Apr 14

The Great American Spelling Bee with Gabe Henry

Can you use the word in a sentence? For this episode, Spelling Correspondent Gabe Henry takes Sarah through the surprisingly rampageous (r-a-m-p-a-g-e-o-u-s) history of the Spelling Bee, a uniquely American phenomenon. From the earliest examples of late night “spelling matches,” ... Show More

1h 26m

Apr 1

Crop Circles with Chelsey Weber-Smith

What do men really get up to at the pub? For this April Fools' Day episode, Sarah tells urban legend correspondent Chelsey Weber-Smith of American Hysteria the history and the mystery behind crop circles, those sophisticated patterns left imprinted in corn and wheat fields said t ... Show More

1h 14m

Mar 17

How to Deprogram a Guy in 10 Days with Endless Thread

Free yourself. What does it take to get someone to leave a cult? What happens if the cult is all around us? In this episode, Ben Brock Johnson & Amory Sivertson of NPR’s Endless Thread podcast join Sarah for a discussion about the cultier aspects of our culture, politics, and his ... Show More

1h 24m

Jun 2022

Barney | 70

Sheryl Leach, a working mom in Texas was stuck in traffic when she dreamt up the idea of a plush-toy dinosaur that comes to life and entertains a backyard full of kids with songs and games. Within a few years the big purple dinosaur was loved by millions of children around the wo ... Show More

32m 11s

Nov 2021

271 - The Menendez Brothers: Parent Killing Sociopaths? Victims? Both?

I had a lot of fun on this one taking a nostalgic look at US culture in 1989 and 1993. Also found the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez incredibly interesting. Why did two brothers viciously murder their parents with shotguns in the summer of 1989? Erik was about to enroll in UC ... Show More

2h 47m

Dec 2021

JonBenét Ramsey | 59

In the early morning hours of December 26, 1996, a 39 year old stay-at-home mom in an upscale neighbourhood of Boulder, Colorado made a shocking discovery. Her 6-year-old daughter had been kidnapped while the family slept and a mysterious ransom note had been left in her place. T ... Show More

36m 50s

Sep 2020

Comedy from Stand-up to Sitcom - Part 2 I 31

On this episode we continue our look back at the stand-up sitcom boom of the 1990s. Following the success of shows such as Roseanne and Seinfeld, networks scrambled to find more comics who could become television stars. Some up and coming comics were discovered on Star Search or ... Show More

41m 8s

Aug 2019

The One About "Friends" | 4

We take a deep dive into Friends, one of the most Iconic TV shows of the decade. Host Kathy Kenzora will try to understand how the show about six 20-somethings in New York became a global phenomenon and why it continues to capture the hearts of fans around the world 25 years late ... Show More

39m 58s

Oct 2021

The Rise of Trashy Daytime TV | 56

In the 1990s the most violent thing on television wasn’t wrestling, or NHL hockey it was The Jerry Springer Show. The daytime talk show regularly devolved into wild physical fights between guests that were excitedly cheered on by riled up audience members During the 90s more than ... Show More

40m 29s

May 2024

Stranger Danger: Moral Panic, White Childhood Innocence, & the American Carceral State With Paul Renfro

In this episode we speak with Paul Renfro about his book <a href="https://massivebookshop.com/products/9780190913984?_pos=6&_sid=9c368981f&_ss=r" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stranger Danger: Family Values, Childhood, and the American Carceral State</a> Paul ... Show More

1h 55m

Feb 2021

Reality TV | 1. An American Family

In the first episode of season 1 of Spectacle, we'll go back to the show that started it all -- An American Family. Most probably haven't heard of the 1973 PBS docuseries but many argue it inspired reality TV. The series that followed the Loud family of Santa Barbara became part ... Show More

43m 5s