Join us for a SUPERSIZED edition of one of our most popular episodes, "From Jaws to Dirty Dancing: Summer Movies of the GenX Era" with an all new opening. Learn what year had the highest grossing box office summer and hear how we provide Hollywood with some food for thought when it comes to today's movie making. We can thank Generation X for many things, but the advent of the summer blockbuster might be one of its best contributions to pop culture history! From Jaws to Dirty Dancing, we’re...

Welcome to this emergency episode of The Pop Culture Preservation Society -- smack dab in the middle of our series of summer reruns, supersized with all new conversations. But something happened on June 13th that necessitated this disruption of our summer hiatus. And that is that Andrew McCarthy's documentary BRATS was released -- in which he explores his role in the so-called brat pack and tracked down his brat pack compatriots (some of whom he hadn't seen for more than 30 years) to get...

A year later we are supersizing our Shaun Cassidy interview with an opening editorial on this very special, in-depth, and thoughtful conversation. And it is special. Shaun drops nuggets about playing softball with Alice Cooper, clubbing with David Bowie, and riding trikes with little Ronnie Howard before revealing his true feelings about all those twelve-year-olds screaming at his concerts. But Shaun Cassidy's life today is just as compelling; with a flourishing writing career and a recent...

Today it’s once again YOUR pick for our movie-themed rerun, and we’re making it SUPERSIZED with an all new conversation about a recent podcast episode we loved on John Travolta’s trilogy in the late 70s. (See podcast link below.) Then join us for the episode we never intended to be a tribute — but sadly became one just five days after recording this extremely personal debate about our generation’s most beloved and enduring character, Rydell High’s Sandy Olsson from the movie Grease. It was...

Welcome to this summer rerun of on your FM dial 1983. Just like when you were a kid, and all the TV shows went away for the summertime, and you watched all those shows, and reruns, we're doing the same thing here at the Pop Culture Preservation Society. But this episode is going to be SUPERSIZED! We've added a fun opening conversation where we chat about music writer, Rob Sheffield's, Rolling Stone article..."The 100 Best Songs of 1983, the Year Pop Went Crazy." You'll be as surprised as we...

What do singer-songwriter John Sebastian and hip-hop producer Pete Rock have in common? They were both instrumental in the Pop Culture Preservation Society’s first viral moment. Learn why the “Welcome Back, Kotter” theme song brought thousands of new followers to the PCPS and the surprising demographic of many of those followers. We take a trip down Carolyn’s Rabbit Hole and then revisit Episode 21, “Schlemiel Schlemazel - TV’s Best Theme Songs.”  Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society...

Join us for another Town Hall episode, where we answer some of your fun questions! Things get silly — and surprisingly serious — as we talk about everything from our favorite now-defunct mall store to who would play us in a TV movie to wondering if we’d have been friends in middle school. (And trust us, our answers are NOT what you’d expect!) Who thinks Ann B. Davis should play her in the movie? Who wore painful Candies and hobbled around like a 3-year-old in her mother’s shoes just because...

At no time were our full range of GenX adolescent emotions more keenly felt than the night of the middle school dance. It was a night of awkward crushes, questionable dance moves, and enough pre-teen angst to rival a Judy Blume novel. Join Carolyn, Kristin and Michelle as they share their most memorable middle school dance memories along with the songs that cemented those memories in our minds. Listen to learn who experienced the second best kiss of her entire life at a middle school dance...

You thought you knew the story behind We Are The World, one of the best-selling songs of all time? Watch The Greatest Night in Pop on Netflix and listen to this episode, and we bet you’ll think again. We’re breaking down this incredible documentary story (which sometimes includes way too many main characters!) and bringing you our favorite revelations (Michael’s missing boa constrictor! Stevie’s face-palming suggestion! Dionne’s mysterious visitor! Lionel’s remarkable patience! The sweet and...

If Generation X had a dog, it would (without a doubt) be Benji, the scrappy little terrier who barked his way into our hearts in 1974 … and remains there to this day. Join us as we (rather passionately!) relive this iconic movie scene by scene and bark by bark, still getting traumatized by the sight of those kids in GAGS and that awful KICK (if you know, you know). Does this “most talked-about, highly-acclaimed family picture of our time … maybe of all time” hold up today? Do we think Benji...

Once upon a time there were three little girls who religiously followed three little girls who went to the police academy. And they were each assigned very hazardous duties – like watching TV and absorbing everything it taught them about being a woman. But growing up took them away from all of that. And now they work for YOU! As podcasters! Where they talk about things like Charlie's Angels, a show that was less procedural and more of an aspirational branding opportunity for girls growing up...

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip …” You’re singing the end of that song now, aren’t you? (You’re welcome.) That’s because the TV shows from the 50s and 60s that reran constantly during our Gen X childhoods took up entire afternoons, weekends, and summer vacations. They were our after-school friends, our babysitters, and at times, our surrogate families. And today, decades after they all first aired, they still hold valuable space in our heads and in our...

In part 2 of our tribute to Andy Gibb, we discuss his songs, his frequent duets with the biggest stars in Hollywood, his partnerships (both in the tabloids and IRL), and the true depth of his struggle with mental health -- all of which is spoken about so eloquently by Andy Gibb's only daughter on the only source sanctioned by his estate, officalandygibb.com. There are many sad parts to this story -- but the overwhelming truth is that Andy Gibb was beloved by everyone who knew him. So it is in...

After three years of requests from listeners, it's finally here -- the PCPS's tribute to one of the biggest teen idols of the Gen X era, Andy Gibb. He was our everything, our everlasting love, and today's episode will introduce his story and delve into his music with the blessing of Andy Gibb's only child, Peta Gibb Weber. From his beginning as a mischievous child in England and Australia to his lightning fast ascension to the top of the charts, we'll dig into both his contribution to our...

While Michelle hits the slopes to celebrate her birthday, Carolyn and Kristin chat about the staying power of Judy Blume's classic "Forever," the book's cover and the upcoming Netflix series based on the novel. Then stick around for an encore presentation of episode 6, "Judy Blume Forever" where the girls get serious — and silly — about how they were impacted and educated by the book “Forever,” and Kristin shares the story of her incredible meet-up with Queen Judy herself.  P.S. Our audio...

After a BRAND NEW opening conversation about the upcoming Little House on The Prairie 50th celebration, we’re replaying one of our most fun conversations! TiKTok sensation Raven Stone (@MrStoneAuthor) joins us for a hilarious conversation about a few of the more traumatic episodes of LHOTP. Why the heck things did things have to be so terrifying all the time, and more importantly, why didn’t Mary grab her baby on the way out of the burning house? CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains...

Join us for an encore presentation of AM Radio Gold: 1977, celebrating the songs we heard when AM radio was king, featuring an all new introduction recorded while we prepare for one of our most anticipated episodes ever (hint: okay it's Andy Gibb😲❤️🎉). We'll give you a sneak peek of our thoughts from this very personal and surprisingly emotional topic that will be coming to you next season. Our talk of Andy Gibb then segues quite naturally to the radio hits of 1977, a year that gave us some...

In this week’s episode we’re starting with an all new conversation, gushing over Henry Winkler’s memoir and the man himself, whom we’ve grown to love as so much more than just “The Fonz.”  Then we’ll replay Episode 83, “Fonzie Loves Pinky." If you say the word "Pinky" to AARP-aged people, they will intuitively respond with this weird snappy-fist-slapping ritual. It's a Gen X reaction honed by the cultural phenomenon knows as Pinky Tuscadero. Join us as we revisit the Happy Days episode that...

Following our Kramer vs. Kramer episode, we take an even deeper dive with someone who was obsessed with the movie at just ten years old: Priscilla Gilman, author of The Critic's Daughter, a memoir that dissects her experience of her parents' divorce, will join us to give her take on the movie and why it resonated so hard with her at such a young age. Her story is uniquely hers but statistics show that at least half of you will find it shockingly familiar. The first children of divorce are in...

Kramer vs. Kramer, the divorce drama starring Dustin Hoffman and a young Meryl Streep, opened on December 19, 1979 and quickly became more than a movie; it was, according to Vanity Fair, a cultural benchmark, a snapshot of the fractured American family. If statistics hold true, that applies to roughly half of you. Even if your parents were married in 1979, it's possible you learned about divorce when more and more of your friends and classmates lived with their single moms. We Gen Xers were...

Author Amy Weinland Daughters is back with us, telling us about that time she went crazy and wrote a HANDWRITTEN letter to all 580 of her Facebook Friends (which is the basis for her book, "Dear Dana, that time I went crazy and wrote a handwritten letter to all 580 of my Facebook friends”). We talk about why (and how!) this project began, the response from the recipients, and why — surprisingly — it was most meaningful to the letter WRITER. You won't believe this amazingly heartwarming story,...

Letterwriting is the topic that took the PCPS by storm! When we asked you for your thoughts and stories about the letters you wrote and received growing up, we got more responses than any other topic to date. This certainly validates our assertion that letterwriting was vital to the Gen X experience. Before email and texting there was only one way to keep in touch with our important people that didn't involve long-distance charges (which your dad said was "highway robbery!") -- we put pen to...

Variety shows were as much a part of 1970s television as reality shows were a part of the early 21st century, and today we’re saving two of the most iconic — The Carol Burnett Show and Sonny & Cher, plus one very short-lived YET STILL ICONIC show for us GenXers, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (which may or may not have been created in a drug-induced fever dream). Listen for lots of fun facts about these unforgettable shows that were such cultural touchstones for us 70skids, as well as...

Today we’re saving many of the things from our youth that our own kids’ generations will never understand … like what the heck a phone book is (not to mention how to use it). From smoking sections on airplanes (why bother??) to having to WAIT for your favorite song to play (the agony!) to the migraines the microfiche machine triggered (and which the memory still does), we’re breaking down some of the staples of our childhoods that continue to puzzle the most recent generations. But really,...