December 28, 2025 • 26 mins
It’s officially rom-com season on TV, and we’re diving headfirst into the world of love, laughs, and all the awkward, heartwarming moments in between.
From classic comfort watches to underrated gems, this episode rounds up the romantic comedy series you won’t be able to stop thinking about. And for true fans of the genre, there are some undercover picks you probably haven’t discovered yet.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're listening to Amma Mia podcast from Mama Mia. Welcome
to the Spill, your daily pop culture fix. I'm Concena lu.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Kid and I'm Laura Brodney.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
And this summer we have curated your Spilled blaylist with
some brand new episodes and some of our absolute favorites.
So on today's episode, we're going to be diving in
to the best rom com TV shows. Now, Laura, this
is one you and I did a little bit earlier
this year.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yes, so we did this off the back of Lena
Dunham's new rom com that came out this year too Much,
and it got us thinking about other TV rom coms
that I don't know about you, but I watch over
and over and over again. Some of them you have
heard of. I'm sure some of them you definitely have it.
But if you're looking for something to watch over the holidays,
I feel like this would be your list.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, and this particular episode is one where you were
got very very upset with me with my lack of
TV show knowledge due to the fact that I didn't
know about Emily in Paris.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
That you didn't know about it, you hadn't watched it.
It's a cultural hit.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, there was also a bit about Gilmore Girls in
here too. I really got a flogging in this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I think I might have blacked that out that whole
conversation because I can't. I can't deal with girl so
disappointed and I still am. And if you're looking for
even more rom com content, we do have a brand
new episode dropping into your feeds soon about the classic
most beloved rom com couples that we are sure absolutely
broke up once the movie finished, so steaching for that.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I love this one. It's like, it's kind of like
fan fic, but for rom coms. Now. You have been
suggesting this incessantly on our channels for weeks and weeks
and weeks, and we finally had to say today, Okay, Laura,
for God's sake, will do it.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
This is the best romantic comedy series of all time.
I'm going to give you a couple of my favorites,
which are more like more well known, and then you're
gonna give us the ones that we don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes, and I should say before we jump into that,
So that is how we're going to do it. What
is a fun, frivolous Friday episode about love and romance
without some rules.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, rules is what I bring to know. We're about
to say, I'm about to say, Laura will now come
in with her rules.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Because this is what you want from a pop culture podcast. No,
not just to define things. So obviously we were talking
about TV romantic comedies because, as you would have heard
in our wee can Watch episode this morning, Lena Dunham's
new rom com has just come out on Netflix Too Much.
Even though it's a rom comm and a drama, Lena
Dunham said her catalyst for making the show was as
a bit of a love letter to the romantic comedies
(02:43):
she grew up watching in all the movies that she loved,
and so that got me thinking that we always talk
about romantic comedy movies, and obviously there's so many incredible
romantic comedy movies out there, but I feel like we
don't talk enough about romantic comedy TV shows and they
are also very, very important. So that's what we're going
to do today. So we've defined a romantic comedy TV
(03:04):
show as obviously something that is a that has lightness
and frothiness to it, but something where the love story
is the central driving part of the show. And it
is the end game, and you do get that love
story payoff at the end. So that is how we're
defining a romantic comedy TV show.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Okay, I'm going to start with one that is on
the newer side. It only came out last year on Netflix.
Nobody wants this.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Never heard of it except for the fifteen podcasts WED.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I know we've talked about it a lot, so we
don't have to go too much into it because I
know probably everyone's over it. But it would be remiss
if I didn't mention it because I think it fits
the genre.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
What did you love about it? That's what we've never
talked about this before.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
We haven't. I really loved the comedy. I liked the
cross cultural development of a love story that's not like
a typical love story, and something centered around religion. It's
not something that we really see very often, this agnostic
woman going for this Jewish rabbi. I just thought it
was a really interesting take. I also really liked the
(04:06):
sidecat like go Good. One of my favorite characters is
Sasha played by Timothy Simons. I don't know if you
ever watched Veep. Did you watch Veab? Yes, he was
in Vape. He was Jonah in Vain and it's just
he's such a great character. He's so funny. And the
new season is coming out in October.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Oh, yes, our calendars are marked.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yes, so we don't have long to wait for season two.
But I think in terms of fitting your rules, it
really yep nails it.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It really does.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yes. The other one that I wanted to do is
one that is a bit older. It wrapped filming in
twenty eighteen, and it's New Girl.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
My god, New Girl is just one of my ultimate
comfort watches. But I think what it doesn't get enough credit.
Maybe it does, but like the hardcore fans know that
as much as that is an incredible ensemble comedy, it's
the love story that is so perfectly done. Romantic comedy
writers dream of a love story.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Like that, and you know that there's all these stories
about so. Elizabeth Merriweather created the show and during the
early episodes, Zoey Deschanel and Jake Johnson, who played Yessca
Day and Nick Miller, weren't actually allowed to do too
many scenes together because their chemistry was too good. I
love it. I love it so much, and they just
hit it off straight away and you know, obviously a
(05:24):
lot of the time with these kind of sick comy shows,
that relationship develops, but it really is from the very beginning.
You can see that there is chemistry between the two films.
And again it's just so funny. It's so silly. The
guy who plays Winston Bishop like Lemonne's, Yeah, he's so funny.
Like as he grows it gets quirkier. But my favorite
(05:46):
is definitely Schmidt Max Greenfield. Just how during the pandemic
with his daughter those funny TikTok He is hilarious.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I loved him in Running Point as well recently, but
I just I just will find him like the hottest
man ever. Also, Veronica Mars fans know him as Leo,
but he is so good at that show.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So yeah, he was gonna quick acting before he did this, I.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Know, and this is the role that really gave him
his new stardom.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
But yeah, my favorite like bit that they do throughout
the series, and it's not part of the love story,
but I'm a bit of a comedy fan. Yeah, my
favorite bit that they do is the douchebag job.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Oh yeah, yeah, and how they stomp it at the
wedding it's so funny. Damn it.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I can't find my driving moccasins anywhere all the way.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
He says, you's youth everywhere? Are you? I quote shimd
a lot, which doesn't really fit in with my day
to day life. I quote you weird. So it's just
he've got a quote for everything, or at least weird.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
He's so funny. Anyway, That is kind of my favorite.
That's on Disney Plus now you can watch all seasons.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
And it's such a good rewatch too. We watch it
every couple of years. It really holds up.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, it's a great rewatch. It's just fun. It's cozy,
it's easy.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Now.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
The last one is a really obvious one. But I
have a confession. I've never seen it. It's Emily in Paris.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Get out of here. Well you know what I'd rather
you say I haven't seen it, then say it's bad,
I hate it or I don't understand it. For those
people who say I don't understand it, what is there
to understand, it's a pretty basic plot point and a
pretty basic promise anyway. Obviously, I really love Italy in Paris,
not even in it. I don't hate watch anything I
only love watch. So I really like it and you
(07:25):
can continue. What's it about?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Okay? So this is, like I guess, it's about a
girl who's.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Actually what you think it's about.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Okay. She's a marketing chick in I'm guessing New York,
Chicago probably, yeah, Chicago. And then she flies over to
Paris because she gets a job over there.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
She's transferred by her company yep.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Okay, because they wanted to have like an American lens on,
like the Perisian life. Yeah, she goes over there, and
then she meets downstairs from her house is a really
hot guy and he's French. She's in ridiculous outfits and
high hills and it's very glamorous. Yes, yeah, that's it.
That's the story.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I mean, that is kind of the story part. That's
what it's meant to be. Like, I just find Emily
and Paris is just so beautiful to watch. It does
really pre I think you would really like it, Like, yes,
there's some silliness to it, but it's meant to be
a silly caper. It's also not meant to be for
French people. They would never watch it. I think most
of them don't even know it exists. It's for the
(08:24):
basic girls like us.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
No, but I love Paris and I pride myself on
being very Prosian.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
No wit okay, no, no, you can love Paris. Also,
her version of Paris is obviously like an American idealized
fantasy to an extent. But whenever I go to Paris,
I don't think of Emily in Paris like they're two
kinds of stepend things, except for the fact that she
goes around to a lot of the very touristy sides
and loves them. And I also feel that's what you
(08:51):
do when you go to Paris for the first time,
and there's no shame in that. There's no shame in
seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Louver or something and
getting excited, because that's fine when you see that for
the first time, you should be excited. Otherwise you're dead inside.
Do There's a thing called Paris syndrome where people go
to Paris with such high expectations and when they go
outside of some of the city centers and they see
(09:12):
the rubbish and they see the normal houses, people have
been hospitalized over Paris. That's a true act. Over Paris syndrome.
Because the shock and the disappointment of this world that
they built up is not there anymore.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Are you kidding? Paris is my favorite city. I love
Paris so much so.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Paris is also I mean, I know it's one of
my favorite city street no one's ever said that before,
But I guess there are parts of it that don't
look like Paris.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Well. I think if you're going look outskirts of Paris
is very different to being in like where the Shaws is,
and it's like very bougie and expensive. Obviously, if you're
going into the you know, outer our endorsements, it's a
bit different, you know. I think it's a point of
pride for me that I haven't seen it because twenty
to twenty twenty five it's had so much hype and
(09:54):
the fact that I've gone this long without watching it, I.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Can't start now. I unders no, I don't understand that
at all. I just think that if you want to
watch it and it's this lovely, frothy, romantic comedy esque
TV show, you should just watch it. That's not that
if I'm like, that's not the thing to kind of
get hung up on, is all I would say. Some
people don't like it because I think it's silly, and like, yes,
it is silly. It's also not meant to be a drama.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I don't mind silly. I like like feel good silly.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
It's my favorite. I'm really being on having like very
kind of soothing TV shows, especially that I watch like
Saturday and Sunday morning. I've got a band. None of
my friends are allowed to ask me to brunch of
breakfast anymore, call me, talk to me, go near me,
because that is my calm time where I wake up
whatever time I want, and I go out too my
living room and I have all my bunches of fresh flowers,
light my candles. I know you have children?
Speaker 1 (10:40):
How to do this so much?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Laura, Well one day you come visit me.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Can I had kids like you know?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Well, this will come back around different seasons for different
parts of life, and I'll make my beautiful coffee and
I all I want to do then is watch something
very soothing that's beautiful and that just like looks lovely
on screen. And Emily in Paris is really that show.
And also there are some great performances in there from
Lily Colin, who players Emily Cooper does the part that
she's meant to play like she does that fine, but
(11:07):
a lot of the side characters, all the people who
work in the French office, Sylvie incredible, Mindy incredible. Like,
there's a lot to watch it.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Okay, So, now that we've gone through some of the
obvious choices, do you want to take us through some
of the ones that we most likely haven't seen?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yes, Yes, this is the moment I have been waiting for. Okay.
So the first one I wanted to bring up is
a show that I absolutely fell in love with when
it came out back in twenty and nineteen. And it's
a really beautiful rom com series called Four Weddings and
a Funeral, like the Yeah Grant movie. Yeah, like the
(11:46):
very very famous movie Hugh Grants. I know you're gonna say,
but Laura, that's a movie. Well, Mindy Kayling, Mindy Kaling.
It's like I'm on the defensive today. I'm like, no
one saying you think about rom comms. Mindy Kayling, one
of my very favorite TV actresses. Writers creators adapted the movie,
which was originally written by Richard Curtis, who, if you
look up that band's name, has written every big rom
com that we love. Here's the Godfather of rom Comms.
(12:08):
Mindy Kayling loves rom comms and she loved that movie,
and so she adapted into a TV series where the
overall premise is very the same, but it's different in
terms of like she switched the characters, and one of
the big switches is that there is now a female lead.
It's Natalie Emmanuel, who people would know from Game of Thrones,
Fast and Furious, that really hot vampire movie The Invitation.
(12:29):
She plays our league girl Maya, and she's an American,
but she ends up moving to London where her college
friends are, and it tells the story of these four
American friends, Maya, Craig, Ainslie and Duffy, and they reunite
for this very fabulous London wedding. Something happens, and then
it follows them over their lives of the next year
that tell all of their different love stories. And it's
just this beautiful, like if you just want to watch
(12:52):
something like really frothy and lovely with incredible dialogue that's
set in London, and it is really beautiful to watch.
The performances are so good. Mindy Kayling's script is like
ten out of ten and like, you don't have to
have seen Four Weddings in a Funeral, although you should watch.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That's right, what's it streaming on?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
It's on Prime Video now. It wasn't when it came out,
so yeah, it came out so many years ago, and
anytime people messaged me because I had so many message
mostly from spillers on Instagram being like, oh my god,
laur it's Saturday and I need something to watch, and
they always want like often like it's just an easy
to watch TV show, and Four Wings in a Funeral
of the TV series is always top of my list
to send because I just know so many people haven't
watched it. So it's on Prime video so worth watching.
(13:33):
The next one I wanted to recommend, since we're talking
about Mindy Kaling, is the MINDI Project. Have you seen it?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I have seen it, Oh my god, so much.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You've seen it?
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, you've only seen a couple of episodes. I have
not like super deep into us, but I do love
her finding out her whole history on the office and
how she's a writer with bj Novak and like that
her whole law is so great. She is incredible and
she's so funny in the office and I love I
do really like the MINDI Project. I just I don't
have a lot of time. This is the great thing
(14:03):
about working with you is I just put all of
these things in my mind. Yeah, and one day you
book a mind box yeah, also known as brain yeah,
but for you.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
It's a mind box.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Today it's a mind box.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
So the MINDI Project, yes, it was created, written and
starring Mindy Kayling. And again I don't say this slightly.
It is one of the funniest TV shows I have
ever seen. But also it's very romantic comedy centered. So
Mindy Kayling grew up loving romantic comedies, but she always
thought there was no one who looks like her as
a woman of Indian descent on these shows or movies
(14:35):
or anything like that. So that was her goal to
write a rom com where she could play the lead character,
and she could live in the beautiful New York apartment,
and she could wear the beautiful clothes, and she could
run through the streets and have these wild romantic escapades
with men. So it is that, but it's also a
bit of a send up of those tropes. What's also
interesting is she plays a doctor because she made her
character just like a little bit insufferable in the funniest
(14:58):
way possible, and a little bit of a diva and
a little bit just like ridiculous. But then she's also
a doctor so that you like her a little bit.
So it has all these incredible rom comm tropes to it.
It's very funny. But what I love is at the
central relationship between her and Danny, who's another doctor at
her practice, is based on the love story of Pride
and Prejudice. So it's based on like him being this
(15:20):
very gruff, unattainable person who like originally really doesn't like
her and things. Yeah, and then and then their relationship
really evolved. And again not to spoil it, but like
you know how like when you're watching a couple get
together and like you can tell it's gonna happen, and
it's building, and it's building.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
We building like a hate to love story lovers hate
us to love it trop trope.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So good and like the build up and the moment
they actually get together is so worth the hype. So
the MINDI Project, you can watch it on Prime Video
if you haven't seen it.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
It's got six seasons as well. You can really like
get into it.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
It could have been fifteen, would have watched it? Okay.
Another one I wanted to chat about was an Austrange show.
Actually that has two seasons out on Binge. I don't
know if you've watched this one, Colin from Accounts.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
No, I haven't, but I should because I always see
clips of it and I feel like it's really.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Good, so freakin' funny. So it's written, created, directed, starring
Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammle, who.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I love Harriet Dyer interviewed her a few times and
she's amazing, Yes, and she's incredible. Patrick Brammel is also
so funny. So I should watch this because did you
ever watch the one with Matt.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Oh the Wrong Guy?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah, she plays Stevie and that she's so funny. Yeah,
she's an incredible comedy actress. We're both from Townsville, so
you know connected. So in this show Colin from Accounts,
so yes, Patrick and Harriet together in real life. They
created the show together, and in it, Harriet plays called Ashley,
Patrick plays a man called Gordon, and they have this
(16:52):
incredible meat cute. So a meet cute is the moment
in the movie of how your two romantic leads will
meet and fall in love, So Colin from Accounts is
about that, but also what happens when it goes terribly wrong.
So in this you've got Gordon. He's driving his car along.
Harriet Dyer's character Ashley walks out in front of him
across the road and she sees him. They make eye contact.
(17:13):
It's a little bit cute and sexy, and then she
just flashes a boob, just a casual flash of the boob,
just to be a bit saucy and fun. And he
sees her and he gets so distracted that he runs
his car off the road and smashes into a dog, okay,
which terrifies them both, and so they both take this
dog to a clinic. His back legs are broken into
being one of those little dog wheely things. At the
premiere they had a dog and he wasn't the wheelly thing,
(17:35):
and I'm like, that's probably a good thing, because that
would have been very stressful for him. And then they
kind of have to come together to look after this dog,
and as they do that, they start to fall in love.
And it's just like such a funny. It's so Australian. Obviously,
because it's a strange show, but it's just so quintessentially Australian,
so funny. Their chemistry is amazing, obviously because they're married
with children, but it is again one of those shows
(17:56):
that I watch it and I just sit in my
apartment laughing out loud. But it's also really cute watching
them fall in love.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I mean, too great Aussie, because I actually really love
that you put an Aussie show in there.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
I just feel like it's really defined what a really
modern rom com can be. So there's two seasons out
now they're on Binge. I would watch ten more seasons
of this show. Okay. The other one I wanted to do, Sorry,
I feel like this is just me, like this is the.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Laura show now, because Laura, you're so good at this stuff.
I just love defic I know you do, and I
love TV two, but you like always have the best recommendations.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I mean. The other thing is like it is my job,
so I have an extra incentive to do this, as
in it does keep my electricity on and food on
my table. So on that note, the other one I
wanted to bring up is Modern Love, which is actually
a romantic comedy anthology I don't know if you've seen
this one. It actually came out back in twenty nineteen.
There's two seasons and so it's an anthology series, so
(18:52):
every episode is its own contained story, which I think
is also great, especially even have a lot of time,
because you could sit down and watch one half an
hour episode once a week and it's its own contending story.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And it is kind of like Black Mirror.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
It's exactly, it's one hundred percent. That's what it is.
It's Black Mirror from rom com. So Black Ara freaks
you out. Go and watch More in Love because it's
just sweet and lovely. It's mostly romantic love stories, but
there is platonic love, family love. There's even a really
lovely episode about a woman and her doorman who kind
of sees her through all these big moments of her
life when she becomes a single mum. I know, I
(19:27):
cry so much. It's got an incredible cast of stars,
so each episode has its own cast. Wow and some
Yeah Deeltels, the hot Anne Hathaway, Dev Purtel is so
good at this tiny Yeah Tina fe is incredible. An
Hathaway's episode made me sob and a papquin Andrew scott'son
an episode Mini Driver. It's just so incredible. And what
(19:47):
it actually is is it's based off the Modern Love
column in the New York Times, which is a very
very famous column. It has been going for many, many years.
I read it online a lot, and it's a weekly
series where they publish all these personal essays about love
and relationships. And it's just real people's stories that feature
in this column, and it's so beautifully done. It just
(20:08):
tells all these little pockets of life. And over the
years it's become really famous and there's podcasts about it.
Now that's this TV show. So every episode of Modern
Love is based on real life people, on these people
whose stories appeared in this column.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Isn't it wild? How like twenty nineteen it came out,
this is not really well known.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah. Oh, I feel like it was very buzzy at
the time. But I feel like, and especially because that
like the first season had a lot of big names
and the second season came out quite quickly afterwards. But
I do feel like it's one of those shows like
Four Wings and Funeral where there was a hit of
buzz and I feel like it's really fallen off people's Radars. Yeah,
and so modern love. I can't speak highly enough of it.
There's so many episodes I still think about all these
(20:46):
years later, and like there's frothy episodes and some episodes
that just made me sob It's really beautiful. It's on Prime,
It's on Prime Video. So yeah, highly recommend, because again
little self contained.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Do you know why I think it hasn't really hid? Yeah,
because Prime wasn't that big when this came out in Australia.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
It wasn't like a.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Massive streaming service yet, So I feel like maybe that's
why a lot of people might have missed it.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
So I'm sure if you have a Prime subscription now
you can go in and watch it, because it's all
just sitting there ready to watch. Okay, one more because
I just feel like I can't finish off this episode
without talking about one of my favorite shows of all time,
Heart of Dixie.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I can't. I'm sorry, really, no, really, why why I
said I watched like five seconds and I hated it.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Well, of course five seconds. Also of the pilot, you
should know that a pilot is not always a reflection
with the real show.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
It was too like like it's so sugary, in the
way to Sugary like two American So I can't everything.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I wanted a wrong coom Sugary Americans starring Rachel Bilson.
I have watched all four seasons multiple multiple, multiple times.
I know, and I'm here to tell you that, and
so many other women in this office too, you know.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
And I know that I'm going to get raped over
the coals by this. I know it's very pop.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I just think you have to watch more than a
few seconds so it get Heart of Dixie. It's so
stressful that you haven't watched it. You know, if they
haven't watched it, that you're just not even giving it
the kudos it deserves. But Heart is about Rachel Bilson,
who again incredible actress, who really can lead a rong
com like that's her Nie. She's a good leading lady.
She plays doctor Zoe Hart and yes, she is a
heart surgeon living in New York, very very fancy. Yeah
(22:17):
it's not really it's not trying to be at all
like subtle at anyway here. And she misses out in
this huge job opportunity because her supervisor at work tells
her that even though she's called doctor Heart and a
heart surgeon. She doesn't have a heart, she has no
bed sign manner. So he tells her to go and
work as a GP for a year and then come
back to the hospital and she'll have a chance. And
(22:37):
then she can't find a GP job because obviously they're
all filled for the year. And then she remembers that
this strange old man in suit has been coming to
her graduation in her events and stuff for over her
life and keeps offering her a job, writing to her
a job and saying, I own a medical practice in
a tiny little town called blue Bell and Alabama, and
I'd love to hire you. And she was like, okay.
(22:59):
So she gets on a plane and a bus and
takes all her fancy clothes out to this tiny little
town called blue Bell, only to discover this all the
first episodes, that's why I hate the Only to discover
that the man who gave her the job is actually
her father who she didn't know and he just died.
And then she stays in the town to be the doctor.
And it's this a whole fish out of water thing
(23:19):
because she's like a big city glamorous girl and it's
a little town where they still dress.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
It's like Sweet Home Alabama, but completely on stereodys about
Reese with a spoon in it.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yeah, but Rachel Bilson is so good in this, and
also it's got these amazing side characters. Obviously, Gilmore Girls
is so much of a better show. But the town
of Bluebellt mirrors the town of Starles Hollow in a
way of.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Like I didn't like.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
No, we're not doing no.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I'm sorry. Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Okay, listen, you might as well you just trashed my family.
Do you know that? Did you watch all of Gilmore Girls? No?
You watched five seconds?
Speaker 1 (23:54):
I watched the season. Listen. I don't hate it, but
that's not I'm so sorry. You should see how upset
Laura looks at me right now.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
It's one of my favorite TV shows. I know all
the time.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I know I understand Laura, and I'm really sorry. I
really do apologie. TV shows that I really love aren't
really like dramas like that. Okay, I'm like Parks and
rec or Veep or Brooklyn nine nine, So it's just
not my type of show. I'm really sorry. Like I've
watched it, but I'm just not like obsessed with it.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I can't. I can't write I do try.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Version, a less good version of that, and like really agree, American,
I don't like that.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
No, I'm just trying to say, Okay, maybe it's not
for you. But the people who love Gilmore girls, people
with humor, heart and soul, those people who love the
town of styles Hollow and the fact that they've got
the little quirky town square and all the different characters
that live in it. If you like that, that is
also in Heart of Dixie. I should also say it's
got one of the best performances from like a side
comedic actress who becomes a leading lady, which is Jamie King,
(24:55):
who plays Lemon Breeland. And I think out of everyone,
you would like her because she comes off like, oh,
she's just sugary, sweet debutante. But she is an evil mastermind.
She's so clever, she's so like manipulative, and she very
much becomes the lead character as the shows go of. Also,
it's got my favorite thing in a love story. It's
got haters to lovers and a very unexpected love story.
The whole time you're watching Heart of Dixie, they're setting
(25:17):
up this is the main love story. This is the
main love story. This is the main love story, and
it changes and it's the best payoff.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
But if I'm going to watch like a Fish out
of Water series, I'm going to watch like Ginny and Georgia.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Oh see, I can't get behind Jinny and Georgia. Really no, Oh,
I really like it. It's good TV. It's just it
hasn't sucked me in in the same Oh.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I like it a lot more like at least because
it's got like a bit of quirk to it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I mean, so of these shows you wouldn't know because
you haven't watched all of them. So that's that. So
Heart of Dixie is on the stand, and there's so
many episodes, and I just also, again, if you're looking
for really comforting, lovely TV, I have watched every episode
so so many times. It's just really good. It's got
a really good cast.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
And also, please don't hate me and send me death threats.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Okay, guys, you do what you need to do with
the circumstance. I'm not going to tell you guys what
to do.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Thank you so much for listening to the spill today, guys,
and I'm very sorry about my controversial opinions on Gilmore
Girls I had sent the office into a meltdown. But
the Spill is produced by Manisha Isswaren with sound production
by Scott Stronik. Mama Mia Studios are Styles with furniture
from Fenton and Fenton. Visit Fenton and Fenton dot com
(26:24):
dot au and we'll be back here in your podcast
feed at three pm on Monday. Bye bye.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land. We
have recorded this podcast on the Galligo people of the Oronation.
