This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Steven Ferezy: Take one.

[0:06] Dana Craig: Steven and Dana and we're in the room.

[0:25] Steven Ferezy: Hi listeners, it's Steven and Dana here with In the Room with Steven and Dana. So what is what is this podcast episode? Because we, I mean, famously do not have a guest today.

[0:35] Dana Craig: Yeah, you're just getting us. And Dana and I thought as we as the transition out of our homes picks up, we thought we'd pay tribute to all the television that kept us going these last 18 months.

[0:51] Steven Ferezy: Our digital babysitter. Where theater could not, you know, we've we we have to tip our hat to our tube brethren.

[1:01] Dana Craig: Yep, and I certainly watched a lot of TV. I normally watch a lot of TV, so And maybe historically, like a rising number of stage actors on television because there's no stage work.

[1:12] Steven Ferezy: Historically, or because it pays more. And or listen, let's be real. And or I would love to talk about all of that.

[1:21] Dana Craig: I all of that. I feel like I know that you watched the Megan Mullally talk show, all both episodes that existed.

[1:29] Steven Ferezy: Are you talking about like in 2005?

[1:32] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[1:33] Steven Ferezy: Sure am and she came on one day and she had a little opening number, and it was all about it was called TiVo is my wingman.

[1:43] Dana Craig: And it was a patter song. And she was like, I gotta satellite, a cable box of VCR and DVR, a television in every room, and even one behind the bar. And then she goes into a pattery pattery listing every television show in history.

[2:03] Steven Ferezy: You gotta look it up.

[2:04] Dana Craig: It's I've never heard of this.

[2:05] Steven Ferezy: And actually I did not watch that show because I was I didn't it like there's a lot that I missed, and I have to talk about it here too. But when I was in college, I did not watch a lot of TV.

[2:18] Dana Craig: Because dorms and TV and what time do you have? And I had rehearsal.

[2:25] Steven Ferezy: That's right. So it was like that bumper sticker, I can't, I have rehearsal. Um so did not watch a lot of TV, and that premiered, I think also maybe during the summer.

[2:38] Dana Craig: Like I was at Quis Asana, we had no TV. There was a large chunk of my life. I did not have a TV. Um, and I was living my life. Um, but yeah, that's a niche pull, and I have to find it.

[2:51] Steven Ferezy: It's it on YouTube.

[2:54] Dana Craig: Yes, it's a great little patter song that made me laugh as a kid and makes me laugh today. Because you know I love a lyric. I love lots of words in the world.

[3:02] Steven Ferezy: I would love to recreate that.

[3:04] Dana Craig: I would love to do it.

[3:05] Steven Ferezy: I would too. Let's do it at the duplex.

[3:08] Dana Craig: I was gonna say, there's gotta be a gotta be a venue. But really, I think that that opening number has stuck in my head because it made watching TV not like a bad thing.

[3:21] Steven Ferezy: There was such a stigma when you were a kid, like, don't watch too much TV. And this was a whole nother about look at all the TV I've watched and like all the knowledge I can pull from it.

[3:33] Dana Craig: So look at you in your notebook. In the spirit of things. We prepare zero percent for any other interview, and now for the TV episode, which we can just talk about without notes.

[3:44] Steven Ferezy: We have notes. I separated the old shows that I watched during COVID that I've rewatched, or maybe old shows that are new to me but not new to the TV guide.

[3:56] Dana Craig: Okay.

[3:57] Steven Ferezy: And also like the new shows, the new new shows that are happening right now that a lot of us have watched.

[4:04] Dana Craig: Sure. Start wherever you'd like to start.

[4:08] Steven Ferezy: Oh my goodness. Well, I feel like we have to start with um perhaps the the the largest common ground we've ever found.

[4:17] Dana Craig: Hacks.

[4:18] Steven Ferezy: Oh, yes. I enjoyed, I watched every episode thrice. I will be watching them more.

[4:26] Dana Craig: Television. It's not TV, it's HBO.

[4:30] Steven Ferezy: First of all, HBO Max. Really stellar programming.

[4:38] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[4:39] Steven Ferezy: They win. Good streaming service. Hacks, I remember seeing the advertisement, you know, the little trailers.

[4:48] Dana Craig: The sequence suit.

[4:50] Steven Ferezy: Yes. And I remember thinking, oh my god, who are the minds that made this? And I need to um be friends with them. I need to get to know them. I need to know where they came from.

[5:04] Dana Craig: And obviously they're gay.

[5:06] Steven Ferezy: It's funny that just by looking at it, the first question we both have is who wrote it.

[5:11] Dana Craig: Yeah, and then also the casting of Jean Smart was not obvious.

[5:17] Steven Ferezy: But very smart.

[5:19] Dana Craig: But so smart. And it got me excited. And I was like, oh my god, I I think I've been sleeping on Jean Smart. Like, I know that she's incredible.

[5:31] Steven Ferezy: I love seeing her, but Hacks really turned it around for me. And now I'm so deep in Jean Smartland that the FBI should be alerted.

[5:42] Dana Craig: Can I tell you how much crossover on this list is Jean Smart?

[5:46] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, tell me. Tell me everything.

[5:47] Dana Craig: Oh, we've watched Designing Women.

[5:49] Steven Ferezy: Yep.

[5:50] Dana Craig: We watched her Who Do You Think You Are on Discovery Plus?

[5:53] Steven Ferezy: Yes.

[5:53] Dana Craig: You're welcome. Before we get too deep into it, listeners, there will be spoiler alerts.

[5:59] Steven Ferezy: Oh, sure. So if we start talking about something you're unfamiliar with, go ahead and use that 15 second repeat.

[6:07] Dana Craig: I mean, fast forward. Um Dorcas Whore. If you're not watching Who Do You Think You Are in Discovery Plus, which is both like new and old.

[6:16] Steven Ferezy: I think the newest episodes are 2018 and the oldest are earlier. Um, but it's celebrities doing Ancestry.com, but with a budget, so the show sends them to Ireland or England or wherever.

[6:33] Dana Craig: Uh and pe these celebrities learn about their ancestors.

[6:37] Steven Ferezy: Last one we watched was Regina King.

[6:40] Dana Craig: Nice.

[6:40] Steven Ferezy: It was a good one.

[6:43] Dana Craig: Well, uh, you mentioned Dorcas Horror, who is, you know, the ancestor of Jean Smart, who happened to be part of the Salem Witch trials, like right before not a witch, but right before Barely Escaped.

[6:58] Steven Ferezy: Barely escaped it.

[6:59] Dana Craig: Yeah. Date. She was like one of the last two live.

[7:04] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[7:06] Dana Craig: As they say on Big Brother, another new show I'm watching.

[7:09] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[7:09] Dana Craig: So yeah, that's a great episode. And she's like, oh my gosh, I come from fierce women. And I wish my mom was here, and it's real cute.

[7:17] Steven Ferezy: Hers was cute. Because listen, the show has a mixture of like celebrity celebrity who's doing it because they're a celebrity, and why not? But maybe they don't have maybe they hadn't prior to booking this gig, um, had a deep rooted interest in their family trees.

[7:36] Dana Craig: So you see them kind of get into it, and then you see the people like Alfre Woodard and Jean Smart, who are like, of course, like this is important. There is this is more important than a little bit.

[7:58] Steven Ferezy: And picked it up, and she spoke to like I I haven't arrived if I haven't felt the actual soil with my actual face.

[8:06] Dana Craig: Oh my god, yeah. All I care about are celebrity autobiographies. So, like, this is a show that is in my cellular makeup. I love that stuff.

[8:16] Steven Ferezy: It's great. And then I will say, Courtney Cox has a good episode only because it goes so far back.

[8:24] Dana Craig: Really?

[8:25] Steven Ferezy: Is it like Jesus?

[8:27] Dana Craig: Uh no. I'm not gonna spoil it for you.

[8:30] Steven Ferezy: Okay.

[8:30] Dana Craig: If you had seen it, I'd spoil it for the listeners. Uh, but it does go deep.

[8:36] Steven Ferezy: Well, and let's thank the executive producer, Lisa Coudreau of that show, because Lisa Coudreau.

[8:43] Dana Craig: So well done. And Lisa Coudreau, as we as we talk about television, she's in my coven.

[8:49] Steven Ferezy: Yes.

[8:50] Dana Craig: I rewatched her during COVID. I did uh Scandal beginning to end for the first time since its original.

[8:57] Steven Ferezy: Never seen it.

[8:58] Dana Craig: Listen, any time any kind of work I have had in the last 18 months has been from my couch. So something's always on.

[9:05] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, yeah. Right? Let's be real.

[9:06] Dana Craig: Let's continue with Jean Smart though. You mentioned Designing. You just you mentioned Designing Women.

[9:11] Steven Ferezy: I too have started from the beginning.

[9:13] Dana Craig: And I was not a Jean Smart fan. I watched Designing Women when I was little, when I was a little baby.

[9:20] Steven Ferezy: Um I didn't it premiere in like 1986 or something.

[9:24] Dana Craig: I was two. So I was all about those dark haired ladies, the Sugarbakers, the Delta Burke, and um Dixie Carter. I could not tell you like a sexier pair of you know TV sisters.

[9:40] Steven Ferezy: I can't even handle them.

[9:42] Dana Craig: But Jean Smart is. I mean, she truly I'm so glad she didn't get pigeonholed into like being that kind of Rose Nylon character forever.

[9:51] Steven Ferezy: Agreed.

[9:52] Dana Craig: Um I'm glad that she she actually kind of left Designing Women and was like, actually, my contract's up, and I'd like I'm an actor and I'd like to act.

[10:02] Steven Ferezy: Do some accent.

[10:03] Dana Craig: And she did the Eileen Warnos movie it on Lifetime or something, way before Charlize Theron did it. She's kind of like Judith Light in that way, I feel.

[10:14] Steven Ferezy: Yes.

[10:14] Dana Craig: Like Judith Light will do the work and she'll be brilliant, and then she'll go do something else. And maybe it's great and maybe it's not. She talked about this on, I think Alec Baldwin's podcast. She liked talked about the worst movie she ever made, and it was still a great time. And she learned a lot.

[10:29] Steven Ferezy: Oh, I love that kind of person.

[10:32] Dana Craig: I love that kind of person. They just want to work.

[10:34] Steven Ferezy: They just want to. I don't know. Just wants to work.

[10:37] Dana Craig: Jean Smart doesn't have an Instagram. I mean, she does, but she doesn't post anything. But she wants to work. She's not about being, she is so square, you know, to the outside world.

[10:46] Steven Ferezy: She's Christmas on the Square.

[10:48] Dana Craig: Well, she's Christmas on the Square. We do not see her at like she's not in the, you know what I mean? She's not in the Us Weekly. Stars are just like us, Jean Smart. Who cares? It's so square.

[10:56] Steven Ferezy: I've been wanting to draw Jean Smart and Google imaging Jean Smart. Not so fun.

[11:04] Dana Craig: I mean, it's few and far between. She's got her friends who are, you know, probably super famous. So they are such a tight-knit group of people. And uh, you know, playwrights, and you can just tell she's all about the work.

[11:22] Steven Ferezy: I'm so glad she's having her.

[11:24] Dana Craig: This renaissance. Where she is.

[11:26] Steven Ferezy: Because Mare 2.

[11:29] Dana Craig: Yes.

[11:29] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. She's so brilliant.

[11:33] Dana Craig: Which I think Mare started a couple weeks before Hacks.

[11:37] Steven Ferezy: So I think I got a little bit into Mare, and it was like, oh yeah, Jean Smart.

[11:42] Dana Craig: Right.

[11:42] Steven Ferezy: You might be right. And then Hacks happened, which I don't think is necessarily an accident.

[11:48] Dana Craig: No, and it it's actually they don't um compete with each other.

[11:52] Steven Ferezy: None.

[11:53] Dana Craig: Zero. It's almost like she gets two different games. She gets so lost in her character in Mare.

[11:59] Steven Ferezy: And it's so not about her.

[12:01] Dana Craig: No. She's set dressing with an attitude.

[12:04] Steven Ferezy: Yes. Here's what I thought of last night about Jean Smart, and I'm thinking about her constantly. I just hope she's okay and she's I know you are.

[12:12] Dana Craig: She's great.

[12:23] Dana Craig: She's like a very vulnerable woman. Uh, you know, kind of down on their luck, divorce she receives and reacts.

[12:34] Steven Ferezy: Yes, but in Hacks, she is throwing you up against the wall. She is giving, and she don't care. I mean, it is the resistance.

[12:44] Dana Craig: Yes, she's all in the life. She's so great.

[12:48] Steven Ferezy: She's so great. Guess who followed me on Instagram?

[12:52] Dana Craig: Uh, uh.

[12:54] Steven Ferezy: You'll never guess. You'll never guess. But it's a Brady movie.

[12:58] Dana Craig: Eve Plumb.

[12:59] Steven Ferezy: Nope.

[13:01] Dana Craig: Jennifer Elise Cox, who plays Jan in the Brady movie, and who has a great cameo in Will and Grace.

[13:10] Steven Ferezy: She followed me out of the blue.

[13:11] Dana Craig: Yeah, she has a great cameo in Will and Grace.

[13:14] Steven Ferezy: And sort of Eve Plumb.

[13:16] Dana Craig: And sort of Eve Plumb. Maybe she'll do the podcast.

[13:19] Steven Ferezy: Maybe I'll reach out. Do we think she and Eve Plumb will do the podcast together?

[13:25] Dana Craig: Ryan O'Connor would explode.

[13:28] Steven Ferezy: Okay, so we're done with Designing Women.

[13:30] Dana Craig: Uh, she was not my favorite, Gene Smart, but now I'm really focusing in and paying my respects to Charlene.

[13:39] Steven Ferezy: When I started from the beginning, I didn't realize that The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia is episode two.

[13:51] Dana Craig: I know.

[13:52] Steven Ferezy: I know, I know.

[13:53] Dana Craig: Yeah, it's pretty her episode two.

[13:58] Steven Ferezy: Julia Sugarbaker's massive monologue comes very early.

[14:04] Dana Craig: One other show in television history that has had me so hooked on episode two, and it's Superstar.

[14:14] Steven Ferezy: I knew I knew you were gonna say Superstar.

[14:16] Dana Craig: What about Sex in the City? Was that a slow burn for you or what?

[14:19] Steven Ferezy: It wasn't a slow burn, but I didn't watch that in real time.

[14:22] Dana Craig: Oh, I see.

[14:23] Steven Ferezy: So, you know.

[14:26] Dana Craig: But as an adult, having seen Sex in the City, my jumping in point, season three, episode one.

[14:31] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[14:32] Dana Craig: Uh, Natalie would agree. Seasons one and two, we love them. They're important, they're crucial, but when I just need it on in the background, I can't have them talking straight to the camera.

[14:43] Steven Ferezy: Oh, I see.

[14:44] Dana Craig: That device didn't work on that show, and I prefer to skip.

[14:49] Steven Ferezy: So back to Gene Smart. I have started season five of the television program 24 because that's the season Gene Smart is in.

[15:02] Dana Craig: Great.

[15:02] Steven Ferezy: And she is off her rocker in that. It's so fun to see her play. She plays the First Lady, and she takes medication, or maybe should.

[15:13] Dana Craig: It's a great juicy role.

[15:16] Steven Ferezy: It's real fun. Real fun.

[15:20] Dana Craig: Um, I really dived into Samantha Who in the.

[15:24] Steven Ferezy: I saw your post about it.

[15:26] Dana Craig: I've never watched. Melissa McCarthy is in it. Jennifer Esposito is in it. Gene Smart plays Christina Applegate's mom in it.

[15:33] Steven Ferezy: It is so good, it holds up.

[15:35] Dana Craig: It's 2007 fashion.

[15:39] Steven Ferezy: 2007, I was a junior in college.

[15:42] Dana Craig: And I was busy. Also, I was not a Christina Applegate fan at that point.

[15:47] Steven Ferezy: Now, Dead to Me is what really turned me around on that because I watched.

[15:53] Dana Craig: She's so good!

[15:54] Steven Ferezy: She's so good in it.

[15:56] Dana Craig: Oh, add it to your list.

[16:01] Steven Ferezy: I know.

[16:02] Dana Craig: We are in the golden age, babe. Frightening. TV is theater. Let's just be real.

[16:06] Steven Ferezy: Is there something that you tried to watch but couldn't really get into?

[16:11] Dana Craig: Well, there's a couple things I started to watch and then stopped, not because I wasn't into them, but because it was just wrong thing, wrong time.

[16:22] Steven Ferezy: Um, I tried to watch Treme on HBO.

[16:27] Dana Craig: Same.

[16:28] Steven Ferezy: Miguel Besse is on it.

[16:30] Dana Craig: Uh, but wrong time. Wasn't the right time to watch post-Katrina New Orleans.

[16:38] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, you really have to be in a mood.

[16:41] Dana Craig: It didn't sit right for the moment. So I want to do that. I will do that, but not right now.

[16:46] Steven Ferezy: And then I did about half of the series Hung because Alana Ubach was on it, one of my favorite character actresses.

[16:55] Dana Craig: Is she the one in Meet the Fockers?

[16:58] Steven Ferezy: Yes.

[16:59] Dana Craig: She's in Legally Blonde.

[17:01] Steven Ferezy: Both of them.

[17:03] Dana Craig: She is in Sister Act 2.

[17:06] Steven Ferezy: She's the one who doesn't know Mary had a little lamb.

[17:08] Dana Craig: Maybe where Maria comes from. Mary had a dog.

[17:12] Steven Ferezy: Or a little kitty cat.

[17:14] Dana Craig: Or a little bald-headed brother named Bart.

[17:18] Steven Ferezy: What was she in?

[17:20] Dana Craig: She was in Clock Watchers.

[17:23] Steven Ferezy: The movie.

[17:26] Dana Craig: She's incredible in everything.

[17:28] Steven Ferezy: She touches.

[17:29] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[17:30] Steven Ferezy: I have to Google her all the time because I'm like, who is this?

[17:32] Dana Craig: Oh, it's the same person. I keep Googling.

[17:35] Steven Ferezy: Oh, she's so exciting.

[17:35] Dana Craig: It's always Alana Ubach.

[17:37] Steven Ferezy: She's so funny. The way she works her mouth when she, her hard R's.

[17:38] Dana Craig: Her hard Rs.

[17:44] Steven Ferezy: I love it.

[17:45] Dana Craig: Um, I tried to watch WandaVision.

[17:49] Steven Ferezy: Can't do it.

[17:50] Dana Craig: Really we love it.

[17:51] Steven Ferezy: Really can't do it.

[17:53] Dana Craig: Interesting.

[17:54] Steven Ferezy: I don't, I'm not a Marvel or any of that kind of don't get it.

[17:58] Dana Craig: I don't get the inside jokes.

[18:00] Steven Ferezy: I don't understand what has already been what everyone knows already.

[18:05] Dana Craig: I just don't get it.

[18:06] Steven Ferezy: I will say.

[18:09] Dana Craig: I didn't watch Watchmen.

[18:11] Steven Ferezy: I watched WandaVision. John likes the Marvel stuff.

[18:15] Dana Craig: Um, so I think if I had watched WandaVision by myself not knowing everything I don't know, I would be in your boat, but having somebody enjoying it around me that's helpful, and he could explain what was crucial, and I understood what was happening more or less.

[18:35] Steven Ferezy: Okay, we touched on it. But Mare of Easttown, have you finished it?

[18:38] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[18:39] Steven Ferezy: Oh yeah.

[18:40] Dana Craig: God bless Kate Winslet.

[18:42] Steven Ferezy: God bless, uh, what's her face.

[18:44] Dana Craig: Um, she plays Kate Winslet's friend.

[18:47] Steven Ferezy: Lick my ass, Diane.

[18:48] Dana Craig: Um yeah, uh, uh, Julianne Nicholson.

[18:51] Steven Ferezy: Thank you. Is that her name?

[18:53] Dana Craig: Yes, she should win something because she delivers one of the most really raw emotional scenes.

[19:05] Steven Ferezy: I think it's at the end, one of the final episodes that I've ever seen.

[19:10] Dana Craig: I was wrecked.

[19:11] Steven Ferezy: She's remarkable in everything she touches, but particularly Mare of Easttown.

[19:17] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[19:18] Steven Ferezy: Really, her performance moved me.

[19:21] Dana Craig: Her performance moved me.

[19:23] Steven Ferezy: They all did Kate moved me and What's His Face, who I know from all the American Horror Stories, but oh, Evan Peters.

[19:30] Dana Craig: I was, I loved it.

[19:31] Steven Ferezy: I never knew him from anything outside of American Horror Story, where he's always very great, but it was really cool to see him out of that world and steal the show.

[19:43] Dana Craig: There's a scene in a bar with Evan Peters, and I think he's always great, but I'm never like an Evan Peters stan.

[19:51] Steven Ferezy: But that really I was like, oh, you're playing drunk as an actor is a really fine line between playing drunk and playing not wanting people to know that you're drunk, which is what drunk people actually do.

[20:11] Dana Craig: They try to act as sober as possible.

[20:14] Steven Ferezy: Right.

[20:14] Dana Craig: And it's like, no, you're actually drunk.

[20:16] Steven Ferezy: So it's really hard to make that really work, but I thought he did a great job.

[20:21] Dana Craig: I read an article just about that scene.

[20:21] Steven Ferezy: Oh really?

[20:26] Dana Craig: Yeah, kind of when it happened.

[20:26] Steven Ferezy: Um, it was cool that he talked about it, and I think that was the point in the script when he was reading.

[20:33] Dana Craig: He was like, I don't know if I can do this part.

[20:36] Steven Ferezy: Oh wow, yeah, it's tough.

[20:39] Dana Craig: Really, really cool.

[20:42] Steven Ferezy: Really cool to watch him do that and be so great.

[20:45] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[20:46] Steven Ferezy: Good job, Evan Peters. We love you.

[20:48] Dana Craig: I loved Mare of Easttown.

[20:51] Steven Ferezy: I really did.

[20:52] Dana Craig: I mean, it's fun to make fun of it because of the accent and you know.

[20:52] Steven Ferezy: Which it's so good though.

[21:00] Dana Craig: It's so good. And that she had never been to a Wawa and she went to one and she was like, oh, I get it.

[21:05] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[21:06] Dana Craig: I mean, watch Mare of Easttown and then watch the SNL, the murder dirter sketch.

[21:10] Steven Ferezy: It’s just really a nice double feature, if you will.

[21:15] Dana Craig: If I may move on.

[21:17] Steven Ferezy: I guess.

[21:18] Dana Craig: I mean, I have more Gene Smart, but that'll come up naturally later.

[21:22] Steven Ferezy: I'm sure.

[21:23] Dana Craig: Yeah, I can work her into anything.

[21:24] Steven Ferezy: This whole episode is dedicated to Gene Smart.

[21:26] Dana Craig: Yeah, absolutely. Gene Smart appears in our minds on shows that she's not on.

