In Retrospect with Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett Podcast
1) Update: Why the Menendez Brothers May Go Free
Since we originally published this episode in May 2024, there has been significant developments for Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers who were convicted of killing their parents in the early 1990s. On ...Show More
2) Madonna and the Making of a Cultural Icon (Pt 2)
When Madonna performed “Like A Virgin'' at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, she scandalized the audience and her own team. But she also stole the show, cementing MTV’s place in cultural histo...Show More
3) Madonna And The MTV Moment (Pt 1)
In 1984, a relatively unknown 26-year old Madonna appeared at the first MTV Video Music Awards. Dressed like a rock and roll bride, Madonna sang “Like a Virgin.” The performance was considered so risq...Show More
4) What is ‘Girl Culture’?
Girl dinner. Hot girl walks. Weird girls. Clean girls. Rat girls. Snail girls. Everywhere we look, it seems, a certain kind of girliness is being celebrated – from Beyonce to Barbie to Taylor Swift to...Show More
5) How the Menendez Brothers Became Social Media Stars
Lyle and Erik Menendez, two Beverly Hills brothers, were convicted of murdering their parents in a tabloid case that captivated the nation in the 1990s. But in recent years, they have captured the att...Show More
6) Jessica Simpson, Monica Lewinsky, and Other Adventures in Journalism
Hanging out with Monica Lewinsky for her first profile in a decade. Booking Jessica Simpson for a weight loss reveal that never happened. Searching for Casey Anthony…. and not finding her. Wondering ...Show More
7) Vanessa Williams v Miss America: ‘I Won’t Let That Man Destroy Me’ (Pt 2)
She made history as the first Black Miss America, then dramatically lost her crown in a scandal that would see her branded as "the pageant's own Hester Prynn.” But Vanessa Williams did not just go awa...Show More
8) Vanessa Williams v Miss America: The Rise and Fall of the First Black Winner (Pt 1)
You may know her as the Grammy-nominated singer, or for playing the cunning and iconic Wilhelmina Slater on “Ugly Betty.” But before all that, Vanessa Williams was a bright young college student from...Show More
Vanessa Williams v Miss America: The Rise and Fall of the First Black Winner (Pt 1)
35:41 | Apr 26th, 2024
9) Growing Up with Sally Field's 'Not Without My Daughter'
In 1991, America’s sweetheart Sally Field starred in a movie about an American woman’s desperate escape from her abusive Iranian husband. For Susie, and a generation of other Iranian-American kids, th...Show More
10) The Rutgers Women Fight Back (Pt 2)
As we revealed in part one, the 2007 Rutgers women’s basketball team was having a Cinderella season when radio host Don Imus callously dragged them into a national firestorm with a racist slur, effect...Show More