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PODCAST

Leftist Teen Drama

Leftist Teen Drama

A podcast celebrating political moments on TV teen dramas, hosted by union communicator and teen drama enthusiast Maria DiPasquale.Produced by Jeff McHale, with art by Maddy Wiryo (logo + season 1) and Charles O’Leary (seasons 2-5, movie specials)

tv & film tv reviews

All Episodes

119:30

MOVIE SPECIAL: 'Samantha: An American Girl Holiday'

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/12/21

Welcome back to our series of special episodes covering political moments in teen movies! To close out 2025, Maria is joined by Mo and Christina, the co-hosts of the Movies That Raised Us podcast, to dive into the American Girl cinematic universe via SAMANTHA: AN AMERICAN GIRL HOLIDAY (2004) starring a young AnnaSophia Robb. This deeply political story traces 1904, an unforgettable year in Samantha Parkington’s life, exploring class difference, child labor, women’s suffrage, and workers’ rights

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173:48

#44 - The Politics of Coming of Age in Northern...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/12/14

In the Leftist Teen Drama Season 5 finale, Maria is joined by twins Kelly Gilbert and Mick Gilbert to contrast the experiences of Catholic teenage girls coming of age in Belfast and Derry during The Troubles on SAY NOTHING (2024) and DERRY GIRLS (2018-2022). For one set of teen girl characters – Marian and Dolours Price – the Cause and the war are all consuming, inseparable from their experience of girlhood. But for teen characters in the DERRY GIRLS universe – Clare Devlin, Erin Quinn, Orla McCool,

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84:49

#43 - Bayside Teachers Deserve Better: The ‘Saved By...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/12/07

In the penultimate episode of Leftist Teen Drama Season 5, Maria is joined by fellow union comms girlie Diana Hussein to dive into the SAVED BY THE BELL (1989-1993) Teachers’ Strike episode. As the first of multiple Leftist Teen Drama episodes on this quintessential ‘90s teen show, we dive into this short-lived plotline in which Zack and Slater manipulate Principal Belding and union president Mr. Tuttle to ensure Bayside teachers go on strike so Zack and Slater can get out of school. Despite the

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87:32

#42 - ‘They Censored His Radio Show!’: Hillman...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/11/30

Maria is joined by Dondré Taylor-Stewart for Leftist Teen Drama’s first episode covering A DIFFERENT WORLD (1987-1993) – but it certainly won’t be our last. Once Debbie Allen took the helm in Season 2, she mde HBCU politics a cornerstone of the show, dealing with issues ranging from colorism and racism to HIV and date rape. We focus on Season 2’s “Radio Free Hillman,” a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day dedication episode in which Hillman College students stage a sit-in at a campus admin building after

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143:22

#41 - A Summer Romance Teen Drama Set in the Imperial...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/11/23

**SPOILERS INSIDE** DO NOT LISTEN BEFORE YOU FINISH SEASON 1.At first glance, WE WERE LIARS (2025-present) might seem like any other rich kid teen drama, but this show goes much deeper with its anticapitalist and anticolonial messages than most. Maria and Kelly Diaz break down the entire first season as the Liars – Cadence Sinclair, Gat Patil, Johnny Sinclair, and Mirren Sinclair – begin to shift their perspectives on the private island where they spend their summers, and the high-profile

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125:04

#40 - Inside the Fleeting Yet Inherently Political...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/11/16

Maria is joined by fellow union comrade and FREAKS AND GEEKS (1999-2000) superfan Margaret McCaughlin to break down the political themes of the show’s one and only season, which is firmly set in the 1980-1981 school year. We discuss Lindsay Weir’s journey walking the tightrope between “freak” and “geek,” and the way she tests the waters of finding her political voice; the controversial yet revealing episode “Kim Kelly Is My Friend”; and Bill Haverchuck as a solid representation of the latchkey kid

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107:16

#39 - Benny Scanlon’s Millennial Queer College...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/11/09

Maria is appropriately joined by two of her fellow millennial teen drama Internet friends, Abir Mohammad and Jillian Bonanne, to break down the queer college journey of Benny Scanlon on Season 1 of OVERCOMPENSATING (2025-present.) The vaguely 2010s campus setting of this show feels all too familiar, providing at times painfully accurate representations of the college experience for the younger end of the millennial generation – including the fact that many LGBTQIA+ millennials came out in

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107:16

#38 - ‘Genera+ion’ Takes On The Messiness and...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/11/02

In fulfillment of a listener request from @vanesawye on Tumblr, Maria and recurring guest Dondré Taylor-Stewart break down the HBO Max teen drama GENERA+ION (2021). This short but impactful show is packed with political moments, from Chester’s recurring experience of getting dress coded for being visibly queer to Delilah subverting the activist character trope. We talk about Greta’s asexuality, Nathan’s experience of coming out as bisexual while having conservative parents, and how cruel of a

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113:58

#37 - ‘We’re Not Moving Until It Gets Fixed’: Isaac...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/10/26

Maria is joined by recurring guest Kelly Diaz and disability rights activist Sasha Blair-Goldensohn to talk about disability justice on both SEX EDUCATION (2019-2023) and in real life. In Sex Education Season 4, wheelchair user Isaac Goodwin disrupts mock exams to protest the chronically broken elevator at Cavendish College, inspiring the entire student body to hold an impromptu sit-in until the lift is fixed. We talk about this inspiring direct action and how it parallels the real-life fight to

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114:57

#36 - Paige Michalchuk Is Not Your Poor Thing: An...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/10/19

TW: sexual assault (and the fallout) discussed throughout the episodeMaria is joined by Rosalie Murray and Kelly Gilbert to discuss Paige Michalchuk’s sexual assault plotline as depicted over several seasons of DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION (2002-2015). Similar to Tim Riggins’ arc that we discussed in Episode #7, this plotline begs for an abolitionist reading. From spontaneously singing “Poor Thing” and driving Dean out of a public space to outing him as a rapist at his frat house and facing his

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133:57

#35 - #Starving4Change At UMKC: The Black Student...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/10/12

In the Leftist Teen Drama Season 5 premiere, Maria is joined by Kelly Diaz to discuss one of the most comprehensive student protest movements that she analyzed in her dissertation on depictions of youth activism on television. In Season 5 of SWITCHED AT BIRTH (2011-2017), a second protest movement emerges over multiple episodes, this time in the university setting of UMKC, purposefully told from the point of view of three Black secondary characters while they fight for racial justice on campus. Much

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2:26

Introducing: Leftist Teen Drama Season 5

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/10/05

Welcome to Season *FIVE* of Leftist Teen Drama, a podcast for all the girlies who know that “OC” is both shorthand for an organizing committee AND an iconic early 2000s teen drama! Season 5 is filled with a stacked cast of new and returning guests, and I’m happy to announce that, for the first time since 2022, the season has been extended to 10 episodes! We’ve got all our usual suspects: sit-ins and encampments and queer awakenings and class conflict galore. So check out a little taste of Season 5,

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01:53:08

MOVIE SPECIAL: 'Camp Rock'

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/08/10

Welcome back to our series of special episodes covering political moments in teen movies! Maria is joined by twins and self-professed “camp freaks” Kelly and MG Gilbert to break down all the class conflict inherent to the plot of CAMP ROCK (2008). From watching teens and tweens network at camp (gross) to trying to place the subprime mortgage crisis in the story’s timeline to cheering on Mitchie as she stands up for service workers, we had a blast analyzing the class anxiety that motivates Mitchie’s

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01:55:32

SPECIAL EP: Leftist Teen Drama In Conversation with...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/05/11

In our third Special Episode of Leftist Teen Drama featuring a writer talking about her related body of work, Maria welcomes pop culture writer Thea Glassman to the podcast to discuss her 2023 book, Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television. We delve into our mutual obsession with teen dramas, Thea’s reporting process for the book, and how she narrowed her book down to the seven revolutionary teen shows she covers. Then, we dive into the seven chapters that

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01:34:54

MOVIE SPECIAL: ‘Moxie’

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/03/23

TW: discussion of rape and rape cultureWelcome back to our series of special episodes covering political moments in teen movies! Maria is joined by childhood friends Rosalie Murray and Dondré Taylor-Stewart to break down the teen feminist film MOXIE (2021). We have a soft spot for this group of outcasts who form a feminist movement at their high school, drawing parallels to our own short-lived feminist action in our 2011-2012 senior year. While we celebrate teen girls uniting to fight sexist dress

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34:00

EMERGENCY SPECIAL EP: RIP Michelle Trachtenberg

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/03/01

Welcome to an emergency special episode of Leftist Teen Drama in which Maria pays tribute to millennial teen drama icon Michelle Trachtenberg, who sadly passed away at the age of 39 on February 26, 2025. Thanks to Erin Rittweger, Colette Shade, Charlotte Morrill, strideofpride, and Kelly Diaz for contributing such powerful reflections on Michelle’s legacy to this episode. And thanks to Diana Hussein for inspiring me to make this episode to begin with. May we all rewatch our favorite Michelle

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01:45:51

SPECIAL EP: Leftist Teen Drama In Conversation with...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2025/01/19

In our second Special Episode of Leftist Teen Drama featuring a writer talking about her related body of work, Maria welcomes Colette Shade to the podcast to discuss her brilliant book of essays, Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything (Essays on the Future That Never Was), just released on January 7, 2025. We deep dive into Colette’s essay collection, chatting about all things Y2K pop culture and leftist politics, including Colette’s affinity for DAWSON’S CREEK (1998-2003) and the fact that Y2K

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02:45:10

#34 - Dan Humphrey, Vanessa Abrams, and A Bunch of...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2024/12/29

In the Leftist Teen Drama Season 4 finale, Maria is joined by Laura Marino and strideofpride to dissect the class dynamics on a longtime listener-requested show: the iconic teen drama GOSSIP GIRL (2007-2012)! Approaching this episode from our usual leftist lens, we mainly zero in on the “working-class” characters who are thrust into the owning-class world of the Upper East Side: Dan Humphrey, Vanessa Abrams, and Jenny Humphrey. Since Maria and Laura were OG Gossip Girl book readers, we discuss the

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02:57:26

#33 - The Secret Life of British Teenagers in the...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2024/12/22

Maria is joined by Abir Mohammad to break down powerful depictions of British teenagers in the South Asian diaspora on SOME GIRLS (2012-2014), ACKLEY BRIDGE (2017-2022), SEX EDUCATION (2019-2023), and WATERLOO ROAD (2023-present.) This episode is jam packed with South Asian teen characters living in all their complexity – as sexual beings, as Muslims, as hijabis, as queer teens, as protest leaders. We celebrate beloved characters like Saz Kaur, Nasreen Paracha, Naveed Haider, Olivia Hanan, Anwar

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02:03:43

#32 - Simone Hicks, HBCU Athlete-Activist: Black...

Leftist Teen Drama ·

2024/12/15

Maria is once again joined by childhood friend Dondré Taylor-Stewart to talk about the often-political ALL AMERICAN universe, and specifically the HBCU spin-off ALL AMERICAN: HOMECOMING (2022-2024). We trace Simone Hicks’ journey as an HBCU athlete-activist, as she emerges as a leader during two separate experiences of collective Black trauma: a bomb threat and a cop stop. We discuss the show’s depiction of Black joy, resilience, and protest in the aftermath of these traumatizing events, shaping

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27 results

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