May 19, 2026
The Most Reckless Show CBS Ever Allowed On Prime-Time TV
What happens when a network television executive decides to greenlight a prime-time laugh-track sitcom based entirely in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous? This week on Parallel Frequencies, Blane and Coco pull back the curtain on the dark, gritty, and fiercely brilliant legacy of the CBS series Mom. Through an analytical lens of media strategy and storytelling mechanics, they dissect the rare comedic chemistry between Allison Janney and Anna Faris—exploring how the series managed to weaponize radical acceptance against network constraints to address generational trauma, sudden relapses, and fatal overdoses without losing its comedic footing.
The duo maps out the exact structural shifts that occurred during the infamous season eight pivot when Anna Faris unexpectedly walked away from the show. Instead of suffering a creative death knell, the production team demonstrated a masterclass in ensemble elasticity, expanding the ecosystem to mirror the true operational nature of real-world recovery communities.
Before diving into the network analysis, Blane and Coco break down the real-time neuroscience behind consumer anticipation. They unpack why waiting for a critical shipping delivery triggers an identical dopamine high to a high-stakes entrepreneur hunting for valuable trading cards in factory-sealed packs. Hit subscribe, pull your chairs a little closer to the circle, and let's go behind the screens.
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Transcript
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What happens when a newly sober single mom tries
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to pull her life together in Napa Valley while
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dealing with her wayward mother? Dysfunctional
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family structures and everything else going on
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right here in a sitcom that you never saw, or
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maybe it was just me, mom. I am just Blaine.
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She is Coco. You are the freaks. This is Parallel
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Frequencies. I am rattled a little bit today,
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Coco. I'm out of my element. I am upstairs. I'm
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not in the studio. The studio is being reworked
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right now, and I'm waiting on a very, very important
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FedEx package. Do you know how that feels? Do
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you know how that is? It's like every minute
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is hours when you're waiting on something. I'm
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a creature of habit, so when things are different,
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it does take me some adjusting. I mean, I'm capable
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of flexibility. Being able to be flexible is
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a superpower, but I do get rattled when things
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aren't. In the right time and place. I'm asking
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more about the anticipation. When you order something
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and it's so important that you're just sitting
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and watching, sitting and watching. Like I'm
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waiting for the FedEx truck to drive by. If you
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guys see it, please let me know. Yeah, we flag
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it down. We've got to warn you. When I bought
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my first pair of turntables, and I'm not going
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to say when. It was a long time ago. They were
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belt driven. and DJs out there will know that's
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a long time ago. I sat there on my front porch
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and I waited. I'm talking about days. I just
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sat there and just watched for the truck. How
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convenient. At the time. There's something about
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it. That's got to be. You know what? Relish this.
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Relish this anticipation. You know why? Because
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your brain is getting fed all kinds of dopamine
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right now that once you get the package and you
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open it and everything else. Then it's gone.
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Like, it's here. It's done, right? You know what?
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It's kind of like, reminds me of Pokemon cards.
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Yeah. You want to collect them all. You want
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to chase them. You get them, and it's that dopamine
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hit. You even get a dopamine hit when you land
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a pack of Pokemon cards, much less open them.
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Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's the same feeling. It's the
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same feeling. You see that dopamine hit. My son's
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been walking around with three or four packs
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of Pokemon cards for the last four days. And
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he won't open them. In fact, he made my husband
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get out the scale because he has this theory.
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He's like weighing them to see how many grams
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they are to see if like one of them might be
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an 11 card pack and maybe it has a something
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card that I don't even know. He is. I'm going
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to tell you right now because I'm tapping into
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the underground scene for the Pokemon cards and
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your son is a kingpin. He's a kingpin in the...
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The Daybreak Underground Pokemon scene. He is
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out there hustling, making money. He's making
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money. He was born for this. He was born for
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this. I'm telling you what. That kid, he was
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like six years old. He had a snow cone stand
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he was going to make money at. Before I knew
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it, I walked out there and he had half the kids
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working for him. All to a snow cone stand for
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him. He made 45 bucks and he was off playing
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in the park. Playground. He wasn't even there
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anymore. He's like, I got people to work for
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me. I don't need to be there. With binoculars.
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Watching. He's probably over there in the bird's
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nest part of that playground checking on his
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product, checking his inventory, checking his
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employees. He's going to run his own business.
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He's going to be an entrepreneur. I can see that
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already. I like that. I think that's going to
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be good for him. Coco, what have you been watching?
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What did you watch last night? Oh, well, I'm
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getting caught up on all the shows and movies
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we're going to be covering this week, of course.
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But then I deviated a little bit and watched
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the new documentary on Netflix, Martin or Marty
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Life's Life's Life. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. How was
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that? I love Martin Short. I actually when I
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worked with George Strombolopoulos, there's a
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great video of him and Martin Short doing some
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hilarious stuff. Go check that out. I'll see
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if I can get the link to that in the show notes.
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But I love Martin Short, and I've always heard
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nothing but good things. You're going to steal
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that documentary because you see all the people
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that he worked with. You see his career as he
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opted not to follow his fellow Toronto group
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into Second City in Toronto and kind of went
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on his own journey and kind of supported his
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wife's career for a bit, but then decided, I
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don't know what I'm doing. I'm just floundering
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around. I should probably just go to Second City.
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And then you see, you know, all the friendships
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that he's made and John Candy and, you know,
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Eugene Levy's favorite. Like, they're the best
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of friends. I mean, it was just so fun to see
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his life and how it came to be and what a joy
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that man is. Like, from day one, he's had all
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this tragedy in his life. He lost a brother,
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young, and parents. And then it was just so beautiful
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to see all of that. And I was, like, crying real.
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good heavy tears when when it talked about his
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wife their relationship and you know relationship
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goals everybody had them marty and nancy as their
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as their relationship goals and then she sadly
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passed away it was just it was so touching and
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so beautiful i highly recommend it everybody
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go watch it what's that on that on netflix netflix
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all right shout out netflix putting that one
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out we'll have to check it out like i said i'm
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gonna find that clip because it's it's it's You
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get to see what I'm talking about. But let's
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get to, I guess we're going back to Tube Tuesday,
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right? Because we're going with a sitcom. With
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the mom theme, we're continuing. Yeah, and I
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mentioned that this is probably a sitcom that
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nobody watched. I don't think, I'm going to be
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honest with you right now. This is not one that
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I watched or have seen like. a Friends or a Cheers
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or any of these other ones that's top tier. I'm
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not saying Mom is not top tier. I just have not
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seen every episode. But the ones I have seen,
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I mean, what can you say? Like, it's great. It's
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your kind of raw blue collar survival and radical
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acceptance is what we got going on here in a
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drama slash comedy, a dramedy really. But it's
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a sitcom. It's all wrapped up into this sitcom.
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You know, starring one of your favorites, I think.
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I think you picked this show just so you could
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talk about Alice and Janie. Right? Am I right,
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Coco? Best? I mean, who could disagree with me
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out there? And there is a lot of good stuff that
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she's done. Listen, you know, you could list
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her. movies and tv shows the drama the comedies
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i tanya you know she's west wing all these things
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that she did but my personal favorite was her
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character in drop dead gorgeous about the pageant
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um if you guys haven't seen drop dead gorgeous
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we're gonna cover that one on uh parallel frequencies
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eventually because that is one of my favorite
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movies of all time and she's hilarious in that
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yeah she has she has range let's just say that
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but You can watch this show and then you can
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look around the room at your holiday get togethers
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and you can see which family members of yours
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are trying to treat life like a demolition derby.
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You know who they are. And that's clear in this
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show. It's the same type of trope. It's the same.
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It's not a trope that we've really seen before.
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We haven't seen where they get into a meeting,
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basically a show that's built around that. You
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know, I mean, cheers. Was, was, you know, you
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had Sam as a bartender. Yeah. Uh, and then this,
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the other side of that, which is the people who,
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um, you know, obviously alcoholism or addiction
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has, has made a heavy impact on their lives,
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not just in their lives, but generationally.
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So this show being called mom, mom, uh, Anna
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Faris, uh, playing her daughter, um, Christie
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Plunkett. And that. Of course, then her daughter,
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Violet, she had young and then ends up getting
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pregnant. So there's this like generational and
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struggling with addiction. No surprise there.
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But just how it affected one generation after
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the other. And they're all bonding over coming
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to AA meetings, meeting friends, community and
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supporting each other, sponsoring each other.
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And that's kind of what the show was built around.
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It's wild. And you got to give some credit to
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whoever greenlit this bad boy, because on paper.
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Look at it. You know, it's it's it's really it's
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doing something that is entirely reckless. You
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know, it's taken the absolute gutter scraping
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reality of addiction, generate generational trauma,
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like you said, and poverty. And it turned it
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into a fucking prime time CBS sitcom. How? How
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do you do that? So that's what I'm saying. It
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was reckless TV in the best kind of way. I can
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only imagine executives being like, hold up.
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You want to make a show that's supposed to be
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funny around alcoholism and addiction around
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these people recovering from something really.
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And call it mom. Like there's a. Yeah. Like that's
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what I'm saying. Who greenlit this? Thank you.
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First of all, that's about what you can say.
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But I love the blend of the drama and the comedy.
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I think they do a fantastic job because it is
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funny. We're hearing these conversations. They're
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teasing each other just like they do in almost
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any other sitcom. These people love each other.
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The love they have for each other is shown in
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the way that they can tease each other and still
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show up for each other whenever they need someone.
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You know, middle of the night, 2 a .m., and someone's
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like, I'm in trouble. I'm feeling my down and
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lowest right now. I'm struggling to not drink.
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And then they're there for each other. And I
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love seeing that play out. I was one of those
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who was late to the game. I didn't watch the
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show when it came out, but I did binge it when,
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I don't know, maybe it was like a year or two
00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:31.259
ago. I'd like binged all eight seasons and just
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watched the entire thing. And I was just struck
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with how beautiful it was that they figured out
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each other's lives together and supported each
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other in ways that you'd like to see at AA meetings.
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You'd like to see that's how it works, that that's
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how sponsorship should feel. It should be close
00:10:50.730 --> 00:10:53.929
and heightened and family oriented. And also
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everybody takes responsibility for themselves.
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You know, there's a little bit of that dynamic
00:11:00.090 --> 00:11:02.490
going on there. Let's talk about the dynamic.
00:11:02.629 --> 00:11:04.950
That's what I wanted to get into. Yeah. Let's
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talk about how Alice and Janie and... Anna Faris,
00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:13.980
let's talk about that because the casting alchemy
00:11:13.980 --> 00:11:16.919
here, I'm going to call it alchemy because it
00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:21.019
did produce some magic, right? Yeah. You can
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have the best script in the world, but if the
00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.879
chemistry is off, you're just watching two actors
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sweat under some studio lights. They made sure
00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:33.200
they got this right. Anna Faris as Christy, unique,
00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:36.080
fragile, rubber band elasticity to her comedy.
00:11:36.730 --> 00:11:39.090
You know, she's got this different quirkiness.
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She plays this perpetual victim who is her own
00:11:42.370 --> 00:11:46.269
worst enemy. And then drop in Alice and Janie
00:11:46.269 --> 00:11:50.710
into that mix as Bonnie. Bonnie Plunkett is like
00:11:50.710 --> 00:11:53.710
a reformed pirate who still keeps a cutlass in
00:11:53.710 --> 00:11:56.470
her purse just in case. Like she's ready. She's
00:11:56.470 --> 00:11:59.210
ready to go at any point. You know, it's classic
00:11:59.210 --> 00:12:03.070
American storytelling, really. The outlaw trying
00:12:03.070 --> 00:12:05.389
to go straight while living in a valley of temptation,
00:12:05.769 --> 00:12:09.269
except instead of a dusty saloon, the temptation
00:12:09.269 --> 00:12:12.289
is a box of cheap wine at a suburban supermarket.
00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:16.669
You know, the dynamic worked and you touched
00:12:16.669 --> 00:12:19.649
on a little bit. What did you see? And could
00:12:19.649 --> 00:12:21.970
this have happened with any other any two other
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people? Would this have worked? I have no idea.
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The one thing that's kind of almost amazing and
00:12:27.870 --> 00:12:31.419
silly about this is that physically. Alice and
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Jenny and Anna Faris don't look like mother and
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daughter. I mean, she's a good bull head taller
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than her. Anna Faris is this tiny little pixie
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of a person. And they joke about that a lot.
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They joke about that throughout the show. They
00:12:44.700 --> 00:12:46.679
point out that like, I don't know how you came
00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:49.000
from me and all this kind of stuff, which is
00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.919
funny. But as far as the chemistry of the characters
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go, you just start to see this. Yeah, I mean,
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they don't. Even from the very beginning, they're
00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:00.500
not showing this really nurturing mother -daughter
00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:05.620
type of thing. It's like she's resentful. She
00:13:05.620 --> 00:13:09.799
is like, you ruined my life and then caused essentially
00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:12.539
my own life to be ruined by addiction because
00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:15.159
you were never there for me as a mother. And
00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:17.440
then you see that play out when Violet decides
00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.740
to cut the relationship off with Christy and
00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:22.259
say, I get you're sober now and that's fine,
00:13:22.379 --> 00:13:25.379
but you ruined my life and I have to move on.
00:13:25.639 --> 00:13:28.000
have to i mean and she has to take ownership
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.059
of that so you see these like little dynamics
00:13:31.059 --> 00:13:35.340
and these actors played that really really well
00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:37.960
you feel it there this push and pull of like
00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:40.519
i want a relationship with you i want to forgive
00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:43.139
you because that means my own sobriety is protected
00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:47.320
if i can forgive you for what you did and and
00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:51.039
uh yeah that's what i have to say about that
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:54.000
connection this is one of those shows that like
00:13:55.129 --> 00:13:58.509
You think that you've got some crazy dysfunctional
00:13:58.509 --> 00:14:01.009
stuff in your family and you watch this and CBS
00:14:01.009 --> 00:14:03.409
pumps out something that makes your situation
00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:06.230
feel tame compared to what you're seeing on TV.
00:14:06.289 --> 00:14:07.830
This is one of those shows that makes you feel
00:14:07.830 --> 00:14:09.730
better about yourself because you're like, oh,
00:14:09.769 --> 00:14:13.330
my God, it can always be worse. You know, by
00:14:13.330 --> 00:14:17.590
by being a stripper and, you know, selling coke
00:14:17.590 --> 00:14:19.629
on the street and, you know, things that they
00:14:19.629 --> 00:14:23.549
bring up. Let's talk about the the safety net.
00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:27.100
breaking out from underneath them in season eight
00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:31.980
when the show took a massive pivot and anna ferris
00:14:31.980 --> 00:14:35.659
she exits now yeah usually when the co -lead
00:14:35.659 --> 00:14:38.139
leaves a sitcom that's the the death nail you
00:14:38.139 --> 00:14:41.139
you can hit the horns get ready they're gonna
00:14:41.139 --> 00:14:45.960
it's gonna be done but it it didn't necessarily
00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:49.519
do that here because i think season eight's good
00:14:50.409 --> 00:14:52.929
two i think it still came across okay building
00:14:52.929 --> 00:14:57.110
all seven seasons behind it was they didn't even
00:14:57.110 --> 00:15:01.629
though she and bonnie christy and bonnie are
00:15:01.629 --> 00:15:03.850
the you know two main characters they are the
00:15:03.850 --> 00:15:06.669
mom and daughter and it kind of centers them
00:15:06.669 --> 00:15:09.710
they did a really good job of making it so that
00:15:09.710 --> 00:15:12.909
they were part of this ensemble cast that really
00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:16.879
Everybody played such a part in supporting each
00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:19.580
other in their ups and downs throughout the years.
00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.220
You got to see a little bit about, for example,
00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:26.480
Jamie Presley playing Jill is part of their little
00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:29.720
group. Marjorie, oh my gosh, the frenemy relationship
00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:32.139
between Marjorie and Bonnie is probably one of
00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:34.899
my favorite dynamics in the show. That's Mimi
00:15:34.899 --> 00:15:37.539
Kennedy right there. Mimi Kennedy. Yeah, oh yeah.
00:15:37.950 --> 00:15:39.909
And so you get these characters that are going
00:15:39.909 --> 00:15:43.470
through such cool, interesting, sometimes really
00:15:43.470 --> 00:15:47.429
tragic things. And then, yeah, when Christy decides
00:15:47.429 --> 00:15:50.409
to leave, and she's been preparing for this for
00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:53.009
a few seasons. She's going to law school. She
00:15:53.009 --> 00:15:55.669
wants to become a lawyer. She's working nights
00:15:55.669 --> 00:15:57.649
and weekends and paying for it. And, I mean,
00:15:57.649 --> 00:15:59.970
you see her struggle. You see her trying to get
00:15:59.970 --> 00:16:02.440
through that. And then she finally gets to go.
00:16:02.659 --> 00:16:04.659
And that's how they kind of, you know, let her
00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:07.259
go when she decides she doesn't want to be on
00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:10.120
the show anymore. And you miss her absence. Don't
00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:14.179
get me wrong. It is a big shock to the show and
00:16:14.179 --> 00:16:16.440
probably why they wouldn't continue more than
00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:20.360
one season after her. But they've got this ensemble
00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:23.279
cast that carried it for that last season there.
00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.580
Yeah. Yeah. But this show, Mom, it really did
00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:30.720
do something fascinating. When Anna Faris left
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:35.000
and kind of leaned into it, you know, it leaned
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.159
into the reality of recovery communities instead.
00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:40.960
So when one person leaves a group in a recovery
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.399
community, whether they move away, relapse or
00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:48.019
just drift, the circle doesn't disappear. The
00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:50.240
remaining members just pull in their chairs a
00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.360
little closer or new members come in and they
00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.559
widen the circle even more. You know, so I love
00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.710
how they. leaned into the fact that she left
00:16:59.710 --> 00:17:02.610
basically they they instead of it taking the
00:17:02.610 --> 00:17:05.170
show and they really did they they wrote it in
00:17:05.170 --> 00:17:08.630
to where it it made sense a lot of shows don't
00:17:08.630 --> 00:17:14.190
do that these days yeah and i love the the thread
00:17:14.190 --> 00:17:21.230
of addiction and um the thread of the recovery
00:17:21.230 --> 00:17:24.630
from addiction was a real focus here showing
00:17:24.630 --> 00:17:27.359
people Who've been through a struggle, who've
00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.160
been through addiction, who have been, who've
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:31.980
had loved ones going through addiction, showing
00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:35.019
that there was hope when there was relapse or
00:17:35.019 --> 00:17:37.539
something happened. There was always this like
00:17:37.539 --> 00:17:40.359
support of like, don't worry, day one again,
00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:42.279
you know, you've got us, you've got us getting
00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:44.440
through it. They showed the realities of what
00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:47.400
that feels like, what that's like. And even showing,
00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:51.240
I appreciated them showing on the show that just
00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:54.109
because you get sober. And you kind of try to
00:17:54.109 --> 00:17:55.869
get your life back together little by little.
00:17:56.329 --> 00:18:00.309
Doesn't mean life is easy. There's a lot of moments
00:18:00.309 --> 00:18:03.690
where like Christy goes through eviction, job
00:18:03.690 --> 00:18:06.529
loss, you know, there's death and there's grief
00:18:06.529 --> 00:18:08.930
and there's all these things that happen to them.
00:18:09.009 --> 00:18:11.470
And you can absolutely understand or see why
00:18:11.470 --> 00:18:14.369
they'd be struggling to stay in sobriety. And
00:18:14.369 --> 00:18:16.950
that that would be, but to have the attitude
00:18:16.950 --> 00:18:20.210
of like, well, all this is happening to me, but
00:18:20.210 --> 00:18:23.799
at least I'm sober. yeah my life is better than
00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:25.980
it was when i was drinking so i've got that going
00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:29.420
for me and i won't let go of that and that that
00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:31.799
i think is really powerful for people to watch
00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.519
even on a sitcom to be like okay there's hope
00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:38.920
yeah yeah what's your final thoughts on mom um
00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:43.059
star -studded cast octavia spencer in this one
00:18:43.059 --> 00:18:47.180
and um you've got uh emily osment playing the
00:18:47.180 --> 00:18:50.720
role of jody who's in it for a brief period of
00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:54.480
time again showing that the cast the the characters
00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:56.980
in this show go through really hard things like
00:18:56.980 --> 00:18:59.680
one of their members dying of an overdose and
00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:06.440
that's really hard yeah um i love just oh i can't
00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:09.839
forget to mention adam um character of adam let's
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:13.519
see if i can say his name um william fitchner
00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:18.319
fitchner yeah um playing bonnie's fiance and
00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:20.559
I think they eventually get married. I can't
00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:22.740
remember. I think he's like a forever fiance.
00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:26.279
I'm not. Anyway, he does a fantastic job, too,
00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:28.559
playing his role. So I just wanted to point out,
00:19:28.579 --> 00:19:31.559
these people, like, this might have been a sitcom
00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:36.079
that slipped by. You didn't see it. Like, I didn't
00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:38.680
see it when it first came out. So definitely
00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:41.599
go watch it. It's worth it. I think the legacy
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.240
of Mom is radical honesty with a laugh track.
00:19:47.579 --> 00:19:49.400
Because you mentioned it. We saw people die.
00:19:49.539 --> 00:19:51.940
We saw people relapse. We saw people lose their
00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:58.680
homes. Custody battles. And forgiveness wasn't
00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:00.400
even guaranteed just because you said you were
00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.200
sorry, which most sitcoms, it's like, oh, roll
00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:05.339
to the next episode. So they didn't do all that.
00:20:05.460 --> 00:20:09.859
They gave you gritty. They gave you real. There's
00:20:09.859 --> 00:20:11.400
people who are going through stuff like this.
00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.400
They're closer to you than you think they are.
00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:19.119
How about that? Yeah. Yeah. It could be anybody.
00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:22.440
A lot of high functioning addiction happening
00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:25.099
in our world. And so to have compassion for people
00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:29.200
who are trying really hard and knowing that relapses
00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:32.759
are almost inevitable and that there is just
00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:34.859
always another chance to get back up on track.
00:20:34.940 --> 00:20:37.660
It's always day one again, and that's okay. The
00:20:37.660 --> 00:20:39.740
show kind of shows that journey. I love that.
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:42.759
And I hope people find hope if you are struggling.
00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:46.299
I also want to mention that it stripped away
00:20:46.299 --> 00:20:51.180
the traditional preachy television episode stuff,
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:53.599
too. It didn't really do that to you. So you
00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.559
learn lessons and you get to choose which way
00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:58.559
to go. They're not telling you. They're not laying
00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:01.019
out a blueprint. It's just like, hey, this is
00:21:01.019 --> 00:21:05.740
how we do things. But I enjoy the show. I will
00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:09.299
watch more of it. I hope others will, too, because
00:21:09.299 --> 00:21:12.000
you should give it a chance. It's up there. It's
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.859
up there in sitcom world, and there's a lot of
00:21:13.859 --> 00:21:16.180
sitcoms out there. So if you're a fan of sitcoms,
00:21:16.180 --> 00:21:19.000
go watch it. Freaks out there, tell me some other
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:23.180
sitcoms that if I haven't seen Mom, I definitely
00:21:23.180 --> 00:21:26.000
haven't seen. What else are we missing? Yeah,
00:21:26.039 --> 00:21:27.819
what are we missing? Tell us what we're missing.
00:21:28.220 --> 00:21:30.819
But that's going to do it for this episode of
00:21:30.819 --> 00:21:32.940
Parallel Frequencies. I am Just Blaine. She is
00:21:32.940 --> 00:21:35.240
Coco. You are the freaks, and we will see you
00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:36.599
on the other side. I don't know.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.680
What happens when a newly sober single mom tries
00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:06.280
to pull her life together in Napa Valley while
00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:10.720
dealing with her wayward mother? Dysfunctional
00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:13.500
family structures and everything else going on
00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:16.339
right here in a sitcom that you never saw, or
00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:19.839
maybe it was just me, mom. I am just Blaine.
00:00:19.859 --> 00:00:22.300
She is Coco. You are the freaks. This is Parallel
00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:25.399
Frequencies. I am rattled a little bit today,
00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:30.280
Coco. I'm out of my element. I am upstairs. I'm
00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:32.280
not in the studio. The studio is being reworked
00:00:32.280 --> 00:00:35.200
right now, and I'm waiting on a very, very important
00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:39.140
FedEx package. Do you know how that feels? Do
00:00:39.140 --> 00:00:42.039
you know how that is? It's like every minute
00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:45.740
is hours when you're waiting on something. I'm
00:00:45.740 --> 00:00:47.960
a creature of habit, so when things are different,
00:00:48.179 --> 00:00:52.280
it does take me some adjusting. I mean, I'm capable
00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:55.000
of flexibility. Being able to be flexible is
00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.020
a superpower, but I do get rattled when things
00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:02.850
aren't. In the right time and place. I'm asking
00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:06.709
more about the anticipation. When you order something
00:01:06.709 --> 00:01:10.010
and it's so important that you're just sitting
00:01:10.010 --> 00:01:11.650
and watching, sitting and watching. Like I'm
00:01:11.650 --> 00:01:14.950
waiting for the FedEx truck to drive by. If you
00:01:14.950 --> 00:01:18.569
guys see it, please let me know. Yeah, we flag
00:01:18.569 --> 00:01:23.150
it down. We've got to warn you. When I bought
00:01:23.150 --> 00:01:25.310
my first pair of turntables, and I'm not going
00:01:25.310 --> 00:01:27.569
to say when. It was a long time ago. They were
00:01:27.569 --> 00:01:32.049
belt driven. and DJs out there will know that's
00:01:32.049 --> 00:01:35.609
a long time ago. I sat there on my front porch
00:01:35.609 --> 00:01:38.170
and I waited. I'm talking about days. I just
00:01:38.170 --> 00:01:41.469
sat there and just watched for the truck. How
00:01:41.469 --> 00:01:43.829
convenient. At the time. There's something about
00:01:43.829 --> 00:01:47.689
it. That's got to be. You know what? Relish this.
00:01:48.530 --> 00:01:50.829
Relish this anticipation. You know why? Because
00:01:50.829 --> 00:01:52.930
your brain is getting fed all kinds of dopamine
00:01:52.930 --> 00:01:56.049
right now that once you get the package and you
00:01:56.049 --> 00:01:58.599
open it and everything else. Then it's gone.
00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:01.519
Like, it's here. It's done, right? You know what?
00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:04.859
It's kind of like, reminds me of Pokemon cards.
00:02:05.540 --> 00:02:07.939
Yeah. You want to collect them all. You want
00:02:07.939 --> 00:02:09.620
to chase them. You get them, and it's that dopamine
00:02:09.620 --> 00:02:12.400
hit. You even get a dopamine hit when you land
00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:15.439
a pack of Pokemon cards, much less open them.
00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:19.060
Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's the same feeling. It's the
00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:21.919
same feeling. You see that dopamine hit. My son's
00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:24.120
been walking around with three or four packs
00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:27.530
of Pokemon cards for the last four days. And
00:02:27.530 --> 00:02:29.689
he won't open them. In fact, he made my husband
00:02:29.689 --> 00:02:32.349
get out the scale because he has this theory.
00:02:33.370 --> 00:02:35.509
He's like weighing them to see how many grams
00:02:35.509 --> 00:02:37.310
they are to see if like one of them might be
00:02:37.310 --> 00:02:40.610
an 11 card pack and maybe it has a something
00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:44.490
card that I don't even know. He is. I'm going
00:02:44.490 --> 00:02:47.189
to tell you right now because I'm tapping into
00:02:47.189 --> 00:02:49.530
the underground scene for the Pokemon cards and
00:02:49.530 --> 00:02:53.409
your son is a kingpin. He's a kingpin in the...
00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:58.479
The Daybreak Underground Pokemon scene. He is
00:02:58.479 --> 00:03:00.680
out there hustling, making money. He's making
00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:04.520
money. He was born for this. He was born for
00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:08.479
this. I'm telling you what. That kid, he was
00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:10.939
like six years old. He had a snow cone stand
00:03:10.939 --> 00:03:13.319
he was going to make money at. Before I knew
00:03:13.319 --> 00:03:15.080
it, I walked out there and he had half the kids
00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:18.819
working for him. All to a snow cone stand for
00:03:18.819 --> 00:03:21.919
him. He made 45 bucks and he was off playing
00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:24.060
in the park. Playground. He wasn't even there
00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:25.840
anymore. He's like, I got people to work for
00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:27.780
me. I don't need to be there. With binoculars.
00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:32.280
Watching. He's probably over there in the bird's
00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:35.039
nest part of that playground checking on his
00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:37.319
product, checking his inventory, checking his
00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:40.840
employees. He's going to run his own business.
00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:42.580
He's going to be an entrepreneur. I can see that
00:03:42.580 --> 00:03:44.879
already. I like that. I think that's going to
00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:46.819
be good for him. Coco, what have you been watching?
00:03:47.219 --> 00:03:49.439
What did you watch last night? Oh, well, I'm
00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:51.099
getting caught up on all the shows and movies
00:03:51.099 --> 00:03:53.139
we're going to be covering this week, of course.
00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:56.099
But then I deviated a little bit and watched
00:03:56.099 --> 00:04:00.139
the new documentary on Netflix, Martin or Marty
00:04:00.139 --> 00:04:04.979
Life's Life's Life. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. How was
00:04:04.979 --> 00:04:07.460
that? I love Martin Short. I actually when I
00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:09.240
worked with George Strombolopoulos, there's a
00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:11.439
great video of him and Martin Short doing some
00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:14.539
hilarious stuff. Go check that out. I'll see
00:04:14.539 --> 00:04:16.639
if I can get the link to that in the show notes.
00:04:17.500 --> 00:04:19.740
But I love Martin Short, and I've always heard
00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:21.699
nothing but good things. You're going to steal
00:04:21.699 --> 00:04:23.779
that documentary because you see all the people
00:04:23.779 --> 00:04:27.199
that he worked with. You see his career as he
00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.519
opted not to follow his fellow Toronto group
00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:36.019
into Second City in Toronto and kind of went
00:04:36.019 --> 00:04:39.199
on his own journey and kind of supported his
00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.540
wife's career for a bit, but then decided, I
00:04:41.540 --> 00:04:43.000
don't know what I'm doing. I'm just floundering
00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.139
around. I should probably just go to Second City.
00:04:45.930 --> 00:04:47.689
And then you see, you know, all the friendships
00:04:47.689 --> 00:04:50.509
that he's made and John Candy and, you know,
00:04:50.569 --> 00:04:53.449
Eugene Levy's favorite. Like, they're the best
00:04:53.449 --> 00:04:55.350
of friends. I mean, it was just so fun to see
00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:58.170
his life and how it came to be and what a joy
00:04:58.170 --> 00:05:01.569
that man is. Like, from day one, he's had all
00:05:01.569 --> 00:05:04.089
this tragedy in his life. He lost a brother,
00:05:04.209 --> 00:05:08.290
young, and parents. And then it was just so beautiful
00:05:08.290 --> 00:05:12.230
to see all of that. And I was, like, crying real.
00:05:12.970 --> 00:05:15.910
good heavy tears when when it talked about his
00:05:15.910 --> 00:05:18.930
wife their relationship and you know relationship
00:05:18.930 --> 00:05:22.370
goals everybody had them marty and nancy as their
00:05:22.370 --> 00:05:24.990
as their relationship goals and then she sadly
00:05:24.990 --> 00:05:27.389
passed away it was just it was so touching and
00:05:27.389 --> 00:05:29.589
so beautiful i highly recommend it everybody
00:05:29.589 --> 00:05:33.029
go watch it what's that on that on netflix netflix
00:05:33.029 --> 00:05:36.870
all right shout out netflix putting that one
00:05:36.870 --> 00:05:39.029
out we'll have to check it out like i said i'm
00:05:39.029 --> 00:05:42.000
gonna find that clip because it's it's it's You
00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.139
get to see what I'm talking about. But let's
00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:48.060
get to, I guess we're going back to Tube Tuesday,
00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:51.379
right? Because we're going with a sitcom. With
00:05:51.379 --> 00:05:54.860
the mom theme, we're continuing. Yeah, and I
00:05:54.860 --> 00:05:58.860
mentioned that this is probably a sitcom that
00:05:58.860 --> 00:06:01.879
nobody watched. I don't think, I'm going to be
00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:04.220
honest with you right now. This is not one that
00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:08.790
I watched or have seen like. a Friends or a Cheers
00:06:08.790 --> 00:06:12.490
or any of these other ones that's top tier. I'm
00:06:12.490 --> 00:06:15.029
not saying Mom is not top tier. I just have not
00:06:15.029 --> 00:06:16.850
seen every episode. But the ones I have seen,
00:06:17.050 --> 00:06:20.470
I mean, what can you say? Like, it's great. It's
00:06:20.470 --> 00:06:26.910
your kind of raw blue collar survival and radical
00:06:26.910 --> 00:06:30.550
acceptance is what we got going on here in a
00:06:30.550 --> 00:06:34.779
drama slash comedy, a dramedy really. But it's
00:06:34.779 --> 00:06:36.680
a sitcom. It's all wrapped up into this sitcom.
00:06:37.100 --> 00:06:40.319
You know, starring one of your favorites, I think.
00:06:40.360 --> 00:06:43.779
I think you picked this show just so you could
00:06:43.779 --> 00:06:46.560
talk about Alice and Janie. Right? Am I right,
00:06:46.620 --> 00:06:50.360
Coco? Best? I mean, who could disagree with me
00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:52.819
out there? And there is a lot of good stuff that
00:06:52.819 --> 00:06:54.560
she's done. Listen, you know, you could list
00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:58.050
her. movies and tv shows the drama the comedies
00:06:58.050 --> 00:07:01.189
i tanya you know she's west wing all these things
00:07:01.189 --> 00:07:03.629
that she did but my personal favorite was her
00:07:03.629 --> 00:07:08.110
character in drop dead gorgeous about the pageant
00:07:08.110 --> 00:07:10.790
um if you guys haven't seen drop dead gorgeous
00:07:10.790 --> 00:07:13.189
we're gonna cover that one on uh parallel frequencies
00:07:13.189 --> 00:07:15.730
eventually because that is one of my favorite
00:07:15.730 --> 00:07:18.990
movies of all time and she's hilarious in that
00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:22.629
yeah she has she has range let's just say that
00:07:22.629 --> 00:07:27.470
but You can watch this show and then you can
00:07:27.470 --> 00:07:31.110
look around the room at your holiday get togethers
00:07:31.110 --> 00:07:35.430
and you can see which family members of yours
00:07:35.430 --> 00:07:37.569
are trying to treat life like a demolition derby.
00:07:37.610 --> 00:07:40.230
You know who they are. And that's clear in this
00:07:40.230 --> 00:07:43.350
show. It's the same type of trope. It's the same.
00:07:43.389 --> 00:07:45.310
It's not a trope that we've really seen before.
00:07:45.350 --> 00:07:48.910
We haven't seen where they get into a meeting,
00:07:48.930 --> 00:07:51.769
basically a show that's built around that. You
00:07:51.769 --> 00:07:54.879
know, I mean, cheers. Was, was, you know, you
00:07:54.879 --> 00:08:00.519
had Sam as a bartender. Yeah. Uh, and then this,
00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.019
the other side of that, which is the people who,
00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.980
um, you know, obviously alcoholism or addiction
00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:09.240
has, has made a heavy impact on their lives,
00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:11.720
not just in their lives, but generationally.
00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:16.699
So this show being called mom, mom, uh, Anna
00:08:16.699 --> 00:08:19.879
Faris, uh, playing her daughter, um, Christie
00:08:19.879 --> 00:08:23.240
Plunkett. And that. Of course, then her daughter,
00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:26.800
Violet, she had young and then ends up getting
00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:28.980
pregnant. So there's this like generational and
00:08:28.980 --> 00:08:32.019
struggling with addiction. No surprise there.
00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:34.679
But just how it affected one generation after
00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:37.120
the other. And they're all bonding over coming
00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:40.240
to AA meetings, meeting friends, community and
00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:42.259
supporting each other, sponsoring each other.
00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:44.620
And that's kind of what the show was built around.
00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.159
It's wild. And you got to give some credit to
00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:51.240
whoever greenlit this bad boy, because on paper.
00:08:51.820 --> 00:08:55.700
Look at it. You know, it's it's it's really it's
00:08:55.700 --> 00:08:59.740
doing something that is entirely reckless. You
00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:04.399
know, it's taken the absolute gutter scraping
00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:08.919
reality of addiction, generate generational trauma,
00:09:09.059 --> 00:09:11.600
like you said, and poverty. And it turned it
00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:15.320
into a fucking prime time CBS sitcom. How? How
00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:16.759
do you do that? So that's what I'm saying. It
00:09:16.759 --> 00:09:19.340
was reckless TV in the best kind of way. I can
00:09:19.340 --> 00:09:22.519
only imagine executives being like, hold up.
00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:25.559
You want to make a show that's supposed to be
00:09:25.559 --> 00:09:30.779
funny around alcoholism and addiction around
00:09:30.779 --> 00:09:32.620
these people recovering from something really.
00:09:33.340 --> 00:09:38.779
And call it mom. Like there's a. Yeah. Like that's
00:09:38.779 --> 00:09:41.860
what I'm saying. Who greenlit this? Thank you.
00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:44.639
First of all, that's about what you can say.
00:09:44.679 --> 00:09:47.620
But I love the blend of the drama and the comedy.
00:09:47.639 --> 00:09:49.679
I think they do a fantastic job because it is
00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:52.740
funny. We're hearing these conversations. They're
00:09:52.740 --> 00:09:54.720
teasing each other just like they do in almost
00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:58.080
any other sitcom. These people love each other.
00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:00.460
The love they have for each other is shown in
00:10:00.460 --> 00:10:03.320
the way that they can tease each other and still
00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.700
show up for each other whenever they need someone.
00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:08.200
You know, middle of the night, 2 a .m., and someone's
00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:12.899
like, I'm in trouble. I'm feeling my down and
00:10:12.899 --> 00:10:17.320
lowest right now. I'm struggling to not drink.
00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:19.259
And then they're there for each other. And I
00:10:19.259 --> 00:10:22.820
love seeing that play out. I was one of those
00:10:22.820 --> 00:10:24.240
who was late to the game. I didn't watch the
00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.399
show when it came out, but I did binge it when,
00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:29.139
I don't know, maybe it was like a year or two
00:10:29.139 --> 00:10:31.259
ago. I'd like binged all eight seasons and just
00:10:31.259 --> 00:10:34.360
watched the entire thing. And I was just struck
00:10:34.360 --> 00:10:38.879
with how beautiful it was that they figured out
00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:42.710
each other's lives together and supported each
00:10:42.710 --> 00:10:45.490
other in ways that you'd like to see at AA meetings.
00:10:45.629 --> 00:10:48.210
You'd like to see that's how it works, that that's
00:10:48.210 --> 00:10:50.730
how sponsorship should feel. It should be close
00:10:50.730 --> 00:10:53.929
and heightened and family oriented. And also
00:10:53.929 --> 00:10:56.549
everybody takes responsibility for themselves.
00:10:57.690 --> 00:11:00.090
You know, there's a little bit of that dynamic
00:11:00.090 --> 00:11:02.490
going on there. Let's talk about the dynamic.
00:11:02.629 --> 00:11:04.950
That's what I wanted to get into. Yeah. Let's
00:11:04.950 --> 00:11:08.799
talk about how Alice and Janie and... Anna Faris,
00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:13.980
let's talk about that because the casting alchemy
00:11:13.980 --> 00:11:16.919
here, I'm going to call it alchemy because it
00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:21.019
did produce some magic, right? Yeah. You can
00:11:21.019 --> 00:11:24.879
have the best script in the world, but if the
00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.879
chemistry is off, you're just watching two actors
00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:30.279
sweat under some studio lights. They made sure
00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:33.200
they got this right. Anna Faris as Christy, unique,
00:11:33.340 --> 00:11:36.080
fragile, rubber band elasticity to her comedy.
00:11:36.730 --> 00:11:39.090
You know, she's got this different quirkiness.
00:11:39.129 --> 00:11:42.370
She plays this perpetual victim who is her own
00:11:42.370 --> 00:11:46.269
worst enemy. And then drop in Alice and Janie
00:11:46.269 --> 00:11:50.710
into that mix as Bonnie. Bonnie Plunkett is like
00:11:50.710 --> 00:11:53.710
a reformed pirate who still keeps a cutlass in
00:11:53.710 --> 00:11:56.470
her purse just in case. Like she's ready. She's
00:11:56.470 --> 00:11:59.210
ready to go at any point. You know, it's classic
00:11:59.210 --> 00:12:03.070
American storytelling, really. The outlaw trying
00:12:03.070 --> 00:12:05.389
to go straight while living in a valley of temptation,
00:12:05.769 --> 00:12:09.269
except instead of a dusty saloon, the temptation
00:12:09.269 --> 00:12:12.289
is a box of cheap wine at a suburban supermarket.
00:12:13.149 --> 00:12:16.669
You know, the dynamic worked and you touched
00:12:16.669 --> 00:12:19.649
on a little bit. What did you see? And could
00:12:19.649 --> 00:12:21.970
this have happened with any other any two other
00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:24.110
people? Would this have worked? I have no idea.
00:12:24.210 --> 00:12:27.870
The one thing that's kind of almost amazing and
00:12:27.870 --> 00:12:31.419
silly about this is that physically. Alice and
00:12:31.419 --> 00:12:34.500
Jenny and Anna Faris don't look like mother and
00:12:34.500 --> 00:12:37.980
daughter. I mean, she's a good bull head taller
00:12:37.980 --> 00:12:40.940
than her. Anna Faris is this tiny little pixie
00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:42.960
of a person. And they joke about that a lot.
00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:44.700
They joke about that throughout the show. They
00:12:44.700 --> 00:12:46.679
point out that like, I don't know how you came
00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:49.000
from me and all this kind of stuff, which is
00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.919
funny. But as far as the chemistry of the characters
00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:55.059
go, you just start to see this. Yeah, I mean,
00:12:55.059 --> 00:12:57.440
they don't. Even from the very beginning, they're
00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:00.500
not showing this really nurturing mother -daughter
00:13:00.500 --> 00:13:05.620
type of thing. It's like she's resentful. She
00:13:05.620 --> 00:13:09.799
is like, you ruined my life and then caused essentially
00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:12.539
my own life to be ruined by addiction because
00:13:12.539 --> 00:13:15.159
you were never there for me as a mother. And
00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:17.440
then you see that play out when Violet decides
00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.740
to cut the relationship off with Christy and
00:13:19.740 --> 00:13:22.259
say, I get you're sober now and that's fine,
00:13:22.379 --> 00:13:25.379
but you ruined my life and I have to move on.
00:13:25.639 --> 00:13:28.000
have to i mean and she has to take ownership
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.059
of that so you see these like little dynamics
00:13:31.059 --> 00:13:35.340
and these actors played that really really well
00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:37.960
you feel it there this push and pull of like
00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:40.519
i want a relationship with you i want to forgive
00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:43.139
you because that means my own sobriety is protected
00:13:43.139 --> 00:13:47.320
if i can forgive you for what you did and and
00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:51.039
uh yeah that's what i have to say about that
00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:54.000
connection this is one of those shows that like
00:13:55.129 --> 00:13:58.509
You think that you've got some crazy dysfunctional
00:13:58.509 --> 00:14:01.009
stuff in your family and you watch this and CBS
00:14:01.009 --> 00:14:03.409
pumps out something that makes your situation
00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:06.230
feel tame compared to what you're seeing on TV.
00:14:06.289 --> 00:14:07.830
This is one of those shows that makes you feel
00:14:07.830 --> 00:14:09.730
better about yourself because you're like, oh,
00:14:09.769 --> 00:14:13.330
my God, it can always be worse. You know, by
00:14:13.330 --> 00:14:17.590
by being a stripper and, you know, selling coke
00:14:17.590 --> 00:14:19.629
on the street and, you know, things that they
00:14:19.629 --> 00:14:23.549
bring up. Let's talk about the the safety net.
00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:27.100
breaking out from underneath them in season eight
00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:31.980
when the show took a massive pivot and anna ferris
00:14:31.980 --> 00:14:35.659
she exits now yeah usually when the co -lead
00:14:35.659 --> 00:14:38.139
leaves a sitcom that's the the death nail you
00:14:38.139 --> 00:14:41.139
you can hit the horns get ready they're gonna
00:14:41.139 --> 00:14:45.960
it's gonna be done but it it didn't necessarily
00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:49.519
do that here because i think season eight's good
00:14:50.409 --> 00:14:52.929
two i think it still came across okay building
00:14:52.929 --> 00:14:57.110
all seven seasons behind it was they didn't even
00:14:57.110 --> 00:15:01.629
though she and bonnie christy and bonnie are
00:15:01.629 --> 00:15:03.850
the you know two main characters they are the
00:15:03.850 --> 00:15:06.669
mom and daughter and it kind of centers them
00:15:06.669 --> 00:15:09.710
they did a really good job of making it so that
00:15:09.710 --> 00:15:12.909
they were part of this ensemble cast that really
00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:16.879
Everybody played such a part in supporting each
00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:19.580
other in their ups and downs throughout the years.
00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.220
You got to see a little bit about, for example,
00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:26.480
Jamie Presley playing Jill is part of their little
00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:29.720
group. Marjorie, oh my gosh, the frenemy relationship
00:15:29.720 --> 00:15:32.139
between Marjorie and Bonnie is probably one of
00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:34.899
my favorite dynamics in the show. That's Mimi
00:15:34.899 --> 00:15:37.539
Kennedy right there. Mimi Kennedy. Yeah, oh yeah.
00:15:37.950 --> 00:15:39.909
And so you get these characters that are going
00:15:39.909 --> 00:15:43.470
through such cool, interesting, sometimes really
00:15:43.470 --> 00:15:47.429
tragic things. And then, yeah, when Christy decides
00:15:47.429 --> 00:15:50.409
to leave, and she's been preparing for this for
00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:53.009
a few seasons. She's going to law school. She
00:15:53.009 --> 00:15:55.669
wants to become a lawyer. She's working nights
00:15:55.669 --> 00:15:57.649
and weekends and paying for it. And, I mean,
00:15:57.649 --> 00:15:59.970
you see her struggle. You see her trying to get
00:15:59.970 --> 00:16:02.440
through that. And then she finally gets to go.
00:16:02.659 --> 00:16:04.659
And that's how they kind of, you know, let her
00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:07.259
go when she decides she doesn't want to be on
00:16:07.259 --> 00:16:10.120
the show anymore. And you miss her absence. Don't
00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:14.179
get me wrong. It is a big shock to the show and
00:16:14.179 --> 00:16:16.440
probably why they wouldn't continue more than
00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:20.360
one season after her. But they've got this ensemble
00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:23.279
cast that carried it for that last season there.
00:16:23.440 --> 00:16:27.580
Yeah. Yeah. But this show, Mom, it really did
00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:30.720
do something fascinating. When Anna Faris left
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:35.000
and kind of leaned into it, you know, it leaned
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:38.159
into the reality of recovery communities instead.
00:16:38.259 --> 00:16:40.960
So when one person leaves a group in a recovery
00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.399
community, whether they move away, relapse or
00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:48.019
just drift, the circle doesn't disappear. The
00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:50.240
remaining members just pull in their chairs a
00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.360
little closer or new members come in and they
00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.559
widen the circle even more. You know, so I love
00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.710
how they. leaned into the fact that she left
00:16:59.710 --> 00:17:02.610
basically they they instead of it taking the
00:17:02.610 --> 00:17:05.170
show and they really did they they wrote it in
00:17:05.170 --> 00:17:08.630
to where it it made sense a lot of shows don't
00:17:08.630 --> 00:17:14.190
do that these days yeah and i love the the thread
00:17:14.190 --> 00:17:21.230
of addiction and um the thread of the recovery
00:17:21.230 --> 00:17:24.630
from addiction was a real focus here showing
00:17:24.630 --> 00:17:27.359
people Who've been through a struggle, who've
00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.160
been through addiction, who have been, who've
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:31.980
had loved ones going through addiction, showing
00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:35.019
that there was hope when there was relapse or
00:17:35.019 --> 00:17:37.539
something happened. There was always this like
00:17:37.539 --> 00:17:40.359
support of like, don't worry, day one again,
00:17:40.660 --> 00:17:42.279
you know, you've got us, you've got us getting
00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:44.440
through it. They showed the realities of what
00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:47.400
that feels like, what that's like. And even showing,
00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:51.240
I appreciated them showing on the show that just
00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:54.109
because you get sober. And you kind of try to
00:17:54.109 --> 00:17:55.869
get your life back together little by little.
00:17:56.329 --> 00:18:00.309
Doesn't mean life is easy. There's a lot of moments
00:18:00.309 --> 00:18:03.690
where like Christy goes through eviction, job
00:18:03.690 --> 00:18:06.529
loss, you know, there's death and there's grief
00:18:06.529 --> 00:18:08.930
and there's all these things that happen to them.
00:18:09.009 --> 00:18:11.470
And you can absolutely understand or see why
00:18:11.470 --> 00:18:14.369
they'd be struggling to stay in sobriety. And
00:18:14.369 --> 00:18:16.950
that that would be, but to have the attitude
00:18:16.950 --> 00:18:20.210
of like, well, all this is happening to me, but
00:18:20.210 --> 00:18:23.799
at least I'm sober. yeah my life is better than
00:18:23.799 --> 00:18:25.980
it was when i was drinking so i've got that going
00:18:25.980 --> 00:18:29.420
for me and i won't let go of that and that that
00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:31.799
i think is really powerful for people to watch
00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.519
even on a sitcom to be like okay there's hope
00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:38.920
yeah yeah what's your final thoughts on mom um
00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:43.059
star -studded cast octavia spencer in this one
00:18:43.059 --> 00:18:47.180
and um you've got uh emily osment playing the
00:18:47.180 --> 00:18:50.720
role of jody who's in it for a brief period of
00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:54.480
time again showing that the cast the the characters
00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:56.980
in this show go through really hard things like
00:18:56.980 --> 00:18:59.680
one of their members dying of an overdose and
00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:06.440
that's really hard yeah um i love just oh i can't
00:19:06.440 --> 00:19:09.839
forget to mention adam um character of adam let's
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:13.519
see if i can say his name um william fitchner
00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:18.319
fitchner yeah um playing bonnie's fiance and
00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:20.559
I think they eventually get married. I can't
00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:22.740
remember. I think he's like a forever fiance.
00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:26.279
I'm not. Anyway, he does a fantastic job, too,
00:19:26.339 --> 00:19:28.559
playing his role. So I just wanted to point out,
00:19:28.579 --> 00:19:31.559
these people, like, this might have been a sitcom
00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:36.079
that slipped by. You didn't see it. Like, I didn't
00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:38.680
see it when it first came out. So definitely
00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:41.599
go watch it. It's worth it. I think the legacy
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.240
of Mom is radical honesty with a laugh track.
00:19:47.579 --> 00:19:49.400
Because you mentioned it. We saw people die.
00:19:49.539 --> 00:19:51.940
We saw people relapse. We saw people lose their
00:19:51.940 --> 00:19:58.680
homes. Custody battles. And forgiveness wasn't
00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:00.400
even guaranteed just because you said you were
00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.200
sorry, which most sitcoms, it's like, oh, roll
00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:05.339
to the next episode. So they didn't do all that.
00:20:05.460 --> 00:20:09.859
They gave you gritty. They gave you real. There's
00:20:09.859 --> 00:20:11.400
people who are going through stuff like this.
00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.400
They're closer to you than you think they are.
00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:19.119
How about that? Yeah. Yeah. It could be anybody.
00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:22.440
A lot of high functioning addiction happening
00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:25.099
in our world. And so to have compassion for people
00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:29.200
who are trying really hard and knowing that relapses
00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:32.759
are almost inevitable and that there is just
00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:34.859
always another chance to get back up on track.
00:20:34.940 --> 00:20:37.660
It's always day one again, and that's okay. The
00:20:37.660 --> 00:20:39.740
show kind of shows that journey. I love that.
00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:42.759
And I hope people find hope if you are struggling.
00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:46.299
I also want to mention that it stripped away
00:20:46.299 --> 00:20:51.180
the traditional preachy television episode stuff,
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:53.599
too. It didn't really do that to you. So you
00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:56.559
learn lessons and you get to choose which way
00:20:56.559 --> 00:20:58.559
to go. They're not telling you. They're not laying
00:20:58.559 --> 00:21:01.019
out a blueprint. It's just like, hey, this is
00:21:01.019 --> 00:21:05.740
how we do things. But I enjoy the show. I will
00:21:05.740 --> 00:21:09.299
watch more of it. I hope others will, too, because
00:21:09.299 --> 00:21:12.000
you should give it a chance. It's up there. It's
00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.859
up there in sitcom world, and there's a lot of
00:21:13.859 --> 00:21:16.180
sitcoms out there. So if you're a fan of sitcoms,
00:21:16.180 --> 00:21:19.000
go watch it. Freaks out there, tell me some other
00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:23.180
sitcoms that if I haven't seen Mom, I definitely
00:21:23.180 --> 00:21:26.000
haven't seen. What else are we missing? Yeah,
00:21:26.039 --> 00:21:27.819
what are we missing? Tell us what we're missing.
00:21:28.220 --> 00:21:30.819
But that's going to do it for this episode of
00:21:30.819 --> 00:21:32.940
Parallel Frequencies. I am Just Blaine. She is
00:21:32.940 --> 00:21:35.240
Coco. You are the freaks, and we will see you
00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:36.599
on the other side. I don't know.