Waiting to X-hale

This week, Karen and Wynter take on the Netflix phenomenon, Cheer , a docuseries about the championship cheer squad from Navarro College in Corsicana, TX. Wynter speaks candidly about what it's like to embark on life in her 40s, which includes taking a "Lexapause" to try and make a baby. Karen has taken on the daily ritual of trying to perfect the tornado omelette (or "omurice"), while explaining...

What box subscriptions keep Wynter and Karen thrivin' and survivin'? Wynter tells us all about a very different kind of streaming service that serves up classic Blaxploitation, while Karen finally admits which celebrity chef taught her how to cook. It's Oscar season, so the two share their very different feelings about another hostless ceremony, while looking back on some of their favorites. Nuo-l...

Wynter and Karen return from their holiday hiatus, and reflect on what 2020 has wrought thus far, and speak from the heart about the complicated feelings each of them experienced as Angelenos after the tragic death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna. The two tell us what entertainment sustained them during their break, and take a deep look back at one of E.W.'s "top 50 movies about High School...

Grounded in the hopeful spirit of songs by Band Aid and U.S.A For Africa, Karen and Wynter chat about what they're grateful for in 2019 – and look forward to renewed focus and positive productivity in the coming year. While Wynter hopes Instagram removing likes from the platform eases our anxieties, Karen recommends a book on choosing activism that actually makes us feel good. The two also discuss...

Karen and Wynter couldn't resist diving into season 3 of Netflix's most opulent and expensive series, The Crown as soon as it was released. How do the two feel about the new cast, lead by Oscar-winner Olivia Colman & Helena Bonham Carter as we enter EIIR's midlife transformations? Karen has a little something to say about Gen Z labeling Gen X a bunch of "Karens." And as usual, nuo-lingo enhances o...

W2X goes back to school w/ Professor Tongson's class on U.S. Pop Culture LIVE at USC! Wynter is off on assignment, so Tre'vell Anderson from OUT magazine and Sarah Kessler, the TV editor for Public Books (and Karen's better half) join her for a backwards glance at the early 2000s and the "postfeminism" of Sex & The City vs. The L-Word.  Tre'vell gives us the dish about Robyn Crawford's new memoir...

All hail Regina King! Her turn on HBO's The Watchmen alerted most of white America to the existence of a "Black Wall Street" in its opening depiction of the 1921 "Tulsa massacre." This episode explores the shifting TV representations of the BMC or "black middle classes," from King's debut in the 80s sitcom 227 to the Johnsons of Black-ish today.  Karen and Wynter also talk GBBO gossip, 90 Day Fian...

With the recent release of Paul Rudd's Netflix series , Living with Yourself , we began to ask ourselves which everyman, GenX heartthrob might be the "better" version of another? This week we stage a showdown between everybody's favorite nice guys, Paul Rudd vs. John Cusack. Wynter relishes in the boos heard 'round the world, as Nats fans confronted the president in their house. Karen declares Bon...

***SPOILER ALERT - MIDSOMMAR AND HEREDITARY PLOT DETAILS ARE DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE*** It's Halloween-time and modern-day horror ensnares Wynter who finally convinces Karen to watch Midsommar and Hereditary . Which movie could she not make it through?!? The two get into horror/suspense auteur Ari Aster's impressive body of work exploring intergenerational trauma, and what they call "intimate ho...

***SPOILER ALERT: MAJOR PLOT POINTS FROM THE JOKER ARE REVEALED IN THIS EPISODE*** Amazing guests keep rolling into W2X, and this week Wynter and Karen are joined by the one and only Heather Matarazzo, an actor, writer, director, who's played some of the most iconic roles in film and TV over the last 25 years, including Dawn Wiener in Welcome to the Dollhouse , Lily Moscovitz in the The Princess D...

Wynter & Karen welcome Madin Lopez, a stylist and the founder of ProjectQ: a non-profit organization benefiting LGBTQ+ homeless youth by providing free gender-affirming haircuts, and safe-spaces, as well as life-skills workshops. On this National Coming Out Day, the three evaluate Queen Latifah's career and how her iconic characters, Cleo from Set it Off , and Khadijah from Living Single have infl...

With the recent debut of Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story: 1984 , Wynter and Karen take the occasion to explore his deeply nostalgic oeuvre to consider whether or not his dominion is 80s camp or 90s magic realism, i.e. horror stories or true crime stories? The two talk about where they were when Richard Ramirez, the serial killer known as the Nightstalker and resurrected in AHS 1984 , was wreak...

Karen and Wynter travel all the way to the University of Mississippi in Oxford for their first live show, with special guests Kiese Laymon and Alysia Steele. The four of them get into our inappropriate objects of pop-cultural affection--or the many times each of them has been told they were wannabes, or didn't belong for being POC who like "problematic pop objects." Befitting their idyllic campus...

All hail the goddess, Kirsten Dunst, who just received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and is turning heads with her spectacular turn as Krystal Stubbs on the new Showtime series, On Becoming a God in Central Florida. Karen & Wynter dive deep into her under-appreciated career, focusing on her debut decade (the 1990s), as well as her rise to box-office domination (in the 2000s). Wynter calls...

Disney rolls out the reboots at its annual D23 convention and--surprise, surprise--there's little to tickle the fancies of Generation X, with all the devotion to Lizzie McGuire & HSM. Wynter & Karen remedy that by telling you which Disney reboots from the 70s & 80s they'd be interested in seeing, especially between The Cat from Outer Space vs. Flight of the Navigator. Karen fishes for a Netflix sp...

Both Wynter and Karen try not to cry every time they talk about the dearly departed Luke Perry, aka Dylan McKay. The two dive headfirst into a long simmering debate from the last 30 years--Brenda vs. Kelly--as the Fox reboot, BH 90210 confounds and excites viewers with its many layers of meta. Wynter is excited about this year's VMA's (!?!?), but only because Dr. Missy Elliott received the Video V...

Wynter and Karen are abuzz with news of the casting for Ryan Murphy's next season of American Crime Story on the Clinton impeachment, with Monica Lewinsky on board as a producer, and Beanie Feldstein playing Monica. Each reflect on that moment in history as a turning point when politics and tabloid journalism collided, and Fox News was but a fledgling cesspool of misinformation. They also consider...

W2X goes wild as we conjure a raucous showdown between urban legends, Cocaine Bear vs. Meth Gator! Who are they? What are they? And what do they tell us about person-kind's relationship to nature as it's evolved since nature TV in the 1970s and 1980s? Wynter tells us all about the new boomer cable channel MeTV as we have a slight skirmish over GenX shows like The Facts of Life that also appear on...

It's a battle of GenX matinee idols, Brad Pitt vs. Leonardo DiCaprio. Wynter and Karen reflect on the arc of Brad & Leo's careers in light of their latest joint venture, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The two also reveal the special joys of "secret single behaviors" when they take themselves out without their spouses. Wynter hits the comedy clubs, and Karen talks about her close encounter with May...

Pop open a Bartles & Jaymes, and pull your rocking chair up to your laptop, Wynter and Karen get into how Generation X uses YouTube, from nostalgic forays into old commercials and landmark pop culture moments, to how-to videos and instructional content. But they don't stop there: Wynter also scours YouTube for fresh content to break us all out of our slacker rut. Speaking of slackers, Karen revisi...

'Tis the season for dogs wearing sunglasses, horndog teens and poolside rumpshakin'. Karen and Wynter get deep into summer shenanigans, both their own, and everything we've seen on screen since the 1980s. Karen is surrendering to yoga while catching up on Big Little Lies, while Wynter has some thoughts to share about all the online drama over casting a black Little Mermaid and black female 007. Al...

Wynter catches up with Karen after she returns from her month-long book tour abroad, and the two get into some of the things KT missed back in the U.S. of A. , including HBO MAX, and the new series  Euphoria.  Karen (who saw a couple of World Cup games in France) gets into how we are all living in Megan Rapinoe's Sapphic summer, and the two debate Goonies vs. Stand By Me--the coming-of-age films t...

It's the debut episode of Waiting to X-hale, a Gen X-themed show with podcast veterans Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh and Karen Tongson. W2X revisits the pop culture & social issues that defined Generation X from a (queer) woman-of-color perspective in a way that sheds new light on the pop culture from both then, and now. In our first episode, Wynter & Karen welcome you to their world, and debate who'd...