Wet Hot Summer Soaps REWIND! We will see you in August!

Enjoy this episode from last summer while we get our shit together and take some vacations! 

We take a nostalgic dive into the world of soap operas and their impact on Gen X women's lives, exploring both daytime dramas and primetime sensations that dominated television from the 1970s through the 1990s.

• Daytime soaps like General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, and Young and the Restless provided entertainment primarily for stay-at-home mothers
• Famous stars including Rick Springfield, John Stamos, Demi Moore, and Mark Hamill got their start on General Hospital
• The "Who Shot JR?" Dallas storyline in 1980 was such a cultural phenomenon that one mother asked if her daughter's hospitalization was "serious enough to miss Dallas"
• Primetime soap operas including Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest and Knots Landing featured wealthy families, glamorous settings and high drama
• Soap operas evolved in the 90s to include supernatural elements with shows like Passions and Dark Shadows incorporating vampires, witches and paranormal adventures
• The shift from traditional melodrama to supernatural content parallels changing interests as Gen X women entered adulthood

Find us at genxwomenpod.com, on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Call 1-888-GEN-X-POD to share your "five minutes of fame" story for a future episode.

Transcript

Vacation Update & Replay Intro

Speaker 1 0:01

Hello everybody , megan Bennett here . Hey look , it has been a crazy busy summer . July has just been an absolute whirlwind . I've been on vacation . I know Leslie and Tim are trying to get all of their stuff together so they can go on vacation next week , and so we , to be completely frank and honest , just haven't had the capacity to be able to get together to record a pod . So we are going to offer you guys a replay of a previous pod . And here's the deal .

Speaker 1 0:39

I just went back to Disney World for a little bit more than a week with my friends and my family . It was fantastic . It was the ultimate type of escapism that was needed and we had an absolute blast . I came home , realized that if I acted quickly , I could upgrade my pass to an annual pass , and I ended up doing that , and I did that . I mean I love Disney . Don to an annual pass , and I ended up doing that , and I did that . I mean I love Disney . Don't get me wrong , but I did it for my mental health . If I'm going to watch the world burn , I decided I'm going to do it from the happiest place on earth and just occasionally pick up and go to Disney when I feel like I need to have a break from reality . So I guess what I'm saying here is do something amazing for yourself , be incredibly good to yourself , have an amazing rest of July and , leslie and I'll be back in August with whole new pods Love to talk to you . So please feel free to leave us messages and we will address those as soon as we get back . Have an amazing , fantastic vacation time . If you're off to do something with your friends and family , if you're just hanging around the house , hey , that's pretty awesome too . So be good to yourself and we will see you guys in , or at least hear you guys , I hope , in August .

Speaker 1 2:06

I'm Megan Bennett , I'm Leslie Meyer and this is Gen

Dramatic Soap Opera Introduction

Speaker 1 2:10

X . Women Are Sick of this Shit . Hi Hi Megan , hi , leslie . Why are we whispering ? Because it's dramatic , for dramatic effect , dramatic effect . Hi , leslie , why are we whispering ? Because it's dramatic . Oh , for dramatic effect , dramatic effect . It's very important to be dramatic and to do a lot of face acting at one another and , yes , deep , deep breaths . What ? I can't believe it . How dare you ? I'm sorry , I didn't mean to . You did , though . I can't believe you . You're right , I did . I did mean to . I've always been jealous of you . I knew it .

Speaker 1 3:01

What could we possibly be talking about today ? Well , I hope we're talking about one of my favorite and I'm not even feeling guilty about those favorite things . Happy meals no , not happy meals , it's like a television version of a happy meal . It is a television version of a happy meal . There are little snacks for your brain . Yeah , yeah , guilty pleasures , guilty pleasures , delicious , grease filled guilty pleasures .

Speaker 1 3:33

I think we're talking about

Nighttime Soaps: Dallas to Falcon Crest

Speaker 1 3:35

soap operas , specifically soap operas of our childhood . Oh yeah , the best kind of soap , the best kind of . Because I'm like are there are soap operas ? I guess they're still a thing . I mean , they're still on . Well , the daytime stuff is , but like nighttime soaps are there like , is that like the um , the rescue , 911 and the that type stuff ? Would that be a soap opera ? I have not watched network television in so many years . I couldn't even begin to tell you what is on a channel at nighttime . I think maybe the Lost and things like that . The show Lost was sort of a soap opera . That was so long ago . Yeah , that was so long ago . Yeah , that was . And then there's some yeah , I don't know that they do the soap operas the way they used to do soap operas Like Dallas , oh , dallas , yes , no , I don't think there's anything .

Speaker 1 4:35

Well , there are no more captive audiences quite like that . I don't think so . I think there was a resurgence , like there was a new Dallas not too terribly long ago that I don't think really took off . Okay , and maybe a Dynasty 2 . Okay , electric Boogaloo I don't . Is there a streaming equivalent for a soap opera man ? I don't know . I'm sure there are Anything . Well , okay , what if it's really more reality TV ? Yeah , I think there's a lot of reality TV , like some of the real Desperate Housewives has sort of replaced , like the scripted not scripted , the Bachelorette , the Bachelor , the Love Island and all of that . Yeah , probably , that's probably sort of taken the place . I think so .

Speaker 1 5:21

My mom was a huge . I've got so many stories sort of taken the place . I think so . My mom was a huge . I've got so many stories . She was a huge fan of Dallas , and my grandmother too , when she was alive , and I think , yeah , that that there's nothing really out there . That's like that .

Speaker 1 5:39

Now , people will tell us if we're wrong . Oh , I hope they do . They will , so we don't have to worry about it too much . Right , they won't tell us when we're right , but they will definitely tell us when we're wrong . I sure wish they'd tell us when we're right too . You guys , you nailed it , girls , girls . So we are today on this particular podcast .

Speaker 1 5:58

We decided we were going to do a short version , a deep dive into one topic . Yes , right , and so these are our after school special yeah shows . Yes , so all nostalgia , um , just deep , deep dive into a bunch of gooey nostalgia , yep , bite-sized little snacks of history that you may or may not remember , yeah , and in your case , it sounds like you were not tuned into the soap opera world , did you not do any nighttime soaps as a kid ? So , the nighttime soaps , I do remember watching dallas . I remember being on and the whole who shot jr situation . And I do remember falcon crest , okay , because I remember there was a big front door , oh yeah , inside somebody's house , like a big double , like it was a very luxurious entree into their home . Oh , yeah , it was the northern california , yeah , state , that was impressive . I remember that . Um , that's about it . And for daytime soaps , yep , there we go . Look at those pictures . There's falcon crest , yeah , yes , I do remember watching that because I think that kind of started , I mean , like I probably got to watch that sort of like from beginning to end .

Speaker 1 7:29

I don't know what the run years were for Falcon Crest , but it just sort of sticks in my mind . Oh , look at that . So producer Tim pulled up some photos from the interwebs of Falcon Crest , the worldwide web . I remember that my grandma and my grandmother loved Falcon Crest , the World Wide Web . My grandma and my grandmother loved Falcon Crest and I think she saw herself in like the lead matron character . So yeah , that was Northern California , like orchard right or vineyard was the setting , I think , of Falcon Crest . Okay , so very dramatic , you know very a little . There she is , lifestyles of the rich and famous . Actually she looks a little bit like my daughter . It also looks like a Downton Abbey . At the layout , the character , layout and placement of that it could also be Downton Abbey .

Speaker 1 8:22

Now , you mentioned when we first talked about this idea of talking about soap operas . When we said falcon crest , you were like , yep , that's who I remember . Oh , there he is . Look at his hair , look at that . That's quite magnificent . He was the hottie . I could see that . He was the marketable still kind of a hottie . I mean I don't haven't seen him in . No , I have no idea what he's gone to do , but something , uh . And then there were also , of course , daytime , the original daytime soap operas . Oh , yeah , love them , and we didn't watch a ton of those . My , uh , I'm sorry , a picture of the show of Lorenzo Lamas , shirtless with a bandana around his neck , very hairy chested with some feathered hottie hairdo . These are magnificent . We will have to share that with the world .

