Landline with Mary Mahoney

Mary Mahoney
  • 4.8 (25)
  • History
  • Updated Biweekly

Landline is the podcast where pop culture gets some context. Each episode, historian Mary Mahoney calls up guests to connect today’s celebrity culture, TV, movie, music, and online trends to the histories that make them make sense. It’s like a group text for people who love footnotes, or the answer to the question, “Why can’t history feel more like US Weekly?” You can find the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 2d ago

    Murder, She Wrote, and the Question of Remakes with Cristen Conger

    I have a confession. Murder, She Wrote is my favorite show of all time, and when I heard Jamie Lee Curtis is starring in a new version, I had questions. In this episode, I'm joined by Cristen Conger, host of Unladylike and Conspiracy, She Wrote, to make the case for Jessica Fletcher. We get into the show's quietly queer world and Angela Lansbury's astonishing life, from teen Oscar nominations to a narrow escape from the Manson Family. We also cover our favorite episodes, a lavender turban, a chowder used as a murder weapon, and why a show with a body in every episode is somehow the coziest thing on television. Then come our hot takes on the remake, now set for February 2028. Pour some chowder. Do not eat it. Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney Timestamps00:00 Welcome to Landline: remakes, adaptations, and why this one makes me shudder02:04 Meet Cristen Conger: Murder, She Wrote fans can always find each other05:55 Is Murder, She Wrote a queer show?08:44 The Grady problem10:21 The Jamie Lee Curtis remake, plus the Octavia Spencer version that died with Quibi14:55 Aging on screen, Botox, and Practical Magic 217:15 How Jessica Fletcher was born: Carla Singer, Miss Marple, and the Columbo writers21:39 Angela Lansbury's wild backstory: teen Oscar nominations, the Manson Family, and a move to Ireland25:53 Favorite episodes: Widow, Weep for Me, Keep the Home Fries Burning, and a murderous chowder32:52 The fandom: cancelled by Friends, revived by the internet, and a sold-out festival in Mendocino TranscriptFull episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EwyszMm0OfjMYOLX9_4h5ewpoIFOzv52HmWN-ZwBNww/edit?usp=sharing Resources: The remake Deadline: Universal's Murder, She Wrote with Jamie Lee Curtis heads to early 2028Watch and read Murder, She Wrote free 24/7 channel on Pluto TVReassessing Murder, She Wrote (Routledge, 2025), edited by Eva Burke and Jennifer Schnabel. Murder, She Wrote (TV Milestones) by Bridget KiesList of the Murder, She Wrote novelsThe Murder, She Wrote Cook Book. Profits went to Aid for AIDS.Maintenance Phase: Angela Lansbury's "Positive Moves"The Mirror Crack'd (1980). (Film starring Angela as Ms. Marple with Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson). Visit Cabot Cove (well, Mendocino) Kelley House Museum's Murder, She Wrote FestivalFollow Landline: Instagram: @landlinewithmaryTiktok:@landlinewithmaryYouTube:@LandlinewithMaryWebsite: https://landlinewithmary.com/ Connect with Me: Website: www.marymmahoney.comInstagram: @mimimahoneyEmail: landlinewithmary@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney Connect with my guest, Cristen Conger: Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/unladylikemedia Newsletter: https://unladylike.substack.com/ Listen to Conspiracy, She Wrote: https://conspiracyshewrote.com/ Listen to Unladylike: https://www.unladylike.co/episodes Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline. Sponsor Message: Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Murder, She Wrote, and the Question of Remakes with Cristen Conger

  2. Sep 15

    9/11 in Music: The Benefit Concerts, the Banned Songs, and the Backlash

    This year marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11. For this episode, I wanted to look at one very specific way it reshaped American life: music. My friend Abby joined me to travel down a rabbit hole that started with an actual, still-referenced Clear Channel memo listing over 150 songs deemed "lyrically questionable" after the attacks (“Walk Like an Egyptian” made the cut, for reasons no one has ever adequately explained), and ended up covering: the benefit concerts that defined the first month of grief that turned to rage, the album covers and music videos quietly re-edited to erase the twin towers, country music's hard turn to support the Iraq War, what happened to the Chicks when they refused to fall in line, and the strange, sometimes unbelievable songs 9/11 directly inspired, including one performed by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and one written by an 11-year-old Taylor Swift. We also cover the Limp Bizkit VMA fruit basket coincidence you did not ask for but are about to learn anyway. Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney  Timestamps00:09 — Intro: why a music and 9/11 episode, 25 years later 06:14 — Personal 9/11 memories (Abby and Mary) 11:01 — The Limp Bizkit "Rollin'" World Trade Center coincidence 17:56 — Congress sings on the Capitol steps; the benefit concerts introduced 22:13 — America: A Tribute to Heroes (Sept 21), Springsteen opens with "My City of Ruins" 32:16 — Concert for New York City (Oct 21); Paul McCartney and the shift toward revenge 39:41 — The Beastie Boys' "New Yorkers Against Violence" benefit and the policy timeline (Patriot Act, "war on terror") 44:24 — Censorship 101: Clear Channel's rise and the "no-play" memo quiz 56:04 — Music videos and album covers edited after 9/11 1:08:26 — Country music's turn right: Toby Keith, Darryl Worley, and the Chicks 1:20:50 — Music inspired by 9/11: The Rising, My Chemical Romance, Coldplay, Cher 1:26:17 — "Songs I Can't Believe Exist" (Ashcroft, Michael Jackson, Smash Mouth, Taylor Swift) and closing reflections TranscriptFull episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tvj_pHsqX9PwN0GyngE7OXVCEQBUlGDVHAvuGw2w8pM/edit?usp=sharing  Resources & linksBenefit concerts & background America: A Tribute to HeroesThe Concert for New York City"New Yorkers Against Violence" (Beastie Boys benefit) — Rolling Stone coverageClear Channel memorandum (the banned/discouraged songs list)List of songs about the September 11 attacks (Wikipedia)Super Bowl XXXVI halftime show (U2)Books & documentaries Music in the Post-9/11 World, ed. Jonathan Ritter and J. Martin DaughtryTurning Point: 9/11 and the War on TerrorFahrenheit 9/11Follow Landline: Instagram: @landlinewithmaryTiktok:@landlinewithmaryYouTube:@LandlinewithMaryWebsite: https://landlinewithmary.com/ Connect with Me: Website: www.marymmahoney.comInstagram: @mimimahoneyEmail: landlinewithmary@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline. Sponsor Message:  Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    9/11 in Music: The Benefit Concerts, the Banned Songs, and the Backlash

  3. Sep 1

    Remembering Dolly Parton: Sharing Personal History and Imagining How History Will Remember Her

    This week: Dolly Parton. On August 25th, Dolly Rebecca Parton passed away at 80, after a short battle with cancer. This is a personal one. I talk about what she meant to me: the country music rabbit hole that started at my public library, the sense of humor and radical acceptance that made her feel like home for a young queer kid, the story of the trans fan whose top surgery she quietly paid for, and the two songs (written, according to legend, in the same day) that prove she was one of the great American songwriters, full stop. I talk about seeing her live at Tanglewood in 2016, "Pure and Simple" and how it got me through coming out to my family, the place I set for her at my own wedding, and what I want my son to understand about her someday, from 9 to 5 to the songbook she bought back for Porter Wagoner decades after he made her career miserable. Then we zoom out to the "future history" of it all: how Dolly Parton fits into histories of women in country music, the impossible standards she was held to as a woman and an artist, the myth of the apolitical celebrity, what her giving says about wealth and philanthropy in our current Gilded Age, and why she asked Tennessee lawmakers not to build her a statue. Whatever history decides, I know how I'll remember her: for her talent, and for her kindness. Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney  TranscriptFull episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E5BygIoCPYH_5CJTYRbyvNZ9yyBynI1Tcq-AKKi1PMM/edit?usp=sharing Follow Landline: Instagram: @landlinewithmaryTiktok:@landlinewithmaryYouTube:@LandlinewithMaryWebsite: https://landlinewithmary.com/ Connect with Me: Website: www.marymmahoney.comInstagram: @mimimahoneyEmail: landlinewithmary@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline. Sponsor Message:  Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb )  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Remembering Dolly Parton: Sharing Personal History and Imagining How History Will Remember Her

