Pop, the Question (S4: E29)
Pennoni’s Pandemic Picks
Featured Guests Brian Kantorek (Assistant Director, Marketing & Media, Pennoni Honors College, Drexel University); Jaya Mohan (Director, Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs); Martha Meiers (Program Manager, Undergraduate Research & Enrichment Programs); and Erica Levi Zelinger (Director, Marketing & Media)
Host and Producer Melinda Lewis, PhD (Associate Director, Marketing & Media)
Dean Paula Marantz Cohen, PhD (Dean, Pennoni Honors College)
Executive Producer Erica Levi Zelinger (Director, Marketing & Media)
Producer Brian Kantorek (Assistant Director, Marketing & Media)
Research and Script Melinda Lewis, PhD
Audio Engineering and Editing Brian Kantorek
Original Theme Music Brian Kantorek
Production Assistance Noah Levine
Graphic Design Nina Pagano
Logo Design Michal Anderson
Additional Voiceover Malia Lewis
Recorded September 16, 2020 through virtual conferencing as part of two sessions for Pennoni Honors College Honors Student Orientation.
Pop, the Question is a production of Marketing & Media in Pennoni Honors College at Drexel University. Copyright © 2021 Drexel University
Episode Summary
Binging TV, movies, and social media during a pandemic is one way to cope with the daily uncertainty and inordinate amount of time spent at home. Fresh content abounds, giving viewers plenty of excuses to procrastinate from ongoing duties and the reality of the world outside. Host Dr. Melinda Lewis invites a cast of colleagues to chat about current TV series, horror flicks, and even some throwbacks that have been occupying their minds and capturing their hearts.
Transcript
Opening Theme Music:
[Upbeat, funky "Pop, the Question" theme music plays with audio clips, featuring Oprah Winfrey and "The Golden Girls."]
Theme Intro (Melinda Lewis):
Welcome to "Pop, the Question," a podcast that exists at the intersection of pop culture and academia. We sit down and talk about our favorite stuff through the lenses of what we do and who we are. From Pennoni Honors College at Drexel University, Dr. Melinda Lewis here. I'm your host.
Melinda Lewis:
So, not every "Pop, the Question" episode starts with cat butts, but it's not out of the realm of possibility for what we do here. One of the things that we have strived for is to not just be a place where we just market in a traditional sense and just put messaging out there, but really becoming a place where we are helping faculty, staff, and students relay their stories; relay their narratives.
Melinda Lewis:
So, "Pop, the Question" really became an opportunity for us to bring a little bit more humanity and, in essence, humility, because we got to talk about things that we liked and in a way that, oftentimes, illustrates who we are as thinkers, what we do, and what we gravitate towards. What we're going to talk about today is what has been occupying our time during this time of quarantine; what has provided us the outlets that we need to occupy our mind and in a way that may not necessarily be productive, but allows us a little bit of reprieve.
Melinda Lewis:
I'm sure that everybody has been finding television shows, movies, whatever to bring you some sort of joy. I've seen a lot of people binge-watching "The Sopranos" and saying, "Finally, my time to sit down with 29 million hours worth of television. To go forth, I'm going to do that."
Melinda Lewis:
We have with us Jaya Mohan, who is the Director of UREP and Martha Meiers, who is the Program Manager. And then I also have Erica, who is the Director of Marketing & Media and Brian Kantorek, who is one of the producers of the program and the Assistant Director for Marketing & Media. He is the Producer and Editor and he takes all of this raw footage and makes it cogent. And that's really inspiring.
Audio Clips:
[Theme music from "King of the Hill" plays.]
Melinda Lewis:
I spent my time watching "King of the Hill." That was the thing that I went to immediately when this thing got started. I ended up watching the entire show. I don't know if you have been able to accomplish such a feat. It's kind of like eating an entire cake, except without the belly ache. And I have no shame, no guilt whatsoever.
Audio Clips:
[Theme music from "King of the Hill" continues with cowbell and excited shouting.]
Melinda Lewis:
I've also been watching a lot of horror films, which seems kind of not like the best thing to do right now.
Jaya Mohan:
Or exactly the perfect thing to do right now.
Melinda Lewis and Martha Meiers:
[Laughter.]
