Pablo Torre Finds Out

Episode: The "Field of Dreams" That Hollywood Forgot
Date: February 20, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, Pablo Torre explores the fascinating, bittersweet story behind NBC Universal’s canceled Field of Dreams TV reboot—a project developed by acclaimed showrunner Mike Schur. Originally intended as a major passion project, the reboot not only sought to reimagine the beloved baseball movie but manifested its spirit by building a real baseball field out of an Iowa cornfield. Torre’s deep-dive investigates what happened behind the scenes, the cultural meaning of nostalgia, why the project was axed, and what remains today both literally and emotionally—a real field of dreams marooned in the Midwest. Along the way, Torre and Schur unpack their personal connections to the source material, dissect the complicated allure of nostalgia, and reflect on missed opportunities and baseball’s legacy.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mike Schur: From Superfan to Showrunner to... Ghosted

• Mike Schur’s Background: Not just the creator of hit shows (The Office, Parks and Rec, The Good Place), but a diehard baseball fan and cofounder of the influential Fire Joe Morgan baseball blog.
• On Schur’s Passion: “He’s on my Mount Rushmore of cowards... might be number one for me personally.” (Pablo and Cortez joking about their friend’s Red Sox obsession, 00:49)
• The Pitch: In 2021, Schur is hired by NBCU's Peacock to reboot Field of Dreams as a prestige TV miniseries.
• Personal Investment: Schur is reticent but driven by love for baseball/the movie and a sense of challenge.

2. Field of Dreams: The Movie, The Myth, The Memes

• Recap for the Uninitiated: Pablo admits he hadn’t actually seen Field of Dreams before prepping for the episode (04:29), realizing its permeation through pop culture and parodies.
• Elevator Pitch (Turns Into the Fire Dept. Rescue!): Schur laboriously retells the whole movie, highlighting its blend of mystical nostalgia, time travel, and father-son catharsis (06:45–12:35).
• That Scene: “Hey, dad. You want to have a catch?” “I’d like that.” (12:28)
• Emotional Impact: “If you don’t cry at that moment... you are a black-hearted, cold-hearted soul with no human emotion.” (Schur, 13:10)
• Movie’s Essence: What would you do for five more minutes with someone you loved? (13:55)

3. Building—Literally—A Field of Dreams

• Actual Field Built in Iowa: Schur’s team scouted cornfields for the perfect spot, settled on picturesque farm, constructed a regulation-size field complete with irrigation and pro-level facilities (18:00–21:01).
• Farmer Voices: Local owners Anna and Tyler Mackley describe the surreal experience of their farm becoming a movie set (21:31–23:36).
  • Notable Quote: “I think people so badly probably wanted to think that things were going on, that their imagination ran away.” (Anna, 23:36)
• Hollywood Cruelty: “The saddest thing is we went as far as you can possibly go without actually doing the thing... it’s unbelievably funny in its cruelty, admittedly.” (Schur & Pablo, 23:54–24:30)

4. The Project’s Death: If You Build It... You Get Canceled

• The Premise Turned Upside Down: “If you build it, you’ll get a Deadline Hollywood headline that says, Field of Dreams has struck out at Peacock.” (Pablo, 24:11)
• Schur Reflects on Loss: It's common in Hollywood, but unique in this case because the project’s whole ethos was “if you build it, they will come”—then no one came (25:37–26:04).
• Nostalgia Dissected: Both the original movie and the reboot about “nostalgia as a trap”—a key theme Schur wanted to interrogate from the start (26:58–28:29).
• Example Scene (Unused): Reboot was to open with a character (played by Kristen Bell) calling out old sportswriters on their selective baseball memories—literally critiquing nostalgia (28:56–29:13).

5. Inside the Adaptation: Breaking New Emotional and Historical Ground

• Dual-Timeline Structure: Schur’s version would retell the original story with Ray’s daughter as an older protagonist, exploring two timelines—her as a teenager and as an adult after Ray’s death (36:15–38:15).
• Rethinking Race and Baseball: Confronted the all-white nostalgia of the film by making Moonlight Graham a fictional Negro Leagues player (“Moonlight Williams”), whose exclusion represented baseball’s real historical trauma (38:26).
• Notable Quote: “In my version, Moonlight Graham was a Negro Leagues player... The journey... is a journey into the pretty unpleasant, pretty ugly past of the segregated world of baseball.” (Schur, 38:41)
• The Most Meaningful Loss: Of all the prep and passion, Schur says, “I think that that episode of TV is the best thing I’ve ever written. I truly believe that... and that’s the thing that I mourn the most.” (42:51)

6. The Living Remnant: The Field That Remains

• What Happened to the Field? Lease expired; the Mackleys maintain it for the community. Local high school uses it for practice and games—a literal field of dreams for the next generation (44:14–45:56).
• Notable Moment: “Our hope is someday... this project will move forward... maybe afterwards we can share it with the community. The whole community is rooting for this.” (Anna Mackley, 45:33)

7. Could It Come Back? The Faintest Rays of Hope

• Hollywood’s Volatility: “As quickly as the sands shifted in Hollywood in a way that was detrimental... they could shift back the other way tomorrow, who knows?” (Schur, 46:03)
• The Math and the Miraculous: “It’ll take a miracle to get it up and running again... but that’s the message of the movie, right? You should believe in the possibility of miracles.” (Schur, 46:03)
• Nostalgia’s Bitterest Irony: “Field of Dreams nostalgia, per Hollywood’s own statistical modeling, wasn’t nostalgic enough in this age of reboots and IP.” (Pablo’s closing reflection, 47:32)

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Hollywood Irony:
  “If you build it, you’ll get screwed.”
  — Pablo & Mike Schur (00:06, 24:22)

• On Emotional Impact:
  “If you don’t cry at that moment... you are a black-hearted, cold-hearted soul.”
  — Mike Schur (13:10)

• On Personal Mourning:
  “That episode is the best thing I’ve ever written... and that’s the thing I mourn the most.”
  — Mike Schur (42:51)

• 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.”
  — Mike Schur (27:08)

• On the Unfinished Field:
  “We plan on maintenance in it for forever, I guess.”
  — Tyler Mackley (45:29)

• On Possibility:
  “It doesn’t say zero.”
  — Pablo & Mike Schur (47:12, about the perpetual hope of revival, baseball-style)

Notable Segments & Timestamps

• Opening/Background & Intro (00:00–02:40)
• Explaining the Field of Dreams Movie (06:45–12:35)
• Pablo’s Emotional Confession (12:35–13:55)
• Building the Actual Field (18:00–21:17)
• Interview with Iowa Farmers (21:31–23:46, 44:29–45:56)
• Nostalgia & the Meta-Narrative (26:58–30:03)
• Confronting Baseball’s Segregation (38:26–42:51)
• The State of the Field Today (44:14–45:56)
• Will It Ever Happen? (46:03–47:12)
• Pablo’s Final Reflection (47:32–end)

Tone & Takeaways

The episode is earnest, funny, and tinged with loss—mirroring the themes of both Field of Dreams and the experience of seeing a creative dream nearly realized, then frozen in time. Pablo’s rapport with Schur is playful yet deep, with mutual love for both baseball and storytelling. The discussion spins nostalgia into both a creative tool and a cautionary trap, as Hollywood’s obsession with the past clashes with economic realities—and, ultimately, real human yearning for connection and redemption. At its heart, the story leaves us with a literal field of dreams awaiting both a new cast and a new chapter.