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Series stars Shin Mina, Ju Jihoon, Lee Jongsuk and Lee Seyoung announced during the press conference that the first four episodes of the upcoming Korean romantic epic will be released on Tuesday, November 3, exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu, one day early as was originally planned.

The early release is a thank you to fans for the support to the series, which has seen sold-out preview screenings at the recent Busan International Film Festival and the show’s trailer release flew beyond 13 million views in the first 48 hours on YouTube and social media platforms.

Here’s The Remarried Empress trailer with English subtitles:

From the Disney+ press release, “Based on the hit NAVER WEBTOON of the same name that’s amassed close to three billion views to date, The Remarried Empress follows the strained relationship between beloved Empress Navier and her husband Emperor Sovieshu of the Eastern Empire. With anxieties rising across the land, the couple’s relationship begins to fracture when Sovieshu falls in love with a runaway slave and attempts to move heaven and earth to win her heart. Unwilling to compromise her dignity, Navier acquiesces to the emperor’s request on one condition – that she be allowed to remarry rival Crown Prince Heinrey of the Western Kingdom. What follows is a tale of love, lust and regret that threatens the fate of an entire empire as Navier strives to reclaim her power.

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Starring Shin Mina (Karma, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha) as Empress Navier, Ju Jihoon (Light Shop, The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call) as Emperor Sovieshu, Lee Jongsuk (Big Mouth) as Crown Prince Heinrey and Lee Seyoung (The Red Sleeve, The Crowned Clown) as escaped-slave Rashta, The Remarried Empress has been adapted for the screen by Yeoh Geena and Hyun Choongyeol and is directed by Cho Suwon (Still 17, Pinocchio).

Set to debut with a four-episode premiere, fans can look forward to two new episodes of The Remarried Empress dropping every Wednesday from November 11 through the series finale on November 25, exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu.

Until next time…

Since I launched this showrunner conversation series, I’ve talked to drama showrunners Dave DiGilio of Prime Video’s The Terminal List and Rob Doherty from ABC’s RJ Decker.

But for this week’s episode, we head to the land of the broadcast network sitcom where NBC’s St. Denis Medical has been making us laugh for two seasons with the third premiering Monday.

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The mockumentary series is set at an underfunded Oregon hospital and follows the staff dealing with a myriad of patients coming in and out as well as the personal lives and relationships. St. Denis Medical is one of those sitcoms that is so easy to fall into and quickly fall in love with the characters who you’ll see tackle some fun, often hilarious medical cases.

The series stars Wendi McClendon-Covey as overly ambitious administrator Joyce Henderson, Allison Tolman as caring supervising nurse Alex Mazurkian, Josh Lawson as egocentric surgeon Bruce Schweitz, Kahyun Kim as sharp-tongued nurse Serena Jung, Mekki Leeper as nurse Matt Pearson, Kaliko Kauahi as sardonic nurse administrator Val Kealani and David Alan Grier as curmudgeonly emergency doctor Ron Leonard. Supporting cast members who also shine are Dan Leahy as snappy nurse Brandon, David Theune as earnest patient tech Keith and Jonathan Slavin as surly nurse Parker.

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During my chat with Ledgin, we touched on how his late night talk show writing gig helped lead him to the sitcom world, advice he’d give a first time showrunner and why the mockumentary format was the best way to go when he co-created St Denis Medical with Justin Spitzer. He also talked about the upcoming guest appearances like Damon Wayans and Jimmy Smits. Here’s the video of our chat:

OR if you’d rather read the interview in a lightly edited Q&A format, I’ve got you covered there, too:

I normally talk to showrunners of dramas [in this series] for some reason and Eric Ledgin, you’re my first showrunner of a sitcom, which I’m excited to see what the differences might be and just that whole world.

Eric Ledgin: If it helps, we got a lot of drama behind the scenes.

That’s always good to know. Eric is the co-creator and showrunner of St. Dennis Medical, which is one of my favorite sitcoms and I’ll just say the season 3 episodes are so much fun. I want to ask you a question, first of all, just about showrunning. Think back to like earlier in your career when you maybe were just figuring out what a showrunner does way before you were actually doing it. What was your initial impressions of what a showrunner did?

That’s a good question. I think early on I was only seeing the good parts, like, ‘oh, you get to make the final decisions and do casting’ and just see your creative vision come to fruition. And I wasn’t thinking about like the million tiny decisions and emails. And every time there’s a fire that you have to put out and that this story is not working, it’s plaguing you in the middle of the night. I didn’t think about all of that stuff. I will say I worked my way up the ladder enough that as I got closer, I saw that it was a lot harder than maybe I thought so that helped.

You cut your teeth in the talk show genre, correct? Because I saw like Jimmy Fallon and Pete Holmes and What was that experience like and how did it prep you for the sitcom world? I feel like they’re adjacent but there are also differences as well.

I really thought it was extremely helpful to start in that world because first of all, you’re in front of a live audience. I worked for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon for a few years and you do a rehearsal and a live taping every day and you get to see that all these things that you think are so quirky and funny don’t resonate with people all the time. And you figure out what does, and you try to find the happy medium of jokes that you love to write that also work.

I got that a little bit from stand-up, too, but there was no replacement for just having to write so many proper jokes every day for late night. It was a great kind of, like, school for me. And you just meet a ton of funny people that I end up working with later. So that was a pretty huge part of my, like, the arc of my career.

I’m guessing you had to do writing on the fly when during rehearsal a joke doesn’t land. I’ve been to sitcom tapings where you see all the writers huddled and they’re all frantically trying to come up with something else.

Yeah, there are days when you do a rehearsal and you’ve got a couple hours left before you have to lock the monologue for taping. You do the rehearsal, it kind of bombs, and Jimmy very kindly goes, ‘alright, we got a little more writing to do.’ And then you just all scurry to your offices and just grind stuff out and you do your best. And it’s like there’s something about that pressure that is actually very enlivening. And sometimes it sucks, but it’s usually very exciting and fun.

Was moving into the sitcom world, is it just kind of a natural progression? Or was it something you had your eye on while you were at Jimmy Fallon?

Yeah, I had my eye on it. I really enjoyed my time in late night but I really wanted to do these longer narrative stories. I sold a pilot to IFC that was a half-hour dramedy. When I left Fallon, I had met my now wife and moved to L.A. and then made that pilot for IFC. It didn’t end up going to series but an executive told me to just get in rooms and work your way up the ladder. I did network shows, I did FX comedy, HBO dramedy. I did a little of everything and tried different shows and showrunners and just got as much experience as I could.

St. Denis is your first actual created show, correct? With Justin?

Yeah.

Tell me about that process and the mockumentary format. Is that what you guys wanted to do, or did you play around with different ways to tackle this?

I had such a great working relationship with Justin from Superstore and then American Auto. And it just felt like running downhill to create something with him. I brought this idea of a medical comedy to him with a couple of the characters in mind and what I wanted the tone to be like but it was not necessarily gonna be a mockumentary from day one.

We have conflicting memories of who pitched it, both in the opposite, not that we want credit. We both blame the other person or credit the other person. But that did do something for me, which I wanted it to be as real feeling as possible. And the mockumentary format was a very quick, easy way to signal that we are trying to show what it’s actually like in one of these spaces. Because that was what was so appealing to me about the show, was that emergency rooms, they’re not all like The Pitt. A lot of them in these smaller markets are more laid back. You’re treating people from their community. They’re joking around with you. It’s a vibe. It’s not always intensely crazy all the time.

Remind me, where’s the show set again?

It’s set in semi-rural Oregon, a fictional town called Merrick that is like a proper town. It’s not like the sticks; there’s a college nearby and there’s a lot of outdoor activities nearby. So, they get a lot of fishhooks to the cheek and stuff like that.

Was there a specific reason why you picked that part of the country? Do you have a connection to it, or do you just think it sounded good?

I think it’s like a beautiful, overlooked state. I actually met on vacation this nurse named Alex who was from Oregon and it was a little bit of a nod to her, even just setting it there. But I also felt like Oregon is one of those places people aren’t as familiar with and so it just felt like you could create a little bit of an Anytown, USA while still adding some local flair and a feel like you’re not in a big city at all. And that was like more of a vibe I was looking for.

And how was your first experience showrunning in the first season?

It’s been a ride, man. The first season I ended up in the actual emergency room for something that felt like it might have been stress-induced. That was during the week of upfronts, which was interesting. Also, my third son was born the night before our second table read of our first season so a lot was happening. But at the same time, it’s been awesome. I feel like I’ve been set up for success. I have an incredible crew and cast. I got to hire some of my favorite writers that I’ve worked with in the past to fill out this writers’ room. And, I think, honestly, season 3, I’m starting to feel on top of it more. I don’t think I was blowing it [before]. I just think I was not feeling super on top of it in the way that I do now.

I’ve been asking all the showrunners I’ve talked with, what’s your advice for somebody who’s just stepping into that job for the first time and run their first show?

I mean, my advice would be you’re fucked. [laughs] But I think there’d be a lesson behind that advice, which is don’t try and get out of it. Try to remember that you’re supposed to enjoy this and just don’t make other plans. Also, okay, here’s a real answer of advice that I would give myself if I were just starting, which is like, there’s a lot on you and with that comes the responsibility of you have to be on top of all of it. And it doesn’t mean you have to control everything but it does mean you have to pick and choose the things that you really care about. And be really on top of it. And don’t be shy about executing your vision because that’s ultimately what the job is.

How you prepare for season three of St. Denis. I know when I’m talking to drama showrunners, a lot of times they have these big arcs and things they want to do. Is it pretty much the same for you?

My guess is that I’m probably doing like 5% to 10% of the arcing that a drama might do, maybe a little more than that, because it’s ultimately an episodic sitcom. It’s lightly serialized. I don’t want to come into the season with nothing. I want to come in and tell the writers, ‘hey, I have a plan. Here are the things I’m really interested in doing with these characters. Here are a few moments that I think the character’s story can take a little turn in a really fun way.’ But I want to leave a ton of room for us to just explore in the writers’ room what makes us laugh, what is going to make the audience laugh. That’s the thing about the difference between a comedy, right? You got to chase what’s funniest and I don’t know always what’s funniest sitting alone in between seasons thinking about the next one. I think I have a few ideas that I believe in that I think are really fun, but I rely on the room to really bring it all to life.

With season 2, you did end with a couple mini cliffhangers, which you pick up with in season 3. Ron, of course, was going into bypass surgery but I’ve seen David Alan Grier in the promos so I know he made it through.

He did make it through.

Can you talk about how was that journey for him being the curmudgeon of the group? I love a curmudgeon.

Yeah, that was something that we definitely wanted to follow up on. And that’s one thing about going into a season three as opposed to the first season is that you do have seeds that you planted in the end of last season to follow up on. For Ron, it’s really thinking logically about what is that like for that character that’s really gone through something and he’s now in a recovery phase where maybe he’s questioning some things or looking at things differently than the way he looked at them before in terms of his work and his role on this planet.

But then there’s also just some funny stuff like, ‘what is it like that the Ron we know is now trying to go vegan?’ There are certain things you got to do to get healthy that aren’t necessarily Ron-friendly with his personality. And similarly with Matt and Serena, we watched them fall into this place together where they seem to be on board with pursuing a relationship. And that’s easy to say but then to actually start exploring that relationship as two people that have very different backgrounds, very different personalities and happen to work in an intense place together creates a lot of complications in itself.

I love the Alex character because I love Allison Tolman and of course I was curious how she would react with Ron not being around so much. And then you bring in Damon Wayans, who’s in the first episode and so much fun but they don’t necessarily click maybe the same. First, with Damon, did the character come first or did you shape it around him?

It kind of went both ways. We had this idea for a character that was very unlike Ron. Ron feels to me like very just like what you see is what you get. He’s real with you. You know you’re getting the real deal every time and we wanted a character that was more aspirationally dramatic and there are a lot of ways to play that. Damon is so funny and unique and when he came in, he brought something that was a little extra and a little different that was very fun to play with, where he could be very condescending at times and talk to Alex like she was a little kid. It just felt fun to lean into that when we were shooting it and give her all the more reason to just need Ron back.

You have some other guest stars coming this season, which all sound really fun. I don’t think I’ve seen those episodes yet, but like Tony Hawk and Jimmy Smits.

There’s a character that comes in with a skateboard injury that’s really bad at skateboarding. It just felt like it would be fun to have Tony Hawk play that character. What’s fun this year that’s a little different than past years is that we have some big guest stars coming in and they’re in multiple episodes and have their own little arcs.

Jimmy Smits is involved in the show in a big way. And I just love him in this show. He’s got a lot of scenes with Wendi McLendon-Covey, and they have just a great energy between them. It’s very, very funny. Martha Kelly, who I think is so unique and special. We were like, ‘we want a person who’s a Martha Kelly type.’ And we got Martha Kelly. And it was the same with Jimmy Smith. Then there’s people like Damon Wayans where we were like, ‘what if we could get Damon Wayans and David to reunite?’ And then it was like, ‘yes, we can.’ I described it earlier to someone as like third season energy. I think we’ve hopefully gotten the reputation as like a fun place to come shoot something for a week or two or three and be part of our cast for a little while and that’s making things more fun and easier.

Joyce could use some loving in her life and I know Ron said something as he was going under in the finale [he groggily said “where’s my Joyce”] and I feel like it was maybe a tip at something. Is that something to come? I’m also curious if Jimmy Smits is going to maybe be a little romantic thing for Joyce.

Yeah, a big thing going in this year is I didn’t want to just repeat ourselves with ‘Joyce is worried about another big hospital reinvention’ or whatever. It felt like the way I think I pitched it was like Joyce’s project this year is Joyce. She deserves to be treated with the same care as she treats the hospital. So, there’s a lot of dating woes for her. It’s not something that she’s naturally very good at and I think we all kind of know that person in our life, probably. And she’s both unlucky but also not good at it so we wanted this year for her to have a little bit of luck and maybe get a little bit of swagger at some point. It felt like she deserves that.

And without giving away too much, I think that Javier, played by Jimmy, presents a little bit of that opportunity. That said, we’re following up on the Ron comment. It wasn’t just a one-off joke. I will leave that for people to see how we play that out. I’m not looking to just pair up all of our cast members. I don’t think that’s natural or interesting necessarily. But I do think that there is something in their chemistry that suggests that it would have occurred to them to have a romance, at least at some point. And we’re just trying to be true to that.

Where are your (medical) cases coming from? Because there’s a good case, I think it’s the 2nd episode, with the turtle. Do you guys have a consultant or are you just researching weird medical cases?

It’s a little of everything. There’s like tons of fun and weird medical cases online, some I hear from friends or my own experience. A couple of the cases have been things that happened to me or a friend of mine or one of our writers. There are medical memoirs that you pick up little things from. I get a lot of Oregon-related and health-related news blasted to my algorithm. There was a thing that I got about a person getting the plague from a cat in Oregon, and that ended up being our plague cat episode in season one. The second you hear something that just has that little fun twist to it or just something interesting about it. You know, a guy wants to get a kidney from his brother, but he’s not sure he wants to accept it. And then once they’re a match, the brother who’s donating is not sure he wants to give it. Whatever that little twist is that makes you go, ‘oh yeah, that’s going to be a good story for this show.’

St Denis Medical airs Mondays on NBC, next day on Peacock.

Until next time….

Since I launched this showrunner conversation series, I’ve talked to drama showrunners Dave DiGilio of Prime Video’s The Terminal List and Rob Doherty from ABC’s RJ Decker.

But for this week’s episode, we head to the land of the broadcast network sitcom where NBC’s St. Denis Medical has been making us laugh for two seasons with the third premiering Monday.

Subscribe now

The mockumentary series is set at an underfunded Oregon hospital and follows the staff dealing with a myriad of patients coming in and out as well as the personal lives and relationships. St. Denis Medical is one of those sitcoms that is so easy to fall into and quickly fall in love with the characters who you’ll see tackle some fun, often hilarious medical cases.

The series stars Wendi McClendon-Covey as overly ambitious administrator Joyce Henderson, Allison Tolman as caring supervising nurse Alex Mazurkian, Josh Lawson as egocentric surgeon Bruce Schweitz, Kahyun Kim as sharp-tongued nurse Serena Jung, Mekki Leeper as nurse Matt Pearson, Kaliko Kauahi as sardonic nurse administrator Val Kealani and David Alan Grier as curmudgeonly emergency doctor Ron Leonard. Supporting cast members who also shine are Dan Leahy as snappy nurse Brandon, David Theune as patient tech Keith and Jonathan Slavin as surly nurse Parker.

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During my chat with Ledgin, we touched on how his talk show writing gig helped lead him to the sitcom world, advice he’d give a first time showrunner and why the mockumentary format was the best way to go when he co-created St Denis Medical with Justin Spitzer. He also talked about the upcoming guest appearances like Damon Wayans and Jimmy Smits.

Listen to the interview above and please be sure to SUBSCRIBE and LIKE so you don’t miss any future posts.

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Acting prowess aside, which we saw play out in his myriad of film and TV roles both big (The X-Men franchise, Star Trek: The Next Generation) and not so big (Jeffery, the short lived Starz comedy, Blunt Talk), the few times I interviewed him he was charming and clearly seemed to love what he was doing.

Sadly, sometimes interviews disappear from the internet because sites close down or lose their archives and I know I had a very fun chat with him that was filmed to promote the 2015-16 comedy series Blunt Talk but I haven’t been able to locate it. If it shows up, I will definitely share it. The series was fun, not exactly what you’d call a classic but Stewart showed the same excitement talking about it as he did talking about playing Jean-Luc Picard again, as you’ll see at this 2019 San Diego Comic Con interview, which I thought I would share here. Enjoy!

RIP Sir Patrick Stewart. You will be missed.

Until next time…

If you’re a TV viewer of a certain age, you remember very well the epic TV miniseries that would take over your television for several nights or sometimes a full week. Typically, a miniseries would be a book adaptation of epic proportions like Alex Hailey’s Roots, Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds or Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War. Also among those is also a three-episode adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, which starred a then-up-and-comer named Jane Seymour as well as Timothy Bottoms, Bruce Boxleitner, Soon Tek-Oh and Lloyd Bridges.

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I don’t remember watching that particular East of Eden series (I was 14-years old at the time so I was probably glued to a new prime time soap called Dynasty as well as Dallas and Knots Landing…yeah, I loved my prime time soaps!) but when I heard a new version was coming to Netflix written by Zoe Kazan (whose grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 film version starring James Dean and Julie Harris, which I also have never seen), I was intrigued to dive into this acclaimed book and finally find out why this story is being retold.

The cast is also beyond impressive with Florence Pugh taking on the role of Cathy, Christopher Abbott as Adam Trask, Mike Faist as Charles Trask, Joseph Zada as Cal Trask, Joe Anders as Aron Trask, Martha Plimpton as Faye and Hoon Lee as Lee, who works for the Trask family but ends up being a vital part of the family.

This new version, spread across seven episodes, is a beautiful telling of Steinbeck’s tale of the Trask family, how Cathy comes into it and the after effects of the many relationships complicatedly woven together over many years. But it’s also about so much more like the conscious choices we make towards good and evil and living in truth, painful as it may be.

And we see even more in the Lee character, who is Asian-American but at the turn of the 20th Century when the story is set, he’s still seen as an outsider to the point that when we first meet him he speaks with a forced Chinese accent because it’s what is expected of him and it’s the only way others understand him despite his being educated, intelligent and with a solid moral ground. Played by Hoon Lee, Lee is the heart of the series and I knew I had to talk to the actor bringing him to life.

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As you’ll read at the top of the interview, I’ve been talking to Lee for various projects since 2013 when I was writing for several LGBTQ sites and, similiar to his East of Eden character, I knew I had to talk to him about his Banshee character, Job, a gay computer hacker who defied stereotypes by also being able to hold his own against many of the baddies in the show’s universe while wearing makeup and women’s clothing. Banshee was also co-created by Jonathan Tropper, who would end up hiring Lee again and again in his other series Warrior, See and the current Your Friends and Neighbors on AppleTV. Lee has always been an actor who doesn’t just play a role but he gets inside of each of them and is also a pleasure to chat with about all that each role entails.

But earlier this month, it was East of Eden that was the point of my conversation with Lee, though, as you’ll see, we touched on his career overall, which also includes playing the King of Siam in Broadway’s The King and I and he even turned the tables somewhat by asking me a question about my East of Eden thoughts.

The video of our chat, which inclused some clips from the show, is below as is the transcript in case you’d prefer to read our conversation. There’s also a podcast version you can listen to here if that’s more your jam. Either way, you’ll see we had a terrific talk and Lee, as in the series and in real lfie, does not disappoint.

Here’s the transcript of this chat, lightly edited for clarity.

I was doing some research on the internet today and I saw our first chat was in March of 2013.

Hoon Lee: Oh my God.

For Banshee. I think the first season was probably around then, right?

Yeah, we were both teenagers.

We were babies!

And now look at us here at 32. [both laugh]

I was so excited when I first heard you were cast in East of Eden and then I was chomping at the bit just to watch it. I think like a lot of people, I wasn’t that familiar with it. I had never seen the original film and even though I was an English major, I never had to read it.

I always think about a career has tentpoles of projects or things that happen. This is definitely one of those for you. What has it brought for you as an actor, even the reception of it, because it’s still very buzzy even though it’s been out a little bit.

I think the things that I’ll take away from it the most are the things that I try to take away from any job, which is the people involved and getting the opportunity to work in an area of the world like New Zealand. You encounter crews that you may not encounter easily. The crews are the ones that are always hewing these shows out of the wood and it’s just such a wonderful infrastructure there. So, meeting them, meeting the cast, becoming friends with them, too, which is not always a given either, those end up being the things you take away the most.

When you have a text and an original source material that you feel you have a responsibility to, that’s a particular kind of pressure, but it’s a particular kind of privilege. And I’ve felt that both with the book and Steinbeck’s legacy, but also with Lee, because he’s such a beautiful character that speaks directly to the Asian American experience. And being an Asian American actor, you’re often in this middle zone where you are speaking towards the experience of feeling othered maybe, but that’s because you are actually othered, like you’ve othered, right? In the sense that you come from China or you come from Korea, et cetera. So, his experience as an American-born Asian American person still feels so direct and still feels so salient.

That was really important to me and I knew it would be important to a lot of other people. You get an interesting challenge there. It’s a feeling of wanting to honor that and the other part of it is actually kind of funny. I’ve been lucky enough to do a number of projects that are witty and they’re pulpy and they’re heightened worlds and I love that. That’s a large part of me growing up as a fan of comic books and genre, etc. It was interesting to do something where I knew we were going to be unapologetically sentimental at points or melodramatic at points or earnest at points because that’s the book.

And to move away strongly from that would completely alter the voice of the book. Steinbeck is very witty and very free and quite wild, which is one of the aspects of the book that I like the most. But he’s not tiptoeing away from the deepest, darkest themes that we carry as holders of story. And that isn’t an opportunity one is always afforded, and it can backfire badly, really badly. I’m naturally a bit suspicious of that but I enjoyed just being sort of able to go for it in that way.

Did you do any research in just Steinbeck’s writing of the book? Because I wish he was around so we could ask him, the choices he made, because he could have made Lee a stereotype or used whatever tropes were out there. But instead, he makes him the most morally centered of the group, of everybody, and also so intelligent. And it’s surprising, especially coming from a book that was written in…I guess he was probably writing late ‘40s, early ‘50s.

Like ‘52, ‘53? [Steinbeck’s East of Eden novel was published in September, 1952]

Did you come across anything to give insight into what he was maybe thinking?

Yeah, there’s a book published of his letters to his editor, Pat [Covici]. And he would begin his writing days a lot of the times with a letter to his editor. It was also an interesting insight to his process. You know, they were obviously very close. He obviously trusted him enormously. But the idea of almost, you know, gearing up for battle with a letter to your friend, I thought was— there was something quite beautiful about that. And he would be thinking about what the day’s labor would be.

And he’d be thinking about where he might be going. He wrote longhand, I think, in these large books. You hear a lot about how he’s thinking, and most importantly also how his thinking changes over the course of writing, because he’s sort of going from A to Z. And so, the evolution is in a more linear fashion than one might anticipate. To see that documented is fascinating. I’ve never investigated it too deeply, but I can’t recall a lot of insight that way. I mean, Zoe, one of the things I admire most about her stand on this is that she interpreted the book a particular way through her lens, and she set out to make that version. There’s support for everything. I can’t imagine anyone knows the book or the supplemental materials better than Zoe at this stage. I mean, I’d put her up against any professor or scholar.

In articles or reviews, when people have talked about her altering the book, I would say there are objective alterations if you’re looking at specific settings or things like that. That happens with any translation into film and TV. But I think people would be really quite surprised at all the justification in the text that exists for almost every choice she makes. It’s a large book. It’s like 600 to 800 pages depending on the edition. And the idea that we somehow have our fingers on every bit of text so that we could make the call about the accuracies is kind of nuts.

I want to see a reinterpretation. You know, I just finished watching the Carrie series on Prime Video and I love what they’ve done because they modernized it. Social media is a part of it, all that and I appreciate that. I don’t need it to be the same movie I saw 50 years ago. Or the same as the book. I like that. I’m always open to that.

Zoe and I were talking about this recently during some of the press stuff, and when you read a novel, the reader is creating the entire universe. The way everything looks and smells and feels, they’re translating it from the author’s intent. And therefore, for every single person that reads a book, there’s a different version. The idea of trying to create some sort of catch-all version that somehow is satisfying to everybody, that’s impossible.

I want to ask you about your audition scene, which I know from watching a lot of the social media that was out there. But I rewatched that scene with Lee and Hamilton (Ciaran Hinds) when he first explains about why he talks the way he does and the pidgin and the code switching and all that. I wanted to know, why does he trust Hamilton in that moment to even let that veil down a little bit?

My reading on it actually harkens back to something else that’s in the series when it’s almost a mirror to when Charles (Mike Faist) speaks to Cathy (Florence Pugh) when he’s harvesting tobacco leaves, and he says, kind recognizes kind. I think there’s something to that. There’s something to the idea that Lee recognizes perhaps something in Samuel, in his care of Adam (Christopher Abbott), in his recognition even of Cathy, that they both seem to see her. That there’s an extension from Samuel’s side to investigate the personhood of Lee, which is, as he himself says, he’s partially assumed this affect for its invisibility, for its ease of interaction. So, for someone to sort of scratch at it, I think that in and of itself is meaningful.

So, you couple that with the idea that Lee, on many levels, particularly at that point, is a deeply lonely man, and it made it quite a beautiful moment for me because it’s also partly a confrontation, that their friendship is forged in some of the pricklier aspects of revealing the truth to a person.

I’ve said this so many times in these interviews, the amount of luck that came my way in the scene partners I had, Ciaran and Chris and Joe Zada (adult Cal), just unbelievable scene partners, so giving, and they want the best thing for your character. They’re very confident, generous because of that confidence. I feel like if people have been responding to the character of Lee, it’s at least partially their fault. Most of the fault is Zoe’s, but it’s at least partially their fault, as it is in any collaboration.

I won’t use the word favorite, but is there a piece of dialogue that just stands out? Maybe it’s the scene we just talked about, but— or is there something else? Because I know as I was watching, I, I ended up watching a lot of this with the subtitles on because I really wanted to kind of read the script as I was watching it. I was just really constantly blown away by all the characters having these very profound things they were saying. And does anything stand out to you as, as just something that hit you maybe a little harder or differently?

I come back to this one a lot. When Lee is using the story of his birth to try to reach Adam. He says there’s a beauty in the truth, even if it is a dreadful beauty. To me, that in and of itself feels truthful. And we are living in a time where the truth is not trusted, and partially because we are naturally and understandably shaken by the prospect of confronting the ugliness of ourselves, our history, the way we treat each other, the way we treat others.

We’re all very happy to point that out when it’s at arm’s length about other people, but to see it about yourself, which is the larger point of that scene, is for Lee to illustrate through his own experience, a different way to understand that in withholding the truth from his boys, he’s also withholding the beauty that truth affords them, which is a sort of recognition, self-realization, a knowledge of their own history, a clarity that comes from comprehension of your origin and who you are and what you are. If the central thematic of the book centers around the concept of human choice and that we choose our natures, or that we have at least the ability to try to do that day after day, that it’s an evolving thing, then one wonders how you can make a move in that direction without having a firm foundation of understanding.

It’s really heartbreaking at the moment where Lee leaves the family to kind follow his own dream and go back. I watched those scenes again, too, and they’re hard to watch in a lot of ways because we’re really seeing what this world is that he thought he could get back into, and doors shut in his face. First of all, it’s great to see you working with Perry [Yung, Lee’s co-star in the Warrior series] again.

Oh my God, such a treat. When I found out he was cast, I was over the moon.

Talk about that moment in the story because I was worried that it would send Lee down a darker path. and we may lose him in the story. I didn’t know where the story was going. You were talking about clarity and in some ways, it gives him some clarity, doesn’t it? About where he should be, or at least where he’s accepted and where he’s loved. Is that how you see it?

Yeah, and a couple times in the book, but in our story as well, Lee calls himself a coward. That’s a thematic as well and I thought about it quite a bit because his situation is such that there’s a lot of justification for being a coward. There’s a lot of excuses, there’s a lot of places to hide. And, actually, Sam Hamilton, even says, ‘I’d like a hidey-hole like that,’ when he talks about Lee’s affect. And there’s a way to look at that as something not only that he wrestles with in his life, but that he believes about himself is also an issue.

I think in many ways, going to San Francisco, which by the way, that section is not in the novel, that’s original material that was developed by Zoe and Alexander Chee, and it’s part of that larger pursuit that Zoe had for focusing on the humanity that is explicitly detailed in the book and realizing that if it’s really going to be a universal thematic in the book, then it needs to be universal. And so, when he comes back, if you don’t understand, if you don’t see necessarily what happens in San Francisco, then you are leaving it to the reader to fill in that gap. And that can be very, very powerful. That’s something that’s very powerful in the book, for example. But you also kind of say, ‘okay, well, the person responsible for this story has decided that what she imagined was going on is going to be what she puts in front of us to think about.’

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you were doing a lot of the press for East of Eden while you were still shooting Your Friends and Neighbors season 3?

Oh, the way my schedule worked out, they fortunately dovetailed more than that. My attention wasn’t completely split, which is great because I saw that might be coming and I was like, ‘alright, this could be an issue.’

And of course, Barney [in Your Friends and Neighbors] is a very different character than Lee, and the roles are so different. I was just curious if you had to feel a little schizophrenic dealing with both worlds.

No, I mean, if I were shooting them at the same time, maybe. There was quite a bit of a lag between when we stopped shooting East of Eden and when it came out. I think it was like 14, 18 months or something. It was crazy. It’s a long time. I’ve always heard about these actors that were doing two Broadway shows at the same time. A part of me is always like, ‘oh, that’d be an interesting challenge.’

Speaking of Broadway, I wanted to bring this up because one of the, one of the joys of, of seeing Broadway shows was being able to see you in The King and I.

Oh, thank you.

Probably 10 years ago. Has it been 10 years now? [Lee played the King on Broadway from September, 2015 through March, 2016.]

It’s probably been a while. Oh yes, we were 18.

I know! Do you feel a calling to get back on the stage for either something like that or a play or anything? Is that in your view for like where you’d like to see yourself in the next few years?

I definitely would. Interesting thing about East of Eden was there were many aspects of it that reminded me a lot of theater. And one of those things I’d spoken to earlier in our chat, which is there’s a permission that I feel in theater. I don’t want to overstate this, but it’s almost like we’re all in agreement about the importance of certain things that we’re doing. And I think sometimes it’s easy to cast a knowing and cynical eye at certain things.

For example, when people don’t or haven’t tried meditation or haven’t stuck with meditation, I think it’s easy to wave it away as something that’s not interesting to you or valuable to you. I don’t personally meditate a ton, but I recognize that for the people that do it, it’s very important, and the effects are very real. Sometimes I feel that way about the arts. I don’t know, almost like we’re embarrassed to believe certain things about the power of art and therefore we back off the language of it. We don’t call it out for what I think it is, which is the essential practice of our humanity, arguably the most important thing that humans can do.

But there’s something very refreshing about going into an environment where everyone is a true believer and allowing yourself to go to those places. And theater is one of those places where it’s a given, I think. It’s much more rare to find someone, because there’s no financial incentive most of the time, you don’t find a lot of people that are just doing it for the job. You find a lot of people that believe in the mission, if that makes sense. That’s a lovely environment to be in.

I’ve been fortunate to have that in almost every television job I’ve ever had. But yeah, that belief is often extended and shared with the live audience. That participation from the audience is really the lifeblood of what the theatrical experience can be and the way that it can generate an energy of its own that is unique to the medium. I do miss that. I would like to get back to that.

Well, I feel fortunate to have been able to talk to you about so many of the projects that you’ve been doing in your career. I’m so glad we got to talk about East of Eden because it was really special to watch this as a viewer.

Well, Jim, actually, I need to ask you a question. So, you had asked me the question of one of the things that had stuck with me. I’d like to know what stuck with you. I feel like I can ask you this since we know each other a little bit.

I was also rewatching some of Florence’s scenes from the last episode, where she’s slowly going mad and she’s seeing Mike Faist’s character and…

Charles, yeah.

It’s the trajectory of her character I found really fascinating, as I did all the characters. But hers, because you don’t get a big sense of what her background is. You get little pieces that if you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss them. I picked up that she was abused and she had all these things that happened to her but when she’s going mad, I actually felt sorry for her. And she’s such a villain for the most part, but you do see that there’s a human there, maybe buried very deep under all of that.

Rewatching some of those scenes today where you see her losing everything, Florence did such a great job in those scenes. I was surprised I would feel for her because the stuff that she does, you really should just hate her and want to see her demise, but you don’t, especially once she interacts with the boys. It’s a very nice, layered thing. So, I would say that stuck with me. I was rewatching it and it reminded me that’s how I felt the first time I watched it. I really didn’t want her to go mad. I wanted her to find some happiness. I don’t know if she ever does, really.

That’s such a great answer because Florence is incandescent in this show. She’s just unbelievable. And it’s so nice to be able to say that with full-throated support because she was an amazing leader as well as an executive producer and as our lead on the show, to kind of sail behind that flagship is quite something.

But also, what you just articulated to me is not only at the heart of Steinbeck’s writing, but also the heart of Zoe’s interpretation. If you want someone to be a monster, if you want someone to be inhuman, it absolves you of the responsibility of claiming bad behaviors as human, as something we are all capable of. I think that it’s very meaningful that people come away understanding Cathy in a different sense because it’s a step closer to that dreadful beauty that we have to confront in ourselves.

_________________

Until next time……

If you’re a TV viewer of a certain age, you remember very well the epic TV miniseries that would take over your television for several nights or sometimes a full week. Typically, a miniseries would be a book adaptation of epic proportions like Alex Hailey’s Roots, Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds or Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War. Also among those is also a three-episode adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, which starred a then-up-and-comer named Jane Seymour as well as Timothy Bottoms, Bruce Boxleitner, Soon Tek-Oh and Lloyd Bridges.

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I don’t remember watching that particular East of Eden series (I was 14-years old at the time so I was probably glued to a new prime time soap called Dynasty as well as Dallas and Knots Landing…yeah, I loved my prime time soaps!) but when I heard a new version was coming to Netflix written by Zoe Kazan (whose grandfather Elia Kazan directed the 1955 film version starring James Dean and Julie Harris, which I also have never seen), I was intrigued to dive into this acclaimed book and finally find out why this story is being retold.

The cast is also beyond impressive with Florence Pugh taking on the role of Cathy, Christopher Abbott as Adam Trask, Mike Faist as Charles Trask, Joseph Zada as Cal Trask, Joe Anders as Aron Trask, Martha Plimpton as Faye and Hoon Lee as Lee, who works for the Trask family but ends up being a vital part of the family.

This new version, spread across seven episodes, is a beautiful telling of Steinbeck’s tale of the Trask family, how Cathy comes into it and the after effects of the many relationships complicatedly woven together over many years. But it’s also about so much more like the conscious choices we make towards good and evil and living in truth, painful as it may be.

And we see even more in the Lee character, who is Asian-American but at the turn of the 20th Century when the story is set, he’s still seen as an outsider to the point that when we first meet him he speaks with a forced Chinese accent because it’s what is expected of him and it’s the only way others understand him despite his being educated, intelligent and with a solid moral ground. Played by Hoon Lee, Lee is the heart of the series and I knew I had to talk to the actor bringing him to life.

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As you’ll read at the top of the interview, I’ve been talking to Lee for various projects since 2013 when I was writing for several LGBTQ sites and, similiar to his East of Eden character, I knew I had to talk to him about his Banshee character, Job, a gay computer hacker who defied stereotypes by also being able to hold his own against many of the baddies in the show’s universe while wearing makeup and women’s clothing. Banshee was also co-created by Jonathan Tropper, who would end up hiring Lee again and again in his other series Warrior, See and the current Your Friends and Neighbors on AppleTV. Lee has always been an actor who doesn’t just play a role but he gets inside of each of them and is also a pleasure to chat with about all that each role entails.

But earlier this month, it was East of Eden that was the point of my conversation with Lee, though, as you’ll see, we touched on his career overall, which also includes playing the King of Siam in Broadway’s The King and I and he even turned the tables somewhat by asking me a question about my East of Eden thoughts.

Above is the podcast interview but you can also watch the video of our chat and/or read the transcript here.

Until next time…

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I’m starting this post with the last stop in the trip since I’ve been posting the previous stops over the past several months (some quicker than others because, if you didn’t know, editing takes time!) here on Substack and on our YouTube channel.

Here’s my final stop in the trip when I went over the pond from NYC to land in the United Kingdom to see some friends, do some work and prepare for that last plane home to Bangkok. I also took some time on my last morning in London to just sit and reflect back on the entire trip and how traveling (either around the world or just to a different neighborhood where you already live) is a very good thing. Enjoy!

And here are the rest of the videos, starting with our first stop in Tokyo, which was so eventful I had to make several videos of everything Boyd and I saw.

Tokyo really agreed with us!

From Tokyo, it was off to paradise - Hawai’i! While Boyd and I have been to Oahu and Kauai, neither of us had been to the Big Island so there’s where went for three beautiful days.

Los Angeles was a quick stop for me (Boyd stayed a few days before heading back to Taiwan, then home to Thailand) since I was going to see my 90-year old father in Florida then a family wedding in North Carolina. It was actually so nice to enjoy time with my family, bake some pumpkin cookies and dance!

By this time in the trip, I knew I had already been gone from Bangkok a long time and after over 10 days without Boyd, I also missed him so much. But I had a work opportunity in New York City and while I wasn’t there long enough to catch up with friends, even a short trip to the Big Apple is better than no trip at all.

Thanks for traveling around the world with us! If you’re feeling some jet lag from either going on your own big trip or watching ours, here are my six Jet Lag tips:

Until next time…

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The TV adaptation of the best selling Terminal List novels by Jack Carr (who also serves as an executive producer), The Terminal List follows Navy Seal Commander James Reece (Chris Pratt) fighting to keep the world safe as his own personal demons weigh heavily on him.

The first season aired in July 2022 and was an instant success, racking up over 1.6 billion minutes viewed in its first week. The prequel miniseries, Terminal List: Dark Wolf, was also a hit, becoming the #1 global series in its first week of release in August 2025.

In the sophomore season of The Terminal List, the story follows Carr’s book True Believer, the second in the book series but, as showrunner Dave DiGilio explains in this conversation, there were adjustments to the story for good reason. The story also follows Reece on a path of redemption after the first season was focused on his revenge for the deaths of his crew as well as his wife and daughter.

Per the Prime Video press release for the second season release, “the psychological revenge thriller of season one opens up into a globe-trotting espionage thriller taking Reece across the Indian Ocean, Mozambique, Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. To clear his name, Reece must work with the CIA to stop a resurgent terrorist organization that has turned his friend and former operator, Mo Farooq (Dar Salim), to their cause. With help from returning fan favorites like Raife Hastings (Tom Hopper), Katie Buranek (Constance Wu), and newcomers like Freddy Strain (Gabriel Luna), Reece will uncover a conspiracy that reaches from Moscow to Langley and ties into his own family’s history.”

The Terminal List drops its entire second season on October 21 on Prime Video.

Until next time…

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The TV adaptation of Jack Carr’s best selling Terminal List novels, The Terminal List follows Navy Seal Commander James Reece (Chris Pratt) fighting to keep the world safe as his own personal demons weigh heavily on him. Carr also serves as an executive producer on the series.

The first season aired in July 2022 and was an instant success, racking up over 1.6 billion minutes viewed in its first week. The prequel miniseries, The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, was also a hit, becoming the #1 global series in its first week of release in August 2025.

In the sophomore season of The Terminal List, the story follows Carr’s book True Believer (the second in the 8-book series) but, as DiGilio explains in this conversation, there were adjustments to the story for good reason. The story also follows Reece on a path of redemption after the first season was focused on his revenge for the deaths of his team as well as his wife and daughter. But how sane is Reece, who starts out the season about six months after the events of season one and, well, he’s physically and mentally adrift?

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Per the Prime Video press release for the second season, “the psychological revenge thriller of season one opens up into a globe-trotting espionage thriller taking Reece across the Indian Ocean, Mozambique, Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. To clear his name, Reece must work with the CIA to stop a resurgent terrorist organization that has turned his friend and former operator, Mo Farooq (Dar Salim), to their cause. With help from returning fan favorites like Raife Hastings (Tom Hopper), Katie Buranek (Constance Wu), and newcomers like Freddy Strain (Gabriel Luna), Reece will uncover a conspiracy that reaches from Moscow to Langley and ties into his own family’s history.”

Enjoy this conversation between me and Dave DiGilio:

The Terminal List drops its entire second season on October 21 on Prime Video.

Until next time…

Horror classics have been remade and rebooted many times over the years and, let’s be honest, it’s usually best to keep expectations low. Sadly, it’s often the case where a reimagining falls short and doesn’t capture what made the original so special to begin with or a new production just reeks of trying hard to wring every ounce of interest for a story without getting it right.

Carrie, the Prime Video series that gives Stephen King’s 1974 novel the eight-episode treatment, is not one of them. In fact, it’s one of the best remakes that honors the original while also feeling fresh and unique all on its own.

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Before watching, I kept my own high hopes at bay even when I saw that prolific horror auteur Mike Flanagan was at the helm primarily because we’ve been down this road before. There was the 2002 television remake of Carrie for NBC that was written by Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller (truth be told, I never saw it) and then a theatrical remake starring Chloë Grace Moretz that I saw when it was released in 2013. I have never watched that version since I saw it in the theater back then but I do remember I was excited to see what a new version of Carrie might look like. Unfortunately, besides a capable cast (Moretz brought her A-game to play Carrie and Julianne Moore was a chilling as Margaret White) the movie didn’t bring much newness. In other words, it felt like an imitation of the earlier 1976 film that starred Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie, which I’ve always loved and it deserves to be labeled a classic.

Apparently there was also a sequel movie in 1999 called The Rage: Carrie 2 that starred Emily Bergl as Carrie White’s half-sister, Rachel, as well as Amy Irving, returning to the franchise as Sue Snell, one of the survivors in the original film. Many years after the original production, Sue was now the high school guidance counselor. I never saw it and don’t even remember it coming out but apparently it was a box office disappointment.

But Prime Video’s Carrie series (I’ve seen it labeled miniseries and limited series, too) is a winner in pretty much every way imaginable and the kind of new addition that gives an exciting, extended life to the franchise. Here are five things the show gets right:

Eight Episodes is Perfect: Not every show fits well in the eight episode structure as it typically either feels like not enough or too much. Carrie’s eight episodes are paced perfectly for the eight installments and you never feel like any of the story is merely padding to get us to that big gymnasium scene we all know is coming. Also, Flanagan knows the audience is going to show up to see that prom night scene and instead of merely teasing it to get us to watch until the end, he wisely uses it as the framework for all the episodes with the survivors talking about that fateful night in the first moments of the series.

Non-archetypal Characters Rule: Flanagan could’ve easily replayed the archetypes for all the Carrie characters. For example, Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton) could’ve just been the villain, period. Instead, you get to experience Chris’s unhappy home life and her dashed dreams about not being able to go to Duke University due to her father’s money problems. Through all this, we come to understand more about why she is who she is and where she decides to funnel her anger and disappointment over things she can’t control. I never felt sorry or understood Chris in the original movie when she was played by the wonderful Nancy Allen, but in the new version, you understood Chris and she comes off as more than simply an antagonist. I even felt sorry for her in a fleeting moment when she’s survived the car crash following the prom massacre and she and Carrie lock eyes. Carrie pauses and you wonder if she’s going to let her live but then she fittingly lets the car roof crush Chris and, yeah, she deserved that.

Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) genuinely tries to be nice to Carrie from the start but, like all teenagers, she is also stuck between who she truly is inside with also longing to be a part of the popular crowd and going along with whatever everyone else is doing (as we see in the ‘plug it up’ scene). I also applaud the choice to not make Sue consumed by her relationship with dreamboat Tommy Ross (Joel Outlette).

In fact, their breakup after the mob scene in episode 6 comes off as so mature given they each come to realize they don’t work as a couple. Another writer would’ve made that whole relationship much more dramatic and heightened when it never needed to be. I also liked the choice that Tommy asks Carrie to the prom by himself, not at the urging of Sue as a nice gesture towards Carrie, as it’s handled in the book and original movie. These small choices go a long way in a smarter, well-told story.

Margaret White is another character that could come off as villainous or a relgious fanatic but Samantha Sloyan, a familiar face in Flanagan’s other works, brings so much more to the role. While Piper Laurie’s Margaret always seemed more motivated by religion, this version has Margaret still quoting the Bible and hymns are often played in the house but she’s more than her religion. We don’t get to see too much of her marriage but you get the impression that it probably wasn’t the happiest of unions so it’s no wonder Margaret rarely flashes a smile. She’s extremely judgy of others as we see in her store cashier job when she’s removed from that post for questioning customer’s less-than-holy purchases and given janitorial duties instead. And once we see her take to the internet to stand up for Carrie (and has her ring light poised and ready!), you see some of Flanagan’s commentary on contemporary times where everyone finds some sense of satisfaction or purpose in being able to spout their beliefs on social media. Also, when Chris is almost ready to apologize to Carrie during the group mediation in episode 6, it’s Margaret’s intentional words that steer Chris back to being hateful towards Carrie. Damn, Mrs. White!

Then there’s Carrie herself. For the story to work, it needs an actor who can play both the naive, innocent side as well as the more empowered parts that emerge as the season plays out and Carrie starts to get more confident in herself and her powers. The Carrie series works simply because Summer H. Howell is so damn good. Those early episodes where a confused Carrie is learning about the world that her mother kept her isolated from are so heartbreaking thanks to Howell’s performance. Whether she was wailing on the shower floor because she truly thought her bleeding meant she was dying or we see the pleasure on her face when she break’s Sue’s nose, Howell is convincing from start to finish.

Overall, except for a few instances, the actors for all these roles were beyond stellar. The adult characters - played by familiar faces like Michael Trucco, Heather Graham, Matthew Lillard and, another Flanagan regular, Rahul Kohli - didn’t have all the answers and clearly made their share of mistakes. And, I have to add, most of the teenagers looked like teenagers, which isn’t always the case in any teen drama. One more shoutout for the nod to Battlestar Galactica with Trucco, Katee Sackoff, Tahmoh Penikett, Tricia Helfer, Aaron Douglas and Rekha Sharma all making appearances.

Horror is not the main character: Of course, when you think of Carrie, you think of the bloody prom scene in the school gym at the end as well as how Carrie in the book and original film finally kills her mother, Margaret. But in the series, the horror moments are exciting and satisfying but they’re not the main reason why you’ll get sucked into the show. That doesn’t mean the horrific moments aren’t fun and/or scary but other scenes stood out to me, too.

One of those scenes is only horrific because you realize Carrie has never stepped foot in a library. Once she opens up and talks with guidance counselor Peter Morton (Tim Bagley) about how hard her first days at school have been, he asks her what books she has read and then takes her to the school library. The moment Carrie steps into the room, you see her growing joy and excitement on her face as she realizes the many worlds she can dive into with all these books. If you’ve ever loved a book or found an escape from your own world within the pages of a well written novel, you totally understand Carrie in that moment. (Bonus points for Flanagan subtly featuring books like Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaids Tale or Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings that are banned in some states. Bravo!). Overall, it’s one of the most memorable scenes in the series.

One additional element of Carrie that I’ll add here is the commentary on social media that flows through the show. For example, Chris creates the Carrie Red account to anonymously bully Carrie but when everyone joins in and contributes their own videos and photos of others (even teachers), we see that bullying is not done by a few but by many, which is an unfortunate and very real by-product of social media. I was impressed that the show didn’t try to explain or justify the good and bad sides of social media but painted it as a realistic part of our world, not just the world of high school.

The New Stuff Expands the World: Though there are changes from the source material throughout the story given it’s set in modern times, one big story addition is the one that we don’t even realize has been woven in the entire first season. That comes in the character of Adelaide (Kate Siegel, a familiar face in Flanagan’s work and also his wife). Initially, we just hear Adelaide’s voice asking various survivors questions about Carrie and what happened at the gym and in town. By the end of the season, we realize there is much more going on and that Adelaide has a vested interest in Carrie and her powers.

She also shows some pretty strong and scary powers of her own when she questions Margaret and, realizing Margaret doesn’t have the same telekinetic gifts that Carrie does, slows, then stops, her heart by just talking to her. What’s even scarier is at this point, we don’t know much about Adelaide’s intentions or the possible cult of other telekinetic people but it’s a great launch into a second season for Carrie. (Official word of a renewal has not come yet but as buzzy as the series is just a little more than a week after its release, its sure to come soon and I’m already on board.)

What didn’t work (in my opinion): I understand who Emaline (Thalia Dudek) is thanks to Google explaining what an ‘astral projection’ is. If I am understanding it correctly, Emaline is a projection by Carrie of her own consciousness, which we saw when Carrie would appear to be talking to herself but others would see her talking to nobody. However, it then turned out in the end that Emaline is a real person and she and Carrie drive off together in the final moments. When Emaline asks Carrie to let her ‘take the wheel’ during the prom massacre, it seemed to take some of the responsibility off of Carrie’s hands even though she physically is still the one doing it. Again, I understand (or think I do) what Flanagan was going for here but it is one of the few story points that didn’t ring true for me and took me out of the show. That said, it also seems like something that maybe will be explored more in a potential second season so it didn’t ruin the show for me. (Or if I’m missing something vital, please let me know in the comments!)

But despite the one thing that didn’t work for me, I loved the series and actually cannot wait to watch it again. The Carrie series is now the bar set for how to do remakes or reimaginings right.

Here’s a clip from the first episode showing Carrie’s first day of high school.

All eight episodes of Carrie are available now on Prime Video.

Until next time….

The season will be a tough one to watch, as we already know, since it follows the time of Jesus’s (Jonathan Roumie) crucifixion as well as the reaction of Jesus’s twelve apostles and his many followers, who are all desperately trying to find a way to save him.

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As previously announced, three episodes will premiere on November 15 on Prime Video with a weekly episode rolling out after that through December 6. Then, a stand-alone film featuring the final two episodes will be in theaters on (mark your calendars), March 12, 2027. While no release date has been set for that film to stream on Prime Video, we’ll keep you posted when that is announced.

Per the Prime Video release, in addition to the U.S., the new season will be available on Prime Video in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sub-Saharan Africa, the UK, and Latin America. The Chosen Seasons One through Five are now streaming on Prime Video.

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Besides Roumie, The Chosen cast includes Shahar Isaac as Peter, Paras Patel as Matthew, Elizabeth Tabish as Mary Magdalene, Noah James as Andrew, George H. Xanthis as John, Abe Bueno-Jallad as Big James, Vanessa Benavente as Mother Mary, Luke Dimyan as Judas, Richard Fancy as Caiaphas, Paul Ben-Victor as King Herod, and Andrew James Allen as Pontius Pilate.

Here’s the Season 6 trailer:

Until next time…

To that end, I decided I wanted to grab some time with current TV showrunners who are crafting the shows we’re all loving so much and make a conversation series - let me introduce you to the Showrunner Conversations Series. My goal with these conversations is to mix it up with broadcast and streaming shows as well as genres from crime drama to action to situation comedy.

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In the first episode, I talk to Robert Doherty, the showrunner, creator and executive producer of ABC’s crime drama, RJ Decker, which is currently airing its second season. Recently, I was asked to moderate a virtual Paley Fall Preview with the cast and Doherty and in prepping for that panel (which you can watch here), I rewatched the first season of the series, which is based on Carl Hiasson’s novel Double Whammy. I found I had more questions about the shaping of the show and how Doherty was paying homage to classic dramas like The Rockford Files and the original Magnum P.I.. RJ Decker fits into that category so well with a likeable, charming lead in Scott Speedman, unique crimes and the quirky backdrop of Florida.

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Season two of RJ Decker started airing last month and this week’s episode continues with guest star Beau Bridges, who first showed up last week as RJ’s con artist father, who can’t help but get involved with RJ’s case solving. In the conversation with Doherty, I asked about Bridges’ casting as well as what we can expect through the rest of the season. Of course, I also had to ask Doherty about his career as a TV writer and what he’s learned along the way as well as what advice he’d give to a first-time showrunner.

And, finally, the good news is that if you’d rather listen to this conversation instead of watch via the YouTube video below, you’re in luck as I’ve also included this interview as a podcast episode, which you can find here. Free download!

Next week, I’m talking to Dave DiGilio, the showrunner and executive producer of Prime Video’s The Terminal List, which returns for its second season on October 23.

Until then….

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My goal with this conversation series is to mix it up with broadcast and streaming shows as well as genres from crime drama to action to situation comedy. But feel free to let me know in the comments what genre you’d love to hear more about or if there’s a particular show you’d like to see me cover more.

If you’re on this page, you’d probably prefer listening to this conversation but if, by chance, you’d like to watch it, you can do so here.

More great showrunner interviews are coming so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss those as well as my other posts here on Coffee TV & Me!

Until next time…

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A new limited series adaptation of Stephne King’s Carrie drops this week on Prime Video (I’ve seen the first few episodes and give it a thumbs up) but the original 1976 film is still one of my favorites. Starring Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, Betty Buckley, Nancy Allen, William Katt and the first film for John Travolta, the film focuses on Carrie White (Spacek), who has been sheltered from the world by her controlling mother (Laurie) but once Carrie goes to high school, things go from bad to worse pretty quickly. Here’s the very 70s trailer:

Another Stephen King adaptation that, in my opinion, isn’t perfect but is still a horror classic given the performances of Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers and Danny Lloyd. The below scene has been parodied so often but it still holds up to show just horrific things get for this family who spend the winter at the Overlook Hotel.

Of course, horror doesn’t get any better than Alfrad Hitchcock and 1960’s Psycho set the bar for so many horror films to come. And, come on, considering in the famous shower scene, it’s more what you don’t see than what you do see that is so horrifying. The film, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Martin Balsam, John Gavin and Vera Miles, is one of the horror films I’ve probably my second most watched (after one other title that’s later on this list!). Enjoy!

Truth be told, I still get freaked out watching the original 1973 film The Exorcist. I was a kid when it came out in theaters and was not allowed to see it so I think my first viewing was when it came to network television in 1980 (Google really does know everything when you ask it!) Even though it was edited for television, I still remember my mother gagging at one particular scene that I won’t spoil here. Like most really great horror films, I may be shocked but I also often giggle at being scared, which is the whole point, right? Here’s a great clip from the film, which I’ll surely be watching this month.

And even though I included 1978’s Halloween on last year’s post, it’s just too perfect to not include and, yes, it’s the horror film I’ve seen more than any other. But the annual vieweings never stop because it still gets me every time. For example, I still bite my fingernails when Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis), after finding her friends murdered and narrowly escapes killer Michael Myers, runs back to the house across the street. But, can you believe it, she doesn’t have the keys to get back into the house. Will Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews) wake up in time to save her? OMG!

And while most of this list includes movies from decades ago, there are still great horror films out in contemporary times. I featured Weapons in last year’s post so I won’t include it again but what about Jordan Peele’s excellent 2017 movie Get Out, which brings all the horror scares while also bringing race into the conversation? Here’s the trailer:

And with four Oscar wins earlier this year including a Best Actor in a Leading Role trophy for Michael B. Jordan, there’s Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which also Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score. Between Jordan playing twins, the very cool score heard throughout the movie and then, well, the horror of very hungry vampires, the film is one of the most stylish and scary ever made. Here’s a terrific clip, which takes on the age-old myth about vampires not being able to eat garlic. Will any of them truly be unable to eat it and prove they’re a vampire? (The clip is age-restricted so click on it and watch on YouTube once you’ve confirmed your age.)

What are some of your go-to horror films that you just have to watch every October? Tell me in the comments!

Until next time…

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But my jaw dropped when I showed up at Central Park mall recently and saw a Blue Bottle coffee shop in the middle of one of the main floors. It was an open space store and I thought maybe it was just a pop-up much like In-N-Out Burger has done a few Bangkok pop ups over the year without opening an actual store (I wouldn’t complain if they DID open a store or ten here!). But then I saw on social media that Blue Bottle had also opened a flagship store at swanky EmQuartier mall in a prominent location so I knew I had to go check it out.

Blue Bottle is a California-based company that started first as a coffee cart in Oakland, California in 2002 with the name ‘Blue Bottle’ meant as a tribute to The Blue Bottle, Central Europe’s first coffee house, which opened in Vienna in the 17th Century. The first Blue Bottle kiosk started in San Francisco in 2005 with the first actual store also in SF in 2008. The chain eventually expanded and began appearing the Los Angeles area in 2014. Soon, Blue Bottle stores started popping up in other major U.S. cities and international locations in Asia like Japan, South Korea and, yes, Thailand.

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I visited Blue Bottle locations a few times when living in Los Angeles but I never became a diehard fan of not being able to choose the size of my cup and the prices always seemed too high when I just needed an afternoon iced latte to pick me up. But the Blue Bottle brand was always trendy and they definitely always attracted a clientele.

So when I visited the location at EmQuartier recently, I went as a critic of coffee shops but also the coffee itself and the variety of selection. And, if you have seen my other coffee videos, you know I also need to always survey the electrical outlet situation since I tend to go to coffee shops to work for several hours at a time.

Check out the video below for my review of the Bangkok Blue Bottle:

What’s the most important thing to you about a coffee shop? Let me know in the comments.

Until next time….

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The Diplomat, created by West Wing/Homeland writer Debora Cahn, follows the adventures of the U. S. Diplomat in the United Kingdom, Kate Wyler (Keri Russell), as she navigates all the international drama on the political arena. But what the show does so well is also weave in Kate’s complicated personal life given her ambitious husband Hal (Rufus Sewell), the former U.S, Ambassador for Lebanon and Iraq, tends to make things way more messy in both personal and professional arenas.

By the time we got to Season 3, there was a new president in V.P. Grace Penn (Allison Janney) and while many thought Kate should have been chosen to become the new V.P., Grace chose Hal to be her #2. Add Grace’s husband, Todd (Bradley Whitford) to the mix and the show has just continued to get more fun with just the right amount of twists and turns to leave your jaw on the floor.

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In the fourth season, the Wyler and Penn marriages overlap in a myriad of ways while also dealing with a big mess involving a Russian weapon that could lead the U.S. into war. Also, Todd wants to get more involved with the day-to-day operations, which makes Kate’s life more complicated though maybe this pairing is necessary to stop whatever Grace and Hal are up to.

But, before Season 4 premieres on Netflix on October 15, a recap is necessary and the streamer released the following video today:

Also, in case you haven’t seen it, here’s the season 4 trailer:

The Diplomat airs on Netflix with season 4 dropping on October 15.

Until next time…

On the work front, September kept me hopping with some current TV show coverage and also a slew of TV show anniversaries for L.A. Law, The Good Place and Everybody Loves Raymond. I posted the trio of anniversary stories last week so if you missed that post, here ya go:

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Also, the Big Bang Theory spin-off finished up its ambitious first season and it’s been a fun show to cover it from several premiere stories I did and then this season finale post mortem for Gold Derby. Read it right here.

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TV is always better when Slow Horses is back as the most entertaining spy thriller that is also often so funny. One thing not funny about the sixth season is that our Slough House spies (past and present) are being hunted and killed so everyone’s trying to find out who is behind this and why. Gary Oldman is so much fun but the supporting cast is as solid as they come. One of them is Christopher Chung, who plays Roddy Ho, and talked to me recently for In Creative Company about the new season but also his starring role from Netflix’s fantastic series My Brilliant Career, that dropped last month. Here’s the chat with Mr. Chung:

And if you’re caught up with season six, I talked to the director of the entire season, Adam Randall, as a post-mortem for the first two episodes and I got some teases on what’s to come. (I’ve also seen the whole season early and it’s fantastic! You’re in for a hell of a ride!). Only read this interview after you’ve seen the first two episodes. The Q&A for Gold Derby can be found here.

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Another actor doing double duty is Patrick Brammall, who can be seen in the third and final season of the awesome comedy, Colin From Accounts, on Paramount+ and then in a darker, more serious role on AppleTV with their limited series Last Seen. Brammall is fantastic in both roles and, for the Los Angeles Times, I talked to him about his busy career, which also included a role as Anne Hathaway’s new beau in The Devil Wears Prada 2 earlier this summer. Read our interview here.

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I’ve been attending Paley Center events since I started covering TV and I still get a thrill when there’s a virtual moderating opportunity for me, as there was earlier this month in their Fall Preview series when I talked to the cast and creator of ABC’s RJ Decker. The second season of the private investigator series, based loosely on Carl Hiaason’s “Double Whammy” novel, is airing now with Scott Speedman as RJ Decker but here you can watch everyone talk about the new season including that Dancing with the Stars crossover they managed to slide in for the seaosn premiere.

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Here are a few more stories I did this month right here on Substack in case you missed them.

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The Around the World travels series continues….

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And I love going to Lumphini Park here in Bangkok to see my pals, the monitor lizards. I picked a good day to go because I saw so many of them! Enjoy!

That’s a wrap on September. Until next time…

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Watch the video below to see the reunion and also what Netflix show I was there to do some interviewing and a photo shoot for the Los Angeles Times. (Also, please make sure to click LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel!)

One more chapter to go on the Around the World tour so keep an eye out for one more stop before I headed back to Bangkok.

Until next time…

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September 13, 1996 was the premiere date for one of the best sitcoms of the 1990s, Everybody Loves Raymond. This family sitcom, created by Phil Rosenthal and based on the comedy of Ray Romano, kept things simple with complications involving marriage and family that just worked thanks to sharp writing and one of the best TV show casts ever.

I was able to chat with Rosenthal about creating the show, which role was hardest to cast and how it took awhile for the show to gain some Emmy traction. Read the Q&A here. Here’s a classic featuring a suitcase that gets left on the staircase and causes a lot of marital strife for Ray (Romano) and Debra (Patricia Heaton):

L.A. Law was the hot legal drama when it premiered forty years ago on Septebmer 15, 1986. I still remember how popular the Steven Bochco-created show from the start and elevated Harry Hamlin’s career, which had faltered after he played a gay character in 1982’s feature film, Making Love. Hamlin talked about that, why he said ‘no’ several times before accepting the role of Michael Kuzak and whether it was tough for him to say goodbye when he departed after five seasons. Read my chat with Hamlin here and check out the very memorable opening titles with the iconic Mike Post theme song:

Now, it doesn’t seem like it’s been 10 years since Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) died and began her journey in The Good Place but that sitcom from Mike Schur premiered on September 19, 2016 on NBC. The show not only broke a lot of TV conventions by changing up the premise of the show at the end of the first season but it also introduced audiences to a lot of great talent (Manny Jacinto, Jameela Jamil, William Jakcson Harper, D’Arcy Carden) that are still working all over today. I talked to Schur about the conceit of the show, which went on to win a Peabocy Award. You can read the Q&A here. Here are some of Jacinto’s best moments as Jason:

And one of my favorite TV anniversary stories came last year when I had the chance to talk to executive producer Tom Fontana about the time St. Elsewhere, a hospital drama on NBC during the 1980s, had a crossover episode with Cheers marking one of the few times that a comedy and a drama crossed over on network TV. The fact that both shows were set in Boston helped create a situation where some of the St. Eligius doctors dropped in at the Cheers bar to talk over their woes…but then get accosted by cantankerous waitress Carla (Rhea Perlman). Read the Q&A here:

Here’s the excerpt from St. Elsewhere which took place on the Cheers set:

Until next time…

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Outstanding Comedy Series

“Widow’s Bay” (Apple TV)

“Abbott Elementary” (ABC)
“The Bear” (FX)
“Hacks” (HBO Max)
“Margo’s Got Money Troubles” (Apple TV)
“Nobody Wants This” (Netflix)
“Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu)
“Shrinking” (Apple TV)

Outstanding Drama Series

“The Pitt” (HBO Max)

The Diplomat” (Netflix)
“The Gilded Age” (HBO Max)
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” (HBO Max)
“Paradise” (Hulu)
“Pluribus” (Apple TV)
“Slow Horses” (Apple TV)
“Your Friends and Neighbors” (Apple TV)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Jean Smart, “Hacks”

Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
Elle Fanning, “Margo’s Got Money Troubles”
Lisa Kudrow, “The Comeback”

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Matthew Rhys, “Widow’s Bay”

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, “Wonder Man”
Steve Carell, “Rooster”
Jason Segel, “Shrinking”
Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Noah Wyle, “The Pitt”

Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise”
Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”
Mark Ruffalo, “Task”
Rufus Sewell, “The Diplomat”

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Rhea Seehorn, “Pluribus”

Carrie Coon, “The Gilded Age”
Chase Infiniti, “The Testaments”
Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”
Zendaya, “Euphoria”

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Kate O’Flynn, “Widow’s Bay”

Dale Dickey, “Widow’s Bay”
Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”
Janelle James, “Abbott Elementary”
Michelle Pfeiffer, “Margo’s Got Money Troubles”
Megan Stalter, “Hacks”
Jessica Williams, “Shrinking”

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Allison Janney, “The Diplomat”

Taylor Deardon, “The Pitt”
Fiona Dourif, “The Pitt”
Katherine LaNasa, “The Pitt”
Sepideh Moafi “The Pitt”
Julianne Nicholson, “Paradise”
Karolina Wydra, “Pluribus”

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Stephen Root, “Widow’s Bay”

Colman Domingo, “The Four Seasons”
Paul W. Downs, “Hacks”
Harrison Ford, “Shrinking”
Nick Offerman, “Margo’s Got Money Troubles”
Michael Urie, “Shrinking”
Tyler James Williams, “Abbott Elementary”

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Tom Pelphrey, “Task”

Patrick Ball, “The Pitt”
Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show”
Shawn Hatosy, “The Pitt”
Gerran Howell, “The Pitt”
Jack Lowden, “Slow Horses”
Carlos-Manuel Vesga, “Pluribus”

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series

Sally Field, “Remarkably Bright Creatures”
Claire Danes, “The Beast in Me”
Carey Mulligan, “Beef”
Sarah Pidgeon, “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette”
Sarah Snook, “All Her Fault”

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series

Matthew Rhys, “The Beast in Me”

Riz Ahmed, “Bait”
Jason Bateman, “Black Rabbit”
Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”
Oscar Isaac, “Beef”

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Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series

Hiro Murai, “Widow’s Bay”

Randall Einhorn, “Abbott Elementary”
Christopher Storer, “The Bear”
Andrew DeYoung, “The Chair Company”
Lucia Aniello, “Hacks”
Mary Lou Belli, “The Ms. Pat Show”

Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series

Saul Metzstein, “Slow Horses”
Salli Richardson Whitfield, “The Gilded Age”
Hanelle M. Culpepper, “Paradise”
Noah Wyle, “The Pitt”
Vince Gilligan, “Pluribus”
Salli Richardson Whitfield, “Task”

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series

Katie Dippold, “Widow’s Bay”

Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
Tim and Zach Kanin, “The Chair Company”
Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow, “The Comeback”
Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs and Jen Statsky, “Hacks”
Anthony King, “Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat”

Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series

Vince Gilligan, “Pluribus”

Peter Ackerman and Debora Cahn, “The Diplomat”
Kirsten Pierre-Geyfman and R. Scott Gemmill, “The Pitt”
Valerie Chu, “The Pitt”
Will Smith, “Slow Horses”
Brad Ingelsby, “Task”

Outstanding Variety Series

“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (CBS)
“The Daily Show” (Comedy Central)
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (ABC)
“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (HBO Max)
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)

Outstanding Reality Competition Series

“The Traitors” (Peacock)

“Dancing With the Stars” (ABC)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (MTV)
“Survivor” (CBS)
“Top Chef” (Bravo)

Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

“DTF St. Louis” (HBO Max)

“All Her Fault” (Peacock)
“The Beast in Me” (Netflix)
“Beef” (Netflix)
“Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette” (FX)

Bob Hope Humanitarian Award

Michael J. Fox

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You can also see the complete list, including the creative arts winners from last weekend, on the Television Academy site here.

Until next time…