Bittersweet Infamy

Josie tells Taylor about humankind's attempts to communicate the dangers of nuclear waste to our descendants in the very distant future. Plus: the declassified truth about Acoustic Kitty, the CIA's ill-fated attempt to engineer a feline spy.

Taylor tells Josie about Hachikō, the Japanese dog who became a national icon by loyally waiting for his long-dead master, and other very good boys of note. Plus: the long, curly tale of the feral hogs of Ossabaw Island, and the unusual attempts to preserve and study them.

Josie and Taylor present the Melties, celebrating your choices for the best moments of 100 episodes of  Bittersweet Infamy . Josie chews so much gum that she becomes unstuck in the multiverse. Taylor's vendetta with an old foe has deadly consequences.

Josie tells Taylor about the controversial 2016 CMA Awards performance by Beyoncé and The Chicks, and how it inspired Beyoncé's 2024 album,  Cowboy Carter . Plus: it's full speed ahead on the Road to the Melties as Taylor and Josie prepare their ballots for episode 100 of Bittersweet Infamy !

Taylor tells Josie about activist Sacheen Littlefeather, her protest on behalf of actor Marlon Brando at the 1973 Academy Awards, the disputes around her claims to Indigeneity, and the history of Indigenous identity fraud. Plus: does Denver's infamous haunted horse statue, Blucifer, have a cousin? Did the Wicked Witch of the West really ruin an episode of  Sesame Street ? Josie puts her undefeated...

Josie tells Taylor about the history of the Nigerian prince email scam, and the rise and fall of influencer/fraudster Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a.k.a. Hushpuppi the Billionaire Gucci Master. Plus: a chess-playing robot attacks a child? A viral chess trend makes it to outer space? The truth isn't black and white in the April Fools' Fact or Fiction Minfamous!

Taylor tells Josie about the 2010 San José mine cave-in in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó, Chile, and the 33 miners whose rescue captivated viewers around the world. Plus: the fatal 2009 accident at Utah's Nutty Putty Cave.

Josie tells Taylor about Florida Man, the memetic everyman whose chaotic antics dominate the headlines of the Sunshine State. Plus: a shambolic AI-generated Willy Wonka live experience leaves parents and kids in a world of pure infuriation.

Bittersweet Romance - Candy Hearts edition! Inspired by the randomly chosen candy heart "CUTIE," Taylor tells Josie about "Mi Bebito Fiu Fiu," the viral TikTok anthem based on Peruvian ex-president Martín Vizcarra's alleged salacious WhatsApp messages. Plus: Josie and Taylor indulge in a racy game of F, Marry, Kill!

Bittersweet Romance - Candy Hearts edition! Inspired by the randomly chosen candy heart "HUG ME," Josie tells Taylor about the Chipko movement of 1970s Northern India, where villagers hugged trees to save the endangered Himalayan forests. Plus: learn about the infamous reality TV show, "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" Are you sure "I do" is your final answer? 

Bittersweet Romance! Taylor tells Josie about the turbulent marriage between R&B icon Faith Evans and rap legend The Notorious B.I.G., and the East Coast vs. West Coast hip-hop feud that ended in two of music's most infamous assassinations. Plus: meet the Egyptologist influencer couple whose controversial cosplay is making waves up and down the Nile River.

Bittersweet Romance! Josie tells Taylor about astronaut Lisa Nowak and her most dangerous mission: an overnight drive from Houston to Orlando to eliminate a romantic rival. Plus: Jack and Meg White of award-winning rock band The White Stripes—brother and sister? Married? Neither? Both?

In this special episode, Taylor surprises Josie with  Bittersweet Ambush , a guerrilla game show with a devious twist, before telling her about the history of game show cheating scandals, including: the quiz show fixing trials of the 1950s; the ultra-gamers that broke  Press Your Luck and  The Price is Right ; and the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? scammers who coughed their way to the million.

Josie tells Taylor about the life and letters of New Zealand writer Janet Frame, who was scheduled for a lobotomy when her debut book won a national prize. Plus: keeping it Kiwi with a report back from Josie and Mitchell's van life honeymoon on New Zealand's South Island.

New Year's Eve special! Taylor tells Josie about the computer glitch turned doomsday spectacle: the millennium bug, Y2K. Plus: as Steamboat Willie lapses into the public domain, we look back at the colourful history of Disney's Mickey Mouse copyright. 

Holiday special! Josie tells Taylor about the anarchic origins of the rowdy annual Santa celebration, SantaCon. Plus: on Christmas Day 1914, a heartwarming moment of peace emerges from the icy trenches of war.

Guest host Amanda Ortiz tells Josie and Taylor about the web of fate connecting the September 11 terrorist attacks, My Chemical Romance,  Twilight , and Fifty Shades of Grey . Plus: the local legend of Jim McIngvale a.k.a. Mattress Mack, Houston's best known gambler, philanthropist, and furniture baron.

Josie tells Taylor about South Africa's crooked cop turned brazen bank robber, the infamous André Stander. Plus: the stone cold truth about the most iconic novelty gift of the 1970s—the Pet Rock.

Season premiere! Taylor tells Josie about the viral anthem of 2011, "Friday," and the sudden infamy of singer Rebecca Black. Plus: all the gossip from Josie and Mitchell's wedding, including the haunting in hotel room #309!

Halloween special + season finale! Taylor tells Josie and guest host Mitchell Collins about the scary movie co-written by a child: Nobuhiko Obayashi's infamously eccentric experimental horror comedy,  House (1977). Plus: Josie and Mitchell trap Taylor in a fiendish and frightening choose-your-own-adventure story!

Halloween special! Josie tells Taylor about three infamous exorcisms, including a convent of hell-raising nuns in 17th century France, a passel of seemingly possessed Pueblo women in the Spanish colony of New Mexico, and the mid-century possession that inspired the classic horror flick  The Exorcist . Plus: unearthing the shadowy secret behind  Powers of Darkness , the Icelandic translation of Bra...

Taylor tells Josie about garment-maker/inventor Franz Reichelt and his fateful 1912 flight from the Eiffel Tower. Plus: unmasking Saúl Armendáriz, a.k.a. Cassandro, an iconic and exotic figure in the world of lucha libre (Mexican professional wrestling).

Josie tells Taylor about the infamous 1926 disappearance of mystery icon Agatha Christie. Plus: the shocking lost Sesame Street episode that traumatized child audiences, "Snuffy's Parents Get a Divorce."

In the final episode of our special British Columbia-centric Bittersweet 604 series, guest host The Established, Shanda Leer tells Josie and Taylor about legendary Vancouver drag queen and activist ted northe, the Imperial Court System, and the Dogwood Monarchist Society. Plus: the real story of professional wrestling's Fake Razor Ramon, BC's own Rick Bognar.

In this road trip special recorded inside a 1970 Volkswagen bus in Jordan River, BC, Taylor tells Josie about spiritualist Edward Arthur Wilson, a.k.a. Brother XII, and the Aquarian Foundation, Vancouver Island's mystical doomsday cult. Plus: the sweetest protest in Canadian history—the Ladysmith chocolate bar strike of 1947.