“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 208: Loyal with Laura Zak
Carly and Riese here, welcoming you — and our special guest, producer/actress/writer Laura Zak (Her Story, Danger & Eggs, Angel On Top Podcast)— to another thrilling episode of “To L and Back” in our brand-new Alice Piesecki inspired radio voices. But before Alice can get to her KCRW audition, she’s gotta stop having nonstop sex with Dana “Tennis Anyone” Fairbanks! Also — Laura Zak gifts us with hands-down totes the most incredible L Word origin story of all time, Bette finally shows her stuff for the Top-Off, you’ll NEVER GUESS who Gabby Deveaux is dating now, Winne Mann plops her kids in Bette’s pool, Helena hunts for a new house in which to fingerbang Tina in semi-public places, Jenny and Carmen kiss a lot and watch westerns, Jenny gets and loses a new writing job and Shane continues brooding.
Episode Index:
+ Laura on twitter and instagram and our writeup of her Emmy-nominated series “Her Story”.
+ Photos from Laura’s Legendary Evening With The Stars (click to enlarge / see gallery)
+ The Safety of Objects: the movie (features a very young Kristen Stewart) and the book
+ In which Mary Gaitskill and A.M. Holmes are discussed: My Top 8 Authors & 8 Queerish Short Story Books (also mentions Rick Moody and Amy Bloom, who have come up in previous episodes!)
+ The L Word WTF Parts One and Two
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 206: Lágrimas De Oro with Carmen Rios
WHAT’S IN THE LIVE PLANT BOX? It’s raging feminist Carmen Rios, our special guest for this week’s episode of “To L and Back”! If you’ve been reading Autostraddle for a minute then you’re familiar with Carmen, have missed her a lot, and will be VERY eager to hear her opinions on this week’s episode in which Carmen De La Pica Morales pours a lot of beer on Shane’s shirt, Shane gets a very attentive flower delivery person, Dana plays in the Rooti Tooti Fresh and Fruity Tennis Tournament but is a little distracted about how badly she needs to tell Ton-Ton that she’s totally not in this relationship anymore, Alice has knit herself a full outfit, Bette wears jeans for the first time and would like to talk about what Tina’s gonna do with that baby, and Helena gets really horny at a donor dinner and invites Tina to hang at the Chateau Marmont pool… NAKED. Also, Charlotte Birch holds office hours at the gym and Carmen wears a controversial t-shrit!
Episode Index:
+ Listling Without Commentary: Conversations I Had While Watching The L Word For The First Time
+ Our interview with Ann Bannon, Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction, author of “Odd Girl Out,” which was sitting on Shenny’s table
+ Bitch Magazine Podcasts
+ Dare to Lead, by Brene Brown
+ Urban Outfitters Continues Its Ugly Track Record Of Anti-Semitism And General Awfulness: Includes the “Everyone Loves a Jewish Girl” t-shirt controversy
+ Dyke Deck
+ The Wild Unknown
+ Okay it was in the series finale of Season One that Tonya mentioned Melissa Rivers for the first time. It was at the art opening, after eveyrbody told Ton-Ton and Dana that they were dressed alike. Ton-Ton goes “You have to meet Melissa Rivers — Melissa? Hi!” and then drags Dana offscreen
+ Are You Afraid Of The Dark: The Tale Of Cutter’s Treasure Part Two (1994) featuring Charles S Dutton
+ The Chateau Marmont
+ 31 Most Iconic L Word Outfits, Ranked By Incandescence includes the tennis-watching trio of outfits I noted as being especially gorgeous this episode
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 205: Labyrinth
Wow believe it or not here we are with yet another episode of the hit podcast “To L and Back.” In fact, if you don’t follow us on socials then you might not be aware that today’s episode is one of TWO released in the last several days — we also recorded a bonus episode about the Generation Q trailer!
Anyhow this week on the pod, Carly and I would never give a toast at your Bachelorette Party but we would hit Mark and Gomey over the head with a frying pan, given the opportunity. Also: Jenny loves her new little haircut and being a bobbing-for-apples girl, Alice is distracted by how nice Dana’s ass is, Mark and Gomey install hidden cameras because they are human monsters who deserve only the worst things, Kit is turning a profit thanks to TOE, Helena Peabody gives Tina a big grant and gives Bette absolutely nothing at all besides a hot tip on Tina’s pregnancy! IT’S A TOP-OFF.
