Speaker 1: And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2: And Kevin and iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Welcome to and That's what you Really miss podcast. A
Speaker 1: very very very special episode. Yes, who do we have to?
Speaker 2: We have Michael Asiello who is TV journalist Royalty, worked
Speaker 2: for TV Guide Entertainment Weekly and then started his own
Speaker 2: company called tv Line and just he gets all the scoops.
Speaker 2: He's such a fan of TV and writes really wonderful
Speaker 2: things about TV because he cares so much. And he
Speaker 2: was such a big part of our show. He was
Speaker 2: breaking all kinds of stories. We'd see him on red
Speaker 2: carpets and he's part of that Glee family to us,
Speaker 2: like Glee Memory.
Speaker 1: Who's a strong part of the twitter verse. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: and he's whipping those fans up a trusted, trusted source,
Speaker 1: so he also has some sources of his own, that's right.
Speaker 1: See if he feels some you enjoy.
Speaker 2: Hello.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, Hello, you both look amazing.
Speaker 2: So do you? I love that haircut?
Speaker 1: Great?
Speaker 4: I got it cut just for this.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I had a feeling.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 2: We appreciate it for that. We love to look at beauty.
Speaker 4: I know I've listened to your podcast you're obsessed with it.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's all we talk about.
Speaker 5: Really.
Speaker 1: I mean we come, you know, dressed in the nines
Speaker 1: for our podcast.
Speaker 4: Now I can see that. But fashion is off the hook.
Speaker 2: It may not look like it, but Jenna's sweatshirt is
Speaker 2: thousands and thousands of dollars.
Speaker 4: Wow. Actually yeah, I can see it.
Speaker 1: Stains on it, so I can see it.
Speaker 2: And my T shirt's definitely not twenty years old.
Speaker 1: Michael Jenna, it's good to see you.
Speaker 4: It's good to see you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our show, Welcome to the Glee podcast.
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me. I was so excited to
Speaker 4: get the invitation.
Speaker 1: Wollvery a very important part of the Glee history.
Speaker 4: I maybe you know, it's funny. I did a little
Speaker 4: bit of a deep dog prior to this interview, and
Speaker 4: I was going through my Glee coverage over the years,
Speaker 4: and let me tell you, there's a lot of it.
Speaker 1: There's a lot, and you're a part of a lot.
Speaker 2: In different mediums as well, because Twitter and Glee sort
Speaker 2: of was this beautiful marriage in the very beginning, because
Speaker 2: they were sort of blowing up together and then you
Speaker 2: were on there interacting with fans daily for lots of shows,
Speaker 2: not even just Glee, and you had all the spoilers,
Speaker 2: you knew everything.
Speaker 4: Well, I think that's really my If my legacy about
Speaker 4: Glee is going to be anything, I think, I think
Speaker 4: it's the news that I broke during that time, and
Speaker 4: the and the spoilers, and because we lived in a
Speaker 4: different time back then when like spoilers were like a
Speaker 4: massive major piece of journalism. So now, but back then
Speaker 4: with with broadcasts, when broadcast was huge, and when Glee
Speaker 4: was big, it was like people wanted to know what
Speaker 4: was coming up?
Speaker 2: Who was your source?
Speaker 4: So now that the show is over and now time
Speaker 4: on your podcast, I feel comfortable letting you know that
Speaker 4: my source was Are you serious? Do you really think
Speaker 4: I'm going, Oh my.
Speaker 2: God, you got me, girl, I'm sweating. I really felt like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, we're gonna find out.
Speaker 4: You're gonna find who deep deep Throat.
Speaker 1: Is the biggest news we'll have on our podcast.
Speaker 2: Ever, I also had a fear that I'm like, was
Speaker 2: it me? My memory? So that I'm like, it could
Speaker 2: have been me.
Speaker 1: You're fired, Kevin, You're fired.
Speaker 4: You know what I will say is it was It's
Speaker 4: not one person. Glee was such a huge show and
Speaker 4: there were so many people involved in it that, you know,
Speaker 4: information flowed from multiple avenues and.
Speaker 2: Sources, and you are and were a very trusted source
Speaker 2: and figure, I think in TV journalism, entertainment journalism. So
Speaker 2: doesn't that do you think that incentivizes people to come
Speaker 2: to you. Because they come to you, they're not going
Speaker 2: to some gossipy, slanderous like you do serious stuff reporting
Speaker 2: about TV, like you love TV, Like there's such care
Speaker 2: and your story about shows and things. So I feel
Speaker 2: like people gravitate towards that.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it helps it. You know, I worked
Speaker 4: for a TV guide and I worked for Entertainment Weekly.
Speaker 4: So even if my coverage was cheapy and playful, I
Speaker 4: mean it usually was. I mean I did harder stuff,
Speaker 4: like I did cover stories and bigger, bigger features, but
Speaker 4: but a lot of my stuff was sort of fun
Speaker 4: and light and uh, you know, the spoilers were sort
Speaker 4: of wrapped in this sort of snarkiness. Uh. But but
Speaker 4: I was always backed by a you know, a legacy
Speaker 4: brand and a really refutable you know brand, TD Guy
Speaker 4: and Team Weekly and then when tv line launched, so
Speaker 4: I think that certainly helped, you know, with my visibility
Speaker 4: and that, and when people brought me scoops, they kind
Speaker 4: of knew that it was going they were going to get,
Speaker 4: you know, big play.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk about the scoops though, because let's just
Speaker 1: start there. Yeah, do you have like, do you have
Speaker 1: any like memories that stick out of Glee spoilers that
Speaker 1: you broke, Like, do you have any that like, well.
Speaker 4: Hyber, I remember breaking Darren Cris's casting was a huge
Speaker 4: deal because I knew that role. I knew that role
Speaker 4: was coming before it was cast, and that was a
Speaker 4: pretty big spoiler. And then and then you know the
Speaker 4: fact that uh you know he was coming on as
Speaker 4: a uh you know, is this character so? And then
Speaker 4: I remember breaking that the news of who got the role,
Speaker 4: even though Darren wasn't a huge name at the time,
Speaker 4: there was so much anticipation about who was going to
Speaker 4: be getting getting this role. That was a pretty major
Speaker 4: one in terms of spoilers, you know, all the romance stuff,
Speaker 4: that's what you know. The although the romance surrounding particularly
Speaker 4: Rachel you know, uh Leah, all of her loved dress people.
Speaker 4: There was just a readers that were kind of obsessed
Speaker 4: with with with that and I and I kind of,
Speaker 4: you know, it's it's tricky because you know, one time
Speaker 4: you don't you don't want to ever outright spoil something,
Speaker 4: you know, so I you don't want to ruin someone's experience,
Speaker 4: so you want to I try to always couch it
Speaker 4: or frame it in more of a tease to get
Speaker 4: people excited to watch the show. And also I didn't
Speaker 4: really want to make enemies of Ryan Murphy and everybody else,
Speaker 4: you know. So it's like I tried to be a
Speaker 4: team player and uh and not not be an enemy.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmmmm, No, that's fair.
Speaker 2: I feel like tv Guide when you were there, was
Speaker 2: like one of the earliest supporters of the show, Like
Speaker 2: we had covers of TV Guide and we were at
Speaker 2: the events, all the events, and that was sort of
Speaker 2: like our introduction to the craziness that you know, would
Speaker 2: get even crazier as the years went on. But I
Speaker 2: feel like when that happens, is that your decision, We
Speaker 2: were like I want to support this show, I love
Speaker 2: the show, we need to do this thing. Or is
Speaker 2: that sort of like a brand strategy of like, oh,
Speaker 2: the show seems is seemingly doing quite well and is
Speaker 2: going to get bigger let' support it early. How does
Speaker 2: that work?
Speaker 4: It's a decision above my pay grade. Back then, for sure,
Speaker 4: a brand decision. You know, I was off doing my
Speaker 4: own thing at TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly in many ways,
Speaker 4: like I had my own blog, I had my sort
Speaker 4: of you know, my own scoop factory, you know, and
Speaker 4: then and then the brand existed sort of outside of that.
Speaker 4: But in terms of like covers and particularly covers, those
Speaker 4: decisions always went high up. But you know, Glee was
Speaker 4: an out of the box smash, so I don't think
Speaker 4: people had to you know, the higher ups had to
Speaker 4: think too long and hard about whether to quick Glee
Speaker 4: on the cover or to get the hid in this show,
Speaker 4: because it was a phenomenon, you know, from right out
Speaker 4: of the gate, from season one. And you know, back
Speaker 4: then TV Guide was a much bigger deal than it
Speaker 4: is now in terms of like the zeitgeist. Like if
Speaker 4: you were on the cover of TV Guide, that meant
Speaker 4: you your show or you as a performer have arrived.
Speaker 4: Same thing with Entertainment Weekly, you know, for sure, you
Speaker 4: know the peak of Entertainment Weekly. Getting an e W
Speaker 4: cover was like, okay, we we are phenomenon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a big, big deal. Yeah, I remember
Speaker 2: those things.
Speaker 4: You know, And then and then obviously you know, you know,
Speaker 4: Comic Con, you come around and I did all the
Speaker 4: video and your Comic Con and also on the red
Speaker 4: carpet at the Emmys, and that gave me an opportunity
Speaker 4: to actually meet you, which is really was some of
Speaker 4: the most fun is getting out from behind my computer
Speaker 4: breaking the news and actually to interact with cast members,
Speaker 4: especially fun cast members like the two of you. It's
Speaker 4: like it was always it was always just a joy
Speaker 4: and a pleasure to interview when you guys were always
Speaker 4: game about like throwing a scoop here and there, and
Speaker 4: you know, we give each other a ship about you know,
Speaker 4: about school. It was just a really fun back and forth.
Speaker 4: And those in terms of like my memories of covering
Speaker 4: the show you particularly the Comic On interviews, were really fun.
Speaker 2: This morning, you sent me a Comic Con interview that
Speaker 2: you're looking and I said it to Jenna and we're like, oh,
Speaker 2: I had the same sort of reaction of like, it's
Speaker 2: so strange to see it now. It's Darren, Leah, Corey, Nya,
Speaker 2: myself and Jenna.
Speaker 4: Told me the six of you, yes, and it's like
Speaker 4: and Corey and Naya were sitting right next to each other,
Speaker 4: and I knew that video existed. And then after Naya passed,
Speaker 4: I was just like, I watched it interview again and
Speaker 4: I said, I can't believe I can't believe it. They're
Speaker 4: both gone. And then you know, I watched it again
Speaker 4: in preparation for this interview, and it's just, you know,
Speaker 4: it's just so it's so sad. But you know, I
Speaker 4: guess bettersweet is it? Bittersweet is the way to say it,
Speaker 4: because it is such a fun interview, and you know,
Speaker 4: and it was fun to see you guys sitting next
Speaker 4: to each other and having your sort of camaraderie. Uh
Speaker 4: and but it's like like ten years ago. It's just crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, it was really crazy to watch. Comic
Speaker 1: Con was one of my my personal favorite year two
Speaker 1: at ten, so I was at all the gleek comic
Speaker 1: cons and doing the panel in the ballroom. I was
Speaker 1: gladly raising my hand to go and promote the show.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that was particularly a memorable one to watch
Speaker 1: back because we're talking about the future of the show,
Speaker 1: we're talking about what's to come, we're talking you know
Speaker 1: there to hear their voices even you know, it's just
Speaker 1: you get a little you know, chill down your spine.
Speaker 1: But am Coma was special because we also there was
Speaker 1: a lot of information also revealed there, Like we learned
Speaker 1: the first year at comic Con that Kevin and I
Speaker 1: were going to be We're only juniors. We all thought
Speaker 1: we were graduating, and we're like, what's happening to our jobs?
Speaker 1: Where's this going? Where's this headed? And so we learned
Speaker 1: a lot of information because it was the first time
Speaker 1: you get like Brady and and Ryan in a room,
Speaker 1: you know, all together other than you know, writing these
Speaker 1: crazy scripts. So but it was really fun to see
Speaker 1: you and and kind of experience like the fans also
Speaker 1: in that way firsthand, because they you know, comic Con
Speaker 1: is all about the fans, and it's it's a very
Speaker 1: concentrated place to experience it and to.
Speaker 4: Meet over hand. And what stands out for me by
Speaker 4: the interview is you guys knew nothing about what was
Speaker 4: coming up in season four, like because you took place
Speaker 4: between season three and season four, which I think you
Speaker 4: know pretty much at the peak of the show or
Speaker 4: right around the peak of the show. But it was
Speaker 4: the first summer where you guys didn't have the tour,
Speaker 4: like you had a summer off and we talk about
Speaker 4: you had you actually had a hiatus. But of course
Speaker 4: I'm grilling you about what's coming up in season four,
Speaker 4: and you guys knew absolutely nothing. You you were no
Speaker 4: help to me. You're no help to me at all.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure that they knew the writer.
Speaker 2: I loved how like sort of clunky are dynamic with
Speaker 2: each other. Was in like a charming way because we
Speaker 2: clearly were like out of sync. You know when you
Speaker 2: do a bunch of press and you have your answers
Speaker 2: and this question is going to go to this person,
Speaker 2: and we were all just sort of like vibing. It
Speaker 2: was a little messy, but obviously like we knew and
Speaker 2: loved you and felt comfortable with you, so we were
Speaker 2: just like goofing around and also being honest about like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, I had no idea what was going
Speaker 2: to happen.
Speaker 4: Well, also, I was watching it, it was just sort of
Speaker 4: struck by. There's there was just a nice energy amongst
Speaker 4: the six of you. You know, I think Glee sometimes
Speaker 4: you get there's this bad wrap of all feuds and
Speaker 4: this and that, and you know, if you watch that interview,
Speaker 4: you don't get any sense like everybody's interacting, everybody's making
Speaker 4: eye contact with each other, joking around, like and this
Speaker 4: is three seasons. Well, this isn't going into your fourth season,
Speaker 4: so this is this is when you know there might
Speaker 4: have been or already were tensions or whatever, but you
Speaker 4: guys were all sort of really professional and it's just
Speaker 4: a fun energy to be around.
Speaker 1: That's nice. That's a good point, though.
Speaker 2: It is because I do think like post Glee, that's
Speaker 2: what's talked about, probably more than anything, is sort of
Speaker 2: the negative, dramatic stuff like that, where that didn't really
Speaker 2: exist at all, and until it did towards the end,
Speaker 2: and that was after Corey passed away, and I think
Speaker 2: that was probably the impetus of things just got weird,
Speaker 2: and so then dynamics shift people's mindset shift. Being in
Speaker 2: the place where we spent the most time with him
Speaker 2: every day, you know, it's like a it's a really
Speaker 2: hard thing to wrap your head around. And I think
Speaker 2: a lot of those quote unquote, I don't know, feuds
Speaker 2: or whatever, we're probably heightened or exaggerated because of brought
Speaker 2: on because of the external emotional things that were happening.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that interview is like that was the dynamic
Speaker 1: most days in the choir room.
Speaker 2: With everyone, and not just six of us, there were
Speaker 2: you know, eighty of us on that show, and we were.
Speaker 1: People were sleeping or closing their eyes, and you know,
Speaker 1: then there's other banter, but that was generally us all
Speaker 1: the time. So that was like a little kind of
Speaker 1: like view in a peek inside to what it was like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, those interviews with you at comic Con every year
Speaker 2: were also like one of the things to look forward
Speaker 2: to because we did necessarily do a lot of sit
Speaker 2: down interviews at comic Con. You have your panel, you
Speaker 2: have a bunch of like photo shoots and things, but
Speaker 2: like yours, to me, was like the stop that we
Speaker 2: always had to do, Like that was the interview we
Speaker 2: were going to do.
Speaker 5: You know what.
Speaker 4: That's so nice of you to say, And I really
Speaker 4: appreciate that. It's something I hear of and not to
Speaker 4: be bostful or whatever, but I do hear a lot
Speaker 4: of that from the actors, especially a comic I'm like,
Speaker 4: oh my god, this is this is our favorite interview.
Speaker 4: Blah blah blah, and can I just tell you behind
Speaker 4: the scenes that I'm on the edge of my seat
Speaker 4: wondering if you guys are even going to show up,
Speaker 4: because especially when I was at tv Line, when I
Speaker 4: launched tv Line, it's like I started over in many ways,
Speaker 4: you know, I left the EW and like all these
Speaker 4: legacy brands existed, and then tv Line, you know, was
Speaker 4: writing on me in many many ways in my name
Speaker 4: and was not known. So I always we were sort
Speaker 4: of like the ones that were going to get cut
Speaker 4: if you guys were running late, and of course these
Speaker 4: big casts, you know, being carted around San Diego with
Speaker 4: under strict time, somebody's going to get cut. And I
Speaker 4: can't tell you how many times we were the ones
Speaker 4: who would get find out, oh they're not going to
Speaker 4: be able to make it. We would be the ones.
Speaker 4: So it's like the fact that you guys were there
Speaker 4: was just such a relief to me. Like it was
Speaker 4: it always felt like a little bit of a battle
Speaker 4: to get all those big, high profile pasts in our studio.
Speaker 2: I'm sure sure. I mean also, but you built up
Speaker 2: such a I imagine too that you had your name
Speaker 2: and personally because you had interviewed so many people and
Speaker 2: written about so many people that like, your name was
Speaker 2: also a big draw where yes, obviously it was attached
Speaker 2: to the legacy brands, but outside of that, your name
Speaker 2: was also recognizable and associated with, like, you know, the
Speaker 2: fun and the care that you put into your interviews.
Speaker 4: The flip side to that is, though, if you're if
Speaker 4: it's your name, that is that is sort of driving
Speaker 4: at least in the beginning of the brand, and they
Speaker 4: reject the brand, they're rejecting you. Oh yeah, or it
Speaker 4: felt like you know someone who's sort of an insecure,
Speaker 4: sensitive person. It's I think that's really my maybe why
Speaker 4: it would accept me when someone would pull the plug
Speaker 4: on an interview at Comic conict the last minute, because
Speaker 4: it just felt like it was a rejection, a personal
Speaker 4: rejection of you. We don't give a shit about you,
Speaker 4: not just the TV line. We don't care about you,
Speaker 4: even though it's really never quite about that and I
Speaker 4: shouldn't take it personally, but anyway.
Speaker 2: But I mean, you were starting a new brand, so
Speaker 2: how do you not because you and the brand are
Speaker 2: synonymous at that point, right like you are the brand,
Speaker 2: the brand is you, and so yeah, and.
Speaker 4: Also I'm a hustler and That's the one thing that
Speaker 4: I will say that I did enjoy about that. I
Speaker 4: like being an underdog. I like I always operate well,
Speaker 4: feeling like I am fighting an uphill battle. Not that
Speaker 4: I enjoy, you know, showdowns or or arguments with the people,
Speaker 4: but I like I like the feeling that of working hard.
Speaker 4: I like the feeling that I have to work just
Speaker 4: a little bit harder to get Maybe with some other
Speaker 4: people don't, you know, get served on a silver platter
Speaker 4: or you know, for for who they are, who they
Speaker 4: work for, they get it a little bit easier.
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe that's why you resonated with Glee so much.
Speaker 1: I'm curious about the first time. Well, I'm curious. I
Speaker 1: have two questions for you. What was the first show
Speaker 1: phenomenon that you covered? And then what was your experience
Speaker 1: with the first time you got the Glee screener? When
Speaker 1: did you watch it? Did you watch it with the
Speaker 1: world like when you know? Tell me about that.
Speaker 4: So, my first experience covering up phenomenon not as big
Speaker 4: as Glee would be Felicity. That was the show that
Speaker 4: right before I started, right before I started a TV guide,
Speaker 4: I was working for a soap opera magazine called Soaps
Speaker 4: in Depth, but I became as when I was at
Speaker 4: the Soaps in Depth, Felicity had debuted and I was
Speaker 4: so obsessed with this, like I want to cover this show.
Speaker 4: But we were a soap opera magazine. So I knew
Speaker 4: someone who worked at tv Guide then called tv guide Online,
Speaker 4: which the internet was new, so that's what it was,
Speaker 4: called tv Guide Online. And so I had a friend
Speaker 4: who was who worked for the digital side of tv Guide,
Speaker 4: and I asked them, if you need coverage of Felicity,
Speaker 4: I would be more than happy to help out there.
Speaker 4: And luckily, Jonathan Reiner is his name, he was all
Speaker 4: for it. So you know, I'm very in the infancy
Speaker 4: of my journalism career writing for a soap opera magazine,
Speaker 4: but also getting on the phone with Kerrie Russell, getting
Speaker 4: on the phone with JJ Abrams, getting on the phone
Speaker 4: with all these people from the show. Because I had
Speaker 4: TV Guide attacked. Even though it was tv guide Online
Speaker 4: and there was so much unknown about what that was,
Speaker 4: it was still tv Guide. So I got access, incredible access,
Speaker 4: so uh and it was incredible. I was so exciting
Speaker 4: and it's really what led me to getting the job
Speaker 4: at full time job at TV Guide was my Felicity
Speaker 4: coverage because I went I went all in on that
Speaker 4: and I love I loved the show so much. And
Speaker 4: you know, it arrived at the time of my life.
Speaker 4: I had already graduated college. Show. Uh it came after
Speaker 4: that for me. But the character of Felicity I felt
Speaker 4: a connection to, like h and and a kinship with
Speaker 4: and uh the show itself I just thought was so
Speaker 4: well written. So that was that was the first phenomenon Glee. Uh,
Speaker 4: you know, and I was thinking about this. I remember
Speaker 4: seeing the pilot, watching the pilot beforecause we get screen
Speaker 4: it was before the episodes came out. In one of
Speaker 4: the advantages of being a TV journalist. I did not
Speaker 4: love the pilot. I remember mistately, I did not love
Speaker 4: the I was one of those take yeah, I take
Speaker 4: and here's here's why I felt like tonally, it was
Speaker 4: all over the place, like I was like, is this
Speaker 4: a is this one of the Like it's just like
Speaker 4: the shifting tones, like you to Sylvester in one scene
Speaker 4: of being like this horrible person and you have a
Speaker 4: sweet scene. It just to me, it felt and then
Speaker 4: the shaky cam. You know, suddenly there's scenes with shaky cam,
Speaker 4: It's like, what is going on? Like, I felt like
Speaker 4: it was trying to be too too many things that
Speaker 4: I didn't quite get it. But it grew on me.
Speaker 4: And then I also think that the show grew into
Speaker 4: itself and became more confident of what it was and
Speaker 4: got better as it went along. But I do distinctly
Speaker 4: remember that I was not I was not amongst the
Speaker 4: many people who were just like, oh my god, this
Speaker 4: is the best show I've ever seen, you know, and
Speaker 4: it was different. I'll say that it was absolutely different,
Speaker 4: and I had, you know, I had a lot to
Speaker 4: offer in a lot of potential, but I didn't. I
Speaker 4: didn't love it as much as a lot of other
Speaker 4: people out of the gate. But then that as the
Speaker 4: seasons went on, I felt that, you know, it felt
Speaker 4: like it really came into its own.
Speaker 1: So you're a TV guide online though at that point,
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, crap, I have to cover the
Speaker 1: show that I think is like Matt like, you had
Speaker 1: to watch it to cover it, And that's why I
Speaker 1: grew on you. Otherwise you may not have jumped on
Speaker 1: the bandwagon of Glee.
Speaker 4: Absolutely if I was just a regular TV watcher and
Speaker 4: you know, working in some other industry, I I probably
Speaker 4: would not have given it, although I will say once
Speaker 4: it became such a phenomenon, I can't I would imagine
Speaker 4: an let me chuck back in. Yeah, all my friends
Speaker 4: are talking about this. Let me see what I'm missing. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but I don't know that I would have immediately jumped
Speaker 4: back in. But obviously it was an out of the
Speaker 4: box hit, so there and it did well, that's no
Speaker 4: thing I'll say. It is like Glee stuff performed so
Speaker 4: well traffic wise that it was it would have been
Speaker 4: bad business for me to drop the ball. And uh
Speaker 4: so some you know, and sometimes I have to think
Speaker 4: with that brain too. It's like what is good for
Speaker 4: the business whether I love the show or not. And
Speaker 4: again I did love the show. I just didn't love
Speaker 4: the pilot. And then in later seasons I had issues
Speaker 4: just like a lot of other people. But generally speaking, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, the main motivator was It's like the audience
Speaker 4: was locking to TV Guide, Interesting Weekly and tv Line
Speaker 4: for Glee coverage and that was a demand. Who were
Speaker 4: more than happy.
Speaker 1: To film sure. Sure, And then we kept our set pretty.
Speaker 1: They kept it to a minimum with press on set
Speaker 1: do you feel like that, Kevin, Like, there wasn't a
Speaker 1: ton of media that was there was it was very controlled.
Speaker 1: But you visited a bit?
Speaker 4: Nope, I did not. I believe I visited once. No,
Speaker 4: I'm pretty sure I visited.
Speaker 2: Memory you were there a lot.
Speaker 4: Oh that's so nice.
Speaker 1: I mean, make a handful of familiar faces that we
Speaker 1: had on set that were allowed on set that we
Speaker 1: actually like, welcomed to see. Right, But that's so interesting.
Speaker 4: Well, so one of the reasons why So Tim Stack
Speaker 4: did most of the Glee covers and Entertainment Weekly, so
Speaker 4: I was the one who would be on set doing
Speaker 4: a cover story. I'm the one who's breaking news stories
Speaker 4: and stuff like that. Anything. I would think that producers like,
Speaker 4: we don't want him on set. He's already got enough sources,
Speaker 4: you know, we don't want him, you know, and curing anymore.
Speaker 4: Not to say that God was a reason I wasn't
Speaker 4: in there. Really just wasn't a necessity for me to
Speaker 4: be there because I wasn't doing bigger stories. But I
Speaker 4: do remember, and I don't know if it was like
Speaker 4: a TCA set visit. I don't think it was, because
Speaker 4: I do kind of remember I was I was there
Speaker 4: by myself, but I was any in the choir room,
Speaker 4: maybe season four or five, and I was there all
Speaker 4: day while you guys were shooting choir stuff. I forget
Speaker 4: exactly what was going on, but I do remember distinctly
Speaker 4: how how kind Corey was to me during that day,
Speaker 4: because I was kind of by myself, and you know,
Speaker 4: and you know, as you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 4: time to kill when you're on SAT and Nice. For
Speaker 4: whatever reason, I spent the whole day there, but he
Speaker 4: kept checking in on me, and I remember he came
Speaker 4: over and we were talking. He had just shot a
Speaker 4: movie in Philadelphia that hadn't come out yet that he
Speaker 4: was really excited about, and he was talking to me
Speaker 4: about that, and really that was my biggest memory from
Speaker 4: that day, was just like how lovely keen it was
Speaker 4: and one monsters the two of you were. That's really
Speaker 4: the takeaway track. I've done that.
Speaker 1: We can cut that out.
Speaker 2: It's fine, this is our show.
Speaker 4: Everybody, honestly, everybody was nice. That was another one of
Speaker 4: those days was like I'm not seeing the drama, that's
Speaker 4: the tension. I'm seeing a bunch of professional people who
Speaker 4: are showing up. They know their lines are doing their
Speaker 4: work and like there was I didn't see any any
Speaker 4: of that. So I think that was the one time
Speaker 4: I maybe stop by to set one or other one
Speaker 4: one one more times for like a TCA event or whatever.
Speaker 4: But that was the like one meaty day that I
Speaker 4: spent them.
Speaker 1: Sure that makes sense.
Speaker 5: Corey was always like, come on in.
Speaker 1: He's just so inclusive the amount of.
Speaker 2: Times we were late to press things because he was
Speaker 2: genuinely so nice and talking to everyone.
Speaker 1: We're late, we have to.
Speaker 2: We have to get out of here, we have to go.
Speaker 4: And you know, I'll say it just about Corey too.
Speaker 4: Is I remember when I found out that he had died,
Speaker 4: and it was late at night on the East Coast,
Speaker 4: I believe hit my late husband, Uh and I were
Speaker 4: about to go to sleep, or I had already fallen asleep.
Speaker 4: Kit was still awake and he woke me up and
Speaker 4: he was like Michael because he knew, you know, he
Speaker 4: came to the concert with me. He you know, he
Speaker 4: was part of the Glee phenomenon too. He's like, you're
Speaker 4: not going to believe this. And I think it was
Speaker 4: TMZ that broke it. And I was like, it's liked
Speaker 4: midnight or one am, and I'm like in disbelieve, I
Speaker 4: can't believe what I'm reading. I'm shocked, I'm sad, I'm
Speaker 4: all these things. But then I have to switch gears immediately.
Speaker 4: I have to actually write a fucking story about him dying.
Speaker 4: So it's like the brain has to immediately shift from
Speaker 4: being like stunned, shocked, sad, all these things too. Oh,
Speaker 4: I have to actually write about this now. It's my
Speaker 4: job to write a story about this person that I
Speaker 4: know that I've covered, that I've interviewed. And the same
Speaker 4: thing with Naya to a degree. You know, it's like
Speaker 4: obviously that she died after the show had ended, but
Speaker 4: it's still is a story we covered, that we had
Speaker 4: to cover, and it's just that's one of the tricky things,
Speaker 4: is just the brain switch of Okay, turn off the
Speaker 4: personal and get into the professional mode because you have to.
Speaker 4: You have to write the story now, And there are
Speaker 4: two different sides of the brain.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really interesting. It resonates to maybe Kevin, you
Speaker 1: can ogree your disagree, but like for us, we lost
Speaker 1: a friend and we lost a cast mat or and
Speaker 1: a character on our show, and so there was a
Speaker 1: very very thin line between what you were seeing on
Speaker 1: camera in the quarterback and what you were seeing in
Speaker 1: real life, right behind the scenes. And I hate that episode,
Speaker 1: hate shooting it, hate everything about it obviously because what
Speaker 1: you're watching is us grieving a friend. You have a
Speaker 1: camera in your face.
Speaker 4: And it wasn't that long after, right, It was like
Speaker 4: a couple of months when you shut up.
Speaker 2: It was like three months or two it was.
Speaker 5: It was very maybe two months, very fresh, and it's
Speaker 5: I also don't know, like to your point about having
Speaker 5: to switch gears and like write about it how you
Speaker 5: Then it was obviously the first time for us, for
Speaker 5: a lot of us to one lose somebody close to
Speaker 5: us and to your sort of a public figure or
Speaker 5: the show is this public entity, and so then you're
Speaker 5: having to deal with that whole side of it.
Speaker 2: Then there are reporters, journalists writing about it. Then there
Speaker 2: are people on social media tweeting you or whatever. And
Speaker 2: the balance of how do we figure out one how
Speaker 2: to like grieve a friend and then also represent this
Speaker 2: publicly in a way that is like honoring him and
Speaker 2: respectful but also not encroaching on any of us what
Speaker 2: we feel comfortable doing. Very weird for you.
Speaker 1: Like trying to be respectful but while having to do
Speaker 1: a job right to report on it and to write it.
Speaker 1: It feels I'm sure it felt very right.
Speaker 4: It's like, when is it When is it okay for
Speaker 4: you to start asking the producers how you're going to
Speaker 4: incorporate this into the show? You know, it's like and
Speaker 4: because that also is a big part of the story.
Speaker 4: And as I remember, Corey died right before Comic Con.
Speaker 4: Once it was over the summer, it was starting a hiatus,
Speaker 4: and it was before Comic Con, and I remember getting
Speaker 4: pulled out of an interview in our interview Street because
Speaker 4: Ryan Murphy wanted to speak to me. He was speaking
Speaker 4: to a couple of journalists I believe about how he
Speaker 4: was going to handle Corey's death on the show. And
Speaker 4: that was the first time we knew how it was
Speaker 4: going to be handle on how it was going to
Speaker 4: be dealt with. And you know, I have to say it.
Speaker 4: I thought it was beautifully done and was a beautiful tribute,
Speaker 4: But it's an impossible situation. I can't imagine what you
Speaker 4: guys went through.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know how any show, you know, there's
Speaker 2: a handful of shows that's happened, and like I watched
Speaker 2: The West Wing after that had happened, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: how do they deal with this? And it's this weird.
Speaker 2: It is impossible. I think it's a sort of lose
Speaker 2: lose no matter what, where there's no proper way because
Speaker 2: there's no real way, especially on a TV schedule, to
Speaker 2: like separate that real life event from a fictional character
Speaker 2: event because you're grieving in real time and you're shooting
Speaker 2: five days a week, sometimes six days a week, and
Speaker 2: so there is no sort of separation at all of anything.
Speaker 2: So it's a weird, weird thing. But I will say,
Speaker 2: though you're writing about these tough things, which you wrote
Speaker 2: about your relationship with your husband, Kit was the is
Speaker 2: one of the most phenomenal books I've ever read. And
Speaker 2: then that movie that came out, Boy, like you can
Speaker 2: write your damn face off and like share like these
Speaker 2: really hard to talk about things. Reading that I think
Speaker 2: also helped me, you know, go through these hard grief
Speaker 2: stages of grief and things like that and thinking about
Speaker 2: the past. But if anyone has not read your book,
Speaker 2: spoiler the hero dies, it's unbelievable. And see the movie
Speaker 2: just ugly cried through both of them. I made all
Speaker 2: my friends go see the movie. I was like, you
Speaker 2: give me that book, Yeah, thank you sent it to me, like,
Speaker 2: thank you for Like, I'm just it was.
Speaker 4: Here for the support. Let me just say, it's like,
Speaker 4: when that book came out, you were so lovely. I
Speaker 4: think you even moted it before you even read it.
Speaker 4: And then when the movie came out, You're just I
Speaker 4: don't take the support for granted. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 4: You've been always so kind to me with with my
Speaker 4: career and uh, and I'm just extremely grateful.
Speaker 2: So thank you, Kevin, I mean more than welcome. You
Speaker 2: do not need to thank me, because it's also just
Speaker 2: like it's beautiful. It's a beautiful piece of work. The
Speaker 2: movie is also equally as beautiful. And as a genuine
Speaker 2: fan of the book, I was also you know, so
Speaker 2: I was like, what is this movie going to be?
Speaker 2: Am I going to get the same feeling? And did
Speaker 2: and it felt like such a great translation of the
Speaker 2: book onto the screen. And how I mean, what was
Speaker 2: that process like for you going from one deciding to
Speaker 2: write this book, have the book come out, and then
Speaker 2: have a movie with you know, Jim Parsons and Sally Field.
Speaker 4: It was so many things like but as I sit
Speaker 4: here now a year out from the movie having come out,
Speaker 4: it almost doesn't feel real. It doesn't feel did it happen?
Speaker 4: Like did all that? Because you know, this past year
Speaker 4: has been challenged for me. It's been really different, like
Speaker 4: a morning period because after kid died, I started writing
Speaker 4: the book like three months late after he died, or
Speaker 4: maybe four months, because my biggest fear was if I'm
Speaker 4: going to do this, I need to do it quickly
Speaker 4: because I'm not going to remember like the little the
Speaker 4: little things like the conversations, mannerisms like and to me
Speaker 4: it felt like if I were if I was going
Speaker 4: to do Kit justice or come close to doing justice
Speaker 4: to him, I need to remember those details. So I
Speaker 4: had to start right right away. But you know, the
Speaker 4: book led into the movie, and that was over eight
Speaker 4: years of my life. That last January came to an
Speaker 4: end and was essentially over and and it was a loss.
Speaker 4: It was it was a loss of this experience, this
Speaker 4: incredible experience, life changing experience. It was a loss of Kit.
Speaker 4: It was you know, I was able to hang on
Speaker 4: to him for those three eight years professionally, through the book,
Speaker 4: through the movie. He was with me for all that
Speaker 4: and then he's now gone too, Like I had nothing
Speaker 4: to nothing is you know, sort of tethering me to
Speaker 4: him other than memories. But it was this past year
Speaker 4: has been about letting go and moving on in many ways,
Speaker 4: you know, professionally, emotionally, personally. You know, I was going
Speaker 4: to ask you, you guys, not to say it's the
Speaker 4: same thing. But when Glee ended, did you guys have
Speaker 4: a period of where you're like, oh my god, I
Speaker 4: just went I just went through this incredible, once in
Speaker 4: a lifetime experience and now it's over. I'm sure this
Speaker 4: was some relief to that, like, oh we made it.
Speaker 4: I'm alive, I survived. But also did you have a
Speaker 4: period of, like of mourning of the experience?
Speaker 2: For me, I did years later.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of us, I think buried ourselves
Speaker 2: in work immediately, Like Jenna moved back to New York,
Speaker 2: I went to London and we were just sort of
Speaker 2: the show's done. It was really hard on us and
Speaker 2: emotionally physically, let's like geographically get as far away as
Speaker 2: possible to do something else. And then it wasn't until
Speaker 2: those new things faded away that I think we all
Speaker 2: sort of had this realization or maybe it was a
Speaker 2: morning period of like, Wow, we worked really hard for
Speaker 2: a really long time and experienced this crazy thing. And
Speaker 2: I think even still to this day, those things are
Speaker 2: still coming up for me when I'm in different situations
Speaker 2: or meeting new people or different groups of friends, and
Speaker 2: the things I'm interested in are not interested in, are
Speaker 2: wholly affected by that experience. I think where it's like,
Speaker 2: we went through so much in such a pretty like
Speaker 2: short amount of time, life changing events that there's no
Speaker 2: way that those ripples don't continue I think for years,
Speaker 2: decades afterwards, and.
Speaker 4: So time in your life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm still learning. I think about that, and
Speaker 2: every now, you know, doing this talking to different people
Speaker 2: who had different interactions with the show. I think that
Speaker 2: sort of maybe is judging up a lot of that
Speaker 2: as well, and in a good way. I think you
Speaker 2: do sort of have to. It's good to work through
Speaker 2: it and think through it and deeply about it, as
Speaker 2: opposed to maybe what we initially did, which was physically
Speaker 2: literally run away from it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, we actually did. I think there was a
Speaker 1: it was a distraction period of like I'm done, I'm good.
Speaker 1: Get me out of here, Like I moved back to
Speaker 1: New York's it get me out of LA because that's
Speaker 1: the only thing that I associated Los Angeles with was
Speaker 1: with Glee. So I called it a gree talks, and
Speaker 1: I went home. I worked on other things. I saw
Speaker 1: my family. And then when the work slowed down and
Speaker 1: nobody wanted anything to do with us, Like no casting
Speaker 1: rooms wanted to see us because we were Tina and Artie,
Speaker 1: like it was a very hard thing for them to separate,
Speaker 1: which makes total sense. And then there was all these
Speaker 1: emotions that I think were unresolved from feeling I don't know,
Speaker 1: I guess not, I guess over worked or underappreciated at
Speaker 1: least for me in some of these moments, and never
Speaker 1: being able to actually vocalize that and just walking away
Speaker 1: as an actor saying, I say, yes, I do my lines,
Speaker 1: I you know, show up on time and I go home.
Speaker 1: And so there was like a reckoning period. I think
Speaker 1: after Nia died, that was a huge reckoning from a
Speaker 1: lot of people, you know, Ryan, for us, for us
Speaker 1: with Ryan, because Ryan really didn't talk about Lee, you know,
Speaker 1: after all of that.
Speaker 4: I know when he did your podcast. I was so
Speaker 4: surprised pleasantly like, yeah, I was like I was so
Speaker 4: happy for the two of you because I knew what
Speaker 4: that that, what that endorsement, and what that that that
Speaker 4: publicity and visibility would do for your podcast. But I
Speaker 4: also was like it just made me feel good that
Speaker 4: he was at a place where he was like I'm
Speaker 4: ready to talk and to the two of you. It
Speaker 4: was just really nice all around.
Speaker 1: No, agreed, Agreed. We're very grateful for that and for
Speaker 1: him and to be in like a just a healing
Speaker 1: place with everybody in the show now. But you know,
Speaker 1: it took how long, like how long has it been
Speaker 1: since we finished twenty fifteen? Was it?
Speaker 2: Yeah? But I think it sort of takes unfortunately, or
Speaker 2: it took a really another horrible event to happen to
Speaker 2: sort of like okay, you guys, like life is too short. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we and as you know, bringing you back to that
Speaker 2: interview that we talked about a comic con where you
Speaker 2: saw the joy and like the love that we all
Speaker 2: had with each other where it's like, I think we
Speaker 2: got caught up in sort of the media scrutiny of
Speaker 2: the show postally, and that altered everyone's opinion of the
Speaker 2: show for us ourselves, which is a weird thing to
Speaker 2: experience because it's like, well, no, let's we had a
Speaker 2: great time. We made connections with people, and just like
Speaker 2: people do it any co working space, you know, where
Speaker 2: you find your people, the people that you're obsessed with,
Speaker 2: they become family. And we were obviously spending fifteen sixteen
Speaker 2: hours a day with each other, and like, let's remember
Speaker 2: those things because we're losing people that we love and like,
Speaker 2: we can't be doing this anymore. And so I think, luckily,
Speaker 2: out of a horrible situation, we found I think one
Speaker 2: of the only positive things that could have come out
Speaker 2: of it. And luckily it was a all hands on
Speaker 2: deck sort of approach, because I mean I talked, We
Speaker 2: all talked to everyone, and I had people who are angry,
Speaker 2: and because it's just sort of brings up all that
Speaker 2: stuff where where it's unrelated in a sense of like
Speaker 2: Nya passing away was like this horrible tragic thing. Why
Speaker 2: are people talking about Glee? Like why are we talking
Speaker 2: about this thing that happened so long ago? Still and
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, we were talking about it, and like, okay,
Speaker 2: let's this out. Let's figure this out now because we
Speaker 2: can't do this.
Speaker 4: That the most uplifting podcast.
Speaker 1: This is welcome to our therapy catch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well you know what I will.
Speaker 4: I will say that it's something about loss. It's so
Speaker 4: it's so universal, you know, It's like it's one thing
Speaker 4: that I'm reminded of when people reach out to me
Speaker 4: about the book or the movie. It's like mostly it's
Speaker 4: like I went through this and it helped me get
Speaker 4: every No one is immune to loss, and I think
Speaker 4: it's one of the things that binds us together, uh
Speaker 4: and sort of a connected fissue. We are experiencing that
Speaker 4: loss and grief and we all go through it, and
Speaker 4: I don't know, it's actually I enjoy talking to people
Speaker 4: about their own processes journeys with loss, and I inevitably
Speaker 4: learned something about them, but also just about the greeting
Speaker 4: process as well.
Speaker 2: I think that's also why I'm just like so constantly
Speaker 2: in awe of you and the book in the movie,
Speaker 2: because to be able to voice that, to share all
Speaker 2: these like incredible moments of your relationship and the hard
Speaker 2: moments for somebody to do that, to put themselves out there,
Speaker 2: to put that down on paper. So the rest of
Speaker 2: us can not only learn about your story, but then
Speaker 2: learn about ourselves and also how we can deal with
Speaker 2: grief and also like it is the most universal experience
Speaker 2: of life. Yeah, and once you are affected by it
Speaker 2: or impacted by it, you're part of this really shitty club.
Speaker 2: But you know there are everybody at some point will
Speaker 2: be in that club. And it's nice to be able
Speaker 2: to find something for me. I guess it was your
Speaker 2: book really of starting a dialog and feeling comfortable about
Speaker 2: talking about that or working on it with yourself, And
Speaker 2: so I think that's why I'm always drawn to it
Speaker 2: and always bring it up every time I see you,
Speaker 2: because it's just like a really impressive feat and the
Speaker 2: world is better off that you put yourself out there
Speaker 2: in that way.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Are there any shows right now that you're obsessed with?
Speaker 2: Because you have some great taste.
Speaker 4: You know. I think that the titles I'm going to
Speaker 4: spout off are not going to be surprising to anyone.
Speaker 4: But The Bear is just the most incredible show. Succession
Speaker 4: and White Lotus. You know, I'm a big HBO geek.
Speaker 4: You know, so much of their programming. I loved Barry.
Speaker 4: You know, HBO just has such an incredible track record
Speaker 4: of God, they just have so many great things, and
Speaker 4: they had such a great run for so many years.
Speaker 4: It's like it feels like all my favorite shows were
Speaker 4: on HBO. Oh. For All Mankinds on Apple TV Plus,
Speaker 4: which is a little show that doesn't get nearly enough attention,
Speaker 4: and their new season, season four is out now, and
Speaker 4: it's just such a beautifully, smartly done show about space,
Speaker 4: outer space and astronauts, things that I'm not particularly usually
Speaker 4: interested in. But you know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: it's a soap opera, though, you know, all these Successions,
Speaker 4: it's a soap opera. Yeah, you know. And I'm a
Speaker 4: kid who grew up obsessed with soap opera, and really
Speaker 4: that's just continuing storylines, surrealized storylines. So I'm a I mean,
Speaker 4: I'm a sucker for a good soap opera. And some
Speaker 4: of the soap operas a little more high brow than others,
Speaker 4: you know, you know, Succession is certainly one of those.
Speaker 4: For All Mankind is one of those, but uh, and
Speaker 4: Felicity was certainly, uh, in my opinion, one of those
Speaker 4: with those as well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love Felicity, Love Felicity.
Speaker 4: I wanted to be Felicity. I mean I was Felicity
Speaker 4: one year for Halloween. But the short, the long hair scene,
Speaker 4: it's on my Instagram scene, but it was it was terrifying.
Speaker 4: It was terrifying. It was terrified. Everybody was terrifying. But
Speaker 4: that's what Halloween is. That scared people.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you know who can make a good TV
Speaker 2: shows that Carrie Russell. I mean that track record she touches,
Speaker 2: it's goll Diplomat is like my favorite thing.
Speaker 4: Oh so good.
Speaker 2: The Diplomat really all the boxes for me.
Speaker 4: And that surprised me because and I told Perry this myself.
Speaker 4: It was like the trailer. I did that love the
Speaker 4: trailer because again, there was a total thing with the trailer.
Speaker 4: It was like slapsticky, you know, and that's not the show,
Speaker 4: and there is comedy in it, but it's layered comedy
Speaker 4: and it's it comes out through character. The trailer did
Speaker 4: the show no favor. So I had very low expectations
Speaker 4: going in, even with the presence of Perry. So I
Speaker 4: was so pleasantly surprised where I was like, this ship
Speaker 4: is good. It's like your seat, yes, and I'm so
Speaker 4: happy it.
Speaker 2: Was for New It's like if Aaron Sorkin wrote something
Speaker 2: a little lighter, Yeah, right, just a little less dense,
Speaker 2: and yeah, I love it. I love a good political
Speaker 2: And she's so good.
Speaker 4: She's so good, she's the role. And you know, it's
Speaker 4: so funny you say something about the haircut. This is
Speaker 4: something I talk about a lot, is the seasons been
Speaker 4: the season two haircut. When the pandemic happened and we
Speaker 4: were like looking for things to write about because there
Speaker 4: was no television on. I went back and I revisited
Speaker 4: Felicity season two, the famous haircut season, and because I
Speaker 4: wanted to do a defense of not just the haircut,
Speaker 4: but of this season as a whole, which was overshadowed,
Speaker 4: marred by this this incident. And I think there's all
Speaker 4: anyone thinks about, like the sophomore slump. She got a haircut,
Speaker 4: and then the ratings went down, Well, the ratings went
Speaker 4: down because the show moved to a new night, not
Speaker 4: because of the haircut, but that's a better, snazzier last
Speaker 4: your headline to do that the headline killed the show,
Speaker 4: which not happened, but anyway, I rewatched all of season
Speaker 4: two and did this sort of deep dive into why
Speaker 4: season two was even better than season one in my opinion.
Speaker 4: You know, I threw down. I was like, yes, the
Speaker 4: haircut season is actually the superior season of Felicity, and
Speaker 4: here's why. And let me tell you it holds up
Speaker 4: season two. I would if you want, and you want
Speaker 4: to go back and watch any season, go back and
Speaker 4: watch season two. It's phenomenal. And the haircut made sense
Speaker 4: in ca the character's world. It made sense regardless of
Speaker 4: the bullshit about whether it was the smart decision for
Speaker 4: the publicity, for the show or for Kerry. It was
Speaker 4: like a character in college doing impulsive things. It made
Speaker 4: sense for her to do that, especially coming off of
Speaker 4: this romantic drama. Anyway, this isn't a podcast about Felicity.
Speaker 2: It can't be, but it can be.
Speaker 1: But it also felt like the publicity I remember it.
Speaker 1: I didn't watch all Felicity, but like I watched it
Speaker 1: much later in time after it was, you know, airing live,
Speaker 1: and that was the memorable moment for me. It was
Speaker 1: like she cut her hair, like all the process everywhere,
Speaker 1: I don't know what they're talking about.
Speaker 2: I feel like it's akin to like it's such like
Speaker 2: a non thing, like she cut her hair. It's like
Speaker 2: when Obama wore a tan suit'. That's all we have.
Speaker 2: That's the only negativity we have to say about this show.
Speaker 1: It's pretty good.
Speaker 4: Well, I think the fact that the ratings went down
Speaker 4: in tandem with the hair but it gave people a
Speaker 4: store a narrative. It was like, oh, she cut her
Speaker 4: haircut and the ratings went down, But everybody forgets the
Speaker 4: reason the ratings went down was because it moved to
Speaker 4: a new night, and I think it was opposite friends, like,
Speaker 4: I think it was Thursday night that it was, so
Speaker 4: it was I think I think, don't don't quote me
Speaker 4: on that, but I think it moved to a much
Speaker 4: more competitive time. Stuff. But I will say one thing
Speaker 4: I'm super proud of is that haircut reference made it
Speaker 4: into the movie. And I'm so happy. Our first date,
Speaker 4: Michael and Kit's first date. He mentions Felicity is his
Speaker 4: favorite show and all he knows about Felicity about the
Speaker 4: show where the haircut almost got the show canceled, And
Speaker 4: then I sort of give him groth about that. But
Speaker 4: also at the end there is a clique from Felicity
Speaker 4: and a very memorable point, and I'm so proud that
Speaker 4: we got that in there and we were allowed to
Speaker 4: use that because just personally, that show means so much
Speaker 4: to me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's beautiful. It's just like a full circle moment
Speaker 2: and hearing you talk about it now, I love it.
Speaker 2: I love this. Thank you for sharing all of that.
Speaker 4: Yes, oh my god, my pleasure.
Speaker 1: Thanks for chatting with us. It's very good to see you.
Speaker 4: It's good to see you too, both of you. This
Speaker 4: feels like full circle.
Speaker 1: This feels like yes, definitely.
Speaker 2: That's the joy of doing this is like getting to
Speaker 2: like reconnect and like talk about these things that we
Speaker 2: all went through sort of together.
Speaker 1: In this like crazy war text.
Speaker 2: And now that we're all older, have lived life a
Speaker 2: little longer, have.
Speaker 4: Some of us some of us older than others.
Speaker 1: Who's counting? Count the lines on my face?
Speaker 3: Okay, not with that botox, Jenna, you know you're cutting
Speaker 3: to a botoxe.
Speaker 1: Oh god, Michael, thank you are being here with us.
Speaker 1: This was wonderful. We are so appreciative of how trusted
Speaker 1: you were in the Grey Circle. You were very trusted
Speaker 1: and that's why we enjoyed being around you, sharing with you,
Speaker 1: seeing you, reading your staff. You know, just you were
Speaker 1: very important part and we are grateful.
Speaker 4: Oh, thank you for being a very small part of
Speaker 4: this incredible experience that you both went through.
Speaker 2: And if you would like to text me who your
Speaker 2: sources were.
Speaker 1: Ill never tell.
Speaker 2: Tell Jenna, is your hundredth podcast? We've done it?
Speaker 4: Oh? When is your two hundredths?
Speaker 1: We got it.
Speaker 4: That's probably maybe for the two hundredths, we'll do a
Speaker 4: big reveal. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Okay, we have you on the record.
Speaker 1: Have you on the record. We have you on the.
Speaker 4: Records making a false promise.
Speaker 2: Its so good to see. Thank you so so.
Speaker 1: Much, Thank you, take care, Thank you too.
Speaker 2: Seriously though over this like holiday season spoiler alert, the
Speaker 2: movie is also sort of a Christmas movie. Watch it.
Speaker 1: I wanted to watch it tonight.
Speaker 2: Watch it tonight, Jenna. Yeah, it's great. Thank you Michael
Speaker 2: so much for joining us. Yes, truly, and like for
Speaker 2: just it's really I will never get over people coming
Speaker 2: on here and like opening up and being so honest
Speaker 2: and you know, talking about their perspectives in their lives,
Speaker 2: and it means a lot that they trust us and
Speaker 2: share so much with us. Yeah, well, Vin, isn't it
Speaker 2: weird interviewing the interviewer. Yes, very very it's nerve wracking,
Speaker 2: like this person is very good at their job and
Speaker 2: now we're doing their job to them.
Speaker 1: Well, here's the thing, they always end up interviewing us anyway,
Speaker 1: So I'm like, my job is done. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1: That was a really No, that was really fun to
Speaker 1: that was special feminis and yeah, it's really wonderful. So
Speaker 1: thank you, Michael. Hope you guys enjoyed the episode. Join
Speaker 1: us next week for another recap and guests and that's
Speaker 1: what you're a miss.
Speaker 2: But also before you go, snacks Miss is happening. Oh so,
Speaker 2: go to alexandriahouse dot org slash snacks Miss with two
Speaker 2: x's to donate, Go download Nya Rivera's song Prayer for
Speaker 2: the Broken proceeds. Go to alexandria House and also just enjoy.
Speaker 1: Unreally strong Prayer for the Broken And there are just
Speaker 1: some additional support from some friends of Glee. No really,
Speaker 1: go go donate and learn more about alexurd your house
Speaker 1: and enjoy the song and Mary sms Mary snakes Miss.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at and
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