Hardball - A show about baseball starring Bruce Greenwood

[00:00:00] On this episode of That Was a Show, Hardball was a show.

[00:00:06] This baseball-themed workplace sitcom centered around the exploits of the fictional American

[00:00:11] League team, The Pioneers.

[00:00:13] Join Brynn, Aaron and Barry as they bunt, hit a homer, run the bases, and some other baseball

[00:00:21] stuff.

[00:00:23] Failed Open We grew up during peak sitcom, Seinfeld, Friends,

[00:00:28] The Fresh Prince.

[00:00:29] But those shows were diamonds in the rough.

[00:00:32] This podcast is not about those diamonds.

[00:00:35] It's about the rough.

[00:00:36] Some sitcoms were briefly popular in their time, some were canceled almost immediately.

[00:00:42] You probably won't recognize most of these and you'll ask, That Was a Show?

[00:00:56] The podcast about failed or forgotten sitcoms from the 80's and 90's, starring Brynn Burney,

[00:01:03] Aaron Jaeger, and Andrew Helmer as Barry.

[00:01:10] A Radio Gizmo production.

[00:01:19] All right now, it's just...

[00:01:23] Are we going to be able to work some baseball analogies into our discussion?

[00:01:29] They better come from you.

[00:01:30] Yeah, none of us know anything.

[00:01:32] I doubt Brynn and I are also in any year away.

[00:01:37] I'll do my best.

[00:01:38] We'll see if some come up organically.

[00:01:41] Hello everyone.

[00:01:42] Thanks for tuning in to another wonderful edition of That Was a Show.

[00:01:47] Woo!

[00:01:48] Woo!

[00:01:49] Woo?

[00:01:50] Woo.

[00:01:51] Woo indeed.

[00:01:53] So, yeah maybe I'll cue some like, some baseball music here to kind of lead us in.

[00:02:00] We'll play that now.

[00:02:20] And now maybe Barry you want to tell us a little bit about your pick for sure.

[00:02:27] Wow, we're just jumping right in.

[00:02:29] We are.

[00:02:30] Yeah.

[00:02:31] Oh, was there some small talk?

[00:02:33] No, absolutely not.

[00:02:34] I feel like our small talk is absolutely, our small talk game is not good.

[00:02:40] So let's yeah, let's just jump right in.

[00:02:43] I'm surprised that this is the second sitcom that we've covered that's centered around

[00:02:50] baseball.

[00:02:51] I know.

[00:02:52] Yeah.

[00:02:53] And I wonder if there are any more out there.

[00:02:55] I might have to look it up.

[00:02:56] There probably are.

[00:02:57] It's like America's sport so you know and I'm surprised there's many sitcoms

[00:03:03] about it.

[00:03:04] It's been a long, long time.

[00:03:05] Yeah.

[00:03:06] Indeed it is indeed it is.

[00:03:07] So yeah this week we watched Hardball which as I mentioned in my preamble earlier it's

[00:03:16] a baseball themed workplace sitcom and concerned the antics of a fictional American League

[00:03:22] team, the pioneers.

[00:03:26] Now the team itself comprises some actors who later on to become some heavy hitters

[00:03:31] themselves.

[00:03:33] You did it.

[00:03:34] You didn't think you would do it but you did it.

[00:03:36] I did it.

[00:03:37] I did it like Bruce Greenwood, Mike Starr, Phil Lewis, Joe Rogan and Kenny Banya himself,

[00:03:47] Steve Hittner.

[00:03:49] It aired on Fox between September and November of 1994 specifically during the big major

[00:03:56] league baseball strike of the 94-95 season.

[00:03:59] Oh that's interesting.

[00:04:00] Yeah.

[00:04:02] Because America needs the baseball.

[00:04:04] But it wasn't this one because even though nine episodes of the show were produced only

[00:04:09] seven of them aired.

[00:04:12] We watched The Pilot and then we watched the last episode that ever aired which was

[00:04:16] number seven.

[00:04:17] It was called My Name Is Hard B.

[00:04:20] Yeah.

[00:04:21] So it was certainly a show.

[00:04:25] I'll just go into The Pilot.

[00:04:27] I mean the reason I picked it basically was because I just watched The Excellent

[00:04:32] Fall of the House of Usher and I just think Bruce Greenwood is just.

[00:04:36] He's the man.

[00:04:37] He's just dreamy and like it was so weird to see this show from 94 and Bruce Greenwood

[00:04:44] is already complaining about being too old.

[00:04:48] Meanwhile I watched a show from 2023 and I'm just like, man look at this fucking

[00:04:54] guy this fucking handsome fucking.

[00:04:57] He has aged very well.

[00:04:59] Yeah like a fine wine for sure.

[00:05:02] He's up there with like Paul Rudd like just gets better with age.

[00:05:06] Like he in the fall of the house of Usher he came in late because they fired

[00:05:11] Franklin Jella from the role.

[00:05:14] Because Franklin Jella was doing up to no good.

[00:05:19] And it's like those aren't the same actors at all.

[00:05:23] Yeah.

[00:05:24] It's a very different way to go.

[00:05:25] Yeah, very different direction.

[00:05:27] Yeah.

[00:05:28] Anyway so that's a different show.

[00:05:30] This is hardball.

[00:05:32] So in The Pilot we're introduced to the team as their losing streak continues

[00:05:37] hoping to shake things up.

[00:05:39] Team owner Mitzi played by Rose Marie fires the head coach and brings in

[00:05:44] an acerbic new coach Happy Talbot played with pretty dead pan ferociousness

[00:05:50] by Dan Florick.

[00:05:52] Happy immediately comes in looking to write the sinking ship.

[00:05:56] Not quite sure how to do it but he isn't afraid to cut some players.

[00:06:00] So everybody's just sort of fearful for their jobs.

[00:06:04] At the same time Bruce Greenwood's Dave Logan.

[00:06:07] He's a pitcher thinking he's passed his prime.

[00:06:10] He starts dating a new exciting woman and it's a sitcom.

[00:06:14] So of course she ends up being his new boss's daughter.

[00:06:18] So those are the A and B plots.

[00:06:20] A pilot just crammed a whole bunch in because there's a C and a D plot.

[00:06:25] In the C plot we'll call it the hotshot center fielder played by Joe Rogan.

[00:06:32] He plays Frank Valente.

[00:06:34] He wins the lottery right out of the pilot.

[00:06:38] They already are doing like a weird somebody wins the lottery.

[00:06:43] And then in another plot the director of relations Lee Emory who's played by Alexandra Wentworth

[00:06:49] tries to rejuvenate the team's image by replacing its absolutely terrifying mascot

[00:06:55] hardball with the more family friendly pied piper.

[00:07:00] So there's a lot going on in this episode.

[00:07:04] Instead of our usual go through it scene by scene I thought I would just try to do it

[00:07:11] and I short that's what the episode was about.

[00:07:13] And let's just launch in and talk about it.

[00:07:16] That was an excellent summary.

[00:07:19] One thing I have to just pose as a question and I'm not expecting anyone to answer this right off the top.

[00:07:25] But when you mentioned that this was made in the context of that baseball strike

[00:07:31] I can't help but wonder I'm going to dovetail a compliment I have for the show

[00:07:36] as well as a question into one comment which is that I was surprised

[00:07:42] by the quality of the production values of this show.

[00:07:46] We have reviewed another baseball show before and we've also reviewed many shows that involve

[00:07:53] a workplace or a setting that is from a set and cast standpoint

[00:08:00] difficult to visually achieve and most sitcoms simply don't show the things that really help you

[00:08:05] achieve it correctly.

[00:08:07] They just kind of, we've talked about this even in the context of a show about an airport

[00:08:13] and air travel where most of it took place in like a bland office room and a bar

[00:08:18] and they only used the airplane set once it seemed like.

[00:08:22] And things like that where sitcoms often rely on the conversations people have off from

[00:08:29] the location where theoretically the good stuff would happen.

[00:08:33] They're away from the action and they're talking about the action.

[00:08:36] Yeah, exactly. That's a good way to put it.

[00:08:38] So I was very impressed that this show took place in a real ass baseball stadium.

[00:08:43] I was like, wait, is this supposed to be a major league team?

[00:08:46] There's no way they're going to do justice to showing a major league team, but they did.

[00:08:50] The show is shot in a major league stadium.

[00:08:54] And so I'm watching that and I'm like, that's impressive.

[00:08:57] Like say what you want about the storylines or anything else.

[00:09:00] They took this concept to the end of the line as far as like pulling off the execution of shooting it, right?

[00:09:06] Yeah.

[00:09:07] They had large numbers of background actors to fill in seats.

[00:09:11] That's true. They have an extras.

[00:09:13] Obviously they intercut large numbers of extras with stock footage of an entire full stadium

[00:09:18] and they expertly edited that to make it really feel like these characters were playing games

[00:09:24] in the stadium with a real crowd.

[00:09:28] They did a very good job.

[00:09:30] They did that.

[00:09:31] So then that brings up this question now.

[00:09:33] Sorry about this long winded thing.

[00:09:35] Did they lose access to that when the baseball strike ended

[00:09:38] and that's one of the things that tanked the show?

[00:09:41] No, no, the show tanked.

[00:09:43] The show just f-ing tanked.

[00:09:45] It lasted a month and a half.

[00:09:47] The strike was still going on.

[00:09:49] OK, OK.

[00:09:50] It just tanked.

[00:09:52] But I was like, how did they get access to this stadium?

[00:09:55] We say, you know.

[00:09:57] Is it an old stadium though that maybe they shut down to like open a new one?

[00:10:01] Right, OK.

[00:10:02] Or if it wasn't, could they have just done that?

[00:10:05] I think you would have just maybe seen less baseball as the show went on.

[00:10:10] Because it's certainly coming at this from 2023

[00:10:16] when you've got a show like Ted Lasso.

[00:10:20] You know, the hundreds of millions of dollars that Apple dumped into it.

[00:10:25] Yeah.

[00:10:26] But still employed quite a lot of special effects to take care of all that.

[00:10:32] Yeah, right?

[00:10:33] Because even they had a hard time getting everything and they put a lot of effort into it.

[00:10:38] Whereas this, there's like no money.

[00:10:41] And yeah.

[00:10:42] I guess, you know, a different sitcom or sorry, a different podcast talking about hardball

[00:10:49] might have dove right in and been like, where did they shoot this?

[00:10:53] We're not that show.

[00:10:55] Right.

[00:10:56] No.

[00:10:57] We're not that show.

[00:10:58] So we're just going to post a bunch of open ended questions and shout them into the ether.

[00:11:04] That no one will ever be compelled to answer ever.

[00:11:08] Because if not us, who?

[00:11:10] Who?

[00:11:12] The other.

[00:11:13] Where all they have.

[00:11:14] Yeah.

[00:11:15] And my second compliment of the show before we start tearing into it is you brought up

[00:11:23] both Dan Florick and Bruce Greenwood.

[00:11:26] I thought they both.

[00:11:27] Carried it.

[00:11:28] Knocked it out of the park.

[00:11:30] Especially in the pilot.

[00:11:34] Yeah.

[00:11:35] They were funny.

[00:11:36] They were legitimately funny, charming.

[00:11:38] And just good.

