Pop Culture Junkie®

This week, Hayley, Shauna and Nicole welcome writer, sound engineer, graphic novelist and podcaster David Lucarelli to the show. David is the writer and director of Crude: A Completely Unauthorized Play, which is based (in an unauthorized way) on the band Mötley Crüe. The show, currently playing in the Hollywood Fringe Fest, is a funny, loving and moving tribute to the band and especially Nikki Si...

This week, Shauna, Hayley and Nicole host the show live from Phoenix Fan Fusion, the comic and pop culture convention that returned this year after a two year hiatus. Hayley and Shauna tell the audience about all the good geeky stuff premiering this week, like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Stranger Things, then welcome special guests to the stage. First up is Hecate, a cosplayer, model and influencer who tal...

This week, the Junkies welcome special guests Steve Romanko and Turner Van Ryn of 13th Generation Productions, who are producing a new animated TV show called The Dragons of Melgor, which they describe as “an animated science fiction adventure that is grounded in our flesh and blood world.” Steve and Turner talk about getting inspiration for their show from old-school Battlestar Galactica, and tal...

This week, The Junkies continue their in-depth look into beloved actor Samuel L. Jackson’s most iconic roles by watching the legendarily goofy (but not Sharknado goofy) Snakes on a Plane. Is it a comedy? An action-adventure? A romance? It’s really a combination of the three, with bad special effects and a Cobra Starship video thrown in to boot. The Junkies confess what creatures they’d be afraid t...

The Junkies are back with part two of their interview with Brad Perry, a legend in the Phoenix, Chicago and San Diego TV markets. Brad dishes on working with a couple actors the Junkies are very familiar with. Alex makes a case for Keanu Reeves’ acting chops, but Brad isn’t having it, and then Brad and Shauna go over the rules of a Samuel L. Jackson drinking game. Hayley gets Brad to divulge more...

This week The Junkies interview Brad Perry, a legend in the Phoenix television market (and elsewhere). Though Brad has conquered almost every kind of media, this is his very first podcast appearance. Brad is currently the host of the Arizona Daily Mix on KAZT, but got his start at Second City in Chicago, doubled for Damon Wayans (among other film jobs), and has headlined morning shows in San Diego...

Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine to all the chicks? Obviously, it’s Shaft, aka Law and Order SVU: The Movie. The second lesson in Samuel L. Jackson 101 is the beloved actor’s embodiment of the classic detective character originated by Richard Roundree in 1971. The Junkies look at Jackson’s take on the character, from his persona, his charisma and his collection of black leather co...

Things get all little cheesy on the show this week, as in love of Mozzarella, Colby Jack, or Bleu cheese (but not Swiss), before the Junkies talk about their latest pop culture obsessions. Shauna is digging Moon Knight and the enduring mystery of Is It Cake?, while Alex is bingeing one of the year’s most lauded new shows, Abbott Elementary, and finally took in The Batman. Nicole talks about an awe...

Now that the class on Keanu Reeves is concluded, it’s time to move on to our next subject: Samuel L. Jackson. This week, The Junkies go deep into one of the beloved actor’s most iconic roles: that of spiritual hitman Jules Winnfield in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Sure, this movie is the source of numerous memes, but more than that, it’s a surprisingly deep look at revenge, redemption, and Ro...

Who doesn’t love Keanu Reeves? No one, that’s who. This week the Junkies continue their semi-regular feature looking into some of pop culture’s most important films from one of its most beloved stars. Our final Keanu 101 lesson is on the movie that is one of his first: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Starring an extremely young Keanu along with Alex Winter, this movie gives a pair of himbos a...

Who doesn’t love Keanu Reeves? No one, that’s who. This week the Junkies continue their semi-regular feature looking into some of pop culture’s most important films from one of its most beloved stars. This week’s lesson is on the movie that proved Keanu was bankable as an action movie star. In Point Break, Keanu stars as an FBI agent, improbably named Johnny Utah, who infiltrates a gang of bank-ro...

This week the Junkies take on the big story from this year’s Academy Awards® presentation: How Apple TV+ was the first streaming service to produce a Best Picture winner. Oh, and whatever else happened. But first, it’s time to talk what was poppin’ this week; Alex loved the wild, arty weirdness of Atlanta, while Shauna loved the allegorical Turning Red. Nicole is all about The Afterparty, while Ha...

Ashleigh Feiring, a Producer of the Phoenix Fan Fusion convention, joins the Junkies this week to talk about her role at the event, which takes place from May 27th through the 29th at the Phoenix Convention Center. Ashleigh is pals with Shauna and, like Hayley, both are very much into cosplay. (Will they talk Nicole and Alex into doing their first cosplays?) Ashleigh and the Junkies talk about fav...

Who doesn’t love Keanu Reeves? No one, that’s who. This week the Junkies continue their semi-regular feature looking into some of pop culture’s most important films from one of its most beloved stars. This week’s lesson is on the movie that first brought us the undeniable chemistry of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock: Speed, aka “The Bus that Couldn’t Slow Down.” The Junkies discuss Keanu’s perform...

The #QuadSquad (Alex, Hayley, Nicole and Shauna) celebrate the Third Season Premiere of the Pop Culture Junkie Podcast by talking about all those shows that didn’t make it past season two. Looking at you, Joan of Arcadia! Seriously, though, why did shows like Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Lizzie McGuire and The Munsters only get two seasons, while Grey’s Anatomy carries on year after year like some...

You picked the categories. You picked the nominees. And you voted on the winners. Now it’s finally time to find out the best and worst of Pop Culture from the year where everything went back to normal, 2021. Ha Ha! Alex, Hayley, Shauna and Nicole announce the winners of the Junkies’ Choice Awards in a no-frills ceremony that’s more fun than the Golden Globes, which admittedly isn’t hard to do. Fin...

Who doesn’t love Keanu Reeves? No one, that’s who. This week the Junkies continue their semi-regular feature looking into some of pop culture’s most important films from one of its most beloved stars. This week’s lesson is on the first chapter of Reeves’ dog-loving hitman trilogy, John Wick. Though the movie has the thinnest of plots, it heavies up on meticulously choreographed action sequences an...

Alex, Shauna and Nicole welcome special guest Avery Xola, an Arizona native who is the author of the Murderman graphic novel series, a “punk rock project” which has everything: sex, shots, peeling skin, cyborgs and rock and roll. Avery tells the Junkies about how his writing has been influenced by everything from Robo-Cop, Muppet Babies and Final Destination, (among other classic stories), and tal...

Who doesn’t love Keanu Reeves? No one, that’s who. This week the Junkies continue a semi-regular feature looking into some of pop culture’s most important films from one of its most beloved stars. Our second lesson is on time travel/romance The Lake House. Based on the Korean film Il Mare, The Lake House reteams Reeves with one of his most charismatic co-stars, the shag-mulleted Sandra Bullock. Re...

Joey, Banana, Splash and Hayley the Brave and Strong (aka the Pop Culture Junkies) talk about their nicknames and how they got them. In other news, January is finally over (!) and the Junkies are looking forward to a new month full of new beginnings. It’s Black History Month, and Alex and Hayley discuss the best shows and movies to watch now and all of the time. Nicole starts the Pop Culture Junki...

Who doesn’t love Keanu Reeves? No one, that’s who. This week the Junkies start a semi-regular feature looking into some of pop culture’s most important films from one of its most beloved stars. Our first subject is the fluffy football comedy The Replacements. Based (loosely) on real-life events, The Replacements is the story of a pro football team that hired scab players to play when the regular t...

The Junkies look at the phenomenon of hate-watching this week; Alex watches Jersey Shore just to complain about it to his brother, who’s a fan; Nicole’s dad holds her hostage in front of Two and a Half Men, Hayley watches 911 just to see characters catch on fire, Shauna thinks And Just Like That is so bad it actually became watchable, and everyone has a love-hate relationship with social media. Th...

The Junkies take the Ten Year Challenge and decide what Pop Culture rocked back in 2012 and what needs to survive until the year 2032. Then Alex, Nicole, Hayley and Shauna move on to the Pop Culture of 2022, including (spoilers!) the finale of Dexter, the merits of Cobra Kai, aka Riverdale with Karate, and whatever the heck was going on in Netflix’s Don’t Look Up. Then the Junkies pay tribute to B...

Alex and Nicole make their Pop Culture resolutions for 2022…will they keep up with them? Time will tell! The year may have changed, but we are still popping here at PCJ. Alex hypes 60 Days In and Ron’s Gone Wrong, and he will convince you to subscribe to PBS Documentaries, and Nicole is taking the Ultimate Girls Trip with the Real Housewives of Everywhere. Then the Junkies celebrate the life of Be...

2021 was the year that made us look back fondly at 2020. And yet, there were some moments this year that made life worth living. On this, the last PCJ podcast of the year, Hayley, Shauna and Nicole tell us their moods according to Spotify, and look back at the best of 2021 in music, movies, and streaming. They also recall all the special guests who joined us, the top cultural events – those triump...