We pay our respects to their elders past and present,
and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander cultures.
You're listening to Amma Mia podcast from Mama Mia. Welcome
to the Spill, your daily pop culture fix. I'm Concena lu.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Kid and I'm Laura Brodney.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
And this summer we have curated your Spilled blaylist with
some brand new episodes and some of our absolute favorites.
So on today's episode, we're going to be diving in
to the best rom com TV shows. Now, Laura, this
is one you and I did a little bit earlier
this year.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yes, so we did this off the back of Lena
Dunham's new rom com that came out this year too Much,
and it got us thinking about other TV rom coms
that I don't know about you, but I watch over
and over and over again. Some of them you have
heard of. I'm sure some of them you definitely have it.
But if you're looking for something to watch over the holidays,
I feel like this would be your list.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Yeah, and this particular episode is one where you were
got very very upset with me with my lack of
TV show knowledge due to the fact that I didn't
know about Emily in Paris.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
That you didn't know about it, you hadn't watched it.
It's a cultural hit.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Yeah, there was also a bit about Gilmore Girls in
here too. I really got a flogging in this episode.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I think I might have blacked that out that whole
conversation because I can't. I can't deal with girl so
disappointed and I still am. And if you're looking for
even more rom com content, we do have a brand
new episode dropping into your feeds soon about the classic
most beloved rom com couples that we are sure absolutely
broke up once the movie finished, so steaching for that.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I love this one. It's like, it's kind of like
fan fic, but for rom coms. Now. You have been
suggesting this incessantly on our channels for weeks and weeks
and weeks, and we finally had to say today, Okay, Laura,
for God's sake, will do it.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
This is the best romantic comedy series of all time.
I'm going to give you a couple of my favorites,
which are more like more well known, and then you're
gonna give us the ones that we don't know.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes, and I should say before we jump into that,
So that is how we're going to do it. What
is a fun, frivolous Friday episode about love and romance
without some rules.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, rules is what I bring to know. We're about
to say, I'm about to say, Laura will now come
in with her rules.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Because this is what you want from a pop culture podcast. No,
not just to define things. So obviously we were talking
about TV romantic comedies because, as you would have heard
in our wee can Watch episode this morning, Lena Dunham's
new rom com has just come out on Netflix Too Much.
Even though it's a rom comm and a drama, Lena
Dunham said her catalyst for making the show was as
a bit of a love letter to the romantic comedies
(02:43):
she grew up watching in all the movies that she loved,
and so that got me thinking that we always talk
about romantic comedy movies, and obviously there's so many incredible
romantic comedy movies out there, but I feel like we
don't talk enough about romantic comedy TV shows and they
are also very, very important. So that's what we're going
to do today. So we've defined a romantic comedy TV
(03:04):
show as obviously something that is a that has lightness
and frothiness to it, but something where the love story
is the central driving part of the show. And it
is the end game, and you do get that love
story payoff at the end. So that is how we're
defining a romantic comedy TV show.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Okay, I'm going to start with one that is on
the newer side. It only came out last year on Netflix.
Nobody wants this.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Never heard of it except for the fifteen podcasts WED.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I know we've talked about it a lot, so we
don't have to go too much into it because I
know probably everyone's over it. But it would be remiss
if I didn't mention it because I think it fits
the genre.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
What did you love about it? That's what we've never
talked about this before.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
We haven't. I really loved the comedy. I liked the
cross cultural development of a love story that's not like
a typical love story, and something centered around religion. It's
not something that we really see very often, this agnostic
woman going for this Jewish rabbi. I just thought it
was a really interesting take. I also really liked the
(04:06):
sidecat like go Good. One of my favorite characters is
Sasha played by Timothy Simons. I don't know if you
ever watched Veep. Did you watch Veab? Yes, he was
in Vape. He was Jonah in Vain and it's just
he's such a great character. He's so funny. And the
new season is coming out in October.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Oh, yes, our calendars are marked.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yes, so we don't have long to wait for season two.
But I think in terms of fitting your rules, it
really yep nails it.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
It really does.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Yes. The other one that I wanted to do is
one that is a bit older. It wrapped filming in
twenty eighteen, and it's New Girl.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
My god, New Girl is just one of my ultimate
comfort watches. But I think what it doesn't get enough credit.
Maybe it does, but like the hardcore fans know that
as much as that is an incredible ensemble comedy, it's
the love story that is so perfectly done. Romantic comedy
writers dream of a love story.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Like that, and you know that there's all these stories
about so. Elizabeth Merriweather created the show and during the
early episodes, Zoey Deschanel and Jake Johnson, who played Yessca
Day and Nick Miller, weren't actually allowed to do too
many scenes together because their chemistry was too good. I
love it. I love it so much, and they just
hit it off straight away and you know, obviously a
(05:24):
lot of the time with these kind of sick comy shows,
that relationship develops, but it really is from the very beginning.
You can see that there is chemistry between the two films.
And again it's just so funny. It's so silly. The
guy who plays Winston Bishop like Lemonne's, Yeah, he's so funny.
Like as he grows it gets quirkier. But my favorite
(05:46):
is definitely Schmidt Max Greenfield. Just how during the pandemic
with his daughter those funny TikTok He is hilarious.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I loved him in Running Point as well recently, but
I just I just will find him like the hottest
man ever. Also, Veronica Mars fans know him as Leo,
but he is so good at that show.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So yeah, he was gonna quick acting before he did this, I.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Know, and this is the role that really gave him
his new stardom.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
But yeah, my favorite like bit that they do throughout
the series, and it's not part of the love story,
but I'm a bit of a comedy fan. Yeah, my
favorite bit that they do is the douchebag job.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Oh yeah, yeah, and how they stomp it at the
wedding it's so funny. Damn it.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I can't find my driving moccasins anywhere all the way.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
He says, you's youth everywhere? Are you? I quote shimd
a lot, which doesn't really fit in with my day
to day life. I quote you weird. So it's just
he've got a quote for everything, or at least weird.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
He's so funny. Anyway, That is kind of my favorite.
That's on Disney Plus now you can watch all seasons.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
And it's such a good rewatch too. We watch it
every couple of years. It really holds up.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Yeah, it's a great rewatch. It's just fun. It's cozy,
it's easy.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Now.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
The last one is a really obvious one. But I
have a confession. I've never seen it. It's Emily in Paris.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Get out of here. Well you know what I'd rather
you say I haven't seen it, then say it's bad,
I hate it or I don't understand it. For those
people who say I don't understand it, what is there
to understand, it's a pretty basic plot point and a
pretty basic promise anyway. Obviously, I really love Italy in Paris,
not even in it. I don't hate watch anything I
only love watch. So I really like it and you
(07:25):
can continue. What's it about?
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Okay? So this is, like I guess, it's about a
girl who's.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Actually what you think it's about.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Okay. She's a marketing chick in I'm guessing New York,
Chicago probably, yeah, Chicago. And then she flies over to
Paris because she gets a job over there.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
She's transferred by her company yep.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Okay, because they wanted to have like an American lens on,
like the Perisian life. Yeah, she goes over there, and
then she meets downstairs from her house is a really
hot guy and he's French. She's in ridiculous outfits and
high hills and it's very glamorous. Yes, yeah, that's it.
That's the story.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I mean, that is kind of the story part. That's
what it's meant to be. Like, I just find Emily
and Paris is just so beautiful to watch. It does
really pre I think you would really like it, Like, yes,
there's some silliness to it, but it's meant to be
a silly caper. It's also not meant to be for
French people. They would never watch it. I think most
of them don't even know it exists. It's for the
(08:24):
basic girls like us.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
No, but I love Paris and I pride myself on
being very Prosian.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
No wit okay, no, no, you can love Paris. Also,
her version of Paris is obviously like an American idealized
fantasy to an extent. But whenever I go to Paris,
I don't think of Emily in Paris like they're two
kinds of stepend things, except for the fact that she
goes around to a lot of the very touristy sides
and loves them. And I also feel that's what you
(08:51):
do when you go to Paris for the first time,
and there's no shame in that. There's no shame in
seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Louver or something and
getting excited, because that's fine when you see that for
the first time, you should be excited. Otherwise you're dead inside.
Do There's a thing called Paris syndrome where people go
to Paris with such high expectations and when they go
outside of some of the city centers and they see
(09:12):
the rubbish and they see the normal houses, people have
been hospitalized over Paris. That's a true act. Over Paris syndrome.
Because the shock and the disappointment of this world that
they built up is not there anymore.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Are you kidding? Paris is my favorite city. I love
Paris so much so.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Paris is also I mean, I know it's one of
my favorite city street no one's ever said that before,
But I guess there are parts of it that don't
look like Paris.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Well. I think if you're going look outskirts of Paris
is very different to being in like where the Shaws is,
and it's like very bougie and expensive. Obviously, if you're
going into the you know, outer our endorsements, it's a
bit different, you know. I think it's a point of
pride for me that I haven't seen it because twenty
to twenty twenty five it's had so much hype and
(09:54):
the fact that I've gone this long without watching it, I.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Can't start now. I unders no, I don't understand that
at all. I just think that if you want to
watch it and it's this lovely, frothy, romantic comedy esque
TV show, you should just watch it. That's not that
if I'm like, that's not the thing to kind of
get hung up on, is all I would say. Some
people don't like it because I think it's silly, and like, yes,
it is silly. It's also not meant to be a drama.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I don't mind silly. I like like feel good silly.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
It's my favorite. I'm really being on having like very
kind of soothing TV shows, especially that I watch like
Saturday and Sunday morning. I've got a band. None of
my friends are allowed to ask me to brunch of
breakfast anymore, call me, talk to me, go near me,
because that is my calm time where I wake up
whatever time I want, and I go out too my
living room and I have all my bunches of fresh flowers,
light my candles. I know you have children?
Speaker 1 (10:40):
How to do this so much?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Laura, Well one day you come visit me.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Can I had kids like you know?
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Well, this will come back around different seasons for different
parts of life, and I'll make my beautiful coffee and
I all I want to do then is watch something
very soothing that's beautiful and that just like looks lovely
on screen. And Emily in Paris is really that show.
And also there are some great performances in there from
Lily Colin, who players Emily Cooper does the part that
she's meant to play like she does that fine, but
(11:07):
a lot of the side characters, all the people who
work in the French office, Sylvie incredible, Mindy incredible. Like,
there's a lot to watch it.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Okay, So, now that we've gone through some of the
obvious choices, do you want to take us through some
of the ones that we most likely haven't seen?
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yes, Yes, this is the moment I have been waiting for. Okay.
So the first one I wanted to bring up is
a show that I absolutely fell in love with when
it came out back in twenty and nineteen. And it's
a really beautiful rom com series called Four Weddings and
a Funeral, like the Yeah Grant movie. Yeah, like the
(11:46):
very very famous movie Hugh Grants. I know you're gonna say,
but Laura, that's a movie. Well, Mindy Kayling, Mindy Kaling.
It's like I'm on the defensive today. I'm like, no
one saying you think about rom comms. Mindy Kayling, one
of my very favorite TV actresses. Writers creators adapted the movie,
which was originally written by Richard Curtis, who, if you
look up that band's name, has written every big rom
com that we love. Here's the Godfather of rom Comms.
(12:08):
Mindy Kayling loves rom comms and she loved that movie,
and so she adapted into a TV series where the
overall premise is very the same, but it's different in
terms of like she switched the characters, and one of
the big switches is that there is now a female lead.
It's Natalie Emmanuel, who people would know from Game of Thrones,
Fast and Furious, that really hot vampire movie The Invitation.
(12:29):
She plays our league girl Maya, and she's an American,
but she ends up moving to London where her college
friends are, and it tells the story of these four
American friends, Maya, Craig, Ainslie and Duffy, and they reunite
for this very fabulous London wedding. Something happens, and then
it follows them over their lives of the next year
that tell all of their different love stories. And it's
just this beautiful, like if you just want to watch
(12:52):
something like really frothy and lovely with incredible dialogue that's
set in London, and it is really beautiful to watch.
The performances are so good. Mindy Kayling's script is like
ten out of ten and like, you don't have to
have seen Four Weddings in a Funeral, although you should watch.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
That's right, what's it streaming on?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
It's on Prime Video now. It wasn't when it came out,
so yeah, it came out so many years ago, and
anytime people messaged me because I had so many message
mostly from spillers on Instagram being like, oh my god,
laur it's Saturday and I need something to watch, and
they always want like often like it's just an easy
to watch TV show, and Four Wings in a Funeral
of the TV series is always top of my list
to send because I just know so many people haven't
watched it. So it's on Prime video so worth watching.
(13:33):
The next one I wanted to recommend, since we're talking
about Mindy Kaling, is the MINDI Project. Have you seen it?
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I have seen it, Oh my god, so much.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
You've seen it?
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, you've only seen a couple of episodes. I have
not like super deep into us, but I do love
her finding out her whole history on the office and
how she's a writer with bj Novak and like that
her whole law is so great. She is incredible and
she's so funny in the office and I love I
do really like the MINDI Project. I just I don't
have a lot of time. This is the great thing
(14:03):
about working with you is I just put all of
these things in my mind. Yeah, and one day you
book a mind box yeah, also known as brain yeah,
but for you.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
It's a mind box.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Today it's a mind box.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
So the MINDI Project, yes, it was created, written and
starring Mindy Kayling. And again I don't say this slightly.
It is one of the funniest TV shows I have
ever seen. But also it's very romantic comedy centered. So
Mindy Kayling grew up loving romantic comedies, but she always
thought there was no one who looks like her as
a woman of Indian descent on these shows or movies
(14:35):
or anything like that. So that was her goal to
write a rom com where she could play the lead character,
and she could live in the beautiful New York apartment,
and she could wear the beautiful clothes, and she could
run through the streets and have these wild romantic escapades
with men. So it is that, but it's also a
bit of a send up of those tropes. What's also
interesting is she plays a doctor because she made her
character just like a little bit insufferable in the funniest
(14:58):
way possible, and a little bit of a diva and
a little bit just like ridiculous. But then she's also
a doctor so that you like her a little bit.
So it has all these incredible rom comm tropes to it.
It's very funny. But what I love is at the
central relationship between her and Danny, who's another doctor at
her practice, is based on the love story of Pride
and Prejudice. So it's based on like him being this
(15:20):
very gruff, unattainable person who like originally really doesn't like
her and things. Yeah, and then and then their relationship
really evolved. And again not to spoil it, but like
you know how like when you're watching a couple get
together and like you can tell it's gonna happen, and
it's building, and it's building.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
We building like a hate to love story lovers hate
us to love it trop trope.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So good and like the build up and the moment
they actually get together is so worth the hype. So
the MINDI Project, you can watch it on Prime Video
if you haven't seen it.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
It's got six seasons as well. You can really like
get into it.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
It could have been fifteen, would have watched it? Okay.
Another one I wanted to chat about was an Austrange show.
Actually that has two seasons out on Binge. I don't
know if you've watched this one, Colin from Accounts.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
No, I haven't, but I should because I always see
clips of it and I feel like it's really.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Good, so freakin' funny. So it's written, created, directed, starring
Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammle, who.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I love Harriet Dyer interviewed her a few times and
she's amazing, Yes, and she's incredible. Patrick Brammel is also
so funny. So I should watch this because did you
ever watch the one with Matt.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Oh the Wrong Guy?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Yeah, she plays Stevie and that she's so funny. Yeah,
she's an incredible comedy actress. We're both from Townsville, so
you know connected. So in this show Colin from Accounts,
so yes, Patrick and Harriet together in real life. They
created the show together, and in it, Harriet plays called Ashley,
Patrick plays a man called Gordon, and they have this
(16:52):
incredible meat cute. So a meet cute is the moment
in the movie of how your two romantic leads will
meet and fall in love, So Colin from Accounts is
about that, but also what happens when it goes terribly wrong.
So in this you've got Gordon. He's driving his car along.
Harriet Dyer's character Ashley walks out in front of him
across the road and she sees him. They make eye contact.
(17:13):
It's a little bit cute and sexy, and then she
just flashes a boob, just a casual flash of the boob,
just to be a bit saucy and fun. And he
sees her and he gets so distracted that he runs
his car off the road and smashes into a dog, okay,
which terrifies them both, and so they both take this
dog to a clinic. His back legs are broken into
being one of those little dog wheely things. At the
premiere they had a dog and he wasn't the wheelly thing,
(17:35):
and I'm like, that's probably a good thing, because that
would have been very stressful for him. And then they
kind of have to come together to look after this dog,
and as they do that, they start to fall in love.
And it's just like such a funny. It's so Australian. Obviously,
because it's a strange show, but it's just so quintessentially Australian,
so funny. Their chemistry is amazing, obviously because they're married
with children, but it is again one of those shows
(17:56):
that I watch it and I just sit in my
apartment laughing out loud. But it's also really cute watching
them fall in love.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I mean, too great Aussie, because I actually really love
that you put an Aussie show in there.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
I just feel like it's really defined what a really
modern rom com can be. So there's two seasons out
now they're on Binge. I would watch ten more seasons
of this show. Okay. The other one I wanted to do, Sorry,
I feel like this is just me, like this is the.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Laura show now, because Laura, you're so good at this stuff.
I just love defic I know you do, and I
love TV two, but you like always have the best recommendations.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I mean. The other thing is like it is my job,
so I have an extra incentive to do this, as
in it does keep my electricity on and food on
my table. So on that note, the other one I
wanted to bring up is Modern Love, which is actually
a romantic comedy anthology I don't know if you've seen
this one. It actually came out back in twenty nineteen.
There's two seasons and so it's an anthology series, so
(18:52):
every episode is its own contained story, which I think
is also great, especially even have a lot of time,
because you could sit down and watch one half an
hour episode once a week and it's its own contending story.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And it is kind of like Black Mirror.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
It's exactly, it's one hundred percent. That's what it is.
It's Black Mirror from rom com. So Black Ara freaks
you out. Go and watch More in Love because it's
just sweet and lovely. It's mostly romantic love stories, but
there is platonic love, family love. There's even a really
lovely episode about a woman and her doorman who kind
of sees her through all these big moments of her
life when she becomes a single mum. I know, I
(19:27):
cry so much. It's got an incredible cast of stars,
so each episode has its own cast. Wow and some
Yeah Deeltels, the hot Anne Hathaway, Dev Purtel is so
good at this tiny Yeah Tina fe is incredible. An
Hathaway's episode made me sob and a papquin Andrew scott'son
an episode Mini Driver. It's just so incredible. And what
(19:47):
it actually is is it's based off the Modern Love
column in the New York Times, which is a very
very famous column. It has been going for many, many years.
I read it online a lot, and it's a weekly
series where they publish all these personal essays about love
and relationships. And it's just real people's stories that feature
in this column, and it's so beautifully done. It just
(20:08):
tells all these little pockets of life. And over the
years it's become really famous and there's podcasts about it.
Now that's this TV show. So every episode of Modern
Love is based on real life people, on these people
whose stories appeared in this column.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Isn't it wild? How like twenty nineteen it came out,
this is not really well known.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yeah. Oh, I feel like it was very buzzy at
the time. But I feel like, and especially because that
like the first season had a lot of big names
and the second season came out quite quickly afterwards. But
I do feel like it's one of those shows like
Four Wings and Funeral where there was a hit of
buzz and I feel like it's really fallen off people's Radars. Yeah,
and so modern love. I can't speak highly enough of it.
There's so many episodes I still think about all these
(20:46):
years later, and like there's frothy episodes and some episodes
that just made me sob It's really beautiful. It's on Prime,
It's on Prime Video. So yeah, highly recommend, because again
little self contained.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Do you know why I think it hasn't really hid? Yeah,
because Prime wasn't that big when this came out in Australia.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
It wasn't like a.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Massive streaming service yet, So I feel like maybe that's
why a lot of people might have missed it.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
So I'm sure if you have a Prime subscription now
you can go in and watch it, because it's all
just sitting there ready to watch. Okay, one more because
I just feel like I can't finish off this episode
without talking about one of my favorite shows of all time,
Heart of Dixie.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
I can't. I'm sorry, really, no, really, why why I
said I watched like five seconds and I hated it.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Well, of course five seconds. Also of the pilot, you
should know that a pilot is not always a reflection
with the real show.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
It was too like like it's so sugary, in the
way to Sugary like two American So I can't everything.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
I wanted a wrong coom Sugary Americans starring Rachel Bilson.
I have watched all four seasons multiple multiple, multiple times.
I know, and I'm here to tell you that, and
so many other women in this office too, you know.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
And I know that I'm going to get raped over
the coals by this. I know it's very pop.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I just think you have to watch more than a
few seconds so it get Heart of Dixie. It's so
stressful that you haven't watched it. You know, if they
haven't watched it, that you're just not even giving it
the kudos it deserves. But Heart is about Rachel Bilson,
who again incredible actress, who really can lead a rong
com like that's her Nie. She's a good leading lady.
She plays doctor Zoe Hart and yes, she is a
heart surgeon living in New York, very very fancy. Yeah
(22:17):
it's not really it's not trying to be at all
like subtle at anyway here. And she misses out in
this huge job opportunity because her supervisor at work tells
her that even though she's called doctor Heart and a
heart surgeon. She doesn't have a heart, she has no
bed sign manner. So he tells her to go and
work as a GP for a year and then come
back to the hospital and she'll have a chance. And
(22:37):
then she can't find a GP job because obviously they're
all filled for the year. And then she remembers that
this strange old man in suit has been coming to
her graduation in her events and stuff for over her
life and keeps offering her a job, writing to her
a job and saying, I own a medical practice in
a tiny little town called blue Bell and Alabama, and
I'd love to hire you. And she was like, okay.
(22:59):
So she gets on a plane and a bus and
takes all her fancy clothes out to this tiny little
town called blue Bell, only to discover this all the
first episodes, that's why I hate the Only to discover
that the man who gave her the job is actually
her father who she didn't know and he just died.
And then she stays in the town to be the doctor.
And it's this a whole fish out of water thing
(23:19):
because she's like a big city glamorous girl and it's
a little town where they still dress.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
It's like Sweet Home Alabama, but completely on stereodys about
Reese with a spoon in it.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Yeah, but Rachel Bilson is so good in this, and
also it's got these amazing side characters. Obviously, Gilmore Girls
is so much of a better show. But the town
of Bluebellt mirrors the town of Starles Hollow in a
way of.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Like I didn't like.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
No, we're not doing no.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
I'm sorry. Sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Okay, listen, you might as well you just trashed my family.
Do you know that? Did you watch all of Gilmore Girls? No?
You watched five seconds?
Speaker 1 (23:54):
I watched the season. Listen. I don't hate it, but
that's not I'm so sorry. You should see how upset
Laura looks at me right now.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
It's one of my favorite TV shows. I know all
the time.
Speaker 1 (24:03):
I know I understand Laura, and I'm really sorry. I
really do apologie. TV shows that I really love aren't
really like dramas like that. Okay, I'm like Parks and
rec or Veep or Brooklyn nine nine, So it's just
not my type of show. I'm really sorry. Like I've
watched it, but I'm just not like obsessed with it.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
I can't. I can't write I do try.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Version, a less good version of that, and like really agree, American,
I don't like that.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
No, I'm just trying to say, Okay, maybe it's not
for you. But the people who love Gilmore girls, people
with humor, heart and soul, those people who love the
town of styles Hollow and the fact that they've got
the little quirky town square and all the different characters
that live in it. If you like that, that is
also in Heart of Dixie. I should also say it's
got one of the best performances from like a side
comedic actress who becomes a leading lady, which is Jamie King,
(24:55):
who plays Lemon Breeland. And I think out of everyone,
you would like her because she comes off like, oh,
she's just sugary, sweet debutante. But she is an evil mastermind.
She's so clever, she's so like manipulative, and she very
much becomes the lead character as the shows go of. Also,
it's got my favorite thing in a love story. It's
got haters to lovers and a very unexpected love story.
The whole time you're watching Heart of Dixie, they're setting
(25:17):
up this is the main love story. This is the
main love story. This is the main love story, and
it changes and it's the best payoff.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
But if I'm going to watch like a Fish out
of Water series, I'm going to watch like Ginny and Georgia.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Oh see, I can't get behind Jinny and Georgia. Really no, Oh,
I really like it. It's good TV. It's just it
hasn't sucked me in in the same Oh.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
I like it a lot more like at least because
it's got like a bit of quirk to it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
I mean, so of these shows you wouldn't know because
you haven't watched all of them. So that's that. So
Heart of Dixie is on the stand, and there's so
many episodes, and I just also, again, if you're looking
for really comforting, lovely TV, I have watched every episode
so so many times. It's just really good. It's got
a really good cast.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
And also, please don't hate me and send me death threats.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Okay, guys, you do what you need to do with
the circumstance. I'm not going to tell you guys what
to do.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Thank you so much for listening to the spill today, guys,
and I'm very sorry about my controversial opinions on Gilmore
Girls I had sent the office into a meltdown. But
the Spill is produced by Manisha Isswaren with sound production
by Scott Stronik. Mama Mia Studios are Styles with furniture
from Fenton and Fenton. Visit Fenton and Fenton dot com
(26:24):
dot au and we'll be back here in your podcast
feed at three pm on Monday. Bye bye.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land. We
have recorded this podcast on the Galligo people of the Oronation.
We pay our respects to their elders past and present,
and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander cultures.
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