Rachel Bloom, and the Co-Creators of Netflix’s One Day at a Time

12th March 2018

This week we’re bringing you two of our favorite interviews from Bullseye’s past. First, Rachel Bloom, creator and star of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, the hit CW musical romantic comedy. She talks about the show’s roots, overcoming social anxiety and what it’s like to go be suspended mid-air while being cradled by a giant pretzel.
Then, Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce, co-creators of Netflix’s One Day at a Time. They collaborated with TV legend Norman Lear to create a late-teens version of his classic sitcom. Mike and Gloria talk about the show’s creative process, diversity and the value (and drudgery) of having a Quinceañera.

Episode notes

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Photo: Mark Davis/Getty Images
Rachel Bloom on her love of musical theater and gaining confidence in Hollywood.
Rachel Bloom is a comedian whose humor often involves her bursting into song. She embraces the classic tropes of the Hollywood musical comedy adding her own contemporary twist on her CW show, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The show has earned her a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award.

A veteran of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, Bloom has also worked on television shows Allen Gregory and Robot Chicken. But it was her absurdist and hilarious musical videos that first brought her to the industry’s attention. The video for her song, Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury went viral and earned Bloom a Hugo Award nomination. She has released two albums including Please Love Me andSuck It, Christmas!!! (A Chanukah Album).

Rachel Bloom sat down with Jesse to talk about her love for musical theater, gaining self-confidence in Hollywood and the logistics involved in being lifted in the air in a giant pretzel.

Episodes of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend can seen on Hulu and at CWTV.com.

This interview originally aired in June of 2016.


Photo: Jesse Thorn
Gloria Calderon Kellett and Mike Royce on their new show One Day At A Time
Gloria Calderon Kellett has been in show business as a writer, producer, and actor for almost two decades. She began her career writing on Andy Richter’s show Quintuplets. She also worked on How I Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement. When Norman Lear, the legendary TV producer approached her about doing a reboot of One Day at a Time – his 1970s hit sitcom – she jumped at the chance.

She was joined by Mike Royce, a veteran TV producer of shows like Everybody Love Raymond and Men of a Certain Age, and Gloria. The two tell Jesse about how they began to conceptualize the new show, how Gloria avoided being being labeled as the “latina writer” during her career, and how they approached writing about marginalized communities in a sitcom format.

You can watch the reboot of the Norman Lear classic One Day At A Time by streaming it on Netflix.

This interview originally aired in January of 2017.

The Outshot: Popstar
Jesse explains why he loves a movie that aspires to be nothing more than silly, goofy and funny.

This segment originally aired in June of 2016.

In this episode...

Senior Producer
Producer
Maximum Fun Producer
Maximum Fun Production Fellow
Video Editor

Guests

  • Rachel Bloom
  • Gloria Calderon Kellett
  • Mike Royce

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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Senior Producer

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Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Video Editor

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