Generation BSC: A Baby-Sitters Club Podcast

EM007: Emergency Meeting - Netflix Season One, Episode Two: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls!

July 21st, 2020  |  39 mins 32 secs

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The Emergency Meetings continue with Kate and Lauryn’s discussion of Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls, episode two of The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix. Despite the title and general concepts being the same as the second book in the main series, we note that the Phantom Caller concept has been significantly modified and the related Phantom Phone Calls from Trevor Sandbourne and Alan Gray are non-existent. We discuss how this makes sense, but the shoehorning in of the Phantom Caller metaphor to retain that reference to the original leaves us a little disappointed with that aspect, while loving the episode as a whole. We get our introduction to Richard Spier in one of several nods to horror movies (and a clear indication of just how big a drama king he is). Parent/child relationships, expectations, and lack of communication are the big theme in this book, which we explore through our discussion of the Kishi parents with both Claudia and Janine and Kristy with Liz (also known forever to us as Edie) and Watson. Karen Brewer makes her first significant appearance and we are here for it. Her spooky energy is everything we didn’t know we needed. We touch on how great this show is at fleshing out these characters and showing their motivations when they do things that might otherwise seem out of character, how well it justifies original plot points despite updates to technology, Nancy Meyers kitchen porn, Mary Anne’s opportunity to be clever despite the lack of early warning system necessities, just what soigné actually means, and how the costumes chosen by Claudia and Stacey are so indicative of who they are.

Episode 019: Claudia and the Bad Joke!

June 23rd, 2020  |  1 hr 23 mins

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Pranks are sweeping the neighborhood, with new babysitting charge, Betsy Sobak, and the Pikes leading the charge. And despite Kate’s prediction that the prank war declared on Betsy by the BSC could NEVER be after Claudia’s accident because that would be too shitty a thing for them to do, it turns out that they are, in fact, just that shitty as they decide to use a prank war to teach Betsy a lesson. Yeah, it’s another book where the girls let us down and the main child isn’t the greatest as the BSC takes “parenting advice” from George and Lucille Bluth to scare Betsy straight when it comes to the humiliation and embarrassment that comes from pranks when everyone hasn’t bought in on the concept. We compare and contrast the pranking that goes on with the Pikes and their babysitters (where everyone has a tacit understanding of give and take and has fun with it) and the situation with Betsy and her babysitters and classmates, who clearly do not have that type of relationship. We do appreciate that the lesson eventually comes due to a heartfelt conversation between Kristy and Betsy (rather than a mansplainy monologue a la Danny Tanner), but the fact that the prank war and somewhat malicious lesson-teaching works and is reinforced definitely rubs us the wrong way. We again confirm Dawn being the absolute best friend in the BSC and try to dissect why that might be (and getting a little arm chair expert-y in our conversation), while noting that the Claudia/Janine dynamic in this book is our favorite iteration of their relationship. We also touch on Claudia’s Asian-ness when compared to Jessi’s Blackness and how that will be something we pay more attention to as we continue reading, our heightened childhood expectations re: how important dry-cleaning would be when we grew up, wearing our dad’s (oversized on us) button-down shirts and learning how to tie flamboyantly colored/patterned ties, how when you’re a kid, it seems like every adult has stock cliched responses (e.g., “but it’s a dry heat,” “it’s not the heat that gets you, it’s the humidity”), and how oatmeal raisin cookies and apple juice might be the worst afterschool snack ever.

EM003: Emergency Meeting - Claudia in Quarantine!

April 28th, 2020  |  30 mins 1 sec

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Kate and Lauryn continue with their emergency meetings to check in with each of the girls and discuss what we think Claudia is doing during her COVID-induced quarantine. We disagree initially about how Claudia reacts to school being cancelled, with Lauryn focusing on the schoolwork aspect and Kate focusing on the interpersonal face-to-face interactions. We touch on how we think Claudia and Janine are handling being quarantined together (likely exactly how they have in the two books where their relationship has been a focus – conflicts initially, but coming around to understanding). We discuss whether Claudia is on the front lines of mask-making, either actually making them or possibly finding ways to decorate the masks, especially to make them more fun and less scary for kids. Knowing Claudia’s love of junk food and Nancy Drews, we discuss how we think Claudia is getting more of these things to satisfy her needs and whether her parents have maybe softened their position on these items given what’s going on in the world. Lauryn pretends that Amazon doesn’t exist in the version of 2020 that the BSC is in for purposes of our discussion and Kate questions whether Claudia would even use it if it was available. We definitely agree Claudia is using her time at home to focus on her art (and exploring new media) and on fashion and creating amazing outfits, potentially creating (or expanding) a fashion Instagram or blog. We again end with a quick check-in on how we’re feeling and getting through self-isolation this week.

Stay safe and healthy everyone!!

Episode 012: Claudia and the New Girl!

February 25th, 2020  |  1 hr 9 mins

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Claudia’s got a new friend, despite our insistence on no new friends. Ashley Wyeth moves to town and is a Serious Artist. Claudia is immediately enamored of her and starts spending all of her time with Ashley, completely ignoring the BSC, her babysitting charges, and Stacey, in particular. Lauryn initially gets excited about the first non-straight "romantic" crush in the series, which leads to a conversation and re-evaluation regarding crushes and friendships at that age and their emotional complexities. Kate redeems her memory when her prediction of this book was spot-on (but she doubles down that Eddie from her Ghost at Dawn’s House prediction will for sure be in Beware, Dawn!, Mystery #2). As always, we touch on plenty of TV references – this time including, but not limited to, The Good Place, Project Runway, and Buffy. Newbury Award winners that we know and love are discussed in an actually on-topic tangent and we sort of make predictions for the next two books. Clearly, we’re figuring out how Super Specials actually fit in! We touch on Benedict Arnold (with Lauryn being a supporter? maybe?), Banksy, what art is anyway, early 2000s fashion, possibly and definitely problematic descriptive words, and reaffirm #nonewpeeps.

Episode 007: Claudia and Mean Janine!

December 17th, 2019  |  1 hr 12 mins

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Claudia and Janine just don’t seem to get each other after some backsliding since their personal and relationship growth in Phantom Phone Calls. Things come to a head after Mimi has a stroke (completely blindsiding Kate and Lauryn in their reread). We discuss our experiences with siblings and grandparent health issues and spoiler alert, find ourselves unexpectedly, but solidly, on Team Janine (except when it comes to correcting grammar and speaking like a walking thesaurus in certain situations). There is some debate over how best to pronounce Reese’s Pieces and we again find ourselves questioning Stacey’s sartorial choices. Seriously - we clearly just accepted what the other girls said about her while disregarding the outfit descriptions!

Episode 002: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls!

October 8th, 2019  |  1 hr 54 secs

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Before there were actual BSC Mysteries, there was the original - Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls. Are the girls being stalked by the actual Phantom Caller (who wants to steal… their hair ribbons…)? Or is there something else to this mystery? Kate and Lauryn’s Great Ideas touch on growing pains related to varying levels of maturity, sibling rivalry, what it means to be “smart,” imagination, and the ability of pre-teen girls to escalate to dramatics quickly. Lauryn can’t wait to discuss a certain Core Four member’s sexuality as she continues to explore her own, and Kate breaks down the ins and outs of IQs.