Speaker 1: We're Tom a Lorenzo and this is the Pop Style
Opinion Fest Telecitt's welcome back to another edition of the
Pso I am the Tea and you're te Lo Tom
Fitzgerald and I'm here with Hell and your te lot Lorenzo,
my cousin, my lovely husband. How are you, lovely husband.
Speaker 2: Oh wonderful. We're very very busy today.
Speaker 1: Which is nice. This is not a complaint, not at all.
The Venice Film Festival has started, and uh, you know,
there's like a two week period in August where there's
all the summer blockbuster movies have you know, premiered, and
the film festivals haven't started yet, and we have like
zero content. So we have been sweating out the month
and we.
Speaker 2: Have a guess, so we're clean. We're doing a lot.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so we're very happy about Menice Film Festival
and it's giving us a lot of content. We might
actually put a few things up over the weekend, even
though it is is a holiday weekend, but the work
never stops. For t Loo, we're going to talk about TV.
It's a holiday weekend and normally we don't do podcasts
on holiday weekends, but we skipped last week because we
were had done eight straight in a row four and
just like that, and I said to Lorenzo, I was like,
I think I need a break, but I didn't want
to take two breaks in a row. So we're doing
one for a holiday weekend, and it's going to be
a relatively short one. We're gonna stick to three TV shows,
one that we have watched together and one each that
we have watched apart from each other. We're going to
talk about Megan again, which means we have a week
of angry emails and angry redit I can't wait. But
the second season of bo Love Megan and dropped. And
got to say, when we recap the first season of
Megan with Love Meghan on our podcast, I think it
was probably one of our biggest shows of the year.
We still get notes about that podcast. I mean, people
were telling us that it was really funny and they
enjoyed it. So we're going to talk about that. I'm
going to talk about Alien Earth, which has been airing
for the last month on Hulu in FX, and Lorenzo's
going to talk about the Amanda Knox story. Yes, is
that the name of it?
Speaker 2: The Amanda No, it's called The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox. Yeah,
which right there, we'll get into it. I only I
didn't watch it because I hate true crime, and I
honestly do not. People are going to be like appalled
by this. I don't know what the thing about that story. God,
I only know the bear because I don't be an
American and not know anything.
Speaker 1: About Okay, speaking of don't give a shit, Taylor and
Travis got engaged this week.
Speaker 2: Yes, like you know, very like not planned. They just
had five hundred thousand flowers behind them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like like engagements are surprise parties.
Speaker 2: Most engagements are playing anyway.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm sorry, dead silence water. I thought you were
gonna say something. No, I don't have you were just
so No, it's I saw something angry about it.
Speaker 2: I'm not angry. It's just that I you know, you
you take a break, you know, and then the the
the tsunami starts again. It was very I was on
TikTok and and somebody actually had a funny video saying, like,
you know, trying to find out how to block everything
related to those two for the next you know, five years,
because it's gonna be like insane. The I mean, we
already got so many emails from pr companies and everything
about the ring, the dress, the future dress, you know,
the dresses she was wearing, and you know the dresses
she was wearing. So do out.
Speaker 1: So let me give you some options, right, It's just so,
here's a wedding mob that we have on hand if
you want to interview them for your pocket. Literally fifty
of those within the first hour. I don't think people
understand that about our job is that all day, every day,
we get these publicist emails that don't ninety percent of
them don't have anything to do with our job. We'd
really like to feature a post on your site about
you know, educational operating looks, weird shit that, you know, breastfeeding,
you know, my favorite whatever. And it's like, no, honey,
that's not what might we do?
Speaker 2: My favorite Woods offering is to try a braw yes,
And I was like, oh, sure, did it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And now these emails and they're all AI composed emails,
so it's hello, Tom and Lorenzo, I really enjoy your
incisive commentary on and it'll be like you know, the
guilded age, you know, it's so anyway, they.
Speaker 2: Are helpful a lot of them are helpful because give
us information about things. Yes, yes, yes, ninety percent of
them are not helpful at all, right on the trash
and I hate them now. Some of them help me.
Speaker 1: Hey, publicists do good work. We hired a publicist for
our first book. We're probably going to hire a publicist
again for future projects. But those emails are annoying. And yes,
it was one after another of We have a wedding
expert on him. We have a diamond expert on hand
if you'd like to interview them. We have Here are
trends for engagement rings based on Taylor. There's just a
whole industry of people that are behind announcements like these.
And if you if we sound very cynical about these
sorts of things, that's why. And that's nothing against Taylor
and Travis. Honestly, I even I don't care if I
sound naive or whatever. Uh, those two are in love,
like that's not a showman, So that's none of that.
Those two are crazy about each.
Speaker 2: Other, are they. Well I don't know them too, I
can't see them. So anyway, I.
Speaker 1: Don't take anything away from them. You know, the fact
that they're engagement announcement spawned a whole industry wide response.
But the part of the reason we get cynical about
these things, the two of us, is because, I mean,
Taylor and Travis know that they they know, they knew
going into that announcement that it was going to explode,
and that there was going to be products and experts
and think pieces galore written about this particular moment.
Speaker 2: I mean, they go crazy with just her performances and music.
Imagine her getting married. I mean this is like Diane Diana,
you know, a level of you know, buzz, right, But
again it just Di Lorenzo is more you know, angry
about this sort of stuff than I am.
Speaker 1: I don't care. It's fine. I can't wait to see
the dress and whatever. They're two self, you know, absorbed
attention seekers in love let them out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they're they're I think they're very aware
of what they have. I'm not saying that.
Speaker 1: He launched a product line the next day.
Speaker 2: So I think they're taking advantage of this, of course,
why not. Yeah, she's you know, coming out with a
new album.
Speaker 1: There will be a wedding album. There will be a
wedding themed Yeah.
Speaker 2: The album, you know, you sell products. I mean, that's
that's what you do. You are a company. They each
one of them companies. They're companies. I mean, come on,
I mean somebody said that on TikTok.
Speaker 1: We are a companies. So I mean, I'm not gonna
fault them too much. I'm sorry, what did someone say
on TikTok?
