Pop Culture Junkie®

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday.  Shauna is popping the 2016 book My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. The tongue-in-cheek story set in the Satanic Panic era of the 1980s tells the tale of a lifelong friendship put to the test when one of the BFFs gets demonically possessed.  We have affordable and re...

Shauna debriefs Olivia (and us) on the details of her European Vacation, and Olivia reveals a surprise visit of her own. Then the Junkies take a deep dive into the Hulu documentary called The Swan: Behind the Mirror, which looks at the 2004 reality show The Swan. The show had a jaw-dropping premise: take "ugly ducklings" - women who are unsatisfied with their appearance - and put them through 3 mo...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Olivia continues to manifest a wedding and so watched the 2001 film The Wedding Planner, starring a luminous Jennifer Lopez and the most handsome iteration of Matthew McConaughey, in a twisted tale in which you find yourself rooting for the cheaters. You can find it on Netfli...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Shauna recommends 1988’s Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the film debut of Elvira, the Horror Hostess extraordinaire, a character created by actor/comedienne Cassandra Peterson. It’s available to stream on Amazon Prime. We have affordable and rewarding Patreon tiers! Be the fir...

After a little travel talk (someone's going to Europe!), Olivia and Shauna get ready for Spooky Season by talking about the marriage of their two favorite cinematic genres: comedy and horror. They go back to early comedy horror blends like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and other films that poke fun at horror films and their conventions, like Young Frankenstein, Attack of the Killer Tomatoe...

n PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Olivia rewatched one the underrated rom-com Made of Honor, starring Patrick Dempsey as the maid of honor to his best friend (and love interest, naturally) played by Michelle Monaghan. It’s now available on Amazon Prime.  We have affordable and rewarding Patreon tiers! Be the f...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Shauna is still powering through the Marvel Cinematic Universe and this week is popping Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings from 2021. Starring Simu Liu and the always funny Awkwafina, Shang-Chi was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and can be seen on Disney+. We have a...

We lost some important cultural icons recently: Dolly Parton, Gloria Steinem and the subject of this episode. Shauna and Olivia remember the one and only Tim Curry in an episode that covers his long career as an actor on the stage and on the big and small screens, and his distinguished voice acting career. Then the Junkies look at four of Curry's best roles: Dr. Frank-N-Furter from Rocky Horror Pi...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Olivia recently enjoyed the combined hotness of Jessica Alba and the late Paul Walker in Into the Blue from 2005. Directed by John Stockwell, the film follows divers who get more than treasure when they find a sunken plane loaded with coke. The film is available on Amazon Pri...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Shauna is gearing up for Avengers: Doomsday by watching all the Marvel content she’ll need to consume to know what’s going on in that movie, so she’s popping the Bryan Singer-directed X-Men (2000) and X2 from 2003. Both films feature Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKe...

Olivia and Shauna get together in the Pop Culture Junkie studio to talk the good, the bad and the ugliest of Halloween costumes (looking at you, clowns) before getting to the main discussion: aging in Hollywood. There's long been a double standard when it comes to older actors, where men get stay visible in powerful and romantic roles, while women are relegated to playing mom to an actor five year...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. The end of August means Spooky Season is upon us, so Olivia recommends the terrifying and poignant Netflix limited series The Haunting of Hill House from 2018. Based on the Shirley Jackson novel of the same name, the series was written and directed by Mike Flanagan and starre...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Shauna binged the first season of the anime series Marriagetoxin, based on the manga by Joumyako, about an assassin who enlists the help of a matchmaker when he needs to find a wife for business purposes. It’s available on CrunchyRoll.  We have affordable and rewarding Patreo...

Shauna and Olivia are joined by producer, essayist, and screenwriter Daniel de Boulay for this episode. Daniel has worked as an Acquisitions Executive at Sony Pictures for several years and is an alum of the Academy Awards Gold program. He is also an accomplished music producer and composer and is currently working on an essay about James Bond for the website The Splice. Daniel tells the Junkies a...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Olivia recommends the raunchy 2015 comedy Trainwreck, starring Amy Schumer as the title character and Bill Hader as the one man who could really love her. Judd Apatow directed from Schumer’s script, and Brie Larson, Colin Quinn and LeBron James also appear. It’s streaming on...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday.  Shauna gives props to the scariest movie she’s ever seen: Hereditary, directed by Ari Aster and released in 2018. This story of a devastating family tragedy compounded by a horrifying possession stars Toni Collette, Alex Wolf, Gabriel Byrne, Ann Dowd and Molly Shapiro and is...

From Olivia's Hawaiian adventure to Shauna's obsession with social media mascot Jimothy the raccoon, the Junkies cover it all in this pop culture-themed gabfest. Find out about Gwyneth Paltrow's perfect salad, the latest in romantasy and 'Bromantasy', and an obsession with 'Obsession' in this fun conversational episode.  We have affordable and rewarding Patreon tiers! Be the first to hear new and...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Olivia says if you’re high, or really need a good laugh, or both, you must watch Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. It’s a 2002 movie written, directed by, and starring Steve Oedekerk, who inserted himself into a 1976 Hong Kong martial arts film with hilarious results. It’s available...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Shauna suggests you ignore the haters and find a theater that’s still showing 2026’s Supergirl, starring Milly Alcock as the Girl of Steel, along with her adorable dog Krypto. It’s based on the Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow comic series and is a worthy part of James Gunn’s DCE...

So far in 2026, the big-budget superhero flick Supergirl tanked while quirky indie projects like Backrooms and Obsessionbecame mega-hits. Who knows what's going to be trending over the remainder of 2026? The Pop Culture Junkies know! The second half of the year is often when the year's top films come out: Oscar-bait, holiday movies, sequels, prequels and blockbuster action-adventure flicks will so...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Olivia ugly-cried at the 2026 Netflix romantic comedy Voicemails for Isabelle. Starring Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson as two strangers from different cities who meet after he gets the voicemails she left on her late sister’s phon e.  We have affordable and rewarding Patreon t...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Shauna suggests you check out 2008’s found-footage zombie flick Quarantine, starring Jennifer Carpenter and Jay Hernandez, on Prime. It’s a gory but good story about a reporter following firefighters on a distress call and gets quarantined with them following a disaster.  We...

Olivia and Shauna recount their weekend in San Francisco enjoying the best that Pride Month has to offer there: Drag acts, wig snatching contests, music, brunch - all the good stuff. Then they get serious and talk about a topic that some could find triggering - the rise (once again) of the "thin is in" movement, especially in today's media. Please use caution if you would rather avoid discussions...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Olivia binged the hilarious 2014 HBO comedy Silicon Valley, created by Mike Judge and starring Thomas Middleditch, Martin Starr and Kumail Nanjiani. It’s available on HBO Max. We have affordable and rewarding Patreon tiers! Be the first to hear new and uncensored content, if...

In PCJ Pops, the Pop Culture Junkies share their recommendations on what to experience in pop culture, today and yesterday. Shauna rented 2025’s dystopian drama The Long Walk, based on the Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) novel. Starring Mark Hamill, the film follows a group of kids literally walking for their lives in a totalitarian regime. It’s available for rental on Prime.  We have affordabl...