In 2016, Jenny Owen Youngs launched a podcast called Buffering the Vampire Slayer, with her then-wife, Kristin Russo, author of This is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids. Youngs was an avid Buffy fan, though Russo had never seen the show, so they agreed to watch the entire series and talk about each episode through a queer lens; to top it off, Youngs would write a song for every single episode of the show. Yes, including the wretched "Doublemeat Palace." They even wrote a complete musical about the experience of watching the musical episode of the show! (It's great.)
Buffering garnered a huge fanbase — both because of, and despite the fact that Youngs and Russo divorced halfway through the show. They ultimately completed the series, concluding with an epic prom night event at the actual filming location for the Sunnydale High School.
And now, the divorced duo are back at it with The Ex-Files — a new podcast with the same premise, except this time, as the name suggests, they're watching The X-Files. Clearly, Youngs and Russo have remained amicable (if not irresistibly charming) even as their podcasting helped them come to terms with their own incompatibility.
New episodes of The Ex-Files drop every Wednesday, and I know I, for one, am very much looking forward to seeing what kind of cool queer tunes come out of this one.
