April 3, 2025 • 23 mins
Scott Yager is joined by Variety's Senior TV Editor Emily Longeretta!
The two talk about the past two episodes of All Stars and the Season as the whole while also discussing larger industry issues like covering scandals in 2025 and how it's changed over the years, being at SNL when Morgan Wallen walked off, how The Challenge may campaign for an Emmy and MORE!
WATCH the full episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/125859372?pr=true
This is a Free Preview of a much longer episode. To hear the full thing and to get all our Bonus Content including Video...head to www.ChallengeManiacs.com and sign up at the Maniac Level!
www.ChallengeManiacs.com
www.ChallengeMania.Live
www.ChallengeMania.Shop
The two talk about the past two episodes of All Stars and the Season as the whole while also discussing larger industry issues like covering scandals in 2025 and how it's changed over the years, being at SNL when Morgan Wallen walked off, how The Challenge may campaign for an Emmy and MORE!
WATCH the full episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/125859372?pr=true
This is a Free Preview of a much longer episode. To hear the full thing and to get all our Bonus Content including Video...head to www.ChallengeManiacs.com and sign up at the Maniac Level!
www.ChallengeManiacs.com
www.ChallengeMania.Live
www.ChallengeMania.Shop
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
What's up, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is Scott Jeger here with another good old fashioned
Challenge Mania episode breakdown, sort of a double episode breakdown.
I gonna be talking about episode nine, episode ten, really
gonna be talking about a whole hodgepodge of things today,
All Star season five rivals, if you will, but also
everything going on.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
In the entertainment industry.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Because I am joined today by our good friend, miss
Emily Longerette from Variety.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
How are you, my friend?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I am great? How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I'm good.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I saw we were ships passing. You just came through
New York City. I was following from Afar. I want
to start there while we have a free preview here
on the main feed for people to listen to, because
I think this is a juicy question I'm going to
ask you. It begins with I believe were you in
the house.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Last Saturday Night at Saturday Night Live?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
So I was in the house for the dress for her,
the longer version, of course, if people don't know. The
dress rehearsal, it's like an half hour longer than the
live show because they do a lot of sketches that
don't end up making it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So I was in the house for that got it
because I was going to ask you, of course, about
Morgan Wall and who I believe you're a fan of,
correct I am?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Actually I don't. I'm kind of in the middle. I
don't like the country music. I like country music, so
I like his music, but personal not not aligned. But okay,
all right, but I will say just to play Devil's advocate.
During the dress rehearsal, they also do that get together
on the stage at the end where they all hug
and clap and do the.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Same thing for the run through.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
He also hugged Mikey jumped off stage, so I will
see he did it in the dress rehearsal too well.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
First of all, so that's breaking news here because for
those of you guys who don't know, Morgan Wall and Crunchy
Music Superstar appears on Saturday Night Live as the musical guest.
During the big send off at the end where they're
all supposed to hug and we kind of just watch
them kind of talk to each other without knowing what
they're saying while the credits roll, he decides to whisper
something to the Hostpikey Madison Academy Award winner from Anora
(02:04):
and then kind of bolt it to stage left and
then from the helipad or the runway of his private
jet airspace. He has a picture of his private jet
with the caption take Me to God's Country. Now, I
cannot confirm nor deny whether he was talking about the
Showroom Reality Cruise, the reality TV extravaganza Cruz next January,
but we can all assume he meant take me to
(02:26):
said cruise next January, info of which you can get
at Showroomrealitycruise dot com. But this has taken the internet
by storm because no one kind of knows why he left.
Was their animosity that brewed that week was a kind
of an f you to them because they kind of
threw him under the bus because he had to get
canceled a few years ago when right before performing on
the show, I guess, videos got out that he was
like partying and not you know, following COVID protocol, and
(02:49):
they covered that extensively in their music documentary recently. And
then of course take Me to God's Country. I think
as a New Yorker we all take umbrage with because
he's implying that us here in the under dwellings of
Manhattan with liberal debauchery everywhere.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I mean, just get me.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Back to wherever the hell God's country is, just not
here in the fine or five Burroughs.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Think what I will.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
What I have to say about that is though both
SNL and Morgan and his team know what the setting
is at SNL, they know it's a liberal nation, they
know what the opening is going to be.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
They know.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
So he was well aware of that. They were well
aware that he is on the other side of that.
He's never hidden who he is. So the fact that
they brought him on during this very tuultuous time in
the country where things are very you know, right and
wrong or left and right if you however you view it,
I think this is it that speaks for itself, right,
I mean this Yeah, And look.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
For those listening to this of the Challenge Maning podcast
feed being like, hey, we want challenge talk. We have
someone as well versed in the industry here as Emily.
I want to ask her about big picture stuff as well.
Fact and the fact that you were there is fascinating,
almost more fascinating now that you were there for the
dress because the idea that he like practiced the blocking
beforehand and so let me just give you my conspiracy
(04:06):
theory here because I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
It's like they know what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
He knows what he's doing, Okay, that it's all kind
of this big performance, whereas like SNL tell me if
you agree, has for the past I don't know, year
or two ever since they had Shane Gillison the first time,
and now they've had him on again, and like, I
really do think they're trying to like retcon a few
of their years of being like maybe a little heavy
handed with not just their politics, but with the cancel
(04:30):
culture of it all, and kind of taking this comedic
platform that was supposed to be where you can say
anything and nothing is off limits and kind of like
making things off limits and like firing people before they
even get a chance to become I mean, I forget
who said this, but I read someone I think it
was someone from The Ringer when when Shane was just
on again they said Shane Gillis could have been the
most popular SNL cast member since Will Ferrell. They have
(04:53):
course decided to fire him, which was probably the best
thing they ever did for his career, because now he's
headlining arenas he has Zone show on Netflix, and he's
hosting it, something that very few cast members have ever
been invited to do.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Ever.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Meanwhile, he might still be in SNL purgatory as like
the third lead at this point if he has stayed.
But I think SNL has sort of had this identity
crisis where they're trying to still be themselves but also
trying to maybe not be the sort of uptight kid
in the room who's like forcing their agenda on people anymore. Meanwhile,
Morgan Wallan, as you said, you know is probably whether
it's him or his publicists are probably like, look, you
(05:25):
should probably also, you know, talk to this portion of
the country as well, be out there promote your album
or whatever it is he's promoting, and this and that.
But like the whole walk off, I think is his
way of having his cake and eating it too, because
it's like he gets to sort of use this moment
to like indirectly give the finger to SNL, to the
New York sort of liberal elites whatever, do it in
(05:47):
this very ceremonial way.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Someone said it that best where they go.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Nothing's more take me to God Country than a private jet.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Mister Morgan wall It's like you're riding a motorcycle there
without a helmet. You sick fuck.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
But so I love like like for having you here
because you work in a variety, which I love that
you still cover the I don't want to call it
the little people here, but you're still very much a
reality TV fan, very much plugged into the reality TV world.
You're at the forefront of the most powerful women in
reality TV thing that you guys do every year. You're
still covering the challenge, if not weekly, at least watching
(06:19):
it from afar, premiering and debuting a lot of the
big information as.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Variety will do.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
But you know, you work at a company and for
a publication that covers the Oscars and the Emmys and
the big to dos of the world. So I'd love
to know like something like this, like where does this
rank for you as like, you know, big news. Is
it just sort of this like salacious, kind of controversial
thing we're here talking on Thursday?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Is it already kind of off your news desk?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Where does something like this fall in line between like,
you know, biggest news in the world and a nothing burger?
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Well, I think the SNL is such a huge show,
so it's like it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
That's going to be main news no matter what.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
So I think that like that that's going to be
that's a big Variety story regardless. I mean, the moment
it happened, Variety wrote it up. So we covered yesterday
when we found out that he was part of the
UH he was originally supposed to be part of that
long line sketch and turned it down and that's why
they went to Joe Jonas.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
So, you know, I think that that's that's industry news.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
I mean, SNL has been part of this industry for
longer than any of us have been covering it. So
I think that that's, you know, that's still as part
of it.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So I asked my publicist friend this, and she's actually
a music publicist. I asked her her side of this.
I go, why would we now this was like Tuesday
or Wednesday? I go, why by Tuesday have we not
gotten like an explanation for this. We've got, like we've
heard from like the Keenan Thompson's of the world and
the SNL writers who are going on you know, public
forums and kind of theorizing or at least kind of
throwing him under the bus. But like the Morgan wall
(07:47):
inside feels like almost no obligation to clear any of
this up, whether it be to hammer at home about
why they're sort of you know, flipping the bird at
that experience, or maybe saying, hey, no, I just like
my flight had to leave, or I heard there was
bad weather and that tried to get out of here, whatever.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
It is, what reason would you have to like?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And she kind of, you know, I don't want to paraphrase,
but said, like, it's almost better to let one side
make it what they wanted to be, the other side
have it be what they wanted to.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Be, and and hopefully let it dissipate.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Naturally rather than keep reigniting the news cycle. You're on
the other side. But I assume you guys are trying
to claw away at any follow up quotes you can
get from people involved or otherwise, like, is it surprising
to you that there hasn't been any either retcon on
it or clarification what it meant, or is this part
for the course.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I don't think it's surprising at all.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
I think this is let's be honest, that episode wouldn't
have you know, been talked about afterward if that didn't happen.
Nothing wrong with it. But SNL is not what it
used to be. That's that's not a secret. Obviously, I'm
a fan. I went to this taping. I love SML,
but it's not what it used to be. It's not
in the conversation every week, minus the fact that it's
covering the political landscape.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
So the facts that people are still talking about it.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
These they don't need to release statements, they don't need
to because it's gonna it's doing exactly what they wanted
to do. I mean, being in the conversation. No press
is no press is bad. Press is still kind of
a thing. There is so much content out there. You
and I know this better than anyone. There's so much
content out there. To be in the conversation is a
really tough thing. And we're still talking about it many
(09:20):
days later.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
That's why can we say that about that.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
That's why I'm gonna put on my like you know,
Reddit tin hat foil wearing hat. Thing is that I think,
like you're like, I honestly think what you added the
context of that he did this during dress rehearsal. You're
telling me he did it the same exact way.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Totally same exactly because I remember me like, where did
he just go?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
And so that tells me that it wasn't a spur
of the moment thing that happened like during filming or whatever.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
It wasn't like he was like, I gotta go, I
gotta catch a flight, I gotta go to the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
So I'm just gonna throw this out there. Is it
possible that this is all again.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Like part of a collaborative sort of like you said,
the SNL side of it is that you know, they
don't even have to comment on.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
It or like kind of imply we did anything wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Whatever, They get to again have people talking about their
show for four days after no offense.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Mikey Madison's great and all, but I.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Don't think there weren't any you know, amazing sketch Like look,
I like the long line sketch. I sent it to
my wife because she's always laughing about how I have
like almost this endless amount of threshold for the long
lines I wait on to get on get into boiler shit,
and she wants nothing to do with it. So I like,
(10:30):
but you're right that it was a great moment, pressing
down that people are talking about it and then the
Morgan Wong side of it. He gets to get the
press and the eyeballs of going and premiering and songs
at SNL while also to his bass letting them know, guys,
I'm not one of those dorks.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
All right, I know I'm not one of them, even
though I am one of those because God.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, And within.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Twenty four hours, List started putting up merch on his
website that say get me to God's Country. Look, which
I wonder what the sales are. I would love to
know because they're probably selling out.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Well it's they're selling out.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It's become a meme like everyone's that take me to
God's Country, and it's a picture of KFC take me
to country.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Just one yesterday that was like the school from Dawson's Creek.
