Pop Junction

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 We talk Shawn & Angela actually being a lesbian interracial couple, outdated Italian racial slurs, crush archetypes, the Christian values of 90s pop culture, and how Caitlin dated a RL Brooklyn Shawn Hunter in 6th grade.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 Support the cause: patreon.com/popjunction

COURT IS NOW IN SESSION. This might be the most serious episode we've ever done.  Welcome to our first court case: Mia Howard, Esq. arguing in favor of My Girl 2 v. Caitlin Graham, on behalf of My Girl OG. Mia went to law school; Caitlin went to film school. It's a battle for the ages!  Show your love for the pod: patreon.com/popjunction

This week's coming of age fave is Milk Money (aka

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.    Support the pod! -> patreon.com/popjunction

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. Like our shit? You know the drill. Visit patreon.com/popjunction

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.  PLUS: Our first BONUS episode about Queer Eye Season 6 comes out next week, exclusively for our Patreon subscribers: https://patreon.com/popjunction  Follow us on IG at @popjunctionpod

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! You can get EARLY ACCESS to our eps (AND PJ MERCH!) by subscribing to us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/popjunction  Follow us on IG at @popjunctionpod 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. You can get EARLY ACCESS to our eps (AND PJ MERCH!) by subscribing to us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/popjunction