WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.620 Think about the crumpled one dollar bill sitting 00:00:02.620 --> 00:00:06.219 in your wallet or maybe your pocket right now. 00:00:06.700 --> 00:00:08.960 If people still even carry cash. Right. Right. 00:00:09.099 --> 00:00:11.839 Yeah. But seriously if you have one just visualize 00:00:11.839 --> 00:00:14.359 it. Where was that specific piece of paper yesterday. 00:00:14.619 --> 00:00:17.399 Oh that is a wild thing to think about. It really 00:00:17.399 --> 00:00:20.039 is. Like who held it before you did. Was it used 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:22.480 by a grandmother to buy a birthday card at a 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:25.399 pharmacy or? Or was used to snort something highly 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:28.039 illegal in the alleyway behind a dive bar. Exactly. 00:00:28.059 --> 00:00:30.199 I mean, you literally have no idea. And usually 00:00:30.199 --> 00:00:31.960 when we talk about a murder mystery, there's 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:34.780 this very rigid, comforting formula. Yeah, the 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:37.799 classic procedural setup. Right. A grizzled detective 00:00:37.799 --> 00:00:41.179 shows up at a crime scene, flashes a badge, and 00:00:41.179 --> 00:00:43.579 starts interviewing suspects one by one. It's 00:00:43.579 --> 00:00:46.340 a very straight, logical line from the crime 00:00:46.340 --> 00:00:48.619 to the culprit. Because we ride shotgun with 00:00:48.619 --> 00:00:51.090 the person whose literal job is to solve the 00:00:51.090 --> 00:00:53.869 puzzle. Exactly. Which, you know, is incredibly 00:00:53.869 --> 00:00:56.030 safe for the viewer. We follow the investigator, 00:00:56.210 --> 00:00:59.090 we know who the hero is, and we completely trust 00:00:59.090 --> 00:01:01.530 their perspective to guide us through the darkness 00:01:01.530 --> 00:01:04.250 of the story. But what if the camera didn't follow 00:01:04.250 --> 00:01:07.569 the detective? Oh, man. What if instead the camera 00:01:07.569 --> 00:01:11.230 followed the money? Welcome to today's Deep Dive. 00:01:11.829 --> 00:01:14.609 If you are a curious learner who loves dissecting 00:01:14.609 --> 00:01:17.370 unique storytelling experiments, you are in the 00:01:17.370 --> 00:01:19.609 exact right place. You really are. Today, we 00:01:19.609 --> 00:01:22.090 are cracking open the history of a television 00:01:22.090 --> 00:01:25.189 series from 2018. It's a somewhat forgotten show 00:01:25.189 --> 00:01:27.230 called One Dollar. It really slipped under the 00:01:27.230 --> 00:01:29.489 radar for a lot of people. It did. And our mission 00:01:29.489 --> 00:01:31.890 here isn't just to recap a canceled TV show. 00:01:32.150 --> 00:01:34.829 We are going to deconstruct a truly fascinating 00:01:34.829 --> 00:01:36.950 narrative experiment. Right, because the structure 00:01:36.950 --> 00:01:40.030 of this show is just... Wild. We want to examine 00:01:40.030 --> 00:01:43.489 how a single everyday object was used to completely 00:01:43.489 --> 00:01:46.049 map the class and cultural divides of a post 00:01:46.049 --> 00:01:48.890 -recession American town. And we'll get into 00:01:48.890 --> 00:01:51.150 why critics were so intensely divided on it. 00:01:51.310 --> 00:01:53.689 Yeah, whether this was a stroke of absolute genius 00:01:53.689 --> 00:01:56.189 or just a cheap gimmick. OK, let's untack this. 00:01:56.390 --> 00:01:58.609 Well, what's fascinating here is how structure 00:01:58.609 --> 00:02:01.599 completely dictates meaning. I mean, when you 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:03.780 change the lens through which a story is told, 00:02:04.180 --> 00:02:06.500 you completely change the story itself. Absolutely. 00:02:07.019 --> 00:02:10.020 So let's start with the premise and the gimmick 00:02:10.020 --> 00:02:14.360 itself. The setup of $1 is incredibly atmospheric. 00:02:14.520 --> 00:02:17.949 Very moody. Yeah. We are dropped into a small, 00:02:18.210 --> 00:02:20.710 unnamed Rust Belt town in post -recession America. 00:02:21.229 --> 00:02:23.610 The inciting incident is heavy and immediately 00:02:23.610 --> 00:02:25.849 demands attention. It's a multiple murder, right? 00:02:25.949 --> 00:02:28.229 Yes, a shocking multiple murder at a local steel 00:02:28.229 --> 00:02:30.949 mill. That is the hook. But the narrative engine 00:02:30.949 --> 00:02:33.610 -like, the actual mechanism of how we experience 00:02:33.610 --> 00:02:36.590 the fallout of this crime is the catch. This 00:02:36.590 --> 00:02:38.750 is the part I love. The point of view shifts 00:02:38.750 --> 00:02:41.550 entirely from person to person depending on who 00:02:41.550 --> 00:02:44.710 is holding a specific one dollar bill. It forces 00:02:44.710 --> 00:02:47.629 a completely bird's eye view of a fractured society. 00:02:48.409 --> 00:02:50.629 Think about how currency actually functions in 00:02:50.629 --> 00:02:52.650 the real world. It just changes hands constantly. 00:02:52.849 --> 00:02:55.490 Right. A dollar bill has absolutely no loyalty. 00:02:55.949 --> 00:02:59.069 It has no class consciousness, no morals, and 00:02:59.069 --> 00:03:01.050 no political affiliation. It's just a piece of 00:03:01.050 --> 00:03:03.870 paper. Exactly. That single bill could be sitting 00:03:03.870 --> 00:03:06.069 in the cheap plastic cash register of a struggling 00:03:06.069 --> 00:03:08.409 diner at eight in the morning, handed over as 00:03:08.409 --> 00:03:10.449 a tip by a waitress who is, you know, barely 00:03:10.449 --> 00:03:12.370 making rent. Yeah, just trying to survive. But 00:03:12.370 --> 00:03:15.770 then by noon, it could be slipped into the leather 00:03:15.770 --> 00:03:18.770 wallet of a wealthy real estate developer who 00:03:18.770 --> 00:03:21.449 just bought her building. Oh, wow. Yeah. And 00:03:21.449 --> 00:03:24.949 by midnight, that same piece of paper could be 00:03:24.949 --> 00:03:27.629 paying for a bribe or something totally illicit 00:03:27.629 --> 00:03:30.919 in that wealthy guy's gated community. It's the 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:33.020 ultimate neutral observer. I mean, the best analogy 00:03:33.020 --> 00:03:35.300 I can think of is a relay race. OK, I like that. 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:38.460 But instead of a smooth, wooden baton being passed 00:03:38.460 --> 00:03:40.840 between elite athletes on a manicured track, 00:03:41.419 --> 00:03:43.879 they are passing around a bloodstained piece 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:45.759 of currency. That's a great way to put it. And 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:48.080 whoever holds that bill, that is who the camera 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:51.080 follows. It forces the story to look at completely 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:53.000 different corners of the community that would 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.360 normally never interact with each other. Because 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:58.349 a detective, no matter how good they are, only 00:03:58.349 --> 00:04:00.449 goes where they think the clues are. Right. They 00:04:00.449 --> 00:04:02.569 follow their own logic. Yeah. They have biases. 00:04:02.750 --> 00:04:04.710 They have blind spots. They interview the immediate 00:04:04.710 --> 00:04:07.169 family, the co -workers, the obvious enemies. 00:04:07.949 --> 00:04:11.349 But the dollar bill goes everywhere. It literally 00:04:11.349 --> 00:04:13.310 slips through the cracks of the investigation. 00:04:13.789 --> 00:04:16.250 It crosses those deep class and cultural boundaries 00:04:16.250 --> 00:04:19.810 without asking for permission. Just think about 00:04:19.810 --> 00:04:22.250 applying this to your own life right now. Like, 00:04:22.250 --> 00:04:24.980 think about your workplace. or the city you live 00:04:24.980 --> 00:04:27.360 in. It would be terrifying, honestly. It would. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:30.399 If you could somehow attach a microscopic camera 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:34.519 to a $20 bill and track it as it moved through 00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:37.040 your local economy over the course of a single 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:39.339 week. You'd see everything. How would that completely 00:04:39.339 --> 00:04:41.800 change your understanding of your own social 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.399 ecosystem? You would see the invisible threads. 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:46.639 connecting people who would never otherwise speak 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:50.079 to each other. The barista, the CEO, the unhoused 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:53.000 person on the corner, the local politician. Yeah, 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:55.579 that invisible web of commerce is the actual 00:04:55.579 --> 00:04:57.920 engine of this show. But, you know, a theoretical 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:00.300 premise is just a whiteboard idea until you build 00:05:00.300 --> 00:05:02.879 the world. Right. Execution is everything. Exactly. 