Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Terry Hatcher, I'm Andrea Bowen, and I'm Emerson Tenny,
Speaker 1: and this is desperately devoted a rewatch podcast about the
Speaker 1: iconic television series Desperate Housewives. Whether you're watching the show
Speaker 1: for the hundredth time or the first time like me,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Oh, we're so glad that you're here, and we of
Speaker 2: course are going to be watching all eight seasons and
Speaker 2: getting into all the behind the scenes with all the
Speaker 2: entertaining classic iconic moments, but we're also using it as
Speaker 2: a springboard to talk about things like relationships and.
Speaker 3: Being a woman and motherhood.
Speaker 1: And all of the cultural references from Y two K
Speaker 1: up until today.
Speaker 4: So we're glad you're here, and today.
Speaker 1: We're talking about the pilot.
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 4: My gosh.
Speaker 3: I can't start at the very beginning.
Speaker 2: This is a very exciting episode. It starts with a bang,
Speaker 2: a bang, start with you got it? It starts with
Speaker 2: the bang.
Speaker 3: We really like to start with discussing each of our
Speaker 3: favorite moments from the episode. So I would love to
Speaker 3: hear your favorite moment.
Speaker 2: Oh, well, I have to say I I felt what
Speaker 2: stood out to me in this episode crazy enough was
Speaker 2: the neighborhood itself. I just think with steria, Lane is
Speaker 2: an absolute star. Totally yeah, yeah, the neighborhood. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: hear you, and I can't wait to talk more about her.
Speaker 3: I would say my top moment is the cut to
Speaker 3: missus Huber licking off what appears to be blood off
Speaker 3: of her finger off of her kitchen counter, but it's
Speaker 3: actually ketchup.
Speaker 1: It's such a perfect blend of the dramatic moment into
Speaker 1: the comedy. And I think my favorite moment, well, there
Speaker 1: are so many, but I think my favorite moment from
Speaker 1: this episode has to be Lynette going into the pool
Speaker 1: at Mary Alice's house during the wake to pull her
Speaker 1: children out of the pool. I think it perfectly marries
Speaker 1: this heightened world that we live in throughout Desperate Housewives
Speaker 1: with the real, honest, emotional depth of the desperation that
Speaker 1: women experience and people experience in their lives all the time.
Speaker 4: Perfectly said yes, so here we go.
Speaker 1: I can't wait.
Speaker 4: Go oh my god, why, I can't believe it.
Speaker 2: I can't believe it either. I'm so excited. Okay, so
Speaker 2: I'm so excited.
Speaker 4: Well, we should tell everybody why we're here and what we're doing. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean, well.
Speaker 1: We're here because we're going to talk about rewatching Desperate Housewives.
Speaker 2: We are And the name of our podcast, which we
Speaker 2: love so much, is desperately Devoted.
Speaker 4: And I really feel like.
Speaker 2: We named it that because we intend to be desperately
Speaker 2: devoted to you are listeners, and in all ways in
Speaker 2: terms of rewatching Desperate Housewives, but also in terms of
Speaker 2: our relationship and what you want to hear us talk
Speaker 2: about and what we want to share.
Speaker 4: With you that we hope is inspiring.
Speaker 2: And I love the idea of being desperately devoted to something.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm so excited. As soon as we said
Speaker 1: the name, I said, oh, okay, we've got it, like
Speaker 1: we're ready, We're ready for the podcast. Yeah now.
Speaker 2: And I just can't believe that I am here with
Speaker 2: my two daughters, one who actually came out of my
Speaker 2: body and one who.
Speaker 4: I met when she was thirteen years old.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know back in two thousand and four, yeap
Speaker 2: well set of Desperate housews on with Silani Lane and
Speaker 2: been friends ever since.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 4: And I was just at your wedding yes year.
Speaker 1: I so special.
Speaker 2: This podcast has to happen just so that I can,
Speaker 2: you know, see you guys, because that's I feel.
Speaker 1: Well, that's that's what I say. I was as soon
Speaker 1: as we talked about doing this, I said, I don't
Speaker 1: need an excuse to hang out with my mom and
Speaker 1: the closest thing I have to a sister. I'm an
Speaker 1: only child. And Andrea, I mean we met when I
Speaker 1: was seven, when you were thirteen, and it's a.
Speaker 3: Lot of life. We lived a lot of life.
Speaker 4: A lot of life at three generations of women.
Speaker 3: I know that thing.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: Okay, so we watched the pilot. Everybody watched the pilot
Speaker 2: when we did not watch it together.
Speaker 4: I think people would be curious about that.
Speaker 2: We all have our individual lives and busy lives. And
Speaker 2: so how did you watch it?
Speaker 4: Emerson?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I actually watched the pilot on the plane
Speaker 1: to Seattle. I was up on an island off the
Speaker 1: coast of Seattle over the week, and I had seen
Speaker 1: the pilot before. But as some people may or may
Speaker 1: not know, I know, you guys know this. I this
Speaker 1: is my first time watching Desperate Housewives all the way through.
Speaker 1: I've seen select episodes, obviously the pilot being one of them.
Speaker 1: But it is really going to be new for me.
Speaker 2: So I'm badly so exciting because I think right now,
Speaker 2: I travel a lot, and I am meeting a lot
Speaker 2: of people that are coming to Desperate Housewives for the
Speaker 2: very first time. I see them on my Instagram, They'll
Speaker 2: say I just finished watching it or I'm just starting
Speaker 2: to watch it, which is sort of unbelievable because it's
Speaker 2: twenty years old.
Speaker 4: But a lot of people are having that experience.
Speaker 1: So you're I'm one of those people. I'm also having
Speaker 1: that experience.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: It's interesting during COVID, a lot of friends who had
Speaker 1: gone to college with who you know, Despert Housewives wasn't
Speaker 1: on the air then, and this was now in twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: you know, right as we had graduated from college, and
Speaker 1: I had all these friends from school calling me, going, wait,
Speaker 1: is your mom Terry Hatcher like Susan Meyer's Terry Hatcher,
Speaker 1: like the Terry Hatcher from Desperate Housewives? And I said, yes,
Speaker 1: yes she is. And now I'm getting to experience that
Speaker 1: version of you all over again. Obviously I've seen things
Speaker 1: behind the camera on set.
Speaker 3: I really just said, I can't wait to hear Emerson's
Speaker 3: take on everything. I have so many questions I.
Speaker 2: Want to hear, I questions for everything, not just the show,
Speaker 2: just for everything.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 2: She keeps me young and sort of moderately relevant into
Speaker 2: what's happening. You just said something, and I think this
Speaker 2: is maybe a first interesting fact, and I probably jumping.
Speaker 2: I had a tiny, tiny bit, but you just said
Speaker 2: Susan Meyer.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 1: As soon as I said it, I said, oh.
Speaker 4: Sh no, no, not right, No, it is the same thing.
Speaker 3: I caught the same down immediately.
Speaker 2: So this has been I mean this way through the
Speaker 2: whole show and even now, and even now people talking
Speaker 2: about it and whatever that in the pilot it went
Speaker 2: and and for every episode after that, some people would
Speaker 2: say Mayor and some people would say Meyer. And I
Speaker 2: used to tell people it's like the hot dog. My
Speaker 2: Bologney has the first name, it's O.
Speaker 4: S A. I belove he has the second name. I
Speaker 4: love to read it every day.
Speaker 2: And if you ask me why, I'll say, because Oscar Meyer,
Speaker 2: not Mayor. Oscar Meyer has away with that hot dog.
Speaker 1: Well I'm never forgetting that now, right, I know.
Speaker 3: Do you remember that Mark Cherry when we had our
Speaker 3: little one on one with him when we shot the
Speaker 3: pilot before we shot the pilot. He uh, we asked,
Speaker 3: you asked, I'm sure, like, how do you pronounce you know,
Speaker 3: our last name? Is it Mayor or Meyer? And he
Speaker 3: left it up to us and you and I chose Meyer.
Speaker 4: Is that what happened?
Speaker 2: And nobody listened to anything we said, but that's you're right.
Speaker 2: So anyways, it was within the one episode because I
Speaker 2: feel like her last name was said twice. It was
Speaker 2: it was the voiceover, it was Mary Alice, it was
Speaker 2: Brenda who when I'm walking out of the house that
Speaker 2: introduction where I'm going.
Speaker 4: To the wake or the.
Speaker 2: Memorial memorials where everyone brings food and we'll get to that,
Speaker 2: and she says, Susan Mayer, was this was.
Speaker 3: That last time her name's ever said? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yea yeah.
Speaker 2: But then later I think in the episode I say
Speaker 2: that it's Meyer.
Speaker 3: When you introduced yourself to Mike, I think, I.
Speaker 2: Think, yeah, yeah. Anyways, but you would think that that
Speaker 2: would be so okay?
Speaker 1: That was that Personally, I'm kind of happy that I
Speaker 1: got it right now. I something up. But so you
Speaker 1: were on a plane.
Speaker 4: Where were you?
Speaker 3: I was on my couch. I was sitting on my
Speaker 3: couch and I was tucked in and I made myself
Speaker 3: snacks and I was like in the in the zone,
Speaker 3: and I cried immediately. I was gonna, did you cry?
Speaker 4: What nostalgia?
Speaker 3: I think nostalgia, pride, pregnancy hormones.
Speaker 4: I think for a lot of real.
Speaker 2: We should say that Andrea is pregnant with the congratulations with.
Speaker 3: My first baby with me and my Yeah, my husband
Speaker 3: and I are expecting a little girl.
Speaker 1: So we really are for generations, Yes we are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a baby's going to have a lot to say,
Speaker 2: a lot to say, a lot of opinions, but it's right, right.
Speaker 2: So you were on your couch with your snacks, yes,
Speaker 2: and yeah, what was what was your impression?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh. So I was immediately struck by a
Speaker 3: few things. I would say that first, I had I
Speaker 3: haven't seen the pilot since I think original I mean,
Speaker 3: this was my second time seeing it MAYBEOWK. Yeah, I
Speaker 3: don't think i've seen it since certainly not anytime recently.
Speaker 3: And I, like everybody, was so amazed by how much
Speaker 3: the show had an identity from like the open. I
Speaker 3: don't think that's common in pilots. I mean it had
Speaker 3: this actual glow to it, which I didn't remember the
Speaker 3: way it was shot, the way it was lit. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that they created this world that you just wanted to
Speaker 3: like eat up right away.
Speaker 4: It was. It was amazing.
Speaker 2: So it aired October third, two thousand and four. Yes,
Speaker 2: and I actually I've said this before, but you know,
Speaker 2: not recently. I really feel like, you know, people wondered
Speaker 2: why did this show become sort of the iconic thing
Speaker 2: that it did, and you you know, they people would
Speaker 2: ask did you know it was going to be a
Speaker 2: big hit or whatever? And you know, I think all
Speaker 2: you can ever know is that the pilot script was great.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think I got sent the pilot script.
Speaker 2: I have this memory of being by a pool somewhere.
Speaker 4: Like either at some resort hotel.
Speaker 2: In Arizona or maybe two bunch pollongs, I don't know,
Speaker 2: and I remember my manager sending it to me and
Speaker 2: almost to kind of being like, we're going to try
Speaker 2: to get you an audition, Like it wasn't even like
Speaker 2: I necessarily would be able to get the audition.
Speaker 4: Let alone, you know, do the thing.
Speaker 2: And I have that feeling of reading it and just
Speaker 2: being like, well, this is one of the best pilots
Speaker 2: I've ever read, and also thinking which character would I
Speaker 2: be and kind of relating to Lynette because I felt
Speaker 2: very like Harry. You know, I was a single mom,
Speaker 2: but for some reason that I also felt like I
Speaker 2: was also the breadwinner, which kind of felt Lynnette. The
Speaker 2: only characters I really didn't feel like were Bree, Gabby,
Speaker 2: and Eatie.
Speaker 4: But I think Susan there.
Speaker 3: Would have been problems had been cast as Gabby.
Speaker 4: I think Susan and Lynette both spoke to me. Anyways.
Speaker 2: You know, in this time, housewife, the idea of the
Speaker 2: word housewife had really died off in the seventies, like
Speaker 2: with the whole liberal burning of the raw, like that
Speaker 2: era of women. You know, the housewife of the fifties
Speaker 2: who was perfection and virtuous and you know had the
Speaker 2: mid you know, very much the pre kind of iconic character.
Speaker 2: But that was sort of gone and nobody was really
Speaker 2: using the word housewife. And so Mark Cherry, I mean,
Speaker 2: single handedly, you know, brought that word, that phrase the
Speaker 2: housewife and the housewives like back into the culture with
Speaker 2: no and and and you know responsible then.
Speaker 4: The real housewives absolutely.
Speaker 2: So I mean it was major, and it was major
Speaker 2: because it was so good. And I had the same
Speaker 2: impression you had, which is I can't believe I was
Speaker 2: in this show.
Speaker 4: Like, it just was so good. It was so well shot.
Speaker 2: Every single line Brenda Strong with her her voiceover is
Speaker 2: just god, yeah, flawless.
Speaker 4: Okay, I've talked for a long time. Somebody else, go no.
Speaker 3: I want to know your takeaways from yeah, right, about
Speaker 3: like what you felt watching it, you know, like as
Speaker 3: just someone who because you know it's different obviously we
Speaker 3: all have different memories attachment to it, but also because
Speaker 3: Emerson's such a talented writer, I want to know what
Speaker 3: you thought of it, just from your own standpoint.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, Andrea, you know I so I was
Speaker 1: really excited obviously, not just because we're doing this together
Speaker 1: and I love you both, but to watch this show
Speaker 1: as a screenwriter, the interweaving of these different women's narratives
Speaker 1: in exactly what you described from that very establishing shot
Speaker 1: where we see this kind of ethereal glowing with Steria Lane,
Speaker 1: which obviously becomes so iconic, and you still see it
Speaker 1: even in the season of Hacks referenced on the Universal
Speaker 1: Tour I.
Speaker 3: John Oliver referenced it as well. Oh oh, it was
Speaker 3: a whole thing about Chuck Schumer and it's too long
Speaker 3: to explain, but he basically referenced to shows. You referenced
Speaker 3: Sex and the City, Any referenced to Desperate Housewives.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 1: Interesting, I mean, so I think you get this incredible.
Speaker 1: You know, it's never named where Westaria Lane is, and
Speaker 1: it does feel yes, it aired, you know, in two
Speaker 1: thousand and four in October, but it feels like this
Speaker 1: any town kind of America. We all know a version
Speaker 1: of this cul de sac, this suburban block. And I
Speaker 1: think what Mark Cherry has done so well in establishing
Speaker 1: the different housewives is exactly what you said, Mom. He's
Speaker 1: captured these different personalities that I think, you know, most
Speaker 1: women can see a version of themselves. And you know,
Speaker 1: you really feel for Susan's desperation and love for her daughter,
Speaker 1: but also kind of haplessness and the fact that she's
Speaker 1: been abandoned, you know, she's been left by her previous husband.
Speaker 1: Then you also feel the empowered Lynette, who's a business
Speaker 1: woman but who's also given that up to try to
Speaker 1: experience motherhood, which I know so many women obviously do.
Speaker 1: And then agree, who is the you know, epitome of
Speaker 1: everything up to be a quote unquote perfect mom. You
Speaker 1: know that idea of the word trad wife.
Speaker 2: I think I thought of blame that to me, that's
Speaker 2: is that a TikTok thing?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's on. I mean it's on. I'm not
Speaker 1: on TikTok. Sokay for me to speak on what's on
Speaker 1: TikTok is funny, but a youth y thank you you
Speaker 1: are seven year old youth. No, I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's this idea of a traditional that's what a trad wife.
Speaker 3: But it's like to the end degree, you.
Speaker 1: Know, to I don't want to let my child have
Speaker 1: cereal out of the box, so I'm going to make
Speaker 1: fruit loops from scratch from fruit that I grow on
Speaker 1: a tree in my backyard.
Speaker 3: And were looking Christine and perfect.
Speaker 1: Because that's what a woman that is. You know, you would.
Speaker 3: Have been a really perfect TikTok star.
Speaker 1: I know, I don't know she would have been. And
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting because I feel like this really
Speaker 1: came up a lot during COVID, this idea of being
Speaker 1: a I don't even want to necessarily just a housewife,
Speaker 1: house man, housewoman, house non binary person. We were all
Speaker 1: in our houses and we were kind of returning to
Speaker 1: everyone was making sour dough everyone was trying to cook
Speaker 1: at home, And in some ways I'm resentful of Bree
Speaker 1: because I'm jealous. You know, I want to have time
Speaker 1: to make everything from scratch and know how to sew
Speaker 1: all the buttons back onto my clothes and not have
Speaker 1: to take anything to the dry cleaner. And and then
Speaker 1: it also, I, you know, have ambitions and desires that
Speaker 1: just don't allow me the time or the wherewithal to
Speaker 1: do something like that.
Speaker 2: I think part of do you think, I mean, well,
Speaker 2: first of all, do you guys feel like you are
Speaker 2: any of the characters? I feel like one of the
Speaker 2: reasons it resonated through generations of people is because we
Speaker 2: can all see a little bit of our of each
Speaker 2: of them in us, Like it's hard to say I'm
Speaker 2: just this person. Yeah, but did you sort of gravitate
Speaker 2: to words anybody?
Speaker 3: That's so interesting? I think that I feel like I
Speaker 3: will as I continue watching the show. I'm excited for that,
Speaker 3: because you know, rewatching the pilot is so It's just
Speaker 3: I was so instantly flooded with memories and being transported
Speaker 3: back to like being in my thirteen year old, fourteen
Speaker 3: year old body. You know that I don't know that.
Speaker 3: I necessarily thought, Oh, I feel like I'm identifying with
Speaker 3: so and so, you know, like obviously I feel connected
Speaker 3: to Susan. Yeah, you know, so I'm excited to kind
Speaker 3: of maybe this is a.
Speaker 2: Good time to just talk about how can I swear
Speaker 2: in this podcast?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: How fucking great you were?
Speaker 2: She was the third team, I mean when she got
Speaker 2: oh okay.
Speaker 4: First of all, I didn't get the first like laugh out.
Speaker 2: So I watched it by myself, by the way, watched
Speaker 2: in my living room where my big screen TV is.
Speaker 2: So I watched it on the big screen.
Speaker 3: Many animals did you have with you?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 4: You know? None?
Speaker 2: They were all downstairs because you have to go upstairs,
Speaker 2: and the dog is too old to go up the stairs,
Speaker 2: so he stayed downstairs. And the cat is not that
Speaker 2: friendly anyways. So I watch it alone, and I watched
Speaker 2: it on the big screen in the living room, and
Speaker 2: my first laugh out loud was you, and it was
Speaker 2: it and it was the line.
Speaker 4: And then they.
Speaker 2: Laughed and then and they laughed, and I just laughed
Speaker 2: out loud. Man, you were spunky. That scene where you
Speaker 2: went over and it's just one line where you go
Speaker 2: over to Mike's house, and you say that you kick
Speaker 2: the soccer ball.
Speaker 4: In the thing and you're.
Speaker 2: Just so great, So like tell me, like, I remember
Speaker 2: knowing this is my perception of working with you, and
Speaker 2: immediately like in the pilot, where you know, we're just
Speaker 2: getting to know each other in real time pretty much.
Speaker 3: I mean, people might think that we had like chemistry
Speaker 3: reads and things like that, which we didn't.
Speaker 4: We yeah, we didn't.
Speaker 1: They thought it worked out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I remember.
Speaker 2: Feeling like I really wanted to treat you, like I
Speaker 2: want to say, like a real actress.
Speaker 4: But it's not like an.
Speaker 2: Adult actress, Like you would never go onto a set
Speaker 2: with another adult and just assume that all the decisions
Speaker 2: about the scene were going to be your way. You know,
Speaker 2: it's a it's a I mean, it might be the
Speaker 2: director's way, but it's it's a you know, it's a
Speaker 2: collaboration of what people's ideas were. And I always wanted
Speaker 2: to treat you that way, and you equally like brought
Speaker 2: I thought, like brought such such a grounded sense of
Speaker 2: confidence for somebody so young.
Speaker 4: I mean she was thirteen.
Speaker 1: Wait, I'm so curious, Andrew, because mom, I know.
Speaker 3: I have so much to say in response I said,
Speaker 3: but well.
Speaker 1: You talked about how you got the script. You were
Speaker 1: maybe by a pool, potentially in Arizona or Palm Springs, Andrew,
Speaker 1: do you remember you.
Speaker 3: Got No, I don't remember when I got the script.
Speaker 3: I don't know if I got the script before. You know,
Speaker 3: I just got my sides, you know, I do. I
Speaker 3: do remember my first audition, which was a lovely experience,
Speaker 3: and it was kind of unique in that it was
Speaker 3: a rainy Saturday in LA which is weird that it rained,
Speaker 3: and that it was a weekend audition. And I remember
Speaker 3: what I wore, which was ugly, but it felt it
Speaker 3: felt like somehow right for the character. Not that I
Speaker 3: thought she should wear something ugly, but it just felt
Speaker 3: like the right shirt. Anyway. Maybe it was like a
Speaker 3: good luck audition shirt, but it was like a short
Speaker 3: sleeved striped peach and like cream colored collared shirt. Anyway,
Speaker 3: and I met with Scott Gangkincher, one of our lovely
Speaker 3: casting directors, and and I think, if my ego isn't
Speaker 3: serving my memory that he said that he gave me
Speaker 3: a callback on the spot, and that he said, don't
Speaker 3: change a thing. My callback, however, was a much scarier experience,
Speaker 3: which we can you know, talk about another time. But
Speaker 3: I why, okay, my scary, my scary callback that big
Speaker 3: that was like a stage thing where you're down on
Speaker 3: the thing and all.
Speaker 4: The people from ABC.
Speaker 3: That was my screen test.
Speaker 4: Oh okay.
Speaker 3: The callback was just I don't remember where it was,
Speaker 3: but it was just a regular casting room. But Mark
Speaker 3: Cherry and Charles McDougal, the director of a pilot, and
Speaker 3: our producers, yeah, were sat behind a long table, you know,
Speaker 3: all facing me. And I felt so confident going in
Speaker 3: because I wore the same ugly shirt as.
Speaker 1: I said, don't change. He said, I will not got it.
Speaker 3: You know, And and I went in and I did
Speaker 3: my read and we did it was like three scenes
Speaker 3: probably the three scenes or four scenes from the pilot
Speaker 3: or whatever. And I had a great time and I
Speaker 3: was feeling the vibes and it was good. And then
Speaker 3: Mark Cherry had my headshot and resume you know, in
Speaker 3: front of him, and he talked, we have you know,
Speaker 3: he loves theater and Broadway and so he mentioned like
Speaker 3: I had done Broadway in New York and it all
Speaker 3: felt really good. And then Charles, who's lovely by the way,
Speaker 3: but he's you know, a British man. And he said
Speaker 3: to me, did you coach with someone for your audition?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 1: Yes?
Speaker 3: And I was like, uh no, oh I did. I didn't.
Speaker 3: I didn't work with an acting coach. I just kind
Speaker 3: of ran the lines with my mom and dad. You know,
Speaker 3: he said, I'm thirteen, and I don't think yeah. He
Speaker 3: gave He didn't really give me a reaction. He was
Speaker 3: just like, Okay, that's good to know, thank you, you know.
Speaker 3: And I by that because I couldn't interpret what it meant,
Speaker 3: and I interpreted as meaning something bad, and so I left.
Speaker 3: I had to go to ballet class. After that, I left.
Speaker 3: I went to my ballet class and I was so
Speaker 3: worked up, which is unusual for me, because I was like,
Speaker 3: you know, a professional kid. I didn't. I was like,
Speaker 3: let it roll off your back. And I went to
Speaker 3: ballet class and I couldn't stop thinking about that, and
Speaker 3: I left in the middle it, went to the bathroom
Speaker 3: and cried.
Speaker 2: Oh, I know, wow, Charles McDougall, if you hear this,
Speaker 2: and you know he did, that was my I've never
Speaker 2: heard of anything like that.
Speaker 4: And I actually think, and maybe this is what you're
Speaker 4: going to say.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean, yeah, go ahead, No, no
Speaker 1: you gohad no, no, you go ahead, Okay, final'll go ahead.
Speaker 1: No I was gonna say. I actually I completely get
Speaker 1: as a kid feeling like, oh my gosh, he's implying
Speaker 1: that something is wrong. But I take it as actually
Speaker 1: implying that you have really good natural instincts that whatever
Speaker 1: you came up with on your own, he wanted to
Speaker 1: know you'd come up with on your own, as opposed
Speaker 1: to coaching with some acting coach who coaches dozens of
Speaker 1: other child actors in LA. I agree, and that there's
Speaker 1: actually like a natural spark that he was responding to.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree that.
Speaker 2: I agree that that's probably what he meant and what
Speaker 2: he was seeking out.
Speaker 4: But it is weird. He was awesome. I mean, I
Speaker 4: just pilot.
Speaker 2: I would I Every time I think about the potential
Speaker 2: of possibly ever creating some sort of comedy again, I
Speaker 2: always think like, oh.
Speaker 4: What would I do if Charles mcdo? Who would direct it?
Speaker 2: Oh? God, it's so great. But he had this quirky thing,
Speaker 2: and this goes to the pilot. On the pilot, he
Speaker 2: wore the same suit every day. Do you remember that no,
Speaker 2: or or he wore a suit every day. It was
Speaker 2: either and I know those are both like very distinct differences,
Speaker 2: no one wearing suit or wearing a suit, but so
Speaker 2: much so that suit was like wearing a suit was
Speaker 2: just emblazoned into my brain that I went to all
Speaker 2: the women on the show as a rap gift for
Speaker 2: the pilot, and I said, do you guys want to
Speaker 2: go in with me? I think we should buy Charles
Speaker 2: a really nice suits. So I went to like Bloomingdale's
Speaker 2: or Sacks or somewhere and got him a suit.
Speaker 1: This is so you, You're so thank you gift for
Speaker 1: the pilot, thank you gift for the end of the season,
Speaker 1: for every birthday.
Speaker 2: Gift giving, gift giving. I guess it's a love language. Yes,
Speaker 2: and food, as you will see. Yes, I think we're
Speaker 2: going to delve into the food moving along in the pilot.
Speaker 2: What would it so we all think Westeria Lane became
Speaker 2: a star constantly, Yes, I mean I mean a character.
Speaker 4: I mean that's right, and and.
Speaker 2: And every just it's all I'm almost when I say like,
Speaker 2: I'm surprised, I can't believe I was in it is
Speaker 2: is stepping back and looking at that initial pilot I
Speaker 2: mean the.
Speaker 4: Music was dancing Elmore.
Speaker 3: How did they do how did they get Danny Elfman pilot?
Speaker 1: I saw that. I saw that in the credits and
Speaker 1: I said, oh my god, Danny Elfman did the music
Speaker 1: for this.
Speaker 4: That would be interesting to find out.
Speaker 1: Dream composer Dream amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that was amazing. Every single actor was amazing.
Speaker 2: The writing was amazing, the lighting was amazing, the editing
Speaker 2: was amazing. You know again, Brenda Strong, the voiceover was amazing.
Speaker 1: I mean every opening that just to just to one
Speaker 1: moment on Brenda Strong and the opening of the pilot.
Speaker 1: You know, she's narrating how it's an ordinary day and
Speaker 1: then it ends in her suicide, the cold open, which
Speaker 1: was unheard of for an opening of a pilot at
Speaker 1: that time on TV. And I think from the minute
Speaker 1: like that, pop goes off and then we cut so
Speaker 1: gesiusly to Martha Hubert, and to me, that just set
Speaker 1: the tone for the entire show. It's going to be
Speaker 1: a show about looking into the lives of.
Speaker 3: Other people and their darkest moments.
Speaker 1: How much do we actually want to know about our neighbors?
Speaker 1: And also this really interesting idea that I have been
Speaker 1: sitting with since I watched it of the kind of
Speaker 1: mayhem of suburban boredom, you know, like the idea that
Speaker 1: our neighbors are on our blocks. You know, the Martha
Speaker 1: Hoober character who's just waiting to have a reason to
Speaker 1: go knock on someone else's door or stir something up,
Speaker 1: and she kind of becomes a catalyst for a lot
Speaker 1: of the action and also really smart, you know, narration
Speaker 1: device between the different women's lives, how she returns the
Speaker 1: blender returns whatever. Yeah, I just I found that so interesting.
Speaker 1: And I think I heard that this Mark Cherry was
Speaker 1: originally inspired to write Desperate Housewives after hearing about a
Speaker 1: murder case of a mother in Texas who killed her
Speaker 1: for five kids.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's true.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I mean I didn't personally talk to him
Speaker 2: about it, so I know that that's you know, kind
Speaker 2: of stuff that you read, but I know that he
Speaker 2: worked on it for a long time. Yeah, Like, and
Speaker 2: that it was a spec script and god bless the specscript.
Speaker 4: I know. Well, I mean, you know it is it's
Speaker 4: as a writer.
Speaker 2: I mean, you could probably talk to that, Like, I
Speaker 2: don't know if people really know the difference between specscripts
Speaker 2: and you know what happens. I mean, things have changed
Speaker 2: a lot, obviously in Hollywood in the last twenty years,
Speaker 2: but what was happening then was mostly that you would
Speaker 2: go to the network with a treatment. You would pitch it,
Speaker 2: maybe you would have an actor attached, and the network
Speaker 2: would pay the writer to write the script, and then
Speaker 2: if they liked that pilot, then they would actually film
Speaker 2: the pilot, and then if they liked the filmed pilot,
Speaker 2: then they would put it on the air for a season.
Speaker 4: And that was kind of how it worked. It was
Speaker 4: pretty rare.
Speaker 2: That somebody would walk in with an already done, developed
Speaker 2: specscript completed and say do you want to make this?
