Starring Andrea Barber as Zoey in “The Leftovers”

Thank you so much for joining us on our park Hopper episode.

We of course just watched The Leftovers and now we get to speak to the amazing Andrea Barber.

Can't wait, Hi, how are you?

I'm great. I'm so excited for this.

I am so excited to see Will and to meet Sabrina and to talk about this wonderful movie.

We just did our rewatch of the nineteen eighty six John Denver film The Leftovers, and what a cast, right.

Oh my gosh.

Everybody in it, like everybody in it went on to do was either huge in television or went on to be huge in television.

Basically the entire cast.

It was like a training ground for like future child stars and like big actor names.

It was great, you know it was.

And we had no idea at the time, Like I had no idea who these people were, you know, like Jaliel wasn't even Rkle yet, Like we went on to be the annoying neighbors on our respective sitcoms.

So great, so cool.

So when was the when was the first time you ever heard about The Leftovers? Anything about it? But I mean regular audition, like what what happened?

It was just a normal audition, and I wish I remembered enough to tell you about it. But as you know, as a child actor, you go on so many auditions they blend together.

And I was nine that year.

Okay, that was I was wondering, how well you look a lot younger than nine, and I feel they play your character pretty young, you know, as far as what you're doing, and I mean, you're this next medical genius obviously, right.

With your a surgeon in training. It was good that it was younger, because it's a little bit older might have been creepy.

That's one of the questions we were asking, is it a surgeon in training or a sociopath in training?

We're not entirely sure which one it was.

She seemed to get a lot of joy out of those amputations. I'm just saying, removal of brain lobotomies like she did it all that is just a very talented surgeon, nurse, sociopath, all of the things.

Yeah.

Yeah, While we had some issues with some of the story because well it just there was some holes in some of the story. Stuff like poor John Denver ended up getting arrested for going to the to the loan office.

All he did was drop a brain, right, like, that's not a crime. No, no, get arrested for dropping a brain. Yeah, and then wearing a fake.

Mustache and then he's in a fake mustache. He literally gets arrested. But the but the cast was just so good. Do you remember the first time getting to meet everybody else?

I remember being on Locate and that big house that wonderful.

I mean, this was just like mecca for a kid.

It was so fun being on this set with all these other kids and these cool like gadgets and all the different hobbies like the inventions and confetti that blows out of the front of the house. Like it was just so fun. And I remember, I don't remember meeting people, but I just remember hanging out with the kids having a great time. John Denver was lovely.

That's what I wanted to ask.

Yes, he's as wonderful as you would hope he would be. He was just so kind. He's got those eyes like those puppy dogs. He's sort of gold retriever, Like, he's so nice and he just wants to be around people and hang out with the God.

He was very relatable, was he.

I know a lot of times throughout you know, being being young on set and you've got somebody who's just giant like that, when you're around them, you sort of want to listen and hear because they kind of just spread the knowledge, you know, they just are like giving passing on things to the next generation coming up.

Was he like that?

No? I didn't. I okay, being nine years old, I really had that clue. Like I had no idea I was working with John I'm like, oh.

Yeah, I think he's sing like he's got a guitar.

But I didn't understand that this was like the John da and Cindy Williams too. I'm like I had no clue of her star status as well.

I was pretty oblivious at.

That time in my life. So he was more like being playful with the kids. He wouldn't like impart knowledge. But you know who was really good about like either acting I'm not acting advice, but just little tips was Pamela.

Who played Jess or Jesse.

She played like the older sister and I just thought the world of her, Like she was so nice, so sisterly and just she was like the little mother hen that just took us under her wings and was just like, okay, you know, maybe you want to like cheat out a little bit or look, you know, just like technical stuff about acting.

And she was just lovely. How old was she? Do you think? I know you were nine. It's kind of hard. She's a little older.

I want to say she was older, an older teen, like she was probably eighteen or nineteen playing playing a little bit younger.

Yeah.

Wow, So yeah, she was definitely older than the rest of the cast. She was the big sister.

I've worked with her a bunch. She's she's a huge voiceover actor.

Oh cool, Oh no way.

So you know, being in the booth with Pam is she's a force to be reckoned with, which is she is pretty impressive. You said you're on location. Where did you shoot?

I'm trying to remember.

It was somewhere outside of la like probably Seem Valley or just somewhere where we had a lot of land at a big house and we were just there the whole time. And then just a couple of other shoots, like the the bicycle scenes driving, like the nighttime shoots driving the bicycles.

So I don't know, I can't. I wish.

I wish my mother was alive and I could ask for like Mom, where did we shoot that, But yeah, so it was not La proper, but it was somewhere on the outskirts where we had a little more space.

Right, but somewhere in California at least close to La. Yeah, close to La. Have you watched it lately at all? I watched it, yes, last night.

That's great.

And as soon as I thought I thought I had never I thought I had only seen it like once, maybe twice, But as soon as that opening song came on, I was like, I had like floods of memories coming back.

I watched this incessantly as a kid. I was obsessed.

I watched it over and over and as soon as the music started playing, I was like I was saying, the lines was like embedded into my memory.

I love that movie.

It was just such a cool movie to watch as a kid, and it was fun to watch as an adult. To him, like, they don't make movies like this at Like the eighties movies were the best.

Yeah.

I mean you think of all the inventions, like you said, the things that like kids wish they could create at their own house, like a competti cannon.

Just just disrupt for no reason. Who would care?

As soon as they like did the doorbell or whatever the thing that was above the door.

I love that.

I'm like, I want to get one of the counter see how many people come.

So that's one of the problems that we often encounter, though, is that we're watching these movies. I'm watching them usually for the first time. Sabrina's seen some of them, but we're watching them as adults. So I'm trying to remind myself, you're watching movie. You're supposed to watch them as if

Oh yeah, the baby that was left all right.

Leaves the kid alone.

There's so much breaking and entering in this movie. It's also why not sell the huge house and get a smaller house where you can adopt all the kids? Then like, this is where my head goes.

I go to.

Everyone, I'm going to like these are this is an orphanage where every kid's got a sweet It's like these huge rooms that everybody's gone.

They are really too critical. You grew up in sitcom land you. I know you have to suspend belief.

That's my problem.

I can't we do a sitcom. Kids.

We grew up just being like work, sitting there yelling at the screen, going why are you arresting this man?

He's in a bank, What did he do?

Why are you arresting He can't spell? He's not even sending her to school.

I know that.

School.

Did the kids go to school?

They never mentioned that, Oh, you're right, they don't they go back to school. Maybe we were home schooled, or maybe there was no schooling. I was just say, kids, go find your own adventures.

This is why the government is trying to take you away from John Denver.

This is the problems I had. Yes.

No.

The other thing that was amazing was so what you talked about the eighties movies being great, because they are. This was kind of one of those movies that what we talked about a bit was they do They did these in the eighties where they would take big television stars and put them all together with other big.

Television stars and put to a movie. So it was you know, Michael J. Fox was them for doing these, and the Fas of Life women were famous for doing these, and this seemed like almost kind of the start of that. But with people, they didn't even know we're going to be huge TV stars at the time.

So did they get in there? I mean that casting director is right, the insane they are. I was blown away.

I was blown away reading the cast list again last night. I was like, oh yeah, oh oh yeah, these people now, yes, I had no clue who they were at the time.

And we weren't like we were. We were kid actors. We've done a thing, you.

Know, guest appearances here and there, a soap opera for a while.

But we weren't.

We weren't like big stars, you know, we hadn't hit it big yet. So yeah, it was it was a training ground. It was like boot camp for for child actors.

Yeah, you were gonna say you were on a soap opera for a while. Didn't you do like a ton of episodes of a soap opera?

Oh yeah, three and a half years. I did a lot.

Yeah that's for a while. You're like, I was on a soap opera for it was like a thousand episodes.

But on a soap opera there's not very many kids. So was this kind of your first job being around a big cast with kids.

Oh yeah, that's a good point, probably because yeah, there weren't other There weren't a whole lot of maybe a couple of babies on days of our lives.

But I was like the kid.

I was Carrie Brady, So I was the kid representative until they decided to age my character and become a teenager overnight like they do.

So yeah, this probably was aside from a.

Few commercials, you know, I was doing like Barbie commercials and McDonald's commercials, like like one other friend. Yeah, and only one or two days, but this was like a solid month with all these other kids, which was so fun. Fun, you know, we did school together and the trailers we would hang out. I had a little crush on Douglas Emerson.

Which one was Douglas Emerson? Was he one of the He was the gardener, the gardener twin right.

Yeah, he was the gardener with the tomato face. Yeah, well I can remember his name, Carry I think was his name.

Yeah. I thought he was so cute and it was. It was great.

There's nothing like being on a that with ki built in friends and nothing better than that.

It was a blast.

So you do you have any do you have any specific memories of shooting? I mean, I know, again, when you're asking, it's like, do you have any specific memories of being nine? Is kind of what you're asking people, right right, I mean, do you remember actually shooting the film?

I do, surprisingly, yes, I do.

I was a little more cognizant at nine than I was at six years old, So yeah, the things that stand out. One thing in particular that stands out. So there's a couple of scenes where I had to cry, where it's you know, I'm being great, the adoptive parents are taking me away and I'm very upset about it, and I remember they spent a long time here in makeup or makeup. I guess they were like putting vasileine on my face and trying to do the drops and stuff.

By Stefano Damara, and then I had, you know, was in a car.

That's right, Stefano killed Roman, That's right.

Yeah, so I had, I had learned how to cry on command during my days of our lives days. Yeah, and so I you know, it's that's you. Just I don't and I don't remember how I did that at nine years old. Like it's as an adult you can tap into some memories or some experience that you had to draw upon to get that emotion out. But as a nine year old, I think I was just a

Mean, that's the thing.

They were not.

Lost and child of their own and wanted to adopt a little girl.

How were they the mean?

What?

I was watching them like, they're not mean.

Okay, they're not mean, but they were not child orient They did not know how to relate to the kids.

No, they did not.

They didn't foster creativity. They were just like, why is there a snake in here? That seemed like it was going to be a very boring life.

Maybe the kids would have gone to school and learned how to spell if they were they were with the nice kid.

What's more important learning how to spell?

Being happy, you know, and getting to amputate your doll's legs, Like yeah, priorities will with a saw.

Oh, I've got it.

I've got to start getting back into the watching as a kid, watch as a kid, will watch as a kid.

Speaking of things I love to watch.

We talked about this before, but you were at Bowen Hope's wedding, weren't you.

Yes, Yes, I was a flower girl every so you were big days of our life.

I mean, you're a fan of everything.

I think, never seen it, no idea what you're talking about.

Yes, I went through a phase where for some reason, my brother and I would just and it was like hey man, bow and Hopes it was.

It was just the weirdest thing.

We were Well, yeah, that was the wedding of the century.

It was the wedding of the century.

It was a huge deal.

We shot that at that big church down by the Hollywood Bowl, Like, oh, yeah, I can't tell you to the corner there, Yeah, the corner where like it curves around and we shot in that big church right there. It was a huge day. We were just I think it was like a two day shoot. It was it's important, so long, hope we're getting married and hope, right, come on. I was just excited to wear a pink dress.

That was what was exciting.

Yeah, I got to wear like a flower girl for someone's actual wedding.

Oh, yes, I've been. I've been.

I've had many experiences being I'm the youngest girl, I'm the.

Youngest in my family. I'm the only girl. So yeah, I was. I was the resident flower girl for all the family. You're like sixteen year old flower girl. That's cute.

I was fine with everything until it really got into patching Kayla, and then that.

Was it was like there was nuts by that point.

By that point, it was just off the rails off.

At one point got amnesia and didn't even remember patch was. I can't, I can't.

I can't say that's just a Tuesday on a soap O.

Right, I can't bring it back. I can't bring it back. How long? So was this your first film?

I believe so until then I had just done like again, guest appearances on TV shows. So this must have been my first film, and since it was before Full House, yeah, this was right, But this was like a year before

Do like two pages. Yeah yeah.

So yeah, So to answer your question, yes, I do believe this was my first movie. I did more later on as a teenager, right, but yeah, this was the first one.

So then a year later Full House happens and then everything changes, of course.

But everything, Yeah, yeah, everything, and then it all goes downhill from there.

So I'm still so worried about Cindy William's baby. I don't even want to get into that at this point.

Because she just, yeah, why did they need the baby? Even I don't, I guess to I guess.

Because she needed a place to live. It was more critical, right because she had a baby, right, because I'm kind of like, did they even need the baby?

I'm the baby was sort of the selling point for Max to allow this to happen, because, if you think about it, he comes home and this stranger, strange lady.

House with you guys, at least the baby softens the deal.

And what's happening, Okay, this is like an adult woman sitting just like it could have gotten weird.

You're also assuming it's her baby.

Well, she seems in like a basket. She's not even in like a little carrier or a stroller.

I had to ask will Now, I wasn't around like a ton during the eighties enough to remember a whole lot, and I was saying, was that normal that women carries.

She asked me, if that's normally that the women just in the eighties carry kids in baskets.

Like a basket with the baby.

It looks like there was supposed to be bread in there or something, or is that normal? There's no car seat like buckle in case the baby. I mean, my kids were both like flipping out of everything. There's no way I could have helped handled both of them in just.

A solid basket. You're fine. It was the eighties, it's no problem.

I feel like, I don't don't know if that was normal, but it felt really native.

Nobody questioned it.

You know, it's not like we were on a budget and couldn't afford a stroller. Yeah, all the budget went to the inventions in the attic. Maybe, so maybe that's why which were so cool?

Were they so cool?

I did think at the end, I asked Will when it came to the end with the cake, I go, did you know something was going to happen with the cake? He had done some kind and it's like, yeah, but this is a question I wanted to know when you

Cake was gonna splash you guys.

I thought I was gonna slash everybody else.

I thought it was going to go to John Denver. That's what I was expecting. Yeah, when and it hit the kid's face and said, I was like, oh, I don't remember that. Oh dang to know to John like across the room. Yes, I mean, he was so shocked, and it might have been because it hurt.

I was convinced. I don't know, but that he had literal shock about Yeah.

I don't either he wasn't expecting it or he just didn't he was not a fan, like he just did not like that kind of stunt.

And it's like, Okay, do you.

Want to know how how long ago the eighties seemed? Is that Sabrina asked me, no, totally honestly, If a newspaper cannon on the front of a bike was a normal thing in the eighties.

It's a great invention.

What she's like, I just not maybe everybody had that in the eighties or something like that.

Like what well, because newspaper, like the newspaper boy or girl was not a thing when I was the age that you would do. No, by that time, when I can remember, you know, six or seven, you know, by that time, people were in the cars throwing them out the window.

Right.

Were they using cars cannons for the newspapers?

No?

But that did that thing not look like what you'd see at a baseball game a T shirt gun.

I mean, oh, it does look like that. It looks like it could totally have been. I thought it was real.

I don't care.

I don't care to make fun of me about it. Now I am homing into it.

But delivering delivering newspapers on bikes, that was real because a little paper route, so you put them in a little basket or a satchel on the side and and then you just throw them out, So I get the cannon was that was?

That was That's how Kathy Ireland started. Kathy Ireland started her entire thing with a paper route. And she's true, and she became like a one of the biggest paper deliverers of her area and was like one of the first girls to do that. Yeah, because like she won like awards for delivering papers and now she's like a billionaire, so you never know.

It's true. It's true. She's laughing.

She thinks, check an award, you're there's an award for news sheep or delivery.

A producer Jensen can back me up. When we interviewed her on our show, she was like sent for some like award for delivering the most papers or whatever in the West Coast or some producer Jensen, Am.

I wrong because she did it for twenty years.

No, it's absolutely true that she like won some award for most papers delivered or something.

That did not seem real.

It's ridiculous, real, damn it. All right, all right, it's as real as the newspaper gun. The next time you worked with Jaliel, did you all talk about the movie?

No, No, not at all.

That was I don't think I worked with Jiliel, But he did a cameo on Full House many many years later.

Yeah, and I tramagers.

Yeah we were teenagers. And I don't think I was in that episode, or at least I didn't do scenes with him. Juliel his storyline and he.

Was ourcle too. He was a crossover episode, So.

His storyline was he was helping Stephanie get used to glasses and not be embarrassed to be wearing glasses at school. So I don't think I had any scenes with him, or I just wasn't in that episode. So no, we've Jilliela and I have never talked about Leftovers since Leftovers, So that is a long overdue conversation.

Well, does anybody talk to about it? We do all these cons We do all this stuff. Does anybody come up to you and they're like, I love the Leftovers? Is what we never No one.

Has ever said that in this the first time, Like you guys are the first time that you're like, we want to interview about the Leftovers?

And I'm like, really, but this is great. Nobody nobody has.

Heard of it and keeps happening that we do. We do these kind of dcoms. Some of them get a little obscure. We go back a little ways and we'll talk to people who were like we had Robin Lively on We're talking about fuzz Bucket. Oh okay, she was like, I have never been at since the day I walked off the set, I have not been asked a single time about this project, and it seems like we're the first ones.

Yes, same, yeah, No, let's bring it back. Let's bring it back. We can't even get it, like we I.

Watched the YouTube link, but I don't even know if it's available on DVD anymore.

No, I think it's so abstording.

I think it's the only thing we could find it was was Yeah.

We couldn't find it anywhere else. Okay, so maybe that's why it's not a big hit.

At least it was a good version on YouTube though. At least it was you could see it and it was I mean, it looked nice and.

It's a pretty good quality.

We did see within our everything that our producers gave us that they did end up showing it on the Disney Channel. It kind of had a tiny bit of a resurgence a couple of years later after it prepared.

Yeah and nineteen yeah and so.

But at the same time, it just shows you, you know, because we also do all the Disney Channel original movies in which they play on repeat and really get the audience. So I wonder how many times the audience really got a chance to fall in love with the movie, you know, from nineteen eighty six to when you Know nineteen ninety Little.

They played ten times in nineteen ninety on Disney Channel.

Yeah really yeah, wow, that's like once a mon which is which is good.

But at the same.

Time, it's what they'd seem to have done with these movies versus what they do on the channel is just so different. They don't replay it, you know, ormark, they replay their movies like that's how you really start like learning how to like, you know, fall in love with the movies over and over again, and you know, especially

Suggest you're watching one and then there's ten other ones that pop up on the thing. Wonderful World of Disney will have to come back.

I'm sure they'll do something with Wonderful World of Disney to come back on Disney Plus at some point. Yeah, I think the rights A lot of the Wonderful World of Disney movies are produced by other studios, so the rights.

Get a little market.

But there is also I.

Don't know, if you know this.

This was also the first movie in ten years that brought John Denver back to acting, So he had done a number of movies then took a long break, and then The Leftovers was the first one to bring him back on screen.

Well I didn't know that. Yeah, Well he didn't miss a beat man. He was the perfect character to play Max.

Yeah, he was so good.

He was.

The whole cast.

The whole cast was truly just made this movie look like you really were this tight knit family and you really loved Max, and the whole cast ensemble just they really sold what what it was. The the potholes.

Happened within the writing that was not you know, things that weren't explained, Like at the very end, what happened with the rich aunt.

Oh right, They just don't they don't go back to that abruptly.

She's in the same place with Cindy Williams baby.

It was they're alone in a room. The baby was in the in the kitchen with them. She is there. She was okay, okay, so the baby. There was proof of life for the baby. Okay, we just didn't know where she was when everyone was out of the house. Every single person.

Was sleeping and had no idea that everyone was gone all night, all night.

Yeah, you got the kids were out all night long.

They leave and dark and they come back and like the break of the outreak gone.

Oh my god. So diving back into the film has been a ton of.

Fun for us, oh man, and hearing.

You talk about it.

But you have now, like we do Podmets World, you have now your own podcast called how Rue Tennerrito's where you are diving in with Jodie Sweeden every week to recap Full House. So, yes, what is the biggest thing you've learned from going back to the early episodes and how much of it do you remember actually doing? Because we run into that all the time in point Mets wherehere were just going don't remember this, don't remember anything about this?

Yeah, And I that was my biggest fear of starting this podcast. I was like, am I going to remember anything from being that young? But I've learned that as I'm watching the episodes, and now we're in season two, so I'm like, okay, now I'm like eleven twelve in these episodes, so it's starting.

It jogs memories.

Watching it does jog some memories, which is great, but the most surprising thing is watching the adult storylines now as a forty seven year old looking it through through the twenty twenty four lens and being like, this is problematic. Like Jesse, you know, John Samuels, Jesse, the character of Jesse.

Was a man whore.

Like he just was making out in front of all the kids. He was making sexual innuendos, and I'm like, this is full how Like it took us a season to kind of get our sea legs and figure out, Oh, this is a family show.

It's about the kids. You know, the kids are very much a big part of this show.

Whereas you know, previously kids were just like kind of the furniture in the background.

They weren't really they didn't have storylines of their own.

But quickly our producers realized that, no, the kids are really the heart of the show and the family, the family unit.

But yeah, those.

Early, those early episodes, they were trying to focus on the guys and their dating life, and we're just like, no, this is guys.

This is yeah.

No like shop bringing stop bringing by your flavor of the week and making out with her in the Tanner living room in front of all the Tanner kids and Kimmy Shippler. Yeah, so that was surprising, but it does hold up, Like, aside from some of the more scandalous things, it does hold up. All of the heart scenes, the lessons, the Danny Tanner speeches, all of that does hold up thirty thirty five, thirty six years later.

I'm happy to see that.

Yeah, it's so funny though, but because we're going through exactly the same thing where a we did not appreciate how good the adult actors were on our show.

At the time.

So you're sitting there watching as an adult, just going like, they're amazing. How we missed this, Like just take this for granted. Every week and it is you are watching more as an adult, which is so interesting because then you too gravitate towards the adult performances.

It's exactly the same thing we're going through.

Has there been anything that you've really We always talk about the our way back machine or a time machine, where it's like, Okay, if we could go back, here's what we change.

So what would you have changed about the first season. Let's say that you've gone through a full house other than just the making out of of the adults, what else would you have changed.

Yeah, I don't know if there's much else besides the making out of the.

That's a really good question. Nobody asked me that before. Okay, what would I change? Jimmy would be I was only five episodes of.

Give Me a Series regular from the very beginning.

Yeah, so I would definitely do that.

I don't know if i'd change a whole lot, because you have to see the trajectory of Jesse becoming like this wild you know, this wild child, this womanizer to family man. So now that we're in season two, we're seeing that arc and so it's it's satisfying, there's there's payoff at the end, and other than that, No, it just it took it took some time for us to gel as a family and and for that to become the central the new list of the show.

And I think that's okay.

It's okay that it took time, sure for that to happen, you know, it's real. Yeah, you don't want that to be instant. So I don't know if there's anything else I would change.

I might.

I would say my ward with my hair, like I would change my But it was it.

Was the eighties, it was of the time I had terrible.

I had a mullet, Like I had a mullet at the age of eleven. It was like it was it looked like a helmet, a mullet helmet.

It was terrible.

So I'm like, yeah, I change that, But maybe I wouldn't because maybe that was popular in nineteen eighty nine.

I don't know, I think it was.

What was what was the vibe?

