9021CO-Host: It's James Eckhouse!

0:02 It's 90210-MG with Jenny Garth and friends. You guys, James Egghouse is here. He's our co-host today. It's so exciting.

0:13 I'm a co-host.

0:14 No, you're not just a guest. You are a co-host. So you get to do and say whatever you want today.

0:20 Okay. And we're not recording this, right? Oh, no. Just us. There's no video.

0:27 It's all video, baby.

0:29 Oh, my God.

0:30 They're going to get a good look at you just like I am.

0:33 Yeah. Oh my gosh.

0:35 I'm feeling a little Twitter painted. I gotta be honest. So here's the story, James. Oh, you used to be like a parent figure. You were older. We were younger. I didn't pay any attention to you.

0:48 Yes.

0:48 Like I didn't listen to you very often. I loved you, but like you were like, I was, you know, I was young and doing my thing. Yeah. And you were always just there. Consistent, happy. Pleasant to be around, working, always happy to be working. Everybody loved you. The crew loved you. Everyone loved you. And you had just the best attitude all the time. Okay, so flash forward to now me watching the show back from the very first episode all the way until season nine. I have developed, get ready for it, a crush on Jim Walsh.

1:28 On Jim Walsh. Because if you knew the real me, you wouldn't have a crush on me. That's true.

1:35 Well, you know, I really like him. He's such a good guy. And he's so cute. And I love your furry chest. I got to be honest. Okay. You guys, he's still got the furry chest. And you know what? I kind of like it that it's white now.

1:51 Well, thank you. Well, I'm going to admit that I... I thought you were quite something. And I was always nervous around you. Cause I, I had a crush on you too. No, I'm not kidding you. I did. I mean, I had a, that's creepy.

2:11 No, you can't say that.

2:12 No. Okay. I can't say that. Forget that.

2:14 You just said it, but we're going to, I was character crush.

2:18 Amazing. You know, I just thought you were amazing. And I was, you know, I, I mean, this is so incredible. It's like perfect timing.

2:28 Why is that?

2:29 So much to me to be here with you right now. And then we did, you know, we, we, we were ships crossing in the night, you know what I mean? Because we never really had scenes together. Not a lot. And yeah. So it's not like we spent a lot of time, you know, I spent a lot of time at the video game with Jason and I see, you know, playing on that crazy video. Crazy dressing rooms. You know what I mean? It was like nuts. So here we are.

3:01 So the problem is, I know you're going to probably ask me questions, but really, I want to hear all about you. That's all I care about. How long have you been doing the podcast for?

3:11 Well, we have been doing it for eight seasons. I've learned so much about the 90s, so much about this show, so much about why the fans loved it so much.

3:23 Yeah.

3:24 You know, watching it roll out episode by episode every week and seeing how people saw it originally like that. You had to wait for it.

3:32 Yeah, yeah.

3:33 So invested in the storylines. So angry when the storylines are not good. You know, just loving doing every step of it. And then now getting to see, you know, I had Jason on, Gab on, now you on. I mean, and I'm having another special guest on. It's so exciting.

3:50 Yeah.

3:51 It's just like we all love the opportunity to just face to face one another, whether we're in person or on a computer.

3:58 Yeah.

3:59 And really just kind of catch up and just even just be in each other's presence is just the best feeling. Why is that?

4:07 Well, that's a really interesting thing. And that's why I think I was like. Watching, I've watched the episode a couple of times, but then I, it got me to watch, like I watched the wedding, the non-wedding, which was an incredible episode to watch.

4:21 So good, so infuriating.

4:24 But I, you know, I left the show after season five. So, you know, I didn't watch the show after that.

4:30 No, that's what I was talking about with Gab. I was like, well, why didn't you watch the show, Gab? She was like, well, because I wasn't on it and I was kind of busy.

4:39 Yeah.

4:40 Trying to do other things.

4:42 It's more than that, though, because you're talking about like, look, whenever actors, whether you're doing a play for six months or whether you're doing a film for maybe a month to make a family. We were, you guys were together for 10 years, you know, I was with you for five years.

5:02 That's a long time still.

5:03 Yeah. A long time. And I'm going to admit that when I, when I, not to get too much in the weeds, but when I left the show and you know, I, it was, You know, it was so obvious because you guys were going to college and, you know, it wasn't horrendous. It wasn't unexpected. But, you know, they talked to me and they were very sweet. And they said, look, you know, you're not going to be, you know, you'll come on occasionally.

5:26 I said, right. Got it. Ouch.

5:30 Wait, first of all, don't breeze past that.

5:32 Okay.

5:34 I don't like that time, that day, that meeting you had with them.

5:38 God. It was tough. It was a phone call. It was a phone call.

5:43 Oh, of course.

5:44 It was a shock. And it was like, you know, we're not going to offer you, you know, a series regular anymore. And I was like, I was, I was ready for it, you know? And, and I, you know, I also, you don't want to be around if you're not, you know, I mean, the, the, the, the Mr. And Mrs. Had been, you know, slowly.

6:05 Yeah.

6:06 Yeah. Not as quite as, as in the show. So, but that's, but I got really hit by it. I really did. unexpectedly. And the next couple of years, especially the next year was, it was tough. And it was tough because, and that's what I love about this episode is what is family, you know, and, and I sure I'm hitting some nerves here, you know, when you've got your own family and you're, you know, but then you've got this other family that is heightened and in some ways more idealized, you know what I mean? And, You don't have to do the messiness. It's just, you know, when you go to work.

6:46 Hopefully not.

6:49 Yeah. Well, that's, we know this business. Yeah. Enough said. Right. You know what I mean?

6:55 So are you saying it hurt to watch it?

6:58 Yeah. Yeah. I was like, I couldn't, I couldn't, I had to let, I really had to make a like, James, you need to pick up your life again. You know, you've had this incredible experience where, you know, as an actor also, you've got a steady job, which is unheard of in our life, unheard of, you know, very rarely have I had that experience. They made me do it.

7:20 I did a play for a year in New York and that was great. So you knew that you were for a year, you were employed. So that, that's a shock to the system. And I have to admit it, it, it, It knocked me off my center. My self-worth, I didn't realize how much that was wrapped up in that. Oh, wow. And it's interesting, too, because people like to say, oh, you're famous. And I go, no, I'm famous adjacent. I'm never famous. But certainly, I was in the public eye.

7:57 But I was very... fortunate at the time to kind of well i know my kids were young then so i came on that show and had one just born and when it was three and we had a really weird experience which i will go i will tell you the experience because it's a funny story but not right now yet um and i realized that i had to kind of protect protect my real family you know because i could see it getting you know uh uh being an invasion of privacy and all that. So I always kind of kept my distance. And I was never, you know, I wasn't in the spotlight like you guys.

8:36 You weren't going out and partying with the boys or anything. You were going home to a newborn.

8:41 I was going home to a newborn. But also I wasn't, you know, being hounded by People magazine and views. You guys had, and, you know, they relied on getting you out there in the publicity for the show's publicity. And, yeah. God, there was no real Instagram. And we didn't have Instagram then, right?

8:59 Can you imagine?

9:05 So, you know, it was. So that kept me sort of like. Yeah. Sort of a distance.

9:14 I think I'm so happy that you brought that up because I was really trying to get that out of Gab the other day. Because she talked about like why I did, she said, I didn't watch the show. I didn't know what was going on. How can I do a co-hosting job of a show I don't watch? So she had to watch a few to get into the mode.

9:30 And I was like, but why didn't you watch it? And she told me she was busy and she'd jump right off to do her own talk show. And she, you know, she was, she was very busy. But I was trying to get in there and like say, you know, because if it were me, I would have been like, I can't watch that. It hurts too much.

9:47 Yeah. That's. Because it's like, that's the family that I just was in, but now I'm not.

9:53 And now you're not.

9:55 And it was it was hard. It was hard.

9:57 You came back for a few, like, a little, maybe one episode in seven, six, six, seven and eight seasons, six, seven and eight.

10:05 Yeah.

10:06 How was that?

10:07 Strange. That was strange. That was hard too. Because, you know, I was, it was, it was great to see everybody. And there was a lot, you know, a lot of love. And there's also the sense of like, well, you don't, you know, where do I fit?

10:22 Where do I even stand? I mean, I don't want to get anybody's way.

10:25 Yeah. Yeah.

10:26 Yeah.

10:27 And of course, you know, we got, we got sent out to Hong Kong, which I think is, I've got an idea. I don't think we're in Hong Kong anymore. I think at this point, I think what happened to Jim Walsh is that he grew a beard. Okay. Is he? Check. Yeah. Right. And then, and then, I think he moved to Nepal because I think he started a cult.

10:55 Okay.

10:57 So he is in Nepal now.

11:00 If Jim Walsh were to start a cult, I would be banging on your door to be in it.

11:07 It's expensive and you've got to go through a whole, you know, initiation process. So we'll, we'll talk about that. We'll see if we can get you involved, but yeah.

11:16 Oh my God. I've never heard a more fascinating, like what would they be doing now?

11:20 Yeah.

11:21 But where's Cindy? Is she by your side?

11:23 No, I think, I think we got, I think we split up.

11:26 Why?

11:27 I think she got bored with me and it's somewhere along the line and she She married a rich shipping, Chinese shipping magnate. And so they've moved now. So she's not in Hong Kong. She's probably, I don't even think she's in mainland China. I think she's traveling the world. Yeah.

11:48 I can see Cindy enjoying that.

11:50 Yeah.

11:50 Because, yeah, you are kind of boring, but in the best way. Like, you know, when you're younger, you don't want boring. But then when you get older, you're like, please, I'm ready for boring stuff.

11:59 Yeah, absolutely. She may come and visit me and she may come back.

12:04 I don't know if she's going to think about your cult.

12:07 Jason and I always had this idea. I swear to God, I think we pitched this to Chuck at one point, was that he and Izzy would come home. And rescue us from Hong Kong because we were being captured by some terrorists. Okay. They'd come in with a helicopter and just sit down and we'd do a whole.

12:25 You already lost me. If I was Chuck listening to this pitch, I'd be like, I'm out. Helicopters?

12:30 No. Not going to happen.

12:33 Oh, my gosh.

12:34 Yeah.

12:35 Well, you were missed. You were the backbone of the OG show. Like, it was very weird when you and Mama Walsh were gone. Really?

12:45 Really.

12:46 It was. And then it just, in the show went on and that was the, like my first real experience of like, that's what happens in a series that's been on, like people come and go and while they feel like your family and you, it's like, how could I ever work here without them? And then all of a sudden they're just gone and you must move on. You must keep going.

13:07 Yeah. Yeah.

13:09 And then. you know, all the teenagers started living in your house. I guess they're college age now. Started living in your house. Like you are this, you can just, you're a tycoon. You can have a house in Beverly Hills.

13:21 Yeah.

13:21 Wherever you are in Hong Kong, hopefully not in a cage.

13:24 Not in a cage, no.

13:26 I just, it was just weird the way the show kept going with the house, with your house.

13:31 Crazy. I'm like, do I call, you know, it's like, Steve, you know, is he paying rent? No. They're not.

13:42 Anybody they meet, they're like, come stay at our house. Nobody's paying you a dime.

13:48 And what do our neighbors think? And do they have, you know, our phone call? Do they phone us in Hong Kong and say, Jim, Cindy, do you know what's going on at your house right now? I don't know.

14:00 In Brandon's defense, I don't think he ever had like a balls out conversation. party at the Walsh house after you guys left. I think he was pretty like, no, this is my parents' house. We have to be respectful. Steve, on the other hand.

14:14 Yeah. No. Not so much. Not so much.

14:17 Oh my gosh.

14:18 Yeah. Well, I was going to say though.

14:21 Tell me.

14:22 What? No. What's it? I, I really, it's, it's incredible to watch because I hadn't watched and to catch up, see the progression of the show, see the, you guys mature as both human beings and actors. And I have to say like the, the, the, the wedding episode where the two of you decide not to do, not to go through with it. That scene is one of the best scenes I think, and not having watched the whole show, but I think it's one of the truly great scenes.

14:56 You guys played that so well. And then to see it reflected in this episode, where what are lifelong friends? And it reflects on both personally as an actor and my late dotage, my having done this for 167 years, the number of families that you form and theater companies and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And your heart being torn apart and then reformed and torn apart, you know, and this episode a lot, you know, with, with, with, you know, with Ian, I want to say Ian and Brian, but, you know, Steve and David, you know, that no, we're even with Sophie and all that stuff. We're still friends.

15:50 And then you guys, you and you and Brandon trying to figure out what is this now, you know, And being able to let him go, oh, it makes me cry.

16:01 I cried too.

16:02 Yeah.

16:03 This episode got a tear out of me.

16:05 Yeah.

16:05 Because what you're saying is so true. It felt like the end of something really big.

16:21 Did you know that Jason was, did you realize that Jason was actually, he went off the show for a while, right? But he came back.

16:29 Came back. And that's when they got engaged and really became a couple. But then he, this is the last time we see him ever again, except for a cameo that he does in the final episode on video. And he was just here talking to me about it. And, you know, he said things like if I had known it was only going to go two more seasons, I would have stayed.

16:55 Really? Mm-hmm.

16:56 Which I was like, oh, I'm glad to hear you thought that way because I thought you were just like, peace out, see ya.

17:04 Yeah.

17:05 So that was really touching. And also to just be with him kind of in a work environment doing the podcast, you know, we're doing jobs here but just to be able to hang out with him and feel that connection again you know and I just afterwards I texted him I was like it was so good to be with you for an hour solid of just you and me talking no interruptions yeah and catching up I really loved it just like I'm loving this conversation and Gab's conversation and such a such an incredible bond we all have even though like you're saying yeah we'll go do other projects we'll have other little you know, momentary families on all the projects we do.

17:49 Of course, yeah.

17:50 I think we all learn something pretty huge by that experience. Like, yes, you're a family and then it's over. Yeah. Like, you know, we all move on to something else because we have to because that's our job.

18:03 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've been teaching for a long time. I didn't do, I went to it not reluctantly because, you know, you always think, oh my God, those who teach Can't. Right? And it was like 20-some years ago, and a wonderful actor friend of mine who I've worked with a lot came up to me and he said, you're going to teach. And I was like, can we use the word S-H? Can I use that word? Yes.

18:32 I said, you're full of shit. No. What, you're saying my career's over? And Robin was like, no, no, no, no. You've been doing all these workshops before. You know, and I, the way you direct and all that. So, and I'm your first student. I was like, oh, okay. So I just did it by word of, I've always done it by word of mouth. So I don't advertise or anything like that. But I've been very, very fortunate. Wait, wait.

18:54 If I needed you to be my teacher, how would I find you?

18:57 Good luck. You can just, you know, I've got a, I've got a website and I'll, I'll, it's a, what is it? Working Actors Workshop or something like that.

19:04 Oh my gosh.

19:05 It was a long ago. And I and that's a long story how I got there. But what was my point? My point. I'll get there with with with teaching for a long time. And oh, because the work that I do. OK, do you mind? I'm going to digress a little bit about where I where I got. Please.

19:29 No, it's fascinating. Go ahead.

19:30 So. Coming out here, you know, I had gone to Juilliard and I was doing theater, theater, theater, theater, theater. Never thought when we were living in New York, you know, you're living at the center of the universe as everyone knows, right? Been there for 15 years. Was working all the time. We already had a kid. but we were poor as church mice. I mean, I was working off Broadway doing regional theater, same with Keller, her, my wife. And, you know, she woke up one morning and said, we're moving to Los Angeles. And I was like, are you insane? Why would, you know, and she said, we can't eat right now.

20:06 We have a one and a half year old. we need to move to Los Angeles because you've already done some pilots and blah, blah, blah, blah. I was like, okay. So came out here, got on the show. And I felt like something was missing between me and the camera. You know, I felt like, and I don't know if it was all the theater stuff, but I just felt like, I felt like there was some part of me that was hidden or not showing up. And good, lovely Gabrielle Carteris said, you got to come with me to a Meisner class. And I'd never taken Meisner training. You know, I knew about him in New York. And I came to class with her and I ended up studying with that teacher for three years. Then I ended up studying with another teacher for four years while I was doing

21:00 all this. And it really changed. It was like the missing piece of, you know, it's not the be all end all, but it was really a part of the training that sort of got me into like, yeah, what, like, what is the quanta of acting? Like, what is, what is the real moment of acting? Not what you think getting out of your head. You know what I mean?

21:22 Really connecting and being affected, which is watching you very powerful. And yeah, But it's very challenging to do what we do because we have to become vulnerable. Like, you know, other people use their writing skills or other people use their head for lawyerly skills. And, you know, we use our heart. We use our heart and our psyche and we have to be vulnerable.

21:46 Our emotions.

21:48 Our emotions. Yeah. And, you know, how do you do that and really contact another human being and really be affected? Because the only thing, the only thing that we want to watch is being affected by another human being.

22:03 So we want to feel that. Yeah. It's so interesting that you said, we're supposed to be recapping an episode, by the way. But it's so interesting that you said you felt a disconnect between you and the camera and us. No one's ever discussed that before with me. But I've always thought I don't like anything else about what I do except the moment I have with the camera.

22:30 That's interesting.

22:31 And so it's been really hard for me to go back to sitting on a set 14 hours a day because I don't really like it. I don't like shooting the shit. I don't like small talk.

22:41 Yeah.

22:42 I love acting. Yeah. But it's so fleeting. It's just a moment every maybe three hours.

22:49 Yeah. But you learn to make friends with it. You learn to understand that. I think that's another thing is that for a while I was kind of like, oh, why are you invading my space? And it changed it all for me. It was like, no, no, no, no. Invite the camera in. It's your friend. It's your most trusted, intimate friend. And it loves watching you. You know what I mean?

23:13 It doesn't have an opinion about it.

23:16 No, no, it doesn't.

23:17 This hard glass... It was black and metal and nothing else.

23:22 Yeah. But I love hearing how, for you, what that's like. And so you, but because I know you, you, I mean, you started working as an actress when, how old were you?

23:33 Oh, not until like seven, 16, 17, 16. Oh, 16, not until 16.

23:36 Hello, 23 or whatever. So, but you, so you had an experience with a camera early on and you, It sounds to me like you were never like freaked out by it. You never were like, ooh, ooh, self-conscious.

23:56 No, now I am. I'm like, is that, do you want to back that up a little bit? It gets a little, right?

24:02 Broadcast news. Yeah, broadcast. Close, close. Not that close.

24:04 No, not that close.

24:06 Give me a break. That's also where watching yourself on camera, I wasn't used to it. I couldn't stand it. So the first I think the first episode I directed was in season four. What was it? It was God, I can't even remember which one it was.

24:28 Anyway, you can't remember. I can't remember.

24:30 Yeah, no, but but it was really a powerful experience. And I remember being in the editing room and I love editing and I'd never done that before. So I just I I came in even with the assistant editor just to watch the whole thing, the whole process, you know. So I'm sitting there watching and there's this actor on the screen and I'm like, what are you doing? You're not, you're not repeating. And I started throwing, it was me.

24:56 And I was like, it was so hard to watch myself on camera. I was like, you idiot. What are you doing?

25:02 Oh my God. You're talking to yourself.

25:05 I was talking to myself.

25:05 Oh, bless your heart.

25:07 The editor was like, you know, that's you. I said, I know, I know.

25:11 Oh God. That's it's the hardest to watch yourself.

25:16 I think so.

25:26 You directed episodes on season four. I see that you directed six and 29.

25:33 Yes. Very good.

25:34 I'm not good. Lorraine's good.

25:36 Little Monsters season five. The one where what's her name? She almost kills herself at the end of the.

25:43 Tiffany Val.

25:45 No, no, no.

25:45 Oh, somebody else tries to kill herself?

25:47 Oh, yes.

25:49 The stalker?

25:50 Truth and Consequences. That was what it was. So it was Truth and Consequences. It was the actress who was kind of, you know, obsessed with Shannon's character and thought that she should play the role. Oh, yeah.

26:04 Oh, yes, yes. The whole theater episode.

26:06 The whole theater episode.

26:08 Perfect for you.

26:09 Yeah, it was. Yeah. So, yeah. And that was, and Rick was the DP.

26:16 We had such a good family. I mean, and it shifted. Our crew changed a lot. That was always hard to let people go and then have somebody come in.

26:23 Yeah.

26:24 But that's the business, man.

26:27 It's, and that's what I'm getting at is that, you know, opening your heart because you don't have a show unless you open up, unless you become that very connected with each other. So watching this episode, Tell me. It's like, particularly, come on, with you and, you know, I know how you and Jason are, you know, close and I won't even talk about Dearly Departed, which is going to make me upset. Yeah, that was hard. To see, you know, there's unspoken chemistry between you, you know, so much that's happened and it's all reflected in what you're doing and and it so it makes it so that you guys could play all those subtleties of you know what are we with each other are we lifelong friends when this

27:31 is over are we still going to you know.

27:37 Yeah, I remember. Because this is the episode we're talking about. We're talking about episode five of season nine, everybody. Brandon leaves. And to remind you, I'm here with special, very, very special co-host, James Eckhouse. But it aired in November, early November of 1998.

27:55 Okay.

27:56 And this was hard. really hard to, I cried when I watched this episode. It was hard to watch, hard to film, I remember. Yeah, yeah. Because it wasn't like, oh, he might pop back in. He wasn't going to be on the show anymore. And that's what he wanted.

28:20 That's what he, Jason wanted, you're saying?

28:22 Yes, he wanted to do other things. He wanted, he needed to step up.

28:25 He was directing up in Canada by then. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he became quite, he's had an amazing career. Yeah, no, I totally understand that.

28:32 But, So the character was dealing with all her feelings and me, the actress, was dealing with all my feelings of, you know, as crazy as feeling abandoned or, you know, left behind or not good enough. Why wouldn't you stay and work here with me? You know, it's so weird. We work so beautifully together. Yeah. And then to have to like put all of that on the, you know, aside and remember this is, I've got a, this is my friend in front of me. I want him to be happy. Just like Kelly had to do that, you know?

29:00 So it was so life imitating art.

29:04 About that. And you know, it's interesting because Jay, you know, Jay has a, you know, hockey player, you know, all, you know, full of confidence. You know what I mean? And he has that. And that's Brandon's character is having that kind of, not placid exterior, but that calm, you know, the exterior kind of stays. And I don't, I don't think I've ever seen Jay, that idea of He gets the job in the newspaper in DC, the Washington, the New York, obviously New York times, but when you are chronicles, you know, becoming a journalist out there. And then, then at one point he decides not to do it. And then he comes in the beach pit for the first anniversary of the, of the, of the newspaper that I didn't even know that he and Steven started. And, um,

30:01 you guys all sort of convince him that no, you, you have to take the job. And it was interesting to watch Jay. I mean, he was wrestling with something, you know, and you could really, I started thinking about what is he thinking right now? And what is he thinking about? Yeah, because we've all, you know, the show is over for you. The next step is next season, right?

30:26 Where do we go from here? You know, what, what is life like afterwards? And, and, It's a real deal that we deal with. You know, I mean, I think sometimes also, I mean, I always, and you get to contact with fans, below fans out there, and they appreciate you listening. And I think it's probably interesting to take the mask off, you know what I mean? Take the thing off and go, yeah, no, no, this is what we deal with, you know?

30:55 Yeah, I mean, because we're solidified in their minds as those characters, right? And thank God they were great characters.

31:03 Yeah.

31:04 But, yeah, our fans have been so loyal.

31:08 So loyal. I'm always amazed. You know, I'm always amazed.

31:11 We're so lucky. So lucky. Hey, James, will you read the synopsis?

31:16 Okay. So, Donna and Noah struggle with his grief. David and Steve no longer have beef. Nice. Sophie will do whatever fame. She even gets billboards that spell out her name. Val's mom decides not to turn her in after all. Kelly and Donna open up a boutique at the mall. Brandon is hurt when Kelly won't ask him to stay, and for the very last time, Brandon Walsh drives away.

31:49 Okay, I'm feeling feelings. That's the best synopsis reading we've ever had. Don't tell Amy, everyone, but You just crushed her with that reading.

31:59 The Juilliard training comes out. Wow.

32:03 Yeah, you're good. Directed by Christopher Hibbler. Love him.

32:09 Did you love him? Yeah.

32:10 Yeah.

32:11 I only met him once. And John Eisendrath.

32:14 This was the Eisendrath era.

32:16 Yeah, which was right after my era. So I never got to know John. But I did meet him, I think. I was. Going back to directing, trying to. And I was, I would, you know, follow directors around, you know, you would shadow a director, which was, and I was doing that a lot. And an old friend of mine had been my roommate, Ken Olin, who was, became the showrunner on Alias and Brothers and Sisters and stuff quite well for himself. So John was, I think, one of the showrunners on Alias with Ken. That was a great show. Yeah, it was a great show. So I got to follow Ken around, which was terrific.

32:57 Well, I thought that they did, you know, a really good job with all the emotional kind of ups and downs, backs and forth between especially Kelly and Brandon. Totally. Trying to convince themselves that they were doing the right thing.

33:11 Yeah. Yeah.

33:13 But at the same time, wondering, like, am I doing the right thing?

33:17 Yeah.

33:18 Is this what we should do?

33:20 Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, the residue of not going through with a marriage, but leading everything up to it. I mean, that leaves a huge amount of, not baggage, but emotional, you know, residue of that. And, you know, I think we all, when we see somebody that we were connected with a long time ago, It's still there. Yeah. Always. Always.

33:52 40 years later.

33:54 I think like Brandon, like you said, he comes back and then he decides he's going to stay because it's familiar and he likes it and that's what he knows. And I'm sure, you know, living in New York City, whew.

34:09 Yeah. That was a lot. I thought it was D.C., but maybe.

34:12 Is it D.C.? You said the New York Chronicle, and that threw me, James.

34:17 Well, come on now, Jenny. It was the New York Chronicle.

34:20 In Washington.

34:21 In Washington, D.C. Thanks, thanks.

34:24 You know I can't remember certain things.

34:25 Well, maybe not. Yes, but you also, because of the way that he looks at you... So there's the scene when you guys open the boutique, which is... which is running through the whole thing. And Noah and Donna are having this very complicated, I mean, she's in love with him. He's a troubled child. He's a mess. And you say to her, look, after a certain point, Also, I don't think they deal with his alcoholism. Do they ever deal with Noah's alcoholism? Because he's quickly an alcoholic.

35:06 It continues on.

35:07 Oh, he is.

35:08 It continues on. But this is all, I guess, brought on from the grief of losing his father.

35:13 Yeah.

35:14 You know, he killed himself violently.

35:15 Yeah, yeah.

35:17 So he's all messed up.

35:19 Yeah, yeah. Very troubled. Messed up. Yeah. So.

35:26 I feel bad for Donna because she's, you know, wants... be there for him but oof he's just not a veils right now.

35:35 No no and you're you know you're protecting her and i think you see you know but you but so what i so when the shop is opening and you have the party there you see brandon off to the side looking wistfully at you and that's where i thought he made the decision is he went this is nuts there's still I don't know. Not almost unconsciously, you know, and that, oh, he does. And then, and then he tells Steve and then Steve goes in and tells you, no, he's not leaving. And you're like, okay, what are we going to do this? This, I don't know about this.

36:11 You know, I feel like Kelly had to have like incredible strength to throughout this whole episode, actually, because the last episode she was trying to get her stuff back together. We met Matt Durning attorney at law. At the last, before you.

36:26 A little conflict of interest going through this episode, but that's okay.

36:31 But interestingly enough, those two aren't connecting in this episode or the next that I've seen. Sorry, I might have watched ahead just so I could prepare for another podcast recording. Never done that before. But she's moving forward, no matter how much it hurts. And I admired her strength.

36:48 Absolutely. Absolutely.

36:49 Because all of me, Jenny, wanted her to cave and be like, yes, move back. It'll be amazing.

36:55 Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see that. And you see that, but I love the conflict in him, too. I love that. You can say that, yes, I can imagine this fear of moving to the East Coast and leaving his friends. And that gets touched on, but that look is so powerful of when he's watching you, you know, in the party and you go, yeah, right. You know, there's so much unfinished business between you so that's what pulls him, you know. Another scene that I love, because you and, you know, you and Tori have had an incredible relationship, obviously, even back then. And seeing you and Donna, That scene when you're talking, she's doubtful. You're like, well, here it is.

37:44 You know, you fixed up the place magically, very quickly.

37:47 Very quickly.

37:47 In TV land. And yeah. And there's something really terrific about, I'm sorry, but just from a feminist point of view, you know, about two very young women at that point and being defined by their work. as opposed to their male-female relationships, which I don't know if you've noticed, does happen in our society a little bit. And, you know, so we're talking also 1995, and it was just really refreshing because Tori was hysterical. She was wonderful in her doubts, you know, and the two of you, I thought, okay, I want to do a whole show with the two of you sisters living together i don't know what you have fabulous rapport and quick you know you guys could do that kind of wonderful um i don't want to

38:48 say even sitcom me but better than that you know yeah.

38:52 Did you know we did a sitcom together you probably don't know that see sorry no don't even it was only on for one season it was it was hard to shoot but It was really fun because we do have that, like, we're sisterly and we complete each other's sentences. And no matter how long time goes between seeing each other, we'll always have that same sort of banter and connection.

39:20 Yeah. What was the sitcom? Oh, gosh.

39:23 Okay. It was called Spy Girl. No, that's a different show I did. Hold on. Mystery Girls.

39:29 Okay. Mystery Girls.

39:31 Mystery Girls. And we were undercover detectives who were once on a famous TV show. I don't know. But it was really fun. We had a great time.

39:39 Fantastic. Was it like a single camera? No, it was multi-cam. Multi-cam.

39:45 Dream dreams.

39:46 Yeah.

39:56 Let's talk about the Valerie. First of all, a lawyer moves in upstairs, an attorney, Matt Durning, attorney at law. I'm just going to say that as many times as I can in the next season. But he's very attractive.

40:11 Yes, I would say so.

40:13 Like if you had a Barbie doll.

40:16 Yeah, for a lawyer. For a lawyer.

40:18 This is it.

40:18 Daniel Cosgrove, you're right.

40:20 And everybody's coming. Everybody needs a lawyer all of a sudden. He literally just opened his door and now Val needs a lawyer. Noah needs a lawyer. I don't even know who else.

40:30 Well, the two, Leah and Lenny.

40:34 Leah and Lenny. And then automatically, of course, to create conflict, they have Kelly on one side with Leah and Matt on Lenny's side defending him.

40:45 Yeah. Yeah.

40:47 So it gets really quickly. There's stakes, you know, because Kelly's not afraid to tell her opinion about this case and protecting her, Leah. And Matt's just doing his job because that's what he does.

41:04 Yeah. Yeah. And he explains that, you know, parents divorced and felt like he didn't want to have something happen. I mean, he brings up a good point. I think we side more with you. And then, of course, Brandon joins the fray because he starts to write an article.

41:23 Ooh, yeah. Kelly's like, no, it's OK.

41:27 No, no, no. I wish we saw that scene where you decide that it's OK to do it. I'm just curious. Is there a scene with Leo that we are missing?

41:39 Maybe she needed it to prove something.

41:43 Yeah.

41:43 For evidence.

41:44 No, I want this to happen.

41:46 Yeah, but it gets ugly in the next episode.

41:49 Oh, does it really? Yeah.

41:52 You've got to watch that. Set your VCR. That's how you have to do it. And how do you feel about Sophie, this new character Sophie? She's new. She's come in. She was dating Steve. Well, she wasn't dating him. She was living with Steve, living off of him. And then she got involved with David.

42:10 Secretly.

42:11 Secretly. Underneath Steve's nose, though.

42:14 Oh, she's trouble.

42:15 She's trouble.

42:17 She's the traditional bad girl. She kind of, you know, she kind of, she's along the lines of Val, you know, I mean, where, you know, Val's character was always, you know, stirring up trouble. I think she's, she's really wonderful. I love her in the role. And It's a lot about ambition for her, what she will do for her career. Yeah.

42:44 I don't know. She's great. Laura was great in that role. I felt like because they were just doing so much character exploration with Val and her past and her sleeping with her mom's husband and then her mom. She's working on so much personally. That they needed that bad girl to just come in and do bad things with no conscience.

43:07 Yeah. Yeah. Because now Val, Val's gotten, oh yeah. I mean, I didn't even know half of what she'd gone through.

43:13 You didn't even know she was smoking pot upstairs in your window sill.

43:16 Yeah. Yeah. And sleeping with her. So much. So, oh my God, you know? Yeah. So she's carrying a lot. She's carrying a lot, but she's not, you see her now maybe wrestling with it in a way where she's like, okay, you know, like, and she's still working with Noah, right? They work. The peach pit has the late night thing.

43:47 What was it? What was it called?

43:49 Peach pit after dark.

43:50 Peach pit after dark.

43:51 But we like to call it pee pad because that's a lot to write on the call sheet.

43:55 Pee pad. Pee pad. Yeah. Which was after my time, but, but there's still work. And in this episode, if I'm not mistaken, because they have a scene together. I'm like, what are you guys even talking? I mean, they had a thing.

44:07 So why are the, why is, why is Noah hanging out with Val so much? Is that what you, it's like misery loves company.

44:17 I guess. Yeah. Yeah. But then, then, then that's also a lot about, do we still remain friends with people who we have all kinds of interesting things baggage with that pops up. I mean, obviously for you and Brandon, right? Now at this point, I guess Steve and David reveals that he's had this relationship with Sophie.

44:43 He saw it at the end of the last episode. Steve just went off on him. He found out and he went off and that he was like, good luck to both of you. And he left.

44:53 Gotcha.

44:54 And I guess he's had time now.

44:55 Yeah. So she was living at the Walsh house with Steve. And they were having an intimate relationship.

45:06 Not as intimate as you would. He wanted it to be intimate. You know him, of course.

45:10 Okay. I gotcha. And she was kind of toying with him. But she toys with everybody. Yeah. I mean, she had that scene with Steve and she goes, well, did you miss me? I'm like, you little.

45:20 Yeah. She's working it from every angle. All she wants is to be famous. Or rich.

45:27 Rich. Rich or famous. She puts the billboard up there at the end of the episode. Right. She takes David. To see this.

45:36 Look at me.

45:37 Look at me. It's so fabulous. It's so Hollywood.

45:42 She says at the end of it, she's like, look at me. Puts his head looking at her again. I was like, wow. But she's like, what did that billboard remind you of in LA?

45:52 Angie. Thank you.

45:54 Angelina.

45:55 Angelina, who I was in the Hollywood parade with Angelina. Oh, wow. Yeah, I'm on the Hollywood parade and we're backstage and she's going to be in the parade. You know, I was like one of those things. I was like, really?

46:09 You guys, if you hold on, if you don't know who Angelina is, she's a staple. Angeline, sorry. If you don't know who Angeline is, she's like a legend in Hollywood. She wanted to be famous. So she I think she my what I had heard was she was married to a wealthy man, older man. And he got billboards for her all over town. And this started in the 90s.

46:33 Yes.

46:33 And so everywhere you went, you saw this beautiful blonde busty in a bathing suit, like pose like a kitten or something.

46:42 Yeah.

46:43 On the billboard. And it had her phone number on it.

46:46 That's right. Yeah.

46:47 That's right.

46:48 That's right.

46:49 So this is like Sophie trying to do what Angelina did.

46:53 As soon as I saw that, because that was me when we moved here in 88. So it was like, that was what I was seeing.

46:59 We're so simpatico you and me.

47:01 It's crazy. It's crazy.

47:05 She still does it.

47:06 She still does it.

47:07 She still drives around town looking for any opportunity for someone to notice her in her pink Corvette. And I ran into her at a gas station. This is, maybe 12 years ago, 15 years ago.

47:21 Okay.

47:22 And she was getting gas in the pink Corvette. She was pumping the gas.

47:26 She was pumping the gas.

47:27 And I got out and I was like, I have to meet you. You're a legend and I have to meet you. She pops open her trunk and it is a merch store, like curated, hung everything. When you pop it up, it all hangs perfectly. I bought a photo of her and had her autograph. It's framed in my bar still to this day.

47:49 Love that i love that so you know i think i did this in it was like 93 or 4 and she was going to be on the hollywood parade and they put me on the one of the gloves and i had my i guess by then six or seven year old young son right and he's in the waiting room and he sees this woman busty let's call her busty.

48:14 You know beautifully busty yes.

48:17 You know dressed rather provocatively and you could just see my son's eyes like popping out just calm.

48:26 Down perfect oh man that's what she was going for starting.

48:31 Oh yeah yeah she didn't care where where she got her.

48:33 From she's still out there.

48:35 He's still out there we should get her on the show hollywood kitsch you know when you first move here it's it's Fantastic. And it's still here. It was much more rampant. There was a guy who also had a Cadillac, you know what I mean?

48:50 With his pictures all over it?

48:51 Yes.

48:51 Dennis Woodward?

48:52 Dennis Woodward with his phone number. And you'd see it everywhere.

48:57 He's had his headshots pasted all over like this. Station waggy kind of car.

49:02 Yes. Yes. Yes. And you'd see it and you'd keep and sometimes I think, OK, what does it mean when I see it? Does it mean that I'm going to have a good audition or does it mean that I'm going to be desperate in my life?

49:14 Living in your in your station wagon.

49:15 Living in my station wagon for the rest of my life.

49:19 Oh my gosh we could talk for hours about all that stuff man yeah.

49:23 Yeah it was a beautiful okay time wise.

49:27 We're good we're just gonna wrap it up our episode we're gonna talk just a little bit about abby valerie's mom wow wow this is really all you can say Wow.

49:40 So we've seen her a lot throughout the episodes.

49:43 Here and there. She's come and gone.

49:46 And of course, her dad, of course, I mean, her mom was on them. Wait, her mom or dad was Mamas and Papas? Her mom. Abby Phillips' mom. I somehow ended up, I worked with Michelle Phillips. And that was Michelle. That was Michelle Phillips.

50:04 Cause I worked with, um, sinking in now you got it.

50:07 Yeah. That was an acting class with Mac McKenzie. Uh-huh. Also his daughter. And then Bijou and I were in a movie together. So I got to meet there, you know, met the, some of them. Um, yeah, she, she was great. And that, um, the scene in the, I always kind of wonder how did she end up, she comes to the peach pit to the same, you know, like the, the, the year anniversary party.

50:36 Yeah. She's just kind of there.

50:39 She's kind of there, which is kind of, you know, but it's, it's convenient. It's writer convenient, but there, you know, you're like, why are you here? You know, essentially, I think she's trying to find Val to be able to tell her that I'm, I've decided not to, you know, tell on you for murdering my husband. But we don't see that.

50:59 We don't get to see that in this episode, right?

51:01 No. No, no, she does. She sits down with her at the counter and she says, I'm not going to tell. And then they get into an argument afterwards. Right.

51:09 And she's like, don't make this difficult or something like that.

51:11 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

51:12 So Val's still not certain. Val's still thinking my mom's never going to stand up for me.

51:18 Yeah. I won't ask about it because you can't talk about it now until you go through those episodes. But now I have to Get back on my Paramount Plus and look at it.

51:28 It's so worth it. It's so worth it.

51:30 It's great. Yeah, it meant so much to catch up with you, but also with the show and see how amazing your relationships have developed. So what I wanted to get to is the unspoken love. nature of family and what you guys bring to it without even thinking about it. I mean, it's, it's, it's so electric. There's nothing like chemistry.

51:59 There's just nothing like chemistry. And when it's there on camera, no wonder you still have gazillion fans because you suck them in. It's true.

52:10 It's, uh, it's, I don't know. I'm just lucky. I guess we're all lucky to have that, that base of fans that have followed us all everywhere. And supported us. Just been incredible.

52:22 Yeah, we appreciate it so much.

52:23 Yeah, that last, yeah, I'm kind of growing sick of the whole Noah being drunk. It carries on further, too.

52:32 It carries on, you know, yeah. Okay. Okay. But we need Donna to have that kind of, and then, oh, there's the little spark between Donna and Matt. Matt Durning. Matt Durning.

52:45 This I did not know.

52:46 Well, do you want to go have a drink? And I'm like.

52:48 I'm like, is he a friend? I think he's a friend.

52:50 I give friend energy. It feels like it's a little more than a friend from his point of view.

52:56 I feel like it's friend energy.

52:57 Yeah.

52:59 But I might be wrong.

53:00 We'll see in the next episode.

53:02 I don't know.

53:02 Okay. We'll see. We'll see.

53:04 It can't go too far because I know Kelly ends up with Matt eventually.

53:08 Well, that's what I thought. Yeah.

53:10 I'm 100% sure about something.

53:12 You know that because you filmed some scenes with him. Yeah. Yeah, right.

53:16 Oh, my gosh.

53:18 Bless your heart.

53:19 Bless your heart.

53:21 Yeah.

53:23 I'm so glad that, you know, us reaching out, asking you to do this brought this for you, like this, like, reconnection to what it was like then and how you were then and how you got to where you are now in life and, like, all the meaning that's just so thread throughout all of it.

53:42 Yeah, yeah.

53:43 And how lucky we are. That we had each other.

53:45 I feel so honored and so blessed to be asked. So I'm very happy to be here.

53:52 I'm so happy to see you.

53:53 All right. Well, maybe again sometime.

53:55 I would love it. You're an excellent co-host. I'm going to nominate you.

54:00 Yeah.

54:00 I'm going to nominate you for best co-host of a podcast in some category.

54:05 Okay. Okay. Reading the, reading the synopsis. Yeah. You did a great job. You take care. Okay.

54:11 All my hugs to you.

54:14 Back at you.

54:14 Love to your family. Okay.

54:16 Love to yours. Bye-bye.

54:18 Oh my God. I have to hang out with him again. I love me some Mr. Walsh and I love me some James Eckhouse. You guys, that was such a treat. And I'm, So grateful to all of these wonderful guests for coming in and visiting with us and taking us back to that era of our lives and really just jumping in. So thank you. Thank you, everybody, for listening.

54:39 And I will see you next week.