Gen X Guide To The Universe

And that’s a wrap on season three! From Star Wars to 80s films and now MTV, Heather and Jameson finish up with this delightful season finale.

Heather is officially on the Tik Tok, but pissed because someone stole her handle.  Jameson got propane as he is currently running a geratic summer camp at his house.

Heather and Jameson reflect on the season, gushing over Guy’s legal pad (which belongs in the Smithonsian), sending a heartfelt thanks to all the special guests (including two people who were actually on MTV, Dan Cortese and Room Raiders Mike), and a special shout out to the podcast’s number one fan and most prepared guest, Eddie Jones, an award winning Jeopardy star who’s not been on Jeopardy (yet). 

Heather and Jameson discuss future seasons, perhaps conspiracy theories, Saturday morning cartoons, 80s sitcoms, or running an advice column via podcast. Our Gen Experts’ summer plans include cycling, fried dough, reading, disc golf, international travel, boating (well, yachting), and new jobs (maybe). 

Jameson provides a mini lecture on transgendered frogs during the final Listen to this Shit, check it out here: https://tinyurl.com/z9eefvdn. Final Top Countdown features the one and only Britney Spears and “Baby One More Time”. And Heather and Jameson offer up one last Desert Island Top Five before signing off! Please send cake, thanks.

With only two episodes left in this season, Heather and Jameson are here to fix MTV. They are joined by the final guests of the season, Eddie and Guy, who stop by to add a little intellectual flair into the discussion of “where did MTV go wrong?”

Eddie clues us in on the venn diagram of Michael Bolton and O.J., Guy still has not found his legal pads, Heather is curious if Julie is caught up on Ex on the Beach, and Jameson is mad about frogs, which tracks.

Both Guy and Eddie talk about their days as college radio jockeys, Jameson reads from the TV Guide and lets everyone know what’s on MTV today (spoiler: reality shows for hours), and everyone gets to celebrate the new queer prom king at Eddie’s high school.

Check out the articles about the demise of MTV here: https://tinyurl.com/4fr3va9x and here: https://tinyurl.com/2p86wp5f.
 
Everyone agrees, ditch Teen Mom and bring back Martha Quinn. And happy pride everyone!

This week Heather and Jameson take a break from MTV for this very special bonus episode as Jameson picks a movie, Drop Dead Gorgeous! 

The Gen Experts are joined by special guest Fin, aka “mybestfriendfin”, who alongside Jameson has this film memorized. If you haven’t seen it, Drop Dead Gorgeous is a 1999 mockumentary featuring a beauty pageant in small town Mt. Rose, Minnesota. 

This film is available for the low low price of $10 on Amazon, as you can’t stream this film anywhere. 

Jameson reminds us why Generation X is hands down the coolest generation of them all with this article: https://tinyurl.com/mr4a2kmk. 

Desert Island Top Five is a class top five, with some beauty pageant superlatives tossed in. We hope by next season, Fin learns her computer password. Remember, folks, Jesus loves winners.

With only a handful of episodes left, Heather and Jameson round out the season exploring one last element of MTV, the reality-based dating game show “Next”. Next is a blind date show that involves a creepy bus that likely smells like farts, some cash and a heavy dose of sexual assault, sexual harassment, racist comments, sexist comments, fatphobia, making fun of virgins, and a heavy emphasis on toxic heteronormativity.

Heather and Jameson give Next two thumbs down, if you were wondering. You can explore more about how Next has not aged well in this Buzzfeed article https://tinyurl.com/3thcjrdp and chuckle at the funniest facts from the bus here in this other Buzzfeed article https://tinyurl.com/2p92yfh4.
 
If you’d like to torture yourself, you can watch Next on Paramount using Jameson’s password, just message us. Speaking of torture, Heather and Jameson watch Shakira’s video for La Tortura which is quite possibly the world’s sexiest video and the opposite of torture.
 
Listen to this Shit features an AMA with a Next bus contestant and Heather offers her book review of the 2022 “Boy with a Bird in his Chest” (eh, you can skip it).

As Heather and Jameson start to wrap up this season of Gen X Guide to the Universe, they continue their historical analysis of MTV with the reality makeover show “Made”, which empowered teens to reach their lofty goals to be cheerleaders, ideal boyfriend, rappers, circus performers, or other crap. Spoiler: if you haven’t watched Made, you can skip the show. Jameson is intrigued by the promise of a show that allows people to change their narrative and attain their goals, but again, this show does not deliver.

 Heather and Jameson read each other’s show notes, and learn “hot cross buns” is hard and Ashley is a whiny circus performer who cries a lot. 

Jameson fills us in on bigfoot facts, since he didn’t do his podcast homework. Fun fact: bigfoot smells like 700 pounds of swampy, drain hair. And the plural of bigfoot is bigfoots, not bigfeet.  And to also avoid talking about Made, Heather and Jameson talk about sandwiches.

