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As Pretty Much Pop ends its 5th year of podcasting, the regular-for-quite-a-while-now crew of Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn and Al break from our usual watch-and-report format to talk in a more free-form way about the thin line between the “new” media we talk about on the show and the classics of yesteryear. The line is so damned thin because apparently every classic gets turned into current IP to exploit further, and even where this is not the case, we can celebrate many old films by looking at the current work by their creators, and/or we can look at new works that are clearly derivative of what was popular in the past.
This whole phenomenon is typically condemned by the press as a lack of originality by current creators, or more likely the output of a novelty-shy entertainment industry that does not want to risk its money. But money does follow preferences, and proven formulae often work on new viewers, and we older folks gravitate towards what we’ve loved from the past. The new Night Court and Frasier are big hits, including but not limited to their original audiences.
We talk about the interests of our tween selves, shows like Happy Days, Stranger Things, and Fallout that are themselves about nostalgia, idealizing times before your own youth, how nostalgia works in black culture, nostalgia of the future (given the current dissolution of the monoculture). Finally, we consider how we could rationalize covering any given old thing through a new related one.
To hear these thoughts applied by the original PMP crew (Mark, Brian and Erica) to music, check out ep. 99 “The Music of Your Youth.” Most of the current crew were previously nostalgic about sit-coms. Are you nostalgic for when this podcast more regularly featured guests, e.g. the hosts from the relevant-to-this episode Remakes, Reboots, and Revivals podcast?
Watch the Portlandia videos about being nostalgic for the 1990s and the 1890s.
Follow us @law_writes, @sarahlynbruck, @ixisnox, @MarkLinsenmayer.
Get bonus talking for this and nearly every episode at patreon.com/prettymuchpop for only the tiniest per-month financial pledge, or you can sign up directly via Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark’s podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel.