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I would watch 24 hours straight of Christine Baranski saying, “They don't make tassels like that anymore.” Welcome back to Future History on Landline, where I ask what our pop culture will tell future historians about us. This week: Season 4, Episode 2 of The Gilded Age. Marian has a historically accurate crash out and follows the settlement house movement to the Lower East Side. Peggy refuses Mrs. Kirkland's widow rebrand. Agnes takes the Ladies' Home Journal to the Met, where it is a little tacky for her taste. George hires the Pinkertons, loses to Rockefeller and spirals on laudanum, while Dr. Kirkland is shut out of Bellevue as his TB patient dies among strangers. Then I zoom out to 2026: billionaire philanthropy, private power filling public gaps and the respectability politics that protect Larry, but never Marian. Plus Hillsong's Carl Lentz and Love Is Blind. Did I have Larry going into musical theater on my bingo card? I did not.

Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney 

Timestamps (estimated from the transcript's length; check against the final audio)

• 00:00 Tassels, bingo cards, and what Future History is
• 02:00 Marian and Larry: “Your life is simple”
• 05:00 Settlement houses, Jane Addams and queer reform history
• 13:00 Peggy, the Daughters of Friendship and the widow rebrand
• 21:00 Agnes, Ada, a telephone and the Ladies' Home Journal at the Met
• 28:00 Larry's bootleg Gilbert and Sullivan
• 31:00 George, the Pinkertons and Rockefeller's philanthropy defense
• 42:00 Dr. Kirkland, Bellevue and the racial history of TB
• 52:00 Future history: private power, respectability politics and Love Is Blind

Full episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EpBxdv5mBKgbNQhjMK4R21JzsriQLWD3vzlg3iyOlNg/edit?usp=sharing 

Follow Landline:

• Tiktok:@landlinewithmary
• YouTube:@LandlinewithMary
• Website: https://landlinewithmary.com/ 

Connect with Me:

• Website: http://www.marymmahoney.com
• Instagram: @mimimahoney
• Email: [email protected] 
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney 

Support the show

Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline.

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Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb ) 

If someone tells you they love Grover Cleveland, do not go with them to a second location. Welcome to the first Future History episode of Landline, where I ask some tough questions about how history will remember us. If future historians had only our music, movies, TV, and celebrity gossip to go on, could they understand life today? What stories would they tell about us? First up: the Season 4 premiere of The Gilded Age. It’s 1886, and everyone is panicking about the order of things. Oscar and Enid’s lavender marriage gives me hope for less gay trauma this season. Gladys’s traumatic birth opens a look at Victorian obstetrics and maternal health today. Peggy calls out Cleveland’s record on Reconstruction, and George spirals over railroad rebates and Rockefeller. Then I zoom out to what the show says about 2026: the limits of straight marriage, the second Gilded Age and Martha Stewart’s Halloween costume. Plus, what do The Gilded Age and The Real Housewives of Potomac have in common? Is predicting the future harder than reading the chemistry between Marian and Larry? 100%.

Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney

Timestamps

• 00:00 A warning about Grover Cleveland
• 01:00 What is Future History?
• 02:00 Oscar and Enid’s lavender wedding
• 06:00 Webster Hall and queer New York in 1886
• 10:00 Gladys’s childbirth and the save-the-duchess scene
• 16:00 Chloroform, Lister and maternal health, then and now
• 24:00 Marian and Larry’s night at the hotel
• 30:00 Peggy, the Kirklands and the Black elite
• 34:00 Agnes, Ada and the case against Grover Cleveland
• 44:00 George, Rockefeller and railroad rebates, with a clock twink chaser, followed by what historians will make of 2026

Transcript

Full episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JflkDhoz9ZJfB0IeXCYFqKsJrNJe6sBpruxGwIACbqU/edit?usp=sharing

Connect with Me:

• Website: http://www.marymmahoney.com
• Instagram: @mimimahoney
• Email: [email protected]
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney

Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline.

Sponsor Message:

Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb )

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What happens when American Girl writes its own fan fiction? On this episode, I’m joined by Margaret Hartmann of New York magazine to dig into Fiona Davis’s Samantha: The Next Chapter. The novel finds Samantha Parkington at 25 in 1920, grieving Grandmary and fighting for her inheritance, with a choice to make between two very different men. Along the way, we take stock of American Girl at 40: Bratz collabs, the Claudie books, and why the brand keeps confusing nostalgia with history. We also get into the book’s surprisingly political Looking Back section on voting rights, and pitch the Samantha sequels we’d write ourselves. Spoilers (and laughs) ahead.

To hear the full episode, become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney

Timestamps

• 00:00 Welcome to Landline
• 01:51 Margaret’s American Girl story (and memorizing the catalog)
• 05:39 Samantha vs. Molly
• 08:46 Sagamore Hill and the art of the house tour
• 10:56 Is American Girl having a midlife crisis?
• 24:05 Into the book: 1920, suffrage and Fiona Davis
• 30:11 The Harlem scene and the limits of the white savior
• 44:59 Class, money and Samantha’s empathy
• 54:39 Looking Back 1920 and the fight for voting rights
• 1:05:13 Our alternate plotlines, and who should get the next chapter

Transcript

Full episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wfGBNYDaC6YUZWXgvU9c7hgPScQOAtpUwpO8OJ9W7cM/edit?usp=sharing

Resources

• Samantha: The Next Chapter by Fiona Davis, also on Bookshop.org
• Author Spotlight: Fiona Davis, American Girl
• Mattel Marks 40 Years of the American Girl Brand, Business Wire, February 2026
• From Socialite to Shopgirl: American Girl Samantha Gets a New Story, NPR via Connecticut Public
• Meet Claudie by Brit Bennett, and the Claudie series
• Rachel by Angelina Weld Grimké, free on Project Gutenberg
• Carrie Chapman Catt, National Park Service, and Woodlawn Cemetery, where she’s buried with Mary Garrett Hay, from NYC LGBT Historic Sites
• Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, nps.gov/sahi
• Henry Street Settlement, henrystreet.org
• League of Women Voters, lwv.org

Follow Landline:

• Website: https://landlinewithmary.com/

Connect with Me:

• Website: http://www.marymmahoney.com
• Instagram: @mimimahoney
• Email: [email protected]
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney

Connect with my Margaret:

Read Margaret’s article on American Girl: https://www.thecut.com/article/samantha-next-chapter-american-girl-book-adults.html

You can read Margaret’s writing for New York here: https://nymag.com/author/margaret-hartmann/

Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline.

Sponsor Message:

Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb )

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If you grew up waiting by the mailbox for the winter issue, this one’s for you. I’m joined by Aubre Andrus, former lifestyle editor at American Girl magazine and author of books for middle-grade readers, who is campaigning to bring the magazine back. We talk about what made it so special: the paper dolls that traced a girl’s family through her mother’s line, the raw honesty of Heart to Heart, and a letter signed “Annoyed” with a note from “Annoyed’s Mother” underneath. Aubre takes us inside the dream job of planning slumber parties for a living, explains why she thinks this is the right cultural moment for a comeback, and tells us exactly how listeners can help. Plus: why a magazine that never asked girls to change might be what the brand needs most right now.

Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney

Timestamps

00:00 Welcome to Landline + meet Aubre Andrus

01:58 What American Girl magazine meant to us, from issue one in 1992

02:58 A quick history: Pleasant Rowland and the expansion into contemporary girlhood

04:20 Inside a classic issue: Heart to Heart, Help!, paper dolls, and the mini magazine

06:10 The magazine that never told girls they had to change

08:02 “Annoyed’s Mother,” paper doll family trees, and girls as part of history

10:46 Aubre’s dream job as lifestyle editor (and the project that got her hired)

15:19 How the campaign to bring back American Girl magazine started

19:14 Why now: screen-free kids, the analog boom, and millennial nostalgia

22:51 What American Girl lost when the magazine ended

26:58 The pitch deck, Mattel shake-ups, and how listeners can help

Transcript

Full episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zyqS04v0ieoKCjLfu7GAwVtl3acMzIZScXSZKOzf8gc/edit?usp=sharing

Follow Landline:

• Instagram: @landlinewithmary
• Tiktok:@landlinewithmary
• YouTube:@LandlinewithMary
• Website: https://landlinewithmary.com/

Connect with Me:

• Website: http://www.marymmahoney.com
• Instagram: @mimimahoney
• Email: [email protected]
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney

Connect with my guest, Aubre Andrus:

Instagram: @aubreandrus

Engaging with her posts is the social proof she’s bringing to Mattel.

Resources

Support the campaign

• Follow Aubre Andrus on Instagram @aubreandrus.
• Ask American Girl to bring back the magazine: search “American Girl Customer Service” and use the contact form, choosing a question about a product. AG’s help pages start here: American Girl FAQ.

Mentioned in the episode

• Aubre Andrus, author page (Penguin Random House). Award-winning children’s author of 20+ books for Scholastic, American Girl, Disney, and others.
• The Making of American Girl (American Girl Publishing). 288-page coffee table history from the company archives, with a section on the magazine and Pleasant Rowland’s handwritten business plan.
• The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. The book behind much of the “no smartphones before high school” push Aubre describes.
• LEGO Life Magazine. The free kids’ magazine Aubre points to as proof brands still see value in print.
• 13 Going on 30 (2004). For the Jenna Rink pitch-meeting energy.

Related reading and listening

• Reminder, I wrote a book about American Girl and its fandom! Dolls of Our Lives: Why We Can’t Quit American Girl by Mary Mahoney and Allison Horrocks.
• You can also listen to all of Dolls of Our Lives to hear us re-read every book.

Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline.

Sponsor Message:

Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb )

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I have a confession. Murder, She Wrote is my favorite show of all time, and when I heard Jamie Lee Curtis is starring in a new version, I had questions. In this episode, I’m joined by Cristen Conger, host of Unladylike and Conspiracy, She Wrote, to make the case for Jessica Fletcher. We get into the show’s quietly queer world and Angela Lansbury’s astonishing life, from teen Oscar nominations to a narrow escape from the Manson Family. We also cover our favorite episodes, a lavender turban, a chowder used as a murder weapon, and why a show with a body in every episode is somehow the coziest thing on television. Then come our hot takes on the remake, now set for February 2028. Pour some chowder. Do not eat it.

Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney

Timestamps

• 00:00 Welcome to Landline: remakes, adaptations, and why this one makes me shudder
• 02:04 Meet Cristen Conger: Murder, She Wrote fans can always find each other
• 05:55 Is Murder, She Wrote a queer show?
• 08:44 The Grady problem
• 10:21 The Jamie Lee Curtis remake, plus the Octavia Spencer version that died with Quibi
• 14:55 Aging on screen, Botox, and Practical Magic 2
• 17:15 How Jessica Fletcher was born: Carla Singer, Miss Marple, and the Columbo writers
• 21:39 Angela Lansbury’s wild backstory: teen Oscar nominations, the Manson Family, and a move to Ireland
• 25:53 Favorite episodes: Widow, Weep for Me, Keep the Home Fries Burning, and a murderous chowder
• 32:52 The fandom: cancelled by Friends, revived by the internet, and a sold-out festival in Mendocino

Transcript

Full episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EwyszMm0OfjMYOLX9_4h5ewpoIFOzv52HmWN-ZwBNww/edit?usp=sharing

Resources:

The remake

• Deadline: Universal’s Murder, She Wrote with Jamie Lee Curtis heads to early 2028

Watch and read

• Murder, She Wrote free 24/7 channel on Pluto TV
• Reassessing Murder, She Wrote (Routledge, 2025), edited by Eva Burke and Jennifer Schnabel.
• Murder, She Wrote (TV Milestones) by Bridget Kies
• List of the Murder, She Wrote novels
• The Murder, She Wrote Cook Book. Profits went to Aid for AIDS.
• Maintenance Phase: Angela Lansbury’s “Positive Moves”
• The Mirror Crack’d (1980). (Film starring Angela as Ms. Marple with Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson).

Visit Cabot Cove (well, Mendocino)

• Kelley House Museum’s Murder, She Wrote Festival

Follow Landline:

• Instagram: @landlinewithmary
• Tiktok:@landlinewithmary
• YouTube:@LandlinewithMary
• Website: https://landlinewithmary.com/

Connect with Me:

• Website: http://www.marymmahoney.com
• Instagram: @mimimahoney
• Email: [email protected]
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney

Connect with my guest, Cristen Conger:

• Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/unladylikemedia
• Newsletter: https://unladylike.substack.com/
• Listen to Conspiracy, She Wrote: https://conspiracyshewrote.com/
• Listen to Unladylike: https://www.unladylike.co/episodes

Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline.

Sponsor Message:

Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb )

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