# 9021CO-Host: It's Carol Potter!

An episode of [90210MG](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1534142827), 18 Sep 2026, 59 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/a8ca3ab7-becf-4274-8ca0-ae2800532570/cd34932f-7418-4f5d-8c16-b4c900812fce/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=0932b8be-71b5-4418-b1ee-ae280053257a

Our favorite TV mom 'Cindy Walsh' brings her Walsh wisdom as co-host of the Season 8 finale. Let's just say, Mrs. Walsh understood the assignment! Find out what Carol Potter caught the cast doing, how she perceived their behind-the-scenes dynamic, and the subject matter she says the writers wouldn't touch with a "ten foot pole!" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: It's 9021OMG with Jenny Garth and friends. You guys, today
[0:10] Speaker 1: you are here at 9021OMG and I'm so excited. Not
[0:16] Speaker 1: only is this the final episode or episodes, part one
[0:22] Speaker 1: and part two, of the eighth season. It's been such
[0:26] Speaker 1: a marathon. But as promised, this is not just me,
[0:31] Speaker 1: but I have friends joining me. And today I have
[0:34] Speaker 1: a very fun friend coming in to recap this two-part episode.
[0:40] Speaker 1: Get ready to hear from Carol Potter. You know her
[0:45] Speaker 1: as Cindy Walsh, the one and only. Hello.
[0:50] Speaker 2: Hi.
[0:51] Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness. You're here. This is so great. Everybody
[0:54] Speaker 1: was so excited. Everybody was guessing who was going to
[0:57] Speaker 1: come on. And it's so good because I feel like
[1:01] Speaker 1: I'm going to recap this with my almost mother-in-law.
[1:06] Speaker 2: That's right.
[1:09] Speaker 1: Oh, Carol. Carol, you look beautiful, by the way.
[1:12] Speaker 2: Thank you. I return the compliment, Kelly. You look gorgeous.
[1:17] Speaker 1: You just call me Kelly, Mom.
[1:22] Speaker 2: And how many times did I call you Jenny on camera?
[1:25] Speaker 1: All the time.
[1:27] Speaker 2: Often.
[1:28] Speaker 1: So often.
[1:29] Speaker 2: I've decided that. You know, the two names are very similar.
[1:32] Speaker 2: J and K are right next to each other in
[1:34] Speaker 2: the alphabet. Yes, this is true. You've got this short
[1:36] Speaker 2: E and the long Y at the end, and then
[1:40] Speaker 2: an N and an L. They're practically next to each other, too,
[1:44] Speaker 2: and the tip of the tongue.
[1:45] Speaker 1: It's easy to do, but I always have to point
[1:49] Speaker 1: it out when someone calls me Kelly because I just
[1:52] Speaker 1: think it's hilarious.
[1:53] Speaker 2: It is hilarious.
[1:55] Speaker 1: Especially you.
[1:55] Speaker 2: It's hilarious. Tells you how I often got confused, okay,
[2:00] Speaker 2: which name is which? You know, what's their character name
[2:04] Speaker 2: and what's their real name? I don't know.
[2:06] Speaker 1: Trust me, I get it. I never can remember which
[2:10] Speaker 1: kid I'm talking to or which dog I'm yelling at.
[2:12] Speaker 1: So I understand.
[2:13] Speaker 2: The number of times I call my grandson by my
[2:15] Speaker 2: son's name shall not be mentioned.
[2:20] Speaker 1: Well, we are going to get into... Season eight, episodes
[2:23] Speaker 1: 31 and 32, The Wedding, part one and two. And
[2:28] Speaker 1: I'm very excited. This aired in May of 1998, May
[2:33] Speaker 1: 20th of 1998. And I'm going to give you a
[2:35] Speaker 1: little synopsis so we can jump in. Okay.
[2:39] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[2:39] Speaker 1: Kelly and Brandon prepare to tie the knot after years
[2:43] Speaker 1: of dating, but they both start to feel like the
[2:46] Speaker 1: passion is fading. Cindy and Jim fly in for the matrimony.
[2:51] Speaker 1: At least they didn't have to pay for the canceled ceremony. Jacob,
[2:55] Speaker 1: the caterer, wants to cook more than just food. Noah
[2:59] Speaker 1: doesn't want Donna with this dorky dude. Steve is being
[3:03] Speaker 1: played by a married girl named Sarah. Valerie's health scare
[3:07] Speaker 1: makes her regret her mean girl era. Directed by Harry
[3:13] Speaker 1: Harris and written by John Eisendrath, Laurie McCarthy, Doug Steinberg,
[3:18] Speaker 1: and Elle Triedman.
[3:20] Speaker 2: Whew!
[3:21] Speaker 1: We're ready. I'm so excited because, Carol, we've all suffered
[3:26] Speaker 1: through season eight here at OMG. Season eight is not
[3:30] Speaker 1: only really long. I mean, it felt longer than the
[3:33] Speaker 1: other ones of the same number count, but it just
[3:36] Speaker 1: was all over the place. And it's been hard. I'm
[3:41] Speaker 1: not going to lie. There is so much happening. So
[3:46] Speaker 1: much happening.
[3:47] Speaker 2: In this two-parter. I just couldn't get over it. I
[3:51] Speaker 2: had no idea all this stuff was going on.
[3:53] Speaker 1: I know, right? Because when you were making the show,
[3:55] Speaker 1: were you more like me where you kind of read
[3:57] Speaker 1: your stuff, your scenes?
[4:00] Speaker 2: I would glance through it, but I didn't retain any
[4:04] Speaker 2: of it. And frankly, I can barely remember the things
[4:07] Speaker 2: I did. I love you. I don't remember wearing that. Oh,
[4:12] Speaker 2: my God.
[4:12] Speaker 1: I'm so happy to hear you say that because it's
[4:14] Speaker 1: all like foggy for me, too. It was a lot.
[4:18] Speaker 1: We're expected to remember every scene of every episode of
[4:22] Speaker 1: 10 years. So I'm glad that you have the same problem.
[4:25] Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. And I have to say, I don't know
[4:29] Speaker 2: what possessed these parents to name their children Brenda and Brandon.
[4:34] Speaker 2: The number of times I said, Brendan and Branda. No,
[4:39] Speaker 2: that's not right.
[4:43] Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember you struggling with the names a lot.
[4:51] Speaker 1: But that was just fun. That was fun. I am
[4:55] Speaker 1: excited because James, Jim, sorry. Sorry, Jim. James Eckhouse, Jim,
[5:01] Speaker 1: as we all know him. And Cindy, come home from
[5:04] Speaker 1: there forever. You've been away forever. Nobody's heard from you.
[5:09] Speaker 1: Nobody talks about you. But Brandon's getting married, so obviously
[5:13] Speaker 1: you're coming home.
[5:14] Speaker 2: Yes. And you're all living in my house, aren't you?
[5:19] Speaker 1: Is that weird? Would that have happened?
[5:23] Speaker 2: Now think about it, Jenny. You're an adult now. If
[5:27] Speaker 2: you had a mansion in Beverly Hills and you had
[5:30] Speaker 2: to leave, would you let your college-age children live there?
[5:34] Speaker 1: No.
[5:36] Speaker 2: Although I have to say my sister-in-law, Let her son
[5:39] Speaker 2: live in her house when she had moved into another area.
[5:43] Speaker 1: It's very generous of you and Jimbo.
[5:46] Speaker 2: Yes, it is. It is. I think they wanted to
[5:49] Speaker 2: keep kind of the context of the parents without their
[5:53] Speaker 2: actual presence. Right. That sort of now they're on their own,
[5:58] Speaker 2: but they're still in the family home. So it's still
[6:01] Speaker 2: sort of warm and cozy. Yeah.
[6:02] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[6:03] Speaker 2: It is.
[6:04] Speaker 1: It makes it familiar for everyone.
[6:06] Speaker 2: Yes.
[6:08] Speaker 1: Because that house was everything.
[6:10] Speaker 2: God, that set was so fabulous.
[6:13] Speaker 1: So beautifully done. And you know, the house, the actual house,
[6:18] Speaker 1: was saved from the fires. I don't know if it
[6:22] Speaker 1: was the fire department saving it or if it was
[6:24] Speaker 1: just the universe saving it. In so many people's minds,
[6:28] Speaker 1: that house means so much, especially the exterior.
[6:31] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[6:32] Speaker 1: So people are still able to go visit it and
[6:34] Speaker 1: take their pictures in front of it. Thank God.
[6:37] Speaker 2: So crazy. And now Luke's was right down the street.
[6:40] Speaker 2: I mean, Dylan's was right down the street. Do you
[6:44] Speaker 2: know if that survived? That was a beautiful little... Craftsman. Craftsman, yeah.
[6:49] Speaker 1: No, I don't know.
