If you’re looking for a little comfort this holiday season, look no further than a classic Hallmark Christmas movie. There you’ll find an uncomplicated world of quaint small towns covered in snow, magical family moments with hot cocoa and single girls looking for love in all the right places. Why are these films so popular despite their somewhat retrograde ideas about what everybody wants? In this special holiday episode, Susie will explain to Jess why she watches these sweet, simple movies despite - or maybe because of - how silly they often seem.

In Retrospect is taking a little break for the holidays. Thank you for listening to our first season and look for new episodes starting Feb. 2, 2024!

FOR MORE:
How Hallmark Took Over Cable Television (The New Yorker, 2019)
Nobody Told Hallmark Channel That Cable Is Dead (New York Magazine, 2023)
Christmas Under Wraps Trailer (Hallmark Channel/YouTube, 2014)

If you’re looking for a little comfort this holiday season, look no further than a classic Hallmark Christmas movie. There you’ll find an uncomplicated world of quaint small towns covered in snow, magical family moments with hot cocoa and single girls looking for love in all the right places. Why are these films so popular despite their somewhat retrograde ideas about what everybody wants? In this special holiday episode, Susie will explain to Jess why she watches these sweet, simple movies despite - or maybe because of - how silly they often seem.
In Retrospect is taking a little break for the holidays. Thank you for listening to our first season and look for new episodes starting Feb. 2, 2024!
FOR MORE:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/23/how-hallmark-took-over-cable-tv">How Hallmark Took Over Cable Television </a>(The New Yorker, 2019)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.vulture.com/2023/11/hallmark-channel-christmas-movies-strategy.html">Nobody Told Hallmark Channel That Cable Is Dead</a> (New York Magazine, 2023)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgi9eS3jBlg">Christmas Under Wraps Trailer</a> (Hallmark Channel/YouTube, 2014)</li>
</ul>

Is there a cultural moment from your past that looks different in retrospect? Maybe it’s a scandalous tabloid story seared into your teenage brain or a political punchline that just feels wrong now. It might be a very specific red swimsuit that inspired a decade of plastic surgery (see: “Baywatch”) or the inescapable smell of an entire generation of prepubescent boys (Axe body spray, anyone?). Each week on IN RETROSPECT, Emmy-winning journalist Susie Banikarim and New York Times editor Jessica Bennett revisit a pop culture moment from the 80s and 90s that shaped them — to try to understand what it taught us about the world, and a woman’s place in it.

Talk to us at @inretropod, @susiebnyc and @jessicabennett on Instagram. New episodes each Friday.

Is there a cultural moment from your past that looks different in retrospect? Maybe it’s a scandalous tabloid story seared into your teenage brain or a political punchline that just feels wrong now. It might be a very specific red swimsuit that inspired a decade of plastic surgery (see: “Baywatch”) or the inescapable smell of an entire generation of prepubescent boys (Axe body spray, anyone?). Each week on IN RETROSPECT, Emmy-winning journalist Susie Banikarim and New York Times editor Jessica Bennett revisit a pop culture moment from the 80s and 90s that shaped them — to try to understand what it taught us about the world, and a woman’s place in it.
Talk to us at @inretropod, @susiebnyc and @jessicabennett on Instagram. New episodes each Friday.

In Retrospect with Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett

Countdown To Christmas!

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/f940a5fd-7c3d-4c19-9aeb-b0de01667705/transcript

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