Chapter 1: What is the premise of Margo's Got Money Troubles?
Thanks for watching.
The new Apple TV series Margo's Got Money Troubles boasts a big and impressive cast. Elle Fanning, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nick Offerman, Nicole Kidman. There's no shortage of star power. It's based on a well-received novel by Rufy Thorpe, and it was created for television by the prolific producer and writer David E. Kelly.
Does the series about a college student whose life gets very complicated when she becomes pregnant and decides to be a single mom live up to the many big names in the credits? It does, and it's a real pleasure. I'm Linda Holmes, and today we're talking about Margot's Got Money Troubles on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. Joining me today is Kristen Meinzer.
She co-hosts the Nightly, a bedtime podcast for pop culture lovers.
Chapter 2: How does Margot's background influence her choices?
Hello, Kristen. Hi, Linda. Thanks for having me back. Of course. Also with us is the host of the podcast, Happy to Be Here, Greta Johnson. Hello, Greta. Hello. This is a dream team. I'm so excited to be here. Dream team.
Chapter 3: What challenges does Margot face as a young single mother?
Delighted to see you both. So in Margot's Got Money Troubles, Elle Fanning stars as Margot Millett, a young woman who's studying writing in college. She was herself raised by a single mom, former Hooters waitress Cheyenne, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, and has only a limited relationship with her dad, a former professional wrestler named Jinx, played by Nick Offerman.
Margot is doing well in school and holding down a job, but things change when she has an affair with her married professor. When she gets pregnant, she decides to have the baby, a boy she names Bodhi. Bodhi's dad is not helpful, and eventually Margot's need to support herself and Bodhi leads her to explore online sex work with an OnlyFans account. It makes sense to Margo.
It's something she can do that's creative, she can do it from home, and she doesn't have to deal with anybody in person. As all this is happening, Margo also struggles with her relationship with her mom, who fears that Margo is repeating all her most painful mistakes, and with her dad, who's recently out of rehab and wants to help.
The show was created for TV by David E. Kelly, who way back in the day made shows like Ally McBeal and The Practice, and who in the more contemporary cable and streaming era has done work like Big Little Lies and The Undoing.
Chapter 4: How does Margo's decision to join OnlyFans impact her life?
Margo's Got Money Troubles is airing now on Apple TV. I'm going to start with you, Greta. How did you like Margo's Got Money Troubles?
I loved Margot's Got Money Troubles. I am a huge fan of the book, big fan of Rufy Thorpe, the author. I think what's tricky for me with an adaptation, especially of something that I do really love, is I want it to feel familiar, but I also want to be surprised and excited. And I think this TV show did that perfectly. It is not a like scene for scene copy of the book, and it should not be.
You used the word real pleasure earlier. It is just a real pleasure to watch this show.
Chapter 5: What role does David E. Kelley play in the series' creation?
Yeah. So I have sort of the same reaction to adaptations. It's always going to be something different. It's not going to be the exact thing. It has to be. It has to be. And I think when they're too faithful, it can be a real problem. And I haven't read the book, but as I understand it, some choices here that I think are to the benefit of the ultimate project. Kristen, how about you?
What'd you think?
Chapter 6: How do the characters' flaws contribute to the show's themes?
Oh, yeah. Well, ditto on... everything you've both said up until now. I thought it was such a pleasure. So I've read it twice. Once I read it with my eyes and the second time I listened with my ears because I wanted to hear Elle Fanning narrate this. And I will say there are definite differences as far as the tone. In my opinion, the book is a little sadder, a little darker.
And then on top of the tone, I think that the book has some things I don't like very much that I'm glad are not in the TV show thus far.
Chapter 7: What unique portrayals of sex work are presented in the series?
So for example, the book has Margot involved in a romance with one of her OnlyFans subscribers. And much to my chagrin, that OnlyFans subscriber rescues Margot in the end financially by setting up a discovery algorithm so that her OnlyFans can attract more customers so that she can Make all the money she needs to to take care of everything.
And I just prefer, I'll say it in the TV show, there's not this guy trying to rescue her in it. There are a lot of people who are helping each other out in the TV show, but nobody is really being rescued. Everyone's making mistakes. Everyone's trying to rescue themselves. And sometimes they're actually failing themselves and failing the people around them that they love.
But no one's really being rescued. And I so appreciate that about the TV show.
Chapter 8: What are the overall impressions of the show's adaptation from the book?
Everyone's flawed. Everyone's wonderful. Everyone's terrible. Everyone's relatable. And I just found it to be a delight.
Yeah, I really like the community that she is surrounded by. Her parents are both such flawed people, but I think in the hands of Pfeiffer and Offerman, they're also kind of, they fiercely love her, but they also both make tons of mistakes and have lots of problems. As I understand it, Cheyenne is more generous in the TV show than she is in the book.
I like TV Cheyenne a lot more than book Cheyenne, yeah. For all I know, maybe that's the result of casting Michelle Pfeiffer, who, of course, is married to David E. Kelly. And I was really happy to see her in this role. She's been working. You know, she's also in this show, The Madison.
And it's not that she ever stopped working, but, like, this is a really good reminder of kind of what an empathetic and... I think, interesting actor she is and can be. I'll say this for, listen, you know, streaming has been, has had its ups and its downs and its goods and its bads.
But it remains true that there are a lot of women who are over 40 or over 50 who did not used to get a lot of juicy opportunities for really good parts. I think she's great in this. This is, I think, my favorite Nick Offerman performance besides Ron Swanson. Same.
I think I might even like it more than Ron. He giggles more, which is such a delight.
I would never let anybody take the place of Ron Swanson. I respect that. But this is also a completely different thing, right? It's much more dramatic. It's a completely different kind of dude. I mean, the neck tattoos alone are like, I am here for this. I think he is fantastic in this.
This is all aside from the fact that I think Elle Fanning is so good in this, and it's such a role that could so easily go wrong in various ways. She could be too sad. She could be too... I mean, a lot of young women that you see in roles like this, they come off flighty in some way, or they come off unserious about parenting or unserious about their lives.
This character, you know, the way she's written and the way she's performed... For her, doing work on OnlyFans is not as loaded as television and film sometimes treat sex work as being. For her, it's like, listen, it's a job I can do from home. It's a job I can do while managing my kid. There's not a lot of startup expenses for me as a content creator in this context.
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