Shocking! Lurid! Tawdry! A History of American Scandals

Thanks to Forget the Alamo, we have a clearer idea of the kind of men who fought for Texas independence... and guys? They weren't great. So not great, in fact, that Robert Potter is just a footnote in that book, but he's worth an entire episode's discussion for us. After hogtieing and castrating two men, he was re-elected to Congress—and that's when things take a turn. But he was a white man in the 19th-century so don't worry! He's buried in the Texas State Cemetery and has a county in the Panhandle named after him.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out Forget the Alamo! And why not try watching Kasey Howe and Mark Peikert on YouTube? All the facial expressions and rolled eyes you can handle each week. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUI6fTwkYm8UEv4sLaC9ytw

And be sure to follow Mark on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkPeikert 

Forget the Alamo: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623832/forget-the-alamo-by-bryan-burrough-chris-tomlinson-and-jason-stanford/

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Turns out, we have one guy to blame for a lot!  

In addition to writing a child-rearing book positing that all children should be shuttled among different families until they came of age and they should never be touched except perhaps a pat on the head for a job particularly well done, John Watson invented behaviorism; the coffee break; fear-based marketing; and the sense that all employees should subjugate their lives for their companies.  

He was also at the center of a remarkable divorce, one that found his wife turning into a regular Nancy Drew and stealing love letters, then giving the shadiest interviews this side of a Drag Race confessional. Take a journey through some truly shocking behavior in this episode of Shocking! Lurid! Tawdry!.  

If you liked this episode of Shocking! Lurid! Tawdry!, hosted by Kasey Howe and Mark Peikert, listen and subscribe to the series wherever you find podcasts!  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shocking-lurid-tawdry-a-history-of-american-scandals/id1561632107  

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Are we supposed to dislike Monica Lewinsky?  

Shocking! Lurid! Tawdry! co-hosts Kasey Howe and Mark Peikert are back after a week of self-care, which they promptly throw away by watching two episodes of Impeachment back to back. Is Linda Tripp supposed to be the most human character? Is Paula Jones supposed to be this pathetic? Did Monica really always sit forlornly in her darkened apartment, without even bothering to turn the TV on? And is that how Matt Drudge really talks?  

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Stuff!

Eunice Pringle saw the man accused of sexually assaulting her, vaudeville and movie impressario Alexander Pantages, go to prison—and then Jerry Giesler jumped in and they had a retrial with a predominately male jury this time. Guess what? He was acquitted!

Along the way, Pantages' wife ends up convicted of a crime in the same courtroom, rumors swirl that Pringle died and left a deathbed confession admitting that Joseph P. Kennedy put her up to it, and Pringle releases one of the all-time great statements ever uttered when told that Pantages's conviction was overturned.

Jump in for another exhilarating ride through 100-year-old bad behavior that feels shockingly contemporary.

Kasey Howe and Mark Peikert made one promise when they launched their podcast dedicated to American scandals: They wouldn't cover Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. But if someone else does... Besides, that sweet sweet SEO is there, ripe for the plucking!  

So the Shocking! Lurid! Tawdry! co-hosts put on their GAP best, hit pause on an episode of Friends, and time traveled back to Clintonian America for a special miniseries dedicated to the limited series. And just how are the women at the scandals' center—Linda Tripp, Paula Jones, and Lewinsky—faring in the first episode? About what you'd expect based on the reviews.  

Be sure to watch Impeachment: American Crime Story on FX every Tuesday night (if you must), and catch Kasey and Mark discussing their intense reactions to it every Wednesday! 

Logo: Jessica Balaschak 

Music: Caveman of Los Angeles by Party Store Music

What the Secret Service did in Cartagena didn’t stay so secret after they didn't pay for services rendered. 

In this episode, we travel back to the quieter days of the Obama Administration. You may remember it as a not particularly scandalous administration and yet! Join us for some PSAs on how to responsibly hire sex workers, while it's Mark's turn to struggle with his audio.

The glamour goddess saw her reputation get a good tawdry tarnishing when her 14-year-old daughter killed her abusive 32-year-old lover with a single stab.

How did Lana Turner end up watching a man die in her pink bedroom? How did her daughter, Cheryl Crane, end up trying to protect her mother? And did Johnny Stompanato know that he was buying his own murder weapon when he helped Lana pick out that set of carving knives a week prior?

Mark digs deep into one of Hollywood's most shocking scandals, one that can best be summed up by the phrase "bruises caused by diamonds."

Peggy Eaton was just trying to be a good housewife, but the women of D.C. were not going to let her do it in peace! During the Andrew Jackson administration, not much else was going on, so one wife deemed unfit could take down a whole cabinet! (Maybe you've heard of Peggy because you're a big fan of the Joan Crawford picture The Gorgeous Hussy?) And we learn the fastest way to lose a tip as far as Mark is concerned.

Before Geraldo was throwing punches and chairs at neo Nazis on his daytime talk show, he was a respected journalist and noted Horny Man. And his 1991 memoir Exposing Myself dedicated possibly more time to the latter. Join Kasey as Mark leads her down a wild hedonistic path from Al Capone's vault to a Bette Midler interview with Barbara Walters to a shocking third-act twist when Rivera pens a new afterward for the paperback edition, addressing the uproar he caused by including so many stories about sex on the job.