"The Beginning" Info
*minor spoilers*February 2018
In a post made to the facebook group, someone’s PVR was showing the first episode of Season 3 to be airing on the 2nd of March titled “The Beginning”. Jared left a comment on the post saying “Basically, this is an unfinished episode from season 3. For reasons that are too complicated an annoying to get into, it’s being screened against our wishes, long before season 3 actually starts. We’d like to encourage you not to watch it, because it’s going to be a pretty unique episode when it’s done and this version could spoil that experience”
March 2018
The episode airs, but nobody claims to have captured it on their PVR/DVR.
September 2019
Someone posts to the facebook group that they remember seeing a “flashback episode with younger actors”, and couldn’t find it in an attempt to rewatch the series. This was the first public mention of the episode’s plot.
September 2020
In a reddit comment someone recounts the episode saying “It was a parody of The 400 Blows focusing on Matt & Jay becoming friends from what I remember, they were portrayed by kid actors and Matt player a teacher, Jay played a movie theater worker”.
Season 3 Timeline
*spoilers ahead*September 2016
At the premiere of the TV Series at Fantastic Fest Matt said “We showed [VICE] one episode of the show, and they were like we’ll take as many of these as you will make. So they bought Season 2, and they just bought Season 3.”
February 2017
In an interview with Vulture Matt says “We’ve already shot season two and some of season three. […] Yesterday […] we said ‘Of we should really do an episode about the stock market based on the movie Hook’. I’ll play Robin Williams from the first act of Hook, and Jay will play Jack, my son. We’re talking about shooting that episode at the end of the month.”
September 2017
Matt and Jay are seen filming at FanExpo in Toronto, presumably for Season 3.
December 2017
Instead of airing 207 and 208 of Season 2, the show took a brief hiatus. It is believed that this was because the final episode involving Ben Folds in a battle of the bands was cut completely and parts of the 7th episode were re-shot and extended into the two-parter that ended up airing in January. It’s unknown whether or not the Ben Folds storyline will be a part of Season 3.
February 2018
In a post made to the facebook group, someone’s PVR was showing the first episode of Season 3 to be airing on the 2nd of March titled “The Beginning”. Jared left a comment on the post saying “Basically, this is an unfinished episode from season 3. For reasons that are too complicated an annoying to get into, it’s being screened against our wishes, long before season 3 actually starts. We’d like to encourage you not to watch it, because it’s going to be a pretty unique episode when it’s done and this version could spoil that experience”
June 2019
Matt and Jay do a garage sale at the house before it is sold, selling nearly all the props from the show and other various items around the house with the whiteboard saying “New Plan […] Sell everything […] BUY The Rivoli”. The crew were seen filming the entire garage sale and Matt and Jay were both in character the entire time.
July 2019
A potential clip from Season 3 is posted to Twitter/X with Jay and Eric Andre at the production house. This was presumably shot before the garage sale.
August 2019
The house is sold to someone else and turned into a Tattoo Parlour.
September 2019
Someone posts to the facebook group that they remember seeing a flashback episode with younger actors, and couldn’t find it in an attempt to rewatch the series. This is a reference to The Beginning, further confirming its plot.
2021?
It was announced the show would return eventually under a new name
August 2023
During a panel at FanExpo, Jay is asked what cut content there is for the show, to which he says “We had a storyline that kind of parodied The Office, where Jay has a job at a jingle writing place and they’re kind of broken up him and Matt. And Matt is auditioning new replacements for Jay, he’s trying to find a new piano player. And so we have some weird guests and everything but the final guest that actually gets the job… Right in time for me, at my storyline, want to get back together with Matt and be the piano player again. And I have to come back and win the spot back over a piano duel with Ben Folds. And we shot this and it went about as good as you can think, it’s awesome. And Ben Folds was one of my piano idols growing up and so he graciously came over and we jammed, and it was great. But we don’t have that footage to share…”. This was originally going to be for season 2 according to an early interview, but was cut completely for unknown reasons. This sounds like it would come right after the Season 2 finale canonically, so it’s likely that the two-parter finale of Season 2 was originally one episode while this was the 8th and final, before being cut.
March 2024
In an interview Matt confirmed that the third season of the show would release after the movie comes out, and that the third season would be “connected” to the feature-length production.