The Watch - Mailbag Episode: Pandemic Content, Best Music of 2020 So Far, and What Shows to Look Forward to the Rest of This Year

Episode Date: September 7, 2020

Chris and Andy open up the mailbag and cover topics like whether or not they want to see COVID-19 story lines in upcoming TV shows (12:37), what showrunners they would like to see tackle a new genre (30:15), some of their favorite music from 2020 so far (36:47), and what shows they’re most anticipating this year (43:16). Hosts: Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of The Watch is brought to you by Heineken. Heineken would like to remind you that it's time for seasonal beers again. That's right. If you thought a cold, crisp summer Heineken was something, just wait until you taste the Heineken Fall lineup, or autumn, depending on your zip code. Is it a new product? No.

Just the same great tasting lager. That's perfect for any season. Now, I'm personally, like, I don't really live in a very seasonal place. It's hot a lot here in Los Angeles. But the one thing that I've really been enjoying over these last couple of months is standing in my driveway, essentially, and grilling and drinking an ice cold kind of in to watch the sun go down and kind of take stock of everything. It's like just the perfect end of the day, beginning of the night, into the night beer. Heineken original logger is made with pure malt and

their famous A-East, which makes Heineken an all-season all-the-time kind of beer. Pick up a pack or have it delivered today and drink responsibly. I need supports to have to clear the room. Stand up and walk now. Now. Hello, and welcome to the watch. My name is Chris Ryan. I am an editor at the rigger.com. And joining me on the other line, the Maradonna of the Maronade.

It's Andy Greenwald! Wow. Quite the gall showing up here on Memorial Day. I mean Labor Day or whatever day. Lost all sense of time. It's actually Friday. We're doing this a little bit in advance. It's our Labor Day mailbag.

I feel like it's somewhat of a tradition that we do a special mailbag or a mixtape episode for Labor Day to end summer. Remember that? We've done that before. Yeah, also because we like to take a day off. Sure. Yeah. I mean, I like the way you were...

Yeah. I like the way you were framing it as like another gift that we give to all of you. That's beautiful. Andy, it's great to see you. Just saw you yesterday where we recorded the one of the world's most beloved television podcast, The Watch. I hope that the Ted Lassow fans in your mentions haven't made Twitter any less comfortable than usual.

How are you doing? I don't know if the majority of our listeners even made it. to that part of the conversation because frankly they were up in arms. People are talking, Chris, about how yesterday's podcast began with an accusation by you that I had somehow been delinquent, negligent, negligent, inattentive, downright rude to you. I just like, is it friendship if it's not that, you know? Like what is it at the core of this thing? When you have a friendship like ours that is as old, as Kaya McMullen. I think that

it's tough for people to come in off the sidelines and have opinions. And so you were saying that I had not delivered on my promise to help you on your journey to become an American grillmaster. And to unlock the secrets of of the nervous bird, the American chicken. And basically, yeah, basically. Did you ever see that the guy who coaches Michigan football, Jim Harbaugh? Was it Jim or John? I don't know which one. I get them confused. He's like chicken. is a nervous bird, and that's like, that's why he just eats

like cowboy steaks and drinks milk every day. That's really interesting. I believe it was another great man who once said chicken is a dish best serve wet. El Pollo Mojado over here. So listen, the point being, I want everyone to understand that I am a responsive friend. When I am

publicly shamed, as I was, on our groundbreaking podcast, the watch, soon to be renamed the sauce. I signed off our Zoom and then I put in work. I wrote a very long email. I don't go by page count,

but it was single space. There were categories. Basically, holding your wing, let's just say it, from every, you know, from beak to barbecue,

okay, with all the secrets. You know what? This is a pretty, this is a pretty long email. I only read the first three paragraphs. Oh my God. What has what has what is what is what is what is becoming America's favorite podcaster done to your attention span?

Chris it's so long. I was like from everything from like the the meat, the bone in, the various categories that you want to combine for these sauces and rubs and marinerates to even like how much time you spend on the grill. I even put in a little like you're okay. Walk away. Let it. Let it work. So I did that yesterday. Wait, wait. Let me just look.

I'm preheating right now. Actually, I've been preheated since last night. So I sent this and I was like, this is a kind thing I did for my friend. And I waited. You know, I waited a minute. And I was like, you know what? I sent it to my guy's personal email. I'm not sure where he's at with his sinking anymore.

Like maybe I should have sent it to Spotify HQ. I don't know. Only getting those notifications if they're from Eck. You know what I mean? So I did a passive aggressive move from the PR playbook, circa 2005, which is I then texted you, check your email with a series of. chicken emojis. That was the last text communication

between longtime friends Christopher Ryan and AJ Umami Greenwald. And so I had to say something online. I had to be like, what's going on here?

Let everyone know that I was not delinquent. And guess what I got in response to that? Call out culture just running rampant on the watch podcast. Other friend, Zach Barron writing me

and being like, wow, this sounds like a great email. I'd love to see that. I've got some questions myself. And I was like, absolutely, friend. This is a healthy dialogue. Here's an email. And he was like, fantastic, especially the parts about like direct and indirect heat, you know, because that's often, that's often troublesome spot for the novice on the ant free grill. And so I went to bed being like, Chris must be really pouring over this. He must be like one of the scholars and in the name of the rows, you know what I mean? Like just pulling down the heavy volumes off the shelf, wearing robes. I've definitely got that haircut.

