WEBVTT - Mark Blutman Meets World 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:21.240 Right, Or do you have a cold? Oh yeah, Um, 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:23.040 you know, when you have a kid, you're just kind 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:29.480 of always sick right now, It's just another awesome reason 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:33.040 to have kids on the list. That's great always. Man, 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:35.920 It's like, yes, but I also you know, yeah, I 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:38.880 mean we obviously, like during COVID there were there was 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:40.440 like a year and a half where no one got 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.040 sick and it was amazing. But now you're just back 0:00:43.040 --> 0:00:45.440 into the Petri dish. Uh. Yeah, So I feel like 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:47.280 I'm always dealing with a cough or if I don't 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:49.360 have it, Alex does or Indie one of them. I 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.080 think he has an ear infection right now where we 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:53.680 take him to the doctor. Yeah, how long have you been? 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:59.560 How long have you had a cold? Uh? Like five days? Man? Yeah, 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:01.920 I can you have to ask nowadays? Have you taken 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:03.720 a test? Oh? Yeah, I took tests the first like 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:05.800 four days. But it's just clearly a cough, like a 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:08.920 regular whatever. But yeah, no, I mean that you know, 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.199 in some ways you're like, oh, it's it's just gonna 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:12.720 be COVID and I'm just gonna deal with it. And 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:14.480 then you can sort of like shut everybody down and 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:15.960 like go back to but it's like, oh no, it's 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:17.480 just a regular cold. So I have to just deal 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.600 with it and keeping stuff. I have to do stuff. 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:22.399 I can't tell everybody to stay away. Exactly. Have you 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:24.480 tried that? One of the new, apparently new ways of 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:27.199 getting rid of a cold is melting down and drinking 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:32.400 cush lings. Have you tried that? Apparently it's really effective. 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:41.080 Behind them listen, it's cushly you exactly. That's why Danielle 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.319 loves them. They're so cool, so cool. I mean, I've 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:46.600 been missing out. I'm just eating birthday cake with mine. 0:01:46.720 --> 0:01:52.840 So it's our skateboarding the other day. Yeah, okay, well, 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:55.480 I mean I'm willing to try it. Writer, would you 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:57.440 like me to send you some melted cush lying, yes, 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.760 it would be some melted Well, here's a question, Danielle, 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:03.000 do you own any cushlens? Do you still have any? 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.640 I don't, I joked when we talked about I don't. 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:09.000 I know you're probably worth a fortune on eBay. I know, don't. 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.600 I'm gonna look after this episode before it airs in 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:13.840 case it is worth a lot. I ended up buying 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:17.440 our writer. I bought our grinders in line video on eBay. 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:20.359 I have three copies. I would have given you one 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:23.560 for free. Really have three? Little A little known fact. 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:25.320 Do you know who drew the cover for the Grinders 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:30.480 in Line? Oh? Jason Marston? Really what he drew the cover? 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:31.800 Do you remember? Jason used to I don't know if 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:34.679 he still knows that he's a great art and he 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:36.200 used to do a little cartoons. So we kid, We 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:37.680 were like, hey, could you come up with a logo 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.000 for us? And he created this little Grinders guy like 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:43.640 a skateboarder dude making it her face. I don't know, 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.000 but yeah, that was Jason Marston drew that for us. 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.440 That's really cool. Danielle is left, by the way, So 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:50.079 why shn't we talk about her? What do you really 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:55.360 think of Danielle? It's like, you can't. I couldn't even 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.240 think of anything. I can't even think of anything. I 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.240 got nothing. They're sh wait, she's back, which is why 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.720 we love her. I was gonna go find it because 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:05.760 it's literally in our office on our bookshelf, right next 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.000 to where I sit. But I am connected. Can we 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:09.919 talk about the fact that I am the only person 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.680 in this family who puts things back when they move. 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:18.040 Things are supposed to have a place, and when they're 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:20.200 they live in their place, and when you move them 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:21.960 from their place, you put them back in their place, 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.600 so that when you need them, you know where it is. Oh, 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:26.840 you're right. Here's what drives me crazy is like I 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.760 look at like common space and then like private space. 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:33.240 So like countertops in the house, like kitchen countertops, tabletops, 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.800 that's common space, right. If you do something on that, 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:38.720 you put it away when you're direct. Yeah, this does 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:41.200 not like that just does not compute with the rest 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:43.680 of my family. It's like common space. It's like if 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:45.600 I do somebody there, then it just stays there in 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.000 their mind, and it's it's drives me nuts. And I've 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.680 like literally screamed and yelled and now I'm just you know, 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:52.400 you just accept at a certain point. You're like, we 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:53.720 have a yeah, we have a saying in our house, 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.360 which is a place for everything and everything in its place. Wow. 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.040 So it's just it's just easier that way for the 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:02.360 most heart. I'm not so good with things like tools, 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:04.640 so I'd be like, hey, where's the wrench And she's like, 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:06.400 you mean the one you used all week? How would 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:09.640 I know that? Kind of right? Right? So that's my bad. 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:13.000 Very clean will Yeah, you are both very clean people. 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:16.760 We are kind of a regiment. You wake up you 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.039 you know, you make the beds, you do We're swifting 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:20.760 all the time because the dog sheds a lot. We 0:04:20.800 --> 0:04:23.440 do the wash almost every day. Like, yeah, we're good, 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:25.479 We're good with that. We share those duties, which is 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:29.440 man believe I can't find the grinders in light, Like, 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.560 where would that have gone? Who used that? Where was that? 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.840 Jensen might have wanted to learn how to rollerblade? I 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.320 don't wanted to pop it in. Do you remember that shoot, Danielle, 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.560 Do you remember making the I do you know? You 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:43.160 want to know why? I remember it? I wore I 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.560 was wearing I was wearing a little crop top and 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:53.000 these very adorable like baby blue Jinko pants, and the 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:57.400 tiniest little bit of my very flat fourteen year old 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:02.359 fifteen neurald stomach was showing. Oh, and I was so 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.120 all I could think about was that I that I 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.560 was insecure about my body. Wow. And so I remember 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:12.400 a large part of that shoot being um, just hyper 0:05:12.440 --> 0:05:16.159 aware of being insecure, which is so bad because it 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:18.799 was so much fun. And I guarantee you nobody else 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.920 was thinking at all about my body, but I was 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.080 obsessed with it. So um. But yes, I do remember 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.279 that shoot, and I remember it being very fun but 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:34.240 also very stressful. Were you yeah, But the property I 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.560 grew up and we put a nine foot ramp in 0:05:36.640 --> 0:05:38.560 the woods, like in the Redwood, So it made this 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.520 beautiful ramp in the middle of the Redwood. But um, 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.240 and then we brought in all these professional skaters like 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:48.520 rollerbladers and skateboard. Dad built the rampire. I don't know 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:50.200 who built there. I mean, my dad must have helped 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:52.200 oversee it. But but all O remembers that we had 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:54.800 the ramp up after the shoot, and then people kids 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.760 started coming over and using it at our house and 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:00.200 we had a broken arm and a skateboard good the 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:02.800 face within like two nights, and my dad took out 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:04.880 the center of the ramp. He was like, nope, that's it. 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.240 And the ramps stayed up for a little while, but 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:09.680 there was no center to it, so nobody could use it. Right, 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:11.520 but it's go. He's like, you can drop in if 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:18.200 you want, exactly exactly, but I think it lasted one 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.559 night after the shoot that we had like a party 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.359 and everybody came and we all hung out. But I 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:25.960 believe the ropes wing my parents property was already up 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:27.880 at that point, wasn't it was? It was. That's one 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.080 of the other things that ropes Wing two that swung 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:32.360 out in the middle of the Redwoods was gorgeous. It 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:37.159 was fun. Yeah, yeah, so fun. Well, welcome to Pod 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.640 meets World. I'm Danielle Fisher, I'm Writers Strong, and I'm Wilfride. 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:48.600 So our guest today is somebody we know very well. Um. 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:51.920 His name is Mark Blutman. He joined Boy Meets World 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.360 in season two and was a writer for a total 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:58.000 of sixteen episodes and a producer for twenty six. That 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.279 act seem like less to me, right though, I thought 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:02.960 Mark was I mean, I know that they ended up 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.520 leaving before the show ended, and he and Howard who 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.640 was his co writer, Howard bust Gang. But but yeah, 0:07:08.680 --> 0:07:10.640 for some reason I thought Mark was there, Like I 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.280 thought he had written like half of our episodes. He 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:15.400 was such a big part of our show. I know, 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:17.560 And I guess when you think about like the way 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.840 those splitting up of episodes. He started in season two. 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.480 He was there for two, three, four, five, and I 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:28.240 think six, I think he only missed the seventh seventh. Yeah, 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.560 so if he was there for five seasons writing sixteen episodes, 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:34.720 you know, that's about three It's a lot a season, 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:37.840 which most which works out the way the credit were. Yeah, 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.600 but I guess because he was an EP an executive producer, 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.320 he was he lose large as far as that. He 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:47.240 probably had his fingers in a lot of different episodes. Yes, 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:49.760 he was there. For instance, the fact that there was 0:07:49.840 --> 0:07:54.880 any wrestling association with boy because which is a huge 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:58.440 part of our show in retrospective, huge part of our show. 0:07:58.560 --> 0:08:00.960 So yeah, we will talk to him about that. Um 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.360 So he wrote five episodes for season two, Holy Cow 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:07.720 talking about how it broke up. He wrote five episodes 0:08:07.720 --> 0:08:11.400 for season two, and we are obviously currently recapping that season. Um. 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.360 He eventually became an executive producer and he would later 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:17.400 return for Girl Meets World as well. He has always 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:19.280 been a very big presence in our lives, but for 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:21.680 today it is worth emphasizing he is in like a 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.840 very integral voice for almost everything you would come to 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:27.280 love come to love about Boy Meets World. And let's 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:36.320 please say hello to Mark Bluckman. Oh my gosh, the 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:41.040 perfect background I love it. Oh my gosh, someone toss 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.839 m globe. Toss him a globe like I'm going to 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:51.079 turn red now, this is really happening, hey, Mark, all 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:58.800 of you in your wonderful squares together, I have, like, 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:01.800 I have so much to say say to all of you. 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:06.480 I'll start with I love you guys so much. And 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:08.920 you guys have been such a part of you know, 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:14.320 not only the lives of fans, but we've stayed in touch, 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.800 UM and I've so proudly watch you guys turn into 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:28.120 these incredible parents and husbands and wives and just it's 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.559 amazing and I'm so touched to be here right now. Well, 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.480 thank you for being here. I think it's downhill after that. 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:43.080 Let's just end. That's to your point, though, Mark, I 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.000 feel like we know you so well, and yet I 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:48.240 was thinking about it last night, knowing you were coming on. 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.760 I don't know how you ended up on boy Meet's World. 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:55.080 Tell us the story about how you ended up being 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:59.280 our writer and eventually executive producer and all that good stuff. Um. 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:02.800 You know. Actually, so at the time I was writing 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.360 with a partner back in the day, and we were 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:09.320 brought in UM season one. We had a meeting with 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:13.280 Michael and Don Tarnovski, and I think McCracken may have 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:16.560 been there, and mccrackin wouldn't have been there, but maybe 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:21.200 David Trainer Trainer maybe in the part of we watched 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:23.840 the pilot. Oh okay, just as a part of Michael's company, 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:27.120 but not necessarily a part of the Boy Meets World. 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:29.960 So he had directed Dinosaurs, he directed other things, but 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:32.959 he didn't direct Boy Meets World. And Jeff, for those 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:36.240 who don't know, was was also a really talented actor 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:40.520 who did series. He was on that was The Bass 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.079 City Blues or something, the Baseball Show that was done 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:46.280 by Bochco and all that was amazing. Yeah, when we 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:48.640 get to season three, I'm really hopeful that Jeff will 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:50.560 come on and tell us some of his stories because 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:54.920 boy man, we love it, and then maybe auction off 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:56.960 one of his pieces of art. He is one of 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:01.319 the most talented artists I've ever seen. It's incredible. Yeah, 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.680 he's moved to Connecticut. Shout out to Connecticut again, thank 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:08.080 you very right, people from Connecticut. Third homous jokes for 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:12.240 Will exactly. You can shout out to Connecticut. They're not 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:24.760 gonna hear it. Nutbagers, I need your backing here, Nutmers here, 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.960 rad you guys by the way, and I'll get to 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.600 the I'll get to the to answer your question real 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:38.840 uh quick, Danielle, Um, what you guys, I listen. I 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:42.200 listened to almost every episode. Um, I do it at 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:46.880 the gym, on the treadmill, on my uh walk two 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:53.120 miles at a one point five inclined congratulation. Nice. And 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:57.720 I'm in awe of what you guys do because it's 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:02.199 not easy. You guys are going back thirty years. This 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:06.480 is time capsule stuff. Yeah, And it's like, imagine if 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.520 I was doing a show where I went into your 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.600 closet from thirty years ago, and each day we did 0:12:12.640 --> 0:12:17.200 another outfit. You're like, oh my gosh, that's how I dressed. Yeah. 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:20.840 I thought I was cool. I thought I was so 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:25.120 hip and swaggy. And so it's the way you handle it. 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:29.800 It's it's so hard. I mean again, thirty years, that's 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.320 a long time. Yeah, A lot's changed in thirty years. 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.880 Not Will's closet, but a lot else exactly. Will We 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:40.319 probably have some of the same sweaters, Oh I do. Well, 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:42.280 we're gonna get into that some of the rewatches where 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:44.680 I'm like, still have that sweater. But you know, it's funny. 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:46.880 It's funny you say that, though, Mark, because it actually 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:49.760 is getting more painful as as as our as we 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:51.720 get older. Because when we were when we watched the 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:53.760 first season, it was like we were little kids, we 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.480 were babies, and now I'm like, oh god, I still 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:58.920 make that face. Oh god, I still you know, Like 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:01.439 now it's like he's like, now that we're in season two, 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.840 which is your era, it's a whole other world. And yeah, 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:10.200 so your point, you guys, you know we're so young, 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:15.080 will you were, you know, slightly older, But but there 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:19.240 was a shocking element to season two, no doubt. I mean, 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:23.800 let's let's be honest, and that'll tie into answering your question, Danielle. 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:30.600 So we saw the pilot and we didn't again Bill Daniels, 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.520 oh my god, and the cast everybody was great. We 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:38.680 thought it's skewed a little young for where we were 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.000 at at the time as writers, and we turned it down. 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:44.920 So we didn't end up doing season one. We went 0:13:44.960 --> 0:13:46.760 off and I think we did a show called Good 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:50.840 Advice with Shelley Long and Treat Williams, and it was 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:55.160 hard to say no. Also because Bill Daniels, I mean, 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:57.800 so one of my closest friends is How We Mendel 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.520 and how we did a show called Saying Elsewhere with Bill. 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:07.880 So I'm on the set almost daily, you know, watching 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:12.160 Bill Daniels work and going oh my gosh, this is 0:14:12.200 --> 0:14:17.400 one And then to say no to doing the show, Um, 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.400 it was difficult. But then they brought us back for 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.600 a meeting a year later, and David Kendall I think, 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.560 was there and Bob Young, and it was there was 0:14:28.600 --> 0:14:30.880 a lot of talk of we want to age the 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.960 show up, we wanted to evolve. ABC is asking, and 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:37.080 then it was a very fast rise for us too. 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.600 First of all, I loved David Kendall, like adore him, 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.160 and so to work you know, with hand Bob Young, 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:47.240 and you know, obviously I got to know Michael and 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:51.080 and I guess to use a Yiddish word that his 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:56.040 michigas because it was crazy upstairs. Um, but that's actually 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:57.680 what I was going to ask you. So, coming in 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:01.120 now to season two, how does the writer's room feel 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.160 to you? Does it feel like a cohesive unit, Does 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:06.240 it feel like there's a bunch of changes? Did it 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:08.960 feel as much as a of a this is a 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.440 new show in season two as it did to all 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.080 of us now watching it. It definitely felt like a 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.680 new show. And and and so the as far as 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:22.800 the writer's room went, Uh, you know, Jeff Sherman was 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:28.280 still there from year one, and and Mannell and Susan Jansen, um, 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:34.640 and they were so you know, warm, um and and 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.640 inviting to myself and and um, you know we it 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:43.520 was hard too, because we really were responsible for a 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:48.040 lot of um the type of stories we told, which 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:51.520 were a little more wild, and you know, Sean and 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:56.360 Corey getting into Happy Day's style trouble and you know, 0:15:56.520 --> 0:16:00.040 the scheme's gone awry and turned Phoene's house into a 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.800 and breakfast our first year on the show. This is 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:05.760 unheard of. I've been doing this thirty two years. I've 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.160 been on all sorts of staffs, all sorts of shows. 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:13.640 We wrote five episodes in our first I know, I know, 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:17.400 I said that in your intro. We didn't realize it 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:21.000 five from season two, were you guys? Yeah, And so 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:25.480 there was a little i would say temporary maybe resentment 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.080 from some of the writers, but at the end of 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:33.400 the day, they were amazing people. Yeah, and we bonded 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.120 and we were having dinners together and we would, you know, 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:40.239 every so often a different writer would host a soiree 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:42.880 at the house and we'd all So we became a 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:46.760 family very fast, and so the resentment, you know, kind 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.840 of went away. But we really and the one thing 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:55.080 I always tried to do, no matter how far out 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:59.360 there we would get with some of the stories. And 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.880 I learned this from Michael, and it was always inside me, 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.080 and I took it when I left. You know, I'm 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.959 one of the ones that have worked a lot away 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:13.199 from him. Heart is important, and Michael, to his credit, 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:16.720 did teach me. He said, anybody can make an audience laugh, 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:20.439 but if you make them feel, they will come back, 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.600 and they will come back week after week. And they 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:29.000 may not know why they're coming back, but they will, yeah, 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:32.320 because inside their feeling. And so I've carried that. So 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:35.639 even when we would do these wild episodes and you know, 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.520 I'm sure we'll touch on the wrestling show and doing 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:41.520 a show in the pond in front of eighteen thousand people, 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.399 Even when we would do stuff like that, it was 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:46.919 anchored in a beautiful moment with you know, Ben and 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:51.760 Danielle dancing in the ring right right. So the five 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:54.560 episodes that you were responsible for in season two, does 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.560 that mean they were also like your original pitches and 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.320 then you got to write them or not always? You know, 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.720 the writer's room works, like I remember, I think our 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:08.680 first first episode which was wild but and I haven't 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:12.080 watched it in thirty years, but it was Corey Wolf 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:14.840 where he was going through puberty, thought he was turning 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:20.240 to a werewolf. I think mcnell had pitched something about 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.399 he was once bitten by, you know, an animal. He 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:25.840 didn't know who bid him or what bit him, and 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.000 so that was the starting point and then we would 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:32.840 take it. But we were constantly pitching the craziest stuff 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:36.960 that never got done we wanted we kept every year 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:41.840 we'd say no, Michael seriously then wants a bar Mitzvah. 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.480 All his Jewish friends are getting bar mitzvah in the 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.359 show he wanted, while the families not Jewish he wants. 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.560 He would pitch crazy stuff like that. We had one 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:53.240 will where we almost did this show where you got 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:55.720 your driver's license. The show, of course every all the 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:58.719 fans know, was set in Philadelphia, that you got your 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.320 license went out for your first drive and ran over 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:08.000 Randall Cunningham right before the playoffs quarterbacks, so he couldn't 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.040 play in the playoffs because of Eric Matthews. Oh that's 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:15.320 a great idea. If I remember Randall Cunningham, the way 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:17.439 he played and how often he got hurt, you wouldn't 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:18.760 have to run him over, you just have to tap 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:24.560 him just a little. Yeah. Fine, But a lot of 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.320 them were our original pitches. I mean, you know, and 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:32.199 and again back to you guys. Absolutely, it had to 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.120 be shocking from the show because it was a vastly 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:39.520 different show from season one. Um, and you guys were 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:43.399 great in season one. But I do I do think 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.280 the network, and don't forget back then there was a 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:50.280 network and a studio. We had these touchdows, you know, 0:19:50.440 --> 0:20:02.199 masters kind of saying hey, here's what we want. I 0:20:02.240 --> 0:20:04.600 just think it's a different world. And you know, back 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:06.840 then when we started, we were coming off of you know, 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.800 like the times, you know, films like American Pie and 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:13.879 you know that that was and coming of age meant 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:18.919 you know, kissing and men, right, you know, adolescent sexuality 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:24.360 and um, I certainly you know in the beginning of 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:29.800 you know, my career on Boy. I It's a lot 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.720 of things, guys, and I'm so glad to talk about it. 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:35.120 I love talking about this stuff because you know, we're 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:38.160 all different people. I'm I became a different showrunner when 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:40.560 I left Michael and did my own thing, and I 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:42.919 was certainly you know, I did a show called So 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:45.720 Little Time with the Olsen Twins, and I was much 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:49.960 more aware, hyper hyper aware of of of what they 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:54.040 were going through, you know, on both at home but 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:57.200 then on set when they had scenes with the boy 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:01.520 and had a kiss, and and I was certainly you know, 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:03.800 it was before I was married on board, before I 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:06.960 had kids. All that, you know, that came in season 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.600 three and four for me when I met Kristen and 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:15.960 had Liam and Luke. But I probably, looking back, wish 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:19.520 that I was in a position to be more aware 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:23.680 of all of you as adolescence. But I wasn't a parent. 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:26.160 I was a single guy. By the way, Like every 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.439 time you guys got forty year old men, remember I 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:33.840 want an asterisk. I was thirty two. I want you 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:36.440 guys to tell the world that I was the hip 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:38.880 rider with the torn jeans in the ear and now 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.040 you are you are? Yeah? No, I think it's also 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:43.080 interesting though, when you look at just the evolution of 0:21:43.080 --> 0:21:45.080 the child actor. I mean you go back to the 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.640 forties and the fifties, when there was a child actor 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:50.919 could be on the set for seventeen eighteen hours. They 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:52.720 were doing their own stunts. I mean they threw Natalie 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:55.040 Wood across a river where the bridge walked out. She 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:57.560 broke her arm. She was like eight. So I mean 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:00.159 there there has certainly has been the evolution, and that 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.720 we're seeing where it's getting better. I mean from the 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:04.520 time Bill Daniels was a child actor at as the 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:06.159 time we were a child actor, it's already better. And 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:08.320 from the time somebody now as a child actor to 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:10.200 when we were a child actor, it's getting better. So yeah, 0:22:10.520 --> 0:22:12.360 you see the evolution, but it is. It's what you're 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:15.119 talking about at the beginning. It's the time casule. Time capsule. 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:17.720 When you go back and you look, it's jarring. It's 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:19.560 jarring to say, and then people say, well, why are 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:21.520 you why are you criticizing it? Well, we're criticizing it 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:23.359 because that's what we're doing. We're looking back at a 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:25.560 time in history and we're talking about it. And by 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:29.080 the way, some of the stuff holds up. Oh yeah, 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:33.960 amazing to me. Yeah, it does actually more on most shows, 0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:35.520 I think, more than motions. I mean, I think that's 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:38.359