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 WBEZ 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 NERNED. I'm Greta Johnson. And I wonder, like, what is your favorite TV show of all time?

I don't really do a lot with favorites except beverages because water and champagne are absolutely my favorite beverages.

But when I really think about what my favorite TV show is, I think I'm just going to go, like, lean into the throwback and say,

Shira, Princess of How, How, How, How, How, How, How. Partly because I don't even remember this,

but it's one of my mom's favorite stories. It was, like, one of the first days that I went to,

like, preschool or something. And we were all out on this playground and

there were all these boys running around playing like superhero, you know, like raw, I'm

Spider-Man, I'm Batman, blah, blah, blah. And apparently I just like stomped up to them and was like,

I am Shira. I am Shira, princess of power.

And then they all ran away from me.

And like, man, what I would do to, like, actually remember that happening, but it's still a pretty...

I mean, even if it wasn't real, the fact that this is, like, a mythology in my family is just so cool.

So with that, this episode is all about TV.

We're going to talk about some new stuff that came out this summer.

We're going to talk about some awesome throwbacks that you can enjoy on the couch.

And our guest this week is Margaret Lyons.

She's the TV critic for The New York Times. And we talk a bunch about recommendations. But I started with perhaps the most important question about summer TV.

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