Casually Obsessed is getting an email newsletter! Every week I'll be sending out an essay about a piece of pop culture I can't stop thinking about. If one of the things you like about the podcast is hearing the nitty-gritty things someone loves about a piece of pop culture, I think you're going to love the newsletter. Similarly, if you want the dee…

Emily Dickinson is goth girl shit. We're talking about the Apple+ tv show: Dickinson. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/chelsee-bergen/message

We’re talking about the prolific YA author, Sarah Dessen!Dessen published her first novel in 1996 and as of 2019 has published 14* novels (*in the intro to this episode I mistakenly say 20- apologies!). She’s won numerous awards for her work, had two of her novels combined into the film How to Deal, and in 2019 Netflix purchased the rights to adapt…

We're talking about Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn! A few things we discuss in the episode: The incredible costume design, especially for Harley; Comic book movies more broadly (we have some notes); Confusion around why people don't just move out of Gotham city! Bisexuality; Misogyny (it's the villain); Violence…

We're back with more Orphan Black talk! In part two of this two-part conversation we go deep on a few characters and dig into the themes of the show. Some things we talk about in the episode are: Why can we forgive Helena but not Rachel? Bioethics and corporate interests What's the deal with Paul? The Castor clones & whether the ends justify the me…

We're talking about our favorite biological identicals and the people who love, created, and try to murder them! Returning guest Julian Lejbman helps me dissect the BBC America sci-f thriller Orphan Black. A few things we discuss in the episode are: What we tell people who haven't seen Orphan Black before when we pitch the show to them; How Orphan …

Part 2 of our Star Trek: Picard conversation has arrived! Allison and I dig into the characters from the series and the complex Star Trek universe. A few things we discuss in the episode are: Building the ship of fandom while you're flying it Romulans: from mustache twirling villains to sympathetic antagonists? The effects of forming cultures and p…

We're boldly going where no man has gone before and talking Star Trek! Returning guest, Allison Arcos, joins me to talk about the CBS All Access show, Star Trek: Picard. Here's a short summary for Picard: 14 years after his retirement from Starfleet, Jean-Luc Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) is living a quiet life on his vineyard, Chateau Picard. When …

In the second part of our Veronica Mars conversation we dig into season 4 and the Veronica Mars movie! This is a spoiler-full episode, so if you haven't watched the latest (last?) season of the show we recommend just sticking with part 1 of our conversation. Some things we cover in the episode: Veronica grew up quickly, and then stopping growing at…

We’re talking smart mouthed teen detective, Veronica Mars! Bill Friday (poet, baseball enthusiast, noir know-it-all) and I had so much to say that we split this conversation into 2 parts. In this first part, we discuss the first three seasons of the show (we go into season 4 and the movie in part 2). A few things we discuss in the episode: The prob…

I asked listeners to call in and talk about a few pieces of pop culture that have been helping them cope with the stress and isolation of COVID-19. In light of the very necessary uprising happening in the United States and across the world, I wasn't sure that I should still release this episode. Black lives matter, and I believe that white people, …

Magic might just want to murder you! Zan Romanoff and I are talking about Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. This adult fantasy novel imagines that each of Yale’s Ancient Eight secret societies practice a different form of magic while a shadowy ninth house watches over them all. The main character Alex Stern is headed for anything but the Ivy League unt…

In this spoiler-free episode we gush about Casey McQuiston's Red White and Royal Blue and topics like: Avoiding things that are popular; Our theories on why straight women like content about gay men; Quintessential queer experiences; Why books like this matter (even when their covers are bubble gum pink); Writing about an identity other than your o…

Tamora Pierce is kind of a big deal. She's the best-selling author of over 20 books set in her Tortall universe, as well as more than a dozen other books and comics. Guest Allison Arcos joins our host, Chelsee, to talk about why Pierce's work has stuck with the both of them for nearly two decades. Chelsee and Allison also give their recommendations…

Casually Obsessed is a new podcast of long form conversations about the pop culture we can’t stop thinking about. That book we want everyone to read, that television show we rewatch. It’s a podcast not about loving one thing, but loving many things — fervently and sometimes fleetingly. You can expect a rotating roster of guests having in-depth conv…