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. Coming up, the Atlantic's Shirley Lee helps us navigate all the TV out there right now.

It is just the sweetest, sweetest teen romance I have seen in a really long time. Plus, we get to the bottom of a viral tweet that asserts there are only 35 plots in the history of literature. Oh, this is another 31. My job sucks and I'm thin. But first, let's get ready for the weekend by unwinding from another week. With us this week, we have Rome J. He's the culture correspondent for the tribe and online news site for Black Chicaguan's. Rome J. Welcome. What's going on, Greta? Thanks for having me.

So I want to start with this really weird news about the Mona Lisa. This is, of course,

the famous Da Vinci painting in the Louvre. Earlier this week, a dude dressed up as an old lady and threw a piece of cake at the

painting.

I thought this story was so weird.

Did you come across this one?

What did you think?

Yeah.

So I checked it out.

Well, you guys sent it to me.

Otherwise, I would have probably never known.

You know, and so first off,

from my understanding, when you go to see the Mona Lisa, it's, it's like covered in glass.

It's a barricaded. It's roped off. Yeah. You can't really get close to it. So the glass kind of takes

away from the actual painting.

...