Partners (1995) - Starring Jon Cryer, Tate Donovan and Maria Pitillo

[00:00:00] Coming up on another exciting installment of That Was a Show? Partners was a show. This short-lived sitcom is about two young architects in San Francisco, Bob John Cryer and Owen Tate Donovan.

[00:00:15] Off the top, Owen gets engaged to Alicia, Maria Petillo, and his best friend Bob competes for attention as something of a third wheel.

[00:00:25] It's a fairly standard hangout show about dating and friendship dynamics with vague references to work, but with slightly saltier language because it was on Fox.

[00:00:35] It's almost like a West Coast version of Friends, with a rotating cast of guest stars featuring the likes of Lisa Edelstein, Cathy Griffin, and even Jennifer Aniston.

[00:00:46] Brynn, Aaron, and Barry try to draw up a blueprint of why this one didn't last.

[00:00:53] We grew up during peak sitcom, Seinfeld, Friends, The Fresh Prince. But those shows were diamonds in the rough. This podcast is not about those diamonds. It's about the rough.

[00:01:05] Some sitcoms were briefly popular in their time. Some were canceled almost immediately. You probably won't recognize most of these, and you'll ask, That Was a Show?

[00:01:15] The podcast about failed or forgotten sitcoms from the 80s and 90s starring.

[00:01:30] Brynn, Bernie.

[00:01:32] Aaron Yeager.

[00:01:34] And Andrew Helmer as Barry.

[00:01:39] A radio gizmo production.

[00:01:45] Let's do it.

[00:01:49] Let's do it. Let's do a tight, do a tight, tight 70.

[00:01:55] A tight 70.

[00:01:57] All right. Now I just got to find the screen where your faces are. There it is.

[00:02:03] There it is. Welcome to another episode of What Is This Called Show?

[00:02:09] That was a show?

[00:02:11] Yes, that was a show. I believe this is our 71st episode. How about that?

[00:02:17] Wild. Wild.

[00:02:19] That's a lot.

[00:02:21] Can't believe that.

[00:02:23] That is, yeah.

[00:02:24] We're committed to this guys.

[00:02:26] That is commitment.

[00:02:28] Yeah.

[00:02:28] That is commitment, which many of the characters we've watched are afraid of.

[00:02:33] So you know, good for us. Good for us.

[00:02:37] How are you guys doing this week?

[00:02:39] I'm okay. I mean, looking forward to an extra day off because it's a long weekend here.

[00:02:45] That it is.

[00:02:46] That it is.

[00:02:47] So that'll be nice.

[00:02:48] It's Sunday and usually we record on Sundays and have to go back to the grind on Mondays.

[00:02:54] But not this week.

[00:02:55] Usually we go straight from recording right into Sunday's scary.

[00:03:00] Monday's scary.

[00:03:01] Yeah.

[00:03:02] They often hit me like maybe halfway through your recording.

[00:03:06] Yeah.

[00:03:07] We're like sort of muttering to myself between things.

[00:03:10] Yeah.

[00:03:10] From the epic high of talking about a failed sitcom

[00:03:16] to the dreary low of worrying about the coming week,

[00:03:20] I'm going to have to do some meal prep.

[00:03:24] Man.

[00:03:27] If I go to bed now, I can just forget all about it.

[00:03:33] That's my Sunday scary's voice.

[00:03:36] It's interesting that your strategy is like, oh, just go to bed.

[00:03:40] Mine is like, I'll stay up as long as I possibly can so that the weekend lasts longer.

[00:03:46] But that's never a good decision because then I'm tired the next day.

[00:03:50] So I mean,

[00:03:51] all I'm really looking to do from the moment I wake up in the morning is go back to bed.

[00:03:55] So it's, you know, I don't approach that like I in my I like how I'm talking like I'm ancient.

[00:04:04] But like in my later years, I'm a real like I'm a pretty early to bed guy now.

[00:04:12] Which is pretty funny because like you've known me for so long.

[00:04:15] Yeah, he's never been.

[00:04:16] I was a night owl.

[00:04:18] You know, I'd be up till 4 a.m.

[00:04:20] Go to work still, you know,

[00:04:22] bright eyed and not so wishy-tailed the next morning.

[00:04:25] But like now no, no, I'm settling in.

[00:04:27] You know, I'll have a cup of tea in a book and then I'm like, oh, I'm kind of sleepy.

[00:04:32] I'm just going to go to bed.

[00:04:32] I was going to ask you guys where you're at in watching Oscar stuff.

[00:04:39] But then my brain was like, oh, this episode's going to come out on March 15th.

[00:04:45] So the Oscars will be behind us.

[00:04:49] Yeah, I mean, we still have a lot to watch actually.

[00:04:52] Unfortunately, there's there's congratulations to

[00:04:56] Yeah, yeah, which won the big which won the big award on to insert movie title here.

[00:05:03] Which swept the awards to the dismay of insert.

[00:05:09] Yeah, audience demographic here.

[00:05:13] Yeah, I mean, we've seen I think we've seen most best picture

[00:05:19] nominations but there's a few that are still like I still need to watch.

[00:05:26] It's finished off in hammer yet.

[00:05:27] Oh, yeah, we finally finished off the hammer.

[00:05:29] Yeah, yeah, it was good.

[00:05:30] It was really good.

[00:05:31] Honestly, it was better than I was expecting.

[00:05:33] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:05:34] It was it was like it's I watched it again this week.

[00:05:38] The ending was quite profound actually.

[00:05:41] Yeah, it was well done.

[00:05:42] I feel like that's going to win.

[00:05:43] I feel like that's yeah, you know, I would have thought it was

[00:05:49] I mean, again, it's funny because we're probably talking and probably did win a few years ago.

[00:05:53] Everybody listening but like it you know in the lead up, I feel like we're a little

[00:05:58] you know, I think it was a slam dunk going to win for a long time.

[00:06:03] But over the last few months there's been a few like kind of dark horses kind of

[00:06:07] yeah, well have they done that?

[00:06:10] I don't think they've done this right where they were they're going to have a drama winner

[00:06:14] and a comedy winner.

[00:06:15] That's never the Oscar.

[00:06:16] That's that's a goal.

[00:06:18] That's the gloves.

[00:06:19] That's the gloves and the Emmys but

[00:06:21] the gloves also introduced this year.

[00:06:25] So the gloves do best drama than it's musical or comedy and then they did this year.

[00:06:32] I can't remember what they called it but essentially like best bet like crowd pleaser.

[00:06:37] Oh, I remember this yeah.

[00:06:39] So it went to it went to Barbie so it was like it was kind of like a for the first year they

[00:06:43] did it and you're like well that could have won anyway like for a best comedy.

[00:06:47] But I feel like that award will probably like my thing.

[00:06:50] And I don't understand that it'll end up going to something like like Avatar or something.

[00:06:57] See, it'll go to a big yeah, it'll go to a like a box office winner that wasn't like

[00:07:04] unawares darling.

[00:07:05] This is this is where I have to invoke the classic line from Mad Men.

[00:07:14] Don Draper says that's what the money is for.

[00:07:17] I don't understand why quote unquote a box office achievement needs to have an award on top of it.

[00:07:25] You know why that is the award.

[00:07:28] They made the most money.

[00:07:30] That's a great point and a great quote.

[00:07:32] And they had the most people talking about it on the internet.

[00:07:35] They had the most people eyeballs on it.

[00:07:37] That's an award.

[00:07:38] That's what you that's which that's what that's what it's about actually.

[00:07:42] It's not about it's not about the box office.

[00:07:46] What it is about is I think they're trying to bring it so maybe it's not as

[00:07:55] sorry, I'm muttering a lot.

[00:07:56] I know what you're it's not as lead.

[00:07:58] I know what you're saying.

[00:07:59] This was the movie most people talked about this year yada yada yada.

[00:08:03] I know what you're getting at.

[00:08:04] Here's what it comes down to.

[00:08:05] Why aren't you watching the award shows?

[00:08:07] Here's what it comes down to.

[00:08:08] Award shows are not just about doing what's right for the various films and artists that are

[00:08:14] theoretically nominated.

[00:08:16] It's what we'll bring in ratings on TV.

[00:08:19] That's what you're getting at.

[00:08:21] And so when a movie like if a movie like poor things were to win best picture,

[00:08:27] maybe it deserves it but the problem is 1% of the TV audience has even heard of it.

[00:08:32] And one tenth of 1% has seen it.

[00:08:35] And so that's not a way to get people to come back and watch the Oscars again next year.

[00:08:40] Yeah.

[00:08:40] Yep.

[00:08:41] Right.

[00:08:41] But if you're going to

[00:08:44] I don't even like really like awards for film.

[00:08:49] Really, like I don't really love it because there's always stuff that gets left out that really

[00:08:55] deserves it.

[00:08:55] So it's like to me it's like if you're going to do it, why don't you give it to be fricking

[00:09:01] elitist about it and give it to the things that are, you know, that aren't getting the flowers

[00:09:07] from the box office that aren't, you know, to give it.

[00:09:10] Let's also let's remember it's the globes.

[00:09:12] So don't.

[00:09:13] Yeah, yeah, it's just true.

[00:09:15] The globes is trying really hard to kind of get back what you know they remember they

[00:09:20] they they they took a pretty big hit to their yeah they they kind of blew themselves up and

[00:09:25] and we weren't sure if they would even come back as an award.

[00:09:28] But even just going back to the Oscars like let's remember the Oscars are a marketing

[00:09:33] spectacle for show business.

[00:09:36] Right?

[00:09:36] So to your point, the art house films that don't make the money,

[00:09:40] they can win the palm door at Khan.

[00:09:43] Okay, fine.

[00:09:44] So there is that angle which is that there are all of these film festivals and all of these other

[00:09:49] like critics sort of things where where films like that get reviewed versus like

[00:09:57] the Oscars has always kind of been about like being like the Super Bowl of movies.

[00:10:02] Yeah, yeah, it's a it's a it's spectacle.

[00:10:06] It's spectacle.

[00:10:07] Yeah, you know it's it's it's a as you know I've always enjoyed watching the awards even if

[00:10:13] half the movies I ended up forgetting, you know by the time the next year rolls around.

[00:10:18] But the whole thing is you know to let's let's all celebrate movies.

[00:10:22] Yeah, all that fun.

[00:10:23] My my personal feeling is that like if a movie can capture the attention of a very large

[00:10:30] audience while doing it artfully, then I think that's the ultimate like thing that's

[00:10:36] deserving of an Oscar in a sense because if you can actually overlap both of those things.

[00:10:42] Yeah, then that's like the ultimate achievement.

[00:10:45] Yeah, my big agree and one could argue that both for instance Barbie and Oppenheimer

[00:10:51] stand out as movies that are huge blockbusters that actually achieved their success artfully

[00:10:58] in interesting and unique ways.

[00:11:01] So I would argue that those are both kind of deserving in that Venn diagram

[00:11:06] that overlaps both our house and entertainment spectacle.

[00:11:10] But my grievance has always been that comedies always get kicked to the curb.

[00:11:15] And there's always and for me horror movies get kicked to the curb.

[00:11:19] There's always oftentimes you'll have a best performance hiding in one of those movies

[00:11:24] like Utonica, let's say one.

[00:11:26] Right so basically you've always had kind of a mainstream drama genre bias in these awards

[00:11:33] and as such like a movie like Oppenheimer is by far sort of slanted toward being most likely to win

[00:11:41] because it's a movie everyone's heard of.

[00:11:44] A lot of people saw it was done artfully but it is very squarely in the mainstream drama,

[00:11:51] historical drama sort of rail.

[00:11:54] Ticks the box.

[00:11:56] Ticks those boxes.

[00:11:57] And Barbie which you could argue was like just as big of an achievement on both the like spectacle side

[00:12:06] and the like creativity side right is like it might win but it's less likely to win

[00:12:15] and it's more because of genre reasons than because of the like art versus entertainment

[00:12:21] sort of issue.

[00:12:23] Yeah absolutely absolutely.

[00:12:25] So this is now podcast the battle.

[00:12:27] You know what?

[00:12:27] You know what?

[00:12:28] You know what did not win any awards and I'm not fact checking that is the 1995 to 96 television show

[00:12:39] Partners during John Crier and Tate Donovan and Maria Patillo.

[00:12:46] I don't think that won any awards.

[00:12:48] And that's what this podcast is all about.

[00:12:51] We're going to talk about you know the little guy,

[00:12:54] the little you know the little sitcom who wasn't even eligible for an academy award

[00:13:00] because it's a sitcom and that's not what those are for.

[00:13:06] Segway hard segway nice very nice partners was a show this

[00:13:14] Blanely somewhat likable series focused on three professional sands and frances get

[00:13:21] San Fransonians, franskis, San Franis, people 11 San Francisco professional ones at that.

[00:13:28] It was Maria Patillo's Alicia and Tate Donovan's Owen are a couple on their way to the altar

[00:13:35] and John Crier's Bob is the third wheel best friend constantly inserting himself into the

[00:13:40] relationship. Hi Jinks in Sue the series was created by Jeff Greenstein and Jeff Strowse

[00:13:47] and aired on NBC for one season between 1995 and 1996. Look at me go.

[00:13:57] See see sorry I thought this was a fox show.

[00:14:00] No, no.

[00:14:01] Didn't it are we sure about that? No, we're not.

[00:14:07] I mean I had a pretty I was pretty pretty confident.

[00:14:14] I just remember seeing something on the IMDB poster that said fox.

[00:14:23] It was fox.

[00:14:24] I just assumed because

[00:14:31] Yeah, this is an end. Okay. All right.

[00:14:34] Well you know we maybe just take that last.

[00:14:36] No, no, no, no, no, we're not we're not taking.

[00:14:39] We're proving our journalistic integrity here by the level of fact checking vigor

[00:14:48] that happens.

[00:14:51] All right audience sometimes we're lacking but at least one of us is on the ball.

[00:14:57] Some of us you know maybe half saw a picture of it and we're like I think it said fox on it

[00:15:03] and some of us were like this feels like an NBC show.

[00:15:06] Honestly though I did my intro on vibes.

[00:15:11] Let me see. No, no, no, you're right. You're right.

[00:15:13] Let me let me say on vibes alone.

[00:15:17] This was an NBC show.

[00:15:19] Oh, Jessie of you.

[00:15:21] Yeah, this is an NBC show that apparently aired on Fox.

[00:15:24] Yeah, let me say in yeah there we go.

[00:15:27] In defense of a very and that approach when I saw fox in an image online for this show

[00:15:35] I thought that doesn't seem right.

[00:15:38] This feels more like an NBC show and I think that's also because it's yes there's the Aniston

[00:15:46] cameo. Yeah, but also it's a Gen X hangout show.

[00:15:50] Yeah, and like they were the ones who did that.

[00:15:52] They were trying to do their version of it obviously.

[00:15:54] So I guess this was Fox brutally ripping off that style.

[00:15:57] You know what I'm saying?

[00:15:58] This is called friends and this is partners so it's like even a title is like you know.

[00:16:04] Yeah, and it's it's very interesting because

[00:16:08] I guess like right off the bat I would say is like this show's fine.

[00:16:12] It's completely fine.

[00:16:14] Every day, you know everybody's working.

[00:16:16] The writing's not bad.

[00:16:19] Some of the performances up and down totally.

[00:16:23] But like maybe on NBC this would have worked.

[00:16:26] I don't know, right?

[00:16:27] Like it's maybe the tone was offered.

[00:16:30] I've seen worse.

[00:16:32] Yeah, it's certainly not as a risk a as a Fox show.

[00:16:39] All there is one joke in the second episode we covered that I was pretty impressed to get past

[00:16:50] the sensors.

[00:16:52] I wonder what I'm not sure I remember the joke you're talking about but save it for when we

[00:16:57] describe that episode.

[00:16:58] Okay.

[00:16:59] All right.

[00:16:59] I want you to recount that.

[00:17:01] So it was it was it was it made me laugh just on the sheer like oh shit.

[00:17:07] The audacity of that one is pretty.

[00:17:09] Yeah, all right.

[00:17:10] All right.

[00:17:10] Let's talk about it.

[00:17:11] Yeah, what made you pick this one?

[00:17:13] Oh, you know, big fan of partners going way back.

[00:17:17] Just love it.

[00:17:18] I love I love John Kriyer.

[00:17:20] You know, what a what a performer he is.

[00:17:25] No, you know why I saw a picture of it.

[00:17:28] I do like Tate Donovan quite a bit.

[00:17:31] Yeah, I you know, I love me some Jimmy Cooper.

[00:17:34] Jimmy Cooper yeah.

[00:17:35] From the O.C.

[00:17:36] Yeah, half of our audience knows and half them doesn't.

[00:17:41] I went down a bit of a rabbit hole on this because I was like oh like I saw that Jennifer

[00:17:48] so all right spoiler alert for episode 17 which is the second one we covered.

[00:17:53] Uh, Jennifer Aniston shows up.

[00:17:55] Yeah, and I was like oh yeah, like uh, they uh you know he was on friends later on and then

[00:18:02] I was just like oh, I think they dated.

[00:18:05] Yeah, and then I you know, I went down a little rabbit hole and I was like oh, they were engaged

[00:18:11] uh, and they were dating on this but we're broken up by the time he was on friends.

[00:18:17] Yeah, or actually we're right in the middle of breaking up while they were on friends.

[00:18:22] Uh, so I was curious because they do have very good chemistry.

[00:18:27] Yeah.

[00:18:27] On on friends.

[00:18:28] Yeah.

[00:18:29] And it was funny because here they don't really interact and I think it was because

[00:18:33] they're like well we don't want to distract because they were a very high profile relationship

[00:18:37] at that point.

[00:18:37] Yeah.

[00:18:38] He had just come off of dating San Diego.

[00:18:42] Sandra Bullock yeah.

[00:18:43] And uh, yeah.

[00:18:44] Well, it's all so interesting.

[00:18:45] So many of America's sweethearts he's

[00:18:48] yeah, and Tate Donovan so at least in the pilot like you know Tate Donovan like barges into

[00:18:54] the scene.

[00:18:54] You know he looks like he's cosplaying you know,

[00:18:58] John Travolta's Michael uh, he's got like this long flowing hair

[00:19:03] and like a trench coat and uh, I you know, I always hooked right right right from go.

[00:19:11] So I'll just uh well, this is a chaotic episode guys.

[00:19:15] I you know, I assume we're about 13 minutes in and uh if you all still listening uh,

[00:19:24] yeah, K chaos.

[00:19:25] You want to describe the plot?

[00:19:27] No.

[00:19:27] Okay.

[00:19:28] Yeah.

[00:19:29] In it.

[00:19:30] So no, I just want to keep going.

[00:19:36] I just I just want to keep going.

[00:19:38] Okay.

[00:19:39] Let's just let him use on a flow.

[00:19:40] Okay.

[00:19:40] If we're just going to keep going.

[00:19:42] I was kidding.

[00:19:43] I have a whole thing you do.

[00:19:45] I got a notebook here.

[00:19:47] Honestly, the plot of this episode is so so so so so.

[00:19:52] So thin that if you said it's not worth it,

[00:19:55] I would be okay with it.

[00:19:57] Yeah, it is very it's very thin.

[00:19:59] But if you prepared you prepared a statement let's hear it.

[00:20:02] It's probably I'll probably start riffing.

[00:20:06] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:20:06] In the middle of doing it as as is my want.

[00:20:09] Yeah, so you know, episode one is obviously the first

[00:20:13] when we watched because this week we could actually find

[00:20:17] the first episode.

[00:20:18] Yeah.

[00:20:19] Uh, and so, you know, we're introduced to

[00:20:23] the life of our partners both Owen and Alicia

[00:20:29] who are the partners in life but also Bob and Owen

[00:20:33] who are partners in business.

[00:20:35] So it's a you see it's a uh,

[00:20:37] a little bit of a little double double on tanger

[00:20:39] there but not not in a sexy way.

[00:20:43] And those two are both big shot architects

[00:20:46] so they're partners together but like let's get serious.

[00:20:48] They're also like best friends and they're also kind of partners in life.

[00:20:52] This is like a very boundaries with each other.

[00:20:54] There's no boundaries, uh, you know,

[00:20:57] that John Cryer is the real what we call in the business.

[00:21:01] He's the real Barry in a relationship, you know.

[00:21:04] Uh, he's privy to the entire relationship both sides of it.

[00:21:09] They both like him.

[00:21:11] You know, he's on one side but not really like he's on both sides.

[00:21:16] You know they like him so uh in the first episode

[00:21:20] we're basically introduced to all these people

[00:21:23] but Owen is very nervous and this is uh,

[00:21:26] you know, apparently out of character even though he kind of seems like a

[00:21:29] pretty nervous guy.

[00:21:30] Yeah, he does come across as a bit neurotic so yeah.

[00:21:33] Yeah, which is an interesting you know,

[00:21:35] it's weird to see Tahtonovan play somebody not like super cool and collected

[00:21:40] on the on the outside.

[00:21:42] Yeah.

[00:21:43] Cause this guy is kind of like a neurotic mess.

[00:21:47] So he's all nervous and like, you know,

[00:21:49] Owen and uh, Lee Shared, or sorry Bob and

[00:21:51] Alicia trying to figure it out.

[00:21:53] And really what has come down is he's gonna uh,

[00:21:56] he's going to propose to Alicia.

[00:21:58] Uh, so we're going to get into some long form storytelling

[00:22:01] on the show right off the bat.

[00:22:03] We got a wedding in the first season which is the whole overerking plot of it.

[00:22:07] Uh, but first he he can't do it.

[00:22:10] He can't do it and the reason why is because uh,

[00:22:13] Bob is the one who makes all the moves

[00:22:16] and does all the talking in his life.

[00:22:19] So he needs Bob's help to propose uh,

[00:22:22] to his girlfriend who's crazy about him uh,

[00:22:25] which you know, I don't know if I would go to Bob with this.

[00:22:30] Um, but then again people go to me with things that I get confused

[00:22:35] as to why they could possibly think my advice would count.

[00:22:39] Uh, and that's kind of Bob here.

[00:22:41] Bob is just like just sort of like helps him.

[00:22:43] He's like, I don't know.

[00:22:44] Just don't worry about talking.

[00:22:46] Just put the ring in a glass of champagne or or oysters.

[00:22:51] And of course, you're like,

[00:22:54] of course you're like, champagne is a great idea.

[00:22:56] But Owen was like, Owen was only half-listing and he's like,

[00:23:00] yes, oysters.

[00:23:02] That's a regular thing uh, that happens.

[00:23:05] Is that a regular thing that happens to people put in a box?

[00:23:08] No, I don't.

[00:23:08] Okay, but I feel like it was a 90s trope though.

[00:23:12] So like put,

[00:23:13] like put an engagement ring in food or in a beverage.

[00:23:18] Yeah, hiding an engagement ring in a thing.

[00:23:20] I don't understand.

[00:23:21] I'm like, I don't want my champagne ruined by like you know,

[00:23:25] okay, just don't why or my beautiful new engagement ring being in food

[00:23:30] or my beverage.

[00:23:32] I feel like just having it in like just dipped into a mollusk is not really weird.

[00:23:38] But what I will say is it was almost worth it for the fact that it was

[00:23:43] it led to one of the only moments I kind of liked in the episode which was

[00:23:48] I thought I thought the gag played off really nice.

[00:23:51] Yeah, the idea that the character would do that is stupid.

[00:23:55] But the gag that results is actually quite clever.

[00:23:58] So so he gets the ring put in the oysters and he's try so cuts to them at dinner

[00:24:03] and they're he's trying to get her to have that last oyster because she's

[00:24:07] she's full you know forgetting the fact that you don't have oysters at the end of the meal.

[00:24:12] You have at the beginning.

[00:24:13] Yeah, I'm at the beginning and they're not filling.

[00:24:15] And they're not and they're not filling.

[00:24:17] Uh, but maybe she doesn't like oysters.

[00:24:19] I don't know anyways.

[00:24:20] She has the last oyster and I think everybody in the audience, you know when she doesn't

[00:24:27] find a ring everybody's like oh she swallowed the ring.

[00:24:30] Yeah, she must have swallowed it.

[00:24:33] And he's like where is it?

[00:24:34] You know this is ridiculous and she's like what are you talking about and then

[00:24:38] across the restaurant somebody else who ordered oysters has a ring in their oyster

[00:24:43] and thinks that they're proposing.

[00:24:45] Uh, and it all plays out like the timing of it really manages to sell the gag.

[00:24:52] Yeah, and then like he's so neurotic that he's like oh shit I gotta go get that ring

[00:24:57] and he's just like uh I'll be right back will you marry me?

[00:25:00] I'll be right back and like yeah it's pretty immune.

[00:25:04] That was pretty funny.

[00:25:04] Yeah, I thought I was key.

[00:25:05] I thought I was key.

[00:25:06] The way he doesn't know what to do so he's sort of stuck and he realizes like okay,

[00:25:10] well you marry me I'll be right back like the way that he yeah that was actually like.

[00:25:14] I feel like I would have planned it like I think I might have leaned into the sweetness of the

[00:25:18] moment where she's where he's like well you marry me and she's like yes he goes great

[00:25:22] I'll be right back and then that's what I would have done.

[00:25:24] Yeah, but it was a pretty good execution of that gag.

[00:25:29] It was fun.

[00:25:29] It was fun.

[00:25:30] So the rest of the episode is essentially you know we see that Bob helps

[00:25:37] Owen with some of his issues but also Bob hinders as well.

[00:25:42] So you know Bob get the rest of the episode is basically them fighting over when the wedding

[00:25:48] is going to be which again and I notice this several times over the course of the show.

[00:25:55] This show having the two lead writers just be two dudes really seem to be coming at this from

[00:26:04] from a very very male oriented we don't understand women at all.

[00:26:10] Yeah, and you're just like the next day they're like oh we've got the date and you're like nobody's

[00:26:15] got the fucking date the day after the engagement.

[00:26:18] No, it's not even determined by what date it's always determined by your venue unfortunately.

[00:26:25] But these guys are like so weddings work right?

[00:26:28] Yeah, yeah.

[00:26:29] And then there's like there's where they're trying to figure out and this kind of siments itself when

[00:26:34] they're going through like all these dates of when they are and then they say March 16th and she's

[00:26:41] like I can't do it it's a bad time and and he's she and they're like why is this bad feminine time

[00:26:48] because her period falls on the exact same day of the month every single month

[00:26:56] like and it's just like one of those things where you're like I don't know guys well

[00:27:01] I don't want that joke a period is a week long and so it's nothing it falls on the same week

[00:27:09] it's just during the week of her period.

[00:27:11] Yes, it just seems so I actually liked that joke I feel like there are not enough period jokes.

[00:27:17] Mary you just proved your previous point of why it needed a female writer

[00:27:22] I actually liked the period joke I thought it was good because it's like a nightmare to like

[00:27:30] have your wedding during that time because you're wearing a guy and white dress.

[00:27:35] I think highlighting the week would have made it better yeah well she said time she said time

[00:27:41] the whole but let's put it this way it's a bad feminine time the whole scene was pretty weak

[00:27:46] for me that was like pretty weak that was like the lowest point of the episode in general

[00:27:50] because a because they wouldn't be just in a vacuum picking a day immediately the idea that

[00:27:57] this friend like it's just laying it on so thick the way that this friend Bob is interjecting

[00:28:03] himself into the situation.

[00:28:06] It's like you all out the audience know John Cryer is it's a very John Cryer specific

[00:28:14] like concern because you're like if you have John Cryer in your life this is this is what he's

[00:28:21] doing sorry a John Cryer character I don't know yeah I don't know any about John Cryer

[00:28:29] he's a famous actor who's got lots going on for him but the characters that he plays are

[00:28:35] often these characters yeah right yeah this is this is the type oh I actually so it's a while

[00:28:46] since we've done a show that tackles the sort of age and themes and and style of this one and

[00:28:56] I'll take your word for I don't even remember what our last episode I don't either but I do

[00:29:00] is flying blind wasn't it right what the hell's flying blind I barely know um I like a mid 90s

[00:29:12] Gen X angsty hangout show yeah I like that type of show in theory have I don't think I've seen one

[00:29:20] said in San Francisco before um I got briefly excited because I thought it was the ambassador

[00:29:26] Bridget beginning then I was like oh it's golden I kind of like the overall premise of you know

[00:29:36] a character who has a partner like a life partner and a sort of business or work friendship partner

[00:29:45] who's that third wheel like all of that made sense to me my biggest problem with this was the

[00:29:52] specific choice of plots and and storylines that they covered not less like more so than the execution

[00:29:59] was just like that was like a fine concept a fine execution but the writing in between the concept

[00:30:07] and the execution of actually choosing those plot lines choosing those storylines was my least

[00:30:14] favorite part of it save for maybe the clothing and facial hair which is insufferable

[00:30:22] John Criers go to me made me physically ill yeah yeah I hated it and I love that you know we'll

[00:30:28] get into it but in the second episode we watched a major plot line was him shaving it and

[00:30:35] that really made me happy because that was a rose go to that was like a really a lot

[00:30:40] for me things a lot better once that thing comes up yeah it makes it all it like I happen to click

[00:30:46] into a future episode and it stays off that's good yeah maybe they got a lot of feedback from

[00:30:52] from audience testing whether they're like I just can't look at this yeah they got the back

[00:30:57] they got the back nine order on the on the season and they're like but that that Van Dyke has

[00:31:02] got to go yeah it's gotta go yeah the women were actually styled nicely remember fine I felt

[00:31:09] the men were styled terribly I liked um I liked some good curly hair representation uh yeah

[00:31:18] with um uh yeah she's so she was so cute and she just had like they had a really good

[00:31:24] off good 90s outfits on her like it was the women were fine they looked good yeah I like I like

[00:31:31] Terrellot in general yeah what's his name the delight the other guy not John cry or take Donovan

[00:31:37] even he's a very handsome man and they're putting him in these shirts that are two sizes too big

[00:31:45] in these awkward suspenders his waste his wake Michael he's look at John Trault's as Michael yeah

[00:31:52] you'll see exactly his outfit the waist is up at his stomach and I'm just like by 1995

[00:32:00] you could have done better like this was not I don't I it was hard I've never seen somebody's

[00:32:06] guandertate Donovan so yeah exactly exactly exactly it's like that out it's not that the outfits

[00:32:12] a problem it's the pairing of that outfit with him and you're like what are we doing here yeah

[00:32:18] it's all it's all yeah because again this is these are not characters that are

[00:32:25] you know one-offs that are popping in for an episode this is your core cast you know this is a

[00:32:30] this is a hangout show I need to look at these people weekend and week out and they were hard

[00:32:38] to look at these guys with those choices as brin points out is is dressed very well yeah yeah

[00:32:45] she's great I especially liked her cute little outfit with it was just the simple jeans white

[00:32:50] t-shirt and the little vest I was like that is it good 90s look she looks very put together

[00:32:57] to the vest yeah she looks so cute there was another thing I really appreciated and this was

[00:33:03] it's weird but layup show caps with the two of them in their bedroom continuing continuing

[00:33:08] a fight that they've been having the little episode yeah uh this is the smallest thing ever

[00:33:13] but you never see it because sound stages they're in socks yeah they're they're not in shoes yeah

[00:33:20] because you watch any episode of friends they're sitting on their bed they're wearing shoes for

[00:33:25] not a reason it drives me insane yeah very good point very very good point I noticed the socks too

[00:33:31] that's sad that said one more complaint about production design is I felt that the home I guess

[00:33:38] it's Tate Donovan's characters home it is yes um yeah that the other two are always at because I

[00:33:47] guess well it's a big set yeah anyway it did not feel like it suited him or for her or them in general

[00:33:59] it looked like a home set from like a stock mid 90s family sitcom where like older adults who

[00:34:07] have kids are living in the suburbs whereas like these are architects so I kind of care what his

[00:34:14] home looks like it's funny you should mention that because it's it's a worse dressed version of

[00:34:21] Ted Mosby's apartment yeah from how I met your mother who is also an architect uh ink like complete

[00:34:29] with the placement of a drafting desk and like but just it didn't really work I mean you know this

[00:34:36] it was not a good set I happen to see what Bob's apartment looks like in another episode okay and

[00:34:44] like it's a lot more modest and like downer than I I feel like maybe because they don't show it

[00:34:51] till later uh maybe they were like all right we kind of fucked up with our maker I guess I feel like

[00:34:58] you know maybe a small piece of advice for any writers who are planning a show where the protagonist

[00:35:05] is an architect look at what an architect's home is like okay whether it's a small modest one bedroom

[00:35:12] condo or a large spacious mansion not really about how big it is or how expensive it is it's more

[00:35:20] just like a successful architect would have like more purposeful interesting interior choices I'm

[00:35:29] gonna I'm gonna put another suggestion out there if you're right in your your pilot right now

[00:35:34] we don't need anymore shows of a fucking architect it's not relatable to anyone it's you know

[00:35:42] you're gonna write a monologue yeah about the you know how building a fucking skyscraper somehow

[00:35:50] relates to love or so right and we get it true and furthermore and furthermore to the laziness

[00:35:57] in the first episode there are a couple of scenes where the two guys have dialogue about some

[00:36:03] sort of work related project where they're trying to save some sort of marketing some sort of

[00:36:09] pitch yeah and the problem is that it's a lot of mumbo jumbo that goes by really fast but it doesn't

[00:36:16] it's neither interesting nor does it feel specific enough to architecture like it just mumbo

[00:36:21] jumbo it was just it was basically just filler like these two guys work together they're dealing

[00:36:26] with some guy on the phone and it's just a lot of fast talking scene filler but it clearly

[00:36:32] that just had to be gotten out of the way so they could get back to the main plot but it was like

[00:36:37] I don't know again it's like it's a very big choice to say this show has two guys who both run

[00:36:43] like an architecture firm okay now that you've committed to that yeah gets some authenticity in there

[00:36:50] so we assume they run this firm because the show is called partners uh and all this but then

[00:36:57] we're constantly they're constantly referring to their bosses and stuff like that and I'm like I

[00:37:02] don't even know if these guys are partners in the firm or if it's called I don't think the show

[00:37:06] runners knew I will say this so so some of the when they started going down the like uh let's

[00:37:15] argue about the wedding date things yeah at first and the show doesn't realize it I'm like okay

[00:37:20] some of his points are fine because they are they do have work commitments so you you know

[00:37:28] you can't book it on certain days based on that and I was but I don't think the show realizes

[00:37:34] that those were okay things to him for him to say right yeah the show thinks it's already ridiculous

[00:37:40] and you're like no if you did have that project do that week and it's a big client yeah you're

[00:37:46] probably not going to schedule your wedding for that day and it is helpful that your work partner

[00:37:51] tells you that but yeah and it's also the whole argument is that it's gonna disrupt the work

[00:37:56] project but it's like it's also like you don't want an important life event at the same time

[00:38:02] as a stressful thing yeah like you you want to be able to focus on the important life event and not

[00:38:09] I mean think about workable shit let's get serious I mean oh and no one's not out of that entire

[00:38:15] wedding planning it's all gonna be Alicia right and Bob there's gonna be many episodes of Bob

[00:38:22] doing wedding yeah um I will give a positive shout out to I quite enjoyed the assistant character

[00:38:31] yeah she was funny in the office yeah yeah there's a real real Jeanine Melnet type yeah right um

[00:38:38] yeah so the whole thing with her is that she's like very unlucky she keeps getting into like

[00:38:43] little accidents and getting sick and all sorts of like so every time there's always a crisis

[00:38:48] something whenever she's on screen she's complaining about like oh the doctor prescribed the wrong

[00:38:54] thing and blah blah or whatever it is and so she's like this sort of chlamille archetype but like

[00:39:01] it's a very but what's interesting about it is it's not like the typical like on the nose casting

[00:39:09] for like the kinds of things that she's complaining about and it nor does it feel like she's

[00:39:14] clumsy or that she's a bad assistant or anything like that she seems like a perfectly smart

[00:39:20] effective person who you know just it well dressed everything who just like these things get happening

[00:39:28] rotten luck and like look I like when like Bob is like saying like oh don't you ever just kind of

[00:39:34] like want to like wrap your arms around her and tell her it's gonna be okay or something like that

[00:39:38] and then oh one's like I would but I'm afraid of whatever it was about to hit her is gonna hit me

[00:39:44] yeah exactly exactly that was a pretty fun line so yeah they did a very efficient job of setting up

[00:39:51] now like how much how much legs you can get out of such a specific character

[00:39:56] characterization I don't know yeah presumably that after a third dimension to her at some point

[00:40:02] I think she's not even in that many episodes she's like in half the episodes maybe she made

[00:40:07] the regular cast yeah she's the fourth cast member in the credits true there's another you know

[00:40:13] a thorough through where like they're arguing about like on oh god on on cryers 30th birthday which

[00:40:21] made me go oh my god yeah there's so they're supposed to be so young and I'm so much I'm so much

[00:40:26] older than these sitcoms starter characters now that it just like really upsets me yeah it's

[00:40:31] upset it is very exciting they're gonna go skydiving on his 30th birthday with which A no not

[00:40:37] that character not none of those characters are doing it or do what it did lead to a very sweet

[00:40:42] and it was so she forbids oh and from going skydiving and it becomes a thing like you can't do

[00:40:49] that skydiving for those of you who don't know was very big in the 90s it was like everybody yeah

[00:40:56] every century uncle Jess uncle Jesse missed his wedding because of skydiving like it was every

[00:41:02] sitcom did they had a plot line about skydiving or bungee jumping fuck yeah that is a weird trope

[00:41:09] but because I'm sad and single I actually had the thought that comes out in the episode later on

[00:41:17] which is Bob is talking to Owen where like you know she Alicia is stormed out and she's like wow

[00:41:23] I can't believe you know she won't let you go skydiving he's like I know and then Bob's like

[00:41:29] I've never had anybody like care enough about me to want to stop from jumping out of a plane and I was

[00:41:35] like I had had that exact moment earlier in the episode where I was like man what's it man must be

[00:41:41] nice to have somebody not I was like I could go skydiving any day no one would stop me and then

[00:41:48] and then it came and then it came out in the episode I was like oh okay I get it yeah and I was

[00:41:54] like oh I was that was actually kind of a sweet turn like oh cryer is the the bury of this uh

[00:42:01] and I I liked that bedroom scene with the socks and the way they resolved that in general

[00:42:06] the only thing I thought was a little weird was that potted plant gag yeah I didn't understand

[00:42:12] what was going on there yeah so he goes into the room she's behind this potted plant and she's

[00:42:18] throwing bits of it out and I have like to I think she's trying to prune it or something her face

[00:42:24] was stuck in the plant so that you couldn't see her face and she's like pulling leaves out and

[00:42:28] talking to him through the plant maybe you're right but if that were the case uh brand I feel

[00:42:35] like they set dressed the wrong plan yeah yeah because it was not a plant that required no

[00:42:40] yeah yeah it was a very strange choice it was a weird it was like banana leaves like yeah

[00:42:46] yeah it was plastic for what yeah very strange like they wanted to give her some sort of

[00:42:51] business so that it wasn't just two people looking at each other talking but like she was kind of

[00:42:57] I get the idea of her kind of hiding in the corner avoiding this conversation or like not or

[00:43:04] being annoyed by the tone that he brought into the conversation so I understood the desire to

[00:43:10] give her character some sort of business but that specific choice wow I still stand by I don't

[00:43:18] think these two guys I don't think Jeff and Jeff were we're big on writing uh yeah on big on

[00:43:25] writing writing up their their female characters which is a perfect segue into episode 17 yeah

[00:43:32] let's get into it uh in which uh the let's just uh with a little friends there the one where

[00:43:39] where friends happens the one one where Jennifer Aniston stops by uh so playing off of their

[00:43:47] high profile romance at the time as well as uh Aniston's huge you know uh break out success

[00:43:56] 19 you know early 96 this is real you know friends is huge right which is again why I assumed

[00:44:08] this was NBC because this would be a natural bit of synergy to bring to have Jennifer Aniston boost

[00:44:16] up your show in a way that I feel like this wouldn't happen today because I can't imagine

[00:44:26] lending your big one of your big stars to prop up another networks project

[00:44:32] and less and I would thought that too unless for some reason there was a quid pro quo maybe

[00:44:38] like it must there was some sort of trade where NBC let Fox borrow her for a one episode cameo

[00:44:45] and exchange they got to like borrow some Fox star for an episode yeah I'm sure it was or maybe

[00:44:51] it allowed uh Aniston to work on a project that you know required any anyway Aniston's there uh

[00:45:00] another thin thin plot episode yeah I would go with even thinner yeah and and maybe that's just

[00:45:08] this show and honestly I appreciate a show that is uh more just about like let's bounce these

[00:45:15] characters off each other I like that you know like when when our sitcoms get too plot heavy especially

[00:45:22] the bad ones that's when you lose be a little you know not everybody's sign felt not everybody can pull

[00:45:28] off intricate plotting yeah don't try unless you're willing to like go the distance on that

[00:45:35] you know a lot of a lot of these shows would have been a lot better to just bounce their characters

[00:45:40] off each other yeah uh so in this one uh we're getting a visit from soup CPA Suzanne who is there

[00:45:48] their accountant uh who works uh who does the boys taxes uh and uh we know that you know

[00:45:56] just from them talking about oh she's pretty hot uh and Tate Donovan is like I think she's got a

[00:46:02] really big crush on me uh and he keeps saying it with like this winking eye and we're like I

[00:46:08] I guess bud like what's going on and then it's Jennifer Aniston you're like oh okay I get it

[00:46:13] so you think that the episode is gonna be her throwing herself at Tate Donovan the whole time

[00:46:17] yeah but as soon as she's with the two boys she asked Tate Donovan to go get her some water uh

[00:46:23] and she's all over John Cryer in like the least convincing like make-outs I've ever seen

[00:46:32] from to it like I am never seen they're sucking face they're instantly sucking face but also like

[00:46:38] dispassionately don't want to be like the actors don't want to be touching each other so yeah

[00:46:45] so like which also I mean this obviously goes directly into the plot but like when I saw that I was

[00:46:52] like with that go T as I go poor Jennifer well I wrote down she has to make out with that go T

[00:46:59] like I can't well you know she's also like right off the bat like she's taught like they're talking

[00:47:05] about how hot each they think each other is and like you know one of them is 1996 Jennifer Aniston

[00:47:12] yeah so you get where he's coming from yeah but then there's John Cryer sitting in there with like

[00:47:19] a with a Dante Hicks van Dyke and a giant giant sweater vest uh and like and you're like

[00:47:28] what are you talking about yeah yeah what is going on yeah it's like you realize that her

[00:47:34] hotness doesn't rub off on other people just because they're within a certain like a three-feet

[00:47:40] of proximity or something like this is not right I'm not casting you know like I'm not in any way

[00:47:46] slattering John Cryer's looks I'm talking about the way this character presents himself yeah

[00:47:54] the way this character is styled and presents himself to people is it's not a mess

[00:48:01] he's he's a hot mess yeah so essentially the whole episode she looks like she looked just as

[00:48:07] well styled as unfriends she looks like she walked right off of her yeah one sound stage to the other

[00:48:13] her normal smoke show self you know great hair great everything just like yeah yeah yeah we're

[00:48:19] in good Rachel green hair territory yeah we're not in when we're not in in shady one so like

[00:48:27] you know and also like you know her being like a really successful accountant I feel like her

[00:48:34] outfit choices make sense a lot more here than being like a shitty waitress in in New York so

[00:48:42] uh you know good good good good use of aniston it's it's weird it's a weird

[00:48:49] there's a lot of aniston in this but I don't think that she gets to be very funny in it um

[00:48:57] there's not a lot to her character except for like hot cold like throwing yourself at John Cryer

[00:49:04] and then you know they break up by the end of the episode because of course they do they have to

[00:49:10] she's Jennifer Aniston she hope she has to go back to Central Perk uh and you know there's a whole

[00:49:16] plot about how she gets them the shavest goatee thank god uh and then she's like I have these problems

[00:49:23] with you and I thought that it you know I could you know fix them gradually and I would be into you

[00:49:30] but it's not working for me and you're like I don't know you were throwing yourself out yeah

[00:49:35] exactly what we thought we were like wait so she's not attracted to him if she's not attracted to him

[00:49:42] why would she like shoving her tongue down as though immediately all over him with the goatee

[00:49:48] yeah so when she got him to shave it I was like okay well she clearly is really into this guy

[00:49:54] and now that she feels comfortable enough with him that she can bring up this one nitpicking thing

[00:49:59] that she you know finds him super hot in spite of the hideous goatee she finally feels you know

[00:50:06] secure enough in knowing him for a little bit of time to be like by the way I'd love it if

[00:50:10] you shaved this off and I shouted yes yeah they were both like um please just shave it you know

[00:50:19] but yeah it doesn't make any sense there's a lot of interesting okay so hear me out on a weird little

[00:50:26] like there's some interesting dramatic ideas in this episode that are all very poorly executed

[00:50:34] okay I like the idea of this character not being sure about him and trying to figure out what it is

[00:50:43] that isn't working for but it's not played that way yeah you don't get to see that because we don't

[00:50:49] really spend any time with her always see is her like being so crazy for him it would have been nice

[00:50:58] if we had seen a little bit of like something's not working for right but that's not how the goatee

[00:51:05] thing comes up like the goatee thing comes up almost in a weird like I can't you know it feels like

[00:51:10] she's gonna ask him to do something sexually and that's going to be where this episode is going to

[00:51:15] yeah like some sort of kinky sexual thing I've never asked a guy I've never asked a guy to do this before

[00:51:20] and like I thought she's gonna like ask him to be on her or something yeah she's like I don't know

[00:51:26] oh it's it's very intimate I don't know if I even feel comfortable asking yeah and like so but I

[00:51:33] like the elements like this is the fox coming out yeah yeah I like the elements of somebody like

[00:51:41] liking somebody but maybe not being fully attracted to them yeah trying to figure out a way to it

[00:51:46] and then realizing I'm sorry you know I'm trying to change you this isn't there's interesting

[00:51:50] else yes this also leads me to the last act of the episode which I don't know what the fuck was going on

[00:51:59] and I think a lot of it comes off too and I'm sorry I know I'm gonna apologize to longtime friend

[00:52:06] and listener of the show John Cryer I don't understand a single acting choice you made in the last

[00:52:14] act of this episode because he goes on along you know she dumps him on Valentine's Day I don't

[00:52:22] whatever that's the whole plot of the episode sorry I didn't bring it up earlier guys it's Valentine's

[00:52:27] Day they go on a double date on Valentine's Day because it's a sitcom uh whatever so she dumps

[00:52:34] him and then through weird plotting oh one's out of the picture getting sick somewhere and we're left

[00:52:42] with just Alicia and Bob at the table and this should be a kind of sweet scene you know where she's

[00:52:48] sort of like telling him you know like kind of profit him up a bit uh but what we really you know

[00:52:54] what we get is he tells this kind of cute story about how I really just want to find somebody to go

[00:52:59] dig clams with me you know in the future and like it's awkwardly written but then he's like come on

[00:53:06] let's go dig clams together and you're like okay this is funny you know like he's like but he's sort

[00:53:11] of playing it like he's kind of coming on there yeah and it's kind of like he seriously is

[00:53:16] and she's playing it like I'm a little weirded out here bud let's take it down a notch

[00:53:22] and then the episode ends with us still thinking this is sweet because they they go dance together

[00:53:29] uh and they're playing all the right notes of this is a sweet moment for them as friends

[00:53:36] but I couldn't help but be creeped out by the previous scene and I was like

[00:53:43] I would have liked to see in there where you know she helps him kind of get through some

[00:53:49] self-esteem issues you know by being like you're a really nice guy you know and we're such

[00:53:54] you know you're a great friend I don't know why it's creepy I don't get why that scene exists

[00:54:01] yeah it's a creepy way that it's very weird the way that he okay he kind of gets dumped on valentines

[00:54:10] day she happens to be there so yes it could have been a sweet scene but he's I think the two of them

[00:54:17] play off very well together and I like them having a friendship yes but it immediately pivots

[00:54:23] he immediately pivots from getting dumped by the woman he was dating to yes like you said not

[00:54:31] release comedically or sarcastically but a way that seems quite earnest and sincere yeah and he

[00:54:38] slam and scotch yeah he's basically getting hammered and then just starts hitting on his best friend's

[00:54:44] fiance basically yeah and he's like this just got very awkward and uncomfortable

[00:54:52] and I I didn't understand a lick of it no I wasn't sure how I'm supposed to feel no the other

[00:55:01] thing I didn't understand is how the I guess you'd call it the B story of the other character getting

[00:55:09] sick felt like the laziest writing I've seen in a long time and that weird herbal medicine thing

[00:55:18] was like I don't know if it's offensive or not it might be but it was definitely lazy it was definitely

[00:55:26] like we need something for him yeah thank you for my name because that's the joke I wanted to

[00:55:34] bring back so I keep on calling Jimmy Cooper but Owen is sick because the plot needs him to be

[00:55:42] yeah we goes into the office he's talking to their assistant and she gives him some let's just call

[00:55:50] it a naturopathic remedy because she's always sick so she has yeah yeah and I think it's called

[00:55:59] something really generic like curing oil yeah and so he does the I drop her on his tongue right yeah

[00:56:06] and he's like what's in this and she's like jinsing you know herbs blah blah blah and a condo semen

[00:56:14] which okay let's get serious jokes snakes don't have semen everybody or do they hit me up

[00:56:20] I don't know yeah and he's gotten in his mouth and to get past sensors he says you mean no

[00:56:29] columnist oh I didn't hear that I didn't catch that and I was just like Bravo thank you network

[00:56:39] because I'm sure they could you know if not if the sensors brought that up I'm sure they could be

[00:56:45] like you heard him say what yeah because I missed it I missed what he said yeah and it got

[00:56:54] a very big laugh out of me mostly because I wasn't expecting to hear that yeah relatively innocent show

[00:57:03] and that's yeah well they made an erect nipple joke in the first one which I thought was

[00:57:08] a little it's true well it was so that would have been funnier if he because uh

[00:57:15] cryer feels his his chest and he's like is one of your nipples really erect uh and that's because

[00:57:22] the rings in there which would make sense if the ring was out in his pocket but he has it

[00:57:29] in a full he's like container yeah he's gonna have it like a loose in there yeah and like

[00:57:36] it's funny though because clearly in between script to filming somebody was like nobody's carrying

