More Off Campus, More Knicks and Kathy Garver from Family Affair!

THIS IS TODAY'S EPISODE! This Week We Need 2 Talk's VERY SPECIAL interview with Kathy Garver from Family Affair/Spiderman and Friends, Martin Short Documentary, Dutton Range, Survivor Finale, Sullivans Crossing, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, It's Not Like That, The Crash, Hacks, Off Campus and SO MUCH MORE 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:12

Good morning. Happy Memorial Day weekend. It's pouring rain. It's pouring rain, but I'm pretending it's not. Double fist with my hazelnut Hampton coffee and my Chardonnay. And I'm gonna drink Kabari spritzes and pretend it's 80 degrees.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Yeah, but it's really chilly and cold and damp. I stayed in bed almost all of yesterday.

SPEAKER_04 0:33

But we got the New York Knicks, the New York Knickerbockers. We are one game away, but I don't like to jinx anything. So good. Oh God, it was so good. And I am superstitious and producer adds ridiculous. In my younger years, there would be times where I'd wear the same underwear. I'd have to wash it in the sink. And then we're okay. I'm over that part. But I said yesterday, this doesn't go well when the whole family's together. They pretend it goes well. We're all together. Oh, it's gonna be so fun. We're gonna watch the nick game. And then it's the demise of the team.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

But yesterday I didn't have that. Okay. So you're gonna make everybody be together for the next game. No, no, no. I'm gonna press my luck. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:11

Very mad at Taylor Swift this morning. Can't be mad at her. I may have to say no to the wedding.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

You're going.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

Oh, are you kidding? I get that he is a Cleveland fan. He's from there. They had bobblehead day. I get it. But you can't be sitting courtside, Taylor. You can't be sitting courtside. You gotta go up in the suite. No. Can't get married in New York City where the city's going nuts and you're sitting courtside.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

She can sit courtside in Cleveland. Because in Cleveland, he's a big deal. Like Timothy and Ben Stiller and Tracy Morgan and Spike are in New York. If it was in New York, you could be mad. In Cleveland, who else was sitting courtside? Name one celebrity in Celebrity Row in the city. I'm just mad at her.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

I didn't see her clap for the Cavs at all. I don't understand why we can't say her name. That was weird. I don't know what that was about. Why is Mike Green saying Travis's fiance, Travis's girlfriend? Why can't we say Taylor Swift's name?

SPEAKER_03 2:15

I don't know. That was very strange to me. But I didn't begrudge her the seats. How many famous Cleveland people were there? The only ones they had were them. I'm allowed to be mad. No. If you love her, you gotta let that go. I do love her. He said, You gotta let it go. She's supporting her boyfriend. Her boyfriend's the biggest thing in Cleveland. He's supporting his team. Where else is he gonna sit? He's a large man. I like seeing him in small seats.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

I do see him in small seats.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

And look at the beer can looks so small in his hand.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

All right, I give into it. I can't do it. Can't do it. Exciting win. Exciting win and stress-free, I feel like. Okay, let's just see what happens. We move on. One game at a time. One game at a time. MSG, baby. Oh God, so good. You know, I was watching hacks and she was at MSG. Yeah. But it was an MSG. Well, when they showed she was in the hallway. Oh, yeah, that wasn't the real MSG. Yeah, I was like, that's not MSG.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

No. We know what the halls look like. Yes. We know it all too well.

SPEAKER_04 3:18

Yes, we do.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

So I know you're obsessed. I am obsessed with off campus, and so is everybody else.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

No, I get it. I get it. But I've been conducting a poll.

SPEAKER_03 3:28

We have to put it on our Instagram. I've now watched the entire series twice, and I will be watching it again because now Rich is into it and he hasn't seen the whole thing.

SPEAKER_04 3:39

Ed has no interest, but I will be watching it. I think Ed should probably get on the bandwagon. He's on. My brother Paul's gonna watch it. So three obsessions, right? Which be The Summer I Turn Pretty, Heated Rivalry, and Now We Have Off Campus. And I've been asking a lot of people if I say you have to rank these in the order. Okay. Now all three, amazing. We love all three. I'm about to rewatch off campus, but of course we watched all of it.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

But I say, for me personally. Here we go. I say heated rivalry is number one. You're crazy. Then I say the summer I turned off. Oh my god. Then I say off campus, and let me explain it to you. You're ridiculous. Let me explain it to you. That is stupid. The acting is far superior in heated rivalry. And I know people say, oh, I don't know, off-campus, summer I turn pretty, but my obsession with the summer I turn pretty was so deep. Like so deep. I didn't have your obsession with the summer I'm not going to be. No, you didn't. You didn't. So I understand that. But maybe now with the season two, we're gonna get another season of off-campus. Maybe my thought process will change. But I will never take heated rivalry out of the one spot.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

Okay, you're insane because the hotness ratio in off-campus. Yeah, but that's what you're doing it by the hotness ratio. The hotness ratio, every single person other than one person, is smoking hot in clothes and out of clothes. You only have four smoking hot people in rivalry, and you only had two, maybe three in summer.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

I turned pretty. I do understand. I think I said this last week, but I do understand you have more people in off campus than you do just obsessing with Conrad. They have really good storylines. My love for Dean is a love. That's what I mean. It may change when I see season two is gonna be Dean's story. So it may change.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

And what about Logan? And what about Tucker? I mean, crazy. They're all good, they're all hot. I think the acting is pretty good. Is it as good as heated rivalry? No, and no, no, but I think for me, it would be off campus, heated rivalry, summer I turn pretty, only because for me, I thought Belly was annoying, but annoying. Yeah, she was annoying. I agree with you. No, I understand. There's nobody annoying in heated rivalry, and there's nobody annoying in off-campus.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

I didn't realize that she was only 19. Yeah, the others are all everybody else is 28, 26, all the stuff. She's young. 19. Yeah. Wow. And the soundtrack is great. Soundtrack is awesome. I'm amazing. Listen to the whole thing yesterday. And her song is great. So good. So I'm listening to the side.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

And that's really her singing. I know. They all can sing, they all can sing, they all can dance, they all can act, they all have other experiences in the theater. It's so good.

SPEAKER_04 6:48

You should do the book on tape. You should do so, you should do the second book. That's actually the third book, Dean's story. You should do it on tape.

SPEAKER_03 6:57

In preparation. If you're so obsessed. I don't know because I feel like I've already read some of the differences between this book and the I want to keep this experience the way I have it in my mind. All right. I just love it so much. And even if you don't want to watch the whole thing, episodes four, five, and six, come on! They're so good. I mean, I get it. I'm going to re-watch. I re-watched in a row. And I will be re-watching again.

unknown 7:25

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_04 7:25

All right, fine. Great. I think I'm gonna tell producer ad to put it on our Instagram to see what our listeners think about the ranking. Oh, a thousand percent. He has to.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

It's funny he hasn't seen one of those shows, but okay. Rumors that Belton broke up with his girlfriend. All right, you're really going down a rabbit hole now.

SPEAKER_04 7:45

Speaking of rabbit hole, you made me watch that documentary yesterday. Crash.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

Oh, what the fuck? Okay, you guys, on Netflix is this documentary. It's about an hour 40, maybe an hour 20. It's short.

SPEAKER_04 7:56

Do you know where we usually talk about documentaries? And I say, Yeah, I heard of this story, and you're like, No, I've never heard of it. I never heard of this story. And Paul was telling me yesterday, he's like, What are you talking about? I'm like, I swear I don't remember this.

SPEAKER_03 8:09

I never know anything. So he can't go by me. Yeah, I know, but I don't remember it. Yeah. So it took place in Ohio, and this girl Mackenzie had a boyfriend named Dom and a friend in her car, and supposedly she was trying to be a model and an influencer. Her friend group was tight. She was this fun, great girl. They had a great relationship. There was a lot of weirdness to it. But net net is she drove her car into a wall at high speed, killed the friend, killed the boyfriend. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

So I'm not ruining anything because it actually exists. No, that's what happened. She's in jail and they find her guilty and she's there, I don't know, probably for her whole life, I would think now, because already her first appeal has been denied.

SPEAKER_03 8:57

But what happened? I still don't even know what happened. She's claiming now that she has this pot where you just black out. But all of the detectives on TikTok have said that even if you have a medical emergency.

SPEAKER_04 9:12

I just got that. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

You know who's one of them is an ex-big brother player. Of course, yes. Who's the detective guy who won? What was his name? Yeah, yeah, I like him. Yeah, we love him. So he says, and some other detectives on TikTok say that even if you had Pot's some medical emergency, you would have lost control of the car. And the car drove straight into the wall.

SPEAKER_04 9:36

Exploded. It's one of the ways I think they proved that she was guilty because there were turns and twists. But so she tried to kill herself. No, you throw your car into a wall, you don't know you're gonna survive.

SPEAKER_03 9:50

That's the only thing in my mind that doesn't make any sense. This is a girl who thought she was the shit. She had every designer thing. She was gonna be a model. You know what? She definitely thought she was the shit. And she apparently, according to all the people in her school and her friends, loved herself and would never ever kill herself.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

You know what I was disappointed at? I've seen too many of these documentaries. I wanted her to come out. She looks different, she looks older. I wanted her to come out, sit down, and be like, Yeah, I did it.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

I did it.

SPEAKER_04 10:22

But she didn't. She didn't. Nope. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

She says, I still don't remember what happened. No idea.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

The whole thing is weird, and they just find her guilty.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

There's no reasonable doubt anywhere. No, you have this video. Also, there were no drugs in her body, right? They found weed, they found mushrooms or psilocybin, and none of it was in her body. So they can't really say that she was high.

SPEAKER_04 10:45

It's the number one show right now on Netflix. I had to watch that in the rain yesterday. Something to watch, right? It was something to do. I had to watch it. Also, can we talk about your best, no other, the best reality TV show host ever, Jeff. Fuck up.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

Is it time to call it a day, Jeff? No, Jeff. Okay, so you guys, if you didn't watch Survivor, which you should have, Survivor 50 ended last Wednesday. It was a live finale finale. And Jeff, first time ever that he screwed it up, but Jeff brought out Rizzo before they showed the fact that Rizzo lost the fire challenge. It was amazing. I thought I was having a senior moment because I turned to Rich and I go, Did I miss something? How is Rizzo out? And also, I had Rizzo in the Survivor Pool. So once I see that Jeff's bringing him out, I'm thinking, are they twisting this? Is there a twist even on how the show runs now? But no, he Jeff didn't know what happened. And everybody said, Jeff, they didn't show the package yet. And he was like, Oh, I screwed it up. And he handled the screw up pretty well.

SPEAKER_04 11:54

He actually did handle the screw up well because the internet. Yeah, he made fun of himself. And you know what was funny? Ed thought that maybe because he watched it, the rewatch on Paramount. He was like, I wonder if they edit it out. But they didn't.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

They didn't.

SPEAKER_04 12:11

No.

SPEAKER_03 12:12

That's good to know.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

Yeah. But yeah, he had a senior moment. You know what? It's season 50, Chap. It may be four years old. He's allowed. It may be time to wrap it up, Chaff. Wrap it up. No way. He's never gonna wrap it up.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Wrap it up. It was a really good season. And congratulations to Aubrey. Listen, Jonathan shouldn't have won. I don't even know how he got three votes. And when Stephanie said that Jonathan was the whole package, I thought she was insane. Jonathan didn't do anything big. Aubrey did, Rizzo did. Love you, Joe, but you don't know how to play this game. As we all know, I stopped watching it, but I did watch the finale.

SPEAKER_04 12:49

I was happy. I'm happy for you. So we had some announcements this week. Good and bad. Emily in Paris is going to be finished after season six. Thank goodness. We all agree that it is time to wrap it up. Yeah. It was time after season four. It was time after season one, but okay, fine. We loved it. Yeah, I don't know where they're going through. They're going to Greece. But great. So we're done with that. And Tom Hardy, I'm very sad about this. And now I'm no longer gonna watch Mobland.

SPEAKER_03 13:23

Now they're saying that he might be back, but really there's something going on. He got fired. He's fighting with production. Fighting with production, giving them notes, not showing up on time, which doesn't sound good. I don't like that. But I will not watch it without him in it. It was great, but it's not great enough without him.

SPEAKER_04 13:41

Agree. Not that anybody cares, but they lost me.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Yeah, I agree with you on that.

SPEAKER_04 13:46

And then we had news about selling sunset. That show needed a change, but is there a show without Mary in it?

SPEAKER_03 13:54

I don't think that there's a show without Mary. They're gonna focus on the OC. I would be shocked if Selling Sunset even comes back at this point. Maybe mesh up some of the LA people with the OC people. They've done that before.

SPEAKER_04 14:08

Yeah, they always do that. Well, Selling Sunset had its day. The OC is much better, but the amount of firings, I was like, holy shit.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:18

People are getting fired left and right. This week is a big week because I know you don't care, but it is Summer House Review. First re I'm having a watch party. I'm going to my sisters. I can't wait.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

Everybody's saying that. No, dude. Even the off-campus people are excited for the Summer House.

SPEAKER_04 14:35

Everybody's excited. And I watched the In the City. That in the City is not good.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

I didn't watch the last season of it.

SPEAKER_04 14:42

No, it's new. In the city. Oh, this isn't the one with those kids? No. That's a Gen X thing. That was terrible.

SPEAKER_03 14:48

Okay. What is this one?

SPEAKER_04 14:50

This one was gonna follow Kyle, Amanda, and Lindsay from Summer House into adulting in New York City.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

Oh, I'm not into that.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

I know you're not into it. I was into it, but it's not very good. And now I'm only into it because I think everybody's just into it because they were following the Kyle and Amanda story. But it's not gonna be renewed.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

I don't know because I don't follow any of that stuff, so I wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_04 15:12

Oh my god, it's a big week between the Knicks and the Summerhouse reunion shop. Really Jesus. That's all I'm thinking about in the rain. It's such a bad weekend in that respect.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

But I've been watching a lot of shows. Now, that Scott Foley show. Okay, so it's back. It's called It's Not Like That. I finished it. Okay, I have two left, so don't tell me what happens. So, you guys, remember we talked about this show, and then it was behind a paywall, and we said we're not paying. And now they dropped the whole show on Amazon Prime. Scott Foley is pretty much the only person you would recognize in that show, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:46

He's the producer or something. I didn't realize that.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

Yeah, he's a producer. He's very proud of it. He's done all these videos about it. I love it, but is it the best show ever? No, but I'm gonna finish it.

SPEAKER_04 15:57

We watched that other show that was about church and God, and that was a bad show. Yeah. This one's better.

SPEAKER_03 16:04

This one's better. But I know I'm gonna get a lot of shit for this. But the problem with this show Don't say anything negative. Other than Scott Foley, everybody in it is ugly.

SPEAKER_04 16:14

Oh, Jesus, you are the worst. It's true. That's the only reason why you like off campus.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

No, I like off campus because I love the genre, I love college shows, I love Meet Cutes, I love singing, I love songs, I love all of off campus. I love it forever. But you do need eye candy, and Scott Foley's great, and I love him, but I love him too. I don't mean to be mean. The kids in the show, there's a lot of kids, there's a lot going on with the kids. All the kids are terrible actors, and all the kids are really unattractive. They're babies, the kids are babies. The little kids not bad, but the older kids are really unattractive. But you can find it's really unattractive.

SPEAKER_04 16:56

You could find it next to off campus on Amazon Prime. You can. It's a nice show. No sex, no drugs, there's a kiss. Nice Christian show. I like it.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Yeah, there's some beer pong. They played.

SPEAKER_04 17:08

Also, a new show dropped Maximum Pleasure.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

Yeah, the verdict's out on this for me right now. So that's Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed is on Apple, and it's Tatiana Maslani from Orphan Black. She's amazing. She's an amazing actress, and that's why. We haven't seen her enough. No, and that's why I think this show is gonna keep my attention because of her. But I have a big problem with this show. Orphan Black was so good. So good. It did jump the shark, but it was so good. Yeah, but the problem with the show is so she's divorced, she's divorced. You'll recognize the husband from New Girl, the ex-husband, and I don't know what the issue is, why they got divorced, but they hate each other. And she's a hot mess, and they have a daughter named Hazel. Okay, first of all, she's a fact checker at a magazine. That job doesn't even exist anymore. There are no magazines that need fact checkers. Magazines, everything's digital now. So the fact that she's a fact checker is hilarious to me. The second thing that makes no sense, she gets off watching chat rooms with hot guys, and she ends up being friends with one, but of course only online, and she's still paying him. Anyway, she sees him get quote unquote murdered. Yes. And it goes from there. But here's the thing, people. You call the cops. Yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't know. She never calls the cops. It makes no sense.

SPEAKER_04 18:35

There's a lot of shady stuff, but I'm gonna watch it for her.

SPEAKER_03 18:38

I'm gonna watch it for her, and I don't want to give anything away. Is it on the cop? No, it's on Apple. Oh, it's on Apple. Yeah. Because of her, I'm in. Of course, I like mom crime, mom's fight crime. I like all that stuff. It's just mom's fight crime. I like mom's fight crime. Moms fight crime, and then they coach soccer. The police are involved now, but you gotta call the cops, people. If not, if nothing happens to you, your family, you see a murder, you see an accident, you gotta call the cops. I get it. It's a show, though.

SPEAKER_04 19:12

It's a show.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

I know.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

Sometimes it's a show. Sometimes there's only one restaurant you could go to and nobody works in the bakery. Sometimes this happens. I know, but you really do need to call the police. I'm seeing clips of Chad Michael Murray's show online, even though I can't get it because I'm not paying for it. Solidance Crossing, the worst show. Sullivan's Crossing. But I'm seeing clips online, and the fact that there's even a love triangle ridiculous. Ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03 19:41

And do you know You want me to believe that? But now do you know the ex-husband? Do you know the story of why he's back?

SPEAKER_04 19:50

No, I think you told me last time on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

No, we didn't know till this week what happened.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

No, I'm not watching it. I can't tell it.

SPEAKER_03 19:57

So Maggie and Cal are together and they're gonna be together, but then her ex comes back and he's a journalist. He went to wherever to cover a story and just never came back, never called, never texted. He just disappeared, and she just has been devastated ever since, but moved on. But of course, didn't move on enough to follow up to get the divorce. That's another story. Anyway, he finally tells her the dragging out of the fact that he can't tell her what happened. It's taken eight episodes of him to not tell her what happened, to finally tell her that apparently he went on to cover the story of this war and he was taken hostage for three years. Now, okay, people, if you were even taken hostage at all, they'd let your family know now that you were taken hostage.

SPEAKER_04 20:51

Now you have a problem with the taken hostage. First it's to call the cops, now you're upset that he was taken hostage. If you're taken hostage, the government or whoever is gonna call the wife and say, we're so sorry.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

He was a prisoner of war? Oh no, he's a journalist. A journalist prisoner of war. Yeah, got it. So ridiculous. But they would tell you, I live in Tanafly. This kid from Tanafly was taken prisoner for a long time and was held hostage. We knew everything that was going on, and I don't even know this family. If Maggie was married to this guy and he was taken hostage, the government would tell her every week what's going on. It's ridiculous. I'm glad I'm not watching.

SPEAKER_04 21:29

It's so felt better about my life. Yeah. Stupid. Uh, what's not stupid, and I did not finish it, is Martin Short's documentary.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

And so good, you guys.

SPEAKER_04 21:42

So sad about Catherine O'Hara. They must have obviously did that like last year or something, but she's in a lot of it. And it's just so great, and it looked like so much fun. They had a fun life. Oh my god, what a great life with Tom Hanks and Eugene Levy, and it's just all so great.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Yeah, they all hung out with their little kids. All the kids were the same age and they had kids running around. They had this cool cottage that was really a nice big house in Canada. And it's just so funny that they just hung out and Steven Spielberg was there filming it all. So they have everything on film. So they just laughed and had fun. I highly recommend it.

SPEAKER_04 22:20

It was on Netflix. I didn't even finish it, but I'm enjoying every minute.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

And the footage of him meeting his wife and knowing his wife and even the way they were. And I loved how Catherine O'Hara said when you would go to therapy and say the couple that you want to be like is them, the therapist said, All of my patients say the couple we would want to be like is them.

SPEAKER_04 22:45

I love a good love story.

SPEAKER_03 22:46

I love a good love story.

SPEAKER_04 22:48

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

A real one and a fake one. I love them all. I love any love story as long as it's juicy.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

What else do we have? The shows that are still happening, not over yet. We have one more episode of Hacks, which is fucking great. Amazing. Really good. I think we have one or two more of Friends and Neighbors, right? No, that was the finale. I didn't see it. I didn't see it. Oh, you didn't see it? No, don't tell me what happened. You guys, the finale was good. Okay, so I did not see the finale. Great cliffhanger. I gotta watch that. And Dutton Ranch is happening. Two episodes.

SPEAKER_03 23:23

No, three episodes happened.

SPEAKER_04 23:24

Three episodes happened. I saw two. The second one was better than the first one.

SPEAKER_03 23:29

Yeah. This one so far is good, but I fell asleep.

SPEAKER_04 23:32

Okay. How good could it be if you fell asleep? Well, I was tired.

SPEAKER_03 23:36

You're retired. Retired. You're retired, and I was tired. What else do we have on this rainy Memorial Day weekend? We need to talk about the fact that producer Ed and I in No, I know. I'm going to say that.

SPEAKER_04 23:52

I'm going to get to that. I wanted to know if we had anything else. About our coupon code.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

Yeah, I'm working on a coupon code for Remental. There were a lot of questions that came in. I actually have a couple I have to do this week. I got two more prompts that I have to answer. So I sent a note to the CEO of Romento basically asking if we could have a code, especially for We Need to Talk, and hopefully I could get that code in time for Father's Day gift giving. That's very nice. Love it. Working on it.

SPEAKER_04 24:22

Love that. So now I'll get to my introduction. So you guys had a busy week, but before we say who you interviewed, we did do a poll, two polls actually, on our Instagram. One of them was if you've ever watched Family Affair, and a lot of our listeners did. And another one was about Spider-Man and his amazing friends, which was something I definitely watch on Saturday morning. So cartoons on Saturday mornings were the fun.

SPEAKER_03 24:51

I wasn't obsessed with it, but apparently a lot of our listeners watched it religiously, and I did not.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Kathy Garver was in Family Affair, and she was one of the who was she in Spider-Man? Proseusa Edges told me this. I forget.

SPEAKER_03 25:04

Angelica Jones, Firestar.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

Oh, yeah, Firestar. And so you guys had a great interview. She was awesome. Which we are going to get to. So we're not going to do a game this week. I know you're disappointed, listeners, but you are going to have a great interview and listen to the ends for some relationship advice from Kathy Garver. So everybody have a great Memorial Day. Enjoy the interview. You're going to love it. Have a great rest of your weekend. Love ya. Love ya.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Okay, I have a confession to make. I did not grow up watching Family Affair, but I did. We pulled our listeners, and I am clearly in the minority. And I'm being honest, most of our listeners are big fans. So we are super thrilled to welcome one of its stars, Kathy Garver, to the podcast. Sissy. Let me tell you a little bit more about Kathy. In her career, Kathy has always been ahead of the curve. In addition to Family Affair, which is nearing its 60th anniversary, she voiced a comic book hero before superheroes took over the box office and built a rich career in audiobooks before they became a part of everyday life. Kathy is also a Grammy nominated artist and accomplished author, which we're going to talk to her about. And we are super happy to welcome Kathy to the podcast. We need to talk. Yay.

SPEAKER_03 26:33

Welcome, Kathy. I'm so happy to have you here. Thank you, Christy. Yeah, and I've got a lot to say. I have a lot to ask you about. So the book. I am obsessed with this because I love and I love stories. Your love story sounds pretty amazing in its own. And I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about that. But also, I have a million questions about all the different couples that you did the research on and perhaps even knew some of them. What did you learn about love and relationships, especially because back then Hollywood was so behind the curtain. We didn't know what we know today about our celebrities and couples. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 27:12

And you can't go anyplace without saying, Did you know that she's back with him? And oh my God. My book, Romancing with the Stars, that I co-authored with Doug Hartline. Doug is a big fan of television and celebrities and romance. He's one of the most romantic men I have ever met. And he's been married for I think 45 years. And I was married 44 years before. Sadly, my husband passed away last year.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

I'm so sorry.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

And he was very romantic, as is my son. I tell my daughter in love, they're not married. Boy, you can thank me for producing this wonderful romantic partner you have now. But my partner in writing, Doug, wanted to do a book about romance and about celebrities that had long-term relationships. I thought this was going to be a very short book. But it turned out that it's 450 pages. And we have 27 couples ranging from Frankie Avalon with 60 years of marriage and Pat Boone 65, and Alison Arngram from Little House on the Prairie, I think that has 25. That was our cut-up point. You had to be married 25 years. And what made their relationships long, and also an adjunct to the book, we thought this would be interesting because people like to do for some reason what celebrities like to do the clothes or they have to swear the places. So we have a little travel guide at the end of each couple's chapter that shows how they can recreate their most romantic moments, their most romantic places. For instance, Morgan Brittany and her husband Jack Gill, who is an award-winning stunt fellow, I said, What's your most romantic moment and place? And it was in Africa in a big tent on a safari, and they looked out and they saw the beautiful skies and all the sparkly stars in it. And so they said, That's our most romantic place. So then we have a whole list of different kinds of safaris that one could take from Kenya to South Africa. And if that's a little pricey, and we do this for each chapter, we give it economic feasibility and affordability. So if you can't do that, you can go to the zoo and see all the wonderful animals. And if that's too much, you cuddle up on the couch and watch Humphrey Bogart and Catherine Hipburn African Queen. So that is the book. What I found out, and I mostly knew the people that I could just call up and do you want to do this? We did research on all of them as well. I don't think we would have done this again, but after we wrote their chapter, we let them read it. Oh, you did? We did. And I kept telling Doug, I said, we're the writers, they don't have to see it. Oh, yes, we do. He was an engineer, so everything had to fall in place. I'm a little bit more creative, but okay. So we got, no, I would like it to sound like that. Oh, here is a correction for you.

SPEAKER_03 30:29

So you got notes.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

Yeah, we did. That was interesting. But I think the themes that we discovered going through the book and doing the interviews, a lot of the actors were not married to someone in the business. And I really do think that grounded them a little.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

And then when I discovered, you have to realize that you're in for the long haul, that there's going to be ups and downs and triumphs and tragedies, but you have to stop at some roadside attractions along the way. And never forget that even though your partner may be feeling bad, you can bring them a rose or you know their needs. And by knowing who they are, you can help them along that journey.

SPEAKER_03 31:20

I'm interested in the Frankie Avalon and the Pat Boone because they were heart throbs and they had women throwing themselves at them, and they were married a really long time. So I was so curious about that because nowadays, with all the younger people who are heartthrobs, nothing lasts. Maybe that's a social media thing. Maybe fame is just changed in so many ways. Maybe the mystery's gone. But how did they want to be in long-term when they knew there was so much temptation available?

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Well, I think a lot of it had to do with spirituality. That was another thread that went through the book. They were totally committed. And back then, that was something that when they took their vows, they took their vows and they stayed by their vows. And I think when things got rough, there was something bigger than both of them that they could look up to or around to and inculcate and help them go over that. And so it involved their whole being then. So it was the mind and the emotion and the spirit and the physicality. And I tell you, Frankie Avalon is smoking hot. Oh my god, I live close to Westlake Village, and there's this restaurant. That's a long story, but anyway, I saw him and he says, I know you. I said, I know you. Thank you, Avalon. And this was before I asked him to be in the book, and he is just starling. And Pat Boone is just as kind and sweet, and he looks great too. That's amazing. So they kept themselves in.

SPEAKER_03 32:54

Was there any couple or story that you uncovered that restored your faith in romance or that was so unique and different that you thought about something in a different way?

SPEAKER_02 33:06

It's interesting because, from my own point of view, I was 33 and I was not married. And I say, What is this? Why am I not married? All my friends are married and have these relationships. So I told myself I was in Palm Springs and I was down there at a music industry tournament. I said, The next man I meet, I am going to marry.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

You were manifesting back before people manifested. Yes, that's exactly right, Chrissy.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

I was putting it out there. I love that. Okay. And my friend Arlene Galanke invited me to play in a tennis tournament. And we're waiting for the fourth. And I said, Okay, this is it. The next man I meet, I'm going to marry. And so here comes this six foot three guy, five foot one, six foot three guy coming onto the tennis court. We're playing, and I hit a really good ball. And he said, Oh, a woman that can play tennis, I'm gonna get married. No way, he said that. And so three years later, we were married and married for three years.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

Yeah, that's a great meat cute, right? Yeah, it is. I love that, that's amazing. So, what do you think the public gets wrong about Hollywood romance in general? For all of us, it's all fantasy. We just buy into this. I watch so many rom-coms and movies and shows where I just fall for all of it. Now that you've interviewed so many people, what do you think we get wrong in just falling for the fantasy of it all?

SPEAKER_02 34:40

That people are really real people. And you see, some of the most romantic places that they met was on top of the hill looking at the stars, or Sherry Alberoni and her husband, who became a doctor, and she's up on the stage and he's studying in the back. And the people at home, even like Sebastian Cabot, who was Mr. French, Mr. French on my TV show Family Affair. And I went over to his house two or three times, and he was wearing sweats and he was cooking and he was having fun with his kids. Same with Brian Keith, Uncle Bill. They're just regular people.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

And we don't think of them that way. No, we don't.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

And especially during the studio time, they built a total brand. And I don't think they were thinking about making a brand at that time. They were just making stars out of those people, and they wanted them to spend all their money coming to the movies and whatever. So there was a certain fantasy connected with that because they had to tow the rope, and now everything is so exposed, whether it's on Facebook or TikTok. But you don't see too many Facebooks, at least on mine, that say, Oh, I'm really having a down day.

SPEAKER_03 35:52

Oh, I really feel like everything's perfect on Facebook. I love Disneyland. Oh, I went to the best restaurant, all of that. Yeah. So thinking about Mr. French and sweatpants, I have to talk about Family Affair. I loved that show so much. I grew up with it. And I thought, this family is just perfect and wonderful, even though there was some sad parts to it. But tell me about what it was like to live in that time where you were making that show and how did it all work? And I think going to college, but also doing the show. How did that all work?

SPEAKER_02 36:27

I had finished three years of college at UCLA before I got the call to come and audition and get the part. And I hate to say that it is the 60th anniversary. It's crazy to me. Especially since I'm 50. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I don't really know how that happened.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

So you built a time machine as well, huh?

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Is that yeah, it's downstairs, and we're doing a special celebration for it on Catchy Comedies on the day after the show debuted, which was September 12th. So this will be September 13th. And I picked out my favorite eight episodes. Okay. Of course, most of them start sissy and then the new sissy. Sissy gets an apartment. Yay! They all kind of revolve around sissy. Oh, and I have also put it up for Emmy. This is the first year they are going to give a legacy award. Oh, really? Yes. And there were some conditions that you had to meet if you were going to be nominated. Is it still relevant today? Was it there any groundbreaking things?

SPEAKER_03 37:33

I thought it was groundbreaking.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

Absolutely. A it was one of the first shows in color. Everything else was in black and white. But it certainly broke that technological and technicolor ground. And it was the story itself. There had not been a bachelor. There was bachelor father, but the it was his kids.

SPEAKER_03 37:52

It wasn't his nieces or nephews.

SPEAKER_02 37:54

And this is from a different family. And a bachelor who was a swinging bachelor. Yeah, big time. And whoever saw a man's man, gentleman, and it was very lush. It was interesting because all of our crew and our directors they came from movies, Abbott and Costello and Bob Hope. And they were used to making films in a theater. So they brought that sensibility to family affair. And it's beautiful to look at because the lighting, the cinematographer, these were all motion picture guys. Oh, that was pretty cool. They made it, I think, look really nice. And the stories themselves. Stories were great. Yes. And the producer, Ed Hartman, produced and created and wrote, and Don Federson was the executive producer. But Ed Hartman was the president of the Writers Guild at that time. And he had written again for Cope and Abbott and Costello. And I get a question: why has this remained relevant? And what are the elements that have made it classic? I had lunch with Ed one day and I said, You know the stories. And he said, Kathy, it's like a palm tree. You start at the bottom of the palm tree, and there is a problem, you climb up, you try to solve the problem, you get to the top of the palm tree, you look around, you find a solution, and then you slide down the palm tree.

SPEAKER_03 39:52

And I think that was groundbreaking, especially because, like you said, he was a bachelor, he was a partier, he had a life and took this seriously and changed his life for and I think everybody felt for the better on all sides. The kids did great, he did great, but it took time and it took patience, and you all came together in love. And I just I have such a fondness for the show. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

Yes, it of course, Mr. French had a problem with it being an animal. I'm sure he grew to love it, and there was a lot of love in the show itself, and it was based on that. I have two very good friends that do my newsletter each month, Manny and Fred. And Fred was a latchkey kid, and he would come home, nobody was there, and the first thing he would do was go watch the reruns, and it made him feel good. It makes you feel warm in inside to see that people can really care and that they don't have to yell at you and scream at you and get onto a platform where what's allowable that would not be allowable, still today, it's not with the FCC to kill somebody or have such language or be nasty. It was a place you could go, like taking a nice bit of comfort cake.

SPEAKER_03 41:09

Yeah, absolutely. So we pulled our listeners obviously about Family Affair, but surprisingly to me, there were even more fans of Spider-Man and they knew Firestar.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

They're amazing and they're amazing friends. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:22

We asked them I was shocked by the numbers.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

We asked them about when we realized that, oh my god, like it, like worlds were colliding and that you're Firestar. And I'm like, wait, holy cow, we're gonna be talking a Firestar also. Not so you went from one iconic character to another iconic character. So I have this vision that there is a huge, major, huge budget motion picture about specifically Firestar. And just like Stan Lee would be a character in the movie, I see you as a character in a Firestar movie, like a big budget Firestar movie.

SPEAKER_02 41:59

That would be awesome. I love this, Ed. We have gotten that together and planned this.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

Let's make let's make it happen, wouldn't it be fun?

SPEAKER_02 42:08

Oh, absolutely, yes. And I'd have people say, Oh, Firestar should have her own show. Not only her show, I think that it should be a big budget movie. I'm doing a movie in uh Australia based on Pollyanna's wish. Oh, wow. And based on the original book of Pollyanna, and we're gathering some funds for that, so we can work on getting the funds together. I know we're going to have the fans. I hate to say for this one, it's the 45th anniversary. Insane. I know I was small at 50 doing this, but I was very precocious youth. But Firestar was a great character. And when Stan Lee wanted to do an animated show, he was looking at all of his characters that he had created for the comic books. Where's the woman? Where's the woman full of fire? And what are we going to call her? Stormfire or Firefly or what's her name? So they had to come up with a name. So Firestar came. And I was it's honored to create the voice of Firestar and never been done before. And then the reverse happened because he put the animation on and then made the comic books. And so Firestar has a mixture of I didn't realize it was a reverse process.

unknown 43:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:24

I when we were getting ready, I was so amazed because I had never heard of anything where a character went from the show to the comic books, to the comic world, to Comic Con. Just kudos to you and everything that occurred with Firestar and wait.

SPEAKER_03 43:40

Angelica Jones is Firestar, right? It's Firestar! And Angelica Jones.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

So my wife is Christy's co-host on the podcast. I'm just the producer. And so I maybe to bring this back full circle before we wrap, I want to ask, based on all of your experience writing the book and all those people that you just Spoke so eloquently about you had a 44-year marriage, you seem to me to be an expert. So before my wife listens to the podcast, Abby, what is your secret to a long and enduring relationship and marriage?

SPEAKER_02 44:15

I think trust and bringing a rose, bring her a rose. And then she'll say, What? What did you do? But I think little dollops of romance along the way for each partner to let them know that you don't take them for granted and you appreciate what they do. That's actually very good advice.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

When do we find out about the Emmy? In September?

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Yes, in September, we'll find out about the Emmy. As you had mentioned, I was very surprised that I was nominated for a Grammy this year. It was for the best audiobook storytelling narration 2026. So I was really pleased about that. And now I'm getting some life achievement awards and legacy awards. I'm not saying, oh, okay, am I that old? Yes, you are. But I'm looking forward to the celebration. I think it's gonna be so fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

It's delightful to see you being recognized. You deserve it. Yeah, it's so good.

SPEAKER_02 45:16

Thank you. I'm most recognized now for a commercial I do. And you said that I was ahead of the game with the audiobooks and everything. I just got back from China where I did a vertical. And these verticals, I think, are the next big thing. It's a billion-dollar business now from China, and they're the little two-minute episodes, and it makes a movie, and they're on your phone. And you watch just a two-minute, oh, then what happened? Then you watch another happen. And then, okay, here, just subscribe and we'll let you know.

SPEAKER_03 45:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

With the template.

SPEAKER_03 45:49

I think that's gonna blow up very soon. So again, you're ahead of the curve.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

Yeah. Yeah. I'm with that fellow that's starting one here, vertical company, and I'm gonna be on the advisory board and yeah. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

All right. My my last question what kind of dog do you have, Kathy?

SPEAKER_02 46:04

She's one like lowery that keeps saying, What are you doing, mom? I have my treats right here. And you're saying, No. Okay. Oh, now he's woke him up because he went to sleep. I have a friend she who rescued me. Oh, nice. Yes, because I was very lonesome after I lost my husband. And this dog was a stray dog. I rescued from the street.

SPEAKER_03 46:26

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

I'm not used to picking up stray dogs, but this little dog was at the door. He came up and started kissing me. I went to the shelter and I said, This dog found me. This dog wants me, and I need to have this dog. It had no collar and it had a chip. You have to wait seven days. And I said, Okay, we'll try and find the owner. I waited, I called, and stop calling us. We will call you. I said, Okay, but that dog's mine. They finally found the owner the seventh day, and the owner surrendered the dog. Oh, so it was meant to be like a crazy Mikute, right? Absolutely. No, it was meant to be. She has the spirit of my other dog and the spirit of my husband straightened my eyes. So those another dimension that Firestar knows all about.

SPEAKER_03 47:15

That's right. Oh my gosh, Kathy, this has been so fun. And thank you so much for doing this. This was a blast.

SPEAKER_02 47:21

Thank you, Christy. And I'll keep your secret, Ed. I might be in Chicago in October, and I'm gonna come rapping on your door until the podcast drops.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

I don't have much time. I'm gonna have to go get a rose pretty quick.

SPEAKER_02 47:37

All right.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Thanks, Kathy.

SPEAKER_02 47:38

Thank you. Have a great rest of your day. You too.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

Thanks so much.