Speaker 1: This is the most traumatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Chris Harrison and Lauren Zema, it is the Morning After
Speaker 1: the Night Before. We are coming you from the home
Speaker 1: office in Austin, Texas. But we just got back from
Speaker 1: launch day for our new endeavor, our new network, Merritt
Speaker 1: Street Media up there in the DFW area. What an
Speaker 1: unbelievable day, Ilz, that was a good line.
Speaker 2: Did you ever say that on The Bachelor? That actually
Speaker 2: the Morning after the Night Before? It's funny a friend,
Speaker 2: it makes you think for a second.
Speaker 1: A friend of mine who I went to college with,
Speaker 1: his dad wrote a country song. He was a lawyer
Speaker 1: and he was not a singer at all. He has
Speaker 1: since passed away, my friend's dad, but he wrote a
Speaker 1: country song, a random country song called It's the Morning
Speaker 1: After the Night Before. And I've always remember that line.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that is a great country in Western.
Speaker 3: That's a great line. Did the song go anywhere?
Speaker 1: No, not at all. No, it was he wrote one
Speaker 1: song and that was it and he went back to lawyering.
Speaker 2: Wow, maybe in his honor, we can make that a
Speaker 2: segment on our new morning show.
Speaker 1: Oh, I like that the.
Speaker 2: Morning after the Night Before, as we brainstorm segments for
Speaker 2: our morning show after the launch of Merit street Media,
Speaker 2: our new home network. Yes, everybody, if you missed it,
Speaker 2: we took you on the journey. There's stuff up on
Speaker 2: our social media, on our instagrams about what the day
Speaker 2: was like and to clarify if it's confusing. So, Merritt
Speaker 2: Street Media is now live. It is a new channel.
Speaker 2: You can find it on DirecTV if you go to
Speaker 2: Merritstreetmedia dot com. There's a channel finder and more than DirecTV.
Speaker 2: I'm just giving that as an example because my sister
Speaker 2: works there.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 2: My little sister sent me an email She's like, there
Speaker 2: are meetings about the Merit launch.
Speaker 3: Our worlds are colliding.
Speaker 2: So Merrit is on so many different platforms that has
Speaker 2: launched in eighty million homes. So go to Merritstreetmedia dot
Speaker 2: com and click on the channel finder, put in your
Speaker 2: zip code, or for free, download the Merit Plus app.
Speaker 2: It takes f five seconds to make a quick log
Speaker 2: in with your email and you will be able to
Speaker 2: stream Merit Street Media for free anytime.
Speaker 3: On the app.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we will continue to talk about the day and
Speaker 1: all the festivities and who was there. But one thing
Speaker 1: that's interesting that you didn't have to do back in
Speaker 1: the day was explain what a television network is. It's
Speaker 1: kind of I don't want to say antiquated because it's not.
Speaker 1: But people are like, okay, so is a streamer? Is
Speaker 1: that this is now? It's hard to explain now because
Speaker 1: we have so many things in our lives. This is
Speaker 1: a television network. It is an actual network that has
Speaker 1: with a studio. We are on TV. You can find us, so,
Speaker 1: as Lauren said, download go to go to Meritstreetmedia dot
Speaker 1: com or download the app. But yeah, we are on Dish,
Speaker 1: We're on direct. A couple of questions I know we're getting,
Speaker 1: are you are we up in Canada? We're going to
Speaker 1: find that out YouTube TV. We're negotiating that. There are
Speaker 1: some places that we aren't yet. We are continuewing to
Speaker 1: roll out. But it is and I learned this yesterday.
Speaker 1: The biggest network debut in modern history. The last network
Speaker 1: to launch was Fox. And I remember this because I
Speaker 1: was in local news when Fox started rolling out local
Speaker 1: news stations and picking up distribution as well. I didn't
Speaker 1: realize that was forty million subscribers is what Fox, the
Speaker 1: actual network launched with and then Fox News came later
Speaker 1: and that was even smaller. That was the last big
Speaker 1: network launch. This is the biggest two x that over
Speaker 1: eighty million subscribers. What Doctor Phil and everybody involved in
Speaker 1: this have accomplished is monumental. It's really incredible.
Speaker 2: So Merritt Street Media has launched in eighty million homes
Speaker 2: and we are so excited to be able to get
Speaker 2: our morning show going for you guys, our reality dating show.
Speaker 2: We are in the works, We are looking at people
Speaker 2: to higher we are you know, developing these shows. But
Speaker 2: what we were celebrating this week was the network going live,
Speaker 2: and Chris and I really wanted to throw our support
Speaker 2: behind Doctor Phil, Steve Harvey, Nancy Grace, the Merritt Street
Speaker 2: News team, these people that were going to be on
Speaker 2: the network right from the beginning with their products and
Speaker 2: just make sure that that launch went off with that
Speaker 2: a hitch.
Speaker 3: And also it was just a really fun day.
Speaker 2: We got to kind of meet some of the people
Speaker 2: we hadn't met before, some of the news team, and
Speaker 2: there was Caviar, which just always is wonderful for me.
Speaker 2: But most importantly, everyone is so kind and full of energy.
Speaker 2: Like one thing that Chris and I kept saying, is
Speaker 2: honestly being in LA for a long time. Yes, La
Speaker 2: has some glamorous aspects to it, but people are also
Speaker 2: there's a lot of burnt out, kind of jaded people
Speaker 2: who've been working in this industry a long time. At
Speaker 2: merrit everybody is like just so pumped to start something new,
Speaker 2: to build, something new, to create in the state of Texas.
Speaker 2: I mean there were politicians there, yes.
Speaker 1: Jay Governor was there, Mayor for Worth. Yeah, a lot
Speaker 1: of dignitaries showed up to be kiss ribbon.
Speaker 3: This is hirge.
Speaker 2: They want to make Texas a home and this is
Speaker 2: something Chris and I have wanted to do since we
Speaker 2: moved here, make it a home for film and television production.
Speaker 2: And then they just voted thirty one zero against it,
Speaker 2: thirty one for it unanimously to put huge hundreds of
Speaker 2: millions of dollars behind film and TV production.
Speaker 1: Huge bipartisan effort here in Texas. Tip of the cowboy
Speaker 1: hat to Taylor Sheridan, who was a big part of that.
Speaker 1: The Lieutenant Governor was saying, bi parties an effort. Thirty
Speaker 1: one oh, everybody voted two hundred million going into film
Speaker 1: and television industry here in Texas, and this is something
Speaker 1: that is a side aspect I never thought I would
Speaker 1: get to in my life. Obviously working on the Bacheler
Speaker 1: Bacherette for so many years. You want to be able
Speaker 1: to come back home and impact where you grew up
Speaker 1: and try and grow this industry and to be a
Speaker 1: part of this now to launch this network. The actual
Speaker 1: footprint of this network, it's a five acre studio that's
Speaker 1: being built or is built, but it's still being kind
Speaker 1: of completed as other studios are being built out on
Speaker 1: that property. Five acres under roof. This place is huge
Speaker 1: and doctor Phil Primetime his studio, the new studio. There
Speaker 1: are other state of the art studios being built, a
Speaker 1: Lauren Zima Chris Harrison morning show studio coming up. So
Speaker 1: it's really impressive what they have done in the state
Speaker 1: of Texas and North Texas in general, to be able
Speaker 1: to hire so many people, create jobs, help the economy
Speaker 1: something I'm really proud of. It's a side part of
Speaker 1: this that really got me excited.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and part of the reason behind this big studio.
Speaker 2: Some of you may know that like Tyler Perry, for example,
Speaker 2: has a huge studio in Atlanta, or that tons of
Speaker 2: filming of TV and movies is done up in Canada.
Speaker 2: You know a lot of the movies you see and
Speaker 2: the TV watch is not filmed in La.
Speaker 1: Yeah, very very little of it.
Speaker 3: Actually, Yeah, it's very expensive to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. One of the oddly one of the first things,
Speaker 1: one of the first questions in Hollywood is Okay, we're
Speaker 1: going to shoot this show or this movie, where should
Speaker 1: we go?
Speaker 2: Really, you guys were holding it down by filming in
Speaker 2: the Bachelor Mansion. Still really you only did it for
Speaker 2: a few days.
Speaker 1: There not many shows in Hollywood.
Speaker 2: So what the hope will not The hope it's going
Speaker 2: to happen here is that this huge studio is going
Speaker 2: to be the site of movies are going to come
Speaker 2: and film also at this studio that Merritt has built.
Speaker 2: They have some incredible stages to get that done. So
Speaker 2: it's super exciting and the launch day was awesome, kind
Speaker 2: of taking everybody through it. We arrived, did hair and
Speaker 2: makeup with our awesome new hair and makeup team, and
Speaker 2: there was a big ribbon cutting ceremony out on the
Speaker 2: Doctor Phil stage. Steve Harvey was in the house. It
Speaker 2: was great to hang with him. I didn't realize you
Speaker 2: had been on his show before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, i'd met Harvey. I was on his show a
Speaker 1: couple of times. And one of my you know, big
Speaker 1: claim to fame was we were on we did a
Speaker 1: putting contest on his show, and and we that was
Speaker 1: He kind of interviewed me while we were putting.
Speaker 3: You remembered that you beat him?
Speaker 1: Yeah, he came back. I met Nancy Grace. I had
Speaker 1: never met Nancy. She came in from Atlanta. She has
Speaker 1: a two crime series on the show. Very sweet. She
Speaker 1: was so blown away. The first thing I heard was
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace in the hall when she ran into l Z.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you're beautiful. They were so sweet of her.
Speaker 1: That was very sweet, and so everybody was just there's
Speaker 1: this collegiate atmosphere. Just everyone was so fired up, so excited.
Speaker 1: When you see someone like doctor Phil, like Steve Harvey,
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace with those not jitters, but the excitement and enthusiasm.
Speaker 2: When you see people who've been doing this for a
Speaker 2: long time excited like their kids.
Speaker 1: The people that should have could be jaded. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: they were so fired up.
Speaker 3: Well, I look at.
Speaker 2: Phil and he's inspired me so much because he just
Speaker 2: never stop stopping. I mean the guys launching a network,
Speaker 2: you know, And it's his energy for this, his enthusiasm.
Speaker 2: When you hear people who are like I don't want
Speaker 2: to work, you think, okay, let me show you Doctor Phil.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you complained about your work. He was the
Speaker 1: first one in yesterday. It's his network. He handled the launch.
Speaker 1: Then he you know, glad handed and walked around and
Speaker 1: you know, shook all the dignitary's hands and took care
Speaker 1: of everybody all day. Then we did press, We did,
Speaker 1: you know, a bunch of interviews and podcasts and all that.
Speaker 1: Then at the end of the day Doctor Phil and
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey went in and did his podcast live for
Speaker 1: two hours last night. Wow. Then he finally left at
Speaker 1: six o'clock last night and the PR person was like,
Speaker 1: he's leaving now because he and Robin have to go
Speaker 1: to a birthday party. The dude is relentless.
Speaker 3: And I love Phil and Steve's friendship. It's very sweet.
Speaker 1: But I've never I knew they were good friends. They
Speaker 1: were like brothers. It was funny yesterday just watching them.
Speaker 2: Even they wore like the same suits, one in blue,
Speaker 2: one and black.
Speaker 1: It was very There really is a brotherhood there. There
Speaker 1: was really a tight bond. It was fun to see. Man,
Speaker 1: they're just getting after each other Kidney.
Speaker 2: A joke on the Merrit Street media instagram was who
Speaker 2: has the better mustache?
Speaker 3: Steve was winning at my last check.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie Steve Harvey has a better mustache.
Speaker 3: Wow, maybe you're talking about it is our bod, but yeah,
Speaker 3: it was. It was really cool too, because.
Speaker 2: I like, I think about you know when I and
Speaker 2: this isn't like a knock on any other place you
Speaker 2: go to work. But it's just it's rare that people
Speaker 2: are embarking on something together. That's why I keep saying
Speaker 2: Merrit has it is a startup. It has the startup energy, yeah,
Speaker 2: but all the experience of people who have been in
Speaker 2: this business a long time. And that's an incredible combination
Speaker 2: that I've never had before. I've worked at a startup,
Speaker 2: but everybody was twenty three and new, and so it's
Speaker 2: so rare that people are building something together. But that's
Speaker 2: what makes us all happiest, isn't it. Like I read
Speaker 2: the other show, Sure, try to think of when you
Speaker 2: were happiest in your career and then try to do that.
Speaker 2: And I thought, well, when I've been happiest is when
Speaker 2: I was building something. There's something like human in that,
Speaker 2: and so I'm really thrilled that we're in that place again.
Speaker 1: It was really interesting yesterday with you know, I was
Speaker 1: a b to come into this, both of us with
Speaker 1: we've already had nice long careers and so usually when
Speaker 1: you were kind of creating something and doing this, we're younger, right,
Speaker 1: it's when you know I started in the news industry,
Speaker 1: so did you at Newsy and then I started TVG,
Speaker 1: a horse racing network, and that started from scratch, and
Speaker 1: you know, you're young. And so I was talking to
Speaker 1: some PA's yesterday and some interns that came up to
Speaker 1: both of us, and they were so sweet, and I said,
Speaker 1: you know, you're going to look back on this day
Speaker 1: and realize how special it is because you will see
Speaker 1: the picture that we all took on the stage, all
Speaker 1: the crew, the talent, everybody got up there and took
Speaker 1: a picture. And I said, you will look back ten
Speaker 1: years from now, you won't recognize this place. You will
Speaker 1: realize how young you were and how innocent all this was,
Speaker 1: even though you see there's kind of this weird thing.
Speaker 1: You know, when usually at startups it feels like a startup.
Speaker 1: This doesn't. Because doctor Phil's there and Harvey and the
Speaker 1: lieutenant governor.
Speaker 2: And because the a five acre, multi multi hundreds of
Speaker 2: millions of dollars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this thing is a monstrosity.
Speaker 3: I started and was like one office.
Speaker 1: But I told him, I said, even with all this
Speaker 1: glitz and glamour, I promise you, ten years from now,
Speaker 1: you won't recognize this place. It will be so magnificent,
Speaker 1: so much bigger, and so much more advanced. And I
Speaker 1: promise you what we're doing today is not perfect, it's
Speaker 1: not right. Everything will be changed and fixed and be better.
Speaker 1: Even though even though today felt great and the news
Speaker 1: is going wonderful, it will get better. And so it's
Speaker 1: just funny. You will look back on those pictures and go, man,
Speaker 1: we really were starting something really new then totally.
Speaker 2: And also it's great how many young people are in
Speaker 2: the building. I mean a lot of people are like,
Speaker 2: shout out to sweet Madison, a new PA who was
Speaker 2: so excited to meet us yesterday. And it's just nice
Speaker 2: to you know, have that joy, you know again from
Speaker 2: young people starting out. And that also means people are
Speaker 2: new and they're green and they don't know the industry yet.
Speaker 2: But I always say I would much rather have I mean,
Speaker 2: I've managed a lot of people before.
Speaker 3: I would much rather have.
Speaker 2: Excitement, effort, enthusiasm, and then I'll teach you what you
Speaker 2: need to know. Then people who know how to do
Speaker 2: it but don't give a crap about how to do
Speaker 2: it and are burnt out, like I would rather teach
Speaker 2: you and know that you care. So I'm excited about
Speaker 2: that too.
Speaker 1: Let's answer some questions. Is this a religious network? No
Speaker 1: it is not. It's not a religious network. Is it
Speaker 1: a political network. No, it's not a political network either.
Speaker 1: This is a television network.
Speaker 3: This is for are people asking them?
Speaker 1: Yeah, these are things I'm getting, And so these are
Speaker 1: the I'm answering questions I've been getting on social media.
Speaker 3: I just keep getting win. Is your morning show going?
Speaker 1: So the Canadian thing? God bless you.
Speaker 3: My Canadians are so passive.
Speaker 1: They are so unbelievably supportive. I love you, guys, and
Speaker 1: I don't know how or when, but Lauren and I
Speaker 1: are going to come up and do some sort of
Speaker 1: a thing up in Canada. Y'all are just so great
Speaker 1: and so and I know y'all are chomping at the
Speaker 1: bit and I appreciate it. I'm going to figure that out.
Speaker 1: I have text messages in already this morning. I haven't
Speaker 1: gotten the answers back about distribution in Canada, but I
Speaker 1: promise you I'm going to get this answer for you guys,
Speaker 1: So thank you.
Speaker 2: And did you ask if the Merit Plus app is
Speaker 2: available in Canada?
Speaker 1: L's thing is, I know you can download the app
Speaker 1: and try the app first and again it's you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like a lot of these streamers when you
Speaker 1: go out of the country, they get shut down. So
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I'm gonna check on that. But
Speaker 1: those were a couple of the big things. Also, you know,
Speaker 1: is it just a streamer? No, this is a TV network.
Speaker 1: I had, you know, even people I worked with, you know,
Speaker 1: asking me, you know, what exactly is this?
Speaker 3: Well, one thing I love kind of to the is
Speaker 3: it religious?
Speaker 2: Is a political I think sometimes people have seen like
Speaker 2: clips that went viral of Doctor Phil and like maybe
Speaker 2: they have an idea about it or whatever. So the
Speaker 2: Doctor Phil that we've met, if you're not as familiar
Speaker 2: with his show, the first thing he said to us
Speaker 2: is and he said this yesterday on the stage at
Speaker 2: the ribbon cutting. He approaches everything from the facts. I mean,
Speaker 2: the man started out. You know, he's got an incredible
Speaker 2: amount of degrees under his belt. He is all about
Speaker 2: the science, and that's how he approaches everything. And on
Speaker 2: his show that he is daytime show he used to do.
Speaker 2: He told us he before for every show, he would
Speaker 2: prepare by having a team of experts from all different areas, fields,
Speaker 2: political affiliations, genders, religious.
Speaker 3: He would have this super diverse.
Speaker 2: Panel research and prep him on whatever issue he was
Speaker 2: going to go out and do his show on and
Speaker 2: he would literally have a binder of information that he
Speaker 2: would review. And he has now taken those people and
Speaker 2: he's actually made a show for them on MERIT.
Speaker 3: It's called the Behavior Panel.
Speaker 2: And he's putting the spotlight and all these experts because
Speaker 2: something he really wants to do with Merit is bring
Speaker 2: people clarity in this time when there's so much noise
Speaker 2: around issues that truly.
Speaker 3: Affect all of us.
Speaker 2: Like one of the topics discussed yesterday on the first
Speaker 2: broadcast of the Morning News on MERIT was should cell
Speaker 2: phones be banned in schools?
Speaker 3: I mean, these are you know, like should TikTok be banned?
Speaker 2: Is this headline that's everywhere, but it affects all our kids.
Speaker 1: And I think people think these subjects and they do,
Speaker 1: I guess to a certain degree. We allow them to
Speaker 1: get political. We allow our feelings and everything to bleed
Speaker 1: into these topics. And what Phil and what you're alluding
Speaker 1: to that he is brilliant at is He's going to
Speaker 1: bring you the facts. This is the truth. What you
Speaker 1: choose to do with that, if that hurts your feelings,
Speaker 1: if you think it encroaches on your politics or your religion,
Speaker 1: whatever that is on you. And he's very clear about that.
Speaker 1: He's going to tell you the facts. And I love
Speaker 1: that about him. And so you know when people say, oh,
Speaker 1: is it political, is it? No, That's not what he
Speaker 1: is setting out to do. It's not what any of
Speaker 1: us are setting out to do. It is entertainment. You know.
Speaker 1: In his show last night, he had a brilliant show.
Speaker 1: Show Number one was the Son of Hamas. He was
Speaker 1: literally the son of the man who was running Hamas
Speaker 1: and so they got into it. I mean it was
Speaker 1: a deep, deep dive into Hamas and all of this
Speaker 1: in Palestine, everything going on quickly you're like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: this is very and that he had both sides. He
Speaker 1: lets everybody speak and have their sin and it's a
Speaker 1: brilliant take.
Speaker 2: Well, it was interesting to hear, like the Lieutenant governor
Speaker 2: spoke just about like how happy Texas is to have
Speaker 2: this facility in this industry here now, and he was saying,
Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of people trying to get
Speaker 2: into Texas. We see this news at the border every
Speaker 2: day nationwide. And however frustrated we might sometimes feel about
Speaker 2: like the current state of our government or politics or
Speaker 2: however you feel, people still want to come to America.
Speaker 2: People the world over still see this as the place
Speaker 2: where dreams come true and promised land.
Speaker 3: And there's a reason for that.
Speaker 2: It's because of how what we were founded on and
Speaker 2: the opportunity you can have here. And so it's just
Speaker 2: like I love that the network is starting in Texas
Speaker 2: for that reason, and I love that Phil is about
Speaker 2: getting to like what, you know, let's try to get
Speaker 2: America back on track.
Speaker 3: And yeah, like him start.
Speaker 2: I admire that he was brave enough to start his
Speaker 2: first show is first Doctor Phil primetime evening show with
Speaker 2: a topic that tough with as polarizing of a topic
Speaker 2: as the state of Israel and Palestine is right now.
Speaker 2: And we were there for some of that taping, and
Speaker 2: Phil was unwavering because he came in with the facts,
Speaker 2: and he came in with the truth, and he's a
Speaker 2: very intelligent man, and he just wanted to talk about
Speaker 2: the realities of what's going on there.
Speaker 1: One thing that Phil said yesterday and I believe this
Speaker 1: and echo the same sentiment. This is why I really
Speaker 1: believe in what he's doing. He wrote a book called
Speaker 1: We've Got Problems, We've Got Issues, We've Got issues as
Speaker 1: his book, but what he says in that is we've
Speaker 1: got issues, but they're not insurmountable. We can fix these problems.
Speaker 1: And yes, we still live in the greatest country in
Speaker 1: the world. It's not perfect. We have problems. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: have problems. Everyone can say both of those things are true.
Speaker 1: Yet we can still love this country, believe in this country,
Speaker 1: and still try to fix those issues. And I kind
Speaker 1: of like that sentiment because his thing he always says,
Speaker 1: people right now just want to win arguments and they
Speaker 1: don't want to solve issues, and that is what he's
Speaker 1: trying to do. And that's kind of what this network
Speaker 1: stands for. And I really really loved that. We were
Speaker 1: talking about Twitter yesterday X on stage, and he was
Speaker 1: talking about how X and things that are said on
Speaker 1: social media are so impactful. When this goes back to
Speaker 1: my time on The Bachelor and Bacherette, there were a
Speaker 1: couple of people in particular, that if something was said
Speaker 1: on Twitter, it shook them to the core and would
Speaker 1: change the course of our entire franchise. One or two
Speaker 1: people could say something on Twitter. That's how gullible these
Speaker 1: two people were. It's how I don't even know what
Speaker 1: you'd say it. I guess how simple they were. And
Speaker 1: so doctor Phil was saying, and I knew this too
Speaker 1: back then, and I would tell these two people, guys,
Speaker 1: do you realize that less than twenty percent of the
Speaker 1: country is on Twitter? And of that twenty percent, what
Speaker 1: was the number, It was like ten or twenty percent
Speaker 1: of that would actually.
Speaker 3: Tweet, would actually use it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And so when you when you talk about
Speaker 1: those numbers, it is minuscule who is on social media
Speaker 1: the probably who's actually tweeting. And so his point was
Speaker 1: Doctor Phil's point is it is that vocal minority. It
Speaker 1: is the fringe that is just yelling the loudest and
Speaker 1: if you and he said this on stage yesterday and
Speaker 1: I loved it. He goes just because you yell loud,
Speaker 1: He's like, I can talk loud too.
Speaker 3: I think what happens on Twitter too is that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've seen it because I worked in media
Speaker 2: a couple Like, first of all, a lot of its
Speaker 2: bots too. But people will tweet and then like somebody
Speaker 2: needs a headline. Literally, they need to write an article.
Speaker 2: They got to make content for their job, and so
Speaker 2: they take like two tweets, embed them and say people
Speaker 2: are saying this, and it's like, are people saying that?
Speaker 3: Is that? Are those two bots? Is too?
Speaker 2: Even if they're real people. Is two people enough to
Speaker 2: say people are saying? But then it's a headline and
Speaker 2: then it has weight and so it's this firestorm. And
Speaker 2: by the way, and this isn't like a knock on
Speaker 2: the media, but most of the people using Twitter are
Speaker 2: the media. It's like journalists and media just kind of
Speaker 2: back and forthing.
Speaker 3: And it's there's a lot of funny tweets.
