Decoder Ring
Decoder Ring is the show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.
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126
Videomate: Men
Videomate: Men is a VHS tape released in 1987 featuring 60 single men pitching themselves as dates to women on the other side of the TV screen, who could connect to these eligible bachelors from the comfort of their homes. Who thought this was a good idea?
32 min
127
Truck Nutz
Truck Nutz are a brand name for the dangling plastic testicles some people affix to the bumper or hitch of their vehicle.
33 min
128
Baby Shark
Baby Shark is an megaviral YouTube video, an unstoppable earworm, a top 40 hit, a Eurodance smash, a decades old campfire song, and the center of an international copyright dispute. This month on Decoder Ring we explore the strange history and conflicted future of the song, what makes it so catchy, and how it came to be.
35 min
129
The Grifter
For over a decade, Brett Johnson was a cyber criminal, a scammer, and a con man, but now he's a good guy, helping companies stop people like who he used to be. His story is the stuff of a prestige TV anti-hero drama, but real life is more complicated than a story.
51 min
130
Sad Jennifer Aniston
Is Jennifer Aniston Having Brad Pitt's Baby!??
41 min
131
The Incunabula Papers
Ong's Hat, or The Incunabula Papers, is a conspiracy theory that arose on the early internet. Combining cutting edge science, mysticism, and obvious hokum, it intrigued thousands of people who tried to find out what it all meant.
50 min
132
Hotel Art
What Happened to Hotel Art?
29 min
133
The Paper Doll Club
Paper dolls were a ubiquitous part of children’s lives for decades, and then they mostly disappeared.
36 min
134
The Basement Affair
What are the real reasons people go on reality TV?
40 min
135
Clown Panic
The clown has existed in various forms for thousands of years, what changed and made us suspect and fear them?
35 min
136
The Johnlock Conspiracy
Decoder Ring explores the Johnlock Conspiracy, a fan theory about the BBC TV show Sherlock positing the inevitability of a gay romance between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.
49 min
137
The Laff Box
What happened to the laugh track? For nearly five decades, it was ubiquitous, but beginning in the early 2000s, it fell out of sitcom fashion. What happened?
29 min