May the Odds Ever Smell of Sweat: A Hunger Games Deep Dive with Mona Chatterjee • The Novel
Mandy and Mona dissect Suzanne Collins’ dystopian masterpiece The Hunger Games, exploring everything from Katniss’s questionable trust issues to the perfume potential of arena sweat. They tackle the big questions: Why don’t we get a peacekeepers’ reality show and how did a book about children murdering each other become required middle school reading?
It’s Our Time Down Here: A Goonies Comfort Rewatch with Krissy Lenz
Mandy Kaplan and Krissy Lenz revisit The Goonies as emotional medicine: messy, loud, wildly sincere, and somehow still perfectly engineered for joy. Along the way they unpack pirate aesthetics, missing octopuses, Corey Feldman weirdness, and why Brand is the underrated MVP of childhood adventure.
Superman… with Homework: Smallville with John Mundy
Mandy Kaplan tackles Smallville, the superhero origin story that swaps capes for corridor drama. John Mundy joins her to unpack meteor-fueled mayhem and why teenage uncertainty might be the best way to make Superman interesting.
The Great Pottery Throw Down: British, Boring, & Bang-On Perfect with Jeremy Klavens
Mandy and Jeremy dig into The Great Pottery Throw Down (Season 4): the charm, the tears, the weird challenges, and why this gentle little show is sneakily addictive.
“I Might Knock”: Heated Rivalry… the Show We Can’t Stop Watching
Jon Cassie returns to discuss HBO’s Heated Rivalry, the Canadian hockey romance that’s become an inescapable phenomenon. He hasn’t been “swept away obsessively by a show in decades,” but he’s watched this one multiple times—and Mandy discovers how it balances graphic first episodes with Hepburn-Tracy wit while launching four legendary careers.
The Big Lebowski with David Isser
Is The Big Lebowski a brilliant anti-plot masterpiece or just two hours of vibes, bowling, and unchecked aggression? Mandy Kaplan and David Isser go toe-to-toe over cult devotion, cinematic discomfort, and why sometimes the rug really does tie the room together—even if you still hate the room.
Xanadu with Jonas Vail
Jonas Vail has loved Xanadu since he was five—and Mandy Kaplan is determined to understand why.
Veronica Mars with Sloan Just
Mandy finally watches Veronica Mars and discovers a teen drama that looks cute, sounds funny, and then quietly wrecks you. With Sloan Just as her guide, she unpacks why this cult favorite still hits—and why it never played by the rules.
Hangman Adam Page with Kevin Ryan
Mandy enters the world of AEW wrestling with Irish podcaster Kevin Ryan as her guide, and immediately learns she’s unprepared for the amount of lore, hair, blood, and burning houses involved. It’s the perfect crossover of soap opera, stunt show, and fever dream — and somehow, Mandy survives.
Return to Oz with Jessica Jimenez
Mandy and returning guest Jessica Jimenez dive into Return to Oz — the 1985 children’s movie that feels like a psychological thriller wrapped in claymation and wheel-armed acrobats. Come for the nostalgia, stay for the hall of severed heads.