‘Task’ Is Everything We Want It to Be. Plus, the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

27:18So it feels real. And the thing I thought was coolest for me watching this is Inglesby is going to be balancing the crime and the criminals and the cops. Like it's the first part is, you know, I think in some series like say True Detective, you get in like really immersed in like trying to figure out alongside the detectives what's going on. In this show, we kind of know what's going on. I'm sure there will be some wrinkles. There will be some some hooks. I haven't watched too far ahead. But, you know, like I think that this is more going to be a character study than it is going to be a mystery.

27:56and the thing that really was interesting to me is you mentioned Heat and a lot of movies like or stories about guys like this present the two main characters as samurais you know untouched by there's a Japanese word for that should I say it? yeah they're Ronin they're walled off from the world you know and they operate where they're just like the only thing I really connect with is the work it's like you as a sports fan And I think that there will probably be some stuff about that. But what struck me is that the two main characters, Robbie and Tom, are like, I'm broken, but I'm longing for something.

28:37I'm longing for something, whether it's connection with God, whether it's connection with another partner, whether it's like to rebuild my family. It's the desires of the characters are not to achieve professional perfection. Yes. But to heal their personal wounds. And I thought that that was really, really well done in the show.

28:59Andy Greenwald:These are movie archetypes, not only in a fallen world, but in a TV world. And I mean that in a very specific and positive way. Like you can make people samurai in a movie when there's one task to accomplish and one, you know, motivating event that causes momentum that leads to a tremendous finale. All the things that bring us actually through our lives, all the connections we make or the regrets we have or the holes where certain things should have been, those accrue around all of us at any point in our lives. And but film can't always pay them enough real estate or enough lip service or enough time.

29:37Andy Greenwald:These stories that Brad seems able to do so well work so, so much better on television because of the richness and the depth of field that he has to play with. Like we joked a week ago about how this show probably wasn't going to be a laugh riot. Right. But surprisingly, it is kind of funny at times. But what I found really, really amazing was that it wasn't like trauma porn. It's just pre-devastating because we see people who are tenuously holding on to what they have need a little bit more. And we are already pre-aware of how much they're going to lose. And that kind of deep, like midlife melancholy, shout out you and me, suffuses into every frame of it.

30:17Andy Greenwald:Shout out you and me. It's going great. that I'm here for I don't expect this to be celebratory you know but I am here for the fact that from the beginning the show foregrounds the emotional journey and the precarity of these characters as we meet them you think about that scene early in the episode when Robbie and Cliff are having their lunch break they're sanitation workers who are kind of able to observe these different houses and look in the trash and find like you know what they're mixing their drugs with or whatever Robbie's doing that cool Apple knife shit. That's right. That cool guys do.

30:51And they're talking about online dating. And even the sort of tone of that conversation is such a window into this guy's character, right? Like what has happened that he's shut himself off? And even the way he's just like, look, I'm different than you. Like I want to share my life with someone. You know, I need somebody to be the other half of me. That scene, which could just be like a little bit of character building and I think this is what Inglesby really really really does well is he'll take pieces of character and put it into action and so I am actually allergic to child endangerment not because I have like some protective instinct but because I think it's like usually a very cheap way of kind of pulling a lot of heart strings and often like making it more of a four quadrant show because now this guy is like a protector or something but you really do get the sense by seeing Robbie's home life, by understanding that there's at least one person, if not two people missing from that house, his partner and his brother, that he has lost things over the course of his life.

32:01Don't get the impression that his brother is dead because of like a car accident. You know what I mean? Like I think it's like probably something, some choices he made over the course of his life.

32:12Andy Greenwald:He may have been involved, his brother. And that kind of, all of that, it builds up and builds up. And then when you get to the end and he decides to bring this kid with him, you're like, I get it. That's what this guy would do. This is what, that's what this guy would do. There wasn't a moment. He's got, he's already got like a fucking Peter Pan village in his house. You know what I mean? Like he's already got like Neverland going like. And he's got a hero complex. Yeah. Despite being the villain. I mean, there wasn't a moment and I appreciated this. I think this was probably a delicate note to play.

32:44Andy Greenwald:There was never a moment when I thought the kid's life was in danger in that scene. You know, where in other shows or other times we've seen scenes like this before that has gone very badly for the kid, let alone for our collective humanity as an audience member. Similarly, like, I want to talk about Maeve in a second, but like there wasn't a moment when I was like, is Robbie creeping on his niece? Is there something inappropriate here? Like the show runs right at who he is and his relationship to these people in a way that I felt was non-manipulative. Just appreciating Inglesby for another second, because I think that the pilot was so artfully constructed and it didn't begin the way most shows begin now, which is with a very heavy handed note from someone involved in the development process to hit him hard quickly.

33:33Andy Greenwald:Right. Yeah. Show the big event, show the thing. And then that's often why we get the five weeks earlier. Nothing I dislike more. Me too. And me either. And I loved the juxtaposition of these two guys starting their days in different ways, maybe with a similar kind of psychic pain. And did you notice that that opening sequence of their everyday behaviors was scored with this like surging symphonic music, which I thought was so great because it was like, this is the symphony of everyday life. Yes. Like this is the symphony of like the bullshit you do. You put out pamphlets, you pick up trash, you get your kids ready for school.

34:09They don't like you, whatever,

34:10Andy Greenwald:you know, go on, stick your face in a sink full of ice water just to get the alcohol puffs away. Yeah. Um, I want to, I, this is, I, I promise you this is not a classic, uh, digression, but I, I'm reading a book that, that, uh, Kaya recommended, um, called your television by, by Dan Z. Senna, which is really good so far. And, um, early on in the book, the main character of the book is talking about her time teaching creative writing in colleges. And there's some advice that's given at one point. And the advice is make it worse. And I was thinking about that when I was thinking about how Brad builds these shows, make it worse.

34:50Andy Greenwald:Doesn't mean like stop being so precious with your adverbs. It means make the circumstances worse. Don't, don't consider your characters necessarily to be your children or to be fictional avatars of your best interests and your best, um, hopes and dreams. Make the situation, turn the situations to 11, the Spinal Tap parlance, right? Make things as bad as they can be for them. So you see how they fare. And also, so you aren't hiding behind, uh, honestly, like your own writerly concern or optimism or hopes, how you want to be communicated to the world and he makes it worse sure like the the litany of shit that these guys are dealing with right from jump like just to go through it again with tom uh it seems this the implication is that he and his now no longer at home wife have i believe adopted children in the past in the past that they had three children it appears that one child may have ended the life of the other directly or indirectly.

35:52I think it's just a family tragedy. Yeah.

35:54Andy Greenwald:There's, there's some implication. One is in prison and one is no longer with us. Yes. Uh, he is a fallen priest. He is on desk duty, right? Like he is, uh, listening to the Phillies on the radio, which, you know, for most, a lot, depending what year the show is set can often be a sort of calamitous experience. Yeah. It's funny. It's like, there's so many flip phones in this show because of the drug business that I can't tell what year it's set, but it's obviously after COVID and everything. Yeah. Oh, right. So it's not the year where they were like Scott Kingery is the future. Because there were some dark times in those years.

36:28Andy Greenwald:Yeah. Can you imagine if we're just like just when Tom like gets this new job and he cleans the house and he turns on the radio and they're like, and Trey Turner is limping. Chip Kelly looks like he's got it all figured out here. That's worse. Yeah. I mean, what if it's now and he listens to like, you know, Trey Turner as a hamstring strain and we're screwed. Or this is just a pitch for Brad if he's listening. Like, you should definitely have Scott Franski audio being like, one thing about Zach Wheeler. He does not have any blood clots. His veins are clean. Clean is the stat sheet. Anyway, yeah, it's just like every single thing is really bad and he doesn't run from that.

37:05Andy Greenwald:Yes. Up to and including moments that are played for more comedic effect, like what I was referring to when Robbie is just grooving to his tunes shirtless and pilfering his niece's room for some sweet doobage. Yeah. and she comes home with a hookup and he's in the closet. Yeah. I want to get to the performances in a second because there's not a ton of plot. There's not a lot to unpack in terms of like, what do you think this means? What do you think that happens here? The beats are the beats that I laid out earlier. I wanted to talk a little bit about the characters and the performances, but the first character I want to talk about is the setting.