[00:11:39] They're just good actors.

[00:11:40] They were solid.

[00:11:41] There's like a master class, the two of them.

[00:11:43] Yeah.

[00:11:44] And you know, not that's not to say anything.

[00:11:46] Mike Starr is always funny.

[00:11:48] Yeah.

[00:11:49] And Mike Starr, I thought was very funny, especially his his back and forth with Bruce Greenwood

[00:11:56] was a part of the show I really enjoyed.

[00:11:58] Yeah.

[00:11:59] But the rest of it, that's so much.

[00:12:02] I feel like, yeah, it was a lot of like weird big performances, a lot of mugging to the

[00:12:07] camera like on a lot of people's part, like besides those three.

[00:12:12] And like, I mean, like, I don't want to talk about Joe Rogan, but like he was like the

[00:12:19] worst actor in the show.

[00:12:21] Yeah, let's talk about Joe Rogan.

[00:12:23] So for the sake of this podcast, we're going to be talking about Joe Rogan, the sitcom

[00:12:30] actor.

[00:12:31] Yeah.

[00:12:32] Joe Rogan would later go on to be in news radio and be pretty dependable on.

[00:12:38] Yeah, yeah.

[00:12:39] I mean, he's rough here.

[00:12:41] And he's doing a character and like he's trying.

[00:12:46] He has like these weird, this weird laugh that he thinks is hilarious, but it's just

[00:12:52] grating on the nerves to hear.

[00:12:54] It's a choice.

[00:12:56] Like on the topic of news radio, I watched news radio a lot, like growing up.

[00:13:01] And I don't remember him being he was good in it.

[00:13:06] Like he was fine, you know, he was like doing doing the thing like he wasn't over

[00:13:10] the top.

[00:13:11] And in this he made some real choices.

[00:13:13] He had some like real hammy faces.

[00:13:16] But to be fair, it does make you wonder how much of it was him and how much of

[00:13:20] it was that's the direction that that character was given.

[00:13:23] We don't know.

[00:13:24] We don't know.

[00:13:25] But you feel like maybe he is either they're trying or he's trying to be the

[00:13:31] breakout.

[00:13:32] Yeah, but like the less of him the episode has the better.

[00:13:36] Yeah.

[00:13:37] If they were trying to make him the the Kramer of that world, the silliest

[00:13:41] breakout character that failed.

[00:13:44] That was yeah.

[00:13:45] The interesting thing about this pilot is that the most genuinely funny

[00:13:51] moments in the pilot and there were some lines and some moments that were

[00:13:54] genuinely funny for me came from the quote unquote straight man characters

[00:13:59] like the Bruce Greenwood and Dan Flore characters.

[00:14:03] Because they're dry.

[00:14:05] They're because they're still being there still being fun.

[00:14:08] Yeah, they were exactly.

[00:14:09] They were the funny ones because they were the ones who were playing the

[00:14:13] dry comedy that you'd expect out of, you know, either either.

[00:14:20] I don't know quite how to how to compare it to specific other shows that would

[00:14:25] have characters like this, but they were genuinely funny.

[00:14:28] Yeah, I don't think Bruce Greenwood knows how to like like he doesn't

[00:14:33] he doesn't know how to ham it up for a sitcom.

[00:14:36] Yeah.

[00:14:37] Yeah.

[00:14:38] And that's good.

[00:14:39] So it grounds his performance, which makes it a little easier to digest

[00:14:42] today or is back then it might have been off-putting to see a sitcom where

[00:14:46] somebody's not like playing the crowd.

[00:14:48] Right.

[00:14:49] Yeah, maybe, maybe.

[00:14:50] I don't know.

[00:14:51] I mean, I just yeah, I thought he did he and Dan Floreck.

[00:14:55] Like I said, like they just like they they were funny without overdoing it.

[00:15:00] Like I don't want to say I'm like I'm like very ready to like

[00:15:05] criticize Joe Rogan because it's just it's fun to criticize Joe Rogan

[00:15:11] for many reasons.

[00:15:12] But like there are other players who I thought I'm like, oh, it's just like a little bit

[00:15:17] much like like and I feel bad saying this because I generally like her.

[00:15:22] But like Ali went worth like I found found her performance like a bit much like

[00:15:29] it was a bit too zany.

[00:15:31] It was a bit too.

[00:15:32] Which one was she?

[00:15:33] She's shmoopy.

[00:15:35] That's her.

[00:15:36] Alexander Wentworth.

[00:15:37] Yeah.

[00:15:39] Yeah.

[00:15:40] I'm bad with names.

[00:15:41] She like by shmoopy.

[00:15:43] Erin, of course, means one of Jerry Seinfeld's many girlfriends featured on

[00:15:49] Seinfeld who they called each other shmoopy.

[00:15:52] One of the most important ones in the Seinfeld canon because she was the

[00:15:55] girlfriend in the soup Nazi episode.

[00:15:57] Oh, OK.

[00:15:58] Yeah.

[00:15:59] You're shmoopy.

[00:16:00] No, you're shmoopy.

[00:16:01] Yeah, we don't know who actually was.

[00:16:03] It was the shmoopy.

[00:16:05] There was there was an argument.

[00:16:07] There was George witnessed a 30 minute conversation where they discussed

[00:16:11] which one which one which which one of them was in fact called shmoopy.

[00:16:16] Yeah, yeah.

[00:16:18] Yeah, no, you're you're not wrong.

[00:16:20] She's very zany.

[00:16:22] She's written that way.

[00:16:23] It feels like this weird like.

[00:16:26] It feels like this weird overcompensation where like a bunch of

[00:16:30] male writers don't know how to write to the basically one female member

[00:16:36] in the cast like Rosemary's there.

[00:16:38] But like outside of the pilot, like she well, she doesn't I don't

[00:16:42] think she had much going on.

[00:16:44] Yeah.

[00:16:45] She would just come in with her tiny dog and like be sassy.

[00:16:49] And that was it.

[00:16:50] Yeah.

[00:16:51] Yeah.

[00:16:52] Whereas, you know, Alexandria Wentworth here.

[00:16:54] She's she features quite prominently in both the episodes we watched.

[00:17:00] And yeah, she's very silly.

[00:17:02] Yeah.

[00:17:03] And it's like there's like a lot of weird like commentary that the show is

[00:17:08] making about like people in those PR roles that they're just like it's

[00:17:14] a lot of like eye rolling kind of commentary about like, you know.

[00:17:20] And this goes to in some ways a broader thing of what they were trying

[00:17:24] to do because this show from from the pilot presents a pretty large ensemble cast.

[00:17:31] Yeah, it's huge.

[00:17:32] A lot of characters that are being introduced to us and it's it's the

[00:17:37] players on the team and it's obviously not an entire baseball teams worth

[00:17:41] of players, but it's a decently sized number of players that we are

[00:17:45] being introduced to as well.

[00:17:47] I forget the I don't wouldn't even be able to give you a number

[00:17:50] of how many there were.

[00:17:51] But let's say at least half a good cheer.

[00:17:53] It's a good cheers amount.

[00:17:55] Cheers, cheers amount of players and the owner, the manager, the PR person.

[00:18:00] And then I guess he was maybe a lawyer, but like the Kenny Banya Steve

[00:18:05] Hitler is Steve Hitler in this is actually the team manager, I believe.

[00:18:12] I thought happy was the team manager.

[00:18:14] No, that's the coach.

[00:18:15] OK, I don't know.

[00:18:17] I'm confused about whatever the term whatever the terms are administrative

[00:18:21] people. He's on the business side of things as opposed to how to play

[00:18:25] how to win games side of things.

[00:18:27] And he was an to me an underwritten and underutilized character.

[00:18:32] Like if he was going to be there, they didn't give him enough to warrant

[00:18:35] introducing the character test.

[00:18:37] Yeah, I was disappointed that we didn't he doesn't get to be funny like ever.

[00:18:41] I also really enjoyed Phil Lewis as Arnold.

[00:18:45] The he tried to give himself a gimmick.

[00:18:48] He tried to find some lightning.

[00:18:51] Yeah, yeah, he was very funny and very funny and also underutilized.

[00:18:55] But he was funny hit the right balance.

[00:18:58] I think think he hit the right balance between what like, like, yeah, Bruce

[00:19:03] and Dan agree we're doing.

[00:19:06] No, he was great and the zanyness of the rest of it.

[00:19:09] I think he really took found that middle ground.

[00:19:11] I wish he had.

[00:19:12] I just I'm just saying I wish he had more screen time.

[00:19:14] I think his performance was great.

[00:19:16] And actually, if anyone could have grown into a breakout character,

[00:19:20] yeah, it would have been him for being a little bit zanier than the straight

[00:19:25] man characters.

[00:19:26] But like, yeah, in an in a in a in a genuinely funny way,

[00:19:31] like he could have become that.

[00:19:33] I just thought it was so funny that he was like wearing this

[00:19:38] giant medallion thing and it clearly was not something he would

[00:19:43] ever wear.

[00:19:44] And he was just like uncomfortable.

[00:19:46] He like gave up the gimmick after two seconds when they called him out on it.

[00:19:50] He's like, yeah, it was like my wife's idea.

[00:19:52] I don't know.

[00:19:53] We just thought it would help me get some endorsements.

[00:19:56] But yeah, because he's like helped me get some endorsements because

[00:20:00] and he made some joke about money being kind of tight.

[00:20:03] But the phrasing was a very funny delivery.

[00:20:05] Yeah, I can't remember what the line was.

[00:20:07] But because we have, you know, bit of a cash flow problem or

[00:20:11] something, the way he delivered it was great.

[00:20:12] But it was kind of a bit of a Gretchen Wieners thing from Mean Girls

[00:20:17] is like he kept trying to make fetch happen, you know, like he was

[00:20:20] just like I'm lightning.

[00:20:22] And then everyone's like, you're not lightning.

[00:20:24] Let's just be honest with ourselves.

[00:20:27] But yeah, it's it's definitely he's he's very funny.

[00:20:34] But yeah, like the rest of the team, like there's a few other

[00:20:38] members and like, you know, one of them is like a naive, like

[00:20:44] pretty boy character.

[00:20:46] And he just falls flat like a membo.

[00:20:49] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:50] Like every every every line delivery had like it just just

[00:20:54] didn't work.

[00:20:55] I just I felt like a lot of the pacing of the show was just

[00:20:58] a little flat, you know, like there's like a lot of moments

[00:21:01] that were supposed to be very funny.

[00:21:03] But they just and I'm like, OK, I can see that the writing

[00:21:06] is OK, but it's just there's something like not quite right.

[00:21:10] I'm glad you said that because I got very activated by me saying

[00:21:13] I have a note where I wrote the pacing and rhythm is slightly

[00:21:17] off.

[00:21:18] Yeah, maybe forgivable for a pilot.

[00:21:20] But the but the other episode was clunky.

[00:21:22] But the other episode we watched kind of still had the same

[00:21:25] issue. But what's remarkable is like you said, there's an

[00:21:27] A story, a B story, a C story, a D story.

[00:21:30] They introduce us to at least 10 recurring characters.

[00:21:35] I don't know an exact count, but I'm going to guess at least 10.

[00:21:37] Yeah. Huge.