00:05:03.300 --> 00:05:06.279 A geographically accurate town is just empty 00:05:06.279 --> 00:05:08.779 real estate without the right texture. If the 00:05:08.779 --> 00:05:11.360 town doesn't feel authentic, the dollar bill 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:13.620 stops being a microscope into the human condition 00:05:13.620 --> 00:05:15.620 and just becomes a cheap laser pointer bouncing 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:18.300 around a stage. The setting has to be strong 00:05:18.300 --> 00:05:21.720 enough to carry the weight of that constant perspective 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:24.240 shifting. Because if the audience doesn't buy 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:26.899 the town, they won't buy the gimmick. So let's 00:05:26.899 --> 00:05:29.100 look at how they built it. The series was created 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:32.170 by Jason Mosberg. and directed by Craig Zobel. 00:05:32.290 --> 00:05:35.149 Some really solid names. Yeah. And backed by 00:05:35.149 --> 00:05:38.110 some serious production muscle from CBS television 00:05:38.110 --> 00:05:41.449 studios and anonymous content. But the hyper 00:05:41.449 --> 00:05:44.550 local authenticity is what really jumps out as 00:05:44.550 --> 00:05:47.009 the defining characteristic here. Oh, absolutely. 00:05:47.529 --> 00:05:50.149 The location choices were so deliberate. They 00:05:50.149 --> 00:05:52.449 didn't just film this on a generic backlog in 00:05:52.449 --> 00:05:56.029 California and call it Anywhere USA. They shot 00:05:56.029 --> 00:05:58.550 the series entirely on location in Pittsburgh, 00:05:58.550 --> 00:06:01.709 Pennsylvania, starting in March of 2018. Which, 00:06:01.910 --> 00:06:03.430 if you've ever been to Pittsburgh in March... 00:06:03.430 --> 00:06:06.110 It's bleak. It's very gray. Very authentic, but 00:06:06.110 --> 00:06:08.189 gray. Yeah. And they made a very deliberate, 00:06:08.389 --> 00:06:10.470 somewhat shocking decision to prominently feature 00:06:10.470 --> 00:06:13.670 the regional Yinser accent. Which, from a television 00:06:13.670 --> 00:06:16.069 production standpoint, is a massive creative 00:06:16.069 --> 00:06:19.259 risk. Really? Just the accent? Oh yeah. The industry 00:06:19.259 --> 00:06:21.519 standard usually defaults to a sort of flat, 00:06:21.819 --> 00:06:24.759 non -regional, Midwestern broadcast dialect. 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:27.879 Network executives are historically terrified 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:30.819 of highly specific regional accents. Because 00:06:30.819 --> 00:06:33.180 they think people won't understand it. Exactly. 00:06:33.620 --> 00:06:36.000 They worry it will alienate a broader audience 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.519 who might feel like they need subtitles to understand 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:40.980 what's being said. I mean, for anyone who isn't 00:06:40.980 --> 00:06:43.459 from Western Pennsylvania, the Yintzer accent 00:06:43.459 --> 00:06:46.579 is incredibly distinct. It really is its own 00:06:46.579 --> 00:06:48.899 thing. It's this Appalachian -tinged working 00:06:48.899 --> 00:06:52.310 -class dialect where you all... becomes yinz. 00:06:52.350 --> 00:06:55.329 Right, yinz going to the game. Yeah. And downtown 00:06:55.329 --> 00:06:57.810 sounds like downtown. There's a very specific 00:06:57.810 --> 00:07:00.689 rhythm to the phrasing and it carries a heavy 00:07:00.689 --> 00:07:03.329 blue collar connotation. It does. So my question 00:07:03.329 --> 00:07:06.970 is, does leaning into something so hyper -specific, 00:07:07.069 --> 00:07:09.649 like an obscure regional dialect that had rarely 00:07:09.649 --> 00:07:11.850 been used as the default voice of a TV drama 00:07:11.850 --> 00:07:14.810 before, actually make a show more universally 00:07:14.810 --> 00:07:16.810 relatable? That's the million dollar question. 00:07:17.009 --> 00:07:19.589 Doesn't making it strictly Pittsburgh risk isolating 00:07:19.589 --> 00:07:22.560 a viewer in say, Texas or California? I'd actually 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.620 argue the exact opposite. Really? How so? Well, 00:07:26.120 --> 00:07:29.699 when we look at the core theme of $1, which is 00:07:29.699 --> 00:07:33.439 the grinding reality of post -recession, America 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:35.959 authenticity in location and voice is the only 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:38.100 thing that grounds the mystery. OK, I can see 00:07:38.100 --> 00:07:40.339 that. When you are dealing with themes of deep 00:07:40.339 --> 00:07:43.459 economic hardship, cultural friction, and massive 00:07:43.459 --> 00:07:47.459 class divides. Rooting the story in a real, tangible 00:07:47.459 --> 00:07:50.699 geography prevents it from feeling like a generic 00:07:50.699 --> 00:07:53.100 morality play. It stops it from feeling like 00:07:53.100 --> 00:07:56.410 a lecture. Precisely. The Yinzer accent, the 00:07:56.410 --> 00:07:59.389 rusted bridges, the gray, oppressive skies of 00:07:59.389 --> 00:08:02.029 a Pittsburgh march. So gray. Yeah. Those aren't 00:08:02.029 --> 00:08:04.310 just background details or set dressing. They're 00:08:04.310 --> 00:08:06.910 the actual texture of a post -recession reality. 00:08:07.670 --> 00:08:09.769 It signals to the viewer, like, these are real 00:08:09.769 --> 00:08:11.810 people trapped in a real place. Right. It makes 00:08:11.810 --> 00:08:14.319 the struggle feel lived in. Exactly. The more 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:16.279 specific the details, the more genuine the human 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:18.540 struggle feels. And human struggle is what is 00:08:18.540 --> 00:08:20.100 universally relatable, regardless of whether 00:08:20.100 --> 00:08:21.860 you live in Dallas or Seattle. You're making 00:08:21.860 --> 00:08:24.399 the town a living, breathing character, not just 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:27.790 a set. 100%. But even a perfectly designed town 00:08:27.790 --> 00:08:30.389 needs the right faces. And because this show 00:08:30.389 --> 00:08:32.509 doesn't have a single main character to slap 00:08:32.509 --> 00:08:34.769 on a billboard. Right, because the protagonist 00:08:34.769 --> 00:08:37.210 shifts every single episode. Yeah. So they couldn't 00:08:37.210 --> 00:08:39.990 just cast one massive A -lister and build the 00:08:39.990 --> 00:08:42.470 show around them. They had to build an entire 00:08:42.470 --> 00:08:45.809 ecosystem of actors capable of carrying the narrative 00:08:45.809 --> 00:08:48.710 baton. And that requires a very specific type 00:08:48.710 --> 00:08:51.149 of performer. You can't just fill the town with 00:08:51.149 --> 00:08:53.450 generic, beautiful people. No, you need some 00:08:53.450 --> 00:08:55.610 grit. You need actors who carry own gravity. 00:08:55.730 --> 00:08:57.570 Which is why the ensemble they put together is 00:08:57.570 --> 00:08:59.879 so brilliant. Instead of leaning on traditional 00:08:59.879 --> 00:09:03.340 leading men or women, they built a deep bench 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:05.779 of heavy hitting character actors. The casting 00:09:05.779 --> 00:09:07.940 was phenomenal. You have John Carroll Lynch, 00:09:08.139 --> 00:09:11.179 an actor who brings this incredible, quiet, working 00:09:11.179 --> 00:09:13.679 class menace to almost everything he does. He 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:16.139 is always so good. Always. And then you have 00:09:16.139 --> 00:09:19.600 Leslie Odom, Jr. fresh off his massive Broadway 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:22.580 success in Hamilton, bringing this undeniable 00:09:22.580 --> 00:09:24.879 charisma to a wealthy real estate character. 00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:27.519 Such a great contrast. They pulled in Philip 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:31.879 Even the country musician, Sturgill Simpson. 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:34.899 It's an eclectic mix, but it serves the structure 00:09:34.899 --> 00:09:39.139 perfectly. If the dollar bill lands in your character's 00:09:39.139 --> 00:09:41.879 pocket, you are suddenly the lead of a television 00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:44.779 show for the next 60 minutes. No pressure, right. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:47.220 You have to be compelling enough to hold the 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:50.000 audience's attention entirely on your own while 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.200 still fitting seamlessly into the background 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:54.340 of someone else's episode. the very next week. 00:09:54.539 --> 00:09:56.879 That's a huge ask for an actor, and the episodes 00:09:56.879 --> 00:09:59.279 are literally titled after the characters holding 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:01.519 the bill. Yeah, I love that detail. Episode 1 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:04.519 is Garrett Dremmer. Episode 4 is Chelsea Weiler. 00:10:04.779 --> 00:10:08.279 It's basically an anthology hiding inside a serialized 00:10:08.279 --> 00:10:11.019 mystery. It really is. But despite this incredible 00:10:11.019 --> 00:10:13.960 cast and this hyper -authentic world, the life 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:16.799 cycle of this show was shockingly brief. It came 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:19.059 and went so fast. It really did. It was originally 00:10:19.059 --> 00:10:22.320 ordered way back in 2017 under the title $1, 00:10:22.659 --> 00:10:25.879 just the symbol and the number. Oh, man. I imagine 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:27.919 someone in marketing finally realized that title 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:30.860 was an absolute typographical nightmare for search 00:10:30.860 --> 00:10:33.500 engine optimization. Oh, without a doubt. Try 00:10:33.500 --> 00:10:36.200 Googling a dollar sign and a number one and finding 00:10:36.200 --> 00:10:39.360 a TV show. Good luck. Impossible. So they changed 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:41.940 it to spelled out one dollar. It premiered in 00:10:41.940 --> 00:10:45.500 late August 2018 on CBS All Access. It ran for 00:10:45.500 --> 00:10:48.659 a tight 10 episode season, dropping weekly and 00:10:48.659 --> 00:10:51.460 finished its run on November 1st. And then? And 00:10:51.460 --> 00:10:54.460 then the absolute abrupt end. By the middle of 00:10:54.460 --> 00:10:56.820 December, just six weeks after the finale aired, 00:10:57.259 --> 00:10:58.860 the network announced the show was canceled. 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:01.620 Wow. If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:11:02.100 --> 00:11:05.220 this cancellation is a perfect snapshot of the 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:08.379 brutal reality of the 2018 streaming era. Six 00:11:08.379 --> 00:11:11.039 weeks to decide the fate of a completely unique 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:13.279 narrative experiment. That feels like they barely 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:15.980 gave it a chance to breathe. It's ruthless, but 00:11:15.980 --> 00:11:18.139 it's indicative of the ecosystem it was born 00:11:18.139 --> 00:11:20.779 into. I mean, six weeks is nothing. Right. Think 00:11:20.779 --> 00:11:23.080 about your own streaming queue right now. Think 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:25.080 about how many thumbnail images you scroll past 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:26.960 on a Tuesday night looking for something to watch. 00:11:27.139 --> 00:11:31.250 So many. Hundreds. Exactly. In 2018, platforms 00:11:31.250 --> 00:11:34.009 like CBS All Access were desperately trying to 00:11:34.009 --> 00:11:35.769 build their subscriber bases to compete with 00:11:35.769 --> 00:11:38.710 Netflix. They were pumping out an ocean of content. 00:11:38.889 --> 00:11:40.809 Just throwing things at the wall to see what 00:11:40.809 --> 00:11:44.269 sticks. Yeah. So even with a stellar cast, a 00:11:44.269 --> 00:11:47.690 unique premise and critical intrigue, a tightly 00:11:47.690 --> 00:11:51.370 wound 10 episode experiment can simply vanish 00:11:51.370 --> 00:11:54.029 in the sheer volume of television being produced. 00:11:54.190 --> 00:11:57.009 If you don't make an immediate massive cultural 00:11:57.009 --> 00:12:00.389 splash, the algorithm simply moves on. It has 00:12:00.389 --> 00:12:02.529 no loyalty. Just like the dollar bill. Oh, that's 00:12:02.529 --> 00:12:04.450 a good point. It doesn't have the patience to 00:12:04.450 --> 00:12:08.669 let an audience slowly discover a slow burn Pittsburgh 00:12:08.669 --> 00:12:11.250 mystery over three seasons. There was no runway. 00:12:11.970 --> 00:12:14.409 In the peak TV era, critical patients doesn't 00:12:14.409 --> 00:12:16.850 pay the server bills. So what does this all mean? 00:12:17.230 --> 00:12:19.210 That brings us to the autopsy of the show. Let's 00:12:19.210 --> 00:12:21.720 cut it open. If the premise was cool, the setting 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:23.720 was hyper -authentic, and the cast of character 00:12:23.720 --> 00:12:26.120 actors was incredible, what actually went wrong? 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:27.879 Why didn't it work? Yeah, why didn't it make 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:30.379 that massive splash? Let's look at the critical 00:12:30.379 --> 00:12:32.379 reception, because this is where the conversation 00:12:32.379 --> 00:12:35.000 around narrative experiments gets really divided. 00:12:35.100 --> 00:12:37.220 It's a fascinating study in what critics value 00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:40.460 more. The mechanics of a plot or the texture 00:12:40.460 --> 00:12:43.279 of a world. The reviews were generally positive. 00:12:43.500 --> 00:12:46.500 but deeply mixed on the actual execution. Like 00:12:46.500 --> 00:12:49.320 the data shows an 80 % on Rotten Tomatoes, but 00:12:49.320 --> 00:12:53.320 a 64 on Metacritic. So very split. Yeah. On one 00:12:53.320 --> 00:12:55.980 side, you have... critics like Robert Lloyd from 00:12:55.980 --> 00:12:58.519 the Los Angeles Times, he specifically pointed 00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:00.980 to the excellence of the acting and praised what 00:13:00.980 --> 00:13:03.740 he called the English naturalism of the production. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:07.059 Right. English naturalism is a crucial term to 00:13:07.059 --> 00:13:09.100 understand here. What does that actually mean 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:11.399 in this context? Well, in television and film 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:13.960 criticism, that usually refers to a style of 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:16.919 filmmaking pioneered by British directors like, 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:20.259 you know, Ken Loach or Mike Lee. OK. It is unglamorous, 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:23.519 it's grounded, and intensely focused on the day 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:26.480 -to -day realities of the working class. It doesn't 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:28.779 shy away from ugly kitchens, worn out shoes, 00:13:29.220 --> 00:13:31.820 or awkward stilted conversations. It's not glossy. 00:13:32.080 --> 00:13:34.940 Not at all. Lloyd felt that this deep naturalistic 00:13:34.940 --> 00:13:36.860 commitment balanced out the show's narrative 00:13:36.860 --> 00:13:38.820 flaws. Because he did admit there were flaws. 00:13:38.980 --> 00:13:41.679 Sure. He noted that the show occasionally sacrificed 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:44.399 logical sense for the sake of drama, and that 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:46.720 the characters' actions were sometimes improbable. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:49.279 But he felt the writing gave the actors such 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:52.460 rich, naturalistic material that it was worse 00:13:52.460 --> 00:13:55.019 the ride. He valued the journey over the logic. 00:13:55.139 --> 00:13:57.679 Right. And that sentiment was echoed by Liam 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:00.879 Matthews over at TV Guide, who absolutely loved 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.230 the world building. Matthews pointed out that 00:14:03.230 --> 00:14:05.590 the writers seemed much more interested in the 00:14:05.590 --> 00:14:08.490 small, seemingly irrelevant vignettes that built 00:14:08.490 --> 00:14:11.190 out the town than they were in the central murder 00:14:11.190 --> 00:14:13.970 mystery itself. Yeah. He argued that those smaller 00:14:13.970 --> 00:14:17.090 side stories gave the show an indie movie -like 00:14:17.090 --> 00:14:19.950 texture about people just trying to survive the 00:14:19.950 --> 00:14:22.370 American economy. Exactly. But then we have the 00:14:22.370 --> 00:14:24.309 other side of the critical coin. The less forgiving 00:14:24.309 --> 00:14:27.220 side. Much less forgiving. Tim Goodman from The 00:14:27.220 --> 00:14:29.500 Hollywood Reporter offered a pretty scathing 00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:31.919 take on those exact same elements. He really 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:34.399 did not like it. He argued there just wasn't 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:37.019 enough good writing or logical motivation to 00:14:37.019 --> 00:14:39.279 follow these characters from week to week. He 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:42.019 called the characters intentionally half -baked 00:14:42.019 --> 00:14:44.799 and said their supposed indie movie quirks were 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:48.059 just masking a lack of actual depth. Ouch. Yeah. 00:14:48.659 --> 00:14:51.059 And his most damning line of the entire review 00:14:51.059 --> 00:14:54.909 was, quote, Smart people eventually do exceptionally 00:14:54.909 --> 00:14:58.230 dumb things. Which is the absolute death knell 00:14:58.230 --> 00:15:00.429 for a procedural mystery. It really takes you 00:15:00.429 --> 00:15:03.049 out of the story. It does. If the audience stops 00:15:03.049 --> 00:15:05.289 believing the choices the characters are making, 00:15:05.730 --> 00:15:08.389 the tension completely evaporates. For Goodman, 00:15:08.929 --> 00:15:11.570 the sacrifice of logic that the LA Times forgave 00:15:11.570 --> 00:15:14.350 was an absolute deal breaker. And it gets worse. 00:15:14.549 --> 00:15:17.250 Even TV Guide, the same publication that praised 00:15:17.250 --> 00:15:19.590 those indie movie vignettes, actually called 00:15:19.590 --> 00:15:22.129 the core connecting concept of passing the currency 00:15:22.129 --> 00:15:25.110 an unnecessary gimmick. Wow. They loved the result, 00:15:25.169 --> 00:15:27.129 but hated the tool. Right. And here's where it 00:15:27.129 --> 00:15:29.730 gets really interesting. I want to passionately 00:15:29.730 --> 00:15:32.129 challenge that specific critique. I'm listening. 00:15:32.450 --> 00:15:34.909 Break it down. If the critics, even the ones 00:15:34.909 --> 00:15:37.049 who gave the show mixed or negative reviews, 00:15:37.970 --> 00:15:40.710 almost universally agree that the side stories 00:15:40.990 --> 00:15:43.269 the margins of the town, and the indie movie 00:15:43.269 --> 00:15:45.289 vignettes were the absolute best part of the 00:15:45.289 --> 00:15:47.990 show. Doesn't that inherently prove the dollar 00:15:47.990 --> 00:15:51.110 bill gimmick actually worked? My argument is 00:15:51.110 --> 00:15:55.129 this. Without that specific gimmick, forcing 00:15:55.129 --> 00:15:57.389 the writers to follow the money into the cheap 00:15:57.389 --> 00:16:00.129 cash registers, the dive bars, and the wealthy 00:16:00.129 --> 00:16:03.049 estates, we would never have seen those fascinating 00:16:03.049 --> 00:16:05.149 margins of the town. That's a really fair point. 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:08.200 The gimmick is the only reason those highly praised 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:10.600 vignettes exist in the first place. You're defending 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:12.480 the structural integrity of the vehicle over 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:16.120 the destination. I am. You can't praise the beautiful 00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:18.259 scenic overlooks on a road trip and then turn 00:16:18.259 --> 00:16:20.220 around and call the car that drove you there 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:22.700 an unnecessary gimmick. Well, when you put it 00:16:22.700 --> 00:16:25.309 like that... If they just follow the detective, 00:16:25.470 --> 00:16:28.029 we would have had another generic flat procedural. 00:16:28.169 --> 00:16:31.090 We never would have seen the waitress or the 00:16:31.090 --> 00:16:33.629 real estate guy's kid. This raises an important 00:16:33.629 --> 00:16:37.590 question about how we as an audience judge narrative 00:16:37.590 --> 00:16:41.690 tools. Was the dollar bill a gimmick? Technically, 00:16:41.950 --> 00:16:44.450 yes. A gimmick is just a device used to attract 00:16:44.450 --> 00:16:47.340 attention or alter a traditional structure. But 00:16:47.340 --> 00:16:49.899 a gimmick isn't inherently bad if it serves a 00:16:49.899 --> 00:16:52.139 larger thematic purpose. Right. It had a job 00:16:52.139 --> 00:16:54.559 to do. And the dollar bill in this show was a 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:57.679 vehicle for forced empathy. Forced empathy. I 00:16:57.679 --> 00:16:59.419 love that phrasing. That's really what it was 00:16:59.419 --> 00:17:02.440 doing. It forced the audience to sit down and 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:04.680 spend an hour with a struggling single father. 00:17:04.859 --> 00:17:07.440 like Garrett Dremmer, and then abruptly shift 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:09.980 entirely to spend an hour with a wealthy heir 00:17:09.980 --> 00:17:12.019 like Chelsea Weiler. It makes you live in their 00:17:12.019 --> 00:17:16.019 shoes. Yes. Even if the central murder mystery 00:17:16.019 --> 00:17:19.299 like the actual whodunit aspect of the plot failed 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:21.339 for some critics because characters made illogical 00:17:21.339 --> 00:17:23.720 choices, the structural experiment succeeded 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.039 in doing exactly what it set out to do. It mapped 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:29.420 the town. It painted a comprehensive, multifaceted 00:17:29.420 --> 00:17:32.619 picture of a deeply divided ecosystem. The murder 00:17:32.619 --> 00:17:34.990 was just the shiny object. they used to trick 00:17:34.990 --> 00:17:37.589 us into looking at the map. Precisely. It was 00:17:37.589 --> 00:17:39.750 a tool for forced exploration of the American 00:17:39.750 --> 00:17:42.549 class divide. So as we wrap up this journey into 00:17:42.549 --> 00:17:45.009 the post -recession rest belt, let's recap what 00:17:45.009 --> 00:17:47.230 we've actually uncovered. It's been a ride. It 00:17:47.230 --> 00:17:51.029 has. $1 was a fascinating casualty of the peak 00:17:51.029 --> 00:17:54.650 TV era. It was a show that dared to try a highly 00:17:54.650 --> 00:17:58.049 specific geographic and structural experiment 00:17:58.049 --> 00:18:01.119 that justified the algorithm. completely ignored 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:03.619 the safe route. Yeah. It committed completely 00:18:03.619 --> 00:18:06.039 to the gray skies of Pittsburgh, the working 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:08.960 -class Yinser accent, and a rotating cast of 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:11.799 incredible character actors, all tied together 00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:14.119 by a single piece of currency passing from hand 00:18:14.119 --> 00:18:16.539 to hand. It was an incredibly ambitious swing. 00:18:16.829 --> 00:18:19.089 And perhaps it didn't perfectly nail the landing 00:18:19.089 --> 00:18:21.849 of its central murder mystery, but it overwhelmingly 00:18:21.849 --> 00:18:24.750 succeeded in its sociological ambitions. And 00:18:24.750 --> 00:18:27.089 just a quick nod to the past before we go, there 00:18:27.089 --> 00:18:29.670 is a really fun piece of trivia surrounding this 00:18:29.670 --> 00:18:31.750 concept from the source material. Oh, right. 00:18:31.869 --> 00:18:34.150 This isn't actually the first time this specific 00:18:34.150 --> 00:18:36.529 structural experiment was tried on screen. Not 00:18:36.529 --> 00:18:38.789 at all. Back in 1993, there was a film called 00:18:38.789 --> 00:18:41.549 20 Bucks, which used a very similar premise, 00:18:42.049 --> 00:18:44.430 tracking a $20 bill as it moved from person to 00:18:44.430 --> 00:18:47.099 person. though it was executed in a much more 00:18:47.099 --> 00:18:50.019 comical, lighthearted way. Yeah, a bit different 00:18:50.019 --> 00:18:53.420 tonally. So the idea of literally following the 00:18:53.420 --> 00:18:55.720 money has always been a tempting narrative device 00:18:55.720 --> 00:18:57.900 for writers wanting to capture a cross -section 00:18:57.900 --> 00:19:00.519 of society. And it remains a potent one today. 00:19:00.730 --> 00:19:03.450 Largely because physical money touches every 00:19:03.450 --> 00:19:06.190 single part of our lives, often in ways we prefer 00:19:06.190 --> 00:19:09.789 to keep hidden. So true. Which leaves us with 00:19:09.789 --> 00:19:13.049 the final thought to mull over. I asked you earlier 00:19:13.049 --> 00:19:14.849 to think about the physical cash you might have 00:19:14.849 --> 00:19:16.789 in your wallet right now. Yeah, that visual. 00:19:17.069 --> 00:19:19.869 If that object, that five or ten or twenty dollar 00:19:19.869 --> 00:19:23.900 bill, could suddenly project a hologram. instantly 00:19:23.900 --> 00:19:27.180 broadcasting a highly detailed, traumatic vignette 00:19:27.180 --> 00:19:29.859 of the last 10 people who held it. Their deepest 00:19:29.859 --> 00:19:32.220 secrets, their quietest economic struggles, their 00:19:32.220 --> 00:19:34.839 hidden cultural divides. Would you actually want 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:38.000 to sit down and watch that show? Or are we better 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:39.759 off letting some of those secrets stay quietly 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:42.079 in circulation? That is a genuinely haunting 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:44.339 thought to end on. I'm not sure I'd want to know. 00:19:45.369 --> 00:19:47.990 Thank you for joining us on this deep dive. Keep 00:19:47.990 --> 00:19:50.029 questioning the stories behind the everyday objects 00:19:50.029 --> 00:19:52.450 around you because you really never know where 00:19:52.450 --> 00:19:52.970 they've been.