Pop Culture Diner

Rose Plate Special – Bachelor in Paradise Season 7, Week 2 My lovelies, my sincerest apologies. It took far too long to post this gem I had in the hopper since 8/27, so we have backdated it and made it available for you. The good news? You will have two new episodes to devour back-to-back, plus a special surprise guest host (which you'll learn about in this episode) right after. School started, Sa...

Rose Plate Special – Bachelor in Paradise Season 7, Week 1 The start of SEASON NINE for us and we're in Paradise for Season 7. This has got to be a record-breaking number of contestants, and more are coming! We start with 23 people on the beach, mostly favorites, some not-so-favorites (go away forever, Karl). We are excited to see Aaron demand respect, Kenny keep up with the naked joke (?) and Tam...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelorette Katie Thurston – Episode 10 Editor's note - Originally I had last week's episode here. We are good now! Sorry for the inconvenience. We don't even get to take a breath before Paradise, but honestly, maybe that's for the best. I feel like we need a palate cleanser after the way this season ended. It really had all the makings for a dynamite season from start to fini...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelorette Katie Thurston – Episode 9 We have to hand it to this season. It's the first one in a long time that we have both thoroughly enjoyed. We are both legitimately curious about what the next episode will bring. Plus, all of the wholesome male friendships on the show have made us hopeful for humanity once again. Where we split on this week's episode is how we feel about...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelorette Katie Thurston – Episode 8 Here we were, all excited for hometowns, and the show drops a Men Tell All on us. But hey, we're not complaining. It was, by far, the best Men Tell All ever seen on The Bachelorette franchise. The bromances were plentiful and palpable. We were able to pepper in added context from Us Weekly's exclusive look behind the scenes. And, even bet...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelorette Katie Thurston – Episode 7 The week before hometowns can be dramatic or completely predictable. This one felt like it was sort of in the middle. In this week's episode, we are left to wonder the art Blake made. We are left to wonder what might have happened if Katie chased after Andrew and said something different. We both have different predictions about who will...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelorette Katie ThurstonE – Episode 6 Even though it's painfully predictable, it never gets easier. There's always a time in the season when our favorites (Sammi's especially) get exit the show. However, we do have a few to look forward to in Paradise, with hopefully more announcements to come. We talk about the unseen potential of the drag queen date, how similar Conner is...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelorette Katie Thurston – Episode 5 What happens when you run out of villains and you're only 5 weeks in? Make one of Hunter, someone who is doing all of the normal things that contestants do in former years, but in the context of this very rule-following crew, it flies in the face of all of their social norms. We get to see another competition where the men are wearing nex...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelorette Katie Thurston – Episode 4 It's that point in the season where we start to solidify our strong opinions (and quietly do away with the other stuff) - Sammi will forever stan Tre and Aaron, and Steve takes the oh-so-bold choice to try to understand Thomas (ew). We talk a bit about the Blake drama, the upcoming episodes, other news in Bachelor Nation, and the uselessn...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelorette Katie Thurston – Episode 3 This has shaped up to be quite the palate cleanser of a season. The men are joining forces to rid the season of the toxic, phony men. We have a nice mix of outspoken contestants - the blunt one (Aaron), the expressive one (Justin), the soft-spoken one (Conner), the mediator (Hunter? didn't see that coming), and the comic relief (Tre). The...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelorette Katie Thurston – Episode 2 This episode really had everything: Safer-than-usual mud wrestling, a virgin competing in a "best lover" contest, and Karl, one of the most annoying contestants who ever existed. Sammi is still gushing over Tre, gossip and speculation are shared about Mike and Greg, and we close out Week 2 like we always do with early days - our favorites...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelorette Katie Thurston - Episode 1 After the year we had, we all deserve the next two Bachelorettes we'll get to see wind their way through eligible bachelors. Katie Thurston is helping us start off the new season with a bang of "Mostly 10s" we guess? We talk about some of the unusual bios ABC decided to include on Facebook, some early favorites (and not-so-favorites), and...

Ice Scream Sunday - Swimfan Picture it: A mall in 2002. High School Sammi attends a movie with her friends called Swimfan. She is scandalized! How did she get to watch this steamy PG-13 movie? And this starts her obsession with thrillers, horror movies, and all other psychological cinematic masterpieces. Unfortunately, Swimfan is far from a masterpiece. Not as nuanced and complex as Fatal Attracti...

Ice Scream Sunday: Fatal Attraction What I wish I could do here is share Mandi's copious notes as screenshots because, believe me, they were SO GOOD. But I guess you'll have to listen to this episode instead. Here's that custom orthotics commercial I was talking about.

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James – Episode 11 So the finale was really quite something...but mostly nothing. But the After the Final Rose, that's where things really kicked off! I'll let us do the talking, but some resources I mention include: Khadija Mbowe and #Instagramface @accordingtoweeze and grills Khadija Mbowe and the Meghan & Harry interview

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James – Episode 10 Sigh. We all know what's coming. Why delay the inevitable? Here we have an episode that didn't really have to happen. We cover Rachel Lindsay's response to Matt's scene with his dad, plus her inside scoop on the upcoming season. We talk about how lovely Michelle is for saying anything nice about that horrible oatmeal date. And we compare relatio...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James – Episode 9 Another season, another "Tell All" episode that left us wanting. The things we really needed to talk about weren't going to be on this episode for a couple reasons, so instead, we have the women trying to excuse their bad behavior. We also go off on a tear in the middle about accountability, racism, and what we can reasonably expect of people.

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James – Episode 8 Fair warning - don't listen to the beginning of this episode if you don't want spoilers that are already all over the internet. With that said, the hometowns were close to what we expected. We laughed, we cried, OK, we mostly cried, and we met some cool moms and dads, and some not so cool dads (well, one not cool dad). It was decidedly an episode...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James - Episode 7 If you've found this episode, congratulations! It is the LUCKY episode! It is the (hopefully) only episode where you'll hear Sammi sing the intro AND outro because Zencastr has a really screwy beta right now! We spend the first 35-40 minutes talking about all of the drama with Rachael and Chris Harrison, so if you want to skip that, please do, bu...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James – Episode 6 Last week, we started to talk about the problematic past of Rachael Kirkconnell, but we really didn't know the half of it. Right after we started recording, we found plenty of articles corroborating what the one story we knew about alleged, and worse. So the first 30 minutes of this podcast is really us going through some of those resources,...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James – Episode 5 This episode has everything. Toxic women getting what they deserve. Confusing dresses. Spiritual bypassing. Sammi discussing every young person's crush on Robin Hood (yes, the animated one). The list goes on. You really won't want to miss it. Amendment - Amending this description to add that we will go through everything that is problematic about...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James – Episode 4 This was a hard week to watch for Sammi. That's probably why she split her attention between the episode and her Nintendo Switch. The nasty energy from the women was just too much. Shoutouts go to Bri, Rachael, Abigail, Katie, and our new fave, Michelle, for being sweet and lovely and all-around great. Brittany didn't deserve any of what she got...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James - Episode 3 It was quite the week at Nemacolin. Is it because everyone's stuck together in this massive, palatial resort, or something else, that makes these women lash out at Sarah for seemingly totally normal things? Where is this ugly energy coming from? We'll just give a shout-out to Rachael, Bri, and Katie, who seemed like the only supportive women on t...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James - Episode 2 Already, we're seeing an improved version of quarantined Bachelor Nation than we did for The Bachelorette. Nemacolin is a much bigger place for everyone to spread out, which makes the dates feel like offsite dates. We'll see how long that illusion lasts, but for now, it's such a welcome change from various banquet halls. Victoria has definitely t...

Rose Plate Special: Bachelor Matt James - Episode 1 We're on Season 7 of the podcast already. Unbelievable! Plus, we get to start this season with a special guest - Sammi's boyfriend, Tuc! We'll turn him into an enthusiastic of the show yet. Just you watch. This season is shaping up to be interesting - several standout women, a couple interesting villains, and a cameo from a vibe! What a season we...