407 - You Had Me at Goodbye

First thing's first: to all of our listeners and friends in the path of Hurricane Florence – give us a shout to let us know you're doing OK! Our friends, The Del Zorros – who currently live in the "Leery house" in Wilmington – shared with us a few days ago that they were safe, despite the storm. "This ol' house has survived everything #MotherNature could throw at her since 1880," they wrote to us on Twitter.  Their most recent update also shows the infamous Leery dock as the creek water rose. Keeping y'all in our thoughts!

The somber mood continues for us this week on the podcast where we say goodbye to two McPhees...

From Charles: "I present, a eulogy for Mr. McPhee (I know he’s not dead in canon, but I can’t help it):

Joseph McPhee was not the best dad in the world. As Traci has convinced me, he probably wasn’t even the best dad on Dawson’s Creek. But he was the one I loved the most, and he is one that I will miss.

Joseph McPhee worked too much — business trips, offices away from home, typing on calculators late into the night. He was stern, too, and bad at talking about his feelings. He often tried to impose his will on his family.

And yes, he probably did a lot of that out of love, but what endeared Mr. McPhee to me most was his capability to change for the things he cared about.

Changing is one of the hardest things people can do. Conflict, I think, are often the result of people being too hard-headed and refusing the budge. But when Mr. McPhee was probably under the most intense pressure of his life, having lost so much, he relented and changed, and what a difference it made (Look at one of his first notable quotes and one of his last — 'You are not gay,' 'No more than I asked for a gay son. But boy, am I glad I got one').

There’s not much more I can say about Mr. McPhee because there’s not much more that we got and that a shame. But I’ll always remember him grow and love and be happy, and in my head-canon, that’s the dad he stays. Jack’s down a sister now, so he’ll need as much support as he can get. “

From Traci: "I still cannot wrap my head around how they wrote Andie out of the show. If it's true that they had to say goodbye to her because they just couldn't pair her up with anyone else (see the Vulture article in the links list below), then that's terrible. In my head, there was a spin-off they were hoping to pitch – a la Windward Circle (RIP) – but the network just didn't bite at the time. Had there been a spin-off, I would've loved to have seen a show starring Andie that gave audiences a more intimate and realistic look at what it's like to be a teenager constantly fighting for your every day emotions. It could've been really compelling – and groundbreaking – to see a mental health story combined with the teen drama genre that the WB perfected. I really don't think Andie got the stories she deserved during Dawson's Creek, and it's a shame they let her go off to Italy on a journey we'll never really get to see after having followed her over the last few years. #JusticeForAndie"

Episode links:

• Paula Cole's in town (Stowe Today)
• The Potter B&B flag in Pacey and Gretchen's house – thanks Chris!
• What Happens When Actors Leave High-School-TV Shows? (Vulture)

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