The Baby-sitters Club Club

After heroically grappling with the inscrutable temporal paradox created by having to go and watch the Netflix show in between Friends Forever discussions, our geniuses turn their great brains to the question of whether Cary Retlin is the coolest guy in Stoneybrook, why Cokie Mason has such a big house, and what, precisely, Mary Anne is evolving into. Then Tanner brings on a very special guest to attest to the fact that he is, and always has been, a nice boy. Music credits: “Revenge Dramatic Emotional Apocalypse,” by Luke PN “Love Potion,” by Fasol Prod “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Cyril for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the fever dream that was the Netflix video novels, the boys are thrown headfirst back into the twilight world of "Friends Forever," where the Fame Wolf still prowls, danger lurks around every corner, and any moment could be the one where the Boyfriend Trap is sprung. This week, Stacey McGill stands trial for her crimes against humanity and Claudia specifically, and Ann M. Martin lays down a few more clues about how to sweep your crush right off their feet. Music credits: “Western Hero,” by Andy Slatter “Bad Clown,” by Soundroll “Surfing Bird,” by Cinematic Alex “Gothic Rock Opera,” by Allen Grey “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The baby-sitters face their hardest test yet, as they stand on the edge of a dark and forbidding forest; a wilderness wherein they must wander until they learn the the truth about themselves, find meaning in the vastness of experience that stretches out before them, or do a great big smooch with Logan, depending on which baby-sitter they are. No guest from the show this week, but Jack auditions a new co-host and it goes really well. Music credits: “Theatre Music,” by Lucky Black Cat “The Prophecy,” by Fox Beat “Sad to Happy,” by Silverhoof “Sad to Hopeful,” by The Story Shop Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Bye Bye Empire for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The boys send their best and bravest into the heart of suburban Connecticut in search of the secret portal to Stoneybrook, but all they end up with is a nasty case of browntail moths. Coincidentally, that’s what the baby-sitters are getting into this week as well, over at Camp Moosehead, where the moths are poisonous, injustice reigns, and if you’re not careful, you might just lose your face. Kristy (Sophie Grace) and Karen (Sophia Reid-Gantzert) join for a diabolical game! Music credits: “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Things aren’t looking so hot for Batgirl’s big day! Kristy looks like a banana, the officiant is a witch, and Mr. Spier’s shirt smells like meat. After a robust discussion of these important topics, the boys are joined by Watson himself (Mark Feuerstein) for a bracing round of Dad Talk. Music credits: “Chains,” by 3 (Emerson, Berry & Palmer) “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music “Don’t Leave Me,” by Lionel Schmitt “Sadness,” by Allen Grey Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Something’s going on with the dads of Stoneybrook this week. Watson’s hiding something behind a mysterious blue door, Mr. Spier is undergoing some kind of unnatural evolution, and John Pike is sending us cryptic messages through his license plate. Then, the boys are joined by Shay Rudolph (Stacey) and Momona Tamada (Claudia), who agree to take an extremely tricky and diabolical quiz about their BSC knowledge. Music credits: “Slash,” by Arc North Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The boys bring their sharp critical lens to another fascinating video-novel this week as they grapple with a number of complex choices its creators have made around Stacey’s dating life, Mary Anne’s room renovation, and Humpty Dumpty, the shattered eggman. Then the show's Executive Producers, Naia Cucukov and Lucy Kitada, join to hear some provocative and disruptive pitches for BSC-adjacent properties that they need to greenlight ASAP. Music credits: “The Prophecy,” by Fox Beat “Sadness,” by AudioRose “Sadness,” by Allen Grey Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Bye Bye Empire for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This fascinating video-novel poses three impossible problems: Kristy’s baffling reluctance to accept Dawn into the club; the paradoxical influence of Milton’s Paradise Lost on these texts; and Mrs. Barrett’s impossible legs. Then, the boys bring in Dawn and Mary Anne themselves (Xochitl Gomez and Malia Baker) to subject them to an impossible trial of their own. Music credits: “Sadness,” by Allen Grey “Sadness,” by AudioRose “Chopstick Slapstick,” by OurMusicBox “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This one has nowhere near enough boys’ basketball in it, but that kind of sums up Mr. Prezzioso’s life anyway, so it all checks out. Plenty to discuss this week anyway as the boys encounter a new and improved Dawn, speculate about what’s in Mimi’s special tea, and perform in the auditions of their lifetime with their special guest: “Baby-Sitters Club” Director and Executive Producer, Lucia Aniello. Music credits: “Overture,” by Lionheart “Laisse pas Traîner Ton Fils,” by Suprême NTM “Don’t Leave Me,” by Lionel Schmitt “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a new baby-sitting conglomerate in town and their unique brand of baby-sitting, including sizzle reels, peer-to-peer influencer marketing, and encouraging self-sufficiency by allowing kids to play in traffic threatens to put our precious Baby-Sitters Club out of business. The boys outsource that conversation to trusted Business Scions Goliath Hardbody and Mark Markson, and then speak with Baby-Sitters Club showrunner Rachel “The Hand of God” Shukert about what parts they should play on the show next season. Really a lot of hard-hitting experts on the podcast this week. Music credits: “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, to Baby Bee Liz for the Guessing the Mystery theme, and to Big Boy Cyril for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we find out that the Phantom Phone Caller was inside us all along, which certainly explains why he’s still at large, but somehow isn’t any less frightening. Trevor Sandbourne takes advantage of the (hopefully) temporary non-existence of Pete Black to be the coolest guy in Stoneybrook, and The Hand of God introduces the world to the very first of our Johns. Meanwhile ... dolls. Things are really heating up over here!  Music credits: “Overture,” by Lionheart “Fanfare Symphony,” by Silverhoof “The Prophecy,” by Fox Beat Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Bye Bye Empire for the outro music. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, the boys slam on the brakes of the Friends Forever series and smash through their windshields right into the first episode of the Baby-Sitters Club Netflix show, cleverly titled “The Baby-Sitters Club.” Prepare for a pulse-pounding, bomb-on-the-bus thrill ride as they explore the dangerous new world of Stoneybrook 2020. With edgy, in-your-face characters such as Beret Lady, the Hand of God, and Bat Girl, this provocative new take on the BSC is an instant classic, and these boys are going to be there every step of the way. Music credits: “Classic Arcade Video Game,” by Adigold “Detective,” by LoopsLab “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. Advertise on The Baby-Sitters Club Club via Gumball.fm --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unchastened by their disastrous attempts to heckle 8-year-olds during “Claudia’s First Thanksgiving,” not to mention the censorship fiasco in “Mary Anne and the Library Mystery,” Stoneybrook’s surprisingly resilient community of book-burning fascists are back at it again this week trying to get a teacher fired for assigning “Catcher in the Rye.” Is there anyone out there who can stop them? Weirdly, no. The title of this novel doesn’t actually have any bearing on the events in it, but it’s a romp anyway. Music credits: “Spaghetti Western,” by Music Dog “Gothic Choir,” by Allen Grey “Detective,” by LoopsLab “Overture,” by Lionheart “Chopstick Slapstick,” by OurMusicBox “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music “Requiem Dark Choir,” by Allen Grey Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, to Baby Bee Liz for the Guessing the Mystery theme, and to Bye Bye Empire for the outro music. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn mor

