Strange Bedfellows

A handsome British princeling and a dashing American dreamboat put aside their differences and get together to discuss this delightful romance novel by Casey McQuiston. Music credits: “Typewriter Blues,” by AllenGrey “Dark Lullaby,” by J Blanks "In a Dubstep," by FAS Sounds You can listen to Jack's lengthy discussion of R.E.M.'s discography on Fluxpod. Special thanks to Baby Bee Carys for the them...

Starting this Monday, the boys are going to be discussing a new romance novel every single week, beginning with "Red, White, and Royal Blue," by Casey McQuiston. Join us on a wild, wicked, and surprisingly sexy ride as we explore this brand-new world of literature together. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

Bad news, Steve Wakefield: Your girlfriend Tricia has heard the sweet song of the cows; the clarion clucks of the chickens; the beckoning cries of the piggies. That's right, it's the farm life for Tricia this week, but that's not all! Jessica's harassing people in the hospital, Elizabeth and Todd are trying to solve the world's most confusing mystery, and Rattlesnake Jake's up to his old tricks ag...

Hide your precious jewels, your boyfriends, and your favorite teachers because the wicked Suzanne Devlin is in town and she's going to burn them all to the ground! To make matters worse, Jessica's in New York where the bad people are, so Liz is going to have to handle this one on her own. On the bright side, Rattlesnake Jake is here to amuse you with his hilarious snakey antics! Hooray for Rattles...

This week, Jessica is mean to a cheerleader, Elizabeth is nice to a cheerleader but not particularly helpful, and a gruesome, tentacled, otherworldly entity tries to engulf the town as a first step towards world domination. Meanwhile, the boys get utterly stymied by a profound existential question regarding Sweet Valley High and have to call on the services of an expert. Music credits: “A Sitcom,”...

The fabulous Mr. Kiss and his awkward sidekick are here to talk about what everybody in Sweet Valley is doing with their mouths these days, and the boys take a frankly dangerous look at whatever it is that Ned Wakefield is reading at the moment. This Dickensian rags-to-riches story has everything: Heart-pounding footraces, eyebrow-raising foot-pounding, and, as suggested up top, various types of m...

We've all been doing kissing all wrong and this week's book is going to set us straight on the optimal technique, but first we have to do a power ranking of the "Cars" movies and figure out what, specifically, we're going to haunt in the afterlife, and dish about whether Jessica's going to be the next big Hollywood star! Things we will not be talking about this week: 1.) Liz was in a coma quite re...

The Twin Singularity has produced a Uni-twin and Elizabeth has taken on Jessica's personality and vice versa and this is definitely "Fight Club," isn't it? Meanwhile, Bruce Pac-Man is getting punched a whole lot, Bill Chase is getting extremely poetic about the moon, Jess and Danny are going to do a big murder, and Sweet Valley gets a visit from everyone's favorite Naboo bad boys. Enjoy all this m...

Todd got a brand-new hog and he wrecked it while Elizabeth was on it and now there's only one twin in Sweet Valley, but folks: We have to talk about the Hot Clam Special. At Dairi Burger? What the hell is going on with this dish? It's completely bonkers. What is actually in it and why do people keep ordering it and ... just ... we have so many questions about this thing. Anyway, Liz is dead. Music...

This week, Jessica Wakefield stays up all night long thanks to a mustachioed creep named Scott. Elizabeth Wakefield accidentally wears a cursed artifact that causes her to transform. Todd Wilkins shops for an accessory to help him float better. And the Joke Doctors drive their Ha-Ha-Ha-mbulance to the scene of a badly injured joke to revive the patient and save the day for everyone! Music credits:...

The Sweet Sweet Valley Boys continue their dangerous reading spree through the Sweet Valley books this week with a deep dive into the life and times of Robin Wilson, a character who frankly deserved better. (Please be careful not to confuse this discussion about the novel "Power Play" – about a bunch of young people using their superior numbers to gang up on an isolated member of the group – with...

After realizing just how out of their depth they are in the dangerous narrative universe of Sweet Valley High, the Sweet Sweet Valley Boys call in an expert to help them navigate these choppy waters. And not a moment too soon, because Bruce Pac-Man is being aggravatingly perverse, Jessica Wakefield is not helping at all, and pretty much everyone from Todd Wilkins all the way to some guy called Ton...

Sweet Valley Jack and Tanner are back to investigate who's keeping secrets and who's telling lies in this scintillating novel by Francine Pascal about a world where sentient cars battle for supremacy with hideous creatures made of amorphous flesh and teeth. Also, Ronnie's going to the dance with Jessica, and it kind of looks like George Wallace and Enid are an item? Scandalous! Music credits: “A S...

The "Dark Library" is a collection of forbidden texts composed by Ann M. Martin before it was given to her to weave the great Sitters' Cycle. It is unknown what words of power are writ inside the hidden tomes of the Dark Library — all that is known is that anyone who dares to read them is driven mad. This Scholastic-approved biography of Ann M. Martin was written by Margot Becker R., one of the fe...

Five years ago, two men made a solemn promise: They would tell the story of Agent Associate Baby-Sitter Shannon Kilbourne the way Ann M. Martin always intended it to be told. Almost immediately, one of those men fully delivered on that promise, but literally no one noticed, primarily because of an almost overwhelming lack of interest from the other man. But now, in full technicolor, you can finall...

In 1992, the brilliant but reclusive game designer Milton Bradley created what was to become his masterpiece, a game so compelling and so dangerous that few have ever dared to play it. Nearly 30 years later, two of the world's foremost Baby-Sitters Club experts sat down with an accomplished, brave, and highly credentialed Dungeon Master to immerse themselves in Bradley's legendary role-playing exp...

The boys are joined by a very, very, very special guest to discuss a little-known MTV Buzz Bin act called Ednaswap. Also, the novel Karen’s Unicorn. This is a bonus episode from our Patreon. To get an episode like this every week for just $5 a month, subscribe to the show here! We love and also kiss you! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn...

In this special one-off episode, Dan Brown scholars and archivists Jack Shepherd and Tanner Greenring collaborate to painstakingly recreate the first chapter "The Da Vinci Code" for posterity. This astonishing oral history will be part of the living memory of our culture for as long as humans tell stories to one another, and as an act of public service for a world community that hungers to collect...

Kind of a frantic energy about this one. Tanner reveals a big secret. Karen disgraces herself. Jack is ... distracted. This is a bonus episode that aired on our Patreon on April 16, 2020. To get an episode like this every week for just $5 a month, subscribe to the show here! We love and also kiss you! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn mo...

Some fun (and let's be honest, quite sexy!) spoilers for the classic baby-sitting novel (she's a governess!) "Jane Eyre"  in this episode — a book you've had 174 YEARS to read. What else do you need to know ... let's see ... Team Jane all the way, Rochester's a mega-creep, and the name of the First Century British queen who led an uprising against the Romans can in fact be pronounced "Bo-Di-See-A"...

The boys will be back next week with Jane Eyre, but in the meantime, here's the latest episode of Tanner's OTHER podcast. The idea here, I think, was, wouldn't it be fun to have an episode of something with Tanner in it but where Jack wasn't invited even though we've had Josh on our show and also, hey, let's ask Jack to write the description? Anyway, in this one, Tanner and his best friend ~Josh~...

Perhaps the most highly anticipated babysitting movie of all time, "The Phantom Menace" proved to be a showcase of just how bad babysitting can be when left in the hands of a director with no one nearby to rein in his worst impulses. As a result, baby Anakin is allowed by the Babysitters Club consisting of Obi Wan and his friend Jim to do dangerous driving and age-inappropriate flirting, which lea...

It takes a lot to surprise two boys who've encountered every form of babysitting from leopards to Tiny Yoda to that time Jake Kuhn fell down a well and had to babysit himself for a few days. But even these hardened babysitting veterans were put through their paces by this literal island of babies (plus, this one dude), who are sat — within an inch of their tiny lives — by the unflappable, incandes...

Our sexiest episode yet. This is a bonus episode from our Patreon. To get an episode like this every week for just $5 a month, subscribe to the show here! We love and also kiss you! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One huge fan, one reluctant cohost, and one perfect babysitting movie makes for one particularly fine day over here at BSCC headquarters, where we're talking about a surprisingly polarizing 1996 Rom-Com starring Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney. This one has a deep dark chocolate layer, LSD, and a surprising visitor from Stoneybrook! Music credits: "TV Show Opener," by Shorties “You Gotta Have...