Speaker 2: I like to read a funny tweet, But is it
Speaker 2: the bible that we should be you know that headlines
Speaker 2: should be created on No, it isn't so, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: Anybody can be loud, but is that person right?
Speaker 1: Okay? So the other big question, probably the biggest that
Speaker 1: you and I both got way, Are you guys going
Speaker 1: to be on TV?
Speaker 3: Yes, So we had a meeting about that. We'll be
Speaker 3: totally upfront.
Speaker 2: We had a meeting about that yesterday at the end
Speaker 2: of launch day. We plan to be live with our
Speaker 2: morning show in the next couple months.
Speaker 3: That is the plan.
Speaker 2: Again, we really wanted to support getting Merit live and
Speaker 2: then you know, be able to kind of come in
Speaker 2: a few months and give it a fresh injection of
Speaker 2: new programming with our morning show, and the hope for
Speaker 2: our reality show would be that we'd get it gone
Speaker 2: soon after that. Yeah, soon after that, sometime this year.
Speaker 1: Both are moving both are moving forward quickly, and I
Speaker 1: really feel y'all's frustration in ours too. We would trust me.
Speaker 1: Laura and I were there yesterday, were like, man, you
Speaker 1: just want to be there. It's like going into a stadium,
Speaker 1: like I want to play, man, I want to be
Speaker 1: on the field. But I really appreciate the patients that
Speaker 1: they have had because I love this rollout. Most times
Speaker 1: when you do a startup, it's like, hey, we got
Speaker 1: to go. We have a limited amount of money, we
Speaker 1: have a limited amount of time. If you're doing something,
Speaker 1: go like Lauren, Chris, Phil, everybody get on air and
Speaker 1: let's try and do this thing. And this network has
Speaker 1: a different approach, and I love the fact that they
Speaker 1: are patient and said, no, no, we're going to launch this.
Speaker 1: We're going to get you know, work the bugs out,
Speaker 1: get going, get some momentum. Then let's launch you guys,
Speaker 1: and let's do things successfully. Let's do them wisely as
Speaker 1: opposed to quickly, which is a really different approach to
Speaker 1: television and launching a network. But again that's why it's successful.
Speaker 1: So it was a great meeting. We are hiring and
Speaker 1: putting our team together. Everyone's excited about it. It's going
Speaker 1: to be so much fun. But we're excited. And by
Speaker 1: the way, I will be appearing on Doctor Field primetime.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, between know, and then we should note that
Speaker 2: you have done I don't know if you've really talked
Speaker 2: about that.
Speaker 3: You've done several episodes.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So Phil came to me and said, look, in
Speaker 1: the meantime, what I would also like is for you
Speaker 1: to be on my show on Doctor Field Primetime kind
Speaker 1: of what I was doing with Oprah for so many years.
Speaker 1: And so there are there are topics that I jump
Speaker 1: in with Doctor Phil. Some of them have to do
Speaker 1: with relationships that I think. There's one coming up this week.
Speaker 1: I'll let you guys know for sure what day it is.
Speaker 1: That will be the first show where I appear with
Speaker 1: Doctor Phil. But I'll be throughout this year appearing with
Speaker 1: Doctor Phil from time to time. And it's talk about fun. Man,
Speaker 1: that's amazing to be on stage with him.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and for you to kind of come in and
Speaker 2: do the Chris Harrison hot seat then exactly who are
Speaker 2: making some bad relationship choices?
Speaker 1: I wanted to watch Doctor Phil do the hot seat
Speaker 1: and to talk about a different hot seat. There's some
Speaker 1: people that are up there with Doctor Phil and I
Speaker 1: in the hot seat. When I mean you get both
Speaker 1: of our stairs. That's a lot. Was there one thing
Speaker 1: yesterday that really stood out to you? Was there one
Speaker 1: moment or like it was there a best thing?
Speaker 2: I just think that it made me feel really like
Speaker 2: we were asked at one point to describe as we
Speaker 2: were kind of filming promos and stuff. Describe Merritt Street
Speaker 2: Media in one word, and the word that jumped to
Speaker 2: mind for me was hopeful. Like again, I think I
Speaker 2: have been feeling over the past couple months, maybe for
Speaker 2: the first time, even after everything we went through, even
Speaker 2: after like losing my dad, after after some stuff that
Speaker 2: I've been through, for the first time in the past
Speaker 2: couple months, I sometimes feel this like God is our country.
Speaker 2: Like I'm like, am I getting old? Or are things
Speaker 2: really in a tough spot? Like is it just that
Speaker 2: as you age you start to be like things were
Speaker 2: better back in my day?
Speaker 3: But then I'm like, I don't know, I'm thirty.
Speaker 2: Five, that it feels young to feel that way, And
Speaker 2: so I've wondered if it is just the state of things.
Speaker 2: But that launch day and this network makes me feel
Speaker 2: hopeful and people need hope, and hope is also valid
Speaker 2: and so like again to be around just the energy
Speaker 2: of everybody, the excitement, the fact that we have these
Speaker 2: bosses who aren't operating out of desperation, but actually one
Speaker 2: of the backers to Merit said to me, yesterday, we
Speaker 2: birthed to baby today, but we got to take that
Speaker 2: baby into adulthood, And he said, parenting is never over.
Speaker 2: And I loved that because I thought, well, what he's
Speaker 2: saying is he believes that this thing is gonna this
Speaker 2: is going to be around. This isn't like, you know,
Speaker 2: we launched a show and maybe it's going to get canceled.
Speaker 2: This is like we've made a network and we're going
Speaker 2: to keep building it forever. And so I loved that
Speaker 2: support and positivity, and I love you know, yeah, everything
Speaker 2: that doctor Phil has set it up for, as you said,
Speaker 2: but we've got let's talk about solving problems and let's
Speaker 2: figure out solutions. And so that made me happy.
Speaker 1: This whole thing. I just pinched myself as we were
Speaker 1: driving back home from Fort Worth last night after having
Speaker 1: dinner with our daughter at TCU. I mean, what a
Speaker 1: dream this has been, and to not only be doing this,
Speaker 1: to do it up in my hometown. Our kids are
Speaker 1: at TCU. We had dinner with one of them the
Speaker 1: first night we could because Taylor had chapter, So we
Speaker 1: had dinner with Josh. Then we had dinner with Taylor
Speaker 1: last night, and then we're going to work up there
Speaker 1: and we're doing it together because so many times, you know,
Speaker 1: again it's just normal. This isn't like whate was me
Speaker 1: or victim or anything. That's just how life is. When
Speaker 1: we go to work, we go to work alone, right,
Speaker 1: And so usually I would have done a day like
Speaker 1: yesterday alone and it's exciting and it's fun. But I
Speaker 1: would come home and I would have told you all
Speaker 1: about it and you're like, great, I'm excited for you.
Speaker 1: But instead I get to walk hand in hand with
Speaker 1: you through the door and we're doing press together. We're
Speaker 1: talking about us and our show and what we are
Speaker 1: building together, and it was just fun. It was a
Speaker 1: magical day for me because I've very few people ever
Speaker 1: get to have this. It really is a blessing and
Speaker 1: a treat And the fact that all this is happening
Speaker 1: is I'm just pinching myself every damn day. It's insane.
Speaker 1: I almost cried three times yesterday. Yeah I didn't notice that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean well, and again with Taylor at dinner last night.
Speaker 1: It was just like I just get so overwhelmed with
Speaker 1: the emotion excitement of all this, and it's just like,
Speaker 1: it's really a beautiful thing in my life and I'm
Speaker 1: and obviously it's because of you, and so I'm so
Speaker 1: excited for it. But anyway, So I should mention because
Speaker 1: I kind of alluded to it. Yes, there was a gift.
Speaker 1: You gave me, a push present that meant a lot,
Speaker 1: because I had warned me.
Speaker 3: I love it. You keep calling it a push present.
Speaker 1: I know, network, Yeah, it was a congratulatory push present.
Speaker 1: But yeah, because I had worn this beautiful watch that
Speaker 1: I had borrowed from this this amazing jeweler here in town,
Speaker 1: here in Austin m Robinson, thank you guys. But they
Speaker 1: just let me borrow it for the wedding and we
Speaker 1: gave it back and you went and got that actual watch,
Speaker 1: the watch, not not a replica of the same watch
Speaker 1: that was still there from our wedding, and gave it
Speaker 1: to me yesterday as a gift right before we went on.
Speaker 1: And Lauren totally sucked me in. She's like set up,
Speaker 1: She's like, well, let's do the social media thing. And
Speaker 1: she set up this camera and started videoing. I'm like, okay, babe,
Speaker 1: like what we what are we doing here? And I'm
Speaker 1: just kinda sta and there in my suit and she's like,
Speaker 1: you're missing something, and she went and got the watch,
Speaker 1: so she videotaped me getting it, and I was like
Speaker 1: Oh that was smooth because I was totally gullible in
Speaker 1: the moment, but it was It just meant a lot.
Speaker 1: The whole day just was emotional.
Speaker 2: Well, I wanted you to have First of all, I
Speaker 2: was like, I don't know, I've been thinking about getting
Speaker 2: you that watch, because yes, you borrowed it for a wedding,
Speaker 2: which was great, but then it felt weird that it
Speaker 2: was going to be like out in the world without you.
Speaker 1: And it's by the way, it's like a puppy. You
Speaker 1: and I have visited that watch, you know.
Speaker 3: It's like you go back, we go to m Robinson
Speaker 3: a lot. We love you M Robinson.
Speaker 1: I would and every time we'd go in and do something,
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, whatever it was, I would go
Speaker 1: back to that counter and I would be like, can
Speaker 1: I see it?
Speaker 3: Can I put it all? I'm still there? Has anyone
Speaker 3: adopted it?
Speaker 1: I literally visited that watch like five or six times
Speaker 1: since her wedding.
Speaker 2: Chris loves watches, and I love I think that, like,
Speaker 2: I'm really into buying jewelry or expensive items like that
Speaker 2: have meaning.
