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September 25, 2025 57 mins

Remember when coming home meant fumbling with a key on a chain around your neck, dropping your backpack, and turning on the TV before your parents got home from work? The Women Are Plotting podcast takes us back to those formative years when television wasn't just entertainment—it was our babysitter, teacher, and window to the world.

As self-described Gen X "latchkey kids," Etienne, Heidi, and Jane share how their favorite shows shaped their values and worldviews when parents weren't around to do it. Norman Lear's groundbreaking sitcoms tackled racism and social issues before many of us understood these concepts. Charlie's Angels inspired neighborhood play that extended storylines beyond the screen. Fantasy Island taught us to be careful what we wish for. And let's not forget those teenage crushes on Tom Selleck and Ricardo Montalban that led to bedroom wall posters and surreptitious fan mail.

Unlike today's on-demand viewing, our television experience was communal—everyone watched the same episode of The Cosby Show or discussed who shot J.R. the next day at school. This shared cultural experience created a unique generational bond that's hard to replicate in today's fragmented media landscape.

What's fascinating is discovering which shows hold up decades later and which make us cringe. The hosts explore this dichotomy while watching classics with their own children—from the progressive messaging of All in the Family to the now-shocking casual sexism of Three's Company. The shows that endure (Golden Girls, Cheers, The Twilight Zone) succeed through timeless storytelling, memorable characters, and universal themes that transcend their era.

Join this nostalgic yet insightful conversation about the television that raised a generation. What shows shaped your childhood? Share your memories with us at info@thewomenareplotting.com or find us on all social platforms.

Send us a text

Email us at info@thewomenareplotting.com, and find us on all the socials. Be safe and be excellent to each other.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Etienne (00:02):
Welcome listeners.
This is Women Are Plotting.
I'm Etienne Rose Olivier, andI'm here with my friends and
co-hosts Heidi Willis and JaneGari.
Today's episode will be talkingabout our favorite Gen X shows
that inspired us, and we alwayshave a fun and or interesting

(00:22):
fact for each episode, and minetoday is regarding the 1970s
television show the IncredibleHulk and how the main
character's name was changedfrom Bruce Banner to David
Banner because CBS executivesthought that Bruce was too
effeminate of a name.
Jane, what's your fun fact fortoday?

Jane (00:48):
Oh my, sorry, I'm laughing because bruce is my husband's
nickname for my non-existentside piece.
We just make a joke like ifhe's coming home early, he's
like tell bruce to leave becauseI'm gonna be there.
And uh, bruce, I find I findbruce is a very manly name

Etienne (01:02):
yeah, I guess bruce.
Yeah, they didn't change it forany of the Marvel movies.
It's definitely Bruce Banner.
Yeah, yeah, that's ridiculous.

Jane (01:10):
It was a different time, the 70s

Heidi (01:12):
yeah

Jane (01:13):
very different.
Bruce Willis wasn't around yet.
Yeah

Heidi (01:16):
I think Bruce Willis, like he rehabbed that name maybe
.

Jane (01:21):
Or like Bruce Springsteen.
People didn't think that thatwas like

Heidi (01:26):
yeah, that too, yeah

Etienne (01:27):
yeah
huh.
Yeah, that's weird that theywould call it effeminate

Jane (01:29):
bruce but yeah.
so my fun fact is actually aboutthe term gen x itself, not the
term itself, but just like whatother nicknames for our
generation like?
Sometimes, gen x is called thein-between generation because
we're situated between the babyboomers and the millennials, and
one of the reasons why we'realso called that is because we

(01:53):
straddle the best of both theanalog and the digital worlds.
I feel like we're killing it,but we're also called the
forgotten generation, and we'realso called the latchkey
generation because many of us Iwould argue maybe most of us
were left unsupervised at homeafter school, literally using

(02:15):
the latchkey which, if you

Etienne (02:16):
yeah On the chain.

Jane (02:18):
Yeah, yes.
And if you're really young andyou're like what is a latchkey?
It's literally the name of thekey to the outer door of your
house and, as our parents werereally the first generation
where a lot of folks were havingtwo parents working or there
was a lot of divorce, and thenyou just have both parents who
might be working but they're notliving together, and so now

(02:39):
there's no caregiver presentwhen you're getting home, and I
think that that leads into ourtopic for today, which is just
the idea of our favorite TVshows, because I think there was
a lot of afternoon TV watchinggoing on when there's not a
parent to tell you to stop.

Heidi (03:02):
We were definitely raised on the television.
So what's your fun fact, heidi?
So mine's personal I actually met Norman Lear in 2016
at an awards ceremony.
Yes, I was a finalist and asemi-finalist for a couple of my
scripts at the Austin FilmFestival screenwriting
conference and he was the onebeing honored that year, and so

(03:26):
after the ceremony, I got tomeet him and tell him basically,
hey, you were a big part of mychildhood.
Like I feel like being raisedby a single mom.
I wasn't really taught moral.
I think his shows All in theFamily, the Jeffersons, one Day
at a Time like those kind ofinstilled in me these values and

(03:48):
morals and how to be good andhow to be a good person, like I
just basically said that to himand told him I was so grateful
that I felt like he was a kindof a substitute father figure
through his shows, helping mebecome a good person, and so,
yeah, it was really neat gettingto hug him and
what was his response to you?

(04:10):
saying that to him
oh, yeah, he hugged me and and he was really grateful
that I told him that.
But yeah, I was crying that wasa big deal.

Etienne (04:23):
like, yeah, if you came up to me and said that I would
probably start getting teared upLike that's so sweet.

Heidi (04:30):
Yeah, so yeah, it was really neat that he was the one
being honored that year, that Iwas at the award ceremony.
It meant a lot being able tomeet him and tell him that.
You know, you know it was good,oh anyway.
So norman lear is a hugeinfluence on the shows that kind

(04:53):
of affected me the most growingup.
Also, other ones are like allthose anthology shows like
twilight zone, tales from theDark Side, outer Limits.
I was obsessed with those typeof shows.

Jane (05:08):
You're reminding me of Ray Bradbury Theater that show
would be it was one of those,because I don't unlike Heidi, I
do not gravitate towards horroras a genre, unless I'm reading
it, and then I can control justhow messed up the visuals get in
my head.
But as a medium film andtelevision I don't gravitate

(05:30):
towards horror, and unless it'sabout vampires I don't know why
they don't scare me as much, andso I find them sexy in a way.
But ray bradbury theater wasweird enough and odd enough
where I could watch it.
Sometimes I would, though,because my sister and I would
sometimes watch it together, andthen we would fight over who

(05:52):
was the last person up thestairs.
She was like I'm turning off allthe lights and she'd run away
and I would just be freaking outbecause now I'm responsible for
making sure the television isoff and making sure the door is
locked, Because we would bewatching it in a den and our
parents weren't there.
But I will say that if we werewatching television in the
evening Ray Bradbury Theater wasan exception.

(06:12):
I don't know what time it wason in syndication, so I think
that that was maybe like a rainyday situation?

Etienne (06:20):
Yeah, I was going to ask you because I never saw Ray
Bradbury Theater.

Jane (06:23):
No, and I think it was a summertime thing, because I
remember when we watched it wewere at my dad's house and so it
must have been in the summer,but it was at night when it came
on and it was in syndication,so I don't know when it
originally ran, but we werewatching it by ourselves.
But if we were watchingtelevision in the evening and I
think this is something that ourgeneration was, the last
generation, sadly, to have thisbe a normal thing, right, is

(06:44):
you're watching it with yourfamily?

