Steve Carell's Greatness in 'Rooster' and the Tones of 'DTF St. Louis'

Hey, welcome to taking it down.

It's the Alabama Takes TV podcast.

Here's the issue.

When it comes to tv, there are too many options and too much to stream.

So our podcast will help you figure out what you want to watch and where to watch it, because we discuss things without any spoilers.

Then the bonus of the back half is where we talk about the same shows with spoilers so you can get a little insight.

Sometimes deep, sometimes not so deep.

You can compare what you thought with what we thought on this episode.

This week, in case you pay no mind to our show notes, we're discussing the second episode of the HBO series Rooster.

But first, we'll start out with the third episode of DTF St. Louis.

Both of those are on HBO.

I'm going to get the podcast going.

Bring in Adam and Donovan.

Take projection.

We're here.

They're already having me laughing.

It's Donal and it's Adam.

Before I get into the discussion of our actual lineup of shows, I know I mentioned that at the top, I do want to remind listeners that this is non spoiler section.

So you're okay, but there's a couple things I'm going to bring up.

I didn't.

I may not have brought up in the top the the Fallen Rise of Reggie Dinkins.

We discussed its pilot, but that's been over a month ago.

You know, I liked the pilot.

I loved it and have now watched three whole episodes.

Looking forward to more.

There's a good Shakespeare joke in there that made me really laugh.

Is that the one I messaged you?

It is the one.

Because I had no idea.

I had to look it up and then I laughed harder.

I laughed in the moment, but then I laughed harder when I knew.

Yes.

The other half of the joke, it's

not perfect, but I've really like.

It's doing a lot of stuff that's really funny.

Yeah.

Just for listeners, this is a new show.

It's on NBC.

It's a broadcast show on Monday night.

Tracy Morgan, Daniel Radcliffe, Bobby Moynihan.

I think it's pretty strong.

It's on NBC.

And then you can watch it on Peacock.

Like we say around here, if you want something good, hop on the cock.

Do we say that?

Are you saying no?

We don't say that.

Okay, we're gonna start saying no.

But we did cover the pilot.

The pilot I thought was fantastic.

The second episode dipped a lot, and then the third episode was back and

I was willing to give a little new show feeling out for the second episode.

And then the third, and there was still stuff that made me laugh in the second and then the third really made me laugh.

The third really made me laugh.

Just like the pilot did.

The second one, if you do watch the pilot and then you watch the second, don't quit.

The third one gets back to normal and it is very, very funny.

It's weird.

They decided to air the pilot a month ago.

Actually longer because NBC decided to do that after a big NFL game.

Since it's about Tracy Morgan's character, Reggie Dinkins, kind of trying to get back into the public eye after retiring from the NFL.

I won't say more, but now they're a week at a time.

And I think it's good premise.

It's the same creators who brought you 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

And it's in that vein where it's like a joke every 30 seconds.

You got to hang.

You got to hang on.

The style of humor, too is something that really scratches an itch for me.

Yes.

And like I said, I think when we first covered this, Tracy Morgan's delivery is always really good, folks.

You gotta watch it because there's the thing that Blaine and I have danced around that both made us laugh.

If it wasn't for Tracy Morgan, the way he says things, it wouldn't be nearly as funny.

Probably not.

And then there's a moment where his girlfriend does an impression of him.

So good, so funny.

Anybody?

Tracy Morgan and people doing impressions of Tracy Morgan always.

I can get on board Donovan.

It's also not mean spirited at all.

No, not at all.

It's like the most pleasant comedy.

It is.

You know, there's a sweet take on like, obviously Reggie has failed in his life and everyone there has kind of failed in their lives.

But they all sort, despite like past hurts and things like that, they sort of.

They sort of all get along together.

You know, I don't know if sweetness is the word, but it's just pleasant.

It's.

There's no meanness.

Is it dumb?

Oh, yeah, it's dumb.

But it's funny.

It's.

Yeah.

Not mean spirited at all.

Not at all.

It's.

It's hard to get that in a comedy.

I think that's one of the things I loved about.

I didn't watch it when it was first on the air, but when I finally watched Detroiters like, it is also not like it's hilarious, but it's not at all mean spirited.

In fact, quite the opposite.

And I think that's hard to do.

Detroiters Is also one that has an episode or two that'll dip and then it'll be really funny again.

Would have loved if they'd all survived long enough for the Detroiters Joe Pera crossover, but oh well, guess we can't have everything.

No.

I believe the two big pieces of TV related news were the recent episodes of the Pit tackling the ice assholism head on this last week and then the Bachelorette getting yanked off the air before it even aired its first episode because of a domestic violence violence issue with the Bachelorette almost star.

So which of those two would you like to address first?

Well, the Bachelorette we can bring in Mormonism, which will ensure, you know, if you bring religion in with, oh, you know something about this, we can.

No, she's.

Wasn't she Secret wives of or lives of Mormon Wives person.

Yeah.

How do you know this?

Because I saw a picture of stuff like I, I just saw it somewhere.

Yeah.

And I was.

And I was like, what is going on?

Well, I'm not kidding.

Every headline on many sites I look at was the Bachelorette and I finally clicked on one.

And so I kind of know this too.

Where they were basically like, you can get away with this on Real Housewives.

Real Mormon Wives.

You can't get away with this on the Bachelorette.

This is the big time.

Well, it's broadcast, I guess.

You're on abc, buddy.

Yeah.

This is family.

Doesn't hold up the scrutiny.

You know, we don't show the.

Okay.

I do think that's a.

That is ABC's slogan.

I think it is.

You know, a lot of people love to watch Monday Night Football and I love it when they put it on you.

They simulcast it on ABC as well because you get the ABC broadcast and they're.

They're talking.

Whoever's doing it is, is announcing is like, hi, we're coming to you.

We're live on abc.

And as you'll remember, this is abc.

We don't show the fucking.

Yeah.

Every time you watch espn, if you want that.

Yeah.

The Pit, tackling the ice issue on their recent episode was one of my favorite moments of tv.

It was not a necessarily comforting moment, but yeah, take it to them.

Take it to them.

Show them the bullies that they are.

It was a sad B or C plot line, but it was there.

Still makes the in the pit, by the way.

Still great.

I caught up on the pit this week thanks to click.

O.

No, you did not.

I did.

What was the joke?

They had a whole storyline.

Donna, did you see it?

I don't.

I did see that.

What was it that the doctor.

Someone, a young woman, had lost her leg and they were going to use her leg.

Was this in the show?

We're in non spoilers, but maybe they

were going to use the leg to go kick Donald Trump into space.

That too, is in the show.

And she's.

She said, but I was a soccer player.

I'm pretty good at kicking things.

Just reattach my leg and they'll say, we'll see how it holds up after we've kicked Donald Trump into space.

And the leg is just like in the background.

That was the A plot.

Okay.

And ice was the B plot.

Well, it was really good on Click.

All that is.

I hope it was good on HBO too.

Yeah.

I can't recommend the Pit enough.

I know y' all don't watch and it's okay, but for listeners, if you.

If you don't watch or if you've started it, you know what I'm talking about.

It's really good.

I think the second season's even better.

I didn't think it was going to be when it began.

Now I'm sure it is.

I gotta dip my toe in because I'm like, trauma center stuff is.

Is not necessarily my favorite thing, but I'm also like, well, I could watch the Nick.

Like, I thought that was good.

Oh, I enjoyed that show.

Was it what I swarmed during the neck.

Oh, yeah.

There's some gruesome moments.

Yeah.

I definitely bonner kids in it.

Well, if you squirm during the nick, and I think I have an idea of what the nick would have shown.

Yeah.

You'll have to look away during the pit.

Are there enough syphilis plot lines in the pit to interest me?

Blaine, you would be surprised.

I mean, they've got it all.

That's a spot where the nick really shines.

Have they been taking the mercury treatment?

I haven't seen that.

I'm reading Wolf hall right now and they talk about the King of France or like, everyone knows he's taking the mercury treatment.

Oh, yeah.

I love how the pit manages to tackle current issues.

They tackle homelessness, ice.

There's so many other big, huge real world issues, but they never leave the ER.

It's so well done.

When you're in the ER, the world comes to you.

Amen.

ABC, we don't show the fucking.

But who does?

HBO, Sith, Fox, the Simpsons.

Yeah.

We're going to talk DT of St. Louis here.

Non spoiler.

Still, interesting show, I think particularly Tonally we've got famed St. Louis weatherman Clark Forest, played by Jason Bateman.

He makes quick friends with Floyd and Carol Smirnich, who are well played by the excellent David Harbour and Linda Cardinelli, respectively.

Just general ideas, you know, I love the first episode because I couldn't look away.

I really was engaged.

Just.

Just was overwhelmed.

Like, wow, I can't believe this is over, you know, checking the watch kind of thing.

The second episode was still of interest to me.

Not quite as strong, though.

Note, not weak.

And then we're on the third episode.

I know everybody who's listening might be on the fourth.

We're on the third, titled the Go Getter.

And I found it slow, but perfectly so.

I found it slow in order to learn who some of these people are.

And I liked it because of that.

Yeah, it's still compelling.

I found the third one to completely set the hook for me.

I thought it was.

I don't want to say it's the best one yet because they're all doing different things, but it.

It rewarded me for sticking through one and two.

I think I found it to be the.

The one that proves it's a well written series when it comes to dialogue.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'll have examples of that later for spoilers.

And it deepened a lot of these people.

It told us how to view them going forward, I think.

I suppose it was a sadder episode than I would have expected.

And it just made a good watch, I thought.

I think it, you know, you're talking about it being so well written and setting tone and.

Yeah, I think now we.

We're getting more of their background, but we're also being told what kind of storytelling is happening and how to take things in.

Like, I think I would watch episode one differently now after seeing episode three, if that makes sense.

Yeah, that would be a interesting experiment.

It's laying out what the show is about in terms of how it's revealing information, what it's trying to say.

Pretty blatant story, I think, established about the kind of selfishness that makes someone do what they can to stay above water, even if that means leaving others to drown.

It's a little of getting on the last safety boat before the Titanic sinks happening in this episode.

It's so hard to do.

We're not in spoilers.

The water is pretty muddy about whose motivations are doing what.

And it's like, is.

Is what you're saying the case?

And, like, how does it.

How do all the puzzle pieces fit together?

Yes, that's Correct.

We've been shown that some of these characters are not the most truthful with others.

So true.

So I. Yeah.

Pretty muddy waters.

Like Adam said.

I don't think the obvious is gonna.

Yeah.

Who do you trust?

Which storyline are we.

Yeah, there's a little of that.

We'll get more in spoilers, so stick around.

If you've seen through episode three, we're gonna also talk about another HBO series.

This one airs, I think, right after DTF St. Louis.

It's that new Bill Lawrence show, Rooster.

It's got Steve Carell, Phil Dunster.

I learned his name last week.

Thank you, Adam.

Did you listen, Donovan?

No, I didn't.

You didn't listen last week.

Thanks, Donovan.

But it was.

We had a funny moment of me saying his name.

The actor's name is Phil Dunster.

And Blaine being like, that's not it.

And it was, I think, all because he is far too attractive a human being to have the name Phil Dunster.

Yeah.

Such a complete opposite name you would expect.

It also stars Daniel detweiler, John C. McGinley.

Very good.

Charlie Clive plays Steve Carell's daughter.

It's a campus university comedy, so we got it set in academia.

Beautiful New England town, liberal arts college kind of place.

Donovan, I'm glad you're with us this week.

You.

You were out last week.

It's.

We have our off weeks here and there.

But you're in it.

You're in academia.

I don't consider myself this kind.

But you're in academia.

I consider myself.

Like, I was thinking about this yesterday.

I was like, I'm in education.

You're in academia.

Do you think that's a.

Okay terminology?

I mean, definitely more when I was a librarian at UConn, whereas, like, yeah, I'm technically in academia, but I. I'm a little more hands on.

Well, I don't know.

Adam's wife's in academia as well.

Oh, she's.

She's firmly in academia.

She's at.

Can I say, does it.

Do you think she'd care?

I. I don't know.

Maybe.

Okay, well, she's in academia.

Yeah.

We'll just leave it at that.

So how accurate are these folks for.

For laughs and for story,

based on my experience being at a major R1 university with billions of dollars with budget.

When you coached at UConn.

When I coached at UConn.

You know, it's not always accurate, but, like, there are people you will meet.

You're like.

You're the most insane person I have ever met in my entire Life in

a fun way or in a way like I'm running from you?

Could be both.

And then college kids are great.

Here's a story that I didn't witness, but my wife did.

And I've seen other examples like this.

Like, the college kids are actually hilarious, right?

Because like, Yukon, Pretty campus has this beautiful tree which always turns gold.

Walking from class, group of guys walking past the tree and one of them just looks at it and goes, I love nature.

That's what we want from our children.

Just like I'm like, I've seen others.

So, you know, it's very different from my personal experience because we're not.

I'm not at a tony liberal arts college, but, you know, you know the John C. McGinley character.

Yes, 100% accurate.

I'm so happy to hear that.

I think that one is like, of all of the characters, that one's the most.

Like, yeah, they nailed this.

Like, I've seen this type of person in the wild.

Two episodes under our belts, listeners might have three.

Where are you ranking this among Bill Lawrence's reasons?

I bring him up all the time because he has so many shows going and we've covered so many of them.

So let's just do the recents.

Scrubs, Bad Monkey Ted, Lasso Shrinking, and now Rooster.

So it does.

Where is this fall?

Hey, that guy works.

Doesn't he work?

He's probably doing a lot of producing and probably less riding on some of these.

Oh, I'm sure.

But still good.

He gets around.

I will give a shout out to Scrubs.

I think the reboot has been.

Oh, you've seen it?

Yeah, I think it's much better than I expected it to be.

Huh.

Good to hear.

Sometimes it's like the best you can hope from a reboot is that it doesn't ruin what was, you know, and true.

This one has done the rare thing of like, kind of picking up where it left off in a way.

But years later, I assume.

Yeah, yeah, many years later.

So you got to give him some credit for that.

This rooster is tough to judge because, yeah, Steve Carell is so good.

Everybody on screen is so good.

But also, like, you know, Steve Carell could probably chew up pretty bad dialogue and still, like, I'm charmed by him these days.

And that man has done capital W work since the Office.

He has starred in that Oscar winning movie about the wrestler.

It was a dramatic interpretation of something that really happened.

Do you guys remember?

And he had makeup on.

He didn't even look like Steve Carell.

Fox something.

Yeah, I saw it in the theater.

I can't think of the name of it.

I saw it in the theaters, and I thought his performance was magnificent.

You know, we.

And now I'm not going to be able to remember the name of the show, but, you know, bullying.

We watched that.

Domhnall, Gleason.

Oh, the Patient.

Adam and I talked about it briefly.

Fantastic.

Steve Carell.

I mean, I feel like.

Like, I always knew he was good, but, like, watching that, I was like, he's actually, like, good.

Wouldn't it be something if we come to conclude that he's maybe our best actor right now?

He just kind of does it very.

Like he's.

He's not flashy.

He does seems, like, very quietly.

And he's also, like, in stuff that's not good, so you kind of forget that he's as good as he is.

I mean, who could do the variety that he can?

We got, what, Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothy Chamomile, and then Steve Carell.

Top three.

I mean, I'm sure we could put some other folks there, but just the sheer fact that he was one of the most recognizable characters in the last 25 years of American television, and you don't just look at him and go, oh, Michael Scott.

Yeah.

When he's in something is, like, shocking.

Here's my thing.

When Steve Carell's funny, he's funnier than all the great actors we've just named or think about.

But when he's serious and doing very dramatic roles, he's as good as those actors.

This is true.

This is gonna sound like I'm being mean to Bob Odenkirk, and I'm not.

But there's a bit in Little Women where Bob Odenkirk is the dad.

Right.

And you and I got so many

laughs out of Bob Odenkirk being the dad.

He comes in for this, you know, he's back from the Civil War or whatever, and it's just like, ah, it's Bob Odenkirk.

And you never feel that way.

Like Adam was saying, like, you never feel that way with Steve Carell.

It really does feel like Bob Odenkirk in that movie, though.

Oh, it really did.

It's about to be like, is this a sketch?

Is David Cross gonna show up?

Yeah, it would be.

So Rooster, specifically.

I don't think that this show's for everyone, though.

It's not as wide ranging as some of the other shows we cover.

That's probably true.

Yeah.

I'm definitely.

My feeling, my notch for this is like it's at the okay mark right now.

We'll see what happens.

I'm not even carell.

Big, big part of big part of the plus category.

Absolutely.

I'm not even talking about if it's good or bad.

I'm just saying the audience for it.

I don't think the audience for this show is as wide as Bad Monkey or Ted Lasso if we're sticking to Bill Lawrence's works or Scrubs.

But I like it.

I think it could be really good.

We'll see.

We only have two episodes under our belts, so more down the road.

Over on Apple TV this last week they debuted two episodes of a star studded thriller, Imperfect Women.

I'm only going to mention this in non spoilers.

I don't think either of you guys got around to it, right?

No, I didn't.

Yeah, I'll mention it in in non spoilers stars Kerry Washington, Elizabeth Moss, Kate Mara, Joel Kinnerman and Corey Stoll.

Like I said, lots of stars there.

It's an adaptation, if I could say that word, of a novel of the same name.

And it comes as no surprise.

It feels like the recent onslaught of thriller novels catered to true crime lovers.

That's like almost all of America, albeit fiction.

This is fiction, guys.

This show's capital B bad.

I had a feeling, so I'll save you the time.

I had not heard of it.

You kind of mentioned it.

I looked it up and I was like, hell no.

There's no way.

I think the cast is like the only reason that I would press play on that and it's not enough to do it.

Look, they got a.

They've got mortgages to pay.

I get it.

Yeah, I guess.

So that's it, huh?

Life is a series of compromises.

I was about to ask, do they read the scripts before they sign?

Sometimes you just want to make money, right?

Yeah, they're doing as good as they can.

But my goodness, this show, it's.

And it's so funny to compare it to something like DTF St. Louis which is currently airing in their.

Their plot lines could very well run parallel to one another if you wanted it.

If you wanted to think about it that way in this.

Wow.

It just feels like bad Airport book on screen.

Yeah, those airflow airport books sell though.

They do sell.

Which reminds me and I'll go ahead and give listeners the non spoiler take of Scarpetta which was on Amazon Prime.

It had Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis, many other stars.

Again, well cast and it Was worse than Imperfect Women.

It was so bad.

Based off a Patricia Cromwell series of novels about a doctor.

Forgive me, I don't know that what you'd call this the doctor who does the autopsies.

Like.

Like a medical.

Like an ex.

It's like a medical examiner.

Thank you.

Nicole Kim Place medical examiner of.

For murders.

And she's Dr. Scarpetta.

Oh my God.

This show was so bad.

I gave it two episodes and I was like, no, I might give Imperfect Women one more episode just to see if they stop showing close ups of Kerry Washington making faces.

Why would they stop now?

Yeah, why?

She's a pretty lady, don't get me wrong.

But there's more that they could do.

I just hate.

It's bad because of Elizabeth Moss, Kerry Washington.

All those actors are good.

I would watch them all in something.

A little bit of trivia about the airport novel.

The mass market paperback.

Tell me.

I just learned this recently.

It's a sad story.

It's dying.

Did you know that they're doing away with it.

It's not being made anymore.

It's.

You can get a.

A trade paperback, which is the slightly larger, nicer version.

You.

You pay.

You.

The consumer pays more for it.

It only costs a little bit more to.

To buy.

And the.

The mass market model has been pretty much taken over.

Or the people who read those are pretty much reading them on ebook as ebooks now because you just.

It's easy to get and devour them.

So yeah, Rip it's not.

It's just not the same.

There was some great Stephen King comments about this that I'll send to y'.

All.

All fair.

That were.

But just lamenting like the accessibility of.

Sure, a lot of people have an E reader, but you know, I mean, how many copies of like bad editions of paperbacks did you guys tear through when you were in middle school, high school, college, whatever?

Yeah, when I was 13, 14, 15, dude.

Probably a hundred or more.

My wife reads these kinds of novels, so I'm not judging at all.

But she does it on an E reader.

Yes, well, my wife does too.

Once you have the E reader, it makes total economic sense, but it does just the ability to go to like a used bookstore and be like, I have four quarters and walk out with books.

That matters.

I think it's.

It's crazy too.

Like, what was mass market paperback at points like my parents had like from.

I think they bought it from Walmart at some point before I existed.

Like the Jungle Book in a mass market paperback.

So I read that that way and like just, just weird stuff that it was.

But it was like Adam said, it was accessible for you.

Oh, I can't tell you how many times I read the Stand and that mass market.

Oh my God, that thing.

Like you have to break the spine just to open it.

Oh, yeah, it was.

I have such a distinct smell in my nose right now.

Yeah.

And with that, we'll take a break.

You can let that smell linger in your nose.

How sad.

We'll take a break.

On the other side, we got spoilers for two shows, DTF St. Louis and Rooster.

Plenty to see and hear over on the alabamatake.com subscribe to the Newsletter and you won't miss a beat, even if you rely on social media.

Two new podcasts on thealabamatate.com you can listen to Hidden Creatures, which is host Bo Wolf and his son Rainey diving into the unexplained, the unexplored, the mysterious, interviewing some people who've had encounters with those kinds of things.

And there's also punk Love and Compassion, which you can listen to in any podcast app where host Bo Wolf once again sits down with those in the punk community to talk about music, music recommendations and mental health struggles as well.

Listen to those wherever you get your podcast or straight from the alabamatake.com we're kicking off spoilers this week.

Week DTF St. Louis third episode the Go Getter I think we're the most enlightened about who did what and why, which is interesting because this is the third episode and there are four more.

Is this going to play out as probably the truth?

They didn't say anything, certainly, but any logical viewer would.

Would flesh it out kind of.

Okay.

I see all the steps, all the parts are in place.

Get a lot more of a fleshed out Floyd who.

Who comes off as more sad.

Before I use any of the details of the third episode, do you think it told everything that happened?

No.

No.

There's just no way or I think there's no way.

I, you know, I said at the top that this was the one that hooked me and I knew because I was on Reddit afterwards and someone, they made a very good point that you probably until the end of the season will think that it has to have been X, Y or Z person at the end of every episode.

If you want to say, if you want to say, well, I think it's

going to change every episode.

I think that they are presenting information in such a way that it's always shifting, you know, and like motives are shifting.

And I think they're doing a fun thing with reliable narration, of course.

But I love it also the disjointed way people communicate as, like, a manifestation of suburbia itself, you know, and, like, repressed desire and all of this.

It suddenly, to me, this really ramped up in episode three.

Yeah.

One of the things.

I know we talked about the first one, we were kind of like.

Well, I was.

I think, liked it a little bit more.

But you both had kind of mentioned, like, oh, why the mystery?

Why is it in here?

And I think that this episode was.

Was really like, that's why the mystery.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, in a really good way.

My theory is this.

And, you know, I say it almost every other week.

Predictions is not our forte, but it does feel like I'm gonna use what's given to us in this episode.

It does feel like we may know everything that happened other than the who.

I think we know everything that happened other than, like, maybe, was it Carol?

Was it Clark?

Was it someone else?

Well, I'm curious why you think we know everything that happened.

Because they keep giving us more stuff every week.

They do, but I feel like they.

What more could they give now?

I'll be proven wrong later.

Why the magazine, Blaine?

Let's just break it down and I.

And you'll.

Maybe I can get around to that.

Explaining, you know, surely this is what's happened and you can tell me what you think or not.

One of the things I like about this show, too, is it's a show that has the courage to ask America, who among us hasn't mistaken David Bowie for a hot lady?

I thought you were going to say it dares to ask the question, who among us hasn't made out with a stranger to help his feelings?

That made me laugh so hard.

Like, every part of that.

Of course, Floyd made out with the David Bowie guy so he wouldn't hurt him.

Last week, the show had us thinking he was into the app because he wanted to explore his gay or bisexual feelings.

Or.

Or that he already had those and he wanted to let them play out again.

Not so much.

Turns out he's just a really nice guy.

Yeah.

Who.

Who has never seen.

Who has never seen the single of the man who Sold the world.

That's a girl, right?

Wasn't that a great line when he

walked out and found the guy, the busboy or whatever that was?

Man, that was so good.

That's David Bowie that was up there

with his delivery of I thought Batman was gonna die on this page.

And then on.

Those are the two things in this show that have made me laugh the hardest so far.

Well, both he and Both he and Richard Jenkins.

Homer.

Were very confused on why someone would put a picture of David Bowie dressed as a woman.

Equally confused.

You know, people are pointing to that Batman scene.

That brought all of us joy.

But Donovan.

So much joy.

Oh, yeah.

Saying is this.

Is Floyd actually dead?

I thought he was gonna die, but then he was.

I mean, the Easter egg.

There's been no mention of a funeral.

There's been no mention of a body.

Wouldn't.

Most of the time you'd see in this sort of show.

Like, now we're doing the autopsy.

Here he goes into the freezer or whatever.

Well, I think we're only a few hours away from the death.

As far as the timeline.

Like, now, we've gone very many hours back in the past, but not that far in the future.

I think we're at least a couple days, right?

Yeah, definitely a couple.

Because it took time.

Right.

For what we've seen throughout all this is.

And now I can't remember anyone's name.

The June.

The junior officer.

I don't think she's really junior, but the younger.

Thank you, Officer Plum.

It takes her time to, like, go through things and then convince, you know, that they need to.

To look deeper into this.

So, yeah, it's got to be, like.

It's got to be some time.

Yeah.

And he's apprehended on air.

Right.

So I don't think.

Is that later that day or is it the next day?

I think it is.

Regardless.

I think there's been at least three or four days.

Okay.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I was thinking about two, maybe one.

And that.

That wouldn't be enough time for an autopsy return.

I mean, probably we're talking about government work here, so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hey, on Scarpetta, they get it done.

We now know that Floyd has a recumbent bike, or at least maybe Carol did.

And Clark had bought two because he wanted one for his own wife and she wasn't into it.

So he gives.

He gave it to Floyd slash Carol.

If you thought a recumbent bike looked bad, put Floyd in one.

That's a sad sight.

He's not choosing to ride that thing.

There's not a second car at the house.

That's a good point.

He really does.

Clark really helped him out there.

Yeah.

This.

This has been like in the second episode, it's kind of like he's like, oh, maybe there's something underhanded going on this one, with this episode, you're just like, is Floyd, like, the most lovable loser in America?

Like.

Like, it just gets, like, increasingly sad.

Yeah.

And that.

And that's been great.

Like, you think, like, oh, maybe there's stuff with the kid that.

That's not gonna come out.

No.

Seems like this guy, like, loves this kid, and, you know, it's just, like, what's going.

Which is why I agree with Adam.

Like, there's no way we've been told everything that's going on.

He can't be.

I mean, he's basically a saint at this point, aside from downloading the app and.

Yes.

I mean, even the progress with the kid.

And then you see, that solidified his moment where you're like, oh, man, he died.

And you see, Carol keeps bringing up the life insurance thing, and it's.

There's too much.

That's too easy.

I think that's.

That's such a.

That's gotta be a red herring, right?

Cause that's way too easy.

Her character, really, this episode, just, like, falls apart.

And, you know, like, you.

I think because Linda Cardinelli is so good and we all have a crush on her for the last 20 years, you want to not think that she's an idiot, but she was kind of a moron in this episode.

Right?

Like, even the way that she talks is so.

She always says, like, and stuff.

Or she.

Yeah.

What is she.

Every time she brings up the life insurance policy, she says.

What does she say?

There's, like, a phrase she just keeps.

Like, I think it would just make him, you know, feel so much better.

You know, like, it would make.

Yeah, it would make things better, but

there's some goofy phrase that she uses every time.

But, yeah, she's.

She's trying to say how worried he is, and.

Yeah, I don't.

I don't know that we're supposed to be particularly impressed by her unless, like, all those stories are being presented in a way to protect her.

Well, it just feels like a bunch of the stuff she's done has been kind of, like, incredibly.

As soon as someone starts poking at it, it's all gonna fall apart because she's.

She.

She's not a genius or.

It doesn't seem that way, at least based off of the end of this episode.

Right.

We'll see what twists and turns.

Well, then we got the open with her spending.

I did the math.

$8 and 42 cents a pop.

And she got four of them over 36.

And she.

She said no tip on the Last one.

So she definitely spent over $40 in that jump juice, huh?

And drank four go getters.

I bet her stomach hurt today.

I'm.

It made me think of something that happened to me today.

I'm watching my brother's dogs, and one of the dogs got upstairs and got into the cat food, and then I took him on a walk and he pooped three times.

So I bet she felt like that.

But she went home shortly after seducing Clark.

We have a good sense that Carol was seducing Clark in order to ask him for money and the life insurance.

Then the next piece we get is that maybe Floyd signs to Clark that he knows of the affair.

And I feel as though there might be a reveal that he's okay with it so he can get the life insurance money for them.

I mean, that is something that has been said online is like, episode three, Floyd emerges.

Like we said, he has been attained his sainthood.

And we're supposed to think that it is possible he is such a good guy that he goes to the pool and kills himself for the sake of the family.

That's what I was getting at.

Yeah.

And that was him on the recumbent bike.

There's no way.

Well, that's what I'm saying.

The show could be like.

Yeah, you've put it all together in episode three, because we're subverting the mystery and there's just more story to tell that has little to do with putting those pieces together.

You know, I don't know.

They.

They have seemed to, like, revel in.

In perspective shifts.

Yes.

Every episode.

So I would be really surprised.

And maybe I'm wrong, but I'd be really surprised they put it to bed this early.

Yeah.

You have to question the legitimacy of everything.

But if Floyd's hanging with his stepson in this episode's true, you know, he's an amazingly kind guy.

His line to the stepson towards the end where he says that he couldn't have kids, but he wanted to be important like that to someone.

It's heartbreaking to hear from him, but it's also.

That's where I was thinking about good writing and good dialogue.

Carol always ending sentences with and stuff.

And stuff.

This is good television writing, I think.

Good dialogue.

It would sound a lot different if written for, I think, a normal television series or movie.

But he said it in a plain, goofball sort of way that Floyd has been characterized thus far.

That it just fit was also sad.

Yeah.

No, I agree.

It's good writing, and I think that Adam, I agree.

Like, you brought up, like, her dialogue.

I think that's, like, really.

It's really hard to nail writing for someone who, like, is communicating in a way that.

That is a little, like, comical like that.

I think the Coen brothers are really good at this, where they have characters who.

They definitely kind of make fun of their characters, but their.

Their characters are internally consistent.

And so when they say something, you're like, yeah, that is the kind of dumb thing someone like, that would say.

And I think that's hard to do because if it's not done well, it just sounds really stupid.

Yeah.

All of the communication that happens in the.

The dream meetups or them talking around them has that feeling of, like.

Like when he became a robot in that.

It's like, you know, like, this is one.

This is.

Whatever.

We're not here to judge anybody's proclivities there.

But the.

I don't know, it exaggerated.

The way that they speak to each other is just so weird.

Yes.

Like, and I think that we've talked about that a little bit, that everything feels, like, kind of, like just a little bit off.

But then Floyd is so eloquent when he talks to.

Especially his stepson when he's trying to express himself.

I think, you know, we may think it's, like, sad, or he's conveying that he is.

We've used the word pathetic, and that's kind of cruel.

But, like, you know, still, he's able to kind of eloquently say to a teenager who he struggles to communicate with.

He outlines how he's feeling.

You know what I mean?

Well, I thought the opening scene of

the first episode was great.

That and the skate park scene are both so good, and he's shown to be able to do that.

But then you have these other adults that talk in this very strange way.

I'm assuming they're at the Kevin Klein pools in that scene with his stepson.

And when they slowly grow together, if you'll notice, the camera slowly puts them in a tighter frame.

It's really good direction, I thought.

You know, Floyd checks his app near the end of, I think, this entry as he's sitting in the gym thinking, I've got the timeline right, and he's got no messages.

A viewer could jump to the conclusion that Clark made a profile.

Not really to set him up, but to make him feel better.

Totally.

Could be.

You know, Floyd's so kind.

Will he have one more big Indiana Jones secret?

Because we're all on his side now.

Well, and we're also kind of on Clarks right to some degree that, like, there seems to be a line that he's taking a pretty hard line of like, this was a great guy and I would never do anything to hurt him.

I think he's choosing his words pretty carefully there.

But I do think he.

The respect as he's conveying all of this is real, you know what I mean?

And very well acted by Jason Bateman too.

I'm curious too, because this is almost like they're almost setting this up right now as like it's sort of a classic noir scenario, right?

Like, oh, it was, it was the femme fatale who did it.

So I'm curious to see where that will go because I don't think that is where they're gonna end up.

And I do, but I do think that, like leaving us kind of at the end of each episode, like unsure of where we stand in the, in the way that like Adam said, like, we are at least I am like kind of on Clark's side too.

Like I. I think it seems in this episode that he genuinely did not want to hurt Floyd or did it or wouldn't have.

So it's like, okay, what's going on?

And him saying I loved Floyd and not really bending to any of the definitions that the investigators put forth on that.

Yeah, yeah.

Was really interesting.

I also think the, you know, we, the stepson Blaine, we kind of laughed about him just being this dirt clawed, rock throwing teenager up until now.

And he, you know, he emerges from episode three a bit more fleshed out.

We hear him put together a few sentences and you learn more about him.

When Floyd's at the restaurant.

Floyd's at a restaurant to meet with.

Up with a hookup potentially, who obviously he's not interested in hooking up with because it's a dude and he's.

Our assumptions about him have been wrong into episode three.

But he's still can't help but talk about his family the whole time.

Yeah, the fishing vest.

So funny.

But so the stepson gets a little more fleshed out.

I think the other character that we're probably going to hear more from has to be the fourth party.

It has to be the wife.

The wife at this point, Clark's wife.

We've seen nothing of her steel almost, other than she doesn't answer the phone.

Yeah, there's no interiority to her yet in this show, whereas we're seeing, you know, which we've been given for everyone else.

So I assume I do know the

fourth episode's titled the Wife did it.

Yes.

Now it's titled the name of the insurance company.

I came away from this episode probably supposed to be thinking that Floyd may have sacrificed himself.

He poisoned the drink himself, Drank it.

The scratched out face is just regret of another thing that he did he didn't really want to do.

You know, one theory I read about the scratched out face.

That was pretty.

I don't think it's going to hold up, but it's pretty good.

Let's hear it.

The stepson did it.

Yeah, I've heard that.

Because he.

The stepson, he found him and didn't want anybody.

He.

Now he likes him.

He likes Floyd and he doesn't want anybody to know that that was Floyd.

Sure.

The episode ends with Floyd doing push ups as someone knocks.

You think that's gotta be Carol on the recumbent bicycle because no camera shows, I guess a car coming.

Unless we haven't found that footage yet.

If it's all true, do they have enough gas left in the tank to do four episodes?

But there's gotta be one more.

Like you guys say we're not even halfway there, right?

There could be no.

All sorts of information and perspectives.

Perspective is probably a better thing to say, the more information.

Yeah, that's.

I think it's been really good.

I am.

You are always a little bit afraid, or at least I am, that you'll see it go off the rails.

But I think in the first three episodes they've done a good job of constantly providing more context and perspective, like Adam said.

So you're reevaluating, you know, like they didn't lie to you, they gave you exactly what happened.

But it's really.

This point of view, it's really.

I think it's really cool.

It's been interesting to see it done because I do think that that kind of narrative unreliability is actually really hard to convey in TV and film.

Whereas, you know, I think it is.

It is really set for novel.

Books.

Really?

Novels.

Yeah.

So I think it's cool to see them attempting that and how they're doing.

I agree.

Was it telling that Carol's audiobook while she was running was saying, be selfish, get what you can.

Focus on yourself and not in a healthy way.

You know, there's been some.

The Modern love has a.

When he asks what his small business is, he runs a roller rink.

Is that right where he does.

He's a hypnotist on skates.

Oh, yes, you're right.

The stranger in the restaurant, right?

Yes.

And Floyd was married to a fortune teller, which doesn't really feel that far away from a hypnotist, kind of.

And then she's listening to the audiobook and it's like, what?

And she speaks in such weird ways.

This is the truly off the rails Reddit thing.

But, like, if there's all these nods to people being controlled in some way, like, what's going on there, huh?

Especially with her speaking in that strange way.

I wonder if they're gonna explain that any.

I doubt they'll do it blatantly, but.

Well.

And you notice too, that Modern love.

There's that.

That name, that handle.

And she also has her name.

Her name's not.

She didn't take Floyd's last name.

She's got the hyphen going on.

Yes, love.

Whatever.

Right?

Yeah, I think it's love.

Something like that.

Yes.

Yeah, that's what it is.

Something to keep an eye on his last name.

Yeah, I'll end here.

I love the subtext that there's a system that puts people in these situations.

You know, capitalism kind of.

Oh, I thought you were going to say horniness.

Horniness.

That system of.

Well, the human body system.

But capitalism.

Control or lack of control.

Central motif of definitely episode three, I thought our subtext, I should say, where these characters are under the thumb of someone or something.

And, you know, there's the.

The sex desires of Clark not wanting to be in control.

Part of the motif.

It was such a weird.

And he's the one who has been the most successful in the.

In the capitalistic, you know, sense.

Yeah.

All of that was strange.

And I don't know, the.

It would be tempting to say, like, oh, these.

These people are just doing their best.

But, like, Floyd has pretty.

Had a pretty hapless adult life.

Like, you know, if he was your friend, you'd be like, I love you.

But I. I see how you have put yourself in these situations.

You know what I mean?

It's not like he just went out and did a bunch of like, I'm gonna put my head down, do some honest.

It's like you married the fortune teller.

You, like, maybe tried to go.

What was the stockbroker thing?

It was something like finance related.

Like this guy just can't.

He's like a puppy.

They can't stay going in the same direction.

So it even undercuts that, but that maybe that's what Carol's trying to do is make it.

Yeah, I don't know.

We're getting all of that information from her.

I'll never lose the image of him doing the hip hop dance.

That was so good, you know, with my teenagers.

That was both the practice scene and on the stage.

Amazing.

The practicing especially.

It really, it really paid off that I thought that was really good.

What a great way to characterize him this week.

I thought the standout to continue that theme was him discussing the meetup while they're at the gym.

And Jason Bateman is like bench pressing while listening to him describe the ins and outs of accidentally meeting up with a dude and trying not to hurt his feelings.

And you just see his eyes the whole time are like, that's great.

And then they're doing the squat and he's not even like squatting that much weight, but he has that very careful spot going on.

It's great.

It's easy humor, but I'm there for it.

We finally see the penis curve.

Finally.

We've been waiting all season.

But how'd he get it?

She doesn't want to get into that.

I know, right?

And he didn't want to either.

Somehow I got on tv.

I. I do think kind of my last thought is actually going to be something just sparked off of Adam describing how funny that scene was.

Like, Jason Bateman and David Harbour are not an acting combination I would have put together in a zillion years.

But they're very funny.

They're really good together.

And if it feels like there's almost an element of surprise there just with the two actors, I've really enjoyed both of them.

And yeah, what Adam highlighted, like, hilarious.

Like they, they play so well together.

It is funny.

In the first episode that was more of a Streams meeting that I did not expect to co mingle those two actors.

And then by episode three, you're like totally buying that these dudes love each other as friends.

Yes.

So credit to the writing and the performances for sure.

We'll get into some more specifics of the other HBO show, which is Rooster.

We've got the character played by Danielle Deadweiker bringing in Russo, which.

That's.

That's Steve Carell's character for a reading.

Charlie Clive plays his daughter who also is a professor at the university.

She's got some tough personal issues.

John C. McKinley is the very loose dean.

I think Adam said he whose fucks ran out probably years ago.

Yeah.

By the way, second episode is titled Trousers that we're discussing.

Last week I mentioned the campus cop being a source of wonderful comedy and they.

One of the.

They pulled it off a little bit more.

So this week, one of the opening scenes exemplifies it to perfection.

He forgets his gun and then he continually forgets his gun.

That's a good bit.

But he picks it.

In that opening scene he picks it up and drums.

It is so well played.

They're easy to lose.

He says yes.

Then he says I probably forgot at the gun range.

Pretty good place to lose a gun.

Airtight logic.

Yeah.

Man.

When this show like has like the bits that hit.

Hit.

Yeah.

I think the writing's stronger than other Bill Lawrence shows as far as one liners.

The comedy things.

It's almost like Bill Lawrence is using a whole new room of riders because there's that line that there's an undeniable sexual energy in the room.

I thought this was Latin America.

President man is slowly.

Not maybe not slowly.

He is such an excellent character.

His ways of pointing out problems or even just his problems with.

With not understanding youth culture is so funny.

And it's quite wrong.

Most like putting a.

Putting in a smash burger does take away from the architectural beauty as well as make people fat.

Probably.

But she says inside thoughts.

I can't remember how she puts it.

Yeah, I. I accidentally called McGinley the.

The Dean.

But he's president man.

El presidente.

We also owe him an apology that I texted you shortly after we went off air last week recording.

But he's incinerating brown fat.

And I, I said and it is.

It's.

It's.

It's.

It's a thing.

It's a thing.

Who knew?

Not us.

Never heard of it.

Me either.

And.

But we do get the dean dropping by this week to piss on poetry and literary magazines.

He's played by Alan Ruck and that's him.

You got to think they're going to give him more to do.

Of course.

He's just in here this week to.

To tell Poet and professor.

We're going online with the literary magazine.

Kind of heartbreaking.

We talk about the publishing industry earlier.

I mean I see a little bit of his.

I did.

Is there any literary magazine in America that's not being run at a massive loss?

Because I would like to.

I would like to be informed of it.

Yeah.

They probably are all going online.

I bet that's a real thing.

I was curious if the girlfriend was going to keep the baby and that seems to.

She's going to keep the baby.

So that definitely tangles up some relationship things because we have Charlie.

That's her real name, I think.

Katie.

Katie.

Thank you.

It was almost to the point where she thought about Taking him back.

I think she goes to the house in episode one with the intent of, like, we could end this meeting with a path forward, not so much.

And then Sunny decides to keep the baby.

That's not gonna work.

I bring all this up to say that it's funny.

The one liners are great, but the relationships on this show are pretty good thus far because they're all kind of new, you know, they're all getting to know one another, except for Greg and his daughter Katie, and Katie and her ex or separated husband.

But she tells Steve Carell and toss him in the waters of, hey, try not to be awkward to these new people you don't really know.

And I think it's working just as a good as a show to hang out with President Man.

And Russo's relationship is maybe the most humorous.

There's something about McGinley's Deli.

It's just how he says things and like, you can tell that, like, he's a guy who's not going to change his mind about anything.

And having.

Yeah, he doesn't care.

And he's exactly.

Having Steve Carell's character, what's his face, Greg.

Having Greg around, around, that has actually been pretty.

There's some.

There's some comedy that has emerged from that.

Nino Blaine, you say that President Mann doesn't care and he doesn't seem to, but he had that great line.

This is why McGinley's so good and why he was so good as Dr. Cox and Scrubs is after he delivers the bad news to Dylan that there's not going to be a literary magazine anymore.

He said, I know you'll hate it.

No one will hate it worse than me.

I read it every year cover to cover.

And you.

You feel like suddenly there's like, oh, he gives a shit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you took it.

You took him.

To be honest there.

He really did read it.

I did, yeah.

Did you?

You thought, you thought he was being sarcastic.

No, not sarcastic.

I just didn't know if he was just saying it just to be.

I don't think that the rest of his demeanor is one where he feels like he needs to tell her that.

That's a good point.

That's about.

That's what I was gonna say.

Where it's like, this guy clearly says whatever he wants.

Yeah.

So why would he, you know, why would he be untruthful?

He wouldn't add it in if he didn't.

It's nice to see McGinn, Leon.

I haven't seen him On Anything but Scrubs for such a long time.

It's nice to see him in a role like this, too.

Good reminder of that.

He could be very funny.

Very funny.

I mean, if the show just boils down to a father trying to take care of his daughter, even though he's in midlife and she's very much grown woman, I feel like it could still work and still be good.

I've heard of worse premises for things.

Yeah.

You know, me too.

And a lot of the issues for almost all these characters is, like, cowardice in the face of life's big issues.

There feels almost like a little.

I wonder if they'll explore it more, but just the.

I'm not gonna know how to express this quite rightly, but, like, the way that we.

Like, we.

We love each other, but we still find it hard to live with each other like human beings.

And I think family member, you know, parents and children.

Yeah.

Spouses, you know, like, we love each other, but also, like, not overly dramatic.

Like, we hurt each other, and it's hard to figure out how to live with other people.

And even when Katie thinks she's sending her dad back to Florida in that scene, and he kind of half tells the truth and then jumps in the cab or whatever.

Yeah.

She says.

And they both kind of recognize, like, it was nice to see you.

But also, we both need our space, you know, to your point, Donovan.

And they even.

They don't fight at any point.

Point.

They're beyond, like, you're pushing me, and I would rather be mopey right now.

Yeah, I. I like that because I think that's, like, true.

I think it's true.

Like, it's.

We like other people.

We can even love other people, but, like, it's hard to live with other people.

Does Greg stealing the literal rooster for Katie work for you in.

In the kind of a dad will do anything for daughter kind of way

and in a campus hijinks kind of way.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

Why not?

And the other aspect I wanted to ask of both of you, does Greg Russo running over to beat Archie with a.

With a ladle seem in step with him, or is that a little too ridiculous?

I thought that worked.

I know we're only in episode two, so using the phrase this feels earned maybe a little early, but, you know, he has known that this dude did horrible things to his daughter, you know, for the entire time that we've known him.

And he has shown a lot of restraint.

Yeah.

You know, and even, like, tried to coach him through, like, here's you need to step up.

You need to be a whatever.

And so to finally see him be pushed to the level where the pure dad instinct of I'm just going to go kick that guy's ass comes in was pretty good.

It's funny seeing Steve Carell portray that.

Like, I think he did a good job.

It just makes me laugh.

Everything about that scene.

He's good where he has to stop to get the ladle or whatever.

You sure do forget your keys a lot.

Yeah, I guess.

So he goes upstairs and I don't know why pants humor is so funny to me.

But like him only having the one good pair of pants.

Trousers.

Trousers.

I think this may be from Arrested Development where Oscar only has the one good pair of pants and it's a recurring joke.

But when he tackles them and there's the reveal that he's doing the interview in his underwear, like, that was.

That was very funny to me.

Yeah.

I can't tell if they're trying to.

If if the rooster motif is too forced or if they're going somewhere with that.

His book is character is named Rooster.

Of course he steals the literal rooster as the campus prank is at the show's titled Rooster.

It's.

I don't know.

He's only.

We'll see.

We'll see.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Curious.

He's only five years removed from his divorce and his ex wife cheated on him.

So you wonder if that would become.

If that's going to come into play.

And her name is on one of the buildings there.

Yes.

Did they.

Have they explained why that is?

I guess she either donated money there.

Sure.

But they haven't really alluded to the fact that the wife was also involved at the school.

Right.

Not much.

Yeah.

I don't think they've gone into like, we know like people knew her, all that kind of stuff, but we.

I don't think they've gone into like, okay, here's who she is and what she did.

Right.

In the relate in the connection.

I mean, and it's not like the.

The daughter just ended up teaching at some random institution.

Like clearly there's kind of on the theme of like they always solved her problems for her, you know.

Right.

Right.

There Is that.

Mm.

Even more than what dads will do for daughters or parents will do for their kids.

This could be about what men do to compensate for what they feel like they don't or can't have or can't show.

Even the bumbling cop kind of fits that a little bit.

Donovan.

I asked Adam last week.

Are you familiar with Rory Scovel, the guy who plays the cop?

No, not at all.

Oh, his stand up's really good.

Okay, he made me laugh.

And I'll say it again, I said it last week.

But even if you only watch the first five to 10 minutes of his Netflix special, he only has one Netflix special and one HBO special.

Okay, the Netflix special, even if you only watch the first five or ten minutes, you will bust a gut.

I think that's it, though, for us.

Still.

Still digesting Rooster.

We need a little bit more there, and it seems as though DTF St. Louis is fleshing out in a very fascinating way.

That the tone of it's wild, but I think that's purposeful.

Yeah, agreed.

So that's it for us.

I'm appreciative of Adam and Donovan's time as well as yours.

I'm Blaine.

And for Adam and Donovan, we hope that you don't get caught on camera without pants.

Again, bad situation.

Or at least compensated if you are.

Yeah, right.