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jamesroday Tonight…. a thing.

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(x)

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Before last weekend, I had no idea that Gary Mendez’s death and my mom’s had anything to do with each other.

(This is a TV story, I promise. Just stick with me.)

Last week, I had the honor of moderating some panels at ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas. I love moderating, funneling a ton of preparation and research into what — if I do my job right — becomes a fun and illuminating conversation. One of my panels was titled “TV Screens for Cancer,” and it was sponsored by Hollywood, Health & Society. Despite what might at first glance seem like very grim subject matter, I was really looking forward to the opportunity to ask a bunch of TV writers about the cancer storylines they’d crafted over the years.  

I had a personal reason for wanting in on the discussion, too. My mother, Susan Roots, died in May 2021 from Stage IV breast cancer.

The fact of that sentence, by the way, is still as surreal to me as it was the week she passed. I don’t have much memory of when, in a fog of grief and distracted by funeral arrangements, I contacted ABC publicity to let them know I couldn’t make a prearranged phone interview with A Million Little Things creator/showrunner DJ Nash. I’d covered the show since its start; I vaguely recall being grateful, given the tight timelines related to broadcast finales, that our Season 3 finale call was moved to a time more convenient for me.

The conversation I eventually had with Nash, though, stands out in clear detail in my brain. I sat at my parents’ white kitchen table, wearing a shirt of my mother’s because I hadn’t brought enough clothes with me when I rushed home. I was about to launch into my questions when he gently interrupted.

“Tell me a story about your mom,” he said.

If you’ve had the experience of witnessing a loved one in the terminal phase of an illness, you know how tough it can be to think of any time when your shared lives didn’t revolve around the soul-grinding details, and how hard it is to think about anything else once the person has passed. When to administer morphine. Which hospice nurse is coming today. Which setting on the hospital bed brings the least discomfort. Nash’s kind, simple request delivered me from that for a moment.

I told him about a car ride I’d had as a kid with my mom, her mom and her aunt. The horn malfunctioned while we were on the highway, honking randomly, loudly and with abandon at the unsuspecting drivers all around us. My mom, grandmother and great aunt couldn’t stop laughing. My mom gasped for breath, wiping at her streaming eyes as she tried to hold it together so we didn’t run off the road. I cackled too, partly because the horn really was ridiculous, partly out of the novelty of seeing these three women lose themselves in such unhinged fashion.

Nash listened. He chuckled. When I was done, we went on with the interview as planned. I’ve been lucky to have a lot of great conversations with people who make TV over the years, but that one stands out — even more so now, for reasons I’ll get to in a minute.

For those unfamiliar with A Million Little Things, it was an hour-long drama that ran on ABC for five seasons. It followed a group of friends in Boston. At the end of the series, one of the friends — Gary Mendez (played by James Roday Rodriguez), whose experience as a breast cancer survivor was an integral part of the show — died of lung cancer.

As A Million Little Things’ boss and the arbiter of Gary’s fate, Nash was a great fit for the ATX panel last weekend. He was joined by fellow TV writers Erica Green Swafford (New Amsterdam), Adam Weissman (The Good Doctor) and Stephen Hootstein (Chicago Med), all of whom generously engaged with my questions about how to balance realistic portrayals of cancer and making good TV.

Remember how I said I like to be super-prepared for panels? Nash knocked all of that askew when, in front of the audience, he revealed something he hadn’t shared before.

“There’s a moment in the finale that was put in for you,” he said, referring to our conversation years before. “When Walter says to Rome, ‘Tell me a story about Gary.’”

ATX (which is owned by TVLine’s parent company, PMC) filmed the event, so you can see my surprise in the video at the top of this post. I was touched. I was flummoxed. I turned an even deeper shade of red than I normally do while public speaking. Reporters are taught to cover news, not make themselves the center of it. So while I was (and am!) flattered by Nash’s gesture, it was a little unsettling suddenly to find myself on the other side of things.

Most of all, though, I felt a deep gratitude that my mom’s existence was, in an indirect yet careful way, immortalized in a medium she adored.

When the panel was over, after making Nash swear to me yet again that he was telling the truth about the origin of Walter’s line, I confessed that I’d since stolen his story thing and used it when I didn’t know what to say to someone who was grieving. I recommend it.

So there you go: A brief moment of human connection in an industry that traffics in transactional conversations left us both with something meaningful. And somewhere, my primetime-drama-loving mom is absolutely overjoyed that she’s now a part — however far removed — of TV lore.

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Gary Mendez, 17 October 1983–3 March 2023

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From Allison Miller's "A Year Ago Today" photo compilation.

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2023 Tumblr Top 10

1. 17 notes - Jan 11 2023

2. 9 notes - Feb 11 2023

3. 6 notes - Jul 11 2023

4. 6 notes - May 3 2023

5. 6 notes - Jan 13 2023

6. 5 notes - Jan 23 2023

7. 5 notes - Feb 8 2023

8. 5 notes - Jan 26 2023

9. 4 notes - Apr 27 2023

10. 3 notes - Oct 17 2023

Million Little Things Boss DJ Nash Teases a Future for His Cancelled ABC Series

Created by TumblrTop10

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In the Season Five Finale of A Million Little Stories, DJ continues his conversation with actor/writer/director James Roday Rodriguez, talking about the Series Finale of A Million Little Things and James' man-crush on DJ. Or maybe it's DJ's man-crush on James. Somewhere there's a man-crush.

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Actor/Writer/Director James Roday Rodriguez sits down with DJ to talk about co-writing the series finale of A Million Little Things together. Hear these two friends talk about a five year collaboration that culminated in this very special episode. And a fart joke.

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Like the Boston Bruins in overtime during Game 7 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, A Million Little Things might not be as done as we think it is.

DJ Nash, creator of the now-cancelled series, hinted at as much in a recent X (formerly Twitter) post. While replying to someone who asked whether the show was still airing, Nash wrote: “It’s over. For now.”

The second half of his answer raised the possibility that the series’ finale, which aired on ABC in May 2023 (read a full recap), might not be the last time viewers will see the Friends of Jon.

A Million Little Things followed a group of Boston-area 30-somethings reeling from, and then going on with life after, the death by suicide of one of their own. The ensemble included Stephanie Szostak, Romany Malco, Grace Park, David Giuntoli, James Roday Rodriguez, Allison Miller, Christina Moses, Lizzy Greene and Ron Livingston.

If Nash is hinting at a reunion or revival for the show, it’ll be interesting to see if — or whether — Rodriguez takes part, given Gary’s incredibly sad death via assisted suicide (rather than waiting for cancer to kill him) in the show’s swan song.

TVLine has reached out to Nash for comment. You can hear him and Rodriguez discuss working together on the show in the latest episode of Nash’s podcast, A Million Little Stories.

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A Million Little Things intro

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In the final installment of this 3-part podcast, Actor/Writer/Director Andrew Leeds talks with Creator/Writer/Directer DJ Nash about ending A Million Little Things the way he wanted to. Be sure to check it out!

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Be sure to check out Part 2 of this 3-Part look at the finale of A Million Little Things, as Actor/Writer/Director Andrew Leeds asks DJ about the million little things that went into making the series finale.  

[The first 16 minutes are about the strike if you want to jump straight to the discussion about the episode.]

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For my fellow UK peeps who've not been finding alternative means to watch this show over the years:

‘A Million Little Things‘ Seasons 1 to 5 get their UK premiere on Tuesday, 5th September 2023 the UKTV Play streaming service. You can stream UKTV Play for free here.

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After a little break, DJ finally sits down with guest host Andrew Leeds to talk about the finale of A Million Little Things. You won't want to miss this 3-part indepth look at how the series finale was crafted from the pilot and the 5-year plan to tell this story.  

[DJ talks about working on the story with James and what it was like filming it from around 13:30.]

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DJ and James were nominated for the 2023 Humanitas Prize in the category Drama Teleplay (AMLT 5x13, "One Big Thing"). The award honours "professional film and television writers whose work exemplifies the art of screenwriting while exploring the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way."

The winner, to no one's surprise, is Craig Mazin for The Last Of Us (I'm sure I don't need to tell you which epsiode). I'm just amazed AMLT was nominated in the first place, tbh! The competition was impossible to beat.

(via DannyG)

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Honorable Mentions - Actors

Theo James in The Time Traveler’s Wife

James Roday Rodriguez in A Million Little Things

Anthony Welsh in The Flatshare

Dylan O’Brien in Not Okay

Jason Ralph in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel 

Raymond Ablack in Ginny & Georgia