Shocking! Lurid! Tawdry! A History of American Scandals

The book that quickly outsold Gone With the Wind has one of the most famous opening lines in literature: "Indian summer is like a woman. Ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle, she comes and goes as she pleases so that one is never sure whether she will come at all, nor for how long she will stay."  

As it turns out, Indian summer was a lot like the woman behind those words. Grace Metalious landed into the national consciousness with the subtlety of an atom bomb upon publication of her first novel, Peyton Place, in 1956. What we take for granted after multiple seasons of Desperate Housewives (that small-town life is just as sinful as big city living) was a new concept then, and Grace's neighbor were not thrilled to be thrust under the microscope. Especially when she was so cavalier as to use an actual neighbor's name and physical description for one of her characters.

But as it turns out, Grace's fame was as fleeting as Indian summer. In 1956 she was a phenomenon. Eight years later, she was dead at age 39 of cirrhosis of the liver. Join Mark Peikert as he takes you on a journey through mid-century America that encompasses everything from incest to Lana Turner to a Bloody Mary thrown in a screenwriter's face.  

Logo: Jessica Balaschak

There's a fad diet. There's Christianity used as a weapon. There's a murder conviction. And there's big hair. Really big hair.  That's just three episodes of HBO Max's new documentary series The Way Down, about Gwen Shamblin, her Christian diet The Weigh Down, and the church she founded, the Remnant Fellowship. And somehow, Kasey Howe and Mark Peikert don't think three episodes is enough! 

Join them as they discuss the brand-new show, it's shocking revelations, and just why Gwen's ethos is so singularly Southern.  

Logo: Jessica Balaschak

We're finally taping! At least, Linda Tripp is. She thinks it's fine, though. (It's not.) Monica's just excited that Bill is paying attention to her. (Sometimes.) But first we have to sit through an entire episode of Monica talking about Bill and micro analyzing his silence. An example she unfortunately does not follow herself.  

Join Kasey Howe and Mark Peikert as they go on a magical holiday journey with these two gal pals (and Paula Jones, who is abruptly remembered just in time for Episode 5) and wonder just what the rest of Linda's Christmas village story could be.  

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 

Logo: Jessica Balaschak

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/

Logo: Jessica Balaschak

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  

Logo: Jessica Balaschak

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?  

Logo: Jessica Balaschak

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.