Pop Junction

This one’s worth listening to for the episode title payoff alone. Steve Sanders, we see you. We may throw around the word “formative” a lot on this pod, but damn if this show wasn’t formative as hell. From 50s/60s nostalgia to early 90s beauty standards, this is the OG Beverly Hills 90210.  *cue bodaciously dramatic guitar riff* We talk at length about Brandon Walsh being the WORST, and we finally have it out about our separate paths re: Grey’s Anatomy.  RIP Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry ❤️‍🔥 EDITED BY Sophia Betz 🎧

If you watch Jersey Shore ironically, please skip this episode altogether.  Thank you. EDITED BY Sophia Betz 🎧

Ruh roh, we’re getting scholarly again! What makes a 90s teen movie? We dive into a *hard* definition and the tropes of the genre–and try to anoint a 90s teen movie MVP 🏅 Plus: the gorgeous campiness of She’s All That, Kids (1995) being a horror film, Taylor Vaughan being #gayorigins, the parallels between Stifler and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, and the underrated comedic stylings of Marley Shelton. Also: high school jobs, S2 of Yellowjackets, we go off on a maaaaajor Kid-n-Play tangent, and our Leo in Basketball Diaries impression makes another appearance (sorryyyyy). EDITED BY Sophia Betz 🎧

Let us take you on a journey, a wide sweeping journey of the top things in pop culture that made us feel gay. From Denise Huxtable to Rayanne Graff, these are the people, the characters, and the moments that were sexually formative for us.  Word to the wise: you don’t marry your number one.  Also: who knew Ferris Bueller’s Day Off would make both of our lists–FOR DIFFERENT REASONS?? Feast your eyes!  https://tinyurl.com/m2pp6mex EDITED BY Sophia Betz 🎧

Join us as we find the points of connection between these two wackadoodle rap comedies from the early aughts. Has anyone ever talked about either of these films in such an elevated way? Welcome to Poppers J, y’all.  EDITED BY Sophia Betz 🎧

Welcome to our Eras tour! Professor Mia Howard takes us through the seven distinct eras of Saved by the Bell.    That’s it. That’s the episode.    EDITED BY Sophia Betz 🎧

SURPRISE, beetches! After two and a half years, we're back for another round of episodes -- because we just couldn't quit without addressing some of our all-time faves. ✨ Welcome to one of the BEST romcoms of all time, the blueprint for enemies-to-lovers fan fiction, the one we've quoted in damn near every episode of this pod: The Cutting Edge. We lament how this movie gave us the most unrealistic expectations for what adult life would look like (...if you're hosting a black tie New Year's party with a live band, let us know).  Also: The Substance, our complicated relationship with photos of ourselves, and the potency of Sabrina (1995)!! EDITED BY Sophia Betz 🎧

THIS IS IT. OUR FINAL EPISODE. You might even say, “This afternoon is my final skate.” And we did. Which led us to a 10-15 minute discussion of The Cutting Edge, which we somehow missed covering in this podcast despite it being mentioned nearly every other episode.  Then it’s onto the main event: the downright bonkerstown high camp child actor superthriller The Good Son. Which begs the inevitable question, are the heteros doomed to never appreciate films like this? And: can we talk about the name Susan? We share what this here podcast has given us both over the last three years, and what’s next for Mia and Caitlin. We love you all, and thank you for listening! (AND LISTEN ALL THE WAY TO THE END FOR AN EASTER EGG)

For our penultimate ep, we are all over the map, bro. Join us in our journey back to the most hormonal era of our lives as we rewatch the Karate Kid/Home Alone mash-up that was 3 Ninjas. Colt gives major Atreyu vibes, and Grandpa’s name is MAURY? ...No wait, it’s Mori.   But before we talk 3 Ninjas, we talk about sunsetting this here pod, how the children don’t know yet but they’ll know eventually (more makeup deep dives, WOW we are truly MIRED in beauty culture), SLAM BOOKS, the importance of Alicia Keys in the Gangsta Lovin’ music video, and trips to the video store.

In 1997, Mia went on the local news and stated her intention to be the mother of Leonardo DiCaprio’s children. This is where it all started. 

This may be our most delightful lookback of the season. Mia’s been a Little Rascals fan since waaaaay back in the day, and even though this was Caitlin’s first time seeing the 1994 reboot, she took it upon herself to go Full Film Nerd on its ass and do a deep dive into the history of this group of lil’ characters–which dates all the way back to the silent era!   The cameos of it all, the nightmarish set of it all, and the Bill Cosby urban legend of it all… this is The Little Rascals. And we are the Blake McIver Ewing Fan Club. FALAFEL!  We also do a completely unnecessarily deep dive into the question: what does it mean to have a big nose? And we have a borderline pornographic conversation about a pork roast Mia made in the slow cooker. As some South Brooklyn dude said to us on the Sheepshead Bay pier one summer night, Two beautiful girls! Happy holidays!

How could we have almost forgotten Shawn Hunter? We talk Shawn & Angela actually being a lesbian interracial couple, outdated Italian racial slurs, crush archetypes, the Christian values of 90s pop culture, and how Caitlin dated a RL Brooklyn Shawn Hunter in 6th grade. We also go into all these Twitter shenanigans, The Vow Season 2, and Leah Remini being our collective homegirl.

There is perhaps no other episode of Poppers J that screams #gayorigins more than this one (and we covered all six seasons of The L Word!). We explain why our Devon Sawa trilogy is now simply a duo, and explore (1) how Christina Ricci made a pig nose fashion in Penelope, (2) Gaby Hoffmann being Park Slope incarnate, and (3) the cleverness of Rosie O’Donnell’s “crush” on Tom Cruise in the 90s. @Rita Wilson, please consider this our official proposal to you. Tom, watch your back.

Mia gives her review of Hocus Pocus 2 and shares her morbid fascination with Dahmer, and we talk Bros and the merits of ignoring straight moviegoers entirely. We also explore our own violent impulses and the concept of Wronged Rage.  And then it’s on to the main event, the first installment of our Unofficial Devon Sawa Trilogy: Little Giants. But what we come to realize is that maybe we weren’t just there for Devon. In fact, maybe we weren’t there for Devon at all. (...This is where Mia admits her secret lifelong crush on Rick Moranis–and all Rick Moranis lookalikes). RIP Mary Ellen Trainor 💜

We’re back with a list, baybee! We give you our top five TV theme songs by category: sitcom, drama, and animated. And we honor our forever number one, the most underrated TV theme song of all time (but that was also attached to a show that, see episode title)--that we were amazed to discover was also penned AND PERFORMED by an R&B legend.  BUT FIRST: we dreamcast Robyn in the new Whitney biopic, Mia pitches a stellar Hangover reboot idea, and give ourselves snaps for how we collectively litigated in our last ep.  YouTube playlist to sing along! -> https://bit.ly/3frqiM2

COURT IS NOW IN SESSION. This might be the most serious episode we’ve ever done.  Welcome to our first court case: Mia arguing in favor of My Girl 2 v. Caitlin, on behalf of My Girl OG. Mia went to law school; Caitlin went to film school. It’s a battle for the ages! 

This week’s coming of age fave is Milk Money (aka 🥛💰), a movie that’s one part Stand By Me, one part Pretty Woman, and somehow also one part mobster thriller. It makes no gd sense, but Melanie Griffith is a g and we love her. Also, big shout-out to bisexual comic relief queen Anne Heche, who fully embraced the kook factor in this film. We also give a preview of the shade that’s to come in our 3 Ninjas episode. Sorry, Emily.  DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE JESSICA WESSON IS? Shelly Miscavige?! MORE LIKE JESSICA WESSON. WHERE IS SHE?!?!?! P.S. SURPRISE, BITCH: the pre-teen crush here is actually ED HARRIS. P.S.S. Jessica Wesson. (For the algorithm). If you’re out there Googling yourself, come on the pod!

Shockingly, neither of us was super excited about revisiting M-to-the-D–not even Mia, who has vowed to take out Joshua Jackson’s wife on numerous occasions. But our cold middle-aged hearts were won over by its wholesomeness. (And as a bonus, we excavated a lost crush from our childhoods!) Give it up for our short Staten Island king, Emilio Estevez.  Plus, get ready for us to reminisce about stalking sports team crushes in high school. 

It’s SEASON 3, BAYBEE! It’s the Season of Crushes. And we kick it off with the delightful Camp Nowhere. We reflect on the singular experience that was being dragged through Kings Plaza Mall by our mothers, and we relive our summer camp crushes.  Hey, Hollywood: Where is Christopher Lloyd’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and where is the prequel? Also, stop being cowards and just cast fat actors instead of throwing skinny people in sweatshirts.  ARNOLD TOLD ME NOON.

IT’S THE SEASON FINALE OF OUR POD, Y’ALL! Insecure ended the day after Christmas, and we’re still not over it. We have a rich discussion of the final season (with a heavy emphasis on that whiplash-inducing finale), the Molly of it all, and what the show meant to us on the whole.  Our *super* special guest this week is Chris Sewell! Chris has an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy and an illustrious career in EdTech–but he also has a recreational Ph.D. in all things pop culture, and he happens to be a classmate of ours from junior high. Despite all that Insecure has given to Black audiences, Chris is not letting it off the hook today! Plus: Mia’s predictions for 2022.  RIP Betty White. We hoped this day would never come. 

We have our FIRST guest! Welcome to PJ our dear friend, junior high AND high school classmate, and renowned My So-Called Life expert, Logan Cooper. Logan comes to our discussion with Media Studies Professor-level incisiveness about this beloved cult classic and mid-90s time capsule. We throw fisticuffs over Rayanne Graff, discuss our own respective Catalanos (and Krakows!), and Logan explains why Sharon Cherski is the colorful backpack–no, knapsack–of the show, metaphorically. We also tell the epic tale of the night we all went out to a Chippendale’s show senior year. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re gonna go smoke some DOOBIES. We’ll see you in 2022! An Oral History of MSCL: https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a40594/my-so-called-life-cast-interviews/

Nothing’s better than friends! The theme song told us so. In this ep, we cover the 1990 TV adaptation of the iconic Baby-Sitters Club YA book series–and Mia shares an embarrassing origin story of her pop culture addiction. We also check in on our current Insecure feelings (only four episodes left!) and Caitlin reports back on House of Gucci.  And of course, Mia gives us the latest on all things Kim Kardashian/Pete Davidson, AKA Kimmy/Petey, AKA Ketey.

If you’re an Xennial like us, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle was crucial viewing and probably shaped your sense of humor in college (well, that and the GI Joe PSAs). What starts as an ode to the genre-smashing Jersey road trip buddy stoner comedy (queer romance) quickly devolves into a John Cho hornfest. Can you blame us, though? We rank all three films in the H+K trilogy, we get into another Big Nail Discussion, and Caitlin finally remembers to put our Patreon plug at the top of the ep. We love being on top of shit this time of year!

Class is in session. Professor Mia Lynn Howard is here to teach you all about The Neve Campbell School of Acting and its origins during the filming of 90s drama Party of Five. Caitlin features as “Acting Expert” and (highly skeptical) Neve Campbell Doppelganger. Listeners, you will be quizzed next Friday.

SING IT: Wiiiiiiild horseeeeees!  We intended to do a full month of spooky eps, but life (and the culture) got in the way. Today we get into all things Chappelle‘s latest special from the unique perspective of two queer uber Chappelle fans (though that title may have to be revised). But our main event is the 1996 Seattle grunge monsterpiece, Fear--AKA Marky Mark fingerbangs Reese Witherspoon on a rollercoaster. Or was it a ferris wheel? Get ready for an unnecessarily deep dive into Mark Wahlberg‘s career trajectory and his adolescent hate crimes. Woof. Alyssa Milano is #gayorigins, and Kal Penn is officially queer brethren. Mazel tov, Kal & Josh!

We’ve titled this episode in the style of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy--because this shit is serious! It’s also a reliable Google search term for one of Mia’s Top Ten Most Iconic Fresh Prince Moments.  It’s damn near impossible to fully honor the super goofy, delightfully savage The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. French Prince? Fresh Prints? French Prints. BUT! We try to capture why FP still remains a go-to comfort watch for the both of us--and why it still has us truly laughing our asses off.  Also: part one of what will undoubtedly turn into a six-part Brooklyn Manicures Deep Dive. 

This incredibly long and at times arduous AF road has finally come to an end, listeners. We’re in the final, shark-hurtling season of The L Word. We discuss our theories on who really killed Jenny Schecter--and rank all the seasons from best to worst.  Shout-out to: Lucy Lawless as the sexy investigator, Elizabeth Berkeley AKA Jessie Spano AKA Bette’s former college roommate AKA tan goddess AKA professional pool sex gymnast of Showgirls fame, and the actor who plays Deputy Doug Witter on Dawson’s Creek--all of whom make an appearance in this shitshow. WE DID IT, JOE!

We’re in the homestretch, y’all. But before we tackle Season 5 of The L Word, we talk very sincerely about the redemption arc of Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino and debate the basicness of his wife Laurens (SUNY alum friends, take cover). And as promised, we engage in a soulful and at times extremely hippie dippie visioning exercise for the year ahead.  Then it’s on to SEASON 5, AKA the season where The L Word took a page from the book of QAF and finally embraced gym and nightlife vibes. Retribution is in order. Listeners, please chime in: what should Caitlin make Mia watch now that she sat through ALL SIX SEASONS OF THIS GAY NONSENSE? Oh, and happy Virgo season, y’all. Fellow Virgos pls @ us, thx.

On this episode, we’re addressing ALL the existential questions: How long does a midlife crisis last? A year? Fifteen? And more importantly, is it time to take on a sugar baby? When are you too old to BE a sugar baby?  On the bright side, we have reached Season 4 of The L Word. Enter Captain Tasha motherfucking Williams. Enter Papi, AKA the Rico Suave of this sapphic fictional world. And cue Jenny Schecter fully coming into her sociopathy! God bless!

If your heart drums to the beat of New York -- aka 103.5 KTU -- this episode is FOR YOU. If you enjoyed the unhinged mania that was Mia and Caitlin going toe-to-toe on their top five Whitney songs? This ep is also for you. Welcome to the 80s/90s/00s Miami freestyle/emo dance music countdown you never knew you needed. You’re welcome. Join us as we unleash our respective top tens on you--and maybe change our entire lists in real time as we record. Maybe. (Definitely). RIP Melanie Thornton.  Our Spotify playlist for your aural pleasure: https://spoti.fi/3yCqooB 

As Delta rages through the global population, we seriously contemplate a 24-hour Truman Show-style version of the pod for the end times. We also thank our son/lover Lil Nas X (and his prison baes) for singlehandedly transforming the culture and solving the problem of misogyny. And then it’s on to the absolute shitshow that is The L Word Season 3. It begins with Big Bonkerstown Bisexual Behavior (thanks, Alice) and ultimately ends with a finale worthy of Lifetime (thanks, Bette). Sing it: Ohhh, we’re halfway there! Shout-out to our new mixer Brogan Molloy for his work on this ep and for serving Irish Name Realness. 

If there’s a world in which OUR mother MJ Rodriguez--AKA Blanca Evangelista on POSE--doesn’t win that Emmy, we don’t want to live in it, thanks. We talk other noms, and how Gabriel Byrne saved the plot disappointment of Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women with his eternal hotness (and made us horny at the age of 11). We continue our lookback at The L Word (OG) with Season 2 and ask ourselves the age-old question, can exes truly be friends? And should Tim have just kicked Jenny’s ass out? 

All aboard the Shane Train! It’s finally happening: after more than a decade of hating on The L Word (without having watched a second of it), Caitlin is watching IT ALL for the very first time. The first installment of our six-part deep-dive in honor of Pride. We talk about it all: from Jenny being the Dawson to Laurel Holloman’s High Camp performance when Tina finds out Bette’s been cheating on her. And! Mia drops an epic bomb on air. The L Word theme song (AKA “Kicking Punching Fighting Fucking”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRnlpBCDYgY

To quote the great Cher Horowitz: did you know the wounds of adolescence can take years to heal? We must’ve been on hiatus because we are ALL OVER THE PLACE in this ep -- from high school bullies to mobster ex-boyfriends’ sisters giving us subpar service at Applebee’s, this ep’s GOT IT ALL. But mostly, we’re here to talk about the travesty that is FX’s POSE ending. During our hiatus, Season 3 came and went, and we’ve got lots to say about it. POUR ONE OUT, and happy Pride, bitches! House of Abundance first walk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qXaQaofKHk

The trauma of Issa Rae’s Insecure is our trauma. Not a throwback episode, but an ep that honors the show--and its brutal honesty about what it’s like moving from your late twenties into your thirties.  To be fair, we also watch it for the mancandy.  (We can’t wait for the spinoff, Men With Feelings).  Tune in for our hopes and predictions for the fifth and final season.  We’re off next week, but we’ll be back on 3/12!

It’s the WHITNEY HOUSTON ep!  WhitHOUS!  This episode can only be described in one word: unhinged. And just to bring you all of its wacky goodness, we edited it with a light hand.  We start with queer representation on The Jetsons, revisit our own iconic looks from high school, and ultimately end up duking it out over our respective top five Whitney songs.  The minute this pandemic is over, we’re hitting the (gay) club and immediately requesting the Thunderpuss Remix of It’s Not Right.  Untz untz untz.  Whitney, we love you.  We miss you.  We’re grateful for your music and your light. "When Whitney Hit the High Note" by Danyel Smith: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/14673003/the-story-whitney-houston-epic-national-anthem-performance-1991-super-bowl "Can I Be Me" Whitney documentary on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/movie/whitney-can-i-be-me-beaf70e8-d522-44a5-b355-579e3c70969b

It’s A Different World! (From where you come from). Ah, remember the days when TV shows had theme songs? Remember the days when they had MULTIPLE VERSIONS of their theme song? And OH, the BTS drama of Lisa Bonet’s departure from this Cosby Show spinoff and piece of UTTERLY formative media. BUT: it gave us the epic love story of Whitley Gilbert & Dwayne Wayne. Excuse us, Dwayne CLEOFIS Wayne. CLEOFIS. Cleofis. Also, we discover that a Jamaican accent is not that far from a Minnesota one, dontcha know.  And that Vulture’s scathing review of Netflix’s Malcolm & Marie is GOD-DAMN levels of harsh, but we gotta give kudos for its mastery of the essay form.

Mental health struggles abound! Darkness is spreading, to quote Chappelle’s Show. Luckily, Caitlin is able to get a last minute therapy sesh in which she’s finally delivered her Good Will Hunting breakthrough fantasy (“Will, it’s not your fault”). But what we’re actually here for is POSE, the groundbreaking FX series about NYC ballroom culture. That soundtrack is B-A-N-A-N-A-S, Angel and Papi are relationship goals, and they make a night of 80s coke-fueled mania look good. We also make forays into the Bobbi & Whitney of it all and our favorite of Aunt Viv’s sisters on the Fresh Prince. (Also, never question the timeline of Fresh Prince, for that way lies madness). POSE soundtrack on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5zrcRVNZtWVO1ScTVrbtlU

In which Mia & Caitlin revisit the super formative YA horror series and discover that RL Stine’s writing--and the way he saw women--was pure trash. But the books were so beautifully formulaic that we were able to devour three at a time at age ten. Conversation quickly veers into how we miss our adolescent imagination and its ability to conjure drawn-out, detailed crush fantasies. Shout-out to B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, but mostly B. Dalton.

Caitlin’s brother is turning 40, and we are feeling our impending midlife crisis something fierce. Also: a look back at beloved romance and bisexual dilemma, Love & Basketball. Quincy McCall was Capital “P” levels of Petty and Monica Wright was hot but only serving doses of Feminism 2.0. Also, was Quincy in good hands with Allstate Dad? Not with all that toxic masculinity he wasn’t.

Christmas is for everyone, especially in the dumpster fire year that was 2020.  But plans can be challenging in The Time of the Rona.  Will Mia’s brain allow her to free-pee into a diaper on the long car ride to her parents’ in Atlanta?  Either way, she’ll have plenty of boy band holiday jams to keep her company.  Oh, and Alvin and the Chipmunks definitely qualify as a boyband.  And Simon is the JC Chasez.   Check out the Pop Junction Holiday Jams playlist here: https://spoti.fi/37wmrad

If you want to know what it looked like growing up in Brooklyn in the early 90s, look no further than Ghostwriter.  (Minus the incredibly slow penmanship).  In what's probably our most punchy ep to date, Mia & Caitlin discuss if this early 90s Blue's Clues for pre-teens holds up, how the Gaby actress swap was a travesty and a crime against Brooklyn, and how Mia is still triggered by the Slime Monster.

A joyful celebration of the work of late actor Jonathan Brandis, the religious experience that was getting the latest teen magazine issue at the deli, and how Tiger Beat, Bop, & Big Bopper provided an intravenous hit of boy heartthrob centerfolds.  And the debut of our new segment, My Dog is an Asshole.

We make a pivot (PIV-AAAT) inspired by an iconic election meme, and we talk Sister Act 2. Join us for an unexpectedly deep conversation about Black motherhood onscreen and why Rita Louise Watson is #gayorigins--and how even at age eleven Caitlin loved a jiggly back on a dude. The meme in question: https://twitter.com/i/status/1325291413517463553

You can tell Mia's going through some shit if she's curled in the fetal position with her #1 comfort watch: Dawson's Creek Season 3. Cue Paula Cole. Cue Dawson being the worst. And cue Caitlin reliving the physical fights--and almost fights--she got into at the ripe old age of 11. We even bleep out names to protect the innocent.

The 1989 Halloween classic Teen Witch may be the cinematic embodiment of the adolescent female gaze. Or maybe just what happened when Lisa Frank threw up on some celluloid.

Have you accepted Janet Jackson into your life as your lord and savior?  We did in 1998. The first installment of Pop Junction, the pod where two Xennial besties BS about the pop culture that shaped us—and give y’all a taste of what it was like growing up in South Brooklyn in the 80s & 90s.