e238. Dragons and Rings and Other Fantasy TV

There’s been a lot of Fantasy TV on the air lately. House of the Dragon and Rings of Power have both been airing as prequels to their respective fantasy genres (Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings) and have given fans of Fantasy TV no shortage of things to watch for the last couple…

Call For Comments: The Lord of the Game of the Throne and the Ring and Things.

From Wayne: Wow, there’s a lot of fantasy on TV these days! Given my addiction to comics I wasn’t completely oblivious to fantasy as a genre. I’m sure I read something with knights and dragons in it when I was a kid. I started playing Dungeons and Dragons around tenth grade, but was oblivious to…

e212. Pour Some Gritty On It!

There’s no shortage of movies, TV shows, comics and other media that are “gritty reboots” of older series or property. Sometimes these are official reboots, like the reimagining of Battlestar Galactica or like Riverdale, the greatest show on television. Other times, these are conceptual reimaginings, sharing a thematic inspiration but being given the gritty treatment.…

e170. What is Serialization? Tune in next week!

In today’s pop culture landscape, serialization is everything. TV, movies, novels, comics. Addict people to your ongoing series and hope they keep paying for another installment. Somehow, despite the fact that we are 170 episodes into a podcast SERIES about pop culture media, much of which is SERIALIZED, hosted by people who literally study SERIALIZATION…

e164. Why Do We Love Plot Twists?

On today’s episode we reveal that secretly this geeky little pop culture show was always actually about education and academic all along. Did you pick up on the clues we’ve been laying out for three years? Ok, maybe that one isn’t much of a plot twist, but what about the fact that one of Hannah…

Call For Comments: Memory Triggers In The Digital Age

From Wayne: I think about memory a lot. I’ve always had a pretty good one, enough so that people comment on it. My ancient mother has lost a lot of her short term memory in recent months, so that’s on my mind. I’m getting old enough to feel nostalgia for stuff. I’ve been going through…

e134. Reality of Horrors!

On last week’s show, we investigated the comedic world of horror movies. This week, we wanted to go a different way… the reality of horror. Yes, of course there are horror movies that feature monsters and demons and other supernatural horrors. But what do we make of films like Deliverance, Jaws, Psycho and Cujo? What…

e122. twentysomethingteen

There are a lot of television shows and movies about teenagers, both comedies and dramas.There always have been. And yet, actual teenagers on television are extremely rare. Teens are typically played by twenty-something actors (or older). This is especially the case when it comes to teenagers in shows with a heavy sexual or romantic components…

e111. STILL Not Over It!

Some things are hard to get over. Your first love. The death of a beloved pet. That time your team lost the Super Bowl. And… apparently that season finale of Game of Thrones last year. We probably can’t help you with those first three, but the last one is kind of our thing here. Why…

Call for Comments: Things We Still Aren’t Over

Note: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones, Toy Story 4, Frozen 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Downton Abbey, Mockingjay, and Grey’s Anatomy. From Hannah: A year ago, Game of Thrones was airing its final few episodes. And, well, we all know how that went. And if you’ve listened to our Game…