Pop Rocket Ep. 203 Bravo’s Dirty John & Our True Crime Obsession w/ Sarah Kessler
Explicit content warning
12/08/18 • 74 min
We're getting down into the down and dirty story Dirty John, the new Bravo show based on the LA Times and Wondery podcast of the same name. Joining us in the discussion this week is media scholar and TV critic Sarah Kessler who happens to also be married to our very own Karen Tongson. Dirty John is the true crime story about Debra Newell, a successful Orange County businesswoman who seemed to have everything going for her except when it came to love. In her middle age, she began online dating and met this guy who her two daughters found extremely shady. Obviously, throughout the course of the limited series starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana, she and we find out why.
We take a deep dive into what it is that titillates and draws us into the dark and disturbing world of true crime. The panel takes a look at podcasts like Teacher's Pet, Serial and Bear Brook, among others, as well as shows such as Making a Murderer, Lifetime’s A Woman Scorned and the sensational, made-for-tv accounts of the most notorious serial killers. What does true crime tell us about women and what does it tell women to watch out for? Find out!
List of All the True Crimes Stories Referenced in the Episode
Serial Bear Brook Teacher's Pet Atlanta Monster Star 80 Fall of a Titan: The Steve McNair Story In the Dark Crime & Scandal: Chris Watts
All Abouts
Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh is all about the interpersonal dynamics at play at H.W. Bush’s funeral.
Sarah Kessler is all about My Brilliant Friend on HBO based on the bestselling series by Elena Ferrante.
Karen Tongson is all about a recent stand-up set she saw of Aparna Nancherla.
That's My Jam
Sarah Kessler - Stereolab - Outer Accelerator
Wynter - Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm
Karen Tongson - Juliana Hatfield - A Little More Love
With Karen Tongson, Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh, and Sarah Rebecca Kessler.
Did you know that you can now call and leave voicemails for the show? You can! If you want to comment on an episode, give us any feedback or just call to get advice from a panel member, the number is: (530) 237-4108
You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.
If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.
Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.
We're getting down into the down and dirty story Dirty John, the new Bravo show based on the LA Times and Wondery podcast of the same name. Joining us in the discussion this week is media scholar and TV critic Sarah Kessler who happens to also be married to our very own Karen Tongson. Dirty John is the true crime story about Debra Newell, a successful Orange County businesswoman who seemed to have everything going for her except when it came to love. In her middle age, she began online dating and met this guy who her two daughters found extremely shady. Obviously, throughout the course of the limited series starring Connie Britton and Eric Bana, she and we find out why.
We take a deep dive into what it is that titillates and draws us into the dark and disturbing world of true crime. The panel takes a look at podcasts like Teacher's Pet, Serial and Bear Brook, among others, as well as shows such as Making a Murderer, Lifetime’s A Woman Scorned and the sensational, made-for-tv accounts of the most notorious serial killers. What does true crime tell us about women and what does it tell women to watch out for? Find out!
List of All the True Crimes Stories Referenced in the Episode
Serial Bear Brook Teacher's Pet Atlanta Monster Star 80 Fall of a Titan: The Steve McNair Story In the Dark Crime & Scandal: Chris Watts
All Abouts
Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh is all about the interpersonal dynamics at play at H.W. Bush’s funeral.
Sarah Kessler is all about My Brilliant Friend on HBO based on the bestselling series by Elena Ferrante.
Karen Tongson is all about a recent stand-up set she saw of Aparna Nancherla.
That's My Jam
Sarah Kessler - Stereolab - Outer Accelerator
Wynter - Grace Jones - Slave to the Rhythm
Karen Tongson - Juliana Hatfield - A Little More Love
With Karen Tongson, Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh, and Sarah Rebecca Kessler.
Did you know that you can now call and leave voicemails for the show? You can! If you want to comment on an episode, give us any feedback or just call to get advice from a panel member, the number is: (530) 237-4108
You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.
If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.
Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.
Previous Episode
Pop Rocket Ep. 202 Holiday Horror w/ Ricky Carmona
It's well known in the Rocketeer community that our host this week, Wynter Mitchell-Ragnarok, is a huge horror buff. She watches two to three a week, and she is running out of horror flicks to watch on all the streaming services. Send her your recommendations! In the meantime, Wynter forced Karen, Margaret and Who Shot Ya?’s Ricky Carmona to subject themselves to some of her favorite movies from the holiday genre, such as Black Christmas, Silent Night, Deadly Night, and their sequels.
Our special guest this week is the hilarious Ricky Carmona, the host of the Maximum Fun movie podcast Who Shot Ya? and he's also a staff writer on the Comedy Central TV series Tosh.0.
All Abouts
Margaret is all about ROMA, a new film by acclaimed director Alfonso Cuarón. The movie is heavily based on his childhood in Mexico City in the 1970s and his family's live-in housekeeper.
Karen has a backhanded All About on Netflix's bro-y, new food competition show The Final Table.
Ricky is all about Adam Sandler's latest stand-up comedy special also on Netflix called 100% Fresh.
Wynter is all about season 1 of the USA Network crime drama The Sinner starring Jessica Biel and Bill Pullman.
That's My Jam
Margaret - Phosphorescent - New Birth in New England.
Karen - This Is Me (Reimagined Remix) - Keala Settle, Kesha & Missy Elliott
Ricky - Sounds of Blackness - Optimistic
Wynter - Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band - Great to Be Here
With Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh, Karen Tongson, Margaret Wappler , and Ricky Carmona/a>.
Did you know that you can now call and leave voicemails for the show? You can! If you want to comment on an episode, give us any feedback or just call to get advice from a panel member, the number is: (530) 237-4108
You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.
If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.
Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.
Next Episode
Pop Rocket Ep. 204 From Dafoe’s Van Gogh to Hayek’s Frida: A Look at Hollywood’s Attempt to Make Art about Artists
How right, but mostly how wrong, does Hollywood get it when it comes to capturing artists in film? Margaret Wappler asks these very questions of her esteemed panel. And this, the panel is comprised of LA Times staff writer Carolina Miranda, who covers visual arts, culture and architecture, media scholar and TV critic Sarah Kessler--filling in for her under-the-weather wife Karen Tongson--and Cal Arts professor and visual artist David P Earle, who is better known to Pop Rocket listeners as father to Silas and husband to our very own Margaret Wappler.
From Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner to Antonio Banderas's Golden Globe-nominated performance in Genius: Picasso, the crew highlights all the tired tropes Hollywood can’t resist when depicting artists. They’ll tell you about the films that get it right, and the films that get it deliciously wrong. Plus, why are all the portrayals of Andy Warhol on the big screen so...different? Was the real Andy Warhol more like Crispin Glover in The Doors or David Bowie in Julian Schnabel's Basquiat? Does Salma Hayek really do Frida justice? And which actress nails the stereotype of the insufferable, pretentious artist on the head? Join us as we try to suss out: is art about art art, or t-shirt at the giftshop bullshit?
All Abouts
Sarah is all about Valerie Solanas's SCUM Manifesto with forward by Michelle Tea.
Carolina is all about narco-novelas, in particular Netflix's Narcos: Mexico starring Diego Luna.
David is all about his algorithmically generated list of top songs of 2018 from Spotify.
Margaret is all about the 18th century period piece The Favourite, a feminist reimagining of Queen Anne's court starring Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone, and Olivia Colman.
That's My Jam
Sarah - Laura Branigan - Gloria
David - Saba - LOGOUT
Carolina - The Bucketheads - The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)
Margaret- Katzù Oso - Crazy4luvinU
With Margaret Wappler, David Earle, Carolina Miranda, and Sarah Rebecca Kessler.
Did you know that you can now call and leave voicemails for the show? You can! If you want to comment on an episode, give us any feedback or just call to get advice from a panel member, the number is: (530) 237-4108
You can let us know what you think of Pop Rocket and suggest topics in our Facebook group or via @PopRocket on Twitter.
If you haven't already, follow us on Instagram.
Produced by Laura Swisher for MaximumFun.org. Edited by Shana Daloria.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/pop-rocket-81126/pop-rocket-ep-203-bravos-dirty-john-and-our-true-crime-obsession-w-sar-4332187"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to pop rocket ep. 203 bravo’s dirty john & our true crime obsession w/ sarah kessler on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy