Speaker 1: Welcome to Desperately Devoted.
Speaker 2: Think of us as your favorite neighbors as we chat
Speaker 2: about life and relationships.
Speaker 3: All while we revisit the iconic show Desperate Housewives together.
Speaker 2: I'm Terry Hatcher, I'm Andrea Bowen.
Speaker 4: And I'm Emerson Tenny.
Speaker 3: Okay, welcome back everyone. I am so excited that we
Speaker 3: are here. Can you believe it's almost twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3: This is the end of a nine year cycle and
Speaker 3: we were about to go into this new, expansive, abundant era.
Speaker 3: I know, for me, I am really looking to make
Speaker 3: this twenty twenty six about community and friendship and connection.
Speaker 4: And we have just loved seeing all of.
Speaker 3: Your likes and comments and questions coming through our Desperately
Speaker 3: Devoted podcast Instagram, and we wanted to answer a few
Speaker 3: more of them before the new year.
Speaker 4: So let's get into it.
Speaker 2: This one, I think is for Andrea. Okay, from I
Speaker 2: am I Okay, So I think I'm reading this right.
Speaker 2: So this is from Marcie. We hear and see so
Speaker 2: much about being a child actor, especially in the nineties
Speaker 2: and early two thousands with documentaries like Quiet on Set
Speaker 2: The Dark Side of Kids TV. Did you have any
Speaker 2: experiences similar to the kids on these shows.
Speaker 1: Well, so I will say that I it took me
Speaker 1: a minute to watch that documentary because I was bracing
Speaker 1: myself for recognizing familiar experiences in my own life growing
Speaker 1: up as a child actor and an actor on TV.
Speaker 1: And I will say that I was fortunate to avoid
Speaker 1: a lot of the super super dark, scary sides of
Speaker 1: the industry. But that doesn't mean that I don't have
Speaker 1: a crop of memories that now I look back on
Speaker 1: as an adult and recognize that they were not safe
Speaker 1: places for me to be. They were not safe people
Speaker 1: for me to be around. And I think the one
Speaker 1: distinguishing thing I've known, and I knew a lot of
Speaker 1: those kids that are featured in that particular documentary or
Speaker 1: who have had those experiences, I think that it's very
Speaker 1: impossible to put a child in an adult world and
Speaker 1: not leave them vulnerable to experiences happening to them that
Speaker 1: they're not ready for. I think the difference between being
Speaker 1: on a show like Desperate Housewives was that, yes, it
Speaker 1: was a mostly adult show, and obviously my co workers
Speaker 1: were mostly adult, you know, adults. It didn't attract adults though,
Speaker 1: who wanted to be exclusively around children. I think there's
Speaker 1: a distinction. Well, they're the shows that were on Disney
Speaker 1: or Nickelodeon or these other child centric networks. You might
Speaker 1: have some adults who are attracted to work in that
Speaker 1: working space because there are so many children there, and
Speaker 1: that I think leaves the door wide open for a
Speaker 1: lot of scary things. I have said, I have strong
Speaker 1: feelings about my future child wanting to be in the
Speaker 1: business in a professional capacity before she's an adult, because
Speaker 1: I think it's really hard to protect children. I have
Speaker 1: amazing parents, I had amazing coworkers like Terry who were
Speaker 1: looking out for me, and I still had unfortunate experiences.
Speaker 1: I had experiences growing up with adult men who were
Speaker 1: inappropriate with me, and I was it's because I was
Speaker 1: in a I was in that environment. It can happen anywhere, obviously,
Speaker 1: But I do think that.
Speaker 2: I think I swore too much in front of you.
Speaker 1: You do interesting.
Speaker 2: I seem to recall trying to catch myself like, I
Speaker 2: don't think that's the kind of unfortunate experience.
Speaker 1: Because I didn't have that perception.
Speaker 4: But I also was thinking of MJ.
Speaker 2: There is I didn't give a shit about in front
Speaker 2: of you, but like I think was five, I was like,
Speaker 2: oh shit, I shouldn't say that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it was a delicate balance for me too,
Speaker 1: because I wanted to be seen as an equal. I
Speaker 1: didn't want to feel like I was babied. I didn't
Speaker 1: want to feel like I was treated as not a
Speaker 1: professional who was there to do a job. But when
Speaker 1: inappropriate things would happen. I was on a series before
Speaker 1: Desperate Housewives where one of the leads had made an
Speaker 1: offhanded comment about the porn Debbie Do's Dallas. I remember
Speaker 1: this really, really well, and it went over my head
Speaker 1: at the time. I didn't get it, but they felt
Speaker 1: so terrible afterwards that they went to my mom and said,
Speaker 1: I am so sorry that I made that comment in
Speaker 1: front of your daughter. And I was so confused. I
Speaker 1: felt like what was going on because I didn't even
Speaker 1: get it at the time, and that certainly was not
Speaker 1: a damaging thing. It didn't land with me. It wasn't.
Speaker 1: But I think there's a difference. Some people are really
Speaker 1: aware when there's a child on set, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people aren't, and a lot of people don't feel
Speaker 1: like it's their job just because there's a child on
Speaker 1: set to change their behavior.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Another question that came in was is TV work a
Speaker 1: nine to five? How long were you on set? Was
Speaker 1: it Monday through Friday or did you come and go
Speaker 1: throughout the week? Also, where are all the doctor's office
Speaker 1: scenes filmed?
Speaker 4: Vanessa? You had so many questions A lot the.
Speaker 2: Doctor's office scenes.
Speaker 1: Well, maybe there's maybe the hospital, because we did use that.
Speaker 1: That was on a set that was on Universal.
Speaker 2: We're all on stage in the back, and the more
Speaker 2: there would be stories where like you'll, you know, Mike
Speaker 2: ends up in the hospital, or Susan's in the hospital,
Speaker 2: or Rex's in the hospital.
Speaker 4: Julie's in the hospital.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Julius there it's that was a stage. I don't
Speaker 2: remember the name, but it's kind of down close to
Speaker 2: where like the Transformer ride used to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and when you say stages, I just think we
Speaker 3: should clarify to use our sound stages on the Universal
Speaker 3: studios a lot. Yeah, where they build sets inside of
Speaker 3: a large room and then they're able to bring in
Speaker 3: camera crew and light it and film it like it's
Speaker 3: an actual space.
Speaker 1: So all of those doctors slash hospital scenes were in
Speaker 1: the same sound stage.
Speaker 2: Yes, there is no drama show, anything that is not
Speaker 2: a sitcom, and even a sitcom, there is not anything
Speaker 2: that shoots between nine and five as true. Like my
Speaker 2: girlfriend right now is doing hair on what's it called
Speaker 2: Saint Dennis Medical, and that show, she claims is a
Speaker 2: quote unquote easy show because the everyone's really nice and
Speaker 2: the producers are like very clear about stopping at like
Speaker 2: ten to twelve hours, like that's they don't do any
Speaker 2: of the crazy overtime sixteen hour days.
Speaker 4: But she still goes to work.
Speaker 2: At like five thirty in the morning and doesn't leave
Speaker 2: until like six o'clock at night.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean an eight hour workday, it doesn't
Speaker 3: exist in Hollywood.
Speaker 4: I mean it is. You are at least ten to
Speaker 4: twelve hours.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're on a scene and you're right thirteen
Speaker 2: because you take away the hour for lunch, right.
Speaker 1: And there's a union that we're a part of. And
Speaker 1: then that union has rules and structure that you have
Speaker 1: to adhere to, so you have to get things that
Speaker 1: are called like a twelve hour turnaround, so that there's
Speaker 1: twelve hours between when you wrap and when you're back
Speaker 1: on set.
Speaker 4: And now there's no yes.
Speaker 3: To note because I think a lot of people who
Speaker 3: aren't maybe familiar with the industry. The twelve hour turnaround
Speaker 3: is like this big built in grace cushion. But think
Speaker 3: about how many hours you sleep at night, like maybe
Speaker 3: like to sleep nine hours. Now, imagine you don't get
Speaker 3: to leave your office building, and you leave your office
Speaker 3: building at I don't know, five pm. You have to
Speaker 3: be back at five am, so.
Speaker 2: You have to you have to drive home.
Speaker 1: The fact the travel time, you have to take a shower,
Speaker 1: you have.
Speaker 2: To like eat dinner, you have to deal with your life,
Speaker 2: you have to sleep, and then you have to turn
Speaker 2: around and come back like it's it's it's.
Speaker 3: And a lot of the time, I mean, you guys
Speaker 3: were shooting eighteen hour days.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were. They tried to pull that back to
Speaker 2: like fifteen max. But even still the fifteen hour days
Speaker 2: a lot. And is it Monday through Friday? It usually
Speaker 2: is Monday through Friday, but you usually finish Friday at
Speaker 2: like four in the morning, and you usually have to
Speaker 2: be back Monday at like five in the morning. So
Speaker 2: they kind of like jip you of your time over
Speaker 2: the weekend. And they do that on purpose because they
Speaker 2: that's how it works. It's a listen. It's not an
Speaker 2: easy it's not an easy gig, but you're grateful to
Speaker 2: have you.
Speaker 3: Here's a question, a quick and easy one from Ace
Speaker 3: of Bess to you, Mom. Okay, Ace of Best says,
Speaker 3: I love Terry's glasses. Oh do you get them all
Speaker 3: from the same place? You have so many fun frames.
Speaker 4: Oh that's so cute.
Speaker 2: I'm so glad that you say that glasses are really Like,
Speaker 2: there's something might I tell Emerson all the time, read
Speaker 2: all the books you want to read before you turn forty,
Speaker 2: because after you turn forty and you can't see anything anymore,
Speaker 2: it's just a pain, like, you know, the simplest thing,
Speaker 2: Like you look at this like, oh I can't read
Speaker 2: that without my glasses, you know anyway. But at least
Speaker 2: you look good, dude, Oh thank you? And I do.
Speaker 2: Typically there is one shop in Los Angeles that I've
Speaker 2: been going to for a long time and seeing them
Speaker 2: for a long time. I have a lot of Chanel,
Speaker 2: and typically I don't I'm not like a you wouldn't say,
Speaker 2: I'm not like a snooty brand. No, you're not really
Speaker 2: sign I'm not a designer person. But I do have
Speaker 2: a few pair of Chanelle's I do love showing my
Speaker 2: personality through my glasses since I'm stuck with I.
Speaker 1: Recently got into the glasses game myself after updating my
Speaker 1: prescription for the first time in a decade and finding
Speaker 1: out that my vision is not so good anymore. And
Speaker 1: I agree it's really fun to express your fashion through
Speaker 1: your glasses.
Speaker 3: Well, I have one more question that I want to ask,
Speaker 3: and it's to both of you.
Speaker 4: It's a two hander.
Speaker 3: This is from Georgia Kay, and she says, thanks so
Speaker 3: much for listening and for watching the show so many
Speaker 3: times with your mom.
Speaker 4: That must be to me. Uh, she says, we love
Speaker 4: that question.
Speaker 3: Were there people that you knew in your life who
Speaker 3: you put into your character? This is for Andrea and
Speaker 3: for Terry. Did you have a mother figure that you
Speaker 3: put into your character that you were emulating? Were there
Speaker 3: mannerisms from people in your actual life that you felt
Speaker 3: yourself imbuing into your character.
Speaker 1: Unlike Terry, where we've said there's some really obvious differences
Speaker 1: between Susan and Terry, like some really really clear ones.
Speaker 1: I would say there's a chunk of crossover between Andrea
Speaker 1: and Julie, and so I didn't necessarily draw on a
Speaker 1: ton of other people to bring into that character, but
Speaker 1: I did kind of let myself come into that character
Speaker 1: a lot as we continue to rewatch. I do remember
Speaker 1: there being a real departure at a certain point where
Speaker 1: I felt like Julie's storyline was going in a really
Speaker 1: different way than what I would ever do, but also
Speaker 1: than what I thought Julie would do. And that was
Speaker 1: kind of an interesting thing.
Speaker 2: And maybe when that happens, Yeah, because you feel so
Speaker 2: connected to your character and why you acting that way,
Speaker 2: feel ownership of yeah, your character, But.
Speaker 1: What do you think did you bring in other people
Speaker 1: into the crafting?
Speaker 2: But I understand that question. I mean it's not like
Speaker 2: something that I haven't thought of or sort of applied
Speaker 2: to maybe other characters. But I don't think I felt
Speaker 2: that I needed to do that here. Well, I felt
Speaker 2: pretty locked in and familiar with the vulnerability of Susan
Speaker 2: with you know, being a mother, being a single mother.
Speaker 2: Of course I'm a very different kind of mother, but like,
Speaker 2: I felt really locked into that, and I also just
Speaker 2: really appreciated finding the comedic moments in it. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, the one thing I just want to add this
Speaker 3: was a question to me from Rita H. That we
Speaker 3: didn't get to get to, but I think it is
Speaker 3: important to say that Rita H. I was actually never
Speaker 3: jealous of Andrea and the time she got to spend
Speaker 3: with my mom. As an only child, it was really
Speaker 3: special for me to feel like I had some version
Speaker 3: of a simulated sister, and my mom gave me so
Speaker 3: much of her attention when she wasn't on set.
Speaker 4: But I thought that was a really cool question. Thanks
Speaker 4: again for sending.
Speaker 3: In your questions and for your kind comments, and for
Speaker 3: your devotion to our podcast. We are desperately devoted to
Speaker 3: all of you, our listeners, and we look forward to
Speaker 3: being with you again in the new year. Let's have
Speaker 3: an amazing twenty twenty six