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 🎧

The year was 1998. After making a name for themselves across the pond, a boy band for a new era of boy bands came back to the States (specifically Orlando) and tore up our hearts–especially one man and his, dare we say, “thug appeal.” That man? The true lead singer of *NSYNC: JC Chasez. Yes we WILL be talking mad smack about JT (and maaaaybe delving into some of our wackadoodle theories about the JT/JC of it all, STAY WITH US! Don’t back away!). …We’re definitely getting sued. Also: buying concert tickets from strangers in AOL chat rooms, and the mysterious disappearance of USB-C lightning cables. EDITED BY Sophia Betz 🎧 To get the full experience of this episode, you may want to have these YouTube clips handy: https://youtu.be/_ZcmuKsyvzg?si=flGHdK7rfFRrASgd&t=183 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJSYmnPilbA https://youtu.be/TC2MyQS7Oh4?si=ojp0UdJg7LN5wihn https://youtu.be/n-2C2wOFavc?si=3oqrflIphjV6qGQ9&t=157 https://youtu.be/z7Lwc-E5bbU?si=P8bORkMpqYN3avsp https://youtu.be/hohGkdoI9Ck?si=Hpgn2E8AGGOPttN2&t=140 https://youtu.be/Nyqi2e0AIzM?si=a84ynb0yJ8ivtGxL

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.