Heidi (06:46):
right.
So there was this whole groupwatching the same thing

Jane (06:49):
exactly so that when you went to school the next day
there was a baselineconversation you could have
about the cosby show yeah, youknow that on friday everybody oh
my god, did you see it?
and we'd be acting out thescenes from it.
And I think that back to my funfact about how I was str at
least part of the storyline ofour unstructured playtime that

(07:28):
we'd have outside.
So one of the things I used tolove to watch in the afternoon,
when I came home from schoolfirst, after eating a very
unhealthy snack because my momwasn't home to tell me to not
eat it would be to watchCharlie's Angels, which was in
reruns at the time, and me andmy sister and my stepsisters
would argue over who was goingto embody who during the show.

(07:52):
And I always wanted to be Kelly, because I think Jacqueline
Smith is, hands down, one of themost beautiful human beings
that there's ever been.
But Charlie's Angels before that, cameron Diaz, drew Barrymore
reboot and Lucy Liu there werethese three women in the 70s who
were just like the badasses andthey had adventures and I'm
sure it would be really dated ifI went back and looked at it.

Heidi (08:14):
Got the bad guys

Jane (08:14):
they did and they worked together,
did it sexy.
They did it sexy
In their heels
In their heels, and sometimes they had guns.
They knew different martialarts moves.

Heidi (08:25):
Yeah

Jane (08:26):
they worked for some dude, though that they never saw,
which was always really weird,and he just talked to them
through this very weirdspeakerphone that just sat on
the desk and it was almost likecharlie was the speakerphone and
I had some very sexuallyambiguous dude named bosley who
hung out with them, but he neveractually did any of the wet
work that the Charlie's Angelswere doing.

(08:46):
But I would.
Then, after that show was over,I would go outside and with my
neighborhood friends, we wouldplay Charlie's.
Angels.
You know what I mean.
So it wasn't like today's kidswere.
I couldn't then afterwardsbinge watch every episode of
Charlie's Angels there ever was.
It was only a 4 pm situationand then it was over.

(09:08):
And then I turned the TV offand went outside and got into
all manner of trouble in thewoods or just being stupid, but
we would play Charlie's Angels.
So you did that too.
You would play VR, whatever youwere pretending to be.

Heidi (09:24):
Well, I think that's when I realized I was a storyteller
or should be a director orsomething, because I was like
directing the kids, like okay,you're gonna be this person,
you're gonna say this and yeah Ithink.
Yeah, some of my friends werelike we don't want to play with
her anymore

Etienne (09:40):
so bossy

Heidi (09:41):
so bossy

Etienne (09:44):
Did you guys do Charlie's Angels too, or what
would your

Heidi (09:48):
yeah, charlie's Angels, we would play that.
Play Justice League.
What was another one we'd play?

Jane (09:56):
We played the Smurfs.

Heidi (09:57):
Yeah, oh, the Smurfs.

Etienne (09:58):
You played the Smurfs.

Heidi (10:00):
Yeah, pretend like you're Smurfs.

Jane (10:03):
God, there was magic involved.

Etienne (10:05):
The Smurfs' little freaking tails coming out of
their white pants.

Heidi (10:09):
Some strawberry shortcake .

Etienne (10:11):
That was my favorite.
Maybe that's why Angus' littletail, my dog's little tail,
drives me crazy.
It looks like a little Smurftail.
I want to put a little Smurfpants on him.

Jane (10:21):
That's so cute, oh my gosh .
What were your favorites Etty?

Etienne (10:31):
Well, yeah, my favorites.
So, yeah, I really did love theincredible hulk, the music that
they had at the end of thatshow.
I wanted to cry every time,like every time.
I was so sad for him becausehe'd always make friends in
these new places and then he'dget found out by that guy that
was coming after him and he'dhave to leave, and that would
just.
I just loved the sadness of it,the fact that he turned into
the Hulk, always at a great time, the fact that he didn't turn

(10:55):
into Hulk when he needed to.
I think it was because he wastrying to save his son, but he
wasn't one of those women whocould, like, get the superpowers
and lift the car off of his sonor whatever, when the bad thing
happened.
Um, so, yeah, that was one ofmy favorites, but actually I
really liked ricardo montalbanin fantasy island I and I.

(11:15):
I found out how old he wasbecause he doesn't look young in
fantasy island and I'm so.
That came out in 1977, so so Iwas six years old when Fantasy
Island premiered.
Okay, Ricardo Montalban was 58.
And I was six years old and Iwas in love with a 58-year-old

(11:36):
man.
Like I just thought he was socool.
And I love that show because itwas always like you have these
fantasies.
Obviously you're coming to theisland.
You want your fantasy to beplayed out in whatever way it
happened to be, and 90, maybenot 90, but 80, 75% of the time
things were going to go bad forthese people.
Their fantasies would come trueand they would turn out to be

(11:58):
these horror shows.
No take it back.
I don't want it.
It's fine, I'll go back to mylife to where it was

Heidi (12:04):
Be careful what you wish for.

Etienne (12:06):
So I always kind of thought that Mr Rourke was the
devil in a way.
I don't know if he really was,but that's what he seemed like
to me, because all of thefantasies would turn against the
people.

Heidi (12:16):
But they'd learn something.

Etienne (12:17):
Yeah

Heidi (12:20):
they'd become better people when they leave.
Yeah, so

Jane (12:21):
yeah.
They appreciate their reallives at the ends,

Heidi (12:23):
yeah, yeah

Etienne (12:24):
there we go was that any of?
you guys into mr Rourke, or isthat the only six-year-old?

Heidi (12:30):
no, I had a crush on him too, for sure, uh-huh, yep, love
boat.
I think was like right beforefantasy.

Etienne (12:36):
Yeah, because love boat was yeah, before fantasy island
.
Yes,

Heidi (12:39):
yeah

Etienne (12:39):
I would watch love boat .

Heidi (12:41):
It was.
Love Boat, fantasy, island night.
I remember back to back and allthe guest stars.

Etienne (12:47):
Always the guest stars Fantastic.
Charo

Jane (12:49):
I thought Isaac was hot.

Etienne (12:50):
I thought it was Charo in Love Boat, y'all Like
seriously,

Jane (12:53):
I thought she was a character in Love Boat.
That's how often she was on it.

Etienne (12:56):
She was so good.
You're drinking?
out.
Wait, what did you say you?
thought she was awesome.
She was so full of energy LikeI wanted to be as much energy as
Charo

Heidi (13:06):
yeah I mean, she could not fly in
today's society, huh.

Jane (13:14):
Why not?
I'm having amnesia about whyshe wouldn't.
I feel like she was just,

Heidi (13:19):
she was just like

Etienne (13:20):
what just?
her boobs.

Heidi (13:23):
She was shaking her boobs everywhere and just like she
was more like just eye candy forthe men at home, I think.

Etienne (13:31):
I mean it kind of reminds like maybe a Sofia
Vergara, but, like you know,from the 70s so a little bit
more over the top.
Charo was a little bit moreover the top but still had, like
you know, her very thick accentthat we all could understand
unless she was trying,

Jane (13:49):
she'd go up to people and hip bump them a lot.
Oh, that's right, I forgot aboutthe hip bump and definitely be
like and she would shake them inpeople's faces

Heidi (14:00):
well, have you guys watched Three's Company?

Jane (14:02):
oh god,

Heidi (14:03):
it's so offensive now.
It's so offensive now.
That could not fly.

Etienne (14:09):
I have not seen it since the day, since back in the
day
it's so sexist and it's so bad.

Jane (14:17):
It's very homophobic, but every episode is the same plot
line, which is somebodymistakenly thinks that
somebody's boinking someone else, but they're not.
They were just helping them fixsomething that was wrong with a
button.
Or like they just accidentallyfell on the couch together
because Jack left a banana peelon the floor, like they're all
so stupid.

Heidi (14:38):
Stupid yeah, so stupid.
The writing's terrible.
Because I watched it, I don'tknow, like a few years back and
I'm like how did this ever getmade and how is this popular?
And who's watching this garbage?
Because it's garbage.
It really is Like there's noredeeming quality to that show
at all.
I like the guy who plays JackTripper.

(15:01):
I like him.

Etienne (15:02):
It was John Ritter wasn't it

Heidi (15:03):
John Ritter I like him as an actor, but oh my God, yeah,
that show is terrible.

Etienne (15:09):
I watched it.
I loved it, but I was little.
I don't know if I can becounted Like.
Why are you watching it?

Heidi (15:14):
Everybody loved it.
I loved it too, like I watch itnow and go oh my God.

Etienne (15:19):
I have to watch an episode Like seriously.

Heidi (15:21):
Yeah, you need to because the humor is terrible.
Yeah, it's bad.
It makes me question ourparents, their taste level.

Etienne (15:32):
Well, that sort of reminds me of WKRP in Cincinnati
.

Heidi (15:36):
Yeah

Etienne (15:37):
you know, it's kind of.
I mean maybe a little morehighbrow WKRP maybe, but not by
a lot, I don't know.
I don't know, but another show,another man that I was in love
with way too young was TomSelleck on Magnum PI and my
parents let me get one of thoseTom Selleck Magnum PI posters

(15:59):
and I put it on the ceilingabove my bed and my mom was
telling me that neighbors, youknow they could see it because
we were in a townhouse and I wason the upper floor so the
neighbors could walk by on thesidewalk and look up and see
from outside my Tom Selleckposter on the ceiling.
And they said stuff to myparents like why do you let her

(16:20):
put Tom Selleck on her ceiling?
I guess they thought I wasmasturbating.
I was way too young to bemasturbating.
At the time I did not yet knowhow to do that.
I mean, I knew of it but Ididn't know how to do it and I
just left his like I thought hewas so cool, going around
solving crimes, driving aroundin not his Ferrari but driving
around in somebody else'sFerrari and living the life.

(16:42):
Yeah, that was another favoriteshow, for sure.

Jane (16:47):
Now, I had a poster, too, of a man that I was in love with
, but that man was RobinWilliams.
I had a Mork and Mindy poster,but it was just Mork.
It was just my Mork from Orkposter, and I loved him and his
silly rainbow suspenders.
That character was so goofy andso off the rails.

Etienne (17:04):
But so innocent,

Heidi (17:06):
Innocent yeah.

Etienne (17:08):
There was not a bad bone in his body.

Heidi (17:11):
No, I wrote him a fan letter back then and they sent
me a autograph photo.
I don't know whatever happenedto it either.
I'm like a little sad I don'thave it still, but oh yeah, it
was that and like a littleletter back.
So oh, yeah,

Etienne (17:28):
so sweet

Heidi (17:30):
it was a prized possession for many years
oh my gosh, I'm surprised.
Yeah, I have no idea what happened to it

Etienne (17:35):
oh man

Jane (17:37):
I had a crush on him and I had a crush on pa from little
house in the prairie.
I thought michael landon hadjust like some of the best hair.
I mean robin williams had greathair too, but he had hair
coming out everywhere, like Iknow

Etienne (17:48):
he was so hairy man.

Jane (17:50):
He was so hairy, but but pa michael landon had a lot of
chest hair too.
That was like the look, right,you could always see it just
over his work shirt.
Just a little bit.
He also wore suspenders.
Oh my god, maybe he had a type

Etienne (18:00):
you ever think about men with suspenders and body
hair?

Jane (18:04):
and big, just big fluffy wavy hair was gorgeous.

Etienne (18:08):
Yes

Jane (18:09):
out of control.

Heidi (18:09):
He took off his shirt a lot believe it or not,

Jane (18:12):
michael Landon.

Heidi (18:13):
Yes.

Etienne (18:13):
Was it like to?
work on the farm or to chop wood.
I mean, I definitely watchedthe show.

Heidi (18:17):
I guess I don't know.
But yeah, I saw a TikTok orsomething where it was talking
about like there was a lot ofscenes with him shirtless and
they were like and he wasdefinitely doing it for the
ladies.

Jane (18:35):
that seems so gratuitous, but I mean.
So this is how in love I waswith Michael Landon.
Because, again, like after awhile, because when we were
little, that show was on butthen went into syndication,
right.
So it was not something youcould only watch if you were
home sick, right?
So I had a cold once that I didneed to stay at home, legit,
one day, but then by the end ofthe day I was feeling better.

(18:55):
And this was back when my momwould leave me.
As long as it wasn't anythingserious, she would still go to
work.
She would leave out a gallonjug of watered down fruit juice
and she would say, by the time Icome home, this needs to be
done, you need to flush this outof your system and you need to
rest and you need to drink this,okay.

(19:15):
And so I would just be sittingthere like watching reruns of
Love Boat and Fantasy Island andwatching the Price is Right,

Etienne (19:23):
oh, the Price is Right.

Jane (19:24):
But I was homesick that day.
And Little House on the Prairie.
I watched it.
It was a two-parter, so the nextday I was feeling better, but
still pretended.
I felt like garbage so that Icould see what happened.

Etienne (19:40):
Nice

Jane (19:41):
I was like Michael Landon's in trouble.
He needs me to stay home andwatch, and I don't even remember
what the episode was Actually.
Yes, I do, oh my gosh.
It was an episode where Laurathey had a young baby boy who
died as a baby and laura hadwished because she was the
youngest and that was beforethey adopted that jenny girl or
whatever that was.
That was so weird I can'tremember, but she had prayed

(20:03):
that she would still continue tobe the youngest and then her
younger brother dies and shefeels incredible guilt

Heidi (20:09):
yeah and she did it.

Jane (20:10):
She thinks she did it and she's like crying.
Anyway, it was very emotional,very special little house on the
prairie, and so I needed to seepart two.
I had never seen that onebefore.
And lo and behold, the next day, when my mom was like, how are
you feeling?
I was like not good, not good,I still feel.
Oh, it's so scratchy, you know.
And so I faked it and I got tosee what happened.

Etienne (20:32):
Yeah, it's so funny.
Back in the day you couldliterally be a fan of a show and
there might be an episode younever saw.
Just because, if it wasn't onreruns, if you didn't see it
when it was originally on, youwere screwed, and I think a tiny
little Little House on thePrairie.
Fun fact though too is, I think, one of jason bateman's first
acting credits was on littlehouse on the prairie.

Heidi (20:54):
Yes, yes,

Etienne (20:55):
he's talked about it before.
Yeah, and I really like jasonbateman me too.

Heidi (20:58):
I've had a crush on him.
I used to get what was that?
Teen bop or

Etienne (21:04):
teen beat?
Oh yeah,

Heidi (21:06):
yeah, if he was in there I would get it and get the
poster out.
Him, john Cusack.
Who else?
Oh, rick Springfield.

Etienne (21:15):
Oh, rick Springfield,

Heidi (21:16):
His posters and my

Etienne (21:17):
you know what?
One of my first concerts I everwent to is Rick Springfield

Heidi (21:21):
really

Etienne (21:22):
And it kind of ruined it for me when I found out he
was pretty much the same age asmy mother.
It was only a couple of yearsdifference.
And I was like wait, what thatwas when I started realizing why

(21:43):
am I liking people who are somuch older than me?
like this is wrong

Heidi (21:45):
I used to practice kissing on the poster.
Oh, I made out a lot with rickspringfields.

Etienne (21:47):
You didn't like ruin your poster, making it wet or
anything.
No tongue, just lips,

Heidi (21:52):
no tongue.
Yeah,
I did that with my Scott Baioposter, but I would practice on
my lips.
Sorry, not on my own lips, duh,I would make little fake lips
out of my fingers, but I wouldbe looking at Scott Baio while I
did it From my Dynamitemagazine.

Etienne (22:12):
Oh, dynamite,

Heidi (22:13):
dynamite

Etienne (22:14):
Oh, my God, yeah.
And then like later on, in whathigh school?
It was 21 Jump Street for me,so it was Johnny Depp.
Oh, my God.
Oh my God, he was so he'sgetting older and he's a little
rugged now from all the drugsand drinking, but he was just
he's still,But he was just so beautiful, so

(22:34):
beautiful.
Oh my God, and I thought I wasway too young for him, which I
was in high school.
But then he got together withWinona Ryder, who's actually a
little bit younger than I am.
So I'm like, why not me?
That was the one thing I wasreally hoping when I moved to
Los Angeles after high school.
The one person I wanted to meetwas Johnny Depp, and I hung out
a lot at the Viper Room whenthat became a thing, but never

(22:57):
once did I ever see in person ormeet Johnny Depp, so oh well.

Heidi (23:01):
Hmm,

Etienne (23:03):
yeah

Jane (23:03):
he was.

Heidi (23:03):
What else was in the 90s?
I guess I wasn't watching awhole lot of television in the
90s,

Jane (23:07):
no Same.

Etienne (23:07):
No, not in the 90s.

Heidi (23:13):
I was out all the time.

Etienne (23:15):
Yeah, that was the thing.
My ex-boyfriend, who's over adecade younger than me, he'll
talk about shows in the 90s.
I'll go.
I just don't know what you'retalking about.
I was out almost as many nightsas I could be out.

Heidi (23:32):
I remember watching Ren and Stimpy.

Jane (23:34):
Oh my gosh.

Heidi (23:35):
After work I would watch and just laugh my ass off at
that show.
But that was basically it, likeI wasn't watching television

Jane (23:44):
and that was a late night show.
So I think that, yeah, the showsI watched in the 90s were also
late night  Like I already wentout and then I came home and now
I'm watching something to justkind of veg out before bed.
But that's also the earlynineties.
I was in college, I had toomuch work to do.

(24:15):
Iwas either partying or studying
and there was really verylittle room.
Like even I didn't even go outto movies.
People talk about movies fromthe nineties and I'm like, I
think you're making that movieup.
I was like, I've never heard ofthis movie, and it's because I
wasn't watching enough TV to seeit advertised.
Norwas I actually then going to
the movies.
I would go through briefperiods of seeing some movies at
that time if I was datingsomebody and they suggested
let's go to a movie.
But even that, like most of thepeople I dated at that time
nobody was we were still goingout to do stuff that wasn't

(24:36):
involved in passive watching ofanything.
But I definitely stillchildhood.
It was different.
You had like your appointmenttv.
When people don't haveappointment TV anymore, saturday
morning cartoons were atradition.
I literally made sure that Igot up early enough to see the
snorks come on before the Smurfs.

(24:57):
I just needed to.
I was obsessed with the Smurfs,you guys, I really was.
I just thought they were reallycool.

Etienne (25:03):
No, I did too.
I was on board with Smurfs.
I really loved the Smurfs, Imean they might have been

(25:28):
actually.
Yeah, I'm a little teensy bitolder than you are, but my
brother, who was basically sixyears younger than me, he
watched Saturday morningcartoons for a lot longer than I
did.
But that's why I joined in too.
'cause I did enjoy them still.
Like I really loved Smurfs.
They're just so cute.
How can you not love them?

Jane (25:36):
 And their little song and actually, to be honest with
you, I was watching them pastwhen I probably.
It was prime time for Saturdaymorning cartoons.
Now that I'm thinking about it.
'cause when I was really littlewatching Saturday morning
cartoons, it was like LooneyTunes.
They were rerunning stuff.
It was like Daffy Duck.
It was stuff that now you goback and did not age well.

Heidi (25:49):
None of this stuff
but some of this stuff wasbeing rerun from things that
they would play beforefull-length feature films in the
40s, right?
So we're watching Bugs Bunnycartoons that have World War II
references in them.
Do you guys remember this?
Oh yeah

Jane (26:04):
bugs Bunny was pretending to dress up.

Etienne (26:06):
Was there a lot of German soldier issues or things
happening with German soldiersin Bugs Bunny?

Jane (26:10):
Yes, and he was always dressing in drag and pretending
to be Mata Hari, but he wouldsay he was Hatamari.
But Mata Hari was an actual spyduring World War II, and I
didn't know any of these jokesuntil I was older.
Or if I watched it with mygrandfather, he would actually,
after the cartoon was over,explain to me what all the

(26:32):
references were and why he waslaughing.
Yeah, and that's how I actuallyfirst realized that Bugs Bunny
was racist.
I was like what is happening?
Because he was like, oh, whenhe said that he's making fun of
Japanese people, and I went wait, why would we be doing that?
And then he explained to methings, because I'm seven, I

(26:53):
don't understand what'shappening.
And so my husband and I wereactually laughing about this a
couple of weeks ago and I waslike, oh, Bugs Bunny was so
racist and my husband doesn'thave a memory for minutiae like
I do.
I mean, these are not importantthings that I'm remembering,
you know.
But so he's got more importantstuff in his head, but I'm
sitting here recounting all ofthe ways Bugs Bunny is racist

(27:14):
and he goes.
I don't remember that.
I'm like let me show you.
All you have to do is go toYouTube and just type in Bugs
Bunny being racist and it has alittle disclaimer that comes up
saying we have preserved thisfootage as an example of the
insensitivities at the time.
You know what I mean and it'sreally an education just how and

(27:34):
it was brutal.
I mean racist against everybody.
But yet bugs bunny himself waslike probably some kind of I
don't know.
He was some kind ofcrossdresser at the very least.
So he should have been a littlebit more sensitive.

Heidi (27:49):
Yeah exactly.

Etienne (27:50):
Bugs Bunny was a transvestite, so he should have
more openness.

Heidi (27:55):
Yes

Jane (27:55):
exactly, but he did not.

Heidi (27:58):
He was closeted.

Jane (28:00):
Maybe that's why he was just so mean to everybody else.
My husband also just hates BugsBunny because he's such an
instigator and I remembered himas being really funny and then
now I just look at him and I'mlike no, he's actually
instigating racists.
It's so bad.

