WEBVTT - Allison M. Gibson Meets World 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:20.360 Danielle. 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:24.639 I'm a little nervous to start my lego set, really, yes, 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:27.680 I just because I haven't done legos in a long time, 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.800 and I'm not a huge puzzle guy. Susan loves puzzles, 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.239 so it seems like a daunting task to me. 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:35.680 Do you want to come over? We can start it together. 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:39.720 Sure, you've got so much free time. 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:41.920 Oh yeah, it don't have to be at midnight. 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:45.279 But I no, I haven't done legos in so long, 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:47.640 and I like the box is literally sitting next to 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:49.199 the table and I keep walking by it, like do 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:49.839 I want to do this? 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:50.360 I want to do this? 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:52.680 No, legos are super easy there, like puzzles. 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:56.840 Yeah, because like puzzles, really, you know, it's like it 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.200 starts off so overwhelming. Yes, it only gets easier as 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:02.560 it goes, Like by hour six of a puzzle, you're 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:05.199 finally like, oh now, no, but but legos, you really 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:08.480 it does go bag by bag and it's. 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:09.880 The face of constru Did you do your lego thing yet? 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:10.120 No? 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:10.880 I haven't done it. 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:11.399 You know. 0:01:11.520 --> 0:01:13.399 Indy and I we did a lot of legos back 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:15.360 in the day, which meant I did a lot of legos. 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:15.520 Well. 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.120 He sat next to me, and then he got obsessed 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:19.800 with just the characters. He just wanted to play with 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:22.160 the figures and dress them up, so he was like 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.679 a doll lego player, you know. He never really did 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:26.679 the sets. So I've been telling him. I'm like, dude, 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:27.880 we have to do the Jaws thing. We have to 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:30.760 sit down and do it. So, yeah, you reminded me. 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:31.800 I'm gonna bring it. 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:33.000 I was going to do it the other day and 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:34.240 I walked by it and I'm like, oh, it seems 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:35.800 like a lot of pieces and a lot of stuff, 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:38.760 and then I get I'm like, I'm not opening the bus. 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.360 Because, like writer said, you can sit down and say 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:43.240 I'm just going to do one bag right now, and 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:45.839 you just just complete the one bag and then you're like, okay, 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:47.560 I did my lego for today. And of course, if 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:48.760 you're on a roll and you love it, you can 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.640 open up the second bag. But I I especially those 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:54.400 big ones, I don't sit and do it unless I 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:56.160 can say like, okay, I'm going to commit to at 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:58.920 least this many bags. But then it's great because that's 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:01.520 a good stopping point, you know, and there's like it's 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:02.280 it's really easy. 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.400 I did super soothing. It's not like puzzle, like there's 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:06.040 no anxiety. 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.880 It's just all right because I get my soothing from 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.280 like when I painted Minis, I got soothing, so hopefully. 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:13.320 Okay, all right, that's. 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:17.280 I will also come over and and just. 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:20.160 Start, you know, just get to door at midnight, like, 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.720 come on, let's start with I'm exhausted. 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.160 Come on, I've had two hours of sleep. I'm ready 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:26.400 to start another project. 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.200 I think we should start another podcast about like, my gosh, 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:33.919 does everybody think let's start the Lego podcast Pod meets Lego. 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.880 Lego meets World, leg meets World, Lego Pod Meets World. 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:50.079 Nice? 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.760 World's nice? 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.799 I think that job? Have they? Has anybody ever done? 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.920 Haven't I seen somewhere somebody did a Lego boy Meets World. 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:01.400 The guy was trying to get Yeah, you can get 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.480 enough votes, they Lego will take it into consideration. Somebody 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:07.280 had had done a really cool boy Meet's World set. 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:09.800 I know I did like that. That would be fun. 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.520 Well again, Pop came out with Corey and Tapanga and 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.000 we signed Pops Everywhere And okay, all right, should there 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:16.800 be an Eric and Sean? 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:17.200 Of course? 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:18.400 Should there be a place with squirrels? 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:20.880 Of course, but how do you not do a Feenie? 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:25.480 I know, how do you not have Corey Topanga and 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:27.240 Feenie as another pop? 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:27.400 Like? 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.079 I don't again, I'm the pop guy. 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:30.519 You see him behind me, and I keep all the 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.119 characters I've ever done, and so I of course want 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:34.480 an Eric pop or a place with. 