I have made no bones about the fact that I am a Gen X comedy writer/performer. While at first writing for Madison, I tried to lean into her being in her 20s, but since I so enjoy Gen X era pop culture, and have never looked twice at modern day pop culture, I eventually went all in for Madison. I remember in an early episode Madison makes a “My Three Sons” joke to which a commenter on YouTube said, “Madison wouldn’t know that show!” I said of course she does. Madison is timeless. But, okay, she’s really not.
I am very proud to be a vessel for Gen X pop culture. Those of you who know, know that our theme song is an homage to “Mystery Science Theater: 3000.” Part of that was because early criticism I got for the show prior to our premiere. That I don’t explain how Madison could possibly zap back into Old Time Radio. I knew then, it doesn’t matter how she got there. She’s THERE. Start in the fun. Start in the action. It’s a comedy/satire. Let’s not waste time trying to, what? Make some sort of plausible science to explain it? Pfft. So Jeremy and I worked on the theme song. Very MST3K: “If you’re wondering how he eats and breathes, and other science facts, repeat to yourself, “It’s just a show, I should really just relax.” Boom. And yes, we enjoyed doing the “origin story” here in January 2026, but do I answer all the science questions? *giggle* nope.
So what does Gen X being in these OTR shows mean in the bigger picture? Firstly — hang on, stepping onto my soap box here a sec — for all the younger generations and their, “Okay, Boomer” anger, as Gen X we sit back and watch. We are the generation raised by Boomers. To us, they aren’t some estranged relative we see once a year, an obscure politician off in Washington, or a celebrity from a show that went off the air 50 years ago. They were the ones we came of age under and before my soap box speech gets too loud, the point I’m making is this: rather than yelling at the eldest generation, I am holding up a mirror to the entertainment that they identify with. And boy is that fun.
I see a lot of the generations younger than Gen X just yelling into the void. Finding old entertainment and screaming that it shouldn’t be allowed to exist because they’re trying to hold entertainment 30+ years old to modern day sensitivities. The anger against “Friends” is absolutely on par. “Friends” was the Gen X “coming into adulthood” show. We were right there living it along with them. But because their stories didn’t present certain things the way younger people today think should have been done, they want to erase it from existence. No, that’s not how you do it, children. You dive into their world. You live in their characters. You breathe each line of dialogue… and then you call them out on it with a laugh.
That’s really all Madison is doing here. Instead of jumping on these old shows for not doing plot lines or characters the way we would do them today, I just let Madison “hang a light” on the old out-of-date attitudes. But she never throws the baby out with the bathwater. These shows are history. Are part of our modern past. It’s important that they still exist and we can still consume them. We can identify the problematic moments and remind ourselves how far we’ve come. And with some Gen X jokes along for the ride, the forgotten generation can be reminded that we fit into this world, too.
Chrisi (aka Madison)
