June 16, 2025 • 29 mins
It was an honor to talk to the great Paul Giamatti about his emotional and thought-provoking work on 'Eulogy' from Black Mirror. It is a remarkable episode that proposes a lot of ideas about processing, and the people that have gone by. Our conversation inspired an idea that could lead to him revisiting this character one day.
We also talk about the TV he loves. He chose some classic shows and some new ones to the podcast. He was really wonderful to speak with welcome back anytime.
#BlackMirror #PaulGiamatti #Netflix #Eulogy #StrangeNewWorlds #StarTrek
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Hey, where's the remote? It's time for TV Topics, where
those who love television discuss the series and
performances that should be on your radar.
Welcome to TV Topics. This is your host, Stephen
Przykowski. Sometimes there's an actor whose
work you see, and you decide immediately I need to see what
they do next. That's what happened when I saw
(00:24):
Howard Stern's Private Parts. Oh, wait, that doesn't sound
right. I'm talking about the movie, and
in that movie there was 1 actor who stood out.
A few years later I saw him in another film called American
Splendor and thought this guy's great.
From that day forward, he wasn'tjust an actor I saw before.
He had a name and I follow and Ifollowed that name through some
(00:46):
of my favorite films like Sideways and The Holdovers.
The list goes on and on. Cinderella Man, Barney's
version, The Illusionist. I just knew that whatever film
he was in, he'd deliver. And he does.
He also does some amazing TV work and shows like Billions and
the limited series John Adams, which he took home an Emmy for.
(01:07):
You can now see him in Netflix'sBlack Mirror.
His episode called Eulogy is onethat will stick with you long
after it's done. Of course, I'm talking about the
great Paul Giamatti. Hi, this is Paul Giamatti and
today I'm hanging out with Steven Krzykowski on TV Topics.
Welcome to TV Topics. Thank you.
I just want to say before I start anything, Sideways and The
(01:30):
Holdovers were both my favorite films of their respective years
and your performances as well. So thank you.
I've been a fan since Private Parts and everything since.
Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Honored to speak with you.
Thank you. So we're going to get into your
work on on Black Mirror. You lose in in just a few
minutes. But first, let's do a little TV
(01:51):
topics. Remember, there's no pressure,
there's no right or wrong answers.
It's just dolphin. So looking back over the years,
what has your relationship with TV been?
Were you ATV, junkie watches, everything?
Were you very selective? Did you have go to shows?
Well, looking back over the years as a child, I was a, you
know, child of the 70s and I watched endless and endless
(02:14):
amounts of TV. And then over the years I
watched less and less. And I have to say that I don't
watch a whole hell of a lot now.It's really funny and I don't
know what to attribute that to. Sometimes I think it's because
being an actor, it's a bit of a bustman's holiday for me.
And I got to that point where I've done so much that it's hard
for me to watch stuff and reallywatch it without just thinking
(02:35):
about, oh, it must have been really cold when they shot that
scene, you know, and stuff like that.
So I don't watch a ton of it now, but I did when I was
younger, that's for damn sure. What was some of the your
favorites back then? Twilight Zone.
Mission Impossible In Search of Remember In Search of Leonard
Nimoy's In Search of Really. That was the best.
(02:56):
What is it like? Is that a like a documentary?
It was 1/2 hour documentary showevery week.
Leonard Nimoy hosted it and it was strange phenomena.
UFOs, you know, pyramids, you know, weird, the Bermuda
Triangle. It was really 70s paranoid,
conspiratorial, weird paranormalstuff.
(03:17):
Star Trek was also big for me. And that's remained the biggest
thing for me through the years. And I'll watch, I still, I watch
strange New worlds and stuff like that now.
So I, I do watch stuff like that.
I'll watch science fiction stuffnow sometimes.
Strange New World is is excellent.
I think it's the best Star Trek probably in in decades.
I agree it's. It's really tremendous.
(03:39):
Even even the musical episode where some people had problems,
I really love that. I thought it was great.
I thought it was great. It's very clever and and well
done and when you when you get Klingon singing or or rapping or
whatever, they did amazing. Loved it, very inventive, very
fun. I really, I really enjoy it.
So going back then, what was like the first prime time show
you were, you remember really loving one that was yours, no
(04:01):
matter how good or bad it was just.
Your show, you're all right withme going back really far back
into the past. You're OK with that?
OK. I can remember being very into
and because it was very kind of like it was very racy and adult.
I can remember being very into Dallas as a kid.
I thought Dallas was awesome. I still think Dallas is awesome.
(04:23):
That was that was big for me as as a kid.
I love Dallas. Yeah, when you well, that show,
it didn't matter what age you were, you knew what was going on
in Dallas. You know, the Patrick Duffy
coming out of the show or The Who shot Jr. all.
Those Patrick Duffy, absolutely.Do you remember now?
I mean, I'm, I don't mean to be grilling, but do you remember
there was a show called the man from Atlantis, very short lived
(04:45):
show with Patrick Duffy as a as a Prince from the land of
Atlantis. He was a he was he was semi, he
was amphibian. He was an amphibian and he would
he would come out onto the land and it was the whole thing about
him needing to get back to Atlantis.
It was a really wacky show. I recommend it.
I recommend it. I will.
Let that one down. Sounds like a classic.
(05:06):
The the the classics only last one year, that's how.
It works right. The really great ones only last
year. And Speaking of that, I'm sorry,
this is this is fun. A show that I really enjoyed
that only lasted two seasons a few years back was counterpart.
Did you ever see Counterpart with JK Simmons?
I'm glad I'm bringing up all thestuff you don't, you don't know
that's a. Good show, JK Simmons.
(05:26):
I'm surprised I don't. Know JK Simmons?
A fantastic show that's worth watching.
It's only on for two seasons andit was really, really good.
Kind of a sci-fi spy thriller. That just recently in the last
like. I would say probably within the
last 10. Years, probably.
Five or six years ago, maybe. All right.
I'll have to go back and look for that one as well.
Yes. It's it's in the past.
I live in the past. Hey, you know, I love it though.
(05:47):
That's what I don't. I don't want to just hear people
give the same answers. I want to hear, you know what it
is because you know, you work inTV, you are somebody's answers
at times. So it's great to, you know.
I'll recommend another show to you, one that I helped produce
that was only on for two seasonscalled Lodge 49 and I I I
recommend that to you and and your list.
That was with the son of. Wyatt Russell Wyatt Russell.
(06:10):
Yes, Kurt Russell's son. It's terrific in it, yeah.
Excellent. Well, there's some, there's a
great To Do List and and I'll definitely add those.
I did see a little bit of that, but I didn't.
It's good. There's just.
So much to take in these, I knowthat's the.
Thing I. Know so much gets lost and
you'll wonder like what is the greatest series that will never
(06:31):
that never had a second season or never even had maybe even
it's time in the sun because we have so much such a saturation.
And that's another reason I think I don't watch a whole lot
is I just get overwhelmed and I'm like, I don't know where to
start. And then it's just too much, too
much. And when you look at it, you
say, yeah, if if you're a seasonbehind, that seems like a
(06:51):
mountain. It is like a you're absolutely
right. And people will tell me to watch
something, you know, 5-6, seven seasons of something.