  4. Aug 18

    Will You Light My Candle? Revisiting Rent 30 Years Later with Kait and Renata of The Worst Bestsellers Podcast

    Happy 30th anniversary, Rent. I've been waiting 525,600 minutes for this one. This week on Landline, I hand my nostalgia tour over to Kait and Renata of the Worst Bestsellers podcast. They teach me about the history of Rent, including the behind-the-scenes drama. We get into everything: the wood-burning stove I'm genuinely concerned about, Jonathan Larson's death the night before Rent opened off-Broadway, a plagiarism lawsuit that I still can’t believe, the infamous fan who faked a terminal illness to get rush tickets, and what it was like to tape bootlegs, wade through early Rent message boards, listservs, and write fan fiction. Kait and Renata first met online as Rent fans, and I’m so glad they could join me on this journey through the history of Rent, which asks: what was this, what did it mean then, and what does it mean to us now? Thirty years later, does Rent hold up? Kind of. Does it still make us feel things? Absolutely. Note: Paid members will get a bonus segment with Kait and Renata’s hot takes on Rent. Hint, one involves Joey Fatone and stunt casting.  Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney  Timestamps00:00 — Cold open: "You two said off mic that you really loved the film" 00:18 — Welcome to Landline, meet Kait and Renata of Worst Bestsellers  04:23 — So what is Rent, actually? We talk about the hot plate. 06:52 — Jonathan Larson, his death, and the real AIDS crisis backdrop the show was written into  13:45 — The legal drama begins: the Billy Aronson handshake deal  22:21 — The tragedy: Larson dies the night before Rent's off-Broadway opening  28:37 — Rush tickets, sleeping on the sidewalk, and the birth of Rent fandom (message boards, fan fiction, listservs, taping bootlegs) 32:37 — The infamous fan who faked a terminal illness to get close to the cast  54:37 — The plagiarism lawsuit: Sarah Schulman vs. Rent  1:03:01 — The Rent Live 2019 disaster (Renata won a contest and lived to tell it)  1:09:19 — Where Rent sits with us now, on its 30th anniversary TranscriptFull episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f2QodlDoxGF8t044yTwnOdh6sFby5l9UkXIVZteBKQ0/edit?usp=sharing  Follow Landline: Instagram: @landlinewithmaryTiktok:@landlinewithmaryYouTube:@LandlinewithMaryWebsite: https://landlinewithmary.com/ Connect with Mary: Website: www.marymmahoney.comInstagram: @mimimahoneyEmail: landlinewithmary@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney Connect with Renatta and Kait, and Worst Bestsellers Podcast: Website: https://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/ Instagram: @worstbestsellers  Renata’s Instagram: @renatasnacks Kait’s Instagram: @fourteenacrossLove the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline. Sponsor Message:  Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb )  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Will You Light My Candle? Revisiting Rent 30 Years Later with Kait and Renata of The Worst Bestsellers Podcast

  5. Aug 4

    Selling Sunset, the Kardashians & the Cruel Architecture of Reality TV with Jack Balderrama Morley

    This week I'm talking reality TV and architecture with Jack Balderrama Morley, author of Dream Facades: The Cruel Architecture of Reality TV. We take a tour through the homes reality TV has taught us to want — Selling Sunset's glossy nothing-houses, the SoHo loft that launched The Real World, the Kardashians' frontier fantasy in Hidden Hills, Real Housewives of Atlanta's Chateau Chérie, and the current Mormon-wife renaissance on Bravo and beyond — and what all of it says about the American dream of homeownership, especially now that it feels further out of reach than ever. Jack is a delight, and left me wondering, “what if the cruelest architecture on Reality TV are the Below Deck yachts?”   Timestamps 00:08 — Intro: reality TV, architecture, and Jack Balderrama Morley's Dream Facades 02:45 — What inspired the book 04:49 — Heidi Montag, Laguna Beach, and reality TV's turn toward the aspirational 10:26 — Selling Sunset and the "beige-ification" of reality real estate 13:50 — The architecture of Selling Sunset: from mid-century modernism to "shellacked modernism" 19:20 — The Real World, the SoHo loft, and the birth of reality TV 34:00 — The Kardashians, Hidden Hills, and the American frontier myth 50:45 — Real Housewives of Atlanta and Chateau Chérie 1:01:52 — Trading Spaces, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and the makeover-show genre 1:13:46 — Mormons, reality TV, and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Resources & Links Mentioned Topics Discussed: Selling SunsetThe HillsLaguna Beach: The Real Orange CountyThe Real WorldKeeping Up with the KardashiansThe Real Housewives of AtlantaThe Real Housewives of Salt Lake CitySister WivesTrading SpacesExtreme Makeover: Home Edition Further Reading/Viewing: For more information on the gap between black and white homeownership, check out this report from Stateline: https://stateline.org/2022/10/13/black-families-fall-further-behind-on-homeownership/  Want even more resources, deep dives, and behind-the-scenes context on this episode's topics? Patreon members get access to my exclusive newsletter with extended research, additional links, and insights that didn't make it into the show. You can get the weekly newsletter when you join for free. Paid members get a monthly bonus episode and a weekly newsletter of things I'm loving in pop culture. Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney  Full episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EL3u6H2HaPkyPLTj13o12i32_q541v2jIG4WSlaTdbk/edit?usp=sharing  Connect with Mary: Website: www.marymmahoney.comInstagram: @mimimahoneyEmail: MaryMargaret.Mahoney@gmail.comLove the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline. Connect with Jack Balderrama Morley: Website: https://www.jackbalderramamorley.com/ Instagram: @jackbaldmoRead Jack’s writing at Dwell: https://www.dwell.com/@jackbalderramamorley1760/articles Read Jack’s book: https://bookshop.org/a/102042/9781662602924  Sponsor Message:  Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb )  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Selling Sunset, the Kardashians & the Cruel Architecture of Reality TV with Jack Balderrama Morley

  6. Jul 21

    A Room of Our Own: A Very Deep Dive Into Bedroom Culture with Rachel Moss

    Bedrooms have always been sacred ground for girls; the one square footage where you got to decide who you were before anyone else weighed in. This week I'm talking to Rachel Moss, author of In the Girls' Room: Essays on Bedroom Culture from the 90s to Now, about the long, weird, footnote-worthy history of what girls actually do behind a closed door: making zines, starting bands, papering walls with posters of their heroes, filling notebooks with genuinely bad poetry. We go from the Riot Grrrl scene in 90s Olympia and Kathleen Hanna's outsized (and under-credited) cultural footprint, to the moral panic of Reviving Ophelia and the Cassie Bernall myth, to Tavi Gevinson and Rookie Mag, all the way up to "bed rotting" as bedroom culture's more depressed, more online cousin. It's a conversation about privacy, creativity, and what happens to a private space once the internet — and your own phone — starts listening in. Grab your zine scissors, we're getting into it. Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney  Timestamps00:08 — Intro: what "bedroom culture" is, and welcoming Rachel Moss 02:28 — Rachel's zine shelf and the joy of meeting a fellow zine person 03:04 — Making zines in secret in rural Ohio, and the Courtney Love conspiracy zine detour 05:26 — Defining bedroom culture: making, consuming, and archiving 09:21 — Where it starts: the 1950s "invention" of the American teenager 10:40 — Riot Grrrl 101: Olympia, Kathleen Hanna, and Bikini Kill 14:18 — Sadie Benning's bedroom video diaries and the tangled Riot Grrrl web (Le Tigre, etc.) 17:26 — The dark side: Prozac Nation, Reviving Ophelia, and the Cassie Bernall myth 22:51 — Shared family computers, Net Chick, and the first wave of girls building websites 28:35 — Rookie Mag, Tavi Gevinson, and Petra Collins' uncredited influence 36:00 — Bed rotting, depression, and Qualeasha Wood's 2025 gallery performance 44:44 — Building Internet Bedroom, staying independent, and resisting the algorithm 53:32 — Where to find Rachel's book, Substack, and Instagram TranscriptFull episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19mENoNtmGvp4XVh_7MELEsh1laxpvIVMx-meN9-OaZk/edit?usp=sharing  Connect with Mary: Website: www.marymmahoney.comInstagram: @mimimahoneyEmail: MaryMargaret.Mahoney@gmail.comConnect with Rachel Moss: Order Rachel’s books here: https://www.internetbedroom777.comYouTube: Rachel Moss (@internetbedroom) Instagram: @girlguttersSubstack: https://internetbedroom.substack.com Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline. Sponsor Message:  Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb ) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    A Room of Our Own: A Very Deep Dive Into Bedroom Culture with Rachel Moss

  7. Jul 7

    Little House on the Prairie, The Bicentennial, and How History Came Alive in the 1970s with M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska,

    I sat down with historian M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska, author of History Comes Alive, to figure out why America decided to throw itself a birthday party in the middle of Watergate, and what that has to do with the strange, sputtering rollout of the 250th happening right now. We get into Nixon hijacking a nonpartisan commission, a very wagon train crossing the country to meet Gerald Ford, and the queer and Black history organizers who used the bicentennial's grant money to build the public history field as we know it. It turns out nostalgia isn't good or bad, it just is, and the receipts are more interesting than the fireworks. This month’s patreon episode is a 411 episode on the bicentennial. Join the $5/month tier to hear it now.  Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney  Suggest a future episode topic here: https://www.patreon.com/MaryMahoney/posts/running-list-of-159302658?collection=1744255  Timestamps 00:08 – Welcome, and why the bicentennial matters for America 25002:05 – MJ on stumbling into a dissertation topic nobody else wanted06:32 – How Americans went from watching history to living inside it14:23 – Reenactment, Reagan's Oval Office for kids, and "Hippies Living History"20:37 – 1966: Johnson forms the first bicentennial commission29:12 – Nixon takes over and wants fireworks, not history32:56 – Philadelphia's World's Fair collapses under its own weight34:33 – The People's Bicentennial Commission crashes the Boston Tea Party38:26 – The Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation and the fight for historic sites1:04:05 – MJ's hot take: the 250th is just the 1893 World's Fair with worse merch TranscriptFull episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nuDQ8GbcGKv4DmoAJ3jkPUutO8dpuDzq2oFO3SCnWpY/edit?usp=sharing  Connect with Mary: Website: www.marymmahoney.comInstagram: @mimimahoneyEmail: MaryMargaret.Mahoney@gmail.comConnect with M.J. Rymsza-Pavlovska: Website: https://mjrymszapawlowska.com/ Book: History Comes Alive: Public History and Popular Culture in the 1970s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Little House on the Prairie, The Bicentennial, and How History Came Alive in the 1970s with M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska,

  8. Jul 2

    Vanilla Ice, the Queen, and 8,000 Alphabet Noodles: The 411 on the Bicentennial

    America is turning 250 this year, and to make sense of the chaos of America 250 (Vanilla Ice on the National Mall, a Confederate flag at the Great American State Fair) I had to go back to the last time we tried this. The Bicentennial, 1976. LBJ started with an earnest planning commission. Nixon gutted it and replaced them with his buddies. Sound familiar? The country was exhausted by Watergate, Vietnam, and inflation, so we reached for nostalgia instead. Little House on the Prairie, anyone? On this episode, I take you on what The Bachelor would call "a journey" through the highs, lows, and huhs? of the bicentennial. On tap: why America is so obsessed with celebrating itself and what that's looked like in the past, the mission and merch of the bicentennial, the protests, and, inexplicably, the queen.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Vanilla Ice, the Queen, and 8,000 Alphabet Noodles: The 411 on the Bicentennial
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Landline is the podcast where pop culture gets some context. Each episode, historian Mary Mahoney calls up guests to connect today’s celebrity culture, TV, movie, music, and online trends to the histories that make them make sense. It’s like a group text for people who love footnotes, or the answer to the question, “Why can’t history feel more like US Weekly?” You can find the Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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