Did you grow up in a snack house, or an ingredient house? It's Feel Good Friday! Danielle and Simone are joined by showrunner Tim Palazzola for a good-vibes, laughter-filled episode. They dive into inspiring stories from the New York Marathon, the tale of a woman who found love at Home Depot with the help of some "questionable" advice, and the power of trusting your intuition. Plus, Tim shares what a showrunner actually does!
Hello Sunshine, Hey fam Today on the bright Side, it's feel good Friday, y'all. We're popping off and dishing on the warm, fuzzy and funny stories of the week with our very own bright Side showrunner Tim Pallizola.
We love a tim filled Friday. We're going to dig into some truly inspiring marathon stories, unpack one woman's quest to find love at home depot, and bring you proof that trusting your intuition can pay off.
It's Friday, November eighth.
I'm Danielle Robe, I'm Simone Boyce, and this is the bright Side from Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to share women's stories, laugh, learn and brighten your day.
Danielle, it is finally the weekend. Yes, it is.
It's been a full week of energy around the election.
Yeah.
I feel so empowered and positive just being here right now with you, because when we set out to make this show, we felt called to carve out a space for optimism, for joy and hope and no matter how device if it gets out there, we want you to know you will always have an escape from it here on the bright Side.
And in line with that, I was thinking about the date as we said it, it's November eighth. That means there are fifty four days until the new year. How are we going to spend them with joy and hope and gratitude. I feel like that's the goal because those feelings are so contagious and one of the best parts of this podcast is many of the stories that we share and the guests that we welcome on the show offer inspiration and opportunities to learn and definitely reasons to laugh. So that is exactly what we'll continue to do as we close out this year together.
Well before we do more of that, we want to spotlight our favorite moment of the week. Today's spotlight goes to a friend of the show and one of our all time favorite guests.
It's June's Squib.
June who recently starred as a grandma on a mission in the movie Thelma. She turned ninety five on Wednesday, and she celebrated with a big birthday bash over the weekend. I hope I'm living it up just like her at ninety five. She is the epitome of just betting on yourself. She's been in the industry for seventy plus years and is still pioneering a new genre. People aren't calling it Jerry action, and she literally did her own stunts for Thelma. June always has so many pearls of wisdom. I loved what she said on our show about you can never be too late to your own life, like you can never be late for the life that you want and if you really want something, you will find a way.
To do it.
Okay, Well, it's time to welcome Tim Pallizola, our showrunner, onto the show. You may remember that he popped off with us a little bit ago and his appearance was very demure. He is a six time Emmy Award winning producer and the brains behind some of the most beloved shows of the past decade. I'm gonna let him give us his resume, so I'm not going to ruin it. But Tim, welcome back to the bright side.
Yo yo, yeah, oh YoY y'all.
You've never said yo yo yo? Ever really need.
An airhorn button because I'm tired of doing it with my own manual voice.
I need to get a sound effects panel in here.
You are my mother's favorite guests.
She calls me after almost every podcast, which means every day and debriefs and gives me her opinions on the show, and her number one most requested return guest is Tim Palizola. But she did have a few questions for you. Can I shoot them off?
Yes? Please?
Okay. So Deanna wants to know what a show runner it is.
She said, last time, we introduced you as our showrunner, and she has no idea what that means.
First of all, I remember when you said that your mom was so complimentary, and Dianna, I want to say thank you so much. That was so kind and filled my heart with such joy. So thank you, thank you, thank you. So a showrunner, I'd like to liken it to the conductor of a train, if you think of this show as sort of a train. My job is to make sure we know where we're going to keep the train on the tracks, and that we try to make it run as smoothly as possible. So we work with a really talented group of producers, and it's my job to help guide some of the creation and that editorial the stories offer support and help bring all of our interviews on our show to life.
But Tim, here's the thing. How does one become a showrunner?
Many many years in the trenches.
What does that mean where did you start your career? Were you ever in the mail room?
I was never in the mailroom, but my first job ever, I always wanted to work in the entertainment industry, and I grew up in Virginia and I moved to Los Angeles and my first job ever, I was a PA on the MTV show Punked Yes with Ashton Ques way back in the day, and so at the.
Time, Punk Drake, Who did you punk?
Oh my goodness. I was there for a few seasons and there were so many, so many fun guests.
Who was like, you're a more memorable prank that you pulled off there?
The justin Timberlake one is so memorable.
That was like iconic. I remember I started after that one. That one really put everything on the map. I one that stood out to me in particular. We punked Zach Braff And the whole prank was he had just gotten this brand new, like super expensive, fancy car, and he and his buddy we set it up that they were gonna they were on their way to the party, they stopped at a convenience store and while they were in the convenience store, we spray painted his car with fake spray paint, so when he came out, he was so mad. Yeah, I mean that one stands out to me. I remember being like, I'm so sorry. I promise it'll wash off, but yees. But my job at that time was, you know, I was there to just support all of the producers and the writers and the executives for everything. So I was like doing it them from like loading trucks to buying lunch to running errands. But because I know people can't see me, but I'm roughly the same height and color makeup as Ashton. Like I'm tall, i have dark hair and sort of like olive skins. So remember back in the day when they would have him in the in the black box room, when he would like talk directly to screen, be like yeah, we punk so and so and so and so. So I would be there to set up all of those shots and I would actually sit in because they would light the shots to me because I was similar. So I got to be around all the executives and I got to hear the way that they all spoke, and those were like the showrunners. So you know, it's it's it's starting at the bottom and working your way up and then After that, I worked on some shows that you all may be familiar with on MTV, These these every day after school dating shows Next and Date My Mom.
Oh my god.
We used to play Next and Date My Mom. I had like twelve girlfriends growing up, and we would go to our friend Talia's house and go.
Into her room and play next.
I can't believe you were creating that show.
Yes, yes, yes, yes. It was my job to come up with all the most ridiculous things to do with all of these contestants. I worked on the show for a number of years. In the beginning, it was like I love to play basketball, so we're going to go play basketball today. And then over time we ran out of those really basic things to do, so we were coming up with like I've always wanted to travel to the Middle East, so today we're going to ride a camel on the beach. You know. So it would be my job to figure out how to do and bring all those things to life. So those are really good times. And then, you know, I just started working my way up, and then after that I started working in talk shows. I worked at a talk show called The Doctors for a few years. It was all medical driven Information, and then I got a job working with a division of Warner Brothers, and I launched a talk show with Anderson Cooper. I helped launch a talk show with Bethany Frankel. I worked on TMZ every day with our good friend Harvey Levon. And then after that I started working at Paramount and Viacom at the time, so I was doing like Rup Paul's Drag or I say, did that for a really long time. And then I worked on shows like Fear Factor, Ink Master, Bar Rescue.
And now You're here on the bright side.
And now I'm here on the bright side with you all, which is a really exciting next step for me.
Next step.
I love that we're so lucky to have you with all that experience.
Oh my god, it's so fun. It's so fun.
Well, I'm sure over the course of your career, your work has taken you to New York. Tim, and I don't know about you guys, but my feed this week has just been inundated with all these uplifting, inspiring stories from the New York Marathon. It's one of the most touching, moving things that you can witness when you live in the city. And I mean the signs are always incredible. The stories of the runners are so powerful. It's just the best.
I was living in New York and I lived in Midtown, and I used to run in Central Park every day, and I did not know that the New York Marathon was happening. One morning and I was just like, I'm gonna go out for a job and I'm like, why, Wow, this part kids really crowded. There are a lot of people running, and I didn't realize that I had accidentally like gotten on the path of the New York Marathon. So I was just like out from my morning jog and people were like cheering and clapping, and I'm like, why are all these people cheering and clapping? I was like, oh no, I somehow hijacked my way into the New York Marathon. So it ran for like three miles of the New York Marathon.
Oh my gosh, that's so fun. Did you ever do it for real?
No?
Never did it for real. I never really had the discipline for anything like that. I don't think I could have done that. Have you all? Have you ever ever wanted to do that? Or have you ever done that?
I'm dying to do the New York Marathon. It's on my bucket list. I look at those videos in those photos every single year with it's usually the photo of all the people on the bridge that blows my mind, and the energy is unbelievable. I did a breakup triathlon a few years ago, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. The day of I thought everybody was going to be super competitive, and instead there's so much camaraderie. Like if you can't get your bike off the rack in time, people will stop what they're doing in their race and come and help you.
There's like so much teamwork that.
Happens that feels so I know I'm being such a dork, but it feels really inspiring. I can only imagine what the marathon feels like. You see all those videos of people like helping each other up and saying like one more mile, like I'll do it with you. Some people come and walk miles with people who can't get to the finish line. Man, oh man, I don't know if I can do twenty six miles though's so long.
So in so, what's the longest you've run would you have to do for the triathlon?
The try was six I think, and it was the worst part for me. I hated the rock. So I don't know what makes me think I could do twenty six. But don't you like, aren't you inspired by the videos? You ever look at the end of the marathon and think.
Oh, I want a beer with you?
Yeah?
Oh yeah?
I mean, like I said, there's so many incredible stories. There's one that I saw about this woman named Janie Deagan and and she's a lifelong New Yorker. Just ten years ago she was down and out, struggling with homelessness and a drug and alcohol addiction. She gets clean, she opens up a bakery, and then she starts running, and she says that running marathons are what has helped her stay sober. And this year she teamed up with the organization that oversees the race to create.
A special cookie.
So now her work is part of the fabric of the New York Marathon and it's inspiring other people to.
So there's actually a lot of studies that have come out recently in terms of the road to recovery for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol and running, and there's a high correlation between people who are sober and marathon running interesting. It is sort of interesting. I've always said to my friends who do marathons. I was like, you're either running towards something or running from something.
So it's one of the two.
We're going to take a quick break from popping off, but we'll be right back and we're back to popping off with Tim Palazola.
Well, it wouldn't be Friday if I didn't bring up a dating story. You ready for this one?
Let's hear do it?
Okay, there's this TikTok creator Caitlin I'm sorry, and she went to go find a date at her local home depot.
Do you think it worked?
I say, yes, Yeah, I'm gonna go with yes, I'm feeling it yesterday.
Okay, here's her strategy. She was going to go to home depot and ask cute guys for help. So there's this video that she posted of her approaching a guy for his advice about hanging up a picture that has racked up more than five million views. It's also hilarious because he gave her really bad advice.
He pointed her towards.
Hooks for hanging a plant, not a picture frame. Okay, Ultimately, the bad Advice did not because they did exchange numbers, and Caitlyn confirmed two people this week that they are still together.
I'm impressed that she even found a man to talk to her in home depot because whenever I walk in there, I like spend like twenty minutes like wandering around, like wondering where I am, hoping someone will point me in the right direction.
So props to her.
Good for her, Good for her for trying someone outside the box. I hate that she felt she had to play like a little bit of a damsel in distress to do so. But we we hear of all kinds of fun stories of people meaning it interesting places. I actually dated someone that I met at the dentist.
Really the dentist was it the dentist.
He was like the dental hygienist person. He was the one that took X rays of my teeth. I had gone to a new dentist and he took extras of my teeth and I was like, he's kind of cute. And uh, two days later he friended me on Facebook and said, I think your teeth my teeth should be friends.
Oh my god, that's such a good line. Yeah, you must have had really clean teeth.
I had very clean teeth, he did say. He was like, I thought you were cute, and then when I saw that your teeth were in such good condition, he was like, Okay, I know I could like go out.
I wanted this hygienic romance last.
We did it for about a year and it was a lot of fun. But I think about that, this home depot and this like dentist story, because it's something Danielle, I've heard you say before, like the advice that like love will find you when you least expect it.
Yeah.
Right, I hate when people tell me that.
And sometimes it's just like that, when you least expect it, when you're not looking for it.
Right, No, it's true. I just didn't want to hear it, Okay.
On the subject of dating and relationships, this is a feel good story that's all about trusting your gut and taking control and creating the life that you want. So Today recently published an op ed with a woman named Tia Res who talked about her decision to call off her wedding two years ago. She says she'd pushed for her ex to propose at the time, only to realize that he ended up giving her a quote shut upring, basically like a means to an end, like I know that you need this, I'm giving this for you, but for the wrong reasons, or I'm giving this to you but for the wrong reasons. And she says that they never really addressed the reasons why he was hesitating to take those next steps with her. But she says that the disconnect really sank in about two months before the wedding, when they started looking for homes and she realized that she wasn't actually excited about their future together and he didn't seem to be either. So she said that after that she made one of the hardest decisions of her life.
She canceled the wedding.
She pushed back against friends, family members who discounted her feelings, told her they were just jitters. And now two years later, on the other side of this, she says she's so much happier and she understands that she deserves someone who actually wants to be with her and isn't just looking to placate her or stay in the relationship because they're afraid to walk away.
I find this story really powerful.
I think I think we don't often get to hear the perspective of someone who's on the other side of a decision like this and is proud of it.
Okay, here's the thing that I don't understand, and I also you two have experienced in this realm, so please edge mcate me. I don't understand if you're dating somebody for two years, three years, six years, and then you get engaged and then you break off the engagement, what happens within that period of engagement where you're having all these realizations that you didn't have over the last six years dating somebody, And how'd you.
Get to the point of engagement. That's what I need to understand.
I have thoughts, simoney, do you I do.
Yeah.
I think it's human nature to get swept up in love and to I mean, we've all dismissed red flags before. We've all suppressed our doubts about relationships that we're in because we have this vision for our future that we're trying to adhere to, and it can become really easy to silence those doubts in favor of you know, this, this family or life that you want to create with this person. So I think she just got sucked into, you know, the romanticism of it all. And then thank god though she listened to those those questions and those whispers that were taking place inside of her.
Yeah, I want to echo that. I think you. I think it's I think it's easy to fall in love with the idea of something, and sometimes you have a vision for the life that you want and someone is there and they play a piece of that instead of falling in love with the person. Think about this story. I was thinking so much about the conversation that the two of you had with Sarah Kubrick, and she was talking about like agency and how everyone has the freedom to make their own choices and that there's the power in that. You started to hit on this simone. Like we think of like breaking off an engagement as something that's really tragic, but it really was the most empowering thing that she could do for herself, because I think people also feel like they settle. It's exciting to see someone be able to take control of their own life and get to the point where they go, you know what, Actually, this isn't what I want. And instead of settling, and instead of suppressing that intuition or that voice, letting that voice speak up.
Okay, but you guys didn't really answer my question because I agree with you both. That's I love the agency. I'm not disagreeing. What I'm saying is what conversations happen once you get engaged. To me, it seems like families get involved. Money in terms of wedding planning happens. I think there's logistical things that start to be discussed that start sparking different kinds of conversations, and all of a sudden, people realize, oh, maybe we're not on the same page.
I think people don't have a lot of those conversations. I think people avoid things. I think people aren't as honest with themselves or each other along the way. And sometimes it takes like, oh my god, I'm about to walk down the aisle. This is real, this is real for people to really wake up and see the situation that they're in. You know what, here's the thing Beyonce said, if you like it, then you should have put a ring on it. That's great advice. But also if you don't like it, say no to the ring. You have agency to say no to the ring.
Say no, just say no. That's good. It's time for a break.
But we'll be back, and we're back with Tim Pallizola.
Okay, I want to wrap up by asking you guys about this new TikTok debate that's circulating right now. It's this conversation about growing up in ingredient households. This is a kind of home where your pantry is stocked with things like flour and beans and rice, but whenever you're looking for a snack or ready made meal, you are out of luck, honey, and people are trauma bonding over this. Forty four million people have engaged with the ingredient household hashtag. Clearly, this is hitting a nerve with our generation. Does this resonate with you, guys, Tim, were you allowed to have snacks growing up?
Or were you an ingredient household?
My mom will listen to this, and I do not want to put Debbie Palosola on blast, but when I was a kid, Debbie fruity pebbles was a healthy breakfast in my house growing up. That is where I got a lot of the vitamin C. The kids in the neighborhood would come over to our house because we always had the best snacks. So yes, we cooked, and we baked and stuff but there was no shortage of processed foods. Little Debbie snack bars, cakes, cookies, we had. We were definitely that snack house.
Okay, you were the house that everyone wanted to be and I would have been at your house eating all your task Danielle, how about you?
Yeah, my friend Sasha had snackhouse and I would go there and raid her goldfish, oreos, all the things that were not in my house. You know, when I was growing up, I was kind of like, why is my pantry just sort of empty? And in hindsight, I'm so grateful my pantry was sort of empty. My mom was really doing the right thing. She was like really into whole foods, and she was no cereal, no pretzels, no processed stuff, way before it was popular.
So shout out to my mother today.
Oh she was ahead of it. You're you're naming all the things that I can visually see in my pantry at all times. Yes, before I went to school in the morning, I would literally take peanut butter, Captain crunch and mix it with Reese's pieces, cereal, am my mom.
And igs sugar in every ex So incredible.
It was a different time. You guys, like you don't have a tail.
I can't believe I still have tea.
I think it's important to note that, like we're all so privileged and lucky that we grew up in homes where we had plenty of food. Yes, yes, But I think when I look back on my childhood, like it was a mix, like sometimes we were an ingredient household and then like other times we weren't. And I feel like it depended on my mom's mood, Like sometimes it literally would be like three month old salad dressing in the fridge. And yeah, and like some carrots.
In my household is known for expired foods, and I carried on the tradition. I sometimes like I'll eat brown bananas.
I'll eat anything.
When I was a kid, McDonald's had this promotion where they were doing like it was like nineteen cent Hamburgers and twenty nine cent cheeseburgers, and my dad would go to the local McDonald's and buy They would let you buy ten of them at a time, So my dad would buy ten Hamburgers and ten cheeseburgers, and he did it like one day every day for a week, and then put them in the freezer. So we had ziplock bags full of McDonald's hamburgers and cheeseburgers, and I would come home in school and after soccer practice and I would literally just go into the freezer and pull out one of these frozen hamburgers, put it in the microwave, and that was like a snack before dinner.
That's so epic and truly delicious. Okay.
In addition to ingredient households, people are also going off on this idea of living room families versus bedroom families, and people online are commenting on the idea that families who spend time together in communal spaces of the home are creating this environment where everyone feels safe and welcome, and that this is a better alternative to a bedroom family where everyone kind of like does their own thing and the kids are isolated and the parents are isolated. How would you describe your experience? Was it living room family a bedroom family?
Growing up? We were a living room family for sure. Yeah. We never had I had friends who had like TVs and stuff in their bedrooms. We never had anything like that. We were definitely a living room family. We're like a living room kitchen family. We were always together, We were always playing games together.
And what do you think the benefits are of that? Looking back on it, Like, how did it shape you? Like, because I think I think it does actually shape us whether we are you know friends, Yeah.
Right, because I had friends who I would go over and the parents would be watching something downstairs, and then my friend would have a TV in his room and play video games in his room, and his brother would have a TV and video games in their room. So it was a very like quiet, isolated house. I'd see the benefit for me when what I think about it is like I'm still very very close with my family, and I just also remember there was just like a lot of music playing all the time, and we all had like different shows I was exposed to. You know, we learn from each other because like my brothers were very much like you know, into sports and things that I wasn't necessarily into the same way. But we all get a chance to like learn from each other. I think we we learn how to communicate, learn to appreciate each other's points of view, to learn to compromise, learn to communicate effectively, learning how to share. I think some of those inherent principles just all of us being in the same space and having to negotiate, you know, what do we want to watch? What do we not want to watch? So I think those values I've really really instilled in me, and I think it actually when I think about the way I live now, Like my house is like a very much a hosting house. Like lots of people come over to my house and it reminds me like growing up, we were the hosting house. You know, there's stuff going on, and it feels like a really communal, fun gathering space.
It's really fun. What were you simon, Well.
When you're an only child, you grow up in a bedroom family because you don't have any so you become very independent and you play in your room by yourself and you have a vivid imagination.
Can I ask you now that you're a mom and you have two boys, are you a living room family?
Yes?
Very much intentional about being a living room family. My kids will not have their own TVs in their room. I want the doors to be open as much as possible. There will be parameters around video games once we introduce that. I see tremendous benefits in being together in shared the basis. Danielle as one of two growing up what was it like for you.
We were an everything family.
Okay, so when you grow up in cold weather, you're indoors all the time. Yeah, So we were together in the basement, in the living room, in the family room, in the bedroom. As long as we could be horizontal and either playing games or reading or watching TV, we were doing it. We were very much together all the time.
I was.
My dad actually said to me that when he decided to have kids, he was a dentist, and he said he made a distinct choice that he was going to maybe not kill it at work as much as he potentially could, and he was going to spend more time with his kids. So my dad was actually the one that picked us up from school a lot, made us snacks. The roles would kind of flip flop based on their jobs and like who was working more. But we were definitely in everything family.
I think there's so much value in that. That's beautiful. Well, bestie is We are so grateful to have you in our family and to have our showrunner Tim Palizola joining us today.
I'm popping off. Thank you, Tim.
Thank yo yo yo, Yeah, that one. Thanks so much. It's always the best to spend time with you all.
Wait, Tim, next time you come, you're gonna have to tell everybody how you won a car on the prices.
Right, yes, next time.
That's what we call it.
Teas and TVs dressed as a banana.
Okay, now you have to come back.
That's it for today's show. On Monday, We've got selling sunsets Mary Bonnet in the house. We're asking all the questions we've been dying to ask about how her reality TV show gets made. Plus she's opening up about her fertility journey with husband Romaine.
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The bright Side is a production of Hello Sunshine and iHeart Podcasts and is executive produced by Reese Witherspoon.
Production by Arcana Audio. Our producers are Jessica Wank, Krista Ripple, and Amy Padula. Our senior producer is IT'SI Quintania, and our engineer is PJ. Shahamat Our.
Conna's executive producers are Francis Harlowe and Abby Ruzka.
Arcana's head of production is Matt.
Schultz, Natalie Tulluk and Maureen Polo are the executive producers for Hello Sunshine.
Julia Weaver is the supervising producer, and Ali Perry is the executive producer for iHeart Podcasts.
Tim Paalazola is our showrunner.
This week's episodes were recorded by Graham Gibson and Joel Morales.
Our theme song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton Lighthouser.
Special thanks to Connell Byrne and Will Pearson.
I'm Simone Boyce. You can find me at Simone Boyce on Instagram and TikTok.
And I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's ro O v A Y.
We'll see you Monday, y'all keep looking on the bright side.