WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.680
What happens when a newly sober single mom tries
00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:06.280
to pull her life together in Napa Valley while
00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:10.720
dealing with her wayward mother? Dysfunctional
00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:13.500
family structures and everything else going on
00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:16.339
right here in a sitcom that you never saw, or
00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:19.839
maybe it was just me, mom. I am just Blaine.
00:00:19.859 --> 00:00:22.300
She is Coco. You are the freaks. This is Parallel
00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:25.399
Frequencies. I am rattled a little bit today,
00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:30.280
Coco. I'm out of my element. I am upstairs. I'm
00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:32.280
not in the studio. The studio is being reworked
00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:35.200
right now, and I'm waiting on a very, very important
00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:39.140
FedEx package. Do you know how that feels? Do
00:00:39.140 --> 00:00:42.039
you know how that is? It's like every minute
00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:45.740
is hours when you're waiting on something. I'm
00:00:45.740 --> 00:00:47.960
a creature of habit, so when things are different,
00:00:48.179 --> 00:00:52.280
it does take me some adjusting. I mean, I'm capable
00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:55.000
of flexibility. Being able to be flexible is
00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.020
a superpower, but I do get rattled when things
00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:02.850
aren't. In the right time and place. I'm asking
00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:06.709
more about the anticipation. When you order something
00:01:06.709 --> 00:01:10.010
and it's so important that you're just sitting
00:01:10.010 --> 00:01:11.650
and watching, sitting and watching. Like I'm
00:01:11.650 --> 00:01:14.950
waiting for the FedEx truck to drive by. If you
00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:18.569
guys see it, please let me know. Yeah, we flag
00:01:18.569 --> 00:01:23.150
it down. We've got to warn you. When I bought
00:01:23.150 --> 00:01:25.310
my first pair of turntables, and I'm not going
00:01:25.310 --> 00:01:27.569
to say when. It was a long time ago. They were
00:01:27.569 --> 00:01:32.049
belt driven. and DJs out there will know that's
00:01:32.049 --> 00:01:35.609
a long time ago. I sat there on my front porch
00:01:35.609 --> 00:01:38.170
and I waited. I'm talking about days. I just
00:01:38.170 --> 00:01:41.469
sat there and just watched for the truck. How
00:01:41.469 --> 00:01:43.829
convenient. At the time. There's something about
00:01:43.829 --> 00:01:47.689
it. That's got to be. You know what? Relish this.
00:01:48.530 --> 00:01:50.829
Relish this anticipation. You know why? Because
00:01:50.829 --> 00:01:52.930
your brain is getting fed all kinds of dopamine
00:01:52.930 --> 00:01:56.049
right now that once you get the package and you
00:01:56.049 --> 00:01:58.599
open it and everything else. Then it's gone.
00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:01.519
Like, it's here. It's done, right? You know what?
00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:04.859
It's kind of like, reminds me of Pokemon cards.
00:02:05.540 --> 00:02:07.939
Yeah. You want to collect them all. You want
00:02:07.939 --> 00:02:09.620
to chase them. You get them, and it's that dopamine
00:02:09.620 --> 00:02:12.400
hit. You even get a dopamine hit when you land
00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:15.439
a pack of Pokemon cards, much less open them.
00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:19.060
Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's the same feeling. It's the
00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:21.919
same feeling. You see that dopamine hit. My son's
00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:24.120
been walking around with three or four packs
00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:27.530
of Pokemon cards for the last four days. And
00:02:27.530 --> 00:02:29.689
he won't open them. In fact, he made my husband
00:02:29.689 --> 00:02:32.349
get out the scale because he has this theory.
00:02:33.370 --> 00:02:35.509
He's like weighing them to see how many grams
00:02:35.509 --> 00:02:37.310
they are to see if like one of them might be
00:02:37.310 --> 00:02:40.610
an 11 card pack and maybe it has a something
00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:44.490
card that I don't even know. He is. I'm going
00:02:44.490 --> 00:02:47.189
to tell you right now because I'm tapping into
00:02:47.189 --> 00:02:49.530
the underground scene for the Pokemon cards and
00:02:49.530 --> 00:02:53.409
your son is a kingpin. He's a kingpin in the...
00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:58.479
The Daybreak Underground Pokemon scene. He is
00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:00.680
out there hustling, making money. He's making
00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:04.520
money. He was born for this. He was born for
00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:08.479
this. I'm telling you what. That kid, he was
00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:10.939
like six years old. He had a snow cone stand
00:03:10.939 --> 00:03:13.319
he was going to make money at. Before I knew
00:03:13.319 --> 00:03:15.080
it, I walked out there and he had half the kids
00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:18.819
working for him. All to a snow cone stand for
00:03:18.819 --> 00:03:21.919
him. He made 45 bucks and he was off playing
00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:24.060
in the park. Playground. He wasn't even there
00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:25.840
anymore. He's like, I got people to work for
00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:27.780
me. I don't need to be there. With binoculars.
00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:32.280
Watching. He's probably over there in the bird's
00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:35.039
nest part of that playground checking on his
00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:37.319
product, checking his inventory, checking his
00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:40.840
employees. He's going to run his own business.
00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:42.580
He's going to be an entrepreneur. I can see that
00:03:42.580 --> 00:03:44.879
already. I like that. I think that's going to
00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:46.819
be good for him. Coco, what have you been watching?
00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:49.439
What did you watch last night? Oh, well, I'm
00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:51.099
getting caught up on all the shows and movies
00:03:51.099 --> 00:03:53.139
we're going to be covering this week, of course.
00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:56.099
But then I deviated a little bit and watched
00:03:56.099 --> 00:04:00.139
the new documentary on Netflix, Martin or Marty
00:04:00.139 --> 00:04:04.979
Life's Life's Life. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. How was
00:04:04.979 --> 00:04:07.460
that? I love Martin Short. I actually when I
00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:09.240
worked with George Strombolopoulos, there's a
00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:11.439
great video of him and Martin Short doing some
00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:14.539
hilarious stuff. Go check that out. I'll see
00:04:14.539 --> 00:04:16.639
if I can get the link to that in the show notes.
00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:19.740
But I love Martin Short, and I've always heard
00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:21.699
nothing but good things. You're going to steal
00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:23.779
that documentary because you see all the people
00:04:23.779 --> 00:04:27.199
that he worked with. You see his career as he
00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.519
opted not to follow his fellow Toronto group
00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:36.019
into Second City in Toronto and kind of went
00:04:36.019 --> 00:04:39.199
on his own journey and kind of supported his
00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.540
wife's career for a bit, but then decided, I
00:04:41.540 --> 00:04:43.000
don't know what I'm doing. I'm just floundering
00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.139
around. I should probably just go to Second City.
00:04:45.930 --> 00:04:47.689
And then you see, you know, all the friendships
00:04:47.689 --> 00:04:50.509
that he's made and John Candy and, you know,
00:04:50.569 --> 00:04:53.449
Eugene Levy's favorite. Like, they're the best
00:04:53.449 --> 00:04:55.350
of friends. I mean, it was just so fun to see
00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:58.170
his life and how it came to be and what a joy
00:04:58.170 --> 00:05:01.569
that man is. Like, from day one, he's had all
00:05:01.569 --> 00:05:04.089
this tragedy in his life. He lost a brother,
00:05:04.209 --> 00:05:08.290
young, and parents. And then it was just so beautiful
00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:12.230
to see all of that. And I was, like, crying real.