Speaker 2: People on TikTok were making the point that at this point,
she's a billionaire and she's a company, and they were
getting annoyed with that. But that's the reality of it.
I mean, she's still with a singer and artist, but
you know, a billionaire, so and they keep selling stuff.
I mean, people were talking about her album having like
five hundred thousand variants. You know, there's I don't know,
the album is not even out yet, and there's like
I don't know how many six or seven or eight
versions of the of the you know, of the album,
just the cover so you can buy ten different covers.
And he's with you know, American Eagle Collection, which is
you know, basic bullshit that he puts his name.
Speaker 1: Lorenzo's not angry.
Speaker 2: He puts his name on it and it sounds so
it's so everything is so doubt immediately, because if you
can't be them, you buy a piece of them. So
that's pretty much, you know, the deal with it. But yes,
it's it's worse for them because they're very, very famous,
and she's insanely famous. So of course anyway, it's gonna
be another I don't know, three years of pr hell.
Speaker 1: And the breakup is gonna wield. You know about a
break song.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know about a breakup. But
it looks like she finally found a man.
Speaker 1: Oh but you don't think they're in love?
Speaker 2: No, No, I didn't say, I don't think. I said,
I can't confirm that because I don't know them. But
you know, they're engaged and everything is falling to place,
you know, and then we have the her products, his
products and so on, and you know, in the gown
and everything, and hey, whatever.
Speaker 1: More power to them. I wish them well. I look
forward to the drama, but mostly I just care about
the content that's going to create for me. Well, yeah,
let's see the druss, let's see the wedding pictures. Why
don't we take a short break. We'll come back, and
then Lorenzo's going to talk about his show, we'll be
right back.
Speaker 2: We're back, and I'm going to talk about the new
show on Hulu called The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox.
And if you don't know who Amanda Knox is, she
she's an American. I mean, she's America. Everybody knows. Everybody
knows she is. But anyway, at the show is about
her story when she went to Italy to study as
it was a study abroad program, and she got involved.
She went to jail for a crime that she didn't commit,
but the whole thing went on forever, involved her boyfriend,
and she was in jail for four years and finally
they came out and said they didn't do it. But
it was a circus, a pr and media circus. It
was all over the news, it was everywhere. I remember
reading a lot about it. Everyone knew who she was.
Everyone knew about the case because the roommate killed. What's
from England, so that you had the whole Europe, the
whole UK, you know, paintings, Yeah, press paying attention to
the story. So it was insane. It was an insane story.
There has been like documentaries and movies about it, I think,
but Hulu decided to do a serious in eight episode
limited series and I.
Speaker 1: Of coursetional narrative.
Speaker 2: It's based on a based on the true story, that's
what it sets. Amandaox is apparently involved in the project.
I mean I think she's the producer or is active
producer something, so it's pretty much her take. I was
very curious because I was obsessed with the story. I
remember reading everything about it.
Speaker 1: I don't I mean, I know with the bare bones,
but I really didn't follow it. I don't follow.
Speaker 2: If you don't know the story, I'll give you a
very short version. She went to Italy to study, and
she was studying there, working at a bar, and she
had roommates that was in Perugia, Italy, and her roommate
got killed and she came home and saw the body,
called the police, and then the police, and she was
with her boyfriend, and then the police at some point
decided that she was the one who killed them, killed her,
killed the roommate, and the boyfriend was involved, and it
was and then it just kept getting bigger and bigger
and bigger the story. The whole thing that it's very
interesting about this case is because it's pretty much based
on how how she behaved and So there was a
whole uh story about the way she behaved because when
the police showed up, she was she was outside. Everybody
was outside while the police police went into the house,
and she was outside kissing the boyfriend and and you know,
instead of crying her eyes out, because that's what people
were expecting her to do, she was just making out
with the boyfriend outside. Meanwhile, she had just seen you know,
her roommate killed. So and there's stories about like the boyfriend,
not stories, really it really happened. Uh. They the boyfriend
was called at police station uh to testify, and she
went along and while the boyfriend was testifying, she was
in the waiting room doing yoga. So she all that
stuff about her behavior, how she behaved, you know, apparently
she didn't behave the right way. I made her a suspect,
and the police didn't like her behavior, didn't like her.
There were stories about the roommate, that roommate couldn't stand her,
that she was, you know, get involved with everybody, you know,
get in bed with everybody, and the roommate didn't like it.
So there's there's so much and and the police also
in Italy fucked up a lot about the evidence and everything,
and it all started because pretty much she apparently first
she said that she was with a boyfriend. Oh, you're
going to just do the whole case. No, no, just
just to give an idea, because though that stuff is
important to understand why they went after her because she apparently,
according to her and the boyfriend, they were together watching
a movie. I'm Elie. Actually they were watching one of
my favorite movies. And then she went home later and
then h went home, the door was uh open or
something like that, and then she went to the bathroom
to take a shower. Now she says that why she's
going to the bathroom to take a shower. She can't
see her roommate and there's blood everywhere on the floor,
But she went and took a shower anyway, So that
kind of stuff. People were like, why did you take
a shower when you can't find your roommate and there's
blood everywhere? All that kind of stuff. Anyway, So it's
there's so much, so much details, so many, so many details,
so much stuff about it that.
Speaker 1: What's the show, Like, isn't any good the.
Speaker 2: Show that I'll get to the show now. So the
show is about it's a story. Now it's I think
it's produced by Amanda or it's her take, because it
does sound like her take. Anyway, I know so much
about it. I read so much about it. I watched
so many videos about it. I had a different expectation.
I thought it was going to be more like a
documentary kind of show, you know, like a more serious take.
I was a little surprised because it it to me
felt like it it felt like, you know, I even
said that to you, felt like, you know, Emiline Parry
has gone wrong because it's so like upbeat and blah
blah blah. She's going to Italy and she's a crazy girl,
wild girl and then boom killer death, and it just
felt it feels so weird, and there's a there's a scene.
I've only seen two episodes because I didn't care to
as for screen as I forgot and they only really
drop them. Yeah, so they only released two episodes. So
I only watched the first episode of the first two.
And the second episode is when she is interviewed by police.
She goes and tells her version and it's the whole
thing is so you have to know the story to
understand how crazy it is. She goes and testify talk
about what she saw coming home. But she doesn't speak Italian,
I mean barely. She hurts Italian is really bad, but
she the whole interview is conducted in Italy, in Italian,
and that she doesn't understand what they're asking, but she
she's trying to answer anyway. Finally they bring it and interpreter.
It's the whole thing is crazy. But there's a scene
where she gets interviewed by the police and and and
everyone is around her, and and everyone is yelling and
shouting at her. And there's a scene where she's like
going nuts because there's like twenty people in the room
yelling at her, ask asking different questions at the same time.
And the whole thing is just so weird, you know,
like it I'm not saying they're they're they're treating it lightly,
but it it it's so I don't know, it's it's
it's I don't feel like they're they're they're they're taking
this as seriously as they should, you know, in terms
of story, right, Uh, it feels like a very stylized
version of what happened. Again, I only saw two episodes,
but I'm curious if you know the story. Uh, it's
on Hulu, you know it's I wanted to watch it,
and I will keep I'll keep watching and see what happens.
But I was a little surprised by the way, by
the tone, you know, by the way there there's they're
showing the story. It it feels a little light. It
feels a little too television, if I may say, so,
you know what I mean, Like, it doesn't feel like
a real story, like a true story.
Speaker 1: I only saw it in the background while you were
watching it, and it just seemed wildly overproduced and a
little yeah, like quirky, Like it was very quirky and aesthetic.
And that's kind of a weird way to tell this story.
Speaker 2: That's that's a very good way to describe It's very quirky,
and she's jumping around and she's this crazy wild girl.
Speaker 1: She's like as manic pixie dream girl who's been a
case to murder. And it's just a weird way to
tell that story. And listen, if she's the producer, I
guess she wants to tell the story her own way,
So all right.
Speaker 2: So I yeah, give it a shot. If you know
the story, or if you don't know the story, you know,
just going on YouTube and you find five hundred thousand
things about it, and but it's it's it's it's a
it's a screwed up case. It's a very interesting story.
And uh, you know one thing, you know for sure,
you don't want to go You don't want to end
up in the police in jail and Italy. That's for sure,
because it shows how crazy the system there is and
all the red tape and all the assumptions that they
made just because this girl didn't behave a certain way,
you know what I mean. So it's interesting to watch
and understand what happened.
Speaker 1: All Right, We're going to take a short break, and
then when we come back, I'm going to do my show.
Speaker 2: We're back.
Speaker 1: I just wanted to briefly talk about Alien Earth because
it's kind of up my alley and it's the kind
of show that I would tend to enjoy. I was
just certainly interested about it when it was announced. I
was always a fan of the Alien films, but generally speaking,
I'm really only a fan of the first two. I've
seen all of them, but it's really the first two
that have grabbed me and everything after that has been
diminishing returns, and some of the Alien films have been
flat out terrible. Noah Hawley of Legion and Fargo fame,
he developed this story within the franchise that sets the
story on Earth, and as you might know, the stories
have always previously been set on other planets or out
in space, hence the title Alien Earth. So okay. Since
nineteen seventy nine and the first Alien movie came out,
fans of the film have wondered what would happen if
if these aliens ever came to Earth, And of course
it was actually the end goal of the bad guys
in most of these films was to get these aliens
to Earth. So you know, finally someone wrote a story
where these aliens come to Earth. It is set in between.
Actually it's set before the first film, and I don't
really have a lot of interest in unpacking the continuity
of the quote unquote Alien universe. I understand that it
slots somewhat roughly into what passes for continuity for these storylines,
but that it is playing a little fast and loose
with certain things. I think without giving anything away, I
don't have spoilers, but if you know stuff about the
makeup of say Earth, during the period of these films,
then you might understand that that the likelihood is that
everyone that we're watching in this series is probably not
going to make it out alive. And that's not really
a spoiler because that's true of almost every alien story.
Is everybody dies except for maybe one person. So it's interesting.
There's this elaborate setup, this elaborate sort of mythology setup,
this lure setup to get the story started, and honestly,
I am four episodes into it and I still feel
like it's setting things up. I should start off, well,
I already started off. I should jump ahead and say
that Sidney Chandler, the lead actress, is really, really good.
You cannot take your eyes off her. She is a
fascinating character, and she is essentially a human consciousness in
an android body, but the human consciousness was a child,
so she has to navigate this, and that portrayal could
go creepy weird in so many different ways. A grown
actress who has the mind of a grown woman who
has the mind of a child like that could go
really weird and exploitive and whatever, and I have to
give her and I guess Noah Hawley the writer credit.
Speaker 2: It avoids all of that.
Speaker 1: It just avoids any sort of weirdness about her being
a child in an adult body. She manages to convey
a certain childishness without necessarily coming off immature.
Speaker 2: Or naive.
Speaker 1: There are other characters in the story that are also
android bodies with the minds of children downloaded into them.
I mean, it's the It's basically the main hook of
the story. And I don't think any of those actors
do a decent enough job with that concept as Sidney
Chandler does. The rest of them are they're acting too goofy, Like, okay,
kids can be goofy, but they're they're not little clowns.
You know that you can actually have a conversation with
a twelve year old and that you know. So I
think some of the other actors overdo the I'm a
child and a grown up's body sort of thing, but
she really nails it. I know people love Timothy Oliphant,
and I do too, but I really don't think this
is the role for him. I don't think turning him
into a prissy little android. I mean, that guy is
like sexy and laid back, and I don't know I
just don't see why he was cast in that role.
I don't think it does a thing for him, and
I don't think he does a thing for it. And
also I actually think the wig looks.
Speaker 2: Bad on him.