According to Merriam Webster, a “Friendship Feud” is when you have a big feud with your friend about whether it’s somehow a good thing that Stacey and Claudia are fighting and tearing apart the very fabric of the BSC, or whether it is, in fact, a bummer. This was not by any means a bummer of a book though, because it was elegantly and artfully written by the great Laura Dower, from the spectral realm where she lives. Anyway, the boys spend a lot of energy this week discussing Ann’s new ghostwriter, and they also find time for a nuanced and informative chat about the rules of rugby. It’s all very nice and fun, which is a lot more than we can say about the situation between Claud and Stace at the moment. Music credits: “Sci-Fi Trailer,” Ivan Luzan “Parting Ways,” by Allen Grey “Jazz Sad Hip Hop,” by Black Stone Sound “Battle Area,” by Fifty Vinc Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Baby Bee Wolfkiller for the outro music. --- Support this podcast: https://podcas

Ann continues to take a wrecking ball to what remains of our beloved baby-sitting club, this time reducing the passionate and (literally) timeless love affair that began with BSC #10, “Logan Likes Mary Anne” to a pile of dust and rubble. But that’s only the half of it. What’s got these two Weyniacs really worried is an even darker force that Ann has unleashed on Stoneybrook: Something angry. Something fierce. Something … lupine. Music credits: “Dramatic End,” by Tim Cat “Classic Arcade Video Game,” by Adigold “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With her Wine Crimes in the rearview mirror, Stacey McGill tries her hand at betrayal. Meanwhile, as Stoneybrook reels from what is presumably a five-alarm baby-sitting shortage, two strangers walk into town with their heads held high and their hearts set on chaos. Will Jeremy and Rachel be the lovable new characters we never knew we wanted, or are they just going to ruin everything? Jury’s still out on that, but the boys find a way to have fun anyway, doing a big “ship,” talking about fashion, and finally revealing the true way to read these novels. Music credits: “Happy,” by Silver Hoof “Typewriter Blues,” by Allen Grey “Bad Clown,” by Soundroll “Overture,” by Lionheart “Olympia, WA,” by Rancid “Spring Street,” by Dar Williams “Stardust,” by Fox Beat Stock Music Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

Total mystery what Kristy’s Big News is this week, but Patrick Thomas is getting married and he can’t do that without every member of his estranged, alienated, angry, and abandoned family by his side! Except David Michael for some reason. Also this week: Shark People, Heraclitus, and a timely checkin with WebMD. Music credits: “Fun Quirky Retro,” by Pink Zebra “Dark Skies,” by Marco Belloni Music “Vibe,” by Marble Space “The Prophecy,” by Fox Beat “Sad to Hopeful,” by The Story Shop Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It had long been foretold that Kristy would be betrayed nine times before the end. But even after Dawn and Mallory turned their backs on her, no one was prepared for the onslaught that followed. The boys return to Stoneybrook this week to sift through the smoldering ashes of what had once been a safe haven. There’s also kind of a surprising amount of discussion about the British mope-rock band, Keane. Everything changes! Music credits: “Nostalgia,” by Raspberry Music “Everybody Changes,” by Keane “Piano Sadness,” by Alex Bird “Inspirational Techno,” by Kornev Music Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to Superbrat for the outro music. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Failing to heed their own best advice, the boys bring dolls into the sanctity of their homes and play with them. But these aren’t just any dolls: They’re the short-lived but presumably beloved 1991 line of Remco Baby-Sitters Club Dolls, complete with fun accessories like “a hot dog” and terrifying, mutated “halfling” versions of themselves. Music credits: “Virtual Insanity,” by Jamiroquai Thanks as always to original Baby Boy Scott Lamb for the intro music, and to actual baby, Cyril, for the outro music. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jack-shepherd8/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices