March 31, 2022 • 53 mins
It is amazing who you will meet in the 24 Universe! Twin siblings Frank and Mara grew up less than 30 minutes from me, but it took Jack Bauer and the holy grail of VHS tapes to bring us together.
Joined by Aaron, the fearless leader of the 24 Universe, we talk about the Motor City, meeting Kiefer, Us Weekly, baseball stadiums, playing music on Sirius XM, following your passion and how our guests used their WonderTwin powers to successfully Stump The Booey on the Howard Stern Show!
Can't wait to catch up in Detroit!
Baba Booey, Baba Booey.
Check out this link to follow our guests:
http://maramovies.com
Tubular bells provided by Lp https://lyndonperry.bandcamp.com
Joined by Aaron, the fearless leader of the 24 Universe, we talk about the Motor City, meeting Kiefer, Us Weekly, baseball stadiums, playing music on Sirius XM, following your passion and how our guests used their WonderTwin powers to successfully Stump The Booey on the Howard Stern Show!
Can't wait to catch up in Detroit!
Baba Booey, Baba Booey.
Check out this link to follow our guests:
http://maramovies.com
Tubular bells provided by Lp https://lyndonperry.bandcamp.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:33):
We have Frank Einstein and Mara Einsteinare here joining us, sharing their stories
and background about twenty four and inand around twenty four. Even though we're
going to talk about twenty four,we're gonna talk Michigan because I literally can
go out of my balcony and seethe Renaissance Center and see Michigan, but
I can't go there yet. SoI am craving Michigan love, and we're
(00:58):
going to talk Michigan. Aaron,We're going to the topic. Bring it.
The topic always comes up. Don'tapologize this time. We have to
cover Michigan, we have to coverHoward Stern and then we'll eventually get to
twenty four at some point. Sowelcome to the show. We thank you
for clear time. Thanks very thankyou. Here's what's happening this week on
twenty four Universe, which Aaron ishere with us from LA early in the
(01:19):
morning morning and he runs twenty fourUniverse, and all of a sudden,
what popped up on twenty four Universebut a little over a week ago was
this picture of this video cassette,a VHS cassette which usually VHS with some
of your kids might not even knowwhat not even know. But here's the
thing. I don't get excited aboutseeing a VHS cassette online. They're everywhere
(01:45):
right or at a pawnshop. However, what's on this particular cassette, This
one is like a specific shrine,especially to those fanatics like ourselves. It
is the Holy Grail. It isa good copy of the Star War Wors
holiday special. It's on par withthose things. And you hold you hold
(02:05):
it in your hand. Often sodebated that like as as a as as
said on the in the group,that a keeper doesn't even think it exists,
right, like Santa Claus Claus.Yeah, tell me, tell me
please, first tell us tell ushow did you two meet. I'll let
(02:27):
mar take that. She's funnier thanI met. And we met in my
mother's womb in nineteen Well, yeah, we were. Frank and I are
twins, and he lives in NewYork City and that is how we met.
He was basically the first person Imet. Ever, So there you
(02:52):
go. That's awesome. Wow.In terms of the video cassette, I
will tell you briefly, the storywas is that Frank has a boring job.
He's a CPA. I have afun job. I'm an entertainment journalist
and I used to work at teenPeople magazine rip In from two thousand to
(03:15):
two thousand and two. Two thousandand one, I came across a cassette
of the original twenty four pilot.I believe my memory isn't one hundred percent
on this, but from what Iremember, my editor had it. We're
(03:35):
at the Upfront presentations, which iswhen all the networks reveal their fall schedules
in May. After these presentations,the networks send the editors these rough cut
copies of the pilots. They arenot for a review. What often happens
is that some CALF members get cutout or replaced until you actually see these
(04:00):
episodes in September, so in May. This is in May two thousand and
one, my editor received all theVHS copies of the Fox lineup, and
she wasn't really interested at what didn'treally scream Team people, so she gave
me her VHS's And I remember thinkingthat or hearing that, there was a
(04:23):
lot of buzz around this one pilotof twenty four because it was gonna air
one hour per episode, something veryhigh concept at the time, and I
held onto it and at some pointI gave it to Frank because I knew
it sounded right up as Alley.And again, this is May two thousand
(04:46):
and one. This is before everythingso changed several times. World change.
It wasn't It definitely was not.Oh my gosh, this is going to
be a collector's either want y,it might be cool, this might be
a cool pilot to watch. That'sall it was. And then it became
(05:08):
a collector's item. And then obviouslynine to eleven happened in New York where
I was, and the whole worldchanged. But yeah, no, Frank,
if you I mean, if youcan see from his background is a
collector and he has love so manyYeah, he has everything related to sports
and entertainment, and yeah he heldI don't know if I personally would have
(05:29):
held on to that tape. Heheld on to it. And that is
how twenty years later it ended upon your Facebook group. Well, twice
a year. Twice a year,I'll get a bin and I'll put it
out in front of the house andI and I go through and I get
rid of stuff in the house becauseI watch I read Marie Kundo, I
read, you know, tidying upI read all those things, and I
(05:50):
don't want to be that person atthe end that still has this huge collection
of stuff. So I'm trying littleby little. I'm by no means,
you know, a tiny house person, but I'm trying to get closer to
that. So in the process I'vethrown out VHS cassettes. Right, but
Frank you kept yours? Yes,amazing? What what made you keep it?
(06:14):
I remember watching the pilot of twentyfour as it aired, was in
in November, I believe, intwo thousand and one, right, So,
and again, let me just startoff by saying this. There are
much bigger twenty four fans out therethan me. I know that I'm aware
of that, but I remember watchingit, much bigger than us, probably,
Yes, So I remember watching itand my sister came to me.
It's like, oh, I havethe pilot of it with the uncuts.
(06:38):
Everyone knew that they cut a sceneobviously because nine eleven, right, and
so oh, I'm like, ohh said that to me and very nonchalant,
And I remember watching it. I'vealways watched it one time. That
tape has never been watched again.Right after the pilot came out and she
sent it to me, and Iwatched it. I'm like, wow,
this is really different, not reallydifferent, but I don't want to get
(06:58):
to the details, but it's differentthan what aired on the actual pilot,
and something about me said and again. By then, I remember twenty four
when it first came out if USAToday had a full spread ad of all
these positive reviews of it, andI knew this was just something different and
unique. So I said, likeyou, I throw out a lot of
stuff, but I knew this wassomething worth holding on to. And Tomor's
(07:23):
credit, this is not the firstpilot she sent me. I actually have
the original VHS pilot of South Parkthat she got way back in college.
So these are like unique things thatshe sends to me, and I know
that are different, and when shegives it to me, it's like,
you got to protect us with yourlife, like Jack Bauer protection and stuff
like that. So I tend tohold on sometimes and know where they are.
(07:44):
And I knew it would serve somegood at some point a time.
I didn't know when that day wouldcome until I happened to stumble upon Facebook
listens to everything. Probably I stilllove twenty four and I saw your twenty
years and twenty four convention. Istart looking at this and all these amazing
guests, I'm like, wow,I have something I think I didn't know
would be that big of a deal. I didn't know how rare that really.
(08:05):
The tape is that I thought wouldbe interesting just to show off because
we all love to see the reactionsFacebook's going to give to us. Oh
absolutely, And I'll give you alittle clue onto the rarity. I mean,
I've been into twenty four has beenmy thing since November sixth, two
thousand and one. Solid Okay,I've gotten lots of people into it,
(08:26):
and I know and I've met lotsof people that are already I've never met
someone who has seen the tape.It's like, like we were talking about
before it say it were too stupidtwenty four junkies like myself, Brian and
Justin and all of our little buddies. Uh, it's like the Holy Girl.
Yeah time, and I said,listen, I don't think it's that
(08:50):
big of a deal. Like whoahold on? Right? Right? Yeah?
I heard you was looking at itlike wow, he doesn't even that's
like like I know what I wasplaying back. It was here's what it
was. It was a feeding frenzybecause everybody jumped in. I was worried
for you because I was like,you're gonna be like, I'm gonna get
out of this group. Because everybodyjumped in, like could you send it
(09:11):
to me? Could you do that? I'm like, yeah, I knew.
I Everyone's like, make a copyof the DVD, sell it and
this and that, and I'm likenumber one. Theoretically I had to talk
to my sister because she's the onethat gave it to me. Number two
and I put a picture of this, and again I don't know the legal
ramifications. I'm not a rich person. But as you can see, I
(09:33):
don't really own this. I guessFox still owns it, so I don't
know. So I don't want tojust dump it out there on YouTube and
then everyone's gonna copy it and Idon't know what's going to happen. Yeah,
the lawyer. The lawyer and meresponded right away, don't do anything
with it. Just hang on toit's right here, absolutely, I mean
that's part of my Yeah, it'sin good hands. I keep a very
(10:00):
safe house because stuff you see inthe background. Yeah, I keep trying
to see what it all is.I'm so curious sport. It's all Baseball
Hall of Famers. And I havea YouTube channel that I won't promote.
So nice that you that you won'tpromote why not? I don't know what
are There are no rules, Thereare no rules. We're gonna talk because
(10:20):
we're gonna talk. We're gonna talktomorrow, movies, We're gonna talk all
that stuff today, it's not later. I don't want to base four people.
I'm sorry. Any any rules areyours to impose? No, No,
I will see you know what I'msaying. Yeah, I will just
say this like as twenty four grewand fanom it really exploded it. I
want to say even tomorrow became thehead to No, I don't want to
(10:41):
stuff her to shoes too much.But Ma got promoted that you start getting
more and more preview discs, whichshe would send to me, and I
said, every single one, whichI'm sure we'll get to later. Very
cool, very cool. No,those are those are you know if you're
gonna hoard something that those are goodthings to hoard. Those are good things
that Yeah, yeah, sure,absolutely absolutely, I love those little you
know, I collect odd things myself, especially, I mean especially if it
(11:05):
comes to twenty four, but likeodd things at all, it's cool things.
Yeah, and uh, I justlove that type of stuff. I
definitely would have held on even ifI wasn't me, if I wasn't your
shoes, I still had a hogonto because it's like, oh, who
has this right? Yeah, Sothank you both for preserving that and putting
it into the safe fans the world. We're not worthy. It is the
(11:28):
Cypress recordings. Yeah, the recording. That's it right there. So Maria,
you spent time during the twenty fouryears talking to casts and crew and
yeah. So I moved on fromteen People in two thousand and two.
I started US Weekly and I wasat that point twenty four had aired.
