This week we bring you stories about friends. Or wait, enemies? How about both? Tales of estranged sisters, BFFs breaking up and making up and breaking up, and how reality stars walk the fine line between making friends and making a name for themselves. Including a story from David Rakoff, whose new book Half Empty is available now.
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This episode features music composed by Dustin O'Halloran.
Prologue
Chasing Amy
I Am Here To Make Frenemies
We head to deep inside the natural habitat of frenemies: Reality TV. Rich Juzwiak is a full-time blogger for VH1 and his own pop-culture blog which means he's spent a lot of time watching and dissecting reality TV shows. And last year, he noticed that one sentence seems to repeat an awful lot in the frenemy friendships that happen on reality TV. (5 minutes)
The Word Frenemy
Ira talks with lexicographer Erin McKean about the origin of the word frenemy. (6 minutes)
Speak Now Or Forever Hold Your Peace
David Rakoff demonstrates—in rhyme—how to make a wedding toast for people you never wanted to see married in the first place. Rakoff is the author of several books, most recently Half Empty. (15 minutes)
The Case Of The Long Lost Frenemy
Ira talks to a woman about a childhood friend of hers who mysteriously shows up after decades, for reasons that are only revealed as their correspondence unfolds. (15 minutes)
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