The 10 Best TV Shows (According to Mari!)

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[00:00:14] What's up fam, welcome back to Recap Kickback, your podcast where we talk about black TV, black movies, entertainment, news, all that good stuff or just whatever we want to talk about.

[00:00:44] I'm your host Chappelle and I am back again to give you a special episode of Recap Kickback where we're not going to focus on one thing. We're going to focus on 10, 10 things, 10 things that best describe my lovely co-host here. The shows that made her. We're going to talk about Mari and her 10 best TV shows of all time. Mari. Yes. Hi.

[00:01:09] I'm glad to be here, you know, introduce myself to the audience for people who might not know. Put together a list of TV shows that, you know, mean something to me. And this was very hard because I watch a lot of TV. Yeah. So this will be interesting. Trying to just get it down to 10. Stay on topic. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see.

[00:01:39] First of all, thank you. Thank you all for listening. Number one, first and foremost, if you're here listening to Recap Kickback, thank you so much for listening, for subscribing. Hopefully you subscribed. If not, what are you doing? Recapkickback.com slash subscribe. Go to our YouTube page, youtube.com slash at Recap Kickback and make sure you hit that subscribe button so that you can show love to the podcast because we're coming up on our year anniversary. It'll be one year in February for Black History Month, obviously, that we started Recap Kickback.

[00:02:05] And so we want to just show our appreciation by bringing you all fresh new content and talk about the movies and the TV shows that you want to talk about. So as Mari said, it's been about a year and we haven't really got to know my co-host too well. We know her through what we talk about on the shows. But like, let's get into the shows that brought us Mari. How did we get here? And so today we're going to talk through that, talk through Mari's top 10 TV shows. And y'all, I want to tell y'all it was a journey. It was a journey to get to this point.

[00:02:33] So I told Mari, I need you to do 10 TV shows and 10 movies. And you would have thought I told Mari to do, you know, some type of like, you know, Korean calculus or something like that. I don't like homework. She is not. She loves homework. This lady is a full blown like scientist. She loves homework. I am a multi-faceted human being.

[00:02:56] I cannot distill myself to 10 movies and television shows in such a tiny space of time. Yeah. And look, I know we talk about Black shows and Black entertainment first and foremost here, but I didn't want to limit this to just Black shows because obviously we watch a lot of stuff. And later on, I do have a game in mind that we can play with some Black shows. But that'll be for further down the line. Today, we're just trying to get to what makes Mari tick, what gets Mari going in the streets.

[00:03:25] And then one day we'll give her the impossible task of picking 10 movies as well. But today, we'll focus on TV shows. So I want to interview you first. Okay. I just want to know, Mari, coming up, how big of a part of your life was watching television? Because you have to have like got an early start to be as well versed in TV as you are. Yes. Yeah. I was one of the I was one of those kids. I love T. I love TV.

[00:03:53] Like, I don't know what about it, but like I've always been like a visual learner and like visually absorbing things. Don't get me wrong. I love to read, too. If anybody knows, I love to read a good book. But I always thought that TV and seeing it, seeing it in your imagination was just so amazing. And I mean, so much so that I remember I would I was like eight.

[00:04:21] And back then, back in our day, when you had to just either watch the guide roll and just try to figure out what was on or actually use the TV guide. There was there was this little magazine, y'all, called TV Guide. And it told you what time things came on. I remember during the summer and in order because I played outside, too.

[00:04:48] So I had to organize my playing outside time around my TV show time, because again, y'all, back in the day. Back in the day. If you miss that show. You missed the show. You missed the show. There was no DVRs. There was no rewinding. Unless you had the VHS and taped it. You wasn't seeing it if you missed it. You'd have to wait till they decided to show it again.

[00:05:18] So I would for the whole summer, I would write down like my favorite shows, what times they came on. Like a whole little schedule, like a poster board schedule of like, all right, I'm going outside between this time and this time. I got to be back to watch Ed, Ed and Nettie. I got to be back to watch That's All Raven. Like I had it all planned out, which day, whatever, whatever. I had my whole day scheduled.

[00:05:46] And so I wouldn't miss my favorite TV shows. And I was a kid that had to be watching TV at night. Like my TV always had to be on at night watching something, you know. That's incredible. Yeah. Either TV. I watched a lot of I Love Lucy because. Because it was on. It was on at night. It was on at night. Yeah. Stuff like that. That's incredible. I love this story because we grew up, we're around the same age.

[00:06:15] And so I feel like there's a place in time where you and I were watching the same show at the exact same time just across the world from each other. And that's kind of incredible. Yeah, it's unifying. Yeah, really. And I know you said you read a lot of books. I do too. What is it about books and TV that you really latch on to? Is it like escapism? Do you just like being able to get outside of your typical world that you're in? Yes, it's always been that.

[00:06:41] Like I always read and watch TV shows for escapism. I don't like me and you have had fights over book reading because you famously say like nonfiction books don't count. Or no, sorry, books only count reading if they're nonfiction. I don't read nonfiction at all. All I read is fiction books and sci-fi and historical fiction and stuff like that.

[00:07:07] Because if I want to read or watch what's going on in the world or whatever, like I can do that. I don't want to. I'm trying to get away from that. So that's always been for me, like reading in TV. It's always been about escaping to new and different worlds. And that's why like the TV shows that I watch and will be talking about is like very eclectic. Like I watch a lot of different things, you know what I'm saying?

[00:07:35] So it's going to be very fun to break that all down. Yes. And I am excited because like I said, I gave Mari an assignment. I said, give me 10. But Mari watched so many TV shows that this is probably an impossible task. And so Mari is going to give us, and this is not a ranking. This is just 10 shows that in whatever order, we're going to talk about how they impacted Mari and then just talk about them in general. And maybe Mari has some shows that are a blind spot to me.

[00:08:00] And we can note that later on in case we ever want to go back and explore some of Mari's favorite shows from my point of view. So I think that would be a fun exercise. So Mari, tell us the show that is up first. What's one of the first shows that you would consider the best TV show according to Mari? I have to say this TV show because it's the show I referenced it a lot on podcasts. It truly did, unfortunately, shape not only me, but a whole entire generation.

[00:08:29] South Park. South Park literally probably is like my favorite. It's not probably. It's my favorite TV show. Really? It really is. Okay, because I literally was eight years old. I remember the summer.

[00:08:51] I, the summer I was at my, my grandma's house in the summer, like bouncing back between my grandma's house, my aunt, my two aunties house in the summer in Florida. Eight with me and my two other cousins who were the same age, younger and younger than me. And South Park premiered and nobody knew what it was. So they let us watch it and we're watching it. Yeah.

[00:09:17] It's a foul mouth TV show where all these, these kids are literally cussing. And we were watching it and I was like, this is hilarious. And I watched it all that summer, I believe. And then like my mom found out and I told my mom what it is. I told her I like the show.

[00:09:41] And just the, the relationship that me and my mom has, my mom has always like, like taught me to be able to come to her, uh, given me responsibilities and only taking it away if I, if I can't handle it. So she would always tell me, she was like, you can watch this. It's fine. But you better not repeat a thing they say. You better not, you know, do anything they do or you, you can't anymore. You know what I'm saying?

[00:10:08] And, um, it was just like, it was just like the trust, the level that she, the level of trust she had with me to watch what she deemed as garbage television. But feeling like she taught me well enough to be able to parse through it. And I did, you know, it's, it's amazing. The filter I had around my parents. It was like the moment I'm around my parents, that filter just flipped, shut down. The moment I was out.

[00:10:38] Yeah. Yeah. I love a good cuss. I love cussing. Cussing is one of my favorite pastimes. You sound like that little bad kid. You know, like I love, uh, what? I love doing bad things. I love smoking cigarettes, you know? Doing hood rat shit with my friends. Exactly. My mama don't, my mama didn't know that. Yeah, exactly. Sorry. So I remember when South Park was out and I remember, uh, the adults were watching it.

[00:11:08] And so of course I was like, really? Yeah. Cause like the adults around me, they, they wanted to watch it, but also they wanted to gatekeep it, which made me want to watch it even more because I'm like, what are y'all watching that I can't watch? But then when I saw it, I was like, oh no, this is for grownups. I'm not going to watch this. I, I, I, so, so we actually, so honestly, I've probably seen maybe 25 episodes of South Park. Really? And I know there's probably what, probably close to 300. Yeah. Yeah. It's still going.

[00:11:34] Uh, these recent ones have been a little, just like, you know, the Simpsons and stuff like that. Um, yeah, like, so that's so interesting Chappelle because so I, I love South Park so much. I had the, I had them on DVD, uh, like a lot of the seasons, like either the seasons or just like episode packs on DVD.

[00:11:59] Um, my currently right now, if I found my, if I had my tablet next to me, my screen, my screen shot on it is a South Park picture. Every laptop, every laptop that I had up until college, my screensaver was Cartman. I don't know if you watched the episode that, that Cartman went on Maury. Did you ever watch that episode? Is that whatever, whatever, whatever I want. Yes.

