Pod pals, please welcome Kristen Meinzer back to the blog! Kristen is a podcast extraordinaire and she’s joined us to talk about Movie Therapy with Rafer & Kristen, a show that will provide “questionable advice and solid movie recommendations for whatever ails you.”
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COVID BROUGHT US BACK
A year ago, my friend Rafer Guzman and I hosted a podcast for WNYC called Movie Date. It was a mix of film reviews and interviews with celebrities who came through WNYC, from Joan Rivers to Scarlett Johansson to Taraji P. Henson. From time to time, the show also included a segment called “Movie Therapy,” in which listeners would write in seeking advice, and Rafer and I would respond with movie and TV recommendations. The podcasted launched in 2010, and sunsetted when I left WNYC in 2016.
While we were both sad to say goodbye to Movie Date, we also believed that someday we would host a show together again; we just didn’t know when. To our surprise, that moment came in the spring of 2020, when the pandemic hit. Old Movie Date listeners began hitting us up on Twitter and Instagram, telling us they were spending more time in front of their screens than ever, and were needing our advice more than ever. “Will you please launch a new podcast, just for those of us who need Movie Therapy?” they said. And so, we did.
In March, we made a few pilot episodes with the early questions we received. In April we launched Movie Therapy with Rafer & Kristen. And not long after, we were thrilled to be featured in Apple Podcasts’ New & Noteworthy and NPROne’s Featured Shows.
Each episode of Movie Therapy with Rafer & Kristen is broken into three segments. The first two segments feature letters from people seeking advice. Their predicaments run the gamut, from relationship woes to frustrations over homeschooling, to unwell pets, to utter loneliness in the pandemic. We offer some advice, some personal confessions, some laughter, and a TV and movie recommendation to each advice seeker. The final segment is always a listener or special guest asking “What Should I Watch Next?” after binging a series, obsessing over a movie, or seeing something that left them disappointed. Guests have included Karina Longworth of You Must Remember This, Nichole Perkins of Thirst Aid Kit, Dan Pashman of The Sporkful, and more.
Rafer and I love making the show, and we hope that when people listen, our audience feels a little less alone with their problems, and discovers something new to watch during our new endless hours indoors.
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Thank you, Kristen! And listeners, make sure to catch the podcast on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, and wherever else you feed your podcast addiction. You can find out more about the show at raferandkristen.com and on Facebook. Plus, follow Kristen and Rafer on Twitter at @kristenmeinzer and @raferguzman, respectively.
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