Parasocial Activity

A definitive list of the 7 worst bad tropes in media, and the 3 best bad tropes in media. Spoilers for: Inside Out, My Girl, Hereditary, Strangers Things s3, Gilmore Girls, The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han, One Day by David Nicholls, Mockingjay, Romeo and Juliet, Sex Education s3, The 100, The Guest List, The Sanatorium, The Woman in Cabin 10, One by One, The Woman in the Window (2021), Life as We Know It (2010), Love Hard (2021)Hosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Tes...

We revisit the hallowed ground of the Clue mansion to discuss Celina's favorite kind of mystery novel: the closed circle of suspects murder mystery. Many many spoilers ahead—listen at your own risk, or better yet come back after you've read everything on the spoiler list (except for Nine Perfect Strangers. That book was bad).Spoilers: And Then There Were None (book & 2015 miniseries), The Guest List, The Hunting Party, One by One, Nine Perfect Strangers CW: Sexual assault, racial slu...

Do you like to wear pants? Do you love to fly planes? Bill Wurtz asks the important questions about pants and planes, and we ask the important questions about Bill Wurtz. Celina's roommate (and composer of the theme song, and namer of this show) makes his long-awaited debut to tell us more than we ever knew we needed to know about his hero, the internet's sincerest musical memer. Hosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Celina SiegelTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Cel...

We talk about the many allusions to the myth of Icarus in pop culture, and why everyone is referencing him for the wrong reasons. Spoilers for: Terminator 2Hosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Tess HotzTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Siegel

Come for the trivia. Stay for the DEAD-ON character impressions (get it??). Spoilers for: Clue, Knives OutHosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Celina SiegelTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Siegel

What is art? What is money? What’s the point of “owning” art? Tess forces Celina to learn about NFTs and Celina loves every second of it!Spoilers for: Doctor Who (Series 7)Hosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Tess HotzTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Siegel

Parasocial Activity welcomes its first-ever guest, Keanu Reeves scholar Emma Nash! Gather round as she waxes poetic on the timelessness of My Own Private Idaho, the romanticism of Speed, and the unstable selfhood Keanu consistently portrays so well. Stay til the end for some bonus takes on Supernatural. Spoilers for: My Own Private Idaho, Point Break, John Wick, The Fast and the Furious, The Matrix, Something's Gotta Give, River's Edge, Permanent RecordCW: sexual assault, suicide, murder...

Do you like musicals? Do you like people who pretend to be mannequins? Then you'll probably like Evening Primrose, Stephen Sondheim's 1966 made-for-TV musical that basically plays like a Twilight Zone episode with singing. Join us as we honor the master by discussing his weirdest project of all.Spoilers for: Evening Primrose, Psycho, The Sound of MusicHosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Celina SiegelTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Siegel

All we wanted for Christmas was a fun and heartwarming lesbian holiday romance movie starring Kristen Stewart. Instead, we got a sad and disappointing lesbian holiday romance movie. But Kristen was still great.Spoilers for: Happiest Season (2020), Underwater (2020)Hosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Tess HotzTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Siegel

Is The Secret History the best novel ever written? Should Ansel Elgort play Henry in the (nonexistent) film adaptation? Is the pursuit of the picturesque to the exclusion of all else a moral failing? Is Harry Potter dark academia? Can two pals have the same favorite book, but disagree about every aspect of it? Find out now!Spoilers for: The Secret History, The Talented Mr RipleyHosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Tess HotzTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Si...

A tiny Italian shoe and a tall glass of American milk frolic together in the Italian countryside. Celina and Tess try to think of a single queer romantic movie that isn't full of gay angst.Spoilers for: Call Me By Your Name (book & movie), Portrait of a Lady on Fire, The Half of It, But I'm a CheerleaderCW: sexual assault, predatory behavior/grooming, cannibalism, poopingNOTE: Some people may not want to listen to us go into the specifics of Armie Hammer's cannibalistic behavior. Those pe...

Learn EVERYTHING you need to know about Astrology in just 90 short and fun-filled minutes. After you listen to this, you'll finally fit in. Spongebob is an Aries. Buffy is a Capricorn. Don't worry too much about the 13th sign. Hosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Tess HotzTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Siegel

Literally no one asked for a She's All That remake, but if the pandemic has taught us anything it's that Netflix is the king of making things no one is asking for and then advertising them so aggressively that you eventually watch them in the hopes that Netflix will stop looping the trailer on your home screen. Come share our pain.Spoilers for: She's All That, He's All That, Grease, Sex Education seasons 2-3, SuccessionHosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Celina Siegel & Tess ...

This movie may be full of mansplaining, bad fashion choices, and early-aughts blind patriotism, but it's still Disney's best best best property ever. Don't let Tess convince you otherwise. Spoilers for: National Treasure, National Treasure: Book of SecretsHosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Celina SiegelTheme Song by Sam WaltersCover Art by Celina Siegel

Tess explains why the greatest movie musical of all time is actually just OK. Celina recites the entire movie from memory. Spoilers for: Singin’ in the Rain (1952). And that's it. Hosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Tess HotzTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Siegel

Celina's choice! Is Cole Sprouse simply a former child actor/current angsty heartthrob/kind of weird dude? Or is he the conduit for a broader re-contextualization of so-called "bad acting"? Let's get tangential.This episode contains spoilers for: Five Feet Apart, Riverdale (through season 3), and Borrasca.Hosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Celina SiegelTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Siegel

Tess’s choice! Tess explains why there has never been a good Sherlock Holmes adaptation EVER. Celina sings the praises of Sherlock Holmes (2009) even though it’s actually a terrible movie. Spoilers for: Any Sherlock Holmes story you can think of, Misfits, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice series, Set it Up, My So-Called Life, Carmilla, VertigoHosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Tess HotzTheme Song by Sam WaltersCover Art by Celina Siegel

Celina's choice! Join us for a brief history and assessment of the musical episodes of non-musical TV shows. Along the way, we ask ourselves: are Willow and Tara actually a good couple? What is Taran Killem's greatest performance to date? Why is Grey's Anatomy like this?This episode contains spoilers for: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Scrubs, Community, Grey's Anatomy, RiverdaleHosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Celina SiegelTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Siegel

We kick off the show with a discussion on the 1972 Stephen Schwartz musical Pippin. Does this musical have a plot? Is the Theo ending the superior ending? Did Dear Evan Hansen deserve to beat The Great Comet at the Tonys?? (spoilers: no)Hosted by Celina Siegel & Tess HotzEdited by Celina SiegelTheme song by Sam WaltersCover art by Celina Siegel