What happened in this episode?
Ted Danson speaks with actor and comedian D’Arcy Carden about recent television work, career logistics and the realities of modern casting. Carden discusses filming The Five-Star Weekend, including being cast days before shooting and building rapport with the ensemble through an informal Pictionary session hosted by director Minky Spiro. She describes the production schedule (including six-day weeks in Los Angeles and a location stint in Nantucket) and credits Jennifer Garner’s performance style for influencing the emotional tone on set.
Danson and Carden also compare experiences of working away from Los Angeles, with Carden describing a four-month shoot in Sydney on a Will Forte series and Danson admitting he is reluctant to travel for projects. Danson says an Apple series he is currently filming was set to relocate to New York but instead stayed in LA after receiving a tax-incentive “lottery” that brought “all the tax breaks included”.
Away from production talk, Carden reflects on her Greek and Turkish heritage and says a planned appearance on the genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? was derailed by Covid after researchers had begun uncovering promising family-history material. The conversation also touches on improv training at Upright Citizens Brigade, the pressures of self-taped auditions, and how adult friendships require deliberate maintenance once colleagues stop working together.
