Episodes

The culture that made the Beths say the Beth culture was for them. Mashup ep with 40+ min of new audio. SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out, or just a much-needed wardrobe refresh – your dream wardrobe is just one click away. Head to REVOLVE.com/BETHEREINFIVE, shop my edit, and take 15% off your first order with code BETHEREINFIVE. Offer ends February...

This week, Kate has an announcement that she shares at the beginning of the episode that will then explain the rest of the episode and why its title may sound familiar. Enjoy! Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Right now, Betterwild is offering our listeners up to 40% off your order at betterwild.com/BETHEREINFIVE. That's betterwild.com/BETHEREINFIVE for up to 40% off your order. Start the New...

This week, Kate reflects on 2025 for feeling depleting yet not defining, exhausting and sometimes forgettable; a year of endless micro-trends, political chaos, and moment sludge that somehow left very little to hold onto. Fun! She dives into "viral death cycle" and why nothing sticks anymore, explores the three stages of aging out of culture, explores why many of us feel our brains are broken, and processes the weird grief of realizing you're no longer "becoming" someone but existing deep in a r...

This week, Kate welcomes back Sarah Chapelle (Taylor Swift Style) to discuss the first two episodes of Disney+'s The End of an Era docuseries. They dissect the emotional weight of episodes 1 and 2; from the devastating Vienna terror plot and Southport attack to Taylor's leadership style, bonus day generosity, and the physical toll of performing and beyond. Kate and Sarah analyze what the docuseries reveals about Taylor's collaborative process with her team, they predict future episodes (Miami co...

This week, Kate investigates Elf on the Shelf: cute Christmas tradition or late-capitalist nightmare? After a simple Instagram question turned into hundreds of responses about surveillance capitalism, invisible labor, and performative parenting, she started to unpack what this manufactured tradition reveals about millennial parenting, Christmas magic, and the mental load of the holidays. Can it just be holly-jolly casual for those of us who like light whimsy labor, or does it have to match its c...

This week, Kate's peer pressuring you to listen to an episode about the DARE program in the 90s and how it made every fifth grader in America incredibly wary of adults wearing trench coats. From winning essay contests and meeting Darren the Lion to interpretive dance performances and questionable field trips, listeners' stories did not disappoint. This episode also explores the program's history, why DARE may have worked to spook many of us but was statistically ineffective, the surprisingly dar...

This week, Kate has Nora McInerny back for their tradition of poorly recapping The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. They do a better job this time of actually talking about the show, and after catching up on Nora's Groupons, they go through the main SLOMW storylines while drawing parallels with the current legendary season of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Enjoy! Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! Take advantage of...

A casual late night monologue, gabbing about things on Kate's mind, including but not limited to: Hilary Duff's new single "Mature" Speaking of age gaps, Kat Stickler and John Mayer dating?? Celeb plastic surgery content Danielle Bernstein's wedding, which turned out was the engagement party Shay Mitchell's new company selling SHEET MASKS TO THE CHILDREN Performing beauty rituals in front of young kids What Kate, an adult, used on her face/skin in that pope video One month of Life of a S...

This week, Kate's trying something new during her off week: a Fall/Halloween-themed mashup episode pulling together some of her favorite topically adjacent clips from the past 7+ years of Be There in Five. Includes segments from Make Your Christian Brothers Autumnal, Ween Pics, Spooky Snorkel, and Wicked Witch of the Midwest, covering foliage conspiracies, cozy chasing, how Claire ate the muffins, Now & Then-style seances and sleepover occult rituals, ghost fashions, the historical context of wi...

This week, Kate is joined by friends of the pod (Nora McInerny and Caroline Moss) for a delightfully chaotic convo about DWTS that starts with Groupons, the jewelry heist, millennial dentures, car shopping, and more. Then, the second half of the episode, seasoned fans Kate and Caroline share their favorite DWTS lore and celeb gossip with newcomer Nora, and they dissect the current season: who could win, who should win, who should be sent home, and what they believe to be the heart and soul of th...

This week, for part 2 of our hobbies series, Kate reads listener emails about pursuing new hobbies as an adult and their profound impact on personal fulfillment, mental health, and community building. Ranging from arts & crafts to whale watching, canine nosework to online sleuthing and beyond, the Beths share heartfelt anecdotes about the simple pleasures and unexpected connections they've found through prioritizing joy and leisure. Enjoy! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book,...

A stream of consciousness about TS12 with Kate after she had a couple days to let it marinate. Back to hobbies next week. :) Enjoy! SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! Head to cozyearth.com and use my code BETHEREINFIVE for up to 20% off! And if you get a Post-Purchase Survey, make sure to let them know you heard about Cozy Earth right here! Go to helixsleep.com/bethereinfive for their Fall Sav...

This week, Kate and her guest Carmen James (@thegoodcarmablog) chat about all things related to adult hobbies. The first half is Kate musing about nostalgic hobbies, sharing her own recent ventures, and the importance of finding identity and joy in leisurely activities. Then, Kate and Carmen discuss a variety of topics, e.g., finding community through crafting, why hobbies feel fraught for millennials, the joy of getting lost in creative flow, and why domestic arts shouldn't require feminist dis...

A nostalgic deep-dive into the last era of millennial optimism, when we got to figure out who we wanted to be before the algorithm told us who we already were. Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS who make producing an independent show possible. Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out, or just a little style refresh – your dream wardrobe is just one click away. Head to REVOLVE.com/BETHE...

This week, Kate answers listener texts and voicemails. She snorkels left chest logo polo critters of yesterday and today, organizes mall chain restaurants into experiential tiers, power ranks Gatorade flavors, and explores a world where the Cullens' immortality problems are simply solved by homeschooling. Yep, that's the episode. Enjoy! tiers of mall chain restaurants, Order Kate's NYT Bestselling book, One in a Millennial here! Text or leave a voicemail for Kate at 775-HEY-BETH! Thank you t...

This week, Kate brings in a friend of hers and a friend of the pod, Lucy Carey (aka @lucyontheground), for an in-depth discussion about the series "The Summer I Turned Pretty" [ALERT: the TV series version, they aren't book experts]. They explore the cultural phenomenon of the series, its massive viewership, intense stan-dom, the love triangle, and complex character dynamics between Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah (and Redbird??). They go through key moments, episodes, character motivations, songs, ...

This week, Kate listened to a two-hour football podcast and lives to tell the tale. In this podcast episode about a podcast episode, Kate obsesses over a 30-something woman and her boyfriend existing and being normal, which surprisingly turned out to be the best entertainment of all. She recaps Taylor Swift's unprecedented appearance on New Heights, where we learned about TS12: The Life of a Showgirl, coming October 3rd. She breaks down her personal interview highlights, from SAT vocab words to ...

This week, Kate's interviewing Lee Tilghman, also known as @LeeFromAmerica, who was one of the very first major wellness influencers on social media. To her nearly 400k followers, she shared daily updates on everything from skincare and sleep hacks to smoothie bowls, travel tips, and workout routines, and her sponsorships netted an income of over $300k a year. On the grid, her life seemed perfect. But behind her carefully curated posts, Tilghman was in crisis, suffocating from the unrelenting de...

This week, join Kate and Caroline Moss as they chat through a variety of topics, from nostalgic summers that turned shitty to off-broadway dreams becoming realities in the big city. They discuss things like the Coldplay couple, Labubus, the importance of a modern-day Girls rewatch, the likability trap, Gen Z's relationship to social media, the attention economy, and, most importantly, Caroline shares her journey to becoming a producer of the off-Broadway play 'Dilaria,' starring Conrad Fisher hi...

This week, join Kate as she returns to form (2+ hour early BTI5-style rambling) by going through an old PowerPoint she found on her computer about Taylor Swift's evolution from diary-style songwriter to mythological storyteller through increasingly complex literary references. From "Love Story" fairytale princess to The Albatross and Cassandra the cursed prophet, how has Taylor deliberately written herself into literary archetypes as both artistic strategy and psychological self-defense? TLDR; a...

This week, Kate starts by talking about water table culture, Le Creuset mystery boxes, and attempting to reclaim her adult hobbies, then she's joined by Katie Gatti Tassin (Money with Katie, Diabolical Lies) to talk about her book Rich Girl Nation, which analyzes the unique experiences women have with money and discusses a variety of fascinating cultural, economic, social and financial intersections related to navigating capitalism as a woman. They talk about the co-opting of investment terminol...

This week, Kate reviews America's Sweethearts season 2 on Netflix and tells the tale of how last year's Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders episode became one of BTI5's biggest hits— and biggest headaches. When current DCC members flooded her TikTok comments defending themselves against former teammate Victoria's mild birthday party observations, Kate found herself thunderstruck by cheerleader drama she never saw coming, and she'll never be the same. A year later, Kate returns to process what really wen...

This week, Kate is joined by Nora Princiotti (host of Every Single Album, author of Hit Girls) to talk about the women who built pop's shiniest decade, like Taylor, Britney, Avril, Ashlee, Beyonce, and beyond. First, they tackle the news that Taylor Swift now owns her masters, then discuss some thoughts about Reputation TV and TS12 clownery, and it doesn't take long for Kate to interject and defend her Be There in Five Holes in a Fence era. Then, Nora shares what inspired her new book Hit Girls ...

This week, Kate tries a tri-deep dive connecting Addison Rae's evolution, Y2K's one-hit wonders, and the overlap of both TRL and Tiktok's pop generations. Through Addison's candid interviews about stepping away from constant content creation, Kate explores how the machine that once discarded the forgotten pop girls of the early 2000s is long gone... or is it? Kate argues that while social media promised to democratize fame, it's actually created a more insidious system where creators internalize...