house of sudz gone

It has come to my attention (thanks to Evan "Rod" Bass) that the House of Sudz laundromat in Astoria, home of the first ever meeting between Tom and Lucy in the "We Need Girlfriends" web pilot, and seen here in this screen grab....




...has closed down. See...





Thank you House of Sudz for the memories and for allowing us to film for free. We'll miss you from 3,000 miles away.

and we're back...

It sure has been awhile. Why so long, you ask? Well, when CBS delays your sitcom until 2010, you end up with a lot of time and little money. This means it's back to the day jobs for Brian, Angel and I, as we work in the unfulfilling industry jobs waiting to get back into the game.

In the meantime, we've been keeping busy! We've been developing and writing something new (more on that later, hopefully). And, hopefully, fingers crossed, we'll have some "We Need Girlfriends" news in the near future. Believe me, we're just as anxious to get this thing going as you are to watch it. We're actually more anxious. Because day jobs are boring.

And what are you all up to?

mailbag - finally!

Phew!

It sure has been a long time since I've posted anything.

Our friend Courtney got on my case about it last week. I must apologize for the delay. We've all, obviously, been adjusting to life in Los Angeles, have focused on working again and before you know it, you haven't posted a blog in six weeks. Very, very lame on my part. And I apologize.

But, I promised a while back to answer some of the pressing questions you all had about the future of Ragtag and "We Need Girlfriends." So, do that I will.



Devon asked two questions...

1) How come being on team tom is ultimately better than being on team rod AND team henry?

Did Patrick put you up to this?

2) Are there certain events from your move across the country that you're just DYING to put into writing for the show?

When we were in our hotel bar in Nebraska we met a group of forty-something guys that put up cell phone towers and were so incredibly excited to see new people in the bar that they wouldn't leave us alone. They ultimately offered us jobs helping them put up cell phone towers, then promised us they could get us a lot of "trim" in Nebraska. Trim, apparently, means.... you know. In almost every script we've written since then, we've included some sort of reference to trim. Hopefully we can popularize the ridiculousness of this moment. Maybe "Trim is the new Squirrel."

And the number one question on everyone's mind?

What is going on with the WNG TV series? Who is going to be cast?

Right now, the WNG TV series is STILL in development at CBS and Sony. We haven't shot anything, but the script is written. They decided the series didn't fit into their fall schedule, so right now it's on hold until 2010. We know this is frustrating as a fan of the show to have to wait so long. TV production is a notoriously slow process so you'll have to bear with us. And hey, if you really like WNG and want to see it on the air a little more quickly, feel free to write to CBS and tell them that.

So, since we haven't shot anything, the casting is still up in the air. We, obviously, love Patrick, Seth and Evan and hope the network will too. And if you love them, why not include that in the letter you promised us you'd write to CBS? I mean, this is how "Star Trek" was saved, right?


Thank you all for your questions! I promise to post more now.

evan conquers universal, gets eaten by a 20 footer (25)

Evan "Rod" Bass is in town visiting, so on Tuesday morning we all got up extra early and took the fifteen minute drive to Universal Studios in Hollywood!

We started by taking the famous tour of Universal Studios. The tram started out slowly enough. Brian and I even posed for this very nice photo which our mothers would be proud of.



But things quickly took a turn for the worse! First, we passed by this familiar landmark...





When who should we see outside of it disposing of a body but NORMAN BATES!!!!





Of course, this was just a Norman Bates impersonator that eventually chased the tram around with a butcher knife. We realized this actor had one of the most amazing jobs in the world. He sits inside the Bates Motel all day, waits for a tram to pass by, then chases it. All day. Every day. Frankly, we were a little jealous. You should have seen the smile on his face when he was tormenting us. This was a happy man.

However, we didn't have much time to envy him, as another Universal movie monster was headed our way....

JAWS!!!!!!!





Luckily, we not only escaped unharmed, but we captured him. Well, I captured him...






Evan was eaten.





This wasn't the only creature that threatened Evan's life. You see, after Evan and I were scared shitless by the Mummy roller coaster (neither of us likes rollercoasters) we took a little break in the Universal arcade while Brian and Angel did the Mummy again. While there, a familiar face walked by and Evan, wanting a photo, yelled his name once...

"BEETLEJUICE!"

Then, he yelled it again.

"BEETLEJUICE!"

But before he could yell it a third time I exclaimed, "Evan! NO! DON'T SAY HIS NAME A THIRD TIME!" Luckily, Evan didn't and Beetlejuice was even kind enough to pose for this photo...






It seemed danger was everywhere at Universal Studios, but luckily we had a hero in our midst. A cybernetic organism, from the future, sent to protect us at all costs. He was, appropriately, badass....






Of course, this hero was later seen in a rather scandalous pose with the Incredible Hulk...






We had a lot of fun at Universal and this series of ridiculous photos of grown men well out of college acting like idiots should be proof of that. Enjoy!

28 conquers Me

About a week and a half ago now, my roommates threw a little party for me in the apartment. A lot of people came (including Seth, who was in town!) and I even made "Watchmen" cakes. Here are some photos









It was a great, great time and I felt so lucky to have such great friends. Thank you all!

The next day, we went out for a special birthday dinner.

You see, a couple of months ago, while going to IHOP for an "All You Can Eat Pancakes" day (where Patrick got three orders of pancakes, eggs, bacon and french fries, and disgusted all of us) we realized there's a Chuck E. Cheese nearby.

So, I proclaimed that day I would have my birthday dinner at Chuck E. Cheese.

It made sense. I had my 7th birthday party at a Chuck E. Cheese and it was an absolute blast. Why wouldn't I have just as much fun twenty-one years later?

So me, Brian, Angel, Patrick, Seth and Angel's girlfriend Beth, also visiting, headed off to our local Chuck E. Cheese.

Angel ordered for us. We had only one request. We wanted a lot of food. Tons of food. Three large pizzas. An order of breadsticks. An order of Buffalo chicken wings. Angel took the honor of ordering, seen here...





We patiently waited thirty minutes for our food, but took the time to use our tokens to play some videogames, seen here...








Soon after, we settled in for all that food we ordered.

And you know what?

It was fucking disgusting.

And not only was it so fucking disgusting, but we had ordered a hundred bucks worth of it. So, we were forced to sit there and eat it all. Every disgusting bit of it. The pizza was somewhere between lukewarm and cold, the breadsticks were flaccid, and the chicken wings were described as "fat and skin covered with buffalo sauce."

We left the Chuck E. Cheese that day feeling completely disgusting. Was it our age? Were we too old to eat Chuck E. Cheese? Or was it the Chuck E. Cheese? Is Chuck E. Cheese disgusting?

Afterwards, my Mom called and I told her how Chuck E. Cheese was. She said, "Oh yeah, that place is gross. That's the only pizza I can't stomach."

So, I blame the mouse. But I can't blame him too much, because he was kind enough to pose for this photo.





Evan is in town this week! We went to Universal yesterday. Expect photos soon.

bacon lucky and tomato

When Patrick came home late last night, we went upstairs to check on Smokey... and he was gone. I foresee only one logical conclusion.

Alf got to him before we did.

cat on a hot tin north hollywood

I like hearing stories about Brian's childhood. Brian, the basis for the Tom character in "We Need Girlfriends," is clearly the most mature out of all of us, so it's hard to picture him as a kid.

But one of my favorite, and saddest, young Brian stories involve his childhood cat Smokey. One day, Smokey climbed high into a Memphis tree, too high for it to get down. So, Brian's parents called the fire department and asked them to get Smokey down. The fire department told Brian's parents, "We don't do that kind of stuff anymore." And Brian never saw Smokey again.

Today, Brian returned from the gym in our apartment building and said, "There's a cat in the stairway, just sitting there. I said, 'Hi cat.' Then I shook my keys at it."

A few hours later, I went to the gym, and there was that same cat, sitting there and meowing.

I went downstairs and told Brian, "That cat is still there."

We speculated that it might be a stray. The front door to the building had been open all day, so it was quite possible that this cat could have snuck in that way.

"Well, what should we do?" I asked Brian. "Should we give it some milk or something?"

So, Brian and I went up to the stairwell and brought the cat a little saucer of milk.






I told Brian that maybe this cat is the reincarnated spirit of Smokey. Or, perhaps, Smokey finally found his way back home, after over twenty years of traveling.





I just went back to check on Smokey and it's still up there, meowing away. Did anyone lose a cat in North Hollywood? If not, how does one take care of a cat? Please help us.