Hi friends! I'm taking a little break from the pod to enjoy the last few weeks of summer. I will be back after Labor Day. There's SO much I want to cover from the Amanda Knox FX show, Golden Bachelor, Love is Blind, RIP AND JUST LIKE THAT, and much much more! 

In the meantime, please enjoy my most recent appearance on Broad Culture with Cheryl Smallman. We discuss the 2nd season of America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. 

Feel free to DM your thoughts and ideas while I'm away. 

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Margaret

This week, Margaret sits down with Lina and Jereme Hall, stars of the reality series Back on the Frontier, available for streaming on HBO Max. The Hall family shares what drew them to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live like 1880s homesteaders—and how the experience changed them forever.

From bidding wars at the livestock auction to boiling water for baths and cooking from scratch, Lina and Jereme offer an honest look at frontier life with kids in tow. They talk about giving up modern conveniences, adjusting to life without tech, and the surprising joy of slow, intentional living. They also reflect on how the experience shaped their children’s worldview—and how their family life looks different now that they’re back home.

Highlights include:

Follow Lina and Jereme on social media. 

In this episode of Smash Hit, host Margaret Knudsen welcomes true crime journalist Jennifer Tisdale to unpack Netflix’s chilling new documentary, Amy Bradley is Missing, and revisit the 1998 disappearance of 23-year-old Amy Lynn Bradley, who vanished from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship under mysterious circumstances.

Together, Margaret and Jennifer dissect:

Cruise culture in the late ‘90s and pre-9/11 security lapses

Theories around Amy’s disappearance: trafficking, voluntary exit, or something else?

Questionable editing choices, missing footage, and the enduring mystery of "Brad Bradley"

Reddit deep-dives, AmyBradleyIsMissing.com chaos, and the legacy of a family unable to move on

How Jennifer’s background covering crime daily impacts her lens—and her cruise preferences

⚠️ Trigger warning: This episode discusses themes including sex trafficking, addiction, and familial grief.

If you have credible information about Amy Bradley’s disappearance, please visit Distractify and keep an eye out for her Undiscovered pick, Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes premiering July 30 on Netflix.

Margaret is joined by Becca from Little Miss Recap to break down the Freeform docuseries Not Her First Rodeo—now streaming on Hulu. The series follows elite female bull riders as they chase titles, buck stereotypes, and risk everything for the sport they love.

We discuss the show's breakout star Jordan (a real-life Teeter?), Catalina’s resilience, and the quiet badassery of Alexa, Renata, and Afida. Topics include: the gender pay gap in rodeo, safety gear debates, training gaps in the edit, why we want a full 10-episode run next time, and how this show is the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team of the Western world.

We also talk about what Freeform is even doing these days, dream casting Catalina in a Taylor Sheridan series, and whether Blue Geanes is a real name.

Plus: McBee Dynasty updates, garden club drama, and Becca’s pick for what’s Undiscovered.

Disclaimer: This episode contains spoilers for the whole season.

Margaret and Keisha from The Libra Lounge break down Back on the Frontier, the Magnolia Network’s surprisingly wholesome (and slightly unhinged) new reality experiment now streaming on HBO Max. Three modern families ditch their devices, makeup bags, and robot vacuums to live like it’s 1862 under the Homestead Act.

Would you survive three months with no AC, no CPAP, and an outhouse? (Spoiler: we would not.) And should there be a Celebrity Frontier House spin-off? We’re casting it already — networks, call us.

🎧 What’s Undiscovered? Keisha’s watching NYC Next Gen, reading I’m Glad My Mom Died, and still covering everything unhinged on The Libra Lounge with Keisha and Pink Shade.

Follow Keisha 

Margaret is joined by the hilarious Kendrick Tucker (@withkendricktucker) for a deep dive into the Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 2 reunion — with a quick shoutout to the Slamming Sodas at Denny’s that might just be your new summer obsession. 

They break down the awkward July 1st drop, share their hopes (and worries) for Season 3 — less Marciano, more behind-the-scenes drama, and maybe even a MomTok spinoff in Wichita? Plus: the reunion host performance (Nick Viall — why?), the real unsung husbands, and what could make this cast truly shine.

Stick around for Kendrick’s Undiscovered picks: a nostalgic Apple Music playlist trick and his top reality TV rewatch recs for the summer.

Listen to Kendrick's podcast here. 

Ready to celebrate America’s birthday with the most insane disaster at sea since the Boston Tea Party? We’re diving bow-first into Netflix’s brand-new documentary Trainwreck: Poop Cruise—the wild retelling of Carnival Triumph’s 2013 “floating Porta-Potty” fiasco that stranded 4,000 passengers without power, plumbing, or dignity. Chris DeRosa (co-host of Fixing Famous People) joins Margaret to relive sewage-soaked hallways, makeshift tent cities on the lido deck, and the media frenzy that turned one busted engine into headline gold.

New segment alert! We debut Smash Scripts, our satirical table-read series, starting with an unhinged And Just Like That mini-scene in which Carrie discovers Aiden’s “romantic” getaway is aboard the Carnival Sunshine (spoiler: the Poop Deck isn’t what she thinks).

Follow Chris DeRosa 

Listen to Fixing Famous People

Follow Fixing Famous People

In this Splash Hit 🧜‍♀️💰edition of Smash Hit, Margaret is joined by Natalie Katona, host of To All the Men I’ve Tolerated Before, to unpack Netflix’s chaotic limited series Sirens. They dissect sisterhood, succession, and society’s worst men, and pitch a smarter, darker, more satisfying conclusion than the one we got. (Spoiler alert: it involves Julianne Moore and bird sanctuaries.) From cringey prenups to lavender-spritzed lingerie, this conversation has everything—plus detours into One Tree Hill, Nicholas Sparks, and Dropout TV.

Follow Natalie:

Podcast: To All the Men I’ve Tolerated Before

IG: @menivetoleratedpod

Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2 with Cheryl Smallman of Broad Culture

We’re back in Carrie’s chaotic closet of unresolved plotlines, and somehow, we never want to leave.

Margaret is joined by Cheryl Smallman of Broad Culture to recap the Season 3 premiere and epsiode 2 of And Just Like That, a show we fully acknowledge is deeply broken—and yet, absolutely essential.

It makes no sense. We love it. We hate it. We’re obsessed. Long live this high-gloss, emotionally incoherent fever dream.

🎧 Subscribe to Smash Hit wherever you get your podcasts

This week, Smash Hit takes a detour into the ER—specifically, The Pitt. Host Margaret is joined by Amanda Lipnack-Radel of Little Miss Recap, who finally gets her moment to talk about the show that’s too intense for Amye.

Together, they unpack Season 1, Episode 1 of The Pitt, a gripping hospital drama that's NOT an ER reboot. It’s event television—you can’t second-screen this one.

🎧 Plus: Amanda shares more about Little Miss Recap and her podcast Amanda’s Coaching Corner, and reveals what she thinks is the most “undiscovered” show worth watching right now.