Because It Was On

Send a text Need to get an A on your science project? How about reprogram your toaster? Do you need someone with a photographic memory to perform party tricks at your next mixer? Did you forget a calculator and need to multiply large sums stat? Do you need someone to perform surgery, land a plane, fix your car, and win Jeopardy for Kids? Have no fear, your local boy genius is here! This week Jessi...

Send a text Jessica and Zach try something a little different and walk listeners through the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80's and early 90's through the lens of sitcoms.  Each episode they discuss this week is an important time capsule for the public's understanding of HIV/AIDS from the early days with Mr. Belvedere to A Different World. Shows discussed this week: Mr. Be...

Send a text Roseanne Barr has been in the public eye for over almost forty years and for the vast majority of that time she has marketed herself as a loud and abrasive proponent of center-left politics.  Her show that bears her namesake is universally understood as a progressive working class text, tackling such issues as abortion, gay marriage, gender violence, and birth control.  She ran for the...

Send a text Boys, parents, homework, and bullies!  Middle school and high school can be such a drag.  This week Zach and Jessica talk about three shows about teenage girls and how iCarly, Lizzie McGuire, and Square Pegs all depict girlhood.  (I'm going to be perfectly honest with you: watching these shows sent us places.  Strap in for probably our weirdest episode yet.) Support the show Pleas...

Send a text This week Jessica and Zach are talking about two shows that center around terrible people! Seinfeld and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are two shows that are often compared to each other due to their amoral protagonists. An interesting question to explore, then, is what moral vision, if any, can be found lurking behind the many crimes of the protagonists of these two shows.  Do...

Send a text Before they did The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, The Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother Jessica and Zach have decided, for no discernable reason, to do Normal, Ohio , John Goodman's first project after Roseanne that only lasted seven episodes. Normal, Ohio follows Butch, a gay man played by John Goodman, who returns to his titular hometown to reconnect with his family. ...

Send a text The witch has long since been an icon for female power, repression, and queerness.  Enter Sabrina the Teenage Witch where the biggest issue is finding the perfect date to prom and ruining your friends’ lives on the daily. Join Jessica and Zach as they gaze into the crystal ball and hope to crack their family secrets. They take a look at Hilda and Zelda and also reluctantly talk about t...

Send a text It's court...at night! Join Jessica and Zach as they take a journey through the municipal halls of Night Court as they try to better understand the NBC property that ran from 1984–1992 and has recently been dusted off on Peacock. It is a bizarre court where the rules are made up, the laws don't matter, and everyone involved should be disbarred. Bonus that this episode feature...

Send a text Folks the PC Police are everywhere!  Or at least people and media figures whining about them.  For decades now the term "political correctness" has proven to be a fascinating, amorphous concept where people of a certain political persuasion can dump all of their anxieties and societal grievances.  Join us as Jessica and Zach suit up with their Antifa battle gear to go head to...

Send a text Get the guest bedroom ready because this week Aunt Flo is coming for a visit!  Jessica and Zach will be talking about the sitcom genre's depiction of periods from episodes where characters have their first period to episodes where men cower in fear at the dreaded PMS. Shows discussed this week: Everybody Loves Raymond Roseanne Black-ish Married With Children The IT Crowd The Cosby...

Send a text Does time heal all wounds or just turn everyone a little gay? Should you go to the bad place for watching reality tv? If you were a ghost would you make it your mission to start small scale drama in a marriage? All of these topics and more are covered in this week's episode where Zach and Jessica explore what they for some reason thought would be a light and easy breezy topic: imm...

Send a text Jessica and Zach attempt to answer the question that has plagued philosophers for millennia: What makes a tv show a sitcom? Is it the three cameras, the laugh track, press photos of the principal cast hugging while wearing matching shirts? Or perhaps sitcoms are more than the sum of their parts.  In this episode we explore the history of sitcoms, create our own framework for what makes...

Send a text What makes a great will they / won't they? Jessica and Zach take a look at perhaps the most famous example of the trope, Ross and Rachel from Friends , to find out. Along the way they discuss the gender dynamics at play in the show and mount multiple epic takedowns of Ross. Listen in to see if Jessica and Zach conclude if Ross really is Rachel's lobster.  Follow us on TikTok...

Send a text Hey, champ?  Got a sec?  I think it's time we had a serious talk about the facts of life. Join Jessica and Zach as they discuss The Birds and The Bees is sitcoms throughout the ages.  We discuss several episodes that deal with teen sexuality and topics such as shame, consent, queer representation, and "hand to gland combat". Shows discussed:  Leave it to Beaver The War a...

Send a text Jessica and Zach investigate the common sitcom problem of women with godlike powers giving it all away to be with mediocre dudes. In this episode, we take a look at what we call "Powerless Powerful Women" these are the women of Bewitched , I Dream of Jeannie , and just splash of The Flying Nun . Follow us on social media TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@becauseitwason?is_from_...

Send a text Do you remember the shows your grandparents played while they babysat you? Or maybe you also watched the 6 hour programming blocks of The Nanny on Nick-at-Nite. If so, you will feel right at home listening to Because It Was On. Because It Was On takes those sitcoms and dissects the familiar sitcom formula to tease out the often potent social and political messages they carry in their 2...

Send a text Can a show about a car inhabited by the reincarnated soul of a man's mother tell us something about changing conservative reactions to media? Can a show about a Martian trying to ensure his roommate's boss' dog finds love tell us something about the military industrial complex?  How subversive was The Addams Family really and does intent matter to how we understand it to...