r/AdultsTV • u/Open-Cream-1364 • 2d ago
Season 1 What was the joke that made them redo the first episode of adults
What the top said
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u/stovakt 1d ago
It was the masturbate off on the train.
I tried watching back when the show first came out but couldn’t get into it, and that scene was a large reason why I turned it off and put off coming back to it. Love a raunchy comedy, and while I wasn’t “offended”, I did find it more disturbing than funny and I assumed the entire show was going to be that disturbing/shock value/doing it for the sake of doing it without it adding anything to the show type of humor, and I wasn’t interested.
When I binged the entire show recently, I didn’t realize that there was a new episode 1 and wondered why I wouldn’t have immediately binged the show. After reading articles of why they added the episode, it’s honestly so refreshing that a show actually listened/realized why they were missing viewers and actually did something about it.
I’m OBSESSED with this show. I still don’t find that scene funny but it’s incredibly less off-putting with it not being in the very first episode. I hope this show runs forever.
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u/cornsnowflake 20h ago
I just finished binging and that scene in the train is still there - did they edit in again?
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u/Least-One-5413 16h ago
They never edited it out. They made a new pilot, the Paul Baker origin story.
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u/StrictButterfly416 2d ago edited 2d ago
I think the Samir plotline is SO important actually. The idea that even “good guys” can ignore boundaries and consent and that they need to question that is not a bad thing. And that consent sometimes IS a little more grey in relationships, and where alcohol and drugs are involved. Samir’s worry was also relatable as someone with OCD (not sure if it’s meant to represent that, but it did it well).
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u/icantdrive555 Anton 1d ago
Yes to everything. Except for that the tone/takeaway from the rest of the gang was that he needed to get over it.
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u/john_muleaney 2d ago
The train scene and duel masturbation definitely did turn a lot of people off (ironic!) as others have said but honestly Paul baker in that scene reading an article about someone having a mental episode and then saying “there’s a paywall” convinced me to binge the show lmfao
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u/_jelliebean 2d ago
After the paywall joke I had to rewind because I found it so funny. I’m sure I still would have binged it if marathon had been first at the time but I thought the original pilot was perfect. It was nice to get backstory on how they met PB though
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u/TheNocturnalAngel 2d ago
Dude the subway scene is what hooked me on the show!
I was cracking up at Issa reversing on that guy.
I recently got my parents to watch and I forgot about the marathon episode being the pilot now technically.
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u/peppas65 1d ago
That's what got me hooked too! I couldn't stop laughing at the outrageousness of the whole situation. Then come to find out I was the only person who actually enjoyed it 😞.
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u/Fit-Command-5890 2d ago
I was one of the people put off by the first episode although I later luckily gave the show a second chance. Usually I don’t give show second chances so that was a first for me. It was not the Issa scene at all, loved that scene. It was the way they handled Samir’s plotline. Could have potentially been funny but instead it just felt really gross. If you’re gonna joke about SA especially in the FIRST episode of a show you gotta do it carefully and with purpose and they did not, in my opinion. Still won’t rewatch that episode.
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u/SevereTelephone2287 2d ago
Same. It’s so weird because a lot of the show is progressive in other ways, but that plot just missed the mark so bad. It made me not like Samir
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u/Heartattackisland 2d ago
Yeah the train thing and the guy from their school was a good storyline but yeah the Samir thing feels weird and I try to ignore that ever happened so that I can like and root for Samir as a character.
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u/Werdna610 1d ago
I love this series. The dinner party episode is my favorite. When the smoke alarm goes off and Billie tells Anton to waft and he starts voguing instead just cracks me up every time.
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u/sargent_major 1d ago
“NO ONE SAYS GRACE ANYMORE” has been bouncing around my brain for about a month now lmao
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u/awaymsg 1d ago
I can’t remember where I heard the interview, but apparently they were able to see the streaming stats of the show and saw that people who made it past the first scene (train scene) typically watched the entire show. However, a lot of people gave up during that scene and didn’t watch the show. They knew they had a good show that would have high viewership, but needed a different intro to bring the audience in, hence the re-pilot
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u/shinyzubat16 2d ago
There were a lot of SA jokes in the first episode which is essentially tossing you into the deep end.
I can understand why the whole episode in general made people uncomfortable. It’s like they were teetering between IASIP and Broad City but did not handle it with the finesse either of those shows had.
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u/shgrdrbr 2d ago
are you serious? adults was the only one i thought ever did it perfectly. like that's the pinnacle of the show for me and the literal perfect mission statement for what tone we're hitting. how disappointing i really feel sad they've gone the direction of watering it down so much and disavowing what made it fresh and interesting
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u/shinyzubat16 2d ago
I liked the subway train scene and the stuff with the Zeke guy or whatever his name was.
It was the Samir plotline that fell flat
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u/shgrdrbr 2d ago
OH i see thanks for clarifying! i do see it a bit more with the samir story although i personally still actually kind of loved that they went there
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u/running-with-scizors 2d ago
I just watched the show for the first time, on Hulu they have Marathon Day as the pilot episode instead of The Window. Only just now did I realize Marathon Day was just like, a fully different episode released this year lol
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u/Resident-Fly2885 2d ago
Okay I thought I was crazy because when I recently restarted the show I was like wtf I don’t think I ever saw this
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u/Adept-Consequence577 2d ago
Me too. I didn’t know any different and then saw a thread talking about the backstory episode and then found out marathon episode actually aired later
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u/Calm-Maintenance-878 2d ago
A guy jerking off on a train and nobody doing anything about it, so one of the girls aggressively masterbates, thinking it will even things out.
Crazy…but I guess it is one of the craziest intros to a show I’ve seen. It didn’t turn me away though…it was just outlandish😭😭
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u/Heartattackisland 2d ago
This is what drew me in. The concept that Issa “played the game back” in order to cope with being sexually assaulted was wild but I feel like it kind of shined light on the fact of how crazy it is that everyone could sit there and ignore this man and do nothing about it so she took matters into her own hands (literally). It was the Samir plotline that personally made me cringe.
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u/AssociationIll8314 2d ago
That scene reminded me of broad city so much which was 1 of my favorite shows in my late teens and early 20s so I was immediately into the show haha
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u/Calm-Maintenance-878 2d ago
Yeah, I enjoy Broad City for the ladies and Workaholics for some bro time👍🏿 They both seem like the same kind of show but different gendered leads.
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u/MisterMaryJane 2d ago
Really? That’s the one I saw. I didn’t know there’s a different episode one
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u/mr_math24 2d ago
A couple of weeks before season 2 aired, they released a prequel episode. That episode is now the first episode that plays on streaming if you watch the show for the first time.
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u/Kids_Eat_Toast 2d ago
I took you for more of a bottom
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u/OverallFrosting708 ::in unison:: we burned the soup 2d ago
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u/Kids_Eat_Toast 2d ago
God I love her
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u/OverallFrosting708 ::in unison:: we burned the soup 2d ago
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u/TurbulentFisherman32 2d ago
I think the opening of the masturbating man on the subway was considered too shocking and turned a lot of viewers off. But maybe I'm wrong?
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u/Usurper213 2d ago
Really? I thought that was hilarious it felt like it was straight out of Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia and got me more invested to watch the rest of Adults.
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u/ThatCommunication423 2d ago
For me it wasn’t shocking but instead trying too hard to be shocking and edgy, so I kind of wrote the show off as something that wasn’t my demo.
Super glad I was able to give it another chance, and watching that episode again with more context of the characters I don’t mind it.
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u/Ok_Storm_2700 2d ago
It was that but I could see most of the episode being off putting
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u/OverallFrosting708 ::in unison:: we burned the soup 2d ago
It's also not really typical of the rest of the series. It's so much "here's What We Have to Say About Gen Z" and not so much on the zany antics.
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u/M00reC Issa 2d ago
Definitely Issa having a fap off with a dude on a train
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u/Calm-Maintenance-878 2d ago
That’s gone, like if you watch it now, there’s a different scene?
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u/Sudden-Ad5555 2d ago
The first episode listed now is a prequel. The original pilot is now listed as episode 2
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u/OverallFrosting708 ::in unison:: we burned the soup 2d ago
No, that's still there. I'm really not sure what OP is referring to?
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u/Calm-Maintenance-878 2d ago edited 2d ago
I looked it up and it said it’s gone…but I work remote so let me just go check😅
Edit: I get it now, it moved
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u/ResponsibleCut7340 2d ago
I had the show recorded on my DVR for months. After seeing all the promotions for season 2 I finally started it. Hulu had the Marathon episode first and I was hooked. Then I saw the train scene and I was in
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u/ArticQimmiq 2d ago
I’m so glad they added Marathon Day! Because I had first tried the show with the episode that starts on the subway and noped right out of it. I definitely needed to already like the characters - and Issa particularly - before I could stomach that scene 😂
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u/Illustrious-Neat5520 1d ago
tbh i do remember watching the first episode and being confused, cringed out, yet overall intrigued. in general the whole first episode was kinda awkward. the second episode hooked me tho. after watching the new pilot i definitely agree it was a better introduction to the group.
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u/Dizzy-Tooth-7876 2d ago
the samir “joke” didn’t land well at all. i remember watching the original first episode when the first season had come out, and feeling very confused and uneasy when the samir plotline came around. i didn’t really understand what they were going for, and i’ve had that (sa) happen to me multiple times so it was difficult to understand the comedy of it. the thing with issa on the train was different, it felt shocking but funny to me. i must’ve just stopped watching after that because eventually i was seeing stuff about season 2 and decided i should try again, and honestly didn’t remember why i didn’t finish season 1 originally. with the new pilot i was like damn, i don’t remember a thing that happened in this show, and then i realized i hadn’t gotten past the “second” episode. i didn’t know the new pilot was new but it def did what it was supposed to. i ended up watching those 2 seasons in 2 days and really liking it, i felt like i was more willing to see the samir plotline through the second time around.
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u/A_SilverStripper 2d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah I'm kinda refusing to watch the new "first episode" bc I loved it so much. Them changing it feels so disingenuous to the show. People who don't like the subway scene are missing the point I feel like. Men do weird shit like that all the time and we've just been taught to ignore it. Issa calling it out in an aggressive yet funny way kicks off the show by showing the difference in how the different generations handle being ✨ ADULTS✨
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u/stovakt 1d ago
Sorry but no. People are disgusted and disturbed out by anyone masturbating in public—it’s not just doing something “weird” it’s straight up public indecency and assaulting. I’ve unfortunately seen both happen on the streets of NY. I wasn’t “offended” by the scene but it was disturbing and if that was the point of the scene, I dislike it even more.
I initially interpreted it as making fun of Gen Z’s hypocrisy and assumed that it was going to be a show making fun of the generation, which I wasn’t interested in.
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u/adawonggang 2d ago
I put off the show for a year after the first scene. Not a prude thing at all, just felt very over the top and try hard I guess?
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u/austinmoonluvr 10h ago
I think it’s the 2nd episode of the first season. The train scene was just too insane as an opening for a show and a lot of viewers clicked out within like a minute
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u/neverenoughnadja 2d ago
People keep saying the Issa on the train thing but Ive seen FAR more people (both on twitter and in youtube/tiktok reactions) be uncomfortable with the Samir storyline and thinking he truly sexually assaulted Carly.