Melinda Lewis:
And, also, wrestling has been keeping me busy and occupied in a variety of ways. So, I don't know how you have occupied your time or who would like to start.
Erica Levi Zelinger:
I binged "Schitt's Creek" at the beginning of quarantine and watched it way too fast and then fell into a deep depression, because I was seeing that I was not going to see Season 6 from Canada anytime soon. And I was distraught and was left with nothing, feeling heartbroken.
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
["Schitt's Creek" audio clip plays.] I knew this day would come, John. Isolated, impoverished, cut off from all medical services.
Audio Clips (Speaker 2):
It's just a cold, Moira.
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
Oh, it's always just a cold, John, until it's full-blown typhoid!
Erica Levi Zelinger:
I went on to some other shows, but I think that one was the one that kind of captured my heart and kept me going and gave me energy for the first few weeks of quarantine. And then you just kind of feel like you start this relationship and you're left in a lurch.
Melinda Lewis:
Yeah, where you develop friendships with people and...
Erica Levi Zelinger:
I was staying in that motel. I was with them in Schitt's Creek. It was amazing.
Melinda Lewis:
[Laughter.]
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
["Schitt's Creek" audio clip plays.] Look at the state of this place. It's like we're in a Mumbaian slum. I mean, would it kill someone to plant a few peonies?
Audio Clips (Speaker 2):
I have a feeling if you want peonies, Moira, you're going to have to plant them yourself.
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
[Moira cackles.] These are dark times, John. Not that dark.
Melinda Lewis:
But I think whenever we go back to---and I'm an old lady---but when "Friends" ended, that was positioned as an end of an era. To think about how excited people are that they can watch "Living Single" again, "Moesha," "Girlfriends," all of these shows that have come back from the '90s, where people are like, "My friends are back. I'm reconnecting with my friends after 20 or 30 years or I can introduce my kids or my students or whoever to these characters." Sometimes, what I do is I stop watching a show, so it never has to end. I do this all the time, where I'll just put off a show forever and ever and ever.
Erica Levi Zelinger:
Do you actually finish?
Melinda Lewis:
I haven't watched the final season of "Schitt's Creek," because I know it's going to... I say, "Oh, there's just too much content" but, secretly, it's to prolong the pain of connecting with these characters and knowing that it's going to be ending. "Vida" is the same way. I love that show so much and I think it's doing so many cool things in terms of representing gentrification, representing the Latinx community in East L.A., like LGBTQ community. But I know it's gearing up to the final season and so it's just like, "I don't want to go."
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
["Vida" audio clip plays.] Perdoname, did you just call burritos tacos? Them is fighting words.
Audio Clips (Speaker 2):
They're just overgrown tacos [inaudible at 00:06:14] that are rolled up to the size of your head.
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
Burritos have a history, man.
Audio Clips (Speaker 2):
Yeah, an American history.
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
Well, sure. But are you your country or are you your culture? Burritos are Mexican, man.
Audio Clips (Speaker 2):
[Laughter.]
Erica Levi Zelinger:
Another show that we binged at the beginning was "Taskmaster" on YouTube. I watched that with my kids and they got so into it. And that's something that is different from either a sitcom or a drama. It's different comics every season or different participants every season. It's the same host and cohost, but you don't have kind of those same relationships and that's that same identification with them. So that, when it was over, there was kind of closure. It was fun, while it lasted.
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
["Taskmaster" audio clip plays.] Welcome back to "Taskmaster." If you've just joined us, you've missed some comedians either eating or not eating watermelons. [Audience laughs.]
Martha Meiers:
We have yet to catch up and I'm very excited about that, because that could easily be something we will watch all the way through.
Jaya Mohan:
I have to say, I love that idea because I think my favorite part of even just talking about "Taskmaster" isn't actually the show itself; it is talking to people about how they would approach that task.
Martha Meiers:
Yeah.
Jaya Mohan:
Because I think that really tells you a lot about a person. If your task is to eat as much of a watermelon in a minute; figuring out, "How are you going to open this thing," right?
Melinda Lewis:
And that it's not wrong. Everybody has a different method and it might not be the method that you choose, but that's part of the pleasure for me is seeing how everybody kind of approaches the problem.
Audio Clips (Speaker 2):
["Taskmaster" audio clip plays.] I love watermelon. I'm a big fan of it. But, you know, I'm sure it was going to be ruined by this experience. [Audience applauds.]
Jaya Mohan:
The show in my house that we really committed to was "Golden Girls." ["The Golden Girls" theme song plays intermittently: "Thank you for being a friend. Traveled down the road and back again"] There is seven seasons of that, pointing out to me the difference between how we watch TV now and how TV was written and filmed and produced before binging was a thing. When this aired 30 years ago, nobody was expecting you to watch these episodes back-to-back-to-back. You would have at least a week in-between, so maybe you would kind of forget what had happened the week before or maybe you didn't tune in the week before. So, it didn't actually matter; that kind of consistency.
Audio Clips:
["The Golden Girls" instumental theme music concludes.]
Melinda Lewis:
My weekends really have been: turn on my laptop and just watch whatever, whether that's wrestling, television, movies. I've been trying to catch up and feed my brain in that way; feed my brain stories.
Jaya Mohan:
But how do you choose? Because that's part of why I don't watch as much TV as I actually want to; there's a lot of content out there that I'm like, "This would be great. I would probably love this." But then that tyranny of choice! I'm like, "Please, Netflix, stop sending me suggestions, because I don't know what to watch right now!" That's the energy I don't have to make choices.
Melinda Lewis:
Brian, have you...you've been trying to watch stuff.
Brian Kantorek:
I have young children, so I've seen virtually nothing that I really would like to watch. We've watched a lot of YouTube. The kids are on these YouTube kicks. They like watching videos of other children playing with toys, particularly dinosaurs and LOLs. We're deep into Jurassic World; we're deep into LOL. These are some of the toys that we're into right now, but particularly the Jurassic World dinosaurs.
Audio Clips:
["Jurassic World" dinosaur battle scene plays.]
Brian Kantorek:
Side note: we did watch, for the very first time, "E.T."
Erica Levi Zelinger:
We did some of that over quarantine, was introducing our kids to kind of our favorite '80s movies. So, they've seen "Goonies" and "Stand by Me" and "Ferris Bueller"...
Brian Kantorek:
That's, yeah [crosstalk at 00:10:19].
Erica Levi Zelinger:
...And "Back to the Future." But that's been fun to share that and see either what's aged well, what hasn't aged well. But, for the most part, those are all great watches that stand the test of time.
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
["Back to the Future" audio clip plays with prom audience applause in background.] Alright, this is an oldie. Well, it's an oldie where I come from. [Rock guitar music intro plays, followed by a sudden stop with drums.]
Promo Segment (Speaker 1):
[Phone rings and voicemail message begins.] Hey, it's your mom. I have a question about that podcast you do. Are you on the Instagram or the Twitter or the Facebook? You know, like, if I have an idea for a podcast, how do I get in touch with you? Love you. Bye.
Promo Segment (Melinda Lewis):
[Tape whirling effect, followed by "Pop, the Question" instrumental theme music and Melinda Lewis.] 'Sup, Mom! Uh, yeah. So, you can find us on all those things, actually: Twitter; Instagram; Facebook. Just go to "popquestpod" on any one of those and follow. If you want to send us ideas, you can either go over to our website and leave us a message at "popqpodcast" or you can get us directly at popq@drexel.edu. You can actually find us on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher. I can help set it up when I get home, but then you have to promise me to rate and review. Alright, love you. Bye! [Promo segment theme music concludes with "Scooby-doo-bop!"].
Audio Clips (Speakers 1 and 2):
["A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" eerie music plays, followed by desperate screams and maniacal laughter.]
Melinda Lewis:
The other thing I've been getting super-into---and Brian, I think you might be proud---is horror movies.
Brian Kantorek:
Nice.
Melinda Lewis:
All I want to do...like, but outside of "King of the Hill," I'm on my Shudder account watching slasher movies from the '70s and '80s, like "Nightmare on Elm Street 1 and 2."
Brian Kantorek:
OK.
New Speaker:
"Slumber Party Massacre 1, 2, 3, 5," however many you have.
Brian Kantorek:
That's what I was going to say: most have these sequels, so it's like watching a mini-series.
Jaya Mohan:
See, this is where you're losing me because...
Brian Kantorek and Martha Meiers:
[Laughter.]
Jaya Mohan:
My first Halloween-related memory is from when I couldn't have been more than like three or four. And all I remember was being with my parents when they were handing out candy and seeing a kid [who] must've been dressed as Freddy Krueger; and all I remember were the hands reaching into the candy basket.
Brian Kantorek:
[Laughter.]
Melinda Lewis:
Well, what inspired me to watch the second one is that there's a documentary specifically about "Nightmare on Elm Street 2" and the queer undertones/overtones of that particular movie.
Audio Clips (Speakers 1 and 2):
["A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" audio clip plays. Freddy Krueger says, "You've got the body; I've got the brain," followed by his maniacal laughter and a victim's desperate scream.]
Brian Kantorek:
The second one took a weird turn. The second one was like one of those sitcoms that kills off one of its characters. But the third one kind of got back to the root of the franchise. It's a lot of fun. Jaya won't be watching it.
Melinda Lewis:
No. One of my favorites is "Silence of the Lambs." Like, I just...
Brian Kantorek:
Yeah.
Erica Levi Zelinger:
I mean, just hearing the word "Precious" still scares me.
Melinda Lewis:
Yeah.
Brian Kantorek:
Yeah.
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
["The Silence of the Lambs" audio clip plays with pulsing, electronic music in the background.] Come on, Precious. Come on, Precious.
Audio Clips (Speaker 2):
Precious? Darling Heart, are you alright? [Music fades.]
Brian Kantorek:
Has anyone ever seen "Jacob's Ladder?" Tim Robbins...Danny Aiello plays an angel. It's pretty deeply disturbing. It has that "Silence of the Lambs" kind of ambiance to it. So, I highly recommend that one.
Melinda Lewis:
I mean, Martha, do you watch horror movies?
Martha Meiers:
Not particularly. I think the thriller category is kind of where my comfort level is because that's kind of exciting sometimes. I guess sort of more in the true crime, murder mystery suspense is where I'm at, which is series and shows at this point and maybe not necessarily movies. But, yeah, we've gone through maybe all of them on the streaming channels in the beginning of this quarantine era. That was sort of Phase 1. But horror, scary, gross things: not a huge fan; but the suspense aspect: yes.
Melinda Lewis:
I remember the movie that I watched this weekend and it was one that I had been meaning to rewatch for a long time. And it's called "Blow Out."
Audio Clips (Narrator):
["Blow Out" audio clip from original trailer plays.] It began with a sound that no one was ever supposed to hear. [Sound of rushing car.] Brian De Palma's "Blow Out." Now you hear it. [Sound of audio tape winding.] Now you don't.
Melinda Lewis:
Have you watched it? [crosstalk at 00:14:51]
Brian Kantorek:
Oh, yeah, and set in Philadelphia!
Melinda Lewis:
If you are in the Philadelphia area or if you visited Philadelphia, it... There are some shots that just are still... They film in 30th Street Station. And I watched that movie maybe two years ago for the first time. I'm still scared of the restroom.
Brian Kantorek:
Yeah, there's that scene where he drives through City Hall.
Melinda Lewis:
Yeah!
Brian Kantorek:
Yeah, there's some cool shots of places that don't even exist anymore. So, it's almost... For posterity's sake, it's a nice documentary element.
Melinda Lewis:
But it's like a Philadelphia Liberty Day celebration.
Brian Kantorek:
We need to have a screening of this one.
Melinda Lewis:
It really is. So, yeah. John Travolta---baby John Travolta---is a sound engineer and he's trying to record sounds for horror movies. And he's outside and he witnesses a car crash.
Brian Kantorek:
That occurs in the Wissahickon off of Lincoln Drive, by the way.
Melinda Lewis:
Yeah.
Brian Kantorek:
Which is notoriously dangerous for car crashes. So, there was an element of local lure to it.
Melinda Lewis:
Yeah. But then he realizes that it was actually an assassination attempt. He meets a woman, who was in the car. [Sad piano music begins to play.] He saved her from drowning and then he becomes enmeshed in this conspiracy. [Piano music continues and fades.]
Melinda Lewis:
But I've also noticed returning to the stuff I was interested in [in] middle school; returning to music, returning to television shows. So, going back to "Seinfeld" or going back to "King of the Hill." But, I don't know. Have you been finding yourselves doing that? I hope so.
Jaya Mohan:
Yeah, I mean, I think for us, how we've been sort of structuring is we have a show that we're watching when we need something easy or want something easy and something that is comforting to us. And then we have something that we can commit to as like, "This is new to us and we need to be engaged with it." So, right now, "Golden Girls" was the easy thing, right? [Laughter.] That was something we would watch in the morning, while we had breakfast or whatever. But, yeah, I think it's that comfort factor of being like, "You know what? I can rely on this thing. I have a frame of reference for it outside of this time right now and it helps me go back to a different time that feels very real to me."
Martha Meiers:
I think we've rewatched "The Office" so many times. We have recently switched to "Seinfeld" because we started a Hulu free trial; so, binging those old shows. And there was "Fresh Prince" 30th---I think 30th year anniversary---this past weekend. ["The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" theme music begins.] They were just running fan favorite episodes all day. So, that was just on TV throughout my day that day, which was really great.
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
["The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" audio clip plays with Will Smith rapping to a bouncy, hip-hop beat and synths.] In West Philadelphia, born and raised. On the playground is where I spent most of my days. [Music fades.]
Martha Meiers:
And, so, in the beginning, when we needed like a nice, funny thing, very low-key thing to watch, we watched "Duck Tales" on Disney+ and it was... ["Duck Tales" theme song music begins with vocals over upbeat instruments.] It got us through some of those hard moments in the beginning; for sure. So, I also recommend checking that out if you need a little kid zone time.
Brian Kantorek:
I remember the "Duck Tales" theme song, Martha.
Martha Meiers:
Hmm.
Audio Clips (Speaker 1):
["Duck Tales" audio clip plays with vocals set to upbeat instruments.] "Duck Tales!" Woohoo! Every day, they're out there making "Duck Tales!" Woohoo! Tales of daring do-bad-and-good-luck tales. Woohoo! [Music fades.]
Melinda Lewis:
So weird. I watched "Duck Tales" a lot and it is ingrained in my head, too. I feel like that was such a big part of my childhood as well.
Jaya Mohan:
Well, after this, I feel like this is something that I have to watch now!
Melinda Lewis:
Yeah! I think that would be great. I think we need to have a "Duck Tales" episode.
Brian Kantorek:
[Laughter.]
Melinda Lewis:
So, let's jam about pop culture. Let's talk about the things that we like.
Brian Kantorek:
This has been fun, Melinda. This has actually got me thinking that I have watched a little more than I was willing to admit up front, but there's some good content out there.
Melinda Lewis:
Yeah.
Martha Meiers:
Thank you for letting me productively procrastinate.
Jaya Mohan:
[Laughter.]
Brian Kantorek:
Yeah, exactly!
Melinda Lewis:
Yeah. Well, thank you, everybody, for joining us and hanging out and telling us about your favorites and some of your investments. And we hope to talk to you again.
Jaya Mohan:
Alright, bye, everyone. Bye!
Brian Kantorek:
Alright, thank you. Bye-bye.
Martha Meiers:
Bye, everyone!
Erica Levi Zelinger:
Bye, everybody!
Closing Theme Music:
[Upbeat, funky theme music plays.]
Theme Outro (Melinda Lewis):
"Pop, the Question" was researched and hosted by Dr. Melinda Lewis. Our theme music and episodes are produced by Brian Kantorek with additional audio production by Noah Levine. All of this was done under the directorship of Eric Levi Zelinger, the deanship of Dr. Paula Marantz Cohen and the Pennoni Honors College at Drexel University. [Theme music continues with "Pop, the Question!" vocals and a Wilhelm scream].
Closing Theme Music (Speaker 1):
["Pop, the Question" theme music continues with Allen Iverson speaking at a press conference.] I know it's important. I do; I honestly do. But we talking about practice, man. What're we talking about? Practice?! We talking about practice, man. [Music fades.]
Audio Clips (Speaker 1 and 2):
["A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" audio clip plays.] It's okay. It's all over. [Chaotic sound of speeding bus mixes with desperate screams and maniacal laughter through fade-out.]