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:37.040 Girrels podest But how is PHOENI not the next one? 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:39.560 You do like you've gotta be kidding, you gotta be 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:39.960 kidding me. 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:43.200 Let's get it together. Funko love you. I love you 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:44.120 more than anything. 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:45.360 Funko. You are my favorite. 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.560 You're around, reach out to them, will reach out to them. 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:49.480 You are the people. 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.160 See every time you and Jensen, every time you could 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:54.120 say the most esoteric thing and you're like, oh, I 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:56.320 know a guy were I don't know anybody at Funko. 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:58.480 It doesn't matter what, it doesn't matter what it is 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:00.280 for you and Jensen, you know the person and to 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:00.760 get it done. 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:06.280 I'm not like that, but like, just look up google Funko, 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:09.920 pr or and and search some names. 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.280 Random cold email. 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:17.120 Uh yeah, just so just cold call Funko. In my head, 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.279 there's a tiny little body with a giant head answering 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:20.920 the phone, like, can I help you? 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.920 I do know someone who used to work at Funko. 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:26.760 There you go. 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:28.960 That's I told you, told you. 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:29.479 There you go. 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:31.000 Reach out to this joke. 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:33.279 Susan and I always joked that if there's a phone 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:34.880 call in the middle of the night asking for something 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:36.560 like you got to get this or you're gonna die, 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:38.960 you and Jensen are our first call because you always 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.440 it doesn't matter what it is. I need a golden 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:43.800 drumstick that's actually made of pez and Gens' is like, 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:45.880 oh yeah, I know, I got the best golden drumstick. 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:51.680 Guy Like, it's ridiculous, everybody, So get it, get it done. 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:54.280 Danielle and Kay all right, all right, all right, the 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:57.880 lego set and I need some Funko pops, So let's go. 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:00.279 Welcome to Von World. 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.720 I'm daniel Fischle, I'm writer strong, and I know Danielle Fischle, 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:05.600 I'm gol for do. 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:23.160 As we find ourselves winding down with recaps slightly confused 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:25.440 with the final season of Boy Meets World, we know 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.760 the only way to fully understand our show's last few 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.279 heartbeats is to dig even deeper into the writer's room, 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:36.360 and somehow even after hundreds of episodes, we still have 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:37.960 some unturned stones. 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:39.320 I can't believe it either. 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:41.839 And while some of our guests have Boy Meets World 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:45.000 as the shining centerpiece of their IMDb page, our guest 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.320 this week went right from Feenie's teary eyed classroom to 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.920 creating Reba, her own smash hit sitcom within a year. 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.320 But before that, she wrote four Boy Meets World episodes. 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:58.680 Season six is Cutting the Cord and the Truth about Honesty, 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.800 and season seven, You Light Up My Union, and the 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.919 yet to be reviewed The War, which we may have 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:08.080 to bring her back for. Her other credits include Home Improvement, 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.479 Sister Sister, Two Guys, A Girl in a Pizza Place, 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:14.280 and most recently, Awkward. But today we are asking her 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.760 to rewind twenty five years and recall everything she can 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:20.359 about the TGIF show where she decided to have me 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:25.080 sing war for a tag. Welcome to Podmeats World. Writer 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.000 and producer Allison M. 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:27.640 Gibson. 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.839 Hi, thank you so much for joining us. 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.600 I'm so happy to see you guys again. Last time 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:37.800 I saw you, we were carrying little signs and walking 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:38.400 around the block. 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.839 This is so much more enjoyable. 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:46.440 We are knee deep in season seven, and we have 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.880 a lot of lay of the land questions, so we 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:51.880 hope you have a superhuman memory. 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.000 You know, I have a superhuman memory. I rewatched and 0:06:56.040 --> 0:07:01.800 I even took notes. Yes, loved us. There were things 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:04.200 that surprised me, so I needed to go back and 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.120 go what I can't believe that? 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:12.720 Okay, well, first let's talk about your start in these writers' rooms. 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.560 Was your career goal to always be a comedy writer. 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:23.600 I came out to Los Angeles to write television, so 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.600 I actually got jobs writing as a or as a 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:32.040 writer's assistant in drama rooms first. So I was writing 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:37.800 spec scripts on my nights and weekends, and I wrote 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:40.640 drama specs and comedy specs, and I just got my 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.560 break in comedy. But I think I always wanted to 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.680 be in comedy. A big fan of the Mary Tyler 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:49.160 Moore Show and a lot of those genre where she 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:51.440 sort of like broke the world open for women and 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:56.120 being independent in the entertainment industry. So I loved comedy, 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.280 and a lot of comedy writers transition into drama, but 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:01.760 usually the drama writers don't go the other way. So 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:05.640 I felt like I had that option right, So it 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:06.640 translates a little bit. 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.320 Yeah, well, they do say it's easier to make somebody 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:11.200 cry than it is to make them laugh, but who 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:12.720 knows if it's the same in the writing world. 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.600 Yeah, And I can make myself cry and laugh sitting 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:17.640 at the computer, and that's what I love to do. 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.040 We've talked with a few of the other female writers, 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:25.440 like Barbie Feldman, Susan Estelle Jansen, who have all detailed 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:29.360 about how difficult it was for women to break into these. 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:30.520 Boys clubs back then. 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.000 It's almost like you had a second job just to 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:34.960 assimilate and go along with the fart jokes. 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.800 Was that difficult in your experience? 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:45.360 You know? It's very interesting. I speak fluent sports, and 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:49.080 I remember I had interviewed for this show twice one 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:52.160 year earlier. A few years on. I remember coming in 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.840 and there was like seven women, ten women in the hallway, 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:57.360 and I thought, oh, that's going to be interesting. And 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:02.440 I was ill prepared for that meeting for a variety 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.079 of reasons. Back then you had to just sit down 0:09:04.120 --> 0:09:06.600 and you could didn't necessarily have all the tapes, and 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.280 you hadn't seen everything. And when I came in for 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:14.000 this interview. I remember they were all talking about the Lakers, 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:20.560 Tishlar and Jacobs and Manel and I'm a rabid sports 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.240 fan and my dad had season tickets to the Rockets, 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.160 and I went to football games since I was two 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:29.800 years old. So I just walked in talking sports, And 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.000 to be honest, I think that helps. And I'm comfortable 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.600 in that environment. So you look back now in the 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.880 lens about some of the ways we turned ourselves a 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:44.000 little pretzeled ourselves to fit in, and I see that now. 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.280 I didn't see it then. I just thought, this is 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.440 mostly a man's world. This is what these guys talk about. 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:52.480 I've been around this. It doesn't scare me. And so 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:54.920 I'm coming and strong with that. Yeah, and I really 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.680 think I got the job. I mean, they had great 0:09:57.720 --> 0:09:59.840 staff that read people ahead of time before you got 0:09:59.920 --> 0:10:05.440 in these meetings. But I also thought I walked in 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:07.480 and I can hang with the boys, and that that 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:11.520 really was a requirement. Yeah. However, that's the show with 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.560 the most women I've ever had on a staff in 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:15.480 my entire career. 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.280 So yeah, those later seasons had the most amount of women. 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.880 Yeah, and now I came in at co producer and 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:27.000 I believe I was the highest level woman for both 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:28.920 of those two years, which is not that high when 0:10:28.920 --> 0:10:34.080 you think about it, right, right, So, but yeah, but 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:35.760 there were a lot of us, and so there was 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:39.760 you know, that voice was in there. Yeah, But I 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:43.559 came in at a time too, so come in in 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.600 a season six. There was a bit of a boys 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:48.720 club there, right, and all of those men had been 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.800 there forever, and frankly, you guys had been there forever. 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:52.280 Yeah. 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:54.680 Like I felt like, I don't even know if we 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:58.079 ever got properly introduced. You just sort of get thrown 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:01.680 into the soup of a show. In my in my mind, 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:05.640 you guys were these frizzled veterans that were like half 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:07.440 your life, you've been on this show and you know, 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:13.440 get started. I know, God hats the absolute professionals. And 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.760 I felt like, you know, I'm what's in fifteen years older, 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:18.800 and I feel like the newbie coming in. You know, 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:20.680 I'm a third or four show I've been on or 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.600 something like that, and just like, you know, come on 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.080 ride for the show. These people know what they're doing. 