00:05:12.970 --> 00:05:15.910
good heavy tears when when it talked about his
00:05:15.910 --> 00:05:18.930
wife their relationship and you know relationship
00:05:18.930 --> 00:05:22.370
goals everybody had them marty and nancy as their
00:05:22.370 --> 00:05:24.990
as their relationship goals and then she sadly
00:05:24.990 --> 00:05:27.389
passed away it was just it was so touching and
00:05:27.389 --> 00:05:29.589
so beautiful i highly recommend it everybody
00:05:29.589 --> 00:05:33.029
go watch it what's that on that on netflix netflix
00:05:33.029 --> 00:05:36.870
all right shout out netflix putting that one
00:05:36.870 --> 00:05:39.029
out we'll have to check it out like i said i'm
00:05:39.029 --> 00:05:42.000
gonna find that clip because it's it's it's You
00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.139
get to see what I'm talking about. But let's
00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:48.060
get to, I guess we're going back to Tube Tuesday,
00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:51.379
right? Because we're going with a sitcom. With
00:05:51.379 --> 00:05:54.860
the mom theme, we're continuing. Yeah, and I
00:05:54.860 --> 00:05:58.860
mentioned that this is probably a sitcom that
00:05:58.860 --> 00:06:01.879
nobody watched. I don't think, I'm going to be
00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:04.220
honest with you right now. This is not one that
00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:08.790
I watched or have seen like. a Friends or a Cheers
00:06:08.790 --> 00:06:12.490
or any of these other ones that's top tier. I'm
00:06:12.490 --> 00:06:15.029
not saying Mom is not top tier. I just have not
00:06:15.029 --> 00:06:16.850
seen every episode. But the ones I have seen,
00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:20.470
I mean, what can you say? Like, it's great. It's
00:06:20.470 --> 00:06:26.910
your kind of raw blue collar survival and radical
00:06:26.910 --> 00:06:30.550
acceptance is what we got going on here in a
00:06:30.550 --> 00:06:34.779
drama slash comedy, a dramedy really. But it's
00:06:34.779 --> 00:06:36.680
a sitcom. It's all wrapped up into this sitcom.
00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:40.319
You know, starring one of your favorites, I think.
00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:43.779
I think you picked this show just so you could
00:06:43.779 --> 00:06:46.560
talk about Alice and Janie. Right? Am I right,
00:06:46.620 --> 00:06:50.360
Coco? Best? I mean, who could disagree with me
00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:52.819
out there? And there is a lot of good stuff that
00:06:52.819 --> 00:06:54.560
she's done. Listen, you know, you could list
00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:58.050
her. movies and tv shows the drama the comedies
00:06:58.050 --> 00:07:01.189
i tanya you know she's west wing all these things
00:07:01.189 --> 00:07:03.629
that she did but my personal favorite was her
00:07:03.629 --> 00:07:08.110
character in drop dead gorgeous about the pageant
00:07:08.110 --> 00:07:10.790
um if you guys haven't seen drop dead gorgeous
00:07:10.790 --> 00:07:13.189
we're gonna cover that one on uh parallel frequencies
00:07:13.189 --> 00:07:15.730
eventually because that is one of my favorite
00:07:15.730 --> 00:07:18.990
movies of all time and she's hilarious in that
00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:22.629
yeah she has she has range let's just say that
00:07:22.629 --> 00:07:27.470
but You can watch this show and then you can
00:07:27.470 --> 00:07:31.110
look around the room at your holiday get togethers
00:07:31.110 --> 00:07:35.430
and you can see which family members of yours
00:07:35.430 --> 00:07:37.569
are trying to treat life like a demolition derby.
00:07:37.610 --> 00:07:40.230
You know who they are. And that's clear in this
00:07:40.230 --> 00:07:43.350
show. It's the same type of trope. It's the same.
00:07:43.389 --> 00:07:45.310
It's not a trope that we've really seen before.
00:07:45.350 --> 00:07:48.910
We haven't seen where they get into a meeting,
00:07:48.930 --> 00:07:51.769
basically a show that's built around that. You
00:07:51.769 --> 00:07:54.879
know, I mean, cheers. Was, was, you know, you
00:07:54.879 --> 00:08:00.519
had Sam as a bartender. Yeah. Uh, and then this,
00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.019
the other side of that, which is the people who,
00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.980
um, you know, obviously alcoholism or addiction
00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:09.240
has, has made a heavy impact on their lives,
00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:11.720
not just in their lives, but generationally.
00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:16.699
So this show being called mom, mom, uh, Anna
00:08:16.699 --> 00:08:19.879
Faris, uh, playing her daughter, um, Christie
00:08:19.879 --> 00:08:23.240
Plunkett. And that. Of course, then her daughter,
00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:26.800
Violet, she had young and then ends up getting
00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:28.980
pregnant. So there's this like generational and
00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:32.019
struggling with addiction. No surprise there.
00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:34.679
But just how it affected one generation after
00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:37.120
the other. And they're all bonding over coming
00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:40.240
to AA meetings, meeting friends, community and
00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:42.259
supporting each other, sponsoring each other.
00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:44.620
And that's kind of what the show was built around.
00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.159
It's wild. And you got to give some credit to
00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:51.240
whoever greenlit this bad boy, because on paper.
00:08:51.820 --> 00:08:55.700
Look at it. You know, it's it's it's really it's
00:08:55.700 --> 00:08:59.740
doing something that is entirely reckless. You
00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:04.399
know, it's taken the absolute gutter scraping
00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:08.919
reality of addiction, generate generational trauma,
00:09:09.059 --> 00:09:11.600
like you said, and poverty. And it turned it
00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:15.320
into a fucking prime time CBS sitcom. How? How
00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:16.759
do you do that? So that's what I'm saying. It
00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:19.340
was reckless TV in the best kind of way. I can
00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:22.519
only imagine executives being like, hold up.
00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.559
You want to make a show that's supposed to be
00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:30.779
funny around alcoholism and addiction around
00:09:30.779 --> 00:09:32.620
these people recovering from something really.
00:09:33.340 --> 00:09:38.779
And call it mom. Like there's a. Yeah. Like that's
00:09:38.779 --> 00:09:41.860
what I'm saying. Who greenlit this? Thank you.
00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:44.639
First of all, that's about what you can say.
00:09:44.679 --> 00:09:47.620
But I love the blend of the drama and the comedy.
00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:49.679
I think they do a fantastic job because it is
00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:52.740
funny. We're hearing these conversations. They're
00:09:52.740 --> 00:09:54.720
teasing each other just like they do in almost
00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:58.080
any other sitcom. These people love each other.
00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:00.460
The love they have for each other is shown in
00:10:00.460 --> 00:10:03.320
the way that they can tease each other and still
00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.700
show up for each other whenever they need someone.
00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:08.200
You know, middle of the night, 2 a .m., and someone's
00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:12.899
like, I'm in trouble. I'm feeling my down and
00:10:12.899 --> 00:10:17.320
lowest right now. I'm struggling to not drink.
00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:19.259
And then they're there for each other. And I
00:10:19.259 --> 00:10:22.820
love seeing that play out. I was one of those
00:10:22.820 --> 00:10:24.240
who was late to the game. I didn't watch the
00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.399
show when it came out, but I did binge it when,
00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:29.139
I don't know, maybe it was like a year or two
00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:31.259
ago. I'd like binged all eight seasons and just
00:10:31.259 --> 00:10:34.360
watched the entire thing. And I was just struck
00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:38.879
with how beautiful it was that they figured out
00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:42.710
each other's lives together and supported each
00:10:42.710 --> 00:10:45.490
other in ways that you'd like to see at AA meetings.
00:10:45.629 --> 00:10:48.210
You'd like to see that's how it works, that that's
00:10:48.210 --> 00:10:50.730
how sponsorship should feel. It should be close
00:10:50.730 --> 00:10:53.929
and heightened and family oriented. And also
00:10:53.929 --> 00:10:56.549
everybody takes responsibility for themselves.
00:10:57.690 --> 00:11:00.090
You know, there's a little bit of that dynamic
00:11:00.090 --> 00:11:02.490
going on there. Let's talk about the dynamic.
00:11:02.629 --> 00:11:04.950
That's what I wanted to get into. Yeah. Let's
00:11:04.950 --> 00:11:08.799
talk about how Alice and Janie and... Anna Faris,
00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:13.980
let's talk about that because the casting alchemy
00:11:13.980 --> 00:11:16.919
here, I'm going to call it alchemy because it
00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:21.019
did produce some magic, right? Yeah. You can
00:11:21.019 --> 00:11:24.879
have the best script in the world, but if the
00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.879
chemistry is off, you're just watching two actors
00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:30.279
sweat under some studio lights. They made sure
00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:33.200
they got this right. Anna Faris as Christy, unique,
00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:36.080
fragile, rubber band elasticity to her comedy.
00:11:36.730 --> 00:11:39.090
You know, she's got this different quirkiness.
00:11:39.129 --> 00:11:42.370
She plays this perpetual victim who is her own
00:11:42.370 --> 00:11:46.269
worst enemy. And then drop in Alice and Janie
00:11:46.269 --> 00:11:50.710
into that mix as Bonnie. Bonnie Plunkett is like
00:11:50.710 --> 00:11:53.710
a reformed pirate who still keeps a cutlass in
00:11:53.710 --> 00:11:56.470
her purse just in case. Like she's ready. She's
00:11:56.470 --> 00:11:59.210
ready to go at any point. You know, it's classic
00:11:59.210 --> 00:12:03.070
American storytelling, really. The outlaw trying
00:12:03.070 --> 00:12:05.389
to go straight while living in a valley of temptation,
00:12:05.769 --> 00:12:09.269
except instead of a dusty saloon, the temptation
00:12:09.269 --> 00:12:12.289
is a box of cheap wine at a suburban supermarket.
00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:16.669
You know, the dynamic worked and you touched
00:12:16.669 --> 00:12:19.649
on a little bit. What did you see? And could
00:12:19.649 --> 00:12:21.970
this have happened with any other any two other
00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:24.110
people? Would this have worked? I have no idea.
00:12:24.210 --> 00:12:27.870
The one thing that's kind of almost amazing and
00:12:27.870 --> 00:12:31.419
silly about this is that physically. Alice and
00:12:31.419 --> 00:12:34.500
Jenny and Anna Faris don't look like mother and
00:12:34.500 --> 00:12:37.980
daughter. I mean, she's a good bull head taller
00:12:37.980 --> 00:12:40.940
than her. Anna Faris is this tiny little pixie
00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:42.960
of a person. And they joke about that a lot.
00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:44.700
They joke about that throughout the show. They
00:12:44.700 --> 00:12:46.679
point out that like, I don't know how you came
00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:49.000
from me and all this kind of stuff, which is
00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.919
funny. But as far as the chemistry of the characters
00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:55.059
go, you just start to see this. Yeah, I mean,
00:12:55.059 --> 00:12:57.440
they don't. Even from the very beginning, they're
00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:00.500
not showing this really nurturing mother -daughter
00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:05.620
type of thing. It's like she's resentful. She
00:13:05.620 --> 00:13:09.799
is like, you ruined my life and then caused essentially
00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:12.539
my own life to be ruined by addiction because
00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:15.159
you were never there for me as a mother. And
00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:17.440
then you see that play out when Violet decides
00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.740
to cut the relationship off with Christy and
00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:22.259
say, I get you're sober now and that's fine,
00:13:22.379 --> 00:13:25.379
but you ruined my life and I have to move on.
00:13:25.639 --> 00:13:28.000
have to i mean and she has to take ownership
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.059
of that so you see these like little dynamics
00:13:31.059 --> 00:13:35.340
and these actors played that really really well
00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:37.960
you feel it there this push and pull of like
00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:40.519
i want a relationship with you i want to forgive
00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:43.139
you because that means my own sobriety is protected
00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:47.320
if i can forgive you for what you did and and
00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:51.039
uh yeah that's what i have to say about that
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:54.000
connection this is one of those shows that like
00:13:55.129 --> 00:13:58.509
You think that you've got some crazy dysfunctional
00:13:58.509 --> 00:14:01.009
stuff in your family and you watch this and CBS
00:14:01.009 --> 00:14:03.409
pumps out something that makes your situation
00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:06.230
feel tame compared to what you're seeing on TV.
00:14:06.289 --> 00:14:07.830
This is one of those shows that makes you feel
00:14:07.830 --> 00:14:09.730
better about yourself because you're like, oh,
00:14:09.769 --> 00:14:13.330
my God, it can always be worse. You know, by
00:14:13.330 --> 00:14:17.590
by being a stripper and, you know, selling coke
00:14:17.590 --> 00:14:19.629
on the street and, you know, things that they
00:14:19.629 --> 00:14:23.549
bring up. Let's talk about the the safety net.
00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:27.100
breaking out from underneath them in season eight
00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:31.980
when the show took a massive pivot and anna ferris
00:14:31.980 --> 00:14:35.659
she exits now yeah usually when the co -lead
00:14:35.659 --> 00:14:38.139
leaves a sitcom that's the the death nail you
00:14:38.139 --> 00:14:41.139
you can hit the horns get ready they're gonna
00:14:41.139 --> 00:14:45.960
it's gonna be done but it it didn't necessarily
00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:49.519
do that here because i think season eight's good
00:14:50.409 --> 00:14:52.929
two i think it still came across okay building
00:14:52.929 --> 00:14:57.110
all seven seasons behind it was they didn't even
00:14:57.110 --> 00:15:01.629
though she and bonnie christy and bonnie are
00:15:01.629 --> 00:15:03.850
the you know two main characters they are the
00:15:03.850 --> 00:15:06.669
mom and daughter and it kind of centers them
00:15:06.669 --> 00:15:09.710
they did a really good job of making it so that
00:15:09.710 --> 00:15:12.909
they were part of this ensemble cast that really
00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:16.879
Everybody played such a part in supporting each
00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:19.580
other in their ups and downs throughout the years.
00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.220
You got to see a little bit about, for example,
00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:26.480
Jamie Presley playing Jill is part of their little
00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:29.720
group. Marjorie, oh my gosh, the frenemy relationship
00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:32.139
between Marjorie and Bonnie is probably one of
00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:34.899
my favorite dynamics in the show. That's Mimi
00:15:34.899 --> 00:15:37.539
Kennedy right there. Mimi Kennedy. Yeah, oh yeah.
00:15:37.950 --> 00:15:39.909
And so you get these characters that are going
00:15:39.909 --> 00:15:43.470
through such cool, interesting, sometimes really
00:15:43.470 --> 00:15:47.429
tragic things. And then, yeah, when Christy decides
00:15:47.429 --> 00:15:50.409
to leave, and she's been preparing for this for
00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:53.009
a few seasons. She's going to law school. She
00:15:53.009 --> 00:15:55.669
wants to become a lawyer. She's working nights
00:15:55.669 --> 00:15:57.649
and weekends and paying for it. And, I mean,
00:15:57.649 --> 00:15:59.970
you see her struggle. You see her trying to get
00:15:59.970 --> 00:16:02.440
through that. And then she finally gets to go.
00:16:02.659 --> 00:16:04.659
And that's how they kind of, you know, let her
00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:07.259
go when she decides she doesn't want to be on
00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:10.120
the show anymore. And you miss her absence. Don't
00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:14.179
get me wrong. It is a big shock to the show and
00:16:14.179 --> 00:16:16.440
probably why they wouldn't continue more than
00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:20.360
one season after her. But they've got this ensemble
00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:23.279
cast that carried it for that last season there.
00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.580
Yeah. Yeah. But this show, Mom, it really did
00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:30.720
do something fascinating. When Anna Faris left
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:35.000
and kind of leaned into it, you know, it leaned
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.159
into the reality of recovery communities instead.
00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:40.960
So when one person leaves a group in a recovery
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.399
community, whether they move away, relapse or
00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:48.019
just drift, the circle doesn't disappear. The
00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:50.240
remaining members just pull in their chairs a
00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.360
little closer or new members come in and they
00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.559
widen the circle even more. You know, so I love
00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.710
how they. leaned into the fact that she left
00:16:59.710 --> 00:17:02.610
basically they they instead of it taking the
00:17:02.610 --> 00:17:05.170
show and they really did they they wrote it in
00:17:05.170 --> 00:17:08.630
to where it it made sense a lot of shows don't
00:17:08.630 --> 00:17:14.190
do that these days yeah and i love the the thread
00:17:14.190 --> 00:17:21.230
of addiction and um the thread of the recovery
00:17:21.230 --> 00:17:24.630
from addiction was a real focus here showing
00:17:24.630 --> 00:17:27.359
people Who've been through a struggle, who've
00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.160
been through addiction, who have been, who've
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:31.980
had loved ones going through addiction, showing
00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:35.019
that there was hope when there was relapse or
00:17:35.019 --> 00:17:37.539
something happened. There was always this like
00:17:37.539 --> 00:17:40.359
support of like, don't worry, day one again,
00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:42.279
you know, you've got us, you've got us getting
00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:44.440
through it. They showed the realities of what
00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:47.400
that feels like, what that's like. And even showing,
00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:51.240
I appreciated them showing on the show that just
00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:54.109
because you get sober. And you kind of try to
00:17:54.109 --> 00:17:55.869
get your life back together little by little.
00:17:56.329 --> 00:18:00.309
Doesn't mean life is easy. There's a lot of moments
00:18:00.309 --> 00:18:03.690
where like Christy goes through eviction, job
00:18:03.690 --> 00:18:06.529
loss, you know, there's death and there's grief
00:18:06.529 --> 00:18:08.930
and there's all these things that happen to them.
00:18:09.009 --> 00:18:11.470
And you can absolutely understand or see why
00:18:11.470 --> 00:18:14.369
they'd be struggling to stay in sobriety. And
00:18:14.369 --> 00:18:16.950
that that would be, but to have the attitude
00:18:16.950 --> 00:18:20.210
of like, well, all this is happening to me, but
00:18:20.210 --> 00:18:23.799
at least I'm sober. yeah my life is better than
00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:25.980
it was when i was drinking so i've got that going
00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:29.420
for me and i won't let go of that and that that
00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:31.799
i think is really powerful for people to watch
00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.519
even on a sitcom to be like okay there's hope
00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:38.920
yeah yeah what's your final thoughts on mom um
00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:43.059
star -studded cast octavia spencer in this one
00:18:43.059 --> 00:18:47.180
and um you've got uh emily osment playing the
00:18:47.180 --> 00:18:50.720
role of jody who's in it for a brief period of
00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:54.480
time again showing that the cast the the characters
00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:56.980
in this show go through really hard things like
00:18:56.980 --> 00:18:59.680
one of their members dying of an overdose and
00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:06.440
that's really hard yeah um i love just oh i can't
00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:09.839
forget to mention adam um character of adam let's
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:13.519
see if i can say his name um william fitchner
00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:18.319
fitchner yeah um playing bonnie's fiance and
00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:20.559
I think they eventually get married. I can't
00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:22.740
remember. I think he's like a forever fiance.
00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:26.279
I'm not. Anyway, he does a fantastic job, too,
00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:28.559
playing his role. So I just wanted to point out,
00:19:28.579 --> 00:19:31.559
these people, like, this might have been a sitcom
00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:36.079
that slipped by. You didn't see it. Like, I didn't
00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:38.680
see it when it first came out. So definitely
00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:41.599
go watch it. It's worth it. I think the legacy
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.240
of Mom is radical honesty with a laugh track.
00:19:47.579 --> 00:19:49.400
Because you mentioned it. We saw people die.
00:19:49.539 --> 00:19:51.940
We saw people relapse. We saw people lose their
00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:58.680
homes. Custody battles. And forgiveness wasn't
00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:00.400
even guaranteed just because you said you were
00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.200
sorry, which most sitcoms, it's like, oh, roll
00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:05.339
to the next episode. So they didn't do all that.
00:20:05.460 --> 00:20:09.859
They gave you gritty. They gave you real. There's
00:20:09.859 --> 00:20:11.400
people who are going through stuff like this.
00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.400
They're closer to you than you think they are.
00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:19.119
How about that? Yeah. Yeah. It could be anybody.
00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:22.440
A lot of high functioning addiction happening
00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:25.099
in our world. And so to have compassion for people
00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:29.200
who are trying really hard and knowing that relapses
00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:32.759
are almost inevitable and that there is just
00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:34.859
always another chance to get back up on track.
00:20:34.940 --> 00:20:37.660
It's always day one again, and that's okay. The
00:20:37.660 --> 00:20:39.740
show kind of shows that journey. I love that.
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:42.759
And I hope people find hope if you are struggling.
00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:46.299
I also want to mention that it stripped away
00:20:46.299 --> 00:20:51.180
the traditional preachy television episode stuff,
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:53.599
too. It didn't really do that to you. So you
00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.559
learn lessons and you get to choose which way
00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:58.559
to go. They're not telling you. They're not laying
00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:01.019
out a blueprint. It's just like, hey, this is
00:21:01.019 --> 00:21:05.740
how we do things. But I enjoy the show. I will
00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:09.299
watch more of it. I hope others will, too, because
00:21:09.299 --> 00:21:12.000
you should give it a chance. It's up there. It's
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.859
up there in sitcom world, and there's a lot of
00:21:13.859 --> 00:21:16.180
sitcoms out there. So if you're a fan of sitcoms,
00:21:16.180 --> 00:21:19.000
go watch it. Freaks out there, tell me some other
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:23.180
sitcoms that if I haven't seen Mom, I definitely
00:21:23.180 --> 00:21:26.000
haven't seen. What else are we missing? Yeah,
00:21:26.039 --> 00:21:27.819
what are we missing? Tell us what we're missing.
