Podcast Summary: "The 'Field of Dreams' That Hollywood Forgot"

Pablo Torre Finds Out — October 17, 2023
Host: Pablo Torre
Guest: Mike Schur (Hollywood showrunner, creator of the canceled "Field of Dreams" TV reboot)

Episode Overview

In this episode, Pablo Torre investigates the rollercoaster story behind Hollywood comedy legend Mike Schur's never-released "Field of Dreams" TV reboot—a passion project that resulted in a literal baseball field being built in Iowa before NBCUniversal canceled the entire show. The episode is a deep dive into the intersection of baseball, nostalgia, creative risk, the economics of modern television, and how a physical artifact of canceled art can haunt both its creators and local community. Torre and Schur explore the original film’s legacy, the challenges of adaptation, the heartbreak of industry economics, and the very real Midwestern family now caretaking the project’s most tangible remnant.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing Mike Schur and the Project

• [00:09] Pablo introduces Mike Schur as a prolific comedy writer/showrunner (The Office, Parks and Rec, Good Place) and the creative mind behind the attempted reboot of Field of Dreams.
• Schur’s background as baseball obsessive and co-founder of the Fire Joe Morgan blog, criticizing old-school thinking in baseball, is established.
• [01:53] Joke about Schur never having worked on any famous shows:
  • "I've literally never heard of any of those shows." — Pablo (sarcastically)
• [02:40] In 2021, Schur is tapped to helm a prestige TV version of the beloved baseball movie, Field of Dreams.

2. The Absurdity and Emotional Pull of "Field of Dreams"

• [04:28] Pablo admits he'd never actually fully seen Field of Dreams before researching the episode.
• Discussion of the film’s reputation—divisive among sports fans, cheesy yet powerfully emotional.
• Schur recaps the plot in hilarious, granular detail, emphasizing its logic-defying magical realism.
• Memorable quote:
  • "This story has no business working as a narrative at all... and yet, when the movie ends, you cry." — Mike Schur [15:15]
• [13:10] Torre admits being unexpectedly moved by the ending despite the corniness:
  • "If I didn't feel some liquids pooling around my orbital bones..." — Pablo Torre
  • "It's kind of a good litmus test for sociopathy. If you don't cry at that moment...you have no human emotion." — Mike Schur [13:10]

3. Making the Show: Sweat, Corn, and Casting Dreams

• [16:07] Schur details getting the offer from NBCUniversal/Peacock and wrestling with the risk of rebooting such a venerated film.
• He decides the challenge is worth it, sets out with a writing team, and maps out a seven-part miniseries blending loyalty to the film with new themes.
• [18:13] They cast major actors (Andre Braugher for James Earl Jones’ role, Kristen Bell, Nick Offerman, Will Harper), line up vintage gear, and embark on a surreal Midwest quest to pick the perfect Iowa cornfield/farmhouse.
  • "For two days, all we did was drive through cornfields and come upon white farmhouses and then nod and say, yes, this could also work." — Mike Schur [18:13]
• [21:31] Local farmers Anna and Tyler Mackley describe being approached, the rapid construction of the new baseball field, and the surreal reality of seeing their land turned cinematic.

4. The Field Is Built—Then the Axe Falls

• [23:46] Schur:
  • "We went as far as you can possibly go without actually doing the thing that we set out to do, which is extraordinarily cruel."
• [24:09] Pablo’s summary:
  • "The whole premise of Field of Dreams, as stated, is if you build it, they will come...and what you got was, if you build it, you’ll get a Deadline Hollywood headline that says, 'Field of Dreams has struck out at Peacock.'"
  • "If you build it, you’ll get screwed." — Mike Schur [24:22]
• [25:37] Differentiating this heartbreak from other canceled TV projects: the physical field remains, a living monument to what might have been.

5. Nostalgia as Theme—and as Trap

• [26:58] Pablo raises the meta-nostalgia: the reboot itself is an act of nostalgia, forcing Schur to reckon with the allure and pitfalls of longing for the past.
• Mike Schur’s insight:
  • "Nostalgia itself is a trap. People only remember the good parts of the past without the bad parts or the painful parts. Nostalgia means pain." [27:30]
• His intended reboot would confront, not just indulge, nostalgia. The first episode would critique the mythologizing of baseball’s “good old days.”

6. Why Did NBC Cancel the Show?

• [30:40] Industry economics: Between greenlight and production, streamer priorities shifted. The budget (approx. $80 million) was sizeable; the new operating logic at Peacock prioritized cost-effective hits over expensive passion projects.
• [32:25] Pablo ties this back to Moneyball/sabermetrics:
  • "Sorry, your VORP isn’t high enough. Your value over replacement project just didn’t make the cut for NBC Universal."