Like you mentioned you guys as a cast, well, how was the dynamic between the adults. Were they very hands on or a little stand office at first? Did it take a while to to find that chemistry and comfort, you know level, Because I think as an adult, I, you know, I was always really around majority either older

Like we would just like.

Constantly be questioning just everything on set, you know, just making sure sure it felt good with the younger actors.

Yeah. We I think we were lucky that we gelled right away.

And you can see it in the pilot, Like you can see that chemistry as early as the pilot, and I give all the credit to John Stamos, Bob Saggett, and Dave Coolier and then later on Lori Lachlan too, because they were just they were so hands on, like it wasn't like a separation, like, oh, they're the kids and then were the adults, Like it was like, no, come on, let's hang out on the on the living room couch.

Let's you know.

John Stamos in particular, he had all these parties and like barbecues, and he would say, bring your families, you know, And it wasn't just the cast. He'd be like, hey, you know, lighting guide, bring your bring your family. And he was so down to earth and so welcoming. And the guys would bring their moms onto set too, and they were some extras back background and some of our scenes too, which was great, and our moms too. So it was definitely a family affair and that's where that's

Them out for ice cream or whatever.

So yeah, it's it's been passed down to multiple generations, and I'm so grateful because I and I had no.

Appreciation for it.

Like Jody and I've talked about that, we had no clue that most sets don't operate like that.

Exactly, exactly, no idea.

It's like, oh, this is normal, and then you go on other sets you're like, oh no, maybe this isn't normal.

All, even whether your age or not.

The cast just like splits and everyone goes to their own trailers and no one's even hanging out in the cafeteria. You know that that can happen a lot too, where it's people are there just to work.

Yeah, oh no, we took it a We would have cast dinners every Friday before the live show. We would go out to CityWalk and go to a restaurant and have dinner together.

And then we'd hang out on.

The weekends too, like we just couldn't get enough of each other. It sounds you'll be saccharine, but it was true. Like it's it's very much true.

That's and it makes for a better product.

It does what I mean that the shows that have lasted, the shows that people continue to talk about today are shows where you find the casts were close and the sets were We're not turbulent or rockyman.

Occasionally you'll get that, but you hear about things.

Even the bigger shows Cheers, Friends, Seinfeld, these were all casts that were very close knit, casts that got along exceptionally well.

And it shows, Yeah.

The audience, the audience isn't stupid and tell they can the audience can feel it, they can sense it.

You can't lie to them.

You can't lie to them.

And especially for the family shows where the audience feels like an extension of the family, Like people come up to me every single day like I feel like we grew up together, you know, I feel like you're my child. Yes, So they were like an extension of the Tanner family and it's like, wow, that's a that's that's a very powerful thing. Like I'm like, wow, I had no idea we had that much impact. And I'm glad it was positive too. It turned out well.

Right with having so many you know, especially young girls and you guys all had different things that people could gravitate towards within the storyline. You know, I can totally understand what you know, DJ's going through on this episode. That's how I feel, you know, things like that, you know, her having a boyfriend, all of the stuff that that brought you.

It's just there's so many.

Things that people could really relate to, and that is what makes it so memorable.

You know, it's.

True there was there was something for all ages and all genders, and you know, from babies to fifty year olds. You know, we had the whole they ran the whole gamut.

So and they don't do that anymore. They don't do that kind of show anymore. Where you've got the parents can come in watch the kids, there's something for the parents.

There's something for the kids. It's either a kid show or it's an adult show. And never the Twain shall meet anymore. It's such a shame because you really are throwing an entire genre of entertainment away where it was a time where.

That's exactly what it was. Parents.

Well, that's why the rewatch is so strange, because exactly what you said about your watching now the adult performances, and so are we, and we're watching the things that went over our.

Head, the games that you had no idea.

I was like, oh, that was actually pretty racy, like you because you wouldn't think about it as a kid, And that's exactly why they did it.

It was it was it was really fun.

Yeah, And I don't know about you, but we would all, like Jodi and I, we would always laugh at the jokes even though we didn't get them.

Of course, we wanted to save face and be like, oh, it's so.

Fun and now we're oh, oh, oh understand it.

Oh okay.

So you wouldn't go back and necessary change anything. Is there anything that makes you cringe thinking about what's coming up? Like, are there are episodes coming up where you're like, ooh, that's gonna be a tough watch.

Yes, yes, because well, okay, so DJ and Kimmy are Yeah, we're almost at the end of season two, so we're entering season three. So I think this is when DJ and Kimmy start middle school. So there's all like, there's there's some makeout parties, there is. Yeah, first kiss, like I let my first kiss on screen was my first kiss in.

Real life at age thirteen.

Fine, and all I think for all of us too, for Candice and Jodie, like that was their first kisses.

Ever too, was the actor who was your first kids with.

I don't know the actor's name, but I know his character. And Jake Bitterman.

This is his name, Bitterman. Okay, I gotta find out who that is.

He was fine, he was fine, but I was just so grossed, Like I was not really into boys that I don't know. I just I was just my parent, like, not only two hundred strangers in the audience, but my pain parents were there too, And I was so self conscious. I was so self conscious. And then there's another there's another episode coming up. I think it's the first day of junior high and Kimmy. Kimmy decides she needs to dress like a little sexier, you know, she doesn't want

Die, like I wanted to die. Yeah, and they do.

They just talk about it where we we had that all that stuff too, where it's like, no, you're if you're kissing or would really like the arm to go around there and you're just it's yeah.

There's a lot of choreography involved.

There's practical things you have to think about. Christian Christian Guzak.

Yes, that name, Christian Goozak is the name of the your first kiss efvert.

Oh my god?

Yeah? Is it nice people can google who your first kissing?

Isn't that weird? So weird? I don't know if that's better word.

Yeah, I don't.

I don't know how I feel about that. I should we should get we should get that kid.

I'm gonna tell Jensen we need to get that kid as an adult.

Now, we should get him.

On the podcast, you should talk about that first kiss because wow, yeah, do you remember?

Now here's the question, because all actors, young actors go through this.

Did you do it during rehearsal? Did you rehearse the kiss or did you just kiss on the day?

Probably just the day. I'm trying to remember.

I mean it was a It was not like a it was literally like a like like a peck. So we probably did because it was just a peck. I think we did it in rehearsal. But later on Kimmy had a boyfriend and I could I could spend an hour talking about the guy. He was just a creep. I don't think he went on to do any more TV. It was season seven. It was the episode where DJ and Steve broke up on a mountain. Let's just say

The wardrobe got a note that.

They were like, we can see everything. He has got to put like a longer coat on. It's something. And I was like, yeah, I don't know, can we get some loose sweats?

Like why is he wearing pikers? And it was just so I don't know. He was just very strange and so him.

I was like, I'm not kissing him until the cameras are rolling, and the producers were like okay, fine, fine, And I was so mortified the whole week that after we wrapped that episode. After we wrapped that audience show, I went up to my dress scene room and the producers had given me like a massive bowl of what was it Hershey's kisses and said, here are some kisses you'll actually enjoy.

Thanks for being a good sport. Y.

I'm sorry, but as a guy, the only thing going through my head is how many actresses went and said I Am not kissing him until the day I'm thinking in my head.

Where it's like, oh god, they're probably so.

I'm not kissing him during rehearsals like oh no, oh, no, oh Jesus, thinking my entire dating life on camera now so strange different times.

Like it's different now, like now there's like it's there's.

More interesting coordinators.

Yeah, there's coordinators, and there's more like consent now people the actors talk about it now like, hey, is it okay if I put my hand on your on your face?

Is it okay if I do this?

So, but when you're seventeen, like, there was just no conversation about it. I was mortified and just wanted to block it from my mind. Y.

Yeah, that's how it was. This is this is the person you're kissing this week.

Yes, go, that's what it was.

The adults too on set feel how awkward do you feel? So I feel They also don't want to like over talk about it or over highlight it too. They sort of kind of, okay, so this is where you're going to stand. Make sure you're open this way, you know, And they to me, that's how the first one I did was they could feel how much I just wanted to get this scene done.

And mine was one camera one.

So it was, oh god, and I was just I was getting word of irritated because it was just, you know, it was just embarrassing.

It's so weird to sit and walk.

I don't know, Yeah, I think, well, now, of course I prefer the choreography. I prefer talking about it beforehand. Maybe that would have helped as a kid instead of just trying to ignore that it was going to happen.

Yeah, but yeah, I don't know. I always asked if it should be a real I would always say, like, do you really want to kiss? Right, I leave it in the actress's hands. Do you actually want to kiss? Or do you do you want a fake kiss?

Wait?

What does that mean? What a kiss?

Me? Tom tongue.

Okay, I was always I never talked about it, but I was always wondering, am I supposed to use tongue?

Or am I not?

Right?

Well, I've talked about that with my first kiss, because Carry Russell is the one who taught me that.

Oh wait, your first kiss was Carry Russell.

First kiss on camera was Carrie Russell.

Yet that was such a flex. Oh my gosh, I love.

Her, I have. She was so sweet. She was so sweet. And it said in the script it said and they kissed dot dot dot a good kiss.

Oh.

And I was sitting there at the script and I said to her, because I knew she'd worked a hell of a lot more than I did, I was like, what you know, what does this mean? And without missing be she looked at me, she went tongue. I went, oh wow, okay, And that we did? We kiss for real?

D We talked about this on Podmets World. We kissed for real uh during the rehearsal and our teeth bumped. Oh, and I was like, I spent the whole day going like I ruined it. This is the second kiss yourself, the most horrible human being on the planet. My bumped teeth with carry Russell was like, oh God, but yeah, it's uh, it can get get me a lot anyway.

Weird.

Well, I'll tell you my I've only had, to my knowledge as a child actor. The only kiss I had on screen kiss I had where there was tongue and it was not me, it was the boy that was doing the tongue was on Growing Pains.

I did. I did an appearance on Growing Pains Jeremy Miller. No, that's me the tongue. And I was like, oh my god, are we are we together?

Now?

Like are we a couple of now?

Like I didn't did you reciprocate married?

I think just sort of what just happened?

So it wasn't a terrible kiss, but I was just like, oh my god, what is happening?

Right, this is happening.

I know, I know he went for it.

Man, he went method some wonderful He's a wonderful person and the one your soul.

No no bad thoughts.

Yeah, well, thank you so much for joining us talk about The.

Leftovers, which was again a lot of fun, and the problems I had with it are in my own head. I will admit that. I will totally admit.

That I'll forgive you.

It's the writing of the acting.

It was all the writing.

It needed a polish.

It felt a little unfinished. I I will agree with you on that.

But what a black It was a ton of fun.

It's so fun and it was so cute. I was saying, I'm always down to see a group.

Of kids because they can't just.

Get in a car and drive, you know, they have to figure out their own way of completing the mission. So it's always a problem to see how the inventive ways they go about doing that. And it was so cute, and you guys were just stellar, I mean stellar.

It was so thank you, cute, cute, cute.

And again you can watch the leftovers on the youtubes, which is on the computer machine. Everybody knows that. Remember go to the one that just looks like a picture of Bob Denver. That's the entire film. That's the one you want to go to.

And of course make sure you check out how.

Rut Tannerritos, which is an incredible podcast or Laughlin Candice Cameron barrat Dave Coolie John Stamos. They were capping all the episodes in order. Uh, and we know that there's some cringey stuff coming, which is the fun stuff.

I'm sorry I say the same thing on our podcast. That's the fun stuff.

It is, absolutely so make sure you go and check that out as well.

And thank you again so much for taking care.

These guys are the best, thanks to me. I love you guys.

I love this podcast, And I'm so this was such a thrill to get to watch Leftovers again.

And yes, we're glad you watched it.

Sometimes we get people that come on They're like, I still haven't watched it.

They don't remember.

Anyway, I was thrilled to watch it again.

I don't twist it far, but I was so excited about it.

Yeah, and if anybody out there has any idea whatever happened to Cindy Williams baby, please hit us up.

Just let us can we get that baby on the podcast?

Look at hey, everybody in that movie went on to do big things, so.

Well, Yeah, I mean that's it's you seriously played future Bingo with the careers of that cast. It was I mean, Willie Garson, his right hand.

Man, Branford, Yes, yeah, I never met him.

Dom Irrera is is the guy in the garage, a huge comedian.

You did a bunch of episodes. I mean, every single person went on to these enormous careers. The casting director was.

A genius, genius genius.

Well, he was an amazing guy. Yeah, he was an amazing amazing I.

Don't think I met him because I didn't have any scenes with him, but I was very excited when I saw his name. When I looked it up last night, I was like, oh my god, he was on this movie too.

The only person in my entire career my mother has asked to take a picture with is willing?

Really only everybody Else's like, yeah, I don't care. And then she's like, could would he take a photo with me? She look?

Oh that she speaks. Amazing amazing person he was.

He was a great guy. Well, thank you again so much, my pleasure.

We are, of course going to be listening to your podcast because it's fantastic in one of our favorites, so everybody should go and listen to it as well.

Thank you so much.

This is so great, right, see you next time for Leftovers too.

All right, great a sequel, We'll finally find the baby.

Yes exactly, Bye bye. Oh that was so much fun. She is I could tell she's one of the people that I could talk to for just hours and hours and hours.

We've now had her sweet world and we see each other at conventions.

Did she have an episode on pod meets world Er?

She did well that we brought both both the Jody and uh Andrea on for when they were launching how Rude Tannerrito's Okay, because it's just you know, you're especially when you're in a family sitcom and then a TGIF sitcom to boot, I mean, you're in a very small club. Yeah, so it's it was. It's always just so much fun to speak with her.

She's so smart and so funny and yeah, please go check out how Rue Tana Rito's because it's a great podcast.

Thank you everybody for joining us on this park Opper episode, and join us over on the other feed for our next movie, which I think is the Color of Friendship, which I am now going to say Sabrina has already told me is the best movie she's ever seen and really built it up.

Oh, so thanks, Well, she didn't say that, she didn't say that at all. But thank you everybody for joining us, and we will see you next time. Bye.

Hey La,