Hour 3: ‘Higher Register’ for NFL Week 12, plus ‘Breaking Bad/Pluribus’ Creator Vince Gilligan In-Studio

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0:40Rich Eisen:With over 19 ,000 local agents, they help you find the coverage that fits your needs. So you can spend less time worrying about insurance and more time enjoying the ride. Download the State Farm app or go online at statefarm.com. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment.

1:23Rich Eisen:Now, on with the show. This is The Rich Eisen Show. This is a LeBron appreciation segment. There are 82 individuals on NBA rosters who started living after LeBron started playing. The Rich Eisen Show. Earlier on the show, NBC Sports Boston Patriots insider Tom Curran. Host and creative director of MSNBC Live, Luke Russert. Coming up, four-time Emmy winner Vince Gilligan. And now, it's Rich Eisen. our number three of the rich eyes and show is on the air we say hello to those watching us live streaming it on disney plus the espn app everywhere hello to everybody listening on sirius xm channel 80 or espn radio presented by progressive insurance 844-204-rich is the number to dial um we'll have a conversation uh just had a uh a chat with vince gilligan in our green room Vince, 11 plus years ago last month, was the first ever in-studio guest in the history of this show.

2:31Rich Eisen:And in about 18 minutes' time, he will be the latest. And you referred to him as the nicest guy in Hollywood. Hands down. Not just saying that. Just what's more likely in advance of tomorrow's program, even though this is a higher register Thursday. We're going to get to our higher registers shortly. And just seeing Vince, he's either A, the same exact guy, or B, everything's gone to his head. What do you think? Same guy. What do you think? What a sweetheart. My goodness gracious. The best. And so Pluribus, it's just amazing that from such a sweetheart of a guy, the most mind-blowing. It's crazy stuff.

3:07Yeah.

3:07Rich Eisen:You know, makes you think about the human race and who we are as people and what our defaults are, if we're nice creatures or not, to come from this man's mind. What now? Unbelievable. And we will go down a little bit of a Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul wormhole with the man who created those shows as well as Pluribus right now on Apple TV. Every single Friday is a new episode. Episodes one through three are sitting right there for you to take in. And I'll be honest with you. It's wild, man. And we'll talk about it with Vince shortly. Now then. It's time for R.E.S. Consulting to Unite. Well, the many things that we do.

3:47Rich Eisen:Okay. we come up with nicknames or at least I like to do that. We like to name things. We like to term things. We like to leave our guests in a better position. We're wide open. We can help in many different ways with anybody who comes to R.E.S. consulting. Because as you know, the best thing about us is that it's about us. The best thing about us though is it's about us. It is. It's the truth. So are you ready to unite? because the thing that we do best, maybe out of everything, is we take a look at an injured player returning to practice and say, that guy's going to start. Here we go. And I have been told, I have been told, is this moving picture or is just a photograph?

4:34Rich Eisen:Just a photo. Oh, no. It's got to be a burrow. It is of Joe Burrow. Oh, no. That's Joe Burrow. Well, he's there. Number nine. Foot looks good. On the left. It wasn't his foot. I know. It was his foot. Flacco, okay? No, no, no, no. You say you're killing me. All right. I'm just messing with you. Man, Flacco is tall. DJ. 64. I call the attention to the number 64 in front of number nine. That's Ted Karras. You know who he is? Alex Karras? He's the starting center. Oh, yeah. He's playing. Of the Cincinnati Bengals. Man. Man. Now, which foot is it? Doesn't matter. That doesn't matter, Mike. Of course it matters.

5:11Rich Eisen:Which foot was it? The pylon's blocking. With the toe. That's what I'm saying. If it's the left foot, maybe he's doing this on purpose to block from the pilot. Oh, he's trying to trick us. Or is it the right one? It's the right one. He's good. All I'm saying is he's standing pretty nice. I mean, he's good. He's got the sweats on. Left toe. It's a left foot. Oh, he's doing it. That's cagey. He's a veteran. Left toe. He's hiding it. He's hiding it with the pylon. He's blocking it. We need pylon cam right now. All the people to him to be behind. The starting one. He's starting. I don't like it. I don't like it.

5:49Rich Eisen:You don't like it one bit? I don't like it one bit? Nope. I got a lot of problems with you people. I was already counting my wins. You're on to Cincinnati.

6:01Rich Eisen:Joe Burrow. TJ? TJ? I want to poll every member of RES Consulting. Yeah. Is he starting? survey says yes i think so hold on there's a bunch of there's a bunch of these photos hold on i'm looking at some other ones there's some other ones generally the same viewpoint as we just saw he's throwing a pass he's fading back i mean i'd feel better if we had some video to actually video oh here's some video of him walking can we see the picture one more time please um and and um if we get the picture one more time that would right there you know if we hear this noise they're gonna pay the landscaper yeah because it looks like we haven't watered that grass in quite some time is that grass what is it is that clay they working out like rafa on the clay you know it's almost it's almost winter in cincinnati i get it but i mean are those clumps of like green grass shoots all right 12 minutes ago what's going on according to what is that out there ben baby covers the bangles for the spn And Joe Burrow is taking QB one reps during individual drills as well.

7:15Rich Eisen:It's over. It's over. He's back. I don't like it. My eyes see one thing. Ben Baby's eyes see another. I get to say the words Ben Baby on television and radio together, and it's for real. You know, this week you said Janky Rondo, Daddy Yankee, and Ben Baby. Ben Baby. You are on a roll. Yeah, baby. You know what I mean? Ben Baby. Gasolina. Here we go. The only thing to be better is that if his name was Trevor, we could use that drop.

7:46Rich Eisen:What? Mike Petraglia. Let's see. That's whose photograph we're using. Oh, great. He said, Burrow looking quite agile. Oh, yeah. That's five minutes ago. We're not down. The sun is up. That's right. The grass is brown. And Joe is back. What's up, Trevor? Mike Brown's not paying the water, the grass. He's not. What's going on? What are we doing? What's up, Trevor? Trevor. Is that the name of the groundskeeper? Trevor. Yeah. Trevor the groundskeeper. Trevor needs to get some more sod out there. That's a very expensive foot trying to come back with a toe. Here we go. Oh, baby. Christopher Brockman.

8:22Rich Eisen:Get a little work. Just the time for the Patriots to show up. But, of course, no Jamar Chase. That's a shame. Yeah. Andre Yishavas week. Yoshavas. Yoshavas week. And Higgins doesn't have the same ring to it. Sort of like Marble and Ganache. Doesn't have the same ring as Tango and Cash, Marble and Ganache. Doesn't have the same ring. You know what I mean? It's the sequel. That's what it is. Okay, I'm going to get off that one. Otherwise, it's tough to stop. Okay, you ready? It's a Thursday. It's our time for our staple on a Thursday to take a look at the schedule and come up with a higher register belief to call our shot about what's going to happen in week number 12 of the National Football League.

9:09Rich Eisen:Hit it. There's a chance. The Rich Eisen shows. That there could be. Hire. Register. Take of the week. All right. Christopher. Man, now NFL Live is showing video of Joe Throwing. Yeah. We were on it. We were on it when we just had the still photos at Rich Eisen Consulting. Joe Burrow. By the way, I don't know if this does involve any. Anybody have a Joe Burrow high register? No. So I can give you one for free. No. I would have had to know him. Kind of looks like he's playing. Bonus. Kind of looks like Joe Burrow's going to do this, guys. Bonus. Just the way he's winging around and moving around.

9:49Rich Eisen:He is really flinging this thing. And I'll just say, I'll just also go high register as well. Looks like the grass could be replaced there. In Cincinnati. I cut lawns. It looks all right. It just needs a little water. What does that mean? What? I cut lawns when I was a kid. I cut lawns. I was a little kid. Has been claimed. Yeah, it was a little... Let me ask you a question, and then we'll get to the rest of the high register. I'm sorry. This is great. I shouldn't have changed. Have you cut a lawn in your life? You want to know something? What? I've never... What? I literally did mine yesterday.

10:21Rich Eisen:Hold on a second. You never know. I would have thought you'd cut a lawn. You would have thought so, right? I would have thought. Oh, man. Because we... When I had a huge yard was when I was little, so I was too little to cut the grass. And then we moved and we had gravel in the back earth, so there was only little spots of grass. I got it. You didn't really need to be cut. Understood. Did my front yard yesterday. See, Brockman's cut now. Look at you. I haven't done it. Got an electric mower. It's great. So. At a company. Mike, I cut lawns. Del Tufo says the practice field on which a quarter of a billion dollar repaired toe is working out on.

10:56Rich Eisen:I didn't qualify correctly. I cut lawns with my brother. We had a company. We actually did it. Good to know. To get paid for it. All right. If you're in the Harrisburg area, my cousin Josh, For the love of God, give me your higher register, Chris. For the love of God. I hate this team. These things remain self-evident. You don't want a piece of Daniel Jones after the bye week. History will show. I don't know. Here's the deal, guys. I'm a little worried about your Super Bowl pick, Rich. And if the Chiefs lose this week, the Graves are four feet and the casket's half-built. You know what I mean?

11:29Rich Eisen:What do you mean? What do you mean? He's saying that they're about to play tats. Don't go all, like, folksy on me. Don't go folksy on me. What does that mean? The grave is at four feet deep and the cask gets half built. The season's almost over. That's what I wanted to hear. I needed the plain English. I didn't need the jabber jaw senator from Louisiana's version of it. I needed to hear you actually say the words. Say it with your chest. So you really think that, huh? You know, I think it's looking that way. I'm with you. Kurt said there's not one thing they do well earlier this week. I'm with you.

12:07Rich Eisen:Okay. Chiefs aggregators, it's fine when Kurt says it. When I said it, it's the worst thing in the world. Sure. One guy's in the Hall of Fame and won an MVP in a Super Bowl. That's a pretty good prog. And another guy just comes grass yesterday. A little bit different. Information is the same. In the Graventos department. Were you just 6 '7 of them? I just 6 '7 of them. You're 6 '7, bro. My kids cannot stand when I do that at all. They want to disown me on the spot. That's 6-7. All right. It's something that should bring everyone together, I think. I kind of like it. I think 6-7 is great. TJ? Hey, listen, man.

12:42Rich Eisen:There is a huge, maybe the biggest game of the year coming up on Sunday. I know. Two division rivals. You know, Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. Let's go. Varsity's playing. By the way, Dak Prescott does have a record of 9-5 against the Eagles in his career. I want to point that out. And, you know, the Eagles got a lot of turmoil, Rich. Like, there's a lot of chaos going on. Drama. Drama. Like TNT, they love drama. And the Cowboys, you know, we got a pass rusher. We're good. So I'm thinking, after the Cowboys take down the Eagles. Nice. On Sunday, right? I think they're definitely making the playoffs.

13:19Rich Eisen:Yeah. Making the playoffs. Go to the table. Make the playoffs. Walk me through it at 5-5-1. Then we go to 6-5-1. Against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thanksgiving. Sure, you're right. Then we go 7-5-1. And then that would be against the Detroit Lions a week after. Then we go 8-5-1. Home for Minnesota on a Sunday night. Let's keep going. Then we go 9-5-1. Against the Chargers. Oh, yeah. And then, come on. The Washington football team and the Little Giants. No, that's 10-5-1. And 11-5-1. And 11-5-1. So they don't lose the rest of the year. TJ, come on. Hold on. They lose the rest of the year? Yeah, somebody said they win.

13:58Rich Eisen:Ladies and gentlemen, let's go. Look who's all grown stuff on higher register. Cowboys 7-1 to make the playoffs. The Barry White sounding TJ Jefferson who didn't like doing this segment. You have all grown stuff, man. TJ, I'm in. You're grown stuff and you're grown stuff. Let's do it. All right.

14:26Rich Eisen:All these folks out there. that think J.J. McCarthy is less than. Uh-oh. It upsets me when I see that I – it upsets me when they are saying that J.J. McCarthy had nothing – Michigan won the national championship in Spidem. He had nothing to do with blah, blah, blah. It's a bunch of crap. And it upsets me greatly. It upsets me greatly. It triggers me. I get triggered. I've seen it. Yeah. You have seen it. I've seen you break a glass. I don't like it. It's not true. It's absurd. just look at the tape look at his history now this year when he has started if you look at all the quarters that he has played um this does look like he he doesn't look like the kid from michigan in the aggregate but there are times when i see it you do i do i see the throws and by the way Does he sound like a Harbaugh quarterback, a coached quarterback when he's talking about, you know, I feel like I'm about to be uncorked.

15:31Rich Eisen:It sounds like he's talking like Jim, right? Okay. And the times when he has performed well, believe it or not, come on the road in division. And guess where he is this week? On the road. Green Bay. On the road again. In division. In division. So my high register is, ladies and gentlemen, J.J. McCarthy's going to go three on the road in the division. Yeah, say what you will about him. Say what you will. Cement drying. You know, they were singing nine to five because they're making fun of him that he's nine. Then he turned into five or whatever that means. I don't know. But listen, if you're going to slag on this kid by slagging on Dolly Parton, you're against America.

16:14Rich Eisen:That's true. all walks of America. We will have no Dolly Slander. There's no Dolly Slander here. J.J. McCarthy's going to go three on road and division. Three and O. You can't do any better on the road and division in a year. You only got three road division games. I mean, that's true. But I'm just going to say, he's going to do it. That's higher register for week 12. I'm very excited about that segment, but not as excited about welcoming in our next guest, who is our first ever in-studio guest. I will watch anything this man does, and you should as well. Pluribus on Apple TV is stuff like you've never seen before.

16:56Rich Eisen:Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, creator, director, producer, Vince Gilligan, when we come back.

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18:54Rich Eisen:And we're back on ESPN radio presented by Progressive Insurance. We just saw a clip from the pilot episode of Pluribus on Apple TV. The creator, the writer, the director, The four-time Emmy Award winner Vince Gilligan is back here on the show to talk about it. It is great to see you, Matt. Great seeing you, Rich. It's just 11 years. How long has it been? It was 11 years ago last month that you left the writer's room of your latest show, Better Call Saul, to join us. Wow. To talk about how Breaking Bad ended and with a plan for Better Call Saul. And now here we are talking about your latest in Pluribus.

19:31Rich Eisen:I guess the ultimate first question is like, where the hell did this idea come from? Always the question, and I never have a great answer. I don't know where the hell these ideas come from. Any of them. You just sort of like the way the folks on Pluribus, they receive signals from each other telepathically. You've got to be kind of a radiohead yourself as a writer. You've got to be receptive to ideas, I guess. And then sometimes I think it's kind of like working a jigsaw puzzle in your mind, and you're kind of putting this piece together, that piece together. Well, this doesn't fit. Well, that doesn't fit together.

20:06But if you do it long enough, eventually the idea starts to, the image starts to form. I don't know where the heck it came from.

20:14Rich Eisen:Again, the idea for our radio audience that just returned as well is that there is essentially a code for an RNA virus, would you say? It's a message from space from 600 light years away from aliens that we know nothing about. We may well never meet, but it is a message in a bottle sent out into the universe to spread this happiness, this form of happiness and contentment and satisfaction. And it takes hold in the world, and suddenly everybody is very chill. Except for 11 people, including the protagonist. Exactly. Who is a miserable person, right? Or at least miserable in terms of disposition, would you say?

21:00Rich Eisen:She's unhappy. Yeah, she is. Played by Ray Seahorn. The wonderful Ray Seahorn. She plays a character named Carol Sterka. And Carol is a romanticist author. She is pretty successful. Yes. But she's like a glass half empty type person. She's always looking for reasons to explain her misery or her just general unhappiness. And she's very sarcastic. I kind of root for her. I have heard a lot in doing interviews and whatnot. Why is she so unhappy? and like, well, why is anybody unhappy versus why is anybody happy? Sometimes I just think maybe it's just chemicals in our brains and then we look for reasons to explain it.

21:38Rich Eisen:Well, again, you know, just to continue this conversation about characters and character development and just the general gist of a lot of the shows that you've put together, Vince, is it is about how do people react to life-altering events, whether it's cancer for Walter White or obviously Saul Goodman and what happened in the backstory that you tell about Better Call Saul, about his childhood, about his relationship with his brother, about what happens if you are somebody on the planet who is a glass half-empty person, and then an event occurs where your wife is dead because she's one of the humans that cannot receive biologically well this new way of living as a hive.

22:22Rich Eisen:And then the idea that, yes, the people who are, would you say, afflicted? by what comes in or affected affected affected i think they both work you know what i really kind of hope for with this show is that people tell me whether this is a good thing or not i i always say when you watch uh the walking dead or the last of us two really good shows but you watch those shows and you know you don't want to be a zombie you know you don't want to be affected with this mushroom uh infection on on on the last of us but on this show i'd love for people to think i'd love for people argue the fans argue you know it's where she's fighting something she shouldn't fight on one side or other people saying no are you crazy she's 100 right the individuality human individuality is at stake i'm i'm on that side yeah the first three episodes where she she's fighting for free will yeah yes she's fighting for like what would we like to have a planet where there's no crime where they're in episode three turning off lights because they don't have to worry about crime after dark or people aren't living where they were living because they're now i guess we're going to see over the next few weeks how do people live collectively in this hive how do they come out of nowhere to reconstitute an entire uh supermarket that's been stripped bare of all items but they put it back in because ray's character asks for it and then she begins to realize the power that she does as an individual have against the collective yeah because she can now ask about of them what she wants even if it is dangerous like that's where we're at right now i'm yeah i am curious to see where this all goes i'm so glad man boy you've watched this closely god bless you i watch everything you do well and i appreciate it man thank you yeah i have my own free will i can watch whatever i want that's true you know but it is but it is part and parcel again of what you do like you're putting in people in situations how will you react how will you react if you're walter white you're given a terminal um you know diagnosis but do you start making blue mouth or you don't you know what i mean like with that opportunity right if you're saul goodman do you start doing what you did and or do you not and i think we're seeing with what what her character is going to be going through right now here as well right true and i gotta tell you working with ray is such a dream i wrote this part i don't know where the heck the idea came from but i know when i started cooking it up i thought by the way great phrase good cook yes no pun intended okay got it i caught Yeah, yeah, yeah.

24:49I thought, man, I got to create something. Ray Sehorne was on our last show, Better Call Saul. Yes, sir. She was fantastic in it. It started off, it was a character. We didn't know Peter Gould and I, Peter co-created the show. We didn't know if her character was going to amount to anything. And then we wind up loving the actor so much, Ray, who plays the character that she becomes, the show kind of becomes a two-hander. That was never the intention from day one. She made herself indispensable. And I said to myself, I got to put Ray in. I got to create something for her because I don't want her disappearing on me.

25:25Because smart people are going to snap her up, put her in something else.

25:29Rich Eisen:So you did create this character with her in mind when you're writing Pluribus. When I started noodling on this thing, it was a male protagonist because I'm a guy. That's usually the way I think, male protagonist. And then I thought, why does it have to be a guy? Why can't it be a woman? Why can't it be Ray? So that's kind of how that came to go. All right. And a few other questions on this one as well. is do you know, again, it's been picked up for season two. Yeah. Do you know how this ends already? No. You know. Where this goes, how it goes? You know, we have, my writers and I, we have some ideas about where it might go.