Speaker 1: So I know a lot of people were excited about
that casting, about having him in an alien story, but
I honestly feel like he's a little wasted. He hasn't
really done too much yet. And as we all know,
if you watch Alien movies, you know, the bleached blonde
android is pretty much someone that you cannot trust. So
he's probably gonna turn bad at some point. There's a
lot of interesting ethical questions being brought up about you know,
downloading bodies, and about cybernetic organisms, and about you know,
transhumanism and potential immortality, and I have to say, that's
really not what Alien's about, Like, I mean, it is,
but it isn't. I mean, there's always been androids and
alien There's always been this idea that corporations on Earth
were seeking the aliens out, either for biological reasons or
for weaponry reasons, and this concept of transcending mortality has
always sort of hummed in the background of Alien, but
making it the text, making it the point of the story.
It doesn't like an alien story to me, and really
my main problem and I didn't I have to say,
I didn't come up with this observation, and I wish
I could remember who did. It was someone on social media.
I don't think it was a critic who said, you know,
the best aim when you think of Alien and Aliens,
the best two, but even most of the other ones
as well, you were terrified. Like the whole point of
those movies is that the tension is so high and
people are dying left and right, and it's terrifying, and
that's kind of the fun of those movies as the
scare factor. You can't do that with a television series.
That's the problem here is that alien movies are fundamentally
ill suited for television because you cannot expect people to
tune in for an hour each week and be terrified
every time, and then come back and be terrified again
for an hour and so instead, there's a lot of storytelling.
There's subplots and arcs, and there's lore and there's all
this stuff. But I'm telling you right now, none of
the main characters have died four episodes into it. None
of the main characters have died. The only deaths that
have occurred have been a bunch of people off basically off.
Speaker 2: Screen because they need them until the period and.
Speaker 1: That I'm on the fourth episode and my tension level
was completely non existent because I was like, well, maybe
one of them will die this episode, who knows, And
you know what, none of them died that episode, So
I'm going to finish it because I Noah, Holly, I think.
Speaker 2: He's pretentious as hell.
Speaker 1: I'll be completely honest, I think he's pretentious as hell. However,
there are seasons of Fargo that are just brilliant and god, yes, yes,
Legion I think kind of went off the rails, but
it was also brilliant for most of its run. I
am not feeling the brilliance here at all.
Speaker 2: Is it pretty? Uh no, No, it's not like no.
And that's the other thing. It's like, well, okay, you're
on Earth, but every scene is set either in a
lab or a bunker or something like that, and I'm like, well,
you might as well be on spaceships, because you know,
the how your point of the series is is moot.
Everybody looks like they're on a spaceship, but we're but
they're actually on Earth. They're in this giant compound. I
can't imagine watching an alien movie or TV series without
being you know, in AWE with the whole pretty sets
and all the nice sets and alien movies. Is pretty, No,
I mean it is gorgeous. It's I mean, the sets
were always beautiful.
Speaker 1: They were ominous, but I don't think they were pretty.
I wouldn't have looked at it that way.
Speaker 2: I mean, whatever, maybe not pretty, but the impressive impressive.
Speaker 1: There are some impressive sets in. There's a lot of
it is CG. I don't mean to be completely down
on it. I'm I'm interested in that. I guess what
it comes down to is it's an interesting science fiction
show about robots and androids. And yes, there are some
aliens involved, but it doesn't feel like an alien, you
know alien the Ridley Scott. It doesn't feel like it's
part of that franchise at all. I should also add
that there are several different aliens, and some of them
don't are nothing like the you know, the xenomorphs. There's
a little eyeball with tentacles that goes around. Yeah, I mean,
there are some pretty gross looking out and then there
are these like these sort of worm like fleas that
suck all your blood out, and I don't know how.
I think there's four species, they said, and so you know,
that's kind of interesting, but again, it takes it so
far away from the actual xenomorph is in it, of course,
and it is, you know, more or less the main alien,
but there's so much else going on that it's just
one player in this large, sort of sprawling, very lore
heavy science fiction story. It's got some good acting in it.
I'm curious to see where it's going to go. But
I can't say.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: I really can't say I love it.
Speaker 2: I think that that's what happened most of the time
when you turn to move into a seriously, you need
more stuff, so you kind of expand.
Speaker 1: Well that's just it. And it's a lot of people
sitting around talking about you know, corporation, on the makeup
of the government and whatever, and I'm just it's not interesting.
Speaker 2: I will say. There the where the story has.
Speaker 1: Gone in this last episode with Sidney Chandler's character. Okay,
there's a real development at the end of the fourth
episode that if things start moving could really, you know,
cause a problem, you know, I don't know, that's the problem.
Everything's so slow, and there's all these like and that's
the other thing. There's all these needle drops. There's all
these obnoxiously pretentious songs that get dropped into it immediately,
really and I'm just like, well, that's not alien. I
don't want to hear pop songs. That's not alien. That's
just not that's not the aesthetic, that's not the vibe.
You don't you don't hear pop songs during alien stuff.
So it's you know, I don't know. If you're a
huge fan of the alien movies, well then I honestly
can't say that this is something you should watch because
I think it might disappoint you if you're just up
for what could be an interesting science fiction story about
humanism and aliens and corporate you know, corporatism, run them up.
There's some interesting stuff in there, but I do think
it's pretty boring. I do think like four episodes and
there really has not been major movement. It's a lot
of table setting.
Speaker 2: Anyway.
Speaker 1: That's my take on Alien Earth. Do you think we
should take a break in Lorenzo, All right, let's take
a break and we'll come back, and then we're going
to dive into with Love Meghan.
Speaker 2: We're back.
Speaker 1: The second season with Love Meghan has dropped on Netflix,
and we reviewed the first season, and I mean, if
you're a Megan fan, I guess you thought we were
really mean and bitches about it. But I think we
were pretty fair in our assessment, and I think we
wound up coming down on the on the consensus, the
critical consensus of the show, which is that it's pleasant enough,
it's well intentioned, but it's very bored and it doesn't
really offer anything new to this format. So that was
season one. Here's season two. The thing is about season
two is it was shot right after season one. They
were basically shot at the same time, and they just
split it into two.
Speaker 2: Seasons, not a season two.
Speaker 1: So it's not it was never done. In response to
any of the didn't exactly exactly, I will say that
I noticed a slight shift in a few things that
plagued the show in its early going, not least of
which is that it relied much more on experts coming
in and doing expert work. And we did say that
at the at season one that Megan's at her best
when she just lets some chef come in and teach
her how to do something, And there was significantly more
of that for this season, and I thought that was good.
I don't think the following is either good or bad,
but it probably helped the show in that she was
a little bit more open about her life, and she
referred to her children, she referred to her engagement dinner,
she referred to her you know what was served at
her wedding reception, and that sort of thing, because and
I'm sure, like you know, her producers and stuff were
pushing for that, because that's you know, like it or not, Megan,
that's the product. The product is your proximity to the
royal family, right and if you deny that, which I
felt like she was trying to walk away from it
with the first season, well then we're all left wondering
why we're watching you. So that's my initial thing, my
overall thing. I think I think there's a market for
this show. I honestly do aside. I mean, first off,
the market for that show is Megan fans. I don't
know if there are enough of them for her for
this show to get removed and renewed. So putting aside
the people that are just gonna love whatever she does.
I think this could be an interesting it's just not there.
And you know, I'm talking about it in terms of
what they could do to improve it for season three.
But I really don't think there's going to be a season.
I would be a little shocked.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 1: So this season dropped a week ago and I haven't
heard a thing about it. No one's talking about it.
Speaker 2: The thing is, I have a lot to say about it,
and I didn't want to watch it. I watch it
because I want to talk about it, because go because
season one was enough for me, you know, and I
was like, oh my god, all right, let's go watch
season two. So I sat with my cat, tab Hunter,
and we watched the entire thing. I watched the whole thing.
The listen. I'm not a fan of any of them, Megan,
Prince Harry, Prince William.
Speaker 1: You know Catherine, you actually like Catherine.
Speaker 2: I know what I think is that I think, oh god,
I didn't want to get into this, but let's let's
do it. I think Catherine and Prince William have a
veteran understanding of what they are supposed to do. That's
my take, I feel like, yes, exactly that the yeah,
but I feel like Prince, Harry and Megan are still lost.
They're very lost. They don't know what they want to do,
and they keep trying things. But the problem is that
they keep trying things, you know, out in public, and
of course you're going to be you know, judged by
whatever you do. So I think I think they were
very famous and people wanted to make some money off
of them, and it's like, all right, let's have a show,
and so they decided to have this show. My feeling
is that this show doesn't know what it wants to be.
Is it a talk show? Is it a lifestyle you
know show?
Speaker 1: Is it a craft show? Is that a crack show?
Speaker 2: Is a cooking show? I agree with that it is
you know, real Housewives of Montecito? What the hell is this?
They don't know? And listen. I I I at some
point in my life I was obsessed with Martha Stewart
and I would watch all these shows. Remember, we would
watch them together. There's also I feel like, if you
want to have a show like this, like you know,
if you want to be like Julia Child or if
you want to be like Martha Vin and Martha, Martha
Stewart or whatever it's up you you have to present
a show where you actually teach. You know, if you're
going to have a show where you just have friends
over and you gloss over everything, you know, you don't
teach anything, or you explain everything very quickly, you don't
give it any So what is the point I'll listen?
I under And so the show was like, all right,
we're gonna have your friends or we're gonna have chef guests,
and you're gonna pretend that you're doing something in the
kitchen very quickly. Then you go to your crafts room,
not yours, yours, you know, the house next door, and
then you're going to pretend that you're doing something. And
the thing is that, and then we're going to go
back and cook a little more. But we have no
idea what we're cooking. We're just going to pretend that
we're cooking something here. And then we're gonna chose by
the beach and then the that's the end of the episode.
That's pretty much it. I have a lot more to
say that.
Speaker 1: I know, but I just said to La rend I'm like,
can I tell you because he's going to go. I
can tell he's gonna go, all right. I have also
been I have always followed cooking. I'm not a craft person,
so I would I never particularly cared about craft projects,
but I've always followed cooking and lifestyle shows. Not so
much anymore because I'm tapped out on them, but for
many many years and for many many episodes, and I
know the format and I understand. I understand it, So okay,
if you want, there's two ways of doing a show
like this and this show. The problem with the show
is that's trying to do it both ways. There is
the show that instructs you, and Martha Stewart is very
very good at that sort of thing. Julia Child was
very very good at that sort of thing where you
were walked through instructions, and there are other chefs on
TV who are very good about walking you through instructions.
And then there's more of the sort of Gwyneth Paltrow
Goop sort of approach, which is you're not really there
to instruct, you're there to promote an aesthetic. And that's
the problem here is that she's trying to do two
things at the same time. She's trying to show you
how to cook something in the kitchen, but she's also
much more concerned with the aesthetic of aesthetics of it all,
so she winds up glossing over any sort of instructional
stuff and it's just this frantic, frantic, you know, just
collage of images that and you don't really walk away
with anything except well, I guess Megan has a nice life,
doesn't she. There was a scene with Tan France where
he came in and they were making French French toast,
and I was sitting through that scene going, you know,
she really should do more stuff like this, where it's
like relatable, understandable projects. And I actually came out with
one good tip. When he said to you know, to
dredge it in coconut. I was like, I'd never done
that before. I'm going to mark that down. And then
at the end of that sequence, I.
Speaker 2: Was like, this is it.
Speaker 1: This is where you fucking lose me is they played it?
But then she has to arrange them all in special beer,
and she goes on about how presentation and arrangement, and
so she arranges them all in these little pyramids and
then she she slices up all these different types of
fruit U put on the plate and then she sprinkles
flowers on it, and I'm like, you know what, you
ruined it. This was a you could have had a
good five minute sequence. Here's a fun way to make
you know, French toast, here's how I do it, here's
some very and then you went and did all this
aesthetic stuff that just overwhelmed your point. And honestly, it
just annoys me because I'm.
Speaker 2: Like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: Even he was like, why are you doing that? Why
are putting flowers on French toast?
Speaker 2: It's very I have a lot of money and I
don't know what to do with insteadic it's it's like,
all right, let's just have all this Yeah, and it's fine.
Speaker 1: That's an aesthetic that shows can be very successful just
promoting a wealthy life.
Speaker 2: Real Housewives, well, I mean all these shows with a
lot of people with money and then they just walk
around and you know.
Speaker 1: No, I mean like crafting and lifestyle shows. I don't
mean reality television shows. There's nothing wrong or whatever. There's
nothing unusual about the fact that this show promotes a
wealthy lifestyle.
Speaker 2: A lot of these shows do.
Speaker 1: I do want to note that almost so many of
her projects, and this is why it's like, well, this
is not about instruction, this is about aesthetics. So much
of her projects come with some sort of you need
a tool or a thing or a special room to
do it in or and then they talk about this,
They talk about how how great it is that they
can just wander out into this garden and do an
incredible flower arrangement because there's five thousand different kinds of
flowers right outside the door. Or Sammie Nocerac came in
and that was actually one of the better episodes, and
she said, oh my god, I love this. It's I
can pull anything from this pantry. And I'm like, well, yeah, okay,
that's an aesthetic. But that's not Nobody lives that way anyway.
Speaker 2: Nobody has a cost hole, you know in your backyard, right,
I mean like where you just go and grab whatever
you want. Like the whole thing about oh my god,
you have passion fruit in your garden? Hello, come on
people anyway, So the problem that I have with with
first of all, why do you have to do some
shit craft bullshit with with a guest, But you have
to do it. It's a crafting I mean whatever, and
the thing, but the thing is that as an audiences,
as a member, you like, all right, she comes in
and goes like, oh, I noticed you. My guest likes bandanas,
so I'm gonna tie die some shit. And then she
literally says, I've never done this, but the producers laid
out five hundred thousand items in front of me, so
I'm going to do it. So you, as a viewer,
you're watching someone who never did something, doesn't know what
he's doing, showing people who never done it before. So
you have people who have no clue what they're doing,
and then you're watching them do it.
Speaker 1: To that end, one of my main, main main criticisms
of the show is that, and I said this about
season one, so I'm going to repeat myself. You can
have a fun show where the hostess doesn't know what
she's doing and she fumbles her way through projects and
you know, maybe you learn along the way or maybe
you laugh along the way. But she doesn't do that.
First off, she doesn't allow herself to fumble through projects,
and there is no laughing or anything. And this is
my issue overall with the show is how friggin nervous
she is.
Speaker 2: All the time where.
Speaker 1: She will start this project like, oh, Christina Tozy likes
cars and I've never done this before and I hope
she really like And I'm like, this is such an
awful vibe. This is such an awful vibe. Let me
just I'll make this point. When you bring up people
like Gwyneth Paltrow, Martha Stewart or Julia Child and who
are all very successful in this arena, what did those
three women, very different women have in common. Supreme self confidence.
That's why they became the moguls that they are is
because in front of people, they are confident in what
they're doing. And Martha doesn't do it often, but Julia's
Child made mistakes on camera all the time, but her
self confidence allowed her to overcome it. Megan is so
nervous about how she is perceived and listen before the
angry emails come. I understand why that is the case.
But if you are chronically nervous about how you're perceived,
whether that's an understandable reaction or not, it is a terrible, terrible,
you know element in a host. It's a terrible way
to start a show like that. Well, I don't know
what I'm doing. I hope she likes it. I hope
works out. Like that's a terrible way to do a
show like this.
Speaker 2: It's the fact that you don't know what you're doing,
and and and and you can't and you don't know
what you want. Do you want to tell the on
the viewers that you don't know what you're doing? Because
she says, I've never done this before. But at the
same time, she gives you all the instructions, like now
she gives you any instructure. Now she talks about how
to do it as if she rehearsed before. Well, yeah,
you know what I mean, like and then of course
the producers have and then she's like, she had Christie
what was her name? I forget her name now Christy
t Yes, she had her and for one of the episodes,
and they decided to make a flower jewelry. So they're
making they can't shut the fuck up, So they're talking
the entire time, and they and then they they they're
making the jury as they talk, and and no explanation whatsoever.
Speaker 1: We mean, it's the shame because I was actually fascinated
by I was like, well, that's fantasting.
Speaker 2: But meanwhile there's like five hundred different things you need
to make that damn jewelry that is much cheap, but
you're going to just go yeah, I know it's much
you bean to just go out and buy the damn thing,
but no, so we're gonna make it. And we have
all these stuff in front of I mean, there's a
whole industry, but instead of talking about any bullshit that
because Christy can even remember her child's birthday, so which
is tattooed on her arm anyway, so they so they're
making it and no explanation whatsoever. They don't explain that
you need a frame that, they don't explain that you
need a special glue or whatever that thing. But it's
like one set, yeah, yeah, and then oh, by the way,
we have to wait twenty four hours by let's go right,
and then so you don't get to see you don't
get to see yes, and then then finally she comes
back and shows. The thing is that there's no close
up on any of the items. It's so bad, so
you have no fucking idea what the earrings look like
or the anything.
Speaker 1: I'm always shocked at that they decided to shoot in
the kitchen where the stove faces a wall. Uh huh.
Every cooking show you ever saw, the stove is on
an island facing the cameras. So when she's working at
the stove, her literally her back is to the camera.
So I love that is just terrible, terrible production design.
Speaker 2: So the editing is absolutely horrible. Because I was actually
interested in the jewelry and I was like, all right,
we're going to see some close ups of the stuff
that the jury was pretty I thought, But they barely
showed the jewelry. She picks it up, but there's no
close up of it. I can't see what the flower
looks like inside the thing. Nothing, So and it's always
that kind of stuff, you know, And you know she.
Speaker 1: They devised this project for them to do, and then
the person that she was doing with had to leave
and wasn't there when the project was like shoot it
over two days, maybe, like just so it's a little
satisfying for the person at home, just shifting gears a
little bit. She has this she does this thing, her
whole overall thing, her whole well, it's the name of
the show. With love Megan is about how she though
she's this amazing hostess and what she does for her
guests and everything. And it's an approach that I actually
don't agree with at all. And you know, this is
less a criticism of the show and more like, well,
this show is just not going to be for me
because I don't agree with this. And I'll use another
example from the Tan France episode. She he has kids,
and she wanted to connect with him on the and
she did the same thing with Chrissy Tagan and that's again,
that's fine if you want to talk about your kids
and connect with someone on that way. So she went
out to a bookstore to buy because you know, she
feels that the only gift for children is books and
the little listas everything's like a speech, you know, everything's
like it has so much extra meaning for her. I'm like,
all right, you're just buying books whatever. Then she goes home.
First off, she bought.
Speaker 2: Like fifteen books. Did you see.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know you love wrapping Therenzo I know,
but this was like a little cute gift for someone
who's stopping by your house, and she wrapped it like
it was a frigging, you know, bridle shower. Every single
book was wrapped separately in the most elaborate manner possible
with ribbons and she's talking flowers and calligraphying. Note car,
it's not a birthday, it's not even and it's just
a gesture gift. And when you go to that level
of effort for a guest, it's off putting. I actually
find that level it's because it's not about the guests,
it's about you. I think you're not making them feel better,
you're actually making them feel a little like, oh, that's
a lot like I didn't I didn't show up with anything,
you know that sort of.
Speaker 2: I think it depends on the viewer, but me as
a viewer, like when she did the Tai Daie thing,
and then I saw it, there were like I'm not kidding,
there were like the fifty or fifty five different kinds
of colors in front of her and all this equipment,
all these tools and stuff. I was like, I find
this so off woody because most people would not have
the money to buy wrapping.
Speaker 1: That other gift for Tan France, and she wanted to
do that Japanese rapping with fabric and she pulls.
Speaker 2: Out like if these watches of.
Speaker 1: Fabrics you choose from, like I get it. The abundance
is part of the feel.
Speaker 2: I think it would be more interesting if you said, well,
let's if you if you made it a little i
don't know, less expensive, you know, if you gave tips
on how to do things without spending so much money
with things you have, right, But she's lying around. I
don't know. It just feels like this abundance of of
of luxury and and and money and wealth.
Speaker 1: It's just not my thing and no expertise, no person
with a lot of money and a lot of famous friends.
Speaker 2: There is one episode, and it's the only episode that
I liked very much, is that she invited the chef
who actually no Clara Smith. She's British. She she cooked
for them, she did the wedding dinner, and uh, you
can tell right away she's very British, very serious about
her job, so you could if you's. It's one episode
that is it's completely different from the rest of the
series because the woman she took over, she was like,
this is my job. I'm gonna make this a serious job.
So and you can tell that even Megan is like
letting her do everything. And and it went so well
because the woman explain everything. The woman actually down to
where to put the fish. You put the fish on
top of the vegetable. But this is how you do it,
that's what they do. They don't do enough of that.
So if you just want to watch Megan do or
fake do things, you know because you were a fan
of her, then yes, yes. And if you you know
she keeps talking about the how and that the gardener,
the garden has all this stuff. Yeah, but it's not
it's not even your house. It's not even your garden.
Speaker 1: Well, and here's the thing. I defended that last season
because a lot of TV, you know, lifestyle TV shows
will shoot in its studio or have a fake kitchen
or whatever like that, and that is fine. But she's
like selling a version of her own life about you know,
how she treats guests and you know, her home and
her children and how she serves breakfast. Okay, but you're
doing it in a fake space. So all this talk
about your home and your life, this isn't your home.
And then like they'll go out into the garden and yes,
we planted this, and we plan did you did you
plant this or did so? All of that is so
vague there and it would be so much easier if
like just fucking build a studio. Just build a studio
and shoot it in the studio. Martha Stewart did that,
Julia Child did that.
Speaker 2: The walk in the garden, it's all around buckets full
of shit that they bought and they put it there. Yeah,
and with ten friends. Actually I thought it was kind
of interesting because he was trying to talk about his
you know, family, right, and he's you know, upbringing in
in England and all that. It was actually interesting. But
then they go, oh, let's go to the beach and
then there's like two single Well.
Speaker 1: I mean it's a TV show I don't know about
I don't care about that.
Speaker 2: I just I don't I know. And everything and everything
they made, I mean I don't make anything. Tom makes
everything in this house.
Speaker 1: So except for the coconut French bread, I didn't care
about any of it. The Graham crackers, I think I
will make.
Speaker 2: Everything they make or she makes. They go through so
many tools.
Speaker 1: Everything needs the dipressing thing, a little thing to put
it in the micro I mean.
Speaker 2: I mean even when they bake something, I forgot what
she was baking. There's like two things per sheet, like
they have to have like ten sheets going in the
elven It's like, who does.
Speaker 1: My I'm gonna wrap this up. I know you have
a lot, but if you want to keep going, fine.
But my final main complaint is, and I think this
is horrible, along with the I'm so nervous. I hope
it works out thing if I got. If the show
eliminated these two things, it would improve by I like
seventy five percent. Is get rid of the I'm so nervous.
I hope she likes that shit, and stop having people
come into that kitchen and oh my god, I can't
believe I'm here. I can't believe you bake. They're all
so fucking impressed with her, and I have never no
one would ever accuse Martha Stewart of not having an ego,
but I have never seen her host guests who came
in and talked about how wonderful Martha Stewart is. And
literally every single guest walks into that kid, oh my god,
I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe you. I
can't believe you did this. I can't shut the fuck up.
Like it is so off putting. Megan is so so
so nervous about every guest that shows up, and every
guest is so so so thankful that they got invited,
and I'm like, this is so uninteresting to watch. It's
so bony, it's so goofy. One last thing, Chrissy Tigan,
it is disgusting watching people with manicures and diamond rings on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, disgusting. And I was like, what the amount of jewelry.
Speaker 1: Take your jewelry off, put on a lag glove. You're
going to be kneeding dough like that is gross as hell.
Speaker 2: Eighty percent of the guests had so much jewelry that
I'm like, yeah, what do you feel like gets caught
in those long nails dough? Gross? It was just yeah,
I mean again, and her.
Speaker 1: Nine skills are terrible. I saw her try and cut
bread and I was like, she can't even cut bread,
even cut bread like a well, all right, I'll stop
anyway here. You have much more to say about her.
Speaker 2: I feel like I still don't know how to make
flower jewelry. I still don't know how to die die
those things. I don't know anything I saw someone doing
very briefly and highly edited, highly added, because you know,
and and granted maybe it's not her. Maybe it's the editing.
Maybe she showed a lot more and it was everyone.
Speaker 1: We're saying comes down to producing and directing her personality
or whatever.
Speaker 2: Right I think she tries. I think I think if
she was more honest or the show was more honest
about what the show is about. It's just me having
fun with some friends coming over and guests, special guests,
and we're just gonna do shit here. Yeah, like fuck
up on camera. That's much that, Megan. But pretend that
you know what you're doing. Like it, And it's so
clear when she doesn't know what she's doing, and when
she knows what you do, like when she does the
road and the roast chicken thing the roast and then
it it changes immediately. Like the roast chicken. She gave
every detail of how what you know everything about it,
her instructions on how to do it, what to do it, Quinn,
she knows what she's doing, then she gives more instruction.
Well maybe it's it's we're not getting any of it.
But my point is that if you like her, if
you're a fan of her lifestyle, her you know her
money and wealth. Yeah, this is a show for you.
But if you want to learn anything forget it. Yeah,
you might get one tip here and there, you know,
but it's not enough. It's not enough for a show.
And I think they're going to have a Christmas special.
I believe it's coming. Yeah, I could be wrong. I'm
so watching that I think there ain't the christ special.
Speaker 1: I don't think this is a bad idea, and honestly,
I think if she wanted to continue doing this, this
is not a.
Speaker 2: Bad direction for her.
Speaker 1: But the show seriously needs some improvement and she needs
to loosen the hell up. You're not in England anymore.
I get that you feel that everything you do gets
you know, blasted apart, but you need to be a
little messy and laid back on camera because it is
not entertaining watching someone that nervous.
Speaker 2: I just confirm here, Megan Marker has a special holiday special,
I mean holiday episode in December, so.
Speaker 1: For her, I will be tuning in and we will
be doing a podcast on it. All right, do you
have anything else you want to add?
Speaker 2: No, I think you know. I hate to be so
critical about the show, but.
Speaker 1: She needs a good director and producer. There's nothing wrong.
Speaker 2: I think she's very she's been very misguided here. I agree.
I think so. I think she has good intention, she
has some skills, obviously, I.
Speaker 1: Think she is She can be a pleasant and likable
on camera when she's not nervous and when people aren't
fawning all over her. I think she every once in
a while she'll say something and I'm like, she's got
a sense of humor. We just need to see more
of that, right an, go ahead?
Speaker 2: No, I agree. There's so many bits about her. You know,
when she wasn't famous, she was still trying to be
an actor. Stuff like that, you know, which is interesting
about her life. Right. But no, I mean we get
this very luxurious version of Megan, you know, with five
hundred thousand kitchen items. Yeah, and you're like, okay, I'm yeah,
I'm maybe you get impressed by that time. I was
never impressed by that kind of thing. I was never
jealous of people's money, so that does not impress me.
Speaker 1: But if you are a fan of Megan, I guess
the show is.
Speaker 2: What you want.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not putting it down in that from
that sense, I just think it is. It is poorly
devised in a lot of ways, and if it does
get renewed, I really wish she would get a whole
new directing team because I do not like those creepy
guys that hang out in that kitchen with I don't
every time they cut to them, I'm like, oh, I
and the vibes of.
Speaker 2: That crew are weird, way off. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, frankly, I'm like, you should have some women
on that crew. It's you in a kitchen with a
bunch of men. And don't get me wrong, I mean
men can be part.
Speaker 2: But I feel like there's it's a little bit weird,
but the.
Speaker 1: Energy is very weird where it's just Megan in a
kitchen surrounded by men who are all talking off camera,
just weird vibe. She should have some female assistant or
something like that in each episode.
Speaker 2: And I think that instead of faking a house at
it's not hers, because then they have shots of the
front of the house and you were like, that's not
who what is this? I don't care, that's a house, yeah,
Joe in a studio exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: And the other thing. And I do think this is
partially a big reason for what limits what the show
can do is Megan, for probably very good reasons, doesn't
feel like she can go out into the world the camera,
so we don't see Megan go to a farmer's market
or ghosts anywhere off of that property to do something
like when she had all of those those scarves to
get to wrap that gift, and she said, you know,
you could go to vintage store. And I was like,
why didn't we see you go to a vintage store
and buy a bunch of scarbs to do gift wrap.
That's the kind of stuff that makes a show like that,
because otherwise it's like this weird hostage situation where she's
just stuck inside someone else's kitchen, right.
Speaker 2: I think they're trying to put too much into it
because they did go to a fish market. They did
go to the season.
Speaker 1: I didn't watch every episode Olive Oil.
Speaker 2: I didn't see that place where they make all of
oil wine some wine company, so she did, so later
on they really did get her out of the house. Well,
I'm telling you, watched the Claire Smith episode The British Chef.
It was my favorite. She was so amazing. I fell
in love with her. And they go to a fish
market and the guy is very nice showing all the
fish and stuff. That kind of stuff. Yeah, I mean that.
If you're not going to tell me how to make
the fish, at least show me show me the fish.
Show me the fish. All right, I believe we have
trashed that enough. Will by do we anything else? Know?
Speaker 1: It is a three day weekend, so I hope all
of our American kittens employ their three day weekend and
you do all your barbecuing and whatever, beaching, mountaining, whatever
you do. Have a good time, Blacks, have a good time.
Come back and check the site because I think we're
going to have a few things on the weekend. Anyway,
we'll be back next week with whatever crosses our eyes
across our desk. Until then, take care of yourselves, love
you mean it.
Speaker 2: Bye bye bye,