Slate Daily Feed3 Joulu 2025

Slow Burn - Decoder Ring | “Videomate: Men” (Encore)

Videomate: Men was a VHS tape released in 1987 featuring 60 single men pitching themselves as dates to women on the other side of the TV screen: “The love of your life could be on your TV tonight!” the box reads. In retrospect, Videomate: Men is a bizarre and hilarious time capsule, but at the time it was one of many manifestations of what was known as video dating. To find out how anyone thought this was a good idea, Decoder Ring examines the weird and forgotten world of video dating in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s to find out why video dating once seemed like the future—and if that future is still yet to come.

On this episode, originally released in 2019, we talk to the creators of the Found Footage Fest, VHS collectors who unleashed Videomate on the internet; ask the creators of video dating services like Videomate’s Steve Dworman and Great Expectations’ Jeffrey Ullman what they were thinking; and talk to participants who used these services but not necessarily in the way that was intended. We’ll also discuss the future of video dating with Coffee Meets Bagel co-founder Dawoon Kang and former host of The Longest Shortest Time Andrea Silenzi.

This episode was written by Willa Paskin and was produced and edited by Benjamin Frisch. We had research assistance from Cleo Levin. Decoder Ring is produced by Katie Shepherd, Max Freedman, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com, or leave a message on the Decoder Ring hotline at 347-460-7281. We love to hear any and all of your ideas for the show.

Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(4958)

Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show - Introducing CRAMPED: "Sex Ed with DB: Testosterone, Pleasure, and the Libido Myth"

Hosted by Kate Helen Downey, CRAMPED is an investigative deep dive, exploring what the research actually says about menstrual pain and reproductive health, and the gap between what science knows and w...

2 Heinä 37min

Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show - Encore! Managing Screen Time Without Losing Your Mind

Elizabeth and Zak talk with Ash Brandin, author of Power On, about managing screen time without guilt or panic. They discuss realistic strategies and why screen time doesn’t define parenting quality. ...

2 Heinä 31min

What Next - AC Won't Save You from the Heat Dome

Well, the movement to change society so it stops heating up the world didn’t take, so now we need to figure out how to change society to deal with a hotter planet. That means new forms of insurance, n...

2 Heinä 25min

Slow Burn - Decoder Ring | We Are Monumentally Bad at Statues

It seems like the only time you hear about new statues these days is when something goes horribly wrong. Unfortunate bronze renditions of Lucille Ball, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dwayne Wade, and many others ...

1 Heinä 48min

Culture Gabfest - So Long, and Thanks for All the Granola Edition

A eulogistic weepfest? A “valediction forbidding mourning”? A conscious unthroupling? All of the above?Believe it or not, the time has come for Steve, Dana, and Julia to convene the Culture Gabfest pa...

1 Heinä 1h 37min

Decoder Ring - We Are Monumentally Bad at Statues

1 Heinä 48min

ICYMI - Influencers Are Hitting Retirement

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick, creator of The Trend Report, to talk about how so many of our favorite influencers have started to retire. Glitter and Laze...

1 Heinä 37min

What Next - SCOTUS and the "Color Blind" Constitution

The Supreme Court wrapped up a year of giving Trump and the Republican Party nearly everything they could want. And even in the final, birthright citizenship case, what is remarkable is not that Trump...

1 Heinä 26min