357 – The Deep End of the Ocean

What this episode covers

Michelle Pfeiffer is a favorite to discuss on This Had Oscar Buzz and this week we’re throwing it back to one of her late 1990s melodramas. In The Deep End of the Ocean, Pfeiffer starts as a mother whose young child goes missing. After years of traumatic aftermath, the child reappears in her family’s life, forcing the fractured family to reckon with the dysfunctional coping methods that have kept them afloat. Originally planned as a fall 1998 awards season release, reshoots pushed this one into 1999 and the movie bombed anyway. This episode, we talk about how the film misfired by repelling the very audience it appealed to and Pfeiffer’s late 1990s output. We also talk about the assumed prestige that followed Oprah’s Book Club adaptations, director Ulu Grosbard, and Jonathan Jackson’s run on General Hospital. Topics also include YoungStar Awards, high school reunions, and Oprah playing gay.