Speaker 3: It's really important to me that stuff has meaning.
Speaker 2: I'm not just like this is pretty like you know,
Speaker 2: you bought me a pair of earrings, and I think
Speaker 2: like they're meaningful because you gave me those earrings. And
Speaker 2: I think that watches are really special, like I gave
Speaker 2: you a watch for our wedding because to me it
Speaker 2: meant like this is it was about time, this is
Speaker 2: forever together, and this this gift, this time, it's also
Speaker 2: about time. I think so much about how we're doing
Speaker 2: this network, like from this beautiful place of because we
Speaker 2: want to and because we're blessed to be able to
Speaker 2: what I want you to know because of a lot
Speaker 2: that's happened, and I don't know if you hear it enough.
Speaker 3: You don't have to do this.
Speaker 2: If you had just retired, been done after The Bachelor,
Speaker 2: you had a twenty year career on what was the
Speaker 2: number one reality show, on a cultural landmark of a
Speaker 2: TV show you helped create the industry of reality TV.
Speaker 2: You've had a career that you've worked so hard for
Speaker 2: that is a dream to anybody in this business that
Speaker 2: ninety nine point nine percent of this business never achieves.
Speaker 2: Most importantly, you've had a career built on caring so
Speaker 2: much about your fans and about people who have watched
Speaker 2: the show. And just you did everything right, and I
Speaker 2: know how hard you worked, and I just want you
Speaker 2: to know that what you accomplished is incredible and the
Speaker 2: time you spent doing that was incomparable. But now if
Speaker 2: you want to do this next chapter, which you do,
Speaker 2: and which we're doing together, then it's going to be
Speaker 2: a new special time. And I just want you to
Speaker 2: know how much you've achieved and that from here it's
Speaker 2: just all for for fun and for something we can
Speaker 2: do together.
Speaker 1: Thanks, bab I love you. I love you too, and
Speaker 1: you know I think you know again echoing something doctor
Speaker 1: Phil said is I don't need to do this. I
Speaker 1: just want to do this. It's a passion project. And
Speaker 1: that's how I feel. It's funny, I feel the same way,
Speaker 1: and that's what really struck a chord with me when
Speaker 1: you and I went and met with him early on.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't need to do this. I just
Speaker 1: want to do this with you, you know, I really,
Speaker 1: I just have fun doing this. It's what I really
Speaker 1: love to do, creating television, hosting it, connecting with people,
Speaker 1: reaching people, and doing it in a really positive way
Speaker 1: that people really need right now. It's awesome. It's so awesome.
Speaker 1: So it was a great day. And again go to
Speaker 1: Merrittstreetmedia dot com, download the app Merit Plus. Keep watching.
Speaker 1: We'll keep you updated of course, as we are progressing
Speaker 1: with all of our stuff. But thanks for all the
Speaker 1: support and all the love and we love sharing it
Speaker 1: with you guys.
Speaker 3: And also, as Phil says, this is our network.
Speaker 2: As we were just talking about, you guys are the
Speaker 2: most important thing to Chris and I always, and if
Speaker 2: you have like ideas of things you'd want to see
Speaker 2: on the morning show, if you have thoughts about how
Speaker 2: it should go, please dm us. I'm out Lauren Zima.
Speaker 2: He's at Chris B. Harrison, or you can shoot a
Speaker 2: DM to the Most Dramatic Podcast's account and let us
Speaker 2: know because we are in the phase of like coming
Speaker 2: up with segments, talking about what the vibe of our
Speaker 2: morning show is going to be, figuring out the name,
Speaker 2: and we would love to hear from you guys.
Speaker 1: We should have a naming up.
Speaker 3: I was about to quote that.
Speaker 2: Song lyric again, but that's too long for the name
Speaker 2: of the show. What was good Morning after the Night Before?
Speaker 1: It's the Morning after the Night Before.
Speaker 2: Chris will be singing every day on the show, he'll
Speaker 2: sing the theme song. So thank you guys. We are
Speaker 2: so excited and we love you so much.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a wonderful first day. Congratulations to doctor Phil,
Speaker 1: to Joel Cheatwood, to Phil McIntyre, to all the folks
Speaker 1: at TBN that are behind this as well. It took
Speaker 1: a lot of hands to make this thing work. You know.
Speaker 1: I walked in that studio when it was sawdust and
Speaker 1: completely empty and walked around with Doctor Phil and some
Speaker 1: of the other folks that were going to be a
Speaker 1: part of this, and to see this come to fruition,
Speaker 1: to see the magic that they've created, they should be
Speaker 1: very proud today. It really was a magical, monumental moment.
Speaker 1: So congratulations to them. We appreciate their support and their
Speaker 1: love and friendship and can't wait to be a part
Speaker 1: of the team in a more involved way than we
Speaker 1: already are now. It really is fantastic. So thank you guys.
Speaker 1: We will keep you updated and we will see you
Speaker 1: again soon because we have a lot more to talk about.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most
Speaker 1: dramatic pod ever and make sure to write us a
Speaker 1: review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you
Speaker 1: next time,