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Zen POP is a podcast about understanding ourselves through the music, movies, and moments that shaped us. With a distinctly Gen X sensibility, we use pop culture as a mirror, reflecting our emotional patterns, relationships, blind spots, and where we’re still learning. Each episode starts with something we all know and love, then uses humor, memory, and shared reference points to go deeper into what we watch and listen to, what it reveals about us, and how those stories shape our relationships and our sense of self. We organize conversations into categories, themes, and “best of” lists because remembering togeth...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Zen Pop turns shared cultural memories into lively conversations about parenting, family relationships, identity, and the assumptions carried across generations.
Todd Adams and Kathy Adams turn familiar movies, television, and music into prompts for candid family reflection. Their conversations move easily from MTV and Milli Vanilli to blended families, imposter syndrome, parenting, grief, and the sexual politics of older comedies.
The Brady Bunch meets Modern Family, and your family group chat gets a reality check.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A Rocky II rewatch finds exhaustion, family, and uneasy triumph inside the final fight.
Todd Adams and his co-host turn Rocky II's final fight with Apollo into something more searching than a straight rewatch. Their back-and-forth lingers on Rocky's collapse, asking whether it reads as defeat, depletion, or the last visible proof that he has spent everything…
Rocky becomes a tender study of anger, need, and the difficult work of making up.
Rocky becomes a close look at bruised pride and uneven repair, using Mick and Rocky's fight over the manager role to trace what anger does to a relationship.
Major League turns baseball-movie trivia into a warm conversation about performance and memory.
Major League gives Zen Pop's Cinetherapy format an easy field to play on. Todd Adams and Kathy Adams begin with the movie's Indians roster jokes, baseball bits, and a Yellowstone line that only appears in the trailer, then use the comedy to ask what feels authentic on screen.
A grounded look at the small cues that help families stay with one another in difficult moments.
The episode turns "The Unseen Work of Regulating Others" toward family friction: a hand on Todd's leg, a pause before an interruption, and the quiet effort it can take to let someone finish a thought.
A candid conversation about teaching children ownership, vulnerability, and responsibility by practicing them at home.
Todd and Gabby keep the conversation close to humility, responsibility, and the quiet ways people learn to treat disagreement as a contest. Their strongest thread is the link between adult accountability and what children absorb at home: whether mistakes can be owned, whether…
Empathy is weighed against moral clarity, faith, and family responsibility.
Zen Parenting Radio frames this episode around a parenting-and-faith question, suggesting that empathy can blur moral clarity even as it still matters.
A groggy start, a movie detour, and a steady case for connection.
Todd and Kathy open episode 812 with a groggy morning stretch and a joking nod to Mucinex, then settle into the show’s familiar question of how people show up for one another.
A morning question turns into a clear look at care, habit, and what drives a couple.
The episode opens with a plain morning question and uses it to show how Todd and Kathy move through the day differently. He looks toward the schedule and the work ahead. She starts with the people in the house and what they need.
Manoush Zomorodi turns TED Talks into themed, multi-guest explorations of science and society.
Daily TED and TEDx talks hosted by Elise Hu, spanning science, psychology, and creativity.
Two hosts revisit one film, show, or book a week, plus long personal tangents.
Lawfare's weekly panel turns Supreme Court rulings and war-powers fights into legal debate.
Todd and Kathy analyze 'Weird Science' and 'Revenge of the Nerds' through a modern lens, exploring how these 80s nerd comedies shaped Gen X attitudes toward consent, masculinity, and power.
Kathy Adams and her three daughters discuss The Hunger Games trilogy, exploring its themes of dehumanization, propaganda, and rebellion.
Hosts Todd and Kathy discuss transitioning their podcast to Zen Pop Parenting, focusing on pop culture as a mirror for self-understanding.
Hosts Todd and Kathy announce their podcast's rebrand to Zen Pop Parenting, shifting focus to pop culture as a lens for parenting topics.
Hosts Kathy and Todd explore the theme of leaving things better than we found them, using pop culture examples like Gladiator and The Grinch to discuss leadership, trauma, and resilience.
Todd and Kathy discuss the loneliness epidemic among men, advocating for personal responsibility and adaptation, then shift to Kathy's 'Choose Your Three Words' blog, exploring integrity, humility, and compassion as tools for navigating chaos.
The hosts explore the deaths of 90s grunge lead singers, linking their struggles with addiction and mental health to broader Gen X cultural themes.
["Todd Adams and Kathy Kasani Adams frame Pulling a Milli Vanilli around Rob Pilatus, Fab Morvan, and producer Frank Farian, the same producer they connect to Boney M.", "They recount Girl You Know It's True, the MTV track-skip that exposed the lip-sync setup, the album's 7 million copies, and Arista Records offering refunds after the backlash.", "The episode places the scandal against 1989 markers like the Berlin Wall falling, The Simpsons debuting, CD sales overtaking vinyl, and MTV-driven pop rewarding image as much as sound.", "The second half turns to imposter syndrome through Todd's nerves leading men's groups, Neil Patrick Harris's next-rung story, and the idea that success does not stop self-doubt."]
Zen Pop Parenting opens with Todd Adams and Kathy Adams turning Zen Parenting Radio into a new show built around MTV, Gen X memory, and parenting.
Zen Pop Parenting uses William Zabka’s Johnny Lawrence to trace how The Karate Kid, Just One of the Guys, and National Lampoon’s European Vacation taught Gen X to read bullies as confident, athletic, and socially backed.
["Todd Adams calls Stranger Things his favorite show ever, and Kathy Adams uses that claim to launch a Gen X reading of season one.
Todd and Kathy announce the rebranding of their podcast to Zen Pop Parenting, focusing on pop culture as a lens for mindfulness and parenting.
Todd and Kathy Adams explore the 'art of doing nothing' through the lenses of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Big Lebowski, analyzing how these Gen X classics reflect rebellion, emotional depth, and parenting insights.
The hosts analyze The Brady Bunch and Modern Family to explore lessons about blended families, comparing how each show portrays family dynamics, emotional labor, and generational change.
Todd and Kathy discuss parenting challenges, focusing on a story about Todd getting Chipotle for his daughter to stay connected.
The hosts analyze The Outsiders, discussing its impact on 1980s youth culture, the star-studded cast, and themes of class and empathy.
The hosts discuss and compare the Rocky movie franchise, debating which installment is best.
The hosts celebrate their wedding anniversary by reminiscing about their reception and the bad DJ, leading into a discussion of a 70s movie.
The hosts discuss the movie Major League, using humor and personal anecdotes to explore deeper emotional and relational themes.
The hosts announce a rebranding of their parenting podcast to focus on using pop culture as a tool for self-reflection and personal growth.
The hosts discuss an upcoming parenting event and share their thoughts on the TV show Yellow Jackets, tying pop culture to personal growth.
Joe tells Jeff Probst, "I'm going to be the man I want them to be" before helping Eva.
A Zen Talk episode featuring high school seniors who founded Chase Light, a peer support organization for teen mental health.
The hosts use the movie Swingers to discuss how pop culture references can reveal insights about parenting and personal relationships.
The hosts discuss how to help children navigate drama and hold space for them, drawing from their parenting podcast experience.
The hosts discuss how ordinary moments are the most important, using humor and personal anecdotes to explore self-understanding and parenting.
The hosts discuss how to choose our own stories about experiences like grief and stress to avoid feeling overwhelmed, emphasizing nuance and self-awareness.