Podcast: Office Ladies

Office Ladies podcast image

I’m one of those people who finds the American version of The Office largely comforting—minus episodes like Scott’s Tots, which I always skip, because noooope—and I admit to being on my third re-watch of it THIS YEAR.

Like, I just keep going back, it’s somewhat embarrassing? But, hey, it’s 2020, we’re all doing weird things to find comfort.

Also! A) There are a lot of layers, B) it holds up to re-watching because despite its age a lot of what they’re doing not only holds up, but in some cases, comes off as even more pointed than it was the first time around, C) I dig ensembles in general, and D) there’s a lot of warmth, but it’s not mushy warmth. Which are all things that, again, work for me.

In an effort to break the re-watch cycle, though, I’ve started listening to Office Ladies, the Jenna Fischer/Angela Kinsey recap podcast.

And it’s great! Absolutely something that any fan of the show will love—tons of insight, a million behind-the-scenes stories, and it’s hosted by people who A) have great chemistry and clear affection for each other and the material, and B) who are clearly dedicated to the project & actually, like, PREPARE for each episode?* It takes a few episodes for them to really get into the groove, but once they do, listening to them is a joy.

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*Which you’d think would be a given? But apparently we’ve lowered the bar, because I’ve also listened to all of the available episodes of the same-premise-and-format 9021OMG podcast with Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling, and HOLY COW it is not good.

It is, in fact, so bad. So. Bad.

It’s insipid; it’s whatever the OPPOSITE of insightful is; Jennie Garth sounds like she doesn’t really even want to be there and Tori Spelling just sounds… like she is still a teenager? Maybe it’s performance art, I don’t know. The podcast isn’t styled with the listener in mind, in that every time they have a guest on, they hardly even introduce them or explain who they are in context of Beverly Hills, 90210? They mostly just talk about who they wanted to or still want to kiss?

Also I can’t help but notice that Our Illustrious Hosts read the ad copy for all of the commercials EXCEPT the bidet one (the producer reads that), and while I have no actual concrete evidence to back up this theory, my personal headcanon is that there was an ‘ew noooo we can’t do a bidet commerciallll!!!’ conversation.

Which means that not only do I have some real passionate feelings about a subpar 90210 recap podcast, but I’ve developed a headcanon ABOUT A COMMERCIAL BREAK on a subpar 90210 recap podcast and my brain is officially done for the year, the end.

Anyway, for the most part it’s truly embarrassing to listen to (there is maybe 5% of actual interesting content per episode), and the optics of two white celebrities giggling about how they don’t know anything about politics in 2020 is… oof. WOW.

I will always have some degree of affection for old Beverly Hills, 90210, but at this point that affection is entirely due to listening to Again With This. Which is a 90210 recap podcast that I ALSO have passionate feelings about, but in that case the feelings are GOOD, and I WHOLEHEARTEDLY recommend it.