It's hard to buy into with her in this role. And like no shots at her. I feel like, I feel like Florence Pugh should have been in this role. someone like that. Someone who is assier. Someone who feels magnetic in some way, even if they are not as physically beautiful, but just more of a dynamic magnetism.

Even like an Emma Stone kind of character. Yeah, like someone who's really charismatic and like has the energy. Whereas Daphne just was like kind of boring. Yeah, I agree. Why? What are you doing? I totally agree.

One thing you mentioned is that Daphne is like kind of carry the show, which is true. one thing that I'm interested in with this is that the books are each one focuses on a different Bridgetton. So the first book is about Simon and Daphne and then it moves on to I think Colin, the third brother or second or the, yeah, the third brother. And so if it's a hit, which I think it will be, there's so much source material to pull from. And it's a whole like built out world. The books are written by a woman named Julia Quinn. And that's kind of like best case scenario for a Netflix show like this. They've really cornered the market on chick

lit adaptations for lack of a better term or like romance novels adaptations and i'm i'm excited about this one because there's so much to pull from i don't plan to read any more of the books and i also just want to say if you're listening to this and you've read the book but you haven't watched the shit know yet there's like some some key plot changes so you don't quite know everything i don't want to reveal what they are but there are some key ones that i think are were really good choices for television and and make it better but this is a wide world if it works out yeah i uh i was curious what you thought because some of the Bridgerton siblings worked for me, and some of them, I'm like,

I would never watch a show about you. Which ones did you like of the Bridgerton's? Like, which ones would you watch another season focused on? Well, I was confused by the oldest Bridgeton, Antony, who in the pilot is just like having sex outside, like just, I don't know, very unregency London of him. There's a lot of sex in the show. It's one of the most shodden things about it.

And I just want to say some really full thrust. from Rges-Jean page. There's a lot of sex in the show. Really good form. Yeah. Anthony also has a lot of sex, which I'm like, I would, I guess,

watch a season about that, but we've already seen so much of him, but I don't know. I think that her, I think Colin Bridgerton, the one she's, like, closest with is the most natural character to pursue.

I like the second son, too, Benedict, who had like the threesome with the artist's wife. The brothers are good together, actually. Like, they play off each other well. They play off each other well.

The other thing is the Featherington family. Also, there's several books about them as well. So you could go in that direction. Yeah. There's like a whole world to build out here. But I just think there is a son on this show and everything else just is like so, such secondary stars. Of course, that being Simon.

Yeah. The Duke of Hastings. Okay. Let's move on to the next thing to know about Bridgerton. So the show when it was first announced was noted for, employing a race-blind approach, which it very much does. The show doesn't really acknowledge race, but yet still race really plays into it. So several of the lead characters are black in their upper class, including the queen on this show.

And also Lady Danbury, who's kind of like the surrogate mother to the ambassador of Hastings. And there's like just a lot of really kind of like upper class characters that were typically be played by white people, played by black. people, which is really cool. But I think the sort of like the guiding principles of casting are a little confusing and that sometimes like with some characters, race plays a bigger part than it does them with other characters. And it's a little inconsistent. And I think as a result, kind of murky. Yeah, it was, I was really excited the first couple of episodes. I was like, they're not going to address this at all. Like I think they were kind of treating it as sort of this alternate history,

you know, world where race just like didn't matter, which I actually thought was really refreshing, considering sort of the fantastical elements of it. Yeah. Initially, I was like, this is great. But then there was the, there's this speech by the queen about how she, she married the king who was white and it was this interracial relationship. And she, I think that's one of the only times in the whole show that race is mentioned at all. And she's like, I brought us up, you know, from like sort of raised our class.

And it's kind of this just weird choice that really kind of threw things off balance for me. I was like, so like, is this colorblind casting is this sort of just like this fantastical, diverse historical world where class doesn't matter and race doesn't matter or it does it. Because I was like, either you can work into the show in a way that I think makes sense and like informs the plot or you can ignore it. But sort of kind of trying to have it both ways was confusing to me. Yeah. Especially when the one character who's sort of impregnated by someone who has abandoned her is played by a black actress.

Her character is named. Marina and she lives with the Featheringtons. And I think she is a servant, right? And she has an affair. Yeah, she like lives on a farm. And yeah, I mean, there's already been a lot of discussion about how like the women of color on this show are largely not happy and not in happy relationships, which people are like, come on, like, can we not get some of them? Like, you know, I mean, the whole Bridgetian family is white and like this focuses on them. We're like, could we have had a little bit more inclusivity with the main characters? Right. It would have been more of a daring statement to cast Daphne as a black woman.

Absolutely. Then to have, then, you know, to, or to have them both be black. Like, you know,

I'm not saying like one character should and shouldn't be. But that would have been a much bolder choice than having like a very classically fair and petite white woman, um, being courted by this devilishly handsome black man. Right. And, uh, yeah.

So I think it gets complicated and, you know, it's difficult to parse. I mean, obviously, it's still an exciting choice. and amazing to have so many black actors at the center of this show. But I think that it is hard to understand exactly what the role that race plays here.

And it kind of doesn't play as well as it could. I agree. I think, I mean, especially, you know, looking at future seasons, I think, you know, people are like, you know, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Obviously, as period dramas go, this is already extremely inclusive. But I've also seen some discussions about colorism and sort of the casting of main characters and the choices of actors in those roles as well. And obviously, like, I will leave that conversation to people much more qualified and smarter than myself for the most part.

But, but I don't, you know, I think there's room for improvement. Absolutely. And we're going to have. Yeah, race at the center of the show. So they're not interrogate how it plays out. Absolutely. One of the reasons why it's so exciting too. Yeah.

And we're going to have future seasons. So it's like, let's have this conversation now about how we can improve this going forward. And actually on that note and just talking about inclusivity, I thought the show is going to be a lot gayer than it was. And I was let down by the. that. I was like, there were several times I was watching this. And I think the trailer kind of led me astray. I think the trailer includes two men kissing at one point, which is like really not explored in the show. There's like one queer character, but I thought Eloise and Penelope were going to be a thing early on, and that didn't happen. I thought Benedict the second son was going to like have a thing with

this artist and he ended up just having a threesome with his wife. And which, you know, it's fine. People make choices. But I would like to see future seasons maybe. And, you know, if the books are all, you know, straight romances, that's fine. But like, let's take some liberties, you know, switch it up. The story of the heart of this, this is really traditional. It's about Daphne finding a husband and then a mild spoiler, producing an air. And like, right, what that means. That is like about as conventional as it gets.

Let me tell you in the book, it's like kind of even more outrageously conventional. But I think that within the confines of like trying to play within region, London, but also like push the envelope forward. There seem to have been some sort of like maybe artificial limits placed on it. But it is like in many ways just like incredibly conventional. But maybe going forward it doesn't have to be after the season. Yeah. Just, you know, some to think about for the future.

One of the weirdest parts about Bridgetton to me and like one thing I've just been waiting to discuss is that like at the center of both the book and the show is Daphne not knowing how someone gets pregnant and how babies are born. That's the crux of the show. whole show. Women do not know about sex in this fantastical world. None of the older, like, high class women know anything about sex in any context. It's super weird. It's super fucking weird for, for like a 2020 show. I mean, and that's when when I first read the book, I was like, what? At the center of this is a young woman never being spoken to about sex

before? And it's just like, is that even realistic for Regency London? I have no idea. No. And like, like even, you know, one of the boys, like she asked her brothers to explain it to her. Eloise, I think is trying to figure it out. And she asked her brothers to explain to her. And they're like, have you ever seen, you know, two dogs at the farm? And they like, it's like an, like a throwaway line. But I'm like, have, have you not? Like, you don't make that biological like connection, even?

No. I know. It's like, it's super weird. And yet it's like still a really entertaining show. But I can't believe they're able to pull that piece of it off. So strange. Like three full episodes. A whole.

plot of this show is based on that and her exploration to finding this out wild. Next thing to know about the show, this is like really, I think, the gemstone in season one of Shandaland. Like we now have a few different things from Shondaland, which is Shonda Rimes' production outfit that is working exclusively with Netflix. There was the hot chocolate nutcracker that Debbie Allen was at the center of. There have been a couple of other documentary pieces, but this is like the first scripted show there really has a Shonda DNA.

I think the sex scene being before the first opening credits with the brother, like, showing off his butt is, is classic Shonda. This show is, uh, the show on her name Chris Van Dusen. He worked on scandal and Shonda is an executive producer overseeing it. And it's just sort of like, Shonda I'm season. It's happening and I'd love it. Yeah. It's really great.

And yeah, I mean, it's just the Shonda DNA is so evident in so many parts of this. But it's also like she just like understands what the internet will latch on to, too. too. It's like this beautiful connection of like crazy ass romance source material. Shonda's brain and then like specific things that will live on Tumblr until the end of time. What do you think we'll live on? Honestly, I think there will there will be a lot of gifts of Rajajon Page's character like having sex. I mean, absolutely. I also think they'll like the brothers. It's a shocking visual. I think the brothers will be really popular too. Yeah, I do too. They're funny. And I think, yeah, I think that's a great call. Last thing,

this show. What was your biggest wait what moment for you? And like, what was the steamyest thing that happened? The fact that there's a whole honeymoon episode where I don't know how how explicit we want to get. Go for it. Like the whole, he literally is having sex there and has to like pull out every time because he doesn't want to have a baby. I was like, is this? Pull out the center of this show. Literally is this. And then I was like, think about it. I was like, did they have no condom alternative in this? I guess they didn't. But like, I, the fact that that is such a major plot point that she doesn't understand how sex works and she thinks that's normal. And he is able to just like go with that. And that to me was like, I thought I was going to watch the show with my mom. And that was the realization

where I was like, I have to tell my mom that this show sucks because I can't watch it with her. This show is about the pull out method. I think that's the best way of putting it. Yeah, literally it is. Let's leave it there. Let's leave it there. Check out Bridgeton. It's fun. And people will be talking about it. If you've already, watched. Hope you enjoyed this summation. And Merry Christmas to all of us because we now are living in Rijé Jean-Page's world. Oh, thank God for that. More TV concierge coming up next week.