PCPS LIGHT 1: The Fisher-Price Play Family Dilemma, the Viral Ribbon Barrettes, Leg Warmers, and Monica Lewinsky
Kristin Nilsen 0:00
Welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society, the podcast for people born in the big wheel generation whose faces are still stinging from sea breeze astringent.
Carolyn Cochrane 0:11
We believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images, and if we don't talk about them, they're just going to disappear like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition,
Michelle Newman 0:23
and today we're bringing you something light and refreshing, shortened and sweetened episodes that we're calling PCPs light. I'm Carolyn, I'm Kristen, and I'm Michelle, and we are your pop culture preservationists.
Carolyn Cochrane 0:40
Hey, listeners, while the pop culture Preservation Society takes a breather between seasons, we're serving up something new and fun, just like Michelle said, some PCPs light. Okay, it is inspired. And I want to ask you guys, if you remember, and listeners, do you remember this whole idea is inspired by that refreshing, but sadly short lived soda, Pepsi light. Do you guys remember Pepsi light?
Kristin Nilsen 1:06
Pepsi light? I wish
Michelle Newman 1:10
I almost feel like right now I can hear even you know you Yeah, I don't know. Was that in the commercial or something, Pepsi light was really fun. I liked it because it was, wasn't full on Pepsi, like that super
Carolyn Cochrane 1:22
sweet, and it wasn't zero calorie, it was low calorie, so it still had some sweetness to it. That wasn't a diet drink. It wasn't, no, it wasn't a diet drink. It was low calorie soda, which I kind of like too, like, okay, it's just a little lighter version of the same thing, with a twist, with
Kristin Nilsen 1:44
a twist of lemon, yeah, with a twist of lemon. And our moms were all over it because it replaced tab,
Carolyn Cochrane 1:49
yes
Kristin Nilsen 1:51
for tab, but the kids drank it too, like kids didn't really drink tab. I have to tell you this. This is so funny. This is the Pepsi light lure in our family. Is that Mike used to come home on a Friday night, it's late, it's midnight, Friday night videos is on, and his sister would be downstairs in the den watching Friday night videos, and Mike would go and get a bag of peanuts and a bottle of Pepsi light, and he would eat peanuts and drink Pepsi light. And his sister would get so pissed, and I went, why? What is she? She just got irritated with this Pepsi light, and so that meant that he had to eat peanuts and drink Pepsi light every Friday night because it irritated her so much. Of
Michelle Newman 2:36
course, of course. Well, Mike, I think that sounds like a delightful snack.
Kristin Nilsen 2:40
Yes, I know it's a good snack. It's a 70s snack,
Carolyn Cochrane 2:44
totally. And you know what, you guys, just like Pepsi Lite, PCPs Lite is just going to be a little shorter, snappier version of our usual podcast effort, our usual
Michelle Newman 2:54
podcast for the next hand, good handful of episodes. I mean, we're not taking off. We're still recording. Obviously, here we are, but you know what we're gonna do? We're gonna set a timer. Y'all, we need a timer, and Kristen's in charge of the timer. Because you guys, I would say, long time listeners, know, but you really only would have had to have listened to the last five episodes to know that despite our best intentions, when there's three of us who like to talk and talk, especially when we're so passionate about all these topics, we tend to think that'll be a short episode. Oh yeah, that's a good one. That'll be a short episode. We are really trying to keep these short and sweet so we can, we can bring you guys, still, some new conversations for the next, I don't know, month and a half or so, while there is a lot of life stuff going on. And that is actually, we're going to catch you up on that throughout these PCPs light episodes. But we all have a lot of life stuff going on right now,
Kristin Nilsen 3:47
so these PCPs light episodes are meant to replace sort of the Encore episodes. We're going to bring you a little bit more of what's going on in our lives. But guess what? No research, right? That's no writing. We're showing no outlines, right? No clips, so there won't be any music, there won't be any research, there won't be any preparation. God help us all. And so what we're going to do is we're going to set a timer, as Michelle said earlier, we're going to set a timer for is it 45 minutes? And then we'll probably shave 15 off. Is that what? We agree? Yeah.
Michelle Newman 4:17
I mean, we're trying to not have to do a lot of editing, but yes, why don't
Carolyn Cochrane 4:22
you say I already have my head going, Okay, I think, like three quarters of what we just said,
Michelle Newman 4:27
Okay. Also, this one is longer, because we're having to set you guys up. That's true. Also, we do have topics for each week. We do have topics, but some of them are just like potpourri. We don't
Kristin Nilsen 4:38
know here. Okay, 40 minutes. Here we go. It has begun.
Michelle Newman 4:42
PCPs lite number one, everybody, all three of us and listeners, let's all crack open our cans. Little spray of lemon went in my head. Okay. So back in March, we did an episode where we took some of our most popular social media posts and we share some of the fun comments our followers. Left because the original purpose of this podcast was, and remains to be, connecting to each other through shared pop culture moments of our Gen X childhoods. And we just love when the images we share elicit a specific memory for you, and you share that with us and with everyone else who's reading the comments. So recently, we have had a few social media posts that have not only resonated with 1000s, 10s of 1000s of you, but brought out some big feelings. And guys, I don't know about you, but this is all the content I need right now. In this, in this very divisive and hateful world we're living in. I really just need to know, you know, the Sophie's choice that people have between Fisher Price play sets, and that's what I want to talk about first so first of all, let's talk about our latest Fisher Price Play Family bracket. This was our second one. If you remember, we did one back at the beginning of the year, and back then, I think it was in January and February. After eight weeks of battle, the OG Yellow House was the winner. And I think that was very fitting for that to be the winner over a lot of the other really fun play family, little play family sets. Well, this time the final two came down to the farm and the village and y'all. It was like we asked people to choose between their child and their dog, because we all know that's an impossible
Kristin Nilsen 6:28
choice, right? But the yellow house wasn't anywhere in there. Now, that was the first bracket Kristen. That was the one way back that we're redoing. We're not just No, no, no. This way.
Michelle Newman 6:37
This was, this was eight family says, got it? Okay? Thanks. Okay. Kristen, follow along on social media. It's called, at pop culture Preservation Society, you've got every Friday, we have something called Fisher Price. Fisher Price Friday. I just want you to listen to some of these comments that came that for this final vote for all the bracket. After eight weeks, it came down to the barn and that, that lovely village with the jail and the movie theater and the little letters, you guys know the one? Okay, family B says, Last week, I thought I knew easily which one I would vote for this week, I thought, no contest. Oh, but now it's time to vote, and I'm torn. Do I choose the farm which I loved as a child and still own, it's one of the only things I actually still have from my childhood? Or do I choose the village which I never owned but loved playing with at the church nursery? The jail was so fun and doors open and close, but the farm, it was rarely just a farm. The inside of the barn was a school or a store. The hayloft was Laura Ingalls bedroom or a college student's apartment. So many possibilities, but no people size doors. As a child, I think I would have chosen the village, but the farm was faithful to me, and even though it's not how I thought I would vote, I can't betray it. So I vote farm.
Carolyn Cochrane 8:03
I just have an idea we need to do readers theater for some of our comments that we get our social media that was very heartfelt.
Michelle Newman 8:12
We really gave people a dilemma. We went through her whole decision making process. This is every word of that. I love it so much. This one, this is Tara says, I must admit, I haven't been able to vote in this bracket until now. It was too stressful to choose that being said, I have to go with the village. Jill says, farm, always, animal, variety, fencing, mooing, door, cool silo, tractor can be cross purposed to make a Nativity scene at Christmas. Lofton barn. Lofton barn can be turned into an apartment, a la ebb from Green Acres by sticking a bed from the house up there. That's why she chose farm and then Maggie. Ah, bless you. Maggie. Malli. Maggie, in all caps, says village. The combination of the fire siren jail and the twang sound the umbrella made when you flicked will always beat a mooing door. This is the hill I will die on. Yeah, sorry, Maggie, as you all know, if you've been if you saw from social media, the farm did ultimately win. I love this so much. It was a follower on Facebook said it was such a hard decision. She had to call her brother, and they had to discuss the merits of each because they both played with them, and then they ultimately, I think, picked barn. But I just love that she was so torn. She's like, I just, it's almost like I had to phone a friend. She couldn't make the decision on her own.
Kristin Nilsen 9:47
A lifeline. I need a lifeline. Oh, I love
Carolyn Cochrane 9:50
that, that what we do has those consequences, or it just it caused someone to pick up the phone and have a conversation with their brother about. Something that happened when they were kids. I mean, that just warms my heart. Totally warms my heart.
Michelle Newman 10:05
Well, especially, like I said, because right now it is Doom scrolling, right? It is Doom Doom scrolling. And so I love that something like this, even though they were like, this is such a hard choice. What a fun, hard choice to have. And the distraction, what I want to say to those of you listening, is this week, and apologies in advance for I don't know if you're gonna have to, like, you know, take a personal day or what, but we have decided to go back to the winner of bracket one, the OG Yellow House, and we are pitting it against this one this winter. So it's gonna be yellow house against barn. I don't know yesterday Carolyn's like, they're all gonna have to, like, take shots at tequila
Kristin Nilsen 10:46
before they vote. And I must say, I'm like, when you tell me the winner and it's and it's the farm, I find myself going, what, what are you talking about? Like, and I and then I realize how, how I'm personalizing it like this is not a universal thing. Some people liked the farm better than you. Kristen, well and I, the farm was pedestrian, but the village that was urban,
Michelle Newman 11:11
that same so
Kristin Nilsen 11:13
many well, and so many options. I
Michelle Newman 11:16
was very much like family bees. If I had to think about which I would do. I I have so much loyalty to the farm, because that was mine all the other sets. My sister was gifted, and I got to please, but the farm was mine, and, oh, I played with it all the time, but that village was so fun. So I feel like I would vote village, but then I would be betraying farm. And how could I betray farm when it was mine, feelings would be hurt Exactly. Yeah, so personal. Can I tell you that what pushed farm over and Carolyn and I did all the votes yesterday, you guys, Kristen was doing important book stuff. You know, she's an author. She gets to do book stuff. Carolyn and I were counting over like 400 votes yesterday, I will say, Carolyn, won't you agree? What pushed farm over Absolutely, was the mooing door. The mooing door,
Carolyn Cochrane 12:09
I agree. People loved that. Yeah, door. And I think for a lot of us, that was our first encounter with that, a sound that I guess we had the doorbell on the house. But that, yeah, door. Oh yeah, that door. I mean, that was so fun. And for me, I'm just gonna say I'm a farm voter. I vote for the farm. I think that you had to use your imagination a little bit more with the farm. Like, again, you could make that loft area an art studio or an apartment, or, you know, it could be a lot of different things. Where the village it was kind of like, this is the jail. What else is, you know, handed it to you, right? Well, moving on, another fun post that we had, and we never know what posts are going to like, resonate with people. We're often surprised. It's a mystery. It's always a mystery. Well, let me tell you, ribbon barrettes, you guys, people had feelings about ribbon brats. They had memories. We struck a chord that I didn't even know was strikeable or whatever it was. It just was a lot. For instance, we had like, 165,000 views on Instagram of our ribbon barrettes, 56,000 likes on Instagram. I mean, that is insane.
Michelle Newman 13:21
Okay, and it's been posted ribbon Brett's. We've posted ribbon Brett's at least five or six times over the past five years. Nothing like this last time. That's the weird the algorithm. Algorithm is so weird,
Carolyn Cochrane 13:33
yes, but once people saw it and it was in front of them, it gave it brought back memories, it brought back feelings, and they wanted to share those with us. And it also, I think people wanted to share it with others, because I was amazed at the 48,000 shares on Instagram, okay, that's how many times people probably put it in their stories, okay, and shared it. And I'm gonna share with you. We like that word. We're all about sharing here at PCR, some of the other people who who shared that, but I want to let you know some of the comments, at least some of the themes that resonated in the comments. God love Gen X, gals, so many of you were so entrepreneurial with the ribbon, Brett, and this was your first business. You shared with us, how you made and sold ribbon barrettes, and some of you even named your business, and you had, like, a lot of customers,
Michelle Newman 14:28
I think I'm gonna make some now.
Carolyn Cochrane 14:31
Yes, well, you know what, Michelle, you are not the only one. That was the other thing that came through. Why aren't we wearing these? Now? I want to make these now. Well, we can thank some of our friends on Facebook who had a little dialog back and forth, Laura and Denise and Tammy sue because they not only told us where we could get the barrettes and the stuff to make it, they linked to a YouTube tutorial and some instructions. So I think in. And this week's Weekly Reader, we will share the visual of how to make the ribbon barrettes, and then we can all maybe make some, and then start wearing them and sharing them.
Michelle Newman 15:09
I'm not going to wear them. I just want to make them again. I think I'll put them in, like my children's library, of my little free library, and then little kids that come that parents can take them
Carolyn Cochrane 15:18
for their little kids. Oh my gosh. Would that? Would? That would be very cute. I love that two of the comments that really struck me, because these weren't necessarily happy comments, but they had to do with ribbon breaths. And Jen Shepherd said, Oh God, ready for this. When I wore those breaths to school, my mother freaked out and called me a hussy. Not surprising. I'm currently writing a memoir deeply rooted in similar, messed up childhood memories. By the way, I love those ribbons. Oh gosh, poor Jen, so I guess we can
Kristin Nilsen 15:51
wait ornamentation.
Michelle Newman 15:52
Well, I'm thinking Jen's mother would have really found fault with remember when we wore the roach clips, the roach feathers, but we didn't know they were roach clips.
Kristin Nilsen 16:01
No, no idea.
Carolyn Cochrane 16:02
These ribbon Brett's were kind of the precursor to those, to the roach clips. I think, yeah. And this one, and I think this was really important. This was Bridget Jackson, and she shared her comment said, speed dialing therapist. So immediately I'm thinking, oh gosh. And she said, I remember mine, white and pink weave ribbon tassels, I was immediately made fun of by the kids, and the racist ass first grade teacher I had was no comfort to me. She said, those breaths aren't for Afro girls. Oh, effing hell. This was 1983 Oh, I don't I am so sorry.
Michelle Newman 16:37
Bridget what fireable offense I feel Yes, it is no
Carolyn Cochrane 16:43
kidding. Bridge Yes, oh my god. Bridget, we're sorry, we are so
Kristin Nilsen 16:49
so you need to get some now, Michelle, make some ribbon.
Michelle Newman 16:53
Bridget, DM us your address. I'm making you pink and white ribbon barrettes next week. I used to make them in our school colors. You know, that was very Christmas. I do red and green ones at Christmas. Yes.
Carolyn Cochrane 17:06
I mean, there were so many varieties. And people remember distinctly some of the ribbon combinations they had. There was like the burgundy and pink, which was so 880s that some color combination, a little
Kristin Nilsen 17:20
preppy, a little preppy, yeah, a little preppy. Pink and green, that was preppy. But
Carolyn Cochrane 17:24
I think you guys, I mean, the comments were great, all these shares, but there were some people who liked it and some people who shared it that are going to blow your effing mind, and I just want to share those with you. If you ever think you guys like the commonalities that we share. They're They're huge. Okay, it doesn't matter maybe where you grew up, how much money you had, where you ended up in life. Ribbon Brits brought us together. For instance, Stephanie rule. Stephanie rule is a MSNBC commentator, and she liked our post on the ribbon Brett show. I mean, a lot of you probably recognize that. Yes, maybe we'll DM her and ask her one night she could wear ribbon
Kristin Nilsen 18:08
brush program the 11th Hour. Is that what it's called the 11th Hour?
Carolyn Cochrane 18:13
I think it is. I do too, and I think that would be really fun. She could just really put those back on the map, because that's another common need. People want these back. I think we bring them back. Bring back. Oh, this means she's one
Kristin Nilsen 18:23
of us, like we see people exactly, and we think they're different from us. They're not. They wore ribbon barrettes in junior high,
Carolyn Cochrane 18:30
right? Exactly. You know who else did? Okay, this was not on my PCPs bingo card. Ever, ever, not only did this person like our post. They shared it in their stories. When I saw this, I mean, I dropped to the floor and I had to text, you know, we text only when it's an emergency. Otherwise, we do Lark. But when there is something everybody needs to know right away, we text it. You guys. Monica Lewinsky liked and shared our ribbon bread post. I mean, do you get more Gen X than that? Can you Gen X than that?
Michelle Newman 19:08
Well? And what's what's funny is, when you texted us that my older daughter had just recommended her podcast to me called reclaiming with Monica winsky, which, by the way, I've started listening to. I really, really like it. I will also put a link to that. And this week's Weekly Reader, because, you know, basically she's a fan of ours. She's super real and fun and just really honest, and it's reclaiming. So she has all these different people on that talk about they also went through a time in their life that they're having to reclaim themselves or whatever. But if you thought that was so funny. And also I Yes, and I didn't realize in my mind, Monica Lewinsky was super younger, super Yeah, she's like, three years younger than me.
Kristin Nilsen 19:52
That was a wake up call for me too, because I was so much older than Monica Lewinsky, who is this? Yeah, no, we're not wiser. A girl. I use the word girl. I was a woman. She was a girl. So
Michelle Newman 20:04
yes, Monica, I'm sure you're listening to this PCBs light episode, but yeah, we we enjoyed your your ribbon barrette. Love. So a couple other ones, lawn darts, you guys. What I love about Lawn Darts is just this connection that all of us in our generation can look at a picture of lawn darts that don't even show the metal deadly, you know, points, and we all have the same thoughts, because the caption said, caption, this photo in five words or less, and this is just a sample. It's just a flesh wound. Walk it off. What could go wrong? Ah, my eye. My eye. Ambulance. And then another big, really popular, surprising post we had recently was just an ad for leg warmers. Did you guys wear leg warmers? Only not dancing? No, no, no. I never had side of dance class. No, see I said in the caption, not just for dance, because did you wear them? So we got lots and lots of stories. And here's just a few that I love. Little Bo Peep says I had Barbie pink and light blue with silver threads running through them. We can see, do you remember the ones with the silver threads? And then this is my favorite. My mom also made the homemade version by cutting the feet off my brother's tube socks. That sounds like something. Carolyn's
Kristin Nilsen 21:25
like, I didn't have real leg warmers.
Michelle Newman 21:30
Oh, God, I love that. Lots and lots of comments about how these people that went to Catholic school, but leg warmers were allowed because it was cold and they were in skirts. And she said Catholic school allowed, and that was huge. Mine were burgundy and had essentially what must have been tinsel woven through them. So again, everybody's remembering that little silver thread. Oh. JC, love, we love, love, love. This comment, need me a pair for my knee arthritis pain right now. You're all of us, right? I love this and this, just this, just you guys. We can picture this because we were all there. Susan says, Can't believe I did dance aerobics. Had it all, headband, striped leotard, white tights, red leg wormers and white Reebok, Princess athlete, athletic sneakers and Beth Bethany. I think all of us wore this too. I want my hot pink leg warmers over sheer toast, shimmery tights. Do you remember that was the color sheer toast, shimmery tights with a hot pink thong body suit back in the day, doing
Kristin Nilsen 22:38
aerobics? And do you remember? I'm assuming this is at the same time. Was it also a thing in your school to wear jazz shoes, like as shoes, shoes? Oh, capezios, yes, you weren't jazz shoes. And then sometimes you would take, just like you would in dance class. You would take the leg warmers, and you'd pull them over the heel. So then you would wear a hole in the leg warmers from the heel of your jazz shoes and we would cut a little slit. Oh, that's cheating. That's cheating. You gotta wear. The whole is this from fame? Tell me what this is, because, 100% okay, because it makes no sense. Why are people wearing leg warmers and jazz shoes in the halls of Fred Moore junior high? I don't understand. I don't