Jameson introduces 99 Problems to Heather, who never heard the song prior to this podcast. And Heather and Jameson share their dream “Made” list (no Jameson, you can’t be made taller). And podcast dog Nugget sings with the sirens for us all.

Taking a break from the wonderful world of MTV, Heather and Jameson are again joined by special guest and fellow Gen Xer Matt Farley as they talk about the show Yellowstone, which Heather summarizes as “Western show, Kevin Costner”.

Yellowstone follows the Dutton family and their huge ass ranch bordering Yellowstone National Park and an Indian Reservation. You can watch all episodes on Peacock, just reach out to Jameson for his login credentials.

Heather maintains this is just a soap opera for boys, but Matt and Jameson just don’t care. Everyone agrees: Beth Dutton is the greatest character on the show (and Rip too).

Jameson provides us with twenty-seven facts about Yellowstone (you can read them all here: https://tinyurl.com/2p9eyv53). For Listen to this Shit, you can enjoy the best of Beth here: https://tinyurl.com/2vtrvbjd. 

In other news, Jameson’s dad and Pat are back in Connecticut for six long weeks, Heather still thinks her new microphone makes her sound like the host of Delish Dish (“good times”), Matt and Kevin Costner are frat brothers, and everyone agrees Chuck Page is a legend. 

And remember, if anyone pisses you off, deliver them to the train station.

Back to music on the podcast, for a hot second! Heather and Jameson talk about Behind the Music, the music biography series that launched in 1997 on MTV’s sister channel, VH1. The show profiled musical artists that aren’t “qualified to be legends” (note: IMDB offered that mean description, not us, we think Ricky Martin is a LEGEND), documenting their personal and professional lives. 

Jameson refers to this show as “Behind the Dumpster” while Heather gains a new appreciation for Huey Lewis after watching his episode. If you want to watch Behind the Music, reach out for Jameson’s Paramount login, and his social security number too. 

Heather tries out her new microphone and sounds a bit like Delish Dish, and everyone can hear Nugget jingle jangle in the background. Heather explains “share vs. Cher” and Jameson learns Allen is not short for anything. 

Jameson talks to us all about starting a new sport in 40s and the Gen Experts talk about the music video “Bitch” by Meredith Brooks.

Yet again, Heather and Jameson explore the dark side of MTV (aka reality television) as they watch both The Osbournes and The Newlyweds. 

Both shows launched in the early 2000s and featured the real domestic lives of typical famous musical artists. Celebrities, they’re just like us. Other than talking about Ozzy, Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Jessica and Nick and their daily adventures on MTV, the Gen X podcast dogs are living their best lives as Caroline may or may not need ACL surgery and Nugget learned “rollover”. 

Next week Heather and Jameson will talk about music, we promise. 

Also, Des Moines is not a tropical location, in case anyone was wondering.

This week, Heather and Jameson take a break from their historical analysis of MTV to watch current programming, The Hills: New Beginnings. 

The original cast of The Hills, along with their offspring and friends and other random people (hello, Pam Anderson) reunite in Los Angeles for this heavily scripted reality show. Heather and Jameson are joined by The Hills expert and special guest, Lauren Kras, who just got married this past weekend (congrats, Lauren!!). 

Lauren basically explains the history of this reality franchise and all she knows about the characters from their origins at Laguna Beach. Jameson offers his review of The Hills: “Rich people bitching about stuff I don’t care about” and learns this is not “The Hills Have Eyes”. 

On Listen to this Shit, Jameson shares a feel good story from our hometown backyard (that’s New Haven, folks). Check out the story here: https://tinyurl.com/4bnkmcjr.

 Everyone watches “Walk This Way” music video by Run DMC and Aerosmith for top countdown. 

And again, congrats to Lauren and her lucky husband, Dave!

Once again, Heather and Jameson are back on reality TV. Well, talking about reality TV. This week, Heather and Jameson are joined by Broadway baby and third co-host (alongside Eddie), Julie Mirwis, as they all talk about MTV’s competition show: The Challenge. 

Originally known as Road Rules: All Stars, The Challenge started in 1998 and features past members of The Real World, Road Rules and a host of other former reality celebs as they “compete to win money and shit”. There are 505 episodes of this show and Julie has seen each and every one. Julie walks Heather and Jameson through the history of The Challenge, including her favorite players, career players, favorite seasons, favorite moments, and how she lowkey stalked one player since he taught a fitness class in Manhattan and she’d take the class and pretend he wasn’t on The Challenge. 

Jameson tells us the story of a dog who’s not an asshole, Smoky, the warrior dog of World War II (read more about her adventures here: https://www.chonday.com/smoky-dog/).

 Jameson recounts his love of all things Beyonce, while Julie sings Survivor for everyone during Top Countdown. And for Desert Island Top Five, the trio create their own games for The Challenges. And Jameson finally learns the origins of the Ring Around the Rosie.