[21:33] Steven Ferezy: Gene Smart is 100% in White Lotus.

[21:36] Dana Craig: Oh, spiritually, she's there.

[21:38] Steven Ferezy: She's the mom in the bag.

[21:40] Dana Craig: She's the ashes.

[21:41] Steven Ferezy: She's Jennifer Coolidge's borderline personality disorder mom.

[21:45] Dana Craig: Again, HBO Max. Can we just, this is a natural progression to White Lotus.

[21:50] Steven Ferezy: Every time Jennifer Coolidge comes on screen, I scream Emmy.

[21:55] Dana Craig: Yeah, yeah.

[21:56] Steven Ferezy: And, and, and Steven, guess what? Mike White wrote that part for her, and she was like deep into quarantine, you know, bags of chips, cake.

[22:09] Dana Craig: She's like, I've never been like my most TV ready.

[22:13] Steven Ferezy: Not TV ready, right?

[22:15] Dana Craig: I am so glad she said yes.

[22:19] Steven Ferezy: She is.

[22:20] Dana Craig: I think she's luminous.

[22:22] Steven Ferezy: She is so sexy.

[22:23] Dana Craig: I'm like, is she sexy?

[22:25] Steven Ferezy: She's sexy.

[22:26] Dana Craig: Cause she's not doing the Jennifer Coolidge caricature.

[22:32] Steven Ferezy: Right, right, right.

[22:33] Dana Craig: The thing that we know her.

[22:34] Steven Ferezy: She's not doing palette.

[22:36] Dana Craig: Right, right.

[22:37] Steven Ferezy: There's signs of it because it's who Jennifer Coolidge is.

[22:40] Dana Craig: Sorry.

[22:41] Steven Ferezy: But we're seeing work.

[22:43] Dana Craig: We're seeing character development.

[22:47] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, we're seeing you are an actor, girl.

[22:50] Dana Craig: You're an actor.

[22:51] Steven Ferezy: Nothing makes me happier when the Jennifer Coolidge's, when the Melissa McCarthy's, when the Sandra Bullocks they get a chance to actually act.

[23:00] Dana Craig: When Melissa McCarthy got to do Lee Israel.

[23:03] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[23:04] Dana Craig: And not be Melissa McCarthy.

[23:08] Steven Ferezy: Which God bless. I need Melissa McCarthy in my life at all times.

[23:12] Dana Craig: But when she got to be an actress.

[23:15] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[23:17] Dana Craig: What a joy to watch.

[23:19] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, no, that's one of my favorite things.

[23:22] Dana Craig: That's one of my favorite things.

[23:24] Steven Ferezy: But I love when people have really cemented themselves and who they are as a like, oh, that's I need a Melissa McCarthy for this role.

[23:35] Dana Craig: When that's like you are a comedian and we know what you can do, and you're a clown.

[23:39] Steven Ferezy: No one can do it better than you.

[23:41] Dana Craig: And then we are surprised by this next choice.

[23:46] Steven Ferezy: Mm-hmm.

[23:47] Dana Craig: She has a new thing on Hulu coming out that looks like it may be another surprise Melissa McCarthy role.

[23:56] Steven Ferezy: And I agree, Jane Lynch, same thing.

[23:58] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[23:59] Steven Ferezy: Same thing. Her on Good Fight.

[24:01] Dana Craig: Jane Lynch.

[24:02] Steven Ferezy: Anytime she's on Good Fight with the fucking birds flying into her window.

[24:07] Dana Craig: Can we talk about Good Fight?

[24:09] Steven Ferezy: I started the Good Fight.

[24:10] Dana Craig: I had to.

[24:11] Steven Ferezy: How did we ruin something for you?

[24:12] Dana Craig: No, no, no. I've gotten to the Jane Lynch part.

[24:15] Steven Ferezy: But um, I started season two where Audra McDonald, uh, theater queen is in it.

[24:22] Dana Craig: Christine Baranski, theater queen.

[24:24] Steven Ferezy: Sarah Steele, theater queen.

[24:26] Dana Craig: I mean, there are so many people who are in it that are like, oh, you are New York.

[24:29] Steven Ferezy: And it keeps going.

[24:30] Dana Craig: I mean, the whole first season, Bernadette Peters and Christine Baranski, and again, all the people.

[24:30] Steven Ferezy: All the people.

[24:37] Dana Craig: Brenda Braxton working in the law firm.

[24:42] Steven Ferezy: It's just Bernadette is great.

[24:46] Dana Craig: Here's why we slept on The Good Fight. It was on CB. It was a CBS all access original content. So it was never on TV, and you had to pay for CBS.

[24:56] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, I never had CBS.

[25:00] Dana Craig: Content since Brady Bunch.

[25:03] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. Um I'm not paying for it. I'm sorry. I want to watch it, but I can't.

[25:08] Dana Craig: We got Paramount Plus, and all of a sudden it was unlocked.

[25:13] Steven Ferezy: Same.

[25:14] Dana Craig: So I got to binge it. And it was like watching a Broadway show.

[25:19] Steven Ferezy: Good.

[25:20] Dana Craig: It was a visit from every and continues to be a visit from there. Is not one episode. I skip the credits because I don't want to know who's coming on.

[25:28] Steven Ferezy: So I always skip them.

[25:30] Dana Craig: And it's every episode. I just have great credits too.

[25:33] Steven Ferezy: Those are opening credits.

[25:36] Dana Craig: I would like to propose a toast to Christine Baranski.

[25:40] Steven Ferezy: Um I I haven't slept on Christine Baranski. She's one of my favorite character women of all time. Anything she does is gold.

[25:49] Dana Craig: Adam's Family Values. Um, she's also another one who was like, I'm gonna go raise my family, and I'm an actor, and I'm gonna make the all the choices I want.

[25:59] Steven Ferezy: And guess what? Not unlike Jean Smart, Christine Baranski was also married to an actor who took the back seat as their wives' careers took off.

[26:17] Dana Craig: And that is why we know Christine Baranski. That is why we know Jean Smart, because their husbands recognized, respected, um, loved, adored, and we're fans of.

[26:33] Steven Ferezy: We're fans of the world. They want them to work so they can go see it.

[26:36] Dana Craig: I know at least Christine Baranski's talked about it that she was able to have such a stellar varied consistent career because her husband was at home to take care of the kids when she had to, you know, go do a public play or there was a great article about her recently about how she's defying every odd because you know she she talked about she didn't really start working until her 30s.

[27:06] Steven Ferezy: Sure booking roles.

[27:07] Dana Craig: Yeah. Sybil was then she didn't start getting leads in musicals until way late.

[27:13] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[27:14] Dana Craig: And now here she is at pinnacle.

[27:17] Steven Ferezy: Yeah and she should not be at her pinnacle. 65 plus year old women are above the title and I am so here for it.

[27:27] Dana Craig: Let's learn a lesson. This is what people like Kate Winslet is helping blaze that trail too.

[27:32] Steven Ferezy: Like she has that whole thing. She's like I do not accept roles at this point in my career where there is an unrealistic standard of beauty attached.

[27:41] Dana Craig: I won't do it. I'm not putting my body through that I'm not mirroring that to other women and it's because of choices like that that more and more roles for more and more women over 40 will be written.

[27:58] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[27:59] Dana Craig: But back to White Lotus.

[28:00] Steven Ferezy: Oh, yeah.

[28:01] Dana Craig: I have so much more to say about White Lotus. Um again, what's her face? Connie Britton.

[28:06] Steven Ferezy: Oh, I have to watch that show.

[28:09] Dana Craig: It's a good show to watch A Little Stoned because it it is from the mind of Mike.

[28:14] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[28:15] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[28:15] Steven Ferezy: Uh the mind of Mike White, who gave us School of Rock, who gave us the Laura Dern Vehicle, Enlightened, also on HBO.

[28:24] Dana Craig: Um, he is very layered. He's very into character development.

[28:30] Steven Ferezy: It's very much about interpersonal dynamics and psychiatry, you know.

[28:36] Dana Craig: Like, how are these people interacting with each other? Um, so I love I love his writing, and I love it. It gets a little weird.

[28:44] Steven Ferezy: I love the um the soundtrack is great.

[28:46] Dana Craig: There's like dude.

[28:47] Steven Ferezy: Oh, it's great.

[28:48] Dana Craig: The credits, the opening credits. Now, those I don't skip. It's beautiful. White Lotus is beautiful.

[28:55] Steven Ferezy: The the the uh the character of Connie Britton's daughter and her friend.

[29:00] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[29:01] Steven Ferezy: Those two, I love those characters.

[29:04] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[29:04] Steven Ferezy: I love them.

[29:05] Dana Craig: They're a little scary.

[29:07] Steven Ferezy: Love that they're not just basic rich girls.

[29:12] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[29:12] Steven Ferezy: They're still basic.

[29:14] Dana Craig: They're still pretty basic, but like that they're reading Freud.

[29:18] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, I'm trying not to taking Kay and you really can do it all.

[29:26] Dana Craig: And I think Mike White was kind of challenged to write something for quarantine purposes.

[29:34] Steven Ferezy: Like they filmed it in quarantine.

[29:38] Dana Craig: So keep that in mind when you watch it. It's incredible.

[29:42] Steven Ferezy: It's incredible.

[29:44] Dana Craig: I kind of hope it becomes, you know, multiple seasons and just every season it's a new group at the at the White Lotus.

[29:53] Steven Ferezy: I hope the only things that are consistent are um the White Lotus and those who work there.

[30:01] Dana Craig: I know that that means a lot of other things, but you know, kind of just rotate that hotel.

[30:08] Steven Ferezy: Let the hotel be the main character.

[30:10] Dana Craig: Again, with Jennifer Coolidge, I love when a character is so vulnerable and so um she's heartbreaking in a way.

[30:19] Steven Ferezy: Like I'm watching her and I'm I'm just like, oh I feel I feel for you, but you're just kind of an open an open wound.

[30:29] Dana Craig: And you see how everyone looks at her and you're just like But she's so beautiful.

[30:36] Steven Ferezy: Wanna put your little heart back together.

[30:39] Dana Craig: I know. I just want her to find Lurve.

[30:44] Steven Ferezy: Event television.

[30:46] Dana Craig: Again, again, White Lotus was event, hacks was an event, you know, we're gonna come over Sunday night and watch it.

[30:53] Steven Ferezy: Um hacks, I do have to say that new to Cast Jean Smart's is more.

[30:59] Dana Craig: God bless you. And one of my favorite new comedians um wrote episode seven. Pat Regan has his first writing credit, and I'm so happy about it.

[31:12] Steven Ferezy: I love him so much.

[31:13] Dana Craig: Um incredible. And yeah, uh Julie Klausner is a consulting producer, Bowen Yang is a consulting producer.

[31:21] Steven Ferezy: It's just um the people who get it are on the team, which makes me feel like I I want a you know, a million seasons.

[31:30] Dana Craig: You guys are doing it so well.

[31:32] Steven Ferezy: I've followed the cinematographer on Instagram.

[31:36] Dana Craig: Like, they're posting beautiful shots of when they were making it.

[31:41] Steven Ferezy: And every frame, all the costumes, the sets.

[31:45] Dana Craig: Everything is a postcard. You know?

[31:48] Steven Ferezy: So well done.

[31:48] Dana Craig: Greetings from Hacks.

[31:50] Steven Ferezy: Jen Statski, Lucia Niello.

[31:55] Dana Craig: Lucia Aniello. I don't know. You can Google it. They're great.

[31:59] Steven Ferezy: Those are the creators.

[32:00] Dana Craig: And Paul W. Downs. They are a match made and he of them.

[32:04] Steven Ferezy: How do you feel about Hannah Einbinder?

[32:06] Dana Craig: I feel great about her.

[32:08] Steven Ferezy: How do you feel about her?

[32:10] Dana Craig: Great.

[32:11] Steven Ferezy: Oh, I know she's like kind of a polarizing character on the show.

[32:14] Dana Craig: So I didn't know if you had any um

[32:14] Steven Ferezy: Oh, I thought you just meant as like casting.

[32:21] Dana Craig: Um I mean that too.

[32:21] Steven Ferezy: No, I I I think they work really well together.

[32:24] Dana Craig: I think that their dynamic is nailing it.

[32:27] Steven Ferezy: I think that because she's supposed to be 25, right?

[32:32] Dana Craig: She reads older.

[32:34] Steven Ferezy: Which I think works.

[32:34] Dana Craig: And maybe 25 yeah that's maybe that's me having been a a young assistant to older people.

[32:41] Steven Ferezy: So I think when she goes down to that room that's just a shit show of an archive space and has to sort through everything.

[32:50] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[32:51] Steven Ferezy: I've been in that room I've sorted through everything.

[32:54] Dana Craig: I've watched everything I I've done that.

[32:58] Steven Ferezy: So that was a very personal um sense memory that that show brought up specifically her and I think I love their dynamic.

[33:09] Dana Craig: Yeah I think she's I think she's pretty great.

[33:15] Steven Ferezy: But yeah, I love that there's an arc.

[33:18] Dana Craig: I love that she's growing.

[33:19] Steven Ferezy: Yes.

[33:20] Dana Craig: I love that she was polarizing.

[33:22] Steven Ferezy: Like, oh, why is she being kept around?

[33:26] Dana Craig: They filmed that funeral scene right after Jean Smart's husband died.

[33:31] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[33:31] Dana Craig: So her husband died. She had to go be funny.

[33:34] Steven Ferezy: In real life.

[33:35] Dana Craig: Yeah, during a funeral scene.

[33:38] Steven Ferezy: I can't, I can't believe it.

[33:40] Dana Craig: But I do love in one of the articles I read. I love that um, you know, she talks about how how how sad she is that he wasn't here to see hacks, but that he got to read the script and that he loved the script.

[33:52] Steven Ferezy: Yeah.

[33:53] Dana Craig: And knew that that he that he died knowing what she was going to do and that it was going to be great.

[34:02] Steven Ferezy: Uh warms my heart in the world.

[34:05] Dana Craig: I'm literally gonna cry right now, and I don't even know them.

[34:07] Steven Ferezy: Okay, so his name is Richard Gilliland, and they met on the set of Designing Women in the first season.

[34:13] Dana Craig: He played Annie Potts' boyfriend. Isn't that beautiful?

[34:17] Steven Ferezy: God bless Annie.

[34:18] Dana Craig: You can watch them fall in love. Designing women on Hulu.

[34:23] Steven Ferezy: Um I would like to take this opportunity, Steven, to invite you to see Hannah Einbinder with me in November.

[34:31] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[34:32] Steven Ferezy: I bought tickets, and we're gonna go.

[34:35] Dana Craig: Great.

[34:35] Steven Ferezy: I think it's November 5th.

[34:38] Dana Craig: Great.

[34:39] Steven Ferezy: But it's gonna be in Brooklyn.

[34:41] Dana Craig: Everyone'll be there.

[34:42] Steven Ferezy: I also need to give a shout out to my girl Meg Stalter, who's and is giving you the weirdest.

[34:50] Dana Craig: I mean, what she does again.

[34:51] Steven Ferezy: Her Instagram is the weirdest.

[34:55] Dana Craig: Queerest.

[34:57] Steven Ferezy: Outest, loudest.

[35:00] Dana Craig: The most bizarre. Just be who you wanna be is leaning in weirdo of all time.