I'm like, I can't, how, how am I?
I can't when I can't do that. I can't do that.
And I talk to people who watch aseries over and over again.
I'm like, wait a second, there'sa thousand others.
Like, how do you? I want to go back my son.
Does that. My son has watched The Sopranos
(07:12):
like 15 times and it's like he just keeps watching.
I'm like, OK, that's interesting, but I couldn't do
it. We had a guest on here who said
the same thing. She watches it every every
couple of years. I'm like, I wish I could find
the time. I wish I had a chip.
That's where you want that chip on your head, you know?
Yeah. Right.
You're right. Yeah, the chip would help.
Maybe we'll get that going. How about the show that makes
(07:35):
you laugh? A show that makes me laugh, like
a recent or old show or. Anything.
Whatever your go to, there's a show.
Oh my. God, a show that makes me laugh.
See again, my mind goes to the past and I go to like, Monty
Python's Flying Circus, but that's so old.
That makes me feel so old man recently.
(07:57):
If you feel old, that means you got old, which is, you know,
you've, you've aged, which is good because not everybody gets
to say, hey, I can look back for10/20. 30 is true, I suppose.
Arrested Development always mademe laugh.
And I'll still look at that and think that that makes me laugh.
I just eclipse from that make melaugh.
I just watched a bunch of Curb Your Enthusiasm on the plane
coming out here and I hadn't watched any of that actually in
(08:20):
a while. And it was one of the earlier
seasons that makes me laugh so. Yeah, that's tremendous, too.
Yeah. The, the, the there's always
money in the banana stand. The just the first episode when
he said what it was at the line about what's the most important
thing in life. And he says breakfast and you're
now besides breakfast. I'm like, so you say from those
(08:40):
lines you go, OK, we have a, we have a.
Classic. We have, we have.
We have a legendary icon now. Yeah, he's fantastic.
So last question before we get into the show, what TV character
of any era, any genre, for any reason would you have liked to
have played? What character in any genre, for
name? Wow.
(09:01):
I immediately go to Mr. Spock because that to me was the
greatest character ever. I couldn't have played it.
Nobody could ever have played itexcept him and but that was a
hugely meaningful character to me.
That would have been fun. To do, I must say, the actor who
plays Spock on the strange New World Series, Ethan Peck.
I really like his work. He's good, he's good, He's doing
(09:24):
well. He's not.
He's not letter Nimoy, but he is.
Not well, but nobody is on theirNimoy.
But he's but he's very. Yeah, he does a great job and he
he makes it his own. So let's get into Eulogy.
And what was it about that part and that story that made you
want to play Phil? Well, first of all, it was Black
Mirror, because there's a show Iwatched Black Mirror, duh.
I should have said that I do watch Black Mirror.
(09:46):
So when I love Black Mirror, that was really the first
selling point was that it was Black Mirror.
And I was like, well, I'll do anything they want me to do.
And I was really interested to see what kind of story I was
going to get. And I was surprised to see I got
such a sort of relatively gentlestory.
And that was nice about it. It was totally, sort of
(10:07):
different. It took me by surprise.
I kept waiting for something truly awful to happen in the
middle of it. You know, if something was going
to be exposed that's truly awful.
But it never does. And I just thought it was like a
two person play. And I thought the themes of it
were interesting about regret and grief and memory.
(10:28):
And I thought the sort of use ofthe technology was interesting.
And the, and the ambiguity of the technology was interesting
too, in this instance. Like if you come, I, I come out
at the end of this one feeling ambiguous about it, somewhat
tending to think it was a good thing, which you don't
necessarily do with Black Mirror.
I thought it was just great. You know, the story was just
(10:50):
fantastic. Yeah, it was nice to have a
gentle episode because some of them are really you finish and
you just don't feel good. It's like.
You want to take a shower like? This it reminded me of it
reminded me of on the Twilight Zone.
They're used to every now and then be an episode like that.
You know, there would be sort oflike Robert Redford comes as
death for this lovely old lady and stuff.
(11:10):
And it's very gentle Angel show up.
And I never liked those when I was a kid.
I wanted the harsh episodes, butnow I like those better.
And so consequently, I was kind of, it was fun to actually do
one of those episodes for Black Mirror.
Oh, I got one of the totally different ones.
That's cool. Yeah, that's nice.
Yeah. Yeah.
You forget about those with the Twilight Zone.
(11:30):
But you know the Twilight Zone has so many that that stay with
you for. Decades there were.
There were a lot more of those than you probably even remember.
These kind of gentle, more melancholy ones, sentimental or
nostalgic ones. So you as you mentioned, it's,
it's a two person, it's really alot of it's a one man show.
It's you even when you are speaking with someone, it's it's
(11:52):
not reality. It's, it's you interacting with
this, you know, AI. To himself, basically, yeah.
But yet you tap into a gamut of emotions across, you know,
throughout the episode. And I was wondering what it was
like to try, you know, to do that.
How did you essentially have this reacting to yourself and
reacting to your inner thoughts and and and do it so effectively
(12:14):
when it's just? I'm glad.
I'm glad you feel it was effective.
You know, the script is very evocative.
You really get so everybody keeps asking me, did I come up
with a back story for the character?
I'm like the back story is therewithin there.
It's all about his back story. So it was very specific and very
evocative to me and there's a universality to it and every I
thank everybody. I was saying to Charlie Brooker,
(12:37):
I'm freaked out by people who say I have no regrets in life.
I'm like, you're you're a psychopath that or you're a St.
you know, they have no regrets. I have lots of regrets and I
have lots of sadnesses and griefs and things like that.
So there was a universality to it that I felt like I could draw
on deeply. I mean, it was just, it was, it
(12:58):
was not while we were doing it, lots of people in the crew were
sort of starting to talk about things like this.
I mean, it was very evocative for everybody.
Everybody was feeling it. So it felt it was a real pool of
stuff to draw on. But you know, The funny thing is
that as an actor, I wasn't alonein the way I thought it was
going to be because she was in the room with me and she's a
(13:20):
wonderful, wonderful, great, brilliant actress.
And she's a wonderful person. And so I didn't as much as he's
talking to himself and that's how it's supposed to come across
as an actor, I didn't feel like I was, you know, I felt like
there was another person there with me.
And that helped generate emotiontoo, because I did feel like I
was sharing an experience with somebody.
(13:40):
So I didn't feel alone. Well, often you, you know,
people are reacting to nothing. It's green screen, so there
isn't so that might maybe some of the secret is you actually
had that person to connect that have to create those emotional
connections I. Actually had the person there.
And in fact, you know, all of the scenes in the photographs
were not green screen. They were not digital.
Those were all practical. Those people were really there.
(14:02):
They were just frozen. They were dancers and mimes who
were frozen. And that made a difference.
It would have been different, I suppose, if I'd been green
screened. But the fact that there were
actually people there also, I didn't feel alone, you know, And
it's like, it was, it was, it was cool.
Even though it emphasizes his isolation in a way I I didn't
feel as an actor alone and. You're saying that he has a back
(14:24):
story. It's funny.
His back story is kind of something he's anchored to that
he hasn't been able to release. So he's he's always revisiting
it. He's.
Stuck in his back story. That's right.
Yeah, He's really stuck in his back story.
He's stuck in his past. Yeah, that's absolutely true.
Nothing's worse than having thatthing that you say, if only I or
you know that regret or that youknow the mistake you made that
(14:44):
maybe shifted your path. He.
Buried all those things terribly, you know, and he
doesn't realize the the real mistake he made.
He doesn't know that until he discovers it through the course
of this thing. So, you know, there is a kind of
a, you know, romance and a relationship story.
But like you said, it's about regret, it's grief, it's about
loss. Is it challenging to immerse
(15:05):
yourself in a character who's obviously still processing,
still repressing all this pain? Just just to be, you know, and
have them pretty much is the character you don't.
There's no breathers. Here, I'm just steeped in regret
the entire time. Yeah, No, it's not, it's not
easy. You know, it's it's hard.
I was just saying somebody was. I've been asked this by people a
(15:29):
lot with this. And you know, it's funny as an
actor, it's like, yes, it's hardand it's, and it, and it can be
weirdly painful. You learn how to deal with that
better as you go along as an actor.
You know, it's, but it's what anactor, it's my job too, which is
weird. And there's a really weird way
(15:49):
which actors get off on it. It's it's the one of the many
weird things about actors is that you kind of, you kind of
like it. And that's interesting too,
because in a funny way, this guyin this story likes picking up
this gap. He's kind of like there's some,
there's some part of him that wants to go into it.
(16:10):
He gets seduced into it and wants to go into it too.
And it's kind of enjoying enjoying the pain.
But he, he he needs to go through it and starts to go
through it. So it's like, yeah, I mean, you
know, it's, it's always not. Acting isn't easy, I don't
think, but it is my job. This one does live in a very
select part of the kind of the human experience.
(16:32):
It's very much on the negative side of the scale.
But there are very also very fine subtle like nuances within
that. It's not just like it's not it's
not. What was it?
The old comic Ziggy with the, you know, the dark cloud over
him. There's.
No, it's not. And you know, one of the things
they said early on to me was, oh, he's not.
He's got a nice house, his parents house, he has some sort
(16:56):
of job, you know, and it's like he's not completely wrecked, you
know what I mean? It's like he's kind of into this
sort of strange contentment, even though he's stuck in the
past. If this didn't happen to him, I
don't know, you know, he isn't he isn't of the worst life in
the world, you know, and it's like, but I think he'll have a
better life maybe now subsequentto the thing.
(17:18):
But you're right, there's lots of emotions that he goes
through, you know, and there's lots of joy to it.
And I think he ends up in a goodplace.
He ends up in a place of kind offalling in love with the woman
again, even though also realizing she's gone.
Yeah, the, I mean, there's definitely still up until those
last moments, there's that hole and there's literally holes in
(17:39):
his pictures. Yeah.
Will he ever feel that, you know, not just physically or in
or in his brain, the picture of the visuals, but will he ever be
able to pave over that? You know, while you can have a
great life, you can be happy, but if you, if you're always
saying, well, you know, yeah, this is this isn't working.
That's right. No.
And I and, and you're right. I mean, it's like it isn't
really about the papering the face over.
(18:01):
It's, it's about seeing her in some more, you know, emotional,
spiritual, metaphorical way, which he finally really does at
the end, you know, And it's likethen she's emotion at the end,
You know, she's, she's more of areal person again at the end,
which is. Yeah.
So a Black Mirror has always tapped into like the fears of
(18:23):
what where we're heading. And but a lot of it felt like
the distant future until I'd saythe last two or three years
where you're like, this is getting scary real.
And I bet there's a lot of episodes that you go that that
is real or we've even surpassed that.
So I'm wondering for you, if youhad the opportunity to to use
something like this, to use a eulogy to visit lost people and
(18:45):
things of that to make amends, whatever it is, would you, would
you do so? Yeah, I think I would.
I mean, I think it'd be hard to.I'd like to just try it at the
very least. I mean, you know, and this is
what's so pernicious about this technology.
It's it's so sexy and seductive and you just sit there going
like, I have to try it. I mean, it would, it's, it would
(19:09):
be hard to say no. I don't think I could say no.
The dangerous then the dangerousthen indulging in it, which is
the danger with all this technology, is then letting it
run away with you. And then, like, living in the
past constantly or sort of like constantly going over
everything. Do you know how the science
fiction writer Ted Chang is? He's a really fantastic science
(19:31):
fiction writer. Currently, he hasn't written a
whole lot. He writes short stories and he
wrote a short story and I can't remember the name of it, but
it's about a technology that allows you to remember
absolutely everything with crystal clarity and, and
absolute infallibility from the time you're born until you die.
And it it questions whether that's actually a good thing,
that really, maybe you should misremember stuff, you should
(19:54):
forget stuff, you should reshapestuff.
So you know, it's a dangerous getting too hooked into this
technology, but I'd try it. Yeah, I would be afraid that I
would I but I would do it. But it would have to be the
right circumstances. But I can imagine how quickly
you like, you know what, I'm going to go back there.
I don't want to deal with this today.
I want to go, you know, hang outwith whatever it is my my
(20:15):
friends or family lost loved ones.
No, it depends on the memory. You're right.
But it's like, but then you know, the temptation with the
the problem with that with them become constantly going back and
not living now, you know. It seems like you can write a
follow up to Phil five years from now.
Be like, hey Phil, you're not atwork again.
Sorry, I'm hanging out with Carol.
(20:36):
Well, that would be the intro. That's an interesting that
that's actually a very interesting place to go with
this. That's true.
You know, maybe he he's not wearing that thing at the end,
but he's maybe got it back at home and he's going to keep
plugging into it. That's actually a really
interesting twist that I'd neverthought of.
That's interesting. He could just keep indulging in
(20:56):
it. Yeah.
Wow. Maybe Season 9 will will.
Wow, that's actually really I'd never, I'd never thought of that
angle on it. That's dark.
That's that's where I live. In the TV topics.
Welcome back. Get ready to be depressed.
So at the end, your take on it, though, is a positive.
(21:19):
You know, I thought, I thought it was and it ends beautifully,
but it's. Yes, I do too.
And I mean, it's, it's more positive than I anticipated it
being. When I first read it, I didn't
see it as very positive. While we were shooting it.
I was a little bit on the fence.But then when I watched, in the
end, I think it I come down morein the place of, well, I think
this was a good thing for the guy.
Yes, I do come down more, you know, but it is.
(21:41):
But your point is is true. They all have the things on
their heads at the end and they're all sitting there zoned
out in it. And that's a little creepy, but
he doesn't, he doesn't need it anymore.
But. Yeah, he's maybe he's at peace.
Maybe he destroyed it. Maybe it's gone.
Maybe, but I'm like, but I'm notgoing to forget now that that
that idea that you just had. Yeah, yeah, definitely throw it
out there. No, it's really good.
(22:01):
I'm going to tell Charlie Brooker that one.
That's actually a really good. That's an interesting idea.
I'm going to tell. You So let's close up with a few
more TV topics and then we'll get you on your way.
You grab the remote control, theGD pops out, you get a TV based
wish. The wish is what TV show do you
want one more season of not going to be a prequel.
It could be an extra season in the middle.
(22:21):
It could be 1 tag down to the end, but it's the same cast like
magic. Everybody who was on the show.
It's it's this is not like a well, we're going to the part of
so and so was played by No, thisis.
Right. I understand.
OK, no, that's that's interesting.
And that's now I'm going to do areally cheesy move.
I'm going to say that to the show that I helped produce.
That guy cancelled after two seasons, Lodge 49.
(22:43):
I'm going to say I want more of that show.
But for what reason not? Because it was great, not just
because I produced it, because it was, it was actually really,
really good show and it had morestory that could create had Four
Seasons in his mind and that's really all he wanted to do.
And so he had them in his mind. We did two of them.
(23:03):
If I could even have a third one, he could have managed to
then round the whole thing off. And I just think if you ever
watched it or if any of your, it's a really good show.
And I know it's a cheesy move ofmine to promote my own.
That's my. OWN cancelled two season show
that I hope produced, but I really do think it was a really
good show. But that's great, the passions
(23:24):
there. And you know what, we will talk
to the genie and see if we can get two seasons instead of 1.
So we'll keep watching the remote control.
Thank you. Awesome.
How about a favorite theme song when you can't skip?
Well, I can immediately go to Mission Impossible.
Classic. Classic.
Yeah. And then you know, and this is
(23:44):
not a any kind of crossover promo, is it?
I think it came out this week right or?
Yes, but I'm not in it. Yeah, So I'm not promoting
myself. But you're right.
Yeah, I should get a cut from them.
Does it come out? I think it does come out this
week. Yeah, but if you like, if you
like Mission Impossible, then you probably trust Paul's
judgment. Go watch Lodge 49.
Thank you. Excellent hold.
(24:05):
On How about one TV death that you would stop if you could.
One TV death that I would stop. Holy cow.
One TV death that I would stop. Oh my God, That's a really good.
What would you say to that? I'm like, wow, a TV death that I
(24:25):
would stop. Oh my gosh, I don't know.
Why do I keep thinking Tony Soprano?
He gets whacked in the end, right?
Tony that's that's my take on it.
Yes, I'd say. I'd say definitely he gets
whacked. OK, and let's save him.
I like, I like that character. It's great character.
One of the best, if if not the best, honestly, yeah.
(24:46):
Kind of. I know, yeah.
So how about this is another bigone, the greatest moment in TV
history according to Paul Giamatti.
God damn it this is hard the thethe greatest moment in TV
history. It could be for any reason.
It doesn't it. This is not something that
people are going to judge you on.
This is just like, you know, what's that moment that you'll
like you, you always go back to you.
(25:08):
Well, I, you know, actually somebody did ask me something
similar about this. And then it was funny because
the first thing I thought of again, God, I feel so old.
I feel so old. I went to the last the last
episode of MASH. And the reason I remember that
is because everybody saw it. Everybody saw it.
(25:28):
I didn't know. I mean, it was and the
collective sense, the, the, the powerful sense of like every
freaking person in America watching that was really mind
blowing when I was a kid actually to me.
And when I think about it now, it's kind of extra.
I mean, everybody watched it. I didn't know, you know, a
(25:48):
single person who didn't watch that.
I watched it, my did. My father watched it religiously
and when that came on, he's likemy.
Father, my father hated that show and he watched that.
He hated that show. I mean, I remember watching with
him. Everybody watched it.
That idea of everybody watching that one thing doesn't happen.
Oh, no, no, we're done with that.
(26:09):
Not even close. But it and it was a brilliant
episode too. So it was great, Yeah.
I loved. That show the rocks on the
ground. There's so much emotion and just
like those closing moments, like, like, even though I didn't
watch, to know that there are all these, this history of
characters that just came to an end is just, I don't know, it's
kind of a beautiful thing. Yeah.
Beautiful. Yeah.
(26:29):
All right, how about I get two more 4 TV shows that make up
your TV Mount Rushmore again. They don't have to be the.
Best, I think I already said a lot of these, but I'll say them
again. I'll say Mission Impossible
Twilight Zone, in search of which you also should should
check out. You definitely should.
Wow, that's three. I know that there's another Star
(26:49):
Trek, the original Star Trek. The original, yeah.
Yeah, that's good. Again, I'm I'm old.
I'm so embarrassed at how old I am.
I no, I mean, you got to embraceit.
And you're you're naming some really great shows.
So it's like, yeah, like during your time you didn't, you won't
have. They were, really.
Formative those shows, I mean they they for, I mean Twilight
(27:11):
Zone probably the most of any ofthem was hugely formative thing
for me. Like I can't, I can't imagine
life without the Twilight Song. So, well, I don't know if this
will be an answer for that, but the final question, if you had a
magic door, one that you could open up and access to live and
and breathe and and be part of any TV show popping in and out,
whatever you want so that your real life doesn't end or stop or
(27:34):
or does it? It does pause.
That's interesting. I don't know that I'd want to do
Twilight Zone, that'd be too scary.
I think I'd Mission Impossible. What would you do first?
What would I do first? Go hang out with the IMF team?
You know, I'd want to apprenticewith Barney because I thought
Barney was the coolest characterof anything ever when I was a
(27:54):
kid. Who played Barney?
Greg Morris, he was the sort of tech guy on that show and he was
always the badass tech guy who was, you know, who was doing so
he came up with all the gadgetry.
He was, he was the, he was the genius tech guy on that show.
And Greg Morris was badass on it.
He was awesome. Do you have a an invention you
(28:16):
would come up with? An invention I could come up
with. With with him, working with him.
I wouldn't be clever enough, I wouldn't be clever if I'd let
him show me the robes. Eventually you'll figure
something out. Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for your great answers, all of your work over
the years. Thanks.
Man, I appreciate it and. The excellent work in Eulogy and
if they they make a sequel or a follow up episode I will.
(28:38):
You will be credited. Oh yeah, excellent.
I would. Love, you've got a slice of that
pie. You will be credited.
Wonderful. Thank you so much for your time
and like I said, I really love all your works of it.
Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Have a great day. Likewise.
Bye. Thanks.
Thank you to Paul Giamatti for being my guest on TV Topics.
It truly was an honor. Be sure to watch his work on
(28:59):
Black Mirror. His episode is called Eulogy.
It really is incredible and maybe down the line there might
be a follow up episode. You truly heard it here first.
Also, do what I'm going to do immediately after this episode,
go watch Lodge 49. If Paul's that passionate about
it, it must be good. Maybe we can get him that extra
season or two. Keep tuning into TV topics and
(29:20):
be sure to subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcast or wherever you
find your podcast. And if you really enjoy the
show, please give it a five starrating.
It really helps. You can also follow TV topics on
Instagram at TV under score Topics.
Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more TV topics.
TV Topics is produced by StephenBrzekowski.
(29:41):
ZAP.
Hey, where's the remote? It's time for TV Topics, where
those who love television discuss the series and
performances that should be on your radar.
Welcome to TV Topics. This is your host, Stephen
Przykowski. Sometimes there's an actor whose
work you see, and you decide immediately I need to see what
they do next. That's what happened when I saw
(00:24):
Howard Stern's Private Parts. Oh, wait, that doesn't sound
right. I'm talking about the movie, and
in that movie there was 1 actor who stood out.
A few years later I saw him in another film called American
Splendor and thought this guy's great.
From that day forward, he wasn'tjust an actor I saw before.
He had a name and I follow and Ifollowed that name through some
(00:46):
of my favorite films like Sideways and The Holdovers.
The list goes on and on. Cinderella Man, Barney's
version, The Illusionist. I just knew that whatever film
he was in, he'd deliver. And he does.
He also does some amazing TV work and shows like Billions and
the limited series John Adams, which he took home an Emmy for.
(01:07):
You can now see him in Netflix'sBlack Mirror.
His episode called Eulogy is onethat will stick with you long
after it's done. Of course, I'm talking about the
great Paul Giamatti. Hi, this is Paul Giamatti and
today I'm hanging out with Steven Krzykowski on TV Topics.
Welcome to TV Topics. Thank you.
I just want to say before I start anything, Sideways and The
(01:30):
Holdovers were both my favorite films of their respective years
and your performances as well. So thank you.
I've been a fan since Private Parts and everything since.
Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Honored to speak with you.
Thank you. So we're going to get into your
work on on Black Mirror. You lose in in just a few
minutes. But first, let's do a little TV
(01:51):
topics. Remember, there's no pressure,
there's no right or wrong answers.
It's just dolphin. So looking back over the years,
what has your relationship with TV been?
Were you ATV, junkie watches, everything?
Were you very selective? Did you have go to shows?
Well, looking back over the years as a child, I was a, you
know, child of the 70s and I watched endless and endless
(02:14):
amounts of TV. And then over the years I
watched less and less. And I have to say that I don't
watch a whole hell of a lot now.It's really funny and I don't
know what to attribute that to. Sometimes I think it's because
being an actor, it's a bit of a bustman's holiday for me.
And I got to that point where I've done so much that it's hard
for me to watch stuff and reallywatch it without just thinking
(02:35):
about, oh, it must have been really cold when they shot that
scene, you know, and stuff like that.
So I don't watch a ton of it now, but I did when I was
younger, that's for damn sure. What was some of the your
favorites back then? Twilight Zone.
Mission Impossible In Search of Remember In Search of Leonard
Nimoy's In Search of Really. That was the best.
(02:56):
What is it like? Is that a like a documentary?
It was 1/2 hour documentary showevery week.
Leonard Nimoy hosted it and it was strange phenomena.
UFOs, you know, pyramids, you know, weird, the Bermuda
Triangle. It was really 70s paranoid,
conspiratorial, weird paranormalstuff.
(03:17):
Star Trek was also big for me. And that's remained the biggest
thing for me through the years. And I'll watch, I still, I watch
strange New worlds and stuff like that now.
So I, I do watch stuff like that.
I'll watch science fiction stuffnow sometimes.
Strange New World is is excellent.
I think it's the best Star Trek probably in in decades.
I agree it's. It's really tremendous.
(03:39):
Even even the musical episode where some people had problems,
I really love that. I thought it was great.
I thought it was great. It's very clever and and well
done and when you when you get Klingon singing or or rapping or
whatever, they did amazing. Loved it, very inventive, very
fun. I really, I really enjoy it.
So going back then, what was like the first prime time show
you were, you remember really loving one that was yours, no
(04:01):
matter how good or bad it was just.
Your show, you're all right withme going back really far back
into the past. You're OK with that?
OK. I can remember being very into
and because it was very kind of like it was very racy and adult.
I can remember being very into Dallas as a kid.
I thought Dallas was awesome. I still think Dallas is awesome.
(04:23):
That was that was big for me as as a kid.
I love Dallas. Yeah, when you well, that show,
it didn't matter what age you were, you knew what was going on
in Dallas. You know, the Patrick Duffy
coming out of the show or The Who shot Jr. all.
Those Patrick Duffy, absolutely.Do you remember now?
I mean, I'm, I don't mean to be grilling, but do you remember
there was a show called the man from Atlantis, very short lived
(04:45):
show with Patrick Duffy as a as a Prince from the land of
Atlantis. He was a he was he was semi, he
was amphibian. He was an amphibian and he would
he would come out onto the land and it was the whole thing about
him needing to get back to Atlantis.
It was a really wacky show. I recommend it.
I recommend it. I will.
Let that one down. Sounds like a classic.
(05:06):
The the the classics only last one year, that's how.
It works right. The really great ones only last
year. And Speaking of that, I'm sorry,
this is this is fun. A show that I really enjoyed
that only lasted two seasons a few years back was counterpart.
Did you ever see Counterpart with JK Simmons?
I'm glad I'm bringing up all thestuff you don't, you don't know
that's a. Good show, JK Simmons.
(05:26):
I'm surprised I don't. Know JK Simmons?
A fantastic show that's worth watching.
It's only on for two seasons andit was really, really good.
Kind of a sci-fi spy thriller. That just recently in the last
like. I would say probably within the
last 10. Years, probably.
Five or six years ago, maybe. All right.
I'll have to go back and look for that one as well.
Yes. It's it's in the past.
I live in the past. Hey, you know, I love it though.
(05:47):
That's what I don't. I don't want to just hear people
give the same answers. I want to hear, you know what it
is because you know, you work inTV, you are somebody's answers
at times. So it's great to, you know.
I'll recommend another show to you, one that I helped produce
that was only on for two seasonscalled Lodge 49 and I I I
recommend that to you and and your list.
That was with the son of. Wyatt Russell Wyatt Russell.
(06:10):
Yes, Kurt Russell's son. It's terrific in it, yeah.
Excellent. Well, there's some, there's a
great To Do List and and I'll definitely add those.
I did see a little bit of that, but I didn't.
It's good. There's just.
So much to take in these, I knowthat's the.
Thing I. Know so much gets lost and
you'll wonder like what is the greatest series that will never
(06:31):
that never had a second season or never even had maybe even
it's time in the sun because we have so much such a saturation.
And that's another reason I think I don't watch a whole lot
is I just get overwhelmed and I'm like, I don't know where to
start. And then it's just too much, too
much. And when you look at it, you
say, yeah, if if you're a seasonbehind, that seems like a
(06:51):
mountain. It is like a you're absolutely
right. And people will tell me to watch
something, you know, 5-6, seven seasons of something.
I'm like, I can't, how, how am I?
I can't when I can't do that. I can't do that.
And I talk to people who watch aseries over and over again.
I'm like, wait a second, there'sa thousand others.
Like, how do you? I want to go back my son.
Does that. My son has watched The Sopranos
(07:12):
like 15 times and it's like he just keeps watching.
I'm like, OK, that's interesting, but I couldn't do
it. We had a guest on here who said
the same thing. She watches it every every
couple of years. I'm like, I wish I could find
the time. I wish I had a chip.
That's where you want that chip on your head, you know?
Yeah. Right.
You're right. Yeah, the chip would help.
Maybe we'll get that going. How about the show that makes
(07:35):
you laugh? A show that makes me laugh, like
a recent or old show or. Anything.
Whatever your go to, there's a show.
Oh my. God, a show that makes me laugh.
See again, my mind goes to the past and I go to like, Monty
Python's Flying Circus, but that's so old.
That makes me feel so old man recently.
(07:57):
If you feel old, that means you got old, which is, you know,
you've, you've aged, which is good because not everybody gets
to say, hey, I can look back for10/20. 30 is true, I suppose.
Arrested Development always mademe laugh.
And I'll still look at that and think that that makes me laugh.
I just eclipse from that make melaugh.
I just watched a bunch of Curb Your Enthusiasm on the plane
coming out here and I hadn't watched any of that actually in
(08:20):
a while. And it was one of the earlier
seasons that makes me laugh so. Yeah, that's tremendous, too.
Yeah. The, the, the there's always
money in the banana stand. The just the first episode when
he said what it was at the line about what's the most important
thing in life. And he says breakfast and you're
now besides breakfast. I'm like, so you say from those
(08:40):
lines you go, OK, we have a, we have a.
Classic. We have, we have.
We have a legendary icon now. Yeah, he's fantastic.
So last question before we get into the show, what TV character
of any era, any genre, for any reason would you have liked to
have played? What character in any genre, for
name? Wow.
(09:01):
I immediately go to Mr. Spock because that to me was the
greatest character ever. I couldn't have played it.
Nobody could ever have played itexcept him and but that was a
hugely meaningful character to me.
That would have been fun. To do, I must say, the actor who
plays Spock on the strange New World Series, Ethan Peck.
I really like his work. He's good, he's good, He's doing
(09:24):
well. He's not.
He's not letter Nimoy, but he is.
Not well, but nobody is on theirNimoy.
But he's but he's very. Yeah, he does a great job and he
he makes it his own. So let's get into Eulogy.
And what was it about that part and that story that made you
want to play Phil? Well, first of all, it was Black
Mirror, because there's a show Iwatched Black Mirror, duh.
I should have said that I do watch Black Mirror.
(09:46):
So when I love Black Mirror, that was really the first
selling point was that it was Black Mirror.
And I was like, well, I'll do anything they want me to do.
And I was really interested to see what kind of story I was
going to get. And I was surprised to see I got
such a sort of relatively gentlestory.
And that was nice about it. It was totally, sort of
(10:07):
different. It took me by surprise.
I kept waiting for something truly awful to happen in the
middle of it. You know, if something was going
to be exposed that's truly awful.
But it never does. And I just thought it was like a
two person play. And I thought the themes of it
were interesting about regret and grief and memory.
(10:28):
And I thought the sort of use ofthe technology was interesting.
And the, and the ambiguity of the technology was interesting
too, in this instance. Like if you come, I, I come out
at the end of this one feeling ambiguous about it, somewhat
tending to think it was a good thing, which you don't
necessarily do with Black Mirror.
I thought it was just great. You know, the story was just
(10:50):
fantastic. Yeah, it was nice to have a
gentle episode because some of them are really you finish and
you just don't feel good. It's like.
You want to take a shower like? This it reminded me of it
reminded me of on the Twilight Zone.
They're used to every now and then be an episode like that.
You know, there would be sort oflike Robert Redford comes as
death for this lovely old lady and stuff.
(11:10):
And it's very gentle Angel show up.
And I never liked those when I was a kid.
I wanted the harsh episodes, butnow I like those better.
And so consequently, I was kind of, it was fun to actually do
one of those episodes for Black Mirror.
Oh, I got one of the totally different ones.
That's cool. Yeah, that's nice.
Yeah. Yeah.
You forget about those with the Twilight Zone.
(11:30):
But you know the Twilight Zone has so many that that stay with
you for. Decades there were.
There were a lot more of those than you probably even remember.
These kind of gentle, more melancholy ones, sentimental or
nostalgic ones. So you as you mentioned, it's,
it's a two person, it's really alot of it's a one man show.
It's you even when you are speaking with someone, it's it's
(11:52):
not reality. It's, it's you interacting with
this, you know, AI. To himself, basically, yeah.
But yet you tap into a gamut of emotions across, you know,
throughout the episode. And I was wondering what it was
like to try, you know, to do that.
How did you essentially have this reacting to yourself and
reacting to your inner thoughts and and and do it so effectively
(12:14):
when it's just? I'm glad.
I'm glad you feel it was effective.
You know, the script is very evocative.
You really get so everybody keeps asking me, did I come up
with a back story for the character?
I'm like the back story is therewithin there.
It's all about his back story. So it was very specific and very
evocative to me and there's a universality to it and every I
thank everybody. I was saying to Charlie Brooker,
(12:37):
I'm freaked out by people who say I have no regrets in life.
I'm like, you're you're a psychopath that or you're a St.
you know, they have no regrets. I have lots of regrets and I
have lots of sadnesses and griefs and things like that.
So there was a universality to it that I felt like I could draw
on deeply. I mean, it was just, it was, it
(12:58):
was not while we were doing it, lots of people in the crew were
sort of starting to talk about things like this.
I mean, it was very evocative for everybody.
Everybody was feeling it. So it felt it was a real pool of
stuff to draw on. But you know, The funny thing is
that as an actor, I wasn't alonein the way I thought it was
going to be because she was in the room with me and she's a
(13:20):
wonderful, wonderful, great, brilliant actress.
And she's a wonderful person. And so I didn't as much as he's
talking to himself and that's how it's supposed to come across
as an actor, I didn't feel like I was, you know, I felt like
there was another person there with me.
And that helped generate emotiontoo, because I did feel like I
was sharing an experience with somebody.
(13:40):
So I didn't feel alone. Well, often you, you know,
people are reacting to nothing. It's green screen, so there
isn't so that might maybe some of the secret is you actually
had that person to connect that have to create those emotional
connections I. Actually had the person there.
And in fact, you know, all of the scenes in the photographs
were not green screen. They were not digital.
Those were all practical. Those people were really there.
(14:02):
They were just frozen. They were dancers and mimes who
were frozen. And that made a difference.
It would have been different, I suppose, if I'd been green
screened. But the fact that there were
actually people there also, I didn't feel alone, you know, And
it's like, it was, it was, it was cool.
Even though it emphasizes his isolation in a way I I didn't
feel as an actor alone and. You're saying that he has a back
(14:24):
story. It's funny.
His back story is kind of something he's anchored to that
he hasn't been able to release. So he's he's always revisiting
it. He's.
Stuck in his back story. That's right.
Yeah, He's really stuck in his back story.
He's stuck in his past. Yeah, that's absolutely true.
Nothing's worse than having thatthing that you say, if only I or
you know that regret or that youknow the mistake you made that
(14:44):
maybe shifted your path. He.
Buried all those things terribly, you know, and he
doesn't realize the the real mistake he made.
He doesn't know that until he discovers it through the course
of this thing. So, you know, there is a kind of
a, you know, romance and a relationship story.
But like you said, it's about regret, it's grief, it's about
loss. Is it challenging to immerse
(15:05):
yourself in a character who's obviously still processing,
still repressing all this pain? Just just to be, you know, and
have them pretty much is the character you don't.
There's no breathers. Here, I'm just steeped in regret
the entire time. Yeah, No, it's not, it's not
easy. You know, it's it's hard.
I was just saying somebody was. I've been asked this by people a
(15:29):
lot with this. And you know, it's funny as an
actor, it's like, yes, it's hardand it's, and it, and it can be
weirdly painful. You learn how to deal with that
better as you go along as an actor.
You know, it's, but it's what anactor, it's my job too, which is
weird. And there's a really weird way
(15:49):
which actors get off on it. It's it's the one of the many
weird things about actors is that you kind of, you kind of
like it. And that's interesting too,
because in a funny way, this guyin this story likes picking up
this gap. He's kind of like there's some,
there's some part of him that wants to go into it.
(16:10):
He gets seduced into it and wants to go into it too.
And it's kind of enjoying enjoying the pain.
But he, he he needs to go through it and starts to go
through it. So it's like, yeah, I mean, you
know, it's, it's always not. Acting isn't easy, I don't
think, but it is my job. This one does live in a very
select part of the kind of the human experience.
(16:32):
It's very much on the negative side of the scale.
But there are very also very fine subtle like nuances within
that. It's not just like it's not it's
not. What was it?
The old comic Ziggy with the, you know, the dark cloud over
him. There's.
No, it's not. And you know, one of the things
they said early on to me was, oh, he's not.
He's got a nice house, his parents house, he has some sort
(16:56):
of job, you know, and it's like he's not completely wrecked, you
know what I mean? It's like he's kind of into this
sort of strange contentment, even though he's stuck in the
past. If this didn't happen to him, I
don't know, you know, he isn't he isn't of the worst life in
the world, you know, and it's like, but I think he'll have a
better life maybe now subsequentto the thing.
(17:18):
But you're right, there's lots of emotions that he goes
through, you know, and there's lots of joy to it.
And I think he ends up in a goodplace.
He ends up in a place of kind offalling in love with the woman
again, even though also realizing she's gone.
Yeah, the, I mean, there's definitely still up until those
last moments, there's that hole and there's literally holes in
(17:39):
his pictures. Yeah.
Will he ever feel that, you know, not just physically or in
or in his brain, the picture of the visuals, but will he ever be
able to pave over that? You know, while you can have a
great life, you can be happy, but if you, if you're always
saying, well, you know, yeah, this is this isn't working.
That's right. No.
And I and, and you're right. I mean, it's like it isn't
really about the papering the face over.
(18:01):
It's, it's about seeing her in some more, you know, emotional,
spiritual, metaphorical way, which he finally really does at
the end, you know, And it's likethen she's emotion at the end,
You know, she's, she's more of areal person again at the end,
which is. Yeah.
So a Black Mirror has always tapped into like the fears of
(18:23):
what where we're heading. And but a lot of it felt like
the distant future until I'd saythe last two or three years
where you're like, this is getting scary real.
And I bet there's a lot of episodes that you go that that
is real or we've even surpassed that.
So I'm wondering for you, if youhad the opportunity to to use
something like this, to use a eulogy to visit lost people and
(18:45):
things of that to make amends, whatever it is, would you, would
you do so? Yeah, I think I would.
I mean, I think it'd be hard to.I'd like to just try it at the
very least. I mean, you know, and this is
what's so pernicious about this technology.
It's it's so sexy and seductive and you just sit there going
like, I have to try it. I mean, it would, it's, it would
(19:09):
be hard to say no. I don't think I could say no.
The dangerous then the dangerousthen indulging in it, which is
the danger with all this technology, is then letting it
run away with you. And then, like, living in the
past constantly or sort of like constantly going over
everything. Do you know how the science
fiction writer Ted Chang is? He's a really fantastic science
(19:31):
fiction writer. Currently, he hasn't written a
whole lot. He writes short stories and he
wrote a short story and I can't remember the name of it, but
it's about a technology that allows you to remember
absolutely everything with crystal clarity and, and
absolute infallibility from the time you're born until you die.
And it it questions whether that's actually a good thing,
that really, maybe you should misremember stuff, you should
(19:54):
forget stuff, you should reshapestuff.
So you know, it's a dangerous getting too hooked into this
technology, but I'd try it. Yeah, I would be afraid that I
would I but I would do it. But it would have to be the
right circumstances. But I can imagine how quickly
you like, you know what, I'm going to go back there.
I don't want to deal with this today.
I want to go, you know, hang outwith whatever it is my my
(20:15):
friends or family lost loved ones.
No, it depends on the memory. You're right.
But it's like, but then you know, the temptation with the
the problem with that with them become constantly going back and
not living now, you know. It seems like you can write a
follow up to Phil five years from now.
Be like, hey Phil, you're not atwork again.
Sorry, I'm hanging out with Carol.
(20:36):
Well, that would be the intro. That's an interesting that
that's actually a very interesting place to go with
this. That's true.
You know, maybe he he's not wearing that thing at the end,
but he's maybe got it back at home and he's going to keep
plugging into it. That's actually a really
interesting twist that I'd neverthought of.
That's interesting. He could just keep indulging in
(20:56):
it. Yeah.
Wow. Maybe Season 9 will will.
Wow, that's actually really I'd never, I'd never thought of that
angle on it. That's dark.
That's that's where I live. In the TV topics.
Welcome back. Get ready to be depressed.
So at the end, your take on it, though, is a positive.
(21:19):
You know, I thought, I thought it was and it ends beautifully,
but it's. Yes, I do too.
And I mean, it's, it's more positive than I anticipated it
being. When I first read it, I didn't
see it as very positive. While we were shooting it.
I was a little bit on the fence.But then when I watched, in the
end, I think it I come down morein the place of, well, I think
this was a good thing for the guy.
Yes, I do come down more, you know, but it is.
(21:41):
But your point is is true. They all have the things on
their heads at the end and they're all sitting there zoned
out in it. And that's a little creepy, but
he doesn't, he doesn't need it anymore.
But. Yeah, he's maybe he's at peace.
Maybe he destroyed it. Maybe it's gone.
Maybe, but I'm like, but I'm notgoing to forget now that that
that idea that you just had. Yeah, yeah, definitely throw it
out there. No, it's really good.
(22:01):
I'm going to tell Charlie Brooker that one.
That's actually a really good. That's an interesting idea.
I'm going to tell. You So let's close up with a few
more TV topics and then we'll get you on your way.
You grab the remote control, theGD pops out, you get a TV based
wish. The wish is what TV show do you
want one more season of not going to be a prequel.
It could be an extra season in the middle.
(22:21):
It could be 1 tag down to the end, but it's the same cast like
magic. Everybody who was on the show.
It's it's this is not like a well, we're going to the part of
so and so was played by No, thisis.
Right. I understand.
OK, no, that's that's interesting.
And that's now I'm going to do areally cheesy move.
I'm going to say that to the show that I helped produce.
That guy cancelled after two seasons, Lodge 49.
(22:43):
I'm going to say I want more of that show.
But for what reason not? Because it was great, not just
because I produced it, because it was, it was actually really,
really good show and it had morestory that could create had Four
Seasons in his mind and that's really all he wanted to do.
And so he had them in his mind. We did two of them.
(23:03):
If I could even have a third one, he could have managed to
then round the whole thing off. And I just think if you ever
watched it or if any of your, it's a really good show.
And I know it's a cheesy move ofmine to promote my own.
That's my. OWN cancelled two season show
that I hope produced, but I really do think it was a really
good show. But that's great, the passions
(23:24):
there. And you know what, we will talk
to the genie and see if we can get two seasons instead of 1.
So we'll keep watching the remote control.
Thank you. Awesome.
How about a favorite theme song when you can't skip?
Well, I can immediately go to Mission Impossible.
Classic. Classic.
Yeah. And then you know, and this is
(23:44):
not a any kind of crossover promo, is it?
I think it came out this week right or?
Yes, but I'm not in it. Yeah, So I'm not promoting
myself. But you're right.
Yeah, I should get a cut from them.
Does it come out? I think it does come out this
week. Yeah, but if you like, if you
like Mission Impossible, then you probably trust Paul's
judgment. Go watch Lodge 49.
Thank you. Excellent hold.
(24:05):
On How about one TV death that you would stop if you could.
One TV death that I would stop. Holy cow.
One TV death that I would stop. Oh my God, That's a really good.
What would you say to that? I'm like, wow, a TV death that I
(24:25):
would stop. Oh my gosh, I don't know.
Why do I keep thinking Tony Soprano?
He gets whacked in the end, right?
Tony that's that's my take on it.
Yes, I'd say. I'd say definitely he gets
whacked. OK, and let's save him.
I like, I like that character. It's great character.
One of the best, if if not the best, honestly, yeah.
(24:46):
Kind of. I know, yeah.
So how about this is another bigone, the greatest moment in TV
history according to Paul Giamatti.
God damn it this is hard the thethe greatest moment in TV
history. It could be for any reason.
It doesn't it. This is not something that
people are going to judge you on.
This is just like, you know, what's that moment that you'll
like you, you always go back to you.
(25:08):
Well, I, you know, actually somebody did ask me something
similar about this. And then it was funny because
the first thing I thought of again, God, I feel so old.
I feel so old. I went to the last the last
episode of MASH. And the reason I remember that
is because everybody saw it. Everybody saw it.
(25:28):
I didn't know. I mean, it was and the
collective sense, the, the, the powerful sense of like every
freaking person in America watching that was really mind
blowing when I was a kid actually to me.
And when I think about it now, it's kind of extra.
I mean, everybody watched it. I didn't know, you know, a
(25:48):
single person who didn't watch that.
I watched it, my did. My father watched it religiously
and when that came on, he's likemy.
Father, my father hated that show and he watched that.
He hated that show. I mean, I remember watching with
him. Everybody watched it.
That idea of everybody watching that one thing doesn't happen.
Oh, no, no, we're done with that.
(26:09):
Not even close. But it and it was a brilliant
episode too. So it was great, Yeah.
I loved. That show the rocks on the
ground. There's so much emotion and just
like those closing moments, like, like, even though I didn't
watch, to know that there are all these, this history of
characters that just came to an end is just, I don't know, it's
kind of a beautiful thing. Yeah.
Beautiful. Yeah.
(26:29):
All right, how about I get two more 4 TV shows that make up
your TV Mount Rushmore again. They don't have to be the.
Best, I think I already said a lot of these, but I'll say them
again. I'll say Mission Impossible
Twilight Zone, in search of which you also should should
check out. You definitely should.
Wow, that's three. I know that there's another Star
(26:49):
Trek, the original Star Trek. The original, yeah.
Yeah, that's good. Again, I'm I'm old.
I'm so embarrassed at how old I am.
I no, I mean, you got to embraceit.
And you're you're naming some really great shows.
So it's like, yeah, like during your time you didn't, you won't
have. They were, really.
Formative those shows, I mean they they for, I mean Twilight
(27:11):
Zone probably the most of any ofthem was hugely formative thing
for me. Like I can't, I can't imagine
life without the Twilight Song. So, well, I don't know if this
will be an answer for that, but the final question, if you had a
magic door, one that you could open up and access to live and
and breathe and and be part of any TV show popping in and out,
whatever you want so that your real life doesn't end or stop or
(27:34):
or does it? It does pause.
That's interesting. I don't know that I'd want to do
Twilight Zone, that'd be too scary.
I think I'd Mission Impossible. What would you do first?
What would I do first? Go hang out with the IMF team?
You know, I'd want to apprenticewith Barney because I thought
Barney was the coolest characterof anything ever when I was a
(27:54):
kid. Who played Barney?
Greg Morris, he was the sort of tech guy on that show and he was
always the badass tech guy who was, you know, who was doing so
he came up with all the gadgetry.
He was, he was the, he was the genius tech guy on that show.
And Greg Morris was badass on it.
He was awesome. Do you have a an invention you
(28:16):
would come up with? An invention I could come up
with. With with him, working with him.
I wouldn't be clever enough, I wouldn't be clever if I'd let
him show me the robes. Eventually you'll figure
something out. Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for your great answers, all of your work over
the years. Thanks.
Man, I appreciate it and. The excellent work in Eulogy and
if they they make a sequel or a follow up episode I will.
(28:38):
You will be credited. Oh yeah, excellent.
I would. Love, you've got a slice of that
pie. You will be credited.
Wonderful. Thank you so much for your time
and like I said, I really love all your works of it.
Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Have a great day. Likewise.
Bye. Thanks.
Thank you to Paul Giamatti for being my guest on TV Topics.
It truly was an honor. Be sure to watch his work on
(28:59):
Black Mirror. His episode is called Eulogy.
It really is incredible and maybe down the line there might
be a follow up episode. You truly heard it here first.
Also, do what I'm going to do immediately after this episode,
go watch Lodge 49. If Paul's that passionate about
it, it must be good. Maybe we can get him that extra
season or two. Keep tuning into TV topics and
(29:20):
be sure to subscribe on Spotify or Apple Podcast or wherever you
find your podcast. And if you really enjoy the
show, please give it a five starrating.
It really helps. You can also follow TV topics on
Instagram at TV under score Topics.
Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more TV topics.
TV Topics is produced by StephenBrzekowski.
(29:41):
ZAP.
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