We Disrupt This Broadcast

In this episode, we examine the four-part Peabody Award-winning HBO documentary series Stax: Soulsville USA through a conversation with the film’s director, Jamila Wignot. The series chronicles the incredible rise and fall, and rise and fall again, of Stax Records, the Memphis soul record label that brought us incredible artists such as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Rufus and Carla Thomas, Sam & Dave, and Booker T. & the MGs. Wignot explores how the history of Stax Records is interwoven with the history of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, gave rise to the birth of soul music, and was built on a racially integrated musical community. We also discuss the business acumen of Stax leader Al Bell, and the ultimate threat of Black economic success. Following that conversation, host Gabe González speaks with radio and media personality Dyana Williams about the still-unfolding legacy of Stax Records.

This episode, we’re getting to the heart of what drives producer, writer, and showrunner John Wells. Wells is the legend behind such Peabody and Emmy Award-winning series as The West Wing, ER, and now the breakout hit The Pitt. Exploring the challenges facing ER doctors and the American healthcare system, each season of The Pitt takes place over the course of a single 24-hour shift. Wells’ dedication to accuracy and our shared humanity allows viewers to connect to healthcare professionals and patients in a revolutionary, visceral way. After, host Gabe Gonzalez sits down with We Disrupt This Broadcast’s own resident expert, media scholar, professor, and Executive Director of Center for Media & Social Impact Caty Borum, to discuss the real-world, life-changing impact of shows like The Pitt that use entertainment to portray medical challenges and the social determinants of health.

This episode, we’re talking about the Peabody Award-nominated animated children’s series Spirit Rangers, a superhero show about Native siblings who use their powers to protect the national park they call home. Showrunner and creator Karissa Valencia joins us to discuss how the show’s team came together and became the first U.S. preschool show that features an all-Native writers' room. Through this process, they created an authentically Native series that helps kids of all backgrounds connect to nature. Host Gabe Gonzalez then speaks with comedian and Spirit Rangers writer Joey Clift about the way their writers’ room and crew allowed them to tackle complex subjects that had never before been told in children’s animation.

In the season three premiere of We Disrupt This Broadcast, Jeffrey Jones, Executive Director of The Peabody Awards, leads a live-recorded conversation with this year’s Peabody Trailblazer Award winner, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Thompson is a musician, documentarian, author, podcaster, feature filmmaker, and DJ. As the co-founder and drummer of The Roots, he revolutionized hip-hop by introducing live instrumentation and blending genres, helping shape the Neo-Soul movement. He’s also become a cultural curator and historian through his Oscar and Peabody-winning documentary Summer of Soul, as well as Sly Lives!, a documentary on musician Sly Stone. Questlove also produced the documentary on the musical performances of Saturday Night Live. Jones spoke with Questlove about his personal record collection, his documentary work, and his advice for young artists. In this wide-ranging interview, they discuss the pressure and perils of Black genius, the importance of joy during moments of cultural upheaval and struggle, and the metaphysics of the band Earth, Wind, and Fire.

We Disrupt This Broadcast is back for season 3! Join us as we talk to the creative powerhouses that help reinvent and reimagine the kinds of stories we see on TV and who disrupt what we’ve come to expect on our screens and in our culture. We Disrupt This Broadcast is co-produced by The Peabody Awards and Center for Media & Social Impact and is produced and distributed in partnership with audio production group PRX. Hosted by comedian Gabe González, We Disrupt This Broadcast explores how the minds behind critically-acclaimed TV shows are re-imagining the world and tackling the big issues that move us forward. From intimate interviews with award-winning TV creatives to real talk with experts and social movement leaders, join us as we explore the inner workings and cultural significance of the shows that are changing all the rules and shaping our future. Listen to We Disrupt This Broadcast - back for its third season on January 22nd. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

The Peabody Award's Executive Director Jeffrey Jones sits down with Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, the minds behind the gripping mini-series Adolescence. The Emmy-winning crime drama explores the aftermath of a brutal crime committed by a young boy against a girl classmate. With its unflinching exploration of grief and confusion in the wake of such a horrific event, the show sparked worldwide conversations regarding online misogyny and teen behaviors. Graham and Thorne discuss how concern over the role that technology plays in the lives of children was a major inspiration behind the show. Graham also shares how his personal experiences shaped his character, Eddie Miller. Later, host Gabe González is joined by Dr. Harriet Over to discuss “the manosphere:” what it is, why we should all be concerned, and ways to tackle the very real rise of misogyny online.

This week, We Disrupt This Broadcast is excited to share an epiode of American Masters: Creative Spark. In this episode, actress, comedian and writer Natasha Rothwell shares how she connects to her character Belinda’s journey of self-discovery and how she collaborated with creator Mike White to bring greater nuance to the character. She reflects on the importance of diverse storytelling in Hollywood, the inspiration she drew from actress Nell Carter, and why she believes the arts are an empathy machine. Rothwell also opens up about her experience as a neurodivergent creator, the power of destigmatizing diagnoses, and the untapped potential of art. As she puts it, “From water lilies to Lily Tomlin, it’s all awesome.”

Host Gabe González introduces us to the shocking true story of the British Post Office scandal, and how the Peabody Award-winning series Mr. Bates vs. the Post Office led to real-world justice for the victims of this horrific abuse of government power. Jeffrey Jones sits down with the show’s Executive Producer Patrick Spence to understand the scandal, what it took to bring this story to screens, and the real-world impact the series had on public outrage and calls for justice within British politics. Gabe then sits down with journalist Nick Wallis to share his decades-long journey of bringing the story to light and keeping it in the spotlight via his website, articles, and a podcast. Finally, Gabe speaks with screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes about how she was able to earn the coveted “this is a true story” designation, reserved for TV series that adhere to a strict factual code, all while still bringing the deep emotional core of the subpostmasters’ tragic stories to life in this riveting dramatization.

Host Gabe González introduces us to the brilliant, absurdist, hilarious Peabody Award-winning HBO series Fantasmas. In a funny, enlivening conversation with creator, writer, and comedian Julio Torres, they explore how Torres uses humor to uncover the real absurdity of our immigration, healthcare, and economic systems. They discuss how creating fiction – like the “proof of existence” that the fictional Julio is so desperate to avoid – can expose our even stranger realities, like the “aliens of extraordinary abilities” visa that real Julio applied for when immigrating to the U.S. In the second half, Gabe speaks with Andrew DeWaard, author of Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture. Andrew’s work focuses on the cultural cost of the financialization of media. And don’t worry, he also explains what the word “financialization” means.

The Peabody Award-winning Disney+ movie Out of My Mind employs Jennifer Aniston’s voice alongside actress Phoebe Ray Taylor’s stellar performance to reveal the lack of accessible public school education in the early 2000s. Host Gabe González speaks with director Amber Sealey about what sparked her interest in this story, the state of accommodations in public schools, and how making her sets accessible improved working conditions for everyone. Gabe then speaks with professor and Undoing Ableism author Dr. Priya Lalvani about the ways our education system fails to achieve a truly inclusive educational environment for everyone, and what it would take to change that.

Writer, comedian and showrunner Sharon Horgan joins Executive Director of the Center for Media & Social Impact Caty Borum for an in-depth conversation regarding the themes of her critically acclaimed shows. From Catastrophe to Divorce to the Peabody Award-winning Bad Sisters, Sharon’s work is singularly focused on showcasing messy, strong women as they navigate critical junctures in their lives and chart new paths. Afterwards, Caty sits down with therapist and author Oona Metz to discuss women’s empowerment and resilience, divorce, and the insidious and often invisible nature of coercive control in intimate relationships–themes explored brilliantly by Horgan’s work.

Gabe González is joined by Soo Hugh, showrunner of the Peabody Award-winning series Pachinko, Apple TV’s trilingual series set in Japan and Korea. Pachinko is an epic family drama spanning more than sixty years of history, during and after the Japanese occupation of Korea. Through the eyes of protagonist Sunja, who moves to Japan with her husband and raises her children and grandchildren there, the series asks the question, “What is home?” We also talk to comedian and author Youngmi Mayer. In her memoir I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying, she brilliantly balances tragedy and humor as she recounts her life in Korea, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. in the wake of her family’s traumatic experiences under Japanese colonialism.