[6:51] Speaker 2: Oh, that whole episode. So devastating, those fires.
[6:56] Speaker 1: Yes, yes. Why don't we... jump into the recap, okay?
[7:03] Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
[7:05] Speaker 1: I mean, let's just start with the biggest... I'm going
[7:09] Speaker 1: to get worked up about this because I didn't like it.
[7:13] Speaker 1: I'm just going to go out and say it. I mean,
[7:15] Speaker 1: I loved the whole episode, but I didn't like the outcome.
[7:18] Speaker 1: I didn't like that Kelly and Brandon almost got married.
[7:24] Speaker 1: I was so let down.
[7:25] Speaker 2: Did you want them to actually get married or... Not
[7:28] Speaker 2: to even walk down that path.
[7:32] Speaker 1: As a viewer and a super fan, I wanted them
[7:36] Speaker 1: to get married.
[7:37] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[7:38] Speaker 1: I think if you were Team Kelly Brandon, you were
[7:42] Speaker 1: disappointed here. Do you think that people were disappointed, like
[7:45] Speaker 1: the fans?
[7:49] Speaker 2: I suppose, yes. And yet, I'm hoping that they also
[7:55] Speaker 2: recognized that, these guys were still really young.
[7:59] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[8:01] Speaker 2: And I mean, I was sort of surprised to see
[8:03] Speaker 2: it characterized as the passion had left. Yeah. My sense
[8:09] Speaker 2: of it more was, I'm not sure I'm ready for
[8:12] Speaker 2: this step. Exactly. Which is a different thing.
[8:16] Speaker 1: It's a very different thing because I don't think, I
[8:18] Speaker 1: think that Kelly and Brandon had amazing chemistry and young love, passion,
[8:24] Speaker 1: and they were fun together and they laughed and You know,
[8:28] Speaker 1: over the course of their relationship, there were certainly ups
[8:33] Speaker 1: and downs and dramatic moments and reconciliation and all of it.
[8:37] Speaker 1: But I just felt like we had been through so
[8:40] Speaker 1: much with these two characters that we wanted that payoff.
[8:43] Speaker 1: But maybe I'm wrong. Let me hear from you guys.
[8:46] Speaker 1: If you were happy that Brandon and Kelly didn't get married,
[8:50] Speaker 1: I want to know why. So it's the week of
[8:54] Speaker 1: the wedding. Kelly is basically handed over the wedding planning
[8:57] Speaker 1: to Donna. God bless her.
[8:59] Speaker 2: Of course.
[8:59] Speaker 1: Perfect.
[9:00] Speaker 2: Who else?
[9:01] Speaker 1: Yeah. And you feel the excitement in the air. David
[9:08] Speaker 1: is putting together a wedding video for, I guess, the reception,
[9:13] Speaker 1: but we never get to see it, which I was
[9:15] Speaker 1: bummed about. Maybe as the credits rolled, they should have
[9:18] Speaker 1: played the video that he made.
[9:22] Speaker 2: Good idea. Yeah. Or the outtake from the video.
[9:25] Speaker 1: Yeah, because I'm sure there were plenty. But you offered
[9:31] Speaker 1: to pay for the wedding. How does this even work
[9:34] Speaker 1: these days? Is it still the tradition of the mother
[9:38] Speaker 1: of the bride, her parents pay for the wedding? I
[9:44] Speaker 1: got to know because I just have a daughter that
[9:46] Speaker 1: got engaged yesterday.
[9:49] Speaker 2: I'm a little out of touch with this level. You are.
[9:52] Speaker 1: It's been a minute.
[9:53] Speaker 2: But I paid for my son's wedding, mostly. I mean,
[9:57] Speaker 2: yeah his her parents threw a big party on the
[10:00] Speaker 2: east coast where most of the relatives lived and I
[10:03] Speaker 2: sort of footed the bill here and his um his
[10:07] Speaker 2: uncle actually paid for the dinner the wedding dinner but
[10:12] Speaker 2: I had a rehearsal dinner and I paid for the
[10:15] Speaker 2: wedding at the wedding reception and.
[10:19] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[10:19] Speaker 2: Okay.
[10:19] Speaker 1: So I just don't know where these two, I mean,
[10:22] Speaker 1: Kelly works for charity.
[10:26] Speaker 2: I don't know.
[10:26] Speaker 1: I mean, her family has money, but I don't know
[10:30] Speaker 1: where Brandon's getting his money because he's just, you know,
[10:34] Speaker 1: at the newspaper. I'm not sure he's making, I don't know.
[10:37] Speaker 1: It seemed like very extravagant for them to pay for
[10:41] Speaker 1: this wedding by themselves.
[10:42] Speaker 2: Their own wedding.
[10:43] Speaker 1: As I was watching it.
[10:44] Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I had two weddings and my dad paid
[10:46] Speaker 2: for both.
[10:48] Speaker 1: Thanks, Dad. I like that.
[10:51] Speaker 2: He was a doll.
[10:52] Speaker 1: I think it just really comes to like, who's got
[10:55] Speaker 1: the money?
[10:56] Speaker 2: Who's got the money?
[10:56] Speaker 1: Who can help? Who can afford? What can you participate?
[11:00] Speaker 1: What you can contribute? And it all kind of comes together.
[11:04] Speaker 2: I also know young people who really want to do
[11:07] Speaker 2: it that way. They want to pay for it themselves.
[11:10] Speaker 2: They want it to be fully their own creation.
[11:14] Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to keep that in the back of
[11:16] Speaker 1: my mind. As, you know, the mom part wants to
[11:19] Speaker 1: plan their whole wedding. But I'll let you know how
[11:23] Speaker 1: that goes, guys.
[11:24] Speaker 2: How old are your kids?
[11:25] Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness. Luca, the one who's newly engaged, is 29.
[11:29] Speaker 1: So she's not anywhere near Brandon and Kelly's age. Because
[11:36] Speaker 1: they've got to be, what, 22, 23? Yeah. I don't know.
[11:38] Speaker 1: You really nailed it. Because it's not like the passion
[11:46] Speaker 1: wasn't there, which is kind of how it sounded. It
[11:49] Speaker 1: was as if they were both like, ooh, I don't know,
[11:52] Speaker 1: this is such a big commitment, and I don't.
[11:54] Speaker 2: Think I'm ready. And they don't really know what they're
[11:57] Speaker 2: doing with their lives yet. Right. It's hard to sort
[12:01] Speaker 2: of commit to the person. Although, I have to say,
[12:04] Speaker 2: when my son met his wife, I said to him,
[12:10] Speaker 2: you know, if you find the right partner, That's 50%
[12:15] Speaker 2: of your life that you've got right. And he did
[12:19] Speaker 2: get it right, so I'm very grateful.
[12:21] Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. So grateful. I mean, because you don't know.
[12:25] Speaker 1: I mean, you don't really know someone for a really
[12:28] Speaker 1: long time.
[12:29] Speaker 2: I have to live with them for five years is
[12:31] Speaker 2: what I say. 24-7. Yeah.
[12:36] Speaker 1: But along the journey, this whole week-long journey up to
[12:40] Speaker 1: the wedding... Kelly and Brandon keep getting faced with these
[12:43] Speaker 1: moments of like reality and like her parents not getting along,
[12:49] Speaker 1: which I thought was pretty shitty of them, honestly, to
[12:53] Speaker 1: have this dinner, this lunch with Brandon and Kelly and
[12:56] Speaker 1: just be so like angry at one another.
[12:59] Speaker 2: Well, they haven't worked through their shit yet.
[13:02] Speaker 1: No, I guess not. They need you.
[13:03] Speaker 2: That's right.
[13:06] Speaker 1: They need some therapy from Carol Potter.
[13:08] Speaker 2: There you go.
[13:08] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[13:10] Speaker 2: But I'm retired.
[13:12] Speaker 1: I'm sure you can still give some good advice. We'll
[13:16] Speaker 1: talk later, by the way.
[13:18] Speaker 2: Especially with characters on a TV show.
[13:21] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not real.
[13:24] Speaker 2: Perfect.
[13:25] Speaker 1: But I just felt like, and then, you know, this
[13:27] Speaker 1: whole Steve storyline, being so obsessed with this new girl
[13:33] Speaker 1: in his life, this new Sarah.
[13:34] Speaker 2: Yeah. That wasn't the first time we'd seen her, was it?
[13:37] Speaker 1: No, it's like the second, I want to say, or third, maybe.
[13:41] Speaker 1: Nothing fleshed out in that relationship other than, yeah, she
[13:45] Speaker 1: is married. So that's not really sounding good for Steve,
[13:51] Speaker 1: and it just, you know. But there's just stress in
[13:54] Speaker 1: this episode. There's stress about the wedding. There's stress about
[13:58] Speaker 1: HIV and Val. It's a really big thing. episode. And
[14:03] Speaker 1: then Steve just acting like, you know, a little man child,
[14:07] Speaker 1: thinking that this woman is going to leave her husband,
[14:10] Speaker 1: even though she said she was going to.
[14:12] Speaker 2: Yes.
[14:13] Speaker 1: But that's, that's just a red flag nobody can ignore.
[14:16] Speaker 2: Right. Well, and I thought it was interesting that it,
[14:20] Speaker 2: it was the male who was experiencing this, because how
[14:23] Speaker 2: many stories have we heard about women getting involved with
[14:26] Speaker 2: married men, convinced they're going to leave their wives. And
[14:30] Speaker 2: of course they don't. The affair actually often stabilizes the marriage.
[14:46] Speaker 1: What did you think about the balance overall? Was the
[14:48] Speaker 1: wedding and then the other big storyline of AIDS education,
[14:55] Speaker 1: which was a very important topic at the time as
[14:58] Speaker 1: still is. But like at that moment, it was everything,
[15:01] Speaker 1: you know, everybody was being, you know, learning to use condoms,
[15:05] Speaker 1: learning how to have safe sex in the nineties because
[15:08] Speaker 1: of this huge AIDS, you know, HIV AIDS outbreak that
[15:12] Speaker 1: was happening.
[15:13] Speaker 2: Yeah. I loved that they had that huge billboard in
[15:17] Speaker 2: the background of the scene where they're up on the
[15:19] Speaker 2: rooftop and it was a bunch of women and, which
[15:23] Speaker 2: of these women should get an AIDS test? And they said,
[15:26] Speaker 2: all of them. And I thought that was a beautiful
[15:30] Speaker 2: piece of connecting to the larger culture. They always did
[15:36] Speaker 2: a very good job, I think, of connecting with the
[15:39] Speaker 2: issues that were affecting young people.
[15:42] Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree. I mean, it was super convenient that
[15:46] Speaker 1: the billboard just happened to be behind Val in that scene.
[15:51] Speaker 1: But that's TV, people.
[15:54] Speaker 2: That's called location management.
[15:56] Speaker 1: Yeah, somebody did a great job with that. I just
[15:59] Speaker 1: felt like it was odd to have this exciting big
[16:04] Speaker 1: wedding that everybody's been waiting for and then to have
[16:06] Speaker 1: that storyline.
[16:07] Speaker 2: Of deep, dark underbelly.
[16:09] Speaker 1: Yeah, fear and Just that, you know, that it was
[16:14] Speaker 1: so tense.
[16:16] Speaker 2: It made for a very emotional episode. I mean, you
[16:20] Speaker 2: had that wonderfully couple of wonderfully tender episodes with Annie Gillespie,
[16:26] Speaker 2: your mom. And and then we had, you know, Val
[16:31] Speaker 2: breaking down because she's so afraid about that. She's got
[16:35] Speaker 2: she's going to get AIDS. And so you really had
[16:38] Speaker 2: the highs and the lows there.
[16:40] Speaker 1: And you had Donna almost getting run over by a
[16:42] Speaker 1: truck in your driveway.
[16:46] Speaker 2: An almost huge accident.
[16:51] Speaker 1: I did not see that coming. And I had no
[16:54] Speaker 1: idea that was going to happen. But, you know, that
[16:56] Speaker 1: guy saved her, so everything was okay. Right. The guy
[16:59] Speaker 1: that was always wearing his chef jacket, even when he
[17:03] Speaker 1: wasn't chefing.
[17:06] Speaker 2: Maybe they wanted to make sure you remembered who he was. Right.
[17:10] Speaker 1: It helped. Thank you for that, guys. I just felt
[17:15] Speaker 1: like the whole episode was really leading us toward, as viewers,
[17:24] Speaker 1: get excited, but look, they're both really struggling with cold
[17:28] Speaker 1: feet and questions and uncertainty. And I did love seeing
[17:34] Speaker 1: the other cast members sort of supporting them Yes, and
[17:40] Speaker 1: Jackie was ultimately there for Kelly and was really, you know,
[17:46] Speaker 1: sort of guiding her to ask herself those tough questions
[17:50] Speaker 1: so that she didn't do something just because she had
[17:54] Speaker 1: said yes to the engagement. And then there was even
[17:58] Speaker 1: Janet in the newspaper office was showing Brandon the obituaries
[18:04] Speaker 1: for a reason so that he could see that didn't
[18:08] Speaker 1: really matter what accomplishments these people had had during their lives.
[18:13] Speaker 1: It was really about the family that they had formed
[18:17] Speaker 1: and then had left behind at the end of the day. Yeah.
[18:22] Speaker 1: I thought that was really neat.
[18:23] Speaker 2: And I mean, it was interesting that that turned him
[18:28] Speaker 2: away from the marriage rather than turning him toward it.
[18:33] Speaker 2: I mean, I guess it made it realize that I
[18:36] Speaker 2: think there was a lot of emphasis on the forever thing, right?
[18:43] Speaker 2: There was that eternity ring that was like too much. Yeah.
[18:49] Speaker 2: And I think the idea, oh, my God, this is
[18:51] Speaker 2: the person I'm going to be with until I die.
[18:53] Speaker 2: It's a long time. Scary.
[18:56] Speaker 1: That's a really scary way to go into marriage. I mean,
[18:58] Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, traditionally speaking, that's how it happens. And that's,
[19:03] Speaker 1: I guess, how, I mean, I don't know. It feels
[19:07] Speaker 1: so little house on the prairie to me or something,
[19:12] Speaker 1: you know, to just think like, I mean, I guess
[19:18] Speaker 1: you shouldn't really be getting married if you're not thinking
[19:20] Speaker 1: that way, probably. Here's the thing, though. I never really
[19:24] Speaker 1: thought that way in any of my marriages. I needed
[19:29] Speaker 1: some guidance from 90210 because I never thought, oh, my God,
[19:33] Speaker 1: this is forever. And I thought that after I got married.
[19:43] Speaker 1: And that's when you're like, oh, no. I don't know
[19:48] Speaker 1: if I can do this forever. but I guess it's
[19:51] Speaker 1: about finding that one person that you know you can
[19:53] Speaker 1: grow with through all the highs and lows of life
[19:57] Speaker 1: and then ultimately be with at the end of the
[19:59] Speaker 1: day in the best case.
[20:01] Speaker 2: Scenario right and that's hard to know I mean it
[20:05] Speaker 2: just really is hard to know But we're all looking
[20:09] Speaker 2: for somebody to walk us home.
[20:11] Speaker 1: I know. It's true. So Brandon and Kelly visit the Reverend,
[20:18] Speaker 1: played by James Caron.
[20:20] Speaker 2: James Caron.
[20:21] Speaker 1: Who, what a body of work.
[20:24] Speaker 2: He has a real workhorse.
[20:26] Speaker 1: He has, you know, his career.
[20:28] Speaker 2: Wow. Yes.
[20:30] Speaker 1: I mean, we know him from Eight is Enough and Cheers.
[20:34] Speaker 2: He was.
[20:36] Speaker 1: He was in Poltergeist, Wall Street. He's like that face.
[20:40] Speaker 1: You're like, I know that face.
[20:42] Speaker 2: Yes. He shows up in everything. So it was fun
[20:47] Speaker 2: to see him in this role. Yeah.
[20:48] Speaker 1: It was also fun to be at the mall with
[20:50] Speaker 1: the characters. I don't know what mall that was. I mean,
[20:56] Speaker 1: I think it says in our research here that that
[20:59] Speaker 1: was the Westfield Promenade. So in Woodland Hills.
[21:04] Speaker 2: Yes.
[21:05] Speaker 1: The Westfield Mall in Woodland Hills. But I don't remember it.
[21:10] Speaker 1: The Westfield Malls all kind of look alike. Yeah. I
[21:14] Speaker 1: was just in London and I ended up at a
[21:17] Speaker 1: Westfield Mall in London. I was like, I don't want
[21:20] Speaker 1: to be here. I can do this in America. Yeah. But,
[21:27] Speaker 1: you know, and along the way, we're just seeing like problems,
[21:31] Speaker 1: like little red flags, even with the music selection.
[21:34] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[21:35] Speaker 1: You know, they have different opinions about that. They have
[21:38] Speaker 1: different opinions about the vows. And should they be poetic?
[21:41] Speaker 1: Should they be heartfelt?
[21:43] Speaker 2: They're not communicating with each other.
[21:45] Speaker 1: Right.
[21:46] Speaker 2: With the vows, right. Oh, I came up with this
[21:48] Speaker 2: wonderful thing. And the other person's going, I don't get it. Yeah.
[21:53] Speaker 2: I mean, just, I don't get it. With that, I
[21:56] Speaker 2: think tells you a lot that their heads are really
[21:59] Speaker 2: not in the same place about this thing.
[22:02] Speaker 1: Right. That scene at the peach pit when he reads
[22:05] Speaker 1: her the vows that he's prepared. And they're all about
[22:09] Speaker 1: how great she is.
[22:10] Speaker 2: She is.
[22:12] Speaker 1: And Kelly was very brave in that moment. And I
[22:15] Speaker 1: thought that was beautiful communication for her to say. I'm
[22:19] Speaker 1: going to say something that's honest. And I hope that
[22:23] Speaker 1: this goes over well. But she tells him that that
[22:26] Speaker 1: doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like you're talking about
[22:28] Speaker 1: why you love me or how you feel about me.
[22:33] Speaker 2: Yes.
[22:33] Speaker 1: Which is important, I think, in a vow.
[22:36] Speaker 2: Which is most important. You know, she doesn't want him
[22:39] Speaker 2: to marry her because she's this great person, but because
[22:44] Speaker 2: he's decided he wants to be with this person, that
[22:48] Speaker 2: his life is not complete without this person.
[22:52] Speaker 1: And she was like, I think she asked Donna, does
[22:55] Speaker 1: Noah snore? it's true because once you start thinking about
[23:01] Speaker 1: all the little things then you really start to freak
[23:03] Speaker 1: out yes oh you're gonna be laying next to somebody
[23:07] Speaker 1: that snores like a i don't even know what that
[23:11] Speaker 1: sounded like i know the snore sound um and it's
[23:17] Speaker 1: hard you're like am i that can i sleep next
[23:19] Speaker 1: to that forever.
[23:23] Speaker 2: Or are we even worse? Are we going to have
[23:25] Speaker 2: to have separate rooms?
[23:28] Speaker 1: Or are you going to end up wearing one of
[23:29] Speaker 1: those snuffleupagus machines?
[23:31] Speaker 2: CPAP. Like a CPAP?
[23:34] Speaker 1: I always think about that, honestly, because my mom has
[23:37] Speaker 1: a CPAP and I don't want a CPAP. I don't
[23:42] Speaker 1: want to see my husband in one either, but it
[23:45] Speaker 1: happens as we get older. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I
[23:48] Speaker 1: don't want my husband to die in his sleep, so
[23:50] Speaker 1: wear a CPAP, but Yeah, exactly. Oh, man. It all
[23:56] Speaker 1: just kind of like sets you up for what ultimately
[23:59] Speaker 1: happens when they see each other right before they go
[24:03] Speaker 1: out for their wedding.
[24:04] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[24:06] Speaker 1: And they decide mutually.
[24:09] Speaker 2: And they somehow pick up from each other. I mean,
[24:12] Speaker 2: I think it's interesting that that's the place where they
[24:16] Speaker 2: recognize they're in the same place. Not about getting married,
[24:20] Speaker 2: but about... Maybe this isn't the right thing.
[24:24] Speaker 1: Yeah. I was real sad.
[24:25] Speaker 2: Because they're kind of best friends, aren't they?
[24:27] Speaker 1: They really are. And that's what they should be going into,
[24:32] Speaker 1: you know, holy matrimony. But, oh, man, I was disappointed.
[24:39] Speaker 2: I totally get it. There is something about a wedding.
[24:43] Speaker 2: It's a reason why a lot of shows, you know,
[24:46] Speaker 2: use weddings. It brings everybody together. We all love weddings,
[24:50] Speaker 2: don't we?
[24:51] Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
[24:52] Speaker 2: It's the divorces we're not so fond of.
[24:54] Speaker 1: It's everyday life.
[24:56] Speaker 2: It's everyday life.
[24:57] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[24:58] Speaker 2: Exactly. And as you say, it's those little things that
[25:01] Speaker 2: just drive you around the bend.
[25:04] Speaker 1: I always remember someone told me it's 80-20. Like if
[25:08] Speaker 1: you're 80% happy in a relationship, you're doing great.
[25:14] Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. Yes. Yeah.
[25:18] Speaker 1: I think they could have been happy. I'm not going
[25:19] Speaker 1: to lie. I think they could have been great.
[25:21] Speaker 2: I think he could have been happy, but they might've,
[25:24] Speaker 2: you know, they might've come to the place where it said,
[25:26] Speaker 2: I feel like I did this too young.
[25:28] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[25:29] Speaker 2: You know, I mean, that's what I took from it.
[25:33] Speaker 2: It was less about that. Well, the passion's fading. Well,
[25:36] Speaker 2: welcome to reality about, I don't think I'm ready to
[25:42] Speaker 2: make this big commitment. I'm still in my early twenties.
[25:47] Speaker 2: I mean, I didn't get married until I was 37. Oh, really?
[25:52] Speaker 2: I didn't have any cold feet at all. My feet
[25:56] Speaker 2: were red hot. I was running down the aisle. Oh,
[26:00] Speaker 2: my God.
[26:00] Speaker 1: This goes to show you how clueless we were as
[26:03] Speaker 1: young people. What was going on with the older people
[26:07] Speaker 1: on the show's lives?
[26:10] Speaker 2: Well, I feel the same way about the younger people.
[26:13] Speaker 2: I had no idea what was going on.
[26:15] Speaker 1: And now I don't feel so bad. Thank you.
[26:18] Speaker 2: Well, and of course, some of your exploits were documented
[26:25] Speaker 2: in the media.
[26:25] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[26:27] Speaker 2: But I, you know, I wasn't really plugged into that media.
[26:31] Speaker 2: You know, James and I both had little kids at home.
[26:34] Speaker 1: And just the, we, I, I'll speak only for myself.
[26:38] Speaker 1: I never even thought about your kids. Like I didn't
[26:41] Speaker 1: have the capacity. To think about what's Carol's life like
[26:45] Speaker 1: when she goes home? Jim's a dad. How old are
[26:48] Speaker 1: his kids? Like, I didn't have the capacity at that
[26:50] Speaker 1: time as a young person to think outside of myself
[26:53] Speaker 1: very far.
[26:54] Speaker 2: Jenny, the fact that you could survive that whole onslaught shows,
[27:00] Speaker 2: I mean, tremendous sense of character. I mean, I'm not
[27:06] Speaker 2: surprised you all didn't go absolutely bonkers.
[27:08] Speaker 1: Right? I think we all ended up pretty well.
[27:12] Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean, yes, of course you weren't thinking about
[27:15] Speaker 2: anybody else. You were like, ah, what's going on? Yeah.
[27:19] Speaker 1: I mean, but it's so interesting to hear, you know,
[27:23] Speaker 1: your perspective of that time.
[27:26] Speaker 2: Well, you know what I know? One thing that I noticed, Jenny,
[27:29] Speaker 2: I'm curious what you think of this. You know, the
[27:32] Speaker 2: second season and sort of farther into the third is
[27:36] Speaker 2: things really blew up. Mm-hmm. The guys got cocky and confident.
[27:41] Speaker 2: They had women throwing themselves. The girls got paranoid and terrified.
[27:48] Speaker 1: More and more insecure.
[27:51] Speaker 2: And I think that, I mean, I think it just speaks,
[27:55] Speaker 2: I feel, like it's back to the misogyny of our culture, right?
[27:59] Speaker 2: You're at risk. He's on top. Of course, the guys
[28:04] Speaker 2: were also a bit older, most of them.
[28:06] Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe a little. They certainly acted older. Yes.
[28:11] Speaker 2: Well, Jason wasn't that much older, but Luke, wasn't he
[28:15] Speaker 2: like 28 when they started?
[28:17] Speaker 1: Oh, gosh. I don't think so. I mean, maybe. No,
[28:20] Speaker 1: because Luke is only, I think he's six years older
[28:24] Speaker 1: than I am.
[28:25] Speaker 2: So not that old.
[28:26] Speaker 1: I could be totally wrong about that.
[28:27] Speaker 2: But still, at six years, at that age, is a
[28:30] Speaker 2: little more than it is, say, at my age. It's meaningless. Yeah.
[28:35] Speaker 1: The age difference is. there's a period in middle life
[28:38] Speaker 1: where the age difference is not that defining, but then
[28:40] Speaker 1: when you get older, it becomes more defining. Like if
[28:44] Speaker 1: you're in a relationship with somebody that's older or younger.
[28:46] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[28:48] Speaker 1: But there's that sweet spot in the middle where it
[28:49] Speaker 1: doesn't matter.
[28:51] Speaker 2: Right. At any rate, I thought that was, and was
[28:55] Speaker 2: that your experience too, that the guys sort of, it
[28:59] Speaker 2: empowered them in a certain way and the young women
[29:02] Speaker 2: were all sort of like freaked out?
[29:05] Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that the guys got whatever, you know,
[29:10] Speaker 1: they wanted and all the, you know, fandemonium, that attention.
[29:17] Speaker 1: And the girls got that too, to a certain degree,
[29:21] Speaker 1: but it just became this very competitive world of, you know,
[29:29] Speaker 1: staying on the show, especially as so many beautiful women
[29:35] Speaker 1: and actresses would come in and out every week. You know,
[29:39] Speaker 1: it was, it was, there was no security in the,
[29:42] Speaker 1: in that 10 years for sure.
[29:43] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[29:44] Speaker 1: But I didn't know any difference though.
[29:46] Speaker 2: And a lot of the attention from the outside was
[29:48] Speaker 2: also more menacing. You think? I mean, it's true that,
[29:55] Speaker 2: you know, 90210 was kind of the, training ground for
[29:59] Speaker 2: a lot of people who went on to have huge careers.
[30:02] Speaker 1: Right.
[30:04] Speaker 2: And of course, I didn't meet any of them.
[30:06] Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, when I think about our time, I
[30:19] Speaker 1: remember too, I think we've talked about this, but you
[30:23] Speaker 1: would always eat, I would always see you eating. The
[30:27] Speaker 1: prop food. When they bring out the prop food, like
[30:31] Speaker 1: the tray of food for parties, you would eat the food.
[30:37] Speaker 1: And I was like, you should not eat that food, Carol.
[30:40] Speaker 1: It has got spray on, it's been sitting out. I
[30:44] Speaker 1: guess you were hungry.
[30:44] Speaker 2: Yeah, put food in front of me, and I like
[30:48] Speaker 2: to nibble.
[30:50] Speaker 1: Yeah, you're a nibbler, that is true.
[30:51] Speaker 2: I'm a nibbler.
[30:52] Speaker 1: It always makes me laugh, though, when I think about it.
[30:55] Speaker 2: Well, I guess we all have our little quirks. Yes.
[30:59] Speaker 1: What do you remember, like, about each person, each person
[31:03] Speaker 1: of the main cast? Like, what's your takeaway on your
[31:07] Speaker 1: time with Jason?
[31:09] Speaker 2: Well, for instance, Jason and I never had a scene,
[31:11] Speaker 2: just the two of us, until the seventh season when
[31:15] Speaker 2: I did a guest star role. Wow. Isn't that wild?
[31:20] Speaker 1: Yeah, that mother-son relationship, you know.
[31:23] Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
[31:24] Speaker 1: Yeah. Very close.
[31:26] Speaker 2: Very close. And this is my theory, that the writers
[31:32] Speaker 2: didn't want to touch that with a 10-foot pole because
[31:35] Speaker 2: it brought up their own relationship with their own mothers.
[31:38] Speaker 1: Oh, very interesting indeed.
[31:41] Speaker 2: And, you know, Jason was number one on the call sheet.
[31:44] Speaker 2: So he was like, you know, you were all stars,
[31:47] Speaker 2: but he also was the star. Yep. So he was
[31:52] Speaker 2: like the ringleader of the crown. Right, right. So I
[31:55] Speaker 2: think they didn't like the idea of him submitting himself
[32:00] Speaker 2: to a woman, even if it's his mother and she's
[32:03] Speaker 2: how many years older than he is. You know, because
[32:06] Speaker 2: that diminishes him in some way as the leader of
[32:10] Speaker 2: the pack.
[32:11] Speaker 1: I guess so. But I mean, even just though the
[32:15] Speaker 1: special bond.
[32:16] Speaker 2: The special bond I have with my son is amazing.
[32:20] Speaker 2: It's my best relationship. And I'm so grateful for it. Yeah.
[32:27] Speaker 2: And his family. And for the way that we can.
[32:32] Speaker 2: He tells me what he needs. He tells me when
[32:36] Speaker 2: to leave. Right. You know, we can be honest with
[32:40] Speaker 2: each other. And vulnerable. And still be kind.
[32:44] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so true. I do miss that now that
[32:47] Speaker 1: you mention it. I miss that kind of. real connection
[32:51] Speaker 1: between Cindy and Brandon.
[32:55] Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, Shannon and I did work together, you know,
[32:58] Speaker 2: quite a lot. Right. We had some nice scenes together
[33:02] Speaker 2: and that was, and that was fun. Yes.
[33:04] Speaker 1: They had a great, you know, depiction of mother daughter
[33:08] Speaker 1: dynamics where sometimes it's, you know, got a lot of.
[33:12] Speaker 2: Cindy gets jealous because she, I suspect it was Annie
[33:19] Speaker 2: getting all the attention. I can't remember. It was, I
[33:22] Speaker 2: think it was the mother-daughter thing where we all got
[33:26] Speaker 2: dressed up.
[33:27] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
[33:28] Speaker 2: It was something about I was feeling hurt or left out.
[33:31] Speaker 1: I remember, yeah.
[33:32] Speaker 2: You know.
[33:33] Speaker 1: And then you guys worked it out, and it was
[33:34] Speaker 1: very sweet and meaningful.
[33:36] Speaker 2: Yeah, it was.
[33:37] Speaker 1: It was. Yeah, your relationship with the Brenda character was
[33:40] Speaker 1: much more developed. Very true.
[33:43] Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yours with Annie tended to be
[33:49] Speaker 2: sort of negative.
[33:51] Speaker 1: Yeah, mostly in the beginning more so.
[33:54] Speaker 2: She was very self-involved, which, of course, is not like
[34:01] Speaker 2: Annie as a person at all. No. Do you know
[34:05] Speaker 2: that she grew up in the town next door to
[34:07] Speaker 2: the one I grew up in? Oh, my gosh.
[34:09] Speaker 1: What if you had known each other when you were little?
[34:12] Speaker 2: So the first day I walked into the trailer, there
[34:16] Speaker 2: she is. She says her name, you know, Ann Gillespie.
[34:20] Speaker 2: And I said, oh, the only Gillespie I know of
[34:22] Speaker 2: is that he was the rector of a church in
[34:25] Speaker 2: Englewood that my friends used to go to. And she said, oh,
[34:27] Speaker 2: that's my father.
[34:28] Speaker 1: That's my father.
[34:29] Speaker 2: And I started to think, oh, maybe we knew some people. No,
[34:35] Speaker 2: she's like nine years younger than me. So we didn't
[34:38] Speaker 2: know any of the same people.
[34:40] Speaker 1: That stinks. Oh, my gosh. I mean, it's just, you know,
[34:44] Speaker 1: it's so our memories of one another and are so cherished,
[34:49] Speaker 1: I think, by all of us in that time.
[34:52] Speaker 2: Well, and I have to say my favorite scene was
[34:57] Speaker 2: when we were shooting was the one where we're all
[34:59] Speaker 2: sitting at the table. That's what I remember. I loved
[35:03] Speaker 2: the scenes where everybody came over to the Walsh's house. Yeah. Right.
[35:07] Speaker 2: We had the whole crowd together. That was always really fun.
[35:13] Speaker 1: There were so many dynamics going on at that dining
[35:15] Speaker 1: room table.
[35:17] Speaker 2: You know what I remember is as soon as they
[35:20] Speaker 2: said cut, everybody pulled out their phones.
[35:23] Speaker 1: We had phones?
[35:25] Speaker 2: I remember everybody getting deep into something, like calling their
[35:30] Speaker 2: manager or getting into business. It was like immediately. But
[35:36] Speaker 2: I know, I know, I've thought about that. I said,
[35:40] Speaker 2: How could that be true? It was 98?
[35:42] Speaker 1: Yeah, we didn't have cell phones unless it was like
[35:44] Speaker 1: a brick, like, hello?
[35:46] Speaker 2: Well, I had one of those in 95. I bet
[35:51] Speaker 2: they were a little bit more refined.
[35:54] Speaker 1: Yeah, we had like the flip ones.
[35:56] Speaker 2: Yeah, the flip phones.
[35:58] Speaker 1: I just remember you eating the food, so.
[36:00] Speaker 2: That was probably just because I had something to do.
[36:05] Speaker 1: Right, you were nervous. You had some outlets.
[36:09] Speaker 2: Always. I always got nervous. I never stopped getting nervous.
[36:14] Speaker 1: Oh, I never knew that.
[36:18] Speaker 2: Did you come to a place where you didn't get
[36:21] Speaker 2: nervous or did you think some other people did?
[36:24] Speaker 1: I didn't really think about nerves back then. It was
[36:27] Speaker 1: more of an excitement.
[36:30] Speaker 2: Well, they're very closely aligned.
[36:31] Speaker 1: Yes. And also more of like, am I good enough
[36:35] Speaker 1: to do this scene or am I doing a good job?
[36:38] Speaker 2: Oh.
[36:39] Speaker 1: Not really knowing your worth, you know?
[36:42] Speaker 2: You did such a beautiful job.
[36:43] Speaker 1: Oh, thank you.
[36:44] Speaker 2: That's a beautiful job.
[36:45] Speaker 1: It was just a great ensemble. Everybody did their part
[36:49] Speaker 1: so well. So well. Let's talk about the other storylines, though,
[36:52] Speaker 1: because the whole thing with Val.
[36:55] Speaker 2: The whole thing with Val. What, you know, I think
[36:59] Speaker 2: one of the interesting things about Val, I always loved
[37:03] Speaker 2: doing scenes with Tiffany. She was great fun to work with.
[37:07] Speaker 2: And as Cindy, it's like I'm completely oblivious to this
[37:11] Speaker 2: mean girl thing she's doing with everybody.
[37:14] Speaker 1: Yeah, she had you bamboozled. Oh, totally.
[37:19] Speaker 2: I love that. I mean, because, you know, parents, we
[37:23] Speaker 2: can only see so far.
[37:25] Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, you only see what you see.
[37:28] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right.
[37:29] Speaker 1: And you didn't see any of her shenanigans.
[37:31] Speaker 2: No, and she was always so sweet to me. And
[37:34] Speaker 2: you think, oh, what a nice child.
[37:36] Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember just that. But it felt, as I
[37:38] Speaker 1: was watching, I remember it just kind of felt that
[37:40] Speaker 1: she was so phony with you. And I felt bad
[37:45] Speaker 1: for Carol that she didn't, I mean, for Cindy that
[37:47] Speaker 1: she didn't.
[37:48] Speaker 2: Forget it.
[37:49] Speaker 1: Yeah, she couldn't see past, couldn't see the reality of it.
[37:53] Speaker 1: But this, what Val's going through in this episode with
[37:57] Speaker 1: this AIDS scare. And, you know, for all that Val
[38:03] Speaker 1: does in the show and all the wicked ways that.
[38:07] Speaker 1: and just the continual bad choices that she made, you
[38:11] Speaker 1: really do feel for this poor girl in this situation.
[38:16] Speaker 1: She did a really great job, I think, of portraying
[38:20] Speaker 1: all those emotions.
[38:22] Speaker 2: Yes.
[38:22] Speaker 1: That fear. The regret. The regret.
[38:25] Speaker 2: The anger at this guy. How dare he?
[38:28] Speaker 1: Yeah, what a loser.
[38:29] Speaker 2: And she goes to confront him?
[38:32] Speaker 1: That was scary.
[38:32] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[38:37] Speaker 1: I mean, I just think that, and then, you know,
[38:39] Speaker 1: her really only having David to rely on, even though
[38:43] Speaker 1: they had just broken up.
[38:45] Speaker 2: Yeah. And how hard is that?
[38:47] Speaker 1: But what a good guy.
[38:48] Speaker 2: He's, you know, he's a good guy.
[38:51] Speaker 1: David's a good guy. He was there for her. He's
[38:53] Speaker 1: always there for her, even though he doesn't want to
[38:56] Speaker 1: be in a relationship with her. Because he does see
[38:59] Speaker 1: both sides. Yes. He's the good guy. And he sees
[39:02] Speaker 1: all of the other parts.
[39:04] Speaker 2: The manipulation.
[39:05] Speaker 1: And he decides he can't have a relationship with that.
[39:08] Speaker 1: But he still really cares about her. But so scary.
[39:12] Speaker 1: And I think if you were watching this in the 90s,
[39:15] Speaker 1: you were probably like, oh, my God.
[39:18] Speaker 2: Oh, yes.
[39:19] Speaker 1: Should I get tested? This is.
[39:24] Speaker 2: The end of my life. The feeling was.
[39:28] Speaker 1: Because that's what we thought then.
[39:30] Speaker 2: That's right.
[39:31] Speaker 1: Very scary time. Very, very scary time.
[39:34] Speaker 2: And another reminder that what happens over there eventually makes
[39:40] Speaker 2: it right here. So it's important to pay attention to
[39:44] Speaker 2: what's happening over there, wherever that is, and address it
[39:49] Speaker 2: before it walks in the door.
[39:52] Speaker 1: Yeah. But you just don't, you don't think that way
[39:55] Speaker 1: as a young person. No. I don't think young people
[39:58] Speaker 1: really think big picture.
[40:00] Speaker 2: Well, they don't think it's going to happen to them.
[40:02] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[40:03] Speaker 2: They think it's going to happen to other people.
[40:05] Speaker 1: Well, this was a really great opportunity for the show to,
[40:09] Speaker 1: you know, call people to action, to have safe sex
[40:13] Speaker 1: and to get tested if you haven't. And I think
[40:17] Speaker 1: that that probably, you know, opened a lot of people's eyes, hopefully.
[40:20] Speaker 2: And, Right. And of course they left the cliffhanger. I
[40:24] Speaker 2: was thinking afterwards, I said, but what were the results
[40:28] Speaker 2: of her test?
[40:29] Speaker 1: I mean, it's gotta be, it's gotta be negative.
[40:32] Speaker 2: It's gotta be negative.
[40:33] Speaker 1: I don't remember it being positive.
[40:34] Speaker 2: It goes on for another two seasons. Yeah.
[40:37] Speaker 1: I don't know. Something like that. But she, yeah, I
[40:40] Speaker 1: was like, wait, that's the cliffhanger of season eight.
[40:44] Speaker 2: Well, and especially cause we've had this whole wedding thing. Right.
[40:48] Speaker 2: Building up to for a couple of episodes, I assume. Yeah.
[40:52] Speaker 1: I mean, back to that, I got, I was like
[40:54] Speaker 1: watching it. I was angry watching them come out to
[40:58] Speaker 1: the reception party in the backyard and everybody applauding them
[41:01] Speaker 1: and everybody hugging and dancing, I guess.
[41:05] Speaker 2: Yay.
[41:06] Speaker 1: For you guys being smart and not getting into something
[41:09] Speaker 1: that you might not be ready for, but also I
[41:13] Speaker 1: just wanted them to get married and have their first
[41:16] Speaker 1: dance and, Oh.
[41:18] Speaker 2: You know? Yeah.
[41:19] Speaker 1: But Val, it was really hard for her. I imagine
[41:21] Speaker 1: in her position, it was really hard for her to
[41:24] Speaker 1: be there at the wedding, participating. We saw her really
[41:28] Speaker 1: struggle with their happiness.
[41:33] Speaker 2: Right. And you're hoping, because she says at some point,
[41:39] Speaker 2: if this is okay, I'm going to stop. I'm going
[41:42] Speaker 2: to change. I'm going to be a different person. And
[41:45] Speaker 2: I'm curious. Yes. Does that happen?
[41:49] Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know. I haven't watched that season yet.
[41:53] Speaker 1: I'm really excited to see what happens. But I don't
[41:55] Speaker 1: think so. Only because she said that. And then when
[41:59] Speaker 1: she was doing her video for the wedding video, she
[42:04] Speaker 1: was all hating on Kelly in that. Maybe she'll be
[42:10] Speaker 1: nicer to everybody but Kelly, which is fine because their
[42:13] Speaker 1: dynamic is fun.
[42:14] Speaker 2: Right. Well, what was it like, though? Kelly was the one,
[42:18] Speaker 2: it seemed to me, that everyone sort of focused on.
[42:23] Speaker 2: And I know that Brenda had her moments of feeling
[42:25] Speaker 2: like Kelly's getting all the attention. And I don't know
[42:30] Speaker 2: how Donna felt about it or, you know, Gabrielle was,
[42:35] Speaker 2: of course, a little more mature than the rest of you.
[42:37] Speaker 2: But what was it like being sort of the focus
[42:41] Speaker 2: of all that? even on the show.
[42:44] Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Well, being the baby of, of my family,
[42:49] Speaker 1: I had had my share of like, um, getting all
[42:53] Speaker 1: the attention and feeling very uncomfortable with it because when
[42:56] Speaker 1: you're in that position, at least for me, I was like,
[42:59] Speaker 1: I'm just like everybody else. And we all deserve to
[43:02] Speaker 1: be focused on and, and, you know, talked so beautifully
[43:05] Speaker 1: about and everything. So I felt like it was just
[43:08] Speaker 1: more extension of the, my childhood really. But, you know,
[43:14] Speaker 1: as an actress, navigating all of those female emotions behind
[43:23] Speaker 1: the scenes and all of that, like sort of, you know,
[43:27] Speaker 1: Donna and Kelly were supportive friends of one another. They
[43:32] Speaker 1: never had any jealousy or, and I don't, I didn't
[43:36] Speaker 1: feel that with Tor while we were filming. We felt
[43:39] Speaker 1: like equals and it, you know, it was, I think
[43:42] Speaker 1: it was. They did a good job with that relationship.
[43:45] Speaker 1: It was really hard with the Kelly-Brenda stuff.
[43:49] Speaker 2: Yes.
[43:49] Speaker 1: It was really, really hard when the writing kind of
[43:54] Speaker 1: forced everybody to choose a team.
[43:57] Speaker 2: Yes.
[43:58] Speaker 1: Are you Brenda? Are you Team Brenda? Are you Team Kelly?
[44:01] Speaker 1: That still to this day is hard for me because
[44:06] Speaker 1: people are very attached to their opinions about these characters still.
[44:11] Speaker 2: Yes. Yes. Yes.
[44:13] Speaker 1: So that follows me around a lot. But what can
[44:16] Speaker 1: you do? I mean, I didn't write it, people.
[44:18] Speaker 2: I just, you know. You're just acting.
[44:23] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[44:24] Speaker 2: It's not your life. No, no.
[44:26] Speaker 1: And that's how they chose to write the character. So
[44:29] Speaker 1: I don't.
[44:31] Speaker 2: Know.
[44:32] Speaker 1: There's nothing really I can do or say about it.
[44:35] Speaker 1: But it was a tough time as a young person.
[44:40] Speaker 1: to navigate all of that for sure.
[44:42] Speaker 2: I can't even imagine it. I would have been a
[44:44] Speaker 2: total basket case.
[44:46] Speaker 1: I think I was. And I covered it up with a, no,
[44:50] Speaker 1: I'm fine.
[44:50] Speaker 2: I'm a, you know, well, you were so, you were
[44:53] Speaker 2: so vulnerable as an actress. Um, and that I'm sure with,
[44:59] Speaker 2: with what you're describing, that requires a lot of courage
[45:02] Speaker 2: to bring that vulnerability in so palpably into the room.
[45:07] Speaker 2: But I think it's what drew people to the character
[45:10] Speaker 2: is that she was so vulnerable.
[45:13] Speaker 1: When you say that, it makes me think like the
[45:15] Speaker 1: vulnerability that I felt as an actress on the set,
[45:19] Speaker 1: in the dressing rooms, on the makeup trailer. It really
[45:24] Speaker 1: came through in the work on camera. And I'm just
[45:28] Speaker 1: a real kind of open, emotionally open person too.
[45:32] Speaker 2: Yeah. So it comes through. It came through.
[45:36] Speaker 1: Was this the perfect opportunity for me, Jenny, to be
[45:41] Speaker 1: able to get all of those feelings out, whether they
[45:45] Speaker 1: were mine or Kelly's?
[45:47] Speaker 2: Right. Exactly. I mean, who knows which is which?
[45:53] Speaker 1: Right.
[45:54] Speaker 2: Once you commit to the character and engage with it,
[45:59] Speaker 2: all bets are off. It's all one.
[46:02] Speaker 1: I was just happy to see all the people there.
[46:05] Speaker 1: Jackie and Kelly's dad. I can't even remember his name.
[46:11] Speaker 2: Bill? Yeah. Well, had we ever met him before?
[46:15] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[46:16] Speaker 2: We know Mel.
[46:18] Speaker 1: Mel didn't have anything to do in the whole show,
[46:20] Speaker 1: but he's in the seats watching the wedding.
[46:24] Speaker 2: And your little sister. Yeah.
[46:29] Speaker 1: I don't know who that was. I feel like they
[46:32] Speaker 1: always got a different actress to play Kelly's sister. Which
[46:35] Speaker 1: might have been the case, but I remember loving that
[46:40] Speaker 1: backyard scene, everybody together and dancing. Yes. And really having
[46:46] Speaker 1: no real concept of what it looked like as a
[46:51] Speaker 1: viewer for the audience. I was just having a good
[46:55] Speaker 1: time in that moment, wearing a pretty dress. Yes. But
[47:00] Speaker 1: as a viewer watching it, I can't hide my real
[47:03] Speaker 1: feelings about it.
[47:04] Speaker 2: You were disappointed.
[47:06] Speaker 1: I think that Steve, you know, his storyline, they just
[47:11] Speaker 1: make him so dumb.
[47:16] Speaker 2: Well, he's very confident. I mean, he's kind of cocky
[47:20] Speaker 2: right from the get-go. I mean, the first season, he
[47:23] Speaker 2: was the cocky one, right? So there may be a
[47:27] Speaker 2: theme of overconfidence there.
[47:38] Speaker 1: And then they play all these like sensy moments with
[47:41] Speaker 1: him where he's now feeling rejected and he's stalking the
[47:47] Speaker 1: girl to make sure she's telling the truth.
[47:50] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[47:50] Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like his character, I gotta be honest.
[47:54] Speaker 1: And Donna and Noah are really at this point in
[47:58] Speaker 1: their relationship too, interesting how it all kind of mirrors.
[48:03] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[48:04] Speaker 1: The other characters, they're like, he doesn't want to get married.
[48:07] Speaker 1: Maybe he's afraid because he's had his parents have a
[48:10] Speaker 1: bad marriage or whatever. And she has parents that are
[48:14] Speaker 1: still married, dysfunctional, but married. And that's the life she wants.
[48:19] Speaker 1: So they're facing this moment of like, hmm, I don't
[48:22] Speaker 1: know if we're going to work out because we both
[48:24] Speaker 1: want different things.
[48:25] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[48:26] Speaker 1: Ultimately. So I don't know where that's going to go.
[48:29] Speaker 2: I thought that was such an interesting aspect of the
[48:32] Speaker 2: whole show. It was... all of these relationships coming to
[48:37] Speaker 2: these moments of reckoning, you know, I mean, even, even
[48:44] Speaker 2: David and Val, right. They're, they're having a moment of reckoning.
[48:50] Speaker 1: Right. Her accepting that she can be loved by him,
[48:54] Speaker 1: but just not the love that she's wanting.
[48:56] Speaker 2: She wanted.
[48:57] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[48:59] Speaker 2: I was, I thought it was a very sort of
[49:02] Speaker 2: well-balanced episode and I, And I thought, you know, you're
[49:05] Speaker 2: talking about the Steve Sanders thing on the one hand.
[49:08] Speaker 1: I love you call him Steve Sanders.
[49:13] Speaker 2: Is, you know, this woman comes down on marriage is important.
[49:20] Speaker 2: It's a commitment. It's more than just how I feel today.
[49:26] Speaker 1: Yeah, she fooled around with him in the episode before. Yeah.
[49:30] Speaker 2: But she's realizing that's not enough. I can't just walk
[49:35] Speaker 2: away from this thing I made a commitment to. And
[49:39] Speaker 2: that's played against the two of you who are going,
[49:43] Speaker 2: maybe this isn't the right thing for us, right? I mean,
[49:47] Speaker 2: everybody's sort of coming to this moment of truth. What
[49:51] Speaker 2: do I really want? What is this relationship in my life?
[49:57] Speaker 2: What's really there?
[49:59] Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's also, it's so kind of beautiful
[50:03] Speaker 1: because at that age, that's what happens, right? I mean,
[50:07] Speaker 1: that's not really what happened to me because at that age,
[50:10] Speaker 1: my life experience was so different. I wasn't really thinking
[50:14] Speaker 1: about things like that. But these characters are all having
[50:19] Speaker 1: these really important, thoughtful moments. And it was pretty cool
[50:25] Speaker 1: to see.
[50:26] Speaker 2: It is. I mean, they're struggling with relationships. What do
[50:30] Speaker 2: they mean? How do they operate? what do I want
[50:33] Speaker 2: in my life? What is this the right person to
[50:35] Speaker 2: have this kind of relationship with? And I mean, my
[50:39] Speaker 2: sense of young people today is that a lot of
[50:41] Speaker 2: them are just kind of abandoning relationship.
[50:45] Speaker 1: Really?
[50:45] Speaker 2: Although I know, I know a young couple recently got
[50:49] Speaker 2: engaged and that's always very exciting, but you know, a
[50:54] Speaker 2: lot of the young people I know are saying, Oh no,
[50:56] Speaker 2: I'm not going to have children. And I feel like, Oh,
[51:00] Speaker 2: it's such a loss. And yet, I, you know, I
[51:03] Speaker 2: have friends who have, have children and the pain and
[51:11] Speaker 2: sorrow that those children have brought into their lives. You know,
[51:16] Speaker 2: it's can be very, very challenging.
[51:18] Speaker 1: It's all, it's all such mixed messaging because you have kids.
[51:21] Speaker 1: It's supposed to be the best thing that ever happened
[51:23] Speaker 1: to you. And then it's not sometimes. And it's, you know,
[51:27] Speaker 1: marriage is supposed to be this bliss forever. You're, unified
[51:31] Speaker 1: team and your circles together like infinity. And that's just
[51:36] Speaker 1: not reality.
[51:37] Speaker 2: It's not reality. It takes effort. I remember I had
[51:43] Speaker 2: this one young couple, um, and I guess I had
[51:48] Speaker 2: her in the room by herself at one point. And
[51:50] Speaker 2: she said, you know, when they said marriage takes work,
[51:53] Speaker 2: I didn't know they meant I'd have to bite my
[51:56] Speaker 2: tongue when I wanted to rip his head off.
[51:59] Speaker 1: Uh, Yeah, that's a hard skill to learn.
[52:02] Speaker 2: That's the kind of work it takes.
[52:03] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a hard skill. That's a hard pill to
[52:05] Speaker 1: swallow and a hard skill to learn to execute. Yes.
[52:09] Speaker 2: Well, for all of us, for our entire lives. I mean,
[52:12] Speaker 2: I watch my grandson. He's almost five, so he's just
[52:18] Speaker 2: coming out of that phase where the least little thing
[52:21] Speaker 2: goes wrong and he's mad. He knows all about being mad.
[52:26] Speaker 2: He knows anger in and out. And he's finally come,
[52:30] Speaker 2: he's starting to come to the place where he can
[52:33] Speaker 2: start that thing going. And, and, and my son will say,
[52:36] Speaker 2: but honey, look, this is what we can do. I
[52:39] Speaker 2: know you can't have that, but you could have this.
[52:41] Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
[52:42] Speaker 2: We can do this together. Right.
[52:43] Speaker 1: I love it that you're a grandma. It's perfect. Grandma, Cindy,
[52:49] Speaker 1: what does he call you?
[52:50] Speaker 2: Oma.
[52:51] Speaker 1: Oma.
[52:52] Speaker 2: Interesting. Well, it's actually German. I sort of made it up,
[52:55] Speaker 2: but it's actually German for, um, Grandpa, Grandma. And then Omo,
[53:01] Speaker 2: I guess, is for Grandpa. Anyway, something like that. So
[53:06] Speaker 2: I sort of pulled it out of a hat.
[53:08] Speaker 1: Well, come on, OMGers. Isn't it incredible to see how
[53:14] Speaker 1: Cindy Walsh, I was just going to call you Cindy Walsh,
[53:18] Speaker 1: is now a grandma and has all this beautiful insight.
[53:22] Speaker 1: It's just so cool, you know, because we all feel
[53:25] Speaker 1: like we know you and Just from watching the show.
[53:29] Speaker 1: Of course, I know you as a human, as a person.
[53:32] Speaker 1: And how lucky am I? But just so grateful that
[53:37] Speaker 1: you were on the show and that you were there
[53:39] Speaker 1: to witness it all.
[53:40] Speaker 2: It was quite a ride. It was quite a ride.
[53:45] Speaker 2: I mean, I would just like, I would watch you
[53:48] Speaker 2: guys going, oh my God, how are they surviving this?
[53:53] Speaker 2: This is crazy time. I mean, I had sort of
[53:58] Speaker 2: like the perfect amount of fame. Every once in a while,
[54:02] Speaker 2: if I was hanging out in the airport and people
[54:05] Speaker 2: had time to go, gosh, her face looks so familiar.
[54:08] Speaker 2: How do I know her?
[54:10] Speaker 1: Do you still get that?
[54:12] Speaker 2: Oh, very, very occasionally. Well, I'm in Seattle now, right?
[54:15] Speaker 2: So it's not the same. In LA, people are more
[54:18] Speaker 2: likely to expect to meet someone or It crosses their mind.
[54:23] Speaker 1: If I saw you in an airport, I would freak out.
[54:26] Speaker 2: Well, we met in the airport. We did. Remember? We
[54:29] Speaker 2: were both on our way to Ixtapa. Yeah.
[54:33] Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I remember that. That was so crazy.
[54:35] Speaker 1: But if I didn't know you, if I was just
[54:38] Speaker 1: a fan and I was like, oh my God, that's Mrs.
[54:41] Speaker 2: Walsh. Right.
[54:42] Speaker 1: Because you look exactly the same. Your hair is a
[54:45] Speaker 1: different color, but you just look.
[54:46] Speaker 2: Exactly the same. My hair is a different color. I'm
[54:47] Speaker 2: not wearing the same makeup. But the thing that happens is,
[54:51] Speaker 2: I mean, I've had this happen. I was sitting in,
[54:54] Speaker 2: I was in Larchmont at a little restaurant and I
[54:56] Speaker 2: looked over and gosh, that woman looks familiar. She, do
[55:01] Speaker 2: I know her from church? Do I know her from
[55:02] Speaker 2: this or that? It took me a long time and
[55:05] Speaker 2: I thought, oh, it's Joan Allen. Oh God.
[55:08] Speaker 1: Of course she looks familiar.
[55:10] Speaker 2: And I thought, I'm so glad I didn't walk over
[55:14] Speaker 2: and say.
[55:15] Speaker 1: Do I know you? Oh yeah, that's, I've done that.
[55:19] Speaker 2: But it's true. We, you know, it's, You see the
[55:22] Speaker 2: face out of context, outside the Walsh house, and it's
[55:26] Speaker 2: a little harder to put it together.
[55:28] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of a mind blow for a second.
[55:30] Speaker 1: You're like, wait, what?
[55:32] Speaker 2: How? I don't know. I've been asked, did I teach
[55:35] Speaker 2: at somebody's high school? Were you a high school teacher? No, never.
[55:42] Speaker 2: But the really funniest one is, well, I was on
[55:45] Speaker 2: this show called 90210. Did you ever watch it? No. No. No.
[55:51] Speaker 1: Oh, so they have no idea.
[55:52] Speaker 2: They have no idea.
[55:53] Speaker 1: Maybe you actually do resemble their high school teacher.
[55:56] Speaker 2: Well, I had some friends recently say, Were you at
[56:01] Speaker 2: this mall in this time? This is up here in Seattle.
[56:04] Speaker 2: And I said, no. And they said, you have a doppelganger.
[56:08] Speaker 2: We saw someone who looked so much like you. We
[56:11] Speaker 2: almost called out your name.
[56:13] Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. Well, I thank you so much for
[56:16] Speaker 1: coming on the pod. And wait, I have to ask
[56:18] Speaker 1: you one thing. OK, when you when Jim and Cindy
[56:21] Speaker 1: come back for the first time, we see them. After
[56:25] Speaker 1: not seeing them for the whole season. I don't even
[56:27] Speaker 1: know how long.
[56:28] Speaker 2: Three seasons.
[56:30] Speaker 1: There's no like hip hip hooray. There's no hoopla. There's
[56:33] Speaker 1: no buildup. There's no week.
[56:34] Speaker 2: Oh my God.
[56:36] Speaker 1: That there's no moment.
[56:37] Speaker 2: Right.
[56:38] Speaker 1: I was like, wait, they deserve, these characters deserve to
[56:41] Speaker 1: have people be so excited to see them. And that
[56:44] Speaker 1: was just glossed over. How did you feel about that?
[56:47] Speaker 2: Yes. Oh, that's interesting. I'm, I never thought about it.
[56:52] Speaker 2: I never thought about it.
[56:53] Speaker 1: Even watching it back, weren't you like?
[56:56] Speaker 2: Well, you know, I was used to the parents sort
[56:59] Speaker 2: of being in the background. Yeah. So my expectations diminished
[57:04] Speaker 2: significantly after the first season when it stopped being a
[57:08] Speaker 2: family show, right? But I think you raise a good point. But,
[57:16] Speaker 2: you know, I'm sure that happened off screen. Oh, yeah.
[57:21] Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. For us. I mean, for the family.
[57:24] Speaker 2: For the family, of course. You guys probably met us
[57:27] Speaker 2: at the airport or we rented a car and joined you. Gosh,
[57:31] Speaker 2: we must be staying in our own house.
[57:34] Speaker 1: I know, but where? Because Brandon's in your room now.
[57:37] Speaker 2: You're all. Well, I'm assuming that Jim is making money
[57:43] Speaker 2: hand over fist now.
[57:44] Speaker 1: Well, he better be.
[57:45] Speaker 2: He better be. So we're probably staying at the you know,
[57:50] Speaker 2: Beverly Wilshire.
[57:53] Speaker 1: Well, gosh, I was just happy to see you. And
[57:56] Speaker 1: I'm happy to see you today. And just thank you
[57:57] Speaker 1: so much for being our co-host.
[58:01] Speaker 2: Asking me to join you. This was so much fun.
[58:03] Speaker 1: I know everybody's so happy. Oh, always good to see you.
[58:07] Speaker 1: I know everybody's so happy to see you that's listening
[58:10] Speaker 1: and watching this. So For everybody out there that has
[58:15] Speaker 1: stuck with us through season eight, we did it. I'm
[58:18] Speaker 1: so proud of us. And now we are jumping in
[58:22] Speaker 1: to season nine. So next week, first episode of season nine,
[58:27] Speaker 1: The Morning After.
[58:29] Speaker 2: Oh, boy.
[58:32] Speaker 1: I think it'll be very emotional. All right, everybody. Have
[58:37] Speaker 1: a great week.

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