[00:21:38] Huge.

[00:21:39] We're not that show.

[00:21:40] No, we're not that show.

[00:21:41] Yeah.

[00:21:42] Huge cast.

[00:21:43] Yeah.

[00:21:44] Huge number of plot lines.

[00:21:46] Yeah.

[00:21:47] Big sets.

[00:21:48] Hugely expansive.

[00:21:49] Like they crammed so much into 25 minutes.

[00:21:53] Yeah.

[00:21:54] And yet the pacing felt slow.

[00:21:57] It felt kind of clunky and slow.

[00:21:59] And I'm trying to figure this out.

[00:22:01] I'm like, there's a lot of dialogue going on.

[00:22:04] Yeah.

[00:22:05] There's a lot of jokes.

[00:22:06] There's a lot of characters, but it doesn't have that fast,

[00:22:09] snappy rhythm.

[00:22:11] Because at the end of the day, the show, like most of these

[00:22:16] like, you know, workplace or hangout shows really just

[00:22:21] wants to be about people hanging out and bantering back

[00:22:25] and forth.

[00:22:26] Yeah.

[00:22:27] It wants to be cheers, right?

[00:22:28] Yeah.

[00:22:29] And then there in it wants them in that locker room.

[00:22:32] Yeah.

[00:22:33] But the plot keeps getting in the way of that and they keep

[00:22:37] having to like cram more and more in.

[00:22:39] And therefore, anytime you do have those scenes where

[00:22:42] they're bantering, the show settles into being funny.

[00:22:45] But then there's like kind of that one of my things was

[00:22:49] it was Fox.

[00:22:51] And I wonder is I notice this a lot in both episodes.

[00:22:55] And this is coming, you know, it's 94.

[00:22:58] So we're, you know, we're deep into married with children

[00:23:02] at this point.

[00:23:03] Is there studio notes coming?

[00:23:06] This needs to be edgier.

[00:23:07] This needs to be more offensive because that's what

[00:23:10] didn't work for me.

[00:23:11] It's like there was so much shit in it that I was like,

[00:23:14] well, why did you make that joke?

[00:23:15] Like that's not funny.

[00:23:17] That's mean.

[00:23:18] And I kind of like again, I'm the guy who hates

[00:23:20] married with children and always have.

[00:23:22] So I'm just like, it's just I don't get.

[00:23:26] Foxes like let's just be mean.

[00:23:29] Yeah, it's definitely like it was definitely the rudest

[00:23:32] content on television on like Fox.

[00:23:36] Rude crude.

[00:23:38] I'll just sorry to like this is kind of backtracking

[00:23:41] a little bit, but just like on the whole topic

[00:23:44] of too many characters and too much going on.

[00:23:47] This is the problem with writing a baseball show.

[00:23:50] Like the problem is there's just too many.

[00:23:53] Like if you want to show the players,

[00:23:56] then you have to show multiple players.

[00:23:58] It's almost like you need to pick an aspect of baseball

[00:24:02] and just focus on that group.

[00:24:04] Like it's like focus on the administrators,

[00:24:07] focus on like other people and then just like

[00:24:11] the players are just kind of in the background.

[00:24:14] Like, you know, like I don't know.

[00:24:16] Like, but yet people like inevitably are going to want to see the player.

[00:24:20] So that's like the issue.

[00:24:22] It's like it becomes this big and then that was like what we saw

[00:24:25] with like a league of their own too.

[00:24:27] There's like a ton of actors, a ton of stuff going on.

[00:24:30] Yeah. I mean, I didn't mind it as much because it was an all women team.

[00:24:34] So it was like fun to have this like big ensemble of funny women.

[00:24:37] But you know, I just said it's like.

[00:24:40] Ted Lasso managed it for a few reasons.

[00:24:44] A lot more money.

[00:24:45] Be top notch writing staff.

[00:24:47] Yeah.

[00:24:48] You know, it's in like it's in like, you know,

[00:24:51] closer to an hour hour long format.

[00:24:53] Yeah.

[00:24:54] One of the things they do do is yeah, there's the whole team

[00:24:57] and by the time the show ends, you know everybody's name,

[00:25:00] you know who they are, but it doesn't focus on all them.

[00:25:03] Every single episode right?

[00:25:05] You know, somebody comes to the forefront more.

[00:25:08] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:25:11] That's probably the thing of like, you know,

[00:25:14] cheers works with a large ensemble cast in a bar because

[00:25:18] people hanging out in a bar is such a simplistic low stakes

[00:25:22] relatable environment that you can insert any relatable joke

[00:25:26] about life into that.

[00:25:29] It's such a clean slate of a foundation because the bar

[00:25:34] it's not like I mean maybe the way I'll put it is it's

[00:25:37] not like cheers is about alcohol consumption.

[00:25:40] Like the bar is just window dressing.

[00:25:42] The actual apparatus of the bar doesn't matter at all.

[00:25:46] Like the bar isn't like, like cheers is not a show about

[00:25:49] drinking whereas like a baseball show by necessity

[00:25:53] almost has to be a show about the game of baseball to at

[00:25:57] least some extent, which is a challenging format to

[00:26:01] write for in a in a half hour weekly sitcom.

[00:26:06] I just want to go back.

[00:26:07] I think it's a very there's a version of this show that

[00:26:10] he's and and and similar like I would cut the I don't

[00:26:14] I don't care and I don't think America cares about

[00:26:18] the administration side of running this like Ted Lasso

[00:26:23] works because of Ted Lasso and the characters

[00:26:27] that he surrounds himself with.

[00:26:29] But something like this just cut the rest of them out

[00:26:33] and just focus on the players make some of them funnier.

[00:26:36] But yeah.

[00:26:37] Or if you were focusing on the administrator side of it.

[00:26:42] Yeah, then I forget his name happy whatever Dan Flork.

[00:26:46] Well, that's fine.

[00:26:47] Dan Flork.

[00:26:48] The coach has to be there.

[00:26:49] Dan Flork's character works.

[00:26:51] Yeah, but it can just be him and the team and

[00:26:55] and the person who metaphorically represents the

[00:26:59] administration of the team and the pressures

[00:27:01] of having to win games and sell tickets and all of that

[00:27:04] can be all funneled through that one strong.

[00:27:07] You need a very strong performer to carry that

[00:27:10] and it can all funnel through that one person.

[00:27:13] I was just going to go back to that point about like

[00:27:15] you don't like married with children.

[00:27:17] I wouldn't say I love that show.

[00:27:19] I've enjoyed it in small doses on rare occasions.

[00:27:24] But where I where I think, you know, we've talked

[00:27:28] about this before like is it too bad or not bad enough?

[00:27:31] You know, married with children is a show where you

[00:27:34] know that all of these characters are scumbags.

[00:27:36] Yeah.

[00:27:37] So the point is that all of the things they say and do

[00:27:41] can be like shitty things and you know that these

[00:27:45] are not heroic characters and that's going to be

[00:27:48] super difficult to do in a show about baseball

[00:27:52] where the point is this team is supposed to win.

[00:27:55] The point is these characters are supposed to be heroes.

[00:27:58] So then don't make them shitty like then don't

[00:28:01] don't wait into that because.

[00:28:03] But is it also was it also supposed to be a thing

[00:28:06] where it was like this kind of rough and tumble team?

[00:28:09] Like well, they're a major league team.

[00:28:11] Like they're a major league team.

[00:28:13] Well, they're American League.

[00:28:14] They're the American League.

[00:28:15] So they're close.

[00:28:16] Well, the American League is one half of the majors.

[00:28:19] Is the national the National League in the American League.

[00:28:22] We don't know anything.

[00:28:23] We don't fucking know.

[00:28:24] It's the team they were portraying.

[00:28:27] There's probably if there's American listeners out there

[00:28:30] probably cringing right now.

[00:28:31] As far as I can tell, the team they were portraying

[00:28:34] was Major League Baseball and they made reference

[00:28:37] to the new manager coming up from having worked years

[00:28:45] in the minors.

[00:28:47] And this is his first gig in the majors.

[00:28:50] And the American League is one of the two.

[00:28:55] I don't know why it's I don't know enough about it to know

[00:28:58] why it's broken down this way.

[00:28:59] But there are two leagues like presents just like hockey.

[00:29:04] Yeah, so like a conference.

[00:29:05] So as far as I know, like the Toronto Blue Jays are in one

[00:29:08] of the two and I know a lot of listeners are going to be.

[00:29:11] I think the Toronto.

[00:29:13] I was going to ask which one are we in our Canada's one team.

[00:29:17] I think it's the American League.

[00:29:19] The other one is the National League.

[00:29:21] I think the Jays are in the American League.

[00:29:23] And I'm going to look this up because it looks like Barry's

[00:29:26] looking it up.

[00:29:27] There are some listeners who will be livid that I don't know

[00:29:31] this people are rolling their eyes so hard at us right now.

[00:29:34] It's like, yeah, we're nerds.

[00:29:36] We don't care about sports.

[00:29:37] American League and National League.

[00:29:39] Yeah.

[00:29:40] And the National League.

[00:29:41] The Blue Jays compete in in in the American League East

[00:29:46] Division.

[00:29:48] Merit main difference between the two is that in the

[00:29:51] American League, they use a designated header.

[00:29:53] Rule to what the.

[00:29:55] Yeah, the rules are slightly different between the two leagues.

[00:29:58] But the cut all this out.

[00:30:00] But the world.

[00:30:01] This is not interesting to anybody.

[00:30:03] But the World Series does involve both leagues.

[00:30:05] Yeah.

[00:30:06] All right.

[00:30:07] Well, you know, baseball.

[00:30:10] We're not a sports podcast.

[00:30:13] No, we're not.

[00:30:14] We are absolutely in case you were confused.

[00:30:17] 67 episodes in.

[00:30:19] Yeah.

[00:30:20] Sorry for leading you astray.

[00:30:22] I mean, I'm going to go into the next episode because

[00:30:26] we got a lot of it.

[00:30:28] So I feel like as a preamble, there's a character that I

[00:30:33] barely mentioned up to this point.

[00:30:37] And he is very important episode seven.

[00:30:41] So I'm, you know, I'm going to try to include him as the

[00:30:46] logo for this episode so people can get a look at him.

[00:30:50] Mm hmm.

[00:30:51] The hardball is the team's mascot.

[00:30:54] He's also the title of the show and hardball is, you

[00:30:59] know, I'm sure he's got a giant baseball head like,

[00:31:04] you know, he dresses like a baseball player, but he's

[00:31:07] jacked and like his face is like just permanently like angry

[00:31:15] angry.

[00:31:16] So that's what I was saying.

[00:31:18] They must be a hard scrabble sort of team because they

[00:31:22] have this kind of scary disgruntled mascot and like

[00:31:27] they're losing all the time.

[00:31:30] I love him.

[00:31:31] Yeah.

[00:31:32] I absolutely love all right.

[00:31:35] His face makes me laugh.

[00:31:37] It is funny.

[00:31:38] I love that easy in the credits just as and hardball as

[00:31:41] hardball.

[00:31:42] Yeah.

[00:31:43] And I love that episode seven.

[00:31:45] We got to know hardball a little bit more.

[00:31:48] So one of the great things about, and this is one of

[00:31:51] my maybe one of my buttons.

[00:31:53] I like when people treat mascots or people in

[00:31:57] costume or puppets.

[00:32:00] I like that they don't acknowledge that there's

[00:32:03] somebody under there.

[00:32:05] I like that hardball is only ever addressed as

[00:32:09] hardball.

[00:32:10] Yeah.

[00:32:11] He's only ever seen with his with his, you know, head

[00:32:14] on.

[00:32:15] Yeah.

[00:32:16] We don't get we don't know any about him.

[00:32:18] So he doesn't talk.

[00:32:20] He doesn't talk.

[00:32:21] He doesn't talk because the work they did on the

[00:32:24] mascot head is funny enough that like he just he

[00:32:28] just it's just great in episode seven, which is

[00:32:31] called my name is hard be hardball.

[00:32:34] The team's hard drinking rough looking mascot

[00:32:37] spirals out after his wife leaves him for another

[00:32:40] mascot, the Louisville slammer who is just a

[00:32:44] giant baseball bat.

[00:32:48] And he was also hardballs once hardballs

[00:32:50] protege.

[00:32:51] So hardball takes this pretty pretty takes

[00:32:54] this to heart.

[00:32:56] He takes it hard.

[00:32:57] Yeah, it takes it real hard and he goes on a

[00:32:59] bender and after passing out finds himself

[00:33:03] an even more hot water when he misses one of his

[00:33:06] engagements and Lee has to don the costume

[00:33:11] and drive the hardball mobile, which she then

[00:33:15] does right into superstar Barry Bonts, which

[00:33:19] causes hardball.

[00:33:20] He was very funny by the way.

[00:33:21] He was very funny.

[00:33:22] We'll get into that.

[00:33:24] He was the highlight.

[00:33:25] So hardball gets fired because it is because she

[00:33:28] lets him take the fall for now, Dave.

[00:33:31] I guess Dave's still the A plot.

[00:33:34] They're given about equal time.

[00:33:35] So Dave once again, his love life becomes

[00:33:39] the star of the show again.

[00:33:40] And he's dated.

[00:33:42] He finds himself dating original April O'Neill

[00:33:45] herself, Judith Hogue.

[00:33:46] Oh, she plays Barbara.

[00:33:49] Yeah, yeah, exhibitionist reporter who

[00:33:52] wants a little bit more from this picture

[00:33:54] than an exclusive interview.

[00:33:58] So this is a pretty ridiculous episode.

[00:34:00] Very silly, very hits a lot of tropes.

[00:34:04] Chief among them.

[00:34:05] You know, we've seen this so many times,

[00:34:07] the overly clingy, you know, girlfriend

[00:34:12] after a one night stand who just won't

[00:34:14] leave somebody alone.

[00:34:15] Yeah, I've seen this in so many

[00:34:17] classic tropes.

[00:34:18] So many sitcoms.

[00:34:19] It's a 90s trope as well.

[00:34:21] Yeah.

[00:34:22] And it's never is never very funny.

[00:34:24] And it's just an excuse for a bunch of guys

[00:34:26] to sit around and be like, isn't she crazy?

[00:34:29] And then everybody in the audience laughs

[00:34:31] because isn't it funny?

[00:34:33] Yeah.

[00:34:34] So I wasn't a huge fan of that plotline at all.

[00:34:38] I mean, I Bruce Greenwood once again,

[00:34:41] very dependable in it because he's not

[00:34:43] really that much of a jerk in that

[00:34:45] plotline.

[00:34:46] No, he's just sort of like everybody else

[00:34:49] might be.

[00:34:50] But yeah, all the other guys are just sort of

[00:34:51] being jerky about it.

[00:34:52] And he's just like guys, this is like kind

[00:34:54] of serious.

[00:34:55] Like she's really like she's really

[00:34:57] clinging and she's really like not taking

[00:34:59] hints and like he's more just confused

[00:35:02] and concerned.

[00:35:03] He's like, yeah, why is she saying that

[00:35:05] we're engaged?

[00:35:06] Yeah, his reaction isn't mean.

[00:35:08] He's just like, what's happening?

[00:35:10] Yeah.

[00:35:11] Yeah.

[00:35:12] But she keeps bringing food, which is

[00:35:14] again, it's always like just it's

[00:35:16] the same tired jokes over and over and

[00:35:18] she keeps bringing food to the team and

[00:35:20] they all eat all the food.

[00:35:21] And of course, the food's really good.

[00:35:23] So they don't want them to break up with

[00:35:25] her and like, you know, you've seen this

[00:35:27] plotline.

[00:35:28] There was a big reaction to lasagna

[00:35:30] one point where I was like, lasagna.

[00:35:32] Yeah, everyone was thrilled that she

[00:35:34] brought a tasty lasagna.

[00:35:35] I feel like lasagna.

[00:35:37] I like lasagna.

[00:35:38] Lasagna.

[00:35:39] I made lasagna this week.

[00:35:40] Did you?

[00:35:41] Yeah.

[00:35:42] Yeah.

[00:35:43] It was fucking legit.

[00:35:44] I have issues with lasagna.

[00:35:46] I have like.

[00:35:47] Yeah, you don't like lasagna.

[00:35:49] I like it.

[00:35:50] Okay.

[00:35:51] I like it when it's like completely

[00:35:53] fresh, like someone has made it.

[00:35:55] Yeah.

[00:35:56] And it's like, but I don't like it

[00:35:58] when it's reheated.

[00:35:59] I don't like it when it's cooked

[00:36:01] from frozen because it's always

[00:36:03] uneven.

[00:36:04] It's always cooked unevenly.

[00:36:06] But if someone like, I'm sure I

[00:36:08] would have liked your lasagna, Barry.

[00:36:10] Thank you.

[00:36:11] It was wonderful.

[00:36:12] Because you were, you're very good with

[00:36:14] those types of dishes.

[00:36:15] I assume it was delicious.

[00:36:17] And I would have eaten it.

[00:36:18] I would have enjoyed it.

[00:36:19] But like.

[00:36:20] I don't like frozen lasagna either.

[00:36:21] Yeah.

[00:36:22] It's a problem.

[00:36:23] I think I ate too much of it growing up.

[00:36:25] My mom loved buying a frozen lasagna

[00:36:27] and it was never that good.

[00:36:28] It was always kind of, you know,

[00:36:30] watery in the spots.

[00:36:32] It shouldn't be watery.

[00:36:33] You know, over.

[00:36:34] They come in, they come in those

[00:36:36] giant like trees.

[00:36:37] Yeah.

[00:36:38] Like it's like a big vat of lasagna.

[00:36:40] It's like a whole thing.

[00:36:41] Back to the show.

[00:36:42] Yeah.

[00:36:43] Sorry.

[00:36:44] I just, no, no, no, no.

[00:36:45] But I feel like lasagna is a 90s trope.

[00:36:48] It is.

[00:36:49] Isn't it?

[00:36:50] Like everyone talks about lasagna all the time.

[00:36:52] It's one of the foods.

[00:36:53] It's like a sick, it's like a sick.

[00:36:54] No, it's just a, it's a thing.

[00:36:57] It's a, lasagna is a funny word.

[00:36:59] It's funny.

[00:37:00] It is.

[00:37:01] It's one of the foods.

[00:37:02] Garfield loves it.

[00:37:03] Yeah.

[00:37:04] That's used in comedy.

[00:37:05] Bruce Greenwood is playing Ted

[00:37:07] Danson's Sam Malone from Cheers.

[00:37:09] But before he retired.

[00:37:10] Completely.

[00:37:11] As like the, the handsome attractive ball

[00:37:14] player.

[00:37:15] The womanizer.

[00:37:16] But like, and I will say like between

[00:37:19] both episodes, like so in episode seven

[00:37:21] when it also opens on another woman

[00:37:24] who's coming on to him and she's a

[00:37:26] reporter, but she's immediately.

[00:37:27] Another report.

[00:37:28] Yeah.

[00:37:29] Another reporter.

[00:37:30] At the same table in the bar.

[00:37:31] And I would say like normally my cringe

[00:37:34] factor on that plot device would

[00:37:36] have been even higher except for

[00:37:39] that.

[00:37:40] Bruce Greenwood.

[00:37:41] Well, here's the thing.

[00:37:42] He's a, he is the, the picture on

[00:37:46] a pro major league baseball team.

[00:37:50] And he is very strikingly handsome

[00:37:53] and charming.

[00:37:54] So I will say regardless of our

[00:37:57] feelings of like the, the morality

[00:38:00] of his behavior or whatever, it

[00:38:04] is relatively believable that

[00:38:07] various women that come across him

[00:38:10] in these environments might come

[00:38:13] come on to him in that way or

[00:38:15] immediately start flirting with him.

[00:38:16] Like in that world of pro athletes

[00:38:18] who are that handsome, it is

[00:38:20] legitimately a thing that happens.

[00:38:22] He's also not shitty about.

[00:38:24] No, like he's.

[00:38:25] Yeah.

[00:38:26] Yeah.

[00:38:27] He's, he's like, he is definitely

[00:38:29] Sam Malone, but I would say he's

[00:38:31] even a little less sleazy.

[00:38:34] Yeah.

[00:38:35] Yeah.

[00:38:36] It's Sam Malone has a lot of sleaze to him.

[00:38:38] Yeah.

[00:38:39] Is he going to take, is he going to pass

[00:38:41] up the opportunity to bed a beautiful

[00:38:43] woman? No.

[00:38:44] No.

[00:38:45] But it doesn't come across as sleazy.

[00:38:47] You're right.

[00:38:48] It's very organic.

[00:38:49] It's very like, it feels like

[00:38:51] doesn't feel like he's scheming at

[00:38:53] all or doing anything.

[00:38:54] He's just going with the flow.

[00:38:56] He's just going with the flow of all

[00:38:58] these women wanting to sleep with

[00:39:00] him and he doesn't like that.

[00:39:01] She doesn't understand like the

[00:39:03] terms that they're putting.

[00:39:04] Yeah.

[00:39:05] Like he wants her to, he wants them to

[00:39:07] be on the same page.

[00:39:08] Yeah.

[00:39:09] He assumed he was going into a one

[00:39:11] night stand and when it turned out

[00:39:13] that she had these much bigger

[00:39:15] expectations that seemed somewhat

[00:39:17] disconnected from reality.

[00:39:18] Yeah.

[00:39:19] He was more concerned than anything

[00:39:21] else.

[00:39:22] Yeah.

[00:39:23] And like, because he's obviously

[00:39:24] portrayed as the kind of guy who has

[00:39:26] had many one night stands

[00:39:28] and probably most of the time

[00:39:31] the terms are very clear

[00:39:33] and both parties know exactly

[00:39:35] what they're getting into.

[00:39:36] In both episodes we see him do this

[00:39:38] and in both episodes like he,

[00:39:40] you know, in the pilot we didn't

[00:39:41] really talk too much about it, but

[00:39:43] you know, yeah, his plot in there

[00:39:44] as he's romancing the coach's

[00:39:46] daughter and

[00:39:49] you know, he's very respectful with

[00:39:51] her.

[00:39:52] He genuinely cares about her and then

[00:39:54] when that episode ends, they're

[00:39:55] still dating.

[00:39:57] So it's like, you know, I think

[00:39:59] he's a serial dator is what he is.

[00:40:01] Yeah, but he's not necessarily the

[00:40:03] sleazy version of that character

[00:40:05] that you've seen in other shows.

[00:40:07] I think he just likes, he gets

[00:40:09] into a lot of relationships more than

[00:40:11] he has one night stands from.

[00:40:13] Yeah.

[00:40:14] Yeah.

[00:40:15] Yeah.

[00:40:16] Yeah.

[00:40:17] The Barry Bonds thing.

[00:40:20] He was funny like I went when

[00:40:22] so Barry Bonds.

[00:40:24] So you mentioned how she

[00:40:26] hits him with the like hardball

[00:40:28] mobile.

[00:40:29] It cuts to this

[00:40:31] hardball mobile, which is like one

[00:40:33] of those like vehicles that are

[00:40:35] driven around indoors in large

[00:40:36] buildings like a stadium like those

[00:40:38] little, well you see the golf

[00:40:39] car.

[00:40:40] What is that?

[00:40:41] It's like, you know, in an airport

[00:40:43] and an airport to the audience is

[00:40:45] the thing that Austin Powers gets

[00:40:47] stuck between the two

[00:40:49] walls.

[00:40:50] Okay.

[00:40:51] It's that thing.

[00:40:52] Yeah.

[00:40:53] When people drive around inside

[00:40:54] an airport on one of those little

[00:40:55] vehicles, it's one of those.

[00:40:56] Yeah.

[00:40:57] He fully gets run over by it and it

[00:40:59] cuts back to it and it's like on

[00:41:01] top of him, like the wheel is on

[00:41:03] top of him, but he's not injured

[00:41:05] at all and it's like a cartoonish

[00:41:07] type of way of playing it.

[00:41:08] And when he delivers the line, I

[00:41:10] think I landed on my keys.

[00:41:12] It's very funny.

[00:41:13] I laughed so hard.

[00:41:14] Yeah.

[00:41:15] He also, he also like sees

[00:41:17] somebody in the hardball costume

[00:41:19] and then goes, that's him.

[00:41:21] I'll never forget that face.

[00:41:23] Yeah.

[00:41:24] Like it's not just obviously it's

[00:41:26] the mascot, but he's like, no,

[00:41:28] that's him.

[00:41:29] That specific giant baseball

[00:41:31] headman.

[00:41:32] Barry Bonds was put in this episode

[00:41:34] as a cameo.

[00:41:35] It's like a stunt casting thing.

[00:41:37] They gave him some zingers and

[00:41:39] he nailed the delivery of those

[00:41:41] zingers.

[00:41:42] He was the funniest part of the

[00:41:43] show.

[00:41:44] I feel like that would be a fun

[00:41:45] thing to do as a pro athlete.

[00:41:46] Just show up in a scene

[00:41:48] to be goofy.

[00:41:49] Yeah.

[00:41:50] Like Keith Hernandez on Seinfeld.

[00:41:51] Yeah.

[00:41:52] And we often see like this is

[00:41:54] pretty common in sitcoms in

[00:41:56] general.

[00:41:57] And they often, you know,

[00:41:59] like think about how funny all

[00:42:01] the baseball players are on that

[00:42:03] episode of The Simpsons where

[00:42:04] Mr.

[00:42:05] Yeah.

[00:42:06] That's a very legendary

[00:42:08] Simpsons episode.

[00:42:09] Legendary.

[00:42:10] Yeah.

[00:42:11] Exactly.

[00:42:14] The only part of the

[00:42:16] plot, the other plot with,

[00:42:18] you know, the one night stand

[00:42:20] that spirals into the

[00:42:22] relationship, the only aspect of

[00:42:24] it that I found mildly amusing

[00:42:26] was the way that every time

[00:42:28] she walked into a scene,

[00:42:30] they scaled it up

[00:42:32] incrementally in a way

[00:42:34] that was like just kept

[00:42:36] cranking up the stakes.

[00:42:37] So it's kind of in a

[00:42:39] way where it's like before he

[00:42:40] even knows how to react to

[00:42:42] the previous thing, like she

[00:42:44] comes in and brings the

[00:42:45] lasagna and

[00:42:47] starts thinking of him as,

[00:42:48] OK, so she clearly thinks this

[00:42:50] is turning into an actual

[00:42:51] relationship.

[00:42:52] Yeah.

[00:42:53] Then while he's still

[00:42:54] processing that,

[00:42:56] then it escalates into

[00:42:58] them supposedly being

[00:43:00] engaged.

[00:43:01] Yeah.

[00:43:02] And before he even reacts to

[00:43:03] that or is able to even talk

[00:43:05] to her about it,

[00:43:06] she comes in with a gift

[00:43:08] and it's a painting of them

[00:43:10] in front of like a

[00:43:11] suburban house

[00:43:12] with a white picket

[00:43:13] fencing two kids.

[00:43:14] Yeah.

[00:43:15] And a dog.

[00:43:17] And a dog.

[00:43:18] And when I saw the painting,

[00:43:19] I was like, OK,

[00:43:20] that's kind of funny.

[00:43:21] Like I agree.

[00:43:22] I don't like that trope.

[00:43:23] I don't find that whole

[00:43:24] plot gimmick funny.

[00:43:26] And you're right.

[00:43:27] It absolutely ended up being played

[00:43:28] so that all of the other

[00:43:29] guys on the team could just

[00:43:31] refer to her as crazy and insane.

[00:43:33] Especially Joe Rogan,

[00:43:34] who really relish.

[00:43:35] Who really relished in it.

[00:43:36] Yeah.

[00:43:37] Really.

[00:43:38] Yeah.

[00:43:39] And so I didn't care for any of

[00:43:40] that.

[00:43:41] But the only part of it that

[00:43:42] I did find amusing was the way

[00:43:43] that they kept ratcheting up

[00:43:46] the way that she would come into

[00:43:47] these scenes before.

[00:43:48] So like in a sense,

[00:43:50] if it was just between her

[00:43:53] and Bruce Greenwood's character,

[00:43:54] that aspect of it,

[00:43:56] that interaction was mildly

[00:43:57] amusing in that execution.

[00:44:00] But all of the apparatus of

[00:44:01] the way everyone else around is

[00:44:02] reacting to it really made

[00:44:04] it quite awful.

[00:44:07] So that's my thoughts on

[00:44:08] episode seven.

[00:44:11] Those are the big things

[00:44:12] that happened.

[00:44:13] Yeah.

[00:44:14] There's not much else to say.

[00:44:15] I mean,

[00:44:16] I thought it was fun that they

[00:44:18] had Barry Bonds come in.

[00:44:20] I didn't love the whole scene

[00:44:22] with like, again,

[00:44:23] I feel like they did.

[00:44:24] Alexandra

[00:44:27] went where like a bit dirty

[00:44:29] with that scene because

[00:44:31] they just had her kind of like,

[00:44:33] like expositioning

[00:44:35] the whole scene and being

[00:44:36] like, well, what can I do

[00:44:38] about this situation?

[00:44:40] And it was like very like,

[00:44:42] you know, it's like they

[00:44:43] really should have got

[00:44:46] like, I like the fact that she

[00:44:48] took it upon herself

[00:44:50] to throw on the hard ball costume

[00:44:52] and then disaster and suit.

[00:44:54] Like I liked that element of it,

[00:44:56] but like just like the lead up

[00:44:58] to that, I just thought it was

[00:44:59] so like drawn out and like

[00:45:01] awkward and it just like,

[00:45:03] I don't know.

[00:45:04] Yeah.

[00:45:05] It felt like it needed a couple

[00:45:06] rewrites.

[00:45:07] That didn't happen.

[00:45:08] That plot was quite cartoonish.

[00:45:10] Her performance also running

[00:45:12] over, you know, Barry Bonds

[00:45:14] with the car and him not being

[00:45:15] injured and having and kind

[00:45:17] of ending that scene on a high

[00:45:18] note where he's just like

[00:45:20] excited to try some marzipan

[00:45:22] treats that

[00:45:24] brought in and forgot about

[00:45:26] his reaction to the marzipan.

[00:45:27] He's hilarious, but that whole

[00:45:29] plot and the whole thing of

[00:45:30] like, yeah, never seeing

[00:45:32] the person, the human inside

[00:45:34] the hard ball suit to the point

[00:45:36] where the payoff at the end

[00:45:37] of the episode is that she

[00:45:39] feels bad that he got fired

[00:45:40] because of something that

[00:45:41] was her fault, although to be

[00:45:43] fair, him blacking out drunk

[00:45:45] on the job might also be

[00:45:47] grounds for letting him go.

[00:45:49] If we can't change hardball,

[00:45:50] but in any case, she

[00:45:52] feels bad.

[00:45:53] So she tries to get his job back

[00:45:55] and she realizes because no one

[00:45:56] knows what he actually looks

[00:45:57] like, she just suggests to

[00:46:00] the guy, just come

[00:46:02] back and put on the head

[00:46:03] and pretend that we've hired

[00:46:04] a replacement.

[00:46:05] Yeah.

[00:46:06] And no one will know that

[00:46:07] you're not the replacement.

[00:46:08] Like, yeah, like he doesn't

[00:46:09] have any, like I love that.

[00:46:11] Like there are no paystubs to deal

[00:46:12] with.

[00:46:13] Like all the paystubs were

[00:46:14] clearly written out to hardball.

[00:46:16] Now, there's one thing.

[00:46:17] There's not a cash.

[00:46:18] Yeah, maybe.

[00:46:19] So he gets a job working as

[00:46:21] another mascot outside of a

[00:46:23] chicken store.

[00:46:24] He's dressed up like a giant

[00:46:25] chicken.

[00:46:26] That was funny.

[00:46:27] And one of the other team

[00:46:28] members, the ones that I was

[00:46:29] saying none of his line

[00:46:30] deliveries worked for me.

[00:46:32] I take that back because this

[00:46:34] one did work because he's

[00:46:35] talking.

[00:46:36] He's like, yeah, I saw him

[00:46:37] over there and you're like,

[00:46:38] oh, how?

[00:46:39] Like, you don't know what he

[00:46:40] looks like.

[00:46:41] No, but I recognize this work.

[00:46:43] Yeah, yeah, that was funny.

[00:46:45] I did like that line.

[00:46:46] The only thing that I really

[00:46:48] wanted, especially because

[00:46:50] they said he's dressed up as a

[00:46:51] giant chicken.

[00:46:52] He's over at this chicken

[00:46:53] shack.

[00:46:54] I wanted them to cut to him

[00:46:56] dressed up as a chicken, but

[00:46:58] still wearing the giant

[00:47:00] baseball.

[00:47:01] Yeah.

[00:47:02] That's what I needed there.

[00:47:03] I needed not just to him to

[00:47:05] have moved on to another

[00:47:07] mascot.

[00:47:08] I needed somehow the head was

[00:47:11] came with him.

[00:47:12] Right, because it's mixing

[00:47:14] metaphors, because it's basically

[00:47:16] if he can take off the head and

[00:47:18] be in a different mascot outfit,

[00:47:20] it is kind of like admitting to

[00:47:22] the audience there's a real

[00:47:23] human inside this thing.

[00:47:24] And also how funny would it be?

[00:47:26] Just to have the beak on the

[00:47:28] ball.

[00:47:29] A beak stuck to the ball and

[00:47:30] like chicken wings on the arms

[00:47:32] but still have the giant

[00:47:33] baseball.

[00:47:34] I can get behind that.

[00:47:35] But then she wouldn't have been

[00:47:36] able to put on the base.

[00:47:37] The giant baseball head.

[00:47:38] No, no, I'm not saying that to

[00:47:40] say that he's not a person or

[00:47:42] that I just think that it would

[00:47:43] be funny if his whole stick is

[00:47:45] like everywhere he goes.

[00:47:46] Like somehow the baseball,

[00:47:48] the idea of him wearing a

[00:47:50] giant baseball is somehow his

[00:47:51] idea.

[00:47:52] Yeah.

[00:47:53] But yeah.

[00:47:54] But where I start where I

[00:47:55] kind of started this whole

[00:47:56] thing was like,

[00:47:57] I don't understand how a

[00:47:59] show has a plot line that is

[00:48:01] that cartoonish.

[00:48:02] Yeah.

[00:48:03] But that the other plot

[00:48:06] lines or the rest of the world

[00:48:08] doesn't share in some of that

[00:48:10] surrealism.

[00:48:11] Yeah.

[00:48:12] And so to me, it's like I don't

[00:48:14] know how both can work.

[00:48:16] Like I'm trying to think are

[00:48:17] there other sitcoms that have

[00:48:20] sure skillfully.

[00:48:21] Seinfeld has

[00:48:23] Seinfeld

[00:48:24] traffic in cartoony

[00:48:26] affair.

[00:48:27] Yeah.

[00:48:28] They do.

[00:48:29] But what I'm saying is to also

[00:48:30] have a plot going on at the

[00:48:31] same time that isn't.

[00:48:32] Oh, true.

[00:48:33] In on true.

[00:48:34] But I mean the cartoonyness in

[00:48:36] Seinfeld happens in many times

[00:48:39] in many different ways through

[00:48:40] different different characters and

[00:48:42] different kinds of whereas like.

[00:48:44] I guess what I'm asking is, is this

[00:48:46] show something where they were

[00:48:47] going to have other cartoony

[00:48:49] plots that involve not just

[00:48:51] the hardball character, but like

[00:48:53] other other things.

[00:48:54] Definitely.

[00:48:55] I was running.

[00:48:56] Continuous motif.

[00:48:57] I was running through the

[00:48:59] Epsom plot lines and like

[00:49:00] they they all seem pretty

[00:49:02] pretty cartoon.

[00:49:03] So they do.

[00:49:04] OK.

[00:49:07] One one thing I'll throw out there

[00:49:09] just because I didn't have any

[00:49:11] else other way to throw it.

[00:49:12] Another Jonathan Wolf.

[00:49:13] Oh, snap.

[00:49:14] OK.

[00:49:15] I didn't even notice that.

[00:49:17] Well, how about that?

[00:49:19] Yeah.

[00:49:20] Just before we go into the

[00:49:21] segments, my one last thought

[00:49:23] is that this show to me felt

[00:49:25] like less than the sum of its

[00:49:27] parts.

[00:49:28] Like there were elements

[00:49:31] that I thought worked and

[00:49:33] elements when added together

[00:49:35] almost like took away from each

[00:49:37] other or like didn't didn't

[00:49:39] didn't sort of build on each

[00:49:40] other in a way that felt

[00:49:42] satisfying.

[00:49:43] But there were individual moments.

[00:49:44] There were lots of lines,

[00:49:46] certain characters that were funny,

[00:49:48] certain things that worked,

[00:49:50] but it didn't quite gel

[00:49:52] together cohesively.

[00:49:54] And sometimes maybe it's hard to

[00:49:56] like figure out exactly why

[00:49:58] and maybe if a show like this had

[00:50:00] more runway or or

[00:50:02] no, I need a baseball analogy for this.

[00:50:04] Maybe if a show like this had

[00:50:06] enough at bats,

[00:50:08] enough swings

[00:50:10] being a metaphor for

[00:50:12] episodes, you know, like

[00:50:14] if a show like this made it to a second

[00:50:16] or third season, maybe it would

[00:50:18] have eventually found a way to

[00:50:20] make all of that work.

[00:50:21] Maybe.

[00:50:22] But instead, you said

[00:50:24] they shot nine episodes

[00:50:27] and only seven aired.

[00:50:29] So that's kind of like they got

[00:50:30] one game like they got nine innings

[00:50:32] and then everybody went home

[00:50:35] and everybody went home after the seventh

[00:50:37] inning in extra.

[00:50:38] Yeah, and then exactly.

[00:50:39] And then it got canceled after that

[00:50:42] which is typically when my dad

[00:50:44] would start being like we should

[00:50:46] hit the road so he could make good

[00:50:48] time.

[00:50:49] Yeah, the traffic.

[00:50:50] Yeah.

[00:50:51] Swing and a miss on this one.

[00:50:53] Yeah.

[00:50:55] Well, Bryn does hardball

[00:50:58] and makes it connect with friends.

[00:51:00] Yeah, it does a bunch of ways.

[00:51:03] All right.

[00:51:04] So and there's even more than what

[00:51:07] I'm going to highlight here.

[00:51:09] So everyone's welcome to do their

[00:51:11] own little IMDB deep dive.

[00:51:14] But yeah, from what I could see

[00:51:16] there are like quite a few fun

[00:51:18] little connections.

[00:51:19] So I'll start with a couple that

[00:51:22] are through Alexandra Wentworth.

[00:51:26] She plays Lee Emery on hardball.

[00:51:29] So she was in also in the movie

[00:51:32] office space which co-starred

[00:51:35] Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer

[00:51:37] Aniston was of course Rachel

[00:51:39] Green on Friends.

[00:51:40] So there's a two degree connection.

[00:51:42] She also guest starred on Cougar

[00:51:45] Town, which of course starred

[00:51:48] Courtney Cox and Courtney Cox

[00:51:50] is Monica on Friends.

[00:51:52] So that's another two degree

[00:51:54] connection.

[00:51:55] Great show.

[00:51:56] We've got another connection

[00:51:58] via Groose, or the Groose.

[00:52:00] Groose Greenwood.

[00:52:02] Just take that again.

[00:52:04] No, leave it in.

[00:52:06] Groose.

[00:52:07] Groose.

[00:52:08] Groose Greenwood.

[00:52:09] Yeah.

[00:52:10] So he was in the movie

[00:52:12] Dinner for Shmucks with Paul Rudd

[00:52:15] and then Paul Rudd had a recurring

[00:52:18] role on Friends.

[00:52:19] So there's a two degree connection.

[00:52:21] There might even be more

[00:52:23] Groose Greenwood connections,

[00:52:25] but I just was like this is

[00:52:27] too much to get into at the moment.

[00:52:29] There are also quite a few

[00:52:32] through Phil Lewis, which I found

[00:52:34] interesting.

[00:52:35] So of course, as we said, he plays

[00:52:37] Arnold Nixon, a.k.a.

[00:52:39] Lightning.

[00:52:40] So he had a recurring role on

[00:52:43] Friends.

[00:52:44] So there's like a one degree connection.

[00:52:46] He plays Steve.

[00:52:47] This isn't a later season.

[00:52:48] This is in season nine.

[00:52:50] So he plays Steve, who plays

[00:52:52] Steve, who is like a childhood

[00:52:54] like schoolmate friend of

[00:52:56] Monica's, who works in advertising

[00:52:59] and gets Chandler a job.

[00:53:02] So when Chandler makes his

[00:53:04] like career change into advertising,

[00:53:07] it's kind of this guy, Steve, who's

[00:53:09] like an exec at an advertising firm.

[00:53:12] Yeah.

[00:53:13] He also gets started on Mad About You,

[00:53:16] but we won't get into that because

[00:53:18] you guys hate it.

[00:53:19] You know what I'm curious though?

[00:53:21] I have to ask because Mad About You

[00:53:23] comes up a lot.

[00:53:24] I don't know if you've ever done a six

[00:53:26] degrees connection.

[00:53:27] Yeah.

[00:53:28] Using Seinfeld as one of the steps.

[00:53:29] I really should because

[00:53:31] one of them is in Seinfeld,

[00:53:33] like like Courtney Cox is

[00:53:35] in Seinfeld.

[00:53:36] Yeah.

[00:53:37] As a like a, is she in two episodes

[00:53:39] or just the one?

[00:53:40] I don't, I don't remember if it's one

[00:53:42] or two.

[00:53:43] Anyway, I know.

[00:53:44] She's Justin.

[00:53:45] I think she's Justin.

[00:53:46] It's a giant blind spot that I

[00:53:47] haven't like tried to,

[00:53:49] because a lot of these people in a

[00:53:51] lot of these these shows that we

[00:53:53] cover have been in Seinfeld.

[00:53:54] So it's definitely a huge branch

[00:53:56] of the six degrees that I have not

[00:53:58] been going for because I just

[00:54:01] feel like it will.

[00:54:02] Yeah, I was wondering if you were

[00:54:04] avoiding it because it feels too

[00:54:06] easy or something.

[00:54:07] She's using one episode.

[00:54:09] Exactly.

[00:54:10] So it's a bit of a reach.

[00:54:11] And yeah, I know that I do

[00:54:12] guest star things on here,

[00:54:14] but it's more fun to go through

[00:54:16] the less well known ones.

[00:54:18] And now you guys get so annoyed with

[00:54:20] me when I talk about Mad about you

[00:54:21] that I can't resist.

[00:54:22] So yeah.

[00:54:23] And then another.

[00:54:24] Okay.

[00:54:25] So another couple of interesting

[00:54:27] ones through Phil Lewis are that

[00:54:30] he one of the biggest things he

[00:54:33] did later in his career, which I'll

[00:54:35] get into more in the spin off is

[00:54:37] he was in all of the sweet life

[00:54:40] of Zack and Cody shows.

[00:54:42] And that is starring the Sprouse

[00:54:44] brothers, the twins that play

[00:54:48] Ross's son, Ben.

[00:54:50] Yeah, indeed they did.

[00:54:52] And yeah.

[00:54:54] And what else?

[00:54:56] There's one more there.

[00:54:57] Bear with me a minute.

[00:54:58] Okay.

[00:54:59] Yeah.

[00:55:00] So as a director, Phil Lewis

[00:55:03] directed a couple of episodes

[00:55:06] of Man with a Plan, which was

[00:55:09] Matt LeBlanc's most recent

[00:55:11] series.

[00:55:12] So yeah.

[00:55:13] So Phil Lewis has like the most

[00:55:16] connections with friends at this

[00:55:17] point.

[00:55:18] Yep.

[00:55:19] And that's nice.

[00:55:23] Spin off time.

[00:55:24] Yeah.

[00:55:25] I mean, based on our conversation

[00:55:28] leading up to right now, obviously

[00:55:31] it was a stacked cast like nobody

[00:55:34] on this show was hurting

[00:55:36] for work before or after this.

[00:55:38] Everyone kept working

[00:55:40] steadily.

[00:55:41] Everyone kept having very successful

[00:55:44] TV careers.

[00:55:45] So yeah, I'll start with

[00:55:47] Steve Hittner.

[00:55:48] He continued to play Kenny Banya

[00:55:50] on Seinfeld after this

[00:55:52] off and on like you'd pop in

[00:55:54] like throughout all the series.

[00:55:56] Round team.

[00:55:57] Yeah.

[00:55:58] Round team.

[00:55:59] The cup is round.

[00:56:00] Go.

[00:56:01] And you know, he also

[00:56:03] had some other

[00:56:05] like successful runs on series

[00:56:07] including working

[00:56:09] and the Bill Ingval show.

[00:56:12] And then he's still

[00:56:13] popping up in stuff now

[00:56:15] and then as a guest star

[00:56:17] recently, like a couple of recent

[00:56:19] things I saw him in were the

[00:56:20] Goldbergs and Silicon Valley.

[00:56:23] Phil Lewis, who I already talked

[00:56:25] about a bunch.

[00:56:26] He yeah, he's had a really

[00:56:28] successful and long career.

[00:56:29] Like soon after his

[00:56:31] time on Hardball,

[00:56:33] he had a recurring role on the

[00:56:35] Wayans Brothers.

[00:56:36] He also had

[00:56:38] a role on Yes, Dear,

[00:56:40] Scrubs.

[00:56:41] And again, one of his

[00:56:43] biggest things was like the

[00:56:45] multiple like the original

[00:56:47] series, The Sweet Life of

[00:56:49] Zack and Cody and all the spin-offs

[00:56:51] and whatever little one-off movies.

[00:56:53] I don't know what the role is,

[00:56:55] but I assume it was some sort of

[00:56:57] like because I think these kids

[00:56:59] don't know why he's the concierge.

[00:57:01] OK, that makes sense.

[00:57:03] I was going to say he must be

[00:57:05] like the manager or the concierge

[00:57:06] or something of the hotel that these

[00:57:08] kids live in.

[00:57:09] And so that's why he's like in all of it.

[00:57:11] He also directed many episodes

[00:57:13] of that series.

[00:57:14] He's a really prolific TV director

[00:57:17] now as well.

[00:57:18] So he does still act, pops up here

[00:57:20] and there, but he also directs a

[00:57:22] ton.

[00:57:23] So he's a really busy guy up

[00:57:25] until like 20, like whenever

[00:57:27] it went off the air, he did

[00:57:29] a role on American Dad.

[00:57:32] Some of the directing credits

[00:57:34] he's had recently, he did an

[00:57:35] episode of the Frazier Reboot

[00:57:38] He did many episodes of I Carly,

[00:57:41] how I met your father, two broke

[00:57:43] girls and as I already mentioned

[00:57:45] a man with a plan.

[00:57:47] Yeah, then we'll go to Alexandra

[00:57:49] Wentworth. She's also had a really

[00:57:51] interesting career. She's like kind

[00:57:53] of, you know, she's appeared in a

[00:57:55] lot of TV and a lot of movies, some

[00:57:57] of the notable movie credits where

[00:57:59] she kind of had a, you know,

[00:58:01] like a supporting role include

[00:58:03] Jerry Maguire, Office Space.

[00:58:05] It's complicated.

[00:58:07] And then TV guest star role, she's

[00:58:09] had a lot of memorable ones in the

[00:58:11] 90s including Seinfeld, which we

[00:58:13] already mentioned.

[00:58:14] And then Felicity as well.

[00:58:16] And then later on she was in

[00:58:18] Cougar Town more recently.

[00:58:20] She was in an episode of Search Party.

[00:58:23] She had a couple of series that

[00:58:25] she co-created and created that

[00:58:27] she starred in including Night

[00:58:29] Cap and then the other one was

[00:58:31] Head Case.

[00:58:32] So those were like two kind

[00:58:34] of starring roles that she had

[00:58:36] that they were like shows

[00:58:38] that she wrote.

[00:58:39] So she's a writer, she's a

[00:58:41] comedian, she's an actor, she kind

[00:58:43] of does it all.

[00:58:44] And then another random thing that

[00:58:46] she most recently did that I

[00:58:48] watched and enjoyed, well, I don't

[00:58:50] know if enjoyed is the right word

[00:58:52] but I found very compelling was

[00:58:54] the Brook Shields documentary that

[00:58:56] came out.

[00:58:57] The Pretty Baby documentary where

[00:58:59] it kind of explored, reexamined

[00:59:01] Brook Shields career, especially

[00:59:03] with her youth and how she was

[00:59:05] very exploited as like a young

[00:59:07] actor and model.

[00:59:08] And so she co-produced that

[00:59:10] with her husband George

[00:59:12] Stephanopoulos.

[00:59:13] So it was kind of like a, you

[00:59:14] know, TV, it was like an ABC

[00:59:16] News sort of like

[00:59:19] docuseries but it had like the

[00:59:21] kind of production values of like

[00:59:23] many of the like really

[00:59:25] top notch production

[00:59:27] or sorry docuseries that we

[00:59:29] see these days.

[00:59:31] I don't know why I knew this

[00:59:33] but the Sprouse twins

[00:59:35] did not both play

[00:59:37] only one of them did.

[00:59:39] Only one of them did.

[00:59:41] Which one was it?

[00:59:42] Was it Dylan?

[00:59:43] I think it's the other one.

[00:59:45] Cole.

[00:59:46] Cole, wow.

[00:59:47] Yeah.

[00:59:48] And so of course we have Bruce

[00:59:50] Greenwood who we've been

[00:59:52] raving about throughout

[00:59:54] this episode, both

[00:59:56] for his handsomeness and his

[00:59:58] talent as an actor.

[01:00:00] Again, you know, this guy has

[01:00:02] not stopped working since then

[01:00:04] and he's kind of gone, you know,

[01:00:06] he does more serious stuff.

[01:00:08] I would say he's more known for

[01:00:10] that but he did do a little

[01:00:11] stint on the Larry Sanders show.

[01:00:15] He was in The Suite here after

[01:00:17] which is like a very serious movie

[01:00:19] that I recently re-watched

[01:00:21] and it does hold up.

[01:00:23] He's played like a lot of intense

[01:00:25] characters

[01:00:27] but you know his comedy,

[01:00:29] he kind of like comes in and out

[01:00:31] of the different genres.

[01:00:33] As Barry mentioned,

[01:00:35] most recently he's in

[01:00:37] the fall of the house of Usher

[01:00:39] which I have not watched yet

[01:00:41] and I'm like,

[01:00:42] I really want to see it

[01:00:44] because everyone keeps talking about

[01:00:45] how amazing it is

[01:00:47] but I am just like

[01:00:49] looking at the kind of creepiness

[01:00:51] of the plot.

[01:00:52] It might seem a little bit too intense

[01:00:54] or violent for me.

[01:00:56] It is full on a horror show.

[01:00:58] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:00:59] So I don't know, we'll see.

[01:01:01] But I feel like I should watch it

[01:01:03] just because the cast is incredible.

[01:01:05] Oh, it's quite good.

[01:01:06] It's like a horror version of Succession.

[01:01:08] Yeah.

[01:01:09] So he also,

[01:01:11] you know, so he was also in

[01:01:13] Capote.

[01:01:14] He was in

[01:01:16] I'm Not There.

[01:01:18] So a lot of like prestige films

[01:01:20] and you know,

[01:01:22] he's just that dude.

[01:01:24] He's just in everything.

[01:01:25] He's very reliable.

[01:01:27] He's very engaging

[01:01:30] and wonderful to watch at all times.

[01:01:32] Like he was in I know this much is true,

[01:01:35] which I really enjoyed

[01:01:36] and I feel like nobody has talked about that series.

[01:01:39] It's almost like it never existed,

[01:01:41] which is wild,

[01:01:42] but it was the mini series

[01:01:45] based on the novel by

[01:01:48] Wally Lamb

[01:01:49] that was starring Mark Ruffalo

[01:01:52] and Rosie O'Donnell

[01:01:53] and of course,

[01:01:55] Bruce Greenwood.

[01:01:56] So yeah, I mean,

[01:01:58] Bruce has done perfectly well.

[01:02:00] Can we also add that he's Canadian?

[01:02:02] Yeah, he is Canadian.

[01:02:04] You know, I should have mentioned that.

[01:02:06] He's done a lot of

[01:02:08] like a lot of his prestige roles

[01:02:10] like include

[01:02:12] Adam McGoy in films,

[01:02:14] including the suite hereafter

[01:02:16] because he's like one of our local guys

[01:02:20] probably one of our Canadian

[01:02:24] treasures.

[01:02:25] And yeah, now he's part of Mike Flanagan's

[01:02:28] rotating cast

[01:02:30] so that'll award him lots of work, I'm sure.

[01:02:33] Yeah.

[01:02:34] And then of course we have Dan Florick.

[01:02:37] So yeah, again,

[01:02:40] I mean, I feel like I just can't

[01:02:42] think of him as much else

[01:02:45] except for Captain Don Kraygan

[01:02:48] like from Law & Order.

[01:02:50] Like I just can't.

[01:02:51] He just, that's just who he is to me.

[01:02:53] Like it was very bizarre seeing him in a comedy,

[01:02:56] but of course he was great in it

[01:02:58] and he was also, you know,

[01:03:00] he was in a few episodes of

[01:03:02] Roseanne in the 90s.

[01:03:04] He plays like a principal

[01:03:07] of the kids' school.

[01:03:09] He's like, was in Ellen

[01:03:11] for an episode.

[01:03:12] He was in Wings.

[01:03:13] So he has done plenty of sitcoms,

[01:03:16] but I just can't not see him

[01:03:18] as like a very serious

[01:03:21] procedural actor like the captain.

[01:03:24] I just can't, you know,

[01:03:26] he's done like 332 episodes

[01:03:29] of Law & Order SVU as a character.

[01:03:32] That's a bunch.

[01:03:33] So it's just like, that is a lot.

[01:03:34] Like he is that character at this point.

[01:03:37] So and he's played a cop many different times.

[01:03:40] So apparently Bruce Greenwood is a regular

[01:03:43] on the resident, a doctor show

[01:03:46] and he's been on every all 107 episodes of that.

[01:03:49] Oh yeah, I didn't mention that.

[01:03:51] That's random.

[01:03:52] But yeah, I mean he's

[01:03:54] he doesn't have doc like TV doctor energy.

[01:03:57] And then of course we have Mike Starr

[01:04:01] who is a very, very prolific

[01:04:05] character actor.

[01:04:07] I couldn't help but just

[01:04:09] like the thing that sticks out the most

[01:04:11] to me is his role like that

[01:04:14] in the office and it's just one episode

[01:04:17] where he plays the insurance salesman

[01:04:20] who they all suspect is in the mafia.

[01:04:23] It becomes this like whole plot line

[01:04:26] where he's like, you know,

[01:04:28] they're trying to figure out whether he's

[01:04:30] in the mafia, they take him out for lunch

[01:04:32] and they order gava ghoul

[01:04:34] to see how he reacts.

[01:04:36] And it's like, you know,

[01:04:38] that's got to be a late episode, right?

[01:04:41] Well, it's still with Steve Carell.

