GenXElle: Raised on Reruns is a nostalgia-forward podcast for the generation raised on after-school specials, family dramas, variety shows, and sitcom living rooms
Hosted by lifelong TV kid Elle, each episode revisits the shows and characters that shaped us as kids, what we felt, what we believed, what we escaped into, and then looks at them again through adult eyes. What do they tell us about who we were back then, and are they somehow still a part of who we are today?
Designing Women could make me laugh until I cried, and then turn around and say something I’d remember for nearly forty years.
In this episode, I’m going back to Sugarbaker & Associates: Julia’s legendary speeches, Suzanne’s bravado and vulnerability, Mary Jo’s quiet courage, Charlene’s wide-open heart, and the wonderfully strange family that formed around them, including Anthony and, of course, Bernice.
We’ll revisit “They Shoot Fat Women, Don’t They?”, “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” the show’s confrontation with AIDS, and some of the completely ridiculous moments I still remember without having to look them up.
But mostly, this episode is about voice, finding it, borrowing it when you don’t have your own yet, and having people who will use theirs when someone comes after you.
Because sometimes you really do need a Julia Sugarbaker in your corner.
And God, do I miss television that could make us think, make us laugh, and somehow leave the world feeling a little lighter.
25 Aug 2026
The Facts of Life: Growing Up Together
The Facts of Life isn't a show I rediscovered. I never really left it.
For nine seasons, Blair, Jo, Natalie and Tootie grew up in front of us, arguing, laughing, screwing up, forgiving each other and somehow becoming family along the way. And for a lot of Gen X girls, they showed us something television hadn't really given us before: girls our own age whose friendships mattered as much as anything else in their lives.
In this episode, I go back to Eastland, the casting change that saved the show, Mrs. Garrett's role in holding it all together, and the four-girl dynamic that became a blueprint for ensemble television that followed.
And yes, I thought I was Jo. Apparently, so did everybody else.
Some shows become memories. The Facts of Life became a companion.
18 Aug 2026
Kate & Allie: Who's Your Kate?
I started rewatching Kate & Allie for this episode and somehow...I never stopped. Four seasons later, I'm still watching.
As a kid, I connected with the kids. My parents were separated and getting divorced, and there was something about that crowded New York brownstone that felt safe. The adults showed up. The kids got to be kids. Problems happened, but somehow you knew everything was going to be okay.
Watching it now, I understand the appeal in a completely different way. Kate & Allie lets my nervous system breathe. No constant cliffhangers. No villains. Just two women who chose to build a life together, raise their kids, support each other, and create a family that worked.
In this episode: the friendship at the center of the show, kids who were refreshingly normal, a surprisingly great parade of future TV stars, and why this unconventional little family from 1984 may have understood something about how we take care of each other that feels even more relevant today.
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Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
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