I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WB EZ Chicago.

Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen wherever you get your podcast.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette.

I'm Greta Johnson. We did it. We made it to another weekend. Happy Virgo season to all who celebrate. Coming up, we're going to talk with vulture critic Catherine Van Aeron Dunk about a new trend we're seeing on TV, white men in crisis. It is this almost like narrative experiment of like, what if we take the guy who used to be the center and then we just shift him slightly off?

Plus, Jess Zimmerman tells us about her book, Women and Other Monsters, about why ancient myths feminize so many of their monsters.

I don't intend this as like a takedown of mythology, right?

Because like this is true of so much of culture.

It's really just a takedown of culture.

But first, it's our look at the week that was.

Our panelists today are two excellent Chicago journalists.

WTTWW host Brandes Friedman and WBEZEC weekend anchor Aricelli Gomez-Aldana.

Hi, you two.

Hey, Greta. Hi, Brandis.

Hello. I'm happy to be here.

Oh, so excited to have you. So there is a lot of news this week.

The U.S. government is working to quickly evacuate American citizens and Afghan allies from the country, which is now under Taliban rule. The Pfizer vaccine was granted full approval by the FDA. And Pepsi is making a flamen hot Cheetos Mountain Dew for some reason. But I think we should start with another

junk food giant. This week, Taco Bell announced rapper Lil Nas X will be the company's

chief impact officer. He used to work at one of the

...