Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / Who's That Girl From Thea Glassman The Untold Definitive History Of New Girl
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Arrow dot net. It's more than just interviews with famous
- 0:03Speaker 1: people and those that are trying to get those superpowers
- 0:06Speaker 1: of success. It's actually about content too that deals with
- 0:10Speaker 1: your everyday life. That's why we have vocal dfrag. Ask
- 0:13Speaker 1: yourself the questions, then question the answers. It's a leadership
- 0:18Speaker 1: role that's going to have you at the head of
- 0:21Speaker 1: the table. Ero dot net a R r Oe dot net.
- 0:26Speaker 1: Enjoy your exploration.
- 0:28Speaker 2: Hi, good morning.
- 0:29Speaker 1: How are you doing today.
- 0:32Speaker 2: I'm good, Thank you so much, Thanks so much for
- 0:34Speaker 2: having me. How about yourself?
- 0:35Speaker 1: Well, I'm very excited to share a conversation with you
- 0:37Speaker 1: because I really do want to break something out. And
- 0:39Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm not gonna be the only one that's
- 0:41Speaker 1: going to say this. Why is it that I have
- 0:43Speaker 1: seen all the reruns? I relived this during the COVID Lockdown.
- 0:47Speaker 1: I watched it when it was in regular season religiously,
- 0:49Speaker 1: because we you know, unless you had TVO or something
- 0:52Speaker 1: like that and all of a sudden, But if you
- 0:53Speaker 1: ask me about an episode, I'm gonna say I don't know.
- 0:57Speaker 1: And I think it's because of the great writing that
- 0:59Speaker 1: they did it in a way that kept saying come
- 1:01Speaker 1: back you're going to see something else that you didn't
- 1:04Speaker 1: see the last time. Just keep coming back. It doesn't
- 1:06Speaker 1: matter how many times you come back.
- 1:09Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 1:09Speaker 3: I think that's one hundred percent true. And it is
- 1:11Speaker 3: the rare show that I mean, I have watched I
- 1:14Speaker 3: feel like, roughly one hundred, one hundred and fifty times and.
- 1:16Speaker 2: I will still find that I didn't remember or that
- 1:21Speaker 2: catch me off guard.
- 1:22Speaker 3: And like, how often does that happen with the show
- 1:24Speaker 3: where you're actually genuinely laughing after we've watched it a
- 1:27Speaker 3: million times.
- 1:28Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and a lot of the actors have gone
- 1:30Speaker 1: on to become, you know, other things in life. So
- 1:32Speaker 1: now I go back there for the nostalgia of it,
- 1:35Speaker 1: and then I see those early stages where we were
- 1:37Speaker 1: just being introduced to them, so I'm looking at it
- 1:39Speaker 1: even through different eyes.
- 1:41Speaker 3: Yeah, it's so when you go back to the first
- 1:44Speaker 3: season and you see like Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield circle
- 1:48Speaker 3: that time and when they were just sort of hopeful
- 1:51Speaker 3: actors and they weren't big names, big household names.
- 1:54Speaker 2: It's very surreal and fun to go back to that time.
- 1:58Speaker 1: Because it was one of those shows that I'm gonna
- 2:00Speaker 1: be honest with you, is that we turn it into
- 2:02Speaker 1: a drinking game, because because you know that there was
- 2:05Speaker 1: gonna be something on there, and before every episode we
- 2:07Speaker 1: would say, watch out for this, and when this happens,
- 2:10Speaker 1: time to drink. And it just became a and I
- 2:13Speaker 1: think that was more of the community involvement in this
- 2:15Speaker 1: neighborhood at least, is that we would all gather together,
- 2:18Speaker 1: which is pretty freaky, but it was like a family.
- 2:22Speaker 2: Can I ask what was the thing that made you
- 2:24Speaker 2: guys drink the most when you were watching?
- 2:26Speaker 1: What we would do is, first of all, when somebody
- 2:28Speaker 1: would walk through the door and find out what their
- 2:29Speaker 1: first words were, we would take a guess, you know,
- 2:32Speaker 1: or somebody or if you were in there, and who
- 2:33Speaker 1: would eat first, And because there was always food involved,
- 2:36Speaker 1: or somebody coming into the scene out of the scene,
- 2:39Speaker 1: and because I've always believed that if there's more than
- 2:42Speaker 1: three people in a scene, it's too crowded for the viewers.
- 2:44Speaker 1: So I sit there and go, oh my god, four
- 2:46Speaker 1: people drink and so you know, so you'd break it
- 2:49Speaker 1: down that way is what you would do.
- 2:51Speaker 3: Well, And I think it was like on there end,
- 2:53Speaker 3: what was so interesting was like an It became when
- 2:56Speaker 3: there were so many of them in the loft.
- 2:57Speaker 2: Those were the most challenging.
- 3:00Speaker 3: Scenes because it was like, how do we service all
- 3:03Speaker 3: of these characters, How do we make.
- 3:04Speaker 2: Sure we're giving each of them a joke?
- 3:05Speaker 3: How do we make sure there were shining light on
- 3:07Speaker 3: like a pretty a pretty meaty cast right there.
- 3:11Speaker 1: Wouldn't you say though, that maybe this could have been
- 3:13Speaker 1: the very first show that didn't make us think of friends? When? When?
- 3:17Speaker 1: Because because I mean everything, even you know, the one
- 3:20Speaker 1: was something about your mother. I mean it was like
- 3:22Speaker 1: I always thought of friends, but when I went into
- 3:24Speaker 1: New Girl, it was like I never once had that
- 3:28Speaker 1: feeling that I was looking that I was watching a
- 3:30Speaker 1: copy show.
- 3:32Speaker 2: I think that's so true.
- 3:33Speaker 3: And as as a massive fan of Friends who finds
- 3:37Speaker 3: friends references and everything, I don't see that in New Girl,
- 3:41Speaker 3: which I think is a huge accomplishment. And I think
- 3:43Speaker 3: the way that they approached it was so different from Friends.
- 3:46Speaker 3: I think Friends was like extremely tightly written. There wasn't
- 3:50Speaker 3: a lot of room for improv on set. They weren't
- 3:54Speaker 3: working until like three in the morning. I mean, I
- 3:56Speaker 3: don't think whereas with New Girl, like they were on
- 3:59Speaker 3: set and hours and hours and they were had alt jokes.
- 4:02Speaker 2: They had like one.
- 4:03Speaker 3: Hundred alt jokes for every single joke in the script,
- 4:07Speaker 3: and the actors were allowed to improv, and it was
- 4:09Speaker 3: often like two am and they would say something insane
- 4:12Speaker 3: and they were like thinking, there's no way this is
- 4:14Speaker 3: going to make it into the show.
- 4:15Speaker 2: And it was often those moments that made it into
- 4:17Speaker 2: the show.
- 4:17Speaker 1: See, and that explains why they have gone on to
- 4:21Speaker 1: other bigger projects and we're starting to see them in
- 4:23Speaker 1: movies and binge watches and stuff like that, because they've
- 4:26Speaker 1: got that skill that it's like, you got that on
- 4:28Speaker 1: your script. Okay, I can I can make that even
- 4:30Speaker 1: greater than what it is.
- 4:32Speaker 2: Yeah, I think. I remember I interviewed Max S.
- 4:34Speaker 3: Greenfield when the show was ending, and he was saying
- 4:37Speaker 3: that at this point, it's really hard to be daunted
- 4:40Speaker 3: by anything going into a show because it's like he's
- 4:42Speaker 3: done everything.
- 4:44Speaker 2: On the show and more.
- 4:45Speaker 3: They did a lot of wacky stuff, a lot of
- 4:48Speaker 3: really interesting stuff.
- 4:50Speaker 2: So it's like he's sort of there. They gave they
- 4:52Speaker 2: went to a much like college in a way.
- 4:53Speaker 3: They had a whole curriculum of wild sitcom experiences.
- 4:57Speaker 1: Now, didn't they break the rules when it comes to
- 5:00Speaker 1: this sitcoms that ye mean, because you can go all
- 5:02Speaker 1: the way back to Lucy and Desi and see how
- 5:05Speaker 1: the rules were actually set. But then when you set
- 5:08Speaker 1: those rules inside New Girl, it was like, oh, this
- 5:11Speaker 1: is more than just what they said it, you know,
- 5:13Speaker 1: put in order back then.
- 5:15Speaker 2: Yeah, it definitely like there was just a lot of freedom.
- 5:19Speaker 3: And I don't know if you were a Freaks and
- 5:20Speaker 3: Geeks fan back in the day, but Jake Kasden, who
- 5:24Speaker 3: directed on Freaks and Geeks, he brought this ethos which
- 5:27Speaker 3: was sort of the Judd Apptau ethos of let's be
- 5:30Speaker 3: really nimble on set and let's like have the script
- 5:33Speaker 3: and respect the script, but let's have a bunch of jokes.
- 5:36Speaker 3: Let's let he there was one scene where Schmidt and
- 5:40Speaker 3: c c break up and it wasn't quite working in
- 5:43Speaker 3: the script, so really he turned to the two actors
- 5:45Speaker 3: and he said, just talk to each other, which is
- 5:48Speaker 3: like really breaks the mold to let.
- 5:50Speaker 2: Them kind of find the moment on set together.
- 5:53Speaker 1: I gotta tell you one thing that my wife and
- 5:55Speaker 1: I have talked about a billion times about New Girl
- 5:57Speaker 1: as well as friends, we never once believed that was
- 6:00Speaker 1: in they were in real apartments in New York didn't
- 6:02Speaker 1: believe it ever, But the loft in New Girl, Why
- 6:06Speaker 1: is it that I believe it existed and that it
- 6:08Speaker 1: really was bigger than what we thought? And is it
- 6:11Speaker 1: because it was in La versus New York.
- 6:14Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 6:15Speaker 3: So I talked to the production designer who he built
- 6:18Speaker 3: that loft, and he put so much You're completely right
- 6:21Speaker 3: because he because he put so much research and detail
- 6:24Speaker 3: into making it a realistic loft. He went to downtown
- 6:27Speaker 3: la and he tore all these lofts and he brought
- 6:29Speaker 3: all these different elements from the real life lofts into
- 6:33Speaker 3: Apartment four D. Which is why I'm so glad you
- 6:35Speaker 3: pick up on that, which is why it feels so
- 6:37Speaker 3: real because he really did his research for it.
- 6:41Speaker 1: If I could just go into four D one time,
- 6:43Speaker 1: I guarantee that once I was in that loft, I
- 6:46Speaker 1: would have every play by play inside my mind. Oh
- 6:49Speaker 1: this is where you were standing, Oh this is where
- 6:50Speaker 1: you said this, And because I wouldn't be normal if
- 6:53Speaker 1: I walked in there.
- 6:55Speaker 2: Yeah, I one hundred percent.
- 6:57Speaker 3: I like I was sort of geeking out because that
- 6:59Speaker 3: product designer, Jeff Sage, and also Michael White's white Stone Whitstone, Sorry,
- 7:04Speaker 3: they sent me all these like maps and like floor
- 7:07Speaker 3: plans of the loft and all these never before seen
- 7:10Speaker 3: angles of the loft, like parts of it.
- 7:12Speaker 2: I hadn't seen before angles, and I was just sort
- 7:14Speaker 2: of like geeking out seeing all these photos of it.
- 7:18Speaker 3: Please do not move.
- 7:19Speaker 1: We're coming back with the A Glassman. We're still talking
- 7:21Speaker 1: about New Girl, the name of the book, who's that girl?
- 7:27Speaker 1: The untold, definitive history of New Girl. We are back
- 7:31Speaker 1: with THEA Glassman. So now what was your connection, because
- 7:34Speaker 1: I mean, you're taking us inside. I don't think I've
- 7:37Speaker 1: ever seen a book like this before where you're giving
- 7:40Speaker 1: us such a great view of one of the most
- 7:43Speaker 1: amazing shows that we've had in our time period.
- 7:47Speaker 2: Yeah, I so I had.
- 7:49Speaker 3: Originally, my first book I wrote was about teen television shows.
- 7:52Speaker 3: I went behind the scenes of seventeen TV shows and
- 7:55Speaker 3: interviewed the cast, creators, writers, directors, and for this book,
- 7:59Speaker 3: I I just I wanted to focus on one show.
- 8:01Speaker 3: And when it comes to these kind of books, you
- 8:03Speaker 3: have to live with these shows for.
- 8:05Speaker 2: A really, really long time.
- 8:06Speaker 3: And I was just trying to think and maybe you
- 8:08Speaker 3: can relate to this is like, what is a show
- 8:10Speaker 3: that you want to really live with and you want to,
- 8:12Speaker 3: as you said, like sit in that loft every day
- 8:15Speaker 3: and like talk to all the casts, talk to everybody
- 8:17Speaker 3: behind the scenes. And New Girl was that show. So
- 8:20Speaker 3: really it was a lot of it's kind of crazy,
- 8:22Speaker 3: but a lot of cold emailing. So I emailed a
- 8:24Speaker 3: lot of people who I had never spoken to before
- 8:27Speaker 3: and just asked would they be open to talking to
- 8:29Speaker 3: me talking to me for this book, And a lot
- 8:31Speaker 3: of people really generously gave me their time.
- 8:34Speaker 1: Do you realize that if the show was still being
- 8:37Speaker 1: filmed today and Prince walked out there with a cameo,
- 8:39Speaker 1: you know, we wouldn't believe that. We would say that
- 8:41Speaker 1: it's AI technology. And that's one of the one of
- 8:45Speaker 1: the rarest moments Intelligion history, is that before technology took over,
- 8:50Speaker 1: the dude was really there.
- 8:52Speaker 2: Yeah he was. I'm looking at my desktop now.
- 8:54Speaker 3: I have all these pictures because we did a lot
- 8:56Speaker 3: of behind the scenes pictures for the book, and it's
- 8:58Speaker 3: Jake Johnson dressed in his flashbot. Couldn't you remember this
- 9:02Speaker 3: where he like performed as Prince and it was surreal.
- 9:07Speaker 3: Zoey Deschanel thought it was a prank when she got
- 9:09Speaker 3: the email and it was it was just got an
- 9:11Speaker 3: email from his manager that said, I am the manager
- 9:14Speaker 3: of the legendary artist Prince.
- 9:15Speaker 2: He would like to be on New Girl. And everyone
- 9:18Speaker 2: was sort of very shocked. People gather, everyone from the
- 9:20Speaker 2: cast and crew.
- 9:21Speaker 3: They had been working till like two in the morning,
- 9:23Speaker 3: they had been but everyone gathered to watch him perform.
- 9:26Speaker 2: He like improvised bits on set, he like offered directions.
- 9:30Speaker 3: He was like incredibly creative and almost sort of show
- 9:33Speaker 3: ran his own episode.
- 9:35Speaker 1: What's fascinating is the fact that he was there and
- 9:38Speaker 1: and and because that tells me that that there was
- 9:41Speaker 1: a human side to his personality. And to hear that
- 9:44Speaker 1: he was improvising, that meant that he believed in the
- 9:46Speaker 1: show enough that he could let down his guard and
- 9:49Speaker 1: just be himself.
- 9:51Speaker 3: Yes, and he loved Nick and Jess and he was
- 9:53Speaker 3: so excited about being the.
- 9:55Speaker 2: Person that was going to help them say I love
- 9:57Speaker 2: you to each other. And he also so someone.
- 10:00Speaker 3: Who Steve Welsh, who edited the episode, talked about when
- 10:06Speaker 3: do you remember when Nick screams when he sees Prince
- 10:08Speaker 3: for the first He said, Prince just started giggling, like
- 10:12Speaker 3: the Prince is just like cracked up, so he like
- 10:15Speaker 3: broke character immediately, and I just thought that so charming.
- 10:19Speaker 1: That's so funny that you bring that up. Because there's
- 10:21Speaker 1: a new commercial on TV that has the two dudes
- 10:24Speaker 1: from from Scrubs and he's screaming on it. And you
- 10:26Speaker 1: know that the first time that I heard that scream,
- 10:28Speaker 1: I actually thought of Nick. I really swore to God,
- 10:31Speaker 1: that's how much it is in my head and that
- 10:34Speaker 1: and I haven't shaken it at all. But you hear
- 10:36Speaker 1: a scream like that and you're going, oh, I know
- 10:37Speaker 1: where they got that from. I know where they got
- 10:39Speaker 1: that from.
- 10:40Speaker 3: It's so piercing and the fact that he faints afterwards
- 10:43Speaker 3: is just amazing. Wow.
- 10:46Speaker 1: So then let's talk about the show in the way
- 10:49Speaker 1: of naturally, you know, wearing away the aches that we
- 10:53Speaker 1: all had as viewers because the humor in it was
- 10:56Speaker 1: tough love, and did we relate with the show that
- 10:59Speaker 1: much that we said, if they're going through the tough love,
- 11:02Speaker 1: if they're going through little situations of relationships, then I
- 11:05Speaker 1: feel like that I'm no longer alone in the world.
- 11:07Speaker 1: They are my family.
- 11:10Speaker 3: Yes, Like I think that's a really wonderful way of
- 11:12Speaker 3: putting it. I feel like their early thirties and the
- 11:17Speaker 3: dating and the struggles of dating and the finding yourself
- 11:20Speaker 3: and not having any idea what you want to do
- 11:22Speaker 3: for a living, and is your job the right fit?
- 11:25Speaker 3: Like you mentioned Friends, and I think this Friends was
- 11:27Speaker 3: really comforting because it made you feel seen and not alone,
- 11:30Speaker 3: and I think that's why.
- 11:31Speaker 2: It's still like such a beloved show.
- 11:33Speaker 3: And I think New Girl had that vein of just
- 11:36Speaker 3: really making like life can be very messy when you're
- 11:40Speaker 3: really young and have no idea who you are or
- 11:43Speaker 3: who you want to end up with. And it did
- 11:45Speaker 3: such a wonderful, realistic job of it. But it was
- 11:47Speaker 3: also in sort of a heightened reality where it was
- 11:49Speaker 3: really cozy and aesthetically pleasing, and they filmed it almost
- 11:53Speaker 3: like a rom com, so you also kind of cozy
- 11:56Speaker 3: and happy and like in a more heightened reality of
- 11:59Speaker 3: your own.
- 12:00Speaker 1: Listeners need to understand that what you have done with
- 12:03Speaker 1: this book is something that we've never had, and that
- 12:05Speaker 1: is is that you sat down with everybody. I mean,
- 12:08Speaker 1: if you could have talked to the grips, I'm sure
- 12:10Speaker 1: you should have. And the thing is is that you
- 12:12Speaker 1: give us that real, honest to God picture and It's
- 12:14Speaker 1: almost like, because I came from a family of eight kids,
- 12:17Speaker 1: every one of us have a different story when it
- 12:20Speaker 1: comes to being in the same family. And that's what
- 12:22Speaker 1: I love about your book. Everybody has a different story
- 12:26Speaker 1: or a different view of what took place on the set.
- 12:30Speaker 2: Yes, and like that was the greatest joy.
- 12:32Speaker 3: I'm so glad you noticed that, and I so appreciate
- 12:35Speaker 3: you notice that, Like everybody. And Michael Rozzoli, who was
- 12:39Speaker 3: the first a d like we talked about the Prince episode.
- 12:42Speaker 3: He was Prince's right hand man, and I was so
- 12:45Speaker 3: delighted talking to him because he actually had the biggest
- 12:48Speaker 3: portal and thro who Prince was because he was the
- 12:50Speaker 3: one who Prince kept calling over and pitching jokes to
- 12:53Speaker 3: and kind of being like, who's that guy? Can I
- 12:55Speaker 3: pitch him this idea? Can you get me a bullhorn?
- 12:57Speaker 3: Because I'd like to use a bullhorn.
- 12:58Speaker 2: In this scene.
- 12:59Speaker 3: So exciting to hear all these different stories I don't
- 13:02Speaker 3: think anybody had ever heard before because they hadn't been
- 13:05Speaker 3: shared publicly.
- 13:07Speaker 1: I love your dedication Anthony Rizzo and the Chicago Cubs,
- 13:10Speaker 1: and then and then I love this and beIN too.
- 13:12Speaker 1: I mean, don't forget about Ben. We got to get
- 13:15Speaker 1: been in there somehow.
- 13:17Speaker 2: Exactly, I hope.
- 13:18Speaker 3: I don't know if that was too deep of a
- 13:19Speaker 3: cut for that, but that was what Nick had done
- 13:23Speaker 3: his dedication for.
- 13:24Speaker 2: Uh user Zombies. That might have been a real deep cut,
- 13:27Speaker 2: but I hope hopefully it lands.
- 13:30Speaker 1: Was it fun putting it together, because I mean, your
- 13:32Speaker 1: smile is so genuine it was.
- 13:36Speaker 3: This was honestly like the biggest joy in honor of
- 13:39Speaker 3: my life, Like there is there's nothing quite like talking
- 13:42Speaker 3: to people who you admire greatly and getting to talk
- 13:45Speaker 3: to them about like the nitty gritties of like how
- 13:48Speaker 3: did you construct this joke or what was this improv
- 13:51Speaker 3: like or even just like talking to Max Greenfield and
- 13:55Speaker 3: Hannah Simone about that proposal scene and what their memories were.
- 13:58Speaker 3: And so it was just very grateful. People took the
- 14:00Speaker 3: time to go back into their memories. They sent me
- 14:03Speaker 3: photos like from their scrap books, they sent me scripts
- 14:07Speaker 3: like I was just like, was very grateful, and yeah,
- 14:09Speaker 3: it was the joy of my lifetime to get to
- 14:10Speaker 3: do this.
- 14:11Speaker 1: I know we're out of time, but if I don't
- 14:12Speaker 1: bring this up then people are gonna kick me in
- 14:14Speaker 1: the left knee. The thing is is that if MTV
- 14:16Speaker 1: would have been really super popular at that time, they
- 14:18Speaker 1: would have had the best kiss Jess and Nick. That
- 14:21Speaker 1: would have been the year's best kiss. And I just
- 14:23Speaker 1: and you you really bring that out in this book,
- 14:26Speaker 1: where yeah, it would have been it would have been
- 14:28Speaker 1: the thing.
- 14:29Speaker 2: That kiss. I'm glad you saw that.
- 14:32Speaker 3: That kiss was incredible and it was so much fun
- 14:35Speaker 3: to hear everybody's take and just how mysterious it was
- 14:38Speaker 3: because not a lot of people knew it was going
- 14:39Speaker 3: to happen. So the hair and makeup artists didn't even
- 14:41Speaker 3: have their breath mits on.
- 14:42Speaker 2: Set because they didn't know what was going to happen.
- 14:45Speaker 3: And so that was yes, And like that kiss holds up.
- 14:48Speaker 3: I encourage anybody to rewatch it. It's it's electric.
- 14:51Speaker 1: Well they can rewatch it because I mean, even though
- 14:53Speaker 1: your book says that it's been seven years since the
- 14:55Speaker 1: last episode, baloney, I've been cheating on you the entire time,
- 14:58Speaker 1: And I say, no, I see it when I'm in
- 15:00Speaker 1: the mood for it. But I love that about modern
- 15:02Speaker 1: day television.
- 15:04Speaker 3: Yeah, completely, like that show holds up And I love
- 15:07Speaker 3: that apartment for me is just there for us. At
- 15:09Speaker 3: all times, and I hope this book feels like a
- 15:11Speaker 3: companion to it. It can kind of bring you back
- 15:14Speaker 3: into that world anytime you want.
- 15:16Speaker 1: Please come back to this show anytime in the future.
- 15:18Speaker 1: The door is always going to be open for you.
- 15:19Speaker 2: Fia Yushi, that's so much. Thank you so Much's such
- 15:22Speaker 2: a pleasure getting to talk to you.
- 15:24Speaker 1: You'd be brilliant today.
- 15:25Speaker 2: Okay, thank you so much. Have a great one.
- 15:28Speaker 1: Thank you.