In this week’s episode, Carolyn has visited the OASIS of Ready Player One and lives to tell Anita and Ebony the tale, demonstrating her own knowledge of obscure pop culture trivia and criticizing RPO for its use of the woman-as-trophy trope familiar to so many of the properties that inspired it. The gang then moves on to ABC’s Roseanne revival, which pulled in huge numbers of viewers. Is it an important portrayal of white working-class experience, or a harmful sanitization of the damage done by Trump voters? Finally, in What’s Your FREQ-Out, Carolyn recommends an excellent TV show, Ebony recommends a terrible movie, and Anita gushes over a great documentary series that explores intersections of food, culture, politics and tradition.

Segment Timestamps:

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Relevant Links:

Constance Grady on Ready Player One and GamerGate for Vox: https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/26/17148350/ready-player-one-book-backlash-controversy-gamergate-explained

VR Chat and the scourge of the Ugandan Knuckles meme: Julia Alexander for Polygon https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/8/16863932/ugandan-knuckles-meme-vrchat

Ready Player One is an Accidental Horror Movie About Fandom: Alison Willmore for Buzzfeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alisonwillmore/ready-player-one-steven-spielberg-fandom?utm_term=.ayvByWo7d#.qsY260R17

Why the New Roseanne Reboot Just Plain Sucks: Rob Sheffield for Rolling Stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/rob-sheffield-why-the-roseanne-reboot-sucks-w518543

The Roseanne Reboot Is Funny. I’m Not Going to Keep Watching: Roxane Gay for The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/opinion/roseanne-reboot-trump.html