Give me the God's Country, I mean God.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So, before we get to the challenge, because I will,
like I said, we're putting a preview up on the
main feed. This is We're going to live over a
challenge maniac dot com. We can watch this in all
of our interviews as well.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
We will talk about the challenge. But the other thing
I saw you did here in.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
New York was go to see Othello with Denzel Washington
and Jake jillen Hall. I love Broadway, I love Denzel Washington,
I like Jake Jillenhall a lot, but Dinzel Washington me
is like one of the great performers of our time.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I very much want to go to the show.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
However, I don't know how you got tickets, but they
cost a billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Is it worth a billion dollars? Give me your.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Kind of two sentence review of this show and whether
or not it is worth taking out a loan to
go see?
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Yeah, I mean the price ticket what is that nine
five for the first fifteen.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Which which you have to add.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
This is the sad part about Broadway, and this sometimes
happens with other events too. If you ever go to
Ticketmaster and like the you'll see like, oh, those two
seats are available and you click on it, it's because
they're like premium whatever, five thousand dollars seats.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
That's why they're available.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
The way it works in New York City is when
they put a Broadway show on sale, all of the
reasonably priced like oh, I wouldn't mind.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Paying that for a night out, those go immediately.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
And then when you go and look, the only seats
available are the nine hundred dollars front row side seats
that you're like, do I need to tell my kid
he can't go to camp because I want to see
King Kanye got nothing on me in front of my face,
So go ahead.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Was it incredible to see Denzel and Jake on stage
doing Othello?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Of course? I mean there is a moment where you're.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Just looking at Denzel being Denzel, and it's really incredible
to see him doing shakespeare a slash an updated version
of Shakespeare.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
That's a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Is it update? Like do they are they work for
word Shakespeare?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Because that's why I really don't want to take out
the loan is that I'm not a Shakespeare guy.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
I'm not a Shakespeare girling. Okay, I've never seen Jake.
So there were there scenes where I was like, I'm
not sure what they're saying.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yes, so they.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Still do because I saw pictures that they're wearing like
modern day army garb.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Yes, because yes, so there it's a mix. It's a
bit of old school and new school put together. So
some there are some monologues that Jake says that I
was like, I have literally no idea what he's saying.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Was the performances were great.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I went, okay, words are they only changing like the setting?
Like is he like where for art? That motherfucker?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Or is he like where for art thou? And he's
wearing a modern day costume.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
No, some of the words are updated.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Oh they are oh great, So there is where for
art there? Motherfucker?
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Word for word? But are there?
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Really? Okay?
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
I will give a shout out Neil Bledsoe, one of
my close friends.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
He is in it as the Duke of Venice and
he is Jake's understudy.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
So I was.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
That's why I flew to New York because I needed
to support him because this was first Broadway shell that's
a big deal going ahead with Denzel on stage.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
He has a great scene with him. So yes, it was.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
And that's how I got tickets because I know someone
in the show.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
I paid for them. I did not.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
I did not get free tickets because I'll tell you,
no press tickets, no free tickets.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
That wasn't a thing.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
What was he now was Jake?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Did you did you go when he was filling it
for Jake? Or you went when he was.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
The merchant he was? He was Duke of Venis. Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Now if he called you and he goes Emily, I
can get you a ticket for when I'm going to
be Jakie g or whatever the part is.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
What's the part's name?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Iago?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Iago?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
I was so it was Iago, Like maybe it is.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
So Iago, Hey, so I'll be the lead, It'll be
be Didzel like it's gonna be good. Or I can
get you the next day where I'm the Merchant of
Venice and I'm in it. But Jake Jill at Hall
is gonna would you would you go to see your
friend in the lead and you don't get to see
Jakie g at all?
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Rather that? Okay, yeah for sure, I mean Jake's fine,
but like also, yeah, I'm also in the industry.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I think you can see this too.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
The a lot of people that go don't get to
see them on don't get to see these people in
real life.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
So you have had coffee with Jake Jill and Hall
you no, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
No, but but it's I get the appeal.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I will say.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
It's also a star studded room, so that's always really fun.
My favorite, my favorite thing I will do this humble
brag that has nothing to do with me. Leonardo DiCaprio
and Toby Maguire sitting in front of me.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
That's the show this weekend.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yes, the show and they were together, Yes, the original
not my words, there's pussy.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Pussy you said it, not me, but yeah, yeah, And
I never.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Used that word. I don't use it in the context
of anatomy. But I'm just that's you know, if you're
with you know, Method Man in the Rizza, they're the
Wu Tang clans.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, you're under Leo and Toby. They're the pussy bossy right,
that is what they're called.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Many of my friends texted me that immediately when I
say when I send to them, who guesses in front
of me?
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Well there you go.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So okay, Now all right, let's talk some challenge. So
before we talk about episodes nine and ten and All Stars,
to get your thought, specifically that All Stars season five,
I want to get your industry perspective on what I
thought was a seismic shift for the All Stars franchise.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
And that it moved on to MTV. I know, you know,
I was.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Like texting you up a storm, like hey, can you
find out like why the fuck? This happened, and I
know at the time you were not getting a hard answer.
We're now, you know, two episodes away from the end.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Of the season.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Have you gotten any more clarity why this experiment started?
And have you gotten any feedback on whether this experiment
was a success transitioning this spin off to the flagship station.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
I have not gotten feedback. I honestly know the answer
is no. I don't know the reasoning, and I think
I think that it's safe to assume there's a lot
of changes. For those who you know, don't know. It's
really complicated, but there's a lot of sales and mergers
going on at Paramount a lot of changes happening. So
I think they're kind of moving things around to see
what they can do. They know that the challenge works
(16:50):
on MTV. They know that that's a fact. I mean,
it's been happening for how many seasons now, so they figure,
in my opinion, they guess that why not move it back.
Paramount Plus has changed a bit of what it features.
It's turned into Taylor Sheridan all day, every day, let's
be honest.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
So I don't think that I think they're seeing that.
Let's let's keep MTV.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
MTV, you know, give it one hour and everything else
go to ridiculousness. That's what MTV is. We all know this,
So I think that it's going to stay there. We
obviously know that this season is about to or is
it now that it premieres on Paramount Plus very soon,
so they'll also it'll also air there later.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
But I think going.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Forward, I wouldn't be surprised if they do somehow roll
out a next day on Paramount Plus situation, because that's
something people really want to see.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
This is a real tweet from MTV yesterday.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
This is the MTV account in the mood for some
new tunes.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Put me on to any of your favorite artists that
should be on my radar, And I'm like, isn't this
what you should be doing for us?
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Your literal job, MTV?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
What I have to ask you?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Because now not to not to name drop, but this
week I attended a premiere of a Paramount Plus show
called Mobland, starring Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosden, and right
before now, this is a scripted show direct The premiere
at lease is directed by Guy Ritchie. It's about the
British mob. It has nothing to do with music or
the challenge or reality. But this like Landman, which is
(18:20):
a season a show about an oil guy in Texas,
begin with the logo MTV Studio Films or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yes, what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (18:31):
I love this question? MTV.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Yeah, MTV Studio is on one on one, so it's
produced by the company behind MTV. It's not the network MTV,
so it's just the production company.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
But so my question is for something like MTV which
like exists, like now is such a like I don't
even what you would call it, but it's like more
of an idea than anything. And that like the thing
is literally called MTV because of music. Music is now
completely absent from the network itself, of course, but now
you have a company that's named after the network making
shows that don't even air on the network that I
(19:05):
have nothing to do with music using it? Is it
kind of just like a taxis thing? Like is it
like a roundabout?
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Like No, it's the same thing that I mean, Warner
Brothers Studios produces all these things. Warner Brothers isn't like
WB isn't a network anymore like.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Warner Brothers or like Paramount like these scream like scripted
film and television where it's like when I like, I
almost like not to knock MTV, But when I see
that logo before a I think it's going to be
kind of like a lesser than maybe like teen Team based,
like a teen Wolf or a Scream or.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Something like that.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Like like when I see it before a series, I
don't necessarily think, oh, this is gonna be made by
Guy Ritchie or Taylor Sheridan and star a bunch of movies.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
But most of all, maybe all of Taylor Sheridan's shows
are MTV studios. Yellowstone is nineteen twenty three is which
is Yeah, I think it's completely separate, to be honest,
the studio is not the network.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
So my question to you, to bring it back to
the challenge, is that, like, so we read all these
us simpletons to read all these articles about about Paramount
Global being sold, okay, and like the talks that you
have heard, are they going to include everything under the
sun or are there certain things that it would not include,
for instance, like the like labeling before a series that
(20:15):
some of us might not even think about or whatever,
Like does that sometimes determine whether something would be included
in a bulk sale or not like, for instance, is
it possible that something like MTV would be separate from
something like Paramount or a show that was made under
this umbrella with this production company logo would be included,
but this would would.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I mean that goes back to kind of like they
used to be under Viacom, right, so a separate entity
than Showtime, which are the same umbrella. But now they're
all the same. Now it's all the same publicity team,
it's all the same marketing.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
So I think it still could matter the question. The
answer is, I don't know, and I don't think that
they know.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
I think that right now, when a sale happens, it's
gonna we're going to see what it includes. They can
kind of build that. It depends on who buys it.
It depends on how it's split up. I would assume
if they're going to make a sale, and they're going
to they're going to it's going to be all of it,
it's going to be everything at once that it depends
on what they continue to keep making. Obviously that ends
that it all comes down to money.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Now we're going to say goodbye to our friends. Enjoying
a free preview on the main podcast feed. I'm going
to tease them to go to challengemaniacs dot com because
the first thing I'm going to ask you sort of
all Stars adjacent, but it doesn't involve some of the
Challenge all Stars, if you will, because I want to
ask where, like how close you got to some of
these controversies that we began the year with, and.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I do know you covered some of them.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
I believe it was your name attached to some of
the additional coverage that came out after the Johnny Bananas
meme coin and all this stuff with Taylor from Big
Brother and stuff like that. So if you want to
hear Emily's answer to this, and you want to hear
us kind of dig into some of these hot topics,
go to challenge maniac dot com. Sign up at the
maniac level or above. But Emily, let me ask you.
So that's kind of how we kicked off the year.
Here we are a couple months later, and it seems
(22:06):
like it was five years ago. Nobody's even talking about it,
but like when that stuff started happening, like you know,
like how soon does something go from kind of internet fodder? Oh,
these are just people on Reddit doing some digging to
Oh no, there's enough people.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Talking about this. There's enough people commenting on this.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
This is affecting people in a deep enough of the
way where I, senior TV editor of Variety, needs to
put on my spectacles and make a couple of phone
calls and put something on the main page of ours.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
I think, what's different. There's a difference between.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
You know, casting rumors and feuds and that fun kind
of stuff that makes people land on rivals to races,
allegations and things that attack people's character.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
All right, guys, As I said, that's all you're getting
here for free on the main feed if you want
to hear the rest of this interview with Emily Longretta,
where we talk about this right here, where we talk
about All Stars, the future of All Stars, the future
of MTV, where we talk about some scripted like Paradise
and the Studio and more, plus Emily's experience at the Emmys, traders,
a lot of reality TV rumors and news all that
(23:07):
overt Challengemaniacs dot com.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
All right, take it away, TJ. All right, guys, this
sends your time here on Challenge Mania. Take care of
yourselves and hopefully we'll see in the future Shuck and
(23:49):
he's a complete piece.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
Shiit
What's up, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
This is Scott Jeger here with another good old fashioned
Challenge Mania episode breakdown, sort of a double episode breakdown.
I gonna be talking about episode nine, episode ten, really
gonna be talking about a whole hodgepodge of things today,
All Star season five rivals, if you will, but also
everything going on.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
In the entertainment industry.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Because I am joined today by our good friend, miss
Emily Longerette from Variety.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
How are you, my friend?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
I am great? How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
I'm good.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I saw we were ships passing. You just came through
New York City. I was following from Afar. I want
to start there while we have a free preview here
on the main feed for people to listen to, because
I think this is a juicy question I'm going to
ask you. It begins with I believe were you in
the house.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Last Saturday Night at Saturday Night Live?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
So I was in the house for the dress for her,
the longer version, of course, if people don't know. The
dress rehearsal, it's like an half hour longer than the
live show because they do a lot of sketches that
don't end up making it.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
So I was in the house for that got it
because I was going to ask you, of course, about
Morgan Wall and who I believe you're a fan of,
correct I am?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Actually I don't. I'm kind of in the middle. I
don't like the country music. I like country music, so
I like his music, but personal not not aligned. But okay,
all right, but I will say just to play Devil's advocate.
During the dress rehearsal, they also do that get together
on the stage at the end where they all hug
and clap and do the.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Same thing for the run through.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
He also hugged Mikey jumped off stage, so I will
see he did it in the dress rehearsal too well.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
First of all, so that's breaking news here because for
those of you guys who don't know, Morgan Wall and Crunchy
Music Superstar appears on Saturday Night Live as the musical guest.
During the big send off at the end where they're
all supposed to hug and we kind of just watch
them kind of talk to each other without knowing what
they're saying while the credits roll, he decides to whisper
something to the Hostpikey Madison Academy Award winner from Anora
(02:04):
and then kind of bolt it to stage left and
then from the helipad or the runway of his private
jet airspace. He has a picture of his private jet
with the caption take Me to God's Country. Now, I
cannot confirm nor deny whether he was talking about the
Showroom Reality Cruise, the reality TV extravaganza Cruz next January,
but we can all assume he meant take me to
(02:26):
said cruise next January, info of which you can get
at Showroomrealitycruise dot com. But this has taken the internet
by storm because no one kind of knows why he left.
Was their animosity that brewed that week was a kind
of an f you to them because they kind of
threw him under the bus because he had to get
canceled a few years ago when right before performing on
the show, I guess, videos got out that he was
like partying and not you know, following COVID protocol, and
(02:49):
they covered that extensively in their music documentary recently. And
then of course take Me to God's Country. I think
as a New Yorker we all take umbrage with because
he's implying that us here in the under dwellings of
Manhattan with liberal debauchery everywhere.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I mean, just get me.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Back to wherever the hell God's country is, just not
here in the fine or five Burroughs.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Think what I will.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
What I have to say about that is though both
SNL and Morgan and his team know what the setting
is at SNL, they know it's a liberal nation, they
know what the opening is going to be.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
They know.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
So he was well aware of that. They were well
aware that he is on the other side of that.
He's never hidden who he is. So the fact that
they brought him on during this very tuultuous time in
the country where things are very you know, right and
wrong or left and right if you however you view it,
I think this is it that speaks for itself, right,
I mean this Yeah, And look.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
For those listening to this of the Challenge Maning podcast
feed being like, hey, we want challenge talk. We have
someone as well versed in the industry here as Emily.
I want to ask her about big picture stuff as well.
Fact and the fact that you were there is fascinating,
almost more fascinating now that you were there for the
dress because the idea that he like practiced the blocking
beforehand and so let me just give you my conspiracy
(04:06):
theory here because I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
It's like they know what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
He knows what he's doing, Okay, that it's all kind
of this big performance, whereas like SNL tell me if
you agree, has for the past I don't know, year
or two ever since they had Shane Gillison the first time,
and now they've had him on again, and like, I
really do think they're trying to like retcon a few
of their years of being like maybe a little heavy
handed with not just their politics, but with the cancel
(04:30):
culture of it all, and kind of taking this comedic
platform that was supposed to be where you can say
anything and nothing is off limits and kind of like
making things off limits and like firing people before they
even get a chance to become I mean, I forget
who said this, but I read someone I think it
was someone from The Ringer when when Shane was just
on again they said Shane Gillis could have been the
most popular SNL cast member since Will Ferrell. They have
(04:53):
course decided to fire him, which was probably the best
thing they ever did for his career, because now he's
headlining arenas he has Zone show on Netflix, and he's
hosting it, something that very few cast members have ever
been invited to do.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Ever.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Meanwhile, he might still be in SNL purgatory as like
the third lead at this point if he has stayed.
But I think SNL has sort of had this identity
crisis where they're trying to still be themselves but also
trying to maybe not be the sort of uptight kid
in the room who's like forcing their agenda on people anymore. Meanwhile,
Morgan Wallan, as you said, you know is probably whether
it's him or his publicists are probably like, look, you
(05:25):
should probably also, you know, talk to this portion of
the country as well, be out there promote your album
or whatever it is he's promoting, and this and that.
But like the whole walk off, I think is his
way of having his cake and eating it too, because
it's like he gets to sort of use this moment
to like indirectly give the finger to SNL, to the
New York sort of liberal elites whatever, do it in
(05:47):
this very ceremonial way.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Someone said it that best where they go.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Nothing's more take me to God Country than a private jet.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Mister Morgan wall It's like you're riding a motorcycle there
without a helmet. You sick fuck.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
But so I love like like for having you here
because you work in a variety, which I love that
you still cover the I don't want to call it
the little people here, but you're still very much a
reality TV fan, very much plugged into the reality TV world.
You're at the forefront of the most powerful women in
reality TV thing that you guys do every year. You're
still covering the challenge, if not weekly, at least watching
(06:19):
it from afar, premiering and debuting a lot of the
big information as.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Variety will do.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
But you know, you work at a company and for
a publication that covers the Oscars and the Emmys and
the big to dos of the world. So I'd love
to know like something like this, like where does this
rank for you as like, you know, big news. Is
it just sort of this like salacious, kind of controversial
thing we're here talking on Thursday?
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Is it already kind of off your news desk?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Where does something like this fall in line between like,
you know, biggest news in the world and a nothing burger?
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Well, I think the SNL is such a huge show,
so it's like it doesn't.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
That's going to be main news no matter what.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
So I think that like that that's going to be
that's a big Variety story regardless. I mean, the moment
it happened, Variety wrote it up. So we covered yesterday
when we found out that he was part of the
UH he was originally supposed to be part of that
long line sketch and turned it down and that's why
they went to Joe Jonas.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
So, you know, I think that that's that's industry news.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
I mean, SNL has been part of this industry for
longer than any of us have been covering it. So
I think that that's, you know, that's still as part
of it.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So I asked my publicist friend this, and she's actually
a music publicist. I asked her her side of this.
I go, why would we now this was like Tuesday
or Wednesday? I go, why by Tuesday have we not
gotten like an explanation for this. We've got, like we've
heard from like the Keenan Thompson's of the world and
the SNL writers who are going on you know, public
forums and kind of theorizing or at least kind of
throwing him under the bus. But like the Morgan wall
(07:47):
inside feels like almost no obligation to clear any of
this up, whether it be to hammer at home about
why they're sort of you know, flipping the bird at
that experience, or maybe saying, hey, no, I just like
my flight had to leave, or I heard there was
bad weather and that tried to get out of here, whatever.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
It is, what reason would you have to like?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And she kind of, you know, I don't want to paraphrase,
but said, like, it's almost better to let one side
make it what they wanted to be, the other side
have it be what they wanted to.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Be, and and hopefully let it dissipate.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Naturally rather than keep reigniting the news cycle. You're on
the other side. But I assume you guys are trying
to claw away at any follow up quotes you can
get from people involved or otherwise, like, is it surprising
to you that there hasn't been any either retcon on
it or clarification what it meant, or is this part
for the course.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
I don't think it's surprising at all.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
I think this is let's be honest, that episode wouldn't
have you know, been talked about afterward if that didn't happen.
Nothing wrong with it. But SNL is not what it
used to be. That's that's not a secret. Obviously, I'm
a fan. I went to this taping. I love SML,
but it's not what it used to be. It's not
in the conversation every week, minus the fact that it's
covering the political landscape.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
So the facts that people are still talking about it.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
These they don't need to release statements, they don't need
to because it's gonna it's doing exactly what they wanted
to do. I mean, being in the conversation. No press
is no press is bad. Press is still kind of
a thing. There is so much content out there. You
and I know this better than anyone. There's so much
content out there. To be in the conversation is a
really tough thing. And we're still talking about it many
(09:20):
days later.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
That's why can we say that about that.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
That's why I'm gonna put on my like you know,
Reddit tin hat foil wearing hat. Thing is that I think,
like you're like, I honestly think what you added the
context of that he did this during dress rehearsal. You're
telling me he did it the same exact way.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Totally same exactly because I remember me like, where did
he just go?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
And so that tells me that it wasn't a spur
of the moment thing that happened like during filming or whatever.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
It wasn't like he was like, I gotta go, I
gotta catch a flight, I gotta go to the bathroom.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
So I'm just gonna throw this out there. Is it
possible that this is all again.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Like part of a collaborative sort of like you said,
the SNL side of it is that you know, they
don't even have to comment on.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
It or like kind of imply we did anything wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Whatever, They get to again have people talking about their
show for four days after no offense.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Mikey Madison's great and all, but I.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Don't think there weren't any you know, amazing sketch Like look,
I like the long line sketch. I sent it to
my wife because she's always laughing about how I have
like almost this endless amount of threshold for the long
lines I wait on to get on get into boiler shit,
and she wants nothing to do with it. So I like,
(10:30):
but you're right that it was a great moment, pressing
down that people are talking about it and then the
Morgan Wong side of it. He gets to get the
press and the eyeballs of going and premiering and songs
at SNL while also to his bass letting them know, guys,
I'm not one of those dorks.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
All right, I know I'm not one of them, even
though I am one of those because God.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, And within.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Twenty four hours, List started putting up merch on his
website that say get me to God's Country. Look, which
I wonder what the sales are. I would love to
know because they're probably selling out.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Well it's they're selling out.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
It's become a meme like everyone's that take me to
God's Country, and it's a picture of KFC take me
to country.
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Just one yesterday that was like the school from Dawson's Creek.
Give me the God's Country, I mean God.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So, before we get to the challenge, because I will,
like I said, we're putting a preview up on the
main feed. This is We're going to live over a
challenge maniac dot com. We can watch this in all
of our interviews as well.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
We will talk about the challenge. But the other thing
I saw you did here in.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
New York was go to see Othello with Denzel Washington
and Jake jillen Hall. I love Broadway, I love Denzel Washington,
I like Jake Jillenhall a lot, but Dinzel Washington me
is like one of the great performers of our time.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
I very much want to go to the show.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
However, I don't know how you got tickets, but they
cost a billion dollars.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Is it worth a billion dollars? Give me your.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Kind of two sentence review of this show and whether
or not it is worth taking out a loan to
go see?
Speaker 4 (11:55):
Yeah, I mean the price ticket what is that nine
five for the first fifteen.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Which which you have to add.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
This is the sad part about Broadway, and this sometimes
happens with other events too. If you ever go to
Ticketmaster and like the you'll see like, oh, those two
seats are available and you click on it, it's because
they're like premium whatever, five thousand dollars seats.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
That's why they're available.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
The way it works in New York City is when
they put a Broadway show on sale, all of the
reasonably priced like oh, I wouldn't mind.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Paying that for a night out, those go immediately.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
And then when you go and look, the only seats
available are the nine hundred dollars front row side seats
that you're like, do I need to tell my kid
he can't go to camp because I want to see
King Kanye got nothing on me in front of my face,
So go ahead.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Was it incredible to see Denzel and Jake on stage
doing Othello?
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Of course? I mean there is a moment where you're.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Just looking at Denzel being Denzel, and it's really incredible
to see him doing shakespeare a slash an updated version
of Shakespeare.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
That's a lot.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Is it update? Like do they are they work for
word Shakespeare?
Speaker 2 (12:54):
Because that's why I really don't want to take out
the loan is that I'm not a Shakespeare guy.
Speaker 4 (12:59):
I'm not a Shakespeare girling. Okay, I've never seen Jake.
So there were there scenes where I was like, I'm
not sure what they're saying.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yes, so they.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Still do because I saw pictures that they're wearing like
modern day army garb.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
Yes, because yes, so there it's a mix. It's a
bit of old school and new school put together. So
some there are some monologues that Jake says that I
was like, I have literally no idea what he's saying.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Was the performances were great.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
I went, okay, words are they only changing like the setting?
Like is he like where for art? That motherfucker?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Or is he like where for art thou? And he's
wearing a modern day costume.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
No, some of the words are updated.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Oh they are oh great, So there is where for
art there? Motherfucker?
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Word for word? But are there?
Speaker 4 (13:43):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Really? Okay?
Speaker 4 (13:46):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
I will give a shout out Neil Bledsoe, one of
my close friends.
Speaker 4 (13:50):
He is in it as the Duke of Venice and
he is Jake's understudy.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
So I was.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
That's why I flew to New York because I needed
to support him because this was first Broadway shell that's
a big deal going ahead with Denzel on stage.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
He has a great scene with him. So yes, it was.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
And that's how I got tickets because I know someone
in the show.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
I paid for them. I did not.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
I did not get free tickets because I'll tell you,
no press tickets, no free tickets.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
That wasn't a thing.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
What was he now was Jake?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Did you did you go when he was filling it
for Jake? Or you went when he was.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
The merchant he was? He was Duke of Venis. Yeah, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Now if he called you and he goes Emily, I
can get you a ticket for when I'm going to
be Jakie g or whatever the part is.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
What's the part's name?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Iago?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
Iago?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
I was so it was Iago, Like maybe it is.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (14:39):
So Iago, Hey, so I'll be the lead, It'll be
be Didzel like it's gonna be good. Or I can
get you the next day where I'm the Merchant of
Venice and I'm in it. But Jake Jill at Hall
is gonna would you would you go to see your
friend in the lead and you don't get to see
Jakie g at all?
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Rather that? Okay, yeah for sure, I mean Jake's fine,
but like also, yeah, I'm also in the industry.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
I think you can see this too.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
The a lot of people that go don't get to
see them on don't get to see these people in
real life.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
So you have had coffee with Jake Jill and Hall
you no, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
No, but but it's I get the appeal.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
I will say.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
It's also a star studded room, so that's always really fun.
My favorite, my favorite thing I will do this humble
brag that has nothing to do with me. Leonardo DiCaprio
and Toby Maguire sitting in front of me.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
That's the show this weekend.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
Yes, the show and they were together, Yes, the original
not my words, there's pussy.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Pussy you said it, not me, but yeah, yeah, And
I never.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Used that word. I don't use it in the context
of anatomy. But I'm just that's you know, if you're
with you know, Method Man in the Rizza, they're the
Wu Tang clans.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Yeah, you're under Leo and Toby. They're the pussy bossy right,
that is what they're called.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
Many of my friends texted me that immediately when I
say when I send to them, who guesses in front
of me?
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Well there you go.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So okay, Now all right, let's talk some challenge. So
before we talk about episodes nine and ten and All Stars,
to get your thought, specifically that All Stars season five,
I want to get your industry perspective on what I
thought was a seismic shift for the All Stars franchise.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
And that it moved on to MTV. I know, you know,
I was.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Like texting you up a storm, like hey, can you
find out like why the fuck? This happened, and I
know at the time you were not getting a hard answer.
We're now, you know, two episodes away from the end.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Of the season.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Have you gotten any more clarity why this experiment started?
And have you gotten any feedback on whether this experiment
was a success transitioning this spin off to the flagship station.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
I have not gotten feedback. I honestly know the answer
is no. I don't know the reasoning, and I think
I think that it's safe to assume there's a lot
of changes. For those who you know, don't know. It's
really complicated, but there's a lot of sales and mergers
going on at Paramount a lot of changes happening. So
I think they're kind of moving things around to see
what they can do. They know that the challenge works
(16:50):
on MTV. They know that that's a fact. I mean,
it's been happening for how many seasons now, so they figure,
in my opinion, they guess that why not move it back.
Paramount Plus has changed a bit of what it features.
It's turned into Taylor Sheridan all day, every day, let's
be honest.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
So I don't think that I think they're seeing that.
Let's let's keep MTV.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
MTV, you know, give it one hour and everything else
go to ridiculousness. That's what MTV is. We all know this,
So I think that it's going to stay there. We
obviously know that this season is about to or is
it now that it premieres on Paramount Plus very soon,
so they'll also it'll also air there later.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
But I think going.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Forward, I wouldn't be surprised if they do somehow roll
out a next day on Paramount Plus situation, because that's
something people really want to see.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
This is a real tweet from MTV yesterday.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
This is the MTV account in the mood for some
new tunes.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Put me on to any of your favorite artists that
should be on my radar, And I'm like, isn't this
what you should be doing for us?
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Your literal job, MTV?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
What I have to ask you?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Because now not to not to name drop, but this
week I attended a premiere of a Paramount Plus show
called Mobland, starring Tom Hardy and Pierce Brosden, and right
before now, this is a scripted show direct The premiere
at lease is directed by Guy Ritchie. It's about the
British mob. It has nothing to do with music or
the challenge or reality. But this like Landman, which is
(18:20):
a season a show about an oil guy in Texas,
begin with the logo MTV Studio Films or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yes, what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (18:31):
I love this question? MTV.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
Yeah, MTV Studio is on one on one, so it's
produced by the company behind MTV. It's not the network MTV,
so it's just the production company.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
But so my question is for something like MTV which
like exists, like now is such a like I don't
even what you would call it, but it's like more
of an idea than anything. And that like the thing
is literally called MTV because of music. Music is now
completely absent from the network itself, of course, but now
you have a company that's named after the network making
shows that don't even air on the network that I
(19:05):
have nothing to do with music using it? Is it
kind of just like a taxis thing? Like is it
like a roundabout?
Speaker 4 (19:10):
Like No, it's the same thing that I mean, Warner
Brothers Studios produces all these things. Warner Brothers isn't like
WB isn't a network anymore like.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
Warner Brothers or like Paramount like these scream like scripted
film and television where it's like when I like, I
almost like not to knock MTV, But when I see
that logo before a I think it's going to be
kind of like a lesser than maybe like teen Team based,
like a teen Wolf or a Scream or.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Something like that.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Like like when I see it before a series, I
don't necessarily think, oh, this is gonna be made by
Guy Ritchie or Taylor Sheridan and star a bunch of movies.
Speaker 4 (19:42):
But most of all, maybe all of Taylor Sheridan's shows
are MTV studios. Yellowstone is nineteen twenty three is which
is Yeah, I think it's completely separate, to be honest,
the studio is not the network.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
So my question to you, to bring it back to
the challenge, is that, like, so we read all these
us simpletons to read all these articles about about Paramount
Global being sold, okay, and like the talks that you
have heard, are they going to include everything under the
sun or are there certain things that it would not include,
for instance, like the like labeling before a series that
(20:15):
some of us might not even think about or whatever,
Like does that sometimes determine whether something would be included
in a bulk sale or not like, for instance, is
it possible that something like MTV would be separate from
something like Paramount or a show that was made under
this umbrella with this production company logo would be included,
but this would would.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I mean that goes back to kind of like they
used to be under Viacom, right, so a separate entity
than Showtime, which are the same umbrella. But now they're
all the same. Now it's all the same publicity team,
it's all the same marketing.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
So I think it still could matter the question. The
answer is, I don't know, and I don't think that
they know.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
I think that right now, when a sale happens, it's
gonna we're going to see what it includes. They can
kind of build that. It depends on who buys it.
It depends on how it's split up. I would assume
if they're going to make a sale, and they're going
to they're going to it's going to be all of it,
it's going to be everything at once that it depends
on what they continue to keep making. Obviously that ends
that it all comes down to money.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Now we're going to say goodbye to our friends. Enjoying
a free preview on the main podcast feed. I'm going
to tease them to go to challengemaniacs dot com because
the first thing I'm going to ask you sort of
all Stars adjacent, but it doesn't involve some of the
Challenge all Stars, if you will, because I want to
ask where, like how close you got to some of
these controversies that we began the year with, and.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I do know you covered some of them.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
I believe it was your name attached to some of
the additional coverage that came out after the Johnny Bananas
meme coin and all this stuff with Taylor from Big
Brother and stuff like that. So if you want to
hear Emily's answer to this, and you want to hear
us kind of dig into some of these hot topics,
go to challenge maniac dot com. Sign up at the
maniac level or above. But Emily, let me ask you.
So that's kind of how we kicked off the year.
Here we are a couple months later, and it seems
(22:06):
like it was five years ago. Nobody's even talking about it,
but like when that stuff started happening, like you know,
like how soon does something go from kind of internet fodder? Oh,
these are just people on Reddit doing some digging to
Oh no, there's enough people.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Talking about this. There's enough people commenting on this.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
This is affecting people in a deep enough of the
way where I, senior TV editor of Variety, needs to
put on my spectacles and make a couple of phone
calls and put something on the main page of ours.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
I think, what's different. There's a difference between.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
You know, casting rumors and feuds and that fun kind
of stuff that makes people land on rivals to races,
allegations and things that attack people's character.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
All right, guys, As I said, that's all you're getting
here for free on the main feed if you want
to hear the rest of this interview with Emily Longretta,
where we talk about this right here, where we talk
about All Stars, the future of All Stars, the future
of MTV, where we talk about some scripted like Paradise
and the Studio and more, plus Emily's experience at the Emmys, traders,
a lot of reality TV rumors and news all that
(23:07):
overt Challengemaniacs dot com.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
All right, take it away, TJ. All right, guys, this
sends your time here on Challenge Mania. Take care of
yourselves and hopefully we'll see in the future Shuck and
(23:49):
he's a complete piece.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
Shiit
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