Hooked: A Pop Culture Podcast with Mary Carver

Happy holidays! What…too soon? I know, I know, this is the debate of the year. When should we start with all the holiday celebrating. Obviously, as one who won't shut up about being hooked on holiday movies, I fall into the camp of earlier. But even if you're not, I hate to break it to you…it's already the middle of November, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. So, today my brother James...

We are back after a full weekend of holiday movies, and we have lots of opinions to share! Remember, THE CHRISTMAS COUCH will be a series of special episodes of The Couch Podcast devoted to holiday movies. My friend Anna and I are hooked on holidays and honored to be your guides through this holiday movie season. After all, when the powers that be are hitting us with nearly 100 brand-new movies, y...

How old AM I? This is a question I find myself asking on the regular these days. With all the anniversaries and remakes and remember-when lists on Buzzfeed, I cannot seem to escape the passage of time. I mean, none of us can escape the passage of time, but it feels like I can't get away from acknowledging it these days! And so, I'm just leaning into it. Not only is 2019 the 25th anniversary of Fri...

As you might have guessed, THE CHRISTMAS COUCH will be a series of special episodes of The Couch Podcast devoted to holiday movies. My friend Anna and I believe there's nothing better than snuggling on the couch with a comfy blanket and hot beverage of choice and watching a cozy Christmas movie on one of the many channels cranking them out every year. But how to choose which ones to watch? There a...

Grab your candy corn and get comfy, friends. In this episode my friend Amy and I are talking Halloween in pop culture, starting with our favorite costumes and ending with the scary movies Amy thinks I might be able to handle (despite my tendency to be a great big scaredy cat baby). I have little kids and a low tolerance for spookiness, while she has older kids and loves to be scared. So we have a...

It's that time of year! We are fully into fall now, friends, so it must be time to talk about holiday movies, right?! I know, I know, Christmas is so many weeks away. But take it up with Hallmark! Because the onslaught of holiday movies coming your way starts in just a few days. Once again, Anna Rendell and I are honored to be your guides through this holiday movie season, and we help you get star...

Today's episode is all about treating yourself. Or, as Donna and Tom say on Parks and Rec, TREAT YO SELF! But we're not just talking mimosas or fine leather goods. Nope. My friend Amber and I are talking about the whole gamut of self-care, from good health practices to genuine indulgence. I mean. Within parameters. Nobody here has a money tree or days on end to spare. So each one of us shares idea...

This week, I had the best time talking with my friend Alana about babies and births in pop culture. Today is my oldest daughter's birthday, and since her birth was a bit, shall we say, dramatic, I thought it would be appropriate to mark this occasion with a look at the even more dramatic births in TV shows and movies. Alana and I attempted to give the babies and the births a thumbs up or thumbs do...

This week's episode is something totally different. If you've ever thought to yourself (and who hasn't, haha!), "I could listen to Mary talk all day long," or if (more likely) you've ever wanted to ask me a pop culture question and then hear the answer in the podcast, this is the episode for you! I had a little scheduling mix-up this week, so I didn't have a guest for this episode. Instead, I went...

Somehow it is already fall, even though it's still a thousand degrees at a lot of places. So my friend Dawn Camp, who is the biggest movie-goer I know, and I sat down and talked through all the movies coming out this fall. Just for you, we watched every single trailer we could find and then picked the movies we think we'll go see and the movies you might like, too. We also take a quick look back a...

Grab a pen and paper, because today's supersized episode is chock full of great recommendations. Have you ever wondered, "What TV shows would my tween like?" and what you really meant was, "What shows would my tween like that I wouldn't hate with the passion of a thousand burning suns?" or maybe, "What shows can I let my tween watch that are interesting and clever but not obnoxious or focused on r...

Hello, friends! That's no pun intended, but it just so happens that today's episode is all about Friends. The TV show, that is. In honor of the show's 25th anniversary (which is ridiculous because 1994 was just a couple years ago), I invited my friend and proven Friends expert, Kayse, to chat with me. Actually, I asked her to please give us a primer or refresher on Friends with the best episodes a...

If punching the clock has you down, a workplace comedy might be just the thing to give you relief from the mundane and even help you appreciate the ordinary. Or, you know, it might just help you laugh at the ridiculousness that is work life. When my friend and former co-worker Grace and I first met, online, on the job, we didn't know much about each other. But the moment we discovered our mutual l...

Just when I thought I couldn't get any more awkward… Get ready to hear me trip over my tongue and my good intentions as I decide to ask my friend Niki, who happens to be British but really, truly is SO MUCH MORE (like, I don't call her "my British friend," okay? She is funny and wise and a wife and mom and NOT JUST BRITISH, all right?) to talk to me about the upcoming Downton Abbey movie. You know...

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Good? Okay, sure. The good news is that today's guest is none other than my little brother, James! What? Yes, it's true. The bad news is that we recorded together, in person, across my dining room table, with one microphone. Annnnnnd it shows. Awkward laughs abound and the sound quality isn't great, but I hope you'll just crank up the volume a bit a...

Last month was all about short-lived shows, and today we're going in the opposite direction. Heather Parker joins me to talk about long-running TV shows. This episode was inspired by our shared love of NCIS, but don't worry. If you aren't as enamored with Leroy Jethro Gibbs and procedurals as we are, you won't be bored by this episode. Because we don't just talk NCIS; we also talk other long-runni...

Today my friend Kristen Strong joined me again, this time to talk about fictional friend groups and our desire to belong. We talk about all the best groups of friends (or at least the ones that seem the most fun) and debate why there seem to be more shows about friends now than there were a few decades ago. And, unrelated but still so valuable, Kristen shared her recipe for the perfect iced chai l...

Every time I talk with my friend Lisa-Jo about TV the conversation always makes it way back to Aaron Sorkin and her love of his writing and his shows. So when it came to wrapping up this short series on short-lived shows, talking to Lisa-Jo about Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was an obvious choice. Be prepared to hear a detailed deep dive into this short show, as well as evidence that I have not w...

My friend Jenny and I never stopped loving (or watching) Veronica Mars. We need you to know this. But now that Hulu is bringing the show back for a fourth season, we're diving deep to make sure we are all prepared to watch like the true marshmallows we are. Note: This was recorded well before the Hulu show was aired. And we acknowledge that we already recorded an episode where we talked about Vero...

Today's episode is, essentially, a love letter to Pushing Daisies. Because when it comes to short-lived shows, Pushing Daisies is unique in the dramatic responses it creates in fans. One mention of this show and fans will sigh loudly, cartoon hearts practically popping out of their eyes before they begin gushing about how dreamy and quirky and just plain wonderful it was. Those fans? They're not w...

Is anything more heartbreaking to a TV fan than a favorite show being cancelled too soon? (No. No, of course not. That's the worst!) This week we're kicking off a new series about short-lived TV shows by discussing one of the most beloved gone-too-soon shows, My So-Called Life. My friend Kristin and I are the exact same age but while I somehow missed this cultural phenomenon, Kristin did not. And...

Have you seen Hamilton, the musical? Or listened to the soundtrack? Maybe scoured the internet for every #Ham4Ham clip you could find? Then this is the episode for you! After a quick road trip to Chicago to see Hamilton on stage, Mary couldn't quit gushing and analyzing and, let's be honest, crying just a little bit about the show. So she got her friend Amy Clark (who also has been known to gush a...

What should I watch? This new show or that one everyone's talking about? Or...maybe I'll just rewatch Parks and Rec...again... Who hasn't been there? Freezing in the face of all the choices? Well, this week Emily P. Freeman joins Mary at The Couch to talk about our favorite long-running shows, which characters we can trust to take care of us, and how doing the next right thing can apply to our ent...

Lately it seems like you can't turn around without seeing another Disney live action remake. We've got Dumbo! And Aladdin! And Lion King! But that's just the tip of the Disney iceberg. In this episode, Amanda White returns to talk with Mary about all the live action movies that have come before (most of which - surprise! - Mary hasn't seen) and all the ones slated to come next. And, in their conti...

In a surprisingly upbeat episode, Mary and her friend Becky McCoy tackle the topic of grief. They talk about grief as it's portrayed in pop culture, and how pop culture can help a person heal from loss or grief. Based on the amount of laughter in this episode, Mary and Becky either have a fantastic perspective on these topics...or they're just big weirdos who love talking about sad things. Tune in...