Speaker 1 9:18

But my great grandmother would watch soap operas , the daytime soaps , the daytime soaps . So did she watch them while she was , uh , cleaning , just doing the you know regular great grandmother life ? She just had a chair , no , it was a sit . We sat down and watched these together . I was probably nine , I was probably should not have been watching some of these soap operas , um , but she would . Her little tv room was like it was like the kitchen , the tv room , and then you could go into the rest of the house where , like , the living room was and all that stuff , and uh , she would sit in there and watch , um , the young and the restless , oh , okay . And so I could kind of like sit on a stool next to her while she watched her stories . I remember my great aunt and her twin sister were big fans of Days of Our Lives . So it was like these are the days of our lives , so the sands through the hourglass , yes , like sands through the hourglass , there we go . Yep , that's right , I remember that . Yep , they were . I remember visiting and going over and , boy , if that was you , just you just had to just sit there and be quiet for a little while while the stories were on .

Speaker 1 10:27

So daytime soaps were essentially

Daytime Soap Operas & Famous Stars

Speaker 1 10:31

entertainment for stay-at-home mothers . Yeah , women , yeah , I think that's right , it was women who did not work , yep , well , who did not work outside of the house . Work outside of the house , I think that , yeah , where they couldn't have that on in the background , right , everything was . All the advertisements that were on TV were there specifically for , you know , the women of the house . The laundry detergent , absolutely , the palm olive you're soaking in it . All of those commercials were always there . Oh , days of their lives did that ? Is that the one that had that guy with the eye patch ?

Speaker 1 11:12

The first , oh , yeah , daytime soap opera ever was 1949 , in the us , I be clear , and it was called these Are my Children . There were other melodramas that aired in the evening as like weeklies , but soap operas became a fixture of American daytime television in the early 50s . These are my children , these are my children . That is a terrible name , I mean , it is direct . These are my children . I guess it depends on how you say it Was the spinoff then . All my Children , these are my children , these are my children , these are my children , these are my children . This is what we have .

Speaker 1 12:02

But for many people these are serious things . Oh , still so . How Guilty , oh wait , okay , so do tell . What is the story here ? What are your early memories of soaps ? What is your personal emotional connection to's ? It's sick .

Speaker 1 12:26

Well , so my mom , my mom and grandmother , huge , huge fans of dallas , huge fans of knots landing , falcon cross , knots landing was the evening one that took place . That was all around a um , like a court , like a like in a neighborhood that was the neighborhood of knots landing and everybody lived on the you know the , the same courtyard , yeah , the courtyard area , the kind of cul-de-sac , cul-de-sac , that's right . There we go Thank you for finding the word Uh-huh , anytime . So yeah , so you had Dallas that started in 1978 , knott's Landing in 79 , falcon Crest in 81 , dynasty in 81 , and then the spinoff of the Colby's . So lots of lots of nighttime shows happening , and I think that that little apple didn't fall far from the tree . My mom , my mom , watched General Hospital , okay , when I was very little , um , and I never stopped . So I think this like idea of these whole like soap operas , daytime , nighttime , whatever time uh , yeah , so I've been a gh fan for for my whole life . Gh , is that what you all call yourselves ? Hell , yeah , we're ghers . Well , I don't do t-shirts , somebody probably does , god , no , but now I want one . We should make you a t-shirt for General Hospital .

Speaker 1 13:46

There have been some pretty famous people on General Hospital . Yes , ma'am , rick Springfield , okay , he was Dr Noah Drake . Yes , of course he was and was a big deal . And then he was on there for a number of seasons . Oh look , he's so dreamy , he's super dreamy . Dr Noah Drake , I think I remember girls talking about him in middle school . That would track . Okay , yeah , for sure . Rick Springfield , okay , okay , that makes sense , all right .

Speaker 1 14:21

And John Stamos was , uh , the young blackie , and I can't remember his last name on the show , but , um , he was a , he was a young , tough that , oh , blackie . Was he also a doctor or no ? No , no , he was . He was kind of a little hot-headed kid that caused trouble . Yeah , didn't really have a family , was sort of Just wandering on the streets like an urchin . Well , I think the people tried to bring him underneath their wing , they tried to save him . Did he have a love interest ? I'm sure he did . I don't know that he was on that long to be . Okay , troublemakers always have a love interest . Oh , yeah , he was the quintessential bad boy , okay . So , yeah , who else came out there ? He was on there .

Speaker 1 15:17

I realized in looking back at old episodes in preparation for talking about this that also Demi Moore was on General Hospital as well , and it was funny because I was watching it on YouTube and heard her voice and then I was like , oh my God , wait , that's Demi Moore . So I had forgotten that she was on there as well . That her hair oh , there's a whole lot of hair . Wait , is that Luke ? That's Luke . Were they having a tryst Demi Moore's character or were they just airplane buddies ? Well , I think so . Luke and Laura obviously the big couple , okay , but Luke was kind of a . He was a dirty dog on the show . Oh , good , like he was not .

Speaker 1 16:07

There's a lot of if you look back at General Hospital in our eyes today , you would go oh , you can't do some of the things that they do . I hear it . Okay , blackie Parrish . Oh , blackie Parrish , I just found Parrish , that's right , thank you .

Speaker 1 16:24

And then I learned that Mark Hamill was also on General Hospital at one point or another . Okay , I believe it . Yeah , I believe it . So there we go . Well , then you also had Jack Wagner , and Jack Wagner was Frisco Jones on General Hospital , who then later , after you know spending time on general hospital , uh , landed somehow magically as a doctor on melrose place , as the character dr peter burns . Oh , which is the funniest fucking name of a person ever , like dr peter peter burns . You really need to have that looked at . I'm sorry , peter Buddy . Wait , is that Mark Hamill ? Have that looked at . That is Mark Hamill . Check him out . He was a child , he was very young . That had to be before Star Wars . I honestly don't remember him being on John Lasko why would we ? That's cool , fantastic , okay , yeah , so Felicia , his wife , frisco's wife , fake wife , not real wife , I understand , yes , on the television , the lines blur Well , it's real , it's real , it's real to me . So she's still on . She's still a regular character on General Hospital now . So these are the things that blow me away .

Speaker 1 17:50

These shows have been on for decades ,

Who Shot JR & Mom Missing Dallas

Speaker 1 17:53

some of them , and the storylines are the same . It's the same families . It's the same . In a lot of cases . It's the same families . There will be new families that pop up here and there and new characters that pop up . Same families , it's the same . In a lot of cases . It's the same families . There will be new families that pop up here and there and new characters that pop up . And , of course , you know , somebody who's been dead for 15 years can always show back up through the magic of television Because they're not really dead . Right , right , yeah , how can you trust dead people anymore ? You can't . They don't stay dead , they just come back time and time again . I understand . I mean , why not ? You can do anything you want . It's television and the filming schedules are relentless . Yes , I mean , these guys are working pretty much every day and I know COVID did all kinds of weird things to the schedule , to the schedule .

Speaker 1 18:42

It was also pretty interesting during COVID when you saw the episodes that were recorded during COVID . Making out on a soap opera is a big deal . There's a lot of that and there was none of that Way less making out . Yeah , you would see like they would cut in places where you thought they were going to have . Like , oh , these two are going at it Uh-huh . No , no , they were just making eyes . We have to use our imagination because we couldn't Behind the veil , then it's all going to go to blackout . That's right . They suddenly got a thousand times cleaner and safer for small children to watch . No open mouth kissing during COVID .

Speaker 1 19:20

So what do you think makes a soap opera so engaging ? Like , what are the qualities that keep you coming back ? Megan bennett , oh god , help me . Well , at this point it's probably a sick , sick habit , okay , I mean , I don't know , I don't know . Uh , I think there's this escapism , okay , and that's true with most television . Absolutely right , like you're , like I'm died , my life is pretty boring , but you know , sunny corinthos has got like a pretty wild . You know wildlife and I'm gonna watch what's going on , okay , and then you just get invested , I think , in the characters . You gotta know what happens next . Yep , I understand , I remember .