Speaker 2: I mean, that was very rare and I do think
Speaker 2: that that. You know, Netflix kind of turned that on
Speaker 2: its head. When Netflix first started, they had like the
Speaker 2: opposite mandate, which was they wouldn't you had to have
Speaker 2: your finished script, And that's what kind of yeah, and
Speaker 2: that's what kind of began. The the writer doesn't get
Speaker 2: paid to write the script and then the writer gets
Speaker 2: paid when the thing gets made. When the other way
Speaker 2: the way I was saying, you go pitch it and
Speaker 2: then the network pays you to write the pilot. That
Speaker 2: seems to have gone by the wayside.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: It's interesting because as you're talking about, like the way
Speaker 3: things have changed, I was something I kept thinking about
Speaker 3: consuming the show is you know, Desperate Housewise was, as
Speaker 3: people called it, appointment television, right, they would sit down
Speaker 3: every Sunday.
Speaker 2: That's the thought I didn't finish, by the way, go ahead, Okay, Well,
Speaker 2: and so I wonder, and there's no way for us
Speaker 2: to know, but I do wonder.
Speaker 3: I guess there is because this is how some people
Speaker 3: probably are watching it and experiencing it for the first time,
Speaker 3: the idea of like binging it because we would wait
Speaker 3: a week, Right, did you watch the show in real time?
Speaker 2: I think I did watch it in real time if
Speaker 2: Emerson was asleep. And this does.
Speaker 1: Nine mem on Sunday?
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, And.
Speaker 2: This does bring me back to the point I was
Speaker 2: going to make that I dropped off of, which was
Speaker 2: when people ask you, did you know it was going
Speaker 2: to be a hit?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: And I knew it was a great script.
Speaker 2: But I've always said this that the fact that it
Speaker 2: was aired on a Sunday night and not at eight
Speaker 2: o'clock and not at ten o'clock, but at nine o'clock
Speaker 2: and as a single mom, I absolutely related to I
Speaker 2: am up early, I am going all day. It is kid, kid, kid, kid, kid,
Speaker 2: It is wife. You know, husband, husband, husbands whatever, whatever.
Speaker 4: I mean.
Speaker 2: I was divorced, but I mean that's what the experience
Speaker 2: of being a mom and a wife is, and that
Speaker 2: one hour you've got the kid to bed on Sunday night,
Speaker 2: but it's not so late that you can't be that
Speaker 2: you have to go to bed. That one hour is
Speaker 2: like your hour. And I really feel that if they
Speaker 2: had put it on Thursday night, where they had like
Speaker 2: Gray's Anatomy and some other I just I'm not.
Speaker 4: Sure it would have worked. I felt.
Speaker 2: I feel like they just women collectively were like, this
Speaker 2: is my hour.
Speaker 4: Wow, don't bother me.
Speaker 3: It just goes to show, though, how many different factors
Speaker 3: went in to make it just like lightning in a bottle. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean it really was, because you know, you said
Speaker 3: how great everyone is, and that was something else like
Speaker 3: watching it as a thirteen year old and whatever, fourteen
Speaker 3: year old when it aired the first time, I think
Speaker 3: I was so excited and proud to be a part
Speaker 3: of it. And you know, of course I thought everyone
Speaker 3: was amazing watching it again now with just more life
Speaker 3: experience and a lot more acting experience and all the things,
Speaker 3: I mean, really everything about it was so fantastic for
Speaker 3: any show, for a pilot. I mean, it was just
Speaker 3: so impressive. And by the first commercial break you had
Speaker 3: met all the main players, and you didn't just meet them,
Speaker 3: I mean you really felt like, ah, I've got insight
Speaker 3: into who these people are and.
Speaker 1: Around this great mystery. Yeah. Yeah, the whole season it was.
Speaker 2: An unbelievably well executed fusion of storytelling and chemistry of
Speaker 2: the character, the actors actually playing these characters, and whatever
Speaker 2: magic happens that those characters come off the page and
Speaker 2: become real. I don't know, I'm not sure.
Speaker 4: I always thought all of.
Speaker 2: The people in the show were great, but somehow Marcia
Speaker 2: is resonating with me, at least in this first few episodes. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I just I you know, I know, I'm not going
Speaker 2: to get into like their state of mind because I
Speaker 2: don't know what their journey was, so I'm here to
Speaker 2: represent my journey. But I kind of recall her feeling
Speaker 2: like maybe she wasn't so good with comedy and all.
Speaker 2: If she ever hears this, and if she ever thought
Speaker 2: she wasn't she was. I mean, the timing of the
Speaker 2: muffin I'm gonna need the basket it was about.
Speaker 1: To say, that is flawless.
Speaker 4: It's absolutely flawless. It's perfect.
Speaker 3: The line where they're in the hospital and you tried
Speaker 3: to kill me and she says, well, well, I feel
Speaker 3: badly about that.
Speaker 4: I mean, just no, it's pitch perfect. She really is.
Speaker 4: So she's really she's really jumping off the screen at me.
Speaker 1: She was.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, but it's it's not a battle
Speaker 2: of who's better. It just it's interesting to rewatch, really excellent.
Speaker 1: The comedy is so sharp alongside the drama and the mystery.
Speaker 1: I mean, Lynette's character at the way the memorial when
Speaker 1: the kids get into the pool and then she just
Speaker 1: dives into that pool. Hm, oh my god.
Speaker 3: And she has the one strand of hair and she
Speaker 3: like flicks it and she says, I'm sorry, we have
Speaker 3: to leave now, you know, yeah, I know, on whatever
Speaker 3: bit of dignity, she's still in a muster. It's it's
Speaker 3: really it's funny and it's poignant, and it was and it.
Speaker 1: Somehow feels believable still, you know, I feel like we
Speaker 1: could that happens?
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's why.
Speaker 2: And I was gonna say, do you like again because
Speaker 2: you were so young when it aired originally and now
Speaker 2: here we are in twenty twenty five. Do you feel
Speaker 2: like the relationships, the the things that the show was
Speaker 2: trying to say, do they still feel culturally relevant? I mean,
Speaker 2: did any of it? You know how they'll say sometimes oh, well,
Speaker 2: that's you can't say that anymore or whatever, like like,
Speaker 2: I feel like it's it's it translates. Well, I feel like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 1: I agree too. I mean I was gonna say, I,
Speaker 1: as I said, I'm watching it for the first time,
Speaker 1: so I've only watched the first two episodes. Okay, so
Speaker 1: maybe it's you know, to say, how is the overall
Speaker 1: themes commenting on culture? You know a little bit early
Speaker 1: for me to tell, although I do think all of
Speaker 1: the different women, you know, Gabby and Brie and Lynette
Speaker 1: and Susan, they all feel really relevant and still relatable
Speaker 1: different parts of their struggles and their isolations and their
Speaker 1: joys and failures. I totally felt connected to I think,
Speaker 1: you know, it's interesting that you ask did anything stand
Speaker 1: out like, oh god, that's you know, cancelable now. The
Speaker 1: one thing that stood out and I actually wrote it down.
Speaker 1: I said, how do we feel about women being called sluts?
Speaker 1: Missus Huber calls Edie a slut in the pilot.
Speaker 3: I wrote it down as one of my favorite lines
Speaker 3: I did. I did flag it as being like, wow,
Speaker 3: we probably wouldn't say it now, but but you know
Speaker 3: that kind of biting, stinging thing.
Speaker 1: Was Oh, I mean I think, but yeah, I would
Speaker 1: one hundred percent still write a character like Missus Hooper
Speaker 1: now who makes those kinds of comments. You know, she's
Speaker 1: another singer in the second episode that I will save
Speaker 1: until we talk about that next. But I yeah, I
Speaker 1: think she's hilarious, and I think it's you know, she
Speaker 1: is just on the line of what is appropriate or
Speaker 1: not appropriate tearing other women down, being a friend in quotation,
Speaker 1: because they are the kind.
Speaker 3: Of each other's like partner, you know. Like I thought
Speaker 3: that was really interesting because I didn't remember the dynamic
Speaker 3: between Edie and Missus Houber being like they were kind
Speaker 3: of I don't know, yes, friends, like they were in
Speaker 3: a lot of scenes together, and I didn't really remember that.
