We found 10 episodes of Generation BSC: A Baby-Sitters Club Podcast with the tag “main series”.
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Episode 024: Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise!
November 17th, 2020 | 1 hr 7 mins
kristy, main series
Kate and Lauryn kick off this episode with their excitement over Netflix’s renewal of The Baby-Sitters Club series for Season Two (and include some thoughts about potential plotlines and what we hope to see in the second season). Then circling back to the topic at hand, we discuss another pretty great book in the series that delves into what a family really is through Kristy’s examination of her family (which includes the BSC, but not her “real dad”) and the addition of a new sister, Emily Michelle. We discuss chosen families and found families vs. a family you’re born into and what that means generally and for both of us. We also get into the good and bad of Emily Michelle’s adoption and how it’s handled in this book (and how we wish it had done better as a teaching opportunity). We circle back to one of our favorite topics related to the series – the fact that each book feels like a conversation with a friend and how much we love the way that reinforces our love of these books – and include some asides related to Kristy’s interest in fashion, being childfree, how quietly radical these books really were for their time, that Kristy could be the next Elizabeth Holmes if she gave into some of her worst tendencies, nostalgia, and jellies shoes.
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Episode 023: Dawn on the Coast!
November 3rd, 2020 | 55 mins 2 secs
dawn, main series
Kate and Lauryn recover from the frustrations they had in their last episode with a much more lighthearted discussion of Dawn on the Coast, where Dawn spends her (two-week?) Spring Break in California visiting her dad and Jeff. We have a fun discussion of the ins and outs of Dawn’s specific California and what “California” meant conceptually in the late 80s vs. now, while also diving into a deeper conversation on what “home” and “belonging” mean and the ultimate realization that you can look at it not as a choice between two places where a decision means a loss, but rather a win because you have two places you belong. It’s ultimately a fun preview of Super Special #5 (California Girls!) that includes thoughtful consideration of those themes. We also comment on how much we love some of those more special BSC-sitting charge connections (e.g., Dawn and Nicky Pike, which plays an important role here), Lauryn's obsession with Son-in-Law (and Carla Gugino), Ann M. Martin’s blessing of copycat babysitting clubs, the references to existing or made-up media throughout this book and the series, air travel of the past (complete with smoking vs. non-smoking seats), and the joys (or not) of ravioli and coleslaw as a meal.
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Episode 022: Jessi Ramsey, Pet-Sitter!
October 20th, 2020 | 57 mins 51 secs
jessi, main series
Kate and Lauryn attempt to dive into a conversation on Jessi’s second book where “having a pet” is the obsession du jour, but find themselves discussing an uncomfortably timed election (and seemingly out of nowhere) subplot where Kristy acts uncharacteristically despotic and controlling. What we expected to be mostly a fun light discussion of Jessi’s pet-sitting antics (which, don’t worry, there’s that too) initially kicks off with an examination of our disappointment in the mischaracterization of most of our girls and in the use of this storyline in a book where the narrator isn’t able to shed any real light on the driving concerns or lessons to be learned (as could have been accomplished with the same storyline in a Kristy or Mary Anne book). We do manage to get into the ridiculousness of an eleven year-old pet-sitting for an excessive number of animals for over a week (with both weekends) and dissect the best names chosen by the Mancusis for their menagerie. And it wouldn’t be an episode of Generation BSC without some semi-on- and off-topic tangents like childhood pet situations, family vacations during school, bad apple teachers, best friendship, timeline wonkiness, and (of course) Kristy’s Mystery Admirer.
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Episode 021: Mallory and the Trouble With Twins!
October 6th, 2020 | 1 hr 2 mins
main series, mallory
Kate and Lauryn are back to basics and regularly-scheduled programming with their discussion of Mallory and the troublesome, terrorizing twins – Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold. Despite the trouble and terror, it’s a light book to ease everyone back into the regular series discussion. Mallory has some significant plot ignorance that causes her to completely forget that her identical triplet brothers are different people with distinct personalities until it makes sense for her to remember in time to have the realization that maybe the twins are also different people with distinct personalities who don’t want to be dressed in identical infantilizing outfits with identical lives. We cut Mallory some slack since the story called for it and she brings it around in giving Marilyn and Carolyn the opportunity to realize and act on their own agency. And Mallory is even inspired by them to do the same for herself – with respect to ear-piercing and hair-cutting. Yep, it’s the one with the obsession with twinning and piercing, as multiple charges dress identically for fun and the BSC goes “malling” to get a total of nine holes pierced. We discuss how the new BSC series has or has not impacted our reading, the movie versions of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings being the definitive versions of each, and our own feelings and experiences on twinning and ear-piercing before taking a more on-topic tangent than you might expect into influencer culture and children’s rights to consent or object to their parents’ (or others’) posting of them on social media. And as always, we remind ourselves just how great Mallory is along with how much we appreciate Ann M. Martin for the care and thought she puts into writing each of these books and capturing each girl’s distinct voice and personality.
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Episode 020: Kristy and the Walking Disaster!
July 7th, 2020 | 1 hr 14 mins
kristy, main series
Emergency Meeting alert! We're as excited as all of you about the Netflix series and will be kicking off a weekly series to do a deep dive into the show to discuss with each other and you. Make sure to subscribe and follow us on social media for updates on new episodes!
Despite being the eponymous Walking Disaster, Jackie Rodowsky plays less of a central role in this book than you’d otherwise expect. He’s there, of course, but so are the 19 or so other babysitting charges who make up Kristy’s Krushers – a rag-tag softball team that is the product of another of Kristy’s “Great Ideas” when she realizes the kids in the neighborhood want to play softball, but maybe can’t otherwise do so for various reasons (most of which relate to being embarrassed about their skills). It’s a light book where we get to spend time with characters we love without any significant deep dive into any character or topic, which is sometimes a nice break in the BSC series. This is the book that introduces Bart Taylor, a very, very, very cute boy (according to Kristy) who has another rag-tag softball team in the neighborhood (although their so-called rag-tag-ness is called into question in our discussion here). We get a nice look into Kristy and Watson’s growing relationship, albeit without much build-up in the prior books to indicate that they are getting closer and more familial. We discuss some of the problematic positions taken in this book (in particular, the condemning of the use of the word fatso, but not of the underlying opinions that being fat is bad, and Bart’s complete failure to apologize for the Bashers’ bullying of Matt Braddock for being deaf), while positing an alternate telling with more focus on Kristy and Bart’s interactions along with brainstorming fanfic as to how Charlie is spending his time from 5:30 to 6 every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Random side topics discussed also include thoughts on Ann’s writing process, vocabulary lessons, fourth wall-breaking, our personal feelings on loose teeth, purposeful misspellings, and twins in pop culture.
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Episode 019: Claudia and the Bad Joke!
June 23rd, 2020 | 1 hr 23 mins
claudia, main series
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.
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Episode 018: Stacey's Mistake!
June 9th, 2020 | 1 hr 18 mins
main series, stacey
It’s our first Stacey book post-move back to NYC and as we predicted, Stacey’s mistake is two-fold – initially she thinks it was a mistake to invite the BSC to New York to visit and meet Laine, but she comes to realize her own mistake in not appreciating her friends for who they are and acknowledging and not taking for granted the amazing city she gets to live in. After the lighthearted reprieve of the last book, we dive right back into an “issue book” that examines homelessness. We discuss the very surface level limited engagement with the topic while acknowledging again that these are books for kids and wondering how books of today are tackling this topic with more nuance and depth. This of course leads to an on-topic tangential discussion of Home Alone 2 and the “magical homeless person” trope of the early 90s. We also discuss the interplay among the members of the BSC and Laine, touching on jealousy at 13 (and today) and imposter syndrome and how those might impact the girls’ (and women’s generally) ability to feel confident in relationships and interactions, particularly with other girls (or women), touching on the fact that normalizing the feelings associated with imposter syndrome would likely benefit everyone. We also touch on the Hard Rock Café, the joys (or not – looking at you Kanye) of monochromatic dressing, sending postcards during a long weekend trip, Kate’s shocking admission that she “likes music,” acknowledgement that Alan Gray just might be Lauryn’s Cokie Mason, and monster bones.
As noted in the pre-episode message, we remain fully committed to supporting Black Lives Matter and all BIPOC voices and have included the following resources and ways to support:
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Episode 017: Mary Anne's Bad-Luck Mystery!
May 19th, 2020 | 1 hr 10 mins
main series, mary anne
It’s our first episode since the teaser for the new Netflix BSC series dropped, so Kate and Lauryn take a quick sidetrack to discuss their excitement and thoughts (generally and with respect to the FINALLY confirmed perfect casting of Marc Evan Jackson as Mary Anne’s dad). Then diving into the story at hand, we immediately touch on the Cokie Mason of it all (as she has made her long-awaited first appearance in the series) before getting into the bad luck mystery itself, stemming initially from a discarded chain letter Mary Anne receives, but continuing mostly due to Cokie’s scheming to help her friend Grace get Logan’s attention. We focus on the girls’ confirmation bias related to the bad luck they all experience and how they all immediately go all-in on the superstitions and witchcraft. We lament that there’s no skeptic or voice of reason like with child pageants previously, but transition into a conversation about the intended audience – specifically, how maybe that’s not necessary and generally, how well Ann M. Martin does at teaching kids how to read as they read. We do a related dive into Kate’s obsession with Kristy’s Mystery Admirer and how it and this book, when considered together, make absolutely no sense, leading to further discussion of timeline wonkiness and divergent/parallel timelines, and how the future ghostwriters may be the actual cause of all our confusion on those points. We also compare and contrast the characterizations in the books vs. the movies and find book Logan wanting, question Charlie Thomas’s life choices and wonder what a series from his perspective might look like (spoiler – likely very interesting and we want to read it so badly), and find ourselves concerned with the overly cliquishness and superiority of our BSC girls in this book. On the babysitting front specifically, Kate judges Dawn’s crafting choices and Lauryn finds the humor in her real-life nightmare, noting Claire Pike’s adorable question regarding whether a bird knows Santa Claus after it gets into her house through the chimney.
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Episode 016: Jessi's Secret Language!
May 5th, 2020 | 1 hr 3 mins
jessi, main series
It's Jessi’s first book and you know what? We’ve discovered/confirmed that Jessi’s pretty awesome. Past Kate and Lauryn didn’t know what they were missing in Jessi (and Mallory), but we think that maybe they just weren’t aspirational enough when we were reading since they were more similar to us in age and “coolness” (and let’s be honest – in-person fangirling and thirst). This book was very much an afternoon special-type examination and depiction of deafness and how one should interact with deaf individuals and while we’re disappointed in the fact that Jessi’s first book was an “issue” book and that there’s a lack of representation of any actually-deaf characters, we really enjoyed this one and the way the story presented itself. We remind ourselves just what a strong series this actually was and is (to-date at least) and how well they’ve held up, particularly since they’ve given us such interesting and deep topics to discuss and reflect on. We also spend some time talking on our childhood loves of ballet – with Lauryn actually participating and Kate enjoying from the audience – but both recalling an obsession with Coppélia traced to this very book. We discuss Jessi’s meta reference to the “last chapter,” Lauryn’s borderline obsession with Richard Dreyfuss as a child, the correct usage of “LEGO,” the stylishness (or not) of rat tails, and Kate’s certainty that her obsession with Cokie Mason will finally be plot-specific discussion worthy in the next book.
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Episode 015: Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn!
April 21st, 2020 | 1 hr 4 mins
dawn, main series
It’s our first regular episode recorded remotely post-quarantine and we’re discussing what we’ve agreed to be one of the best BSC books to-date in the series. This one tackles two potentially difficult topics – child pageants generally and Jeff’s long-imminent return to California – with nuance and consideration and we’re here for it. Dawn gets dramatic about the induction ceremony for Jessi and Mallory and uses an invitation by Mrs. Pike to help Claire and Margo prepare for the Little Miss Stoneybrook pageant to distract from Club-related jealousies and the difficult situation at home with the Schafer parents working out an arrangement for Jeff’s temporary return to California to see how it goes. The rest of the BSC (aside from Mallory and Jessi, who are opposed to pageants) gets into the competitive aspect and each get their own girl to help prepare. As always, the girls learn from their mistakes and realize they don’t need to compete or be jealous of each other. We discuss the “best” talent at the pageant (Margo’s poem recitation while opening and eating a banana with her feet), our past and current feelings on pageants in general (and how the book presents a balanced take), Dawn’s dramatic nature, Mrs. Schafer’s shockingly (to Lauryn) on-point advice and knowledge drops to Dawn, Mrs. Perkins thoughtful commentary on competition generally, and the world of big cat owners. We also touch on the significant number of instances where the BSC members take their charges to other locations, frequently without any kind of note or other notice for the parents, and again note how rich the people in Stoneybrook seem to be.