[00:57:45] around a ring just loose in their pocket that's really stupid yeah uh and they were like well I

[00:57:51] already wrote the lines so do whatever you want I don't care you're right there was yeah yet another

[00:57:57] case of the wardrobe and set design being in conflict with the characters yeah there's that war

[00:58:05] with each other yeah because like not only that but like it's a big box and it wasn't in his pocket

[00:58:12] and like it wasn't in the scene he didn't have like his chest wasn't bulging out yeah and another thing

[00:58:19] in episode 17 when John cryer's character has apparently shaved the facial hair

[00:58:28] the first scene where that goes down he's got his face covered in a towel so you can't see his face

[00:58:35] and she comes in and to show her like to reveal that he's shaved it she like sticks her head under

[00:58:42] the towel so they're hiding it from the audience and they're both under this towel and so my first

[00:58:48] thought was okay so they didn't actually want to shave the actor and we're never gonna get to see

[00:58:55] and somehow it's gonna like jump ahead two weeks and he's grown up at something like there's

[00:58:59] going to be some bullshit where they wrote around John cryer having to shave but then the next scene

[00:59:06] he has shaved and he walks in and the audience aplods as they should because it was they should

[00:59:15] but then I thought because it's dead yeah but then I thought well if you did shave it what was

[00:59:20] the point of the towel gag what were you hiding it so weird I know I think I know and I don't

[00:59:26] think it was a gag I mistakenly and this was on a very low budget feature but it basically

[00:59:34] throughout my entire through my whole schedule off I have a main character with a beard in half

[00:59:42] of a movie and showering the latter half of the movie completely clean face uh I had to

[00:59:50] redo the whole schedule around what scenes could be shot when because of that now adding in

[00:59:58] we only have Jennifer Aniston for two for two days see where you're going with this I think it was

[01:00:04] an easy we can shoot this scene anytime that's what I think I think it was scheduling purposes

[01:00:11] uh then they could do the pickups you're probably right that makes a lot of sense yeah yeah more

[01:00:19] sense than running away to be clam diggers oh god which was so random and specific um and the only

[01:00:27] other note I had is just that in general the opening titles and music for this show could not be more

[01:00:34] mid 90s gen X show like when they feel very weirdly abc yeah a little bit yeah it could not be

[01:00:45] more perfect it reminds me a bit of townies like that yeah yeah remember townies yeah

[01:00:54] how long ago was that was so many episodes townies was episode four wow three or four one of the

[01:01:02] first right it was four it was four it was four yeah I don't mind you I don't remember what flying

[01:01:09] blind was and I refused to like think harder to remember it and we only recorded that two weeks

[01:01:15] I also yeah townies I remember everything yeah I also can't remember anything about flying

[01:01:23] we wiped it from our memories oh well um I don't think we liked it right we didn't like it

[01:01:30] clearly not yeah um brin how would you like to connect in a way in what is presumably a very obvious

[01:01:40] fashion this show that wishes it was a west coast friends with friends yeah I mean okay so obviously

[01:01:49] we have the two main obvious ones in that Jennifer Aniston uh guest start on this show as well

[01:01:58] as Tate Donovan having a recurring role in friends so there's two one degree connections right

[01:02:05] off the bat but there's another one there's there's several other um one degree connections as well

[01:02:12] like so um there's Kareen uh Boror who played a character who he didn't meet in either episode

[01:02:24] she plays I guess Alicia's friend Lollie so she's guest stars on friends um Maria Patillo also

[01:02:33] guest start on friends um Jeff Greens Greenstein and Jeff Strauss were also writers the two

[01:02:42] Jeffs we're also writers and producers of friends and uh Paul Lazarus Ellen Giddelsen and James

[01:02:49] Burroughs all directed both shows yep I saw Burroughs Burroughs is he well he's like the most

[01:02:56] the prolific yeah so this is a real these these casting crews were just all over each other yeah

[01:03:04] it's like oh a Gen X hangout show we gotta just have all the same people coming in and out right

[01:03:09] so even though it wasn't NBC it was still kind of a lot across pollinating so that's like

[01:03:16] six one degree connections and there's other there's obviously other um there's other connections

[01:03:22] we didn't even talk about the fact that apparently this was like a crack had a crossover with Ned and

[01:03:27] Stacey did it yeah I had a crossover I didn't research it I was hoping you would research it

[01:03:33] Barry me will revisit this at some point but there's a good crossover with Ned and Stacey allegedly

[01:03:39] so that's rough so then there would have been you know more connections which we've already talked

[01:03:46] about in the last like in the last episode and then the one like like others previous where

[01:03:53] Thomas Hayden church was in the mix because there were like I think three or four degree connections

[01:04:00] to friends through that so there's like a lot of connections. Cryer yeah so I looked at

[01:04:06] cryer and there wasn't anything obvious actually surprisingly but there was like you know

[01:04:12] there's gotta be a two or three degree connection I just didn't I was like I'm just gonna scoop

[01:04:17] up all the one degree connections. Oh I got I can do I can do cryer and two okay go for Barry take

[01:04:23] my job John cryer to Charlie Sheen in two and a half men Charlie Sheen was on friends

[01:04:31] right I guess he was wasn't he wow he was there were a lot of famous people that went on friends

[01:04:37] big show big show really really big yeah there's probably even more there's probably way more

[01:04:44] this is our second cryer what do you guys feel how did you how'd you guys feel about cryer in

[01:04:49] this in general I mean he's you know he does what he does like he's good I mean I still like I

[01:04:56] enjoyed him on the the Teddy Z that that might have of the 12 shows we've watched with him in it

[01:05:04] he had that he was like the best on that one because he played that youthful kind of innocence

[01:05:12] really well um you know he was fine on this he was it's just that go to you was really hard

[01:05:19] to get over like it was really hard to deal with it was um but yeah he was fine he did his thing I

[01:05:26] definitely liked this character better than his character on two and a half men the bit of that

[01:05:31] I've seen yeah same yeah I keep I kept expecting this character to be sleazeier yeah

[01:05:38] uh and he he's mostly not yeah he's not really sleazy at all a little tonal there's some weird

[01:05:45] some weird lines yeah it was nine yes if I had to vote for my preferred John Cryer show that we

[01:05:52] reviewed it would have to be Teddy Z yeah um also just like Teddy Z thematically delves into a lot

[01:05:59] of territory that like metatextually talks about things that we talk about on this podcast anyway

[01:06:05] yeah I was a fun show yeah I'm making a TV show so yeah um yeah remember what I felt about Teddy Z

[01:06:13] when we reviewed it but I do know that it if asked to name a list of shows that we've watched

[01:06:20] that I liked it would have been on the list and I occasionally am like oh do you ever like

[01:06:25] any of the shows and I'm like yeah of course I do and Teddy Z usually comes out right yeah yeah um

[01:06:31] so yeah uh spin off yeah I mean did this ruin anybody no I don't think it did I think everyone

[01:06:38] is okay after I mean obviously Tate Donovan and John Cryer both went on to have a long careers

[01:06:44] so well I'll just talk some highlights about Tate Donovan so fun fact he was like the voice of

[01:06:51] Hercules in the Disney movie and all the animated series spin-offs so he was basically like that

[01:06:58] voice of Hercules did you know that because I just found that out today no I didn't know that until

[01:07:03] I did this research I was like well that's so funny it's such a random um and he like did the voice

[01:07:09] for every single iteration of that like he did it all like the animated series all those like

[01:07:15] junkiest straight to VHS huh you know like um sequels or whatever so that's kind of interesting um yeah

[01:07:24] and of course he had his recurring role in friends uh that was really memorable even though it

[01:07:29] actually wasn't even that many episodes it was only about like six episodes can I tell you

[01:07:33] something I forget what that role was so he played Joshua the guy that um Rachel worked with

[01:07:41] that she had a crush on oh right and basically there's like a whole misunderstanding because Rachel

[01:07:50] ends up creeping them out because she comes on too strong or at least she comes off as she's

[01:07:55] coming on too strong it's a whole thing um but they had this like on and off again kind of thing

[01:08:01] together where they were like co-workers and friends and liked each other and then didn't like each

[01:08:06] other so yeah so there was like that whole thing uh he also had us like a few episodes of

[01:08:13] Alie McBeal so a couple of those like big shows at the time and you know we know him best I think

[01:08:21] as Jimmy Cooper on the OC the very kind of dreamy but a bit troubled dad of Marissa Cooper so

[01:08:30] you know it's uh I always wanted no it's no wonder she ended up how she ended up I know exactly

[01:08:36] exactly like they were both troubled they were both cut from the same clock uh he also co-starred