00:21:28.220 --> 00:21:30.819
But that's going to do it for this episode of
00:21:30.819 --> 00:21:32.940
Parallel Frequencies. I am Just Blaine. She is
00:21:32.940 --> 00:21:35.240
Coco. You are the freaks, and we will see you
00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:36.599
on the other side. I don't know.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.680
What happens when a newly sober single mom tries
00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:06.280
to pull her life together in Napa Valley while
00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:10.720
dealing with her wayward mother? Dysfunctional
00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:13.500
family structures and everything else going on
00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:16.339
right here in a sitcom that you never saw, or
00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:19.839
maybe it was just me, mom. I am just Blaine.
00:00:19.859 --> 00:00:22.300
She is Coco. You are the freaks. This is Parallel
00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:25.399
Frequencies. I am rattled a little bit today,
00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:30.280
Coco. I'm out of my element. I am upstairs. I'm
00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:32.280
not in the studio. The studio is being reworked
00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:35.200
right now, and I'm waiting on a very, very important
00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:39.140
FedEx package. Do you know how that feels? Do
00:00:39.140 --> 00:00:42.039
you know how that is? It's like every minute
00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:45.740
is hours when you're waiting on something. I'm
00:00:45.740 --> 00:00:47.960
a creature of habit, so when things are different,
00:00:48.179 --> 00:00:52.280
it does take me some adjusting. I mean, I'm capable
00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:55.000
of flexibility. Being able to be flexible is
00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.020
a superpower, but I do get rattled when things
00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:02.850
aren't. In the right time and place. I'm asking
00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:06.709
more about the anticipation. When you order something
00:01:06.709 --> 00:01:10.010
and it's so important that you're just sitting
00:01:10.010 --> 00:01:11.650
and watching, sitting and watching. Like I'm
00:01:11.650 --> 00:01:14.950
waiting for the FedEx truck to drive by. If you
00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:18.569
guys see it, please let me know. Yeah, we flag
00:01:18.569 --> 00:01:23.150
it down. We've got to warn you. When I bought
00:01:23.150 --> 00:01:25.310
my first pair of turntables, and I'm not going
00:01:25.310 --> 00:01:27.569
to say when. It was a long time ago. They were
00:01:27.569 --> 00:01:32.049
belt driven. and DJs out there will know that's
00:01:32.049 --> 00:01:35.609
a long time ago. I sat there on my front porch
00:01:35.609 --> 00:01:38.170
and I waited. I'm talking about days. I just
00:01:38.170 --> 00:01:41.469
sat there and just watched for the truck. How
00:01:41.469 --> 00:01:43.829
convenient. At the time. There's something about
00:01:43.829 --> 00:01:47.689
it. That's got to be. You know what? Relish this.
00:01:48.530 --> 00:01:50.829
Relish this anticipation. You know why? Because
00:01:50.829 --> 00:01:52.930
your brain is getting fed all kinds of dopamine
00:01:52.930 --> 00:01:56.049
right now that once you get the package and you
00:01:56.049 --> 00:01:58.599
open it and everything else. Then it's gone.
00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:01.519
Like, it's here. It's done, right? You know what?
00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:04.859
It's kind of like, reminds me of Pokemon cards.
00:02:05.540 --> 00:02:07.939
Yeah. You want to collect them all. You want
00:02:07.939 --> 00:02:09.620
to chase them. You get them, and it's that dopamine
00:02:09.620 --> 00:02:12.400
hit. You even get a dopamine hit when you land
00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:15.439
a pack of Pokemon cards, much less open them.
00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:19.060
Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's the same feeling. It's the
00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:21.919
same feeling. You see that dopamine hit. My son's
00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:24.120
been walking around with three or four packs
00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:27.530
of Pokemon cards for the last four days. And
00:02:27.530 --> 00:02:29.689
he won't open them. In fact, he made my husband
00:02:29.689 --> 00:02:32.349
get out the scale because he has this theory.
00:02:33.370 --> 00:02:35.509
He's like weighing them to see how many grams
00:02:35.509 --> 00:02:37.310
they are to see if like one of them might be
00:02:37.310 --> 00:02:40.610
an 11 card pack and maybe it has a something
00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:44.490
card that I don't even know. He is. I'm going
00:02:44.490 --> 00:02:47.189
to tell you right now because I'm tapping into
00:02:47.189 --> 00:02:49.530
the underground scene for the Pokemon cards and
00:02:49.530 --> 00:02:53.409
your son is a kingpin. He's a kingpin in the...
00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:58.479
The Daybreak Underground Pokemon scene. He is
00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:00.680
out there hustling, making money. He's making
00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:04.520
money. He was born for this. He was born for
00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:08.479
this. I'm telling you what. That kid, he was
00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:10.939
like six years old. He had a snow cone stand
00:03:10.939 --> 00:03:13.319
he was going to make money at. Before I knew
00:03:13.319 --> 00:03:15.080
it, I walked out there and he had half the kids
00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:18.819
working for him. All to a snow cone stand for
00:03:18.819 --> 00:03:21.919
him. He made 45 bucks and he was off playing
00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:24.060
in the park. Playground. He wasn't even there
00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:25.840
anymore. He's like, I got people to work for
00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:27.780
me. I don't need to be there. With binoculars.
00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:32.280
Watching. He's probably over there in the bird's
00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:35.039
nest part of that playground checking on his
00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:37.319
product, checking his inventory, checking his
00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:40.840
employees. He's going to run his own business.
00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:42.580
He's going to be an entrepreneur. I can see that
00:03:42.580 --> 00:03:44.879
already. I like that. I think that's going to
00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:46.819
be good for him. Coco, what have you been watching?
00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:49.439
What did you watch last night? Oh, well, I'm
00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:51.099
getting caught up on all the shows and movies
00:03:51.099 --> 00:03:53.139
we're going to be covering this week, of course.
00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:56.099
But then I deviated a little bit and watched
00:03:56.099 --> 00:04:00.139
the new documentary on Netflix, Martin or Marty
00:04:00.139 --> 00:04:04.979
Life's Life's Life. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. How was
00:04:04.979 --> 00:04:07.460
that? I love Martin Short. I actually when I
00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:09.240
worked with George Strombolopoulos, there's a
00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:11.439
great video of him and Martin Short doing some
00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:14.539
hilarious stuff. Go check that out. I'll see
00:04:14.539 --> 00:04:16.639
if I can get the link to that in the show notes.
00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:19.740
But I love Martin Short, and I've always heard
00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:21.699
nothing but good things. You're going to steal
00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:23.779
that documentary because you see all the people
00:04:23.779 --> 00:04:27.199
that he worked with. You see his career as he
00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.519
opted not to follow his fellow Toronto group
00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:36.019
into Second City in Toronto and kind of went
00:04:36.019 --> 00:04:39.199
on his own journey and kind of supported his
00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.540
wife's career for a bit, but then decided, I
00:04:41.540 --> 00:04:43.000
don't know what I'm doing. I'm just floundering
00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.139
around. I should probably just go to Second City.
00:04:45.930 --> 00:04:47.689
And then you see, you know, all the friendships
00:04:47.689 --> 00:04:50.509
that he's made and John Candy and, you know,
00:04:50.569 --> 00:04:53.449
Eugene Levy's favorite. Like, they're the best
00:04:53.449 --> 00:04:55.350
of friends. I mean, it was just so fun to see
00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:58.170
his life and how it came to be and what a joy
00:04:58.170 --> 00:05:01.569
that man is. Like, from day one, he's had all
00:05:01.569 --> 00:05:04.089
this tragedy in his life. He lost a brother,
00:05:04.209 --> 00:05:08.290
young, and parents. And then it was just so beautiful
00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:12.230
to see all of that. And I was, like, crying real.
00:05:12.970 --> 00:05:15.910
good heavy tears when when it talked about his
00:05:15.910 --> 00:05:18.930
wife their relationship and you know relationship
00:05:18.930 --> 00:05:22.370
goals everybody had them marty and nancy as their
00:05:22.370 --> 00:05:24.990
as their relationship goals and then she sadly
00:05:24.990 --> 00:05:27.389
passed away it was just it was so touching and
00:05:27.389 --> 00:05:29.589
so beautiful i highly recommend it everybody
00:05:29.589 --> 00:05:33.029
go watch it what's that on that on netflix netflix
00:05:33.029 --> 00:05:36.870
all right shout out netflix putting that one
00:05:36.870 --> 00:05:39.029
out we'll have to check it out like i said i'm
00:05:39.029 --> 00:05:42.000
gonna find that clip because it's it's it's You
00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.139
get to see what I'm talking about. But let's
00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:48.060
get to, I guess we're going back to Tube Tuesday,
00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:51.379
right? Because we're going with a sitcom. With
00:05:51.379 --> 00:05:54.860
the mom theme, we're continuing. Yeah, and I
00:05:54.860 --> 00:05:58.860
mentioned that this is probably a sitcom that
00:05:58.860 --> 00:06:01.879
nobody watched. I don't think, I'm going to be
00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:04.220
honest with you right now. This is not one that
00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:08.790
I watched or have seen like. a Friends or a Cheers
00:06:08.790 --> 00:06:12.490
or any of these other ones that's top tier. I'm
00:06:12.490 --> 00:06:15.029
not saying Mom is not top tier. I just have not
00:06:15.029 --> 00:06:16.850
seen every episode. But the ones I have seen,
00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:20.470
I mean, what can you say? Like, it's great. It's
00:06:20.470 --> 00:06:26.910
your kind of raw blue collar survival and radical
00:06:26.910 --> 00:06:30.550
acceptance is what we got going on here in a
00:06:30.550 --> 00:06:34.779
drama slash comedy, a dramedy really. But it's
00:06:34.779 --> 00:06:36.680
a sitcom. It's all wrapped up into this sitcom.
00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:40.319
You know, starring one of your favorites, I think.
00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:43.779
I think you picked this show just so you could
00:06:43.779 --> 00:06:46.560
talk about Alice and Janie. Right? Am I right,
00:06:46.620 --> 00:06:50.360
Coco? Best? I mean, who could disagree with me
00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:52.819
out there? And there is a lot of good stuff that
00:06:52.819 --> 00:06:54.560
she's done. Listen, you know, you could list
00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:58.050
her. movies and tv shows the drama the comedies
00:06:58.050 --> 00:07:01.189
i tanya you know she's west wing all these things
00:07:01.189 --> 00:07:03.629
that she did but my personal favorite was her
00:07:03.629 --> 00:07:08.110
character in drop dead gorgeous about the pageant
00:07:08.110 --> 00:07:10.790
um if you guys haven't seen drop dead gorgeous
00:07:10.790 --> 00:07:13.189
we're gonna cover that one on uh parallel frequencies
00:07:13.189 --> 00:07:15.730
eventually because that is one of my favorite
00:07:15.730 --> 00:07:18.990
movies of all time and she's hilarious in that
00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:22.629
yeah she has she has range let's just say that
00:07:22.629 --> 00:07:27.470
but You can watch this show and then you can
00:07:27.470 --> 00:07:31.110
look around the room at your holiday get togethers
00:07:31.110 --> 00:07:35.430
and you can see which family members of yours
00:07:35.430 --> 00:07:37.569
are trying to treat life like a demolition derby.
00:07:37.610 --> 00:07:40.230
You know who they are. And that's clear in this
00:07:40.230 --> 00:07:43.350
show. It's the same type of trope. It's the same.
00:07:43.389 --> 00:07:45.310
It's not a trope that we've really seen before.
00:07:45.350 --> 00:07:48.910
We haven't seen where they get into a meeting,
00:07:48.930 --> 00:07:51.769
basically a show that's built around that. You
00:07:51.769 --> 00:07:54.879
know, I mean, cheers. Was, was, you know, you
00:07:54.879 --> 00:08:00.519
had Sam as a bartender. Yeah. Uh, and then this,
00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.019
the other side of that, which is the people who,
00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.980
um, you know, obviously alcoholism or addiction
00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:09.240
has, has made a heavy impact on their lives,
00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:11.720
not just in their lives, but generationally.
00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:16.699
So this show being called mom, mom, uh, Anna
00:08:16.699 --> 00:08:19.879
Faris, uh, playing her daughter, um, Christie
00:08:19.879 --> 00:08:23.240
Plunkett. And that. Of course, then her daughter,
00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:26.800
Violet, she had young and then ends up getting
00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:28.980
pregnant. So there's this like generational and
00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:32.019
struggling with addiction. No surprise there.
00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:34.679
But just how it affected one generation after
00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:37.120
the other. And they're all bonding over coming
00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:40.240
to AA meetings, meeting friends, community and
00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:42.259
supporting each other, sponsoring each other.
00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:44.620
And that's kind of what the show was built around.
00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.159
It's wild. And you got to give some credit to
00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:51.240
whoever greenlit this bad boy, because on paper.
00:08:51.820 --> 00:08:55.700
Look at it. You know, it's it's it's really it's
00:08:55.700 --> 00:08:59.740
doing something that is entirely reckless. You
00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:04.399
know, it's taken the absolute gutter scraping
00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:08.919
reality of addiction, generate generational trauma,
00:09:09.059 --> 00:09:11.600
like you said, and poverty. And it turned it
00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:15.320
into a fucking prime time CBS sitcom. How? How
00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:16.759
do you do that? So that's what I'm saying. It
00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:19.340
was reckless TV in the best kind of way. I can
00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:22.519
only imagine executives being like, hold up.
00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.559
You want to make a show that's supposed to be
00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:30.779
funny around alcoholism and addiction around
00:09:30.779 --> 00:09:32.620
these people recovering from something really.
00:09:33.340 --> 00:09:38.779
And call it mom. Like there's a. Yeah. Like that's
00:09:38.779 --> 00:09:41.860
what I'm saying. Who greenlit this? Thank you.
00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:44.639
First of all, that's about what you can say.
00:09:44.679 --> 00:09:47.620
But I love the blend of the drama and the comedy.
00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:49.679
I think they do a fantastic job because it is
00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:52.740
funny. We're hearing these conversations. They're
00:09:52.740 --> 00:09:54.720
teasing each other just like they do in almost
00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:58.080
any other sitcom. These people love each other.
00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:00.460
The love they have for each other is shown in
00:10:00.460 --> 00:10:03.320
the way that they can tease each other and still
00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.700
show up for each other whenever they need someone.
00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:08.200
You know, middle of the night, 2 a .m., and someone's
00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:12.899
like, I'm in trouble. I'm feeling my down and
00:10:12.899 --> 00:10:17.320
lowest right now. I'm struggling to not drink.
00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:19.259
And then they're there for each other. And I
00:10:19.259 --> 00:10:22.820
love seeing that play out. I was one of those
00:10:22.820 --> 00:10:24.240
who was late to the game. I didn't watch the
00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.399
show when it came out, but I did binge it when,
00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:29.139
I don't know, maybe it was like a year or two
00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:31.259
ago. I'd like binged all eight seasons and just
00:10:31.259 --> 00:10:34.360
watched the entire thing. And I was just struck
00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:38.879
with how beautiful it was that they figured out
00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:42.710
each other's lives together and supported each
00:10:42.710 --> 00:10:45.490
other in ways that you'd like to see at AA meetings.
00:10:45.629 --> 00:10:48.210
You'd like to see that's how it works, that that's
00:10:48.210 --> 00:10:50.730
how sponsorship should feel. It should be close
00:10:50.730 --> 00:10:53.929
and heightened and family oriented. And also
00:10:53.929 --> 00:10:56.549
everybody takes responsibility for themselves.
00:10:57.690 --> 00:11:00.090
You know, there's a little bit of that dynamic
00:11:00.090 --> 00:11:02.490
going on there. Let's talk about the dynamic.
00:11:02.629 --> 00:11:04.950
That's what I wanted to get into. Yeah. Let's
00:11:04.950 --> 00:11:08.799
talk about how Alice and Janie and... Anna Faris,
00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:13.980
let's talk about that because the casting alchemy
00:11:13.980 --> 00:11:16.919
here, I'm going to call it alchemy because it
00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:21.019
did produce some magic, right? Yeah. You can
00:11:21.019 --> 00:11:24.879
have the best script in the world, but if the
00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.879
chemistry is off, you're just watching two actors
00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:30.279
sweat under some studio lights. They made sure
00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:33.200
they got this right. Anna Faris as Christy, unique,
00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:36.080
fragile, rubber band elasticity to her comedy.
00:11:36.730 --> 00:11:39.090
You know, she's got this different quirkiness.
00:11:39.129 --> 00:11:42.370
She plays this perpetual victim who is her own
00:11:42.370 --> 00:11:46.269
worst enemy. And then drop in Alice and Janie
00:11:46.269 --> 00:11:50.710
into that mix as Bonnie. Bonnie Plunkett is like
00:11:50.710 --> 00:11:53.710
a reformed pirate who still keeps a cutlass in
00:11:53.710 --> 00:11:56.470
her purse just in case. Like she's ready. She's
00:11:56.470 --> 00:11:59.210
ready to go at any point. You know, it's classic
00:11:59.210 --> 00:12:03.070
American storytelling, really. The outlaw trying
00:12:03.070 --> 00:12:05.389
to go straight while living in a valley of temptation,
00:12:05.769 --> 00:12:09.269
except instead of a dusty saloon, the temptation
00:12:09.269 --> 00:12:12.289
is a box of cheap wine at a suburban supermarket.
00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:16.669
You know, the dynamic worked and you touched
00:12:16.669 --> 00:12:19.649
on a little bit. What did you see? And could
00:12:19.649 --> 00:12:21.970
this have happened with any other any two other
00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:24.110
people? Would this have worked? I have no idea.
00:12:24.210 --> 00:12:27.870
The one thing that's kind of almost amazing and
00:12:27.870 --> 00:12:31.419
silly about this is that physically. Alice and
00:12:31.419 --> 00:12:34.500
Jenny and Anna Faris don't look like mother and
00:12:34.500 --> 00:12:37.980
daughter. I mean, she's a good bull head taller
00:12:37.980 --> 00:12:40.940
than her. Anna Faris is this tiny little pixie
00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:42.960
of a person. And they joke about that a lot.
00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:44.700
They joke about that throughout the show. They
00:12:44.700 --> 00:12:46.679
point out that like, I don't know how you came
00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:49.000
from me and all this kind of stuff, which is
00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.919
funny. But as far as the chemistry of the characters
00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:55.059
go, you just start to see this. Yeah, I mean,
00:12:55.059 --> 00:12:57.440
they don't. Even from the very beginning, they're
00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:00.500
not showing this really nurturing mother -daughter
00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:05.620
type of thing. It's like she's resentful. She
00:13:05.620 --> 00:13:09.799
is like, you ruined my life and then caused essentially
00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:12.539
my own life to be ruined by addiction because
00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:15.159
you were never there for me as a mother. And
00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:17.440
then you see that play out when Violet decides
00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.740
to cut the relationship off with Christy and
00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:22.259
say, I get you're sober now and that's fine,
00:13:22.379 --> 00:13:25.379
but you ruined my life and I have to move on.
00:13:25.639 --> 00:13:28.000
have to i mean and she has to take ownership
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.059
of that so you see these like little dynamics
00:13:31.059 --> 00:13:35.340
and these actors played that really really well
00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:37.960
you feel it there this push and pull of like
00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:40.519
i want a relationship with you i want to forgive
00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:43.139
you because that means my own sobriety is protected
00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:47.320
if i can forgive you for what you did and and
00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:51.039
uh yeah that's what i have to say about that
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:54.000
connection this is one of those shows that like
00:13:55.129 --> 00:13:58.509
You think that you've got some crazy dysfunctional
00:13:58.509 --> 00:14:01.009
stuff in your family and you watch this and CBS
00:14:01.009 --> 00:14:03.409
pumps out something that makes your situation
00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:06.230
feel tame compared to what you're seeing on TV.
00:14:06.289 --> 00:14:07.830
This is one of those shows that makes you feel
00:14:07.830 --> 00:14:09.730
better about yourself because you're like, oh,
00:14:09.769 --> 00:14:13.330
my God, it can always be worse. You know, by
00:14:13.330 --> 00:14:17.590
by being a stripper and, you know, selling coke
00:14:17.590 --> 00:14:19.629
on the street and, you know, things that they
00:14:19.629 --> 00:14:23.549
bring up. Let's talk about the the safety net.
00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:27.100
breaking out from underneath them in season eight
00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:31.980
when the show took a massive pivot and anna ferris
00:14:31.980 --> 00:14:35.659
she exits now yeah usually when the co -lead
00:14:35.659 --> 00:14:38.139
leaves a sitcom that's the the death nail you
00:14:38.139 --> 00:14:41.139
you can hit the horns get ready they're gonna
00:14:41.139 --> 00:14:45.960
it's gonna be done but it it didn't necessarily
00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:49.519
do that here because i think season eight's good
00:14:50.409 --> 00:14:52.929
two i think it still came across okay building
00:14:52.929 --> 00:14:57.110
all seven seasons behind it was they didn't even
00:14:57.110 --> 00:15:01.629
though she and bonnie christy and bonnie are
00:15:01.629 --> 00:15:03.850
the you know two main characters they are the
00:15:03.850 --> 00:15:06.669
mom and daughter and it kind of centers them
00:15:06.669 --> 00:15:09.710
they did a really good job of making it so that
00:15:09.710 --> 00:15:12.909
they were part of this ensemble cast that really
00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:16.879
Everybody played such a part in supporting each
00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:19.580
other in their ups and downs throughout the years.
00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.220
You got to see a little bit about, for example,
00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:26.480
Jamie Presley playing Jill is part of their little
00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:29.720
group. Marjorie, oh my gosh, the frenemy relationship
00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:32.139
between Marjorie and Bonnie is probably one of
00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:34.899
my favorite dynamics in the show. That's Mimi
00:15:34.899 --> 00:15:37.539
Kennedy right there. Mimi Kennedy. Yeah, oh yeah.
00:15:37.950 --> 00:15:39.909
And so you get these characters that are going
00:15:39.909 --> 00:15:43.470
through such cool, interesting, sometimes really
00:15:43.470 --> 00:15:47.429
tragic things. And then, yeah, when Christy decides
00:15:47.429 --> 00:15:50.409
to leave, and she's been preparing for this for
00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:53.009
a few seasons. She's going to law school. She
00:15:53.009 --> 00:15:55.669
wants to become a lawyer. She's working nights
00:15:55.669 --> 00:15:57.649
and weekends and paying for it. And, I mean,
00:15:57.649 --> 00:15:59.970
you see her struggle. You see her trying to get
00:15:59.970 --> 00:16:02.440
through that. And then she finally gets to go.
00:16:02.659 --> 00:16:04.659
And that's how they kind of, you know, let her
00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:07.259
go when she decides she doesn't want to be on
00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:10.120
the show anymore. And you miss her absence. Don't
00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:14.179
get me wrong. It is a big shock to the show and
00:16:14.179 --> 00:16:16.440
probably why they wouldn't continue more than
00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:20.360
one season after her. But they've got this ensemble
00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:23.279
cast that carried it for that last season there.
00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.580
Yeah. Yeah. But this show, Mom, it really did
00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:30.720
do something fascinating. When Anna Faris left
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:35.000
and kind of leaned into it, you know, it leaned
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.159
into the reality of recovery communities instead.
00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:40.960
So when one person leaves a group in a recovery
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.399
community, whether they move away, relapse or
00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:48.019
just drift, the circle doesn't disappear. The
00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:50.240
remaining members just pull in their chairs a
00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.360
little closer or new members come in and they
00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.559
widen the circle even more. You know, so I love
00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.710
how they. leaned into the fact that she left
00:16:59.710 --> 00:17:02.610
basically they they instead of it taking the
00:17:02.610 --> 00:17:05.170
show and they really did they they wrote it in
00:17:05.170 --> 00:17:08.630
to where it it made sense a lot of shows don't
00:17:08.630 --> 00:17:14.190
do that these days yeah and i love the the thread
00:17:14.190 --> 00:17:21.230
of addiction and um the thread of the recovery
00:17:21.230 --> 00:17:24.630
from addiction was a real focus here showing
00:17:24.630 --> 00:17:27.359
people Who've been through a struggle, who've
00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.160
been through addiction, who have been, who've
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:31.980
had loved ones going through addiction, showing
00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:35.019
that there was hope when there was relapse or
00:17:35.019 --> 00:17:37.539
something happened. There was always this like
00:17:37.539 --> 00:17:40.359
support of like, don't worry, day one again,
00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:42.279
you know, you've got us, you've got us getting
00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:44.440
through it. They showed the realities of what
00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:47.400
that feels like, what that's like. And even showing,
00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:51.240
I appreciated them showing on the show that just
00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:54.109
because you get sober. And you kind of try to
00:17:54.109 --> 00:17:55.869
get your life back together little by little.
00:17:56.329 --> 00:18:00.309
Doesn't mean life is easy. There's a lot of moments
00:18:00.309 --> 00:18:03.690
where like Christy goes through eviction, job
00:18:03.690 --> 00:18:06.529
loss, you know, there's death and there's grief
00:18:06.529 --> 00:18:08.930
and there's all these things that happen to them.
00:18:09.009 --> 00:18:11.470
And you can absolutely understand or see why
00:18:11.470 --> 00:18:14.369
they'd be struggling to stay in sobriety. And
00:18:14.369 --> 00:18:16.950
that that would be, but to have the attitude
00:18:16.950 --> 00:18:20.210
of like, well, all this is happening to me, but
00:18:20.210 --> 00:18:23.799
at least I'm sober. yeah my life is better than
00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:25.980
it was when i was drinking so i've got that going
00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:29.420
for me and i won't let go of that and that that
00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:31.799
i think is really powerful for people to watch
00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.519
even on a sitcom to be like okay there's hope
00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:38.920
yeah yeah what's your final thoughts on mom um
00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:43.059
star -studded cast octavia spencer in this one
00:18:43.059 --> 00:18:47.180
and um you've got uh emily osment playing the
00:18:47.180 --> 00:18:50.720
role of jody who's in it for a brief period of
00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:54.480
time again showing that the cast the the characters
00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:56.980
in this show go through really hard things like
00:18:56.980 --> 00:18:59.680
one of their members dying of an overdose and
00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:06.440
that's really hard yeah um i love just oh i can't
00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:09.839
forget to mention adam um character of adam let's
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:13.519
see if i can say his name um william fitchner
00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:18.319
fitchner yeah um playing bonnie's fiance and
00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:20.559
I think they eventually get married. I can't
00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:22.740
remember. I think he's like a forever fiance.
00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:26.279
I'm not. Anyway, he does a fantastic job, too,
00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:28.559
playing his role. So I just wanted to point out,
00:19:28.579 --> 00:19:31.559
these people, like, this might have been a sitcom
00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:36.079
that slipped by. You didn't see it. Like, I didn't
00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:38.680
see it when it first came out. So definitely
00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:41.599
go watch it. It's worth it. I think the legacy
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.240
of Mom is radical honesty with a laugh track.
00:19:47.579 --> 00:19:49.400
Because you mentioned it. We saw people die.
00:19:49.539 --> 00:19:51.940
We saw people relapse. We saw people lose their
00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:58.680
homes. Custody battles. And forgiveness wasn't
00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:00.400
even guaranteed just because you said you were
00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.200
sorry, which most sitcoms, it's like, oh, roll
00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:05.339
to the next episode. So they didn't do all that.
00:20:05.460 --> 00:20:09.859
They gave you gritty. They gave you real. There's
00:20:09.859 --> 00:20:11.400
people who are going through stuff like this.
00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.400
They're closer to you than you think they are.
00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:19.119
How about that? Yeah. Yeah. It could be anybody.
00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:22.440
A lot of high functioning addiction happening
00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:25.099
in our world. And so to have compassion for people
00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:29.200
who are trying really hard and knowing that relapses
00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:32.759
are almost inevitable and that there is just
00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:34.859
always another chance to get back up on track.
00:20:34.940 --> 00:20:37.660
It's always day one again, and that's okay. The
00:20:37.660 --> 00:20:39.740
show kind of shows that journey. I love that.
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:42.759
And I hope people find hope if you are struggling.
00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:46.299
I also want to mention that it stripped away
00:20:46.299 --> 00:20:51.180
the traditional preachy television episode stuff,
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:53.599
too. It didn't really do that to you. So you
00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.559
learn lessons and you get to choose which way
00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:58.559
to go. They're not telling you. They're not laying
00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:01.019
out a blueprint. It's just like, hey, this is
00:21:01.019 --> 00:21:05.740
how we do things. But I enjoy the show. I will
00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:09.299
watch more of it. I hope others will, too, because
00:21:09.299 --> 00:21:12.000
you should give it a chance. It's up there. It's
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.859
up there in sitcom world, and there's a lot of
00:21:13.859 --> 00:21:16.180
sitcoms out there. So if you're a fan of sitcoms,
00:21:16.180 --> 00:21:19.000
go watch it. Freaks out there, tell me some other
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:23.180
sitcoms that if I haven't seen Mom, I definitely
00:21:23.180 --> 00:21:26.000
haven't seen. What else are we missing? Yeah,
00:21:26.039 --> 00:21:27.819
what are we missing? Tell us what we're missing.
00:21:28.220 --> 00:21:30.819
But that's going to do it for this episode of
00:21:30.819 --> 00:21:32.940
Parallel Frequencies. I am Just Blaine. She is
00:21:32.940 --> 00:21:35.240
Coco. You are the freaks, and we will see you
00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:36.599
on the other side. I don't know.