We didn’t reference anything this episode that requires a link besides this video but boy did we make a lot of references in general, including the death in a limo scene from Six Feet Under that haunted us for life, and also the one where a woman hit her husband with a frying pan. Oh and this tiny survey we didn’t write that you could take for like one minute? Also, I am going to stop saying “yeah” every three seconds I promise.
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 204: Lynch Pin with Drew Gregory
Hello, Helena! This week on “The L Word” we meet two new main characters — Helena, who we love and Mark, who we hate. Special guest Drew Gregory, who ranks “Lynch Pin” as her second-favorite-episode of all time, joins us for this journey. Will Shane & Jenny find a roommate who will keep their clothes on and stop talking about Jesus? Was New York prepared for how good Jennifer Beals looks when she walks down the street and will Helena support her little arts project? Will the ol switcharoo work to divert Carmen’s attention from Shane to Jenny? What does Dana WANT from Alice WHAT DOES SHE WANT and where did those palm trees come from? Why are they making us endure T.O.E??!!! All that and more on this week’s ep of To L and Back!
PLEASE TAKE THIS SURVEY FOR US SO WE CAN GET ADVERTISERS. It’s a super-quick survey from Libsyn and the categories you have to put yourself in are not the ones we would’ve picked if we’d designed the survey I’ll tell you what!!! But it’ll only take like one minute.
Also I learned today that my post for Episode 202, including a link to the very important Madonna / Sandra Bernhard video, did not get published on August 6th as it should have been! (I’m currently on a break from Autostraddle and thus wasn’t aware of this until now.) The post is now up, although I imagine you probably found the video on your own. But if you haven’t like, wow, go do that favor for yourself.
Episode Index:
+ The Kids Are All Right
+ Awful Gay Movies: Lost and Delirious
+ Grey Gardens
+ 99% Invisible: Palm Readings
+ Tony Robbins
+ Guinevere Turner’s Hung trailer
+ Wendy and Lisa
+ Camryn Manheim (Also, she’s straight, I know we implied otherwise in the podcast but she is straight! Her character just seems very lez.)
+ A 2005 article in L Magazine about Starlight and Starlette
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 203: Loneliest Number with Brittani Nichols
If you’re game to play “Too Hot” with Carmen in her boyshorts then you have a lot in common with all of us, and also Shane, and possibly also Jenny? On this week’s episode with special guest and certified Friend Of The Pod Brittani Nichols, Alice is shaking the lesbian phone tree with the delusional expectation that Pink might fall out, Dana’s thighs feel great, Tonya’s planning the first-ever corporate sponsored lesbian wedding, Bette is unraveling at alarming speed, Tina’s wearing a blanket again and moving in to Joyce’s guest house and Jenny’s gonna get into Charlotte’s writing class if it’s the last thing she does! All this and more occurs on this week’s episode of To L and Back!
Episode Index:
+ Brittani + Carly’s first episode of “To L and Back”
+ Black Lady Sketch Show
+ World Books and Encarta
+ Johnny Waffles
+ Gaby Dunn’s dog Beans who I think should marry my dog Carol
+ Tully’s Training
+ Brazen Femme: Queering Femininity
+ Our interview with EZ Girl of Betty
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 202: Lap Dance with Brittany Ashley
This week on “To L and Back,” super special guest Brittany Ashley joins us to discuss “Lap Dance,” an episode in which Robin gets left at the altar, somebody drops a camera onto a Lazy Susan at a Chinese restaurant, Shane crashes a music video shoot to play tonsil hockey with Carmen, Tanya charms Dana’s Cylon parents, Kit tries to lock down the Planet and Dana and Alice continue to battle ELECTRIC SEXUAL TENSION and Jenny is EEEK a bad writer.
Episode Index:
+ Sandra Bernhard and Madonna on David Letterman Part One and Part Two
+ All 91 Actors Who Were In Both “The L Word” and “Battlestar Galactica”
+ Anne Ramsay
+ Sandra Bernhard
+ The Organ:Brother
+ Mandarette Chinese Cafe: where the ladies had their lunch on the Lazy Susan
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 201: “Life, Loss, Leaving” with Vico Ortiz
Hello we have missed you desperately and thoroughly and are here, now, today, to welcome you back to America’s Favorite lesbian Podcast, “To L and Back.” This season’s gonna be a little different than last season — for starters, we have a new co-host, my dear friend Carly Usdin, who was on Autostraddle’s founding team and is a film writer/director (Suicide Kale, Misdirection) and the author of the comic series Avant-Guards! For seconds, we’re gonna have A LOT MORE GUESTS, including guests who can add perspectives to the podcast that we, as two white humans, do not have! Sometimes they’ll recap the episode with us, sometimes we’ll just have ’em in for a little interview, you never know ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN!
So, what’s happening with our dear friends on “The L Word”?
Episode Index:
+ Our coverage of Vida
+ Vico Oritz’s instagram
+ This picture of Carly from 2007:
+ You can read about Fred 62 in our Los Angeles City Guide
+ The Knitting Factory
+ Our fundraising campaign!
+ About Leisha Hailey’s original band Gush
+ Carly’s Season Two L Word Promo for Logo
We are so excited for the new season and we hope you are too!!!
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 113: Locked Up
Welcome to the penultimate episode of “To L and Back”‘s first season in the sun, “Locked Up.” This episode was a bit of a doozy so it’s not our best episode but listen IT’S FINE.
Who here can speak the language of the manatees? Well, not Jenny with that weird font, that’s for sure. Elsewhere this week, a protest breaks out at the California Art Center over whether or not it is true that Art = Filth, landing Bette, Candace, Alice, Dana and Shane in the ‘ol clinker, where Candace and Bette fight sexual tension with road trip games. Meanwhile, Dana’s monster girlfriend is left alone with her cat, Tina does 150 good deeds in one day, Kit starts a flirty friendship with a sexy drag king, Jenny and Marina both go on dates with Robin the Trapeze Artist and Tim enjoys beers and basketballs.
Episode Index:
+ All about Manatees
+ Karina Lombard’s website
+ Perez Hilton changing his ways because I told him to
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 112: Looking Back, Live From A-Camp!
Hello it’s time for a wildly special episode of “To L and Back! Why is it so special? Because we recorded it LIVE FROM A-CAMP. It was actually super long but our dear lord and savior Lauren/Karen Klein edited it down for your enjoyment. We were talking about the one the only the DINAH SHORE EPISODE in which all the ladies go to Dinah Shore, except for Bette who stays at home to do deep breathing exercises around the carpenter. You’ll experience Be Steadwell signing live with the audience and sharing her L Word memories, A-Camp co-director Marni Kellison lending her authority as a carpenter and Autostraddle Executive Editor Laneia joining us to discuss our own experiences at the lovely Shore of Dinah. Also this is the episode where Shane puts a little water bottle next to Jenny in her bed just in case she needs it, which was cute, remember that?
Episode Index:
+ Beavis and Butthead watch TV
+ How a Small Party in the Desert Became the Biggest Lesbian Festival in America (Los Angeles Magazine)
+ Brooke Means Business: Talking to Dinah Shore Masterbrain Mariah Hanson (Autostraddle)
+ Autostraddle’s Dinah Shore coverage overall
+ Our 2010 Trip to The Dinah (when Laneia broke her ankle), which you have to read each one starting from the bottom and working your way up, we have no idea why we did it like that, we did it both years!
+ Our 2011 Trip to The Dinah (when I went to the ER):
+ A thing I wrote about going to the emergency room in Palm Springs
+ Special guest Marni, my ex-girlfriend
+ On Catherine Opie:
Revisiting the Art World References of The L Word
Insert Lesbian Here: Catherine Opie and the L Word – Jonas NT Becker
Artists Attack! Ten Lesbian Photographers You Should Know (About)
+ Closer to Fine
+ For more information about Tallulah Bankhead, check out Top 10 Most Sexually Prolific Lesbians and Bisexuals Of Old Hollywood
+ Uh Huh Her’s Camila Grey: The Autostraddle Interview
+ It’s True, Lesbians Own the Most Cats
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 111: Liberally
Hello and welcome back to “To L and Back,” a podcast for friends. This week we are all going to the store to find some bread for toast, Alice is being insane about her period, Francesca and Marina are not a very happy couple, Dana gets a haircut, Cherie has big dreams for Shane’s future but first Shane has to fix her daughter, Bette prepares for a Mommi-off with Fae Buckley, Tina wants to help at-risk children at the Institute for Social Justice Mart and so much more!