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:29.080 Let's don't get it up in the next Excuse me, 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:33.440 I don't know if I s anyway, So it's sort 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.880 of an interesting feeling coming into that you have a 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:40.600 show that has that's very successful, it's evolving. Yeah, because 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:42.679 obviously I didn't get to come in and write you guys, 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:47.280 you know, in elementary school classes with mister Feenie. But 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.520 it definitely feels like the train is on the track 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:53.440 and it's moving and you have a responsibility, you know, 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:56.160 to move it forward but also maintain it. And it's 0:11:56.240 --> 0:11:59.800 loyalty and and I just thought you guys were, you know, 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:01.840 the ultimate pros and I was sort of, you know, 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:05.040 one of the rookies coming in to kind of try 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:06.200 to keep the train on the track. 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.120 Now you said that, so for the first meeting, and 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.080 again you're right, it was if you didn't watch the 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:13.600 show at the time, there were I think TVO was 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:17.560 maybe just starting to come around. But had you seen 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:19.800 or heard of Boy Mets World before the first time 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:21.199 you interviewed. 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.720 The I had seen it when it premiered, but you know, 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:29.720 as a working television writer, I wasn't home in those hours, right, 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:34.480 wrote Tom Riders Multi caam writers are you know, we 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.360 worked till ten pm on a good night, so I 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:39.320 was never home to see I certainly wasn't home on 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.560 Friday nights, so I had seen it occasionally caught it 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:44.840 on a rerun here or there. But what they did 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.720 back in that day, if your agent was good, is 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:53.280 they would uh messenger to your house a VHS tape 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:56.160 with three episodes on it, right, and so you would 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:58.280 watch that. And I remember, I don't remember what year 0:12:58.320 --> 0:12:59.640 I came in, but it was another time I was 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:02.720 in being jobs and they asked me about the Sean 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:09.160 arc and I had seen three episodes and I not 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:14.200 know pretty embarrassing that I didn't know that, But honestly, 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:16.880 often you would just get a call or messenger in 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.720 your tape tonight there's three episodes going tomorrow, and you know, 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.280 sometimes you're prepared for that and sometimes you aren't. So 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.400 I think second time coming in when they're talking Lakers, 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:30.160 that's my lane. I'm ready to go the show. Yeah, 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:36.480 I love the show. I love the characters. William Daniels like, oh, 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:39.880 one of my favorite people in the world. I was 0:13:39.920 --> 0:13:42.360 the big Saint Elsewhere fan, so I just was like 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:46.200 thrilled to meet him, although he wasn't in many of 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:51.200 my shows, oddly enough for my episodes, but I was 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.640 thrilled to work with him and super excited. And I'm 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:57.480 old enough that I remember when Seen seventeen seventy six. 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.920 The movie came out in nineteen seventy six, and I 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:04.160 had the soundtrack for that, and anyway, I just I 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:05.760 just thought he was the craziest thing in the world. 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:07.200 So that was super exciting for me. 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:11.520 Your first TV gig was the TV adaptation of Parenthood, 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.600 not the Jason Cadoms one from twenty ten, but this 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.400 was in nineteen ninety. So guys listen to this cast 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:22.400 ed Begley Junior, Jane Atkinson, Ken Ober, David Arquette, Thora Birch, 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:25.280 and a young Leonardo DiCaprio. 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:28.400 How did this only go one season? 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:33.160 Isn't that insane? It's just crazy when you look back 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:36.560 on it in that time period, and this was my 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:41.120 first staff job, my first yeah, stat job as a writer. 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:45.760 There were mostly multi caams live audience. Then they didn't 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:47.960 have a single cam. You know, now that's the cool 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:52.240 thing to do, and you know, even some people critically 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.360 they always liked the single cams though. The multicams that 0:14:55.440 --> 0:15:00.200 last forever. Yeah, but I don't think NBC knew what 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.120 to do with it. They made a one hour pilot 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.920 that was written by Lolganza Bably Mendel, who was a parent, 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:09.440 had movie and a million other movies, and NBC bought 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:11.760 it as an hour. I don't know what happened, and 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:14.800 then they decided and they made a wonderful hour pilot 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.840 that felt more like the Jason Cadum version later and 0:15:18.880 --> 0:15:21.560 then someone said, let's do it as a half hour 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.120 single camera, and they buried it on a Saturday night 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:29.200 between two multi cams. And to be honest, I don't 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:31.280 think the audience knew what to do with it. I 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:35.640 don't think they quite understood it. And so we were 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:40.800 an instant bomb, did very poorly. And I wrote the 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:45.080 last episode that was shot, and so, you know, pre 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:49.360 social media whatever, I sent out a little postcard to 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:51.440 all my family and friends telling them and I think 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.160 it's like December thirteenth, my show's gonna run or whatever. 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.120 And the day before they preempted it said, oh, we're 0:15:58.120 --> 0:15:59.640 going to bury the rest of the shows where we 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:01.120 run one more time in the spring. 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:06.080 And man, was it was it based on the Was 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:08.000 it the same characters as the film or was it 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:08.800 a different family? 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:10.200 No, it's the same thing. 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:11.760 It was okay, okay. 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:15.480 Yeah, so Ed Bagley was was Steve Martin in the 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:16.440 show Gotcha. 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:19.120 And another guy I love Ed Begley, so he's also 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.000 was a Saint Elsewhere stars. So I got to work 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.120 with Ed Begley and then William Daniels, you know, a 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:24.840 few years later. It was like there was a dream 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:29.120 for me from Texas coming to Hollywood working with my idols. 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:31.720 It was a big trend at the time to make 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.960 TV shows out of movies, and all of them failed. 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.280 Some other ones from that same year were Baby Talk, 0:16:37.320 --> 0:16:41.280 which was based on Who's Talking, Ferris Bueller and Uncle Buck. 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:44.720 So it just seemed like something that just didn't take 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.000 off with the audience. 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:51.200 Movies great, great, great movies. And oh that cast William Wyndham, 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:55.880 I mean it was phenomenal, And yeah, I keep always 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:58.200 wanted to run into Leo and tell him how we met, 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:02.840 and but I have it. It worked with Dave Arquette 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:06.360 later again and Ed Begley as well. But Leo, he's 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.360 been busy. Apparently he's all right, He's doing okay. 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.280 Okay, So was he the Leaf at the time, Leaf 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:19.000 Phoenix character young, Yes, troubled kid Gotcha okay, Yeah, I'm 0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:20.399 trying to put the cast together. 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:20.520 In my head. 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:22.200 I'm trying to see yeah. Interesting. 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:26.120 Okay, So after that show gets canceled, you find yourself 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:31.200 on America's number one show, Home Improvement. I mean, really 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:34.360 a case of landing on your feet. I'm sure this 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:37.400 room had some heavyweights in it, and you're still, at 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.080 this point pretty green. How did you, or did you 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.280 ever experience any sort of imposter syndrome or just nerves 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:43.800 in general? 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:48.280 I think early on I was a little too naive 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:52.040 to know to be as nervous as I probably should 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:56.280 have been. I will say it was an extreme I 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.520 did work with Susan the year. It was an extremely 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:03.560 difficult room. Yeah, and there was a lot of hierarchy, 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:07.520 so we were not even on the stage when the 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:12.679 show shot, so they had a writer's room and a 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.439 TV screen up for us, so we weren't involved at 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:19.080 all in the shooting unless it was your episode. And 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.000 even then you sat in the audience. So it was 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.080 very much run by the top three guys. 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.719 You sat in the audience for your own episode. 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:32.760 For your own episode, yes, now and now, remember too, 0:18:32.880 --> 0:18:37.520 My early jobs were hour longs, so and then my 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:41.600 first half hour is a single camera, so I didn't 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:44.600 know how weird it was. Again, I didn't know how 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:48.639 naive and how strange things were done there. But it 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.439 was done very strange, you know what I learned later, 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:55.199 And we were kept out of things. There were generally 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:58.440 two writers rooms often at the time, basically the three 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:00.760 head writers and a couple of people working, and then 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:03.960 everyone would rotate out. It was a very strange situation, 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:07.560 it was. Yeah, it was not. It was not a 0:19:07.560 --> 0:19:08.359 great situation. 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:12.359 Yeah, okay, how long were you on that show? 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:13.120 Just the first year? 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:14.040 Just that first year. 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:17.720 It's funny. I got I got engaged while I was 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.000 on that show, which was on the Disney lot, and 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:21.800 then I got pregnant while I was on the Disney 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:23.199 lot while I was on your show. So I do 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:25.360 have fond, fond memories of the Disney line. 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.000 So we we love the Disney lot. 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:30.000 Yeah, yeah, it's a great lot. 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:32.639 After Home Improvement, you make a few stops on shows 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.800 like Sister Sister and another one called Fudge that sounds delicious, 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.520 and then Boy Meets World. How did Boy Meets World 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:42.280 end up in your orbit? I know you had said 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:44.680 you had that first interview that you didn't feel prepared for. 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.560 How did you Who called you about the second interview? 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:52.080 Okay, we missed a couple of draps. Also show called 0:19:52.119 --> 0:19:54.240 Kirk and I worked on Kirk. 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.440 Oh you did you were Kirk? 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.320 I did a guest star a guest star on Kirk. 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.240 Yeah, I take it to It's Kirk Cameron, Kirk. 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:10.000