#the member of the core four who bats for mischa the most is the person she spent the least amount of time with.........

[mischas]

My thoughts on AB are that I think he's done the work of unraveling and forgiving himself for the person he was back in 2005, as well as never caving into show-pressure to make it seem like Mischa was ever the problem on set. Even his profile in GQ in 2019 told me that. I'm also a fan of how smartly he approaches his criticism of both the show and its place in pop culture while never calling fans dumb for loving it still. Him saying that OC and GG are not criticizing but in fact embracing wealth and privilege is a huge thing I respect him for (he says this in the podcast).

Here are some of my favorite book quotes from my Kindle highlights:

Adam Brody: What I really like about it is how melancholy it is. It’s a fairy tale—Ryan goes to a magical place—but it’s sad. He’s lonely and basically an orphan. And Seth is very lonely and Marissa’s very lonely. And I think that’s what made everyone coming together and finding each other so wonderful and warm and affecting. They’re such lonely characters that you want them to be together. You want Seth to have a brother, you want Ryan to have a family. You want Marissa to have an advocate—someone in her life that cares and really sees what’s going on. (page 66)

AB: I’m no Groundling. I’m no fuckin’ Upright Citizen. I have gotten much too much credit for this only because it was by and large a soap opera, so a little off-book comedy goes a long way in a dramatic scene. I would be annihilated on an improv stage or even in a broad comedy with a bunch of really talented improvisers. I’m mediocre at absolute best, and at worst terrible. My ability to come up with things on the fly is truly very limited. When I say, “Oh, cocaine, awesome,” that’s not a clever line. It’s funny because someone’s saying something ironically in a soap opera. But it’s not as if that was a clever line, or hard to come up with. (page 84)

AB: I didn’t feel like, Oh, here’s someone who’s in over their head. And she’s perfect for [this character]. She’s so good in it. That character is so likable. You feel for her, and you very much want them to be together, and she’s such a sad person. (page 87 re: Mischa)

AB: Even regardless of Ryan, the Seth-Marissa dynamic was cool. They were next-door neighbors, and yet they were strangers, and there was an awkwardness to it. I thought that was a nice dynamic that I could have seen more of. (page 96)

AB: We all hung out a lot as a group and everyone’s significant others, when they were seeing people, would be part of it. [Mischa] didn’t feel wildly younger than us, but maybe just because we were immature. (page 109)

AB: Having seen just through [episode] five, before Summer really [turns good], it’s a no-brainer. Summer’s pretty awful and Anna is nothing but great. So run to her! And it’s pretty crazy to name your boat after someone that you go to school with for a long time and you’ve never spoken to, and who’s pretty awful outwardly. And I would think that might be a big turnoff for her as well. It’s a little scary obsessive. But Anna wants to sail to Tahiti. That’s crazy. He should see that through first. I’m like, I don’t know, man. They’ve got a lot in common. (page 130)

AB: I recently did Rachel and Melinda’s podcast, and for that I watched the episode where we go to Vegas in the first season. And I was like, Holy shit, the Coopers have already divorced? Wait a second: Melinda is already dating my grandfather? And I like that storyline. I just think that’s a Season Three, Four, Five story. That’s early. (page 134)

AB: That switch, where Luke’s a dumb puppy dog and Seth is the wise owner, is very funny. (page 145)

AB: She was very luminous. Everyone really liked her; she was instantly popular. She jumped right in the fold. (page 192, re: Olivia)

AB: If I had a criticism [with that season], it’s not even the ridiculousness. I just think you need to take two or three times as long to get to where you’re going. Then again, what do you fill the space with? You still need forty-five minutes of television every week. (page 263, re: s3)

AB: Downstream of that, people really liked Seth and Summer together, which is great. So then break them up for a year, break them up for two years—really Ross and Rachel it. And instead, I felt like we were in this sitcom, where every episode we break up in the beginning over some misunderstanding. And then it’d be a comedic thing of me trying to get her back. And then I would, by the end, which was enjoyable. And like I said, I wasn’t dying to do the melodrama, I was happy to do that light-stakes comedy. But I felt like in terms of stretching a dramatic storyline out to make people care—not just from the beginning of the episode to the end, but to make them really invested in the long haul—it sapped some of the power from potentially doing that. (page 276)

AB: I felt then, and still do, that you could put her on ice in an economic way. I remember on 90210, characters going to rehab for a while, or people would disappear for a year but not disappear disappear. I’m sure she was a little unhappy. I’m sure she was a little bored. I’m sure she was sick of X, Y, and Z. And at the same time, I highly doubt she wanted to be publicly, dramatically killed and quasi-fired. Even though I’m sure she enjoyed some newfound freedoms, I don’t think she wanted it, or wanted it that way. And she was very young. I’m sure it didn’t feel good. (page 312 re: Mischa)

AB: I also think everyone was sick of each other by the last season. It was that exciting, warm bubble, and then it wasn’t the same. Mischa hadn’t been there for a minute now, and there’s a bunch of new people, and we like them, but it’s not the same thing. I feel bad for the crew, who are like, I just fucking wanted a steady job. I sympathize. I really do. (page 332)

AB: Creatively, the sadness of the first few episodes really got to me. And of course that’s coupled with my own nostalgia and the bittersweet nature of looking back in your yearbook, at yourself as a young man and all the people you knew much younger. We were all at different points in our lives, but we were all starting such a significant journey for all of us together. And it was pretty emotional to watch it. (page 352)

Do you know where I could find a transcript of the podcast’s episodes, (TOB, I mean! I wanted to read Adam’s because I remember liking the way he talked about Mischa and the way she left the show but I’m not in the mood of watching the whole thing again!😭) Plus you mentioned something about what he said in the book interview, could you share your thoughts on the overall vibe of his answers for the book interview? I’d appreciate it a lot! Thanks!!!

Adam's podcast episodes (1 and 2) on YouTube display the transcript if you click the button 'Show Transcript' under the description and links for stuff. The transcript then appears on the right hand side of the screen. I really do recommend watching them again though if you can (I revisited Part 1 yesterday) but it's definitely a time commitment so I get it.

As for the book, let me get back to you tomorrow or the day after with that info. Adam said a lot of things throughout the book and they're all scattered because the book was organized into seasons rather than by specific interviews. The short answer was his vibe was good and honest about his level of engagement with the show and owns up to a great deal of his bad behavior back then. And he is very sweet about Mischa which has always put him in my good books.