Speaker 1 20:04

So I have to confess I do not remember the last episode of dallas , or who shot jr ? Was there a conclusion ? Was it his wife ? Was it his brother , it was his , uh , his , secretary . It was the blonde girl . Oh God , if my mom were here she'd be able to , she would know . Well , first of all she'd smack me in the head and go how did you not know this Well ? So when did that episode actually air ? This is a random transition . It was 1980 , I think , was the whole who Shot JR drama , I think . And then , yeah , the whole world was wondering okay , did you pull up ? The whodunit episode aired november 21st 1980 .

Speaker 1 20:50

The person who pulled the trigger was revealed to be kristin shepherd , and shepherd played by mary crosby . Yep , so she's the short little blonde standing next to Bobby right there . Oh , it was the child . Oh , she's not a child , she's an adult , she's just very short . She's very short and she was JR's scheming sister-in-law . There you go and mistress . Well , that's what you get . I mean , you get shot , apparently For having a mistress . Yeah , it was a big deal . That's crazy , okay , so then , was that the last episode of that series ? Oh heck , no , no , because dallas went on until 1991 . Oh , so that was just like probably the big , that was the biggest storyline that we , that people remember . But oh , no , it lasted way , way longer After that I have no memory of it existing anymore , but I was , however old I was , I was seven when that came out , so I guess it would make sense that I don't really remember .

Speaker 1 22:00

Well , I know that it lasted longer because when I went to college here's my funny story my mom I'm sorry , mom , I have to tell on you I was going out on a Friday night with some friends and we were in a car and I was in the middle of the back seat of the car and the gal who was driving actually turned left on red and we got sideswiped , we got like t-boned by a truck and I ended up in the hospital and I lived only like 45 minutes or so away from my school , was really only 45 minutes away from home , and a guy that was in the car with me actually called my mom to let her know . You know , hey , megan's in the hospital , of course and my mom says to him is it serious enough that I should miss Dallas ? What is the scale ? I don't know the scale . I did have a broken pelvic bone , but apparently she did come up . She did miss Dallas , she came up .

Speaker 1 23:13

Okay , so broken pelvis , everything's fine , was important enough to miss Dallas for . But could there be something more Gen X when your mom is like you know ? Is it bad enough to miss Dallas ? Is it bad enough to miss dallas for ? But could you ? Could there be something more gen x when your mom is like you know , is it ? Is it bad enough to miss ? Is it bad enough to miss dallas is ? Does she just have a minor concussion or like a scrape right like you know , toe , what we're talking about . Is it just like her little finger right ? Is it ? Is on the miss dallas scale , right ? Are we so ? Well , pelvis was definitely on , but we don't really know the true threshold . We don't like pelvis and a butt like I feel like , if you have a , I don't know what would have taken , mom , if your brains were coming out your ears .

Speaker 1 23:56

Yeah , I just think it's so funny because that , like , can you imagine making that phone call to call somebody's parents and then saying that that's the thing they push back ? Megan , your mom just asked if she should miss Dallas to go and see you . Do you have a good relationship with your mom ? Did I get the wrong phone number ? She likes you , right ? She knows you're here in college , right ? Mm-hmm , yep , that is epic . I mean telling you soap opera is a big damn deal .

Speaker 1 24:29

So I remember I didn't I confess , did not watch a ton , other than with my great-grandmother when I would visit , like I would be there for like a week in the summer or Christmas time or whatever , and they were always on . That wasn't enough to get you sucked in 11 o'clock . But it just didn't translate because at home , unless it was summertime , I would have been in school so would not have watched , and then in the summer we were mostly like outside . I mean I think my mom was like go out there and be out there , just get out of the house . Yeah , so not a lot of daytime TV watching . Like my after school TV would have been like 321 , contact and Star Trek , oh yeah , so that was sort of like the 3 , 230 , 3 , 330 . Right , and then the evening , the TV . I don't know if this I think it's nighttime drama , but I don't know , it was just sort TV . I don't know if this I think it's nighttime drama , but I don't know , it was just sort of I don't know what it would qualify as .