Executive Director of the Peabody Awards and resident musician Jeffrey Jones talks with Nida Manzoor, creator and writer of the Peabody Award-winning We Are Lady Parts and the action comedy film, Polite Society. They dive deep into the show’s delightful use of punk music; Nida’s musical inspirations, as well as teaming up with her siblings to write hilarious songs for the show; the joy and burden of representing muslim women on-screen; and the classic dilemma many artists face: staying true to themselves or selling out. The conversation continues as Jeff speaks with stand-up comedian and host of Hulu’s Muslim Matchmaker, Yasmin Elhady, on the role of comedy in disrupting stereotypical depictions of Muslim women.

Host Gabe González sits down with Jen Statsky, co-creator of HBO’s Peabody Award-winning series Hacks. We talk with Statsky about the complex relationship between the show’s two central characters - and their stark generational divide and friendship, while delving into broader themes of the complex history of women in comedy and the importance of female mentorship. In our second interview, the pod’s executive producer Caty Borum speaks with the ultimate Gen-X comedian, Margaret Cho, about how she’s maintained an outspoken, hilarious comedy career through various waves of American progress and regression, as well as how she’s mentoring up-and-coming queer and Asian comedians today.

This week on We Disrupt This Broadcast, we’re talking about one of the most thrilling and politically thoughtful shows out right now - Andor. Peabody Awards Executive Director Jeffrey Jones talks with Andor creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy about the ideologies explored in the Disney+ series in the Star Wars story universe. They dive into how revolutions are formed, what pushes someone to become a revolutionary leader, and how studying historical revolutions informs Gilroy’s creative journey. Jeffrey then joins host Gabe González to unpack what can be learned from Andor as a tale of a fascist, authoritarian state, as well as how audiences might react to the show in the current political climate.

Host Gabe González takes a dive into the unsettling corporate world of the Peabody award-winning show Severance. Through the dystopian and satirical concept of splitting one’s consciousness into an “innie” (work self) and “outie” (home self), Severance explores the lengths corporations will go to dehumanize its workforce and the ways in which workers alternate between accepting these degradations and fighting back. To take a closer look at these themes, Gabe chats with Severance executive producer and director Ben Stiller, in addition to actor Adam Scott, who portrays Severance’s protagonist Mark. Finally, to break down the theme of a dehumanized workplace, Peabody Awards executive director Jeffrey Jones speaks with professor of sociology Dr. Allison Pugh about her book The Last Human Job: The Work of Connecting in a Disconnected World.

Comedian, writer and actor Mo Amer joins host Gabe González to talk about his Peabody-award winning show Mo. The show is a heartfelt yet hilarious glimpse into the lives of a Palestinian-American family waiting to be granted asylum in the US. The show explores grief, trauma, and our complicated immigration system while also depicting Amer’s deep love of his hometown, Houston, Texas. They talk about Amer’s comedy roots, his personal experiences as a refugee as well as writing season 2 of his show in the wake of October 7th and its aftermath. Following their conversation, Gabe considers broader questions of immigration and its representation on TV with Saket Soni, a labor organizer and human rights strategist working at the intersection of racial justice, migrant rights, and climate change.

Jeffrey Jones, Executive Director of the Peabody Awards, dives into the topic of men’s mental health with guests Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein. Bill Lawrence is the showrunner and creator of the Peabody-award winning series, Scrubs and Ted Lasso, as well as the current Apple+ hit Shrinking. His series have a central focus on the importance of male friendships in redefining traditional masculinity and on the importance of community to healing and building healthy relationships. Brett Goldstein is a writer, performer, and comedian who writes and stars in Ted Lasso as the gruff but bighearted Roy Kent and co-created Shrinking with Bill Lawrence and appears in the second season as the drunk driver responsible for the death of the protagonist’s wife.