The Watchers

It's that time of year again! We're looking back on 2025 and sharing what we loved the most. This year, Andrea loved too many things to narrow her list down, so she's fully cheating and sharing a bunch of stuff in a variety of categories (Check out her music playlist here). Jodie took the opposite approach and went SO specific. Between the two of them, you should have plenty to fill the liminal space that is December 26th through, let's say, January 5th. Check below for a list of all of our recommendations.

What Jodie Loved in 2025

Taskmaster

Game Changer: “One Year Later”

British crime shows, in general

“Niche crafting shows and their watching culture.”

The Pitt season 1

Honorable Mentions:

Choreography and Merriment

And this friendly reminder

What Andrea Loved in 2025

Comedy specials

Atsuko Okatsuka: Father

Robby Hoffman: Wake Up

An Intimate Evening with Adam Pally

DROPOUT PRESENTS:

Aparna Nancherla: Hopeful Potato

Demi Adejuyigbe: Is Going to Do One (1) Backflip

Cameron Esposito: Four Pills

Documentaries

John Candy: I Like Me

Thank You Very Much

Come See Me in the Good Light

Deaf President Now

Music

Pool Kids: Easier Said Than Done

The Wonder Years: Burst & Decay (Volume III) 

Motion City Soundtrack: The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World

Hayley Williams: Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party

The Starting Line: Eternal Youth 

Algernon Cadwallader: Trying Not to Have a Thought

PUP: Who Will Look After the Dogs? 

Anxious: Bambi

Gully Boys: Gully Boys

The Business Casual Show

The concept: livestreaming live improv

DynastyTypewriter.com and ucbcomedy.com are good places to start

If you're reading this, that means you've probably got your podcatcher of choice open right now. It would be SO helpful if you gave our little show a follow. If you like what you hear, you could even leave us a review.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

This week on The Watchers, Andrea and Jodie break down episodes 4, 5, and 6 of Pluribus. Carol starts testing the hive mind and catches a bad case of FOMO. We get into resistance vs. assimilation, art in a flattened world, whether or not it counts as consent if you have to split hairs, and this show’s careful mix of dread, slapstick, and quiet humanity.

Next week, we’re bringing you our 2025 edition of our yearly “What We Loved” series. And then, we’ll be back to review the last three episodes of season 1 of Pluribus.

If you're reading this, that means you've probably got your podcatcher of choice open right now. It would be SO helpful if you gave our little show a follow. If you like what you hear, you could even leave us a review.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

This week, Jodie and Andrea watched the first three episodes of Pluribus, Vince Gilligan’s eerie, uncanny, offbeat new series about a virus that turns humanity into a hive mind—and the handful of people left out. (Please let me have that em dash. I swear I'm a human being.)

We talk about the show’s inception, some behind-the-scenes stories, and the cast that fills out these early episodes. Also, what Pluribus has revealed about its world so far, how grief and defiance fuel the early story, and why it matters that a cranky lesbian is at the center of this show.

Next week, Pluribus, episodes 4 - 6

If you're reading this, that means you've probably got your podcatcher of choice open right now. It would be SO helpful if you gave our little show a follow. If you like what you hear, you could even leave us a review.

This week on The Watchers, Jodie and Andrea finish up our Somebody Somewhere journey with Season 3, and we brought backup. Therapist, podcast host, and certified Fred Rococo admirer Marlon Morgan is here to help us process our feelings. We talk growth, grief, and friendship; magnets, Muppets, and chlamydia; and what it looks like to finally believe you might actually be okay.

Next week, episodes 1 through 3 of Pluribus, Vince Gilligan’s new series about a happy human hive mind and one curmudgeonly writer who is straight up not having a good time.

Check out This Helps with Marlon Morgan

Have a question for Marlon? Record your video here for a chance to be featured on This Helps With Marlon Morgan.

If you're reading this, that means you've probably got your podcatcher of choice open right now. It would be SO helpful if you gave our little show a follow. If you like what you hear, you could even leave us a review.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

This week on The Watchers, Jodie and Andrea get into Season 2 of Somebody Somewhere, a tender show about tender people behaving tenderly. This season is chock-full of complicated relationships in every direction: parent-child, sibling, friend, lover, teacher, mentor, the whole human mess. We talk about all the messy, beautiful ways the people of Somebody Somewhere keep showing up for one another, even when it’s hard.

Next week, we’re wrapping up Somebody Somewhere with our recap of Season 3.

If you're reading this, that means you've probably got your podcatcher of choice open right now. It would be SO helpful if you gave our little show a follow. If you like what you hear, you could even leave us a review.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

This week on The Watchers, Jodie and Andrea cover Season 1 of Somebody Somewhere, the tender, funny, quietly devastating HBO series about grief, belonging, and figuring out who your people are. We get into the characters and casting, why seeing yourself reflected in the stories you watch matters so much, and the many (many) moments that made Andrea cry.

We’ll be back with Season 2 next week.

If you're reading this, that means you've probably got your podcatcher of choice open right now. It would be SO helpful if you gave our little show a follow. If you like what you hear, you could even leave us a review.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

This week on The Watchers, Jodie proposes a theory: Tarsem’s The Fall might be the most English-major-ass movie we’ve ever covered. A movie about grief, connection, and the shared act of co-authoring a world together, The Fall spans continents and mythologies while really being about two people in one hospital room and their attempt at meaning-making. We get into Tarsem’s laser-eyed focus on making this film a reality by self-funding, shooting in more than 25 countries, and holding the whole thing together through stubborn will. It’s a movie that became a beloved favorite despite being nearly impossible to find until its 2024 restoration.

Next week: Season 1 of Somebody Somewhere, the tender, joyful, devastating HBO series about friendship, grief, chosen family, and what it really means to come home.

Recommended:

Behind the Scenes - The Fall

“Before Your Very Eyes: Tarsem’s The Fall” - Nicholas Russell, Bright Wall / Dark Room

“Liberations of Mind, Spirit and Vision: The Fall by Tarsem Singh” - Daniel Garrett, Offscreen

If you're reading this, that means you've probably got your podcatcher of choice open right now. It would be SO helpful if you gave our little show a follow. If you like what you hear, you could even leave us a review.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

This week on The Watchers, Andrea and Jodie are watching Practical Magic, the 1998 Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman film that’s part romantic comedy, part gothic melodrama, and part cozy autumn mood board. We talk about its tonal chaos, the domestic-violence subplot that doesn’t quite fit, and whether or not Practical Magic accidentally invented cottagecore. Plus: the haunted production history, the witch consultant who may or may not have cursed the director, a coven of small-town moms, and why, despite (or because of) its messiness, Practical Magic has become such a touchstone for millennial witches everywhere.

Next week, we’re diving into The Fall, Tarsem Singh’s sweeping, surreal fairy tale about grief, imagination, and the stories we tell to survive.

If you're reading this, that means you've probably got your podcatcher of choice open right now. It would be SO helpful if you gave our little show a follow. If you like what you hear, you could even leave us a review.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

This week, Andrea and Jodie sink their teeth into Joel Schumacher’s 1987 teen vampire classic, The Lost Boys. We talk about the decade’s obsession with abandoned hideouts, the movie’s blatant disregard for established vampire lore, and our shared childhood dream of running away to live with a group of wayward teens in one of those aforementioned abandoned hideouts. Plus: The Lost Boy’s Goonies-esque origins, national treasure, Dianne Wiest, and the incredible history of the world’s most important bodybuilding saxophone player.

From California vampires to New England witches, we’re trading leather for linen and watching 1998’s Practical Magic

If you're reading this, that means you've probably got your podcatcher of choice open right now. It would be SO helpful if you gave our little show a follow. If you like what you hear, you could even leave us a review.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."

Andrea and Jodie finally watched Jennifer’s Body, a movie written by Diablo Cody, directed by Karyn Kusama, and practically made for The Watchers. It’s funny, queer, and at least a little more feminist than its original marketing gave it credit for. We talk about Megan Fox’s redemption arc, that cursed emo band Low Shoulder, how a smart, strange movie about friendship and revenge got misbranded as a sexed-up slasher for teen boys, and whether or not it's possible to challenge stereotypes without reinforcing them.

Next week: we’re heading back to 1987 for The Lost Boys. A movie that proves nothing’s cooler than vampires, leather jackets, and boardwalk saxophone solos.

Recommended Reading:

How Jennifer’s Body went from a flop in 2009 to a feminist cult classic today - Constance Grady, Vox

The life, death, and rebirth of Jennifer’s Body, according to screenwriter Diablo Cod - Emily St. James, Vox

The Story of Low Shoulder From ‘Jennifer’s Body,’ The Funniest and Most Disturbing Fictional Indie Rock Band Ever - Andrew Unterberger, Billboard

Why "Through the Trees" Is Actually the Perfect Song for Jennifer's Body - James Grebey, SYFY

A Queer Girl’s Guide to Jennifer’s Body  - Ava Burzycki, The Michigan Daily

If you're reading this, that means you've probably got your podcatcher of choice open right now. It would be SO helpful if you gave our little show a follow. If you like what you hear, you could even leave us a review.

Follow:

The Watchers on Instagram (@WatchersPodNJ)

Andrea on Instagram (@AQAndreaQ)

Jodie on Instagram (@jodie_mim)

Thanks to Kitzy (@heykitzy) for the use of our theme song, "No Book Club."