Speaker 1 25:28

What captured my imagination was watching the Love Boat A , because water is awesome , and , oh my gosh Fantasy Island Producer Tim . He just pulled up a fantastic one that we need to mention and that is the show Forever Night man . I love that show . I freaking loved that show too . It's the bittersweet . It was probably one of the most depressing summers of my life . When I watched the show . I was staying at my grandmother's house . She was out of the country for a while for like three weeks , maybe four weeks and I was staying at her house like cat sitting or something . I think I was fully in college . When did this show come out , forever Night ? This is like a different decade , because there was Forever Night but then wasn't there . Oh , that's in the 90s . Okay , yeah , 92 .

Speaker 1 26:24

What was the one with the um crap ? She was in , uh , one of the soap operas and she was like married to the guy with the eye patch anyway , um , she went on to be in another like a nighttime soap with a guy who looked like Beast from Beauty and the Beast or he looked like a lion . Yes , what the hell show is that ? Exactly what you're talking about . I loved that show . Producer Tim is looking at me like I've grown a second head , but he looked like a lion , right ? Yes , yes , and it was evening , I can see her .

Speaker 1 27:01

Her , she had very long brown hair . It would kind of go back and forth between the past and it was not beauty and the beast modern day . That's it . It is beauty and the beast . Yep , long brown hair . There she is . What is her name ? She's super famous . Yeah , because she was ron perlman played the beast in that show , really . And who is the actress ? Where is her name ? I think you just went past it . Yep , wow , there's ron perlman . Linda hamilton , holy jesus . Yes , there we go . That's right .

90s Shift: Supernatural Soap Operas

Speaker 1 27:40

Loved her .

Speaker 1 27:41

Yeah , she was in one of the soaps with , uh , with the guy with the eye patch , and then , you know , before she saved the world from terminator . Absolutely , hell , yeah . And then also beauty and the beast , okay , and so that lion guy when did that come out ? Was this also in 90s ? The beauty and the beast Beast thing ? Is that 87 ? Late 80s ? Yeah , okay , so late 80s . So I think there's a distinct change between like 70s and 80s and then tipping over into the 90s , because 90s would have been like Forever Night , melrose Place , 90210 . Like TV just got different . It did get different In the 90s . Yeah , so these are two different knots .

Speaker 1 28:24

Landy goes off the air in 93 and then you get beautiful stuff , like you know , beauty of the beast , and so I wonder what changed , why we were , why audiences were sort of like tired of the I don't , I don't know family , like the serial drama thing . Yeah , I don't know , that's interesting and like why . Why now did we add this air of mysticism and like vampires and I mean so I guess those were probably geared towards us . We were the late old teens , early 20s , right ? Yeah , I guess I feel like this was totally geared towards me . Had to be . I remember watching this . And then , of course , buffy the vampire slayer came up right and there was always I think not always , but in the daytime tv drama .

Speaker 1 29:14

There were a couple of of other soap operas that were a little more out there , that were a little , not not true ? Yeah , like passions was . Yeah , you were reminding me of that . I don't remember we watched a little clip of it . Yeah , metaphysical weirdness happened , like , yes , they had fairies and I think you know angels floating around , spirits coming . Look at that . I mean I wonder how long that one was on . I never watched passions . I wonder if there are any diehard passions fans in the group . Oh , my god , I hope so . If anybody has a diehard passions fan , I want to know about it . But I I think , um , I mean , clearly they were around . It was around for a while , so I suspect that they had a pretty large wow . It was on for a minute .

Speaker 1 30:03

1999 to 2008 . Yeah , oh , so it's . It's definitely that older , yeah , window of soap operas . Check that out . Which which tracks ? Now , right , if you have your regular daytime dramas and then a little bit later you've got things like beauty and the Beast and you've got things like , you know , forever Night , and then you've got Passions . Now you've tried to merge all of that .

Speaker 1 30:29

Whatever happened in the 90s ? How are we going to get these young kids sucked into soap operas ? We're going to add fairies and witches , because they do not care about Luke and Laura . They just don't . No , because those were our parents . They were into that stuff . Hook these young kids on stuff we less cared about romance , less cared about it . We less cared about it . That's magnificent , magnificent , I can say that . Well , and I wonder too if there was just like a transition , if there were more people working outside of the home as we moved into the 80s , late 80s , early 90s , you could dvd these now , like at that point , so if you missed your passions you could rent them , you , yeah , you , you could just like dvr it later .

Speaker 1 31:18

So passions had its own sort of like cult following . No pun intended , I mean , it was all about . It was the cult thing , probably a little cult , the occult , the occult and romance , which sure , why not Put those two together ? I mean , then you got something . Then you do have something . Well , indeed , you do have something . Well , indeed , okay . So passions , you've got what they've got , like witches and dwarves and fairies and angels and , yes , like possessions , demons , and there was a crossover with guiding light , I think . Is that true ? But that threw people for a loop , was a crossover where somebody I was looking , I'm lost now some gradient , somebody's gradient , oh , no , days of our lives , oh , oh , even wackier , dr marlena evans was possessed by satan . Nice , and did the people from passions show up to I d ? I think maybe she was over on passions , like there was a crossover of her character into passion .

Speaker 1 32:26

Clearly , if you went to that town you were in trouble . Yep , you should not probably visit that town . Yes , I think it did . It take place in salem . Uh , that's a great question . Maybe I'm making that up . Well , I think that that makes you an expert , not an expert . I'll take it . I think it sounds really smart , even if it is not actually factual .

Speaker 1 32:53

It was in Harmony , new England . Well so , new England , so probably right down the street . Right down the street . Maybe they got rid of kind of trouble from the Chamber of Commerce for Salem if they said it there . They couldn't do that . It follows the lives , loves and various romantic and paranormal adventures of the residents of Harmony . That was so like . I look at the picture list , I really need many more paranormal adventures in my own day to day lived experience , paranormal adventures in my own day-to-day lived experience .

Speaker 1 33:27

I feel like now , if I watch this show , like me where I am now in my life would probably have really really appreciated this show . It's so amazing . I'm sure the camp has got to be just massive . Check her out , it's so fantastic . Massive check her out . It's so fantastic . I I wish , I truly wish I would have watched this , because I get it now , you know , at 50 years old .

Speaker 1 33:48

Yes , I think this is something . Well , so maybe what we're saying is not way off , because there is this whole genre of literature now , like romanticy uh-huh , which crosses over into kind of like Gen X women's romance literature . Not all of it is like romantasy fantasy , but it is high drama . I don't know if the women were the center stage in this show or not , because I did not watch it , so I cannot speak to that , but women are kind of the heroes of of these current books . There's lots of romance and hot sex and empowerment , and so I'm just you know , maybe this is like contemporary passions , I don't know dipping our toes in this hole . We just get bored . We're . There's got to be way more .

Speaker 1 34:41

Wait , what is it Paranormal ? There must be more paranormal adventure in my life . Yeah , if I can't get it in real life , I'm going to get it in my paranormal life . My fantasy of demonic possession ? Yes , hot demons , hot demons . Right , they have to be sexy Ugly demon . No , that would be terrible .

Speaker 1 35:05

Okay , so we also had . So you've got passions Indeed . Then you had . If you wanted to get even darker , yes , you had dark shadows .

Speaker 1 35:14

Yes , I never watched this . Tell me about this . I didn't watch it either . I feel like this is another instance where I missed out as a kid and maybe I didn't miss out , but maybe just being a touch too young for understanding Barnabas and the whole , you know dark shadowiness of everything , but there was a movie that was made not too terribly long ago , I think . Johnny , john , uh , yes , I believe you and I lost my words again . That's okay . There was a film reboot directed by Tim Burton in 2012 . There we go . Wikipedia is our official resource of research , research resource . We don't go deeper than the wiki right now when we're on the fly . 100% factual Original Dark Shadows was an American Gothic soap opera , right , it aired from 1966 to 1971 .

Speaker 1 36:04

So , of course , this was two years before my existence on this planet , right , and I didn't get it . I know there was in college . There were people who were watching like old reruns of Dark Shadows . That's amazing Because you get a little gothy . You know you gotta get a gothy . Get a little gothy and enjoy your dark vampire melodrama .

Speaker 1 36:29

Dark Shadows developed a large teenage audience and a dedicated cult following . By 1969 , it had become ABC's highest rated daytime series Pretty cool . So it was not even geared towards ghosts , all about vampires , which is epic and awesome . So you've got , you know this , of course , with the vampires then pre and well , kind of on the same timeline as ann rice doing her vampire , oh yeah , so absolutely kind of the birth of vampires . Well , this is at least we're tipping toes into probably what can be a whole , what will be a whole other podcast going to talk vampires , about vampires , vampire literature , vampire games . It's just fun that this is a soap opera that is all kind of walks that line . Yep , that's awesome and it and it's the predecessor to things like things we do in the shadows and stuff like that which is amazing and funny .

Speaker 1 37:23

So , thinking about all of these soap operas you know we were talking , just briefly too , about this idea that the reason that people watch them in a lot of cases were these you know , women who were living , you know , out of working out of their house , maybe , as you know , the the mom raising the kids , cooking the meals , doing the laundry , all the things , right , and this was their escapism , yeah , as they were folding , you know , little timmy's clothes um towel before he got home 475 , right , mind numbing , repetitive domestic chores , right , right . And then I think , like in order to think about things like mr mom , the movie and how , you know , michael keaton gets totally sucked in on all of the soap operas and you get to see it from the man's perspective , right , and he gets how important it all is , right . I mean , these are like major sources of conversation and investment . Yep , because when you are folding towel 5 599 , yep . And trying to get the whoopee out of the

Closing & Where To Find Us

Speaker 1 38:36

the you know the vacuum cleaner , then you gotta sit down and watch mr mom , so crossover that you never knew that you needed the little boy and mr mom , okay , talus and jaffee . I love that . It is , uh , the star of one of our favorite live play , role-playing games . Really , on critical role , he is a fantastic human being . He's a beautiful role player . Um , and he was the little boy with the whoopee . It's all connected , everything's connected , it is , it's true . So , and somehow we'll always get back to gaming . Uh , we will always get back to gaming , the whole other other conversation where we will talk about women in gaming and games of the 60s , 70s and 80s and all that stuff . This is great . So there's a little bit of bubble gum , love it . Yeah , bubble gum for your ears , and you are a GH person , you know . I would love to chit-chat with you about all of the new things happening in the beloved town of Port Charles , new York .

Speaker 1 39:49

You have been listening to Gen X . Women Are Sick of this Shit . Hey Megan , hey Leslie . What do people do if they want to find us ? Well , we have a website that people can find us on , and that is genxwomenpodcom . We also have a Facebook page . We have an Instagram account as well . We have a YouTube account where we put YouTube shorts and other little tidbits up there . We have a TikTok account .

Speaker 1 40:19

I don't talk the dick or tick the tock . You don't tick the tock , I barely talk the tick . But I did put a TikTok account . I don't talk the dick or tick the tock . You don't tick the tock , I do not . I barely talk the tick . But I did put a TikTok up . We're explaining the internet to people again . That's okay , though . It's great . We need to know how the internet works . Can people buy merch ? They absolutely can . We have a merch store on the website itself , and we also have an Etsy store too , so they're just pretty easy to find you .

Speaker 1 40:43

It's just Gen X women , and if you are listening to this podcast , presumably you found it somewhere . And while you're there , give us a review . Yeah , let us know what you think . Throw some stars at us . That'd be great . We'll take one , two , three , four or five and Ooh , five , maybe ten , and also make sure that you are hitting subscribe so that you're notified whenever a new episode drops . Most important , we also have a five minutes of fame that I think we should tell people about too . Hell . Yes , we want to know your stories , your five minutes of fame stories . You can send those stories in on the website or you can call 1-888-GEN-X-POD and leave your story for us and we will play it live in our next episode . Yep , we'll listen to it on a little red phone , just like Batman . That'd be cool . Let's get a bat phone , a bat phone . I think that's it . I think you're right .