(11:52):
Obviously it was the hit. Iactually did not become obsessive about it until
I was kind of like crushing slashdating a coworker at US who was obsessed
with twenty four. So Frank reallyliked it. That did nothing, started
(12:13):
liking it, and he lent mehis I believe, like his twenty four
vhs that he was something or hisDVD something like that, and I watched
it. I watched season one inlike a night. I was so obsessed
with it. I I can't believeI looked this. You know. It
wasn't just because I liked my Igenerinely really liked the show. And then
(12:37):
I was all in. And becauseI worked at US, I had this
amazing access and I quickly sgan likepitching twenty four stories. And yes,
I mean US Weekly is known forBenefer and Brad and Jen, but we
(12:58):
had Billy Pondentertainment section where we alot of celebrities wanted to be part,
you know, in the magazine becausewe were selling a million issues a week,
and so we got access to everybody. And I became friends with the
Fox publicist. Shout out to JoshGovernelli and we became friends, and he
(13:18):
and I would have long conversations abouttwenty four on the phone. One sent
me a present and he said,like his stationery was on. He sent
me a note, in a handwrittennote with the present saying, Tumara the
biggest twenty four fan I know,I and I and I hung up.
(13:41):
He wasn't even just the publicist.And I hung his like little note on
my in my office, on likemy bulletin board, just because it was
so amusing that I was now thebiggest twenty four fan then he knew.
And because of that, Yes,I wound up interviewing many people in the
cast and being invited to all thesepremiere events. I went to be Intrepid
(14:05):
in New York City for a twentyfour reboot party. If there was anything
twenty four related in New York oreven in LA at that at some point,
I was there for it. SoI definitely took advantage of the fandom,
and I yes, I did geta lot of promotional materials in the
mail that I would pass off toFrank that he still has. That's I
(14:28):
mean, that's that's good. That'sa good. My sister's not that nice
to me. I'm going to saythat. I'm going to say that on
public record. My sister likes me, but she's not. She's not that.
You know, she wouldn't she wouldn'tgive that cool stuff up. And
well, why Frank, why didn'tyou go to the Intrepid event? I
remember inviting you. I don't know. Unlike my sister, I am married
and I have kids, and soit's just very difficult for me to go
(14:50):
to New York. Of course,I regret it. But that being said,
I think that was the reboot oftwenty four, which it was,
let's be honest as a lesser twentyfor I'm sorry you're talking legacy or you're
talking about Okay, sure I dothat you did give me, and I
don't know if I get this allin the frame. This is the official
CTU twenty sweatshirt with twenty four legacyon it. That one of the many
(15:18):
things. So yeah, I wearthis once in a while. I'm not
gonna lie that. I don't.People stop me first ago, Oh is
that the FBI, the CIA?I go do it with CTU. And
the next question, of course,is where can I get one? I'm
like, you can't. So that'sthe best answer. It's just like,
no, you can't. Another thing. I mean, sister gave me.
(15:39):
This is from a Live another day. I don't know if I've worn this
very activated. Yes, yes,so I have more stuff here I could
show later. So absolutely this isall like the fat promotional. So I
save everything. I'm sorry to mejust that I save everything pretty much.
I have a house, mart hasgot small apartment okay, and a storage
(16:02):
you have a storage blocker somewhere too, I do not have a story,
Sgage. Okay, okay, wesay this, and Mari you can correct
me. I don't remember twenty foursending out that much promotional stuff outside of
the DVDs themselves until later in therun original run, right. That sounds
about right. I think at somepoint, like Fox was more flush with
(16:23):
money for the show, and theystarted sending materials out, like in advance
of the season premiere to get everyonehyped for it. They would send these
big gifts packages. Yeah, Imean from what we've been told, you
know that as the seasons progressed andyou know, obviously more people were getting
(16:44):
into it and binging it, thenthat's really the way that the audience grew.
Uh. Then they could find somemore money to make some things happen
and bigger explosions and that kind ofstuff. But yeah, Mara, what's
the craziest or most cool thing thatyou attended with regards to twenty four that
you want? You're just like,how did they get here? Well?
Definitely, the Intrepid event was amazing. I guess it was for the reboot,
(17:08):
but it was still with Keeper.Keeper was not there, but it
was just still incredible to this day. That was the I've lived in New
York since nineteen ninety eight, That'sstill the one and only time I've ever
been on the Intrepid was for thattwenty four event. And the Fox had
a party in the Santa Monica Peer, I want to say, in two
(17:30):
thousand and seven for the Television CriticsAssociation, and I flew out there for
the party. That's when they gatherall these critics together in the summer to
get them hyped for the fall offerings. And the Santa Monica Peer was like
this beautiful night in Santa Monica,California, obviously, and all these stars
(17:52):
of Fox were milling about, andKeeper at that point was like at his
height of popular I would say hewas the biggest star on any network TV
show. Definitely. I think it'spretty fair to say he was where he
was really a rock star, likeconsidered, like this is apt, this
is post friends, post Seinfeld,like yes, was like very adult skewing.
(18:17):
So I for sure, again,like the Office was just getting started,
So he was definitely the biggest broadcaststar and he was like standing off
to a corner. Mary Lynn andher Beyonce were there, and I chatted
with them, and then he wasKeeper was surrounded by security guards. It
was like a very big deal thatKeeper was there. And again Josh at
(18:44):
Fox sort of like motion me overlike a king type of thing, and
he was like, you want togo be keeper, okay, and then
otioned me over like no one wasgetting the keeper. And I walked over
to him. I remember thinking howshort he was and I and he had
like a very firm handshake, andI said that I was such a fan,
(19:07):
and I said that I really likedhis music because I knew that he
would like that I knew his music, right, Oh, absolutely right.
So I said something about Jude Cole, who was a producing partner, you
know JUDEA Yeah, And I mean, this is not my first time at
the rodeo here right right, thisis and this is during the this is
(19:29):
during the iron work stays too rightright exactly. And he was like so
geeked out over that, and itwas maybe like a sixty second exchange.
But I definitely I don't really fanout too much for celebrities, but I
definitely remember afterward being like I've neverwatching his hand again, so that he
first shook my head. Oh mygod, no, I did not.
(19:53):
I don't do photos or autographs oranything like that, but just the handshake
and the conversation was enough for me. And yeah, so that was really
cool. Like I said, atthat point, I had interviewed Mary Lynn
a bunch of times. I waslike hanging with her like it was no
big deal. But Keeper was onanother level, so it was such a
(20:18):
box. But also I should addat that weirdly enough, I remember getting
stuck on the ferris wheel with RichardOh, Julie Richardson because Niptuck was still
on the air, right, JollyRichardson and her daughter were stuck on the
ferris wheel with me and my friendat the top, and we were making
conversation at the top of the ferriswheels. This is at the same at
the same event at the peace likethis carnival. So I remember going on
(20:44):
this meeting Keeper and then getting stuckon the ferris wheel the same the same
event. Well, my other motherquestion was what's the strangest place your coolest
place you wound up? Not twentyfour related, but that sure sounds like
that is oh the coolest. Imean, I can go on for hours
(21:04):
about cool I've been very fortunate toexperience a lot of cool things in my
job. Getting stuck at the FerrisWheale is probably closer to the bottom of
the list. Keeper is definitely wasdefinitely more toward the top. How about
in the Booie. Where does thatRank's epic? Yes, I was on
(21:25):
the Howard Stern Show almost five yearsago to the day. That was easily
my career number one best day ofmy life. Being such a big Howard
Stern fan, and being in hisstudio and being interviewed by him live with
Robin in the booth, and thenhaving to do this game with Gary right
(21:49):
next to me, and then winningit was such then taking photos with him,
It was just like, honestly,the best day of my career ever,
is the best day of my life. It doesn't get much better.
I mean you, at that point, you paid one hundred thousand dollars to
(22:11):
sit with Howard to do the news. Money went to charity. But I
got on the old fashionway and Ididn't have to like strip or do anything
weird. I was just listening toeat right. And I also remember just
being in the green room and theyhad my photo and name on the green
room as if I were an actualcelebrity wow. And being in the groom
(22:36):
with all this amazing food in thegreen room, and then I was too
to eat. And then afterward Ihad a sign all the tax forms and
there was this giant cinnamon roll andI stuffed my face with the cinnamon roll.
I was so hungry and so happy, and it was the best tasting
cinnamon roll of my entire life.And I'm and they gave me the big
(23:00):
check which still hangs in my apartment, and the big novelty check for five
thousand dollars and just Frank flew inand just walking through midtown holding this big
Howard Stern check. I mean,only so cool that I know. And
then I came back to my officeand as weekly, which is like four
blocks away, and then went backto work and it was just like a
(23:22):
bed. But it was typical day. It made the check up in the
office, right, you know,Yeah, yeah, che that's good.
I had to disagree, Frank.I'm loving this podcast. This is definitely
not the bottom of the barrel.I'm loving it. I'm having so much
fun, Maura. How does oneprepare to face the king of wall media?
(23:45):
Well, Frank, Frank was veryhelpful. Frank actually who helped me
was the one who got me onthe air because he wrote an email to
Jason Kaplan, the Stern producer,saying that my sister mar would be great
on the show. And I hadto try out over the phone and I
(24:06):
missed one of the questions and Ididn't think I was going to get it
because I missed one of the questions. And then I wrote Jason email being
like listen, fingers crossed, younever know, but thanks either way,
this was fun even trying out forit. And I remember him sending the
email saying, your dreams have beenanswered. We're going to put you on
the air. I think Howard willlike mixing it up with you, And
(24:32):
like what Howard like mixing it withme? So I prepare, like Frank
helped me do a Spotify list andevery if Frank found all the old stump
the booies of what I should know, and I hadn't really I really prepared.
I but I was a kid.I was really into the spelling beat.
(24:53):
I remember like having to study alot for the spelling bea to win
the spelling Bee, and like listsof words that I would study. It
was the same thing is this whereWow, it's of songs that I mean,
I had some blind spots and Ididn't I really wanted to win.
Obviously I did not want to andI knew doing the pre one of my
(25:14):
friends happens to be the producer,a producer on Starn and he had it
was just a coincidence they have aproducer and he interviewed me for the pre
interview and he said, Mara,just so you know, no one thinks
you're gonna win, and fun,it's just gonna be fun for like how
we're to talk to you because youworked for US Weekly and I love celebrities
(25:36):
and that's only that's it, Likeno one thinks it. But so you
really you've got your work cut outfor you. And then even on the
air, Robin said on the air, it's gonna be Gary's gonna be you,
Like you're not gonna win like thisgirly fan girl who you could who
loved who We were talking about mylove of Luke Harry and I don't you
(26:00):
know? And he seriously, Andso I I surprised them by winning.
And so not only did I getto be on the air, but I
got to all the stunning and allthe years of listening to Casey Casem paid
off right, and it was Itwas really amazing. And what's crazy was
(26:23):
that I got so much feedback fromfans, Like hundreds of people reached out
to me, like people who Imet one time in my life reached out
to me. Friend's boyfriends, exboyfriends reached out to me. I got
dates from it. I dated again, listened from it. I time I
(26:47):
would. I went to south BySouthwest a year This is the true story.
I went to south By Southwest ayear later. I was sitting by
myself waiting for the movie to start, and a guy comes up to me
and he says, excuse me,are you the one who stumped the booy?
What? My god? But onvideo? Like, yeah, how
(27:07):
would you even know? Me?Said? I just tell you? Yeah?
So was it? Was it theT shirt you were wearing that said
I stumped the Booe or no,yeah, no, that was not it.
That was not it. As amatter of fact, I was talking
to you like a writer from theHollywood Reporter, and I'm sure he thought
that he was the reporter and Iwas just as weekly. And then afterward
he was like, who are youand excuse me. So yeah, it
(27:33):
pays dividends all these years later.I have it in my Twitter bio because
it's so anyone can be a moviecritic, but not anyone could stump the
Booey. Absolutely right, absolutely correct, that's absolutely true. So I will
never erase it from my Twitter bio. And even Gary and I have since
gone on to work for Serious.I am every Monday on Serious X volume
(27:57):
channel one oh six, and theyalways used to introduce me as like she's
the one who stumped the booy.I really feel like I got my job
because I stumped the booy back intwenty sixty. So it is paid dividends
professionally, personally, every single everysingle person wants to know what it was
(28:18):
like meeting Stern. And sorry,Frank, I'm credit sort of hijacking this,
but credit two more things. NumberOne, he wrote me a thank
you note. I wound up donatingthe money to Beth's animal rescue charity,
Norse Animal League, so he wroteme a thank you note, which was
and so did Beth, which wasso nice. Yeah, and then afterwards
(28:41):
Frank, who flew in for this, and my friend the beauty editor came
in and did my makeup for it. And they came in the studio after
I'd won, and I'm geeking outand Frank is geeking out, and I
take up a photo Howard because theywant to put it on the website.
(29:02):
And then Howard says, come on, let's go, let's do a family
portrait. So Howard invites Frank said, on the couch, the famous purple
velvet couch, and we take afamily Frank and I take a photo with
Howard Stern and it was I thinkFrank would rank that moment like maybe higher
(29:22):
than his wedding day. I don'tknow, but wedding day. But the
photo is on my parents mantle,and my parents are very like Midwest conservative,
right, Like they're like they neverwant us to watch MTV back in
the day, so they they nevergot it. But like like mom said,
(29:45):
you don't realize this is the bestday in Rhinstein twin history. I
don't even understand the importance of thisday that we got to meet Howard and
we urge it. That's right.He probably had a little more credibility because
at that point he was a gT. Howard Stern, right, So
the transformation of his you know,acceptance into everything else was kind of mid
(30:08):
right in twenty sixteen, really,oh for sure. But just the fact
that you know, in the dressingroom there's photos of him on the couch
with all the celebrities. I rememberlooking at a photo of him with Madonna.
Madonna had just been on and nowI'm like, what is happening?
We are taking the photo in thesame position as Madonna, and I look
the photo of me and I mean, I'm smiling, Frank. So it
(30:30):
was literally like a wedding date.It was. It was. It was
really an amazing Maura would I wouldhave crumbled after five minutes of just being
in that room. You held itout for more than a half an hour.
You held your own You said something. There's one point where you said,
have you ever seen the reviews?But like a paragraph? Excuse me,
(30:52):
excuse me, Obviously you've not readthe magazine. There are it's a
it's one I was talking and startingbefore the game, becaus I don't like
this. I'm like yes, becausemost most people will get in there like
me. I would have just beenlike, whatever, abuse, it's the
Howard Sturch, I'm gonna take it. Whatever. And you were like just
make sure you say my name right, like right off the bat. I
(31:14):
was like, that's amazing. Howardmispronounced my name and he was like Mara,
Mara, and I have like,no, that's my number one pet
peeve is the mispronunciation of my name. Let's introduce Mara to the audience.
Hi, Mara, Hey, now, Howard, can I just it's Maara,
not Mara. It's gonna Mara.I'll call you what I want,
like bone Mara. Right, it'sgonna kill me if I hear this bag
(31:38):
and you don't pronounce my name.It's my traame to be here. I
knew I could never listen to thisshow back if I was just hearing Marra
my college graduation, they pronounced itMara and it was my own professor,
and I ruined my college graduation.So like, I'm not ruining my one
shot. So I corrected. Howardbecame a running show, and after that
(32:00):
I felt like liberated because right right, Coward on the pronunciation, anything goes
so right. Yeah, I wasall in, Yeah, you would you
did what most people wouldn't have done. They would have just let him say
their name wrong. But good foryou. That's that's I love that story.
It's that's in addition to I'm sureI would have forgotten every song I'd
ever heard at that point. Theywould have played a little Diddy and I
(32:22):
would have been like, what wasthat? What's music? I would have
what's going on? Yeah? Absolutely, that you won on top of all
that is yeah, No, itwas muscle memory. I mean I really
did know the songs. Yes,the stunning help, but I mean this
is years and decades where Frank andI would be like car listening to the
radio and we would play the gamein the radio, just being like,
(32:42):
can you name the song one note? And so yes, like I said,
it's my stupid human trick to theworld. Yes, and a great
one. At that happy anniversary,thank you very much. You're my people.
Because, as I said, Imissed Detroit so badly. But there
may be news coming day about theborders reopening. I've had my second shot,
(33:04):
so I'm ready to like I'll literallybe sitting at the tunnel ready to
go. Nice. So I makecamp out at the tunnel on Monday night
if I can go over to Detroiton Tuesday, because there's several things I
know. You're you're You're not exaggerating, not at all. No, Detroit,
Frank, Yes, how is itdoing? I'm still here, I'm
(33:24):
still here. Yes, how isDetroit? I miss it. Detroit's doing
great. I think not much haschanged since they closed the borders half ago.
So Tiger's still staying, Piston stillstaying, you know. Yeah,
and what part what part of Michigandid you grow up in? Like both
both. We grew up in SouthHill, Michigan, and we moved to
(33:46):
Farmington Hills, Michigan. If you'refamiliar with that. If im up like
this or like this, it's righthere. Lavonia, Yes, my wife
first, Lavonia. Okay, yeah, yeah, very cool. What's the
best place to see a movie inMichigan? The best place to see a
movie in Michigan would be to traveloutside of Michigan. The best war henry
(34:10):
Ford has a beautiful Imax theater.Yes, but fortunately they no longer show
first run movies there. I don'tknow why they don't remember seeing like,
no, they shoot Missigan impossible there, the Dark Knight there, big action
pack movie came out. That wasthe place to be to see the movie,
and they just shut it down.And the sad thing is, also
we have a. We had castin a great independent movie theater that's been
(34:34):
around since the forties called the MainArt Theater. They just closed that theater
down last week as well, soit's not really a good time to see
a movie. A matter of fact, Mara was here last year. She
spent some time here, and Tenantwas trying to have its big comeback,
and the theaters were closed, sowe drove down to Ohio to see it
in a quality theater. But there'snot even a real Imax theater here anymore.
(34:55):
In Michigan, Yeah, did you? You're right? I didn't realize
Imax wasn't doing first run anymore becauseI've seen several Imax is still doing it
though I'm asked the Henry FOURD,though it is no longer doing right right
right? Wow? Wow? Isthere crazy? To me? From Los
Angeles, where it's like you can'tturn around, you know that you can,
(35:16):
there's Imax like everywhere. Yeah,they just closed up the Arclay Theater
there in LA I'm very sad aboutthat. Yeah, yeah, they did
that. It's just there's so manytheaters. When it's something a good one,
reparable, legendary piece like that kindof closes down, it's like,
what's what's going on? Okay,So here's I'm jumping into this question.
(35:37):
Then I'm gonna ask mar the samequestion. You saw Tenant last year?
Yes, was it everything you hopedit was going to be? Of course
not. It's too loud, excusing. So I think I think most Chrys
Nolan movies and Mara could have abetter say this than I am. Are
meant to be seen at least twiceon a theater, and once just to
see it, and then once moreto understand it, understand it I have.
(36:00):
I did see Tenant again, obviously, and I enjoyed it much more
the second time than it's the firsttime. Me too, so I think
that's true with almost my second watch, but I know that's going to be
the case the second. The secondviewing for me was exactly exactly what you
said, Frank, because I tookmy wife to see it and I was
like, yeah, going back,We're going back into the theater again and
(36:20):
we're going to see a movie.And then I was like halfway through,
I was like, oh, Iwish I could stop this and rewind it.
And because I'm lost already and Idon't get lost during Christopher Nolan No,
no, no, I'm pretty Mysister and I are pretty good.
We say saw it together and anypart of it was just okay. We
saw her like an imax Steeter andit was so loud that background ye was
(36:40):
going that you really couldn't understand whatthey were saying. And this is not
a spoiler, but they talked backwardsin some of the scenes, So what
is going on? So I'll letMara expand on that thought. No,
yeah, we saw it. Iit was our first time back in the
theater, but this was in AugustI want to Save twenty twenty. It
was very strange. We had ourmasks on and then the movie they have
(37:04):
masks on, and it was oddto acience like that. I grew yeah,
and these were the hardcore masks rightbecause this was last year. I
was disappointed too. I remember beingvery lost. I was really hoping that
this would be the movie. I'ma movie critic as well, and I
(37:24):
was really hoping this would be themovie to get people back and get people
excited. And it was the wrongchoice. I'm glad that he took a
risk, and then Warner Brothers tooka risk, but it was so inaccessible
to the casual movie fan who didn'tknow what they mean. I have not
seen it the second time. Thatgoes to show you a little desire.
(37:45):
I've had to try to understand itsbeing like way too esoteric. Yeah,
like the first scene at the operahouse, I'm with it, and then
I wasn't with it, and thenit just never got me act. Yeah.
Yeah. And I'm a huge fanof John David Washington, I am
too, and Robert Pattinson and ElizabethThey had a great cast, kind of
(38:09):
ring just it was one of hislesser efforts for sure. Yeah, yeah,
which leads me to the which leadsme to what you do I can
watch, Yeah, which leads meto what you do? Maramovies dot com
is a great how did how didyou? How did you start that?
Oh God? I was a moviecritic for US Weekly starting in twenty eleven.
(38:34):
I got laid off from US Weekly. I didn't know what to do.
I'm too. Publicists suggested that Istart a website for movies just just
sort of show that I'm still inthe game. Yeah, And I did
it over the summer of twenty seventeen, and what happened was that US Weekly
hired me back as the movie criticafter I started the website, so I
(38:57):
now we still review movies for USWeekly there mostly in print. People still
read magazines occasionally they'll go online onthis Weekly, and they're also on Mara
Movies, so people can still It'ssort of like a portfolio slash movie review
site. Right. I do atop tell list, don't do this summer,
I do movie previews. I'm notas active on it as I normally
(39:21):
am because I have so much otherwork. But I also teach a lot
of blogging classes. I'm a writinginstructor as well. I wear like a
thousand different hats, so it's importantfor my students to see that I keep
that I maintain my blog so Idon't let it go to waste, and
so I still have the site upand running Mara Movies and then again,
like I said, every Monday atfive pm, channel one of six,
(39:44):
I'm serious, you could also hearme review movies and TV series that have
a music element, because Volume isthe all music channel, and I do
that with Allan Light who is theformer editor in chief of Spin and five
worker Rolling Stone, and Mark Goodman, who is is one of the original
mtvbjs. So it's really a treatthat I get to do that every Monday.
(40:05):
That's awesome, Man's that's really cool. And we can find all that
through my movies dot com. Yesyou can, except for the series which
is subscription based obviously, yes,and that yes, but please it's on
demand and it's channel one oh six. You can find it also on demand
on the Serious app. Absolutely fantastic. Again cool, Yeah, that's what's
(40:28):
your favorite movie? Both of you? The question for both of I guests
today. Mine's very easy. Minehas always been back to the Future and
asked me that question and he couldn'tbelieve I answered back to the Future.
I thought it was such a disappointmentfor him. It doesn't mean it's the
best movie I've ever seen, butit's my favorite. I loved it.
I saw it in the theater threetimes when I was a little kid,
(40:49):
and it just like knocked my littlesocks off. I thought it was it
was just like it was the coolestmovie I'd ever seen. I loved Michael
J. Fox. I interviewed MichaelJ. Fox last year for the Ft
and Oh my gosh, talk aboutbeing nervous before an interview like my hurt.
I was sure, yeah, andhe could not have been nicer and
(41:14):
more patient. I didn't geek outat all. But I did have an
old Tiger beat that I held ontofrom nineteen eighty eight, and I held
up the Tiger beat to show himbecause it was a zoom interview, and
heerd that I still had a Tigerbeat. I mean, of course,
of course he was polite. He'sCanadian exactly, I mean exactly, and
(41:36):
anyone who's in New York. Alittle fun fact is that he has a
bench named after him in Central Parkthat his wife, Tracy Pollen, gave
to him for his sick for hisbirthday, and it says to Mike Fox
and Gus true New Yorkers. Andhe told me exactly where the bench is
in Central Park. And after theinterview, I went found the bench and
(42:00):
I sat down on it, andoh, that is neat. It's Michael
J. Fox's bench. That's awesome. That's awesome. I saw that I
saw back in the future on anopening day, and I remember walking out
of the theater just kind of justI sat at the bus stop, just
kind of stunned at what I hadjust seen. No, was it the
greatest movie of all time? Butat that time, for me, it
(42:21):
was the best thing I've ever seen. Thank You. When I was a
kid, when I thought it wasdefinitely the best thing, I didn't see
it opening day ten years as juniorI was. I was born in seventy
eight, came out in eighty five, right, so I was a kid,
sat on BHS when I released,and I was that was it.
How do you feel about the sequelsas well? I was wondering that when
(42:42):
you said in the future, they'rethey're watchable, but they're very problematic.
I mean, of course they're not. Like there are some sequels that are
so bad where I choose to thinkthat they don't exist, like like Legally
Blanche or Major League two, whereI'm just like, they don't, like
there's only one movie. I mean, right exactly, So there I choose
(43:06):
to believe that the other two moviesexist. They're not that bad, but
like they're just sort of no,they're not the first one. Fine,
Frank, what's your what's your favoritefilm? Thank you ma. If you
go on one of my websites andthey ask you what your favorite film is
with the password, I always putdie Hard. I'm not saying it's my
favorite film. That's one of thosefilms I can watch over and over whenever
(43:29):
it's on. It doesn't turn offeven with commercials. So comedy, great
one liners, and it's led toso many other genres I mean, like
speed, die Hard and a bossI heard a boat. You know what
I'm saying. It all goes backto Diehard. Well arguably it led to
twenty four. Yeah, you canmake an arguments and that's funny. My
(43:51):
sister gave me a twenty sorry dieHard coloring book. It is the funniest.
This is unpaid promotion. If youcan sure, you can buy it
on eBay. I don't want togive it away. It is. Yes,
it's a coloring book. It isthe funniest book you will ever see.
Just to give something away, theyhave pictures of all these shoes and
it says circle the two shoes thatmatch, and no two shoes match.
(44:15):
He says, John McClain didn't havetwo shoes that match, will either do
you? So it's a really funawesome I mean love to peruse your collection,
man, I mean speaking collection.I want to go over a couple
of twenty four things. That pleasethe time is this is all courtesy of
(44:37):
my sister. So, like Isaid, uh, once you started becoming
a TV movie critic in front ofthe pr they sent us all the twenty
four discs. So it's interesting.Like so I have all the season premieers
that were given to the critics.They all have numbers on them, so
they can't get they got out.They right back to my sister. I'm
sure this is the only one thatexists. This is the season premiere and
(45:00):
I'm sorry my headphones follow. What'sinteresting about this is my sister gave this
to me after season eight came out, so it's never been opened, so
it's still sitting in its protective dishas well. I know when twenty four
was coming to an end, theysent my sister who sent this to me,
and I've seen them on eBay.They're not impossible to find. But
this is a piece of CTU.I don't know if you can see that
(45:22):
or not. Some artwork and stillin the original shrink rap which is starting
the bucket a little of all theseason artwork for all the twenty fours with
the original season of twenty four.Wow. So that's another cool thing.
Fox set my sister. Other stuff, which of course I had, I
had right after twenty four was House. I loved House. Also I loved
(45:43):
Gregory House, and so I hadthat, so again premiers. Cool thing
about cool thing about House was thiswas a it looks like a blood but
in the back, of course isthe DVD of season two. So cool.
They could spend the money on House. Yeah, they had the house
by then, but by then theyhad when we when we opened the museum,
(46:06):
Frank, We're coming, We're coming, and knock on your door.
I'm happy to At the end ofHouse, they gave this. This is
an X ray from this season ofHouse as a commemorative gift. And finally,
if we have time, my sisterjust sent me something yesterday to show
how much money is going into promotionsince this started. This is my sister,
(46:37):
is not me? Should we openit and see what inde this?
That's the greatest lunchbox every Oh mygod. Just to be clear, just
to be clear, right, well, that's cool, But just to be
clear, I thought my sister andI were friends until this podcast. You
(46:58):
can still after we get up,I'm calling my sister and I'm like,
you know you I really thought youwere a good sister. I would take
a few things from here. Sodid I took a few things. We've
all watched Loki. Right, Yes, okay, So here's a folder with
we have a letter in here.We read the letter or no, don't
(47:21):
read the letter. I don't readthe letter. I will not read the
letter. There's a letter. There'sa letter in there. We have no
pat saying everything you've said. Andthere was a signature line and said from
the first episode, obviously, andit says what on here? That's so
(47:43):
cool, that's incredible. We havetape dispenser with the t v A.
We have a stapler from the tv A. I think that Disney Company
(48:05):
is gonna take off one day.Yeah, you know, I think this
kind of marketing. I think they'regonna do great. Yes, oh my
god, you gotta put it inthe drawer. I will not be open.
Yeah, it's worthless. So Igret the TVA. So that doesn't
give me any powers. But yes, the test to act. Uh.
We have a little Loki pad.We're not done yet, though, I
(48:30):
want to say this for last rightwe have here, uh oh, of
course we have to have tv Asocks you. Yes, I feel like
I feel like you're gonna take TomHidston out of that box. The last
thing is again, this is fromyesterday. I'm sorry. The Rose recent
(48:52):
episode is a t V. Ajacket's notariant on the back though it's a
TV. Is that a rain jacketto it doesn't say very raine jacket?
Yes? What you want to knowwhat I took from that box? Hold
on and Frank, do you planon wearing that out? No? But
(49:14):
my son may wear It's funny.I like again, some of this stuff
I know is collector's items, likethe piece of CTU, the piece of
the X ray from house. Thosego on my personal collection. I don't
open them, but like, whatam I? Yeah, that's the one
thing I took. I took themug and the clock. My sister gets
(49:37):
this stuff all the time. Youdon't realize I get it all the time.
I get it all the time.Absolutely absolutely. I'm not my personal
Converse shoes for the new Punky Brewsterremake. Okay, okay, that they're
miss mad Like I get really coolstuff was Punky Brewster social media though it's
a little tacky. I would loveto know what your what's your take on
social media? And I'm Punky Brewster. The reboot, h it was okay,
(50:00):
I mean I love the original.Yeah, yeah, got Punky Brewster.
They they went so all up forthat promotion. They I could run
upstairs on like a painting kit tome, to me, and I did
(50:21):
it with my niece, Frank's daughter, who's eight, when I was in
Michigan, and like there was likea painting party. They sent us snacks
and wine, and Soley Moonfry herselfdid like led the painting party. So
I did like a portrait with SoleyMoonfry where you can ask her questions.
(50:42):
It was just the coolest thing.And this was just for the Punky Bruster
which on Peacock. I mean,this is where it gets where like the
promotion, if it's your thing,it's really out of control. I mean
yeah, there are a lot ofa lot of journalists who posted on social
media, and I find it reallyunprofessional all honestly, especially because we vote.
I'm a member of the Critics ChoiceAssociation and the Hollywood Critics Association,
(51:08):
and you vote on things you don'twant to look like it's a pale a
thing where you can get fought right. Yeah, I try not to publicize
it. That's why. Also kindof why I hand off a lot of
it. So so there you go. But it comes to my niece and
nephew and obviously my brother. Ohthose are unique experiences. Frank, you
made the Howard Stern show happen.Yes, and your sister got you all
(51:31):
that cool stuff, which now makesme question my relationship to my entire family.
Now, marble and admit this.But I gave it, like a
lot of tips, like stumped theboy, ask them to play a song
twice, ask him to play thesong longer if you don't know it.
I feel I helped a little bitto help her win. And uh so
I hope she could feel a littlebit of credit for that. But no,
at the end of the day,yes, yes, sorry, if
(51:52):
I did not give you it's fine. No, No, I just got
her foot in the door. It'sthe twin advantage. Apparently, one of
the songs, as my friend wasin the green room with Frank, like
Frank thought I didn't know and hewent crazy and I didn't know it.
So yeah, well, for therecord, that song was Freeway of Love,
and everyone knows Freeway of love andDetroit, and the opening notes went
(52:15):
on and I'm screaming freeway of love, Amargos. I hear a little more.
I'm like, what, how doyou not know freeway of law being
from Detroit? She got her right, don't be wrong. She was bluffing.
It all worked out, she wasbluffing. Well, this has been
a real pleasure. I've never hada podcast that started with a video cassette
before VHS video cassette. And we'venever had siblings. We've never had siblings
(52:39):
on you. There's one fan inthe family, twenty four fan and the
family, but we've got a familythat has two. So again, it
has been a pleasure to have youon. And thank you for having us,
Thanks for having us, have agreat day. Thank you buys typical barrister
We have Frank Einstein and Mara Einsteinare here joining us, sharing their stories
and background about twenty four and inand around twenty four. Even though we're
going to talk about twenty four,we're gonna talk Michigan because I literally can
go out of my balcony and seethe Renaissance Center and see Michigan, but
I can't go there yet. SoI am craving Michigan love, and we're
(00:58):
going to talk Michigan. Aaron,We're going to the topic. Bring it.
The topic always comes up. Don'tapologize this time. We have to
cover Michigan, we have to coverHoward Stern and then we'll eventually get to
twenty four at some point. Sowelcome to the show. We thank you
for clear time. Thanks very thankyou. Here's what's happening this week on
twenty four Universe, which Aaron ishere with us from LA early in the
(01:19):
morning morning and he runs twenty fourUniverse, and all of a sudden,
what popped up on twenty four Universebut a little over a week ago was
this picture of this video cassette,a VHS cassette which usually VHS with some
of your kids might not even knowwhat not even know. But here's the
thing. I don't get excited aboutseeing a VHS cassette online. They're everywhere
(01:45):
right or at a pawnshop. However, what's on this particular cassette, This
one is like a specific shrine,especially to those fanatics like ourselves. It
is the Holy Grail. It isa good copy of the Star War Wors
holiday special. It's on par withthose things. And you hold you hold
(02:05):
it in your hand. Often sodebated that like as as a as as
said on the in the group,that a keeper doesn't even think it exists,
right, like Santa Claus Claus.Yeah, tell me, tell me
please, first tell us tell ushow did you two meet. I'll let
(02:27):
mar take that. She's funnier thanI met. And we met in my
mother's womb in nineteen Well, yeah, we were. Frank and I are
twins, and he lives in NewYork City and that is how we met.
He was basically the first person Imet. Ever, So there you
(02:52):
go. That's awesome. Wow.In terms of the video cassette, I
will tell you briefly, the storywas is that Frank has a boring job.
He's a CPA. I have afun job. I'm an entertainment journalist
and I used to work at teenPeople magazine rip In from two thousand to
(03:15):
two thousand and two. Two thousandand one, I came across a cassette
of the original twenty four pilot.I believe my memory isn't one hundred percent
on this, but from what Iremember, my editor had it. We're
(03:35):
at the Upfront presentations, which iswhen all the networks reveal their fall schedules
in May. After these presentations,the networks send the editors these rough cut
copies of the pilots. They arenot for a review. What often happens
is that some CALF members get cutout or replaced until you actually see these
(04:00):
episodes in September, so in May. This is in May two thousand and
one, my editor received all theVHS copies of the Fox lineup, and
she wasn't really interested at what didn'treally scream Team people, so she gave
me her VHS's And I remember thinkingthat or hearing that, there was a
(04:23):
lot of buzz around this one pilotof twenty four because it was gonna air
one hour per episode, something veryhigh concept at the time, and I
held onto it and at some pointI gave it to Frank because I knew
it sounded right up as Alley.And again, this is May two thousand
(04:46):
and one. This is before everythingso changed several times. World change.
It wasn't It definitely was not.Oh my gosh, this is going to
be a collector's either want y,it might be cool, this might be
a cool pilot to watch. That'sall it was. And then it became
(05:08):
a collector's item. And then obviouslynine to eleven happened in New York where
I was, and the whole worldchanged. But yeah, no, Frank,
if you I mean, if youcan see from his background is a
collector and he has love so manyYeah, he has everything related to sports
and entertainment, and yeah he heldI don't know if I personally would have
(05:29):
held on to that tape. Heheld on to it. And that is
how twenty years later it ended upon your Facebook group. Well, twice
a year. Twice a year,I'll get a bin and I'll put it
out in front of the house andI and I go through and I get
rid of stuff in the house becauseI watch I read Marie Kundo, I
read, you know, tidying upI read all those things, and I
(05:50):
don't want to be that person atthe end that still has this huge collection
of stuff. So I'm trying littleby little. I'm by no means,
you know, a tiny house person, but I'm trying to get closer to
that. So in the process I'vethrown out VHS cassettes. Right, but
Frank you kept yours? Yes,amazing? What what made you keep it?
(06:14):
I remember watching the pilot of twentyfour as it aired, was in
in November, I believe, intwo thousand and one, right, So,
and again, let me just startoff by saying this. There are
much bigger twenty four fans out therethan me. I know that I'm aware
of that, but I remember watchingit, much bigger than us, probably,
Yes, So I remember watching itand my sister came to me.
It's like, oh, I havethe pilot of it with the uncuts.
(06:38):
Everyone knew that they cut a sceneobviously because nine eleven, right, and
so oh, I'm like, ohh said that to me and very nonchalant,
And I remember watching it. I'vealways watched it one time. That
tape has never been watched again.Right after the pilot came out and she
sent it to me, and Iwatched it. I'm like, wow,
this is really different, not reallydifferent, but I don't want to get
(06:58):
to the details, but it's differentthan what aired on the actual pilot,
and something about me said and again. By then, I remember twenty four
when it first came out if USAToday had a full spread ad of all
these positive reviews of it, andI knew this was just something different and
unique. So I said, likeyou, I throw out a lot of
stuff, but I knew this wassomething worth holding on to. And Tomor's
(07:23):
credit, this is not the firstpilot she sent me. I actually have
the original VHS pilot of South Parkthat she got way back in college.
So these are like unique things thatshe sends to me, and I know
that are different, and when shegives it to me, it's like,
you got to protect us with yourlife, like Jack Bauer protection and stuff
like that. So I tend tohold on sometimes and know where they are.
(07:44):
And I knew it would serve somegood at some point a time.
I didn't know when that day wouldcome until I happened to stumble upon Facebook
listens to everything. Probably I stilllove twenty four and I saw your twenty
years and twenty four convention. Istart looking at this and all these amazing
guests, I'm like, wow,I have something I think I didn't know
would be that big of a deal. I didn't know how rare that really.
(08:05):
The tape is that I thought wouldbe interesting just to show off because
we all love to see the reactionsFacebook's going to give to us. Oh
absolutely, And I'll give you alittle clue onto the rarity. I mean,
I've been into twenty four has beenmy thing since November sixth, two
thousand and one. Solid Okay,I've gotten lots of people into it,
(08:26):
and I know and I've met lotsof people that are already I've never met
someone who has seen the tape.It's like, like we were talking about
before it say it were too stupidtwenty four junkies like myself, Brian and
Justin and all of our little buddies. Uh, it's like the Holy Girl.
Yeah time, and I said,listen, I don't think it's that
(08:50):
big of a deal. Like whoahold on? Right? Right? Yeah?
I heard you was looking at itlike wow, he doesn't even that's
like like I know what I wasplaying back. It was here's what it
was. It was a feeding frenzybecause everybody jumped in. I was worried
for you because I was like,you're gonna be like, I'm gonna get
out of this group. Because everybodyjumped in, like could you send it
(09:11):
to me? Could you do that? I'm like, yeah, I knew.
I Everyone's like, make a copyof the DVD, sell it and
this and that, and I'm likenumber one. Theoretically I had to talk
to my sister because she's the onethat gave it to me. Number two
and I put a picture of this, and again I don't know the legal
ramifications. I'm not a rich person. But as you can see, I
(09:33):
don't really own this. I guessFox still owns it, so I don't
know. So I don't want tojust dump it out there on YouTube and
then everyone's gonna copy it and Idon't know what's going to happen. Yeah,
the lawyer. The lawyer and meresponded right away, don't do anything
with it. Just hang on toit's right here, absolutely, I mean
that's part of my Yeah, it'sin good hands. I keep a very
(10:00):
safe house because stuff you see inthe background. Yeah, I keep trying
to see what it all is.I'm so curious sport. It's all Baseball
Hall of Famers. And I havea YouTube channel that I won't promote.
So nice that you that you won'tpromote why not? I don't know what
are There are no rules, Thereare no rules. We're gonna talk because
(10:20):
we're gonna talk. We're gonna talktomorrow, movies, We're gonna talk all
that stuff today, it's not later. I don't want to base four people.
I'm sorry. Any any rules areyours to impose? No, No,
I will see you know what I'msaying. Yeah, I will just
say this like as twenty four grewand fanom it really exploded it. I
want to say even tomorrow became thehead to No, I don't want to
(10:41):
stuff her to shoes too much.But Ma got promoted that you start getting
more and more preview discs, whichshe would send to me, and I
said, every single one, whichI'm sure we'll get to later. Very
cool, very cool. No,those are those are you know if you're
gonna hoard something that those are goodthings to hoard. Those are good things
that Yeah, yeah, sure,absolutely absolutely, I love those little you
know, I collect odd things myself, especially, I mean especially if it
(11:05):
comes to twenty four, but likeodd things at all, it's cool things.
Yeah, and uh, I justlove that type of stuff. I
definitely would have held on even ifI wasn't me, if I wasn't your
shoes, I still had a hogonto because it's like, oh, who
has this right? Yeah, Sothank you both for preserving that and putting
it into the safe fans the world. We're not worthy. It is the
(11:28):
Cypress recordings. Yeah, the recording. That's it right there. So Maria,
you spent time during the twenty fouryears talking to casts and crew and
yeah. So I moved on fromteen People in two thousand and two.
I started US Weekly and I wasat that point twenty four had aired.
(11:52):
Obviously it was the hit. Iactually did not become obsessive about it until
I was kind of like crushing slashdating a coworker at US who was obsessed
with twenty four. So Frank reallyliked it. That did nothing, started
(12:13):
liking it, and he lent mehis I believe, like his twenty four
vhs that he was something or hisDVD something like that, and I watched
it. I watched season one inlike a night. I was so obsessed
with it. I I can't believeI looked this. You know. It
wasn't just because I liked my Igenerinely really liked the show. And then
(12:37):
I was all in. And becauseI worked at US, I had this
amazing access and I quickly sgan likepitching twenty four stories. And yes,
I mean US Weekly is known forBenefer and Brad and Jen, but we
(12:58):
had Billy Pondentertainment section where we alot of celebrities wanted to be part,
you know, in the magazine becausewe were selling a million issues a week,
and so we got access to everybody. And I became friends with the
Fox publicist. Shout out to JoshGovernelli and we became friends, and he
(13:18):
and I would have long conversations abouttwenty four on the phone. One sent
me a present and he said,like his stationery was on. He sent
me a note, in a handwrittennote with the present saying, Tumara the
biggest twenty four fan I know,I and I and I hung up.
(13:41):
He wasn't even just the publicist.And I hung his like little note on
my in my office, on likemy bulletin board, just because it was
so amusing that I was now thebiggest twenty four fan then he knew.
And because of that, Yes,I wound up interviewing many people in the
cast and being invited to all thesepremiere events. I went to be Intrepid
(14:05):
in New York City for a twentyfour reboot party. If there was anything
twenty four related in New York oreven in LA at that at some point,
I was there for it. SoI definitely took advantage of the fandom,
and I yes, I did geta lot of promotional materials in the
mail that I would pass off toFrank that he still has. That's I
(14:28):
mean, that's that's good. That'sa good. My sister's not that nice
to me. I'm going to saythat. I'm going to say that on
public record. My sister likes me, but she's not. She's not that.
You know, she wouldn't she wouldn'tgive that cool stuff up. And
well, why Frank, why didn'tyou go to the Intrepid event? I
remember inviting you. I don't know. Unlike my sister, I am married
and I have kids, and soit's just very difficult for me to go
(14:50):
to New York. Of course,I regret it. But that being said,
I think that was the reboot oftwenty four, which it was,
let's be honest as a lesser twentyfor I'm sorry you're talking legacy or you're
talking about Okay, sure I dothat you did give me, and I
don't know if I get this allin the frame. This is the official
CTU twenty sweatshirt with twenty four legacyon it. That one of the many
(15:18):
things. So yeah, I wearthis once in a while. I'm not
gonna lie that. I don't.People stop me first ago, Oh is
that the FBI, the CIA?I go do it with CTU. And
the next question, of course,is where can I get one? I'm
like, you can't. So that'sthe best answer. It's just like,
no, you can't. Another thing. I mean, sister gave me.
(15:39):
This is from a Live another day. I don't know if I've worn this
very activated. Yes, yes,so I have more stuff here I could
show later. So absolutely this isall like the fat promotional. So I
save everything. I'm sorry to mejust that I save everything pretty much.
I have a house, mart hasgot small apartment okay, and a storage
(16:02):
you have a storage blocker somewhere too, I do not have a story,
Sgage. Okay, okay, wesay this, and Mari you can correct
me. I don't remember twenty foursending out that much promotional stuff outside of
the DVDs themselves until later in therun original run, right. That sounds
about right. I think at somepoint, like Fox was more flush with
(16:23):
money for the show, and theystarted sending materials out, like in advance
of the season premiere to get everyonehyped for it. They would send these
big gifts packages. Yeah, Imean from what we've been told, you
know that as the seasons progressed andyou know, obviously more people were getting
(16:44):
into it and binging it, thenthat's really the way that the audience grew.
Uh. Then they could find somemore money to make some things happen
and bigger explosions and that kind ofstuff. But yeah, Mara, what's
the craziest or most cool thing thatyou attended with regards to twenty four that
you want? You're just like,how did they get here? Well?
Definitely, the Intrepid event was amazing. I guess it was for the reboot,
(17:08):
but it was still with Keeper.Keeper was not there, but it
was just still incredible to this day. That was the I've lived in New
York since nineteen ninety eight, That'sstill the one and only time I've ever
been on the Intrepid was for thattwenty four event. And the Fox had
a party in the Santa Monica Peer, I want to say, in two
(17:30):
thousand and seven for the Television CriticsAssociation, and I flew out there for
the party. That's when they gatherall these critics together in the summer to
get them hyped for the fall offerings. And the Santa Monica Peer was like
this beautiful night in Santa Monica,California, obviously, and all these stars
(17:52):
of Fox were milling about, andKeeper at that point was like at his
height of popular I would say hewas the biggest star on any network TV
show. Definitely. I think it'spretty fair to say he was where he
was really a rock star, likeconsidered, like this is apt, this
is post friends, post Seinfeld,like yes, was like very adult skewing.
(18:17):
So I for sure, again,like the Office was just getting started,
So he was definitely the biggest broadcaststar and he was like standing off
to a corner. Mary Lynn andher Beyonce were there, and I chatted
with them, and then he wasKeeper was surrounded by security guards. It
was like a very big deal thatKeeper was there. And again Josh at
(18:44):
Fox sort of like motion me overlike a king type of thing, and
he was like, you want togo be keeper, okay, and then
otioned me over like no one wasgetting the keeper. And I walked over
to him. I remember thinking howshort he was and I and he had
like a very firm handshake, andI said that I was such a fan,
(19:07):
and I said that I really likedhis music because I knew that he
would like that I knew his music, right, Oh, absolutely right.
So I said something about Jude Cole, who was a producing partner, you
know JUDEA Yeah, And I mean, this is not my first time at
the rodeo here right right, thisis and this is during the this is
(19:29):
during the iron work stays too rightright exactly. And he was like so
geeked out over that, and itwas maybe like a sixty second exchange.
But I definitely I don't really fanout too much for celebrities, but I
definitely remember afterward being like I've neverwatching his hand again, so that he
first shook my head. Oh mygod, no, I did not.
(19:53):
I don't do photos or autographs oranything like that, but just the handshake
and the conversation was enough for me. And yeah, so that was really
cool. Like I said, atthat point, I had interviewed Mary Lynn
a bunch of times. I waslike hanging with her like it was no
big deal. But Keeper was onanother level, so it was such a
(20:18):
box. But also I should addat that weirdly enough, I remember getting
stuck on the ferris wheel with RichardOh, Julie Richardson because Niptuck was still
on the air, right, JollyRichardson and her daughter were stuck on the
ferris wheel with me and my friendat the top, and we were making
conversation at the top of the ferriswheels. This is at the same at
the same event at the peace likethis carnival. So I remember going on
(20:44):
this meeting Keeper and then getting stuckon the ferris wheel the same the same
event. Well, my other motherquestion was what's the strangest place your coolest
place you wound up? Not twentyfour related, but that sure sounds like
that is oh the coolest. Imean, I can go on for hours
(21:04):
about cool I've been very fortunate toexperience a lot of cool things in my
job. Getting stuck at the FerrisWheale is probably closer to the bottom of
the list. Keeper is definitely wasdefinitely more toward the top. How about
in the Booie. Where does thatRank's epic? Yes, I was on
(21:25):
the Howard Stern Show almost five yearsago to the day. That was easily
my career number one best day ofmy life. Being such a big Howard
Stern fan, and being in hisstudio and being interviewed by him live with
Robin in the booth, and thenhaving to do this game with Gary right
(21:49):
next to me, and then winningit was such then taking photos with him,
It was just like, honestly,the best day of my career ever,
is the best day of my life. It doesn't get much better.
I mean you, at that point, you paid one hundred thousand dollars to
(22:11):
sit with Howard to do the news. Money went to charity. But I
got on the old fashionway and Ididn't have to like strip or do anything
weird. I was just listening toeat right. And I also remember just
being in the green room and theyhad my photo and name on the green
room as if I were an actualcelebrity wow. And being in the groom
(22:36):
with all this amazing food in thegreen room, and then I was too
to eat. And then afterward Ihad a sign all the tax forms and
there was this giant cinnamon roll andI stuffed my face with the cinnamon roll.
I was so hungry and so happy, and it was the best tasting
cinnamon roll of my entire life.And I'm and they gave me the big
(23:00):
check which still hangs in my apartment, and the big novelty check for five
thousand dollars and just Frank flew inand just walking through midtown holding this big
Howard Stern check. I mean,only so cool that I know. And
then I came back to my officeand as weekly, which is like four
blocks away, and then went backto work and it was just like a
(23:22):
bed. But it was typical day. It made the check up in the
office, right, you know,Yeah, yeah, che that's good.
I had to disagree, Frank.I'm loving this podcast. This is definitely
not the bottom of the barrel.I'm loving it. I'm having so much
fun, Maura. How does oneprepare to face the king of wall media?
(23:45):
Well, Frank, Frank was veryhelpful. Frank actually who helped me
was the one who got me onthe air because he wrote an email to
Jason Kaplan, the Stern producer,saying that my sister mar would be great
on the show. And I hadto try out over the phone and I
(24:06):
missed one of the questions and Ididn't think I was going to get it
because I missed one of the questions. And then I wrote Jason email being
like listen, fingers crossed, younever know, but thanks either way,
this was fun even trying out forit. And I remember him sending the
email saying, your dreams have beenanswered. We're going to put you on
the air. I think Howard willlike mixing it up with you, And
(24:32):
like what Howard like mixing it withme? So I prepare, like Frank
helped me do a Spotify list andevery if Frank found all the old stump
the booies of what I should know, and I hadn't really I really prepared.
I but I was a kid.I was really into the spelling beat.
(24:53):
I remember like having to study alot for the spelling bea to win
the spelling Bee, and like listsof words that I would study. It
was the same thing is this whereWow, it's of songs that I mean,
I had some blind spots and Ididn't I really wanted to win.
Obviously I did not want to andI knew doing the pre one of my
(25:14):
friends happens to be the producer,a producer on Starn and he had it
was just a coincidence they have aproducer and he interviewed me for the pre
interview and he said, Mara,just so you know, no one thinks
you're gonna win, and fun,it's just gonna be fun for like how
we're to talk to you because youworked for US Weekly and I love celebrities
(25:36):
and that's only that's it, Likeno one thinks it. But so you
really you've got your work cut outfor you. And then even on the
air, Robin said on the air, it's gonna be Gary's gonna be you,
Like you're not gonna win like thisgirly fan girl who you could who
loved who We were talking about mylove of Luke Harry and I don't you
(26:00):
know? And he seriously, Andso I I surprised them by winning.
And so not only did I getto be on the air, but I
got to all the stunning and allthe years of listening to Casey Casem paid
off right, and it was Itwas really amazing. And what's crazy was
(26:23):
that I got so much feedback fromfans, Like hundreds of people reached out
to me, like people who Imet one time in my life reached out
to me. Friend's boyfriends, exboyfriends reached out to me. I got
dates from it. I dated again, listened from it. I time I
(26:47):
would. I went to south BySouthwest a year This is the true story.
I went to south By Southwest ayear later. I was sitting by
myself waiting for the movie to start, and a guy comes up to me
and he says, excuse me,are you the one who stumped the booy?
What? My god? But onvideo? Like, yeah, how
(27:07):
would you even know? Me?Said? I just tell you? Yeah?
So was it? Was it theT shirt you were wearing that said
I stumped the Booe or no,yeah, no, that was not it.
That was not it. As amatter of fact, I was talking
to you like a writer from theHollywood Reporter, and I'm sure he thought
that he was the reporter and Iwas just as weekly. And then afterward
he was like, who are youand excuse me. So yeah, it
(27:33):
pays dividends all these years later.I have it in my Twitter bio because
it's so anyone can be a moviecritic, but not anyone could stump the
Booey. Absolutely right, absolutely correct, that's absolutely true. So I will
never erase it from my Twitter bio. And even Gary and I have since
gone on to work for Serious.I am every Monday on Serious X volume
(27:57):
channel one oh six, and theyalways used to introduce me as like she's
the one who stumped the booy.I really feel like I got my job
because I stumped the booy back intwenty sixty. So it is paid dividends
professionally, personally, every single everysingle person wants to know what it was
(28:18):
like meeting Stern. And sorry,Frank, I'm credit sort of hijacking this,
but credit two more things. NumberOne, he wrote me a thank
you note. I wound up donatingthe money to Beth's animal rescue charity,
Norse Animal League, so he wroteme a thank you note, which was
and so did Beth, which wasso nice. Yeah, and then afterwards
(28:41):
Frank, who flew in for this, and my friend the beauty editor came
in and did my makeup for it. And they came in the studio after
I'd won, and I'm geeking outand Frank is geeking out, and I
take up a photo Howard because theywant to put it on the website.
(29:02):
And then Howard says, come on, let's go, let's do a family
portrait. So Howard invites Frank said, on the couch, the famous purple
velvet couch, and we take afamily Frank and I take a photo with
Howard Stern and it was I thinkFrank would rank that moment like maybe higher
(29:22):
than his wedding day. I don'tknow, but wedding day. But the
photo is on my parents mantle,and my parents are very like Midwest conservative,
right, Like they're like they neverwant us to watch MTV back in
the day, so they they nevergot it. But like like mom said,
(29:45):
you don't realize this is the bestday in Rhinstein twin history. I
don't even understand the importance of thisday that we got to meet Howard and
we urge it. That's right.He probably had a little more credibility because
at that point he was a gT. Howard Stern, right, So
the transformation of his you know,acceptance into everything else was kind of mid
(30:08):
right in twenty sixteen, really,oh for sure. But just the fact
that you know, in the dressingroom there's photos of him on the couch
with all the celebrities. I rememberlooking at a photo of him with Madonna.
Madonna had just been on and nowI'm like, what is happening?
We are taking the photo in thesame position as Madonna, and I look
the photo of me and I mean, I'm smiling, Frank. So it
(30:30):
was literally like a wedding date.It was. It was. It was
really an amazing Maura would I wouldhave crumbled after five minutes of just being
in that room. You held itout for more than a half an hour.
You held your own You said something. There's one point where you said,
have you ever seen the reviews?But like a paragraph? Excuse me,
(30:52):
excuse me, Obviously you've not readthe magazine. There are it's a
it's one I was talking and startingbefore the game, becaus I don't like
this. I'm like yes, becausemost most people will get in there like
me. I would have just beenlike, whatever, abuse, it's the
Howard Sturch, I'm gonna take it. Whatever. And you were like just
make sure you say my name right, like right off the bat. I
(31:14):
was like, that's amazing. Howardmispronounced my name and he was like Mara,
Mara, and I have like,no, that's my number one pet
peeve is the mispronunciation of my name. Let's introduce Mara to the audience.
Hi, Mara, Hey, now, Howard, can I just it's Maara,
not Mara. It's gonna Mara.I'll call you what I want,
like bone Mara. Right, it'sgonna kill me if I hear this bag
(31:38):
and you don't pronounce my name.It's my traame to be here. I
knew I could never listen to thisshow back if I was just hearing Marra
my college graduation, they pronounced itMara and it was my own professor,
and I ruined my college graduation.So like, I'm not ruining my one
shot. So I corrected. Howardbecame a running show, and after that
(32:00):
I felt like liberated because right right, Coward on the pronunciation, anything goes
so right. Yeah, I wasall in, Yeah, you would you
did what most people wouldn't have done. They would have just let him say
their name wrong. But good foryou. That's that's I love that story.
It's that's in addition to I'm sureI would have forgotten every song I'd
ever heard at that point. Theywould have played a little Diddy and I
(32:22):
would have been like, what wasthat? What's music? I would have
what's going on? Yeah? Absolutely, that you won on top of all
that is yeah, No, itwas muscle memory. I mean I really
did know the songs. Yes,the stunning help, but I mean this
is years and decades where Frank andI would be like car listening to the
radio and we would play the gamein the radio, just being like,
(32:42):
can you name the song one note? And so yes, like I said,
it's my stupid human trick to theworld. Yes, and a great
one. At that happy anniversary,thank you very much. You're my people.
Because, as I said, Imissed Detroit so badly. But there
may be news coming day about theborders reopening. I've had my second shot,
(33:04):
so I'm ready to like I'll literallybe sitting at the tunnel ready to
go. Nice. So I makecamp out at the tunnel on Monday night
if I can go over to Detroiton Tuesday, because there's several things I
know. You're you're You're not exaggerating, not at all. No, Detroit,
Frank, Yes, how is itdoing? I'm still here, I'm
(33:24):
still here. Yes, how isDetroit? I miss it. Detroit's doing
great. I think not much haschanged since they closed the borders half ago.
So Tiger's still staying, Piston stillstaying, you know. Yeah,
and what part what part of Michigandid you grow up in? Like both
both. We grew up in SouthHill, Michigan, and we moved to
(33:46):
Farmington Hills, Michigan. If you'refamiliar with that. If im up like
this or like this, it's righthere. Lavonia, Yes, my wife
first, Lavonia. Okay, yeah, yeah, very cool. What's the
best place to see a movie inMichigan? The best place to see a
movie in Michigan would be to traveloutside of Michigan. The best war henry
(34:10):
Ford has a beautiful Imax theater.Yes, but fortunately they no longer show
first run movies there. I don'tknow why they don't remember seeing like,
no, they shoot Missigan impossible there, the Dark Knight there, big action
pack movie came out. That wasthe place to be to see the movie,
and they just shut it down.And the sad thing is, also
we have a. We had castin a great independent movie theater that's been
(34:34):
around since the forties called the MainArt Theater. They just closed that theater
down last week as well, soit's not really a good time to see
a movie. A matter of fact, Mara was here last year. She
spent some time here, and Tenantwas trying to have its big comeback,
and the theaters were closed, sowe drove down to Ohio to see it
in a quality theater. But there'snot even a real Imax theater here anymore.
(34:55):
In Michigan, Yeah, did you? You're right? I didn't realize
Imax wasn't doing first run anymore becauseI've seen several Imax is still doing it
though I'm asked the Henry FOURD,though it is no longer doing right right
right? Wow? Wow? Isthere crazy? To me? From Los
Angeles, where it's like you can'tturn around, you know that you can,
(35:16):
there's Imax like everywhere. Yeah,they just closed up the Arclay Theater
there in LA I'm very sad aboutthat. Yeah, yeah, they did
that. It's just there's so manytheaters. When it's something a good one,
reparable, legendary piece like that kindof closes down, it's like,
what's what's going on? Okay,So here's I'm jumping into this question.
(35:37):
Then I'm gonna ask mar the samequestion. You saw Tenant last year?
Yes, was it everything you hopedit was going to be? Of course
not. It's too loud, excusing. So I think I think most Chrys
Nolan movies and Mara could have abetter say this than I am. Are
meant to be seen at least twiceon a theater, and once just to
see it, and then once moreto understand it, understand it I have.
(36:00):
I did see Tenant again, obviously, and I enjoyed it much more
the second time than it's the firsttime. Me too, so I think
that's true with almost my second watch, but I know that's going to be
the case the second. The secondviewing for me was exactly exactly what you
said, Frank, because I tookmy wife to see it and I was
like, yeah, going back,We're going back into the theater again and
(36:20):
we're going to see a movie.And then I was like halfway through,
I was like, oh, Iwish I could stop this and rewind it.
And because I'm lost already and Idon't get lost during Christopher Nolan No,
no, no, I'm pretty Mysister and I are pretty good.
We say saw it together and anypart of it was just okay. We
saw her like an imax Steeter andit was so loud that background ye was
(36:40):
going that you really couldn't understand whatthey were saying. And this is not
a spoiler, but they talked backwardsin some of the scenes, So what
is going on? So I'll letMara expand on that thought. No,
yeah, we saw it. Iit was our first time back in the
theater, but this was in AugustI want to Save twenty twenty. It
was very strange. We had ourmasks on and then the movie they have
(37:04):
masks on, and it was oddto acience like that. I grew yeah,
and these were the hardcore masks rightbecause this was last year. I
was disappointed too. I remember beingvery lost. I was really hoping that
this would be the movie. I'ma movie critic as well, and I
(37:24):
was really hoping this would be themovie to get people back and get people
excited. And it was the wrongchoice. I'm glad that he took a
risk, and then Warner Brothers tooka risk, but it was so inaccessible
to the casual movie fan who didn'tknow what they mean. I have not
seen it the second time. Thatgoes to show you a little desire.
(37:45):
I've had to try to understand itsbeing like way too esoteric. Yeah,
like the first scene at the operahouse, I'm with it, and then
I wasn't with it, and thenit just never got me act. Yeah.
Yeah. And I'm a huge fanof John David Washington, I am
too, and Robert Pattinson and ElizabethThey had a great cast, kind of
(38:09):
ring just it was one of hislesser efforts for sure. Yeah, yeah,
which leads me to the which leadsme to what you do I can
watch, Yeah, which leads meto what you do? Maramovies dot com
is a great how did how didyou? How did you start that?
Oh God? I was a moviecritic for US Weekly starting in twenty eleven.
(38:34):
I got laid off from US Weekly. I didn't know what to do.
I'm too. Publicists suggested that Istart a website for movies just just
sort of show that I'm still inthe game. Yeah, And I did
it over the summer of twenty seventeen, and what happened was that US Weekly
hired me back as the movie criticafter I started the website, so I
(38:57):
now we still review movies for USWeekly there mostly in print. People still
read magazines occasionally they'll go online onthis Weekly, and they're also on Mara
Movies, so people can still It'ssort of like a portfolio slash movie review
site. Right. I do atop tell list, don't do this summer,
I do movie previews. I'm notas active on it as I normally
(39:21):
am because I have so much otherwork. But I also teach a lot
of blogging classes. I'm a writinginstructor as well. I wear like a
thousand different hats, so it's importantfor my students to see that I keep
that I maintain my blog so Idon't let it go to waste, and
so I still have the site upand running Mara Movies and then again,
like I said, every Monday atfive pm, channel one of six,
(39:44):
I'm serious, you could also hearme review movies and TV series that have
a music element, because Volume isthe all music channel, and I do
that with Allan Light who is theformer editor in chief of Spin and five
worker Rolling Stone, and Mark Goodman, who is is one of the original
mtvbjs. So it's really a treatthat I get to do that every Monday.
(40:05):
That's awesome, Man's that's really cool. And we can find all that
through my movies dot com. Yesyou can, except for the series which
is subscription based obviously, yes,and that yes, but please it's on
demand and it's channel one oh six. You can find it also on demand
on the Serious app. Absolutely fantastic. Again cool, Yeah, that's what's
(40:28):
your favorite movie? Both of you? The question for both of I guests
today. Mine's very easy. Minehas always been back to the Future and
asked me that question and he couldn'tbelieve I answered back to the Future.
I thought it was such a disappointmentfor him. It doesn't mean it's the
best movie I've ever seen, butit's my favorite. I loved it.
I saw it in the theater threetimes when I was a little kid,
(40:49):
and it just like knocked my littlesocks off. I thought it was it
was just like it was the coolestmovie I'd ever seen. I loved Michael
J. Fox. I interviewed MichaelJ. Fox last year for the Ft
and Oh my gosh, talk aboutbeing nervous before an interview like my hurt.
I was sure, yeah, andhe could not have been nicer and
(41:14):
more patient. I didn't geek outat all. But I did have an
old Tiger beat that I held ontofrom nineteen eighty eight, and I held
up the Tiger beat to show himbecause it was a zoom interview, and
heerd that I still had a Tigerbeat. I mean, of course,
of course he was polite. He'sCanadian exactly, I mean exactly, and
(41:36):
anyone who's in New York. Alittle fun fact is that he has a
bench named after him in Central Parkthat his wife, Tracy Pollen, gave
to him for his sick for hisbirthday, and it says to Mike Fox
and Gus true New Yorkers. Andhe told me exactly where the bench is
in Central Park. And after theinterview, I went found the bench and
(42:00):
I sat down on it, andoh, that is neat. It's Michael
J. Fox's bench. That's awesome. That's awesome. I saw that I
saw back in the future on anopening day, and I remember walking out
of the theater just kind of justI sat at the bus stop, just
kind of stunned at what I hadjust seen. No, was it the
greatest movie of all time? Butat that time, for me, it
(42:21):
was the best thing I've ever seen. Thank You. When I was a
kid, when I thought it wasdefinitely the best thing, I didn't see
it opening day ten years as juniorI was. I was born in seventy
eight, came out in eighty five, right, so I was a kid,
sat on BHS when I released,and I was that was it.
How do you feel about the sequelsas well? I was wondering that when
(42:42):
you said in the future, they'rethey're watchable, but they're very problematic.
I mean, of course they're not. Like there are some sequels that are
so bad where I choose to thinkthat they don't exist, like like Legally
Blanche or Major League two, whereI'm just like, they don't, like
there's only one movie. I mean, right exactly, So there I choose
(43:06):
to believe that the other two moviesexist. They're not that bad, but
like they're just sort of no,they're not the first one. Fine,
Frank, what's your what's your favoritefilm? Thank you ma. If you
go on one of my websites andthey ask you what your favorite film is
with the password, I always putdie Hard. I'm not saying it's my
favorite film. That's one of thosefilms I can watch over and over whenever
(43:29):
it's on. It doesn't turn offeven with commercials. So comedy, great
one liners, and it's led toso many other genres I mean, like
speed, die Hard and a bossI heard a boat. You know what
I'm saying. It all goes backto Diehard. Well arguably it led to
twenty four. Yeah, you canmake an arguments and that's funny. My
(43:51):
sister gave me a twenty sorry dieHard coloring book. It is the funniest.
This is unpaid promotion. If youcan sure, you can buy it
on eBay. I don't want togive it away. It is. Yes,
it's a coloring book. It isthe funniest book you will ever see.
Just to give something away, theyhave pictures of all these shoes and
it says circle the two shoes thatmatch, and no two shoes match.
(44:15):
He says, John McClain didn't havetwo shoes that match, will either do
you? So it's a really funawesome I mean love to peruse your collection,
man, I mean speaking collection.I want to go over a couple
of twenty four things. That pleasethe time is this is all courtesy of
(44:37):
my sister. So, like Isaid, uh, once you started becoming
a TV movie critic in front ofthe pr they sent us all the twenty
four discs. So it's interesting.Like so I have all the season premieers
that were given to the critics.They all have numbers on them, so
they can't get they got out.They right back to my sister. I'm
sure this is the only one thatexists. This is the season premiere and
(45:00):
I'm sorry my headphones follow. What'sinteresting about this is my sister gave this
to me after season eight came out, so it's never been opened, so
it's still sitting in its protective dishas well. I know when twenty four
was coming to an end, theysent my sister who sent this to me,
and I've seen them on eBay.They're not impossible to find. But
this is a piece of CTU.I don't know if you can see that
(45:22):
or not. Some artwork and stillin the original shrink rap which is starting
the bucket a little of all theseason artwork for all the twenty fours with
the original season of twenty four.Wow. So that's another cool thing.
Fox set my sister. Other stuff, which of course I had, I
had right after twenty four was House. I loved House. Also I loved
(45:43):
Gregory House, and so I hadthat, so again premiers. Cool thing
about cool thing about House was thiswas a it looks like a blood but
in the back, of course isthe DVD of season two. So cool.
They could spend the money on House. Yeah, they had the house
by then, but by then theyhad when we when we opened the museum,
(46:06):
Frank, We're coming, We're coming, and knock on your door.
I'm happy to At the end ofHouse, they gave this. This is
an X ray from this season ofHouse as a commemorative gift. And finally,
if we have time, my sisterjust sent me something yesterday to show
how much money is going into promotionsince this started. This is my sister,
(46:37):
is not me? Should we openit and see what inde this?
That's the greatest lunchbox every Oh mygod. Just to be clear, just
to be clear, right, well, that's cool, But just to be
clear, I thought my sister andI were friends until this podcast. You
(46:58):
can still after we get up,I'm calling my sister and I'm like,
you know you I really thought youwere a good sister. I would take
a few things from here. Sodid I took a few things. We've
all watched Loki. Right, Yes, okay, So here's a folder with
we have a letter in here.We read the letter or no, don't
(47:21):
read the letter. I don't readthe letter. I will not read the
letter. There's a letter. There'sa letter in there. We have no
pat saying everything you've said. Andthere was a signature line and said from
the first episode, obviously, andit says what on here? That's so
(47:43):
cool, that's incredible. We havetape dispenser with the t v A.
We have a stapler from the tv A. I think that Disney Company
(48:05):
is gonna take off one day.Yeah, you know, I think this
kind of marketing. I think they'regonna do great. Yes, oh my
god, you gotta put it inthe drawer. I will not be open.
Yeah, it's worthless. So Igret the TVA. So that doesn't
give me any powers. But yes, the test to act. Uh.
We have a little Loki pad.We're not done yet, though, I
(48:30):
want to say this for last rightwe have here, uh oh, of
course we have to have tv Asocks you. Yes, I feel like
I feel like you're gonna take TomHidston out of that box. The last
thing is again, this is fromyesterday. I'm sorry. The Rose recent
(48:52):
episode is a t V. Ajacket's notariant on the back though it's a
TV. Is that a rain jacketto it doesn't say very raine jacket?
Yes? What you want to knowwhat I took from that box? Hold
on and Frank, do you planon wearing that out? No? But
(49:14):
my son may wear It's funny.I like again, some of this stuff
I know is collector's items, likethe piece of CTU, the piece of
the X ray from house. Thosego on my personal collection. I don't
open them, but like, whatam I? Yeah, that's the one
thing I took. I took themug and the clock. My sister gets
(49:37):
this stuff all the time. Youdon't realize I get it all the time.
I get it all the time.Absolutely absolutely. I'm not my personal
Converse shoes for the new Punky Brewsterremake. Okay, okay, that they're
miss mad Like I get really coolstuff was Punky Brewster social media though it's
a little tacky. I would loveto know what your what's your take on
social media? And I'm Punky Brewster. The reboot, h it was okay,
(50:00):
I mean I love the original.Yeah, yeah, got Punky Brewster.
They they went so all up forthat promotion. They I could run
upstairs on like a painting kit tome, to me, and I did
(50:21):
it with my niece, Frank's daughter, who's eight, when I was in
Michigan, and like there was likea painting party. They sent us snacks
and wine, and Soley Moonfry herselfdid like led the painting party. So
I did like a portrait with SoleyMoonfry where you can ask her questions.
(50:42):
It was just the coolest thing.And this was just for the Punky Bruster
which on Peacock. I mean,this is where it gets where like the
promotion, if it's your thing,it's really out of control. I mean
yeah, there are a lot ofa lot of journalists who posted on social
media, and I find it reallyunprofessional all honestly, especially because we vote.
I'm a member of the Critics ChoiceAssociation and the Hollywood Critics Association,
(51:08):
and you vote on things you don'twant to look like it's a pale a
thing where you can get fought right. Yeah, I try not to publicize
it. That's why. Also kindof why I hand off a lot of
it. So so there you go. But it comes to my niece and
nephew and obviously my brother. Ohthose are unique experiences. Frank, you
made the Howard Stern show happen.Yes, and your sister got you all
(51:31):
that cool stuff, which now makesme question my relationship to my entire family.
Now, marble and admit this.But I gave it, like a
lot of tips, like stumped theboy, ask them to play a song
twice, ask him to play thesong longer if you don't know it.
I feel I helped a little bitto help her win. And uh so
I hope she could feel a littlebit of credit for that. But no,
at the end of the day,yes, yes, sorry, if
(51:52):
I did not give you it's fine. No, No, I just got
her foot in the door. It'sthe twin advantage. Apparently, one of
the songs, as my friend wasin the green room with Frank, like
Frank thought I didn't know and hewent crazy and I didn't know it.
So yeah, well, for therecord, that song was Freeway of Love,
and everyone knows Freeway of love andDetroit, and the opening notes went
(52:15):
on and I'm screaming freeway of love, Amargos. I hear a little more.
I'm like, what, how doyou not know freeway of law being
from Detroit? She got her right, don't be wrong. She was bluffing.
It all worked out, she wasbluffing. Well, this has been
a real pleasure. I've never hada podcast that started with a video cassette
before VHS video cassette. And we'venever had siblings. We've never had siblings
(52:39):
on you. There's one fan inthe family, twenty four fan and the
family, but we've got a familythat has two. So again, it
has been a pleasure to have youon. And thank you for having us,
Thanks for having us, have agreat day. Thank you buys typical barrister
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