37:40Happy to do that. And I was, I mean, I weirdly have was just in upper Derby, uh, for, for business, but, um, I wanted to know, like, you know, you, you're, you're, we're, we grew up in Philadelphia in separate parts of the city. Yeah. Uh, I was like closer to the art museum and like in the city and culture. Uh, that's right. Just the vibrancy. I was more of a quarry jumper.

38:04Andy Greenwald:Kind of a left bank guy. Yeah. Um, tell me a little bit about Delco Montgomery County and like that area. because I think one thing that would be useful for our listeners who aren't locals and any locals who are listening to us, I spend a lot of time geographically mapping references from this show. Including Easttown makes a quick cameo. Exactly. Shared universe time. It's been suggested that it could be a possibility. What is it about this area that you think is a good backdrop for this kind of show? Well, particularly just going off of what was the way that Jeremiah Zagar is shooting the show.

38:44Andy Greenwald:Yep. What I immediately responded to with familiarity, and I'm not from Chester, I'm not from Delco, but like it's so green. Yes. And it's so weirdly, especially when shot this way, jarringly pastoral, jarringly rustic almost. You feel the age in a different way than you do in like old city, center city. right like their their houses are a certain age but it feels well the townships will have like a strip and it'll be like three dive bars and an acme and then you make a right turn and drive up a hill and you were in the woods yes and there's a farmhouse or there might be i mean i have never i i shack shack meme i was not familiar with cory's game like i didn't know that was an option for me yeah my wife was like how come you didn't take me here and i was like because we want our hearts to explode first of all yeah it's just like i didn't know existed and second of all I don't know if you and me and then Robbie and his family would be like jumping.

39:40Andy Greenwald:See you Friday. What if you, but also you as a former lifeguard. Yeah, are you that guy from the Rewatchables? It's pretty good. It's pretty fucking funny. You as a former lifeguard though, I don't know if you would have approved of the health and safety set up at the quarry. I mean, look, there's one guy who found out where the rocks were in that place when he dove in and everybody else is like, you got to go past that. Hey, got a little bit, keep going. you're going to take a run and start I thought there's like a haunted role I know this is crazy I wrote this down in my document but the quarry especially the shot in the beginning of the episode where Robbie's kids all jump on Raul Castillo when he comes in the door it kind of has a little bit of the tree of life Terrence Malick dusk where it's like it's all around us the magic and like there's all these different POV like perspective shots where it's like that when he comes in, it's shot from like almost the kid's height.

40:39Andy Greenwald:Yeah. And how these kids must look at the adults in the house as giants and as like these playful giants. Here's something that matters about this show, and I think it was in Mare too, is that like this show is very, very comfortable speaking in a language visually or in terms of the script with sadness and beauty that both exist. there's a moment when Maeve and Robbie have this big confrontation and he's like I didn't know you were so unhappy. Shout out Pelfrey. We're going to shout Pelfrey out in a second. Shout out Saquon. She's like I am very very unhappy and it is like existentially bone chilling because that is just there's nothing else to say.

41:20Andy Greenwald:There's no cute follow up. There's no like parentheses about if only she could go to art school or whatever. It is an absolute make it worse rock in a hard place situation. When the guy who comes over is like, what do you do? She's like, I don't do anything. I don't do anything. And that kind of ennui and opportunity, lack of opportunity, and just sunk into the soil kind of cost of a place that is old and beautiful, but what are we doing with it? Just permeates every frame. Well, it's also what families can do. It's like families are the places where you find yourself all of a sudden performing roles that you never imagined you would.

41:57and families are also the only arena where you're allowed to be like openly hostile and still live with the person you know like where you're allowed to be like this fucking sucks now I'm going into this room instead of like I guess I have to leave I've just made a scene you know I think that you really put your finger on something Inglesby has obviously set two shows here now and there is something beautiful about it and then you have to ask what's hidden behind the beauty what is hidden in those woods what is hidden like these stash houses that are a little bit off the road, you know, or up the hill or whatever.

42:30Even the nature of like how Robbie's brother's house that they're all living in seems to be like, it's in a, it's like a tree house somewhere, you know? Like it's just, there are chickens and it's just like this beautifully hidden away spot. But what is the emotional pain that's like behind the walls that's in those places? And I think he's very attuned to that.

42:53Andy Greenwald:And where do the people go who keep leaving? you know like it's it's it's very there's a very affecting moment when uh again like make it worse like Robbie may have this very intense uh argument and then when Maeve goes in the house of course Robbie's daughter's listening yeah and she's like don't leave don't leave yeah and she you we know yeah we know a that she won't and b we know why yeah this is stuff Bruce Springsteen songs are made of you know like of like I just gotta get out of here and I can't. He looked pretty good at the U.S. Open though. Was he there? Seems like he got out. Is he in severance?

43:25Andy Greenwald:He might be. He definitely looked like he'd had some of that baby goat treatment. He looked like the weight of letting go. No, he's getting ready for award season for delivering me from nowhere. No, but yes, but also maybe the release of electric Nebraska is coming out. The release of electric Nebraska has de-aged him. It de-aged me. It's a burden. I was going to ask you about that. I wasn't born in the U.S.A. I was like, we're fucking back. There was like, There was the shot at the US Open. It was Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak still doing the most fun. Will they or won't they ever? Bruce Springsteen, I believe his daughter, was there.

43:59Andy Greenwald:Pink and her motocross bow. Is this all in a row? They were all in a box together. And then professional BFFs, Sting and Shaggy, who were just like... Homies? They were like doing a big reggae fest at the Mann Center in Philadelphia. Right about that, Brad Inglesby. Which is weird. We're just like, okay. Sting and Shaggy. Every week we should challenge Brad Inglesby to really tell the truth. Tell the truth, Brad. Has he seen the video of the guy leaving Lincoln Financial Field after the game? Who's just like, I can't say any of the words he uses to describe his feelings about the Eagles win. Yeah.

44:35Andy Greenwald:But he is all of us. Where's he in your show, Brad? All right, let's talk about a couple of these performances. You know, Ruffalo is the biggest name in the show. But I want to start with Pelfrey. who's a long time CR guy. Like I've been really, really locked in on him for a minute, obviously. Can I just say like on the way in, you were saying that I was incorrectly columbusing a restaurant in London? Yes. Can I say that I do think if I've run the numbers that I do think I like Tom Pelfrey in Banshee before he was on Ozark? Andy, I defer to you. You're right. You mentioned Banshee more than any other show on this podcast.

45:17I just haven't watched it and you're right.

45:19Andy Greenwald:Thank you. I was looking at Tom Pelfrey's IMDB and I was like no shit he was on Banshee. A big Lacunae there in his CV for old CR but it's cool. He's real good in it. It's fine. Pelfrey obviously mind blowing in his Ozark arc that he had in season 2 I believe and very very good in Manc Outer Range. I don't know that they really used him to his full abilities the thing that jumps off the screen when you see him in task is that it feels like he has been this character for his whole life great call and then the camera turned on like his that the moment that i referenced earlier with him and cliff uh talking about like dating i was like this guy knows it it just feels like he's wearing this dude's skin it is unreal like he is so he has possessed this character already and like yeah like we could do accent Olympics all day with these characters I find it really interesting that the amount of Brits who are in it just because or Irish and British actors because I wonder whether or not it's almost easier for them to be like I have to do a new accent anyway so I can get to Philly easier than someone who's not from Philly and I kind of wonder whether that's a thing but we'll talk about the supporting characters uh Robbie being this emotionally vulnerable, but I am a fucking urban lumberjack strongman, it's just a beautiful portrayal so far.

46:52And it's all in his eyes. And it was like that in Ozark, as this guy who was tilting off his meds and descending into madness, even though he was in a completely crazy situation that almost justified his madness. Robbie's kind of, the pain in his eyes never goes away. and I just thought you know you don't have to do that there are a lot of actors who are like this is that's not what this seems about or like it's like every single moment that that guy has you feel like he's like carrying something really really heavy I think it's really important to

47:25Andy Greenwald:shout out the casting here because again there's a nuance to it you say it's a it's a big exciting dramatic, maybe awards-baity, two-hander coming from HBO. Obviously, a project like that goes to the top talent lists at all the agencies. I really admire the way they cast two very different actors who use what they bring perfectly. Ruffalo is a very talented, like, technical actor and has been amazing in a lot of things. But in this, one of the things we're sort of resting on is his just natural, lived-in charisma. He's not, as you said, he's not doing accent. He's not really turning it up past the point of like a couple of vodkas.

48:10Andy Greenwald:Okay, a lot of vodkas. He's steadying, which is the role. And kind of what you want from that figure on the scale. Yeah. Pelfrey's part, he is an industry favorite. People who have seen him, no matter when they first saw him, let's just say, love him. Yeah. And understand his abilities. Um, but I have to say, and I don't mean to do a drive-by here, but if like, if this was an, an Apple show, I think it would be an equally famous actor to Ruffalo playing the other half of it. And that might take away from the lived in nature. You don't even, I mean, you're welcome to do a drive-by. It's, it's, it's, uh, it's your car.

48:49I would say, I, I, I just think that like, there's a lack of vanity in both of these performances for sure.

48:55Andy Greenwald:But I don't want to say one's better than the other, but I'm just saying, no, but like they're doing something really interesting where it's like ruffalo is essentially like what would a guy who's obviously been through an unspeakable yet to be kind of articulated tragedy what how would he carry himself the booze is like sticking to him he is looks like he always has his eyes like halfway closed every probably moment of his daily life is either a humiliation or a heartbreak like he's either like i'm sitting here in a fucking career fair handing out pamphlets like so this is my career's over or I'm meeting with people about my son's sentencing and whether or not members of my family are going to give a witness impact statements or, you know, family impact statements.

49:38So like, there's not a good part of his day other than the moment where he sees a bird or the moment where the alcohol probably kicks in and then he pays for it the next day for Robbie. He's like, look, like it, there is a degree to which what it's funny how much the, this episode of Task is essentially the same beat for beat as the opening episode of Dope Thief.

50:02Andy Greenwald:I wondered if we'd talk about it. It's actually kind of shocking. Well, it is pretty shocking. Obviously, there's stories about this in the greater Philadelphia area that interest these people. And to be clear, we say shocking, not like, oh my god, there was plagiarism here. Absolutely not. But the degree to which they are almost the same... two guys who bring on a third guy a third guy who's not going to be with us for long to go to a rural part outside of Philadelphia and it goes badly yeah go on to be hunted by a driven but haunted law enforcement agent you know but the the act of robbing drug dealers is an interesting piece of I don't know if it's plot armor I don't know if I'm using the term correctly there but it does create morally an attachment for the viewer because you're like, well, this seems like something that it's like, there's no victim in this crime.

51:02It's Robin Hood-ish. Sure, yeah. I don't know that he is donating that money back to charities. I mean, it seems like he's providing for his family but I was reading an interview with Inglesby and Amelia Jones and Pelfrey on Deadline last night and Pelfrey's just like, this guy is not a bad guy and he's not doing anything wrong. About the first episode. Classic Giants fan. He is a New York Giants fan. What did you think of... I mean, obviously, we're going to probably be introduced to the Dark Hearts at some point, who I think will pose a slightly heavier villain.

51:38Andy Greenwald:There's also a biker gang in Dope Thief. That's right. That's right. But, you know what I mean? The idea that if you're robbing stash houses, are you really robbing anybody? Right. I mean, I think what the reason this works for me in a different way, and again, they were different projects with different aims. And Dope Thief allowed Brian Tyree Henry to go to some really phenomenal places. And I was glad he was nominated for an Emmy next week for his performance. But it was a lot more popcorn at times. It was a lot more devoted to the banter and the friendship stuff. and it was a lot of like, you know, extremity Jenga of like, well, you won't believe how crazy this thing is going to get next.

52:21Andy Greenwald:This show, because of its tone, its tenor, its emotional interest in things, and the fact that, like we were saying, it's not really written as a star vehicle, seems just very focused on the idea of a community. What we owe each other, what we owe ourselves, what is available to us within the economy that has been left to us, right? Like, I think that that aspect of it is really interesting, that they are, there's a talk about, I thought one of the smaller moments that lingers is in that same online dating conversation when Robbie is showing Cliff, like, with the money we get, and we don't know that yet, but we could get unspoiled wilderness in Canada and basically start over.

52:58Andy Greenwald:Yeah, an island, yeah. And Cliff says, who picks up the trash? Right. And the idea that, like, there's municipal services, newly relevant in Philadelphia, I would say, although it seems like maybe they've come to some sort of scepter agreement. Have they? Yeah, but like fares are going up, but service is being restored. Okay. We can do that for our next, put it for like eye on the street, local news version of this podcast. Because the fun thing about this podcast, people are always like, it's too general interest. Yeah. You guys cast too wide a net. You should focus more. We got super into abundance.

53:27Yeah.

53:29Andy Greenwald:Don't tempt me with a good time. I've got thoughts. But yeah, but like the idea that this stuff is supposed to work, and that was baked into Mare of Easttown in a really, I thought, effective way too. Like everyone was connected to someone who is connected to some other person who is part of a problem, either on one side of it or the other. Like no one goes untouched. Sure. Right? And whether you're on the crime fighters or the side of crime, like these are porous boundaries and everybody's kind of under the same boot heel. And I think that that aspect of it is going to be interesting going forward.

54:02Yeah, everybody's got a boss. That was like, it's like Ruffalo is the boss of this task force that he puts together but Kathleen McGinty is his boss and she's already like, I've been told I can't. She's being put out to pasture. Yeah, I'm being put out to pasture. It's like it goes up. It just rolls downhill.

54:15Andy Greenwald:Can we talk about the kids? Yep, the task force. In the show, the task force. But first, can we just take a moment for Amelia Jones? If you told me, you could have given me 10 guesses as to what I had seen this actor in before and I would have never gotten it. I've never seen Coda. Like, I just know the name. Was that the best picture winner that you just... You were like, it's COVID, I'm good. I don't need to engage with it. I mean, she's very good in it, but okay. I did not know that this was part of her game. The other thing that's really cool is I could take everything that you say about, you could take everything that you say about Pelfrey and apply it to Jones.

54:55She is this person. Like, I mean, it's probably an incredible performance. The haircut, the accent, the piercings, the... Yes. I got old way too young look in her eyes. Her accent is flawless.

55:10Andy Greenwald:Her vibe is flawless. We have all met this person before. She is a force of nature from the second she appears on screen. And the way that it's not just the way Robbie relates to this character with this mix of like, I am in charge here, but also I know that I am not. it's the way that Pelfrey clearly respects what she's bringing in these scenes that brings something else out of him. I just think she's, I think she's astonishing. And, you know, in a way she is like an interesting, if you watch this show as a, it's not a sequel to Mare of Easttown, but it's the next chapter and what Brad's doing in this world and this type of storytelling.

55:49Andy Greenwald:And so in a way it's like a iteration of what the character Angory Rice played, the daughter who was in the band that played all the Mannequin Pussy songs. Yes. Like it's a really fascinating, deeper iteration of that character in a way that I'm really, really responding to. I think she's amazing. She's a, you know, this kind of character could be a type. You know, it could be not window dressing, but like in the background and the entire thing is just about Robbie and like what Robbie's going through. But Jeremiah Zagar makes some cool choices in terms of the coverage that he does, where sometimes it'll be a scene that you should probably be following Robbie through and it'll stay with Maeve and it'll stay on her reactions to his behavior so that it becomes way more of an ensemble piece that way.

56:38Andy Greenwald:And that's the exact antidote to what you were saying about the way these are not Ronin. It is not Heat for that reason. Their behavior is affecting other people. What if Heat, but from Amy Brenneman's perspective? That's right. A necessary corrective, if you will. I actually, never mind. My daughter saw the musical Anne Juliet yesterday. it's touring and i don't know if you're familiar with this but it's like a romeo and juliet they loved it juliet's POV right it's also like it starts like a play within a play and shakespeare's wife was like this sucks let me do it big big year for shakespeare's play year for their whole family i know by the way 8 a.m i'm like you know chloe joe has a new film at tiff this year called hamnet my children are like please please stop um why that's relevant information i know they were interested uh-huh they're like hamnet's a dumb name i'm like well put some respect on it because anyway um he invented this whole shit yeah then they're like it's a jukebox musical max martin songs max martin wrote and produced life of showgirl anyway um do you think that like within our lifetime will someone be like do the feminist corrective to heat about amy breneman's character i think that if you let me and bill pod long enough we will do it get there yeah i believe in you.

57:52Andy Greenwald:Okay. So then I do want to talk about the, the scene of, so Ruffalo cleans out this house, although not well enough to welcome in these kids in the task force. And it is wild to me. And I wanted to get your sense of the accent stuff about it because the three recruits, none of them are American actors and they are all coming to this accent into this world. So I do think there's something to your point about, also because apparently the Philadelphia accent and the baltimore accent are unique because of the ports in these cities that cockneyed ship workers that's why it sounds like that for whatever reason okay david i'll just say it's fascinating it is i you're right you're right like something cockney east london to baltimore works so i don't know but anyway we have fabian frankel who's your guy from house the dragon who is honestly he's my guy.

58:44I know. He is my guy now. Own it. Anthony Grosso. Yeah.

58:49Andy Greenwald:Tutsuma Bedou is South African. And they do make a point of saying she moved to the area, which maybe gives her a little bit of a break. And then Alice and Oliver. Normie Peeps. No, from Convies with Friends. Oh, that's right. That's right. Normal People is the mescal in my bed. Yeah. Things worked out for those stars of that one. Yeah. Yeah. Alice and Oliver was Convies with Fs and also The Order. The Jude Law starring film that I watched that we never talked about. She's in that. I love that you watching something necessitates the conversation. Because I just want, which camera's on? I want the record to show.

59:27Andy Greenwald:Sometimes you're like, oh, you might really enjoy it. I'm like, oh, okay. That happens once a year and it's always the order and it's not weapons. That's fair. But that was like, watch Miyazaki and you were like, I watched Porco Rosso over the shoulder of a three-year-old once. Shout out to local Philadelphia meteorologist Cecily Tynan. We're monitoring a low pressure system with Allison Oliver. She might fucking, when she's on the phone outside, I don't know if she hits every single accent note, but she is definitely a girl that I have met from Philadelphia, larger Philadelphia area. Sir, you haven't been on the receiving end of that phone call.

1:00:06Andy Greenwald:No, I haven't. I mean, it's possible. Yeah, maybe in my youth. I'm not trying to cast aspersions no I had an incredible run of not getting dumped for a while you know so did you? well do we think I'm sorry I'm trying to remember I think that they were living the characters in this show are living together and like he's now come over to get all this shit but there's no evidence that he was dumped he may have dumped her but he's like can I get my stuff yes I think that's what we're supposed to believe now the CR brain is like can't get dumped if I've already moved all my stuff out and so she comes home and it's just like the Will Smith meme in the empty house in Bel Air that's how you get them never been dumped yeah but if you only have like if you're like I need this ottoman you know or I need this like whatever we need that one chair from Ikea that we all had I need that until I was 35 I had nothing I was the Ronin you know what I mean I was still I was still like I have a bunch of raucous records, white-labeled 12 inches, and an Xbox.

1:01:12That's all I need. Until you were 30? That's why I moved here.

1:01:16Andy Greenwald:First of all, you've made it very clear on numerous pods that your entire shit is liquid. You can go at any time. You began the pod last week. I don't remember if we were recording it or not, saying, can't cancel me now. I have nothing to lose.

1:01:33Andy Greenwald:And even on this pod, you were like, yeah, fuck it. I'll root for the American in the U.S. Open final. and you'll never be able to prove that I did. You're a fucking whisper in the wind, man. Own it. Allison Oliver is doing things in that front yard on the phone where we're just very, very aware of it. Is it a Cecily Tynan thing or is it a John Bolaris thing? I'm more of a Cecily person. Is it a Hurricane Schwartz kind of thing? Were you a Bolaris guy? No, I just, have you been following the Bolaris story since? Oh, he had a rough exit, right? He's still making the gossip column. Okay. Like, it is a wild thing.

1:02:11Andy Greenwald:It is a very specific level of fame to be Philadelphia weatherman famous. Are you so post everything digital that you don't... Did you ever have a personal relationship to a local weather person growing up? Yeah. Yeah, no, I did. Cron 4 News was my local... Cron 4 News. Yeah. Okay. Do you remember what the weather person's name was? Oh my God, no, I don't. But I do remember. I guess when it's in the Bay Area, what's the point of looking at the weather? Like, it's just going to be... It's 50 degrees and foggy every day, so... Like, Belarus has been banned from numerous restaurants now. He's, like, called out people's personal lives who own restaurants.

1:02:50Andy Greenwald:Like, it's quite a... Really? Yeah. What I'm saying is Lizzie has John Belarus energy. I gotcha. But we should probably... You think she's been kicked out of a cheesecake factory once or twice? A rouge on Rittenhouse Square. I'm just saying, I think that we need a professional meteorologist monitoring her barometric pressure. She's incredible. But she has Belarus energy. Frankel is doing very well. It's a really good ensemble. And as a pilot episode goes, I really respected... I'm going to do character beats with upwards of 12 people, including just a tender but haunted Rita's water ice between father and daughter.

1:03:30Yeah. Black cherry? Yeah, that's what he got. And do you approve? Look. You're a lemon guy. It's very on - What? What are you?

1:03:39Andy Greenwald:No, I'm like, I'm not a Rita. Like Rita's kind of mid. Well, what's your water? Do you have a water ice of choice? Yeah, John's. Okay. And then honestly, the chocolate water ice is amazing. Everybody's been talking about the chocolate water ice. The chocolate ice is incredible. But also like in the summer, John's has like fresh fruits. Whatever they have on the board, you get that. You get yourself down there. you tell him John Bolaris thank you actually do not do that you will not be served water yeah you know who else we have to shout out though Isaac DeBanko great great veteran actor from like every Jim Jarmusch movie yes showing up as Daniel who's the priest who's the guy who's stuck with it who's got some cool Catholic literary journals he wants to share and a taste for the yingling which I respected by the way shout out yingling in the show I see the the rolling rock monopoly big RR has been broken.

1:04:31I think Inglesby new. Like I can't just pretend like everybody only drinks RR.

1:04:36Andy Greenwald:Or do you think like the Czech stopped coming from old Latrobe? I'm just bummed that Kenwood couldn't get a shot, but maybe Kenwood isn't hitting an upper Derby. I don't know. Yeah. Kenwood's a good local beer. Anything else you want to say about Task? This is fun to talk about. It's fun to have in our lives. I'm very excited about it. Yeah, let us know if you guys have questions. The watch at Spotify.com. if you want me to detail which travel baseball Little League fields I've played at in Delco, I can talk about my slash line. Yeah, which one almost caused your heart to explode. It's exciting.

1:05:12Andy Greenwald:It was an exciting show. Even the action sequence was very, very gripping. It was well shot. Yeah, I got those masks. Oh, you mean you want them back? When you and Zach came over wearing them for the Eagles game, I thought it was weird, but I was happy to have you come in. It's just my Anasimova mask. Thanks to Kaya, who's back. And congratulations to Kaya. And congratulations to Kaya. Thanks to John. Good job. And we'll be back on Thursday to talk about Alien. I don't think he's going to watch Dystopia anymore, Kaya. I think life has turned a page for him. Yeah. No, he's really committed to the genre.

1:05:45Andy Greenwald:And now you are as well. See you guys on Thursday.

1:05:57Uncovered windows can make your home feel up to 20 degrees hotter. Stay cool and save up to 45 % off custom window treatments during the Summer Black Friday Mega Sale at Blinds.com. From outdoor shades to room-darkening blinds, finding the perfect fit is easy. Get free samples, expert design help, and professional measure and install services, or DIY with confidence and support every step of the way. Shop up to 45 % off site-wide, plus huge savings on doorbusters right now during the Summer Black Friday Megasale at Blinds.com. Best thing that's ever happened to you financially. Go. Easy. Sold my car on Carvana.

1:06:32Amazing offer. Really? I hit 200 on a scratcher. Did the scratcher come to your house and hand you a check? No. How many scratchers did you hit to get that? I hit a button on Carvana.com once. Okay, that's fair. It's like the lottery, except you always win. Not like the lottery at all, actually. Exactly. Inexplicably good. Offers worth bragging about. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply.