The Prestige TV Podcast - Making the Case for 'Mythic Quest'

Episode Date: April 16, 2021

Juliet Litman is joined by Chris Ryan to discuss the newest special episode of the Apple TV+ workplace comedy 'Mythic Quest.' They also talk about the difference in Apple's approach to TV that makes it unique. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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New sweetgreen wraps hit different. Order now at order.com. Welcome to TV concierge, The Ringers Guide to the Best Streaming Landscape. I'm Juliet Litman, the host of Bachelor Party. I'm joined today by Chris Ryan, co-hosts of the Watch, everyone's favorite rewatchables person, I think, at least mine. We are gathered here today for you to make the case for our television show called Mythic Quest, which I'm going to be honest. I know very little about it. I'm excited to learn. Juliet, are you a Ted Lasso fan? I'd like Ted Lasso. However, it'll be a long time to get into it. And I'm sort of like, I can't believe this got made. It's so simple that I'm just like,

how is this a show? But I like it. It's pleasant. I would say Mythic Quest is the proto Ted Lasso. Mythic Quest came out about six months before on Apple TV. It stars Rob McElheny, and he also created it with Megan Gans and Charlie Day. So Charlie Day, Rob McElhenney, obviously known from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This is not like

it's always sunny in Philadelphia. It is a more or less straightforward workplace comedy sitcom with, I would say, if not a heart of gold, like a heart of silver. Like, it's very,

very optimistic. It's very sweet natured. It's very kind. It's very humanist. And it's returning for its second season in May. But today, Friday, April 16th, they are releasing their second, in between seasons special.

So one of the reasons why I wanted to shout at you about this is because I know that you and I are both huge fans of the British model of television. Huge. Short seasons, not necessarily regular return dates, but always down to do a holiday special, always down to do like a get the gang back together for 45 or 90 minutes or whatever. And one of the things that's so great about Mythic Quest is it's incredibly traditional

and it's like sort of set up. It's just, it really is just a workplace comedy. But they will try anything. They have done standalone episodes without any of the actual cast in it, like a completely different cast famously last season. They did one with Jake Johnson and Kristen Milotti, which was sort of like just like the standalone episode apart from the other story.

And now they've done, this would be the second sort of quarantine era special that they've done. The first one was all virtual, all Zoom meetings. And this one, Everlight, it's called, is about the return to work. And ironically, I am from my office here at, the ringer for the first time in a year. So it was kind of funny. But yeah, I wanted to make the case because I think that you like mildly optimistic television. Yeah, I do.

You like easygoing television. You like a workplace comedy, I think. Yeah, sure. Yeah. And yeah, there's just a lot to love about this show. And it's really interesting. Ted Lassow became like this sensation, honestly, outside of MCU and some of these other things. Like, I don't know if there's a more beloved show over the last 12 months than Ted Lasson.

Everyone's, like, so charmed by Ted Lasson. So question, Chris. Yeah. So Ted Lassau was based on a commercial. It was an NBC sports commercial with Jason Sudecas playing character, which is like just so crazy. That's like in some ways the most traditional thing about Ted Lassow to me where it's like there was a good idea by someone somewhere else and it got like transmuted into a TV show. And I'm just, I feel like that's how the TV used to be. Yeah, it was like the Geico Cavemen became a right.

Yeah, exactly. It seems like Mythic Quest. This was based on a video game, right? The people in the show work on a video game called Mythic Quest. So it's essentially like a World of Warcraft, League of Legends type, like huge platform. And it's an adventure fantasy game. So there's a lot of like jokes about that. But I would say that your relationship to video games and really a relationship to like sci-fi fantasy is irrelevant.

Like as long as you kind of understand the mechanics of workplace comedies, you will you will understand what's going on in Mythic Quest. Would you say this is for fans of the office? I would say that they would definitely feel at home here. There is that same kind of like, ultimately you're cheering for all of these people, although some of them will like represent like characters in your own office experience where you're like, oh yeah, that guy, oh yeah, that girl, yeah. Like, you know, like it's got some real resonance in that regard. I don't think it's as winking as the office and, you know, the office was quite literally

winking at times where they would turn the camera. This is pretty like pretty straightforward. I just think it's like, it's definitely like Apple's gambit to be NBC where NBC just refuses to do it. And it has like Apple obviously has morning show, which is this big glossy soap. Then they have these two sitcoms essentially with Ted Lasso and Mythic Quest. And they have another show coming up soon that I'm really excited about actually called Mosquito Coast, which is an adaptation of the Paul Thruh novel book. And Harrison Ford made that movie with Peter Weir a long time ago. But this is Justin Threw, starring in this one.

wonderful. Yeah. Love Jess and Thoreau. That's exciting. Also, I feel like that's a lane for Apple, which is to go like the sitcom lane because Netflix has them, but they're all like very hokey. I tried to watch the country music one with Catherine McPhee and Eddie Sibrean because I watched a few clips on YouTube of her singing.

And that's like Housewives of Jace, right? Yeah. Yeah, sort of. She's, it's also like Instagram fame of Jace. The foster family is like just everywhere. But yes, it's Housewives of Jace for multiple reasons. Basically, Eddie Sibreon was married to Brandy Glanville, who then he had an affair with Leanne Rhymes, and then Brandy was on the real house of Beverly Hills. And then Catherine McPhee is married to David Foster, whose wife before Catherine McPhee was Yolanda Hadid, who was also on the real housewives Beverly Hills.

So it's just a very interconnected world. That's actually not why I watched it. I was like, oh, singing. Interesting. I like shows of singing. Doesn't work. And there's a difference between, like, a Ted Lasso type show, and it sounds like Mythic Quest, where. it's a sitcom that like understands there's a lane for like a pleasant kind of optimistic shorter show

with like low emotional commitment that doesn't have to be like running back the studio laugh track comedy of like the 80s and that's like weird that that's even a strategy yeah the other thing about mythic quest that really works is it feels very nimble like they've done episodes that feel like with these two episodes Everlight and and the quarantine special they just feel really rooted in like the experience that people are having. Now, I personally am ready to see the back of quarantine and the pandemic and everything, as I'm sure everybody else is. And I don't know necessarily that I want to spend the next few years watching that in sitcoms. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know if you've thought about that. I'm firmly anti-COVID content. I'm really happy

Top Chef is back. But when it started with like this like nod to COVID, I was just like, nah, not what I came here for. And then like, graze is like all COVID, right? And it's a real downer. I think everyone's sick of it. This is a season. It started. It started. out joyfully, it's just been a miss and a mess. Not to digress, but do you think they're going to come back for the other season? I think they have to. This season has been so weird and choppy. And Meredith hasn't interacted with anyone except for the other dead characters that I think

they have to. But I don't even know what the ending of the show should be that if Meredith didn't have all these kids, she should die and reunite with McDramie. But like, she's got four kids. Meredith can't leave our kids. I'm not ready to do that. I treat these people like they're. real. Well, as someone who saw you when McDreamy died, I just don't know what you would do if

Meredith died. I think we would just have to give you two weeks of personal time. I would be happy about it because it would mean she's with McDreamy. I was so happy when he came back at the beginning of the season. This is my second conversation about this today because Bill's daughter, Zoe, is watching Gray's right now. And she just found out. She knew, but she was just given details about Derek's death. And I was like, well, let me tell you where I was when I found out. Anyway, back to Mythic Quest. What's the core relationship? of this show? Well, it's mostly this relationship between the Rob McElheny character, which is a guy named Ian, and an up-and-coming game designer named Poppy, who then becomes his sort of co-leader,

co-ceo-ceo-ceo of this game studio. That's all that sort of happens in the first season, and then we get into it, and they're kind of like at the same level by the time we get into the second season. But I'm glad you asked, because it's not really a will-they or won't-they thing. It's way more reliant on the quality of the ensemble, which is really high. Got people like F. Murray Abraham and Danny Putey, who people might remember from community. And it's just like, everybody's got like just enough funny in them to like make up for like when they're on camera or they're on screen. You're just like, good, great joke. Get you out of here. Okay. Keep the story moving. It's a little bit, it was a little bit jarring to return to it because

I do think it is pretty affirmative. So it is like if you're not feeling in that zone right now, It's like, okay, yeah, I know, like, we all believe that the light will triumph over the dark, but, like, sometimes it's hard to believe that. But, you know, ultimately, I was really glad to have it back. And I'm really glad to see American TV shows, experimenting, taking chances, messing around with format, doing different things. And this is probably the best one of them. Something you didn't note about this show that I would like to note right now, and I think it's just sort of like a unifying theory of television of, like, the last five years. Craig Mason is a recurring character in this show? Yeah, of Chernobyl.

Created Chernobyl? Yeah. Yes. Has anyone had a faster ascendancy than, I mean, Craig Mason was around for a really long time in this industry. But I just feel like, I'm ready to say Chernobyl is one of my favorite shows at the last five years. I really loved it.

Have you ever watched it, Chris? No, I tried starting it a couple of times. It's your Ted Lassow. Once it takes, though, it's really good. I'm sure. I think it's just really funny. He just is like, I feel like he's like really famous now. I'm like, oh, Craig Beazen has to be good.

He's got the podcast. He's done Chernobyl. I think he's doing Last of Us. It's just really big. It's all happening for Craig. Oh my God. This is huge. You should have led with that.

I would have been like the Chernobyl guy? I'm in. How phenomenal. So do you think that I've done a good job selling this? You think you'll check it out. Yeah, I do. I think that like I never got into it's always sunny and I regret it. So I feel like this is a better way in for me.

Okay. Too many episodes of it's always sunny. Yeah. It's always sunny now has gone into the like, I have no idea what season it's on when I'm watching it. It's just either on comedy channel or I'm watching it on streaming and it's just like, give me a random episode. Yeah.

No, I think that also like that Ted Lassow vibe need more of in general. Yeah, I think it's going to be a model in a lot of network shows and a lot of cable streaming shows. Any other commercials you'd like to turn into sitcoms? What an amazing question. Well, I'll just never get over that with Ted Lassow. It's pretty insane. Let's get the scoop. There it is.

Gang together. Scoop. There it is. That seems like let's just do that whole family. I'm ready for Jake from State Farm. Jake is definitely the best State Farm character. they've had. And now that he's got Drake with him,

have you seen the Drake commercial? Of course. Thanks. I watched television. But like, I love Jake from State Farm. He's way better than, than any of their other characters.

It's funny. It's a funny bit. I'm into it. You could do a whole like, curb your enthusiasm thing where like all of his clients are just NBA players. And like he just goes to different NBA players'

his house to do their insurance stuff. Yeah. That's a really good idea. Why are we giving this away for free? State Farm, get at us. Like pick a team that like, needs some kind of like we need an insurance policy. Like what if someone goes down?

And then it's about like a team with someone was injured. Maybe it's the nuggets too soon. I don't know. I'm sad about that. I'm sad too. All right. Well, check out MythyQuest and Apple TV Plus. I sure will.

Yeah. So the second midseason special or in between season special comes out on April 16th. Yeah, we've got the second season coming in May. Thanks so much for listening, everyone. We'll be back.