Etienne (28:13):
Why did you get?
mad about freaking Roadrunnerand Wile E Coyote.
I felt so bad for Wile E Coyote.
Why did he have to get so beatup all the time?
Like well, first of all, Ishould have died in every
episode.
There was just no way in reallife that he would have lived.
But yeah, that just seemedwrong.
I could not root for roadrunner,sorry

Heidi (28:33):
here's a fun fact I did not know roadrunners were real
until I moved to new mexico
what'd You do when you saw

Etienne (28:42):
they're tiny they're really, really small, aren't
they?

Heidi (28:45):
They're small, they're, I don't know, chihuahua size, and
they run so fast and they willrace you.
It's so adorable

Jane (28:52):
wait, they will do what they'll race you.
Oh, that's not what I thoughtyou said.

Etienne (28:57):
Sorry, oh no, what did you think?
I said, yeah, I'm trying tothink now.
What did you think?
What did you think?
She said

Heidi (29:05):
they race you,

Jane (29:06):
rape you, and I'm like what?

Etienne (29:08):
no, that's dolphins

Heidi (29:19):
they're running next to your car, like it's kind of
adorable.
Yeah, not, not, not, yeah, no

Jane (29:30):
they'll race you like they could beat you.
You should carry an anvil inyour car and, just as revenge,
just drop it out, just be likefuck you roadrunner.
You, just finally, you shouldget yours

Heidi (29:47):
but I didn't know that they were a real bird until I
got there.
And so yeah, that was 20,19-year-old me going what?

Etienne (29:58):
They're a bird, but they can't fly right, or can
they fly?

Heidi (30:01):
Yeah, I think they fly, yeah, okay, but then they also
run,

Etienne (30:05):
so just, penguins.
Penguins can't fly.
I don't know how we got on this.

Heidi (30:12):
Maybe I don't know.

Jane (30:14):
I'm looking it up.

Heidi (30:14):
Are we just pulling stuff out of our butt now,

Jane (30:17):
roadrunners can fly.

Etienne (30:19):
Wait, roadrunners can fly.

Jane (30:20):
They can fly, though they are primarily known for their
impressive running speed.

Etienne (30:26):
Wait, what's the fastest?
Is it the fastest it can go.

Jane (30:29):
I should look that up also .
Let me see if this will tell mehow fast it can go.
I don't know, but on the show,so fast, right, that just leaves
skid marks in the dust, A puffof smoke yeah,

Etienne (30:45):
so fast, you can't see them.

Heidi (30:46):
So, speaking of 80s television shows again, were you
guys made to watch all thosesoap operas, those nightly soap
operas?

Etienne (30:54):
Sometimes, yeah, with other friends and older friends
of the family

Jane (30:58):
Like Dynasty.

Heidi (30:59):
Yeah, Dynasty Knotts Landing.
Oh yeah, no, no, no, no, I'mtalking nighttime ones, oh
nighttime.

Etienne (31:04):
Yeah, Dynasty yeah.
Dynasty, yes

Heidi (31:06):
, dynasty.
Knotts, landing Dallas,

Etienne (31:09):
dallas, yes,

Heidi (31:10):
Knots.
Landing was like our favoriteKnots Landing.

Etienne (31:12):
I didn't have to, but yeah, Like who Shot JR, you know
like ending on that.
That was a huge thing.
Yeah, everybody couldn't wait tofind out.
I can't even remember now.
Wasn't it his brother?
I don't know.

Jane (31:37):
I should know this, because my dad and my stepmom
just got done watching Dallas,because they never actually
watched it back then, and theyhad managed to not have.
Who Shot JR spoiled for themfor the past whatever 40 years.
It was so funny I didn't know,because I was like, oh, who Shot
JR?
And my dad was like, no, no, no, no, don't tell me.
And I was like dude, it's beendecades, it's been

Etienne (31:48):
30, 40 years.

Jane (31:50):
Also, I don't know.
And if I did know at one point,I don't care, it has fallen out
of my brain.

Etienne (31:56):
I'm going to type it in who shot JR?

Jane (31:58):
I was so upset that I was going to spoil it, for him.

Heidi (32:02):
I thought it was his like an ex-girlfriend or something
like that.
It was a younger girl.

Etienne (32:07):
No way it says it was Kristen Shepard, played by Mary
Crosby, jr Scheming'ssister-in-law and former
mistress Seanan.

Heidi (32:16):
Yes, yes, I knew it.

Jane (32:18):
Spoiler alert.

Heidi (32:18):
I knew it was a young girl.

Etienne (32:21):
Spoiler alert.
Yeah, hopefully Everybodywaiting to watch Dallas.
Sorry about that, jesus, I thinkit's on.

Jane (32:29):
Netflix now Also.
Roadrunners can go 26 miles perhour.

Etienne (32:32):
Wow

Heidi (32:33):
See, that's pretty fast.
If you're in a school zone,

Etienne (32:36):
that's really fast.

Heidi (32:38):
If you're in the school zone, they're passing you.

Etienne (32:41):
They need to get a ticket.

Heidi (32:48):
Running over school kids.

Etienne (32:54):
Like Mom, you got run over by a road runner.
Stop making up stories, kid

Jane (32:59):
yes, on today's very special after school

Heidi (33:03):
oh gosh the after school specials

Etienne (33:06):
yeah, I did love those after school specials.

Heidi (33:09):
Yes,

Jane (33:09):
was it just me?
Or they always were about don'tdrink, don't do drugs don't get
pregnant Because they wereworried.
They were like they're homealone.
We should probably do.

Etienne (33:19):
Yeah, we got to dig in man, we got to stop stuff from
happening.

Jane (33:23):
It's like such half-assed parenting is after school
specials.

Heidi (33:25):
Don't be prostitutes.
Don't be drug dealers, don't beprostitutes.

Etienne (33:31):
was prostitution one of them?
I don't remember that.

Jane (33:37):
I feel like there was one about I don't know if it was
overtly about prostitution.

Heidi (33:39):
Well, it was about runaways, yes,

Etienne (33:39):
runaways

Heidi (33:39):
, it's going to lead to prostitution.

Etienne (33:41):
Yeah, that's what's going to happen, you run away.
You're going to have to become aprostitute, and then you're
going to get into drugs.
You're going to get pregnant.
Your life is just over Over.

Jane (33:51):
This is why they had to remind our parents at 10 o'clock
like hey, do you know whereyour children are?

Heidi (33:56):
Yeah, they were not paying attention.

Jane (33:59):
They're down in the basement watching Fantasy Island
and jerking off with Magnumbehind closed doors.

Etienne (34:04):
Or, you know, in the box of porn, in my dad's box of
porn, in the basement.

Jane (34:11):
Oh my gosh,

Etienne (34:12):
what a wild childhood.

Jane (34:14):
Yeah, we didn't have cable .

Etienne (34:15):
Oh cable,

Jane (34:16):
we did not have cable.

Etienne (34:16):
Yeah, I mean back in the day when you only had like
five channels and you had to sitthere with the rabbit ears
trying to get it just right soyou could actually see something
.
Yeah, or the foil Remember thefoil on the rabbit ears?

Heidi (34:29):
Oh my yeah, or the foil.
it helped it come in better.

Etienne (34:35):
I know, I know why it was there.

Jane (34:37):
It's so weird, like you tell a kid that now and they're
like what are you talking about?
Or the fact that you had tophysically get up and turn a
knob.
So we recently and this is how Iknow that I'm getting old.

(35:06):
But I had a couple of older TVs.
My husband had one and I hadone that we each had separately
as single people that we thenbrought into the relationship
together, and I had a built-inVCR and it's from the 90s but it
lasted for a very long time.
Like my daughter unlike herpeers my daughter's going to be
18 soon knows how to take a VHStape.
We would get them from thelibrary and I had a couple that
I still was holding onto.
She knew how to put a VHS tapeinto the thing and press play,

(35:29):
because I'd let her do thatwhile I was taking a shower when
she was little.
So she just thought that thatwas normal.
And at her other friend's housethere was a TV that they'd have
like no, no buttons on them.
You know what I mean.
We didn't have anything fancylike that.
So we recently got a TV andthere was just not a button on
that thing anywhere, and it'sthe first TV I've ever owned

(35:51):
that didn't have a physicalpower button on it, and I was

Etienne (35:54):
sure it doesn't have one on the bottom, because some
of them are hidden likeunderneath, in case you lose
your remote and you can still dostuff

Jane (36:02):
that is how out of touch I am with this.
Maybe it does, maybe I didn'tlook, go to

Etienne (36:06):
the feel on the bottom like on the outer edges on the
bottom.
Yeah.

Jane (36:11):
Okay, that's good to know.

Etienne (36:13):
Yeah, because you might lose your remote, then you're
screwed.
Then what do you do with that?

Heidi (36:16):
Yeah, yeah,

Jane (36:19):
but I still have a very uncomplicated remote and this
very, very basic flat screen TV.
That still confused me becauseit didn't have a button on it
and I was like, oh my gosh, Ican use other complex technology
Like I'm very experienced rightnow with like large language
models and other stuff but theTV I was just like don't, please
, don't give me one.
That's not simple.
I just that would be, and it'snot like I'm a huge TV head

(36:43):
these days, but I do enjoy it aslike some downtime or that type
of thing.
But I feel there aren't enoughof some of these 70s and 80s
shows available and I'm justwondering if it's because they
just don't hold up and we haveit in our heads is like this
lovely nostalgic thing.
But if I went back and watchedan episode of Charlie's Angels

(37:05):
or Little House on the Prairie,that I would be like, oh my gosh
, this is awful.

Etienne (37:09):
Well, like when Heidi brought up Norman Lear and All
in the Family like the oh gosh,what was his name?
The main character.

Heidi (37:17):
Archie Bunker.

Etienne (37:18):
Yeah, I mean, he was so racist and so misogynistic,
like I mean, he's just all thebadness.
And like my dad looked up tohim, he thought he was great,

Jane (37:30):
but he was supposed to be, someone we were supposed to
make fun of, I mean that thewhole thing was like such a
teachable moment when thejeffersons moved in and then he
actually called him out for hisracism.
That show was so ahead of itstime.

Heidi (37:43):
It was so ahead.

Jane (37:44):
That show holds up because I have seen that since then.
When I was teaching high schoolin New York I taught a
television analysis andproduction course and my
classroom actually had a TVstudio in it and we were able to
make short little films andstuff.
But then we would do studies ofTV shows.
That was one that I put on thecurriculum as groundbreaking so

(38:08):
I'd seen it when I was a kid andthen saw it again with those
students.
So when I was teaching thatclass it was between 1999 and
2003, which now sounds likeforever ago, but it held up then
.
So I haven't seen it inprobably 20 years.
But even the kids at that timesaid oh gosh, because they did a
show about gun control, theydid a show about abortion.

(38:29):
It was really ahead of its time.
And then I think Norman Learalso, heidi you would know, was
Maude also a Norman Lear show.

Heidi (38:37):
Yes, maude,

Jane (38:38):
I loved that show.

Heidi (38:38):
She talked about abortion .
Yeah, yeah, sanford and

Etienne (38:43):
Oh Sanford and Sons.

Heidi (38:45):
Yeah, One Day at a Time Jefferson's Like just.

Etienne (38:49):
Such good yeah, such good shows.

Jane (38:52):
Oh my gosh iconic theme songs.

Etienne (38:53):
I'm not sure about Archie Bunker being a bad guy,
mostly because my dad was likehe's great, he wasn't getting
the lesson in the episode, sothey weren't being passed on to
me.
I was just like this guy.
Oh god, and what was the onewith uh, what's her name?

(39:14):
With flow at the diner.
Kiss my grits, so what?
was that

Heidi (39:16):
mel's diner,

Etienne (39:16):
mel's diner, yeah or

Heidi (39:17):
alice.

Etienne (39:17):
Oh alice,

Heidi (39:18):
no, it was called alice.
Yeah, because they worked atmel's diner

Etienne (39:21):
wasn't that a spinoff of the?
there was a movie.
Wasn't there a movie first, andthen they turned it into a TV
show, I think.

Heidi (39:28):
Yeah, I think so

Etienne (39:28):
Alice Doesn't Live here Anymore, or something, I don't
know.

Heidi (39:30):
Something

Etienne (39:31):
I might be way wrong.

Heidi (39:31):
Yeah, something like that .

Etienne (39:33):
That was another favorite,
but yeah.
Flo, Eat my Grits.
Kiss my Grits

Heidi (39:38):
oh

Jane (39:38):
My yeah.
Kiss my Grits,

Heidi (39:55):
that's right, oh my gosh.
And dukes of hazard, oh my goshat all,

Jane (40:00):
no

Heidi (40:00):
and but loved those duke brothers

Etienne (40:01):
and the a-team.

Heidi (40:02):
A-team, yeah, yep,

Jane (40:03):
um, yes, I did.
At first I was like what?
I'm like oh, my God they're inthe van and Mr T and just like
rando, that very, very strange.
I wasn't a fan of it.

Etienne (40:14):
They were mercenaries, right, weren't they mercenaries,

Heidi (40:16):
something?
like that

Etienne (40:18):
they were ex-special forces.
They'd be, called in when nobodyelse could help right.
Wasn't that the whole?
Oh and like Knight Rider and theEqualizer.
I loved the Equalizer when Iwas growing up.
I thought that was so cool and,yeah, I totally glossed over
Knight Rider but I watchedKnight Rider too.
Whatever TV I was allowed towatch, I watched.

(40:39):
Like if my parents were sittingdown to watch a television show
and they would let me stay andwatch, I would stay and watch.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure loveboatfantasy island was a saturday
night thing, because I thinkthat was the night I got to stay
up a little bit later so Icould watch all the fantasy
island

Jane (40:57):
the golden girls is

Etienne (40:58):
oh, golden girl.

Heidi (41:00):
Yeah,

Jane (41:00):
I love the golden girls.
I still do.
That's actually what I call mymacaroni and cheese TV, like if
I don't feel good, you know,that's what I want.
I want I just want to see thosethree women, just you know well
, four women really.
Sophia counts just hanging outand being silly and just being

(41:21):
sarcastic with each other, and Ifeel like that show for me
holds up, and so does I recently, over the past couple of years,
was watching episodes of cheerswith my daughter and that show
still holds up, it is still.
She thinks it's hilarious.
And then when she realized thatsam was played by the same
actor from the good place iswhat she knows ted dancing from,

(41:44):
and she's like she's looking,she goes, he looks so familiar.
I'm like, oh, that's becausehe's the guy from the good place
, She didn't say anything forlike a minute.
She was just stunned becauseshe could see it all.
I mean, the man is still veryhandsome and has like a solid
jawline, but he plays such adifferent character and she

Heidi (42:02):
has the white hair

Etienne (42:03):
and young woody harelson
Oh my god

Heidi (42:06):
yeah

Jane (42:07):
yeah, with lots of hair.
What a dumb, what a dumbcharacter he's playing.

Heidi (42:11):
Oh, yeah

Etienne (42:13):
but he was so sweet but like innocent sort of like

Heidi (42:16):
he's like the original himbo

Etienne (42:19):
yeah,

Jane (42:21):
educate me

Etienne (42:21):
himbo himbo instead of a bimbo.

Jane (42:24):
Oh my gosh.
I have never heard that term.

Etienne (42:26):
You've never heard himbo.

Jane (42:29):
I've met some

Heidi (42:30):
Male bimbos,

Jane (42:32):
oh wow.

Etienne (42:36):
I'm thinking back on Ted Danson.
He just seemed really tall andbeautiful hair, just sexy.
imagine him just leaning overa bar talking to you with his
voice, like that?
Okay, whatever you want Workedfor me.

Jane (42:56):
Well, and I think, like the relationship mores right
that you see portrayed in thoseshows don't hold up.

Etienne (43:03):
The relationship.

Jane (43:04):
Yeah, there was a lot of the courtship games being played
on some of those shows backthen.
Oh, like Moonlighting.
Moonlighting was anotherfavorite show

Heidi (43:12):
Moonlighting.
yes,

Etienne (43:13):
oh my.
God and Bruce Willis and SybilShepherd with their like.
Will they get together?

Heidi (43:18):
Will they or won't they?
Which is the?
same thing from Cheers the twoof them.
And then later on with KirstieAlley when Shelley Long left.
But yeah, I loved Moonlighting.
I thought Bruce Willis was socool.
I love how he just like ruffledher feathers all the time.

Jane (43:38):
I never watched that show, but I know the premise of it.

Etienne (43:40):
I think it's yeah, it was definitely.
You can find it somewhere.
I was going to start watchingit again I don't know if it was
Hulu or something like that thatit would hit moonlightings on.

Heidi (43:49):
Weren't they like PIs or something?

Etienne (43:51):
Yeah, she had a detective agency.
But I think the deal was shewasn't getting business because
she was a woman Was, I think,the premise of why she hired him
to come in and be the face ofher detective agency, so that
she would actually get some morebusiness.
So he didn't really know whatthe hell he was doing, I think
in the beginning, but keptpretending he did and she just
got pissed.
And she became attracted to him, which I think made her also

(44:15):
angry, and like just so muchanger,

Heidi (44:19):
she's like damn it.
Why do you have to be so sexy?

Etienne (44:23):
Oh, and.
Designing Women.
Designing Women was a greatshow.

Heidi (44:27):
yeah, they were woke before yeah

Etienne (44:30):
yeah

Heidi (44:32):
I've seen all kinds of clips of zingers and stuff that
they had said back then.
That is still relevant today.
It's like man that was 40 yearsago.

Jane (44:44):
Oh my gosh, was it really that long ago?
It?
was the 80s, right?

Etienne (44:48):
Yeah, it was definitely the 80s.
I think late 80s, early 90s fordesigning women maybe.

Heidi (44:54):
So almost 40 years.

Etienne (44:56):
Yeah, I'm going to look it up real quick.

Jane (44:59):
We're getting old.

Etienne (45:01):
I'm technically related to Jean Smart who's on that
show.

Jane (45:04):
Really.

Etienne (45:04):
She's on Hacks.
She's been winning emmys likecrazy, and golden globes I
believe, yeah, she's my mother'scousin.
So yeah, 1986 designing womencame out

Jane (45:14):
wow, okay,

Heidi (45:15):
so next show will be four years.

Jane (45:18):
I think it's interesting to then go back and see okay,
what holds up, what doesn't, andwhy and what are?
What's the venn diagram of?
Okay, these are the things thatthey were talking about, or the
themes that they touched on,that are just universal and can
transcend and you can watch itand it still holds up.
And I was thinking about that, Iguess, with cheer, specifically

(45:40):
because I could watch somethingand the nostalgia factor will
make me forgive the cheese.
But that's not going to make mydaughter forgive the cheese,
right?
So she was watching it and justsaying that the acting was just
so great, the writing was sogreat, the quick-witted repartee
going back and forth, the slowburn of Sam and Diane all of
those things are still goodingredients for good

(46:02):
storytelling, no matter whatdecade that we're looking at,
and so I think that that's whyit holds up.
And if you don't have just goodcharacter actors, nobody wants
it.
You're gonna go back and youlook at it and you're like, okay
, that's doofy, you know, butbut I think that's why norman
lear stuff holds up, becauseit's it was still around

(46:25):
families and relationships.
But the acting was so great andthe writing was really good and
you could have like this againwitty repartee, you know, among
the different characters.
But then every once in a whilethey'd have an issue that was
still relatable now, where youcould do that episode now, but
just with different outfits, andeverybody would still be like,

(46:46):
okay, this is happening now.

Heidi (46:49):
Yeah, it's like, it's like Twilight Zone.
So many of those episodestotally hold up and still have a
moral to teach and are justgreat.

Etienne (47:00):
I always think about the one with the guy who wanted
everybody in the world to justbe quiet and go away so he could
read and then he breaks hisglasses his reading glasses and
yeah, that's like the episodethat always pops in my head
every time somebody talks aboutthe Twilight Zone.

Heidi (47:14):
Yeah, time Enough, at Last.

Etienne (47:17):
Oh, wow,

Heidi (47:17):
that's the title of it Time Enough.
at Last it

Etienne (47:21):
pulls out the title.

Heidi (47:24):
Oh, I used to have the Twilight Zone companion book.
I was obsessed when I was a kid.

Etienne (47:30):
So wait, what's your favorite Twilight Zone episode
then?

Heidi (47:37):
I think it's called Nightcaller.
It's where this lady keepsgetting phone calls

Etienne (47:43):
oh, you're giving me chills.

Heidi (47:44):
She thinks they're prank phone calls.
and eventually they discoverduring the storm the line went
into her husband's grave and itwas her husband trying to reach
out from the grave.
So when she figures out it'sher husband, she goes home and
she's like Norman, Norman, areyou there?

(48:04):
And he was like you told me togo away.
And then goes away and she'slike no, come back.
It's so tragic,

Etienne (48:12):
oh god.

Heidi (48:12):
I just remember breaking my little seven-year-old heart
or whatever, because she missedhim so much and she had no idea
it was him.

Etienne (48:23):
That's good.

Jane (48:25):
Yeah, I want to see that now.
See, yeah, good stories, justtell good stories.

Heidi (48:31):
And then the one with Agnes Moorhead, who played the
mother in Bewitched.

Jane (48:38):
Oh my God, I knew that.

Etienne (48:42):
You knew.
That Is that what you?
said Jane, Was she also in theGhost in Mrs Mirror?
I could pull out some oldtitles for you guys.

Heidi (48:50):
So this was called the Visitors, I think, or something
like that.
But the whole thing is thiswoman's being terrorized by it.
Looks like Martians.
Well, at the end you find outthe Martians are astronauts.

Etienne (49:05):
Really.

Heidi (49:06):
So they're US astronauts, they've landed on this planet
of giants and so we've beenwatching this whole thing the
whole time, thinking she's thehuman but she's actually the
alien.
So it's just kind of a coolflip on perspective, you know,
because it kind of makes youthink, oh, I was feeling for her
because she's being attacked bywhat we think are like little

(49:31):
martians and it's like, oh,we're the martians, oh, so she's
the alien, okay, yeah, it'skind of a cool flip plot twist,
I should say so yeah that'sanother one of my favorites, and
it's it's nearly completelysilent.
It's all silent

Etienne (49:51):
oh, wow

Heidi (49:51):
just yeah, she's having to do some great acting because
there's like no dialogue.
So I highly recommend it's agreat episode

Etienne (50:03):
I, I'm pretty sure my ex-boss.

Jane (50:04):
Kudos on your avant-garde sensibilities as a kid there,
Heidi.

Etienne (50:08):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Twilight Zone was my ex-boss's,
my boss from Los Angeles, who isstill my friend.
I think that was one of hisfavorite shows.
Too was Twilight Zone Prettysure.

Heidi (50:22):
My sister found my old companion book and it was just
like tattered and just curled upbecause I'd written in it and
highlighted stuff, because Ievery time I would watch one,
I'd like cross it out becausethere was, like I think, 100,
more than 100 episodes totalover like five or six seasons.
So, yeah, it took a whilebecause they just show once,

(50:46):
right, yeah, like syndication.
They were just.
If you didn't catch it on asaturday night you'd have to
wait till it went into rotationagain.
So it took me a few years to getthat book

Etienne (50:57):
do you have dvds of the twilight zone or like own it?

Heidi (51:00):
yes, I have dvds, I have blu-rays, and then they're
available for streaming too now.
But yeah, I've got a physicalcopy.

Jane (51:10):
That is commitment.

Etienne (51:12):
You'll have to bring them with you next time.
Well, obviously you'll havethem with you if we come to see
you or if you come to see usbring them with you.
We can watch the episode thatyou were talking about That'd be
so cool.

Heidi (51:22):
Yes, oh yeah, I will totally share that with you.

Etienne (51:28):
You know, when you have the other perspective in the
room, it actually makes you lookat it differently.
Have you noticed that, jane?

Jane (51:34):
Oh, yeah,

Etienne (51:34):
yeah, I almost cringe a little bit when I'm watching it
with somebody who I know likethey might not take it the same
way that I would because I wasthere at, but then you
automatically are like ooh, ouch, ew, ew, please don't say that.
I know it's about to happen.

Jane (51:49):
Yes, we had a similar visceral reaction recently, when
you're thinking if something'sgoing to hold up years later,
where we watched Airplane withher Still hilarious, still
hilarious.
But there are some jokes thatdon't hold up as well, and so we

(52:11):
actually had to kind of say,listen, it was the 80s, people
didn't care, people werepolitically correct.
What brendan and I both forgotabout was like the just
gratuitous nudity that wouldhappen in 80s movies like for no
reason,

Etienne (52:28):
like a lot of boobs for no reason

Jane (52:29):
just random just titties on the screen just jump.
But and it was the woman wasjumping around like so they're
just like bouncing and they takeup the entire screen.
Okay, my husband and I arehysterical and our daughter is
horrified and that is.

(52:51):
It was just such an epitome oflike Gen X and Gen Z responding
completely differently to thesame stimulus.
It was really funny to us, Likewe had to try to.
She's looking at us like you'reterrible people and she was
like she.
Just all she could say was why?

(53:12):
Over and over again

Etienne (53:13):
why is she naked?
why?
Yes why is she jumping around?

Jane (53:21):
yes, exactly

Heidi (53:24):
is happening?
This isn't normal.

Jane (53:27):
And it's not, and there were just so many and it just
reminded us of every moment,from like Porky's and Revenge of
the Nerds, and just like all ofthese

Heidi (53:35):
Benny Hill,

Jane (53:37):
oh Lord.

Etienne (53:37):
I assume, yes.

Heidi (53:39):
Yes, yes All of those comedies had the gratuitous boob
shots.
Bachelor Party Night Shift yeah.
osom Buddies
yeah so many gratuitous boobs.

Etienne (53:55):
Yeah

Jane (53:57):
Boobs are great.
So I didn't really, and maybethat makes me, whatever I'm less
woke.
I thought it was funny too,because it was so random and we
were awesome.
Maybe like a little bituncomfortable.

Etienne (54:10):
Yes, you had to laugh.
You're like dude.
I'm going to laugh because thisis so embarrassing for us.

Heidi (54:14):
Yeah.

Jane (54:16):
To be honest, I wasn't embarrassed at all.
I really did think it was funny.
And then, I think, the fact thatmy daughter was mortified to
find, made it funnier to me.
Does that make me terrible?

Etienne (54:36):
No, I think that.
No, I would probably laughharder.

Heidi (54:38):
Yeah, why, why, why

Jane (54:38):
, yeah.
And so we?
We actually paused it becausewe know, on the boobs.
Did you pause on the boobs?
No, you know what?
I should ask brendan, becausehe was in charge of the remote.
It might have been paused withit.
Uh, you know who will rememberis my daughter will remember.
She's probably scarred.
The boobs were just there.
Oh my gosh, I feel like therewas a period of my stepbrother's

(54:59):
life where I walked in on him alot with, like, boobs just
paused at the VCR.

Heidi (55:05):
Yeah

Jane (55:06):
A lot of boobs, but anyway ,

Etienne (55:08):
oh, my God.
Well, I mean there's a few.

Heidi (55:09):
Yeah, that was his porn.

Etienne (55:10):
I'm sure you guys have probably been to France Topless
Beach.
I've been to Cannes.
I walked around with my top offon the beach there because
every other woman was.
I would have looked weird if Iwas wearing a top.
You know, we're just a littlebit more, or at least we were a
little bit more reserved Americathan the other countries, you
know.
Or Germany.
Also, I went to a nude beachthere, took all my clothes off,
you know.

(55:30):
But yeah, we're just, at leastwe were more prudish than other
places.
I always thought Europeans wereway more, you know, okay, with
the nudity versus.
Well, like, doesn't Englandused to have the newspaper, the
daily newspaper, with there wasa girl on the back with boobs
out?
Yes, yeah

Jane (55:52):
bring it back, bring gratuitous boobs

Etienne (55:54):
boobs, not saying I should I just like

Jane (56:00):
no, I'm

Etienne (56:00):
different time

Jane (56:02):
different it was a different time but it was fun
and I'm glad that in my latchkeydays I had charlie's angels and
little house in the prairie andsome other things to keep me
company and they are alwaysgoing to have a soft spot in my
heart, and the ones that youcould watch today and not cringe
are the ones with the goodstorytelling yes so revisit

(56:24):
those.

Heidi (56:24):
Yeah, and that's our show you've been listening to the
women are plotting.
If you have a story you'd liketo share or have any comments,
we'd love to hear from you.
Email us at info@ the women areplotting.
com, and, of course, you canfind us on all the socials.
Thanks and until next time.
Be safe and be excellent toeach other.

(56:46):
Thank you.
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