7. What Was Lost—and What Almost Was

• [34:13] Schur mourns the immense effort put in by artists, costumers, property masters, and the one-of-a-kind experience of selecting authentic period props.
• Most of all, he mourns an episode at the heart of the planned series:
  • Expanding the original’s themes by making “Moonlight Graham”—the player who never got his shot—not a failed MLB player but a Negro Leagues player denied entry by segregation.
  • This mid-series episode (the “best thing I’ve ever written” per Schur [42:50]) would have dramatized the real, painful history behind baseball’s nostalgia.
  • "The world you remember and love is a world that is painful for me, and just because you feel pain from its loss, I feel pain from its existence." — Mike Schur, on his unfilmed dialogue [41:40]

8. The Field’s Second Life—and Maybe, The Project’s Future

• [44:41] Anna and Tyler Mackley, now caretakers of the field, keep it maintained for community use—letting local high school baseball players play, hoping it can be a fundraising beacon, or that "maybe, hopefully, this project will move forward."
• [46:03] Schur’s hope:
  • "There’s never no chance.... As quickly as the sands shifted in Hollywood in a way that was detrimental to the project, they could shift back... It’ll take a miracle, but that’s sort of the message of the movie, right?" [46:03]
• Pablo’s final word:
  • "Torre reflects that the literal, abandoned field acts as both a monument to nostalgia and the ultimate failure of nostalgia to pay off in today's Hollywood, itself driven by the math of IP and reboot economics." [47:32]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:09 — Introduction: Who is Mike Schur?
• 04:28–13:10 — The case for and against the sentimentality of Field of Dreams
• 15:29–21:13 — Building the new field in Iowa (location search, logistics)
• 21:31–23:34 — The farmers’ perspective: Anna and Tyler Mackley
• 23:46–25:37 — The heartbreak: project canceled after completion of field
• 26:58–32:25 — Hollywood nostalgia, economics, and the reason for cancellation
• 34:13–43:37 — What Schur mourns, especially the unmade episode addressing baseball’s segregated past
• 44:41–45:56 — The fate of the field in Iowa, new uses in community
• 46:03–47:32 — Is there any hope for revival? Reflections on miracles and the unexpected afterlife of canceled art

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [13:10] Mike Schur: "It's kind of a good litmus test for sociopathy. Because if you don't cry at that moment... you have no human emotion."
• [15:29] Mike Schur: "It has no business working as a narrative at all... and yet when the movie ends, you cry..."
• [18:13] On location hunting:
  "For two days, all we did was drive through cornfields and come upon white farmhouses and then nod and say, yes, this could also work."
• [24:22] On the project being abandoned:
  "If you build it, you'll get screwed."
• [27:30] On nostalgia:
  "Nostalgia itself is a trap. It is a way for people to only remember the good parts of the past without remembering the bad parts or the painful parts."
• [41:40] On re-writing the Moonlight Graham story:
  "The world you remember and love is a world that is painful for me, and just because you feel pain from its loss, I feel pain from its existence."
• [46:03] On hope:
  "There’s never no chance... it’ll take a miracle... but that’s sort of the message of the movie, right? You should believe in the possibility of miracles."

Tone & Style

• The conversation is wry, self-aware, equal parts sentimental and skeptical—mirroring the paradoxes at the heart of Field of Dreams itself.
• Schur is honest, sometimes mournful, often self-deprecating, but deeply invested in using pop culture for meaningful storytelling.
• Pablo Torre balances empathy with gentle ribbing, pressing Schur on both industry realities and emotional stakes.

For Listeners Who Haven’t Heard the Episode

This episode offers both a poignant and hilarious account of what it means to try and reboot a beloved artifact—and how nostalgia, capitalism, and shifting industry realities can thwart even the best intentions. Using the literal example of a field built for a show that never aired, it interrogates the value of remembrance versus progress, the heartbreak of unrealized art projects, and the ways things left unfinished can take on a new life.

Further Reading/Resources

• Watch Field of Dreams (1989) to understand the cultural touchstone in question.
• Read about Fire Joe Morgan and Schur’s history in baseball/media criticism.
• For a sense of cultural afterlives, follow the story of the Mackley family and their Iowa field, now used by local youth teams, awaiting "miracles."

Summary prepared by an expert podcast summarizer for Pablo Torre Finds Out.