Poke the Bear

Send us Fan Mail State of the Decade Address: Limping Towards the 2030s— Less than a third of Americans trust their institutions—and honestly, that might be the most honest statistic of the decade. In this episode, we take a hard look at the state of the 2020s: political exhaustion, collapsing trust, algorithm-driven outrage, and a culture that feels like it’s stuck recycling its own past. From th...

Send us Fan Mail Are You Misreading the World? — Your brain isn’t broken—it’s just running outdated software. In this episode, we break down base-rate neglect, the cognitive glitch that makes rare events feel like constant threats and turns viral stories into full-blown moral panics. From crime to politics to social media outrage, we explore how humans consistently ignore the big picture in favor...

Send us Fan Mail Survivor Sociology 101: The Real Rules of Human Behavior— For over two decades, Survivor has been dismissed as just another reality show—alliances, blindsides, and beach drama. But look closer, and it’s something else entirely. In this episode of Poke the Bear , we break down why Survivor might be the most revealing social experiment ever put on television. Strip people of comfort...

Send us Fan Mail Ghostwriter: PBS with Attitude— This episode of Poke the Bear dives into Ghostwriter , the gritty, genre-bending 90s series that turned literacy into a superpower. Set in the real streets of Brooklyn, the show blended urban realism, serialized mystery, and diverse storytelling in a way kids’ TV rarely dared to. But beneath the puzzles and clues lies a much deeper story—one that re...

Send us Fan Mail Glamping, VIP, and the Death of Festival Culture— Music festivals were once dusty, chaotic gatherings built on rebellion and shared experience. Today, they’re luxury playgrounds with five-figure tents, VIP-only viewing decks, and $100 tacos. This episode traces the evolution from Pearl Jam’s anti-corporate stand in the desert to Coachella’s hyper-exclusive ecosystem, examining how...

Send us Fan Mail Pants-Off Dance-Off and the Fall of Music Television— In the mid-2000s, teenagers discovered new bands by channel surfing at 2 a.m. Fuse TV filled the void MTV left behind, broadcasting eyeliner-soaked sincerity, awkward interviews, and unforgettable oddities like Pants-Off Dance-Off . This episode revisits the rise of Fuse, the emo explosion, and how the shift to algorithms quiet...

Send us Fan Mail Land of the Lost: Who Wore it Best?— Dinosaurs, Sleestaks, and one of Hollywood’s biggest flops. 🦖  This episode of Poke the Bear explores the strange evolution of Land of the Lost — from the weird 1974 cult classic, to the millennial-nostalgia 1991 reboot, to the disastrous $100M Will Ferrell movie that nobody asked for. It’s a deep dive into sincerity, reboot culture, and how i...

Send us Fan Mail Boxxy: The Girl Who Broke 4Chan— Before influencers had ring lights… there was a girl with a webcam, too much eyeliner, and the internet lost its mind. This week on Poke the Bear , we rewind to 2008 and unpack The Boxxy Phenomenon — how Catherine Wayne accidentally became one of the most polarizing figures of the early internet. Loved, hated, remixed, and memed into legend, Boxxy...