Speaker 3: But I thought that contrast was great. But I did
Speaker 3: think that something and Honestly, I don't know how deep
Speaker 3: I want to wade into these waters because but I
Speaker 3: wonder how we feel about the John the Gardener. I
Speaker 3: was actually wrote it down as something to talk to
Speaker 3: you about Emerson, because I thought that you might have
Speaker 3: a really interesting take on it, or at least a
Speaker 3: really well kind of fair opinion on that story.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, I definitely have more to say about that character
Speaker 1: in the second episode too, but John, about John, okay,
Speaker 1: and about some specific things about his character, I guess
Speaker 1: I can say in terms of they're affair starting to
Speaker 1: be exposed in the pilot, you know that we see
Speaker 1: Gabby as this beautiful woman who seemingly has it all
Speaker 1: except of course, love and passion in her marriage, which
Speaker 1: I feel like is honestly something we just saw explored
Speaker 1: in The Materialists, that movie that just came out.
Speaker 4: Oh I didn't see that.
Speaker 3: I haven't seen it either.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Great, Dakota Johnson, Pedro, Hascal Slein song. You know
Speaker 1: who wrote Past Lives, which I love.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1: And I've heard that this was actually I don't know
Speaker 1: the movie she wrote before Past Lives, So sometimes that happens.
Speaker 1: But kind of this idea age old idea of like,
Speaker 1: is the life with the money and the security that
Speaker 1: we want worth it if it's ultimately lacking that spark
Speaker 1: for actual passion and meaning and meaning, right, you know,
Speaker 1: is it worth having that facade? And I think I
Speaker 1: think it's easier to show that when you see Gabby
Speaker 1: have that spark and passion with someone else. You know,
Speaker 1: it would be different if she was just talking about it.
Speaker 1: But to see what she has with John the gardener,
Speaker 1: and then to see the kind of loveless that she
Speaker 1: has with her actual husband, you know. Infidelity, I think
Speaker 1: is so interesting. And I know Andrew, you and I
Speaker 1: have talked about this, not on this podcast, my own
Speaker 1: personal ideas of I feel like I fall on the
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that I would cheat on someone. I
Speaker 1: fall on the more lenient side of I don't know
Speaker 1: that infidelity to me is an immediate deal breaker. I
Speaker 1: think an ongoing affair would be, because it's the lying part,
Speaker 1: but the actual cheating part I think is sometimes indicative
Speaker 1: of underlying issues in a relationship that you know, if
Speaker 1: you really love someone, maybe you want to address and
Speaker 1: and work through. And to me, that's not ever been
Speaker 1: something that I feel like I wouldn't be able to
Speaker 1: get past. Of course, you know Gabby's character toast the line,
Speaker 1: it does seem a little bit like it actually, you know,
Speaker 1: is an ongoing affair, but also it's clearly indicative of
Speaker 1: an underlying But.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I want.
Speaker 1: To talk about the second episode.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, because they definitely we hear that more about
Speaker 3: in the second episode. But there is the line of
Speaker 3: the you're much too young to smoke? Is that in
Speaker 3: the second episode or is that in the first episode
Speaker 3: when he says can I have a drag? After they've
Speaker 3: had sex? I think I think that's in the first episode.
Speaker 3: So in the first episode, after Gabby and John have
Speaker 3: had sex, she's puffing on a cigarette, right, and he says,
Speaker 3: can I have a drag? Or something like that, and
Speaker 3: then she says, oh, you're much too young to smoke.
Speaker 3: And it's so great for television, right, Like it's such
Speaker 3: a funny dichotomy to present. But also it just has
Speaker 3: me thinking about that, right because my character was thirty
Speaker 3: years You.
Speaker 2: Feel like, and I'm going to have to be aware
Speaker 2: of this as we're watching it, because I do. It
Speaker 2: is resonating in my mind that like, even after eight seasons.
Speaker 2: I feel like it was a question that I always
Speaker 2: wondered if Gabby was ever going to get nailed for
Speaker 2: sleeping with somebody underage.
Speaker 3: Right, And.
Speaker 2: I mean I felt that way for all the years
Speaker 2: that we know, was that ever going to be a storyline?
Speaker 4: And I don't believe I never did get addressed.
Speaker 3: I don't. Well, I guess we'll find out. I guess
Speaker 3: we'll find out. But yeah, I wonder it too, And
Speaker 3: I wonder how that I would love, you know, the
Speaker 3: people who are just discovering the show now, especially the
Speaker 3: ones on the you know, younger side of things, or no,
Speaker 3: not even really specifically the ones on the younger side
Speaker 3: of things, but just to hear what their takeaways are
Speaker 3: of that, because to introduce a character, and you love
Speaker 3: Gabby right like you love all the women. That's another
Speaker 3: big part is I feel like you instantly love these
Speaker 3: people and you care about them, and so it's really
Speaker 3: interesting that they gave her something like that that could
Speaker 3: be so polarizing and could make her so unlikable, and
Speaker 3: yet it was handled in a way where you got it.
Speaker 3: I guess, you know, you kind of understand.
Speaker 1: I think they got at least in the pilot, Like,
Speaker 1: I think some of the more express things you're talking
Speaker 1: about don't get totally revealed in the pilot. I had
Speaker 1: much more of a question about him after the first episode, like, yes,
Speaker 1: he seems young, but how young is he? We don't know?
Speaker 3: Okay, so then we'll we'll that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which, Okay, I have something did? I have a
Speaker 2: couple of things to point out. Did anybody notice what
Speaker 2: is on my neck?
Speaker 3: I've noticed it. It's very pretty.
Speaker 1: I notice. I'll tell you because I noticed immediately when
Speaker 1: we've walked into this podcasting room and for the podcast.
Speaker 1: Here we are now that you were wearing two of
Speaker 1: the necklaces that Susan wore on the pilot.
Speaker 2: In the pilot, Yes, all three of these. All three
Speaker 2: of these. Yeah. So which which says?
Speaker 1: Which are your necklaces?
Speaker 4: Arsenal necklaces? Which that has to say?
Speaker 2: I have to say, again, I don't remember everything, but
Speaker 2: you have to wonder why was I wearing my own necklaces?
Speaker 1: Maybe they were emotional support, Maybe they made you feel safe.
Speaker 4: I mean, it could have it could have done that.
Speaker 2: But I also sort of feel like I have this,
Speaker 2: I have this loose recollection of like at the beginning
Speaker 2: the whole like wardrobe, hair, makeup. It's just like, I'm
Speaker 2: not sure they realized they were doing a show with
Speaker 2: five women. Like I kind of feel like maybe somebody
Speaker 2: didn't get the memo.
Speaker 3: We change it, yeah, years ago, so maybe.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's a lot.
Speaker 2: That's a lot of costumes, that's a lot of hair
Speaker 2: and makeup. That's a lot of women that need attention.
Speaker 2: And but yes, so one of these necklaces has a
Speaker 2: little heart and a little Lucky Penny and they were
Speaker 2: both charms off of my childhood charm bracelet. And then
Speaker 2: the other one is a little Saint Christopher and that
Speaker 2: is supposed to be like for traveling, yeah, like for
Speaker 2: safety and trust, and and then so is the red one.
Speaker 2: And I wore this on different different outfits. And I
Speaker 2: don't know actually.
Speaker 4: What the reason was.
Speaker 2: Maybe you're right, maybe it was to kind of give
Speaker 2: me a grounded sense. I mean I could see myself
Speaker 2: doing that, but uh yeah, but when I watched it,
Speaker 2: I was like, those are my necklaces.
Speaker 1: I borrowed those.
