Hugging And Learning

ER was a 331-episode-long action movie where the stakes were always life or death, the romances were slow-burners, and the crash cart was never where you needed it to be, dammit. Join Chelsea, Andrew, Miles, and Very Special Guest Mary Hollis Inboden as we dive deep into the Season 9 opener of the medical drama, complete with amputation, outbreaks, trauma, and sexy quarantine times.

Show: ER \\ "Chaos Theory," Season 9, Episode 1

Air Date: September 26, 2002

Special Guest Star: Mary Hollis Inboden

Find it: on Hulu

Snack: Strawberry Jubes

Further Reading:

• 15 Critical Facts About ER
• What is Chaos Theory?
• 20 Years After the Shooting on the Playground, by Mary Hollis Inboden | The New York Times
• Tanks Good News

Way back in the 90s, media mogul Ted Turner had a dream: cartoons should teach kids things! Captain Planet premiered, and thus began the greenwashing of the youth. Join Andrew, Chelsea, Miles, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Heart, Tidiness, Recycling, White Guilt, Equal Pay, and all the other Planeteers in our quest to stop an evil LeproRat from poisoning the minds of the population with glowing pills and pocket cheese.

Show: CAPTAIN PLANET AND THE PLANETEERS \\ "Mind Pollution," Season 2, Episode 1

Air Date: September 14, 1991

Find it: on Amazon Prime Video ($1.99)

Snack: Poptarts Crisps: Brown Sugar Cinnamazing Flavor (suggested by Angela)

Further Reading:

• "Just Say No" | History.com
• Verminous Skumm | Captain Planet Fandom
• How Captain Planet Turned Kids Green

It's the episode you've all been waiting for — Chelsea, Andrew, Miles, and Very Special Guest Chris Yule (from the Finish It! Podcast) get trapped in a huge refrigerator. Luckily, they've all previously learned, and forgotten, CPR. Will Cherie be okay? Should Allen start therapy immediately? Is Jeremy Reams disappointed in the creative license taken with his original vision for this episode? All this will be tackled, and much, much more.

Show: PUNKY BREWSTER \\ "Cherie Lifesaver," Season 2, Episode 16

Air Date: January 19, 1986

Very Special Guest Star: Chris Yule from the Finish It! Podcast

Find it: on NBC.com

Snack: Root Beer Float Peeps AND Pancakes and Syrup Peeps

Further Reading:

• Oral History: Punky Brewster's Refrigerator Danger | Mental Floss
• The Terrifying Reason Refrigerator Doors Are Magnetic Today | Good Housekeeping
• The Creepiest Thing Ever: L'Inconnue de la Seine
• Red Cross: How to Do CPR

We're back for Season 2 of the podcast, and kicking it off with a PBS movie that scarred child Andrew for reasons that will quickly become apparent. From the mind of science fiction master Ray Bradbury comes a tale that some (intelligent) people would argue is too bleak for children. Do you agree? Strap on your green poker visor and some sunscreen, and join the gang on Venus for five minutes of sun followed by a lifetime of regret.

Show: ALL SUMMER IN A DAY \\ TV Movie aired on PBS

Air Date: 1985

Suggest by Listener: Jeff Noble

Find it: on Vimeo

Snack: Back to Nature Fudge Mint Cookies

Further Reading:

• All Summer In a Day Movie Description
• Read the full text of the Ray Bradbury short story
• What the Weather is Like on Other Moons and Planets

Did you think we'd disappeared? We would never! We're never gonna give you up, let you down, run around, OR desert you! Instead, we're gonna answer your burning questions, rank our favorite snacks, and much, much, more to tide you over until Season 2 starts next week! Cowabunga!

Okay, here's the problem with Daryyyl: he's part of the Bad Influence Crew. Join Chelsea, Andrew, Raven, other Chelsea, Eddie, brother Cory, friend of the pod Rich Correll, and The Ghost of Monkey Thievery Present, as they navigate a world in which one teenage girl is psychic and everyone already knows. Oh snap!

Show: THAT'S SO RAVEN \\ "Five Finger Discount," Season 3, Episode 2

Air Date: December 3, 2004

Find it: on Amazon Prime Video ($1.99)

Snack: O Organics Vanilla Animal Crackers

Further Reading:

• 15 Things You Never Knew About That's So Raven | Screenrant
• Shoplifting Statistics
• Why It Took Raven Symone So Long to Come Out | Teen Vogue

It's time to end period stigma! Starting with the men of the Russo household. "Blossom" was a master class in the Very Special Episode, and this pilot is no exception. Come along with Andrew and Chelsea as they meet the Russo family on this, the day of Blossom's first period. In my opinionation, you'll surely laugh and learn.

Show: BLOSSOM \\ "Blossom Blossoms" Season 1, Episode 1

Air Date: January 3, 1991

Find it: on Hulu

Special Guest Star: Phylicia Rashad

Snack: Pepperidge Farm Brussels cookies

Further Reading:

• 17 Facts About Blossom That Will Make You Say 'Whoa!' | Mental Floss
• 7 activists in 7 countries who want to strip menstruation of stigma
• 4 ways you can fight period stigma
• Donate a period pack for $2 | Period.org

High school can be rough, even in prehistory. Luckily, teenagers can always be counted on to make horrible decisions — even if they're teen puppet dinosaurs! Join Andrew and Chelsea for a crash course in dinosaur sexual and gender relations as they grapple with body dysmorphia, steroid abuse, and Spike's accent.

Show: DINOSAURS \\ "Steroids To Heaven," Season 3, Episode 15

Air Date: February 12, 1993

Find it: on Hulu

Snack: Ruffles Mozzarella 'N Marinara Flavored Potato Chips

Further Reading:

• The Taylor Hooten Foundation
• 15 Things You Gotta Love About Dinosaurs | Mental Floss
• Deadly Cost of a Killer Bod | Chicago Tribune
• National survey finds sharp increase in use of synthetic human growth hormones by teens | US News
• "American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers" by Nancy Jo Sales
• "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" documentary
• I'm The Baby, Gotta Love Me (Music Video) | YouTube

Sometimes, Very Special Episodes are not about drugs, or bigotry, or teen sex. Sometimes, they're about cross-promotion and visits from Very Special Guests. It's important that you know which kind of VSE you're going into when you sit down to watch. Otherwise, you might end up waiting constantly for something bad to happen in your own one-man production of "Waiting for Soleil (Moon Frye)." Join a very nostalgic Chelsea and a much-less nostalgic Andrew as they plunge deep into the secret world of a teen witch and her mortal friends and hostages. Thunderclap!

Show: SABRINA, THE TEENAGE WITCH \\ "No Place Like Home," Season 4, Episode 1

Air Date: September 24, 1999

Special Guest Star: Britney Spears

Find it: on Hulu

Snack: Deluscious Cookies and Milk (from Lauren and Corey)

Further Reading:

• 15 Musical Guests You Forgot Were on "Sabrina, The Teenage Witch"
• 15 Magical Facts About Sabrina, The Teenage Witch | Mental Floss
• Tickled | HBO Documentary
• "You Drive Me Crazy" music video | YouTube

There are 125 toys in the extant He-Man/She-Ra universe, and dammit if almost every one of them isn't on some nonsense in this very special Christmas episode. Strap in, folks, it's going to be a long and delirious ride as Chelsea and Andrew jingle all the way through Christmas in Etheria. How does one explain Santa to a Trollan-Etherian immigrant? Exactly whom are we keeping He-Man's secret identity secret FROM? Who lives in Castle Greyskull besides 8 action figures? We wish the answers to these questions were simply distilled, but they just aren't, so let's hop on our Battlecats and hunt for these holiday answers together.

Show: HE-MAN and SHE-RA (crossover) \\ "A Christmas Special"

Air Date: December 25, 1985S

Find it: on YouTube, Hulu with Live TV

Snack: LIMITED EDITION Funko Pop! The Golden Girls Funko's Multigrain Cereal (from Claudia)

Further Reading:

• The Toys that Made Us, S01E03 (Netflix)
• He-Man.Org