The Point Radio: PLAYING HOUSE Back For More Laughs

Jessica St Clair and Lennon Param have managed their way back to the USA Network with another hilarious season of PLAYING HOUSE. They give us the exclusive word on what’s coming up and the tough journey it took to get the show back on the air. Plus Esquire premiere’s a reality show with the real life “Jerry Maguires”. THE AGENT will set the record straight on the world of sports and we have a preview here.

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Transcript

The Point Radio. It's Mike Roth, two of my favorite people on the planet. It also happened to be two of the funniest as well. Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham back again for a second season of Playing House on USA. But it wasn't easy getting there and they'll tell us how they managed to accomplish that.

Plus, show me the money. Is that really the way sports agents operate these days? There's a new series on Esquire that will show the real part of that business and we get a sneak peek. Let's get to The Point.

This is The Point. The Point Radio. Get The Point Radio. Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham are back for a new season of Playing House on USA. But getting there well was an interesting journey with a lot of work done by fans on

social media. In fact, those that love the show pretty much made social media their bitch. No, I think our fans really made social media their bitch. They took over and said that they demanded the show back. They've become very attached to the show.

I think they see themselves in it and they feel like it's like ownership over it. And they really wanted more and they weren't shy about, you know, tweeting pictures of themselves dressed as our characters or both divas in front of a Smithsonian. Yeah, there's like a very passionate and aggressive group of people, but also extremely polite at that means.

And very, very, very smart and relentless. Yeah. And you know, we actually write back to all of our fans. Yeah, it wasn't like a like a strategic thing. We just were so grateful that people are watching it and loving it.

So we always write back to whoever writes us and say thanks. And I think that connection we've made with a lot of people, I think, goes a long way. I think that's the power of Twitter really having direct access to to us and to our fans because we can say, oh, my God, good luck on your finals this Friday, you know, or I'm sorry you're feeling sad about going to college.

Yeah. Why do we know? I know like that that someone just became a registered nurse. Like we know more about our. There's one woman who works in the she's she works at the OBGYN at the hospital and

she was saying that she was going to hang out with her babies. And I was like, well, after taking care of everybody else's baby, it's like, I can't believe you remember that. There's a lot of rewards for fans of the show this season, including new episodes that appear well even before the air and a lot of extras to in the on demand section at USA.

So who was behind this? Well, we do everything because we're crazy. But we basically, you know, our show got renewed for a second season because of word of mouth and people really after the show had aired started to discover it. And it did really well on video on demand and online.

And so they capitalized on that and the way that people are now watching television in this new way where they're binge watching it or getting it on demand. And so they made available the next week's episode a week earlier for people who have on demand service. Right.

And and that's marketable. So that's how we actually paid for the show this year. Right. And also these integrated ads that we did, we actually wrote ads with Comcast, Samsung and Toyota through through our writers room and shot them so that people feel like the

ads are part of the show. Yeah, that it's enjoyable to watch them. And then we also hired one of our best friends to do to do these little videos that you see. And he just was on set, you know, capturing all these moments. And we just had a blast.

And as the episodes go on, we have more and more great behind the scenes footage that we were going to release. All right. So where do we find things in season two? Well, the basically the season picks up like four and a half months after the baby is born.

The girls are coming kind of coming out of that fog of new parenthood where you're actually trying to put on real pants and get back out into the world. So we see Maggie Lennon's character start to date. I set her up on a night of pinder dates that go, of course, horribly awry and end up with her with human milk on her shirt and us trying to dry dry her boobs in a in a public bathroom.

And she she has her first sex dream post baby. And that is to have sex with both of the property brothers, which we then filmed that scene. Yeah, that was a dream sequence. That was a real a real moment. It looks like a Stevie Micks video.

And they are in white jeans that are two sizes too small. So you're welcome, America. Yeah. Anna's character is also kind of getting back out there. And she's starting, you know, she has this longtime ex-boyfriend played by Keegan Michael Key. That's like a will they won't they kind of thing throughout the season.

But he's also married to an amazing woman that we call Birdbone. And so I think a lot of the characters are doing a lot of growing and stretching. You're going to see a lot of the heart that you came to know and love from the first season. But it's also mixed up with a bunch of hilarious hygiene. Yeah. Like last year, there's some pretty impressive guest stars that pop up on the show

this season. I was curious about how the girls manage that. Well, we have this very unique way of doing things, which is like if we have a like we had a dream of having Kenny Loggins on the show. Yeah. And so everyone was like, that's insane. He hasn't done television. There's no way he's going to do it.

So we wrote him this crazy letter that is just totally honest about how obsessed we are with them. We sent him a video of me and my friend Leslie at his concert in Long Island where he came out as the audience singing Celebrate Me Home. And we're just like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. And so.

And then we sent him a clip from our show because Celebrate Me Home is really an anthem for the for Emma and Maggie. And then it turned out his wife was a huge fan. And she was like, you got to do the show. So then when we met Kenny and he played for us like in a private concert on his tour bus,

we literally bursted it here. It's like, it's just yeah, it's exciting. I think people are like, got it. If you're wondering, guys, oh, my God. Got it.

Gary, his brother was another obsession of ours. And he ended up being a fan of playing houses. So we tweeted at him, would he like to come and play a love interest of Lennon that he did it? And it was magical. Yeah. Yeah.

So like we just you know what, we just kind of went for it this season because we thought, you know, why not? Why not? So as the buzz begins to get a third season on the network, I asked the girls if they'd ever consider doing it in another venue. You know, I think there's lots of opportunities for people. I mean, the show lives online right now. Yeah. Watch it on demand.

And, you know, USA has been an incredible partner. So we would hope to stay there. And who knows what the future holds, you know, playing house with new episodes every Tuesday on USA and a brand new episode debuts right after that on USA on demand. You can also catch up on a full run of last year's episodes and some extras to again all the USA on demand. A bunch of treats coming up for Walking Dead fans.

That's just part of what we're talking about in pop culture. The Muppets are moving to HBO and to bring an arrest to Sesame Street with them in an exclusive five year agreement. HBO will fund production of Sesame Street and some related programming in exchange for having an exclusive window for the series. Reruns will then air back in the usual place on PBS stations around the country. The new episodes, which, by the way, are both in English and Spanish, will begin airing coming up in a few weeks.

Machinima has made all five seasons of Battlefield Friends available on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play. The Mio on demand that Xbox Live, the series which spoofs shooter games, began in early April and has racked up over 100 million views so far. The Cardru Network full-length feature, the regular show The Movie, will debut electronically and on DVD before it hits the network. It'll be available on DVD coming up in October and will premiere before that on places like iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Instant Video and more coming up on September 1st. It'll then air on the network later this year.

There'll be an exclusive edition of The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 3 and the only place you can get it will be Barnes & Noble. This particular edition will have a special variant cover and a poster. And like the regular one, it contains over a thousand pages including issues numbered 97 through 144. The regular edition will be in comic stores on October the 13th but the special edition will also be in Barnes & Noble on that very same day. After being on the show for over a decade, Jim Lee's epic Batman story, Batman Europa, is finally going to make it into comic stores.

The new series was announced back in October 2004 as a four-issue miniseries inspired by Jim Gieri spent in Italy. The work features not only Jim Lee but also some classic European artists as well and a script by Brian Ezarello. First issue of the series will appear in comic stores in November. Twitter's Periscope app is a raging success with over 10 million users just four months after it began. According to a blog from the co-founders, they said they're seeing over 40 years worth of video watched every day on the app.

If you can't wait for the new Heroes reboot to hit NBC in a month or so, as a digital prequel up right now on Hulu, Heroes Reborn Dark Matter is appearing this week with new episodes on Hulu right now. Thousands of Walking Dead fans will have a chance to win tickets to see the premiere of the new season, a couple of days before it airs on AMC and in Madison Square Garden in New York. It's all part of a special event that ties into New York Comic Con. If you'd like more details, you can get them right now at the New York Comic Con website, NewYorkComicCon.com. Frederick Paul's novel Gateway is coming to sci-fi as a one-hour scripted series. Producers from Battlestar Galactica and Falling Skies will be attached to it and it should premiere sometime next year on the network.

Meanwhile, Childhood's End, the adaptation of the Rs. of the Recy Clark novel, premieres over three consecutive nights on sci-fi. That begins on Monday, December 14. The point! The point! I say show me the money and you say Jerry Maguire. For a couple of decades, that's been our conception of the sports agent. But is it really true? Well, that's about to be blown apart by a new series called The Agent on the Esquire Network. I talked to sports agent Peter Shafer about the show and the misconceptions we've had. Well, there was this Jerry Maguire. Well, Mike, I think the goal of this show is to show people not the final 5% that people saw in Jerry Maguire or in Ballers or Entourage, but the 95% of the heavy lifting that goes on behind the scenes.

And the stuff that happens 24-7 and happens in cities like Tallahassee, Florida and Mobile, Alabama. And really the hard work and dedication and passion that a lot of agents who throw an anonymity do just about every day of the week. So what are we going to see on the show? Well, you're going to see a lot of successes, a lot of disappointments, a lot of times spent at Waffle Houses and Courtyard Marriott traveling around meeting the family, the recruiting process, the training process for the combines and the pro days, the joy and success of the draft day. And then this is like the wide world of sports, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Since the days of that Tom Cruise movie, there have been a few changes in the business too.

Well, I think social media and the internet in terms of my business gets a lot of information out there. It really helps to educate the players. And if you have an educated consumer, they're your best customer. So if you're doing a good job and good work, the players are going to find out about it. And you can't really hide anything anymore. Everything's just out there. And if you're doing a good job, shoot it. That's great. If you're not, well, you've got to deal with it.

And usually competition spurs people on to be better at what they do. No different in your business, Mike. And I think it's the same in my business. So what was the best deal that Peter ever negotiated? You know, I don't know if there's one particular deal, but you know, shoot Barry Sanders, the highest paid player in the NFL. Chad Brown played for 15 years as a Seahawks, the highest paid linebacker.

Joe Thomas is still playing for the Browns, the highest paid offensive lineman in the league. But those are the great big deals, but also getting to see the Anderson in the right place in Denver, who's going to have a great year. And I think the continuation of a great career with the Broncos and Coach Kubiak out there in Denver. Each one of these players careers matter to them. So it's not just the great players. And I've been fortunate enough to represent three guys that are in the Hall of Fame.

And everyone matters. And we're just fortunate enough to work with some great players. How did you get into this end of the business anyway? Well, back in the late 80s, when I was six years old, obviously, after I graduated law school, I played lacrosse in college one year in the pros. And I found out that I really couldn't make a living playing lacrosse. And so this was a great way to combine my passion for the law, my passion for sports.

And I started out by representing late round draft choices like Eric Norgardic from Colorado played for the Titans for a decade. And David Tate played for the Bears for a decade. And you start at the bottom and you work your way up. We grind, Mike. That's all we do. We just try to make a few first downs every day. See Peter and other guys who make a real life living out of being sports agents in the new series, The Agent, every Tuesday on the Esquire Network.

July and comic book stores saw graphic novels continue to climb again this time up just a little bit, about 1.29 percent. Put the numbers up against where they were last year and graphic novels are up about 5 percent here in 2015. All that being said, here is your top 10 best graphic novel sellers in comic stores in July. Batman Eternal Volume 2 came in at number 10. Civil War, the first volume at number 9.

At number 8, New Suicide Squad, volume 1. Number 7 was Divinity. Autumn Lands, volume 1 came in at number 6. DC again at number 5 with Batman Harley Quinn. Red Sonja came in at number 4, the 1973 volume.

Number 3 was Hawkeye, volume 4, the number 2 best seller, The Wicked and The Divine, volume 2. And Vertigo topped the list at number 1 for the best-selling graphic novel in July in comic stores with Fables, volume 22. That's up to the podcast right now, but we're back as we always are and you don't have to miss a thing. Subscribe to us right now in the iTunes podcast directory. And follow us on websites like ComicMix.com and GetThePointRadio.com.

On Twitter, Facebook and Instagram you can find us under the point radio. See you back here in a few days. GetThePointRadio.com