Hot and Bothered
In July 2019, Vanessa Zoltan and I launched Hot & Bothered. The show examines writing and reading Romance novels as a sacred practice. Across the first season, we explored romance novel tropes and followed the journeys of ten writers who tried their hand at writing their first romance novel. Julia Quinn, best-selling author of The Bridgerton series, gave weekly assignments so listeners could follow along in the process. We made season 1 in collaboration with Spoke Media.
While we were developing Season 2 of Hot & Bothered, we found ourselves suddenly in the midst of a global pandemic. In response, we created Twilight in Quarantine, a weekly comedy show where Vanessa Zoltan and Julia Argy read the Twilight books and give advice to the characters. The show was meant to be a temporary bit of fun to get us (and our listeners) through the tedium of quarantine. We ended up reading the whole series and were recommended as a ‘podcast for the pandemic’ by The New York Times.
In July 2020, we launched a new season of Hot & Bothered called On Eyre. In order to understand the language and currency of the Romance genre, we realized that we wanted to go back to its origins. With new co-host, journalist Lauren Sandler, we un-packed what is problematic and resonate about this classic novel. In a time where we are working to radically re-imagine the literary canon — should we still be reading Jane Eyre?
In March 2022, we finished Jane Eyre and took up Pride and Prejudice with our season Live from Pemberley. Arguable the most famous romance novel of all time, we asked: Why is this the bible of the Romance genre? What does this book believe about love, marriage, and money? And are those things we still want to be passing on?
In our current season, we’ve turned our attention to romantic films.
The season begins with ten episodes on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, an iconic film of the early 2000s rom-com oeuvre. Vanessa Zoltan revisits the movie in conversation with media experts and scholars to better understand the language of romance on film.
Following those first ten episodes, Vanessa is joined by beloved academic and podcaster Hannah McGregor to dig into the canon of romantic films, from Titanic to Twilight to When Harry Met Sally, (just to name a few).