[00:12:27] It was, it was a picture of Cartman in that outfit on my, my laptop. Like that was my, that was my screensaver for every laptop I had up until, up until I graduated college. Like that's how much I love South Park. I would get on the like website, play all the South Park games. I would read all of the episode guides.

[00:12:52] Uh, you know, South Park has a running through line where, uh, the visitors, like aliens are in like every episode. Uh, I would research every, every way, how Kenny died. Uh, what Kenny would say there, there's full, um, websites that just transcribe what Kenny says. Um, I don't know if we, should we, I don't know if I should have like broken down South Park more or whatever. Uninitiated if you want.

[00:13:19] I mean, it starts, South Park starts in 1997 and, uh, it's created by a duo, I believe. Right. Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Uh, um, yeah. And it is the story of some kids. It's a, it's a story of four kids, Stan, Kenny, Kyle, and Cartman, Eric Cartman. And it's just like them going through their day-to-day stuff, but it's, it's satire. It's so irreverent.

[00:13:45] And it was, it was novel in its time because they were cut, they were cursing. It was a, it was a, it was a animated show that cursed and it was just not normal back then. Like nowadays, like adult animation is a whole genre. It's actually one of my favorite genres. I like, I'll, I'm trying to limit how many like animated shows I actually put on this

[00:14:10] list because I actually love, I like adult animation is my, like kind of my favorite genre. That's why I would go to sleep too. Like your South parks, your Simpsons, your family guys. Drawn together. Drawn together is so good. It's so underrated. I mean, I can pull some out. Death Man, like. Yes, Death Man. Yes. The Critic. Stuff like that. Yes, the Critic. The Tick. Does the Tick count as adult to me? The new one is even more adult. Yeah.

[00:14:39] So like, yeah, like stuff like that. I used to, I love those type of like just out there animation, like animated TV shows and stuff like that. And South park started that, South park started. Like it's so, it's, it's, it's so much that like me and my husband play a game. Like if South park's on, he'll turn to South park. I'll watch like 10 to 15 seconds of it.

[00:15:05] And I can give you the title of the episode and the year it came out. Yes. Okay. I, South park is like, it's my, it is my, my favorite show. So I knew that about you. Yeah. And, but, but I, I did not know to the extent, like I knew you were a South park fan, but I did not know it got this deep. This is very cool. So yeah, we have nine other shows to get through. I know you can talk about South park four days. Is there anything else you want to leave us with from South park before we move on to

[00:15:35] the next? No, it's just, it's just, it's just funny how groundbreaking that show is and how like great it was for its time. The problem is it's like they, they look up anybody who's listening, look up South park generation and, and how people have now come to like, it was a like, oh, I'm not this negative influence. So like, oh, this is like a positive influence back to a negative influence.

[00:16:00] Like it talks about how South park took a, taught a whole generation about how to basically not care about what was going on. And it's a very interesting read. If you look up like South park, nihilism and stuff like that. Um, but I still love it. I think they, they, they still are really good at doing like commentary, like commentary about what's happening now. It's in like major events. Cause that was their bread and butter stuff would happen and they would react to it in real time.

[00:16:29] They can, they could, uh, make the show in six days or six to seven days to air. Um, so that was its strength. Um, it just like nowadays it's just kind of like everything is kind of like satire is slowly dying because reality is satire at this point. You know what I'm saying? So it's weird. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But, but yeah, it's my favorite show.

[00:16:56] We're going to go.

[00:17:29] All right, Mari. What's show number two on the TV, the best TV shows of all time, according to Mari. Okay. Uh, let's see, where should we go from here? All right. Let's go with, let's start our journey, um, with reality TV. Okay. Let's go with stuff that people should know about me relatively. Right. We got to go with big brother. Big brother. Yay.

[00:17:58] It's the reality TV show that shaped me. I, I've just recently talked about it on the retrospective with Taryn, but I like trip fell and stumbled into big brother around BB five. Um, and then haven't looked back, you know, I've rewatched the seasons over and over again. I went back. The only thing I literally, I protest will not watch BB one. Like I don't.

[00:18:26] Not watching BB one is not a personality trait, Mari. It is. For me, it is. I refuse. Um, but big brother, like there's something about like, especially those original seasons when you're just seeing a whole bunch of strangers put in a house. Um, you know, it, not in the real world way. Cause I was a fan of real world at this time. Like I, I've, I've always been a fan of like real world road rules, the challenge. Like I've watched the original, the challenge, uh, battle of the sexes, all that.

[00:18:56] I love that. But big brother adding like strategy to it. I actually said, I've said this before. I like the cast twist, those early cast twists, like in the early seasons. I used to love those. Yes. Put somebody in the house who, who has an estranged sibling that they don't know. Well, well, let's talk about, so for the people who don't really watch big brother. Yeah. They're trapped in a house. It's a strategy game. They vote each other out. There's only one winner. It's like survivor, but in a house, Mari, you're talking about these twists.

[00:19:25] These twists were unhinged. Unhinged. For example, a strange sibling. Siblings, siblings that had never met before. They didn't even know they were related. They're in the house. They put twins in the house, but didn't tell everybody it was twins. They just let them swap out every other day. And then on top of all that, the big brother for a twist of your worst ex is in the house as well. Yo, not just your ex, but your worst ex is trapped in the house with you and you had no clue going in.

[00:19:54] This would have been my 13th reason. So unhinged. So unhinged. I loved it. Project DNA gagged them. Like, do not assume. That was, I remember that summer being like, they did not. There are two people in the house that don't know they're related. That's crazy. Some people need to be sued. They should have sued them. And then season six.

[00:20:17] And then they put their whole ass foot in season six where they cast people with a secret duo and everybody had a secret duo. So much so we've been, I, I've been clamoring for another big brother season where people have secret duos in the house. We've, I mean, we just got Sari and Jared, which should not have been a secret duo since they look exactly alike.

[00:20:48] But a whole season of it, y'all, like a whole season of secret duos was just so entirely fun. It gave us the split house dynamic. It gave us one of the best seasons of reality television ever. Like they need to do that again. Like big brother is one of, it's transcendent for me because not only was it a show that I started watching, um, as I was younger, it really introduced me to social media.

[00:21:15] Like the only reason why I really got into social media was keeping up with big brother and keeping up with people who liked big brother because I was always, it was always just me. I was going to ask you, Mara, you famously talked too much, but you couldn't have been talking about big brother with nobody because it's hard to find another big brother fan around these parts. So hard. It's so hard to find IRO big brother fans. Like you literally, yeah, you, you literally have to turn people into big brother fans.

[00:21:45] Like I had to like force my husband to watch it with me. I had to force my best friends to watch them with me and they'll watch them with me. But as soon as they're not in proximity, they don't watch anymore or they, they, or they're casuals like, or, or, you know, they stayed casual. Meanwhile, I'm up at 2am watching people holding a button. You know what I'm saying? Right. Right. It was always so deep for me.

[00:22:11] So when I was watching the live feeds or reading the recaps and then finally in 2016, uh, I had already been on Twitter, but I was not, I had been on Twitter since 2011, but I hadn't really been engaging on Twitter until like, you know, you get, get, got your scandal Thursdays really kind of started all that. Um, but the whole realizing that you could watch TV with other people across the world on Twitter.

[00:22:40] Um, and it was big brother, like BB, uh, BB OTT really got me in like onto these big brothers, uh, streets. And I haven't been back, you know, and because of that, I found RHAP and now we're here. So like big brother has like completely changed my life literally. Um, and it, it is, it is my favorite reality show. Yeah. Big brother is such a great, uh, great show. Like you said, without big brother, you and I are not sitting here talking to each other

[00:23:10] on recap, kickback. It is a fact, you know, like the butterfly effect is crazy, but it is a fact that big brother brought us here together at the same time. I still remember our first big brother podcast together. It was me, you, Brent and, uh, and Rob. And, uh, we had the people in shambles. Okay. Uh, I think they came to see Brent kind of pack us up like, Oh, who are these new kids out here trying to podcast? And they just were not prepared for what happens when the two of us mix. I don't even know each other that well.

[00:23:38] I think that was our first time really having a conversation together, but it was just kind of like, you don't, you talk big brother and you black, you speak my language. So let's go. Yeah. Yeah. The rest is history. What could you say to the people who are listening to this? Who've never seen big brother. You got 10 seconds. Convince them, convince somebody to watch big brother. If you want to just see society play out in a house 24 seven unfiltered, like it's the show for you.

[00:24:06] That there's so many criticisms that come to my head when I say that, but it literally is the most unfiltered reality TV show that you're going to get. Mm-hmm. Yeah. 24 hour live feeds. We'll do it. Y'all. You can watch the show or you can get really involved and watch these people when the cameras are not airing the television part of the show. And that's the part that, that's the part that you don't know you need until you get it. Okay. So, uh, I will, I will rubber stamp what Mari was saying. Go watch big brother. Mari, what's number three on your list?

[00:24:35] Um, like I said, I'm going to stay with reality TV. So I have to go with drag race. My other reality TV show. Um, just something about their creativity of drag race. Like, and when I tell you, I was, I'm a day one OG logo, uh, drag race fan. Like I'm telling you, I'm just like flipping through channels. Was it 2009?

[00:25:02] Uh, yeah, 2009 flipping through channels, uh, in college. That's what it was in college. We got like seven channels. And for some reason logo was one. Love it. And so I was like, what is this? I just remember watching. I was like, Oh my God, this is great. And then like, I just remember like year after year, it would be one of those things that I would stumble upon. Um, I would be like, okay, yes, there's another season.

[00:25:30] Season two, like, let's go, you know, season three, season four. It wasn't, it wasn't until season five that I was like, Oh, so this is like here to stay. And this is like, they're on a schedule. You know what I'm saying? Like, and season five, I always tell people, yeah, I always tell people if you're going

[00:25:54] to watch big brother, the, the, the first three seasons you should watch is seasons of five, uh, six. Yeah. You do five, you do five. No, you do five all-stars two and then six. Yes. Of RuPaul's Drag Race. Of RuPaul's Drag Race. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. So, so funny you say that because I have the cast of all-stars two, I believe, uh, appear in front of me. Is that what this is?

[00:26:24] Yes, yes, yes. Uh, this is the cast of all-stars two and half of the cast of all-stars two is from season five because that's how good season five is. Season five is one of the best seasons of Drag Race. And because of that, all-stars two is my favorite all-star season. It is. It's my favorite all-star season. Hands down. The rewatch ability is ridiculous. The lip syncs are amazing.

[00:26:50] So if you aren't familiar with RuPaul's Drag Race, um, it's a drag competition show where uh, drag queens compete to become America's next drag superstar. And they do so by doing mini challenges that require just something really small and then main stage challenges that can either be like fashion-based, like balls. It could be a comedy skit-based, like snatch game, or it could be like a music challenge where they write a verse and have to do music.

[00:27:20] So the challenge could be anything. And then at the end, at the end of every episode, they also do a themed runway. There's always a themed runway like opulence or yellow. And it's always something like catchy name for it. And then at the end, the people who do the worst that week have to lip sync for their life. Um, they get one more chance to save themselves. Uh, the two people have to lip sync against each other. One sashays away, one stays.

[00:27:49] So it is such a fun show and to watch it really blossom from like just a small reality competition on logo to like literally taking over the world on not only VH1 now, but it on MTV. So it's just like, and, and not only that, but like, like being exposed to the LGBTQ, um,

[00:28:14] community through drag race, being exposed to like trans people and hearing their stories through drag race and, um, all of the challenges that, that these people have gone through, like everybody makes fun of the mirror talks and like, they're getting ready for the makeup. And they're always saying some heartbreaking story, but those stories reach people who have never, um, encountered, um, people in that community. So like, I love that show.

[00:28:40] And I think watching that show for as long as I have, it, it helps me, it helps make me a better ally, you know, for the, for the, for the LGBTQ community. So it's just, I just love that show. I truly do. I, I support, I support all my favorite Queens. I've been to so many of their shows. Um, I try and support local drag as well. Uh, it's just, it's just so fun. And, and it's one of my favorite shows that I watched with like my kids. Yeah.

[00:29:11] So I, I had never, so I'd heard about drag race, uh, I guess in passing, cause I watch a lot of reality TV and I never was interested. I was like, I don't know anything about drag Queens. It just didn't appeal to me. Um, and then I heard, Hey y'all this season on RuPaul's drag race, start voting each other out. We're going to start this. We're about the big brother five, this show. And I said, wait a minute, you have my attention. So I actually watched RuPaul's drag race all-star season two. It was my first season of the show.

[00:29:38] I've only seen a few seasons, but they're all all-star seasons because those are ones that they get to cut each other's throat. Yeah. And I feel like that appealed to me. And so I, I did watch, um, drag race season two and I agree. I really enjoyed it. I think that it's probably less, uh, insightful than the original one, the original, like the original run of drag race. They're really getting into these people's stories. You know, you're really talking about the growth and development of a lot of people who are using drag to, to change their lives, you know? Um, that said by the time they get to all-star,

[00:30:08] it's cutthroat and they out here, they out here battling and lip syncing for their legacies. Okay. Yeah. That's how you go get your faves on RuPaul's drag race. I think this is a good pick. And again, of the shows you've named, I would have gotten them all so far. If I had to guess Mari's shows, I am not shocked by any of these. Yeah. And you, you probably won't be shocked, but well, by the next two, maybe. Well, let's, let's see it. Mari, what is next up on your list? Are we up to number four?

[00:30:38] Yes. Okay. We are at number four and we have to go sciencey, right? Okay. So we have to talk about the train wreck that has mercilessly been the bane of my existence since 2005. It's been about 20 years of toying with our hearts. I've gotten off the ride, gotten back on the ride, gotten off the ride and gotten right

[00:31:06] back on the ride because I, I am a masochist and I love pain. We got to talk about Grey's Anatomy. Yes. Yes. Boo, boo, boo, boo, boo. Yes. Talk about it, Mari. Tell the people what they're missing. Tell them why they should have, why they should have never left the train. My God. My God. Meredith Grey. Meredith Grey. Meredith Grey. Who starts off as a surgical intern at Seattle Grace.

[00:31:34] I almost forgot the name, the original name of that stupid hospital. Because this hospital is the most cursed hospital ever. These people don't deserve the mess that they've been through. And I, I don't know how I watched this show and said, yes, this is the, the line of work I want to get into because this show should scare anybody away from, from a hospital.

[00:32:01] But, you know, for those who don't know Grey's Anatomy, it's been on since 2005. It's still on like my God. To this day. Give it a round. To this day. And I have like, so I started watching it in 2005. Like I fell off of it. Like, you know, I fell off of it for a minute. Mostly probably like college. Cause you know, in college, you just, you don't keep up with a lot.

[00:32:31] And then after college, I just remember coming back to it. And of course, when I came back to it, it was the season six finale. We all, we all need trauma. Where a guy is shooting people in a hospital. And I just remember. You saw that. It was like more. Exactly. I was like, why?

[00:33:01] Like, Christina Yang is the best character ever. I almost left with her. They do black women so dirty on this show. And by day, we mean a black woman. Shonda Rhimes. Shonda Rhimes. Now's your day, Shonda Rhimes. Um, and it's just, it's just tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. Hospital shooting. Airplane crash.

[00:33:29] Um, lightning hit something. Fairy ball. Bomb inside the hospital. You name it. You name it. It's all over the place. A musical episode. Woo. That's the biggest, most egregious thing the show has ever done. Is that and giving Bailey OCD. But you know. Shout out to Sarah Ramirez though. Yeah. They cool. They cool. They didn't need. Yeah. They didn't need that though. So it's just like. Chappelle.

[00:34:00] Please. Come on. I know you're a big Grace fan. Help me out. I'm a big Grace person. I don't know why I'm still here. I don't know why I came back. I'm a big Grace person, but you're not wrong. Uh, the show is traumatic from beginning to end. Um, I mean, but I would say that Grace has probably one of the best pilot episodes of any show because I've yet to see somebody watch the pilot and think, I don't like this. Like every time. Now you don't know what you're about to get into. You have no clue what you're about the ride you're about to go on. But the first maybe like eight or nine seasons.

[00:34:29] Oh, you're in it. You're, you're in it from episode to episode. You see people breaking the law for love, breaking the law for science. Just, uh, I mean, like we see all types of tragedies amongst these doctors. We've seen them get put to the ringer and the show as today is almost unrecognizable compared to the show at the beginning. As far as like the cast goes, um, we have lost so many of the cast members to just life

[00:34:56] just changes and, you know, but they have managed to keep this Grey's Anatomy format going for 20 damn years. And so, uh, yeah, I am not shocked that this is on your list, but I do have a question. I know you said like, this is the perfect thing you needed right before going into the medical profession. But Mark, did, did you feel like Grey's impacted you in any way as far as going into the medical profession? Because if, to me, it feels like I would watch this show and be like, no, I'm good. No, thanks. That's what I'm saying.

[00:35:24] I don't know why I still decided to go in, but no, I had always, uh, I had already decided I was going to, uh, be a medical technologist. Um, so like Grey's luckily doesn't deal with our side, except for when they're yelling random things. I'm like, that's not how that works. Um, but sure. Um, like, oh, no, anyways. Um, but, um, no, I've just, I've always been a science nerd.

[00:35:53] I've always been a math and science, uh, nerd since I was younger. So, um, I always wanted to do science, but I knew I didn't, I knew I didn't want to be a doctor. Right. Maybe Grey's did teach magic. Grey's did. Yeah. You were like, I want to be in the background, you know what I'm saying? A background Grey's character. Yeah. I knew I didn't want to be a doctor or a nurse. So I, I tried to figure something else out. And I think the next show really helped me figure out my career path.

[00:36:23] Uh, anything else on Grey's before I move to my next one? No, I mean, if you're listening to this, you probably know what Grey's is and either are avoiding it because you're just like, I'm not going to go get sucked into that. Or, uh, you have watched it and have tapped out like so many people who have just, who just care about their own mental health and their own emotional being. Uh, me on the other hand, I'm in it and I'm covering Grey's Anatomy on the Crying Laughing podcast with our former guests, uh, Ariel and Dr. Amanda.

[00:36:49] What's the month we pop in to talk about, uh, the month in Grey's because I'd be damned if I cover that show weekly for the rest of my life. So that's Grey's Anatomy. If you want to check that out, check out the Crying Laughing podcast with Dr. Amanda and Ariel. Uh, Mari, what's next? So the show that solidified a career path for me, the original CSI. Really? Yes.

[00:37:13] Back in the day, I used to love CSI, like some Gil Grissom, you know? Yeah. Sarah, I loved it. I loved it. I thought CSI was so good. And CSI, again, another show that completely changed the cultural zeitgeist of like our country. CSI premiered. I can't remember when it premiered, but I remember I was very young. Yes. Something.

[00:37:42] It was like, I was very, very young when CSI premiered. And I remember watching it and being like, this is the science I want to do. Like, I love it. Look at these babies. I love it. Like, I love, I love science. Okay. CSI follows the Los Angeles Police Department, CSI division. What was it? Gil Grissom, Sarah Seidel. What was March Helzenberg's character's name?

[00:38:12] I forget her character's name. But like, they would go out to crime scenes and using the latest crime scene technology, they would solve the case. And I just absolutely love this because that's what I, at my core, I'm a problem solver. I love problem solving. Give me a problem. I will do my darndest to solve it on top of loving science. So CSI is what I was like. I, this is the laboratory.

[00:38:43] This is what I want to do between medical technology and forensic science. This is, is what it was. And I say CSI changed our culture because people learn like how to remove fingerprints off of things on CSI. Like a lot of the technology, a lot of it was kind of shown in a kind of, it could be like a corny, CNN's a corny way now.

[00:39:08] But it really did as a culture of the true crime, like all of us true crime people, it elevated our knowledge of criminals and how to track down criminals and ushered in like the criminal minds and, and, and NCIS's of the world and stuff like that. But CSI or Law and Order SVU is like CSI and Law and Order SVU. It was always like, it was always back and forth for me.

[00:39:37] Um, but I, I, I absolutely love CSI. I absolutely love when they would reconstruct the crime scene. It's just one of my, my favorite shows. So, so I didn't know this about you, but I do think that when it makes sense, like you said, all this goes in line with what I know about, about Mari. Um, especially when, I mean, we've just said the words crime scene like eight times. You, you then go and name a podcast crime scene. Yes. You've been hosting for a couple of years now.

[00:40:05] So, you know, you can obviously see the impact the show has had on your life. Yeah. And I, when I have my master's in, in forensic science, um, a graduate certificate in forensic DNA and serology. So, um, and it was, it was a career path that I wanted to pursue at, at one point in time. Uh, it's just that I didn't want to, I didn't want to leave the DMV area. And it's just, it's just not enough jobs up here for that.

[00:40:34] Like it's super, super competitive. So, you know, I, I, I loved when, when I tell you I got my master's, I got my master's in like two and a half years. It was the easiest degree I've ever gotten. Cause it did not. Yeah, exactly. It did not feel like work. I, I loved every second of it. Um, and, and CSI is a big, big thing thing. Like it's, it's a big reason for that. And it's, it's why I love true crime.

[00:41:04] And like this opened my doors to watching like the snaps of the world, all the true crime documentaries that me and Sarah cover over on the crime scene pod that you can check out by going to crime scene pod.com. Um, and subscribing wherever you get your podcast. That's crime S E E N. Uh, it, it really opened up my love of, yeah, of true crime because like whenever I'm in a, like a slump, like, cause you know, sometimes true crime gets a little too dark, you know, like we all have charts.

[00:41:36] Yeah. I'm all right. Yeah. True crime be dark. So when it, so when it, sometimes when it gets dark, I just go over to like the fake true crime. I just watched my CSI. I just watched law and order to you. So I'm still kind of, I'm still getting that. Yeah. I'm still getting that fixed, but I know that it's fake. So it's okay. Like nobody's been harmed. My friend will like call me or text me out, you know, cause I'm, you know, me and you talk a lot, a lot of TV. So obviously when we're talking to our friends, we're always like, so what y'all watching? Have you seen such and such?

[00:42:05] And she's like, no, I just rewatching criminal minds. I was like, are you okay? But are you okay? You know, it's like, you can't be okay. If this is what you're going to do for leisure. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's fun. Like we love people who love solving crimes and being analytical, love solving fake crimes and we like watching it. So that's, that's fine. We're fine. I guess. Yeah, sure. Fine. Like I cannot relate to this one. I could probably count on one hand, how many episodes of seasons I've seen. It's not my, not my bag.

[00:42:35] If you would say Lauren Order SVU, I've seen a lot more shows of episodes of that, but I also wasn't following it. It's just, it's just a great show. You know, like it didn't, for me, it didn't have to be, it's not about the crime. It's just like, oh, I just love Olivia. Exactly. And that's why. I, and that's why, like I, this, it really could have been one, one of two, but I, I went with CSI because honestly, when I was younger, I was all about CSI.

[00:43:03] The problem is CSI didn't have that lasting power that SVU does. I think mostly because they tried to stay like, I think they tried to stay very within the technology. You're kind of limited because honestly, those CSI people were doing stuff that CSI don't do like, we're not, they're not going in with the SWAT team. Like, like, let's be real. You know what I'm saying? Like they really, they, they would just be sitting in a lap, but they can't do that on TV.

[00:43:30] And so, and you don't have those cultural reference, referencing episodes in CSI. Like there's not like there, I can think of literally one episode from CSI that stuck with me my whole entire life. Meanwhile, you can go over to Law and Order SVU and think of a multitude because it's straight out of the news. It's straight out of the news. Exactly. But I would definitely say CSI opened that door for me.

[00:43:57] It opened that, that whole genre for me. Okay. So are we going to stay dark? Is that where we at, Mari? Are you just want to, are you just that dark and twisty, Christina Yang? No, no, no, no. So, well, okay. Maybe. This is lighter, but darker because why did, why did all these kids got to go through all of this? Uh-oh. So I have to go with. Oh God, I know what you're about to say.

[00:44:26] The show that literally kind of raised me. That's why you, y'all know what size she was in the, in the, in the few, y'all know what size she was. It goes there. She was team Drake. Y'all knew it, you know. I was. No, I was team Jimmy. Jimmy. I heard that he, you know. Okay. You look, Degrassi, it went there. It went there. It really did.

[00:44:55] Mari, tell me why you love Degrassi so much. I love Degrassi so much. Let me tell you how much I love Degrassi. Okay. Degrassi. I love Degrassi because it just so happened that when it premiered in 2001, and we're talking about Degrassi, the next generation. Yeah. When Degrassi, the next generation premiered in 2001, I was the exact same age as the kids on that show. So I literally watched all of that series.

[00:45:23] I mean, I even watched next class. And in two seconds, I'm going to tell you how I went back and I watched Degrassi high, Degrassi junior high. And I had the whole box set of the 1980s Degrassi show. Okay. Okay. So right now I'm going to talk about Degrassi, the next generation watching that episode for, for the uninitiated Degrassi. The next generation is a high school based TV show about teens. And it's just like daily life of teens. It's like, it's one of those shows where it's like, this is what's really happening in

[00:45:52] the schools. And it's always like a very special episode or it's always like, oh, she did this. And I remember, I remember first off the first episode where Emma thinks she's talking online to a 13 year old boy, but of course she's talking to a 20 something old pedophile trying to get her, which just amazing pilot.

[00:46:18] When you talk about amazing pilots, an amazing pilot for a, for what is again, Degrassi, the next generation. So this is for us in the, in the America. Like I don't, I, I think I'm sure about this, but Degrassi, the next generation was the first Degrassi iteration that was originally aired in America. They then later went back and aired like Degrassi junior high and Degrassi high because Degrassi

[00:46:42] and Degrassi the whole series itself is based on a show from the 1970s, the kids of Degrassi street in, in Canada. And it went from the kids of Degrassi street and the seventies to Degrassi junior high and the eighties and Degrassi high in the eighties slash nineties. And then it was re it came back in the two thousands as Degrassi next generation. And next generation premiered on like team Nick or the end, whichever one are not here

[00:47:12] in America. And when, when I stumbled upon that, it was like the best day of my life. The one episode that like, but before we get to all the big stuff, the one episode that really sticks out to me was Liberty's dyslexia episode. One of the, one of the cast members Liberty, she's very smart. She's known as like the smartest kid in the, the, um, I said dyslexia, it's not dyslexia, but like she's known as one of the smartest kids in school, but she just can't get math.

[00:47:42] Like for some reason she can't get math. So she goes to her math teacher and is trying to get extra help. Emma, who was the real villain of the show from episode one, please let me know if you want more on this. Me and Asia have talked about doing a Degrassi podcast. We don't know anyways, but like it is, I know. I love it one day. It'll be my dream to cover it. But anyways, five years forever.

[00:48:12] Um, Emma sees Liberty and it's Mr. Armstrong together. Mr. Armstrong just happens to put his, his hand on her shoulder and Emma starts a whole rumor that Liberty and Mr. Armstrong are together, gets him fired, all of this stuff. And come to find out it's because Liberty has dyscalculia, which is like the math version of dyslexia. And it, it's one of those like minor, it's one of the like, in comparison to like Jimmy getting shot.

[00:48:41] It's one of those episodes that is like not a major plot point, but it's just one of the ones that stuck with me so much. Um, and it, it's just known as like a groundbreaking kids television show because they were showing things that like at the time, like a lot of teen shows kind of try to shy away from like, or it was just a new form of edgy because we're going into the millennium, you know, it was, it was, it was like the euphoria of this time.

[00:49:10] So it really was, it really was. Yeah. And we're talking about, um, we saw like, uh, page, pages, rape, a storyline was powerful. Marco coming out. Um, I believe Degrassi was like one of the first, uh, shows to show like, um, like, uh, two, two, uh, guys kissing, like one of the first teen shows to show that, um, of course the school shooting episode where Rick shoots Jimmy, Jimmy becomes paralyzed.

[00:49:41] Like Manny season three is my favorite season. Where Manny, I don't want to be, I want to be hot. Uh, so, oh my God, I love Degrassi so much. Um, one of my favorite shows. So I remember my cousin was going up for Degrassi. Like she was very much in her Mari bag and she, I remember it was like new year's eve or Christmas eve or something like that. And Noggin was doing a Degrassi marathon because they were about to start the next season.

[00:50:10] And so it was like, you had to do the like 24 hours straight of Degrassi to go up on the next season. And my cousin made me sit down and watch it. And if anybody's ever watched the show with me, Mara, you know this because you talked to me about a lot of TV shows. I got a lot of opinions. And so I'm like out the gate, like, I don't like her and I hate him. And it just goes to show you how many feelings you really get about a show that you can go from not caring about at all to really investing in with each of the characters. Um, especially cause we were around the same age. So these were, you know, characters

[00:50:40] that we could empathize with because we understood, you know, these were sensationalized and big, big, big moments for kids, but also it wasn't that far out of the realm of possibility for us. You know, these are definitely situations that we could see ourselves in, uh, to an extent probably, or some people more than others. And so, yeah, it was, I could see why it was magnetic. I did not drink all the Kool-Aid, but I did have a one where I watched enough of it to know that Emma was indeed the bad guy of the show. Um, Paige was misunderstood.

[00:51:09] Manny also misunderstood Liberty. They did her so wrong in the show. Why did they always make her look so frumpy? Like, you know, like God, for the love of God. Also they played in Hazel's face, Jimmy, what are you doing? You know? So like, don't get me started. If you want to just start the Degrassi podcast, I would be happy to guess and complain about certain people. Um, yeah. Terry was robbed. Uh, there's, I could just go on forever. Okay. So it's just, yeah, it's poor Terry. Um, but yeah, Mari, that, that being said, uh, just a, uh,

[00:51:36] an aside, Degrassi is very much one of those like teen shows that go there. They show the drama, but I don't know if I've ever heard you talk about any other show like Degrassi. Are you a fan of just like the teen dramas in general? No, uh, no, not like, not really. Like I, like, I do like the euphoria. I do like watching, like, I just think Degrassi just really holds a

[00:52:01] special place in my heart because like I said, we were the same age as those kids and I just love the storytelling. And like I said, so much show that like in between Degrassi seasons, again, Degrassi message boards, um, rewatching old seasons. And then because I rewatched old seasons, I then ended up watching Degrassi high, like, like I'm talking about like finding Degrassi high on the

[00:52:26] internet, um, getting good grades so that my dad had to buy me the whole entire, um, uh, box collection of Degrassi high, which was what three seasons. I want to, I believe it was either three or four seasons and it was so old. It was only available on, um, VHS box set. So literally it came, it was this

[00:52:49] big old box of VHS tapes of the whole Degrassi high series. And I'm telling you, I got this the summer I was 16, like 2005, like just watching that, um, the summer of 16 because Degrassi high, the original was so groundbreaking. Like even, even watching it 20 years later, I realized how groundbreaking it was because they showed like, they showed, uh, Emma's mom, uh, spike. Yeah.

[00:53:19] Actually gets pregnant at 13 in Degrassi high. Um, and it's a complete fluke. Her and her, her boyfriend like lose their virginities to each other and end up, she ends up getting pregnant and she ends up becoming a teen mom and she's actually a teen mom on Degrassi high. And then her, the,

[00:53:43] her baby daddy ends up getting really drunk, um, one night in a party. And he like, he like, I can't remember if he was like in a crash or he falls off a bridge or something, but he ends up injuring himself so much to the point where he's like, uh, he no longer, yeah. Like he, like he, he, he had to be taken care of. Like he had, like he had severe brain trauma. Um, so it was just like,

[00:54:08] and that was, that was something they did in the eighties. They did, um, they did, they did like, uh, STD scares in the eighties, like a student found out he had HIV, I believe. Um, it was, it's such a groundbreaking teen show to me. It's, it, it just really was. And, um, I really think it, it taught, it was an outlet for kids to kind of see themselves.

[00:54:35] Yeah. I watched it, you know, again, I knew when to tap out. Uh, Mari, it seems like with anything, you have a, uh, a Mac for latching on the shows that last a little too long, uh, because Degrassi junior high, high next generation. Did you end up watching the, the, the generation after the next generation, the new kid? Next class. I did. Yeah. I did. Between that and Grace, Mari, stand up. Mari, stand up. I watched it for 20 years. You just, just, just, you, when you be in it,

[00:55:03] Mari, you be in it. Yeah. And, and next class got like, it wasn't like, oh, it went there because Degrassi already had went there. Next class, I was just like, what's going on? Like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, are these kids okay? Yeah. You're chilling. Get up, get up. Okay. Yeah. Love hearing you talk about Degrassi. Also would have figured that one for you. I know you pretty well. All right. Next up, what you got? What is this? This ain't,

[00:55:33] Oh, I thought, yeah, I think so. Seven, eight. Okay. Run over the list real quick. What have we done so far? We did South Park. South Park. Okay. We did, uh, Grey's Anatomy. Big Brother. Big Brother. Uh-huh. Drag Race. Drag Race. Race. CSI. CSI. Degrassi. Degrassi. Oh, yeah. So one, two, three, four, five, six. This is seven.

[00:56:02] Oh my God. I thought, I feel like we're missing one. Anyways, uh, next up, I can be quicker about these next few. I mean, you're fine. This is, this show, this show, show. Um, that's so Raven. That's so Raven. I remember all of the, like, like the lead up to it, like all of the, uh, the ad spots. And I was like, what is this show? And I was like, I just want to, I want to see the show. And when it

[00:56:27] premiered, like Raven Baxter being the funniest girl on the television show in Disney, watching her and her family, like just like the perfect family, um, together. And then she had her, her friends. And I loved that show. That was, that was like one of my favorites. Like it was hard for me to decide between that. So we're even in sister, sister. Um, because I, I, I, I love them both equally.

[00:56:56] Uh, but I, I wanted to go with that. So Raven here, because I just have a lot of fun, fond memories of that show. And I feel like that show in itself was very different. Like, how did they get away? How did they get away with a teen psychic? Oh yeah. Yeah. That was on Ms. Cleo ass. You called me now. It's such, it seems like such an absurd premise, but Raven Simone. Yeah.

[00:57:21] Yeah. Simone. Yeah. Pulled it off so well and so funny. Like, I don't know. It was like seeing a black girl be funny on, on television, like holding her own, um, and just, just owning it. Was, was so inspiring. Yeah. We, we grew up with Raven Simone. Um, I grew up with Raven Simone and then later found out I grew up with Raven Simone, but, uh, we, we grew up

[00:57:47] with her, uh, from, you know, the little, the littlest one on the Cosby show to hanging with Mr. Cooper to her, finally her having her own show on the Disney channel. And it's such a big deal because what other black girl is doing it like this, her own show on the Disney channel, Hillary does have a show, right? You know, even Stevens was like the, was like Shia LaBeouf show, but like, but this was her show, you know what I'm saying? And it's so impressive that she was able to do that at such a young age. This lady is like a media mogul,

[00:58:17] like the way they talk about Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, they should talk about Raven Simone. Yes. Yeah. And so, but like, we need to make sure that we amplify that because, um, Raven was out here paving the way for people to have their own spot. There are so many black girls that end up getting shows after Raven that you would argue that if not for That's So Raven, they probably wouldn't have that platform. So I'm not shocked by that at all. Um, I wasn't a big That's So Raven

[00:58:43] person. I will definitely watch it if it was on, but yeah, but like, yeah, but it was fun. It was a fun show and I could see, you know, growing up, people were talking about it. Like as, as kids, we were talking about That's So Raven at school. Yeah. And it's not as deep as like some of the other stuff that I've talked about. It's just black joy. You know, that's all it was like black comedy, black, just her being so incredibly funny, like,

[00:59:08] and, and still like being like, Oh, this is from, this is for me. This is my little niche in Disney. Yeah. Um, because we're coming out of like, maybe like, let's say my, my next favorite since we're seven, eight here. All that, you know, all that we've talked about all that on here. So if you haven't already, you can go listen to our brackets as we talk about the, uh, theme songs. And

[00:59:38] we talked about all that as a show, but we said it, it's groundbreaking, like watching kids do a sketch comedy show that. So who, nobody, somebody wasn't paying attention. Cause this is blackety black, like blackety black. Nigga Love You was in full effect. Yeah. It's like, why did y'all have all of these black artists on here? So for real, I will never forget. So for real.

[01:00:04] Candy. Like I can't like, it's so good. And TLC, if you should know my love to TLC, if you are a listener here on recap, yes, um, them doing, doing the, uh, theme song and just again, in line with just being funny, like, like being a kid and just seeing other kids be funny. I think

[01:00:28] that's the thing. It's like seeing your counterparts on TV being funny is like astounding to think of when you're a child. No, absolutely. I agree. I think that some of the shows that I'm noticing with you obviously influence you as a professional, you know, with your love for science and stuff like that. Like those things are overlapping, but Mari, you are very, very funny. You are a very, very funny one. And so, and I can see a lot of the influences that maybe like South Park or even all

[01:00:56] of that might've had for somebody, you know, as a young kid, you're, you're digesting a lot of this ridiculous, ridiculous adult-ish comedy, you know, uh, and adult themes. And then you're growing up and now utilizing it to be the podcast that you are. And so I really appreciate, you know, you throwing a shout out to all that. Cause yeah, I don't know if I want to put that in my top 10, but now that you mentioned it, I'm like, duh, of course it would be right. So yeah, exactly. Right.

[01:01:23] Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, but it, it's just those, those shows that are like, where you're really sitting here, like, could I have done that? And then I'm like, no, I could not have, but it makes you feel like it as a kid. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah. Yeah. And you wanted to get up there and clown with Kenan and Cal. And Kenan Thompson will go on to have a storied career as one of the most, the biggest comedians

[01:01:50] of all time, starting like with like his early movie roles, obviously, but then being on all that in a sketch comedy show and now being the longest running cast member in Saturday Night Live history. Wow. Like dog, he grew up with us, you know, it's like, we know this man. So now I, he's so funny. Yeah. And so, uh, yeah. Check out Kenan's book too. I read it last year. Uh, when I was your age, I believe it's the name of the book. It's a longer title, but yeah,

[01:02:17] it starts there. Uh, yeah. Go read Kenan's book. It's great. Mari. That's number eight. We got two more to go. Okay. I'm trying to think, uh, I think I have to go with my love of historical fiction here and I'm trying to figure out which, uh, which TV show represents that love. The interesting. Okay. I have a thought in my head, but I ain't going to tell you until

[01:02:44] you say what it is. Cause I don't want to influence you at all. Yes. Um, it's not that one. Not yet. So not that one, not yet. Um, this is the real historical fiction and I'm going to go with the tutors. Okay. All right. No, I was not expecting this. No. Yes. This is, I've said it before. I've

[01:03:10] said it on a lot of podcasts. I really love historical fiction. I in seventh grade, I, I randomly like, you know, we had gotta love no child left behind where they mandatorily made you read for 30 minutes at the beginning of the school day where kids just mostly pretended to read clearly. I've talked to these kids. I've talked to these people now that they're adults and you were correct.

[01:03:37] They were not doing the readings. They were not. I, on the other hand, was actually reading. And most of the time they'd be like, here is this random shelf of books. Feel free to grab one. And I just so happened as a 12 year old grabbed a book, uh, by Carolyn Meyer, shout out to her,

[01:04:00] the author, um, called Mary Bloody Mary. And, um, yes, Mary Bloody Mary. And it was about, um, Mary Tudor, uh, Henry the eighth daughter, uh, who becomes known as, uh, Mary the first of England, who also become known as Bloody Mary. I read that book and I was like, oh my God, history is cool.

[01:04:26] And it started my love of reading about the Tudors and Henry the eighth first. So I read about Mary. I think Carolyn Meyer's next book was about, uh, Queen Elizabeth. And, um, but when she was a princess and I read that and then I discovered like Jean Plady, who is one of my favorite historical fiction authors who actually has done a whole plant, plantagenet saga, um, that talks about, um, the

[01:04:55] lineage of the English monarchy from William the Conqueror. Like for some reason, just English, the English monarchy is my jish. And it started with the Tudors. It started with, um, uh, Henry the eighth and his two daughters. So once I had read like every book I could about the Tudors, this show came on

[01:05:20] and I was actually grown enough to watch it. Um, I believe it came out, uh, correct me if I'm Ron Chappelle. I want to say around 2006 or 2007. I want to say it was 2007. Yes, exactly. 2007. So, um, when this came out, I loved it. Jonathan Reese Myers as King Henry the eighth going through all of the wives. I am

[01:05:45] literally, I was literally in the middle of a season three rewatch, uh, during Christmas break. Um, because I, I just, something about that time period and getting lost in the royal politics of it all. And like history is fascinating. Like, like truth is stranger than fiction. You know what I'm saying? Like, and I love like English history, French history, European history. I do not like American history.

[01:06:13] I've said this to me. I don't like American history. Um, but what about American history? It might be just like, not fun for you to revisit anything in there. Just, uh, particularly speak to you about, uh, years of something or other, and then stuff after that too. And then present day, you know, like it just, it's not, it don't slap American history. It don't, not as, not as hard.

[01:06:35] Um, so I, I, that I, I love history. I know a lot about world history. I took a lot of classes as I could like elective classes on it. Um, and the tutors is one of my favorite shows. Um, it was, it was between the tutors and Rome. I don't know if a lot of people know about Rome. Uh, the tutors

[01:06:58] it was from Showtime. Rome was on HBO. Rome is such a good show. Um, that one came out, I want to say in 2009 or 2010. That one came a little later and it is where all our Owen, our Owen fans, I don't know all two of you, you know, um, Owen, uh, Dr. Hunt from, um, Oh, zero, zero friends. Yeah, nothing there.

[01:07:25] He is, he is actually the main character on Rome and it's so good. And it talks about like Julius Caesar, Mark Antony. Um, uh, it's so, it's so good. It's so good. Cleopatra makes a, of course she makes the appearance near the end. I want to say there was, it was two seasons, two or three seasons. One of the two, I can't remember. Um, very good show. So that in the tutors, I would say, I say the tutors because I've actually rewatched that more times than Rome.

[01:07:55] But I, I loved a lot of those shows, the tutors, Rome, Spartacus on stars. Um, uh, the white queen on stars. Stars is really good at historical fiction. So I love any show like that. I normally, um, watch, uh, I'm going to, I'm going to save the big one for last. Um, and I have to go with another HBO

[01:08:22] show, which is going to be weird. It, it's fighting for a spot with the other one that people know, but I got to go with Oz. Oh, okay. Okay. Plot twist here. Okay. Because of course it was between Oz and The Wire. But Oz, I again watched as a kid when I should not have watched as a kid.

[01:08:48] And something about, have you seen Oz? Uh, when I was a child, but I don't remember Oz enough. Like, okay. So here's the thing. Uh, as a young male watching Oz, I'm very quickly like, whew, nevermind. You know, you turn it on and you're like, oh my God, I had it. You know, and then you turn it off, you know, for a number of reasons, obviously. But you know, I was talking about earlier how I loved Law and Order SVU. Laws will make you not, I mean, Oz will make you not love Law and

[01:09:14] Order SVU, if you know what I'm saying. Uh, you're like, oh my God, no wonder why Olivia won't leave. You know? Oz will put you on the straight and narrow. Like, Oz, I think Oz as a TV show single-handedly is what put like prison rape into like the cultural knowledge of people. Yeah. I love that show.

[01:09:39] Like Harold Perrineau, I still only see him and think of, I think Augustus from Oz. Like that's the only, there are characters, there are literal characters there on it that from Oz that I still only think of them as their Oz character. Like Mayhem, like that's what I call him, you know. Yeah. Mayhem, like that he, he was a main character on Oz and it took me forever. It took a lot of commercials,

[01:10:09] commercials to make me think of it. For those who don't know, Oz is a prison show from HBO. Um, I, you might know what, I don't know what year it premiered. I just, I just, again, know that I was way too young watching it. 1997. It was around the same time you started watching South Park. Yeah, exactly. Like Oz, I had like, it was one of those shows I had to sneak and watch.

[01:10:33] Um, I just remember being like, what is happening? You know what I'm saying? Like it, like it was so fascinating to me, like the inner workings of prison. And like it, again, that true crime thread and it's carried over to now because of course, if people listen to me, they know I watched 60 Days In. I love 60 Days In. Um, we, we just watched, um, that Netflix one,

[01:10:58] um, Chappelle with the, you watched that, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. What was it called? I forget what it was called. The one where they let the prisoners out. They basically let the prisoners run. They let them, was it unlocked? Unlocked. Yes. A prison experiment. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't know why prisons fascinate me from this side because I know I'm not going to jail. Like number one, I'll never be there. I will never do that. There is no, I will not be in jail. You will not. So you're not taking me alive coppers.

[01:11:31] But I don't know. I have no clue why I drew, uh, like why I was drawn to that show as a kid. It just, I think it was like that prestige acting. I think that's one of the first prestige shows in HBO, even though like it's weird because again, a lot of them are right. But it was one of those shows that was so well acted. The storylines were devastating. Um, like I, I don't like, again, it's not,

[01:11:59] it's not, it's not as like near and dear to my heart as Degrassi, but the storylines of like, of exploring like male relationships in prison and fucking Stabler. Look at him. You are, you are so lucky. You are so lucky. You got that law and order. You're so lucky you're Elliot. Yeah. I met at a BC, I met at a BC, uh, when I was on, when I, uh, was an extra in a movie.

[01:12:26] Really? Um, yeah, he was really good. What movie was you an extra in? I was an extra in Tears of the Sun, the Bruce Willis movie. Really? I love that movie. You know that movie? Yeah. I was an extra in the African prison camp, uh, refugee camp. I was in the deleted scenes and you can see my shoulder in the actual movie, but I was like 14 getting paid like a hundred some dollars a day. So I was just like, just to be black in the sun.

[01:12:56] Right. That's it. That was great. That was great. I got to meet. So yeah, you, you won. I got to meet out of BCs. I got to meet the, the, um, the Southern black dude who I don't, he's, I don't think he's been in much since Monica Bellucci. Is that her name? Monica. I think the, the, that's the main lady in the movie. She actually sat and talked to us. She was really nice. Mm-hmm. I didn't get to meet Bruce Willis. Yeah. He was.

[01:13:25] Yeah. So, um, Oz, Oz, like one of the, the, the storylines that really stuck with me is Stabler's character, um, fell in love with the other dude, Beecher, I think his name, they fell in love in prison. They were like trying to not be in love, but they were in love. Uh, Beecher gets out and Stabler's character sets him up to get him to put back in. Yeah. Cold. It's real love. Real love. Cold. Yeah. Love hurts, they say.

[01:13:55] Yes. Um, Mari, so you started watching this as a child. I'm assuming you weren't, you weren't watching it live though, right? Were you eight years old watching this? No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm pretty sure it was later in the 2000s when I was watching it. Uh-huh. And so, but you and your mom had a good relationship. You told me to your mom, oh, hey, I'm watching Oz. And she was like, okay, you know, just don't, don't shank nobody. That was probably one that I'd have to ask her. I don't think she knew. She's like, I don't think I told her. Well, I was like, like HBO stuff at night, you know?

[01:14:25] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause it got, it got, like, you think the grassy got real. HBO got real at night. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So. Just inappropriate. Inappropriate. But I like that. I got to, and we got to talk about the last one. The big one. How is that not the last one? I, what is our, I think, uh, we have our top 10 here. We got, uh, South Park, Grey's Anatomy, Big Brother, Drag Race,

[01:14:50] CSI, Degrassi, That's So Raven, all that, The Tudors, and Oz. Oh, fuck. Rounding out the top 10. I miscounted. It's fine. 11. Well, let's talk about, let me, let's go to some notable snubs and then we'll get you talk about number 11. There's no notable snubs. I miscounted. So there's what I have to talk about. We'll take one of them out. Okay. Let's say we didn't just talk about Mari watching prison rape at 11 years old. Mari, you started watching a different kind of rape

[01:15:20] at a grown age. Let's talk about Game of Thrones. Oh, rude. Oh, rude. So we're not talking about Game of Thrones? We are talking about Game of Thrones, but that was just, that's just a little much. Mari, I would have guessed that Game of Thrones was on your list. Yes. And I felt like I was right until you said Oz and now I feel a little bit better. I lost count. I thought Oz was nine. Yeah, no, Oz was definitely 10. We weren't keeping count as, as it went. So we were not.

[01:15:48] I don't have a list. I have like, I have like, there's like 12, there's like 15 and I was picking out as I was going. So. No, makes total sense. We gotta talk about Game of Thrones, Mari. Put Oz and Tudors. I don't know. I don't know. But Game of Thrones. Okay. Wait, so hold on. No, pause. Because you went with the Tudors on purpose. I did. I did. In front of Game of Thrones. You did not go with Oz on purpose. So I'm gonna assume that Game of Thrones has a spot and then Oz will later on, like, will be a notable snub. How about

[01:16:16] that? There we go. Switch it around. Yeah. Okay. All right. Mari, tell me about Game of Thrones. I like, I don't know. Like, I feel like I've said it so many times. So, but for the uninitiated, I love Game of Thrones. Um, I read all of the books several times, multiple times. I've read the offshoot books. I've read the short stories. Like Game of Thrones. And I'm not a sci-fi girl. If I don't know if you guys noticed, there's, there's really not much sci-fi like in there,

[01:16:46] especially like in stuff I read and stuff. Which is crazy because you like science and you like fiction, but not science fiction. So for anybody who's been living under a rock for 14 years, Game of Thrones is one of the, the, the highest rated, most watched TV shows of all time on HBO. Um, it's based in the mythical

[01:17:09] world of Westeros. And it's basically about people trying to claim the Iron Throne. And it's based on a book series that is still unfinished by George R. Martin. We have been waiting 13 years since the last book. He's just doing it out of spite now. Yeah. Cause y'all told him he didn't have no choice but to write the other book. And he said, nah, watch me, watch me. I'm gonna make you wait on me.

[01:17:38] Let me go. Let me go and check. I used to, I remember when I used to check his website every day. Yeah. He's not writing that book. Uh, Mari and I, for the people who are new here on Recap Keep Back, we actually did not talk about Game of Thrones on here, but we did talk about the spinoff to Game of Thrones. We talked about House of the Dragon last summer and, uh, talking about House of the Dragon with Mari has been one of my greatest joys as a podcaster because you'd like to see people cook. You'd like to see people in a bag. Mari was in her bag. Um, she basically was telling the

[01:18:08] show what they could have done better. Yeah. For doing that. But she gave us a lot of insight into the book and to what they were, you know, the different, like the, the way the book outlined things we made, uh, we made space for the book readers for sure. So if you haven't checked out the Westeros Kickback, please go onto our website, recapkickback.com, scroll on back and go to the Westeros Kickback and look at our, our playlist for, uh, the Westeros Game of Thrones House of the

[01:18:34] Dragon coverage here on Recap Kickback. Also on our YouTube page, there should be a Recap Kickback Westeros Kickback, uh, kickback playlist as well. But we talked about it, uh, and got really in to, you know, the ins and outs of what it looks like when you're battling for the Iron Throne before there is an Iron Throne. So yeah. Um, so much fun talking to Mari about that. Mari, what is it about Game of Thrones? Like why Game of Thrones? I'm so mad at this man. Um,

[01:19:03] because like I said, I, the, the, the love of like monarchy fiction, royalty fiction and stuff like that, um, has always, I, I've, I've always had that, that love. Um, and once I ran out of actual history, it was, I was really fun to escape to a fantasy world based actually based on that history

[01:19:26] that I knew. Um, for people who might not know, um, when George RR Martin writes the, the, the books of Game of Thrones, he's, he's wrote, he's written so many, um, companion pieces to it. One of the biggest ones being the World of Ice and Fire, which is basically a history book of the history of Westeros. And a lot of that history is like kind of nuancedly based on actual historical events.

[01:19:51] So we'll kind of take some historical events and kind of like flip them. Um, so like, uh, it, it, it's, it just, it's fun. You know what I'm saying? It's fun. It's so easy to like pick a team. It's like sports. He kind of made it. So it's like sports, you know what I'm saying? There's houses, there's the Starks, the Lannisters, the Marassians. He has, he gave them colors. He gave them sigils. So it's just like with Harry Potter, you know, I love the Harry Potter books as well.

[01:20:20] Um, it's, it's, you can claim your team and then ride in with your, with the merch and the badges and, and just be like, yeah, how smart till I die? You know what I'm saying? It's that kind of like gang warfare. And then on top of that, in the books and in the show, anybody could get it. I remember I didn't even want to watch the show. Like James was like, oh, there's this show coming on. It's called Game of Thrones. We should watch it. I was like, I have no, what is this? Is this fake? I don't like

[01:20:47] fake fiction. And he's like, well, let's watch it. And we watched the first episode. Dude gets his head cut off by the White Walker in like the first five minutes. I was like, okay, we're in it. She gets pushed out the window. It's a whole, it's a lot going on. By the end of the episode of the premiere, Bran is out the freaking window. And then, and then it was just cultural phenomenon because we're still, we're like out of school. Like I'm out of school, but however, you know, James is still going to school. Half of our friends

[01:21:16] are still going to school. We're still in the area where like people are coming to our apartment and we just happen to, everybody's like, oh, we're watching Thrones. You're watching Thrones. All right. Come to our apartment. Everybody come to our house. Come watch Thrones at our house for season one, episode nine. Oh, great timing. We're all sitting there watching the show. There's like 10 of us. We're just chilling.

[01:21:43] And we're like, oh, okay. What? I didn't read the, I didn't read the books. Season one was completely unspoiled for me. I didn't read the books. And all of us were like, oh, we're on that type of timing. That's what kind of, that's what we own in this show. Yeah. And it's been, it's been full throttle ever since after that season, I said, okay, I'm just going to read book one. Season one is over. Let me read book one. It's fine. It's fine. Yeah. I read book one.

[01:22:14] The season was so like spot on. The book was amazing. I was like, okay, well I can read book two before season two. It's fine. I read that. And then I just read all the books. It was like, yeah. At that point is we already had what the five, five books and I read them all. And I was like, say lovey, watch all the, the, the episodes. We're still waiting on the, is it the six books

[01:22:41] or the fifth book? At this point I forgot because I don't know why George RR Martin would go this long without making a book. Like the apathy that is now within me is so annoying. Like I remember, oh yeah, but I'm going to read it once it drops. Right. Cause if that book drops tomorrow, you will be the first one to purchase the book. I will be mad. Yeah. Because I could have been joyful if this had happened like 10 years ago, but whatever. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, it's that show.

[01:23:09] Yeah. Check it out. If you haven't watched Game of Thrones, what are you waiting on? Uh, I will tell you I had a very different viewing experience than Mari did, but I, I enjoyed it when I enjoyed it. Oh, right. Yeah. You did say that. I was like, I'm off the boat, but I watched it all. And then I watched House of the Dragon. And if you do go out and catch up on all of those shows, you don't have to watch House of, uh, Game of Thrones to watch House of the Dragon. So you can just go watch House of the Dragon if you want to, but if you do go back and watch all of that, make sure you tune in to the Westeros kickback and check out all the stuff me and Mari talked about when we just, you know,

[01:23:38] dove into the Game of Thrones world. And we will be going back to Westeros this year. Remember? We are. We are. We are. A new, uh, new show is entering the villa. The Hedge Knight is coming. I I'm pretty sure I'm trying to figure out what they they're settling on for the title. I don't know if it, it might be a Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Um, but it's based

[01:24:02] on the Hedge Knight, uh, mini series books. Um, there's three Hedge Knight stories, um, featuring Dunk, Dunkin' the Tall. And it takes place approximately, oh my God. It's like 50 years after it's like right in the middle between Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. Okay. Well, we'll be back with, uh, more House of Dragon, Game of Thrones, Hedge Knight coverage.

[01:24:29] A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is what it's going to be called. Yeah. And that will be a fun time when it comes. Mari, this has been great. Come on, but some notable snubs on my end. Cause I did make a list of what I thought you might have. Oh, I want to hear this. Okay. Well, obviously Game of Thrones was one that I was like, huh, I was over Game of Thrones, a choice. Um, you were keeping, yes. Where is Insecure? Oh yeah. I forgot about Insecure.

[01:24:56] Yeah. But, uh, sue me. Sue me. It happened because this was last minute. I mean, well, I'm glad you said sue you because I was really looking for Maxine Shaw attorney in law. Where's Living Single? Living Single. It was, it was on there. I was, I was battling. Like I said, I wanted, I wanted everybody to get the full scope of who I was. So I know, I know they're all up there.

[01:25:26] They're all up there. Those were the two slash three, if you want to count Game of Thrones, big ones that I was just waiting on to come up and they did not. And so, you know, but this was so much fun. I feel like I got to know you so much better. And I think this is a good format. I think they're like, you know, we definitely could talk about movies one day. We of course need to circle back and talk about my 10 best TV shows at some point. Um, but this was great. And, uh, I appreciate this because now

[01:25:50] we know kind of like, well, how Mari ended up the, the mad scientist comedian that she is. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. This was fun. This, this was a great idea. Thank you, Chappelle, for coming up with it. I'm so glad we could just talk about some of my favorite TV shows. And honestly, I'm not going to beat myself up about it. It's my list. It's what happens. It was all fun. So let us know what y'all favorite TV shows are.

[01:26:17] Yeah. Yeah. Thoughts about Mari's for sure. So yeah, Mari, this was great. Uh, but we have to come back next week to talk about something else. Our goal is to get to the movies or to find a bootleg for one of them days. I'm going to try and get to the movies. We got to figure out a way to watch that. Are we going to, do we, are we planning on having a guest? Did you decide on what? Yes. Uh, Latonya said she, we're going to get the insecure gang back together. You know,

[01:26:46] okay. Latonya is another person who I would love to hear her teeth, her 10 best TV shows, according to Latonya. So yeah, that might be a good way to kind of ease her into that conversation. Let's try to go see one of them days in the next week. Let us know if you guys like this series. If you think you, if you want us, uh, to do this with more people, we're, we're definitely going to get Chappelle's because if he's going to put me on the spot, he'll be on the spot. I mean, I'm the host, so I got to make sure, you know, we, it's about, you know, the co-host this time later on.

[01:27:16] Let us know who you want to hear, uh, their favorite TV shows. So yeah, because we got a good, a good little rotation here on recap kickback and this was so much fun. I'm glad we did this. We should have did this earlier. Um, but Mari, tell everybody where they can find you, what you're working on in the meantime. You can find me on blue sky. You can find me in my little blissful bubble on blue sky. Like I said, call me Galinda at bubble.

[01:27:41] Uh, at Mari talks too much. That's too like the number two. You can always, again, find me on crime scene by going to crime scene pod.com in order to subscribe. We are at crime scene pod on blue sky as well. And we're still on Twitter. I'm not one, but whatever. Um, also married at first sight. Me, Jason and Asia are covering, uh, season 18 of married at first sight. So I've been popping in. I popped in for the last two episodes so you can go check us out. We're on a lover for sight

[01:28:11] feed on R.H.A.P. Um, you can go to the R.H.A.P. YouTube page to watch that. Uh, and that's about it. So just, uh, keep your eye on the recap kickback feed. Yeah. Stay here. Stay tuned. Make sure you check us out on what we got going on over here. Like I said earlier, we got Abbott elementary coverage with me and Gia every other week. We just dropped how to ruin Christmas, the funeral. And so make sure you go check that out again, South African comedy and a drama and a

[01:28:40] mess of a show. We got the funeral already done. We got the wedding already done. And when Gia comes back from vacation, that girl in Haiti, when she comes back from Jamaica and Haiti and all these other places she's at living my best life without me, uh, then we're going to talk about how to ruin Christmas, the baby shower, I believe, or something like that. So, you know, more to come over there. Uh, and then Tyrone and I will be back to talk about the madness. And of course we are practicing and getting ready and warming up for the year anniversary of recap kickback coming in

[01:29:10] February. And I think we're going to celebrate our birthday all month. So February is going to be jam packed with a lot of different types of content, including top 10 lists, rankings, whatever. We come up with some games, um, but make sure you stay tuned and email us at recap kickback, recap kick, recap kickback at gmail.com. Uh, and, um, you know, mention us, DM us on all, uh, social media platforms at recap kickback. If you want to let us know what it is that you want

[01:29:35] us to talk about here on the podcast. Um, but that's it until next time, until we come back to talk about something else for Mario and for myself, you ain't got to go home, but you got to get the hell up out of here. We'll talk to you all next time. Peace. My God damn self.