[01:04:44] Like it's still Steve Carell times, but

[01:04:47] I always just remember him and dumb and

[01:04:49] dumb and dumber.

[01:04:50] Yeah.

[01:04:51] Which he would have been in the same year as this.

[01:04:53] Yeah.

[01:04:54] And he was in Ed Wood too, same 94 as well.

[01:04:57] Yeah, so he's like

[01:04:59] popped up in a ton of movies

[01:05:02] and television shows.

[01:05:03] He did an episode of Bob which we covered.

[01:05:08] Yeah, so he's like one of those guys

[01:05:11] he was in Miller's Crossing.

[01:05:13] He was in Goodfellas.

[01:05:14] So he kind of plays one of these big,

[01:05:17] he kind of is like a go-to for mobsters

[01:05:20] and bouncers.

[01:05:21] Big tough guy.

[01:05:22] And henchmen.

[01:05:24] Like he just has that presence to him.

[01:05:27] Yeah, if you want a big tough guy who can also be funny

[01:05:30] in a driveway.

[01:05:32] Exactly.

[01:05:33] And that usually is how he's used too

[01:05:34] because usually, yes, they hire him for that role

[01:05:37] but he's almost always asked to be kind of funny too.

[01:05:40] Yeah.

[01:05:41] He was in like, he's just in everything.

[01:05:43] He's in, you know, Scrubs, Jersey Girl.

[01:05:47] Oh, he also is in Curl Show

[01:05:49] playing Bobby Bottleservice's father

[01:05:51] in one half.

[01:05:52] Oh, that's amazing.

[01:05:54] Yeah, so he's, you know,

[01:05:57] he's been around the block.

[01:05:58] Like he's like a legend.

[01:06:00] He has like 245 IMDB credits.

[01:06:04] So he's just one of those dudes that

[01:06:06] makes sense, you know,

[01:06:07] like one of those classic character actors.

[01:06:10] He's not like a household name,

[01:06:12] but he's just been in like everything you know his face.

[01:06:15] You know his face.

[01:06:16] He's a household face.

[01:06:18] But I just like,

[01:06:19] I just like love that episode of The Office.

[01:06:21] I find it so entertaining

[01:06:23] and I can't separate him from that.

[01:06:25] Like that,

[01:06:26] that like cheesy moment he has right in the beginning

[01:06:29] where he's like,

[01:06:30] knocks over,

[01:06:32] like part of his really bad sales pitch

[01:06:35] is that he knocks over the coat rack

[01:06:39] and he says, look, life can be unexpected.

[01:06:43] Things can happen.

[01:06:44] And Michael Scott is like rolling his eyes

[01:06:46] because to Michael Scott,

[01:06:48] it's a very terrible sales pitch.

[01:06:50] And Michael Scott is of course

[01:06:52] one of the best salesmen of all time.

[01:06:55] So it's, you know,

[01:06:57] Yeah.

[01:06:58] So he kind of humors the guy.

[01:07:00] He kind of humors him

[01:07:01] by giving him his time

[01:07:03] and letting him try to pitch the insurance.

[01:07:06] But then they all get fascinated

[01:07:08] because they assume that he's in the mafia.

[01:07:10] So.

[01:07:11] Yeah.

[01:07:13] It's a,

[01:07:14] it is a later episode,

[01:07:16] but a Michael Scott episode.

[01:07:18] It is one of their silly plot lines.

[01:07:20] And I remember it pretty silly.

[01:07:22] If honestly,

[01:07:24] I would say if it's past this fifth season,

[01:07:27] I probably have only seen it like the one time.

[01:07:30] And I always throw out the word

[01:07:32] only throw out fifth season as a general random number.

[01:07:35] I feel like that's,

[01:07:37] yeah, that's when I remember sort of.

[01:07:40] I've rewatched the whole series multiple times at this point.

[01:07:44] I feel like it's like now become like a real comfort show.

[01:07:48] Well, you and so many,

[01:07:50] so many people have it on just like all the time,

[01:07:53] which is like weird.

[01:07:54] It's just never been one of mine.

[01:07:56] Yeah.

[01:07:57] I enjoy it.

[01:07:58] Yeah.

[01:07:59] Mm hmm.

[01:08:00] I should, I should rewatch it.

[01:08:02] I found a fun Mike Starr credit,

[01:08:04] which I thought was fun.

[01:08:06] But in 2011, he did 30 episodes of the Young and the Restless.

[01:08:11] Yeah, it's so funny when people do that when people like,

[01:08:14] you know, they're known for like one genre

[01:08:17] and then they just get this soap opera gig.

[01:08:20] And it's like no one that knows them from the standard stuff

[01:08:24] that they do would have seen them in the soap opera.

[01:08:27] It's just like a steady, steady gig.

[01:08:29] Maybe.

[01:08:30] Yeah.

[01:08:31] That's cool.

[01:08:32] I mean, that's the thing is like 30 episodes.

[01:08:34] That's that's like maybe less than a year's worth of.

[01:08:38] Yeah, a lot of soap operas do daily episodes.

[01:08:41] Yeah.

[01:08:42] So 30 episodes might only be like six to eight weeks.

[01:08:46] Yeah.

[01:08:47] Good good money too, I'm sure.

[01:08:49] I've never.

[01:08:50] I don't know.

[01:08:51] I don't know if I've ever watched a whole episode of a soap opera.

[01:08:55] What?

[01:08:56] Like a proper soap opera.

[01:08:58] I mean, it's been a long time,

[01:09:00] but I saw plenty of it thrown.

[01:09:04] I've seen moments.

[01:09:05] I've seen scenes, but I don't think I've ever actually sat down and watched

[01:09:08] like the young and the restless from now from the beginning until credits roll.

[01:09:14] We went to high school with a soap opera actor.

[01:09:17] What if you say so?

[01:09:19] Jacqueline McKinnis, who is in The Bold and the Beautiful

[01:09:24] was a year behind us in high school.

[01:09:27] Never.

[01:09:28] I'm sorry, Jacqueline McKinnis.

[01:09:30] She was popular.

[01:09:32] That's why we did.

[01:09:33] Yeah.

[01:09:34] She's a year younger than us and she was popular.

[01:09:37] So, you know, we were popular.

[01:09:40] I don't know about that.

[01:09:42] But anyway, she's on The Bold and the Beautiful.

[01:09:44] Or was I don't know if she's still on there again.

[01:09:47] Apologies to Jacqueline McKinnis who obviously does not listen to this,

[01:09:51] but apologies that I don't know how if you're still on there.

[01:09:54] But I know she was for a long time.

[01:09:56] So.

[01:09:57] Mm hmm.

[01:09:58] Yeah.

[01:09:59] Yeah.

[01:10:00] I always liked that Seinfeld episode about Jerry's guilty pleasure

[01:10:05] of watching a soap opera and not wanting to admit it.

[01:10:08] That's not a soap opera.

[01:10:09] That's Melrose Place.

[01:10:10] That was a primetime show.

[01:10:12] Yeah, but it was it was a sort of.

[01:10:14] No, no, these trust me, man.

[01:10:16] Soap opera is in Melrose Place.

[01:10:18] I mean, it's a soap opera by definition,

[01:10:22] but it's a big but that was a big budget show.

[01:10:25] Yeah.

[01:10:26] Well, I guess so call it.

[01:10:29] I guess it's in that realm of like highly big budget popular,

[01:10:34] but technically like the sort of plots of a soap opera,

[01:10:38] like whatever you want to call it.

[01:10:39] I guess not like a hard soap opera the way you'd refer to like.

[01:10:43] That was I'm just saying that was in the beautiful.

[01:10:45] That was a network drop.

[01:10:47] Sure.

[01:10:48] Soap operas are syndicated shop for $28 like daily shows.

[01:10:53] Fair OK.

[01:10:55] I wouldn't mind checking in with Mr.

[01:10:57] Producer and maybe we do a quick call with him and see what he has to say about

[01:11:02] hardball.

[01:11:03] Hey, kid, right on time.

[01:11:10] How are you today, Mr.

[01:11:11] Producer?

[01:11:12] Ah, you know, living the dream.

[01:11:14] How's work?

[01:11:15] How are things on that's it?

[01:11:17] That's it.

[01:11:18] They're going great kid.

[01:11:19] Thanks for asking.

[01:11:20] You know, the act of strikes finally come to a close.

[01:11:23] So we're just days away from getting some meetings going again.

[01:11:26] And the script?

[01:11:27] We've got some really great stuff very nearly there.

[01:11:30] I think maybe one or two more passes and we'll have it.

[01:11:33] I feel like there's been a few one or two more passes over the last year.

[01:11:37] Yeah, I think we're on draft 47 of the pilot.

[01:11:40] But you know, you can't rush greatness.

[01:11:43] I suppose not.

[01:11:45] So what's on your little pod gram this week?

[01:11:49] We were talking about hardball.

[01:11:52] Oh, sure.

[01:11:53] Terrible show.

[01:11:54] Uh, yeah.

[01:11:55] You usually aren't quite as blunt.

[01:11:57] What can I say?

[01:11:58] It was a stinker.

[01:12:00] Not my proudest moment.

[01:12:02] Wait, what?

[01:12:03] You were involved?

[01:12:04] I was indeed.

[01:12:05] You know, sometimes I step out from behind the desk,

[01:12:09] from behind the boardroom doors,

[01:12:11] and I take a leap out into the lemon light and shoot my shot.

[01:12:14] I mean, I read the credits pretty closely.

[01:12:16] I didn't see your name.

[01:12:18] No, no, you wouldn't.

[01:12:20] So you didn't pretend to be a bad boy?

[01:12:22] No, you wouldn't.

[01:12:23] So you didn't produce this one then?

[01:12:25] I did not.

[01:12:26] Or write it?

[01:12:28] Nope.

[01:12:29] I don't get it.

[01:12:30] Kid, I was the star.

[01:12:31] I was right there in the title.

[01:12:33] Wait, that was you playing hardball?

[01:12:37] It was indeed.

[01:12:38] Well, for the pilot at least after that,

[01:12:40] well, you know, sometimes you just got to hop out

[01:12:43] when the project isn't right.

[01:12:45] I guess so.

[01:12:46] Oh, damn kid.

[01:12:47] My paprika guy is here.

[01:12:48] He's trying to buzz in.

[01:12:49] I gotta run.

[01:12:51] You know, I would love to get more insights

[01:12:59] from Mr. P on food and various condiments

[01:13:04] and food embellishments.

[01:13:06] I feel like we know he has a lot to say about pickles.

[01:13:09] We've been learning recently about hot peppers

[01:13:12] and paprika now.

[01:13:13] I don't know.

[01:13:15] I feel like this is this is building into a pretty

[01:13:18] considerable body of knowledge when it comes to flavors

[01:13:22] and condiments.

[01:13:23] Give that guy a cooking show.

[01:13:25] Yeah, yeah, maybe.

[01:13:27] I wonder if he's ever tried to develop a cooking show.

[01:13:30] Anyway, that was hardball.

[01:13:33] And at the risk of going into extra innings,

[01:13:36] we better wrap it up now.

[01:13:39] You know, beat the traffic home.

[01:13:42] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:13:45] Peanuts and crackerjacks.

[01:13:47] I don't know if I'll ever go back.