[35:08] Steven Ferezy: Um genius at improv.

[35:11] Dana Craig: Genius. That video in quarantine, her and Kathina Jimmy improving.

[35:17] Steven Ferezy: Oh yeah, that's great.

[35:18] Dana Craig: Lives in my head.

[35:20] Steven Ferezy: Sam's wrench.

[35:22] Dana Craig: Huge fan.

[35:23] Steven Ferezy: Uh so yeah, Meg Stalter.

[35:25] Dana Craig: Uh uh big big ol' big old part for her, and it's really fun.

[35:29] Steven Ferezy: And again, I think not on like mm um Melissa McCarthy.

[35:34] Dana Craig: She's giving you what Meg Stalter will be known for and what she does.

[35:41] Steven Ferezy: But she's gonna give us a really tender acting moment in something at some point, and we're gonna be like, oh, and she can do that too.

[35:50] Dana Craig: She's real cool.

[35:51] Steven Ferezy: She's real cool.

[35:54] Dana Craig: Um, I'm just going through my list.

[35:56] Steven Ferezy: So we did that.

[35:57] Dana Craig: Um some oldies that I've rewatched that we don't really need to push out as much because they're so old.

[36:04] Steven Ferezy: But um, okay, so I did Oz.

[36:06] Dana Craig: That was one of the first things I did, which I get is dark, but I needed, I knew I needed an HBO moment.

[36:12] Steven Ferezy: Oz, I've never seen.

[36:14] Dana Craig: I wanted, I I was drawn in by the Rita Moreno moment.

[36:19] Steven Ferezy: I wanted to see how she operated in that world.

[36:22] Dana Craig: Okay.

[36:23] Steven Ferezy: Obviously, I love a Christopher Maloney moment.

[36:25] Dana Craig: Yes.

[36:26] Steven Ferezy: Um, I knew that Joel Gray had Oz under his belt, and I'd never seen him on it.

[36:32] Dana Craig: So I wanted to do that.

[36:34] Steven Ferezy: Amazed.

[36:35] Dana Craig: Better about myself.

[36:36] Steven Ferezy: Um Betty Buckley.

[36:40] Dana Craig: Patty Lapone.

[36:42] Steven Ferezy: All on Oz.

[36:43] Dana Craig: Look at you doing your theater research.

[36:47] Steven Ferezy: Oh, yeah.

[36:48] Dana Craig: Um, it was a lot of you know, it was filmed here. It was a lot of New York stuff, and looking at those credits, Tom Fontana.

[36:55] Steven Ferezy: Uh great show.

[36:58] Dana Craig: It's a great show. It's it's dark and it's heavy and it's a lot.

[37:01] Steven Ferezy: Um I would watch it first thing in the morning.

[37:05] Dana Craig: Uh, but it's really it's I get why it was such a big deal. I get why I didn't get it when it was on, I get why it's it's the epitome of HBO in a series. You know, those big HBO tentpoles. I need to do obviously. Things that make it's not TV, it's HBO makes sense. It's The Sopranos. I s I think I saw season one of The Sopranos, but I need to do a a literal actual.

[37:34] Steven Ferezy: I do too. I've wanted to do it from the beginning. So I did Oz, uh, I did Desperate Housewives, top to bottom. So stupid. But again, that's one I did watch in real time, like in high school into college, and I had friends here in the city, and we'd meet up every Sunday night and watch together. Um there's a lot of nostalgia with that show, but boy, is it problematic, and boy is it ridiculous.

[38:03] Dana Craig: Oh, sure. And boy, is it bad for women, and oh god. Boy, is it fun to watch, knowing that it's not okay anymore, that we couldn't get away with it now, and we did then, and oops on us. Let let's also remind everyone that this Mark Cherry creation is the reason we have any real housewives, all from Desperate Housewives. Every episode title of Desperate Housewives is a Stephen Sondheim lyric. Fierce guest stars, Vanessa Williams. I love Desperate Housewives. Um Harriet Harris.

[38:41] Steven Ferezy: Harriet Harris, Terry Hatcher, and ABC darling. What else? Brothers and Sisters. Rewatch Brothers and Sisters. A Sally Field, big family, she's the matriarch. That would come on after Desperate Housewives on Sunday nights. Did you watch that in real time? Because I did.

[39:00] Dana Craig: I did not watch it in real time. I was teen Brothers and Sisters. It was so awesome. I think it was Brothers and Sisters and then Parenthood? Because they tried to make these huge family dramedies on primetime.

[39:17] Steven Ferezy: Was NBC.

[39:18] Dana Craig: Yes. So I think that they were running probably around the same time. Um, but Parenthood is is the NBC version. ABC will go darker than NBC will.

[39:29] Steven Ferezy: Oh, interesting.

[39:30] Dana Craig: Um because after Parenthood ended, everyone was like, what's the next big family thing? And like, then This Is Us came up. So, you know, don't worry about it. I find that ABC will go darker, and uh, if they could use bad language, they would. Um, I feel like NBC still leans a little shinier, a little glossier, a little more family friendly. I think that's it for my scripted TV shows.

[40:05] Steven Ferezy: Scripted. I mostly watch scripted. I I I would like to add um sorry, Girls Five Eva on Peacock. It's on my list. Haven't done it because I don't have Peacock.

[40:18] Dana Craig: It is fantastic. Can I give you a password?

[40:22] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. Does that work?

[40:23] Dana Craig: Okay. It does. Remind me. Thank you. Remind me. Um, Girls Five Eva is fantastic. I'll wait till you're going to be able to do Pen15's on my list too, and I haven't done it yet.

[40:34] Steven Ferezy: Pen15 should win all the awards. It's the most um locked into that growing up experience that I've ever witnessed. It's gorgeous. It's so funny. Good. It looks like it's a good idea. On a cellular level, you'll be like, I don't know how they are capturing what that felt like. As a girl growing up in the 90s, they are nailing it. Nailing it.

[41:03] Dana Craig: It's so funny. As a homo who didn't know it in the 90s, I have a feeling um there's a little more crossover than one might expect.

[41:12] Steven Ferezy: 100%. Um, and I also want to give a shout out to Dave, which is the movie Hulu. Kevin Klein and Sagorne Weaves.

[41:22] Dana Craig: No. Uh Dave, it's on Hulu through FX. It was on FX. Um it's real good. It's about a white Jewish rapper named Lil Dicky. And uh and his trials and tribulations. I love it. It's really good. His trials and tribulations. Um, I know I've left things off this list, but uh oh, unorthodox on Netflix was something I did.

[41:51] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. I loved.

[41:53] Dana Craig: Yeah, it's weird, right? Weird and deep and real, unfortunately. And um Oh wait! Nope, I'm talking about my unorthodox life on Netflix, which is a reality show.

[42:05] Steven Ferezy: We watched the trailer of that though, and it seems wild.

[42:11] Dana Craig: Which is a great segue to an unscripted show that I watch on Discovery Plus. Um, I watch Smothered. I also watch Extreme Sisters, which is kind of under the same umbrella. We had a lot of time on our hands, and we ran out of 90-day fiancées. So, recommended for you, Smothered. Which is it about watching mothers and sons, or mothers and daughters, okay, whose relationship is way too close.

[42:46] Steven Ferezy: So oftentimes the son or daughter is married, but the mom still comes first, and the husband is the third wheel in the marriage.

[42:56] Dana Craig: Oh, that's weird. It's trash. It's weird. Listen, Extreme Sisters is even weirder. It's mostly twins, but not all of them. And they are sisters way too close. Some of them still sleep in the same bed. Some of them are obsessed with being twins that when they have their cereal in the morning, they count and make sure they have the same number of cereals in their bowls.

[43:22] Steven Ferezy: You know what? One of them has an infected tooth.

[43:25] Dana Craig: No.

