Pop culture podcast

Ok I can’t quite believe I wrote “Melissa’s old nose” out but holy moly. Gabriela pretty much spilled everything about what goes on behind the scenes on RHONJ and some of it is foul (the stuff with John fuda’s ex Brittany) and some of it hilarious (Teresa knows who Monica Garcia is!)

I’ve tried to recap the best I could. I’m sure I left stuff out. To say it was WILD is an understatement.

Here we go -

It was Teresa and her lawyer Jim Leonard who planned everything. Jen and Louie were involved too but Teresa was the mastermind.

Jen Aydin contacted G first, the night after the altercation with the gorgas at bravocon. Sent her a video and got her to post a negative story on Joe and Melissa. Then brought Teresa in later on.

AATRH was another account that went in on RHONJ but Roxanne got to cherry pick what she wrote about and would keep her hands relatively clean. She’d never do the body shaming stuff Teresa and Jen wanted her to do, so gabriela ended up doing those stories instead.

Teresa and Jim and Jen were so sneaky they didn’t even realise they were being used and told what to say and how to say it. Were fed all these details by Teresa about Melissa and how badly she treated her nieces and Margaret and how shady she was etc, and basically drove these bloggers to hate the people they hated and think the way they thought.

They planned ahead. Teresa genuinely believed that season 13 would be Melissa’s last season. It’s all she talked about, and she thought the reunion would be the last time they filmed together, even though Andy checked her.

When she realised Melissa was coming back she freaked out, said she couldn’t film with her as she would look dumb after her behaviour at the reunion. G even had a meeting at Teresa’s house to discuss her storyline with her lawyer, who was begging her to do at least a sit down scene with Melissa where she could give her the Italian “kiss of death”. A producer who just left was trying to get Teresa to do it too. Teresa refused.

They decided to use John Fuda’s ex as their storyline because they wanted a man to pit against Teresa - because if a man went against her, no matter who it was, people will defend Teresa. (Explains the Evan rumours too).

They’ve already decided what Teresa’s season 14 storyline is - her and Luis packing and moving to LA.

Diana Cooper at the Sun (who was an active ally of Teresa’s) already published a story about John’s ex Brittany. G was told to get in touch with her and conspire to keep the stories going so that Teresa could use it as her storyline in season 14.

July - g and Roxanne wanted to get Brittany to talk and keep the story alive so that when they start filming Teresa can use it on the show. Brittany was worried about legal consequences and G lied and told Brittany she’s legally in the clear to talk because she checked with a lawyer - who ended up being jim Leonard (!)

August - filming is due to start on the 15th at Jen Fessler’s birthday party and they needed to get the story out there so Teresa could use it but it couldn’t look like it came from someone too close to Teresa. So they use Marteanis with Eddie instead who’s a Jen Aydin fan and get him on the phone with Tre.

Aug 14- he posts about Brittany and straight after G drops her posts. Aug 15 they start filming. Brittany was in a halfway house when all this was happening and using her internet privileges on an iPad to communicate with Diana Cooper, Gabriela, Eddie. When it was found out she was abusing these privileges she was thrown back in jail.

Teresa told g that it was johns fault and he was trying to silence her so that’s what she spread on SM. It was completely false, John had no idea what was happening but it’s what she was led to believe.

It was incredibly calculated and scripted. The story they wanted to use was about John f being a drug dealer and liking fingers up the butt and double ended dildos. Jen brings it up (not Teresa) first on the way to Jen f’s party. Teresa goes up to Rachel and after some back and forth Teresa brings up the stories. G even described an incident where they were on the phone and Teresa goes “oh wait, I have to go film a scene where I talk to Louie about the John allegations”. All was meticulously pre planned.

When the reality Von tease stuff blew up Teresa contacted g to ask what she thought of Monica Garcia. G replied that she always preferred Heather.

It went beyond anything reality VT did. They were creating storylines for the show but they were also destroying lives and businesses - Teresa and Jen also asked the bloggers to bomb John’s business with bad reviews online.

They’ve lost heavy hitters like G and Roxanne and are now using bottom of the barrel blogs to get the stories they want out. Jim is contacting tiny accounts on Instagram trying to push his side of the story.

The point of all this was not to get Jen or Teresa fired, it’s to show how they weaponised social media in such a gross way against their cast mates. G hopes bravo does something about it though because if not it sends a clear message to all the other HWs that this behaviour is ok.

Bravo is aware and they’ve seen all the receipts.

I tried listening to the first episode of deux/u, and the voice changer is not helping, also isn’t enty lowkey problematic?

I listen to a lot of pop culture podcasts, and I have found I enjoy the ones about micro celebs or niche topics like who weekly, internet girls, fluently forward.

I’m open to trying anything, I just really don’t like shows like chicks in the office or any pop culture show hosted by a famous person (they’re all just liars and take it too seriously)

I’m so happy for them!

***This recap is written by me, my Instagram is vanderpodrecaps. Enjoy!

• Stassi: Let me just say this, like I know everybody thinks that Rachel is just lying. I think that there were lies and there were truths told. I think both. But I do believe that everything Rachel is saying, she’s think she’s telling the truth. Even though she is a liar and has lied in such a serious profound way for so long, you can tell that right now her whole thing is she is so desperate to undo that. She’s so desperate to tell the truth, I can see that in her. But that doesn’t mean that she has been given all the right information.

• Stassi: There is this element that she has been told shit that I just think is not true, that she believes. Kind of like Sandoval saying that they offered him a producer credit. That, there’s no way. I don’t think that’s true at all. There’s no way they would reward him like that. It would never happen. Why would they give him control when they see him spend all this time lying? And they don’t just hand out producer credits to cast members. So I feel like that was just something that he told Rachel to feel like a big shot again.

• Stassi then talks about when Rachel brought up the scene at her apartment with Sandoval and Rachel said she asked Sandoval why did you film me without my knowledge and he said because I wanted you to see how beautiful you looked.

• (Stassi makes a gag noise) I hate men. Not all men. So manipulative. Gaslighting. All of it. I feel like my blood pressure is rising.

• Stassi then talked about how Rachel said after the scene wrapped he got mad and said why did you say that to me on camera, you’re going to make me look bad and then went and threatened production and said I won’t film anymore unless you take that out

• Stassi: And they did…and they did! That….that hurts. It hurt for woman everywhere. I was just like come on. We’re still doing this shit. That happened all the time on VPR when I was there. All the time. There were so many times that I remember crying to producers and being like you guys have covered for certain people that have done really dark things.

• Taylor: Poorly behaved men

• Stassi: Yes, men. Men. That I can’t even be in the same room as some of these men and I’m getting less screen time because of it. And I’m willing to get less screen time because of it. I’m willing to film less. Because this is so unfair and this is wrong. But at the same time, I thought about it, would I ever go public with this sort of thing, and I was like no because I wouldn’t want to ruin everyone’s jobs. I wouldn’t want to shut down a show where it’s not just the cast, it’s the crew, it’s producers, it’s there so many people that work on it and love it. It trickles down to so many people where I’m like I’m tougher than this. I can heal on my own and I did. And there are so many other female cast members on VPR who have gone through the same thing where production has covered for the dudes and we have just had to heal ourselves. So that was a straight up truth I know that Rachel told because it has happened before. The fact that Sandoval was able to get away with it again it’s just like fuck. I also understand that producers have a job to do like they wanted to get him to film more so if that’s what they have to do…it’s so dark. It’s such a fucked up way of working but I understand why they have to do it sometimes

• Stassi hated that Rachel said that her (Rachel) and Ariana weren’t that good of friends.

• Stassi said that was bullshit

• Stassi: Rachel, it felt like she took zero accountability. But I understand you (taylor) said you felt for her for a little bit because we are human beings so of course I did too. When I heard the transcript of what was said at the reunion just read aloud that way, it hurt my stomach. Have I said horrible things to people on VPR? Yes, I’ve been there. I’ve been the one to be horrible like that. Ariana I feel like was allowed to say those things.

• Stassi: The only time I felt a little bad for her was hearing all the words that was said to her at the reunion. At the same time, Ariana was allowed, Ariana specifically was allowed to say all those things. What I feel like where it went wrong in the reunion, now looking back is that Bethenny made a good point that the whole point of that reunion, there wasn’t to get to a resolution. It was literally just to batter her. So the whole cast just pummel her, pummel her, pummel her, that’s not right.

• Stassi talked about how she (Stassi) needs to take accountability and has said worse on VPR, she has said and done worse so who is she to be like that reunion was really fucked up.

• Stassi said that it seemed like Bethenny was trying to go down this route to make Ariana look bad and that’s not the route we should be taking right now

• Stassi: Ariana isn’t living with Sandoval because she has forgiven him. She’s living with Sandoval because she is like this is my house too and I refuse to leave my own home. And Sandoval is being a gaslighting prick mother fucker who is refusing to leave.

• Stassi called out Bethenny and said this interview was lazy because Bethenny didn’t do her research

• Stassi said the way VPR paying works, it literally goes by how many years you’ve been doing it. Not how many years you’ve been around production because she’s been there as James girlfriend. How many years have to been a lead, like a main cast member. I was making less money than a lot of people on the cast because I had left. I was a year behind people and I never cared to fight it.

I unintentionally found Popculture UniversiTEA. I actually love the host, Patty. He keeps me young ✨ any other good, fun ones to listen to?

-The Joy Schtick Show

-Mostly SFW (Ocassionaly NSFW)

-150 episodes published. Started in 2021

-Apple Pods: Spotify: YouTube:

-We’re a comedic pop culture podcast that discusses weekly trailers, news, and reviews. This ranges from new movies, tv shows, anime, video games and comic books. We also do “Spotlight Interviews” exploring guests connection to (or interest in) current pop culture and promote your podcast or other artistic work to our subscribers. Plus we’re all from HI, so we try to bring the ALOHA 🤙🏽

-“Spotlight interviews” are an hour or less. Regular episodes 1- 1.5 hours.

question in the title. i love pop culture but i’m so tired of the liberal takes.

I’m normally a politics/world news person, but I have so much stress in my life recently that I want to unwind by listening to a podcast after work… and I just find myself feeling overwhelmed and upset when I listen to nearly anything concerning current events.

Growing up, I loved the VH1 docuseries I Love the 90s (and 80s, 70s, etc.). My formative years were a combination of rotating between MTV, VH1, BET, and CMT. I always thought that music was a fantastic lens through which to view the ins and outs of a cultures imprint in time, but I equally enjoy analyzing this phenomenon through everything: movies, political figures, brands, lawsuits, historical events, etc.

I recently discovered Decoder Ring and I love it. I also really love certain episodes of Endless Thread (for example, I recall the analysis of where the “Kilroy was here” graffiti phenomenon post-WWII as fascinating, or my personal favorite, the investigation for an 80s era fantasy cartoon character named Geedis that seemed to exist only in the form of enamel pin and literally nothing else until they uncovered his obscure origins).

I love deep dives into cultural mysteries like this. Or, looking at what was popular at the time, how it shaped a generation or subculture’s perception in time (for example, The Toys that Made Us/The Movies that Made Us on Netflix is a gem).

I don’t really care what the topic is as long as it traces and connects a cultural response or opinion to something you may not know about or expect.

Please give me everything you’ve got! The more low-stakes, the better :)

Any recommendations? I’m kinda going through a tough time right now and doing mindless cleaning/work while listening to Troy’s Dunzo episodes are like therapy for me. It’s like sitting down with my bestie after a hard day, I love his laugh! I also enjoy Beyond the Blinds with him and Kelli.

Also much less known is the Teen Creeps podcast, who cover horror movies and books. The two hosts are SO FUNNY. They just crack jokes back and forth and it’s so cozy to listen to!

Subjects can honestly be anything. Books/movies/people/videogames etc. What are your favorites?

Hope the question is clear enough and not too niche but I’m referring to the likes of Evan Ross Katz, Raven Smith etc., authors I wouldn’t exactly call influencers but which I feel are still part of the pop culture scene? (not Deuxmoi haha)

If anyone wants to recommend their favourite pop culture accounts to follow please do!

I watch a lot of YouTubers that cover stuff like Beanie Babies, Webkinz, Littlest Pet Shop, Rubik’s Cube, Neopets, Tamogotchis, etc. and I’d love to listen to podcasts with those types of niche pop culture nostalgia. TIA!

***This recap is written by me, my Instagram is vanderpodrecaps. Enjoy!

• Stassi: Let me just say this, like I know everybody thinks that Rachel is just lying. I think that there were lies and there were truths told. I think both. But I do believe that everything Rachel is saying, she’s think she’s telling the truth. Even though she is a liar and has lied in such a serious profound way for so long, you can tell that right now her whole thing is she is so desperate to undo that. She’s so desperate to tell the truth, I can see that in her. But that doesn’t mean that she has been given all the right information.

• Stassi: There is this element that she has been told shit that I just think is not true, that she believes. Kind of like Sandoval saying that they offered him a producer credit. That, there’s no way. I don’t think that’s true at all. There’s no way they would reward him like that. It would never happen. Why would they give him control when they see him spend all this time lying? And they don’t just hand out producer credits to cast members. So I feel like that was just something that he told Rachel to feel like a big shot again.

• Stassi then talks about when Rachel brought up the scene at her apartment with Sandoval and Rachel said she asked Sandoval why did you film me without my knowledge and he said because I wanted you to see how beautiful you looked.

• (Stassi makes a gag noise) I hate men. Not all men. So manipulative. Gaslighting. All of it. I feel like my blood pressure is rising.

• Stassi then talked about how Rachel said after the scene wrapped he got mad and said why did you say that to me on camera, you’re going to make me look bad and then went and threatened production and said I won’t film anymore unless you take that out

• Stassi: And they did…and they did! That….that hurts. It hurt for woman everywhere. I was just like come on. We’re still doing this shit. That happened all the time on VPR when I was there. All the time. There were so many times that I remember crying to producers and being like you guys have covered for certain people that have done really dark things.

• Taylor: Poorly behaved men

• Stassi: Yes, men. Men. That I can’t even be in the same room as some of these men and I’m getting less screen time because of it. And I’m willing to get less screen time because of it. I’m willing to film less. Because this is so unfair and this is wrong. But at the same time, I thought about it, would I ever go public with this sort of thing, and I was like no because I wouldn’t want to ruin everyone’s jobs. I wouldn’t want to shut down a show where it’s not just the cast, it’s the crew, it’s producers, it’s there so many people that work on it and love it. It trickles down to so many people where I’m like I’m tougher than this. I can heal on my own and I did. And there are so many other female cast members on VPR who have gone through the same thing where production has covered for the dudes and we have just had to heal ourselves. So that was a straight up truth I know that Rachel told because it has happened before. The fact that Sandoval was able to get away with it again it’s just like fuck. I also understand that producers have a job to do like they wanted to get him to film more so if that’s what they have to do…it’s so dark. It’s such a fucked up way of working but I understand why they have to do it sometimes

• Stassi hated that Rachel said that her (Rachel) and Ariana weren’t that good of friends.

• Stassi said that was bullshit

• Stassi: Rachel, it felt like she took zero accountability. But I understand you (taylor) said you felt for her for a little bit because we are human beings so of course I did too. When I heard the transcript of what was said at the reunion just read aloud that way, it hurt my stomach. Have I said horrible things to people on VPR? Yes, I’ve been there. I’ve been the one to be horrible like that. Ariana I feel like was allowed to say those things.

• Stassi: The only time I felt a little bad for her was hearing all the words that was said to her at the reunion. At the same time, Ariana was allowed, Ariana specifically was allowed to say all those things. What I feel like where it went wrong in the reunion, now looking back is that Bethenny made a good point that the whole point of that reunion, there wasn’t to get to a resolution. It was literally just to batter her. So the whole cast just pummel her, pummel her, pummel her, that’s not right.

• Stassi talked about how she (Stassi) needs to take accountability and has said worse on VPR, she has said and done worse so who is she to be like that reunion was really fucked up.

• Stassi said that it seemed like Bethenny was trying to go down this route to make Ariana look bad and that’s not the route we should be taking right now

• Stassi: Ariana isn’t living with Sandoval because she has forgiven him. She’s living with Sandoval because she is like this is my house too and I refuse to leave my own home. And Sandoval is being a gaslighting prick mother fucker who is refusing to leave.

• Stassi called out Bethenny and said this interview was lazy because Bethenny didn’t do her research

• Stassi said the way VPR paying works, it literally goes by how many years you’ve been doing it. Not how many years you’ve been around production because she’s been there as James girlfriend. How many years have to been a lead, like a main cast member. I was making less money than a lot of people on the cast because I had left. I was a year behind people and I never cared to fight it.

What're we listening to instead!?

I am super progressive/liberal so I love . They do deep dives into 1 big pop culture topic per episode. They did one on Ballerina Farm/The Transformed Wife that had me laughing my ass off. Loved their episode on CTE/the NFL. Hosted by Julia Hava & Eliza McLamb. Love them SO much! They're well-researched, highly educated and intelligent in their responses and discussion points. They're sort of on the cusp of Gen Z and Millennial, and definitely come from a leftist perspective. It's actually perfect for me hehe

BUT they don't do all the trash tv reviews or daily pop culture stories. AND their podcast is only once per week. Thinking about signing up for their Patreon because they also give out a book list.

What else are we listening to for Bravo reviews and pop culture events and stories?

❤️

Mods feel free to delete if this has already been posted.

I’m looking for some funny pop culture podcasts. There’s so many on Spotify I don’t know where to start. Love this sub so I thought I’d ask y’all. Thanks 💕

anyone here listen to hey now hey now by emily & barney? im looking for similar recommendations. something lighthearted & fun for the girlypops. just anyone funny chatting about tv shows, movies, books, celebrity culture, throwback disney, barbie, fashion, life stories. something cozy that feels like im hanging out with a couple of besties. no men pls unless theyre girlypop

Y’all, I’m crushed that Into It with Sam Sanders is ending! I’m not a pop culture fanatic but I like keeping up with the big stories, especially since Reddit is my only social media these days so I generally feel out of the loop with internet and pop culture. I particularly loved Into It because of the host Sam Sanders - he’s funny and snarky without being mean, he brings a really valuable perspective to conversations about pop culture as a gay, Black man, and he has interesting guests who engage in actual dialogues about the topic without getting preachy or dry.

With Into It ending, what other pop culture podcasts should I check out? Ideally I would like:

•Between ~20-60 min episodes, no more than 2-3x a week. I usually catch up on Into It while I wash and style my [very thick and curly] hair around 2-3x/week, which takes around 45 min each time.

•Host(s) who aren’t just regurgitating headlines, but who bring their perspective and challenge one-sided and/or harmful narratives

•Covers pop culture broadly, not limited to just movies or music etc.

and if not, what do we think her response will be? i imagine her posting a tiktok railing against the "anti-reckoning WWC gays i mean guys who made light of our embattled reality star victims with a flippant meme. how could you vote for them?? they think our plights of pain are hilarious!"