Speaker 3: Oh that's so great. Okay, So obviously I've known Terry
Speaker 3: a long time. I've known Terry for over half my life.
Speaker 3: I have known. Yeah, it's so weird, you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: And I always knew what it was like to work
Speaker 3: with you, right, Like I watched the way you'd show
Speaker 3: up to set, and you always came like just so chuck,
Speaker 3: full of ideas and so prepared, and you know, I
Speaker 3: was always in awe of you as an as an actor.
Speaker 3: Thank you and Rewatching the pilot, I mean, you're so good.
Speaker 3: You are so so good I feel I mean, it's weird,
Speaker 3: right because I'm I was your on screen daughter, and
Speaker 3: you know whatever, but I feel so proud of you
Speaker 3: watching it. I'm just like, I'm actually felt really proud
Speaker 3: of both of us.
Speaker 4: I was like, you know what, I felt proud of you.
Speaker 2: Well, well, here's a little I ran into Michael Edelstein
Speaker 2: actually not that long ago. He was one of the
Speaker 2: producers on the show, and he said to me that
Speaker 2: he tells a story about the pilot and something I
Speaker 2: did all the time to people as this is what
Speaker 2: an actor does, like this is and I was like, wow,
Speaker 2: this is this is very complimentary. He remains, speaking of
Speaker 2: wardrobe that I was kind of like, I don't think upset,
Speaker 2: but I was just like I needed to know from
Speaker 2: the wardrobe department, what the costume was that I was
Speaker 2: going to be wearing for the scene. When I go
Speaker 2: over to meet Mike and Edie also comes up with
Speaker 2: her putin esca or whatever, and it's both of us
Speaker 2: there at the door, competing for his attention, and that
Speaker 2: he recalls me being with the ward department. I really
Speaker 2: need to know that in advance. It's important to me.
Speaker 2: And they couldn't quite understand why it was important. And
Speaker 2: he couldn't even really quite understand why it was important.
Speaker 2: And he said, and then when you requested a cardigan,
Speaker 2: like you wanted to make sure that the sweater opened
Speaker 2: and not a sweater that you put over your head.
Speaker 2: And then I saw you do the scene, and I
Speaker 2: saw you do this comedic thing, and he said, he said,
Speaker 2: he tells everybody that was not in the script, that
Speaker 2: was completely not in the script.
Speaker 4: She just totally did that.
Speaker 2: She said, you did this thing where you looked over
Speaker 2: at her breath and then you looked down at your breast,
Speaker 2: and then you took the sweater and kind of like
Speaker 2: closed it over your breast, and that told so much of.
Speaker 4: The story of who.
Speaker 2: Susan was in this moment and he goes, and that
Speaker 2: was all you. That was completely not anywhere, And that
Speaker 2: was the day that I went, oh, my gosh, Terry
Speaker 2: Hatcher is a great actress and I have to like,
Speaker 2: I mean, it.
Speaker 3: Is true though, like that is a subtle, but.
Speaker 4: It was years later somebody like I was like, you.
Speaker 1: You're talking about it is so revealing of her kids.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and also you know, it's just it's an amazing moment,
Speaker 3: but it also it really kind of hints at the fact,
Speaker 3: as we will explore as the show goes on. But
Speaker 3: like talk about physical comedy. I mean, Terry, I was
Speaker 3: on the set with you in multiple occasions where you
Speaker 3: were so committed to the physical comedic moment that you
Speaker 3: actually injured yourself pretty bad.
Speaker 4: I believe there. Like, yeah, there's a couple of times
Speaker 4: damaged cornea.
Speaker 1: Yeah, wait so, but I just wanted you guys being
Speaker 1: in scenes together and the thing that's sitting between us
Speaker 1: in the room. I want to know about the very
Speaker 1: iconic scene at the wake when Susan shows up with
Speaker 1: the horrible macaroni and cheese and what that was like
Speaker 1: for both of you, and maybe we can talk about
Speaker 1: that a little bit more.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, first of all, I think it's a funny
Speaker 2: thing that people confuse.
Speaker 4: You with your character.
Speaker 2: Like I would say a predominant characteristic that has happened
Speaker 2: in my relationship with my fans over the last twenty
Speaker 2: years is that people will say to me, you can cook.
Speaker 4: I didn't know you can cook.
Speaker 2: Susan can cook, and I'm like, okay, I'm not Susan.
Speaker 2: I know it seems like, yes, I was a single mom,
Speaker 2: she was a single mom. But that's pretty much where
Speaker 2: we share a face.
Speaker 4: That's anyways.
Speaker 2: So, but about that scene, it actually was. It's part
Speaker 2: of what I love about physical comedy. And I don't know,
Speaker 2: it'd be interesting to see how you remember it, but.
Speaker 4: It was very choreographed, like it.
Speaker 2: Was to the point where I think there may have
Speaker 2: been fishing line for the foil, for the.
Speaker 1: Foil that's coming off.
Speaker 3: I think you're selling yourself short because I do remember,
Speaker 3: and I actually wrote it down because I don't know
Speaker 3: if I ever told you, And it was one of
Speaker 3: my first impressions of you, was the fact that you
Speaker 3: could and maybe you didn't if there was fishing. I
Speaker 3: think we talked about it, but I think you you
Speaker 3: were like, let me try. I think I might be
Speaker 3: able to get it to go, and she did. She
Speaker 3: walks down the street right, and you're it's like we're
Speaker 3: closing the door, we're walking down the street. We've got
Speaker 3: to get it's a walk and talk, you know, So
Speaker 3: there's always an art form to that. And they she
Speaker 3: you were able to get that foil to lift off
Speaker 3: that mac and cheese and the right moment, and again
Speaker 3: it's like it's showing that you're a harried, kind of frazzled,
Speaker 3: you know person. And I think that was.
Speaker 4: All you think I did. I think that was all
Speaker 4: I don't But I guess the reason I'm remembering the
Speaker 4: fishing line.
Speaker 2: We must have talked about it with Charles, like like
Speaker 2: because I knew that it was part of the comedy,
Speaker 2: like we've got it's part of what you're and this
Speaker 2: is what was so what you were saying about the
Speaker 2: first five minutes of the show, you feel like you
Speaker 2: know everything, you feel you know and and that's what
Speaker 2: made it, those little moments that you you and and
Speaker 2: again not sure if I remember if that was in
Speaker 2: the script or not, but yes, so horrible macaroni cheese.
Speaker 3: So I felt like under cook on arm podcast.
Speaker 2: People, but we all love food. Emerson and I have.
Speaker 2: We spent her childhood every summer going on epic trips
Speaker 2: around the world going to We used to get the
Speaker 2: fifty best Restaurant in the World list for the year,
Speaker 2: and we used to try to pick an area and
Speaker 2: then go to as many restaurants as we could in
Speaker 2: that area. And we have a tradition of huge Christmas
Speaker 2: Eve dinner where we do lots of cooking. And I
Speaker 2: know you amazing cook Andrea, and love cooking, so we
Speaker 2: thought that we would make the Food of Desperate Housewives
Speaker 2: a part of our podcast. I made since I just
Speaker 2: want to prove to everybody that I can't cook. I
Speaker 2: made a gourmet for cheese mac.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: Okay, wow, I wish you could to begin now, I know,
Speaker 3: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: I want to know more Andrew, about what you remember
Speaker 1: about that scene. And I also, once my mom is
Speaker 1: done dishing out her not terrible mac and cheese, but
Speaker 1: I want to know about what she remembers about meeting
Speaker 1: Jamie also because that was like there first, yeah, and
Speaker 1: what a seen.
Speaker 2: I know, I have to come back for this he
Speaker 2: had to be called James. We all called him Jamie.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, he remember, Oh yeah, he wanted to be James.
Speaker 4: He thought Jamie was like too.
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, Well, James, James is honestly super cute. Yes,
Speaker 1: But but Andrew, you comment on yours, What do you
Speaker 1: remember of that that mom because it's such an iconic
Speaker 1: scene where you see everybody together for the first time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I don't. I really more remember the
Speaker 3: scene with Terry and I just crossing the street, you know,
Speaker 3: because I really loved that dialogue, that back and forth
Speaker 3: between Susan and Julie, you know, where I say, you know,
Speaker 3: why would someone kill themselves? I mean, it's such a
Speaker 3: like stop in the middle of the street moment. And
Speaker 3: I think as a mother, right, like you're always fielding,
Speaker 3: or as a parent, I should say, you're fielding these
Speaker 3: heavy hitter questions that your kids just kind of throw
Speaker 3: at you casually and you have to figure out in
Speaker 3: the moment how to respond, and you know, you give
Speaker 3: a perfect response in my opinion, it's like it satisfies
Speaker 3: the question without saying too much. And you're like, well,
Speaker 3: sometimes people appear differently, you know, on the outside than
Speaker 3: they are on the inside. And then you know, I
Speaker 3: Julie says the thing about like, oh, you mean how
Speaker 3: Dad's girlfriend, you know, always acts like she's nice, but
Speaker 3: deep down she's a bitch, and you then say, you're like, well,
Speaker 3: I don't like that word, but yes, that's a great thing.
Speaker 1: Yea.
Speaker 3: All that little back and forth I just loved so much.
Speaker 3: And I remember, like, you know, to your point, and
Speaker 3: I did want to circle back, just really briefly to
Speaker 3: the fact that you mentioned wanting to treat me as
Speaker 3: a coworker, wanting to treat me as a fellow actor,
Speaker 3: and that meant so much to me. Still means so
Speaker 3: much to me, But it was something I felt from
Speaker 3: day one with you, was that I did feel like
Speaker 3: and I took myself very seriously as a child performer,
Speaker 3: and I felt like I had a job to do
Speaker 3: and I wanted to be respected, and I wanted to
Speaker 3: be professional and all the things, and not everybody treats
Speaker 3: children on set that way, and you always did, and
Speaker 3: it means so much to me. But I also think
Speaker 3: it really it really shaped kind of how we settled
Speaker 3: in and the dynamic that Susan and Julie had.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I love that moment that you're talking about too,
Speaker 1: and I know we're going to get to eating this
Speaker 1: amazing mac and cheese, But just that question of why
Speaker 1: would someone kill themselves, which really is the question that
Speaker 1: sets all of our protagonists on the course of trying
Speaker 1: to investigate this over the course of the season. And
Speaker 1: it was the one moment because Susan is such a
Speaker 1: different mom than mom you were to me. But the
Speaker 1: way she responds in that moment, with that level of
Speaker 1: kind of pause and thoughtfulness and also maturity. You know,
Speaker 1: she's not talking down to a kid or trying to
Speaker 1: explain something away about why someone might do something as
Speaker 1: drastic as taking their own life. It really did remind
Speaker 1: me of you. I that was the one moment where
Speaker 1: I said, oh, I feel like that is how my
Speaker 1: mom would talk to me when I was that age
Speaker 1: and answer that question. And then I really saw it
Speaker 1: and that's good. Yeah, I mean I guess, yeah, that's good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Yes, I raised a good kid.
Speaker 3: Everyone really well rounded. Interesting.
Speaker 1: Okay, I know, like, do we try this?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, and it should be hot. It was
Speaker 2: hot when we got here, but.
Speaker 1: It's going to be pretty I'm literally in my mouth
Speaker 1: as water.
Speaker 4: I don't know if we're allowed to like choose.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Oh my god, I know right the.
Speaker 3: Chewing side are gonna go over really well.
Speaker 1: Okay, honestly, you guys, I watch a SMR like all
Speaker 1: the time. Do well, not the chewing one because I
Speaker 1: hate that. It's what we're doing right now.
Speaker 3: What ones do you watch.
Speaker 1: Like where they do your makeup. They're like, oh, we're
Speaker 1: gonna like tap on your favorite, like put on this
Speaker 1: eyeshadow and we're gonna.
Speaker 4: Okay, I really do watch that all the time.
Speaker 1: Not all the time, but like.
Speaker 4: About my daughter.
Speaker 1: Really, it's so relaxing. If I'm like, want to fall asleep.
Speaker 3: Of amount of planes into any cool category, well definitely doesn't.
Speaker 1: Well this doesn't.
Speaker 3: But like you have a community, and CMR is like
Speaker 3: a community of community. Make sure that my weird like
Speaker 3: internet indulgence is part of anything anyone does, which is
Speaker 3: that I like to watch people pack. Yeah, so I
Speaker 3: think that I like watching like disorganized chaos turn into
Speaker 3: organized chaos.
Speaker 1: Is this like on an Instagram reels.
Speaker 3: Like when people test out like luggage or like a
Speaker 3: bag and they show you how much stuff they can
Speaker 3: fit in it, and I find that to be really calming.
Speaker 1: At what time of day do you watch, oh you
Speaker 1: know late night? Yeah times, No, that's what I assumed,
Speaker 1: but I didn't want.
Speaker 3: To watch our secret videos.
Speaker 1: Okay, mom, this mac and cheese is so good. Can
Speaker 1: you give us just like what is the.
Speaker 3: Talk about the choice of noodle and talk.
Speaker 1: About what's your what's your one secret about making your
Speaker 1: mac and cheese that Susan would never know?
Speaker 2: Okay, well, you want your pasta whatever kind of elbowie
Speaker 2: shape it is. You want it to be al dente
Speaker 2: because you're also gonna bake it in the oven after
Speaker 2: you boil it.
Speaker 4: I use it's it's.
Speaker 2: Three cheeses in the sauce, but then parmesan on the top,
Speaker 2: so it's really four cheeses. And my my my secret
Speaker 2: combo is Manchego white cheddar and grey air. This has
Speaker 2: been I don't know, I feel like so collect we
Speaker 2: all love the pilot?
Speaker 1: Oh god, ten out of ten?
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I'm out of ten.
Speaker 1: Really.
Speaker 4: I mean that.
Speaker 1: I'm not just saying that because I love the two
Speaker 1: of you and we're doing this podcast.
Speaker 4: Oh they're not all going to be ten.
Speaker 1: And you'll call that out that's true, but this is
Speaker 1: a big, big hit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's really the pot I've ever seen. I think
Speaker 3: it is the best pilot of any show I've ever seen.
Speaker 3: And I've consumed a lot of television, and I don't
Speaker 3: know that I got it. I mean I obviously got
Speaker 3: it at the time, right, like I thought, oh gosh,
Speaker 3: everyone loves it and that's so great. But watching it now,
Speaker 3: after having seen so much more television in my life.
Speaker 1: I.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they say really something about nostalgia. Now.
Speaker 2: I know for you, you haven't seen it before, so maybe
Speaker 2: this doesn't apply. But they do say that some of
Speaker 2: the reason that people are enjoying going back and watching
Speaker 2: things that they're familiar with is because it lands in
Speaker 2: our brain in a safer place, like we don't have
Speaker 2: the unpredictability of like what's going to happen, so there's
Speaker 2: less stress. And so that's why everyone should join us
Speaker 2: and start watching Desperate Housewives again and talking with us
Speaker 2: about it and sharing it. I think we want people
Speaker 2: to write in and got us let us know, Like
Speaker 2: if you have questions or thoughts about the show or
Speaker 2: about life or anything you think the three of us
Speaker 2: could help you with, we would love to be there
Speaker 2: for you because we are desperately devoted to you.
Speaker 4: Yes, I can't us see you next week