[43:34] Steven Ferezy: So that their teeth are the same. And they share a boyfriend.

[43:39] Dana Craig: Oh, nope. Oh, are those the plastic surgery twins?

[43:43] Steven Ferezy: Nope, not Darcy and Stacey.

[43:45] Dana Craig: Okay. That's their own show that I watch. I can't with that. I can't. I c listen, it happened. It was a quick spiral, and it's all 90-day fiancées fault, and anybody who watches 90-day fiancées knows you can't just watch one, you have to watch them all.

[44:05] Steven Ferezy: Guess what I was watching this weekend because it was on because someone else was watching it. Um Love Island. Comes on after Big Brother, which I'm watching my first season of ever right now. I had never seen it, and we were gonna watch one because now we have Paramount Plus. So we were gonna watch one, and John was looking at him and he goes, uh, there's a new season starting tonight. So we're watching in real time, watching the live cams.

[44:31] Dana Craig: But I think after this one, we'll go back and we'll watch Marissa's episode of or celebrity Big Brother. Marissa's season of Celebrity Big Brother, because they're doing so many things different this season there. Teams involved, so I'm watching a very skewed version. I think that would be my entry point is a celebrity version of Survivor, a celebrity version of Big Brother, because I don't care about real people because they all wanna be reality stars.

[44:56] Steven Ferezy: It's a gamble, you don't know who you're getting. At least with that's what we did. We watched all the celebrity seasons of Worst Cooks in America.

[45:02] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[45:03] Steven Ferezy: Bridget Everett, uh, LaToya Jackson.

[45:07] Dana Craig: Not all in the same season. These are just celebrities that we've watched cook. Lonnie Love. Um it's great. We love watching the celebrities cook with Anne Burrell and Rachel Ray. Television has been such a saving grace. Again, I just I had that stigma as a kid. Not that we had like TV rules or a TV schedule. We were just we weren't addicted to TV. We didn't need that kind of line drawn.

[45:35] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[45:35] Steven Ferezy: Um, but there was definitely that either in school or just our generation of like, don't watch TV too much, your eyes will go square. Don't watch TV too much, it means you're a couch potato. It will kill your brain cells. Uh TV was just, you know, you can like your shows, but don't watch TV unless just to watch TV.

[45:58] Dana Craig: Was your mom like really strict about that? Or are you just talking in general?

[46:01] Steven Ferezy: I'm I think I'm talking in general. I remember that like feeling and how it didn't apply to me, but also all I wanted to watch was like The OC and like Ina Garten and Felicity and Sure, your head you're gonna do. I had a couple of shows. I wanted to watch the My Appointment television. Mm-hmm. But that was it and reality shows weren't so much a thing when we were growing up.

[46:26] Dana Craig: I'm not gonna say there was zero, but um when I was a kid there were zero.

[46:32] Steven Ferezy: What when did Real World start? When did Survivor start?

[46:36] Dana Craig: Mid nineties?

[46:38] Steven Ferezy: I don't know, but like The Osbournes was the first like family reality show.

[46:43] Dana Craig: Yeah, man, like those were reality was not not a thing when I was growing up. So it was it was more about TGIF and Yeah, right. You had your day a week where you would watch three shows in a row.

[46:56] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[46:57] Steven Ferezy: Well, I mean, I'm gonna speak for myself. Like our family, and I'm glad you brought this up. TV was very much for me, and it still remains to be in why I chose to work in it and why I love it. It's a conversation starter. Everyone has a show that they like. So it's a common ground. Like, not everyone reads books. Not everyone, you know knows how to cook. Like, everyone has at least seen a TV show. So I can talk to you about that.

[47:27] Dana Craig: It's uh a g it's like music too, a little bit.

[47:30] Steven Ferezy: Yeah, I think what I understood about TV always was that it it was a storytelling device. Yeah. Separate from theater, but equal to theater, different. And it also it also lets me know who you are a little bit. Like what lights you up? What is your humor like? You know, I I liked talking about it. How to invest in characters versus people. So when I was very young, like I was into Into the Woods because Bernadette Peters was in it. I was into Bernadette Peters. So whatever I watched, if she was in it, great. That's kind of how you find your things, right?

[48:06] Dana Craig: And then you get a little older, and it becomes, yes, I still want to see how this person that I love attacks this role, but something TV does that even movies don't do is spreads it out over such a period of time. We're really, we're almost getting to know these characters in real time, as opposed to meeting a character, getting invested in a character, and having resolution with that character in two and a half hours.

[48:31] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. We get to live with a character for The Good Fight. It's been on for five years. I just caught up, so it's only been in my world for six months, but you can live with Christine Baranski once a week for five years in that same role and like watch her grow with it. Really cool. You don't get that in movies, you don't get that on stage. It's TV's alone in that.

[48:57] Dana Craig: There was something I think that was in our choir room that said theater is life, film is art, television is furniture. And I was always so offended by that. Because I was like, yeah, I get the first two, but the bottom one, television is furniture. I don't agree. I don't know. Technically necessary, and I do feel that TV is necessary.

[49:23] Steven Ferezy: Yes. You can live in a room without furniture.

[49:26] Dana Craig: It's it's it if it floats your boat, it floats your boat. And you can choose to not participate in TV. You can choose. You could choose. However, in my house, furniture is required. As is air conditioning. As is very TV forward household. And um, you know, we've we've shed the shame of don't sit in front of the TV too long. Well, it's also talking points. Like it it's it's how my family kind of we laughed together. It was our theater. Like, we didn't live in New York, we lived in Wisconsin. So, like, we're not going to a comedy club, we're not going to be able to do it. It was a window into another part of the world. Absolutely. Like, this is how we get to have fun with each other and talk about what we what we liked.

And we always had a a show. Yeah. I can tell you every single year what our family show was. Yeah. You know, home improvement, dinosaurs, uh, uh, married with children was our show. Like The Simpsons, loved, loved. So we have this shared history now of like reference points and cool um different writers we loved and actors, but definitely TV more than film. I I love movies, but I will always choose a TV show over a movie. Always.

[50:49] Steven Ferezy: I also think just uh now that everything's on a screen, we're always on a screen. The idea of the screen being the problem is a highlighted that, yes, the screen is the problem, but it's not TV. TV isn't the thing that like makes you a couch potato or makes your eyes go square. It's looking at a screen for 24 hours a day. Just whether it's television or work or this recording session or whatever. Yeah. Uh it's good to turn the TV off and go live your life and go see something in real life. It's not about whether it's TV or not. I think that's the myth that got debunked from my growing up experience of TV being useful, but don't get sucked in. Had nothing to do with TV or the programming. It had to do with screen time. 100%. Computer time. 100%.

[51:43] Dana Craig: What's your favorite old, old, like maybe from the 70s TV show? Like a taxi or like a channel.

[51:50] Steven Ferezy: I'm glad you brought this up. I'm gonna work a little backwards. I'm gonna start in the late 80s. Um just recently, a couple weeks ago, Amazon Prime added all in the family and 227 to their catalog. And 227 is one of my top three favorite shows of all time.

[52:14] Dana Craig: I know this about you, yeah.

[52:15] Steven Ferezy: And I had never heard of it. It's Norman Lear. It's remarkable. So to be able to I've I've never seen it all chronologically. I've never seen it beginning to end in order. Um so being able to do that is fabulous. I do it every morning with my coffee. I start with a two two seven.

[52:35] Dana Craig: So that's your suggestion for our listeners of like where we're gonna go back in time, and it's available.

[52:41] Steven Ferezy: Up it is all that sitcom TV needs to be. Sitcom TV today has become so overcomplicated, so oversaturated, so it's overworked dough. Too much needing. If you look at 227, they are simple stories. It's like uh the original run of Will and Grace. There's simple whoopsies. How did that happen? And then wackiness ensues, and 18 minutes later, we figured it out, and there's a good laugh and a good freeze frame, and then the credits roll over it. Like, that's all it needs to be. It's makes me laugh out loud still. It's fabulous.

