The Take

Go to http://rocketmoney.com/thetake to cancel your unwanted subscriptions with Rocket Money. Introverts are often overlooked in a world that favors the extroverted. They’re taught it’s on them to counteract this, by speaking up and putting themselves out there. But introverts are much more complex than their stereotypes would suggest – the fact that they’re quiet doesn’t mean that they always have to be stuck on the sidelines. So…what exactly is an introvert, then? Have they been sorely misunderstood by society and Hollywood all this time? Let’s analyze all of that and more as we unpack the truth about introverts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://zocdoc.com/thetake to find and book a top-rated doctor today! Underconsumption core has been dominating TikTok feeds and wider conversations. But is it really a useful trend that signifies that we’re (finally) shifting away from hyper-consumerism as a society, or just another attempt by the well off to aestheticize poverty and avoid dealing with real issues? Let’s take a deeper look at this trend to unpack what’s really going on, and analyze whether it’s a solution or just creating another problem… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to https://casino.draftkings.com and sign up with code THETAKE - new players can get $100 in casino credits with just a $1 wager. Emily in Paris was brought to life by the same creative mind that brought us Sex and the City – and while the shows share a few general similarities, one of the biggest is that their central characters are… kind of annoying. But while Carrie Bradshaw became a beloved character despite (or, perhaps, even because of) her flaws, Emily Cooper hasn’t managed to work her way into audiences’ hearts in quite the same way… but why? What is it that sets Carrie apart from Emily? Let’s take a deeper look at that, plus analyze how the creative team has been trying to fix Emily in more recent seasons and how that is (and isn’t) working. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://rocketmoney.com/thetake to cancel your unwanted subscriptions with Rocket Money! Industry is full of irreverent, power-hungry characters attempting to claw their way to the top of a London investment bank – and none is more engaging or divisive than Harper Stern. But her struggles – both internally and at work – stem from real, deeper issues. So what’s really going on with Harper? And is investing so much of herself into this world, at the expense of everything else, really worth the risk? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://factormeals.com/thetake50 and use code thetake50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month. Everyone loves a good comeback! From Josh Hartnett's to Jennifer Coolidge to Brendan Frasier to Winona Ryder and beyond, we love to watch beloved actors get a second chance in the spotlight. For stars, one of the biggest worries is hitting the height of stardom and then… fading away. While this might mean the end of some celebs careers, others are lucky enough to get the chance to stage a major comeback – and sometimes those comebacks are even better than their original runs. So what’s the secret behind comebacks that work versus those that don’t, and why do we love a good comeback story so much? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to https://casino.draftkings.com and sign up with code THETAKE - new players can get $100 in casino credits with just a $1 wager. Millennials are finally starting to hit middle age (hard to believe, but it's true!) but are taking things in a new direction that *doesn't* mean giving up their youth. From Brat Summer to changing social trends, let's take a look at how millennials are looking back to find a way to move forward! After decades of being decried as immature, overgrown children, millennials are finally hitting middle age. But instead of the stable mid-adulthood we’ve become accustomed to seeing in previous generations, millennials seem to be taking things in a rather different direction, embracing a second wave of young adulthood while also trying to figure out how to navigate the total instability of their lives and the world around them. This could be easy to write off as yet another refusal to grow up and be “real adults” – but the truth is that there’s a lot more going on under the surface, and it’s not all bad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://zocdoc.com/thetake to find and book a top-rated doctor today. Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf is an iconic queen of mean and the Upper East Side. In her quest for power and control, she definitely made a lot of mistakes, but she actually got a lot more right than she gets credit for – both in her understanding of how her world really works and in the ways she had to learn to grow as a person. So let’s take a look back at Blair’s outlook on life and relationships, how she changed (or didn’t…,) and the most important lessons she can teach us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scan the QR code or use THETAKE55 to get 55% off your first month at Scentbird https://sbird.co/3zrNbsR This month I received... Not a Perfume by Juliette Has A Gun https://sbird.co/3zpDPxP Roses Vanille by Mancera Paris https://sbird.co/3XNjL2n Moonlit Nights by Judith Ripka https://sbird.co/3ztzr0D THIS IS NOT A BLUE BOTTLE 1/.7 by Histoires de Parfums https://sbird.co/3zz23W8 Some characters are obsessed with the idea of being in love, but then when they actually get it… they can’t seem to stop themselves from running in the opposite direction. Across film and television, so many characters are plagued by commitment issues that keep them from actually being able to settle in and enjoy the relationships they manage to get into. So, what is it that makes the idea of being in love so alluring, but the actual experience of it a lot more scary? Let’s take a closer look! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Download the DraftKings app and sign up with code THETAKE. New players can get $100 instantly in casino credits with just a $1 wager. From The Bold Type's Jane to SATC's Carrie to Desperate Housewives' Susan to OITNB's Piper to HIMYM's Ted to... *so many* others, main characters are the ones that pull us into a show or movie, the eyes through which we experience the story, and sometimes, and much as we may love them… they’re really annoying. We’re not talking about real baddies here – but instead just the characters that are almost good people, but just seem to somehow make the worst choice at every turn. Sometimes we only really realize how annoying they were in hindsight, other times we’re yelling at the TV every episode. But there are actually a lot of different reasons that stories choose to have someone a little grating at the center of their narrative – and also some surprising reasons behind why we love to watch them so much, even when they drive us up the wall. So let’s take a deeper look at the Annoying Main Character Trope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Friends' Phoebe Buffay and How I Met Your Mother's Robin Scherbatsky both encounter a particularly difficult quirk of friendship dynamics: being the New Friend in the group. Being the newest friend working your way into an already existing friend group can be difficult, and leave you feeling like no matter how well you’ve integrated into the group, they’ll always choose each other over you. Sometimes the New Friend is able to overcome this hurdle and truly become an equal friend with everyone else in the group, but others get left feeling like they’ll always be second best no matter what. So, let’s take a deeper look at this trope, how Friends' Phoebe Buffay and How I Met Your Mother's Robin Scherbatsky exemplify the good and bad side of the New Friend dilemma, and what it all tells us about the power of friendship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Curly hair, like hair colors, is often used to represent something specific about a character on screen. Sometimes curly hair is a positive signifier – like of an untamable strength within a character – but for a long time curly hair was used as an indication that something about a character needed to be changed and, well, straightened out. In recent years, things have begun evolving as we’ve seen more and more characters come to love their hair (and themselves) as is, following on the back of real world movements to do the same. So let’s unpack the different tropes that have sprung up around curly hair on screen (good and bad) and how we’re finally bouncing past those into a much more positive, accepting place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clueless' Cher Horowitz at first might seem like just another character stuck in the 'dumb blonde' trope, but when we look closer, we realize that she was actually right about a lot of things! She definitely doesn't get everything right, but she is quite astute - and, importantly, willing to fight for what she wants (*and* admit when she's wrong.) So let's take a deeper look at the lessons Cher can teach us about life, love, and friendship! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://rocketmoney.com/thetake to cancel your unwanted subscriptions with Rocket Money! Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods is an iconic beacon of optimism and thinking pink, and one of her defining characteristics is her confidence. It can often be hard to find confidence within ourselves when it seems like the whole world is trying to put us down, and Elle certainly has her own moments of wavering belief in herself. But no matter how many times she gets knocked down, she always figures out a way to get back up. And so she provides us a great guide on how to believe in ourselves, even when no one else does! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Euphoria’s Nate Jacobs at first seems like he has it all, so you’d think he’d be a pretty happy guy. But a happy guy Nate Jacobs most certainly is not. He’s a dangerous and spiteful presence, his anger and intensity fusing to form something much darker than your run of the mill teen meanness. So why is Nate so miserable – and so prone to taking his misery out on everyone else? Let’s take a deeper look at Nate’s story to analyze what’s really going on behind all of that anger – and what the true takeaway of his story really is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Download Opera for free using https://opr.as/Opera-browser-thetake Thanks Opera for sponsoring this video! A Quiet Place: Day One, a prequel to the original films, takes the quiet action out of the small town of the first two films and into one of the noisiest cities in the country. While Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn have been universally praised for their takes on their characters, audiences’ responses to the film as a whole have been quite a bit more split. So what works, and what doesn’t? And what is this film actually trying to say? Let’s analyze all of that and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://zocdoc.com/THETAKE to download the Zocdoc app for free and book a top-rated doctor today! The Bikeriders, the new film starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy as members of a growing and splintering motorcycle club initially had a lot of buzz, but since its release, it's been getting some pretty mixed reviews because to some viewers, it feels like… nothing much really happens. The film is (very loosely) based on the real life story of a Chicago motorcycle club, and so many went in expecting a bit more action. And the movie has raised a lot of questions – how much of it, exactly, is true to life, what was made up, and… what’s up with those accents? Let’s unpack all of that, plus take a deeper look at what the film was actually trying to say. (No worries, no major spoilers for the film until the final chapter!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://factormeals.com/thetake50 and use code thetake50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month. Gilmore Girls' resident rocker rebel Lane Kim ended up with one of the most disappointing outcomes in the series. While she began the show with a buzzing love for music and lust for personal freedom, as the show went on and her character was pushed further to the side, so much of what made her Lane was sanded away. In recent years, as more people have begun re-watching show on streaming, a wider conversation has opened up about Lane’s bummer of an ending and how she deserved so much better – or at least the chance to have tried to live the life she dreamed of. So let’s dive in and unpack what made Lane so great, why her story went off the rails, and why her ending feels so hollow (but maybe there is one positive aspect…) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At this point, it’s no secret that How I Met Your Mother’s Ted Mosby has a pretty delusional outlook on life – he’s the definition of a toxic Nice Guy and also not a great friend. But what is it, specifically, about his way of looking at the world (and the people in it) that was so wrong? And what can we learn from it, even if he didn’t? Let’s take a closer look at what Ted got wrong about life, love, and finding happiness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vacations, from the super expensive & extravagant to totally relatable, feature in so many of our favorite movies & shows. Sometimes it’s a lot of fun just to watch some of our favorite, everyday characters go on some amazing – or hilariously not so amazing – vacations around the world. Just like our TikTok and Instagram feeds getting flooded with images and videos of influencers flitting around the globe, sometimes these onscreen vacations can give us a pretty unrealistic expectation of what an average vacation should look like – not to mention some pretty intense FOMO. So let’s take a deeper look at some iconic on screen vacations to unpack how they influence our own ideas of what our vacays should be – and sometimes remind us how important it is to just enjoy the ride, wherever you are. Don't forget to check out https://www.cyclingfrog.com and use our code THETAKE20 to support The Take & get 20% off of your order! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sex and the City’s Samantha Jones and Charlotte York were set up to be complete opposites: Samantha the free-loving, up for anything hottie and Charlotte the romantic, repressed Park Ave princess. But when we take a deeper look at their stories, we actually start to see that surprisingly… they’re a lot alike. While they don’t always see eye to eye on the ‘right’ way to live one’s life, they do share some important similarities in the ways they go about getting what they want (and in how they grow over the course of the show.) The pair actually provide some really interesting insight into how – regardless of the boxes that society might try to put us in – we’re not actually that different from people we think are nothing like us, and how having those people in our lives can actually help us form a more accepting, multifaceted view of ourselves. Get 50% off your first order of CookUnity meals — go to https://cookunity.com/thetake50 and use my code THETAKE50 at checkout to try them out for yourself! Thanks to CookUnity for sponsoring this video! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://zocdoc.com/THETAKE to download the Zocdoc app for free and book a top-rated doctor today! The Bikeriders, the new film starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy as members of a growing and splintering motorcycle club initially had a lot of buzz, but since it’s release has been getting some pretty mixed reviews because to some viewers, it feels like… nothing much really happens. The film is (very loosely) based on the real life story of a Chicago motorcycle club, and so many went in expecting a bit more action. And the movie has raised a lot of questions – how much of it, exactly, is true to life, what was made up, and… what’s up with those accents? Let’s unpack all of that, plus take a deeper look at what the film was actually trying to say. (No worries, no major spoilers for the film until the final chapter!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Modern Family’s Gloria Pritchett was initially discounted by pretty much everyone else on the show. They were so blinded by her more obvious qualities and the fact that they assumed she was a gold digger, that they couldn’t even see the amazing person inside that beautiful package. But it quickly became clear that she was the one with the best outlook on life. And not only did she use her smarts to create a good life for herself and her son, she also helped the others on the show grow and become better, happier people themselves. So let’s take a deeper look at how, in the end, Gloria was right about pretty much everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House of the Dragon's Rhaenyra and Alicent’s opposite personalities are the sun-and-moon gravitational pull that makes their relationship the heart of the show’s central conflict. Starting as each other’s closest companions, Rhaenyra and Alicent must contend with their own position in a patriarchal society that view women as merely vessels for male dominion. Let’s take a look at how each woman is shaped by their experiences with abusive men, desire, duty, and motherhood, which ultimately pits them against each other in a fearsome battle for the Iron Throne. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mean Girls’ Regina George is one of pop culture’s most iconic high school villains. Perhaps the worst thing about Regina is that what’s horrible about her is actually what’s… true. Regina was a menace because she understood some pretty dark fundamental truths about the world, and the fact that she was right about them underlines some major problems in society. So let’s take a deeper look at what Regina, unfortunately, got right in her outlook on life (and why it’s so important that society, like Regina, learns to change for the better.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Millennials (aka people born between 1981 and 1996) seem to be aging at a slower rate than previous generations… but no one agrees on why. Some say it’s because they’re just immature, dodging responsibilities and spending too much time on nostalgia. Others blame the rise of cosmetic procedures and the increased focus on looks in our social media focused world combined with the lack of access to the old school markers of “adulthood.” So let’s take a deeper look at this perceived collective youthfulness of millennials, and how cultural shifts have changed our image of adulthood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The myth of Yoko Ono destroying The Beatles has persisted for decades. Anytime something goes wrong with a group of male musicians, there always seems to be a woman that catches the blame. In the years since Yoko was accused of ruining the biggest band of all time, many other women – in real life and on screen – have gotten caught up in the same trope of the evil woman who slides in and breaks up the otherwise happy group. But, of course, there’s always more to the story. So let’s take a deeper look at the true story of Yoko and The Beatles, why the trope has continued to be so pervasive, and how we’re finally starting to leave it in the past. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Euphoria’s Maddy Perez is the ultra confident queen bee of Euphoria High, and for two seasons the universe seemingly continually tries to destroy her sense of self. But Maddy has no problem fighting back against anyone or anything that tries to shake her confidence. Her story is a rollercoaster of ups and downs, and we can learn a surprising amount about staying true to yourself and not letting the hard times derail you from her refusal to give up. So let’s take a look back at Maddy’s outlook on life, loyalty, and confidence, and how in the end she was so right about pretty much everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://factormeals.com/thetake50 and use code thetake50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month! Hit Man seemed to have all of the makings of a hit summer movie: a rising star leading man, a magnetic lead actress, a beloved director, a successful festival run, and great reviews. Then it got bought by Netflix and… completely fell off the radar. It was released in a handful of theaters this past weekend and is set to begin streaming this upcoming weekend, but… had you even heard about it before clicking on this video? Why is it that this film, with all of its great elements and mix of romance and action and comedy – all the kinds of things people love seeing on screen seems to have completely had the wind taken out of its sails right when it’s meant to be taking off? The problem, it seems, isn’t with Hit Man at all, but rather is a much larger issue keeping good movies from actually being able to find their audience. So let’s take a deeper look at Hit Man itself (including how much of it is actually based on the real life events of the story) and how the budding mid-budget movie renaissance could save Hollywood if studios would stop blocking their own bag. (And don’t worry, no major spoilers for the film!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gilmore Girls’ Rory is a beloved Smart Girl icon, and was the kind of girl so many of the girls watching at home wanted to be when the show began airing. But, given that Gilmore Girls follows Rory as she evolves through young adulthood, it’s not surprising that she had to learn the hard way that some of her outlook on life was totally wrong along the way. That doesn’t make her a bad person – messing up is a big part of growing up – but it does give us an interesting opportunity to take a look back and analyze what specifically about her personality and choices caused those issues, and how they affected her story (for better and worse.) So, let’s take a deeper look at some of the things even super smart Rory got wrong about life, love, and becoming your own person – and how they ended up being important lessons for Rory and viewers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Being in your 30s used to mean that your life, finances, and job felt stable -- but things are often quite different nowadays. Movies & TV love showing the more secure side of things, but in recent years we've begun to see more characters on screen working to survive their very unstable 30s. Sometimes the lives of characters on screen in their 30s on screen can feel hilariously out of reach, but thankfully in recent years we’ve also started to get many more films and shows that are willing to get honest about what it’s like to be in your 30s now (the good *and* the less than stellar…) So what do movies and tv get right and wrong about life and finances in your 30s today? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://zocdoc.com/THETAKE to download the Zocdoc app for free and book a top-rated doctor today. Amy Winehouse was a one-in-a-generation talent plagued by inner demons and tabloid-splashed controversy, but who through it all brought a spark of life and joy to the world and filled the airwaves with her incomparable voice and witty lyrics. The new biopic of the star, Back to Black, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and starring Marisa Abela was an opportunity to take a deeper examination of Amy’s inner life and her work, but instead seems mostly interested with a more surface level (and, in many cases, sanded down) look at the star’s life. So what did the film get right and wrong about Amy’s life and story? And why does it, in the end, totally fall flat as a biopic of such a larger than life, interesting person? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From always having to look picture perfect even during the literal apocalypse, to “smartphone face” – aka actors who just look too modern to fit into period settings, to the rise of plastic surgery and other cosmetic procedures leading to so many people we see on screen starting to have nearly identical features, the effect of aesthetic trends has become more and more talked about in recent years. And while the expectation certainly isn’t that everything on screen has to be exactly true to real life all of the time – it is entertainment after all – it is interesting to take a deeper look at what drives these kinds of societal trends. The judgment is usually placed on the actresses themselves, but there is much more at play here. So let’s take a deeper look at the truth about these on screen trends, how they alter our viewing experiences, and can even affect how we see ourselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The O.C.’s Seth Cohen is an iconic heartthrob of the early 2000s. He was cute and awkward and always had a hilarious quip ready to go. But as the show celebrates the 20th anniversary of the end of its mega-hit first season, we can look back and realize that Seth was actually… wrong about a lot. His mindset hindered him in so many ways – but many of his faults were also what made him so relatable to many at the time. So let’s take a look back at Seth Cohen, what he got wrong about life, and why his growth was so important for him and us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://factormeals.com/thetake50 and use code thetake50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next month! Friends' Rachel Green, Monica Geller, and Phoebe Buffay are all beautiful – but the show singled out only one as *the* "hot one". For a long time, there was a trend on screen where, within any group of female friends – regardless of what any of them looked like – one was always upheld as the hot friend (pretty much always because she was the main love object of the story.) But this trope split off from other ‘hot girl’ tropes for one key reason: her friendships. So where did the ‘hot one’ trope even come from, and how did Rachel (with the help of Monica and Phoebe) change it for the better? (And have we *finally* gotten rid of it altogether?) Let’s take a deeper look at the ‘hot one’ trope! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://zocdoc.com/THETAKE to download the Zocdoc app for free and book a top-rated doctor today. Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes is one of the most iconic and hilarious characters of the 90s – played by the comedy legend, Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She stood out for being the only woman of the friend group, but also because she was (at least at first) also less cynical than her friends. Her confidence and unapologetic attitude were refreshing and radical, and her character opened the door for so many of our faves that followed after. So let’s turn back the clock and analyze what made Elaine so different, why she became such an iconic and beloved character, and how, even if she wasn’t always a great person, she still managed to be a new kind of role model. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://factormeals.com/thetake50 and use code thetake50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next box. Workaholism and hustle culture are certainly nothing new, but now it’s not just about being efficient at work, but reworking *every aspect* of your entire life to be “productive.” There’s a pervasive feeling that nothing in life is worthwhile if it doesn’t count as being productive – but productive pretty much always boils down to financially lucrative. In a world where making ends meet feels harder than ever, we’ve all been pushed into framing our lives around chasing capital and “maximizing our profits” like we’re over-the-top venture capitalists and not just… people trying to live our human lives. So let’s take a look at this modern streak of ‘toxic productivity’, the media and pop culture it evolved out of, and how we can best try to combat it and take back our hobbies and peace of mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://zocdoc.com/THETAKE to download the Zocdoc app for free and book a top-rated doctor today. Netflix’s new hit adaptation 3 Body Problem is filled with symbolism, but what does it all really mean? The book on which the show is based is famous for leaning hard into the science aspect of sci-fi, creating an engaging but incredibly dense work. The Netflix series streamlines some of the story’s more confusing aspects, but it still takes us on a wild ride and leaves us with more questions than answers. The show uses a lot of symbolism to help get across its major themes, and unpacking these can help us understand the story on a deeper level. So let’s break down some of the show’s most important symbols to get a better grasp of what the story is really trying to tell us. Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From shows like Emily in Paris and You to movies like Not Okay and Ingrid Goes West, influencers and content creators of all kinds have begun popping up more and more as they become a larger part of our everyday lives. And just like their real-life counterparts, these on-screen influencers can give us some pretty unrealistic ideas about what it’s like to be a full time content creator. But sometimes they give us a more realistic, deeper look into the darker side of influencing that social media stars often try to hide… So, let’s look at what the media constantly gets wrong about these careers and their associated finances, the ways all creators are portrayed as uber-wealthy, and why they still get so much hate. Click here to watch the video version of this epsiode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So many film and tv characters have jobs that seem to be almost no work and all pay, pretty much the exact opposite of how things are in their careers in real life. From freelance writers somehow managing to live the high life, to public school teachers who seem to be financially secure and have so much free time, to lawyers who spend more time enjoying their lavish lifestyle than putting in the billable hours to afford it, salaries that don't line up with real world are part of the fun of movies and tv, but can also give people some pretty unrealistic ideas of what those jobs are really like. So lets dig into some of our favorite shows, like Sex and the City, New Girl, Suits, Friends, and more to unpack some of the more unrealistic salaries on screen, plus we'll take a look at some other shows we love that actually seem to be getting things right like Insecure and Abbott Elementary! Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Romantic Grand Gesture is one major romance trope that film and TV just can't get enough of. From filling a room with candles or bouquets of flowers to orchestrating a flash mob proposal, there are some wild romantic gestures in media that are so unrealistic they’re almost laughable, but... we love them nonetheless! Let’s take a minute to zoom out and take a look at all sides of this trope, unpack some of the most ridiculous dates and grand gestures in film and TV, who gets to experience them, and why this trope often conveys the wrong message about love. Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From real life Horse Girls like Bella Hadid and TikTok #HorseGirls to book and tv icons like The Saddle Club, Horse Girls are everywhere. It's long been a trope both on screen and in real life – you probably knew a Horse Girl growing up, or maybe you were the Horse Girl. The trope often splits in two directions: the bratty rich-girl equestrian and the tough and free spirited outcast true horse girl. Both types usually end up getting mocked, though for different reasons. And they both have important lessons to teach all of us, even if we don’t know the first thing about horses. So saddle up and let’s jump into this trope! Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bradley Cooper spent years perfecting his performance (plus writing and directing) in hopes of securing an Oscar for Maestro, but instead, his performance was seemingly overshadowed by his "desperation" to win, and the Oscar for Best Actor instead went to quiet frontrunner Cillian Murphy. Cooper’s Oscar’s journey actually highlights an interesting conundrum for Hollywood actors: it is very much a part of their job to go out on the awards trail and try to convince everyone that their film – and they specifically – deserve to be rewarded. But, if they get a little too overzealous, it can lead to some pretty intense backlash. (There’s also the flipside that if they don’t promote themselves enough they can essentially get forgotten, passed over again and again even though everyone knows they’re incredibly talented.) Let's take a look at *why* Bradley got hit with so much backlash, plus take a deeper look at the overall mystery of what it really takes to run an Oscars campaign (and why it’s kind of started turning people off of the Oscars all together...) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

'Poor Little Rich Kids' like Succession's Kendall, Shiv, and Roman and Gossip Girl's Blair Waldorf seem to have everything, and yet… they’re still miserable. Hearing the old adage “money can’t buy happiness” can be grating, especially in financial times like these – but there is a kernel of truth in it. So to get a better understanding of this trope and why it keeps popping up on screen, let’s take a closer look at the Poor Little Rich Kid in film and television: the important truths the trope can expose, the places it falls flat, and why (no matter how much we might love the characters) it’s still often hard for us to sympathize with them. Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Film and TV love to show partly-relatable, partly-aspirational lifestyles that… actually don’t make a whole lot of sense when you really think about them. Of course, we’re not always watching movies and shows just to see real life, and it can sometimes work well when media choses to let go of realism a little bit to have more fun. But this can also lead to some pretty unrealistic ideas about life and money… So let’s take a look at some of the most nonsensical finances in media, from Friends to Sex and the City to Emily in Paris and beyond, why we’re influenced by them, and how we can enjoy our favorite shows without comparing ourselves to the fantastical examples on screen. Plus, we'll explore some shows like Broad City that are much more realistic in their portrayals of personal finances. Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to https://www.expressvpn.com/thetake and find out how you can get 3 months of ExpressVPN free! Feud: Capote vs The Swans follows the downfall of arguably the most famous American mid-century writer, Truman Capote. His best seller In Cold Blood catapulted him to stardom, and with his natural magnetism and inclination for spectacle catapulted him into the closest inner circles of New York City’s elite, where he befriended a number of very powerful society women, who he referred to as his Swans. However, everything changed for Capote after he published a scathing excerpt about his friends in Esquire Magazine – which got him exiled from high society and sent him spiraling. While these women were very much real, how much does Feud rely on facts and where does the show, and Capote, bend the truth for dramatic effect? Let’s take a look at how the show has portrayed the Swans so far in the first half of the season compared to their real stories to figure out how much fact is woven into the show’s fiction. Click here to watch the video version of this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://factormeals.com/thetake50 and use code thetake50 to get 50% off. Dune: Part 2, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and a host of other stars, has become a huge hit – crossing $80 million in only its first weekend at the box office. It’s no surprise that people love the second installment in Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of the 1965 Frank Herbert novel given how much we all loved the first one. But Paul Atreides’ story is a lot darker than most Chosen One characters we see get the big screen treatment. So how has Paul changed in part two, and what does that mean for what’s to come in his story? (And how might audience reactions cause a bit of a problem?) Let’s dive in! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to http://zocdoc.com/THETAKE to download the Zocdoc app for free and book a top-rated doctor today. The Office is a beautifully crafted comedy that manages to bring the laughs, tug on our heart strings, and make us appreciate the magic of or everyday, ordinary lives. Over it's 9 seasons, we watched the characters stumble and grow, rooting for them all the way (well, most of them...) So join us in taking an extended look back at every season to highlight all of the things that made the show so great, and that have catapulted it to comfort show classic status! To watch the video version of this episode, click here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Rock’s Jenna Maroney still managed to stand out in a sea of hilarious characters. She was unbelievably vain, shallow, manipulative, unstable, thin-skinned… but instead of being annoying and unlikable, she became one of the most entertaining, iconic characters of modern television. So, how did Jenna manage to capture that ‘beloved star’ status that she was so desperate for on the show in real life? Let’s take a deeper look at Jenna’s character arc, the way she perfectly embodied all of the wild pressures that the industry puts on aging actresses, and how such an outlandish character managed to be so oddly relatable. Click here to watch the video version of this Take! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Moms can be many things, but on screen if they’re hot they also often happen to be kind of evil – or, if not outright evil, still pretty bad. From The Graduate's Mrs. Robinson and Mad Men's Betty Draper to The O.C.'s Julie Cooper and Regina's Mom in Mean Girls and beyond, this trope pops up all over film and television. Thankfully this is finally starting to change as more modern shows and films have started tackling this trope head on, but it still hasn’t totally gone away. So let’s take a deeper look at why media was so afraid of hot moms, the problematic sub-trope that often pops up, and the iconic characters like Married with Children's Peggy Bundy and Modern Family's Gloria Delgado-Pritchett that started flipping the script. Click here to watch the video version of this Take! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Big Bang Theory’s Bernadette's (Melissa Rauch) tiny stature and high pitched voice might make her seem unthreatening at first, but one wrong move and you’ll quickly learn that she's not afraid of anyone or anything. But, instead of making her hated, her willingness to stand up for herself and speak her mind actually made her beloved – both on the show and in real life. So let’s take a deeper look at how Bernadette’s attitude was born out of her Oldest Child Syndrome, and how she learned to use her "mean girl" powers for good. Check out the video version of this Take here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices