Pop Culture Junkie®

Shauna details her busy week getting interviewed by the national press (and the advocacy work that got their attention, and Olivia describes her slightly less fun adventures (though she did get a chance to consume a LOT of pop culture.) Then Shauna tells us about being a mathlete until Olivia challenges her to a bit of mental arithmetic and...BUSTED! Speaking of mental stuff, this week The Junkies...

Don't say it three times! Shauna details her recent encounter with a celebrity. Who was it? You'll have to listen to find out, but he's super cool, has gorgeous eyes, and is a great tipper. Olivia had an encounter with...Utah, thanks to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, a Hulu series about one of the naughtiest Mormon momfluencers on television now. Then the Junkies segue into a look at Beetlejuic...

Olivia and Shauna start talking about bangs – the kind that you choose deliberately, not trauma bangs, and then…plot twist! No, that’s this week’s show topic: twist endings – the epic and the awful. While they do happen on television (usually ruining several years of storytelling), the most memorable twist endings are in movies. But why do filmmakers (including the patron saint of twists, M. Night...

Olivia and Shauna face an inconvenient truth: no family gets more airtime on Pop Culture Junkie than the Kardashians. And that’s odd, especially since Shauna could at one time claim to never have seen an episode. But she can’t be an anti-Kardashian pick-me any more, because ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ is the subject of this episode. The Junkies look at the family’s entry into the zeitgeist a...

Shauna is obsessed with getting through this journey we call life, and what better way to do that than with a little bit of pop culture? She has controversial takes on the finales of both House of the Dragon and The Bear, and watching the Love Island reunion makes her wonder if she should catch the U.K. episodes. Olivia speaks out in defense of Blake Lively, who got roasted about stuff her hubby d...

Olivia complains about how Shauna "Elle Woodsed" her at her recent pool party, but Shauna tells her that her costume was perfection, even if she was the only one who showed up in one. Olivia's on a documentary kick right now, so if you want some amazing true crime reccs, she's got you. Shauna is still giddy from Deadpool & Wolverine, but manages to not spoil any of it for you (or Olivia.) She'...

Shauna and Olivia try to come to grips with the most jaw-dropping announcement from last week's San Diego Comic Con event: Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU, but not as Tony Stark. No, he's going to play Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom, the MCU's new Big Bad. The Pop Culture Junkie Podcast can now be seen on YouTube! Click here:  https://www.youtube.com/@popculturejunkiepod/videos We have all...

Shauna fills Olivia in on what she's been doing lately - as if they both didn't just spend the week on a girls trip in Mexico. Shauna tells us how she was detained by TSA upon re-entering the USA, (it's not as bad as it sounds!) and both she and Olivia agree there was a lot of sad pop culture news to take in upon their return. To get out of that funk, the Junkies talk about the lighthearted family...

Olivia is deep in her obsession with all things Game of Thrones, going down rabbit holes about the lore and boning up on her knowledge for a GoT trivia night! Shauna's appreciation of the acting skills of Fabien Frankel (House of the Dragon's Ser Crispy Creme) because he is an awesome villain leads her to want to play a villain - if she wins an Emmy, being hated would be worth it! And both Junkies...

Shauna is almost done watching season three of Bridgerton and its weirdly-paced main romance, but is more excited about The Fourth Wing, a new book by author Rebecca Yaros – and so is Olivia who has been encouraging her to read this book about horny humans and dragons. (The humans are horny, not the dragons… probably). Olivia is still watching a lot of airline content, somehow managing to binge al...

Shauna and Olivia have been busy lately: Shauna had a sober (*wink*) housewarming party and Olivia took a trip to San Francisco where she drank Martinis in the Castro. But did they make time to binge on pop culture? Of course - they're Junkies! Shauna wants to talk about JoJo Siwa's predilection for poppers and Colin from Bridgerton 's lip flip. She also declares her love for the Ghost concert mov...

It is seriously hot outside now, so the Junkies are indulging in all their streaming obsessions now. For Shauna, that means  The Boys , which returned with a scene that even made Shauna clutch her pearls. Then Olivia tries to talk about  Bridgerton  without too many spoilers, in case you, like Shauna, aren’t as far into the episode list as she is.  House of the Dragon  has also recently returned,...

Nicole has decided to fly off into the great blue yonder, so this is her farewell episode (for now, we hope!) The two OG Junkies (Nicole and Shauna) reminisce about the early days of the podcast. like how they met in an escape room, recorded in a noisy, crowded restaurant at first, and got to appear on live (to tape) TV! Then Nicole, Olivia and Shauna talk about a subject near and dear to Nicole’s...

Olivia has been globe-trotting (nation-trotting?) nearly as much as Nicole these days, but she has had time to binge season 3 of Regency-era sex-sation Bridgerton (and do her laundry). Nicole is still on a thriller book-kick, devouring Nerves of Steel about pilot Tammie Jo Shults and her daring emergency landing, and she and Shauna both consumed some Glen Powell content recently. Somehow that lead...

The Junkies discuss what they are looking forward to as summer approaches. Shauna is looking forward to having two functional feet again, and also some of her pop culture wishes to come true, like new Marvel content - chiefly, the new Agatha All Along series. The only Agatha that Olivia cares about is Agatha Christie, but she's always thinking about reading. Speaking of books, Nicole is looking fo...

The Junkies return to Phoenix Fan Fusion, this time to record a live episode that takes them back to that most controversial – and fun – topic of conspiracy theories. This time Olivia and Shauna are helped by the audience, who tell us shocking information about Hailey Bieber, and slightly less shocking information about Margot Robbie. But first, why do conspiracy theories, pop culture or otherwise...

The Junkies welcome back friend-of-the-pod and honorary Junkie Brad Perry to the show, and though it has been two years since Brad was last on the show, it seems like no time has passed. Unlike Shauna, Olivia is meeting Brad for the first time on this episode, but they become instant friends. Brad, known best in the Phoenix area as the Emmy Award-winning host of  The Daily Mix  morning show, is tr...

Nicole or, as Shauna and Olivia dub her, Australian Barbie, has finally returned from the other side of the world and has such stories to tell. Spoiler alert: none of those stories are about LARPing, but her vacation might make you jealous! Speaking of vacations, what better time than now to talk about vacation movies? The Junkies discuss what makes the perfect vacay flick, and why they never seem...

Junkie Emeritus Hayley the Brave joins Olivia and Shauna for a reunion episode and though Hayley and Olivia have only just met, they instantly bond over the new Taylor Swift album. Shauna also has opinions on Tortured Poets Department, and the three debate which songs are (among) their favorites. Then Hayley brings up the topic she came here to discuss: Television spinoffs. A devoted fan of  The X...

Shauna wants to add LARPing to her nerd repertoire - hey, is that what Nicole is out doing now? Probably not. Olivia is still in her Taylor era - not surprising as this is the time to indulge in all things Swift and Shauna's been using a SIMS game to bring back The Spice Girls. Then the two talk about the X-Men movies and Shauna's impersonation of the week is Rogue, as performed by Dolly Parton. I...

Shauna and Olivia are still running the show without Nicole, who went on a fabulous vacay but forgot to invite the other Junkies! Still, there's plenty to do here in Phoenix, like consuming pop culture! Shauna has been enjoying X-Men '97 and Next Level Chef with Gordon Ramsay, and she watched Total Recall for the very first time. Did you know there's a girl with three boobs in that? Olivia is stil...

Nicole gets the Junkies thinking about traveling, and while Olivia plans to escape the oppressive Arizona temps this summer, Shauna will enjoy the hot hot heat poolside. As for Nicole, she'll soon be sailing to the other side of the International Date Line, where her today will be our tomorrow. Then the talk turns to movies, specifically movie sets. With an imaginary time (and place) machine, Shau...

Shauna goes solo this week to interview award-winning indie writer/director/producer Ansel Faraj, whose film  The Great Nick D  is now on the festival circuit. Ansel tells Shauna about his pop culture heritage, and how it inspired his body of work. Though he’s based in Los Angeles, he’s no nepo baby – but even without connections he’s been able to fulfill his dream of making films. Ansel and Shaun...

The Junkies reveal their latest obsessions, which for Nicole is March Madness, for Olivia is reading the first book in a fantasy series and then waiting impatiently for the next book to be written, and for Shauna it is reliving the glorious return to classic animation that is  X-Men ’97 . There is also some NSFW discussion about “knotting” so consider yourself warned. Then the Junkies detail the h...

This week, Shauna tells the Junkies about the series  Shogun , and that she’s been to Japan twice, not that she’s bragging. Olivia gives us all the horrifying details from the Nickelodeon and Dan Schneider expose series  Quiet on the Set  (and here’s a trigger warning because it includes sexual violence against children), and Nicole goes up to bat with a review of  The Hill , a baseball movie star...