The Prestige TV Podcast - Where We Left Off With ‘Bridgerton’ Season 1

Episode Date: March 16, 2022

As ‘Bridgerton’ Season 2 approaches, Juliet and Jodi do a retrospective on first season catching up on where all the story lines left off, discussing how the show might look without Season 1 breakout star Regé-Jean Page, looking forward to the addition of Simone Ashley to the main cast, and much more. Hosts: Juliet Litman and Jodi Walker Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Matt Bellany, founding partner of Puck News, and I'm covering the inside conversation about money and power in Hollywood. With my new show, The Town, I'm going to take you inside Hollywood with exclusive insight on what people in show business are actually talking about. Multiple times a week, I'll talk to some of the smartest people I know, journalists, insiders, all of whom can break down the hottest topics in entertainment to tell you what's really going on. Listen now. To the Prestige TV podcast, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. Juliet Littman. I am joined by my colleague Jody Walker, and we are here today to discuss the phenomenon that is Bridgerton, the Netflix show. Jody, how are you? I'm great, Juliet. Just thrilled to be back in the ton. Oh my God. How are you? You know, I always had an issue with the title

of the ton, which is like sort of just like the town. It means like the town, the city, sort of like where the action is, right? But it's like, because it's the last part of the title, Bridgeton, I found that very confusing, but that's just my own problem. I think it's cute. It's like a little shortening of Bridgeton. It's very, you know, it's like part of the world building, just creating their own little language. It is true.

It's a really good way to get me right in the mindset of Lady Whistledown. It's just to start calling it the ton, and then I feel like I can start, this author can start talking like her. We are here to remind you about what happened in season one, which you may have forgotten because it came out December. 20, firmly in season one of the pandemic, like a long time ago. It was Christmas 2020, our first pandemic Christmas, different world altogether. So you may have forgotten what happened. We will catch you up in case you did. We are going to look ahead to season two. And more broadly,

just sort of talk about where Bridgetton sits in the culture today. Because season two, if you didn't know, is coming, I believe, in 10 days time. It's coming or less so. It is coming on Friday, March 25th. So get ready, people. Get your corsets. Get your dance cards. Get ready. And on that note, let's talk about where we left things off in season one. So season one was based on book one of Julia Quinn's Bridgeton book series. The name of the book formerly was the Duke and I. And it was about Daphne Bridgerton, who was the jewel of the season, the debutante season, I guess.

and her romance with the Duke of Hastings, Simon, played by the skyrocketed to fame reggae Jean-Page. I think the most important thing we need to note and the most controversial thing about season two is it reggae Jean-Page is not in season two. So I'm just sort of, I think that's sort of like the headliner for a lot of fans. I'm curious how you feel, Jody,

what your prospects are for a season without the Duke of Hastings. I feel I have always felt fine about it. I think that season one was, and I love Regéjejean page, I'm human, I'm a woman, I am very happy to see him on my screen. And he was such a revelation in season one. But I think I'm kind of with, I don't know what all went into his decision to not come back, but I'm kind of with him. Like, I don't really want to see him in a sideline role where he kind of, comes in and you pals around with the family for a little while.

I mean, he is meant to say, I burn for you. Like, he's meant to simmer. He's meant to kind of caress his hand across Daphne's back. Like, that's how I want to see him in Bridgeton. And so I'll miss him, but I think it makes sense for him not to be in season two. I think people were, I remember at the time kind of hard on him about it. And I think there was some sort of, like, weird, problematic, you're not being grateful. And it's like, no, he made this show.

I mean, this show would not have been this huge hit without him. And I think he did his thing and got out when the getting was good. And I'm really excited for season two. I think, like, if I weren't really excited about Jonathan Bailey, taking, you know, his starring turn, then maybe I would be like a little more disgruntled about Reggie Jean Page not being there. But I feel okay about it. Yeah, I feel very similarly.

So I read book one in anticipation of the show. I wanted to have a full picture of what Shandaland was diving into. And so I wasn't surprised he wasn't coming back. And you know, you mentioned world building at the top of this pod. And I think that's a really good point. World building is so often used for fantasy, the fantasy genre, in a very, you know, classical way, your Game of Thrones, your Lord of the Rings. It's really like our ring reverse brethren's bread and butter.

But one of the things that's cool about Bridgeton is it took the world, Julia Quinn already built through her Bridgerton books. I think there's eight of them. And it actually turned it into a fantasy land, like a better version of Regency London by making it more diverse and more interesting and certainly more beautiful. And that's the thing about Ray Jean-Page. It's like...

Talk about fantasy. Yeah. I mean, like, fantasy is not reserved for, you know, only goblins and orcs, which I also love. But it's like, it is by definition. for romance, you know? And so, like, you can make a fantasy out of Regency England, which is, you know, there's an entire, very popular genre of books about it.

So, yeah, I think that that was, like, an incredible, I think that's one of the most successful parts of season one is the way that they build that world out. Yeah, and the casting. I mean, like, Rajjohn Page was a genius move. And I, like, wish him well. I don't think we're going to miss him in season two. but I, you know, I think a lot of people will have their trepidation. But in case you forgot, they did very neatly tie up the storyline as in the book

with Daphne and the Duke finally get together and then they have a son. So, you know, they're living the good life out of the Duke of Hastings. Julia, you just said they had a son so simply as though we did not toil and terrorize ourselves to get to that point throughout the season. I kind of forgot. They had a very hard-earned son to me. I guess it's one way putting it. A lot of brooding to get there.

A lot of brooding. And a lot of sex. I guess, yeah. I mean, that was sort of the issue, the heart of the matter of season one in case you forgot, which I did until you reminded me just now, is that the Duke didn't want to have a child because of his own self-loathing

and torture relationship with his family. So Daphne essentially tricked him into it. It is an under-discussed controversial moment, I would say. I mean, in the book, it's much more shocking. And, you know, it definitely in the book is,

I would say, sexual assault where she basically forces the Duke to impregnate her. One of the, also the positives of the show is how they evolved that storyline and it was far less controversial, but still kind of like underdust in my mind.

Yeah, I think it's a little ambiguous in that scene as to, she a little less seems to be, trying to trick him into impregnating her and more trying to catch him in his lie. It's right when she's figured out what he's doing. And so, I mean, it could be both and we don't totally have insight into her mind. But what she seems most upset about is that he has, well, not exactly lied to her. I find difficult to watch in season one that he's very straightforward about not wanting to, well, not having children.

It's kind of the difference of the wording, not wanting to have children. and not being able to have children is where Daphne becomes very upset. He says that he's not able to. He says, I can't. He says, I can't. And what he means is emotionally, self-loathing, I cannot personally, my father was an asshole. I cannot have children. But what she thinks he means because she just literally has never even heard of sex in her life

is that something ain't working down there. Shooting blanks, yeah. There's some issue. Well, they finally make it to the end, and they have the child, and they live happily ever after, and he finds love within the loving Bridgerton family. And they do seem like a great family. I'd be happy to join the Bridgetons. Yeah, that's kind of like a nice aspect that they don't dwell on so much, is like how lovely

the Bridgetton family is. And there's that early scene in season one where he, before he's even connected with Daphne, where he sits down to dinner with them. and sees, you know, all of, and the mother says, like, yes, we let the children sit in the table. It's kind of unorthodox. And as you learn more and more about his very tragic childhood. And I mean, in season one, they could not have gotten more adorable children to play young Regéjejean Page. The casting from birth to age 30 of Reggie Jean Page's character of the Duke is perfection.

So, like, the fact that he ultimately gets to join that family. that is so loving and is so big and kind of can teach him, you know, how to be a part of a family and all the joys that come with that and that you don't just have to self-punage for the rest of your life in order to end your father's legacy is a really nice send-off for the Duke, though we'll never see him again. Literally. I feel like he might have made a cameo.

If I've learned anything from my, you know, my 16-plus years in Shandaland, it's that you never rule out a cameo, you know? That's so true. You never know what's coming. And I think I'm no expert like you, but I think you never rule out a cameo even when someone dies. Yes, exactly. I was just going to say, I'll never forget sitting on my couch in like September or October of 2020 and McDreamy appears on the beach and Gray's Anatomy.

So you never know. I bet we get a cameo, but I just want to say, like, no hard feelings on our part. Do your thing, Regéjeant page. Like, live your best life. Hope you get the great roles. Hope you get more recognition. Hope you find happiness. You mean, he deserves it.

Yeah, the only thing I'll say is, like, I miss him personally. in my life. I don't need to see him back in Bridgerton, but I'd love to say, I mean, I know the wheels are out there turning. Like, that star, we haven't gotten to see him in a lot yet, but I know it's coming. It's coming. Yeah, for sure. Also, just like last note on him, it's really interesting to me that clearly Shonda Land and Netflix didn't anticipate the breakout stardom of Ragajon page, because the reason he's able to leave is partially contractual. Like, he wasn't signed up for anything beyond season one. And it's just really fascinating to me that, like, that his breakout success must have sort of come as a surprise to them.

And that's on them, right? Like, how do you look at that face and not see it coming? Seriously. He just was by far the most beautiful person on television in all of 2020 and maybe since. Let's talk about who else will be on the show, though, and where we left them off at the end of season one. So, you know, another kind of shocking part about season one was, as you probably recall, the narrator, Lady Whistledown, who writes the pamphlet that sets the ton ablaze with her gossip, her identity was revealed in the final frames of season one.

And I was shocked at the time that they did that, but I love it. I'm so pleased that we don't want to wait for people, wait for, we the viewers don't have to wait to find out. But we are going into season two knowing that Lady Whistledown is Penelope Featherington. I didn't see that coming. Jody, were you surprised? I was surprised. I will say I didn't love the reveal.

I think because despite all the inquisition around Lady Whistledown throughout the season by the L.O.E's character, I wasn't that interested in who she was. Like, I just liked her as a narrator. And I do think it's going to be kind of tricky ground to continue to have Penelope, who is, I believe, a teenager, be this like, this like all-knowing, omniscient sort of character. But I'm sure they can handle it. I thought it was, you know, very fun drama to watch her take off her hood. And if you go back and watch, like, they do sort of, they do thread it throughout the season. It felt a little Dan Humphreys-esque of like, how is this happening?

How is she really getting all of this information? but I think it'll be interesting to see how they how they handle that in season two. I'm glad I think Julie Andrews is still a narrator. She is. Yes. I think that's absolutely necessary. So the fact that they've made the reveal is fun. I hope that it doesn't, you know, push too much to us having to watch Penelope do like

Kerry Bradshaw writing scenes in her window nook. I absolutely agree. I will say, though, that actress, Nicole Coughlin, and you might know her from Derry Girls. She's a delight. So if it means more of her, I'm all for it. That's true. And I would like to see her on like her girl boss shit.

Like I would be happy to see her kind of coming into her own because that actress is so delightful. The character's really fun. Towards the last half of season one, she gets so sad and broody over being in love with Colin. She makes some questionable decisions towards her cousin, Marina, and that are sort of, you know, detrimental to the character's principles, I would say.

And so I'd be happy to see her come up in season two. Also, I would like for her to be more than just like the less attractive woman mooning over the Bridgeton boy. So, like, if this contributes to her being more nuanced and more dynamic, I think that would be great, too. What did she do to her cousin Marina, who was pregnant and tried to trick Colin into marrying her? I don't completely recall.

Do you? She, well, first she tries to, so as Marina is sort of entrapping Colin Bridgerton into a marriage proposal, to be fair, he is in love with her. So it's not like she does at one point try to seduce him, which would have been the sort of like worse or path, but she's not successful. But eventually he just really falls in love with her. And Penelope just kind of goes out of her way to try and expose Marina. Like she tells Colin that Marina has been in love with this other man all along.

I don't think that she goes so far as to expose the pregnancy as Penelope. But she does write about it as Lady Whistledown and exposes it to the entire town. So like, excuse me, the entire ton. So upon reflection, She does some pretty harsh stuff to a woman who is in pretty dire straits already. And the season two trailer makes it seem like her harsh words will continue. Right. How do you process the disconnect between Nicole Coughlin, the actress, and Julie Andrews, the voice?

Because it's so funny. I mean, Julie Andrew's voice is, like, truly legendary. I mean, the Julie Andrews' voice that we're getting is, like, probably most, to me, most evocative of the Princess Diaries. But, like, pick your poison with Julie Andrews. I mean, you know, is she Maria? Is she Mary Poppins? Like, you know, she's just like such an incredible actress for so many years. She's going for it.

Like, as much credit as we give Julie Andrews, I feel like we're not giving her enough even in Bridgetton because she's, you know, it's not like they're just sitting her in a booth and she's talking. Like, she doesn't sound like Mary Poppins. She sounds like she's going for it. You can imagine her just as easily reading the, like, Kristen Bell gossip girl diet. a lot because that's how, like, catty she's being. It's delicious. I don't know. I don't know if I've tried to meld those two characters in my mind together yet.

But also, Nicole O'Cofflin, she has such a sort of sweet, like, high voice that it is. It's hard to imagine her saying any of those things. But, you know, I have a different writer's voice in my head. And so she can too. I like to imagine Nicole Coughlin as Penelope Leaf Featherington hearing herself

as Julie Andrews as Lady Whistledown. Like it's just a very... It's fun. I would go for maybe one montage of Penelope at her writing desk with Julie Andrews's voice. One Carrie Bradshaw montage.

It's fine. Absolutely. Yeah, I think one thing in season one that's hard to reconcile when you get the reveal is how sort of timid and mostly like giving and and generous that character of Penelope is to the people around her except for poor Marina. Well, for the first half she's giving to Marina, not for the second half.

And then to think that like all along she's been this sort of catty, you know, other other character. Yeah, like this has been there the whole time. I think we'll be getting a lot more of her. We'll also be getting more of her best. friend Eloise, who is the Bridgerton gal who's making her debut this season. We'll be getting more in particular of Antony. We'll come back to him in a second because we'll talk deeply about what to expect from the oldest Bridgerton. By the way, they are named alphabetically. It's just a part of the book, which I always enjoyed, which is like the names are

Antony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, and then I forgot the rest because they're much younger. Fiona? There's a Fiona, I believe. there's... The youngest one's name is Hyacinth. Yes. They go in alphabetical order. It's delightful. It's cute. Another adorable Bridgeton family feature. Who wouldn't want to marry in? Yeah, exactly. But I believe we'll also be getting more of Eloise because she's making her debut, as I mentioned. Very begrudgingly, as I recall from season one. Yes. Much more Featheringtons in general, I expect.

I believe we left the Featheringtons realizing they have no money, and so they must get married. Well, they had no money really for the entirety of season one, unbeknownst to the women Featheringtons. Their father was a real cad gambling all their money away. And by the end of the season, that has caught up with him and he is killed. And he kind of just very cad-like, gotten a big bag of money, but it's ultimately taken back. And so they are in a worse state than they have ever been, not only moneyless, but without really a way to gain any more money because the man of the family has died.

Real tough. It's not great. It's real tough for a bunch of colorful gals. Before we move on, looking ahead to season two, just final, some superlatives for season one. Jody, what was your favorite classical cover of a pop song that we got in season one?

Here are the options. Thank you next by Ariana Grande. Girls Like You by Katie Perry. In My Blood, by Sean Mendes and bad guy by the one and only Billy Ilish. There also was Wildest Dreams, which wasn't that famous in the U.S., but was a really big song in the UK. It was also featured in a couple of different shows.

By Taylor Swift. Oh, sorry. Yeah. I was sorry, thinking of Strange, which is the Chris Bauer song. I forgot. Sorry, Wildest Dreams of Taylor Swift. Pretty popular worldwide. Yeah.

Have you heard of it? I've heard that one. And notoriously, I've heard it in a rain-dappled sex scene in Bridgetton. So that's really high up there for me is Wildest Dreams by Taylor Swift when the Duke and Daphne are just going at it outside in the rain. But I think it will always be, thank you next, Ariada Grande, because that's the first orchestra needle drop in Bridgeton. And it's like the first time where you're like, is this? Wait, is this what I think it is? Is this Ariana Grande?

Yes, it is. And then, like, I think progressively, the needle drops get a little less, you just get used to it, you know, that they're seating in this modern music. But the thank you next Ariana Grande is in the first episode is,

will always stick with me. Did you have a favorite? I really liked in my blood. I just, like, I like that song, and it does, like, crescendo to the chorus in a way that's really good for a full orchestra. So I really enjoyed that. Wait, because it's not.

just about surprising people with like a good modern song. It's about which modern songs like adapt themselves well to a full orchestra and a ballroom. Yeah. So I just think that one works out really, really well. There was a song strange that I mentioned before, which was really popular in the UK, I believe, by a woman named Celeste. And that one was literally like the earworm for me. Like I couldn't not hear it. And I believe it was in another TV show. as well. Yeah, it was also in Ted Lassow and also in sex life. So I like, it was in the episode Make Rebecca Great Again, which was in season one of Ted Lassow. So like it had like a streaming moment. Anyway. Yeah, it was, it's a good song. Check it out. Um, song you want to hear in season

two. Okay. So going off the Wildest Dreams thread, they've got Taylor Swift in season one. I think it would be fun to put some Olivia Rodriguez in, uh, in season. season two. I think season two is going to be angsty, but in perhaps a more female fashion, which I'm excited about. Like, why are the boys the only ones who get to angst? So maybe like some brutal, I mean, you know, really anything from that album can angst with the best of them. So something like that. I mean, I also think it'd be fun to do something like completely out there, like a little, you know, wop. I don't know if I can say the full title on the Ringer podcast network.

but Megan the Stallion, something really out there. That's a fun idea. I was going to go with Halo. It's a very expressive song, and I feel like the orchestration could be really good, too. Yeah. Also, kind of brooding. But yeah, something like that. It could be romantic.

Yeah. Also, you know, some Mariana, I think, could be good. Like, the song Stay that she sings, that's like a really emotional song. I feel like that could be a really good one, too. So I just want, I like brooding. So give it all to me. You want to dwell in that. Yeah. Anyone from season one that you hope is downplayed in season two?

Okay, well, I know that I like posed to this question. In my mind, I was thinking about all of the terrible dads in season one, but I forgot and then remembered upon rewatch that they all die. So they're like the Feathering dad, Featherington dad is absolutely intolerable to me in season one. He's a bad dad, a bad husband, a bad man. But then he does die. And also the the Duke's dad is so, so awful in season one. And no, he will, I don't think Shonda's going to be having any, any flashbacks for those two characters. So, yeah, everyone else, I think I'm pretty, I'm pretty happy to see their, what they're

up to in season two. I mean, probably the most annoying other character in season one is Anthony. And I have a lot of high hopes for him. So I want him to stick around. Let's get into it. So Anthony is the, this season two is based on the book, The Viscount, Who Loved Me. And the titles, the titles are so good of the books. I know.

I wouldn't say the books are so good, but the titles are good. It's the first four words that count. Yeah, exactly. So Antony is the titular Viscount. He is the Viscount Bridgerton. And he, at the end of season one, is basically scorned by the opera singer that he had been dating. who was not dating, but who had been sleeping with as seen. Notably not dating.

Notably not dating. We very famously saw her at the very beginning of the show. We saw her and Antoni's behind as they're having sex against the tree. And that's kind of when you knew this show was not just going to be like regular regency of masterpiece theater, but you're like, oh, it's Shonda. It's sex. And I keep saying Shonda, by the way, the showrunner is Chris Van Dusen, who has been in the Shonda World since the beginning of Crazy Anatomy.

So anyway, so Antony is the main character. He is now looking for a wife because it doesn't work out with the opera singer. He tried to make it work, and she basically scorned him. So it's a great way to start. He's been rejected by someone he had feelings for. So I'm fired up. Right. To be fair, he scorns her again and again throughout the season.

I mean, he is such a classic fuck boy. So, like, to set season two up as a redemption narrative, he seems like at the very end of season one to have kind of learned his lesson. But really, the way that he's going into season two is that he finally was able to, you know, commit to the love that he had for this opera singer. And she was like, it's too late. I found someone who is not constantly sleeping with me in the back of my opera auditorium and then telling me they have to go to a ball. And so I think what we hear him say at the end of season one is that he's ready to marry, but he's realized that the best way to do it is just to take love out of the equation. So he's just looking for like the ultimate best match and love doesn't matter.

Right. Juliet, do you think that he will ultimately find that to be true? I don't know, Jody. We'll have to watch season two. Notably, his sister was looking for a love match. And that's why she was so insistent on Simon the Duke pasting, Simon Bassett. But Antony forsaking love is led to Edwina Sharma, who is declared the jewel of the season by the queen.

She and her mother and her sister are staying with Lady Danbury, I believe, when we get to season two. And this is a really crucial part about the season. Edwina Sharma was initially named Edwina Sheffield in the book. And her sister is Kate Sheffield. field in the book, who is now Kate Sharma. And Kate is the older sister who thinks that Anthony is a total rake and therefore not eligible, even though Anthony is pursuing her.

And so Kate is ultimately the main female lead of season two, though he's pursuing her sister. And guess what happens? And part of the remaking of the Bridgetton world for Netflix is, you know, having a more diverse and just a frankly more interesting world. And so they changed the Sheffield family to the Sharmas to reflect the fact that they are part of the British Empire from India and have just gotten to London. And that leads to the wonderful Simone Ashley, who you may know from Sex Education, playing Kate Sharma opposite Jonathan Bailey. And I'm incredibly excited.

I love sex education. And I think this is a really, really smart and just exciting update for the show. Yeah. I think that Bridgerton came at such an interesting, some would say the darkest time of 2020, like, you know, going into the winter months when we kind of couldn't even be outside anymore. It was too cold and just like a dark time

that I took in season one of Bridgeton so ferociously. But then kind of like as soon as it entered my mind, it went back out until I heard about this casting of Simone Ashley. And that's certainly what got me. excited for season two. She's so great in sex education. And I think that, like, in the way that they found a star in Regé Jean Page for season one, and that they found this stunning person in Reggie Jean Page, they have done again in Simone Ashley. She is just wonderful to look at. I mean, she has, like, the most amazing face. And she's also a really great actor. And I'm excited to see her

in this different role, really, than we've seen her play in sex education. Yeah, and I think there's just something exciting about acknowledging, like, the fact of the empire, just the fact that it existed and not trying to, like, create this, like, Regency London that is only white people has no history to it. Like, I think it's just a great move. And I'm just excited to see it play out. She is a really great actress. Everyone who's on sex education is wonderful, so this is fantastic news. And I love sex education.

You should watch it if you haven't. It's great. Yeah, and all of the kids in sex education. are so good. I think, yeah, I'm excited about that aspect of season two. I think when Bridgetton first started being announced for season one, it kind of seemed like they had done colorblind casting, but then you find out throughout season one, and I think even more into season two, that there's actually a lot more thought behind it. Yeah, it's actually quite intentional. Right, right, quite intentional. And also, they've done it in a way that makes some sense. I mean, it's,

It's kind of lightly touched in season one, but it's very true to a romance story and a romance novel that, like, the thing that integrated this society is a love story between the queen and the king. And so, yeah, I'm interested to see that continue to play out in season two. Me too. Me too. And just based on the pictures, she looks stunning, Simone, Ashley.

And she gets to wear some color, I think. If I had one critique of, well, actually, If I had two critiques of the wardrobe and hair in season one, it is Daphne's bangs. And Daphne's wardrobe is just so, like, white and virginal and umpier waist and just not very exciting. Everyone around her has, you know, really interesting stuff going on. But I'm excited for the main character to be in some jewel tones. Yeah, absolutely. The bangs on Daphne in season one were so bad.

It was so bad that I'm like a, I love the television show Younger and Phoebe Dinever was on that show playing Claire. And I just like didn't recognize her at all. She was like such a like very sort of like pretty, you know, just sort of like, just like kind of like a great actress on Younger. And I was like, who is this person? I've never seen her before on Bridgerton. And the bangs were so distracting that I couldn't even like look at her face and realize that I've seen this woman and in something else before. So thank God it's no longer front center. I think a lot of like everyone during the season was calling them whistrower.

wispy bangs, but upon going back and rewatching the season, there is nothing wispy about those bangs. Like, I don't think you could blow them out of her face with a leaf blower. They are, like, so stiff. Like glued down to, like, just get this awful framing of her forehead. It was one of the worst hairstyles in the history of television. It was awful. Just a wild decision. But I see that in season two, they have gone with a very full, luscious head of waves on Simone Ashley.

So I'm thrilled for that turn. She looks really good. And so a long time, Anthony will be his sister. Elie as she presumably continues to try to find the identity of Lady Whistledown and also, I guess, find love because she is being forced to debut. So I'm curious to see how that plays out. But just more broadly, thinking about Bridgeton coming back now 14 months or 15 months after it first came out, I'm curious like where you think Bridgeton sits in like the cultural

excitement. Like so for season one, it was one of them. it was the most watched show up to that point on Netflix. 82 million people watched two minutes in the first 28 days of it's coming out, which is just absolutely insane. It's also a really weird way to measure television viewing, but whatever if you want more.

Right, because two minutes is such a small portion of Bridgerton episodes, which are often over an hour. You definitely don't see your recognition on page in the first two minutes, so I hope you made it further, listener. Right. The stats I would be interested to know about Bridgeton

are which scenes from season one are being replayed. an abnormal amount. And do they involve Regé Jean-Pages? Behind. Behind. Do you think season two will be as widely watched? I think so.

I mean, I think anyone who was out on season one is not going to suddenly be in on season two. But I think anyone who watch season one is going to be coming back for season two, even if they're the ones who are, like, you know, so upset that they're not going to be seeing Regé Jean-Page. I think they would watch it just to be mad that he's not there. And then hopefully,

be brought back in. I think it can't be understated the time in the consciousness that season one came in and why it may have, why the show may have received such a huge following is that, you know,

it was a romance, it was breezy, it was like literally breezy, like taking place in the spring while we were in the dead of winter. And, you know, it was notoriously known as like a very horny show

at a very horny time in the world, I think, where like a lot of single people were not able to get theirs. They could get it on TV or watch someone else get it. And so, you know, that aspect is not there going into season two. But I think the fact that it's coming out in the summer and that like it is a show that is about sort of this. I'm sorry to break it to you, but it's March 25th.

I can't call that the summer. I wish. I meant to say spring. In my head, it's the summer. I know. It's 60 degrees here today. That the show is coming in the spring, and the show, I think, takes place in the spring, is a good time to just imagine we're in that life. And imagine we're in that world.

And imagine we're getting to go to balls every weekend and, you know, meet a bunch of eligible bachelors and bachelorets. So I think people are excited for it. I don't know that it's going to be the runaway. hit that it was in season one. But I think it's serious a good chance. It's interesting. I watch all of like

the sort of like women targeted shows on Netflix. Like I watch Virgin River. I watch Sweet Magnolias. Oh, wow. You're in deep. I am in deep. And this is definitely a standout.

Those shows are popular though. I mean, oh yeah. Really popular. They're always on the top 10. They're also really bad. Like the writing is so bad. The writing for this show is much better.

And just like in general, the creativity is much higher. I mean, Virgin River, I can't state how, like, ridiculous it is. I mean, it's just such a bad show that I love to watch. But I'm curious to see if, like, people will just blindly turn this on again. I, we discussed this on Ringer Dish. I did not love inventing Anna, which is the Anna Stroke and Anna Delvey show that Shonda Rhymes also produced. And she wrote on that one and I believe it was a showrunner. But that show was devoured. And I think a lot of people had like similar, like, it's not great, but I can't

of watching. And so I do think that like this show, while I don't love a binge, I think that this type of like really frothy plot-driven show is people do love to just like sit down with it for hours at a time. Right. And there's a difference between like a day binge and a weekend or week long binge. And like Bridgeton does have something to sink your teeth into. Yes. The episodes are long. There are a lot of characters. And so as someone who recently did, watch eight episodes of season one right in a row for a story. It is kind of a lot to take in all at once so that you can like spread it out and savor it a little bit I think is also really, you know, something that people are looking for.

But you're right. I mean, inventing Anna, we discussed on Ring or Dish that neither one of us were huge fans despite being excited for it. And talk about Top Ten. That show has been in the Top Ten on Netflix forever. I mean, it's so popular. So, like, if people are watching that, why would they not be watching Bridgetton season two? I definitely prefer Bridgetton to inventing Anna.

There's no question in my mind. Also, Netflix is betting big on this. They are already greenlit season three and season four, though it'll have a different showrunner, which I find interesting. And then, um, Shonda Rhymes is writing and EPing a spinoff of the queen about her as the young woman coming to, you know, grown up and becoming queen. So like the Bridgeton expanded universe is here. And one thing that is cool about the IP is it, like, to your very first point, like, there's a, there is a world to be built out. And they're obviously doing that. It was smart to option it, like, whoever's idea that was because of the way the books are written. But there is so much to explore. And, like, if you just kind of take, like, Regency London as they've established it as a given, there's so many different, like, nooks that you can go in. Like, as you said, there's so many characters. So I'm, like, more excited about the possibility of the world it could create versus, like, like,

any particular season, but it is like a nice, like, through line, even if it's not like, you know, succession level writing. But I don't want to dismiss it out of hands. And just real quick, we've talked about Simone Ashley in season two, but I think that Jonathan Bailey, who plays Antony, is also, well, I did not think this in season one. But as I got to know the actor outside of season one, he is incredibly charming and capable of a lot, I think. And so I think kind of re-meeting that character as someone who has grown a little bit, who is like fighting love but just can't fight it anymore, just like we like in our, you know, brooding male romance characters.

I think that's going to be a lot of fun and people could really take to that as well. So I think season two, just like season one, kind of lives and dies on that central relationship. And from everything I'm seeing, it's going to be good. I'm fired up. We'll be back to talk about it. We're going to recap it on this pod. So please watch alongside and catch up with Bridgerton. Read Jody's writing about it on the ringer.com.

Coming soon to a ringer.com near you. And there'll be more Prestage TV pod later in the week. Thank you so much for listening. And thank you to Sasha Oshel for producing this episode.