Pop Mystery Pod

Ten years ago, Buffalo’s beloved NFL cheerleading squad disbanded abruptly. The dismantling of the Buffalo Jills has left this die-hard sports community pointing fingers. Who is really to blame for the disappearance of the Bill’s cheer squad, and why has it still not returned to Buffalo? 

Tess interviews former Jills cheerleaders Erin Oliver and Lonna Rich (@glitteryhippie)  about the unexpected history of the Buffalo Jills’ fight for fair working conditions. 

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod 

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods. 

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show! 

Backstreet Boys. Nsync. It’s hard to overstate how larger than life these groups were in the late ‘90s and ‘00s. While millions of girls screamed over these boy bands, though, the guys in the groups were getting royally screwed by the guy who built them: Lou Pearlman. The fraud goes so deep, and gets so weird. Writer and podcaster Dave Holmes @daveholmes  of the Homophilia, Who Killed the Video Star, and Waiting for Impact podcasts joins journalist and pop culture junkie Tess Barker for a dive into this strange and shocking story. 

Looking for video docs about Lou Pearlman? Check out  “The Boy Band Con” and “Dirty Pop.” 

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod 

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill. 

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods. 

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show! 

For better or (more likely) worse, “The Jerry Springer Show” changed television as we know it. Were the guests on this trainwreck real? Or fakers? Investigative journalists Tess Barker parses through Jerry Springer’s improbable life for clues as to how genuine the guests on his show were. 

Tess is joined by comics Doug Stanhope @dougstanhope  and Terrence Newman @mayorofechopark, who have wild first-hand insights into the veracity of this iconic show. 

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod 

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods. 

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!

Darlings, it’s a Vanderpump mystery! Lisa Vanderpump is an OG Housewife and the ruler of her own Bravo empire. She’s also been the victim of many, many fires. Fashion designer and VPR expert Haley Solar @HaleySolar  joins investigative journalist and pop culture junkie Tess Barker to chat through the house of smoke and mirrors that is Lisa Vanderpump’s restaurants. 

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod 

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill. 

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods. 

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!

There’s something unsettling about those “Pass It On” billboards that feature celebrities like Dolly Parton, Whoopi Goldberg, and William Shatner. These ads don’t seem to be selling anything except abstractly positive concepts like perseverance and resilience. But what’s really going on here? Investigative journalist and pop culture junkie uncovers the dark truth behind these seemingly banal signs. 

Featuring Judd Legum of the Popular Information newsletter. 

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod 

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods. 

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show! 

Grab your can of nos, cause we’re revving things up! Journalist, comic, and pop culture junkie Tess Barker welcomes Brandie Posey @brandazzle (Lady to Lady, Burn This Records, Picture This!) to talk through the real-life soap opera that is The Rock’s feud with Vin Diesel. Beefs don’t get much beefier than this. 

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod 

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill. 

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods. 

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show! 

“Cats” is a musical so ridiculous that it often drives people to anger. So why has this absurd show made so much money, and how does it keep taunting us all with its reemergence into culture? Jellicle journalist, comic, and pop culture junkie Tess Barker is on the case. 

Featuring interviews with actor Sara Jean Ford (On Broadway:  “Phantom of the Opera; “Finian’s Rainbow;” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying;”  “Cats:” ) and musicologist and dramaturg Dr. Lynda Paul (professor, Yale University; PhD music history/ethnomusicology/performance studies). 

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod 

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Abigail Keel was a consulting producer on this episode. 

Special thanks to voice actors Sean Green and Babs Gray. 

Clearance Counsel is  Dale Nelson and Jacqueline Swett at Donaldson Callif Perez, LLP

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods. 

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!

Journalist, comic, and pop culture junkie Tess Barker welcomes Emma Gray @emmaladyrose (Love to See It podcast, Rich Text newsletter). How much did “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast member and Erika Jayne know about her husband, Tom Girardi’s alleged frauds? Tess and Erika sort through the saga of this fallen power couple.

Read the LA Times invetsigative piece on Tom and Erika, written by Matt Hamilton and Harriet Ryan here.  

Watch the doc "The Housewife and the Hustler" on Hulu. 

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod 

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill. 

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic: The Britney Spears Story wherever you get your pods. 

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show! 

Journalist, comic, and pop culture junkie Tess Barker unpacks a question that’s been nagging her since the ‘90s: Did someone put dirty jokes into classic Disney movies? How? And why? The search for the truth leads Tess to a place she didn't see coming. 

Guests include Liz Climo (“The Simpsons,” children’s book author & illustrator), Mike Hollingsworth (“Bo Jack Horseman,” “Tuca and Bertie”), Tom Sito (“The Little Mermaid,” “Who Framed Rodger Rabbit?”, “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast”), Brenda Chapman (“Brave,” “The Prince of Egypt,” “The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast”). Featuring an Animation Guild oral history from Ann Guenther (“Sleeping Beauty,” “Winnie the Pooh,” “Robin Hood,” “The Rescuers.”) 

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod 

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill.

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Abigail Keel was a consulting producer on this episode. 

Clearance Counsel is  Dale Nelson and Jacqueline Swett at Donaldson Callif Perez, LLP

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods. 

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show! 

Journalist, comic, and pop culture junkie Tess Barker invites Danielle Perez @divadelux (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Dicks! The Musical, Spiderverse) onto the show for chat through the surprising way Lindsay Lohan’s party girl phase changed the kombucha industry forever. 

Follow Pop Mystery Pod on Twitter, Insstagram, and TikTok @popmysterypod 

Pop Mystery Pod is written and produced by Tess Barker @tesstifybarker. Produced by Tyler Hill. 

Theme song by Rick Wood @Rickw00d.

Support independent pop journalism and join us on Patreon at Pop Mystery Pod. Get access to ad free episodes, bonus content, and polls about upcoming topics. patreon.com/PopMysteryPod

Follow Tess’s other podcasts Lady to Lady and Toxic wherever you get your pods. 

Make sure to leave us a review! And tell a friend about the show!