The morning comes. Check the email. Still nothing. Still, still no clucking coming from my inbox. I currently... Now you show up on this podcast and you have the gall to talk poultry with me. I was just, I was a little tender yesterday, unlike my chicken. I think it was more about an emotional reckoning for me, than it was really about being ready to come back and learn. And now that I made a practice, I did a practice breast yesterday just to kind of see how it went. Real simple, just like olive oil, salt pepper, a little special sauce as a marinate, like as a brush on. I didn't even marinate it. I will get to the marinating. I just wanted to see if I could cook through it. You know what I mean? If I could cook through the piece of meat.

judging by your quick trigger finger when it comes to emails from your best friends, my guess is, no. My guess is you lay the meat onto the grill, hear a sizzle, and assume, well, that must be done. Oh, it's still cooking. I didn't even go back to it. I haven't checked the chicken's email. I only wish that this was relevant. Like, if we were dropping the show today, maybe people, you're about to barbecue over the weekend, you know, could get something from it. But instead, no, I just hope that your weekend.

So are you going to go open source? with this marinade or is there something a little bit more guarded? Because I think a lot of people have asked for you to do it. Like, they want to know what's up. Are you going to post the docs? They want me to drop the parentheses Ziploc full of raw poultry and various spices, end parentheses, bag. That's what they want. Yes. I'm here from my, I'm here from my listeners if they're responsive. I'm here for our listeners too. That's why we're doing a mailbag today. So you guys send in some questions over Twitter and Facebook to amazing, amazing developments over the last 15 years of this existence. And no, we appreciate it. We appreciate everybody listening. It's been a long summer,

but we wanted to hit a bunch of different topics. Now, Andy, we've started a lot of our shows recently with Streaming Wars talk. So while we do some Streaming Wars-esque questions, I thought we would start somewhere else. Is that okay with you? This is great. I don't know if you remember this about me, but like when it comes to mailbags, you know what I mean? You are, you're a perfectionist. You like to consider the questions.

You choose the questions. No, Kaih, I chose them. I'm looking at them. I'm Thelonious Monk. I find it, I find my rhythm on stage. Andrew Hertz wants to know. This is more of an anecdote from Andrew, actually.

I have told my wife that I cannot watch another medical show after all the ones I've watched over the years. Understandable. What genre of show Are You Sick of in 2020 and Hope They Press Pause button on for a Few Seasons? Andrew, great question, because I was just thinking about this after we talked about three-body problem. I have decided. Chinese science fiction epics?

Is that we are going with us? No. I have decided that I, Chris Ryan, will only be leaving planet Earth once per year going forward. Whoa! Yeah. I love space. And I think this almost applies a little bit to dystopian. views of society,

futuristic dystopian views of society. I don't even know if raised by wolves, the new Ridley Scott show on HBO Max is set on another planet, or if it's set on Earth, but shit went sideways for us. Looks bad. Looks like a tough scene either way.

I have decided that I want to stay on this planet. I'm a little bit tired of going out somewhere else, finding out that there is a new society out in other space, but that it's very similar to our own. And I've done so if you're asking Andrew what show what's a kind of show that you're kind of taking a pause on

I think I I'm going to take a little bit of a break in space. This is an incredible, incredibly counterintuitive take for 2020. I feel like the number one thing that most people on the street, hell most people who go to diners in Iowa would say, if asked, what they would like to do with the rest of the year, go into space and find another civil. that's kind of like ours would be like top three top three answer not if there's like a year there's already a like multi interplanetary war going on and a big brother kind of surveillance system i'm just like how much worse what's the temperature like is that when your first question i'm just like i'm sure there's a thriving spice market for protagonists to run through and you know extravagantly spill things in at some point during a chase scene.

I think that's a valid answer. I think probably the most, the easiest answer would be cop shows, mainly because of the year that we've had and the conversation that is ongoing about the role of police and society. I would say that if I did suggest taking a pause on cop shows, it would probably be so that TV can catch up to the world. You know what I mean? Like I would actually be very interested in police shows circuit late 2021. You know, when I spoke to our pal George Pelicanos last week and he kind of, this got buried in a podcast, but he broke the news about the new David Simon show that he's working on.

Kind of the wire reunion show behind the scenes. And it is a cop show set in Baltimore. But interestingly, it is based on reporting from the Baltimore Sun and a book that just came out last year. about kind of the, a squad within the department that ran wild and kind of presaged this moment of like the militarization of the police. And I'm actually, I'm quite ready for that show. And that show feels pretty prescient in the way that sometimes can happen when people are a little bit ahead of events and are a little bit further ahead in their work. So that's my complicated answer. my short answer would probably have to be

sitcoms about coaches coaching sports they know nothing about. I'm ready to take a pause on that. So you really are out on Lassau, aren't you? You've given Lassau the sack. I'm just trying to get back at you. This thing you mentioned about cop shows and also about leaving this planet

to find another one. Ties in directly to Dana Kempton's question. Do you want to see coronavirus storylines, episode, seasons, and shows, or would you prefer if writers and showrunners pretended it didn't exist, how much hashtag corona content is too much? I would be very happy if it didn't exist in content. I just, especially, you know, contrary to the federal government's opinion, this is very much an ongoing concern in our lives and everyone's lives. It's affecting every part of American society and more so than, I think, the world. world. So I just feel like it strikes me that in the wrong hands, it could be the most, the most ham-handed of attempts for relevance. What is there to say in a nightmare when you're living it? I'd be much more interested in post-corona content, both on a personal and life level,

but also artistically. And also, I'd be curious about to see shows that examined, you know, I'm not the first person to say this, but this pandemic is kind of a black light on all the false lines in American society. And so a renewed commitment to talking about those things and exploring stories that deal directly with those fault lines

related to, you know, class, race, gender, everything. Very interested in that. But I kind of don't want to see, I don't even know an example, like Brooklyn 9-9, but they're all wearing masks.

The one exception to that, that isn't necessarily my jam, but I kind of get, is Ted Lasso's up coming heart-wrenching pandemic episode. The Connors, the post-Rosanne spin-off, you know, when they release their image for like a promotional image for the season that they have actually returned, they've gone back into production or filming,

it's all of the characters wearing masks. And I feel like a show that shows like that are a little bit quicker turnaround and, you know, used to shoot in front of a live audience, that makes sense to me. Because those shows are always kind of just skating on the surface of current events. your fave mom could do it. Sure. Not without Anna Farris, though. She's taken off. RIPA, Ana Farris.

Well, she's still with us. She's just leaving the show. Good. Are we sure? Okay, great. I'm just getting some breaking news. She just left a TV show. Just want to say, shouts to Chuck Lurie for not calling the show moms. You know what I mean? Like, he doesn't have to change it now. No, I know. And he, I mean, I've only seen a couple of episodes of Mom, but if that guy, that guy is shown in the past that he's like, Are you leaving? We'll definitely be making five more seasons of this. Mom's pretty good. I just dominated that answer. What you got? I think I am probably personally more interested in the immediate aftermath of coronavirus,

both on a personal level. Like, I would love to experience that. And also, artists reckoning with it. So this is very much from my personal experience. And it's definitely not the case for everyone. But obviously, it's been a really, really isolating and monotonous time in some ways. You know, monotonous in the worst way where the news is bad. It keeps getting worse. I feel deeply, like, pathetic with my fellow, my fellow, like, my neighbors, my countrymen, everybody.

And yet feel like kind of at three or four steps increased remove from them. So I feel like very distant from people. I don't know how you dramatize that. I don't know whether or not that's like good drama. You know, I think that there are, there are probably very creative people out there who could think of what's a heist movie, like when you have to be socially distant.

What's this, like, you know, all these different tropes that you would apply to this world. I think I'm probably like you, I agree with you, that was a very well, good way of putting it, that it's like, this whole thing has shown a black light on society. I'm curious about what art comes out of the aftermath of this. And hopefully this time next year,

or whatever, we can talk about that art because I would love it if we were on that kind of trajectory. Agree. And on a friend level, if you are feeling disconnected from people, I think replying to their emails in a timely fashion would be a great way to just feel like part of the flow again. I don't want to derail the podcast, but the assertion that you and I are somehow not in contact all day when five and a half mile jog Greenwald logs on

and just starts firing off links, like, like daily cause. Just like, hey, just the morning link dump here. Just had my la cologne and I'm flying. I get really jacked up after a run. Yeah, it's true. Okay. I was curious, so this is, this, this ties into what we were just talking about, Andy.

But Django Stout, great name. I'm not sure. Ask, do you have picks for the best art during and reflective of the pandemic yet, i.e. excluding works made pre-pandemic that landed and resonated after we all went into quarantine, or is it too soon? I'm definitely, to some degree, it's too soon. I'm definitely going to struggle with the particulars here, but the first things that come to mind are Charlie XX's quarantine album. You're really into that.

I'm feeling now. Really good record. The pandemic episode of Happy Endings, Reunion episode. available on on YouTube and but my I think easily the consensus pick for um best content during the pandemic is uh Jake Gyllenhaal on Russ and Daughters Instagram feed that's good that's very good check it out it's really riveting I wish people could see the look Andy gave me through Zoom when you said that those words because I don't I think you've gone you've passed the bit Rubicon so this is can you explain to people what you're talking about? Well, no, I just, obviously, restaurants of all kinds and food workers are in critical

shape at this moment. And Russ and Daughters, the beloved New York institution, is still open, still providing essential bagels and locks to essential people in New York City and shipping around the country. And they created one of their iconic shirts, but it's kind of a tie-dye style. that if you pay 40 bucks for you get the shirt, but all the money goes to saving restaurants nationwide. And their friend of the shop, J. Chillon Hall, has just been like, he's just really repping for them.

So he's been making little videos and tie-dye shirts. I think he did something for them at the very beginning of this pandemic, I believe, where he was sort of upside down planking. Okay. And I just think, I just think, I just think. I saw like that. In my mind, everything he does is for Russ and daughters. But yeah, he's, it's, it's,

Russ and Daughters Mysterio approved. But what do you, what do you got? Because I'm definitely blanking on, a couple things. One is, one is host, which I've talked about here briefly, and talked about on the big picture, which is a horror film,

a mini movie, basically. I think it's like about 56 minutes, and it's on Shudder, and it is a quarantine horror movie. It's about a seance that's being conducted over Zoom during the pandemic, that goes hella wrong. And it's fucking terrifying. It's

just the right length. I think everybody's sort of capacity to take in information is tested because of the amount of time we're spending on screens. And I mean, obviously, I've been watching plenty of movies over this period of time, but there was something really liberating about watching a film that was only

like a little bit less than an hour. And it is legitimately, like, excellently well made. Rob Savage directed it. And if people have a chance to check it out, it's on shutter. I would, I would definitely recommend that. I also said on the last podcast about how much I liked this documentary, this docu-series that's on Amazon called All or Nothing, and it's behind the scenes about Tottenham Hotspur, an English Premier League team. That is actually a documentary that follows the team throughout this season. So it will include, it hasn't aired yet,

but it will include the moment when play was suspended in England, when the virus was breaking out there, and when they resumed play in this socially distant way in the premierly. But so far, it's just been really, really entertaining. So if you like hard knocks or if you just like Jose Marino cursing at people, you should definitely watch it. And that brings in some of the element. And also kind of since I'm always going to associate the pandemic to a degree with sports because of the Rudy Gober moment, it's been kind of interesting to watch it behind the scenes documentary play out that way. I have one more thing that we forgot that was our, I think at the time highlight of what has been nothing.

but mostly low lights, which is the Verzus battles on Instagram that pretty quickly realized that they weren't actually battles. They're just kind of joint celebrations of music. They meant a lot to a lot of people. And they've all been pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. But the DJ Premier Rizza Knight was just... Old guys doing their best. Listen, you said it not me. That is what's happening right now. And that's that. That was really an incredible moment. And, and, you know, it's deeply depressing and a little bit shocking to realize that we've passed through numerous eras of the longest six months of our adult lives. But there was a moment, or a couple moments, like in late March and then in April, I think, when there was a sense, at least among, you know, it seemed like there was a larger sense than maybe there was of kind of community, of connectivity that,

People were, we were all doing this together to a degree to, with a goal of making this country safe again. And so our children can go back to school. But in that time, you know, little things like the SNLs at home, probably, I was really moved by and enjoyed like our friend Katie Crutchfield's concerts that she was doing on her Instagram live. But basically, if you have a favorite artist, they were probably doing something like that. more in the Daddington space, people like kids authors like Mo Willems doing a daily doodle on YouTube for kids to draw along with. Like there was something. There was a, there was a very innocent, you know, feeling of creativity. Yeah, like we're going to make this up as we go along. We're going to get through it together kind of thing. Yeah, and that was that was kind of special. And it's kind of nice even thanks to this question to remember it as we stare into the hellmaw of the last two months of the presidential election.

It's funny. I was talking with my wife and I have been chatting a bunch about, you know, I think partially because it's living in California. The weather is very similar every day. It's just like hotter or not as hot. But we were trying to sort of give chapters to the quarantine since March. Like, okay, so that was the period of time where we did this. And a lot of it is based on watching stuff because we haven't really gone anywhere since March. So a lot of it has been like, oh, that was the month where we just watched all of Top Chef. And that. was the month that we got really into British mysteries like Grant Chester or Deadwaterfell or whatever and just kind of just sat around watching those for a while and it's it's been incredible I just like one of my favorite things about you is when you get to have like other human lives where you're like and now this person is different than they were six months ago I'm like yeah well I got to watch I got I just got to watch like a vicar in in in Cambridge solve a crime doesn't sound so bad um last thing on this question that I was just thinking of when the pandemic hit and people had to stop being in person, certain things that seemed to thrive on being in person, obviously, were imperiled. But I did want to give a special shout out to Mark Marin and the WTF podcast. Because it's been pretty incredible consistently. Well, there's two things to say about it. It's obviously, he's obviously very popular. It's a very popular podcast. This isn't some under the radar recommendation. But if you've fallen away from it, it's been pretty amazing to pivot to Zoom.

that he's done. And it's led to some, I think, kind of looser conversations, which have been really riveting and fun. I mean, so there are things like talk to Kate Blanchett and then the file got corrupted and they'd have thrown it away and do it again a few days later, which is both everyone who does podcast worst nightmare, but also created some interesting moments. Yeah. There were interviews like Kieran Culkin from the secret second apartment that he got below his studio apartment where he lives with his wife and baby, then he sneaks downstairs to do press. And it's kind of amazing because apparently every piece of furniture in this apartment, he salvaged from the lobby because they were all left by people who were fleeing New York for their country houses. Yeah. So a great one. But

most of all, the Billy Crudeup one, which is iconic, legendary performance. So you've been touting this to me for a while. Give me like the keywords for this. Like, what is it about Crudup in this episode. Crudup is a source of fascination for both of us, I think for a long time, because we are big fans of him as an actor, always happy to see him. He holds a kind of a mythic place in my pop culture radar because in 1995, his first professional acting job was as one of the leads and the coolest part by far in Tom Stoppard to play Arcadia at Lincoln Center. and my dad took your boy, 18-year-old your boy, to New York to see that play. And Robert Sean Leonard was in it and Victor Garber.

And I just checked the playbill. I don't still have it. It was online. But Paul Jammati was in it. I had no idea. Anyway, he was so incredible. I was like, that's the greatest actor I've ever seen. And Hollywood kind of thought so, too.

And he had the sort of drumbeat of parts that were going to make him. Yeah, Jesus' son and almost famous. And the Robert Town pre-Fontaine movie Without Limits. It was supposed to be a big deal and it wasn't. And that at some point, it just never really happened. And he just was a working actor and obviously doing great work on the stage and fun supporting turns and Mission Impossible movies.

But he is just, he's quite a presence. He seems like a great hang. Fascinating family stories. And then at the end, he's like, how did I do, buddy? You know, I haven't slept for two days. Jesus. And it puts the whole thing. Sorry, spoiler.

He's like, I've just been up thinking about how the world is. I hope I wasn't too out of it. You're like, wow, that's good coffee in New York. Anyway, all of this under the backdrop of what is just like an unimaginable summer personal tragedy and loss. For Merritt. For Merritt, because of the loss of Lynn Shelton. And to not only be enjoying these interviews, but to, you know, have the weirdly intimate

privilege of being with someone who we don't know. we've never met. Processing grief in what appears to be the most just forthright and emotional and transparent way. It's just, I wouldn't wish it on anybody. I wouldn't wish it on him, but it's been incredible to share it. That's a great wreck. All right, we'll come back with some more mailbag questions after a quick break. Today's episode of The Watch is brought to you by Heineken. Heineken would like to remind you that it's time for seasonal beers again. That's right. If you thought a cold, crisp summer hyniken was something, just wait until you taste the Heineken fall lineup or autumn,

depending on your zip code. Is it a new product? No, it's not. Just the same great tasting lager that's perfect for any season. Now, I love, love, love, love fall. So just absolutely, I want to just live on the suburban street in Halloween where the leaves are blowing and the synths are playing. But, you know, it's still outdoor weather here in Los Angeles when that happens.

But even if it was indoor weather, I would still be enjoying a crisp Heineken. It's just the perfect beer to go with it, whether it's a summer night or a fall late afternoon. Maybe we'll watch some sports if they're back. It's going to be great. Heineken original loggar is made with pure malt and our famous Aeast, which makes Heineken an all-season all-the-time kind of beer.

That's right. So pick up a pack or get it delivered, whatever your style, and drink responsibly. Today's episode of The Watch was brought to you by Ruffles. I am so happy about this. Do you know how many chips I've eaten in the last few months? So it gives me nothing but pleasure to introduce you to Ruffles Double Crunch Chips. They are hardier and crunchier than your favorite classic ruffles, if that is even conceivable.

And they come with more delicious ruffle flavors in every bite. Every chip has been cooked to golden perfection to provide two times the ruffles crunch. The amplified crunch delivers bold satisfaction to help you savor the moment. Ruffles double crunch chips deliver a flavorful crunch with you. every trip on new deeper ridges. They have two times the crunch of regular ruffles, kettle cooked with deep ridges like spice. Do you like the spice?

Ruffles double crunch hot wings flavor have deep cut ruffles ridges. Their kettle cooked to crispy, crunchy perfection with the spicy tangy flavor, classic hot wings. Own your ridges. Find a bag of ruffles, double crunch hot wings at a store near you. Greenwald, we're back, more mail bag for Labor Day Monday. and I thought this was an interesting one. This one comes from Paul Oyama.

And he asked, who is a showrunner you would like to see tackle a new genre? And what would you want that genre to be? So obviously, this gets to the question of like, you know, do we want people to keep playing the hits? Do we want people to keep giving us? You know, so I think that

an interesting person here would be Damon Lidliloff, who I don't think makes the same show at all. over and over again, but has hallmarks of his shows that I think you can see in loss that you can see in leftovers and that you can see in Watchmen.

Then there are people who are kind of polymass or at least just like hard to pin down like Jason Cadens who has a show coming on Netflix called Away, which is about a mission to Mars starring Hillary Swank,

which I can't watch. I know. You won't be watching that show. Can't watch it. So I was curious whether or not anybody jumped to your mind because I don't know necessarily that there are Showrunners who are so active in the way that Dick Wolf just did civil services. Right. You know, he just like knocked out all of the cops and the firemen and the ER attendants and everything. But so what's your response to this?

Well, there are people who's, you know, I think my, the answers that come to mind, are people who aren't necessarily pigeonholed in one way or another, but I would be curious to see a specific thing from them. I'm not going to say, I want to see a sitcom from David Simon, because I don't want to see that. Like, he knows what he's good at, and he does it. I think that makes a lot of sense. Damon is a great person to mention at the start of this,

just because what's been great about his post-lost career, two shows deep now and two pretty close to masterpieces, when all is said and done, is that the only consistent thing is we just don't really know what they're going to be. And there aren't as many people who are just continually pushing, not just themselves, but the elasticity of the form that way. So I'm very excited for what he does next,

but I wouldn't want to put a wall around it. Because I love, we love detective stories and the noir genre in general. There are two creators I would love to see, it. One is, it might be recency bias, but one is Michaela Cole. I may destroy you was a detective story in a lot of ways and was obviously a lot more than that. But I would love to see her do a London noir. That's the only rule I'm giving her. I don't know whatever that means to her. The other people who I'd like to see tackle that and maybe do the same thing for New York would be the Russian doll crew, Natasha Leone and Leslie Headland, I guess, and Amy Poehler as a producer.

I am not the first, I am probably the last to suggest that Natasha Leon at this point in her career basically is playing Philip Marlo whether she intends to or not. So I would love to see that as well. The last one. And this is one of those things. You know when, you know, a great hero for both of us, a great broadcaster, someone we model our behavior on in all ways, Sean Hannity, when he gives his monologues or whatever, he's speaking to an audience of one, right? Sure. To quote the title of Jim Pano Wosick's book.

So I feel like we're doing this too, and this is a stress test to see if he still listens to our show and not just the big picture on repeat. But Sam S-Mail loves 80s content. Like it made him. We're at the same age, all three of us. And he loves the back to the- He's a big pump-up the volume fan, right? He loves that movie, loves Back to the Future. We did the last one.

Yeah. I would love to see him try to do something in that Stranger Things zone. I almost regret saying Strangler Things because I'm an ambling teens thing, but yeah. Yeah, an ambling, I'd like to see him harness some of the wonder that made him want to make movies in TV. And because he's done the dark skeptical dystopian thing, and obviously the current moment lends itself to that. So maybe he might want to wait a couple years. but I would love to see his back to the future because I think that that is something that lives in him

and it's something that motivates him and I think it would be really cool to see. Those are really good answers. I don't know if I could even add on to that. I think that I'd sort of been toying around with an answer that some of my favorite shows of the last couple of years. I may destroy you fleabag. You know, we haven't spent much time talking about better things on this show,

but I'm a big fan of that show. to some extent Atlanta, although I think Atlanta is a more, is not quite like a personality-driven show in terms of it's obviously like Donald Glover has a lot to do with what it is, but I think that that ensemble has kind of subsuit, like that ensemble stands on its own and it's not dependent on Donald Glover. But first, I would love to see the next shows from some of the people who have made shows that are about versions of themselves, you know,

or about a variation. So I can't wait to see Rami Yousaf's next show or Pamela Adam's next show. Not that I want Rami or better things to end, but they're such compelling writers. I would just be curious to see what they did if they messed around with different genres or if they messed around with different characters. Yeah, I agree with that. I think in a way that it's the same spirit of my answer, right, which is that there's a, it's not fair to say at this moment.

I think it's always true. Like the dominant mode of creatives for the first work, it tends to be autobiographical. and that's true whether you're talking about like, what was Arabella's book title? Like confessions of a something millennial. Like whether, a fed up millennial, yeah. Right.

So whether we're talking about Michaela Cole or Phoebe Weller Bridge or Lena Dunham or we're talking about Philip Roth, whose first book letting go is basically about, like, very serious book about himself going to graduate school and then started to have fun. So this idea that like let's let these people who are known for themselves,

to a degree, give them the creative space that people have had for decades before them to play with genre and insert themselves into it and see what that means. I think that's just sort of generally something that we'd like to see more of. This is a pretty broad strokes one from Ryan Schaefer. Wouldn't mind some takes on music from 2020 this far? We haven't done like a, just what are we listening to Pod in a while or even a segment. Wishing there was a 1975 takeout there for the kids, didn't give them a chance until CR gave them such a glowing review for a brief inquiry into online relationships. I think that you've been a little bit more on the streets with this than I have. Because like I basically in the last six months have swung wildly

from ornate, but largely nostalgic and like historical playlists, whether it's just like, I'm just going to listen to all this Zeppelin and maybe a bunch of stuff that was happening around Zeppelin or I'm going to listen to this person's 200 song playlist from 19. 1984 or something. Just a lot of music from the past. And then I'll go, I'll just like stop on a dime and just listen to podcasts for two weeks. And then I'll come back. I, you know, I've swung around a bunch.

There's been records that I really like this year. Obviously, we both love The Killers record. I really like the Fontaine's DC album a lot. There's been a few other things. But what's, I feel like you should answer this question a little bit more than me because I feel like you've been a little bit more up to date on stuff. I just feed me, feed me new music this year. I don't know why.

but there's been a lot of great music, and I don't know whether my desire to consume more and more of it comes from the desire to feel anything other than the monotony of our daily existence. I don't know whether it's tied to the fact that, you know, there's no way to, I mean, not like we were going to shows like we were 15 years ago, but you can't go to shows anymore. And so actively trying to engage with and support musicians feels a little bit more paramount at the moment. But it's been an incredible year, I think.

I mean, you mentioned records we liked. There's also the Waxahatchie record from earlier in the year. There's a great, great record by a Nigerian singer called Fireboy DML that I've totally become obsessed with. And artists that you and I talk about on our secret I-M chain, like Young Gov, who just put out a great new track. But, you know, just falling down rabbit holes, I don't know whether this is something I didn't have time for when I was making the show or not. but becoming totally obsessed with Benny the butcher, the rapper from Buffalo, New York, who's part of the Griselda crew, who we love. And then being like, oh, these guys are not that much younger than us, but are alive in this moment culturally and online in a way that we're not.

And there's just a new release every week of some affiliated side project, right? Whether it's a track with some guy named Lee or this like Black Soprano family mixtape. And there's also just stuff like Bruce Hornsby put out of. great record. Chris, Bruce Hornsby. Can you believe this? The range are no longer in the picture. Boy, is that a story? Did you like Bruce Hornsby growing up though? No, I mean, that's just the way it was, right? That song was on VH1. I was past tenseing it for all the people who were going to criticize me. But he put out this new record and he's fascinating and he has a duet with your boy Jimmy Mercer from the Shins. You know, so maybe we'll throw up a playlist. Have you heard 100 geeks, Chris?

This is why people tune in. They want the chicken recipes. Yeah, I think so. I've heard that. Me talking to you about a weird art punk duo that take emo from 2005 and then just like chip tune the fuck out of it until it's something that wants to destroy you. It's pretty fun. Last thing. Guys, I put this on Instagram.

It's a band called Sweeping Promises from Boston. Yeah, you're really into this. I had to just like go around the blockade of CR and I just sent it right to your wife because I I knew that she would get it. Yeah, this is... She's pretty into it. And she was also like, I was like, the other day, I was trying to listen to something on a walk to go get my lunch.

And she was, and I just kept saying, this is being used somewhere else. And she was like, oh, Andy sent me this band sweeping promises. So I was just listening to it on my way back home. Yeah, everybody check out the Swooping Promises record. It's like jittery post-punk early 80s vibes, but very much of the moment, I think. Also, as I said to your wife, as a Spotify employee, I think you could probably get access to that like

Yeah, but you know, at this point, I'm into the chaos of the algorithm. Because like based on what she listens to versus what I listen to, it just makes some very interesting daily drives. Oh my God. Can I tell you how bad my made for you playlists have become ever since my older daughter discovered Disney Channel original movies? I don't even have words for you to discuss. how much of my time. Because it's like Benny the Butcher and then stuff from Mulan? No, it's not, first of all, first half of that, yes. You're, Chris, you don't even, you live in a world where you can watch your, uh, oh,

what's the fuss, Vicker shows like on a Tuesday. And you have never heard of a film series called Descendants, which is a live action, low budget trilogy made for the Disney channel by legendary Hollywood choreographer Kenny Ortega in which Disney Channel stars these people are the most famous people in the world and I had never heard of them

and you definitely haven't take on the roles of the children of legendary villains from Disney cartoons and then they all sing and dance together and eventually become friends and I cannot

do you know how we talk about I may destroy you where we're like boy, this is so challenging. We just got to unpack it and like, let's keep going, but we know that we're in the presence of something great. We're at this stage with my older daughter, who now, if we get in the car, not only do we have to listen to the songs,

if there's a lull in the music, and the little one loves it too now, and she sings along about how she's rotten to the core, because they used to be bad. Anyway, in the lulls between songs, I am, this is what comes. Do you have any questions for me about descendants?

Do I personally? That's what she asked me. And I'm like, no, I'm pretty good. Like, Mal has purple hair, right? She's like, ugh. So that's my life. And that's my,

that's your, take the precious Spotify algorithm and fix that. Let's wrap up with this one question, which I thought was really, really good, which is from Coach Kat. And they ask,

is there anything potentially belt worthy that you know of? Coming down the TV pipeline still for 2020. that has a chance to dethrone, I may destroy you. I don't know about that last part, but I will say that, as you and I discussed on Thursday, it does sound like in a pretty significant way,

TV and film production has picked back up again. There will inevitably be some hurdles and some hiccups in that, but it does sound like people are finishing seasons they had begun, getting back to production on shows. There's also been plenty of shows that we were looking forward to that are no longer going to be made because of COVID, because of the new budgetary requirements made on TV productions

to make sure that they're following all the rules. The Society was a show on Netflix that me and Kaya very fond of that is not coming back anymore. I'm sorry, the Andrea Savage show, which was a really pleasant, oh, hey, watch was halfway through filming. Because it sounds like, for the most part, the cancellations have sounded kind of brutal.

Like it sounds like writers' rooms were going or people were getting ready to move. I'm sorry, filmed half of its third season, and they were just waiting. I mean, I cannot, I cannot allow those thoughts into my head because, you know, just from my personal experience of last year, I mean, this is how I live every day, which is like assuming someone's going to come take it all the way and shut it down.

Yeah. To actually have it be shut down first by the pandemic, and then to live in that suspended state of like, well, what can I, can I finish this while I ever get a chance to? And then to be told, no. It's just cruelty. It's awful. Yeah. So, I mean, it's definitely going to be a next six months unlike any, because typically, you know, you round into the home stretch of the year and you're getting the awards movies. And there's usually a couple of really significant critically acclaimed shows in the second half of the year. Succession season three. Yeah. Succession season three, Strangers Rings. Like, I don't know when that will return. They were shooting that in Atlanta and in Albuquerque. I don't know what the plan is for that. But,

I will say of the stuff that I have been checking out that's coming out in the coming weeks, the most impressed I have been is with this show called The Third Day, which is coming out on HBO. It was written by Dennis Kelly, who did the British version of Utopia, which is now going to be in it. They're doing an American version of it on Amazon, and Gillian Flynn is doing that.

And we're excited for that too. And they finish that. But Dennis Kelly's new show is on HBO. It's a co-pro between HBO and Sky. It stars Jude Law, Catherine Waterston, Naomi Harris, Patty Concedee and Emily Wanson. I've only watched one episode, so I won't get into it. And I also, it is a, the less you know from somebody casually talking about it, the better.

But structurally, tonally, in terms of how it's made, the performances, and it really is just a guy happens upon a mysterious island off the coast of England. Rule mystery story. That's all I'm going to say. So well done. It's just, it's so gripping. it was really like watching it. I was like the same feeling that you were talking about with the boys where you're just like, this is pro shit. Like they, they know exactly what they're doing. Even just Jude Law, who I think, you know, has been kind of like, most people have just been

associating him with the young Pope over the last couple of years. Just to see him like flipping out on a cell phone and kind of just being a little bit more like a normal person for for at least an hour. I was like, oh yeah, Jude Law can really command attention. This is pretty amazing. I can't wait for the show. I do feel a little bit triggered by that comment like people who were just talking about young Pope when Chris, actually my dominant image of Jude Law

is from when I did see him just talking on his cell phone at the Broad Art Museum last year. Remember when he was wearing like what appeared to be terror with athletic pants? That's right. That was really a gripping performance as far as I was concerned.

Before we wrap up. But there was one other thing I wanted to say that. I don't think it's going to get the belt necessarily, but probably the show that I'm anticipating the most after third day is called Gangs of London, which is, I think, kind of going to scratch the 0-000-0-0-itch a little bit, although it sounds like it's a little bit more action-packed than 0-000 was. It's Gareth Evans, who did the raid movies. It's his first foray into making a show, and it is supposed to be phenomenal. It already aired in England. I watched some of a first episode quasi-illegally, so I'm waiting for like the real version of it. I think it's coming. later this year on AMC, and I'm very excited for this. Did you have any that you were looking forward to? Honestly, you named the ones. I mean, one major reversal of this podcast is who gets the screeners. And third day, I'm really hyped for.

I think that sounds really exciting. Beyond that, you know, I just, you know me. Like, I just love television, and I love to just, like, sit down, fire up a remote control button push and just be like, take me away little black box. You know, take me places I didn't expect. You're just a really curious watcher. Before we wrap up, can I just bring people in on one of the things that happened when I was

on my adrenaline, endorphins and caffeine rush this morning? This, the floor is yours. I think this is a perfect opportunity to do that. Well, just to say, a little fit of clearly chemically induced nostalgia took me back via the Google Books engine to Spin Magazine, November 2004. Okay. Can you name the cover star? O3? Yeah, November 03.

It's pre-strokes though, right? No, that's post-strokes, but definitely this is an artist who was never on the cover again, but not because of the o-threiness of him. I'll give you a hint. Greta Gerwig bought this issue. No, I have no idea. Who is it? I'll give you another hint. Like your outdoor grill, this person is responsible for ants marching. Paul Rudd?

Dave Matthews. I know. I know. Dave Matthews. So what a weird issue. But among the things, like sometimes I just look at this because you generally aren't aware of history when you're living it. You know, and I remember, you know, we all have, however old we are, we see things from like a time before. and maybe people are using those telephones on the wall

where they're like, yeah, you know, give me mahogany, 652 or whatever. And you're like, what, people really lived like that. This magazine is kind of like that, even though we lived it, right? Because there is an entire feature, and I want to get this headline right. So give me one second to just call this up.

There is a feature in this issue called, can we still be friendsters? subhead, from Williamsburg to Wyoming, Friendster.com has spread like an unchecked social disease with thousands of new people being invited to join the site each day. But as the popular community expands to include every internet using man, woman, and child, it's getting more difficult for anyone to make a connection. Ah yes, the main problem with social media is the challenge to really find connection. Wonderful job by us. There is a thing running beneath the fold in this whole profile called Ringin the New. When the internet isn't available, the latest tricked out cell phones

let you connect to people the old-fashioned 21st century way. And it recommends getting like the Motorola C-350 or the Nokia 3300 because at least the Nokia's ringtones sound, quote, more like music than the aggravated blips of alien invaders. I'm here $200. So all of this is to say, I'm flipping through this, having a grand old time, you know, really enjoying the photo fashion spread featuring the Swedish rockers The Sound, your boys feature on Thursday with their big major label debut.

And then you get to the review section, and there's the review of Kanye West's first record, written by young Chris himself, CR. B-plus, B-plus. So obviously an A-plus album, that record specifically was reviewed off of, it was a different version than the one was released. I don't remember

there was a song with I want to say it was either Luda. The Luda song was put on. Is there an ODB song? I think there was a... That's what came off. The ODB song. And yeah, I think that that was a you know, reviews or a snapshot in time. I obviously have a pretty deep affection for that first record. I wasn't

criticizing the... No, I know. I mean, but it's my shame that, like, I called, you know, Kanye West as like, where he's like landed in the culture might be like lower than a B plus at this point, I would imagine. But that album itself is still one of the most perfect things I've heard in my life. It's also, it was just very special though to like be, have no memory of any of this and be flipping the pages virtually and see this Kanye West review. Again, like where this is coming from in 2003, the lead full page review that led the section was Bell and Sebastian go widescreen.

with Dear Catastrophe Waitress. So, once again, finger on the pulse. But the review after yours is me writing about Death Cab's transatlanticism. And I was like, look at us friends. Look at us together. I thought that was very sweet. What a nice little trip to media past. I shared the Death Cab review with Chris,

and he highlighted the pun in the first paragraph and assumed it was the work of our friend and editor John Dolan and not me. He was very good at those one-liners, and at making my bad sentences good. We'll wrap it up there. I hope everybody had a lovely long weekend. Andy and I will be back on Thursday. We're talking The Boys Season 2,

and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff. Until then, take it easy. Happy Labor Day.