[01:08:42] in a few other series including um damages hostages deception 24 live another day uh which is

[01:08:52] like guess a spin-off of 24 but uh it's 24 colonel another day like a mini series or so I don't

[01:09:00] know why I've seen every episode of 24 that's ever existed 24 live another day was a uh they tried

[01:09:08] to bring it back yeah like four or five years after yeah so it's literally just another season

[01:09:14] of 24 yeah so he's also been in a few movies as well including Rocketman which I really

[01:09:20] loved that John biopic um he was in the Aretha Franklin biopic respect and most recently he was on

[01:09:27] the holdovers uh which is one of my top Oscar picks um yeah and then so of course we've John

[01:09:36] Cryer so following um this show he appeared in tons of things he popped up here and there

[01:09:43] and a lot of different series um he also co-starred in a short-lived sitcom called The Trouble with

[01:09:49] Normal uh and guest starred on on like I said a lot of other shows that were popular at the time

[01:09:57] he's best known for his role as Alan Parker onto and a half men that was like the longest

[01:10:04] running thing that he's been involved in um other roles include uh recent recent roles include

[01:10:12] Ryan Hanson's self crimes on television where he plays himself which is kind of funny and then

[01:10:18] he played Lex Luthor on the Supergirl series um so yeah she got facial hair again on that

[01:10:25] terrible oh boy so he's you know he's not really been hard up for work he's been pretty consistent

[01:10:32] Maria Patillo um she appeared in a lot of TV shows and films since her time on partners um she

[01:10:42] one of her longest um roles was a co-starring role in Providence um which is a show I always forget

[01:10:51] that existed um me too yeah and then Catherine Lloyd Burns who played the assistant character Heather

[01:11:00] so she's appeared in a few a couple of twas shows so the single guy Ann Nett and Stacey which

[01:11:06] I found kind of funny uh she had a recording curing role in late line um and Malcolm in the middle

[01:11:14] and to most recently was in search party um yeah and then Karine Borer who I don't know how to

[01:11:22] pronounce this name it's Borer or it's like B-O-H-R-E-R sorry to you if you're listening Karine but

[01:11:30] you're probably not um she appeared in a variety of popular shows including Party of Five, Will and

[01:11:37] Grace she had recurring roles in Rude Awakening Veronica Mars, Murder in the First and then most

[01:11:45] recently was in um criminal minds and Grey's Anatomy so uh yeah I mean everybody was fine

[01:11:53] and there's like a ton of guest stars on this show that you know we've seen in lots of stuff so

[01:12:00] yeah it didn't really hurt I don't think it hurt anyone's career it was just sort of like this kind

[01:12:04] of forgettable little blip like you know and you you wouldn't watch this and think you know oh it's

[01:12:13] like a bad showcase of the any of those cast members like you know it was quite serviceable

[01:12:20] and quite good like yeah that's how I would describe it yeah like serviceable yeah it's like you

[01:12:25] you're not gonna watch that be like oh that kid's never gonna work again like right yeah yeah you're

[01:12:30] just gonna see that big oh yeah you know they know how to deliver a line you know you know it's just

[01:12:35] it's I think it's it's an example of just like all the parts are there they're just not

[01:12:41] they're not working together something something about them you know they're a little wonky

[01:12:46] yeah yeah just like factory errors you know Jeff the Jeff's kept working I'm sure you know

[01:12:51] yeah I really enjoyed apparently their production company is just called Jeff and Jeff

[01:12:59] so you know what I remember Maria Patillo from where it was I spent the whole episode

[01:13:06] having attention trying to remember where I knew her from she was the she was the lead uh in

[01:13:12] the 1998 Godzilla with Matthew Broderick I didn't see that you brought her up

[01:13:21] and versus Godzilla and and they won they won huh well I didn't note that it didn't jump out

[01:13:29] out at me it's terrible it's terrible Maria Patillo but oh I I would imagine

[01:13:35] that if somebody doesn't bring up Godzilla to Maria Patillo she's having an okay day yeah I think we

[01:13:43] should give mr producer a call because I don't know I want to know what he thinks of this show

[01:13:55] hey kid what's the slice oh just the usual actually we were talking a bit about the Oscars

[01:14:01] earlier in our episode here so you must have done some award shows in your day oh tons tons

[01:14:07] actually I was awarded a lifetime achievement award back in oh god must have been 98 I guess

[01:14:14] the economy out a bit too early here I am 26 years later going well well maybe not strong but

[01:14:20] going was this like an Emmy or oh no it was a Canadian screen award those were the Gemini's back then

[01:14:28] oh I remember the table they had me at it was a great spread you know the foods and the people's

[01:14:35] uh you know it was me Matt Bob of course uh you had Enrico Columtoni uh Ananas from

[01:14:42] Telefrançais and Jason Prisley nice well oh wow you met Anana unfortunately yes I met him on

[01:14:55] several occasions let me tell you that was one prima dana guy does one guest spot on Melrose place

[01:15:02] and it's certainly mr. Jisui Anana was all about you know Jisui give me another coilood

[01:15:09] and I mean this is a guy working for TVO you know he's working for scale how was he even

[01:15:16] affording it guy filling with a bag crowd I guess with those Melrose kids uh where was I uh I

[01:15:24] genuinely have no idea the award show oh right right lovely show afterwards there was a wonderful

[01:15:31] dinner some dancing music by the incomparable Hill Herbert and his jingle town Jimmy's uh but after that

[01:15:40] oh boy that was a night you know the table we decided to hit the town after well I mean not

[01:15:47] Columtoni and Prisley those guys wanted nothing to do with that but you know a couple of drinks in

[01:15:53] you know at least ananas saying uh we got to hit up Polkarous house because you know he's got the good

[01:15:59] stuff right I tell him hey man there's no way you could dry you know not just because he's wasted

[01:16:07] but also you know he's a foot and a half tall talking pineapple there's no way you can even

[01:16:14] reach the pedals logistically so cool look at heads prevail uh we end up we're out in a cabin

[01:16:22] Scarborough just trying to find some half remembered house and you know me and Bob no matter how much

[01:16:29] we're arguing with him we're trying to say I'm you know Polkarou uh he's he's just a guy in a suit

[01:16:35] you know multiple guys over the years you know which guy does he even mean but you know we can't you

[01:16:43] with this guy you know that little guy gets something in his prickly little brain and he's on a

[01:16:48] mission get stop him but that's what you get with nepotism highest right okay so uh what sorry

[01:16:57] what we get talking about of the podcast this week uh partners with John Cryer and Tate Donovan

[01:17:03] oh sure I have a lot to talk about on that one uh I think I think we're good for this week actually

[01:17:10] oh uh well see you next time

[01:17:16] well I mean I thought Lesanna and Annna don't spa but apparently they like to party pretty hard

[01:17:26] you know it's really tough to hear about your chants

[01:17:30] yeah yeah yeah I mean any of our very specific uh you know that was a very specific

[01:17:40] reference for Ontario millennials elder millennials and Gen X yes so you know I'm sorry to break it

[01:17:49] to you guys but Annna was such uh you know scumbag like the like the third act of a music biopic

[01:18:00] just kind of going off the rails and that I got to say that would make for a hell of a movie

[01:18:09] just college sweet Annna I couldn't I shut up and take my money yeah I mean anyways I mean they

[01:18:21] they wheeled that cart into your classroom yeah and this is what you'd watch yeah

[01:18:29] tell a french tell a french bonjour salo salo

[01:18:36] tell a well uh say for me say excellent yeah yeah they make the fake sensational

[01:18:47] tell a french fantastic um well uh and if yeah any of our uh Ontario Canada

[01:18:58] Lesanna he's he's been meamed he's the enemy in the nose on an uh yeah yeah uh I guess that's it for

[01:19:08] partners yeah great joining the two of you as always to chat about one of these shows

[01:19:15] I'm realizing we've done a lot of mid 90s lately yeah it's a very long time since we've done an 80s

[01:19:24] show yeah I make no guarantee yeah I make no guarantees about 90s yeah no guarantees about what our next

[01:19:34] episode is gonna be after this one but I wouldn't mind trying to make it an 80s show okay well see if

[01:19:40] we can do that yeah anyway on that note uh so long everyone

[01:19:47] tell a french tell a french bonjour salo salo

[01:19:53] tell a french tell a french bonjour is it funny that's like

[01:19:58] oh

[01:20:05] that was a show is created and hosted by Bryn Bernie Andrew Barry Helmer and myself Aaron Yeager

[01:20:14] it's a production of Radio Gizmo in Toronto Canada subscribe rate review and share follow us on

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