[53:21] Dana Craig: Um, All in the Family, we know it's problematic, is a series that I hold great nostalgia for. My grandpa loved it, so I watched those with him whenever I stayed at his house. But again, another Norman Lear. And I love Gene Stapleton, and I love those characters, and I love that time and all of that. And there was a lot of breakthrough television for that time.

[53:43] Steven Ferezy: It was breakthrough, yeah. So, um, again, when we watch TV that is no longer okay. I think that we're allowed to remember at the time when it was being created. Was it being progressive or was it not being good? What I was saying about Desperate Housewives, like there's problems, and yes, it's not almost a hundred years ago. It's less, you know, it's 10. But uh I I there's still value in these shows in these pieces of art in this writing and these works. They evolved into better versions of themselves in other incarnations.

[54:26] Dana Craig: I have to go work, but am I done? I I think I'm done with my list for now. Yeah, there's a couple things on here we didn't touch. Um, just real quick, any competition show that has to do with a an art, like obviously Great British Bake Off, or the um glass blowing on Netflix, or the pottery on HBO Max, or the flower competition on Netflix, all those tent on your marks get set bake shows.

[54:58] Steven Ferezy: Yeah. Um, I love. We love watching them. We all we have code names for all of them because they are also nice a little high. So with bake off, it's a bacon bake. With the flower competition, it's a grass and grass. Okay, okay. With the uh glass blowing, it's uh bowl and blow.

[55:16] Dana Craig: Oh my god.

[55:17] Steven Ferezy: So yours is like a schmok and a pancake. Yeah, the pottery is a little bit. Yep. Got it. It's great. It's great. Um, one of those before bed is just it makes for a nice soft landing.

[55:32] Dana Craig: Steven, where can people find you on Instagram? Do you have anything to plug?

[55:37] Steven Ferezy: I am at Aspherzy. Uh I am at I'll ink to that. I have my art to plug. Um, another thing I have to plug that has nothing to do with me, but does have to do with Christine Baranski. This is coming out tomorrow, right, Dana?

[55:52] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[55:52] Steven Ferezy: Well, yeah. If you're listening to this uh before eight o'clock today on release day, it is not too late for you to go to Townhall.org and get yourself a ticket to the virtual conversation that Christine Buransky is moderating between Steven Sondheim and James Lepine in honor of James LePine's new book, putting it together, How Stephen Sonheim and I made Sunday in the Park with George. Joining Steven Sondheim and James LePine will be Bernadette Peters and Mandy Petenkin. All talking about Sunday in the park with George. And this new book comes out tomorrow. I pre-ordered it a year and a half ago per my email receipt. Honey. I'm so excited to get it. I'm so excited. Did you know Christine Baranski was in the workshop of Sunday?

[56:43] Dana Craig: I didn't park.

[56:44] Steven Ferezy: So it's you know Nancy. Duh. It's not completely um out of left field that she would be moderating this. Um I think it's gonna be really cool, and I'm excited to read the book. Um arriving tomorrow by 11 p.m. according to the tracking. Um yeah, so I I have nothing to do with that, but get a ticket to that because it's gonna be a really cool thing, I think. And then I have some art coming out tomorrow to commemorate the event.

[57:16] Dana Craig: Ermaker! Look at you.

[57:18] Steven Ferezy: I have nothing to plug. Buy a thing. I have nothing to plug yet. Pin in Dana's plug. So you have nothing to plug. And nobody can follow you anywhere.

[57:32] Dana Craig: You can follow me at Dana K. Craig on Instagram.

[57:35] Steven Ferezy: Aren't you Dana Craig on Instagram?

[57:37] Dana Craig: Yep, Dana Craig on Instagram. Thank you. I have a small business to boost that's not my own. Yeah. I got a fabulous new candle. And it was um, it's an arts hero candle specifically, so the money like goes into like supporting artists during this horrible time. Um it's we light home. Uh Lance Horn of Clubcoming of New York Fame Um and his husband, they have a candle company that they started during COVID, and I finally got a candle. It's champagne. And what I love is I smelled it because I'm like, what does champagne smell like in a candle, right? So you smell it, and what it did, it did the same thing to my nose that like champagne bubbles do. It just tick up my nose a little bit. Oh, I get it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the candle smell does that. Not when it's lit, but when you like smell it. And I thought that was That's fun. How do you accomplish that? I was so impressed. Um, so other candles are like handmade and made locally here in New York, and uh you can you can get them, and they smell really great, and we light home on Instagram, and I think their website is We LightHome.com, but Link in bio for sure.

[58:56] Steven Ferezy: Link in bio. Um I have a PSA for everyone. I'm on day 10 of I think I'm I'm back to like 95% better. Um but I got the summer cold and I did get tested for COVID and it was not that.

[59:13] Dana Craig: Good.

[59:13] Steven Ferezy: I've known a lot of vaccinated people lately who have dealt with COVID, and yes, the vaccine did its job and their symptoms were manageable and they are alive and well, and they did not have to go to a hospital, but but if you're g running around and going out to eat and bars and whatever, I mean there there's col cold virus out there. If you do not want to get sick, just keep wearing a mask. Also with Delta. Probably should just keep wearing a mask. Um rush. I know it's uncomfortable. I was out all day yesterday and had the mask on, and don't miss summer with the mask, you know. Yeah. But um we're all good, we're all gonna get something, I'm sure of it. The only thing worse than the mask outside is like a summer cold with the money nose and the sweating.

[1:00:04] Dana Craig: I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

[1:00:06] Steven Ferezy: I'm I'm feeling so much better. I went to the Central Park Zoo this weekend.

[1:00:11] Dana Craig: Yeah, it looks so cute.

[1:00:12] Steven Ferezy: So cute. I've never been. I think I've been around it, like I've walked past it. Yeah. But I had never gone inside, I don't think. But it was real.

[1:00:24] Dana Craig: Yeah.

[1:00:26] Steven Ferezy: Um. Alright, until next time, my love.

[1:00:29] Dana Craig: I miss you.

[1:00:30] Steven Ferezy: I know I miss you. We'll get a date on the cow to come over.

[1:00:35] Dana Craig: Fierce.

[1:00:36] Steven Ferezy: Bye.

[1:00:37] Dana Craig: Bye.

[1:00:38] Steven Ferezy: Bye, bye.

[1:00:45] Steven Ferezy: In the room with Steven and Dana is produced by Stephen Ferrasie.

[1:00:49] Dana Craig: And Dana Craig.

[1:00:50] Steven Ferezy: Special thanks to Joel Wagoner for tinkling the ivories on our theme song.

[1:00:55] Dana Craig: Hit him up at Joel Wagoner.com.

[1:00:57] Steven Ferezy: We apologize, and you're welcome.

[1:01:00] Dana Craig: We'd also like to thank Jesse Wiener, W I E N E R, for our jazzy original music sprinkled throughout each episode.

[1:01:07] Steven Ferezy: You can find him at jessewiener.com.

[1:01:10] Dana Craig: Last but certainly not least, we'd like to thank Kevin Thomas Garcia for taking all of our ridiculous photos.

[1:01:17] Steven Ferezy: You can find him online at KTGNYC.com.

[1:01:23] Dana Craig: We are all over the internet on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at IntheRoom Pod.

[1:01:29] Steven Ferezy: Follow us, like us, share us, pant us out.

[1:01:32] Dana Craig: And don't forget to subscribe to In the Room Podcast.

[1:01:35] Steven Ferezy: We everywhere, so subscribe.

[1:01:37] Dana Craig: And thank you so much for listening.

[1:01:39] Steven Ferezy: Thank you so much.