On her podcast 'Sentimental Garbage', Caroline O'Donoghue dives into zeitgeist TV, film, and culture that sometimes gets a bad rap.
Everyone who watches "chick flicks" has experienced somebody telling them that it's a load of you know what. But Caroline O'Donoghue makes "girly" TV and culture something that's acceptable to enjoy, rather than a marker of lesser intelligence, which people can so wrongly assume it is.
As the name suggests, the podcast unravels the absolute "rubbish" that captivates the attention of millions of people around the globe. From the likes of 'Grease' to 'Mamma Mia' and 'Sex and the City', O'Donoghue leaves no feminine cultural touchstone unturned.
She brings a clever analysis to topics that are often labelled as meaningless (because we know that they're not). There's a tonne of meaning behind the "garbage" that makes it "sentimental".
Her guests help add depth to the discussion in a way that feels like you're sitting beside them on a high-top stool, sipping martinis, in one breath giggling about 'Julie & Julia' and dissecting why it makes us cry in the next.
Juno Dawson has been on to discuss the fever dream that was 'America's Next Top Model' and the craic we had over it in 2007 versus the realisation in the last few years that it could actually be kind of cruel.
Our personal favourite episodes are when Dolly Alderton returns to get into each season of 'Sex in the City', including the reboot, giving us the most snickeringly funny blast from the past that we didn't know we needed.
Speaking of nostalgia, there's a great episode with Lauren Bravo on shopping on the high street, bringing back the memories of Jane Norman "chic" and sale racks in Topshop.
This podcast is a perfect background listen for while you're cooking or doing your makeup in the morning.
Check out 'Sentimental Garbage' on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Acast.
