Speaker 1: So you guys, I've discovered a podcast. Is it okay
Speaker 1: to talk about another podcast on our podcast? Okay? I mean,
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, there's this amazing podcast that I've become
Speaker 1: obsessed with, and it makes a perfect companion piece to
Speaker 1: our podcast. It's called Sixties Songs That Explained the Nineties Wow,
Speaker 1: And it's this this great music journalist named Rob Harvilla,
Speaker 1: and he basically every episode he picks one song from
Speaker 1: the nineties. I mean it's everything you like, you know,
Speaker 1: top hits from and not only like goes into the
Speaker 1: you know, the song and the meaning and why it
Speaker 1: was written, but also the whole history of the band. Um,
Speaker 1: so you know, it becomes an opportunity like for instance,
Speaker 1: you know, I knew the song Hey Jealousy by Jin Blossoms.
Speaker 1: Of course, every great song. I had no idea anything
Speaker 1: about why that was written or the tragedy of the band.
Speaker 1: It was the guitarist. Was that the guitarist that wrote it,
Speaker 1: and the guy who wrote that and their other two
Speaker 1: hits killed himself. Yes, yes, I mean, I mean, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: like a lot of things in the music, like the
Speaker 1: music industry, especially in the nineties, there's a lot of drugs,
Speaker 1: a lot of depression, a lot of but anyway, you know,
Speaker 1: for anybody who grew up in the nineties or who
Speaker 1: was listening to music, and especially because you know we've
Speaker 1: talked about before or like in relation to our show,
Speaker 1: it was still like a monoculture, right, So everybody was
Speaker 1: listening to the same songs, everybody was talking about the
Speaker 1: same songs, and so it's really interesting to dive into
Speaker 1: these um the backstories. And he's just a very funny,
Speaker 1: witty writer. He usually has guests on and they just
Speaker 1: break out, Like I didn't know anything of Oasis, for instance.
Speaker 1: It was like one of those things I just completely missed,
Speaker 1: you like I know the story of the brothers and
Speaker 1: the history, like I just I knew some of the songs,
Speaker 1: of course, So like I went and listened to the
Speaker 1: Wonder Wall episode and it just blew my mind, like
Speaker 1: the crying the back story. There's a great documentary about
Speaker 1: Oasis that's out right now, that's like two hours long.
Speaker 1: It's pretty phenomenal about their rise to fame and then
Speaker 1: how they broke up. And it was like the brothers
Speaker 1: don't speak anymore. It was over like clothes. It was
Speaker 1: Jensen and I were just talking about songs that you
Speaker 1: don't really know the meaning of, and then you go
Speaker 1: back and re listen to them and you're like, whoa,
Speaker 1: that's what that was about. Like remember the song closing time?
Speaker 1: Of course? Of course? Every okay, right, and that's what
Speaker 1: you think it's about, right, It's actually about watching the
Speaker 1: birth of his child. Okay, the baby is out. You
Speaker 1: can't you don't you you can't stay here, you have
Speaker 1: to go home. And there's actually no no, you really
Speaker 1: listen to it. There is a lyric, but it's amazing
Speaker 1: calculated also because like I love that, Like every couple
Speaker 1: of years there's just a song about like drinking or bars,
Speaker 1: and it's like so smart. I'm writing Christmas songs because
Speaker 1: it's like it's always going to have a place, like
Speaker 1: exactly five years where you couldn't go to a bar
Speaker 1: until at two am. They would just play close and
Speaker 1: be like shots. Remember the song shots? Shots? Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go on record and say that is in
Speaker 1: my top ten favorite songs of all time. It is amazing.
Speaker 1: How dare you? How dare you say it is? The song?
Speaker 1: It is? It is incredible. I absolutely love it. But
Speaker 1: it used to be. It was a song that I
Speaker 1: ran to and that so if you just think about
Speaker 1: it as being like, you know, it's the right beats
Speaker 1: per minute to like get you going while you're running.
Speaker 1: That's one of the reasons I'm exactly that right, Okay,
Speaker 1: except for those of us who are younger than sorry,
Speaker 1: exactly that's my seventies running song. I have the Tiger.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Danielle, if you want to, if you want
Speaker 1: to do an episode that is like you're talking about,
Speaker 1: daniel where you discover what it's really about and so
Speaker 1: disturbing is crash into me but just like a beautiful
Speaker 1: song help but just like and like you know, I
Speaker 1: was just the right age sixteen or whatever. But you
Speaker 1: listened to the six the sixties songs that explained the
Speaker 1: nineties episodes and they like they don't have to go
Speaker 1: very deep. You just actually listen to what he has
Speaker 1: saying it. It's so sexual, but it's a beautiful song.
Speaker 1: You kind of care, Now do you think this guy
Speaker 1: on his podcast is sitting there going? So I found
Speaker 1: the greatest podcast in the world that is a perfect
Speaker 1: companion's called also Hit Me Baby One More Time. Apparently
Speaker 1: was a double entendre that also had sexual undertones. I
Speaker 1: was gonna wear look at my shirt. Yeah, shirt I'm wearing.
Speaker 1: I'm wearing my Too Much Shirts writer. I have your shirts.
Speaker 1: I have a shirt for Indie. It's an extra small
Speaker 1: I hope it fits him. It maybe very stylishly oversized.
Speaker 1: Well perfect, I have all of your shirts. Yes, of
Speaker 1: course you're you're you're a beast growing up. I was
Speaker 1: just called husky, so that will work. Yes, and the
Speaker 1: husky size. Um, yeah, I'm really excited about it. So
Speaker 1: I love my Too Much Shirts shirt. It's the only
Speaker 1: one I've worn. I'm wearing it today. I also got
Speaker 1: the hold the Plane for Maka shirt, but I haven't
Speaker 1: worn it yet. But all of you can get your
Speaker 1: shirts as well at pod Meats World show um dot com.
Speaker 1: So please go check out the march just very quickly, Danielle.
Speaker 1: I was in Boston at Comic Con this weekend and
Speaker 1: there was a plethora of Pod Meats World shirts. They
Speaker 1: were everywhere. It was awesome. It was so cool to
Speaker 1: see people out rocking their Pod Meats World shirts. It
Speaker 1: was great. It was really really cool. I haven't seen
Speaker 1: one of the wild yet. Oh yeah, I know they're
Speaker 1: out there, that's and I asked, just for the record,
Speaker 1: I asked everybody that I met, and there was a
Speaker 1: number of people, I mean tons of people came up
Speaker 1: and said they were listening to the podcast. I said,
Speaker 1: are we ruining your childhood? For you? And every single one,
Speaker 1: so you know, I had to. I had to. It's like,
Speaker 1: are we doing anything that's ruining your experience? And they're like, no,
Speaker 1: it's awesome. We love the inside stuff. Keep it up
Speaker 1: because this is totally cool. It's enhancing the show. I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, good, I feel good about that. Okay
Speaker 1: good if that makes us feel good. I also wanted
Speaker 1: to give you, guys, just you know, we get thousands
Speaker 1: of emails and some of them, most of them are
Speaker 1: really incredible, and we love reading them. Unfortunately, because we
Speaker 1: get so many of them, it would be impossible for
Speaker 1: us to write you all back or acknowledge you. But
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that we're not reading them, and it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that they're not special. So I did just
Speaker 1: want to give a couple of little shout outs to people,
Speaker 1: like a shout out to Deanna C who used Boy
Speaker 1: Meets World as a way to get through her hard childhood,
Speaker 1: and she saw the show as an escape. I want
Speaker 1: to give a shout out to Becky Oh, who is
Speaker 1: a high school teacher who starts her classes every year
Speaker 1: with the episode Teachers Bet Isn't that Yeah? She says
Speaker 1: it gets some cringes, but starts some really good conversations too,
Speaker 1: And she said this year the pod cast recap actually
Speaker 1: really lines up with her back to school time, so
Speaker 1: it was perfect. So now they get to listen to
Speaker 1: both uh and then I thought this story was so amazing.
Speaker 1: Shout out to Katie H who herself actually works on
Speaker 1: Righteous Gemstones and she zooms with her childhood best friend
Speaker 1: every single week. They originally met in study hall and
Speaker 1: boy meets World in was the thing that bonded them
Speaker 1: and made them friends. And now so they used to
Speaker 1: watch the episode together every week and then talk about it.
Speaker 1: And now thirty years later, they zoom every week to
Speaker 1: talk about this podcast. Yes, that's awesome, our podcast, about
Speaker 1: our podcast and their friendship and how how we are
Speaker 1: just keeping them friends. What if they have nothing else
Speaker 1: in common, what if it's just us, that's it, that's
Speaker 1: all they've got. Oh, man, that's so funny that isn't
Speaker 1: it funny? So uh, Welcome to pod Meets World. I'm
Speaker 1: Daniel Fishel, I'm Strong, and I'm Wilfredell and we are
Speaker 1: edging closer to our first ever live show as Pod
Speaker 1: Meats World goes on the road to San Diego at
Speaker 1: the Magnolia on October How many layers of shirts do
Speaker 1: you to plan on wearing? Um, not not counting vests
Speaker 1: or hood So I'm gonna I'm gonna haim for fours.
Speaker 1: That's impressive. I'm gonna try to outdo you and go
Speaker 1: for five. Then, oh man, I'm going to be outnumbered. Well,
Speaker 1: we're going to record a part of the podcast, talk
Speaker 1: about specific episodes with audience members, perform a scene with
Speaker 1: one lucky listener, and we will have a special guest
Speaker 1: plays with squirrels. Yes he will actually be there, but
Speaker 1: this time I was talking about someone else and v
Speaker 1: I P packages will get you a meet and greet
Speaker 1: and a photo and autographs. Tickets are available now at
Speaker 1: ticketmaster dot com for Pod Meets World at the Magnolia
Speaker 1: in San Diego, cohone on October two. Don't miss out.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be yes. I'm bringing this phrase back the
Speaker 1: cat's pajamas. I am so excited. We are all so
Speaker 1: excited about today's guest. Uh. She is America's mom. She
Speaker 1: is one of the most incredible women actors. She's a
Speaker 1: mom in her own right, She's a wife. She is
Speaker 1: absolutely wonderful and so please welcome to the podcast. Betsy Randall,
Speaker 1: Betsy my TV mom. Hi you are How are you
Speaker 1: even more gorgeous than the last time I saw you? Well,
Speaker 1: I worked on it this morning. I've lost and I'm
Speaker 1: getting getting my A D S hair back, my home
Speaker 1: improvement hair. Oh man, I can't wait to talk to
Speaker 1: you about your home improvement hair. Yeah. Well it's a
Speaker 1: big and you know got me this job. Okay, so
Speaker 1: I'm talking around. Okay, Yes, we're great. Well look beautiful
Speaker 1: to me. Oh I missed your face gon cry already?
Speaker 1: Oh man? Okay. So to give everyone a little bit
Speaker 1: of a I mean, not that she needs really any introduction,
Speaker 1: but she played Amy Matthews, the matriarch of the house
Speaker 1: for a hundred and fifty eight episodes of Boy Meets World,
Speaker 1: the wife of Alan, the mother of Corey, Eric Morgan,
Speaker 1: and eventually Yea on the milk Bottle Never Up we did. Wait,
Speaker 1: tell that story, Please tell that story. Okay, I'll interrupt you. Well,
Speaker 1: the funny thing is is that I'm friends with with
Speaker 1: the what's her name now, the original Really really you're
Speaker 1: very close. He's not that close, but I've seen her
Speaker 1: in place. She's a magnificent actress. Yes she is. So
Speaker 1: the crafts, not the craft services, but the tech guys
Speaker 1: that you know, you know, just provided us with a
Speaker 1: milk cotton with a picture of Lily on there and saying,
Speaker 1: if you seeing this child, actually shoot with that milk
Speaker 1: carton on the thing? You know they did, It's just
Speaker 1: they didn't zero in on it, a little scared to
Speaker 1: do that. They probably took a shot of it and went,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I'm so curious if anybody can see it,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I'm dying. Second or season second or
Speaker 1: third season? Right? Well? When, yeah, she was, because then
Speaker 1: Lindsay comes in after what like half the season was
Speaker 1: in a fourth season after she hadn't come in until
Speaker 1: like fourth season. Really, is that we went that long
Speaker 1: with a couple of years? Yeah, yeah, a long time.
Speaker 1: I thought it was just one season. I thought so too.
Speaker 1: There that she was there for wee, No, no that she.
Speaker 1: I think she was there for two seasons, and then
Speaker 1: I think she was gone after the first season, really,
Speaker 1: and then I thought he took a season off, and
Speaker 1: then at least one I think it was fourth. I'm sure.
Speaker 1: I'm sure there are somebody exactly somebody will pop up Easton, Easton,
Speaker 1: actually probably those at all details. I have a grandchild
Speaker 1: who's three turning to four, and I can just picture
Speaker 1: her at that age, at four, four to five, going
Speaker 1: I don't feel like doing this. Yeah, I don't want
Speaker 1: to do this. No, I'm not going to do this,
Speaker 1: you know, and you go, yeah, yeah, try explaining contracts
Speaker 1: and work to you know, a four or five year
Speaker 1: old like m h. God bless Chris Kire, God bless
Speaker 1: Chris Kier that first couple of a couple of seasons.
Speaker 1: First Chris Kaire, who is an upcoming guest of Pod
Speaker 1: Meets World. We're very yes, we're gonna have Chris Cairo on.
Speaker 1: We're so excited to talk to him. So, Betsy, you
Speaker 1: were on Home Improvement before you ended up on Boy
Speaker 1: Meets World. Can you tell us about how you were
Speaker 1: cast as Amy Matthews and whether or not Home Improvement
Speaker 1: and your role. There had had a hand in it.
Speaker 1: It had everything to do with it. Um. Remember I
Speaker 1: did have big hair. It was this really great big hair.
Speaker 1: And the first episode I did what I had auditioned
Speaker 1: to play Tim's wife. Okay, I'm home and proves they're
Speaker 1: down to three of us. Francis Fisher got cast first,
Speaker 1: you know, the Francis Fisher to the actress who was
Speaker 1: married to what was his name, the big director actor. Um.
Speaker 1: And then she was fired because she didn't know how
Speaker 1: to be funny as a stint as a backup, you know,
Speaker 1: she didn't know how to be the straight man. So
Speaker 1: and that wasn't working with Tim because he was a
Speaker 1: stand up comedian and so on, so that didn't work.
Speaker 1: But there were three of us up forward, they they
Speaker 1: called me back with the last three. So then when
Speaker 1: it came time when they finally cast Pat Richardson, who
Speaker 1: was more of this dry delivery and I was much
Speaker 1: more married Tyler Moorish, you know kind of thing compared comparatively,
Speaker 1: and so she uh so, So anyway, they just said
Speaker 1: they brought Deb Barilsky, who was not one of my
Speaker 1: best friends who caught me this job. Um said, what
Speaker 1: about Betsy for this best friend Pat, who's a feminist
Speaker 1: friend who will make fun of Tim for his tools,
Speaker 1: and I seem to nail that no pun intended, No
Speaker 1: pun intended. Oh that's right. I didn't even generally no
Speaker 1: pun into not that clever, but anyway, sure, so I
Speaker 1: got that part, and it was just such a fantastic episode,
Speaker 1: one of the funniest ones where Tim, you know, nails
Speaker 1: glues a piece of wood to his head and and
Speaker 1: it's just one of the funniest episodes that won all
Speaker 1: these awards, is the ABC Funniest Episode of the Year
Speaker 1: or something. So I happen to be featured in that,
Speaker 1: so that didn't hurt. And then you know, I stayed
Speaker 1: on and they liked me a lot. Um John Um
Speaker 1: past Flinn was directing at the time. Disney's watching me,
Speaker 1: They're already And so then they called me in after
Speaker 1: two years at at Home Improvement and said, what do
Speaker 1: you think you want to go for this part? They
Speaker 1: want to see you, and I went, really, I don't
Speaker 1: know if I want to leave Home Improvement. I really
Speaker 1: like it here. You know, I didn't know, and I
Speaker 1: kind of knew in my bones this was gonna be tricky.
Speaker 1: For me because I had I wasn't going to be featured,
Speaker 1: you know that the mom wasn't going to be featured,
Speaker 1: and there wasn't. It wasn't like Tim and Pat, you know,
Speaker 1: it wasn't gonna be just the kids and mom, you know,
Speaker 1: or the husband and mom. So it became a mom thing.
Speaker 1: But anyway, I competed with about a thousand people. I
Speaker 1: was told to get you know, at least um to
Speaker 1: get this, and I kept I went in three times.
Speaker 1: They weren't sure, and I was like, well, this really
Speaker 1: builds my confidence. But it was just one of these
Speaker 1: things where they just wanted me from the beginning. They
Speaker 1: somehow fell in love with me from Home Improvement and
Speaker 1: they just went, no, there's nobody better than her, so
Speaker 1: will go with that. And that's true, although I really,
Speaker 1: you know, struggled to get my mind's memorize and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. But do you remember do you remember what
Speaker 1: the audition scene was? Was it a scene with you
Speaker 1: and Corey or was it a scene with you? And
Speaker 1: it was it was you and Corey. It it was
Speaker 1: a scene with me and Corey and I was sitting
Speaker 1: on the bed trying to comfort him about something. What
Speaker 1: was I doing and giving him advice about something. Sitting
Speaker 1: on the bed and we're in baggy clothes that were
Speaker 1: all my own clothes. They trussed me like a camper
Speaker 1: or something. I don't know year and finally they went
Speaker 1: west with her wardrobe and you know, things like that.
Speaker 1: But they finally snaresed me up a bit. But did
Speaker 1: you read with Ben when you screamed like when you
Speaker 1: screen tested, did you did you read with him? No? Wow?
Speaker 1: Did you ever read with the original Alan? Matt McCoy? No,
Speaker 1: Matt was cast out after me. The only people that
Speaker 1: were cast for sure. It was me and Corey and writer.
Speaker 1: We were for sures and then you came in, but
Speaker 1: we changed Matt. We said goodbye to Matt. That was that.
Speaker 1: But there wasn't a lot of you know, I didn't
Speaker 1: know enough. When Rusty came in, it was like a
Speaker 1: whole different experience, Like, I know this guy, he's cute,
Speaker 1: you know, cute, he's kind of tough, you know, guys,
Speaker 1: guy kind of thing, you know. I know. We talked
Speaker 1: about the fact that like Amy and Allen were really
Speaker 1: set up to be different parents, like you guys were
Speaker 1: not the stereotypical do we be dorky, but of the
Speaker 1: joke parents, you guys were cool, and you wore cool clothes,
Speaker 1: and you had hip taste and music, and like you're
Speaker 1: relationship with each other was very cool and relaxed. And
Speaker 1: the way you guys parented was also a different style
Speaker 1: of parenting than we saw on TV at the time.
Speaker 1: And I wonder, like that is very much how we
Speaker 1: see you and Rusty, So we wonder how much of
Speaker 1: that was really based on them incorporating and writing the
Speaker 1: characters after who you were as people, rather than, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to fit somebody else into the mold. You know,
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right, that's exactly what happened. They I. I
Speaker 1: just was my being myself. I can be funny, I
Speaker 1: can be not funny, I can be said, I can
Speaker 1: pack it personally, I can do all that. But I
Speaker 1: was always myself. I didn't never feel like I was
Speaker 1: playing someone else. And that's what they said, just for
Speaker 1: your wonderful self. And I went, oh God, what's that that.
Speaker 1: I don't know what that is. So it's easier to
Speaker 1: be evil. I did a movie where I got to
Speaker 1: be evil. It was Piece of Cake. The thing was
Speaker 1: is that I just think that that's very much what
Speaker 1: have and and Rusty and I had a wonderful chemistry
Speaker 1: right away. You did, remember we were both studied with
Speaker 1: the Sandy Meisner. We both had from the same background.
Speaker 1: I we you know, I was still taking classes and
Speaker 1: stuff while I was still getting started, and so he
Speaker 1: was just sort of reassuring to me when we saw
Speaker 1: what worked, we went, well, this is why we worked
Speaker 1: because we worked off each other. And I think that's
Speaker 1: why we worked with you guys, is because we gave you,
Speaker 1: honestly how whatever you did or said. I'll speak for myself.
Speaker 1: I think Rusty would call himself more aggressman. I just
Speaker 1: take everything personally, took to a detriment, but you know
Speaker 1: what it serves me on camera, I think. So one
Speaker 1: of my favorite things that we're starting from from, you know,
Speaker 1: early on, one of my favorite things was you um.
Speaker 1: I just I love all these stories that pop into
Speaker 1: your head when you talking to somebody. And we were
Speaker 1: we were doing the little um and I've we've talked
Speaker 1: about this on on the show before. We were doing
Speaker 1: our opening title sequence, and it was kind of getting
Speaker 1: little pops of everybody, Okay, will you go lie in
Speaker 1: the bed. Now, hey, look up and smile like you're
Speaker 1: doing this kind of stuff. And I was watching everyone's
Speaker 1: watching as we were. You were doing yours, and you're
Speaker 1: sitting there with Ben and put the band aid on
Speaker 1: his head, and then you walk away and you do
Speaker 1: a big smile, and then they yell cut and you
Speaker 1: walk over me. You're like, that's my please watch our show.
Speaker 1: Smile and I'll never forget that. You always stuck with me.
Speaker 1: That's And then the first time we saw it together,
Speaker 1: we were all somewhere we saw the opening town and
Speaker 1: you went, yep, there it is my please watch our shows.
Speaker 1: It is. It's shameless, but we all knew that work.
Speaker 1: It worked, work, it was perfect. So was that also
Speaker 1: your first that Like the guys have talked a lot
Speaker 1: about that first photo shoot being their real first introduction
Speaker 1: to everybody. Do you remember the first time you met
Speaker 1: Will and Writer and what your impressions were of all
Speaker 1: of us as kids, and then the first time you
Speaker 1: met me, which was significantly later. Yeah, Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: you were also young. I was just watching the episode
Speaker 1: of the Santa thing, like, my god, we were also
Speaker 1: my gosh, how the time flies? Um, Well, I met
Speaker 1: Ben and writer. Were you coming? Were you at the table? Read? Yeah? Yeah, okay, No,
Speaker 1: I got cast later there was another Eric that's oh,
Speaker 1: that's right, that's Harry something very branch. I didn't bond
Speaker 1: with him. Oh good good. I can't remember that, but
Speaker 1: I do remember that I met Ben and writer and
Speaker 1: then his family. So but anyway, that's when I met
Speaker 1: you guys for the first time in this world, uh,
Speaker 1: for the first time, and you know, it was sort
Speaker 1: of amazing fact that kind of overshadowed everything else. I
Speaker 1: don't read and remember reading the script. Didn't we read
Speaker 1: the script? I'm sure we did because we all auditioned
Speaker 1: for the same material, so I sort of had it down,
Speaker 1: you know. Now. You you obviously would have worked with
Speaker 1: the kids on home improvement, um, although I'm sure your
Speaker 1: role wasn't necessarily heavily involved with the kids. So was
Speaker 1: Boy Mets World your first time working with a bunch
Speaker 1: of kids? And were you nervous? What? What? Did you
Speaker 1: have any concerns going into it? No? None. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a mom, I have kids, and you know,
Speaker 1: there's nothing scary to me about that, just you know,
Speaker 1: but I had great respect for them. It's just that
Speaker 1: I wasn't involved in a lot of dialogue with the kids.
Speaker 1: There was one where I was babysitting and I told
Speaker 1: him the who won the game and I particularly killed
Speaker 1: me kind of things like that, but never really you know,
Speaker 1: hands out with the kids. So I wasn't nervous, no
Speaker 1: coming into us. Yeah, I wasn't worried. I just you know,
Speaker 1: I was really taking up one step at a time,
Speaker 1: just kind of glad I got the job. I cin'
Speaker 1: sure I was going to get it for the longest time.
Speaker 1: So you know, so wait, so how long when you
Speaker 1: know the first time you heard it, boy meats, we're
Speaker 1: all to the actual table read. How long was the
Speaker 1: process before you you were reading the script. I feel
Speaker 1: like it was months or something. I mean, it really
Speaker 1: took a while because they were auditioning everyone. And they
Speaker 1: were also auditioning everyone some actors from Chicago. I knew
Speaker 1: some big names actually to play Rusties parts, so you know,
Speaker 1: they were really trying to put the right package together. Um.
Speaker 1: I was told that when we shot the pilot and
Speaker 1: they do that, you know, I don't know what it's
Speaker 1: called where they do uh. An estimation of who loves
Speaker 1: the show the most like the focus, like a test
Speaker 1: screening kind of thing. Yeah, test screening, and and I
Speaker 1: scored rather high, Lulie, and I kind of scored it
Speaker 1: better than that. That's amazing. Okay, I guess I'm gonna
Speaker 1: keep this job. But then it just you know, became
Speaker 1: I was just slipped in the background. Of course after that,
Speaker 1: you know, not not like the same thing. Well, that's
Speaker 1: actually that leads me to my next question, because we
Speaker 1: have talked about it a lot that in we are
Speaker 1: watching today, we're watching episode one ten, so we're ten
Speaker 1: episodes into the first season, and there have been many
Speaker 1: very heavy Alan and Corey episodes, lots of deep stuff
Speaker 1: for them to go into. And we've talked a lot
Speaker 1: about the fact that it felt like there were some
Speaker 1: missed opportunities where some of that could have gone to you,
Speaker 1: where we could have learned more about you and your backstory.
Speaker 1: And so do you remember feeling like you were getting
Speaker 1: the short end of the stick as an actor and
Speaker 1: did you ever talk to Michael about it or the
Speaker 1: other writers about things you wanted to do or or
Speaker 1: how you wanted your character to be involved more. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you asking that, because yes, that was very hard
Speaker 1: for me, really hard. And I'm the only girl of
Speaker 1: three boys growing up, so I'm used to that, but
Speaker 1: not to be um. But I did feel, to be
Speaker 1: honest with you, Michael is a boy and the writers
Speaker 1: were all boys at first, and they didn't know what
Speaker 1: to do with Mom. Mom was not you know, just
Speaker 1: Mom was sort of still in the background, serving them,
Speaker 1: but not necessarily the driving force. Um. They eventually they
Speaker 1: started giving me more episodes where it became a little
Speaker 1: bit more likely, you know, like when you tried to
Speaker 1: run away from home and we had you know, Juliet
Speaker 1: there was terrified because my aunt she was so afraid
Speaker 1: of the audience. And I'm going, this makes me look
Speaker 1: really good anyway. I mean, I was like, get my
Speaker 1: hair really good if she's going to be there. But
Speaker 1: that's just a side story. But really it just at
Speaker 1: first it was just really hard for me. I didn't
Speaker 1: know what to do about it. And at one point
Speaker 1: there was some of the humor, some of this stuff
Speaker 1: just didn't I didn't get it sometimes, I you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't that's not that's that funny. Oh just throw
Speaker 1: it away, throw it away. So it just sort of
Speaker 1: became ins and I went in and out of UM
Speaker 1: being present in the way that I wanted to be.
Speaker 1: At first, I was much more present, I had much
Speaker 1: more of a voice, and I was acting, and you know,
Speaker 1: there was much more between Rusty and me. Over the years,
Speaker 1: as you guys got older, it was more fun to
Speaker 1: have see you guys being your geeky selves out there
Speaker 1: in the world, you know. So it was wonderful. I mean,
Speaker 1: I had such good relationships with all of you that
Speaker 1: I wasn't bothered by that. I just didn't think that
Speaker 1: the guys knew what to do with me and UM,
Speaker 1: and it was intimidating. So there were times when I,
Speaker 1: you know, felt intimidated or quiet, and I did talk
Speaker 1: to Michael at one point when I I think it
Speaker 1: was UM like, I didn't really like it that we
Speaker 1: ran into you at the hotel and I didn't. I
Speaker 1: thought it was weird the PM episode, Yeah, yeah, And
Speaker 1: I thought, Um, I wouldn't approve of you getting married.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I never I still I still don't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's strong. People have strong opinions about that one, uh,
Speaker 1: left and right. Yeah, And I just felt like they,
Speaker 1: you know, trivialized my experience of it until I went, no,
Speaker 1: you know, I've got a lot to say. And the
Speaker 1: one that you repeat that is so funny when I
Speaker 1: confront um Mr Feeney across the street and say I
Speaker 1: don't approve you know, and that kind of thing. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I remember. One of the things we we've
Speaker 1: addressed on this show a number of times is the
Speaker 1: fact that, especially at the beginning, they didn't they were
Speaker 1: they didn't know kind of the tone of the show
Speaker 1: for everybody, so they were trying different pairs and at
Speaker 1: the beginning, I mean, we see this in this episode
Speaker 1: that we're going to talk about later, you know, are
Speaker 1: are the one ten that we've been talking about. This
Speaker 1: is where then it was kind of like Eric and
Speaker 1: Amy got a little bit of screen time together, which
Speaker 1: this was the first time I think that ever had
Speaker 1: actually happened, and it was a great scene. But that
Speaker 1: also led to as the show, you know, kind of progressed,
Speaker 1: You and I had some fun storylines together, like you know,
Speaker 1: when when Amy's coming to school with Eric, and and
Speaker 1: so they kind of saw something there a little bit.
Speaker 1: I think from this episode they saw a little kind
Speaker 1: of like, oh, this is an interesting pair if you
Speaker 1: did Eric and amy Um, and we had some fun
Speaker 1: stuff as the show progressed, I thought we did. I
Speaker 1: think so because you were older too, and because writer
Speaker 1: and Corey had each other in a way, and then
Speaker 1: Alan was always giving advice and tell anyone everyone what
Speaker 1: to do. So I watched that scene yesterday and we're
Speaker 1: standing at the door with Lily in the bathroom, and
Speaker 1: I went, oh my god, we look alike. We do
Speaker 1: like we both have the same humor. We were rolling
Speaker 1: our eyes and doing these things like what do we
Speaker 1: were mirroring? I thought, it isn't that interesting? And I,
Speaker 1: you know, I forgot that. That was you were very easy.
Speaker 1: All of you were easy. Can I just established that
Speaker 1: because you know, I had such a love affair with
Speaker 1: all of you. But but you and I Eric immediately
Speaker 1: took off. And remember back your parents said, you know,
Speaker 1: watch out for him. I said, I told your parents
Speaker 1: I would watch out for you. I'm sure, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: Well I think I was. Also I'm the Aaron's age. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was the same age as your son. So it
Speaker 1: was you kind of instantly were like, okay, so that's
Speaker 1: I got you. Yeah, that was very very simple, friendlier
Speaker 1: than he nice, nice, but it was as you were, Betsy,
Speaker 1: how old were your kids when boy Me's World started?
Speaker 1: So you had kids at homes? A teenager still at home? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had Aaron at home and he was junior when
Speaker 1: I started. Let's see what you're with it we started.
Speaker 1: He if he was my age, he would have been
Speaker 1: a junior going into a senior year of high school. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was not. He underplayed the fact that all his friends,
Speaker 1: what dude, Mom goes, no, No, she's not, alright, don't
Speaker 1: say that. I mean, he hated that. I was like,
Speaker 1: that's going back to amy, you know, being a little
Speaker 1: bit in the background and not having as much meaty
Speaker 1: stuff to chew on as as Rusty did. As Alan,
Speaker 1: we have got to give you so, like, just so
Speaker 1: many props because we have talked about it in every
Speaker 1: single episode. How and writer made a really good point
Speaker 1: one day where he said, you know, we're now rewatching
Speaker 1: the show as adults, and so we are now recognizing
Speaker 1: things on the show that when we were kids we
Speaker 1: never paid attention to. And this is with absolutely no disrespect.
Speaker 1: A lot of that was then the stuff that the
Speaker 1: adults were doing. We weren't paying attention to what the
Speaker 1: storylines were that we're going on with the adults, and
Speaker 1: what the nuances were and how the layers were filling in.
Speaker 1: We were just thinking about where is the where is
Speaker 1: the hard laugh coming? And and those were the things
Speaker 1: we focused on. Child you were That's true. We were
Speaker 1: very Aty much taught to that that was where the Yeah,
Speaker 1: that that's where the good was. But what we have
Speaker 1: all recognized in rewatching the show is how incredible the
Speaker 1: moments are that you and Rusty give, even when you
Speaker 1: were only in two scenes, or even when you only
Speaker 1: have a few lines, the way you're under exactly exactly,
Speaker 1: that's the proof of it. That's exactly the proof of it.
Speaker 1: The way like, for example, your performance and Grandma was
Speaker 1: a rolling stone where you are making the muffins in
Speaker 1: the kitchen and Corey comes down and says, hey, where's Grandma?
Speaker 1: And you give the tiniest little look and you say, hey,
Speaker 1: let's make some muffins. And with just the smallest look,
Speaker 1: the audience knows something bigger is going on. She knows
Speaker 1: what it is. She's trying to protect him. And the
Speaker 1: fact that you were able to get it across and
Speaker 1: and just the amount of warmth and and like you
Speaker 1: are such a you were perfect, you are a you
Speaker 1: were absolutely flawless. And so watching you has been watching
Speaker 1: you has truly been one of the joys for me
Speaker 1: of doing this podcast a hugely well. We also thought
Speaker 1: they hugely dropped the ball in that episode that it
Speaker 1: would have been a perfect time for her for it
Speaker 1: to be your mother, Amy's mom and not Malan's mom.
Speaker 1: It would have just added an entire new layer to
Speaker 1: the thing, given your character more do um and it
Speaker 1: was just just wasn't done. So, I mean, it was
Speaker 1: what it was. But that was something we brought up,
Speaker 1: was like, why that was a perfect opportunity right there,
Speaker 1: like it was and it was remember these are boys
Speaker 1: writing this, Yeah, this is this is Michael's life. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of it is Michael's experience with moms and
Speaker 1: Gramazon so on. And so I mean, I can't I'm
Speaker 1: not going to blame I'm not blaming that has something
Speaker 1: to do with it. I'm gonna have to watch an
Speaker 1: episode which one was that grand was a rolling stone.
Speaker 1: It's the one that Rue McClanahan and and you are
Speaker 1: just unbelievable in it. You have a you have a
Speaker 1: whole scene where you you talk about how long you've
Speaker 1: known her and uh, you just you deliver a message
Speaker 1: with like no shame in your voice, no judgment. It's
Speaker 1: really it's truly beautiful. Go back and rewatch it and
Speaker 1: and appreciate you as much as we appreciate you. Um.
Speaker 1: And in this episode, the one ten, the Christmas episode,
Speaker 1: I thought your jokey, laughing, sarcastic. It made me feel
Speaker 1: seen as a mother because a lot of the mothers
Speaker 1: I know are you know if this had really happened
Speaker 1: to their child, would find it impossible to laugh at it.
Speaker 1: It would be this is traumatized my child. I'm going
Speaker 1: to speak to a manager and you know it would
Speaker 1: have been. And you obviously were very concerned about her
Speaker 1: and you want her to be okay. But also the
Speaker 1: absurdity of the situation is not lost on you. And
Speaker 1: the way you come home and tell the story to
Speaker 1: Rusty and explain it and start laughing, and then the
Speaker 1: way you and Will at the door are laughing, it
Speaker 1: is just more of your genius. How much of this
Speaker 1: episode and your performance in it of laughing through some
Speaker 1: of that stuff was just you? And how much of
Speaker 1: it do you think was scripted. Oh it was totally me,
Speaker 1: I told me, And it was totally Rusty. And the
Speaker 1: thing was that the reason we went to that was
Speaker 1: that immediately I'm going, you know, we're acting like like
Speaker 1: I go, what am I doing? And what am I wearing? Anyway,
Speaker 1: you know, I was like, that's boxy thing. But anyway,
Speaker 1: I go, oh, God, that's bigger than life. And then
Speaker 1: Rusty says, I didn't understand what this meant, And I said,
Speaker 1: here's what happened. But I think what you had was.
Speaker 1: Rusty starts laughing, and then I can't help but see
Speaker 1: the humor in it there because we're on the same page.
Speaker 1: And we're baby boomers. Okay, baby booms were born in
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty. Baby boomers are hip and cool to the end.
Speaker 1: You know, we really are, don't. We have a lot
Speaker 1: more going on for us than our parents generation in
Speaker 1: terms of relating to the dramas of the children. I mean,
Speaker 1: I I thought it was perfectly natural to laugh, you know,
Speaker 1: even though it learned it was totally That's what I
Speaker 1: would have done myself. It's great. And do do you
Speaker 1: and Rusty both still wear clogs? It's a it's a
Speaker 1: fair question. Fair question. God, I stopped wearing clogs. They
Speaker 1: were bothering my toes, but he lived in those things.
Speaker 1: I just wear flip clops now I got one of
Speaker 1: the time. I can't do anything. I don't know why.
Speaker 1: It's so salient to me that you guys both always
Speaker 1: wore clogs. It was the cutest thing because I I wondered,
Speaker 1: did did one of you come to set wearing them?
Speaker 1: And then the other person said, I'm also going to
Speaker 1: get a pair of those, or did you both just
Speaker 1: naturally were of those when you met. Well, there was
Speaker 1: a fan of earth shoes at a certain point when
Speaker 1: we were hippies. And so when you know young parents
Speaker 1: or whatever, and you all have these shoes where you're
Speaker 1: the back is lower than the top front, and different
Speaker 1: kinds of shoes that are good for your back, we're
Speaker 1: standing on your feet a lot. And the clogs I
Speaker 1: had were right for that. So it gave me a
Speaker 1: little height. It was a little taller than I really am.
Speaker 1: Like that made my legs better. But really we just
Speaker 1: both wore these clogs, and it was not planned. It
Speaker 1: just was part of our age group. I just thank
Speaker 1: you to tell you the truth. It was very Yeah,
Speaker 1: what was your relationship with Rusty? Like Rusty said that
Speaker 1: you guys were pretty close and that the four of
Speaker 1: you with your spouses went to dinner rather often. What
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about your relationship. Oh, it
Speaker 1: was wonderful. Um. I miss him a lot because I
Speaker 1: don't get to see him much anymore. Um, but this, uh,
Speaker 1: this is just an easy thing. We went mountain biking
Speaker 1: together and we you know, I suddenly we were mountain biking.
Speaker 1: I kid believe I was mountain biking, but we were.
Speaker 1: And I had places to go, and he he even
Speaker 1: moved where I moved because he liked the mountains where
Speaker 1: we lived. And remember when we had the cast party
Speaker 1: at the house in Montendo and that big house. We
Speaker 1: finally moved out of that house, but he bought a
Speaker 1: house over there too, And then, you know, their kids
Speaker 1: got older. His he just had one baby at the time,
Speaker 1: and so he was behind me in terms of my
Speaker 1: kids were you know, like I said, your age. So
Speaker 1: it was it was an easy thing. We still our friends.
Speaker 1: We don't see each other very much, which I miss. Um.
Speaker 1: It was awkward in a way almost when we came
Speaker 1: back for Girl Meets World because he was directing, and
Speaker 1: I was just sort of I'm not sure where could
Speaker 1: fit in. It was kind of weird. So that that
Speaker 1: was just more recently where I just got I don't
Speaker 1: know where, you know, what our friendships like anymore. Um,
Speaker 1: but we adored I adored him. I thought he was
Speaker 1: so sexy and so fun and such a good actor.
Speaker 1: And when he got you know, when he got bossy
Speaker 1: with me, I just looked at him like, don't go there.
Speaker 1: You know, most of the time we were on the
Speaker 1: same page because we worked off each other and they
Speaker 1: wrote us writing, so they're all that flirtatious stuff was
Speaker 1: really there. I mean, that's what you do as an actor.
Speaker 1: You play off the person you're in love with, and
Speaker 1: it works and it really shows. And everybody when I
Speaker 1: do these cameos, they all just think, you guys were
Speaker 1: really in love, right, did you date? You know? We
Speaker 1: never had an affair? No, sorry, you know, oh you know,
Speaker 1: we didn't do that well the thing. But again, if
Speaker 1: we're talking about pairing up, I mean, the parents are
Speaker 1: the only set pair when the show starts, so it's like,
Speaker 1: if there's not chemistry between that pair, that's not going
Speaker 1: to be a I mean again. Matt McCoy have seen
Speaker 1: him in a number of things. Is a fine actor.
Speaker 1: I've seen him and he's done a ton of things
Speaker 1: for years and years and years. But you and Rusty
Speaker 1: the second year on screen in the pilot episode, I
Speaker 1: mean the second you see them, boom, couple like you
Speaker 1: just know right there. It's that you had that instantly
Speaker 1: the couple feel, um, yeah, did you have at least
Speaker 1: you might not have had an affair, but did you
Speaker 1: at least have a little bit of a crush on Rusty.
Speaker 1: I'm just a huge crush, but not like out of control.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like do I dare you know? It was
Speaker 1: never like that. It was just had such fun chemistry.
Speaker 1: There was one time where we had to really kiss
Speaker 1: and rock Corey's videoing. We've seen the episode. Yes, so
Speaker 1: the the writers okay are watching this go down and
Speaker 1: he says, now, come on, you got you know our
Speaker 1: director Kimes like me, do you have to really kiss her?
Speaker 1: Because you know, instead of just this little thing. So
Speaker 1: I'm kind a thing of ice cream in my lap
Speaker 1: and he starts to kiss me and the ice cream
Speaker 1: stays oh the bowl, we're saying, because we're sharing ice cream.
Speaker 1: It's like, huh what And then we get caught and
Speaker 1: they come in and they're laughing their pants up, going
Speaker 1: we need to get the ice creams, and they were
Speaker 1: all all the girls were so envying me to kids,
Speaker 1: trusting us like that, and it was really great. I'll
Speaker 1: never forget. It was like, and it's usually it's embarrassing
Speaker 1: if you have to kill it's a stranger, you know,
Speaker 1: or I think they had to do it before, We've
Speaker 1: all had to do it. But this this was embarrassing.
Speaker 1: But once we got into it, it was like, well,
Speaker 1: this is what it would be like. I don't know,
Speaker 1: it just was fun. It's just a fun story when
Speaker 1: I spilled the ice cream. Kind of kind of a
Speaker 1: general question and because so much of like rewatching the
Speaker 1: show for us and talking about our experience has been
Speaker 1: you know, just realizing how little experience the three of
Speaker 1: us had walking onto the set of Boy Meets Word, like,
Speaker 1: we have nothing really to compare it to. So I'm wondering,
Speaker 1: how did the set compare to other sets, or or
Speaker 1: how what was the community of writers and actors, what
Speaker 1: was the vibe? I mean, how was it different than
Speaker 1: Home Improvement? Was it better? Was it more relaxed or
Speaker 1: different theater companies that you had been a part of,
Speaker 1: Like in general, what was Boy Meats World like as
Speaker 1: a set. Well, I hadn't been in l A that long.
Speaker 1: I've been flown out for a pilot and that's what
Speaker 1: got us out there, but um for something else. But
Speaker 1: it was very similar. The whole thing is very similar.
Speaker 1: It's it's a way they do it, you know, It's
Speaker 1: it's commonplace the way things are handled. Um. I didn't
Speaker 1: noticed a big change except for that here I was
Speaker 1: paying full, paid full, you know, it's not just you know,
Speaker 1: I wasn't just a guest star, and I felt a
Speaker 1: responsibility about it. I got to stay in Tim Allen's
Speaker 1: room when we first shot at and things like that.
Speaker 1: But in terms of the process, um, did we did
Speaker 1: we start right at Disney or was that? Was it
Speaker 1: right at Disney and then we went to mt M
Speaker 1: after that? It was the first two years at Disney,
Speaker 1: the next two years at KATL, the third two years
Speaker 1: at Radford, and then the last year back at Disney. Right.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny that the Redford stands out more
Speaker 1: than anything else for me to kind of it was
Speaker 1: a great lot. It was such a great lot, that
Speaker 1: was and we were rolling by that time, and Generous
Speaker 1: was loosening your temper across the sett I remember, and
Speaker 1: Seinfeld was right. I mean, we were right next to
Speaker 1: Seinfeld and we shot like our opening title sequence on
Speaker 1: the Seinfeld New York Street, Third Rock from the Sun,
Speaker 1: Third Rock was right next to us, and it was awesome.
Speaker 1: That was a really cool set to be on you,
Speaker 1: which was great for you guys when you were older
Speaker 1: and you were kind of, you know, strutting your steps,
Speaker 1: super hip. Yeah, we're super cool. Yeah. You all had
Speaker 1: those fancy cars and I was still driving my hunt.
Speaker 1: In fact, I said to you Will what why is
Speaker 1: it was? I think it was you. I said, why
Speaker 1: do you have this? Why were you had you had?
Speaker 1: I'm driving this Honda Civic, you know. And you said,
Speaker 1: I don't know why. Well, I have two kids in college,
Speaker 1: you know. Maybe, but things trickled off a little more
Speaker 1: most of it. I was like, I'm nineteen and selfish.
Speaker 1: That's why I have miss I kind have cared less,
Speaker 1: you know. It wasn't my kind. Now I have a
Speaker 1: very important question for you, Betsy. Are you team sideyard
Speaker 1: or team backyard? Do you know what I'm talking about? Okay,
Speaker 1: So the little yard that you guys share with pheeny,
Speaker 1: do you think that yard is the side yard of
Speaker 1: the Matthews house or is it the backyard of the
Speaker 1: Matthews house. Well, it looks like a side yard. Oh oh,
Speaker 1: excuse me, she said, looks side so tidy, and there's
Speaker 1: a you know, the porch just sort of stops there.
Speaker 1: You don't know what's beyond there. Um, I would imagine
Speaker 1: it's a side yard and then it goes around to
Speaker 1: the front. M M. Interesting. I never thought this before.
Speaker 1: This is the first time anyway, So let me let
Speaker 1: me lob something at you. What about the fact that
Speaker 1: the front door is directly opposite the back door that
Speaker 1: leads to change your mind? She said, She's just thinking
Speaker 1: about it. We're trying to present both sides. Well, couldn't
Speaker 1: be that the front door is on the other side
Speaker 1: and that's the front yard that takes you to the side.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just don't think it's the back yard.
Speaker 1: All right. Well, I'm sorry, congratulations you've drafted Betsy to
Speaker 1: your team. I am not. It's not a team. It
Speaker 1: is just it's it's I don't I think we can
Speaker 1: all agree. It's a strangely designed home. I think it
Speaker 1: may be a corner lots. Hey, maybe we're both right.
Speaker 1: Maybe we're both right. There's not enough compromise in the
Speaker 1: world anymore. Maybe we're both right, Daniel, listen, I'm totally
Speaker 1: fine with both of us being right. It also it
Speaker 1: is also team it makes no sense. Like every every
Speaker 1: political argument I've ever had with it's like everybody's wrong
Speaker 1: or everybody's right. You're always very strong about something, and
Speaker 1: Will You're always like no, no, no, everybody's an idiot,
Speaker 1: or everybody every exactly you know what it is? I
Speaker 1: think it's that it's I had two older brothers that
Speaker 1: did they get along great now, but didn't always get along.
Speaker 1: So I was the one who was like, hey, you
Speaker 1: know what, maybe you're both right, we're both wrong, we're
Speaker 1: both wrong. Maybe it's all shades of gray and there
Speaker 1: is no one answer to anything. How often are you
Speaker 1: still me and now? Will? What is it? Are you
Speaker 1: still recognized all the time for being? Wow? And I
Speaker 1: love it. I people come up and thank me all
Speaker 1: the time for being the example of a perfect mom
Speaker 1: and wife and family and how they raised they were raised.
Speaker 1: I say, well, I did raise you, and they go, yes,
Speaker 1: you didn't. They really feel that. I mean, I watched
Speaker 1: Father Knows Fast, I watched, I watched all these things,
Speaker 1: but I never felt like Donna Reed didn't raise me.
Speaker 1: I didn't feel like that. My mother was pretty wonderful.
Speaker 1: But and I also had three brothers and we all sang.
Speaker 1: And I came from a family that wasn't stereotypical in
Speaker 1: the sense that we weren't always dependent on the TV
Speaker 1: to define ourselves. That's what I'm gonna say. Dad was scary.
Speaker 1: Dad was scary. I would have liked my dead to
Speaker 1: be more like Rusty. I think that better. Well, you
Speaker 1: really were like it, just I mean, you were a
Speaker 1: perfect mother. I think the way the character was written
Speaker 1: had a little bit to do with it, but it
Speaker 1: it wasn't even of them. A lot of credits, it
Speaker 1: wasn't even them, though. It's so much of it is
Speaker 1: who you are. And yeah, you're so grounding. Thank you.
Speaker 1: That is very very sweet to hear. And actually I
Speaker 1: feel that I was. And when I watched it, I go,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't like that outfit, but you know, good,
Speaker 1: I look like I'm acting, you know, a little bit.
Speaker 1: You know, at first, you're kind of trying to find
Speaker 1: your like that you humor thing you're trying to over do,
Speaker 1: you do it out a little bit too big, but overall, um,
Speaker 1: I just I think that when you asked me if
Speaker 1: I talked to Michael about feeling left out or underappreciated
Speaker 1: or underwritten, and I did go to about that, but
Speaker 1: it was not until the very end. It wasn't until
Speaker 1: after we did the scene where I come to class
Speaker 1: and and I think Michael wasn't there or something, and
Speaker 1: we did it without him, and I thought, well, this
Speaker 1: is finally they're kind of giving me something to talk about,
Speaker 1: and so I went to Michael. I think it was
Speaker 1: during the time where I didn't approve of running into
Speaker 1: you at the hotel or something. I felt I don't
Speaker 1: feel like people my friend said, gee, you don't have
Speaker 1: a lot to do, or you know, I don't have
Speaker 1: a lot to say, you know, at different times over
Speaker 1: the years, and I said, you know, that's kinding to
Speaker 1: bother me. So I went to Michael about it, and
Speaker 1: he said, I said, I don't think people take what
Speaker 1: I feel or think seriously enough. I think the woman's
Speaker 1: voice here is not being heard. But it took me
Speaker 1: years to get the courage up to do that. And
Speaker 1: he said, everyone loves you, and I said, well, that's nice,
Speaker 1: that's great, but I'm not you know, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: you're really getting I think that that altered his thinking
Speaker 1: a little bit about how things were done after that,
Speaker 1: But it wasn't until really years later where I watched
Speaker 1: something that we were doing and I went, you know,
Speaker 1: well that beat in this. I'm not as bad in
Speaker 1: this as I thought, you know, just because I didn't
Speaker 1: have a lot to do, you know, I underestimated. And
Speaker 1: I went bed and he said, you were wonderful. You
Speaker 1: made it happen. You did. It's just that he didn't
Speaker 1: want to take responsibility and the fact that the woman
Speaker 1: didn't have a voice in the same way that by
Speaker 1: then I should have had. Yeah. So I did address it,
Speaker 1: but it was a little too late to you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: which is strange because every time there was something where
Speaker 1: Amy had more to do, it was great. It. I
Speaker 1: mean it really was. It was. I can't wait to
Speaker 1: get to some of the later episodes. Again. I keep
Speaker 1: going back to that one where you and I had
Speaker 1: to share, going to like you were going back to
Speaker 1: college and you were reading about I'll never forget that
Speaker 1: the episode where you come in and you read about
Speaker 1: like your first um physical experience, like your first sexual experience,
Speaker 1: and you're reading it to Eric's class in college and
Speaker 1: it's Eric going, oh god, my mommy's talking about and
Speaker 1: it was just it was so fun and there was
Speaker 1: something sometimes you you connect characters that shouldn't work very
Speaker 1: well together and they just worked great. And you know,
Speaker 1: they did that with Eric and Feeni at one point,
Speaker 1: but I thought Eric and Amy were that same way
Speaker 1: where it was like when they kind of hooked us up. Um,
Speaker 1: the characters really meshed well together. So I can't wait
Speaker 1: to kind of get to those episodes. I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: back and watch that's what we're doing, and that's the plan.
Speaker 1: You're doing this, you guys. This is so fun. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming up with the idea for us
Speaker 1: to do this. Yeah, this is amazing, Betsy, for you
Speaker 1: to come up with this. You did. You came up
Speaker 1: with the idea and it was after can in two
Speaker 1: thousand and eighteen, So thank you. Um, Betsy, do you
Speaker 1: have any favorite like behind the scenes story their memories
Speaker 1: you'd like to share. No, you hated all of it.
Speaker 1: It can go from home improvement. Sure, So I I
Speaker 1: have to think for a minute. Asked me something else
Speaker 1: and it will come to me because I think someone
Speaker 1: like a behind this scenes stuff. But the ice cream
Speaker 1: story is great. Yeah, okay, let me ask you another question.
Speaker 1: What was your first impression of Bill Daniels and how
Speaker 1: did your relationship with Bill evolve over the years? Good question.
Speaker 1: I was awestruck because I'd seen him do um seventeen
Speaker 1: seventy six on Broadway, So I mean I was already
Speaker 1: Plus I loved him and what it was at Saint
Speaker 1: Elsewhere when I loved him and everything, and so I
Speaker 1: felt an immediate affinity to his theatricality, his musical experience.
Speaker 1: So we we actually hit it off pretty darn well.
Speaker 1: I was a little intimidated because he had strong opinions
Speaker 1: about things, but um, overall we hit it off pretty well.
Speaker 1: We liked each other. Yeah, it's nice. One other thing
Speaker 1: we want to talk about, which we haven't addressed yet,
Speaker 1: is you are, were, and are still a phenomenal singer,
Speaker 1: incredible musician. Yeah, so, how it was cool. In this
Speaker 1: episode two, they brought in the piano. I bet you
Speaker 1: that was because of you. I'm sure. Yeah, I remember backstage,
Speaker 1: you and band especially always singing musical It's always talking
Speaker 1: about musicals. Yeah, you were such a Were you still
Speaker 1: singing as you were doing? Boy? I mean were you
Speaker 1: going out and doing You were doing cabaret stuff too?
Speaker 1: Were in my club acts? Yeah? I did two club
Speaker 1: acts my cycle one I liked the best, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I did too, And I went to was the cinegrell
Speaker 1: was the second one on at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
Speaker 1: Because we went. You invited all of us and we
Speaker 1: invited you all to the one. And I don't know
Speaker 1: if it was the second one the first one, but anyway, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what that's who I am. So what came first?
Speaker 1: Singing or acting? Well? I started singing at birth, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean my family, and I say this proudly. I
Speaker 1: have incredible set of pipes. We inherited my father's voice,
Speaker 1: and I can sing opera and I can sing show tunes,
Speaker 1: and I just you know, had an instrument that saved
Speaker 1: me when I had went through geeky times. At least
Speaker 1: I had that, you know. So I think it's part
Speaker 1: of my identity, and so in a way when I
Speaker 1: work as an actress now that I think of it,
Speaker 1: especially with this, there's a musicality to me about it.
Speaker 1: It wouldn't be surprising if he went, oh, she can
Speaker 1: single the you know, just the way I talk and
Speaker 1: you know, stuff like that. But no singing is was
Speaker 1: my whole life, and my singing growing up being the
Speaker 1: only girl and the youngest of three boys. Um, they
Speaker 1: were all saying in too, so we had a lot
Speaker 1: to do together. But when often during the growing up stages,
Speaker 1: I was just in the backseat singing away to myself
Speaker 1: all the time. And now our granddaughter was visiting from
Speaker 1: Sweden this couple of weeks ago that Aaron and his
Speaker 1: family moved to Sweden. I don't know if I told
Speaker 1: you that, which you know, freaked me out, but anyway,
Speaker 1: they came to visit for four weeks and she's now
Speaker 1: this tree going on four and she's in love with
Speaker 1: this new character that from TV. It's not Lion King,
Speaker 1: but it's this Mahunta or whenever. Her name is Mahoya Marianna.
Speaker 1: And she sits back there in the carsy just all ourself,
Speaker 1: and and I went, that's what I did, and I
Speaker 1: kept myself company. I kept myself company by my voice
Speaker 1: just singing was away for me to know I was there.
Speaker 1: So sure, still not so sure, but I just miss it.
Speaker 1: What do you think Amy and Allen would be doing now?
Speaker 1: What do you think now thirty years after we first
Speaker 1: met them? What do you think your relationship would be like?
Speaker 1: And what do you think you'd be up to now? Well,
Speaker 1: I think it would probably be rather similar to the
Speaker 1: way we are in real life. Um, I think because
Speaker 1: we're both very outdoorsy. Um, we'd probably buy a camper
Speaker 1: and get one of you know, maybe the new Uh
Speaker 1: what it's with an s sprinter van. It's a S
Speaker 1: S word, it's sprint what the sprinter van? No, it's
Speaker 1: it's like one word like spanks, except not spending. But
Speaker 1: it's like that. I'll think of it. And it's just
Speaker 1: you know, to haul that around and just go everywhere
Speaker 1: within the mountains, go fishing, the um, traveling and touring
Speaker 1: and so on. And um, I don't see us, Allen
Speaker 1: and Amy, of having a ton of money, but we'd
Speaker 1: saved up a bit of retirement money. We could do
Speaker 1: that and you know, have a good time together. Luckily, luckily,
Speaker 1: spanks aren't that expensive, so the two of you could
Speaker 1: easily fit and expensive. This is the thing about getting older.
Speaker 1: I'm seventy two and it's like are you You do
Speaker 1: not look so I want to where can? Where can?
Speaker 1: All of our listeners are going to want to know
Speaker 1: where they can see you now, where they can find
Speaker 1: you in You did an amazing movie called Painter that
Speaker 1: was a total departure from the Amy Matthews character. Why
Speaker 1: don't you tell us a little bit about that? And
Speaker 1: then also where we can find you? Now? Well, um,
Speaker 1: right now I'm here, not right this minute thing, you know.
Speaker 1: So I auditioned occasionally for stuff and doing these self papings,
Speaker 1: which you know, I'm never quite sure I'm doing very well,
Speaker 1: but um I do that. But the Painter. But Painter
Speaker 1: was the surprise that can came to me. And I
Speaker 1: was shocked that it came out so well. I didn't
Speaker 1: know what that was a low budget movie, but I'm
Speaker 1: so proud of it because, um they just made a
Speaker 1: big to do. When I had after it premiered, I
Speaker 1: was on the radio. The radio is all over the
Speaker 1: country going was it really hard for you to break
Speaker 1: away from Amy mac throughs to this, I said, not
Speaker 1: at all. It was not hard at all. It's this
Speaker 1: was easy. This was so simply clear. I mean, as
Speaker 1: an actor, if you know what you want, you just
Speaker 1: go for it. And you don't even you're not look,
Speaker 1: you're not concerned about anything else. It's just I had
Speaker 1: a mission and I get a crushed on this boy.
Speaker 1: And I didn't have a real big crusion, not like
Speaker 1: with Rusty. But he wasn't yet even younger than my son.
Speaker 1: And I had to kiss him and to sit in
Speaker 1: the bed and lenore and kiss him and home sunda right.
Speaker 1: But other than that, you know, really it was I'm
Speaker 1: very proud of painter. If you haven't seen it, I
Speaker 1: think you'll be pleasantly surprised. But it was such that
Speaker 1: when we did the screening, John was staying next to
Speaker 1: me and we were done and everybody was going, oh
Speaker 1: my god, we're all gladding and everything like that. And
Speaker 1: John said, uh, I'm a little afraid to drive home
Speaker 1: with you. That's how well well I scared him. And
Speaker 1: my brother said, oh, we saw mom, and there we
Speaker 1: saw this. We know that side of you. I went, yeah,
Speaker 1: my kids know that side. That's pretty mean, but I
Speaker 1: was also in love and it's really nice way to
Speaker 1: play both things. I didn't judge myself, but you don't
Speaker 1: judge your character. So as far as I was concerned,
Speaker 1: I was just it by just playing. It's like doing
Speaker 1: Amanda and glass managery that I did at the Taper
Speaker 1: and I was in heaven because I was doing Tennessee
Speaker 1: Williams and I was playing a banda and glass Man
Speaker 1: I drink. And you never judge your character, you, I mean,
Speaker 1: he wrote so well, I didn't have any issues of
Speaker 1: how to do it. It's because I just thought this.
Speaker 1: I as far as I'm concerned, I'm right. I know everything.
Speaker 1: And in a way I think I use that same
Speaker 1: thing in Boy Musical too. I think that on a
Speaker 1: much less dramatic level, there's a certain thing that just says,
Speaker 1: I know it's best and you'll just have to come around.
Speaker 1: That sounds a lot like will very similar, very similar. Yes,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean I don't want to please people. I do.
Speaker 1: It's a terrible thing, but I want to be liked.
Speaker 1: But when it comes right down to it to my
Speaker 1: husband and people, I just pretty much sure that I'm
Speaker 1: the right one. Yeah. Yeah, Well Betsy, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for coming on the pod with us today, and
Speaker 1: I hope that you know how loved and appreciated you
Speaker 1: are by every fan of boy It's World, but especially
Speaker 1: the three of us here on this podcast, and we
Speaker 1: hope that you feel like you are given more shine
Speaker 1: on this podcast, certainly than you were and maybe some
Speaker 1: of the earlier seasons or any of the seasons of
Speaker 1: Boy Meat's World, because you are just so appreciative. We
Speaker 1: are so appreciative of you, and you are so appreciated.
Speaker 1: So um, thank you for coming on and letting us
Speaker 1: chat with you. We love you, Betty, This is honor.
Speaker 1: I adore you all, I miss you, and I wish
Speaker 1: we could see each other more often. So keep me,
Speaker 1: keep me in touch. Yes we will, and you so much.
Speaker 1: We love you. Thank you, Okay, I love you, Betsy. Bye,
Speaker 1: Darling Bye. Oh gosh made Betsy cry. She just so
Speaker 1: cried at the end. What happened. I don't know my
Speaker 1: first TV mom though, she's my first TV mom ever.
Speaker 1: That's the coolest thing. And she was because my my
Speaker 1: parents were both lawyers, so they stayed in Connecticut. Obviously
Speaker 1: when I came out and did boy and Betsy jumped
Speaker 1: right into that, like I got you, I got and
Speaker 1: my mom did say to her, like, can you watch
Speaker 1: out for him? And she did and it was that
Speaker 1: And I would go to dinner at their house and
Speaker 1: I got to know her kids really really well, and um,
Speaker 1: she's an amazing woman. She's absolutely an amazing woman. So
Speaker 1: I love is And like, it's totally beyond the purview
Speaker 1: of this podcast, so we can't really go into it.
Speaker 1: But I like when she throws out, like, you know,
Speaker 1: when I would did Tennessee Williams at the Park Taper Forum,
Speaker 1: I'm like, what, Like, you know, they think it's It's
Speaker 1: the same thing with Bill Daniels obviously, and Rusty. It's
Speaker 1: like when Rusty's like I was with Mine Troop in Scotland,
Speaker 1: I just wanted like episode. Yeah. It's just that that
Speaker 1: these were great actors. You know, they were professional actors
Speaker 1: in a way that we couldn't be because we were
Speaker 1: so young, you know, we sort of showed up and
Speaker 1: we were kind of figuring out what it means to
Speaker 1: be an actor in the process of the world, whereas
Speaker 1: these were full on professional actors who had dedicated their
Speaker 1: entire lives to this perform. Yeah, we totally took for granted, right,
Speaker 1: not recognize. We were just sort of like, this is
Speaker 1: fun and this is easy. And I'm just now now
Speaker 1: that their age when they when they started our show,
Speaker 1: I can see how much life experience they were bringing
Speaker 1: and how much more life experience they were having. And
Speaker 1: I just love the craft of acting. I just think
Speaker 1: it's so fascinating and I love talking they especially the
Speaker 1: way they did it was I feel like that's you know,
Speaker 1: everyone's always saying like why is every every huge movie
Speaker 1: star and everything, every huge television star they're all British,
Speaker 1: they're all Australian, they're all and it's because they still
Speaker 1: study the craft, whereas we in America great approach to
Speaker 1: act American did. American school of acting is completely broken.
Speaker 1: It is completely because there isn't one. It's pick up
Speaker 1: your phone and become an Instagra m star and then
Speaker 1: get a television show. That's I mean, there there are exceptions,
Speaker 1: of course, there are there are exceptions, but for the
Speaker 1: most part, the reason why everybody's British and Australians because
Speaker 1: they still study the craft of acting. So it's it's
Speaker 1: still an art form that is one that needs to
Speaker 1: be delved into and strip yourself away and built on
Speaker 1: and that nobody wants to you know, nobody wants to
Speaker 1: do that on this side of the pond anymore. Um,
Speaker 1: and they all did. That's what. So so when you
Speaker 1: actually get to talk to them, they're talking about how
Speaker 1: they were there were Meisner students, and you know, Bill,
Speaker 1: Bill never told us that he was a child actor
Speaker 1: when we were there with him. He's working with child
Speaker 1: actors and because he's like, we don't need to get
Speaker 1: into that be an actor, and it was just it
Speaker 1: was it's nuts too now because you're right where I'm
Speaker 1: older now, I think than everybody but Bill was when
Speaker 1: they did Boy And so to look back on that
Speaker 1: and go like, I still haven't studied the craft of
Speaker 1: acting the way I should have. You know, it's like
Speaker 1: what the Yeah, it's a whole different thing. What can
Speaker 1: you do? Well? This was really fun. I love these
Speaker 1: little reunions we get to do. They bring me, like,
Speaker 1: truly so much joy. So when we finished season one
Speaker 1: of this podcast three years from now, we know we
Speaker 1: just I really, I really think it's important for us
Speaker 1: to have like our own reunion where we just invite
Speaker 1: everybody who's been a guest on the show. I'll host
Speaker 1: it at my house. I have it in my backyard.
Speaker 1: But I just like, not only do I want to
Speaker 1: have a casual, non recorded conversation with everybody, I also
Speaker 1: want everybody to see each other again, like like Leon
Speaker 1: or so, when was the last time he talked to
Speaker 1: Betsy or It's like it would be so. I mean
Speaker 1: I obviously at least not living in California anymore. But
Speaker 1: we fly him out and get Seriously, like, I just
Speaker 1: want to have a reunion, Like I don't want to
Speaker 1: get everybody in the same room because it's just so
Speaker 1: would be so nice to see. We've got time. We're
Speaker 1: on episode ten now, we've gotten until like episode one
Speaker 1: or twenty two. We've got a little bit of time.
Speaker 1: But let's plan it. Let's pick a date and start
Speaker 1: sending out invitations so that Lee can fly out with
Speaker 1: his family and we can actually do it. But I
Speaker 1: think that's really important. Yeah, that's awesome. I love that.
Speaker 1: We'll take a picture and post it on our Agram.
Speaker 1: Good thank you all for joining us. This has been
Speaker 1: pod Meats World. You can follow us at pod Meats
Speaker 1: World Show on Instagram and please continue to send us
Speaker 1: your emails at pod Meats World Show at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: And as I mentioned, don't forget you March March. You
Speaker 1: can get your own too Much shirt shirt like I'm
Speaker 1: wearing now on pod Meats World show dot com. And
Speaker 1: uh next next episode. Later this week we are going
Speaker 1: to be recapping episode number one ten Um I'm original. Yes,
Speaker 1: Santa's Little Helper, Thank you very much. It originally aired
Speaker 1: December tenth three. Looking forward to that, so join us
Speaker 1: for that episode. See you all later. We love you all.
Speaker 1: Pod dismissed. Pod Meats World is an I heart podcast
Speaker 1: producing hosted by Daniel Fisher, Wilford L and right Or Strong.
Speaker 1: Executive producers Jensen Carpet and Amy Sugarman. Executive in charge
Speaker 1: of production, Daniel Romo, producer and editor Tara suit Batch,
Speaker 1: producer Lorraine Rez Engineering Boy meets World super fan Easton Allen.
Speaker 1: Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon. Follow
Speaker 1: us on Instagram at pod Meets World Show or email
Speaker 1: us at pod Meets World Show at gmail dot com