Michelle Newman 23:20
know. It has to be fame also. If you're listening right now and you're going fame, I love that movie. We we have an episode for that I do and don't forget. And so we're not doing encores right now, but in these PCPs light episodes, we're going to be telling you where you can go and hear more. So scroll back, go to our website, pop preservationists.com if you'd like. And you can put fame. We have two episodes, I believe, for fame, yeah, the soundtrack and the movie, yeah, we, at this point, don't remember what numbers they are, but or you could just in the Googles, go to the Googles, and you can just put pop culture, Preservation Society, fame. And our episodes will come up wherever you like to listen to them,
Carolyn Cochrane 24:00
listeners we love when you share your memories, your thoughts, whether it's comments, DMS, you guys are so creative, like as we've just been so entertained by reading those comments that you shared. And also, if you want to be entertained, just go through some of our Instagram posts and Facebook and read the comments. You will be laughing out loud. Sometimes you email us, and sometimes you even send us a speak pipe. And you guys, we love those speak pipes. We rekindle memories for you that you didn't even know that were there. And so I want to share with you this recent one we got because we who screwed you, there has to be even a level beyond Husker do now, because the way this person shares what they remembered and then how they remembered in every single word is crazy. Just listen to the Speak pipe from our listener, Magdalena,
Speaker 1 24:50
hi. This is Magdalena, long time listener of the podcast, first time caller and I was Husker dude listening to your podcast about the broad. Way musicals. And I remembered a playground song that we used to sing based on the melody for Jesus Christ Superstar. So I was in grade school in central New Jersey about 1977 and I have not thought of this song since then, probably. And it goes like this, Jesus Christ Superstar riding down the highway on his Yamaha. The cops were there, but I don't care, because I'm wearing my bulletproof underwear, and when I die, they'll bury me and hang my socks from a cherry tree. Makes no sense. I would be really curious to see if anybody else has memories of a similar stripe permutations of that song. Anyway. Really love what you do. And thanks so much.
Kristin Nilsen 25:54
The minute she said road two, and I knew the next word was Yamaha. I know Yamaha. Yes. Isn't that crazy? And again, yes. So I'm who screwed. We're who screwing her, and then she's who screw, doing me in return.
Michelle Newman 26:09
Oh my gosh, she's in central New
Carolyn Cochrane 26:11
Jersey, and you're in Minnesota. How on earth did that get there? No idea,
Kristin Nilsen 26:19
no idea. And I did, but with all the words that came after it, but it was the Yamaha part that I knew. I knew it. I knew
Michelle Newman 26:25
it. Not only did I love that song, but I love that Magdalena sang it for us, like like listeners, if you need to call in, go to our website, and when it says, contact us, it's super easy. You just click a button and you can leave us a 90 minute a 92nd voicemail. So, yeah, we love that.
Carolyn Cochrane 26:43
Yeah, thank you, Magdalene. I mean, you never know when they might appear in an episode.
Michelle Newman 26:46
That's right. Magdalena is like, Oh, I didn't know I was singing on the episode. Maybe we should send her a DM guys to like, um, warn her truly. Listeners, if you're ever TIRED OF DOOM scrolling, just go to our social media pages and read comments. We promise they'll pull you out of a grumpy mood. They're gonna fire up some dopamine as you shout me too. And yes, as your own memories of a simpler time come flooding back, because having to choose between beloved Fisher Price Play Family sets might be hard, but I think we can all agree it's way better than the current news and the memories of your silver threaded leg warmers or your worn 17 magazine cover might be just the bomb you need to get through these days right now. So thanks everyone for sharing your memories with us, for listening and for helping the PCPs be a soft place to land right now. Thank
Kristin Nilsen 27:39
you so much for listening everybody today, and we will see you next week for another issue, issue or episode, another episode
Michelle Newman 27:44
of another. Can, how about another?
Kristin Nilsen 27:47
Can? Another can bottle, another glass bottle of PCPs. Late in the meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast, courtesy of the cast of Three's Company, two good times. Two Happy
Carolyn Cochrane 27:58
Days to Little House on the Prairie. Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers.