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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comThe Women sat at their iced-coffee-covered desks, staring into the vast beyond of their computer screens. They couldn’t help but wonder… what did they just watch for the better part of 12 hours, on and off for the last handful of months?The answer is, of course, the final season of “And Just Like That…” The “Sex and the City” sequel…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comThe “Love Is Blind” season 2 reunion landed on Sunday afternoon, and it landed with the force and spectacle of a grand piano pushed out of a tenth-story window. The proverbial ink had barely dried on our glowing recap of last week’s finale — the 10/10 perfect couples, the happy surprise of Billy and Ashleigh — when all our starry visions of marital bliss were extinguished. Well, not all. (There are one or two decent men left in the United Kingdom.) This reunion brought us shocking update after unsurprising-but-still-somehow-shocking update, some Emma Willis tears, and a performance of “you’re a liar” in two-part harmony.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comThe two-part “Love Is Blind UK” finale dropped this week, and despite the usual dull spots — wedding dress and suit shopping scenes that could have been a mood board, by-the-book stag and hen do activities, all the standard trimmings of a wedding day — we were rapt. This season ended as all the best seasons do: Some drama, …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.com“Are You My First?”, a reality dating show that dropped on Hulu last week, was clearly designed to be provocative. Well before it premiered, it drew controversy for its choice of hosts: reality and podcast personality Kaitlyn Bristowe shares the honor with Colton Underwood, a public figure most famous for being a virgin when he starr…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comLast episode, we were wondering whether this season of “Love Is Blind UK” would be able to recapture the glory of the first. It all just seemed a little… dull. This week, we’re eating our words. We have besties! We have enemies! We have a genuinely riveting Pod Squad mixer! In episodes 5-8, we watch the five engaged couples …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comIf anyone tries to tell you that reality television isn’t full of culture, tell them to watch the first drop of “Love Is Blind UK” season 2. Not only does it provide an American audience with a crash course in a wide array of British accents and terminology, but viewers can also learn about the grift of “human design” — and perhaps most importantly, “sp…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.com“Love Island” and “Love Island: Beyond the Villa” may have wrapped their latest seasons, but if anything the drama has only gotten more explosive — and unsettling — off-camera. In this episode, we discuss how the JaNa and Kenny breakup unfolded and dig into the rumored reason for the breakup, based on public statements by JaNa and her friends. We also get into the perils of insincere men on reality dating shows, and how racism and misogynoir put Black women in particularly vulnerable positions when dating on TV. (In this conversation, we reference Taryn Finley’s excellent Refinery29 essay, “JaNa Craig’s Split Proves A Pattern & It’s Black Women Who Pay The Price." We also discuss the Huda and Louis relationship, the apparent rift it has caused among the “Love Island” and “Too Hot to Handle” crews, and the warped incentives of sudden fame and dating on TV.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.com“The Hunting Wives” is one of those rare shows where nothing makes much sense, but it still somehow works. Thanks to her very middling husband, coastal liberal Sophie O’Neill (Brittany Snow) gets dropped into the gun-toting world of East Texas socialites, led by Queen Bee Margo Banks (Malin Åkerman). Longing glances are exc…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comTitling your new Netflix rom-com series “Too Much” is the sort of move that comes off as either a provocation or an easy set-up. It’s as if co-creator Lena Dunham is inviting critics to assess whether her show and her heroine are, indeed, too much. And given the decade-plus of fevered discourse around her last semi-autobiogr…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comPedro Pascal + Dakota Johnson + Chris Evans + love triangle + New York City + an exploration of modern dating should = pure joy. Unfortunately, the math behind Celine Song’s sophomore feature, “Materialists,” simply doesn’t add up.You know things aren’t going great when you watch a movie and can’t stop mentally cataloguing each …

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comLet’s talk reunions, y’all! We’re back from our summer vacations, rested and ready to reunite for all the reunion specials we missed during our OOO week: “The Ultimatum: Queer Love” and “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” Hosts Joanna Garcia Swisher and Nick Viall took their best swings at the Andy Cohen crown, with varying results, but each reunion offered at least a few juicy moments.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.com“The Ultimatum: Queer Love” finale had it all: Proposals! Confrontations! A dramatic breakup! This season was a true emotional rollercoaster, in all of the best ways. We got to see some real growth from both couples as well as individuals, while others couples are to untangling hard truths right up to the end. (Yes, we ARE talking about you, Mel and Marie.) We taped this episode ahead because of our insane schedules, so this podcast will only include discussion of episodes 8 and 9 of “Queer Love” S2. A separate podcast about the (honestly quite juicy) reunion will be coming soon.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comJust in time for the end of Pride Month, “The Ultimatum: Queer Love” has returned to our screens. And after watching the first seven episodes of season 2, we couldn’t help but wonder… why does the straight version even exist when “Queer Love” is so far superior? The new season follows six couples who have reached a crossroads in th…

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comIf one can say anything uplifting about season 2 of “The Valley,” it’s probably that the show is, at least, providing video documentation of Jax Taylor’s misdeeds — and his slimy attempts to throw blame for his horrific behavior on everyone around him, his ex-wife Brittany Cartwright in particular.In this latest batch of episodes, Jax steps up his harassment of Britt. He continues to rage-text her, reaches out to their mutual friends and family to try to convince them he’s truly changed and needs Britt’s sympathy and care, watches her from the family home’s interior surveillance cameras, apparently fakes (or at least exaggerates) a medical emergency, dumps his disastrous financial problems on her, and continues to imply (under the guise of taking full accountability) that Britt is responsible for his bad behavior. After all, she should have held him accountable before! She should have left him! He wishes she had! Oh, if only someone had forced him to be less of a piece of s**t!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit claireandemma.substack.comCarrie Bradshaw is swanning about in tulle in her massive Gramercy Park townhouse. Her boyfriend is in Virginia, her jewelry designer millennial neighbor is now living in her old uptown apartment, and her friends are busy f*****g nuns and stalking elite college counselors.Naturally, that means it’s time for her to sit down and write a novel. About women…