Episode Index:
+ A-Camp
+ The Valley Plays Itself: about Paul Thomas Anderson’s movies including Boogie Nights and the Valley
+ How LA’s Porn Valley became the adult entertainment capital of the world
+ Nancy Podcast episode about Kristin’s miscarriage: 100% Science, 100% Magic
+ A Christmas Story: Leg Lamp
+ Snoop Dogg’s Insta post about Pam Grier
+ Bones starring Pam Grier and Snoop Dogg
+ The Porn Business Isn’t Anything Like You Think It Is
+ I was incorrect when I said The Palms was the last lesbian bar in Los Angeles, it was actually the last lesbian bar in West Hollywood. You can read about the last lesbian bar in Los Angeles shutting down here.
+ The Palms on Lost Womyn’s Space
+ WEST HOLLYWOOD LESBIAN BAR THE PALMS TO SHUT DOWN
+ Gay Assstrology
+ Hallelujah on TV, from The West Wing to The O.C. and more
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 110: “Luck, Next Time”
This post is, I must admit, a day late but it is not, however, one dollar short. This is because it never had any dollars to begin with. Anyhow! Today we have a wonderful episode to discuss with you, in which we are treated to our first glimpse of Cherie Jaffe’s lingerie and Snoop Dogg’s affection for smoothies!
Episode Index:
+ Yo Mama’s Last Supper
+ Kristin’s essay about having a miscarriage
+ The quote I referenced from “TheTalented Mr Ripley”:
Marge: The thing with Dickie… it’s like the sun shines on you, and it’s glorious. And then he forgets you and it’s very, very cold.
Tom: So I’m learning.
Marge: When you have his attention, you feel like you’re the only person in the world, that’s why everybody loves him so much. [bitterly] And that’s just the boys…
+ The Lisa Roundtable
+ We talk about Desert Hearts here
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 109: Listen Up
Wow Happy Monday here I am at A-Camp Pre-Camp doing this thing later than I was supposed to do it! This week we have a special treat for you: A CELEBRITY GUEST. Our very own Brittani Nichols joined me and substitute co-host Carly Usdin in the studio (aka: my bedroom) to discuss the episode in which Jenny’s college roommate comes to town to check out the tool shed and spy on Marina and her girlfriend who has two Fs in her last name. Also, Bette and Tina meet Yolanda at Dan Foxworthy’s Bananas Support Group For Distressed Future Parents, Dana tries coming out to her parents who were on Battlestar while Alice plays with a banana, and we finally experience the life-changing magic that is TWAT THE NIGHT.
Index:
+ Brittani Nichols
+ Carly Usdin
+ Carly’s comic book: Carly Usdin’s “Avant-Guards” Is the Women’s Basketball Comic Book You’ve Been Waiting for Since Before You Knew You Were Gay
+ The show Brittani is writing for: A Black Lady Sketch Show Reveals a Cast Ready to Make You Laugh
+ Read about Suicide Kale and watch it
+ All 91 Actors Who Were In Both “The L Word” and “Battlestar Galactica”
+ The OG recaps with lots of Carly appearances
+ Brittani’s Story of No
+ Listling With Minimal Commentary: How We Watched The L Word In Secret
+ A picture of us all watching The L Word a million years ago, featuring Carly’s puppet:
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 108: L’Ennui
Do you need a bath? Well then, you and Jenny have something in common! This week on The L Word, all tights are off and the yacht party is ON. Also: the girls stage a very important intervention with Bette and Tina in hopes of saving them from sinking into the deep, sticky quicksand of boring pregnancy conversations, Kristin has an incorrect opinion abut warm milk, Dana and Lara cry in a restaurant, Lisa sent Reiki vibes to Alice and wonders if she heard them, everybody gets very drunk, people dance in various ways, there’s some full-frontal nudity, and Shane has deep thoughts about love and marriage. For those riveting events and so much more, you will not want to miss this week’s episode of To L and Back!
And, if you’re coming to A-Camp there will be a live taping and you will not want to miss that!
Index:
- Our post about “Generation Q”
- The photo of Sylvia Plath’s “The Great Gatsby” in which she has written “L’Ennui” int he margin
- Our Lisa the Lesbian-Identified Man Roundtable
- The Gift of the Magi
- That behind-the-scenes photo I mention
- Martina Navratilova’s Subaru ad
- Our A+ Roundtable about Internalized Homophobia
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 107: Losing It
Stuff those dirty ’shrooms in your face, poke her in the front and liquor in the rear and then brace yourself for a world in which suddenly nobody has a cell phone anymore cuz if they did there’d be no plot! Jenny’s still got her tights on though, just FYI, and Shane’s making some valuable business connections while Tim stomps around a lot, Bette takes a trip to New York City for an art opening, and Alice rides Lisa’s sensitive “lesbian-identified male” vibes. We also have a lot of feelings about Lei Ling and Lisa! Stay tuned for a roundtable I’m putting together about Lisa coming soon, featuring some trans women and non-binary writers!
Hello it’s time for another episode of To L and Back, a podcast recently featured in The Advocate’s 12 LGBTQ Podcasts You Should Listen To! This week’s episode was particularly painful, as it followed our young charge Jenny on an extended road trip with two teenagers, during which she spoke extensively about her organs that she was going to mail to Tim. (I mistakenly included references to this bit in last week’s description originally, since I got confused because we are always making so many episodes at the same time! Like right now we’re doing edits on 108 and I have to be careful not to get confused right now telling you about 107.) There’s a lot of stupid shit in this episode but don’t worry, we keep it VERY funny.
Episode Index:
Things referenced in the episode for your reference:
- Once again: An Open Secret, a film by Amy Berg about the sexual abuse of children in the entertainment industry in Hollywood andThe Atlantic article about Bryan Singer and the other powerful Hollywood men involved in the case: Nobody Is Going to Believe You.
- The interview with Guin Turner by Sarah Warn that I reference is published in “Reading The L Word: Outing Contemporary Television.”
- I also reference our very own interview with Guinevere Turner w/r/t Ilene writing the Jenny writing scenes.
- My interview with Sarah Schulman where she talks about how lesbians are expected to be the caretakers for their parents if they don’t have children of their own.
- I finally made y’all that list of actors who were in both Battlestar and The L Word. This episode in particular had SIX: Nickie Clyne (girl who picks up Jenny), Tahmoh Penikett (Sheriff), Alana Husband (Marcy, one of Shane’s roommates), Andrew McIlroy (Shane’s boss), Kwesi Ameyaw (Randy) and Rachel Hayward (Ellie Zimmer).
- If you want to read more of my feelings about Jenny’s tights, you may do so here. But be aware it’s CHOCK-FULL of spoilers!
“To L and Back L Word” Podcast Episode 105: Lies, Lies, Lies
Welcome back to your favorite podcast in the world, “Riese didn’t remember we were recording at 11:30, not 12:30, but still gave it her all even though her hair was wet and she hadn’t had breakfast yet.” This week, we are discussing “Lies, Lies, Lies,” the episode of classic lesbian slalom event “The L Word.” You should check it out!!!
GIVE US A NICE REVIEW!! We need a lot of attention to be in New & Noteworthy because there are a LOT of Game of Thrones podcasts coming out on Mondays.
Episode Index:
- In the podcast I said this article was in The Atlantic, however I was wrong it’s in The New Statesman: Unfinished Work: “How sexism and machismo shaped a prestigious writing program”
- What Girls Got Wrong (and Right!) About the Iowa Writers’ Workshop
- The Demon Abraxas
- Squirting 101: Soak Up the Pleasure, Soak Up the Fun
- My So-Called Life
Crimes Against Music:
- This week’s big switch was, again, at the very end of the episode: the song should’ve been “In My Secret Life” by Leonard Cohen.
“To L and Back” L Word Podcast Episode 104: Longing
Hello and welcome to another episode of the hottest new podcast on the lesbian block, To L and Back — this week, Kristin and Riese (that’s me) watch The L Word Episode 104, “Longing,” and then talk about it out loud. We also laugh a lot! I am confident that if you listen to this, you will enjoy yourself.
GIVE US A NICE REVIEW!! We need a lot of attention to be in New & Noteworthy because there are a LOT of Game of Thrones podcasts coming out on Mondays.
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER!!! I just started it.
Episode Index:
- “Dirty Pictures,” written by Ilene Chaiken, covers the story of the 1990 trial of Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center director Dennis Barrie, who was under fire for allegedly “promoting pornography” when he brought a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition to his museum. Here’s a Washington Post article looking back on the controversy, the trial and its impact on how fine art is seen today.
- An Artsy article about “Sensation,” a controversial exhibition that came to the Brooklyn Museum in 1999, raising a bunch of controversy, which I have generally assumed was also an inspiration for the “Provocations” storyline.
- Here’s when Holland Taylor’s came out
- Here’s Basically Everybody Who Was In “The L Word” And Also Is Gay Now
- How ‘Sex and the City’ Ruined the Cosmo
- Stendhal Syndrome: can art be so beautiful it almost kills you?
- My bowl cut
Episode Music:
This week’s big switch was at the very end, when Lucinda Williams’ “Right in Time” was replaced with some other nonsense assortment of notes and words. I’ve had mixed feelings about it over the years — whether its mood, which is pretty upbeat for what’s transpiring, was appropriate for the scene — but I did love listening to it back then! And its way better than the substitute song.
Hot tip: if you have a DVD player, you can also subscribe to Netflix DVD, which still exists, and has every season of The L Word as well as lots of queer films you can’t get on Netflix streaming — But I’m a Cheerleader, Saving Face, The Favourite, If These Walls Could Talk 2, The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls In Love, Fucking Amal/Show Me Love, Saving Face, Imagine Me & You, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Desert Hearts, Personal Best, Disobedience, The Watermelon Woman, The Hours — and so many more. Also Netflix unfortunately is not paying us to tell you this, but they should.
If you do buy the DVDs, do it through our links so we can get a kickback: Season One is here. By the time Season Two began, streaming existed so those rights were, in fact, negotiated. Season One is the only season in which this ongoing tragedy is a thing. So you don’t need to buy the complete DVD set unless, you know, you appreciate great modern art as much as Bette Porter and Peggy Peabody do.
“To L and Back” Special Episode: A Delightful Interview With Guinevere Turner
If you’ve done yourself the favor of listening to the “To L and Back” for episode 103, “Let’s Do It,” you’ve heard tiny clips of our very incredible interview with the very funny, accomplished and charming Guinevere Turner, who played Gabby Deveaux and wrote for The L Word. (She also wrote Breaking the Girls and American Psycho and Go Fish.)
Now you can hear nearly an entire hour of this super-fun interview on the “To L and Back” podcast! Get the scoop from someone who was inside the writer’s room for the first two seasons. It’s REAL GOOD y’all.
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER!!! I just started it!!
“To L and Back” Podcast Episode 3: “Let’s Do It”
It’s time for the third episode of America’s Favorite Lesbian Podcast, “To L and Back,” in which I, Riese Bernard, talk to my dear friend Kristin Russo on Facetime about the TV show we hate to love, The L Word. This week’s episode, “Let’s Do It,” is one of my favorites of all time! Plus we interviewed Guinevere Turner and you can get some advance excerpts from that interview in this episode!
[Also I know we wrote “Laura” instead of “Lara” in the episode description, we’re fixing it.]
TAKE THIS SURVEY SO PPL WILL BUY ADS ON OUR PODCAST!!!
Episode Index:
- Interview with Susan Miller, the writer of “Let’s Do It,” conducted in 2009
- This is Ali Liebert
- This is Rekha Sharma
- How Subaru came to be seen as cars for lesbians
- Our post about the breakup of Tammy Lynn and Melissa Etheridge
- The play I talk about at the beginning was originally called “Sweeping the Nation” and later “Average American.” It’s listed on Susan’s website.
Episode Music:
This week only had one big noticeable switch from the original to the streaming version — instead of ending with Ella Fitzgerald’s “Let’s Do It,” as in the original, it ended with some other nonsense song! I don’t know what it was and I don’t want to. If you wanna experience The L Word as it was originally intended, you should buy Season One on DVD.
I hope you like it!!
“To L and Back” Podcast Episode 2: L’Pilot (Part Two of Two)
Hello again dearest lesbians, bisexuals, queers and others interested in the mediocre media of our people! It’s time for the second installment of “To L and Back,” in which I recap every single episode of the show that ruined my life, The L Word. For Season One of this epic adventure, my co-host will be my dear friend and yours, Kristin Russo, who also co-hosts an episode-by-episode recap podcast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
We recorded this episode before releasing last week’s into the wild, so it was before we got such a warm welcome into the world of podcasting from all of you, for which I would like to declare myself VERY GRATEFUL. Thank you so much! Our goal is to make it onto New & Noteworthy so that we can be famous. (We did make it to the New & Noteworthy Section of TV & Film but we wanna be on the main page obviously.)
Episode Music:
Due to music licensing deals being negotiated prior to the existence of streaming and digital downloads, The L Word is one of many shows and movies that have had their soundtrack totally destroyed in the streaming version. So, if you want the authentic, original music that was intended to be on the show, the only way you can do that is to buy the DVDs. Season One is currently $11 on Amazon Prime. None of you took my advice and bought it last week, but maybe you will this time!
In my Autostraddle posts for each podcast episode I’ll let you know which songs were swapped out. This episode was one in which I cannot believe they are even pretending like this is the same TV show!!!
Jenny & Marina Do It
Original: “Sun Again” by Kinnie Star
Streaming: Another only-for-Netflix tune that’s like, “I’m above you, I’m before you, trust me”? Nobody has ever had sex to this song.
Bette & Tina do it
Original: “How Long” by Mr. Airplane Man when they bring the guy home, “Up in the Room” by Mr. Airplane Man when they’re doing it with each other.
Streaming: Okay it looks like all the new music is also… original Netflix tunes? None of these songs seem to exist elsewhere! Anyhow it’s, “I’m over here, you’re over there,” wow this is a different scene!
Final scene at breakfast with Jenny:
Original: “Cannonball” by Damien Rice
Streaming: Sigh. Netflix.
The “To L and Back” Podcast Premiere Is Here: Episode 101 (L’Pilot Part One)
Hello lesbians, bisexuals, queers and others interested in the mediocre media of our people! It’s time for the very first episode of the sure-to-be-a-hit podcast “To L and Back,” in which I recap every single episode of the show that ruined my life, The L Word. For Season One of this epic adventure, my co-host will be my dear friend and yours, Kristin Russo, who also co-hosts an episode-by-episode recap podcast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The podcast will be mostly spoiler free. We’re gonna do our best not to do any spoilers at all, or reveal anything significant that wasn’t already known at the time. In other words — information and imagery that was released to the public and the press prior to the show’s airing could come up (e.g., pre-season episode stills, info about new characters and their purpose on the show) as well as small tidbits that are too small or vague to impact your viewing experience.
Episode Music:
As I discuss in the intro, due to music licensing deals being negotiated prior to the existence of streaming and digital downloads, The L Word is one of many shows and movies that have had their soundtrack totally destroyed in the streaming version. So, if you want the authentic, original music that was intended to be on the show, the only way you can do that is to buy the DVDs. Season One is currently $11 on Amazon Prime.
In my Autostraddle posts for each podcast episode I’ll let you know which songs were swapped out. The first hour of the pilot only had one song prominently featured. It was:
Opening shots of L.A. / Tim & Jenny / Bette & Tina
Original: “The Pleasure Song” by Marianne Faithful
Streaming: A really bad song that seemingly does not exist outside of Netflix (the lyrics are like “oooh you’ve got so much left to learn” and the track sounds like stock music?)
Episode Index:
+ Erin’s Autostraddle roundtable about lesbian hands: Our Hands, Ourselves: A Deeply Unscientific Investigation of Identity
+ Ann Carson, The Autobiography of Red
+ Amy Bloom, Come To Me
+ Fredrich Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra
Sidenote:
- Kristin was right and I was wrong, the cups were from The Planet!
- I was also wrong about never finding out which book Marina and Jenny whispered into Alice’s ear.
- I can’t wait to keep being wrong about stuff!!!!!