Pop Culture Preservation Society

FAME description for you:  Join us for part one of a two part episode devoted to the movie beloved by every theater nerd band geek and future solid gold dancer in the halls of your junior high school - the 1980 musical drama that made Irene Cara a household name, Fame (🎶 I'm gonna live forever!). We'll pay tribute to Ms. Cara and also give you a sneak peek into the making of this movie be...

GenXers know him best wearing nothing but a loincloth in The Blue Lagoon, and now Christopher Atkins is baring all for US! Join us for this fun, flirty, and very eye-opening conversation that our 12-year-old selves are still reeling from. From how he was discovered to that curly hair (not his original style, btw) to his relationship (then and now) with Brooke Shields to stuffing his Speedos (or no...

1983: Quite possibly the best year for music in the 80s! We’re on your FM Dial in 1983 talking about (and singing) all our favorites, and pondering just what it was that was responsible for this new and TOTALLY AWESOME music (hello, 2nd British Invasion). Is YOUR favorite 1983 song mentioned? Crimp your hair, throw on some heavy eyeliner and join us in this truly singable episode! Follow us on Ins...

Hop in a yellow raft and hold on tight, because we’re going over the waterfall and into the Land of The Lost with Will Marshall himself, Wesley Eure! Join us as Wesley blows our minds with information about the Saturday morning staple that we didn’t know, gives us funny Sleestak intel, shares fun and heartwarming stories about his Land of The Lost family, tells us about the show that our own kids...

You know that party game where someone asks "if you could invite three people -- ANY PEOPLE -- to your house for a dinner party, who would you choose?" Well, the PCPS has been living that game IN REAL LIFE! This week we interview some of the stars of our favorite childhood TV shows, who also happen to be the featured dinner party guests at the fan event of our Gen X dreams: The Nite of Dre...

Who was your first celebrity crush? After an all NEW intro conversation where Kristin surprises us with something BIG and EXCITING, we’re replaying the episode where we shared who first made our hearts beat wildly, whose albums we covered in kisses, and who we dreamed of walking around in a bathrobe with. We discuss the way our crushes evolve as we grow older, the importance of these very real fee...

This week we’re dedicating the episode to our forever girl crush, Kristy McNichol. After a new intro conversation where we gush about our upcoming dinner WITH KRISTY HERSELF (and wonder how in the world we will react to meeting her IRL), we’re replaying our OG Kristy episode where we dive deep into her start in the business, her rapid fire trajectory to super stardom, and her sudden fall from the...

In this ENCORE of Episode 42, “Tiger Beat’s Top 10 Teen Idol Countdown,” we’re sharing an all new opening conversation about these idols, adding in a few others and telling you about one of them we’re going to MEET IRL soon! Then we’ll replay this fun conversation where we RANKED Tiger Beat’s Top 10 Teen Idols! Who made it past our “PCPS Crushology Scale” (trademark pending) to take a place on the...

It’s our 100th episode … and we have a LOT to say about it! Come celebrate with us as we reminisce about our 100 episode journey and discuss all it took to get here, our most memorable moments, the laughter, the singing, the bloopers, blunders, and so much more (and yes, there are clips — lots of clips)! We’re also sharing some messages from our wonderful listeners that warmed our hearts. This mil...

The season of returns has begun! And in the aftermath of gift-giving season we're saving the weird, the wrong, the misguided and sometimes confusing gifts we've received from our well-meaning moms, dads, grandmas and aunties over the many gift-giving occasions of our lifetimes. From Ralphie's pink bunny suit to Lloyd Dobbler's pen plus so many listener stories of unwanted luggage,...

In today's episode we'll be exploring our collection of Christmas records, looking for the most Seventiest of them all. Often from people who may -- or may NOT -- be singers. Or even people. Because Christmas in the 70s was something special; it had all the shiny tinsel and traditions from the olden days plus all the glamour and kitsch from whatever happened to be on TV that night. Some Ch...

Laura Ingalls may be the role that Melissa Gilbert is best known for, but her portrayal of Helen Keller in 1979’s The Miracle Worker is what she is still — 43 years later — the proudest of. Join us as we chat with our friend Melissa about the intensity of the preparation, the crazy filming experience, and the emotions that came with the movie’s release (grab a tissue for the Michael Landon story)....

In part 2 of our discussion of this legendary 80s blockbuster, we make PhD-level discoveries about the meaning of Purple Rain and how the story was told through Prince's music. It turns out that LYRICS MATTER PEOPLE! And when you listen hard, you might understand this movie far differently than you did in 1984. Yes, we all know what Nikki was doing with that magazine but Kristin really missed...

Dearly Beloved ... we are gathered here today to get through this thing called ... a podcast episode -- devoted to one of the most iconic movies of the 1980s: Prince's Purple Rain. It's a movie that conjures up images from the classic Gen X adolescence; if you didn't see Purple Rain, were you even a teenager in the 80s? We'll ask Carolyn and Michelle because together we gathered in...

Join the PCPS as they celebrate their favorite thing about Thanksgiving -- TV! Remember gathering on the shag carpeting to catch your favorite sitcom during Thanksgiving week? Those are the TV shows we're talking about. After an impromptu discussion about what Thanksgiving looked like in our 1970's classrooms, we each take one very special episode and dissect the good, the bad and the ugly...

John Denver’s pure, melodic voice filled up our senses, gave us sunshine on our shoulders and took us to Rocky Mountain highs in our childhoods … and still does to this day! We’re remembering this icon with a heartfelt conversation that includes not just the music we loved and the songs that are our favorites, but a peek at the incredible man behind all of it. Which PCPS host lives a few blocks fr...

Country or Rock-n-Roll, it didn't matter! When it came to Donny & Marie, our hearts pumped purple! Join us as we enthusiastically recount our love for this dynamic duo and the variety show that we were enraptured with ... and can still do the choreo from! We’re breaking it all down, from the silhouetted opening and the ice skaters, to the eclectic list of guests, to the sweet closing song...

We’re kicking Season 7 off with the INCREDIBLE John Davidson, the icon with the mega-watt smile who was all over our television sets in the 1970s. Join us for this fun conversation with the ever-engaging, personable, retrospective, and wise John Davidson as he talks about his nice guy image, what he loved (and didn’t) about That’s Incredible, gives us behind-the-scenes scoop on Hollywood Squares,...

PCPS Society, come on down! You’re the next contestants on the encore of our game show episode … with an ALL NEW opening conversation about the episode PLUS a fun conversation with a friend who was not only a contestant BUT worked for one of the shows! How many of your memories of sick days home from school or summer vacations are tied to game shows? All of them? Yeah, us, too. Join us as we talk...

In honor of the second conversation we had with Melissa Gilbert for an upcoming Season 7 episode, we’re going back to ‘Back To The Prairie’ today (with an ALL NEW opening conversation about our friendship with Melissa)! If you missed it the first time, it’s such a great conversation! The PCPS is thrilled and honored to talk with Melissa Gilbert about her new memoir, “Back To The Prairie: A Home Re...

Grab your velcro wallet, throw on that Benneton rugby and lace up those Sperrys. We are heading back to the mall with an all new introduction to one of our most popular episodes to date, “Orange Julius Wishes & Karmelkorn Dreams.” Other than the roller rink, was there a better place to hang out during our GenX childhoods than the mall in the 1970s and 1980s? Join us for our fun conversation al...

What songs from the ‘70s make you cry? Grab some tissues and join us as we break down some of the ‘70s songs that caused us to literally break down! We discuss what it is about these songs that triggers such complex feelings and share personal memories we attribute to certain songs. Stay tuned until the end when we share a supersized list of all the titles the PCPS Instagram society contributed, a...

Your first crush explained Whether it was Chachi, David Cassidy, Kristy McNichol or even Willy Wonka (no lie), we think the Gen X era was the golden era of crushes. And in this episode, we’ll examine that almost universal experience of falling in love with the people on our TVs, turntables and radios in a discussion with an actual Crushologist; Dr. Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, Associate Professor...

In this episode you get a front row seat to a throw down that will test our knowledge on the very subject we aim to preserve -- cultural nuggets from the Gen X era! -- in our first round of the Pop Culture Preservation Society Pop Quiz Challenge. Kristin quizzes Carolyn and Michelle on the TV, movies, sports, and news stories of the 70s and 80s and along the way we'll learn some unintended fac...

We are thrilled and honored to be talking to the trailblazing woman who wrote for some of the most iconic shows of the 70s and 80s, Susan Silver. Join us as Susan, one of the first female writers for The Mary Tyler Moore Show who opened the door for over 20 female writers, regales us with her start in the business, shares some juicy behind-the-scenes nuggets about the MTM episodes she wrote, and b...